Alston Road Church of Christ Podcast

Series: 1 Peter (Living in Exile)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

(Scripture Reading) Isaiah 3:16-24 (NIV11). “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, strutting along with swaying hips, with ornaments jingling on their ankles. Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the LORD will make their scalps bald.” In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, the earrings and bracelets and veils, the headdresses and anklets and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, the signet rings and nose rings, the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls. Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding.”

The past century has seen a remarkable transformation in practices, values, and in how relationships inside and outside the home operate. An extract from a 1950’s Home Economics Book demonstrates how much marriage has changed. The piece offers “Tips to Look After Your Husband.” In preparation for a husband’s return from work, wives should “Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon is your hair and be fresh looking,” Comb the children’s hair because "they are little treasures and [your husband] would like to see them play the part.” “Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing, and pleasant voice.” This may sound like a joke today, but this was literally textbook material then. As a husband, I can say this sounds great. However much wives may want to make their husbands happy, this likely sounds impossible.

Articles like this only reinforce our belief that what is old and traditional is out. And since many perceive that every past value or practice in America arose from Christianity, this can distort our vision and put us in a challenging position. People actually often associate unreasonably high demands for wives and the inconsiderate behavior husbands with traditional Christian values. We are foreigners called to practice consistent ethics within the ever-shifting culture around us. We live in Babylon, but we don't conform to Babylonian thinking. Peter has been addressing how we do that in our relationships. How should wives live in an ungodly world that constantly tells its own secular version of what is good without being conformed to it? Peter is going to offer three points here: be subject to your husbands, pursue imperishable beauty, and look to past examples.

Be Subject to Your Own Husband (3:1-2)

Be subject to your own husband. Saying that causes all sorts of questions to come up. First, this is not a general command to all men and women. There are certainly ways men and women in should treat one another; however, a wife is to be subject to her husband, not to all men. Second, there will be unique ways submission plays out in each marriage and culture, but it is not grounded in cultural practice but in eternal truth. This isn’t discussed here, but rather in Ephesians 5. Third, submission is a statement about the role a wife plays and the role a husband plays, it has absolutely nothing to do with a man or woman’s value, ability, intelligence, or competence. Husbands, God doesn’t tell wives to submit to you because he thinks you are smarter. Fourth, Satan always wants us to view God’s commands in a negative light. Especially today, wives, it would be very easy to hear everything Peter says here in a negative light. But God’s commands are for our good, so we should serve him with our whole heart (Deut. 10:12-13).

Peter brings out one possible good of living in subjection to your husband. Say your husband is not obeying the word of God. Maybe you married him before you started following Jesus and he didn’t follow. Or maybe he says he’s a Christian, but is not acting how he should. You have told him that Jesus is Lord and that he should obey the Lord, but your words don’t seem to be helping anymore. Your submission and your respectful and pure conduct may win him without a word.

It’s tough any time someone we love isn’t obeying Jesus. We love them and want them to change. Living with and respecting the authority of a husband who isn’t obeying the word is probably the toughest. Wives, you may be tempted nag him or use passive-aggressive manipulation to get him to change. Peter doesn’t say you should never respectfully encourage him with the truth, but Peter is trying to get you to see a new perspective and try a new tact. Sometimes we Christians can talk a big talk about how great God and his word are. And we should. We should study the Bible and talk about the Bible because it is the only way we can adopt a true perspective on God, the world, others, and ourselves. But if people we love — whether your husband, wife, mom, dad, son, daughter, brother, sister, neighbor, roommate, or friend — aren’t hearing and and obeying, be quiet! No one likes to be badgered. If Jesus and his commands are so perfect, show them. Wives, your husband has no excuse for being a brute or for being disobedient to God, but badgering him won’t help. Husbands, the same is true for our wives.

So, be subject, respectful, and pure. But what if he doesn’t deserve it? Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Don’t respect your husband’s authority because he deserves it, but because the Lord Jesus Christ deserves it. I like how Schreiner put it (NAC, 152, summarizing Slaughter). “Wives do not submit in order to satisfy a husband’s vanity or to promote his reputation. Neither do they submit to show how godly they are, nor to avoid conflict, nor to impress the neighbors, not to manipulate their husbands, and not even because she thinks he is wise. She submits because of her relationship with and trust in God.”

Let me highlight one thing he said: don’t do good to manipulate. Our loved ones may be moved by how we treat them, but they can tell if we are just trying to manipulate them. We need to quietly change our behavior because we need to obey God. We’ll be doing what we should do, and maybe they’ll see God’s goodness in the undeserved favor we show them. In verses 3-4, Peter continues describing the conduct a wife — and any woman — should clothe themselves with.

Adorn Yourself with Imperishable Beauty (3:3-4)

Peter is trying to help women focus on the beauty that matters — not outward beauty, but the beauty of her character. We could read this as an absolute prohibition against hair braids and gold jewelry, but reading the sentence structure like that would also mean Peter is prohibiting all clothing, so that doesn’t work. This is a common “not-but” construction. He is using a contrast to help women adorn themselves with beauty that lasts and pleases God. 

Men, please do consider these principles for yourselves. But why does Peter address this to women? Why are women especially in danger of focusing on outward beauty? There may be various reasons. Maybe you know you can catch people’s eyes, so why not really catch their eyes? Or maybe all anyone has ever praised you for is your beauty. We are teaching women what is most valuable when this is what we always praise. We should tell our kids they are handsome and beautiful, but have you ever noticed how with little girls we can tend to tell them how beautiful, cute, and sweet they are, but maybe we don’t praise them for being kind, clever, funny, smart, bold, respectful, or industrious? Or, women, maybe you are especially vulnerable here because you are more aware of your true shortcomings than men. As much as our world tells us that we are all already have beautiful hearts, we know deep down that’s not fully true. Yes, we are God’s children made in his image. Yes, Jesus Christ died for us because we are precious to him. But Jesus also died for us because Satan has made our hearts quite ugly. Maybe, women, you are more aware of that and obsessing over stylish clothes, hairdos, jewelry, and makeup distract us from that uncomfortable truth.

Peter doesn’t outlaw nice clothes, but Paul specifically does warn against nice clothing in 1 Timothy 2:9-10. “I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” Again, this is a not-but construction which is meant to urge women to adorn themselves with good works and not be so concerned with outward appearance. But at some point we have to ask, why does this keep coming up? If Peter and Paul aren’t trying to make any point at all about what a person should and shouldn’t wear, why specifically talk about elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, and expensive clothes?

Consider how Isaiah talked about the women of Jerusalem from our Scripture reading. The women of Zion - Jerusalem - were beautiful and had nice things, and they wanted everyone to see it. They were stylishly clothed with all the right accessories, but they weren’t clothed with kindness, justice, and good deeds. This outward focus distracts us from true beauty.

Women, Satan is at work in the culture actively trying to distract you from clothing yourself with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit by instead offering you the clothing and hairstyle of a flashy, head-turning woman. We must take care that our craving to be noticed does not lead us to, in how we dress, style our hair, and accessorize, to construct an image of ourselves for others to worship. This is what Instagram is all about — it is the temple and we are the gods.

Now, we know the temptation here is not just obsession over looking nice. We can also turn heads if we look sexy. I know from being with Ashley when she shops for herself and our girls: it is hard to find clothes and bathing suits that are not intentionally designed to show off your body. Clothing designers are intentionally trying to make you look sexy — but don’t let them entice you to entering into our world’s beauty pageant or swimsuit contest so you can be objectified. Your beauty is a precious gift from God — it is great that you are beautiful! — but your sexuality is exclusively for your husband just like your husbands eyes are exclusively for you.

Husbands, dads, moms — we need to lead by example here. Are we being vain about how we look with our hair, clothes, and accessories? Satan is attacking our family and we also need to be willing to have hard conversations. Are our kids being vain? The idolatry of self is far more insidious than drugs and alcohol. I love how Paul offers us the example of not wanting people to be impressed with us. False apostles in Corinth were always boasting about themselves without reason, but Paul, even though God gave him great revelations, he never boasted about them. Why? 2 Corinthians 12:5–6 NLT, “That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message.” Paul doesn’t want to boast about this because he doesn’t want people to be impressed with him. What he really wants is for people to be impressed with Jesus. Are we dressing like we want people around us to be impressed with us, or with Jesus? Does our appearance exude humility? What do we want people to notice about us?

Peter’s aim is not to cause you to be self-conscious about how you dress. He’s not even trying to get women to dress frumpily. Satan does twist and misuse beauty, but God created your beauty. Peter’s whole point is that our external dress simply isn’t important. So, seriously consider what you wear — whether it is appropriate or not. Ditch what isn’t, and move on. And don’t fall back into the cycle of obsessing over your image. Most importantly, sit with these texts God has given us. Meditate on it. It is so easy to let cultural norms shape our view of texts like these. Let the text speak for itself. Let it prick your heart where it intends to.

Focus on the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. It is easy to be externally beautiful. A little bit of money, time, and work — and the most simple among us can turn heads. We all have that power in our hands. But God is urging us to use our time and energy to adorn ourselves with beauty that will never fade or grow old.  In God’s sight, a gentle and quiet spirit is very pleasing.

An Old-Fashioned Example (3:5-6)

What we have talked about may seem old-fashioned because it is. Notice verses 5-6. We are often surrounded by people who are more concerned with clothes than character. And often we don’t fit in. But women who clothe themselves with this character will fit into an old-fashioned community of holy women. Sarah obeyed Abraham. She even called him “lord” (Gen. 18:12).

Note Sarah’s obedience. I know this is tough to hear, but being submissive to your husband does not simply mean being nice. It does mean obedience. Being obedient doesn’t mean you never disagree — Sarah did vocally disagree with Abraham. That’s what makes her example even more shocking and impressive: she disagreed with him, he made some massive blunders (he asked his wife to refer to herself as his sister!), and yet she obeyed him and called him lord.

Sarah didn’t obey Abraham because he was a superior human being. Notice verse 5. She did this because she hoped in God. She didn’t know how Abraham’s decisions were going to turn out — like leaving her land and trusting God would care for and multiply them in a new place. That’s scary stuff. But hope in God is the energy that drives out fear. Fear is the tool of Satan — can we see how fear has turned our world upside down? Fear makes sin seem completely logical. But Hope in God is the fuel surging through Christians causing them to do all sorts of counter-cultural things in the face of fear. 

Fears will come, but how you deal with them determines everything. You could give into fear about how your husband manages finances. You could give into fear about where he decides to move or how he runs your home. And husbands — you’re a fool if you don’t consider your wife’s opinion. But, wives — obey because your family’s future does not rest in your husband’s hands, it rests in God’s hands. God has promised to raise you up from the dead. God has promised to bring us all with him into his presence. The New Jerusalem is pictured as a place where the elderly happily sitting in the streets that are filled with boys and girls playing. However God fulfills that vision, let that happy, God-based hope drive away all your fears. Your hope for a safe, happy family is not completely in this life in Houston, TX — it is in the age to come in the New Jerusalem where God will fill all these good desires you have for yourself and your family.

Join the community of holy, old-fashioned women who hoped in God and adorned themselves not with flashy apparel, but with a gentle and quiet spirit which pleases God.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

One of the most frustrating things about reading the Bible is how often people who have the power and opportunity to make everything so much better mess everything up. There has only ever been one time when everything went perfect and as planned. God created the and formed the world in six day and on the seventh day he rested. Everything was very good. The water stopped where it was supposed to, trees bore fruit, birds were chirping, Adam and Eve were naked. God walked with his people in Eden — this perfect Paradise and garden temple. They were to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. They were to rule over the animals and live forever. I don’t know about you, but living and working in a garden world to fill the world with God’s image and presence, living in harmony with God, with the animals, and with one another sounds awesome. Adam and Eve had power and opportunity to lay a great foundation for this cooperative project between God and humans.

But then Adam stood there and watched while a snake deceived his wife into eating fruit from the one tree God had withheld from them, and then he at the fruit too! They defiled this perfect, holy garden-sanctuary on the mountain of God. One sin and they were kicked from Paradise and from that moment on the world has been devoured by a curse. Before they left, God promised that the children of the snake and the children of the woman would fight. The snake would strike at their feet. But one day the children of woman would crush the head of the snake. And after that time, every single time a woman bore a child, there is always a little bit of hope and anticipation — maybe this will be the child who will crush the snake and lead us back into the garden.

But God declared that the bearing of children would come by great pain. And it is painful. Not only is the delivering babies super painful, the whole process is fraught with obstacles. Until the 20th century, moms and babies died all the time. But even without that risk, it is hard for many to get pregnant at all. But when there is life, there is opportunity. 

Think about Moses, offspring of Abraham. God’s chosen people were enslaved, living out the curse doing never ending labor with no rest for the king of Egypt who had a snake on the crown on his head, but God calls Moses to lead Israel out of slavery into a land that is described like a well-watered garden paradise. The snake — Pharaoh — gets crushed. God sets his perfect, Garden-of-Eden-like presence among his people and they march to the land of promise. The people rebel against God, but Moses stays strong. He intercedes for the people time and again. He’s going to lead the people into the promised land. But then he cracks. The people wear him down, accuse him of leading them out there to die in the desert, and he loses it — turning God’s generous act of provision into an opportunity to take glory and vindicate his name. “Hear now, you rebels! Shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” God immediately declares that Moses did not uphold God as holy before the people and he will not lead into the promised land. One sin and like that, Moses isn’t the snake-crusher to lead us back into Paradise.

Think about Solomon. God promised David he would cut off Israel’s enemies and plant them in their land and raise up a child after him who would reign forever. And when Solomon takes the throne after David, everything seems to go perfectly. The enemies have been subdued. The people of Israel are too many to be counted — as many as the sand by the sea, just as God had promised Abraham. Everyone had their own garden — sitting underneath their own vine and fig tree. Solomon ruled his people with divine wisdom to do justice and also wisdom about the natural world — he was the essence of someone who had subdued the earth and ruled over the animals. He knew all about trees, plants, beasts, birds, reptiles, and fish. He was like a new Adam. Peoples and kings of all nations from all over the earth came together to hear Solomon’s wisdom. Nations and kings also helped Solomon build a grand temple for the Lord in Jerusalem — God’s perfect presence and Paradise rested in a permanent structure among the people! The representation of Heaven’s throne was right there on earth and the people of Israel and of the nations could call out to God right there whenever they wanted. 

When people like the Queen of Sheba came from great distances to Jerusalem to see if it was all really as good as she had heard, and it was. She was stunned. 1 Kings 10:7–9 (NLT-SE), “Your wisdom and prosperity are far beyond what I was told. How happy your people must be! What a privilege for your officials to stand here day after day, listening to your wisdom! Praise the LORD your God, who delights in you and has placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king so you can rule with justice and righteousness.” When you read this for the first time and everything slows down for 10 chapters and everything is almost perfect — you are thinking, “This is amazing. It’s done. Solomon’s the snake crusher to lead us into a the new garden of God.” Go read Psalm 72 later today and just hear how Solomon prays for his kingship to function in Israel and in the whole world. Though Jesus is the one who will do it, Solomon looks for the whole earth to be filled with God’s glory as a result of his kingship!

But at the height of greatness, Solomon’s heart was lifted up and he cracked. He made foreign alliances and married a thousand foreign women. He thought he was big enough to not be ensnared. They tugged at him asking him to build them shrines and temples for their gods, and in his love and lust for these many women, he caved under the pressure. He turned to their gods. And then Paradise crumbled. God raised up enemies to afflict the Israel. If Solomon was wise, his son Rehoboam was a fool — burdening the people with labor and taxes so that the north revolted and abandoned the lineage of David and Solomon. Over the course of the next few hundred years, the kingdom that was like heaven turned into the kingdom from hell.

Time would fail us to talk about Aaron, Gideon, Saul, David, Joash and so many others. Don’t you feel like as you read these stories we are reading a version of our own story? God has given us all a measure of power and opportunity to do good and obey him, even if it is just in our little family in our little corner of the world. And even when everything seems perfect and God has given us everything we need, even we crack and cave in moments of pressure. We fight, mess up marriages, yell at our kids, slander our friends, bring nasty entertainment into our homes, waste our opportunities to do good and stare at screens. 

And then Jesus comes on the scene. He’s the son of David who could usher in all of God’s promises, or be a disappointment like so many other sons of David. He does good. He heals many who are oppressed by the Devil. When he is challenged, he preaches truth. Women are around him as they were around Solomon, but he treated them with respect. And when he is ultimately arrested and falsely accused — even as Moses was rejected by his people — he didn’t revile them in return, he persisted in honoring God. When we read the gospel accounts today, many of us know what is coming. We know he’s going to handle it right. But think through these accounts like it is the first time — like all you have ever read of in the Bible or seen in the world is that eventually everyone cracks under the pressure. Something, however small or large, eventually comes to the surface and we see they are like everyone else. And yet Jesus walked through the darkest hour flawlessly.

All the gospel accounts clearly show that what happened to Jesus was an injustice, but Luke is unique in emphasizing this even more. Look at Luke 23.

• Verse 4 — He’s falsely accused by a whole company of people, but Pilate says, “I find no guilt in this man.”
• Verses 14-15 — Pilate sends Jesus to be judged by Herod. Herod and his men question, accuse, and mock him (they look a lot like Satan in Zechariah 3) at this point. But Herod sends him back to Pilate who gives the judgment, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us.”
• Verse 22 — The people won’t have it, they cry for the release of a murderer and insurrectionist while they demand Jesus’ crucifixion. But Luke tells us Pilate responds a third time. “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving of death. I will therefore punish and release him.” Luke wants us to see that Jesus is declared innocent by Pilate three times, but the crowd wouldn’t listen. Their voices prevailed. Mob justice had its way. Jesus was taken by an angry mob and executed for crimes he did not commit.
• Verse 47 — A Roman soldier — the centurion — who had overseen Jesus’ whole crucifixion, execution saw everything that happened. He watched how Jesus responded to everything. Surely, he had seen many criminals die. He knew the type. He knew how innocent they all were until they got on that cross. Then the trash probably started spewing from their mouths. But not with Jesus. He had only love for the people who killed him. Imagine what that must have been like to kill Jesus. Notice verse 47. “Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.”

Under pressure, everyone has always at some point cracked and ruined everything. But Jesus always did everything right. And because of that Luke tells us the most unbelievable thing happened. Luke tells us about one more man who testifies to Jesus’ innocence: one of the criminals crucified next to Jesus. Notice verses 39-42. The criminal said it plainly. Jesus had done nothing wrong, while the due reward for his own deeds was crucifixion. But then he begged that Jesus would just remember him when he came into his kingdom. Now this is astounding. This criminal knew something of the Scriptures. He knew about God’s promise to enthrone a Son of David to be king over the nations. And some how, despite the fact that Jesus was near dead on a cross he was convinced Jesus was that man. I like how one person put it (Plummer 1896: 535, cited in Bock, 1856), “Some saw Jesus raise the dead, and did not believe. This robber sees him being put to death, and yet believes.” And so, he anticipated a day when this dead man would be a king, when he would raise the dead and usher in God’s glory to fill the earth. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” But Jesus flips the script and tells him he won’t even have to wait until the resurrection. Verse 43, “Truly, I say to you today you will be with me in paradise.” 

What just happened? Romans explains the theology which shows this story is ours.

One Man’s Obedience (Romans 5-6, etc.)

I want to simply conclude by showing you three simple results of Jesus life in contrast to others.

First, Jesus’ obedience gives sinners the free gift of justification. Notice Romans 5:16. Paul has been explaining how Adam’s one sin has led to us all sinning and earning death. And you would expect him to say that Jesus’ obedience has led to us all becoming perfect and earning life. But that’s not what he says. To be clear — our perfection is absolutely the goal, but it’s how we get there that is so stunning. In Adam, his trespass was followed by judgment and condemnation for all. In Christ, many trespasses are followed by a free gift of justification. Justification or righteousness in Romans is probably a little different than other places. It means you are declared innocent. It’s like if you go to court and the judge decides to clear you of all your charges. Because of Christ’s obedience, our many trespasses are followed by a clearing of all our disobedience.

And this is not just in a small way — a criminal who had no chance of paying back a single cent of his debt or ever doing any righteousness in this life — he was the very first one to have his charges cleared. Romans 5:17-21 explain. This is so powerful because we think that sin and death reign over life. We have good reason to think that because this is all we have ever seen out of ourselves and out of the story of the Bible. Everything good that anyone ever did is always undone by their sin which leads to death. And Paul agrees. So he helps us in verse 17-19 by stating that the one man’s obedience is more powerful that one man’s trespass. Adam’s trespass was so powerful that it really did cause death to reign. But this one man’s obedience is so powerful that we are now guaranteed to reign in life through his justification, clearing of our charges.

Verse 20 is so beautiful. The law “increased the trespass.” Paul is probably alluding back to 3:20 when he says that the law gives us knowledge of our sin. It is likely not that the law makes us sin more, but that it tremendously heightens our awareness of how sinful we are. But no matter how much sin or our awareness of it increases, Paul declares that the obedience of Jesus is still more powerful: grace abounds all the more. We cannot out-sin God’s grace. It shouldn’t be so. But it is. Rejoice, Christian. You have been and will be rescued just like the thief on the cross.

Second, Jesus’ grace ends sin’s dominion over us. Notice Romans 6:1-4, 12-14. Ever increasing grace has never caused any genuine Christian ever to excuse their sin. “Hey man, it’s alright, I’m forgiven.” What I pray God’s grace works in you is a passion to die to sin just as Jesus died. A passion to rise by God’s power to walk a new life. Isn’t this why we were baptized? To die to the old and live to the new? And this is how the grace fuels obedience: we no longer have to give up. Paul says don’t let sin reign in your body. Don’t present your members to sin. Why say that? Because in the past, sin has always meant hopelessness. Sin always ruins everything and leads to death. Righteousness is really, really hard — so why should we do so much work? “It’s over. I’m condemned!” But not any more. We are not under law magnifying our sin, we are under grace. So we have the insane, unthinkable privilege to beg God through Jesus to clear our charges, repent, and give God our body for righteousness. Jesus’ obedience and grace ends sin’s dominion.

Third, Jesus’ perfect obedience becomes our aim and our hope. Notice Ephesians 4:13, we are building one another up now “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” In Adam, all we ever saw was every generation of humans fail. But Christ’s example has inspired and empowered a new generation — the children not of Adam but of Jesus — to not stop until they attain to Jesus’ perfection. And one day it will be ours. Notice Philippians 3:20-21. “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.” Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 15:49 that “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” Paul is talking here about how, just as Jesus’ body was raised and he now has an eternal, glorious body, our bodies will be raised and transformed to be like his glorious body. We do a funny thing that the Gnostics did and we sometimes draw too sharp of a divide between body and spirit. Paul is not only speaking of an external body we will wear on that day but the whole of us. Our eternal history of frustration with sin and of following in the footsteps of Adam, Moses, Solomon who all cracked will be no more. We will be perfect even as Jesus and our heavenly father are perfect.

May we never think we can save ourselves by our work. It is all by grace. But may we never mock anyone ever for striving with all their heart to obey God — look at the power and the grace of one man’s obedience. Praise God and praise Jesus.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Berry Kercheville

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore