Church of Christ on Kelly Spring Road Podcast

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric McKee

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

Good morning.

It's not uncommon for a house to settle over the time.

You know, you may have a door that used to latch shut as soon as you shut it, and now it doesn't latch quite well and so you have to shim it a little bit, uh, because there's some settling that went on after that house was built.

But if a house is settling to the point that the structure is visibly affected, that you begin to see other problems within the house.

Then that's a problem.

If cracks begin to form, if door frames are out of square, if the floor joints are sagging.

These are symptoms of an underlying problem with the foundation of that structure.

And even though it may be costly, When a foundation begins to sink, it has to be restored.

You have to do whatever it takes to save that house.

Cause otherwise, over time, the house is going to slowly fall apart.

And so for reasons I'm not gonna go into in detail, foundation restoration has been on my mind a lot lately.

And I'll just leave it at that.

But this, so this morning, I'd like for us to consider together the, the idea of restoring things back to new.

You know, some people actually, you know, some people enjoy working on complete restoration projects, a complete restoration of a house or a building or a car and take something that's old and bring it where it's, it's like brand new once again, complete restorations.

And this is something that people have done for many years, but these major restoration projects, it seems, has gained additional popularity popularity today, especially because of social media.

You know, we can get on the internet or we can go to different social media and we can find the before and after pictures of projects that people have done like the one you see on the screen here.

Or you can watch a reel of a video of the progression over time from the before and the progress during and then the after.

And because of this, the number of people also that are willing to take on major restoration projects has actually increased because they can go to somewhere like YouTube and watch a video on how to do these things that other people have done, and it gives them the additional resources and knowledge and confidence to be able to do that as well.

And so this morning I want us to consider restoring back to new.

And the first point I'd like for us to consider is that when something is brand new, it is in mint condition.

When something is brand new, it is in mint condition.

Have you ever been in a brand new car?

You know, it has that new car smell.

The paint is bright and shiny and smooth and it doesn't have any scratches or flaws.

The upholstery is soft and clean.

The engine compartment looks immaculate.

The vehicle drives smoothly.

It doesn't have mechanical problems.

It's essentially perfect.

And the same can be said of a new house.

The smell of fresh paint on the smooth walls and ceilings, white glossy baseboards with no dents or dings, new shingles on the roof to keep all the water out, new appliances that work any time you need them to, new floors without scratches or stains.

And the same can be said.

Of our soul In the earliest stages of our life.

In Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 9.

Ecclesiastes 7:9 reads, Truly this only I have found that God made man upright.

But they have sought out many schemes.

In Matthew 18:24, Jesus called a little child to him.

Set them in the midst of them and set as surely I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

God made man upright.

This is why we are to be like little children.

But there are many who are gonna try to convince us that we were born in sin, that we inherited the sin of Adam, that we have this sinful soul within us whenever we are born.

But the Bible teaches that in Ecclesiastes 12:243 that the Spirit is going to return to God who gave it.

When God created Adam, he took from the dust of the ground, and he formed Adam out of the dust to the ground, and then he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and then Adam became a living being.

The spirit of Adam that was within him was breathed into his body by God.

God gave him.

His spirit And every good and every perfect gift is from above.

God does not put a sinful spirit within someone.

The Bible teaches that sin is not something that we are.

But it's something that we do.

It's something that we do.

It's an action.

In fact, the whole concept of repentance implies that God made us upright.

Repentance is turning back to the way that God made us and intended for us to be.

Repent to to turn again.

Back to God.

The whole idea of reconciliation is the idea that we are returning back to our relationship with God that we once had, but we spoiled that relationship by sinning against Him.

When the car comes off that assembly line, it is brand new.

When the final inspector leaves that building or that house, it is brand new.

And when God places our soul within our body, it is brand new.

Without sin, without blemish, without scratches or dents or flaws or stains.

Our soul is immaculate.

But over time, Things become used and abused and neglected.

They become tainted and worn and damaged.

It doesn't take very long for that new car smell to be replaced by fast food.

It doesn't take very long for those new tires to be worn out, that new paint to become scratched and faded, the seats to become worn and tattered.

The AC doesn't cool, the engine doesn't run right, it's not new anymore.

And oftentimes it's because the vehicle was maintained, was not maintained like it ought to be.

Many times that's the case.

But, and I'm not saying that anybody's lazy.

I'm just saying that the cost to, to maintain a vehicle in a like new condition for 20 years.

It's just too great for anybody to spend.

Nobody's going to spend that kind of money to replace every single thing that goes wrong with the vehicle.

And so it becomes tainted, it becomes worn.

For that house.

The roof starts to leak, the appliances quit working, the fence breaks down, the driveway cracks.

It's just not new anymore.

And again, the cost to maintain it to a like new condition is just not worth it.

And so it wears out.

And the new wears off of our soul as well.

The difference is that the new doesn't wear off because of time.

It wears off because of sin.

In James chapter 1.

Verses 14 through 15.

James writes, each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

Then when desire has conceived he gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown brings forth death.

In 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4, whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

Sin is the transgression of God's law.

Sin is something that we do.

It's not something that is Thrust upon us because we were born.

It's something that we do.

And in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, Paul writes that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And so this is something that affects all of us.

We all have weaknesses.

And we all fall into temptation.

And we sin against our God.

We do things that we should not do.

We failed to do things that we should do.

We transgress God's law and we sin against Him, and our soul becomes tainted.

But those things can be restored.

Those things can be restored to their former.

Self We may look at a car like this that's on the screen.

And think that car's days are over.

That car has been a lawn ornament for many years.

It It's never gonna be right.

It's never going to run right.

It's never going to look right.

It's just time for the junkyard for that call.

But then someone with the time and the resources and the desire comes along and restores that car and makes it like new again.

And we may look at a house like that.

And think that its glory days are gone.

It's dilapidated.

It's a safety hazard.

It should have been torn down years ago and something else built on that land.

That is a worthless house.

And then someone with the time.

And the resources and the desire and the care Comes along and restores that house.

And brings it back to new.

And we may consider our soul.

And think that we're never going to be good enough.

We're never going to be right.

We're never going to Be the same as we were.

There's nothing that I can do to make up for what I have done.

And then Someone with the time.

And the resources And the desire And the care comes along.

Jesus Christ He steps in and says, behold, I make all things new.

And Jesus Christ Can restore any soul.

To the right relationship with God.

In 303 Corinthians 5.

17 through 19, Paul writes, if anyone is in Christ.

He is a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

Now all things are of God.

He who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Those things that have been tainted, our soul that has been tainted.

Can be restored.

Because of Jesus Christ.

But there is a great cost involved.

In restoring something back to a new condition.

There's a great cost involved in restoring something back.

To a new condition.

If a person is in a bad automobile accident.

It is sometimes said that that vehicle was totaled.

In insurance claims, a totaled vehicle or a total loss.

is a situation where the lost value or the repair cost of the damaged property is greater than its insured value.

And simply replacing the old property with a new equivalent is more cost effective.

In other words, the vehicle is not worth fixing.

So oftentimes, major restorations do not occur because it simply costs too much.

It's just not worth it.

It's cheaper to just go buy a new car and allow the other one to go to the, to the scrap yard.

Then to restore the old one.

Sometimes it's better to just tear a house completely down and build a brand new house on that piece of land than it is to restore the old one.

It's just not worth the cost.

And so why is it that people restore cars and houses and buildings?

Because the value or the perceived value of the thing that's being restored is greater than the cost to restore it.

Oftentimes, cars that are restored are the ones that had some, perhaps some important part of history.

Like maybe the car belonged to a famous person.

Or the car is a rare collectible.

And restoring classics like this could be sold to a collector for a great deal of money or put in a museum someplace.

Or the car may have had some sentimental value to the person that owns it.

It may have belonged to a loved one or maybe your dad had one just like it when you were a kid.

And so now it means a lot to you to restore this vehicle.

Jim and Kim actually own the car that used to belong to Kim's dad.

It's in their garage.

It has sentimental value to them.

No one is going to go to the time and effort to restore something that does not have value to them.

And so why did this guy restore that car?

That car to me looks like a rust bucket.

That man saw the potential.

In that car He saw what that car could be.

If restored He had the time, he had the resources, he had the know-how.

In this Minnesota newspaper, there was an article or an online, online article about this man who'd restore this car.

And it says Minnesota man's restored car expected to fetch $1 million at auction.

That car has value because he restored it.

That's why it was restored.

He saw the value in that car.

And what about that house?

Why not just tear that house down and build something else there.

That is the 1803 Hope Plantation in Windsor, North Carolina.

There's never going to be a house like that.

Ever again, it has historical significance.

It was worth it to the person or the people that restored that house to put the cost in it that it took to restore that house.

It was worth it to them.

To save that house, we restore things that have value.

And the reason a soul is worth restoring is because it is so valuable.

In Matthew chapter 16 verse 26.

What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

The soul of one person is worth more than the entire physical world.

In 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 323 through 19, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.

Our soul is important enough.

That Jesus Christ paid the ultimate cost to redeem it.

To save it.

To restore it The blood of Jesus Christ, not silver or gold, but the precious blood of Christ.

And the reason I love.

The reason he is willing to do it is love.

In John 3:16, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

God wants us to be in a relationship with Him, and so he paid the price so that we can be restored.

Because we're worth it.

There's a great cost involved and our soul is worth restoring.

And there is a process.

That's involved in restoration.

There's a process that's involved in restoration.

There's certainly a process for restoring a car.

Or a house You know, first of all, There are going to be some parts that need to be gotten rid of.

You look at rusty car.

There's parts they're gonna have to get out of there.

There's, there's parts that are rusted completely through, they're completely unsalvageable.

You got to get those out of there.

They can't be there and that be a new car.

There's dry rotted hoses, there's dry rotted tires, those have gotta go.

There's damaged electrical wires.

There's all kinds of things on that car have to be thrown away.

And that house There's rotted boards.

It's probably moldy boards, those have got to go.

They can't stay in that house.

There's old electrical systems that are outdated.

They're dangerous.

Those can't stay in there.

They got to go.

Damaged plumbing, old shingles, all those things have to be thrown away.

They cannot stay in that house.

If that house is going to be restored to new.

And it's the same way with our soul.

Same way with our soul.

In Romans chapter 6 verses 1 through 6.

Romans chapter 6 verses 1 through 6.

What shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

You know, if, if grace is what cleans us up, we have a little bit of sin that takes a little bit of grace to clean us up.

But if we have a lot of sin, well, now grace is abounding to clean us up.

So should we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Certainly not.

Certainly not.

How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Or do you not know that as many as us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.

Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

And so we have to stop the habitual sin.

Get those things out.

In Ephesians chapter 32 verses 21 through 22.

The truth is in Jesus.

The truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts.

We have to put off those old deeds, put off that old man.

Colossians chapter 3 and verse 21.

Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds.

We're going to speak the truth if we put the old person off.

According to Colossians 21:27.

There are going to be parts that need to be gotten rid of.

And the second is that There are new parts that are going to have to be added.

There are new parts they're gonna have to be added.

For the car, you're gonna have to put new paint on it, new hoses, new tires, new electrical harnesses, new radiator, uh, a new or rebuilt engine.

On and on and on, new seats.

There's a lot of new things that are gonna have to go in there if it's gonna be restored to new.

And the house, again, you're gonna have to have new paint, new plumbing, new electrical, new trim, new drywall, and on and on and on.

There's a lot of new things that's gonna, that are gonna have to go in to bring that up to new again.

And our soul is no different.

We are to put on a new person.

In Ephesians chapter 224 verse 230, Ephesians 232:303.

And having put on the new man, which is renewed.

Ephesians 230:232, be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

And then you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

And then Colossians 2180:10, put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image who created him.

And this is what repentance is.

Is putting off the old and putting on the new, bearing fruits worthy of repentance.

Bearing fruits worthy of repentance.

In Luke chapter 13 verse 3, Jesus said, I tell you, unless you repent, you're gonna perish.

Bear fruits worthy of repentance.

In Galatians 3:27, as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

You know, putting on the new man means putting on Jesus Christ by being buried with Him.

In baptism.

We have to put on.

New things And then the 3rd Is that We have to become clean There are things that are going to need to be cleaned up.

You know, not every part of that car gets thrown away.

Some of it's going to stay.

Not every part of that house is going to get thrown away.

Some of it's gonna stay.

But the parts that stay can't stay the way that they are.

They have to be cleaned up.

We have a heart and a mind before.

And after when we're the old man in sin and when we're the new man.

We have that the same.

Heart and mind within us.

But our heart and mind has to be cleaned up.

It has to be cleaned up, can't stay the same that it was before.

In Psalm 323:10, Psalm 51:10, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

In 1 John chapter 1 and verse 7, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Yes, we have a part in this.

We have to put off the old man and put on the new man.

We have to believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of, of those who diligently seek Him.

But there is no cleaner.

That we can come up with that's going to clean up our heart.

There's no way in the world that we can clean up our heart.

Ourself We must rely fully.

On the grace and compassion and mercy of God and the blood of His Son to clean us up.

The blood of Jesus Christ is the only thing that can clean.

Of our soul.

Our soul has been broken down by sin and so it has to be.

Restored In Proverbs 24, Verses 30 through 32.

In Proverbs 24:30 through 32.

A man Observes a piece of property.

That needs to be restored.

He writes, I went by the field of the lazy man and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding, and there it was all overgrown with thorns.

Its surface was covered with nettles.

Its stone wall was broken down.

And when I saw it, I considered it well.

I looked on it and received instruction.

The wise man received instruction because he looked at this broken down piece of property.

And he made the application to his own soul.

He too had a piece of property that needed to be restored.

And that property was his inner self.

And we like him, each of us like him have an eternal soul.

An inner self that needs to be restored and maintained.

I looked upon a farm one day.

That one site used to own.

The barn had fallen to the ground.

The fields were overgrown.

The house in which my children grew, where we had lived for years.

I turned to see it broken down and brushed aside the tears.

I looked upon my soul one day to find it too had grown.

With thorns and thistles everywhere, the seeds neglected so.

The years had passed while I had cared for things of lesser worth, the things of heaven I let go while minding things on earth.

To Christ I turned with bitter tears and cried, Oh Lord, forgive.

I haven't much time left for thee, not many years to live.

The wasted years forever gone, the days I can't recall.

If I could live those days again, I'd make him Lord of all.

Let's not have regret.

But instead, let's determine today that we are going to serve God today and tomorrow.

As costly as it may be.

I'm going to pay the price to restore the foundation of my house because my house is worth saving.

But more importantly, as costly as it may be, day by day, I must turn to the one who paid the price.

To restore my soul because my soul is worth saving and your soul is worth saving.

And so this morning, does your soul need to be restored to the Lord?

If you've never become a Christian, you have the opportunity to do that this morning.

If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Then you can come to him in faith.

Confess your faith in Him that Jesus is Lord of your life.

Repent of the things you've done in the past.

Turn 180 degrees away from those things.

Turn toward the Lord.

And be baptized into Christ, to put on Christ, to rise to walk in newness of life.

Or if you've done this and you need the prayers of your brothers and sisters here.

We're here to help in any way you need while we stand the same.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun PM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Ian Boike

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

Ephesians 6 verses 10 through 17.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cause and powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, stand firm.

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet have put on, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Good evening.

It's wonderful to see everyone out.

I also want to include that in our visitors as well.

We're excited to have you.

And if you've been an Alabama resident for quite a while, maybe you have driven up I-63 going north near Chilton County.

And near this Chilton County line, there's a famous sign that I'm sure many of you have seen.

And this sign has a picture of a red figure walking carrying a scythe.

With the caption that reads, Go to church or the devil will get you.

And I'm sure this sign has sparked a lot of controversy and maybe even conversation in the cars of many families.

But what do you think this sign says to certain people?

One way that it could be read is that if you go to church, you're automatically saved.

And you're safe from Satan.

And as long as you go to church and you attend, you sit in the pew.

You're safe from everything that could go wrong.

And this is not the case, but unfortunately, so many in the world have this misconception.

And this idea that life is like playing a game of tag where church is the home base, and nothing can get you.

This idea is dangerous.

And that's why I believe this evening, it's pertinent for us to discuss why people believe this, and why they believe that the church building will keep them safe.

Versus what will actually keep them safe and, and secure their salvation.

And this evening, I want to start again by why do people believe that the church building will keep them safe.

And there are 3 reasons that I've put together, and the first being that they believe this because people don't know the true definition of the of the word church.

Society has watered down the definition of the term church, and many believe that the definition of church is a brick and mortar building with lights.

And doors The second reason is that people have watched way too many Hollywood movies.

Leading many people to believe that Satan can't enter a church building because it's quote unquote, holy ground.

In many Hollywood movies, the characters who are portraying the character as Satan have one thing in common.

Satan is portrayed as being weaker than the scriptures describe him to be.

Leading many in the world to believe that Satan is restricted from entering churches because churches are all, of course, consecrated by God.

And the 3rd and final reason is they believe this because they don't know the true purpose of the building.

Many people believe that the church building is here just to keep them safe from the dangers of temptation and sin and yes, even Satan.

But we are just as susceptible to temptation and sin as if we were standing on the grass just outside these walls.

But what do the scriptures say about these reasons, and that, and that's what I want to dive into next this evening.

But what is the true definition of the word?

Church?

In Ephesians chapter 1, we see that Paul is writing to the saints in Ephesus and in Rome in Romans chapter 12, where he gives an exact definition of the word church.

In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 21, we're told, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.

And above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body.

The fullness of him who fills all and all.

And in Romans chapter 12 verses 4 and 5, we're told something very similar for as for as in one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function.

So we, though many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

And the word church that's used in these verses comes from the Greek word ecclesia, meaning assembly or called out ones.

And this definition was God's intended idea of how we should be towards each other and how we should be an assembly of like-minded believers.

Not this watered down version of where all the word church means it's just a physical building with four walls, air conditioning, lights, and pews.

And now that we understand the true meaning of the word church from its Greek meaning, I think it's pertinent to know, is there anywhere that Satan cannot go.

And in Hollywood movies, many of them, even short films have downplayed just how powerful Satan is.

In the film, the Pope's Exorcist, which debuted in 63, explains in throughout the movie that Satan can attack and possess anybody.

As long as they are not within the confines of a church.

Or a place that is considered holy ground.

And while this movie is pure fiction, because of course, there's no such thing as demon possession anymore, people in the world have taken this to mean that as long as I'm within a church building's confines, and I go to church regularly, I'm protected from all temptation and sin.

And because of films like this, the world has decided that Satan is not as powerful as the scriptures say that he is.

In 1 John chapter 5 and verse 19, we're told, we know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

First Peter 24:27 tells us, be sober-minded, be watchful.

Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

I didn't read in any any either one of those verses that says, we all know that we're, we are from God and the whole world lies within the power of the evil one except for church buildings.

I didn't read that.

Temptation is present everywhere, not just outside of the church building.

But what is the purpose of the building?

The purpose of the building is to have a consistent meeting place for worship.

And while there's no scripture that obligates us to meet in a physical church building, we are commanded to assemble on the first day of the week to do things such as partaking of the Lord's supper and of giving.

In 291 Corinthians chapter 2424 and verses 26 to 26, Paul tells us, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you.

That the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

And in the same way, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup.

Is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

And the reason that we know, this is because of example, in Acts chapter 103, verse 210, we see where Paul gives an example of them doing this on the first day of the week.

And the scriptures only command us to assemble together on the first day of the week.

Where we meet is up for us to decide.

Some people meet in a church building, others meet at someone's house, maybe even a rental building.

And as we've seen Allen, whenever he'll come back, I'm sure he'll do.

You know, pictures and everything telling us about his trip.

We've seen plenty of times where the saints in Africa, they sit under trees on logs.

They don't have buildings.

And if they do, they don't compare to what we have here.

So it really doesn't matter where the saints assemble as long as we are following the commandments that the Lord has given us.

And if you had this this conception of or this idea that we are safe in the church building.

It can be a little bit of a letdown because we want to feel safe in our souls.

But what can we do that will keep us safe?

What will secure our soul's safety?

And the first idea that I came up with was leaning on the church.

Leaning on our brothers and sisters.

And for any visitors who haven't been here before, maybe this is your first time, we have a big picture.

In the lobby That shows all of the members and their families who attend here and in the very middle, it says, we are family.

And this is the attitude that we're commanded to have with one another.

In Romans chapter 217 and verses 26 and 10.

We're told, let love be genuine, abhor what is evil.

Hold fast to what is good.

Love one another with brotherly affection.

Outdo one another in showing honor.

And in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 11, we're told.

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing.

But how can brothers and sisters in Christ effectively lean on each other?

If they neglect to meet together.

And that's what the Hebrews writer has to deal with in Hebrews chapter 10 and verses 24 to 173.

And let us consider how to stir one up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another and all the more you see as the day drawing near.

And though it's important to lean on each other, more importantly, we need to be leaning on the Lord.

And many worldwide have decided to lean on their own understanding and live their life their way.

In Proverbs chapter 3 and verses 5 and 6, we're told, Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.

And the Lord is insisting us in commands to submit and lean on him.

And James chapter 4 and verse 7, we're told, submit yourselves, therefore, to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

And in the 91st Psalm, in the first two verses were told, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.

And actually, the last picture that I had up there of that church building, that was the church building that I grew up in.

And one of the most beautiful songs that I ever got to sing back whenever I was a kid was leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

It's number 424 in the song's hymns and spiritual songs book.

And I want to read the verses so that we can take into understanding what is trying to be portray what is trying to be explained.

The first verse tells us what a fellowship.

What a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms.

What a blessedness.

What a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms.

Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way leaning on the everlasting arms.

Oh how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread?

What have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms.

I have blessed peace with my Lord so near.

Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Leaning on Jesus, leaning on Jesus, safe and secure from all of ours, leaning on Jesus, leaning on Jesus, leaning on the everlasting arms.

What a beautiful song.

What it, what an encouragement to us knowing that nothing will ever change.

And that what we have nothing to dread, we have nothing to fear.

If we lean on the everlasting arms.

In a major part of leaning on those everlasting arms, leaning on the Lord is putting on the whole armor of God, as Brother Davis read for us in our scripture reading.

Ephesians chapter 6.

Verses 6, sorry, excuse me, chapter 6, verses 10 through 17.

And finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

Against the against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm, stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

And as for the shoes, for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Only by putting on the whole armor of God, can we know what true protection feels like.

Only then can we feel true peace.

Only then can we feel the Lord near to us, that we would have nothing to dread or fear, and that we would feel safe and protected from all alarms.

I don't know anybody who doesn't have an alarm or security system in their home.

We crave security.

And that's what the Lord offers us.

He offers us the protection and the sense of security that we want.

And as Christians, our definition of the church must remain.

Must differ from that of the world's.

The church is not a structure, just made of bricks, wood, and metal, as the world would tell you.

The church is in fact a willing assembly of like-minded believers that we can stand against the the stand against the flaming darts of the evil one together.

And that sign on the side of the highway here in Alabama.

It states an intended message that can make people get a false sense of security.

When they enter a church building.

And we need to understand that Satan is actively pursuing us every single day.

And that's why being vigilant and knowing who Satan is in his power, we can't overlook it.

And we're given every tool that we need to succeed.

We need uh we have given every single tool that we need in order to feel the safety and protection from the Lord.

And those tools are the pieces of armor that are listed in Ephesians 6.

And if you're not a Christian this evening, You may have been under the impression that a church building was more than just, wasn't just more than just a building, or that Satan was not able to get you while you're in here.

These ideas are dangerous because they're simply not true and that Satan loves it when we limit him in our minds.

It gives him an edge.

And there's one thing that Satan would hate, and that would be for you to make a decision this evening to change your life.

To get your life right with God.

Because if you're not a Christian, you're not a part of God's family.

You're not under his protection.

And Christ's sacrifice on the cross allows you this moment, in this moment to become his child.

We have everything here ready to assist you in becoming his child under his protection.

And if you're already a Christian, it's essential for you to understand.

That Satan loves it when Christians become lukewarm.

And that means that you're not being vigilant about the lion that is constantly circling you daily, just waiting for the right moment to strike.

And maybe your armor has begun to fall off.

Or perhaps you sinned against the Father, causing you to be fully separated from him.

Christ's sacrifice on the cross allows you the opportunity as well to to gain the forgiveness for your transgressions.

And if you seek his forgiveness, he has told us he is willing and he is able to forgive us of those sins so that we may be reunited with with Him once again.

And here in just a moment, we're going to sing the hymn leaning on the everlasting arms.

And as we sing this song, I want you to keep in mind, not just the beautiful melody.

But keep in mind what it's talking about and the importance that it has.

And if you're ready to make the change in your life tonight.

That will allow you to feel safe and protected.

Please come to the front as we stand and as we sing.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Jared Davis

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

It's good to see everybody here this morning.

We do have visitors with us, and we're so glad that you're here.

And we invite you back anytime you can be with us, especially to hear brother Alan Dvorak, who's our regular speaker.

As it was said, he is uh he's preaching in Africa at the moment, but he always does a good job for us.

Appreciate the song service.

Appreciate brother Williams reading that passage for us, for our scripture reading, Lord willing, that'll be our last passage of the sermon.

But I want to start us out with a question.

What's something found throughout the scriptures, but is never mentioned by name.

We've got a lot of smart people in here, and I'm pretty confident you could come up with an answer that would be correct, but that's different from what I'm looking for.

The answer I'm looking for is perspective.

No, you won't find the word perspective in the Bible.

But yet from cover to cover, the scriptures are filled with perspective.

Mr. Webster gives a definition that I think is of interest to us.

And that is the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance.

For our study this morning, we'll define perspective as our frame of mind, our outlook, for our point of view.

You know, perspective is a technique used in photography.

Now I'm not a photographer.

Far from it, but I've always been impressed when I see those techniques used effectively.

This photo here on the right is actually one I took when me and Brittany were in Sequoia.

And I'll admit, if any technique was used, it was on accident.

But I think it, it proves the point well.

If I had taken a picture of this tree by itself in a forest, it would have just looked like a big tree.

But when you consider the background elements, the people, they're, they're very small and the museum in the background, I think it puts the true size of that tree in the proper perspective.

You know, an interesting thing about perspective is that it's always changing.

I remember the, the first time I preached this lesson, me and Brittany had just started dating.

A lot has changed since then.

And so I went to revisit this sermon and I reworked the whole thing.

It doesn't even resemble its former self.

Turns out my perspective had changed.

You may say, well, Jared, what's the big deal?

How does that apply to me?

Well, when you consider the Christian, Those of us that are Christians, our frame of mind.

The way we look at things is so central to who we are.

To how we live.

To how we act and react to things that happen to us in this world.

Reminds me of Joe.

All that happened to him.

Yet he remained faithful.

is so commendable.

I think you could say that he kept the proper perspective.

That's what I want us to consider this morning.

What is the Christian perspective?

What does it look like?

What does it consist of?

And I hope this will be a beneficial study to us.

First point I want to make.

is that our perspective begins with reality.

And I'll say, I think this is the element of our perspective that is formed before we become Christians.

And hopefully you'll see that as we go through this.

I think that's noteworthy.

We come to a sense of reality.

And I think there's two essential concepts that we come to realize.

The first is realized when we see ourselves for who we really are.

And that's someone who is in sin.

Someone who is in need spiritually.

You also know there's nothing you can really do about it.

We realize that we're spiritually helpless.

We'll see that in Romans chapter 5, verse 6, the New American Standard Bible says for a while we were still helpless.

At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

When I hear the word helpless, the first thing that comes to my mind is babies, little children.

Think about Jude.

He can't do anything without me and Brittany doing it for him.

Little children cannot provide for themselves.

They must rely on someone else to provide what they need.

And as much as you would hate to admit it, there's a similarity there with us, even as adults, but not in a physical sense.

And a spiritual one.

And we who are Christians have acknowledged this.

You may say, well, everybody knows that.

Well, it doesn't appear like it.

I think a lot of people either they don't know it, or they won't admit to it.

They won't admit that they need help.

And I think it's easier said than done.

It takes a lot of humility.

Jesus begins emphasizing humility as he begins his ministry.

Matthew chapter 5 said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for there's is the kingdom of God.

This idea of being lowly in heart, poor in spirit, being humble.

He emphasized that very early on.

You know, Alan uses the new living translation as his paragon for translational accuracy.

I've found myself over the years looking at the God's word translation just to.

Just to get a chuckle, would not recommend it, but I thought it interesting how they paraphrased the the a part of Matthew chapter 5 and verse 3.

Say blessed are those who realize they are spiritually helpless.

Convenient for our study.

Once we humble ourselves and acknowledge the helpless state that we're in, we understand we must rely on someone else.

That is, we have to put our trust in some other source, and we realize.

That can only be God, and that's the second part of this reality is God is the source of hell.

We read it in Romans chapter 5.

When we were helpless, he provided what we needed.

Again, I think it takes humility to admit that, especially in our modern time.

We have unlimited access to information.

We feel in control, we feel empowered.

And we don't like to give up control.

Where do we go when we need help?

We go to Google It's exactly where we go.

I can't tell you how many times I've watched one YouTube video and I, and I, I felt like a subject matter expert.

I ended up doing something I had no business doing.

That's the difference between living in the fantasy world and the real world.

But the reality is God is our source for everything.

So many verses we could use to illustrate that point.

I'm going to put up Colossians 13.

I think it gives us an amazing list of things that God has done for us.

Take a look at all these action items here if you can see that.

Be a little small.

Verse 11, he strengthens us with all power.

Verse 12, he gives us an inheritance.

Verse 13, he delivered us and adds us to the kingdom.

Verse 14, he redeemed us and he forgave us.

Skipping to verse 22, he reconciled us.

Then in verse 27, he gives us whole.

Hope of glory God is the helper of the helpless.

He can supply every need, and he's the only one that can do that.

We as Christians have come to realize that.

I think our perspective begins with reality.

You know, the way we accept God's help is by obeying the gospel.

And if we all think back to the times or the time that we, we were baptized, those of us that are Christians, I think you'll agree that once we become a child of God and accept his help, we're left with a deep sense of gratitude.

That's our next point this morning, gratitude.

The Christian perspective is shaped by gratitude.

The gratitude is a principal aspect, I believe, of our outlook.

And I think it shows itself in, in many ways.

The first being simply in our attitude.

You ever heard the phrase attitude of gratitude?

I like that phrase.

I, I think it's a great way to describe the attitude of a Christian.

It should be positive.

It should be joyful.

And I know that we've all met a Christian.

That was a little bit more negative than they should be.

But can you really picture a fundamentally negative Christian?

A a fundamentally pessimistic Christian.

I struggle that you can picture that.

Cause those words don't go together.

Those words are oxymorons.

It should not be so.

We should be a positive people.

After all, we've been saved.

We've been healed.

We were dead, and now we've been made alive.

It's Romans chapter 6.

We have hope now.

Many verses we could go to illustrate that point.

Romans chapter 15 says, says, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.

That you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We believe, right?

We can have all joy and all peace.

We should be a positive people.

Secondly, I think our gratitude can be seen in our ability to be content.

Contentment is the state of being happy.

The state of being joyful or grateful.

And that leads us into a powerful point.

And that is our state of joy, our state of gratitude is not contingent on circumstances.

Let that sink in for a moment.

The gratitude of a Christian.

Has the ability to go unaffected.

By things that would naturally affect most people.

Think about poverty.

Hardships, persecution, loneliness, sickness, death.

The list goes on.

There's joy to be found in all situations for the Christian.

First Peter chapter 1 verses 23 through 8.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you've been grieved by various trials that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it's tested by fire may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love.

Though now you do not see Him yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

So much joy you can hardly even express it.

James 1:2-3, my brethren counted all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

I think Paul leaves us an amazing example of gratitude shown in his contentment.

Philippians chapter 4.

Versus 1112.

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I've learned in whatever state I am to be content.

I know how to be abased.

I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I've learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

We live in that state of gratitude.

No matter what.

The Christian perspective, our outlook is, is shaped by gratitude.

Third point this morning is clarity.

What do you feel when you see this photo?

I've been wearing contacts for almost 20 years now.

For me, this is one of those photos I can hear.

You can hear the optometrist saying 1 or 2.

143 or 4.

And I'll confess, I never really understood what this thing was measuring.

But to me, it was always something to do with clarity because there's always one option, a little bit more clearer than the other.

I don't know what parameter it was looking at.

But it showed me that clarity makes all the difference in your vision.

Christians see things clearly.

Our perspective is enhanced with clarity.

I think a large part of that comes from the knowledge and understanding we have of the gospel, God's word.

If you don't think we have knowledge, I encourage you to read verse John.

Uh, I had the privilege of teaching a high school class on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, John and Jude with Brother Gary Copeland, and I was impressed with how many times know and knowledge pop up in those books.

I think largely to the part they were dealing with the false teaching of gnosticism that was occurring at the time of writing, but it still proves the point for us, uh, that there's some stuff that we know.

We have knowledge.

It's not because we're so smart though, it's because God revealed it to us.

There's aspects of the gospel that have been referenced as being a mystery.

But we know that mystery has been revealed to us, to the believers.

1 Corinthians chapter 2.

Verse 7 says, but we speak.

Paul is speaking of, of the things that he's writing, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.

The hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.

And of course, he in his letter is revealing that hidden wisdom to the Christians.

Skipping down to verse 10, um, Paul says, but God has revealed them to us.

Through his spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

In Ephesians chapter 3.

Again, Paul, for this reason I Paul, he writes, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which was given to me for you, how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I have briefly written already, by which when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.

If we grew up in the church, Maybe you think that's common knowledge, but it's not.

The stuff we know is not common knowledge, sadly.

I think the gospel is still a mystery to most people today.

It's hidden knowledge to them.

You know in 33 Timothy chapter 2 in verse 4, God desires that all would come to a knowledge of his truth.

So that they could see clearly.

I think our knowledge provides us clarity.

But what is knowledge without understanding?

Not really worth a whole lot.

You remember the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.

He knew where to read.

He knew what to read.

What was he getting out of it?

He didn't understand what he was reading.

Not only do we have knowledge, but we have understanding, and that's key for us.

Per chapter 5 verse 20, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true in His Son Jesus Christ.

He is the true God and eternal life.

Just noticed those, those hymns should be capitalized.

I apologize for that.

In Colossians chapter 2 and verse 2 says that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding.

And the knowledge of God's mystery which is Christ.

Understanding is enlightening.

On the other side of that is darkness.

The whole world lies in darkness.

Believe that 2 Corinthians chapter 3 speaks of those having their understanding darkened.

They're blinded to the light of the gospel.

I have no clarity in their vision.

But we walk in the light as opposed to darkness.

Ephesians chapter 133 verses 17 and 18 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened.

That you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance to the saints.

Psalm 119 verse 212, Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

I had a Bible cover growing up that had that verse on the front.

I've always known that verse and loved it, and it paints a vivid picture of what the word of God does for us.

Understanding God's word allows us to see all things.

Clearly as it lights our path in this world.

Just a few examples I thought of.

Uh, we can clearly see the lines of morality, good and evil.

We see sin and temptation for what they are.

The world is blinded to that.

We see the temporal nature of this world.

And the things in it, they're passing away.

We see the world certainly as God's handiwork.

I think more and more people aren't recognizing that nowadays.

We clearly see what pleases God.

And what displeases him.

And we know what real agape love is.

What real sacrifice is.

Appreciaterother Kevin and his thoughts.

Now we can see that.

I think the world is, is still blind to that, and that's sad.

The list goes on.

Our clear vision is a huge part of our perspective.

And I think it goes hand in hand with our next point.

Which is certainty.

We also see the world with certainty, and we live with certainty.

Which is in direct opposition to how the world lives.

The world is in a constant state of uncertainty, really about everything.

About the natural world itself and where it came from, its origins.

They're uncertain about our origins.

Our purpose, they don't know why we're here.

They're certainly uncertain about God Himself.

His origins, if he even exists, where did he come from?

Who is he?

What is his nature?

Yeah, they're uncertain about all that.

They're uncertain about what he expects of us.

They live in uncertainty about death and what comes after.

They don't know.

It's a very sad way to live.

To sum it up, the world is uncertain about the past, the future, and everything in between.

As Christians, we don't live that way.

We don't live that way because the God we serve is certain.

Malachi 22:21, for I, the Lord, for I am the Lord, I do not change.

James chapter one, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

With whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Speaks to God's immutability.

His fixed, unchangeable nature.

God alone is immutable.

We also Don't live in uncertainty because God's promises are certain.

He is certain, along with his promises.

Hebrews chapter 22, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

There's no need to waiver.

Tt chapter one says, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie.

Promise before time began.

His promises are certain.

Because of who God is.

We have absolute certainty.

In creation We know where we came from.

We know who created us.

Life's necessities.

You know, the world is uncertain where they're gonna come from or if they're gonna come at all.

We're certain about that.

Matthew chapter 214 tells us if we'll seek first His kingdom, he'll add those things to us.

God will take care of us.

Now Uh, side note on that, he may not give us everything we want, but he'll give us everything we need.

We can have absolute certainty in who God is and what He expects of us.

We know what happens after death.

We're certain in the judgment.

It's appointed for a man once to die and after this the judgment.

The judgment is inescapable, and we're certain about that.

Christians should be a certain people.

Our perspective, I think, is grounded in certainty, unwavering, as we read earlier.

Last point this morning is focus.

Our perspective is guided by focus.

You could argue that focus is the most important part of our perspective.

You can have everything where it needs to be.

But if you're out of focus, or if you're, you're focused on the wrong thing.

You've lost your sense of direction.

If we're out of focus, we've lost our way.

Going back to photography, there's a technique.

Called framing your subject.

It uses elements in the composition of an image to draw the viewer's attention.

To the subject to highlight, to isolate.

To direct focus to the subject.

I think you can see where I'm going with this.

It begs the question, what is our subject?

We need to be able to answer that.

What's our subject?

What are we framing?

What are we directing our focus to?

I think in basic terms, our subject is the unseen.

Christians focus on the unseen.

They say, well, how can you, how can you do that?

How can you focus on something you can't even see?

The world is definitely perplexed by that.

Colossians 23 and verse 143, set your mind on things that are above, not on things on the earth.

214 Corinthians chapter 211, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

We're looking above.

We're looking to the eternal.

I'll tell you that's very different from the way the way the world lives.

Everyone around us, they're solely focused on what's right in front of them.

Only the things that they can see.

The physical, the temporal, as we said earlier, those things are passing away.

Focused on the wrong thing.

And that's so sad because that is a perspective without hope.

With no hope Well we happen to have the greatest hope.

Romans chapter 211 verses 24 and 25, where in this hope, we are saved.

Now I hope that is seen is not hope.

For who hopes what he sees, for who hopes for what he sees.

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Now that tells us about our hope.

It doesn't tell us quite what our hope is.

We have to back up to verse 23 to see that.

It says not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons.

The redemption of our bodies, that's our hope.

We're hoping to see our adoption finalized.

We don't want to stay here.

We want to be where God is.

You know, I think that's one way our hope saves us.

We see in verse 24.

In this hope we're saved.

I think our hope keeps us focused on what really matters.

I think that's one way I hope can save us.

And our hope leads us to focus on God and serving Him.

We alluded to Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, already, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Thank Timothy 113:15, be diligent, study to show yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We want God's approval.

We're focused on God and serving Him.

Our hope leads us to focus on our Savior.

Colossians chapter 3 and verse 1.

If then you've been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Hebrews chapter 12, I've, I've always loved verse 2, verse 1 tells us to lay aside the sin that weighs us down.

You can't get anywhere, dragging sin along with you, weighing you down, slowing you down.

Verse 2, looking to Jesus.

The author And finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Looking to Jesus.

Powerful We're focused on our savior.

Lastly, we're focused on our home that he's prepared for us.

He tells us that in John 14, I go to prepare a place for you.

Philippians chapter 3.

Verse 13 to 14.

This is Paul speaking, Brothers.

I do not consider myself as having laid hold of it yet.

One thing I do Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.

I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul was pressing on.

He was pressing towards his eternal reward.

I think we see this idea summed up so beautifully in what Brother David Williams read for us in our scripture reading.

How it describes those in Hebrews 11.

These all haven't died in faith.

Not having received the promises, they didn't receive them yet.

But they saw them.

Having seen them afar off, they were assured of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return to return.

But now they desire a better country.

That is a heavenly country.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city.

Through all of the outside noise and the distractions.

They could impair our vision.

We're able to look past.

All of it.

And focus on what really matters.

We're able to frame our subject.

Which is a home in heaven with God.

His Son Jesus, our Savior, and all of those who love the Lord.

That is our subject.

And that's what makes our perspective different.

A lot different.

Going back to what we just read there in Hebrews chapter 11, I think you could say that those people Having died in faith, they kept the proper perspective.

We hope to see them again one day.

It really is all about perspective.

So much more could have been said this morning and much better than I've said it.

But the Lord's invitation stands for all those that are willing to respond.

If you're not a Christian this morning, I hope you would realize the helpless state that you're in.

God can provide the help that you need.

You can respond.

To the gospel, be buried in baptism, become a child of his.

And have hope.

You can leave here with hope this morning, and we would hope that you would make that choice while you have time and opportunity.

There may be Christians here that need to respond for some other reason, maybe you need to confess sin or you need the prayers of the saints here.

If anyone has a need, we ask that you come forward now as we sing.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun PM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Allen Dvorak

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

You may have recognized that scripture reading as one of the passages that I used this morning.

In in talking.

Uh About the sermon topic this morning and so I just decided to go ahead and preach the same sermon again tonight.

I wondered if anybody would get up and leave.

It's good to see you this evening.

Her numbers seem to be a little depleted here.

Everybody's trying to get away from the Williams here and uh have left kind of an opening there, but it's good that we're able to be together this evening.

I don't know if you have ever had the opportunity to read much in the Quran, which is the sacred book for Muslims of the Islamic religion, but the God of Islam is a stern God.

Ali is a god of wrath, and if you read in the Quran, you'll understand that.

He loves only Muslims.

And he hates the unbeliever, is the way the Koran often pre uh presents his attitudes.

Only the saints or elect ones are ever said to be beloved of God, for they alone are the objects of his saving grace.

Now, while we view such a picture of God as being very inaccurate and peculiar to the Islamic religion, such is not the case.

The fact of the matter is that quotation is not from a Muslim.

That's from a Calvinist.

The Calvinists also see God as a stern God.

Have you ever had someone dislike you or hate you for apparent, no apparent reason?

And you may have thought to yourself, what did I ever do to this person that that person is treating me the way that they do.

Well, one of the most popular misrepresentations of God in modern evangelism.

One Calvinist writes, is that God loves everyone and wants to save everybody.

The first obvious thing about this fallacy is that the holy scriptures very clearly teach that there are many whom God hates.

For example, it is written in the book of Romans chapter 9, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Now, I think there's an explanation for that other than that God hates people in some sort of random, uh, capricious way.

But this evening, I want to talk to you about the doctrine of limited atonement.

We have been talking about Calvinism, off and on for some time this year.

And uh this evening, I want to proceed to the next major tenet we have described.

Uh, the major tenets of Calvinism by the uh acronym Tulip, which is common, and those letters reflect the various doctrines that are key to this uh systematic theology.

Total inherited depravity, we've talked about, unconditional election.

And this evening, we're going to proceed to talk about limited atonement.

The doctrine of limited atonement is sometimes called particular redemption.

You may have heard that expression, I'm not sure.

But what I'd like to do is talk about why people would believe that the cross of Jesus is not for everybody.

Why would anybody think that God hates some people for no particular reason?

Well, as we have done in the past, what I'd like to do is let some sources of Calvinistic doctrine just tell you in their own words what this doctrine is all about.

So I'm gonna look at 4 quotes this evening and then we'll look at some of their proof texts.

The first quote is from Dwayne Spencer in his book, Tulip.

And he is a Calvinist.

He says Christ died to save particular persons who were given him by the Father in eternity past.

His death was therefore 100% success.

In that, all for whom he died will be saved, and all for whom he did not die will receive justice from God when they are cast into hell.

You perhaps recall that we studied in the U of Tulip, unconditional election.

The idea that prior to the foundation of the world, before any human was created, God had looked forward and he had chosen certain individuals to be saved.

And of course, By implication, all those not chosen would then be lost.

That's what Spencer is talking about when he says, persons who were given him by the Father in eternity pass.

The Father chose, yes, yes, no, no, chose specific people, and Jesus died only for those people.

In another source entitled The Great, the Five Points of Calvinism, this is Steel and Thomas, they write Christ's redeeming work was intended to save the elect only, and actually secured salvation for them.

His death was a substitutionary endurance of the penalty of sin in the place of certain specified sinners.

So, uh, to put it in other words, Jesus took the punishment of those whom God had chosen to be saved.

In addition to putting away the sins of his people, Christ's redemption secured everything necessary for their salvation, including faith, which unites them to Him.

The Calvinist believes that faith is actually a gift that God gives to man.

It doesn't spring from man himself.

The gift of faith is infallibly applied by the Spirit to all for whom Christ died, thereby guaranteeing their salvation.

So I think by now you're, you're getting the sense of what they believe.

Again, from the same source, Dean Thomas, Christ did not die simply to make it possible for God to pardon sinners.

Interesting statement.

Neither does God leave it up to sinners as to whether or not Christ's work will be effective.

On the contrary, all for whom Christ sacrificed himself will be saved infallibly.

Everybody that Jesus died for will infallibly be saved.

That's what Spencer meant when he said that the sacrifice of Jesus is going to be 100% successful.

If Jesus died for somebody, that person is going to be saved no matter what.

Redemption, therefore, was designed to bring to pass God's purpose of election.

Thus, Christ's saving work was limited in that it was designed to save some and not others.

But it was not limited in value, for it was of infinite worth.

And listen to this last phrase and would have secured salvation for everyone if this had been God's intention.

I asked you, have you ever had someone just really dislike you or even hate you, and you couldn't figure out why you hadn't done anything to deserve that.

You hadn't done anything to, to, to break up a relationship.

They just decided in a random fashion to to decide to hate you.

And that very much expresses the idea behind unconditional election.

God looks at all of humanity, and he just picks unconditionally.

In other words, randomly, doesn't depend on you or me at all.

Who's going to be saved and who's gonna be lost?

And Steel and Thomas say, listen, God could have saved everybody by the death of Jesus Christ, by the cross.

But the implication is he just didn't choose to.

So if you're a no, It's because God could have saved you, but he decided not to.

Now, that's an encouraging doctrine, isn't it?

Here's the last quote.

This is from Spencer.

Christ did not die for all men.

Atonement was limited.

Redemption was particular meaning to specific individuals.

Only the elect bride of Christ was the object of his love.

I want to review for you, uh, we've talked a little bit about this in the past lessons, but so that it's fresh in our minds.

I want to talk to you about the connection between these first three tenets, total inherited ravity, unconditional election, and limited atonement.

We've said before that inherited total depravity is really the foundational tenet of Calvinism.

There is another principle that is likewise, kind of important in the whole systematic theology, and that's the sovereignty of God.

If God decides something's going to happen, it's gonna be done, that it's going to happen.

And so their the.

works that particular principle again and again.

But inherited total depravity is really the foundational doctrine.

And it says that every man is born with the guilt of Adam's sin charged against him.

Adam and Eve were born, uh, born.

They were created without sin, innocent.

They chose to sin, and when they did, they acted as our federal head.

In other words, they were the only human beings.

Adam was the head of the human race.

And so, in a sense, We participated in his sin.

Now, that's Calvinism.

I don't think the Bible teaches that, but that's what the Calvinists would suggest.

And so, we're involved in the sin, we inherit the guilt of Adam's sin.

When you're born, you're already got one strike against you.

Actually, two strikes.

Because the other consequence of inherited total depravity.

is total depravity.

It is that we inherit by physical generation, a nature that is totally inclined to evil and not to good.

The Calvinists would argue that you and I, if we are not, well, whether we're elect or not, in the beginning, we cannot choose to respond to God's invitation to salvation.

God has to regenerate us through the irresistible grace of the Spirit, and we'll talk about that when we get to the eye.

Of tulip But otherwise, we can't respond because we have this depraved, totally corrupted nature.

Now, unconditional election follows from inherited total depravity in that men are unable to choose to respond to the invitation of the gospel.

So, God made the choice for them.

And he didn't make the choice based on any particular condition, not whether you are a pretty good person or handsome or pretty or whatever.

God just randomly chose.

That's Calvinism.

And if God chooses for someone to be saved, he's going to be saved because of the sovereignty of God.

He is not to be thwarted in any of his plans.

By the same token, if he hasn't chosen someone to be saved, then that person cannot possibly be saved.

Now watch this.

This is like a card trick.

If certain people can't be saved.

Then why would Jesus die for those people?

That would make it seem as though the sacrifice of Jesus was not effective.

If he dies, and the purpose of his sacrifice was to provide grace for those to whom it's applied, if he dies, and for, for these people, and yet they're lost.

Then the implication for the Calvinist is that Jesus' sacrifice somehow fails in the case of those people who have not been selected by God.

It would be contradictory, they argue, to suggest that God chose some people to be lost, and then sent Jesus to die for their salvation.

That doesn't make any sense.

And the Calvinists suggests that if Jesus died for all men, and yet some men are not going to be saved, then God's will is foiled, thwarted.

And here's the kicker, he's not omnipotent.

He's not all powerful.

Because men thwarted the plan of God.

You see how all this works together, inherited total depravity, how it necessitates the next couple of doctrines, really all the way through.

And of course, the sovereignty of God is involved as well.

Well, where do they get this stuff?

Where, where would you go in the scriptures?

To read and come to the conclusion that Jesus didn't die for everyone.

Well, let me just suggest a few passages here that are sometimes, and, and this is by no means in an exhaustive list.

Uh, I'm just gonna give you, I think, 5 here, 4 or 5, and I'm gonna show you the argumentation because it's the same kind of argumentation with other passages as well.

One passage is Ephesians 5:33.

Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up.

Well, for who?

For her.

Jesus died for the church.

Who's the church?

Well, that's the elect.

Those are the ones that God has chosen unconditionally to be saved, according to Calvinism.

How about 1 Corinthians 5:7.

In the midst of his admonitions to the church at Corinth, Paul's encouraging them to get the leaven out of the congregation, the sinful brother, because our Passover has been sacrificed.

Christ, our Passover lamb.

Not the Passover lamb, our Passover lamb.

He's writing to Christians.

Once again, limited.

But God shows his love for us, Paul writes to the Roman Christians, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for who?

For us, He died for us.

And then one final passage here.

In John 10, Jesus uses the metaphor of a shepherd.

He's the good shepherd, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for whom?

For my sheep.

Who are the sheep in John 10?

They're the people who are listening to the voice of the shepherd.

John 10 doesn't talk about Christians, it would be an anachronism.

But Jesus instead describes the sheep as those who listen, who hear his voice.

And John 10:15 says, Jesus said, I lay down my life for my sheep, for the sheep.

So that sounds a lot like uh it's very limited, Jesus sacrifice to Christians, just to the elect.

Well, let me make just a very quick response to that, and I'm going to make a response to the argument that's being made here.

It's the same argument essentially in all of these passages.

I want to ask the question, did Christ love only the church?

That's the argument.

That the Calvinist is making.

Christ didn't just love the church, he loved only the church, limited atonement.

Was Christ sacrificed for all men, or was he sacrificed only for the elect?

The church, Christians.

Did Jesus lay down his life for all men, or only for his sheep?

You see, the Calvinist in each of these cases, assumes that the verses are exclusive.

There's not an only in these verses.

But that's the way they're looking at the verses.

When it says he gave himself up for her, Jesus gave himself up only for the church.

I want to show you an illustration.

From another passage.

To show you that that kind of thinking is invalid in many places.

The passage I want to talk about is 1 Thessalonians 203.

First Thessalonians 4 is talking about the resurrection.

A little bit of background in chapter 4, if you're not familiar with that chapter, is that apparently the Thessalonians were a little concerned that some Christians who had died after having become Christians, that they, they were not going to be able to participate in the resurrection of Christ.

They're gonna miss out.

And so Paul is comforting the living brethren about the future of these deceased brethren.

And so he says, but we do not want you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep, the way he talks about death, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

For this, we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ.

will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore, Paul writes, encourage one another with these words.

What about the wicked?

What does Paul say about the resurrection of the wicked?

We know there are religious groups, uh, the Jehovah's Witnesses, for instance, who believe that the wicked just pass out of existence, that they don't exist anymore.

The only people who are going to be erased eventually are the righteous.

And you look at this passage, and frankly, it doesn't say anything about any wicked people being resurrected.

So you could look at this passage, the same way the Calvinist looks at Ephesians 5:25, when it says that Christ gave himself up for her, that is the church.

And you could assume that Paul's only talking about the resurrection of the righteous because those are the only ones who are going to be resurrected.

He doesn't say anything about the wicked, but here's the problem with that.

Jesus said some things about this too.

Jesus said in John 5:28-29, do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs, a little bit earlier in the chapters, just a few verses, he talks about uh those uh who will hear his voice.

And he's talking about a spiritual resurrection.

But here, he talks about those who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.

Now, listen, who is, who's gonna come out?

Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who've done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Jesus talks about a resurrection in which both the righteous and the wicked are going to come out.

What did he say?

An hour is coming, same time.

Incidentally, pre-millennialism does not have any such root. Resurrection.

Jesus said they'll both be resurrected.

Why didn't Paul talk about that?

Well, the reason is, Paul was uh talking to the Thessalonians about the righteous dead.

That was his concern.

What was happening, uh, what would happen to those who had already passed prior to the return of Jesus Christ.

He's not denying the resurrection of the wicked.

He just didn't include that information.

So what we need to do, And what we will do with these proof texts.

is we need to combine all that the Bible says about the sacrifice of Jesus and how broadly it was offered.

Just like here with the resurrection, we take 1 Thessalonians 4, but we also look at John 73, and we realize that 1 Thessalonians 4 is not exclusive in the sense that it just eliminates the resurrection of the wicked.

When we put John 5 together, we understand then that Paul is focused on the righteous because of the circumstances of the letter that he's writing.

There are several passages which suggest that Christ's death.

It was for more than just the elect in its scope.

Uh, this is a passage that we all recognize.

John 23:223, if you've ever been to a football game.

You've seen a sign that says for God to love the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Now, that should just ice it, right?

I mean, it says for God so loved the world.

If he loved the world, then how could anybody conclude that God hates some people or many people, as Spencer suggested in his work early on.

Well, you have to understand that the Calvinist reasons that world here is a limited term.

It only refers to the elect.

You know, if you get to define words the way you want to, you can almost make the Bible teach anything, can't you?

So world, and I want you to remember this.

world here, according to them, just means the elect.

Well, there are other passages as well.

Hebrews the 28nd chapter and verse 28, you may be already thinking of some of these, but we see him, the writer says, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for Everyone Well, what does the Calvinist say about that?

Well, the Calvinist explains that everyone or every man of some translations, uh, render it means both Jew and Gentile.

Steele and Thomas make that argument in their book.

So everyone doesn't mean everyone, it only means Jew and Gentile.

First John 23:220-403.

The apostle John wrote, My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

He is the propitiation for our sins.

And not for ours only but also for what now?

The sins of the whole world.

You see that John's making a distinction between us, Christians and the whole world.

The Calvinist definition of world here won't work very well, will it?

It makes the verse repetitive, redundant, that expression.

Jesus says, and not for ours only.

But for the whole world, he's including others besides simply Christians.

That's kind of hard to get around.

240 Timothy the 23nd chapter.

Part of the reading for this evening.

This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved.

Do you remember the last quotation, number 216 that I that I read to you from Spencer, it was a short quotation.

It begins, God does not want all people to be saved, doesn't desire all people to be saved.

You know, when you just flatly contradict scripture, that's, that's a problem usually, isn't it?

Kind of suggests you're on the wrong path.

Who desires all people to save, to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

So there's one God and there's one mediator between God and men, the man in Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for Oh. When did Jesus gives himself as a ransom?

Well, on the cross.

He paid the ransom price in the shedding of his blood.

The blood, the giving of a life, an innocent human life was the price that had to be paid in order for people to be released from sin, from the bondage of sin.

Who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

And then finally, Titus chapter 2 and verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for All people.

Now, I think you can twist any of these verses if you're really interested in doing that.

But if you just read them the way that we would normally read such things as people, all people, world, whole world, you're gonna come to the conclusion that Jesus' death wasn't just for certain people, that it was really intended to benefit all of mankind.

God's grace has appeared bringing salvation for all people.

Well, of course, the foundational tenant inherited total depravity is incorrect.

You and I are not born guilty of sin.

We're not born with a corrupted nature.

And here's the problem.

If you start with a bad foundation, what happens to the rest of the house?

Inherited total depravity is the foundation of these other four doctrines that are part of the systematic theology known as Calvinism, and inherited to depravity is contrary to the scriptures.

So anything you build on that is already going to be flawed.

That's the Calvinists problem.

Listen to me carefully.

I'm gonna try to explain this, but it's a little bit, it may seem a little bit uh difficult to, to follow.

The Calvinist fails to distinguish between the provision of something and the application of it.

It's possible for Jesus to provide atonement for all of them, but that atonement not necessarily be applied to everyone.

Does that make sense?

That Jesus' sacrifice could be for everyone, but not everybody will choose to benefit from that sacrifice.

The Calvinist would argue if the death of Jesus was to save all men and some are not saved, then Christ's death failed to accomplish what it was supposed to accomplish.

And that's flawed reasoning.

Jesus' death was to give all men the opportunity for salvation.

But salvation is not unconditional.

And so we have to participate in that salvation.

We have to choose.

Whether we're going to have the blood of Jesus Christ applied to us or not.

The death of Jesus Christ was not intended to save men unconditionally, and so it can be applied to a smaller group of men than that for which it was provided or offered without failing in its purpose.

I'm gonna give you one other illustration and then we'll conclude our study.

This illustration has to do with the law of Moses.

The law of Moses could provide justification for men.

Did, did you hear what I just said?

The law of Moses could provide justification for men.

How could it do that?

Romans 10:5, Paul writes for Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.

If you don't sin, if you keep the law perfectly, guess what?

You're righteous.

Came to the law.

Law told you how to behave, you behaved perfectly.

You're righteous.

Men could be righteous.

Through the law of Moses, in fact, one man did.

Jesus did.

He never sinned according to Hebrews chapter 4.

But Paul, who wrote Romans 10:33, also wrote Romans 3:20.

And in that passage, he says, for by the works or works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since the law comes knowledge of sin.

Wait a minute.

What are you saying, Paul?

You said in 105 that the law could provide justification. Yes.

Through perfect obedience.

And there's the rub.

Men just don't do that, do they?

Paul would say in Romans 3:23, For all have sinned.

He's talking about the, the history, the, the track record of humanity, whether you're talking about Jew or Gentile, all that sinned.

They've all failed to be justified by the law of Moses or by the law to which they were uh accountable, the Gentiles obviously a different law.

Well, there you go.

If nobody was justified by the law of Moses and the law of Moses could justify people, then the law of Moses was a failure, right?

And by implication, God who gave the law also failed.

I'm playing the devil's advocate here, if you think I'm confused.

But that's essentially the Calvinist argument, is it?

That if people don't do things perfectly, if they don't avail themselves of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, then if Jesus offered it for that person, then he failed.

No, no, no, he didn't fail.

Men failed.

And that's why the Hebrews writer in chapter 8 is he compares the two covenants, the old covenant and the new covenant.

Here's what he says.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

See, there you go.

The Hebrews writer said that the first covenant was faultless, was faulty, I should say.

No, no, no.

Keep reading verse 8, for he finds fault with them.

The problem wasn't the covenant, the problem wasn't the law of Moses.

The problem was the people who are living under that law.

The law was Accomplish exactly what God intended it to accomplish, and that was to push men toward grace.

To help them understand that they couldn't do it by themselves, that they needed Jesus Christ.

They needed a savior.

That's why Paul says there in Romans 3:20 through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Men realized we're slaves, we can't be free.

Read the second half of chapter 7 of Romans.

For finding, he finds fault with them when he says, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord.

When I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant, so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.

Problem was with the people who didn't keep the law.

Law wasn't a failure.

Men were failures because they didn't keep the law.

The Calvinist reasons that the death of Jesus Christ would have been wasted on those.

whom God had not chosen for salvation.

If you didn't choose them for salvation, then essentially they are chosen for condemnation.

There's no point in Jesus dying for those people.

Because they're not gonna be saved, they can't do anything to be saved.

Well, I asked the question, is it not also a waste to preach the gospel, the good news about salvation through the death of Jesus to every creature?

I mean, that's what Jesus commanded, was it not?

In the great commission, go into all the world and preach the gospel to.

Everybody, everybody.

Wouldn't it be a waste to preach the gospel to everybody when Christ supposedly did not die for most of these to whom the gospel would be preached?

We wouldn't know who was a yes and who was a no, would we?

Only God knows that.

God's love is for all of humanity.

I don't know if there's anybody here tonight who suddenly has an epiphany as a result of the sermon and says, you know what?

Alan's convinced me that Jesus died for everyone.

I suspect that we believed that before we came here.

Which raises the interesting question, why are we sitting here for 40 minutes talking about it?

Here's the reason I want us To recognize.

That Jesus didn't die just for some people or some sort of generic group.

He died for you.

And he died for me.

God's love is for all of humanity.

His grace is available to whoever believes on his son, John 3:16 says.

The basic error of the Calvinist has to do with man's free will.

Calvinist says, man, really, they'll argue that man really doesn't have free will.

That he cannot choose salvation.

But while God wishes to save all of us, he allows us to choose either to accept his salvation.

Or to reject it, and you have that choice this evening.

That's not any denial of his sovereignty.

Someone says, well, if, if God issues an invitation and I can say no, then God's not sovereign.

No, no, no.

God says he's giving you and me the choice.

And believe me, there'll be consequences or blessings depending on the choice that we make.

And God will see that those things happen.

He is a sovereign God.

What will be your choice?

He died for you.

If you're not a Christian this evening.

He died for you, Jesus did on the cross.

That's a personal thing.

He died for everyone.

We are all in that group.

And God knows about every one of us.

And extends the invitation to the gospel to all of us.

If you need to obey the gospel this evening, please don't wait.

You have an opportunity right now.

We don't know what kind of future we have if we have any futures.

Jesus is coming back and when he does, all opportunity will be lost.

But you have the opportunity right now this evening to obey the gospel as it's uh summarized there on the slide.

So that the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross, and wash you of your sins, it'll pay the price for your redemption.

And we want to invite you.

We stand to encourage you by song if you'll come.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Allen Dvorak

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

Morning. Before the lesson, we are going to be reading Romans 12 verses 9 through 21, Romans 5, 9 through 21.

Uh, I'll be reading from the Legacy Standard Bible.

And the context is general exhortation.

Uh, so let's just jump in.

Romans 12:9 through 21.

Let love be without hypocrisy by abhorring what is evil, clinging to what is good, being devoted to one another in brotherly love, giving preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, being fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, persevering in affliction, being devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you.

Bless and do not curse.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

By being of the same mind toward one another, not being haughty in mind, but associating with the humble.

Do not be wise in your own mind.

Never paying back evil for evil to any one, respecting what is good in the sight of all men, if possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men.

Never taking your own revenge, beloved.

Instead, leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written.

Vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord.

But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in doing so you will heap burning coals on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Before we begin our study this morning, I would like to say a word of thanks.

To Aaron Grant and a number of the young girls of the congregation here.

who have worked to put together a booklet of Bible stories.

That's they're all in Shona, the language uh where The people where I was teaching in just a few days, that's what they speak.

They have very few materials, almost really nothing to be used to teach in the home, etc.

other than just their Shana Bibles.

And so those booklets, uh, will carry a few of them as uh some to distribute and then professor can perhaps uh produce more of those booklets.

Those would be very handy for parents to teach their children at a level that the children can understand and can accommodate.

And Erin, uh, Erin took this on at her own initiative.

And she has worked with Professor who has helped with the translation of English into Shona, but I wanted to say thank you, I meant to have a copy here this morning so that I could show you what they've done.

It's pretty impressive, uh, and I think it'll be very much appreciated.

In fact, I'm sure it will be.

In our Roman Catholicism class, which was the last session in the 2nd adult class.

We studied a little bit about some of the early church fathers.

The church fathers were Christians who, although not inspired, were writing spiritual materials, letters to churches, sometimes just uh uh.

Books or materials that would teach doctrine.

Some of them we have referred to as apologists.

Not that they were saying they were sorry, they are Christians, but the Greek word apologia means defense, and that's where we get our English word apology.

And so some Of those early church fathers were apologists.

They were writing to defend the Christian faith.

Well, why would they need to do that?

Well, the reason is, in general, Christians were not understood by pagan society.

The picture you're looking at is a group of individuals who are on the verge of becoming American citizens.

Christians in the 1st century and even beyond, particularly in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and even into the 103th century, Christians were not viewed as very good members of society.

I, I'm not using the word citizen because Roman citizens, that was a special relationship and most people were not Roman citizens.

But Christians were not even viewed as good members of society, which might surprise you.

But if you think about it, Christians were just basically different from everybody else.

Nearly all pagans were polytheistic.

They worshiped multiple gods and were willing to accept additional gods if that became necessary in order to have peace with other folks.

But Christians were and are monotheistic.

There is only one God, one true living God who created heaven and earth, and that's the only God that we worship.

And so because Christians would not worship the gods of the Greeks or the, the Greek or Roman pantheon, they were regarded as atheists.

If you can believe that.

We wouldn't think of Christians as atheists after all, they worshiped God.

But you see, the pagans had idols that represented their gods.

What did the Christians have?

Well, they didn't have an idol.

They, they didn't have graven images that would represent their God.

And so to the pagan mind, They were atheists.

They didn't worship gods.

They were viewed with suspicion.

And accused often of angering the gods because of their refusal to worship these pagan gods, these mythological gods.

I want to share with you a uh brief quotation from a book by Ray Summers.

It is a commentary on revelation.

He's writing about the condition of Christians at that time, and the book is entitled Worthy is the Lamb.

Here's what he has to say.

It was necessary for them, Christians, to refuse intercourse with the pagan world because of the idolatrous practices in which the Romans engaged.

Their refusal to go to idle temples and their refusal to have idols in their homes caused them to be looked upon as enemies to the gods.

Nothing was too bad to be believed of such people.

They were accused of all manner of evils.

They were known to hold secret services at night, and they observed, they were observed to be very fond of one another.

The Romans put these two facts together and decided that these meetings were for the gratification of lust on a large scale.

When they heard Christians speak of eating flesh and drinking blood, references to the Lord's supper, they accused them of cannibalism.

Eating the bodies and drinking the blood of the offspring of their orgies.

Most of the persecution which the Christians received grew out of this popular hatred and misunderstanding.

Because of their attitude toward the Roman gods, the Christians were blamed with all the calamities which befell the empire.

If there was no rain, the Christians were blamed for offending the deities.

If there was a flood on the Tiberra River, the Christians were blamed, a famine, an earthquake, military reversals, all were blamed on the Christians.

It's the Christians' fault because they won't worship the gods who protect the people.

And so these early church fathers, these apologists, they wrote to help unbelievers and particularly Roman officials to better understand Christians.

They answered false accusations like cannibalism, etc.

And they argued that Christians actually were good citizens, good members of society, because they were taught to obey the government.

The government would begin to persecute Christians in the latter part of the 21st century, even during the time of Nero, at least in a limited sense, and certainly into the 2nd century, persecution became very virulent at times.

And so the apologists wanted Roman officials to understand Christians were not opposed to the Roman government.

They were encouraged by the scriptures to actually obey government.

Well, you're well aware that today, Christians are likewise falsely accused of being the problem in society.

We're called haters because we don't support the LGBTQ lifestyle, but rather speak out against sexual immorality.

And if you don't support something, then the argument is that you've become a hater.

We're accused of trying to take away women's rights because we oppose abortion.

Even though I don't know that anybody preaches that.

Except that abortion is the taking of an innocent life.

And so the same argument that apologists made centuries ago could be made today as well.

Christians, if they follow the scriptures, will be good citizens and a benefit to society.

When I talk about God's servant, I'm not talking about Christians.

I'm talking about government.

Government is portrayed by the apostle Paul, as we'll see in just a few moments, as God's servant or his minister in some versions, it says.

Someone says, well, it seems to me that religion has been responsible for a lot of problems in society.

And I will frankly be uh fully willing to confess that in the name of religion, many people have done terrible things.

I'm talking about Christians who are following the instructions of the Bible.

And when they do that, when they love their neighbor, when they obey the government, when they look out for each other and for those outside of the spiritual family, they are a benefit to society, not ban.

So this morning I want to talk a little bit about the Christians responsibility to government.

Christians are to be subject, Paul wrote, to the governing authorities.

Paul speaks in general terms.

He's not necessarily just indicating a specific ruler, but those who are in charge of organizing and keeping order in society.

And so in Romans 13:1, following the reading that Alex did, Uh, just a few moments ago, Paul wrote, let every person be subject to the governing authorities.

And Paul explains why we should be subject as he continues in verse one, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, the governing authorities, resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

And so when we resist the government, we are essentially resisting God because all authority comes from God.

God is the one who has instituted ruling authorities.

The word subject here in verse one in the beginning of that verse is the word hupatasso and it's a military term as it was used in, in secular Greek.

It meant to rank under, uh, in a middle voice or passive voice, it meant to subject oneself to some other authority to obey, those are the definitions of vine.

The ruler is God's avenger, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

He is God's servant, that is, the government is, I should say, the ruling authority.

I want you to pay attention to those two words there in verse 4, that government or the ruling authority is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Because you see, government is entrusted with doing what you and I are prohibited from doing.

In the reading that Alex did in chapter 12, down to verse 19, notice the parallel words here, beloved, never avenge yourselves. Why?

Because the ruling authorities are God's servant to avenge, uh, those who have Been uh maltreated, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written vengeance is mine.

I will pay, says the Lord.

We don't have the right, we're prohibited from taking out wrath, avenging ourselves upon others.

That's the role of government.

That's what they're supposed to be doing.

Paul was speaking of the general purpose of government.

And I don't believe that he was debating the fact that some governments abuse their function, one might argue that nearly all do.

But there are other passages.

Paul again in Titus 3 and 1 tells Titus, this is what you need to teach the brethren.

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

The word that is submissive here, translated submissive, is the same word that's translated subject, be subject.

In Romans chapter 233 and verse 1.

The word obedient here literally means to be persuaded by authority.

It's a combination of two words, one that refers to authority or rank, and the other one, the idea of being persuaded.

And so, being obedient means we are persuaded by authority, that is, we obey as the translation is here in the ESB.

Peter said the same thing in 1 Peter 2 verses 25 and 24.

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

Paul in Romans 219 talks a little bit about uh the purpose of government, but Peter lays it out in a more succinct fashion.

He says government is to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

No distinction.

I want you to notice in these passages.

There's no distinction made between those laws which deal with moral matters, and there are such laws and other laws which are morally indifferent.

There are things that government Uh, laws that they make that have very little to do with any kind of morality.

They're just managed, uh, uh, intended to provide organization and safety for people, but not necessarily moral, uh, laws.

But Paul doesn't make any distinction between those.

He says, be subject to the governing authorities.

We need to submit to both kinds of laws.

Well, then, secondly, we're to give appropriate honor to rulers in chapter 25, just a little bit further down in the text.

In verse 229, Paul says, pay to all what is owed to them.

Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue revenue is owed.

Respect to whom respect is owed.

Honor to whom honor is owed.

And following suit, Peter says much the same thing in First Peter 210 and 143.

Honor everyone.

Love the brotherhood.

Fear God.

Honor the emperor.

Let's say a little bit more about that in just a few moments, but finally, the third thing.

That Paul writes is that we need to pray for our rulers and 214 Timothy 213:222 to 3.

He says to Timothy, first of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.

For kings and for all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior.

I want you to notice the objective of Of this prayer.

What's the purpose of our prayers in this regard?

That we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

And if you, as you read further in the text, Paul begins to talk about the fact that God wants all men to be saved.

And so a quiet and peaceful atmosphere permits the teaching of the gospel, more people will be able to hear it.

Well, you know, sometimes.

There are disagreements with the government.

Many times we don't agree with things that government is doing.

Someone might ask, well, what about governing authorities who fail to fulfill their function, their God-given function, that is to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

I want to remind you that when Paul penned this letter to the Roman saints, He was living under a government that was extremely cruel and oppressive.

Nero was the emperor.

Nero was essentially a narcissist, almost a madman, certainly a selfish individual, very sexually immoral person.

That's the government.

That's the emperor when Paul writes this letter.

Paul didn't write that Christians should only obey good governments.

The Roman government, in general, encouraged state idolatry.

Even from the time of Julius Caesar, I, I don't know if you're aware of this, but the Senate proclaimed him a god and they began to talk about worshiping.

He was addressed in terms that reflect the deity.

Long before we think about emperor worship.

Caesar, after his death was already being uh given that kind of uh Veneration.

The Roman government slaughtered human beings for recreation in their games.

And they enslaved people who were conquered by violence.

That's the government that Paul lived under in the Roman Empire.

It's the government that was in power when Paul said, We need to be subject to the governing authorities.

Like many governments over the course of history, the Roman government and particularly the emperors were corrupt.

If you read about the lives of the 1st 12 emperors or so.

They were all sexually immoral individuals.

They were corrupt individuals.

That's the government.

And so my point is that Paul's not saying, well, now, you, you obey government, if government does good things, if government is not corrupt, he lived under a corrupt government.

And not only Paul said, be subject to the governing authorities, but when Jesus was approached by His adversaries asking, should we pay taxes?

Should we pay tribute to Caesar?

Jesus' comment was in Matthew 22 and 21, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.

And the coin that they brought him had an inscription of Caesar on it, a picture, I should say, an image, and an inscription most likely that indicated that Caesar was a god or at least the very least, the high priest of the Roman religion.

And so Jesus likewise taught, paying taxes, that is being subject to the governing authorities.

Well, what about government that demands what God prohibits or prohibits what God demands?

What about, uh, in the case of, uh, The government that demands what God prohibits in the 1st century, actually more into the 133nd century.

The government was demanding that Christians burn some incense to the emperor.

God wouldn't permit that.

That was a contrary to his law.

What about the government prohibiting things that God demands?

When it became illegal for Christians to meet together, should they have stopped because the government says this is now illegal?

What about government that's out of sync, so to speak, with the will of God?

Let me give you some examples of people who were in that kind of a situation.

In Daniel chapter 3, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego were told, you need to bow down to this image of Nebuchadnezzar or you're gonna be thrown into the fiery furnace, and they refused to do what the government said. Why?

Because it was idolatrous, and it was against God's will.

Just a few chapters later in Daniel 6.

Daniel himself.

Praise to God even though according to a setup law, it was prohibited for him to do that, but he went ahead and did it anyway because that's what God wanted him to do.

So he disobeyed the government, just like Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego had done.

When we move to the New Testament, and we see that there are similar problems.

The apostles in the early chapters of Acts.

We're told by the Sanhedrin, the religious authority, they had governing authority over religious matters, the temple and even Jews in general in Israel.

They commanded the apostles to stop preaching the gospel.

Both Peter and John in Acts 4.

And then all of the apostles in chapter 5.

And in Acts 4 and verse 19, Peter and John's response was, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you mean, you must judge.

Basically, they said, we're responsible first of all to obey God.

Before obeying you, if that's contrary.

And then all of the apostles in chapter 5 and verse 29 just simply said, we must obey God rather than men.

So when the Sanhedrin said, don't you do what Jesus sent you to do, they disobeyed them.

And of course there were consequences to that, but they were justified in what they did.

Well, what about government that does some things that, that I think are unjust?

Anybody here think government does some things that are unjust?

Well, I do.

I think there's a lot of injustice that is perpetrated by various levels of government.

So I would put myself in that that group.

But my response to that fact, the fact that I don't agree with everything that government does, in fact, I would argue that government sometimes is very unjust.

My response to that fact is very important.

We're living in chaotic times right now.

There are some who resort to violence to oppose government action that they oppose.

And it seems almost to me that that's become more and more common, regardless of which side of the aisle you're talking about.

Just as an illustration, the federal government, as you well know, is deporting individuals who have entered this country illegally, millions of them.

Over the last several years.

And the federal government now is going, uh, is deporting these individuals by the thousands.

Their intention is to deport millions of individuals who have entered the country illegally.

There was a story recently, you may have read about it, of a Michigan judge who helped an illegal immigrant to evade ICE agents.

This individual is in her court.

The ICE agents were waiting for this individual.

They were going to arrest him.

She took him out to her private chambers and tried to help him escape.

He was Uh, taken into custody and now she is being charged with a crime.

She violated the law.

In many places, there are violent protests, there are riots is what they are, that are taking place when ICE agents, immigration agents are attempting to apprehend individuals who have entered the country illegally and are sometimes subsequently guilty of additional crimes.

In some cases, murder and rape.

Those kind of violent crimes.

ICE agents have been injured by objects thrown by protesters as they work to enforce federal law.

And here's the critical fact.

They are trying to apprehend people who have broken the law.

They are law breakers.

It doesn't really matter whether it was 10 years ago that they entered the country illegally, they are illegally here.

They're lawbreakers.

And the federal government is trying to apprehend these people.

To sustain the force of law.

There are other reasons, I think, as well.

But there are many people.

who are trying to defend those who have broken the law.

In entering the country illegally.

And are trying to prevent the deportation, deportation of these people to other countries.

One politician made this comment, Illegal immigrants are not criminals.

Let that sink in Illegal immigrants are not criminals.

Illegal immigrants are not criminals.

Well, that's just a nonsensical statement.

Well, I know who it was that said it, and I was looking to make sure I got the quotation right.

What I found out is that everybody and their brothers repeating that.

As though that was some sort of Wonderful insight into this whole situation.

If you are an illegal immigrant, the implication is that you did not go through the channels that the law requires in order to enter the country.

That means you are a criminal.

You violated the law.

I'm sympathetic to the fact that people are coming from countries where they don't have necessarily good lifestyles.

But the law is that there's certain things you do in order to enter this country.

If you're gonna do so legally.

And when you don't do those things, when you come across the river or whatever.

You become a lawbreaker.

And brothers and sisters, Christians need to obey the law and they need to be supportive, submit themselves.

To the government, the governing authorities.

Efforts to de-emphasize this fact that they have broken the law, undocumented workers.

Versus illegal immigrants.

That's kind of like saying drug dealers are unlicensed pharmacists.

Well, yeah, sorry, Will.

I didn't mean to bash pharmacists.

Unlicensed pharmacists.

They're drug dealers.

They're violating the law by illegally selling substances.

that are detrimental to other people.

If we disagree with the actions of government, and I guarantee you, I could probably poll this congregation, and nearly all of us would probably disagree with some action of government.

I think that's a fair statement.

If we disagree with the actions of government, there are legitimate ways that we can express our dissent dissent.

We have the right to free speech in this country.

I can say that I don't think the government should do this or I don't think the government should do that.

You don't have that right in some countries.

Citizens don't.

But we do in this country.

And we can exercise that right.

But now listen to me.

Christians need to be careful that they do not support the breaking of the law.

Because when we do, We, in essence, support wickedness.

We support sin, we support evil.

And God rebuked those in the Old Testament who supported evildoers.

In Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 14, Jeremiah said, but in the prophets of Jerusalem, I have seen a horrible thing.

They commit adultery and walk in lies.

They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from this evil.

All of them have become like sodom to me and its inhabitants like Gomorrah and Ezekiel says much the same thing.

In chapter 13 verse 22, he says, because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I've not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked.

God says, not only should we not do wickedness, we shouldn't encourage other people to do wickedness.

We shouldn't support people in their wickedness.

And I think as Christians, we need to be careful that we don't do that.

In any way Let me conclude by saying, I think Christians ought to be the best citizens that you can find in society, because the scriptures instruct them to submit to governing authorities.

They're not going to be the people who are flaunting the law, not people who are creating disorganization and chaos in society, and the scriptures teach us to love our neighbors.

And Frankly, if that was done, a lot of the problems of society would disappear.

We submit ourselves first to God and then to governing authorities.

I think that's understood, but I wanted to emphasize that the only time I am to disobey the governing authorities is if obeying them will cause me to disobey God.

And in those cases, I need to say no, I won't do what the government says.

If in fact, they are requiring me to do something that is contrary to God's will.

Being a law-abiding citizen of our country is good.

Their privileges To being a citizen But there is a citizenship that is infinitely more valuable.

And Paul would write to the Philippian Christians and say, our citizenship is in heaven.

And the privileges that pertain to that citizenship.

are just hard to express adequately.

The hope of eternal life, fellowship with God in His presence forever and ever.

If you're not a Christian, You can become a citizen.

There's a, there's a path in this country for becoming a citizen.

Raquel Dvorak followed that path uh fairly recently and became a citizen of the United States.

And the path to becoming a citizen of heaven is up on the screen.

We need to trust in the Lord, confess him as the Son of God, repent of our sins and be baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins, and we become citizens of God's spiritual kingdom.

And if you need to do that this morning, then we want to invite you, and we stand and sing to encourage you.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Ian Boike

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

If you'd like to read along, I'll be reading from Philippians the 303nd chapter.

Philippians 2 starting in verse 5.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being formed in human, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Oh Good morning.

It's wonderful to see everyone out, including any visitors that we may have.

We're so glad to have you.

And I know that many of us know this, but we're approaching the month of August, otherwise known as the time.

When our children and young people go back to school.

And with this in mind, I want everyone to keep this question.

I want everyone to think about this question.

Have you ever been put into a situation where you wanted to do something that you knew was wrong?

And many of us have, and if you haven't, it's a matter, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

And maybe you've been tempted to tell dirty jokes in the break room at work.

Or do drugs after school or go to inappropriate places with co-workers, or even use foul language in school.

All of us have or will be tempted to do what the Lord has deemed as sinful and wrong.

And even Jesus, who was perfect, was tempted like we are today.

In Hebrews chapter 2, verses 17 and 18, we're told, therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect.

So that he may be, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service to God.

To make a propitiation for the sins of the people, for because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

And so this morning, I want to examine Matthew chapter 4, verse 11 verses, or the temptation of Jesus, so that we can understand its profound benefits for us as modern-day Christians in 2025.

And this morning, I want to start by setting the scene of Jesus's temptation.

And in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 13, we're told, and then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

And during that time in the wilderness, he spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting.

Now I want you to ask yourselves, what happens to your body and what happens to your mind whenever you fast for a prolonged period of time?

Well, some medical professionals would tell you that prolonged fasting can lead to muscle loss, nutrition deficiencies, and a potential for organ damage if it's not adequately monitored.

But we can safely assume that in Matthew chapter 4, that Jesus was in a weakened physical state due to his hunger.

And Luke and Mark's gospel accounts add some extra details.

In Luke chapter 4, verse 2, we're told for 40 days being tempted by the devil.

And he ate nothing during those days, and when they were ended, he was hungry.

So this wasn't a period where Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and then Satan tempted him.

It was over the course of 40 days.

And Mark chapter 1 and verse 103, Mark's account adds another detail.

In Mark chapter 1 and verse 13, we're told that he was in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild animals.

And an emphasis to show that Jesus was 100% secluded from everyone else that could have been, could have been a help to him during this time of temptation.

And that his only company was the wild animals.

And after 40 days of hunger and temptation, we find that Satan approaches Christ, posing three particular temptations.

And I'm not gonna have it up on the slide this morning, but if you would turn over to 1 John chapter 2 and verse 16.

1 John chapter 10 and verse 16.

The apostle John told us, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father.

But is of the world.

And Satan's temptations address these three forms of worldly, of worldly views.

In the first temptation that Satan that Satan tempts Jesus with is the lust of the flesh.

And having fasted for 40 days, as we've already established, Jesus was very hungry, which led Satan to believe that Jesus was in a vulnerable state enough to where he would stumble.

In Matthew chapter 4 and verse 3, we're told and the tempter came to him and came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

And Satan is challenging Jesus' identity by appealing to his fleshly hunger.

But Jesus responds in verse 4 by saying, but he answered, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

And in saying this, Jesus is quoting the words of Moses to the Israelites.

In Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 3, Moses says to the Israelites, and he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

In other words, Jesus is telling Satan and us that there is more to living life than just fulfilling our legitimate physical needs.

Man should be dependent on the word of God to truly live.

And Satan's second temptation addresses the pride of life.

And again, Satan challenges the identity of Christ by appealing to his level of power.

And in Matthew chapter 4, verses 5 and 303, we're told, and then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command His angels concerning you, and on their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.

And of course Satan himself is quoting Old Testament scripture.

He's quoting from the 91st Psalm.

But before we address the 91st Psalm, I want to notice that in the first temptation, Jesus replied to Satan's first temptation with, for it is written.

And Satan does the same.

In the 91st Psalm of verses 11 and 12, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

And on their hands, they will bear you up unless you strike your foot against a stone.

And while the passage that Satan quotes from the 91st Psalm is correct, it's an abuse of scripture because it was used to tempt God and and test God purposefully.

And after hearing this misuse of scripture, Jesus responds with contextually correct scripture.

In Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 16, again, the words of Moses to the Israelites, telling them, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested him at Massa.

And finally, Satan's third temptation addresses the lust of the eyes.

And in Matthew chapter 4 and verses 43 and 9, again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory.

And he said to him, all these I will give to you if you will fall down and worship me.

Satan is essentially telling the son of God that he will give him a shortcut to owning everything on earth.

That would come with his kingship.

Satan is telling Christ, you don't have to go to the cross to gain what, what is deserve what you are deserving.

All you have to do is bow down and worship me.

And Jesus gracefully responds to this temptation with scripture in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 13.

Again, the words of Moses to the Israelites.

It is the Lord your God, you shall fear.

Him you shall serve, and by his name you shall swear.

Jesus did not take the easy path in life.

In Philippians chapter 2 and verses 5 and 85 through 8, we are told, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who through he was in the form of God, but did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

But he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

In Acts chapter 2 and verse 36, Paul also tells us, let all the house of Israel, therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ.

This Jesus, whom you crucified.

In this temptation, this final temptation by Satan, Satan wanted to capture Jesus and divert him from the path that God had put him on and the reason that he came to this earth.

In understanding that after hearing these three temptations, I think that we need to take a look at some observations that we can learn from these 153 verses.

And the first observation that I would bring to your attention is that Satan is still our adversary, even today, who uses the exact same tricks.

Maybe not the exact same wording, but the exact same tricks that he did with Christ.

In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 16, we're told in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all of the flaming darts of the evil one.

We have flaming darts of temptation that are being thrown at us every day, and we need to know how to handle it.

And in 1 Peter chapter 230 verses 21 and 210, we're told to be sober, be watchful.

Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

And finally, in Hebrews chapter 227 and verse 230, We're told for do not have a for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.

But in, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin.

So in failing to capture Jesus in these 24 verses, Satan now turns his full attention towards us.

In in terms of wanting to take away God's possessions because we are God's possessions.

In Ephesians chapter 113 and verse 211, don't have it up on the slides.

But Ephesians chapter 23 and verse 11 tells us, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

That is Satan.

And we can't take Satan lightly just because he's not a physical enemy that we can see on a daily basis.

He is a real and ever present danger to us all.

And just as Satan timed his temptation of Jesus when he was weak physically.

We can expect the same from Satan.

He will examine us and look for cracks in our foundation, and he will exploit them.

And I know after hearing some of this, I was even discouraged when writing this, just hearing all of the things that are thrown at us on a daily basis.

But there is one thing that is truly encouraging about these 11 verses that that came out to me.

is that we have the same defense against Satan that Christ used.

And that is the word of God.

Jesus used the word of God as a weapon of defense against temptation, and we can do the same.

In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 17, we're told, and take the helmet of salvation.

And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And Jesus had faith in his father's plan.

He had faith in the plan that he had been sent to earth to complete.

And we need to carry that same level of trust.

In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 35 to 39, we're told, Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you will, you may receive what is promised.

For yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.

But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Jesus taught that with the word of God, prayer and faith, we can overcome temptation.

Just like he did.

Some of you may be wondering, you know, why does this matter to me?

What, what, why, what is, what is promise to me?

What is this reward that the Hebrews writers speaking of in verse 33 and 36?

Our reward will be eternal life in heaven.

Jesus told his disciples that there is a reward if we will, that we will all receive if we continue to serve God until the end of our days.

And in John chapter 10 verses 27 to 30, we see a scene where Jews have, a group of Jews have gathered around Christ in the temple.

And they say to him, If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

And in 1 John, sorry, in John chapter 10 in verse 27 to 30, we're told Jesus says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My father, who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

I and the Father are one.

That's such a beautiful passage, and that is the reward that the Hebrews writer is talking about never being able to be being snatched out of his hand.

And that we will have eternal life with Him.

And the foundation of this lesson is that our Savior, who in all things was made like us, overcame temptation.

And that's the reason I titled this lesson that Jesus understands.

Jesus truly understands what it means to be tempted, maybe even more so than some of us.

And in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 15, I'll read it again, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but in all points, tempted as we are yet without sin.

And there are some essential lessons that we can take away from these 11 verses that Jesus had this encounter with Satan.

In the first being that Jesus taught that physical blessings cannot completely satis satisfy us.

And rather, we need the spiritual sustenance from God's word that we, that in order to be truly satisfied.

And secondly, I believe that we are called to trust in the Lord, and we should not foolishly test Him as the Israelites and as Satan did.

And that Satan abused scripture, and we cannot misuse scripture as Satan has.

And that Satan wanted Jesus to take the shortcut to glory.

By diverting him from God's plan for him.

I think it needs to be said that Satan wishes that we today would divert from the plan that God has set before us.

And if you're sitting here this morning thinking, I've been tempted, and maybe I didn't realize it at the time and I didn't know how to handle it.

Thankfully, Christ has laid out the playbook on how to deal with temptation.

And as part of his playbook, it's becoming a part of his family, a child of his, and that's under his protection.

And we have everything here ready this morning to assist you in becoming a Christian.

And I think it's also important, it needs to be said that even Christians can succumb to temptation and sin.

As Paul told us in Romans 3:23, For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

We are all fallible.

We all have the capability to send.

And if that is your case, the Lord does not want you to stay this way.

He wants you to reconcile to him.

He wants you to come back to being a child of his and under his protection.

And we are told that if we ask him and we plead with him to forgive us of our sins, he is able and he is willing to do that for us.

So that we may have the spiritual burden removed from our souls.

And if you are subject to the invitation this morning, if there's anything that we can do at all to help you, please come to the front as we stand and as we sing.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun PM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Allen Dvorak

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

Scripture reading tonight will be Psalm 8.

Psalm 8 The psalm reads Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

You set your glory above the heavens, out of the mouth of babies and infants.

You have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him and the Son of man that you care for him.

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands.

You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name and all the earth.

Our ranks are decimated a little bit this evening.

I think because of so many going to camp and uh both young people and then others, adults who are participating in this Camp Cleo.

But I'm glad you're here this evening.

And I want to start this evening with a question.

How many of us have enjoyed the recent heat this last week?

Where, uh, the feeling of the temperature was over 100 degrees, 103 1 day, 106 another day.

Raise your hands if you love the heat.

OK, Allen says he does.

Some of the, the young people, yeah, I would have guessed.

But we older folks suffer in that kind of heat.

We probably all, I think, had difficulty keeping cool lately.

If you have to go out and work in your yard a little bit, maybe to mow some grass or to be in the garden or do other things around your home, you have probably discovered that you can be drenched in sweat without hardly doing anything.

Just stand there and pretty soon, uh, you are sweating.

This last week, as I was uh working a little bit outside and I'm just drenched in sweat.

Those are always the moments when I feel inclined to give Debbie a big hug.

And she typically is not all that excited about that, but I remember thinking this last week that I'm glad that I don't have to work in that heat, and I, I'm sympathetic to people who do like the individual perhaps uh on the screen there, people who make their living by working outside, even in that kind of heat, it can be very, very difficult.

That perspiration, though, that sweat.

Is the body's way of regulating its internal temperature.

The psalmist wrote in 139:14, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works.

My soul knows it very well.

I think sometimes, uh, especially as we get older, we tend to focus maybe on our physical weaknesses, the difficulties that we have with sickness or injuries, and we tend to emphasize those areas in which our physical bodies do not always function uh properly or as efficiently as they used, used to do.

Of course, uh, at least in some cases, we have created some of our health problems through diet and lifestyle choices.

But the truth is, and this is what I want to focus on this evening is that our bodies are wonderfully made examples of incredible engineering.

And so, that's what I want to talk about this evening as I share with you some things from a book entitled Your Designed Body.

It's written it was written back in 143 was when it was published.

I have a Kindle version of that.

And it was written by Steve Loughman and Howard Glickman.

Lafman is a systems engineer.

Glickman is a physician.

He's been a physician, I guess, for 4 decades or more, a general practitioner, I believe is the case.

And they wrote this book in 2022 to talk about the design in our physical bodies.

I happened to discover that in August of this year, they're going to release another book, your Amazing Body, and I suspect much of what's in there will be similar to what you'll find in this book, Your Designed body.

Like so many books that are published, uh, writers often, authors often will try to solicit, uh, the opinions of people who are uh experts in their field, uh, the praise that those experts can give sometimes can sell books, and I wanna share with you a comment made.

By one of those individuals at the beginning of this book.

His name is William Harris.

I don't know him, uh, who he is, particularly other than that he is a PhD, a doctor, a professor of internal medicine.

Here's what he says about the book though.

He says in your design body, that book, an accomplished pair of experts, a physician and a systems engineer, take us on a brilliant tour of the mind-boggling interactive complexity of the human body.

They make a compelling case that not only an intelligent agent could possibly have accommodated the millions.

That only an intelligent agent could possibly have accommodated the millions of design constraints needed to produce a living, breathing, moving, thinking, and reproducing organisms like us.

Readers whose eyes have not been blinded by a materialistic worldview will see irre irreable.

that our bodies are indeed designed.

I find it interesting.

I read this book uh some time ago and just reviewed uh the the work this week for this particular lesson, but I find it interesting that in their book they do not push the idea of the God of the Bible, but they are.

Very, very blunt about the fact that as you look at the human body, it is screaming design, intelligent design.

And so this evening, what I'd like to do is talk about our human bodies.

We are each of us, a system of systems.

And we'll say some things about that as we emphasize the complexity of the human body, but the implication of that complexity is what we're after.

When Paul writes in Romans chapter 1 and verse 285, that the creation The natural creation.

Manifests the nature and the power of God.

We are part of that creation.

In fact, as the psalmist says, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Now, tonight, what I would like to do is use an example that they use to talk about the design of our bodies.

But before I do that, I want to suggest to you that the environment is trying to kill you.

Not just you, all of us.

Your environment, everything around us is attempting to take you down.

And I'm not talking about climate change.

I'm talking about our environment on this, on this earth.

What you listen to these statements.

This is uh Steve Laugman.

He is the systems engineer in this uh duo.

He says, for example, All living organisms from the simplest bacteria to humans must maintain an internal equilibrium that is different from the surrounding environment.

This involves chemical makeup, physical organization, energy production and consumption.

And many other properties.

He goes on to say the fancy word for this property is homeostasis, which means staying the same.

Every living organism must maintain its separate equilibrium.

If it can't, it dies.

If you can't maintain the equilibrium of your body, if, if you, uh, become the same as your environment, you will die.

In fact, rather quickly.

Equilibrium with the surrounding environment equals death.

He goes on to say, for humans, homeostasis, this, this keeping the, the, the The equilibrium of our bodies involves thousands of activities to maintain precise balances across across dozens of chemicals like water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, sugar, sodium, potassium, calcium, iron, copper, and manganese.

Across hundreds of processes.

To control energy, temperature, blood pressure, and many other life critical factors.

The laws of physics and chemistry drive everything unrelentingly toward equilibrium with the environment.

The odds, if it weren't for the incredible complexity of our bodies, the odds are against us.

Because we're constantly fighting the environment to maintain this, this equilibrium in which we can survive.

In contrast, life insists upon a separate and distinct equilibrium.

This requires continuous energy and precise regulation in a complex and coherent choreography.

Say that fast 268 times.

Life must control its own outcomes in the face of forces working constantly to destroy it.

And so there's a battle going on in our environment.

It's the environment against us.

And what I want you to see this evening is God has given us the tools to maintain our survival.

Steve Loughman As a systems engineer.

And having done uh work on other things.

Talks about the fact that our body is a system of systems.

He says when a system has all the right parts.

In all the right places, made of the right materials with the right specifications, doing their respective functions at all times to achieve an overall system level function that none of the parts can do on its own, you have what is known as a coherent system.

Coherence in this sense is a functional requirement for all non-trivial systems.

Moreover, in life, the systems are never standalone.

They are always, there are always interdependencies between and among the various component systems and parts.

The human body is composed of coherent interdependent systems.

Human body is a system of systems.

Of course, each part in a larger system may be a system itself composed of specialized parts, which may also be systems composed of specialized parts and so on, forming a hierarchy of design.

As with most human design artifacts, living systems consist of layers of systems and subsystems, a system of systems.

The human body exemplifies that.

And so that's what we're looking at this evening, that you, as a human being, are an incredible example of God's design, designed by deity.

In their book, they list 2139 different major systems in the body.

Uh, acknowledging that some would maybe say 214, they combined a couple.

The respiratory system takes in oxygen and uh that the cells need and it gets rid of excess carbon dioxide.

The gastrointestinal or digestive system takes in the water, the sugar, uh, the fat, the proteins, salt, vitamins, minerals that your cells need.

In other words, it gives you, uh, the, uh, things that you need to survive for your cells to survive.

The renal or urinary system rids your body of excess nitrogen, helps maintain your blood pressure, controls your body, water and salt content, and that in and of itself is a fascinating discussion.

The cardiovascular system pumps blood throughout your body to provide a just in time delivery of supplies to every organ, no matter what you're doing.

It's happening right now while you're listening to me as you doze through the sermon.

It happens when you're walking.

It happens when you're working.

All the time, your cardiovascular system is supplying what every organ needs no matter what you're doing.

It's also critical, the cardiovascular system for maintaining temperature, which is what we're gonna talk about this evening, dissipating excess heat and distributing chemical signals throughout the body.

I don't even know how to pronounce that word.

Integramentary, is that correct?

Alicia said, yeah, close enough.

It's the skin.

That's the largest organ in your body is your skin, and it protects your body from the outside world, uh, while it helps control your temperature, say more about that through sweating.

We've already said something about that.

And it's continually replenishing itself from the inside out as it repairs itself, uh, in addition, as it repairs itself and it gets cut or scraped.

Skeletal system provides support, protection from any of your vital organs.

The motor system, or what we would refer to as muscles, allows the body to move around, stay balanced, and handle things.

You know, we really don't appreciate.

The complexity of human motion of being able to do things until it's taken away.

When you start to lose that precision in your movements, You realize how important that is.

The nervous system, the nerves in the brain, allows the body to sense your surroundings, maintain your body's vital functions, control your activities, allows you to be awake and aware, to think, communicate, imagine, even create, to make boring sermons, is a product of the nervous system.

The immune and lymphatic systems here combined have to do with protecting you from invading uh pathogens, germs, and the like.

Uh, the endocrine system sends out hormones to regulate things like your metabolism and your growth.

And then the reproductive system.

So here's the comment of Laugman about these systems.

He says each of these is a specialized subsystem in the body.

The body needs all of them, organized properly, coordinated to remarkably fine tolerances.

In turn, each of these subsystems is a complete system itself composed of many specialized subsystems and parts organized in specific ways and precisely coordinated.

Every once in a while I watch on YouTube uh videos of people who are doing different kinds of jobs.

It's amazing the ability that sometimes people have to do things quickly and exactly and precisely and your body, my body.

They are examples of that kind of mechanical precision, physical precision.

The general theory of evolution, as we have suggested in the past, postulates that complex systems within organizations are actually just the result of numerous successive slight modifications.

So you start with something that's very, very simple, and you gradually make it more complex over time.

Small changes over lots and lots of time.

What Lafman calls a coherent system.

is what Doctor Michael B he calls an irreducibly complex system.

I think the terminology is different, but the concept is exactly the same.

B, he says in his book, Darwin's Black Box.

He says by irreducibly complex, I mean a single system composed of several well-matched, matched with each other, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning.

Your car is an example of that kind of system.

If you take out certain parts in the ignition system of your car, it doesn't work.

There is no ignition.

There's no starting the vehicle.

All those parts are necessary.

He says an irreducibly complex system cannot be produced directly.

That is by continuously improving the initial function, which continues to work by the same mechanism, by slight successive modifications of a precursor system.

You can't start with something really simple and just keep improving it if it's already doing the The function that it's eventually going to do.

Because any precursor to an irreducibly complex system that is missing a part is by definition, nonfunctional.

An irreducibly complex biological system if there is such a thing.

And Lafman and Glickman would say, yes, that's exactly what we are.

We're irreducibly complex systems.

Our bodies are composed of multiple subsystems that are also irreducibly complex, meaning you can't simplify them.

And them still do those still do their function.

An irreducibly complex biological system, if there is such a thing, would be a powerful challenge to Darwinian evolution.

Si natural selection can only choose systems that are already working.

Do you remember that?

You remember that natural selection, according to the, the theory suggests that if it doesn't work, it doesn't survive.

So you have to have a working system in order for it to survive and continue to evolve.

Since natural selection can only choose systems that are already working, then if a biological system cannot be produced gradually, it would have to arise as an integrated unit.

In other words, not one piece or one part, and then another part, and they all kind of gradually evolve separately.

It has to evolve as one big system because you need all those parts together.

Working together precisely in order to perform the function of the system.

Natural selection is not the answer.

Well, we've got 210 systems to cover this evening, so I need to get started.

That was kind of a nervous laugh.

I'm only gonna look at one thing and this is actually uh a feature of the human body that employs more than one system, but it has to do with the fact that our bodies have to regulate our temperature.

I recently went to a doctor's appointment and the same thing happened to me that will happen to virtually anybody who goes to your GP they're gonna come in, they're gonna check your weight.

That was not a good thing.

And then they'll, uh, they'll check your temperature, and they'll check your pulse, your pressure, your blood pressure.

So they checked my temperature and fortunately, it was normal.

This Is Doctor Glickman. Glickman.

And he says, have you ever wondered why it is that our temperature is around 24 degrees?

Why not 13?

Why not 21?

Like, you know, we were cold blooded reptiles or something.

Well, Glickman says, Glickman says most of the enzymes your body uses work best within the temperature range of 22 to 24 °F.

Well, that's a pretty small window.

As your core temperature rises above the normal range, the structural proteins and enzymes in your cells begin to malfunction.

When it goes above 107 °F, they break down, impairing cellular respiration and destabilizing cell membranes.

This results in loss of temperature control, multi-organ failure, and death.

97 to 99 is the sweet spot.

And you get much above 99 and your body stops functioning.

And if you stay there, you'll die.

And it's the same on the other end of the spectrum.

He says, as your core temperature drops below the normal range, critical enzymes in your cells slow down.

When it drops below 91 degrees, think about that.

97 to 23, the normal uh window there, and you're talking about just 6 degrees less.

They stopped working, impairing metabolic activity and decreasing energy production.

This results in, guess what, loss of temperature control and unless quickly corrected, multi-organ failure and death.

So 97 to 99 is when the body works well.

You get just a few degrees higher, get a few degrees lower.

And you will die if you don't correct that condition rapidly.

And so that suggests that your body has to maintain its core temperature within that window.

By some means, And that's what Guzman says.

He says, no matter where you are or what you're doing, you have to maintain that core temperature in that window.

In a process called thermal regulation, the body controls your metabolic rate.

An internal temperature by quickly adapting to changing conditions.

This requires yet another control system that can quickly adapt to rapid changes in activity levels, as well as to swings in the outside temperature and humidity, which affect the direction and rate of heat transfer with the environment.

Well, OK, we'll say more about that.

But what he's saying is, you, you're sitting in your living room and someone calls you and says, hey, let's go down to the tennis courts, let's play some tennis.

You jump up, you change quickly, and you go out and all of a sudden you're racing around, chasing this tennis ball, hitting it.

And your body has to adapt quickly to this increased activity to maintain that temperature within the realm that will allow you to survive.

How does it do that?

Well, you're sorry you asked the question, aren't you?

This is gonna be on the quiz after the sermon, but it is the hypothalamus that is the thermal control center.

In your body.

In your house, if you have air conditioning, uh, central air and heating on the wall somewhere, maybe more than one, perhaps, there is a thermostat.

And that thermostat allows you to control the temperature of your home.

So in really hot weather, of course, as the heat's kind of uh invading your home, then the central air senses that the temperature is rising.

You set it to say it, stay at a certain level, uh, what is it?

85 in your home?

68 If you love the electric company.

Whatever the temperature is, that thermostat tells the air conditioning to turn on and it runs until the temperature comes within the Area of the temperature that you have set, what you want as the comfort zone.

Well, that's essentially what the hypothalamus does.

It is essentially the thermostat of your body.

Now I have one of those Nest thermostats, the smart thermostat.

It's not nearly as smart as people think.

But it will keep the temperature regulated, at least within a fairly broad spectrum.

Sometimes it'll actually switch from one type of air control heat to cool or vice versa.

But it's nothing like what your body does to regulate the temperature.

In your core, in your core, in your core temperature.

The hypothalamus is your body's smart thermostat and it receives data from peripheral uh thermal receptors, that's your skin, your extremities, that sort of thing, and also from central thermal receptors, the organs, the main organs in your core.

And this is interesting.

It combines conscious and subconscious adjustments to control the body's temperature.

You go outside, you're working in the yard, and you're feeling hot.

What do you do?

Well, you seek shade.

Maybe you take off the winter coat that you've been wearing while you mowed the lawn.

You do certain things because your body is telling you, it's sending signals to you that you need to cool down.

Maybe you get some water and you pour it over your head to try to cool yourself.

But at the same time, you're making conscious changes to your body.

This hypothalamus is doing some automatic things to lower the temperature of your body, to keep it within that range.

For instance, It uses your skin to help regulate your core temperature by varying how much heat it loses to your surroundings.

We lose heat.

Through our skin, uh, Glickman says, for this, it needs some unique properties, the skin does.

And for these, it has specialized blood vessels and millions of sweat glands.

God designed you so that your body could shed heat when you need to, even giving your skin specialized blood vessels.

Being so close to your body's surface, the warm blood circulating in your skin tends to lose heat.

More blood flow to the skin leads to more heat loss, less blood flow leads to less heat loss.

You notice how when you go out in the summertime and you're doing things outside and you're getting hot, what happens to the color of your face?

More blood coming to the surface of the skin, you're shedding heat through the blood that's uh turning the color of your skin more of a cherry color.

When you're outside in the extreme cold, what happens to the color of your face?

Well, a lot of times you'll see people who are outside for a while and cold, they get kind of pale, because blood is moving away from the surface, surface of the skin in order to try to conserve heat because the body is seeing a transfer to the outside environment.

So when your core temperature rises above normal, Your body can lose more heat by increasing blood flow to the skin.

When your core temperature drops below normal, it can reduce heat loss by decreasing blood flow to the skin.

And it does this automatically.

How does the hypothalamus know?

When to do what?

Well, that's the beauty of the complexity of our bodies.

The skin, he continues, incorporates special blood vessels found nowhere else in the body.

Happenstance, chance, random.

No, designed.

There are blood vessels that are unlike any other vessels in the body, he says, which connect the arterial and venous systems directly bypassing the narrow and constricted capillaries that surface the skin's metabolism.

When the body needs to lose heat more quickly than usual, it opens these connections to allow rapid blood flow through the skin by shunting blood directly from the arteries to the veins.

The skin nor or the blood system normally is providing nourishment and removing toxins, byproducts.

But the blood vessels also allow heat to be uh taken away or to be removed.

He concludes to survive.

Humans need and have the ability to stay active in surroundings that are very hot.

Or very cold.

And to properly manage core body temperature while doing so, you need to stay in that window.

This means that our bodies must be able to regulate the rate of heat loss quickly and effectively in widely varying environmental conditions.

So when you're out mowing the lawn in the midst of the summer heat, your body is working to keep that core temperature within a survival window.

When you're out sitting in a tree stand.

And you're waiting in the cold for the big buck to come by.

Your body is also regulating your blood, your body temperature, so that you can stay within that window.

I can tell you many times I've sat in in the cold in a tree stand.

Not moving because that gives you a way to the deer.

They have excellent eyesight.

And after several hours, You might as well just go home because you couldn't shoot anything anyway.

You're shaking so bad, you couldn't aim a rifle.

What's happening?

Your body is telling you we're having difficulty matching that difference between the core body temperature that's necessary for your survival and the outside temperature, especially when you're not moving.

The mechanisms that allow for this are extraordinary, he says, not just in their ability to solve these difficult problems in a timely fashion, but also in the sheer ingenuity of their design.

The next time that you feel hot or cold.

Remember that your body is wonderfully designed to regulate your temperature.

And if it wasn't, you would quickly die.

Because the environment would take you.

Your equilibrium, your personal equilibrium would become like the environment and you can't survive that way.

So our bodies are made to provide this distinct and separate equilibrium from our environments.

Psalm 139:14 again.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works, including us.

My soul knows it very well.

The evidence for creator is everywhere.

It's right here.

In your physical body.

In fact, every time you look in a mirror, it's staring you in the face.

The evidence that God is wise and powerful.

This could not have happened by random chance.

You can't, well, I won't go into all the argument, but you can't compose, build those systems over time.

They have to be in place all at once.

And that's how we're born.

We're born with those systems already in place.

Because that's how God created us in the beginning.

In Psalm 10:4.

The Bible says in the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him.

All his thoughts are, there is no God.

It is foolish not to see the evidence that screams that we have been created by a powerful and intelligent creator.

In Psalm 14:1, the fool says in his heart, there is no God, and yet the evidence stares him in the face every time he looks in the mirror.

This morning, we talked about the fact that God doesn't give us only a body.

He also gives us an immortal soul.

An inner man, a spirit, part of our nature that is going to continue once this body has deteriorated, once it has worn out.

Because our bodies will wear out.

The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 says, though our outer self is wasting away.

Now, he was talking, I think, primarily in the context of persecution.

He's talking about the things that he had to endure as a result of preaching the gospel, but that's true of us, all, all of us, that our bodies are slowly wearing out.

And that at some point, they won't function any longer.

But our inner self is being renewed day by day.

For this light momentarily, momentary affliction is preparing for us in eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.

But the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Think about Being in the presence.

Of the God who designed these bodies.

How great heaven is going to be.

I, I appreciated the prayer that Jared led us in at the beginning of our assembly when he talked about wanting to see God as he is.

To be in the presence of God in a fuller sense than we can now.

And to know his power, his majesty, his glory.

And I think God in creating us the way He has.

is giving us just a taste.

of his power, his divine nature.

His intelligence, his wisdom.

That he wants us to be with Him our souls for eternity.

If you're not a Christian, please understand that you're in danger of losing the opportunity.

To enjoy eternity with that God.

The one who loves you, who has done so much to prepare for you that you might Be in fellowship with Him in heaven forever and ever.

If we can assist you in becoming a Christian this evening.

In preparing your soul for the time when we shed these physical bodies, and we stand before God in judgment.

If you need to prepare for that this evening, then we want to encourage you and we stand and sing in order to do that.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Allen Dvorak

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

21 Grams.

That was the title of a movie that came out in 2003.

I've never seen the movie, didn't even know of the movie.

But it has an interesting background.

The title came from the belief.

That a man's soul, a person's soul weighs 21 g.

In 1907, there was an individual by the name of Duncan McDougall.

He was a doctor, a physician.

And he published a paper in that year in the Journal of American Medicine and in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research in which he reported the results of some experiments that he had done.

What Dr. McDougall had done.

was Weigh the Difference between a patient who was at the verge of death.

Tuberculosis patients.

And then weigh them immediately at the point of death or right after.

And calculate the difference.

McDougall reasoned that if humans had souls, those souls must take up space.

And if they take up space, then they have to weigh something.

And so he weighed several people at the point of his of their deaths.

And he reported from his first case that there was a change at the point of death.

Of 21 g.

And so he reasoned that that was the weight of the soul as the soul was departing this dying body.

He only recorded results from 6 human cases.

Nowadays, he wouldn't be allowed to do that.

And there were some even in his day who thought some of his experiments were unethical.

But he took the results from 6 cases, individuals all dying from tuberculosis.

Interestingly enough, he got different results in each case.

I guess some people had bigger souls than others.

And so that didn't always come out as 21 g, but that was the first case, and so that was the report that he did.

You may be dismayed to know.

That he also did the same experiment then later with 15 dogs.

And found there was no change when dogs died.

So dogs obviously don't have souls and don't go to heaven if you were wondering.

McDougall's conclusion has been rejected.

Even in his day, there were people who were skeptical about this kind of process.

The bottom line is that science has not remotely determined the weight of a soul, or even if a soul exists at all.

That's outside the realm of empirical uh experimentation.

But it is an important question, is it not whether man has a soul?

And what happens when an individual dies?

Does man have a soul or is he just a soul?

As some would suggest.

There are some who teach that man and the animals are basically the same, that they possess a spirit that is the breath of life.

The Jehovah's Witnesses, for instance, teach that man is no different from the animals as far as immortality is concerned.

Couple of quotations from their works, just to sustain that point.

In their publication Hope on page 33, they say, a creature is a soul.

He does not have a soul within him that is separate and distinct from his body and hence that can live a separate existence after the death of his body.

You don't have a soul, you are a soul according to uh this publication.

In another publication by the same group.

So we see that the claim of religionists that man has an immortal soul and therefore differs from the beast is not scriptural.

And so the man and the dog on the screen are exactly the same in terms of their nature.

They're both just physical beings.

Who pass out of existence when they die.

Atheistic evolutionists also deny that man is different from the animals.

We're merely highly evolved animals.

But there's no substantive difference between us, at least from the standpoint of And afterlife from the rest of the animal kingdom.

The atheistic evolutionist just would say that man thinks he's different, but he's really not.

This is the comment of one atheist as he explained his thinking along these lines.

He said, I've always felt that when I die, I'm dead and gone.

My conscious life will end, my interactions with others will end, and I will be simply gone.

I don't know what causes consciousness, call it spirit, call it soul.

I don't mean to pick sides with my words, but I expect that it will end.

His consciousness will end at death.

My afterlife will be in the memories of those I knew, those who love me, those who carry me on in their hearts.

I myself cease to exist.

The conviction that one has about the existence of a soul or no soul.

Impacts how we live our lives.

You can understand that, I'm sure.

For instance, if a man has no soul, if there's nothing that exists after this physical body dies.

Then there are no consequences for his behavior during this life, no consequences after he dies.

And so anything he does, it's all zeroed out, so to speak, at the point that he dies.

If life on earth becomes too burdensome and one doesn't believe in any kind of afterlife or that man has no soul, then if life becomes too cumbersome, if it becomes too difficult, if it becomes too burdensome, then many people take the escape of suicide.

They just kill themselves and in that life.

Why not?

No consequences to that.

That kind of thinking produces nihilism in the minds of some people.

That's a viewpoint that life is essentially nothing.

It's meaningless.

What is it that I'm here for?

What is my purpose in living on this earth?

I go to work.

For years and years and eventually I get old, then I just die.

And what does it mean?

Those who subscribe to that viewpoint believe that life essentially is meaningless, that it leads to skepticism about objective truth or morality and, and knowledge.

The scriptures, however, speak of soul and spirit.

And I'm going to do you a favor this morning.

Because I'm not gonna talk about the all the definitions that we could uh put to these words both from a Hebrew standpoint or a Greek standpoint.

I'm gonna cut to the chase and give you the bottom line up front.

Because the truth of the matter is, The word soul typically is translated in the Old Testament from the Hebrew word nefish, and from the Greek word in the New Testament, suke.

Spirit likewise from a Hebrew word Ruach and Numa in the Greek.

But if you survey the way these words are used, What you'll find is that each of these words, both Hebrews, the Hebrew words, and the Greek words can have more than one meaning.

For instance, soul can refer to the breath of life.

It can refer to the seed and center of life that transcends the earthly, that's the definition, or it can simply refer to a living creature.

You are a soul.

You're a living creature, and sometimes that's the way it's translated.

Spirit is very similar.

Spirit can mean breath, the breath of life, or it can mean the rational mind, that is the inner man, emotions, will, intellect, all of the things that we talk about as being who we are.

And so both of these words can be used with different definitions and are different meanings in the scriptures.

It depends on the context, depends on the passage.

It would be so much more convenient if we could just conclude, as some have, that soul or spirit always referred to an immortal part of man.

But it's just not that simple.

It's not that easy.

It's not that case.

These Hebrew and Greek words can mean different things depending on the context in which they're used.

I'm gonna give you a couple of illustrations.

I don't want to belabor the point.

In Genesis, the 23nd chapter in verse 7, the text says, then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature, Naish.

But in the King James Version of 1900, the same verse is translated and man became a living soul.

And there it seems to me, soul is just a way of referring to a person.

Doesn't necessarily indicate anything about a dual nature that man is both physical and spiritual.

In Acts chapter 2 and verse 43, I think the same thing is true.

And all came upon every soul.

Every person and many wonders and signs are being done through the apostles.

Likewise, in 1 Peter 3:20, the ESV says that there were 8 persons who were on the ark and who came through this flood safely.

The new King James version says 8 souls.

So sometimes soul does mean just a living creature.

doesn't necessarily say anything about a spiritual or an immortal part of man that exists after his physical body has died.

In Genesis 23 and verse 18, This is the story of Sarah as she's giving birth to Benjamin.

And as her soul was departing, for she was dying, she called his name Benoni, but his father called him Benjamin.

That's a good example of a verse in which it's really difficult to know exactly what is meant by the word nefiche, their soul.

So does man have an immortal soul?

Does he have a spiritual side to him?

Is man actually a dual being that is both physical and spiritual?

Well, oftentimes, like I said, it's, it's, it's difficult to know from the text.

I'll give you one more example, but then I want to look at some examples where I think we can answer that question.

In 1 Kings 17:223.

The prophet Elijah asked God, let this child's life come into him again.

And the verse 216 ends and the life of the child came into him again and he revived.

However, if you read in the New King James Version, life is translated soul.

Does that mean that there was an immortal part of man that then returned to the physical body and that's when the child revives?

Or is it just talking about the breath of life?

He was dead.

Now he's breathing again.

You see, it's difficult to tell from the verse or even from the words, specific words that are being used there and the translation differences illustrate that point.

But I want you to consider some other verses.

And the first one is Matthew the 226th chapter verse 2100.

This is Jesus speaking, and he says, Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

If soul is just a reference to the breath of life, then tell me who it is that can destroy the body but doesn't destroy the soul, doesn't eliminate the breath of life.

When you kill the body, that's the end of the breath of life, is it not?

But Jesus says, don't fear the people who can only kill the body, but can't kill the soul.

Rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell, not earth.

But in hell.

That text.

I think clearly implies that man has both body and soul, and that one or the other or both can be affected.

There are several passages.

In the Bible that talk about the soul.

And it seems very clear that it's not talking about just the breath of life.

For instance, In the Old Testament and for Samuel 2500.

The story is told of Hannah.

The wife of Elkcana.

And she desperately wants a child.

They would come to the tabernacle where the, the high priest and, and Judge Eli was.

And on one occasion, Hannah is praying.

Without speaking, she's mouthing the words.

Eli thinks she's drunk.

But she explains, no, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit.

I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I've been pouring out my soul before the Lord.

What's she talking about?

She's not talking about the breath of life.

She's talking about that inner man.

In this case, her soul was sorrowful.

That's the kind of language that's used over in the New Testament with respect to Jesus.

And Matthew 22 says, he and the disciples are in the garden, and he says to them, My soul is very sorrowful even to death.

Remain here and watch with me.

These are passages where the breath of life is not a good definition for the use of that word.

It's something more.

There's a passage in Revelation, the 23th chapter.

And I understand that, as you do as well, that revelation is apocalyptic literature, meaning that it is a, a literature, a type of literature in which figurative language predominates where signs and visions are the means of communicating truth.

But it's interesting what John sees in this vision in chapter 22.

When the 21th seal is open from the scroll that was on the scroll that uh the lamb had in his hand.

When he opened the 226th seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain.

He didn't say, I saw those who had been slain.

He said, I saw the souls of those who had been slain.

He makes a distinction between the slain bodies, the people who had been killed in the past, I believe in the Old Testament era, and their souls, and as he continues, they cried out with a loud voice.

So these souls are crying out.

This is another passage that suggests that there's a body that can be killed, but you don't eliminate the soul because John is seeing these souls crying out for vengeance, asking when God will avenge their blood that had been shed.

The Bible teaches in many passages that the inner man continues to exist even when the body dies.

There's a story that Jesus tells in Luke 16.

About a, a beggar, a poor man named Lazarus, who was broad and laid at the gate of a rich man.

The rich man had everything he needed and much more.

I appreciated the comments that Douglas made this morning about our perspective on want.

That'd been a good passage to, to, to include in that.

Here's a rich man who has all that he wants.

And there's the beggar who doesn't even have what he needs, and they both die.

And Jesus, as he tells the story, says, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.

The rich man also died and was buried.

And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

I want you to compare what Jesus says with the words of the atheist that I quoted earlier, who says that when I die, I cease to exist.

Lazarus didn't seek to cease to exist.

The rich man didn't cease to exist.

They existed in some way.

And in fact, the rich man was aware of his condition.

He asks Abraham to send Lazarus down to give him some comfort.

And Abraham reminds the rich man that during life, he had all the comforts he needed.

All the good things that he enjoyed, but Lazarus didn't.

Now Lazarus is comforted and he's tormented.

And when it becomes obvious to the rich man that Lazarus is not going to come and bring him comfort or give him comfort, he remembers that he has 5 brothers and asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to speak to his brothers, so that his brothers don't come and suffer the same torment that he is.

So here's a story that Jesus tells that indicates that people don't just pass out of existence.

Another passage.

Do you like the fire there?

Jesus tells another uh uh uh not a story, but he answers a question that he was given by the Sadducees.

The Sadducees didn't believe in a resurrection.

They didn't believe in angels or spirits.

And so they had a pet question that they like to use to confront the Pharisees and those who believed in spirits and resurrection.

Had to do with Leverite marriage, man who successively uh married.

Or a woman, I should say, successfully married to 7 brothers.

And then the question, well, in the resurrection, whose uh wife shall she be?

She's married to all these men.

And they thought they had created this logical problem for the doctrine of the resurrection.

But Jesus makes the observation, as for the re resurrection of the dead.

Have you not read what was said to you by God?

I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

He's not the God of the dead, but of the living.

You know, it's interesting that in the Hebrew, there is no am.

There's not a verb there in that passage.

Back in Exodus, that's the passage in chapter 3 that Jesus is quoting.

But in the Septuagint version of that passage, in the Greek, there is that verb.

I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And God says that to Moses, long after all three of these men have died, and yet Jesus says, he's not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob still existed in some way.

Their bodies were gone, their bodies had died, returned to the dust.

But there's an inner man.

There's a soul that continues.

And in fact, the last passage I want to look at specifically on this point is a quotation in Acts 2.

That the apostle Peter applies to Jesus.

Speaking of Jesus' resurrection, he says, he quotes from the Old Testament, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy one see corruption.

Jesus' body was in the tomb.

It was raised on the 3rd day when his spirit, his soul returned to his body.

See James 13:26.

But the passage in the Old Testament says, you will not abandon my soul to Hades.

The Hadaean world was where Lazarus and the rich man were pictured in the story of Luke 16 that Jesus told and that we've already mentioned.

We may not be able to determine the weight of the soul, certainly not by weighing it on uh weighing bodies on, on scales.

But the scriptures certainly inform us concerning its value.

My soul.

Is that part of me which will never die or pass out of existence.

It's gonna continue on.

Now, my physical body, just like yours, should the Lord delay his coming, it will deteriorate and eventually our bodies shut down, they wear out, that we die, we return to the dust.

But there's a part of us.

That continues to exist.

And because of its potential.

The glory of heaven.

If I have been faithful to the Lord, if I've done the will of the Father, as Jesus talks about in Matthew 7, 23 Or the torment of hell, if I've chosen to live my own life and do what I wanted to do and not serve God.

The potential Of my soul Suggests its value.

It is difficult to even comprehend.

My soul will continue its existence in either heaven or in hell.

Depending on the choices that I make in this life.

In my physical body.

And so Jesus says in Matthew 16:26, and we sang just prior to uh the sermon, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've fallen prey to the clickbait.

What's the net worth of some of the people that we see on television or some of the actors or people who are famous?

Oh, and this one's worth $100 million.

This one's worth $500 million.

This one is worth $2 billion.

That's a uh an amount that staggers the mind.

$2 billion.

What would you need with $2 billion?

Jesus says What is a man profited if he gains the whole world?

If you were in control of all of the assets of the entire world, can you imagine?

Everybody has to come to you for what they need.

You have the wealth of the entire world.

It, it boggles the mind, but Jesus says, What it profits you.

If you end up losing your soul, Forfeit your soul, and I understand by that to mean that your soul is lost for eternity.

Like the rich man.

Who finds himself even before the judgment in torment.

What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

Absolutely nothing.

That's the answer to the question. Nothing.

There's no profit.

But there's another question in that verse, Jesus asked, or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what Jesus is trying to say here, but I think he's asking now from the standpoint of the man who's in danger of forfeiting his soul, what would he give if he could have it back?

In other words, if he could change the destiny of his soul, what would he give?

And the answer to that question.

is he would give everything.

He would give everything.

Genesis 1:26 tells us that man was made in the image of God.

And I believe by that that God was saying, That man has a soul, a spiritual side, nature.

Just like God is spirit.

And man has an undying spirit or soul within him, and that's not true of any of the animals.

As much as we love our animals.

The Bible nowhere indicates that they have souls.

That they continue to exist once their physical bodies.

Have returned to the dusk dust.

What makes you valuable?

What makes me valuable is not my handsome appearance.

It's not uh my intellect, my physical abilities, it's not my assets, my physical assets.

What makes you valuable, what makes all of us valuable is that inner man.

Because of the potential that it has either for glory.

Or for torment Man is sometimes described as a soul, a living creature.

And sometimes the word soul is used to describe that part of man which departs from the body at death and continues to exist.

And what I want us to think about this morning.

Is that as much as we are consumed by all the things that are going on in our physical lives, all of the care that we show toward our physical bodies to try to take care of our health and try to remain strong and healthy.

That's not the big picture.

That's all temporary.

The big picture Is that when you and I pass from this world.

There will be an eternity that awaits us.

That spiritual part of us, that soul.

And you and I are preparing right now.

The destiny Of that soul of our souls.

Some men live as though there's no existence after this life.

But the truth is that our souls live on.

And we need to make preparations for eternity.

I want to quote one other.

Atheist, this fellow's name I know, Peter Steele.

He says there are no atheists in foxholes, they say.

And I was a foxhole atheist for a long time.

But after going through a midlife crisis and having many things changed very quickly, it made me realize my mortality.

And when you start to think about death, you start to think about what's after it, and then you start hoping there is a God.

How sad.

To reach the end of one's days on this earth.

And be facing physical death.

And think That's all it is.

Nothing more I'll pass out of existence.

And I wonder how many atheists At that moment Hope there is a God, but it'll be too late.

It'll be too late to prepare for any kind of an afterlife.

When they've lived their lives in rebellion to their Creator.

If you should face that moment even today.

What would happen to your soul?

You will not end when your body dies.

In a sense, that's only the beginning.

Of the rest of your existence.

And everything that happens to us here in this earth is so temporary compared to, if we can even imagine. Eternity.

And so every decision I make, Needs to be made on the basis of the fact that someday I'm gonna stand before God and he's going to say, come, you blessed or depart from me, I never knew you.

But it'll depend On the choices I make here.

As it will for you as well.

We're often so concerned about our bodies, but our bodies are destined to return to dust.

Shouldn't we look after the welfare of our soul?

How about your soul?

Is it stained with sin?

Because God offers us the opportunity through the blood of Jesus Christ to be cleansed of the sins, the stains of sin, to be forgiven, a healthy soul is a forgiven soul.

And if you've not taken advantage of that.

Redemptive sacrifice.

If you've not been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ in the waters of baptism, as God washes us.

From the guilt of our sins.

Then this morning, I would encourage you to obey the gospel, to accept the invitation that God so freely offers for eternal life.

eternal life.

And if that's not your hope, Then please respond to the gospel this morning.

We'll assist you in becoming a New Testament Christian and having the hope of eternal life.

If you need to respond, please come to the front as we stand and sing to encourage you.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun PM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Ian Boike

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

The scripture reading this evening will be from Psalm chapter 78, Psalm 78, beginning in verse 63.

Things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their children but tell them to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and His might and the wonders that he has done.

He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers to teach their children that the generation, the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn and arise and tell them to their children so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep His commandments.

Good evening.

It's wonderful to see everyone out this evening and it's good to see any visitors that we may have.

And when, if I were to look at you and say, what is generational wealth?

Well, most people would say, well, maybe it's family real estate investments or stock market investments.

Maybe you even are a part of a family business.

Or maybe you have the possibility of inheriting a large sum of money whenever your parents die.

There were 4 families across history that had enormous amounts of wealth.

The first family was the Kennedy family.

Their current net worth is $1.2 billion.

In the Ford family, their current wealth is about 2 billion.

And then of course, we have some older families who aren't as present in today's society, and that's the Carnegie family, which at their time, if they, if we took what they had during their time and we put it in today's money, they would be about $375 billion.

And then the Vanderbilt family would be about 33 billion today, and if it was their money today.

And while these types of general generational wealth exist, I believe that there's a more critical form of generational wealth that we need to, that we need to discuss this evening.

As many of us here have children and grandchildren.

And the type of wealth that I want to discuss is spiritual generational wealth.

And this evening, I want to start with an illustration that I heard from from Brother Scott Smeltzer.

He was doing a uh Bible study at in Athens on, on the family.

And I'm gonna read word for word this illustration so as not to mess it up, but I think it really sets a tone.

And during his sermon, he begins to talk about a notepad and a pen of paper, sorry, notepad and a pen.

And he goes on to say, if you take a legal pad pad of paper and you write with a ballpoint pen, love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

And you write it where it can be seen, but you don't make a deep impression with the pen.

It will show on the first page, but once you flip over to the next page, it can no longer be seen.

But what happens when you bear down with that pin?

What happens if you take that pin and you make a deep impression as you write the words love God with all your heart, soul, and mind on page one.

It will show, but guess what happens?

Whenever you flip over to the next page, it's still there.

And guess what?

It's still readable even on the 3rd page.

This is the kind of generational wealth that we should be impressing upon our children.

And the people of Israel did this exact thing for their children.

And in Psalm 78, which was our scripture reading this evening, Psalm 778 Psalm verses 3 and 193 through 7.

Things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from our children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord in His might and the wonders that he has done.

He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children.

That the next generation might know them and the children yet unborn and arise and tell them to their children so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep His commandments.

So we can see that the children of Israel took this very seriously.

They took the spiritual generational wealth very seriously.

Because they understood its profound importance.

But unfortunately, unfortunately, we see as the Israelites' history goes on, they forget the Lord.

And in Judges chapter 2 and verses 8 through 10, we see where it says, in Joshua, the son of none, the servant of the Lord, died at 110 years old, and they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timothahes in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gash.

And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers, and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Now, why do you think that this is?

Why do you think that this generation and the following ones after it had no idea of the works and the blessings that God had given Israel?

Well, if we continue verses 11 to 13, We'll find out why.

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the side of the Lord, and they served the Baals, and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.

They went after other gods from among the gods of the people who were around them and bowed down to them, and they provoked the Lord to anger, and they, they abandoned the Lord to serve the Baals and the Asterroth.

These future generations failed because they were not making a deep enough impression on their children so that when these temptations and other uh and other things came into their lives, they would know how to run from it, but they did not have the kind of impression that they should.

And President Ronald Reagan once said, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.

It is to be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children.

What it was, what it was like once like in the United States where men were free.

Of course, while President Reagan is talking about the state of freedom in the United States.

I believe that the same idea can be applied to our spiritual generational wealth and how hard we are fighting to keep God in our families.

And I'm sure everyone is going to know everybody in this picture.

But when my wife's great-grandmother came to town, our son Hudson had just been born and she wanted to take a family photo.

And this just wasn't any old photo.

This was a 5 generation photo.

And all of them besides Hudson in this photo are Christians, and only because Of Kaylee's great grandmother, deep impression and her love for the Lord, did that love for the Lord continue on in her children?

And her great grandchildren.

And that is truly powerful.

This is the kind of power and love that we should have for the Lord and that our and that Christian families should have.

Because it's a scary thought to think that some families who have children 4 or 213 generations from now might be sitting on, might be sitting on the porch with their parents who are explaining to them what Christians believe, but saying, well, we don't believe that.

Your great grandparents believe that, but, but we, we don't do that anymore.

Love for the Lord can disappear in one generation, if we aren't doing everything in our power to make sure that it stays there.

Now that we've kind of discussed about what generational wealth is and the kind that I'm wanting to talk about, there are some examples in the scriptures that I think can illustrate this a little bit further.

In the first two characters that I want to bring up this evening is Jacob and Joseph.

And Jacob, or excuse me, Joseph was sold into Egyptian slavery as a young boy by his brothers.

He was taken away from his father and the rest of his godly influence, taken into an ungodly country.

And while Joseph was in bondage and away from his family, he never lost his faith or his conviction in the Lord, and his, that his father Jacob had imprinted on him.

And in Genesis chapter 39 and verses 9 and 10, we are told that he is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything for me except you, because you are his wife.

How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?

And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her and lie beside her, lie beside her or be with her.

Of course, this is the story of Potiphar's wife enticing young Joseph to come and lie with her.

And the tempting of Joseph didn't just stop there.

She didn't just stop after a couple of times.

It intensified.

And we see in verses 11 to 13 of Genesis 39, but one day when he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house were, was there in the house, she caught him by his garment saying, lie with me.

But his gar but he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.

And as soon as she had as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, And had fled out of the house.

Joseph could have given in to his fleshly desires.

He he was in a godless country, his parents weren't there.

He could have done it.

But he remembered the impression that his father had left on him before he was taken into slavery.

And I believe Joseph is a great example of what can happen when a father leaves a deep impression of the love of the Lord and his teachings on their children.

And in Proverbs 22, 6, we're told, Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it.

And the second set of characters this evening is David and his son Solomon.

And in 1 Chronicles chapter 163 and verse 9, we are told, and you, Solomon, my son, know that God, know the God of your Father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind.

For the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought.

If you seek Him, He will be found by you.

But if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.

And of course, this is right before King David is about to make his son Solomon king, and God has given the task of building the temple to Solomon and not David.

And so King David is giving his son a stern warning.

Basically saying you can either have a great relationship with the Lord or he will forsake you forever.

And as we go on to see, Solomon pleased God because of this.

And the third example is going to be the Rechabites.

In Johannadab's era, Jahannadab or Recahab's son, was an ally of King Jehu who ruled through the 9th century BC, and we find that in 2 Kings chapter 9.

And in Jeremiah's time, Jeremiah was a prophet who lived during the reign of Josiah in the later kings of Judea during the 6th century BC or around the 500s.

And Jeremiah was instructed to go to a group of people called the Recobites and offer them wine.

And in Jeremiah chapter 35, verses 2 to 7, we're told, go to the house of the Recobites and speak with them and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the one of the chambers, then offer them wine to drink.

And so I took Jehazzamah and son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaa Habaa and his son and and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Recobites.

And I brought them to the house of the Lord into the chambers of the sons of Hainan and the son and the son of Igallo, and the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials above the chamber of the Manassa Manassa, the son of Shalom, keeper of the threshold.

Then I set before the Recobites pitchers full of wine and cups, and I said to them, Drink wine.

But they answered, We will drink no wine.

For Jahanadab, the son of Rehab, our father commanded us, You shall drink, you shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever.

You shall not build a house, you shall not sow the seed.

You shall not plant or have a vineyard, but you shall live in tents all your days, and that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.

In about 19 years is the gap between Jehonadab and Jeremiah.

But the descendants of Jehonadab still remember the teachings of their fathers because they left a deep impression.

In Jeremiah chapter 35 and verses 12 to 16, we find the point that God is trying to make to the Israelites.

And starting in verse 21, then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

Thus says the Lord of hosts of God of Israel, Go and say to the people of Judah in the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will you not receive instruction and listen to my words, declares the Lord.

In the command of Johannadab, the son of Rehab, gave his to his sons to drink no wine has been kept.

And they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command.

I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me.

I have sent to you all my servants and prophets, sending them persistently saying, turn now every one of you from his evil ways.

And amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.

But you did not incline your ear to listen to me.

And the sons of Jehonadab, the son of Rehab, have kept the command of their command that their fathers gave them.

That this people has not obeyed me.

God recognized the Recobites for their obeying in the commands of their fathers.

God is essentially looking at the people of Israel and saying, why can't you be like the Recobites?

Why can't you listen to my commands that I've given you after all the land and blessings that I've bestowed upon you?

Why won't you incline your ear to listen to me?

And I think we need to take this example and put it into our own lives and how we're teaching our children.

And we've looked at examples of one generation to the next, and we've looked at an example of several generations down the line.

But now I want to take a look at a man who left such a deep impression that the people who heard his words are still obeying his commands 25 to 26 generations later.

And of course, this is Jesus.

In Psalm chapter 219 and verses 221 to 216, we're told the counsel of the Lord stands forever.

The plans of his heart to all generations.

Blessed is the nation, the nation whose God is their Lord.

And the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.

And the Lord looks down from heaven and he sees all the children of man.

From where he sits enthroned, he looks out onto all the inhabitants of the earth.

And Isaiah chapter 63 verses 26 through 219.

A voice says, cry.

And I said, what shall I cry?

All flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers and the flower fades, but when the breath of the Lord blows on it.

Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Because of Jesus's ability to bear down on the teachings of the scriptures whenever he was here on this earth, people are still living their lives according to his teachings even today.

And now that we've given 220 examples about Some, some good illustrations about generational wealth.

How can we as Christians today, how can we as leaders of our family, leaders of this congregation, imprint the teachings?

Of of spiritual spiritual generational wealth.

And the first way that I would introduce is that we must immerse our children in the teachings of the Lord.

In in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verses 4 through 9, we're told, here, O Israel, the Lord of our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might, and these words I command to you, command you today, shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk to them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way.

And when you lie down and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign in your hand, and they shall be as frontless between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

So again, we can see that the people of Israel understood the importance of the Lord's teaching for future generations.

And speaking to parents, the responsibility that parents have to teach their children is massive.

But when it's done right, the benefits Hugely outweigh The responsibility.

And in Psalms in the 112th Psalm verses 1 and 3, we're told, praise the Lord.

B blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments.

His offspring will be mighty in the land, and the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.

And secondly, I believe that we need to live the things that we are teaching our children and young people.

And in Acts chapter 193 and verses 1 and 3, we're told Paul came also to Derby and to Listra, and a disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was Greek.

And he was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Ianum.

And Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

So imagine having your father who was a Greek believer and your mother, who was a Jewish believer.

I'm sure that there was some tension there in terms of following all of the things that God had commanded of the Jewish people.

In the 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 5, we're told that I am reminded of your sincere faith that dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well.

Paul recognized that Timothy had a had two wonderful examples in his life who raised him.

And Tim, and because of this strong impression that that Lois and Eunice had impression upon Timothy, was he able to be with Paul?

And finally, we as Christians, we need to invest our minds in true wealth.

And Christ tells us that there is everlasting wealth, and there's temporary wealth.

And in Matthew chapter 6 of verse 19 to 21, we're told, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, but where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

If we focus on the kind of wealth Christians that Christians should be pursuing, future generations will benefit from it.

And I appreciate your attention this evening.

I know that there's a lot of families here who have both young and old children and older children.

But the ways that we ensure that we build spiritual generational wealth are important.

Of course, the instructing and the living and ensuring that our children understand.

What, what wealth truly looks like in a Christian household.

And that generational wealth isn't just cash, stocks, bonds, land, savings accounts, or Roth IRAs.

It goes beyond that.

It goes deeper than that.

And that most generational wealth is the level of spiritual impact that you can have on future generations.

And Scott Smeltzer ended his sermon.

By saying, don't teach your children don't just teach your children.

But leaves such a deep impression on your children that you end up teaching your grandchildren.

That's powerful.

And if you don't have a relationship with the Lord, You could have all the money in the world.

You could own the nicest vehicles, live in the biggest houses.

And give it all to your children someday when you die.

But guess what?

You have left them with nothing if they don't have a true level of spiritual wealth.

In Matthew chapter 16 and verse 26, we're told, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul, or what shall a man give in return for his soul.

In Matthew chapter 6 and verse 19 to 20, I know we already read it.

But again, it says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroying where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, your heart will be there also.

Our children are the future.

And the primary purpose of any generational wealth is to give the next generation a higher starting point than you had when you began.

Whether it's physical or spiritual, that's the whole point.

And the Lord expects his followers to raise future generations in His name, and the Lord promises those who live their lives in His name will have a place prepared for them in eternal rest.

But of course, to receive this free gift of mercy, to attain heaven.

There are conditions that must be met that are up on the screen.

And if you're already a Christian this evening, maybe you haven't been as diligent about building your family's spiritual wealth as you should have.

But I wanna make one thing very clear, it's never too late to start.

Now some may have it easier because their children are younger.

But it's never too late to make the first, be the first person to make the first change.

That will benefit the future generations.

And the way to begin building your spiritual wealth is to get right with the Lord and make your needs known to Him and He will forgive you of your sins.

If you're subject to the invitation this evening and you want to build, start building your spiritual generational wealth, please come to the front as we stand and as we sing.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Gary Copeland

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

The scripture reading this morning is from Matthew 5.

Matthew 5 verses 38 through 42, and I'll be reading from the ESV.

You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil.

But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

And if anyone forces you to go 413 mile, go with him 2 miles.

Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

There's a passage in Luke 17 that just says, Offenses hurt, if you will, between one another will happen.

It's just a fact of life.

It's going to happen.

And in fact, the closer we get to each other, the more likely it is to happen.

And so in families, in homes, offenses and hurts between one another often happen.

When someone hurts you, whatever it could be some little small thing, maybe they brush by you and something they're carrying tears some of your clothes or they break something special of yours or, or maybe they borrow something and they just don't give it back.

How does it make you feel?

Well, not good.

There's no good feeling in that.

You'll feel injured, you'll feel upset, you'll be thinking about the cost of the trouble of trying to replace something.

You'll at least feel sorrow over the loss.

And what if you think they did it on purpose?

Oh well, that's a whole other level of emotion, right?

Then you're angry, then you know it was so unfair.

And so what do you expect?

Well, I think it's fair to expect at least for the person to pay you back. Right?

Replace the thing that was broken, give back the thing that they borrowed.

So we call that payback restitution.

And God's laws for the Jews taught people to pay it back.

For example, in Leviticus 6, he shall return what he took by robbery or what he got by extortion or the deposit which was entrusted to him or the thing lost which he found, or anything about which he swore falsely, he shall make restitution for it in full.

And listen, it says, and add to it 1/5 more.

He shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering.

So think about that.

It's not just full restitution.

It's add 20%.

I'll make you feel a little better about the whole situation.

And he's still got to go make things right with God.

So the unhappiness by whatever offense or crime can be totally forgotten, but maybe that would at least make you feel a little better about it.

And even when restitution was impossible.

Punishment was at least expected.

You know, sometimes in personal injury, for example, bones don't heal properly.

Some injuries are permanent.

So Leviticus 24 says, if a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him.

Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him.

And think about the extreme case where you accidentally cause somebody else's death.

Well, there's no restitution for that.

But verse, the next verse, verse 21 says, that's the one who strikes down an animal shall make restitution for it, but the one who strikes down a man shall be put to death.

And so it was life for life.

So even then, the family of the victims is gonna have to live with the loss of their loved one.

Even the capital punishment of the wrongdoer is not gonna bring any true satisfaction.

So you're not gonna bring back the loved one.

And so it really struck me as I was thinking about how to make things right between people when there was an offense of one person against another.

Under the Old Testament, it was just really about these two things, it seems to me, restitution and or punishment.

And in the New Testament, look at what Jesus says, it's a completely different situation.

The scripture reading that was just made for us from Matthew 5 starting in verse 473 says, don't resist, turn the other cheek, let him have your garment.

Don't turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Well, where's the restitution in that?

You're gonna come out on the short end of that deal.

Paul taught something in 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

He says, why not rather And this is talking about offenses between brethren and the church.

And one's like actually wanting to sue the other one.

He says instead of all that, he says, why not rather be wronged.

Just be wronged.

Why not be rather defrauded.

The apostles telling us to just let it go.

And he asked, why not?

Why not?

I mean, hello, it's because that's unfair.

It hurts.

I don't like that.

It's not right.

Of course, I don't want, that's why I'm not gonna let it go.

Paul says, no, that's the way you need to do it.

Just, just let it go.

Look what Peter reminds us of in chapter 21 Peter 2:20.

He says if when you do good, And suffer for it.

Well, that's unfair, right?

You did good.

You're doing what you and you still suffer.

That's kind of the height of unfairness, right?

It is when you do good and suffer for it, you endure this finds favor with God.

For to this, you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you.

Leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps, who did no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, who, being reviled, was not reviling in return while suffering, he was uttering no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously.

That's what we're called to brethren.

You think about the ultimate injustice.

You think about Paul and Peter and Jesus, who are quoted in these passages.

They knew something about just letting it go.

Just enduring the unfairness of it all.

When I was working in the public schools, I remember one time, uh, a 5th grader, and he came from a, a pretty rough background.

And so he wasn't gonna take anything off anybody.

And so this one kid, I don't remember what he did to him, he pushed him or took some or whatever, he caused some little problem.

So this little kid's gonna get him back.

I mean, he's gonna retaliate, right?

You hit me, I'm gonna hit you, you push, I'm gonna push back harder.

It's just that kind of uh law of the jungle, you might say.

Well, of course, he was gonna get in trouble for that.

I pulled him aside and I said, uh, not the only thing that I said to him, but I did say, I said Do you know what Jesus did when people were hitting on him, spitting on him, hurting him?

And it was great, even that little kid who grew up in a very difficult situation here in Huntsville.

He just looked down at his shoes and he said, He took it That's what we're called to do, brethren.

Just take it.

And so when we think about punishment, and we think about the church, Romans 12:19 says, never taking your own revenge, beloved.

Instead, leave room for the wrath of God.

For it is written, vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord.

And so under the New Testament, I mean, you're thinking, wow, I kind of wish I was a Jew because then I could at least expect some restitution or some punishment, right?

What E as a Christian in the church?

Do I get, do I expect nothing?

Let's not go there.

Let's, let's shift our focus a little bit for a moment and think about our relationship with God. Right?

Because I'm so worried about somebody hurting me.

I need to think about what I've done to God.

I heard Him.

How does my sin make God feel?

Well, what does he expect?

Well, let's just establish who God is a little bit.

First of all, what who he is not.

He is not some petty father who just overreacts every time something goes wrong, and he is not some harsh or maybe better a dispassionate judge who's just simply always pronouncing sentences and punishment on the guilty.

That's not the way God is.

How does God feel?

When we sin against him.

Ephesians 4:83 warns us to not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

By whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Our sins grieve God.

Look at what he's done for us.

My goodness, He gave Jesus on the cross.

He sealed us for the day of redemption.

What more could he do?

He's done all that, and we sin against Him.

That grieves him.

I want you to listen to Jesus's despair.

When he was Talking to Jews who would simply not repent.

They were just determined to kill him.

Matthew 23:31 says, you bear witnesses, bear witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers.

Verse 34, on account of this, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes.

Some of them you will kill and crucify, some of them you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.

Think about the apostle Paul later, right?

He fell into that as a, as a blasphemous persecutor of the church, thinking he was doing God some service.

Listen to Jesus's sadness and his disappointment in verse 37.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

Who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.

How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.

And you didn't want it.

I mean, what's God gonna do?

I mean, Jesus is saying, we're sending prophets and scribes and we're trying to help, we're trying to call you back to the way of God, to repentance, to a relationship with God, and you didn't want it.

So disappointing, it's frustrating.

And so he feels a despair because these people just aren't gonna repent.

Now, here's the beauty of it all.

In spite of how badly God feels about our sin, the grief, the despair, the disappointment.

He doesn't expect restitution from us, and he doesn't want to punish us.

He offers us something completely unexpected, maybe completely undeserved.

It's called forgiveness.

He simply lets it go.

And you say, wow, well, why?

Because his law for the Jews, person to person wasn't about that.

It was about restitution and punishment, but look what God does for us.

And why does he offer forgiveness?

Look to Psalm 132.

We'll read a few verses from there in a moment.

So you know, I, I'm reading from the Legacy Standard Bible almost exclusively this morning.

It tells us the reason for his forgiveness.

It says, Yahweh is compassionate.

And gracious.

Slow to anger and abounding and loving kindness, he will not always contend with us.

He will not keep his anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins.

He has not rewarded us according to our iniquities, right?

It's not about restitution.

It's not about punishment.

Verse 11 says, for as high as the heavens are above the earth.

So great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

That's the forgiveness we're talking about.

Look at verse 13, as a father has compassion on his children.

So Yahweh has compassion on those who fear Him, for he himself knows our form.

He remembers that we are but dust.

You may be familiar with the passage that says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor my ways your ways, declares Yahweh.

I want you to think about the context.

That's from Isaiah 55.

And in Isaiah 55 223, Listen to the context.

Seek Yahweh while he may be found.

Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to Yahweh, and he will have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon, for my thoughts are not your thoughts.

Nor are your ways my ways, declare Yahweh.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Even Google AI. Don't get me started there.

I know I got myself started.

Even Google AI understands that forgiveness is a divine concept.

They call it a divine prerogative.

It's a right that belongs exclusively to God.

And it's based on his character, the character of compassion and grace.

And based on his covenant with Israel under the Old Testament and his covenant with us under the new.

But forgiveness comes because God is compassionate.

It's not deserved It's based on grace.

But if, if we will meet these conditions, right?

What does God expect?

Well, the conditions are, we just read them from Psalm 132 and Isaiah 55, that we fear God and we forsake our evil thoughts and ways.

OK, Bible drill class question.

I don't know if this is a C or a D, but what's the one word that says forsake your evil thoughts and ways?

I'll give you a hint, it starts with an R. It's called repent.

That's what God expects.

He expects us in the fear of God to repent.

And if we will do that, he will forgive.

That will kick in his compassion toward us and his graciousness.

The same applies when someone hurts us.

If the person fears God and repents, Then we must have compassion and extend forgiveness.

It's our duty.

That passage that starts out, it's impossible that no offenses should come.

That's Luke 17:1 verse 3 says, be on your guard.

If your brother's sins, rebuke him and if he if he repents, forgive him.

And if he sins against you 7 times in a day and returns to you 7 times, saying, I repent, Forgive him We script it for our children, right?

Johnny, tell Susie you're sorry.

I'm sorry. Right.

Well, OK. In the adult world, we expect a genuine emotion, some kind of contrition behind the apology.

And then we expect.

Susie to forgive Johnny, right?

Matthew 6:12.

In the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray, forgive us.

When it comes to the end, we're all gonna be seeking forgiveness.

We're all gonna be wanting God's mercy.

We're not gonna be looking for punishment that day.

Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Oh, OK, that's a two-way street.

For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others, Then your father will not forgive your transgressions.

So it's our duty to forgive when the conditions are met.

That was Matthew 13:12 to 15.

And so you forgive, but when?

I'll try to be brief about this, um.

Some people are too quick to forgive.

As if there are no conditions.

I've seen it more than once.

There will be some big national news story.

There's been some atrocity committed.

There's some mass shooting or something, and the families of the victims sometimes will come to the camera, usually in front of a church building, or usually with some preacher, some religious leader, and what do they say?

They say, I forgive the person that committed this.

Well, the person who committed this has never even apologized, never shown any remorse whatsoever, but this person is going to forgive them. Right?

They want you to think that that's Noble By the fact that they appear usually in front of a church building, they're trying to imply that this is somehow being Christ-like.

After all, Luke 23:34, when Jesus is on the cross, he prays, Father, forgive them.

The people who are crucifying in the, in the act.

He says, Father, forgive them.

But let's not confuse.

His willingness to forgive with actually forgiving the person in the moment.

What did Jesus do in the moment?

In the moment he forgave the one thief who repented.

Right, he promised him that he would be with Jesus in paradise.

That did not automatically extend to the other thief or the people there that were committing this atrocity.

So we'll come back to those people who were crucifying Jesus later.

But let's just understand that there are Conditions Consequences?

Boy, we could preach for a long time about the consequences on King David for his sins, not gonna take time to read it.

God forgave him.

He had committed.

Everything from adultery to lying to trying to frame his best friend.

Well, how about murder?

How about allowing the enemies of the nations around to blaspheme the name of God, because their king acted like that.

And God forgave, God not only spared his life, he forgave him.

But there were consequences.

The sword shall never depart from his house.

He was gonna raise up evil, take his wives from before him, and the son that was gonna be born out of that adultery was to die.

There were consequences.

Even though David was forgiven.

Spiritually, right on the sight of God, he was forgiven, but there were still consequences.

Now, in our case, we may not always be in a position to impose consequences.

That gets into a whole other study, but, but at least in extreme cases, we understand that sometimes preachers, elders, if they commit public sins, certain natures, they need to step down from what they're doing.

Right, we understand that adulterers may not be welcome to continue in their marriage. Right?

There may be temporal consequences, but let's just remember that temporal consequences and spiritual release from guilt are two separate things.

But I would say that usually we don't fall on this side of the thing, being too quick to forgive.

We're probably gonna be on the too slow to forgive side. Right?

And I just wonder sometimes do we place extra conditions?

We've seen God's conditions.

Fear God and repent, right?

Forsake your evil thoughts and your evil ways.

But somehow We see this passage from Matthew chapter 3 where John the Baptist is saying bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Well, that's obviously a scriptural principle still applies.

We need to do that, we need to bear fruit.

It says, forsake your evil thoughts and your evil ways.

So yes, we need to have a change of behavior.

But that doesn't become a condition for me to forgive the person who offends me. Right?

We don't withhold our forgiveness, waiting for those fruits to become ripe and mature.

Right, if I say, well, OK, so you've apologized.

OK, now what?

OK. Well, I'm gonna wait and see if that situation comes up again, then I'll see how you behave in that situation to see if you have really borne fruits of repentance.

And so then I'm gonna sit here as a judge over that repentance of yours that you proclaim.

It's not the way we do.

It's not what Luke 17 said.

Luke 17 says, if your brother comes back to you, says, I repent, you forgive him.

We've said it's fair to expect some kind of contritions.

Can we tell this is genuine?

He's not just playing with you.

But even if that happens 7 times in a day, right?

And we say, oh, no, 1 day is not even enough to, to judge these fruits of repentance, right?

We gotta see how they do going forward.

I'm afraid we impose extra conditions.

Another condition we may impose is that we wait till we get over the hurt feeling.

You know, I, I can't talk about that right now, right?

And so we just walk away.

Well, you can't forgive the person because you're so hurt.

Well, I get the hers.

But I want us to think back to our Lord who's being hurt.

In the mockery of trials that he underwent, and he did not revile in return, he just kept entrusting himself to God who judges faithfully.

On the cross?

You don't think that hurts?

He's in agony.

He's agonizing for hours and he's willing to forgive.

Want us to think about Jesus's compassion.

Think about his compassion on his disciples.

Oh my goodness, this could fill a whole sermon by itself, right?

Mark 153 Starting verse 17 talks about a man who had a son who was demon possessed, and he brought that son to the disciples of Jesus and those disciples couldn't cast him out.

In verse 19, Jesus answered them and said, oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you?

How long shall I put up with you?

Bring him to me.

And then Jesus cast out the demon.

How long?

Jesus had to put up with a lot from his disciples.

They're bickering and they're fussing, they're trying to gain some kind of pecking order, uh sometimes a complete lack of understanding of the mission.

One who was stealing from the group's money, he would eventually be denied by one of his closest, betrayed by the other.

Sometimes his disciples didn't even fully appreciate who he was.

Uh, oops, sorry, Mark 9, we just did that one.

John 29.

It's where Jesus is talking with his disciples in private, the night he was to be betrayed.

And Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.

Jesus said, I can just imagine the face palm.

Have I been with you all so long?

And have you not come to know me, Philip?

He who has seen me has seen the Father.

How can you say show us the Father?

As frustrating as it may have been, Jesus put up with his disciples.

He gave him a chance to serve and please him and actually even become leaders in the church.

And Jesus has compassion on us.

I always enjoy singing when Doug Childs is leading, appreciated the great songs that he led and appreciate, uh.

Praying with Travis, and I appreciate the other's men's comments.

Hebrews 241:247.

I'll read this one from the names of God Bible just to take out the not unable.

It just says, We have a chief priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses.

He was tempted in every way that we are, but he didn't sin.

Isn't that great?

That's just like the palm that we read.

He knows our frame.

He knows that we are but dust.

Jesus took on that dust as a frame for a while.

He understands. Temptation.

He can have compassion on us.

And so the question is, do we have compassion on each other?

I think back a week to Alan's good sermon.

Telling us that as we get closer to one another, we develop more compassion for one another.

And Colossians 28:222 just says straight up, bearing with one another.

See, that's just like Jesus was doing with his disciples, right?

Putting up with God, really?

Yeah, we may feel exasperated sometimes and we feel like, oh my goodness, will they ever get it?

Well, if we understand that Jesus feels that way toward us, surely we can bear with one another.

Bearing with one another.

And graciously forgiving each other.

Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord graciously forgave you.

So also should you.

And then there's a whole other aspect of this compassion that we should have.

We need to have compassion on ourselves.

Brethren is strange to me that Sometimes it's, we, we think we can be compassionate on somebody else and then we won't give ourselves any slack whatsoever.

I've met met people that have been just Paralyzed, just completely overwhelmed, so burdened by their own guilt.

They can't find it in themselves to forgive themselves.

What does Matthew 21:13 say, and it's quoted other times in the New Testament.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

If we can't extend compassion toward ourselves, how are we gonna find that compassion to extend toward others?

And so what's the problem?

I, I think the problem is that we don't look at ourselves in the right way.

I made a mistake in, in parenting just one of the.

21 or 215 that I made over the years.

Yeah, I know my kids are present, right?

And they're like, um, I, yeah, anyway.

So one of the things that I Expected too much from my children. Right?

My kid's 29.

For crying out like, he's 2 years old.

I'm expecting him to act like a 4 year old.

Well, OK, he's 4.

Well, now I'm expecting him to act like a 7 year old.

Well, now he's 7.

I'm expecting him to act like a 12 year old.

That's messed up.

It's one thing to have high expectations for someone.

And you can know that they will, on almost every case, they will live up to those expectations, they'll do great.

But it's a whole other thing to have unfair expectations and keep moving the goal line so that they never do achieve that.

They never can.

Because, OK, well, you're pretty good today, but hey, there's a whole other level you need to get to.

How about good job, you've done well.

For who you are.

For, for a 153 year old, that was really good, right?

For a 12 year old, that was really good.

Do we see ourselves though as God sees us?

That we are but dust.

That he has compassion on us.

He knows our frame.

Do we see ourselves that way?

What do we expect of ourselves?

We expect ourselves to be perfect.

And you say, yeah, the scripture says you shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Today?

Can we not cut ourselves any slack at all?

We got to have compassion to be able to forgive ourselves.

OK, this is the last slide.

I know you're right like literally like 1018, OK. So we're going to We have established that we must repent.

If we're seeking forgiveness from God, we repent, and what else?

What comes from the repentance.

That we express If we are non-Christians like the Jews were who were pushing for Jesus to be crucified.

Peter still held them guilty.

You remember Jesus prayed on the cross, Father, forgive them, but Peter still held them guilty on the day of Pentecost.

He says, you nailed him to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put him to death.

He called Jesus, Jesus whom you crucified.

And they're like, oh, the Romans did it.

No, you don't escape that guilt.

Jesus, whom you crucified.

Peter's sermon gave evidence of the resurrection, the ascension.

And those people believed that Jesus was Lord and Christ.

And for the sake of completion, we need to understand that there is a New Testament passage that adds that we need to believe.

It says, confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

That's Romans 10:9.

Once we do that, Just know that even for those wicked people who crucified Jesus, When the wicked forsake their evil ways and thoughts, grace is available.

What did Peter tell those Jews?

He said, repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

And the Lord saved the ones who obeyed that day and added them to his church, verses 41 and 47.

Similarly, when Christians sin, they repent and As Acts 8:22 says, when Peter spoke to a Christian who had allowed evil to enter his heart, repent of this wickedness of yours.

And pray earnestly to the Lord that if possible the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.

So we repent and pray earnestly.

And then finally, for Christians in our daily lives.

I want us to think about the example of the apostle Paul.

1 Corinthians 15.

Remembering that he was one of those who had fallen into the, he was one of the scribes, you might say, who was persecuting from city to city, Christ's followers.

After he changed and he understood that Jesus was Lord.

And Christ He said in 1 Corinthians 15:9, I am the least of the apostles and not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain.

But I labored even more than them all.

Yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Paul knew he could never make restitution.

And even capital punishment for him having voted and persecuted to the death, Christians.

Even if he were to die, that that would that would make up for one loss of life.

It's not about restitution.

It's not about punishment.

It's about living with humility to say by the grace of God, I am what I am.

and letting that grace and the realization of that compassion that God has on us, drive us to work and to serve Him.

He said, I did more than all.

Why do you do more than all of them?

He wasn't in competition with them.

He was living in this constant appreciation of what God had done for him.

That's why he worked so hard as an apostle.

Because he had been forgiven much.

And so his dedication and his commitment to work harder in the service of God were fueled by that constant sense of appreciation, that humility saying, it's by the grace of God that I am what I am.

And that grace is extended to every one of us this morning.

So I want you to think Do you need to do something publicly to accept God's forgiveness to meet his conditions for forgiveness?

Or are you holding something against somebody else?

Have you failed to rebuke them?

Have you failed to forgive them when they say I repent?

Are you too slow?

To extend your forgiveness.

And what about yourself?

Where is your compassion?

I want you to think about these things, we would rejoice with you.

If you need to do something of a public nature, confessed sin, or confess your faith in Jesus Christ and be baptized for the remission of your sins.

We would rejoice with you.

We'd love to help you.

We'd encourage you to come to the front while we stand and sing.