Hickory Bible Church

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Our Good Shepherd

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My name is Chris Peterson, and I have the privilege of serving here as one of the elders, and it's my privilege today to be able to bring you the Word of God from John 10:11-18. A few weeks ago or maybe a month ago now when John preached and he was introducing his children and I was thinking to myself, if I did that, it would take so long, I would probably have ten minutes left to preach. And then I got to thinking about another thing that my children now are in a different stage in life. They're all a young adults, and so now they're at the place where I get to wear their clothes. So thanks to Judah for the coat and tie. Thanks to Elijah for the shirt and Noah for the khakis...so, complete ensemble. None of it's mine. But we're easy to spot. Usually we're back there, and we have one row. Uh, now we're over here and we about to have the whole section. So if you're looking for us, uh, we're not hard to find. I just I wanted to start off with a with an illustration from my past. You guys may remember a few years ago when I preached, I talked about a farm that I grew up on in Central Florida, and I talked about picking okra. And a faithful Brother this morning came up to me and asked me about that. And I said, well, you know, guess what? I'm going to be talking about that farm again today...in a different way. So when I was about ten years old, we lived on a farm in Central Florida, as I just mentioned. There was a natural lime deposit with a lake in the middle of it. If you know anything about lime here in North Carolina, we're lime deficient, so we don't have hardly any lime. That's why we're always putting lime on our yard. But in Florida, lime is everywhere. And on our land we had a lime deposit that trucks came in and mined. And so we, we used to fish from the bank, but we only swam in a certain area of the lake because that's where the alligators usually normally didn't come into. But one day, my cousin and I were fishing on the bank, and he decided that he wanted a better position in deeper water. So this particular deposit was entered by one road and led down into a pit and it was surrounded by cliffs on all sides except where we were fishing. So he climbed up one cliff and disappeared out of my sight. A few minutes later I heard a huge splash and him crying out. It was around the corner so I couldn't see him, so I ran quickly and got my uncle and he didn't hesitate to come to the rescue of his son. When we got to the bank, he dove in and started swimming towards his son's voice. He knew there were alligators in the water, but that didn't deter him from risking his life to save his son. Well, I can't leave you hanging. So after what seemed like hours with no sound coming from that direction, I saw my uncle using a cliffside in the water to drag him and my cousin back. My uncle knew the danger. But like the shepherds in Israel who put their life on the line and would give up their life for their sheep, he jumped into dangerous waters to save his son. Have you ever thought of yourself as a sheep and Christ your shepherd? Do you consider yourself a loner who doesn't need anybody, but is content on handling things without the help of and guidance of others? Or do you value being guided and cared for? Today we will look at Jesus, and we will look and see that Jesus was not just a good shepherd, but that he was THE good Shepherd. The main idea this morning is that Jesus fulfils his role as the good Shepherd from God, who is driven by love for his sheep and for his Father. I'll read that again. Jesus fulfills his role as the good Shepherd from God, who is driven by love for his sheep and for his Father.
So let's start by reading the passage in John 10:11-18. So if you'll please turn in your Bibles there and then I'll set it in context in John's gospel. John 10:11... "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. And they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one has taken it from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my Father."
Pray with me. Father, thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, who is the good Shepherd, and who did lay down his life for his sheep. Thank you, Father, that all that you give him will come to him. And the one who comes to him, he will certainly not cast out. May we see in the text this morning the true shepherd, who loves his sheep perfectly by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. May we look to the good Shepherd, who has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. Draw us to yourself through your word, in Christ's name. Amen.
So Jesus' words in John 10 have roots in the Old Testament, where we see bad shepherds depicted in Ezekiel 34:1-3, where he prophesies against them. In Ezekiel 34 it reads, "then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say to those shepherds, thus says the Lord God, woe shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with wool. You slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Who does that sound like?...the Pharisees that we're going to read about in our text. Then in verse 10 of Ezekiel 34, we read the actual judgment being pronounced on those shepherds. "Thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from them, and make them cease from feeding sheep. So, the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore but I will deliver my flock from their mouth so that they will not be food for them." Isn't that a picture of the New Testament? Where the religious leaders were replaced with the one good Shepherd and the one spoken of in Ezekiel 34:23, which we'll read in a second. And here we'll see the reference of David's throne, which points to Christ Jesus as the Shepherd of God, that God will set over his people. So Ezekiel 34:23-24 says, "then I will set over them one shepherd, my shepherd, and he will feed them. He will feed them himself and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.” Back in John we see the bad shepherds are now the religious leaders of Jesus' day. And Jesus is the good Shepherd, who we just read about and was prophesied in Ezekiel. In John 8 He tells the Pharisees that they are of their father, the devil. And they tried to stone him, but he hid himself and went out of the temple. At this time the Pharisees caught up with him, and chapter 9 begins with Jesus leaving the temple and healing the blind man. And this is when the Pharisees caught up with him. At the end of chapter 9, the religious leaders had put the man born blind out of the synagogue. And then Jesus finds him in verse 35 and said to him, do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered, who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, you have both seen him, and he is the one talking with you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Now this is significant and points to Christ's deity because it was not fitting for a prophet or for an apostle to receive worship. Paul and Barnabas rebuked the people of Lystra when they tried to worship them in Acts 14. So now chapter 9 closes with Jesus bringing into the fold his fold the man born blind who the false shepherds had put out. Then he pronounces judgment on those same false shepherds in John 9:39-41. He says, "for judgment I came into this world so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind. Those are the Pharisees who were with him, heard these things, and said to him, we are not blind too. Are we? Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But since you say we see, your sin remains." They were blind and could not even see the the phenomenal miracle that Jesus had just performed due to their hatred toward him, having exposed them for the false shepherds that they truly were. Now, as he begins to preach in chapter ten, the Pharisees, the man born blind, and the disciples all are there to hear his declaration that he is in fact the good Shepherd that was spoken of in Ezekiel. As we begin, I want to remind us, as John tells us, why he wrote the book in chapter 20:31. John says, "but these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." There's no other way to be saved apart from coming to Christ. That was John's purpose in writing the gospel, that people would believe in Christ and be saved. Jesus told people how to be saved, and he also told them how he cares for his sheep as their shepherd.
Now let's look at three characteristics of the love of the shepherd.
The first characteristic we'll see in verses 11 through 15 is the sacrificial love of the shepherd. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me, even as the father knows me and I know my father, I lay down my life for the sheep." Here we see the fourth 'I am' statement in the Gospel of John. And earlier in chapter 9 we see another 'I am' statement. I am the door. Which speaks of Christ's exclusivity. I am the door is the same as we see in John 14. I am the way. I'm the only door. I am the only way. So he's speaking of his own exclusivity. But we see here in... I am the good shepherd that he speaks of his sacrifice. The word used here can mean the word good here...I am the good shepherd can mean morally good, but also beautiful, magnified, winsome, attractive, lovely, excellent on all levels. That's the Greek word that's being used here. The Greek word for shepherd is poimen and translated from the Latin. We get our English word pastor. To emphasize his sacrificial love Jesus repeats the phrase, I lay down my life four times in these eight verses. The good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, Verse 11. I lay down my life for the sheep, Verse 15. I lay down my life so that I may take it up again, Verse 17. And I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again, verse 18. The Lord Jesus Christ himself is telling us at what length he will go to to bring you to himself. Being a shepherd in those days not only was extremely dangerous, but it took great courage and fortitude. The shepherd knew the risks when he took the job or even the owner of the sheep, he knew what he was getting into. They faced the elements, worked long hours, and most assuredly would encounter and have to fend off wild animals. That was part of the job. Psalm 130 gives us a picture of a shepherd looking for the hope of the sun coming up, due to staying alert at night for the flock. The psalmist says, my soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning, indeed more than the watchmen for the morning. And in 1 Samuel, David approaches Saul and gives Saul his shepherding credentials. 1 Samuel 17:34,but David said to Saul, your servant was tending his father's sheep, when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth. And when he rose up against me, I seized him by the beard and struck him and killed him. That's what a shepherd did. He protected his flock at all costs, even at the cost of his life. Now, is that not the picture of a manly man? He grabs him by the beard. I didn't even know they had a beard. And he struck him and killed him. Well, again, looking back to verse 9, we're going to ring verse 9 in chapter 10 dry, even though it's not in our passages. But it's just a good looking forward. So looking back to verse 9 where Jesus says, I am the door. In those days, wolves and robbers could enter the pen over the fence, kill the sheep, and actually by slitting the sheep's throat and pull them over the wall. A shepherd would build a pen in the shape of a U out of the bushes and brush, and put the thorny bushes over the top to keep the predators out. The shepherd himself would lay across the opening of the u shaped pen, becoming the door himself. So that's a that's a visual picture of the shepherd actually becoming the door. And so there was no way in or out except through or over the shepherd. When I was in high school a few years ago...ask Mark Ikerd...he knows because I graduated with him. I remember a night when I was out past my curfew. My dad, who was...Yeah. You're probably thinking only one night, but this was a particular night that that is burnt into my memory, because my dad, who was worried for my safety, came looking for me. Around 2 a.m. he came walking through the door of the gathering that I was at. No words were spoken...just as intimidating...burnt a hole in me, but with a hint of gentleness look along with the unspoken and implied...let's go. He didn't even have to say anything. And so I got into the car and neither one of us spoke on the way home. I was frustrated and angry, but can remember as I sat there quietly, having a sense of relief at knowing how much my dad must have loved me to come looking for me and find me no matter what it took. He didn't know what he was going to face, but he just knew that he was going to find his son. Even as a non-believer, that night impacted me deeply and caused me to never doubt his great love for me. So in verse 12, we get the opposite. We find a definition of a hireling. He makes no attempt to gather the scattered sheep. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. Isn't that the opposite of our good Shepherd, who not only laid down his life for us undeserving sheep, but he also promises never to leave us and never forsake us in Hebrews 13? Charles Spurgeon wrote, "it means that the sacrifice was actively performed. It was ever in the doing as long as he lived, but he did it actively. He did not die for the sheep merely, but he laid down his life, which is another thing. Many a man has died for Christ. It was all that he could do. But we cannot lay down our lives because they are due already as a debt of nature to God, and we are not permitted to die at our own wills. With the Lord Christ, that was totally different. He was, as it were, actively passive. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again." And so, moving on to verses 14 and 15, he says, I am the good Shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. One commentator wrote that the word 'know' here is used in the sense of affectionate regard or love. It implies knowing their needs, their risks and characters to result in an interest in their welfare. So he knows them on an intimate level. So we see here the sacrificial love of the shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep.
Next we will look at point number two, the submissive love of the shepherd, whose perfect obedience was the reason the Father loved him. Hang on to that thought, because that's huge. Again, the submissive love of the shepherd. So these are verses 16 and 17. 16 says, I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. And they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again." So now let's look at the other sheep referred to in verse 16. In Acts 10, Peter has a vision of preparation to go and preach salvation to the Gentiles, which was a foreign concept, no pun, I guess, pun intended, uh, to the Jews, because, you know, all they had ever known that it was only to them that salvation was only offered to the Jews. But Peter has a vision to go to this Gentile named Cornelius from Caesarea. And also Cornelius has a vision to bring back, Peter to preach the gospel to him and those who are with him. Isn't that the sovereignty of the Lord to be doing both things at the same time? That's what he's doing here. He put it on Peter and gave him a vision, and then he put it on Cornelius's heart. And he has them going toward each other. That's God's sovereignty. There's no other word for it. So we pick up in Acts 10:34, and and it reads, "opening his mouth, Peter said, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him. The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all." And then in Acts 10:44 it says, "while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also." Isn't that good news? That even though there are different sheep, including you and me, that there is but one shepherd to unite all that the Father has given the Son, and all that know his voice. John 10:27 says, "my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me." Now let's look at verse 17. For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. This verse is profound and I don't want you to miss it. Jesus is about to tell us why the Father loves him. Did you catch that...for this reason. So He's about to tell us the reason the Father loves him. And I'm sitting here....That's right, that's right. Vicky, that's I did that about a thousand times as I was reading this. Just if there was a way to translate that into a sermon, I would, there would be a thousand. I mean, because it just it really just grips you. So I'm reading this and I read...for this reason the Father loves me...I mean, my brain is not that fast. But before I get to the next line, I'm thinking, why, why, why tell me...because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. F.F. Bruce says, "the Father loves the Son because of the Son's utter self-dedication to do the Father's will, even when this involves the laying down of his life. The Father would indeed glorify him with the glory which he had with the Father before the world existed. But the laying down of his life was not only the necessary precondition of his receiving that glory. It was the first stage in his being glorified. If he was to impart resurrection life to others, he must receive resurrection life Himself. And to receive resurrection life, he must first pass through death. Only by falling into the ground and dying could the grain of wheat yield much fruit." Then John 12:24, "only by laying down his life and receiving it again could the shepherd bring his other sheep together with the sheep from the original fold into one flock. So Jesus was submissive to the Father, to the Father's command to lay down his life. And the submissive love of the son to the Father demonstrates perfect obedience to his will. In John 6:38 we read, "for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that all that he has given to me, I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day." This past spring, we had quite a scare in our family as one of my daughters had a bleeding ulcer and needed to be taken by ambulance to Baptist Hospital. Melissa and I spent two nights away from the home, but the children here in our home, as well as my married children who live outside the home, put their normal daily life aside to keep the house running while we were away. They also made trips to Winston to bring us things that we needed. They selflessly and submissively and sacrificially gave of themselves as their sister was struggling. To run a house is not necessarily a sacrifice. A lot of people would probably disagree with me. In many ways it is. But in this case, they felt the weight and gravity of the situation, which was their motivation. They didn't give up their lives per se, but they offered them in service and submission to their parents. That's the picture we see here, that Jesus' submissive love laid down his life. And that is why the Father loved him.
Having just looked at the submissive love of the good Shepherd. We will see now and look at the sovereign love of the shepherd, who willingly laid down his life, and by his own authority took it up again and raised himself from the dead. Thank you, thank you, Jesus. The third and last point is the sovereign love of the shepherd. No one has taken it away from me. But I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my Father. We know that Jesus was referring to his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead when he said, "I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again." It's as if he was saying, nobody's pulling the strings here but me. He told Pilate in John 19:11, you would have no authority over me unless it had been given to you from above. Here Jesus simultaneously demonstrated his messiahship and deity at the same time. Romans 1:4 says, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord. John MacArthur says, "as with everything he did, Christ exercised his authority to lay down his life and take it up again in voluntary compliance with, and loving obedience to, the commandment he received from the Father." By the power of his resurrection, he would raise all his flock to eternal glory. Believer that's you and that's me. What a beautiful picture of our hope and glory to be with our good Shepherd for all eternity. Jesus laid down his life on his own authority in the form of obedience, out of the love he has for his Father and for his sheep. Philippians 2:6 says, "who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant, and being made in the likeness of man...being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Verse 17 says, that's why the Father loved him, because he laid down his life. The shepherd willingly lays down his life for his own, and by his own power takes it up again. That this is tied to obedience to the Father, but by his own authority at the same time, and being that he is the sovereign over all life, he's the only one that could do that. That is what separates Christianity from all other religions....that the sovereign God of the universe, who is holy, holy, holy, sent His Son to come down to earth to reconcile fallen man to himself through the giving of his life on the cross, to pay for the sins that we committed by bringing us to him, to dwell with him for all eternity. That's the gospel...that he laid down his life for us, who did not deserve him to do that. But God demonstrated his love, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Now, let me share three ways that we can take comfort from Christ's role as the good Shepherd. The first one is knowing that we are guided by him. Proverbs 3:5 says to trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. And Psalm 119:105...everyone's familiar with...your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Shepherds guide their sheep by walking in front of them, using their voice to tell them to stop, turn, or to move forward. In John 10:4 we see this when he puts forth all his own. He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow them because they know his voice. Isn't that like our Lord, who like a shepherd, he will tend his flock. In his arms He will gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead the nursing ewes. Well, if you know me, you've probably heard me quote this verse often. I love that picture that God himself does the tending, gathering, caring and gentle leading all the qualities that make a good shepherd. Take comfort in the fact that Christ, our great Shepherd, does all these things himself. He tends, he gathers, he carries, and he gently leads us, who so desperately need that.
The second way we can take comfort from Christ's role as the good Shepherd is knowing that he is our provider. Philippians 4:19 says, "And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Shepherds provide for their sheep with food, water, and rest. They plan ahead the day's grazing, including which pastures to lead them to, and a day ahead they go out and they scope it out, and they find the best place. In John 6:33 we see, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. More than the nourishment that we certainly need, the Shepherd has provided salvation for his sheep. Again, we look back to John 10:9, "I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be" what?...saved. He will be saved. "And we'll go in and out and find pasture." And Luke 12:32 says, do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. Take comfort that your good shepherd will provide for you completely.

And lastly, we can take comfort in knowing that we are protected by him. To the parents in here who are a type of shepherd, watching over the flock of your family that God has entrusted to you. What wouldn't you do to protect your children from danger? There's nothing you wouldn't do, right? Well, the King of glory, the Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. This is who is protecting his sheep. Take comfort in knowing that you are protected by the good Shepherd, who lays down his life and did lay down his life for his sheep...for you...for me. Another way that the Shepherd protects us is by calling under-shepherds our elders to protect his sheep. In Acts 20:28 it says. Be on guard for yourselves. And this is talking to the elders...overseers. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. 
So I hope that it has been a joy for you to look at our good Shepherd this morning, and I hope it encourages you to know that Jesus loves us the same way His Father loves him. He says in John 15:9, just as the father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. He wants us to know how much he loves us. Is he your good shepherd? Are you one of Christ's sheep? Have you realized you need a shepherd? Have you, by faith and repentance, trusted in him for your salvation? Or are you outside of Christ's sheepfold and therefore without protection? Subject and open to the attack of the wolves and thieves and robbers that prowl around like roaring lions, seeking those to devour. If that is you, I beg you to consider what it means to go alone and live apart from the good Shepherd. The sheep outside of the fold were left to fend for themselves, and face certain death...certain death. I might get lucky and not get, from a sheep's perspective, I don't need a shepherd. I might be able to handle it to fend off. No...to be outside of the fold was certain death. Turn to Christ today. If that's you, turn to Christ today and join the flock of the good Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior. If you would like to know more about the good Shepherd and what it means to be one of his flock, elders will be up here up front immediately following the service and would love to talk to you.
In closing, I would like for you to open your Bibles and follow along as I read the 23rd Psalm. I know listening to this sermon, you're like, okay, I know that's got to be in there somewhere. I'm just waiting for it. Well, here it is. It seems a fitting way to use the Psalmist's words to recap and reflect on what we've heard this morning, doesn't it? You all know Psalm 23. You can all probably quote it. We have all day. I can wait till I hear the pages stop turning because I love that sound. If you know people have, you know, a fan or the ocean, you know, to put them the sleep, if I if there could be one with Bible pages turning, that would be perfect.
"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the lord forever."
Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word this morning that has shown us that we are sheep and in need of a shepherd. Thank you for your Son, who is our shepherd, and who gives his life for us on the cross, so that we may live eternally with him. Thank you for rescuing us from the domain of darkness and transferring us to the kingdom of your beloved Son. Thank you, Lord, that you have chosen us to be your sheep before the foundation of the world. And as it says in Ezekiel that you have placed your shepherd over us. Father, be with us as we go from here, and give us the words and the courage to tell others about Jesus Christ, who is the good Shepherd, and can be their Shepherd if they would repent and turn to you for salvation. Thank you for your steadfast love for us. In Christ's wonderful name we pray. Amen.

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Our Lord’s Prayer

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If I haven't met you yet my name is Ronald Laitano. I serve as the director of worship here. If you're new to the church, welcome. If you're not new to the church, you're probably, again, used to seeing me over there with the guitar. Uh, but I have the joy this morning of sharing the word from John 17 as we continue a summer preaching series with The Son. We've been spending time with Jesus, uh, looking at particular passages that each one of the elders and Ronald, like in the Gospels. You'll notice in the bulletin, by the way, that this sermon has two points to it. And much like a kid in a candy store when he's given full rein in access to candy, he doesn't know what to do with himself, so he grabs too much candy. I am guilty of grabbing too much text. Uh, so I have, in fact, a sermon with two points. Uh, but I am going only going to preach a sermon with one point, because you will probably going to be getting hungry in a little bit, just like me. And I want to get you to that lunch soon. So thank the Lord for me this afternoon as you have your lunch, and for me shortening this sermon. But let's go ahead and read the text. John 17. Turn your Bibles to John 17 or turn them on. Uh, we're going to be focusing on, uh, verses one through five. This is the word of the Lord.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to the heavens and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Let's pray together. Lord, our prayer is a promise of Jesus in this very passage. He lifted his eyes to the heavens and prayed to you that you would sanctify us through your truth. And so, Lord, we pray that the process of us becoming more like Jesus would take place as your word is proclaimed and as its truth penetrates our hearts and changes our lives. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.
Well, some context is helpful here to get us started. The gospel tells us that Jesus had an active and vibrant prayer life. But interestingly, this is one of the few and only prayers that are recorded in the New Testament, and the longest one at that. Only the Gospel of John contains this prayer. The other three gospels, Mark, Matthew, and Luke, do not contain this prayer. They do contain the prayer at Gethsemane, but this one is only contained here in John. And I think it's fitting that the Apostle would do this. If you recall John chapter 20, where the apostle gives the purpose of why he wrote this book. He says, these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. So the Apostle John understands that this prayer is a specific way of us being strengthened in our belief in Christ, and that our experience of life in his name become enlivened as we study His Word. I've entitled the sermon Our Lord's Prayer.
There's two basic ideas to this prayer this passage from verse one to verse 24. The two ideas are the father's mission and the father's people. And like I said earlier, we're only going to focus on that first part where Jesus prays for the Father's mission. Some timeline of events to help you just kind of find your way around the, um, chronology of where Jesus is, where we are in the gospel narrative. Uh, look at verse one there. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. And just a few hours after Jesus prays, he will be crucified. This prayer takes place on Thursday of Passion Week before the other great prayer at Gethsemane, before the Lord's Supper, before his arrest, before his betrayal, and before the cross. The opening phrase in verse one when Jesus had spoken these things connects this passage, this prayer with everything that preceded it, all the way back to John chapter 13. So from John chapter 13 to John chapter 17, this is one unified collection of teachings of sayings. Theologians have called this Jesus's farewell discourse or the last discourse or something that just this is the last time Jesus gathers with his disciples and he has some kind of exchange with them, telling them the last important things he ought to share. So picture this scene with me. On the night of the crucifixion, Jesus is gathered with the 12 somewhere in an undisclosed location in Jerusalem, celebrating the Passover. On that night, he will wash his disciples feet, reveal the identity of his betrayer, institute the Lord's Supper, promise the Holy Spirit, offer his last words of teaching and guidance, and knowingly and willfully enter the final phase of his earthly mission. What is that mission? It's there in verse four. Jesus says, I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. Now, what work is Jesus referring to? Well, the simple answer is the work that leads to eternal life. You've seen the Gospel of John. John the writer emphasizes all throughout the book of John, leading to this prayer. You see this in John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 5:24, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in me, who has sent me has eternal life. John 6:38 for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my father, that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life. John 10,  the works that I do in my father's name bear witness about me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life. John 12:49 for I have not spoken on my own authority, but the father who sent me has himself given me a commandment, what to say and what to speak. And I know that this commandment is eternal life. There's a popular clothing brand, fishermen, people who like life at the beach called Salt Life. It's a clothing brand that emphasizes, characterizes, promotes the idea of hey, life in the water, life in the lake, life and adventure, life getting wet with salty water in the beach. And so they encapsulate their purpose under the banner...Salt Life. If Jesus had a clothing company, he would probably be called eternal life. That's what his life was about. The singular purpose of him coming was to obey the will of the Father, to accomplish and achieve eternal life for those whom he was given. And how did Jesus do this? He did this by sharing the message of eternal life, offering the way to eternal life, paying the price with his life to purchase eternal life, exercising his authority to give that eternal life to those the Father has given to him. And so his life was about eternal life. Take a moment to consider your life. What is your life about? If some kind of marketing company from New York would fly in to our wonderful metropolis of Hickory, and they would pull up to your driveway and knock on your door and say, hey, we want to feature you as a spokesperson to this company and your life, how you define that life, what you stick under the word that is going to be the emblem, the focus, the emphasis of this company. So what is that? What is that thing that defines your life? What would that be? Jesus accomplished a specific mission for his life, the purpose of eternal life. And he gave his life to have that purpose accomplished. Now, there's details to this mission, right? Look back at verse 2. Since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life. So, how does this work? How does the giving and getting and receiving of eternal life work? Who gives it? Well, Jesus does. Who does Jesus give eternal life to? Well, the passage tells us there...to all whom you, speaking of the Father, have given him. Jesus then defines eternal life in verse three as knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. So what's going on here? Do we have to believe in Jesus and God the Father because there are two different beings, or are there two different processes at play? Are there two different puzzle pieces that we have to connect so that eternal life functions? When we get to heaven do we have to have two different forms that we submit there at the pearly gates? One of them says, eternal life from God the Father, and the other one says, eternal life from God the Son. And we have to make sure that those are filled out correctly. And if not, we don't get into heaven. What's going on here? Well, the answer is we don't have to do any of that because we are being reminded here that eternal life is knowing the Father and the Father can only be known through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 says, Jesus said to them, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. In other words, there is one purpose. There's one plan. There's one path...eternal life with the father through Jesus Christ, His Son. The mission of eternal life that Jesus accomplished has a specific path to it. It's a clear, objective, exclusive thing. Eternal life is this and not that. It's one thing and not every thing. There aren't a buffet of different options to achieve, attain or come to eternal life in God. You know, it's like going to Home Depot and my male brain cannot understand, you know, if I go and I ask for off white to be presented, you know, I'm painting my kitchen and I ask for off white and I'm presented with 32 different versions of off white. I don't get that. Like off white is one thing, right? It's not white, it's off white. Eternal life is one thing, not a myriad of things, not an option of things and a variety of things. It's knowing the Father through Jesus Christ, his Son. Notice also how Jesus wields the authority to give eternal life. Again, these details matter and we'll see why. But Jesus is given authority to give eternal life and look how he wields that authority. Still, in verse two he says, you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. Notice Jesus's care and concern for God's will, the submission and obedience of Christ to His Father's plan. At no point in the life of Christ, and specifically in this passage, do you see Jesus flaunt his authority...try to make his way be his own way. Look what I can do. I can give eternal life. Zap eternal life. I could just walk around zapping people into eternal life because I'm Jesus. He doesn't do that. At no point is Jesus reckless in his use of authority, of giving eternal life. At no point does he go rogue with the giving of authority. He doesn't even fail to use the authority he's been given. Christ has been given the authority to give eternal life, and Christ willfully obeyed his Father's plan. Jesus models for us perfect, willful, joyful obedience in using what the Father gave him to accomplish the Father's will. And again, what was the Father's will?...to extend the grace of eternal life to those whom God would choose...to those whom the Father would give to Jesus. Not to everyone, but to those whom God would choose, and to those whom the Father would tell Jesus. Warning...we are in the deep end of the theological pool right here. The term for this is called the doctrine of election. And you may be new to HBC, and maybe you've never heard the doctrine of election, or maybe you've had and been told to stay away from it. Let me tell you something about us. We don't shy here at HBC talking about deep doctrinal issues in the Bible. And I'll tell you why. It's not because we're proud. It's not because we think we're smarter. It's not because we think we're anything. It's because we love God and we love His Word and because we love His Word we want to be faithful to what it says and teach it correctly. At the same time, we recognize two things. We recognize, number one, that our sermons can get long. It may not seem that way, but we do recognize that sometimes our sermons get long. I recognized that this week, and so I'm preaching half of the sermon I prepared. And so talking about everything all the time will just make them a lot longer. And you don't want that. Neither do we. But the second thing we recognize is that questions do remain right? We're in verse two and we're already into a deep, deep theological issue. So let me invite you to reach out. Listen, I'm glad to answer any question you would have about strong, difficult doctrines, about doctrines you maybe have questions about, about doctrines that you maybe struggled with, that you've been confused by or maybe angered by. So let me invite you to send me an email and I'd love nothing but to reply back, set up, you know, coffee or whatever. Just send it to me at [email protected]. That's Kurtis with a k k u r t i s and ask away. I love you, brother. The main point here is in the intimacy of prayer Jesus doesn't protest God's plan, criticize God's plan, sneer with disapproval at God's plan, seek an explanation and justification from God for his plan, modify God's plan or ignore God's plan. He is satisfied in using what God has given him authority...to do what the father has called him to do. Bring eternal life to his people. Jesus glorifies the Father by surrendering his will to the will of his Heavenly Father, and complete the mission he was sent to complete.
So two application points with a series of questions. Application number one...examine your prayers. John 17 has been called the High Priestly Prayer. John 17 is not a teaching per se. He's not talking to his disciples. He's talking to God. Now his disciples are listening, which I find there so wonderfully beautiful. But Jesus is now pouring his heart out to the Father in prayer. You will never know how you're doing before the Lord if you don't go before the Lord in prayer. And I'll remind you, Jesus is well aware that the path to glorifying the Father is through the horror of the cross. He is well aware of the death He is going to die. He is well aware of the pain he will endure. He is aware of the mocking, the beating, the humiliation. The spiritual onslaught He's going to receive when the wrath of God is poured on him and his instinct, his default, the comfort zone that he goes to... The only place a person who is going to be crucified for the sins of humanity can go and find strength, joy and peace is to the Father in prayer. So how is your prayer life? What do you turn to when life gets real? In a really basic sense are you praying? Are you enjoying the access you have to the Heavenly Father to come to him and to be with him? If you are praying, what do your prayers sound like? Do they sound like Jesus? There's something unique about this prayer. This prayer is intensely relational. Six times in this chapter, Jesus calls God the Father, the Father, the Father, Father, Father, Father. It's not because there's some magic formula, some kind of mystic thing that happens. He's not summoning God in some weird spiritual way. This is faith. It's intimacy. It's affection. It's, a nearness. Jesus is enjoying the time he has with the Father. Whatever is communicated in prayer, whatever words are exchanged, whatever needs are expressed, whatever provision is received, prayer is first and foremost a conversation between the one true God and the people he calls his own. Another way of saying this is that prayer is the children of God speaking to their heavenly Father.
This prayer is also directional. Notice that Jesus looks up to the heavens and prays. Jesus is not praying internally. He's praying externally. He's praying to God. Jesus knows where he is and he knows where God the Father is. There's an awareness of not what matters in prayer to Jesus, but who matters in prayer to Jesus. I want to encourage you, Christians, to be careful that this is what unhelpful prayer sounds like. This is an example of how not to pray in the direction of God. A Christian should never give thanks. I'll say it again in case you think I stumbled. A Christian should never give thanks. A Christian should give thanks to God. What does giving thanks mean? You know the next big holiday coming up, I guess, is Thanksgiving. And you're going to gather around the table and eat, and you're going to be thankful. What does that mean? If Thanksgiving is not attached to the giver of things that we give thanks for? So that's an example of a prayer that, as a believer, makes no sense to be generically, you know, etherially, spiritually thankful. We give thanks to God. You're not speaking into the air or the universe. You are speaking to God. And God's people know their place and they know their God. Simply put, prayer has two parts to it, right? What you're praying for and who you're praying with. And remembering who you are praying with will greatly influence how we ask what we are praying for. So application one was examine your prayers.
Application two is examine your life. Just from these two verses, we can see some pretty clear things about Jesus and how he valued his life and how he saw his life, and how he moved the events of his life to do one great thing. The Father's mission of giving eternal life that was the focus of Jesus's life. Consider how he spent his time. Jesus spent his time as a young man, learning about God, learning about the Word, growing up in faith and stature. And when he became a man, he spent his time teaching about God, preaching about God, praying about the kingdom of God, leading others into the kingdom of God. Consider how Jesus used his power. The miracles Jesus performed were never ends to themselves. The purpose of the miracles the Bible tells us where signs. And I don't know about you, but signs aren't meant to stop you. They're meant to lead you. You're not supposed to come up to a sign and look at it and say, well, there's a sign. You supposed to go where the sign tells you to go. You're supposed to follow the signs direction to where the sign is leading you to. Consider who Jesus surrounded himself with. The last three years of his life, Jesus devoted himself to a small group of people and made everything about his life, their life as it pertained to eternal life and the Kingdom of God. So questions for you. Consider your life. What are you committed to? Now don't answer that question. What do I think I'm committed to? What are you committed to? I'll give you a real practical way to figure out what you're committed to. Look at your calendar this week. What are you doing? This and the next week. How are you spending your time? How are you spending your resources? How are you using your gifts? Do you notice how Jesus employs...He uses something the Father gives him. The Father gives him authority, and Jesus is found faithful in using that authority for the purposes of God. What I'm trying to point out here is the fact that he used something God gave him. Are you using what God's given you? And then lastly, who are you surrounding yourself with? You answer those questions and you're going to find what your commitment is to. So the details of the mission lead to the accomplishment of the mission. Right? The mission of Jesus is the procurement, the achievement, the offering of eternal life. But what is it actually like? What is eternal life? Fortunately for me, I don't have to come up with a definition. Fortunately for us, we are blessed that God Himself has defined eternal life. And you see it there in verse three, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus.  If I were to give you a survey and asked maybe someone again, another marketing agency. I've been getting a lot of phone calls, y'all. So just marketing people are just in my mind I've got these text messages, hey, would you vote for this? Would you vote for that? So just freshly aware of how annoying marketing can be. So I wanted to share my annoyance with you, in other words. But, if some kind of marketing company, a surveying company were to ask you. Hey, um, how would you define eternal life. If you could flesh out the constituent components of eternal life? Like, what is it like? What are the ingredients in eternal life? What is eternal life made out of? What does it have? What do you what do you see that you would say? Oh yeah, that's eternal life, because of this, because of that and because of that. How would you fill that out, that blank space in that question? Would you possibly relate it to freedom? Would you say, you know, eternal life is being free from bondage of sin, being free from the effect of sin and sickness and stress and suffering and sorrow. Being free from the punishment of hell, that that's eternal life. Or maybe you would relate it to salvation. Maybe in your mind, as you think of eternal life, eternal life is the same thing as being saved, being rescued from the wrath of God, being rescued from hell. Well, to be sure, eternal life brings us both the promise of freedom from the effects of sin and rescues us from the impending judgment. But here Jesus is being very specific. He's talking to people like me...very simple minded people. What is eternal life, Jesus? You, the author of life, the giver of life. What is this thing that you offer called eternal life? He says it's knowing God and knowing me. Now, I hope you see what's implied here. By Jesus defining life in this way He forces all of us in this room to rethink our definition of what it means to be truly alive. Because anything short of eternal life is not being truly alive. That's being alive, in one sense, it's being alive in a momentary sense, in a temporal sense, as being alive for a period of time, but then not being alive. There's nothing like having eternal life. So eternal life is true life. That's what it means to be alive. The Bible here looks at our humanity and says, there's a type of life that you can have, but outside of Christ right now, you don't. And the word the Bible uses to describe what you have is not a different life. It's not a lesser life. It's not a limited life. It's not an okay life. It's not an on the way to eternal life. The word the scriptures use to describe what we have outside of eternal life. The other category that exists in the mind of God as He looks at humanity and says they have either eternal life or they have...death. You are either alive in Christ or you are dead. You have no life. I'll remind you how the story of the Bible begins with the life giver himself giving life to humanity and warning them about what happens when life is lived outside of God's gracious will. Genesis 2:15 says, the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, you may surely eat of the tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Here's an odd question for you. What if this were a movie and the screen went black? What sound do you expect to hear right after God says that? That moment where Adam and Eve bite in the fruit and they die. Screen goes blank, but there's a sound effect. What do you expect to hear? A thud. Boom! Boom! Is that what happens? No. They remain alive, but a death has occurred. There is a spiritual death. That's right. Something has happened. Something has been removed from man. What they have is, in a sense, life. But they don't have eternal life. They were death walkers in some sense. In one sense, I think the whole narrative of zombies is just, you know, a funny thing. But the idea of a zombie is what happened to Adam and Eve. The idea of a zombie is what happens to all humankind when they don't have the eternal life that God has offered to them. In one sense, we are all alive, right? In one sense, you came to church this morning. You woke up, you brushed your teeth, you had breakfast. You may or may not be falling asleep as I preach, but you're alive. You're here. Right? Like you exist. It's like. Ronald, I don't know this thing about being dead, man. i'm looking at you right now. Right. In one sense, you are alive. 4th of July on Thursday, right?...maybe you went to a barbecue, went to a party, saw some fireworks. Maybe you just got back from vacation. Maybe you're going to vacation. Not only do you have life, but you enjoy it, right? You have recreation. There's entertainment. There's things that fill the joy component of your heart. You have life. And my life is actually pretty good. You have responsibilities in this life of yours, right? You have a job. You have family. You have friends. Maybe you're on break from college. Maybe you just graduated from college. Maybe you're going to college. So your life is full of stuff that you could come up to God with a big old, you know, 12 inch folder of stuff and say, I've got life God, I don't know what you're talking about. But the Bible looks at humanity and looks at all the busyness of our lives and says, you are dead. You do not have life without the life that Jesus has to give, there is no other option. You are already dead. You could say to me, Ronald, but I'm a really busy person, man. Well, dead people can be really busy. We can fill our times with things that lead us away from eternal life, and certainly don't denote that we have. We actually read this earlier in A call to worship, right? Ephesians two. This is the language of Paul. He says, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins, but listen how deadness is described. This is interesting. He says, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, among all whom we also lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. There's some action language here, right? There's doing stuff. There's active verbs, dead life has components that would confuse you and convince you that you're actually alive, but you're not. The Bible calls us dead, but describes our deadness as walking, following, living in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of our bodies that lead away from the eternal life that Jesus is offering. We are dead to God. That's his indictment, not mine. We are dead to eternal life. And so we do what dead people do. We pursue things that lead to more death. Now, this is intensely practical for the life of the believer. Next time you're tempted. Next time you are engaging in real life where your flesh, the world and the devil are beckoning you to live according to its passions, to carry out the desires of your body and mind. Don't think of temptation just as doing something wrong. Giving into temptation is not just doing something wrong. Giving into temptation is eating death. You are walking towards death. You are gobbling up death. It's no less than that. It's just as bad as that. If that makes your heart recoil, that's what it is. Simply put, unless you know God, you do not have life. Two applications from this. Friend, if you don't know Christ, if you are here as a guest, maybe a friend of yours brought you here, this is your first Sunday. Maybe you've been coming to the church for a few Sundays this summer, come to Christ, repent of your sins. Believe in him. Give Christ your life. I have yet to meet a person on this planet. I've yet to have a conversation with somebody who would look at their life and say, yeah, I'm good. I got everything I want. Every category of my life is just as good as it could be, you know. Financially, yeah, I've I've made it. Relationally, yeah, every one of my relationships. Physically, you know, I was the one person in the world that started that fitness plan at the beginning of the year, ten years ago, and I've kept it up. So, you know. No, again, if I were to look at your calendar, if I were to look at your life, if I were to ask you specific questions about what you do, all of us, all of us are looking for upgrades right?...in our home and our finances and our relationships. All of us want something better than we have. We move to get new jobs. We go from place A because place B is better. We move around from relationships because this one doesn't give me what I want it to give me. So we go to another one in hopes that it that that one does. We're constantly wanting upgrades to our lives. Friend, Jesus offers you the ultimate upgrade, but it's more than just an upgrade. Jesus did not come to make bad people better. Jesus came to make dead people live. Amen. And that's the invitation for you. Turn to Christ, believe in him. Receive the eternal life that he would offer through faith in His Son.
Now, for believers, the application for you is this. Enjoy the eternal life that you have. Jesus defines eternal life as knowing God. Now for the small number of you that like to do smart things like read...this if knowing God is just about reading about him, just about using your mind to kind of gravitate into higher levels of consciousness, that maybe you're staying up and applauding. Now, knowing God, we know God through His Word. God has revealed perfectly through His Son, but he's given us a book to know about him. But there's more to this knowing God than just knowing the Bible, knowing his commandments. We have to do that, and we delight in doing that. But I remind you again, this is a prayer. In this moment of prayer, Jesus not only defines eternal life, but shows us the out-workings of a man who has eternal life. The Bible describes knowing God as something that satisfies, that fulfills. That's exciting, that's delightful, that's delicious. That gives pleasure. You don't believe me? Well, some verses your way. Psalm 16:11. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 36. How precious is your steadfast love, O God, the children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you will give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life. Oh, Ronald, but that's the Old Testament. They said weird things in the Old Testament. Well, okay, take it from Jesus himself. John 4:14. Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. John 6:35 Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John 15:8, by this my Father was glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. And Jesus models for that himself in John 17, just a few verses later, verse 13, but now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves....Joy. Pleasure. Delight. Fulfillment. Satisfaction. The Christian life is not boring. The Christian life is not burdensome. Eternal life is glorious and rich and satisfying. Here is Jesus, the Son of God defining life. No one is wiser. No one is holier. No one is more powerful. No one is more knowledgeable about life, about how life is and ought to be. He is the author of life, the giver of life, the sustainer of life, the preserver of life, the one and only one authorized to give eternal life. And this man defines eternal life in this way...to know God and to know him, his Son. Friends, eternal life is not the absence of what makes our everyday lives difficult. Eternal life is knowing God and being known by him. Every now and then you read something that just can't be improved. Worship team is probably sick of me using this passage. I'm going to read to you guys, but our elder brother in the faith, J.I. Packer, wrote a fantastic book called Knowing God, and in a section where he talks about the glory of knowing God, he talks about another great glory, of being known by God. Listen to this.
He says, "What matters supremely, therefore, is not the fact that I know God, But the larger fact which underlies it, the fact that he knows me. I am graven on the palms of his hands. I am never out of his mind. All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me and continues to know me. He knows me as friend one who loves me, and there is no moment when his eye is off me or his attention distracted from me, and no moment therefore when his care falters. This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort, the sort of comfort that energizes in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me in the way that I am so often disillusioned about myself and quench his determination to bless me. There is certainly great cause for humility in the thought that he sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see, and that he sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself. There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose. Brothers and sisters. That is what knowing God is. The satisfaction of the human soul in the presence of God being welcomed by him fully and completely. Some application questions your way and will be done. Until you know Him, believer as the all satisfying, all pleasing, all encompassing reality of your life? How do you know God? How do you know him? Do you know him through religion? Do you know him through ritual? Do you know him through rules? Do you know God relationally? Can you call God Father? Do you know God as a theory? As a doctrine, as something to be studied, as a boss, as a religious deity in the sky, or some detached spirit you have to obey? Or do you find pleasure and delight and fulfillment and joy in knowing him? This is how Jesus knew the Father, and this is how Jesus experienced fellowship with the Father. And this is what Jesus prays for us, that our experience of the Father, of that love, of that bond, of that acceptance, of that forgiveness, would be like the one he has with his Father.
In just a few moments, Pastor Kurtis will come up and lead us in our time of communion. But let's pray now and prepare our hearts.
Father, what greater thing can we ask you for in our lives that you would make it so to help us in the endeavor of knowing you more? Lord, reveal yourself to us through your Word. Remove, Father the obstacles that we place our sin, our sloth, our lack of discipline, Father...our weakness. The things that steal our experience of knowing you more and more. Father, we pray that what Jesus prayed Father would come true, that we would experience it more and more, Father, as we commune with you in prayer. Lord, as we learn and know you in your word, Father. And even now, as we remember your sacrifice on the cross as we take communion, Lord, be glorified, Father, be exalted. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

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The Imperative of Unity

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Greetings, friends, in the matchless, rich, gracious name of Jesus Christ. My name is Kurt. Glad to be with you here under the banner of the authority of God's Word, and for the glory of his great name. Greetings from the Elders of Grove Bible down in Valrico, Florida. Greetings from the Ghepherds...all eight of us, actually, now ten of us. Shea is married with a granddaughter and more on that later, if you care to ask. We are richly, richly blessed. We've been in Tampa Bay for five years and the wind's at our back and the sun is in the sky and King Jesus is being heard and people are responding to the glorious call of the gospel. But there's a crisis in our culture today. There's a serious and severe difficulty that our world is facing, and one that the church is here to solve. This is a house of healing. This is a house of redemption. This is a house of life and of goodness, of wisdom and of honor. And yet for us to partake of all of the blessings that are poured out on this table of God's grace and goodness, requires a level of commitment and engagement that the world is allergic to today. Earlier this year in The Atlantic, which is not known for its Christian themed articles. There was one named Why Americans Stopped Hanging Out. And the article begins with a famous quote from Alex de Tocqueville, who was a French sociologist that traveled to America in the early decades of the founding of our nation, asking about the American experience. What is this experiment and how is it different? And so two and a half centuries ago, Alex de Tocqueville wrote of America with these words. America is known of a thousand different types of associations religious, moral, serious, futile, very general, very limited, immensely large, and very minute associations. They gather endlessly. He continues, America seemed adept at forming social groups, political associations, labor unions, local memberships. It was a continent itself that imbued its residents with a vibrant social metabolism, fascinating phrase. A verb for getting out and hanging out. Nothing, he continues in my view, de Tocqueville wrote, deserves more attention than the intellectual and moral associations in America. That was true at the founding days of our nation. But it's different today. And we know it. The author says something has changed in the past decades. After the 1970s, American dynamism declined. They stopped. The people, stopped showing up at their churches and stopped hanging out. He then offers a few statistics to substantiate this crisis. He says that between 2003 and 2022, that there is a vast reduction in the hours spent face to face...30% across our entire nation. For unmarried Americans, the decline was even bigger 35%, and among teenagers, there is a more than 45% decline in face to face interactions. This reduction has led to a social crisis. People are spending less time together than they ever have. And he pokes at this and identifies that the social crisis is manifold in its reasoning. Why it's come about is for many different reasons, but this social crisis is multiplying anxiety and despondency at an alarming rate, especially among the young people. In this early century, Americans have collectively submitted to a national experiment to deprive ourselves of the camaraderie that's available in our lives, choosing instead to grow and grow and grow in the time that we spend by ourselves gazing into these infernal screens. That was my adjective. He just says, gazing into screens where an actors and influencers often engage in the very acts of physical proximity that we deny ourselves. It's a weird experiment, and the results have not been pretty. He concludes with this analysis of its impact on the youth. Academics have identified and repeatedly argued that phones have driven an anxiety crisis among America's youth, in part by reducing the presence of physical world relationships that are necessary for healthy adolescent development, and by swapping that time for self-focused engagement. This, my friends, whether it shows up in terms of our addiction to our screens or our addiction to our own interests, has led to a world...an entire culture of solitude, isolation and aloneness. And Christ has a better way. Let's go to the text.
Open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4. I was exhorted by a dear and wise and wonderful friend to preach on this exact topic this morning, and the moment he spoke of it, delight filled my heart with the joy of this idea of the imperative of unity. Ephesians 4:1-6, gives us this imperative of unity, this gathering together, this selfless engagement one with another, this investment in our lives with each other. And it's to this passage and to this theme that we turn. If the culture is dying on the vine for its isolation, then the church is thriving for the privilege of our commitment to, engagement with, and life investment in one another. Ephesians 4:1-6, I trust your Bibles are open so that you can read these words.
"I, therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body, one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace has given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift."
We have here in Ephesians chapter 4 this extraordinary movement. It's tremendous if you consider the entire book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1 has the single greatest gospel sentence in all of human history. Please avail yourself of Ephesians 1:1-14, in extravagant exploration of the glories of redemption. And then we find in chapter 2 he's not done. And so in 2:1-10, he comes back to the gospel, and he presses into our hearts our unworthiness and the reality of our trespasses. But the grace of God has overwhelmed all of it, by his kindness. And the riches of his grace is poured out on souls like yours and mine, so that we can have an inheritance with him in heaven forever. And so we see this gospel that is unfurled in chapters 1 and the first part of chapter 2, and it's stunning where he goes next. Do you know what he says next?... in 2:11? He goes immediately to the doctrinal dimensions of unity in the church, specifically the unity across ethnic barriers. And so for a chapter and a half, the second part of chapter two and into chapter three, he's going on and on and on. How the Christ in the gospel, because the cross, tears down the walls of separation between us. We all come together in the glory of the gospel, in the freedom of unity, because our sins are forgiven and we have the privilege of walking together in his presence. But his discussion in chapters 2 and 3 on the doctrine of unity are very doctrinal. They're very ordered, they're very structured. There are not too many, to my knowledge, any imperatives, any commands while he's talking through the dimensions of unity. He talks about the gospel and it's implications for unity. And then the very first word of chapter 4 is this grand conjunction therefore. Therefore, is this glorious and great hinge that moves us now into Christian obedience. In chapters 4, 5, and 6 are now explaining to us the implications of the gospel. We now have an understanding of how the gospel is to look after we have had our lives changed by the great powerful gospel grace found in Jesus Christ. So Ephesians 4:1-6 incentivizes and equips you for a life of New covenant unity. Ephesians 4:1-6 incentivizes and equips you for a life of New covenant unity. If you're taking notes, you can jot this down. It summarizes the entire sermon. Now, you need to understand that pastors have their tricks. And we have we have our ways and means. One of our ways and means is to use a phrase that would be unexpected to you. I didn't call it Christian Unity. I didn't call it unity. I didn't even use the term fellowship. I used New Covenant unity because I wanted to break the synapse, because I'm convinced that what we think of unity is not what the Bible speaks of it. And we want to see in Ephesians 4, what does the Bible say about unity and its implications on our lives? New covenant unity is a way to break the synapse and to kind of get you to go. What does that mean? It means truly Christian unity. I'm concerned that much of the unity that we experience today is what I call potluck unity. Potluck unity is, oh, by the way, I'm no hater of potlucks, so this is not a criticism of potlucks. I'm fond of potlucks. The more deviled eggs, the better my friends. So it's not a dig on potlucks. It's a dig on what we've made unity to be in our culture today. So often we think of unity, even Christian unity in a potluck fashion, where we get to come and share a little bit of what we have and share a little bit of what someone else brang and we smile at each other just nice. We keep our distance for sure, and we share a meal and we call it unity. What the Bible says of unity is far more deep. We've reduced unity in our culture to transaction and convenience. But the unity of the New Testament is organic. There's dirt under your fingernails in its difficulty. So often today in the church unity today is sharing niceties. It's lost, it's grit. But if you're going to pay attention to Ephesians chapter 4, and I know that you have hearts to hear from God and to respond to His Word, you will see that there is value, even if there is cost and pain to New Testament unity.
Well, let's begin with this first phrase. And he comes in hot. I mean, he just hits. Just what are those, planes that goes lift off straight off the...what are they called? Yeah. Harrier. Is that right? Yeah. Harrier. They just they just lift straight up. And that's Paul here. He's like I'm going to go right at it. So he turns from chapters one two and three the theology of the Christian life. Chapter four, therefore boom big hinge. He's like, hey I urge you, as prisoners. I mean, he comes in hot. He's like, let's go. You are a prisoner of the gospel. Oh, friends, what a joy to be a prisoner of the gospel.  Oh, to be bound with the chains of love...forgiveness. Or to be wrapped up in the cords of his faithfulness despite our fits and fledgling ways. Prisoners of the gospel. Prisoners of the Lord. Prisoners of the Lord. Prisoners for the Lord. Isn't it beautiful? We're imprisoned by him and we're imprisoned for him. We're imprisoned because of him and were imprisoned for his cause. For us, if you're taking notes, maybe you're considering now how you have been captivated, captured by the gospel, and that sweetness of spirit should then motivate you to captivate others in the gospel. If we don't have a spirit to promote this beautiful prison cell of grace, forgiveness in Christianity, do we even know it ourselves? We are prisoners of the gospel. In fact, we're so much prisoners, Paul is like, I'm going to urge you, I'm going to lean into you. I'm going to implore you, I am going to challenge you. At this point, I want to pull the car aside and talk about two theological categories you're probably familiar with. You're a very, very well taught church. I know and love your pastors and elders very much. In chapters 1-3, there are these gospel indicatives. This is an important term for you to understand. A gospel indicative is what is the good news of what Jesus Christ has done for us. A very important term for you to capture, for you to understand is...gospel indicatives. Indicative is a fancy word for a verb form in the New Testament that says simply that the gospel and the foundation of it is not anything that you do, but everything that he has done. The gospel is what Christ has accomplished for sinners like you and like me, and all the gospel indicatives and all the stated realities of what he's accomplished overwhelm our hearts because we couldn't accomplish one portion of one of them. And he's done it all. And he has, by his grace and love, he's poured them out on our lives. Oh, what a reality. These are gospel indicatives the good news of what Christ has done for us. Chapters 1-3 teaching after doctrine after theology after truth. And our Christianity again is founded on what Christ has done for us, and we love him and worship him and will honor him forever for what he's accomplished.
But there's another category for us to consider associated with the gospel. Not just gospel indicatives...do you know what the other category is?...Gospel imperatives. Write that down...Gospel imperatives. Gospel imperatives is the good news of what Christians must do through his power for his glory and by his grace. Oh, it's the good news! Gospel imperatives...and imperative...what's another word for imperative? A command...that's exactly right. These are gospel commands. So gospel imperatives are the good news. This is still good news, friends. What he commands us to do is good news. Everything that Jesus has done, everything that Jesus is, and everything that Jesus says is good news. It's good news. All of it's good news. Even the hard parts, especially the hard parts. When he gets all up in your face, he's like, no, no, no, not that this okay, just repent and not that foolishness. Especially when Jesus Christ confronts us with his hard words, we realize that that is good news. So these gospel imperatives...it's the good news of what Christians must do through his power for his glory and by his grace. And so in chapters 4, 5, and 6...he spent three chapters on gospel Indicatives 1, 2, and 3...now in 4, 5, and 6. Paul, I would encourage you to do your own study. I counted 62 categories of imperatives in three chapters, four, five, and six. I think that's three. That is three great. In three chapters I counted 62 categories of imperatives. Not 62 imperatives, 62 categories. Types of ways to obey. Friends, it is a Christian impulse to love obedience as a marker of the spirit within us and God over us. These imperatives are a great marker of our submission to King Jesus and our love for him. Just talking about gospel indicatives and gospel imperatives...one more stat for you. Since I know the math people are just like, this is great! This is great! There are 250 gospel indicatives in the New Testament. 250 unilateral promises for every sinner that will repent and believe...250. Do you know how many gospel imperatives there are? 1050...more than four fold. Love him for what he's accomplished and be motivated by what he calls us to all of it being good news. And because there's more gospel imperatives than there are gospel indicatives, it's not in any way suggesting that that's more important. Doing things for Jesus is more important than what he's done for you. No, no, no. The Holy Spirit knew that if there were even a balance of imperatives, verse and indicatives, we would be more obedient than we already are. Lord help us. So lovingly and patiently and graciously, three chapters of what Christ has done that we could never accomplish for ourselves. And not scores, not hundreds, but 1050 ways for you to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, for you to be a son, a father, a mother, a worker, a boss for the glory of God. This is what it means to be captivated by the gospel, changed by his work, his glory, his all sufficient merit, his honor altogether. And now to have a life that is compelled, that is propelled by the very commands of Scripture, is our very joy. It's our very honor to be what, again?...a prisoner of the Lord, captivated by the gospel. Friend, I hope and pray there isn't one soul in this building that is, checking a religious box in being in the seat that you're in right now, not one. Not one going through the motion, not one I should because of my family. Not, I am used to going to church on Sunday mornings. Not one box checking, person. And maybe when I say that, you're like, oh, is that me? God wants to do business with your soul. And I'm not sure which of these is where you need to grow. Maybe it's in the gospel indicatives because friend, while you may be church going and life group attending, you may not be born again. Or maybe you are born again and you are established in Christ. How about...show obedience? It is grace and kindness and goodness for him to lay out these hundreds and hundreds of commands, because these are the paths of life. Friends, trust me, for generations. And you don't want anything else, than glory to Christ for your lives, your spouses, your children, and the generation yet to come. This is a prisoner being a prisoner of the Lord. Oh, it's beautiful when you think about it...the gospel Indicatives. Do you recognize that the gospel always calls us up and out? The gospel is always moving us. Yes, indeed, just as I am, Christ will receive you in your mess. But praise be to God, he doesn't leave anybody there. Can a brother get a witness? I mean, he does not leave us in that place. He doesn't leave us in this pathetic, broken state. But he calls us...what?...up and out. He calls us to move forward. He calls us to move in his direction. It's called discipleship. Being a follower of Jesus Christ. So we have here in this phrase, our opening point, and we recognize Ephesians 4:1-6 incentivizes and equips us for a life of New Covenant unity. What about this prisonership of your stand before the Lord that equips you or incentivizes you for a life of Christian unity? And the next phrase is staggering. So I, therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to do what? What does it say in verse one? What is this urging? What is this imploring? You are a prisoner, so you're to do what exactly as a prisoner for the Lord? We are urged to, what does it say? Walk in a manner worthy. I remember the moment that those words struck my soul. You know what some of our best moments are? Maybe our very best of them all. Is being honest about who we are with ourselves. Because when you're honest as a believer with who you are in yourself. And then you glance for a moment at what God has given you. That delta is so broad, is so expansive, it's so impossibly large between who you are and what you deserve and what he has given you, that that delta is called worship, that that difference between what you are and what you deserve and what he has done is thanksgiving and gratitude. And when I read for the first time, this is probably 30 years ago, that there was some capacity, o capture this adoring heart. There was somehow some capacity. What's the word again to be worthy? I was blown away. I was like, I must be misreading something. I don't know any Greek yet, so I don't know how to do any of that...worthy. Worthy? in fact, Colossians 1:10 says this, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. The worthy here in 4:1 is worthy of the calling. But in Colossians 1:10, it's not just worthy of the calling, it's worthy of Christ himself. Are you kidding me? Worthy of him.  It says it. Colossians gives us a list of how we can do that. The next phrase is fully pleasing him in every way. Mhm. By the way, we're never worthy of Christ. We're never worthy of his sacrifice. We're never worthy, never worthy of his grace. But gospel commands tell us that we can approach that. And in Ephesians 4 it says, worthy of the calling. Again, being called out and called up a life that is called by God. So again in the notes in front of you. And because you come for God to do business with your soul, I trust that you go to churches like this with a Bible and something to write on and write with, because this is not about any preacher, it's not about any sermon. It's about you and your God who is helping you to understand His Word. And as he does that work and when you have a meeting with your God as you come to church not checking boxes, but come to a divine appointment with him. You don't want to miss any note. Any word from him. So as you're possibly taking notes, maybe in your mind, but maybe in the paper in front of you, what are these callings? What is the calling? What is his calling? There's a generic calling to live for Christ, to walk with purity and honor, to manifest Christ in the fullness of grace and truth, to put on the humility of Jesus Christ, and and to make no provision for the flesh. But there's also a specific calling, and oh, I hope, and I very much pray that you have in your heart a sense of God's calling on your life. Why did he put you on this planet? For what service? For what ministry? For what engagement and investment in the church? Well, this is our great privilege to be called by him. So to apply this specifically, what does one devotion that you know is pleasing to the Lord that you want to spiritually commit to in the month of July? I wrote down one for myself as I was working up these notes. So as you think about being worthy of his calling and worthy of the Lord fully pleasing him, what is one devotion that you know that you should be more careful with or disciplined about, and in a spirit of humility and love for God to say, okay, so in the month of July, I want to be more pleasing to you. I want to be more. I want to approach this worthiness concept as wild as it is. I want to approach that with a deliberate engagement and attentiveness to this devotion, an act of obedience, pleasing him. Only Christ pleases God. But those of us who are in Christ and pleasing Christ and honoring Christ in His Word have the privilege of pleasing him too, by his merit, by his grace, for his glory. And every true believing heart leaps at the privilege of pleasing their maker. So again, maybe for you, you jot down something. It could be something related to someone that you love, could be a certain series of conversations you need to have. It could be a personal devotion before the Lord for the month of July, which starts when, by the way? Oh it does tomorrow...Oh that's fantastic. It starts tomorrow. For the month of July. 30 days has 31 days. Uh, 31 days of deliberate, spirit wrought devotion to God so that you can walk. What? In what kind of way? In a more worthy fashion. And don't we want that? Yes we do. So yes, captives to the gospel, indicatives and imperatives, the worthy life.
Number 3 the pain of unity. Verse 2. Now Paul takes a decidedly sour turn in verse 2, and he starts to stack up a bunch of requirements for unity. If you're going to experience unity, you have to leave a down payment, and the down payment is pretty steep. I'll be honest with you. I hope your Bibles are open because when I say that you're like, really? I don't remember it being that unpleasant. It is more unpleasant than we would have imagined. And if you see here in Ephesians 4:2, he's now going to stack for us 4 painful attitudes that require unity. Now the reality is that unity can get a little bit messy. I have a friend of mine, one of the elders, down in Tampa Bay at Grove Bible. He at length quotes Psalm 133. I think this is verses one and two. Uh, maybe you know the verse about unity. Psalm 133:1-2 says, behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in....what's the next word?...unity. Do you know the next image? He says, it's like precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. Hey y'all, I hate sticky hands. This is a horrible metaphor. Ah, no, no, not none of that. It's. Oh, man, what am I going to do? It's going to be mess for days. I'm going to have oil all in my beard. And so he quotes it and I just go, no, not that. I mean, uh, but there's what is the oil metaphor all about? What does oil for?...anointing. It's for healing. It's for blessing. And it's the emblem of the presence of the Holy Spirit. You may hate sticky hands like me and messy stuff like me, but this image is still beautiful and it speaks to how unity can even get a little messy as it kind of spills out. It's beautiful and pleasant when brothers dwell in unity and this anointing, this healing, this grace and this presence, this blessing poured out is what our hearts truly yearn for. But we become distracted. The main distraction is this infernal box. By the way, young people look up. I trust that you are smart enough to know that all the technocrats in this world want is for you to spend 20 hours on this phone every day so that they can sell you what they want to sell you, and they rip you off and you are impoverished, you are dead-end from the inside out, and they fill their coffers with your cash. That's all that they want. You need to understand it, and you need to fight it because they're not there to bless. And not all social media is evil. We have a social media kind of platform at our church, and I know that you do here under the competent hands of Sam Reese. But my point is, it can be used for glory. But we need to be mindful. We need to be moderate, and we need to be aware of what it is. So there is this cost to unity. If we're going to do more of this, we're going to have to do more of click and put it away. Hopefully in your family, there are mechanisms for that to happen, whether it's screen off time, whether it's foot time away from the phone in terms of where they're plugged in at night. I don't know how you would do it, but Lord, help us to draw near to unity more of this for his glory. 
So these four painful attitudes, do you see them there in verse four? He just lists them off. What are the attitudes? What are the ingredients necessary to bake up a beautiful, gracious, uh...gift of unity. What are they? Humility. Gentleness. Patience. Bearing with one another in love. These four attitudes are painful attitudes. They're very, very costly. And let's just look at them one at a time.
The first is lowliness. The word for humility is lowliness. Lowliness is used of Christ Jesus in Matthew 11:29, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am lowly and gentle in heart. Lowly...Jesus Christ is lowly. Jesus Christ himself lowered himself. The word here lowliness, means not rising far above the ground. Not rising far above the ground, we lower ourselves. The first posture of unity is this...where we lower ourselves. And when we do that, how is everybody else? They are what? Elevated. They're raised. When you lower yourself, they're now all above you. They have a higher priority. They have a higher pay scale in your mind. They have a higher significance. You know people like this, they fill this church...thoughtful, kind, generous, humble, eager to serve. Lowliness is others higher than self. Lowering ourselves actively. Romans 12:16 says, live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Mark my words, friends. When you fail to associate with the lowly, you have forgotten where you come from. We all come from nothing, and lowering ourselves in the presence of others is just a right posture that Christ Jesus has shown us. And that we should take up with joy. But this is costly because what do you have to give up to take on this lowly posture? Well, what do you have to give up? Tell me what you have to give up. Things like what? Pride, self, time, status, your own agenda. But you know what's true?...that every moment that you act in obedience to Christ's example is a moment reserved for his glory forever, and will resonate in heaven forever. It's costly, but it's beautiful.
Well, there's three more painful attributes. Uh, first is lowliness. The second is he didn't want to get out of the humility genre, so he just went with gentleness. So lowliness is others higher than self? Gentleness is hearing others well. If loneliness is this others above you, gentleness is this listening to others. And again, this is painful and costly because for you to listen to others, you got to do what? Shut your mouth. Know what I'm saying? You cannot...your brain is not powerful enough to speak and hear at the same time. And so we have to, in gentleness. The word is sweetly reasonable or approachable. Jesus Christ, I just quoted Matthew 11:29, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am lowly and gentle. Jesus Christ is sweetly reasonable. The great King of glory, the great God of gods, is sweetly reasonable, approachable, willing to do what again?...to listen. And this is painful because we got something to say. We want to say it. We got to get it out there. We want to advocate for ourselves or for our agenda, but it is good and right to learn and to listen. Gentleness. Thomas Guthrie says. Grand edifices, the tallest towers, the loftiest spires rest on deep foundations. The very safety of eminent gifts and preeminent graces lies in their association with deep humility. Those graces are dangerous without humility. Great men need to be good men. And good men are like their Lord Jesus Christ. May we all strive towards lowliness and gentleness and listening and caring for others and esteeming others higher than ourselves, all others higher than ourselves. Listening to others, not assuming that we know. Not waiting for them to talk so that we can fill the void with our ignorance and arrogance. But a gentle listening. Again, costly. Lowliness, others higher than self, gentleness, hearing others while patience endurance through the hard stuff. The word here is Macrozamia. The word here is long suffering...ahh, long suffering. The fruit of the spirit includes gentleness, includes long suffering. When you're filled with the fullness of the Spirit, you're filled with these capacities. Since there are families here with with kids, siblings. Just watch the snipe. Just watch the tearing down. Just watch the back and forth that is not of the Lord, whether that comes from young people or not so young people. It is a marker of the presence of the Spirit and of our desire to gain unity by being long suffering. Just think about it. Relax on your timetable. Who do we think we are? Really?...that we have the capacity and the wherewithal to identify the when and the how and the what. We would love to write that plan. You don't have that pay scale. You don't have the capacity to do that. And God hasn't asked for your help to determine when he's going to do what he's going to do. So it's ours to be long suffering and to wait for him. Wait patiently for the Lord. Endure in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. And if you have to eat another helping of crow, smile through it. Because he brought it to you. If you haven't eaten enough crow, you don't know how delicious it can be and how much it sometimes tastes like chicken. This forbearance, this endurance through the hard stuff is a marker of the presence of the Lord, and is one of the costs that we have to pay to find the unity that he would love us to have.
So now we have this forbearance, this last word again in verse two, this forbearance bearing with one another in love. This forbearance is an interesting word. It means to uphold. Let me try to picture this for you. If I had one of the students come up here, Samuel would come up, for example. Don't come up, I appreciate it. He would be here in, like two seconds. He'd be like, let's go. And, uh, we had a week together at Clarity Camp, and we had a blast. All the young people. Such a gift. Thank you for blessing and encouraging. Thank you so much for Pastor Nate and Justin and the leadership. Um, what a joy. But if Samuel came up here and said, Samuel, let me depict this, he would be standing here to my left, and I would basically just abandon my strength and fall in his direction. It may be hard for him to hold me up, but he's a strong young man, so he would probably pull it off. But here's the thing that's the picture of forbearing or upholding. You see, people are going to lean on you without even realizing that they're troubling you. They're going to get into your lane without even realizing that they're out of place. They're going to fall because of their weakness or their difficulty, and you're going to need to stand there and you're going to need to uphold them. The problem is, the people that lean on you sometimes get ornery with you for holding them up, and you're like, hmm, let's do the math here. If I sidestepped your weight, you would fall flat on the ground and you would get hurt. I'm holding you up and you're jawing at me. It happens. Did it not happen to King Jesus? Oh, it did. He bore, he bore, he bore. He loved, he loved, he loved. And how did they respond? And are we any better than the Lord Jesus? Of course we're not. So Paul says, forbear, uphold. Yes, people are going to wear you out. Yes, people are going to tire you out. Yes, people are going to depend demand you of your strength. But oh friends. We find this in the Spirit and we trust in him.
So to apply these four painful attitudes, choose one of these virtuous attitudes and convert it to a discipline. Choose one of these four: lowliness, gentleness, listening to others patience or forbearance. Find a way in your life where you're thinking, I need to be by the grace of God, through the power of the Spirit and through the instruction of Scripture...better at that. Please, friends, be a student of the scriptures and mark it down. It's a very inconvenient reality. To know New Testament power, you have to make New Testament choices. Right?...to know the blessing of unity. I would encourage you, in fact, to go later to Acts 2;42 through 47. So remarkable, like paragraph of what God did in the aftermath of the first sermon that Peter preached. Remarkable paragraph. And there are, I think, 10 or 11 markers of unity in one paragraph. And it says the very last phrase is God was adding to the church daily. You see, to know New Testament power, what do you have to do? You have to make New Testament choices. But we don't. We pull levers and check boxes, hoping that New Testament power will come out of that. Lord help us and I'm preaching to myself. Lord help us. So we are to...number 4. Verse 3. Make every effort. Make every effort. Verses 3-6 make every effort. The key challenge here in this opening paragraph in explaining the obligation of the gospel. Ephesians 4:3, Eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Make every effort is the NASB, isn't it? Yes. Thank you. Vicky. Does anybody have an NASB? Great. Is it make every effort... Wonderful. Make...how many efforts? Every. Every effort. Eager ESV, not so good, not as much. The word here for making every effort is a word of the word is spoude, its hair back gate quickened every effort. It's making haste. It's a holy zeal that demands full dedication. That's this word. Eager. That's this word. Make every effort. It is a holy zeal that demands full dedication. This is our posture towards unity. Make every effort to maintain, to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. This love, this peace that God would have us to enjoy is in your hands to preserve. And how many efforts are you supposed to make? Every, all of them, whatever they are. He's given you a short list here, but it's so much more than that. It would be fitting for you to identify a point of disagreement, disaffection. Again, we're moving past the potluck unity where you can avoid the thing that you don't like. I don't care for that dish, and frankly, I don't like who made it either. But I got to love him. What nonsense is this? Christ Jesus loves and likes all of his children, and if he can get past the threshold of our knuckle headedness capital N, we can do it too. We can find by his grace the capacity to not manufacture unity, not build unity, not make unity, but to do what again? Maintain it. John 17:21-24, the last night of his life...the High Priestly Prayer. Jesus tells us that he has and is about to purchase, procure unity with the death...the spilling of his own blood, his own death the next day, Jesus Christ makes unity. It's ours to do what again? To maintain it, to preserve it. And how does that happen? By what level of effort? What level of care? What level of zeal? What level of interest? If you want to look at how this actually shows up. I mentioned Acts 2:42-47, but Romans 12:14-21 is a massive paragraph about our sharing and living together. Making every effort towards the bond of peace, the spirit of love, his great glorious achievement. And verses four, five and six give us really the substance of what we're maintaining and what we're protecting. Four, five and six give us the seven ones, the seven points of unity that we should experience in Christ. There's one body...the church, one spirit...the Holy Spirit, one hope...the gospel, one Lord...Jesus Christ, one faith...Christianity, one baptism...believer's baptism. Praise God for C.C. and Elizabeth and all baptized servants and Christ followers, and one God and Father of all souls. Seven points of unity. By the way, friends, I would exhort you strongly. what is your relationship with the local church? Are you a consumer? Are you maybe so, maybe yes. Are you a little bit here, a little bit there, or do you have a committed dedicated members of the body relationship with the local church. Where you are making disciples. You are being challenged and accountable. Where you are serving weekly. Wow, that was super intense. Like serving even every week. Imagine that. Serving weekly, giving in a way that pleases the Lord so that you are bearing this unity on an organizational level. Then on a personal level. Know the value of this unity. Just over three weeks ago sitting on the beaches of Normandy, France, June 6th 2024. 80 years from the landings. We stood on Omaha Beach. We stood there where the greatest of all military engagements, the invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord, was engaged to the point of enormous success and also beyond unspeakable cost, 10,000 casualties on that day alone, in the first waves of the men coming in on these Higgins boats. 90 plus percent of those first waves were obliterated under the precise defenses and fire of the Germans. John McManus describes the scene this way. When the men reached the beach, the scene that greeted their eyes was even more grim than they had ever imagined. Wrecked Higgins boats floated aimlessly on the crashing surf. The water was a murky pink from the concentration of blood, the sands dotted and splotched with lines and circles of crimson. Body parts everything from arms and legs to heads and fingers littered the sands and the stones everywhere. Angry looking obstacles still honeycombed the beach, seemingly oblivious to the prodigious and costly efforts of the gap assault teams to clear them. Blood soaked bandages, discarded equipment, sand choked rifles lay in random clusters everywhere dead and wounded men some face down, some face up, with arched backs stiffened by the cold littered the waterline and the sands. Other figures lay huddled at the shingle. Some looked dead, others held, cried out for medics. Several tanks were burning and immobilized. Mortar and artillery shells, exploded oily puffs of smoke and dust or sand floated in the wake of explosions, bullets snipped against the sand and the stones of the beach. Welcome to bloody Omaha. And to stand there at the very moment of sunrise, where the men would have been coming onto the shore 80 years to the minute...was staggering. Everything was set against the aggressors. Everything was set against the Allied forces. Everything has and was going wrong. But they found a way forward because they chose to go forward. They chose to go forward together. It's an extraordinary beach with hundreds of yards of sand, extraordinarily shallow beach, and they walked as much as half a mile from the water, from the Higgins boats, all the way up to the seawall. The seawall was this pile of rock, about 4 or 5ft high. And approaching the seawall, they were under fire from not only artillery, but then rifle and machine gun, but at the seawall there was the smallest amount of cover, because there was nothing beyond those hedgehogs that you saw in the picture a few moments ago. They were completely exposed, but they came to the seawall and they stopped. So hundreds of men started to pile up on the seawall. But the Germans are really good at math, so every single inch of that was sighted for artillery, and they were being mercilessly bombed because the Germans realized that they were holding up at the seawall. On top of the seawall was barbed wire and then a minefield, and then an 80 foot cliff. The road ahead was horribly difficult and perilous. And so they sat there frozen, literally physically, because it was exceedingly cold. But in their minds and hearts, having found just this surfeit layer of security. But the reality was the only way forward and the only way through was going ahead. And so what they found was these collection of men, just privates. There were no commanding officers. There was nobody of any rank that was there to lead people forward. All of the groups were completely just messed up in terms of where they were and where they were supposed to be. Private Howell says this what I said was, forget it. I'm not going to die here. The next bunch of guys that goes over that wall, I'm going with them. If I'm going to be infantry, I'm going to be infantry. So I don't care who else goes the next group. We decided together that it was time to start the war. In little pockets of people gathered together, they didn't know each other very well. They didn't train together. None of that mattered. They realized that the only way forward was through the gauntlet...through the difficulty. The only path of victory was gathering up their courage and strength, gathering up their humility, their gentleness, their forbearance and their patience, gathering up the strength that they needed in their character to go over that wall and to find the way to victory. If we're going to be infantry, we're going to be infantry. And the only way that we can do that effectively is by doing it together in this marker of unity, these incentives and equipping, training moments of unity here at this powerful passage, strengthen our resolve to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and to find in our hearts and lives through relationship and in a church a commitment to what he calls us to as we distance ourselves from the isolation that the world promotes. Because the enemy wants to kill, steal, and destroy, and draws us into the unity that he offers us in the grace of the gospel and the presence of His Holy Spirit.
Let's pray together. Father, we love you. We love what you have designed for us, and all of us for certain realize that we haven't yet attained it. We haven't yet reached that mark. We are on a journey, and the journey is to be marked by beautiful love, peace, grace and unity where you are put on display, where you are shown forth as the great creator of unity. Now it's ours to make every effort to protect it. Give us these attitudes and make us prisoners of the gospel, zealous to honor you in all ways. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.

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When You Pray…

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Well, it's been a while since I've been up in this pulpit, so, uh, going to have to shake the rust off a little bit. And, um, you know, it's always fun to get up here and have the opportunity. I think I make, uh, Adam and Kurtis a little bit nervous, along with our elder team. Never know what I'm going to say. He just said Amen. Yeah, but you guys know, the last few weeks, there's been a lot of banter that's been going back and forth about, I don't know, I think it was the softball men's event that was going on. You recall any of that banter, you know, just a little bit, right, about these guys who, uh, recruiting their teams and planning weeks in advance to capture the trophy and the championship of the HBC men's softball tournament? Yes! Now it only involved four teams. So everybody made it to the semifinals. So you're a winner out of the gate. But it did involve, uh, the need to win two consecutive games in order to capture it. So I think most of the banter that went back and forth was, uh, maybe Adam and Kurtis a little bit. And, um, they both. Well, let me just pull up a picture of the winning team because I think that that that will say a lot. All right. And, uh, you'll notice Mark Ikerd right there in the middle. And, uh, Mark and I are usually on the same team, so I just want to add that in. But I was actually drafted by the second place team this year because they didn't have enough players. And there's a long story that goes with it. And I'm not going to bore you with all the details, but let's just say the second place team actually assembled that day, like two hours before the game....no batting practice, no warmup, no nothing. And we lost technically to the championship team by two runs. Although that's subject to debate because they had a player who actually ran like five yards out of the baseline and scored, and I was the one who dove pathetically and missed the tag, scuffed my knee, sprained my wrist. (Ahhhh)...Yeah, yeah, that feels so good. Yeah, seriously. And then adding insult to injury, it's just it is what it is. And Kurtis, uh, Kurtis, bless his heart, um, who we have historically prayed for his hamstring not to get pulled. Um, he pulled his hip flexor instead. So, the aging men just proving that our outer man decayeth. Um, indeed, especially, uh, softball. But it was a blast. And, um, Elijah Nichols brought the word for us, and we were so blessed by that. We had hot dogs, burgers. Our staff here, our hospitality staff just really allowed it to be a special evening. So thank you for being a part of that. The other challenge that I have is I get up into the pulpit for the first time in a long time. Is my kids okay? They were like. Are you going to mention us...like Pastor Adam mentions his kids and even Kurtis does it sometimes. And so I was like, you guys, they don't just do that for no reason at all because they want to talk about their kids. They're using it as a sermon illustration, and I don't know where you guys fit in, quite honestly, in this sermon. So I thought, well, hey, right out of the gate, I'll just go ahead and mention my beautiful four kids. Lydia, our oldest has the frizziest, most beautiful hair you are ever going to see. She wants it to be straight, I'm sure, but most women would kill to have hair like her...just adorable. And then you have Sophia, who is our little giant, just turned 12 years old, and I'm pretty sure that she's going to be taller than I'm going to be. And I got my son Liam holding it down. That's my boy right there. Um, and then, of course, little Mercy. She's something else too....just precious, precious, precious. So, kids, I hope I mentioned you enough. I hope I mentioned you enough and we got to shift gears and get into the sermon. Well, I didn't mention my wife. You're right. So, thank you for that catch right there. My amazing, beautiful, wonderful wife who deals with us all. And, uh, it's such a blessing too. So, um, her prayers for me just even as I step into this pulpit this morning, bless me so much. Of course, I have an army of elders behind me that are praying and lifting me up. I have a sweet, dear brother in the Lord who, um, prays for me whenever I'm preaching on the hour. And, um, he has blessed me, all of them collectively allowing the Spirit of God to move in this room this morning so that our hearts can receive the word that he has for us. And as I thought about what I was going to preach today, my heart landed on the greatest sermon that could ever be preached...the greatest sermon. That is a lofty statement, I know. It may even seem a little arrogant, considering the sermons that we've already heard in our current Summer elder series, but I stand by it. And that's because I'm referring to the sermon on the Mount that Jesus preached in Matthew 5-7. I invite you to go ahead and turn there if you're not there already. And this sermon that Jesus preaches is just incredible. Listen to the list of items that he covered. It starts out with the Beatitudes, and then it moves on to salt and light and then fulfilling and applying the law. But wait, it's about to get spicy now: murder, adultery, divorce, making oaths, broken promises, retaliation. Sounds like half the series on Netflix right now, doesn't it? It goes on: love for enemies, giving to the poor, praying without hypocrisy, fasting, possessions, anxiety and trust, judging others, motives in prayer, the golden rule, true and false discipleship. Imagine covering all 18 of these topics in one single sermon. Whoa is right, Vicki. And I think anyone who has ever preached would tell you only the Lord could do that. And they would be correct...only the Lord. I just think about the person who would have to write the pulpit curriculum that week, right? For the  discipleship groups meeting, they wouldn't be short on application, that's for sure. But it would take weeks and months, wouldn't it, to go through all those items. And this wasn't some boring message that got preached. Just look at the conclusion. In the final verses of Matthew 7, it says, when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one, having authority and not as their scribes. To continue with the theme of greatness of this sermon. The Lord led me to preach on one of the greatest prayers that has ever been recorded in Scripture. It is often referred to as the Lord's Prayer or the Our Father, but Jesus gave it to his disciples, instructing them on how to pray. So perhaps it's most appropriately called the disciples prayer. And now finds us nearly 2000 years later, and its potency and spiritual impact still remain. But there's a backdrop. There's a context that we have to see. At this point in Christ's ministry massive crowds are following him. So much so that Matthew even lets us know that he has to go up on a side of a mountain so that he can do open air preaching so that the massive crowd can hear him. Matthew's gospel was written to a primarily Jewish audience, and its purpose is to reveal that Jesus is the King and the true Messiah of Israel. Further evidence of this being a predominantly Jewish audience is Christ being referred to as the Son of David. Which was an Old Testament reference that the Jewish audience would have been familiar with, along with the fact that Matthew cites Jewish customs without any need of explaining those customs. This was a Jewish audience. So there is this massive Jewish crowd that also include the scribes and the Pharisees. Who most is a well taught bunch were the religious leaders of Israel. So why is this background, this context, so important for us to understand? Because the Gospel of Matthew, and even more specifically the point of the sermon on the Mount, is intended to draw a contrast between true spiritual life and the false standard of the pharisaical Judaistic system of religion. This sermon is an assault weapon. It is an assault on the corrupt, legalistic trap that the scribes and Pharisees were responsible of imposing on God's people. And Jesus is letting them know that their religious system of self righteousness and burdensome restrictions and feeble attempts to expand the law to make it even more burdensome, were only leading to damning self exaltation. The religious leaders of Christ day prided themselves in their law keeping abilities. They were religious showmen, sticking out their chest with spiritual pride to elevate themselves over the people. And my favorite example of this is found in the parable that Jesus shares in Luke 18. And allow me to read it. You don't need to turn there. It says this. And Jesus told this parable to some people who had trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself. God, I thank you that I'm not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven. But was beating his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." 
This is the background of pride and hypocrisy that nearly everyone in attendance at the Sermon on the Mount would have understood, which makes this sermon so powerful from start to finish. Just look at the first line of his sermon in Matthew 5:3, when he says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Pull the pin on the spiritual grenade right out of the gate. Throw it out into that crowd that was present. And watch the truth bomb of what he just shared explode, and challenge them all. He is letting all the hypocritical leaders know that this wasn't about your religious pedigree. It wasn't about your position or your title or your notoriety. It wasn't about your ability to trace your lineage. Or the degree of education that you had. The kingdom of God belongs to those who are spiritually bankrupt....bankrupt. It belongs to the humble, and those who recognize their need for God's mercy. The one who says, I am nothing, and I have nothing spiritually in and of myself to offer, I have absolutely nothing. I am trusting fully and completely in the provision of Christ in His righteousness in order to be justified not by spiritual acumen, not how many Bible studies I've been to or life groups I've shown up, or church attendance or anything else. You guys have heard it so well from Adam's faithfulness and the history of this pulpit, to preach the fidelity of the gospel that we just sang in those beautiful lyrics in the song. In Christ alone. In Christ alone. In Christ alone. James 2:10 is our New Testament reminder that whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles at one point is what? You're guilty. You're guilty of breaking them all. In this entire sermon that Jesus is about to unleash, would let them all know that the demands of God's law were humanly impossible to keep, and that they demand God's grace and mercy. That's the point of emphasis for the sermon on the Mount. Jesus said it clearly multiple times too...starting in the opening verse, then again in Matthew 5:20, stating, for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Here, Jesus is condemning their self-righteousness. He's not commending it. Then the Lord gives an even stronger statement in Matthew 5:48. You are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Who could measure up? There's only one person, and he happens to be the guy who's preaching the message, who later on, at the end of the sermon in Matthew 7 and throughout the rest of the Gospels, will point people to who?...Himself. Himself. And this is a critical context and background to our study. In the heart of the text...in our passage today, Jesus continues to confront spiritual pride and hypocrisy, and then he instructs you and I on how to pray in the most humble, strategic, and effective way. Let's read it together before we dig out its meaning and application for us.
Starting in Matthew 6:5. This is what it says as I'm reading from the New American Standard. "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetitions as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask. Pray then in this way. Our father who is in heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
The title of the sermon is in your notes, and it is "When you Pray". And there are only two points rooted in our text. First, don't pray like this. Trying to keep this as simple as I possibly could. Don't pray to be recognized or noticed by people. Look again at verse five. When you pray, you're not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. So Jesus here in this context, is just in the sermon on the Mount addressed their hypocrisy in their alms giving as they would sound trumpets as they gave financially to the poor. And now, just as is the case with helping the poor, there was a prideful tendency for them to use their prayers as a means of impressing others with their religiosity. Of course the Lord sees this, and he knows the motives of all of our hearts. To pray with a view to impressing people or being recognized by others is wrong handed and is certainly wrong hearted. And Jesus calls on praying people to consider what they are doing. They should concentrate on the matter at hand and forget the recognition of people. I think all of us would agree that pride is ugly, isn't it? But spiritual pride is an abomination. It really is because it's antithetical to the gospel, especially if we're supposed to be spiritually bankrupt. Right? It really is a vain attempt to elevate and worship self rather than God. It's basically saying, God, let me pray in such a way that I can be recognized in my pride and flesh. I love how pastor and author Daniel Henderson describes praying. He said, "Our prayers should be spirit led, scripture fed, and worship based". For my note takers, I'll give them to you again. Three things: spirit led, scripture fed, worship based. And this is a very helpful grid to filter out spiritual pride, and helps take our egos and spiritual pride out of the equation. Relying on the Spirit of God and the Word of God to help us worship God when we pray.
So. How might we be tempted to pray?...for personal recognition. Just applying the principle. Maybe we pray long, robust prayers when we're in life group. But then by ourselves outside of life group, there's no depth. Maybe you pray quickly with your family, but spend additional time praying when company joins you for dinner to put your godliness on display. Maybe you try to pray harder when you're around a church leader or a minister leader so that they'll think more highly of you. All I did was just survey my own heart. There, by the way. That was just a reflection. And I'm sure you have other, other ways where your pride can be put on display. Maybe it's going out to eat at a restaurant, right? Oh, you know, our kids are going crazy at restaurants, but after we bring them in, let's pray. Come on, let's pray. Let's make sure everybody...no, that's not the motive. It's like, let's thank God. Let's thank God together, regardless of who's watching. These are just some of the ways my heart was tempted. When you pray, don't pray like this. That was Jesus's point as he confronts spiritual pride.
This brings us to our second sub point found in verses seven and eight. Don't pray using meaningless repetitions. Notice what the Lord mentions in verse seven. And when you're praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Perhaps Jesus here is mentioning some examples of Gentile traditions because there were some Gentiles in the crowd. But there's a good chance...a high chance, I think, that the Jewish audience would also be familiar with some of the prayer customs that were present during this time in the ancient Near East, many of which prayed repetitiously. Buddhism, for example, was birthed some 2500 years ago, involves spinning prayer wheels, which are hollow cylinders filled with prayers, mantras, and sacred symbols. And rather than taking the time to recite the mantras, a Buddhist can simply spin the wheel instead. Walk around and just spin the wheels, spin the wheels, spin the wheels, spin the wheels. I think this encapsulates very well an example of the meaningless repetition. Like other pagan prayer traditions that existed during this time period. Meaningless repetitions also were a problem for the scribes and Pharisees. Their prayers became very ritualized. As one commentator shared, their ritual approach to prayer replaced the reality of a poured out heart. They had written prayers to recite for nearly every occasion according to Jewish traditions. There were formalized prayers that were assigned for Jews to be prayed every morning and evening, along with the reciting of the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. And some of you may come from backgrounds where there was elements of formalized prayers. You grew up in liturgical services, or in a reformed environment where prayers were read as a custom. There's nothing necessarily wrong with written prayers. One of my favorite prayer books is is The Valley of Vision. I know many of you know it as well. Beautiful Puritan prayers that are written out to to encourage your heart. "Voices from the past", volumes one and two....excellent devotion, written prayers. Friends of us are friends of ours actually gave us "Every Moment Holy", which is a more recent, um, book that allows you to read liturgies that really  help us pray through many different life occasions. Written prayers to me are like canned prayers. When you go to the grocery store and you're shopping, do you ever buy canned goods? We do, right? And what's inside? Its food....prepared in advance...in a can. Right there for us. They can serve a purpose on some occasions, but you probably don't want to only eat canned goods when there are so many other viable and organic options in the rest of the store, do you? Unless you're a cat, then you don't care. You'll eat every meal out of a can. Maybe that's why they have nine lives...all that canned food. Let's not miss the point here. The real problem occurs when prayers are disconnected from the heart of the person reciting them, and it only gets worse when a person is doing it outwardly for showmanship. And this is what the hypocritical religious leaders were doing in the time of Christ. And the Lord responded by saying, don't pray this way. Don't pray to be noticed by people and don't pray using meaningless repetitions that will only prove the disconnection of your heart from God.
So how does Jesus want you and I to pray? We know that he desires spiritual pride and hypocrisy to be removed far from us. And this leads us to the second point in your outline. The Lord is now giving us a guide on how to pray. A guide on how to how to pray in the most humble, strategic and effective way. When we pray in the Lord's prescribed fashion, it is also designed to protect us from spiritual pride and hypocrisy. First he instructs his disciples and now us to pray privately. Look again at verse 6. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Go and pray privately. Or your translation might say in secret, as it does here in the NAS. What is the Lord ultimately saying? Go find a place where there won't be distractions. And this is set up, of course, in contrast to what the hypocrites were doing. You don't need to go to the synagogue or the temple or out to the street corner to get noticed. This also isn't teaching, though, that you can't pray with other people. We get that right? We can pray corporately as a church family. We can pray in life group together. But the point remains don't let it become something that gets distracted. Find an inner room or a private place so that you can focus on who you are praying to. One commentator shared, "Jesus is giving direction for one's own prayers and indicating that they are to be undertaken with a single eye on God, not with a side glance at people who could be impressed." He finishes by saying, "The secret place will exclude other people, but not God. He is there in the secret place."  Where is your inner room or private place located? Jesus, he led by example, didn't he? Went out into the wilderness to pray, would go to a desolate area where there was absolutely nothing. He led by example. Go to a garden and sit down and pray. Where's your spot? We don't need to overthink it, but we do need to think about it and plan for it. God would want us to do this. Did you know that most early devotion times are planned due to children? I just hit home with all the moms in this room. That if you don't get up early ahead of the kids...when that baby wakes or that toddler wakes up, it is game over. Right? You have to find the time. And I've seen the faithfulness of my wife to do that in our home. Before school, before the kids get up, before breakfast needs to be made, all the demands...making a cup of coffee, going over, getting her Bible, and spending some time reading and praying. You're a great encouragement to me in that regard, and you've modeled that as an example to our children ten times more than I have. Her faithfulness to do that...That's beautiful. Find your spot. Picking a prayer time in a place will assist you and I in having quality prayer time with the Lord. First, Jesus wants us to pray privately.

Secondly, Jesus instructs us to pray to our Holy Father in heaven. Look again at verse 9. "Pray then, in this way our father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name." Jesus teaches us who to address in prayer at the start. Our father is the address that the Lord gave us to use. Jesus never directly told the disciples to address or pray to himself. Jesus never instructed us to address or pray to the Holy Spirit. He didn't say to use dear God or Lord either. And I'm not trying to split hairs here, but I need to make a point so that we see it. I believe it's significant. Jesus always addressed the Father when he prayed. Always. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Father, into your hands i commit my spirit. 'Our Father' is an address of devotion. And if there's one thing that can never be questioned in Scripture, it is Christ's absolute love and devotion to the Father. This address of devotion is what I call a spiritual paternity test. Those of you who grew up in the 90s and 2000s may recall that there were a lot of talk shows that were on TV during that time, weren't there? It was the era of talk shows. And there was one talk show in particular that was notorious for inviting guests onto their show, and they would invite a pregnant woman along with 2 or 3 men. And sadly, the show would then be a discussion about who was the legitimate father of the baby that she was carrying. The men would usually go on rants explaining why they were convinced that the child was not their offspring...how sad. And that they would make this entertainment. And the show would end by revealing the paternity test and finding out to whom the child legitimately belonged to. Most men were relieved when the child belonged to someone else. The spiritual paternity test in our prayer today is something to be celebrated, not denigrated or feared. It reminds believers of our adoption in Christ. Romans 8:15-16 expresses it perfectly, for you have not received a spirit of slavery, leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba, Father! The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. Amen, Amen. Not only does Christ confirm the address of devotion, but he also reminds us of who and where the Father is. He is in heaven, seated on his throne, surrounded in absolute glory and majesty. And Jesus, led by example, when he prayed this way in his high priestly prayer at the beginning of John 17, it says, Jesus spoke these things, lifting up his eyes to heaven. Why might he have us focus on heaven and the Father's hallowed name. It is intended to humble our posture as we look to him in heaven. The prophet Isaiah recorded this in Isaiah 66. Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my....footstool. Heaven is his throne and we are on earth...His footstool. Anything related to the feet in the ancient Near East was considered insignificant and lowly. And that's why the disciples, of course, were absolutely bewildered when Jesus took the basin and grabbed the cloth and decided to wash their feet. Yet he put his humility on perfect display when he did it. And we should have a posture of humility and reverence ourselves when we cry out from his footstool. I'll be the first to admit that I've grown too comfortable. I've grown too casual in my addresses to the Father sometimes. I don't calculate it in my thinking. And after studying the Lord's Prayer, I assure you that's going to change. Isaiah 66:2 provides even greater perspective when the Lord says, but to this one I will look to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at my word. It is a holy reverence and respect given to our Father when we address him. And Jesus is teaching us how to pray. First, he taught us to pray privately. Secondly, he instructed us to pray to our Holy Father in heaven. And thirdly, pray for God's kingdom and his will to be done. As we move on to verse 10, Jesus continues, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This Greek word that gets translated Kingdom is really a fascinating word that requires three English words to properly convey its meaning, and there are many cases of that when you do translation work, how there can be, you know, several words needed just to describe one word in another language. And if you do speak another language, you know that to be true, right? It's the same right here. It's a loaded term. And it has three derivatives. It primarily means kingship, or the condition of being a king or the possession of royal power. The second derivative means reign or the exercise of royal power. And the final derivative means kingdom or subjects or territory over whom or in which this royal power is exercised. A loaded term meaning kingship, reign and kingdom. So technically it could even be translated this way. Your kingship, reign and kingdom come. It could be said that way. Listen, there's no kingdom without a king, right? And I love this fuller translation because it captures the essence of what we anticipate in the future. Jesus Christ is King and he is going to return to this earth, I believe, very soon. He's going to establish his kingdom. And guess what he's going to do? He is going to rule. He is going to reign, and he's going to establish his kingdom. And every knee will bend and every tongue will confess what?...that Jesus Christ is Lord. How can we not pray this prayer more often in light of the events that we see taking place in our world: the corruption, the deception, the malice, the envy, the sin filled strife in this world. It's overwhelming, is it not? But do you want to know something even more overwhelming?...the king when he comes. The righteous rule and reign of Christ and the establishment of his kingdom, which cannot be thwarted. And I there are some in the room right now. I probably sound like Pat Robertson on the 700 club...and the Lord Jesus is going to come. Okay, sorry for the impression. And then all the young people in the room are like, who the heck is that? Okay. Listen. The instruction in Our Lord's Prayer will help us keep our lamps lit and be ready for his return. And time wouldn't permit for us even though when I was debating on what to preach, I wanted to talk about the coming kingdom and the eschatological aspects of it so that we can understand it even more. But we can't chase that rabbit right now. But we do know it is the Lord's will that we pray like this together...thy kingdom come. Notice what it says at the end of verse 10. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. There's a direct correlation between anticipating the king and kingdom and God's plan of sanctification, preparing us for that coming kingdom. In his recent book titled, "Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Second Coming" written by John Piper, he describes the connection this way as he cites Titus 2:11-13 before explaining its implications. It reads in Titus 2, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." There's an anticipation. We're on the lookout. And in the book Piper goes on to describe it this way. And I'll share a little bit with you. He says, "boiling it down, Paul says that the grace of God appeared the first time to bring into being a people who would eagerly wait for Christ's second appearing with uprightness and godliness. In other words, the first appearing prepares us for the second. We have much to love about the first appearing of Christ. But as great as it was climaxing in the cross and the resurrection of Jesus, it was all designed to bring into being a people and a new reality that would find climactic expression of the Second Coming. So I think Paul would say the test of our proper affection for the first coming of Christ is the measure of our affection for the second. Or to say it another way, the test of our love for Christ who has appeared, is our longing for Christ, who will appear. Therefore, I believe I am building a good foundation when I say the aim of this book is to help people love the second coming of Christ." Our elder team is currently going through this book together. I was going to say reading, but they're reading it. I'm actually trying to catch up is really the truth of it. That is the truth of it. But again, you can pick that up as a source of encouragement. I think the Lord would agree with what was shared. I really do. He, the Lord, is instructing believers to pray accordingly here in verse 10. Our love for Christ's return and his coming kingdom serves as a vital fuel in our sanctification, and the remaining verses in the prayer provide further evidence of this. When praying about forgiveness and temptation and being delivered from evil. So we even see that in the roadmap. What does God's will entail on earth?...worshipping, praying, talking to God, serving, loving, blessing, rejoicing, growing...and on and on the list goes, right? A biblical counselor recently shared this and I love the expression. He said, "We are constantly 'inging' to the glory of God. And the truth is that it is God's will that we will be 'inging' forever. What's God's will look like in heaven for us?...worshipping, praying, talking to God, serving, loving, blessing, rejoicing, growing. Sound familiar? Many things will remain the same. But we also know that God's will on earth also involves some 'inging' that won't take place in heaven: repenting, confessing, forgiving, lamenting, suffering, agonizing, striving. And on and on that list goes as well, doesn't it? But it's temporary. It is only temporary, even though sometimes it doesn't seem like it. And we need this prayer to remind us of God's kingdom and God's will for us. We are 'inging' to the glory of God. This prayer reminds us and Brett Bradshaw, you should make t shirts for us. All that say ING to the King. That's my takeaway. If you can have that order ready by next Sunday, that would be great. Ing for the King and his return.
Well, our time is running out and we need to move on to the next verse. Pray privately. Pray to our Holy Father in heaven. Pray for God's kingdom and will to be done. Next, the Lord teaches us. Pray for daily provisions. Verse 11 says, give us this day our daily bread. And here Jesus says that we should do no more than ask for sufficient provisions for the day. Bread serves as an example, and one which points at least his audience back to the daily provisions of manna that the Lord provided for Israel. The emphasis here is on our daily needs and to trust the Lord with them. Look down while we're here in chapter 6 at verse 25 of the same chapter, Jesus says, for this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life as for what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them. He provides for them. He gives them their daily bread too. Feed bread to the birds, actually. Are you not worth more than they? And everybody knows the answer to that question. And here the Lord's Prayer encourages a continuing dependence on God. And then emphasis is on daily provisions so that we are not found in want nor tempted by abundance. The wisdom of Proverbs even prays this way in Proverbs 30:8-9. "Two things I asked of you...this is the author of Proverbs and YOU all caps. So this is a reference to God. This is a prayer. "Do not refuse me before I die. Keep deception and lies far from me. And give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is my portion. That I may not be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or that I may not be in want, and steal and profane the name of God? Wisdom, prays for only that which we need. And God knows that, because sometimes we get deceived by that, even that the fact that he mentions keep deceptions and lies far from us right before that. What we need is to stay dependent upon the Lord in prayer. Did you know that the only thing that God ever designed for you and I to ever have in abundance is himself? The only thing that God ever designed for you to have in absolute abundance is himself...not money, not food, not material possessions, not even relationships. Why? Because all of those things have the propensity to turn into idols. But wait a minute. Kurtis would say, wait a minute, Mr. Preacher Man. Didn't Jesus say that I came that you may have life and have it abundantly? He did say that. But he wasn't talking about material things. The abundant life that Jesus is speaking of is spiritual life. It is actually speaking of all the things that money cannot buy. And it was the TBN, health, wealth and prosperity charlatans and preachers who have taken that verse out of context for decades for their own financial benefits, misleading many others to do the same. Following Jesus IS the abundant life. It gives you freedom and joy in the true biblical gospel and access to all the things that money cannot ever buy spiritually...can't. We rejoice in that. Jesus is the bread of life. He said his daily bread will never leave you hungry or thirsty. Let us pray for that bread. The only thing that God designed and desires for us to have in abundance is himself. Don't miss that. Take that with you. When you're longing for more of something else. The only thing that my God has designed for me to have in abundance is Him. Amen? Amen.
Next, Jesus instructs us to pray for forgiveness. Look at verse 12. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. It's no secret that sin is what fractures our relationship with God, and it will yield the same consequences with people. And the word debts here reflects the debts of offense that are incurred while sinning. And here the Lord prays that we'll put the gospel on full display by receiving vertical forgiveness from God and then displaying horizontal forgiveness as we extend the same grace of forgiveness to other people. Moments earlier on the sermon on the Mount, Jesus covered personal relationships. Look back at chapter 5. Where he'll speak to anger and then divorce. Starting in verse 21, you have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. And whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing shall be guilty before the Supreme Court. And whoever says, you fool, shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar and there, remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering. And this hits us just as hard as it did them as they heard it. And all of us, all of us have been extremely angry with someone, or perhaps caused someone to be extremely angry at some point, right? And the gospel of forgiveness rooted here in the disciples prayer reminds us of the grace of God that we have been given so that we can honor God with how we respond. Jesus goes on to ruffle even more feathers, addressing the topic of divorce in verses 31 and 32, when he says, it was said, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Nobody was squirming in their seats more than the scribes and Pharisees at this point. Who were handing out certificates of divorce for nearly every reason imaginable. If you didn't like a meal. If you didn't like this, you didn't like that. And Jesus confronts their hypocrisy here and in other passages in the gospel when he states the only permissible concessions for divorce are unrepentant adultery and unrepentant abandonment. That's it. Those are the concessions. And in both cases, the person committing either of those sins will prove themselves to be an unbeliever, and biblical grounds for divorce can eventually be granted to the one who is being sinned against. And please know that I'm not trying to step on any toes here. I'm simply sharing the context of who it was that Jesus was speaking to. And I know that some of you in this room have gone through divorce or been part of a family impacted by one. And I have eight siblings in my family and half of my siblings have been divorced. There's no easy way around the subject. But believers all know marriage was designed specifically by the Lord to reflect his gospel of grace, mercy, and forgiveness. And only through forgiveness can a bride and groom stay together. It's true for Christ and the church. And how much truer for a husband and wife? Forgiveness reflects the very heartbeat of God and His gospel, and reflects the heartbeat of a true believer as Jesus affirms in verses 14 and 15 following the prayer. 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. It's evidence of a redeemed heart. I do a lot of marital counseling in this church, along with Kurtis and David Duncan on our team. I think we handle the lion's share of counseling. And listen, I know that it's hard in your marriage. I know some of you have gone through a lot and that pains me. And we hear about it in the counseling cases. And I can understand the temptation of these Pharisees just to write a certificate and say, go ahead, go ahead. Just get a divorce. I can understand that temptation. But we have to see what he's providing for us in this. And the leaders of the church, and I'm so grateful to be part of the leadership team at this church will hold the line biblically.  In some of those, that line holding involves having hard conversations with people, saying that you do not have biblical grounds to divorce. And it isn't us. I wish, you could even know just how, how challenging that is. But we're not doing it for our sake. We're not doing it to make your life harder. In fact, we're doing it so that you experience the grace of the gospel and hold the line. Why? Because I can tell you with all my siblings that after they go through divorce, oh, it just all magically disappears and it's so much better. No hardships with that...wrong. That's why we have a counseling ministry called Divorce Care here at the church. Why? Because there's so much stuff that still has to be dealt with on the other side. The Pharisees were hypocrites for allowing unbiblical divorces to take place for themselves as well as for others. And I hope you're grateful, and I praise God that I am a part of a team of men who will stand up and have those hard conversations. I hope you appreciate it. I know many of you do. When you pray, pray like this. Pray privately. Pray to our Holy Father. Pray for God's kingdom and his will to be done. Pray for daily provisions. Pray for forgiveness.
And last but certainly not least, and I know I've gone way over and I thank you for just being gracious, just for giving me a few more minutes...please. Pray not to be tempted, but delivered from evil. In our final verse, Jesus instructs us to pray and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. Now, this word temptation here, it's a neutral term. It's used to describe desires that are both good and evil, and the context helps us understand that Jesus is actually referring to evil desires, because he wouldn't ask us to be led away from good desires, right? We get that, and we need to make sure that we understand what this verse is really teaching. And here's where the biblical principle to use Scripture to interpret Scripture really helps us. James 1:13 and 14, let no one say when he is tempted. I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself does not tempt anyone. And we know and affirm that God doesn't tempt anyone, and he himself cannot be tempted by evil. How do we know this? Because Jesus, led by example and just earlier in Matthew 4, went out into the wilderness for 40 days and took the best that the devil had to offer in terms of temptation. But James 1:14 continues, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. The problem lies in our own hearts. It's actually a great pun. The problem lies...in our own hearts. It starts with an evil lie of lust that opens the door to a temptation. And the Lord's Prayer today is teaching us to pray so that we don't even get close to something that tempts us. But sometimes evil lies and lust of our hearts can be really strong, can't they? And that's when 1 Corinthians 10:13 comes to the rescue. God is faithful who will not only allow us to endure each temptation, but will also provide the way of escape. And so when Jesus encourages us to pray, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. It isn't something that he can't relate to. Hebrews 4:15-16 says, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. Right there to pray. Even right there. It helps us and it points us back. And we're bookending this prayer on the throne. The throne that we approach when we call him our father and the throne at the very end that lets us know that we have a great sympathetic high Priest who is there and ready and willing to help...that wants to intercede for us. It's the blessing of the Lord's Prayer. It's my hope that whenever you recite this prayer written by the greatest preacher to ever live preaching, the greatest sermon to ever be preached, recording one of the greatest prayers that could ever be recorded, that it will encourage you and that you would remember when you pray, pray like this.
As we conclude our study time, I was trying to figure out what would be the best way to conclude, and if I knew how over time I was, I would have even been more concise in my prayer for this message. Really, when I was praying to the Lord, I asked him if I could reflect his heartbeat in what he was trying to communicate to his disciples. And only he knows how effective I've been. But it's fitting for us to close in prayer now. And allow me to recite this. So please join me as I pray.
Abba, father. You are on your throne in heaven in absolute holiness and majestic glory. And father, we pray that your Son, our King, would come soon to reign and establish his kingdom. Father, we ask for grace to do your will on earth, and that we would continue INGING for your glory. We thank you, Father, and praise you for the daily provisions of your grace that you continue to give us, both in our physical needs as well as our spiritual needs. We ask for your forgiveness as we forgive the debts of offense that have been committed against us. Father lead us far away from temptations, and we pray and look forward to our deliverance from evil and all of its consequences. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. And all God's people said Amen.

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The Glorious King

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So last week, my daughter and I were assembling a bed frame. My wonderful wife commented that there is bound to be a sermon illustration in there somewhere. And she was right because I am not a handyman. Whatever spiritual gifts Luke Thomas and Tim Beck and Robbie Kropiwnicki have, I don't have those. So we assembled the outer rectangle. It was all good. Screws and holes aligned. The nuts went on easily. It felt sturdy. I'm feeling good. Then came the center support bar, which supports all the slats that go out to each side and help support the mattress. And of course, the holes at the ends of the center bar were off by just a millimeter on each side...metal rods. We can only get the screws in about halfway. We turned the bar 180 degrees. We jostled and angled and pushed and pulled the frame and the bar and everything imaginable, no avail. The screws could only go about halfway in, and without those screws in completely the center bar would not support the weight of the mattress, much less my wonderful daughter on top of it. She could not rest on that new bed with confidence because of fear it might collapse. Brothers and sisters to confidently rest your weary and heavy laden soul on Jesus, you need to know not only that he welcomes you to do so, but that he can bear the weight of your burdens. You need to know his invitation and his humility, but you also need to know his power and his glory. An imperfection in your understanding of Jesus Christ might not seem to matter now, but it does, if you're going to confidently trust him with all your burdens now and with your eternity, Jesus absolutely is the inviting, gentle, and humble Savior we saw last week in Matthew 11. Knowing that he is also eternally and divinely glorious makes it all the more amazing and humbling to us that he would be so. When we rest in him, when we sing about him, when we read of him, when we pray to him as we grow in our love for him, as we worship him, we do all those things better by knowing his glory. Jesus, friend of sinners, is also the second person of the Trinity, God the Son. He is utterly holy, perfect and glorious. Knowing King Jesus's eternal divine glory ought to make us marvel even more at his gentleness and humility. Knowing King Jesus's eternal divine glory ought to make us marvel even more at his gentleness and humility. When we obey Hebrews 12:1-3, by looking to Jesus, by considering him, when we come to him, we look to and consider and come to the Lord Jesus Christ as he revealed to us in the Scripture in God's Word. Any representations of Jesus on screens or art or books or podcasts must align with Scripture. Many depictions are wrong. Or at best imbalanced or incomplete. If you had never met me, and we'd arrange a meeting. Suppose I texted you and said, hey, look in the church lobby after worship. I'm a middle aged guy with glasses, short, light brown hair, wearing a polo and khakis. And that's it. And you went out in the lobby and after talking to 3 or 4 guys that met that description. Oh, Todd Jacobs, he's the 6'10" dude over there. You would rightly fuss at me for leaving out the most recognizable thing about me. We don't want zeal without knowledge, as Paul described unbelieving Jews as having in Romans 10.  A Jesus who is all power, wrath, and judgment at his second coming is incomplete, but so is a Jesus who is only gentle and accepting. A relatable, down to earth guy who's really just like us, plus a few miracles. But we also don't want knowledge that puffs up as 1 Corinthians 8:1 says. We don't want to be the Ephesus church in Revelation 2:1-7, having right doctrine, but forgetting the love for Christ we had at first. We are genuinely looking to a person, not just looking at our Bibles. We are word-centered and we are Christ-exalting at HBC. We have both because it's possible to be word-centered but loveless. And it is possible to exalt the Christ that is not the Christ of Scripture, with emotion driven devotion to something that is really an idol. This message is titled The Glorious King. I'm going to read Matthew 16:24-17:8...Matthew 16:24 through 17:8. I'll read from the ESV. This passage will provide context, but I'm really focusing on one verse...Matthew 17:2.
Matthew 16:24. "Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 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? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And a voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, rise and have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only." God's word for God's people. Please join me in prayer. Heavenly father, thank you for all that Your Word tells us of your mighty Son, Jesus, including this passage. May we love it and love Him as He is, as he has always been and as he always will be. Lord, use your perfect word and your perfect spirit to work through my imperfect words and the imperfect ears of the hearers to bring about your will in our lives today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
So the king's glory revealed then. There are lots of interesting things in this passage. The relation of Old Testament manifestations, manifestations of God's glory, and the Shekinah cloud that we see here. Why Moses and Elijah? How did they even know it was them? Is this connected to Moses's reflected facial glory after meeting with God in Exodus 34, and in 2 Corinthians three? The Tabernacle as the Old Testament place of God's glory, and Peter's not so random comment about wanting to build tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. But today I'm only going to focus on the central truth of this passage the brilliant revelation of the great glory of Jesus Christ. Even as Peter and James and John grapple with the sight of Moses and Elijah, two of the very top Old Testament heavyweights, God the Father speaks from the bright cloud. This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. Verse two gives us only a brief description of Jesus. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. Mark and Luke in their account add a few extra insights. For example, Luke 9:29 says the appearance of his face was altered E his clothing became dazzling white. Mark 9:3 says his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. So here is the glorious Jesus flanked by Elijah and Moses. Moses, the mediator of the Old Covenant on one side, and on the other Elijah the prophet, who exemplified his zeal for God's glory and who didn't die but was taken up in a whirlwind to heaven. But God says, now listen to Jesus. Exodus 34 says Moses's face shown with a reflected glory after he had met God. And a cloth could conceal it. But Jesus shines with his own glory right through his clothes. Elijah was taken up to heaven. Jesus is the Lord of heaven. Yet even then, even here, with his great glory shown, we see his tenderness rise. Have no fear. This moment is a high water mark of the glory of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. When we read the Biblical accounts of the life of Jesus, he seems, well, earthy, mostly. His humanity is easy to grasp...for sure a unique human by his teaching, his claims and his miracles. For sure, much of his activity is spiritual. Jesus heals the sick. He feeds the thousands. He casts out demons. He walks on water. He even raises the dead. But it's still easy to get the sense that he is a human, spectacularly powerful, blessed and anointed. But he walks around a lot. He eats and sleeps and he looks like a normal man. So for the sake of his inner circle, Peter, James and John, and for all Bible readers and hearers since including us in this room, Jesus gives a glimpse into the deeper reality of who he really is. John MacArthur said of this very event in Matthew 17 that, "it is the greatest testimony to Jesus Christ, I think, of any passage in the Bible. If you really want to know who Jesus is, here it is" end quote. Wow. So what does this passage say about Jesus? The description is concise for such an important moment. But could the glory of Jesus Christ be more fully described with words? How would you describe the brilliance of the sun...that's s-u-n...in the noon sky? You can't even directly look at it for a few seconds without permanent eye damage. Now, there was a total solar eclipse in parts of the United States two months ago. And when the position of the moon precisely covered the sun in what's called totality. It was only then that you could briefly look at the sun. How would you expect the apostles to describe Jesus's appearance here? They didn't have eclipse glasses in their robe pockets. This was a visible revelation of the eternal glory of Jesus Christ, a brief unveiling of his true divine nature and glory, which had been intentionally eclipsed by his human flesh, so to speak. This is an appearance of the Old Testament Shekinah glory of God the Father that Jesus eternally had with him before the world existed, as he stated in John 17:5. This wasn't a brief bestowal of temporary glory upon Jesus, just to make a point. It was a showing forth of what he has always had. 1 Corinthians 2:8 and James 2:1 called Jesus the Lord of glory. And here that glory was revealed visibly. So what is glory when you hear the word glory? Loaded word. One Bible dictionary defines it as the singular splendor of God and its consequences for mankind. I think that captures what Peter, James, and John saw that day...a revelation of Jesus's own divine glory, his singular splendor. And it also showed what it means for those who saw it then and for us. So what did it mean to Peter, James and John and to those who later foretold. MacArthur is again helpful here. Quote. "They had learned that Jesus was a suffering Savior, and now they needed to see a glimpse of him as a glorious king. His followers would share his sorrows, and they needed to know that they could share his glory as well. They knew that as a suffering Savior, he called them to self-denial, cross-bearing, and loyal obedience at any price, even their life. So, they are exposed to the majesty of Second Coming glory. That they might know that humiliation now means glory then. The marvelous, miraculous preview of Final Glory is to remind them that it is going to come to pass, and to fill their hearts with assurance and hope in the midst of great despair." End quote. It was here on that mountain that Peter, James and John saw definitively that Jesus was merely veiled in flesh more than just a man or a great prophet. Peter had just made the good confession in Matthew 16 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then heard Jesus promise that he's coming back with his angels in the glory of His Father, and some of them would see it before they die. And then Peter got to see what Jesus meant. It was this moment on John's mind when he wrote in John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." Peter wrote about this moment years later. 2 Peter 1:16-19. 2 Peter 1:16-19 says, "for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain." Is there any mistake what he's talking about here? "And we had the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." Here's a loose interpretation. We didn't make this stuff up about Jesus's divine power and glory. We saw it and heard it. And until he comes back and you see it for yourselves, you can totally trust the prophetic words about him that his glory confirms. Or, as one paraphrased Bible says, we saw the preview. When Peter wanted to choose the pinnacle experience with Jesus of all he saw and heard, to compare to the prophetic word more fully confirmed, and to say that we could trust God's words as a true revelation of Christ until Christ Himself comes back. He chose this moment not any of his miracles, not even his death, his resurrection, or his ascension, not Pentecost. He chose this moment. That's how spectacular it was. It is this glorious Christ that Isaiah saw in his vision of the heavenly throne room in Isaiah 6, about which John 12:41 says, Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of them. It is this glorious Christ that Daniel saw in his vision in Daniel 10:6, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. It is this same glorious Christ that Hebrews 1 introduces to us..."Long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power." It is this glorious Christ that John would see again decades later, as he writes in Revelation 1:13-16, "one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe, and with a golden sash around his chest, the hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength." That's the glory of King Jesus revealed then and recorded for us to know today. So what can we expect to see one day? We can expect to see the king's glory radiant forever. This very same Jesus Christ. In John 17:20-24, Jesus prayed that all believers to come, including us, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Can we agree that if Jesus prayed for something, it's going to happen? That's a good bet, right? First, John 3:2 says that we will see Jesus as he is. In the Bible's very last chapter, Revelation 22:3-5 says, "No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light. And they will reign forever and ever." That's the end. That's where creation and history are all headed. That's your eternal destiny. If you've trusted in Christ to see and worship and reign with the great shining glory of Jesus Christ, does that thrill you? Yes. Does that encourage you to persevere through whatever you're going through? Yes. Amen. Believer. It's going to all be worth it. Thank you Vicky. This same Jesus unveiled, stunningly glorious is the very same gentle Jesus we heard about last week. Revelation also says near the end in 21:4 that he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. For the former things have passed away. This eternally glorious Jesus is the same one born humbly in Bethlehem. The same one who was rejected, beaten, humiliated and crucified. The same one who bore our sins on the cross as he died. Who calls us to come to him in faith for forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. Knowing and loving the fullness of Jesus's glory does not negate any of that. It makes it more awesome. Knowing King Jesus's eternal divine glory ought to make us marvel even more at that humility and gentleness. One pastor theologian writes, "The glory of Christ has always been and always will be the kind of glory that combines diverse and even paradoxical excellences. His glory is not monochromatic. It dazzles. It is dazzlingly diverse. He mingles and will always mingle majesty and meekness, reverence for God and equality with God, obedience and dominion, lordship and servanthood, transcendence and intimacy, Justice and mercy. He will always be at home in the robes of a king and the towel of a slave. He will always have the glory of being self-sufficient and all supplying." End quote. When you consider this humility of Jesus Christ do you also think about the righteous, mighty, glorious Savior and how he stooped low, low, low to be born as a human? To live and suffer and die for you. He had no sin of his own. The sins for which he died were ours. What a glorious savior. Our eternity will be spent enjoying and worshiping Jesus Christ our King in his fully unveiled perfect glory, his brilliant light, his shining holiness, his inextinguishable power. No more eclipse needed. What Peter, John, and James saw on that mountain will be ours more fully forever to enjoy and worship. That's Christ's glory, radiant forever. 
How should we respond now? I've got three possible ways for believers to respond. But before that, there's another way you might need to respond first. If you have not trusted in Christ. Enjoying and worshiping him in glory is not your future. Do you want it to be? It could be. You are worshiping something or someone else's glory than his...probably your own. Jesus said in John 5:44, how can you believe when you receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? If Jesus's great condescension in coming to save sinners doesn't move you to embrace him as Lord and Savior, then maybe you don't believe in his greatness and glory. You might admire his self-sacrifice or his teaching, but you're missing the whole story. Or maybe you don't grasp the seriousness of your sin when you bring it up against Jesus's perfect glory. You might not be perfect as one of our baptism recipients said last week, you just figured you're in the top 50%. But the Bible says what?...all have sinned and fall short of what?...the glory of God. Romans 3:23. Christ offers you free forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life now and forever. Today he can be to you that gentle and humble Christ. Turn to him in faith now before it's too late. Hebrews 9 27-28 says, and just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time not to deal with sin. But to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Unbelievers, we beg you, don't wait for judgment. Join those of us who are eagerly waiting for him. I invite you to talk to a Christian friend, or in your aisle or an elder down front after the service, if you'd like to.
Now for the believer...three possible ways for us to respond to the marvel of King Jesus's glory and gentleness. Your devotions, your humility and your hope. Your devotions, your humility and your hope. Now for devotions. I want to first give you a glimpse, a glimpse into the devotional life of a Christian nerd. That'd be me. So one afternoon about a month ago, we were on a family beach trip and I went out to the beach by myself one afternoon. By the way, family trips. Really. I encourage you to take a little time by yourself. It's great. It's wonderful to be with your family. I always joke like, hey, you know what the Beatles lasted about eight years. They were always together all the time. The Rolling Stones are never together except on concert or an album, and they're still together like after 60 years. So take a little you time on vacations. It's great. So I go out to the beach by myself. It's early May, it's not very crowded. It's a nice day. I'm out there with a book about Jesus's second coming. Yes. That's what a Christian nerd does for light summer reading. As I looked about, I marveled at God's design...the sun, the wind, the moon, the shape and slope of the ocean floor. All result in the tides that I could see and the waves. The details under it all are fascinating. The properties of light, the properties of heat, even gravity. The molecular structure of water which determines all its behavior that we see. The size and position of the sun and moon. Signs of life abounded from the washed up jellies, which supposedly are living things, not from what I see, but, shells, remnants of living creatures, the shorebirds scuttling along, the pelicans soaring overhead. All this was about me. And I realized all of this came together by God's macro and micro design. But as I marveled a little more, a new thought surfaced. This isn't all a mechanical providence that God set in motion to run on its own. You know why all of it exists and works? Because Jesus Christ upholds it by the word of his power. That's what Hebrews 1:3 says. Now, at that moment, I waited for a dolphin to jump out of the water and do a flip. That would have been the ultimate capstone on that devotion, but it didn't happen. Instead there was a container ship way out off of the shore that kind of broke it up a little bit. Personal devotions are personal. I hope you have regular habits of prayer and Bible intake. I'm not going to give you any specific tips. But, when you are praying or reading or choosing a music playlist, I encourage you to remember the whole glorious Christ who can bear the weight of our burdens. Remember all that scripture says about Jesus. Remember that we can draw near him in confidence as Hebrews 4:14-16 and Hebrews 7:25 tells us. Do remember his mercy and his profound humility. But also do remember his great eternal glory. Our gentle and humble Savior upholds the universe by the word of His power. Yet he has stooped low to love us and says, come to me. And he will one day share that glory with us forever. Remember John 1:1-3. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Remember Colossians 1:16-17, By him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  How about our humility? Please turn in your Bibles to Philippians 2. A passage that is probably familiar to many of you. I want us to look at it with fresh eyes, illuminated by the glory of Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:3-11...Bible pages flipping. That's called HBC air conditioning. That's how we get fans going in here. "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 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 man. And 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 the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Notice that to explain Christ's humility, Paul doesn't start with Jesus's crucifixion and death, although he gets there. It doesn't start with Jesus bearing the crushing weight of God's wrath for our sins. He starts by reminding us that the humiliation of Jesus began when he chose to not cling to his deity. In a refusal to undergo the humiliation of becoming a man. Instead, he took the form of a servant being born in the likeness of man. He became 100% a man and will now be so forever. But he isn't just a man, he became one. He has always been God and will always be. Now, how does this apply to us? We're told to have this mind. It's hard to think of a counseling case that isn't affected by the sin of pride. When Scripture exhorts us to put on Christ's humility. Consider the massive step He took down in the act of incarnation, much less later his death and his suffering. We struggle to even give up our perceived rights to petty things. So remember, first, we deserve God's wrath. Apart from the gift, righteousness freely ours by faith in Christ Jesus. We are totally unworthy of praise, glory, authority, and honor. But the eternally glorious King Jesus Christ is worthy of all that and more. Even at our best, we don't start anywhere close to where he started. Where he was for all eternity before his incarnation. Second, it is extremely unlikely that any of us will suffer physically like Christ did, and it is absolutely certain that all who are in Christ will never suffer spiritually like he did. As he bore God's wrath for sins, not his own. Whatever happens to us. Even the most humbling thing can't compare to Jesus's humiliation. So repent of pride and turn to our humble Savior, Jesus Christ.
Finally our hope. I hope I can turn this last page in my notes. There we go. Remember, we have a great high priest, Jesus Christ. His suffering and humiliation we can never fully know. But he fully knows our suffering. Hebrews 2:17-18 says, therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make 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. This doesn't make Jesus remote or impersonal. His majesty and glory knowing that should magnify the amazement in our hearts over his personal fellowship with us, his personal care for us. When you see his humility and gentleness through the lens of this great glory he has, you should marvel anew at the beauty of this glorious king. The matchless, eternal second person of the Trinity, God the Son incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ. We age, we get sick. And yes, teenagers, we die. In a bygone era the church talked often about death and considered one of its main priorities preparing its people for that day should the Lord tarry and not return first. We sin and are sinned against, and the world seems to spiral down under the control of Satan. We're doing our best to love this Christ, who we have not yet seen with our eyes. We are not yet glorified. We are not yet free from our own sin. We are forgiven. But sin stained souls and sin cursed bodies who are unable to perfectly see and worship Jesus Christ, try as we might. But here's our hope. We can have great confidence that our Lord Jesus Christ has the power to do what he promised to do. A glorious day is coming when faith will be made sight. You believer, will be free of sin, body and soul. You will be perfected in your sanctification. Theologians rightly call this glorification because 1 John 3:2 says, we will be like Jesus on that day and he is stupendously glorious. You won't need eclipse glasses to look directly at Jesus then, because you will also be glorified. How forward to that day are you looking? When your sinless eyes see Jesus Christ in His great shining glory. When your sinless, ears hear the refrains of saints and angels singing his praises. When your sinless soul and healed body are free of all hindrances to worshiping him. Many of us are carrying heavy weights. I don't make light of any of the serious things that are affecting us, and I know of many. But believer we're not taking those to heaven...cancer, heart disease, dementia, disability, chronic pain, broken families, grief, anxiety. Conflicts that never seem to resolve. Wayward children, debt, your own besetting sin, the disappointments and trials that are common to us all. And then there are the lesser things we chase that hinder our hope in Christ. We and I include me in this, often strive for heaven on earth in various ways health, wealth, man's praise, election results, you name it. One day the glory of Jesus Christ is going to fill your glorified eyes and your minds and your souls and all that stuff is not going to matter. Brothers and sisters, all of your sins and burdens will be gone. None of them are part of your eternal future. Your eternal future will be filled with the perfect glory of our King, Jesus Christ. His brilliant light, his shining holiness, his inextinguishable power fully unveiled. What Peter, John, and James saw on that mountain will be ours forever and ever to eternally enjoy and worship. Amen.
Pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the great and precious promises of your Son coming in glory, that we will be with him in that glory, to enjoy it far better than we can now, free of all sin, free of all burdens, free of all disease. Lord, help us to look forward to that day with great joy. In the mighty and precious name of your Son Jesus. Amen.

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The Savior’s Rest

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It is a joy always to be at our one service summer series, isn't it? Being here, fellowshipping and worshiping the Lord and listening to the preached word, and just the sweet fellowship that comes from being with the saints. I want to reiterate that what Justin brought up, you know, we're able to do this because there are many other saints who have made the decision to serve in the various ministries in our church, and so we're thankful for that. So if you if you know somebody who is serving so that we can all be in here together please thank them for that. But I think most importantly, thank the Lord for their service. I just want to reiterate that this morning. As I thought and prayed about what texts to preach on out of the Gospels in our summer series, Joy in the Life of Jesus, I was given a sign. Well, not a literal sign. Really. If you've been to our home, you know that when you come in, we've got a family room and up high in a prominent place on the main wall is a yoke. And above that yoke is some scripture, I think that will come up, that my wife wanted hung. So she bought the scripture to put it up. And then she sent me on a wild goose chase through the back roads of Virginia to pick up a yoke that she bought off of eBay that was down one of the scariest roads at one of the creepiest houses, with a dude that I just did not know if I would make it out of there or not. I felt like I was entering into a bad movie. But we got it hung and I got it secure, and I got it to where it's level and did everything she wanted me to do. And really, there's this morning I left my study, really praying, Lord, what in the world should I preach on out of the Gospels? And I stared at this verse, and I stared at this yoke, and I wondered if I had reduced this well-known and often quoted text down to a mere proof text for something that I wanted it to mean without knowing what it actually means. Kind of like Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Obviously, you know, means I can throw the football and win the game, right? Or maybe even where it says, uh, in Matthew 18:20, for where 2 or 3 have gathered in my name, I am in their midst, means that if 2 or 3 people together, they are having church, right? The old adage goes, a text taken out of context is a pretext for a proof text. Meaning a text taken out of context and isolated purposely or as in the case with usually I can do all things and where two or more are gathered out of ignorance to make it mean what you want it to. And as I opened my Bible that morning and I studied the text in its proper context, I had an 'oh, my' moment. I never knew the verses hanging on the wall in my home encompassed all that they do. 
So open your copy of God's Word this morning to Matthew chapter 11, where we will shortly be reading in verses 25 through 30. Just go ahead and get there and put your finger there and just hold that place. As is typical for our pulpit, I'll be preaching out of the NASB 95. Before we get going, let me pray. 
Father, we thank you this morning. What a joy it is to have the opportunity to preach, Lord, after there's been baptisms. Lord, after we have seen your sovereign will displayed in salvation so clearly through the testimony of the young man, this young woman this morning. Lord. Thank you for the worship that we have sung to you, Lord. I pray that you have been glorified. Lord Jesus, I pray that you have been magnified as we have sung to you. O Lord, I pray this morning for every soul here that does not know you, Lord, that you will by your sovereign will save them. Lord, that you would extend grace and that you would extend mercy. Father, I pray for those of us here this morning that know you, Lord, that you have in your kindness saved us, Lord, that we would feel and sense and know the rest that comes to the believer because of you, Lord Jesus. So I pray for concision of speech. And Lord, I pray for discernment and wisdom to the hearers, Lord. Let everyone search your word to know the truth in Jesus name. Amen. 
So before we jump right into the middle of Matthew's gospel this morning, I think it's helpful to establish context as to where we are in the earthly ministry of Jesus. You see, at this point, Jesus has begun his earthly ministry in chapter four with these words, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Did you realize that? That is the first words that Christ spoke when he started his earthly ministry. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. By this time in our Scripture, he has called all his disciples, and he has all of them. So by the time we get to our text this morning in chapters five through seven, Jesus preaches the sermon on the Mount, and by the time we get to our focal verses, people have now witnessed the following. We have seen lepers cleansed. They have seen the centurion's servant healed without even Christ having to go to the house to do it. They have seen Peter's mother in law, Hilde. They've learned about the cost of following Christ. Jesus has calmed the storm. He has cast out demons. He has healed a paralytic and actually forgave the man his sins. He has taught on fasting, and in chapter ten, Christ summons the 12 disciples, sends them out to the Jews, preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and he gave them the authority to cast out unclean spirits, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, and heal every kind of sickness, telling them, whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly, it will be more tolerable in the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city. He has promised persecution. He has explained the true meaning of discipleship and the rewards of service. And at the beginning of chapter 11, where we're going to dive in, Jesus answers, John the Baptist disciples, when they come to him and say, whether or not is he Jesus? Is he the one? Christ answers, tell John this. The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead have been raised. And the poor have the gospel preached to them. And that leads us to verse 22-24, where after all the signs and wonders, after all the miracles that Christ has done and his disciples have done, and after the gospel proclamations that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and they're told to repent, he's revealed himself as Messiah. He's forgiven sins. Christ then pronounces judgments or woes on unrepentant cities where so many signs and wonders were worked. He says it will be more tolerable in the day of Sodom, in the Day of Judgment then for those cities. And thereby those people who did not respond in faith to the message of the good news. Right then, right after these woes, we come to our text where Jesus makes declarations concerning the sovereignty of God in salvation. Christ's authority over salvation. And then Jesus proceeds to give an offer of salvation. So please read along with me in Matthew chapter 11. We'll start in verse 25 and read through 30. Our text says this. 
"At that time Jesus said." This is Jesus praying and praising to the Father. "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in your sight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him. Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
For our first point of consideration this morning in verses 25 and 26, we want to look at God's sovereignty in salvation. Jesus says right here in our text, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. Let's stop right there for just a moment to get two things firmly established in our minds before we go any further. First, I want us to understand that God is Father. Christ is talking to his Father. He is Father to Jesus, and he is father to all of us that know him as our Heavenly Father: a perfect father, a loving father, a tender father, a kind father. And if you are in Christ, you have been given the right by Christ to approach his Abba, his Father as your Abba and your Father. Amen. We have that right in Christ. Secondly, we see in our text that God is quote, Lord of heaven and earth. I want it to be set firmly in our minds what this means. It is critical that we understand this before we move forward this morning. We use this quote of Tozer often from this pulpit. And it most certainly applies here, that what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. And before we move on, we must set our minds on the fact that God is omnipotent. He is omniscient. He is omnipresent. He is omni sapient. He is incomprehensible. He is triune. He is self-existent. He is self-sufficient. He is eternal. He is immutable. He is wise. He is transcendent. He is faithful. He is good. He is just. He is merciful. He is gracious, loving, holy, and he is sovereign. As R.C. Sproul said, there is not a maverick molecule in the universe. Or back to how the Lord Jesus Christ said it...Lord of Heaven and of earth. Too often in our modern evangelical man-centered minds, we think of God as a sweet, loving father, which he is...without failing to think of him as Lord of all...everything. He created everything ex nihilo out of nothing, out of nothing for his glory. He created everything. And we must have this frame of reference in our hearts and minds as we examine verse 25, where Jesus, speaking to God the Father says, you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. It is clear from our text that there is some concealing and revealing going on related to something called these things, isn't it? It's also clear from our text that God is the one doing the concealing and the revealing. So it begs three questions. First, what are these things? And then who are the wise and intelligent? Or as the ESV says, wise and understanding, and then who are the infants? Or the ESV translates that “little children”. And it's appropriate to examine these questions, because in verse 26 Christ says that this hiding and this revealing to these two groups of people was well pleasing in your sight. Or as the ESV says, for such was your gracious will. You see, it was God's will that these things be hidden, and that these things be revealed. Plainly put, these things are the glorious mysteries of the gospel and all the gospel's beauty and power to save sinners. As one theologian said, all other things are nothing compared to these things. You get that? All other things are nothing compared to these things. Romans 1:16 says about the gospel, it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So who are these wise and intelligent? Well, we're not being told that mere intelligence keeps one from understanding gospel truths. Some of the most intelligent people to ever live were followers of Christ and amazed at the glory of God: the Apostle Paul, Augustine, Calvin, Edwards. Spurgeon. Sproul. Mohler. There are great scientists like Sir Francis Bacon, the father of the scientific method. Robert Boyle, the father of modern chemistry, Sir Isaac Newton, the father of modern science, Louis Pasteur, a biologist. And everybody knows the biologist George Washington Carver that made the peanut great. Sorry. I grew up on hip hop. Kurtis caught that. He knows where that's coming from. Yet, as one commentator stated, the fact is that being wise and intelligent does not necessarily give insight to the mysteries of the gospel. This clearly demonstrates that these things being revealed must be divinely bestowed and cannot be achieved at the merely human level. The intelligent and wise of Jesus' day were the scribes, the Pharisees, priests, Jewish elders. These were men all wise in their own eyes, men full of pride and blinded to the fact that Jesus the Messiah, was standing before them, doing, testifying miracles, and speaking as no man had ever done before. Yet they were not able to see or hear the truth because of their self-righteous pride. JC Ryle, who is right there with Spurgeon in my mind's eye as my favorite, commented this. Nothing is so likely to keep a man out of heaven and prevent him from seeing Christ as pride. So long as we think we are something, we shall never be saved. A simple working definition of pride is this...an exaggerated self-esteem. And oh, how rampant was the self-exaggerated, self-esteem and the arrogance in Jesus day. And oh, how rampant is the self-righteous self-exaggerated esteem in our day. I mean, we're in the midst of an entire month labeled Pride Month that is celebrating absolute rebellion against God's created and natural order. I mean, there's just no clearer picture of exaggerated self-esteem in our day. Mark 7:21-23 says this. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. 1 John 2:16 says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but from the world. For clarity's sake...Christ is not saying God has hidden the gospel from smart people. But the gospel is hidden from those who trust in their own intelligence. Or as Matthew Henry stated so well, "God is not the author of their ignorance or error. But he leaves them to themselves and their sin becomes their punishment and the Lord is righteous in it. Some of the greatest scholars and statesmen have been the greatest strangers to the gospel ministries." So who is he describing in our day? The intellectual, self-righteous pride of both the religious and the atheist is what keeps them out of heaven. These are the people described in Isaiah 5:20-21, where the Word says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Well, now that we understand who the wise and the intelligent are, who are the infants? The term infants here really just means simple. And these were the types of people that were predominantly coming to faith and to Christ and receiving the gospel in that day. They were receiving the good news of salvation. These were the fishermen, the publicans, the poor and the needy, the unlearned, those who in humility knew they needed a savior. The very first beatitude of Matthew five is verse three. And Christ says, quote, blessed are the poor in spirit. Literally those who are not spiritually arrogant is what that means, for theirs is the Kingdom of God. James 4:6 says, God gives grace to the humble. And in the fourth chapter, verse ten, it says that humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you. And here's the truth this morning, albeit a hard truth to comprehend. Nonetheless, it is truth. This way of hiding the mysteries of the gospel from the wise and the intelligent, from the proud, from the haughty and the arrogant and revealing those same mysteries to the babes, the humble and the contrite are well pleasing in God's sight. They are well pleasing in the Father's sight. Regarding verse 26, Matthew Henry is so helpful when he writes the following. I believe we'll have this up for you. "We have Christ looking up to heaven with thanksgiving to His Father for the sovereignty and security of the covenant of redemption. And looking upon this earth with an offer to all the children of men to whom these presents shall come, of the privileges and benefits of the covenant of grace, God will effectually secure the interests of his own glory." You see, God is sovereign over salvation. He has predetermined the way of salvation, and he is well pleased to hide it from the wise and intelligent and reveal it to infants. Put your fingers in your Bibles right there at chapter 11 and turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Don't make me sing the song. But if you go from Matthew and start going to the right when you hit Acts...Romans and Acts start slowing up a little bit. You get to 1 Corinthians 1. And I'm going to read 18 through 31. So it's a solid chunk of scripture, but I want you to follow along with me. One thing I love about our church is Bibles. Uh, years ago...this isn't in my notes. Years ago, we visited a Bible church when we were living in a different town, and the only people in there that had Bibles was my wife and I and our kids. A Bible church needs to have Bibles. So praise the Lord for all the pages in the Bibles. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, follow along with me. "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever, i will set aside. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified...to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness. But to those who are the called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen these things that are not, so that he may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God, but by his doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that just as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." Amen? 
I mean, that's my whole sermon, really. I could have just got up and read that portion of Scripture and said, go home and study that for the next week. And so at this point in verse 27, we look back there that, Christ makes a declaration. And I love what HB Charles Jr says here. He says, quote, this is the declaration of the sovereign grace of God in salvation. This is the declaration of the sovereign grace of God in salvation, where Christ says, all things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him. See, Christ is declaring four facts here, that all things that belong to the Father have in fact been handed over to him by his Father. Do you see that in the text? Yeah. And this makes perfect sense, because we know from Colossians 1:15-20 that it says in him that's in Christ, through him and for him were all things made. You get that? So in Christ, through Christ, for Christ all things were made. And rest assured, all things also means salvation. Look back at our text in verse 27. Here we see the perfect union between God the Father and God the Son. Where Christ says, no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son. So who knows the Son? The Father, thank you. Vicky. I knew you were going to be there for me this morning. Who knows the Father, the Son? And who else knows the Father? Anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him. That word wills there means wishes, intends, plans, to desire. One commentator pointed out about this verse, that "it is the ultimate significance is the will of the Son is being set on par with that of the will of the Father." They both have the same wills. Luther is helpful here when he says this. "Here the bottom falls out of all merit, all powers and abilities of reason, or the free will men dream of, and it counts nothing before God. Christ must give everything." John 17:2 even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that says God gave Christ authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. This is the same will the same plan of redemption laid out in eternity past. And it points to Christ's sovereignty in salvation, his authority over salvation. And we clearly see that Christ has both the authority and the ability for his undertaking. So who are these that know the Father through the Son's revealing him? Well, that's the redeemed. That's the believers. That's everyone sitting here this morning who Christ has saved by his sovereign grace, mercy and will. And what grace, what mercy, and what kindness of God it is that has led us to repentance and faith in him. Who has Christ, not revealed the Father to?...unbelievers. Those who, because of their unbelief and pride, have not repented and believed on Christ. And we must pray for them to turn to Christ. That should be on our hearts and on our minds at all times. And I assure you, out of this pulpit, especially when Adam preaches, it's always on his heart and mind. We are to love the souls of men and beg the Lord to save all the more. In John 14:6 Christ says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. John 5:21-24, For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so, the Son also gives life to whom he wishes for not even the Father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my Word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 
So thus far, we've examined God's sovereign grace in salvation. We've examined Christ's authority over salvation, and we now come to Christ’s open invitation for salvation in verses 28 through 30, where Christ utters some of the sweetest words in all of Scripture. Christ says, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come to me. This is the gospel call to come. And the beauty of this is that anyone can come. All coming requires is that you leave where you are and the direction you're heading and you come. Yet it's not merely just our coming that saves us, is it? Because he says, what? Come to me. You see, it's who we come to that saves us. It's who we put our faith in that saves us. And to whom must me come?...Jesus. We must come to Christ. This shows the exclusivity of Christ because he says to me. Acts 4:12 tells us, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. Come to the one of whom it is said in Acts 10:43 of him all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. Or just succinctly, as John 3:15 says, so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. And here in repentance is implied in our turning from one direction and turning and coming to Christ from the direction of sin and self-righteousness to Christ for salvation. Yet, the unfortunate truth for many is this. Calvin wrote this. "Though he is ready to reveal the Father to all, yet the greater part are careless about coming to him because they are not affected by a conviction of their necessities. Hypocrites give no concern about Christ because they are intoxicated with their own righteousness, and neither hunger nor thirst for his grace. Those who are devoted to the world set no value on a heavenly life." Here's the truth this morning. Your religion will not save you. Your good works will not save you. Your parents will not save you. And though they are wonderful means of grace that the believer's given, going to church will not save you, and reading the Bible will not save you. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can save you. And that's why, unbeliever, you must come to him. He says come. And to whom is this gospel call being made? We see it in our text. It says to all, ALL. No one is excluded from the gospel call from Christ, and Christ is the only one able to give this invitation. You see, Christ alone took on flesh being made in the likeness of man. He alone lived a sinless life. He alone walked in perfect obedience to the Father's will. He alone was crucified and crushed on a cross on Calvary's hill as a substitutionary sacrifice and debt payment for the sin of all who will belong to him. And then he was buried in a borrowed tomb. But glory to God, he had the power to raise himself from the dead three days later, conquering sin and death, thus securing salvation for all who will come to him by faith. Come. John 3:37-40 so wonderfully, states this. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing but will raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of the Father, my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life. And I myself will raise him up on the last day. So believe me this morning, when I tell you, based on the authority of Scripture, that no one has ever come, nor will ever come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and been cast out. All that come to him will be received. And if you come to him by faith, you will be saved. Well, you may ask, what are the descriptors of those that are called to come? Well, our text says all who are weary and heavy laden. All who are weary and heavy laden. Weary here is a present active participle. It literally means to labor, one who works to exhaust. And it's just this constant. It's a constant working, a constant weariness. The word heavy laden is a perfect passive participle. It means that at some time in the past, a great load was dumped on that person. And they're just carrying this load. Macarthur is very helpful when he writes this about weary and heavy laden. "Whereas weary refers to the internal exhaustion caused by seeking divine truth through some human wisdom. Heavy laden suggests the external burdens caused by the futile efforts of works righteousness." So we have to remember in context, Christ was speaking to Jews who had the law given to them, and then they had been weighed down with all the additional laws and the ceremonial laws of the Pharisees that were concocted, and it was law upon law and burden upon burden. In the midst of all this, Christ comes and proclaims good news that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And they were to repent from believing they could earn salvation, repent from thinking they could be good enough, and come to him. And in the midst of your world, unbeliever, your striving, your weariness and your burden of sin and separation from a loving heavenly Father, Christ tells you the same thing...come to me. And it is only Christ who can say, if you come to me, I will give you rest. That is the promise of salvation...Salvific rest. This is the first rest Christ promises in our text to all who come to him. Our rest, our relief that comes from the free pardon of sin. And this is what gives us rest. So I must ask you, unbeliever. Why don't you come to Christ today? Why would you continue to go one more moment, relying on your works, thinking you can be good enough, striving full of weariness of sin and carrying a burden you cannot carry? Come to Christ by faith. He bids you come. And next in our text, Christ promises a sanctifying rest in verse 29. Here he gives direction for the practical sanctification of the believer. Read with me in 29. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. We were told to take. Take my yoke. See, we have a responsibility in our Christian walk. Our walk is to be active, not passive. We must take. And what are we to take? The text says my yoke. That's Christ's yoke. The NET translator's notes is helpful when it says this about the yoke quote. It's figuratively of restrictions that a teacher or rabbi would place on a follower. So that's the yoke that we're talking about here. Thereby meaning when we come to Christ in faith, he most certainly gives us the rest and salvation that we've examined in verse 28. And yet he calls us to put on his yoke. His restrictions, his rules to live under his leadership, which produces sanctification in us. Sanctification is just that process that we go through to look more and more like Christ. Some call it progressive sanctification, and that's why we love life groups in our church as one of our means of discipleship. You're doing life together, helping each other look more like Christ. You see, contrary to the false theologies of easy believism that are so prevalent in churches today where people are told if you merely walk down an aisle, repeat a prayer after somebody, and get baptized, you can live the rest of your life as you would like. Because you're supposedly saved. See, we have to take Christ's yoke upon us. God's grace does not mean that we are free to sin and live as we like. But that we're to put on his yoke...the yoke of obedience to Christ. We are to walk under the yoke of Christ's leading, because it is loving. Under the yoke of his Word, because it is true and it is good. As Spurgeon so clearly preached. "Now, Jesus Christ never sent me or any other minister to preach to you and say, only believe, and you may live as you like and yet be saved. Such preaching would be a lie. Jesus has not promised to save you in your sins, but from your sins. Beware of a liars faith, and that is a liars faith which you pretend to get at a revival meeting if you then go and just live as you did before." Because we are to take and our text says we are to learn from him. We're called to be learners. What's another term for learner?...disciple. We're called to be a disciple, and this is a lifelong study. You see, it's God's design as his very spirit works in us, causing us to will and work for his good pleasure to form us into the image of His Son. You see, our flesh, our sin nature leads us to shrink from this yoke. But as we learn more and more about Jesus and come to know him more and more, oh, how we will grow for our love for his yoke. Calvin said, so long as the flesh kicks, we rebel. And those who refuse the yoke of Christ and endeavor to appease God in any other manner, distress and waste themselves in vain. And what are we to learn from Christ?...Him. We're to learn Christ himself. And what is the first thing from our text that we learn about Christ? We learn about his heart. This is the only place in Scripture where Christ gives us words about his heart. He says what?...He is gentle and humble in heart. The word gentle here means meek or mild. You see, Christ is not harsh. He is not cruel. He is not hateful, and he is not unkind. And he is humble. He is lowly. He walked in humility. See, Christ is not arrogant and he is not prideful. So the first thing we need to learn is to be gentle and to be humble. How contrary is the heart of Christ compared to the Jewish leaders of his day? And how contrary is his heart to the world's idea of strong leadership in our world today. What else can we learn? This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but some thoughts to give direction to our thinking. We can learn obedience to the Father. Christ was obedient. We can learn to be servants. Christ served. We can learn to be loving because Christ loved. We can learn to be kind. Because Christ was kind, we can learn to be fun. Christ was at all the parties. And he was the life of the party. And people were always around Christ, weren't they? So don't be one of them sourpuss Christians that don't draw people in. We have the joy of the Lord. That is our strength. We should be prayerful. How often through Scripture does it say Christ drew away to be with the Father in prayer? We should pray. You get the point? So how do we learn from him? How do we know him?...through daily spiritual disciplines, through spending time with him. And how will we know that we are coming to know him, that we are learning from him?...by our walking in obedience. 1 John 2:6 says, by this we know that we have come to know him, see, the Bible answers the question, if we keep his commandments. The one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word in him, the love of God has been truly perfected. By this we know that we are in him. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. We are to learn Christ. We are to walk in Christ, and we're to walk like Christ. In closing out verse 29, what is it that Christ promises us if we will take his yoke upon us and learn from him? Now this is to believers...rest. Rest for your souls. This is sanctifying rest. This is the rest that comes from walking in obedience to the yoke of Christ. This is the rest that comes from repenting and forsaking our sin. This is the rest that comes from following our Savior. You will find rest for your souls. Here Christ is quoting from Jeremiah 6:16. And if you read Jeremiah, I went back and read it. I mean, it is in the midst of gut wrenching pronouncement of God's judgment upon Judah and upon Israel for turning from him. He says, thus says the Lord, stand by the ways, and see, and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. We find rest for our souls, rest for our conscience, rest for our mind, rest for our hearts, rest for our energies, and rest for our fears as we stand firm in the Lord and seek and learn his truth and walk in it. We are not to seek after all, manner of so-called new truths and false promises the world makes. But the text said the ancient paths. Now you know I love Spurgeon, you all know that. Spurgeon says, that which is new is not true. It is the old that is true. For truth is as old as God himself. That's right. All that is true is not new. Aren't we thankful to have a Lord whose heart is gentle and humble towards his children, and who promises us rest for our souls, and then tells us this. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Amen? For my yoke is easy and my burden light. You see, Christ's yoke is easy. The word there means comfortable or pleasant. It can also mean superior for a particular purpose or use. The yoke that Christ has, is superior and is fashioned for a particular purpose or use. Do you know why his yoke is easy? Why it's comfortable and why it's pleasant? Because it's a custom made yoke. It's not a one size fits all yoke. It's not a yoke fashioned as the yoke hanging on my wall. I mean, that right there looks painful, quite frankly. And that's bigger than you think, by the way. His yoke is a yoke that is lined with love and laced with liberty, because his yoke was purchased by his blood. How do I know this? Because the Bible tells me so. I hope you all teach that song to the VBS kids, because the Bible tells me so. Hebrews 10:14, for by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 4:14-16, therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in time of need. And get this one about his yoke. Hebrews 7:25, therefore, He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him. Since he always lives to make intercession for them. The Christ who says, come, the Christ who says take my yoke is at the right hand of the Father, where our Bible says he always lives to make intercession for us as his children. What a glorious truth. Oh. You see, when we put on the yoke of Christ, we are then yoked to Christ. And when the trials of life seem too many, and when the burdens of life seem too much. And when the pain of life seems unbearable, our rest comes from being yoked to Christ. Believer, you are not wearing a yoke of one who does not know you. But it is the yolk of one that sympathizes with all your weaknesses, who knows all your burdens, who has walked and lived and breathed on this earth, who was tempted in all ways, even as you are, and yet without sin. Christ is right now seated in heaven at the right hand of the father, making intercession for you at all times. He always lives to make intercession for you, believer. His mercies are new every morning. He instructs your mind in the night. Wearing his yoke causes you to have what the Bible calls sweetness of sleep when your head hits your pillow. He leads you beside still waters. He makes you lie down in green pastures. He restores your soul. He quenches your thirst and satisfies your hunger because you have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, and he has fashioned a yoke just for you. And not only is his yoke easy. The Bible says his burden is light. Literally...not burdensome. 1 John 5:3, for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. We don't keep his commandments to be saved. But we keep his commandments because we are saved. And his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Amen? So I just want to close out with a couple of thoughts. First, if you are here this morning and you have not come to Christ by faith, why would you delay? I pray that you come to Christ. Myself and other elders will be down front after the service, and we would love to talk to you about the Lord Jesus Christ. And for those of us in Christ, our bookstore is full of elder approved resources that will aid you as you seek to learn from the Lord. We need to make sure that we're forming daily spiritual habits and disciplines. And I said, habits. We have to work to do that. I highly recommend the book called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney, came out in the early 90s. That's the book that impacted me greatly. And lastly, I would tell you this. We must take his yoke upon us and learn from him daily. Our bodies need physical food daily, don't they? How much more do we need our spiritual food. 
Let me close in prayer. Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you for your truth. Lord Jesus, thank you that you have saved us. Thank you that you bid us come. Thank you that you give us rest. Oh Lord Jesus, thank you that your yoke is fashioned just for us. That your yoke is easy and your burden is light. Lord, I lift up every person here that does not know you. Holy Spirit, I pray that you would convict them and convert them for your glory. In Christ's name. Amen.

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Jesus Pursues Lost Sinners

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Well, good morning church. So good to see us in the single service Sundays in the summer time with the series about the Savior. I'll try to get another s word in there, but it is a glorious thing to have us all gathered together to sing songs that are worthy of the King to be in the presence of one another with sweet fellowship. And Ronald mentioned that, you know, we'll have an extra hour and a half but I said, it depends on the preacher man. Uh, the preacher man might take up all that time. You may not have an hour and a half. You might have an extra hour because of the..Okay, I'll stop. I'll see some people, like. Hold on, brother, you better not go over 40 minutes. Uh, one minute over 40 and I'm snoozing on you. But all that being said, this is such a wonderful privilege for us to worship Jesus Christ as king. And, uh, this Sunday, it really marks the first of the series that we're going to have as the elders will be preaching really through the Gospels. You know, we called it, Enjoying Jesus a Summer series in the Life of Christ. And we just believe that it's good, necessary and fitting to exalt Jesus Christ always. H.B. Charles Junior tells a story of a church that had a sign out front, and on that sign it read, we Preach Christ Crucified. And then over time, ivy grew up over the sign. And then it just said, we preach Christ. And as time went on, the ivy grew up a little bit more. And then it just got to the place to where it said, we preach. And that's kind of, sadly, a commentary on some pulpits today. They start out preaching Christ crucified. It's all about the blood of Christ and the gospel. And then over time, they say, well, we'll just preach a little bit about Christ. And then over a series of sermons and they start to catering to man and his felt needs, they just say, we preach these man centered ideas. But you can rest assured that never in this pulpit at HBC will we just preach. We're going to preach Christ and Him crucified, because that is what brings us to salvation, and that is what sustains us in this glorious faith that we have in him. But I would invite you to turn into your scriptures to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19, and we're going to look at verses one through ten this morning. Luke 19:1-10. And as you're turning there, I just want you to think about this question. What kind of person does Jesus Christ pursue when he's looking to save a soul? What kind of person is he looking for? what's the type? You know, I mean, you think about that. And then another question, what kind of person do you pursue when you're seeking lost souls? Because sometimes we can say, well, the person has to be, you know, sort of ready to receive the gospel. Maybe sometimes we say, oh, they got to look a certain way. Or if they had that kind of background, I'm not sure if they're going to receive what I got to say about Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ, as we're going to see in this text, is the glorious One who goes and he seeks after that which is lost. And it doesn't matter how far they're gone in life. They're not too far from heaven's grasp because Jesus Christ will pursue the souls that he wants saved. But as we look at this text, we see that many people are familiar with it. You probably sang a song growing up, Zacchaeus, because he was a wee little man....A wee little man was he...Climbed up in a sycamore tree...The Lord he wanted to see. Keep going with it. Y'all had, like, tambourines and everything back in the day. But you see, this was a real life story about Zacchaeus. And honestly, Zacchaeus isn't the main actor in this scene. It's Jesus Christ because he is the one that's seeking to win the soul. Because Luke even mentioned that Jesus Christ is a light of revelation to the Gentiles. He's the glory of God for his people, Israel. And he is the one who's preaching the kingdom and forgiving sins and setting the captives free. And that's what we're going to see in this text today. But I'm going to read it right now so that we can set this text in our understanding and ask God to help us. Uh, but it reads as follows. 
He entered Jericho and was passing through, and there was a man called by the name of Zacchaeus, and he was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature, and so he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see him, for he was about to pass through that way. And when Jesus came to the place He looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house. And he hurried and came down, and received him gladly. And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, he has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stopped and he said to the Lord, behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much. And Jesus said to him, today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. 
Bow with me in a word of prayer. Gracious Father, we are humbled that we have this opportunity and privilege to read your word and to have it proclaimed, even as we just prayed for some of our folks abroad who don't have that privilege. We thank you for allowing us to be here this very hour looking at this text, and I ask that you would allow me to boldly proclaim the excellencies of Christ, and that you would open our eyes, that we might see wondrous things from your truth. Seek to save sinners in this hour, and sanctify those who are saved. And we ask this all in Christ's name. And all God's people said, Amen. Amen. 
Well, Luke is the is the writer of both the gospel here and as well as the book of Acts. And his whole purpose in writing this gospel is to help us to see that Jesus as the Son of Man, who, although he was being rejected by Israel, would preach to Gentiles so that they would know about the kingdom of heaven and have an opportunity for their souls to be saved. Even though Luke, as he starts out with his gospel, he really gives us intel between chapters 9 and 19 of really about what Jesus was doing on his road to Jerusalem. He was determined to go to Jerusalem, and he went out to preach the good news. He even sent his disciples out to do the same. In chapter 11, he pronounces woes upon the Pharisees because they were self-righteous. He even goes in chapter 14 and he preaches so that the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame would be invited to the great dinner with the master, showing how far his reach was to those who are lost. And then even in chapter 15, we know that the prodigal son starts with the lost sheep and the lost coin, and then it gets to the prodigal and it communicates God's profound love towards the fallen sinner, the wretched one. That's God's heartbeat. And even just before this one, we know that the rich young ruler is the one who loved his money so much that he rejected Jesus because he wanted his wealth instead of the Lord. 
Well, the story of Zacchaeus is the climax of this Gospel of Luke, because it vividly reveals the heart of the mission of Christ and the grand purposes of God. And that's saving lost sinners. And that's what we're going to see today. The title of the message is Jesus Pursues Lost Sinners, and we're going to see how Jesus is relentless when he's seeking after souls. And as we do so, we hope that you would celebrate that as well as cooperate with that grand mission of God as people around you as well, that need their souls to be won to the King.

And we're going to look at this with three movements of the narrative this morning. And in each one, it's going to show us how Jesus is the great pursuer of lost souls. But look at the first movement there in verses one through five, we'll see the reach of the Savior. We're going to see the reach. In your bulletin it might say verses one through six, but it's all right. It's one through five. Uh, don't get alarmed, but we're going to see the extent to which Jesus Christ will go to pursue a soul. And first, in verse one, it says that he entered Jericho and he was passing through. Now Jericho was a very popular destination. It was a major trade route, so a lot of people would come there and there was a lot of business that would take place. And so definitely there were a lot of taxes. It would be like the modern day Las Vegas. People vacationed there. There was a lot of business that took place there. There was a lot of commercialism...that was Jericho. But really, when it says that Jesus was passing through, this is Luke's way of letting us know that really on a map, Jesus didn't have to pass through Jericho to get to Jerusalem. But in this Jesus was passing through Jericho not because it was geographical, but because it was missional. He knew that he had to meet somebody whose soul needed to be saved. And brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is still passing through cities today. He's passing through Hickory. He's still going through places where souls need to be saved. But it says there in verse two that there was a man there, and his name was called Zacchaeus. Interesting enough, Zacchaeus, it means innocent, pure, the righteous one. You know, in this day, you know, when they gave names, they gave names with purpose. We give names because they're cute, you know. Think about the names that were given to you and even those who are called nowadays. It's just, you know, what's popular, what's common. And then some parents get unique. But we ain't going to talk about you. We'll talk about you later. But back in this day, they would give a name because it meant something. They knew that they were hoping that that would be part of their child's life in the future. And I'm sure the parents, when they named Zacchaeus this name, innocent, pure, they were saying that this would be someone who would follow the law of God perfectly. I'm sure when they when they had him as a little boy, they were like, oh, little Zachy. When he grows up, he might even be a religious teacher one day. They had high hopes for little Zachy that he might grow up and be one who would love the law, but instead the text tells us that Zacchaeus didn't live up to his name. Because, you see, he was a chief tax collector. He's a chief tax collector. But the thing that's amazing about Jesus and his reach for sinners is that Jesus overcomes this man's status. You see, a tax collector was one of the most hated people in Israel. They were hated because they really worked for the Romans and they were involved in extortion and embezzlement. So what they would do is they would take taxes from the Jews, and they would add an additional fee to it. They would pay the Romans and they would pocket the rest. And they did this over and over and over again. There were stories of situations where if there was a widow, they would take her property. Sadly, because they wanted to pocket funds. They were supposed to charge taxes, but they would go over what was necessary. And being a chief tax collector, he probably rose to a higher ranking because he was more crooked than all the other collectors. According to the Mishnah, this is a Jewish oral tradition, it said of a tax collector entered a house all that was in it became immediately unclean. That's how much the disdain was and the hatred and hostility was for tax collectors. And it said that the very presence of a tax collector in the temple meant that the house of God was viewed as an act of defilement now. They had to be away. They were on the outskirts of society. And you saw a tax collector coming your way you went on the opposite side of the road. That was how it was. 
But Jesus and his association with him was more important because Jesus identifies with the poor, the lowly, the outcast, all of those folks that you would not think about being a candidate for salvation. Jesus was in their midst because he's the glorious Savior and he's the pursuer of souls. And if he is, we should be as well. You think about that? Is that true of your evangelism? Would someone like Zacchaeus be on your radar? If someone came in the room today and had a tattoo that was like, I hate people. That would be intimidating. But would you stay away from him? Or would you draw close to them because they need this glorious salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. You see, that's the one who pursues souls. Jesus overcame this man's status because his soul was more important. Not only that, but Jesus overcomes this man's stuff. It says that he was rich. He was rich. We see in the Bible that wealth, or the lack thereof, was often used as an indicator as to where a person was spiritually. Zacchaeus was rich, and even in Luke 18:24-25 it said, and when Jesus had looked at him, the rich man, and he said, how hard is it for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God? He said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. He said it's difficult because people hang on to their wealth. Their wealth becomes their dependence. It becomes their status, and it becomes their God. It's hard to to take a man from his wealth. Zacchaeus was rich, and this is not the type of person that you would expect to be seeking after Jesus. But you know, I used to even personally struggle sharing the gospel to people who had money. I can remember there was a wealthy neighborhood. We had several that we would go out every Saturday in a previous ministry. And there was one that that was a wealthy neighborhood, and it was several that were middle class. And I was like, I want to go to the middle class. Because I didn't want to go in the rich neighborhood because I felt like I'd go and I'm like, I'm trying to share Christ. And they're caught up in their stuff. But praise God that Jesus doesn't think that way. He doesn't let a person's stuff keep him from sharing the good news of the gospel. And if Jesus has that same mindset, brothers and sisters, we need to do this the very same thing. Don't let a person's stuff keep you from from sharing the gospel with them. And not only that, we see the stature of the man. Look in verse three. It says Jesus was trying. He was trying to see who Jesus was. And was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but he was small. Zacchaeus must have been a good tax collector, especially being that short in charge of so many people. I'm just imagining what that would have been like. But at the end of the day, Luke wants us to know that he was seeking after Jesus and he was a small man, but that didn't stop him. Clearly Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus and he perhaps heard about Jesus's teaching. He heard about his healing and the fact that that he was truly the perfect one that was coming in the town. And Zacchaeus said, I have to see him. And so what does he do? In verse four it said he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see him, for he was about to pass through that way. You see, Zacchaeus did two things that were out of the ordinary. It was out of the ordinary. He ran and he climbed. You see these two things that in the ancient Near East, it just didn't happen. It was highly uncommon for a grown man to run. You see, we got Nike's and Adidas, Brooks and all that. Saucony's different, you know, some of y'all runners out there, Hokas and all that good stuff. But see, they had sandals back in the day and they had a tunic. I mean, a grown man would have had to gather everything and his sandals and I mean, they would have just he would have looked like an idiot. He just didn't do it. Grown men didn't run. They just didn't do it. I'm in my 40s. I'm starting to realize the truth of that statement. Grown men don't run. Unless you're Mike Bell in the 50s. And you can do it all day long. And Steve Reece and don't get tired. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. But, Zacchaeus ran because he was that interested in seeing Jesus Christ. And not only did he run, he said he climbed up in a sycamore tree. Another thing grown men don't climb in trees. I'm just saying, I'm in my 40s. I can attest to that as well. You don't see that in the ancient Near East. You would have seen kids. And even though the sycamore tree would have been a tree that had a short stalk and low branches, so it had been low to the ground. Zacchaeus could have made it on his tippy toes, maybe, but at the end of the day, this is totally out of character for a grown man to run and to climb up in the tree. And you know why he did this? Because the text said he wanted to see who Jesus was. I think Luke is trying to help us to understand he didn't want to see what Jesus did. He wanted to see who Jesus was. He was seeking after Jesus. He said it twice. He wanted to see him. You see, this is out of character because God was drawing him. And that's the truth that we see in the New Testament, in the Gospels. Jesus said, unless the Father draws you, you cannot come to me. But then he goes forward and to say, but all those who the Father draws will come to me, and I will not lose one. That's a strong power of God. When he moves upon a heart, you start doing things that are out of the ordinary. Some of you, you might be here today thinking like, man, this is out of character for me to be in the church. But someone invited me. Now all of a sudden, I'm reading the Bible and all of a sudden this is making sense. All of a sudden, I'm dressing differently. All of a sudden, music ain't sounding the same. All of those things take place when Jesus is pursuing a soul. It's a wonderful thing. Yeah, but you think about it today, if you're here and you don't have a relationship with Christ, but you're seeking him, what are your motivations? Are you seeking him for your own selfish reasons? Is it because you're on hard times? Well, let me just go to church. It'll make it right. Did you lose your job?...then go to Jesus. Or is it because everybody else is going to Jesus? Check the motives today. But there are some of you out here. You're seeking Jesus because you need to know Jesus. You're seeking him because you want to know him. You're starting to come to church and do these things because you want to know him. I had lunch with a brother earlier this week, this past week, and and we were there at the restaurant and I just kind of talked to the waitress and just asked, hey, we're about to pray. Is there a way I can pray for you? And she started to well up in tears. She said, you know what, I it's interesting that you asked that because I think God is pursuing me right now. She had tears in her eyes and she apologized. She said, I'm sorry, I normally am not like this when I'm serving tables. But she said, you know, I'm starting to to read my Bible and it's starting to make sense. And I want to go to a Bible study and I'm going to church now. And she said, this is all new. Brothers and sisters, I'm here to let you know that Jesus is a pursuer of lost souls. Amen. It's amazing. It was it was great for me and that brother to pray. We're like, don't worry about crying. We're crying too, because we were amazed at what Jesus Christ does in souls. I think about it and what he's done to my soul. I knew where I was, I knew the clothes I was wearing, the music I was listening to, the cologne I was wearing. I don't wear it today. Praise God. But all those things I can recall where I was the moment that Jesus was pursuing my soul. It was an amazing thing because I was far off the path of righteousness. But praise his holy name that I wasn't out of the reach of the Savior. Amen. And that's Jesus Christ. We have a glorious Savior who will pursue lost souls, and that's what makes him so great. But Jesus Christ looks up to Zacchaeus. And he came to the place and it said, THE place...it is so amazing that Luke gives us the definite article. It wasn't like this was happenstance or coincidence. Jesus Christ was in the exact place at the exact time, because he needed to meet a sinner who needed to be saved. And he looked up to him and he said, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down. Now, I don't know how long it took Zacchaeus to get up that tree, but I can guarantee you he came down much faster than he went up. When the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, came to him and knew him by name. Here it is. Zacchaeus is in the tree, probably with some little kids, you know, trying to look and see who Jesus is. And he looks up and he calls him by name. It's amazing. Zacchaeus may have been doing all of these other things to seek after Jesus Christ, but make no mistake, Jesus Christ was seeking him even more. Jesus Christ was the one who was pursuing. And the reason that we know that is he said, I must stay at your house. Luke writes that Jesus said, I must stay. It conveys a strong sense of urgency. Luke uses this two thirds of the time that this word must is found in the Synoptic Gospels, and it stresses the sovereign purposes of God in a relation to Jesus's mission to save souls. He said, I must. This is the strongest urgency that he could have. It's similar to Luke 4:43 when he said, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this very purpose. Jesus knew he had to go to the outskirts of Israel to proclaim the good news of other people. And he said, I must stay at your house, Zacchaeus. Something to note here that Jesus, when he's telling him here, you know, it doesn't matter the conditions of your house when Jesus comes. It don't matter what's going on. Jesus can come to your house and turn things upside down. You could be stuck on drugs, stuck on lust, stressed and depressed. You can't even see how you can be blessed. You can't be in any position to where you're too far off, to, where Jesus can't come to your house and save you. But that's what Jesus is showing here. Jesus finds joy in saving lost sinners. He pursued Adam and Eve in the garden after they sinned in Genesis three. You know, he pursued Israel even after they grumbled in the wilderness. He pursued Paul even on the road to Damascus when he's about to kill Christians. Jesus Christ is the pursuer of souls. And he said, I must stay at your house because he had business to do with Zacchaeus. You know, how do you stand before Jesus today, if you're out there? Has Jesus Christ come to your house, and has he done business with your soul? Have you given your life to him? Have you trusted in him for salvation that he offers? If not, let today be a day of salvation for you. And if you are saved, do you pursue souls like Jesus pursues souls? Are you on a mission each day looking for people that Christ can use you to share the glorious gospel? That their souls might be saved? And if you are, I would encourage you to look at the outcasts, the poor, the lowly in society, people that are on the fringes. They're able to be brought into the household of God if you're faithful to proclaim the message of hope. Well, that's Jesus in pursuing lost sinners. And that's the first movement of this text that shows us that Jesus has a great reach when he's reaching after lost souls. 
The second movement, we see the repentance of the sinner. Look at verses six through eight. Luke shows us in this next movement of this narrative, this perfect picture of repentance. You see repentance. We know that Zacchaeus does this because we see his reception of the Savior. Look at verse six. It says, when he heard and he came down, and he received him gladly. Zacchaeus received Jesus gladly. That word in the Greek...it means rejoicing. There's joy that happens when Jesus fills your heart and joy is really what takes place. And it's the expression of heaven. That's what joy is. In Luke 15:7, it says that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents. There was a celebration in the heavens when one person turns from their sins to the Savior. And that's exactly the countenance that Zacchaeus has. He receives Jesus with joy. And he realizes that this was what would have really been an act of humility. Because, sure enough, other tax collectors, they really had no dealings with the Jews because of the hostility, and they would have probably even despised Zacchaeus. And I'm sure they would have thought to themselves, man, we're about to lose money. Zacchaeus done lost his mind, and not only has he lost his mind, he's about to lose his money. But that was what was going on. But you know what? Zacchaeus didn't even trip out on that because he knew he had to to be there with Jesus. And it's wonderful that Jesus says nothing that you will ever leave will compare to what you'll gain when you follow him. And even Matthew 19:29, it says, everyone that has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or even the fields for my sake, will receive 100 times as much and will inherit eternal life. That's the promise that he gives. And Zacchaeus was feeling the tug of that. Whatever he was leaving behind wasn't going to compare to what Christ was going to offer. And even further, it says that in verse seven it says, and when he saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, he has become the guest of a man who is a sinner. You see what happens when sometimes, sadly, people on earth and their response doesn't match heaven's response. They begin to grumble and complain. What is Jesus doing pursuing that sinful person? Might even say that about you. Why are you evangelizing that kind of person? You see in Luke 15:2, this happened all over the time. It says both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, this man receives sinners and he eats with them. The Pharisees were that way back in Luke 15. And not only were they blinded by their own self-righteousness, but they were also blinded by the fact that they couldn't even see true righteousness, understanding that Jesus had a mission to those who were lost. And sometimes, mistakenly, people can think...even Christians can say that holiness means to separate from sin as well as separate from sinners. But that's not what Jesus is saying. You think about the woman at the well, the harlot, the lame, the demoniac. These are the kinds of people that Jesus said was a part of his mission. He pursued them. You know, just a word of caution. Don't be like the crowd and grumble when the sinner is being pursued. You know, sometimes I've seen churches, even where folks have come in to the church and the worship service there. And it is clear that they're probably in the fires of hell and their lifestyle and how they dress and the people they hang with. And instead of begging for God's grace, they begin to grumble. They begin to grumble. Don't be like those people. The moment we start to feel like someone is unworthy of saving, we insult the very character of God. Because what's true of Zacchaeus is true of all of us. And that's Romans 3:23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Last time I checked, that all means all. Not some of us, but all of us have sinned and we fall miserably short of that. But the gospel is appropriate for us, and it's appropriate for anyone that might be in our midst. And if you're out here today and the Lord is genuinely pursuing you, I would just encourage you. Don't let the grumbling crowd dissuade you from coming all the way to Jesus Christ. You might have family members or people talking about you and grumbling. Silence them and listen to Jesus Christ. Listen to the Word of life. Listen to what the truth will have for you. Because that's what Zacchaeus did. It didn't stop him because we see in verse eight it said that he stopped and he said, Lord, behold, Lord. Let's pause right there. Luke uses the word behold to give us an indication to his reader. He's like something is about to happen and something amazing happens here. Instead of Zacchaeus calling Jesus Jesus, he calls him Lord. Immediately in a posture of his heart to submit. You see, when true repentance takes place, you put Jesus in his rightful place in your heart. And that's Lord. That's the way we see this idea on the other side of the cross. Even in Romans 10:9, it says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as what?... Lord. And you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You see, Jesus has to either be Lord of all or he's not Lord at all. You have to submit to him...Lord. And Zacchaeus comes out the gate and says, behold, Lord, not just I want to get out of hell free, but he wants to submit to the King of kings. And he demonstrates repentance, because look at what he does. He becomes an instant steward of his resources. In verse eight he says, half my possessions I give to the poor. He immediately responds with a desire to use his possessions to serve others in need. Zacchaeus knows that he's been swindling people out of money, and money was his God. But he comes to the realization that Jesus is his God now...instant change. Instead of being a taker, he becomes a giver. And instead of ripping people off, he is helping build people up. That's what happens as he submits to Jesus Christ in this good news that Jesus shares with him. And not only did he did he become a good steward of his resources. He recognized his sins. It's about the recognition of his sins that helped to see that there's true repentance. In verse eight he says, if I have defrauded anyone of anything. That word, if...it's a first class conditional in the language of Greek and it it really can be translated since, because this is a true statement. And it could be read, since I have defrauded someone of some things. Because Zacchaeus knew he had defrauded people of of hundreds of thousands of dollars in his day. And this person must recognize that he has sinned against a holy God. That's true repentance. Repentance isn't repentance just because you change your behavior. Repentance is repentance because you recognize your sin before a holy God. And that's what Zacchaeus does. When you have repentance, is it because you recognize that your sins are before God? Or, is it that because you just got found out, someone found and discovered your sins? That's not true repentance. Repentance is the recognition of the sin. And not only this, we see that he has restitution of his sins. Later on in verse eight, he says, I will give back four times as much. This was far more than the Old Testament specified in the Levitical law, because in Leviticus 5:16 it said that it was required that only one fifth was necessary to give back a person that you've wronged. And here it is, Zacchaeus goes beyond that, and he says, I'll give four times as much when I've defrauded someone. You know something worth pointing out. Zacchaeus's actions here were not an attempt for him to work for his salvation. What Zacchaeus was doing was he was working out his salvation. He was working it out. You know, it is simply working out what God had done in his heart. Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin, and repentance is not. It's not merited and it's not behavioral modification. True repentance involves a change of heart and purpose, and it always results in a change of lifestyle. And that's what we're seeing here. Zacchaeus is a changed man because Jesus Christ came to his house and shared the good news of the kingdom of heaven. My question for you is this have you repented? Have you repented? Have you repented that one time, once for all, turning from sin to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins? Have you done that? Because if not it's no hope for you. And if you have done that, are you bearing fruits that keeps with repentance? Are you following the same example that we see even for a wretched man like Zacchaeus, who is now transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the first movement of this text, we see the reach of the Savior. And then the second movement, we see the repentance of a sinner. 
And this last we see the result of salvation. That's really what Luke is highlighting in verses nine and ten. He says, today salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham. This resulted in salvation. You think of all the people that Jesus shared the truth with who never came to know him. All the people that he shared the good news and they never changed their ways. But in this case, today was a day of salvation because salvation came to Zacchaeus. Today, it's good for us to realize that there can be an immediacy to sharing the good news with someone today, and them being saved that very hour. You know, sometimes we feel like, well, I'm gonna share the news and I'm just going to let God deal with it. Maybe weeks, months, years from now, he might change their heart. Brothers and sisters, we need to be confident with the power of the gospel. You share the gospel today. God could save somebody today. That's what we see even in this case. It doesn't always happen this way, but have the confidence that God could save a soul today. Today can be a day of salvation. And he said that this man is a is a son of Abraham. You see, Abraham believed in God by faith and it was credit to him as righteousness, Genesis 15:6. And same is true for anyone who's come after Abraham. When you believe in the promises of God by faith you become a son of Abraham in the spiritual sense and a child of God immediately. It's the opposite of the way that the rich young ruler responded, you remember him? And Jesus told him about his possessions. He couldn't part with his possessions, and he left sad because he knew that he wanted his riches more than he wanted righteousness, even though he thought he was righteous, you know? But in this case, Zacchaeus responds the opposite. He immediately let loose with his resources, and he clings to Jesus Christ. You know, that's saying that it's easier to go camel through the eye of a needle than a rich man into the kingdom. Later in that passage, it says, the things that are impossible with people are possible with God. And praise his holy name for that. It's impossible for men. But salvation is possible with God. That should be an encouragement to us when it comes to evangelizing. That whenever we share that good news, it can be made possible to convert the soul because of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in verse ten it says, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. That's what Jesus Christ does. He seeks and he saves lost people. As we think about this text, I'm reminded of a friend of mine that he was talking about a moment where he got lost in the mountains of North Carolina, and he said, man, my GPS, it wasn't working. It took me to the wrong destination. He said his cell phone didn't have any signal because he was in the mountains. He was running out of gas and he said it was getting dark.

He said, Curtis, I was lost. I mean, he had an emphasis...LOST. I was lost, bro. And he's recalling this story. And he said, but at that moment there was a friend of his because he pulled off the side of the road. He thought he was going to run out of gas. A friend of his came down a winding road with bright lights, and when he saw him, he started flashing. Was so excited that his friend would come with those lights to help him. And he said, man, that was the best friend that I ever had because he found me when I was lost. Well guess what? Jesus Christ will be the best friend you'll ever have because he brings the light of the glories of the gospel and he will find you even if you are lost. You can be going down a dark path where there's the point of no return, but Jesus Christ will come down that dark path to pursue you, and he will seek after you, and he will save your soul. 
If you're an unbeliever here today, let salvation come to your house today. Let salvation come. If you don't have a relationship, realize that you're lost. Don't go another mile down that dark road. Know that you're in sin. Recognize it. Don't go down the path that leads to destruction. Because, see, Jesus Christ is passing through here and he can come stay at your house today. Today can be a day of salvation. If you're willing to let Him in and let go of sin, and let him rule and reign in your life. God offered his only begotten Son, who came down to forgive you of your sins. He died on the cross to pay the penalty that you deserve. And on the third day he rose with all power in his hand to give you newness of life. Trust in Jesus Christ today. Let today be a day of salvation. Put your faith in him and trust in him as your Savior and Lord, and you can be saved. 
And if you are saved, I want to encourage you to seek others for the sake of the gospel. You know, it was necessary for Jesus to go to Jericho. And it's also necessary for us to go through the streets of Hickory and beyond. We need to be faithful in proclaiming the message and do it like Jesus did it. Let there be urgency. Let's do it now. Let there be a diversity in our encouragement. Let us do it for all people, no matter where their background is. Don't discriminate. Remember, sometimes the least likely candidate will make the most likely convert. A person that you think should never come to know Christ. They'll get saved and they'll surpass you in their love of Jesus Christ. That's what God can do. So let it be urgent. Let there be a diversity, and let there also be an immediacy to it. Realizing that God can save souls today. 
But for all of us, let's worship Jesus Christ as the seeker and the Savior of lost souls. If you're saved today, you and Zacchaeus could probably sing the words of this song... Guilty, vile and helpless, we... Spotless. Lamb of God. was he...full atonement, How can it be? Hallelujah! What a savior. 
Let us go to the Lord in a word of prayer. Gracious Father, we thank you so much that the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate pursuer of souls. I pray right now, in this hour, that you would just allow every heart to be impacted by the amazing reach that Jesus Christ has for those who are lost, and that we would celebrate that together, recognizing what he's done for us. But if there's someone in our midst that is far from the path of righteousness, Lord, change that in their lives today. Bring them to a place of remembrance, a renewal, to understand that they are a sinner, and that they need to to recognize that their sins are before a holy and infinite God. Give them the ability to trust in Christ and turn in repentance and true faith, and allow them too to be a child of the Most High God. We love you, Lord, and we praise you for this time. And we ask this all in Jesus name. Amen.

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The Marks of a Good Church: Discerning

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Turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 5. We will look at verses 21 to 22 this morning and talk about the mark of a good church. As Paul is landing the plane in this letter, the last mark of a good church that we can extract from this text is discernment. Discernment...and when I say that word, what comes to your mind? Maybe just the idea of a person having discriminating tastes, maybe the first thing we think about with discernment, and that could be just on a human level, that, you know, you consider yourself, a purveyor of the finer things in life. You're a cheese connoisseur. As somebody brought my wife and I a nice piece of cheese this morning as a love gift. A love offering to the pastor is so kind...to get fancy cheese. Does that make me discerning, my palate that I can, I don't know, taste the whatever tasting notes of a certain cheese. Maybe you are a foodie. And so you know, the difference between, grade A livermush and whatever else there is. Randy will tell you there is a difference. Some of us can't. That's one way to think about it. Another way would be that you would say that...well, discernment is beyond just, you know, the senses. It's the inner person that you have a spidey sense, if you will. I had a coworker who used to say her Spidey senses were up when she thought something was going afoul, when she thought that there was something fishy going on. There's all these idioms come into your brain, you know that I've got a hunch or I can't quite put my finger on it, or I got a bad feeling about this. Whatever you want to kind of connect to this idea of having discernment on a human level, we would all probably, at least I would think, want to identify as discerning, because the opposite would be to say you're gullible. I don't think anybody's really desirous to be known as the guy that you can really pull one over on. But at the same time, if you are non discerning enough or gullible enough to admit your gullibility, then you do have some discernment. So take heart susceptible one. There's hope for you. The friend usually asks me, Adam, how does a deceived person know they're deceived?...right? You know, if the nature of deception is to take something that's true and to twist it and you're fooled by it, you need something from outside of you to help you get out of that mess. And that's why the call to discern is essential for the Christian, because we need to be able to be those who can do what discernment does, which is it differentiates. It distinguishes between truth and error. When it comes down to it, being discerning isn't some mystical or, out there in the ether kind of thing that some of us have and some of us don't. Although I will admit...some people have more common sense than others. Some people have a little more Columbo in them than the next. A Sherlock Holmes type way to see through the mystery that's in front of them and get down to it and ask good questions. But Biblical discernment, strictly speaking, is just being able to say, that's true and that's false. And then the implications of that are then you can actually call something out for being right or wrong. I mean, that's what it comes down to. It's at the level of the thought life, ideologies, philosophies of our day. You can hear the arguments, whatever the thesis is being made, and think of the antithesis...the antithesis of it, as in, here's a category. Somebody makes a statement. I don't just accept it at face value because my discernment kicks in and asks the opposite. So if that's true, then what about this? And that helps you to be able to see your way through life, and it helps you then to be able to separate out right from wrong. Now, as adults, the more discernment we have directly correlates to the truth, the more you understand the truth of the Word of God, the more you are a Word-fed and Spirit-led Christian, as we saw last week. Verses 19 and 20 really are the prerequisite for applying today verses 21 and 22. And this is what's amazing about it. We are called to be discerning. But what we saw last week is we have been given the two most essential elements to have discernment...the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. If you have those two things, you can have discernment. I mean, that's just what it comes down to, because when you think about the nature of the Holy Spirit, he is the counselor. And he's in you as a Christian. So you could choose to have the Spirit of God in you as your counselor. Or you can go around to a thousand counselors in the world with PhDs. Who you betting on? Do you believe that you have the Spirit of God in you and have the ability...enlightened and illuminated by the Word of God. So you not just have the greatest counselor you possibly could have within you. You have the greatest counseling manual for all decisions you need to make in the Bible. And you put those two things together...how could you feel that you are unable to deal with the issues of life? I'm not saying life's going to just go perfect and smooth as we just sang, "Though. Satan should buffet, those trials should come." That's part of life. But to have the Holy Spirit and have the Word of God, and to not quench the Holy Spirit and not despise the Word of God, allows you then to fulfill what verses 21 and 22 command. And this is our passage for today. 
Examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the Word of God, taught by the Spirit of God to the people of God, endures forever. 
So let's look at these categories today that Paul gives us for discernment. As in if we are to be Spirit led and Word fed Christians who have discernment and can apply it. How are we supposed to do it? First, there's a call to discern in verse 21. Examine everything. However, don't skip past, but examine everything. As in, that's an adversative conjunction. Meaning things were going this way. And now he says...but let's look this way. So what things were going that way? Well, he was just saying in 19 and 20, don't quench the spirit, don't despise prophetic utterances. So you would think if he's saying don't do that, then he could then throw out because that sounds really exclusive. Don't quench the spirit and don't despise prophetic utterances. But you might expect him then to say, but accept everything. You know, be open minded. All truth is God's truth. There's a little bit of good in everybody. There's a little bit of truth in all teaching. That he would take you the other way to then say, okay, you're not quenching the spirit. You're not despising prophetic utterances. So, hey, take it all. And he says, no. Examine everything...double down. Yes, you have the spirit and you have the Word of God. So whenever you are out in the world and the teaching of the day, the ideas, the philosophies, the books, the speakers, whatever it is, the neighbor, the coworker that's talking in your ear. Says, examine everything...every single bit of it take captive to Christ. Your Bible might take that phrase examine everything and means, test everything or prove it. And it actually is a word, examine that is a word that, on the literal level, sometimes used in the New Testament to just talk about testing metals. And so my mind goes to, you know, if you think you have fools gold or real gold and you got to light it up, you know, you got to burn it down. You got to remove the dross and see what you got. And that's this word for examination. It's to turn up the heat on something to find out the nature of its authenticity in order to approve it. As in, you don't take the gold you think you might have and test it, and then just be like, oh, that's cool, it's gold. And then you walk away. The nature of testing something for its authenticity is in order to approve it. And that's the vast majority of the way Paul talks about testing and examining in the New Testament. It's this idea of testing something, its validity. Is it true, its legitimacy, its veracity, so that then you can apply what he says later, which is okay, now that you know what you have, hold on to it if it's true. Get away from it if it's false.

You can live your life that way. You've been given the spirit and the word to do it with. But you you have to include this step, this command, this call to discern, as in, so you're not just saying, I just take it as it comes. No, there's a depth and a breadth to discernment in this phrase, examine everything. Examine is the idea of you are testing the depths of it. You're going deep, you're studying it, you're examining it, and everything is the breadth of it. As in, where's the boundaries for my discernment? As wide as all the false teaching that could be out there and true teaching. But if you don't examine it to the depths, you can't separate it out, can you? So he's saying, hey, but here's the depths you're going to dive into. Examine this thing, check the facts, don't trust your feelings, follow your heart or go with your gut. You have the spirit and the Word to examine whether this word someone says they have for you from God is actually legitimate. And then that gets us usually into some form of trouble by way of accusation as Christians, that somebody might say, oh, I'm to examine you. Somebody gives you this word, it's from God, or so they say, and you want to test it or examine it. And they come from this camp that that's unloving or unkind to question their thoughts. So what do you do? Does the Bible call us to examine every thing...I mean, except when it seems unkind, unloving. Or does it just stay flat out...examine it? Doesn't care who it's from...your closest friend or family member. Or maybe your worst enemy, so to speak. The one could be wrong, the other could be right. Examine everything calls for that impartiality that goes back to what?...you have the Word and you have the Spirit, and you're going to put it to the test. But I wanted to put to the test this idea that it's not unloving and unkind to examine everything, to have this discernment, even with brothers and sisters, and perhaps especially with brothers and sisters in Christ. Because, um, you know, false teaching doesn't just kind of float into the church, you know, without what?...a Person walking in who's going to have a teaching. Or you're going to invite them into your home, and they walk into your home and sit down at your table. And based on what they believe...do you fellowship with him or not? And so to examine, to go to the depths...I took the 22 times that that word examined...and it's translated in other parts of New Testament approve or test. I looked up all 22 uses of it. 19 of them Paul uses. So he loves this word. Paul's into it. John uses it once, Peter uses it once, and it's used once by Luke. But the other 19 times, Paul is liking this idea to test something for its authenticity, in order to approve it or to disprove it. But then, I mean, because when we do theology in the church you take 22 verses and unless you're super Awana kid and you can memorize them all and pull them out like you know, at will, I have to take 22 verses and then try to systematize them and say, out of these 22 uses in the New Testament for the call to examine or the example of it. What buckets can I put them in to prove that we are to be examining and testing, rather than just accepting? 
And so the three buckets we're called to examine fall into are: God examines us, we examine others, and we examine ourselves. So if you ever met with a challenge by someone, or maybe you don't believe what I'm saying, test it. I mean apply it right now. I should be able to prove it to you from Scripture. And the Word of God in you as you're submitted to him, is going to say. Yeah, that I mean, it's right there. I guess it checks out. 
So the first way we are called to examine is that God is the great examiner. Look back at 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul, by way of example is defending his ministry against those who had accused him of kind of being a drifter and a grifter. You know, one of those guys that's going to come into town. Have some revival, have some rally. Shake you down for some money to go start some new ministry, and then he disappears forever. And he got run out of town. We saw that in Acts 17 when he went to Thessalonica. He was only there maybe a few weeks to a few months. And this church was started and people came to Christ. And then, some jealous Jews started a riot and ran them out. And so his reputation is being questioned so that his teaching can be undermined. So chapter two we saw months ago, Paul says, look, you remember I didn't come to you in vain. I came to you with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I had the boldness to speak to you, the gospel, even amidst opposition. But then he gets into what his word for them was, his exhortation. Verse three. It wasn't from error. So he wasn't a false teacher. He defends the content of what he said. Then he says it wasn't from impurity. I wasn't coming here with false motives. As he says down later in verse five, a pretext for greed, seeking glory from men. And I didn't come, verse three, by way of deceit, I am not possessed by Satan trying to take the truth and twist it to flip your categories of true and false. I'm none of those things. But look what his appeal is in verse four about the examination that he had. He appeals to the highest level of it. He says, but just as we have been approved by God. That's that same word that's in verse 21 that we're seeing...examine everything. That's the word approved. I've been examined and approved by God. He tested me for authenticity and approved me to do what? To be entrusted with the greatest message there is the most valuable truth on the planet, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the only name by which, under heaven and earth, men may be saved. I've been tested and approved to preach it. Not to please men, as in even in preaching this, I could try to run to get something out of it, inflate my ego, win some followers. And he says I not only pass the content side, the character side. I'm not here to please men. It's God who examines my heart. So this call to examine starts with the great examiner. God's examining us. God's examining the content. God's examining the motives, which makes you have to take a cliché that floats around the church a lot of times. You know God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. That can be true and that can be false. So you got to test it. And I'm not here to make you feel sheepish if you've gone around saying that. I'm just saying, you got to test everything, right. God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. Is it true? Well, it's true if we're talking about salvation. Because no one is righteous, no not one. So nobody's qualified to be saved. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is...he came to save sinners. And that's what we all are by nature and by choice. So, he qualifies us in the righteous law keeping life of His Son, Jesus Christ. It's his righteousness, not mine, that qualifies me to be part of the inheritance of the saints. That I have been moved from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of light because I was rescued, not because I saved myself. So in that sense, you can't say, yeah, you know, God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called, and he qualifies us by the only person that's ever been qualified by their own merits. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. So you want to talk about salvation. You can keep that phrase. 
But let's talk about it in the way that oftentimes people use it when it talks about the call to ministry. It's actually false. Because God examines the minister. And, he doesn't call unqualified men into ministry. As in character is a prerequisite. As in their life and doctrine are what qualify them to stand up and preach and teach. And if that unsettles you, make it practical. If I were to have gone out Friday night...got drunk...got in a fight...got arrested. My picture's in the Hickory Daily Record yesterday. And I pop back up here this morning and I say, you know, friends, good thing only God qualifies the called. So open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 3 and let's talk about me being above reproach. You should close your Bible and walk out. Why?...because to be qualified to stand up here and preach is not talking about my salvation anymore. This is talking about...do I have the character and the doctrine to teach you the Word of God that you should listen to? So it's true on the sense of salvation, but it's false on the sense of calling for ministry. There is a qualification a person is to have. C.H. Spurgeon said, "True and genuine piety is necessary as the first indispensable requisite. Whatever call a man may pretend to have, if he has not been called to holiness, he certainly has not been called to the ministry." But see, we take a cliche like that and it sounds good and it's a nice turn of phrase. And it's true in one sense, and it's a lie in the other sense. Because when you allow it to pass, then you allow unqualified men to preach the Word of God. And if you lower the bar there, where's the church going to go from that point on? Where's the doctrine of that church going to go? If this guy you can't trust his integrity, then how could you entrust him with anything? He would be what the word calls it,disqualified. So God is the great examiner. He not only examines the minister, he examines all of us in our works. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. That when we're talking about now how our works will be tested for what they have been built with. Now, this again isn't salvific. 1 Corinthians 3, Paul is talking to this church about, hey, the foundation of Christ has been laid. 1 Corinthians 3:11, no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So we have moved on past this teaching about salvation. But he turns the corner to say, now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, those sound like good things. Wood, hay and straw...not so good things. Each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it. Because it is to be revealed with fire. And here comes the word we're looking at, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. So, broadly speaking, in the church...our works, our labors in the Lord. When we're disciple-making. And that's for everybody. Teaching, evangelizing, counseling, ministering. What are you building with? Paul says here it's going to be tested. And again, this isn't the test of who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. For the believer, this is the test of the quality of our works. And look what the reward is. Verse 14, if any man's work which he is built on, it remains as an it goes through the fire of testing and you actually have something still standing. He will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved. Yet as through fire. That's talking about the works of the believer, that's talking about what you're doing with your life right now. You don't have to be ordained in the ministry. You just have to be a Christian who's called to make disciples of Jesus Christ. And if you're using shoddy material, shallow material. Stuff that it doesn't last beyond today. If your whole Christian life is a bunch of cliches and one liners. But there's no depth to it. There's no consistency. There's no whole council of God. This should make you sit up. Your works will be examined as a Christian. And again, may I be very clear. It will not determine your eternal destiny. But it does determine reward. And we want to hear the same thing, don't we? Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with what I gave you, and you used gold, silver and precious stones to build with. And that goes back to discernment. Knowing what you've been reading, what you've been listening to, how does that translate into how you're ministering the gospel to other people? Unless you think all I've said sounds kind of unloving, kind of hard. Go back to the starting point. This is God, the one doing the examining, not me. I'm merely the mouthpiece for this. God will examine our works. And they will be approved or disapproved, the works that are wrought in him. 
And then lastly, there's one other type of testing for the believer, which is in 1 Peter chapter one. And we know a little bit about the time period Peter is writing this in. It's a time of great persecution on believers and they are going through fiery trials. He uses that phrase. We sang about it already. Peter is writing in 1 Peter about the trials and tests of our faith. And if you just look right there in chapter one. He says in verse five, for believers...we have an inheritance. Chapter one, verse four. We're going to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, and protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. That's the blessed assurance we sang about. Okay. So all this talk about works being tested, examined and approved. You are secure, Christian. Your salvation is not in jeopardy, because your salvation rests with the righteousness of Christ in heaven. So an inheritance imperishable, undefiled won't fade away, waiting in heaven for you. Look at verse five. You are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. That is good news. But that doesn't mean you are not going to go through trials. That God will not allow you to go through some suffering. Because He's the examiner, and he wants you to see the value of the faith that you have. For all that it's worth. And so look what he's going to allow to happen. Verse six. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, what's he saying here about the testing? It's the same word again. That that testing...those trials that your faith gets put on the crucible, the heat gets turned up, the dross is melted away, the impurity is removed. And the reason God is doing that because he wants you then to look at the faith that you have professed and possessed. And he wants you to see it for the gold that it is. It's not some hay and stubble that's burning up, unless it was never true. But for the believer it is true. But we don't always take that precious stone of the pearl of great price, salvation in Christ, the treasure in the field. Sometimes it gets, you know, dusty, left behind, stuff piled on top of it. Life piles up, trials pile up, and he's got to burn it all away and say, let me show you what you have again. You have something priceless. You have Jesus Christ. And then you see its value. And what happens in your heart is you want to praise him. You want to give him glory. Because when everything else got burned away, what was still left standing was your relationship to Jesus Christ...imperishable, undefiled. Unable to be lost. And the trial had to do it. The suffering had to do it. The fiery thing had to do it. Otherwise you wouldn't have known what you really had if you never went through it. 
So God is the great examiner, whether it's the approved preacher, the laboring Christian, or the suffering saint all fall under God's great examining eye. So is it unloving and unkind and harsh and cruel to talk about examining our faith if God's the one doing it? Of course not. But when we take some of these other uses, we also find out, secondly, how can it be wrong to examine if we're called to examine others? Not just God's examining us. But if you go to 1 Timothy 3, the qualifications for an elder, for a deacon, for a deaconess. It says that they must be tested, verse ten. Let him serve if they're going to be above reproach. The overseer, verse two, must be above reproach. The deacon and deaconess must be above reproach. How do you know they're above reproach? There's a character quality to their life that needs to be tested. Which is what you look at and say they're either qualified or unqualified. Based on, again, God is the one who gives out the gifts. So you're not judging on the basis of what kind of gifts did he give? He's the one that gives salvation the greatest gift of all. This list in 1 Timothy 3 about leadership in the church; those that we should follow comes back to character. So back to my analogy. Why would I not have the right to stand up here again and teach you?...because I'm disqualified. I'm not to be a drunkard addicted to wine. I'm not to be pugnacious. Right there, back to back...a drinker and a fighter. So if I'm in the slammer for that, see ya. I got to find a new career. It's just that black and white. But see where discernment has been lost in the church today is when the enemy wants to take it and say, oh, did God really say, you know, isn't he a God of love, the God of second chances? Isn't there a way that man could be restored? If he's in Christ He's got everything he needs. He doesn't need his rollback. God will find someone else. If that thing, he was willing to give up the glory and the privilege and the honor and the joy of doing ministry for...he's not fit. He hasn't lost his salvation as we just saw. He'll make it through. But just as if burned up by fire...those works. But the examination call is not just God examining the man. This call in 1 Timothy 3 is that the church lines this guy's life up next to Scripture, or for the deacon and deaconess, and tests them to say, these are examples worth following. That's the examination. 
 And then lastly, how could it be wrong to examine if we're called to examine ourselves? Go to 1 Corinthians 11. Every time we take the Lord's Supper together, and we read this verse often. A man must examine himself, or a woman must examine herself, and in so doing to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he doesn't judge the body rightly. That's a call to self-examination. I mean you're getting it from every angle, aren't you? God examines us. We examine each other. And we examine ourselves. We come to the Lord's table. That's the high point of our gathering time, because it gets us to the heart of our salvation. Christ gave his body, poured out his blood so that we could be righteous before our father in heaven. Our position before him...our standing in him is firm. And as a believer, there's no sin you could have committed leading up to that time in the Lord's table...no sin you commit coming out of it that's going to take that away from you. Your position in Christ is sure. Yet he does say examine yourself. So first off, to take it in a worthy manner is to rejoice because you're going. I take the Lord's table, not because I had some really great week coming up to it...because Jesus had a perfect life. That's why I can take it. So I praise him for it. But then I do examine my life, my practical righteousness, and say, am I walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which I've been called? And that's self-examination. And then there's also one last text for the self-examination is 2 Corinthians 13. Where Paul says, and again, I'm just taking the word. Now, it's translated test here. 2 Corinthians 13:5. Test yourselves to see if you're in the faith. And then he uses it, and then it gets translated exactly as we have it in this. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Notice that even the test, the looking at the fruit to go back to the root. It always brings us back to Jesus, doesn't it? It doesn't bring us back to a checklist. Even when you're examining the fruit of your life, it goes back to not some artificial list of things that you think you should be doing, or somebody else says you should be doing. The ultimate test to see if I'm in the faith is to ask, Is Jesus Christ in me? As we talked about a few weeks ago. Do I have the joy of the Lord in my life? Is the love of Christ in my heart...the affections for him. Because if you're settling for just checklisty stuff on the surface, but never asking the heart question, do I have joy in the Lord? Is he my strength? Because you could give yourself a bunch of passes for a lot of years just leaving it at...how often am I doing my devotions? How often am I praying? How much money am I giving? How frequent am I attending church? And never asking yourself the harder question, do I love Jesus Christ for what he did for me on the cross? And does that love move me into action, into the world, to love other people and tell them the good news? Does the joy I have in the Lord actually get expressed in the way that I sing, and the way that I pray and the way that I care? Those are the affections you can't fake. But notice you got to examine yourself for that. You got to see what might be standing in the way of that. So that's the categories. God examines us, others can examine us, we examine ourselves. And that's all part of the examination of everything. That's the depth I talked about. 
The breadth of it, not the breath. The breadth with the D in it. Back to verse 21. Everything is the breadth. As in like you take into account all things that deep examination we're doing, we're leaving no stone left unturned. And here's why that's important. Because, it's going to move us into these categories that we see about holding fast to what is good and abstaining from that which is evil. Well, how do you know what to hold on to that's good, and abstain from what's evil if you're not doing the work of examining, you follow? Like, how do you know if I should keep this teaching or avoid it if I don't take in whatever is within my purview? I'm not saying you have to like, you know, become the next great discernment blogger of the internet, reading every single Christian book ever written. But whatever would be in your pathway, whatever conversations you're having, the people you're around, you're saying, hey, am I testing that? That person that says they that God spoke to them and told them this or had this word for me or whatever? The preacher that preached the sermon Sunday. Am I testing it right now? Am I examining it against the scriptures? Submitted to the spirit. 
What in summation, Paul is saying in this critical examination is that not all questioning is quenching. When he just said, don't quench the spirit, and don't despise prophetic utterances. Then you might again be led to say, well, I guess I shouldn't question anything. And he goes, no, examine it all, because if you're doing it led by the spirit with the Word of God open in front of you, you can question without quenching. You can actually discern. Calvin says this about this verse, "Don't put out the fire. You need its light and its heat." Speaking of the spirit..."a person who is gifted by way of exhortation should not be immediately rejected by the skeptical and not immediately accepted by the gullible." Those are the two kind of I sometimes say, you know, here's the road where the road of discernment and we can fall off either side. In the ditch over here is the skeptic who doesn't trust, and he isn't teachable from anyone. And then on the other side of the of the road is this ditch of gullibility that just says there's good in everything. And Calvin saying don't fall off either side. So to the skeptical in the room, maybe you need to grow in how to question without quenching. If you're the life group member that when people are sharing, you know you're just sitting there waiting. Ready that the moment they don't dot that theological I...they quote a verse and they're off by a chapter. You nail them. And they don't want to speak up again. Uh, maybe this is for you to kind of rein that in a little bit. I would believe your motive is right, but maybe the mode of which you're doing it is not. The aim of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a sincere faith. There's love in your questioning, in your critically examining what somebody else might be saying. And on the other side, not being gullible just to take it all in. And to see that questioning things examining things is a good thing. We're actually called to do it. So beware the danger of falling into either ditch. 
Now, that being said, what are the categories for discernment? Well, there's only two. Look back at verse 21 B and then 22. It either falls into the category of good or evil. And if it falls into the category of good after you've examined it, you hold fast to it, you keep it, you don't sell it. Buy the truth and don't sell it, Proverbs tells us. Proverbs two says...young people get this in your heads. You are to seek out wisdom. You're to search for it. You're to call out for it. You're to treasure it. It's the greatest thing you could find at your young age. The wisdom of God in Jesus Christ to not be ambivalent to it. Because you find that truth in Christ early in your life, it'll carry you the rest of the way. And so this call to examine everything means once you found the good thing, hold fast to it. And once you've seen what you thought might have been good at first glance, and now is no longer. You abstain from it. You avoid it, you shun it. And so, of course, in our lives there is this element. Well, how do I do? Do I just open myself up to reading everything. Well, as you grow in discernment, I would say yes. But if you're new in the faith or weak in the faith, especially when it comes to discernment, then you need some people around you. You need disciplers in your life to say, hey, that book you were reading, I mean, I had this in my life, you know, moving west when I did half the books I brought out to LA, when I started getting around some disciplers at the church I was at, like, you know, friend, that I know that book meant something to you. Can I show you, you know, in this chapter, and this page where this actually teaches something that's not in Scripture. And I had a lot of that happening in my life. I needed people to help get me on that discernment track. And all it came down to was just being able to discriminate between truth and error. So the antidote to any poisonous lies that are out there is Biblical discernment. And in keeping the categories very crisp, black and white between truth and error, which is the entire opposite of what the culture is doing for us today. It's not just in some ways, it's not just trying to say good is evil and evil is good, Isaiah chapter five. The malady of the people of God in the book of Isaiah in the first five chapters. Go read that on your own. It's exactly what we're talking about today when it comes to Israel's lack of discernment in the time that they were in when Isaiah wrote that. I mean, they had sold the truth down the river to all the pagan philosophies around them. And they had been so pulled in by those cords of sin that they were even tempting God, mocking God. Isaiah five where he writes, this is your attitude. Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood. I mean, that's doubling down, isn't it? In their wagon, they're loading it up with sin, and they're pulling it on with cords of falsehood. And that's the picture in sin, as if with cart ropes. And they're saying, Let God make speed. Let him hasten his work, that we may say, he's saying, hey, you know, if we're so in the wrong here, see if God can catch up with us. Wow. Playing chicken with God. You'll never win. Let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come to pass, that we may know it. Isaiah was pointing the finger in their chest and saying, you have become like all these pagan nations around you. You've accepted the foolish counsel of the Philistines, Chapter three. So now you will be led astray by those who guide you. Your paths will be confused. But listen to the summation of this Isaiah 5:20, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. There's even a cleverness that can sound discerning from a false teacher. Wow. That's really. I never thought about seeing the scripture that way. Well, if you've never thought about seeing the Scripture that way an church history has never seen the scripture that way, it probably isn't that way. That's why we have both the word, but we have the history of the church to go back and see that there's no new heresy under the sun. It's probably been said before, just in a different way, in a different time period. And the great deception of the enemy of Satan is to try to get us to see the evil things as good and the good things as evil, but he can't do that unless he's first gotten us to compromise on the categories of what?...truth and error. In our culture today, we no longer I mean, this is you see, this purveyed right now on the campuses...the Institutes of Higher Education. Just the concept of not judging something by the validity of whether it's true or false fact or fiction, just how it makes you feel. Have you seen some of the interviews of the protests? And some of the educated collegians who have listened to their teachers and go out there and they're protesting something they don't even understand, because interviewers are going and asking them, what is it...that word you're chanting? What is it that means? Oh, I don't know, but I'm just fired up about it. What worldview is that? It's a worldview that's taken away the category of is this true or false? And replaced it with how does it make me feel? If it makes me feel angry and whatever, you know, then I'm going to take action. I just don't like it. And so the facts have been replaced by the feelings, deceptions, the problems, discernments the solution. But you have to go beyond even the good and evil of the thing back to the roots of it...truth versus error. And you can't compromise on that one inch. And once you have those categories established, you hold fast to that which is good and true and right and excellent, and you avoid and abstain and run from every form of evil. I was reading a wall Street Journal survey recently. It's the same survey given 25 years ago, a generation ago, in 1998, and then it was done again in 2023. Same questions regarding five values that Americans had then versus now. Things that they would consider very important. In 1998, 70% of them said patriotism was very important, down to 38% in 2023. In 1998, 62% of them said faith was very important, down to 40% in 2023. In 1998, 60% said raising kids was very important, down to 30% in 2023. 47% said community involvement was very important, down to 27% in 2023. And then they had one fifth category that they had them rank...money. In 1998, 30% said making money was very important, up to 43% in 2023. So of those five values of people 25 years ago, the four that went down had what in common?...caring about something outside of yourself your community, your country, your faith, a family...all went down in one generation. What's the only one that went up?...money...me. The other stuff falls by the wayside. I'm in it for me. Discernment helps you look at what's going on out in the culture and make those value judgments, because you have the true and false categories from God's Word. You don't just read that and say, you know, it is what it is. It's probably because the economy is bad. How's the economy bad have to do with no longer caring about family and kids. Investing yourself in something that's going to last beyond you. Not caring about your community. Just turning inward. What can I get out of life? So I read those headlines and surveys and I don't take them as nothing. Biblical discernment picks up on when a society calls evil what was once good according to God and calls good what's evil. One writer said about this verse, about the hold fast to the good, abstain from every form of evil. The good is one because that's God, but the evil is manifold. What's he saying? There are many new evils to abstain from every day. But don't lose heart because you have the one thing you need...God's perfect and enduring Word. And by that you can discern. 
So last part of today, kind of a wrap up, I want to give you just some criteria for having discernment. And what I mean by that is when you do see a teaching or hear a teaching and you're trying to say, hey, how do I take that and take it captive to the Word of God? What are some categories the Bible would give me? Here's five of them: the Bible test, the Jesus test, the gospel test, the ethical test, and the edification test. 
I'm not good at acronyms. So if you're like, if I say that, how can I remember it? Um, Bible. Jesus. Gospel. Ethics. Edification BG. For the people of the 70s. My disco people. You want to stay alive with discernment. Remember the Bee Gees Bible? Jesus? Gospel. Ethics. Edification. 
Okay, let's go Bible test. This is probably the most obvious and simple, but the most dangerous. You test what you hear against the Bible. Why I say it's the most dangerous is because people could use the Bible without being biblical. I mean, false teachers deal in that. False prophets, deceived people, take the Bible and either ignorantly don't know what it really means, slap it on something and go with it, or they actually try to take it and twist it. So the Bible tests is a very clear call, which is not just does this square with scripture, but does it have the right meaning of the Scripture? Um, so leading into something with, hey, you know what I think the scripture means to me? You have to remove yourself and ask the question. What would this scripture have meant had you never come along? That's the meaning of it. You don't bring the meaning into it. The Spirit takes the meaning of the author of it and brings it to you. The Bible doesn't really care what you think it means. I face that reality every week when I study it. Why I study it before I speak it is because I just want to know what Paul meant when he wrote this to a church. Not what Adam thinks this church should do with it. So you shouldn't really care what Adam thinks. But what did Paul say inspired by the Holy Spirit when he wrote it? So that's the Bible test. 
Second, that Jesus test, does it exalt Christ? If you're trying to discern between truth and error, good and bad, right and wrong, beyond the Bible test, ask the Jesus test. Does it exalt Christ? Because the Spirit's work is to always exalt Christ, to shine the light on him. Does it point us to Jesus Christ as Lord. Does it point us to Jesus Christ as Savior? Does it take away anything from his deity or his humanity? Because there again, like I said, people can use Bible verses. People can claim Christ...Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, but they have the person and work of Jesus wrong. And so you discern, you discriminate, you differentiate that what we believe in here, in this church isn't the same as the Mormon or the Jehovah's Witness. It's the Jesus test. And if it doesn't pass that test, it's out. 1 John 4:1-3 says that...test the spirits. See whether they're from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world, Verse two...thanks, John, for this one...by this you know the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. So that's the Jesus test….who he is and what he came to do, his humanity and his deity. 
Third, the gospel test. Does it distort the gospel? If someone is saying they're moved by the spirit, have a teaching from God? Are they teaching a different gospel? By grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, or are they trying to insert works in there. So this is what would differentiate what we teach here from Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox, that there is no shred of works based salvation in the gospel that we preach, that we come by the finished work of Jesus Christ, or we don't come at all. And so you have to examine what you're hearing, what you're reading, and it has to pass the test of the gospel or otherwise Galatians 1:6-7...it's a different gospel. 
Fourth, the ethical test. Does the person's life match what they're teaching? And we alluded to this already. 1 John 4:7-21 brings in this idea of, brothers love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Fast forward to verse 20. If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen. That's the ethical test, as in if you're listening to someone. Say they get the Bible thing right, the Jesus thing right, the gospel thing right, but they have some twist on their teaching. That, um has a ring of ethnocentrism to it. You know, these people are the real bad ones. A ring of racism to it. To the point there's a foment, a hatred. Does that square with what John just said, that God is partial to certain people groups and not others. If they're espousing that, they're out. Because it needs to match up. It needs to be symmetrical. This God you say you love but you hate this certain people group for where they're from and what their ethnic background is, you're gone. You don't understand the width of the love of God in Christ, that there is nobody, that he's x-ing out immediately because of where they came from. The ethical test. 
And then lastly, the edification test. Does it promote the building up of the body of Christ? So somebody that just kind of exists in their own vacuum of knowledge. A Lone Ranger teacher who has a word for the church, but never a church to teach them the word. Watch out for them. That always has, you know, some correction for the church today. And you say, well, what church are you actually part of? Who are you submitted to? Whose teaching do you sit under? How is your teaching checked by anyone else? It seems all you're doing is causing division, trying to point out where every other church is wrong. Are you part of the Instagram Church of God? Is that your accountability? You have TikTok elders? I mean, if that's your source for information today question, examine who is this person that they may be really good speaking. They may sound really doctrinally sound. But you have to ask the edification test. What church are they serving in that's for the common good. What group of Christians are they accountable to? What elders do they sit under in case their doctrine is going awry. So those are the tests to be discerning. Here's how we do it...Bible open, eyes on Christ, clear on gospel, holy life, building up the church. You get those five things right you'll be okay. 
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word today. Thank you for its clarity. Thank you for its ability to discern our hearts, Spirit as you search us with the Word of God. You guide us to truth. You sanctify us by the truth. Your word is truth, so help that work to continue as we go from here today. With much being said about this issue of discernment, the first application of it is to let it examine our own hearts, help it shore us up in areas where we may be weak, and may it propel us forward to help those around us. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.

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The Marks Of A Good Church-Spirit-led & Word-fed

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Turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20. And this morning we will continue to look into the Word of God and see just a wonderful truth about our relationship with God this morning. That as we have been in this final section of 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22, we've seen fellowship described, not just in commands given for us to obey, as if the Christian life is come to Christ, and then here's just all these commands and get them right or it's over. Actually, what we have seen in the last few weeks is the form of verses 14 to 22 is what really grounds us in our relationship with God, both the father, the son and the spirit. That when we look to these commands and we don't just see them individually, but actually look at them collectively, it's kind of like looking at a tapestry. If you've ever looked at a beautiful tapestry on one side, you might see a bunch of individual threads and it could kind of seem disconnected. And though each individual thread has a color and you can follow that color throughout it, you wonder what it actually looks like put as one...put together. And then you flip that tapestry over and you see this beautiful picture that was, uh, this beautiful blanket or tapestry or whatever illustration you want to use and see how it all comes together. And really, that's what I've been wanting us to see in looking not just at individual commands from verses 14 to 22. Those are important. Don't get me wrong. We want to obey the Word of God. But what you step back and see in this last section is not just Paul kind of off the top of his head, throwing out these imperatives to follow. He's actually teaching something about our relationship with God in the way we relate to each other, which is an expression of our fellowship with Jesus Christ. Those two verses in 14, actually 12, 13, 14 and 15, because it includes how we deal with leadership in the church, how we treat those who are leading us, but particularly in 14 and 15 when we're talking about caring for unruly people and faint hearted people and helping people that need help. That's an expression of your love for who?...your love for the Lord. That we never detach those things. We don't just hold over here. Oh, you know, I really love God. And look at me love God. Look at me, praise God. Look at me singing to him. Look at me study. And it doesn't land on how we actually treat other Christians. In Jonathan Edwards book Religious Affections, he said one way to tell a hypocrite, a false believer is to see a lack of symmetry in their life. You know symmetry...equal parts. But if my Bible was, you know, asymmetrical. It's really heavy on one side. And this part isn't. You would say there, you know that that's not balanced. And he says one way to detect a religious hypocrite, a person who's just going through the motions, a false believer is even if they say they have this great love for God...this passion for God. And you don't see it balanced out by their love for people. And so when we look at those two verses from a few weeks ago, help the weak, encourage the fainthearted, admonish the unruly. If we just take those as, okay, there's some more commands in the Bible. And even we might want to fulfill them. But we don't see that how we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ is the symmetry to how we love the Lord. There's something out of proportion to our faith. Are you with me? That he even talks about in that book proportionality. That even going back to those two verses in 14 and 15, if I just want to love the Christians that are lovely, you know, the people that don't have problems. Those people don't exist, do they? I mean, every one of us in Christ has a problem somewhere deep down in our hearts, either buried away that needs exposed or on the surface. And he says there's a proportionality to true faith. You know that if you look at verse 14 and you say like, yeah, I'm just, uh, I'm not down with the unruly. They're too much for me and those faint hearted people. Jeez. You know, it's like hanging out with Eeyore. And it's like, just give me the the really teachable, right? You know, what is it?...F.A.T... faithful, available, teachable. That's the disciple I'm going to make. Brother and sister your faith is out of proportion. And I dare say, if that's the way you live your Christian life, that you only have time for the people with no problems, you might question whether you have the love of God in Christ in you. Because he found you and sticks with you in your problems. He doesn't discard you when you get unruly or your faint hearted, or your weak. He comes and meets you where you're at. So when I say this has a beautiful picture...a tapestry of our relationship with God it is because 12 to 15 in chapter five really are how we love and care for those in Christ is a picture of how we love and care for the Lord Jesus Christ. He told us that. What you did for those people you've done to me because we're the body. He's the head. So it's all down line. And that's just about Christ. And then we saw two weeks ago, verses 16 to 18, if you look there rejoicing and praying and giving thanks. Again, aren't these, uh, hodgepodge of commands just kind of thrown out there? They all find themselves rooted in God's will for us in Jesus, that our fellowship with God, our Father is one of continual joy, continual thanksgiving, continual prayer. Because just like a normal human relationship, those are all the best of relationship, aren't they? When you're going and hanging with somebody that you you really look forward to spending time with, I mean, your heart disposition is usually you're finding things to rejoice in together, give thanks for together. On the opposite side of that, if there's, you know, a relationship that's fractured, it's usually probably consists of grumbling and complaining and you can't find joy in it. So we see in those three verses that it's our fellowship with God that's expressed there, God the Father. And then this week and the next week, we will move into our fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Then in 19 to 22, though, these again look like individual commands. And in and of themselves I could spend the next four weeks in these four verses and we get a lot of mileage out of them. But I don't want the disconnect them that your fellowship with the Holy Spirit in 19 to 22 will be seen in the expression of how you obey these commands. Just as it was with God the Father in 16 to 18. And just as it is with God the Son in 14 and 15, I don't want our minds to be removed from this idea that as we talk about, uh, verses 19 to 22, we're talking about your relationship with the Holy Spirit who lives in every Christian from the moment of your salvation. You have a relationship to god the Father in Jesus Christ the Son through the Holy Spirit. Which is amazing to think about, isn't it? I mean, this is why it should blow our minds coming to the Word of God to learn these things again, afresh, anew. I have a relationship with a triune God whose father, son, and spirit. And just as there are particular ways I relate to different people in my family, for instance. It's still all my family. But how I understand my relationship with God the Father and God the Son and God the Spirit we are guided in a very practical way in this section. Which should help you, I think, as you're wondering and asking the question we often ask, how do I relate to the Holy Spirit? What's that relationship like? Is it the same as my relationship with Jesus? Is it same as my relationship with God the Father? Some of those questions will be answered today if I do my job. And really, the big picture here is this...that as we connect verse 19 and 20, so if you don't have a Bible, maybe find one in the in the seat back in front of you. We have extras out there. Um. That it comes down to this when we're talking about our relationship with the Holy Spirit. That's the point Paul is making here to this young church is don't restrain the person and work of the Holy Spirit in you by rejecting the power in the work of God's Word to you. There's an inseparable connection in your life right now as a Christian, between the work of the Holy Spirit in you to the work of the word on you? These are not enemies to be reconciled. These are partners in the gospel. Jesus Christ has left us His Spirit and His Word. That's what you got to work with when it all is said and done. Well, you might say, what about the sacraments? Well, we only understand of how to take the sacraments by what?...the Word of God. What about fellowship in the body of Christ? We only know how to relate to one another by what?...the Word of God. So we need to be word fed and spirit led Christians. And here's the problem and why I'm bringing this up is we can make a a false dichotomy between the two. And most of that is just our evangelical baggage, isn't it? It's just the churches we were raised in, the people that we were raised around. Now, if you're a new believer in Christ here, you've never been in a church before. Then this is kind of like a primer on what it means to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit.

And how that is again inseparable from how you receive the Word of God. But if you come in here with some baggage from church experiences, even me talking about the word and the spirit together, you're like. For those who might be from a church background where it was just about the Word of God, very little taught about the Holy Spirit, because that's, you know, that's getting into that charismatic stuff. You know, your guard could go up there. Or maybe you were raised and around a very spirit led congregation...so-called. And the moment somebody wants to question anything like, hey, can we check to see if, like you just do in a 360 off the stage, has anything to do with worship? You're like, uh, quenching the spirit. No, brother one, I don't want you to break your ankles every time we sing. And, you know, then the people in the front row are going to have to back up, you know, no stage diving. I'm drawing these extremes to, to show that, look, um, what we have here is gold, because Paul isn't going to let us make a straw man up of one to the neglect of the other. In these two verses in 19 and 20 he is saying, look, the Holy Spirit is in you, Christian. And you feed that flame. And you've also been given the Word of God, Christian. And you feed that flame with the fuel of the word. And what God has brought together here let no preacher separate. So let's look at 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22. Now I'm only going to get through 19 and 20 today, and then you'll have to come back next week for 21 to 22. 21 to 22 will be more talking about the gift of discernment and how to discern between, as it says, good and evil. But what we're going to see today is very simple how to be a spirit led and word fed Christian, and those things work in harmony.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, "Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil."

Father, open our eyes to illuminate the spirit inspired word to us today and help us to be doers and not just hearers. Amen.

All right, let's just get right to it. Verse 19, Don't restrain the person of God's Holy Spirit. Verse 19, don't quench. And that word, you know, wow...is it a Gatorade slogan back in the day, something about quench your thirst or I don't know what it is. You know, I'm getting old here, David, and but, you know, you think of well, what is it to quench? What is it to? Well, it's it's something to be satisfied. Now in the sense of don't quench something is don't go douse a bunch of water on a fire because you're going to put it out. And that is what Paul is equating, uh, between this, um, relationship with the Holy Spirit as he works in this church in Thessalonica in AD 50. And what he's going to get to in 20 to 22, which is talking about how we deal with the teaching of the Word of God, preaching, study, proclaiming all of it. But the first admonishment, the first prohibition is don't quench, don't put it out, don't snuff it out. Keep the fire burning. Maybe you had some friend that always would tell you that kind of their sign off. Uh, I had an older mentor of mine still emails me to today, and that's his closing line in the email. Keep the fire burning. And, um, you know, fight the good fight, whatever. You borrow that expression and that that's what Paul is writing to this church that he loved, that he was only there for a short amount of time. And that would have understood as much as they could understand within 20 years of Pentecost what the connection was between the Holy Spirit and fire. Um, he doesn't have 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 to teach about, does he? He doesn't, in case you didn't know. It wasn't going to come for another decade. Um, he hasn't even actually been to Corinth yet to plant that church. So we don't get to cheat and look ahead yet. But what we can do is look back and say, what might this church have known about the Holy Spirit that would help them understand his warning not to quench him? So they would have known Acts 2, right? that when the Holy Spirit descended 50 days after Christ went back up to heaven, well, 50 days after Passover, 40 days after Christ went back to heaven, that, um, the spirit appeared, falling as tongues of fire. And again the phrase appeared as just as in Jesus baptism, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove. He wasn't a dove. He wasn't fire. It's what you would have seen with your eyes. And then, um, told your brother...you would never believe what I saw today. It was. It was crazy. All these people were gathered in Jerusalem, and, um, they just started being able to speak in languages that nobody else would have taught them before. And how did it happen? Well, it was like this like flames of fire, tongues even just descending on their heads. And you'd be like, what? Like, did their hair light on fire? No, brother. It was like it...like it hit them and there was a glow or whatever it might have been. So we have to remember when we hear language of quenching and don't put out a flame and don't extinguish the flame of the Holy Spirit that Paul's just trying to help us get a picture of it, of the Holy Spirit's presence in your life as a Christian, burning on the inside. And you got to keep him fed, just like you got to feed a fire. Otherwise it goes out. And he's saying, don't do the things that're going to put this fire out. The only other clear connection we get from Paul's writing on this would be when he's talking to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, and Timothy is timid. And so Paul is trying to encourage some zeal and encourage some strength and atta a boy and he says, kindle afresh the gift of God that's in you. As in fire that thing up again. You're starting to cool off. You're getting fearful of man. Kindle afresh the gift of God through the laying on of hands that happened to you, Timothy. But outside of that, there's there's not a lot of language in Paul making this connection between the Holy Spirit and fire, although there is a lot of other language in the Gospels about it. And this is where we have to understand and use precise language, because otherwise you just kind of use some clichés around the church. I remember when I got to this church, 2011, um, Matt Redman, we sang him last week, had a great album. I think it was just called bless the Lord maybe, or something like that is where 10,000 reasons came from. And he had another jam on there that I don't remember the name of the song, but there was a certain lyric and it was like my first month here and uh, um, it was like a welcoming song. Some of you remember this. I want to say like, let your praise be our anthem, let your something down, and, uh, we are here for you. And it was, you know, this idea of, here we are. We're excited to worship you today, God...Love it. No problems with it. There was a lyric...your hearts are open. Nothing else is hidden. You are one desire. Oh Lord, let your fire fall down. And I was in the back. And I mean, people are into this jam. It was, you know, it was a rager. You know, it really got you fired up, pun intended. And a guy singing near me like it hit that line. Because that line let your fire fall down. And he's like, looks at me. And he's like, yeah. And in my mind just immediately goes to a situation Jesus had in Luke 9:54-56. I'm sorry. It's just the way I am wired. I hear lyrics of songs and I'm thinking about what they mean, not just saying them. And when James and John saw that these people were rejecting the Lord. They say, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? And that's what I like. This guy was really fired up. And I'm going, like, is that what you're calling down, bro? I said this in my heart, of course, because Jesus turns and rebukes them and says, you don't know what kind of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man didn't come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And that's what I mean, just about being discerning and even in what you sing. I get it. It's it's poetry. It's it's art. Music is. And we can borrow language, and we don't have to be so literal. But really, when we talk about the spirit and fire. Um, even listen to this. John the Baptist, Matthew 3:11-12. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I'm not fit to remove his sandals. Here's a good thing. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And again, everybody's like...purify those people. Listen what he says next. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor. And he will gather his wheat into the barn, and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. You see both next to each other. Okay. Great, we want in Christ...born again. The imagery of fire through the Holy Spirit's regeneration of your heart. Changing you from the inside is like a picture of that impurity being burned away from your blackened heart, purifying it...cleansing your sin...as white as snow.

That's purifying, isn't it? But then John the Baptist turns on a dime and is like, and by the way, there's also an unquenchable fire for those that don't repent. Savvy? Put them next to each other. Take them both. Sing about them both at the same time. So when we get to this, don't quench the spirit, it's pregnant with a lot of other meaning, isn't it? In taking a glance at just your New Testament alone helps us to say what then is he trying to say about quenching the spirit? I mean, we all certainly don't want to break this command. We don't want to put his fire out in us. But what would it mean for us to put his fire out? And again, we could just immediately kind of say, well, I think what this verse means to me is...and then you buckle up for a ride, don't you? Or you can say, maybe just look at what it immediately connects to. I mean, where does it go right after that? So we understand verse 19 by understanding the next verse, verse 20. Do not despise prophetic utterances. And there is my point from the beginning. Don't resist or reject the work of the spirit in your life by how you respond to what?...the Word of God. So now we're not falling into these camps, or I'm this word person and I'm this spirit person, and you go, you don't. Paul's not going to let you do it. And this is the great thing here, it's the early church. This isn't um, again, years later, he's going to write to the Corinthians as they're using all these gifts. And we studied this this time last year...I Corinthians 12. And there's he says, you have all the gifts, Corinth. But, man, you're just getting together and it's just crazy town. You got to figure out how to use these things. Uh, at this church, the maybe, at the very least, all we would be able to connect between what could be quenching the fire of the spirit at this church is when you look back to chapters four and five, and it's either false living or false teaching, which is what quenches the spirit in the most broadest way. Because he's the spirit of truth according to John 14. He's the Spirit of truth. That's his ministry. He wants to guide and direct believers to the truth of Jesus Christ, Jesus person, and Jesus words and his works. So you can look back in chapters four and five of this letter and you see, well, there were people who were living, uh, false lives, as in they were committing sexual immorality and they weren't repenting of it. And he had to say, that's not God's will for you, that'll quench the spirit. And we've talked about that already. If you have unconfessed sin in your life, unrepentant sin in your life, you're not going to have the joy of the Lord...period. You're not going be able to rejoice always. It's going to steal the joy. So that could be what quenches the Spirit's work...sin in our lives. That's understandable. But also bad teaching. And that's where we twice saw Paul talk about people that are uninformed about the return of the Lord, worried about those who have already died, and will they ever see them again when the Lord returns...Chapter 4:13-18 and then 5:1-7. So I'm just trying to kind of set the table here. To say what could have been happening that he has to say, hey, don't douse the spirit. And immediately after that, he's going to say, here's what usually happens to douse the spirit. When you despise prophetic utterances. That your relationship to the spirit is related to your relationship to the Word of God. And you keep those hand in hand. You don't pull them apart. That's how you live the Christian life. And this is teaching that they would have also known. Again, we don't have to skip ahead, but we could look back. I mentioned John 14. You could turn there pretty quick. Um, go back in your Bibles to John 14, because the clearest teaching on the person and work of the Holy Spirit for the believer's life comes in the upper room. Why Jesus waits to the end of his ministry to teach on this the night before his death...because well, it's his prerogative. But two, he was with the disciples. That's important. Keep that in your mind as we read the ministry of this Holy Spirit. He was with these guys for three years. And then he goes to say, John 14:16-17, "I will ask the father, and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever. That is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it doesn't see him or know him. But you know him because he abides with you and will be in you." So these guys have just been with Jesus for three years, and they're starting to get nervous. Not just because he's like, the time is now. My hour has come. It's on. I've been telling you, the Son of Man must be rejected, betrayed, crucified and rise again. And now's the time. So they're worried. And you hear that language. Don't be afraid. Don't be worried. My peace I give to you. But then he says, look, um. I've been with you this whole time. I'm going away. But I'm sending somebody else. So look at verse 16. I will ask the father and he will give you another helper. So that first and foremost, if you're new to the faith and you've been thinking about the Holy Spirit as an it. It's not an it. He's not energy. He's the energizer. As in he's he's a person. He's spirit. But he's a person just like God the Father is spirit. Nobody's ever seen him. The son came to reveal the unseeable father. Now the spirit comes to reveal to us the son whom we haven't seen but did come. It's not a surprise when you look at how anybody is coming to understand a relationship with God...God the Father, And what did Jesus say his whole life? My will is to do the work of the father. I'm here to reveal him. I'm here to glorify him. What he says, I say. So now he's taking that baton and passing it to another. Because what's the Holy Spirit's role today? To reveal who Jesus the Son is to you. And in revealing the son to you, he reveals the father. So when he says, I'm giving you another helper and thank you, Vicki, he is the comforter. That's another Bible translation of helper. Another way to translate that would be the counselor, advocate strengthener...any of those titles are fine. But notice the word that comes before it...another one. As in, well, who was the first helper? Jesus is. He's the first comforter. He's the first counselor, he's the first advocate, but he's going away. And in John 16:7 he says, I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage I go away. And they're like, no, it's not. Yes it is. Because if I don't go away, the helper won't come to you. But if I go, I'll send him to you. As in, I've been bound in space and time and body to one place at one time. And when I'm with you guys, you seem to do pretty good. The moment I'm away from you guys your faith is gone and the ship starts to sink. And I got to walk on water to get to you. So he's saying, I've been with you this whole time, and I'm going to give you another helper. And when we hear the word another in the English language, we just have, um, that word another. But it doesn't differentiate for us...another of the same kind or another of a different kind. And in the Greek, though, this word for another helper is a word that means one of the same kind. It's a different as in, here's I'm giving you something else, but it's one of the same kind. Um, if you go to. Galatians. Uh, the word another...there is a different word in the original, and that's a word meaning, one of a different kind. And that's why Paul, uh, can say in Galatians 1, if some who are wanting to preach another gospel, Galatians 1:6. I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who has called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, which is really not another. That's one of a different kind. And that's what he says...out of here. That's why Galatians, as I told you, I think last week, is the only letter that gets no warm fuzzy welcome. You guys have abandoned Christ for a new gospel, a different gospel altogether.

The word here for another is one of the same. So I'm sending you another helper. That he may be with you forever. That's a personal relationship. How personal is it? Look at verse 17. You will know him because he abides with you and will be in you. You can't get any closer than that kind of relationship. I abided with you. Jesus is saying, but I wasn't in you. Like I'm actually standing here talking to you guys in the upper room. He's going to stick with you. That's what the word abide means, John 15. Remain with you. Be close to you. Never leave you. Matthew 28, I'll be with you to the end of the age. But they're like, no, because you're about to.... It's because my helper is coming one of the same as me. He'll counsel like me. He'll comfort like me. He'll be there for you like me. He'll strengthen you like me. But he's in you. Not just with you. That's the personal relationship you have as a Christian with the Holy Spirit. He is with you always. And because he is with you always, Christ is with you always. So, it's not a better deal if you're here sitting right

now and your life is falling apart. And you go, and if only Jesus would show up at my house today. If only I could see him. And I get we want to see him. 1 Peter says you long to see him. Your long to be with him. You love him even though you haven't seen him. But we could probably all agree that if we would, just like Christ would be out in our car today when we got in, we would be floored. Uh, if you remember Revelation chapter one, John sees him and falls as a dead man. So you would wreck your car. But he says there's no advantage to that. He says, I've given you the Holy Spirit. And everything I can do He can do better...that song. I mean, he does say. John 14:12. Truly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also and greater works than these. What greater work can be than the work he did, unless he sends his spirit to indwell every born again believer, to take his hands and feet and his message and go to the whole world. And he says you'll do greater works than these, because I go to the father and he just says, down in 16, I'm going to the father to ask of him to send the spirit.

So how mind blowing is it for us today that we have the spirit? Personally, each one of you. That's why I went on my little rant last week, or whenever it was, that we don't need to ask him to fill this space. Are you in the room, Christian? He didn't depart from you. Even if you were nasty on the way over to somebody. It's true. You may have quenched him by bad attitude, a short word, sin you've committed recently. But he didn't leave you. Promises he'll be with you. So when you fill this space, he fills this space. But to the degree your life is submitted to him. You're being led by him. And the fruit of the spirit of love comes through you when you greet somebody in this place, and you have joy in the Lord in this place, and you are gentle in this place, and you're at peace in this place, and that comes out whether you sing or pray or listen. The Spirit's in this place. I'm not wondering, is he going to show up? You know, the only person I can take care of is me. And he has to show up in me. Meaning, I have to live in such a way that I'm not doing something to quench the work I'd like him to do through me, through the preaching of the word. Just like you have some service to give today here, you have some way to impact somebody's life in Christ. But if you just kind of come shrugging and ambivalent and like, you know, I'm just going to do my own thing. Please don't leave here and be like, yeah, I need to find a church where the spirit's there. Were you there, believer? Then you brought him here. But if you're quenching, dowsing...whether by belief or behavior...that's on you. That's not on him. So the first point is don't resist the work of the spirit.

But now we'll see that a spirit led Christian pulls up to the table of a doctrinally healthy meal and is a word fed Christian. Go back to 1 Thessalonians 5, because right on the tail of this don't quench him is don't despise prophetic utterances. Despise is simply a word for show contempt, disregard, uh, you know, view despairingly have disdain for the teaching of the Word of God in any way, shape or form, whether that's your personal devotional life. Spending time in the word...with God. Asking the spirit to illumine the scriptures and invigorate your heart and fan into flame your love for him through the word. Or sitting under the teaching of the Word of God, presently saying, you know I'm fighting it. I'm tired, I'm drowsy. I didn't get my coffee. But like, you're actively engaging this sermon, this word. You're thinking about, not how this person that annoys you could apply it, how you can apply it. So I thought that guy was asleep, but apparently he's with me. He's my buddy. It's the Word of God that we could despise. And I know you're like, well, why wouldn't it say the Word of God? What's up with this prophetic utterance? But hang with me here. It's this despising, rejecting, showing contempt for the Word of God that is most directly connected to how we quench the Holy Spirit. And that's back to my initial premise, my main idea. As you reject the Word of God, resist the Word of God, you're shutting the door on the Holy Spirit's action in your life, his work in your heart. You can't take them apart. They come together as one. He uses that word. That's the fuel for the fire. And if you remove that fuel, you got no fire. You're running on fumes. Now all this about prophetic utterances. The word prophetic utterance was a really simple word just for telling forth the Word of God...some revelation. Now this will fall into two categories. God reveals himself through the word...all throughout the Bible. Is it new or has it already been said. So when you think of like Old Testament prophecy, it's something new. It hadn't been written before. Isaiah 53 reveals who the Messiah is going to be. It points us forward. It's new teaching...who to look for, what to look for when he comes. So when you read Isaiah 53 and the Word of God is opening your eyes to it, you're going, oh, I'm looking for this Messiah, and he's not going to be, um, this high and esteemed and accepted king like the Jews expected. He's going to be rejected, marred beyond appearance. Despised among men. Broken for our iniquities, pierced through for our transgressions. And then you read the Gospels and say, oh, it's him. Or revelation, whatever...you go through the Old Testament and it's all pointing forward to Christ. And that was a new word. That was a new revelation. And then these apostles and prophets in the New Testament got the same thing. They were able to reveal what God had said about who the Messiah is. It's Jesus. That's the Gospels. The epistles are now explaining who he is and what he came to do in greater degree. And then the book of Revelation tells us about his return. So there you have it. It's done. So any word from God now that we have is it something that's already been said and you stand on that word and you tell forth, or there's a view of prophetic utterance that is this new word that God gives you privately, that now you could go around telling people, you know, what's going to happen. That would not be forth telling. If you want two categories, that would be foretelling...f-o-r-e. I'm predicting versus what I do when I stand up here i don't predict anything. I tell forth what already has been said, f-o-r-t-h. So forth telling is a prophetic utterance in the way that we define it, which is the word has already come. And by way of application, I can lay the Word of God on your conscience. And through the Spirit's work, you feel the weight of it and do something about it. Because if you don't, and here is the forward element. If you don't respond to the Word of God as it's preached or as you read it and you're convicted by it. There are warnings for what's going to happen to you. So that's why we don't despise it.

So the difference, I mean, trying to, like, practically illustrate this...me standing up here saying, if you are not in Christ today, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be saved or you will perish. That's not me being a prophet in the sense of predicting your future. All I'm telling you is what God has already said. That's all it is. And it will come to pass if you do not respond in repentance and faith. Apart from Christ, you will perish. Now me standing up here and saying, God told me that if the city of Hickory does not repent by next Friday, a portal is going to open up in the sky and fire is going to come down and wipe us out. I would hope you would walk out at that point. One guys eyes in first service got real big. I said, bro,

an illustration. But you get guys going around saying that kind of crazy stuff and they have no, no authority whatsoever to say, I have seen in the future by way of a vision from God, and we need to do this or we're going to perish. Now you could stand up and say, I, I heard God tell me that if people who are out of Christ don't repent, they will perish. And I'm going, yeah, I agree with you 100%. So what's so predictive about that? What a fourth telling is, is it's less about the word predictive and more about this idea of prescriptive. That I'm prescribing the Word of God to you in warning some, and in encouraging others. It's a prescription like a doctor writes and they say to you, if you don't take this medication, this is probably what's going to happen. So he prescribes it and he says, without this thing, you're going to die. You don't get the surgery, you're going to die. He doesn't tell you a date. He doesn't tell you exactly how, when and where, but he knows the outcome if you don't take that prescription, doesn't he? And you could ignore them, and that's the prescriptive nature of telling forth a prophetic utterance that we're not to despise. We take it dead serious. So I can look out here this morning and on the authority of the Word of God, open up to any Scripture that gives these type of warnings. If you're a person that thinks you can play around with sexual immorality, Proverbs 6:27, says, can a man take fire in his chest and his clothes not be burned? Can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is the one who goes into his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not go unpunished. I don't need to have a view of your future, that if you mess around with sexual immorality, that is your fate. Because Galatians 6 says, God is not mocked. What someone sows, they will reap. And you can go through the rest of Scripture and follow those warnings and say, listen, God's not messing around. He doesn't even give you his timeline on it. He doesn't tell you how close can you get to the sin? How long can you stay in the sin? How far? No he doesn't. He just says, listen, what you sow, you will reap...period. And if you want to mess around with that and think lightly of that just because it hasn't come around on you yet...God won't be mocked. I mean that is any prophetic word of warning in the Bible. Just as a prophetic utterance of encouragement isn't something that we should. Oh, is this guy predicting? No. He's just they're encouraging you. I remember, um, a mentor of mine, a good buddy back in the day when I was in my 20s. Um, he was a pastor out in California. And, I mean, he was so good at giving me a prophetic utterance of encouragement and exhortation. Why? Because he knew the word of God really well. I was hanging at his house on a Thursday night. I was about to leave for Yosemite for the weekend. And, you know, he, uh, he's a large man, which helps him be able to, like, put his hand on me and look through my soul. And he's like, well, you know, because I was just like, I'm going up to Yosemite, hang with some friends, climb some stuff...have a good time in creation. You know the heavens declare God's glory. And he's like, Adam, redeem the time, for the days are evil. I'm like, okay, I will. Only because at the very least, you're six foot seven, £280 and you could swallow me whole. But then he took that exhortation into this. Listen, you're going up and going to have this great time in God's creation and be hiking. And don't just enjoy general revelation there. Tell them of Christ. So I did, and I wouldn't have thought to do it if he didn't have that prophetic utterance for me. What did he do other than took advantage of the moment? He redeemed the time to bring me a word of exhortation that I wouldn't waste mine. There's nothing magical or mystical about that. But it does mean you are in tune with the Word of God. You're feeding on it. And the spirit is leading you to speak up and say something once in a while, or all the time. I mean, guys just have been encouraging me a lot as I've been telling some of the elders we were hanging out a couple days ago about going away for an anniversary and where I was going, and, you know, they just had words of encouragement for maximizing that time and enjoying the time away with my wife. And I would say usually at the end of that like, hey, man, that was a good word. You know, I wouldn't have thought of that. And I'm not talking about like a place to go eat. You know, how to redeem the time, the conversation, to have the things to appreciate when you're getting some time away. I put that under this category. Why? Because I could sit there and say, hmm. I should enjoy my wife in the days of my youth. Let me test that. What? That would be holding in contempt something very clear from Scripture. I may not always come out that clear if somebody's quoting the Bible word for word, but you get the gist of it. That as you maybe have that questioning, rejecting disposition and you may have reason for it, as I mentioned at the beginning, based on your background, but do know that when it is the Word of God already revealed, being exhorted to you and implored...whatever it might be, to just immediately, like, cross your arms and think like nobody speaks to me but the Word of God. That's arrogant. They might have been used or moved so much by the Holy Spirit to bring you that word.

Now we'll get in next week. You have to come back. To learn about how do we test it, which is called discernment. But that's not this week's sermon. That's verse 21 and 22. As we think about this today and kind of bring it to a conclusion...we have to remember something very vital. In fact, the most important thing about the Holy Spirit's ministry. Because if we ever lose sight of this, you can go off in any wrong direction that the primary ministry, the essence of the ministry of the Holy Spirit since the time Jesus sent him back till now, is to enlighten our eyes and inflame our hearts for the glory of Jesus Christ. That's what he's trying to do all the time. He does it in a number of ways. I mean, the way in which you use your spiritual gifts to serve other people. How people can teach and preach and evangelize and disciple. Yeah, he can use a lot of different ways, but he's all aiming all those different works that he is doing through Christians to the same end. And not just he's trying to hit a general target. And if he gets close, like, oh yeah, you know, that didn't the center of the target he's always aiming at and has been since he came, is the glory of Jesus Christ. He's not okay with kind of missing the mark...a few rings out and saying, like, you know, miss the mark of glorifying Christ. But it was so cool when all those, um, Christians were just serving people for the sake of serving. It's not. He's not satisfied with that. His goal is for people to see and Savor Jesus Christ. Proclaim Christ, promote Christ. That's what he came to do. And he does it in lots of different ways. And so this morning, when you're thinking about how you know...what could the spirit be doing in my heart this morning as I sit here and listen? If you're not in Christ, he is speaking to you. And he's not trying to tell you, Hey, look at me. Look at the spirit. Pay attention to the spirit. No, he's saying listen to Christ. Look to Christ for your salvation. Now the one who works that salvation out in your heart right now, if you're not in Christ, is the work of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit isn't the one who died on the cross. He's pointing to Christ. He's saying, look to the cross. Look to the Son. Look to the one who's hanging there dying in the sinner's place. Look the one who is raised from the dead three days later and is now ascended at the right hand. Look to Christ, listen to Christ. He says, come to me if you're weary and heavy laden, repent of your sins, or else you will die in them. The ministry is about Christ. What the spirit is doing is he is focusing all the attention on him. He offers you salvation in Christ. He points to the son. Just as when then you see the son, and then you understand the father, that this God who for some of you was this just generic deity in the sky, and you've never known him personally. And the only way you know the father is through the son, and the only way you see the son for who he is is through the work of the spirit. And how does he work in your heart right now? Well, he's enlightens the eyes of your heart. Whatever darkness, whatever veil, whatever you couldn't see of who Jesus is, he comes through. He bursts through in light. And that's why in this moment right now, there might be thoughts that you're having about who Jesus is as the Son of God and what he did that's moving some gears that haven't been moved in a while...rusted. Because you're saying that's Christ...the Savior, the son, the Redeemer. The one who atoned for my sin. The one who stood in my place.

The one who gives me his righteousness. The one who takes away my sin. That's Christ. Who's that helping you to believe it? Breaking through the darkness into your heart and bringing in light...it's Christ, but the work is through the spirit. Just as if you felt cold and distant and far from God, and there's warmth coming into your heart. That's the Spirit's work. Why? Because it's light and heat...that flame. And that you feel something for once again. And it's not because of my pleading with you, my earnestness. It's just that you would know Christ. It's just that you would know him, like I know him...personal. He gave his life for someone like me. I want you to know him too. But my tears and pleading can't take you there. You've got to be open to the spirit, enlightening the darkness over the eyes of your heart and warming the coldness of your heart because it's dead if you're not in him. There's not a heartbeat. Only the spirit can bring you to life. And you have to plead, save me, the sinner. And if you do that, he is faithful and you could trust in him right now where you're sitting. He comes to you where you're at, you don't have to come and get closer to me or closer to the stage or talk to somebody afterwards. He speaks right to your heart. That's the ministry of the spirit to come and bring conviction for your sin. But then bring redemption in the son. Would you trust him today?

And for the believers in the room. You have to remember that as the bride for the moment you turn the corner and walk down the aisle. The groom never takes his eyes off of you. They're fixed on you in love from the moment of your salvation until he comes to get you. And nothing will separate you from the love of God in Christ. And when you feel that the least, the spirit is working in you the most, to pour abroad in your hearts, to shed abroad like a deluge, like a flood, the love of God poured out by the spirit, Romans 5:5 tells us. That even if you as a Christian feel that distance, feel that cold, feel that darkness...the Spirit uses the word to remind you you're not as far as you think you are. You are not be on the reach of the almighty hand of God and His Son. He saved you once. He can't bring you home? Is the spirit so weak that he could work in your life, Regeneration? He could take you from death to life. He can open your eyes to see the glory of Christ, that you would want to follow him. And now he can't finish the deal with you. He can't bring you home. He can't help you get over that sin. He can't help you fight that doubt. What work does the spirit have to do once you've been saved? It's to bring you all the way...not leave you behind. Not wonder has his presence departed from me as David feared in Psalm 51. He didn't because he can't, because the promise from Christ to the believer is...he makes his home in your heart. He's with you. But you've got to believe that with everything in you, at every moment of the day. That's faith built upon the promises in God's Word. Although you've not seen him, you love him. And then with joy inexpressible, you cannot wait for the day to see him face to face. That's the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, making the glory of Christ shine as bright in our hearts as if we were standing in his presence.

We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord...the spirit.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for revealing yourself to us through your son. And Christ, we thank you for sending us the spirit who revealed you to us. Nothing in any of that had anything to do with us. We are the recipients. You are the giver. And so we sing praise to you this morning, having once seen your glory in salvation from glory to glory as we come to your word and your spirit illumines our hearts and enlightens our eyes...were transformed into your likeness. And yet we long to see you on that day. So do that work we pray this morning. Amen.