RLCF Sermons

Revelation and Authority

Matthew 16:1-28

Sign-Seeking = Spiritual Adultery

•False life: hypocrisy of Pharisees (Luke 12:1) •False teaching: Sadducees (Acts 23:8)

•Seeking God for what you’ll get from Him • James 4:4: You are serving Mammon

•Phil. 3:3-11: Paul’s journey out of legalism

The Sign of the Resurrection

•Truth can only be understood by revelation

•Secret: becoming a baby (Matt. 11:25-26)

1. Identity of Jesus Christ

2. Authority of Church (keys: bind and loose)

3. Way of the cross

1. Learn the Fear of the Lord

– “Whoever fears the Lord has a secure

fortress, and for his children it will be a

refuge” (Proverbs 14:26 NIV).

– Wisdom is building the house, knowledge is furnishing it (Proverbs 24:3-4, 9:10).

– You will know the fear of the Lord when you don’t withhold from God your last and “only” (Genesis 22:12).

2. Learn Discipline

– Ask yourself: “What is most important?” Then, remember that what you want, or feel like now, will often be in conflict with it. So make choices based on your priorities.

– “Like an athlete I punish my body, treating it roughly, training it to do what it should, not what it wants to.” (I Corinthians 9:27 TLB)

– Areas of discipline: Time, Money, Dependability, etc.

3. Have Faith

– God is a multiplier if you have faith (Matthew 14:16-20).

– The stages of faith:

1.Believing in God

2.Learning about God

3.Working for God

4.The Wall!

5.Living with God

6.Loving like God

I. Report back to Jesus: Mark 6:7-12,30; they returned from doing a tremendous work; perhaps they expected some commendation from Him; at least they did the right thing in coming to Him, rather than going to Man. II. Seclude yourself often: Matthew 14:13,23; this does not mean being inaccessible to people; essence of Babylon : church imitating the world; Jesus’ seclusion came at His own inconvenience. III. Recognize your constant need of the Father: Hebrews 5:7; how desperately would you cry if you’d never sinned?; highest archangel: became Devil when he grew tired of being told what to do (Isaiah 14:14); Jesus: exalted to highest place by humbling Himself in only doing what the Father told Him to do (Phil.2:5-11)

The reason many hear but are never able to truly understand is because their hearing is not combined with faith (Matthew 13:10-13; Hebrews 4:2). Faith comes when Christ's voice becomes the only thing that we pay attention to (Romans 10:17).

Many Christians worship other "gods" along with Jesus. When we care for the approval of others because we love our reputation, we make "gods" out of people. Then, no matter how much we hear, we will never receive faith (John 5:41-44).

The one who comes to God must believe that He IS -- which means that everyone/everything else ISN'T (Hebrews 11:5-6)! Enoch lived such a life for 300 years after he was warned about the coming judgment, and thereby received God's approval (Genesis 5:21-24).

Enoch walked with God for 300 years and "was not" (physically). Jesus likewise walked with His Father for His entire life and "was not" of this earth (spiritually). This is the true life of faith that we also are called to live.

In the story of the father and two sons in Luke 15:11-32, both sons initially had an Old Covenant mindset toward their father. This mindset thinks, “I have to”, “If I don’t, I will be punished”, etc. The resulting resentment toward the Law leads to sin

"coming alive" (Romans 7:8-13).

In the next stage of the younger son we see the sinful mindset, which thinks, “I don’t have to”, “Nobody tells me what to do”, etc. This results in unlicensed sin far away from the father's house (Romans 8:2).

After the younger son returned, "Monday morning" at the father’s house is the same as before he left -- there was still work to be done. The younger son could have had a “No” Covenant” mindset which, just like the sinful mindset, thinks, “I don’t have to”, “Nobody tells me what to do”, etc. Since the son had the ring on his finger and the father's robes on him, he could have treated it as a license to not obey the father's commandments (Jude 1:4; Psalm 50:16-17).

In the New Covenant, the standard is raised higher, but we keep all of God's commandments out of love for Him (I John 2:3-4,7-8; 5:3). When we allow God to write His law on our hearts, our response is: “I love my Father”, “I will deny myself to obey Him”, etc. True “jubilee" in Christ is found in saying, "I love my master.. I will not go out a free man" and allowing God to "pierce our ears" as His possession (Exodus 21:2-6).

Such a life and church enrages the Devil (Revelation 12:17).

The secret of the New Covenant is that Jesus is our model for everything (Galatians 2:20). So, when you’re tempted with a jealous or judgmental thought, let Jesus model for you how to respond with praiseworthy thoughts instead (James 3:14, 4:11). When you stand in front of the mirror in the morning getting dressed, let Jesus model your clothes for you (I Peter 3:3-4). When you’re tempted to have a complaining or unjoyful attitude, let Jesus model thankfulness and joy for you (I Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Jesus was the light of the world while He was on earth by manifesting the Divine Nature as a human being. He received the Father’s commandment to lay down His life and did so on His own initiative (John 10:18). We are the light of the world now if we manifest the life of Christ similarly (Matthew 5:14-19). We prove whether we are in the New Covenant by our attitude toward the least of God’s commandments.

The Bride is comprised of the overcomers who make Jesus their model, and seek God’s highest. Others, including even professing “New Covenant Christians”, make the world their model, and live their lives trying to see what they can “get away with” on earth. Such can never be Jesus Bride. Make it your goal to be standing at the altar with Jesus at the marriage of the Lamb.

Being a Church that Seeks God's Best

The danger when we are around a lot of preaching, even if it is sound, is that we can become a people who see without perceiving, and hear without understanding (Matthew 13:10-13).

If you don't obey what you hear, you will become "saturated" with hearing, always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (II Timothy 3:7).

Some people study Scripture, listen to sermons, etc., expecting to get life out of THEM (John 5:38-40).

Instead, our hearing must lead us to "behold the Lamb of God", and "come and see" HIS life (John 1:35-41).

Then, Jesus invites us further to become partakers of His life. Yet, this invitation is offensive to most people, because it requires taking up our cross and putting our Self-life to death (Matthew 16:16-26).

If you only talk about the way of the cross, but never actually walk it, you will never experience the power of Jesus' resurrection. This is a frustrating life, so many people end up finding false comfort in "cheap grace" instead.

It is the root of spiritual adultery that causes people to be sign-seekers (Matthew 12:39; James 4:4-5). A sign is that which points to something else. Don’t make the sign your destination!

If you do, your last state will become worse than the first (Matthew 12:45).

Diligent GOD-seekers receive the reward -- which is God Himself (Hebrews 11:6). Along the way, their journey consists of:

1. Becoming a nobody (John 9:6)

-- responding to God in faith (II Kings 5:10-14)

and honesty (Mark 8:22-26).

2. No compromise (John 9:13-33) -- freed from fear of your relatives

and fear of religious people.

3. The Intercessor (John 9:34-35) -- even if you feel all alone, Jesus is looking for you.

4. Revelation (John 9:36-37)

-- the second “eye-opening” (Matthew 11:25), when we receive knowledge of God Himself, beyond just His works (Psalm 103:7).

5. Worship (John 9:38) -- the response that comes from within us when Jesus becomes preeminent (Colossians 1:18; Psalm 27:8)