Commonly Misinterpreted Passages (pt-2)

Well tonight I want to talk a little bit about rightly dividing the scriptures if you'll open your Bibles to 2nd Timothy chapter 2

We'll lay the framework for this important message as we look at commonly misinterpreted passages

I'm not here to step on any toes. I'm picking these commonly misinterpreted ones because They're just easy picking and it also

Makes you see how important context is as we read the Bible. We are reading a book of literature

It is inspired literature But it is literature with all kinds of genres and all kinds of syntax and diction all kinds of things

We want to make sure we understand what the author intended It does no good to read the

Bible and not understand what God Wants you to understand through one of the men

Who he has chosen to write it and so 2nd Timothy chapter 2 15 will give us a springboard of why?

It's so important to study properly. This is not a commonly misinterpreted passage but it will be a passage that will remind us how important it is to rightly divide the word and My goal is basically as a pastor.

I want to proclaim the truth. I also want to model good exposition good hermeneutics

Good ways to teach it. So you'll say the way I've been taught the Bible. I in fact want to study for myself

Now as I approach any passage, I'll just talk out loud as I study I come to the passage and I say 2nd

Timothy chapter 2 it is written in context I just go right into a middle of a verse or to a specific verse and I say to myself

Paul was writing to Timothy. It was his last book that he wrote, right?

This was his swan song as he is passing the baton to Timothy and will soon be beheaded Most likely in Rome.

We don't know exactly where but this is Paul's final book and he's passing on Critical information to young Timothy the pastor and so we have to realize that from the start that this is pastoral wisdom

But certainly it can be applied to the congregation at large and in a very famous verse in verse 15 of chapter 2 in 2nd

Timothy it says be diligent to present yourself. So Paul is saying this to Timothy Be diligent

Timothy to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed Handling accurately the word of truth and that is where we get the slogan for our

Wednesday night youth ministry called what? Awana a Workman, let's see.

I know the verse but I don't know approved workmen are not ashamed That's exactly right And that's where we get a wanna from 2nd

Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 And I notice as I start to dive into this a little bit Paul is telling this young apprentice of his with Intense language that he must not spare one

Iota's worth of work and toil and sweat in this Herculean task of rightly dividing the word it takes work.

It takes sweat It takes toil to interpret the Bible and he says if you take a look at the word

Be diligent, I believe the King James translates at how study Study back in those days means be diligent these days.

It's not talking about study scholastics It's talking about to be diligent and I love this word to be diligent in Greek and you know

You throw Greek words around I do it for a couple reasons Not because I want to try to impress you because there are men now at the church who know more

Greek than I do pretty Bob Dunn Scott Goddard, they all know more Greek than I do because It's been a long ago since I've taken it

But I like to say it because it reminds me then of the word here's the word spudadzo Spudadzo, you can say it if you want.

It's kind of fun Spudadzo and he is saying I want you to be diligent to study you make every effort

You spare no effort you do your best you work hard one lexicon says quote to be especially conscientious in discharging an obligation

To be zealous eager take pains Make every effort and then in the original language

He uses an infinitive and an infinitive is a word that has to to in front of it with a verb to to make it all the more emphatic you study yourself

Till you're tired you study yourself tired And you say it's Timothy you do it and Interestingly doesn't say here in your text as a workman who does not need to be ashamed by the way

That's passive that means God would be doing the shaming you would receive the shame and that shame would come from God because he is the one who has said you study this you preach my word

And there's only one meaning to my word, and if you don't do that there would be shame coming to you

So much for preaching for popularity a gain Human approval at the end of our days when we stand before God especially preachers

It's not going to be how big the congregation was how many converts you had how many baptisms you've had how many people you sent a?

Seminary did you rightly divide the word and who I certainly wouldn't want to receive shame from God Because I was lazy

And then another really neat word it says there who does not need to be ashamed Handling accurately the word of truth

How many people here have had knee surgery? Or some kind of hip surgery bone surgery.

What's the Greek word for bone? What's the

Greek word to cut? Here he says

I want you to handle accurately the word of truth, and it is literally I want you to cut it straight

Ortho Tomutan, I want you to cut it straight when it comes to cutting you cut that thing straight

Correctness Cutting a straight road through difficult terrain one lexicon said and if you can keep your finger on 2nd

Timothy Go over to Proverbs 3 6 and we get the exact same idea in the

Old Testament Especially when it's translated into Greek Proverbs chapter 3 with this whole idea of cutting straight you probably know this proverb

If you don't have this memorized and with verse 5. I suggest that's a great place to do it because there are many questions that cannot be answered and we

Do what this? Proverb tells us to do Proverbs 3 5 trust in the

Lord with all your heart Do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your what?

Paths straight exact same Greek that's used in the Old Testament in the Septuagint to cut a path in the straight direction

Timothy you teach truth correctly you don't get sidetracked. You don't make a deviation you cut it straight

That's what you want out of your pastors Commentator Hendrickson said

Paul said to this about this man quote the man who handles the word of truth properly does not change pervert

Mutilate or distort it neither does he use it with the wrong purpose in mind

Endquote we are to be accurate We are to be purposeful, and we don't want to be like someone else who did something oppositely

Go to Acts chapter 13 if you would and I want to give you the negative side of this cutting straight

Acts chapter 13 Verse 8 I think you'll find this fascinating I did acts 13 verse 8 and here we have passage that is in stark

Opposition to what we've just been told by Paul to Timothy to cut things straight if you're a preacher you cut it straight and by Implication you're evangelizing cut it straight.

You're a you're a dad cut it straight to the kids You're a wife cut it straight for yourself and your children or those you teach you want to make this right?

But there's a magician here Alimus or elements however you'd like to pronounce him

But he's the magician and he was opposing them seeking to turn the procounsel away from the faith but Saul who was also known as Paul filled with the

Holy Spirit fixed his gaze on him and Said you who are full of all deceit and fraud you son of the devil

You enemy of all righteousness will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the

Lord? Same idea except they're in negative Fashion and the preacher must lay down the trail for others to walk down it

It is like I'm standing here with the big machete in the jungle And I'm hacking my way through the jungle so that you might follow you might understand properly so for preachers our job is to Get approval from God for teaching proper doctrine to teach the

Bible properly So God doesn't shame us and we have to do it as we cut the scriptures

Carefully and properly one even said Paul used to be a tent maker and so when you're gonna cut animal hides

You've got to cut them perfectly right to arrange all the hides to make your tent you cut everything straight

So I as a pastor want to cut things things straight and want to show you how to do the same thing

And so let's go to the first commonly misinterpreted passage, which is part two. So I guess it's not the most misinterpreted

No particular order, but let's go to Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11. How many people love this verse

I Do anytime I say that you have to raise your hand how many people love Deuteronomy 32 11?

I mean whatever the verse might be you have to say I love the verse but so often people say this is their life verse

And God bless them, you know when you ever hear someone say they want to say something negative about someone

You just have to say God bless them ahead of times and it's like Kings X and then you can say anything you want about You know old

Jim God bless him and then you can just gossip all you want because you've just said that That's not what we do.

Of course not but here people use this and they just don't know It's the old story where you just jump back into the

Old Testament and there's a specific context. There's a specific Relationship of the verses and most likely to Israel and we could learn we could see something about God and how he deals with people

We can understand it and see how faithful he was to his people Yet it's hard for us to go back to the

Old Testament, especially this verse and say this is my verse This is my life verse Jeremiah 29 11 for I know the plans that I have for you declares

Yahweh the covenant -keeping God plans for welfare Not for calamity to give you a future and a hope

Is it true that if you're a Christian God has great plans for you to give you hope and a future?

Great plans beyond your wildest dreams in heaven You could not even imagine what it would be like.

Is that true? But I wonder what the context here is. What would you do if you wanted to find the context of Jeremiah 29 11?

Read before and read after and it's very very simple You do not have to know Greek or Hebrew or anything else

You can just read and so let's turn to Jeremiah 29 1 and find out about these words to the exiled

Jewish community by the way an exiled Jewish community for how many years were they going to be exiled?

70 who exiled him Ultimately God did why did he do it?

Lost his temper got real mad They sinned and God corrects them and God is the one who's done it yet God is still faithful because he has promised you can go back to Abraham a covenant if you'd like And he has plans for them after they have been chastened properly verse 1 of chapter 29

By the way, this section maybe contains the first letter in all the Bible Now these are the words of the letter which

Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile The priests the prophets and all the people whom

Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon There were human instruments

Who caused the exile but God is the one sovereign over all of course? This was after King Jeconiah and Queen mother the court officials the princes of Judah and Jerusalem the craftsmen and the

Smiths had departed from Jerusalem and so there were some surviving elders there and here now in verse 3 the letter hat was sent by the hand of Elasa the son of Chafin and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah whom

Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon saying

By the way before we get into it if you want to get a big crowd You preach that you're gonna get a lot of money a lot of fame a lot of fortune the health wealth gospel

You will have lots of people following you and that same thing was happening back Then people were in exile

God told him is gonna be seven years 70 years and other prophets were coming up saying no

God's gonna let you out God loves you God's gonna. You know cancel this out

All kinds of false. Hope all kinds of nullification of these disciplinary Chastising effects of God and it says in verse 4 thus says the

Lord of hosts What's that word Lord there? It's all caps so it's Yahweh and of hosts this great

God of the armies the God of Israel to all the exiles Whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

I'm the one who's done that He's the ultimate cause there may be secondary causes, but he's the ultimate one

God has done that and Judah Your role is one thing Submission to what

I do in chastisement by the way if you chase in your children if you use corporal punishment And your kids don't just go lay on the bed and take it you need to rearrange the way you

Discipline your children because you're losing everything that you're trying to teach them eventually you should end up teaching your kids when it's time for discipline

You go get on the bed, and I will come in when I am good and ready, and I've thought about it properly

I will come in and I'll discipline you then and that kid should just be laying down on that bed

None of this you know the kids six years old and too big and you got to put one leg over their legs and another leg

Over here, and you're around all some kind of thing like that And you can't even use the rod properly it should be you go lay down on the bed when daddy comes in We'll take care of it.

I'm not mad at you I love you, but you've disobeyed daddy and your job is submission people go well

How many swats does a kid get kids in our family get swats until you just finally go okay?

Uncle just my soul relax and just accept it and so you've got 70 years of exile

God's the one doing it And he did it because he wants them to recognize what they've done wrongly

Repent of it and then receive the justice of God's chastening hand and just submit

You didn't know it's gonna be a parenting seminar tonight Did John spanking now when they're really little sometimes you have to hold them down?

Right because they just their their minds can't do that When they're older three four five six and on up they should just be able to lay there verse five if you were the prophet and You knew they were supposed to be there for 70 years

What would you tell them to do? And this is what basically the Jews have done throughout the centuries whether it's in the

Bible days or days like now You know what they do. Here's what they do verse 5 build houses and live in them plant gardens eat their produce

Take wives of course from your own people Become the fathers of sons and daughters take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands

That they may bear sons and daughters and multiply there and do not decrease just live a regular life

That's kind of weird advice, isn't it? Very strange Verse 7 seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile.

That's no fair That's almost like praying for Nero and his salvation in New Testament times

Seek the welfare of these people and pray to the Lord on its behalf For in its welfare, you will have welfare.

You're gonna be there 70 years. Is that city prospers? You will too You almost don't want to do that because they have they have gotten you and to put you into exile

You almost want to be Jonah like and say when it comes to Nineveh. I hope those people get it They deserve judgment, but they're gonna be people telling you the opposite verse 8 for thus says the

Lord of hosts the God of Israel Translation listen to me don't listen to these other people

Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you and do not listen to the dreams

Which they dream for they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them declares the

Lord They're trying to tell you 70 years. You don't have to stay in that long It's just a quick little hop skip and a jump and you're out

I'm saying it's 70 years and it's me the Lord of hosts the God of Israel and don't trust those false prophets

I have not commissioned them. I have not sent them For this says the Lord verse 10 when 70 years had been completed for Babylon, I will visit you

Boy, if you could have a king visit you a lord visit you and fulfill my good word to you To bring you back to this place

For I know the plans I have for you you exiles there who've been there 70 years when it's up I've got plans for you

Plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope literally to give you an end and a hope hope in a future and Of course, you'll respond then you'll call on me and come and pray to me and I'll listen to you

You'll seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart I will be found by you declares the

Lord and I will restore your fortunes And we'll gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you declares

Lord And I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile

So as we see this has nothing to do with New Testament Church and you could say well

I'm out in the middle of Massachusetts and I feel like I'm in exile and the last seven years have seemed like 70 years

To me and you could try to get there all the different ways you wanted to but this is not intended for you

How about this for a Bible quote a biblical truth true or false? All the

Bible is for you, but not all the Bible is to you True or false?

Every verse in the Bible is for you. Is it profitable and good inspired?

It can correct it can rebuke it can train you in righteousness every word, right? Even verses about girls and you're a guy

Even verses about Kings and you're a serf whatever it might be. It's all for you

But is it all directly written to you? We know better than that because there are pastoral epistles There are other things true or false we can learn from every verse of the

Bible how God relates to his people Are some truth like that? That's exactly right. So if you have

Jeremiah 29 11 as your your life verse Maybe you're Jewish or maybe you've been in exile.

Maybe you can trace your lineage back all the way I don't know, but I would rather have you have something like Romans 828

Let's go there for a minute. And if you don't know about Romans 828, I think you do but it's the same kind of thing

God can take the exile of his people for 70 years and turn it into good because God is a great

God and all -powerful But something like this I think would be a better New Testament verse as these verses were written to churches

From Romans to Jude we have letters to churches and we are now Still a church.

I love something like this and I don't know if you've thought about Romans 828 in much detail By the way, it is so was it hot this morning, too

It's like 76 degrees and I just saw a bunch of people sleeping and nodding off and it's the weirdest thing when you preach

And you watch somebody go like this It is just the most fascinating thing you think

I Try not to be boring. I think it's a sin to make the Bible boring when you preach I try to be enthusiastic and still it's the oh

So I remember one time this is a good story for Steve Cooley's Commendation Steve Cooley, I think was coming to Candidate or no,

I think it was before that you were just coming out and we'll hang out together and you were so tired He had to work nine shifts in a row and seminary and everything.

And so Steve was gonna fall asleep So he went to the back of the sanctuary here. I know you probably couldn't shouldn't call the sanctuary

This is not a stage. What is it Steve? No, that's the narthex. This is the chancel

But anyway, he was in this room here this auditorium and he just went to the back and stood up because he knew if he

Sat there he was gonna fall asleep. And so he wanted to stay awake while God's Word was being preached He also wanted me to hire him in a few years.

So he knew better than that But he actually could just just stand up move around get something to drink if you want to walk out and go get something

I'd rather have you walk out go get a Sanka and come back and stay awake than just doze off But this morning it was 76

When the service ended so somebody could be remind Themselves and even on Sunday morning come in and turn that thing down to about 62 or 65

Because when we add 200 hot bodies Then it goes up and so now

I think it's probably the same and I Don't really care if you listen to me, but when I preach the word

I do want you to listen because there's no sense falling asleep Romans 8 28 Certainly in the context of a

Paul writing to the church at Rome the the magna his magnum opus on salvation You know chapter 8 is all about security you know about this verse even what comes before it with the word and But to jump in right here

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love

God when you stop there Now when I looked at the word all things, I've got a variety of different categories

My first category is good things God's nature his power his wisdom his goodness the word prayer angels saints the local church

He can cause because of who he is how all these things work together for good But he can also cause bad things to work together for good.

Can't he? suffering Satan demons struggling with sin

Even sin itself God can do whatever he wants and it's tied right into verse 29 for whom he foreknew

Means whom he foreloved he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son no matter what happens in your life

God has saved you and he will make you one day perfectly Like his son no matter what happens that he might be the firstborn among many brethren

Whom he predestined he also called these he justified whom he justified these he also glorified

So if you love Jeremiah 29 11 Fine, it's okay But it remember it just doesn't apply directly to you

And how do you remember that just go ahead and go back up to verse 1 of chapter 29 and just read and you'll easily see

That is to the exiled Jews in Babylon questions Okay, let's go to one of the most popular ones, especially on campus and especially in the news media

Matthew 7 1 judge Not so that you may not be judged. Don't judge

Don't judge Matthew chapter 7 since it'll be three years before we get there in the Sermon on the Mount series I thought

I would do it tonight Who knows by the way next

Sunday night? We'll have elder question and answer We're given one question last elder question and answer and We didn't answer it.

And so we want to answer that one and if you give us a question, we give them one question rather if you have a

Question we'll take those and we will try to answer everything that you've given us and we are sorry We didn't answer that one last time and then in two weeks

We'll have Steve's questions and answers that will be for his ordination Someone has said it's Mother's Day that Sunday and with Robert Raymond coming and with my family going on sabbatical with me

That's the only day we could really do it. We've already got some other quiz quizzers coming It's not like I'm gonna want a leader though the

Bible quizzers some other pastors coming and that's just locked in there So take your wives out for a nice meal cook her dinner or take her out the day before or something

But we'd love to have you come back and see Steve Cooley grilled And put on the hot seat

Steve has told me he's hoping you all go out on a Mother's Day Binge and never come back that night.

Anyway, sorry. It's Mother's Day. I Don't know what to do with all these

Hallmark holidays. I just can't kind of get around him and Make it up to the next day.

I don't know We usually don't go out on Mother's Day because it's so crowded anyway and Sundays for the pastor.

It's just crazy. And so That'll be two Sundays from now judge not lest you be judged

How many people have used have had that used on them a lot of people you're so judgmental

Judge not lest you be judged. I mean it is just quick drama growth from these unbelievers That's just the first thing they do

They know just a little bit of the Bible and they think they know oh, you can't judge anyone true or false

Jesus here is prohibiting every single type of judgment ever to be made on anyone by Anyone else of course not

If you can keep up with me quickly I'm gonna give you a few verses where there are obviously judgments taught where you shouldn't judge

And so you want to have a Bible drill if you have how many people have ever done Bible drill? Stash you can look them up.

Okay, here we go. John 7 24 John 7 24, let me just show you some if you don't want to keep up I'll just go ahead and read them and you can just hear them from the pulpit

But if you'd like to look them up, that'll be great several examples of judgment So at least we can say to ourself

Jesus does not somehow Contradicting himself John 7 24. It says do not judge according to appearance but judge with righteous judgment

And that amazing Matthew 7 judge not lest you be judged John 7 judge with proper judgment

First Corinthians chapter 5 it's certainly not Jesus writing it but the

Spirit of Christ the Holy Spirit is Authorizing Paul has app the apostolic messenger to write this.

It's the same author first Corinthians chapter 5 verse 5 Here's some case where we would need judgment

Paul said I have Decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh

So that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus if Jesus said you can never judge

What is Paul the Apostle doing judging these immoral people in the church? Galatians chapter 1

Verse 8 we know this passage very well Galatians chapter 1 verse 8.

I'd love to teach Galatians sometime, but I Don't know when we'll ever do that It is my goal to teach every book of the

Bible if I live long enough and according to deathclock .com I've got eight hundred and seventy seven million seconds to go so we'll just see what

I do all the kids had to do that today every single one Haley Luke Maddy and Gracie type in the information on deck deathclock .com

figure out how many seconds they had left and As Solomon would say your life is like a what a puff just air

It's a good thing to teach your kids by the way sometimes the Avon dross We like to go to I've told you this before but I'll tell you again

We like to go to cemeteries for kind of a little a band Roth field trip and off we go to cemeteries older ones newer ones and We have a little game and if you can find a

Bible verse on the tombstone you get one point whoever gets the most points by the end of The little outing you get a pack of M &Ms.

It's pretty good. You work Oh, you'll work pretty hard for M &Ms. It doesn't have to be big, but just anything to work for and You don't even have to share them with your brothers and sisters

Afterwards and just look for Bible verses and you see things on tombstones the death angels. They're gone now

They've got something real pretty and sweet and nice But you just walk through there and you think I am a walking dead person as Richard Baxter said

I'm like a dead man preaching to dead men I would rather have the Lord come back soon and just be done with it all but there is a day that we have to stand before God How I got on to that I don't know so what you do and if you're preaching and that happens you just say well look

Down at chapter 1 of Galatians verse 8 see judgment here But even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel

Contrary to what we have preached to you. He is to be damned accursed Well, how would you know that if you can't judge this guy preaches a this guy preaches

B But we're just sitting here going can't judge Frozen and paralyzed not being able to judge of course you judge things when

I preach tonight I hope you say that was biblical He was a little off -base here the death clock thing proves his insanity, but that other verse thing over there

I hope you make the judgments. I hope you turn on the TV and say well when you turn on the

TV I don't hope you turn it on, but if you do turn on the TV God bless you If you turn it on that you're saying that's right, that's wrong.

This is incorrect you go to the Internet yes Here's what the Bible says you're always making judgments Let's just look at two more quick ones in the

Bible Philippians chapter 3 verse 2 there are many judgments in the

Bible We're just having a little cursory discussion of where we're supposed to judge And then we'll figure out what kind of judgment is improper with all of the false teachers out there

We could look at 22. I believe of the 27 New Testament books contain

Invectives for false teachers somebody's teaching the wrong thing How would we know and in this particular case

Paul is warning these people he's warning the Philippians About these particular people beware of the dogs and these weren't nice little

Jack Russell Terriers Nice little wire -haired dachshunds nothing like that.

What kind of dog do you have again Blackstone? Beagles it's not with those beagles with that kind of funny scent that they have these were those dogs

That were bad, and they were vicious Beware of the evil workers beware of the false circumcision

We have to exercise judgment, and I know Sunday night crowd congregation you all know that and Then lastly this look at first John chapter 4

And I'm just trying to rivet it into your brain that we have to use judgment all the time So the next question must be what kind of judgment aren't are we not supposed to have?

We could have looked up first Thessalonians chapter 5 examine everything carefully, but here.

We'll look at first John chapter 4 verse 1 beloved Here's John saying to his dear people do not believe every spirit

But test the spirits to see whether they are from God let me translate it this way But do not believe every spirit, but judge the spirits to see whether they're biblical or not

That's what he's trying to say because many false prophets have gone out into the world

There's one truth, and there are many false prophets judge now Let's go back to Matthew and figure out what kind of judgment must this be and we will soon find out that Jesus does not want his disciples to be judgmental and censorious

He wants them Certainly not to be blind, but he wants them to be generous

This is the whole context to be generous do not judge so that you will not be judged

And then there's some theological justification verse 2 for in the way you judge

He's assuming that they will you will be judged If you judge self -righteously, you're gonna have that kind of judgment back on you and by your standard of measure

It will be measured to you now many scholars would think this has got a proverbial saying to it that this was a saying

That was just out there and Jesus uses it here whether it was a proverb or not

He does say these words by your standard of measure. It will be measured to you and he is really after Generosity when it comes to being a disciple of Christ He gives an example verse 3

Why do you look at the car phos that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the dakas that is in your own eye car phos sawdust speck of sawdust

Dakas some kind of plank or log and here's this hyperbole Why are you looking at this speck of sawdust in someone else's eye when you've got the log or plank in your own eye?

That would be something called Hypocrisy you wouldn't want to do that. That is almost shades of David with The little sheep the little you that Nathan confronts him about it's just not right

Verse 4 or how can you say to your brother your brother? Let me take the speck out of your eye and behold the log is in your own eye

You hypocrite First take the log out of your own eye And then you clearly see to judge and to measure and to take out the speck out of your brother's eye

He wants people to be generous his followers to be generous because left to ourself. We might not be

He says but you can't be undiscerning about this verse 6 do not give what is holy to dogs

Do not throw your pearls before swine Or they'll trample them under their feet and turn and tear you into pieces

So Jesus is the only judgment judge of souls true. I say it all the time

I'm ministering to someone and I'll say based on my own observation and based on your own testimony.

I Don't think you could call yourself a Christian and if it was up to me to bait to judge what you've said and done

By my own analysis what the Bible says Christians say and do and what you say and do

I? Wouldn't lay your head down on the pillow tonight thinking that if you die, you're going to heaven

But I am NOT the judge of the universe and I can't judge your eternal soul Would that be a good way to say it?

That's the way I try to say it and that's the way I would want you to say it It's okay to say you live like that and you call yourself a

Christian You could easily say from first Corinthians chapter 5 No immoral person can will inherit the kingdom of God chapter 6

You can't be that kind of person as a lifestyle inherit the kingdom of God. You're not a Christian But then

I always make sure I tell people Jesus is the one who judges and he judges righteously and holy and I'm not the one who will judge you pronounce that judgment upon you and then have the authority to have the

Angelic beings cast you in the lake of fire. That's Jesus's role and prerogative

So I think that's a good way to do it But certainly as a church if one of us is stuck in sin we go to them

We're judging But we want to go to them in such a way Galatians 6 would say that we go in a way that is

Gentle in a way that we know we could easily fall into that sin I thought pretty did a good job last week and this week reminding us as a church that the church

From Pentecost days and even Israel from back in Abraham's days and throughout the ages is full of weak people who will certainly sin and fall short of the glory of God and we need

To love them. Anyway, this is a hospital for sick people The elders aren't perfect.

The deacons aren't perfect I'm not perfect and we just love one another in spite of not because of true

We love in spite of not because of okay questions about the whole judgment issue I'm going too fast here tonight.

Yes, Bruce That's the word he uses for judgment in Matthew 7 1.

Yes well, there would be a different word for condemnation and a different word for judgment and there may be times where Jesus would use judge for Under condemnation.

I'm not sure that would be a good thing that you could study and then present to your home group and then tell Me the answer that you get But for sure,

I know there too we've got a word for condemnation We've got a word for judgment how many different applications the word Kareena or cry no has

I don't know Good Okay, I'll just go ahead and Wesley do you have a question?

Okay, let's go to John chapter 8 verse 32. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free

How many people have ever heard that? Have you heard it properly? Tell me I'm gonna give you a speech and you tell me

Whenever you remember who said it you can shout it out loud, but I'll still finish the part of the speech

I'll be discussing today one of the most controversial issues confronting our nation I'm using as a subject from which to preach why

I am opposed to the war in Vietnam Now, let me make it clear in the beginning that I see this war as an unjust evil and futile war

I will preach to you today on the war in Vietnam because my conscience leaves me with no other choice

The time has come for America to hear the truth about this tragic war In international conflicts, the truth is hard to come by because most nations are deceived about themselves

Rationalizations and the incessant search for scapegoats are the psychological cataracts that blind us to our sins

But the day has passed for superficial patriotism. He who lives with untruth lives in spiritual slavery

Freedom is still the bonus we receive for knowing the truth You shall know the truth said

Jesus and the truth shall set you free Any guesses? Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now he didn't mention something about sin, but I remember I used to get a paper Matter of fact, it was a

Catholic newspaper. It was sent to me the pastor here at the church when I first got here and the Caption underneath the newspaper that would give different events and the

Catholic perspective on the news kind of like the Christian Science Monitor and other Things I can't remember what it was called

I wish I would remember and it said underneath the name of the newspaper the truth shall you shall know the truth and the truth

Shall set you free and finally I couldn't take it anymore So I just wrote to them and I said you're using as a capstone verse

Week in and week out about your newspaper that you are teaching the right thing You are truthful in your newspaper reporting when the whole time you've ignored what this context what the context is in John chapter 8

And it has to do with what? Well, let's find out John chapter 8 verse 32 but to find out what's in 32

Surely we must have to go backwards a little and we could go back a little or to up to chapter 8

We can go back to John chapter 1, but let's just jump in at John chapter 8 verse 28 and talk a little bit about the context and this amazing dialogue between Jesus and Some false teachers the other day.

I thought when I'm done with the Sermon on the Mount I'll probably just keep going and then go into Matthew 8 9 10 and keep going and then after that I want to go to John I've been captivated by John.

It's one of the most amazing accounts of Christ So when Jesus said so Jesus said when you lift up the

Son of Man same words in John 3 14 by the way about The serpent was lifted up back in numbers

And that he would be lifted up Then you will know that I am he and I do nothing of my own initiative

But I speak these things as the father taught me a go a me three times

I am to a verse 24 verse 28 verse 58 and He who sent me is with me

Four times in this chapter God sent me verse 16 God sent me verse 18

God sent me verse 26 God sent me verse 29 and he has not left me alone for I Always do the things that are pleasing to him who else in the history of mankind could ever say that He just pleased the father.

That was his purpose And he spoke these things and as he spoke these things many came to believe in him so Jesus was saying to the

Jews who had believed in him if you continue in my word, then you're truly disciples of mine and You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free

Sometimes if you read before the passage, it'll help you figure it out but here we're gonna have to read before and we're gonna have to read after and he will explain himself if you don't know what

To do and you study a Bible passage. One of the things you can do is keep what keep reading So we'll do that.

They answered him. We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone

Then we just talk about a 70 -year exile. Then we talk about down in Egypt. We've never been enslaved to anyone

We are so great. We are so wonderful. You think we could be enslaved

It's amazing how is it you say you will become free like most unbelief instead of digesting the truth of Christ and Realizing that we have a need and in love

Jesus says this to them. They immediately twist it around and begin to attack again rationalize defend themselves

John 8 34 Jesus answered them truly truly I say to you. Here's the context Everyone who commits sin is

The slave of sin. Matter of fact, that's a participle. It's just present tense. It's ongoing. It's continual. It's durative everyone who sins

Everyone who sins just keeps on sinning. They're a slave to sin. It's a habit.

You don't just kind of fall into it You're stuck verse 35. The slave does not remain in the house forever

The son remains forever and here he's going to be talking about Spiritual slavery in bondage to slavery.

So if the son makes you free from spiritual slavery sin You'll be free indeed. I Know that you're

Abraham descendants yet. You seek to kill me because my word has no place in you I know that you claim father

Abraham and many sons many sons had father father Abraham I'm one of them and Jesus neither are you?

He said I know that And I speak the things verse 38 which I've seen with my father therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father like father like son

They answered and said him Abraham's our father and Jesus said if you're Abraham's children do the deeds of Abraham We're not illegitimate.

They're saying you are look at this verse 40 But as it is you're seeking to kill me Jesus said a man who has told you the truth

Which I heard from God this Abraham did not do You're doing the deeds of your father they said to him

We were not born of fornication. We have one father God You're illegitimate

They knew there was some kind of mystery about this whole virgin birth deal and they didn't like it And so they said you know what

Mary wasn't even married and so you are born without a father you

You're ready are a bastard. That's exactly what they we have a father and he's

Abraham and you are illegitimate To Jesus Jesus said to them if God were your father you would love me

For I proceeded forth and have come forth come from God for I have not even come on my own initiative

But he there it is again sent me If you love

God, you'll love the one at whom he sent You do not understand what

I'm saying. It is because you cannot hear my word verse 43 You are of the father the devil. How do you like that?

And they clapped him and said great oratory Jesus and you want to do the desires of your father? He the devil was a murderer from the beginning back in the garden and did not stand in the truth because there's no truth in Him there's no truth in you either

Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature He is allowed a liar and the father of lies and you are just like the father and you are a liar and you're giving more lies out now

So when people say we have to tell people the truth and we have to have truth in advertising and we have to have truth

In newspapers and we have to have truth because of the war I'm all for truth, but John 8 32 has to do with the truth about God and his son forgiving sinners

Because he was a sacrifice and then raised from the dead has to do with spiritual slavery. Nothing else Okay in the old days when

I would sit and listen and I would think I have to prepare a message and I have to get up and preach for 35 or 40 minutes.

How will I ever fill the time? There's no way I could get up there and preach for 40 minutes 45 minutes.

I don't have enough time and now I I have 36 pages and I'm on page 17 and in case

I didn't finish tonight and I had ran out of time after the 36 pages I brought another 20 pages just stuck in the back of my

Bible in case because I'd hate to get up here and not have anything To say to you last one

John chapter 1 John chapter 1

We'll go quickly. I wanted to get to 2nd

Peter 3 about God's not slow about his promises some kind of slowness But I can do that another time

John chapter 1 again. We have this great book John 7 I am trying to proclaim that Jesus is the

Christ. He's God True or false John chapter 1 starts off with the genealogy What kind of genealogy?

The divine genealogy so in a sense, I think there's a genealogy in John 1 1 but it's not the human side

Here it's about his intimate relationship with God and certainly not generation in a way that we would think of but just kind of a trick question

How many people have heard this verse when it comes to evangelism and I'm fall for it do I like this first I love this first as many as received him to them

He gave the right to become children of God earlier in the verses just before it There are people that don't receive him.

There are people who were Jews and say no to Jesus, etc, etc Even to those who believe in his name

Can you say to people you need to believe in his name and he can make you as child? I don't think there's anything wrong with that you might say receive him and this is

Almost the human side of salvation the response of a human unto God and what must 13 be?

Well, I don't think you should ever read verse 12 without reading verse 13 And why is that there's something at the very end of verse 12 and just a little kind of marking and that markings called the what?

It's a whole verse verse 12, but it's not a whole sentence So why would you ever quote somebody a half sentence the people that come to me and quote half sentences?

I usually go those are the false teachers of the world because they're not trying to give me the whole goods They're just quoting a little bit of the

Bible here. Let's give people at least a whole of the whole verse It Is true that humans have to believe they must receive it is true that Jesus gives the right of people to be children of God I think

King James is sons of God, but better translated children Yes to those who believe in his name and all of his attributes

But from the divine side of salvation verse 13 is given There's no explanation how verse 12 goes with verse 13.

We have nothing except a comma There's a divine comma there put in by the translators, but the comma is still there

Intellectually and logically because verse 12 we've got Here's how men do it.

Here's how they respond to the grace of God in verse 13. Here's the divine accounting side

Here's what God does Certainly verse 13 would tell us that it's not in a man to make himself saved

And do you remember the Greek word for self? When you drive yourself in a mobile down the street, we call that what kind of a mobile an

Automobile a self mobile we have what's another word we use for auto Automatic I I don't want to use that because I don't know what the matic part is

But again with self we don't believe in self salvation. We don't believe in here's your big word for tonight auto so terrorism

Self salvation we cannot save ourselves as Brian Chappelle would say we do not believe in solo bootstraps

Uh where you can save yourself, you can pull your own bootstraps up and you can save yourself. We don't believe that Because why would you what?

Why would Jesus come and die in the place of sinners if we could save ourselves? Would you do that to your son if somebody could get saved another way?

Of course not God does not believe for you. You must believe But there's something going on before you believed and here's what was going on verse 13

It tells us first negatively who were born not of blood. We're not talking about birth here

My brother yesterday had his fourth child he's got Two girls and a boy and now they got their

Second boy born yesterday, so I'm an uncle again and She wanted

Jake for the name This is Jake a good name, by the way. I think it's pretty good name

He wanted Ezekiel And he was gonna name him Zeke. You know, there's that kind of a bend or a thing where you go

Luke Jake Zeke But she didn't really like Zeke.

He didn't really like Jake. I mean he likes the name. No, no offense, right?

But for their own child, he thought well, I don't know it doesn't look like it By the way, he did the same thing we did We had the first two kids and we knew right away their names and the second two kids

We had to just let him sit in the nursery for a couple days and see what kind of kid they looked like She kind of looks like a

Maddie to me a couple days later. We had a you know, a couple of years later We had grace and we thought what should we name her?

We have no idea. We call up grandma. We've got a new baby What's their name? I don't know. We're still trying to see how she looks.

She looks like a grace Anyway, how did I get into all this? I have no idea. I do have an idea.

Anyway, Josiah Carl Short for Carla.

My grandfather was named Carl and my mother Carla So to name after those two Josiah Carl Abendroth was born yesterday morning at 530 in the morning a human birth

But this is not talking about human birth. This is in the context of believing in his name This is talking about spiritual birth who were born not of blood

Fast forward to John chapter 8 father. Abraham were in it's not that kind of thing or of the will of the flesh

It is not your will that saves you on on Judgment Day and God says why should

I let you in heaven? You can say it was my will my free will made the choice Independent of Satan independent of my own sin and God certainly independent of your influence.

I'm here on my own accord How about the red carpet? Doesn't that sound weird?

That sounds horrible. It's not by our own Hereditary background who our dad was not by the will of the flesh or by the will of man

We most commentators don't even know what the difference between will the flesh is nor the will of man Lots of times you just add up things like this if you're in the

Hebrew mode and you're just trying to say this Emphatically isn't the case. It's not a blood. It's not the will of flesh.

It's not the will of man Three different ways to look at it. It still adds up to you didn't save yourself positive side, but of God God is the one who regenerates

God is the one who makes alive again God is the one who chooses God is the one who redeems God is the one who grants saving faith

Acts chapter 14 says they believe by grace and the list goes on so please whenever you go to chapter 1 verse 12 finish the sentence since the

Translators put verses 12 and 13 Independent of each other by the by the verse marking, but they're really together

They're of one sentence not of they were born not of bloods literally Plural nor the will of flesh nor of the will of man

God saves us by his good pleasure For his eternal purposes, and we are thankful when he saves us

And I want to have the human side verse 12 and the divine side verse 13

So we make sure who's on first, and we're not right All right

Any questions about that? Well next

Sunday morning We'll talk a little bit more about evangelism in Mark chapter 4 with the parable the sowers And I'm going to discuss things like a sinner's prayer should you ever lead someone in a sinner's prayer?

We'll talk about altar calls should we have people come up to the front our chancellor calls according to mr.

Cooley And God's role in salvation, and it will encourage you when it comes to evangelism

You'll be encouraged to know that God's in charge your job is to preach the gospel and God does the saving

So let's just bow please in prayer father. We thank you tonight We would ask that you would help us not to just be stickler for the right

Interpretation, but then you would use that right interpretation to make us transformed. We do. Thank you tonight even for what we've learned

Thank you father that we're not slaves to sin we're slaves to righteousness Thank you father that we're not outside the kingdom, but we're sons where daughters were adopted into the family

Thank you Lord that even though we're not Israel And we're not in exile We were in spiritual exile and that you did have great plans for us and that plan was

Salvation and conforming us to your son's image father make these truths alive in our hearts and help us to be

Contagious this week to preach the gospel to others Lord If Rick is not saved my friend of the pool

I pray that you would grant him saving faith And we know he can't be saved by his own will by his own heritage by his own

Determination, but it's all of you and Lord There are certainly friends and family members here of our dear church and I pray that you would grant them salvation that you would let our church be the vehicle of the proclamation that Jesus Christ saves sinners