February 13, 2022 - Sunday Service Live Stream

Corporate Worship and Call to Worship

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the corporate worship of our God. Please stand. Brethren, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Since we have gathered in his presence, in his name, come now, let us worship him. Please pray with me. Oh, Lord, you are our God. We bless your holy name. We recognize in Christ you have blessed us with every blessing in the heavenly places.

We praise that glory of your grace that chose us in him before the foundation of the world. And that we should be holy and blameless before him. We thank you that in love you have predestined us to adoption as sons.

We rejoice that we have been sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise. We worship and adore you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We ask that you would open the eyes of our hearts, that we may know the hope of your calling, the riches of the glory of our inheritance, and the surpassing greatness of your power toward us in Jesus Christ.

And all this you have brought about in Christ when you raised him from the dead and seated him at your right hand in the heavenly places. Receive now, oh Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our worship and our praise to the glory of your name.

We ask these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Please kneel as we corporately confess our sin. Let us now confess our sins in unison. Have mercy on me, O God.

According to your steadfastness, your abundant mercy, Wipe out my transgressions, Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Purge me with His blood, and I shall be clean.

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear your joy and gladness.

Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,.

And renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, And take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, And uphold me with the Holy Spirit. Please stand.

Assurance of Pardon and Hymn of Praise

For words of refreshment and encouragement. Take delight now in the assurance of pardon. This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.

Their sins and their lawless acts I will remember no more. Amen. What a great word from the scripture. Please turn in your bibles, excuse me, your hymn books, to number 529. Love divine, all loves excelling.

529.

From this one who trembles at my feet, who kills a bull and offers a grain offering,.

As if he offers swine's blood. He who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways to use their delusions, And bring their fears on them. Because when I called, no one answered.

When I spoke, they did not hear. But they did evil before my eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight. Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word,. Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for my name's sake,.

And let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy. But they shall be ashamed. The sound of noise from the city, the voice from the temple,. The voice of the Lord, who fully repays his enemies,. Before she was in labor, she gave birth.

Before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be torn at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.

Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery? Says the Lord. Shall I, who cause delivery, shut up the womb? Says our God. Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her.

Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her, That you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, That you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus says the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.

Then you shall feed, on her sides shall you be carried, And be dandled on her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you, And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. When you see this, your heart will rejoice, And your bones shall flourish like grass.

The hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, And his indignation to his enemies. For behold, the Lord will come with fire, And with his chariots like a whirlwind, To render his anger with fury, And his rebuke with flames of fire.

For by fire and by his sword the Lord will judge all flesh, And the slain of the Lord shall be many, Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, To go to the gardens after an idol in the midst, Eating swine's flesh, and the abomination and the mouse, Shall be consumed together, says the Lord.

For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations in tongues, And they shall come and see my glory. I will send a sign among them, And those among them who escape I will send to the nations, To Tarshish, and Pul, and Lod, Who draw the bow, and Tubal, and Javan, To the coastlands afar, Of who have not heard my name, nor seen my glory.

And they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. Then they shall bring all your brethren Offer and offering to the Lord out of all nations, On horses, and in chariots, and in litters, On mules, and on camels, To my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord.

As the children of Israel bring an offering And a clean vessel into the house of the Lord, And I will also take some of them For priests and Levites, says the Lord. For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before me, says the Lord, So shall your descendants in your name remain.

And it shall come to pass That from one new moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord. And they shall go forth and look.

Upon the corpses of the men.

Who have transgressed against me. For their worm does not die, And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Confession of Faith and the Beatitudes

Let us now confess our faith.

In the singing of the Apostles.

Seeing the multitudes, Jesus went up on a mountain.

And when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Then he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,.

For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,.

For they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

Lord, keep us mindful of what forgiveness means.

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

Lord, create in us clean hearts.

Heavenly Father, your word tells us that only those with a pure heart.

And clean hands can see the kingdom of God.

We also have confessed earlier that we are unable to do this ourselves, Lord. We pray that you would create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us, that we may perfectly love you and glorify your holy name.

We pray this in Christ's name.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Lord, help us to pursue peace.

We pray that you would help us to live peacefully with one another, to not be divisive or strifeful people, but that instead we would forgive one another when we are slighted and seek reconciliation with one another.

Help us not to be people who seek after our own glory in conflict, but rather seek out the benefit of others and we may have hearts for other people and not be selfish-minded in the way we approach other people and situations of conflict.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Amen.

Psalm 63 and the Church's Warfare

Please stand and take up the insert and find our Psalm of the Month, Psalm 63. It says, O Lord, my God, most earnestly I seek your holy face. This is God's holy and infallible Word. Now I, Paul, myself, am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.

In presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intended to be bold against some who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Please pray with me. Lord, we ask that your message would take shape and flight in the power of your Holy Spirit, that we would have a clear sight of the war that we're facing, your glorious provision for weapons of our warfare, the absolute victory for you, O Christ, over all of your foes and all of ours.

We thank you that you have conquered us with your grace and your love, and you conquer the nations with your gospel. We ask that you would be exalted in a profound, special way today in the hearts of your people.

We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Please be seated.

Paul’s Apostolic Authority and the Meekness of Christ

2 Corinthians 10. The weapons of our warfare. You are in a spiritual war, and in this spiritual war, your victorious king conquers all of his and your enemies. Therefore, wage war with the weapons that he has supplied.

You are in a spiritual war. In this war is the place where your victorious king conquers all of his and your enemies. Therefore, wage war with the weapons he has supplied. Today, we begin the last section of 2 Corinthians and resume Paul's defense of his apostolic authority.

You'll remember that his motive is the integrity of Christ's lordship and gospel and not his own honor and reputation. To reject Paul in Corinth is to reject Christ. Paul begins now and he uses a warfare motif to speak of the reality of the conflict.

Like Paul, you too are in a spiritual war, and you must use those weapons which Christ has supplied. I've got three points for you to consider. I'll help you organize your notes if you're taking them first.

Paul pleads for the false teachers to repent. Paul pleads for the false teachers to repent. Number two, we're going to see something of Paul's boldness. Paul's boldness. Number three is the title of the message, the weapons of our warfare.

Number four would be application. I'm going to go through that one time again really quickly. And we'll begin. Paul pleads for the false teachers to repent. Paul's boldness, number two. And number three, the weapons of our warfare.

It's an astonishing thing that Paul spent maybe one to two years in Corinth establishing a church, a beacon for the gospel of Christ in this very important part of Greece. And soon after his departure, he began to be assailed on many sides, particularly by false teachers who were seeking honor for themselves.

You'll remember in 1 Corinthians they became a little bit tribal and schismatic. They had preferences for people like Peter and Apollos, and some of them had an allegiance to Paul, and others were super spiritual.

They only followed Christ. So there's been a lot of this happened up to this point, and Paul's very strong letter in 1 Corinthians pointed out and outlined a lot of areas in which the church needed to change and to repent.

And there had been many great works of repentance among them. In our chapter, in our recent sections, we've been talking about the taking of that offering for the church in Jerusalem who suffered under harsh conditions and a famine.

But now Paul takes a different turn. The liberals have often said that this is not part of the original 2 Corinthians letter, and of course that is hogwash. Everything they say is they're liberals, they hate the scripture, they want to tear it apart.

When you write a letter to someone or to a church, you sometimes cover many different subjects, and Paul has returned to the subject that he started at the beginning of the letter. He concludes this section, the last four chapters are devoted to this cause.

Let's begin looking at verse 1 of chapter 10 again. It's important to notice that Paul makes a big shift. There's this very consequential statement in the last verse of chapter 9, Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

And now he shifts direction.

Now I,.

Paul, myself, am pleading with you. Think about this. Paul is pleading with them, and you have to wonder, why is he pleading with them? They're accusing him of being of little substance. He's unimpressive in their minds.

They're questioning his authority. And it would seem that at some point Paul's going to retaliate and come back and exact a little personal vengeance. But he doesn't do that. And I should point out, you and I, when we are spitefully treated, should resist every urge to retaliate.

That is a natural, carnal response, and it's not befitting the people of God. We're a different kind and different sort of people. So we see here, Paul is now confronting the false teachers, and maybe a couple of those church members who are in the middle are not sure where they stand.

Maybe some of them have some allegiance to them. His rebuke doesn't start off as harsh, but it comes in tenderly. I'm pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He sets up Christ as the example, and who has exhibited power and authority and gentleness and humility and longsuffering like Christ?

No one. Christ has.

All authority over.

All things and the preeminence of all things, and he wields his authority with great restraint. He's not prone to making rash, angry outbursts or decisions. So Paul starts with pleading. Pleading with that longsuffering, enduring under trial and mistreatment, meekness, and he does it.

With the.

Gentleness of Christ. And I would point out to you, my suspicion is that the false teachers and those who esteem them, they don't operate this way. You may remember the Greek people do not like humility.

They like arrogance. They like external confidence. So this is a different kind of living. The Christian looked very different to the unbelieving world. I should point out to you, you and I must look different to this world.

They must see something of Christ in us. We should not have the customs. Our language should be different. Our manner should be different. Our comportment, the way we carry ourselves, the way we conduct our business, the way we live our lives, the way we have our marriages and our homes and our working, all that we do should be reflective of Christ.

Here.

He takes a little bit of a wordplay in this section. You'll remember he reverts back to that language, who in presence am lowly among you. That's the accusation. Paul's a big man when he's writing letters, but boy when he comes here to talk to us, he's just not that impressive.

He says, and kind of using their own argument, he says who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent and bold towards you. But now it turns, and look at verse 2. Paul's now coming in with warfare.

Paul's.

Now coming in as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and in fact a five-star general in God's army. He's coming now with a little bit more strength and boldness. He says, but I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intended to be bold against some.

Paul's saying, you don't want me to come wielding my apostolic authority. You don't want to see me in a full demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power. Receive my pleas now. I implore you to stop this nonsense of undermining my authority which is in fact undermining the authority of Christ.

It's going to be a couple months before I come. You better get this in order, or I will with great boldness set things.

Aright. I'd like us.

To consider something Paul said in the first letter. It seems to help us put this all together in one place and have our thoughts be right about it. Please turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. This is going to lead us into our next.

Section, and.

It's going to help us kind of connect all these ideas cohesively from both letters.

1 Corinthians.

Chapter 1. The warfare motif has started, but the weapons are different than you expect. There's something very, very different about the weapons of our warfare. 1 Corinthians 1.

18.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. I've enjoyed how much the liturgy has been in line with the sermons and how much the Sunday school lesson has been, and certainly only the Lord can orchestrate all of that.

What a wonderful thing for all these things to fall together. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, and that's still true today. Can you imagine in the Greek Roman world the idea of a suffering Savior?

Utter nonsense to them, but to us we're being saved. It's the power of God. Verse 19. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. The people of this age are creating a new wisdom, a new morality.

Our God is going to destroy that wisdom, the wisdom of the world. It's going to be utterly crushed. He's going to bring to nothing the understanding.

Of the.

Prudent. Back to.

Corinthians, verse 20. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Now, I should point out to you that you and I are under the heavy influence of the wisdom.

Of the world. And I would.

Argue, even a virtuous people like yourselves, you are more under the influence of the wisdom of the world than you are the Holy Scripture. You consume far more of the world's wisdom on your phones and on your laptops and your tablets than you do the wisdom of God and Scripture.

We must repent in wailing and sackcloth and ashes that we have imbibed in the world's wisdom like we have. Every one of us could do more to be fully immersed in the wisdom of God. God is bringing the wisdom.

Of the world.

To nothing. It says,.

For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. What is the need of the hour? Is it more diversity?

Is it racial reparations? Is it socialism for all? Is that going to.

Solve our problem?

Well, the problem is sin. And there's only one provision for that problem and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. The world's trying to figure out and they're playing the shell game, moving the pieces around, trying to solve all of its problems without.

Ever addressing.

The source. Please God, through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom. What does Paul do? He says in verse 23, We preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.

But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Children, do you have any idea what the weapons of our warfare might be given the language of 1 Corinthians?

It says, verse 25, because the foolishness of God is wiser.

Than men.

And the weakness of God, if there could ever be such a thing, is stronger.

Than men.

One pastor, I was referencing this message, referred to essentially a nerf gun being shot at him by one of his grandsons. The weapons of the world's warfare are nerf guns with soft little rubber tips.

The weapons of our warfare are cosmically powerful because they come from God. God gives the power to his.

Method. Foolishness.

I need more signs. I present to you the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the message. It continues in verse 26 saying, for you see your calling brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are.

Called. But God.

Has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. The base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence.

But of him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. As it is written, he who glories let him glory in the Lord. And Paul says again a few verses later, for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ.

And him.

Crucified. And now an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the critique. Verse 3. This is what the false teachers are saying about him still in 2 Corinthians. I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling.

As a man standing in the flesh, Paul exhibited those behaviors. And he says, my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and.

Of power that your.

Faith should not be in the wisdom.

Of men,.

But in the power of God. Let's turn back to our text in 2 Corinthians and see if we can make some sense of all.

Of this.

2 Corinthians.

10. Paul's.

War motif starts and he starts with sarcasm. He says, I'm pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. And then it turns a little bit.

Here.

Who in presence and lowly among you, I came to you in fear and weakness and in much trembling. But when I write my letters, I am bold toward you. But now I beg you, I plead with you, repent of your evil ways because I'm coming in the name of God and the power of God for the glory of Christ.

You better watch out. He says in verse 3, another play on words for though we walk in the flesh, the accusation at the end of verse 2 is that Paul has been walking according to a sinful desire. He wants honor.

He wants money. He wants prominence.

Among the men. In reality,.

The so-called super apostles who want to supplant him, they don't like the place of honor that Paul has and they'd like.

To have it.

So they're going to tear him down. They might be put in that place.

He takes.

This language and turn of phrase and says for though we walk in the flesh, we are physical beings. We are just mere men. We do not war according to the flesh and I bet you the false teachers were warring according to the flesh.

One of the things that there's a temptation for us in the culture battles is to dive into the muck and mire with the world and to argue in their ways. What are their ways?

The false.

Teachers who harm the church are using carnal methods and these methods are as old as time. They come from Satan himself. What are they? Well, they're fleshly.

They're carnal.

They're things like manipulation. Manipulation is used from everything to get you to click on a screen to buy a card for your mother on Mother's Day. You are manipulated every single day. The Christian should have no part of manipulation in those people whom they love.

We should never use the world's ways. The world also appeals to carnal appetites. They use sexually provocative imagery and language to sell things as nebulous as ice cream. They are coercive. They push you in a direction by force.

They try to bully you into their ways. They make false accusations.

As they did against.

Paul.

They did this in an attempt to undermine his real authority to call into question his character and integrity.

They also.

Engage in ad hominem personal attacks attacking his perceived weaknesses. Again, they just do not value this idea of meekness and humility. We have to ask the question. It's in such short supply in the church today.

I don't think we esteem it either.

It's really sad.

The picture of power, patience, humility, meekness is the Lord Jesus Christ. But we like our heroes like the world's heroes. But Paul calls us to use a different kind of weapon in our warfare.

Because we.

Do not war according to the flesh. Turn back a couple of books to the book of Romans in chapter 1. I'm going to just do a quick observation here. Romans 1. Paul is so eager to preach the gospel. He says in verse.

16,.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

Children, I'd like you to pay close attention to this next section because as Christians, we cannot be sullied by the world's ways. They are subject to the wrath of God. Why would we give any quarter or go and play with them?

Why would we do that? Utter foolishness for us. Verse 18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in.

Unrighteousness.

Take a look around you. All the things that the culture espouses are embodiments.

Of this very thing. Men.

Cannot have babies. Homosexuality will never be legitimized. Fornication will never be acceptable. Adultery will never be accepted. Irrevocable, permanent, fixed in heaven and on earth truths.