Putting The 'Christ Who Preaches' Back In Christmas - [Matthew 5:4]

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well merry christmas just a quick announcement we do have junior church today for those kids that want to be in junior church so you can just slip out if you like Joanne Dunn is going to be back there so thank you
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I was just in the restroom earlier today and someone said I was very disappointed in the service last night I never know what people are going to say
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I said well why was that? because you didn't preach long enough so today we'll try to correct that something about this church that I praise
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God for you love bible preaching and I commend you for that we come to hear from God yes it's through a fallible minister but we want to hear what
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God says as a matter of fact God loves preaching and that's what we want to do is herald his word to as many people as will hear it we just ordered thirty more chairs this week
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Fred did and so we're trying to fill this place up to capacity up to where the fire code will allow us and they should be coming in the next couple months read an article this week called
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Christmas comeback by Lynn Vincent she said Christmas is making a comeback against the scrooge -ocracy of America you've probably heard of some of these
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Macy's holiday theme for 2005 Christmas in the city Dillard's department stores discover
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Christmas discover Dillard's I'm not talking about the theology
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I'm just talking about they're saying Christmas unlike Target our Walgreens Encinitas California Mayor Dallagher said we will no longer call our
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December processional a holiday parade it will be known as a Christmas parade every year for thirty four years
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Nova Scotia ships in a fourteen foot tree and is placed right in the center of Beantown in Boston it used to be known as a holiday tree earlier this year in November but the city backed down right away and said this is a
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Christmas tree Boston Parks Commissioner Tony Pollack told the Boston Herald quote it is definitely a
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Christmas tree someone said everybody knows that a green pointed tree that we decorate in December is a
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Christmas tree calling it a holiday tree is like calling a menorah a candelabra Lowe's was saying happy holidays and now they have
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Christmas trees instead of holiday trees and the list goes on and on putting Christ back into Christmas putting
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Christmas back into Christmas as for me in my house we want to put the
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Christ who preaches back into Christmas it's one thing to have Jesus in Christmas he's a little manger there matter of fact one song even goes so far to say no crying he what makes he doesn't talk he doesn't cry he doesn't say anything offensive he doesn't say anything that talks about sin or a need of a
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Savior so as long as Jesus is sequestered and relegated to this manger where he doesn't talk except maybe say goo or gah that's great
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Christ is in Christmas today we want to put the Christ who preaches into Christmas because did you know he came to die on Calvary but the way to Calvary was paved with the cobblestones of gospel preaching and today we're going to look at his first sermon that he preached called the sermon on the mount if you have your
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Bibles I'd encourage you to turn to the book of Matthew the first gospel in the
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New Testament about three -quarters of the way into your Bible if you're visiting today and don't have a Bible there's a black one probably in front of you and you're going to need it today we won't have a sermonette for Christianettes today
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I want to feed the souls of you who have come to worship the Lord Al Fancy said last night that was a good sermon introduction pastor uh...
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today we want to put the Christ who preaches back into Christmas and the theme for today is going to be
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Christ here preaching in the sermon on the mount on this particular word comfort he's going to be preaching on this word called comfort the psalmist cries out in Psalm 71
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God may you increase my greatness and turn to comfort me people are in need of comfort
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Psalm 119 David said oh may your loving kindness comfort me Isaiah 51 speaking of the nature of God indeed the
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Lord will comfort Zion he will comfort all her waste places now to catch you up to speed here we have
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Jesus preaching the sermon on the mount and just before he does he stands up in a synagogue and he reads the book of Isaiah and he says the one that Isaiah prophesies of just like when pastor
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Steve read Isaiah 42 today talking about my servant Christ the son Jesus is going to read a portion of this text in Isaiah 61 and listen for the words comfort please the spirit of the
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Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners to proclaim the favorable year of the
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Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn to grant those who mourn in Zion giving them a garland instead of ashes the oil of gladness instead of mourning the mantle of praise instead of spirit of fainting so they will be called oaks of righteousness the planting of the
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Lord that he may be glorified Jesus said this prophecy of old spoke of me and I was coming to preach and I was coming to anoint and I was coming to comfort now if we look at Matthew chapter 5 in the
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Sermon on the Mount verse 4 we see this second beatitude and what we do at our church is just week after week verse by verse by verse word by word by word letter by letter by letter why would we want to rush it's good one of my tactics of preaching with depth is to teach you that every little bit of the
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Bible is what important full of depth and here if you take a look at Matthew 5 4 it's almost right out of Isaiah 61 blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted comfort means to come alongside of you've all experienced grief and somebody has come and maybe literally sat right next to you and put their arm around you to comfort you close right in your personal space and this word comfort here is where we get the word
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Holy Spirit the comforter it's like one who comes along and puts his arm around you or she puts his arm around you and just gives you comfort the one that comes right alongside blessed are those who mourn for they shall receive it means to refresh to receive consolation and the one in context that is giving the comfort is
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God himself I love Isaiah 66 as the one whom his mother comforts so I will comfort you
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God is the comforter commentator Lenski said the greatest of all comfort is the absolution pronounced upon every contrite mourning sinner we lose a loved one we need comfort we have a sickness we need comfort financial woes we need comfort but the greatest comfort of all is what you can be pretty healthy to the end you can have all your bills paid for everything in your life can be going great but one day when we die and stand before God then what then what we want the ultimate comfort and today we look to this passage to see that Jesus Christ is the only hope of forgiveness and true comfort after all
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Jesus in Mark 10 said for the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many and I would say to you this morning that that is the greatest comfort that could ever be given in a dream
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Martin Luther found himself being attacked by Satan this is just a dream the devil unrolled a long scroll containing a list of Luther's sins and held it before Luther on reaching the end of the scroll
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Luther asked the devil is that all no came the reply and a second scroll was thrust in front of him then after a second came a third but now the devil had no more you've forgotten something
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Luther exclaimed triumphantly quickly write on each of them the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin could there be any better comfort than the hope of salvation and the forgiveness of sins would you turn to Revelation chapter 21 and let me show you this ultimate comfort here's almost the fulfillment of for me to live as Christ and to die as gain what do you mean for me to die as gain well let's take a look at heaven
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I remember when my mother was dying she was just moments away from losing consciousness and I looked at her and I said to live as Christ and to die as gain how can death be gain well
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Revelation chapter 21 will give us a little insight on the ultimate comfort that's heaven and I love preaching about heaven
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I wish there was more about heaven to preach find it odd that there's not much in the Bible about heaven maybe it's too indescribably good maybe we just have to wait but there is something here look at Revelation chapter 21 the last book of the
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Bible the ultimate comfort heaven and I heard a loud voice twenty times about in Revelation I heard a loud voice why would he say it loudly it's important it's authoritative
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I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the tabernacle of God is among men and he shall dwell among them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be among them
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I met a guy once and he was my boss he had a Pomeranian he couldn't have children so he loved that Pomeranian and I'd walk into his house there's a picture of him and his wife in the
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Pomeranian he would set the table at night time big corporate executive guy but he'd set the table where it would be his wife himself and a plate for the
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Pomeranian thought
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I was in Paris or something for a minute when I went over there but I was preaching the gospel to him one day and I said
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Ben what do you think about heaven he said will my dog
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Max be there in heaven Max the Pomeranian I said sorry dogs don't have souls now
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God might just make a horse to live up in heaven something like that but an animal that's here been tainted by sin because of the fall
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Jesus didn't die for dogs so sorry I'll never forget what he said he said if my dog
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Max isn't in heaven it ain't heaven heaven here in Revelation is exposed to us as not who else is in heaven but God is in heaven and he's close by instead of Jesus just being with Peter James and John up on the mountain instead of God manifest in the
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Shekinah glory in the Holy of Holies and we're out here in the temple of the Gentiles in the temple at the court of the
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Gentiles in the court of the women and outside the gate here God is typified as a God who will come and put his tent right in among the people did you see that it says first the tabernacle of God is among men his place of abode is close not a different area code not a different country with men not just Israel man's lost fellowship with God in the garden and now he's close did you also see and he shall dwell among them literally he shall put up his tent among them he'll pitch a tent and that word for tent is where we get the word
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Shekinah from same root word scholar Mount said closely related to the
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Hebrew Shekinah which was used to denote the presence and glory of God the metaphor does not suggest a temporary dwelling for this point on God remains with his people throughout eternity that's comfort all these issues going on in life and then you have the privilege to bask in the glory of God forever and ever the ultimate fulfillment of Leviticus 26
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I will make my dwelling among you my soul will not reject you I will also walk among you and be your
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God and you shall be my people look what else the passage says in Revelation 21 3 they shall be his people close bond of fellowship in the original there is the focal point the passage we shall be his people called by name and God himself emphatically did you see that shall be with them intimacy could anything get any better than that well verse 4 and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall no longer be any death and there shall no longer be any mourning did you get that or crying or pain the first things have passed away literally every single tear wiped away gone just singing that last song thinking about the greatness of God and thinking about this is a
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Christmas without my mother I just kinda began to cry sitting right there no tears in heaven every single tear nothing to be sorry about nothing to be sad about no pain no disappointment no tears of remorse no tears over people who've died nothing will be sad disappointing deficient are wrong one man said every single tear and there's a repetition of a little word in Greek where it says shall wipe out to wipe out every tear listen to this human hands are poor at drying tears but in heaven death gone we buried quite a few people here
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I buried quite a few people watch people die ultimately first Corinthians 15 death is swallowed up in victory sorrow do you see the text it's gone crying gone by the way that's a crying outcry clamor loud gone no pain gone why the first things have passed away could it get any better than that could there be better comfort look at Revelation 22 verse 3 the next chapter and there shall no longer be any what curse what was hindering the fellowship between God the triune
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God Father Son and Spirit and sinful mankind is gone the curse is gone would you like to have heaven ultimate comfort
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I think I forgot to tell you something there's a condition did you know that there's a condition for comfort you want comfort
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I do I like to receive comfort do you you know there's a condition to have
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God's comfort in heaven what might that condition be what's her back to Matthew chapter 5 find out
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I want comfort and as basil said holy morning is the seed out of which the flower of eternal joy grows
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I don't know why churches only preach the good news the good news is great when the bad news is bad that makes sense did you get that the worst the bad news the greater the good news if I am a great sinner than I need a greater grace than all my sins true
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Jesus didn't come to put a band -aid on us he's didn't come to say well I know you're dysfunctional newsflash
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I'm dysfunctional and you're dysfunctional too we have been tainted by the fall
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I love last night because it started off with the first script reading which came from Genesis 3 we don't need a savior to pick us up when we fall if there's no fall he could have just come to affirm us and Jesus comes giving comfort
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Jesus comes and says I have blazed the trail for heaven I've come from heaven I will go back to heaven and I'm here to take people to heaven with me but there is a condition and the next time you hear people say
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God loves people unconditionally you can just say you know what an Avendroth guy once says when people say that you can say is that true what do you mean unconditional love
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God's love for Christians yes is in fact unconditional because if ever the father loved you he'll love you what forever
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God has two kinds of love he has a love of creation he creates us and he loves us but there's another kind of love that's reserved for only those who are in Christ true it is true
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God loved Judas as a created being but God did not love Judas in the sense that he had a son die for him because if his son died for him he surely would be in heaven wouldn't he there's a condition to heaven and today as a preacher knowing that there are visitors and guests and everything else my heart's desire is for you to know who you are that you might look to the
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Savior who is Matthew chapter 5 verse 4 what is the condition to this word comfort by the way it says for they and they only will receive comfort you want the ultimate comfort this is a very conditional statement blessed are approved by God are those who what party party party eat drink and be merry do the minimum amount possible what does it say
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I mean this will pack a church out on Sunday Christmas morning won't it you say why am
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I preaching this well I'm pretty much out of Christmas sermons been preaching for nine years
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Christmas Eve Christmas morning I'm kinda out of Christmas sermons Jesus came to save his people from their sins he died and he was born in model to the heart of those sermons so I just thought we're just gonna keep going and we've been going through Matthew so why stop now
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John Calvin was kicked out of his pulpit in Geneva three and a half years later they let him come back guess where he started preaching from the next verse where he left off me we can twist anything to Christmas message
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I just throw a few things out about Macy's and Dillard's and you're you're caught I don't know what
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God says this is going to be a good crit good message for Christians because we can remember from what
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God has saved us from and what God has saved us unto it will also help us as Christians because when we preach the gospel we don't have to go for the least common denominator minimalistic reductionistic gospel that says you know what
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God just loves you as a wonderful plan for your life I'm okay you're okay just somehow intellectually throw God a bone of belief and you're okay till next
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Christmas that's a lie it's going to be good for those who are born again today who are born from above because they'll realize this is what
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God calls people to who want to enter into that ultimate comfort he calls them to mourn what do you mean mourn?
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mourning over sin listen to a couple these wonderful quotes
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God pours the golden oil of comfort into broken vessels that sin which cannot be defended by argument may be washed away by tears no meat so sweet as tears it is one of the worst sites to see a sinner go laughing to hell how unreasonable it is to take a harp when
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God is taking a sword what does
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Jesus say in this first sermon Jesus came to preach what did he say in the first sermon you see the first beatitude verse 3 remember that from a couple weeks ago beatitude number one approved by God are the poor in spirit they're spiritually bankrupt they come to God not bringing anything for theirs is the kingdom of heaven they're crouching they're beggars they're having no spiritual resources at all they get the kingdom of heaven they realize something's wrong with them they look to the
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Lord now becomes not just intellectual but emotional with the second beatitude blessed are those who mourn they're sad they cry all over sin gave an outline last time and here's my outline on biblical mourning to help you realize how true comfort comes and I said first of all people biblically mourn when they see sin for what it is you biblically mourn when you see sin as a sin against God not a crime against society what
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Joan says as I confront God and His holiness and contemplate the life that I meant to live I see myself my utter helplessness and hopelessness
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I discover my quality of spirit and immediately that makes me mourn number two not only do we see sin against God we should mourn on earth so we don't have to mourn in hell forever there's mourning there do you know what
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Jesus said in this exact same sermon in Luke chapter 6 verse 25 woe to you who are well fed now for you shall be hungry woe to you who laugh now for you shall mourn and weep if you don't mourn on earth for your sins you'll mourn that you didn't repent and over your sins when it's too late in perdition and now for the new information this morning the new proclamation is thirdly biblical mourning is mandatory for salvation let's turn to James if we would please you have a
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Bible please turn to the book of James I love James because James had a teacher who was James's teacher by the way oh let's back up who was his brother imagine having a brother
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Jesus well that's another sermon that's parenting sermon the half brother of Jesus had the same mother but different father right was
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James you imagine James listened to everything Jesus said James in his book the epistle to the in the the epistle of James uses all kinds of things from the
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Sermon on the Mount it was as if he'd listen to that and memorize it and it just comes out when he preaches matter of fact this used to be a sermon
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James and let's focus in on this idea of mourning over our sins so we run to the
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Savior there's gotta be a reason why we need forgiveness James chapter 4 verse 6 is in the context of salvation it's a context where the pastor knows not everybody in the church is a saved and a
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Christian but they need to hear the gospel this particular case he doesn't even talk about the cross he just shows that God has grace and then what should the response be it's amazing people don't preach like this
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I dare say if James got up and preach the sermon in this church I don't know how many would stay so I'm a lightweight is what
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I'm trying to say James chapter 4 verse 6 and you're gonna see words on the
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Sermon on the Mount that are right here but he gives a greater grace he gives salvation grace by the way the word great
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I love is what megaphone some of you stayed up late last night for those parties and I see you kinda drifting off this is the word mega he gives a mega grace why would you need mega grace if you're okay we know the answer to that would you ever say what the 16th century
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German theologian said I have a natural tendency to hate God and hate my neighbor got a problem self -esteem you say things like that this is abundant grace greater than what greater than our depravity greater than our sin greater than everything about us
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God's got a greater grace and here's the proclamation to greater grace what's the definition of grace unmerited favor
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I like Sinclair Ferguson's definition better demerited favor he gives greater grace therefore it says
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God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble the proud those that literally say
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God I know you want me to humble myself and to think that I'm poor in spirit and to mourn over sin but I dare you to knock this battery off my shoulder this means to stand in military array by the way we're gonna line up in a military formation of war against you
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God because how dare you think you're gonna need great grace to overcome my little sin what do you think
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God's attitude is for that he stands opposed to that he's opposed to the proud it's self -centered defiant they worship the unholy trinity me myself and I God says
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I'm ready for battle against those kind of folks but there's the but God there the grace but he gives grace to the humble he gives grace there are only two religions in the world ready for the two religions religion number one bathe in that sacred river kiss that statue eat that wafer have that water poured on your head etc do something have something done to you there's one other religion and that's religion up it's been done by God for you you couldn't save yourself and what
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God has done at Calvary what God has done in eternity few past called Christianity here's the path to comfort you want comfort here comes the 10 steps for comfort this my new 10 step for comfort forget the 12 steps let's do 10 steps 10 steps for comfort because there's 10 commands right here in James chapter 4 here's the 10 step approach not the two -step not the 12 step here the 10 step some of you are listening closely right he said
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I'd pay to see pastor two -step Scott Farah has seen it along with Cindy and Kim God says
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I give greater grace these are going to be so high that you can't do it and you're gonna have to be forced to say if you're not a
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Christian God had give me mercy standards are high because they're so high as we can attain to them the sermon on the mount is you know pick the most religious religious leader and say if your righteousness exceeds him then you can get into heaven and these standards are gonna be perfection and if you're not a
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Christian the solution is not I'm gonna try harder I'm gonna be better the solution is God have mercy upon me
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I'm a sinner this is so wonderful he's preaching right to the unbelievers here here we go 10 steps to receiving the comfort from God number one submit to God James chapter 4 verse 7 is a kinda like machine gun bursts by the way jackhammer like very colorful very
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James like James just loves to preach this way submit therefore to God if God is opposing the proud then we should tuck ourselves underneath God and his authority to line up under this is also used as soldiers under the authority of their commander and if I had a chalkboard you know what
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I would do I would take that chalkboard and I'd just go like that who said we didn't do drama at this church drama that's another sermon it's like fingernails against the chalkboard of some kind of culture that says
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I'm pretty good it's a culture that compares itself against others instead of comparing itself against God submit to God he's your superior he's your
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Lord if you confess with your mouth Romans 10 9 Jesus as Lord number two resist the devil and he will flee from you 7b this is the flip side line yourself up underneath God and as you do that in fact you'll be resisting or standing against Satan he's the one for unbelievers who's captivated their minds and enslaved them they think they have free will but they're doing
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Satan's will resist that take your stand against Satan the slander he's called
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Diablo the slander here's the worst slander anybody could ever give I have self -sufficiency
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I have self -esteem I have self -righteousness therefore I don't need God and you can tell that satanic because that's slander you're either under the
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Lordship of Christ or the Lordship of Satan no middle ground thirdly draw near to God all in the context of salvation and he'll draw near to you it's a call to get close to God come to God come to your father priest used to do this draw near to God spoke of approaching
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God in Hebrews 4 let us draw near with confidence fourthly, uh oh, we're going to probably offend some people here now with these kind of things cleanse your hands you sinners cleanse your hands you sinners hands signifying lifestyle have a lifestyle of sin
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I need my hands cleansed listen to Psalm 24 who has clean hands and a pure heart he's the only kind of person who may ascend to the hill of the
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Lord listen to this great preaching Acts 15 and after there'd been much debate
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Peter stood up and said to them brethren you know that in the early days God made a choice among you and by that mouth the
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Gentiles should hear the Word of God and believe and God who knows the heart bore witness to them giving them the
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Holy Spirit just as he did also to us and he made no distinction between us and them cleansing their hearts by faith need to have clean hands fifthly you see what it says there purify your hearts you double -minded you need to be sanctified on the inside with your whole mission control center your mind and your soul everything about you needs to be purified you double -minded what's double -minded mean it means two -souled it means thinking this way than thinking that way
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Psalm 119 says God hates the double -minded well so far no one's left so I think that probably some leave after this one do you want comfort it's conditional
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Jesus said died on the cross God has confirmed that great great death by raising from the dead and now
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God gives commands to people who want to follow him sometimes the commands are you've got to give it all up and follow me other times the commands are like this here it comes verse 9a be miserable just sounds funny even me saying that Merry Christmas feel wretched so that means be afflicted be warmed and filled a deep inner shame
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God I've sinned against you one man said some people don't come to salvation because they're not miserable enough in their sin broken one man said this word describes the experiences of an army whose food is gone and who have no shelter for the stormy weather spiritually and now we come to the word that's right there in Matthew chapter 5 verse 4 the seventh step if you will mourn you see it there in verse 9 of chapter 4 in James mourn there it is
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God gives a greater grace here's what he calls people to do he called could call them to repent to turn forsake trust believe and James uses this kind of language and this language here is mourn sorrow over sin one man called it funeral like grief you can't hide it you try to make yourself not cry but you cry anyway not because someone died in your family that's certainly understandable but this is because of our own sin blessed are those who mourn for they shall receive comfort how much different than the society says
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Sheryl Crow like all I want to do is have some fun shouldn't be listening to radio secular okay from Solomon eat drink and be merry and almost contained in that same word mourn is the next one number eight weep wail sob cry ever cried over your sin pastor
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Dave loves this story and I'll remind all of you Wesley John Wesley used to preach to coal miners they come out of their minds you know
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Methodist Wesleyans back in those days they would just ride up to a homestead or ride up to a place where people would be they'd get off their horse and they'd stand there with the
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Bible and just keep preaching until people came to listen preaching over and over and over and if it was a homestead when they were done preaching they'd hand them the
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Bible he goes to the mine in Kingswood England out come the miners they were so touched with grief over their own sin that their tears made little runnels as they ran down the grime of their faces realizing their need of the
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Savior that's exactly what James is saying and then two more let your laughter number nine be turned into mourning you see there's nothing wrong with laughter
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God I think made us as people who laugh but when the object of laughter is our life before God transient fleeting ethereal life like a vapor that will one day stand before the judge who knows us and who everything will be laid open and bare
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Hebrews said when we stand before God at judgment time it's like when they used to do the little lambs year lamb year old lambs for sacrifice our older lambs and they would go ahead and take the neck and they would stretch the neck way out
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I would just stretch the neck out for sacrifice and when we stand before God that's the same thing nothing is bare just everything is before God's eyes and he says
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I don't want you to laugh I want you to mourn over your sin can't think you've pulled the wool over God's eyes when he said the adjective means of a downcast look can't even look at the judge these are take people in the throne rooms back in the east and they'd make people stare at the judge when the sentence was given you don't even want to look up because you knew it was gonna be judgment sometimes they would they would tie a knife around the neck of the prisoner so he would have to look because he couldn't bow down and just that normal feeling when you're in front of superior you just want to kind of bow and then the summary statement number 10 humble yourselves in the presence of the
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Lord comes full circle God gives grace to the humble and now he humbles he calls for us to humble ourselves and he will exalt you there it is there's the exaltation here's what
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God calls us to do we can't do it on our own so we call for him to give us mercy and then at the end there's that comfort and he will exalt you
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John Flavel said they who know God will be humble and they that know themselves cannot be proud Churchill was once asked doesn't it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech the hall is packed to overflowing oh it's quite flattering said
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Sir Winston but whenever I feel that way I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged the crowd would be twice as big humble yourselves in the presence of the
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Lord and God will certainly with a promise with the future they like gospel preaching that's not why they're leaving amen alright just wanna make that clear they want you to stumble they're probably going to another church service how about that the comfort he will exalt you and we as Christians have not we receive the exaltation by God of us we're in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus we've been given everything that Christ has we're not a distant an air where a co -worker with Christ I've been adopted in the family of God and so have you and is because God has given us enough grace that we might have said and we did say
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God I submit to you I resist the devil I draw near to you I wanna be miserable
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I wanna have my hands clean I wanna have my heart purified I wanna have just that feeling I'm done with myself
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Jesus once said hey you wanna come to me be sick yourself that's a good summary of Rome James chapter 4
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I'm so thrilled morning doesn't last forever so on this earth and then that's it gospel morning is spiritual that is when we mourn for sin more than suffering
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Pharaoh said take away the plague he never thought the plague of his heart we as Christians they can celebrate that Jesus came to preach
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Jesus came to die he was confirmed by the resurrection and now we have the hope of heaven what about you you
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Christian you born from above may
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I try to remind you and maybe even scare you that there was a man who thought he had a life for the party going on his name is
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Ernest Hemingway remember Ernest he had Christian parents I don't know if you knew that he grew up in an evangelical
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Christian home in Oak Park Illinois maybe this would be good for some of the kids who have heard their father heard their mother preach and pray and study but you know it's time to go out live it up I'll repent later the father of Ernest Hemingway was a friend of DL Moody a letter from Hemingway's mother written in 1920 was telling
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Ernest you've been taught this but your actions are like this why the divorce unless you my son
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Ernest come to yourself cease your lazy loafing and pleasure -seeking we could just fill in James chapter 4 those 10 things even stop trading on your handsome face and neglecting your duties to God and your
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Savior Jesus Christ there is nothing for you but bankruptcy you have overdrawn later
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Hemingway told the magazine in 1956 yeah what is immoral good question what is immoral is what you feel bad after end quote he said
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I'm a man of great standards I have unimpeachable morals and nothing makes me feel bad because I don't do bad he said people with different ideas about morality would call me a sinner and the wages of sin they would say is death but you know he cheated death many many times became a legend great white hunter four wives
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Nobel Prize Pulitzer Prize and the article says sin paid off for Hemingway 10 years later after a chronicle of repeated suicide attempts paranoia multiple affairs multiple marriages he finally was returning to Ketchum Idaho in his hideaway and his final and successful suicide attempt worked and the writer of this article about Hemingway said how haunting and ironic the words written earlier about this man became ultimately sin did indeed pay off for Ernest Hemingway it is the grace of God beloved that you hear these words now before it's too late it's
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God's goodness it's God's providence and for us as Christians Psalm 94 should be our watchword today thy comforts delight my soul who could comfort better than God who can give better comforts he's even triune and the third member the
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Trinity is called the comforter I close with lavender
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I must confess I know not any joy that is so dear to me that so fully satisfies the inmost desires of my mind that so enlivens refines and elevates my whole nature as that which
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I derive from religion from faith in God as one who does not only not only the parent of men but has condescended as a brother to clothe himself with our nature that God would love me so much he would take on human flesh nothing affords me greater delight than a solid hope that I will partake of his favors and rely on his never failing support and protection he has been so often my hope my refuge my confidence when
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I stood upon the brink of an abyss where I could not move one step forward he who in answer to my prayer has helped me when every prospect of help vanished that God who has safely conducted me not merely across flowery paths but likewise across precipices and burning sands may this
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God be thy God thy refuge thy comfort as he has been mine let's close in prayer please
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Lord we thank you for this day we thank you that your words are true and Lord I praise you that you would bring these dear folks today to come into worship
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Christmas isn't a day called by you to worship but the Lord's Day is and that they fall on the same day today we want to thank you and we want to bless your name
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Lord we would pray mostly today that those who have not heard the gospel and they've heard it today that you would give them grace that you would give them repentance that you would grant to them all the things in James so that they might mourn over their sins and then you would comfort them thank you for us as Christians that we have received your comfort may you help us to comfort those who are around us we have hurting ones and needy ones in our church would you help us to comfort them with your own comfort and to think that you're called in 2nd
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Corinthians chapter 1 the God of all comfort may you use us as your hands and feet as it were this week and even this day to comfort those in our midst in Jesus name