Session 1 Sermon- Robert Canipe

So it's not really that important, and I'm glad Jonathan did all that introduction so I don't have to do as much. But I did want to let you know who we were, kind of how it started, a little bit of history.

So at the end of 2019, I needed an outlet. People have different outlets.

I needed an outlet, and just like many other people, I was on Facebook, and around that time, it was really popular to go to a community group, a for sale type group, and people were selling things online, live.

And I was like, I can do that. I can go on here, and I can do that, and I can share

Jesus. So that's kind of how it started with me. I needed an outlet, and that's where I found it, and I started the podcast early 2020.

And then God began to send friends to me. Dan was the first one. Actually, he and I spoke,

I think, a number of years ago about doing something together, but then the Lord brought us together early 2020, and we began the

Truth and Love podcast. God brought more friends to us, and that began the

Truth and Love Network. And then as that developed, we began the Labor podcast, which is on Thursdays, and we're thankful that you all pray for us and support us.

We really appreciate it, and the Lord has brought us together for this Labor Conference weekend.

I'm really thankful for that. But it's not about us. I just wanted to introduce us to you.

I'm Robert Connice, and I'm thankful for you, and I'm really, I'm going to say this all weekend long. I'm really, really thankful for Vertical and all that they've done and hosting us.

And so you're going to get tired, like, that's probably literally going to be true, that I'm going to be thanking you so much because I'm so grateful for you guys and what you've done and opening your doors to this conference.

So let's begin on the topic for tonight, God saving a bad world,

God's means for God's end. All right, so I hope you have a pen and a piece of paper with you tonight.

If you take notes, if you don't have a pen or piece of paper with you tonight, log it in here and stick it in there somewhere.

And hopefully you can recall it, because if you look at the schedule, and if you do not, look at the schedule, tomorrow night, we're going to have a

Q &A with the guys, and we hope that you guys will be asking questions of the panel.

And we're going to have another Q &A Sunday after the service. Ask questions then, and we would love to try to answer.

I'm not one of those that has the $5 words. Some of my other brothers do, and they can give you some pretty good answers.

But I have a kickstart for your list of questions. And if you want to write this one down, if it intrigues you and you want to bring it back up, you can ask it

Friday during the Q &A session. So here it goes. Here's to start off your list for the

Q &A session, the questions that you may want to ask. So our first passage is

Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 through 14. Now listen closely.

Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction.

And there are many to enter through it. Now here's the interesting part. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life.

There are few to find it. Now here's the second passage.

Revelation chapter 7, verse 9. After these things, I looked and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and people and tongues, standing before the throne and before the

Lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches with their hands. Boom!

These passages just blew my mind. So which is it? In eternity, are there going to be few that find it?

Or in eternity, are there going to be such a number, such a multitude that we can't even count?

There's your question for the Q &A tomorrow night. This does relate to our presentation tonight, but I wanted to give you a head start on your

Q &A. And maybe you can look it up, come up with an answer, and you'll be ready for it tomorrow night.

But I'm going to go with Revelation chapter 7, verse 9, that God is going to be saving a lot of people.

And I think that we would pretty much have a consensus among us all that God is going to save a lot of people.

The question is, how is He, or how has He been doing that?

And that's what I want to bring to you tonight, that presentation. How is He and how has

He been doing that? I want to steer us in a direction and get us to a point where we are looking at what is

God doing from a certain perspective, from a biblical perspective.

And I hope tonight we'll be a little interactive, so I'm going to be quoting some verses that you're probably familiar with, and so you can help me finish them.

Starting in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

We're starting our perspective, okay? Genesis 1, 31. God saw that all

He had made, and behold, it was... Wait a second. Very good.

Genesis 1, 31. It was very good. Absolutely. Genesis 2, 16 through 17.

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.

For in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. Romans 5, 12.

Just as sin entered the world through one man, death through sin. And in this way, death came to all men.

1 Corinthians 15, 22. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that everyone believing in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

And Matthew 28, 18 through 20. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. So what have we learned about God?

God has created, and here's our perspective, God has created the heavens and the earth. It was very good.

We have a bad world now. God is good, caring, and loving.

But towards whom? His entire created world.

He has a plan to save a bad world. God's plan is global.

God has a global plan. So those points should be leading us to ask these questions, or at least it did me.

So if God's plan is global, number one, why do

I focus so much on my own salvation and my own sanctification? Why do

I focus, or why do we focus on reaching and discipling our family? If God's plan is global, why am

I spending so much time, why are we spending so much time focusing and reaching and discipling our neighbors?

Why are we so locally focused when God's vision is global?

We'll get there. I want to walk us through God's means in saving a bad world.

We know from the New Testament in John, and I'm going to read it from the

New American Standard, 95, because this has always been an intriguing, interesting verse to me.

We know that Jesus was there from the beginning. John chapter 1, verse 3.

All things... You have to listen to this verse very carefully. All things that came into being...

All things came into being through him. Apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being.

Nothing came into being that has come into being. It's almost like he's being repetitive.

He's saying the same thing twice. But what I figured out is that, in my mind,

I like to draw pictures. I draw a circle. And this is where we can have a difference, a good biblical theological difference between the

Jehovah's Witnesses. Everything that has been created is in that circle.

And Jesus is outside that circle. He's not a created being. So everything was created by Jesus.

We also learn from John that all things were made by, for, and through him.

He was there at creation where man was introduced into the world. Adam and Eve were given what we call the creation mandate.

And I'm also going to be referring to the kingdom mandate. And I hope I'm correct in comparing those two terms.

Creation mandate and kingdom mandate. Go, fill the earth, and subdue it.

They weren't to stay in the garden perpetually. They were to leave it and fill the earth.

And I think it should be understood that when they were told to go fill the earth and subdue it, that they were to be taking

God with them. Because of man's disobedience, sin entered the world.

They wanted to stay in the garden and continue to eat the forbidden fruit. However, God's command and His plan for His world did not change.

Man was forced out of the garden and was not welcomed back. They did go out and begin to fill the earth.

But because of sin, it was now very difficult and not very good.

Because of sin, man was tempted to not take God with him.

And most of them did not. The hearts of men were evil and sinned continuously.

However, God always had a remnant. God destroyed the earth with a flood due to man's sin, but saved

Noah and his family. God told Noah, fill the earth.

And here again we have that creation kingdom mandate. Go, fill the earth.

And of course, they also should have taken God with them. Population began to grow, but they failed to obey

God and fill the earth. They decided to stay in one place and build a tower to heaven.

Keeping with His plan, God dispersed them to fill the earth, since they wouldn't do it themselves.

And He confused their languages. God's plan and concern for His created world never changes.

Though man again and again goes far from Him. God always knew this.

And we as believers now, because we've been unveiled, we can see, looking back with 20 -20 vision, man is unable, they were unable to accomplish this task.

Therefore, God intervenes. He narrows His focus. God chooses a remnant, so that through them, through this people group,

God would send someone that would save the world.

God promises Abraham a land, and that he would be the father of many nations.

Then we have Jacob, who became Israel, and then we have from him the 12 tribes of Israel.

We have Moses, whom God uses to take the people out of slavery and into the promised land.

God gives them His law through Moses, and promises that one will come that is greater than him,

Moses. Generally, the rest of the story is God keeping His remnant together, despite their best efforts to mess it up, so that through them, through this people group,

He might save His created world. From Genesis to Malachi, God continuously reveals, through promises, that through them, one would come to save the world, so that He could fill

His created world for His own glory. God told them to go fill the earth, go save the earth, go grow

My kingdom. And every time they failed, by narrowing

His focus, I mean that God went from commanding them to go fill the earth, to, okay, we're going to keep these people, we're going to save this certain people group, so that through them, a

Messiah would come. He Himself would come and save His world.

Then we have Mary, whose lineage we can take back and trace all the way back to the beginning. And she was given the promise.

You will bear a son, His name will be called Emmanuel, which is God with us. He shall save His people from their sins.

And now we get to Jesus. And we begin to start back onto the world again.

John 3, 17 says that He did not come to judge the world, but that through Him, the world might be saved.

And then John 3, 16, again, for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, everyone believing in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus accomplished this by His life, death, and resurrection.

Victoriously, He ascends to heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God.

John 67, Jesus says, But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am leaving.

For if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go,

I will send Him to you. Now, if you would, mark this next statement.

Jesus' work, His work, and ascension provided the ability for His people to now be empowered by the

Holy Spirit to obey where they could not before. Jesus' work and ascension provided the ability for His people to now be empowered by the

Holy Spirit to obey where they could not before. Now He sends His people out to fulfill that creation or kingdom mandate to fill the earth by God's means and by God's power.

Matthew 28, 19 and 20, which we've already cited. All authority has been given to me, Jesus says, in heaven and on earth.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded.

I will be with you even to the end of the age. God has always had

His chosen people through whom He works. In the Old Testament, He had physical

Israel. Now in the New Covenant, He has spiritual Israel.

Fulfilling His promise to Abraham that His descendants would be as numerous as the sands of the shore and the stars in the sky.

Romans 9, 6 through 8 says, But it is not as though the word of God has failed, for they are not all

Israel who are descended from Israel, nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants.

But through Isaac, your descendants will be named. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of promise, the promise are regarded as descendants.

We are Israel. We are spiritual Israel. We are His workmanship,

Ephesians 2 .10. We are His temple, 1 Corinthians 3 .16. We are

His ambassadors, 2 Corinthians 5 .20. We are the body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12.

We are the bride of Christ, Ephesians 5. We are His new creation, 2 Corinthians 5 .17.

We are His workers. We are His laborers. We are the means in which

God is using to save a bad world. Doug Wilson uses the analogy of an omelet in his documentary on saving the world.

He's way smarter than I am, so I'm going to try to explain it the way I understood it, which is probably different than what he meant.

But this is how I understood it. Jesus is the creator of the recipe.

Jesus is also the chef. We are the egg. You are the egg in the omelet.

All the ingredients, all the other ingredients in this omelet are all the different aspects of your life.

Jesus uses you as the egg to permeate and hold all things together so that it can be molded, shaped, and even flipped by Christ.

Here's where we can begin to answer our question from the beginning. Why is our focus so local when

God's plan is global? Because it is His means to accomplish

His ends. In other words, God's ways are higher than our ways.

God's wisdom is foolishness to those who are perishing. God's means to save the world is by working at the grassroots.

It is with you and me. So therefore, Doug Wilson says, don't be a bad egg.

Do the things in your life that fulfill your moral, your ethical, and your spiritual obligations.

Pay your bills. Work hard and be honest. Love your wife as Christ loved the church.

And respect your husband as Christ has commanded. The list could go on and on, and we could go much deeper in application, and we will on Saturday.

However, I hope you see the point. Don't be a bad egg. Do justice.

Love mercy. Walk humbly with God, Micah 16. And while you're living this life for Christ, remember this.

Christians have a bad habit of living without joy because of the bad world they see around them.

Without a doubt, there is a bad world. There is evil in the world.

Our world is marred with sin. We see and feel the effects of it daily, sometimes in greater measure than we would like.

We allow this vision of the reality of the world to manipulate how we live in this world.

We have lost our joy because of how we interpret this bad world around us.

We see a sinful world, and we wallow in impending and inevitable doom.

However, this is not a biblical perspective on this bad and sinful world. Please throw away this bad perspective.

Here are two ways I think are biblical ways to view this bad and sinful world. Number one, think of a piece of fruit.

Think of an apple. Once this apple is full, it's bad.

And once it's gone bad, it's of no use because it's going to continue to decay and eventually go away.

Hear Hebrews 12 .27. This expression yet once more denotes that removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things, so that those things which can be shaken may remain.

God's going to shake so that those things that can be shaken will be shaken and they'll be removed.

And those things that are His will remain that can't be shaken. Bad cannot be sustained.

Once an apple is bad, it's bad. You can't fix it or doctor it up. Just like every evil empire in history has fallen, so will every sinful thing in this world.

Doom and destruction are not in our ultimate future. Evil cannot sustain nor remain.

That which can be shaken will be and removed. I hope you can see what

I'm trying to say. If you see something bad, it won't stay.

It will not be here forever. Number two, 1 Corinthians 15, 25 -26.

Jesus must reign until all His enemies are put under His feet. The last enemy is there.

Jesus defeated His enemies. He is defeating His enemies. His enemies will one day be defeated once for all.

Hebrews says it like this, chapter 2, verses 8 -10. For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him.

But now we do not yet see all things subjected to Him. Therefore, when you see a bad world, see it through the lens of a

Savior that wins. And bad things cannot be eternal because the fact of their very nature is bad.

Keep these things in mind when you see murder, evil politics, hunger, cancer, and all other evil things.

They will all receive this double portion of the reality of God in the end. Because they are bad, because they are evil, just for that very fact, they cannot be sustained.

And they will go away. They will rot and decay. And number two, Jesus is putting all of His enemies under His feet.

Brothers and sisters, we are co -heirs. We are brothers and sisters and serve the

King of kings and Lord of lords. We have been brought from death to life by the

Lord Jesus Christ. He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. We have been commissioned or mandated with a victorious task.

We can pursue it with all of our being and with joy and with confidence because Jesus has already secured the victory for the glory of God and the good of His people.

Grace and peace to you. My brothers and sisters, walk by faith. Stand firm in Christ and be strong in the

Lord and the power of His might. And remember that Jesus is

King. Go live in the victory of Christ. Go speak with the authority of Christ.

And go share the gospel of Christ. Let's pray together. Father, thank

You for this opening night of the Laborers' Conference. For it's not about us.

It's not about us men or this conference or our podcast.

We just want to point to You. We want to hear from Your Word. We want to love Jesus. We want to exalt

Christ. And we're humbled that You have given us the opportunity to do that with these brothers and sisters that You have given us, this fellowship that we have together, even with people that we don't completely agree with.

Father, You've given us a like mind that we remain faithful to the truths of Scripture and the foundations of our faith.

And where we disagree, Father, You've given us the heart to sharpen one another and learn from one another.

Father, we're humbled that You would choose us to be saved and be a part of Your global work to save a bad world.

Help us to be the children, the husbands, the wives, the fathers and mothers, the neighbors that You would have us to be.

Help us as we share Your gospel. And help us to be careful to give