What every Sunday school teacher needs to know (pt. 1)

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Is it sin if you do not fast (pt. 2)

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people, a friend, evangelism, from the pulpit, anytime if you taught the
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Bible to someone, a lot, then this message is for you. If you think tonight's just for a pastor, maybe that's why there's no one here tonight because they think
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I'm going to give some kind of seminary lecture or something like that. I want to give you some behind the scenes thoughts of Bible verses that talk to you who would take the
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Bible and teach it to someone else. What I'd like to do is have you think about what a pastor should do and if a pastor should have this philosophy, it should run through the veins of the church as well.
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Let me explain it maybe this way. At the church, if the Bible philosophy is preaching and discipleship, why would we then make a disconnect and say when it comes to the youth group or it comes to Awana, the only thing we want them to do is have fun.
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Wouldn't that be kind of dumb? Whatever the philosophy is from the pulpit, it should infect and invade the congregation in all their different realms.
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So it's the same thing. The way I preach, the way I teach, the philosophy of ministry that the elders have here should invade the way you teach the youth group, the way you should teach
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Sunday school, the way you should teach your home Bible study. There shouldn't be two different ways to go about it. So you could either be a preacher today desiring to want to be a preacher, a
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Sunday school teacher, a parent when you teach your kids. This will work for you tonight as we think about philosophy of ministry and preaching and what you want your preacher and teacher to be and what you should be if you're going to do this.
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So I'm just going to give you some hindrances, then I'm going to give you some habits for effective Bible teaching.
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Not just preaching, but Bible teaching. So things not to do and things to do. For yourself, if you're teaching
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Sunday school, you say, Lord, I'd like to have this happen. If you don't do any of the teaching, you could say, this would be a good prayer request for pastors.
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This would be a good way to go look at another church and you say, well, I'm going to be out of town. How do I pick a church?
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There's only one reason you pick a church and do the exalt Jesus Christ through expository preaching ministry in the pulpit.
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Whether they have a wonderful parking lot or they have a horrible parking lot, we're after the
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Bible. And so by the way, the parking lot should be cleaned up soon, just before Steve Lawson gets here.
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So what we're going to look at first would be hindrances and then habits. And so let's look at some.
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I'm just going to go randomly. I don't know how many we'll get to tonight. I think I probably have 15 or 20 or something like that.
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So some will be fast, some will be slow. Some will be just philosophy, but most will be right from the
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Bible. All right. Any questions? We don't have a big group tonight, but I'm going to try to keep your attention. I'm going to try to engage you and I'm going to ask you questions.
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When tonight I ask you questions, I want an answer. All right. So let's be ready.
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Number one, when you teach the Bible, you ought not to try to be everyone's friend.
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It's one of the things that I teach the pastors in India and South Africa, Germany, wherever I go, you have to make sure you don't have to be everyone's friend when you teach the
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Bible. Even when you're teaching the Bible in Sunday school, what we want to do, whether we eat or drink or whether we teach the
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Bible, we want to glorify the Lord. We've talked about this many times, preaching before God and His glory, koram deo, in the face of God, before God.
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And we are going to have to teach about things, heaven and hell, things like I did this morning. I'm sure there are probably some people who came to the church this morning and they didn't like that message, but we need to make sure we don't want to try to have the number one goal when we teach the
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Bible, to get friends. Would that be true? Should we be friendly when we teach the
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Bible? Or should we be caustic and rude? Hey, John the
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Baptist was rude, so we shall be rude too. That's not what we want to do, but we want to say, we're here to preach the
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Lord. By the way, this is a very important thing, and you'll sleep better when you do this. You'll teach the
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Bible to people. They may or may not like it, but if the Lord likes it, you can go home and do what I try to do on Sunday nights.
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I say to myself, some sermons are better than others, but Lord, I have discharged my duty. I've discharged my duty.
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Jim McStay this week got to preach at his uncle's funeral.
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And so what happens in our mind is we think, I'm going to have to tell these people about heaven and hell.
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I'm going to have to tell these people about being born again. People are going to say, well, my uncle doesn't seem like he was born again.
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You have to be born again to get to heaven. And soon or later, you're going to think to yourself,
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I might have to cut the corners of the sermon because I don't want people to be mad at me.
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And so the first thing we have to do, I don't have a particular Bible verse you want to put, 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
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Matter of fact, let's just go there quickly. I want to make sure I do have verses for everyone. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and 2, we have to learn to preach for the glory of God.
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If you teach a Sunday school and my kids are in there, I hope you don't say, I'd have to really make this a good message and say some of these things because Mike's kids are in there.
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I hope you do have some pressure when you think, well, I want to make sure we're solid and biblical, but not for my kids, but for God and for his glory.
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In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul said many things, but he really talked about trying to preach for God.
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And if you look at chapter 1 verse 18, for the word of the cross, all the preaching about the cross, not the word cross, but everything that that word contains, all the theological ramifications of substitution, sin, atonement, ransom, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
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And if you know right away when you preach to people that some are going to think it's foolishness and others are going to think it's lovely, that will help you.
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That will help you. So the first thing you want to get in your brain is I'm going to preach for an audience of one, or if you'd like to be tricky, an audience of three, the
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Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is the one
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I'm preaching to, God himself. Number two, if you're a
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Sunday school teacher, I can't wait to talk to you. Here we go. Point number two,
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I'm going to talk about something that I, let's exaggerate just to wake you up, I loathe,
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I despise, I detest Christian Sunday school teachers and youth group leaders and people in the pulpit who teach moralism to the children or to whoever's in their congregation or their setting.
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Number two, you ought not to preach moralistic messages. Now what's a moralistic message?
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What is moralism? Why is it bad? Somebody tell me.
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What is a moralistic message, contrast to the gospel kind of message, and why would it be bad?
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Why don't we want that here at the church? Yes, Bruce. Okay, great.
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Do we like people that have good manners? Do we like people that show up on time, pay their taxes, don't break the law?
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Are those all good things? Be good, obey your parents. We like all those things, but we ought not to be teaching that in a
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Christian church because it is disconnected and unrelated to the gospel. If it's just do this, here's five how -to messages, five part how -to messages.
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Let me talk about it a little bit more. Here's the way I like to push it. Is this Christian?
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True or false? This statement is a Christian statement. You've got to think now. Husbands love your wives.
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So you get the phone call, you have a friend, and they need some kind of marital counseling or they just need help, and the husband's acting like husbands act and often act, and they're just not loving their spouse, and so you bring the person in, you talk to them on the phone, it's a late night phone call, and you say to them,
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Jim, love your wife. Would that be a good thing to do, a moralistic thing to do, a sinful thing to do, a partial thing to do?
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Is that the right kind of advice to give to someone? If that's the only thing you say, husbands love your wife, friends,
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Mormons, tell their people, husbands, love your wives. The world says, love your wives.
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Anybody can say, love your wives, but that's not the Christian message. What's the Christian message, and what were we missing in Ephesians 5, verse 25 and following?
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Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church. That's completely different than, do better, try harder, get up earlier.
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It's completely different. So let me ask you this question. When we're thinking about moralism and trying to work through this, and I'll connect the dots in a minute, what's the most important part of the
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Ten Commandments? When you think of the Ten Commandments and you think about the Ten Commandments on some Supreme Court wall or engraved, here are these
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Ten Commandments, the Ten Words Moses calls them. What would be the most important part of the Ten Commandments?
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And if you understand this, then you're going to catch this idea of, I have to do more than just tell people what to do.
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We have Sunday schools here, probably still today, even though I try to work around those and try to encourage the people not to do that.
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We can't tell our kids in Sunday school, be honest, be good, obey your parents, respect your teacher.
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Are those all good things? But friends, you can do all those and still go to hell. That's just moralism.
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It's disconnected from the Gospel. So now thinking about this the same way, when it comes to the most important part of the
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Ten Commandments, what would that be? If it was a quiz, you had to take the quiz. Sunday school teaches a quiz and you can't teach
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Sunday school or preach or anything unless you get this answer right. The most important part of the Ten Commandments are, is, will be divinity.
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That we've broken them all, that is very important. Yes, that it's some kind of standard that is unattainable, therefore we need a
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Savior. I think that's excellent. I'd give you partial credit for that. Luke, you can't answer.
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Haley, you can't answer because they know, Mark. Okay, that's kind of a summary of the
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Ten Commandments that Jesus would give, the two great commandments, taken from Love the
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Neighbors Yourself from Leviticus and Love the Lord your God with Deuteronomy chapter 6. That's important, that's a distillation.
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But thinking of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, out of the Ten Commandments and all the issue there, what's the most important part of the
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Ten Commandments? I don't know if I want to call on Bruce because Bruce might know the answer. And I want you to think through this because this is the dividing line between being good, being moral and knowing what the gospel is.
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It's a very, very important thing and you'll see it pop up all the time once you realize the infrastructure.
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Bruce, let's turn there and find out, Exodus chapter 20.
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You shall have no other gods before me. That's commandment number one found in verse three. That is an important part.
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That is an essential part. But that's not the most important part. I like it that it's number one.
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It's at the top of the list of the left -hand side for, well, in our mind, left -hand side, for before God, what do we do?
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Yes. Okay, well, getting closer, the
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Shema in Deuteronomy 6, I like that. But I can't find that in Exodus chapter 20 at all.
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But excellent thinking because you're thinking in a non -moralistic way but a little bit outside of the
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Ten Commandments. So you get partial credit, not as much as Tiffany got, but you still get a little bit of credit. We're thinking about moralism.
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We're thinking about we can't just tell people to do something. If every sermon you ever hear is do this, do this, do this, do this, don't do that, don't do that, you're going to turn that congregation into a moralistic congregation.
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Seventh -day resting, well, that's an important thing. Well, he has completed what he's done.
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To your credit, Brad, the Bible talks about the seal of the Ten Commandments would be the
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Sabbath. And once the seal's gone, everything's gone. But that's another discussion. So that's not quite right either.
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Jack? Okay, I like that.
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Important. God is saying this. It's not just some kind of Moses went up to the mountain and saw a flash of lightning and some thunder and ate some peyote and came back and said, this is a good idea.
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Let's do that. No, this is God speaking Himself. These are the words of the living God. It's very, very essential.
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That's not where I'm going with the whole idea. The most important part of the Ten Commandments, thinking in this mind frame of we don't want to preach moralism.
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Let me ask you this way as we're thinking about it. Do you want to have the Ten Commandments up in the courthouses of America?
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I'll take any verse up, won't you? I like verses. And if I can walk into a courthouse and it's got a verse up there, you shall have no other gods before me.
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Do I like that or dislike that? I like that. But you know what happens when they're putting these
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Ten Commandments up? They're creating what we have in America to a large degree, moralistic people.
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There's no gospel in the Ten Commandments. Where's the gospel in the Ten Commandments? If it's moralism to say husbands love your wife, so we have to say husbands love your wife like Christ loved the church, that's
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Christian. Well then, where's the grace part, the gospel part, the
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God part of the Ten Commandments? And you're thinking, well, tell me. No, I don't want to tell you.
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I want you to sit on the edge of your seat so at the very end of this you'll go, aha, that was worth coming out tonight.
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And I hope you call your friend and say, I can't believe you didn't come out tonight. That was a revolutionary thought that we learned tonight. By the way,
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I didn't come up with it. I was just taught it. And when I was taught this, my eyes were opened wide.
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Okay, who else had their hand up? Fran. Okay. All right.
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I like it. It's a very well -informed congregation. You guys have done a good job. You have some good insight.
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Nothing's been unbiblical. But I'm thinking about the importance of the Ten Commandments in relationship to moralism versus gospel.
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Bruce. Somebody else. Somebody else first. Jim. They certainly show us as the law does.
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Here's a holy God. Here's the lawgiver. And he gives us these laws so that we might realize we've fallen short.
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And God can use these laws to be a schoolmaster and some kind of a teacher with a stick to drive us to the cross.
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That's certainly true. That's not what I'm looking for. Partial credit, Bruce. All right.
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That's on the right spot. Let's go to Exodus chapter 20 verse 1. If you ever get asked a question, what's the most important part of the
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Ten Commandments or any other thing, make sure you back up and see what the context is. The most important part of the Ten Commandments are the prelude to the
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Ten Commandments. Not the Ten Commandments themselves, but the prelude. Let's look at that. Then God spoke.
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What do you mean, then God spoke? What happened in Exodus chapter 19?
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The law is given. People are trembling. Do you remember in verse 18 of chapter 19,
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Exodus 19 .18? Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire.
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And its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked violently.
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When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.
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The Lord Yahweh came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up.
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Then the Lord spoke to Moses, go down. Warn the people so that they do not break through the Lord's gaze and many of them perish.
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And let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves or else the Lord will break out against them. Moses said to the
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Lord, the people cannot come up to the mountain for you warned us saying set bounds about the mountain and consecrate it.
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Then the Lord said to him, go down and come up again, you and Aaron with you, but do not let the priest and the people break through to come up to the
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Lord or he will break forth upon them. So Moses went down to the people and told them. Then God spoke all these things.
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The most important part of the Ten Commandments is the very next verse. It is the prelude.
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It is the preamble. Here comes a covenant and here comes who the covenant originator, what the covenant originator says.
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What does it say? I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
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Therefore obey. Here's what I've done for you. Here's who I am and in light of that obey.
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So here's what would happen. In these days you would have these treaties and the treaties would have things to do, but the treaties would always start with who the person is who tell these people what to do.
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So for instance, I am the king of the Hittites. I have captured you.
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I've taken all your people. I've taken all your land. Therefore, since I'm your captor and you are my captives, obey me in these areas.
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It could be done another way. It could be done by someone saying, you know, out of my own good pleasure,
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I've rescued you. I've fed you. I've went and got all your wives back and women back and plunder back.
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And since I've done all these things for you, therefore obey. The most important part of the Ten Commandments is the preamble when the suzerain, when the king says, here's who
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I am. I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Therefore obey.
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Is there a command in verse 2? Exodus 22. Is there any kind of command? There's no command.
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This is who God is. And so it's no different in the New Testament. Here is
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God sending his son to die on the cross for sinners. He was raised on the third day and therefore since that is who he is, then what?
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Obey. Let's turn our Bibles quickly to Ephesians chapter 4.
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And let's work through this very issue. You have two things going on when it comes to the gospel.
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The gospel contains indicatives, statements of fact, Exodus 20 verse 2.
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The gospel also contains commands, imperatives, repent, believe, have no other gods before you.
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You've got to have both of those or you have moralism. You just have to be good. But we don't know why we are supposed to be good.
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We don't have the power to be good. And Ephesians chapter 4 gives us a great little illustration of this very thing.
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Moralism stems from giving people only commands and never telling them who they are in Christ, what
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Christ has done. I think I probably told the story many times. Kim and I were in Dublin for a day and we were traveling around.
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Kim, remember that outdoor place that had all the little shopping areas, thousands of people shopping.
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And I may not be the bravest guy but I've been taught theologically the right thing. There was a guy dressed up with a suit on and he was on a little box.
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He had kind of like a little bodyguard who had a suit on too and he was preaching. And he was preaching like this.
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Repent. Believe the gospel or you are going to go to hell. You must turn from your sins.
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God is this holy God. You must turn. You must stop sinning. Jesus is going to come back and he was saying all these things.
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And I thought, I was just thinking through all these issues of indicative, statement of fact, imperative. And I thought, this guy has got more courage than I'd ever have.
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Thousands of people. I was only concerned about getting some cool sunglasses or something at the shop and here's this guy preaching.
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But I thought, that's not the gospel. The gospel isn't repent, turn, forsake, believe.
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That's part of the gospel but that's not all the gospel. And so I walked up to him and I kind of put my head down a little bit because I thought he's going to think that I'm probably going to come up and shoot him or something if I just approach him.
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And so I came up to him and I kind of put my head down and I said, I'm so thankful that you're preaching like this, talking about who
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Jesus is, but you've got to tell them about Jesus. You've got to tell them about the cross. You've got to tell them about the resurrection.
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And in light of what Jesus did, then tell them, because God did that, you're responsible to do this.
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And then he started to say, and Jesus is a great God who came and died on the cross for sinners and was raised from the third day.
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And because of that, you have to believe. And I just thought on the inside, with his bravery and my theological training, we can go far.
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These people that stand up on the soap boxes and just shout everybody down, repent, turn, burn, all these things.
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It's just part of the gospel. It's not all the gospel. And so avoiding moralism comes by doing this, not just telling people what to do.
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Is it okay to tell people what to do? Don't steal, work hard. That's Ephesians 4.
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Is that okay to do? Husbands, love your wives. Wives, submit to your husbands. It's okay to say all those things, but you tell them who they are in Christ so that they're able and they understand the gospel and how it is empowering them to do it.
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So for instance, in Ephesians chapter 4, you can see how
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Paul does this. Verse 32. We could find lots of verses. We could look at all the in Christ and in Christ Jesus is in chapter 1, 2, and 3, but just pick it up in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32.
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Be kind to one another. Is that a good thing to say? Yes, but it's not the only thing to say, because if you teach your
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Sunday school kids to be kind, they don't know why to be kind, how to be kind, what's the power to be kind, tender hearted.
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It's a good thing to say. Forgiving each other. It's a great thing to do. And here comes the weight of the indicative to follow the imperative, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you.
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Notice how he does that. He does it in chapter 5 as well. Verse 2, walk in love.
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Is it good to walk in love? Yes, but you just can't command people to do things. So he says, walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us.
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There's the gospel. Have you ever wondered why Paul waits till chapter 12 to start giving most of the imperatives in Romans?
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Why 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 with few imperatives? Because he's talking about who
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God is, what he's done, and in light of that, you are able to obey. You're motivated to obey.
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Ephesians chapter 5, verse 22, wives, be subject to your own husband as to the
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Lord. For the husband's ahead of the wife, as Christ also is the head of church, and you see all this teaching about who
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God is, so the response can be, oh, because of that, I see the picture, I understand what's going on, therefore
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I will obey. Ephesians 5, 25, husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her.
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Ephesians chapter 6, verse 1, let me read you the moralistic way. Children, obey your parents.
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Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. So here's my point.
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My point is this. We don't do anyone any favors if we try to teach people to be good and to be kind and be on time and be good citizens if we don't tell them who they are in Christ, Ephesians chapter 1, 2, and 3, and then tell them because of that, therefore obey.
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We have to give both. So when I preach, I have to say to myself, if I'm not careful, chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Ephesians, I'm not going to tell the congregation anything to do.
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They're just going to learn things. And then if I get to 4, 5, and 6, I'm only going to tell them to do things and they're not going to know who they are.
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So the right way to do it is always remind the church, here's who we are in Christ Jesus. Indicative, statement of fact, imperative, the command.
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One of the things that I'd love to be better at as a parent, I do it once in a while, but I wish I could do it more, is this.
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Use the philosophy of God teaching with my own kids, as we talked about in discipleship this morning.
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What's the difference between these two options? Clean your room, brush your teeth,
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I told you to pick up, I mean I can just hear myself in all this. Stop doing that, don't bite your sister.
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No, Luke, I'm not supposed to talk about Luke during a preaching. Sorry, I owe you five bucks. No, I'm just kidding, don't bite a sister.
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Do this, don't do that. Get in line, comb your hair, floss your teeth.
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Are those okay to tell your kids as a parent? Are you able to tell your kids that? Do you have the right? Have we lost that right in Massachusetts now?
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Of course it's fine, but the way God teaches us things, here's who
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I am Israel, and because I've rescued you out of Egypt, out of Pharaoh's clutches, and I've redeemed you, wouldn't you give your life to the
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Redeemer? Wouldn't Israel say, I'll do anything for you, I love you, and that's the response.
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So too with us. God has gotten us out of the slave pit of sin, and any slave worth their salt would say, you freed me from my slavery,
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I gladly follow you now for free, I want to follow you, you've redeemed me. So what do we do with the kids?
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It's way better, and I tried this, and it actually works when I'm smart enough to do it. Daddy loves you, daddy's cared for you, daddy's prayed for you.
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I remember when I used to lay my hand on your mom's tummy when you were in there, and I would sing songs about God, and everything you need we take care of, provide everything you want and could desire.
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And because we've provided all these things, and done all these things, and I love you, and you're my best kid, and you're my favorite kid, and out of all,
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I tell that to every kid by the way. Note to kids, when I say you're my best, my favorite, I say it to everyone, because you're all my favorite, you're all tied, you're all my best.
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Because of what dad has done for you, therefore what? Obey. I don't even have to say it, especially to the older kids.
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I love you, I've provided for you, I've taken care of you, and your mom loves you, and I've done all these things for you, so what do you think you need to do?
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I think I need to obey. I think I need to fill in the blank. And so, I thought, you know,
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I should probably create a sermon series in my mind. How to raise a little Pharisee. Answer, tell them to do things all the time, and forget to tell them about A, the
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Gospel, and B, forget to tell them about what you've done for them, so they realize to whom they're answering to, and to whom they're doing it.
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I've blessed you with all these things, therefore obey. I think you could probably do the same thing, even if you're an employer, having employees.
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The question so far, the most important part of the Ten Commandments, is not any of the
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Ten Commandments, not one of the commands, not one of the proper, good, healthy commands.
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The commands have a context, and that context is, here's what
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God has done, in response, let's do these things. Moralism says, be good, tell the truth, show up on time.
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Now, let's flesh it out in Sunday school. I hope you don't say to the kids in Sunday school, let's just tell them to, you know, obey their parents, let's just tell them to don't hit the other kids, let's just tell them all these things.
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I hope you teach them the Gospel, and then say, because God has done this, because He's given
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His only begotten Son on behalf of sinners like you, therefore it would be a good thing to obey. That's the right thing to do.
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By the way, note to the Sunday school teachers, probably almost every one of your kids in your Sunday school, especially in the lower grades, aren't
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Christians. We don't want people who aren't Christians who can show up on time, and be punctual, and not bite their sisters.
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I mean, I don't want any biting going on, but there's something more important. I'd actually rather have a kid who bites their sister, but is sad about it afterwards because they're saved,
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I'd rather have a saved biter than I would to have somebody who never bit, but was an unbeliever. My wife is going, oh man.
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And you almost didn't come tonight, look what you'd miss. Now, let's get down to the rubber meeting the road.
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When it comes to salvation, you'll see how the Bible talks about, here's who
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God is, therefore obey. Jesus is this great holy God, he's a friend of sinners, he died on the cross, was raised from the dead, therefore repent, believe, follow, trust, forsake, etc.
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But when it comes to your Christian life, and it comes to sanctification, friends, the same paradigm exists in salvation as it does in sanctification.
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Here's who God is, therefore obey. Salvation, sanctification, here's who
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God is, therefore what? Obey. Let's turn to Romans chapter 6. I want to show you.
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One of the reasons I don't give a bunch of how -to sermons on Sunday morning, because I realize that the gospel is indicative, imperative, statement of fact, command, and sanctification is too.
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If you'd like to say no to sin more, and yes to righteousness more, you have to understand that thought.
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It doesn't always have to be indicatives first, then imperatives. They're switched all around, but both are there.
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The most important book in all the Bible, the most important chapter in all the Bible for sanctification, in my mind, is
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Romans chapter 6. And it's very, very difficult if we don't think the way we ought to think.
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He says in chapter 6 verse 1, what then shall we say in response to justification freely by faith alone through Christ's perfect work?
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What should we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace might increase? I can't lose my salvation because God has earned it.
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Shall I sin? Answer, may it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
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Verse 3, now I'm going to ask you congregation, is verse 3 indicative or imperative? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?
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Which one is it? Indicative. It's a statement of fact. A divine reckoning. We didn't feel it.
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There's no water here. We weren't around when it happened. But by divine reckoning,
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God says, this is what he did. He placed you into the body of Christ. Baptized into Christ Jesus. Baptized into his death.
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Now let's ask again. Verse 4, indicative or imperative? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of God the
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Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. It's indicative. This is something that was done to us.
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Verse 5, we become united with him in the likeness of his death. Verse 6, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be done away with.
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Verse 9, knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again, death no longer is master over him.
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Here's what happens. Can the IRS come after you for late taxes when you're dead?
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Yeah, probably. They can now. If you've got an unpaid speeding ticket and you die, are you forced to pay that ticket?
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Because death severs these things, doesn't it? It's over. No more claim. Matter of fact, Paul goes on to say in his epistles, there's not even a claim on a spouse.
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If you're married to a Christian and that Christian dies, you're no longer bound to them. If you want to keep their last name, that's fine, but if you'd like to remarry in the
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Lord, you may. And so Paul says this, there's been a real death, indicative.
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God said at Calvary, you died with Jesus. God said at Calvary, you were raised with Jesus.
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God said it and you go, I didn't feel it, I didn't know I was there. I didn't know any of that, but that is what the indicative is.
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And therefore we see what in verse 11, even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
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Therefore do not let sin reign over your mortal body or are in your mortal body so that you obey its lust and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of righteousness.
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Here comes the indicatives followed by the imperatives. Here's who you are in Christ, therefore obey.
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And if you say, I struggle with sin, I'd like help. The best thing you can do is figure out when
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Jesus died, how did you die with him? What did it mean that you died with him? And the answer simply is this.
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We no longer have to sin anymore because we're dead to sin. We sin now, not because we have to, but because we sadly want to.
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Not one of us here has to sin anymore because we are dead to sin. So when it comes to this whole idea of moralism, here's what you want to make sure you do.
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When you teach unbelievers, make sure you talk about the gospel, talk about who
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God is, talk about the grace of God. And when you teach Christians, what do you do? Oh, they already know all that stuff.
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That's kindergarten. They know all about the gospel. They know all about what Jesus did. We don't talk about that because we've moved on.
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We've moved on to bigger and better things. And we're kind of beyond that. What does Jerry Bridges say? Preach the gospel to yourself every single day.
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You have to be preaching that over and over and over. If you're a Sunday school teacher, if you're a youth group person, you want to say to yourself,
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I need to make sure I talk about the gospel tonight in one shape or way or form.
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Maybe scripture reading, maybe hymns, but the gospel has to be proclaimed because it's the only hope.
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Otherwise, we have little robots running around who say, you know, everything's good and we're tidy and we're on time.
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But that's not the way it goes. Questions about that? The most important part of the Ten Commandments is the prelude to the
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Ten Commandments. Why? Because that tells us who God is and then we respond in light to that.
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What I don't want you to be is people who talk about moralistic teaching only. By the way, how about this?
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Now that I'm on the topic and how did I ever think I was going to get 20 of these points done? I have no idea how
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I thought that. Would it be good to teach the Sunday school this?
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Dare to be a Daniel. That's the whole topic. Daniel was a godly man.
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Daniel sinned, but there's no record of a sin in the Bible, but we know he sinned. You ought to be a
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Daniel, kids. Kids, be a Daniel. I dare you to be a Daniel. I dare you to make it known. Is it good to talk about Daniel and how
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God was faithful in the life of a young man in front of all the other people in Babylon?
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Of course the answer is yes, but what would be missing? I would try to teach the kids this.
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Kids, I dare you to be a Daniel without the gospel because you're never going to do it. You might be a
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Daniel without the gospel on the outside, like a little Pharisee, like a little hypocrite. Your parents might think you're a wonderful little
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Daniel, but I dare you to be a Daniel without the gospel. That's what you should talk about. Be like this character.
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Okay, if you want to say be like Joseph, fine, but you've got to preach the gospel.
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All right. Any questions? I hope you ask somebody sometime, what's the most important part of the 10
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Commandments? By the way, I still like it that these 10 Commandments are up in the courthouses, but I wish there was a few more verses added.
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All right, number three, when it comes to teaching the Bible, you cannot be lazy. You cannot be lazy.
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By the way, it's a real temptation we all have is cutting corners and being lazy, especially if you're a man. Men struggle with being lazy more than women do.
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After all, the fall, if men are supposed to garden and to till and to keep and to work and all these things, then men especially struggle with laziness.
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Would you like me on a Saturday night to say to myself, I wonder what I'm going to preach tomorrow.
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Let's just kind of put a few things together. I've been doing this now for 15 years and I give you what we call in the business a
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Saturday night special. I just kind of throw it together at the last minute. Would you like that on a regular basis?
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Now we all have emergencies, of course, and sometimes we're forced to do that. I wonder if anybody here gives their kids in Sunday school or wherever you teach the
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Bible, you ever give your kids a Saturday night special? I better throw it together last minute.
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Better go in the Sunday school room and, oh yeah, I'm teaching Sunday school tomorrow. Oh yeah. If you don't want me to do it, why would you want to do it?
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You don't even have to prepare these things practically anymore. Sadly, Wall Street Journal front page above the full story titled,
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That Sermon You Heard on Sunday May Be from the Web, November 15, 2006.
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I do like this little concept from Benjamin Franklin. Although he was no Christian, he was fairly insightful.
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By the way, he loved to hear George Whitefield preach. Benjamin Franklin came in to the defense or came in and defended
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Reverend Samuel Hemphill, a very important Presbyterian minister in Philadelphia accused of plagiarism in 1735.
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Here's what Benjamin Franklin said, I rather approved his giving us good sermons composed by others than bad ones of his own manufacturer.
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So I guess if you had to do a Saturday night special and took somebody else's, if it was good and yours was moralistic, then that's fine.
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But we have to sweat and to toil. These things just don't come. It's an exacting discipline.
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Turn with me if you would to First Timothy chapter 3. First Timothy, we were there this morning. I'm going to just look at a few words and I want you to see some words about work and toil and sweat.
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These are written to elders, but if the elders are the model, certainly the elders shouldn't work hard at teaching and preaching and then we can just do whatever we want.
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I'm very, very pleased to be the pastor of this church because you have opportunities to teach the
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Bible and many of you teach. I would say at our church, more than many in the area, have lots of teachers.
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You learn so that you can teach. And I just wanted to sprinkle in a few verses so you could see them where there has to be work when it comes to preparation for both the person and the ministry.
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First Timothy 3 .1, it is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of the overseer, it is a fine leisure he desires to do.
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This is where we get the word erg. It's a fine work he has to do.
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First Timothy chapter 5, two chapters ahead of that. There's a different word for work used and this is the one where you feel fatigue.
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First Timothy 5 .17, elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who what?
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Work hard at preaching and teaching. The model should be work hard at preaching and teaching.
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That word means to sweat and to labor and to toil. It means to have weary.
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It means to have muscle fatigue. I sometimes like to ride my bicycle so I can't really ride any farther and you just lay down at night and then your quads and your hams just cramp up because they've been so overworked.
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This is a mental kind of just cramp in your mind where you think, I've worked so hard.
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Second Timothy chapter 3 .17, backing up a chapter, two chapters, so the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
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If you say to yourself, I just want the easy way to teach the Bible, could you do yourself a favor and do the church a favor?
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Don't teach for a while until you're willing to put in the hard work of teaching. Here's a hint that served me well,
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I think, over the years. Here's what MacArthur said. The first five times you preach the Bible to your church, the first five times you give a
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Sunday school lesson, the first five times you go someplace and teach the college group, the first five times you teach your
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Bible study at your home group, you do this. You prepare at such a high level that the people there receive it with joy and gladness.
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And then on week six when you start thinking to yourself, I've got to slack off a little bit. This is killing me.
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You won't be able to because all the people are going to be, I'm expecting this. You give me for five weeks this, ten weeks for this, and now you want to slack off?
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I don't want you to slack off. I'm expecting this kind of teaching out of you. And that expectation of what the people expect will drive you to study.
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There are some days I don't feel like studying. I'm thinking, what am I going to do? Stand up here and just run my mouth for an hour, A, before God, and B, what's
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Dave going to say? What's Steve going to say? What's Pradeep going to say? And the list goes on and on and on. It's going to drive you to say, I've got to preach at a high level.
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Martin Lloyd Jones says this, all your books, such as the ABCs of preaching, are preaching made easy, should be thrown into the fire as soon as possible.
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All the books on how to preach an easy Sunday school, an easy rest home message, an easy thing like that, throw them all in the fire with these other books.
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The passage that we're going to close with is 2 Timothy chapter two, verse 15. Since we're in 2 Timothy, we want to make sure we see
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Paul's high level of work given to Timothy that he had to do.
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2 Timothy 2 .15, you've probably memorized this verse. Paul here is talking to Timothy, but there's all kinds of implications for those of you that teach a home group or Sunday school or teach your own kids.
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This is not a book to be trifled with. 2 Timothy 2 .15, be diligent to present yourself to prove to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
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Here's what Paul says, don't spare one iota of effort when it comes to studying the
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Bible that you'll teach it. Don't take one shortcut. Don't go to one kind of Bible .org
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sermon outlines for download. I don't think they have them there, but maybe they do. I don't know. He says, spare no effort.
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Do one's best. I remember when I first began to preach, if I had three months to prepare a sermon,
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I probably worked on that thing for 40 hours getting that thing ready. And then on Saturday night,
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I felt like I still wasn't even done. If you would have said, oh, you know, sermon got canceled till next Sunday, I would have said, hooray,
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I get another week to work on this thing because I can't believe I have to preach a sermon before God and his people.
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Here's what he says, take pains, make every effort, the lexicon say, be conscientious and discharging your obligation.
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Because it's not Timothy being approved to the elder board, Timothy being approved to Paul. What does the text say?
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Approve yourself to God. And then it gets really, really scary.
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And it's not just for me. It's for any of you that would dare pick up a Bible and teach somebody else. This is what
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God says. Look here carefully. A workman who does not need to be what?
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Ashamed. The word ashamed is passive. That means someone's shaming you.
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If you're going to be slack teaching the Bible, you will get shame from someone. You will receive shame.
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I wonder who might be the one giving the shame. If you are the shaming end, the receiving end of shame,
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I wonder who might be the one giving you shame. And as one commentary says, it does not merely mean ashamed, but not forced to be ashamed, namely by the fatal disproval of God.
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Human approval, gain popularity, money, fade in light of being shamed before and by God himself.
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So he says you're a worker. You're not a dabbler. You're a worker when it comes to these things. And whether you're an elder or whether you're someone else, it's the same thing.
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And then I like what he says. Accurately handling the word of truth. Ortho, cutting it straight.
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How many people have ever seen an operating room? Here's another operating room story.
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I hate to do it, but I guess I'm going to do it. Ortho means what?
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Orthodontics? Ortho, pardon me?
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Okay, good. If we have this idea, ortho tomanta, cutting straight, cutting correctly, it flashes me to the operating room.
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And they have these certain rooms. And I'll never forget the first time I saw a total hip. Anybody here have a total hip?
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A complete hip replacement. I couldn't believe what they were doing. You have to wear not just masks and hats.
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You have to wear these plexiglass kind of goggle protectors because when they get out the chainsaw, it's basically a chainsaw, medical grade.
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It costs $5 ,000 instead of the $200. They're up there chainsawing people and hacking things away with these carpenter tools.
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And you know what goes flying all across the room? Bone shards and blood. And it's flying all around.
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And I'm thinking, I can't believe this. I wanted the doctor to put his foot up when he was doing the sawing. I thought, this is unbelievable.
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And he was trying to get that thing straight. He was trying to cut that thing straight because once it's in the patient, it's in.
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And if you're a tent maker, you just don't say, well, I think I'm going to cut my tents today with the animal skin.
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I'm going to cut today yang, and tomorrow I'm going to cut yang. I'm just going to put them all together. You've got to cut those animal skins straight.
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And you can just hear Paul the tent maker say, when it comes to the word of God, you better take every effort to make sure you cut this word straightly.
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That's exactly what he says, exactly what he says, the straight way. So we've got to wrap things up.
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If you want to teach the Bible, you ought to say to yourself, I'm going to please God. And if people aren't happy, they're not happy.
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I'm going to make sure I don't just teach moralism. I'm going to teach the gospel all the time. And then
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I'm going to make sure I work hard at teaching. I guess we'll do some of the rest next week.
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Who could do these things but for the grace of God? Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for our night.
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Thank you for our day. Thank you that you're a heavenly Father who sits in the heavens as a holy God, that you've condescended to us as individuals through the gospel, through Christ Jesus, and have tapped us with your scepter to say,
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I choose you. I love you. I've had my son die for you. And, Lord, we're thankful that we get to serve that risen
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Savior. And we want to be better Bible teachers. We want to learn the Bible better, and then we want to teach the Bible.
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I pray, Lord, that you give our church more opportunities to go to the ends of the world to teach and to preach, whether it's
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Mozambique or whether it's here in New England. And we're thankful that people here have a fire to understand your word and then to teach others.