Pastor Michael Dirrim

Can we say that that Biblical truth is going to impact anything else in our life, really and truly? It should begin to impact the way that we pray. So, when we pray it should change the way we pray in the sense that we ought to recognize as we pray for our, specifically, if we have lost relatives, if we have people in our lives, maybe some co-workers, some neighbors, someone who seems, maybe we'll call them a hard case, or someone we consider they have heard the Gospel, they have been the beneficiary of such kindness, and generosity, and benevolence of people who do know Christ.

And there is so many testimonies and proofs in their own life that should show them that they should turn to God, they should turn to Christ and follow Him. And yet, they remain resistant to the Gospel, committed to their sin.

Perhaps someone who isn't, perhaps you are dealing with somebody in your life who, like Jeremiah, mostly was dealing with people who were incredibly religious. They were going to the Temple. They were sacrificing.

They were going through all of these religious motions. They were the people of the Word. They had the scriptures. And after all, they knew all the most popular, the sermons of the day, peace, peace, peace.

So, he's talking to a very religious people. And yet, their lives are full of sin. Their lives are full of contradictions. And it doesn't seem that they feel the need to repent. Perhaps they have claimed an identity with God that is not attached to truly knowing God.

In our own day and age there is an easy-believism. I made a decision many years ago, and I reckon it is still valid. No matter where they actually are with God, decisionism was a very destructive doctrine coming out of the mid -1800's that your faith was basically wrapped up in a single decision that you would make at one point in time.

So, when you pray for those people, we ought to, if we are praying in some sense of I just hope it works out, we should rather pray fearing God, and truly believing that He will judge sinners. Our prayers ought to be altered.

The intensity of our prayers should reflect what we believe from the scriptures. So, when we pray, we should pray recognizing the judgment of God. And in all the passages that we know about God's mercy, and God's intervention, and His grace, and His calling people out of darkness should be all the more intensified by us recognizing the judgment, the weight, and the reality of judgment.

That should make the deliverance of God, and the grace of God, and the saving power of God that much sweeter, that much more delightful, and that much more we are more eager to pray that for others. So, I think first of all it has to impact the way that we pray to God, the way that we relate to God.

I think that in general when we deal with a truth of scripture, scripture should always leave us a little more humble when we are done working with a truth out of the text. We should never leave the scriptures feeling more, I don't know, more adequate, more proficient, more skilled, with a bigger ego.

I mean that should never really be. We haven't really dealt with the text if we come away with a bigger ego. We miss something there, because when we are dealing with the scripture we should be coming to a God who is greater than us, more powerful than us.

We are coming as those who are incomplete, and still in the process of renewal. We need to be changed. As I was reading through Jeremiah 9, as I've been studying Jeremiah, and trying to prepare to preach, I am constantly challenged by the intensity of the themes that are in the book.

I mean it's difficult to read thoroughly, and slowly, and to meditate on. You want to move on until you find a good note. I'm fast forwarding through the parts I don't like, because I want to go on. And the temptation for me is to not spend the time in the text that I need to, and not to really work with the text that is there, the things that God does say.

And so, I find in my heart the natural tendency to disapprove of God's manner in which He addresses people, and talks to people, and deals with Judah, and says what He says. That's naturally in the heart.

It's a little too much. That is just part of the sinful nature. And we have various reactions to the scriptures that are not holy, and not submissive. When we come to the scripture, we come to Jeremiah 9, there are all sorts of things there that are difficult.

And we have to come recognizing that we are not in full agreement with the text. We have to come ready to be changed. I come to the text saying, I do not know enough. I do not agree enough with the scripture.

I do not amen God's desires enough. I am not as passionate as He is about holiness. I am not as passionate as He is about His scripture, and His Word. And I have the need to be challenged, and to be changed.

So, one thing we have to do with the scriptures is to recognize that we have been wrong. All scripture is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequately equipped for every good work.

For the teaching, here's the truth. For the reproof, you're wrong. For the correction, here's how to get right. And for the training, here's how to live God's way. So, all scripture is profitable for that.

So, if I come to Jeremiah 9, I need to be reproved for not believing in the judgment of God like I should. Right? And I need to be corrected by the fear of the Lord growing in my life, that I would fear God more.

And that I should be instructed in the fact that I shouldn't follow the stubbornness of my own heart. I just feel like God is like this. Right? I just feel like God would never do that, unless I follow in the stubbornness of my own heart.

So, I need to be corrected from that, and trained into amening the will of God. And just seeing that, again, Jeremiah's manner of engaging with the preaching of the judgment of God, he is very mournful.

He is. The more he believes it, the more he weeps, the more he mourns. He is the weeping prophet of a grieving God. And in his own life, his very life just reflects the truth of God's Word. He believes it, and he responds accordingly to it.

And I am constantly challenged that I do not weep enough. I do not weep enough for those who are under the judgment of God, for those whom God considers to be reprobate. Not those who I consider to be reprobate, those whom God considers to be reprobate.

I do not weep enough for them. I do not weep enough for those who remain in danger, John 3 .36, who abide under the wrath of God. I do not weep enough for them. I do not concern myself enough for their souls.

So, there are all sorts of challenges in that, in a reorientation of our hearts to agree with God about what He's saying in the text. So, I think that it should change the way we pray. We should come with humility recognizing we need to be changed.

We don't know enough. We don't agree enough with God. I think it should change the way we talk. And so, this is so important, this and this, just vitally important before we get to this. Because if we come out of the scriptures saying, I've got a new thing, or I know more than others, and it's not a matter of praying to God, it's not a matter of humbly being changed.

And you take up the doctrines of scripture, and you go into conversation, and you'll be like, you know, all these scriptural ignoramuses out there, I'm going to set them all right. You know, Peter talks about suffering for our own obnoxiousness, versus suffering for Christ.

You know, you take up the Bible, and your knowledge of the Bible, and you use that to bully people, and you get persecuted. Yeah, you deserve that. That was you. That's not Jesus. If they hit you it's because you're being a jerk, not because you're being a Christian.

If we take up the scriptures, and we pray, and it changes us, and we're humble, it should change the way we converse. Now, these are some times when it takes some boldness and humility, that you can be humble and bold at the same time.

It's very, very difficult, it's very, very, very difficult to be in a conversation with someone, and you want to comfort them, and you want to be a help to them, and they start spouting heresy as their comfort.

Now, what do you do? That's rough, right? Do you listen to them, and say, well, I'll have to think about that more, and come back later, leave the door open for another conversation? Do you talk to them right then and there?

You know, as the Spirit leads, we need to continually pray, and God would give us wisdom to know how to answer each one, that our words would be seasoned as though with salt, so we can have the word, the timely word for those who are struggling and in need.

But, funerals are the hotbed of heresy. Funerals are the hotbed of heresy. People want to be comforted, they're mourning, they're in just so much distress. And people stand up and say all sorts of things about God and the Bible that are not true, to hold on to some kind of comfort.

And it is the absolute taboo to ever contradict anyone's hope that is expressed in a funeral service about what they feel about their loved ones who have died. Absolutely taboo. But funerals are the hotbed of heresy.

And that's a situation where we have to pray that God will give us the wisdom and understanding to know how to speak the truth in a loving and compassionate way. You know, somebody starts saying something that is not true about salvation, about why they think that their beloved is in a better place, and so on and so forth, who didn't know God, didn't live for Christ, didn't have any kind of sense of spiritual fruit, so on and so forth.

That's a difficult place to be in. We need to have wisdom to know how to speak into that situation. Maybe just start talking to that person about their assurance. Where are they? Nothing you can do for the one who's gone, but the one who's still there.

Start talking to them about where are they with God? Where are they with Christ? What assurance do they have? I mean obviously you must have been thinking about this, and so on and so forth. But it should change the way we talk.

If we believe in the judgment of God, we believe in the holiness of God, it should change the way we talk to others. And that we don't contribute to pop heresy, and just kind of let it go on. And it should change the way we talk.

Now, that invites persecution, and it invites negative response, and so on and so forth. But, who are we? What did Jesus call us? He called us the salt of the earth. And if we're not salty, what good are we?

He called us a lamp set up high, where it gives light to all who are in the house. A city set on a hill, not supposed to hide. And you know He uses all those pictures right after He says, blessed are you when men persecute you.

Those are connected. Those are connected. So, again, in humility, and in prayer to start having different kinds of conversations. Not affirming pop heresy, but challenging it gently, if need be. More directly, if need be.

Because, hey, people's souls are at stake, right? There is an eternal destiny awaiting people, and we need to speak the truth of the Gospel. Now, again, as you move through in the way that we pray, it should change us in recognizing we need to be conformed to the Word of God, renewed in Christ's image.

Change the way we talk. And then our other actions should reflect how does belief in a righteous and holy God who will certainly judge, how does that change the way that we live? Peter says, Peter says what?

These things being so, how now shall we live in all manner of holiness, recognizing the coming ultimate judgment of God? And the fear of the Lord should have an impact on our behavior. Even as Christians who stand under the righteousness of Christ, and there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

As we think about the holy judgment and wrath of God upon these sins, such as lying, such as being unfaithful, such as idolatry, and so on and so forth, how should we then feel about the sins that we struggle with, and fight against, and are being sanctified from?

How should we feel about them? We should learn to hate them as God hates them. His Son suffered on the cross, and died under His wrath for these things. How should we view them? Do we see them as long-term annoying companions, or are we at war?

Are we at war with sin as God is at war with sin? And so on and so forth. So, I think if we can have a general way of taking up the Word of God and say, well, what does this mean to my life? I think we begin with prayer.

I think it should humble us and change us in terms of do I really believe this? Do I amen it enough? It should change the way we talked to one another. And there should be some impact on our actions. So, I'm going to open up to the other elders.

Anything you all would add to how we apply the Word? This is such an important question, Ms. Jill, thank you for asking it. It's such an important question. So, elders, what else would you add about that?

What have you found in your own lives about applying the Scriptures? Because sanctification is progressive, and so application takes time. It does take time. It does take some energy. It takes some effort.

And we are free to make that progress because we're justified. We stand under the righteousness of Christ. So, it certainly shouldn't slow us up, it should draw us on. But it does take time. Something that we ought to remember is demanding sanctification at the speed of justification results in condemnation.

This is where we have trouble with legalism. That if you demand sanctification at the speed of justification, which is if you demand sanctification at the speed of justification, the result is condemnation.

It does take time. It's a progression to it that God promises that He will complete. It will be done. He will not fail. So, yes, faithful is he who calleth you that you also do it. It's a good promise.

This, I guess, would be encouragement to help us be patient with one another then. Right? If, not if, when you are the recipient of someone's shortcomings in Christ, you end up being the one who is offended and subjected to somebody else's sin.

How do you respond? Well, it should change the way that you pray. It should probably humble you in the fact that you realize that you probably didn't respond all that well at the moment. And be careful the way that you talk to them.

Right? Careful the way that you converse with them. And treat them according to this truth that indeed, sanctification takes time. Encourage them on to Christ. Encourage them on to Christ, loving one another in patience.

Anything else? I'm going to read a little bit out of Genesis 4 beginning in verse 9, Genesis 4 verse 9, you'll be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. There are some questions in verse 9, 10, and a statement in verse 11 that are really similar to Genesis 3.

Can you pick out some of the questions that are similar and maybe the statement and pronouncement that is similar? Where is Abel your brother? And in Genesis 3 he said, where are you? Something is hidden, something is wrong.

Okay, what about verse 10? Is there a question there? What have you done? This is what God asked Eve, what is this you have done? And then verse 11, is there a similarity to chapter 3? A curse, yes. And so Cain is cursed from the ground.

So, there are some differences obviously, but there are some similarities. Cain, Cain is the focus of the story. Abel is just always referred to as Cain's brother. And you never hear Abel say anything, it is Cain and God who are in this conversation.

Cain is not in right relationship with God. There is this idolatry going on. His sacrifice is obviously not what God deemed worthy from the heart. He is not in right relationship with God. He wanted to be impressive as Abel was.

Over here we have Cain murdering his brother Abel because he was not right with God. He is not right with his brother, and he murders his brother because he was jealous of his brother. Now, what impact does that have on Cain's relationship to the ground, to creation?

Right? He is cursed from the ground. What God said to Adam, He said that the ground is cursed for your sake, it is going to be more difficult to grow crops. What He says to Cain is, you ain't going to grow nothing, you're done.

So, you are going to be a wanderer and a vagrant. What we see is that Cain as a murderer is every facet of his relationships is totally broken. When it comes to the image of God, the image of God in all sinners is not in proper order.

There are all sorts of problems with it. But it can get worse. And in Cain's situation he ends up totally exiled from God. He is exiled to the land of Nod, which literally means the land of wandering.

He has murdered his brother Abel. He has lost that relationship as well. And he has lost any opportunity to continue to farm the ground as he had been. So, as we see God's judgment on Cain we find that again it continues to address who Cain is made in the image of God.

You never lose it. You never lose it. Everyone is created in the image of God according to God's likeness. Everyone is made to relate to God, to others, and the world around them. Everyone is. The disaster of sin, the disaster of sin is that it continually takes us farther, and farther, and farther away from God.

And it continues to ruin more, and more and more human relationships. And makes us more and more destructive, and corrupt, and addicted when it comes to the things around us. That is the disaster of sin.

And we see that in the life of Cain. Cain protests, says, my punishment is too great to bear that you would cut me off from the ground, and cut me off from people, and cut me off from you. And he protests, but he's the one who did it to himself.

Right? This is a very common complaint from those who are in their folly, and in their sin. It's not my fault, or this is too much, or there's a complaint. Right? You're not being fair to me. But there is no acknowledgment of the fact that I have done this to myself.

I deserve the consequences of my sin. God stops the cycle of violence in verse 15 by saying, therefore whoever kills Cain vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. Because Cain is afraid that someone is going to kill him in retribution.

And so the Lord appointed a sign for Cain so that no one finding him would slay him. We'll see more about what happens with Cain and his descendants, and a very important lesson about forgiveness. But Cain becomes an example that we look at, a warning to us.

The opposite of who we are to be in Christ, in 1 John, we are to love one another, not as Cain. Remember 1 John 3, not as Cain who slew his brother. The opposite of Cain would be the renewal and the restoration of the image of God, which can only happen in Christ.

Only by the grace of God, being given a new heart by the Holy Spirit, given the capacity and the power to respond in faith and repentance, to be united with Christ, is the only way that we are ever renewed in the image of God.

The only way our relationship with God is restored. The only way that our relationship with others ever really truly improves. The only way that we begin to rightly relate to the things around us in this world is through Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God.

And we're never going to know what it means to be a human being, and to live to what it means to be a human, until we live in Christ, until we trust Him, and love Him, and follow Him. So, opposite of Cain.

Any questions about Cain's punishment from the Lord? Well, let's close as we normally do, and let's sing the doxology. Praise God from whom...