SUNDAY GATHERING 2/26

I know you're

going to have to come up here, Adam.

That just made it extra awkward.

It got silent, and then you had to walk up.

Guys, thank you all for coming up here.

We do this often, praise God, here, when we're bringing in new family members.

We're bringing in people who grow into this family, to be a part of this

family, to be able to bring their gifts and their abilities to benefit us.

And not only that, as we talk about in the new member class, and as we talk about in our interviews, we're

telling them that we're bringing our gifts to them also.

This is a unified family.

And so, these two brothers have been coming, you all know their faces, you see them here, but they

have prayerfully, thoughtfully, through counsel, through

much talk and conversations, come to the conviction that this is where God is calling

them to come and plant, to establish their lives in, and to bring their

gifts and abilities.

So, first, I'm going to do this in alphabetical order.

You all stood in the wrong order, but that's all right.

Adam Hartness, this is Adam.

Adam is the band director at Harrisburg, and for the

middle school and high school, right?

Like, eighth grade, seventh grade to twelfth, right?

Okay, wow.

So, of course, we threw him on the music team immediately, right?

And so, Adam, me and him have known each other for a while.

As a matter of fact, if you've been with us for very long, you probably recognize him.

He came and filled in and led music for us when we first moved into this building.

There was probably, what, 25 of us at that point?

Maybe less, maybe less, yes.

But God has been working in him and bringing him here, and then the second guy here, right?

Now, you're a student at the Way of the Baptist doing Christian ministry, which is

super exciting.

This is Wesley, Wesley Watkins.

Wesley, you started coming here because you were evangelizing out front of Walmart,

and Adam came up and started bothering you, right?

Came up.

Yeah, all right.

And Adam was just like, dude, you're a Christian.

You've got to come to 12 .5.

And you did.

You showed up.

And he's been coming here, and both of these men have gone through the new member class.

As I said, we've had the interviews with them.

They have looked through the membership covenants.

They've agreed to them.

They've signed the membership covenants.

And so what I would like to do now is the final step of this process.

If you're a member of 12 .5 and you affirm these two brothers to become part of this family, stand.

Allie's going to raise her hand because she's got a baby.

All right.

All right.

Hey, praise God.

And as I say as a joke every time, and you'll probably get sick of it, I think you're in, right?

All right, praise God.

So as we do every time, you guys are probably familiar with this process.

I think I got them in order.

I've got Adam here.

We've signed.

These are ESV study Bibles.

By the way, members, you can sit so that it doesn't seem awkward.

All right.

These are ESV study Bibles.

We find that these are one of the best study Bibles out there.

And this is not a gift.

This is a commission.

So when you become part of us, we know you have Bibles.

Otherwise, you wouldn't be joining 12 .5.

But now we have Bibles that we want to gift you.

It's like a soldier going into battle.

Right?

What's our weapon?

The sword.

And we are commissioning a weapon for you because that's what we're about.

It's about God's word, which I think is why you want to be here.

And so praise God that he is bringing.

He's growing his church, right?

And the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

And this is a glorious time.

It's the time for praise.

Come after service.

Get to know these two men if you haven't.

Celebrate with them.

Pray over them.

Love on them.

But right now, let's pray over them that God will bless their ministry here.

The Holy Spirit.

Dear Heavenly Father, God, I thank you for these two men.

I thank you for their love for you.

And, God, I pray that they would be used rightly for kingdom purposes.

God, I pray that they would be equipped here.

Lord, that they would be prepared for the good work that you've called them to.

God, I pray that you would grow them, that you would allow them to bring their gifts and abilities to

benefit us.

God, I pray that this church would be a great benefit to their soul spiritually, to

constantly be a reminder to look to our Savior, not to self, not to our abilities.

God, that they would not become like a Martha that gets so busy with all the external work of ministry that they would

be like Mary who just wants to sit at the feet of Jesus and wait for him.

Father, I pray that you would grow these men.

I pray that we as the people would stand and rally around them as family and come up beside them.

And we would grow from them, they would grow from us.

As iron sharpens iron.

And that you would be honored in their lives.

We thank you for them in Christ's name.

Amen.

Thank you, guys.

Thank y 'all.

All righty.

Let's start our service.

Let's officially start.

Amen.

Let's stand.

Call to worship this morning.

It comes from Exodus 15.

This is a portion of a couple of different verses here that we are going to read.

And in response, it says, We will sing to the Lord, for he has

triumphed gloriously.

This is our God, and we will praise him.

Our Father's God, and we will exalt him,

who is like majestic holdings.

You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you,

and all of God's people, have said.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's pray a prayer of adoration to that great God.

Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you once again, and we are so thankful for you.

Father, we are so thankful that we get to play a part now as your children.

To come before you without fear, without reservation.

But with a holy fear.

A fear as a child with their father, knowing how altogether

separate you are.

Becoming with boldness, now

stand righteous because of your Son.

You have redeemed us all.

You have done so in love.

You have done so before the foundations of the world.

And we are so overwhelmed by your glorious grace in our lives.

For you are love, as John says.

Father, you have shown us love.

You have set your love upon us.

And now you have given us the ability to love you.

Now we have the ability to love you.

Oh Father, thank you.

Let's not take that for granted.

Help us worship you this morning in spirit and in truth.

Because of how you have purchased us.

Today is week 60 in the Psalms.

Actually more, because we've had to double up on a few that are longer, haven't we?

We've been reading through the Psalms consecutively as a church.

And today we have come to Psalm 60.

Where the psalmist says, Oh God, you have rejected us.

Broken our defenses.

You have been angry.

Oh, restore us.

You have made the land to quake.

You have torn it open.

Open its breaches for its totters.

You have made your people see hard things.

You have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.

You have set up a banner for those who fear you.

That they may flee to it from the bow.

That your beloved ones may be delivered.

Give salvation by your right hand and answer us.

Who will bring me to the fortified city?

Who will lead me to Edom?

Have you not rejected us, oh God?

You do not go forth, oh God, with our armies.

Oh, grant us help against the foe.

For vain is the salvation of man.

With God we shall do valiantly.

It is he who will tread down our foes.

I find it interesting in the Psalms.

It always starts with desperation and hopelessness, doesn't it?

It seems as though when you start to read the Psalms, you're like, Oh my goodness, we're destitute.

But then the Psalmist always comes to a closure.

And acknowledges a great truth that God is for us.

Acknowledged, we may not see it.

We may not experience it outwardly.

But it doesn't change the fact.

Of what he says, with God we shall do valiantly.

It is he who treads down our foes.

He has not abandoned us.

He's just at work in things that we don't see.

And so this morning, I want us as a people to go to the Lord now.

In a prayer of confession and assurance.

Confessing that we are short sighted.

And sometimes faithless.

But he is faithful.

He is faithful to hold us.

So let's go to the Lord in prayer once again.

Father, we come before you as your people.

And we acknowledge our sin.

Our propensity to doubt.

God, I acknowledge mine.

Mine, Nathan Hargrave's propensity to doubt.

Father, forgive me.

Forgive me for not being reminded of who you are so often.

Forgetting that you are the God that has delivered me time and time again.

And ultimately you are the God that has redeemed me by the blood of your son.

And I stand in assurance.

I don't have to fear condemnation.

Because there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

And that is many of us in here today.

I pray all of us.

Those that are in Christ, God, we can confess our sin against you.

Not out of fear of judgment.

Confess it to a good and gracious Father.

Not trying to hide from our Father what we've done wrong.

But to run to our Father knowing that there is grace and forgiveness and open arms.

Because of the blood of his son, Jesus Christ.

So Father, let us rest in that.

Father, let us as your people rest in the assurance of salvation this morning.

In Christ's name.

When he's

given thanks, thank God for it.

On

the

same way he took her.

Saying this cup is the new covenant.

As often as you drink

it,

as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup.

You reclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

We continue to do this until Christ returns to redeem us.

And as I've said many times, this is but a taste.

That taste of bread and that small cup of wine.

That seems insignificant.

Points of our Savior that allows us to come to work.

Let's pray and sing once again.

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you.

I pray that you will

partake of the Lord's supper this morning.

God, I pray that you would this mightily in our hearts and minds.

Undoubtedly, Lord.

To the earth and heavenly saints, we thank you.

Accept

this

offering

of

praise,

Lord,

as

we give

back

to

you.

We thank you, Lord Jesus, for this church body that we get to come here to offer gifts

to you.

We

thank

you, church body.

Open our eyes, give us ears to hear.

Okay, there we go.

All right.

Good morning.

My name is Josh Brown.

And it is truly my honor and privilege to see you all this morning.

I hope you all know how much you are loved even from afar.

I come as a representative, really, from Riverbank Community Church in Ormond Beach.

And we love you all.

I hope you know that.

And we rejoice with you to see what the Lord is doing here.

And, in fact, I've been rejoicing so much that I wanted to come see you myself.

And Pastor Nathan and Pastor Jeremiah were gracious enough to let me do so.

And they gave me the great honor and privilege of being able to share with you the Word of God this morning.

But we love you from Ormond Beach.

I hope you all know that.

As the slide behind me says, my role at Riverbank Church is the director of Young Family

Ministries.

And I love young families.

I love all families, but especially young families.

I figured I would share a little bit about myself to you all so that you can know why

we are going to certain texts today.

I think we have a picture for you.

Maybe.

This is my family.

My wife is on the left, Victoria.

And I have two sons in the middle.

Wesley is the youngest.

And he is still with us on earth.

He is two and a half.

Grayson, next to me, is with Jesus.

Normally, when I introduce my family, I've been trying to become accustomed to how to introduce my family.

But I've realized I can say this.

I have two sons.

One is with us here.

And one is with the Lord.

Grayson passed away on October 1st of this past year.

It's been a journey.

When my wife and I found out we were with child

in 2000, I guess we found out in 2017, we were rejoicing.

Grayson was four and a half, by the way.

And we were rejoicing because it's our first child.

And about halfway through the pregnancy, the doctors told us, hey, you know, we need some

further testing because we can't see a certain part of his heart.

And so we went for further testing.

And it was found out he had a condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which

just means your left ventricle never grows.

And so he had his first open heart surgery at four days old.

He had his second at four months old.

And he had his third open heart surgery when he was three to try to repair his heart.

Uniquely enough, my son Grayson was probably the

most joyful person I've ever met.

And I don't know how with all that he went through.

But you know what I found very quickly is that there was one topic that he would always listen to,

especially.

And you know what that topic was?

He would listen when we talked about Jesus.

He loved the song In Christ Alone.

If you know that song, we would sing it at night.

And when we first began singing it, he would always ask me questions about what every verse meant.

And I thought initially he was just trying to procrastinate going to bed.

You know how kids are.

If I keep asking dad questions, especially about God, they'll stay up and answer me.

But I'm so glad I did.

Because as we talked about this, he began to become very familiar with the gospel.

Even in a seed form of where we would ask him, what's the gospel, Grayson?

And he would say something like this.

Basically in a very childlike way, Jesus died so that we won't die.

And he got it at such an early age.

We're very careful with our children to never solicit a sort of decision or manipulate

them into believing.

But we noticed something about Grayson in that he would see us sometimes.

He would see us take the Lord's Supper.

And I would tell him, okay, this is for mom and dad.

And he would ask me, why can't I take it?

And I would tell him, well, it's only for those who believe.

And he would be frustrated at me.

Because he said, dad, I believe.

I believe.

Now there, of course, is wisdom.

And we exercised wisdom.

We wanted to see if the Lord would bear fruit out.

But we really never had the chance to see that on full display.

But what I knew is my son knew Jesus.

What's interesting is throughout these four and a half years with him, we would have various battles,

various difficulties, various trials.

And I knew that God was just crushing my wife and I's heart and

crashing us as waves crash against rocks.

He was using these trials to crash us against the Savior.

Just constantly battering us so that we would run to him.

So much so that I became so burdened, so overwhelmed with just grief, even while he

was here because of so many difficulties and trials we were having with him.

So many health issues that I felt terrible for him for.

On August 24th of 2022, I preached a sermon called Jesus

the Great Healer.

And in that service, for some reason, the Lord had put it on my

heart to say this.

If my son, if my son lives to be five years of age

but knows Jesus, then it is more valuable than living 90

years on earth without knowing Jesus.

And it was just a way of trying to encourage myself and in turn it encouraged others.

And it was five weeks after this sermon that Grayson would go to the hospital for the

last time.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, just from an average sickness, we were in the hospital

and a large blood clot had formed.

And there was nothing that could be done.

In fact, there's a second picture just to show you of our family.

This is the last family picture we got kind of all together.

It was, we were visiting their little cousin.

And I love this picture because his face is exactly how he was all the time.

You might think with all the surgeries, all the difficulties, that he would be frustrated.

And he just wasn't.

He just wasn't.

That was his face all the time.

And that was our last picture, really a good picture together, a couple days before he would go to the

hospital.

At his funeral, you know, it's interesting when I went to seminary, they train you that you're going to be preaching funerals,

right?

What they don't train you for is that they didn't train me for was the first funeral I ever preached was my own son's.

And in that sermon that I mentioned in August, I wanted to highlight Jesus because in Jesus there is hope,

right?

And at his funeral, at Grayson's funeral, we highlighted, yes, the sweet story of Grayson, but we

highlighted Jesus because in Jesus there is hope and comfort for those

who are broken.

And now, it should be no surprise to you, we're going to talk about Jesus.

And it's my goal this morning to show you this truth,

that knowing and living for Jesus Christ is all that matters.

It's the only thing that matters, to know Jesus

and to live for him.

And I hope to do that by showing you in the life of three men today, so we're going to move quickly

as best as we can to be faithful to the text, but to show you through the lives of Abel,

John the Baptist, and Stephen, how these men saw it.

They saw that to know Jesus Christ was worth more than anything else

on this earth.

And they all lived at different times.

The reason these men came to mind is because when Grayson passed away, I often was wrestling

with this idea of the things that Grayson would not experience when he died young.

And I started to be a little bit frustrated with that because I was wondering, you know, man, Grayson will not be

able to grow up, see what he likes, dislikes, be married, have

kids, a posterity, a job, a family.

And I was just wrestling with this, and God reminded me, as I thought of these men,

if you know Jesus, you have everything.

And so that's what we hope to do today.

And it's my goal that you would be in a greater awe of Jesus today, leaving this place, than when you first

began, and that you will want to live for him.

And I see that in this church, and I want to affirm and encourage you in that to keep doing that.

And these men also had their lives, quote unquote, cut short in the

world's eyes.

But you will see they saw this truth.

So let's pray real briefly before we turn to our first text this morning.

Dear Holy Father, we need you.

Please remove from our minds the distractions of this world, the

worries that so consume our attention, that make us

earthly -minded instead of heavenly -minded.

We need to be singular in our focus, and that is you.

To know you, to live for you, will transform every area of our life, and it will be

so worth it in the end.

So help us, Lord.

Thank you for loving us first.

We would not have loved you without that.

So we pray that you would help us this morning to see you as beautiful and be in awe of you.

We pray this in your name.

Amen.

Our first passage is in Genesis 4, so turn there.

You all may be familiar with this story, but I hope it is

uniquely comforting to you as we consider this.

Genesis 4, verses 1 through 16, says this.

And I apologize if I have a different translation than you, but hopefully you can follow along.

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain.

And she said, I have gotten a man -child with the help of the Lord.

Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel.

And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.

Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.

And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering.

But for Cain and for his offering, he had no regard.

So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.

Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry?

And why has your countenance fallen?

If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?

And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you

must master it.

Cain told Abel his brother, and it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up

against Abel his brother and killed him.

Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother?

And he said, I do not know.

Am I my brother's keeper?

He said, What have you done?

The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.

Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you.

You will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.

Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is too great to bear.

Behold, you have driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from your face I will be hidden, and I

will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.

So the Lord said to him, Therefore, whoever finds Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.

And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain so that no one finding him would slay him.

Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east

of Eden.

That's where we will stop for the moment.

There's a lot of details in this story we won't have the time to get through, but

suffice it to say, it can be summarized like this.

Cain worked the ground, and Abel was a keeper of the flocks.

In verse 3, it mentions that it came about in the course of time.

We're not told how long that was, how many years that stretched, but it certainly seems before

they were married.

They were relatively young still at this point, it seems, at least in light of how long they lived on the earth.

And we're not told if God told them how to bring an offering forth or not.

But what we do know is that when they brought an offering, one was accepted and

one was not.

It's pretty clear in the text that Abel's was accepted, and the text

doesn't really say why it was accepted.

We'll get to that in a moment.

But Cain's was not, so I believe there was at least some way that they would have known how to offer an acceptable

sacrifice.

Abel obeyed, Cain did not.

And God speaks to Cain, and he's basically saying, Why are you upset?

If you offer an offering in the way that I have said, you should not be frustrated.

But if you reject me, if you disobey, you should expect that

sin is crouching at the door, its desire is for you, but you must master it.

God graciously warns Cain.

And this is an aspect of the story that I haven't noticed before, really.

If you look in verse 8, right after God says that, it says, this little sentence,

Cain told Abel his brother.

I've never saw that before, but there was some sort of conversation Cain had with

Abel before he struck his brother down.

Told him what?

I would imagine he probably told him what God said to him.

Maybe there was some sort of discussion.

Maybe Abel was trying to encourage Cain and say, Cain, if you just offer it this way,

God will not be frustrated with you.

Can you not see?

Offer a sacrifice like I did, and you will please God.

And maybe in this conversation, this stirred up rage

in Cain.

We don't know if Cain came into that conversation with an intent to kill Abel or not, but we know what the

result was.

It says immediately after that, it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother,

and killed him.

And after this fit of rage, Abel, lying on the ground,

bleeding, lifeless, dead.

His sacrifice was righteous,.

And he dies.

Cain, disobedient, wayward, murderer, lives.

And as Abel's body lied there, the temptation would be to think that nobody saw.

And God says in verse 9, I see.

I see everything.

And he confronts Cain, and Cain, of course, pretends to hide, like his parents before him in the garden,

as if God did not see.

He acts like he doesn't know where his brother is, and God tells him, the blood is crying

out to me.

And God curses Cain, but allows him to live.

He sends him away.

And we're going to come back to Cain in just a moment.

But thinking of Abel for a moment, what a tragic end.

You offer a right sacrifice, you do what is right, you're young, you have the future ahead of you,.

And he dies.

Oftentimes, if you do a devotion plan where you read from Genesis to Revelation, you come to this

story very quickly.

And many times, you read this story and you walk away with these two things.

You're frustrated at Cain, and you're sad for Abel.

Right?

You read this story, you can't help but be frustrated at Cain, and you feel pity or sorrow for

Abel.

But uniquely enough, there's much more to Abel than meets the eye of this story.

And consider this.

Abel didn't live a particularly noteworthy life.

Right?

In the world's eyes, he didn't have much.

He didn't marry or have children that we know of.

He didn't live long enough to do many mighty things.

He didn't make a big name for himself.

But he did have one thing.

And it was the only thing that mattered.

He had faith in God.

And you might say, well, where's that from this passage?

How in the world would you arrive at that?

Well, thankfully, we have revelation in the New Testament.

Hebrews 11 .4, let me read you this passage.

It says this, By faith, Abel offered

to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to

be righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith,

though he is dead, he still speaks.

That's cool.

That's pretty cool.

Though he is dead, he still speaks.

1 John mentions that Cain killed Abel because his deeds were unrighteous and Abel's were righteous.

Abel's faith produced good work and obedience.

That's what we see here.

But Cain lacked faith and therefore did not please God.

And uniquely enough, in two verses later in Hebrews, Hebrews 11 .6 says this,.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who

seek him.

But now we have a problem because after reading that, we

have to reconcile this in our minds.

If Abel had faith and God rewards those who seek him, why did

Abel die?

We see tension.

We say, that doesn't sound like a reward.

But brother and sister, I would say this, you are thinking merely from an earthly

perspective.

Consider this.

What does it say in scripture when it says, To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Abel, when he died, was with the Lord.

Have you thought about this before?

Abel is the longest tenured saint with God.

He has been the tour guide of heaven from the very beginning.

He spent the most time with God.

Would we not say that's a reward?

But when you look at it from an earthly perspective, you feel pity and sorrow.

But now we should look at Abel and we should say, Amen, he's with the Lord.

What a reward.

And Cain, we get frustrated with this story because it seems like God doesn't fully

curse Cain the way that we want him to.

He lets him live.

It seems that evil triumphs.

There's no consequences, it seems.

But let me ask you this.

What good is it to wander the earth if you don't know God?

Look at what Cain's punishment was and you tell me if this was too

light.

Verse 14 says,

That, my

friends, is a curse.

To be hidden from God is the greatest curse you could ever imagine.

You could live a million years on this earth if you don't know God.

It is the worst curse.

And Genesis 4, 16, look at what it says just two verses later.

Cain went out from what?

The presence of the Lord.

And he settled somewhere else.

To be away from the presence of the Lord is a curse.

Sometimes when we read this story, we only think from an earthly perspective.

But we need to be reminded that Abel saw what mattered.

To know Jesus is to have everything.

He didn't miss out on one thing because he knew God through faith.

And though Abel didn't accomplish much in this life, he knew what mattered and he clung to Christ.

John the Baptist's turn.

Let's turn to Matthew 14.

It's a common theme with these men.

And by the way, I know you know this, but it's always worth reminding.

We only mention these men because they are great examples of faith in God.

God is the hero.

Abel is not the hero.

John the Baptist is not the hero.

Stephen is not the hero.

You and I are not the hero in God's great story of redemption.

So we worship God and we follow the example of men who do the same, men and women.

Matthew 14, we'll come there in a moment.

You may know a lot about John the Baptist.

I hope you do.

His ministry was excellent.

He had an amazing birth, right?

In Luke 1 -7, it speaks of how Elizabeth, his mother, was barren.

Right?

And God opens her womb.

And Luke 1 -37 says, this is when the phrase says, for nothing will be impossible with God.

And John the Baptist was set apart for a specific purpose when an angel told his father he will be filled

with the Holy Spirit even from his womb.

He will turn many sons of Israel back to God.

He will be a forerunner and go forward in the spirit and power of Elijah so as to

prepare the way of the Lord.

In Luke 1 -80, we are told a little bit about his public appearance.

He lived in the desert and he wore camel's hair and he had a diet that consisted of

locusts and he wore a leather belt.

I'm glad we don't have locusts today for the Koinonia feast.

But he didn't care.

He ate of locusts and wild honey.

He wasn't a civilized or greatly educated man.

Luke 3 -2 tells us that in the wilderness, this happened, the word of God came to

John in the wilderness.

And in Luke 3 -3, it says, he came preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness

of sins.

He would say something like this, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

He exhorted them to bear fruit in keeping with this repentance.

So he was such a great speaker that some wondered if he was the Christ.

To which he gladly responded, as for me, I baptize you with water,

but one is coming who is mightier than I.

And I am not fit to untie the thong of his sandals.

He will baptize you with Holy Spirit and with fire.

John the Baptist baptizes Jesus himself.

And we hear this great voice from heaven say, this, you

are my beloved son with who I am well pleased.

And in John, the gospel of John, we read that John the Baptist calls himself merely the friend of the bridegroom.

And he says this phrase, he must increase.

I must decrease.

John was no stranger to having his message rejected.

In Matthew 11, it speaks of how many who heard John's message said, there's a demon within him.

This is ungodly.

And his message was rejected in such a specific instance that in Luke three, we are told he was thrown

into prison for confronting Herod in his unlawful relationship with his

brother's wife.

He had his brother's wife and John called him out on it and it landed him in prison.

And this is the context that leads us up to Matthew 14.

Okay, so let's look at Matthew 14, verses three through 12.

For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of

Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.

For John had been saying to him, it is not lawful for you to have her.

And although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd because they regarded John as a prophet.

But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod.

So much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

Having been prompted by her mother, she said, give me here on a platter the head

of John the Baptist.

Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths and because of his dinner

guests.

He sent and had John beheaded in the prison and his head was brought on a platter

and given to the girl and she brought it to her mother.

His disciples came and took away the body and buried it and they went and reported

to Jesus.

There's a lot of details not included here, but you can see Herod made a foolish

oath that resulted in him carrying through with killing John

the Baptist.

And I want us to use a little bit of understanding this story.

Maybe think of this scene.

Sometimes we're tempted to not think of the scene.

This is a historical account.

This really happened.

When John the Baptist was in prison, I wonder what he was thinking.

Maybe, I mean he's a fiery guy, maybe he's thinking as soon as I get out of here I'm going to go preach the gospel even more.

I'm going to go preach to more people.

I can't wait until I'm released.

I want to see what Jesus is doing.

I want to see Jesus again.

I want to see the saints.

I can't wait to get out of this.

And all of a sudden in the evening guards opened his cell.

And when they opened his cell, he may have stood up, may have asked, hey,

what's going on?

Did Herod say something?

Am I being let free?

And the guards would have probably delivered the message.

John, Herod has said, we've come for your head.

We've come for your head, we're not leaving without it.

Don't make this hard for us, John.

Kneel down right here.

This is a tragic death.

It is a terrible death.

It is an unjust death.

And sometimes again we read this story and we're tempted to pity John.

But we must remember that John saw what mattered.

He saw the worth of Christ, so much so that he gladly lived for him

and he would gladly die for him.

You know why?

Because he knew Jesus would have victory.

He was so focused on the mission and he saw the worth of Jesus is greater than anything.

He did not care what he looked like.

He didn't care if man agreed with him or not.

He didn't care if he upset kings.

He didn't care if he lived a long life.

He didn't care about the things of this world because he's laser focused on the kingdom.

And he knew that as soon as his head would be lopped off, he would enter into glory.

He loved Jesus more than man, more than his authority, and more than his kinsmen.

And instead of reading this account in pity, I would say we should read this account with joy and say,

well done.

Because he saw it.

He got it.

He knew that living for Jesus was worth more than anything.

And I don't know what John the Baptist said at the end, but I could imagine him saying something like this.

Take my head.

You can't take my Jesus.

Take it.

Take any limb you want.

You cannot take my Jesus.

And if I know Jesus, I have it all.

Third individual, Stephen.

Turn over to Acts 7.

We'll start in verse 51 in just a moment.

And we will read through chapter eight, verse one.

Before we do though, Stephen doesn't get a lot of words written about him in the scriptures.

But his story nonetheless matters.

It has impacted many.

It's a great example of someone who saw the worth of Christ.

We're first introduced to Stephen actually one chapter earlier in Acts 6.

When the apostles are appointing men because they don't have the manpower to serve everybody, they appoint

kind of your first form of deacons.

Stephen is one of those men Acts 6, five says that Stephen was a man full of faith

and the Holy Spirit.

A couple of verses later, it says he was full of grace and power and was performing signs and wonders.

But as often as the case, and maybe you've seen it in your own personal life, faith induced kingdom work

often meets opposition.

Right?

Normally, you know you're on kind of a right track when you start to meet opposition.

It was no different for Stephen.

His work in the gospel was met with heavy opposition such that is different than we

experience.

Believing his message to be a threat, these religious leaders argued with Stephen.

They lied about Stephen.

They put forth those who would bear false witness about Stephen and they incited a riot against him

and dragged him before their council.

And it was here that Stephen would make his defense in the form of a sermon.

And beginning with Abraham, Stephen laid out the many things that God had done for the nation of Israel.

He spoke of God's amazing promises, how they were countlessly, or how often they were rebellious

and yet God would give them and show them mercy time and time again.

And despite God's goodness, they kept rejecting him.

And this is the context of which we pick up right in Acts.

Acts 7 verse 51.

He's finishing this sermon.

This is a scathing rebuke to these people who are against the gospel of Jesus Christ

and they are doing it in the name of religion.

Verse 51 of Acts 7.

You men who are stiff -necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears

are always resisting the Holy Spirit.

You are doing just as your fathers did.

Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now

become.

You who received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep

it.

They were mad at this.

This didn't go over very well.

He's calling these Jews, even though they're circumcised on the outside,

they're uncircumcised in God's eyes.

They weren't circumcised in what matters the heart.

They were stiff -necked, resisting the Holy Spirit, killing God's prophets.

They even killed the Messiah.

And they received the law, which they so boasted in,.

But they don't even keep it.

This infuriated them.

Look at verse 54.

Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the quick.

That, by the way, cut to the quick, just so you get an idea of how quickly this rage was incited.

That phrase, cut to the quick, is the same phrase that is used of if you were to stick something sharp

right underneath a fingernail.

Yeah, that would produce some angry reactions, right?

That is where that phrase comes from.

As soon as they heard this, they were furious.

They began gnashing their teeth at him.

But notice, Stephen is not concerned about their anger at him.

Verse 55, but being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently

into heaven, and he saw the glory of God, and Jesus

standing at the right hand of God.

I kind of picture the scene.

You know how this happens in movies where there's a lot of action going on, but then the movie

slows down in slow motion, and all the sound is cut out, and it makes you just kind of

captured in the moment.

That's what I think was happening with Stephen.

Though everybody's angry around him, he has this moment where he looks into heaven, and he sees

the glory of God, and he sees Jesus.

And being in awe of this, I think verse 56 is just him being in awe of what

he's seeing.

He naturally just says, behold, I see the heavens opened up, and the Son of

Man standing at the right hand of God.

He's lost in this moment, and he tells them, I see him.

I see God, the Son of Man.

And how did they react?

They reacted like children.

Verse 57, but they cried out with a loud voice, and they covered their ears and rushed at him with

one impulse.

You've seen this before in children where if they don't like what you're saying, just cover their ears and just start talking so that they'll never

hear what you're saying.

They're drowning out the truth.

They cried out with a loud voice.

They covered their ears.

They rushed at him with one impulse.

And verse 58 says, they wanted nothing to do with him anymore, and they drove him out of the city.

They began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a

young man named Saul, who we know later becomes Paul.

And he actually remembers this moment.

He says, I gave my hearty approval when this was happening.

He didn't like Stephen either.

And verse 59 says, they went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord,

and he said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against

them.

And having said this, he fell asleep.

Like Abel and like John the Baptist before him, Stephen was a man of faith who saw the

worth of following Christ.

He saw Christ as worthy of everything, and he was willing to die for him.

He would not fear these men because he knew where he was going.

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

And once again, we're tempted to read Stephen's life from an earthly perspective and say, man, he was just getting

started.

He just got appointed to be a deacon of the early church.

He's preaching this awesome sermon, and he dies.

But though his ministry was just getting started and his life seems to be cut short, he didn't lack a

thing.

In fact, if you know how Acts progresses, God uses Stephen's death

to bring about persecution in the church.

And when persecution happens in the church, everybody scatters.

And when everybody scatters, the gospel goes forth.

That's pretty cool.

All these three men had something very interesting in common.

They died, quote unquote, before their time.

Their life was cut short.

Unjust deaths.

But they saw the worth of Christ.

They had this same perspective that we read in Philippians 3, 18 through 19.

And I pray that you can say this is true for you.

This is Paul, the guy who we just read about, heartily

agreeing with the killing of Stephen, who later sees Jesus.

God radically saves him.

And this is his response in Philippians 3, 18 through 19.

More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of this.

The surpassing value or worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my

Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them mere rubbish so that I

may gain Christ and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the

law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis

of faith.

You might be thinking this morning, this is great to know, but how does this help me in my day -to -day

life?

Well, believer, there's an interesting formula that the scripture lays out.

If you know Jesus, truly know him, you love him.

And when you love him, you subsequently also see his worth.

When you love Christ and you see his worth, guess what happens?

It's a natural side effect.

You want to obey, right?

And so you may ask, how does this affect our day -to -day life?

I would argue there's not a part of your day -to -day life that would not be improved by having a greater love for Jesus

Christ.

If you would like a better marriage in this room, know and love Jesus Christ first,

and this will lead you to obey God and serve one another.

If you want to be a better parent, you know and love Jesus, and you shepherd your

children with this desperate urgency of the gospel.

You want to be a better employee?

Love Jesus.

A better friend?

You love Jesus.

You want to be a faithful church member?

You love Jesus, and that will produce love for others.

And I trust the Holy Spirit will make the application you need in your life right now.

But the final thing I want to mention and kind of ask you, this is a rhetorical question, I want you to deeply consider this

in your heart.

These men saw the worth of God, right?

They saw the worth of Jesus Christ.

Do you?

Do you see him as Paul spoke of him in Philippians 3, that he counted everything as loss?

You would trade everything in your life if it meant you could keep knowing Jesus.

Do you live this way?

Do you teach your children this way?

And I will say this, parents, so often it's easy to get bogged down in where my child

falls on the, are they in the 1 or the 99

What are they gonna be?

What are they gonna do?

Are they gonna get married?

How many children are they gonna have?

Those are all worth considering, but the primary thing must be, they must know Jesus.

And that transforms every aspect in the home.

You see, as a Christian, you may not live a long life on this earth, but if

you know Jesus, it means you will have eternal life.

You may never be someone famous or notable in the world's eyes, but guess what?

You are known and loved specifically by God.

He knows your name.

He died for you.

You may never accumulate great things on this earth, but to know Jesus means you have the most

valuable treasure, the treasures of heaven, which Matthew speaks of, where no moth or rust

can destroy or decay, where no thieves or robbers can break in or steal.

You may live the rest of your life without a dime to your name, but if you know Christ, you are

rich.

You may not have a perfect family on this earth.

Maybe a spouse has left or children have abandoned you

or maybe children you've been abandoned by parents.

You may not be able to have children or you may have people in your family that hate you,

but let me tell you this.

Maybe some of those things were brought about by your sin.

There's forgiveness in Christ.

And secondly, if you suffer some of those because of your love for Christ, know this, that God sees

your suffering for the sake of righteousness.

And when you are in glory, it is a perfect family.

Your nation may fall and your freedom may be lost, but if you know

Jesus, you are freed from sin and death.

You may never live a life of ease.

You may be filled with constant anxieties and frustrations, but if you know Jesus, there's a day coming where

you will worry about nothing anymore.

You may cry, this resonates with me, you may cry the rest of

your days so that when your final day comes, you are so wearied by tears,

but if you know Jesus, he wipes them all away.

You may experience trial after trial and terrible loss after terrible loss.

And you might think that God is against you, but you would do well to remember what 2 Corinthians 4, 17 says,

for momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of

glory beyond all comparison.

Your body may fail and fight against you with sickness.

Your organs may shut down and cause you great pain and lead you to death, but if you know Christ,

though you die, you live, and you may be persecuted relentlessly

for your faith, and you may die for your faith, but when you die, you live.

You say, well, how do we know?

John 11, 25 through 26 says, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives

and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this is what Jesus asks?

And I love this verse, and it ministers to me when I think of my son, Grayson, because notice what

he does not say.

He does not say that the one who believes in me with a mature understanding of everything in

the Bible, he does not say if you believe with never doubting.

He says, if you believe you can be sure of this,

you won't die, you live.

And one day, you will see Jesus, not dimly through faith, you will see him

face to face.

John, 1 John 3, 2 says, when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as

he is.

1 Corinthians 13, 12 says this, for we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to

face.

Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I have been fully known.

And Paul knew this, and this is why he said, it's far better to die and be with Jesus than

anything else.

You may have heard this phrase before, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

And here's the great thing, I know you all are going through Ephesians, so you'll appreciate this.

All of the benefits we've just mentioned are yours in Christ Jesus.

He set his affection upon you from eternity past before anything was created.

His choosing you was based on nothing you ever did, but solely because he said this,

I love fill in the blank with your name.

He sent his son to die a terrible death on the cross for your sins.

And he rose from the grave three days later to show that he crushed death.

And he called you to himself through the gospel message, made you alive so that you might

believe.

And now you having faith in Jesus receive forgiveness.

And not only forgiveness, you get God's righteousness.

And not only that, as if the story can get any better, he gives you an inheritance that is

prepared for you.

It's unfading, it's undefiled, it's kept in heaven for you

that no one can take away, but he doesn't leave us on this earth alone.

He sends his spirit to dwell in us and to keep us to the very end.

And when the end comes, it's just the beginning of a perfect eternity

with God.

The fullness of God's redemption planned all around us, people living in perfect harmony,

worshiping the Almighty.

So don't ever doubt his love for you.

Fall on your knees and worship him.

And may this worship lead you to live for him every moment of every day.

Because knowing and living for Jesus is all that matters.

Let's pray.

Lord, we need you desperately.

Help us when we are discouraged or in despair to be reminded of your great

love for us.

Help us to have a singular focus that leads us

to make daily decisions, to be transformed in every aspect of our life because we love you.

Thank you for giving us hope.

Thank you for not leaving us without hope.

Please be with 12 .5 Church, Lord, as these worshipers of you grow.

May this love for you be so evident in this area that it just

spills onto everyone around them.

Bless this church, Lord.

You've been such an encouragement to so many.

But bless them as they follow you.

Keep their eyes on you with that singular focus.

Pray this in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you so much, Brother Josh.

If you have Jesus, you have everything.

Amen.

All right, if you would, please stand as we sing the doxology together like we do every week.

Praise God.

Our benediction comes from 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.

And may your whole spirit and your soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ.

And all God's people said?

Amen.

All right, we're about to enter our time.