Real Spirituality, Part 2 (1 Thessalonians 5:23-28- Jeff Kliewer)

Cornerstone Church

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April 4, 2022

Sermon Notes: http://notes.cornerstonesj.org Real Spirituality, Part 2

Apologetics Session 7 - The Bible - Part 3

02:59: I'm gonna say good morning. I understand people are still walking in but I'm going to say good morning because I I absolutely look forward to these moments where I get to stand here and and to look at you and to just start and fellowship with one another
03:18: I'm going to open up with part of a verse out of Isaiah 54. It's the last part of verse 8
03:27: With everlasting love I Have compassion on you says the
03:34: Lord I'm going to read that again because you can almost Think about how
03:41: I'm reacting to God, but I want you to recognize the direction that this verse is going with everlasting love
03:50: I Will have compassion on you says The Lord your
03:56: Redeemer There are so many mixed messages out there today
04:05: That can make us feel like God is irrelevant but on the authority of this verse
04:14: I'm saying he is relevant. I'm saying that he absolutely unconditionally loves you
04:23: I Have a picture in my mind when we get to see our grandchildren
04:30: They live out of town and so it's an occasion when we get to see them and they come running up to Sandy and to me and just give me and give
04:41: Sandy this big old hug because they they Know that we love them. I just love the thought of being able to look up at God and Just run up Pictorially, okay and just giving him a big old hug because he loves me
05:00: He is totally involved in my life and these lies that God is irrelevant
05:06: They're just in they're just not true because we have a God that loves us some of the
05:14: Announcements I've got we've finished this past Sunday our second membership class
05:20: Do you realize that already this year? We've had 38 people go through our membership class God is amazing in that way
05:27: If you have gone through it and you desire to become members and encourage you to fill out the membership application
05:33: Get it to myself pastor Jeff one of the board members and we'll go through that process
05:38: If you still desire to know about us and you haven't been through the class, it's never too late
05:44: We will we will arrange something just just let us know that you would like like to be part of that But we do rejoice in those who have stepped forward in that way
05:54: And then there's another event coming up in just a couple of months We are we are anticipating a baptism event somewhere in the middle of June if you have not had
06:05: Believers baptism and if you understand the significance of a believers baptism and you would desire to have that public proclamation
06:15: Again see myself pastor Jeff one of the board members so that we can get you prepared for it.
06:21: We're thinking notionally of 15 June We're looking at trying to get one of the
06:28: Marlton Lakes so that it can be an open water baptism We're thinking about having it on a
06:35: Sunday afternoon and having somewhat of a hymn sing Right there on the beach and then to have a baptism if you're interested, please please see us
06:43: Gentlemen, it's that time get your clock set tomorrow morning for 530 or however early
06:50: It's got to be and come out and join us with our men's fellowship First service
06:55: I encourage the women set the alarm clock and in about 15 minutes early
07:00: Wake up and get your feet out from underneath the covers and maybe get some ice and then put your feet on their back
07:07: They'll wake up We want the guys to come out here for time of fellowship
07:13: The women are having some events. There is a women's a Passover study event
07:20: Unfortunately that has already been filled. They had a limited number, but if you're interested, I believe that they're going to be doing it again
07:29: This coming Saturday is our monthly love life It's where we go out to the
07:34: Women's Center out on Kings Highway and Cherry Hill and we pray we pray for these women
07:39: And for these these children These are not things these children these lives that are in danger of being murdered
07:47: So join with us in this love life as we pray for these decisions that they would not be made that God would be
07:55: God would be honored We are having our annual meeting. This is
08:00: Last month we had what was called the election meeting. We we identified the new board.
08:06: We approved the budget and In April 1st, we start the new year. Well, we have to have a report out
08:12: It happens after we close the books of the year It's our annual meeting you hear the ministry reports and and the final but we also have a lot of new members that we're gonna
08:21: Vote on I encourage you to come out for that. It's Monday the 18th And there'll be more following up on that.
08:29: I also ask that you remember our weekly schedules Please come back tonight at 6 o 'clock for our prayer meeting
08:37: We're actually singing hymns at the beginning of the prayer meeting It's actually drew thanks for bringing that up as an idea that we sing hymns if we all come together
08:46: Maybe we'll get pastor Jeff to come and he'll sing a solo Not not not likely.
08:54: Please come out. Remember the men's apologetics class the women's precepts class all of the small groups
09:00: Remembered them and at this time I'm gonna ask Phil to step forward. I We're gonna be heading to Laura Lakers Park meeting and Spend some time evangelizing and walking around witnessing and sharing the gospel with people there
09:19: So again, that's that's the Thursday before Easter Sunday So if you can't make it pray for us that the weather is good and that people's hearts are
09:27: Are soft and that their ears are open to hear the word So again, that's Thursday the 14th 12 o 'clock and we'll meet on the playground side near the near the
09:36: Church Road entrance There's a pavilion there we'll meet before We head out Thank You Phil.
09:45: Let's turn to prayer father. God. We we come to you with hearts Just in awe at the love that you have for us
09:56: We don't deserve it we are sinners but by your love and by your grace and and just by Your act of sacrifice on that cross.
10:06: We are made your children Lord we're we're coming into this time of Easter where we remember the obedience of Christ on the cross who willingly gave himself
10:18: Then said test tell us die it is finished We remember that there was a tomb that you actually were buried according to the scriptures and then you rose on The third day we we look forward to that celebration remembering the extent of God's love
10:37: Lord now we pray that this message that's going out in the world by our missionaries To people groups and to nations that need to hear we pray father for the power of that message for the impact of the
10:50: Holy Spirit for your grace and Protection Lord for our missionaries and then thought we think of those in our midst
10:57: Who are in need of your healing hand whether it's medically whether it's emotionally whether it's the loss of loved ones
11:05: We never never forget Lord to hold them before your throne And Lord now we do ask for your guidance as we continue down the process of looking at this new land
11:17: We pray that we don't go ahead of you that we rely on your sovereignty and on your provision
11:24: And father then we think of the rock church just up the road and today they're actually
11:29: Starting the ministry of the elders at their church as you continue to grow that ministry and keep that light lit
11:36: We pray for pastor Ben and for the men that are stepping forward as elders at that church
11:43: And Lord, we also pray now for Jeff's message this morning Teaching us the relevance of truth and that the world has a lie
11:52: But Lord you are so in love with us that you even have have
11:58: Cleansed us from sin, but you are making us into your image purely pray for that message.
12:05: We pray in Jesus name. Amen Before the day
12:26: For the light For the world revolved around the
12:32: Sun I Step down into time the story of his love
12:46: He has filled our hearts with wonder so that we always
13:02: Call When you and I embrace surrender
13:16: We'll see we were meant to be
13:33: All we are All we have
13:39: Is all the gift from God that we receive Brought to life we opened up our eyes
13:50: To see the majesty and glory of the king He has filled our hearts with wonder
14:04: So that we always I We were meant to be
14:33: Even the rocks cry out And even the heavens shout the sound of Let every voice
14:46: Let everything bow down He's worthy of all our praise
14:55: You and I are made to worship you and I are called to love you and I are forgiven and free
15:06: You and I embrace surrender you and I choose to believe
15:37: I will see We were meant to be
15:56: I praise you Lord. We worship you Lord. Help us to worship you in spirit and truth this morning
16:04: Clap for me Behind Inside Safe from Anything Not the labors of my hands can fulfill my love's demands
16:52: Could my zeal No less than no Could my tears forever
17:02: All for sin could not atone
17:08: Thou must say Nothing in my hand
17:21: I bring Simply to the cross
17:27: I cling Make it come to me
17:34: Helpless Oh Watch me
17:46: While I draw
17:58: When my When I Soar to world
18:09: See the on my judgment Left for me
18:19: Let me hide myself in For God we just thank you for your amazing grace
18:34: Lord that But But even when Sin runs deep
18:40: Lord here. Your grace runs deeper still Lord It's you called us out of darkness and into your marvelous light
18:51: Give you all the praise and all the glory the glory of your grace and for the glory of your name
19:57: I I've been set free
20:10: Something His mercy
20:19: Many dangers doors ♪
20:46: His praise have brought me safe thus far ♪ ♪
20:53: And grace will lead me home when we've been there ♪ ♪
20:59: When we've been there 10 ,000 years ♪ ♪
21:07: Bright shining as the sun ♪ ♪
21:15: No less days to sing God's praise ♪ ♪
21:21: Than when we first begun ♪ ♪ Praise God, praise
21:30: God, praise God, praise God ♪ ♪ Praise God, praise
21:37: God, praise God ♪ I don't think
22:18: I've ever sung that except for this morning you guys so thank you for for bringing that before us today we're gonna celebrate communion this morning and that's a that's a blessed time we have as believers to do so and a few verses were on my heart this morning that I'd like to read from 1st
22:37: John and I'm gonna start in verse 3 it says this what we have seen and what we have heard we proclaim to you also that you may also have fellowship with us communion with each other and indeed our fellowship is with the
22:59: Father and with his Son Jesus Christ fellowship with the Lord also and these things we write to you so that our joy may be complete and this is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all in first Timothy chapter 6 it also says that God dwells in unapproachable light so how is it that we sinful people can have fellowship with an almighty and holy
23:31: God who is perfect described as pure light in the scriptures who in him is no darkness we know
23:41: Adam in the Garden of Eden walked with the Lord and so did Eve before the fall and they did have fellowship with the
23:49: Lord but that was lost when sin came into the world and now we unfortunately as Adams heirs descendants we have inherited that sin nature so how can we have pure fellowship again with our holy
24:06: God what goes on in first John says this if we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not practice the truth but if we walk as in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin he says there is a way and that is through the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ but he says there are those who walk in darkness what's the difference those who walk in darkness don't understand that they need forgiveness of sin they don't understand the purity of God they don't understand that that is a barrier to their relationship with God and they don't accept the fact that Jesus Christ is the only way so if you hear this morning and you think there's another way or if you'd rather get to God through some other means than the blood of Jesus Christ and this communion table isn't for you there's also another way to be in darkness if you know that Jesus is the only way but you were unwilling to confess your sins before the
25:22: Lord to have them cleanse that is also a way to be in darkness and again this table would not be for you today but for those who understand that Jesus is the only way and his sacrifice paid the way for us to have a relationship again with a pure and a holy
25:40: God and you're willing to confess your sins before him remember what it says in first John shortly after this it says if we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness a pure and holy and wonderful perfect God we can have fellowship with him because of what
26:03: Jesus has done for us and that is what we celebrate this morning we come to the communion table we remember
26:09: Christ's sacrifice and how much he paid the price for us we also remember the communion we have with each other today and the communion we have with our holy
26:18: God and we also as Paul says when he says we remember the Lord's death until he comes we also remember that he's coming for us again so let's partake of the communion table together
26:30: I'd like to call the men forward who are going to serve today so guys if you could come forward we thank you
27:18: Lord for what you have done we thank you in Jesus' name amen I saw one hanging on a tree in agony and blood he fixed his languid eyes on me as near his cross
27:46: I stood Oh, can it be, upon a tree, the
27:52: Savior died for me? My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled, to think
28:00: He died for me. Sure, never till my latest breath can
28:11: I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with His death, though not a word
28:19: He spoke. Oh, can it be, upon a tree, the
28:25: Savior died for me? My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled, to think
28:32: He died for me. My conscience felt and owned the guilt, and plunged me in despair.
28:47: I saw my sins, His blood had spilled, and helped to nail
28:52: Him there. Oh, can it be, upon a tree, the
28:57: Savior died for me? My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled, to think
29:05: He died for me. A second look
29:14: He gave, which said, I freely I'll forgive. His blood is for thy ransom paid,
29:22: I die that thou may live. Oh, can it be, upon a tree, the
29:29: Savior died for me? My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled, to think
29:36: He died for me. Jesus took the cup, and said, this is a new covenant in my heart.
34:48: This one is mine. All right.
34:58: Well, thank you guys for serving the communion. And let us now go to the
35:03: Lord in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for your great love for us, sinners.
35:16: Thank you that you loved us so much that you sent your one and only Son. Son of God, thank you so much that you bled and died on the cross to atone for our sin, and that you rose from the dead on the third day.
35:32: Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you came to sanctify us, to live inside of us, to conform us to the image of the
35:41: Son. So triune God, we call on you this morning that you would sanctify us by your truth, your word is truth.
35:51: I pray for this preacher, in this pulpit, that you would give me prophetic utterances to speak,
35:58: Lord God. That I would speak not on my own authority, but on yours. Pray that you give us all ears to hear.
36:06: Let us be solemn and somber and serious in dealing with your word, and yet at the same time rejoicing always, because we know who wins.
36:17: We praise you and ask now for your help in the preaching and hearing of your word. In Jesus' name, amen.
36:25: Emperor Julian came to the Roman throne many years after Constantine turned the empire
36:32: Christian. So understand that when Christ came into the world, the world was pagan.
36:39: They did not worship a transcendent God. Instead, they saw all of nature as one.
36:49: And different deities were within that nature, ancestors were within that nature, and they themselves were small gods in their own right.
36:58: It was a pagan world, a Roman world, into which Jesus came.
37:04: The Christian movement began very small, like a mustard seed, but it grew and began to conquer kingdoms, so that in 312 at the
37:14: Edict of Milan, Christianity was made a legal religion, and in fact, it became the dominant religion within that day.
37:24: Constantine the Emperor supposedly became a Christian, we're not sure if that was genuine or not, but when he did,
37:31: Christianity took root in the Roman Empire as the dominant expression. The Christians gained that ground by charity.
37:41: They were very generous, they would help the poor. If anybody's ever been to Rome, I've been to Rome, anybody ever see the catacombs underground where hundreds of thousands of burial sites are located?
37:54: And it was there that the Christians would offer a burial because the body was considered important.
38:01: And they would do this, and by the hundreds of thousands, they helped people who were afraid of having an ignominious death without burial.
38:13: Well, all this to say, Christianity was growing from that mustard seed to fill the whole earth, and people were becoming
38:20: Christian. However, when Julian the Emperor took over, he did not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.
38:30: He became a philosopher, a Stoic, and learned a Neoplatonism, and then became a sun worshiper and a blatant pagan, and began to outlaw
38:42: Christianity in the land. It was a pagan resurgence in Rome. People then began to turn away from Christ because the cost was high.
38:53: Paganism took over. At one point, Julian tried to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem because he wanted to offer animal sacrifices.
39:02: He wasn't really a friend of the Jews. They didn't want the animal sacrifices back. But he did it mostly to discredit
39:10: Christianity, which claimed that Christ was the final Lamb of God. When they went to the temple to try to build it, to try to build the temple on the old foundation,
39:20: I should say, the story comes back to Julian that balls of fire issued from the old foundations and scared away the workmen.
39:33: We don't know if that's true or not. It could be legendary, but in any case, that's what was reported back to the
39:38: Emperor, and so they were not able to rebuild the temple. But Christian cities were penalized and churches were burned.
39:46: Bishops, including the great Athanasius, you guys maybe have heard of the Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed, when they battled for the
39:55: Trinity. Well, he was expelled and banished to live out in the desert.
40:01: Other bishops were mistreated and one was horribly tortured. They installed in Christian churches the worship of Bacchus, that was the
40:12: Greco -Roman God associated with nature and wine and ecstasy. So it seemed that although Christianity had come on the scene and was filling the whole earth, all of a sudden there was a strong pagan resurgence that began to overtake the empire, led by the
40:33: Emperor Julian. While yet a young man, he was ambitious to overtake the
40:39: Persian Empire. And so heading east, he fell back in the battle and let his troops advance until somehow there snuck a
40:50: Persian close enough to him to fire one arrow. Not knowing where it came from, it struck him in the side and Julian died on the battlefield.
41:02: But before he died, holding the spot of that wound and seeing the blood flow, his generals reported what he cried out.
41:12: You have conquered, O Galilean. His war was against the
41:18: Galilean. You see, he called Christians Galileans as a way to mock and marginalize
41:25: Christians. Galilee was considered the wayward, rustic, kind of uneducated masses, the fishermen.
41:33: And so the Galilean Jesus was mocked and we the Christians along with him were mocked.
41:39: But in the end, Julian confessed, you have conquered, O Galilean.
41:44: And so the pagan resurgence failed and Christianity once again revived and has now gone to fill the whole earth.
41:53: From Irian Jaya to India to here we sit in New Jersey, of all places,
41:59: Christianity has thrived despite the pagan comeback. Now you would think, 2022, that paganism is a relic of the past.
42:13: Long gone, defeated, you would be wrong. Paganism is seeing a resurgence in our day.
42:23: In fact, I would go so far as to describe our culture, the general worldview of most
42:29: Americans and people in the West as pagan, not Christian any longer. Really began in the 1960s with the sexual revolution and then spiritual revolutions that came with that.
42:42: You would have the age of Aquarius and all of the transcendental meditation, the Eastern influence, and what you saw was this influx of Eastern ideology into Western culture.
42:56: Now, when you think of Eastern worldview, understand that they do not see a
43:04: God who is transcendent and over and above this world.
43:09: All there is is nature, one world, and all of us are
43:15: God and a part of it. The divine is just part of creation. It's called pantheism.
43:21: They, in fact, have a word to describe Hinduism that is Advaita. Advaita simply means not two, not a binary.
43:34: Everything is monism, oneness. There is only one.
43:39: We are all God. God is in you. God is in everything. This is the view of Hinduism.
43:45: It came into America in the 1960s and 70s. But then it kind of fell off of the radar only to emerge secretly through the institutions, through the academy, where Christians have been completely marginalized, to become the dominant worldview of America today.
44:07: That is why you find people practicing yoga, which means becoming one.
44:14: That is why you have meditation rather than prayer to a
44:19: God who's transcendent. That is why you have books on mindfulness, which is Buddhist.
44:25: This eastern influx of ideology is overtaking our culture. We need to understand this.
44:32: Turn with me to Romans 1, verses 24 through 27.
44:44: Christians, we will never be effective in evangelism until we understand the culture in which we live.
44:50: We need to exegete the text, but also exegete, draw out the culture to understand what we are up against.
44:59: In Romans 1, 24 and following, the Bible says,
45:04: Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.
45:15: Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, now watch this, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever.
45:33: Amen. The nature of paganism, of one -ism or monism, of eastern religion, which has become the predominant religion now in the west, is what it's always been.
45:46: It is the worship of the creation of nature, of all things, but the denial of a transcendent
45:55: God who made it. Romans 1, 25. So nothing new here. In fact, the sexual revolution that began in the 60s then increased in our day.
46:07: So in the 1990s, there was a book written by Judith Butler called
46:13: Queer Theory. And her concept is that sex, as in gender, is a social construct.
46:28: The concept here is that there is no binary. Now, binary means two.
46:35: There's a difference. So in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 3, it says that as God is the head of Christ, so the husband is the head of the wife.
46:47: Within creation order, there's a difference between father and son, and there's a difference between husband and wife.
46:53: There's a difference. A binary, male and female, he created them in the image of God.
47:00: But according to queer theory, there is no binary. All is one.
47:06: This is the word androgyny. And throughout history, wherever there was paganism, you had androgynous priests.
47:16: Homosexuals. In Africa. In India. In Indonesia.
47:21: In Native American religion, there was the shaman who was androgynous.
47:27: This was ubiquitous, and therefore we see in Romans 1, 26. By the way, if I say a word you don't understand this morning, just let it go over your head.
47:36: Don't worry about it. Don't fret. You're going to get the big idea. It says here, for this reason,
47:43: God gave them up to dishonorable passions Notice the first part of that verse.
47:51: It says, for this reason. What reason? The exchanging of the idea of a creator who's transcendent, who made everything, to a nature only oneness.
48:05: Where there is no God. That's the end game. There is no God. You are a God. Divinity is within you.
48:12: Because there's this exchange to jettison a creator God, now
48:18: God, it says, gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.
48:28: And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and what?
48:33: Were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves a due penalty for their error.
48:45: Because of the ruling by the Supreme Court in 2020, now the changing of gender is considered a thing.
48:56: And the protection of those who would do such a thing is considered a civil rights covered under the 1964
49:03: Civil Rights Act. But the concept of that is utterly impossible since God made them male and female.
49:13: All that can happen is the deforming of God's creation of the body. The mutilation but not ever the transitioning.
49:25: But why has this happened and why is this the law of the land 2020 Bostock? What culture do we live in that would say such a thing?
49:35: It is a culture that worships the creation and denies that there is another.
49:44: One outside of creation, bigger than creation. One who is God overall who is not a part of his creation exists as three in one.
49:58: The president's wife in the 1990s was Hillary Clinton. She invited
50:07: Gene Houston to come to the White House. Gene Houston was the author of the book,
50:14: The Passion of Osiris. Osiris was the God of the underworld. So why was
50:20: Gene Houston invited to the White House in the 1990s? She was invited there to contact the dead spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt and she was almost president in 2016.
50:42: Do you understand that that is paganism? And it is accepted.
50:48: It is a part of the culture in which we live. We need to understand this for a variety of reasons that we're going to get into now as we turn to 1
50:58: Thessalonians chapter 5 to finish the book. What I want you to see this morning is that Paul presents a transcendent
51:09: God. 1 Thessalonians 5 is very
51:14: God centered. It's about a triune God who always existed outside of creation even before anything was made that has been made.
51:27: So pick up with me at 1 Thessalonians 5. We read this part last week. Verse 16 and following.
51:34: We'll read it to the end of the chapter and that's where we finish today. We're going to conclude this book. It says,
51:41: Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances.
51:48: Now look for the Trinity here in these two verses. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
51:55: Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies but test everything.
52:02: Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the
52:09: God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our
52:18: Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us.
52:27: Greet all the brothers with the holy kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
52:35: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. You cannot understand this passage or live the
52:43: Christian life without understanding that God is transcendent.
52:50: He is outside of creation and he is the one that saves and sanctifies.
52:58: Notice in verse 18 and 19. This is the will of God, referring to the Father. In Christ Jesus, referring to the
53:06: Son. Do not quench the spirit. God has always existed as Father, Son and Spirit even before there was a creation.
53:16: How can we say that God is love even before there was a creation for him to love?
53:25: Why do we say God is love? Definitional to his being. A part of his essence is love.
53:32: It is only because God exists as Trinity. The Father loved the Son and the
53:39: Spirit. The Son loved the Father and the Spirit. The Spirit loved the Father and the Son in perfect unity, perfect love, before he made anything.
53:50: God existed as Trinity before the world began. Notice also there was difference.
53:56: As the Father is the head of the Son, so the husband is the head of the wife. There is a difference within the persons of the
54:05: Trinity. So there is both diversity and unity, which is the nature of the world in which we live.
54:13: Now, our world of course, wants to get rid of all difference.
54:19: Do away with any binary, any two -ism. This is why you see the sexual revolution as we're experiencing it now.
54:34: Maleness and femaleness are being collapsed into sameness.
54:41: That there is no difference. And it's a great danger to our children and to the culture because it has a certain appeal.
54:56: Here's how it works. Critical theory, critical race theory, social justice will be taught in schools.
55:04: And the goal of that is to make young people feel ashamed and guilty and identify themselves as inherently an oppressor.
55:15: But that's not the end game. There are those who are seeking from academia to raise up young people to become
55:26: Marxist revolutionaries. But here's the spiritual element that comes into play.
55:35: Feeling like an oppressor, feeling because of critical race theory that they have some stain, they are taught that they can identify as LGBTQ and immediately jump from oppressor to victim.
56:01: And with that jump they gain a certain street cred. Some points where they're valued and regarded even as a hero.
56:14: So consider this statistic from Barna Research Group with Arizona State. Official polling of thousands of young people between the ages of 18 and 24.
56:26: In that age group 40 % now identified as LGBTQ.
56:34: Do you realize what's happened in the culture? That's not a small percentage.
56:42: Some are only doing that because of the street cred that comes with it. In fact, I heard of a boy and a girl who are dating.
56:49: Just a boy. Just a girl. But the boy identifies as a girl.
56:55: And the girl is willing to date him only because she identifies as gay.
57:04: And so she's willing to date him as a girl because she identifies as gay.
57:09: But it's just a boy and a girl dating. It's insane.
57:19: But it's also spiritual. It's spiritual.
57:25: It is a new paganism where all is becoming one. Where all differences are eliminated.
57:34: And all religions are accepted as part of that oneness.
57:42: It is Mystery Babylon. There is emerging a one world government in our day.
57:51: Revelation chapter 17 addresses this Babylon. This government is led by globalist leaders.
57:59: I remember in 1996 taking a class at college my first class at Eckerd College was Globalization and You.
58:07: The World Economic Forum is training the young leaders including
58:13: Trudeau in Canada, and Gavin Newsom, and now Zelensky in Ukraine.
58:18: And these leaders are coming together to form a new one world government.
58:27: That's the goal. Don't mistake that. It's happening. But there is also,
58:33: Revelation 18, a Mystery Babylon religion. A one world religion that comes with that.
58:41: Speaking at Davos, Ken Wilber who wrote A Theory of Everything eliminating the intuitism and collapsing everything into monism.
58:50: Just one world where every religion is the same. He said this,
58:56: We are awaiting the new global founding fathers and mothers who will frame an integral system of government.
59:05: And with this theory of everything all religion is welcomed.
59:10: Including contacting the dead. Including Islam. Including Judaism.
59:17: Including every religion that makes no claim to a transcending God. As long as God is outside of the circle, everything is welcome in this one world religion.
59:30: And all is disregarded as a private truth that connects them to the universe.
59:39: They're told to look within. And there they will discover divinity. How brother, can you reach a pagan growing up in the
59:52: United States of America? I have some good news for you today.
59:58: Our main verses are 23 to 28. Look at verse 23. I want you to understand that this is a
01:00:08: God centered verse. It speaks of the
01:00:13: Triune God who's outside of us. And He is able to do what we can't.
01:00:21: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. Underline.
01:00:27: Star. Highlight that word completely. And may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our
01:00:36: Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. Who's gonna do it? He will do it.
01:00:45: This is a verse about sanctification. And it speaks about a complete sanctification.
01:00:52: God being able to completely transform and make holy a people for His name.
01:01:00: I asked Phil to lead the song, Rock of Ages cleft for me. And I did because there's a verse early in that song that I want you to hear.
01:01:11: Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure, safe from wrath and make me pure.
01:01:34: Because of the culture in which we live, we see cultural oneism or monism,
01:01:43: Hinduism, paganism coming into the churches as well.
01:01:52: There's a prominent teaching in evangelical churches all around here and all around the country that God cannot sanctify completely.
01:02:06: Some of the most prominent teachers on the gospel coalition identify themselves as being gay.
01:02:14: And they say that they're not practicing, therefore they're holy.
01:02:23: Now I want you to understand something from our verse. It says here, may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our
01:02:34: Lord Jesus Christ. The sanctification that God is able to do includes body and soul and spirit.
01:02:45: We are tripartite beings. We have three parts to us. We exist as spirit, soul, and body.
01:02:57: We in Adam are born dead spiritually. Ephesians 2, you were dead in your trespasses and sins.
01:03:05: The minute that Adam and Eve rebelled in the garden, they died spiritually. But they still had a soul, as we do, souls made in the image of God and bodies that are alive until they die.
01:03:21: Look back at chapter 5, verse 14. The apostle will say, admonish the idle, encourage the faint hearted.
01:03:35: Encourage the faint hearted. That Greek word means small soul, soukos, soul.
01:03:44: It refers to the person whose soul has been harmed or wounded, made small.
01:03:54: A part of them has been damaged. They're faint hearted because of a wound.
01:04:04: We're to encourage the faint hearted. And this verse that we're studying today, verse 23, is a huge encouragement.
01:04:12: It says, may the God of peace himself, something that God can do that you can't, sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of Jesus Christ.
01:04:29: So Albert Muller led the conservative resurgence in the 1990s to win back the
01:04:35: Southern Baptist churches to conservatism. And he taught in early 2000s that Christ is able to save and sanctify.
01:04:48: Be the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure. That someone who's been bound in homosexuality or any manner of sexual sin can be changed, mind, body and soul.
01:05:02: Great teaching. But in 2015 he repented of having said such things.
01:05:09: Now he thinks because many people who have been wounded, whose souls are damaged, say, listen,
01:05:17: I became a Christian but I still am same -sex attracted. And nothing has changed in my psyche, in my spirit, in my soul.
01:05:27: But I won't practice outwardly. Rebecca McLaughlin identifies like that and she writes for the
01:05:34: Gospel Coalition. Sam Albury writes for the Gospel Coalition and says the same thing.
01:05:41: They've started conferences like Revoice and Living Out and these conferences go into evangelical churches, in the churches to say such things.
01:05:53: That is no encouragement. It is a lie. It is the culture coming into the churches.
01:05:59: Listen to me. The rock of ages, the rock from which you were hewn, the transcendent
01:06:08: God who is above and beyond us, He is a fortress that you can run into.
01:06:15: You can run into God and find freedom. It is for freedom that you have been set free.
01:06:24: We can be free indeed. This verse, perhaps better than any other in the
01:06:30: New Testament, speaks to sanctification and the complete work that God will do in you.
01:06:43: Many of you and probably all of us have been damaged in our psuche, our soul, from things that have happened in the past, from things that we've exposed ourselves to, from all manner of sin in the world.
01:07:02: You live in a fallen world and it damages the soul. But our verse this morning says, may
01:07:13: God sanctify you completely. May He change you from the inside out.
01:07:19: May He change the way you think and wash your mind with His Word and renew your mind by the transforming of your mind,
01:07:28: Romans 12, 1 and 2. And Philippians 1, 6 says, He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
01:07:39: You see, church, sanctification is good news.
01:07:46: The same God that can wash away the penalty of our sin and take that sin that seems so big to you.
01:07:53: Maybe you've thought, I've struggled with this sin. I've had this pattern in my thinking my whole life.
01:08:01: And I've prayed and I've prayed, but I can't pray away the struggle that I have. The world would tell you that you cannot be changed.
01:08:16: This verse says quite the opposite. And there are thousands upon thousands of Christians who will line up and testify to that very thing.
01:08:25: That they were once bound in the patterns of their thought. But Christ set them free.
01:08:32: Do you believe that it is God who justifies? Romans 8.
01:08:38: Then why don't you believe that it is God who sanctifies? Do not bow the knee to that pattern of sin in your life which has dominated.
01:08:52: No matter how long it seems you've lost this battle, Christ is greater than our sin.
01:09:01: And the promise here is that our whole body and our spirit and our soul all of it will be kept blameless until the day of his coming.
01:09:13: It says in verse 24 he who calls you is faithful. He will do it.
01:09:19: The world will tell you look to yourself, look deep within. But there's no life there.
01:09:26: What is real spirituality? It's not tapping into your inner light.
01:09:34: It is to look to the God who made you. Who's so much greater than anything else in all creation.
01:09:41: He is God. He will do it. We all need to hear this. Because we live in a culture that no longer believes in God.
01:09:53: Only spirituality. But it's fake spirituality. Here's real spirituality. It is to rejoice always because you know what he has done for you.
01:10:04: It is to pray unceasingly because you know you don't have resources in you.
01:10:10: You need to talk to the God who made you. It is to give thanks in everything because you realize that everything comes from him.
01:10:20: It is not to quench the spirit but to let that fire of the Holy Spirit burn in you.
01:10:27: And it burns away the chaff. It burns away the sin. It changes you.
01:10:33: Makes you pure. It is to not despise prophetic utterances. This word this morning is a prophetic utterance.
01:10:43: Doesn't make me a prophet or a son of a prophet. It means the word of God comes to bear on your sin, on your life.
01:10:51: And it speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. It speaks the blood of Jesus which is able to wash you.
01:11:00: The double cure. To justify you but also to set you free. It is good news brothers.
01:11:08: Real spirituality is God centered not man centered. It looks to him.
01:11:14: So this all to say and that's the bulk of my sermon today. That God sanctifies.
01:11:21: Now, does that mean we just sit back and let him do what he does? No. As we've been saying, there are ordinary means of grace by which he accomplishes these purposes.
01:11:36: In other words, he has ordained your sanctification and he will do it. You will be presented spotless like a pure bride.
01:11:45: When the groom comes, when Christ comes for his church, you will be presented that way if you're born again.
01:11:52: That's the confidence that we have. But there are ordinary means. God has ordained the means of our sanctification as well as the end of our sanctification and these means are very simple.
01:12:04: We'll knock them out right here. Prayer, fellowship, the word. Prayer, verse 25.
01:12:10: Brothers pray for us. Paul knew even though he's the great apostle, the missionary, he needed prayer.
01:12:17: You need prayer and you need to be talking to God all day long.
01:12:22: To the God outside of this universe. Calling on him all day long.
01:12:29: Charles Spurgeon began to see a problem in the mid -1800s and it was that the enlightenment had brought this rational skepticism and people were turning away from Christianity and the younger generation were saying, you know, we've kind of moved beyond the faith of our parents.
01:12:52: And so on Sunday mornings Spurgeon would look out and often see parents with empty seats next to them.
01:12:59: Their grown children have wandered from the faith and grandparents that are lamenting that their kids no longer believe.
01:13:08: If that was true in the 1800s, how much more in our day when paganism has, it's no longer guys, it's no longer a secular humanist culture.
01:13:17: What is it? It's a pagan, spiritualist culture. It's moved beyond secularism to paganism.
01:13:25: And if that's what we're facing in the world we'll have many go astray because the world gets in.
01:13:32: But here's what Spurgeon said. We must never cease to pray for our children until they cease to breathe.
01:13:43: No case is hopeless while Jesus lives. There's somebody here that has a prodigal and they've been captured by the deceit of this world.
01:13:55: Do not stop praying. It is a means that God uses to draw the prodigal back home.
01:14:01: Keep praying. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Like Elijah who prayed and it had not rained.
01:14:10: For three and a half years he prayed again and it rained. So it is with our prayers.
01:14:17: They're powerful, they matter. You keep praying for that prodigal until he comes home.
01:14:24: Grandparent, you do the same. No case is hopeless while Jesus lives.
01:14:32: Having come into our world and died the death that we deserve and rise from the dead. He ascended back to the right hand of the father and he lives.
01:14:40: He is alive so pray to him all day long. That's true spirituality.
01:14:47: The next one was surprisingly greet all the brothers with the holy kiss.
01:14:55: Anybody scared right about now? Phil, I think a handshake will do. Fist pump.
01:15:02: The idea here is fellowship. The holy kiss was the cultural form of greeting in that time.
01:15:10: But now we live in the COVID era and everybody's worried about germs. You can still do the holy kiss as long as it's an appropriate cheat kiss.
01:15:18: But that's not what's that issue here. It's not the cultural form but rather that you need fellowship. You need to come to the assembled gathering of the saints and greet one another.
01:15:30: You need to be here. Some would say in our day and age, you know what? I have God. I'm spiritual.
01:15:36: I'm not really religious. Maybe I'll tune in from my living room. Better than nothing but don't you need this?
01:15:46: This table? I know I needed that this morning. I have some rough edges.
01:15:52: When I was sitting there holding that bread, I'm confessing my sin. And I need to take that and remember the body and blood of Christ shed for me.
01:16:03: And I need you guys to speak into my life and I need to speak into yours. Iron sharpens iron.
01:16:08: Fellowship is an ordinary means of grace. Lastly, the word. He says,
01:16:14: I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. He doesn't say, follow your heart.
01:16:27: He doesn't say, follow the traditions. He says, read this word.
01:16:36: Peter said when Paul wrote, some of the things he says are hard to understand. So I find comfort in that, by the way.
01:16:42: Sometimes some of the things I say are hard to understand. But it's scripture, Peter says.
01:16:48: What I say isn't scripture. This is scripture. It is not my job to come here and give you opinions.
01:16:55: I am under oath. And guys, recognize from the New Testament, Jesus' teaching, what a big deal it is to speak in oath.
01:17:05: Paul says, I put you talking to the elders, the pastor, I put you under oath before the
01:17:13: Lord have this letter read to all the brothers. Did you wonder why we did 1
01:17:18: Thessalonians? For weeks we've been reading it. And we read it again today. Again and again.
01:17:23: We need the word of God. That's what washes our thinking. That's the ordinary means of grace.
01:17:29: Some people have struggled with the same thing again and again. But they don't read the
01:17:34: Bible again and again. We need to pray, fellowship. By the way, with fellowship, you might need to pull a friend aside today on your way out to the car and confess to a brother a sin that has you entangled.
01:17:54: Confess. You don't go to a priest in a little box. James 5 says you go to a brother or a sister.
01:18:02: In that real relationship you carry each other's burdens. The last verse of the book says, the grace of our
01:18:11: Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And isn't it great that Paul would end there? Because our faith began by grace.
01:18:20: You didn't save yourself. He says in chapter 1, somebody came and told you. And they had a life that was commensurate with what they were saying.
01:18:30: And so you believed and you received it. That came from outside of you.
01:18:36: The gospel came by grace to you. It was the work that He did on your behalf, not what you can do.
01:18:42: Titus, not the works of the flesh. It came from outside of you.
01:18:48: It was Him. It was God who did it for you. It began with grace. It is grace in the middle and it's grace at the end.
01:18:57: The entire Christian life is by grace. You need Him. You can't do it on your own.
01:19:04: There's no divinity in you to save yourself, let alone change you from the inside out.
01:19:13: It's all by grace from beginning, middle, and end. So in closing, brothers, sisters, how do we take this sermon and apply it?
01:19:24: Take from today's sermon that God will sanctify you completely. Don't believe the lie of this culture.
01:19:36: Believe in the God outside of you, the transcendent One who can do anything and everything
01:19:42: He wants. Even if you struggled with something for a long time, He can fix that in a second.
01:19:48: What seems like a mountain to you, immovable, it's a pebble to Him. He can throw it in the sea of forgetfulness in a second.
01:19:57: So pray to Him. How do you know that He won't do that today? Doesn't our text say now?
01:20:03: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you. Now. Believe in sanctification, just like you believe in justification.
01:20:12: You believe your sin punishment was born by Christ on the tree, right? You believe your punishment was settled there.
01:20:21: And His wrath is satisfied. You believe in that. Do you also believe that He can change you from the inside out?
01:20:29: Believe it. And then go, and here's the particular tweak to our evangelism that I think comes from this sermon today.
01:20:39: If what I'm saying is true, and the culture has become pagan, that means they already think they're spiritual, and when you show up preaching your religion, it just looks like you're trying to browbeat them and you think you're better than them.
01:20:56: So begin here. Begin with Genesis 1 .1.
01:21:02: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
01:21:09: Step one is almost like pre -evangel, establishing that there is a
01:21:15: God in heaven who is separate from this creation, who's over creation, who has rules for this creation.
01:21:25: He's distinct and different. You have to start with a creator that's different from the creation.
01:21:31: Romans 1 .25 has them all tripped up. So begin your evangelism with the creator
01:21:37: God. That's the first thing. Start there. And here's the second part. I think we stop at justification.
01:21:46: So take a step back in your evangelism and teach Genesis 1 .1, a transcendent God. Secondly, take a step forward in your evangelism.
01:21:57: You may have gone so far as to tell of the one who forgives sin and offers eternal life.
01:22:02: That's great. That's the gospel. Take a step forward. Also tell of a
01:22:07: God who sanctifies. Do you hear that? That means when
01:22:14: Will Thomas feels like a boy or a girl trapped in a boy's body and so decides that he's going to take the world's way and just do what they say, you have hope for that 40 % of 18 to 24 year olds that feel trapped and confused.
01:22:41: Do you hear what I'm saying? Can you imagine this? Think about this. You would feel like a slave.
01:22:49: You're being told by the world that who you are is determined but not by God. You're born this way and nothing can change it.
01:22:57: Here comes a Christian and we can say our God can forgive your sin and our
01:23:03: God can set you free. Our God can change you from the inside out and change your desires and your thinking and make you new and give you joy and you will wake up in the morning with joy in your heart instead of sorrow.
01:23:19: Isn't that good news? Let's take that news to the street. Phil's leading evangelism in the park starting on the 14th if you want to join us there.
01:23:29: So let's do that. Take a step back and talk about the transcendent God. Take a step forward and preach the whole gospel including his sanctifying power.
01:23:40: Lastly, didn't I already say that once? Lastly again, take the step of boldness, recognize the culture is at war with Christ and you're going to need to be willing to suffer if you're going to speak.
01:23:56: You will be persecuted. Everyone who desires to do God's will will be persecuted.
01:24:03: Do you know how Richard Wurmbrandt, that missionary to Eastern Europe, used to catechize the young people who were about to get baptized?
01:24:15: So a little more context. Eastern Europe had gone atheist because communism overtook.
01:24:21: So now it was illegal to preach and proselytize and Christians were often killed or at least in prison like Wurmbrandt himself was for decades tortured.
01:24:34: So as a pastor, Wurmbrandt just decades ago in Eastern Europe, he would take the young people before baptizing them to the zoo.
01:24:48: Sounds like a fun youth group, right? Tim, right? Let's go to the zoo. But no. You want to know why he did that?
01:24:55: He went to the zoo to take all of the young people and make them stand in front of the lions and look the lions in the eye.
01:25:04: And he said, when you're ready to be thrown to the lions, you can be baptized. He was telling them to count the cost of becoming a
01:25:15: Christian because in this communist Romania where he was, you might be thrown to the lions for preaching a
01:25:25: Christ who is over this creation. A transcendent one. For disagreeing with the narrative of the culture.
01:25:35: This militant atheism or this pagan atheism. Do you get what
01:25:41: I'm saying? Church, you've got to be bold. You've got to be willing to say things that people don't want to hear.
01:25:48: You have to expect that in this culture. But if you love Christ, he's worthy.
01:25:56: He's worth it. And great is your reward in heaven. Let's pray. Father, today we've considered some really heavy things.
01:26:05: Lord, I feel like we need to have the veil of our eyes opened to see how dark this culture has become.
01:26:13: That people are not secular as we suppose.
01:26:20: They are actually very spiritual with a false spirituality.
01:26:28: A pagan spirituality. And we preach
01:26:33: Christ and him crucified. So I pray first of all for us,
01:26:39: Lord, that you would sanctify us by your truth. Your word is truth. We pray that we would believe the words as we have received them today.
01:26:49: Sanctify us by your truth. Your word is truth. We also pray for our witness to a godless culture.
01:26:58: We pray that you would make us effective in preaching the good news. A God who saves and sanctifies.
01:27:05: And who's coming for us. To give us eternal life in heaven.
01:27:13: Pray that you would give us boldness. That you would touch us with that fire from on high. Many of us have been quenching that fire.
01:27:20: We pray that we would not quench the spirit, but that we would be filled with the spirit.
01:27:26: So fill us afresh like a mighty wind blow over us,
01:27:31: Lord. With the wind of your Holy Spirit to give us courage. And lastly,
01:27:38: Lord, we just want to say thank you. Thank you for your grace. Thank you that you saved us and thank you that you do sanctify us.
01:27:48: We have nothing to fear because you are with us. In your name we pray.
01:27:54: Amen. Let's stand and sing. Blessed be your name.
01:28:07: In the land that is plentiful. Where streams of abundance flow.
01:28:15: Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name.
01:28:23: I'm found in my desert place. I walk through the wilderness.
01:28:32: Blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out,
01:28:40: I'll turn back to grace. When the darkness closes in,
01:28:48: Lord, still I will sing. Blessed be the name of the
01:28:55: Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the
01:29:03: Lord. Blessed be your glorious name.
01:29:12: Blessed be your name. When the sun was shining down on me.
01:29:20: When the world is all as it should be. Blessed be your name.
01:29:29: Blessed be your name. On the road marked with suffering.
01:29:36: There's pain in the offering. Blessed be your name.
01:29:44: Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to grace.
01:29:53: When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will sing.
01:30:00: Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name.
01:30:08: Blessed be the name. Blessed be your glorious name.
01:30:19: You give and take away. You give and take away.
01:30:27: My heart will choose to say. Blessed be your name.
01:30:36: You give and take away. You give and take away.
01:30:46: To say. Blessed be your name.
01:30:52: Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name.
01:31:00: Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name.
01:31:16: Alright, we dismiss with the words of 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 and 24.
01:31:22: Closing out the book. Then we'll have Palm Sunday, and then Easter, which will be a very evangelistic message.
01:31:29: So, we finish the book here and then we'll start with 2 Thessalonians after that. Now may the
01:31:35: God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our
01:31:46: Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will do it.