What is it That You WANT to Do?

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Okay, let's pray. Speak, Lord, Your servants hear.

00:08

Please show us now Your ways so that we may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of our own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.

00:20

Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path. Give us life, O Lord, according to Your Word, and we will declare

00:26

Your greatness. Amen. Alright, we are finishing up our study of the commandments.

00:35

We still actually have a few more weeks that we will be considering what the commandments say and the summary of the commandments.

00:43

And last week we left off really taking a hard look at what Scripture says regarding putting to death what is earthly in us, and especially evil passions and desires and covetousness.

00:54

And we noted that Colossians 3 verse 5 explicitly says that covetousness is idolatry.

01:02

So, as we consider this then, we have to consider another aspect of it, and that is that Scripture talks about God giving us the desires of our heart.

01:14

And so when the Scripture talks about giving us the desires of our heart, it is best that we understand in what context that appears, because many false teachers will take passages like that and twist them in such a way as to make us somehow wrongly believe that God wants to give us a

01:32

Mercedes Benz. I always love to have that song go, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

01:38

If God is gonna give us the desires of our heart, we need to understand what context that's gonna be the case.

01:45

And I remember years ago, I've told this story before. Years ago, when I first began to hear the gospel actually proclaimed to Christians, it was something that was very foreign to me.

01:58

I was in a very legalistic church, and the gospel was something that you preach to somebody who needed to make a decision for Christ, but you didn't preach the gospel to Christians.

02:08

That didn't make any sense. And the person who was proclaiming the gospel was

02:13

Dr. Rod Rosenblatt. You may know who he is. He is the fellow who is the

02:19

Lutheran voice on the radio program, The White Horse Inn. He's a very well -known

02:25

Christian apologist, recently retired from Concordia University, Irvine, teaching theology and apologetics there.

02:32

And he was my theology and apologetics professor. And when I was attending there, I was still caught up in this self -righteous form of Christianity.

02:41

And I was very, very skeptical of the way he was talking, as if somehow

02:47

Christians could know that they are forgiven, that somehow Christians are saved by grace through faith apart from works.

02:55

This is something I was not taught at all. And so I remember going up to him after one class and saying,

03:01

Dr. Rosenblatt, if what you're saying is true, that we are totally saved by what

03:07

Christ has done for us, then you're saying I can do whatever I want.

03:12

That's how I heard it. And what I meant was I can go and sin like the devil, and it wouldn't matter.

03:23

But that's, he did something really fascinating. He kind of flipped it. And he said, yes, of course,

03:28

Chris. Now that Christ has set you free from bondage to sin, death, and the devil, what do you want to do?

03:37

Oh. You see, that kind of changes everything. And see, you have to keep sin in its proper perspective.

03:47

Sin is never freedom, sin is always slavery. And we'll talk about this as we get into the close of the commandments in just a minute.

03:54

But let's take a look at a couple of passages. And scripture, when it talks about God giving us the desires of our heart, speaks in these ways.

04:03

And it's not apart from a proper understanding and a meditating on God's revealed will for us in scripture.

04:11

We'll begin in Psalm 37. Consider the words of David here. Fret not yourself because of evildoers.

04:18

Be not envious of wrongdoers. That's a real temptation for us

04:24

Christians. Have you ever noticed that it really just seems like for a while, evil people really seem to thrive and prosper and seem to have all the power, all the money, all the fame, and they're just ridiculous.

04:38

And you sit there and go, how is it that that guy or that gal, as evil as they are, is as successful and lauded as they are?

04:48

But God says this, they will soon fade like the grass and they will wither like the green herb.

04:55

Trust in the Lord. Do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

05:02

Don't even think about these people. You befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

05:11

So you'll note, scripture says God wants to give us the desires of our heart. If you are delighting yourself in the

05:18

Lord, what will those desires be? Will they be for fame, fortune, illicit sex, things like this?

05:27

No, not at all. You delight yourself in the Lord and your desires, through the work of the

05:34

Holy Spirit in conforming us to the image of Christ, your desires will be for the things of the

05:40

Lord and his ways. So trust in the Lord. Do good. Dwell in the land. Befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the

05:46

Lord. He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your ways, verse five.

05:51

Commit your ways to the Lord. Trust in him. He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, your justice as the noonday.

06:02

Bestill before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out his evil devices.

06:12

Refrain from anger. Forsake wrath. Fret not yourself. It tends only to evil.

06:18

For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land, and the land here is the earth itself.

06:27

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more. Though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

06:35

But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.

06:42

The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him. But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

06:51

The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and the needy, to slay those whose way is upright.

07:01

Their sword shall enter into their own heart. Their bows shall be broken.

07:07

Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.

07:13

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.

07:19

The Lord knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever.

07:25

They are not put to shame in evil times. In the days of famine, they have abundance. But the wicked will perish.

07:31

The enemies of Yahweh are like the glory of the pastors. They vanish like smoke. They vanish away.

07:38

The wicked borrows, but does not pay back. But the righteous is generous and gives. For those blessed by Yahweh shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

07:49

The steps of a man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way." And there you can see then, this idea of God giving you the desires of your heart is not apart from you desiring the very things that God wants.

08:03

The steps of a man are established by God when he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for Yahweh upholds his hand.

08:14

I have been young, and now I am old. I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor have

08:21

I seen his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously to his, and his children become a blessing.

08:29

Turn away from evil and do good, so that you shall dwell forever. For Yahweh loves justice.

08:36

He will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

08:44

The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.

08:53

The law of his God is in his heart. His steps do not slip.

09:00

And so you're gonna note, over and again scripture teaches that we are not righteous because we do the law.

09:06

We do the law because we are righteous. We have been declared righteous. We have been forgiven.

09:12

We have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ. We are penitent, and given that repentance and faith is a gift by God, and then

09:20

God is the one who expects us now to listen to his law, follow his ways, meditate on who he is, keep our eyes above, not below.

09:33

And the idea that we keep God's law ever in our hearts.

09:39

The wicked watches for the righteous, seeks to put him to death. The Lord will not abandon him to his power, or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

09:48

Wait for the Lord, keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land.

09:55

You will look on when the wicked are cut off. That's a promise regarding the day of judgment.

10:02

We will be looking on when the wicked are cut off. We will be. I've seen a wicked and ruthless man spreading himself like a green laurel tree, but he passed away.

10:15

And behold, he was no more. Though I sought him, he could not be found. Mark the blameless, and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace.

10:26

But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed. The future of the wicked shall be cut off.

10:33

The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. Notice, where does our salvation come from?

10:41

God, not ourselves. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them.

10:48

He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him.

10:56

So again, Psalm 37, verse four, delight yourself in the

11:01

Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have heard pastors say that the

11:09

Lord wants to give you the desires of your heart. And they leave out that kind of important bit right there, delight yourself in the

11:16

Lord. So we recognize, then, we must continue to examine our desires in light of God's word.

11:28

And when our desires are in conflict with the word of God, then we must confess our desires as sin.

11:35

Over and again, we hear from people in our society that feelings are not right or wrong, that you can't judge my feelings.

11:46

Bah humbug. Is not a desire a feeling? It starts out as a feeling.

11:55

It might turn into a thought, but even our desires, even our feelings, our passions, those can be sinful.

12:02

And when our sinful passions and desires are in conflict with the law of God, we must recognize that that is not coming from God, that is coming from the devil, the world, or even our own sinful flesh, or all three of them working together in concert.

12:20

And we must confess it, repent, be forgiven. And through the means of grace, word, and sacrament, bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

12:30

That's the idea. So when we talk, then, the opposite of coveting would be godly desires, and those are not attained apart from God and his word.

12:40

Those are not attained in that way. I'm gonna show you another passage of scripture. And this, if you would turn over to Psalm 119 with me.

12:51

Verse 35 is where I'll begin. And if you've ever noticed, this is kind of a little side note here.

12:59

Psalm 119 is chopped up into different sections, and you'll note that those sections have, as a part of it, different parts of the

13:09

Hebrew alphabet. Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, He, Wau, Zion. And you're sitting there going, what does all of that mean?

13:14

Why is it chopped up in this way? And I wanted to show you this. This, again, is a little bit small. But when you look at Psalm 119, starting at verse 33,

13:26

I'm sorry, well, let me see, where does that section begin? Yep, 33.

13:32

If you look at it in the Hebrew, this section, every sentence begins with a letter, hey.

13:41

And so this is kind of fun. There's some really fun wordplay in the Hebrew language.

13:47

And so whoever put this together, put it together so that there's each of the sections is, you can observe it in Hebrew really easily by noting that each of the sentences begins with a particular letter.

14:01

So here's the Daleth portion, here's the Zion portion, here's the Beth, and then here's the

14:07

Aleph section. You kind of get the idea. And then this is where each of the sentences begins.

14:13

Remember, it reads from right to left in Hebrew. Chapter, so chapter, verse 33 is where the hey section begins.

14:22

And here's what it says. Teach me, O Yahweh, the way of your statutes, and I will keep it to the end.

14:32

Give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

14:40

Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain. Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways.

14:53

Confirm to your servant your promise that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.

15:02

Behold, I long for your precepts in your righteousness. Give me life.

15:11

It's beautiful. It's absolutely stunning to consider. This is a wonderful prayer, by the way.

15:17

You're gonna note, you could pray this. Teach me your way, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will keep them.

15:23

Give me understanding, O Lord, that I may keep your law, observe it with my whole heart. And so we as Christians then understanding the proper distinction of law and gospel and recognizing that God's law has three uses.

15:35

Again, it's important to review the basics here. The first use of the law is used by the government, and that is basically to curb evil.

15:43

The government has the sword for the purpose of punishing evildoers. The second use of the law is its primary use due to the fact that we are sinners.

15:52

It convicts us of our sins and shows us how far short we fall so that we despair of our own righteousness and see our need for Christ our

16:03

Savior. The gospel then comforts and assures us that we are forgiven for Christ's sake, not by trying to do gooder.

16:11

And then the third use of the law is only for Christians. It defines for us what a good work is.

16:19

It defines for us. So we don't get to invent our good works. Our good works are defined according to God's law.

16:26

So then as Christians, with the law's condemnation muted, we look at the law and see that it is holy, good, righteous, and just.

16:36

And we can meditate on it, desire to keep it, and strive to do so.

16:44

And then at the end of every day, pray, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

16:50

Such is our life right now. But there is a day coming that is much different than this day.

16:58

So then our desire is conforming to the will of God. Philippians 4 .8

17:04

says, "'Finally, brothers, whatever is true, "'whatever is honorable, whatever is just, "'whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, "'whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, "'if there is anything worthy of praise, "'think about these things.'"

17:23

Think about these things. I love how Psalm 37 tells us to not fret and think about how the evil prosper.

17:31

And Philippians says to think on the things that are lovely, commendable, excellent. And this is truly a gift for us to be able to do that.

17:40

And so then the small catechism in summarizing the 10 commandments and the close of them says this.

17:49

So what does God say about all of these commandments? He says, "'I, Yahweh, your

17:55

God, I am a jealous God, "'and I punish the children for the sin of the fathers "'to the third and the fourth generation "'of those who hate me, "'but showing love to a thousand generations "'of those who love me and keep my commandments.'"

18:13

Luther asks the question, then what does this mean? Well, the answer is God threatens to punish all who break these commandments.

18:19

Therefore, we should fear his wrath and not do anything against them. However, God promises grace and every blessing to all who keep the commandments.

18:29

Therefore, we should also love and trust in him and gladly do what he commands.

18:37

And you sit there and you go, yeah, but I don't gladly do them. Yes, I know. And so we repent, we receive the absolution, we bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

18:50

So the idea then here is this. God shows how intensely he wants us to cling to him alone.

18:59

And with that, we're gonna consider then how God makes threats as well as promises.

19:06

And this is a fascinating text of scripture. Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 30. Deuteronomy chapter 30, and we're gonna work our way through a pretty big swath of this.

19:18

Deuteronomy chapter 30, this is a portion of scripture that has to do with the blessings and curses portion of the

19:27

Mosaic covenant. It's important for us to recognize that. There is an understanding that we as Christians can get to with this text, but we must first and foremost recognize and realize that the threats and promises that are made here were threats and promises made to the children of Israel for their keeping of the

19:47

Mosaic covenant. We are not under the Mosaic covenant. The Mosaic covenant has been fulfilled in Christ, and so we are in the new covenant.

19:55

And so keep that in mind because there's kind of some eschatological implications then as we read through this.

20:02

And when all these things come upon you, the blessings and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where Yahweh your

20:11

God has driven you, and you return to the Lord your God, you and your children and obey his voice in all that I command you today with all of your heart and with all of your soul, then

20:23

Yahweh your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where Yahweh your

20:30

God has scattered you. Now I think, what is going on here? Well, one of the curses of the

20:36

Mosaic covenant was for those who persisted in sin and unbelief and refused to repent of their idolatry, that at some point that God has no other remedy than to act in judgment.

20:52

This has really been the heart of what we've been looking at in Lamentations, that God in his love sent his prophets over and over and over again that his people would repent and they refused, and finally the only remedy was for him to act in merciless judgment.

21:07

Terrible thing. And so one of the stipulations of the

21:12

Mosaic covenant is if you do not listen to my word, trust and obey me in the land of Israel, God would take them, scrape them out of the land, pick them up and disperse them into the nations.

21:30

And we talk about the lost 10 tribes of Israel. You know, the Northern Kingdom, what happened to them?

21:39

They got dispersed. So because of their sin and their unbelief, God took them and just went and blew them out into all the nations.

21:48

There are not a lot of people who can say, I'm from the tribe of Simeon, or I'm from the tribe of Issachar.

21:56

Most Jews today are either Levites, and they have the last name Cohen. Cohen, by the way, is

22:03

Hebrew for priest. They are Jews because they are members of the tribe of Judah.

22:11

And there are a few, there's another group of them that are Benjamites, but very rarely, there's just not a lot of people who can say definitively, yeah,

22:20

I'm from Simeon, I'm from Issachar, I'm from Manasseh, because all those tribes, they were picked up and dispersed.

22:28

So you'll note that God acting in judgment then said he would disperse them. But then you get this interesting promise that if they return to the

22:36

Lord your God, that he would restore their fortunes, have mercy on them, and gather you again from all the peoples where Yahweh your

22:43

God has scattered you. Now that's weird. That's really weird.

22:49

Because it is only in the last, what, 70 years, that physical genetic

22:58

Jews have been returning to Israel, but that's not what this is talking about. That's not what this is talking about.

23:05

Has God promised us a physical promised land in this earth? No, this is a promise then of the

23:11

Eschaton, a promise of what is coming, that the Lord would have them inherit the land,

23:19

Ha 'aretz. What is the land that we are promised as Christians to inherit?

23:26

The earth itself. That includes every piece of property on planet

23:34

Earth. And so here, this is a fascinating text. So God would have mercy.

23:40

If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there, Yahweh your God will gather you.

23:47

And from there, he will take you. And Yahweh your God will bring you into the land your fathers possessed that you may possess it.

23:56

And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love

24:06

Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul that you may live. And Yahweh your

24:13

God will put all of these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of Yahweh and keep all of his commandments that I command you today.

24:24

Yahweh your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your room, in the fruit of your cattle, in the fruit of the ground.

24:34

For Yahweh will again take delight in prospering you as he took delight in your fathers when you obey the voice of Yahweh your

24:42

God to keep his commandments, his statutes that are written in this book of the law. When you turn to Yahweh your

24:49

God with all of your heart and with all of your soul. And you'll note, this type of obedience that is talked about here is an obedience that we are incapable of in this lifetime because we still have a sinful nature.

25:05

And so we in this lifetime, we stay on our knees humbly asking for God to forgive us.

25:13

So as Christians then we confess that God jealously guards his commandments so that all within his creation may prosper.

25:22

And this is kind of an important part. Imagine what the world would be like if everybody kept

25:31

God's law perfectly. Would that be a terrible world or a great world?

25:42

It would ruin the economy. All of your investments would be doo -doo.

25:48

I agree but see, if in a world where we perfectly love

25:55

God and we love our neighbor perfectly as ourselves and we do, and never is it ever heard of somebody taking another person's life, taking another person's property, always everybody protecting each other of there not being any sexual immorality, of there not being any lying, slandering, coveting, stealing or anything of that sort.

26:25

Everybody looking out for everybody else. That would be a really nice place to live.

26:33

It really would. You would never have to lock your doors. There would be no soap operas because that would be a completely foreign idea.

26:43

There would be none of the weird, strange machinations and drama that occurs in societies, in families and communities.

26:53

None of that would be happening. This would be a great world to live in.

26:59

Not only would you be focused on meeting the needs of others, everybody else would be focused on meeting your needs.

27:06

There is no sinful, satanic selfishness. And so God's law shows us,

27:15

I like to think one aspect of the law is that fully lived out in every citizen, it gives us a picture of what the new earth is like and what it will be like for all of us.

27:31

It'll be absolutely amazing. And here's the thing, as Christians, we now with each other are to be practicing these things and doing these things and reflecting that future kingdom which is coming even in our own lives because what is the thing that scripture says?

27:55

They will know we are Christians by our what? Love. And love is the fulfilling of the law.

28:04

So you sit there and go, man, we've got a long way to go. Yeah. So the next question, why does

28:14

God describe himself as a jealous God? Now before we answer the question,

28:19

I want you to consider this. Are any of you familiar with Oprah Winfrey's testimony of how she left

28:25

Christianity? She's told the story several times.

28:31

You can probably find it on YouTube still. Oprah Winfrey tells the story of how she was in church one

28:37

Sunday and the pastor was reading out from the Bible that God is a jealous

28:43

God. And she found fault with God for being jealous and realized

28:50

I don't really wanna have anything to do with that kind of God. For her, that was an offense.

28:57

That was the offense that broke the camel's back. I don't wanna have anything to do with that God.

29:06

A jealous God. A jealous God does not accept worship to Allah or Buddha, Shiva or Vishnu or Molech or Ashtoreth or Baal as worship to him at all.

29:23

So when we talk about God being jealous, it's important for us to recognize this. Isaiah 42, eight says this.

29:29

I am Yahweh, that is my name. My glory I give to no other nor my praise to carved idols.

29:42

Now let me give you a metaphor that we can all understand. A couple has been married for a while and in this particular married relationship, the wife has a wandering eye.

29:57

And she has decided that although she loves her husband, she has decided to see if there's greener pastures in other men.

30:06

And so she has begun an adulterous affair with somebody else. When her husband finds out about it, he has righteous jealousy because she swore at the altar in church that she would forsake all others.

30:26

And so she says to him, let's say Oprah Winfrey's thing.

30:34

Well, I think it's really narrow -minded and bigoted of you and horrible of you to be so jealous about my lover.

30:46

See, you have to recognize that me being in the arms of this fellow is just as good as me being in your arms.

30:57

It doesn't make any sense. Doesn't make any sense in human relationships. It doesn't make any sense when it comes to God.

31:04

And so when we talk about God being a jealous God, he does not give his glory to another. He does not consider worship of another

31:12

God as worship to him in proxy. In the same way that a husband whose wife is cheating on him does not consider her loving her lover as love being received by him.

31:25

It doesn't make any sense. And this is where it gets very interesting. In the Old Testament, over and again, the prophets paint the picture of those who are

31:34

Jewish who worship other gods as two very, very unflattering descriptions, as spiritually adulterous and spiritually, well, prostitutes.

31:50

It's an unflattering picture, but that's the idea. And so when it comes to worship of God, the only true

31:58

God who exists, God is a jealous God, and he does not share his glory with another.

32:05

And this is offensive because we live in a world where people have bumper stickers that say co -exist.

32:13

And the expectation of bumper stickers like that is that in society, stop trying to evangelize each other and just get along.

32:24

But it's even worse than that because the other expectation of this, and we heard this from Hillary Clinton when she was running for president, was the expectation that Christianity needed to modify its message, that it needed to rework it and stop talking about God in exclusive terms as if Jesus is the only way.

32:50

And so co -exist is a message to all of us. Stop saying that Jesus is the only way.

32:59

And unfortunately, there have been people in recent, in recent times within the visible church who have bought into this idea that worshiping the one true

33:14

God is not a big deal. And I don't know if you guys remember the emergent church movement and Brian McLaren.

33:22

I know I remember and my kids would remember it because I talked about it all the time. But this is going about 10 years ago now.

33:30

Brian McLaren, actually about 12 years ago, wrote a book called A Generous Orthodoxy. Generous Orthodoxy.

33:37

And he argued that people can be followers of God in the way of Islam, that people can be followers of God in the way of Buddha.

33:51

And that we as Christians have got to stop trying to convert people to Christianity.

33:59

And so one year to show his solidarity with his brothers who are in Islam, Brian McLaren observed the month of Ramadan with them and fasted during Ramadan.

34:16

I don't want to be a follower of God. That is not appropriate for anybody who calls themselves a

34:21

Christian. God is jealous. He does not share his glory with the idol,

34:28

Allah. So you kind of get the idea. Now, this next portion,

34:34

I want you to consider this. As Christians, when we talk about God acting in righteous anger and punishing sin, when we talk about God, we will talk about God in two ways.

34:47

We'll talk about God in his alien work. And then we will talk about God in his proper work.

34:54

And by alien work, what we mean is this, is that if you know somebody who you've known them forever, that they've always been level -handed, you know, they've always been very reasonable, calm, cool, collected.

35:12

If you were to hear a story of that person and somebody said, yeah, you're not going to believe this so -and -so, he just totally flew off the handle of you.

35:20

And he really was upset and did this, that, and the other thing. People would say, well, that's not the so -and -so that I know.

35:28

But the reality is, is that it is the so -and -so you know. It's just that that's not his default setting.

35:33

The idea then is if you want to understand God in his proper work, in his, the way he normally is, you look at the cross.

35:44

There's, you know, God is love. When we talk about God punishing sin and God acting in righteous judgment, that's not his default setting.

35:55

And he is patient and long -suffering and he's got this ridiculously long fuse.

36:02

Over and again, desiring that people repent, that they be forgiven. And when they continue to rebuff him in his mercy and his grace and his willingness to forgive and pardon, at that point, there is no other remedy except for punishment.

36:20

When we talk about God then acting in wrath, acting in judgment, that is truly a part of God, but that is his alien work.

36:29

That's not how he normally is. He will not get to that point unless provoked.

36:37

Does that make sense? So moving then ahead, we're gonna take a look at Judges chapter two.

36:47

This, we're gonna pick up a couple of verses from this. Judges chapter two. Specifically, we're gonna look at verses 11 and 12.

36:58

And here's what it says. All of the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh and they served the

37:07

Baals. They abandoned Yahweh, their God, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.

37:15

They went after other gods from among the gods of the people who were around them and bowed down to them and they provoked

37:24

Yahweh to anger. Provoked. So I find it fascinating is that using today's parlance, if you understand scripture correctly, the person who faults

37:38

God for his jealousy, anger, and wrath if you understand scripture, those people are actually victim blaming.

37:48

They are the ones who have provoked God to act in wrath and to punish sin and then they fault him for doing so.

37:57

He's the victim here. We're the perps. He's in the right.

38:03

We're in the wrong. And so it's important to note that scripture is very clear on this, that God does not wish to work that way, but that he will when provoked.

38:15

And now this kind of leads to the next question. This is something

38:20

I've been teaching on in several different outlets. And here's the question I have for you. We recognize

38:27

God is jealous, that he can be provoked, that this is his alien work to judge and to act and punish sin, but he desires that all would be saved.

38:37

This is his nature. So then the question comes up, what is the reason that Christ died for us?

38:47

What is the reason why Christ died for us? And I'm gonna give you, for the sake of comparison, a teaching that has become really rampant in evangelicalism today.

39:03

And we're gonna do it this way. Have you all heard of the fellow who's named Todd White?

39:10

And I want you to listen to what he says. He has his own teaching as to why

39:16

Jesus died for our sins. And I want you to listen to this. If Jesus, my king, can hang on a tree and be ripped apart in his flesh and his beard ripped off and spit on and everything, more be on any man.

39:29

And he can look at people that are spitting on him and say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

39:35

Then I need to come to the reality of realizing that people do what they do because they don't know who they are. And people are like -

39:40

Now, did you hear that? They don't know who they are. They don't know who they are. So the reason why people sin is because they don't know who they are.

39:47

Okay, listen. By the way, this is from Trinity Broadcasting Network, the totally bogus network.

39:54

You don't understand that. Lots of people have these issues of being hurt by church. Like I got hurt by the church or I got hurt by a pastor and the reality of that.

40:02

And so we think we're justified in our pain of being hurt by a church so we pull away from church and we do our own thing.

40:10

Like sometimes we have people that pull away from church, don't want to be a part of the local body and they want to establish a home group.

40:17

I call it wound -licking club where you're at home licking each other's wounds, licking each other's pain and you've got an issue with God's bride.

40:25

And I'm like, dude, come on, what are you doing? Because the reality of this is, is if you got hurt by somebody in church, it's probably because they didn't know who they were when they did it.

40:35

But if you got hurt by them - It's because they didn't know who they were. So if you got hurt by somebody in church, it's because they didn't know who they were.

40:40

Not talking about sin. Yeah, it's not talking about sin. Watch this. Because you didn't know who you were when it came.

40:46

So either way, it doesn't justify your pain. So that thing gets cut off easy when you see the price that was paid for you.

40:53

See, the cross to me isn't the revelation of my sin. The cross is actually the revealing of my value.

41:00

So sin is horrible and it covered this. We were covered by sin, but Jesus paid a price.

41:07

He who knew no sin became sin so that I might become something. So if he became sin so that I might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, then the cross is the revelation of my value.

41:19

See, in the world, if I'm gonna pay for something, I'm only gonna pay what something's worth. Like if I were to sell somebody a house, a realtor, and say, listen, this house right here,

41:29

I want you to give me 2 1⁄2 million for this house, but it's only worth $70 ,000 on the market, it doesn't make any sense.

41:36

And you never get somebody that for it. So it's not worth it. And a car is the same. You were gonna go buy a new car, and that car was, you knew it was worth $22 ,000 brand new, right, and that was the sticker price on it, but they wanted to charge you four times that.

41:51

You would never do it because it wasn't worth it. Well, if something on the earth, the price that you paid for it determines its value, how much did heaven pay?

41:59

How much did Jesus pay to get us back? I mean, heaven went bankrupt. So the value of a person is determined by the price that was paid for it.

42:07

And when you see the price that heaven paid for you on the cross, your whole life will change. If Jesus, my

42:14

King, can hang on a tree. So what do you guys think of that?

42:23

Uh -huh. Uh -huh, yeah.

42:31

And notice, so the reason why people do bad things is because they don't know who they are. Is that why we do, why we sin?

42:46

Yeah. Yeah. And see, it's all about me realizing

42:53

I am like the bee's knees. I'm the most valuable thing on planet earth. Yeah, now

42:59

I'm gonna point out something here. And this is an important little bit of this, and then we'll take a look at what Scripture says.

43:07

As Christians, we must understand that nothing can be taught as a doctrine in Christ's church that isn't taught in Scripture.

43:18

So my first question for you is, where did he get this doctrine that Jesus's death reveals your worth?

43:27

Where did he go? Did he go to a biblical text, or did he go somewhere else? He went to his own logic.

43:34

And so he appealed to something that we can all relate with. And when it comes to the world of economics, the saying is, is that something is worth only as much as whatever somebody will pay for it.

43:47

So if you were to ever put your house on the market, and you were to ask the realtor, how much is my house worth?

43:54

If he's a good realtor, or she's a good realtor, she'll say, your house is only worth what somebody's willing to pay for it.

44:02

Currently, in the market right now, people are generally willing to pay this amount of money for a house this size.

44:10

So you put it on the market with a price tag on it, and somebody might say, yeah,

44:16

I'm not willing to pay that much. So their first offer might come in $50 ,000 less than what you're asking.

44:23

And then the negotiation and the horse race begins. So if you've ever purchased a house or haggled for a car, you know how this principle works.

44:32

But see, this is a principle that has to do with the logic of this world. Is this where we get

44:38

Christian doctrine from? No, not at all. The only place we can get

44:45

Christian doctrine as to why Christ died for us on the cross is

44:50

Scripture. What does Scripture say about us before we are forgiven?

45:00

Take a look at Romans 3. I just wanna do a little comparing and contrasting.

45:07

Romans chapter 3 will kind of be our ground zero text. Romans 3, and we'll start then at verse 9.

45:17

The Apostle Paul describing all of humanity and cross -referencing it with one of the

45:24

Psalms says this. What then, are we Jews any better off?

45:29

Not at all. We've already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.

45:35

As it is written, none is righteous, no, not one.

45:41

No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside and together have become, what's that next word?

45:54

Worthless, worthless. How much are you willing to pay for a dead rat?

46:07

How much are you willing to pay for a cow patty? Dead rats and cow patties are worthless.

46:17

Because of our sin, Scripture says that we have become worthless.

46:27

And you sit there and go, that doesn't make me feel good about myself. Good, you shouldn't.

46:36

Scripture paints the correct picture. And if you look at your cross -references, Hebrews 14 and Hebrews 53 are cross -references to what we, not

46:47

Hebrews, but Psalm. Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 are cross -references to this.

46:53

And you're gonna note, Psalm 14, listen to these words. The fool says in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds.

47:02

There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after him.

47:12

They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one.

47:22

Psalm 53, fool says in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity.

47:30

There is none who does good. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

47:37

They have all fallen away together. They have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one.

47:45

I'm gonna take a look at Allah in my Hebrew Bible. Corrupt, morally tainted, yeah, worthless.

47:56

The Hebrew word Allah, worthless, insufficient.

48:03

So is the reason why Jesus died on the cross because he was willing to go bankrupt because you are so valuable?

48:13

No, no, like not at all. In fact, quite the opposite.

48:19

Their throat is an open grave. Their tongues, they use their tongues to deceive.

48:25

The venom of ass is under the lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery.

48:32

The way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. That's all of us before we're

48:41

Christians. Every one of us, worthless.

48:47

So why did Jesus die? If we were worthless, what motivated him to die for us?

48:56

Let's take a look at another passage. Same book, chapter five, verse six.

49:02

For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

49:12

One will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare to die.

49:18

But God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners,

49:26

Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

49:36

Why did Jesus die? Because of God's love. And so you're gonna note then that when we rightly understand that because sin has made us worthless, when we see

49:47

God demonstrating his love for us on the cross, it's not revealing our worth because then

49:53

God would be guilty of coveting. And I mean this kind of in the truest sense. If it's because I am so valuable that God looked across history and said,

50:06

I gotta get that guy, then

50:12

Jesus' death on the cross is motivated by greedy gain. You see what

50:18

I'm saying? Instead it's this. There's Chris, a worthless sinner on the ash heap of humanity, and God says,

50:34

I'm gonna have pity on this fellow. I love him, and I'm gonna bleed and die for him, which is the cost of gaining him.

50:46

Now it's revealing God's love, his nature, his proper work. See, and over and again, this is exactly how

50:56

Scripture talks about why God does what he does when he acts in mercy.

51:03

Deuteronomy chapter seven talks in this way. Deuteronomy chapter seven, you have starting at verse seven,

51:11

God talking to the children of Israel, we'll start in verse six though, and explaining why he saved them out of slavery.

51:18

Was the reason why God saved the children of Israel out of slavery because they were so amazing?

51:25

No, watch what God says. He says, you are a people holy to Yahweh your

51:32

God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession.

51:40

Out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the

51:47

Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all the peoples, but it is because Yahweh loves you.

51:57

And is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

52:08

It's because of his great love. First John chapter four speaks in these ways too.

52:16

First John chapter four, beloved, let us love one another.

52:23

For love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows

52:29

God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.

52:38

In this is the love of God. It was made manifest among us that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him.

52:48

In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

52:59

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another,

53:06

God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. Now, maybe it's just me, and I'm the only person who thinks this way sinfully, but there are times when

53:21

I see the command of God for me to love my neighbor as myself, and I want to object, and the objection goes something like this.

53:33

Yeah, but, that guy is such a jerk and so hard to love.

53:39

How could you possibly want me to love somebody as awful as that? To which you can almost hear the written word of God responding back.

53:51

Christ died for the ungodly. God sent his son to die for the unlovable and the worthless, and you're part of that group.

54:04

And so then you'll note then, because God was motivated to send his son to bleed and to die for us in our worthlessness, in our ungodliness, in our sinfulness, now that frees us to love other human beings as unworthy and worthless as they are and undeserving of our love as they are.

54:28

But this text makes no sense if the reason why Jesus bled and died for you is because you were so worth it, and that all you really need to do is know who you are.

54:42

I am a king, I'm a prince. Y 'all are princesses and royalty.

54:48

You just need to remember who you are. No, scripture does not talk about us in these ways at all.

54:56

So when we talk about why Christ died, and understand this, you, if you have friends who attend big box churches or listen to a lot of certain

55:06

Christian radio programs or watch Christian television, they will think of themselves and believe,

55:13

Todd White is just one guy who teaches this, and it's becoming rampant. And notice the emphasis is on me, me, me, me, me, how valuable

55:20

I am rather than the love of Christ and how amazing and merciful Christ is.

55:26

It flips everything on its head and changes the whole focus. The emphasis is on the wrong syllable.

55:33

You get the idea. So, all right, we will end there today and pick up our closing of the commandments, not next week, but the week after.