Not Going Beyond What is Written

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Open our Bibles this morning to the 4th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
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We're going to be in 1 Corinthians 4, verses 6 and 7.
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The title of today's message is, Not Going Beyond What Is Written.
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1 Corinthians 4, verse 6, I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
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For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Father in heaven, I thank you for your word.
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I thank you for the truth that is found contained just in these two verses, the mountain of conviction that can come just from these few words.
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And I pray for that, Lord, this morning.
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I pray that conviction would overshadow us today in areas that we need to repent, that this would be a message that calls us to repentance, that calls us to the boundaries of your word, to understand that your word does set boundaries for our lives.
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And though it has become unpopular to say, your word has given us commands which we are obligated to follow as those who confess to know and serve and love Jesus Christ.
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He said, he who loves me will keep my commandments.
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Father, let it be that we see those commandments not as burdensome, but as the blessings that they are.
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And I pray, Father, that you would today as we study the scriptures together, keep me from error, as I know that I am capable of that and want to be kept from that.
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And I pray also, Lord, that you would open the hearts of your people to the truth for the believers in the room, that they would be convicted and drawn closer to you.
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And Lord, if they need to repent, that they would do so today.
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And Father, if there are those here who are not believers, Lord, that this might be the day that they call upon the name of the Lord and be saved and see their lives changed by the mercy and grace of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Father, for all of this, we pray in his name.
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Amen.
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You may be seated.
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I'd like to begin this morning a little differently than maybe I normally would.
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I'd like to begin by going back to the Old Testament and looking at a narrative that is there, which I think is helpful in understanding the thrust of the message today.
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So if you'll hold your place in 1 Corinthians and turn back to the book of Exodus, chapter 19.
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We'll be back in 1 Corinthians 4 in just a moment, so don't lose your place there.
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But going back to Exodus 19, this is the narrative of God calling Moses up onto the mountain of Sinai to give him his glorious law.
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And in the book of Exodus, chapter 19, God begins to establish how he wants the people of Israel to behave while he's giving them the law.
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And so we see beginning at verse 7, so in Exodus 19 and verse 7, we'll pick up the reading.
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It says, So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set them before all these words that the Lord had commanded him.
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All the people answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do.
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And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
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And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever.
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When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day.
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For on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
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This is where we're getting to the focus.
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Verse 12, And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it.
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Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.
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No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot.
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And that is to be shot with an arrow.
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Whether beast or man, he shall not live.
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When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.
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We can stop our reading there.
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The narrative goes on, but the focus I wanted to look at is verses 12 and 13.
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Because in verses 12 and 13, what we see is God setting a border around Mount Sinai.
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The only one who was going to be able to traverse the mountain, the only one who was going to be able to break the border was going to be Moses himself.
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And anyone else, even the animals of the people of Israel, even their cattle, were forbidden to go up onto the mountain.
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In fact, they were forbidden even to touch the mountain.
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Now, we've all seen places that are marked with no trespassing signs.
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We've all seen places that when you drive by, they'll have these signs that say, you know, no entrance, no trespassing, don't pass.
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It's illegal to come here.
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And we know that that creates an imaginary border.
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It creates a line in our mind that says you can go this far and no further.
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And if you go any further than that, you are subject to the penalties that come with going further.
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You're not welcome here is what the no trespassing sign means.
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And at the base of Mount Sinai, there in the wilderness, when the people are receiving the Word of God, the Law of God through Moses, there was essentially a sign around the base of the mountain that said, no trespassing, do not go up on the mountain, do not even let your animals go up on the mountain.
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And as I was thinking about that particular text in the Old Testament, I was thinking about that particular situation, I began to think about the fact that throughout the Bible, God has many no trespassing signs that He has erected.
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That is to say, He tells us throughout the Bible that there are some things which are off limits to us.
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And there are several reasons for this.
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Oftentimes, God puts things off limits for us for our protection.
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When God forbids things like drunkenness and fornication and adultery, we know that things like this have a practical reason for being outside the border.
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Because those things are dangerous, they destroy families, they ruin lives, they negatively affect our health, they ruin our witness.
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And so God sets a border and He says you're not to traverse those things, you're not to go beyond those things and do those things.
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Other times limitations are set not because they would negatively affect our health per se, but because God has a holy standard that He does not want us to go beyond.
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For instance, the subject of blasphemy.
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Blasphemy doesn't really hurt me when I blaspheme, but it certainly in one sense is offensive to God.
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It should be offensive to me, but it's certainly offensive to Him.
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And even though there's no practical reason why that might be a law, there certainly is a real reason and that's the reason that it's offensive to God and I'm not going to do it.
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Behaving in a prideful way is another thing that is off limits according to Scripture.
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That isn't something that necessarily hurts me if I behave in pride.
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In fact, if I behave pridefully, I might even gain a higher status.
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If I behave pridefully, I might get higher up in my company.
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I might supersede my friends as far as importance.
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I may build myself up into something if I behave pridefully.
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But the Bible says I shouldn't do that.
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There's a border there that I shouldn't cross.
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And I think that today, maybe more than ever, and I don't know that it's more than ever.
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I haven't studied enough to know this for certain, but I think that possibly more than ever, folks today have made up their mind that God doesn't forbid anything.
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People have come to the conclusion that God is just okay with whatever.
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All of the borders have been dropped.
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There are no walls.
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There are no trespassing signs.
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There is nothing.
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God doesn't have a problem with anything.
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Just do what makes you happy.
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And I say that I think that it's more than ever that way because it seems to be more than ever that way that people are making excuses for sinful behavior rather than dealing with it and having to come to repentance over it.
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They will excuse any and all type of behavior by saying, well, God really doesn't care about that.
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Now, I don't want to just harp on this particular issue, but it is one that's huge today.
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And that's the quote-unquote gay Christian movement.
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With all of the evidence that the Bible provides regarding God's plan for men and women in marriage and His commands regarding homosexual behavior, the gay Christian movement still contends God's okay with it.
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There is no border there.
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There is no line that can be crossed.
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We don't have to worry about it.
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There's no boundary here.
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And that attitude stretches out, as I said, I'm not going to focus on that subject because it goes out to other things.
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On the subject of fornication and sexuality, no boundaries.
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No borders, right? On the subject of marriage and divorce, no borders.
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No boundaries.
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On the subject of gossip and slander, no boundaries.
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No borders.
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On the subject of what we should watch, how we should entertain ourselves, what we should listen to, no borders.
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No boundaries.
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God just doesn't care.
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And it even happens within the church.
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On the qualification for ministry, no borders, no boundaries.
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On what we should sing or how we should worship, no boundaries.
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On how the word is to be preached, no boundaries.
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On the subject of whether men and women should be understood as having different roles in the church and should women preach, no boundaries.
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On the subject of how we should worship corporately, no boundaries.
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One church recently opened up their worship service with ACDC's song, Highway to Hell.
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That was the worship service.
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No boundaries.
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In fact, many people and places have begun to pride themselves on their lack of boundaries.
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The come as you are movement is extremely popular.
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And in one sense, it's true.
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The Bible doesn't have a requirement for how you come to Jesus.
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So we would say in that sense, come as you are.
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But the Bible doesn't say we will stay as we are.
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That's right.
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That's the difference.
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If we come to Jesus, our life will change.
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Come as you are, yes.
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Stay as you are, no.
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He will change you.
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If Christ you meet, He will change you.
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He didn't come to affirm your sins.
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He came to save you from them.
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And be it popular to say or not, God establishes borders for us and He calls us to honor them.
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Now, all of that has been the introduction to the subject for the morning.
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Because Paul, in our text this morning, verses 6 and 7, going back to 1 Corinthians 4 now, if you'd like to turn back there.
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In our text, 1 Corinthians 4, verses 6 and 7, Paul makes a very powerful assertion to the Corinthians.
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He says in verse 6, he says, I've applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers.
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I'm going to talk about what that means in a minute.
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But this is the part.
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He says that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written.
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Not to go beyond what is written.
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Now, there are some people who debate what Paul's talking about here when he says what is written.
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Because earlier, just a few verses earlier in chapter 3, he did quote a couple of scripture verses.
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And some people say, well, he's limiting himself here to just those scripture verses.
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Well, I don't think he's limiting himself to just those two scripture verses.
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Others say he's making application to the whole Old Testament.
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I think that's more likely.
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That when he's talking about what is written, he's talking about at that point.
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Because remember, at this point, the New Testament isn't written yet.
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So he's talking at that point about the Old Testament, what is written.
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But there is another way to understand this.
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The term, me hupere a gagrapte, is the Greek.
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And it does mean, in essence, what is written.
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But the colloquial way of saying it is that we do not traverse the rules.
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Or that we don't break the rules.
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In fact, the contemporary English version simply translates it that way.
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That's a dynamic equivalent.
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Not going beyond what is written.
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And Paul's mind, in that sense, is essentially saying, not doing what you're not supposed to do.
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Not breaking the standard or breaking the rules.
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Where do we find the standard? In the Word of God.
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So in that sense, not going beyond what is written, is a legitimate way of understanding it.
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That's how we get the rules.
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That's how we get the standard.
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But essentially, what Paul is saying is that, I've been saying this to you so that you understand not to break the rules.
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There's boundaries that God has set.
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There are borders that God has set for your life.
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And I don't want you to live outside of those borders.
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Again, this is hugely unpopular today.
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Because nobody wants to hear about borders anymore.
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Nobody wants to hear about standards anymore.
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Nobody wants to have to question what we look at.
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Question what we hear.
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Question what we read.
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Question what entertains us.
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I heard John MacArthur say something very recently.
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He said, you know, we shouldn't be entertained by what Jesus died for.
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We get entertained by sin.
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And that's why Jesus died.
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I mean, that cut me to the heart.
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I mean, that was on me.
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I'm not pointing at you.
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I'm myself.
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I enjoy what Jesus died for.
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What a shame, right? And so, we look at the scripture and it gives us these borders.
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It gives us these lines.
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It says, and Paul says, I'm writing to you so that you don't go beyond them.
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Now, I said before, I want to address what he says in the early part of verse six.
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So let's go back now to the verses.
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And we're going to walk through them together.
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But that was the introduction to the text.
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Because in verse six, he says, I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit.
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Now, what is he talking about? Verse six.
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Well, you guys have been here.
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Most of you have been here for this series.
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And you know, at least, I hope you remember some of what he's talking about.
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Because from chapter one all the way through chapter three, he's been talking about division in the church.
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And he's been talking about the fact that the church is divided over people who are holding up leaders as the standard.
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And they're using those leaders to assume for themselves positions of spiritual superiority.
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Some people say, I'm with Paul.
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Some people say, I'm with Apollos.
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Some people say, I'm with Peter.
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Some people say, I'm with Christ.
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Right? That's what he says in chapter one.
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But here he says something very interesting in verse six.
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He says, I've applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit.
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What does he mean? Well, this is what I believe that he means.
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I believe what he's saying here in verse six is, it isn't just Paul, Apollos, Peter, and Jesus that people are divided over.
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I believe there are other leaders in the church that people are dividing over.
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And Paul is using himself and Apollos as examples.
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How can you say you're of Paul or of Apollos? We're just servants.
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And in the same way, how could you say you're of Steve or of Jim or of John? Because they're just servants too.
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I don't think there's just one or two factions in the church.
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I don't think it's the Paulites against the Apollites.
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I think there was some Steves and some Jems and some Johns.
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Maybe that's a little anachronistic.
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But I think there's some fellas in the church that are creating some division here.
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Paul is using himself as the example for the benefit of them understanding that there's never a reason to divide up over these leaders, no matter who they are.
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And if there was anybody worthy of being divided up over, it would have been Paul himself.
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And he says, and I'm not worthy, I'm just a servant.
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So he's used himself as the example for the benefit of them understanding that all of these divisions which are being divided over leaders are all inappropriate.
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Right? And it would be just as inappropriate today.
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It would be just as inappropriate, even though we have three elders, it would be just as inappropriate if anybody were to say I'm of Richard.
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Or I'm of Jack.
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Or I'm of Keith.
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Because I know Jack's my man or Richard's my man.
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Or Keith's, well, he's something.
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You know? It would be just as wrong to divide up the church by its leadership today as it was wrong then.
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Because it's always, always, always a symptom of spiritual pride and feeling of superiority.
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The whole reason why I associate myself with Keith, or I associate myself with Jack, or I associate myself with Richard, is because I feel in some way I am of the superior.
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You know, Jack's been here the longest.
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He's the charter member, him and Shirley are the sole remaining charter members that are here every week and praise God 60 years of being in the church.
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That's a blessing.
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Right? Richard has a degree from Dallas Theological Seminary.
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He certainly has spent his time in the study of God's word.
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And somebody said, well, I want to be attached to that.
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Right? Keith wears nice looking shirts.
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I want to be associated with Keith and his pretty shirt.
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Right? My mama bought me this shirt.
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So, whatever.
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That type of pride goes into the church and creates a problem.
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It doesn't just have to be Paul, Apollos, or Peter.
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It's anybody that's creating factitious behavior in the church.
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Any type of division in the church.
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And he says, I apply this to myself for your benefit.
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I want to show you the error.
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And after that, he says, so that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, not to go outside the border, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against the other.
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Beloved, the not going beyond what is written here is in the context of creating division and causing factions.
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If there's anything the Bible is opposed to, it's that.
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The Bible is opposed to creating divisions and factions among God's people for self-righteous motivation.
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Right? There are times when division is necessary, when it's over doctrine and things like that.
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We know that's true.
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So, just be clear.
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Every division is not an ungodly division if the division is over that which is necessary.
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But this is not necessary.
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The behavior that's happening here is unnecessary, unrighteous, godly, spiritually superior behavior.
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That's what's going on.
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It's the factious people.
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And throughout the Scriptures, factious people are said to be what? Be avoided.
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Put them out.
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Put them away from you.
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And by establishing these factions, these groups who are going beyond what was written, and they were being recklessly disobedient to God in their behavior.
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But how were they being disobedient? How are they going beyond what is written? What is it that's written? What is the border that they're traversing? What's the border that they're going over? It's the border of pride.
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And that's seen at the end of verse 6.
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Because he says that none of you may be puffed up.
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Puffed up means to have a swelled or inflated sense of self.
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You know this.
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You've heard people say this.
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You ever heard of somebody with an inflated ego? Somebody that you would say has a swollen head? Well, there are a few things which motivate a man more than his own feeling of self-importance.
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I see this oftentimes in ministry, unfortunately.
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I see men who can't help it.
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No, I don't want to say they can't help it.
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They can't help but want, it seems, to have the admiration of people.
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And they want to have that uplifted.
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You call me doctor.
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Call me reverend.
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By the way, don't ever call me reverend.
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But people want that title.
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Call me vicar.
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Call me father.
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I always wondered how people get away with that when Jesus said, Call no man father.
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Now, there is a sense in which Paul calls himself the father of the Corinthian church in the next few verses.
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We'll talk about that.
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But it's just, I couldn't imagine you guys just calling me father.
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It's such an odd...
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There's that sense of self-aggrandizement.
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That sense of self-importance.
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Gordon Fee says this in his commentary on the book of 1 Corinthians.
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He says, The fall has given us all too high a view of ourselves with a corresponding low view of others.
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The fall has caused us to see ourselves as greater and everybody else as lesser.
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It's like we're all on the teeter-totter and we're all up here.
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And everybody else is down here.
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They're holding us up.
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And that's what it means to be puffed up.
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It's not just an inflated sense of self, but it's an underrated sense of others.
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That's the byproduct of pride.
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Not only am I more important, I'm certainly more important than you.
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And Paul is here stressing that this kind of thinking goes beyond the borders of the behavior that God has set for his people.
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God has given us a standard for behavior.
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And when we start traversing that standard, going over that standard and trampling it underfoot, we are ignoring the borders set by God.
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And it's our pride which causes us to think that the boundaries God has set don't apply to us.
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I'm going to say that again.
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It is our pride that makes us think that the boundaries God has set don't apply to me or to us.
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We're all too willing to set boundaries for other people.
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Oh my heavens, did you see what she did? I can't believe it.
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We're very willing to set a boundary for somebody else.
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And I can't believe she passed that boundary.
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However, when we cross one of God's boundaries, very quick to justify ourselves.
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Well, I had every reason to do that.
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And here's the thing, I want to say this.
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Over the last few messages, I've been really focused on pride because that's the focus, I believe, that the text is on.
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I think that's the problem inherent in the Corinthian church.
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They have some serious, serious problems with their own feelings of self-importance, so much so that they're willing to go beyond the boundaries of God's word in pursuit of their own sense of desire to satisfy it.
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And I know some of you, man, he talks about pride every week.
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Talks about pride, man, I'm getting tired of it.
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Talk about something else.
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Let me tell you something, I believe this problem continues to persist to today and it's the root of all the other problems.
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Pride is the root of the other problems.
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So you come to me with a problem, I'm going to tell you at some point, somebody felt they were justified in going past the bound.
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And there is the problem.
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We live in a world of self-importance.
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Did you know 90% of college students, according to a recent survey, believe they were above average? Think about it, just for a minute.
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Let that sink in.
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90% of college students believe they're above average.
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80% of professors believe they were above average.
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It's not possible for 90% to be above average.
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You understand, right? It can't be.
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But that's the byproduct of the human tendency towards over-assessing our own sense of self-importance.
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Back when I was a kid, and some of you remember this, back when I was a kid, there was a huge movement.
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In the 80s, it was very popular.
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It was the self-esteem movement.
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You guys remember the self-esteem movement? A book came out, talked about the value of making children understand how important and valuable they were.
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And because of that book, it began to flow into other things and it got onto all kinds of television shows.
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And the self-esteem movement was born.
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Schools were no longer places for education.
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They were places where children were instilled with a sense of specialness and attention.
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We got to give every child their own sense of selfish or specialness.
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They have to know how special they are.
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And you know what? Even the secularists have noted how bad this has been for our society.
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Psychology Today, in a recent article, said this, That's the end of the quote, but I added this.
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I said, Most talented and most wonderful person on the planet, but the rest of the world is obligated to recognize and affirm that's the truth.
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Not only am I the most important, you better believe it.
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And that has not stayed outside the church.
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That's made its way into the church.
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And now we are filled with churches where people will live absolutely outside the bounds of God's standard and live happily and pridefully so.
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I've told the story of the man who made his weekends full with going out and meeting women on Craigslist.
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And as he would leave his house, he would say, I'm going to sin so that grace can abound.
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He got his theology from TBN, by the way.
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Of his own statement, that's where he got it.
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He was a TBN junkie.
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He loved all those preachers on television.
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And he would leave his house on his way to meet his mistresses with the attitude of, I'm going to sin so that grace can abound.
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What a horrible misunderstanding of that passage.
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Paul says, should we continue in sin so that grace can abound? Meganoita, which is the strongest adversative in the Greek to say, no, may it never be.
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Meganoita.
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May it not exist that such thinking be among us.
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So again, all this turns back to Paul's issue with the prideful, self-important behavior being displayed in the Corinthians.
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And he goes on in verse 7 to ask this.
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He says, for who sees anything different in you? Meaning, what's special about you? You might not like that.
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You might not like that Paul just asked, what's so special about you? You might say, well, my mommy told me I was special.
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Well, okay.
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But that's what he's asking.
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What's so special about you? What do you have? And here's the key.
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I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to.
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Some of you brothers in here, we've talked about this.
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He says, what do you have that you did not receive? What does that mean? He goes on, if then you did, if then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Ultimately, what he's saying is this.
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He's saying, you don't, you don't have anything that God didn't give you.
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Even the knowledge in your brain.
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Even your understanding of the gospel.
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Even your very talents in life and the breath and beating of your heart is all from God.
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How dare you stand in pride against the God of the universe when you didn't bring anything to the table? Who do you think you are? I wrote an illustration and I hope Jack doesn't mind I used you.
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I could have used anyone, but I chose Jack for this.
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Because I think this would be true.
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I think this would be true.
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And so I kind of imagined an illustration, an instance between Jack and myself.
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I imagined, as I was writing this, that I was destitute of money.
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Absolutely broke.
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I'd spent my last dollar and I was hungry and poor and I had no chance of making any money.
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And then as an act of mercy, my friend Jack came to me and he gave me his credit card.
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Now again, this is not a true narrative, but I believe it could be.
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Because he came in my mind as I was writing this, gives me his credit card, tells me to use it as long as I need it.
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Pay your bills.
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Get your groceries.
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Put gas in your car.
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Go to work.
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Make some money.
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Use the card as long as you need it.
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When you're done, you give it back to me and you won't owe me a dime.
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Sort of like the parable of the Good Samaritan, right? But then I thought, you know, I think that could happen.
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But what if I took Jack's credit card and I drove over to the fill-up station and I got out and I saw everybody else who could only put $5 or $10 in their tank and I swiped that card and I filled up my tank and I looked down my long pointed nose at all those people at how great I am to get a full tank when all you guys can't afford it.
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Would it be appropriate in any sense of the word for me to have that attitude? No, because I am not the one providing the gas.
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I'm not the one providing the money for the gas.
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I'm not the one who's giving me this thing.
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I didn't do this.
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This was a gift of sheer grace from my friend.
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It shouldn't be a source of pride.
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It should be a source of humility for me.
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I was lost, destitute, in need and broke.
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And here came my friend Jack and he gave me his card and he filled my need and I have no reason to boast in the gift except this, that I have such a good friend.
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That would be my only boast was that I have a friend such as he.
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This is why Paul says, I boast in nothing except Christ.
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I hope you can see the illustration and what that means.
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We have been given the grace of God as a gift.
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We were dead in our trespasses and sins and as soon as we begin to live in pride, we do so because we're forgetting the fact that everything we have came to us as a gift.
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If we boast in it, it's if we're saying we got it ourselves.
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And beloved, I believe that's the ultimate way to go beyond what's written.
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Do you know what the Bible says God hates? Did you know the Bible even says God hates things? I've met people who didn't believe that.
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I don't believe God hates anything.
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God hates a lot of things.
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According to the Bible, there are six things God hates.
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Yea, seven are an abomination unto him.
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And what is the first one? A haughty look or a proud look.
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What's the last one of those seven? One who stirs up discord among the brothers.
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And I think those two are connected because it's pride that leads to division.
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At the beginning of the message, I mentioned boundaries.
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That was the subject, I believe, the focus and what I wanted to get to.
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And I know for some folks, it's too much to take.
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I really do.
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I think there are going to be people who hear this, maybe some of you, but I believe there'll be people who hear this and they're just going to say, this guy's a legalist.
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This guy goes beyond.
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He's saying you've got to do this, this, and this to be saved.
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Beloved, I'm not saying you've got to do this, this, and this to be saved.
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But I am saying this.
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If you are saved, God has given you boundaries.
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That shouldn't even be a conversation that we debate.
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He's given us boundaries for our behavior.
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He's given us boundaries for our sense of self-importance.
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He's given us boundaries for our pride.
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And these things has Paul said that we should not go beyond the boundaries of what has been written.
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If you want to know what it is that God has set as the boundaries, it is in His Word.
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And we've been so lulled by the teaching which permeates the modern church that says everything and anything is open to the believer to enjoy.
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And the Bible says no.
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We don't want boundaries.
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We don't like boundaries.
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We are natural rebels.
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But that doesn't mean they're not there.
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Our boundaries have been set by God and we are not to go beyond them.
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But then some of you may ask, and this is where I'm going to draw to a close.
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Some of you may ask, Pastor Keith, I've gone beyond the bounds.
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In my life, I've been living outside of God's boundaries.
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I don't know what to do.
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What do I do? Right here.
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Look right here.
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Very simple.
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There's not a 12-step process.
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There's not a 5-step process.
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Repent of your sin.
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And here's the beauty.
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Jesus will welcome you in your repentance.
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He will love you in your repentance.
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And He covers your sin.
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I want you to think, as we draw to a close, I want you to think of the prodigal son.
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The prodigal son is a narrative that I wish I had time to go through because the narrative of the prodigal son is so...
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And a lot of people forget there were two.
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There was the one that left and the one that stayed.
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There's so much about that story that people forget.
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But the one part I think you'll remember is that when he left with his father's money, he went and blew it all and he ended up in the pig slop, right? And what did he say? It says he came to himself and he realized that his father was a good father and he was a good master and even his servants were treated better than what he was now getting in the slop of the pigs, right? And he says, you know what? I'll go back and be my father's servant.
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And as he returned, it says his father saw him afar off and he ran to him.
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Noble men didn't run, but he ran to him and he embraced him and he kissed him and he gave him the ring and he set him up with a party and there was all of these things that happened.
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And there's a song, Mercy Came Running.
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I love that because that's sort of the idea.
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Mercy runs to us.
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God runs to us.
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He welcomes us in our repentance.
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If we have been outside of the bounds, God is waiting and he will welcome us in our repentance and he will.
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And that's the blessing.
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And here's the thing.
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Pride made the man leave and humility brought him home.
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Where are you this morning? Are we in the pride that's keeping us beyond the borders of God and his commands? Or are we willing to humble ourselves and come home? Let's pray.
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Father, I thank you for your word.
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I thank you for the truth of it.
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I thank you that you, in your word, tell us that you are a loving father and you have forgiveness.
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And if we repent, you will welcome us.
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And I pray for those here who are in need of repentance, who've gone beyond your boundaries, Lord, that they would see in their lives the areas of which they need to repent and that they would come back into a closer fellowship with you.
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I pray also, Lord, that we would know that in all of these things, our salvation is predicated first and foremost on the work of Jesus on the cross.
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Nothing that we have done and our repentance and our faith and our faithful living and our keeping within the boundaries and our obedience to the cross and to Christ are all predicated on the work that you have done within us.
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They are not things that we do to earn our place.
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For that place has already been earned by Christ.
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So I pray first and foremost, Lord, that we would find our respite, find our trust, find our confidence in him alone.
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And I pray it, Lord, in Jesus' name and for his sake.
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Amen.