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All right, well tonight's gonna be a little different. Tonight's gonna be Sunday school -like. I didn't teach
Sunday school, and so I'd like Mark, maybe, and Louis, if you'd hand out one of these to each person, please, or maybe divvy them up.
It's gonna be a little handout tonight. We've normally been going through the attributes of God on Sunday nights when I've been around, and we were coming up to J, God is just, and I have most of that message done.
Something came up this week, and in light of what Don said this morning about Jesus Christ, when revival comes,
Christ is magnified, I thought I wanna discuss something that will help you as the congregation.
I want you to be good Bereans, and I want you to understand what happens in culture, and I want you to be able to analyze it.
I also want you to see that if other godly people can fall into error, well, then we could as well.
I want you to understand that when the Holy Spirit's ministry is working, whether it's revival or any other time, his pleasure and his will is to point to Christ Jesus.
People sometimes say, well, your church isn't spirit -filled. And what they mean is that I don't jump up and down enough or speak in tongues or do the dead fly or whatever people do these days.
I've heard of vomiting in the spirit as one extreme. What they mean by that is maybe we don't sing songs that are peppy enough, but what
God would mean if you said, what does spirit -filling mean? Spirit -filling is, well, let's not even use spirit -filled, but the spirit will point to Christ Jesus as his pleasure would be to do, exalting
Christ Jesus, almost kind of the quiet, hidden person of the Trinity. You can imagine there's a door here, and the
Holy Spirit would be behind the door pointing to extol Christ. And when Christ is extolled, you know the spirit of God is working in that church.
Well, we're coming up on a big prayer time in our country, at least for some evangelicals, and there's the
National Day of Prayer. And I gave you a copy of the National Day of Prayer, and then
I also, on the same Xerox sheet, flipped over upside down. I was just trying to get it on one page, so if it's kind of cockeyed, that's why.
I wanted to read the National Day of Prayer, Prayer for Our Nation, 2008.
And I'd like you to watch this with me, and then we're going to discuss it, what is good and what is bad.
And I want you, as our church, to be good Bereans, to examine everything carefully.
It is a lie to somehow think Matthew chapter seven, verse one, judge not lest you be judged, is some cloak that we can never use our brains.
I want our congregation to understand. And so, if you came tonight for J is Just, or maybe you came tonight for Don Whitney, I don't know if you know, but I'm not
Don Whitney. I want to talk tonight about being discerning and making sure that we exalt
Christ no matter what. And my goal tonight, my purpose tonight, is that you say the words
Jesus often. It is easy to evangelize and say, I believe in God. It's easy to say,
I'm spiritual. It's easy to say, I'm religious. It's easy to even say the word Lord. But if I can convince you tonight that the words
Jesus Christ are important, then I will have done my job tonight.
The National Day of Prayers, Prayer for Our Nation, 2008. As I'm reading this, please look for things that you like and look for things that you think are missing.
Holy Father, in a world where so many are hungry, you have given us food in abundance. In a world where so many are hurting, you offer to bind up our wounds.
In a world where so many are lonely, you offer friendship to every heart. In a world longing for peace, you offer hope.
Yet, we are so stubborn and resistant. Have mercy upon us, Lord. Our nation is at a crossroads this year.
We look to you to be our strength and shield. Please give us the guidance to elect one who will honor you to respond to the wisdom from above so that our hope may be renewed and our blessings be treasured in God's holy name.
All right, let's look at the positive side first. Who could tell me something that would be good about this? And you know, if you raise your hand, that'll just probably be good tonight instead of just shouting out.
Something good, all right? Steve, go ahead. Okay, and we have been given much, haven't we?
Exceedingly, abundantly, beyond what we could ask or think, both spiritually and physically. All right, somebody else, yes?
Okay, well, especially I like the first one when it talks about food and hunger, and I think of the Lord's prayer where give us this day our daily bread and it is good to pray that God would provide.
Yes? Okay, stubborn and resistance. How often do you pray that on a regular basis?
Dear Lord, I am stubborn and resistant. That is a good prayer to pray because even though we are redeemed, we have a sinful hangover and we are obstinate and our hearts are recalcitrant to the things of God, even
Christians, right? In Jeremiah chapter 17, verse nine, it's not just true of the unbeliever, but the believer as well, that our hearts are desperately wicked, deceitful above all else.
Only God can know it. And so if I combine nine and 10 together.
So that part's good, yes. Forgot your name. Dan, yes. Okay, good.
Yes, Wesley? Can you think of a
Bible verse that would be a verse to talk for? James chapter one, verse five. Here we have a great generous
God and he is pleased to grant us wisdom and know how to apply the knowledge we have and knowledge that are in the scriptures.
And so that is very good. I'm thinking of another Bible prayer in here. Have mercy upon us or have mercy on me, the sinner.
Can you remember the tax gatherer praying that in contrast to the Pharisee who basically didn't need to pray.
He was praying to himself, the text says. So there are plenty of things in here that are good, yes.
I think that's clear. And I don't wanna come across always as the bashing person. And hopefully that's not the case.
But what would be wrong with this? All right, let's pick on somebody, not pick on someone, but let me choose someone.
Haley. Okay, no amen. That's good insight.
Can you drive with the radio on? Okay, all right. Don't wanna call on Steve yet.
Anyone else that hasn't raised their hand? Yes, Kim. Well, you offer friendship to every heart.
That's kind of cloaked in almost kind of seeker language, isn't it? Where in one sense, the opposite of enmity is friendship.
And right, God is angry with the wicked. I believe Steve read a Psalm about that tonight, that God and man, the relationship is defined as enemy.
As John MacArthur said, you have a relationship with God if you're not a believer. But that relationship is not a friendship.
And so to give this person the benefit of the doubt, as God calls on all men to repent, that call includes all kinds of things, submitting to the
Lordship of Christ and eternal salvation, but it could involve the cessation of hostility.
So once there was an enemy relationship and now there's friendship. I doubt that's what is meant there, but to give them a benefit of the doubt.
But I would agree with what you're saying. Mark. Okay, you know,
I didn't really look at that. Any thanks or praise? I didn't see that before.
I think you're correct. Good. Yes, Pat. Well, that's true.
I mean, I think of Genesis chapter six, verse five, and every thought and intention of our heart before we were saved was always evil.
And so, all right. What else? Boy, the hands are going up. See, we should do this more often on Sunday night.
This is kind of interactive. This is kind of an emergent thing. You know, it's dialogue. You don't want to have some kind of, you know, monolithic speaker up here.
And I kind of want to know your thoughts. You're valuable to me. Yes, Bob. All right, we're getting closer.
We're getting closer. All right, Wesley. Okay, good.
So far, I'm tracking, I'm just waiting for the bomb. I'm waiting for the nuclear explosion that's going to explode anything that's good in this prayer because it's going to show us what this person is really after, and I think you're going to see the political compromising ramifications of this exclusion.
And this is the big exclusion. This is the exclusion that praise God Franklin Graham had enough courage not to use as excluding, but he used with inclusion this phrase.
It's a short phrase. Some people think this phrase just, it means it's a stamp on your prayers. And you ever sent a letter and you forgot to put a stamp on and what does it do?
It comes back to you, return to sender. And some would think, if you forget to put this spiritual stamp on your prayer, it kind of comes back, but this means so much more.
Now, your arm's getting tired? It's these words, these three words, someone taught us to pray.
Makarovsky, John. Okay, that's right.
This is almost synonymous with an AA meeting with some higher power, right?
It's almost kind of Masonic and you go to the Mason's Lodge and you can, as long as you believe in some God that's bigger than you and greater than you and more wise than you, then that's acceptable.
Okay, good. Bernard. Okay, where's Jesus in here? Where's in Jesus' name?
That's what I was looking for. Nyada, is that what you're gonna say? I want to know why there is not the ending within Jesus' name.
By the way, what does in Jesus' name mean? Is that just something we say? Sometimes we pray too often.
We could use that in a repetitious way that's vain because in our minds, it's not vain in and of itself, but we say it so often.
Now, I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord, and so I will take it. If I should, I before I wake, I pray the Lord, and so I will take. Are we in Jesus' name, amen? Yes, Lewis.
This is what Jesus would pray. Good, let's expand that a little bit. I like that. Yes, Carol.
You're taking away my sermon about the mediator, Jesus. That's exactly right. We're gonna return to that point.
Yes, Patty. Okay, excellent, and by the way, you've said, you know,
I'm at a Bible church. I'd like to open my Bible. We're going to get there. This is just the analysis, and then we're gonna dive right into the
Bible. Bob. Okay, before I ask
Steve for an answer, I haven't even asked a question yet, but Steve's got an answer, and I'm glad he does. The word name, if you hear something in Jesus' name, what is that?
Jesus' name, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ the Nazarene? What is name? What's so important about name, and what would it signify if you were a
Jew 2 ,000, 3 ,000 years ago, if someone said, in my name? John.
Okay, his entire character, and we could probably go through the attributes of God, starting with A, and going way past J, couldn't we, for his grandeur, and his magnificence, and his omnipresence, his omniscience, and the list would go on and on.
Kindness, justice, holiness. Every attribute that he would have.
Some we know about, because they've been revealed in Scripture. Some we don't know about, because we are finite, fallen, and he is infinite.
And so that's right. Talking about his whole nature. Steve, you wanna make a comment? Okay, now that will bring me to the next point, before we look at Scripture.
Why would someone be nebulous? There could be a few reasons. One might be, you don't know any better.
Right, you talk to some young, immature believer, and they're nebulous. Well, maybe they only know nebulous.
Maybe they don't know anything specific. But I'm gonna tell you, this person is not a young, immature believer.
If you know better and pray like this, what would be the reason? Remember, people do things for a reason.
Why would someone pray a prayer like this, Steve? Okay, they're an unbeliever, are they ashamed of the gospel?
Dave, then Mark. Fear of man. Okay, we're getting down to something. And by the way, as we see things tonight in this other person in organization, first of all, we're no better than they are.
And second of all, if they are tempted to do these things, do you think we would be anything less than tempted in our lives?
How many people here struggle with wanting to please people? I would bet, no, you're not supposed to bet, but I would bet everyone struggles with that very thing.
The other day, we were listening to the radio and told this to the seminary class. There's that Trace Adkins song on, something about you're gonna miss this.
And the country radio station said, in 10 minutes, we're gonna play the new hit by Trace Adkins, and within 10 minutes.
And so about seven minutes had passed by. And the car's busy with activity. This was last Monday, I think, just busy and a whole bevy of things going on.
And seven minutes, no song. And I said to Luke, I bet, who wants to bet daddy that the next song that comes on this radio right here, 102 .5,
is going to be the Trace Adkins songs, you're gonna miss this. Now, if you're a kid sitting in the back not paying attention, Luke Avendroth, you're gonna go, well, how many songs are there in the world?
And then for that one to come out, he said, I'll bet. I said, $1. He said, you got a deal.
I said, all right, Luke, $1. 10 seconds later, the song comes on.
He's like, man, my dad reads my mind. My dad's omniscient. And that's what you want your kids to think, by the way, for a long time, that I know all and see all.
I used to just sometimes peek into the kids' rooms just with that crack open, just barely open. And they do something wrong and I kind of sneak right in.
I'm like, dad knows all. Luke said, dad, that's not fair.
I said, son, I want to teach you a lesson. He said, dad, what's the lesson? I said, don't bet, that's the lesson. I made him pay, too.
What does this have to do with anything? I have no idea. But I do know that when people are tired at Sunday night, there are a way to try to draw in the attention.
And so I want to try to keep your attention. If you know better and still do something, there's a problem.
And I was getting to betting. What was I betting about the congregation? You all struggle like I struggle with wanting to please people.
And here is Satan's lie, that if you dumb things down, you become a little more nebulous.
Your outreach increases and therefore, maybe even your good motives of reaching more people for Christ, those things become not pure anymore, but they become sullied and dirty because God doesn't just care about what we say, the gospel, he cares about what we do as we say it as well.
Didn't Don Whitney bring that up very well this morning in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 17. You can't just say,
I'm going to do whatever I want. The way I want it, as long as the gospel is clear, you have to do what
God commands and do it the way he commands. And so I think tonight, as we look at this,
I don't want to say I'm better than this person. I never want to say that. I don't want to say this person's never been used of God.
I'd never want to do that. I'm saying that if it happens to this person, it could happen to us and it could happen to you.
And what you see in other people makes you run faster than what you see in yourself because it's more obvious.
And so I think Steve's right. You are either ashamed of the gospel or you're an unbeliever to write a prayer like this and have time for retraction.
This is not something that went up on a blog and it's done. Dave, are you going to say something or did I cut you off? Okay, well, the question that you're all asking is who would write such a prayer?
Would it be Mary Baker Eddy, Eddie Glover, Patterson Fry? Would it be Ellen G. White? Would it be a
Mormon? By the way, any of those people, if they were still alive, could have written that prayer, couldn't they have?
So why in the world would Ravi Zacharias write this prayer? See, if I just told you who it was up front, you may not believe me.
And you can go ahead and check online, go right to the National Day of Prayer and there it is, highlighted. It would be wrong if John MacArthur wrote it.
The personality does not, it'd be wrong if I wrote it. Not that I'm trying to put myself on the same level at all,
I don't mean that. When you have the idea that you can water things down, both the message and the method, to reach more people, you are wrong and you need to be arrested.
Somebody needed to tell you, stop doing that. The website responded to some criticism it's been receiving and it said this.
The National Day of Prayer is a United States government -sponsored event. As such, prayers made at the event must reflect the congregational declaration that this be a day of prayer for the nation by the people of faith.
Doesn't say the faith, does it? Of faith. As Christian believers who participate in this event, we do not seek to homogenize faith or creed, but we participate with all who seek to pray for our nation.
Therefore, excuse me, there are forces at work in our country that would seek to ban events like these if they appear partisan or biased in any way.
It's worse, you know, when you're wrong and you're confronted, what's the best thing to do? Uncle, I repent,
I was wrong. And you just dig yourselves deeper and deeper and deeper. Who are the forces at work?
People, yes, but I think Satan controlling these people. Doctrines of demons, that's what this is.
The website also responded to the negative backlash with this comment, quote, second, the prayer that Dr. Zacharias wrote is based on the
Judeo -Christian principles found in scripture. And Dr. Zacharias will have the privilege of speaking at the
National Day of Prayer event in which he will present a biblical message with clarity and power. In addition,
Dr. Zacharias addresses his prayer specifically to our Holy Father. I don't know who our
Holy Father is, it sounds like that could even be the Pope, but that's another story, which is distinctly Judeo -Christian way to address
God and is not easily confused with other religions slash faith traditions. The parameters for the prayer are in accordance with the
National Day of Prayer task force. And now please listen, congregation, as an invited guest,
Dr. Zacharias seeks to honor the guidelines he was given by the organizing committee.
So the organizing committee comes to you and says, could you please pray? You're a Christian pastor and you say,
I would love to pray. How many would turn that down? We've been approached by Wes Boylston, could you please offer the prayer at the flagpole for Memorial Day?
Are you gonna do that by the way, this year, Louis, or you don't know anything about it? All right, I knight you. If you're able to do that, we need someone to do it, and it would work well with your past service and all that.
Anyway, we can talk about it. So for my illustration tonight with Louis, Louis says, you know what, if I'm able to,
I'd like to do that, and I might even kind of have an evangelistic prayer. And if they say to Louis, by the way, it's
Judeo -Christian, and by the way, Jews deny the Messiah. They deny
Jesus. They deny the New Testament. They deny the Trinity. And 1 Corinthians 16, verse 22 says, if you don't love the
Lord Jesus Christ, you are under God's anathema. We don't want to offend them.
And so, you know what, I'll just cut that out. If this group says, you can't pray that,
Louis, Louis has one of two options. One, say, well, I guess he has many options. One would be, okay,
I won't, but will. And that wouldn't be very honest. Another one would be try to convince him, you know what,
I'm a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have to pray that way. Or the last option which
Ravi had was what? I cannot do it. My conscience will not let me.
Matter of fact, I want you to turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 16, verse 22, so you can see this.
We aren't trying to say, you know, the whole world's damned because we're better. I'm just trying to tell you that if you have people that don't love
Jesus, how can we try to pray together? How can we worship together? How can we serve together?
How can we feed the poor together? I mean, this is one of those verses that you almost wish wasn't in the
Bible because it is so very clear. If anyone does not love the
Lord Jesus Christ, who might that be? Well, we know very clearly who that is.
Let him be, what's your text say? Accursed, damned.
You are damned if you don't love Jesus. And we would know, of course, that God has given us the ability to love
Jesus. He's given us the new heart. But if you don't love
Jesus, furthermore, if you don't love him and have shown that by rejecting the cross, rejecting the
New Testament, rejecting Paul's writing, rejecting Christ Jesus as Messiah, then the next verse in verse 23 isn't going to be said of you unless God intervenes.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you, Church of Corinth. I love be with you all in Christ Jesus.
Please turn to John chapter 14, and I want to show you that when Jesus was talking clearly about prayer, he says,
I want you to pray in my name. And again, I'm not saying
Ravi is not a Christian. I think he maybe had some task force do this for him and sadly joined.
I don't know the reasons. I just know that there's been a fuss and he's still not retracted.
That's all I know. John chapter 14. You know the verses very well.
As I turn my own Bibles to John 14, verse 13 and 14. Whatever you ask in my name, according to my will, according to my nature, according to my abilities to fulfill those things, he says to his disciples, whatever you ask in my name, that will
I do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, and again, that's not the catchphrase in Jesus' name, but according to who
I am and my will and power and nature, character, attributes, perfections.
What does he say? I will do it. So clear.
And did you hear what Don Whitney said about preachers preaching messages that Jewish people in a synagogue would like?
Very, very interesting. Call me old fashioned, but I kind of like these verses.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of the things of heaven, the things in earth, the things under earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of the men across the nation. Now the text says, who do we preach to anyway?
Who are we praying to? When you write a prayer, why do you write it based on what other people are going to think?
Doesn't that contradict Matthew 6 anyway? The hypocrites are praying kind of like with one eye to God and one eye over here because they're wanting to be seen by men.
If the prayer is to the glory of God the Father, why do we care what other people think? We already know what they're going to think.
They're not going to like it. Ephesians 5, verse 20, giving thanks always for all things unto
God the Father in the name of the Lord, what? Jesus Christ.
Tell me why you like this song. I think you're gonna be surprised. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great
Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. My gracious master and my
God, assist me to proclaim to spread throughout all the earth abroad the honors of thy name.
Jesus, the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease, tis the music in the sinner's ears, tis life and health and peace.
Charles Wesley, 1739. Why did you like that song? Why? I mean, there might be many reasons, but what's at the top of the list?
What makes this song, this hymn, wonderful? Well, I was reading on the internet.
Some people like it because it has hyperbole. You know, at the very beginning, oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, it's kind of exaggeration.
Some say they love this song because it's got anadiplosis, another kind of poetic device.
Who knows anadiplosis? A bronchial infection you'll get as if you ever meet anadiplosis.
Using words or ideas ending one stanza as the start of the next stanza.
So when it says, my great Redeemer's, well, let's see, my gracious master and my
God, line ends. The new line starts, assist me. So what's the end of the first line is going to give you a kind of a redo,
Anna, to re -something. It's the idea brought over to the next line. Maybe that's why it's so great.
Or how about alliteration? There's so much alliteration in this. Oh, makes it wonderful and great and worshipful.
Why do you like that song? By the way, can you have songs that have anadiplosis, hyperbole, alliteration?
I found some other poetic devices that are common in hymns. Anaphora, paradox, antithesis, personification, simile, metaphor, tautology and climax.
How many songs of praise to Buddha using all those things do you find lovely and wonderful?
What makes a hymn or a song great and wonderful and worth singing? Answer, it talks about Jesus Christ.
That's exactly right. Poetry helps, but you can dress up Buddha as much as you want and it's not going to sound anything like John Newton's classic
Christ -centered hymn. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear.
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds and drives away his fear.
Dear name, the rock on which I build my shield and hiding place, my never failing treasure filled with the boundless stores of grace.
By thee, my prayers acceptance gain, although with sin defiled, Satan accuses me in vain and I am an owned child.
What are they singing in heaven? Depending on your end times speculation, let's go to Revelation chapter five and I want to show you what they sing in heaven.
What they sing in heaven is everything is about Jesus. Jesus is who they sing about in heaven and if you think this is during the tribulation, or now, it's not even really my point.
I think they're singing the greatness of Christ now, maybe not this exact song, depending on your end times theology again, but this is the type of song certainly they would be singing.
Revelation chapter five. And by the way, when you think of Revelation chapter five verse nine, I want you to remember that story that is often told about Barnhouse relating this song in Revelation five.
Dear man, when you come to the end of your life, will you go to heaven? Oh, I think I'll get to heaven all right.
What do you think they do in heaven? Oh, I haven't thought about it, but I bet you they sing a great deal.
That's right. And we have the words of one of the songs in the Bible. And they sang a new song,
Revelation five, nine. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain.
And with your blood, obviously talking about Jesus, you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth.
The visitor said to that old cantankerous man, I must go now, but I'll leave this New Testament with you and ask you to consider this question.
If you were taken to heaven tonight, could you sing heaven's song? Should we return the next day?
The man said, I've read those verses 50 times and I shall never talk good about my works again. In heaven, they sing praises to Christ for redeeming them by his blood.
I've been trying to get to heaven without a savior, but now I know heaven's song and have trusted in his blood so that I can sing that song.
And then Barnhouse addressed the congregation, certainly thinking that there were some unbelievers there. And he said, if you will not learn to sing that song on earth and believe it, you will never sing it in heaven.
When we pray in Jesus' name, when we sing of the glories of Christ Jesus, we are acting like Christians.
We are acting like Christians. Would you turn your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 6, please?
Because this leads me to another question. When should Christians join with non -Christians?
I could say it another way for hyperbole. When should Christians join with Christ -haters? When should Christ -lovers partner with Christ -haters?
When should Christ -praisers partner with Christ -blasphemers? When would be good for them to walk arm in arm down the center of a church, as it were, and say, you know, we're going to do something together.
Do I like doing things together? Obviously, Steve and I, as Don said this morning, we were at Together for the
Gospel last week, 5 ,300 different men praising God for the gospel. But when do you kind of wanna link up and walk abreast with someone else who says, you know what, we don't love your
Jesus. And I'm not talking about a husband married to an unbelieving wife or vice versa. I'm talking about partnership here, religious partnership.
And in 2 Corinthians 6, Paul talks about this idea of spiritual purity.
And if we understand these verses, it will help us figure out when to say no to the
West Boylston social poor help. Long time ago, I found out, 11 years ago,
I moved here and I got a little letter and it said, welcome to the West Boylston Ecumenical Council.
Wow, I'm joining clubs and things that I haven't even signed up for, wow.
And so I thought, well, what do you do? So I wrote a letter and said, thank you very much for considering me.
I appreciate that. And I'm here to serve the community and talk about Jesus Christ. But I have to withdraw my name, please, from the
West Boylston Ecumenical Council because not everybody on the council even believes the same way to go to heaven.
That particular time, there were no Jews on the council, but there were Roman Catholics. And I said, the
Catholics might be right and I might be wrong, but we don't both believe the same thing.
And how can I disobey God and go against his commands in 2 Corinthians 6?
And so please remove my name from there. So you think my standing in the community shot right up? One of the churches locally even read part of my letter and named me by name as one who was not with the social program.
I have four questions for a brief outline tonight about spiritual purity, about linking arms with other religious organizations, or linking arms with organizations for religious purposes.
This is not about having a company with an unbeliever. I'm gonna start a company up with a buddy and he's an unbeliever, but a good old boy.
This may be an implication of that, but this is not what the text is talking about. This is not, you shouldn't marry an unbeliever.
If you have a daughter or son, do you want them to marry a believer or an unbeliever? Well, if your daughter or son's a believer, you want them to marry a believer, of course.
And by implication, yes. But this is talking about a religious organization, a religious organism called the church.
Remember that, the thing that is precious to God and the apple of his eye? And the organism that Jesus laid his life down for?
That organism. When does that organism combine with another organism for greater effect?
Well, if we can answer these four questions, maybe we could, but Paul puts them in here so we're thinking correctly.
Question number one, when I think of essentials, do you believe spiritual purity is a necessity?
Do you believe spiritual purity is a necessity? Verse 14a. I mean, it can't be that big a deal, can it?
We're pragmatists, greater good. We might affect the community. I'll probably meet some unbelievers and could preach to them while we're walking together for this
AIDS thing. But the text is clearly stating, do not be.
By the way, that's an imperative. By the way, that's a continual imperative. That's a durative imperative. That's a present imperative.
What's all that mean? It means you must always obey this command. And this is the main command.
And this command is, if you're not doing it, don't. If you're starting to do it, quit. Do not be bound together with unbelievers.
Maybe some of the Church of Corinth were already doing that. This is a necessity. This is not an option.
This is not, you know, kind of ice cream on the top. This is very, very important. And the text says, don't be bound together.
Don't be yoked. Can you think of the idea of yoking? I remember Gladman talking to me about yoking and how the oxen come under this yoke.
And here's the one oxen that's the main one. And here's the student one coming under. Both stuck under that oxen together.
Can you imagine how close in proximity? And Paul is using that illustration for this closeness of working together.
When that oxen goes that way, the main training one, where does the other one go? Obviously, same purpose.
When things are spiritual, we don't take the bride of Christ and say, you know, we're gonna have something else come alongside of that because it's a necessity.
That is to say, it is a command. God doesn't just leave the door open, you know, have wisdom, do what you think is best.
I trust you. Now this passage doesn't say we shouldn't associate with unbelievers personally.
Should you associate with unbelievers personally? Where are we gonna go? Some can't even go home tonight.
Some can't go next door. Some can't go to work tomorrow. Where would we go if we can't associate with unbelievers? We are supposed to go out and affect and infect unbelievers with the gospel.
Of course, this text doesn't say, well, you know what? If you're yoked to an unbelieving spouse, leave.
That is clearly not taught according to 1 Corinthians 7. Doesn't say, oh, only work for a
Christian. This forbids the union of the pure church of Christ with some other kind of religion that teaches works righteousness.
A religion that would say, you know what? When Jesus said it is finished, I don't believe that.
I disagree with that. And I think I'm good enough to contribute to my salvation. The writer of that prayer should have said,
I cannot. I'm commanded by scripture not to do this. Second question found in 2 Corinthians 6 regarding spiritual purity.
Do you believe spiritual purity is logical? First of all, it's a necessity. It's a command. Second of all, do you think it's logical?
Verses 14b to 16a. I think it makes good sense. I think it's logical. I think it's wise.
And the way Paul does this is he gives five contrasts, all question form. He's gonna ask a series of questions and every one of those questions is going to be obvious.
It's going to be blatant. It's going to be, you know, fifth graders could answer these questions.
14b, for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? How much?
Well, you know, a smidgen, a little dabble do ya, just kind of some. The answer is what?
There should be none. Or question two, are what fellowship has light with darkness?
Answer, once there's light in the darkness, what do you have? Unless it's creation, or the undoing of creation and revelation, you're never gonna have darkness and light together.
Question three, all trying to just make us think, duh, this is one of those duh moments.
Should I put the pure bride with some kind of impure person, impure organization?
Should I have my wife wear a beautiful wedding dress? And I think my tuxedo today will be black with tails, but I'm gonna happen to wear the tar tuxedo.
Tar tuxedo. No. Question three, what harmony has
Christ with the wicked one? A name for Satan. The worthless one.
The worth filled one Christ, who is worthy and who is worth our praise.
Do we say, you know what? Come close to this worthless one, this Satan, this antichrist, this unchrist, this worthless one.
You can just come together and that'll be good for the sake of poverty. No. What has a believer, question four, in common with an unbeliever?
The answer's nothing. Not on this level. Then the last question, are what agreement has the temple of God with idols?
Can you imagine the pagan idols when you talk to the church of Corinth, what they thought of with pagan idols? And all the debauchery and the orgiastic horrible things that would go on.
And here's the temple of God. Remember that temple? And over here there's the Holy of Holies, and you can't even look in there.
You can't even go in there. No one can go in there. Only once a year the priest can go in there, and tradition says he better have a rope around his foot too so if he dies and you stop hearing the bells that are around his foot with the rope, then you can pull him out because otherwise it is the blazing glory of God's holiness that will murder the man, kill the man is a better word, and you better pull him out.
And so you're gonna take this whorehouse of a temple and the blazing purity of the temple of God and the
Holy of Holies and say, oh, that would probably be good if we could just commingle them because we've gotta reach the
Hittites out there. I feel stupid just saying it.
We guard God's holiness. We don't sully it. And the obvious question, the obvious answer to every one of these questions, all five of them is nothing, nil, nada.
Nothing in common. And if there shouldn't be anything in common, partnership, what's the opposite of that?
Separation. And I don't mean separation because you use a different Bible translation. I mean separation that this religious organism, the church, should not join itself to a harlot called anti -church to say, you know what, we've got a greater goal and they're against abortion, we're against abortion.
They happen to believe that Jesus' death isn't enough. We happen to believe it is, but maybe one baby would be worth it if we come together and say, we hate abortion.
Do I hate abortion? I hate abortion. But what would be worse than abortion?
If I could push the envelope, disobeying a holy God for means that are not right.
That's worse than abortion. God calls his church to be holy in 1
Peter 1, just like he called Israel to be holy. Listen to Ezra 4.
Now, when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, they approached
Zerubbabel and the heads of the father's households and said to them, let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your
God and we have been sacrificing to him since the days of Esarhaban, king of Assyria, who brought us here.
And then finally, where's the man? Where's somebody with courage to say, you know what, it's a necessity, it's a command, it's logical to import the
New Testament into Zerubbabel's head. And Zerubbabel and Yeshua and the rest of the heads of the father's household of Israel said to them, this is just flooring.
You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God, but we ourselves will together build to the
Lord God of Israel. Could they help build? Well, hey, we need a few extra hands and you've got some extra hammers and we're kind of aggregarian culture and we don't have a lot of sickles and other things and hammers and nails and they're hard to get.
And if you kind of help, it might be kind of an Amish weekend and we can build this thing pretty fast and many hands, fast work.
You guys are pagans and we're believers and you think you're gonna help us build where God lives?
Please, brethren, beloved, don't get caught up by thinking there's something greater than obedience to God.
Even if it seems like it works. I have a third question for you regarding this whole idea. Do you believe spiritual purity is advantageous?
I think it's a necessity. I think it's logical. And I think it's advantageous versus 16b to 18.
Do you believe spiritual purity is advantageous? Now we have a recent illustration of 2008 prayer day, but there will be the 2010, there'll be the 2020, something else will come up.
This is just good, timeless advice from Paul for whenever this comes up, we can know.
You know what? The church, can it get together with another church that preaches the gospel for a common good?
Absolutely. But it can't get together with something that is less than a
New Testament church. Verse 16b to 18. I think it's advantageous.
Would you like these things, by the way, to be happening in your life and local church and your home?
Just as God said, and he quotes the Old Testament. I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their
God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the
Lord. And do not touch what is unclean. And then some of the greatest words you'll ever see in the
Bible that we just kind of zip past because this is the marriage section. This is what we tell, you know, the 21 -year -olds, don't marry unbelievers.
This has nothing to do with marrying other believers. By implication, yes. By application, yes.
But here we have a spiritual organism, the church, and does it do things with unspiritual non -organisms who hate
Christ for some greater good, quote -unquote? No. Here's what I want to happen in my life.
Isn't this good for God to say to a local church, to the church of Corinth, and I will what?
I will welcome you. Think about the Middle East and opening your door to someone and welcoming them in and everything that you have, it's just like theirs.
And please, I welcome you. I looked up what this word means, I welcome you. To receive graciously into one's presence.
You want to be clean and you want to be pure for my son. I don't want you to take my son and hook him up with some kind of harlot whore.
I want you to be pure. And when you keep my son pure because you keep his church pure, I graciously accept you.
I welcome you. I receive you. Thayer lexicon says,
I treat you with favor. Who wants to be welcomed by God? Which person in this church wants to be treated with favor from God?
Of course we do. I think that is greater than saying, you know what, we've got a greater good over there and we're going to try to work together to try to say, you know what, if we don't partner up with these
Jews and these Roman Catholics and these other people and these Muslims and these others, then they're going to somehow say prayers against the law in the
United States and we've got to keep these door open. Well, maybe there should be a prayer outlawed in the
United States. So ridiculous things like the 2008 National Day of Prayer don't take place. That would be one good byproduct.
I receive you. Intimate fellowship. And of course,
God, the thrice holy one, would receive the spiritually pure into His presence. But that's not all.
There's one more question. Do you believe spiritual purity is promoted by fearing
God? What would be a good solution? What would help us in our quest to say, God, I know it's difficult and we're tempted to partner and that's just what people do.
Corporations do it now. Cities do it now. Institutions do it now. All the other churches do it.
And everybody's looking at us like we're King James Only Fundamentals wackos. I don't feel like being a wacko.
Who likes to be a wacko? Well, some do, but I have another sermon for you another day.
We have been made by God for community, for fellowship. And if we're not careful, that desire placed by God in us as we're made in the image and likeness of God for community, for a resemblance of the triune
God and perfect fellowship with one another, the Son, the Spirit, and the Father. As they have perfect communion, we have been made in God's likeness and image and we have a desire for that as well.
But if we're not careful, we're gonna get off the train and off the track and we're gonna go for unspiritual unpurity.
So we need something that would help us. And here, Paul says in 2
Corinthians 7, verse one, kind of out of left field if you don't think about it properly, but if you're thinking properly, perfectly pitch down the strike zone.
Therefore, having these promises, what promises might that be? Welcome into God's presence, dwelling place of God, obeying
God, fellowship, all those things that we just talked about earlier. Therefore, having these promises.
Beloved, you can hear Paul's heart here. He's not scolding. Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Let's cleanse ourself with an eye towards God, fearing Him. Is it a good, healthy thing to fear
God? It's one of the best things to do because if you're fearing God, it means you aren't fearing and let's tie everything back full circle.
Man, when you're fearing God, by the way, what's the word for fear in the
New Testament for God? What's the Greek word? What's the word we use often in America, in English that talks about fear?
Phobia, what do you think the Greek word might be? Phobos, it looks like Phobos, but it's
Phobos. If we have a right fear of God and if you want to honor Him in such a way that your only concern is what
He thinks about you, what does it matter who else in the world would say anything? You get some stupid letter from a
West Boston council that says, you know, shame on you, you're uptight and you're a fundamentalist and you're a third degree separationist and blah, blah, blah.
I don't know what to do, but I like to sleep at night. In the ministry, many times I don't want to sleep, but the times
I don't sleep is because I'm afraid of people, but when I'm afraid of God, you lay your head down and say, it was hard, but God, you gave me the strength to do it and I want to honor you.
I want to give you reverence and awe and I want to fear you because the beginning of knowledge is what?
Beginning of wisdom, you think I should fear God and that's the Proverbs often, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
That's who we report to, that's who we worship, that's the one who sees our motives and as we fix our eyes on Jesus and we fix our eyes on fearing
God, of course, God begins to purify us. Increased fear of God decreases the desire to compromise in the area and defile our purity as a church.
One person wrote about the 2008 prayer controversy to someone who's been critiquing the prayer.
I've read many posts regarding your apparent condemnation of Dr. Zacharias' effort at inclusion and I can't help but wonder, is your
God so petty as to evoke a technicality as basis for scorning the prayers of people all made in his image?
People who would seek him? How sad for you, unable to conceive of a mature God, one who would certainly, most certainly, have chosen the higher road.
I mean, I don't know what to do with this except to say, first of all, when he says that God's so petty, let's just use some biblical language here and make sure we're very careful with this biblical language but it's very true.
God is a jealous God. And we're gonna get to that when we get to Z in 2020 for our series in the attributes of God.
Z, God is zealous. Our God is jealous with great motives, totally pure jealousy, not like some idiotic husband if he sees his wife talking to another man in church, he freaks out, but with jealousy that's divine and jealousy that's pure and right.
He is jealous. And when this person runs their mouth and says, you know, how sad for you, you're unable to conceive of a mature
God. Frankly, I don't wanna conceive of any God outside of what's in Revelation because I'm going to conceive a
God after my own liking and my own nature. And as Calvin said, my heart is an idol factory and out come the assembly line for all these different idols, one after another, after another.
And I don't want to conceive of God. I'm left to say to myself, I would conceive of a
God that trite if it wasn't for scripture overruling me. How sad for you.
And I hope the person that received the letter thought, you know what? I have to worship God and praise
God and fear Him and what other people think. Come what may. Romans chapter one, you know it very well.
I will leave with this verse quoted me, time is up. I am not ashamed of the gospel, which includes
Christ Jesus, yes? Of course it does. He says that in chapter one, verse one, two, three, four.
For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the
Greek. And Paul said, I'm not going to be ashamed. I'm not going to fear or be embarrassed.
That's what shame means. Embarrassment or fear that someone else's expectations might be moved or changed.
I'm not going to be reluctant somehow because I want to keep my head above fear of humiliation.
I'm not going to be somehow a coward not to stand up for Jesus Christ. Lexicon said, one lexicon said of a shame to experience a painful feeling or sense of loss of status because of some particular event or activity.
We aren't better than that person who wrote the prayer. If we understand better, it's because God has told us.
We aren't above temptation because we are going to be tempted. But as for me in my house,
I want to have the words Jesus Christ in everything I do. And if people think I'm a
Jesus freak, I want to live in the fear of God. Don't you? I do, let's pray. Thank you,
Lord, for tonight. Lord, I feel even the passion in me who sinful although I may be,
I want to guard your glory. I can't stand it when people deny
Christ, make fun of Christ, somehow think he's not valuable. Lord, sadly in my own heart, and I know
I speak for the congregation, there are times where we fear people when we evangelize and we back off.
Lord, we'd like to be like John the Baptist, the greatest man ever born, whose life, whose goal, whose pleasure and privilege was pointing to Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins that might be coming with Christ as well.
I pray for Ravi, I pray for the ministry, I pray for repentance, I pray that you would use him to preach the gospel to the people who would come, and may he as he preaches not be ashamed.