Self-Deception (Part 1)

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No Compromise Radio Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author,

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Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the

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Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

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Well today I'd like to talk about something interesting and that is deception. Things aren't always the way they seem.

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Did you know that there is a faith that you can have in Christ Jesus that will not allow you to go to heaven?

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Did you know there's a faith that saves and there's a faith that doesn't save?

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There's a faith that doesn't make it to eternal bliss.

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That is to say, you can believe in Jesus or you can believe facts about the wrong

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Jesus and still not go to heaven. And it is good for everyone here to ask yourself the question, what kind of faith do

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I have? Real faith, fake faith? Superficial faith or saving faith?

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Shenanigan kind of treachery faith? What could be a greater deception?

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Can you just imagine for a moment, when Jesus says these words in Matthew 7, not everyone who says to me,

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Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my

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Father who is in heaven. On that day, judgment day, many will say to me,

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Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?

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And then I will declare to them, says Jesus, what haunting sober words they are, I never knew you, depart from me you workers of lawlessness.

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It's as if Jesus says, excuse me, I don't have any idea who you are, you're an intruder, you're an interloper.

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And I want everyone here to have the kind of faith that rests on the power of God, that's true faith, that's real faith.

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And I'm quite confident, not because I'm trying to whack you around, but I'm quite confident in an auditorium this size, there are some of you here today that are playing games with your faith.

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You say you believe, maybe you're a member, maybe you've been baptized, maybe you're doing what

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I did 30 some years ago where I thought, you know, I'd like to just live my life the way

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I'd like to live my life, but I certainly wouldn't like to go to hell. So I'll construct this

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Jesus in my mind and I'll say, I believe in Jesus, virgin born, he was virgin conceived, perfect life, sinless, slain as a substitute on my behalf, raised from the dead, certainly coming back, but requires me not to follow him.

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And that's the kind of Jesus I had in my mind. I want you today to examine yourself to see whether you're in the faith, 2

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Corinthians chapter 13. Test yourself. The good news is if you are a

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Christian, you can look back and say, I am a Christian and I'm a Christian by the grace of God.

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Thank you God for saving me wonderfully, eternally. And if you're not a

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Christian, I want you to know it. I want you to know that you're not so that you might cry out to God and say,

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Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. So let's turn our Bibles to 1

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Corinthians, we're in a series in 1 Corinthians, verse by verse through 1 Corinthians. And today we're going to look at faith that rests on the power of God in chapter 2.

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Faith that demonstrates the God of the universe has done something to you. Can you imagine?

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Well, I wasn't a Christian before. The God of the universe, the mighty, omnipotent, powerful

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God of the universe has changed me and dwelled inside of me, but I'm not different at all. I'm the same guy that I was before.

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I'm the same lady that I was before. Nothing's changed. Friends, if nothing changed in your life, nothing has changed in the status that you have before God.

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I'm quite confident that most of the people here at this church have saving faith.

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But for the ones that don't, for the one maybe that doesn't, this sermon's for you.

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500 ,000 Americans have counterfeit diplomas or credentials. I don't want one spiritual counterfeit diploma here.

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Well, let's have an update in 1 Corinthians. I've been out of the pulpit for a while, and now we're diving back into 1

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Corinthians. So let me give you a review so we know where we are when it comes to 1

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Corinthians, chapter 2, 1 to 5. 1 Corinthians is one of these books that I love because it's

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Christ -centered, it's fast, it's action -packed. It's certainly not boring.

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It's readable. It's relevant. By the way, if you don't know this, I'm not here to make the Bible relevant.

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The Bible is relevant. I'm here to just show you its relevancy. It is relevant. This book is grace -laden, truths for you, and it's interesting.

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It has all kinds of things. Chloe was a lady, and her household wrote to Paul and said, we've got some issues in the church, and the issues are there's division in the church.

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There are sexually immoral people in the church. There's no discipline in the church, and there's lawsuits in the church.

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And so in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, all the way through chapter 6, Paul deals with these sins that Chloe's household ask about.

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And then in chapters 7 through 16, he answers specific questions in a letter that they sent.

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So tonight we're going to have Elder Q &A. Some of you have sent us letters, and the questions have been like this.

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When Jesus died on the cross, what happened to him in between his death and resurrection? The Apostles' Creed, is that true that Jesus descended into hell?

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What'd he do? And you've written us that question. What happens there? What is the anointing?

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Who were those kind of weird hybrid things going on in Genesis chapter 6? Those will be answered tonight.

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Well, Paul was asked some questions, and the questions were more like, what about celibacy? What about marriage?

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What about me to offer to sacrifices? Should you veil a woman in public? What do you do for the

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Lord's Supper? What's going on with spiritual gifts? Is the resurrection important?

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What about giving? And that's in chapters 7 through 16. So now we're going to back up, and we've gone from kind of the big view, and now we'll go to chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4, all about division.

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And it's all swirling around this topic of wisdom. Do we have the wisdom of the world, which splits people up?

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Or do we have the wisdom that follows Christ Jesus? And we come to chapter 2, verses 1 through 5.

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Paul is going to make sure he doesn't appeal to anything less than the wisdom found in the cross. And in review, we looked at four words that described what

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Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 to 5. I don't know if you remember those four words, but let me give them to you now.

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The first word is disregard. You, like Paul, should have a total disregard for methods that distract from the gospel.

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See it in verse 1 there? The sermon's really from verses 4 and 5, but we're just leading up to that.

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Look at how Paul purposely, with premeditation, says,

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I'm coming with an agenda. And I, when I came to you brothers in Acts chapter 18,

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I've been here to Corinth. Now he's writing to them. But when I was with you brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

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It wasn't some kind of Aristotelian logic. It wasn't kind of the art of the deal. It wasn't

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Dale Carnegie -like classes. Speech class, motivational speaking.

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After all, if that's the way you win people to Christianity, then what do you do when a better speaker comes along?

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The second word is determination. Word 2 is determination, found in verse 2. You, like Paul, should be determined to make this your message.

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Forget the how. Remember the who. This is Paul's reason for his method.

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For I decided, I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

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Is it ever too problematic to be focused on Jesus that much?

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No. If I were, if you were ever able to go speak at Harvard, Yale, how about Larry King?

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When Larry King asked John MacArthur, come on my show, does John say this?

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Well, I'm just praying for the spirits leading. I'm just kind of waiting for a word from God.

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And he walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. And he'll certainly give me utterance.

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Don't be afraid when you stand in front of the judges, I'll give you utterance. What does John do?

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I'll tell you exactly what he does. I have a plan and here's my plan. I'm going to talk about Jesus and give the answer that's

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Jesus, no matter what the question is. Hi John, how old are you? Well, let me tell you about Jesus.

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Tell me about your days drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals. Well, let me tell you about Jesus. And MacArthur has learned from Paul and so should we.

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That when you're going to speak to somebody, whether it's Awana people, if I were asked to go to Harvard or Yale, you say,

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I have a message, there's only one message that saves, it's real wisdom. It's this Jesus on a cross, that's my message.

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If you are in a plane and that plane's going to crash and you have 30 seconds, what are you going to say?

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Well, you'd say, I need to tell them about sin, holiness, substitutionary atonement, literal resurrection, repentance.

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You're going to pack that stuff in. And Paul says, this is, you know, to be spirit -led is to do what the

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Bible says. And Paul says, I want to be spirit -led to obey the Bible. And I have a message and that message is Jesus.

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Type YouTube, John MacArthur, Larry King, and you'll know what I say because they'll ask him, do you think homosexuality is sin?

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And John will say, yes, but it's a forgivable sin because Jesus Christ came on the earth to die for sins like that, was raised from the dead as a substitutionary atonement for all those who would ever believe, including homosexuals.

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How about you, Larry, do you believe? It's like, where did that come from? I'll tell you where it came from.

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It was a premeditated conscious strategy before he got into the studio.

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Paul was smart. Paul could have come along and talked about whatever he wanted to talk about, but he was resolute and fixed and determined.

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Someday I'm just going to drive to your house. Sometimes I drive by your house on my bike.

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Usually what I do is I usually always go to the fairs and it's over by the Dunn's as well. I like to drive by the fairs and I have the same slogan every single time.

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I'm in all my bike gear and livery and I always have the same message. And here's the message because I've thought about it ahead of time and I shout it out every single time.

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Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. I figure that takes care of indicatives, imperatives and off we go.

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It's pre -planned. I'm going to preach that message. Say, well, I have a friend and he's dying.

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His son is dying. Well, I don't know how long you're going to take with your friendship evangelism.

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I want you to be friends and I want you to evangelize them. But they are on the brink of eternity and there's one saving message.

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Paul says, so I had to be determined. It doesn't mean you just have to say Jesus and him crucified all the time.

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But whatever Paul talked about, he made sure he used that as the beeline to talk about Christ Jesus and the cross.

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It's not about us. It's hard to talk about a crucified Savior and make yourself look good at the same time.

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Colossians 1 says, him, Jesus, we proclaim. We announce.

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You say, well, people get bored if you just preach about Jesus only. I don't know about if you're bored or not.

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I don't know if the world gets bored or not, but we're told to preach Jesus. So we preach Jesus. It's not

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Jesus plus anything. Jesus plus political activism. Why don't you talk about Republicans and Democrats and those kind of things more?

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Because I'm under authority to preach about Christ. Not plus sociology, psychology, human experience.

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Listen to what David Well says. This problem of Christ missing as the focal point in the church today is not like the abduction of a child who is happily playing at home one minute and then is no longer to be found the next.

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No one has abducted Christ in this sense. The disappearance is closer to what happens in homes where children are ignored and to all intents and purposes abandoned.

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They remain in the home, but they have no place in the family. So it is with Christ in the church.

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He remains on the edges of evangelical life, but has been dislodged from its center. Good homework for you to do is to read

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Colossians when you get home because you'll see Paul to the church at Colossae preach Christ. I just found a few.

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Paul preached Christ in Colossians as the son of God. Chapter one. These are all in chapter one. The object of the

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Christian faith. The Redeemer. The image of God. The Lord of creation. The head of the church. The reconciler of the universe.

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The fullness of the Godhead. Supreme authority over all in chapter two. The essence of the mystery of God.

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The one who reveals wisdom and knowledge. The standard by which all religious teaching is to be measured.

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He is the conqueror of evil. He is the one enthroned in the right hand of God. One message.

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Jesus Christ. Whether it's popular, whether it's politically correct. The crucified

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Messiah. Although oxymoronic as it might sound. The Messiah who's been crucified.

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Word three. Found in verse three. Disregard. Determination. Word three.

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Deference. You, like Paul, with humble deference, must obey your

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God. This whole thing here in verse three is language of military compliance.

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Somebody who's over you. Tells you to do something. And you say, yes sir.

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Yes ma 'am. Fear and trembling here isn't, I'm really afraid. I'm biting my teeth. And I'm scared.

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Fear and trembling is a word used when you are having a master over you slaves.

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You need to have fear and trembling and you're under their authority. Verse three.

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And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. Humble acknowledgement that there's somebody over me.

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I'd like to use my personality to win people. I'd like to use my rhetoric to win people. I'd like to use some sales ability to win people.

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But I have somebody over me and his name is Christ Jesus. And he says, you just preach the word. And by the way,

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I've picked people like you who are weak and frail and not the superstars of the world. So that when people believe, what do they do?

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They say it has to be Jesus. Paul doesn't have stage fright.

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Paul says, I realize the majesty of God and I'm under him and so therefore I preach. And now the final word.

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Demonstration. We just touched on it lightly a few weeks ago. So now I want to develop that a little bit because it will help us ask the question and answer it.

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What kind of faith do you have? Demonstration.

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You're preaching like Paul's. Must be a demonstration of God's power and God's spirit.

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Not persuasive words. We do want results. I'm not against results.

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If it was up to me, there'd be a thousand people here. Why? Do I want a thousand? Not necessarily, but if there were 700 more people that got saved because of your evangelism, would you be happy?

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I would. I want you to learn and grow and mature. I want people to get saved.

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It's not that we're anti -results, but we want them to be God's results. Verse 4 and 5.

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Demonstration. And my speech, Paul says, and my message are not in plausible or persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power.

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For a reason, for a purpose. Why do we do what we do? That your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men that will damn you, but in the power of God.

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I like Paul. Here's what Paul does. Paul says, I'm a human. I'm a sinner.

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I know what human sinners like, especially around this Greco -Roman culture. They love wisdom.

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They love words. So it's almost like Paul did a little poll. You ever see people that say, I'm going to take a little poll.

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What would you like in church? I'd like it to be relevant. I'd like it to be short. You know,

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I've got a busy day on Sunday. I'd like it to meet me where I'm at. The great children's programs.

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Really nice -looking parking lot. Fellowship hall.

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I really like espresso. And then you go around the neighborhood and here's the results and now we'll give a church for you.

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It's like the Starbucks coffee mug. You see what it says on there? The first big three letters? Y -O -U

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The You Church. And you go, this is what you want? You know what Paul does?

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Paul goes, I'm sure glad to have the template because everything they want, I'm going to do the opposite. They don't know what they need.

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They know what they want and their wants come from a sinful desire to consume, to be entertained.

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They're not, here's what real worship is. And so Paul just does the opposite. You want man's wisdom? Here's a stick in your eye.

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You want some kind of plausible words? You know what I'm going to give you? Jesus on a stick.

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Look at that. Because Paul says, I want your faith to demonstrate

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God's power not my manipulative power. And friends, maybe

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I think, well I do think more highly of myself than I ought to think, but I think I'm a fairly persuasive guy.

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I think I have a fairly domineering personality. There's nothing wrong with trying to use that personality to persuade you.

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You must believe or you're going to bust hell wide open and the water that was sprinkled on your head isn't going to help unless you're born again.

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I want to say things persuasively. Paul is not saying don't ever persuade knowing the fear of the

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Lord, 2 Corinthians 5, we what? Persuade men. There's a persuading in Acts 18 later on.

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But if you're converts because I persuaded you, then you're a convert to me. My converts don't go to heaven.

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My converts don't last. And by the way, if you have kind of a quieter disposition, if you have kind of more of a calmer demeanor, good, but you still preach here's who

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Jesus is. You want people's faith to rest in the power of God.

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I think this is especially important for parents. I can get my kids to pretty much believe in anything

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I want them to believe in and probably you can too. Paul says, I want the demonstration to be of the spirit and of power.

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Take a look at that word there. Demonstration. Found in verse 4. It's the word that we get legal proof from in a law court.

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This is admissible in court. That's that language. Demonstration. This rigorous proof that we have that will stand up under the court of God's law.

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Of spirit and of power. Using the word of God to save people.

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Now what was that demonstration? Two options. One, a bunch of miracles. Paul says, you know, miracles were done.

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Apostles could do miracles. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. But then that would have said here, it would have been demonstrations of power.

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I don't think this has anything to do with miracles, although Paul could do them. By the way, the church of Corinth would want miracles.

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I think this has to do, what's the demonstration? It has everything to do with conversions. You want to know that this is a real message.

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Church of Corinth, it changes who you are. Flip over to chapter 6. Show me a gospel preacher, and I'll show you what

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God does with the gospel message that the gospel preacher gives. It's not people following Paul.

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It's people that are changed from the inside out. What's the demonstration that Paul preached the real gospel about Jesus?

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People really got saved. Verse 9, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. It changes righteous, unrighteous into righteous.

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Do you not know? You should know, I've already taught you, that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.

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Do not be deceived. It's easy to be deceived because you've got daughters, sons, grandparents, spouses.

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Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revivals, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of heaven.

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Do you think Paul was talking about the sins that happened over in maybe India? He's talking about the sinful people that were at the church there at Corinth, right?

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And then he says, and such were some of you.

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Here's Paul's demonstration that the Spirit of God was working. You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the

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Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. I ask you now, what can explain your life right now?

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If you say you're a Christian, what explains your life? Is it the power of God?

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You used to be an unbeliever and now you're a believer. What explains it? Somebody's, you know, two easy steps, three things you ought to know, four spiritual laws, five things that keep you from heaven and you just heard about it and you said, yeah, yeah, that'll be good.

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Or is it the power of God that has changed you from the inside out? I look at my life and I think there's no living explanation for what

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I used to be to what I am now except for the grace of God. That's this demonstration that Paul was talking about.

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Paul doesn't want people's faith to rest in the wisdom of men. It's superficial. You're not going to go to heaven if you've got that kind of faith.

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I don't want you to have a superficial faith. I don't want you to say, you know, what's explained my life is behavior modification.

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I used to be kind of a bad guy and now I'm a better guy. I don't want medication to explain your life.

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I used to be all messed up and now I'm on these three psychosomatic drugs and I'm better. I don't want it to be education.

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I didn't know before and now I kind of know better. I used to not have a life coach but now

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I've got a life coach and things are better. I didn't have a support group around me and now I have a support group.

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I want you to have a life that no life coach can explain. I want you to have a life that shows no

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Oprah book club could explain. A demonstration. Ask yourself the question, does my life show a demonstration of how

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God can take the dead and make them alive? To make somebody who hates God and kill him if he could and turn him into somebody who worships

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Christ Jesus. To take somebody who used to hate the Bible, hate Bible study, hate worship and now loves those things and the list could go on.

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If the God of the universe has invaded your life, you ought to be different. Perfect in practice?

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No. Growing, maturing? Yes. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Avendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400

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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE its staff or management.