Boasting (Part 3)

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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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Michael Chang was 17 years old playing in the French Open. Played against Stefan Edberg in the championship round and won, coming from behind to win 6 -1, 3 -6, 4 -6, 6 -4, 6 -2.

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Youngest male tennis champion in the French Open's history.

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People were ecstatic, screaming, yelling, cheering. They gave him the microphone, live audience, thousands of people.

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He said, I want to thank my mom and I want to thank my dad. And most of all,

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I'd like to thank the Lord Jesus Christ without whom I am nothing.

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The cheering turned into booing, the screaming turned into catcalls, and the applause turned into whistling.

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The news mocked him as well by setting the interview against Handel's Messiah.

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We clap, we say, way to go, Michael, and they say, how dare you. I thought their attitude was just like Voltaire's, who said, not until the last priest is hanged with the entrails of the last king will mankind finally be free.

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Let's turn to 1 Corinthians and see what God says about boasting. 1 Corinthians, Paul's words to the

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Spirit of God echo Michael Chang. It's good to boast, it's proper to boast, it's right to brag, as long as you have the right motives and the right object.

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For you see, we've learned the last two weeks that our flesh, our carnal nature, just like the immature

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Corinthians, want to brag about themselves, about who they are, their money, their power, their fame, their speakers, their apostles.

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It's not wrong to boast, it's just wrong to boast in the wrong person. I read one dictionary this week, it said, boasting is considered a vice by such major religious groups as Christianity.

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That's only half true. It's only a vice when you're boasting in yourself, or as Alistair Begg says, when you're boasting in your own brawn, your own bucks, and your own, well there's three

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B's, I've got them here somewhere. If I was Alistair, brains, that's it, and if I only could say them with a

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Scottish accent. Psalm 115, not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory.

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Boasting's good, it's proper. Remember, God made you to boast. He made you to praise.

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I used to watch Michael Jordan when I was growing up, and I can remember people with the slow motion VCRs, you guys know what a

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VCR is? And you could go frame by frame, we thought that was a big deal back then. Replaying some kind of dunk, some kind of steal, some kind of defensive move on the basketball court, and people would just be in silence.

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Can you get that? Let's rewind that. Michael Jordan is awesome, and I look back and I think, that is praise.

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We're good at it. We're great at it. So Paul says to the

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Corinthian church, when you're boasting, and even people like Barnabas or Paul, somebody could be good and godly, boasting in the pastor, the apostle.

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Things get cockeyed, things are haywired, things are not right side up. So Paul here in chapter one, towards the end, he says, you've got to boast in the right person.

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Now, looking at chapter one, as we've been in this chapter many, many weeks, I wanted to lay down the foundation of Corinthians, the 16 chapters, slowly in chapter one.

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We'll go faster in chapter two and chapter three. You're saying, yeah, prove it, but we really will.

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This is like climbing Mount Everest, and you've got to establish some base camps as you go up to Everest, to kind of get yourself acclimated before you go any higher.

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And that's exactly what chapter one serves as. It's a good base camp to understand the lordship of Christ, to understand how we're supposed to be unified, understand what's going on in the

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Corinthian church. So that's why we're just hovering there for a while, before we go up later into other chapters, that I guess if we're going to continue the analogy, move into the death zone.

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But here we want to just establish that God is king. The Corinthians were acting very carnally, and he says in chapters one, two, three, and four that the church needs to be unified.

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And there was a split, because if you follow different people, the church is going to break up. And if everybody's following Christ Jesus as Lord, they will be unified in their direction.

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God is Lord, follow him. If God is jealous, then give him all the glory. God calls himself jealous.

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The Pentateuch, Mosaic writing says that God's name is jealous, and he doesn't want his glory to going to creatures.

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So for us, we want to brag and boast in our triune God. And so in chapter one, verse 18 through 25,

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Paul basically says God confounds the wisdom of the world by having a unique instrument for its salvation.

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That is to say, God makes all the worldly wisdom come to naught by having

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Jesus the Messiah die a ruthless death on Calvary, and raise him from the dead.

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And the world says it's foolish, but God says this is the instrument of salvation, there's no other instrument.

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And people don't think that way, people wouldn't arrange a religion that way, and so God confounds wise people by choosing the instrument of salvation, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

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But he gives kind of a double whammy here, by saying he doesn't just confound them with the cross, he confounds them with the bride of Christ as well.

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In other words, the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but also the people that God saves are foolish to those who are perishing as well.

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The world looks at the church and says, that's not how I would arrange things, that's not what we would do.

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The cross is foolish to the perishing, but God then uses people that the world thinks is foolish as well.

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And this is all for a design, do you see in verse 29 of chapter 1, so no man can boast.

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It's the cross and cross alone for salvation, we can't add anything to our salvation.

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It's the people of God who were publicans and sinners, and corrupt people who

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God saved, so no one can say at the end of the day, look, we are pretty good and we pulled ourselves up by our own bootstraps.

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You know the solas of the reformation, right? That's the sixth sola of the reformation, sola bootstrapsa, as they call it, that we somehow did it.

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No, all the boast should go away from us, and then verse 31, let him who boasts, boast in the

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Lord. God picks things to show he isn't concerned what men think at all.

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Actually, he does the opposite, and if you can get that into your mind, you will have an experience, and I call it being really slain in your spirit, not being slain with the spirit or by the spirit, but slain in your spirit, that what

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God does, it's just otherworldly, it's alien, and that's exactly right.

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We want to glorify ourselves somehow, sliding God, ignoring God, refusing to give

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God the glory, kind of with this blasphemy that people have on their bumper sticker, God is my what?

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Co -pilot? That's just absolutely opposite of what Paul's trying to get after here in 1

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Corinthians. He wants them to recognize through salvation and through the church, those who he picks, that you have to recognize

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God is at work. He has done this work, and he will do as he wills, as often as he wills, and only as he wills.

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So in verses 26 through 31, as we're just marching through 1 Corinthians, there are really three considerations

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Paul gives so that you boast properly, and everything stems from that word in verse 26, for consider.

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So let me give you three considerations, two we've seen last two weeks, and we'll get through the third today. Three considerations from 1

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Corinthians 1 .26 through 31 that help you put your boast in Jesus Christ alone, just like Michael Chang.

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Number one, if you consider God's choice of people, you will never again boast in those people.

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Paul just says, now just take a look at your pedigree. You've kind of got a humble background at Corinth, don't you?

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The same would apply to us as well. Verse 26, for consider your calling brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh.

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The worldly wisdom would not say there are a lot of wise people in Corinth. The movers and the shakers of Corinth wouldn't look at the church and say, you know what, there's a lot of mighty people, and there's a lot of noble people there.

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No, they would look and they would say, there's riffraff. There are not the best people there, common people.

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And the world says they look weak, and therefore they think it's a foolish operation. So Paul says, consider that calling.

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The foolishness and weakness that was in the cross is shown also in the church. So how can we boast in ourselves or boast in our leaders?

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There are a few movers and shakers in the church, and I even did a little study. Dionysius was at Athens in Acts 17.

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Sergius Paulus was a pro -council of Crete, Acts 13. There were the noble ladies at Thessalonica and Berea in Acts 17.

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So some in the upper strata, but not many. God isn't concerned with strong people who have political clout.

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And Paul is not saying never boast. He's just saying don't boast in yourself. Number two, if you consider

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God's choice as sovereign, you will never boast in people. Now he moves more into a theological statement.

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And look at the three times in verses 27 and 28. God has chosen, God has chosen,

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God has chosen. And it's a choice not because of, it's a choice in spite of. It's a choice not because of, it's a choice in spite of.

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To magnify His wisdom, to magnify His glory. Look at verses in verses 27 through 28.

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And if you're a visitor today, we just march through a text, verse by verse by verse. Now we're up to verse 27.

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But God has chosen, see the contrast, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.

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And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. And the base things of the world and the despised,

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God has chosen. Do you think He's trying to drive a point home there? The things that are not that He might nullify the things that are.

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This is a God who's choosing people from a lower stratus, a lower strata.

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Because He's going to get all the glory when that church does invade the world, pervade the world.

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To turn the world upside down in acts. And so we see here God is not some deist

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God. Everything's wound up and He lets it go. What kind of God is that by the way? No God at all.

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There's no deist God here. He's always at work. He's imperceptibly at work. And here

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He's choosing the kind of people that are on the lowest part of the totem pole.

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By purpose. By His own will. By His own sovereign will. He chooses the nothings.

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You see that in verse 28? He's chosen the things that are not.

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He's chosen the nothings. You know what? When I choose, you know who I choose when I want to win? I choose not the nothings.

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I choose the somethings. He doesn't choose the somethings. He chooses the nothings.

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Little value. So much so we saw last week, He doesn't even use a personal pronoun.

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Here in this part of the text, He doesn't choose a him and a her and a them and a they. He chooses its to just show you how low they are.

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The world chooses the wise. God chooses the foolish things. The world chooses the strong. God chooses the weak.

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The world chooses the things that are. God chooses the no ones. For what purpose do you see that He might nullify the things that are?

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Boy, this shoots right against the heretic Robert Schuller who says, The most serious sin is the one that causes me to say

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I am unworthy. That's the most serious sin. You look at this and you think, does

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God pick the worthies or the unworthies? If He picked the worthies, then there's something for us to brag about and to boast about.

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We are something, therefore God chose us. What kind of God would God be if He looks at people and says,

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I'll just choose the best because they're the best. He wouldn't be the God of the Bible. Schuller goes on to say,

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For once one believes he is an unworthy sinner, it is doubtless if he can really honestly accept the saving grace

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God offers in Jesus Christ. I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and hence counterproductive to evangelistic enterprise.

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Are you ready for this? This is as bad as it gets for him. Then the unchristian, uncouth strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition.

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Maybe for the first time in my life I am speechless. He chooses the people that are not to make something of them.

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What did we just sing about today? To make a wretch his what? Treasure. That magnifies his grace.

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If you think you're pretty good and God's not that good, the in -between there is maybe ho -hum.

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But if you realize how bad you are and how great God is, the chasm in -between is called praise, thankfulness.

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God, that you would choose me, I'm nothing. Makes me want to praise you. If I'm the President of the

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United States and you chose me because I was a good politician, then I would have something to boast about. But just like in Abraham in Romans chapter 4, but not before God.

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You want to know why God does all this choosing? Verse 29, that no man should boast before God.

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That's got purpose to it. No boast. Every occasion for boasting, gone.

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Not Tuesdays, not birthdays, not leap years. We can't gain our own salvation, so what do we have to boast about besides Christ Jesus?

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There's not one person in this room who's a Christian who will stand before God and say,

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I deserve to be here. And I contributed this little portion to my salvation.

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Not no one, not no how. And the Corinthians like to boast.

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For that matter, we like to boast. Paul says, not a peep.

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It all should go to God. Should all be like Michael Chang, no matter what it costs you. So that, look at the text, no flesh, no flesh, no flesh.

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No created flesh. No flesh that was made out of the dust. No flesh that was finite.

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No flesh that's fallen. No flesh. Stand before God. Say, I saved myself.

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You chose me because I was good looking. That's pretty clear.

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Ephesians, it always talks about to the praise of the glory of his grace. To the praise of the glory of his grace.

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To the praise of the glory of his grace. Whether you're Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, it's

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God's greatness through his sovereign choice that should motivate your boasting.

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Anybody here save themselves? Anybody here forgive themselves? Anybody here redeem themselves? Anybody here justify themselves?

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And then the answer is no. If we've been redeemed, forgiven, justified, sanctified, we say,

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God, thank you. I think we're singing better as a church, by the way, because I think we're understanding the depth of our salvation.

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You meet a kid and they're saved and they'll say, maybe even when you're young in Christ, Jesus loves me, this

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I know for the Bible tells me so. Then you begin to understand the nuances of salvation.

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It colors it in. It fills in the blanks. And it makes your singing more robust. That's what we do.

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We're boasting in Christ Jesus. I'm glad Charlie picked the song that did it. I think that second song. I will not boast in anything.

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No wisdom power or wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection.

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Number three. If you consider God's grace in saving people, you'll never boast in those people.

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If you consider God's choice of placing people in Christ Jesus, you'll never boast in those people.

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Verses 30 and 31. It was about eight years ago, I was walking down the street close to my house by Mossy Pond over in Lancaster Clinton area.

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And I saw a bunch of commotion on the water, on the lake. And I was just going for an exercise kind of walk.

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And I saw, it looked like two men were drowning. And I saw a guy come over in a pontoon boat frantically trying to rescue these two people.

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And they were kind of going up for breath and kind of going down. You could see the capsized canoe over there.

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And I thought, okay, I'm a swimmer. I've taken, I was a lifeguard. I know what to do.

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But there could be some help that's needed. And so I thought, I'll call first before I just set my stuff down and swim out.

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It wasn't that far. It was 100 yards out. And so I got on the phone and I called.

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And I called 911 on my cell phone. And they transferred me to the Boston Harbor. And when

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I said, you know, they said, where are you? I'm in Lancaster Clinton, Mossy Pond on the causeway. And they answered, this is Boston Harbor.

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So I'm on the phone. I'm trying to figure out what to do. Trying to go through all the details and everything. Do I go?

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Do I help? The guy's over there pulling the guy out. Is he going to pull him in? You know, sometimes when people are drowning, they'll try to kill you as you go.

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What do I end up doing? I'm on the phone. We need some help. Send an ambulance. Send some police out. I don't know. Who do you send?

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But help. So one thing led to another. And as I'm on hold thinking, do I go? Don't I go? I wasn't afraid to go.

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But what do I end up doing? Finally, the guy pulled out the last guy and brought him up on the pontoon.

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And I hollowed out. Is that the last guy? Yes, we got him. Didn't see anything in the paper.

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I made sure everything was fine. So I called the paper and said, you've got to hear a great story.

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There's so much bad news in the world. There's a great story. This guy who was a fireman was off duty.

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He saw, he went over there and risked his own life and saved those two guys. Neither of them could swim. And it was a windy day and they were in the canoe.

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Well, let's have a few drinks and go for a canoe ride. I mean, that's not part of the story. And so they printed the story in the local paper.

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And I was so mad they didn't say a bunch of good things about me. Brave Pastor Abendroth with all his life skills, life -saving skills, frantically yet persistently called 911 until they answered.

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Picture of me sitting there. Who got the praise?

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And rightfully so. The guy who rescued. I didn't get the praise, nor should

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I have. The guys being rescued, good job for being drunk and going on a canoe ride.

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You know, they were that close from eternal hell. The one who rescued gets the praise.

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The contribution for those two guys who were swimming was stupidity, sinfulness and drunkenness.

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And so what are we going to do? Good job. You kind of put your arm up, he put his arm down. Together we can.

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All for one, one for all. Doesn't it sound stupid when you look at a context like that?

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But then when it comes to salvation, it should even be more stupid. But we're so close to it, we sometimes forget that we contribute nothing to our salvation.

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And so why do we praise? Why do we boast in ourselves? Pat our own selves on the back that we know.

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So Paul now turns from the negative. Here's who he chooses, the nothings.

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And now he focuses here in verse 30 and 31 on the one who does the choosing. And he is the one to receive all the praise.

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And all our boasting should be done to God. We should be singing from verse 30 and 31.

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Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Paul says, you church of Corinth, and if it applies to BBC, quit singing.

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Praise me, praise me, I am my blessed Redeemer. Verse 30.

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But by His doing. By His doing.

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There's a contrast there as well. But by His doing, you are in Christ Jesus. Some might want a glory in the flesh, verse 29.

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But by His doing, you are a Christian. By His agency.

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By His power. If anybody here is a Christian, you're not a Christian because of your power.

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If you're a Christian, it's not because of your wisdom. If you're a Christian, it's not because of your money. If you're a

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Christian, it's not because you're smarter. If you're a Christian, it's not because you're baptized. If you're a Christian, it's not because you've taken the sacraments.

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If you're a Christian, it's not because you're a member of the church. That's why this whole kind of idea of you're saved by faith plus sacraments results in the robbing of God's glory and we don't boast in Him.

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If it is God's grace plus the sacrament of baptism, then the knob on the dial of volume for praise goes down.

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People say, well, you're just bashing Catholics and other people because they believe that it's baptism plus faith.

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Friends, A, truth isn't bashing. B, love tells the truth.

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But more importantly, at the top of the list, I don't like it when people steal from God and His glory.

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I hope that's a righteous indignation where here is the praise and the honor and the glory due to God, and then people go, no, but you know,

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I contributed. It's God plus. When you turn from Christ plus to Christ, your boasting goes out the window properly with enthusiasm.

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There's a whole book of the Bible, Colossians, written on how it's Christ and Christ alone. I know people who study

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Colossians and memorize Colossians. They can't stop talking about Christ because they realize how great He is.

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It has nothing to do with us. It's of Him.

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Not our philosophy, not our statement of faith, not our parents. It's of Him.

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Now, let's turn to Ephesians chapter 2 for a moment, and I want to show you the same Greek language, but set in the negative.

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It says here in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 that by His doing, you are in Christ.

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In Ephesians chapter 2, the exact opposite language is used, but the same kind of Greek construction.

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It's of Him we're saved, from Him we're saved, not of us we're saved, not from us we're saved.

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In Ephesians chapter 2, it's one of the most popular verses of all time, rightfully so. It's got this language.

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And you'll see that if you are a Christian, there's one reason you're a Christian, and it's for God's glory, not you.

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We don't contribute one atom to our salvation. 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.