So Near Yet So Far

Well, let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask for his blessing upon this assembly once again

And upon the preaching and the hearing of his word Heavenly Father again your people again gladly and willingly and expectantly

Assembled in your presence so by your Holy Spirit Father fulfill our desire to hear more of Jesus To know

Jesus Christ better to know his cross more fully to appreciate what you father have done for sinners like ourselves in Christ Jesus your son

Do this father by the power of your spirit and the proclamation and now the hearing of your word once again

Before we ask it in Jesus name Amen You know one of the reasons

I picked this hymn for John to lead us to begin the afternoon message is in that fourth stand

Oh watch against thyself my soul lest with grace thou trifle

Watch thyself thy soul lest with grace they they trifle

Begin today God willing a short series a two -part series in 1st Corinthians 10 1 to 14

We'll look at the first five verses this afternoon and The Apostle Paul if you read through Corinthians has been warning the

Corinthians for some time on some delusions that they had some dangers that they weren't seeing in this

Mixture that they were prone to of mixing their old styles of worship their old pagan practices with Christianity And way back in 1st

Corinthians 6 he warns them when you join yourself with a prostitute Looking back to the ritual prostitution that was part of pagan worship in that day

So don't you know you're bringing Christ Jesus himself into that relationship? How can you do such a thing?

And we don't want to go through all of 1st Corinthians But this is really a theme that started way back in chapter 6 which we're going to pick up in chapter 10

At the end of chapter 9 though And this will be the segue into the message this morning.

The Apostle Paul speaks to them he writes to them about the danger of this mixture of the old ways with the new ways the old self if you were with the new self and the dangers are much more extreme than they had ever realized and Probably more than we ourselves today realize he speaks of himself

Just before our passage the last verse in chapter 9 before 10 1 obviously He says but I discipline my body and keep it under control emphasis mine

He says the the Apostle this mature man in Christ I discipline my body and keep it under control less after preaching to others.

I myself should be Disqualified this is a segue the transition to our passage because there in these verses will stand for in a moment and I'll read them to you

Paul warns them he warns the Corinthians and by this living and active and powerful word warns us

That they may feel themselves to be ever so close to God By being near to the means of grace by seeing the power of God By hearing the worship and actually being part of it and doing the practices and doing if you will the stuff of Christianity so near to the means of grace and it could be so far from God So near to what he does for his people through his spirit

And you never really enter into that grace that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ We can be ever so near to the means of grace ourselves

We might delight in those means of grace yet that delight might only be only an emotional response

Our spirits being leagues away from true and saving faith in Jesus Christ Like Herod who gladly listened to John the

Baptist outwardly, but inwardly hated his message So the

Israelites were near to the gods the grace of God the Israelites being this example. They were near to the grace of God Yet by their faithlessness

They were displeasing to him Likewise you too. I too we all frail humans can be so near yet so far

So let's stand and I'll read to you first Corinthians 10 verses 1 through 14

For I do not want you to be unaware brothers that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all

Were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink

For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ Nevertheless with most of them.

God was not pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did

Do not be idolaters as some of their they them were as it is written The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did and 23 ,000 fell in a single day

We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents

Nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer Now these things happen to them as an example

But they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability

But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it

Therefore my beloved flee from idolatry God bless the reading now the hearing of his word.

Please be seated And here's the message Here's the warning that Paul gives to the

Corinthians and here's what we must take heed to today If it happened to Israel, he says if it happened to Israel who beheld

God's works with their own eyes Who saw his manifestations by day and night in cloud and fire?

They saw daily bread on the ground with no explanation, but God rained it down from heaven If they saw living water gushing from a dead rock and yet still

God was displeased with them Paul warns the Corinthians it could happen to you

Those Israelites were ever so near to the grace of God. They saw his power They saw his might not just in things that happened.

They say well God must have done that but they saw him do it in the manifestations that he gave them

They witnessed according to 2nd Corinthians 12 12 in the Apostle Paul when he came to Corinth and Evangelized them they saw signs and wonders and mighty works

Now understand that God will never condemn a true believer as Jesus Christ said I will never leave you forsake you

No one is able to snatch you out of the Father's hand. These are true. There is security in Christ But we must check our spirits.

We must ask ourself. What is it that has me coming to church every Sunday? What is it that draws me here?

Is it my emotional response? Do I just enjoy the company? Is there something exciting about this to me or is it true?

fast Saving faith in Christ Jesus our Lord Too often what is called faith?

It's not really true faith at all. It could be amazed You could be maybe entertained by signs and wonders.

Maybe only attracted to a warm fellowship and a feel -good meeting every Sunday We could be every so ever so close

You check our spirits as Paul admonishes the Corinthians To be those who came into a church

Saw the worship and the reverence and said God is truly among this people and left it at this people and not the self

You know, we are good at deceiving ourselves and this is something the Corinthians have been doing Deceiving themselves as they kept up their their idolatrous practices as they kind of mixed it together with their

Christianity They deceive themselves and we are good at that. Are we not I Would argue that it is one of our greatest talents

Self -deception, you know, it wasn't that bad. I'm really better than this one act made me out to be

Now we can deceive ourselves we can trick ourselves. We're such good Self -justifiers, it's a great talent

One that we practice often we shine it up and we we have it as a very keen edge because it's something we use a lot

Now Jesus Christ addressed this in Matthew 7 He said on that day many will say to me

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

No, those wonderful things to cast out a demon. What could be wrong with that? What could be wrong with prophesying in the name of Jesus Christ and doing the mighty works in his name?

was Jesus Christ say and Then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you workers of lawlessness

You see near enough to God to do the mighty works It's God was working in spirit back then in a way that is different than it is now

But the same spirit working those men who Jesus Christ will say depart near enough to God To be used of him in that way and yet in the sense of true

Saving faith love for Christ Jesus appreciation of his cross acknowledgement of a sin

Now so near and yet so far How do we get food like this?

How is it the Corinthians were fooling themselves really is what they were doing all along as they went through the ritual practices of their former idolatrous practices as they ate food that was all for died on all these things that Paul deals with with this crazy church

They're in Corinth How do we get to this point How do we get fooled?

like that Well, let me say that it's not the Lord who fools us The Lord is not tricky up there and trying to see if we can figure out his little traps

No, it's not the Lord who fools us. We fool ourselves Says James says let them know anyone who is tempted not say

I'm tempted by the Lord for God cannot be tempted by evil We step into it ourselves, don't we?

We make a decision Especially we who are Christians who've been under the preaching who read our

Bibles who know the God we've prayed to we know the difference between sin and righteousness

And I would argue anytime we choose the former We know what we're doing

We fool ourselves You know God's revealed himself to all mankind by way of what he's made.

That's Romans chapter 1 verses 18 to 22 He's revealed himself in the clouds he revealed himself in the stars.

He's revealed himself in everything that has been made So anyone who looks at it is responsible to say a holy

Righteous answer to God in other words we answer to him that kind of a God has made these things and I owe him

Something I answer to him He's revealed himself to all mankind in that way and to many

Such as you here today this afternoon Christians all God willing to many he's revealed himself much more closely

Revealed to yourself to you Christ Jesus risen from the grave having died for your sins the gospel in a word

But to many he's revealed himself in a close way bringing you close to the means of grace, but not quite in it

Perhaps you were raised in a Christian home, and you watched and participated in your family worship Maybe you happen to a church one day as I was alluding to before you observe the worship you heard the prayer

So sincere a devotion so pure that you can only leave saying God is truly among That people this people them

Or maybe you having tasted that the Lord is good Joined in the church the joy of a church, but what you call faith is only your subjective view of Christ and his cross

Your commitment to him being parceled out to him on your terms and not his Beware because few tools in our kit are more often employed

With the skill of an experienced craftsman than self -deception This is what the

Apostle Paul's been warning the Corinthians against deceiving themselves Having accepted

Jesus But practicing things that were very much opposed to him

So as God was displeased with most of them in verse 5 He was displeased with those who having seen his might and power

Forgot about it and by me forgot about I don't mean out of memory in the literal sense it made no impact in their lives

No inroads to their spirits when decision need to be made of ethical or moral consequence

Then they forgot about what they'd seen of God they didn't let that Inform how they chose to go one way or the other no impact on their lives as it says in Psalm 7 to 8 they forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them and then fell into the

Some of the sins that in verses 1 through 4 that I read Paul reminds them of But I ask you

I mean could anyone actually forget Walking past a wall of water. I Lose sight of an entire army drowned or manna and water or pillars of cloud and fire

So they did what we do They did what we so often do They chose not to remember they chose to view

God's works as mere incidents rather than the mighty works of a mighty God They displeased

God by choosing to live their own way rather than the implications of what God had shown them So near to the means of grace

Can you imagine ourselves had we actually seen God in the pillars of cloud or fire?

we'd actually Seen or felt or watched the effect of that east wind which parted the ocean that they passed through Wonder what impact that would make and for how long?

Paul says that God was displeased with most of them Most he doesn't enumerate he says most as though he shudders to give it a number

But he knew as well as we know how many? Right, don't we know how many because Exodus 1237 says how many came out of Egypt?

It says 600 ,000 men on foot besides men besides women and children Let's just take that 600 ,000

Okay 600 ,000 men Just the men who were accountable.

How many then was most? Do you know? You actually do know 699 thousand nine hundred ninety -eight of them is most of them and that is actually the exact number

That's ninety nine point nine seven percent were displeasing to God and in a sense though.

He was saved I think we'll see him in heaven, but in a sense that included Moses who displeased God so he was not allowed to enter the promised land

How many believers were overthrown and destroyed Over thrown in the wilderness

You can answer that too, you know as well as I do none 100 % of true believers every one of them was delivered not a single one of their bodies fell in the wilderness so most of them five hundred nine nine thousand nine hundred ninety -eight that was

Ninety -nine point nine seven percent of them point oh three percent to Joshua and Caleb the rest

So near yet so far Now have no fear that God will spit out the true believer the one who's truly closed with Christ I will never leave you forsake you all whom the father has given me will come to me

No one is able to snatch you out of my father's hands. Those are the words of Jesus Christ But Paul's warning here is about our self -deception

When we get to part 2 verses 6 to 14 God willing next week We're gonna add pride to this list

We'll save that for when Paul really brings it forward for now. Let the words of Scripture incite in us

Humility if they the Israelites having seen so much with their own eyes fell by unbelief

Then it's a good time. It's a good practice to look to our own hearts So I ask you loved of the

Lord I Inquire into the heart of each of you upon whom God's love and mercy have showered in buckets overflowing with grace

Because of the faith he gave gave you to believe in his son Jesus. I ask you

Are you near to God in person yet far from him in spirit? Now here's a metric.

Let me ask it this way Say, okay, you're asking a tough question here. Am I just excited to be with the people?

Is it just a warm fellowship that makes me feel warm and fuzzy when I drive home drive home or is it the

Lord? Jesus Christ declared from this pulpit that Draws me here

That by his spirit. I humble myself before him and seek his transformation

So here's your metric. Here's a question. I would ask. He's just one way I would put it there many others you might think of in the past X number of months

Ask yourself this or answer this question in the past X number of months I've been convicted of and have known victory over sin.

Let's call it why? So sort of an algebraic formula In X amount of time.

I've been convicted of Y number of sins I'm not saying

I have complete victory over them I'm not saying that they're not besetting upon you that it's easy and they just kind of went away but convicted in your spirit

Reading the scripture and saying this is me. There's being told I must repent

This is me that tells me I've stepped away from the transforming trajectory

Of the spirit working in me to bring me into the image of Jesus Christ So what sin has the

God with whom you claim intimacy has shown you many Any None So I ask are we even reading our

Bibles Are we paying attention to what we read like the prophets who encountered God up close?

Isaiah and Habakkuk come to mind Peter when he fell down and begged Jesus depart from me for I'm a sinful man

Oh Lord as we encounter Christ in the Bible and it's almost like we have to jump away from it because the holiness and the perfection of Christ Jesus our

Savior jumps out at us and shows you the difference between he and you and you find room for repentance and you find

Incidents that prove a nature that requires repentance How many sins has

God convicted you of as you pray and read the Bible and Let the Bible speak to you this powerful living and active word that can divide us under joints and marrow and soul and spirit

That's a revealer of your conscience and the thoughts of your hearts. I Let the question just hang there are we even reading our

Bibles are we paying attention to it? Not just finding a better way to live three steps to being a better husband and two and a half steps to Whatever you want to progress in No, not just a better way to live but conviction of sin buried deep down in a mineshaft whose walls collapsed a long time ago guarding the sin that we hid away and Forgot about so long ago and the

Bible uncovers it for it excavates it for us If you will, how long has it been since that has occurred to you?

Since you've had that means of grace foisted upon you by the Spirit of God that won't let you close that Bible until you acknowledge what it said about yourself and You've repented and begged

God for transformation and forgiveness How do we bury it away?

Well memories fade embarrassment and shame swept away like leaves before a blower

When the consequences don't come to pass we wipe our brow. We get a relief cap Oh got away with that one and having dodged a bullet

We forget it and we carry on like nothing ever happened That could be the most dangerous thing that could happen to you is to get away with the sin most dangerous thing that could happen to you in your

Development and progress towards the image of Jesus Christ your growth and holiness and and righteousness

Could be to get away with it To be to not pay the price for your sin in God's in God's Providence So near to God So far from the means of grace full of ego puffing knowledge able to amaze your enemies impress your friends with theological insights

Superman could not leap over the stack of commentaries that you've digested so near but For what good how do we draw near to God?

If this is you if this is pricking your conscience at all That you've come to the means of grace that you truly believe in Jesus Christ and yet haven't progressed into his image so near Yet, maybe so far

Well, the answer is simple at the same time impossibly hard the answer simply become like his

Jesus Christ his son Sin confessed and God beseeched something like this Maybe show me more

Lord search my heart and see if there's another wicked way that you would have me to correct by the power of your spirit

This is true reading of the scripture Not just memorizing it not just being able to put together arguments to prove it to be true and better than any other way of living

Now the Bible shows us who we are as I quoted from the book of Hebrews It's a powerful living an active word and it does that and it tears us apart it undoes us

But by God's mercy and by his spirit puts us back together and went back together more in the form of Jesus Christ I Think what

I said there, it's not words that are gonna be work like magic for you But show me Lord search me and find another wicked way

Place it before my eyes and father show me the way through it and show me forgiveness and then greater strides into the image of Christ Sin revealed sin contested sin mortified never fully will never hundred percent get there in this life

Never able to drop our guard, but every mortified iniquity is that much closer to Jesus Christ?

It's simply the Word of God It's reading it and praying through it and reading it with sensible eyes open and letting it speak to you in the way that God intends it to this idea of The fight that we have as believers is the struggle of Galatians 5 16 to 22

Which says these are opposed to each other speaking of the spirit and speaking of the flesh The war between your

God -given new spirit and the old sinful sin infused flesh Is what the

Corinthians were dealing with? They were new in Christ yet following the old fleshly ways

Will never end this battle will never end so long as Jesus remains in heaven and we remain here But the fight's a good one and we're not expected to achieve perfection

We're not gonna get there all the way we can't achieve complete perfection, but far from that being a depressing conclusion

We can say rejoice Because the battle is Lord's but the fight is ours

The battle of the Lord's and he will have us and he will bring us to him and we will be like Jesus We will see him as he is

But as long as we're here, it's a fight it's a struggle it's only a trajectory

We will never get there until he calls us to himself With whom is

God displeased pretenders False claimants to his son Jesus a sacrifice for sin with what is he displeased?

Well sin with big sin with small sin with public sin with private sin sin of commission sin of omission

And all this concerns he who searches the heart and it concerns him greatly So greatly is he concerned for sin that he sent his only son

Jesus Christ to be sin for us at 2nd Corinthians 521 He Jesus who committed no sin who thought no sin who left no good undone

He became what we so easily slip into How near to the means of grace we can be yet how far from true faith?

For really believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and thinking we do just because we got kind of close

Use Jesus words we can look back on our upbringing on our traditions on the religion of our fathers

Was it that Jesus said do not say we have Abraham for our father and do not say I would say

I was baptized into The Covenant before I could even speak nor should you say I go to church. I read my Bible I have devotions at home and I and I and I The Israelites saw the world's best army the proud military the world's most powerful nation drowned

They saw the waves piled up like a heap they passed through on dry ground the strong east wind that divided the waters

Do you know what else it did? It sucked all the moisture out of the seabed It's an important detail there in Exodus chapter 12 that they crossed on dry land

It really caught my eye this last time. I was reading through that It's like okay pretty amazing to walk past two walls of water, right?

That's pretty incredible but on dry land you see What's the point here?

That Jesus is cross answered fully for our sins That God's care for us as it was for them is complete they crossed on dry ground

There's no moisture. It's good. That's gonna be like quicksand The same East wind that part of the waters brought the moisture out shoved it into the waters

I don't know how it worked, but it was dry God does not miss a detail Jesus Christ's cross answered for us

Answered for us getting ever so close and drawing back It answered for all the sin that we refused to acknowledge it answered for all our self -deceptions and Brethren, if we are self -deceived we need to repent and tell

God or ask God as we read his scripture To take away the deception and the scriptures speak plainly to us

The call here is to realize how near we can be to the works of God yet so far from a real faith

Let his glory in our Heavenly Father's works and incorporate them into our being no work being more glorious No deliverance being more complete no salvation

So secure as what Jesus Christ accomplished and that the Lord God confirmed by the resurrection of his beloved son

I just want to add if I have a moment barely a moment Just to add on to what pastor

Brian preached this morning that complete redemption You know someone who witnessed their sins being resolved before God on the cross

Someone who needed sins to be resolved by that son who was suffering on the cross was

Mary She sat there and she saw her son suffer. We don't have a word in Scripture that she said during that time.

I Imagine perhaps she was just so heartbroken to see her son suffer like that But perhaps there's just me but perhaps so incredibly amazed at a

God Who had set his perfect son on the cross her son her first son by all the means that pastor

Brian preached Answering to God for her sin Know that the cross was complete

Know that as I preach this and about the self -deception that the cross answers your sin Have no fear to open the

Bible and remove your self -deception to be open and honest before God who are we trying to fool?

And for those of you who maybe just come near to the means of grace who have as it were

Walk between walls of water seeing the pillars of fire and cloud seeing the water Coming from the rock and just think that's neat.

I like being around that So near and yet so far close with Christ Repent truly of your sin acknowledge his cross and Jesus Christ's atonement as your only answer and the

God of peace will confirm these things for you and bring you into the image of him who bought you an answer for your sins and Before whom we can no longer be self -deceived.