Marks Of Maturity (part 2)

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Marks Of Maturity (part 3)

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Today we're going to continue on a three -part series on the marks of maturity, of Christian maturity. Maturity as an individual, but also as a body of believers, as a local church.
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So just for the sake of review, before we get into the second one this morning. By the way, before I forget,
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I almost did forget, we need more? Mark, do you have more over there? Okay, the guys are passing out some outlines for the...
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Before I do forget, I didn't bring my handkerchief this morning, like I did last week. So in case anyone's sweating and they're lying to me,
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I can tell. But I did bring... the ushers do have, on a serious note, another prop that I brought in for this morning.
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And last week I noticed that some of you were getting a little tired and sleepy. So I felt very...
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I want you to have a pleasant experience at Sunday school. So the ushers have some pillows. So if you do feel like falling asleep, please, we can help you out with that.
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Just kidding. Okay, let's review last week. What did we say is one of the marks of Christian maturity?
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Sound doctrine or doctrinal purity. Did you look at your notes? Okay, is there any sweat coming down her forehead?
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No, okay, she's not lying. Doctrinal purity, if you follow in your notes here, in your outline, the central passage for that was what?
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Ephesians 4, where Christ himself gives gifts to his church.
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Those gifts are prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the equipping of the saints for ministry.
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And then he gives a purpose, ultimately, until we all attain to the unity of faith and to a mature manhood.
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So he's talking about maturity. No longer being children who are tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine.
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Children, Paul says in Ephesians, are carried about by every wind of doctrine, but not the mature.
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Mature have a doctrinal purity, a soundness to their doctrine. We looked at some of the clear warnings throughout the
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New Testament concerning doctrinal purity in order for us to continue on the pathway to maturity.
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And by the way, in Ephesians 4, Christ is specifically talking about the church there. Of course, that is maturity on an individual basis, but no church is mature without sound doctrine.
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I don't care if they speak in tongues, even if it is the Greek tongue. Maturity has to be founded on sound doctrine.
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Otherwise, a church is not mature. The warnings throughout the New Testament, of course, with Christ in the
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Sermon on the Mount, he says, beware of false prophets. Inwardly they come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are what?
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Savage wolves. By their fruit you shall know them. Paul uses the same terminology in Acts 20.
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That's letter B in your outline, Roman numeral 1. To the Ephesian elders he calls these false teachers ravenous or fierce wolves.
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And he says he was so passionate about it, for three years he didn't stop admonishing the elders at Ephesus concerning this.
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Night and day with tears. The Apostle Peter mentions this in 2 Peter 2 .1. He says these heresies will come in secretly and they will destroy.
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They are destructive heresies. Fourth, if that wasn't enough, the
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Apostle John, 1 John 4 .1, he gives us two commands. Do not believe every spirit, but in contrast, test the spirits.
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Why? For, that's an important connective when you're studying the Bible. When you see that word for, the light should go on.
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Why should we test the spirits? For many false prophets have gone out into the world. That's why we need to test the spirits.
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And of course Jude who tells us to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
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Why? There's that connective again. For certain people have crept in unnoticed.
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So there's a plethora of warnings in the New Testament from Christ down to his apostles concerning false teachers.
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We looked at the role of a pastor, Roman numeral 2, Titus 1 .9. It's a two -fold role. One from a positive perspective and one from a negative.
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The positive being that the pastor is to give instruction and sound doctrine. But at the same time, he is to rebuke those who contradict it.
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And as I mentioned last week, I hope you were glad when Pastor Mike called out Benny Hinn.
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Pastors who are not willing to call out people by name for refuting them to the sound doctrine of the scriptures have forsaken their
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God -ordained call. Paul says to Titus this is part of their role, to instruct in sound doctrine and to expose those who contradicted.
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And finally, we looked at Ezekiel. Powerful passage in the Old Testament where God says he is against these shepherds.
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Which shepherds is he against? He's against shepherds who feed themselves and not the sheep.
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Actually, that is a characteristic that Jude has in his epistle. Can you imagine shepherds feeding themselves and not the sheep?
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I remember when we were in Greece, we're talking back to 99 and going in the upper northern area of the country.
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Some of you might be going on a trip next year with Pastor Mike. You can see the shepherds, how they herd the sheep.
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And their sole concern is for the sheep, not for themselves. But God says
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I'm against the shepherds who feed themselves and not the sheep. And actually, eight times in that passage, he refers to the sheep as my sheep.
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These are God's sheep. So that's why he's against them. If you turn, we finally kind of looked at the theological triage that we talked about.
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You'll see in the next page. And that was to kind of discern which doctrines are of the essence.
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Now, I talked to a few people after and there seemed to be some confusion on this.
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So I want to clarify. It kind of took me by surprise because all the years I've been teaching the Bible, I've never confused anybody.
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So first -level doctrine, as you'll see there, are those doctrines that are essential for salvation.
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For salvation, such as justification by faith, the resurrection of Jesus, the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the
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Trinity, substitutionary atonement, the authority of the Scriptures, and the virgin, not the virgin birth, the virgin conception of Christ.
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Second level, in the second column, we have those things that are important for fellowship. And I will clarify that.
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Congregational versus elder rule. Paedo -baptism, infant baptism versus believer's baptism.
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The ordination of women. And the third level are issues where we agree to disagree. They relate primarily with eschatological issues, pre-, mid - and post -Trib and premillennialism versus amillennialism.
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Now, some of the confusion that arose is, who are we talking about? Now, of course, if we're talking about pastors and elders, more than likely we're talking, of course, about salvation being primary.
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But if leaders are to work together in the same body, the second level becomes very significant.
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Somebody who believes in congregational rule to work with other leaders who are elder rule, that would be nearly difficult to happen.
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So that would be very important. Obviously, if, for example, at a conference, at some conference, and I know next year,
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Pastor MacArthur is inviting R .C. Sproul to Shepherd's Conference. We've spoken there in the past.
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R .C. is a paedo -baptist. MacArthur is believer's baptism. But can they invite each other at the conference?
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Sure. At that point, it might become a third level. They won't minister together in the same congregation, but for a conference like that, that can happen.
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Now, somebody said to me last week, part of the confusion was, I think I should have had more columns. I'm going to have a 1 .5
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column. I think that was Charlie Crane's column. And level 4 column, somebody,
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I don't know if it might have been Scott Walkden or not, I'm not sure. But some issues like, for example, congregational versus elder rule, obviously
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I feel very strongly about that. That doesn't mean that these issues for leaders are not significant. But as it relates to salvific issues, soteriology.
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So I'm very passionate about elder rule versus congregational rule. So somebody who's come from that background, somebody who's been maybe at BBC for years and has gone through that transition has a passion for it and understanding for it unlike somebody else.
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So it depends where you're coming from. But if you were to fellowship, if you want to get committed as a believer to a local body, the second level is important if you want to fellowship at that body, that you are online in that category.
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All right, any questions or thoughts before we move on to the second mark of maturity?
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See, if we had a lot of infants here, their hands would be going up. But we have a lot of mature people, so there's no hands going up.
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Okay, second mark of maturity, Christological clarity. Christological clarity.
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If you would turn with me in your Bibles to Colossians 1. This is the verse that's on the bulletin of BBC every
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Sunday. Christological clarity. I was so inspired. Who was here last Sunday night during communion?
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Pastor Mike inspired me. I had to get Baptistic in my – he finished everything with an ITY, so I said
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I have to do the same. So we have doctrinal purity and Christological clarity. Christological referring to the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
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Why is that significant in maturity? Now, all I did was look at some central passages of Scripture that mention maturity.
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So how do we know that somebody is mature? Let me do say this before we look at Colossians 1.
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Some of the marks of maturity that some of you mentioned last week as we shared, being able to handle difficulty as life goes on, being able to become more victorious over sin.
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There were some that were mentioned we need to distinguish. Somebody mentioned obedience and somebody else mentioned love for the brethren.
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And those are marks of maturity. But we need to remember that a lot of marks are not marks of maturity, but they are birthmarks.
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Marks of salvation. So, for example, the Apostle John, when he writes his first epistle in 1
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John, he gives us his authorial intent in 5 .13 and says, I write to you who believe in the name of the
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Son of God, purpose, why? In order that you may know that you have eternal life.
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So he's writing about assurance. And so throughout his epistle, he has these tests, these marks of assurance.
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1 John 2 .2 .3 says, So obedience is not just a mark of maturity, it's a mark of salvation.
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Later on in 3 John says, verse 14, Of course, as I mature, my love for the brethren goes beyond.
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But love for the brothers in Christ and sisters is a mark of not maturity, but a birthmark, a salvation.
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Now, why is that significant? Because somebody might say, well, this person has been a believer for 20 years.
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God saved them 20 years ago. But there's really no marks of maturity. Well, there's really maybe no marks of salvation.
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But we use the marks of maturity to say, well, he's not mature yet. Well, are there any birthmarks?
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Are there any signs of salvation in that person's life? Let's not use the marks of maturity as an excuse to excuse somebody's lack of salvific fruit.
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Just a clarification. So Colossians 1, let's start with somebody who can read verse 29, actually.
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Pradeep? Thank you.
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For this I toil, struggling with all his energy. Strong Greek words. For this
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I toil. The term there for toil, it's the idea that Paul is toiling to the point where he's becoming wearisome and fatigued and literally exhausted.
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Just wiped out. Kind of the way I've been feeling lately with getting up in the middle of the night. Just totally fatigued, but in a spiritual sense.
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Totally fatigued for the Lord. The Greek word struggling is where we get the
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English word agony. Agonizome. It comes, originally had to do with people who were competing in the games and were contending for a prize.
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And it has to do with the idea of working so hard that you are sweating through what you're doing. You're struggling with it.
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If you were to catch me in a laughing fit, which happens quite often, you will see down in the middle of my forehead this huge vein.
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It's about to explode. Well, that's the idea Paul had behind this word. He is struggling and toiling over this.
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Now, the question we need to ask, what is he toiling and struggling over to such an extent? For this I toil.
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Well, it takes us back to verse 28. What's the one thing the Apostle Paul toiled and struggled with?
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Pradeep, could you also read verse 28? Thank you. Amen. You see there, mature in Christ.
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What's a mark of maturity? Who is Paul toiling and struggling and fatiguing and exhausting himself and being weary over?
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Proclaiming whom? Christ. Christ and Christ alone.
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There is no maturity from having a clear understanding of Jesus Christ. There is no maturity from having a clear understanding of who
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Jesus is and what he's done. That is why Paul proclaimed him. 2
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Corinthians 4, verse 5. The small church I pastored for a while.
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That would have been our verse if we made bulletins. We didn't make bulletins, but on the front of our bulletin we would have had this verse. 2
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Corinthians 4, verse 5. For we do not preach ourselves, Paul says, but Jesus Christ as Lord.
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So who did Paul proclaim Christ as? As Lord. He proclaimed him as Lord.
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Because he was concerned for the sheep. He was concerned for the maturity of the flock that God had given him.
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So he's proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord. Spurgeon used to put it this way.
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He used to say, I take my text and make a beeline to the cross. And of course, being from England, as every road leads to London, so every text leads to the cross.
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Everything in the Bible leads to the cross. I had a chance yesterday to talk to a co -worker of mine.
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He caught me reading my Bible. So he asked, what are you reading? Oh, what a nice open door.
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I asked him if he knew what the message of the Bible is, and he said, well, Jesus died. So he was on the right track.
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He said, when we stopped going to church as kids, my parents stopped, I don't know why, but Jesus died.
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The gospel, Jesus died for sins. This is what the Bible is about. Jesus came. He was prophesied about in the
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Old Testament. He came, lived the perfect life. He died for sins. He rose again the third day.
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He conquered death. And that is why he's able to offer eternal life to those who repent of their sin and turn to him in faith.
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But for those who do not repent, I gave him also the bad news, and do not turn to him in faith,
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Jesus said in John 8, you will die in your sins. Well, why won't people turn to Jesus?
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So we looked at John 3. This is the message we proclaim Christ, as Paul said.
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John 3, we know the passage for God so loved the world. He did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
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Verse 17, verse 18, I jumped to verse 19. It says, light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light, because why?
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Their deeds were evil. Not a very friendly message. Verse 20,
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Jesus continues, and they won't come into the light for fear that their wicked works will be exposed.
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So maturity has to do with, as we preach and proclaim, declare
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Jesus Christ. Now, how did Paul go about doing this? Verse 28, from a negative perspective, he warned them.
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We proclaim Christ warning. It's sort of like Titus 1 .9. Pastor gives sound instruction, but he rebukes those who contradict sound doctrine.
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So on the one hand, there's warning, but Paul also says, on a positive note, there is teaching.
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There is teaching. Now, I want you to notice in this passage, Colossians 1 .28
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-29, three times Paul mentions the term everyone. Brothers and sisters, maturity in Christ is for everyone.
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It's not just for a few good men. It's not the motto of the Marines. Paul's goal in struggling and toiling and becoming exhausted in proclaiming
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Christ, warning and teaching, is to present everyone mature in Christ.
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Every single one. And, of course, the ultimate goal is maturity.
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It can never happen apart from proclaiming Christ. Turn with me, if you would, to Galatians 4 .19.
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Galatians 4 .19. If I can have somebody read that, please. Eric, thank you.
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Yes. Thank you.
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Paul, of course, when he wrote the book of Galatians, the tone of the book is not very comforting.
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It's not like some other books. Philippians is a very warm and friendly pastoral book. I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus, Philippians 1 .8.
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But in Galatians, he has some harsh language for the churches in that area, in Galatia.
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And the reason is because they were abandoned in the true gospel, Galatians 1. That's why he said to them, if I, Paul said, or an angel from heaven will come and proclaim to you a different gospel, a not
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Christ -centered gospel, let him be eternally accursed. So Paul goes on and says to them, you are foolish,
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Galatians. At one point he says to them in the book, I feel that I have wasted my efforts on you.
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Wow. But look at his passion in this verse that Eric read,
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Galatians 4 .19. Through the pains of childbirth, why is Paul using that description?
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What is his desire? Until Christ is formed in you. Maturity in Christ.
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Christ -likeness. Throughout the years when
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I've been working with men and discipling men, I always make sure at the outset to let them know one thing.
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The goal of discipleship is not pure knowledge. Though doctrine is important.
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We talked about that in Ephesians 4. The goal is maturity in Christ. And as you learn about Christ and who he is and what he has done, is to grow in Christ -likeness until Christ is formed in you.
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That is the ultimate goal that Paul had. Richard Baxter, a very well -known Puritan, used to preach as a dying man to dying men, also said this concerning this verse on Christian maturity from Galatians 4.
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Never stop being in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in the people of your church.
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Everyone. Not just a select few. It's Paul's desire, as he outlines in Colossians, for every single believer.
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Now, let's go back to Colossians. So we're proclaiming Christ because without a clear knowledge of who
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Christ is, that's Christology, and a clear understanding of what he has done for us, we will not continue to mature.
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The great thing, by the way, I like a BTW. Usually, by the way, it's a parenthetical note, but it means this is important.
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The great thing about expository preaching, which we have the pleasure of having here, is expository preaching is always doctrinal and always
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Christ -centered. So you're getting these two marks of maturity from the pulpit. Expository preaching is always doctrinal,
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Ephesians 4, so we're no longer children tossed by every wind of doctrine, and it's always Christological.
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We proclaim Jesus. We preach Jesus so that we are mature in Christ. But who is this
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Jesus that we proclaim? We have to look at the previous verse. Can somebody read verses 26 and 27 of Colossians 1?
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Yes, Bruce, thank you. Thank you.
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Christ in you, the hope of glory. This mystery, what is the mystery that Paul is referring to?
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Christ indwelling us, he is the hope of glory. This is the Jesus we proclaim. And notice he said in those verses that this is among the
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Gentiles. Just listen to what he said in Ephesians 4. Actually, let's turn to that together.
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That's an important text as it relates to this. Ephesians 4, and keep your fingers in Colossians 1.
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So this Jesus we are proclaiming, this is the Jesus Christ who is in us. He is the hope of glory.
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And what is he referring to about this mystery among the Gentiles? This passage in Ephesians will give us a little more insight into that.
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Ephesians 4, 3 through 6, if somebody else can read that. Did I say chapter 4?
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My mistake, chapter 3. Two hours of sleep. Verses 4 to 6.
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Yes. Amen.
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Thank you. So there's the mystery Paul also highlights in Colossians when he talks about the mystery
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Christ being in you, the hope of glory, which is among the Gentiles that, as he explains in Ephesians, the
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Gentiles are now fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel.
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And actually earlier in chapter 2 of Ephesians, Paul says that Christ has broken down the wall of enmity between the two,
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Jew and Gentile. So this is a marvelous mystery, and it can only happen in Jesus Christ, in his body, in the church.
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So this is the Jesus that we are to proclaim, the Jesus who is in us, the hope of glory, and the mystery of how he's brought
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Jews and Gentiles alike into his body. Let's look again at the context, if you have
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Colossians 1 still there, our text. So we proclaim Christ, because through the proclamation of Christ, having a clear understanding of Christology, who
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Jesus is and what he has done, only then can we continue in maturity. And the Jesus we proclaim is in us, the hope of glory, and he's provided the mystery of Jews and Gentiles together into one body.
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I love the book of Acts. Actually, it was the last book I had stopped preaching through in the church
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I used to pastor. You see the marvelous workings of God. Jesus told the disciples, tell us about the end times.
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It's not for you to know, but he didn't answer their question. Well, he did, but not what they wanted to hear.
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But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you shall be my witnesses where? In Jerusalem, chapters 1 through 7 of Acts.
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In Judea and Samaria, chapters 8 through 12. That's when the church was persecuted, and they were spread out to Samaria with Saul being involved there with Stephen's martyrdom.
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And to the ends of the earth, chapters 13 to the end of the book, Paul's three missionary journeys.
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And you see how the gospel spread, first for the Jew, Romans 1 .16, then for the
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Gentile. I like the New American Standard version, right? First for the Jew, then for the
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Greek. Come on, you can say it. There we go. Okay, so let's look at Colossians 1.
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Who is this Jesus we are proclaiming that we are to be mature in Christ? This is one of my favorite
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Christological passages. Actually, Scott Brown preached this back in March. Colossians chapter 1, verses 15 through 20.
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If I can have somebody else read that. Jonathan. Excellent.
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Powerful passage, isn't it? I have to confess, though, when I read anything about head of the body,
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I tend to isogete a passage and not exegete it. And what I mean by that is I tend to read into it my
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Greek culture because when I think of the head of the body, you know, did you ever see the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding?
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All mature Christians have seen that movie. The daughter is complaining to her mother about how staunch and difficult her father is, which never happens in the
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Greek culture, of course. And the mother says to the daughter, says, well, he might be the head, but the woman is the neck who tells the head which way to turn.
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However, Jesus is the image of the invisible
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God. Verse 16. All things were created by him in heaven on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
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All things were created through him, not only through him and for him.
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He is before all things and in him all things hold together. This is the
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Jesus we proclaim. This is a Jesus we are to mature in Christ. He is the head of the body.
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Men like John Huss gave their lives because they stood on the headship of Christ as the head of the church and not the pope.
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He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything, not just in some things, but in everything, Christ might be preeminent.
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For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile. How we reconcile to God when our hearts were at enmity?
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Through Christ. This is the Jesus we proclaim. This is the
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Jesus we are to continue to mature in. Let's jump to chapter 2. Let's see what else the context of Colossians tells us about who this
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Jesus is that we are to proclaim. Who is this Jesus that we are to mature in? Mature in Christ.
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Chapter 2, verse 3. If somebody can read that. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
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Powerful. Before we continue in chapter 2 and look at some other verses, let me give you some background to the
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Colossian church. The Colossian heresy, as it is referred to many times, had to do with a number of things.
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It had to do with an early form of Gnosticism. Gnosticism is one of the earliest heresies the church faced.
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The apostle John attacked it in his first epistle. It had to do primarily with a denial of the humanity of Jesus Christ.
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And that is because God is good, spirit is good, but matter is evil. There is no way
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Jesus could inhabit something that is evil. Thus the denial of his humanity. An essential doctrine for salvation, no?
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But also Gnosticism had to do, it comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means knowledge, that you possess the higher secret knowledge beyond the scriptures.
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That was only for a select few elite. Thus maturity in Christ is for everyone.
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And Paul combats these heresies. There was a lot of Jewish legalism going on, the celebration of ceremonial rituals, dietary laws and worship of angels and Sabbaths and all that.
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So Paul is confronting all these heresies and saying, Look, Christ is sufficient.
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Christ is supreme. Christ is superior. You don't need all these other stuff to mature in Christ.
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Notice what did he proclaim? We proclaim him, Christ, not these other heresies.
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And notice how he combats these. Somebody read verses in chapter 2, 8 through 10 of chapter 2 in Colossians.
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Thank you. Notice verse 9. There's the connective again. 4. What does
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Paul say in verse 8? See to it that no one takes you captive by what? By philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, not according to Christ.
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Why? For in Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
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So don't follow human tradition because you're sufficient in Christ. Verses 16 and 18.
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Tom, you want to read those, 16 through 18? And can you continue in verses 20 through 22?
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According to the commandments and doctrines of who? Men. Sounds similar to Jesus in Matthew 15 when he confronted the
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Pharisees. You follow the tradition of men and nullify the word of God.
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These people, quoting from the Old Testament, Jesus said in Matthew 15, Worship me with their lips, but what is far from me?
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Their heart. So they gloried in circumcision of the flesh, but their heart was still uncircumcised.
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So Paul is saying here, all of this is not needed for maturity. Asceticism, worshiping of angels.
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Never mind because Jesus is superior to angels. Hebrews 1, correct? Look, there is no one like Jesus.
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He is awesome. He is sufficient for your maturity in him.
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That's what Paul said, maturity in Christ. He is sufficient. In chapter 3 of Colossians, if you just turn there,
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I'll read this. Very simple. There's an interesting phrase there that Paul uses. When Christ, who is your life, appears you also will appear with him in glory.
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When Christ, who is your what? Your life. Jesus Christ is your life.
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Philippians 121, for to me to live is what? Christ. Christ is our life.
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So Paul is saying in Colossians 1 here that in order to mature in Christ, you have to have a clear understanding of the doctrine of Christology.
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It's really a subset or a corollary of the first mark of maturity, doctrinal purity.
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But we hone in on Jesus Christ because he is the one we mature in. He is the one who has saved us.
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He is the one who are we to grow in the grace and knowledge of. If you see in your outline there,
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I just want to give you a little overview of the glories of Jesus Christ through some of the
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New Testament books. This is not at all exhaustive, but I picked up some key portions of scripture that highlight the glories of Jesus Christ.
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And I have them right there in your outlines. I gave them to you just so you can have for your own benefit. This is something that you could use on your own if you want to, to refocus on who is
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Jesus? Who is Christ? In the Gospel of John, who is
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Christ? Christ is the bread of life. The Gospel of John, he is the light of the world, the door of the sheep, the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
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The resurrection and the life, the way, the truth and the life, the true vine.
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In Romans, Christ is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
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In 1 Corinthians, Christ is our Passover lamb. He is the last
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Adam. In Ephesians, Christ is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
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In Ephesians, he is also the cornerstone. In the pastoral epistles, who is
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Christ? He is the one and only mediator between God and men, 1
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Timothy 2, 5. He is to judge the living and the dead, 2 Timothy 4, 1.
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And in Titus 2, he is our great God and Savior. How about in the book of Hebrews?
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The book of Hebrews is an awesome book to study that highlights the glories of Jesus Christ.
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The first half of the book, chapters 1 through 7, is the superiority of the person of Christ, who he is.
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Chapters 8 through the end of the book, the sufficiency of the work of Christ. His person is superior to all others, superior to the angels, superior to Moses, to all the priests, and his work is sufficient once and for all.
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Just some highlights of who he is according to the book of Hebrews. He is the heir of all things, the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of God's nature.
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He is upholding the universe by the word of his power. He is seated at the right hand of God the
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Father. He is superior to the angels. All those, by the way, as you see, are taken just from chapter 1.
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And if you study chapter 1 before I go on, that's a great verse to use for Jehovah Witnesses.
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Take them to verse 8 and verse 10, where God the Father addresses the Son as Lord. Where God the
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Father addresses the Son as God. Well, if the Father said it, it settles it for me.
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He highlights the deity of Christ in chapter 1. The list continues in Hebrews. He is the apostle and high priest of our confession.
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He is our great high priest. He is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
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He is the mediator of a new and a better covenant. He is the founder and perfecter of our faith.
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He is the great shepherd of the sheep. In 1
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Peter, Christ is a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, He is chosen and precious.
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He is a cornerstone that is chosen and precious. He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
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He is the chief shepherd. In 1 John, Christ is the word of life.
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He is our advocate with the Father. He is the propitiation for our sins.
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He is the true God and eternal life. And in Revelation, Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, the
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Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the living one. He is faithful and true.
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He is the word of God, and He is the King of kings and the
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Lord of lords. Can you ever get enough of Him? Let's close and look with me, if you would, in John chapter 6, one of my favorite passages.
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John chapter 6. John, of course, wrote for the purpose of authorial intent,
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John 20, 31, that Jesus did many signs, but these signs have been written. There are seven signs in the book of John.
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Do you know the seven? Seven signs in the book of John. This is one of them that we're going to look at briefly.
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So that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name. So He gives us seven signs, and He gives seven
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I Am statements, too. Interesting enough, some of the I Am statements of Christ are connected to some of His signs.
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So here we're looking, this is, the backdrop of this in John chapter 6 is, this is on the heels of the feeding of the 5 ,000, okay?
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So I'll tell you where we're going to pick it up to see the glories of Jesus Christ, because He is the one we're supposed to mature in as we understand who
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He is and what He's done for us. Verse 25, let's pick it up there.
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When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi, when did You come here? Jesus answered them,
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Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me not because you saw signs, which
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He had just performed one of His miraculous signs, the feeding of the 5 ,000, to prove His true identity as the
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God -man, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the
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Son of Man will give to you, for on Him God the Father has set His seal. So He condemns them and says, and questions their motives for coming to Him.
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They weren't pure motives. He said, the only reason you're coming to Me is because your bellies are filled.
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So they, of course, go back and look at verse 31, say, Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written.
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He gave them bread from heaven to eat. What was Jesus' response? Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, verily, verily,
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I say unto you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
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For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to Him, Sure, give us this bread always.
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Jesus said to them, verse 35, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.
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But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. And this is one of My favorite parts here, verse 37, look what
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He says, All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out.
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For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent
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Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. For the sake of time
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I jump forward. Continuing, this is called the bread of life discourse. And He tells them about how they have to eat
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His flesh and drink His blood. Little side note, one of the last communes we had here, my oldest daughter says to me,
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We're drinking the blood of Jesus and eating His body? And I turned to my wife, I said,
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When did she become Catholic? They were offended at Jesus' statement here.
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And they said, and as the text says later on, This is a hard teaching. Look at verse 60, this is a hard saying, who can listen to it?
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Jesus says in verse 61, But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling about this, that His disciples, okay, the disciples said this is a hard teaching.
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Twelve. He knew that they were grumbling about this. He said to them, Do you take offense at this?
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Verse 66, After this, many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.
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So Jesus said to the twelve, Please don't go also. Is that not what the
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ESV says? Do you want to go away as well? Here's the door. And what did
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Peter say? We slam Peter, right? For sinking, for denying
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Him. What did Peter say? To whom shall we go?
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You have the words of eternal life. Let's pray. Lord, we do want to mature continuously as individuals and as a body of believers.
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And we know that that does not come unless we are focused clearly on who
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Jesus is and what He's done. That is why we proclaim Christ. And Lord, we can say like the apostle
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Peter, To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. In Your name we pray.