What is Christ Doing Now?

Sovereign Grace Family Church iconSovereign Grace Family Church

2 views

0 comments

00:00
We have been in a study of Systematic Theology now for about six or eight months, I forget how long.
00:07
And in our study of Systematic Theology, we have been looking at first Theology proper.
00:14
And if you remember Theology proper, that is the study of God in His nature and in His being.
00:19
In Theology proper, we look sometimes called Patriology, because we're looking particularly at the nature of the Father and the nature of the Trinity as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
00:28
Then we took on the subject of Christology, and that's where we are now.
00:32
Christology is the study of Christ, right? It's not hard.
00:37
Just think about the first part, the word Christ.
00:40
And so Christology has been our study now for several weeks.
00:44
And we have looked at several things, and this is on the top of your worksheet.
00:48
We have looked at the preexistence and eternality of Christ.
00:51
We have looked at Christ as truly God and truly man.
00:55
We looked at His hypostatic union, the divinity of Christ, all those things.
01:01
We have looked at His peccability versus His impeccability.
01:03
We believe Christ is impeccable because He is, in fact, God in the flesh.
01:08
We have looked at His earthly life and ministry, which was an opportunity that we had to look at the things that He did while He was on the earth.
01:17
And then the last lesson that I didn't teach, Brother Andy gave, was on the offices of Christ, prophet, priest, and king.
01:26
So we have come to the end of Christology.
01:29
The end of Christology is the present ministry and the future work of Christ.
01:37
And I've titled tonight, What's Christ Doing Right Now? What is Jesus doing right now? Well, on your worksheet, you'll see what we looked at last time.
01:48
We said Christ is focusing right now on building His church.
01:53
Matthew 16, 18, Jesus said what? I will, just holler it out when you know, it's okay.
02:01
I will build my church.
02:05
I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
02:08
Right? Christ made the promise that He is the one who is going to build His church.
02:14
And so when He died on the cross, He paid the penalty for the sins of all who would ever believe on Him.
02:20
He went into the tomb for three days and on the third day He rose victorious over death.
02:24
And when He rose victorious over death, He spent forty days ministering.
02:29
And then on that fortieth day, He ascended into heaven where He sat at the right hand of the Father.
02:35
And ten days later, the Holy Spirit came and gave birth to what we would call the church.
02:40
That which Christ promised He would build was born on Pentecost.
02:48
You understand that? That's what Christ promised.
02:52
Now, we can argue that the church existed in Israel and that the church existed all the way back to Adam.
03:01
If you want to say that everyone who's ever believed and been saved is a part of the church as the universal body of Christ, we can say that.
03:09
We can say the church was a prototype.
03:11
Or, sorry, Israel was a prototype.
03:13
But the church proper, we could say, when the Holy Spirit fell, the new covenant was begun.
03:22
And in that new covenant, there came a new administration of God's Holy Spirit.
03:27
The Holy Spirit would now no longer be in the temple of God.
03:31
It would now be in the person who is called the temple of God.
03:34
Everyone who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has the Spirit of God.
03:38
In fact, what does Romans 8 tell us? If a person does not have the Spirit of God or Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
03:46
And so people argue, well, can you be a Christian without being filled with the Spirit? No, you cannot.
03:52
You cannot be a Christian if you do not have the Holy Spirit.
03:55
And we're going to talk about this more when we get into pneumatology, which is the study of the Holy Spirit.
04:00
Now again, that leads into other questions about gifts and all those things.
04:06
And we can talk about that another time.
04:08
But the point is, what marked the church was that the church was going to be the body of Christ.
04:17
Every person in the church would be a part of the body of Christ.
04:21
In fact, one of the promises, one of the prophecies of the church was that no one would have to say to another, know the Lord, for they will all know Me.
04:32
Let me say that again.
04:33
No one will have to say to another, know the Lord, for they will all know Me.
04:36
That's the difference between Israel and the church.
04:39
Because you could be a part of Israel and not truly know God.
04:43
What did Jesus say to the Pharisees? You think you're of your father Abraham, really you're of your father the devil.
04:49
If you believed in Abraham, you'd believe in Me.
04:52
This is why we don't accept members into the church who are not believers.
04:57
Now you might say, what if somebody comes in and makes a false profession? We're not responsible for false professions.
05:06
Philip baptized Simon in Acts chapter 8.
05:09
And Simon was a false professor.
05:11
And Philip was never chastised for having baptized a false professor because he was a false professor.
05:18
But ultimately, the New Covenant is made up of people who know the Lord.
05:22
The church is made up of people who know the Lord.
05:26
You understand? That's the church.
05:30
And so the church is Christ's focus right now.
05:34
Last week we looked at the first part, Christ is building His church.
05:37
We looked at the formation of the body, the direction of the body, the nurture of the body, the cleansing of the body, and the giving of gifts to the body.
05:46
Today we're going to look at Christ's ministry of intercession.
05:50
Christ is currently interceding for His church.
05:56
Aren't you glad? I don't get a lot of amens around here, but that one deserved it.
06:03
And not because of me, but because it's the truth.
06:07
Christ interceding is the great blessing that we have as the church.
06:14
And by the way, when I say the church, again, it's all believers.
06:19
There's the local church and there's the universal church.
06:22
We're all members of the universal church by faith.
06:24
We're members of the local church by covenant.
06:26
We come together, covenant together, as the local church.
06:30
And so, let's look at three focuses of His intercession here in your notes.
06:35
Number one, His intercession assures the security of our salvation.
06:43
It assures the security of our salvation.
06:45
Turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 8.
06:49
Now, in your notes it says verse 34, but I prefer to look at the whole section here.
06:55
This is why things take me longer than they should.
06:57
I don't know how I'm going to get 8 weeks of church history.
07:00
2,000 years of church history in 8 weeks.
07:02
But we're going to do it.
07:04
I'm writing my notes.
07:05
I was writing my notes today, actually.
07:07
Trying to figure out what I want to say and what I want to leave out.
07:10
Because the harder part is what to leave out.
07:13
2,000 years of history is going to be, you know, just 8 weeks is going to fly by.
07:18
But when we go to Romans chapter 8, and by the way, if you are unfamiliar with Romans chapter 8, I would encourage you to familiarize yourself with it.
07:29
Romans 1-4 is Paul's outline of man's sinfulness.
07:36
Romans 4-5 is justification.
07:40
Romans 6-7-8 is about sanctification.
07:44
But this chapter 8 really hits the heart of it.
07:47
It begins with no condemnation and ends with no separation.
07:50
Romans chapter 8 has been called the diamond in the ring of the book of Romans.
07:56
If the book of Romans is seen as Paul's magnum opus and it's a ring, like a wedding ring, chapter 8 is the diamond.
08:05
Chapter 8 verse 1 is the sparkling point of the diamond.
08:08
There is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
08:14
Beautiful passage, right? But it ends with no separation.
08:18
Look at beginning at verse 31.
08:20
What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
08:40
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died.
08:42
More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is, what? Interceding for us.
08:51
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? And the answer to all those is no.
09:00
None of those will.
09:02
As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all day long.
09:04
We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
09:06
But know in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
09:09
For I am certain, I am sure, that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
09:24
Amen.
09:25
That's the blessing of blessings because that tells us why and how Christ is interceding for us.
09:32
He is securing our redemption.
09:39
Obviously there is a lot of debate about whether or not someone can lose their salvation.
09:53
I will say this about that.
09:57
If it were up to me, I'd lose it every day.
10:03
In fact, I think it was Luther, may have been Spurgeon, but I think it was Luther who said, When I look to myself, I don't see how I could be saved.
10:12
And when I look to Christ, I don't see how I could be lost.
10:14
When I look at myself, I don't understand how I could be saved.
10:19
But when I look at Christ, I don't see how I could be lost.
10:22
And see, that's the point.
10:26
Christ is the one holding on to us.
10:30
We are not holding on to Him.
10:32
He is holding on to us.
10:34
Now we believe in the doctrine of perseverance, which means that a believer will persevere in faith.
10:41
They will not ultimately reject and fall away.
10:44
And a person who does reject Christ and fall away demonstrates one of two things.
10:50
Either he has fallen into grave sin and God will pull him out of that.
10:54
Or he has fallen into apostasy and demonstrated that he was not a believer to begin with.
10:59
Based out on Matthew 7, verses 21-23.
11:02
Many will say unto me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not done this? Have we not done that? Have we not done the other? And Jesus will say, Depart from me, I never knew you.
11:11
He didn't say, I knew you for a time and you couldn't cut it.
11:13
He said, I knew you for a time and you weren't holding on strong enough.
11:15
He said, I never knew you.
11:17
1 John says, They departed from us because they were not of us.
11:21
For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us.
11:23
But they departed to demonstrate that they were never truly of us.
11:27
So we believe when a person departs, it's a demonstration that they have not been born again.
11:33
Especially if they depart forever.
11:36
And again, when we get to soteriology, which is the doctrine of salvation, we will flesh that out more.
11:41
But for now, what is Christ doing? He is assuring our security.
11:46
Let's look now at 1 Timothy 2.
11:48
Turn to 1 Timothy 2, verse 5.
11:58
This is an important, like there's not an important verse.
12:02
But this is an important verse.
12:05
The whole Bible is important.
12:07
But on this subject, this is an important passage.
12:13
Verse 5 says, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
12:24
Now if we were talking about the priesthood of Christ, which Brother Andy has already taught on very well.
12:30
So I don't want to reiterate everything he said.
12:32
But this is part of that.
12:35
He is the only priest.
12:37
That's why I'm not a priest, by the way.
12:41
I'm pastor, elder, teacher, whatever you say.
12:45
And even those, I go by Keith, by the way, if you ever want to know.
12:49
I don't go by titles.
12:50
I don't like titles.
12:51
Even in other areas of life where I might have earned a title.
12:54
It's just Keith.
12:56
Or Brother Keith.
12:57
I like that.
12:58
Because brother is equal.
13:01
You know, and that's important to me.
13:03
But the issue here, there is one priest.
13:06
And it ain't Mary.
13:09
And I ain't trying to kick Roman Catholics in the shin, but it ain't Mary.
13:12
And it ain't a priest.
13:16
Now that doesn't mean we can't pray for one another.
13:19
But who do we pray through? Always.
13:24
In Christ's name.
13:27
One of the things, in seminary I had a professor, Jerry Powers.
13:32
He did a lot for me and my heart and my life.
13:34
And he always started his prayer, Father, I come to you in Jesus' name.
13:39
Rather than ending the prayer.
13:40
You ever notice I do that? That's because of Dr.
13:44
Powers.
13:44
I spent seven years studying with this man.
13:47
And he was such a grand influence in my life.
13:50
And every time he'd pray for me.
13:51
He'd grab my hand.
13:52
He used to pray for us to have a baby.
13:54
Because Jennifer and I, you know, we took a long time for us to ever have children.
13:58
And he would grab my hand and he'd say, Father, I come to you in Jesus' name.
14:02
Every time.
14:02
And he'd start with that.
14:03
Because there's one mediator.
14:05
Between God and man.
14:07
He's the one securing.
14:08
He's the one bringing me before the Father.
14:11
He is the one.
14:14
And he's the one securing that relationship.
14:18
Not me.
14:20
Alright, now I want to show you one other one on this security.
14:23
And then we'll move on to another part.
14:24
Let's move to Hebrews 7, 25.
14:26
Hebrews 7 and verse 25.
14:40
By the way, if you ever do get in a conversation about whether or not you can lose your salvation.
14:45
I'm going to encourage you to go to Hebrews 7, verse 25.
14:51
Well, here's a good one.
14:57
You can read in context starting up verse 23.
15:02
Or verse 22.
15:03
This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
15:05
What kind of a covenant? A better one.
15:08
Because it's better than the old covenant.
15:09
It's not based on works.
15:10
It's based on the work of Christ.
15:13
And he says, The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.
15:18
The reason why there were so many priests is because they kept dying.
15:21
A priest can only last as long as he can live.
15:24
Right? But he, referring to Jesus, holds his priesthood permanently.
15:29
Because he continues forever.
15:32
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.
15:37
Since he always lives to make intercession for them.
15:42
Christ is the priest who can save and does save to the uttermost.
15:50
Those who draw near to God through him.
15:55
What does to the uttermost mean? As far as you can imagine.
16:01
Christ saves you and secures you with a type of security that you don't even understand.
16:09
One of the things Jerry Powers used to mention.
16:11
I don't mean to keep mentioning him, but it's just on my mind tonight.
16:13
He used to talk about the fact that there's a passage in John that says, Mine are in my hand and I am in my Father's hand.
16:23
And no one can snatch them out of my hand.
16:26
I don't usually use that one for defending eternal security or perseverance.
16:31
Even though it's a great verse, people argue that one.
16:33
I go other places.
16:35
But one of the things about that verse that's great.
16:38
He used to talk about this.
16:39
He said, imagine you have a child.
16:41
And at the time I didn't, but I do now.
16:43
He said, imagine you're taking that child across a busy street.
16:50
Are you going to hold less tight or tighter when you're taking them across the street? And now that I've got Hope, who loves to run away, I have a better appreciation.
17:07
Because I can't even hold her hand.
17:09
I've got to grab down near the elbow and really hold on when we're going across the street.
17:16
So when we are in those times in our lives where we might feel the furthest away.
17:22
When we're in those times when we're struggling the most.
17:26
That might just be the time when Christ is holding on the tightest.
17:31
Rather than thinking that he's let loose.
17:33
He says, you're in my hand and nothing can snatch you away.
17:37
That's a beautiful analogy to how Christ holds on to us.
17:42
He saves to the uttermost those who draw near unto God through him.
17:49
He is our security.
17:52
The Holy Spirit is the down payment.
17:54
The scripture talks about the Holy Spirit coming within us.
17:57
Makes the promissory note that we're going to be saved.
18:00
That's what we know the Spirit is in us.
18:02
But Christ is the one who's holding us.
18:04
He's securing us because he intercedes for us.
18:09
Do you fail? Does the devil convict you when you fail? No, the Spirit convicts you.
18:15
Let me say that again.
18:16
Does the devil accuse you when you fail? When I say that, the devil is not omnipresent.
18:24
We may even do demonology in this course.
18:27
The devil is not omnipresent.
18:28
He's not like God.
18:31
I've often said, I don't even know if the devil knows my name.
18:33
He probably didn't care about somebody like me.
18:35
He's much more influential than men who are much more influential.
18:39
But there is a demonic realm that we deal with.
18:44
And there's constant accusation that we deal with.
18:49
Constant accusation.
18:51
What does Christ do? Intercedes.
18:54
He works as our defense.
18:58
That's why people say, well, your past sins are forgiven, but your future sins aren't forgiven.
19:05
Slow down.
19:08
One, when Christ died on the cross, all my sins were in the future.
19:13
So that's one.
19:16
But also, if my future sins are not forgiven, how is he already interceding for me? Is he waiting for me to do something to allow him to intercede? Now, I believe in repentance.
19:33
I believe that repentance is a daily thing.
19:35
But you don't get saved every time you repent.
19:38
If you think you're getting saved every time you repent and getting lost every time you sin, you're going to live in a constant spiritual yo-yo.
19:45
Up and down and up and down and up and down.
19:48
And that's not what we're called to live in.
19:50
We are called to be secure in Christ because he is the one constantly interceding for us.
19:57
Our security is in him.
19:59
All right.
20:00
So his intercession assures our security.
20:02
That's been a little longer than I thought, but that's important.
20:06
Number two on this part.
20:09
His intercession restores our fellowship when it's broken by sin.
20:15
Let's look at this one.
20:16
This is an important one.
20:17
Go to 1 John chapter 2.
20:21
1 John is a powerful book.
20:24
I think the set for you guys.
20:26
Doesn't Brother Mark? You have to do homework in this like in the first phase, right? This is an important book.
20:33
Right.
20:34
And so you probably know this passage.
20:39
1 John chapter 2 verse 1.
20:42
My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
20:49
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate.
20:53
By the way, that's another way of saying intercessor.
20:55
But in this term, it's advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
21:01
Here's the thing.
21:08
I don't want to take a rabbit trail, but I got a little time.
21:13
So I will for just a second.
21:16
A lot of people focus on 1 John 2, 1B.
21:23
And by the way, if you ever look at how verses are broken down.
21:26
If verses are long, it'll be broke up in part A, part B, part C.
21:30
And they'll focus on part B.
21:32
Part B is that if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
21:37
And we go, yay! Very few people deal with the first one.
21:41
My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you do not sin.
21:46
So that you may not sin.
21:48
People say, oh, now he's being legalistic.
21:51
Because he said we shouldn't sin.
21:55
I didn't write it.
21:59
And so I think that we do have to understand both sides.
22:04
Do you understand how many times the New Testament calls you to turn from sin? And even lists the things that are the things that we should turn from.
22:17
In fact, the New Testament tells us to take every thought captive to Christ.
22:27
Because Christ pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount that it's not just what we do that convicts us before God.
22:32
But even what we think.
22:34
You've heard it said, do not commit adultery.
22:36
But I say unto you, if a man looks at a woman with lust in his heart, he's already committed adultery in his heart.
22:44
So we have a thought problem too.
22:48
And yet the Bible says, take every thought captive.
22:51
We are called to not sin.
22:56
I can't get amen on that because nobody wants to amen that one.
23:01
You say, brother, you're being legalistic.
23:03
No, I'd be legalistic if I said your sinlessness or your lack thereof is what saves you.
23:10
Or what keeps you saved.
23:13
Yeah, it's salvation by performance.
23:19
I have said this and I'm actually going to be teaching this at set free in the morning because we're in James chapter 2.
23:25
No one is justified by what they do.
23:29
We are only justified by what Christ has done.
23:34
In the past tense, completed once and for all.
23:39
We are not saved by what we do, but what Christ has done.
23:44
With that being said, we are not free by grace to live a life of sin.
23:53
Romans, which Paul wrote, which he expresses, blessed is he who does not work and is forgiven.
24:01
Romans chapter four.
24:03
But he later, he says, shall we continue in sin so that grace can abound? Meganoita.
24:11
Meganoita is Greek.
24:13
It is an expression of the absolute adverse.
24:18
Meganoita comes from the root gene, which means to exist.
24:22
And may is the adversative, which means may it never.
24:27
So Meganoita, may it never exist.
24:30
That that come into your mind.
24:33
May it not be.
24:34
In the King James it says God forbid.
24:37
And that's what you call a dynamic equivalent.
24:41
The King James gives an equivalent phrase.
24:44
The modern translations in that particular verse usually just say may it never be.
24:51
For you to say that because I am saved by grace, I have the right to sin against God.
25:00
You do not have the right to sin.
25:03
Yes, sir.
25:10
Yeah.
25:12
I know he talks about clouds without water.
25:19
Yeah, they pervert the grace of God.
25:22
And that is what does happen.
25:25
We see that in churches today.
25:27
You don't have to repent.
25:30
Just believe.
25:33
You say, well, if you tell them they have to repent, you're adding works to salvation.
25:36
Paul didn't think so.
25:37
Jesus didn't think so.
25:40
Am I saying your repentance is perfect? No, it's not perfect.
25:43
Am I saying your repentance is what saves you? No, Christ saves you.
25:46
Your faith doesn't even save you, by the way.
25:50
It's what you have faith in.
25:52
Faith has an object, always does.
25:54
If I say I believe in something, the something is what matters, not my belief.
25:59
If I believe that gravity doesn't exist and I jump off the roof, my belief matters not.
26:07
What matters is the object of my belief.
26:10
Is the object going to matter? Christ is the object, right? But what was the very first thing Christ preached? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
26:22
Mark chapter 1.
26:25
What did his predecessor, when I say predecessor, maybe forerunner is a better word.
26:29
What did his forerunner, John, preach? He preached repentance.
26:35
A baptism of repentance.
26:38
Come and take this water and immerse for the purpose of demonstrating you need to be cleansed.
26:46
Because you be dirty.
26:49
Bad grammar, good theology.
26:51
You be dirty and you need to get cleansed.
26:58
That's what baptism pictured with John.
27:01
Later it would picture dying with Christ and being raised.
27:05
John, Romans 6 talks about that too.
27:08
Baptism represents dying to self.
27:14
Living for Christ.
27:16
Nevertheless, it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
27:22
I have been crucified with Christ.
27:27
That's why John can say.
27:30
And this is a later book, right? If you look at the timeline of when the books of the New Testament are written, 1st, 2nd, 3rd John are later than books like Romans and James and books like that which are probably written much earlier.
27:43
John is writing later these short epistles, letters.
27:49
And he writes, I'm writing to you my little children, my beloved, so that you won't sin.
27:59
I may have focused on that too long, but it really is a big deal.
28:02
Because what happens when you sin? Now this is a big question because we don't lose our salvation when we sin.
28:10
Yes, thank you, thank you.
28:13
The Bible talks about several things that happen.
28:15
We grieve the spirit.
28:16
We quench the spirit.
28:17
There are things that happen when we sin.
28:23
The spirit convicts us.
28:27
Now I've heard people talk about your relationship with God can't change, but your fellowship can.
28:34
And I think there's something to that.
28:36
I think it has to be fleshed out a little bit more than just simply saying that.
28:39
Because even our fellowship with God is through the intercessor who is Christ.
28:42
So I think we have to be careful.
28:44
But I think in general it's true that you know when you are sinning or when you're dealing in sin or engaging in sin, that at that moment you're not caring about what God has to say about your life.
28:58
At that moment you've broken fellowship, at least from your side.
29:03
Now again, God is constant.
29:06
But we're not.
29:08
And so what do we do when we sin? We see this, we have an advocate.
29:12
What does 1 John 1 tell us to do? If you sin, well let's look back at 1 John 1 verse 8.
29:24
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
29:28
By the way, if you come here to me tonight and tell me you are not a sinner, I will say that is not true.
29:37
And you deceive yourself.
29:40
Now I will say this, there are some people that will make a big issue about categories.
29:44
And they'll say that believers are never called sinners.
29:47
They're always called hagiasmus or hagius.
29:49
Which means holy or the holy ones or saints.
29:52
That is true.
29:53
Once a person becomes a believer, he's not called a sinner anymore in scripture.
29:58
That's an important distinction.
30:00
Doesn't mean he doesn't sin though.
30:02
It's just a category of change.
30:04
You've gone from being a sinner, meaning you are condemned for your sins.
30:08
To being holy or set apart by God for his work or salvation.
30:12
So there is a category difference about sinner and saint.
30:19
But you can't say you don't sin.
30:22
There are people who do believe that.
30:23
John Wesley taught a doctrine of perfectionism.
30:28
Which in our history class we'll talk about this.
30:30
Perfectionism was the idea that you could by a process of methodic spiritual discipline.
30:38
That's where the word methodism comes from.
30:40
Methodist, methodic spiritual discipline.
30:43
You can become practically sinless.
30:47
Thought, word and deed.
30:50
Sinless.
30:54
They believed in what was called the second blessing.
30:57
Which meant that you progressed in sanctification.
30:59
But there would come a moment where you were no longer a sinner.
31:03
At all.
31:05
I disagree.
31:08
Wholeheartedly.
31:09
And not just because I still battle sin.
31:11
But because in the one verse they use in 1 John.
31:14
It says he who has been born of God does not sin.
31:18
There is a passage that says that.
31:19
But it's in the continual tense.
31:22
So the idea there is the keeping on of sinning.
31:24
And I do believe that one of the ways that you see and notice an unbeliever.
31:29
Is if they live in continual habitual unrepentant sin.
31:32
Without the desire to repent.
31:34
This is why if somebody comes to the church.
31:36
And wants to join the church.
31:37
And let's say they're not married and they're living together.
31:40
And I say are you living together? Yes.
31:42
And I say do you understand that's a sin? Yes.
31:44
Do you understand that you're living in habitual continual unrepentant sin? And they say either we didn't realize we need to repent.
31:52
Or because some people don't know.
31:54
I mean think about the way our world is now.
31:55
People don't realize.
31:56
I mean I think they know in their heart.
31:58
But their mind gets told everything else from the world.
32:00
So I don't automatically assume people understand.
32:04
What's the word fornication mean? Anymore.
32:07
Right? People don't know what it means.
32:09
I had a girl one time tell me.
32:11
She said sex before marriage isn't a sin.
32:16
And I said slow down.
32:18
Why? She said well the Bible never says that.
32:20
I said it says flee fornication.
32:22
Well what's fornication mean? Sex before marriage.
32:27
Sex before marriage.
32:28
So there we go.
32:29
Right? Or actually it's any kind of sex outside of marriage.
32:31
Right? That would be fornication.
32:33
So the idea of the word didn't make sense to her.
32:37
So if somebody comes into the church they don't understand.
32:40
That's one thing.
32:41
If they want to repent that's good.
32:43
But if they say no we're happy to continue living in sin.
32:46
That's bad.
32:48
This is how church discipline operates.
32:51
Matthew 18.
32:53
If a man has sinned against you you go to him and you tell him his fault.
32:56
If he repents you've won your brother.
32:58
If he refuses to repent go get two or three witnesses.
33:01
Come back to him.
33:02
Call him to repentance.
33:02
If he continues to refuse to repent you take him before the church.
33:06
If he still will not repent after being taken before the church you are to excommunicate him.
33:11
The word excommunicate isn't there.
33:13
It says treat him as a tax collector or a sinner.
33:15
Which is the way that Jews treated the tax collectors and sinners where they excommunicated them.
33:18
So we understand by the nature of the language.
33:22
Excommunication was commanded by Christ.
33:24
Why? Because they're not a believer.
33:27
Now you say how do you know for sure? Maybe they're just in a time of sin.
33:30
They're not behaving as a believer.
33:32
They might be a believer.
33:35
But at that moment they're living in sin.
33:37
They're a danger to the body.
33:40
So they have to be removed.
33:42
It's like a cancer.
33:44
How many of you remember the story of Achan? Achan was in the Old Testament.
33:50
The people of God were told to go in and destroy the enemies of God.
33:55
They went in and destroyed.
33:56
Don't take any of the property.
33:58
Achan took some of the vials.
34:00
I think they were silver.
34:01
And he hid them in his tent.
34:03
The next time the Israelites went out to fight.
34:05
What happened? They lost.
34:07
And Moses went.
34:08
What happened? Or was it Joshua? It was Joshua.
34:11
Joshua.
34:12
I'm sorry.
34:12
Joshua.
34:12
What happened God? Well, you've got sin in the camp.
34:17
And it was Achan.
34:19
So he was burned.
34:21
Yeah, it was serious by the way.
34:25
Yes, everything he had, his whole family, everything was burned.
34:28
It's easy to remember the story.
34:29
First he was taken Achan.
34:31
Then he was shaken Achan.
34:33
Then he was bacon Achan.
34:35
I know it's not funny.
34:37
But that's the way you remember it, right? He took.
34:39
And then he stood before God.
34:41
And he shook.
34:41
And then they, you know.
34:45
You'll never forget it though.
34:47
And now you'll remember who he was.
34:56
Yeah.
34:57
My high school was Achan high school.
35:00
You know it differently.
35:01
But it was on my home.
35:06
So we.
35:09
So we all agree sin is bad.
35:12
I hope you believed that before you came.
35:14
But the seriousness of sin.
35:17
Is we know that when we sin, we grieve the spirit.
35:20
We know that when we sin, we are not doing what God wants us to do at that moment.
35:24
At least according to his prescriptive will.
35:27
We are denying his command and lordship in our life in that moment.
35:33
We are in need of repentance.
35:38
Thankfully we have an intercessor.
35:40
Who never tires.
35:43
You know one of the best things in the new testament.
35:46
Is when Jesus said.
35:49
If a man sins against you, you forgive him.
35:52
And he forgives you.
35:53
If he sins against you seven times in a day.
35:58
And he comes to you and says.
36:00
I repent.
36:02
You forgive him.
36:04
Right? Here's that.
36:08
In the picture of that.
36:10
If God expects us to be so gracious.
36:14
How much more is he gracious to his children? We don't take advantage of that grace.
36:23
We don't seek to live in license to sin because of that grace.
36:27
But we know our security is found in one.
36:30
Whose ability to save is so much greater than our ability to sin.
36:36
Christ is a better savior than you are a sinner.
36:41
Alright, last thing for tonight.
36:44
Because obviously.
36:46
I'm not going to get to the next part.
36:48
If you think I can do John 14 in one night.
36:51
Yeah, that's next time.
36:53
Sorry.
36:55
His intercession shuts the mouth of the adversary.
36:59
Shuts the mouth of the adversary.
37:01
This is our last verse for tonight.
37:02
Then we'll be done.
37:04
Revelation chapter 12.
37:18
Verse 10.
37:21
And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.
37:30
For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down.
37:35
Who accuses them day and night before our God.
37:42
And I sort of mentioned this earlier.
37:44
So I'll just wrap it up.
37:46
We have an accuser.
37:48
We have an enemy.
37:49
We have one who desires nothing more than our failure.
37:55
What does the Bible say about Satan? He is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
38:02
And so Christ stands as our advocate.
38:06
And I think this is a good analogy.
38:10
You've all seen the courtroom dramas.
38:12
Which are very fake.
38:14
It's not how court really works.
38:16
Not that I've been there a bunch.
38:17
I did get kicked off a jury once.
38:21
Because I told them I wouldn't convict somebody with less than two witnesses.
38:25
Because the Bible wouldn't let me.
38:26
By the way, if you ever want to beat jury duty, that's how you do it.
38:29
Just say you won't convict anybody without two witnesses.
38:31
And they won't want that.
38:34
You're gone.
38:35
I say the Bible won't let me.
38:36
And the judge said, goodbye.
38:39
Just so you know.
38:41
But you think about courtroom.
38:46
Picture in your mind.
38:48
You've got the prosecutor.
38:50
Who stands up.
38:52
Accuses.
38:53
This person has done this thing.
38:57
And this is his guilt.
38:59
And you are there.
39:00
And you are guilty.
39:07
Christ is your advocate.
39:11
He is the one who makes the accusations of your enemy useless.
39:21
Because even though you are everything the devil says you are.
39:26
In fact, I'll say this.
39:27
Charles Spurgeon was right when he said this.
39:29
Don't get mad when men say bad things about you.
39:32
Because they don't know how bad you really are.
39:36
He said, do not get upset when people speak ill of you.
39:39
For they do not know the half of it.
39:44
And if Satan accuses you.
39:47
Christ does not stand up.
39:48
Here is the beauty of the gospel folks.
39:51
Christ does not stand up and say.
39:54
He didn't do it.
39:55
Like some cheap television attorney.
40:00
Who chases ambulances.
40:01
And if you are an attorney tonight, forgive me.
40:03
I'm not trying to hurt your feelings.
40:04
But there are these people who just stand up.
40:06
And they justify the ungodly.
40:08
By lying or making up excuses.
40:12
Jesus does not make an excuse.
40:14
For your sin.
40:16
Jesus makes an atonement for your sin.
40:19
And that's different.
40:20
Jesus says the accusations that were on them.
40:25
I paid the penalty.
40:29
The guilt that they have amassed.
40:33
In a lifetime of sin.
40:34
I have covered in my blood.
40:42
So the accuser's mouth is shut.
40:48
He has nothing to say.
40:50
If the penalty has been paid.
40:53
So in Christ's intercession.
40:55
We have an assurance of our security.
40:57
We have a restoration of our fellowship.
41:00
And we have an adversary.
41:02
Whose mouth is shut.
41:06
Let's pray.
41:08
Father I thank you for this time to study.
41:10
I pray that this has been fruitful for all of us.
41:13
And to help us understand the role of Christ.
41:15
And what he is doing right now.
41:17
Advocating for us.
41:18
Interceding for us.
41:19
Standing in the gap for us.
41:23
And so Father.
41:25
Help us to not sin.
41:27
Help us to do all things out of love for Christ.
41:30
And never in spite of his call to be holy.
41:35
For Lord it was our Savior who called us.
41:38
To righteousness.
41:40
Not sin.
41:42
But to take up our cross and follow him.
41:46
Father thank you for his intercession.
41:48
Thank you for the salvation that comes in knowing him alone.
41:52
Lord when we look next week at what he is doing now.
41:54
In preparation for what he is going to do in the future.
41:57
In preparing a place for us.
42:00
Lord we are so excited to even think about that.
42:03
Lord we know that it could be any time.
42:05
Because we don't know when Christ will return.
42:07
And the word tells us to be ready.
42:11
Lord may it be that everyone in this room would know Christ.
42:15
That everyone in this room would trust in him.
42:18
That they would have an intercessor.
42:21
Whoever lives to make intercession for them.
42:24
And who can save to the uttermost.
42:26
Those who draw nigh unto God through him.
42:30
And it is in his name we pray.