The Most Important Theological Lessons (part 4)

Bethlehem Bible Church

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September 27, 2009

Heaven, Hell and Everything In Between (part 5)

00:00: We are almost ready to begin 1st Corinthians on a verse -by -verse basis here on Sunday mornings
00:05: We have over the years preached through a variety of books. I think I've gone through Several of the major New Testament books
00:12: We just finished Matthew 5 to 7 the Sermon on the Mount and 1st Corinthians is brewing But in the meantime,
00:17: I thought what would be good for our congregation now that I've been able to be your pastor for the last 12 Years years what would be good for the congregation to learn?
00:25: We have lots of new people lots of brand -new members as of last week. And so I wanted to discuss
00:31: Important theological lessons that I have learned in the last 20 years of being a Christian 15 years being in Ministry, and so let me give you about Oh 12 in review super fast and then we'll pick it up with 13 today.
00:46: Lord willing will be the last day Up here on the pulpit. I don't know why it was a transportation security administration notice of baggage
00:54: Inspection on my pulpit. I don't know who did that but don't do it again. I it just distracts me and It's a strange thing.
01:03: What would be good for you to learn? I always appreciated when I had a mentor that would teach me things I appreciate it when
01:09: John MacArthur would say there's a few things that I really want you to know Years ago, I was in New York and I sat and had lunch with John and I said
01:17: John I've been a pastor for about six months now What is the inside information and scoop because this is very difficult help me to be a pastor
01:25: I want to know what to do as the new pastor of Bethlehem Bible Church and John looked over at me and he said
01:30: You'll figure it out And I thought what kind of answer is that from John MacArthur? You'll figure it out so he taught me many theological lessons and that was actually a good lesson for me to learn because He couldn't come and pastor you for me
01:45: I had to do that very thing in Review lessons that I've learned that I want you as a congregation to affirm to reaffirm or to learn for the first time
01:54: Number one God is utterly sovereign over everything in the universe Including those that go to heaven and those that don't
02:01: Perdition and eternal life God is sovereign over every molecule the molecule of the universe He didn't just let it rain today.
02:08: He sent the rain. That was number one Number two there are no shortcuts for holy living in our day and age we want instant
02:18: We want microwaved we want to immediately arrive But God has ordained growth slow growth growth for the
02:25: Christian growth that would entail sweat and toil of course prayer of course the
02:31: Spirit of God and his ministry, but God has designed that we work out our salvation with fear and Trembling Philippians chapter 2 and it is him who works in us as well
02:41: But we want to make sure we don't fall prey to shortcut Christianity. I need to get slain in the spirit
02:47: I need to have the special blessing then everything will be fine the blessing that you will receive is as you work out your salvation
02:54: Number three God does not love me more when I obey and the converse as well
03:00: He doesn't love me less when I disobey we looked in great length in John chapter 17 about how
03:05: God when he loves someone He loves them with this eternal
03:12: Everlasting love similar to his love of Israel. He's loved them in Jeremiah with an everlasting love
03:17: You don't love your children are you ought not to love them less when they disobey and more when they obey
03:23: They're your children, and we are God's children and therefore we are loved like the
03:28: Father loves the Son Can you imagine that John 17 God loves you as much as he loves Jesus Christ?
03:34: number four Anxiousness is a sin and a signal of my prayer lessness
03:41: Anxiousness according to Philippians chapter 4 is a sin other places in the Bible as well And it basically reveals to me that I'm depending on myself
03:51: That I'm trying to run the show with my wits with my money with my resources And it reveals that I am depending too much on myself and God graciously grants me the fruit of my disobedience
04:01: Called anxiousness so that I might turn from that forsake it and run away Feeling anxious isn't as bad as it could be feeling anxious is good because then it tells us something is broken
04:13: We're not thinking properly, and we're not doing the positive side of anxiousness and that is trusting
04:19: Show me the antonym for anxiety, and I'll show you the word for trust number five my feelings should never lead me instead
04:27: They should serve as a barometer for my actions and thoughts Basically we live in a feel culture
04:33: But we know we need to do things sometimes like church discipline like preaching like evangelism Even though we don't feel like it if you wake up tomorrow and don't feel like going to work
04:42: I suggest you go to your job even though you don't feel like it number six the key to sanctification is
04:50: Thinking the key to sanctification is thinking we looked in detail in Romans chapter 6 about Thinking that we were counted dead to sin and were counted alive to Christ Jesus I almost want to repeat all these and preach them through again, but I'm not so let's just you're gonna have to Staccato fashion this up number seven is that a word actually staccato fashion, but you know what
05:11: I meant yes Number seven the three most important things when you evangelize are remembering the total depravity of man
05:18: So you only give the word the glory of God you preach for God's glory You don't preach for souls to be saved primarily.
05:26: They will be saved as God allows and as good pleasure It's a good desire to want your friends to believe the gospel
05:32: But when you preach you preach for the glory of God And you don't say I'll preach for people to get saved because what if then you turn down the message of sin our?
05:41: substitutionary atonement and then the third important thing in evangelism is Evidentialism is for Christians archaeology science
05:50: Carbon dating anything like that. It's not going to take a dead sinner And make them alive.
05:56: It's the Word of God That's active and it's living and it is a message of Christ Romans chapter 10 that saves people
06:01: Number eight I must be content with God's revelation There are things in here that God purposely does not want you to know and therefore we should rest in that and relax in that Versus spending all our time trying to figure them out at the risk of not obeying
06:17: There's plenty in here to obey. We don't have to always ask the proverbial why question sometimes the question is
06:24: It's not for you to know maybe never maybe in heaven when you get to heaven
06:30: You'll be very content with God's revelation number nine all end time study should change your life at Eschatology should be ethical
06:39: Warren Weir's be said it is unfortunate people run from one prophetic conference to another
06:44: Filling their notebooks marking their Bibles drawing their charts and yet not living their lives to the glory of God If you like to study in time theology, you should say
06:54: Jesus is coming back It should change the way I live number ten almost done with our review
07:00: That we must embrace the active obedience of Christ Jesus that is to say
07:06: Jesus didn't show up on Friday to die. He lived a whole life of obeying the law under the law
07:12: He did everything perfectly fulfilled this law even with baptism identifying himself with us and then when we
07:22: As we trust in Christ Jesus We get his perfect life put into our spiritual bank account and Jesus bears our sin in his body on the tree
07:35: Number 11 the providence of God is more amazing than so -called miracles today
07:42: Providence of God and how he works everything out Romans 828 like it's much more Magnificent to me than some kind of faith healer who lengthens legs and makes your feelings turn into gold
07:57: Next point I just I can't you can't redo that number 12. God is jealous God is jealous.
08:03: He's called a jealous God in Exodus chapter 20 in Exodus 34 It says his name is jealous and God wants the affection rightly do him
08:12: God is our is the one who loves we are the beloved and when something comes in and infringes upon that love
08:20: There's a reaction by God a holy and just reaction and now we come to new information the 13th lesson in Kind of a topical study we're doing but I'm going to do exegesis in the middle of the topic the 13th lesson
08:34: I'd like you to learn and affirm is that Jesus's death although excruciate excruciating was not
08:46: Primarily Excruciating because of the thorns the fists and the nails in other words as Bad as the death of Jesus Christ was at Calvary, and he did suffer under men
09:00: The suffering of God was more important that he suffered under the hand of God I'll never forget when we were watching the
09:10: Jesus movie one time and I think Haley was about three years old and they were punching Jesus and Hitting Jesus and there was spit and blood and just horrible things done to the actor portraying
09:21: Jesus And I'll never forget it as long as I live Haley got up and she began to cry and she walked over she was little enough
09:28: I think she kind of waddled over and she went over up to the screen and she began to kiss the screen
09:34: Because they were so beating Jesus that she she was empathetic She was sympathetic and she wanted to say how could they do that to Jesus?
09:45: well 30 ,000 other Jews were crucified by Jesus. I'm excuse me, but I Just pray with me
09:53: Lord get me through this message today 30 ,000 other Jews were crucified like Jesus.
10:00: Why were why was Jesus special? Around the time of Jesus there were all these other
10:06: Jews crucified they Suffered physically, but what we have to remember is that God was punishing
10:14: Jesus on the cross. That is more important. Although human suffering was important It was prophesied by the psalmist and other
10:22: Old Testament prophecies, but you have to remember that Jesus's death assuaged
10:28: God's wrath Let's turn our Bibles to Luke 23 We have to remember as our theological lesson lesson that Jesus just didn't suffer under the hands of mankind
10:40: But he bore God's wrath And you don't get the death of Christ unless you understand sin and holiness
10:49: You cannot understand it properly and you've got to see that sin really is an atrocity
10:55: To God as you're turning there. There's all kinds of definition of sin and sometimes we just think you know, maybe like Schuller It's a lack of self -esteem or or something like that sin is heinous sin is an atrocity to God sin is
11:10: Repulsive to God there's all kinds of language in the God and the in the Bible about sin is like a dog going back
11:18: To its own vomit sin in Romans chapter 3 is likened to poison Sin in Matthew chapter 23 is likened to the smell of rotting corpses in tombs
11:30: Sin kills sin killed Adam it killed Abel through Cain Sin is horrible.
11:38: Listen to Jeremiah 44 yet I sent you all my servants the prophets again and again saying oh do not do this abominable thing
11:46: Which I hate sin is an atrocity to God is an abomination to God and unless you understand that You can't really get your mind around the cross
11:57: We live in a bell -curved society. We find people who are worse than we are. We think we're good That's not how you should think about sin
12:04: Arthur pink said quote in the treatment of the Son of God received at the hands of men We see sin in its true colors stripped of all disguise
12:14: Exposed in all its hideous reality in its true nature as rebellion against God We also see the fearful wages of sin death and separation from God Since Christ hung there as sin bearer.
12:29: He received the punishment due to them You've got to understand that sin is gross
12:36: You also need to understand that God is holy the seraphim who are holy and have no sin in them
12:42: What do they do to their faces as they're in the presence of God? They hide their faces.
12:48: This is not like Peter saying to Jesus on the boat a woe is me I'm undone because I'm a man who's sinful and I've got the
12:56: God of the universe in my boat and he's holy and I'm sinful Even the holy angels cover their eyes
13:04: Job says in God's presence. I abhor myself. He realizes his sin. He realizes
13:09: God's holiness Daniel says in Daniel 8 there remains no strength in me. My comeliness was turned into corruption
13:21: Hebrews chapter 10 says the Lord will judge his people It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living
13:26: God and that is exactly what Jesus did He fell into the hands of the
13:33: Living God the Father and was judged. Look at Luke 23 verse 44 Why was the death of Jesus special compared to the 30 ,000 other
13:42: Jews who were also crucified? And by the way years ago with that knew that movie that came out the passion of the
13:47: Christ while it may have shown crucifixion in all its heinousness It did a bad job of Showing because I guess you can't show it through Hollywood that there was something worse than thorns
14:00: Worse than spit and worse than punching somebody to the point that you couldn't recognize them as being a man
14:06: And that is the wrath of a holy God on sin, even if it was the Sun bearing the sin
14:14: We pick up the narrative in Luke 23 44 It was now about the sixth hour
14:20: It's noon and Darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour 3 p .m.
14:27: And the Sun was Obscured Jesus has been suffering at the hands of men again the punching the hitting
14:38: The piercing side and now we have darkness and Jesus says in Matthew 27 my god
14:46: My god, why has have you what? forsaken me From 9 to noon.
14:52: Jesus is on the cross and men Punch him hit him spit on him mock him ridicule him
15:00: But now the suffering of man is pretty much done. And now we're going to see Jesus suffer at the hands of God the
15:07: Father And the Sun Seems to be blotted out even in tradition a secular writer says that that Just prior to Christ's death.
15:20: He wrote this either the deity himself suffers at this moment are sympathizes with one that does
15:27: Why dark what is happening here with this darkness you have to ask yourself the question
15:33: It's dark at the middle of the day. What is going on? Is the light of the world being extinguished?
15:41: Did the Sun say I won't shine on such a travesty Well, if you study your
15:46: Old Testament, you'll begin to quickly say this when there's darkness. There's often what? Judgment not every time it's dark.
15:55: There's judgment thankfully for us right tonight But throughout
16:01: Scripture you'll see the Old Testament idea darkness linked to judgment it's just like there's a
16:07: Train engine and the next car and they just link up and you think there's darkness. There's judgment
16:12: Do you think that there could possibly be judgment going on here this passage or is just getting dark kind of some kind of eclipse?
16:20: Listen to Joel 2 and I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth Blood fire and columns of smoke the
16:26: Sun will be turned into darkness and the moon to blood Before the great and awesome day that the law of the
16:33: Lord who comes Amos chapter 5 is the same thing the linking up of judgment and darkness
16:39: Alas you who are longing for the day of the Lord for that purpose will the day of the Lord be to you it will be
16:45: Darkness and not light that I shall make the Sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight
16:52: That's all judgment many other passages. You could look at judgment darkness.
16:58: They go together now Here's the question God is judging at this very hour But who or what is
17:06: God judging? God was judging our sin on his son at Calvary the sin question is being settled right now on Jesus and Jesus cries out with intensity my
17:20: God my God Why for what end? This isn't despair somehow questioning.
17:27: This is like a lost child as it were Jesus isn't lost I know but as a lost child might call out for his father.
17:33: That's the same kind of intensity here God was forsaking God was actively forsaking
17:40: Christ This is very tragic. Why?
17:46: because This has never happened between the father and the son ever how close of a personal relationship
17:52: Did the father have with the son for all eternity was it close was a kind of close listen to this language
17:59: Jesus said in John 16 behold an hour is coming and has already come For you are to be scattered each to his own home and to leave me alone
18:07: And yet I'm not alone because the father is with me. This is a strange cry coming from Jesus who said in John 8
18:19: Coming from the father in John 8 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and then Jesus said
18:25: I am the father and one he that sees me sees The father the father will not leave me alone Now I think abandonments horrible we read about Logan Airport and they they find babies in the restrooms
18:38: Spouses abandon their spouses But here we see
18:44: God the father Giving the cup of wrath to his son and the son drinking it down to the last dregs
18:54: Would it be fair to say from noon to 3? God the father took all the torments of the damned in hell forever and Compressed them into three hours and then placed them on the
19:07: Sun and then poured out his holy Roaring wrath on his son The answer is yes
19:16: Unspeakable the just dying for the unjust This is not just we feel bad that he got his beard plucked out, although I with Haley would say that's a sad thing
19:28: This is Jesus in first Peter 2 24. He himself bearing our sins in his body on the cross
19:36: Galatians chapter 3 verse 13 having become a curse for us Our iniquities laid on Jesus and then the eternal powerful wrathful
19:48: God Avenging sin on Jesus, even though he never ever sinned
19:55: And look at the passage verse 45. I Think there was probably a sound of this don't you and the veil of the temple was torn in two
20:05: Sacrifices are done. They're complete Access now to God access to the
20:11: Holy God is not through a bunch of sacrifices. It's through Christ's death only Now here's my question
20:18: Especially if you're a visiting unbeliever or a member who's an unbeliever Even if that could be if God didn't spare his own son
20:27: Would he spare you? Be assured that he will pour out his wrath on you
20:33: If you die in your sins Every sin ever committed will be punished and if you commit that sin and you become saved
20:41: God saves you that sin has been paid for by Jesus But if it's not been paid for by Jesus, you will pay for that sin or else
20:49: God would be unjust He who believes in the
20:54: Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life But the wrath of God abides on him one man said consider then what you're doing when you sin
21:05: Would you rush to your own ruin? Would you drink poison? Consider the wages of sin is death and that wrath and hell come with sin
21:14: Consider punishment in hell will be without pity misery without mercy crying without comfort and torment without ease
21:23: Your only hope is the love of God who because of his mercy saves sinners like you
21:31: Number 14 number 13 in summary is when you think of the cross Don't just think of human suffering think of the
21:38: Son suffering under the rightful Just holy hands of the Father and you'll understand the cross and substitutionary atonement a lot better number 14
21:48: Number 14 I could tell we're gonna have to go faster But you know you get into these things and you just want to preach just want to talk about it
21:56: I've been doing the radio show now for several weeks and it's a weird thing The counter goes down to 329 50 and I'm just supposed to talk in the microphone
22:03: I don't know if anybody's out there listening who might be listening. Maybe no one but now I see faces I see
22:09: Bibles and so I think I got a congregation in front of me. I'm gonna let it go today So buckle your seatbelts right now.
22:15: All right number 14 Faith is a result of salvation. Not the cause faith is a result of salvation
22:22: Not the cause we talked about this on the radio on Thursday But I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter 2 God gave you your faith
22:29: Get it out of your mind. If you think this way I Believed on my own then
22:34: God was allowed to save me This is the button I have to push to allow God to save me the button
22:40: I push is my own faith Friends that is works righteousness I think a believer an immature one a new
22:45: Christian could maybe believe that way But if you now believe scripture, you're gonna say God saved me and then granted me faith
22:52: He he of course you have to believe but your belief doesn't cause you to get saved
22:58: It is the result of it. And I think at the end of the day you'll say to yourself then this gives more praise to Me no
23:04: God Ephesians 2 8 we have to remember that although faith is a command
23:10: It is also a gift if you've been here any amount of time You've heard me talk about this a lot, but it's an important theological lesson
23:16: So we want to put it in the series Ephesians chapter 2 you notice earlier in verses 1 through 3 the plight and and the the
23:26: CV the resume of man and we have the brilliant For by grace you have been saved through faith in Ephesians 2 8
23:35: Faith a commitment a confidence a humble trust in Does not save you what saves you?
23:48: Grace saves you Christ saves you Christ perfect life and his perfect death confirmed by the resurrection
23:55: Saves you the conduit the non meritorious non wage conduct is faith
24:04: What is the reason what is the cause of your salvation? It is not look at the text 2 8 for by grace.
24:11: You have been saved because of faith. Is that what it says? It doesn't say because of faith. It says what it says through faith
24:17: Where is the because of found back up in verse 4, but God being rich in mercy
24:23: You want to know the reason you want to know his motivation? Why did God save you? It wasn't because of your faith
24:29: That is a degrading thing that when we speak of God that somehow, you know, I supply my faith
24:34: God does all the rest friends Here's what you supply and I supplied it as well sin Lots of it
24:41: God when it comes to your saving package. Here's my contribution Me the sinner and I didn't say well
24:47: I've got this faith because even that faith is going to be tainted with sin. What is the cause of your salvation verse 4?
24:54: But God being rich in mercy There's the because because of his great love with which he loved us
25:02: That's a different way to construct the Greek word verse 8. You're saved through faith showing that it's an instrument yes, you have to believe but you're going to see this is a gift from God the because the cause of your salvation when you're in heaven and God says
25:18: Begin with the angels to worship my son and if an angel were to ask you why are you here?
25:24: I guarantee you first of all, it's a hypothetical question But second of all if you were to be asked you wouldn't say because my friends they they didn't have enough sense to believe
25:32: But but I really believe when that evangelist got up and and and I believed you think you'd say that Here's what you'd say.
25:42: I Don't know what hit me. I love my sin Sinner go in my own way and God sent his spirit to go after me and he quickened me
25:53: He made me alive. He regenerated me. He declared me. Just he gave me saving faith and I said
26:00: I believe Won't you which one gives more glory to God? I'm the one
26:05: I mean I've got a friend and you heard about my friend very often his nickname is the anvil and the anvil has he's bald and he's
26:11: Got a big beard down to here and he looks like he should be some kind of Fight guy, what do they call it?
26:16: MMA WWF? I have no idea WAAF Peter You're betraying what you do out of the heart
26:30: The only difference between the anvil who
26:38: I hope God still saves and me Is that God visited me with mercy and because of his great love he loved me
26:45: He saved me and I responded with faith You have the baby being born think about especially some of the new parents here
26:51: The baby is forced out of the birth canal. The baby doesn't climb out. The baby doesn't help its way out
26:56: It is forced out. Why did Jesus usually must be born again talk in John chapter 3? Salvation is something done to you and when the baby comes out and feels how cold it is and everything else the baby responds with What?
27:09: Would you ever say the baby is saved because of their the baby is delivered because they cry And that's what got him out and then that somehow the mother has to go well get this crying kid out of here no
27:21: How can you get this complete? Lack of trust in yourself this complete trust in the work of another when you're still a sinner
27:29: You are visited with the grace of God and you respond. Yes Simultaneously logically though.
27:35: It has to be regeneration first and then you respond simultaneously. It probably happens all at the exact same time
27:41: Grace doesn't earn anything It's not some quality or virtue that we can produce it as a trusting in the
27:48: Spirit of God for what he has done It relies on divine grace the cause of your salvation market if you're a
27:54: Christian, it's not because of your faith It's because of God's mercy. We don't believe we contribute 1 % and that's the faith
28:07: Thomas Hooker the Puritan said God justifies the believing man not for the worthiness of his belief
28:12: But for the worthiness of him in whom he believes Now that will increase your praise
28:19: We contribute nothing How about this? Let me just read you the verse
28:25: Acts 18 27 He helped greatly those who had believed through grace
28:33: How do you believe you believe through grace and look back at your text Ephesians 2 8
28:38: For by grace you've been saved through not because of faith and that not of yourself whether it's the faith or all of salvation process
28:45: It's not of yourself. It's not of you. It is the gift of God This by grace through faith salvation is not of ourselves
28:53: Spurgeon said at every point of salvation you just write to you right above what you think you've done not of yourselves
28:59: What's the text say it is the gift from God not from anyone else not from your pastor not from yourself
29:05: Not from your mom. It is the gift of God are from God number 15 number 15
29:17: You might think this is self -serving. I Hope you don't think that number 15 the 15th lesson that I've learned as we're wrapping this series up is that God Jesus Christ loves preaching
29:31: The world says forget preaching Austin O'Malley said sermons are like pie crust the shorter the better HL Mankin said what is the function of a clergyman?
29:44: Answer he gets his loving but he gets his living by assuring idiots that he can save them from an imaginary hell
29:51: It's a business almost indistinguishable from that of a seller of snake oil for rheumatism
29:58: Preaching outmoded preaching old preaching is like the horse and buggy
30:04: Compared to the Concord Jet But if you turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 1, let's quickly look at this and you'll see that Jesus loves preaching
30:13: Jesus has commanded preaching you ought to love preaching you ought to love preaching. I Remember when
30:20: I was an unbeliever, I didn't love preaching at all I wanted that long boring message to get out of there and please give me more comedy more humor more
30:27: Illustrations to pop culture and let's get the thing over with I didn't want to hear from some boring old book But then when
30:32: God gives you faith, he causes you to be born again. You respond with what I Got up, you know
30:39: It's like when I talk to two people and they say I've got like 500 sermons on my iPod and got to get a bigger One so I could put 5 ,000 on there or walking around with sermons or reading books about sermons.
30:48: They're listening to sermons They're coming back on Sunday night for sermons and all of a sudden you say God has given me a desire to want to learn about him through preaching
30:57: And Jesus loved to preach I would go so far to say the primary purpose of Jesus's life on the way to Calvary was to Preach good news, and if you love
31:06: Jesus, you'll love preaching Look at Mark chapter 1 verse 34
31:12: One of my all -time favorite accounts if I get to travel to Africa or anyplace else I always talk about this because preaching seems like it's on the way out
31:21: Preaching somehow in our society seems like it's harsh and critical and overbearing. It's a synonym for negative things
31:27: Don't you preach to me? Mark chapter 1 if you're an unbeliever here today, you're still gonna look at this and go that is an amazing thing and Jesus Mark 134 healed many who were ill with various diseases and cast out many demons and Jesus was not permitting the demons to speak because they
31:45: Knew who he was They knew who he was and now we're gonna have a little intermission
31:52: Here's kind of a little interlude quiet kind of change of pace. What's happening here?
31:58: Look at the passage In the midst of Jesus a super hectic schedule Strategically Mark says verse 35 very early in the morning
32:08: While it was still dark Jesus got up left the house and went off to a solitary place
32:15: Where he prayed So now the plot is thickening it's getting kind of quiet and you think what is going on why is he doing this?
32:24: Why is he retreating? He got up very early sometime between 3 a .m. And 6 a .m It's probably dark out there and at the text says that he had a lengthy protracted time of prayer with the father
32:38: Now put yourself in Simon's shoes Simon look at the next verse Simon and his companions went to look for him
32:45: And when they found him they exclaimed everyone is looking for you. Can you imagine you wake up in the morning?
32:52: Simon finds all the crowd of people around because now more sick people are surely there more people who are demon -possessed are surely there
32:59: Simon's looking around this is gonna be another great glorious day. There's all kind of miracles and I get to be there I'm on the inside scoop.
33:05: I'm Peter James and John and I'm the I'm Peter and this is gonna be great He looks all around. He says well, there's one important person missing missing and that is
33:13: Jesus Where is he go check the room go check this room go check upstairs Jesus isn't around the miracle working
33:21: Jesus is at your house and a bunch of people are outside who need miracles and you're left
33:28: His forehead was probably getting moisture by the moment, so what do you do go get
33:34: Jesus I Hate it when I just see this passage and they exclaimed and people preach it like this
33:42: Everyone's looking for you Everyone's out there looking for you Jesus Now I can't find out the intonations and the pitch and the voice and the volume
33:52: But I guarantee you I would if I was a betting man, I'm not but I would bet this
33:58: Jesus is gone. And now Peter runs around he finally finds him and they exclaim what?
34:06: X Exasperatedly with hands on hip everyone's looking for you.
34:12: You know, we did that. That's what you would do The hunt was on release the hounds
34:20: To look for there doesn't even give the NAS is just poor on this. It is an intense word
34:26: It means to track down with single -mindedness you go get them like with a heat -seeking some kind of missile
34:32: No deviations go get this Jesus. Everyone's looking for you More people are at the door
34:38: Messiah and you're not there. What do you expect me to do now? You get back there and you start healing them right now.
34:44: That's the idea. I think Peter has said things like that before Now Jesus could have said get thee behind me
34:51: Satan. He said that to Peter before what does Jesus say? Does Jesus love preaching?
34:57: What about these people who are healed physically but spiritually are not forgiven and they go to hell anyway, even though they have all their limbs
35:06: Even though they can hear even though they can see Jesus replied Here is a shocking statement.
35:14: Here comes a slap in the face Figuratively with a cold hand. Let us go somewhere else to the nearby villages
35:24: So I can preach there also That is why I what's more important than healing people preaching good news about forgiveness
35:38: Somebody that says I got a I got a healing ministry and there's no word preached you can know that's a false heretical
35:46: Healing ministry. That's an aberration not biblical. Here's what you do you say Here's what
35:52: Jesus did there's healings, but the healing is a platform for preaching Dick Lucas said this
35:58: I'll never forget it. I was in Los Angeles right by where the riots were to be in a couple years
36:04: Here's what you do if you'd like to ruin your ministry one get the power to heal all sickness To get a large crowd of sick people
36:14: Three turn away and tell them you're going on a preaching trip It's exactly what he did miracles showed the compassion of the
36:22: Messiah, but they were not preeminent preaching was Urgent need we have in the church today is preaching
36:32: Christ crucified verse by verse number 16 I think maybe the last one number 16, please turn your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3 number 16 the 16th lesson is that we all
36:43: You all ought to make it your goal to prize Jesus Christ more and more
36:49: That is to say when it comes to theology. It's good to study systematic theology It's good to study hermeneutics
36:56: But the reason we do all the study is so we can know Christ better more personally and understand him better Theology has a goal getting to know
37:05: Christ better with more compassion with more compassionate Wonder more praise and here we turn to Philippians chapter 3 and we'll pretty much work through a lot of the chapter
37:15: Philippians chapter 3 Paul is writing and he says thankfully if you're a pastor you love his first word in Philippians 3 1
37:22: Finally, and then he goes on for two more chapters And so it works out perfect in conclusion, and then you talk for another half hour.
37:29: It's biblical Finally my brethren and he's talking about joy and unity in this book.
37:39: He's writing it from prison He says finally brethren rejoice in the Lord To write the same things again is no trouble to me and it is a safeguard for you
37:48: He's going to be tacky attacking works righteousness works -based faith if you will and One of the sure ways to combat that is to talk about joy and and you can rejoice in the
38:00: Lord That that proves the worthlessness of this kind of works and here's what he says Who preaches like this anymore in a kind of fluff cotton candy preaching?
38:10: You can't step on any toes I'm just waiting for the phone calls before I get kicked off the radio.
38:16: It's just a matter of time So we might as well have fun while we're doing it But if you look at the Bible, you can't run from stuff like this
38:23: If you're gonna stand for truth, you are going to stand against error with all your might
38:28: That's what Jesus did Peter did Paul did right here here's what he says beware of the dogs
38:36: Beware of the evil workers beware of the false Circumcision, what word do you see there three quick commands beware beware beware?
38:48: Not just look at but look at and give a wide berth to stay far away from It's not like you know when you see something there's a car accident or something
38:58: That's really bad. You want to get up really close to look you think no I've got to get a far away from that I need to kind of run and give a wide berth and Paul says beware beware beware and then he uses
39:08: Alliteration in the Greek uses he says beware of these three things that all start with K Now you don't see the case there because you don't have
39:17: English or Portuguese or another language. You don't have The Greek each one is with K, and he says first of all beware of the kunas are the dogs
39:28: Remember the Jews used to call the Gentiles what? Dogs now what is
39:34: Paul talking of who is he talking about the Jewish? People wanting to go back to the law and now he turns the table and by the way this isn't some kind of nice You know nice dog
39:45: Wonderful dog kind of like you know my dog a dog that almost has a soul. You know she's so human like Kind she just in the house
39:54: These are those kind of stray gross spit fangs
40:01: One of those dogs that you know has all kinds of diseases a wild dog and now the
40:06: Gentiles are thinking about the Jews They're dogs It's amazing term
40:13: These are these ugly pariah scavenger dogs Garbage dogs the
40:19: Gentiles are used to be called dogs and now Paul's calling the Jews dogs Beware these dogs stay clear of the dogs
40:27: These people that somehow make you want to go back to the law you run back to the law
40:33: It's gonna make you like a scavenger dog a pariah dog gross and ugly garbage dog
40:39: They're not for the house, then he says there's another K beware of the cacus ergotus the evil workers
40:50: They're evil workers. They try to gain merit by working and if God says you can't gain my my love by Working it just be as bad as if our kids said you know
41:02: I really want you to get to Dad I want you to love me, so I'm gonna work real hard in the backyard That that is shameful because my love is through a different way and so here
41:12: They want to get their love and their merit by working. That's evil, and then he calls them one other
41:19: K word Katakomi he doesn't call them circumcision here. He calls them the mutilation
41:26: It's not real circumcision. It's a mutilation These Judaizers aren't
41:34: Circumcised they're mutilated and you can hear the Jews just cringe because the only people that did the mutilation of their bodies were these outright pagans and Then he says verse 3 but on the other hand we are the true circumcision
41:51: Internal God has circumcised our hearts who worship in the Spirit of God not by some right our sacrament or external thing we worship by the
41:59: Spirit of God and Glory in Christ Jesus. We don't glory in Torah.
42:05: We don't glory in Moses. We don't glory in the Pentateuch We don't glory in what we do we glory in God Jesus Christ and put no confidence in the flesh
42:15: And then Paul comes to this passage that will help us in this lesson for today To make sure whatever we have in our life and whatever we've done
42:26: We realize what the true value is so you know the real value and that value is in Christ alone so Paul says all right you want to have kind of a
42:37: We're gonna measure who's who's got more human credentials who can put confidence in the flesh He says in verse 4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh
42:47: You guys think you've accomplished a lot if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh. I Far more you think human credentials get you someplace in life.
42:56: Well. I'm a Jew I get to go to heaven my father's Abraham I get to go to heaven. I've been baptized. I get to go to heaven I've been confirmed
43:02: I human credentials get you someplace in life. Well. I'm a Jew I get to go to heaven My father's Abraham. I get to go to heaven.
43:08: I've been baptized. I get to go to heaven I've been confirmed. I I've got the list and then he gives seven advantages for by birth
43:16: For by action, let's just look at these all leading us to we are going to want to place our affections on Christ Jesus alone
43:27: Circumcised the eighth day that's his first advantage He was circumcised on the day that he was supposed to be circumcised on You weren't supposed to get circumcised on the seventh day
43:35: It wasn't supposed to be on the ninth day was supposed to be on the eighth day according to the law Leviticus chapter 12 verse 3
43:42: Some people say I was born a Gentile and now I want to be Jew I have to get circumcised when
43:48: I'm a lot older No, he wasn't some descendant of someone else. He was a
43:55: Lawful Jew he said number two Yeah I'm the nation of Israel look at all the things
44:00: I can say look at why God should let me into heaven Look at all these works that I could have I'm of the nation of Israel Abraham's descendants could be through Isaac could be through Ishmael There could be eat of mites involved.
44:15: No, he said I've got Abraham Isaac and Jacob in my line I'm a
44:21: Jew from the cradle my parents I didn't have one parent who was a Jew and one was a
44:26: Gentile one a Jew one an Ishmaelite one a Jew one I got a Jewish mother and I've got a
44:31: Jewish father and I've got every right and privilege that's promised to me as a Jew I didn't convert to Judaism Number three,
44:37: I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. You see that in verse 5 small though highly esteemed
44:45: Jacob Son Benjamin was the only one born in the promised land
44:50: Genesis chapter 35 From the tribe of Benjamin comes Israel's first lawful
44:57: King Saul the holy city of Jerusalem and its temple were assigned to Benjamin judges one and the list goes on he says what next verse 5
45:09: Excuse me still in verse 4 I'm a Hebrew of the
45:15: Hebrews that is in verse 5 circumcised the eighth day the nation of Israel the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of Hebrews according to tradition according to what we do what we say
45:27: Everything then he gives by choice and by training and by conviction three other things
45:33: I'm a Pharisee as to the law verse 5. Do you see it a Pharisee? I wasn't some backslider lawless person.
45:41: We did things we were not the liberals like the Sadducees We were not the lax people we obeyed 99 times in the
45:49: New Testament. This is the only time it's used outside the gospel and the book of Acts He said
45:54: I defended the religion. I was Orthodox Then he says as to zeal.
45:59: Do you want to know how far I go with this religion of mine as to zeal a Persecutor of the church.
46:05: I was into it literally persecutor means chaser. I chased Paul What did you do for a living as a
46:11: Pharisee? I was a chaser. I chased people Ravaged the church. I entered the houses
46:17: I drug off men and women and put them in prison Acts chapter 8 verse 3 He breathed threats and murder against the disciples of the
46:24: Lord Acts chapter 9 Now we're coming to a climax here Look at what he also says in verse 6 as to righteousness was in the law found blameless
46:35: I kept the law from a human perspective Externally, I kept the law and I am proud of it
46:44: So Paul's dealing with these Judaizers these people that like to add things to the law Paul says if you like to think that you can get to heaven by who you are and what you've done
46:51: I am better than you. Whatever you are. You're X. I'm X plus one you do things
46:57: I do more and then Paul says now I'm gonna drive it home Look what he does with all this You want to ask yourself this question before we look at this text?
47:06: Why do kind old? Men and women go straight to hell without Jesus Christ Because they are not rapists and murderers and serial adulterers they are kind they are gentle They are good in the sight of society and they think if they do their thing
47:26: God will be pleased with them and they don't think they're that Unrighteous. I'll never forget the day as long as I live
47:32: We're going door -to -door and evangelism and it was my turn to knock on the door. So I oh Nobody's home time to go, you know as a seminary assignment
47:39: You just knock and then run over the providence of God. He wants to save him. They'll save him. All right
47:47: Let's just hi My name is
47:53: Mike Avendroth and I'm with Grace Church and we're here to invite you to a Christmas concert over here And I'm thinking this guy is some huge Harley guy.
48:00: He's the anvils brother Practically and I'm just faking thinking. Oh, I'm just in so much trouble.
48:07: This guy's gonna shoot me. I'm dead and He said hey guys, why don't you come on in but this is pretty good
48:17: I'm good at this Gonna be marking some kind of little tick mark in my front of the
48:22: Bible before this night's over Then we talked for a while and no, I'm not interested, but you know, have a good day.
48:29: Do you want a beer? You know, he's all kinds of things. So okay. Let's go to the next house. I've got it going on this time
48:36: Hi, Mike Avendroth of Grace Community Church, and it's gonna be so good
48:43: It's a sweet kind of old lady and she's gonna say do you want some tea? How about some chai?
48:49: Do you want to have some kind of cookies maybe some snickerdoodles or she was old enough She might have said some hermits or something.
48:55: I don't know. I like hermits, too She looked at me once she heard the name of the church because we were close to the church
49:04: She looked at me and it was get out of my face and slam that door I began to think about my grandmother as well although she was heinous on the inside with gossip and Slander and bitterness and a lack of devotion to Jesus Christ the only
49:25: God according to the Bible in Society you wouldn't run up if you saw the police car go down the street.
49:32: You'd never think it was going to earn a even draws house and So people can use this
49:38: I'm good in society as a cloak that somehow I'm good in God's eyes and God's eyes says
49:44: I'm holy you're undone and until you realize that everything you have in your life
49:49: Should be put in one big bundle your education your parents your life your thoughts your achievements your work
49:57: Your money you put it in one big bundle and light the fire to it and said say this stuff
50:02: Keeps me from going to heaven and it's got to go Because I'm trusting in this and I've got to count it as a big heap of rubble.
50:10: Let's take a look at the passage But whatever things were gained to me He just told us that All those things were gained to me.
50:20: I thought and it was going to be gained in God's eyes, but they weren't Those things
50:26: I have counted as what? Kind of good when I need them Still good, but you know,
50:34: I found something better Everything I had and for you it can be baptism catechism
50:42: Confirmation going to missions trip trying to be good being kind to people paying your taxes not getting arrested
50:48: I'm a church member everything these things I've counted as loss for the sake of Christ at conversion.
51:00: I thought to myself with consideration and regard Paul said My achievements are now failures.
51:07: What was in my positive side of the ledger is in the negative side of the ledger I have to take things from the debit side and put them in the credit side my whole life who
51:16: I am That word loss by the way in the Bible is used for accounting terms used to describe a business loss
51:27: Everything gets placed in the loss column and there's one a person in the gain column the debit column
51:36: And the way he does it is He takes the word loss in your original language and it makes it singular
51:43: He could have said those are all losses, but Paul says they're all put together in one big rubbish heap
51:49: They're all piled up with all my credentials all my paperwork all the power everything I've ever done all the business as I've ever owned and sold and degrees
51:58: I had I put him in one pile and I said they're one big loss That's why apart from the grace of God good citizens and nice grandmas.
52:09: Don't go to heaven When they die because they're thinking that's game Paul says it's loss.
52:15: It's damage. It's a disadvantage. It's it's forfeit It's trash. It's great loss and Paul doesn't just say well, you know,
52:24: I think I just better move on He says I needed to dismiss them with the speed of some kind of 98 mile an hour fastball
52:31: I've got to throw them and expel them for the sake of Christ But then something else happens verse 8
52:38: More than that more than that. How can it be that at Salvation? We said it's all just rubbish
52:44: How can we say more than that more than that by the way, he doesn't even really Say English words that we would get he basically just puts five particles in there
52:54: Yes, indeed. Therefore at least even just trying to say this is coming with force. It's coming with conviction.
53:00: It's coming with passion I'm just stacking these things up. So you get it. It's like a trumpet blast one, two, three, four five more than that He says more than that.
53:10: I Count now I counted it past tense when I got saved
53:15: But now that I'm saved Paul 25 years later. He says I am still counting right now
53:22: I'm counting right this very minute all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing
53:28: Christ Jesus It's more than some settled conviction.
53:34: It's now I'm doing it this very moment. I Because I've got
53:42: I've got money I've got fame I've got education, but I still think today it's nothing because I see
53:47: Christ I see that and in comparison that's trash and you know what the passage goes on to say, don't you?
53:54: In view verse 8 of the surpassing value of Christ Jesus my lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things
54:00: You know Paul did everything that he had on that list. It's gone and more and count them.
54:05: But what? Rubbish in order that I may gain Christ To have God my lord.
54:12: Everything else is rubbish and Paul on purpose pushes the revulsion button and He says, you know, here's how you should see all that stuff in the past that it is like dung it is like manure
54:25: That's what the word is. It is discarded food. It is droppings all the way to translate that Now I have a question for you
54:35: Every couple years we're supposed to Get our septic tank pumped out and I pay him $200.
54:42: I dig a little hole they come and Evacuate it all out and when that septic truck drives away
54:48: Do we all sit down in our house and cry our eyes out when the garbage man comes every
55:00: Wednesday? Get the garbage out get the big green garbage can out you put all your stuff in there and by Wednesday It just doesn't smell very good at all
55:08: And there's worms and maggots and flies and everything and the garbage man drives off and you just Cry the garbage man left with all our stuff
55:19: And everybody has to pray and get down on their knees another garbage man came. Is that how you act?
55:25: Well, you think you think I'm weirder than I I was just five minutes ago, but Paul picks the vulgar term for a reason
55:35: This is not the modern emergent people who like to swear in the pulp But this is Paul and a very opportune time saying friend and now
55:42: I say to you. How do you think you're going to heaven? Because you're circumcised because you're baptized because your dad's the pastor because you're a member because you're catechized because you're an
55:53: IBS Because you you say I've got a ministry and I make cookies for people and I do nursery duties and I've I've never
56:00: Stolen or got caught for it. I don't do felonies and and God just thinks I'm pretty special Friends who you are and what you've done should be put in one heap and you say you know what?
56:11: I was all living for the wrong master with sinful hands and God came along and told me through Regeneration that what
56:18: I used to love I hate it now. I used to say this is what I live for This is what the world runs for and now it is a joke.
56:24: It's worthless. It's done and now I get Christ What does the flesh produce
56:33: Paul says flesh produces what the septic people take away
56:39: What a slap in the face that is to the Judaizers Have you come to a point in your life when you have assessed your former identity and your whole?
56:49: Power structure and you said that is a big pile of fertilizer Because if you haven't you haven't done business with God In gaining
56:59: Christ, it's worth it all you said I couldn't do that Well, of course you can only God could allow you to see what you used to think is positive is now negative
57:08: But Jesus makes it clear unless you repent you will perish Why do you think
57:14: God can so take all of religion every religion but Christianity and put it in that same pile?
57:21: Because it's an attempt to appear before a thrice Holy God on your own merits
57:27: It's an attempt to go to heaven in a way that God said you can't go And then it turns positively in verse 9 and we close and may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own
57:42: Derived from the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith
57:51: Verse 10 mark it down power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death
58:04: Paul says I I don't think I'm anything anymore. I don't think I'm something anymore. I'm not deceiving myself anymore
58:10: It's all lost because I get to know Christ And so for us as we learn about the
58:19: Bible and learn theology, it's a good thing But the goal is getting to know Christ Jesus our
58:28: Heavenly Father. You are great. You are awesome and you are gracious who in this room
58:38: Lord does not know you I Rejoice father that you know, and I rejoice that you save people through the word
58:46: I pray that you would take the unbelievers today and help them to realize that everything that they think they've ever done
58:53: Said achieved or accomplished Cannot save them and cannot earn your favor. I pray that you'd give them that insight
59:00: And Lord, if it means taking everything away by a disaster or a trial Lord We would rather have the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents than have someone have an easy life on earth
59:11: And then Lord, I pray that you'd give them an attraction and give them a love for Christ Jesus to see him who he for who he is and for what he's done and for what he will do
59:22: And for us as Christians Lord, we in this theological series don't want to just know more
59:27: We'd like to be more like your son and we'd like to love him more and we'd like to love your son in Thanksgiving for that in praise for that and may your spirit now be generous and liberal to help us to do that Which we cannot do in Jesus name.