Chardon church of Christ

The Serenity Prayer

INTRO:
It is good to see all of you back again this evening.

The Serenity Prayer is one of the most widely known prayers in existence. It was written and published by Reinhold Niebuhr in 1951, although he had used it much earlier in a sermon in 1943. Although only the first four lines are usually quoted there is more to it. The full quote is;

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.

Please understand the Serenity Prayer is not found anywhere in the bible. However, I do like the message that is found in it, especially those first 4 lines. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference between the two.

I want to start the lesson this evening talking about things that we cannot change, that we may wish were different, but learning to just accept them, be at peace and be content, with where we are, who we are, and the condition that we're in. Second, I also want to look at things that we can change, we should change, and we are expected to change.

I. Accepting Things I Can Not Change: We're going to start by talking about things that we cannot change that we need to learn to be content with. In Jeremiah 13:23 the text says; “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.” I'd like to answer this first question here.

A. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? If you don't know an Ethiopian is an African, a black individual. Can he change his skin? No, he shouldn't want to change his skin. He should be quite comfortable in his skin. A leopard can not change its spots, nor is it likely a leopard would want to.

1. There are certain things that we can not change, that we may wish were different, we may even pray that they're different, but we can't change them.
2. The best thing we can do is to learn to be content with whatever it is and remember what the apostle Paul said, he learned to be content in whatever condition, whatever state he was in, What we recognize here is we, like Paul, can be content and at peace even though there are circumstances and situations that are not the way we want them to be.

B. Over in Matthew 6:27 it says; “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” Answer that question for yourself. How many of you by worrying about how tall you are can make yourself taller? You may be able to wear platform shoes but you're still just as tall as your body is going to be and you're not going to get taller.
C. There are some things that you may be able to change about your appearance physically.

1. You may be able to dye the color of your hair, but it's still the real color underneath the dye. You can't change your age physically. I'm as old as I am. That's just the way it is. Now age change is legal act. I have read it is recognized in practically all legal systems, and allows a person to adopt an age different from their age at birth. The procedures and ease of an age change depend on the jurisdiction. In general, common law jurisdictions have rather loose limitations on age change, while civil law jurisdictions are quite restrictive. But I ask you, if a person were to legally change their age, would their length of time on earth really be any different? Some people get very concerned about how old they are.
2. My word to you is, be at peace with where you are and who you are. Be at peace with the body God has blessed you with. There are some things you may be able to change, you may be able to exercise and get a little bit more physically fit. You may be able to lose a little weight, but the truth of the matter is physically speaking, you are who you are.
3. Be content and be at peace with who you are. Worrying about things you cannot change in your physical body, that are there regardless of how much you may wish they were different, won’t change them. Worry is not going to change your age, nor is it going to change your height.
4. Skin color is not going to change. You may be able to put some dye on it or tan it for a little while, but it's going to come right back to whatever color it normally is. Be at peace with who you are.

D. In Second Samuel chapter 12, in the context David has committed adultery with Bathsheba. Bathsheba conceives. David has been told by the prophet Nathan that this child is going to die. I'm going to begin reading and Verse 19; “19. When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?'' And they said, "He is dead.'' 20. So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate.21. Then his servants said to him, "What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.'' 22. So he said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' 23. "But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

1. Unfortunately there's going to be times in your life when people you love, people you know, people in your own family, are going to die. When those moments come it is going to tear you apart inside. Please remember what David said here. Can I bring him back again? The answer is no.
2. People I know and love have passed away. They cannot come back to me. I can go to them.

i. I believe what the Scriptures mean when they say to die is better; to die is gain, to be with the Lord is far better. I believe what the scriptures say when they talk about when we depart from this life we will be the Lord. I draw great comfort from that.
ii. Those dear ones cannot come to me but I can go to them. The truth of the matter is I wouldn't want to bring them back even if I could, because we need to understand, finishing the race in Christ is what it's all about.
iii. There are going to be people whom you love, people that are very near and dear to you in your own immediate family, your father, your mother, your husband, your wife, perhaps even your children, who are going to finish the race ahead of you.
iv. It hurts to be separated from them. We need to realize to be with the Lord is far better. Be at peace and realize they finished the race ahead of us. Focus on doing the very best you can to finish the race, also in Christ, but there are things you cannot change. You cannot bring back your loved ones who have already finished the race.

E. In 2 Corinthians, in chapter 12, you see a situation where the Apostle Paul is involved in a circumstance that he does not like at all. He has a physical problem, he has an infirmity and he goes to God three times praying this infirmity would pass from him. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 says; “7. And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

1. The Apostle Paul tells us he has an infirmity, a thorn in the flesh, the specific nature of it we're not really sure. Many have ideas but we're not really sure. The fact of the matter is he didn't like it. He didn't like living with this infirmity and he wanted it to be gone and he wanted to be healed. He went to God and prayed three times that the infirmity, the thorn, would be removed.
2. The answer given back to him was “my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness”. The fact of the matter is there are going to be times in our lives when we are going to have thorns in the flesh. We may find ourselves afflicted with some type of infirmity, illness, or sickness and we don't like it. We wish it were gone, we wish it were different. We may find ourselves going to God time after time, and day after day, praying “please Lord please remove the thorn please let me be healed. Let me feel normal again.”
3. We need to realize that the thorn may never be removed and that we may die with that infirmity and carry it all the way to our grave. That may be hard to hear, but we need to learn to be content in whatever condition we are in.

i. It will not be easy, it may be extremely difficult. Draw strength from the Lord remembering the Apostle Paul when he was imprisoned over in Rome and he was facing the possibility of having his life taken from him. Realize that he still had that infirmity while he was in prison, and that is where he says in the fourth chapter that he learned to be content in whatever condition that he was in. He followed up by saying in one of my favorite verses, I believe it's my most favorite if there is such a thing, Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
ii. In the text here he is talking about drawing strength from God and God is allowing this thorn to remain in order to strengthen Paul. It is the trying of your faith that is going to produce patience.

4. Sometimes God is going to allow us to go through fires and suffering in our life, in order to produce patience in our life, in order to make us stronger so that we can actually finish the race. It may be difficult to understand but there are times God allows the thorns to remain. If we cannot change it, continue to be at peace and content, even though the thorn is there.
5. Philippians 3:13 – “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,” You'll find if you read the writings of the Apostle Paul that it seems that the sins he committed at the very beginning of Christianity, when Christianity was growing, when Jews started persecuting the church, and Paul led the persecution against Christianity; those sins seem to have haunted him.

i. As a matter of fact when he wrote to Timothy he called himself the chief of sinners and he spoke about the situation time and time and time again in his ministry and his life as an apostle.
ii. But there's something very important here in Philippians 3:13. “Forget those things which are behind”. Let me ask you. Can we change yesterday? No.

F. The fact of the matter is we've all sinned, folks. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. There are things in each and every one of our lives that we are ashamed of. Sometimes these sins seem to hang on our conscience like chains of guilt. Learn to let it go, forget what is behind. You can be forgiven and make peace with God, to where the blood of Christ washes you, and where you are made as white as snow.

1. As I often tell people when you make peace with God make peace with yourself. When God forgives you don't be harder on yourself than God is.
2. Be at peace with yourself and forgive yourself. You can learn from your past sins but you cannot change the past. You can be forgiven of your past sins but you cannot change the past.

G. There are some things that we just cannot change, I cannot change my age. I cannot change my height, I cannot change the color of my skin, so the best thing for me to learn is just to accept Tom Blackford for who he is and be at peace with who I am.
H. I cannot change the fact that I have had loved ones pass from this life. The best thing I can do is use it to strengthen me, to give me a greater drive to want to go to be with my Lord and finish the race in Christ myself.
I. I can't change the fact that certain people I love and know have thorns that have not been removed yet, but we can use that to be strengthened rather than let it tear us down. I cannot change my past sins but I can be forgiven of them and learn from them and move on—and be at peace knowing I've been forgiven by God.

II. Change the Things I Can: Then there are some things that we can change. Colossians Chapter 3 is going to be the primary text we're going to be using. We're going to begin here in Colossians 3:5 – “5. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7. in which you also once walked when you lived in them.” Look at this. When he says put to death your members he's talking about various kinds of sin they were involved in from fornication to covetousness to idolatry to evil desire, we need to understand when he's telling them to put these things to death that the idea is; get rid of them completely. When something is dead it's gone.

A. We're talking about repentance. The point we need to understand is this. We have the power within us to repent. We do have the power within us to put off the old man. You do not have to sin. It is not genetically locked into your actions. It is not something that you are predetermined or predestined to do, to where you must sin.

1. You can and I can put off the old man. Continuing in the text now at verse 8. “8. But now you must also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, ” Here again he tells you to put it off. From that we can derive it is possible to put these things off.
2. If you have a problem with your anger the worst thing you could do is say; “that's just the way I am, you-all are going to have to deal with it.” No. That is not the way of Christianity.

B. Listen folks, somewhere in this text that I'm reading to you from Colossians will be something hitting you. Every one of us here has spiritual weaknesses. Every one of us here has spiritual flaws where Satan has attacked us, he may be attacking us now and he will attack us in the future to get us to sin in these particular areas. This text is hitting every one of us. What we are expected to do is recognize where it's hitting us, where we have our spiritual flaws and we are to deal with it, by putting it off.

1. If the problem is anger, we are expected to put it off, to learn to be angry and sin not, to learn to be slow to wrath, to learn to pass over the transgression, to learn to not allow our anger to cause us to sin with our lips and our actions. We are expected to get it under control and put it off.
2. Getting back to the text here, what about lying? We do not have to lie. The Lord expects us to tell the truth. Whether it’s the truth about our self or the truth of the circumstances around us, Christians should be people that are known for their honesty. If you have a problem with lying or exaggerating, which again is lying, put it off. Stop it.
3. Back to the text here looking at a few others of these—filthy language out of our mouth. We should know we don't have to cuss. We don't have to use filthy language. We can control the tongue. Yes, James talks about how it is pretty tough to get that bridle on the tongue but not impossible. We are expected to get the bridle on our tongue to where we are controlling the words that come forth from our lips.

C. Continuing now in verse 10. “10. and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11. where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”

1. I want you to notice here that now we're talking about another aspect of repentance. A lot of times when we think about repentance we think about removing, stop doing these things. I am willing to recognize that there is a lot more to repentance than putting to death the old man and putting off the life of sin.
2. It includes a transformation that is taking place which is not just stopping, it is also starting. We stop going in one direction putting off the old man and then we go in a completely new direction putting on the new man. Let me ask you this question: Who is it that we put on? The answer is Christ.
3. Think on this. You put on a new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. We're talking about putting on Christ. Remember what Paul said, “it's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Him self for me.”

D. In Christianity we want people to see Christ living through us. That is what we are doing. So much so that when someone wants to know, “what was Jesus like”, they should be able to look at us because we have put Him on. We have put on His humility we have put on His kindness we have put on His brotherly love, we've put Him on to where they see Christ shining and living through us. It's not just enough to put off the old man, put to death the old man. We are expected to put on Christ.

1. Look at this now continuing in verse 12. “12. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13. bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”
2. Put on tender mercies. Put on kindness. Put on humility. Put on meekness. Put on long suffering. Put on being willing to forbear, and put up with one another. Put on being willing to forgive as Christ forgave you—put on Christ. Put it another way, you need to have love.

III. Repentance: We all have the ability to repent—but it is an ongoing process. When you obey the Gospel you are expected to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. You are expected to put to death the old man and to put on Christ. Please understand though, you do not have the humility of Christ the day you obey the Gospel. You do not have the humility and the meekness and the longsuffering and the kindness and the tenderness of Christ—even now. You haven't reached it. Is there anyone here that can say I have in my life attained to the kindness of Jesus Christ?

A. The point here is this, repentance is not point action, it is linear, it is a walk, a journey. It is a process we began when we obeyed the gospel, and it is a process that we will continue every day of our life. That is why if we're continuing to walk by faith and live by faith, and if we find we are going in the wrong direction, we'll get up, we’ll ask forgiveness of it, and then we’ll get back into the race.
B. We are expected on a day to day basis to grow in these Christian attributes, to where eventually they are in us and abounding. We will start off as a babe in Christ, but we are expected in our life as a Christian to grow stronger, and stronger, and stronger continually, to where we have put on Christ and grown in the Christian attributes enough—so that people actually see in the way we live, Christ shining through and living through us.
C. I’ve heard it said this way and I believe it is true, repentance is the living by faith. Mull that over for awhile. Repentance is the living by faith. Remember Matthew 3:8 – “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” [KJV] What Jesus is saying should suggest to us the true relationship between repentance and the reformation of life. The reformation of life is not repentance itself but issues from repentance and is a direct result or "fruit" of repentance. We know that repentance cannot be the reformation of life by looking at the words of Jesus who said: “if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him.''” (Luke 17:4).
D. We're talking about a product of faith and living by it, and continuing to grow in it. The point we need to see is this, we still need to change and become stronger Christians tomorrow than we were today.

1. If I sinned this day, I need to ask God's forgiveness of it and I am expected to put off the sin and try to do better tomorrow. I cannot change the sins which I’ve committed today but I can be forgiven of them and I am expected to not just say; “well that is just the way I am”. No. We're expected to continually grow and do better tomorrow than we did today. Continually being more like Christ every day.
2. We need to understand this and think of repentance as a continual process. Faith is a day to day aspect of our life, confession is a day to day aspect of our life, and repentance is a day to day aspect of our life.
3. It is a daily aspect of our life to continue to grow in the word, to continue to change into the image of Christ. There's only one thing in Christianity that you do one time and that's it—baptism. You're baptized into the body of Christ and after that you live by faith.

IV. Serving: One other point and I’ll wrap this up. In James 2:15-16 – “15. If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16. and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,'' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?” Familiar words indeed.

A. The first text we were studying from Colossians is talking about our ability to change ourselves, our ability to repent, to put off the old man, to put on the new man, to conform ourselves to the image of Christ. We should recognize though, that we as Christians are also expected to get involved in other people's lives where we are able to bring about an actual change and effect in their life.
B. Here you have a brother or sister who is destitute of daily food. We have the power within our own hands to help this brother or sister in Christ to share with them our food. It is our gift from God. We are expected to bring about change in the lives of other people.
C. We are expected to not pass by on the other side, but to take time in our lives, to take resources from what God has granted us, to make an effort with our own hands, to get involved in the lives of the people around us, who are hurting emotionally, who are hurting physically, who are hurting spiritually, and do the best we can to bring about change for good in their lives.
D. You remember the command from Galatians 6:2 – “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” .

CONCLUSION:
Let us then consider this evening. Wouldn't you get from that phrase and so fulfill the law of Christ wouldn’t you consider that to be a pretty important command, a major part of Christianity?

Folks, when someone is hurting, they're hurting physically, hurting emotionally, hurting spiritually or they're just lonely, when you come into their life and you take time out to help them have that pain removed—that is a major part of Christianity. Striving to bring about change in the lives of people around us for the good to where we try to help them heal their wounds and carry their burdens and deal with their spiritual struggles. It's important for us to be able to recognize that we can help change other people's lives.

The serenity prayer is not part of the word of God, and I recognize that, but I like the serenity prayer. I think the message in it is very good. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. There are a lot of things I cannot change. I do not like them, but I cannot change them.

The best thing I can learn to do with them is just be peace, be content, and go forward in my life as a Christian. Be strengthened by the thorns, use the passing of loved ones to give me an even greater desire to finish the race myself, to accept who I am, and where I am. I've been forgiven. I can learn from it and move on.

You know Tom Blackford has spiritual problems and I'm expected to look at myself and see myself the way I really am, to see myself the way the Lord sees me, and when I see sin in my life and I look in the spiritual mirror, I'm expected to deal with it, and I'm expected to try to be stronger tomorrow than I am today.

I am expected to try to see people in the world around me and slow down and get involved in their lives, understanding that's what Christianity in its main part is all about. Bearing one another's burdens and try to bring about the changes which I am expected to do and able to do, with the gifts God has given me.

I appreciate your kind attention. There may be somebody here this evening who is not a member of the body of Christ. Do you know you can change? You can change that situation. You can be a member of the body of Christ tonight. You can be saved and leave this building tonight as a child of God in the body of Christ, you are a free willed being with the power of choice.

I would like to encourage you to choose to obey the gospel. If you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God openly confess that faith, repent of your sins, start living by faith and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as you put off the old man and put on Christ.
We’ll be glad to assist you, baptizing you for the remission of your sins and God adds you to His Kingdom.

You will be a child of God. You will be a Christian in the body of Christ. What is expected of you then is to take up your cross daily, to follow Him and live by faith.
If you are child of God already and there's sin in your life and you recognize that sin is separating you from God, I would like to encourage you to deal with it. You can change, yes you can. You don't have to do it. You don't have to sin. You can change.

Change motivated by godly sorrow, turning from your sin and coming home to the father. We will pray for you, we will pray with you and do the very best we can to encourage you. If you're subject to the Gospel call in any way let it be made known while we stand and sing the song has been selected.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: Wayne Fancher

The Lion of God

Judges 3:7-11

OPEN: “Muhammad Ali” was probably one of the greatest heavyweight boxers in the sport's history. Not only was he a skilled boxer, he was very good at self-promotion, and he’d use clever pieces of short poetry to catch the imagination of his audience. For example, before his fight with Sonny Liston he said he was: “gonna float like a butterfly and sting like a bee… hands can't hit what his eyes can't see.”

But he also used that “poetry” to challenge others to do better. He once gave this message to a college audience in NY:

“Stay in College
Get the knowledge
Stay there till you’re through.
If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread,
They can sure make something out of you.”

This morning we’re reading about a man that God “made something out of.” Have you ever heard of a man named Othniel? He doesn't seem like much. Not too many Christians know who he was or what he did.

That reminds me of an incident that happened at a tea for officers and their wives. The commanding general of the base delivered a seemingly endless speech. A young lieutenant grumbled to the woman sitting beside him, “What a pompous and unbearable old windbag that slob is!”
The woman turned to him, her face red with rage. “Excuse me, Lieutenant. Do you have any idea who I am?”
“No ma’am,” the man fumbled.
“I am the wife of the man you just called an unbearable old windbag.”
“Oh,” said the lieutenant. “And do you have any idea who I am?”
“No,” said the general’s wife.

But Othniel was important to God (his name is in the book) and God thinks it’s important YOU know who this hero of the Old Testament was and what he did.
His name is Othniel (meaning “Lion of God”) and he saved Israel from their sins.

Now, just a little bit of background.
Years before Othniel was even born his uncle Caleb did something that impressed God. Caleb was just a young man when Israel was held in slavery in the land of Egypt. He was there when Moses came and challenged Pharaoh and said God told Pharaoh to “Let my people go.”

Caleb was there when God brought down the 10 plagues upon Egypt to force Pharaoh to ask the people of God to leave.

He was there when God parted the Red Sea to allow Israel to cross on dry ground and caused it those same waters to collapse upon the chariots and army Pharaoh, destroying the might of Egypt.

 

Caleb where was there when the people of Israel came to the Mountain of God (Mt. Sinai) and he would have seen God come down upon that mountain with thunder and lightning and the terrifying sound of the trumpet of God.

And he was there just a few days later when God brought Israel to the very border of land He had promised to give to His people.

Moses selected 12 men to go in and spy out the lay of the land and help him decide the best strategy for taking Palestine. Two of those spies were Joshua and CALEB (Othniel’s uncle).

Those two great men were overwhelmed by what they saw. It was literally a land flowing with Milk and Honey. They saw great cities they wouldn't have to build, orchards they wouldn't have to plant, and wells they wouldn't have to dig. And God said it was all theirs!!!!

They remembered how God brought the plagues on Egypt.
And how He parted of the Red Sea.
And how He showed His fearsome power at Mount Sinai.
And they were convinced if God was giving them this land, nothing could stop them.
But the other 10 spies didn't see it that way.

They saw exactly the same things the other two did. They saw the beauty, the splendor and the wonder of the Promised Land, but these wonders were overshadowed by something else they saw. They saw the giants in the land, and in those giants they saw defeat…disaster… and death. And they were afraid.

And their fear spread through the entire camp and the people became so frightened that they refused to obey God and enter the Promised Land.

So God said “Fine, you don’t want to go… you don’t have to. You will never enter the land I've promised you. You’ll die out here in the desert.”

So everyone there died in the desert… except two men.
Two men didn't die in the desert.
Two men were allowed to enter the Promised Land.
The two men who believed God’s promise about the Promised Land.
Two men named Joshua and Caleb.
Forty years later Caleb enters the Promised Land at the age of 85.

And he was STILL convinced that if God promised something… God would do it! And so Caleb said to Joshua in Joshua 14:12:
“… give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites (giants) were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”

God promised. Caleb believed. And at 85 years old, he cleaned out the giants in that land. And Othniel was his nephew.

Now, what was so special about Othniel?

Let’s read it again in Judges 3:7-9: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.
But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.”

All through the book of Judges it’s the same story.
It’s like Israel never learned!
1. The people SIN,
2. God PUNISHES them by selling them into the hands of their enemies
3. The people REPENT and plead for God to forgive them
4. God raises up a JUDGE/DELIVERER to save them.
5. And Israel is at peace as long as that Judge lives.
What interesting here, is that Othniel is the FIRST of the judges.
And God CHOSE him to deliver Israel from the results of their sins.

But why choose him?
Why choose Othniel?
What was so special about him?
Well, there are a few reasons I can think of.
1st Othniel was a man who was infected.
He was infected with faith.
He caught his faith from someone else.
Who do you think he was infected by?
That’s right – Caleb. Othniel learned from Caleb how to have a bold faith and how to live a courageous life.

Don’t misunderstand me now. Caleb was a man of faith… but Caleb’s faith wasn't in HIMSELF. It wasn't in his own strength and cleverness or abilities. Caleb’s faith was based in a God who would always be there for him. There was no challenge he wouldn't take on as long as God was by his side.

As David wrote in Psalm 18:2 “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

That’s the kind of man or woman that God’s looking for.
He’s looking for a David.
He’s looking for a Caleb.
He’s looking for – an Othniel.
Othniel was a man of faith.

And I believe he was a man of faith because he hung around his uncle.
In the first chapter of Judges, we find that Caleb is asking for somebody to step up and take out an important city for him.
“Caleb said, ‘I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.
Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it...” Judges 1:12-13

Othniel doesn't say anything anywhere in the book of Judges. He’s not a man of words. He’s a man of action.
Caleb throws down the challenge for someone to take the city, and Othniel just gets up, goes out and takes it.
Why? Because he hung around Caleb. Caleb does stuff like. Caleb trusts God and does mighty deeds. If Caleb can do that… Othniel figures he can do it too.

Paul wrote: “I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 KJV
We have the same promise as Christians that Caleb and Othniel had in their day. The same God who backed them up is there to back us up as well.
I CAN DO ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me.

But I’m convinced that Othniel became a man of faith because he hung out with a man of faith.
And that’s what church is all about. Church is a place where we hang out with other men/women of faith.
There are people who will tell you they can be just as good a Christians without going to church. Have you ever heard someone say that? That’s a lie. Now, they CAN be Christians without going to Church, but they cannot be “just as good a Christian” that way.

Church is designed to be
• a place where we rub off on each other.
• a place where we strengthen each other.
• a place where we challenge each other to great deeds.

Hebrews 12:24-25 tells us to “…consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another— and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Meeting together as a Church and in Bible Studies is not just an end in itself. You can have all the “attendance pins” you like, but just being here is not enough. We are to be in church to leapfrog on each other’s faith. To build on each other’s faith and grow stronger together.

So, Othniel was chosen to save Israel from their sins because he was infected with faith. And …….. I believe that Othniel was chosen because he’d been prepared beforehand.

Othniel didn't just sit around staring at the sky all day. He already had an active faith when God chose him. He’d already gotten used to acting on that faith when he took that city for Caleb.
When God wanted a man… Othniel was ready.

You know, an odd thought occurred to me.
I got to thinking about some of the great heroes of Scripture. Men like Abraham, Joseph, David and others. And then it occurred to me that many of the Bible’s heroes were only known for ONE thing that they did.

• Noah for example. What’s he known for? He built an Ark and he floated on the water for a while. Big deal. But it was a big deal.
• Gideon was known for his defeating the Midianites with 300 men.
• Esther was a beautiful queen who was known only one thing - putting her life on the line to save her people, Israel.
• Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – what are they known for? That’s right; they spent time in a fiery furnace. But that’s all they did of any importance in Scripture. But it was a big deal.
• Then there’s Andrew, one of the 12 disciples. All he did was tell his brother Peter to come and see Jesus.
• And of course Ananias is only known for baptizing Paul into Christ. Nothing else is said about him in Scripture. He’s not mentioned before or after this church changing conversion.

And you could go on and on and on about other great people of great faith like them in Scripture. Many were “one hit” wonders. They were only known for one thing. But that one thing was something that shaped the course of Biblical history.
But something else I noticed about them. God didn't just pluck them out of thin air. They’d been training for years to be the kind of people they’d become.
ILLUS: A Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut wrote a book called "Rescuers: Portraits of Holocaust survivors" and interviewed people who had harbored fugitive Jews in their homes despite the danger to they and their families.

What he found was that many of the rescuers had a history of doing good deeds before the war - some visiting people in the hospital, others, collecting books for poor students, still others taking care of stray animals. "They just got into the habit of doing good. If they hadn't perceived that pattern as natural they might have been paralyzed into inaction." They did what came natural.
That’s what God is looking for. People who have gotten into the habit of being faithful to Him.

2 Chronicles 16:9 tells us “… the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him….”
God’s looking for people of faith and faithfulness so He can strengthen and use them for great things. And that’s why God chose Othniel.

Lastly, I believe Othniel was chosen to do what he did because God had set him up.
I know that’s an odd thought, but I really think God sets us up once in a while. He puts us in the right place at the right time to do the right thing because He wants to prove something.

Consider these facts about Othniel:
1. He’s of the tribe of Judah
2. His name means “Lion of God”
3. He is chosen to be the rescuer of Israel
4. And he rescues God’s people from their sins

Does that sound like somebody else we know? (JESUS)
That’s right:
• Jesus was born to the tribe of Judah.
• Revelation 5:5 says he is “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”.
• And he was sent to rescue us – to save us from our sins.

But I think God even threw in an extra nugget in here for us. The bad guy in this story is named Cushan-Rishathaim. Now aside from the fact that that’s an extremely hard name to pronounce, it has a meaning.
Cushan-Rishathaim means “doubly-wicked”.
Does that sound like anybody else we know? (SATAN)
That’s right! The Lion of God came to defeat the one who is doubly wicked, so that we might be freed from the curse of our sins.

Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us “Since the children have flesh and blood, (Jesus too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
Isn't that cool?
And it’s all tied to Othniel… a simple man who was willing to trust God, serve God and be used by God. And my point is this: God is looking for folks who are willing to trust Him, willing to serve Him, and willing to let Him set them up to do something powerful.

And you don’t have to be particularly smart to have God use you.
I’m living proof of that.

And that’s the story of Othniel. A man who God made something out of. A man who God chose to be His man at the right place, at the right time, for the right reason.

And that is what God is looking for you in you and me.
He’s looking for someone He can use.
He’s looking for you. But first you must belong to Him

INVITATION.

Giving Back to God

Numbers 18:12

INTRO:
Good to see everybody here this evening.

This evening I would like to talk about a portion of our worship that some might even not recognize as actually being worship. When you think about worship what do you think about? We come together, and we praise God in song, in worship. We pray to God, in worship. We take the Lord's Supper, in worship, but there is another thing we did this morning that quite often people do not recognize as being part of worship and that is giving back to God.

We took a portion of time to give back to God a portion of what He's blessed us with.
I want us to recognize that is indeed a manifestation of worship. Let’s go back and define what we mean when we talk about worship. Worship is an expression of our personal relationship with God from our hearts. Again I'm going to say to you, worship is an expression to God, from your heart, about your relationship with Him. You are singing praises to God your Father. You are praying to God your Father, your partaking of the Lord supper from the heart remembering the death of the Son of God.
I want you to recognize that giving is also, from the heart, to God and it's an expression of your relationship with God. We talked about this aspect some this morning from Romans 12.

I. Giving Back to God in The Old Testament: We're going to begin our sermon this evening by going to the Old Testament. We're going to be studying the nature of the sacrifices of the giving to God from the Old Testament. The reason we're going to do this is because by understanding the nature of giving in the Old Testament I believe it will help us understand exactly what God expects from you and me today as we give to Him under the covenant of Jesus Christ.

A. We're going to begin here Numbers 18:12 – “All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits which they offer to the Lord, I have given them to you.” In the text we see the nature of the sacrifices that were given by the children of Israel under the Mosaic dispensation, when they were giving to God. They gave God the best.

1. This is key to understanding the basics of Old Testament giving and it is so important that we understand this—they gave God the best they had. They gave Him the first fruits they did not give God what was left over.
2. They didn't think of themselves first, they did not say OK; what can I give to God to satisfy him and then keep all I want for me. That was not in their thoughts. At least not initially though they did fall into this later. And by the way that same trap is still there. What was in their thoughts was, the very best I have, the first fruits of what I have, that's what I'm going to give to God as my sacrifice to Him.

B. You will find over in 2 Samuel where David makes an interesting statement about sacrifice; 2 Samuel 24:24 – “Then the king said to Araunah, [a-ra-nah] "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.'' So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.” In the text David is trying to stop the plague that is coming upon the children of Israel because of his pride and numbering the children of Israel. He's trying to offer a sacrifice here on this threshing floor that belongs to this Canaanite. The Canaanite offers to give it to him. David makes a very interesting statement; “nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” The thing David understood was that sacrifice costs you something. It is going to be from you, and it's going to put you out.

1. It is going to hurt. That's why you call it sacrifice. Yet, quite often I think whenever it comes down our thinking of giving today, it’s giving God what is left over. How little can I give to God to get Him off my back? How little can I give to God and keep Him pleased and keep everything else for me? I don't want to sacrifice anything. I don't want to put myself out.
2. In Malachi 1:18 you see this attitude among the children of Israel when it came to giving. It says; - “when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?'' says the Lord of hosts.” Asked the question at the end there what is the answer? That answer is No.
3. The governor would not accept it if you came to him and you bought a blind, lame animal and you said look what I'm giving you. “You're just giving me your discards you're giving me your left over’s, you are giving me what you don't really want, but what you want you're keeping for yourself.”

C. Let’s tie all this together. You give God the best you've got. You don't give him what's left over after you take what you desire. You give to the point where it's a sacrifice, to where there's going to be some putting out of yourself and it is going to hurt to a certain degree because you are letting go of something that is important to you, that is valuable to you and yet you are freely, willingly giving all your best to God. That's the way they did it in the Old Testament.

II. Giving Back to God in The New Testament: The reason I want to look at this is because I think our understanding the nature of sacrificing and giving in the Old Testament can better help us understand exactly what it is God wants from you and me today, in our relationship and our worship when we give back to God. That being stated let’s go over to the New Testament and study giving to God in the New Testament.

A. Again, you’ll find in Romans Chapter 12:1 that we have laid down for us the degree of the sacrifice that God wants from you and me today. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” In Christianity we need to recognize that in giving to God, what we give first—is ourselves. That's the starting point. Again please remember, what is worship? Worship is an expression of our personal relationship with God, it comes from the heart and whenever we are going to be giving to God, what we have to give first—is our self, completely as a living sacrifice.
B. Give God your all. Everything connected to you goes as a sacrifice to God. That means your family, your time, your money, and everything. Do not think in terms of your relationship with God; that I will give you this much of my life and then I'm going keep the majority of it for me. If that is the way you think about your relationship with God you've completely missed it. He doesn't want half of you. He doesn't want the majority of you. He wants all of you. That is what is meant by a living sacrifice.
C. Let us look at 2 Corinthians 8:5 – “And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.”[ para] What did they do first? They gave themselves to the Lord.

1. The idea of this in other words is they did not hold back for themselves or to give to someone else first. Remember what He said in Matthew 15:24? “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” That is what you do when you give yourself to the Lord, you deny yourself. What does that mean to “deny yourself”? What I want does not matter. It is what He wants that matters.
2. I have to deny my will, my desires and give myself over totally, completely, in service, to God as a living sacrifice. You give yourself first and you give yourself as a living sacrifice to God where God is at the very center of your life. All of your actions, everything you say and everything you do is structured around and built around your relationship with God.

i. There is not going to be a problem with giving God your time.
ii. Having your family built around God and giving back to God your finances.
iii. That's just going to be part of it because you've already given your whole self and your whole life and everything connected to you over to God.

III. Give According to What You Have: Having considered that lets go further. In 2 Corinthians 8:12 – “For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.” Here we have another major principle laid down for us in relationship to our giving back to God. First of all what we see here, is He wants it to be with a willing mind. That is, “I want to do this, I want to give back to God.” It's a pleasure to give back to God because we recognize where all our blessings are coming from.

A. Stop and think about this for a moment. We're alive right now aren’t we? Who gives us this life, God does. The breakfast that we ate this morning, where did that food come from? God gave it to us. The job that we hold down, the income that we make, where does it come from? God makes it possible for us to do this.
B. Every good gift every perfect gift, all the blessings in our life comes from the Father of life with no variation or shifting shadow. He is daily loading us and showering us with all these wonderful physical blessings, our homes, our families, the food we eat, the clothing we wear, and all the riches He gives us. Recognize everything we have comes from Him, every single physical, and spiritual blessing is coming from God. We have the honor and the privilege to willingly give back to God who has given all these things to us.
C. He says, pertaining to our giving, it's accepted according to what one has and not according to what one does not have. Putting it another way you can't give what you do not have. My dad would say; a pint can't hold a quart—if it holds a pint it is doing all that can be expected of it.

1. The widow in Mark 12:42 did not have much. She couldn't give five talents. She had two mites and she couldn’t give 5 talents because she did not have 5 talents to give. What she did have, she gave. She gave it all. You are expected to give to God according to how God has given to you.
2. Then let’s look at this over in Luke 12:48 – “... For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” This is a basic principle of our relationship with God and what God expects from us. To whom much is given from him much will be required.
3. You'll see this over in the parable of the talents. Look at this in Matthew 25:16-17 – “16. "Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17. "And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.”

i. The man who had been given five talents, how many more did he produce? Five.
ii. The man had been given two talents how many more did he produce? Two.
iii. Now think about the principle that is being laid down here. It's this, they produced 100 percent. They used it all. The man who had two talents was not expected to produce 5 talents. The man who was given one talent, how much was expected of him to produce and give back? One.

D. You cannot give what you have not got. However, it is imperative that we recognize how much we do have. Recognize how much we have been given by God; recognize the abilities and the talents and the blessings that God has showered upon us. Then recognize that all these abilities, all these talents, all these blessings, are expected to be used for His glory as we talked about this morning. You have given yourself as a living sacrifice to God and all your talents, abilities and blessings are now expected to be used for His glory, His honor and the furtherance of His kingdom.
E. Look at this over in Romans again if you will. I know this is familiar to you. Romans 12:5-8 – “5. so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:” I want to stop right there, and look at the middle of verse 6. Here we are told that various gifts have been given us and Paul says let us use them.
F. Then he goes to the various different kinds of gifts that have been given to different individuals and he says; “ if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7. or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; Let me stop here for a moment. You know when we talk about giving what's the first thing that comes to our mind? Money, money is the first that comes to our mind. It’s right there.

1. We don’t want to think that way. That is just part of us; our money is just a part. When we are talking about our giving ourselves as a living sacrifice, we are talking about our life, our time, our effort. Our God, given abilities.
2. Abilities are amazing. Some folks have a gift for singing. They have this knack of making everything they do in song just so pleasant to the ear and by doing that they draw along us lesser gifted ones with their glorious voice.
3. Some of you have got ten talents. Being able to work and encourage people, who are discouraged and you're able to go and listen to them and comfort them. Recognize there are a multitude of talents that are given to individuals. Sometimes it is teaching, sometimes the leading singing, sometimes it is going and comforting others. Sometimes it's helping people carry their burdens. The abilities and talent you have been given whatever they may be, use them to the fullest to the glory of God. And recognize what they are, and give it all back. If we don’t think we have any gifts then we need to spend time and meditation in God’s word and the Holy Spirit will provide us gifts through our understanding.

G. Let's get to the rest of the text here in Romans 12 again. “8. he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” We're getting down to finances. That's part of it. I'm asking, does anybody here categorize themselves this evening, as poor in the eyes of the world? I'm not saying that there aren’t people that are struggling. There are, I am certain of that. But we have food and clothing, someplace to live. We probably do not have dirt floors and we don’t have to walk barefoot to a stream for our water.

1. We have more then many and I think of Psalm 23 My cup runneth over. Our cup runs over. We have enough.
2. We are not to feel guilty about the blessings that God has given us. Please don't take that away. We just need to be conscious and aware—that God has liberally blessed us. He showered upon us wealth and according to the scripture the one who has been liberty given to is expected to give generously, ungrudgingly. We are familiar with the text that you give according as you prosper; well we need to be aware of how much we have prospered. Don't give God what's left over. That’s one of the traps people fall into. Be conscious and aware of what God has blessed you with and then, in turn, give back to God.

H. In Acts 11:29 – “Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.” The whole point to get from this is that God does not expect more of you than you can do. The man who had been given five talents was expected to produce five talents more, 100 percent, and no more. The man who was given two talents was expected to produce 100 percent, no more.

1. We need to find out how many talents we've been given and face up to the reality of their existence, and then use them, 100 percent, to glory in the service of God. That's what a living sacrifice is all about—according to your ability. Not according to what you don't have, you can't give what you don’t have.
2. We need to be aware of what we do have. I believe God has given a us much and as a consequence of that He expects much from us.

IV. Give Cheerfully: Turn to 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 – “6. But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work.”

A. Let’s start with verse 6 which has the very interesting concept, that he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Realize that this statement is made within the context of us giving to God. Putting it another way, how much harvest are you going to have in the work of the kingdom. It will be determined by how much seed you sow. We understand that don't we?

1. Your harvest is going to be directly proportional to the amount of seed you sow and the seed is the word of God. Letting your light shine, and going through open doors, and bearing one another's burdens, and being involved in the work of the Kingdom, and bringing in the harvest.
2. If you keep the seed in the storehouse don't expect to have much of a harvest. You're going to find that the growth of the kingdom and the growth in the kingdom are directly connected to our labor, and our effort is going to be directly connected to us using our abilities and our talents to the fullest.
3. As we use our abilities and our talents to the fullest we will bring in a harvest. There will be an impact on people in the world around us as we let our light shine, and actually become the salt of the earth. Having a great influence on the people we come in contact with.

B. It says here “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work.” I would tie this verse 8 back to verse 6 because this thought is directly connected here.

1. What you gave this morning who gave that to you? God did. Everything that was put in the plate this morning was given to all of us by God. Yes, sometimes I fear what people might think is; I can't give this to God I needed it. There's so many ways I can use it for... For what? For me and what I want and things I think I need or don't need but I really would like to have. Verse 8 is talking about that.

i. We need to recognize that when we give back to God and we give back to God properly, then God is just going to shower more blessing on us and make sure that we have what we need so that we can take care of our needs and even the needs of others in the world around us.
ii. God is warning us to learn to do what He has done for us. How much did Jesus give for you? 100 percent didn’t He, as a living sacrifice for all of us. It shouldn't surprise us that God is warning us to learn, as children of God, to give ourselves back to him 100 percent as a living sacrifice. Learn to do what our Savior Jesus Christ did for us.

2. Go back to verse 7. “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

i. “Okay, okay, I got it, preacher you want me to give more OK. I really don’t want to do this. I could use that money.”
ii. If that's our attitude then we should just keep it because that's not what He wants. He doesn't want to present. “Is 10% ok? I’ll do it. Okay I'll do it to fulfill my obligation.”
iii. He wants us to be cheerfully, gladly, willingly giving back to Him. “Thank you. Appreciate it. I hope it’s used for your honor and glory thank you for all the blessings you've given me and my family in this past week. I'll be glad to share back with you a portion of that which you've blessed me with for the furtherance of your kingdom.”

C. We'll close with Philippians 4:17-18 – “17. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. 18. Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.” I want us to see here in the context we're dealing again with their giving financially back to God and he says; first of all I seek the fruit that it may abound to your account. We need to recognize that the giving of our finances or any other gift, is for a purpose and it is for the furthering of the Kingdom of God. That is what it's all about. When we are told of bringing in two more talents or five more talents or bringing in a harvest what we are talking about is the growth of the Kingdom of God, that is souls for whom Christ died being brought to the Lord and ultimately making it to heaven with God.

1. That is what it is all about. I want to make it to heaven and our whole life as Children of God should be structured around and built around our desire for those in the world around us to find their way through the darkness, to the Light of the kingdom of Christ. To find the pathway that leads to heaven through Jesus.
2. Our talents what ever they may be, speaking or singing or exhortation or kindness, or mercy, or compassion, or helping, or comradeship, or hospitality or giving, are all toward this purpose. For the abounding of the fruit and the harvest.

CONCLUSION:
The last point I would like us to look at is that when we do give our portion of what God has given to us and we give cheerfully and we give freely and willingly and gladly and we've given our self first, God sees it. He doesn't look at the check and the number on it; He looks at our heart.

First and foremost and always He wants to know; are we giving ourselves or are we holding back; are we a living sacrifice. When He sees that we are a living sacrifice, giving because we love Him, it says it's a sweet smelling aroma, it's an acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God. Folks, this is what worship is all about. We want to be well pleasing to God, not just going through the motions.

Motions—bow my head, say the words in the song, eat the bread, drink the grape juice, take my money put it in the plate, I’ve worshipped.... Have you? Have you worshipped? .
Or have you gone through the motions of worship in ritualistic fashion?

We need to examine ourselves folks and come to understand what worship really is.
Then when we do come together on the Lord’s Day our worshiping is actual, real worship in spirit and in truth from our heart to God. That is as the text says—well pleasing to God.

Real worship begins in our heart and it is an expression of our personal relationship with our God.

Maybe somebody here this evening is not a member of the body of Christ. If you believe Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God and you are willing to openly confess your faith and repent of your sins, we'll be glad to assist you and baptize you into the body of Christ for the remission of your sins. If you are a child of God and your relationship with God has grown weak and as a consequence of your faith and your love being weak, you found that you’re back in the world of sin. I would like to encourage you to come home.

Come back to the Father. We will pray for you. We will pray with you. We really will try to do the best we can to encourage you as your brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are subject to the Gospel call in any way we invite you to come while we stand and sing.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: Wayne Fancher

He Has Done All Things Well

Mark 7:31-37

INTRO:
Good Evening.
The miracles of Jesus and the things that Jesus said have been placed on record as evidence of His deity, to make men and women recognize who He is and what He can do for them.

A young mother tells the story that when her son was two and a half she would send him to clean his room but each time he went in, he got distracted by all the toys and nothing got put away.
Following some principals she had learned at a recent ladies day about prayer she went in and said to him, "Johnny, what did mommy tell you to do?"
"Clean my room"
"And did you clean your room?"
"No." he replied quietly.
I disciplined him and then helped him to pray and confess his error to God and ask Jesus to help him get his room cleaned. He seemed to respond really well to all of this and I thought, "Wow, this will work."
But Johnny just got down and sat in the middle of the mess, doing nothing.
In frustration I asked, "Johnny, what are you doing?'
He replied, just as frustrated, "I'm waiting for Jesus to come and help me clean my room!"

I guess that illustrates that sometimes we do not really understand how Jesus helps us.

With that in mind I'm going to one of those incidents in the life of Jesus recorded in the gospel according to Mark Chapter 7 and beginning to read at Verse 31 just a few verses.

It is about the miracle of a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech.
“31. And again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. 32. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. 33. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. 34. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha,'' that is, "Be opened.'' 35. Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. 36. Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. 37. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.''”

In a number of the modern translations those words in Verse 37 He has done all things well, have been rendered “whatever he does he does well”. That's the theme that I want to look at tonight.

In this particular instance there is a striking miracle, isn't there? The method that Jesus used in dealing with this man is quite remarkable. The man is deaf and has an impediment in his speech which in all probability was due to the fact that he didn't hear properly. That’s a fact of life, isn't it? Very often when a person cannot speak clearly it's because they are not hearing clearly and when a person is really deaf they may have an impediment in speech. Since they don’t hear normal speech clearly they consequently are not able to reproduce it clearly.

They brought this man to Jesus and Jesus took him aside. He dealt with him privately. I find that interesting. There has been speculation on this part. We know people who have physical disabilities are often very sensitive and those of us who lack physical disabilities are not as sensitive as we ought to be. We don't always feel for them as we ought to.

Perhaps Jesus felt for this man because He knew how embarrassed the man must have been. For whatever reason, He took the man aside and dealt with him privately. Jesus put His fingers in the man's ears for the source of the trouble was the hearing. Jesus then looked up to heaven acknowledging the source of the power, and it is recorded He sighed, perhaps a silent prayer, said to him, "Ephphatha” and the man heard clearly and he spoke clearly. The word the Lord spoke, Ephphatha, ἐφφαθά ephphathá, ef-fath-ah', means “be opened!”, an imperative of the verb.

Let me suggest something else to consider. The man could not hear, he likely did not know what was to happen. Jesus takes him aside and tells the man what is about to occur using pantomime, hand gestures involving the man’s ears, tongue and then looking toward heaven and appearing to sigh. Jesus may also have taken him aside because He did not wish the multitude to have any basis for supposing that his touching the man's ears and tongue, or His use of spittle, had anything whatever to do with the man's cure. If the Lord had not done such things privately, some might have considered the Lord's healing to be accomplished magically, after the manner of Greek and Jewish magicians. That seems to be born out in the touching of spittle to the man’s tongue. In those days people believed that spittle had a curative quality. Suetonius, the Roman historian recorded this belief in writing about Vespasian’s life.

The people were so amazed that they said whatever He does He does well. Actually the Greek word here we translate as “astonished beyond measure”, (ὑπερπερισσῶς hyperperissōs, hoop-er-per-is-soce') is the emphatic and expresses they have come a settled, a firm, opinion. They are absolutely convinced that whatever He does He does well.

I. In the course of the centuries since this word was written there have been many tributes paid to Jesus by the noble, the mighty, the great, the intellectual and the moderately good. I don't think anything really surpasses this very simple, very brief, heartfelt testimony from these people who witnessed the miracle that day. Whatever He does He does well and that really sums up the life of Jesus.

A. No matter where you look in his life.

1. If we consider Him for example as the word existing in the beginning by whom all things are created - whatever He does He does well. Genesis 1:31 – “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”
2. If we look at His earthly life and we see Him, as Peter says in Acts 10:38, he went about doing good - whatever He does He does well.
3. If we think of the sacrifice that He made, that perfect sacrifice offered for our sins, and we think of the redemptive work of Jesus - whatever He does He does well.
4. If we think of His ascension to heaven and His ministry in the presence of God, right now, as our high priest, standing before God and interceding on our behalf - whatever He does He does well.
5. Rest assured, when He comes again with all His mighty angels, and brings judgment on all mankind, the living and the dead, that second coming might be characterized in the same way. Whatever He does He does well.

B. All through the life of Jesus this was the kind of feeling that people had concerning the things He said and the things He did.

1. For example let's go back to the creation. You remember that John tells us that He was the Word who existed in the beginning with God. We know that creation began in the mind of God. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It is a fact, the plan of creation was conceived in the mind of the great intelligence, the great intellect of God himself. He is the designer of all things, but the world’s creation according to the Bible, as you very well know, was carried out by the Word of God.
2. The Word was with God, all things were made by him by the word and without him was not anything made that was made. [para] That's paraphrased from what John says in John Chapter 1.
3. In Ephesians 3:9 Paul says very plainly, you can't get away from this, “God who created all things through Jesus Christ”
4. Hebrews 1:2 says; “in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds”.
5. I love the verse Colossians 1:16 where Paul says of Jesus Christ; “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

C. It seems to me that this settles once and for all time the question as to the deity of Christ. You can't imagine words like this ever being spoken of a human being, can you? No matter how great that man might have been, no matter how wonderful that personality might be, you can’t say things like this of a human being, of a mortal man.
D. This is the scripture’s testimony that Jesus existed in the beginning with God. He is God, He is deity and He is God's agent, God's instrument in the creation. Consider; because whatever He does He does well, that it must have been a beautiful creation in the beginning. Imagine being back there in the garden when everything was pristine and fresh, clean and pure from the hands of Almighty God. Where there's no pollution, no decay, no death. Nothing that defiled, nothing like that at all, and to walk in the world that God made, into which He placed Adam. It's no wonder that you read; God's saw it was very good. Don't miss the word “very” there. It was very good.

II. Even today in a world that's been defiled and debased and degraded by sin, in spite of the evidence of so much going wrong, so much corruption, so much evil, in a world that's cursed by death, when everything around us is dying and decaying there's still a great deal that testifies to the beauty of God's creation. Imagine what it must have been like in those early days to have been there with Adam and Eve before sin entered, when they walked and talked with God, and had fellowship with their creator.

A. Whatever He did He did well in the beginning as the creator. Then if you think about His earthly life the same thing is true. He came into the world to deal with the problem of sin and you can say the same thing about Him, whatever He did He did well. He came into the world to put aside, to break the power of that sin in people's lives, to eradicate the consequences of evil, and thank God one day sin will go away. As Peter says in 2 Peter 3:13 - “we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” The old earth will pass away. The Bible says that plainly in a number of passages.
B. Jesus went about doing good, healing the sick, curing the lame, giving sight to the blind, and even in three recorded instances raising the dead to life.

1. He demonstrated His power over the things of this world, over disease, over nature, over death itself and what the multitudes said at the healing of this deaf man was typical of the impression made upon all who witnessed the miracles. Whatever He does He does well.
2. Has it ever struck you there's a world of difference between the miracles wrought by Jesus and the pseudo miracles performed by so-called faith healers and miracle workers today?

i. I heard this from a preacher recently telling of his experience at a meeting in a Pentecostal Church on Studfall Avenue in Corby, England. At this meeting was a faith healer and it was pretty obvious that he was extremely selective about the people that he was dealing with. The preacher went with some older members of his congregation and in particular a couple named Bert and Jean. Jean had had a stroke and she was confined to a wheelchair. It was very difficult to hear and understand what she said. In desperation Jean’s family took Jean along but each night as the meeting progressed it seems they didn't have time to deal with her. She was put to the back of the queue and she never was told to come forward to be healed.
ii. The preacher also related the story of one dear old lady who lived on Mantlefield Road whose daughter was a member of his congregation. Someone told him that she’d been to that meeting on Saturday night and that she'd been cured of her blindness, or so they had proclaimed from the pulpit. The preacher went to talk to that dear old soul on Monday morning and she made him a cup of tea as she always did and had set out a copy of The Daily Mirror. He said you know the size of the headlines that you get on the front page of The Daily Mirror. They’re huge! The preacher said to her; “I understand you went forward at the faith healing meeting on Saturday night. She said; “Yes”. The preacher said; “I understand they're supposed to have cured you of your blindness”. She had cataracts in both eyes you see. She said; “Yes”. The preacher then said he did something he supposed was very naughty but he held up the copy of the Daily Mirror and asked; “Can you see that and read the headline?” She said; “No”.
iii. That was proclaimed as a miracle and is typical of the kind of thing that goes on in so called faith healing campaigns. The preacher said he had no doubt that man left Corby with a tremendous reputation because he'd healed a woman of blindness and he’d take that story wherever he went.

3. Think of that sort of thing and then think of what happened in the life of Jesus. Jesus never performed any half cures. There were no relapses of an ailment in people He healed. Whatever He did He did well. Jesus was able to cure and He never needed to make excuses or apologize or say your faith isn't strong enough. No excuses for failure like the present day miracle workers. He never turned anyone away disappointed and He never looked for easy cures. He was the great physician in every possible sense of the word.
4. If I may I’ll make one further comment. I'm convinced that so-called faith healers will have a great deal to answer for one day. They'll have to answer for the people who have left disappointed and disillusioned and who blame God for the failure. You see that's sometimes what happens.
5. When you hear of these so-called campaigns don't look at the few who are seemingly cured but judge the campaign by the poor suffering souls who go away disillusioned and discouraged and embittered because they feel that in some way God has let them down.
6. That's not the way of Jesus. Whatever He did He did well and they glorified God when they witnessed His miracles.

III. Of course the miracles of Jesus served another purpose too and that purpose is explained in John 20:30-31 – “30. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31. but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”. They are to convince us that He is the Christ, the son of the Living God because after all, the ministry, the earthly life of Jesus had a much more important significance than simply to go about healing a few people in Palestine.

A. When we think about it, the ministry of Jesus on earth was performed in a land no bigger than a hundred and twenty miles long and some sixty miles wide smaller than New Jersey. It's very, very doubtful that Jesus ever moved outside of Palestine, never moved outside of that narrow strip of country.

1. All of His life Jesus could only have only touched a small part of the suffering and sorrow that existed in the world because of sin. His mission was greater than that. He came to deal with sin at the root. He came to destroy sin and the one responsible for sin and the consequences of sin. He came to be a savior and as a savior, again we must say; whatever He does He does well.
2. In the first place Hebrews 7:25 – “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.” tells you that he's able to save to the uttermost. In the original language the word we translate “uttermost” (παντελής pantelḗs, pan-tel-ace') means “completely”, “perfectly”. He's able to save completely.

B. That was the prime purpose of His coming, to offer a complete salvation and extensive salvation and an effective salvation. Let me emphasize this, the sacrifice that Jesus offered was a perfect sacrifice, and an effective sacrifice. Able to accomplish what no other sacrifice ever offered would have been able to accomplish.

1. You think for example of the rivers of blood that must have flowed under the Law of Moses. You go back to the rude stone altar erected by Abel in the distant misty days of the beginning, then you look at the altar outside the tabernacle, the one outside the temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem and you think of the constant stream of sacrifices brought to these altars, these places of worship and the animals that were killed. Rivers of blood must have been shed in the course of the centuries.
2. Why there was a lamb offered every morning and every evening for sacrifice in Jerusalem itself! Even more on special occasions, and think of all personal sacrifices, the individual sacrifices, all the burnt offerings, the sin offerings, the guilt offerings, all the different kinds of sacrifices that were made.

C. Yet it was not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. All that happened when an animal was sacrificed under the Old Covenant is that sin was covered up. The word atonement in the Old Testament is not the same as in the New Testament.

1. It's nothing to do with the forgiveness of sins in the Old Testament. It simply means that a covering was what happened. When a man came with a sacrifice and by means of that sacrifice he confessed to God that he was guilty, he believed that this animal he was bringing was his substitute. He deserved to die but the animal was dying in his place.
2. God accepted that confession of guilt and that sign of repentance and accepted the animal sacrifice and covered the sins.
3. The sins were only covered. Even on the Great Day of Atonement, when every year there was a national sacrifice for sin, no sins were taken away. Instead there was a reminder of sin made every year the writer of the letter to the Hebrew says. What happened was that when the high Priest went into the holy of holies and offered first for his own sins because he was a sinner and for the sins of his people, his family and then for the sins of the nation, God accepted that, and the sins were rolled forward for another year.

D. God did not call them to account because God was looking forward to the time when His own lamb would come to take away the sin of the world. That's what you find in the New Testament. You find Jesus as the Lamb of God. John the Baptist said Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

1. That’s the extensiveness of Jesus sacrifice. Not just the sins of the Old Testament time, not just the sins of one particular people, the Jewish nation, but the sins of all mankind, all the sins ever committed from that first sin with Eve and Adam, right through to the very last sin that will be committed before Jesus comes back again.
2. His sacrifice is so extensive that it atones for all of this sin. Calvary looks back in retrospect to sins that were committed and it looks forward in prospect to sins that will yet be committed. Such is the power of the blood of Jesus that it avails for all sin, of all mankind, of all the ages. No half measures about the Savior. Whatever He does He does well.

E. Furthermore He deals with the guilt and the penalty of sin, He deals with the power of sin and ultimately He will deal with the presence of sin. The sacrifice of Jesus takes away the guilt of our sin. He breaks the power of sin in our lives. One day when He comes again He's going to deliver us from the very presence of sin. It's a free, full salvation that Jesus offers. It's a total salvation.
F. When we become Christians He cleanses us of the sins of our past life. As believers today, as His children, His blood avails to take away our sin. When he comes again He will deliver us from the very presence of sin to a place where sin no more troubles, where the wicked ceases from troubling as the words say and the weary are at rest. If we stay in Him that's the wonderful goal before us, the wonderful end to our existence. Whatever He does He does well.

IV. As you know, after His atoning work, we find Him ascending up into heaven. Before he ascended to heaven He gave the great commission. On the basis of that great commission the church was established. You remember that he said on the mount in Galilee. He said all authority is given to me in Heaven and on Earth, go make disciples of all nations baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you and lo I am with you until the end of the age.

A. Then later He ascended up into heaven. He told them to wait in Jerusalem till they were endued with power from on high. In Jerusalem on that first day of Pentecost after His atoning sacrifice had been offered, after His glorious resurrection, the Holy Spirit descended, Peter stood and powered by the spirit preached the Gospel in its fullness for the first time. 3000 people responded and the chapter ends by telling us the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
B. When Acts chapter two closes you have in existence the church that was in prospect in Matthew Chapter 16 where Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church. In Matthew 16 Jesus spoke of the future I will build my church, in Acts two the church has become a reality. He's done what He promised to do and ever since that time when people have responded obediently to the Gospel the church has been added to and extended to His glory. In the establishment of the church He does all things well.

1. You remember that in Ephesians 3:9-11 Paul says; “9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,” [ESV]
2. Does it occur to us that today in this age, the manifold wisdom of God is being demonstrated? That God's wisdom is shown in what He has accomplished in the church? I say God's wisdom because after all, like creation, the church began in the mind of God. Like creation, the church was born into existence through the work of Jesus just as creation was brought into existence by the work of the Word who existed in the beginning with God. It's God's church. That's why it’s the church of God. It's also the church of Christ because he died for it. He said I'll build my church. It was planned way back in the beginning.

C. Some folks today have the idea that the church was some kind of divine afterthought. There are people who think when Jesus came into the world what He really meant to do was to establish an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem. He would sit upon David’s throne and reign over the whole world. Because the Jews rejected Him, so their theory goes, they say His plans were put back a little bit. He never carried them through. He didn't become the king. He didn't establish His kingdom as He meant to.

1. One day they say He will come again and He will do what He failed to do the first time. Their doctrine says that in the meantime the church has been established as a stopgap, as a fill-in, as a divine afterthought as I said. The Bible makes it very plain that that's not the case. The church isn't a kind of second thought in the mind of God. It was planned in the beginning from eternal ages. Paul says; “which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:”(Ephesians 3:5)
2. Like light through a prism in the same way the church was designed by God to be the instrument through which His wisdom is seen in all its radiance and beauty. And not just for us on earth. The passage says; “to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,”[ KJV] Do you know what it means? It means that angels stand in wonder at what God has accomplished in the church.
3. Even the angels are amazed at what God has produced in bringing the church into existence. It was planned in perfection and it was carried out in perfection, brought into the world in perfection, so that Jesus could speak of “my church”.

D. There's a glorious destiny in store for the church. Ephesians chapter five speaks of the church as the bride of Christ. He intends one day to present the church to Himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. It exists today. It is the called out, the Christians, and it is going to be there all the time. You know somebody once said that the church would be fine if it weren’t for the members.

1. Of course, if there weren't the members there wouldn’t be the church. You have probably heard the story of one man that told Charles Spurgeon he did not go to church because there were too many hypocrites. With typical wit Spurgeon said come inside there's always room for one more.
2. The church has its imperfections it has its flaws. It doesn't look too good at times, but it's going to be transformed. He is going to present the church to Himself as a spotless bride, a fit bride for the Lamb of God and we can share that destiny, if we're faithful. If we're not Christians we can share that destiny by allowing God to add us to the church in His own special way.

V. We know that Jesus ascended to heaven and we know that He has become our high priest. When on the cross Jesus said it is finished or tetalesti it has been accomplished. He was talking about his redemptive work. His work is not finished you know. He’s not sitting in heaven like a prince without power, sitting by the side of God twiddling His thumbs, waiting to come back again, doing nothing in the meantime. We know that the Lord is still working. He said that to the apostles, didn't he?

A. He spoke to them concerning what would happen if they would accept His mission and go out and preach the word, and the end of the gospel according to Mark says: They went everywhere preaching the word. Now listen—the Lord working with them confirming the word with the signs which followed. Jesus is still working.
B. Whenever the Gospel is preached He has an interest in the preaching of the Gospel and whenever a soul is saved there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over the one sinner who repents.'' (there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance (Luke 15:7)) over 99 just people who don't need any repentance.

1. There’s a wonderful passage in Hebrews 9:24 “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;”. It's true that He's gone into the presence of God but we've not lost Him because the writer says he has gone now to appear in the presence of God for us.
2. Don't leave out the “for us”. He doesn't simply say that the Lord has gone into heaven. He says He's gone to appear before God for us.
3. Don't ask me what He's doing. I don't know all of it. I know some of it because He tells us, but whatever He's doing He's doing for us.

i. He's in heaven for us.
ii. He’s our high priest.
iii. He mediates for us.
iv. He intercedes for us in the power of His blood and the power of his sacrifice.
v. Whatever He's doing it’s for us.
vi. Whatever He’s arranging is for us.
vii. Whatever He’s preparing is for us.

CONCLUSION: One day He’ll come again. It is wonderful that we have such a high priest. We don't have one who can not be touched with the feelings of our infirmity. We have one who can sympathize because He's been a man and had all the experiences of humanity in sorrow, pain, rejection, and loneliness.

He's able to sympathize and that's great, isn't it? He can be touched by the feeling of our difficulties. He knows our problems. He knows the weaknesses to which we’re prone. He's able to pick us up when we fall and He's able to do the very best for us in representing us before the throne.

If you had to appear before the court accused of a very serious crime, I think you'd want the very best advocate you could find wouldn't you. You've got Him in Jesus when it comes to dealing with God about your sin. You've got very best advocate, the very best mediator you can possibly have.

What a wonderful Savior He is. Nothing He’s ever done, nothing He ever does, ends in failure. You can rely on Him completely. You can turn to Him with utter confidence in every experience of your life. I think it's a great pity, if I may close on this note, a great pity that many Christians have not yet learned to lean on him and to trust him.
It's such a wonderful savior who can do so much for us but we don't allow him to do what He wants to do.

Let's learn to depend on him. He's worthy of our confidence and He wants us to lean on Him. What a wonderful Savior. He does everything well. Whatever he does he does well.

When we read and study the bible, attend bible class and worship services we come to realize the power of almighty God. There is nothing stronger, or more sure on which we may lean. If you have heard the gospel message and it has led you to believe in Jesus, then you need to repent of your sins, confess that belief and be baptized for the remission of your sins. God is faithful and if you do these things He will wash away your sins and add you to His Kingdom, His church. If perhaps you are a Christian and somehow your foot has slipped, you may become right with God by asking for forgiveness. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: Frank Worgan

The Good Shepherd

John 10:11-16

INTRO: Good morning church!

Please turn your Bibles to John 10:11-16, and I’ll begin reading at verse 11 where Jesus says, “11. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12. "But he who is a hireling and not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13. "The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14. "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15. "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16. "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” In these verses, Jesus identified Himself twice as the good shepherd.

Not only did Jesus identify Himself as the good shepherd, but He explained why He is the good shepherd. For one thing, Jesus gave His life for the sheep as He mentioned in verse 11. He also mentioned it in verse 15.

There's another reason why Jesus indicated that He's the good shepherd. He knows His sheep, and His sheep know Him. We learn that from verse 14. Jesus compared Himself to a hireling, that is, one who was hired to tend the sheep. The hireling doesn't care for the sheep because he doesn't have a close bond with them. He's simply doing a job. When danger approaches, he's not going to take on the danger. He's going to flee. Why? Because the hireling is concerned about their safety more than they are concerned about the sheep. What about the good shepherd? The good shepherd is going to stand there and he's going to take on that predator, whatever it is.

Why? Because he cares for his sheep, they are his. He loves his sheep, and his sheep know that. They know him; they depend on him and they listen to him. The hireling is not a reference to all who work for wages, the laborer being fully worthy of his hire; but it denotes a class of persons who merchandise holy things, not out of regard for sacred values, but purely from selfish and carnal motives. The wolf was Jesus’ usual designation of false teachers (Matthew 7:15f) and their operation always results in scattering the flock.

God appears throughout the Old Testament as the true shepherd of Israel. Let’s look at Psalms. “The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalms 23:1). “We are thy people and the sheep of thy pasture” (Psalms 79:13). “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock;” (Psalms 80:1). “For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand.” (Psalms 95:7).

The whole 34th chapter of Ezekiel contains the metaphor of God as the good shepherd and the false leaders as the evil shepherds. Since in the Old Testament the metaphor shows God as the true shepherd of Israel, how are we to understand Jesus saying, “I am the good shepherd”? It is a declaration that Jesus is God. We see that when the Pharisees finally realized what he meant, they attempted to stone him for blasphemy (John 10:33).

In today’s lesson, I would like to take a look at this statement that the Lord is the good shepherd. We will look at passages from each of the gospel accounts that demonstrate how Jesus is the good shepherd. Jesus declared in John 10 that He, Jesus, is the good shepherd, and He explained why. Let’s look at some additional passages in the gospel accounts that will let us see Him in action so to speak, and we will see that the Lord truly is the good shepherd not just a shepherd.

I. Let's begin with the gospel of Matthew chapter 9 and let’s see how Jesus demonstrated He is the good shepherd by sending His disciples out to reach lost sheep. He did that when He gave the limited commission.

A. We begin in Matthew 9:35, “… Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”

1. We see that Jesus reached many people during His ministry. Matthew emphasizes that particular point in his gospel. He makes several summary statements of the Lord's work, and he shows that Jesus traveled from place to place, taking advantage of opportunities to teach and preach, also to heal people of their various diseases and illnesses.
2. We do not know how many people were reached by Jesus Himself. There's no way we can know that, but in thinking about all the traveling that the Lord did I would suspect it was a fairly large number. This was in about three years or so. Jesus was devoted to reaching as many people as possible.

B. Even though the Lord taught many people Himself, we learn from verse 36 that He was not able to reach everyone. We are told in Matthew 9:36, “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”

1. Just a few verses earlier in Matthew 9:34 we see the opposition of the Pharisees “But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.''” This opposition was so evident and its consequence was confusion and distress among the people.
2. When Jesus observed the multitudes, He saw people who were still in need of what He was able to provide. He had reached many people himself, but He had not been able to reach everyone.

C. What did He do? Jesus got His disciples involved in finding lost sheep.

1. He first told His disciples to pray about the situation. Matthew 9:37-38, “Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. "Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.''”
2. Christ viewed the confusion and distress of the people and sent out His disciples to bear widespread testimony to the truth. The word "compassion" in verse 36 gives an insight into the benevolent and gracious heart of Christ. It indicated His love, pity, concern, and deep emotional feelings for the "lost sheep" of the house of Israel.
3. This takes us to the next chapter where we see that Jesus sent the disciples. Let's read a few verses beginning with verse one. Matthew 10:1-8, “1. And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. 2. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3. Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4. Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. 5. These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6. "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7. "And as you go, preach, saying, `The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8. "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

D. The Lord then had some additional instructions for the disciples as He sent them out, but for right now we're looking at the fact that although the Lord reached many people Himself, there were many more in need. He got His disciples involved in doing the work that He had been doing and He sent them out to the lost sheep. We call this the Limited Commission. He said, don’t go to the Gentiles, and don’t go to the Samaritans. Only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In other words, they are to only go to the children of Israel, the Jewish people.

1. As we look at what the Lord did, we see Him demonstrating that He is the good shepherd. Conditions in Israel at that time were dark and discouraging. The leaders were notoriously corrupt. The King had appeared, but His enemies were determined to prevent His acceptance on the part of the people. Yet, the people were entitled to their chance.
2. The disciples’ purpose when sent forth was to counteract the poisonous campaign of the Pharisees and to arouse Israel to the acknowledgment and reception of their true King. Jesus sent them out to find lost sheep that he had not found. That's the sign of a good shepherd. He wants to rescue as many sheep as possible. So He sends out others to do the work with him and shows powerfully why He is the good shepherd.

II. Let us next turn to the gospel of Mark. We want to point out that Jesus showed how He is the good shepherd by calming a storm. This is one of the great miracles that the Lord was involved in during His ministry, providing evidence to show that He truly is the Son of God.

A. Mark 4:35f, “35. On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side.'' 36. Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?'' 39. Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!'' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40. But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?'' 41. And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!''”
B. The Sea of Galilee is a beautiful lake. In the time of Christ it was surrounded by at least a dozen towns and was the most densely populated area of Palestine. It is thirteen miles long, six miles wide, pear-shaped; and the surface lies 700 feet below sea level. Steep mountains rise along both the western and eastern shores. It is fed by the Jordan River which enters at the north end and exits at the south where it resumes its course to the Dead Sea. The water is fresh and sweet, abounds with fish, and is edged with sparkling pebbly beaches.

1. Because the lake lies below sea level and is bordered by mountains, it is subject to very severe and sudden storms, such as the one related here. The wind can come down the mountains and can cause strong storms very quickly on the Sea of Galilee, and they can be quite rough.

C. Our Lord with His disciples, are going across in a fishing boat, and a great storm arose. Jesus demonstrated His divine power by causing the wind to cease, and then the sea became calm. The disciples were present, and they were greatly impressed with the Lord's divine power.
D. The point that I want to make is this. On this occasion, Jesus showed that He is the good shepherd by not allowing His disciples to be overcome by that storm.

1. Did the Lord prevent it from occurring? No. Did He have the power to prevent it from occurring? Yes, and we know that because He stopped it. But the Lord did allow that storm to arise, and He allowed His disciples to deal with it for a little while. However, He proved very clearly on this occasion, that He's the good shepherd and did not allow the disciples to be overcome.
2. Having said that, let's tie in a passage of scripture from the New Testament letters. Let's go to 1^st Corinthians 10:13 where it says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

E. Jesus demonstrated how He is the good shepherd in the Gospel of Matthew by sending the disciples on the limited commission. In the Gospel of Mark, He demonstrated He's the good shepherd by calming a storm. He did not allow His disciples to be overcome by that storm.

1. I think about a shepherd out in the field with his sheep and a storm comes up. What's the good shepherd going to do? He's going to take care of his sheep. He's going to lead them. He's going to help them get through that storm and to try to find them shelter. He's not going to leave a sheep. He's going to stay there with them. He's going to protect them to the very best of his ability.
2. I've always thought it was interesting that on the occasion we just read about in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus was asleep. If you look back up earlier to what happened in this chapter, you'll find that our Lord had been teaching and He was probably tired. On this ship, surrounded by His sheep, our Lord went to sleep. Was he concerned when that storm came up?
3. The disciples were filled with anxiety. Master, do you not care that we're going to die out here in this storm? Of course, our Lord cared! He saved them by not allowing them to be overcome by the storm, but He did allow them to face the storm. I can't help but think that the disciples learned a powerful lesson on that day. I would like to think that that lesson would help them as they would later carry out the great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

III. Let's turn now to the Gospel of Luke. We want to point out from chapter 15 that Jesus showed how He is the good shepherd by finding lost sheep, Luke 15:1-2.

A. These verses show us how two groups of people reacted to the Lord. Verse 1 says, “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.” Here, Luke tells of the tax collectors and other sinners. These are people who needed what the Lord came to provide. They knew it. They recognized that they were sinners. They drew near to Him. They approached Him because they wanted to hear him. That is a statement that should be appreciated. These people drew near to the Lord to hear Him.

1. In the Gospels, we read about people who were in the Lord's audiences, and who were not there with the right motives. Sometimes there were people looking for something to use against him. Sometimes He was asked trick questions that were designed to entrap Him.
2. These people mentioned in verse 1 were there with the right motives. Jesus received them… for even a single sheep, was something of eternal value in the eyes of the Father. God loves every man. They drew near to the Lord to hear Him. In my imagination I think that that put a smile on the Lord's face, knowing that these people came to hear what He had to tell them.
3. Then verse 2 says, “And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them.''” How sad that the Jewish religious leaders murmured against the Lord. They criticized Him for associating with publicans and sinners and even having the audacity to eat with them. Jesus came to save the publicans and the sinners, and He came to save the Pharisees and the Scribes as well, but they did not recognize their sins. They thought that they were in good standing with God. The Lord pointed out otherwise.
4. Here we find two groups of people reacting to the Lord in two different ways. On the one hand, the publicans and the sinners drew near to the Lord to hear what He had to say. Then there were the Pharisees and the Scribes who murmured against him. Unconsciously, His enemies spoke in these words the Master’s highest praise. Intended by them as slander of course, but these words have been treasured by the church of all ages as eternal truth. In our Hymnal is the Hymn Christ Receiveth Sinful Men, number 643.

B. In Luke 15:3-6 as well as the rest of the chapter, Jesus had some things to say for the benefit of those who murmured against him. Let us look at the first parable because it involves a lost sheep.

1. Verse 3, “So He spoke this parable to them, saying:”... This is not the only time where the Lord faced a difficult situation, and turned it into a teaching opportunity. What He had to say has been recorded for our benefit. On the one hand, we might be upset with the Scribes and the Pharisees for treating the Lord the way that they did, yet it provided the opportunity for the Lord to tell a parable, providing a lesson not only for them but also to be passed down to us.
2. Let's read the parable about the lost sheep. “So He spoke this parable to them, saying:  What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? "And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'”

C. The Lord says in verse 7 “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” Think about that for a moment. The Pharisees and the Scribes trusted in their righteousness. They did not see themselves as sinners. Did they cause any joy to be experienced in heaven? No. What about that one sinner that the good shepherd found and brought home? That caused great rejoicing to take place.

1. Jesus said that there's joy in heaven when a lost sheep is found. I think we can see our Lord demonstrating how He is the good shepherd. You see, He knew the value of one soul.
2. Thinking about a shepherd with a large number of sheep. If he loses one, he might take the approach of, “Well, I've got all these others. I won't miss that one very much.” That's one way a shepherd might view his flock, but not the good shepherd. The good shepherd knows when one sheep is missing. He is concerned about that sheep. Jesus knew the value of one lost soul. Only a good shepherd would have such great wisdom.

IV. Let's turn back to the Gospel of John. We will see that Jesus showed how He is the good shepherd by protecting and saving a lost sheep. Let's start at verse one. As an aside here; some say that these verses don't belong in the Bible. “Though it cannot be proved that this story is an integral part of the Fourth Gospel, neither is it possible to establish the opposite with any degree of finality. I believe that what is recorded here really took place and contains nothing in conflict with the apostolic spirit. We shall study the narrative as it has come down to us.” [Coffman]

A. Let's read what happened. John 8:1f. “1. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2. But early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4. they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5. "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?'' 6. This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. 7. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.'' 8. And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?'' 11. She said, "No one, Lord.'' And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.''”

1. Jesus was asked to pass a sentence on the woman taken in adultery. I think we'd all agree that this poor woman was a lost sheep. She was caught in the act of adultery. She was accused by a hostile group of people. They are trying to use her to find something that they could use against the Lord.
2. They told Jesus what the law said about punishment for adultery, but they didn't quite get it right because the law said that both the man and the woman were to be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22) We should wonder at this point, where was the man? That very question has led some to suppose that maybe the man involved was one of the Pharisees. Anyway, the man wasn't brought forward, only the woman.
3. She was a lost sheep; she had been caught in sin. She had some hostile accusers, and she may have very easily lost her life. Jesus protected this woman. In addition to protecting her, He pointed out the hypocrisy of her accusers. It would have been easy for someone in the position they put the Lord in to say, I'm not getting involved in this situation and that is exactly what a hireling would do if a sheep was endangered. But you see, Jesus is the good shepherd, and a good shepherd doesn't act like that. The good shepherd knows the value of one lost sheep, and he's going to do whatever he can to save that sheep when it's in danger.
4. We imagine the Lord stooping down and writing on the ground… It certainly appears from what John recorded that these people continued to ask what the Lord was going to do about it. They pushed it, and finally, the Lord said, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.'' That had to do with the instructions from the Old Testament about capital punishment by stoning, Deuteronomy 17:7, “The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people.” It seems these people finally had their consciences touched, and they left.

B. They left, and they didn't harm the woman but neither did any ask for forgiveness themselves. Jesus protected this woman, this lost sheep, as a good shepherd would. Why? Because He is the good shepherd. Throughout the scriptures we find that Jesus is shown over and over again to be the good shepherd.

CONCLUSION:
In John 10, He stated twice that He's the good shepherd, and He explained why He's the good shepherd. As you go through the gospel accounts, you will see our Lord demonstrating the fact that He truly is… the good shepherd.

Let's grow in our knowledge of the Lord as our good shepherd. We are to strive to continually grow in our knowledge, and we need to especially appreciate that He is our good shepherd. A sheep looks to the good shepherd for what they need, and they depend upon the good shepherd. Are you a sheep?

Invitation: The lesson is yours. Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If anyone has that need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Reference Sermon by: Raymond Sieg

By What Authority

Matthew 21:1-27

INTRO:
Good evening. Our lesson for tonight comes from Matthew Chapter 21.
Let me tell you a brief story to get started. For centuries people believed that Aristotle was right when he said that the heavier an object, the faster it would fall to earth. Aristotle was regarded as the greatest thinker of all time, and surely he would not be wrong. Anyone, of course, could have taken two objects, one heavy and one light, and dropped them from a great height to see whether or not the heavier object landed first. But no one did until nearly 2,000 years after Aristotle's death. In 1589 Galileo summoned learned professors to the base of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Then he went to the top and pushed off a ten- pound and a one-pound weight. Both landed at the same instant. The power of belief was so strong, however, that the professors denied their eyesight. They continued to say Aristotle was right. I would ask you keep this in mind as we continue the lesson.

Authority is a very important principle, very important concept, in our relationship with God. I suggest it is near the top of the list, in terms of the important concepts that we need to grasp. My question for this evening is “Who has the authority in religion?” “Who is it that I am to listen to?” This is not a new problem by the way. It has been a consideration since religious authority began to be exercised among men who received the teachings of God. God’s authority has always been challenged not only by Satan but by common folks like you and me striving to do what's right. It's one of those things that we must come to an understanding of, if we're going to serve God correctly.

Matthew Chapter 21 provides an interesting scenario here in the life of Jesus in the last week of his life, the last few days of Jesus life. He enters the city of Jerusalem for the feast at the beginning of the week.

This was a big week in Jerusalem and Jesus was coming into the city. We see that entrance scenario as portrayed to us in the start of Matthew chapter 21. Jesus was the most watched person in the entire region and certainly in His coming to this feast everyone's eyes were on Jesus.

He was welcomed into the city with great pomp, great circumstance by those who put palm branches down in His path, and they cried saying “saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' Hosanna in the highest!''”

The city was stirred by Jesus presence and there were those who took Old Testament passages that were clearly messianic, that pointed to the very nature of God coming in the flesh, and they shouted those sentiments and those scriptures over and over again at Jesus arrival. There was great wonder involved in the triumphal entry as it's described to us here. But it was also a time of great division.

I. Two groups: It was a city that for the most part was split into two groups. There were those who readily identified Jesus as the Messiah and were there to worship him and to follow him and to watch closely what he did and to be blessed by Him. There were others who were his enemies. These others denied that Jesus was the Messiah and wanted to do everything they could to try to stop His ministry. I find it interesting that in spite of this, there was a clear answer given to who Jesus was. It says all the city was moved saying “Who is this?” and the multitude said “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” This is God's man. This is the prophet. This is Jesus.

A. Jesus first public act in the city of Jerusalem on that particular week was not to stand before the people and address them in some public oration but rather to go to the temple. Starting in verse 12 we read; “Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves.” “And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' ''” “Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.”

1. This is interesting to me that these two events or the two activities of Jesus are linked together there. In the confines of the temple Jesus in a very aggressive way, in a physical way, drives out those merchants from the Temple making a clear statement that the temple area is not being used for the proper purposes and that He is the one will make judgment upon these people. He will physically drive them out. Then connected with that were these poor helpless people who were sick and infirm who came to Jesus. In the very confines of where the money changers were driven out, He healed the sick.
2. Jesus was expressing authority. The authority to judge and drive out, the authority to heal and make well, in this single place and time. Now both of those events seem to be such incontrovertible evidence of Jesus identity as the Messiah that it should have been put to rest there. There were the “children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!''” again referencing Jesus as the Messiah himself the son of David. When the religious leaders, and the chief priests heard the children crying out they were angry and indignant. Again we are given evidence here that the city is divided.

B. Fast forward to Wednesday of the very same week after Jesus and the disciples have walked past the fig tree that Jesus cursed the day before. Now Jesus, in Chapter 21:23, came into the temple again, and it says “He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?''”

1. Here the people who question and confront Jesus are described as the chief priests and the elders of the city. That gives us some insight into the type of opposition that existed against Jesus and those who would be so bold as to question the authority of Jesus. They were a conglomerate group. The Chief Priests were primarily Sadducees, the religious superintendents of the temple area. The elders of the people were the religious teachers of the day and they were largely made up of Pharisees.
2. So you had the chief priests, the Sadducees and you had the elders of the city the Pharisees, who on most occasions were unfriendly to one another, joining forces together to become a common enemy of Jesus. The question that they asked presents I believe, an overriding picture of the type of problem they had with Jesus from the very beginning. It had to do with His authority.
3. His authority in what He said and what He taught and what He did. They saw Jesus, in terms of exercising His authority, as a threat to their mutual system of religious authority. They were the folks who were on top. They were the folks who told people what they should and shouldn't do. They were ones who told the people in the temple how things were supposed to run. They were the ones who were in charge, and those who were in charge of the religion of the day you see, were threatened by Jesus authority.

C. I submit to you as we continue in this lesson that this has always been true. Those today who claim to be the religious authorities among men are threatened by the authority of Christ as contained in scripture. They constantly are trying to denigrate and demean the authority of Jesus in scripture so as to protect their own assumed authority. Any system of humanly devised religious authority is not of God and therefore must always stand in opposition to the authority that is of God.

II. By What Authority: The question they wanted to know is by what authority do you do these things? “These things” here may have included everything that Jesus did from the beginning of his ministry, but it probably refers more conclusively to the things he'd done since he arrived in the city. He drove out the money changers and He disrupted the tables and messed up all their merchandising. He also healed the sick and was hailed as the messiah.

A. Although when He ran out the money changers and when He healed the sick the Pharisees and scribes and the chief priests and Sadducees seem at that point to be rather speechless. Now they had come to the front, on the offensive, and in a public forum wanted to know by what authority do you do these things.
B. Understanding the position that they're in will help us to understand why the question was asked in the first place.

1. Rabbinical candidates, those who would be teachers of the law, those who would be Chief Priests or who would stand as elders in the city and would instruct others, were ordained to that position by a leading rabbi. They would be under the influence of and under servitude to others. They would serve as an apprentice of a rabbi. If a young man wanted to teach, he had to be appointed to a rabbi who would then instruct him personally on the law and all the teachings of the law and he would work his way up to where he had the authority to speak to others.
2. Because of widespread abuses among the Jews this aspect of rabbinical authority had been centralized and existed in the time of Jesus within the Sanhedrin council. Anyone who spoke publicly, anyone who was to speak in the position of interpreting scripture was to have been ordained by this particular council under this authority.
3. After his ordination the man was declared to be a rabbi or an elder or a judge. He was then given authority to teach at that point and to be recognized by people for who he was. He could render decisions, to give verdicts even in social matters if he had been given the credentials and the authority to do so.
4. This group of religious men was the most identifiable source of authority that existed in the Jewish religion and in the city of Jerusalem.

C. Jesus comes apart from any of that and speaks and teaches to the people so much so that the people say this man is a prophet. This man is a rabbi and they call Him rabbi. They call Him teacher and they want to hear more. Jesus in the view of the council was teaching—without authority. He had no such ordination. He had no recognition by any religious authority from the circles that they knew of. In their view He had no right to teach and no right to do what he did. He certainly had no right to run out their merchandising from the temple.
D. So the question that comes from that: By what authority then do you do these things? Now again, understanding this helps us to understand that there really is an issue here. We need to see the illegitimacy of the question. The question itself tells us something about the state of the hearts of those who would ask it. Is this the right question to ask in the face of what has just happened? Did Jesus just heal the sick? He has just made the lame to walk the blind to see. He has been proclaimed by the prophetic utterances of the Old Testament to be the messiah. Is there any rightful authority at this point to question?

III. The Questioners: Those who propose to ask such a question imply that they have the authority themselves to ask the question. You know if you’re going to ask questions about where somebody gets their authority you better have the authority to ask the question yourself.

A. I think that that's somewhat the position of these Pharisees and Sadducees as they turn to Jesus and say by what authority are you doing these things. Who is the real source of authority? Is it me or is it you? There's illegitimacy to the question itself because of who's asking it.
B. There's also this aspect here that in the context of establishing the authority, that Jesus has to say anything. They had overlooked the very confirmation of Jesus authority.

1. The Sadducees or Pharisees never questioned the miracles of Jesus. They never said; that guy wasn't really sick. You didn't really heal him. He not really walking. They never questioned or denied the authenticity of the miracles that Jesus had performed.
2. If Jesus could heal the sick, if he could do these miracles, certainly He had some authority from God to do these things. Don’t miracles presuppose the authority of the teacher?

i. In fact the very understanding of miracles of scripture is that when they occurred they occurred in connection with teaching and they confirmed the teaching and the teacher himself.
ii. The fact that Jesus has power, has ability to do something was absolutely incontestable in the first century. No one had ever healed the sick or cast out demons or raised people from the dead as Jesus had done.

3. When the Pharisees and Sadducees saw these things they should have been impressed to the point of recognizing a source of authority. When had the Sadducees or the Pharisees ever raised anybody from the dead? When had they ever healed the sick? What put them in a position where they believed they could question Jesus? All that having been said, if to look down at the Pharisees and Sadducees for asking the question, we realize that very same principle applies to each of us if we begin to question any authority contained in the scriptures or the words of Jesus. We simply do not have a right to ask questions about Jesus authority. He's already proven His ability and His power in that regard.

C. Consider God’s statement to Job in the book of Job. Do you remember Job, a man who suffered so much at the hands of Satan to test his faith? Job suffered without knowing why. He did not fault God through much of this. But there was a time in the context of that suffering when Job complained bitterly that the things happening to him were undeserved and unjust. In doing so Job was pleading his worthiness before God and that was his error.

1. In Job the 38th chapter God answers Job. You can read chapters 38, 39, and 40 you’ll get the whole conversation with God there. We’ won’t read the whole thing now. But let’s look a little. “1. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: 2. "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3. Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. 4. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. 5. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6. To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,” Job 38:1-6
2. Were you there when I made the earth? Do you know how I did it? Tell me if you know. He goes on to ask questions that clearly relate to the difference between Job and God. Job, can you feed the lion when he’s hungry? Can you tell the Raven where to go for food? Can you measure the waters on the earth? Can you make it rain?
3. Job could do none of those things. For Job or anyone in anyway to question God's sovereignty or authority over his own life by claiming his worthiness was simply illegitimate. God was by the very things He had already done His own credentials and always stood His own credentials before man.

IV. The Authority: Turn to Matthew chapter 9. Let’s look at the first few verses of that chapter. Matthew 9:1-8 – “1. So He (Jesus) got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. 2. And behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.'' 3. And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!'' 4. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5. "For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'? 6. "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins'' then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.'' 7. And he arose and departed to his house. 8. Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God who had given such power to men.”

A. Who has the right to forgive sins? You spoke and you think that because of what you said this man sins are forgiven? Who are you to forgive sins? That was the question. Where do you get this authority? Jesus calmly says Ok, which is easier, to say your sins be forgiven with no empirical evidence of what has happened, or say to the same man laying here, get up and walk? Do I have to have empirical evidence that I have the power to do this? The question is rhetorical.
B. He says “get up and walk” and the man gets up and walks and Jesus says there you go. Now you know if I can do that, I can forgive sin. If there's power to do one then there’s power to do the other. The aspect here is that they marvel that God had given power.
C. The word “power” or “authority” is translated from the word exousia—power of authority to men. Jesus was his own credentials. They glorified God because of the authority of Jesus expressed in the power.

1. The word exousia (ex-ou-see-ah) as found in Matthew chapter nine is found several times in the scriptures. Many times it is translated by the word authority rather than the English word power. What the word literally means here is the aspect of the right to command, exousia means you have the right, the privilege, to command someone.
2. The crowd of common people who witnessed what he had done physically made the only sensible conclusion that could be made. That is that if He had the ability to heal the sick, He had the authority to forgive sins.
3. The Scribes refuse to accept the obvious. No amount of evidence could penetrate that confirmed unbelief and so it exists today among men. There is a confirmed unbelief that no amount of evidence could ever penetrate.
4. Jesus finally said no more signs. I'm not giving you more evidence because you will not accept what is right here before your eyes.

D. What we see here is that the question is on its own sense illegitimate. Jesus knew their hearts. Jesus not only had great power, authority, but He had the right because His power and authority were from God, from His heavenly father.

1. In Luke 4:31-36 - “31. Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. 32. And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. 33. Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, 34. saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know You, who You are, the Holy One of God!” Interestingly the demon himself who is on the other side of the spiritual scale recognized who Jesus is. There’s no question about His identity. You're the Holy One of God.
2. “35. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!''” Even though he made a good confession there, Jesus rebukes him because he's a demon and he's going to cast him out. When the demon has thrown him in their midst the demon does not hurt him. “36. They were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word this is! For with authority (there’s exousia, (ex-ou-see-ah)) and power (that’s the word dynamis (dune-na-mus) the ability to act,) He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” They were amazed. “37. And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.”

E. Jesus had the authority; He had the power to tell people what they could and couldn’t do. He had the authority to speak. There was authority in His word because He was the one who had the ability to act.

1. That's at the very heart of all of this. We see the difference between the two Greek words exousia, (ex-ou-see-ah) and dynamis (dune-na-mus). God has the right to tell you what to do because He's your creator. He's already exhibiting His power, His ability and that power, that ability, gives Him the right, the privilege to speak!—and to command. He has the right as our creator because He has the might as our judge. He demonstrated both as He came up out of the grave.

V. Who has the Authority: Now the real issue here is the authority of Jesus vs. the authority of men. The question of Matthew chapter 21 is; “Do we have the authority to question the authority of God?” That's the illegitimate aspect of it.

A. What about the authority of Jesus? In what way does His authority differ from other authority in religion in terms of our service?

1. At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount people were astonished. It says in Matthew 7:28 - “28. And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29. for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” There's that word again. He taught as one who has the right to say what He was saying. Jesus taught authoritatively because he taught with clarity and definitiveness.
2. You know you ask some people what’s right or wrong and they don't really know. Even if they have a thought in their mind they are not going to express it that way. “Well, you know, who can say?” “Maybe it’s this way, maybe it's that way, we just don’t really know.”
3. For the most part that’s the way the scribes had spoken about the law for years. Their interpretations were not pronouncements with absolute authority. They were simply declarations of un-clarity and a key qualification you see in religious circles today is exactly that. If you want to get ahead in religion today you have to avoid at all costs any dogmatism. Certainly don't say; this is the only way there is to believe this, or that’s the only way to see this, or you'll be ejected immediately from any position of religious authority.
4. That's why I believe there are some generally honest, religious teachers who have rejected clear statements of scripture because if they didn't, if they spoke on them definitively, they'd lose their positions. Because that's the way it is, and that's the way it was in Jesus’ day. Among the Jews, human wisdom had long since replaced divine revelation to the point that when the scripture conflicted with tradition, tradition prevailed and what trumped everything was what men had taught. There was no exclusive authority.

B. Then when Jesus came and taught them with authority they were amazed! Jesus’ ministry always had this aspect of authority—authority of God himself.

1. In John 1:12 it says: “...He gave the right to become children of God,...” [NKJV] “...to them gave he power to become the sons of God...”[KJV] Jesus came and gave them the right, the power, and here is the word exousia, (ex-ou-see-ah) again.
2. His heavenly father gave “Him authority to execute judgment” in John Chapter 5 and Verse 27. He had authority over His own life in John 10:17-18 – “17. "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18. "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.''”. There's the word exousia, (ex-ou-see-ah), power, authority.

C. John chapter 17 speaks about Jesus’ authority over all mankind to give eternal life to those who the Father has given unto Him. “1. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2. "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.”
D. In all the things He said and did, Jesus never sought the approval, He never sought the counsel, or the support of any recognized religious authority. He didn't go to any group of men and say: What do you think about this, or let's vote on this. He never sided with any religious authority. He completely ignored their system for ordaining rabbis and approving doctrines. He recognized only what God had already written in scripture, not only in His personal life but in His personal ministry to others. People sometimes say “what would Jesus do”, that is what He did. We should do likewise. It is only what God had already said and was saying to Him that made any sense at all for the establishment of authority.

VI. Jesus Authority: Now that is what makes Jesus’ authority unique. It’s what makes it unique in His day and makes unique in our day. Jesus authority was a single focus from the standpoint that it rested in the revealed word of the Father alone. So much so that he said; “I'm not doing my own will I'm doing the will of the Father.” Clearly Jesus was doing His own will in the sense that Jesus was doing what He willed to do. But the source of the authority of Jesus own ministry was not anything outside of what God had established and ordained in scripture and never will be.

A. So the question we go back to about authority is: Where is it from? Jesus doesn't directly answer their question. There are a couple times that Jesus doesn't directly answer a question. Jesus is not being evasive, He is not being political. It is not because he can't give them a direct answer. He's given them a direct answer to this question many times in direct fashion as we have just witnessed. They ignored it.
B. He knew their hearts, He knew their intentions, and He would not play into their hands. There's a lesson for us in that as well. There's a valid point to be made from this confrontation that was initiated by the religious rulers. That point needed to be made to those who were listening and you and I and that is; “whose authority are we listening to?”
C. Let’s go on in Matthew 21:24-26 – “24. But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25. "The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?'' And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' 26. "But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” His question was simple, from heaven or from men. We recognize that Jesus’ question is either one or the other. The reason Jesus doesn't give them a third choice is because there is no third choice.

1. Religious authority is either from God or it’s from man. If it's not from God, it is from man. Jesus was presenting back to them the simplicity of the nature of their question. It's either one of two sources, and so it is for us today. The authority to do something in religion either comes from God, it's in the Bible, it's in scripture, it comes from the Holy Spirit—or from men, it comes from the thinking of men and it's been derived from there.
2. How do we know? Well if it's from heaven it will possess the appropriate credentials. That's the basis on which Jesus did not directly answer their question about His authority, because His authority had already been established by the proper credentials of the miracles that had been provided. If they would ignore the clear approval that God has given of Jesus before they wouldn't accept it now.

D. If there is anything that you and I would ponder about whether something is right or wrong, we have to recognize that principle is still intact. If it's from God it will have the stamp of approval from the source of divine revelation. It will come through the revealing of the Holy Spirit in the way that God designed. Jesus told the apostles that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth [para]. John 16:13. That traces the delegation of the religious authority from Jesus to the apostles’ scriptures and that leads me to the conclusion that if I'm going to authorize something in religion I need to have something out of the Bible that will substantiate it. It needs to have that credential.

1. This is precisely what Peter was saying in Second Peter Chapter 1 Verse 19 he says. “19. We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20. knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,” That means is not up to the prophet to decide wat it means but to deliver it as given to him. “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” Peter says here in the context; we already have the word confirmed.
2. The credentials have already been established, holy men spoke as God moved them and carried them along with His Spirit to teach the things that God wanted them to learn.
3. In Acts chapter two and verse 42 it tells us that the church began through the direction of the Apostles and the presence of the Holy Spirit, and that the disciples continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine. Why? Because that’s where the credentials were.
4. The apostles were working miracles in the first six chapters of The Book of Acts. They provided the clear evidence of the ability that they had to show the power of God and therefore they had the right to speak. The authority. When the people listened to the apostles and what they were saying, they obeyed. Then they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine.

E. The church was based upon the apostolic doctrine, based upon the credentials the Holy Spirit gave to the apostles. Jesus’ question that He reverts back to them was not irrelevant to their own. If John's message was from God then there were some credentials that backed it up. If it was from men then they didn't have to listen to John. But John's message was from God and had already been confirmed by the credentials of Jesus himself as well as John the Baptist. If John's message was from God then Jesus’ authority was from God as well because John testified of Him. Jesus takes them to a place in the aspect of this dilemma, where they cannot escape.
F. The chief priests pondered that, the elders pondered that and it didn't take long to recognize that Jesus had put them on the horns of their own dilemma. If they say from heaven then Jesus would ask them why you didn’t do it. They didn’t have an answer for that. If they say from men then they would risk a backlash from the people who recognized who John was.

VII. The Response: In Matthew 21:27 – “They answered Jesus and said, "We do not know.” Jesus says well I'm not going to tell you. Their only recourse was to confess, with embarrassment no doubt, that they did not know. Why did they not know? They should have known. More to the point of the question, I suspect, is their agnosticism didn't answer the dilemma they were in. If they proposed they were the ones qualified to judge Jesus’ authority, they had to know!

A. If we would question the authority of scriptures, if we would any way balk against what God would say, or simply dismiss what's in the Bible, then we need to have the authority to know what's really true.
B. The agnostic has nowhere to go with this except to say well we really don't know what's true. Ok, if you don't know what's true, how do you know this is not true? By what authority would you judge the rightfulness of what God says in the Bible or what the scriptures say if you already confess that you don’t know?

1. The Pharisees and Scribes say we don’t know. Ok that ends the discussion then. You have no right to ask me whether or not I have the authority because you don't know. Jesus I think worked this in to show us that this principle cannot be overlooked.
2. Matthew Henry wrote; “Those that imprison the truths that they know in unrighteousness are justly denied the further truths they inquire after.” Take away the talents of him that buried it; those that shall not see shall not see. You give up on what God says over here or you deny it or you just ignore the evidence, and guess what, you don't get anymore.
3. Those who imprisoned the truths that they know in unrighteousness, those of us who will not put into practice in our life those truths in the Bible, are denied the further truths that can make us what God wants us to be. That's one of the tragedies of those who have denied the authority of Scripture, the authority of Jesus in their own lives.

C. The Pharisees faced the ramifications of their own question. They could have been saved but they rejected that truth and they rejected it at all costs. From them the truth then continued to be hidden.

1. Later on in Matthew Chapter 23 Jesus looking back over the city of Jerusalem laments; “37. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38. "See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39. "for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' ''”
2. He was referencing the destruction the total destruction of that city as was told about Matthew Chapter 24 when God’s judgment came up on Jerusalem and destroyed it and left it desolate.

CONCLUSION:
Who is it that will reject the authority of Jesus? Following his resurrection Jesus said He has all authority on heaven and on Earth. He commissioned the apostles to preach the gospel in His name alone. What did they preach? If you look at religious authority today and how it answers the question of what a person must do to be saved, you will get a lot of different answers. What does a person have to do to become a Christian? What's involved in coming to God? What will save us? What does save us?

Those are questions that have perplexed religious authorities for years and years and there has been dissension among them as to how to answer the questions. In all of those answers that are derived from human wisdom there is absolutely not one ounce, not one little bit, of authority. Because all of it belongs to Jesus Christ.

We can all get together and decide what it takes to become a Christian and it means nothing, absolutely nothing. The only answer to that question that has authority, is the one from the authority of Jesus Christ. What did those who preached in the name of Jesus Christ preach? “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved”. Mark 16:16 That statement is authoritative, not because you and I accept it, not because you and I have done it, not because of some church ordinance, not because we agree with it,... but because Jesus said it!

That's why it's important that we believe it. Is this from heaven? Or is it from man?
That question is important to your life and to mine as we view anything that we would practice in religion, anything that we would do in the name of Jesus Christ. Is this from Heaven or is it from man?

If there is anyone here evening who needs to respond to the gospel, or if you need are in need of prayer or need to come before the church for one reason or another we encourage you to do so as we stand and sing this song of invitation.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: David Schmidt

The Hero of the Ages

Romans 8:31-39

INTRO:
Good evening. For this evening I would like to again venture into the sermons of the preacher I was named after, DeWitt Talmage, and present another to you with minor adjustments. I find the lessons in these sermons just as applicable today as they were in the 1800’s. They serve to show us that though the presentation may change, God’s word does not change and we can learn from it as clearly as they could over 100 years ago.

Our scripture for this evening is Romans 8:31-39 – “31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36. As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'' 37. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39. nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In particular here I want us to notice verse 34; Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Paul flung his challenge of the text to the feet of all ecclesiastical and civil authority—synagogues and Neros. He feared neither sword nor lion, earth nor hell. Diocletian slew seventeen thousand under his administration, and the world has been full of persecution; but all the persecutors of the world could not frighten Paul. Was it because he was physically strong? Oh, no! I suppose he was very much weakened by exposure and maltreatment. Was it because he was lacking in sensitiveness? No; you find the most delicate shades of feeling playing in and out of his letters and his sermons. Some of his communications burst into tears. What was it that lifted Paul into this triumphant mood? The thought of a Savior dead, a Savior risen, a Savior exalted, a Savior interceding!

We all have had or still have heroes. People real or fictional that to us seem larger then life, able to do things that we find amazing. All the world has sung the praise of Princess Diana. To a great many she was a modern hero celebrated for her charity work and her support of the ban of landmines. Diana was involved with dozens of charities, many focused on children, and through her efforts and advocation raised awareness and help for people affected with HIV/AIDS, cancer and mental illness. The Princess developed an intense interest in serious illnesses and health-related matters outside the purview of traditional royal involvement, including AIDS and leprosy. In recognition of her effect as a philanthropist, Stephen Lee, director of the UK Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers, said "Her overall effect on charity is probably more significant than any other person's in the 20th century." She was the patroness of charities and organizations who worked with the homeless, youth, drug addicts, and the elderly. She was president of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, patron of the Natural History Museum, and president of the Royal Academy of Music. President of Barnardo's, a charity to care for vulnerable children and young people. Patron of the British Red Cross and supported its organizations in other countries such as Australia and Canada. She made several lengthy visits each week to Royal Brompton Hospital, where she worked to comfort seriously ill or dying patients. She was a patron of Headway, a brain injury association, and became the first patron of Chester Childbirth Appeal. She helped her friend Julia Samuel launch the charity Child Bereavement UK which supports children "of military families, those of suicide victims, [and] terminally-ill parents.” She was loved and cherished by many. Her efforts for those who were suffering made her a hero. But I have to tell you that when our race was suffering and dying the Lord Jesus stooped down and gave us the kiss of His everlasting love, and perished that we might live. “It is Christ that died.”

I. Can you tell me how tender-hearted Paul could find anything to rejoice at in the horrible death scene of Calvary? We weep at funerals, we are sympathetic when we see a stranger die; when a murderer steps into the execution chamber we pray for his departing spirit; and how could Paul—the great-hearted Paul—find anything to be pleased with at the death of Jesus? Beside that, Christ had only recently died, and the sorrow was fresh in the memory of the world, and how in the fresh memory of a Savior’s death could Paul be exalted?
A. It was because Paul saw in that death—his own deliverance, and the deliverance of mankind from still worse disaster; he saw the gap into which mankind must plunge, and he saw the bleeding hands of Christ close it. The glittering steel on the top of the executioner’s spear in his sight kindled into a torch to light men the way heavenward.
B. The persecutors saw over the cross five words written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; but Paul saw over the cross of Christ only one word—“atonement!” He heard in the dying groan of Christ his own groan of eternal torture taken by another. Paul said to himself, “Had it not been that Christ volunteered in my behalf, those would have been my mauled hands and feet, my gashed side, my crimson temples.”
C. Men of great physical endurance have sometimes carried very heavy burdens—three hundred pounds, four hundred pounds—and they have still said, “My strength is not yet tested; put on more weight.” But after a while they were compelled to cry out, “Stop! I can carry no more.”
1. But the burden of Christ was unlimited. First, there was his own burden of hunger and thirst and bereavement, and a thousand outrages that have been heaped upon him, and on top of that burden were the sorrows of his poor mother, and on the top of those burdens the crimes of the ruffians who were executing him. “Stop!” you cry, “it is enough; Christ can bear no more.” And Christ says, “Roll on more burdens; roll on me the sins of this entire Jewish nation, and after that, roll on me the sins of the inhabited earth, and then roll on me the sins of the thousands of years past, so far as those sins have been forgiven.”
2. The angels of God, seeing the awful pressure, might cry, “Stop! He can bear no more.” And the blood rushing to the nostril and lip seems to cry out, “Enough! He can endure no more.” But Christ says, “Roll on a greater burden—roll on the sins of the next thousands of years, roll on me the sins of all the succeeding ages, roll on me the agonies of hell, ages on ages, the furnaces and the prison-houses and the tortures.” That is what the Bible means when it says, “He bore our sins, and carried our sorrows.”
D. “Now,” says Paul, “I am free; that suffering purchased my deliverance; God never collects a debt twice; I have a receipt in full; if God is satisfied with me, then what do all the threats of earth and hell amount to?” “Bring on all your witnesses,” says Paul; “show all your force; do your worst against my soul; I defy you; I dare you; I challenge you. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died.”
E. What a strong argument that puts in the hand of every Christian! Some day all the past sins of our life come down on us in fiery troop, and they pound away at the gate of our soul, and they say, “We have come for your arrest. Any one of us could overcome you; we are ten thousand strong; surrender!” And we open the door, and single-handed and alone we contend against that troop; we fling this divine weapon into their midst, we scatter those sins as quick as you can think it. “It is Christ that died.” Why, then, bring up to us the sins of our past life? What have we to do with those obsolete things?
F. You know how hard it is for a salvage company to bring up anything that is lost near the shore of the sea; but suppose something be lost half-way between Liverpool and New York; it cannot be found, it cannot be fetched up. “Now,” says God, “your sins I have cast into the depths of the sea.” Mid-Atlantic! All the machinery ever fashioned in foundries of darkness, and launched from the doors of eternal death, working for ten thousand years, cannot bring up one of our sins that is forgiven and forgotten and sunken into the depths of the sea. When a sin is pardoned, it is gone—it is gone out of the books, it is gone out of the memory, it is gone out of existence. “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)
G. From other tragedies men have come away exhausted and nervous and sleepless; but there is one tragedy that soothes and calms and saves. Calvary was the stage on which it was enacted, the curtain of the night falling at mid-noon was the drop scene, the thunder of falling rocks the orchestra, angels in galleries and devils in the pit the spectators, the tragedy a crucifixion. “It is Christ that died.” Oh, triumphant thought!
H. If you go through a museums picture gallery year after year you will find changes there. I once said to a friend who had been through the galleries of Versailles, “Are they as they were before the French war?” and I was told there was a great change there; that all that multitude of pictures which represented Napoleonic triumphs had been taken away, and in the frames were other pictures representative of Germanic triumph and victory.
1. Would that all the scenes of Satanic triumph in our world might be blotted out, and that the whole world might be a picture-gallery representing the triumphant Jesus!
2. Down with the monarchy of transgression! Up with the monarchy of our King! Hail! Jesus, Hail!
II. Allow me to give you the second cause of Paul’s exhilaration. If Christ had stayed in that grave we never would have gotten out of our graves. The grave would have been dark and dismal as the Paris City Prison during the Reign of Terror in France, where the carts came up only to take the victims out to the scaffold. I do not wonder that the ancients tried by embalmment of the body to resist the dissolution of death. The grave would be the darkest, deepest, ghastliest chasm that was ever opened if there be no light from the resurrection throne streaming into it; but Christ stayed in the tomb all Friday night and all Saturday, all Saturday night, and a part of Sunday morning. He stayed so long in the tomb that he might fit it for us when we go there. He tarried two whole nights in the grave, so that he saw how important it was to have plenty of light, and he has flooded it with his own glory.
A. In my mind I see it is early Sunday morning, and we start up to find the grave of Christ. We find the morning sun gilding the dew, and the shrubs are sweet as the foot crushes them. What a beautiful place to be buried in! Wonder they did not treat Christ as well when he was alive as they do now that he is dead. Give the military salute to the soldiers who stand guarding the dead. But hark to the crash! an earthquake! The soldiers fall back as though they were dead, and the stone at the door of Christ’s tomb rolls away.
1. Come forth, O Jesus! From the darkness into the sunlight. Come forth, and breathe the perfume of Joseph’s garden. Christ comes forth radiant, and as he steps out of the excavation of the rock, I look down into the excavation, and in the distance I see others coming hand-in-hand, and troop after troop, and I find it is a long procession of the precious dead. Among them are our own loved ones—father, mother, brother, sister, companion, children—coming up out of the excavation of the rock until the last one has stepped out into the light, and I am bewildered, and I cannot understand the scene until I see Christ wave his hand over the advancing procession from the rock, and hear him say, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” And then I notice that the long dirge of the world’s woe suddenly stops at the angelic proclamation of “He is risen”! “go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead”!
2. My friends, if Christ had not broken out of the grave you and I would never came out of it. It would have been another case of John Brown attempting to free the slaves, himself hanged. It would have been Death and Christ in a grapple, with Death the victor. The black flag would have floated on all the graves and mausoleums of the dead, and hell would have conquered the forces of Heaven, and captured the ramparts of God, and Satan would have come to coronation in the palaces of Heaven, and it would have been devils on the throne and sons of God in the dungeon.
3. No, no! When that stone was rolled from the door of Christ’s grave, it was hurled with such a force that it crashed in all the grave-doors of Christendom, and now the tomb is only a bower where God’s children take a siesta, an afternoon nap, to wake up in mighty invigoration. “He is risen.” Hang that lamp among all the tombs of my dead. Hang it over my own resting-place. Christ’s suffering is ended; His work is done. The darkest afternoon of the world’s history becomes the brightest Sunday morning of its resurrection joy. The Friday of bitter memories becomes the Sunday of glorious transformation and resurrection.

Ye mourning saints, dry every tear
For your departed Lord.
Behold the place: he is not here;
The tomb is all unbarred.
The gates of death were closed in vain,
The Lord is risen, he lives again.

III. I give you the third cause of Paul’s exhilaration. We honor the right hand more than we do the left. If in accident or battle we must lose one hand, let it be the left. The left hand being nearer the heart, we may not do much of the violent works of life with that hand without physical danger; but he who has the right arm in full play has the mightiest of all earthly weapons.
A. In all ages and in all languages the right hand is the symbol of strength and power and honor. Hiram sat at the right hand of Solomon. Then we have the term, “He is a right-hand man.” Lafayette was Washington’s right-hand man; Marshal Ney was Napoleon’s right-hand man.
B. Now you have the meaning of Paul when he speaks of Christ, who is at the right hand of God. That means He is the first guest of Heaven. He has a right to sit there. The Hero of the universe! Count his wounds; two in the feet, two in the hands, one in the side—five wounds. Oh! you have counted wrong. These are not half the wounds. Look at the sever wounds in the temples; each thorn a wound, look at His bloody back, scourged with cruelty.
1. If a hero comes back from battle, and he take off his hat, or roll up his sleeve, and show you the scar of a wound gotten at Ball’s Bluff or at Fredericktown, you stand in admiration at his heroism and patriotism; but if Christ should make conspicuous the five wounds gotten on Calvary—that Waterloo of all the ages—he would display only a small part of his wounds.
2. Wounded all over, let Him sit at the right hand of God. He has a right to sit there. By the request of God, the Father, and the unanimous suffrage of all heaven, let Him sit there. In the grand review, when the redeemed pass by in cohorts of splendor, they will look at Him and shout “Victory!”
C. The inhabitant of heaven never saw a grander day than the one when Christ took the right hand of God. Hosanna! With lips of clay I may not appropriately utter it, but let the martyrs under the altar throw the cry to the elders before the throne, and they can toss it to the choir on the sea of glass until all heaven shall lift it—some on point of scepter, and some on string of harp, and some on the tip of the green branches. Hosanna! hosanna!
IV. Yet let me declare a fourth cause of Paul’s exhilaration. Oh! my friends, there will be so many things going on in heaven, I have sometimes wondered if the Lord would not forget you and me!
A. Had I been in Paul’s place I would have thought sometimes: “I wonder that God doesn’t forget me down here in Antioch and in the prison and in the shipwreck. There are so many sailors, so many wayfarers, so many prisoners, so many heart-broken men,” I would think, “perhaps God may forget me. And then I am so vile a sinner. How I tried to destroy those Christians! With what vengeance I dashed down to Damascus! Oh! It will take a mighty attorney to plead my cause and get me free.”
B. But just at that moment there comes something mightier than the surges that dashed Paul’s ship, swifter than his trip to Damascus. It is the swift and overwhelming thought of Christ’s intercession.
C. My friends, we must have an advocate. A poor lawyer is worse than no lawyer at all. We must have one who is able successfully to present our cause before God. Where is he? Who is he? There is only one advocate in all the universe that can plead our cause in the last judgment, that can plead our cause before God in the great tribunal.
1. Sometimes in earthly courts attorneys have specialties, and one man succeeds better in patent cases, another in insurance cases, another in criminal cases, another in land cases, another in will cases, and his success generally depends upon his sticking to that specialty.
2. I have to tell you that Christ can do many things; but it seems to me that his specialty is to take the bad case of the sinner and plead it before God until he gets eternal acquittal. Yes! We must have him for our advocate.
D. But what plea can He make?
1. Sometimes an attorney in court will plead the innocence of the prisoner. That would be inappropriate for us; we are all guilty! guilty! Unclean! unclean! Christ, our advocate, will not plead our innocence.
2. Sometimes the attorney in court tries to prove an alibi. He says: “This prisoner was not at the scene; he was in some other place at the time.” Such a plea will not do in our case. The Lord found us in all our sins, and in the very place of our iniquity. It is impossible to prove an alibi.
3. Sometimes an attorney will plead the insanity of the prisoner, and say he is irresponsible on that account. That plea will never do in our case. We sinned against light, against knowledge, against the dictates of our own consciences; we knew what we were doing.
4. What, then, shall the plea be? The plea for our eternal deliverance will be Christ’s own martyrdom. He will say: “Look at all these wounds. By all these sufferings I demand the rescue of this person from sin and death and hell. Constable, knock off the shackles—let the prisoner go free.” “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

CONCLUSION:
Why all this gladness on the faces of these sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty? I know what you are thinking of. A Savior dead, a Savior risen, a Savior exalted, a Savior interceding. “What,” say you, “is all that for me?” All! It is all! Never let me hear you complaining about anything again. With your pardoned sin behind you, and a successful Christ pleading above you, and a glorious heaven before you, how can you be despondent about anything?

“But,” says some man in the audience, “all that is very good and very true for those who are inside the kingdom; but how about those of us who are outside?” Then I say, Come into the kingdom, come out of the prison-house into the glorious sunlight of God’s mercy and pardon, and come now.

We know that a dictatorship is a form of government characterized by the absolute rule of one person or a very small group of people who hold all political power. The dictatorship often maintains power by employing oppressive methods. It is an old form of government with origins in ancient Rome. Recent examples include Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany, Stalin and the Communist Party in Russia and Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party in Italy. Once a dictatorship is in power it often uses unlawful methods to cement itself in power. It may imprison, exile or assassinate political opponents, change any constitution that exists, manipulate the press, and subvert the rule of law. A dictatorship closely aligns itself with the military and is often seen as a high general, the commander.

My friends, sin is the worst of all Dictatorships; it is the tyrant of tyrants; it has built a prison house for our soul; it plots our death; it has shorn us for the sacrifice, but, blessed be God, this morning we hear the sounds of God’s gracious deliverance pounding against the door of our prison. Deliverance has come. Light breaks through all the wards of the prison. Revolution! Revolution! “Where sin abounded, grace does much more abound, that whereas sin reigned unto death, even so grace may reign unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” What a glorious truth! A Savior dead, a Savior risen, a Savior exalted, a Savior interceding!

Would that He be your savior too! If you have heard the gospel message and it has led you to believe in Jesus, then you need to repent of your sins and confess that belief and be baptized for the remission of your sins. God is faithful and if you do these things He will wash away your sins and add you to His Kingdom, His church. If perhaps you are a Christian and somehow your foot has slipped, you may become right with God by asking for forgiveness. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.
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Reference Sermon: DeWitt Talmage

An Earnest Prayer

Matthew 26

A young boy was kneeling in prayer, looking quite disgruntled.
He muttered, “Aunt Harriet hasn’t gotten married,
Uncle Hubert hasn’t found work,
and Daddy’s hair is still falling out…
I’m getting tired of praying for this family
without getting any results!”

Or there’s the prayer of the person who asked:
Dear God,
My prayer for 2024 is for a FAT BANK account and a THIN BODY
PLEASE don’t MIX these up like you did LAST YEAR!

I. THE GARDEN AT GETHSEMANE

A. A Place of Prayer.
The Garden at Gethsemane – just the very mention of that name produce a variety of images in our minds – images of prayer, agony & betrayal. Yet it is a beautiful site, & tourists visiting it will often be told that 8 of the olive trees there today were nearly a century or more old when Jesus went there that night. Our Scripture text this morning is Matthew 26:36-56. It begins with these words: “Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane...”  And Luke 22:39 tells us about it in this way, “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and His disciples followed Him.” Being in the Garden at Gethsemane was not something unusual for Jesus.Evidently, when He was in Jerusalem this was where He usually went to pray. So when Judas went hunting for Jesus to betray Him, he knew just where to go. Jesus had gone “as usual” to the Garden at Gethsemane to pray.

ILL. Surveys indicate that about 85% of all Americans say that they pray. Some pray a lot, & some not very much. But 85% of us say that we pray. In fact, I have even heard that 20% of self-proclaimed atheists & agnostics say that they pray, too. I’m not sure to whom they pray, but they say that they pray. You see, God has offered us a source of strength through prayer, but too seldom do most of us really pray.

So this morning, as we look at the Garden at Gethsemane, the place where Jesus prayed, may God help us to realize the power of prayer that He has so freely offered to us. By the way, do you have a place that is your place of prayer?
Is there a spot where, maybe early in the morning, or during the day, or late at night, you can go & be undisturbed as you pray?  Gethsemane was a place of prayer for Jesus. But for Him it was more than that.

B. For Jesus it was also a place of privacy. Vs’s 36-37 tell us that as Jesus & His disciples reach the garden Jesus “... said to them, 'Sit here while I go over there & pray.’ He took Peter & the two sons of Zebedee along with Him, & He began to be sorrowful & troubled.”

Here is the scene.  After eating the Passover meal together in the upper room, Jesus & 11 of His disciples are walking back toward Bethany. Judas is not with them. He had left them earlier to carry out his plan to betray Jesus.  As Jesus & His disciples are going up the Mt. of Olives they come to the Garden at Gethsemane. Jesus stops at the entrance & leaves 8 of them there to wait while He goes into the Garden to pray. He takes Peter, James & John with Him.  Then, after asking them to watch & pray, Luke tells us that He left them & went about a stone’s throw beyond them. Then He fell to the ground & prayed, all alone with God.  And there are times in our lives when we, too, need to be alone with God. I imagine that most of us have experienced times like that.

C. For Jesus, the Garden at Gethsemane was also a place of great agony. Vs. 38 tells us that He said to Peter, James, & John “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here & keep watch with me.” It was a time of intense feeling & agony for our Lord because He knew what tomorrow would hold for Him. He knew about the illegal trials, the scourger's whip, the crown of thorns, & the cross.

Is there any doubt that Jesus was feeling the agony of it all? The Gospel of John says that when Jesus left the upper room with his disciples to go to the Garden at Gethsemane that they crossed the Kidron Valley. And in that Valley was a stream called the "Brook of Kidron" that flowed down from the temple mount.  On that particular day, it was Passover, So thousands of lambs had been offered as sacrifices for the sins of the people. And the blood of those lambs had drained out upon the temple mount.

The Brook of Kidron would have been red with their blood. And Jesus, the "Lamb of God," knew that as He crossed this brook, it would soon be his blood that flowed.  Luke 22:44 says, “And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, & His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”  Scientists say that it is possible in moments of intense stress for capillaries to burst & blood to mix with perspiration. And as Jesus agonized in prayer that must have happened with Him.

D. For Jesus, Gethsemane was also a place of submission. Vs. 39 says, “Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground & prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.’”
Jesus completely submitted Himself to God’s will. Sometimes we come to God in prayer & say, “God, this is what I think should happen.” And we ought to feel free to say that.  But because He is our heavenly Father & knows what is best for us, He may not always give us what we want.

ILL. Garth Brooks has a song entitled “Lord, Thank You for Unanswered Prayers.”  In it he sings about going back to his high school reunion & seeing his old sweetheart. She was the one he once planned to marry, the one that he thought he wouldn’t be able to live without. But after high school, for some reason, they went their separate ways. And after seeing her again at that reunion he wrote the song, “Lord, Thank You for Unanswered Prayers.” Just after we got married, Debbie and I placed bids on 3 different houses throughout northeast Ohio that we thought were ideal for our future family ....but we were out bid on all 3. We didn’t understand OR know at the time how happy we would be with the house in Perry that we have lived in for over 33 years. Our prayers back then went unanswered And it worked out to be a better future for us.

Jesus knew exactly what was happening, so he prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not MY will, but THY will be done."

E. For Jesus, this Garden was also a place of patience & understanding.

1. Notice vs’s 40 & 41. “Then He returned to His disciples & found them sleeping. ‘Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?’ He asked Peter. ‘Watch & pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’”  Now we have to sympathize with the apostles here, don’t we?  It had been a busy week. There was the Triumphal Entry as Jesus came into the city & was greeted with hosannas & the waving of palm branches. After that came the cleansing of the temple & conflict with the religious leaders.

The Passover meal in the upper room had also been a very emotional experience as Jesus told them again that He was going to die, & that one of them would betray Him.  Then they had walked to Gethsemane, & by then it was probably well after midnight. They were tired. They wanted to do what Jesus asked them to do, but they fell asleep. And when Jesus came back to where they were, notice His patience & under-standing. He didn’t bawl them out. He just gently reminded them what they were supposed to be doing & said, “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”  One of the benefits of prayer ought to be that we become more patient with each other. If we’re not patient with each other, then we’re not praying the way we ought.

2. Vs. 42 says, “He went away a second time & prayed, ‘My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.’”  Vs. 43 says, “When He came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So, He left them & went away once more & prayed the third time, saying the same thing.” The Bible teaches us that we ought to be persistent in our prayers – never giving up, coming again & again in prayer to the Lord, seeking His will in our lives.Jesus prayed this same prayer at least 3 different times. If prayer is going to be a source of power in our lives, then there must be some persistence in what we pray for.

F. Again, for Jesus the Garden at Gethsemane was also a place of strength & renewal. Vs’s 45 & 46 tell us, “Then He returned to the disciples & said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping & resting? Look, the hour is near, & the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer.”  What a change! Just a few verses ago we were reading about Jesus being sorrowful & troubled & near the point of death. But here is renewed energy. Jesus is saying, “It’s time! Rise up! Let’s go! Here comes my betrayer.”  Where did His renewed strength & determination come from? It must have come from His time of prayer in the Garden at Gethsemane.  Luke 22:43 says that as Jesus was praying, “An angel from heaven appeared to Him & strengthened Him.”  Now He is ready to face the cross for us!

ILL. Bill Hybells in his book “Too Busy to Pray” says that if the request is wrong, God says, “No!” If the timing is wrong God says, “Slow!” If we are wrong God says, “Grow!” But if everything is right God says, “Go!” So, God said to Jesus, “It’s time to go.”

II. JESUS IS ARRESTED!

A. Before we close, I want us also to see the arrest of Jesus. Vs's 47-49 tell us, “While He was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords & clubs, sent from the chief priests & the elders of the people.  "Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.’ Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ & kissed him.”

Have you ever been betrayed by someone you loved & trusted? If so, you understand the deep hurt & pain that Jesus must have felt as Judas approached. In spite of this, notice how Jesus responds in vs. 50, “Jesus replied, ‘Friend, do what you came for.’” He still called Judas His “friend.”  Vs. 50 goes on to say,  “Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus & arrested him." "With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out & struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.”  Matthew doesn’t tell us it was Simon Peter, but John does.

Vs’s 52-54 tell us “’Put your sword back in its place,’ Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.  'Do you think I cannot call on my Father, & He will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?’”   And while the people who stood there didn’t see angels, they saw in Jesus a power such as they had never experienced before. In fact, John 18:6 says that when all this happened, instead of rushing forward to grab Jesus, the soldiers & Temple guards drew back & fell to the ground. But Jesus surrendered to them. After all, He had just prayed, “Father...not my will but Yours be done.” “Then all the disciples deserted Him & fled.” (Vs. 56)

B. Now there are two lessons we need to learn this morning.

1. “Effective emergency prayer should be preceded by regular daily prayer.”  The Bible says that Jesus often prayed all night. He would often go up into the mountains to pray. He was constantly in an attitude of prayer. So, when an emergency arose, when the crisis came, when the cross was before Him, Jesus was able to handle it. Don’t expect emergency prayers to work if you haven’t developed a daily habit of prayer. God may say, “Who’s that stranger calling?” So, every day let Him hear your voice. Then when emergencies arise, when crises come, you’ll be ready.

2. Secondly, “Prayer strengthens us to face our difficulties more than it changes our circumstances.” Sometimes prayer changes circumstances. Sometimes we see people healed who should have died. Sometimes we see situations in life changed because we have prayed about them.  But for the most part, God gives us strength to face the difficulties more than He changes the circumstances.  When the apostle Paul prayed that the thorn in his flesh be removed, God said “No, you’ll keep the thorn in the flesh. But I’ll give you the strength you need.” And Paul proclaimed that God’s grace was sufficient for him.  When Jesus prayed, “Let this cup pass from me,” God said, “No, this is a part of the plan. But I’ll give you the strength to face the cross.”  And sometimes God will say that to us, too. He may not always change the circumstances, but he will give us the strength to face the difficulties.

ILL. Someone wrote:
I prayed for strength that I might achieve.
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things.
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy.
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness that I might feel my need for God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing I asked for, yet everything I’d hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed!

These are stressful times. We need a Garden at Gethsemane, a place where we can go & recognize that we’re not strong enough or wise enough to do what God has called us to do. We can only do it as we realize His strength & His blessings in our life.
This morning, if you’re not a Christian, we give you the opportunity to come to Jesus, to be baptized for the remission of your sins and to walk in newness of life. It is His invitation, & we offer it to you. Will you come as we stand & as we sing?

INVITATION

Based on a sermon given By Melvin Newland

Not Conformed But Transformed - Part 2

Romans 12:1-2

INTRO:

Good morning.   Today we are going to continue to look at Romans 12:1-2.  Just as a reminder if you hear me say anything that you do not think is according to scripture please let me know and we can look at it together.   In general I will be using the New King James or the King James Version for reference.   Specifically we will be looking at where Paul says we should not be conformed to this world and that we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds.   Last week we looked at the word conformed and wondered what that looked like, what it meant for us.

 

Do you like “new things”?    What about a new person?   Mark Hull or Ray Mihalacki can tell you about their new grandchildren.   New babies are so small, innocent and clean.   All of that changes as individuals mature.   Today we will talk about the power of change and the beauty of newness.  If it were not for the ability for us to change we could never be what God intended us to be.   We must become new again.   The restoration plea.

 

1. A New Creation: A New Creation is what Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”   The idea of “newness” is an important element of the gospel message.   In fact, that is the practical “good news” that God brings, as described in scripture.   We can be redone and we can start anew.   We are not shackled forever with the past or with what we have done before.   God can make things new again. 
   1. The idea of being redone, reborn and being a new person implies something about us that we must deal with and understand.
      1. If implies that we have a need to be “fixed” or “recreated“. We are not what God would have us to be, we are not as he created us.   We have to be transformed because we have created within ourselves with our own disobedience, a situation where we are not acceptable to God.   That’s important for us to recognize.
      2. We have to believe that there is a necessity for everyone to be transformed and be made new again. Sometimes we are tempted to believe that we’re good enough for ourselves, we’re good enough for the church, the kingdom, and we’re “good enough” for what we have to do. 
      3. We also often believe that our neighbors or our family are good enough. We believe that they’re going to be ok and the end is going to be alright.   After all we’re not all that bad, are we?  The very idea of the need for renewal in scriptures implies that we are all that bad.   If not for the blood of Christ we would be eternally lost.  If it were not for the ability that God gives us to make the right choices, to be sorry for what we have done, to study, learn and develop our character, we could never be what God would have us to be.
   2. What we find described in all this, is a complete makeover. That’s what the scripture describes, it is what God does for us and what the transformation involves.  The nature of the change that God makes in us is described in the most comprehensive terms in scripture.
      1. It is described as a new birth in John chapter three. Jesus spoke privately to a well-educated religious leader and focused on the necessity of a complete change.  He said that change must be so drastic; it must be so comprehensive that it is like being born again.   Becoming like Mark or Ray’s grandchild, a new birth.   “Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  John 3:3
      2. In Ephesians 2:1 Paul focused on the comprehensive nature of change when he said: And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. The change he talks about here, took place in Ephesus in conversions of sinners.   Described as a resurrection from the dead.   They weren’t just sick.   They weren’t just feeling bad.   They were dead in their trespasses and sins but God made them alive again.   In Romans 6:4, he uses that very same analogy again.  “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” 
      3. Then in 2 Corinthians 3:18 – “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” It is a transformation.
      4. It is a complete change that a Christian undergoes, and here is an important note,… continues to undergo. Do we see any evidence of this transformation in our lives or the lives of other Christians today?   Can we see this drastic change the Bible talks about when we look at Christians?   How about when we look at those of the world?   When we stand them side by side is there really a great contrast between the lives of Christians and the lives of others who are not Christians?  
      5. Or do we miss the mark? Christian marriages fail as well as marriages in the world.   Christians fail in the lives of their children.   They fail to teach their children about the love of God.   Many times Christians speak like the world or aspire to the goals of the world.    In the end they live the life that the world lives around them.   How can we say that Jesus can make a difference in the lives of others if He makes no difference in ours?
   3. Be Transformed: The transformation in our own individual, personal lives becomes the greatest evidence of what we’re teaching about Jesus Christ from the scriptures. It teaches that it is actually true and is practical for everyone. If the Gospel does not change our life we cannot expect to teach others and have it change their lives.   That may be one reason that sometimes both hypocrisy and mediocrity in service to Christ, transcends generations.   When parents are not very faithful to the Lord many times the children will not be.   The transformed life is the agent through which the power of the gospel takes hold.   If the transformation is not there, the words simply fall on ears that will never put them into practice.
      1. Paul’s admonition to us in Romans 12:2: 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We read this last week as we looked closely at the first part of Paul’s admonition, do not be conformed.   Now let us continue by looking at the 2^nd
         1. The positive command here is to “be transformed”. The two are absolutely connected and this part helps us to understand the negative prohibition, “be not conformed”.
         2. In fact, we cannot hope to escape being conformed unless we are inwardly transformed in our thinking. If we are not changed in the likeness of Jesus Christ we will be molded into the likeness of the world.   There’s no middle ground here you can wander around in.
         3. When we think about our own lives, the old man and the new man: What does the before and after picture of our mind look like? I believe to a great extent that is what Paul addresses here—that there is to be a contrast in the way we think from the way we thought when we were in the world.
      2. Has the Spirit of God transformed our thinking? The Greek verb for be transformed is (metamorphoo) and is very insightful.   It describes a change of place or condition… To transform, transfigure, change one’s form. (Word Study Dictionary).   It’s the same word that is used to describe, in Matthew chapter 17, the transfiguration of Jesus.   Jesus was inherently divine yet in the flesh, but in that particular moment He was transformed so that His outward appearance gave indication of His inherent nature within.   He was shown to be the deity that He is by the transforming of His outward character or form.
         1. It is the term from which we get the English metamorphosis. You may see that word in the Greek word itself.  What do you think of when you hear metamorphosis?   I think of science class and the Monarch butterfly.   That was the first lesson I had illustrating what the word metamorphosis meant.  The butterfly doesn’t start out as a butterfly so it becomes a very good illustration from the natural world as to what change is.  It doesn’t start out the same as what it becomes.   It was morphed over a period of time.   God’s natural world about us illustrates His word to us.
            1. There are four stages in the metamorphosis of the butterfly. First there is the egg laid on the milkweed plant.  It’s a very tiny ball.  
            2. From the egg comes the caterpillar. It still doesn’t look like a butterfly, does it?   It’s kind of cute, but it’s not a butterfly.   It doesn’t in any way resemble a butterfly.

• After the caterpillar, then comes a cocoon, or a chrysalis. The caterpillar builds an outer shell around itself.  

1. Within the chrysalis there is a transformation. The green caterpillar is disappearing and the butterfly is emerging.   It’s interesting that God lets us see all that.   Finally the transformation (metamorphosis) is complete, and the full grown butterfly emerges.
2. The butterfly flies away after having gone through this process of change. There has been a transformation.  What kind of change is this?  I think we all realize that this is a complete   What the thing started out as is not what it ends up as.   It’s completely different.   This change, this metamorphosis, took place over a period of time.   It didn’t happen in a moment.  I think it’s about two weeks from the time the caterpillar goes into the cocoon until it comes as a butterfly.

2. Spiritually we go through a metamorphosis, a transformation. We don’t end up anything like we started as.  It doesn’t happen in a moment.   It happens over a period of time.  
3. The verb “be transformed” is like the preceding verb, “be not conformed”. In the original language we get the sense this is also a passive imperative.   It literally means we are not to allow ourselves to be conformed, but rather we are to allow ourselves to be transformed.   This indicates that the power to transform is like the power to conform.   Allowing it is something we have control over.  We have a say over whether we’re conformed to the world.   We have a responsibility to allow the power of God to work a transformation in our mind.
4. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 you see: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” An important aspect of this particular passage is not only the dimension that we are being transformed as children of God, but that the transformation takes place “by the Spirit of the Lord”.   Although we are to aspire to this outward change, it can be accomplished only by the Holy Spirit working in us. 

1. Ephesians 5:18 – “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,” In the context of that verse Paul is describing the changed individual.  If you go back to chapter four he talks about the old man and the new man and putting off certain characteristics and putting on others.   He talks about the possibility of redemption that is made possible through Jesus Christ.  He says we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit.  We are to make this change.  In the context he tells us how this takes place.   He says it takes place when the individual is filled with the Spirit of God.  That’s not mystical thing or a mystery.   It is the ability of the individual to allow the Spirit of God to influence their lives.  And not just a little bit, but totally influence their lives so that they are filled with the influence of the Spirit of God working in them.
2. To get a better picture of this transformation, let’s consider the Greek noun, morph, from which this verb comes. The word morph refers to a unique form or nature of something.   It describes the inherent quality of a person or thing. 
   1. This word is used by the apostle Paul in Philippians 2:6-7 - Talking about Christ Paul says: “6. who, being in the form (morph) of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,    but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form (morph) of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.”  We’re all familiar with that passage to describe the incarnation of Jesus Christ. 
      1. Jesus’ inherent “form” was divine, but he took on the “form” of a man in becoming flesh, and living as an obedient servant. He was God before He came into this world.  He has always been God yet He took on a form.
      2. Jesus “morphed” from one form to another. (He did this without giving up His divinity, but Jesus’ previous “form” was completely different from His “form” while on the earth.  
   2. We are called upon to change completely back to what we were intended to be. We must empty ourselves of the world in order to be transformed into the image of Christ.  
      1. When I go to work on a car I have what are called coveralls. I used them a lot in the Air Force as well.   We put them on over the top of our clothes.   Very, very useful things.   Sometimes I need to work on something and just do not have any clothes I want to take a chance on wrecking.   We know what can happen to clothes when you work on a car.   However, when you put on coveralls and work on your car you don’t worry about it because your good clothes are underneath.  
      2. Coveralls are just that, a cover. God does not provide coveralls though.   If you are going to put on good clothes, you’ve got to take off the old.   That’s the process for us.  
   3. There’s a clear distinction between what’s old and new in scripture, what’s old and new in the life of the Christian, between the life previously in the world and what God expects of us. Sometimes that comes in the form of direct commandments, the application of principles.   A complete change, from old to new, a transformation, is exactly what God requires.   Let’s go back to Romans chapter 12.  He says there we are transformed by the renewing of our mind.

• By the Renewing of Your Mind: Paul indicates this necessity of putting off the old as a part of our transformation in Ephesians 4:22 -24 – “22.  that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,    and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,  24.  and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.” 
  1. A couple things I notice here. Lusts are mentioned a number of times in scripture for example 1 John 2:16 – “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.”   John points out these are part of the world.    They are deceitful in that the world likes to present them as normal or acceptable.   The second thing I notice is that the “new man” we are told to put on is the one “created according to God”.
  2. Notice here in Ephesians 4, as in Romans 12, that the part of us that God is interested in transforming is our minds. I believe in both passages he talks about the renewing, transformation, of the mind as the way, the avenue, where the outer conduct is changed and the form of a person becomes—different
     1. There’s a change in the intellectual capacity of an individual to understand God’s word, and his willingness to apply what he knows.
     2. Earlier in Ephesians 4 Paul described those who were alienated from God as being darkened in their understanding. They were ignorant, he says.   They were blind in their hearts, but now they’ve been enlightened and renewed in the spirit of their minds.   This lack of knowledge and faith led them to practice those things that are not right in the sight of God.  
     3. You don’t accidently do what God wants you to do. You can’t accidently follow a culture and be what God wants you to be.  There has to be revelation.   There has to be understanding of the truth.   The way in which we decide to become a Christian starts there.   We say that a person must hear the word of God.   Faith comes by hearing what God says.   That hearing is designed to change the mind of the individual and ultimately in changing their mind they change their conduct.
  3. How is the mind renewed? We’ve already mentioned part of that.   It’s renewed by revelation, by the power of the Holy Spirit.   It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that the mind of the individual is brought to newness.   That’s not mystical or mysterious. 
     1. Certainly we need to recognize that God is the true change agent. Without His power we could not change ourselves to be what God would have us to be.  The Spirit’s means of transforming our minds is the Word of God.
     2. This is a concept or idea that’s always reinforced throughout the scriptures. The apostle Paul, when he talks about transformation by the Spirit of God mentions it within the context of the word of God that brings the transformation about.   David testified, “Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee” (Psalms 119:11).    It’s the word of God within the heart of the individual that guides an individual to do what’s right and keeps him from doing the things that are wrong. 
     3. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 – “15. and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16.  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17.  that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”    The transformation of our mind can only be accomplished through our constant association with the word of God.   Paul told the Ephesians if they read what he wrote them they could understand his knowledge in the mystery of God.
     4. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:13-16 – “13. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14.  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery (that is elders).  Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. 16.  Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”    The word of God is at the heart of the transformation of the character, not only in the one that was being taught, but in the teacher as well.   The mind must be changed by the revelation of the word of God.
  4. What does a renewed or transformed mind look like? You’ve probably seen one.  You’ve seen transformation take place in the lives of individuals when they came out of the world and became Christians.   Their character changes before your eyes.   They become new people.   What does a transformed mind look like?   Let me suggest a couple of things.
     1. One is that the transformed mind is saturated with and controlled by the word of God. We read:   “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” – Colossians 3:16.
     2. The transformed mind is the mind that spends less time with the things of the world and more time with the things of God. Paul’s admonition is: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2).    That’s a practical admonition having to do with the change of the mind of an individual by opening the Bible and meditating on the things that are there.   We need to check ourselves.
        1. How many times a day do we read the Bible?
        2. How many times a week do we meditate on what the scriptures say?

• How much time do we spend trying to understand what is said?

3. The transformed mind is the mind that responds to the events of life (reflexively) with the words of God.
   1. We interpret the events of our life in the context of scripture.
   2. We respond to temptation with the context of scripture.

• This is our living sacrifice; our spiritual service.

1. Jesus responded to Satan’s temptations by hurling Scripture back into His adversary’s face (Matthew 4:4,7,10). Satan came in with temptation.  Jesus hurled scripture right back at him because He was a spiritual Man and a spiritual man will always use scripture.   What Paul says, is that in the living sacrifice, the spiritual service to which we are called—we will use the word of God.  

4. The transformed mind is seeking to transform others through the word of God. It recognizes that the power of the word of God is not just for our benefit only.   It is to renew the minds of other individuals who do not yet have the spiritual perspective.
5. 2 Corinthians 10:5 – Paul says: “cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” That’s an enormous challenge.   God calls us to cast down what exalts its self against the knowledge of God, be they arguments or things, and then to bring every thought into the obedience of Christ.
6. When you look at the world today and all the different thinking and anti-God philosophies that exist in our culture, all the people who do not know about God, and all the people who do not care about God, you recognize the enormity of this task and the desperate need for it.
7. We are to be renewed in our minds and we want everyone to think like the mind of Christ. Indeed I think that the renewed mind looks like the mind of Christ.   We look like the image we’re transformed to.   The goal of the renewed minds is to be like Christ Himself.
8. Paul says in Colossians 3:9-10 – “9. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10.  and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,”      Earlier in Colossians 1:28 Paul says: “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”  
   1. Romans 8:29 – “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” God has plans for us in spiritual transformation.   What is the goal?   Paul says that before He knew us “that He also predestined us to be conformed to the image of His son.”
   2. Another verse where the Greek word “morph” is used is Galatians 4:19 – “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,”   That is why Paul labored.  That’s why he gave his life over to do what he was doing.  It was so he could go to a city where individuals knew nothing about Christ and Christ could be formed in them by the preaching of the gospel.

• It seems that in our society, we simply do not believe that this happens any more. Do we believe that you can take the word of God and nothing but the word of God, preach it and teach it, and by that action show to an unregenerate heart Jesus Christ?   Do we believe that a person can be truly transformed?

9. Sometimes the more practical question is: Has Christ formed in us?   Do others see the mind of Christ in our decisions and attitudes?   Do they hear the words of Christ in our speech and how we relate to other individuals?   Do they see us reacting to situations in life as Christ would react in His own life?

1. That you might prove: Paul says in the end of the verse: “That you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” We are renewed in our minds so that we might “prove”.  The word for “prove” here was often used to mean “ascertain or investigate” (as the precious metals were investigated with a testing of fire to “prove” their worth.)  A precious metal is put under fire and tested.  It is proved to be what it says that it is.   What does this passage mean?   That our transformed minds prove what is the will of God.  
   1. Those with a transformed mind are able to properly investigate the will of God in their life. A person’s mind that has changed, having now a disposition to obey Him, will be prepared to understand His precepts because the mind is renewed toward Him.
      1. It’s not struggling whether or not God has a prerogative to tell him what to do. That person has taken the mind of the servant, the one who will obey, and their mind has been renewed not to seek their own, but to seek the things of God.   Whatever God says, wherever God’s word leads them, they will go because their mind has the ability to prove the will of God.
      2. There is a difference between knowledge and will. I may know something, but have no will to do it.  I have to recognize that God intends in every way to mold and transform my will by the gaining of knowledge.
      3. The Greek construction makes “that you may prove” in the original text a purpose / result phrase. It means that this is the purpose and that will be the result.   As a believer’s mind is transformed he is able to properly assess everything, and to accept only what conforms to the will of God.   To judge their life by the will of God in so much that their will becomes the same as God’s will.   Our lives can prove what the will of God is, by doing those things that are good and acceptable and perfect to Him.
   2. There you have it. That’s the transformation of the life of a Christian.   Thus, as the mind is transformed, the will is changed.  The Christians’ will becomes conformed to the will of God.   God’s people want what God wants; they want to do what God wants them to do.  Does that seem like an enormous challenge?
      1. Paul said that his purpose in preaching the gospel, was that he might be well pleasing to God in all things.
      2. Paul tells us that as we are transformed in mind we come to realize three things—that God’s will is good, acceptable and perfect. Let’s think about that.
      3. Good – That which promotes what is best for man and God. Do you think monogamous marriage for a lifetime is good?  What about; Honesty, humility, compassion for others, love for all mankind?   By obeying God I will be able to apply these principles to the events of my own life.
      4. Acceptable – That which is approved of God, that which has His blessing and will bring His blessings. Do we know, in our own mind, what will please Him?   If we develop the mind of Christ we will know what pleases Him.
      5. Perfect – That which has all its parts – complete. God’s will is consistent and complete.   See how it all fits together?
   3. Maybe you remember that when you first became a Christian and God began to impart knowledge from His word, you began to read the scriptures and began to meditate on them and you began to understand what God was saying to you.
      1. In your mind you came to understand, put together the plan of salvation. You put together the Old Testament and the New Testament.   You saw how things fit together and then you saw what God was telling you to do in your own life.
      2. You saw how by being humble you could be a better parent. By being compassionate how you would be perceived by others and could become more effective in teaching them.   You saw how by doing what God tells you to do in your actions, attitudes and character you were exactly what you needed to be in this life and the life to come.
      3. What you were doing, you were proving the will of God to be perfect and acceptable in your transformed mind. That is a Spiritual Metamorphosis.
   4. The 19^th century commentator Albert Barnes, said: “A transformed mind produces a transformed will, by which we become eager and able, with the Spirit’s help, to lay aside our own plans and to trustingly accept God’s, no matter what the cost.  This continued yielding involves the strong desire to know God better and to comprehend and follow His purpose for our lives.”
      1. That’s a challenge. Let me suggest something.  If we don’t come through our own desire and our own will, to study God’s word in the assembly of the saints, we’re not going to get this.  
      2. Christians who willing stay away from the study of God’s word, don’t open their Bibles at home, don’t pray, and don’t seek after a better relationship with God will never be changed. They were nice people before and they’re nice people now, but the Spirit of God has not renewed and transformed their minds therefore their wills will never be acceptable to God.
   5. Spiritual Metamorphosis: God changes us, but not in an instant.  It is the continuing work of the Holy Spirit.  The Spiritual Metamorphosis described in the Bible has a beginning followed by growth to maturity.
      3. There is a birth - John three says you must be born again.   John 3:3-7- “3.  Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'' 4.  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?'' 5.  Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6.  "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7.  "Do not marvel that I said to you, `You must be born again.'” 
         1. In Romans chapter six Paul identifies that beginning point. Romans 6:3-4 – “3.  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4.  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” 
         2. That’s the beginning of this new life..
      4. There is growth - There is a process of spiritual growth to maturity and it is God that transforms us if we allow Him. Philippians 1:6 – “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”   When we come out of the waters of baptism we are not all God wants us to be, but we have been changed from a sinner to a saint.   Our sins have been forgiven.   There is still a transformation that God requires of us.   We have responsibility to grow spiritually and mature.   This is by definition a change that is noticeable and advantageous.   God’s still working on us.   If we fail we will fall.   In some sense it’s like riding a bicycle.  Once you take your feet off the ground you better start pedaling.  If you are not moving you are going to fall.   If you get baptized and think you can sit still then you’re going to fall.  You’ve got to keep pedaling to stay upright and reach the destination.
      5. Colossians 2:6-7 – “6. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,    rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”

 

CONCLUSION:

Have you been transformed by the renewing of your mind?   Have you been born again?   Have you been buried with Christ in baptism?  Has the word of God so influenced you that you recognize that Jesus died for you?   Have all the things God did for you brought you to a point of repentance?   If you’ve been born again and you’ve gone back into the world, then you’ve fallen away, but God’s purposes have not been completely thwarted.   The blood of Jesus Christ has the same power today as it did the day when you first became a child of God.  It can forgive each and every sin.   If you come back to Him in repentance and a change in your heart now, you’ll strive to do the things that are right and pray to Him for forgiveness.  In either case the blood of Jesus Christ can make you new.  Will you come and be a new person?

 

Invitation song: ???

 

Reference sermon:  David Schmidt

Not Conformed But Transformed - Part 1

Romans 12:1-2

INTRO:

Good morning.   Today’s lesson is from chapter 12 of Romans verses 1 and 2.  In general I will be using the New King James or the King James for reference.  Look with me now at this text.    “1.  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  2.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Romans 12:1-2. 

 

Those verses are familiar to us, yet in reading them recently I found myself needing to examine my understanding of them   It seems to me that as we read, we should also take time to study and try to gain a better understanding of the scriptures with the purpose of developing in our lives, a deeper spirituality.

 

1. Living Sacrifice: Paul says in Romans 12:1 – “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
   1. We know that God would not give us a command without giving us instructions on how to fulfill that command or provide for us counsel on how to recognize the importance of it to our spiritual life.
      1. How does a person give their physical bodies as a sacrifice to God?
      2. When that happens, what does that look like? That is, if we were to see it happen, what would it look like?
      3. In a sense I believe that verse two gives us an important insight into this.
   2. It helps us better discern what it looks like for us to actually give ourselves in the way that Paul describes here.
2. Do not conform but transform: Paul goes on in Romans 12:2 – “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
   1. The conjunction “and” in this text at the start of the verse tells us right off that we can understand this verse if we study it with verse one. They are connected.  Here Paul is giving us a better understanding of how we present our bodies as a living sacrifice.
   2. The description of a living sacrifice in Paul’s words has both a positive and a negative exhortation. It is in that sense, comprehensive.
   3. Paul presents throughout Romans 12 what I believe is a very comprehensive picture of the spiritual person, by giving us different angles from with which to look at ourselves… our spirituality. How a person lives their life, how they develop their spirituality, and how they react to the world that is around them.
   4. Paul says here, as he says other places, that this process of offering a sacrifice, of giving our lives to God or being pleasing to Him, is putting off some things, and putting on other things. It is a change.   You and I cannot diminish that idea in our own minds or in the minds of others to whom we would teach the gospel.  God demands change.
   5. In Genesis we read in chapter one that “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female”. “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”  But Satan came and brought to man a change that was away from God, disobedience.   God demands that to be one with Him again man must change back.   This is the restoration plea.
      1. The scriptures point to this change that God has always called individuals to make.
      2. The preaching of the gospel is a message of change.
      3. There is no room in Paul’s statements here, or anyplace else where the Bible talks about this change, to imply a compromise. Nor is there any room for there to somehow be reconciliation between that which we change from or from that which we put off, and that which we acquire or put on.
      4. The world must be put behind us. Our lives as Christians are before us and there must be this change.   Paul presents it here as we mentioned in what I think is both a positive and negative way.

• “Be Not Conformed to this World”  Let us begin with the negative side in the lesson this morning. 
  1. Here Paul gives the command that we be not conformed to this world. The words in the original language are insightful.  This is given as a passive imperative, that is, it is a direct command, not a suggestion.   What Paul is saying here, and the language bears out, is a command.  It is passive in that the conforming is by something that we allow ourselves to be conformed to.  It’s something that works on us.   It’s not just something we do, but it’s something that works on us which accomplishes this task or has a certain result.   We allow the “world” to “conform” us—to make us into what it would like to make us.  Let’s look more closely at this concept of conformed.
  2. What does this word “conformed” mean? Our English word means “to be or to become the same or similar”.   It means to conform to some outside influence or for something to be conformed to you as an outside influence.
     1. A few years ago psychologist Ruth W. Berenda and her associates carried out an interesting experiment with young people designed to show how a person coped with group pressure. The plan was simple.  They brought groups of ten adolescents at a time into a room for a test.  
        1. Each group of ten was then instructed to raise their hands when the teacher pointed to the longest line on three separate charts. What one person in each group did not know was that the nine others had been instructed ahead of time to vote for the second-longest line, regardless of the instructions they heard.
        2. The experiment began with nine young people voting for the wrong line. The tenth would typically glance around, frown in confusion, and slip their hand up with the group. The instructions were repeated and the next card was shown.  Time after time, the self-conscious tenth would sit there saying a shorter line was longer than a long line, simply because they lacked the courage to challenge the group.  This remarkable conformity occurred in about 75% of the cases, and was true of small children and high-school students as well.   
     2. Do you remember bean bag chairs? I do and I have had one in time past.   Sort of silly when you think about it and after I got older I wondered “what was that all about”.   I have wondered about many things that have come and gone which people seem to buy into.
     3. You throw a sack of pellets on the ground and you sit on it. They were big in the 70’s.   You sit in the bean bag chair and you get up—that was the hard part.   I could not get out of one today, I’m sure.  You get up and look back at the chair.   What you see is that the chair has conformed to your body.   There’s an impression where you sat down.  That’s the aspect of conformation.   It means that something happens and you conform to something or something conforms to you.
     4. The Greek word has a similar meaning to our English definition, it is suschematizo ‎(soos-khay-ma-id’-zo) from which we get the English word scheme or schematic. It means to fashion alike, i.e. conform to the same pattern (figuratively) and suggests the idea of “fashioning or shaping one thing like another” (Vine).   Therefore to conform means that you fit a pattern.  You see a pattern before you and you conform to that pattern therefore you become like it or you become similar to it.   We think of that in the physical terms of a blueprint or schematic. 
     5. If you build a house you have a blueprint. If you have a builder, if he’s a good builder, he will look at a blueprint before he even starts.  He’ll look at it several times as he builds the house to be certain the house conforms to the blueprint.
        1. That’s the use of the word here in the original language. We are not to allow the world to conform us, to make us like the pattern the world presents to us through social norms,… pressures,… customs… and perhaps contrary laws.
        2. The ASV of verse 2 says: “And be not fashioned according to this world:” The translated verb “fashioned” suggests forming something with external force.   

• There are some interesting translations of this verse and one that caught my attention is by J.B. Phillips; “Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”

1. “This world”. Let’s look at the words “this world”.  The use here implies the culture we’re in has a pattern.   It holds things that are in common with the elements of the world.   There are others that conform to this and live by this world or pattern and are part of it.   The Christian is called out of that on a personal level, on a congregational level.   We’re called out of this world so that we may not conform to it.   We do not allow ourselves to be molded.   The pattern, in Paul’s language, is what is presented by this world.   Do not be conformed to this world Paul says.   We should note that there is more than one word in the original language of the Bible that is translated as “world”.   However, there is not the same meaning.   We have to look at the context in which this particular word is used in the translation to get the full meaning of the word “world”.
   1. The word “Kosmos”( κόσμος) is the most common Greek word used in the New Testament that is translated into “world”.   It refers to both the geographical sphere we live on as “God created the world” (earth) and also to the people who inhabit the world.
      1. John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Here we understand it is not referring to the ball of dirt and water, but that He loved the people who are on the earth.
      2. Kosmos is used in other passages, particularly by the apostle John to refer to Satan’s dominion and influence. It is used in the negative sense in 1 John chapter 2.

• 1 John 2:15 – “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Here the world does not mean the aspect of the globe, nor does it just mean the people that inhabit the earth.   It means the aspect of the dominion or the influence of Satan whether it’s expressed in activities or people or philosophies or ideas.   John says many times there is a distinction between Christ and the world.   Those two things cannot be reconciled.

2. Now “Kosmos” is not the word that Paul uses in Romans 12:2. He doesn’t use the word we find most often used to describe the dominion of Satan.   Rather he uses the word, “aion” (eon) which often is translated “age” or period of time.   It is used in scriptures often to describe a period of time that has spiritual or moral characteristics.   Sometimes it describes an aspect of age that is to come, and the Bible describes the different events that are to come with the age or the age of an individual.  Sometimes it is used to describe an aspect of the present age.
   1. We use that word in the same way occasionally. We might sigh and say. “What is this world coming to?”    We probably don’t mean what’s going to happen to the planet.  We mean what’s the culture around us going to look like.  Or what is society going to look like?
   2. We describe this aspect of a culture by the use of the term “world”. The Bible does the same thing and that’s what Paul’s doing here in Romans 12 when he says we are not to be conformed to the world in which we live—to the society, the culture in which we live.

• There is another way I believe that word is used. We find it in Jesus’ parable of the sowing of the seeds.   Jesus told the story of how a sower went forth and sowed seeds on the ground.   Some of that seed fell to ground among the thorns.   The thorns grew and choked out the seed so they could not grow.   Jesus’ parable predicts the ability of the word of God to grow in certain spiritual soil. 

22. Jesus says; “and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word”(of God) Matthew 13:22.   I would suggest to you that these “cares” are specific to the period in which you and I live.   Our parents, our grandparents, and our great grandparents had “cares” associated with their time.   Including some that you and I no longer have to struggle with.  
23. We have “cares” associated with our culture that those folks didn’t have to think about and maybe our children won’t have to think about either. Each particular time has “cares” that are unique to them.   It is a spiritual discernment for us to recognize those “cares” that belong to the “world” that have the propensity to strangle the word of God out of our lives and keep us from developing spiritually.    Now there are those cares, those concerns; which I believe repeat themselves culturally as society goes on.   We have to recognize they have their root, they have their design, in Satan himself.  That’s what I believe Jesus teaches here in the parable of the soil. 
24. We recognize is that we live in an age that is antagonistic toward God. I don’t think any of us would disagree with that, but so did the people of the first century.  The apostles wrote about and spoke about this by inspiration in the scriptures.   Look at Galatians 1:4 - “who(Jesus) gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”  The deliverance that God has for us in Jesus Christ is described in the Bible as rescuing us from our culture, rescuing us from the influence of the world around us.

• In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul says: “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” He says there is a god of this age—Satan himself who has the ability to blind people’s eyes so that they can’t understand the gospel when they don’t seek after spiritual things.

3. The terminology here, I believe, certainly is applicable to us. The Bible gives us some real insight to the aspect of the dangers of the culture in which we live… whatever that culture might be.   What Paul’s is telling us here is that culture has the ability to mold us into its own image.   We have a very great propensity to be like the people around us.   God consistently calls us away from that.   What the language also tells us that we cannot allow ourselves to be drawn in to the culture.   Notice the personal responsibility there.
4. If we are going to be molded to culture it is because we allow We don’t have to be molded to the people around us, to the world around us.   When someone is influenced by their culture to do the things that the culture suggests and society does, then they are driven by the world to be conformed by that world.   Sometimes we describe those people as being “worldly”.   We use the word itself to describe the person.   Sometimes we talk about the threat of worldliness and that the church has to be careful lest it is influenced by worldliness.

1. What then is worldliness? What does a worldly person look like? or sound like? or think like?   How would you describe them?  What does that person look like today?   I think that we most often picture the worldly person as a philandering, drinking, cussing, spouse abuser down the road or an unbeliever—one who doesn’t believe in God.   They go clubbing and run around with their friends.  They use bad language.  That’s a worldly person.
   1. When we describe this aspect of worldliness we certainly ought to recognize that those things are of the world and speak against them as God does, because God gives specific prohibition against such things. I think though there’s a danger here in our view.   In our comprehensive definition of worldliness it’s very easy for us to say: I don’t do those things so I must not be worldly because those are the things that describe worldliness and I don’t do those things so I’m not worldly in that sense.  Does that seem familiar?   Does that definition fit us?
   2. This view serves our purposes when we look at what God tells us in Romans 12 telling us about not being conformed to the world. That must not be me.   That must not be you.
   3. One writer suggested that a list of “worldly” traits should be way more comprehensive. It is suggested we sometimes have a very shallow view of what God is calling us out of.   It has been suggested, for example, that maybe one of the characteristics we should include on this list is “consumerism”.  What does the worldly person look like?  What about this:
      1. The insatiable need to buy and consume things, to have things. How does that fit our definition of worldly?
      2. We live in a society where everything is geared to, everything run by money and what money can buy. To have things becomes the greatest pursuit of life because it becomes the ultimate blueprint for how we pursue life.

• Is that part of the blueprint offered us? Is success defined by whether we accomplish that?   The one with the most toys, best things and so on is the successful one.  Could it possibly be that that’s what Paul’s talking about when he says you cannot be conformed to this world?

4. Jesus said to the people of his day (to people with a lot fewer things than we have) “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15) He went on to tell the parable of a rich man, one who the world would call very successful, so successful that he had to have bigger places to put his things.  Jesus tells the judgment of God on this man and concluded by saying, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”  (Luke 12:21)  The rich man thought about what his tomorrow would be in the context of whether he would be physically successful. 
   1. What Jesus was describing was a worldly person, a person that was not morally bad, but in the terms of the prospective of their life, their aspirations, their desires and their lifestyle they had been conformed to the culture around them.
   2. They believed that what should be important to them was what was important to everybody else. They thought that the way you measure success is the way everybody else measures success.

• Are we to think like the people around us?  We must not be molded by the world.   That’s what Paul is warning against, what he’s describing here…   The ability to not be molded is what he is describing as the sacrifice that we make toward God.

1. Do we offer our bodies as a sacrifice to God because we do not allow our bodies and our lives and our physical experience to be molded by the world around us? Yes, we live differently.   Our sacrifice is living the Christian life on a daily basis.

1. How Do We Fit in the Mold of Our Age? In what ways do we need to apply this teaching that Paul presents?   The implications go far beyond the common vices that we correctly shun in our lives.   John accounts that we must not be conformed to the affections of the world.
   15. 1 John 2:15-17 – “15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16.  For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. 17.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
       1. John through the Holy Spirit has the unique ability to make the dichotomy of right and wrong, light and darkness, the world and Jesus so clear to us. His language is simple, given by God to present to us when we cannot reconcile what is light and what is darkness.
       2. How do we think about ourselves in God’s true assessment of us? We are sinners and we cannot in any way be acceptable to God in that sense.  If we claim to walk in the light as He is in the light, we must put away darkness in our practices.  John tells us of the Father… and of the world… they cannot be reconciled.
       3. That’s a struggle for all of us. He says: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him.”    If I understand that passage, John not only tells us that the Kingdom of the Father and the Kingdom of Satan, are separate.   But they are mutually exclusive
   16. He’s telling us in our daily experience of living as a Christian we must choose one or the other. That’s how the human experience plays out in living the Christian life.   God gives us the opportunity to make choices.   Through those daily choices that we make, we either give our body as a sacrifice to God and do not become conformed to the world, or we do just the opposite of that.   There is no middle ground.
       1. Jesus agrees with that in His own teaching. Luke 16:13-14 – “13.  "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.'' 14.  Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.” The English word “derided”, which is translated from (ekmyktērizō) is not used much today.  Strong translates ekmyktērizō as “to deride by turning up the nose, to sneer at, to scoff at” .
       2. Would we expect any other response from individuals that wanted to incorporate covetousness in religion? There are a lot of folks that work that way today, ones who even claim to be religious leaders.   They teach the message that what God really wants for you is to be financially prosperous.   He wants you to be a millionaire.   He wants you to get ahead in life so He’s laid down principles in the Bible that can help you succeed in business and can help you become rich.  
       3. Jesus says those two aspirations are mutually exclusive. They are irreconcilable.   They cannot in any way be brought together.  One is of the world and one is of the Father.  If you seek after the things of the world the love of the Father is not in you.   I suppose that if they read these verses in the view of teaching a prosperity gospel they have to sneer at Jesus too.
       4. Jesus makes it clear that we as Christians are called to a different set of values, to a different lifestyle, to a different practice and to a different way of thinking. We cannot be conformed to the culture around us.
   17. How do we identify that? The values of this world are easy to identify.   I don’t think we have much trouble with that, do we?   Do you have much trouble identifying the values of the world we live in?
       1. Materialism and selfish indulgence (especially sexual indulgence) rule the day. Individualism and personal freedom are cherished more than anything else in people’s lives.   Self-esteem and personal ambition are promoted as the greatest things you can acquire for yourself.   Just feel good about yourself and have the personal ambition to succeed.   Put yourself first.  Those are things that are all around us.
       2. The Christian must honestly assess these things and ask where did they come from? Can I open the teachings of Jesus Christ, can I go to Jesus’ personal ministry and examples of His life, can I live as Jesus lived in His own culture and come away with these things?   We can’t.
       3. Sometimes I am confounded by how modern religious teachers can stand up and call for individuals to send them money so they can be wealthier than more than half the people they’re speaking to. They build monstrous empires around them and claim solidarity with the Savior who did not have a stone to lay His head on.
       4. They claim to be following the example of one who gave no preference to physical prominence or social class or money. He actually said it’s easier taking a camel through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.    Jesus life and teachings confront our culture folks, and they confront us.   Our culture would have you molded into the idea that these are the things that really matter.
   18. God calls us from that, sometimes in specific details. He calls the Christian to abstain from the activities of the world around him and remain pure.   These are not the things that belong in the life of the Christian.
       1. We read in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 –“ 19. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?    For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.”  You simply cannot do whatever you want to do with your body.   The world will teach you that you can.  That’s the value that the world has for itself.   People make those choices because “it belongs to you” they are told, but God says, no it does not belong to you because it belongs to Him.
       2. Ephesians 5:3-6 – “3. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.  5. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.  6. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”  
       3. 1 Peter 4:3-5 – “3. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in licentiousness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4.  In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5.  They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
       4. The character of the Christian is counter-cultural in more than just the activities of the body. Jesus calls for a revolution of the mind.   Jesus’ declarative statements in Matthew 5:3-10 are more than just sermon platitudes.  They are the revolutionary marching orders to the Christian in his battle against worldliness.  
          1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
          2. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

• Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

1. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
2. Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
3. Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

• Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
• Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

1. These are not the values of our culture.  If we pursue these things we will not be conformed to this world.   We will be transformed.

5. Notice that Jesus follows up by giving us a positive command to influence others. It is a demand that flows from who we are – “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (v. 13-16)   When we do this we glorify God through the holy (separated) sacrifice of ourselves to Him.

 

CONCLUSION:

In our lives do we feel that there are any sharp corners?   Or do we fit comfortably where we live?   One writer, J.C. Ryrie, asks some pertinent questions:

 

Are you willing to give up anything which keeps you back from God?…  Is there any cross in your Christianity?   Are there any sharp corners in your religion, anything that ever jars and comes in collision with the earthly-mindedness around you?   Or is all smooth and rounded off, and comfortably fitted into custom and fashion?   Do you know anything of the afflictions of the gospel?    Is your faith and practice ever a subject of scorn and reproach?    Are you thought a fool by anyone because of your soul?

 

Do you remember Demas in the Bible?  He is mentioned 3 times in scripture.  In Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 1:24 he is specifically described by Paul as His fellow laborer, numbered with the other disciples.   But then there is that last reference in 2 Timothy 4:10 – “for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica”   This is his epitaph.  What will ours be?

 

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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus (John 8:24); repent of our sins (Acts 2:38); we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God (Matthew 10:32); and be baptized for the remission of our sins (1 Peter 3:21)… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church. 

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism.  If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today.  If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing. 

 

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Reference Sermon

David Schmidt