back to index2017-02-12 God's Faithfulness to His Promises
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Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 9, I'm going to be reading 00:00:07.640 |
from verse 1 through 5. Romans chapter 9, verses 1 through 5. And I'm going to be focused 00:00:15.360 |
on verses 1, 2, and 3. Reading out of the ESV. I am speaking the truth in Christ. I 00:00:23.880 |
am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow 00:00:29.480 |
and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off 00:00:35.440 |
from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. They are 00:00:41.040 |
Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the 00:00:45.120 |
law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs from their race according 00:00:50.320 |
to the flesh is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Let's pray. 00:00:56.360 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for calling us, for bringing us, and guiding us, Lord 00:01:08.320 |
God, to yourself. We thank you for your living word that continues to speak and reveal and 00:01:16.360 |
sanctify. We pray that you would bless this morning, that your presence, Lord God, would 00:01:23.120 |
be felt, that we would know that you are the head of this church, that all that we do may 00:01:31.240 |
be surrendered for the sake of your name. I pray that the preaching of your word would 00:01:35.480 |
go forth and would not return as you have promised until it has accomplished its purpose. 00:01:39.760 |
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Last week, our brother James did a great job presenting about 00:01:48.280 |
India and I asked him to kind of give a summary about what happened. He has volunteered to 00:01:54.880 |
kind of spearhead what we are doing in India. So he is going to be our point person next 00:01:59.720 |
year and hopefully the other things that are going on. So he is going to be the guy as 00:02:03.840 |
far as India is concerned. So I appreciate him sharing about that. I didn't really get 00:02:07.960 |
to share much about it and I am not planning to do part two about our missions this morning. 00:02:12.680 |
But every time I go out, obviously it is physically exhausting. It was a pretty long trip. I think 00:02:19.560 |
our flight and travel time was somewhere near 40 hours, about 38 hours or something like 00:02:24.840 |
that and the 38 hours coming back. So every mission trip that we go, they usually take 00:02:30.080 |
a picture of me knocked out somewhere. You know, whether in somebody's apartment or in 00:02:33.440 |
the car and I think there was one in last week's slideshow. It is physically exhausting, 00:02:39.000 |
but it is also very rewarding. You feel refreshed. Not that we don't do missions here. Not that 00:02:47.200 |
we don't do evangelism here. But that one week, that 8 to 10, 9 days that we are out, 00:02:53.080 |
it is intensified obviously. So every ounce of energy that we have is being spent doing 00:02:59.440 |
God's work. So by the time we get into our room, we just pass out and we wake up and 00:03:04.080 |
we start over again and then we come back. And I think the reason why, even though physically 00:03:09.640 |
it is exhausting, we feel refreshed. I think everybody who has been out to missions will 00:03:14.720 |
testify to the same thing. That we feel refreshed because at the core of God's heart, this is 00:03:21.720 |
where He is. Everything that we know of scripture is in the context of God pursuing sinners. 00:03:28.620 |
So when we say that we are followers of Christ, we are not saying that we adhere to certain 00:03:33.260 |
doctrines. Of course that is part of it. When we say we are followers of Christ, we are 00:03:38.120 |
not simply saying that we attend church or we serve the church. Of course that is part 00:03:42.480 |
of it. But there is the most common sense application of when we say we are followers 00:03:47.420 |
of Christ, we are following Him. That is what we mean by we say follow. So I am following 00:03:54.040 |
you. It means wherever you are going, I am going. Whatever you are doing, I am doing. 00:03:57.800 |
That is what we mean when we say I am following him or I am following her. So when we say 00:04:01.880 |
we are followers of Christ, it means that we are going where He is going. We are doing 00:04:06.680 |
what He is doing. We are thinking what He is thinking. That is what it means to be a 00:04:10.360 |
follower. If at the core of God's heart, if all that we know and everything that we are 00:04:18.120 |
studying in scripture is in the context of this holy God pursuing sinners, to be a follower 00:04:23.960 |
of Jesus Christ means that we follow His path of pursuing sinners. How He pursued us and 00:04:32.280 |
as a result of us being pursued and being saved, now we follow Him to pursue other sinners. 00:04:39.000 |
That is what Jesus told His disciples when He said follow me, I will make you fishers 00:04:41.980 |
of men. Because that is exactly why He came. To be fishers of men. And He trained them 00:04:48.000 |
for three years to be fishers of men. And when He died, resurrected, and then He commissioned 00:04:53.640 |
them to go, He said now go make fishers of men. Our whole purpose of why we are not in 00:05:00.880 |
heaven yet and to call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ is to participate in this 00:05:10.060 |
great commission. And if you want to have fellowship with Him, if you want to have intimacy 00:05:16.520 |
and to be disconnected to this great commission, it means you are disconnected from the heart 00:05:21.480 |
of God. In fact, all of scripture is written in that context. But if you really want to 00:05:27.040 |
understand what Paul is saying in the book of Romans, you have to understand in the context 00:05:33.240 |
of Paul pursuing sinners because that is what Christ commissioned him to do. The whole purpose 00:05:37.640 |
of the book of Romans is introducing himself to the Christians in Rome, telling them this 00:05:44.000 |
is the gospel that I have been preaching. That you have been hearing about. And he is 00:05:48.720 |
hoping that he would come to Rome and maybe recruit some people to go with him to Spain. 00:05:56.440 |
So if you see this just as a doctrinal statement, as just certain things that he is saying, 00:06:01.440 |
well he is just introducing himself, he is just going into detail. No. Obviously that 00:06:05.480 |
is what he is doing, but it is in the context of recruiting other people to go preach the 00:06:09.040 |
gospel. All of the New Testament is written in that context. So if we are not actively 00:06:16.680 |
engaged in the Great Commission, the Bible eventually is going to begin to sound like 00:06:21.880 |
IKEA furniture how to build manual. If you are not actually building a shelf, if you 00:06:29.840 |
are not actually building furniture, reading that is going to be irrelevant to you. It 00:06:35.040 |
is knowledge, it is nice to know where these screws go to, it is nice to know this. If 00:06:41.200 |
somebody asks you, oh yeah you put the screws here, you put the building blocks here. But 00:06:46.240 |
it has no real application because application of what we are seeing in scripture is in the 00:06:50.960 |
context of pursuing sinners. The reason why I say all of this is because what Paul is 00:06:57.920 |
beginning to say in chapter 9 is directly related to what I have been saying. Chapter 00:07:04.000 |
9 verse 1, 2 and 3 is not going to make a whole lot of sense to you. It is going to 00:07:08.200 |
be, oh yeah Paul, he is really passionate about the Jews. He must have been a real nationalist. 00:07:15.000 |
He is a patriot. And that is why he was saying these extreme things. He is willing to give 00:07:21.120 |
his life if it meant that he can save them. We can kind of gloss over that and read that 00:07:27.040 |
and say, well you know Paul, he is not like us. God is not saying that this is how we 00:07:32.080 |
ought to be. He is saying this is not possible. Of course, he may say that. Maybe he is even 00:07:37.040 |
exaggerating. But we will never fully understand the heart of Paul, which is ultimately a reflection 00:07:45.840 |
of the heart of our God, if we are not actively engaged in the Great Commission. Now, engaging 00:07:52.080 |
the Great Commission does not mean you have to be overseas somewhere. It does not mean 00:07:55.360 |
you have to go to India or China. Obviously, you can engage in the Great Commission here. 00:08:01.240 |
But a Christian life that is disengaged in the Great Commission is disengaged in the 00:08:06.000 |
heart of God. You are understanding church outside of the context of the larger picture 00:08:12.000 |
of what Christ is trying to do. You are understanding fellowship and community outside of the context 00:08:17.880 |
of what Christ is trying to do in the church. You are understanding the purpose of the church, 00:08:23.760 |
the use of finances, all outside of the heart of what Christ is trying to do. Great Commission 00:08:31.200 |
is at the core, not only understanding these texts, but the heart of God. See, for three 00:08:40.280 |
chapters in chapter 9, 10, and 11, Paul is going to expound in response to the eight 00:08:46.160 |
chapters of the exposition of salvation by faith and by grace alone. But he is responding 00:08:53.560 |
to these Jews who may have been thinking, "Well, if that's the case, where does that 00:08:58.000 |
leave us?" You know, for the Jews, the law was not just a part of who they were. That 00:09:04.280 |
was their identity that separated them from the world. So, if Paul, you're saying that 00:09:09.360 |
the law doesn't distinguish us from the world, then who are we? What are you saying? So, 00:09:16.800 |
Paul's answering that question that the Jews naturally would have. For centuries, they 00:09:22.480 |
believed that if they obeyed the law, that God's favor is going to be upon them. That 00:09:28.120 |
their nation was going to be restored. That they have a special place in the Kingdom of 00:09:31.480 |
God. That they're in a higher plane than the rest of the world. And all of a sudden, he 00:09:35.800 |
says, "No, we're all, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." So, obviously, 00:09:41.320 |
we're going to be focused on these three verses today, but I want to just, again, help you 00:09:45.680 |
understand 9, 10, and 11. Paul is really trying to answer two questions. One is that God is 00:09:52.560 |
not done with Israel. That God's promises are faithful. That the Gospel is not Plan 00:09:58.440 |
B. That He didn't start with Israel, and because they failed, now He's going to go to Plan 00:10:03.480 |
B and He's going to be preaching the Gospel. He's basically reassuring the nation of Israel 00:10:09.520 |
that what you've been learning all this point, you may have missed a point, but God's intention 00:10:13.840 |
at all times was to continue the Gospel. And He's going to point that out. He's going to 00:10:19.280 |
show the connection between the Old and the New Testament of the Gospel He's been preaching 00:10:23.680 |
in the first eight chapters. But in the larger picture, and not just to the nation of Israel, 00:10:30.160 |
He's going to be demonstrating His faithfulness to His promises, which is relevant to all 00:10:35.200 |
of us. That what God said in the Old Testament, what God said in the New Testament, what God 00:10:40.360 |
said to the Apostles 2,000 years ago, He is faithful. God is not man that he should lie, 00:10:49.120 |
nor the Son of Man that he should repent. He never changes His mind. What He says, you 00:10:52.720 |
can bank on. And that's the second theme of chapter 9, 10, and 11. And so we'll get to 00:10:58.360 |
that. We're going to go through these passages, but I just wanted you to see the larger theme 00:11:05.040 |
of the three chapters that we're going to be covering. But today we're going to be looking 00:11:07.620 |
at the first three verses. How does He introduce this? Well, if you look at it, again, read 00:11:15.000 |
with me just the first verse. It almost seems like He's kind of disconnecting and starting 00:11:21.320 |
something new. But in actuality, He's asking a question that He already knows that these 00:11:27.900 |
Jews probably were asking, or maybe even grumbling in their hearts. If what you said in chapter 00:11:33.000 |
1 through 8 is true, what about us? I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience 00:11:40.500 |
bears me witness to the Holy Spirit. He hasn't said it yet, but in verse 1, He's basically 00:11:46.400 |
setting them up and saying, what I'm going to say is true. What He's about to say must 00:11:52.800 |
be really, really important. Usually if you have a conversation with somebody and you 00:11:57.280 |
want them to really pay attention, there's some conversations we can have and they're 00:12:02.380 |
kind of wandering off and you can talk. It's not that important. But if you really have 00:12:05.920 |
something you need to say, right? If you're a parent and you need to give instructions 00:12:11.080 |
to your child and he's just kind of wandering off, he said, no, pay attention. Right? I'm 00:12:16.720 |
not messing around. Listen to me. Look me in the eye. What did I just say? Right? This 00:12:22.800 |
is Paul's version of telling the readers, pay attention. Listen, look me in the eye. 00:12:30.160 |
What I'm about to say is true. I am not lying. He says it in the positive and then the negative. 00:12:37.100 |
He says, he's confirming that I am not lying in Christ. The Holy Spirit bears witness and 00:12:42.600 |
he invokes the two heads of the Godhead to say, what I'm about to say is absolutely certain. 00:12:48.880 |
It's absolutely true. Now, why does he go about doing that? Because the easiest way 00:12:56.700 |
to dismiss the gospel is to dismiss the messenger. Right? We do that in politics. If somebody 00:13:04.540 |
has an opposing view of politics, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, our natural 00:13:08.780 |
knee jerk reaction, the easiest thing to do is before engaging in what we disagree on, 00:13:14.580 |
we say, oh, he's an idiot. He's a racist. That's why he believes that. He's been raised 00:13:21.460 |
this way. So we don't talk about this issue. If you nullify the speaker, then his message 00:13:27.140 |
is nullified. We do that in politics and things that we disagree in. We do that oftentimes 00:13:33.340 |
even in theological debates that we have. If you happen to go to that church, oh, if 00:13:38.220 |
you go to that church, you must be like that. You must be ignorant. You don't know anything 00:13:42.140 |
about the Bible. That's why you attend that church. You believe this. You're Calvinist? 00:13:48.820 |
No, you must hate people. You're an Armenian? Did you read the Bible? So even in the Christian 00:13:57.140 |
realm, if somebody has an opposing view, the easiest way to argue that is to dismiss the 00:14:01.780 |
person. He's dumb. He's stupid. His personality is this way. We don't really need to talk 00:14:10.580 |
about this issue. See, that's what Paul is dealing with. He preached the gospel and it 00:14:15.860 |
was unsettling. He basically told them that everything that you thought about life was 00:14:21.220 |
wrong. So the natural response is, this guy must hate the Jews. That's why he's saying 00:14:29.580 |
what he's saying. Something must have happened to him. And I'll bet you there were conversations. 00:14:34.540 |
Maybe Gamaliel was about to flunk this guy. And maybe that's why. Maybe he was up for 00:14:39.380 |
promotion and he was going to sit in the Sanhedrin and they voted him out. Something must have 00:14:43.420 |
happened. Why is he doing that? See, in order to answer his critics, he first says, "I am 00:14:50.780 |
not lying. I am speaking the truth in Christ. My conscience bears witness." And what is 00:14:57.060 |
he about to say? "I actually have sorrow and unceasing anguish. I don't rejoice of pointing 00:15:04.060 |
out that the Jews will be condemned under the law if they continue to go down this path." 00:15:10.820 |
See, our life, the way we live, it does matter. It does matter. You know why? Because the 00:15:18.380 |
gospel that was given to us is a hostile message in this world. It is a light in darkness. 00:15:26.420 |
You ever have somebody that you just flip the light on, they're just sitting in darkness, 00:15:30.500 |
they're watching a video or they're sleeping, you flip the light and they're like, "Ugh!" 00:15:35.860 |
Immediate reaction is, "Ugh, turn it off!" See, when we preach the gospel, it's turning 00:15:41.380 |
the light on in the darkness. So the first reaction that oftentimes we'll get is, "They'll 00:15:46.180 |
nullify you. You bunch of hypocrites. You're not any different than me, judging me. You're 00:15:52.980 |
thinking better than I am." See, that's why we are told in 1 Peter 2.12, "Keep your conduct 00:15:59.700 |
among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they 00:16:06.820 |
may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." What Peter is saying 00:16:12.020 |
is when you preach the gospel, they're going to accuse you of being evil. Because they 00:16:17.100 |
want to nullify the message. They don't like what they're hearing, so they're going to 00:16:21.380 |
try to nitpick at where you are. And there's a reason why the scripture says the elder 00:16:27.220 |
must be above reproach. Because you're going to be accused. The message that you're going 00:16:32.380 |
to take to the world, they're going to accuse you of being a hater. And so if they have 00:16:38.980 |
anything that they can trip you up on, it's going to nullify you, therefore nullify the 00:16:43.940 |
message. So some of you guys may be thinking, "Well, that's why I don't want to be an elder." 00:16:48.900 |
You know? See, that passage in 1 Peter 2 is not talking simply about elders. We may be 00:16:53.580 |
an elder at this church, but you are an elder to the world. You may examine my life or the 00:17:00.060 |
life of the leaders, but your life is being examined by the world. And if they find something 00:17:06.100 |
to accuse you of that you are guilty, then automatically the message will be nullified. 00:17:13.340 |
That's why Paul is standing and saying, "What I'm saying, I say with a clear conscience. 00:17:18.940 |
It's not because I hate the Jews. In fact, I love them to the extent that I would even 00:17:24.420 |
give my life." It matters the way we live. Years ago, in 2004, some of you guys may remember, 00:17:32.980 |
there was a huge earthquake off the shores of India and between Indonesia, and over 230,000 00:17:39.180 |
to 280,000 people died. So some of you guys may remember that. This earthquake was so 00:17:44.920 |
damaging and this one particular area of the world got the brunt of it. There was a little 00:17:51.020 |
city on the tip of Indonesia. Some of you guys may know about Indonesia, but the highest 00:17:56.060 |
concentration of militant Muslims are in Indonesia. We don't hear much about that area because 00:18:02.860 |
we get so much news about the Middle East. But we have friends who have been missionaries 00:18:08.140 |
there for a while, and when all of that happened, I was having a conversation with him and he 00:18:13.260 |
said that this little area, I mean Aceh, there's no Christian presence whatsoever. They're 00:18:18.220 |
so violent against Christianity that there's no missionary that is ever allowed to be in 00:18:23.220 |
the city. Well, when the tsunami hit, they were in the coastal city and they had about 00:18:30.820 |
300,000 people, and out of 300,000, over 30,000 people got wiped out who lived near the shore. 00:18:38.420 |
So when this happened, obviously they had to open doors and outside relief began to 00:18:42.720 |
come in. And the predominant presence of this relief came from Christians. And as a result 00:18:50.900 |
of that, they said that the door got opened for the Gospel to be preached. And he was 00:18:53.940 |
saying it was really exciting because for the first time, they were actually allowing 00:18:57.980 |
Christians to come in. And he was telling me that one of the testimonies of the people, 00:19:02.720 |
the Muslims that were there, they were crying out, "Where are our Muslim brothers? Why 00:19:07.900 |
are they not here? How come only the Christians are coming?" As a result of these good deeds, 00:19:15.540 |
the Gospel began to get preached in this city. See, how we live matters because we are constantly 00:19:21.700 |
going to be accused. Live in such a way that even though they want to accuse you, they 00:19:26.460 |
can't because of your good deeds. See, Paul, this message of the cross was so offensive. 00:19:33.560 |
He was constantly being attacked. He was constantly trying, they were constantly trying to nullify 00:19:38.900 |
his message by nullifying him. We typically think of opposition as being, rocks being 00:19:44.060 |
thrown at them or them being dragged into jail. You know, all of that stuff obviously 00:19:49.060 |
was difficult. But he was constantly being attacked by the Jews, by the Gentiles, and 00:19:56.060 |
oftentimes even within the church. From the Jews, Romans 3.8, "And why not do evil that 00:20:02.480 |
good may come as some people slanderously charge us with saying." Paul, if what you're 00:20:07.780 |
saying is true, this guy just wants to live in debauchery. You know, live by faith and 00:20:13.100 |
not by the law. And they were accusing him of preaching this Gospel because it was easier, 00:20:19.560 |
because they want to live in licentiousness. In Philippians 3.2-6, these Judaizers were 00:20:26.140 |
accusing Paul that this guy must hate the Jews. He must not have been a good Jew. Maybe 00:20:31.100 |
he failed. He couldn't keep up with the law. And since he wasn't good at keeping the law, 00:20:37.020 |
maybe that's why he's saying the law is nullified. And he's choosing another path to get to God. 00:20:41.580 |
See, Paul is responding to that accusation in Philippians 3.2, "Look out for the dogs. 00:20:48.420 |
Look out for the evil doers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the 00:20:52.780 |
real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God in glory in Christ Jesus, and put no 00:20:57.380 |
confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reason to put confidence in the flesh also." 00:21:02.860 |
So in other words, he's saying, if you want to go toe to toe, if you think that I'm preaching 00:21:07.660 |
this Gospel because somehow I failed in the flesh, let me tell you, though I myself have 00:21:13.700 |
reason to confidence in the flesh also, if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence 00:21:17.220 |
in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day. Of the apostles, of the people 00:21:22.660 |
of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, right? Next to the tribe of Judah, the Benjamites were 00:21:28.780 |
considered the most prestigious of all the tribes. I'm from tribe of Benjamin. A Hebrew 00:21:32.660 |
among Hebrew. As to the law, a Pharisee. In other words, he took the law very seriously. 00:21:37.500 |
He wasn't just an average Jew. As to passion, to zeal, persecutor of the church. Now you 00:21:44.900 |
guys already know that Paul took the responsibility for the first martyr of the church, Stephen. 00:21:52.540 |
And when he met Christ, it was in the context of him chasing after these Christians all 00:21:57.460 |
the way to Damascus. Beating them, maybe even killing them. And you're going to accuse me 00:22:03.340 |
of being weak. He says, well, if you want to go toe to toe, that's not the case at all. 00:22:08.300 |
As far as righteousness under the law, I was blameless. How many of you can say that? Paul 00:22:14.580 |
is saying that because they were accusing him. They were trying to nullify this guy 00:22:17.900 |
because they don't like the message that he had to preach. He was attacked by the Gentile. 00:22:24.260 |
They're trying to nullify him. And they were accusing him of being like one of these prophets 00:22:28.580 |
that are coming in and saying this and stirring up people for his own profit, for his own 00:22:32.620 |
glory. So if you remember in study of 1 Thessalonians, Paul writes this letter because people are 00:22:40.220 |
beginning to nullify the message by saying Paul is coming for selfish reasons. He's like 00:22:44.300 |
any of the all these other guys coming into town. All he wants really is your money. In 00:22:49.660 |
response to that, 1 Thessalonians 2, 3, 6, "For our appeal does not spring from error 00:22:54.060 |
or impurity or any attempt to deceive. But just as we have been approved by God to be 00:22:59.940 |
entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please man, but to please God who trusts 00:23:05.140 |
test our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with pretext 00:23:11.620 |
for greed. God is our witness. Nor do we seek glory from people, whether from you or from 00:23:17.500 |
others, though we could have made demand as apostles of Christ." And he continues on. 00:23:23.180 |
If you continue to read that, basically Paul says, "I never asked for money." People are 00:23:27.980 |
accusing us of coming and all we want is our own glory. All we want is money from you. 00:23:32.460 |
He says, "Remember when I was there." I know these people are saying this and they're trying 00:23:36.260 |
to nullify the message by nullifying the messenger. "You remember how I was with you." It wasn't 00:23:41.580 |
about money. It was not about glory. But I think most hurtful attack that Paul received 00:23:49.020 |
was mostly from the church. And you see a heart-wrenching letter being written in 2 00:23:56.500 |
Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is written to rebuke and to address specific issues because of 00:24:00.820 |
their division in the church and allowing certain sin in the church. And they got a 00:24:05.500 |
react—Paul got a reaction from that. Even though he spent all this time ministering 00:24:10.700 |
to them, risking their life, their health, because they didn't like what Paul had to 00:24:15.700 |
say. "Hey, this guy, maybe he's not an apostle." I mean, look at what Paul says for 2 Corinthians 00:24:22.500 |
11.5. "I consider that I am not the least or inferior to super apostles." In other words, 00:24:28.820 |
Paul, you don't cut it. You know, we don't like what you're saying, but maybe we don't 00:24:33.700 |
even need to listen to you because you're not a true apostle. "Even if I am unskilled 00:24:39.300 |
in speaking." You know why he says that? He's not simply just being honest. He's saying 00:24:46.020 |
that because they're accusing him. He's not a good speaker. He's not an apostle. I like 00:24:52.740 |
Apollos. I like Peter because he was the closest to Christ. Johnny come lately, you know, and 00:24:59.500 |
then he falls off a horse and all of a sudden he's rebuking all of us. He's rebuking Peter 00:25:03.940 |
in public. He's writing this letter saying that all the Judaizers are wrong. And then 00:25:08.540 |
he's telling us that we're divided and we're allowing certain sins in our life and he's 00:25:11.940 |
going to come with a whip. And then he asked for money. Who is this guy? He doesn't, I 00:25:18.180 |
don't even like the way he speaks. See, he's saying that because he's defending himself. 00:25:23.340 |
Yeah, I know. I may be unskilled in speaking, but I am so, I am not so in knowledge. What 00:25:30.220 |
I'm telling you is truth. Even though you want to nullify the message by nullifying 00:25:34.820 |
the message in every way we have made this plain to you in all things that I commit sin 00:25:40.380 |
and humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I preach God's gospel to you free 00:25:44.620 |
of charge. In other words, these apostles are, that we're supporting, you know, they're, 00:25:49.860 |
they were used to giving them money and say, are you disqualifying me because I didn't 00:25:53.380 |
get money from you? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to 00:25:57.980 |
serve you. And when I was with you and I was in need, I did not burden any of you for the 00:26:03.180 |
brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. He's addressing issue by issue by 00:26:09.420 |
issue because they're accusing him because they didn't like what he had to say. Second 00:26:15.300 |
Corinthians 11 21. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I am speaking as a fool. 00:26:20.580 |
I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrew? So am I. Are they Israelite? So am I. Are 00:26:26.300 |
they Austrians of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one. I am 00:26:31.980 |
talking like a madman. I know what this sounds like to you, that it sounds like I'm boasting, 00:26:37.020 |
but it says, I'm saying all of this because I want you to pay attention to the message. 00:26:42.100 |
You're trying to nullify me because you don't like what I have to say. But if you, if you 00:26:46.540 |
are accusing me, so he's defending himself. So next section, he lists out what he went 00:26:55.880 |
through to get the gospel to these people. Five times I received the hands of the Jews, 00:27:00.820 |
the 40 lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three 00:27:05.340 |
times I was shipwrecked. At night and the day I was, I was adrift at sea on freaking 00:27:09.700 |
journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from its own people, danger 00:27:13.940 |
from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from 00:27:17.640 |
false brothers, in toil and hardship through many sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, 00:27:23.580 |
and often without food and cold and exposure. I know that this is Paul's credential and 00:27:29.940 |
we often quote this passage and say, well, Paul suffered quite a bit for the gospel. 00:27:37.860 |
But Paul is writing this to defend himself. He's writing this to defend himself because 00:27:43.500 |
they're trying to nullify his message. They didn't like being rebuked. They didn't like 00:27:51.020 |
being told of their divisiveness, of certain doctrines that they held. They didn't mind 00:27:57.300 |
it when he was preaching about certain things that encouraged them, but when he came out 00:28:00.860 |
hard in 1 Corinthians, and he says, apart from all of that, all the other things, there 00:28:08.340 |
is a daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak and I am not 00:28:14.180 |
weak. Who is made to fall and I am not indignant. Paul already knows this in his head that the 00:28:21.660 |
eight chapters of exposition of the gospel, when the gospel is preached clearly without 00:28:27.500 |
compromise, the whole counsel of God, only person who will thank you is the one who repents. 00:28:36.500 |
Only person that's going to say thank you for sharing the gospel is the one that repents. 00:28:41.220 |
If you preach the gospel correctly, without compromise, in season and out of season, everyone 00:28:46.900 |
else will think you're a bigot. You're a liar. You're a hypocrite. You're arrogant. How can 00:28:53.940 |
you say such a thing in this day and age? You're a homophobe. You're a misogynist. If 00:29:00.700 |
the gospel is preached correctly, see Paul already knows this, that his message will 00:29:06.380 |
not go over well if they don't receive it. And because they're going to nullify him to 00:29:11.780 |
nullify the message, he says, I am not, what I'm telling you is truth. I am not lying. 00:29:19.100 |
My conscience bears witness in the Holy Spirit. And then he says what he needs them to hear 00:29:26.460 |
and to believe before he moves on. He says, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish 00:29:33.500 |
in my heart. You know, Paul was able to sympathize with them because he was the worst of them. 00:29:44.400 |
He knew how they would receive the gospel because that's how he received it. When Stephen 00:29:50.340 |
and the early disciples began to preach the gospel, he was just as angry. He was willing 00:29:54.420 |
to kill. So he knows how offensive this message is because now he's preaching the same gospel. 00:30:01.380 |
He was willing to kill. So he knows how offensive this is. He was able to sympathize with them 00:30:06.820 |
because he was one of them. Not only was he one of them, he calls himself the chief of 00:30:12.780 |
them. First Timothy 1, 15, 16, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance 00:30:18.580 |
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost, the chief. 00:30:27.380 |
I don't think Paul is describing his current state of sin. You know, a lot of times people 00:30:32.620 |
use this like, oh, I am the chief of sinners. No, I am. No, no, I am. You know, we're almost 00:30:39.100 |
like, you know, they call it humble bragging. You're bragging about your humility. I am 00:30:43.100 |
the chief of sinners. Like Paul, I am so bad. No, no, no. You don't know how bad I am. It's 00:30:50.460 |
not Paul is not humble bragging. I don't think because the very next passage he says, he 00:30:55.500 |
is I am the foremost, but he's not, he's not saying this is who I am now. He said, but 00:31:02.220 |
I receive mercy for this reason. He says, because I was the chief of sinners and he 00:31:08.900 |
really was right. He said, we don't have to kill. I was a chief of these sinners. I understand 00:31:16.660 |
you, but I receive mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might 00:31:21.900 |
display his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal 00:31:26.860 |
life. The very reason why God chose him to be an apostle to the Gentiles is so that the 00:31:32.860 |
gospel may be displayed, not him, that if that chief sinner can receive mercy and salvation, 00:31:40.340 |
then so can we. So that the Jews may be able to hear the preaching of this man, this hateful 00:31:48.300 |
man and say, wow, he can be saved. Then maybe I can be saved. Paul is not, even though he 00:31:58.780 |
may come off that way and some may, some people may accuse him of that. Paul say, no, I'm 00:32:04.780 |
not preaching this gospel because I hate you. There's great anguish in my heart because 00:32:11.180 |
you're rejecting the Messiah that we've been waiting for because you misunderstood. 00:32:15.060 |
So he's able to sympathize because he at one point was in his shoes, but he's able to sympathize 00:32:23.620 |
because he was a recipient of this great mercy. Phil Riken says in his book, we respond to 00:32:30.140 |
God's mercy by becoming merciful ourselves. The greatest evidence that we are, we are 00:32:37.420 |
recipients of this mercy as we become merciful. It is an oxymoron for a, for a Christian to 00:32:42.260 |
become proud. You know, every once in a while you may meet somebody who's memorizing scripture 00:32:48.340 |
and discipline and doing all these things and they're filled with pride. And you say, 00:32:52.700 |
wow, they're really spiritual. The first evidence of somebody who was affected by the cross 00:32:59.300 |
is humility because he's recognizing that he was dead in his trespasses and by the mercy 00:33:05.940 |
of God, he was, he was yanked up from death. So how can somebody who was yanked up from 00:33:10.940 |
death stand up and say, look at me. The first and true evidence of spiritual maturity is 00:33:19.260 |
humility is brokenness. See, apostle Paul never forgot that he was the chief of sinners. 00:33:26.700 |
He never forgot that with all the credentials, with all that he has done, revelation coming 00:33:33.540 |
through him, beaten and ultimately even killed. He never forgot that he was a chief of sinners 00:33:43.140 |
that was saved from death. See, in the book of Luke chapter 15, you know about the parable 00:33:49.820 |
of the prodigal son, but the context of that prodigal son starts in beginning of chapter 00:33:54.940 |
15, where Jesus is associating with the tax collectors and the sinners. And the Pharisee 00:33:59.500 |
comes and said, if you're a true rabbi, you should know that you shouldn't be hanging 00:34:03.620 |
around with these sinners. And in response to the Pharisee's accusation, Jesus gives 00:34:08.140 |
three parables. The first one is a parable of the lost sheep. 99, he leaves them and 00:34:14.540 |
then goes, chases one. And the point of that parable is every single sheep is precious 00:34:19.380 |
to God. The second parable is a parable of the lost coin. And the woman goes and sweeps 00:34:24.420 |
the whole house, finds the coin and she rejoices. The point of that story is that every single 00:34:28.940 |
coin is precious to the owner. And then he gives a third parable, which is the final 00:34:34.220 |
punchline with a prodigal son who leaves and a father who anxiously waits when he comes 00:34:38.460 |
home. He restores him fully, has a banquet, but then he ends with turning to the older 00:34:43.980 |
brother, the Pharisee. And he rebukes him. And the point of the whole chapter 15 and 00:34:52.020 |
point of every single one of these things, the punchline is, they accused Jesus, why 00:34:56.660 |
do you hang out with sinners? And Jesus basically saying, why do you not? You do not know the 00:35:04.180 |
heart of God. The reason why this bothers you is because you don't know who the father 00:35:09.260 |
is. Paul is able to see and sympathize with them because he never forgot that he was one 00:35:18.940 |
of them, that he was the prodigal son. He was the lost coin. He was the lost sheep. 00:35:25.540 |
But what he says in verse three, humanly, it's hard to understand, hard to relate to 00:35:33.860 |
for I could wish that I myself were a curse and cut off from Christ for the sake of my 00:35:38.740 |
brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. You know, every once in a while, somebody, 00:35:44.460 |
you know, you have a good friend or somebody in church or somebody at work and you become 00:35:48.300 |
close to them and they'll say something like, dude, I'll take a bullet for you. Right? And 00:35:55.220 |
they might mean it at that point. I think even Peter may have meant it when he said, 00:35:59.260 |
you know, even if they all deny you, I'm not going to deny you. They may mean it, but if 00:36:04.340 |
you live long enough, you know, you live long enough, you know, that human relationships 00:36:09.740 |
are frail. That same guy who said, you know, I'll take a bullet for you. You know, all 00:36:16.100 |
it takes is a misunderstanding and one argument and I'm going to kill you. Take a bullet. 00:36:23.020 |
I'm the one going to shoot you. Right? And that's how fragile human relationships are. 00:36:29.940 |
Is Paul exaggerating? He's not talking about his mom, his dad, his son. He's talking about 00:36:36.020 |
his countrymen. So maybe we can look at that and say, oh, maybe we don't really realize 00:36:40.340 |
the nationalism of the Jews. You know, maybe that's just the way they felt about each other. 00:36:45.780 |
I mean, I can understand that he has passion. Maybe he was a preacher and he probably was, 00:36:51.460 |
but he's saying that if I could, I will be a cursed anathema. If I can trade places with 00:36:58.860 |
you. I mean, it sounds good, but if he just said that out in the open, we could just, 00:37:06.700 |
you know, that's a passionate guy. He's just, he's just a type A personality, but he just 00:37:11.820 |
set this up by saying, I am not lying. I'm telling the truth in Christ. My conscience 00:37:17.660 |
bears witness in the Holy Spirit. He just set it up by saying, God is my witness. What 00:37:22.500 |
I'm about to tell you is absolute truth. So we have to accept this as truth. Paul meant 00:37:29.980 |
this to humanly speaking, what he said makes no sense. See what Paul, what he's saying 00:37:41.140 |
is if I could, if I was capable, if I was able, I would try to change places so that 00:37:49.940 |
you can be saved. And the only reason why he's able to say that is because that's what 00:37:57.420 |
he's been talking about for eight chapters. For eight chapters, he's been expounding what 00:38:05.420 |
he wished that he could do. Our Lord Jesus did. He was accursed in their place. He was 00:38:14.620 |
accursed for his, for his place. He wasn't, he's not just simply saying, I have this great 00:38:20.180 |
love. He said, if I was able to do what I'm telling you, what Jesus did, I would, but 00:38:25.980 |
I can't. And that's why I'm telling you about him because he did. So don't nullify the messenger 00:38:34.740 |
because you don't love the message I want to tell you about this man. That's why 2 Corinthians 00:38:41.420 |
5 14, it says for the love of Christ controls us. And some of your translations, it says 00:38:47.780 |
it compels us. It wasn't a, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't a new year's resolution. It wasn't 00:38:58.580 |
an accountability group. He was so deeply affected by the love of Christ in his life 00:39:05.540 |
that God would send his only begotten son to take his place of judgment that he was 00:39:13.420 |
compelled to go tell other people. He was compelled to preach it to the elect. He was 00:39:19.820 |
compelled to be beaten. He was compelled to be prisoned. And he was eventually compelled 00:39:24.180 |
to be beheaded because of the love of Christ. He is not lying. He's telling the truth. His 00:39:32.100 |
conscious bears witness in the Holy spirit and he is confirming the message of the cross. 00:39:38.620 |
We are compelled by the love of Christ because we have concluded that this, that one has 00:39:42.420 |
died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live my no 00:39:48.260 |
longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised years ago. 00:39:55.500 |
I think it was a sophomore in college. The very first time we went street evangelism, 00:39:59.500 |
I passed out tracks before, but never like actually talking to people. And our campus 00:40:04.860 |
leader who I lived with for about a year and a half prior to that, we went up to evangelize 00:40:09.900 |
up at big bear and we all came back. You know, those of you who've ever been street evangelism, 00:40:14.420 |
I mean, it gets your blood boiling. I mean, you get pumped up. So we all came back, young 00:40:18.740 |
college students, we're all sharing with each other, you know, and I got chased out of the 00:40:22.540 |
store with the broom. I got persecuted, you know, we're all sharing these stories and 00:40:27.100 |
we're all pumping each other up. And then our, our leader, our home leader came up and 00:40:31.540 |
he started sharing and he said how he was having this conversation with this elderly 00:40:34.760 |
couple and he said, well, they were so nice, you know, grandparents. And, and then they 00:40:40.260 |
just, after he shared the gospel, they said, no, that's not for me, you know, and they 00:40:44.300 |
were polite about it, but they rejected the gospel. And he was sharing this. And for a 00:40:48.580 |
year and a half, I lived with them about a year prior to that day. I've never seen him 00:40:53.980 |
shed a tear. I mean, this guy is like a ex military guy from Korea. You know, he would 00:40:58.340 |
make us wake up at five o'clock. Even if you slept at three, you wake up at five and we 00:41:02.020 |
go running. We do quiet time, memorize scripture. I mean, this guy ran it like a military. He 00:41:06.500 |
stood up there and he was sharing about how this elderly couple rejected the gospel and 00:41:11.180 |
it just kind of overwhelmed him. He was explaining what it, what the consequence of rejecting 00:41:16.020 |
Christ. And he began to shed tears talking about this elderly couple that he just ran 00:41:22.220 |
into for about an hour, talking about the consequence. If they do not turn from their 00:41:27.500 |
sins, what will happen? And I remember as a young college student that made such a deep 00:41:33.620 |
impression on me. So I don't know if I ever wept for a lost soul up to that point. And 00:41:43.500 |
I remember praying that night, Lord, let me weep for souls like him. Let me weep for souls 00:41:51.820 |
like him because this is his heart. John Knox, I'm going to end with this. John Knox, who 00:42:01.740 |
brought the gospel to Ireland, his prayer often was give me Scotland or God or I die. 00:42:14.020 |
David Brainer was often quoted by Jonathan Edwards, a missionary to the native Indians. 00:42:22.340 |
His prayer was often now let me burn out for God. Our prayer should not be Lord, make me 00:42:33.420 |
a better Christian, which is not a bad prayer. That I'm going to be more fit and all this 00:42:42.220 |
stuff. There's nothing wrong with any of this stuff. But do we cry out for what God cries 00:42:48.660 |
out for? Do we ache for the world that's dying every single day without the gospel? When 00:43:02.100 |
was the last time you were on your knees, praying and interceding for the lost around 00:43:09.180 |
you? Let the truth of the gospel sink in. Put away the things that are distracting. 00:43:19.100 |
Let the truth of the gospel really sink in and let the love of Christ compel us. Let's 00:43:28.300 |
take a minute to come before the Lord in prayer and really pray that what Paul is saying about 00:43:36.220 |
his countrymen, about the lost, is not just something that we hear, it's a passage in 00:43:40.700 |
the Bible. To come before the Lord and pray that that would be our heart, that would be 00:43:46.300 |
our prayer. That we would know the heart of the Father and ache and intercede and cry 00:43:53.620 |
out for the lost. Let's take some time to pray as our worship leaders lead us.