back to index2017-04-30 Faith Over Works
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They thought that if they worked harder, they did more, sacrificed more, that there would 00:00:17.040 |
Matthew chapter 17, 20, Jesus sees a bunch of disciples coming to him and because they 00:00:22.560 |
try to cast out this demon and this child and they couldn't. 00:00:25.480 |
Jesus responds to them and he says, "Because of your little faith, for truly I say to you, 00:00:31.720 |
if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move 00:00:35.320 |
from here to there,' and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you." 00:00:43.280 |
Not too long ago, I visited my old hometown in Korea. 00:00:49.480 |
So I remember if you go there, there are some buildings that I can recognize, but in my 00:00:53.520 |
mind I'm thinking, "Oh, I remember there was a hill here." 00:00:55.800 |
So I remember, you know, if I turn a corner and sure enough, the hill's still there. 00:01:00.640 |
You know, and I turn this corner, go to the left, I remember there was a big mountain 00:01:04.320 |
So I would go there and turn around, it's like, "Shoot, there it is, the hill's still 00:01:07.960 |
You know, so if you've ever visited your old hometown or somewhere that you grew up on, 00:01:11.560 |
you haven't been there for a long time, I'm sure a lot of things have changed, right? 00:01:16.400 |
Stores have come in, maybe houses were broken down and new apartment complexes came in, 00:01:21.360 |
but typically mountains don't disappear, right? 00:01:25.200 |
Because human beings don't move mountains, we move around it because it's impossible. 00:01:31.480 |
In other words, he's saying there are certain things that you can't do by your own works. 00:01:37.840 |
See, faith of a mustard seed, he says, move mountains. 00:01:42.520 |
If you've ever seen a mustard seed, mustard seed is like a lint. 00:01:46.480 |
A friend of mine went to Israel and brought back a gift and it was a bookmark and it had 00:01:57.040 |
It was that tiny, I couldn't see, it was like a lint. 00:01:59.240 |
So I thought it was a lint, he said, "No, that's a seed of a mustard seed." 00:02:03.680 |
So Jesus deliberately chose the smallest thing that he could possibly think of and then says 00:02:09.320 |
that little thing can move the biggest thing that he could think of, right? 00:02:13.520 |
So it's a hyperbole, he's exaggerating to make a point that there's things that you 00:02:25.040 |
And the reason why a faith, that tiny little faith that connects us to God is much more 00:02:30.040 |
powerful than the greatest thing that we can possibly apply to move this mountain. 00:02:37.000 |
That little faith that causes us to be connected and tap into the power of God can move mountains. 00:02:42.920 |
But without that faith, without that connection to God, even our greatest efforts can barely 00:02:53.520 |
Obviously he's referring to the great works that they're capable of doing, but there's 00:02:56.720 |
something greater than that, that I think that is the problem with mankind. 00:03:05.440 |
The scripture says, "Can a leper change his spots?" 00:03:09.480 |
And even if he could, a sinner cannot one day just wake up and say, "I'm not going 00:03:15.000 |
Now this room can be divided up into introverts and extroverts. 00:03:19.560 |
Some of you guys are introverts, some of you guys are extroverts. 00:03:23.160 |
And I don't know why, but I've never seen an introvert who thinks he's an extrovert. 00:03:29.080 |
I've seen many people who are extroverts think they're introverts. 00:03:32.320 |
I don't know what the reason, psychology behind that. 00:03:37.400 |
But you can't wake up one day and say, "I'm going to be an introvert today." 00:03:45.040 |
You don't wake up one day and say, "I'm going to be an extrovert. 00:03:47.640 |
I'm just going to go and be the life of the party today. 00:03:56.840 |
What you like or dislike, the kind of food you like, you just don't change like that. 00:04:01.480 |
If we can't change something as fundamental as just maybe how I interact with people, 00:04:09.200 |
for a sinner to one day wake up and say, "You know what? 00:04:12.920 |
See, that's a mountain that cannot be moved by human effort. 00:04:19.600 |
No matter how hard we try, we can scratch at it. 00:04:24.720 |
We might think we can make a little bit of dent, but that mountain cannot be moved. 00:04:32.200 |
That's why Jesus said to Nicodemus, "The only way to enter the kingdom of heaven is to be 00:04:42.920 |
We weren't born physically, and you can't be born spiritually without God's work. 00:04:50.400 |
The whole purpose of the law given to the nation of Israel was to show that there was 00:05:03.200 |
The reason why anybody would even attempt to move this mountain is because he has no 00:05:10.320 |
He said, "Anybody who goes into war, a king, he's going to first calculate to see, 'Can 00:05:18.240 |
The only reason why anybody would even enter to think he can possibly make a dent is because 00:05:26.560 |
Not only does he not know, he has no idea his own strength. 00:05:31.740 |
That after just half a day of digging, maybe barely making a scratch on this rock, you're 00:05:37.720 |
going to be fatigued and tired, you're going to quit. 00:05:39.700 |
So you don't know how big the mountain is, and you have no idea how weak you are to even 00:05:48.940 |
You see, the Jews were given every advantage. 00:05:54.340 |
They had the covenant, they had the law, sacrificial system, they had the prophets prophesying. 00:06:06.380 |
You search the scriptures because you think that in them, you have eternal life. 00:06:11.440 |
That somehow if you dissect it and you apply it in your life, that somehow you're going 00:06:16.740 |
But Jesus says, "And it is they that bear witness about me." 00:06:21.360 |
If all of your study of scripture and all of your pursuit of righteousness is our attempt 00:06:27.460 |
to make a dent on this mountain, it would only lead to further condemnation. 00:06:34.380 |
All of it was to point you for the need for a Savior. 00:06:39.580 |
All of it was to set a foundation that salvation is by faith, by grace alone. 00:06:44.860 |
And then he says, "Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." 00:06:47.980 |
So that little faith in God is much more powerful than all the efforts that we can possibly 00:06:56.980 |
And that's, again, the common mistake that we make in our walk with God. 00:07:02.200 |
When we have problems, our first thing is how do we fix it? 00:07:05.420 |
Because I've gotten a certain place in my life and I know how to get ahead in life. 00:07:12.140 |
And I've been successful and I'm moving up and I know how to put money and invest and 00:07:16.220 |
buy the stock at the right time and sell it at the right time. 00:07:21.920 |
And so pride begins to set in in our heart and we begin to think that maybe if I apply 00:07:28.140 |
all that made me successful into my Christian life, that somehow we would have more success. 00:07:35.460 |
And that is exactly the opposite of the principles that are taught in the Beatitudes. 00:07:42.980 |
There's a reason why he deliberately chose people who weren't educated. 00:07:49.640 |
In fact, these disciples had the biggest failure right before Jesus went to the cross. 00:07:55.540 |
See, the kingdom of God, the principles of the kingdom of God is flipped completely upside 00:08:04.540 |
And that's why Jesus says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. 00:08:09.620 |
And all that is in the world is not from the Father." 00:08:13.460 |
You can't live by the principles of this world and by the principles of God because they're 00:08:22.100 |
Little that we do in faith is much more powerful than a lot that we pour out without it. 00:08:27.180 |
Third and finally, salvation by faith in Jesus is the absolute cornerstone of which the kingdom 00:08:33.340 |
Verse 33 says, "They have stumbled over the stumbling stone and as it is written, 'Behold, 00:08:39.340 |
I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of defense, and whoever believes in 00:08:46.100 |
The term stumbling stone is a favorite Old Testament reference to Jesus, and specifically 00:08:57.100 |
In 1 Peter 2.7, the quote of, again, Psalm 118.22 says, "The stone that the builders 00:09:06.540 |
Not just any stone, it became the chief stone. 00:09:11.460 |
So again, you probably heard this before, but cornerstone basically at that time meant 00:09:16.500 |
if you don't have the cornerstone right, everything that you put on, everything, no matter how 00:09:20.540 |
high the building, no matter how strong the building seems to look, it is absolutely crooked. 00:09:29.300 |
If salvation by faith and by grace isn't the foundation upon which we build, everything 00:09:39.940 |
You know, I don't know about you, but when Ikea first came out and they would sell things, 00:09:46.580 |
and prior to that, all the furniture was built for you. 00:09:49.620 |
So you just bought it and put it and plopped it in, but right now, you don't have to 00:09:52.820 |
save money, they give it to you, you buy a little shelf, they give it to you in like 00:09:56.460 |
5,000 pieces, and then you got to go through all of this instruction, and I don't have 00:10:03.780 |
I remember when I first started to put these things together, and I was like, I just kind 00:10:07.180 |
of get a general outline, and I feel like I'm pretty handy with my hands, so I know 00:10:13.580 |
I would go and put all this together, and I feel pretty good about myself, and I put 00:10:16.820 |
it together, and then you would see this huge metal piece. 00:10:23.380 |
So my initial thought is, Ikea is wasting their money. 00:10:27.340 |
They put this metal piece in here, it's absolutely unnecessary. 00:10:36.020 |
And it looks fine, the shelf is standing, you know, after a couple of weeks, and you 00:10:40.180 |
bump into it by mistake, and all of a sudden it starts to tilt. 00:10:46.620 |
Maybe that metal piece has something to do with this. 00:10:50.180 |
And you go back and read the instructions, and you realize it was the centerpiece in 00:10:57.500 |
And that's why it's tilting, that's why it's weak, and so I waste all my time and 00:11:01.020 |
go back and I got to tear everything back and then read the instructions. 00:11:03.820 |
So I've done that enough times where now I don't mess with it, and I just go straight 00:11:09.360 |
And I know that our ladies like to make fun of the husbands, they get lost and they don't 00:11:16.740 |
I've wasted so much time doing that in my life, that's the first thing I do now, I go 00:11:21.220 |
straight to the instruction or ask people, like, where do I go, how do I get here? 00:11:26.700 |
You see, the scripture says Christ wasn't just a stone, it wasn't just an important 00:11:34.620 |
It says everything that we learned about life was about Christ crucified. 00:11:42.700 |
Everything the Old Testament pointed and got people ready for it, the gospel was about 00:11:46.140 |
Him preparing to go to the cross, and everything else in scripture, the book of Revelation 00:11:50.420 |
is about the consummation of what He started at that time. 00:11:57.660 |
Now why is this absolutely essential for us to know? 00:12:02.100 |
Because once we begin to move from that, for whatever the reason, we're basically building 00:12:09.100 |
on something that's going to eventually crumble on sand. 00:12:13.660 |
It's just a matter of time, when it gets tested, it's going to crumble. 00:12:17.460 |
Now I don't think, I think most of us sitting in here, if I was to ask you, do you believe 00:12:23.060 |
in salvation by faith alone, justification by faith alone, not by works? 00:12:27.940 |
If you believe in salvation by works, you wouldn't be here. 00:12:32.540 |
Maybe some of you guys secretly, it's like, I reject everything you say. 00:12:36.420 |
You know, I think most of you sitting in here will have no problem signing this doctrinal 00:12:44.740 |
But the real question, where the rubber meets the road, is how does that affect your life? 00:12:54.540 |
How does this upside down principle, this upside down principle of where God chooses 00:13:06.460 |
In fact, 1 Corinthians 3, 11, Paul is talking to a church who's divided, and they're all 00:13:13.700 |
They were already Christians, they were saying, I follow Paul, I follow Peter, I think Peter 00:13:19.260 |
Apollos is a better preacher, and I like the way he preaches, so I'm going to follow him. 00:13:26.620 |
And so Paul comes in, in 1 Corinthians 3, he says, no one can lay a foundation other 00:13:29.940 |
than that which is laid in Christ, which is Jesus Christ. 00:13:32.700 |
How can you be divided and say, I like this, I like that, when there is only one foundation, 00:13:39.580 |
And then, prior to that, he reminds them, the whole reason why this division is taking 00:13:45.020 |
place is because they're one-upping each other. 00:13:51.340 |
And this principle of this world, where we're trying so hard to become somebody, every single 00:14:00.540 |
one of us, and it's so deeply embedded in us, there isn't a single person who isn't 00:14:06.220 |
We work hard to make more money so that we can get ahead, we teach our kids so that they 00:14:10.020 |
can sacrifice, so they can get ahead, we become proud when my kid reads a little bit faster 00:14:17.620 |
Every single one of us has that innately inside of us, and when we begin to practice those 00:14:21.100 |
principles inside the church, it begins to divide the church. 00:14:27.860 |
Paul reminds them, in 1 Corinthians 1.26, "If we consider your calling, brothers, not 00:14:33.340 |
many of you were wise according to the worldly standards." 00:14:37.940 |
We read this as a historical document, and it's like, okay, he's reminding them the gospel. 00:14:42.660 |
Think of this as a personal letter he's writing to the Corinthians, and the Corinthians are 00:14:54.900 |
You don't know that God chose you because you weren't all there. 00:15:00.340 |
God deliberately chose you because you weren't the A student. 00:15:05.540 |
Not you're trying to be somebody in the church. 00:15:11.580 |
You're trying to be somebody in the church, but outside the church, you're nobody. 00:15:18.900 |
Think how offensive this is, if you're reading this, and he's saying this about you. 00:15:22.780 |
Not many were from noble birth, but God chose what is foolish, and he's talking about you. 00:15:28.100 |
He's not talking about the principally foolish. 00:15:33.100 |
God chose what was foolish in the world to shame the wise. 00:15:35.960 |
God chose what is weak, which is you, in the world to shame the strong. 00:15:57.260 |
God chose to shame the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so 00:16:01.180 |
that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 00:16:18.540 |
Don't let that interfere in your love for God, because it does. 00:16:23.780 |
As soon as it pops us up to think that somehow I got something to contribute to the kingdom 00:16:29.620 |
of God because of my smarts, because of my experience, because of my noble birth, it 00:16:39.900 |
The same way that the Jews say, "How can this be? 00:16:42.940 |
And then they just begin to say, "Well, because I'm this educated, because I have all of this." 00:16:48.480 |
The very basic principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ brings all of us low. 00:16:57.520 |
Because the thing that is destroying us, the core nature of sin, is self-righteousness, 00:17:12.500 |
Wasn't that the temptation of Tower of Babel? 00:17:14.600 |
Wasn't that the temptation of every generation because they wanted to be somebody? 00:17:27.600 |
If you want to follow me and be my disciple, take up your cross and deny yourself. 00:17:36.040 |
The very core principle of the kingdom of God brings the haughty and He humbles him, 00:17:47.800 |
That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, "For I decided to know nothing among you except 00:17:56.120 |
Because anything else, anything else, like, "Oh man, you know, I have so much experience 00:18:02.520 |
doing this and I did this and I'm so successful." 00:18:07.800 |
But if it's not coupled in faith, knowing that He took nothing, that any power that 00:18:14.720 |
I have, any usefulness that I have is because God was being merciful to me. 00:18:21.000 |
That's why boasting and pride, it doesn't just not go together, it contradicts. 00:18:28.160 |
You may not know, maybe you are aware of it, but the greatest hindrance to our walk with 00:18:37.000 |
Now, pride has all kinds of ways to manifest. 00:18:40.160 |
Sometimes pride could be coming out of our lips, sometimes pride can come out of the 00:18:43.920 |
way we interact with each other, sometimes pride comes out in anger, sometimes pride 00:18:48.720 |
comes out in judgmentalism, sometimes pride comes out in self-righteousness. 00:18:53.240 |
But the core of what keeps us from God, why we think every single day that I can get along 00:19:03.940 |
We don't see the urgency and desperateness of where we are because of pride. 00:19:11.200 |
That's why Paul says, Galatians 2.21, "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification 00:19:15.800 |
were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." 00:19:20.920 |
It doesn't just hinder us, it ruins everything. 00:19:25.520 |
See, the fundamental principle of the kingdom of God, which is started by the gospel, it 00:19:32.280 |
will be built by the same principles of the gospel and it will carry us on until the end. 00:19:39.400 |
That's why in Galatians 4.3-7, as I close with this, Paul says, "In the same way, we 00:19:45.320 |
also, when we were children," he's talking about when we were non-Christians, "were enslaved 00:19:55.960 |
Enslaved by the pattern that is taught in this world. 00:19:59.840 |
Do this, don't do this, and you're going to achieve. 00:20:02.440 |
Sometimes we bring that even into the church. 00:20:05.160 |
If we just work hard enough, if we do this and if we do that, so somehow God can be glorified, 00:20:10.640 |
That's what Paul says, "When I am weak, He is strong." 00:20:18.120 |
Sometimes the best thing that we can do is to get out of the way. 00:20:24.280 |
See, this elementary principle of this world is what is killing us. 00:20:29.320 |
The same principle that we are taught to be somebody, to make something of ourselves, 00:20:39.960 |
He says, "He came, who were once enslaved to the elementary principles of this world, 00:20:45.240 |
but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born 00:20:50.240 |
under the law, to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption 00:20:57.440 |
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 00:21:14.720 |
And that's why he says that our life is now hidden with Christ. 00:21:19.200 |
But when He comes, when Christ comes in His glory, we will be glorified with Him. 00:21:24.760 |
So the whole principle in which a Christian continues to live and build and preach the 00:21:33.440 |
If we live by the principles of this world to try to get to the next level, do you not 00:21:37.320 |
know that that is what is frustrating your life? 00:21:40.960 |
That is why you feel stuck, because we're trying so hard to bend His will toward mine. 00:21:49.960 |
So the very principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, justification by faith, brings us 00:22:06.960 |
And all that I have, all the things that I may be good at in this world, actually is 00:22:14.040 |
causing me to be proud and is hindering me from coming to Him." 00:22:18.880 |
See, the gospel of Jesus Christ brings us to the same point. 00:22:23.600 |
Whether you are rich or poor, whether you are powerful or not, whether you are successful 00:22:29.000 |
or unsuccessful, we all come through the same door by the mercy of God. 00:22:36.320 |
If you can take a minute to pray with me as I ask our praise team to come up. 00:22:44.800 |
That's probably the most powerful thing that you can do, every single day and every single 00:23:08.240 |
The most powerful thing that we can do every single day is to come to God, that faith of 00:23:13.860 |
If it engages God, it's much more powerful than all the counsel, all the work, all the 00:23:19.360 |
money, all the friends that can come to encourage you. 00:23:23.280 |
So let's take some time to pray the basic fundamental principle of Christ as chief cornerstone, 00:23:31.000 |
that whatever we do, that we will build upon this. 00:23:33.680 |
Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.