back to index2017-10-15 God's Sovereign Plan of Salvation
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As regards to the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake, but as regards to election, 00:00:09.960 |
they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 00:00:13.220 |
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 00:00:16.240 |
For just as you were at one time disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because 00:00:20.320 |
of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy 00:00:25.120 |
shown to you, they also may now receive mercy. 00:00:28.680 |
For God has consigned all to disobedience that he may have mercy on all. 00:00:32.960 |
Oh, the depth of riches in the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his 00:00:40.960 |
For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given 00:00:49.560 |
For from him and through him and to him are all things. 00:00:56.520 |
Father, we thank you for the gathering of believers. 00:01:04.960 |
We thank you for the church that you have purchased through the blood of your son, Jesus. 00:01:11.000 |
I pray that you would help us to put away all distractions, that the time that we have 00:01:16.240 |
together may be fixated on Christ, who he is and what he has done. 00:01:23.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to gain a glimpse of his glory, that we may be changed, that our burdens, 00:01:38.040 |
Help us to long for your presence, thirsting, Lord, for righteousness, that we may find 00:01:47.600 |
So we ask for your blessing and your guidance. 00:01:51.640 |
As you guys know, we've been preaching and studying through the book of Romans for quite 00:01:58.560 |
And I probably, if there's any one book that I've really dedicated myself to get to know 00:02:05.480 |
And I preached through it maybe about three times already in ministry. 00:02:08.680 |
I mean, from chapter one all the way to chapter 16. 00:02:12.560 |
We started it, probably there's more verses that I've memorized in this book than any 00:02:17.240 |
So I can say I'm not a master of this book, but I can say that I probably dedicated more 00:02:24.560 |
You know, one thing that was really interesting to me this time through is that, you know, 00:02:30.160 |
typically when we think about the meat of the gospel or meat of the book of Romans, 00:02:39.900 |
Or chapter one through eight is the presentation of the gospel, right? 00:02:43.800 |
The first three chapters is about how all have sinned and fall short of the glory of 00:02:47.440 |
God and it introduces us for need for Christ and what does it mean to be saved. 00:02:52.280 |
And then chapter eight, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:02:56.520 |
And then that takes us to chapter nine through 11. 00:03:00.060 |
And typically, even some of the commentaries, if you read the commentaries, it'll say chapter 00:03:05.260 |
It's kind of a parenthetical, you know, chapters where he's been making an argument, he's made 00:03:10.080 |
his point in chapter eight and that's kind of like the pinnacle of what Paul was trying 00:03:15.400 |
And then before he moves on to the imperatives in chapter 12, so therefore this is how you 00:03:19.080 |
ought to live, he takes three chapters to explain why God is not done with Israel, which 00:03:26.800 |
He does take three chapters to explain to us where does Israel fit into all of this. 00:03:31.520 |
If God has opened the door to the kingdom of God to the Gentiles and all this time that 00:03:36.400 |
the Jews believed that they were the kingdom, right, and then what does this mean? 00:03:41.960 |
Well, this time going through it, I realized that chapter nine through 11 isn't parenthetical 00:03:51.280 |
So what I realized with that chapter one through eight was the presentation of the gospel and 00:03:56.120 |
to chapter nine through 11 is an illustration of that gospel. 00:04:01.320 |
It is the actual outworking of that gospel in the nation of Israel, what God has been 00:04:06.240 |
doing through the Old Testament, New Testament, and what God will continue to do going forward. 00:04:12.400 |
So in actuality, he's not taking a break from his argument. 00:04:16.560 |
In reality, what he's doing is he's given the argument, full scope of the argument up 00:04:21.320 |
to chapter eight, and then he actually illustrates it. 00:04:24.500 |
This is how it played out with the nation of Israel, and that serves as an example of 00:04:29.240 |
how it will play out with the church, to the Gentile church. 00:04:33.160 |
So I don't know if you were able to follow it or not, but for me personally, chapter 00:04:38.580 |
nine through 11 has been a huge blessing for me personally. 00:04:42.620 |
Just a tangible way that God has been working through the nation of Israel, what he has 00:04:46.520 |
been doing, that even in the context of judgment, even in the context of the failure of the 00:04:51.440 |
nation of Israel to see and to accept and believe their Messiah, that God's promise 00:04:58.780 |
and his word is irrevocable, that what he says, he does. 00:05:04.200 |
And I don't know about you, but that sets a firm foundation in my faith in Christ, that 00:05:09.240 |
we always say that it is not by our works, right? 00:05:15.160 |
God doesn't measure us based upon our righteousness, but you see how that is being illustrated 00:05:22.600 |
Well, the text that we're looking at this morning, this week and then next week, we're 00:05:28.120 |
going to be summarizing Paul's argument that he's been making. 00:05:31.480 |
And so there's three parts to today's message and then we're going to be talking about the 00:05:39.120 |
But basically what he's doing, he's summarizing the message of the cross in these verses. 00:05:44.960 |
There's going to be a huge transition that's going to take place from chapter 11 to chapter 00:05:49.960 |
So chapter 12, he's going to start going into the imperatives. 00:05:56.200 |
This is how the gospel has been playing out in the history of Israel and how it will play 00:06:02.040 |
And then chapter 12 to 16, he's going to say, "Therefore, this is what it means to you in 00:06:09.040 |
It's not Paul's whole intention wasn't just, "Well, I hope you understand what the gospel 00:06:14.200 |
It's like, "Well, okay, now we're better educated on who God is and what he has done." 00:06:17.380 |
There's a point to all of this, at least practically. 00:06:20.520 |
And that is because of what he has done, because of who he is, "Therefore, live out your life 00:06:28.000 |
And so that's going to be the main argument he's going to be making and challenge he's 00:06:35.240 |
But before he does that, he concludes and wraps up his 11 chapters of presentation of 00:06:42.120 |
And so again, what he has to say in these passages are rich. 00:06:46.520 |
So I hope if some of you guys had took some time to read it or at least wrestle through 00:06:51.040 |
it, you'll hopefully get more out of it than if you didn't. 00:06:54.720 |
But either way, we're going to be looking at the three arguments that he's making here 00:07:02.920 |
So we could probably spend the whole month or even more just talking about each one of 00:07:08.520 |
But again, as Paul has already made these arguments and now he's giving it to us as 00:07:14.240 |
So this morning, I want to look at three things that he gives, three qualities of the gospel 00:07:18.020 |
that he gives, again, as a summary of what he's been saying up to this point. 00:07:22.100 |
So the number one, the first thing that he says, we find in verse 32 where he says, "For 00:07:28.640 |
God has consigned all to disobedience that he may have mercy on all." 00:07:34.040 |
He's made the argument up to this point that the Jews, because of their disobedience, that 00:07:43.780 |
And as a result of their hardening, God allowed the Gentiles to come in. 00:07:47.760 |
And then he reminds the Gentiles that at one point you were hardened and God had mercy 00:07:55.760 |
So in the end, God has consigned everyone, Jew and Gentile, to disobedience that God 00:08:04.900 |
So the first point that we want to see in this is the gospel is made manifest through 00:08:13.360 |
The first summary, the gospel is made manifest through the disobedience of mankind. 00:08:21.720 |
Before we move on, and I know if you were paying attention, a question that you should 00:08:26.480 |
have, okay, so if you're sitting here right now with absolutely blank, kind of like, "Oh, 00:08:31.520 |
okay, that's, you know, he read what he read." 00:08:33.720 |
But if you're paying attention, my guess is you should be asking, if God consigned people 00:08:40.120 |
to disobedience, how can he keep, how can he bring judgment upon mankind if God's the 00:08:48.560 |
I mean, clearly he says he consigned them to disobedience, right? 00:08:54.640 |
If he led them to disobedience, if he pushed them toward unfaithfulness, how can he come 00:09:05.400 |
If you're not asking that, you probably weren't paying attention, right? 00:09:09.120 |
So in order to properly understand what he means by that, we need to really dissect what 00:09:14.680 |
So the understanding of the word disobedience, the word disobedience in and of itself in 00:09:24.560 |
That's the word that is translated in the ESV as disobedience. 00:09:36.240 |
It means unwilling to be dissuaded, persuaded, meaning you have no feelings toward it, that 00:09:43.560 |
you're going to hold your position and God is not moving you toward any direction. 00:09:51.020 |
That's a literal understanding of this word disobedience. 00:09:54.800 |
Some of your translations probably have translated this word as unbelief. 00:10:00.600 |
So unbelief and disobedience is translated the same way, from the same word. 00:10:08.720 |
In fact, so much of our rebellion against God, oftentimes in Scripture, is simply described 00:10:18.120 |
When Israel rebels against God, God looks at their rebellion and says, "They did not 00:10:26.760 |
In Matthew 6:30, he looks at the anxiousness over material goods. 00:10:33.960 |
He says to the crowd, "Do not be anxious about what you will eat or wear and that God's 00:10:39.960 |
Basically, in that context, he says, "Do not have little faith." 00:10:45.640 |
He equates anxiousness for the things of this world, temptation to go after them, as unbelief. 00:10:50.960 |
Matthew 8:26, when the disciples, when the storms came and they were fearful of their 00:10:56.320 |
life, Jesus woke up and he said, "You have little faith." 00:10:59.560 |
He accused them of unbelief, that the core of their fear came from not having enough 00:11:07.640 |
Matthew 17:20, he said, "When the disciples came back and they had lack of power to be 00:11:11.720 |
able to cast out the demons," he said, "it's because you have little faith." 00:11:17.440 |
He described lack of power to be able to cast out demons as also connected to unbelief. 00:11:24.640 |
How at the core of everything that we do, he says, "It is a demonstration of our faith 00:11:34.440 |
So here in this passage, when he talks about disobedience, the very word that is translated 00:11:39.520 |
here literally means unwilling to move, to be changed, or unbelief. 00:11:48.640 |
And that's how Israel's rebellion and the Gentile, when they resist God, ultimately 00:11:53.360 |
is described as unbelief, because they refuse to believe that God is sovereign. 00:11:58.520 |
They refuse to believe the things that Christ has done. 00:12:06.160 |
And as a result of that, they live independently from God. 00:12:11.120 |
Now having said that, this is kind of a side point. 00:12:15.160 |
Whenever we think about Christian life and sanctification, our natural tendency is what 00:12:22.540 |
And there's nothing wrong with that question, because we need to examine ourselves. 00:12:28.160 |
What are the decisions that are making that are kind of leading us to the wrong path? 00:12:31.440 |
But even before we get to the question of what are we doing wrong, how do we fix the 00:12:35.060 |
physical, we have to take a step back and ask ourselves, "Why am I not doing that? 00:12:43.700 |
Because if you look at the scripture, the target is always internal. 00:12:48.800 |
See, sin is not something that comes and lands on us. 00:12:52.320 |
Sin is something that comes out of us, he said. 00:12:57.340 |
So we take a step back and ask ourselves, "What is it do I not believe about God that 00:13:02.940 |
is causing me to not believe that if I give myself to him that he's going to take care 00:13:08.920 |
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you." 00:13:17.160 |
That is causing you to be anxious that if I do give it to him, that maybe he's not going 00:13:25.640 |
So sanctification is not simply about you were doing the wrong thing and now you're 00:13:32.920 |
Sanctification simply isn't about you didn't go to church and now you're going to church. 00:13:36.280 |
You didn't read your Bible so now you're reading your Bible. 00:13:40.640 |
Sanctification ultimately is initiated when we get a glimpse of the glory of the gospel 00:13:44.900 |
of Jesus Christ and we are changed internally. 00:13:47.360 |
And then now that begins to change our behavior. 00:13:50.960 |
We worship God not because if we don't worship God, God's going to punish us. 00:13:57.860 |
And so when you look at chapter 12, he says, "I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies 00:14:02.500 |
of God, in view of this mercy, in view of what God has done, in view of the glory of 00:14:10.100 |
what you have seen," he said, "present your body as a living sacrifice." 00:14:15.440 |
So the first question that we need to ask ourselves is do we have faith? 00:14:23.380 |
Because that's how Israel's rebellion and mankind's rebellion is described as unbelief, 00:14:32.980 |
But what does it mean then if he's saying that their disobedience is ultimately unbelief, 00:14:37.900 |
then what does it mean for God to consign it to them? 00:14:42.860 |
Because it kind of sounds like God pushed them toward that. 00:14:47.660 |
How are they going to believe if God pushed them to unbelief? 00:14:50.940 |
Well, this is one of those words that's really difficult to translate with one word. 00:14:55.860 |
So what I did was I listed all the different translations and all the different ways that 00:15:00.700 |
each of the translations – did I put it up all together? 00:15:04.820 |
So NIV translate this as "bound all men to disobedience." 00:15:12.940 |
New King James has "committed them all to disobedience." 00:15:15.820 |
King James has "concluded them all to unbelief." 00:15:18.300 |
The Living Translation, "given them all to sin." 00:15:24.060 |
TEV, "made all people prisoners of disobedience." 00:15:30.460 |
This is the long version, the most, I guess, friendly, user-friendly. 00:15:36.260 |
God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside so that he can personally 00:15:42.860 |
So the Message Bible, I'm assuming, is about this thick. 00:15:48.220 |
But you can tell by the way that this word is translated in each one of these translations, 00:15:52.860 |
every single one of them has used a different word. 00:15:58.260 |
And so collectively, all of this gives some idea. 00:16:03.740 |
There's no one word that captures in totality the meaning of this particular word. 00:16:09.980 |
So just to understand it consigned, you won't get the full understanding. 00:16:15.180 |
To bind men, to put them together, to shut up. 00:16:20.020 |
And this is kind of the word, the idea of when you go fishing and then you cast a net 00:16:25.420 |
and you catch it up, catch it all into a net. 00:16:43.540 |
Imprisoned because of their disobedience that they were given the just penalty for their 00:16:53.900 |
So the idea of the word consigned isn't God took these innocent people and then he began 00:17:08.440 |
In fact, in Galatians chapter 322, this word, this exact word is used to describe how the 00:17:18.060 |
Galatians 322, it says, "But the scripture imprisoned everyone, everything under sin, 00:17:23.540 |
so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." 00:17:30.060 |
Clearly he's not saying that scripture forced you to sin. 00:17:34.680 |
He's not saying that scripture imprisoned everything under sin. 00:17:37.940 |
It's not somebody who was righteous read the scriptures and the scriptures incited you 00:17:47.380 |
What he is saying, and I think Barnes makes a good note, and I think there's a quote of 00:17:56.780 |
Barnes says in describing this, "The keeper of a prison does no wrong in confining a criminal 00:18:04.100 |
or the judge in condemning him or the executioner in fulfilling the sentence of the law. 00:18:11.900 |
What he does is not to compel people to remain under unbelief, but to declare that they are 00:18:28.620 |
All of this to say what Paul has already said, that he allowed sin to become orderly sinful 00:18:39.940 |
He allows the hardening of the heart to take his full course, to not only dabble in sin, 00:18:47.880 |
but to be bound in sin before they are able to recognize their dire need for Christ. 00:18:55.900 |
The greatest problem with the nation of Israel when Christ came was that they did not see 00:19:00.820 |
the need for a Savior to be crucified for their sins. 00:19:07.700 |
The greatest problem that we have today in our culture in having a very superficial response 00:19:14.900 |
to the cross is that though we raise our hands and walk down the aisle, that because the 00:19:21.280 |
effect of what Christ has done for us hits us superficially. 00:19:29.540 |
We do not act like men and women who have been saved from hell. 00:19:35.680 |
We do not act and respond and worship a God who saved us, who are utterly hopeless, dead 00:19:42.020 |
in our trespasses, weighed down by our sin, who are desperate and cried out to God. 00:19:49.220 |
Many people in the church have simply made a choice. 00:19:56.380 |
I wanted to give him a chance, so I came to church. 00:19:59.940 |
I read the scriptures because my small group accountability partner told me this is what 00:20:05.460 |
I committed to the church because I want to belong to the body of Christ and I want 00:20:12.540 |
But at the core of who we are are sinners who have been saved from our sins. 00:20:21.940 |
So what unites us is not our hair, it's not our language, it is not our common experience. 00:20:28.180 |
What unites us is every single one of us who are dead in our trespasses, Christ saved. 00:20:36.380 |
So there is a sense of desperateness that everyone was in before we met Christ. 00:20:46.440 |
If you've ever been in a situation of an emergency, whether it was with your family or a group 00:20:52.340 |
of friends, there's a camaraderie that is created. 00:20:56.420 |
So I don't know if you've ever met military people who just came back from war. 00:21:04.100 |
They have a lot of problems, PTSD or whatever, they have all these struggles. 00:21:08.060 |
And I have a few friends who were deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq during the last 10, 00:21:13.780 |
15 years, and some of them two to three times, and they've seen some horrendous stuff. 00:21:18.420 |
They've seen friends with their legs blown off and partners that drive it in the car 00:21:23.700 |
and the car would blow up or they get shot and he would die, but he didn't. 00:21:28.580 |
And I remember having a conversation with a young man who came back from war, and he 00:21:34.100 |
said in the beginning of the war, he would walk in down and his friends would get shot. 00:21:37.860 |
And in the beginning, he said he was having such a hard time, you know, digesting all 00:21:43.860 |
But the only way for him to survive is to just keep going. 00:21:51.460 |
And then he said when they came back, he said he had a hard time adjusting to that. 00:22:01.060 |
It created this, because they survived this horrendous war, it created this fellowship 00:22:07.300 |
among them, whether they were Asian or Caucasian or whether they were Hispanic, whatever background 00:22:13.380 |
they came from, the fact that every single one of them was saved from this horrendous 00:22:23.420 |
They can share with me and I can sympathize with them, but it's not the same. 00:22:28.460 |
And they would get together with their buddies and they would share and they don't have to 00:22:31.940 |
say a word, they understand the experience that they had. 00:22:36.380 |
See, real fellowship in the church happens when a gathering of people who recognize what 00:22:43.740 |
they have been saved from, and they see the value of who Jesus is. 00:22:51.100 |
And it creates this camaraderie in the church, not superficially because we're same age or 00:22:56.400 |
same background or same experience, but because we were saved by the same blood of Christ 00:23:05.100 |
See that's what Paul means, he said consigned all to disobedience, because until they recognize 00:23:10.460 |
their sin as utterly sinful, they do not cling to Christ with all their might. 00:23:16.260 |
How much of our superficial fellowship in the church is because we have a superficial 00:23:23.360 |
How much of our superficial desire to share the gospel is because we don't see the desperate 00:23:31.420 |
That's what he means when he says he consigned all to disobedience, to unbelief. 00:23:35.700 |
He allowed it to take its full course so that he can turn on the light in the darkness, 00:23:41.260 |
so that the men and women who are saved by this would recognize that they were in dire 00:23:50.120 |
So the first thing that he says in summary, the gospel is made manifest through the disobedience 00:23:56.420 |
of mankind, how God uses our weakness and sometimes even rebellion to fulfill his promise. 00:24:08.300 |
In fact what's interesting to me is from the very get-go of the gospel, God always uses 00:24:13.300 |
the closing of one door, rejection and hostility of one people to open the door to another. 00:24:19.860 |
Salvation came to the world because his own people rejected him and crucified him on the 00:24:27.660 |
Mission in the early church happened because of persecution in Jerusalem. 00:24:31.580 |
They were running for their lives and then as they were running back home and running 00:24:35.180 |
away from Jerusalem, they began to share the gospel. 00:24:38.220 |
The gospel came to the Gentiles because Paul went to the synagogue and began to preach 00:24:41.860 |
and they shut the door on him so he went to the marketplace and so the gospel began to 00:24:48.340 |
Paul wanted to go to Rome and ultimately to Spain and because he was imprisoned, he had 00:24:52.860 |
to start writing letters and he started making disciples in prison and as a result of that, 00:24:57.260 |
the gospel began to spread all over and now we have these prison epistles. 00:25:02.300 |
That every single instance where it seemed like the gospel was facing resistance, God 00:25:13.540 |
That even in the rejection of his gospel, God is allowing hardness to take its full 00:25:22.740 |
In fact, today and I'm sure maybe even 10 years ago, this persecution in the Middle 00:25:28.460 |
East, in fact, a lot of people refuse to travel to the Middle East, especially Christians 00:25:33.580 |
because of all the things that we're hearing about the persecution, the bombing of churches, 00:25:39.620 |
beheading, horrendous stuff that's happening. 00:25:43.500 |
But along with that, if you've been reading carefully about what's happening in the Middle 00:25:47.180 |
East, there's a revival breaking out, the gospel. 00:25:50.340 |
They said there's more mass conversions that are taking place in the Middle East because 00:25:53.900 |
of these persecutions than they've ever seen in modern history. 00:25:58.040 |
That in every instance where we see resistance, we see the light going even stronger through 00:26:11.560 |
That even while the Jews were rejecting Christ, God was using that to bring the gospel to 00:26:19.580 |
the Gentiles and He's reminding the Gentiles that one day that though they are hardened, 00:26:26.180 |
God will use their hardening to open their eyes to see the need for this revival and 00:26:33.020 |
The gospel is made manifest through the disobedience of mankind. 00:26:37.940 |
Secondly, the gospel is the revelation of the depth of the riches of wisdom and knowledge 00:26:46.620 |
The first one teaches us that God is completely sovereign, that God allows disobedience and 00:26:52.800 |
unfaithfulness and unbelief to take its course, that sin may become utterly sinful and that 00:26:58.140 |
man may need, may come to an understanding that we're desperately in need of Christ. 00:27:03.620 |
But second part of the gospel, again, all of this is a summary of what Paul has already 00:27:07.180 |
been saying, that the gospel, the purpose of the gospel is to reveal the depth of his 00:27:20.500 |
Oh, I don't know if any of you use that word, like, "Oh, take a look at…" 00:27:28.020 |
We just use it in literature, we may see it, but that's an actual word. 00:27:32.380 |
That's an actual word in Greek and basically it means to pay attention. 00:27:40.660 |
So maybe the way we would write it today is, "Pay attention," or "Look here." 00:27:44.540 |
But in the Greek, it basically causes us to stop and say, "Look at this," right? 00:27:49.740 |
We've seen that in other parts of the scripture when Paul says earlier, he says, "Look, 00:28:00.180 |
That is important for us to recognize that God is holy and he is mercy, that these two 00:28:08.740 |
Take a close look at the depth of the riches of his wisdom and knowledge. 00:28:13.600 |
Because the whole purpose of the gospel, the revelation of everything that he has done 00:28:17.040 |
and who he is, was to reveal to the world who he is. 00:28:23.300 |
When Jesus was going to the cross, he says, "I'm now going to," what? 00:28:26.400 |
"To glorify the Father, and the Father is going to glorify the Son." 00:28:30.120 |
To glorify something is to take something that is there and put it on a pedestal so 00:28:39.940 |
So when Jesus went to the cross, he says, "Now, what may have been hidden, what may 00:28:45.080 |
have not been clear, if they didn't get the glory of God," he said, "He's going to go 00:28:50.640 |
to the cross so that the world can see, so that the world can see who he is." 00:28:58.560 |
So before we even think about what he has done for us and how it affects us, first and 00:29:04.120 |
foremost, the gospel is a glorification of the rich and the depth of his riches, his 00:29:15.800 |
We see the Holy Spirit in his maximum display at the cross. 00:29:24.300 |
You want to understand his mercy and his grace? 00:29:34.920 |
You want to understand his hatred towards sin? 00:29:38.640 |
You want to understand his patience towards sinners? 00:29:44.040 |
The cross is the display of the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of our Savior. 00:29:52.080 |
First and foremost, the scripture describes the fall of mankind as being blind, being 00:30:00.100 |
blinded to see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:30:04.320 |
It's because the world does not see who he is. 00:30:12.060 |
That's why we're even tempted, even as Christians. 00:30:17.680 |
You're not going to win temptation of this world by being disciplined because there's 00:30:28.760 |
I mean, who doesn't want to live in a nice, comfortable house? 00:30:41.960 |
I mean, naturally, that's the inclination and temptation of everybody. 00:30:47.120 |
I mean, the reason why pornography is such a big issue is because it's not calculated. 00:30:52.980 |
You don't sit there and think, "Oh, I think this is good for me." 00:30:55.920 |
I don't know anybody who wrestles with that actually thought it out. 00:31:00.360 |
You're just giving into the temptation of your flesh. 00:31:04.320 |
You desire it, you want it, and you give into it. 00:31:09.200 |
We don't conquer temptation by being more disciplined. 00:31:14.280 |
Temptation is conquered when there is a greater affection for something else that conquers 00:31:21.480 |
The whole point of Him revealing His glory is to say, "Don't go there, come here." 00:31:27.960 |
It's not like, "Oh, you know, I'm just a righteous, good person, so I'm going to resist 00:31:32.720 |
myself from doing bad, and I'm going to do what is right and do this." 00:31:36.880 |
The whole reason why Christ came was because we couldn't do that. 00:31:41.720 |
You and I did not have the ability to say one day, "I'd rather be a good person," and 00:31:49.800 |
That's not how sanctification happens either. 00:31:53.640 |
Sanctification happens when we see and treasure Christ above all the other temptations. 00:32:00.900 |
When Christ is better than what you are tempted by. 00:32:05.440 |
When He is what you desire more than anything else that is tempting you. 00:32:09.920 |
And so, sanctification ultimately is selfish. 00:32:16.480 |
Sanctification ultimately is not at the core noble. 00:32:21.840 |
Ultimately sanctification and pursuit of holiness is selfish, is when we recognize Christ above 00:32:29.920 |
The gospel ultimately is a revelation of His riches, of His depth. 00:32:35.360 |
See, an individual, no matter how he confesses that Jesus saved him, you can tell if there 00:32:46.120 |
Whether somebody is just doing the minimum to get by. 00:32:51.400 |
Whether they're just checking in and checking out. 00:32:56.680 |
You can tell in the way that they do Bible study. 00:32:58.400 |
You can tell in the way that they serve people, share the gospel, that they're just checking 00:33:04.960 |
They sing the songs, they open their mouth, but it's not real worship. 00:33:09.200 |
There's a huge difference between somebody who is worshiping God in view of the mercy 00:33:20.320 |
I can't begin to fathom why He did this to me. 00:33:25.660 |
And this mystery is causing Him to come to Christ and give worship to Him. 00:33:35.440 |
See Romans chapter 9, 22-23, he says, "What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to 00:33:40.600 |
make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction 00:33:45.480 |
in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared 00:33:54.520 |
In other words, He did all that He did in order to demonstrate the richness of His mercy 00:34:04.640 |
Paul describes his own ministry as declaring God's glory, Colossians 1-2, 1-3, "For I 00:34:11.720 |
want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those that lay hold of this 00:34:15.360 |
here and all those who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, 00:34:20.040 |
being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of the full assurance of understanding 00:34:24.880 |
and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. 00:34:29.240 |
That all of who God is, all of the richness about who He is and His knowledge contained 00:34:36.480 |
in Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." 00:34:44.360 |
Everything that we treasure, everything that we are seeking for, he says, is found in Christ. 00:34:53.960 |
He doesn't simply describe his ministry as getting sinners to repent. 00:34:58.220 |
He doesn't simply describe his ministry as people who didn't go to church to get to come 00:35:05.280 |
He says, "So that they may come to a full understanding of the richness that is found 00:35:13.400 |
That's what the gospel ultimately is, is a display of God's glory. 00:35:20.000 |
Again in Ephesians 3, 8-10, Paul says, "To me, though I am the very least of all the 00:35:26.120 |
saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 00:35:32.080 |
and to bring to light everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, 00:35:36.640 |
who created all things, so that through the church the manifold, the various wisdom of 00:35:42.400 |
God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places." 00:35:49.200 |
Think about how much of the rhetoric and talk today, whether you are for Trump or against 00:35:58.080 |
Everybody who comes into politics says, "Well, they have better wisdom than the other party." 00:36:02.920 |
Whether you're a Democrat or Independent or Republican or Libertarian, whatever you may 00:36:10.480 |
be, every politician comes and says, "They have the wisdom that the other party does 00:36:17.840 |
If we tweak this and if we tweak that, and I'm sure it will have some effect, but ultimately 00:36:27.240 |
Ultimately the problem with mankind isn't what we can or cannot say or how much money 00:36:36.360 |
Ultimately the problem of mankind is we have been separated from the author of life. 00:36:41.880 |
Everything that we are doing outside of Christ is trying to imitate fake life. 00:36:49.200 |
We're trying to gain it through politics, through money, through pleasure, through traveling, 00:36:54.800 |
What Paul is declaring is what you are searching for is in Christ. 00:37:00.920 |
What you are searching for, you may not be aware of it, but is in Christ. 00:37:10.320 |
So he describes his whole ministry as declaring the glory of Christ. 00:37:18.360 |
Third and finally, the gospel is ultimately a mystery. 00:37:26.360 |
He says how unsearchable are his judgments, how inscrutable his ways. 00:37:31.760 |
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. 00:37:35.360 |
For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has been his counselor or who has given 00:37:45.760 |
There is a huge difference between asking question and questioning. 00:37:51.440 |
If you've ever tried to evangelize to somebody and you're having a conversation with them 00:37:56.280 |
and the way that they're asking questions, you could tell whether they are open or whether 00:38:05.040 |
And I've had so many conversations with people, like sometimes for hours and hours and hours, 00:38:12.400 |
Even if I make a good point, they refuse to acknowledge it and they try to come up with, 00:38:16.000 |
"Well, that," and then they'll go and do some more research and come back. 00:38:22.760 |
They're trying to prove their point, why they're right. 00:38:24.760 |
So even if they don't have a good answer, they'll say, "Okay, you know, I don't have 00:38:32.760 |
And if they don't have one, they don't want to talk to you. 00:38:37.600 |
There's a huge difference between asking questions versus questioning. 00:38:42.680 |
If you're raising kids, there's a huge difference. 00:38:45.540 |
When they're young kids, right, they'll ask a lot of questions and they'll test your patience, 00:39:08.920 |
But it's not hard to be patient with little kids because they're genuinely curious. 00:39:17.880 |
And then when they become teenagers, the "whys" become "why." 00:39:23.560 |
It turns from asking questions to questioning. 00:39:36.760 |
Because we're asking the same questions, but there's a huge difference between asking 00:39:41.360 |
See, a questioning, you've already determined, and you're trying to convince the other person. 00:39:48.560 |
Where you're asking questions, you're genuinely curious, and you're trying to learn. 00:39:51.880 |
See, the Scripture tells us that the gospel is a mystery. 00:39:56.680 |
But it is not a mystery that God has hidden and said, "Well, you can't find." 00:40:00.320 |
It is a mystery that God desires us to look into, and we could be asking questions and 00:40:05.360 |
searching for the rest of eternity, and more will be revealed to us, but we will never 00:40:16.400 |
It's almost as if God kept it a mystery so that all of eternity, that there will be something 00:40:21.880 |
new that will be revealed to us, that would all us, as it was from the very first day 00:40:31.760 |
If we recognize the mystery of the gospel, and we continue to pursue Him just as we did 00:40:38.040 |
when we first met Him, for the rest of eternity. 00:40:41.560 |
You know, whenever I meet a Christian, I say, "Oh, I've already studied that. 00:40:47.040 |
You already know that there's something wrong in their relationship with God. 00:40:51.400 |
You already understand that just the shallowness, that they're just kind of like, "I get it. 00:41:02.120 |
Like, can we move on to something more meaty, like dispensationalism, or covenant theology, 00:41:13.560 |
You know, so every once in a while, we're going to study Ephesians. 00:41:23.400 |
The scripture tells us the gospel itself is a mystery. 00:41:28.760 |
Mystery not hidden, where He doesn't want to reveal to us, is a mystery that causes 00:41:33.640 |
us to seek, to ask, to learn, to grow, and to be amazed for eternity. 00:41:42.800 |
And I think many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:41:47.400 |
Whether you've been a Christian, or whether you're a brand new Christian, or you've been 00:41:49.480 |
Christian for 40, 50 years, the more you gaze upon the cross, the more amazing it is. 00:41:58.480 |
And I remember, you know, I would always be given, it's like, "Well, the cross, the love 00:42:01.940 |
of Christ is kind of like the mother's love for the son, and you know, there's nothing 00:42:06.960 |
And so I've always kind of like, "Well, that's what it's like." 00:42:09.800 |
It is closer than any other love that I know, but the more I gaze upon the cross, there's 00:42:23.440 |
You know, as a father, I can honestly confess to you. 00:42:26.920 |
I love my kids more than anything else, but it's nothing like God's love for me. 00:42:34.080 |
As much as I love my kids, as much as I think I know what's best for them, it is nothing 00:42:43.160 |
We have a hard time even understanding our own heart. 00:42:45.720 |
In Jeremiah 17, 9, it says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately 00:42:51.880 |
We don't even understand our own heart, let alone understand His. 00:42:56.960 |
To come before God questioning, like, "Why did He do this? 00:43:03.400 |
And then we say, "I believe this, but I don't believe that, because this makes sense to 00:43:13.640 |
And though you married men, you don't even understand your wife. 00:43:19.240 |
I mean, that's why we get into struggles and fights and arguments, because I don't understand 00:43:28.720 |
And we try so hard to communicate with each other. 00:43:32.200 |
How can we possibly come in judgment of a God when we don't even understand ourselves? 00:43:38.520 |
In Isaiah 55, 8 through 11, it says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 00:43:46.720 |
"For as the heavens are higher than earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and 00:43:53.840 |
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water 00:43:57.640 |
the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the 00:44:02.880 |
eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. 00:44:06.980 |
It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall 00:44:15.120 |
See, the whole point that he was trying to make in Isaiah, so when we recognize that 00:44:20.600 |
his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, he's immediately pointing to his word. 00:44:25.320 |
There are certain things that you may not understand, but God has ordained it. 00:44:33.240 |
See, let me read a couple more passages with you, and then I'm going to conclude for this 00:44:38.880 |
Psalm 139, 1 through 6 says, "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. 00:44:49.680 |
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 00:44:54.680 |
Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 00:44:59.280 |
For you have me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me. 00:45:12.320 |
Sometimes your husband, your wife may not understand you. 00:45:17.160 |
Your friends may not understand you, but a sovereign God who created you knows your inner 00:45:22.780 |
being, and that God chose to get off his throne and pursue us, to love us, to point us to 00:45:33.560 |
the cross, and then told us, "If you want to live, deny your flesh. 00:45:39.880 |
Deny the life that you think you can live in this world. 00:45:50.640 |
Sometimes the balance sheet may not come out right. 00:45:54.280 |
Sometimes there are certain things that may be happening in your life that you can't really 00:45:56.800 |
put together, and you have a hard time letting go. 00:46:01.800 |
But the God who created you, who knows every part of you, who loves you more than any other 00:46:17.580 |
He says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 00:46:32.080 |
Then shouldn't he be the one that we are seeking with all our might? 00:46:38.800 |
The gospel isn't just, "He finished it, and now just wait to go to heaven." 00:46:44.840 |
He declared his glory so that when we see his glory, that for the rest of eternity, 00:46:52.400 |
not just in this life, but for the rest of eternity, that we would come. 00:47:01.580 |
The more you recognize your sin, you ask, "Why? 00:47:16.180 |
Why did you prepare a place for me in eternity? 00:47:19.440 |
Why would you let your Son suffer for sinners like me? 00:47:26.440 |
And for the rest of eternity, to seek him with all your heart, because he promised he 00:47:35.240 |
If I can ask, again, the praise team to come, take some time to pray. 00:47:42.240 |
You know the difference between checking in and checking out versus meeting Christ. 00:47:49.540 |
You know the difference in yourself, and you can see the difference in other people. 00:47:54.440 |
Church is a miserable place to be if this is just checking in and checking out. 00:48:09.920 |
If it's not an act of worship, it's like paying taxes. 00:48:12.520 |
Like, "I worked so hard and over time, and I got to give this money," if it's not an 00:48:24.080 |
There's reasons why so much, like very few people talk to their neighbors, because it's 00:48:33.200 |
You don't know what they're going to say, or you don't know. 00:48:38.200 |
I mean, coming to the church, and then you have to love your neighbors as yourself. 00:48:44.760 |
Fellowship in the church is miserable if it is just checking in and checking out. 00:48:50.640 |
Serving the church, I mean, you work hard enough as it is, and then you come to church, 00:48:54.000 |
you got to serve other people, make food, and clean up, and set up chairs. 00:48:59.000 |
You went to college, so you didn't have to do that, right? 00:49:03.160 |
If it is not an act of worship, it's night and day. 00:49:09.940 |
For those people who have seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and because we've 00:49:15.660 |
seen the depth of the riches of His wisdom and knowledge, and because we can't begin 00:49:21.200 |
to fathom what He has done, a gathering of people who have been saved from their sins, 00:49:29.040 |
pursuing together to glorify Christ, is what we are seeking, what we are after. 00:49:37.480 |
So let's take some time as we come before the Lord in prayer. 00:49:41.080 |
And every single one of us, I know that we struggle in different ways, but let's take 00:49:46.640 |
Once you've drifted away from Christ in your heart, make that the primary priority in everything 00:49:53.120 |
So let's do that first as our worship team leads us.