back to index2018-02-18 Qualities of Biblical Love Part 3
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Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 12, I'll be reading from 00:00:07.760 |
verse 9 through 13, but our main focus is going to be on verse 13 today. 00:00:17.760 |
Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good, love one another with 00:00:22.880 |
brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. 00:00:26.360 |
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be 00:00:31.360 |
patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints, and 00:00:40.360 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your goodness. 00:00:47.320 |
I thank you Lord God for the brothers and sisters that you've placed us in the midst 00:00:52.400 |
that we may practice love, grace, patience, and mercy. 00:00:57.920 |
All these things that you command us to use our gifts to build up the body of Christ, 00:01:04.000 |
that your name may be exalted, that the light of Christ may shine brightly in this dark 00:01:08.600 |
world, that the world may know that there is hope outside of politics, of finances, 00:01:14.160 |
and economy, that there is hope in the name of Jesus Christ and him alone. 00:01:19.560 |
Help us Lord God to fix our eyes upon Christ and what he has done, and the future hope 00:01:24.440 |
that is coming with him, that our lives Lord God may reflect the very gospel we profess 00:01:30.480 |
We pray that your word would be anointed and your Holy Spirit would send forth Lord God, 00:01:36.800 |
and it would not return until it has accomplished its purpose. 00:01:39.240 |
So we pray for your grace this morning, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:01:44.360 |
Again as you guys know, we've been studying through the book of Romans and I counted, 00:01:49.120 |
I went back and counted about close to 90 sermons that was focused on up to chapter 00:01:56.720 |
And so we've been speaking or we've been talking about the justification of Christ, and then 00:02:01.680 |
recently we made a transition to chapter 12 where it says, "In view of this mercy to present 00:02:08.520 |
So what does it mean to live according to the faith that we profess? 00:02:14.760 |
So chapter 12 and on, it focuses on the application of what it means to be a Christian, not to 00:02:20.320 |
just profess the doctrine and say, "This is what we believe and we are thankful for Christ, 00:02:24.680 |
for what he has done and all that is important and it is foundational." 00:02:28.040 |
But based on that foundation, what do we do as Christians? 00:02:32.360 |
And we talked about how chapter 12 verse 1 says, "To offer your whole bodies, not just 00:02:37.520 |
a portion, but everything that we are ought to be offered up as a living sacrifice." 00:02:42.800 |
Not just a weekend, not just a portion, but all of it. 00:02:46.520 |
And then he talked about how in verse 3 to verse 8, that he's given us different gifts 00:02:54.960 |
And even though not everything about application is about love, the scripture makes it absolutely 00:03:02.320 |
crystal clear that the greatest of the commandments is to love God and to love your neighbor as 00:03:08.320 |
And all of the commandments can be summarized by loving your neighbor as yourself. 00:03:13.040 |
So even though he may not be expressly saying that you ought to love in perseverance, you 00:03:18.880 |
ought to love in tribulation, that in application, the greatest application of perseverance would 00:03:26.800 |
The greatest application in using our gifts is to love. 00:03:30.260 |
So even though I may not be mentioning the word love throughout every one of these commands, 00:03:35.100 |
I hope that you understand that that is what's assumed in scripture, that all of the things 00:03:39.680 |
that God has commanded us to do is ultimately to practice the love that Christ practiced 00:03:45.000 |
So again, as I mentioned, we've spent, I forget, I don't know how many years have gone by, 00:03:50.600 |
but we've spent about 80 to 90 sermons just talking about justification of Christ. 00:03:54.960 |
And then we go to chapter 12, we're talking about application. 00:04:01.880 |
If you've never read or studied through the book of Philemon, I really encourage you to 00:04:06.280 |
take your time, not just to read it, but to dissect it and go through what this letter 00:04:12.800 |
Because the letter of Philemon is probably the most vivid picture of the power of the 00:04:18.600 |
You know, the theme of this year for our church is to live worthy of the gospel and application. 00:04:24.680 |
And I don't know of any other letter, I mean, I think all the letters obviously is rich 00:04:29.000 |
with the gospel, but Philemon is an illustration, it's a picture of the power of the gospel 00:04:37.600 |
If you know the letter, the letter is basically Apostle Paul, he's sitting in prison and he's 00:04:42.320 |
trying to reintroduce a runaway slave, Onesimus, back to his former master, Philemon. 00:04:49.560 |
And so this short letter is him pleading with the former master, Philemon, to receive this 00:04:55.940 |
runaway slave who basically ripped him off and took off. 00:05:00.920 |
You have to understand the context of this whole situation that none of this is even 00:05:06.480 |
You can't even entertain that a letter like this actually was written and something like 00:05:11.760 |
this actually happened in history if it wasn't for the power of the cross. 00:05:16.760 |
Humanly speaking, what this letter contains is something that the world will never be 00:05:24.800 |
Just look at Paul himself, this is a man who before he met Christ, devoted himself to go 00:05:38.000 |
He's sitting in prison, not worrying about himself, he's worried about a runaway slave 00:05:49.520 |
The very fact that he even writes this letter is a demonstration of what God has done with 00:05:54.300 |
This is a guy who was on the top of the world before he met Christ. 00:05:58.480 |
He was probably, maybe a member of the Sanhedrin already. 00:06:01.400 |
He's a direct disciple of Gamaliel, the greatest Jewish scholar of that time. 00:06:05.800 |
His dad is a Roman citizen, so he's probably coming from a wealthy family. 00:06:09.480 |
So humanly speaking, as a Jew, he basically already made it. 00:06:15.120 |
In fact, in the book of Acts, when he goes out preaching the gospel, the governors and 00:06:21.160 |
He's a man who was so studied, he said, "Your studies have made you crazy." 00:06:25.040 |
So he was already well known, even before he came into the city, that this great Jew 00:06:31.160 |
Now he abandoned everything to talk about Jesus' death and resurrection. 00:06:34.420 |
And now he's sitting in prison, and he's writing this letter to insignificant in the eyes of 00:06:40.080 |
the world, this runaway slave to be reconciled to his master. 00:06:47.320 |
You have to understand that if you ripped off your master and you took off, and your 00:06:51.800 |
master hired people to catch you, it would have been instant capital punishment. 00:06:57.960 |
He would have had absolutely no right as a slave, but as a runaway slave, his life would 00:07:03.720 |
So the fact that he's even risking to go back to his master, basically his life could have 00:07:11.480 |
The fact that his repentance required him to be reconciled to his master, and he was 00:07:16.000 |
willing to do that, and that he's carrying and going back to be reconciled, this runaway 00:07:25.640 |
This was, again, as far as the world was concerned, that was his property. 00:07:28.480 |
But Paul is saying, not to receive him as your former slave, but as your brother in 00:07:35.240 |
What Paul was asking Philemon to do, was humanly speaking, was not something that they could 00:07:49.720 |
At least beat him, and then sell him off, because that's what would have typically 00:07:55.160 |
So this whole scenario in this letter could not have happened if it wasn't for the power 00:08:02.820 |
The witness of what Christ has done, his death and resurrection, wasn't in the teaching 00:08:08.040 |
of theology, going back and forth, getting in a classroom, and here's a set of doctrine 00:08:14.960 |
The power of the cross and the witness of Christ was in the life of the believers in 00:08:19.760 |
A Jew and a Gentile slave and a slave owner, Pharisees sitting with Gentiles breaking bread, 00:08:26.560 |
even as he is being threatened with life, he's sitting in prison, thanking God for 00:08:32.400 |
None of this could have happened by human will. 00:08:37.800 |
At the core of all of this, that's driving this, is the love of Christ. 00:08:42.000 |
That's what Paul is using to plead with Philemon to receive him back. 00:08:47.000 |
He says, "Remember what Christ has done for you. 00:08:50.720 |
Remember the mercy that Christ has shown you, and I encourage you to respond also in mercy 00:08:59.440 |
See, Philemon, verse 4 through 7, Paul says, "I thank my God always when I remember you 00:09:04.080 |
in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the 00:09:11.280 |
So in other words, he's saying, "I know who you are, and there's genuine evidence of your 00:09:16.000 |
salvation and your faith because of the love that I already see you practicing among the 00:09:21.640 |
And then he says, "And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the 00:09:25.760 |
full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ." 00:09:30.120 |
Now this is one of those passages that sometimes we memorize to encourage evangelism. 00:09:36.120 |
I'm praying that you would share your faith and become effective in all the knowledge 00:09:42.720 |
But again, every verse has to be understood in the context of the letter and context of 00:09:52.040 |
So it doesn't exclude evangelism, but the meaning behind it is much broader and much 00:10:00.320 |
He's referencing this communion that he has with his brothers and sisters because of what 00:10:08.660 |
In other words, practicing this love that Christ showed him. 00:10:13.280 |
And he's using that as a base to say, "Because Christ loved you, now you love to the extent 00:10:22.280 |
this runaway slave who took everything from you." 00:10:25.160 |
And then he says, "I want you to practice this love out of abundance of your heart because 00:10:32.540 |
But just in case that's not enough, don't forget you owe me your life. 00:10:40.260 |
At the core of who we are, we are people who have been affected by the love of Christ. 00:10:47.380 |
It wasn't just, you know, we heard a bunch of doctrines that say, "You know what? 00:10:53.960 |
If that is your testimony, it's just in your head, you've chosen what makes the most sense 00:10:59.080 |
to you, that's probably what will be reflected in your life. 00:11:03.460 |
Mentally, you know all the right things, but the aroma of Christ isn't evident in your 00:11:10.380 |
See, Christianity is not simply about laying out the right doctrines and choosing what 00:11:18.180 |
Christianity ultimately is about encountering the resurrected Christ and being transformed. 00:11:30.260 |
Knowing this resurrected Christ, and as He loved us, we love. 00:11:37.180 |
People who have been affected by the love of Christ, practicing that love with other 00:11:44.980 |
The text that we're looking at this morning in verse 12, again, it's in the line of series 00:11:49.380 |
about 21 to 24 imperatives, that this is what you ought to do. 00:11:54.300 |
And He started by saying, "Let your love be genuine, or poor, what is evil. 00:11:59.940 |
And He basically establishes love as the first priority, and then He goes on and He begins 00:12:07.260 |
He doesn't explain, He doesn't go into deep exposition of what it means to persevere, 00:12:14.420 |
But one by one, He goes and He kind of knocks out. 00:12:19.900 |
There's a lot more that He could have added to this, but every single one of these highlight 00:12:23.880 |
and accentuates what it means to be people who have been affected by the love of Christ 00:12:33.620 |
The first one, He says, "Biblical love rejoices in hope." 00:12:42.660 |
The first thing that we see in any genuine conversion, if you've ever participated in 00:12:49.620 |
sharing the gospel and seeing somebody come to Christ, whether you share the gospel or 00:12:55.060 |
you participated in it or you were near it, the very first evidence of genuine faith and 00:13:07.500 |
How do you determine if somebody is alive, physically living or not? 00:13:12.420 |
We check their pulse and we see, "Oh, is this person really living?" 00:13:16.720 |
As a Christian, when somebody who was at one point dead in their trespasses, and because 00:13:21.480 |
of the blood of Christ, they become alive in Christ, the very first thing that we see 00:13:26.400 |
is that very life, because that's what salvation is. 00:13:34.460 |
Jesus says, "I have come to give life and to give this life abundantly." 00:13:38.300 |
So you would think that you would be able to see this life in a brand new Christian. 00:13:44.140 |
If somebody was dead and they came to life, you'd be able to say, "I'm not sure. 00:13:52.060 |
The word for life in the Bible is zoe, not bios. 00:13:56.940 |
Bios is where you use the word for chronological length of life. 00:14:00.560 |
Jesus did not say that, "I have come to give you extended period of living, that when you 00:14:05.420 |
die that you don't get terminated, but that you're going to exist forever." 00:14:10.460 |
He said, "I have come to give you life, zoe, to make you alive and to make you alive abundantly." 00:14:18.960 |
Not just you weren't breathing and then you're breathing. 00:14:22.820 |
Not just you weren't thinking and then now you're thinking, but he says, "No, to make 00:14:25.420 |
you alive and to make you alive abundantly, exponentially." 00:14:31.300 |
That's why the scripture says in Galatians 5, 22 to 23, the fruit of the spirit is first, 00:14:38.700 |
the fruit of the spirit in 522, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, 00:14:43.860 |
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 00:14:48.900 |
And of these nine characteristics of the fruit of the spirit, what's the first one? 00:14:59.100 |
Now, I've already mentioned to you many times that whenever you see a list of things in 00:15:03.740 |
the Bible, especially in the New Testament, that it is not random. 00:15:07.720 |
He didn't have nine different things and he just went into a bag and whatever came up, 00:15:13.440 |
So the fact that the very first fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, because it's love that 00:15:19.900 |
It is love that caused him to forgive sinners. 00:15:22.360 |
It is love that caused him to sacrifice who he knew no sin became sin, that you and I 00:15:30.160 |
And so the very first thing that he says, "If Christ is in you," the very first thing 00:15:37.140 |
And then the second thing is joy, this very life that he came to give. 00:15:48.760 |
You can't have worship if you don't have life. 00:15:53.820 |
If our life is constantly characterized by grumbling and complaining, it squashes the 00:16:02.280 |
You know, if you ever talk to somebody and there's some people in our lives and all they 00:16:06.840 |
talk about is what is wrong with life and what's wrong with everybody else, and you 00:16:11.560 |
don't even know if they really have any kind of relationship with Christ, because all they 00:16:16.040 |
know is what's wrong with everybody, with everything. 00:16:18.960 |
See, the very first characteristic, he says, is this joy, is this life in us. 00:16:28.800 |
And see, we have this joy not because of circumstances, and this is not the kind of joy that you experience 00:16:33.900 |
because you got a raise, you know, or you won the lottery, or you found this great pizza 00:16:40.000 |
place that no one else found, and you feel this temporary joy. 00:16:43.280 |
We're talking about a joy that cannot be squashed. 00:16:47.520 |
First Peter 1, 3 to 6, Peter says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:16:52.280 |
According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope." 00:16:58.400 |
Not a hope that is alive one day and dead the next day. 00:17:01.820 |
Not a kind of hope that you have to keep going after over and over and seeking different things. 00:17:05.720 |
He said it is a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 00:17:10.720 |
Not only is it living, he says, this inheritance, this hope that we have in Christ, it is imperishable, 00:17:22.680 |
If you drink of the water of the world, you may quench your thirst for a minute, but the 00:17:30.640 |
It may satisfy you for a period, but eventually it passes, and you have to have it over and 00:17:36.000 |
But he said, the water I give you, if you drink of it, you will never thirst. 00:17:41.680 |
The bread that I give you, it won't satisfy you for a period. 00:17:51.860 |
How much of your joy is based upon perishable things? 00:18:03.640 |
A lot of times people base their commitment to a church based upon temporary joy. 00:18:09.480 |
If I have friends, you know, I say, oh, this is great because people are great. 00:18:13.280 |
And as soon as that gets tainted or somebody says something or the fellowship gets sour 00:18:17.240 |
and your whole relationship with God falls apart. 00:18:25.680 |
No sin, nothing can defile this hope that we have in Christ. 00:18:35.280 |
It doesn't disappear as time goes by, just like everything else in this world. 00:18:39.400 |
No matter how excited you get about your brand new car, brand new relationship, brand new 00:18:43.800 |
car, whatever it is that you get, it's eventually it fades. 00:18:49.600 |
He said, but this hope that we have in Christ is unfading. 00:18:53.800 |
Not only is it imperishable, not only it can't be defiled, not only does it not fade and 00:18:59.440 |
it continues, but the power of God guards it in our faith until the end. 00:19:05.760 |
It is in his hands, not mine, not yours, not the church's. 00:19:10.120 |
And the only reason why the church has persevered up to this point, after 2,000 years of corruption 00:19:16.400 |
and sinfulness and selfishness and politics and even wars, if you look at it and examine 00:19:24.040 |
every single church, every single church, there is some problem. 00:19:33.640 |
Every single church that I'm able to visit, including our church, there is something that 00:19:40.400 |
If you want to take a closer look, there's something that you can find saying, man, this 00:19:45.580 |
And yet we're here 2,000 years later, especially if you look at the Catholic Church for 1,000 00:19:50.200 |
years of teaching the wrong gospel, for killing people, for wanting to translate the Bible 00:19:58.000 |
And yet we're still here with hundreds of translations. 00:20:01.880 |
And the only reason why you and I are here is because it is being guarded by the power 00:20:08.200 |
Not because faithful men have, with courage, just kind of stood. 00:20:12.480 |
I mean, God uses all of that, but in the end, it's not because of that. 00:20:17.040 |
Because God said that this living hope that he gave to us, that is imperishable, undefiled, 00:20:21.880 |
unfading, is being kept in his power until the end. 00:20:28.700 |
So our joy is based upon that living hope, which doesn't change when you first got saved 00:20:35.840 |
and then five years later, or it was exciting in college, but then when you got married, 00:20:40.640 |
Or in your 20s, yes, but not after you have kids. 00:20:45.680 |
He says, "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have 00:20:57.240 |
So the life that he has given us does not shift because of circumstance. 00:21:02.040 |
It does not shift because of the people around us, or politics, or whatever is happening 00:21:13.440 |
And this hope that we have in Christ that produces this joy is directly an evidence 00:21:21.840 |
Hebrews 11, it says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of 00:21:27.800 |
If you don't have genuine faith, hope is just wishful thinking. 00:21:37.200 |
You're just, you don't really believe it, but you're just buying insurance just in case. 00:21:43.480 |
And so you won't see the fruit of it in your life. 00:21:45.320 |
But if you have genuine saving faith, the immediate outcome, immediate fruit is this 00:21:50.860 |
hope that we have in Christ that we can't see or taste or touch, but we know that because 00:21:57.440 |
I believe what he has told me, that I live my life and everything I do is affected by 00:22:06.560 |
It is all affected by this hope that we have in Christ. 00:22:11.760 |
First Peter 1, 8-9, "Though you have not seen him, you love him. 00:22:16.520 |
Though you do not see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible 00:22:24.040 |
The obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul. 00:22:28.080 |
How the outcome of our faith is directly linked to this inexpressible joy. 00:22:36.760 |
Because that's what the Bible says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only 00:22:41.200 |
begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have what? 00:22:52.740 |
So it doesn't make sense for Christians to be walking around. 00:22:57.000 |
Every day pointing out what's wrong with everything when we recognize that the greatest 00:23:04.560 |
problem of mankind has been solved in the name of Jesus Christ. 00:23:10.040 |
The worst case scenario that I can think of in my life, you know, of most people is just 00:23:17.360 |
What if we do this and we try everything to try to prolong our life. 00:23:20.960 |
But I think about the worst case scenario for me is, humanly speaking, is dying before 00:23:27.160 |
my time and leaving my family and who's going to take care of my kids. 00:23:30.080 |
And I think of, just like any other human being, I think about these things. 00:23:32.960 |
But when I take a step back and think about it, the worst case scenario for Christians 00:23:43.440 |
And then you go, "Well, what about your children?" 00:23:45.400 |
You know, I wrestle all the time with the, you know, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God 00:23:48.840 |
and all these things shall be added unto you." 00:23:51.120 |
So I struggle with, "Well, who's going to take care of my kids?" 00:23:54.800 |
And every decision I make and everything I do, I'm trying to like balance between putting 00:24:01.560 |
Well, if I die early, He's forcing me to trust Him. 00:24:07.160 |
That's the worst case scenario for a Christian. 00:24:11.560 |
We get diseased and we go bankrupt and it forces us to come to Him and beg for His mercy 00:24:17.360 |
That's the worst case scenario for a Christian. 00:24:21.320 |
This joy that we have in Christ can only be squashed if you take your eyes off of Christ 00:24:28.920 |
and you forget what it is that you have in Him. 00:24:31.800 |
Otherwise, it is, it says it is unfading, it is imperishable, it is kept in heaven for 00:24:39.120 |
And that first part of joy and hope is directly linked to the second part. 00:24:49.200 |
In Matthew 13, 20 to 21, you're talking about the third seed that receives the word and 00:25:00.960 |
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately 00:25:06.880 |
So when you look at that part, it looks like, "Well, He must have genuine faith because 00:25:13.680 |
Yet, in verse 21, He has no root in Himself, but He endures for a while and when tribulation 00:25:20.560 |
persecution arises in account of the word, immediately He falls away. 00:25:25.560 |
So in other words, He is expressing, there's evidence of this joy superficially, but the 00:25:32.000 |
reason why it gets squashed is because He has no root. 00:25:39.640 |
If you do not abide in me, you cannot bear fruit. 00:25:42.080 |
So here's a man who superficially on the surface is happy, is rejoicing, but it's not because 00:25:54.720 |
You can go to short-term missions and come back excited. 00:25:57.200 |
And as soon as that experience of being around Christians and your friends and having a sense 00:26:05.240 |
of purpose, and as soon as that disappears, your joy disappears. 00:26:12.480 |
And we always talk about, "Thank God that He gave me. 00:26:16.240 |
And then as soon as you start having problems at work, your joy gets squashed. 00:26:20.440 |
You find a group of friends, maybe at a new church, and it's like, well, you're starting 00:26:23.640 |
to connect that, "Wow, these people are really encouraging." 00:26:25.920 |
And it's, "I love being here because there's a sense of purpose and I love this." 00:26:30.360 |
And as soon as that gets squashed, your joy also gets squashed. 00:26:34.760 |
She says He's describing an individual who is experiencing joy superficially, but it's 00:26:42.720 |
He said when the tribulation comes, when persecution comes because of the Word, he immediately 00:26:48.880 |
He has no understanding of this joy that the Bible talks about. 00:26:55.480 |
It's just that you may find it in the church. 00:26:59.120 |
Just like in the church, you know, talk about how the world is trying to exalt themselves 00:27:07.240 |
That's why the church gets corrupt all the time. 00:27:09.000 |
You have people in the church trying to find this worldly life in the church. 00:27:12.840 |
And that's a description of this man in the third seal. 00:27:17.680 |
You have people in the church all the time who are looking for the world in the church. 00:27:25.440 |
He says, "No, but the tribulation, when it comes, it reveals our genuine faith." 00:27:32.160 |
1 Peter 4, 13-14, he says, "But rejoice insofar as you share in Christ's suffering, that you 00:27:39.040 |
may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. 00:27:42.280 |
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory 00:27:50.480 |
How often do we read articles about the Christians who are being persecuted in Iran or Afghanistan, 00:27:56.440 |
North Korea, or maybe even in India, and we say, "Oh, those poor Christians." 00:28:02.680 |
Thank God, God has blessed us to be living in a country where we don't have to worry 00:28:08.520 |
When was the last time we looked at the intense persecution that's happening in Yemen, in 00:28:15.160 |
Afghanistan, in Iran, in India, in China, and all over the world, and say, "Wow, I envy 00:28:25.880 |
The biblical perspective is, he says, "Rejoice, because that persecution over your faith means 00:28:34.560 |
In fact, in Philippians chapter 129, it says, "For it has been granted to you that for the 00:28:41.520 |
sake of Christ that you should not only believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." 00:28:49.560 |
God doesn't look at the persecution happening around the world and say, "Oh my gosh, they're 00:28:57.920 |
He says, "No, it's been granted to them that through these trials that they may also share 00:29:08.320 |
If the greatest gift of salvation is not to live forever, but Christ, because Christ is 00:29:17.200 |
If He's the author of life, and the greatest gift for any human being is Christ Himself, 00:29:24.520 |
then as Christians, wouldn't anything and everything that brings us closer to Christ 00:29:37.440 |
If Christ is the greatest gift of salvation, if it's the greatest gift that any human being 00:29:41.920 |
can have, because He is the originator of life, and He's the author of life, He's the 00:29:47.000 |
sustainer of life, and all hope hinges upon Him, then anything and everything that brings 00:29:56.360 |
us closer to Christ, isn't that the greatest gift? 00:30:02.440 |
When we evaluate what is happening in our life based upon the wishes and hopes of this 00:30:08.200 |
world, then anything that hinders us from getting more money, anything that hinders 00:30:12.600 |
us from safety, anything that hinders us from being loved by people that we care about, 00:30:19.520 |
But when our perspective changes biblically based upon what He sees, sometimes the greatest 00:30:26.080 |
blessing that we receive is the brokenness that you've experienced, and that brokenness 00:30:31.800 |
that led you to repentance, to come to Christ. 00:30:35.560 |
That's the greatest thing that happened in your life. 00:30:39.160 |
The greatest tragedy that you may have experienced, the greatest heartache, because that brought 00:30:48.280 |
That created a hunger in your heart that would not have been there if God didn't allow this 00:30:53.100 |
So He says not only that He caused us to persevere, He said it's been granted to you. 00:30:59.400 |
See, this is something that the world that does not know Christ will never understand. 00:31:03.960 |
No matter how much we try to explain it to them, if they have not seen the glory of the 00:31:07.760 |
gospel of Jesus Christ, if they don't understand the hope that we have in His name, this will 00:31:18.720 |
They'll think you're insane for celebrating tribulation. 00:31:22.800 |
In Romans 5, 3 to 5, it says, "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that 00:31:26.720 |
suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces 00:31:35.600 |
Tribulation ultimately brings us to greater hope in Christ. 00:31:42.320 |
And it is this hope that we have in Christ that causes us to long for Him, to hunger 00:31:46.280 |
and thirst for righteousness, that desire Him more than desiring of this world. 00:31:50.500 |
So when trials and tribulations come into our life, it reminds us this is not our home. 00:32:00.260 |
And isn't the frustration and the trials that you have in life as a Christian, because we're 00:32:07.760 |
trying so hard, every decision that we make is trying to have what the world has and have 00:32:24.840 |
See, tribulation comes into our life because He grants it, because He's trying to draw 00:32:33.180 |
The third commandment is also vitally linked to the second part. 00:32:43.740 |
Hebrews 4.16, it says, "Let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace 00:32:49.180 |
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." 00:32:55.740 |
The greatest and the most practical gift that we have been given because of our salvation 00:33:03.220 |
I want you to really let that sink in, right? 00:33:10.100 |
Because the curse of man came onto mankind because we've been separated from God, that 00:33:17.880 |
So everything about Israel's history was to teach the nation of Israel that a Holy 00:33:25.180 |
So everything that we're learning in the book of Leviticus, it's not welcoming. 00:33:31.020 |
I mean, if you've ever studied or read through the book of Leviticus, it's not welcoming. 00:33:38.180 |
It actually screams every chapter to stay away, or you shall die. 00:33:42.820 |
You know, we're learning through all these sacrificial systems, and by the time he's 00:33:47.780 |
done with his teaching, we're going to get to chapter 10. 00:33:50.160 |
And then when we get to chapter 10, they actually start to practice this. 00:33:53.280 |
And then I'm giving you a preview of what's coming in chapter 10. 00:33:56.800 |
The very first time the nation of Israel tries to implement it, and they do it incorrectly, 00:34:09.580 |
So nothing about this sacrificial system invites people to come to him, because he was trying 00:34:18.980 |
The sinners cannot be in the presence of a Holy God and live. 00:34:24.660 |
And that's why it was preparation for the coming of Christ, that he's going to cover 00:34:29.020 |
you so that you can come, because the whole blessing of life is to be near his presence. 00:34:35.020 |
If the living water is in him, I have to get to him. 00:34:38.500 |
If my sustenance is coming from him, I have to get to him. 00:34:40.980 |
But we couldn't get to him because of our sins. 00:34:44.260 |
That's the whole point of the sacrificial system. 00:34:47.620 |
Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. 00:34:58.140 |
What animal would have sufficed to do away with all of my sins? 00:35:07.420 |
Even as they were practicing these things, they should have been asking themselves, "Really? 00:35:16.620 |
That this one little tiny animal is going to suffice for that?" 00:35:21.700 |
It was only to prepare for the coming of Christ. 00:35:25.740 |
So the greatest gift that we have received because of the blood of Christ, he took away 00:35:30.020 |
this barrier between sinners and the Holy God, so that we can have this access. 00:35:36.060 |
And so when Hebrews 4.16 says, "Now you can draw near with confidence that you're not 00:35:42.300 |
going to get killed, not only just gazing at him, but to be in his presence." 00:35:49.320 |
So the greatest gift that you and I have been given is the ability to be able to pray, to 00:35:58.300 |
Ask whatever you wish, it shall be done for you. 00:36:00.340 |
But the reason why, especially in the Western church, why prayer is so impotent, it's because 00:36:09.340 |
It says that you may find and receive mercy and find grace to help in what? 00:36:22.420 |
The church does pray when we are in dire need. 00:36:42.860 |
How often do you come before God in dire need? 00:36:46.420 |
How often do we recognize that we need him and that we run to him in prayer? 00:36:52.660 |
So sometimes God will bring tribulations from time to time to remind us of our need for 00:36:58.700 |
You know, the Iranian pastor was asked about the increase in persecution that's happening 00:37:07.020 |
And they asked him, "How did you see this persecution affect Christianity in Iran?" 00:37:13.900 |
The church, the Iranian church, used to be a sleepy church because there was so much 00:37:18.460 |
prosperity and so many foreigners living in Iran. 00:37:21.940 |
Today, referring to Iranian Christians, went from sleepy once a month members to a church 00:37:31.140 |
God brought persecution in that church and purified the church. 00:37:33.960 |
And through that purification, right now, the greatest, at least in modern history, 00:37:38.660 |
of Muslims turning to Christ is happening in Iran. 00:37:41.660 |
They said that the number of people from Muslims, nominal Muslims who are turning to Christianity, 00:37:48.140 |
is in record number that they haven't seen until in modern history. 00:37:52.660 |
And it was because God brought suffering and the suffering led to dire need in prayer. 00:38:13.260 |
I mean, obviously, you know, I'd rather have my kids living in peace. 00:38:18.460 |
I'd rather have worship, not worrying about somebody coming and blowing us up. 00:38:28.020 |
The scripture clearly says, in Ephesians chapter 610, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, 00:38:38.980 |
Part of the reason why we don't pray is because we forget this. 00:38:46.860 |
And so much of sometimes even Christian work is fighting against flesh and blood. 00:38:52.700 |
If we have the right programs, if we have the right discipleship, if we say the right 00:38:56.660 |
things and organize the right things, if we have the right people in place. 00:38:59.940 |
If our fight is against flesh and blood, then flesh and blood is the answer. 00:39:06.020 |
Having the right people, right organization, right method. 00:39:09.580 |
If flesh and blood is our problem, but he said it's not our flesh and blood. 00:39:14.940 |
Christian battle is not about flesh and blood. 00:39:17.500 |
It's against rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers, against the present 00:39:21.900 |
dark age, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. 00:39:25.180 |
So over and over and over and over and over again, he reminds us, it is not flesh and 00:39:29.980 |
This battle that we're in is against powerful spiritual beings. 00:39:38.580 |
You can have the best organization, the best theology, the best preaching, all the money 00:39:46.060 |
in the world, and all the knowledge in the world, and be absolutely fruitless. 00:39:57.380 |
There's no amount of money, there's no amount of effort, there's no amount of intellect, 00:40:01.220 |
there's no amount of organization that's going to make us successful against this battle. 00:40:08.700 |
In fact, he says over and over again, he says it is against, against, over and over again, 00:40:15.740 |
he says against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic power, against the spiritual 00:40:22.900 |
In other words, he reminds us, there's a conflict, that you are in the context of battle. 00:40:30.300 |
And it is not only in Iran, it is not only in Afghanistan, it is here. 00:40:34.500 |
And the danger that you and I live in is we don't know that we are in this battle. 00:40:40.940 |
That there is spiritual forces who are actively going against us, and he is scheming your 00:40:46.460 |
thoughts, your heart, your worship, your fellowship, is being hindered constantly, and we are unaware. 00:40:52.660 |
And we are unaware of the spiritual need that we have to come before God and cling to him 00:41:02.060 |
And so we do not recognize that we are in need. 00:41:04.820 |
So we have this access that is open to God, but because we do not feel the need, we don't 00:41:20.420 |
I know how to take money out and put it in a stock that is going to grow. 00:41:23.540 |
I know how to do all of that, but we don't need Christ for that. 00:41:27.660 |
But when we recognize the spiritual battle that we are going against, no amount of your 00:41:34.580 |
money, no amount of your experience, no amount of hard work is going to make a dent in that. 00:41:38.940 |
And this spiritual battle oftentimes is not even external. 00:41:43.580 |
It's in you, your thoughts, your hatred, your selfishness, your unwillingness to forgive, 00:42:01.820 |
The people who are not absolutely committed to holiness have no idea how desperate they 00:42:07.220 |
are, how they cannot be holy without the love of Christ. 00:42:14.020 |
Those of you who have never fully committed to love as Christ loved, you have no idea 00:42:25.460 |
We're not talking about love like Valentine love that we had this Wednesday. 00:42:28.380 |
You know, go to Costco and you have all these men who are buying flowers to make up for 00:42:35.260 |
Trying to be a good husband or could be a good father or good son or a good wife. 00:42:42.780 |
It's not just the Christians that was there on the Valentine's Day. 00:42:51.260 |
We're all trying to be good husbands and wives. 00:42:56.180 |
He says, "As I have loved you, if you love one another, they will know that you are my 00:43:03.660 |
God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died 00:43:08.500 |
Where he ran when he saw our sin, to us, not from us. 00:43:13.700 |
So the love that he called us to love is a love that you and I do not have within us. 00:43:21.140 |
Anything smells weird, it sounds weird, people act weird, we see selfishness in other people. 00:43:28.780 |
I mean, we don't want to, life is too short, I don't want to deal with that. 00:43:35.340 |
And yet, the very core of what he called us to be is to reflect the love of Christ. 00:43:43.100 |
If you've ever made a commitment to love as Christ loved, you know how desperate you 00:43:54.940 |
Only people that is not aware of that is a person who's never really committed to that. 00:43:58.660 |
This knee-jerk reaction to run the other way when you see sin in other people. 00:44:04.540 |
There are periods, and I'm sure every one of us can remember, there are periods in our 00:44:08.020 |
life where God has brought certain things and you prayed. 00:44:11.700 |
I can remember maybe about four or five times as an adult, I'm desperately on my knees praying. 00:44:17.900 |
There are periods, stretches of periods, when I couldn't pay the bills and had small children 00:44:22.820 |
in the house and waking up in the middle of the night just praying to God. 00:44:29.180 |
I remember when Esther was pregnant with our second child and it looked like it was going 00:44:35.060 |
And I remember waking up early in the morning, going to morning prayer and praying and praying 00:44:39.180 |
So, there are stretches I can think of, but eventually it passes. 00:44:43.580 |
No matter how hard the trials or sickness, eventually a year, six months, a couple years, 00:44:52.980 |
But the trial that keeps me on my knees day in and day out, year after year, is to love 00:45:09.020 |
And the more I commit to that, the more I get broken. 00:45:12.720 |
If you ever try to love people the way Christ loved us, there's nothing more draining, nothing 00:45:20.580 |
more humiliating, nothing more difficult, nothing that calls you more to die to yourself. 00:45:29.860 |
Because at the very core of our rebellion against God is self-exaltation, self-gratification, 00:45:38.740 |
So a sinner opposes that because he's self-glorifying, he's self-preserving. 00:45:46.640 |
So two sinners who are together opposes the very core of my rebellion against God. 00:45:53.020 |
So nothing challenges the core of my rebellion than to love a sinner. 00:46:00.260 |
And yet God calls us to draw near to sinners, and there's nothing that glorifies God, nothing 00:46:05.860 |
that declares the aroma of Christ more than when people see that love in us. 00:46:17.980 |
It gets us on our knees to cry out to God, begging for Him, because I can't change my 00:46:29.540 |
I can't just tell somebody that I don't like and say, "I'm going to like you today." 00:46:34.260 |
I can't just have bitterness that's been stored in my heart and say, "I'm just going to turn 00:46:46.200 |
It makes me in need to come before God, "Help me, God. 00:47:02.720 |
I want to encourage and challenge us as I wrap up this morning's sermon. 00:47:07.220 |
Paul, again, you know, like his—I know, like, this is the Word of God, you know, and 00:47:17.580 |
But the older I get, the more I appreciate this man. 00:47:21.940 |
Obviously, he's an apostle, so we should be appreciative. 00:47:30.300 |
He's writing this epistle to the Philippians. 00:47:33.560 |
And usually when we think of Philippians, we think of the epistle of joy. 00:47:39.820 |
He's chained to a Roman guard, and he's worried about their joy. 00:47:43.340 |
And he's writing this letter, and this is one of my favorite verses. 00:47:46.860 |
In fact, it's probably my life verse, where he says, "For to me," Philippians 121, 00:47:50.820 |
verse 24, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 00:47:54.680 |
If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. 00:48:02.000 |
My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 00:48:05.860 |
But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account." 00:48:10.560 |
You have to understand basically what Paul is saying. 00:48:12.260 |
Paul is saying, "I have this choice between living and dying." 00:48:28.720 |
But if you were to ask me if I was selfish, I'm ready to go." 00:48:39.280 |
This guy was possibly a member of the Sanhedrin. 00:48:41.660 |
I mean, he was a celebrity in the Jewish community. 00:48:50.740 |
And now he's going into cities, and as soon as they see him, they pick up rocks, try to 00:48:58.060 |
Getting shipwrecked, going hungry, sitting in prison. 00:49:01.960 |
If that was not, I mean, the very people who looked up to him, they're the ones who are 00:49:06.900 |
If that wasn't enough, he's concerned about these churches that he planted. 00:49:10.260 |
And every time he turns around, somebody's backsliding. 00:49:15.220 |
And I mean, the most excruciating letter, 1 Corinthians 2, very people that he risked 00:49:19.660 |
his life to bring the gospel, questioning this guy because they didn't like what he 00:49:30.300 |
And he's writing this gut-wrenching letter, trying to convince them, "It's not me. 00:49:38.500 |
And then the very last letter he writes, in 2 Timothy, he's pleading with this young disciple, 00:49:46.620 |
Invest in the word that you have been given because all these people are falling away. 00:49:55.060 |
You preach the word in season and out of season." 00:49:57.260 |
And whether people want to hear or don't hear it, you make sure that you continue to 00:50:02.820 |
It's a gut-wrenching letter at the end of his life. 00:50:05.760 |
So when Paul says, "If you're going to ask me and you want me to be selfish, I want to 00:50:11.500 |
go," it's Christ who saved me years ago that I've been preaching year after year. 00:50:21.100 |
And I'm just waiting to be delivered from this flesh. 00:50:31.020 |
I'm tired of the sin that I'm wrestling with. 00:50:38.380 |
But if I stay, if I stay, it means more fruit. 00:50:44.300 |
It means more people will be able to meet him. 00:50:50.980 |
More people may know this Jesus that I have come to love." 00:50:56.500 |
And that's the only reason that I know I'll stay. 00:50:58.940 |
I mean, this is a man who was burned out for Jesus Christ. 00:51:04.220 |
We use that term "burned out," I think wrong. 00:51:08.340 |
Burned out meant you worked so hard, you were so consumed. 00:51:11.460 |
I think the term that we should be using is we've rusted out. 00:51:16.620 |
Most of us get burned out because we're rusted out. 00:51:23.340 |
So you just, you have nothing more to burn, so we've rusted out. 00:51:28.380 |
But to be burned out for the very things that give you the greatest joy, isn't that the 00:51:47.820 |
Not just dabble, not just go and eat some good food and ride some good rides and be 00:51:56.820 |
secure because there's enough money in the bank. 00:52:08.660 |
And not only do you live, people around you live because of you. 00:52:24.380 |
So my challenge for us this morning is that God would open all of our eyes. 00:52:32.380 |
See, genuinely see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:52:39.140 |
That coming and running to Christ is not something that you even have to be determined to do. 00:52:45.060 |
Like the Samaritan woman, as soon as she met Christ, she dropped everything, forgot everything. 00:52:49.020 |
She went out to tell all the people, became the first evangelist, that that would be us. 00:52:57.260 |
Fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. 00:53:01.980 |
Would you take some time to pray with me this morning as we invite? 00:53:13.060 |
If you've been stuck in complacency and you've just been dabbling in the things of Christ, 00:53:24.260 |
not realizing that that's the very reason why you are in the state that you are, that 00:53:31.780 |
you've forgotten what it is that you have in Christ, that when you first met Him, what 00:53:41.660 |
Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like the farmer who found the treasure in the land 00:53:46.260 |
and went back and sold everything that he may have as treasure." 00:53:57.860 |
If not, let's come before the Lord in honest prayer. 00:54:01.500 |
I believe, but help my unbelief, that pursuing Christ, that He would help us to recognize 00:54:09.200 |
our desperation without Him, that we would be fed in Christ and Christ alone. 00:54:14.060 |
So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads.