back to index2020-12-13 Test Faith
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Okay, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 11, we're going to be reading 00:00:20.760 |
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises 00:00:28.520 |
It was he to whom it was said, "In Isaac your descendants shall be called." 00:00:33.080 |
He considered that God is able to raise people from the dead, from which he also received 00:00:41.400 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that you would anoint this time, and may your word be lifted up, 00:00:46.720 |
Lord God, that your voice and only your voice may be heard. 00:00:50.780 |
Help us, Lord, not only to be hearers, but not to turn from it to the left or to the 00:00:54.320 |
right, that we may be anchored in Christ, especially now with all that's going on. 00:01:04.720 |
You know, because of what's been going on around us with the pandemic, there's been 00:01:08.560 |
a lot of question about what is essential and non-essential. 00:01:12.380 |
And so I think everybody, to a certain degree, and for sure as leaders, we've been having 00:01:17.600 |
constant conversations as what is essential, what is not essential. 00:01:21.200 |
And obviously the gathering of the believers on Sunday is not something that we are willing 00:01:26.480 |
You know, we want to do our best to keep, you know, to be, to keep the church safe. 00:01:31.280 |
We want to submit to the authorities, as the Bible says, but at the same time we do not 00:01:36.920 |
Now along with that, whether you are a leader in the church or not, every single family 00:01:42.960 |
probably has been asking that question, right? 00:01:45.360 |
I hear that the toilet paper is starting to disappear, you know, just like in the beginning 00:01:52.440 |
People are going, "Just in case, we don't know what's going to happen." 00:01:57.720 |
So what are things that are essential that you need to have, right? 00:02:01.840 |
For whatever the reason, toilet paper, maybe water, some canned goods, right? 00:02:08.800 |
Are you going to, you know, do you have a car that you're going to be able to use? 00:02:12.720 |
What are the essentials that you would gather? 00:02:15.800 |
I remember years ago, you know, when the Northridge earthquake hit, I had a friend who was in 00:02:21.200 |
college and this condemned, the building that he was in, he was a Northridge college student, 00:02:26.400 |
and the building was shaking and it was actually condemned. 00:02:30.760 |
But right after the shaking stopped, he ran out and to the dismay of his friends, he ran 00:02:37.840 |
back in because he said he needed to go get his essential stuff, and he went back in and 00:02:41.920 |
grabbed his Bible and his MacArthur commentaries. 00:02:45.120 |
And that's when we knew that this guy was a MacArthur freak, you know? 00:02:49.440 |
He literally risked his life to go back and get his commentaries. 00:02:52.640 |
And then sure enough, a day later, the whole building just collapsed, you know? 00:02:57.880 |
So he literally, like we know what was in his heart, right? 00:03:04.760 |
But for every single Christian, like what is essential? 00:03:09.280 |
Obviously, there's some physical things that you'll get. 00:03:10.760 |
If you have small children, obviously, that's the first thing that you'll run in and get. 00:03:14.960 |
But aside from the physical things, what is absolutely essential? 00:03:25.960 |
And that's why, again, that we're gathering together despite what's going on because worship 00:03:30.560 |
of our God and our faith is absolutely essential. 00:03:33.480 |
Faith is what connects us to this eternal life, the father of, the author of life. 00:03:40.480 |
Without faith, it says, at the beginning of this chapter, it is impossible to please him. 00:03:45.600 |
And when he says that, he's not simply talking about, you know, God being pleased or displeased. 00:03:49.860 |
Without faith, there is no relationship with God. 00:03:53.480 |
So one of the most crucial, essential things that we need to make sure that is genuine 00:04:00.720 |
So Abraham, he says he's the father of faith. 00:04:04.000 |
He's the father of faith because God initiated a covenant relationship with the nation of 00:04:08.640 |
Israel through this man, that God was going to establish a nation where through them, 00:04:15.040 |
And obviously, the son of God was going to come through that line. 00:04:19.240 |
But along with that, Abraham is the perfect example of what God desires of his people, 00:04:27.280 |
And so in order to establish that and to give us an example for us to follow, the cloud 00:04:32.800 |
of witnesses that we are to follow as an example, he tested his faith. 00:04:39.800 |
The first thing that it says in verse 17, by faith, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. 00:04:48.480 |
Now, again, if you're a Calvinist, you may look at that and say, well, if God is sovereign, 00:04:59.400 |
You know, whenever we go out to purchase a car, we test the car, right? 00:05:04.320 |
Now, the buyer is the one testing the car, not the owner. 00:05:07.320 |
The owner already knows what the car is, and it's already out on display. 00:05:12.240 |
So the one who purchased it for himself is the one who is actually testing it to make 00:05:16.440 |
sure that that is something that he wants and to embrace. 00:05:19.560 |
So in the same way, when the scripture says that God tested him, it was really to prove 00:05:24.680 |
for Abraham, to make sure that he knew where he stood, to purify his faith. 00:05:32.480 |
In 1 Peter 1, 6-7, he says, "In this you greatly rejoice." 00:05:37.520 |
And he's talking about the persecution and suffering that's coming. 00:05:40.120 |
"Even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 00:05:45.320 |
so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable." 00:05:50.040 |
In other words, sometimes God will take what is perishable in order to give us what is 00:05:56.040 |
imperishable, a greater faith, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise 00:06:03.200 |
and glory, honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:06:08.000 |
Because faith is the most valuable thing that we possess, because that's what connects us 00:06:12.400 |
to God, our process of sanctification is to purify this faith, that we live by faith and 00:06:22.480 |
Even though he walked out and followed God's command, every year of his life, every activity, 00:06:28.760 |
every suffering that Abraham had to suffer through, it was to purify his faith. 00:06:37.160 |
If your faith in God hasn't grown from the first time you met God until now, then you 00:06:46.480 |
A mature Christian is not somebody who just knows the Bible, has much experience doing 00:06:51.120 |
this and that and gone overseas and made disciples. 00:06:54.960 |
That's not what makes you a mature Christian. 00:06:57.280 |
A mature Christian, according to scripture, is somebody who is increasing in his faith. 00:07:02.840 |
Because power that you and I have is not within us, it's our connection to God. 00:07:09.780 |
So the greater the faith, the greater the connection that we have with God. 00:07:12.960 |
That's what makes an individual mature, not what we accumulate from our experience and 00:07:20.720 |
As you guys know, if you want to buy a used car, which car is more expensive? 00:07:26.320 |
Toyotas and Camrys are usually more expensive. 00:07:29.860 |
And the reason why they're more expensive is because there's a record, a proven track 00:07:33.800 |
record that they can possibly go up to 200, 300,000 miles, which is unheard of. 00:07:41.880 |
When I was younger, if the car passed 100,000 miles or 150,000 miles, we considered that 00:07:48.000 |
So I remember years ago, my brother Phillip, he drove his Camry over 200,000 miles and 00:07:58.120 |
I don't know if you've ever tried to look for a used car now. 00:08:00.580 |
Now they have people who are selling their cars for thousands of dollars that have gone 00:08:04.880 |
over 250,000 miles or 300,000 miles, and they're usually Toyotas and Camrys. 00:08:12.540 |
And that's why they pay a premium because they know if you're 200,000, there's a possibility 00:08:19.920 |
Our faith, when it is not tested, it doesn't matter how passionate we are. 00:08:27.280 |
It doesn't matter how much experience that we have. 00:08:30.000 |
When it is not tested, we may be building our faith, building our Christian life on 00:08:37.840 |
And that's why anyone that God is going to use for his glory, that faith is first and 00:08:43.240 |
foremost tested, proven, to make sure because the strength of who we are is directly linked 00:08:49.400 |
to the strength of the faith that we have in God. 00:08:53.080 |
It starts off by saying that Abraham's faith was tested. 00:08:58.040 |
Obviously, God asked him to offer up his son, his only begotten son. 00:09:03.000 |
There's two things that I want to highlight here about what God commands of Abraham that 00:09:09.800 |
First of all, the test was to make sure that Abraham trusted in the giver and not the gift, 00:09:17.720 |
that his faith was founded upon the promises of God, that he recognized the fulfillment 00:09:23.680 |
of the promise was faithfulness God himself and not the gift that he received. 00:09:30.760 |
Hebrews chapter 11, 7-18, it says, "By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, 00:09:36.280 |
and he had received the promises, was offering up his only begotten son." 00:09:49.080 |
Now, a lot of people get confused because of the English word begotten and saying, "Well, 00:09:53.760 |
doesn't begotten mean that God gave birth to Jesus? 00:09:57.840 |
So doesn't that mean that he was created by God?" 00:10:01.760 |
Well, that word begotten does not mean that at all. 00:10:08.120 |
The word monogenes, where you get the word mono, obviously one, only. 00:10:14.720 |
The literal meaning of that is he's the only one, unique. 00:10:19.560 |
In fact, in Genesis chapter 22, it kind of explains maybe in better English term, now 00:10:25.760 |
it came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham," 00:10:31.360 |
He said, "Take now your son, your only son, your only son." 00:10:49.720 |
When he said that Isaac was his son, his only son, was that Abraham's only son? 00:11:10.320 |
But what does he mean here when he says, "Isaac, your son, your only son?" 00:11:15.080 |
He's talking about his unique begotten only son, unique, because that's the line in which 00:11:23.880 |
And so that's why he says in verse 18, "It was he to whom it was said, 'In Isaac your 00:11:32.680 |
Isaac is only begotten, the one and only, because that's the line in which God was going 00:11:37.760 |
to fulfill all the promises that he made to Abraham and Sarah. 00:11:47.040 |
I want you to offer up your covenant child, your only covenant child, that everything 00:11:53.720 |
that you have abandoned to follow me, where I am going to fulfill all your descendants, 00:11:59.560 |
everything that I said to you in Genesis chapter 12, 1-3, he's the guy that I'm going to fulfill. 00:12:06.400 |
All your descendants are going to come through this guy. 00:12:15.880 |
Well, if he said, you know what, offer him up because I have another child coming. 00:12:20.120 |
You know, they made the mistake the first time, because God wasn't acting fast enough, 00:12:25.320 |
so by their own will they had Hagar and they gave birth to Ishmael, and they said, no, 00:12:34.720 |
And so maybe God has another child, but that's not what he said. 00:12:42.080 |
Your descendant, everything I promised you is going to come through that line, and it's 00:12:55.240 |
God was testing Abraham, again, to prove his faith. 00:12:59.720 |
What is your confidence on the gift or the giver? 00:13:05.440 |
Is the hope that you have, the covenant that God made with you, is that covenant based 00:13:10.760 |
upon the promise of God or your child Isaac, your only begotten son? 00:13:17.800 |
Now on the surface, it doesn't make any sense that God would command to offer up what he 00:13:21.560 |
said he's going to use to fulfill a promise, and yet what God was doing was testing. 00:13:32.840 |
You know, there are things that God places in our lives to help us to grow in our faith. 00:13:40.880 |
Just like if you go to a hospital, you know, and you sprained your ankle or you broke your 00:13:44.600 |
leg and they'll put a cast on and, you know, and they have you walk on a crutch. 00:13:50.960 |
In fact, it's even necessary to help you to walk. 00:13:55.880 |
But imagine if you went in and said, "You know, I like this crutch. 00:14:08.240 |
Imagine if you kept the crutch for six months to a year, two years, five years. 00:14:13.840 |
For the rest of your life, you said, "I can't walk without this crutch." 00:14:16.720 |
So that very crutch that God gave you to help you now has become a hindrance because the 00:14:23.720 |
purpose of the crutch was to get you to be healed and to be whole. 00:14:29.960 |
There's a lot of things that we do in our life where we thank God for the gift and then 00:14:46.280 |
I run into a lot of college students, you know, and they, while I were in college, they 00:14:50.920 |
had a leader, a follower, and they had certain kind of, you know, freshmen and older brother, 00:14:55.240 |
younger sister and discipleship, and they experienced this Christian life in this bubble. 00:14:59.600 |
And then when they graduate, they can't function because they need that again. 00:15:06.280 |
In order for me to have God, where's my leader? 00:15:10.600 |
And how come the organization is this way and that way? 00:15:13.320 |
And they made this crutch a necessity for their walk with God. 00:15:20.340 |
The purpose of why he gave the church is to bring us to God. 00:15:24.480 |
Think how often we make the gift that God has given us into a burden because we make 00:15:34.960 |
You know, it's great to have the church, great to have the fellowship, but I can't grow without 00:15:44.400 |
Remember in John chapter 5, 39 to 40, you search the scriptures because you think that 00:15:51.500 |
How often does the word of God become a burden because this is something that every good 00:15:57.760 |
We need to exposit, we need to memorize, and we need to know systematic theology. 00:16:04.480 |
If you're a good Christian, you need to pray 15 minutes, an hour, you need to do it in 00:16:12.800 |
So when you have this, you think, "Oh, that's a good Christian because he's read the Bible 00:16:16.880 |
so many times and knows his systematic theology, he knows how to exegete, he knows how to teach 00:16:23.520 |
But Jesus is saying you're looking through scripture thinking that somehow if you look 00:16:27.200 |
at it and obey it, that's where eternal life is. 00:16:30.680 |
But purpose of this is to bring you to Christ. 00:16:35.160 |
So you can spend all your life maturing in knowledge and experience and never have greater 00:16:49.400 |
You look to scripture because you think that in them you have eternal life. 00:16:56.140 |
And you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. 00:17:01.860 |
He wanted to make sure that Isaac was not his hope. 00:17:05.920 |
He wanted to make sure that he wasn't hanging all his hopes upon his health. 00:17:10.480 |
Even if Isaac was, everything hinged upon Isaac, right? 00:17:19.760 |
You know, I mean, you'd freak out every time he gets sick, right? 00:17:25.640 |
If any of his brothers somehow, you know, incringes upon anything, it's like, "Oh, you're 00:17:30.600 |
not just protecting your son, you're protecting your hope." 00:17:34.380 |
He wanted to make sure that he didn't make Isaac his idol. 00:17:39.540 |
Look at the way that the Pharisees approached the Sabbath. 00:17:45.820 |
God told them to keep the Sabbath holy, but they wanted to keep it so holy that they created 00:17:52.800 |
So they kept on accusing Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. 00:18:01.420 |
The tradition that they created saying, "You know what? 00:18:04.260 |
Keeping the Sabbath means that you can go this far, but if you go beyond that, you're 00:18:10.280 |
So they were judging people based upon what they thought breaking the Sabbath meant. 00:18:15.020 |
Not what the Bible said, but what they thought breaking the Sabbath meant. 00:18:19.700 |
So they kept on saying, "Why are you breaking the Sabbath? 00:18:25.700 |
Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath. 00:18:40.580 |
And you made it a to-do list, and instead of finding rest and making Christ Lord of 00:18:47.860 |
the Sabbath, it becomes an additional burden for you to carry out. 00:18:53.580 |
Instead of bringing you to Christ, it's keeping you away from Christ. 00:18:59.980 |
He said, "You missed the whole point of the Sabbath. 00:19:02.660 |
Sabbath was made for you, so that you can recuperate, so you can rest, so you can worship 00:19:08.540 |
God, so your faith would increase in who He is. 00:19:13.220 |
But because you made it into rules, now Sabbath is destroying you." 00:19:20.060 |
That's exactly what John was trying to say in the book of John. 00:19:24.240 |
What Jesus was saying with the seven "I am" statements. 00:19:28.100 |
People were coming to Him and said, "You're eating bread, and you want more bread." 00:19:35.500 |
You're looking for the Messiah to come, and just like God used the clouds and the light, 00:19:40.460 |
pillar of light to lead people, you're looking for the Messiah to come and shed light. 00:19:48.100 |
You're looking for like, you know, which, where do we go? 00:19:57.380 |
We're begging Him, "Won't you come and make sure that our brother Lazarus lives a little 00:20:01.460 |
bit longer, make him healthy so that he doesn't die?" 00:20:04.460 |
And Jesus allows him to die, so that He can make it point. 00:20:10.380 |
These are the people who are looking for leaders to guide them and lead them. 00:20:23.860 |
He says, "I am the way and the truth and the life." 00:20:28.500 |
Well if you leave us, how are we going to bear fruit? 00:20:35.700 |
Every one of these "I am" statements is to shatter through the idols that they were 00:20:42.260 |
hanging their hats on and then saying, "I am." 00:20:46.820 |
That's exactly what He was trying to teach Abraham. 00:20:50.940 |
Even though Isaac is the promised child, the only begotten child, the promise isn't based 00:20:55.900 |
upon Isaac and his health and how long he's going to live, how many children he's going 00:21:01.260 |
Because there's going to come times when that's not going to make sense. 00:21:05.340 |
He may come to the verge of death, but you should not be shaken. 00:21:10.980 |
He might even die, but your faith should not be shaken. 00:21:17.180 |
Because the promise is not based upon him, but God. 00:21:27.740 |
He believed in God enough to walk out, but that's not the faith that he had early on. 00:21:31.420 |
Because remember early on, right, he's like, "How come it's taking so long?" 00:21:37.020 |
And he was going to fulfill it himself because he couldn't see what God was going to do. 00:21:42.020 |
It was hard in the beginning, but after 20, 25 years, when he turned 100 and his wife 00:21:51.660 |
Genesis 22, 3, when God told him, he just said, "Abraham rose early in the morning, 00:21:57.220 |
Now, I'm not sure if Abraham said anything because it's not recorded, but all it says 00:22:05.460 |
Because he believed that even if he dies, he can raise him. 00:22:17.900 |
When times I didn't believe him and I questioned him and I self-willed myself to fulfill this 00:22:23.540 |
promise, he broke into all of that and he showed me to trust him. 00:22:27.980 |
And that's what he was trying to fulfill here. 00:22:29.980 |
And that's why in Psalm chapter 20, verse 7, the Psalmist says, "Some trust in chariots, 00:22:35.060 |
some trust in horses, but we trust the name of the Lord." 00:22:41.660 |
So that's a lesson that every person of faith not only needs to have, but continue to increase 00:22:50.940 |
That the stability and foundation of the refuge does not based upon who's around us, promises 00:22:57.420 |
of the economy, who's going to be the leader, how much money did you save for retirement, 00:23:01.220 |
do you have enough friends around you, what community do you belong to? 00:23:04.640 |
But in the end, all that God promises hinges upon his faithfulness, despite all that happens 00:23:13.140 |
Secondly, the test is to prove something even deeper than that. 00:23:24.180 |
It says in Genesis 22, 1-2, "Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham 00:23:28.740 |
and said to him, 'Abraham,' and he said, 'Here I am.' 00:23:31.180 |
He said, 'Take now your son, your only son, and then he has whom you love,' and offered 00:23:40.780 |
I mean, can you imagine how much this child was loved? 00:23:47.220 |
They left everything, risked everything, and they waited for so long. 00:23:54.580 |
You know, and every once in a while, you'll, you know, and maybe some of you are in that 00:23:58.420 |
category where you wanted a child for so long, and you prayed and prayed, and you thought 00:24:03.820 |
maybe you weren't going to have a child, and you saw all the other people having children, 00:24:09.100 |
and the pain that kind of comes with that, like, "Why isn't God blessing me?" 00:24:13.380 |
And then when you lost all hope, and then you have a child, right? 00:24:17.500 |
I've walked with some people who went through that. 00:24:19.740 |
I had a friend who actually was a pastor of a church nearby, and he prayed for over 10, 00:24:25.620 |
11 years, and didn't have a child, and they were almost kind of getting ready to, like, 00:24:31.020 |
"Okay, maybe that's just going to be our lot in life," and he was ready to move on, and 00:24:35.460 |
for 10 years, that's what he was praying for, and then on the 11th year, he had kids. 00:24:42.140 |
And I don't even have to describe to you the kind of joy that fell on this family. 00:24:47.140 |
Can you imagine how much joy was brought to this family? 00:24:52.020 |
Sarai was barren before she trusted God, and waited years, and when they tried to fulfill 00:25:00.060 |
it, you know, it caused all kinds of problems with Ishmael. 00:25:06.020 |
And they actually named the son Isaac because it was so hard to believe. 00:25:12.420 |
I think the name Isaac laughter is given for two reasons. 00:25:17.060 |
One because in unbelief, they turned around, they laughed, but the second reason, Sarai 00:25:27.980 |
Isaac was the fulfillment of that joy and delight. 00:25:30.380 |
That's why he's named Isaac, because of the way they reacted, and because of what God 00:25:38.820 |
So I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that he was very, very, very loved. 00:25:47.380 |
In fact, I don't think, again, it's an exaggeration. 00:25:49.820 |
I think we would all agree he was probably the most precious thing that they had. 00:25:55.580 |
And God not only said, "He's the fulfillment of your promise," he's something that you'd 00:26:10.180 |
Not only is sacrificing Isaac means the future and everything else that God said, but even 00:26:16.660 |
if that wasn't the case, even if he wasn't the fulfillment of all of that, just offering 00:26:23.560 |
up your son that you love so much, that you enjoyed so much, brought so much delight into 00:26:29.620 |
your lives, and for God said to offer him up. 00:26:34.500 |
God was not only testing to see his faith, he was testing to see his affection. 00:26:44.420 |
I mean, the Bible clearly says the greatest command that God desires from us is to love 00:26:48.620 |
the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:26:50.940 |
That's what he desires more than anything else. 00:26:53.220 |
That's why in the book of Revelation, when he talks to the church of Ephesus, he says, 00:26:56.940 |
you have right doctrine, you persevere, you have a lot of good works. 00:27:01.660 |
On the surface, they have everything that a good church should have. 00:27:05.380 |
And he said, yet I have this one thing against you. 00:27:16.020 |
Protos is not the word that they would use to describe first, second, third, or fourth. 00:27:19.860 |
Protos basically means in priority, the most. 00:27:24.520 |
So when he says proto agapen, he's basically saying you're doing all the ... externally 00:27:28.820 |
you're doing all of these things, but I'm not your greatest love. 00:27:40.540 |
I think most Christians will say that we love God, to a certain degree. 00:27:44.500 |
Whether it's small love or big love, we say we love God. 00:27:56.740 |
Do you remember when Peter denies Christ and then after the resurrection, he sees them 00:28:04.460 |
at the shore and he restores Peter, John chapter 21, 15 to 17. 00:28:11.020 |
So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do 00:28:18.380 |
He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you. 00:28:23.520 |
He said to him again, second time, Simon son of John, do you love me? 00:28:26.940 |
He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you. 00:28:31.700 |
He said to him, third time, Simon son of John, do you love me? 00:28:35.220 |
Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? 00:28:38.460 |
And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. 00:28:44.460 |
Some people have taken this tax and say, you know what, the reason why he asked him three 00:28:50.820 |
So in the Greek, Jesus asked, do you agape me? 00:28:54.220 |
And the first time he says, yes Lord, you know I phileo you. 00:28:58.940 |
And then the second time Jesus says, do you agape me? 00:29:00.940 |
And he says, yes Lord, you know I phileo you. 00:29:04.540 |
Third time Jesus says, do you really phileo me? 00:29:10.660 |
So some people have looked at that and said, you know, God was asking for agape and he 00:29:20.540 |
Clearly you're not going to agape me, so do you phileo me? 00:29:22.780 |
I'm going to accept a lesser love, phileo, so he said yes. 00:29:27.580 |
That's how some people look at that and I don't think that's what's going on. 00:29:31.100 |
Because in the Greek, the word agape and phileo is often used interchangeably and this is 00:29:58.700 |
If he was answering wrong, right, he said, why would he get hurt? 00:30:06.900 |
Clearly I'm asking you agape, you're saying phileo and Jesus gave in. 00:30:10.020 |
He said, no, it was being used interchangeably, right. 00:30:17.580 |
Because the number three is a number of completion. 00:30:21.440 |
So if you read in the Bible, it says where two or three are gathered together. 00:30:25.380 |
Do not entertain an accusation against it unless there's two or three, right. 00:30:29.820 |
The number three Jesus was crucified, was resurrected on the third day to make sure 00:30:33.560 |
that he actually was dead so that the resurrection was actually a resurrection. 00:30:38.080 |
So the number three is a number of completion, of completeness. 00:30:44.080 |
So when Peter denied Jesus, he said he denied it how many times? 00:30:54.300 |
Maybe if he denied once, he'd say, oh, that was a slip of his tongue. 00:30:59.060 |
He said, no, he denied it three times, meaning that it was a very willful rejection. 00:31:06.980 |
So in order to restore him, he restores him three times. 00:31:14.700 |
Just as it was confirmed that he denied Christ, it is confirmed his love for him. 00:31:22.820 |
If he failed that exam to be loyal to Christ, you would think that that's what he would 00:31:27.260 |
say, especially if he's going to be established to feed the sheep, right. 00:31:36.760 |
When I was going to the cross, it was a test. 00:31:39.420 |
It was just a, you know, it wasn't a death test. 00:31:47.620 |
Now this one's going to count for all your grade, right. 00:31:51.200 |
So you failed that time, so don't fail this time. 00:31:58.500 |
You would think that that's what Jesus would be asking. 00:32:12.260 |
Because after I leave and you fall, James and John's going to fall. 00:32:24.300 |
They're all going to fall, so you better get this right. 00:32:30.660 |
In order to establish him, to use him, the only thing that he checks is do you love me? 00:33:02.260 |
But not only does he ask him do you love me, he said do you love me more than these? 00:33:07.580 |
So there's a debate as to what the these he's talking about. 00:33:09.620 |
So he obviously he was fishing, so he some people say he's talking point to the fish. 00:33:20.580 |
So some people thought that say like maybe that's one of the interpretation. 00:33:24.140 |
Another interpretation that because Jesus was referring to Peter's statement before 00:33:30.500 |
he went to the cross, he said you know all of them are going to fail you but I will not. 00:33:36.260 |
So it could be that Jesus is pointing to the disciples and he said do you love me more 00:33:45.900 |
I thought that that was a better interpretation. 00:33:49.460 |
But I think there's a reason why that's left ambiguous. 00:33:55.820 |
Because I don't think he was necessarily referring to one particular thing. 00:34:01.300 |
When he says these he's talking about everything else. 00:34:23.620 |
I believe that that's what Jesus was asking him. 00:34:30.180 |
He's not simply saving us so that we don't go to hell. 00:34:33.220 |
That in and of itself we should be praising God. 00:34:36.220 |
The fact that he knows our name alone should cause us to be all in worshiping God. 00:34:43.380 |
But he made us his son so that we can come into the inner chamber of God and call him 00:34:50.220 |
our Abba Father to enter the throne of grace with confidence. 00:34:58.580 |
He's not pursuing a proper legal standing in eternity. 00:35:14.420 |
Isn't that the greatest reward if you, you know, like people in our church are adopting 00:35:20.060 |
The greatest reward of adopting a child is not he become an Olympic champion and he's 00:35:24.180 |
going to, you know, one day I'm going to be famous because of this child. 00:35:29.020 |
Imagine the pressure that that child is under. 00:35:33.900 |
He's going to, you know, that he's going to found another Facebook and he's going to become 00:35:38.500 |
Imagine if somebody actually adopted a child with that intent. 00:35:43.580 |
It would have been better for him to be orphaned. 00:35:46.700 |
The greatest reward that a child can give to parents who adopted him is what? 00:35:56.580 |
To love them as much as they loved that child. 00:36:03.220 |
It's clear that that's what God is pursuing with us. 00:36:06.920 |
That's why even when Paul told Timothy to teach certain men not to teach false doctrines, 00:36:11.900 |
he makes sure he qualifies that because he's sending him to battle and he says, but the 00:36:21.180 |
Not simple purity, not simple doctrinal correctness. 00:36:26.900 |
To make sure that when you enter into this battle, that you examine yourself. 00:36:31.940 |
You make sure that this goal, the end product of it isn't simply we got the right doctrine, 00:36:35.860 |
we're doing the right thing, we're organized a certain way, but that what comes out of 00:36:43.620 |
You know, I'm starting to get at that age where one by one my close friends that I have, 00:36:50.460 |
who had children a little bit before me, are starting to have kids who are getting married. 00:36:56.420 |
And then some of them, a few of them, are starting to have grandkids. 00:37:02.860 |
It's kind of like when we first got married, we'd say, you know, we were young and say, 00:37:05.980 |
And well, that person got married, this person got married. 00:37:08.740 |
So I have roommates and I have friends that we've known for a long time and now, you 00:37:12.940 |
know, their kids are a little bit older, they're in their mid to late 20s and so then now they're 00:37:17.620 |
So I asked him, so what is it like being a grandparent? 00:37:27.300 |
He said, man, when we were parents, we were so busy raising the kids that we didn't enjoy 00:37:36.660 |
He said, we love them just as much, we love our grandkids as much as we love our own children, 00:37:42.580 |
but we didn't enjoy our kids like we enjoy the grandkids. 00:37:49.860 |
So much of what we do as Christians, we get so wrapped up in trying to be good Christians 00:37:57.740 |
and we miss the whole point of why God saved us. 00:38:02.660 |
We get caught up in trying to fix the church, not realizing the church is a gift to us to 00:38:09.700 |
We get so caught up preaching the gospel that we don't celebrate the gospel. 00:38:14.940 |
We get so caught up in trying to make godly marriages that we don't actually enjoy the 00:38:22.780 |
We work so hard to be obedient and follow God that we don't actually enjoy God and worship 00:38:33.380 |
He came to give life and to give life abundantly. 00:38:39.540 |
The best way to thank God is to enjoy the life that he has given us and to love him 00:38:48.180 |
And so church is an avenue for us to do that. 00:38:53.180 |
We study the word of God so that that would take us so that we can love God. 00:38:57.880 |
But if we're not careful, we can make all that God has given us, just like the Pharisees 00:39:04.860 |
Be burdened by the church, burdened by the fellowship, burdened by commands. 00:39:10.220 |
And if the central thing that you and I have fallen short of is the glory of God, shouldn't 00:39:17.860 |
the primary thing that God restores is his glory? 00:39:36.300 |
What is it about God that he would love God that much? 00:39:40.180 |
But if we're not careful, we make idols of the gift that God has given us and we give 00:39:47.500 |
so much of our energy, hope into the crutch that God may have given so that we can walk 00:39:59.700 |
See, Isaac, he loved more than anything else. 00:40:06.300 |
But remember the covenant that God made with Abraham was not to be burdensome because God 00:40:16.580 |
You know, when two people get married, the Christian answer that we give, for the glory 00:40:27.820 |
But you know, you put two horses together, they work harder. 00:40:37.620 |
And that's the answer that we give because we're programmed to give theologically correct 00:40:44.980 |
But if you ask people, like, "Why do you get married?" 00:40:58.500 |
You like the way she looked, the way she tied her ponytail, like the way she smells. 00:41:08.500 |
You get married because you want to get married. 00:41:15.220 |
You get married because you want to get married. 00:41:16.660 |
You want to because you're happy when you're with her. 00:41:20.300 |
You'd rather be with her than your smelly friends. 00:41:39.980 |
And instead of thanking him and loving him for what the gift that he's given, we are 00:41:45.300 |
so busy trying to get it right and completely forget the central reason why he saved us, 00:41:58.260 |
That's why he's tested, to make sure that his faith is founded upon his word, that our 00:42:05.540 |
greatest love is where we get the greatest joy.