back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 6.20.2021
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12:14 Hebrews
00:14:21.000 |
And we're gonna go ahead and start our service by singing this hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy. 00:14:25.000 |
That as we reflect on his characteristics and his character of holiness, 00:14:30.000 |
that we approach our God in reverence and the honor he's due. 00:15:03.000 |
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. 00:16:01.000 |
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. 00:16:12.000 |
Chubb, womb and seraphim falling down before thee. 00:16:44.000 |
Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee. 00:16:58.000 |
Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see. 00:17:08.000 |
Holy thou art, holy, there is none beside thee. 00:17:50.000 |
Lord God almighty, all thy works shall praise thy name. 00:18:51.000 |
Let me get to a few announcements before we get started. 00:18:53.000 |
First of all, this Friday we have praise and prayer for the whole church. 00:18:57.000 |
And so we'll be meeting at the church here at 730 both inside and out. 00:19:03.000 |
So, again, we highly encourage you guys to come and participate in the corporate time of prayer together. 00:19:09.000 |
As you have noticed, we are no longer enforcing the mask. 00:19:12.000 |
It's going to be voluntary as we are following the guidelines given to us by CDC. 00:19:18.000 |
So, again, if you wish to wear it, again, you're welcome to wear that for your own protection. 00:19:24.000 |
And so those of you who are more comfortable, you're welcome to sit outside. 00:19:27.000 |
But, again, we will not be enforcing that anymore according to the guidelines that have been given to us. 00:19:34.000 |
Hopefully if this is the first time you're hearing it, shame on you. 00:19:41.000 |
So after this service, if you can go to the cafe area as soon as possible, there's going to be a Father's Day lunch. 00:19:49.000 |
So even if you're just here as a guest and you haven't signed up, you're welcome to come. 00:19:57.000 |
And so we'll celebrate Father's Day together. 00:19:59.000 |
If you are waiting for your husband or father, there will be pizza and stuff outside for the moms to wait if you choose to do that. 00:20:08.000 |
And so I think that's going to be set up somewhere out in the courtyard. 00:20:14.000 |
And then, again, so if you can just help us to go there as soon as the thing is over, 00:20:19.000 |
and that will help us to get started as soon as possible. 00:20:22.000 |
July 4th, another round of membership class is taking place. 00:20:28.000 |
It's an eight-week course from 9 a.m. to 10.20. 00:20:31.000 |
Pastor Nate Kwak, our college pastor, is the one. 00:20:35.000 |
If you don't know, it's an eight-week course where we go over the fundamental doctrines of the church and what we believe 00:20:41.000 |
and to make sure that people who are coming into the church know exactly what we stand for, 00:20:45.000 |
what doctrines we practice, what are the things that we believe. 00:20:48.000 |
It's an eight-week course that will be taking place also at the other building. 00:20:53.000 |
So if you go in there starting from July 4th during the first service time. 00:20:57.000 |
So please let him know that you're coming, and so they'll be able to prepare for that. 00:21:06.000 |
So if your children are the age of three up to sixth grade, so sixth grade meaning your fifth grade going to sixth grade. 00:21:13.000 |
So if you're sixth grade going to seventh grade, there's youth group events and stuff that's prepared for you. 00:21:18.000 |
But for those children who are three who are potty trained, okay, so that's the guidelines that we've been giving. 00:21:24.000 |
Potty trained at three all the way up to sixth grade. 00:21:31.000 |
The registration is closing on the 27th, so you only have about a week left to do that. 00:21:37.000 |
So if you guys can register as soon as you can, that'll help the people who are preparing to get things ready, the teachers and all that. 00:21:43.000 |
And along with that, if you are able to volunteer for that, please let them know. 00:21:47.000 |
In any capacity, if you want to volunteer, let Jane Shin, our sister, know, and she'll give you some guidelines as what needs to be prepared. 00:21:55.000 |
So let me pray for our offering, and we'll give you a few minutes to prepare for that online. 00:22:00.000 |
And also, if you have a physical check you want to give, there's a box stationed way in the back corner. 00:22:09.000 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the privilege that we have to serve you, especially on this Father's Day. 00:22:16.000 |
We pray, Father God, for your grace, the tremendous responsibility that fathers have been given, 00:22:23.000 |
especially now with what's going on around us and the school systems and the culture. 00:22:28.000 |
I pray that you would help all of us, Lord God, in our weakness to find strength in you. 00:22:34.000 |
We pray today as we give worship to you, even in our giving, help us to give it to you, Lord God, in an act of true worship. 00:22:42.000 |
May it be multiplied 30, 60, 100-fold for the sake of your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:23:51.000 |
Church family, let's all go ahead and rise together. 00:32:31.000 |
All right, please turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12. 00:32:34.000 |
We're going to be looking at verses 14, mainly just verse 14 today, 00:32:39.000 |
but I want to read all the way up to verse 17. 00:32:43.000 |
Hebrews chapter 12, verses 14 through 17, reading out of the NASB. 00:32:48.000 |
"Pursue peace with all men, and a sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 00:32:58.000 |
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, 00:33:01.000 |
that no root of bitterness springs up, causes trouble, and by it many defiled. 00:33:06.000 |
That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, 00:33:09.000 |
who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 00:33:12.000 |
For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, 00:33:16.000 |
he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, 00:33:27.000 |
I pray that you would protect this pulpit, that only your word would go forth. 00:33:32.000 |
I pray that the hearers, Lord God, will filter only your word to cherish in their hearts. 00:33:39.000 |
And we ask, Lord God, that your Holy Spirit would guide and lead us, 00:33:42.000 |
that we may understand your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:33:46.000 |
Now, I've shared before that, you know, I grew up in a Presbyterian home, 00:33:53.000 |
but I got saved in a very charismatic para-church ministry. 00:33:58.000 |
I was really into discipleship, one-to-one discipleship from navigators. 00:34:02.000 |
And so, when I became a Christian, obviously, like I knew that world well. 00:34:08.000 |
Everybody that I knew was from that charismatic camp, 00:34:16.000 |
But after about four or five years of being in that ministry, 00:34:21.000 |
that I couldn't reconcile with what I was reading in Scripture. 00:34:28.000 |
Well, you know, this pastor says this, why do we practice this way? 00:34:30.000 |
This pastor says that, why do we practice that way? 00:34:32.000 |
And so the answers that I was getting was not satisfactory, 00:34:36.000 |
because the typical answer would be, Peter, you're a troublemaker. 00:34:40.000 |
Right? You just accept it. It doesn't bother anybody. 00:34:46.000 |
And so, for a while, you know, I lived with, they're more mature than me. 00:34:51.000 |
They pray more than I do. Obviously, they studied more than I do. 00:34:54.000 |
And I was, what, 23 years old at that time, 22, 23. 00:34:58.000 |
And so as I was wrestling with this, after years of trying to find out, 00:35:03.000 |
what does the Bible say and how do we apply this? 00:35:06.000 |
Because I was already a Bible major in undergrad, 00:35:11.000 |
And I came to the conclusion that I can't just put my confidence in these leaders. 00:35:19.000 |
Because historically, the leadership, in certain periods of time, 00:35:27.000 |
You and I are called Protestants because people protested what the church was doing. 00:35:32.000 |
And the answer that was given to them is, well, trust us, we know the Bible. 00:35:36.000 |
The Pope knows the Bible. They're closer to God than you are. 00:35:39.000 |
And so we are called Protestants because we protested, 00:35:45.000 |
And so I came to the conclusion, as difficult as it was, 00:35:48.000 |
because these were my leaders. These are the people that I respected. 00:35:51.000 |
They're the ones who influenced my spiritual life more than anybody else, 00:35:57.000 |
But once I made that decision, I knew the ramification of that. 00:36:00.000 |
That all my friends that was in that ministry, all the people that I looked up to, 00:36:05.000 |
people that I gained counsel from, people who loved me and I loved back, 00:36:08.000 |
and I respected that I would end up having to leave that 00:36:12.000 |
and then just walk out into a place where I knew that I was just going to be on my own. 00:36:17.000 |
But I could not reconcile what I was seeing with Scripture with what was being practiced. 00:36:24.000 |
And again, that's why even to this day, our church name is Berean Community Church 00:36:30.000 |
because they tested everything that Apostle Paul said. 00:36:34.000 |
And so the reason why I share this is if there was any time in human history 00:36:40.000 |
where bad doctrine can penetrate into the church so quickly, it's today. 00:36:47.000 |
We have a generation of people, we're not just talking about where we are at, 00:36:52.000 |
but just all across the board, where biblical illiteracy is so high 00:36:58.000 |
that almost anything that is said up in the pulpit is not being filtered by Scripture, 00:37:19.000 |
"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders 00:37:24.000 |
so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." 00:37:28.000 |
He says that the greatest destruction of the church, the temptation of the church, 00:37:32.000 |
is going to come through people who are claiming to be speaking for God. 00:37:37.000 |
And then he says the delusion is going to be so great that even the elect, if possible, 00:37:42.000 |
meaning that if you're truly elect, you would not be caught up in this. 00:37:46.000 |
But what he is describing is a mass exodus in the church 00:37:50.000 |
who we thought for sure they were Christians, 00:37:53.000 |
but because of this delusional teaching of these false prophets, 00:37:58.000 |
If there's any period of time where the church is prepared for that, 00:38:03.000 |
where we've laid the foundation where this can easily happen is today. 00:38:08.000 |
Before, you'd have to have a seminary degree, have some sort of filter to get on the pulpit, 00:38:13.000 |
and then even if there's bad teaching, it would usually be limited to that church 00:38:18.000 |
or the influence that they are able to have physically. 00:38:21.000 |
Today, you can get on the internet, start a blog, or you can do some video, whatever, 00:38:27.000 |
and you don't know who this person is, but if they have a large following, 100,000, 200,000, 00:38:32.000 |
whatever they say is being absorbed by the new generation of Christians 00:38:38.000 |
without being able to test, is that really true? 00:38:42.000 |
So if you have enough people with influence, enough people who are popular, 00:38:47.000 |
repeat these statements, the only filter that they have is, "I think that's true. 00:38:55.000 |
And so again, we are in a very dangerous time when bad doctrine can just come in 00:39:01.000 |
and not just spoil one church, but immediately spoil the whole church, 00:39:07.000 |
So if there's any period in time where the church needs to cling to the Word of God 00:39:11.000 |
and is able to test what is coming off of not just this pulpit, but any pulpit, it is today. 00:39:18.000 |
In Jeremiah 23, 21, it says, "I did not send these prophets, but they ran. 00:39:24.000 |
I did not speak to them, but they prophesied." 00:39:28.000 |
One of the biggest problems that we have in our generation is a typical way 00:39:33.000 |
that somebody would come into ministry and get a pulpit to have an audience is, 00:39:40.000 |
Whatever the motivation is, whatever your desire is, no matter what your life looks like, 00:39:46.000 |
no matter what kind of character that you have, if you desire it and you choose to go to seminary, 00:39:52.000 |
and then once you go to seminary, you are a pastor. 00:39:55.000 |
You'll find some church somewhere to give you a pulpit to preach on, almost anywhere. 00:40:00.000 |
It doesn't matter what kind of background it is because there is almost no filter. 00:40:04.000 |
Once you get into the pulpit and you get that title, you have the same authority as anybody else. 00:40:10.000 |
You have the same authority to be able to say, "This is what the Word of God says because I went to seminary, 00:40:15.000 |
because I have a pulpit, I'm called a pastor." 00:40:17.000 |
And so now, because of the Internet, that individual has an audience. 00:40:22.000 |
If he is talented enough, if he's gifted enough, and if he has enough following, 00:40:26.000 |
all of a sudden he can influence not only his church, but nationally, maybe even internationally. 00:40:32.000 |
So the groundwork has been set for the Antichrist to have its greatest impact in our generation. 00:40:42.000 |
Jeremiah 23, 36, it says, "For you will no longer remember the oracle of the Lord, 00:40:47.000 |
because every man's own word will become the oracle." 00:40:52.000 |
God warns us, even the time of Jeremiah, when people are coming and saying, 00:40:57.000 |
"Thus saith the Lord," but they're actually repeating their own thoughts, their own words. 00:41:03.000 |
"And you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God." 00:41:08.000 |
I usually don't do this. I usually don't do this because I don't want to get political. 00:41:15.000 |
That's not the point of a Sunday sermon. Sunday sermon is I want to teach the Word of God plainly, 00:41:20.000 |
and then let you apply it the way God convicts you according to what the Word of God says. 00:41:25.000 |
But I want to give you a quote from a man who has been the head of Southern Baptist Convention. 00:41:32.000 |
And I know this is going to disturb some people, but I feel that necessary, and I'll explain to you why I'm doing this. 00:41:38.000 |
J.D. Greer has been the president of Southern Baptist Convention for several years, 00:41:50.000 |
And I want to read you this quote, and I want to tell you the reason why I'm quoting this to you. 00:41:56.000 |
J.D. Greer says, "We ought to whisper about what the Bible whispers about, 00:42:00.000 |
and we ought to shout about what the Bible shouts about." 00:42:03.000 |
Up to that point, 100% agreement. We need to be faithful to the Word of God. 00:42:08.000 |
Every preacher who's up in the pulpit will be judged according to how well he represents the Word of God. 00:42:15.000 |
So what he says is true. And then he says, and this is the part that shook up a lot of people, 00:42:21.000 |
"The Bible appears more to whisper when it comes to sexual sin compared to it shouts about materialism and religious pride." 00:42:31.000 |
The reason why I share this with you is because most false doctrine comes into the church in this manner, 00:42:41.000 |
The second part is not the problem when he says he shouts about materialism and religious pride, 00:42:46.000 |
because the Bible does shout about materialism and religious pride. 00:42:50.000 |
The part that was controversial was, but he whispers when it comes to sexual sin. 00:42:57.000 |
He said this in the context of trying to get people who are voting for Trump not to vote for him. 00:43:03.000 |
Because he said that we're choosing a political party based upon our desire, 00:43:12.000 |
because the Democratic Party was pushing the agenda that sexuality is going to be equated with, 00:43:19.000 |
whether you're homosexual or transgender, it's going to be equated with a people group. 00:43:24.000 |
So therefore, if you discriminate, even as a church, if you discriminate and you don't hire a homosexual, 00:43:31.000 |
that they want to pass laws where your non-private status will be taken away, you'll be fine. 00:43:37.000 |
You'll be treated like if we said we're renting a property and we won't give it to the black community or the Hispanic community. 00:43:43.000 |
You'll be treated with the same kind of standard that you would for sexual preference, as they say. 00:43:49.000 |
And so he's saying, what he's saying is not, "I'm okay with that." 00:43:54.000 |
He's saying that the Bible whispers about sexual immorality. 00:44:00.000 |
But it screams about the things that the Democratic Party is pushing. 00:44:03.000 |
Now, the point of my sermon today is not to tell you I am a Republican. I'm a proud Republican. 00:44:08.000 |
But I'm not here to preach about politics. What I'm trying to preach to you about is the word of God. 00:44:14.000 |
When I first read this, my first reaction was, "Are we even reading the same Bible?" 00:44:21.000 |
And this is the common response that I got from most of my friends who, no matter what political party they are in, 00:44:30.000 |
who are into the word of God, is, "Are we reading the same? How can this come out of somebody who's this influential?" 00:44:37.000 |
And 1 Peter 2.11 says, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, pornea, which wage war against the soul." 00:44:48.000 |
Wages war against the soul. That does not sound like a whisper. 00:44:54.000 |
1 Corinthians 6.18, "Flee immorality." The word in Greek is pornea, where some of your Bible translation is sexual immorality. 00:45:02.000 |
Flee. Not to fight it, not have discussions about it. He says to flee. 00:45:08.000 |
Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body. You see how he elevates sexual immorality with every other sin? 00:45:15.000 |
That doesn't sound like a whisper. Every other sin that commits is outside the body. 00:45:20.000 |
Immoral man, sexually immoral man sins against his own body. 00:45:24.000 |
1 Thessalonians 4.3, "You struggle with what is the will of God?" 00:45:27.000 |
He said, "Well, here's the will of God, for this is the will of God, your sanctification. That is that you abstain from sexual immorality." 00:45:36.000 |
Now, test me. He picked four verses, three verses in the context to try to make his point. 00:45:44.000 |
How will you know if what I'm saying is true or not? 00:45:48.000 |
If you don't have the word of God, you won't. 00:45:50.000 |
So, truth will depend on how good of a job I do presenting today. 00:45:55.000 |
So, if I'm articulate, tell you some funny stories, and then I say some nice things that maybe you already agree, 00:46:01.000 |
and you'll leave this room thinking like, "Yes! It's confirmed!" 00:46:05.000 |
Or maybe you came into this room with a different bent. 00:46:09.000 |
"Our church is too conservative, and I think those things are right." 00:46:13.000 |
And then what I'm saying is like, "Oh, you're just picking it out of context." 00:46:16.000 |
But you don't have the ability to filter if it's true or not, because you're not testing it with the word of God. 00:46:23.000 |
You're testing it with your own moral center. 00:46:26.000 |
That sounds good to me. That doesn't sound right to me. 00:46:30.000 |
So, everything that bothers me, and everything that I accept is already determined by what we brought into this room. 00:46:37.000 |
Instead of testing it, and filtering it, and allow the word of God to test the thoughts and intentions of my heart, 00:46:43.000 |
and if things that I am thinking and applying is not biblical, we are to change, not the word of God. 00:46:51.000 |
And the reason, again, why I say it, and I even attach his name to it, is because this is how the church gets corrupted. 00:47:00.000 |
This is how a generation of people who are not filtering what is true with the word, 00:47:08.000 |
will easily think that this is what the Bible says, and they will quote this quote. 00:47:14.000 |
They will quote him and other people who say things like that, without actually knowing what the Bible says, and say, "Bible says." 00:47:24.000 |
But they're not quoting scripture. They're quoting a man who says he's quoting scripture, but he's not quoting scripture. 00:47:32.000 |
That's not what the Bible says. The Bible does not whisper when it comes to sexual immorality. 00:47:37.000 |
It screams. In fact, it is one of the loudest screams that you will see in the Bible. 00:47:43.000 |
In Joshua 1.8, it says, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, 00:47:50.000 |
so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." 00:47:57.000 |
That's a text. That's the commandment that was given to Joshua and the Israelites, 00:48:01.000 |
as they are going into the promised land to establish a new covenant community. 00:48:05.000 |
So this new community that you're going to build, he gave one instruction. 00:48:10.000 |
He said, "Get together. Get all the smartest guys and figure out how you're going to do finances and politics and make decisions." 00:48:18.000 |
None of that. He just says, "All the commandments I gave to you, the ones you understand, the ones you don't understand, 00:48:25.000 |
meditate on it day and night, and do according to exactly as I told you if you want to have success." 00:48:32.000 |
Now, what does this have to do with Hebrews 12.14? 00:48:36.000 |
If you look at this text in Hebrews 14, it says, "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord." 00:48:45.000 |
Whenever we look at a text, we have to read it critically. 00:48:49.000 |
This is the reason why we do inductive Bible study, that we don't just prepare and I tell you, "Hey, this is what the Word of God says. Trust me." 00:48:56.000 |
I said it. I quoted a verse, so it must be true. 00:48:59.000 |
We want you to be able to ask critical questions and test me. 00:49:03.000 |
And I tell you all the time, don't trust it because I said it. Test me. 00:49:07.000 |
If what I said is not biblical, you should have the boldness to come and say, "How did you get that from that text?" 00:49:13.000 |
This is one of those texts that can easily look at it and say, "Pursue peace with all men." 00:49:19.000 |
And so, without thinking, without asking questions, we can apply that and say, "You know, what I did was wrong." 00:49:27.000 |
Because I just quoted JD and I just called him out and said, "That's wrong." 00:49:32.000 |
That doesn't sound like a man who's pursuing peace. 00:49:35.000 |
You just started a war. I mean, he doesn't have no idea who I am. 00:49:40.000 |
You know what I mean? So I don't think it's going to ever escalate. 00:49:43.000 |
But maybe some of you are fans of JD Greer and say, "Hey, you just stirred things up." 00:49:47.000 |
You sound like a man who is not pursuing peace. 00:49:52.000 |
If we want to understand and apply what the Word of God says, we have to ask these critical questions. 00:50:03.000 |
Does this mean that we need to jot down everyone we have a relational issue with and reconcile with them, 00:50:10.000 |
or we won't be able to see God? We won't be saved. 00:50:14.000 |
If that's the case, how did Jesus reconcile with his enemies before he went to the cross? 00:50:22.000 |
If this is to commandment, the letter of the law is to find that you should never have any contention with anybody for any reason, 00:50:31.000 |
and you need to either reconcile with them or else you're not going to see God. You're not going to be saved. 00:50:37.000 |
How did Paul reconcile with the Judaizers during his ministry before he was beheaded? 00:50:44.000 |
Does this mean that if we keep struggling with certain sins that you won't be saved? 00:50:49.000 |
He said, "Without sanctification." And the word "sanctification" just literally means holiness. 00:50:54.000 |
Without a pursuit of peace with all men, without pursuit or holiness, you're not going to be saved. 00:51:01.000 |
Clearly, that can't be because we know that salvation is by grace. 00:51:05.000 |
There's too many passages that we'd have to write off to say that. 00:51:09.000 |
Then what does this mean? And what does it mean to see God? 00:51:14.000 |
Again, the reason why I ask you to ask these critical questions and don't just kind of digest what I say without filter 00:51:22.000 |
is if you just digest what I say without filtering, you're going to remember the stories that I tell you. 00:51:29.000 |
And all your theology is going to come through whether you like that story or not. 00:51:34.000 |
Whether I was funny or articulate or whether I scratched your ears and you say, "Ah, I like that." 00:51:40.000 |
And then so we have a generation filled with people who are living by cliches. 00:51:45.000 |
"One saved, always saved." "Christian's not perfect, just forgiven." 00:51:50.000 |
And you have these cliches that you've memorized through the years and all your theology comes through the cliches. 00:51:57.000 |
You have to test to see what does the Word of God say? 00:52:01.000 |
Now, the interpretation of this passage, usually if you read the commentaries or you hear sermons about this text, 00:52:10.000 |
The first direction is to pursue peace with all men, meaning that we have to make sure that we have peace with everybody. 00:52:17.000 |
At least to the best of your ability, if you're reasonable. 00:52:20.000 |
You're not going to make peace with a Taliban. 00:52:23.000 |
You're not going to make peace with certain people you don't even have access to them. 00:52:27.000 |
You're not going to make peace with somebody that you knew 20 years ago. 00:52:31.000 |
As far as it depends on you, it says in the Book of Romans. 00:52:34.000 |
So you have that route where he says, "Actually pursue the peace." 00:52:38.000 |
And then the other route is to pursue peace, pursue the peace together with everyone. 00:52:45.000 |
And that peace he's referring to is the peace that we can only have through the blood of Jesus Christ. 00:52:54.000 |
My conclusion from this text and from the context of the Book of Hebrews, the primary meaning is both. 00:53:05.000 |
The primary, because you can't have one without the other. 00:53:09.000 |
You can't have peace with mankind unless you have peace with God. 00:53:13.000 |
The priority is you must have peace with God first. 00:53:18.000 |
And that was the whole point of the Book of Hebrews, wasn't it? 00:53:20.000 |
The whole point of the Book of Hebrews was they were drifting. 00:53:25.000 |
They were drifting away, neglecting their salvation. 00:53:27.000 |
And the way to get them back is to fix your eyes upon Jesus. 00:53:35.000 |
How Jesus is better than the sacrifice, better than the high priest, better than the angel, better than Moses, better than the high priest. 00:53:40.000 |
And so he was bringing their attention back to Christ so that they would not drift from this great salvation. 00:53:47.000 |
So within that context, what he's saying in Hebrews chapter 12 is what he started in the beginning. 00:53:57.000 |
And what he says in the rest of chapter 12 and 13 is really a revelation of what that looks like. 00:54:03.000 |
And that's why we looked at last week, to make your path straight, is primarily, first and foremost, 00:54:09.000 |
the imagery is to have the straight path to the cities of refuge, which is Christ. 00:54:15.000 |
See, even the word for "shalom," the first century Jew, the idea of peace, right? 00:54:27.000 |
It was so important that they used that as a primary greeting. 00:54:30.000 |
"Shalom" when they met each other, and then they said "shalom" when they were leaving. 00:54:33.000 |
The biblical definition of "shalom" says this. 00:54:37.000 |
"Shalom" is a Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, completeness, prosperity, welfare, and tranquility, to be made whole by God. 00:54:46.000 |
So to a Jew, there was a very specific understanding of this term "peace." 00:54:53.000 |
In fact, their primary pursuit of their nation is peace. 00:54:59.000 |
Because they were saying this to one another. 00:55:01.000 |
"One day we're going to have peace when the Messiah comes. We're going to have peace." 00:55:09.000 |
Whatever was lost because of our sins, may God make you whole. 00:55:14.000 |
And this is why when Jesus was coming into Jerusalem, the problem wasn't that they weren't pursuing peace, 00:55:21.000 |
but they were pursuing peace in the wrong place. 00:55:24.000 |
And that's why Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and says, "Only today, if you knew what would truly bring you peace, 00:55:30.000 |
then destruction would not be coming upon you." 00:55:33.000 |
So the problem was not that they were not pursuing peace, 00:55:37.000 |
but they didn't understand that Christ came ultimately to bring them spiritual peace. 00:55:43.000 |
To recreate and regenerate what was lost at the fall. 00:55:48.000 |
In Genesis 3.14-19, it is a description of the ramification of sin that came into mankind. 00:55:57.000 |
So the first part in verse 14-15 is the punishment for the serpent. 00:56:03.000 |
It says, "The Lord God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, 00:56:06.000 |
cursed are you more than all the cattle and more than every beast of the field. 00:56:11.000 |
On your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. 00:56:16.000 |
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. 00:56:21.000 |
He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." 00:56:26.000 |
So the first description of the fall of mankind is that the serpent is going to be in this contention 00:56:33.000 |
with the seed of the woman and all of their followers. 00:56:36.000 |
That's why the Bible describes our enemy, the serpent, as a devil. 00:56:41.000 |
Who is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. 00:56:45.000 |
And that's why Paul says in the book of Ephesians that we are in spiritual warfare. 00:56:53.000 |
See, all of mankind, all of human history, since the fall, has been under this constant battle 00:57:03.000 |
between Satan wanting to destroy the worshippers of Christ and Christ himself. 00:57:09.000 |
And so you and I may feel peaceful at times because we're not at war, 00:57:15.000 |
because our bills are paid, we have a good marriage, and our kids are obedient, 00:57:19.000 |
and you may feel at peace, but whatever we feel peaceful at at that time 00:57:25.000 |
is no different than two soldiers in a foxhole in the middle of a war enjoying their coffee. 00:57:31.000 |
They feel peaceful. They feel safe because they're in a foxhole. 00:57:35.000 |
But it's in the context of a war that is raging around them. 00:57:39.000 |
That's how the Bible describes the history of mankind, our experience. 00:57:44.000 |
And every once in a while something reminds us that this world is under God's condemnation. 00:57:48.000 |
It's, "Oh my God, why would God do something like that? Why would a loving God do something like that?" 00:57:52.000 |
The Bible actually describes all of mankind to be under that. 00:57:56.000 |
So it is moments of peace when you and I experience this foxhole. 00:57:59.000 |
That's when we should be asking, "What is going on?" 00:58:04.000 |
Because that Bible describes it that way. Verse 16. 00:58:07.000 |
The fall of woman to the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. 00:58:13.000 |
In pain you will bring forth children, yet your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you." 00:58:20.000 |
If you notice verse 16, everything about verse 16 is exactly why God created Eve. 00:58:26.000 |
God created Eve because he said it was not good for Adam to be alone. 00:58:29.000 |
It wasn't saying that there was something morally defective about Adam. 00:58:33.000 |
He was saying that he couldn't carry out God's mandate by himself because God didn't make him asexual. 00:58:40.000 |
So he created Eve so that Adam and Eve can be fruitful and multiply. 00:58:47.000 |
And to create her so that she may be a suitable helper so that he can fulfill the creation mandate. 00:58:55.000 |
So if you look at what he says, he says, "You will have children." 00:59:03.000 |
In pain. You will have a relationship with your husband, but he says, "Your desire will be for your husband." 00:59:08.000 |
And the word for desire here in Hebrew has an idea of conflict. 00:59:13.000 |
So you're going to fulfill why God created you, but you're not going to have peace. 00:59:23.000 |
There's going to be pain in raising these sinners in the sinful world. 00:59:28.000 |
And then there's going to be contention between husband and wife. 00:59:32.000 |
If you ask most people where the greatest pain that they have experienced in life came from, 00:59:39.000 |
majority of people, not 100%, majority of people will say it was from their home. 00:59:44.000 |
Whether it was from the father, it was from the mother, it was the marriage, it was with the relationship. 00:59:48.000 |
Majority of people who live on this earth have experienced what it's like to live with this contention. 00:59:56.000 |
So peace was gone. Peace was gone in human history. 00:59:59.000 |
Peace was gone in the home. And then in verse 17, to Adam he said, 01:00:03.000 |
"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, 01:00:09.000 |
saying, 'You shall not eat from it. Cursed is the ground because of you. 01:00:12.000 |
In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 01:00:16.000 |
You will do what I commanded you to do, but there will be no peace. 01:00:21.000 |
Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 01:00:27.000 |
By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, 01:00:31.000 |
because from it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. 01:00:36.000 |
I created you so that you may be fruitful and multiply, and so that you may subdue the land, 01:00:41.000 |
take care of the land that I created. You will continue to be fruitful in that way. 01:00:46.000 |
You will continue to do the work, but it will create thorns and thistles." 01:00:51.000 |
Now those of you who are in college who are eager to get a job, there's a reason why all the songs are about weekends. 01:01:01.000 |
When's the last time you heard "Monday, so eager for Monday"? 01:01:08.000 |
There's no song. Everything's about Friday or the weekend. 01:01:16.000 |
There's no songs about Monday because there's no joy on Monday. 01:01:22.000 |
They call Wednesday "Hump Day" because you're closer. 01:01:27.000 |
You got through the hump so you can get to the weekend. 01:01:31.000 |
The Bible says God created them, so what has left? 01:01:34.000 |
They're doing what God created them to do, but what's left? 01:01:41.000 |
That's why the Bible describes the seventh day as what? The Sabbath. 01:01:46.000 |
Sabbath is another word for what? Peace, rest. 01:01:52.000 |
After He created all things, He went into the Sabbath and He brought everyone into the Sabbath with Him, 01:01:58.000 |
but when they broke God's commandment, the Sabbath was broken. 01:02:01.000 |
That's why all throughout Scripture, in the Old Testament, why the Sabbath? 01:02:05.000 |
Why keeping this day was so important in the law? 01:02:09.000 |
Because that was pointing to the salvation of mankind, that when Christ comes, that's what He's going to restore. 01:02:24.000 |
Until we come into the Sabbath of Christ, we can pretend to have peace with one another, but there is no true peace. 01:02:32.000 |
In Isaiah 9, verse 6, the prophecy about the coming of the Messiah, 01:02:36.000 |
He says He's called the wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 01:02:43.000 |
Ephesians 2, verse 17 says, "For He Himself is our peace, 01:02:48.000 |
who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall." 01:02:56.000 |
"And He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 01:03:02.000 |
For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father." 01:03:06.000 |
And again, Romans 5, verse 1, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 01:03:13.000 |
You notice how righteousness, holiness, and peace are put together. 01:03:20.000 |
It was meant to be put together because you cannot have peace until there is righteousness in Christ. 01:03:26.000 |
So that's why He says, without pursuing peace, without pursuing righteousness, you cannot see God. 01:03:34.000 |
So it is only when we are imputed by His righteousness, and our relationship with God, with Him is restored, 01:03:42.000 |
can we have true peace, and only then can you truly practice peace with one another. 01:03:50.000 |
Until there is peace within, there is no peace without. 01:03:55.000 |
We cannot artificially make peace when we are not in peace with God. 01:04:01.000 |
Because what's causing this anxiety, what's causing this misunderstanding, what's causing these conflicts, 01:04:07.000 |
is a direct result of being separated from the Prince of Peace. 01:04:17.000 |
And when that happens, He will command us to have peace with one another. 01:04:23.000 |
You know, the world has been trying so hard to bring reconciliation, especially in the last year and a half. 01:04:32.000 |
With all the turmoil of racial injustices and equity, and so we need to have peace. 01:04:42.000 |
Saying the only way that we can have true peace is to have war, 01:04:45.000 |
so that we can suppress the people who are impeding our peace. 01:04:51.000 |
But the problem with that is the other side thinks the same thing of us. 01:04:54.000 |
In order for them to have peace, we need to die. 01:05:00.000 |
In the last year and a half, $1.7 billion have been dedicated to racial reconciliation. 01:05:10.000 |
$250 million was dedicated by the NBA to tackle this racial reconciliation, so that we can have peace. 01:05:18.000 |
Billions were collected by the Black Lives Matter movement, all in the hopes of bringing peace. 01:05:26.000 |
They said that the donations for this cause has gone up 15 times, just in the last year. 01:05:34.000 |
And I'm only talking about the private sector. 01:05:37.000 |
All of this pales in comparison to the money that the government is pouring in, in order to bring peace. 01:05:43.000 |
Now let me ask you, honestly, have you seen the effects of this money? 01:05:49.000 |
Are we at more peace? Are people getting along better because of this? 01:05:54.000 |
I mean, you may have different opinions, but my honest opinion is it's gotten much worse. 01:06:00.000 |
Now, I feel bad for our Caucasian brothers and sisters in this generation. 01:06:05.000 |
I can't imagine every time you turn on TV or radio, get online, and somebody's calling you a racist. 01:06:11.000 |
You know, it's almost like you want to become racist. 01:06:18.000 |
I think there's more true white supremacy today as a result of their efforts to bring reconciliation, to bring peace. 01:06:29.000 |
When we were younger, you know, I have an older brother and younger brother, and so we would get into fights. 01:06:36.000 |
And this is before, you know, online gaming and TV, and so we had nothing else to do, so we wrestled. 01:06:42.000 |
I think all three of us could have been professional wrestlers at some point because this was our pastime 24/7. 01:06:48.000 |
And then we would get into fights, we would wrestle. 01:06:50.000 |
And so usually the way that my dad would discipline us when we would get into fights was he would have us sit together, face each other, whoever was fighting. 01:06:58.000 |
I would say 9 out of 10 times it was me and Philip. 01:07:06.000 |
But Philip and I, we were the same size most of our life, and then he outgrew me, you know, at some point. 01:07:15.000 |
The way that my dad would deal with it, he would sit and have us next to each other, and he would give us a lecture how you shouldn't fight, but if you're going to fight, you should do it this way. 01:07:23.000 |
So he would have us sit together, and then he said, "You slap your brother," right, "and then you get to slap him," right? 01:07:31.000 |
"And then you do it like three or four times, and then that's it. You got it out of your system," right? 01:07:39.000 |
So both of us were kind of hesitating who would go first, and then I said, "Okay." 01:07:45.000 |
And then in my mind I was like, "I'll tap him like this," right? 01:07:48.000 |
I don't want to hit him too hard. My dad's there, right? 01:07:51.000 |
If we were alone, it would be a different story, but my dad's sitting there, so I have to, okay, tap him. 01:07:56.000 |
He would hear that, see that tapping, and he said, "Oh, that was harder than what he was expecting." 01:08:04.000 |
So he slaps me a little bit harder, and I'm like, "Oh, I pulled back." 01:08:16.000 |
And now he's full blown, and now my dad's concerned, because I slapped him, and then now he's got to retaliate, so he comes back slapping, and so now we're just slapping each other. 01:08:25.000 |
So my dad has to stop it, and he's like, "Stop!" 01:08:31.000 |
I don't remember a single time where that worked. 01:08:35.000 |
And the reason why it didn't work is because both of us have our own definition of what was just. 01:08:42.000 |
And this is the reason why marriages are not 50%. 01:08:47.000 |
You don't come into marriage saying, "You give 50, I give 50." 01:08:51.000 |
It sounds great, but the problem is there's never any agreement at where that 50% is. 01:08:58.000 |
So the wife thinks that she's giving 70, and he's only giving 30. 01:09:02.000 |
And the husband thinks that he's giving 70, and she's giving 30. 01:09:06.000 |
So eventually, she gets frustrated, and she says, "I said something wrong?" 01:09:15.000 |
"All right, this is why I'm preaching. Listen." 01:09:19.000 |
Eventually, what ends up happening is that the wife gets frustrated and says, 01:09:23.000 |
"Well, I've been giving 70, you gave me 30. I'm going to pull back and give you 60." 01:09:30.000 |
And the husband sees that and says, "I've been giving 70, you gave me 30, now you're giving me 20." 01:09:35.000 |
"So now I'm going to pull back, and so he's going to give 60." 01:09:38.000 |
And then they get frustrated. Now you get escalated, and eventually it's like, "I'm not going to give you any." 01:09:44.000 |
And that's usually how it works, because they can't come to an agreement where the middle is. 01:09:50.000 |
That's why whenever there's a marriage, the calling for husband and wife is an example of Christ who gave sacrificially 100%. 01:09:59.000 |
You didn't deserve it. That's what a covenant relationship is. 01:10:03.000 |
You commit to give to an individual who doesn't deserve what they're getting, what I'm going to give to them. 01:10:09.000 |
It is a 100% commitment, and the wife is called to honor and to submit 100%, whether he looks like Christ or not. 01:10:16.000 |
So it is a covenant relationship where 100% come together, motivated, not because he's such a great guy, 01:10:23.000 |
not because she's such a great wife, but because of what Christ has done for us. 01:10:29.000 |
Because the Prince of Peace gave us what you and I did not deserve. 01:10:34.000 |
So until there is peace with Christ, the world's idea of reconciliation only causes more war, more contention, more bitterness. 01:10:44.000 |
Because how do you come to peace with somebody that is not in agreement as to where the middle is? 01:10:50.000 |
What is just? Until Christ is at the center, there is no reconciliation. 01:10:58.000 |
That's why in 1 Corinthians 1.10 it says, "Now I exhort you, brethren, by name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no division among you." 01:11:08.000 |
Think about that. That sounds beautiful on paper. 01:11:11.000 |
Have you known anybody, even with your wife, that you have a covenant relationship with? 01:11:21.000 |
I agree everything. Food, where to eat, how to spend money, how to raise children, where to buy the house, how much money. 01:11:30.000 |
How do you get a 100% agreement? And how do you get a 100% agreement with everybody? 01:11:34.000 |
Is that what you're saying? Is that what we are called to do? 01:11:38.000 |
To be smart and figure out how we're going to all come together so everybody is in agreement? 01:11:46.000 |
Even in the best of marriages, I've never seen it. 01:11:49.000 |
Even in the best of churches, I've never seen it. 01:11:52.000 |
He's not referring to the hard work that causes us to find the middle and to be reconciled to one another. 01:12:01.000 |
He's telling us to pursue Christ, our peace, with all our might. 01:12:07.000 |
Ephesians 4, 1-6, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 01:12:16.000 |
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another, in love, 01:12:21.000 |
being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." 01:12:39.000 |
Because we have one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God in the Father, 01:12:50.000 |
The only way that you and I can unite together and to have peace with one another 01:12:55.000 |
is to have peace with God in His righteousness. 01:13:00.000 |
And the only agreement that you and I will ever have together is the one who never changes. 01:13:05.000 |
There is no variation. There is no prejudice in Him. 01:13:10.000 |
He does not change the Word of God. Everything, like grass, will wither, but the Word of God will stand forever. 01:13:18.000 |
And the only way that you and I will have this agreement is to get to the Word of God 01:13:23.000 |
and to agree with the Word of God and to preach the Word of God, 01:13:27.000 |
to filter through the Word of God, to apply the Word of God. 01:13:36.000 |
This is the only way that you and I will stand through the trials that are here and are coming. 01:13:44.000 |
Biblical understanding of peace is not not fighting. 01:13:54.000 |
That's not the biblical understanding of peace. 01:13:58.000 |
The biblical understanding of peace at all costs to preserve Christ. 01:14:10.000 |
No fighting, enjoy your coffee in the middle of war, as long as nobody's yelling, 01:14:15.000 |
as long as nobody's screaming, as long as everybody loves one another, we're at peace. 01:14:20.000 |
While people are dying because they do not know Christ, 01:14:25.000 |
while the church is being corrupted by false teachings left and right, 01:14:29.000 |
that is not the biblical understanding of peace. 01:14:31.000 |
When he says to pursue peace, to pursue righteousness, or no one will see God, 01:14:38.000 |
it is a call to every believer to fight for the gospel, 01:14:42.000 |
to preserve Christ at the middle at all costs. 01:14:46.000 |
My encouragement to every single one of you, get into the Word. 01:14:54.000 |
Get into the Word. Don't trust. I mean, everything I said today could be a lie. 01:15:00.000 |
"Ah, Pastor Peter's conservative, and you know, he said he's a Republican, 01:15:04.000 |
so that's why he's preaching this, and he's doing this and that." 01:15:12.000 |
But you would never know until you get into the Word. 01:15:19.000 |
And I ask you to test me because my foundation is the Word of God, 01:15:27.000 |
So in these last days, as we have been warned, 01:15:31.000 |
don't be caught off like the rest of the world, 01:15:34.000 |
like the thief in the night that's breaking in to destroy everything that we have. 01:15:39.000 |
We don't know exactly what time he is coming, 01:16:02.000 |
Let the Word of God not only be in your mind. 01:16:10.000 |
Let it saturate your hearts and then your lives. 01:16:13.000 |
Anything that you've heard from God's Word has any conviction in your heart. 01:16:19.000 |
Take some time to ask God, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, 01:16:24.000 |
and that your Word would judge the thoughts and intentions of my heart, 01:16:28.000 |
that I would not simply be hearers of the Word, but to be doers." 01:16:31.000 |
Let's take some time to pray again as our worship team leads us. 01:18:40.000 |
Church family, let's all rise together as we sing this closing song. 01:18:44.000 |
This song, for many of you who may have grown up in the church, 01:18:50.000 |
I just want to go through the lyrics as it's fitting to what Pastor Peter preached. 01:18:54.000 |
"My peace I give unto you. It's a peace that the world cannot give. 01:18:59.000 |
It's a peace that the world cannot understand. 01:19:02.000 |
Peace to know. Peace to live. My peace I give unto you." 01:22:19.000 |
"For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one 01:22:23.000 |
and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. 01:22:26.000 |
He came and preached peace to you who are far away 01:22:31.000 |
For through Him we both have our access in spirit to the Father." 01:22:36.000 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that the truth of your word, Lord God, 01:22:40.000 |
would resonate in our hearts, especially in these times 01:22:44.000 |
where there is so much confusion in the church, Lord God, 01:22:50.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to be men and women who are like the Bereans, 01:22:54.000 |
who have tested the word of God to see if it was true. 01:22:59.000 |
not to turn from it to the left or to the right, 01:23:03.000 |
but to do according to all that is written in it, 01:23:06.000 |
that all that we do may be prosperous and that we would have success. 01:23:10.000 |
So wherever you send us, help us, Lord God, to be men and women of your word, 01:23:20.000 |
Heavenly Father, God, help us to be makers of peace, Lord God, in this world. 01:24:43.000 |
And life is worth the living just because He lives. 01:25:11.000 |
If I can ask the fathers to go to the cafe side 01:25:15.000 |
so that they can get started as soon as possible.