(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - Good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. And we're gonna go ahead and start our service with this first song, "Speak, O Lord." (gentle music) ♪ Speak, O Lord ♪ ♪ As we come to you ♪ ♪ To receive the food ♪ ♪ Of your holy word ♪ ♪ Take your truth ♪ ♪ Planted deep in us ♪ ♪ Shape and fashion us ♪ ♪ In your likeness ♪ ♪ That the light of Christ ♪ ♪ Might be seen today ♪ ♪ In our acts of love ♪ ♪ And our deeds of faith ♪ ♪ Speak, O Lord ♪ ♪ And fulfill in us ♪ ♪ All your purposes ♪ ♪ For your glory ♪ (gentle music) ♪ And touch us ♪ ♪ With your beauty ♪ ♪ Holy reverence ♪ ♪ True humility ♪ ♪ And trust our thoughts ♪ ♪ And our attitudes ♪ ♪ And our radiance ♪ ♪ Heaven and earth are full of you ♪ ♪ 'Cause our faith to rise ♪ ♪ Calls our eyes to see ♪ ♪ Your majestic love ♪ ♪ And your glory ♪ (gentle music) ♪ 'Cause love, love ♪ ♪ Love can never fail ♪ ♪ And that's true ♪ ♪ Give it up ♪ ♪ Oh, good Lord ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Speak, O Lord ♪ ♪ Speak, O Lord ♪ ♪ And renew our minds ♪ ♪ Help us grasp the heights ♪ ♪ Of your plans for us ♪ ♪ And trust the change ♪ ♪ From the dawn of time ♪ ♪ That will echo down ♪ ♪ To return by grace ♪ ♪ And by grace we'll stand ♪ ♪ On your promises ♪ ♪ And thy faith will walk ♪ ♪ As you walk with us ♪ ♪ Speak, O Lord ♪ ♪ 'Til your church is built ♪ ♪ And the earth is filled ♪ ♪ With your glory ♪ ♪ Return by grace ♪ ♪ And by grace we'll stand ♪ ♪ On your promises ♪ ♪ And thy faith will walk ♪ ♪ As you walk with us ♪ ♪ Speak, O Lord ♪ ♪ 'Til your church is built ♪ ♪ And the earth is filled ♪ ♪ With your glory ♪ - All right, good morning.

Welcome to Breen Community Church. Is Pastor Nate here somewhere? Okay, we have an announcement from our college department, so he's gonna come and give an announcement. - Hello, my name is Nathan. I'm the college pastor here. We're going to be having a college fundraiser right after service today. We're gonna be serving Chipotle-style bowls.

It's gonna be only $7, which is unheard of in this inflated day. And so please come by. We've been working all night. We've been working really hard. The students are cutting a bunch of pico de gallo and things like that in the kitchen. And so we would love to serve you as well as receive some donations.

So if you guys can, please feel free afterwards. We're gonna be converting this courtyard into a quick dining area. You can eat in the cafe and all those types of places. And we also have a few sweaters and shirts if you'd like to purchase those that were left over from some of our retreats.

They're in very high demand, though, so if you want it, you gotta get in line early. Thank you. (audience applauding) - You probably noticed that the energy level was much higher than me. That's why he's our college pastor, all right? (audience laughing) Our family ministry Christmas gathering, our brother Dean gave an announcement last week, but if you are interested or willing to serve that way, to open up your home, please contact our brother Dean.

And again, his email address is on the website or on the church app. And then the holiday outreach, I think most of it is filled, but they have a few spots that are still open if you're interested. And if you go out of the courtyard, there is a canopy that's set up, and that's where they're gonna be.

So if you go out there and visit the booth, they'll be able to tell you what are still some open spots for you for that ministry for this Christmas, I can't get my words out, Christmas stuff that's coming out, okay? So you can just go visit that place, and then they'll give you instructions on that.

All right, so again, if you are visiting us and you're new to the church, our physical offering box is in the back. And otherwise, I'll pray for us, and then we'll give you a minute to give your offering electronically. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for continued love and grace that you pour upon us, things that we know, things, Lord God, that we may not even be aware of.

Help us, Lord, to lift up our eyes, to know, Father, where our true help comes from. And as we've been admonished, encouraged, and exhorted, Lord God, to anchor in Christ, help us, Lord, not to drift, but allow your word to speak to us. And ask, Lord God, that even in our giving, that we would do it purposefully, joyfully, and that it may be multiplied for your use.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Church family, let's all rise together as we sing. ♪ We won't fear the battle, we won't fear the night ♪ ♪ We will walk the valley with you by our side ♪ ♪ You will go before us, you will lead the way ♪ ♪ We have found a refuge only you can save ♪ ♪ Sing with joy now, our God is for us ♪ ♪ The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress ♪ ♪ Raise your voice now, no love is greater ♪ ♪ Who can stand against the strength our God is for ♪ ♪ Even when I stumble ♪ ♪ Even when I stumble, even when I fall ♪ ♪ Even when I turn back, still your love is sure ♪ ♪ You will not abandon, you will not forsake ♪ ♪ You will cheer me on, never ending praise ♪ ♪ Sing with joy now, our God is for us ♪ ♪ The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress ♪ ♪ Raise your voice now, no love is greater ♪ ♪ Who can stand against the strength our God is for ♪ ♪ Neither high ♪ ♪ Neither high nor depth can separate us ♪ ♪ Hell and death will not defeat us ♪ ♪ He who gave the sun to free us ♪ ♪ Holds me in him who tamed me ♪ ♪ Neither high nor depth can separate us ♪ ♪ Hell and death will not defeat us ♪ ♪ He who gave the sun to free us ♪ ♪ Holds me in his love ♪ ♪ Sing with joy now, our God is for us ♪ ♪ The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress ♪ ♪ Raise your voice now, no love is greater ♪ ♪ Who can stand against the strength our God is for ♪ One more time, sing.

♪ Sing with joy now, our God is for us ♪ ♪ The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress ♪ ♪ Raise your voice now, no love is greater ♪ ♪ Who can stand against the strength our God is for ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ From the brightness of his glory ♪ ♪ Jesus, the Son of God the Son ♪ ♪ Takes on the nature of a servant ♪ ♪ Jesus, obedient to death ♪ ♪ The Father will to crush him ♪ ♪ As a sacrifice for sin ♪ ♪ He's satisfied God's justice ♪ ♪ And in victory he rose again ♪ ♪ We are highly exalted ♪ ♪ Name above all names worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ You are great in your glory ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're the King of everything ♪ ♪ Exalted, exalted to the highest King ♪ ♪ In the name of the Lord, all are free ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The tomb is empty ♪ ♪ The tomb is empty, Christ is risen ♪ ♪ Jesus, the Lamb was crucified ♪ ♪ Angels never ceased to worship ♪ ♪ Jesus, in heaven glorified ♪ To him belongs.

♪ To him belongs the power of His name ♪ ♪ Who is the might and strength ♪ ♪ Of glory and dominion ♪ ♪ To the Lord be praised ♪ ♪ You are highly exalted ♪ ♪ Name above all names worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ You are great in your glory ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're the King of everything ♪ ♪ Exalted, exalted to the highest King ♪ ♪ In the name of the Lord, all are free ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I will stand on my knees ♪ ♪ I will bow my head and pray ♪ ♪ That you are Lord of all ♪ ♪ Our knees will bow, our tongues will pray ♪ ♪ That you are Lord of all ♪ ♪ Our knees will bow ♪ ♪ Our knees will bow, our tongues will pray ♪ ♪ That you are Lord, are you Lord of all ♪ ♪ Our knees will bow, our tongues will pray ♪ ♪ That you are Lord of all ♪ ♪ You are highly exalted ♪ ♪ Name above all names worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ You are great in your glory ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're the King of everything ♪ ♪ Exalted, exalted to the highest King ♪ ♪ In the name of the Lord, all are free ♪ ♪ ♪ - Amen, you may be seated.

All right, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 13, verses 9, verse 9. I'm going to be reading from verse 7 to 9. Hebrews chapter 13, verses 7 to 9. Again, those of you who are joining us, you weren't here with us as we were going through the whole book of Hebrew.

Chapter 13, starting from verse 7, actually most of the chapter is really a summary of what he's been trying to say through the whole book. And now he's making his conclusion as to application, why he's been telling us not to drift, and why Christ was exalted, that he is better than all that they are tempted by.

And so now he's kind of like summarizing. So every part of what he says here has a direct linkage to things that he's been saying through the other 12 chapters. So that's why we want to make sure that we're thorough in our observation and our application as we go through this text.

So let's look at verse 7 through 9. Again, our emphasis here today is in verse 9. "Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited." Heavenly Father, we ask for your grace that we ourselves, Lord God, would be strengthened by grace, that we would not be carried away, Father God, or drift by every wind of doctrine that comes in our generation.

Help us, Lord God, to be grounded in you, in your word, that we would not turn from it to the left or to the right, that we would not take away from it, nor to add to it, and that we would not simply be hearers of the word, but also doers as well.

We lift these things to you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let me ask you a question. Again, you don't have to audibly answer it, but just to get you to think before we start. When you've talked to people-- maybe you yourself had a view of this-- when you talk to people about the church, what is the most common complaint that people have about the church?

You don't have to yell it out. What is the most common complaint that you've had? Maybe you're trying to share the gospel with a non-Christian and say, "Well, you Christians are like this. I don't want to go to church because the church is like this." What is the most common complaint that you've heard?

My guess is that if you were to categorize the majority of the complaints that you've heard of why they don't want to come to church, it probably falls into one or the other category. One is that the church is filled with hypocrites. You say one thing, and you act another way.

You're no different than the people in the world, or some might say, "I'm more moral than a lot of the Christians that I know." And so you're a bunch of hypocrites. So you'll either have that category, or the other category is that you guys are all just judgmental. You guys are like, if you go there, everybody's looking down on each other, and you guys are judgmental.

So I don't want to be a part of a community that's always judging people. Most likely, the complaints that you hear about the church will fall into one or the other category. That complaint about the church is nothing new. It's not anything new to our generation. It's not a modern-day phenomenon.

If you look at the New Testament, the two primary problems that they were wrestling with in the early church falls into those two categories. If you look at most of the New Testament, in every single letter, there is a wrestling with the Judaizers because they couldn't let go of the law.

So on top of the gospel, they added that you had to be a Jew, you had to be circumcised, you had to abide by the rules of the Sabbath. So you had to be a Jew in order to be a Christian. So we typically call them the Judaizers, or another word for it in our modern vocabulary is legalists.

So in the early church, right off the bat, that was one of the main false doctrines that they were holding onto, and it led to legalism. And then the other part of it came from the Gentile world. There was a philosopher called the Gnostics, and the root teaching of the Gnostics was the flesh and the spirit is completely separate.

And so one of the things that they taught was Jesus could not have possibly come in the flesh because the flesh is evil and it's sinful. So when we are saved, we are only saved in spirit, so what you do in the flesh doesn't really matter. So when we die, spiritually we go to heaven, but the flesh will die and decay, so it doesn't matter.

So that came into the church through the Gnostic teaching through some people in the early church. So the whole letter of 1 John is dealing with that false teaching. But it didn't stop with that in the first century. They didn't teach this and then all of a sudden weed it out of the church.

All throughout church history, you can examine teeter-tottering back and forth to legalism, to licentiousness, and in fact, I would say even in the short time that I've been a Christian, I became a Christian early in 1983, and it was at the tail end of the Jesus movement. I didn't understand at that time what was going on, but at the tail end of the Jesus movement, some of you guys who either read about it or may remember that, it was a movement away from what they would consider legalism, this strict rule of you've got to do this, you've got to dress a certain way, because the hippie movement came across and they were having long hair, doing drugs, in order to reach those people, get rid of all of these rules and let the hippies just come in with their long hair, with, you know, they're not dressed properly, even without shoes, and Calvary Chapel was actually at the forefront of that movement.

And so I got saved at the tail end of that movement and the primary teaching during that period is Jesus loves you exactly the way you are. Once saved, always saved. Christians are not perfect. Just forgive it. But as that movement went on, obviously the licentiousness began to come in and people who kind of superficially professed their faith in Christ started to live lives that didn't match what the Scripture was saying.

And then in somewhere between the mid-80s to late-80s, there was the discipleship and holiness movement came in. And so I remember at that time, early on in college, like everybody was being discipled by somebody. The navigators and all these different ministries just began to pop up and you had to be disciplined, you had to do quiet time, and you had to memorize Scripture, and you had to share the Gospel.

And so you had these rules that you had to follow in order to correct the mistake that some people fell into at the tail end of the Jesus movement. Well, as that movement started to grow, there was a concern of legalism, spiritual abuse. And so it became so rigid and people were coming to church and it was like, "We're not really encountering God." And so some of you guys may remember the charismatic movement started to come in the late '80s and the '90s, and they had a huge impact.

In fact, much of our modern worship today came in during that period because prior to that, it was considered contemporary if you used a guitar. Some of you guys who are a little bit older may remember. It was like pipe organs or piano at best, and if you did anything more than that, we kind of like, "Is this allowable in the church?" And then during the charismatic movement, because the emphasis was we have to encounter God, we have to feel something, and so they went from-- they moved away from discipleship to encountering God through these movements.

So the songs and sometimes the preaching, the services were all to get you to feel God, to be touched by God. So if you look at the songs that we were singing during that period, all of it was, "Come and touch me, come and fill me," because that was the emphasis during that period.

And then along with that movement, people were concerned that a lot of the younger generation was starting to move out of the church, and so out of fear, there was a new movement that came in called the Seeker-Friendly Movement, and it was market-driven. Because the churches are dying, and if we don't do something about it, the church is going to disappear, so they started using marketing techniques.

How do we get the most people to come? How can we get non-Christians to feel comfortable in order to grab their attention and reverse this decay, decline in the church? And the Seeker-Friendly Movement came in. But at the end of the Seeker-Friendly Movement, people began to realize the superficialness because the Word of God is not being taught, sin is not being addressed, and it's just kind of like, "We want you to be here.

"Jesus loves you unconditionally." And so at the tail end of that, and I remember, I was doing ministry at that time, being so frustrated, but then I started to see a new movement coming in called the Young, Restless, and Reform Movement. So some of you guys who are in your 30s and 40s may remember that.

And all of a sudden, I started seeing 18-, 19-year-olds coming into ministry asking, "Do you believe in predestination? "Does your church practice church discipline?" And this is coming from 18-, 19-year-olds. I couldn't get the 20-, 25-year-olds to be interested in church, and all of a sudden, the younger generation, and that generation now is in their late 30s and early 40s.

So I said, "Clearly, there's some kind of a movement going on." Because there was a heavy emphasis on Bible teaching and church discipline, and it started swinging back that way. Then after a while, that movement started being more young and restless than reformed. And then there was a movement toward, "We need to be gospel-centered," because that's too legalistic, and so we need to be gospel-centered.

And all of a sudden, everything had to be gospel. Everything is fighting against legalism-- gospel-centered parenting, gospel-centered singing, gospel-centered preaching, gospel-centered missions, gospel-centered everything. You go to the book store, everything is gospel-centered. At the tail end of that gospel-centered movement, they're realizing that there's a big hole in this movement, and so now we have the social justice movement, where it's like, "No, it's not just the gospel.

We have to do something. "We have to care, and you can't just preach the gospel. "We have to alleviate the suffering." And so if you look at--even just during the short period that I've been a Christian, this teeter-tottering back and forth from legalism to materialism, from legalism to licentiousness, back and forth.

And when we try to correct, maybe when we've gone too far, we have a tendency, or our enemy has a tendency, to play spiritual judo. I remember when I was younger, I would wrestle with my friends, and I was pretty decent at wrestling because I grew up wrestling with my brothers.

And this was before Nintendo TV turned off at 11 o'clock, so either we threw rocks at each other, and then we wrestled. So all of us were good at wrestling. So I would wrestle my friends, and I would usually overpower them through wrestling, but I had this one guy, and he must have been no more than 120 pounds, and he would grab me and just flip me to the ground.

And I said, "Okay, that must have been a mistake." Every time I step in toward him, he would just grab me and then put his hip underneath my hip, and the next thing I know, I'm up in the air and I'm being slammed to the ground. So I said, "What is going on?" And I found out he was a black belt in judo.

And then he was kind of telling me what he was doing. He said every time he sees me moving toward him, he would use my own motion, and then he would use that against me. So if I'm coming this direction, he would just kind of throw me off balance, and then he would flip me.

Now, the reason why I share that is because every time that we try to balance ourselves, our enemy has a tendency to use spiritual judo. Our desire not to be legalistic ends up pushing us toward licentiousness, and then our desire to say, "You know what? We need to correct this," and then we end up going back to legalism, going back and forth, back and forth.

The reason why I mention this is because in this text, in Hebrews chapter 39, it says, "Do not be carried away by varied and strange teaching." The word "varied" here, it literally means to be multicolored, and "strange" is something alien. And so these strange teachings that are coming in are taking something that may have some truth to it, and then it twists it, and then it kind of perverts it.

And that was the main problem in the early church, even to this day, desiring to make things right, to balance, and then our tendency is to kind of take it too far, and then we end up erring on one side or the other. Now, it's in this where he is trying to tell them, "Do not be carried away." Drift.

And the word for "drift" here, again, as you guys know, this is nothing new in this text. We're using that word all throughout the book of Hebrews not to neglect such a great salvation. We don't anchor ourselves to other objects that are also going to move. When we anchor ourselves, we have to anchor to something that when the waves come in, shifting back and forth, that whatever it is that we're anchored to isn't going to move.

That's why we're constantly told to anchor in Christ. If you're anchored to friends, when they move, you will move. If you're anchored to your family, when your family moves, you will move. If you're anchored to your job, when your job disappears, you end up shifting with that. We don't anchor ourselves to things that are not stable.

A boat does not anchor itself to another boat. A boat anchors itself to something that's not going to move. And that's why he says we need to be anchored in Christ. Anything else that you anchor yourself to is just a matter of time that it's going to shift. Ephesians 4, 11-14, it says, "He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers." If you notice here, the positions of each one of these people, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, they're all teachers of the Bible.

They're all people whose primary duty was to proclaim the Word of God. The context may be different for each title, but every single one of them. He says the reason why he gave them that, to equip the saints for the work of service, to empower them for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith.

Unity doesn't come because we're surrounded by people our age. Unity doesn't come because people around us have the similar color hair. Unity doesn't come because we have people who like outdoors, and so I like being around people who are outdoors, or similar job, or similar economic status. The beauty of the church is that though we are varied in all different walks of life, what unites us is what we're anchored to.

And so because we are called to anchor in Christ, the church is not where we anchor ourselves. Church is a gathering of people who are anchored in Christ. And that's why he says, "They teach the Word of God, to the unity of faith, knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming." I mean, the devil is constantly using maybe our good intentions and judoing us to the ground, you know, from different movement.

There's a reason why these movements were popular, because in and of itself, there's some truth to that. They're trying to correct something that went wrong. But in correcting, our natural tendency is to fall into the scheme. So how do we do this if the devil, who is smarter than us, stronger than us, more powerful than us, how do we stay put?

How do we make sure that we do not get tossed back and forth? There's a reason why he says in Hebrews 13, 8, it says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." He's the only one that does not shift. He's the only one that does not change.

If you anchor yourself to anything else, it's just a matter of time. Again, in 1 Peter 1, 24-25, "For all flesh is like grass, and all is glory like the flowers of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which was preached to you." So the question is, what are you anchored to?

What exactly are you anchored to? He says, "Do not be tossed back and forth by various strange doctrines that come in." And he says, "It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace." It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace. So in order for us to be anchored, he says, "You need to be strengthened by grace." But that term, "strengthened by grace," sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?

Because typically when we think of grace, we think of someone who is soft, gentle, malleable, flexible. Strength means power, righteousness, holiness. But he says, "It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace." And he says the same thing to Timothy. 2 Timothy 2.1, "You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ you." Be strong in the grace.

Typically if we tell somebody to be strong, we'll say, "Suck it up. You're stronger than they are. You're smarter than they are. You have more knowledge than they are. You're older than they are. You have more power. You're more talented than they are." Instead, he tells this timid pastor, young pastor, he said, "No, be strong in the grace.

Do not be timid." You know, on the surface, that sounds like an oxymoron. It seems like a contradiction. But in fact, the Bible is filled with oxymorons, right? Paradoxes that seem like a contradiction, but when you dig into it, it makes perfect sense. We see another one in Hebrews 4.11, it says, "Let us strive to enter the rest." Strive to enter the rest.

So when we hear the word strive, it means stop being lazy, right? Stop watching Netflix. Get off your butt. Do your quiet time. Get to work. Let's strive. We need to be committed. Pick up your cross and follow Christ. Why? So that we can rest. I'm already tired, right?

By that command, strive to rest. That's exactly what it says. On the surface, it seems like a contradiction. To be strengthened by grace. Hebrews 4.16, remember, he says, "Have confidence to enter the throne." Throne is where the power is. Throne is where our help is. Throne is where our king rules.

King of kings and Lord of lords. There's nothing above him. But what kind of throne is it? Throne of grace. You would not equate the throne with grace. You equate the throne with power, with authority, and might. But he says, "Come to the throne of grace." In fact, our Lord's very title in the book of Zechariah, he says, "Our king is coming riding on a donkey, humbled." Who would put those two words together?

In fact, if we want to accuse somebody of being arrogant, what do we normally say? What do you think? You're the king? Right? Because that's what we mean when we say, "Oh, you're a king? You're acting like the king. You think you're the king?" You think when LeBron James tattooed the king that it was a humble statement?

That he was trying to be humble and serve the world? No, when he says king, he means he's better. He's better than anybody else. He's the king. And yet, our Lord's title is a humble king. And that's why the Jews could not understand because they thought their Messiah, the king, was going to come and he was going to dominate.

Just like what that word means. I mean, he's above any secular kingdom. He created the universe. All things are made by him, for him. All things are sustained by him. And yet, it says he's a humble king. So they could not comprehend that their Messiah was going to humble themselves.

In fact, remember when Jesus was coming, in order to glorify the Father, remember what he did? He said, "I'm going to go to what? To the cross." And as he goes to the cross, what does he say? "I go to glorify the Father, and the Father to glorify me." Think about where he was going.

The cross was deliberately created to humiliate and humble people. As an example, that if you don't submit to us, this is what's going to happen to you. So it was a place of torture. It was a place of humiliation. It was a place of suffering. And yet, Jesus says, "I'm going to that to glorify the Father." And I'm going to go to that.

He said, "Lord, it's time for you to glorify me." How could that be? How can the most humiliating way to end life be the avenue in which God says he's going to glorify himself? It seems like an oxymoron, but our whole faith rests upon this idea of the humble king, of the throne of grace, of glory and humiliation, of strength by grace.

We talked about this about a month ago, that our holy God never compromises his holiness or his grace. That the cross was the perfect union of his mercy and his righteousness without a single compromise. And so when he says, not to stray back and forth to legalism, to licentiousness, but it's good for our heart to be strengthened by grace.

So this morning, I want to talk about four areas in which grace strengthens us. First service, I did not get past number two. So most likely I would just get to number two. But I want you to know what the other three and four is, because I don't want you to leave with incomplete doctrine.

So number one is, it first strengthens us by emptying us of our pride. Number two, grace strengthens us because it gives us absolute security of our salvation. Number three, grace strengthens us because it equips us for every good work. And number four, grace strengthens us because it gives us boldness to proclaim the gospel.

Let me get to number one. How does grace strengthen us? If this is at the core of God's glory, if this is what the cross teaches us, it first empties us of our pride. Ephesians chapter 289 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not as a result of work.

So, all of that, so for what purpose? So that no one may boast." Think about the worldly principle. Everything that we do is so that we can have something to boast about. Right? I mean, why are we competing in BBA today? Right? So the winners can take a picture and put it up and say, "We beat you." You know, we're just having fun.

But rest of what we do outside, like why do you go to school? You get a better job. Make better money. Why do you invest? So that we can have more money. You know, why do you work out? So you can have a better body. And all of it is to improve our lives.

But here it says, "This was given to you by grace so that nobody can stand and boast." It's the act of the opposite. And if you think about it, the whole rebellion of mankind is summarized in this statement. Boasting. Satan wanted God's glory. So that he can also boast.

So that he can also be glorified. Adam and Eve was tempted and disobeyed God because they wanted the same knowledge that he had. Tower of Babel was built so that they can touch God's glory. So all of mankind is, "We want glory." I mean, it doesn't take much for us to be filled with pride.

You walk into a room and you can survey the room and say, "I'm taller than him. I'm better looking than this guy." You may never say it because they're going to think you're vain. But you think it. What school did you go to? Where do you work? What do you do for a living?

And somewhere in the back of your mind you're calculating, "I make more money than you." You went to UCLA? Oh, okay, okay. Good job. I went to Berkeley. Oh, you went to Berkeley? I went to Stanford. Right? We're constantly measuring in the back of our mind, even though we're too smart to vocalize it with our words.

But it doesn't take much for us to become proud. "I did quite --" Did you do quite that? Did you do this? How many people did you disciple? Even in the church, it doesn't take much for us to become proud. You're a little bit more articulate. You read a little bit more.

You pray a little bit. I've seen people come to morning prayer every day and then get in a fight afterwards. It was like as a young Christian, it just blew my mind. It's like, "Man, we spent an hour and a half praying together, and they're arguing outside in the parking lot." You know?

I said, "What happened?" Even in our prayers, we measure. I come out every day. You only come Tuesday? You know? He says, "We're saved by grace so that no one will boast." In 1 Corinthians 1, 26 through 29, "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.

God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. And the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that he may nullify the things that are for what purpose? So that no man may boast before God." The reason why he's saying this in Corinthians is because the church was infighting for who is more righteous.

"Well, I follow Peter. He's the first apostle, so clearly if you follow Peter, you must be more righteous than the others." No, I follow Paul because Paul, look what he did. Look at how many churches that he planted. I mean, this guy was a Roman citizen. He gave up everything.

So I follow apostle Paul. And some were saying, "Apollos is clearly the most gifted." I mean, he understood the Messiah that was going to come through the Old Testament even before it was explained to him. So he clearly understands the Old Testament better than the other apostles. So I follow Apollos.

And then some were above all of that. Since they can't compete with those three, it's like, "I follow Jesus." And they weren't saying this to be humble. They were saying this to outdo the other people. "Oh, you're Apollos? Oh, Peter?" "My master is Jesus." And because of this infighting and one-upping each other, who's more righteous than the other, it was causing all kind of chaos in the church.

And Paul writes to them and saying, "You foolish dummies," in the modern English. Right? "Don't you know that he chose you because you were foolish? Because you had nothing to offer? So that when people looked at you and they said, 'What is it about these fools that give them such power?

What is it about these uneducated people, these mere fishermen, these poor people who had nothing to give? What is it about them that they're flipping the world upside down so that when people see this, they're not going to give them the credit?' That God chose the foolish things, the dumb found the wise, so that man will not boast." So human boasting doesn't fit the gospel.

I don't care how much we know. I don't care how much we've experienced. I don't care how disciplined we are. Boasting and Christianity does not go together. He says from the get-go, "God saved us so that no one may boast." Because boasting is at the core of our rebellion.

Boasting is at the core of our coveting. Because we're constantly measuring each other, measuring ourselves to see who's ahead. And so he said, "You guys are all nullified." In order for us to be able to see the light of Christ brighter, our lights have to be turned dim or off.

So when we want to see the star, you don't go to the city. If you want to see a brighter picture of the stars, you don't go to the city. You go to the desert or you go to the mountain where there's less light. And then even when you get there, what do you have to do?

Turn off your light. Whatever light is on, you've got to turn off. Turn off your flashlight, turn off your car, turn off your lamp. And then you gaze up. And then because all the other lights are dimmed, you're able to see the glory. What prevents sinners from seeing the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Their own boasting. Their own lights that they're trying so hard to make it brighter is blinding them to see the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So the first thing that he does, he says, "So that no one can boast, so that you can turn it off." And isn't that what justification is?

When we recognize our own sins, we empty ourselves. And I have nothing, so our lights are turned off. Whatever it is that we had to boast, all gets emptied out so that we can be filled with Christ. That's the beginning of our salvation. Remember Apostle Paul in Corinth. He comes in tired, beaten, in jail, discouraged.

It doesn't say he wanted to quit, but I mean, you could tell he's a human being too. He's being beaten, stoned, jailed, whipped, shipwrecked. And Jesus has to actually talk to him and say, "Hey, I have more of my people here, so you persevere." So he risked his life, his well-being, fatigue, all of that to bring the gospel to the Corinth.

But because they didn't like what he had to say, they started to question his authority. He's an apostle? But they didn't stop there. They started questioning his motive. They said, "That guy's like any other false prophet coming into town. He's doing it for money." And then they started questioning his ability.

He speaks well, but his appearance is not impressive. They even made fun of the way he looked. At least that's how it's interpreted, right? I mean, he literally gave everything so that they may have the gospel, and they were questioning everything about him. And so, Apostle Paul says he pleaded with the Lord to take this thorn on his side out.

Most commentators believe that the thorn he's referring to were his detractors, people who were questioning him. Remember, when he was in Philippi sitting in prison, he said some preached Christ out of envy to put more pressure on him. Can you believe that? Inside the church, people are preaching the gospel just to make it harder for him.

He says, "Praise God, whether they do it out of poor motive or good motive, the gospel is preached." But this was so agonizing to him, he pleaded with the Lord, he says, three times. And you know when the Bible says three times, it's not necessarily referring to one, two, three.

You know, the number three represents confirmation. You know, like it says, you know, for an elder, if there's two or three have something against him, they take it to the church, right? A church our size, there's got to be more than two or three people who have something against me.

So, even though the number three is mentioned, basically the spirit behind that is, it bothers him so much, he agonized before God, and my guess is he prayed every day, not just three times. Like Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, "I prayed three times and God said no." This was agonizing for him.

"Lord, take this away. I'm doing so much for you, so much revelation is coming through him." In fact, when he asked, the way Jesus answered him was, "So much revelation is coming through this man, that there was concern that he may become proud." And so the way he answers him in 2 Corinthians 12, 9-10, and he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." He doesn't say, "I'm going to change your circumstance." And he's not saying that you don't have grace.

"I'm going to give you some more grace so that you can overcome this." He says, "What you have is enough." What you have is enough. Everything that you need for life of godliness has been given to you in the knowledge of his son Jesus Christ. He says, "My grace is sufficient for you." Everything you need, you already have.

I listen to that and it's another way of saying, "Suck it up." Not suck it up as in like, just bare-grin and just use your strength. He says, "Look at my grace for you." Even in the midst of all of that. He says, "Most gladly therefore I will rather boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." He said his primary concern with Apostle Paul is that because God is doing such great work, that there was concern that his pride was going to get in the way.

That his experience, that he himself as a man is going to get in the way. So he was deliberately weakening Apostle Paul. Deliberately weakening him. "Therefore I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distress, with persecution, with difficulty. For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong." In order for grace to be powerful, Paul needed to get out of the way.

It is when we are weak, he is strong. So when he says, "Be strengthened by grace." Basically the first and the most prominent thing that we need to remember is to kill our pride. That there is this desire to be recognized. This desire to one up on somebody. To measure our righteousness against someone else's righteousness.

That we need to be humble before God. And this is not just justification. We are going to be talking about sanctification next week. I meant to talk about it today, but we ran out of time. It is not just talking about justification. Our sanctification is also so that you and I do not boast.

He reminds us who we are and to be strengthened by grace. And in order for us to be strengthened by grace, we need to first recognize whatever strength that you think you have must be humbled. It is in the areas where you and I think are strong are the areas where we stumble the most.

If you are good with numbers and you are accounting, you know, or if you have gotten promotion at a job somewhere and you happen to be a manager, that is where your pride is the greatest. That is where you have the most opinion. That is where you think you can do the most for the kingdom of God.

And so remember when Peter, you know, and the apostles, like they were fishing and they came back after fishing all night and they didn't catch anything. And here is this carpenter, Jesus, and he said, hey, throw out your net. And you could tell the frustration of these fishermen. We fished all night.

We couldn't catch anything. I know you are the Lord, but I am a fisherman. And these professional fishermen fished all night and we couldn't catch anything. But they have learned a lesson by then, right? Jesus was resurrected and he said, hey, man, I screwed up before. Maybe I shouldn't screw up again.

He said, because you said it, I will do it. So they humbled themselves because they learned their lesson and threw their net in and they brought so much that they couldn't even count. And simply because they obeyed the carpenter. It is in the areas that we are proud of.

It is in the areas that we think we are strong. That is where we stumble the greatest. That is where we have the greatest problem. And that is why to be strengthened by grace, we need to first and foremost be humbled. Because we don't need to pray if we are good.

We are not desperate when we can take care of ourselves. We are not in need. We want, I want Jesus, but I don't need Jesus because I am capable. For wherever where we have pride is the area that you are most likely the weakest. So we are saved by grace and grace so that we cannot boast.

Secondly, we are strengthened by grace because we have absolute security in our salvation. Hebrews 13, 5, I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you. Remember, we talked about how there is five negatives here. Never, ever, ever, never, never. Was that four or five? Never, five times.

Just in case you didn't understand the first time, I will never forsake you. Never, really never? Never, never. Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never. Do you actually know what I have done? Do you know how much I struggle? Never, never, never. Never, ever, ever, never, never. Never.

There is a reason why he says that. He knows. He knows our tendency to be proud when we think we are doing good. And he knows how destructive we get when we are struggling, that I am not worthy. That somehow I need to earn my salvation. Even though we don't say that, that we become easily proud when we feel like we are more disciplined.

And then we are like, we are unworthy of his grace when we are not doing well. You understand the meaning of grace? It means you got something you didn't deserve. That's the very definition of grace. If you earned grace, you didn't get grace. And so to be strengthened by grace means that our salvation is secure in him.

Isaiah 41, 10 says, "Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." You notice here how many times he says, "I am with you.

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Our salvation, our relationship with God is dependent upon his covenant, his promise, his faithfulness, his immutability. And so when Jesus told his disciples, "How many times should I forgive my brother?" Seven times.

Peter said seven times because he was waiting for the eighth time. He said, "Well, three times, okay, that's what we're told to do. But since we're disciples of Jesus, seven times." Right? Seven times. In the back of his mind, he's probably thinking like on the eighth time he's going to get it.

With Jesus' approval, but Jesus says seven times seventy. I could imagine the disciples calculating with their fingers and toes. Right? Wait a second. I'm going to lose track. But you know what he meant. As long as he is repentant, forgive him. Think about that humanly speaking. I mean, what he's telling his disciples to do is not human, is not natural.

Remember if somebody fools you once, right? How does that go? Somebody fooled you once, shame on you. Shame on me. Okay, thank you. All right? Thanks, Lee. Somebody fooled you once, shame on me. No, shame on you. What's going on here? All right? I need to anchor in Christ.

Somebody fooled you once, shame on you. If somebody fools me twice, shame on me. What do we mean by that? Don't leave yourself vulnerable. If they do that to you again, that's your fault for being fools and putting yourself in that situation. You should have learned, right, and put them in their place the second time.

That's what that means, right? That's worldly wisdom. Seven times. So seven times, even seven times doesn't seem natural, right? Fool me once, then fool me two, three, four, five, six, seven times? He says, "No, seven times, seven." What does he mean by that? As long as their repentance is genuine, forgive them.

That's not worldly wisdom. That's godly grace. And the only way that he can do that is because our God is immutable. The same God who forgave us the first time we repented is the same God that we will meet 400th time because he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

His immutability is based upon all knowledge. So when we come to him the 400th time, as long as our repentance is genuine, he says he will forgive us. That's how secure our salvation is. Does that give you strength? Absolutely. You know, I used to think when I was a younger Christian because this illustration was given to me that God's grace means that he bridged the gap for us and he threw down a rope.

And so sanctification is me climbing this rope. Because that's what I was told and that's what I believe. This is again at the tail end of the Jesus movement and people were starting to correct it back into holiness. And no, you've got to climb this. And that made so much sense to me because I was seeing so much licentiousness in the church.

And I was like, that makes sense. That's why people are living the way that they are because they're not climbing. They need to climb. So I started climbing. But the problem with that analogy, one, it's not biblical. But two, I could never climb this rope. I would go up, you know, 10 feet and slide down 11, determined to go up another 10 feet and slide down 12.

And after a year, year and a half of this, not making any progress. I said, man, what's wrong with me? And I just got so sick and tired of failing and sliding and going up and sliding. And I just, I can't do this anymore. It took years for me to realize how unbiblical that analogy was.

Christ didn't just throw down a rope from heaven. He said he walked in our shoes. He came down. He wrapped us up, held us in his righteous right hand, and he will make sure that we will be glorified. And so having this assurance of salvation frees me to live my life.

That's what Paul means when he says, I know how to be content in every and all situations, whether you have a lot or a little, because he's not anchored in money. He's not anchored in safety. He's anchored in Christ. So let me finish with this analogy. I know we have BBA finals, right, highlight of some of our year, right, some of us.

I'm praying for the BBA legends because some of the older members of our church are still in it. And so I'm praying that they don't get hurt, that they will, somebody's going to win, right. And then some of you guys who are playing BBA, I mean, it's fun. We're going to come and watch you guys to see, right.

But imagine this game, this gift that we've been given because we're young. We have friends that we can play with, and we have a nice court to play and fellowship with other Christians. Imagine if I said, if you don't win, you can't come to church anymore. It's no longer a game to enjoy, right.

It's something that's going to cause fear and anxiety. And this very gift that we're enjoying turns into a burden that will crush us. It's being strengthened by grace to humble ourselves and recognize that our salvation is secure in Christ. That whether we win or lose, whether we have a lot or little, whether we are successful in the eyes of the world or not, it doesn't change anything because my eternity in Christ is secure.

Because my life is now hidden in Christ. When Christ come in his glory, we will be glorified with him. We will know what real life is like when he comes. So whether I win or lose, I can enjoy what I have here as a blessing of God, little or a lot.

This is why grace strengthens us. And either self-righteousness or licentiousness will crush us. So again, I'll get to the number three and four next week, but three is just as important because I don't want anybody here ending saying, "Let us sin so grace may abound then." Right. Paul says, "No!

By no means." Grace does not mean that therefore what we do in life doesn't matter. Right. But that's next week. I just don't want you to have heresy in your head before we get into our break. But we'll talk about that next week. Let's pray. Gracious Father, we thank you for loving us and saving us, adopting us, Lord God, that we may call you our Abba Father.

Help us, Lord, that we would not drift from every wind of doctrine that comes in from generation to generation. Help us to be anchored in Christ and the Christ of the Word, that we would not be driven back and forth. But I pray, Lord God, that your Word that you've implanted in our hearts, that we would be strengthened by this grace, that we may live lives worthy of the gospel that you've given.

May Christ be exalted, your name honored, and the world know, Father God, that there is hope in the name of Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Praise. Let's pray. 1 Corinthians 1, 18 and 19 says, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.'" Lord, we pray that your word will be the foundation upon everything that we pursue. Help us, Lord God, not to be short-sighted, knowing that our life is temporary here.

Help us, Lord God, to live a life truly worthy of the calling that you've been given to us. I pray that you would help us not to stray from your word to the left or to the right, but that your grace would strengthen us, empower us, empty us of our own pride, empty us, Lord God, of our self-sufficiency, that we would remain in you, knowing, Father God, that you are the only anchor that is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

May Christ's name and his glory be glorified wherever you send us this week. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. He came to earth, healed and full of love. He worked and died to buy my power. My help and help is there to save your days. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives. Amen.