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How Can I Repay Him?
Psalms 116
August 22, 2021

In Christianity there are words and phrases that sometimes
We become too liberal with even to our own detriment.

For example:
People talk about GRACE (as they should)
• But when talk of grace turns into licentiousness grace has been perverted into something that it is not.

People talk about LOVE (as they should)
• But when talk of love turns into absence of judgment love has been perverted into something that it is not.

And I think another place where we can fall into this trap is with the word FREE
• We often speak of salvation being a “free gift” (which it is)

Salvation is free in the sense that the entire cost was paid by God.
• He sent His Son.
• Jesus fulfilled the Law.
• Jesus paid the debt.
• Jesus purchased our salvation with His own death.

We receive salvation by grace.
It is in fact freely given.

The perversion comes in however when we hear the word “free”
And then assume that no obligation exists for us at all.

NOW CERTAINLY
There is nothing left to be done in order to complete our salvation.
We know Jesus did in fact do all that was necessary.

But are we to assume that we now have no obligation at all?
Certainly not.

THERE ARE STILL EXPECTATIONS.
For example:

Paul said:
Romans 1:14 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.”

Romans 8:11-12 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh”

We are familiar with the famous passage in Ephesians where Paul says that we are “saved by grace through faith”

But we also remember that Paul says:
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Or we remember Paul’s admonition to Titus regarding grace.
Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,”

The simple point made in all of those passages
Is that we understand that just because salvation was a free gift of grace,
THAT DOES NOT MEAN
There are no expectations or obligations left for us to fulfill.

At the very least there is an obligation of GRATITUDE
That must certainly be paid.

YET, IT IS A GRIEF I FEEL CONTINUALLY IN THE AMERICAN CHURCH
That there seems to be such little concern by so many
To give anything back to the Lord.

It seems that far too many are more than eager to attend a service
Or walk an aisle to “get something” from the Lord,

But are far less eager to fulfill an obligation or bring something back.

We see it often in our day, something that I guess I’ll never get used to:
A person who may come forward to be saved on Sunday morning
And then not even return on Sunday night.

I’ll never understand that.
• Where is the sense of gratitude?
• Where is the sense of obligation?
• Where is the commitment?
• Where is the priority?

It is often quoted, and rightly so, the passage in Hebrews regarding the requirement for church attendance.

Hebrews 10:24-25 “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

That is certainly a fitting text to encourage faithful church attendance.

And if I was to pick a second, it would be Psalms 116.
• Psalms 116 doesn’t come to us by way of imperative command.
• Psalms 116 rather demonstrates for us a fitting gratitude.

Here we have a man who is expressing an obvious obligation.
God has done for him great things and he feels obligated to return.

His salvation was certainly free and he could never pay for it.
But gratitude requires that he will spend the rest of his life trying.

AND THAT IS THE SETTING HERE.
• We have a man who has arrived at the temple for worship.
• Perhaps he has traveled a long way.
• Certainly his enthusiasm has set him apart from the crowd.

And it is as though someone has asked him: “WHY ARE YOU HERE?”

AND THIS PSALM IS HIS ANSWER.

If you’re looking for the concise answer look to verses 14 and 18 which are identical, “I shall pay my vows to the LORD, Oh may it be in the presence of His people.”

I’m here to bring a return to God for all that He has done for me.

I try (actually pretty hard) not to be judgmental or too harsh on people
If they miss a service or if they don’t attend on a Sunday night.

I try to have a merciful mindset and remember that I’m not aware of what is going on in everyone’s life and perhaps there are good reasons why they are not here.

Though honestly, I do not understand it.
I cannot understand why any child of God
• Who has felt the sting of lostness;
• Who has trembled at the thought of judgment;
• Who has cried out to Christ for mercy;
• Who has then be forgiven and saved;
• Who has been filled with His Spirit;
• And who has been promised an eternal inheritance…

I, for the life of me, cannot figure out
Why things like Sunday night worship or Wednesday night worship
Are not the chief priority of their life.

After being saved, in verse 12,
This Psalmist asked himself a question: “What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?”

And he said,
“At the very least I can go worship God in the midst of His people!”

This is a very wonderful and even convicting Psalm.

I also remind you again that it is part of the famous “HALLEL”
• It was sung at Passover.
• It was sung by Jesus as He departed to go to the Garden of Gethsemane.
• It was a song of reminder to Israel not only of God’s salvation but also of their obligation in response to such a great salvation.

So…
• Psalms 113 focused on God’s Humility to behold even us.
• Psalms 114 focused on God’s Power to mightily save us.
• Psalms 115 focused on God’s Loyalty to faithfully bless us.

• Psalms 116 focuses on God’s Right to expect worship from us.

Now the PSALM OPENS with a bold statement of devotion.
The man has arrived at the temple with an announcement.

(1-2) “I love the LORD, because He hears My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.”

There are two great statements of commitment from the Psalmist.
• “I love the LORD”
• “I shall call upon Him as long as I live”

• I love God and I’m coming here to worship the rest of my life.
• I will never quit loving or trusting Him.

It is pure love and pure devotion.
• There is no compulsion here.
• There is no half-hearted attendance.

The passion seen here is like the passion of the woman at the Pharisees house who wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

Luke 7:47 “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

She had been forgiven much so she loved much.

If you’ve not watched the TV series “THE CHOSEN”, I think it’s great.
• My favorite moment in the series so far comes after Jesus casts out the
demons from Mary Magdalene.
• Later, as Nicodemus is investigating her deliverance she tells Nicodemus that it
wasn’t Nicodemus who delivered her but it was someone else, a man
whose name she does not know.

Nicodemus asks, “Would you at least know Him if you saw Him again?”
Mary answers, “I don’t know why I am sharing this with you, I don’t understand it myself. But here is what I can tell you. I was one way, and now I am completely different, and the thing that happened in between was Him. So yes, I will know Him for the rest of my life.”

I love that!
Anyone who has felt the weight of their sin
And the freedom of redemption can identify with that.

And that is the Psalmist here.
• “I love the LORD”
• “I shall call upon Him as long as I live.”

But the overwhelming question, perhaps of the crowd, is WHY?
• Why do you love Him?
• Why will you call upon Him the rest of your life?
• WHY SUCH DEVOTION?

AND THE ANSWER given by the Psalmist is really remarkable.
“because He hears”

Now first, notice the contrast among the Psalms of the Hallel.
Just last week in Psalms 115 we were confronted with the false gods of the pagans.

Psalms 115:6 “They have ears, but they cannot hear…”

But the Psalmist says that his love for God stems from the fact that God “hears”
Specifically “He hears My voice and my supplications”

It is “Because He has inclined His ear to me.”
• I love God because He hears me.
• I love God because He listens to me.

• It speaks of true love and compassion.
• It speaks of true interest and empathy.
• It speaks of a personal and intimate God who actually listens.

And the Psalmist loves Him for it.

But it’s almost as though the crowd wants more specifics.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN GOD LISTENS TO YOU?

AND THE REST OF THE PSALM IS HIS ANSWER.
• The remainder of Psalms 116 explains why the Psalmist loves God for listening
• And why He is so devoted to Him for it.

It is the Psalmists testimony.
It is the explanation of the Psalmist devotion.

AND BEFORE WE STUDY IT
Might I give this Psalm to you as a blueprint for ought to be the norm for every believer.

Peter said:
1 Peter 3:15 “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”

If you have ever wanted a good example for what it looks like
To “give an account for the hope that is in you” here it is.

If you have ever wanted a good example for what it looks like
To explain your devotion to Christ, here it is.

And I have no problem telling you that
THIS SHOULD BE THE RESPONSE OF EVERY BELIEVER.

We’ll break the Psalmist testimony down into 5 points.
#1 THE REQUEST I MADE
Psalms 116:3-4

Take a look at THE PREDICAMENT this man was in.

(3) “The cords of death encompassed me And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow.”

Often times in the poetry of the Psalms
Death is painted as an aggressive adversary
Reaching out of Sheol to grab the feet of the living.

And here, death was successful.
It caught me!

Now certainly we see an analogy of spiritual death and lostness here,
But there is no reason to assume the Psalmist is talking about anything other than literal physical death here.

In a moment, in a flash, he was on death’s door.
And as he contemplated death there was no peace.
It terrified him. He did not want to die.

All he found was “distress and sorrow”

It reminds me of the lament of Jonah upon his disobedience to the LORD.
Jonah 2:5-6a “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were wrapped around my head. “I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever…”

But Jonah also said:
Jonah 2:7 “While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple.”

From the midst of the sea Jonah cried out to God and God heard him!

And that is precisely what the Psalmist is talking about.
(4) “Then I called upon the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I beseech You, save my life!”

• Here I was, at my wits end.
• I was facing death and I was terrified.
• I had no other option but to cry out to the God of the universe
• And hope that He would be willing to listen to me.

• Think about being in peril…
• Think about facing death…
• Think about your options and who you might call on for help…
• Think if you can even get through to them at such a time…

This man faced death and his decision was to call on God.

The Request I Made
#2 THE RESCUE HE PERFORMED
Psalms 116:5-6

The Psalmist can’t contain it.
His mouth is full of praise!

“Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate.”

He pauses the story…
He leaves you at a cliffhanger…
(Though his presence already tells you God must have saved)

But the Psalmist makes sure you understand why God saved.
• It WASN’T because of my worth, it was because of His grace.
• It WASN’T because of my righteousness, it was because of His righteousness.
• It WASN’T because of my strength, it was because of His compassion.

“The LORD preserves the simple;”

The Hebrew word for “simple” is PETHEE
It means “simple; naïve, foolish, open-minded”

It’s a nice way of saying “stupid”

• This man wasn’t in danger out of pure undeserved circumstances.
• This man did something dumb and it got him near death.
• This man did something dumb and it nearly killed him.

God had every right to say,
“Well, he shouldn’t have been so dumb as to get himself into that mess.”

BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT GOD DID.
The Psalmist says, “I was brought low, and He saved me.”
• I was foolish and stupid.
• I was naïve and simple.
• I found myself in danger by my own foolishness
• And as I approached death I called upon God
• And despite my foolishness “He saved me.”

I think of Titus 3
Titus 3:3-5 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”

I think of Paul
1 Timothy 1:12-15 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”

And certainly we think of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
Where he told us that we also were dead in our sin.

Ephesians 2:4-6 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”

“I was sinking deep in sin Far from the peaceful shore; Very deeply stained within Sinking to rise no more. But the Master of the sea Heard my despairing cry; From the waters lifted me now safe am I”

It is the testimony of the redeemed.
• He made mistakes that should have cost him his life.
• But even in his own foolishness he called upon the Lord.

And we are promised.
Romans 10:13 “for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

And this man was saved.
God delivered him from death.

• We certainly see the analogy of Christ saving us from our spiritual death.
• We certainly feel like Lazarus’ who was delivered from death.
• We identify with every demoniac or man whom Jesus rescued.

We where trapped in our own rebellion and foolish choices
And we deserved what we were about to receive,
But we cried out for mercy and He gave it.

“He saved me.”

The Request I Made; The Rescue He Performed
#3 THE RELIEF I FOUND
Psalms 116:7-11

Often when we talk to people about writing their testimony we give them 3 points.
1) CONVICTION – what you were before Christ
2) CONVERSION – the moment / events when Christ saved you
3) COMMITMENT – how your life is different now after Christ

And often times we say that you should recognize that
The problems stated in conviction should be changed in commitment.

That is what you see here.
When facing death he said, (3) “terrors…came upon me” & “I found distress and sorrow”

But look at him now.
(7) “Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.”

He left fear behind and returned to rest.
• No more striving…
• No more weary and heavy-laden…
• Just rest.

It is what the writer of Hebrews spent a whole chapter describing that there is a rest for your soul.

And this Psalmist has it.
• It is the peace that surpasses all comprehension…
• It is the mercy that is new every morning…
• It is the love that never fails…
• It is the grace that is always sufficient…

FEAR IS GONE, REST HAS ARRIVED.

“For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.”

• Indeed, He has done more for you than you deserved.
• He didn’t just rescue, He has blessed.

Not only has Christ saved us, but He has also “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

(8) “For You have rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling.”
• You didn’t just pull me out of my own stupid mistakes,
• But you have put my feet on a path to keep me from every falling down there again.
• You didn’t just give me freedom from judgment, but freedom from sin.

And as a result the Psalmist says”
(9) “I shall walk before the LORD in the land of the living.”
• He saved me and now I am saved.
• And I live as though I am saved.

We hear people say it all the time today that they have been saved.
“From what?”

It is apparent that they only mean “from hell”
• Because it isn’t apparent that they have been saved from profanity or from
apathy or from sexual immorality or from lying.

They say they are alive, but the look as dead as anyone else.

Anyone who thinks he has been saved from hell but who can’t tell that he has been saved from anything else has clearly deceived himself.

But the Psalmist knows.
• He was saved.
• Saved from death and saved from stumbling.
• Saved to live and now he lives.

John 8:36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

That is what the Psalmist is saying.
• I was in danger of death by reason of my own foolishness.
• I cried out to God and He heard me.
• He then delivered me and saved me.
• He didn’t just keep me from dying He kept me from stumbling again.

And incidentally, only God could do this.
(10-11) “I believed when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.” I said in my alarm, “All men are liars.”

That is to say that to trust in man is a false hope.
Man’s ways cannot save.

So they asked the Psalmist
Why he was here and why he was so enthusiastic in his praise.

He said “because God hears me.”
They say, “What do you mean?”

And the Psalmist tells of how God heard his cry of distress
And saved him from death.

But let’s pause here for a moment.
There are thousands of testimonies that go this far,
But which never take the next step.

What we are about to read next is REGRETTABLY
One of the most neglected realities of salvation.

I want you to watch what the Psalmist does next.
#4 THE RESPONSE I PONDERED
Psalms 116:12-15

Did you catch that?
Look at that question.

“What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?”

Have you ever asked that question?
I can assure that it doesn’t appear that many do anymore.

Men are so convinced at how “free” salvation is
They never seem to give any thought
As to what they might give back in return.

Remember this story?
Luke 17:11-19 “While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

That is the point here.
Is God worthy of anything from you
Now that He has worked such a great deliverance for you?

Have you ever asked “What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?”

It is a question pondered often in Scripture and we don’t have near enough time to look at them all, but let me show you a few.

Psalms 40:6-8 “Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

Psalms 50:7-15 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me. “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

Psalms 51:15-17 “O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”

It is the contemplation of the redeemed.
What should I give back to God for all that He has done?

Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

The Psalmist contemplated this very thing.
WHAT SHOULD I GIVE?

And notice that he answered himself.
(13-15) “I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of the LORD. I shall pay my vows to the LORD, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.”

He asked what He should give in return to God for His great salvation
And this is what he decided.

He decided that he should “lift up the cup of salvation”,
• That is to say he should exalt how God saved him.

And He decided that he should “call upon the name of the LORD”,
• That is to say he should continue trusting God.

And He decided that he should “pay my vows to the LORD”,
• Which speaks of continued faithfulness.

And He decided that it should “Be in the presence of all His people.”
• Which means he should do it at the temple.

For the Psalmist new that “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His goldy ones.”

That is “death to self”

When contemplating how to give a return to God
For the bountiful salvation God had poured upon him
He decided what needed to happen.

• I need to die to self.
• I need to go to that temple.
• I need to tell everyone about this salvation.
• I need to continue to trust God and be faithful to Him forever.

So…
#5 THE RESPONSIBILITY I EMBRACED
Psalms 116:16-19

Here he is paying what he figured he owed.

(16-17) “O LORD, surely I am Your servant, I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid, You have loosed my bonds. To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the LORD.”

• He has come to commit his entire life to the Lord.
• He has come to pledge service.
• He has come to give thanks.
• He has come to continue to call on God.

And then he returns to his answer.
• Do you want to know why I love God?
• Do you want to know why I am here?

I nearly died of my own foolishness and God saved me.
He gave me what I did not deserve
And so I have come to give Him a small portion
Of what He certainly deserves.

(18-19) “I shall pay my vows to the LORD, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people, In the courts of the LORD’S house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!”

That is why he is here.
• That is why he loves God.
• That is why he wants to be with God’s people.

Now that was a song originally sung in remembrance of the Passover,
But do we not see that same devotion in the early church?

Acts 2:43-47 “Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

SOMEWHERE CHURCH WE ARE LOSING THIS.
The church has gotten so accustomed to talking about
How free salvation is
That the have forgotten our obligation before God.

Meeting with the saints is only optional
If you are ungrateful for what God has done.

Worshiping among God’s people is only optional
If you feel no sense of devotion to return to God.

This Psalmist was here to worship
Because God deserved it and he was glad to do it.

He loved much because he had been forgiven much.
The church should still have this passion
And it is grievous when they do not.

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Finding Perspective – Part 1
Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 (1-6)
August 22, 2021

This morning we return to our study of Ecclesiastes.
When we were last here I told you that starting in chapter 7
The preacher enters A NEW SEGMENT in the book.

The first 6 chapters represented: THE FUTILE PURSUIT
9 times we saw the phrase “striving after wind”

We looked at the futility of things like
• Obtaining wisdom
• Finding pleasure
• Accomplishment
• Acquiring Treasure

All of those things are the things the world tells us are the pathways to fulfillment but the preacher reminded us that in reality they are a fool’s pursuit.

Seeking those things is like trying to catch the wind.
It is like trying to hold a mist.
It is like trying to enjoy a mirage.

It is a lie from the advertiser and there is no fulfillment found there.

But starting in chapter 7 the preachers shifts gears and now he begins to talk to us about: THE NOBLE PURSUIT

The book itself takes on a bit of a different feel.
• Now we get imperatives.
• Now we get commands.
• Now we get directives for living.

After fully exposing the false advertising of the enemy
The preacher now wants to show you a better way.

It begins with a segment on PERSPECTIVE.

8 times in our passage this morning you notice the same word: “better”
It is a chapter full of comparisons.

He is in effect now showing the young man a better way.
• It is to say instead of seeking that, seek this.
• Take it from one who has lived for a while and I’ll show you what is better.

So this morning we begin to seek a change in perspective.

Now the SIMPLE EXPLANATION would be that
THE PREACHER WANTS THE YOUNG MAN TO HAVE WISDOM.

You will actually see that down in verses 11-12
“Wisdom along with an inheritance is good And an advantage to those who see the sun. For wisdom is protection just as money is protection, But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.”

Clearly he is pointing us to the importance of wisdom.

But there must be a distinction made here
For he has already gone to great lengths in this book to warn us
That there is a wisdom which does not satisfy.

We read very early in the book:
Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 “I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.” And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.”

And we remember his lament that knowledge did not allow him
To straighten what was crooked or fill what was lacking.

So early in the book he lamented his wisdom
But now here in chapter 7 he is clearly endorsing it.

But the distinction must be made again
Regarding the difference between the world’s wisdom (philosophy)
And God’s wisdom.

James helps us greatly here.
James 3:13-17 “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”

James there clearly defines for us that there is a difference between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God.

• There is a wisdom which is filled with selfish ambition and arrogance and jealousy. That is worldly wisdom and it comes from the devil.
• And then there is a wisdom which produces righteousness and peace and mercy and it is from God.

THE POINT IS: There is a Difference.

Paul spoke of the distinction.
1 Corinthians 2:6-8 “Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”

Again, there is a difference between worldly wisdom and God’s wisdom.

And that distinction is also seen in Ecclesiastes.

The first 6 chapters lamented worldly wisdom.
• It was that human knowledge or philosophy that was thought to bring fulfillment and satisfaction.
• It was a wisdom driven by ambition and it did not satisfy.

Now the preacher turns to God’s wisdom.
• Now the preacher turns to the wisdom which produces righteousness.

And right out of the gate in chapter 7
He is going to show you the pathway to obtaining it.

And his ADVICE IS SO ANTI-WORLD
That it almost sounds absurd the first time you read it.

I mean, look at some of those comparisons again.

(1) “the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.”
Really?

(2) “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting,”
That doesn’t sound right?

(3) “Sorrow is better than laughter”
What?

All of that seems like really bad advice or bad logic.
And yet, what you have here is
The preacher seeking to give you some perspective.

• He is NOT TRYING to mimic the world.
• He is NOT TRYING to give you the advice of the world.
• He IS TRYING to impart to you the wisdom of God.

And you don’t obtain the wisdom of God
The same way you obtain the wisdom of the world.

God’s wisdom is found down a different path.
And that is the path that he sets out for you this morning.

So,
• Do you want to be wise?
• Do you want Godly wisdom?
• Do you want the wisdom that produces righteousness and peace?

Then let’s find a little perspective this morning.

What we’re going to see first from the preacher this morning are
3 PERSPECTIVES.

• He’s going to show you 3 mindsets that might be upside down in your brain.
• He’s going to try and shift your thinking in 3 areas.
• And then he’s going to tell you why it is important that you listen to him and embrace these new perspectives.

So let’s start with those 3 new mindsets that we need.
#1 MOURNING IS BETTER THAN PLEASURE
Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

Well that statement alone probably makes your antenna go up a little.

I mean, we see social media.
We even see the religious posts.
• They are filled with prayers that God would give us “blessing, safety, good days, prosperity, health, and happiness.”

No one wakes up in the morning and says, “You know what would be better than pleasure today? If tragedy would strike and I was thrown into mourning.”

No one says that.
No one longs for that.
It is against human nature to want that.

And yet, it sure sounds like that is what the preacher is asking for.

If you zoom out and look at these 4 verses
It sounds like he is talking about attending a funeral.

It’s almost like he is saying,
“It’s better to go to a funeral than it is to go to a wedding.”
Or “It’s better to go to a funeral than a birthday party.”

Now, we are not masochist,
• We don’t wake up in the morning and long to mourn or hope that there’s a funeral to attend.

And that’s NOT the preacher’s ambition either.
• We learned a lot about him early in the book and we found out that just like each of us, he is also a man who likes pleasure.

What the preacher is doing however is
Talking about what is actually more beneficial to your life.

AND HERE IS THE FACT.
You will glean more of the right kind of wisdom from a funeral than you will from a celebration.
• You can learn more from periods of mourning than you can from periods of rejoicing.

And when we say it like that, especially the older members of the congregation, know the preacher is on to something.

God accomplishes far more in our life through periods of sorrow
Than it seems that He does through periods of prosperity.

And that is the preacher’s point here.
• Do you want some godly perspective?
• Do you want to obtain the wisdom that leads to righteousness?

Then the path of mourning
Is going to be more beneficial to you than the path of pleasure.

Look at verse 1, “A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.”

In some ways those statements don’t appear to have anything in common,
But they are actually linked together.

He is COMPARING TWO MONUMENTAL DAYS in a person’s life
He is comparing the day a person is born with the day a person dies.

• At birth people rejoice.
• At death people mourn.

And so the temptation is to see a birthday as better than a day of death,
And there is a certain sense in which that is true.

BUT THE POINT of the preacher is that
We know much more about a person at the day of their death
Than we do at the day of their birth.

THINK ABOUT IT.

When a child is born, what do you know about that child?
• You know their parents
• You know their height and weight
• You know their gender
• You know their basic health
• But that’s really about all.

But fast-forward 80+ years to the day of that child’s death and what do you know about that person?
• You know a whole lot more.
• You know about their character, their work-ethic, their loyalty, their integrity, etc.

THE INITIAL POINT
Is that at the day of your birth your name had NO VALUE,
But at the day of your death it does.

To which the preacher says, “A good name is better than a good ointment.”

There is value in reputation.
There is value in character.

“And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.”

What does he mean?
IT’S NOT HOW YOU START, IT’S HOW YOU FINISH.

• That’s true isn’t it?
• That’s wisdom isn’t it?

And that is the sort of thing a man CONTEMPLATES AT A FUNERAL.

You can go to a hospital when a baby is born and you can laugh and rejoice and smile at the future, and certainly we rejoice in those good moments.

But when you go to a funeral you are reminded that
“Starting well is one thing, but finishing well is another.”

You are reminded of the importance of character.

And you are especially reminded of the importance of character at death
Because it is then that a person has stepped into the presence of God.

You’ll contemplate the importance of character at a funeral,
But you might not contemplate that at a birthday party.

And contemplating the importance of character
Is something that will help you obtain wisdom.

So, as far as wisdom is concerned,
Going to a funeral has more benefit than going to a birthday party.
“the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.”

And the preacher continues.
(2) “It is better to go to a house of mourning Than to go to a house of feasting, Because that is the end of every man, And the living takes it to heart.”

First he compared a funeral to a birthday party…
Now he’s comparing A FUNERAL TO A FEAST.

Feasts are great!
• Who doesn’t love a buffet?
• Who doesn’t love a potluck?
• There is something reassuring and calming about gathering with friends in a banquet hall with plenty of food.

That was an especially great moment in the ancient east
When food was not always readily available.

Everyone loves a good feast.
And yet the preacher reminds that
There is more wisdom to be gained at a funeral than a feast.

WHY?
“Because that is the end of every man, And the living takes it to heart.”

Why is a funeral better for you than a feast?

Because you may not ever attend another feast,
But you are headed for at least one more funeral.

THE YOUTH have been talking about it now for the past 3 weeks as they shared their REGEN testimonies.

They’ve quoted:
Psalms 90:10-12 “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”

It is apparent at REGEN that they were confronted with death.
Why would you do that?

Why would you take a group of teenagers
And force them to contemplate death?

BECAUSE SUCH CONTEMPLATION LEADS TO WISDOM.

Your life is a vapor and you will die.
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”

Death is necessary.
1 Corinthians 15:50 “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”

EVERY MAN DIES.
And the sooner you learn that the better.
• It forces the admonition not to waste your life.
• It forces the admonition to prepare for death and what comes after.

And the preacher says
“You probably never contemplate your own mortality when you go to a feast. But you will contemplate it when you go to a funeral.”

And so while it may be more fun to go to a birthday party or a feast There is much more wisdom to be gleaned from the funeral.

And the preacher ISN’T FINISHED.
(3) “Sorrow is better than laughter, For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.”

There is another one of those PECULIAR STATEMENTS.
• We like things that make us laugh.
• We like things that bring us joy.
• We don’t particularly like to focus on things that grieve us or bring us sadness.

What in the world is the preacher talking about that “sorrow is better than laughter”?

Well, the key is found in the explaining statement.
“For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.”

The preacher speaks of A PECULIAR PHENOMENON that occurs.
You can see a person who is openly grieving; a person who is sad; a person who is even openly weeping.

And yet the preacher says
“That person may actually have a happy heart even though they grieve.”

So what are they faking their grief? No, their grief is real.

Then what is he talking about?

It’s a verse you’ve actually heard often at funerals.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.”

What do you call it when the face is sad but the heart is happy?
YOU CALL IT HOPE.

It is what a believer has even in the face of sorrow.

When a Christian attends the funeral of their loved one
• They grieve and cry true tears of true sorrow because one they loved has died,
• And yet in a mysterious way, their heart still rejoices because of the eternal hope that is inside them.
• They know their loved one is in glory with Christ.
• They actually rejoice at the same time they grieve.
• And even if you were to ask them if at that moment they’d bring their loved one back, the vast majority would stay “No” because they know where their loved one is.

It is a peculiar reality but it is learned and seen at a funeral.

At a birthday party the face may be happy but the heart may be sad.
At a feast the face may be happy but the heart may be sad.

Because the world’s happiness is fleeting.
The world’s happiness is skin deep.

But when you see one at a funeral of a loved one
Who can truly rejoice even in the middle of their grief
Then you are learning something there of wisdom.

You are learning the value of HOPE THAT TRANSCENDS THE GRAVE.
And that is an important lesson.

And that is why the preacher says.
(4) “The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.”

Do you understand his perspective here now?
Do you understand why he says that mourning is better than pleasure?

• Oh sure, pleasure is fun…
• Oh sure, birthday parties are fun…
• Oh sure, feasts are fun…

• And no, funerals aren’t especially fun.

But there are valuable perspectives that can be gained
By gazing at and pondering and learning from the realities of death

For one you’ll learn the truth of the IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTER.

You may skate through this life now as a scoundrel,
But when you stand before God character is going to matter.
Funerals will teach you that.

For another you’ll learn the truth of YOUR OWN MORTALITY.

You aren’t going to live forever. Someday you will die and stand before God and you ought to ponder that.
Funerals will help you ponder that.

And for another you’ll learn the reality of TRUE AND GENUINE HOPE.

A person of genuine hope and happiness is a person who has found the secret of overcoming death and judgment.
And you’ll see that at a funeral too.

So you are gleaning now a wise perspective from the preacher.

Do you want wisdom?
NOT worldly wisdom that manifests itself in ambition and jealousy.

But do you want the wisdom of God that produces righteousness and joy and peace?

Then you need to spend a little more time in houses of mourning
And a little less time in houses of pleasure
Because you are far more apt to gain God’s wisdom at a funeral
Than you are at a feast.

Does that make sense?

Times of sorrow and times of mourning are a gift from God to help you learn wisdom. Those are important moments in life, embrace them and learn from them.

That’s the first perspective.
Mourning is better than Pleasure

#2 A REBUKE IS BETTER THAN A TRIBUTE
Ecclesiastes 7:5-6

Again, this flies right in the face of human logic.
• No one hopes to wake up in the morning, go to work, and get rebuked.
• No one wants to come home from work, face their wife, and get rebuked.

We would much rather be praised wouldn’t we?
We like it much more when people tell us we’ve done well.

And you know THE WORLD has adopted this mentality.

Think about all the new psychological ideas
That float around regarding HOW TO RAISE CHILDREN.

I know the one I hear the most is “Positive Reinforcement”

We’ve even come to the point in modern thought that
Things like “Time Out” are seen as bad.

Forget the whole “Go cut your own switch and then bring it back for me to whip you with it.” That’s a long way gone.

But now it’s come that any type of rebuke at all should be avoided.
• “Experts” say you don’t want to scar a child.
• “Experts” say you don’t want to break down a child.
• So the only way of correcting behavior at all is now seen as positive reinforcement.

And that’s true if you want to raise A DISRESPECTFUL HEATHEN.

But if you want to raise commendable human beings
Then you know that a rebuke (typically followed by pain)
Is going to be necessary.

Proverbs 22:15 “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.”

Your child (or your grandchild) is raised with a chronic case of foolishness
The Bible says there is one way to EXTRACT IT from them.
You remove foolishness WITH A ROD.

Discipline is called for.
• Not positive reinforcement…
• Not logic…
• Not a healthy discussion…
• “the rod of discipline”

When your 2 year old falls off in a pit of foolishness and rebellion and self-centered defiance.

They don’t need you to sit down with them and discuss
• The ramifications of why they shouldn’t throw their cheerios in the floor,
• Or why they shouldn’t argue with their mother.

And I’ll tell you what they also don’t need.
• They don’t need at that moment a sermon on the mercy and grace of God.

No one in here loves the gospel more than me,
But a rebellious child does not need you to sit down and explain to them
How in their rebellion God loves them anyway.

What they need is a whipping! A big one, a bad one, one that will scar not only the rear, but the feelings and the memory as well.

Even in the gospel you never teach grace first.
You have to learn judgment before you can ever appreciate mercy.

Now that’s just a little free parenting advice.
Proverbs 23:13-14 “Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol.”

But anyone in here who is raising descent and respectful kids knows that.

You know that it can’t all be positive reinforcement.
• As much as you love your kids…
• As much as you want them to love you…

You know they learn far more from a rebuke than they do from a tribute,

AND SO DO YOU.
It might be nice to have people sing your praises…
It is certainly enjoyable when people pat you on the back…

But far better for your life and especially for your eternity
Is when you face a rebuke.

“It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man Than for one to listen to the song of fools.”

Why?
(6) “For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool;”

It’s loud, but it’s short lived.

“And this too is futility.”

It won’t accomplish anything.

You may not like it in life when men rebuke you,
But that will do you far more good in the scope of eternity
Than when men praise you.

Some day you are going to die
• And you are going to stand before God.
• And the God you will stand before is HOLY-HOLY-HOLY.
• And when that God goes to opening the books that record every deed of your life, HE’S NOT going to resort to POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT.
• He will JUDGE SINNERS by throwing them into the lake of fire for all eternity.

You may have loved all those people who praised you in this life,
But it is quite probable that they weren’t doing you much good.

Charles Spurgeon said, “The most shameful way to curse a man is by pretending to bless him.”

AND THAT IS TRUE IN YOUR LIFE.

Don’t gravitate to people who just tell you what you want to hear.
Gravitate toward people who tell you what you need to hear.

Those are the people who are preparing you
WITH THE KIND OF WISDOM THAT LEADS TO RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Those are the ones who are preparing you to stand before a Holy God.

Proverbs 27:5-6 “Better is open rebuke Than love that is concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.”

Proverbs 13:1 “A wise son accepts his father’s discipline, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.”

Proverbs 28:23 “He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor Than he who flatters with the tongue.”

Now those are the first two perspectives,
And we’re going to have to stop there this morning.

We’ll pick up on the rest of this text next time, but let’s reiterate the point.

You cannot live this life in wisdom without contemplating eternity.
• You must grasp the reality that this life is a vapor.
• You must grasp the reality that death is certain.
• You must grasp the reality that judgment is real.
• You must grasp the reality that judgment is righteous and just.

You must learn to appreciate the things in life that prepare you for that.

I love a party and a feast and songs of praise as much as the next guy,
But those things don’t produce the kind of wisdom that we need.

Learn to appreciate the value of mourning and sorrow and rebuke.
There is much to be learned in those times in your life.
• God is actually using those things to prepare you for eternity.
• God is actually using those things to prepare you to stand before Him.

He is using those things to impart to you the wisdom that leads to life.

WE’RE GOING TO CLOSE THIS MORNING
With one of my favorite verses from Jeremiah.

If you want an interesting study,
Sometime read through Jeremiah and just circle the questions.
Some of the best questions in the Bible are asked in the book of Jeremiah.

Here is perhaps my favorite, and one that helps us here.
Jeremiah 5:30-31 “An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?”

• Sure it is good and fun when people just say and believe whatever they want.
• Yes it is enjoyable to just gather around you people who tell you what you want to hear.
• Who doesn’t like parties and feasts and tributes?

But that end question is of such importance.
“But what will you do at the end of it?”

There’s your perspective.
Death is coming.
Judgment is coming.

Are you prepared?

I can tell you this morning that contemplating those things
Will put you on a path to obtaining wisdom.

And true wisdom in this case is to embrace Jesus Christ.
• He alone can save.
• He alone has the righteousness that you need.
• He alone has the atonement that you need.
• He alone can equip you to face death and judgment.

And if you don’t believe me that you need Jesus…
• Then go to a funeral and ask yourself if character is important when you die.
• Then go to a funeral and ask yourself if you know the date of your funeral.
• Then go to a funeral and ask if there is a way to have hope while facing death.

That will give you the wisdom that leads to Jesus.

And if you can’t get to a funeral to learn how bad you need Jesus…
• Then find one honest person who will tell you the truth about your life and choices and attitude.
• Then find one honest person who won’t just praise you but who will be honest about your sinfulness.

That will give you the wisdom that leads to Jesus.
And that is the wisdom we all need.

We’ll come back and finish this text next time…

D-NOW RECAP!!!!

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SUNDAY MORNING SERMON

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Identity Crisis
Galatians 2:20
October 24, 2021
D-Now

As I’m sure you are all aware, entire theme for this Disciple Now weekend
Has been “Identity Crisis”

The concepts of identity have escalated in recent years
As we have heard the discussions of the world
Regarding people’s supposed identity.

We hear people say, “I Identify as…”

And so recently it has come to our attention that
Our world is having an identity crisis.

But as we have discussed with your kids this weekend,
THIS IDENTITY CRISIS DIDN’T JUST BEGIN.
This identity crisis started at the very beginning.

• God created man in perfection.
• God created man in glory.
• Man was created to be the image bearer of God.

Genesis 1:26-27 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

It was the purpose of Adam to represent God to all of creation.
• Adam was given authority.
• Adam named the animals.
• Adam became a living soul.
• God spoke to Adam face to face.
• Luke’s gospel refers to Adam as “the son of God”

And it wasn’t just man, God said the same about woman.
She also was created in the image of God.
Woman also was created to be the image bearer of God.

That is true human identity.
Humans were created to bear the image of God to all creation.

But the fall happened and this image became distorted;
This image became marred.

Man who was created to bear the image of God corrupted
As that image man fell into sin.

Man is still created in the image of God
But without fail man presents a distorted and fallen image.

We likened it to a corrupted painting.

There once was a beautiful painting made which was meant to describe the very essence of God.
• It was a painting of man; a painting of Adam.
• But the picture got distorted and marred.
• It’s like a Picasso painting, it’s all distorted.

And so not only was the picture distorted,
BUT NO ONE KNEW HOW TO FIX IT BECAUSE NOW
Because no one knew what it was originally supposed to look like.

And so man spent years in darkness and confusion.
Humanity developed and “Identity Crisis”.

We no longer knew what man was supposed to look like.

And because man was the imager bearer of God
We also lost an accurate picture of what God was.

And really all that identity confusion you see today
Is just a representation of the fall
And the confusion that started in the garden.

Man lost his true identity of what it actually meant to be human.
Man lost his concept of who God was because the image was distorted.

But then something remarkable happened:
John 1:14-18 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ ” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

Christ came to restore the image.
Christ came to restore the painting.

He became a restored portrait of what it meant to be human.
And Jesus was again the true image bearer of God.

Jesus came to restore what Adam corrupted.

Jesus is the first time humanity ever saw her true identity.
Jesus is the first time we ever saw what it truly meant to be human.

• Passionate and yet meek
• Holy and yet merciful
• Powerful and yet humble
• Zealous and yet kind
• Friend of sinners and yet uncorrupted by sin

Jesus was the first picture of the true human identity since Adam.

But Jesus was also FAR MORE than just an EXAMPLE of humanity.

Jesus also became our means
Of becoming once again accurate imager bearers of God.

As one scholar put it, Jesus “RE-HUMANIZES” us.

AS STEPHEN TAUGHT US:
• Through Christ, God “bestowed” (gifted) His love to us.
• “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
• And Christ restored us to the status as “children of God”

Through His atoning work on the cross,
Jesus causes His followers to be “born again” as a “new creation”
So that we might once again bear the image of the heavenly.

1 Corinthians 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”

Colossians 3:9-10 “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him”

And so we understand that to live as a Christian
Is to live as the human God created you to be.
It is to be the child of God you were intended to be.

To be born again as a new creation.
To be conformed into the image of Christ.
To walk according to the fruit of the Spirit.
To know the love of the Father.
To enjoy the peace and love of a restored relationship.

This is what it means to be Christian.

AND INCIDENTALLY, THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT PAUL DESCRIBED
In his famous statement in Galatians 2
Which has become our theme verse for the weekend.

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

What you see in that verse is again the very essence of Christianity.
What you see in that verse is Paul describing his true identity.

Paul who are you?
• “I have been crucified with Christ”
• “Christ lives in me”
• “I live by faith in the Son of God”

This is his identity.
Indeed, this is meant to be the identity of every believer in Christ.

And so let’s discuss that briefly.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”?

It is the concept known as “IDENTIFICATION”
(you see “identity” in this)

Romans 6:3-4 “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Romans 6:6 “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”

At the INCARNATION, what was Jesus doing?
He was identifying with humanity.

In the GARDEN, when He felt the condemnation of God and even prayed that this cup might pass from Him; what was happening?
He was identifying with sinful humanity.

On the CROSS He bore and felt the very wrath and condemnation of God; what was happening?
Jesus was identifying with sinners.

He died
He was buried
And He was raised from the dead

Now, the call of Christianity is that we are to be “in Him”
We by faith are to identify with Christ.

In some strange and even miraculous way,
When a person places their faith in Christ
God identifies them with Christ.

We are said to be in Christ.
He is said to be in us.

He bears the wrath and judgment for the life we lived.
We bear the grace and good-pleasure for the life that He lived.
We are identified with Him.

And this is what Paul is referring to when he says:
“I have been crucified with Christ.”

Paul was NOT physically on the cross next to Him.
But rather, by faith Paul was in Christ.

• So through identification Paul died in Christ.
• And through identification Paul was buried in Christ.
• And through identification Paul was raised in Christ to a new life.

And if you are a Christian this is your reality.
• You are one who has also died with Christ.
• You denied yourself, you took up your cross, and you followed Jesus.
• You said “good-bye” to your former manner of life.
• You let go of all your former goals and ambitions.

As Paul said in Philippians 3
Philippians 3:7-8 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,”

And this is the very thing Paul is announcing here again.
• My life is not my own.
• I am not who I was.
• My life ended when I came to faith in Christ.
• My life now is united with Christ.
• I am His!

And it’s not just that I am in Christ.
Paul said, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;”

This is the FLIP SIDE to the union and the identity.

After a believer dies to self and is united with Christ,
The believer then receives of Christ’s Spirit
Who indwells the believer and gives them new life in Christ.

(the Spirit begins to restore the original painting in their life)

Romans 8:10-11 “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

The believer is even commanded to no longer walk like the old man,
But now to walk like the new man that Christ is making him.

Ephesians 4:17-24 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

SO THE SIMPLE POINT IS THAT
Now since I died with Christ and now since Christ lives in me.
• No longer do I live by the flesh.
• No longer do I live by my old fallen identity.
• Now I strive to live like Christ.

Which is also what Paul said:
“and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

That is Christianity 101
• That is Christian Identity
• It is meant to be the human identity

That is the SOLUTION to the world’s identity crisis.

The true identity crisis of the world IS NOT
Trying figure out if they identify as male or female,
That is just one small aspect.

The true identity crisis of the world IS that
They were created to be like Christ,
But they are still living in the flesh.

And so the world seeks to find their identity in all sorts of meaningless things that totally miss the point.

BUT LISTEN, THE CHURCH BEARS PART OF THE BLAME IN THIS.

When the church still tries to find her identity in the things of the world
We once again display a distorted picture to the world.

If we’re confused about who we are,
How could we ever expect the world to know?

We were created to be lights in the midst of darkness.
We were created to be salt in a tasteless world.
We were created to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

This is the very essence of Christian identity.
(if we lose this idea, we are failing in our calling as image bearers of God)
NOW LET ME SHOW YOU PAUL’S MOTIVE FOR THIS TEXT

We’re going to back up a little in the chapter
Because I want to show you a man who was a Christian,
But who was having an identity crisis.

That man is named Peter.

Just a brief background to the story.

• Paul had been going all over the Gentile regions of Asia preaching the gospel and Gentiles were being saved left and right.

• But this bothered many of the Jewish Christians because these Gentiles were uncircumcised.

(If you don’t know what circumcision is, ask your parents when you get home,
But just know that it was the official sign of Judaism)

• So it wasn’t long before these Jews started saying that if Gentiles wanted to be saved then they needed to become circumcised.

Acts 15:1 “Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

What followed was the first ever church council.

Paul and Barnabas were summoned to Jerusalem
To stand before Peter and James and the others
AND THE GOAL WAS TO ANSWER THIS VERY QUESTION.

Do you have to be circumcised to be saved?
Do you have to come under the Jewish Law to be saved?

Well, for time sake I’ll tell you that the answer that was reached was
“NO, YOU DO NOT.”

And during the council
Peter actually had perhaps the most compelling argument.

Acts 15:7-11 “After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

Peter was crystal clear.
• Clearly Gentiles are saved because God has given them the Holy Spirit.
• The Law didn’t save us, why would you throw it on them.
• We believe we are all saved by grace, not works.

That was Peter’s final statement and the church agreed.

Following this event Peter traveled to the Gentile church headquarters.

That was at a place called “Antioch”

And Peter is likely feeling pretty good about himself.
• The church has just reached a milestone decision that salvation is by grace
alone.
• The church has just said there was no distinction between Jew and Gentile.
• The church has just said that Gentiles are also saved by Jesus.

And so Peter went to Antioch to fellowship with some Gentiles.

But something happened while he was there.
Peter fell into an “Identity Crisis”.

READ GALATIANS 2:11-14

• Peter was happily eating with Gentiles
• Then some men who at least said they were from James walked in.
• These men were the Judaizers.
• They claimed Christianity but were still zealous for Judaism and the Law.
• These Judaizers would have never eaten with unclean Gentiles.

And we read that Peter “began to withdraw and hold himself aloof.”

The indication there is that it was NOT an abrupt and immediate split.
Peter didn’t just jump right up and run away
Like if he was caught actually doing something sinful.

• No, Peter began to gradually pull away.
• He started skipping meetings…
• He quit saying high at the market place…

He slowly started segregating himself
According to those old discriminatory lines.

And Peter’s leadership again rubbed off on the other Jews around him.

Paul said: “The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.”

It was a full blown “Identity Crisis”.

And Paul said, (11) “I opposed him to his face”

Look at what Paul said:
(14) “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

IT MUST BE NOTED that Paul’s concern was that Peter was “not straightforward about the truth of the gospel”

Peter’s actions were undermining the gospel.
• Was a man saved by grace or not?
• Were works like circumcision necessary or not?
• Did Jesus die for Gentiles or not?

Peter’s actions put all those questions back on the table.

So Paul confronts Peter and here he has him over a barrell.

He says:
“If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”

You see Jesus had declared all foods clean…
Jesus had liberated them from a misunderstanding of the Sabbath…
• Peter had eaten unclean food.
• Peter had worshiped on the Lord’s Day; Sunday.
• Peter had lived like a Gentile in a sense.

So Paul asks him about it.

The question is this:
PETER, ARE YOU SAVED BY BEING JEWISH?

• If Peter says “YES” then Paul asks him why he has been acting like a Gentile.
• If Peter says “NO” then Paul asks him why he has pulled away from the
Gentiles.

What happened?
Peter had an identity crisis.
• In a moment of weakness…
• In a moment of peer pressure…
• In a moment of bad judgment…

Peter started acting again like the old Peter
And forsook who Christ was creating him to be.

It was a moment of backsliddenness.
It was a moment of identity confusion.

Now, THERE IS MUCH MORE there which Paul said about the ramifications of this decision which we DO NOT HAVE TIME to cover.

BUT WHAT I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND
Here at the end of this weekend is this.

There are times when even believers have an identity crisis.
There are times when even believers seem to forget who they are.

Even believers can be sucked into the mindsets and confusion
And prejudices and meaningless activities of the world.

BUT YOU ALSO NEED TO KNOW
IT IS NOT OK

When Peter did it, Paul confronted him.

But look, it WASN’T just that a few Gentiles got their feelings hurt.
The problem was that through his identity crisis
PETER WAS DISTORTING THE GOSPEL.

Peter was doing what Adam did.
• Peter was giving a corrupted picture of Christianity to the world.
• Peter was giving a marred picture of Jesus to the world.

And that is why Paul confronted him.

AND THAT IS WHY ultimately
Paul reminded Peter of what it means to be a Christian.

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

And so THIS MORNING
I want to kind of thrown down the gauntlet a little bit here again.

And I’m no so much speaking to those of you
Who have never confessed Jesus as your Lord.

(Certainly if that is you, you must do that
For He is the only way to be saved and to be restored to a true identity)

But this morning I want to talk to those of you who claim to be a Christian.

And I want to ask you:
WHO ARE YOU?

What is your identity?
Is it in Christ or is it in something else?

And then I would ask you:
WHO DOES THE WORLD SEE?

Peter was a Christian but on that day all the world could see was a Jew.
And that was unacceptable.

And so let me be REAL FRANK with you this morning.

I get that in this world
We all fill different secular roles and occupations and hobbies.

And those aren’t a bad thing.
• It’s not wrong to be an athlete…
• It’s not wrong to be academic…
• It’s not wrong to be a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher…
• It’s not wrong to be a Jew…

BUT IF YOU ARE IN CHRIST
NONE OF THOSE THINGS CAN BE YOUR IDENTITY.

Most in here will agree that our world is spiraling into chaos.
• There is division and confusion everywhere.
• No one trusts anyone else.
• There is fear of what tomorrow holds.
• It’s hard to know who is telling you the truth.

So let me be clear to those of you who are saved.
• The world doesn’t need any more athletes.
• The world doesn’t need any more scholars.
• The world doesn’t need any more doctors or lawyers or teachers.

I’m NOT SAYING there is not a place for all those roles
And I’m NOT SAYING quit your job or your hobby.

What I am saying.
THE WORLD NEEDS CHRISTIANS

The world needs to see people who have been crucified with Christ.
The world needs to see people whom Christ lives in them.
The world needs to see people who live by faith.

The world needs people who have been restored
To true image bearers of God through the redemption of Christ Jesus.

The world needs people who proclaim and live the gospel.
• People who are filled with the Spirit.
• People who show “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

And so my call is to you who are Christians
TO PUT AN END TO THE IDENTITY CRISIS.
It’s time to get real about who you are.

It is time to identify as the redeemed.
It is time to identify as Christian.

Leave all those other minor and insignificant titles behind.
Make Christ a priority.
Let Christ be your life.
Let Christ be what others see.

Paul said:
Philippians 3:7-8 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ”

And then Paul tells us to discover that same identity.
Philippians 3:17-21 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;”

This morning I am asking those of you who are Christians
To put an end to the identify confusion and the identity crisis.

It’s bad enough when a lost man or woman
Demonstrates some sort of identity crises.

We get angry at a lost man who is showing an identity crisis.
We get angry at a lost woman who is showing an identity crisis.

WHY WOULD WE EXPECT THEM
TO DEMONSTRATE A TRUE PICTURE OF IDENTITY?

That is the job of the Christian!
We are the ones who have been redeemed.
We are the ones who are being restored.
We are the new creation.

Don’t be angry that the world
Holds a distorted painting of human identity.
Be grieved that the church refuses to show them the restoration.

Christian, it is time to take off the old man and put on the new man.
Let it be evident to the world that you are a Christian
first – foremost – forever.

Be uncompromisingly Christian.

Let Him be your identity.
And let the world see the restored picture of what humanity is supposed to be.

 

 

 

GENESIS 1:26-27 SERMON NOTES:

Being Human
Genesis 1:26-27
October 22, 2021
D-Now Friday Night

Let’s Pray

Tonight we’re going to kick things off a little
And I’m going to do my best to sort of SET THE STAGE for some studies That we’re going to have the remainder of this weekend.

You see the theme: “Identity Crisis”

Amy is actually the one who first identified this as a good theme for Disciple Now this year, because she works in the school and she sees first hand the struggle that goes on in so many teenagers regarding this very issue.

Now probably at the FOREFRONT, and certainly the most controversial
Aspect of this topic has to do with GENDER IDENTITY.

Our culture has embraced the lie that your gender is not defined by your physical characteristics or even your DNA or chromosome makeup,
But rather your gender is defined by your emotions.

So today we actually see people who were born girls seeking to “identify” as a boy or people who were born boys seeking to “identify” as girls.

It just represents the CONFUSION OF THE HUMAN RACE in general
That they have no idea what their identity actually is.

And let me just put it out there for you
As clearly as I can to start this weekend.

Every single human is born with an absolute identity crisis.

Oh, you may know if you are a boy or a girl
But I promise you that even still
YOU ARE BORN WITH A TERRIBLE CONFUSION REGARDING YOUR IDENTITY.

When you are born you have no idea who you are.

SO YOU START THE DISCOVERY PROCESS.
• Now you quickly learn who mom and dad is.
• You learn quickly what your name is.
• And you begin to learn some things about life.

For example, you learn that you like sugar and you don’t like peas.

And you literally start processing all this data
And filing it away on a quest to find out who you are.

Then at some point you are THROWN INTO A SOCIAL CIRCLE,
• Maybe daycare
• Or you go to school or church
• Or you are around cousins or something

And you start trying to see who you are
In a cultural sense or a relational sense.

You try to figure out “Who am I in the grand community?”

I remember Hannah,
• About 1st or 2nd grade, coming home from school
• Talking about some of her friends
• And the things she perceived that they were good at.

She was starting to identify special qualities in some of her friends.
• I’m sure one could draw…
• I’m sure one was funny…
• I’m sure one was athletic…
• I think Kori could do the best armpit fart…

She was starting to identify other people.
And she asked me one morning, “Daddy, what am I good at?”

What was she doing?
She was trying, at an early age, to find her identity.
• Who am I?
• What makes me unique?

And so through the course of living around your community
You start checking boxes and unchecking boxes.

And YOU THINK your identity starts to come into focus.

And for some people this is a very POSITIVE EXPERIENCE
And for others this is a very NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE.

Those who see themselves as
• “the pretty girl”
• “the good athlete”
• “the smart kid”

They tend to develop this good self-esteem because
They have identified themselves as exceptional in some given area.

And the really quickly start to feel good about themselves
Because their identity (they think) is a GOOD identity.
It is FAVORABLE to them; they LIKE who they think they are.

That is certainly some of you.

But then there are those kids
Whose initial identity awareness is NOT SO POSITIVE.

They see themselves as
• “the chubby kid”
• “the dumb kid”
• “the non-athletic kid”

And they tend to develop this negative self-esteem because
They’ve identified themselves as below average.

And they quickly start to feel bad about themselves
Because their identity (they think) is a BAD identity.
It is UNFAVORABLE to them; they DON’T LIKE who they are.

It seems like God has played some sort of cruel trick on them
By not making them smart or fast or thin or attractive or whatever.

And their initial grasp of their identity is a negative one.

And so you come to this sort of point or epiphany of your identity.
You become aware of who you think you are.

And then YOU EITHER live with it or you strive to change it.

Now, to be certain, some are pretty ambitious
And they set out to either change their identity or forge a new one.

• You know, they work harder,
• they push themselves,
• they strive to be a better person.
• And since society praises that, people are really drawn to it.

Some even do this in a very negative way,
• They have even done harmful things like eating disorders
• or performance enhancing drugs,
• or things like that because their goal is to forge this new identity.
• They try reckless behavior to gain attention and break into the cool realm.

Others aren’t so ambitious.
• And then some just sort of settle in to whatever identity they’ve found
• And just want to make the most of it.
• They just adopt this attitude that “This is who I am, and you should just love me for me, and I don’t care what other people think”

You’ve heard it all.
And you probably see yourself in one of those descriptions

But here is what I want you to understand at the beginning tonight.

NOTHING of what I have just told you
Has anything to do with your identity.
None of that has anything to do with who you are.

As if being fat or thin, fast or slow, academic or simple
Had really anything to do with the purpose for which you were created.

God certainly created you.
God certainly designed you.
• If you are fast it’s because He made you fast.
• If you are slow it’s because He made you slow.
• If you can sing it’s because He gave you the ability.
• If you can’t sing it’s because He didn’t give you that ability.

But our world has picked out this perfect image
Of what they think humanity is supposed to be
And if you fit the image then you like you’re identity
And if you don’t fit the image then you don’t like your identity.

Let me tell you why that is so flawed.
• BECAUSE OUR WORLD HAS NO CLUE WHAT HUMANITY IS
SUPPOSED TO BE.
• OUR WORLD HAS NO IDEA OF WHAT IT ACTUALLY MEANS TO
BE HUMAN.

You heard me correctly.
Our world doesn’t even know what it means to be human.
(and I’m about to show you how I know that)

But if I’m correct that the world doesn’t know what it means to be human,
Then why would you let the world direct your identity?

So this is where we are GOING TO START TONIGHT.

Before we take a look at perhaps who you are individually,
Tonight we are simply going to examine
WHAT DOES IT EVEN MEAN TO BE HUMAN?

And to do that we’re going to look back in the Bible
At the first human ever created.

So turn in your Bible to Genesis 1:26-27

We read:
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

So this is the creation of the first ever human.

And what are some things we notice about this human that God created?
What does it say about him?

HE WAS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
“Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”

“image” and “likeness” are two different words
But they are regarded here as synonyms,
It is what is known as parallelism in the text.

But we see that man was in the image of God.

What else do we see?
HE WAS MADE TO RULE
“let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

This human was given the highest place in all of creation.
This human was created to rule.

You probably remember that it won’t be long before
God will bring all the animals to this man named Adam
And Adam will be charged with naming all of them.

Adam gets to name the creatures because he rules over them.

What else do we see?
THEY WERE MADE MALE AND FEMALE
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

This certainly settles the question
Regarding how many genders there are in the world.

How many are there? – 2

It also settles the issue of who get to determine a person’s gender.

Who gets to determine a person’s gender? – God

But more than that, it also from the very beginning
Reminds us of the equality of men and women.

The Bible specifically states that both men AND women are created how?
“in the image of God”

Now this DOES NOT MEAN that they don’t have different roles,
Scripture is clear that they do.
(Perhaps you’ll learn some about that in the breakout sessions tomorrow)

But the point to see tonight is that
From the very beginning men and women
Were created in the image of God. They are equal before Him.

They are human.

BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

What does it mean to be born in the image of God?
What does it mean to be created in the likeness of the Creator?

Well that DOESN’T MEAN so much that we are VISUAL REPLICAS.
• The New Testament teaches us that God is Spirit.
• Yes the Bible says that God has hands or God has feet,
• But it also mentions His pinions or wings.

What it means is that
Man was created to be God’s image bearer in creation.

MAN IS GOD’S REPRESENTATIVE TO CREATION.
• Man above all creation was made to have a relationship with God.
• God breathes life into man’s nostrils and he becomes a living soul.
• And man is given rule and authority over all creation.

So man sits in the midst of creation as the image bearer of God.

He is God’s representative in creation.
• He is God’s authority in creation.
• He is God’s example to creation.
• He was created to be the picture of God to all of creation.

If I could put it another way.
Creation would learn of God by looking at man.
Man was the image bearer of God.

Let me show you an interesting verse about Adam.
• The third chapter of Luke gives us the Genealogy of Jesus.
• It traces Jesus back, through Mary and King David all the way back to Adam.

It starts like this:
Luke 3:23 “When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,”

And it ends with this statement:
Luke 3:38 “the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

What is Adam called?
“the son of God”

Adam was the image bearer of God.
He was called God’s son.

Now certainly Adam was the CREATED son of God
Whereas Jesus will be the UNCREATED Son of God.

But you see that Adam is called “the son of God”

You see the same language
Between Adam and God as you do between Adam and his son Seth.

(Turn over to) Genesis 5:1-3 “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created. When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.”

JUST AS Seth bears the image of his father Adam,
SO Adam was created to bear the image of his Father God.

Adam bears the image of God.
• This is the purpose of humanity.
• Man was created to be God’s representative to earth.
• He rules and reigns on earth under God’s authority.

But there was a problem wasn’t there?
What happened to Adam?
• He fell.
• He committed sin, he disobeyed
• Adam became the PRODIGAL son.

He failed to love God and he fell into sin.

And in Adam the human image became distorted.
In Adam the human identity became corrupted.

Adam was no longer the human he was created to be,
He fell into a corrupted form, a marred image.

We might say that
“Adam, after the fall, was a mere shadow of the man he used to be.”

Now covered in shame, now mortal, now fallen,
Adam was less than he used to be.

Now, he DIDN’T TOTALLY LOSE his identity.
He was still made in the image of God (it was just a corrupted image).

You may remember well after the fall,
• After God flooded the earth because of the sin upon it.
• When Noah came out of the ark God gave a command prohibiting murder

And here is why:
(Turn over to) Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”

So even after the fall, man is still said to be made in the image of God,
But that image was corrupted, it was marred.

And now we see humanity in a fallen form.

Paul described the deeds of the flesh
Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Romans 1 describes humanity now:
Romans 1:29-31 “being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;”

And Romans 3 says:
Romans 3:10-18 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

When Adam fell, we lost our understanding of what it meant to be human.
Humanity fell into an “Identity Crisis”

But that wasn’t the only problem.

When humanity became corrupted
Humanity also lost its recognition of who God was.

Adams was the imager bearer.
Adam was supposed to be the explainer of God.

When the imager bearer of God fell into distortion and corruption
• Humans lost their sense of what it meant to be human.
• And since humans are supposed to bear the image of God.
• Humanity lost its sense of who God was (because the image was corrupt)

I heard it explained like this, and it is a great illustration.

Imagine a masterpiece being painted of God.
• Imagine a portrait perfectly depicting His likeness so that all could see Him.
• But then imagine that portrait getting marred or distorted.

And so the objective is to get the painting repaired or fixed,
But the problem is that no one has ever seen the original
To know what it was supposed to look like.

Since man was corrupted, so was our understanding of God.

Do you see the dilemma?
THIS IS THE IDENTITY CRISIS OF THE WORLD.

Now let me show you another verse about Adam.

(Turn to) Romans 5:12-14 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”

Did you notice what Paul said about Adam there at the end?
• Adam “is a type of Him who was to come.”
• Adam was the pattern of Him who was to come.
• Adam was a picture of Jesus.

The Garden of Eden was meant to show us the end.
The Son of God ruling God’s glorious creation.

Adam was supposed to picture that, but Adam fell and marred the picture.

And humanity was left in darkness.
• Humanity didn’t know what creation was supposed to look like.
• Humanity didn’t know what humanity was supposed to be like.
• Humanity didn’t know what God was like.

We had no sense even of what it truly meant to be human
Because we lost our only example.

But consider then what the Bible says about Jesus.
Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

The Bible says that Jesus came also in the image of God.

(Turn over to) John 1:16-18 “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

If I can complete the illustration.
JESUS RESTORED THE PAINTING.

When we saw Jesus
We finally saw what it means to actually be human.

• No corruption…
• No defect…
• No sin…

He was never selfish, never cruel, never rude, never arrogant.
Jesus was the perfect human.

Michael Reeves said:
“Jesus was utterly loving, but He wasn’t soppy. His insight would unsettle people and His kindness would win them. Indeed you read the gospels and you see Jesus was a man of extraordinary and extraordinarily appealing contrasts. You simply couldn’t make Him up. Just try to imagine the perfect man. If you do you’ll come up with some wooden caricature of a man; a saintly bore. But Jesus is so much more realistic; so much better than any imaginary perfect man. See we would make Him only one thing or the other. But Jesus you see He’s red blooded and human, but not rough. He’s pure, but He’s never dull. Serious, but with sunbeams of whit. Sharper than cut glass, He would out argue all comers in debate, but never for the sake of a mere win. He knew no failings in Himself and yet was transparently humble. He made the grandest claims for Himself and yet does so without a whiff of [arrogance]. He ransacked the temple, He spoke of hellfire, He called Herod a fox, He called the Pharisees ‘corpses in makeup’ and yet never do you doubt His love as you read His life. With a huge heart He hated evil and felt for the needy. He loved God and He loved people. So you look at Him and you have to say, ‘Here’s a man truly alive, un-withered in any way, far more vital and vigorous, far more full and complete. Far more human than any other.’”
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/made-in-the-image-of-god

Jesus was the very epitome of what it means to be human.
• He is the very picture of what humanity was created be.
• He is the very image bearer of God.

And then Michael Reeves would go on to say.
“And so it is for those who come to know Christ. They find themselves being rehumanized in His image, after His likeness.”
(ibid)

That is to say that It is not only Christ who shows us what a human is, but it is Christ who re-humanizes us into what we are supposed to be.

The world thinks a good human is good looking.
The world thinks a good human is athletic.
The world thinks a good human is academic.

And the world goes looking for their identity in those things.

Well I hate to be the one to tell you but according to the Bible
• Jesus had no stately form that we should be attracted to Him.
• Jesus never won a single athletic competition.
• Jesus was never educated.

BUT SO WHAT
Because those things have nothing to do
With the true purpose of humanity.
Those things have nothing to do with who God made you to be.

Jesus didn’t care if you could bench press 400lbs.
Jesus didn’t care if you weighed 400 lbs.

Jesus wanted you to be like your Father who is in heaven.
What are the fruits of God’s Spirit?
“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

That was Jesus.
That is what a human was created to be.

BUT YOU WILL NEVER BECOME TRULY HUMAN ON YOUR OWN.

Only in Christ can we start to become truly human,
As we were created to be.

This is why Scripture says that God is at work in our life to make us like Jesus; in essence to make us truly human.

Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”

This is what I want you to understand at the outset tonight
As we begin this weekend talking about our identity.

• God created humanity in His image.
• Man and woman were to be the image bearers of God.
• But sin and the fall totally wrecked humanity and now humanity has no idea
even what it means to be human.

But Jesus came, not only to show us what it means to be human,
But also to restore us to what God created us to be.

And that is why in Christ we have verses in the Bible like this:

1 Corinthians 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”

• We have all spent enough time looking like the fallen Adam,
• But in Christ we now begin to bear the image of what we were created to be.

2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

• We look in a mirror and we see that distorted image of humanity,
• But in Christ it is being transformed through sanctification into what we were created to be.

Colossians 3:9-10 “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him”

• That is the calling for those in Christ to realize that in Christ we are finally becoming truly human.
• We are finally beginning to bear the image of God in our lives.

Ephesians 4:22-24 “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

So tonight we begin with a simple premise.

Your identity is not bound up in what you do or what you look like
Or some other insignificant talent or feature.

You were created to be more.
You were created to be human.
• You are not a dog…
• You are not a cat…
• You are not a horse…

YOU ARE HUMAN.
You were created to bear the image of God.
That is your identity.

But apart from Christ you can never be truly human
Because only Christ can restore the humanity
Which God intended for you to have.

• Only Christ can restore the righteousness which was lost…
• Only Christ can restore the kindness the goodness the faithfulness the gentleness and all those things which bear the image of God.

If you want to find your identity.
If you want to find who you were created to be.

Look to Christ as THE EXAMPLE
And Look to Christ as THE MEANS.

HE IS OUR TRUE IDENTITY.

Download Here:

“Where, Now, Is Their God?”
Psalms 115
August 15, 2021

Tonight we continue our study of this wonderful group of Psalms
Known as the “Hallel”

• They are the Psalms which were annually sung by the Jews as they partook of the Passover.
• They are the group of Psalms that were sang by our Lord and His disciples after they took the first Lord’s Supper.
• They are a group of Psalms that focus on the great deliverance of God for His people.
• They consist of Psalms 113-118

In Psalms 113 we talked about God’s Humility to Behold His People.
• We saw God do what no god does.
• He did what was beneath Him.
• He humbled himself to behold things in heaven and earth.
• He actually elevated the poor to the status of princes.

In Psalms 114 we talked about God’s Power to Save His People.
• We listened as the Psalmist spoke of the Exodus.
• He actually taunted the sea as it fled.
• He taunted the Jordan river as it stood still.
• And the point was that God’s salvation was not a barely salvation.
• He saved them with a mighty arm.

In both of those Psalms we also saw Christ,
• Who humbled Himself to take on human flesh and dwell among us
• And who saved us totally on the cross making a mockery of sin and death.

Well TONIGHT we move to the 3rd Psalm of this group.
And in Psalms 115 we see God’s Loyalty To Bless His People.

And indeed this is an obvious picture of Christ as well since we read:
Ephesians 1:2-3 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”

But from Israel’s perspective when this Psalm was written
• It was a focus of God’s unfailing care for them
• As they wandered through the wilderness
• And even as they took the Promised Land.

Time after time God showed His “Loyal Covenantal Love” for them.
We know it is that beloved word “CHECED”

Often times translated as “lovingkindness” but so much more than that.
IT IS GOD’S LOYALTY TO ISRAEL.

GOD IS PRAISED BECAUSE HE CARES FOR THEM.
That is what is on display here in this Psalm.

And the Psalmist makes it clear in the very first verse.

We read: (1) “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.”

The Psalm sets the parameters right out of the gate,
That the objective of life is not our glory, but God’s glory.

It reminds us of the famous statement of John the Baptist who was told that Jesus was baptizing as well and was starting to draw a bigger crowd than John.

John 3:27-30 “John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John was well aware that the purpose of his life
Was always the glory of Christ.
And the Psalmist is well aware of that too.

It would be the ultimate blasphemy if
• The children of Israel left Egypt,
• Crossed the wilderness,
• Conquered Canaan
• And then they received the credit for it.

It would be akin to us standing tonight and taking credit for our salvation.
• Or us taking credit even for the sanctification that occurs in our life.
• Or us taking credit for our spiritual gifts or accomplishments.

All of those things would be blasphemous and foolish.
We know where all the glory is to go because we know who caused it all.

God has done it all.
• He chose us who are weak.
• He chose us who are not wise.
• He chose us who are not noble.
• So that he who boasts would boast in the Lord.

We understand the cry “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory”

It is a cry for God and God alone to receive all the glory
For all that is accomplished in our lives.

I always loved the analogy that “The donkey who carried Jesus during the Triumphal Entry knew that the applause was not for him.”

So it is with us. So it is with this Psalm.

It begins by setting the focus that
GOD IS TO BE GLORIFIED THROUGH OUR LIVES.

And none of us disagree with that.
Romans 11:36 “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

But here the Psalmist even gets more specific.
• He already highlighted in Psalms 113 that God should receive glory for the HUMILITY HE SHOWED IN BEHOLDING US.
• He already highlighted in Psalms 114 that God should receive glory for the POWER HE SHOWED IN SAVING US.

Here God should receive glory for
THE LOYALTY (CHECED) HE SHOWS IN BLESSING US.

After saying that God alone should receive the glory he says,
“Because of Your lovingkindness (CHECED), because of Your truth.”

And there you have THE POINT OF THE PSALM.
God is loyal to us.
God is faithful to us.
God cares for us perfectly.

We certainly are not always loyal to Him.
• Hosea reminded that our loyalty is often “like a morning cloud which goes away
early”.

We certainly are not always true to Him.
• Psalms 78 reminded that often times our commitments to Him become lies that
we never fulfill.

And that is another reason why we should not receive the glory.

But God is loyal – His loyalties never fail.
Lamentations 3:22 “The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.”

God’s CHECED never ceases toward us.
And God never lies, nor can He lie, He is always true.

And THE THRUST OF THE PSALM is that
God now be glorified for that loyalty and that truth.

Certainly He deserves credit for that. Certainly He deserves credit for that.

BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM.
• The world was able to see that God clearly took an interest in Israel.
• The world was able to see that God cared for them.
• The world was able to see His mighty power to save.

After all they saw the plagues on Egypt.
They saw the parting of the Red Sea.
They saw the Jordan river stop up.
God’s humility and God’s power were clearly seen by the world
And so God was rightly credited and glorified for those things.

BUT WHEN THE MIRACULOUS WONDERS STOPPED
THE WORLD STOPPED RECOGNIZING GOD AT WORK.

Was God still at work for His people? Of course
Was God still functioning as their God? Absolutely

But the world didn’t recognize it.

And that is the real frustration of this Psalm.
(2) “Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is there God?”

Now we were at a point where the world didn’t recognize God’s presence with Israel.
• When the plagues weren’t occurring…
• When the sea wasn’t parting…
• When the river wasn’t stopping…

The world looked at Israel and said, “Ha! Their God has departed!”
“Where, now, is there God?”

Now, if you’ll remember
This was actually one of the main concerns of Moses.

When the children of Israel built the golden calf and God was angry and was willing to destroy them, Moses interceded.
Exodus 32:11-14 “Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? “Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.”

When the children of Israel refused to enter the Promised Land, God was once again angry at His people and Moses once again interceded.
Numbers 14:13-19 “But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, for You, O LORD, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. “Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, ‘Because the LORD could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ “But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’ “Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

There was a real concern from Moses
That God would not be glorified in the sight of the nations
For all that He had done and was doing in Israel.

Well, it seems as though that fear has now become reality.
• The pagan nations surrounding Israel see no evidence that God is with them at all.

And that is even their mocking taunt towards Israel.
“Where, now, is their God?”

And it clearly bothers the Psalmist that the nations would say this.

FOR ONE, God’s full presence was never with Israel.
• God allowed His glory to dwell with Israel,
• But you and I both know that there’s no way that the God of the universe could
have fit in that tent that Moses set up every time the children of Israel stopped.

And even when Solomon built Him a glorious temple, Solomon said:
1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”

The world certainly was operating on a faulty notion
And the Psalmist points that out.

(3) “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”

So even though the accusation is that God has abandoned His people,
The Psalmist clarifies that this is not the case.

God is as present as He ever was.
• He has always dwelled in heaven and yet He has always cared for His people
from heaven.

BUT HERE IS THE ISSUE.
The pagan nations had begun to reckon the God of heaven
As no different than one of their gods.

And that is what is bothering the Psalmist.

The nations are treating our God
Like He is no different than one of the other gods of the pagans.

That is to say, they are accusing the God of heaven
As though He is doing nothing for Israel

But NOTHING is what the pagan gods do for their people.
(4-8) “Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.”

It is the common taunt of the Old Testament
Regarding the foolishness of idols.

Perhaps Isaiah makes the best case for the ridiculousness of such idolatry.
TURN TO: Isaiah 44:9-20

Jeremiah 10 examines the same foolishness and says:
Jeremiah 10:5 “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good.”

• Those false gods never beheld them because they couldn’t see.
• Those false gods never encouraged them because they couldn’t talk.
• Those false gods never answered them because they couldn’t hear.
• Those false gods never provided for them or delivered them or anything because they were dead.

And consequently that is the way everyone who trusts in them ends up too.
Jeremiah 10:14-15 “Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish.”

But Jeremiah would continue and say:
Jeremiah 10:16 “The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of hosts is His name.”

BUT THAT IS THE PROBLEM HERE.
The nations are accounting Israel’s God to be no different than their gods.

To put it in modern day terms it would be like lumping Jesus in a group
With Allah, Buddha, or any of the 750 plus Hindu gods.

The nations looked at Israel.
And could see no difference between the care of Israel’s God and the care of their gods.

And that is a tragedy!

But listen, THAT WAS NOT GOD’S FAULT.

And this is where this Psalm takes a turn.

The problem that was occurring was with Israel.
• They lived their lives in such a way that you could not discern the difference between their God and the gods of the nations.

AND HERE IS WHY:
BECAUSE THEY DID NOT LIVE
AS A PEOPLE WHO TRUSTED GOD.

Let’s talk about it like this.

If all the children of God do is live just like the world
Then why would the world notice any difference
In the way their God cares for them?

For example:
• If you approach money exactly like the world approaches money how is the world ever going to see that your God is any different than theirs?

• If you approach marriage exactly like the world approaches marriage how is the world ever going to see that your God is any different than theirs?

• If you approach a virus or plague exactly like the world approaches it, how is the world ever going to see that your God is any different than theirs?

In other words if your life is dictated by the same
Behavior and motive and mentality as the world
Then how are they ever going to see how God cares for you?

You’ve likely heard the story before (it’s most likely fictional) but it’s been told often none the less.

About the town of Van Horn, TX.
It is said that in the town a liquor store was being built and as it was being built the local church prayed that God would stop it.
It wasn’t long before lightning struck the liquor store and it burned to the ground.
The story goes that the liquor store owner sued the church for causing the destruction of the store.
The church pleaded no fault
When the judge saw the case he commented, “I’m not sure I know how to rule in this instance because it seems here that we have a liquor store owner who believes in the power of prayer and a church that does not.”

The question here is does your life give any opportunity
For God to put His loyalty to you on display?

Now, before move forward in the Psalm,
Let me give you an example of what that looks like.

We remember the story of Abraham.
• Abraham was a pagan and God chose him.
• Abraham was unfaithful trying to go to Egypt, but God preserved him and Sarah.
• Abraham tried to fulfill the promise by the flesh, but God still granted Isaac by grace.

By the time Abraham is up in years
He is convinced of the loyalty of God on his behalf,
And you actually have a story where Abraham puts that on display.

In Genesis 24 Abraham tells his servant to go back to his country and find a wife for Isaac and bring her to Canaan.
• The request is filled with difficulty.

And the servant even asks:
Genesis 24:5-6 “The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?” Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there!”

So the servant sets out, but he knows it’s a difficult task so the servant prays.
Genesis 24:12 “He said, “O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham.”

• From there he prays that God would show him the girl by having her come up and water his camels, and that is exactly what happens.
• Rebekah comes up and drew water for all his camels and the servant was amazed.
• He asked here who she was and she was of the very people that the servant was looking for.

The point is that it is clear that God was working on behalf of Abraham.

And here is what the servant prayed after the event.
Genesis 24:26-27 “Then the man bowed low and worshiped the LORD. He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the LORD has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

Now when you read that story you see how
Abraham asked for what only God could provide.

And Abraham trusted God to provide.

It opened the door for God to demonstrate His loyalty to Abraham,
And He did to the point that it caused the servant to worship.

Now, to Abraham’s servant,
• Even though there were no miraculous demonstrations of power.
• Even though there were no signs in the heavens.

The servant was convinced that God was with Abraham
Because he witnessed God’s loyalty.

You see that.

Well that’s the problem now in Israel.
They don’t live in such a way as to ever even give God the opportunity to demonstrate His loyalty.

• They live like the pagans…
• They don’t ask any more of God than the pagans ask of their gods…

And so to the pagans it doesn’t appear that God is with them at all.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
(9-11) “O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield. You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.”

Now pay attention to exactly what is said here.
You obviously see a 3-fold reference.

• “O Israel” – that would be the CHOSEN.
• “house of Aaron” – that would be the CONSECRATED
• “You who fear” – that would be the CONVINCED

So anyone out there who has a relationship with God
The command to them is clear: “trust in the LORD”

Quit walking like the world and start walking by faith.
• Live your life in such a way that gives God the opportunity to demonstrate His glory in the way He cares for you.

But notice also THE WAY the Psalmist writes this.
“O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is THEIR help and THEIR shield.”

Does that seem a little strange in the wording to you?
Shouldn’t it say, “O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is YOUR help and YOUR shield”?

And you notice it is the same wording all 3 times.

WHY does the Psalmist say “their help and their shield” instead of the other way around?

Because the Psalmist here is quoting
What the statement of the world ought to be.

Right now the world looks at Israel and says, “Where, now, is their God?”
The world ought to be looking at Israel and saying, “He is their help and their shield.”

And the way to make that happen is for Israel to start walking by faith.
It is time for Israel to start trusting the LORD.

• Step out in faith and obey Him.
• Get out of the comfort of worldly logic and do what God says.

And when you step out in faith it opens the door
For God to demonstrate His glory and loyalty and truth
In the way He deals with you.

I saw this first hand with my parents.
• In the early 80’s my dad was laid off from his machinist job.
• I remember him taking us to Dairy Queen and telling us he was going to start trading horses.
• I never felt the strain, but I know my parents did.

• And yet, I saw him weekly titheing from what God had provided.
• I saw them continually giving money to a friend in need.
• And every morning we would join as a family and pray that God would provide.

THE POINT?
• I watched my parents position their life as a life of faith
• And it was easy for me or anyone else who watched
• To see how loyal God was to them.

HE NEVER FAILED THEM.
They trusted God and God glorified His name
In the way He cared for them.
He is still doing that.

AND THAT IS THE CALL OF THE PSALMIST.
• Start trusting God.
• Start walking by faith so that God is glorified when He is able to put His loyalty and truth on display.

And incidentally: YOU CAN TRUST GOD.
(12-15) “The LORD has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the LORD, The small together with the great. May the LORD give you increase, You and your children. May you be blessed of the LORD, Maker of heaven and earth.”

Do you hear the point of this Psalm?
• God has been loyal and true to care for you continually.
• But your refusal to trust Him and walk by faith has resulted in the world not
being able to recognize it.

In fact, they don’t see any difference between your God and their god
And that is a shame.

Start trusting God and let Him glorify His name as He cares for you.

Do you want a prayer to this effect?
Psalms 67 “God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

That’s the same message isn’t it?

Your life is meant to be a conduit through which God can glorify Himself in the world.

And that does not always mean that you do something amazing or miraculous and then give God the credit.

At times it’s that you simply trust God and He does what is amazing and glorifies Himself.

He does what only a living God can do.
He speaks, He hears, He smells, He feels, He walks, He cares for His people.

And when you trust God and live different from the world,
He will make that evident to the world and glorify His name.

And the PSALM CLOSES reminding you that this is the point.
(16-18) “The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, But the earth He has given to the sons of men. The dead do not praise the LORD, Nor do any who go down into silence; But as for us, we will bless the LORD From this time forth and forever. Praise the LORD!”

Do you catch his point?

“The dead do not praise the LORD”
That doesn’t mean that people aren’t praising God in heaven, that’s not the point.

The point is that there is a purpose for why God gives life.
Their life is for the purpose of bringing glory to God.

When you’re dead the world can no longer benefit from your life of faith.
When you’re dead the world can no longer benefit from your song of praise.
But while you’re living, that’s the goal.

So go out and live your life in a way
That puts on display the great loyalty and truth of God.

Walk in faith and let God glorify Himself
In the way that He cares for His children.

And this was a song sung at the Passover.
• Psalms 113 was sung to remind them that God glorified Himself by beholding them.
• Psalms 114 was sung to remind them that God gloried Himself by saving them.
• Psalms 115 is to remind them that God glorifies Himself by blessing their faith and obedience.

And as we have said, these Psalms aren’t just about the Passover,
THEY ARE ABOUT THE SALVATION OF CHRIST.

• Jesus told us not to look back at the Passover anymore.
• He told us to look back at the cross.
• “Do this in remembrance of Me”

We might say in regard to the Hallel, “Sing this in remembrance of Me”

AND IT IS TRUE.

It is a tragedy when the world can look at our life
And not see the benefit of Jesus all over us.

It is terrible for you or I to live so much like the world
That they can’t see that Jesus does anything more for us
Than Allah does for Muslims or Buddha does for Buddhists, etc.

Instead the world ought to be blown away with the way Jesus treats us.

They ought to see you walk by faith
And Jesus come through time after time after time
Until they are forced to say, “He is their help and their shield.”

This has been the way God’s people have been intended to walk.

Remember when those 3 Hebrew boys faced the flame?
• Remember them giving God opportunity to show His loyalty?
• Remember Nebuchadnezzar after God delivered?

Daniel 3:28 “Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.”

Remember when Daniel faced the den of lions?
• Remember how he stepped out in faith and let God deliver?
• Remember Darius after God delivered?

Daniel 6:20-22 “When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever! “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.”

Remember when the early church was threatened to stop preaching the resurrection?
Acts 4:23-31 “When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, ‘WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? ‘THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.’ “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”

Remember when Paul was on a ship in the middle of the storm?
Acts 27:21-26 “When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss. “Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. “For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ “Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. “But we must run aground on a certain island.”

And we could go on.
But you get the point.

GOD IS LOYAL TO HIS PEOPLE – HE CARES FOR THEM!
But if the world is going to see it
Then you are going to have to trust Him
And give Him the opportunity.

And He deserves that opportunity!
“Not to us, O LORD, not us, But to Your name give glory”

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Unashamed
2 Timothy 1:8-14
August 15, 2021

This morning we come to what has quickly become
One of my favorite services here at First Baptist Church.
It is our annual School Commissioning Service.

• I like it, certainly, because I think it is important to pray for our teachers and students as they return.

• But I also like it because, if nothing else, it gives us a Sunday where we can reevaluate and refocus on the mission of the church.

It is a mission that is true for every single believer.
• And it doesn’t matter if you are a common worker
• It doesn’t matter if you are a stay at home mom
• It doesn’t matter if you are a student in school

If you are a believer in Christ, you have 1 primary purpose.
And that purpose is the growth of the kingdom of God
Through the proclamation of the gospel.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT we were studying with the youth and we’ve been going through the gospel of John for about 3 years now.

But we came to:
John 20:21 “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

That’s a pretty remarkable statement.
We are now called by Christ to be His presence in the world.

And, as I told them Wednesday night, that FALLS TO EVERY BELIEVER.
• If you have confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord.
• If you are His follower.
• You are called to be a witness for Him.

And it’s not like anyone is too old or too young to do this.
If He has SAVED YOU, and He has seen fit to LEAVE YOU HERE,
Then you are EXPECTED to be a witness for Him.

That holds true for the teenager in the classroom
And that holds true for the retired man or woman at the coffee shop.

This service is an annual reminder of that truth.

Well this morning we are going to look at 2 Timothy 1:8-14.

We actually looked at this passage 3 years ago at this very service.
Only then our primary focus was on verse 7 of 2 Timothy 1.

2 Timothy 1:6-7 “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”

And our focus then was that if you have the Spirit of God within you
Then there is no need for you to walk in fear.

Rather, you have “a spirit of…power and love and discipline.”
That is your equipping.

THIS MORNING I want to look at some other parts of this passage.

And the focus of our study this morning
Is really going to center around the first half of verse 9.

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord”

Paul calls Timothy (and by extension each of us) to be UNASHAMED.

And it is a familiar thought in Scripture.
Mark 8:38 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Certainly we remember:
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

And here Paul is calling Timothy to also be unashamed of the gospel.

Perhaps of primary importance here are THE COMMANDS of the chapter.
The imperatives are not hard to see.

You’d do good to underline them:
• (8) “Therefore do not be ashamed”
• (8) “join with me in suffering”
• (13) “Retain the standard of sound words”
• (14) “Guard…the treasure”

Those are the four commands.
Everything else in this text sort of yields itself to enforcing those commands.

It is clear that Paul wants Timothy to stand up, be unashamed,
Join the suffering, hold on to the gospel, and defend it.

You are likely aware by now that
Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus to put things in order.
• Timothy had found this job to be quite difficult.
• In addition Nero is emperor and persecution is intense.
• In fact, 2 Timothy will be Paul’s last letter before he is beheaded.
• And it is often noted that perhaps Timothy was ready to quit.
• At the very least he is distressed.

2 Timothy 1:3-4 “I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.”

It was hard.

But the fact that serving Christ faithfully was hard,
Was not an excuse not to do it.

And in this final letter of Paul, he writes to Timothy to ask him to
PUT SHAME ASIDE AND TO JOIN IN THE FIGHT.

We are going to examine this plea this morning.

Now, we are going to look at this text a little different this morning
Because I want to make sure that the main point is evident.

You have here is Paul calling Timothy to not be ashamed of the gospel,
But in typical Paul fashion, he also reminds
What the gospel is, and what it is Timothy is fighting for.

I want to look at that first quickly and then we’ll get to the commands.

It is in verses 9-10 where Paul outlines this gospel
That he wants Timothy to stand up for.

“who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Jesus Christ from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,”

Now, I know that is a mouthful,
But let’s make sure we understand at least the high points.

GOD SAVED US
“who has saved us”

• We didn’t save ourselves, He saved us.
• We didn’t even help in salvation.
• Paul makes it clear that salvation was “not according to our works”

We didn’t add anything to it.
But rather, according to God’s sovereign prerogative
God chose before the foundation of the world that He would save us.

God saved us “according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

Not only did God save us, but His salvation WASN’T REACTIONARY.
God determined from eternity past that He was going to save us.

Paul said it in Ephesians 1:4
Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”

That means that before time began God had a plan
To save sinners who could not save themselves.

Paul reminds Timothy that they were those sinners whom God saved.
• Can you forget the fact that God purposed to save you from eternity past?
• Can you forget the fact that while we were enemies of God and children of wrath He saw fit to save us?
• Can you forget that?

And it’s not like God’s plan of salvation was nothing but an empty dream.
What God purposed to do God actually did.

This salvation “has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

God sent His Son!
• Jesus took on flesh and entered this world.
• He was born under the Law, and He fulfilled it.
• He resisted every temptation and He earned a righteous standing.
• He then faced death on our behalf and conquered it.

And He provides “life and immortality” to those who believe in Him.

What a promise!

THIS IS THE GOSPEL.
It is the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• He took on flesh and lived among us
• That He might save us from our sin and grant us eternal life.

GOD DID THIS.
• We didn’t do this.
GOD PURPOSED THIS.
• We didn’t purpose this.
GOD FULFILLED THIS.
• We didn’t fulfill this.

IT IS ALL GOD’S DOING.
He “has saved us”

But that’s not all Paul reminded Timothy of; He also told Timothy that:
GOD CALLED US.
He “has saved us and called us with a holy calling”

We aren’t just on the list of the REDEEMED,
We are on the list of the COMMISSIONED.

In fact, look at verse 11, “for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.”

Paul reminds Timothy that
He was “appointed”; that he was “called”

Paul says, “I am here for the gospel”

Can I ask you: WHY ARE YOU HERE?
What do you think is your purpose in life?

Have we not been studying Ecclesiastes and seen all the futility of the various worldly pursuits?

• Do you really think the primary reason God sends you to school is so you can
get knowledge?
• Do you really think the primary reason God employed you in the school is to
teach algebra or science or history?

Again, I’m NOT SAYING that knowledge is a bad thing. We know “knowledge exceeds folly as light exceeds darkness”. Ecclesiastes taught us that.

BUT THAT IS NOT OUR PURPOSE.
• That is NOT why we are here.
• That is NOT why you are in that school.
• That is NOT why you go to work.

There was a man who used to sit up across the road from us at the First Monday Trade Days in Canton.

HE SOLD SOCKS.
• One day he asked me, “Do you know the purpose of a sock factory?”
• I said, “To make socks.”
• He said, “No. The purpose of a sock factory is to make money.”

Do you know why God saved you while you were still in school?
Do you know why God saved you and caused you to be employed at that school?

FOR THE GOSPEL.
Be a good student… Be a good teacher…
But neither of those are your primary purpose.

We are “saved” and we are “called”
God has enlisted those He saved into His service to publish the gospel.

NOW LISTEN TO ME HERE.
That makes a refusal to join in the work of the gospel
• As the ultimate DISOBEDIENCE
• And the ultimate INGRATITUDE.

That’s just the fact.
As God’s children we have received a salvation we did not earn
And a calling we cannot ignore.

I HOPE YOU SEE THAT.

That truth is the basis for what Paul is going to tell Timothy.
• Paul is speaking to a man who has been saved and who has been called.
• And if you are a child of God those criteria fit you as well.

Well now, let’s look at those commands.
#1 JOIN THE FIGHT
2 Timothy 1:8-12

Even though we read 5 verses there, the main point does jump out at us.
“do not be ashamed”

• And Paul even returns to it in verse 12 saying, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed…”

• Specifically Paul tells Timothy not to be “ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner,”

There is a massive temptation to sort of omit the gospel.
There is a massive temptation to omit any association with Paul.

It is a time when it would be much easier
To keep your mouth closed and your head down.

Survival would seem to be the name of the game.
And yet Paul says, “do not be ashamed”

And in case there is any confusion regarding exactly what he means,

Paul says, “but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.”

There is no confusion here as to what Paul wants.
• He wants Timothy to stand up and be counted.
• He wants Timothy to join the fight.

Will that mean suffering for Timothy? Yes, most certainly.
But Paul calls Timothy to do it anyway.

• It was a time when Christians were being arrested.
• It was a time when Christians were having their property seized.
• It was a time when Christians were being killed in the coliseum.

And so it was a time when Christians were tempted
To put their light under a bushel.

Paul called for just the opposite.
Stand up, “do not be ashamed…join with me in suffering”

Now, I just want us to PAUSE for a moment and LET THAT SINK IN.

I think sometimes in modern day Christianity
We have convinced ourselves that THREAT of suffering
Is an ACCEPTABLE REASON not to do something.

Perhaps the prosperity gospel has made too many inroads into our thinking and caused us to believe that God never intends for His people to suffer.

But it seems apparent that FEAR OF REPERCUSSION
Has been a more than SUCCESSFUL DETERRENT
To keep Christians from sharing the gospel.

And I just want to make sure you see clearly this morning that
• Suffering was intense in Timothy’s world
• And he got a letter from a condemned man, who was about to be executed,
• Telling him to step up and join the suffering.

DO YOU SEE THAT?

IN FACT,
The way Paul writes to Timothy insinuates that
• If Timothy fails to “join…in suffering”
• Then Timothy is “ashamed of the testimony of our Lord”

DOES EVERYONE SEE THAT?

You either step up and join the suffering or be ashamed of the gospel.

This is a heavy call from Paul to Timothy.
I would imagine that the initial reading of this letter
Put a knot in Timothy’s stomach.

Now, just for a moment we are going to BRING THIS PART HOME.
• We’re about to send teachers into the school this week.
• We’re about to send students into the school this week.

And I simply want you to understand that
Fear of suffering is not an acceptable reason to neglect the gospel.

We are called to be those who confess Christ before men.
We are called to be those who are unashamed.

Perhaps that puts a knot in your stomach like it must have Timothy’s.
Paul knows that.

SO HE HAS SOME IMPORTANT INSTRUCTION FOR TIMOTHY.

Notice Paul says in verse 8, “join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,”

What does that mean?
“according to the power of God”

Well, it is a reference to what Paul said previously.
2 Timothy 1:6-7 “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”

Paul reminded Timothy that he
Had been supernaturally gifted by God for this task.

When Timothy faced the world, he did not face the world alone.
Timothy, as a believer in Jesus, had the Holy Spirit.

AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT AFRAID.
• Paul said, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity (cowardice), but of power and love and discipline.”

And this is what Paul means when he tells Timothy here to suffer “according to the power of God.”

• Later Paul will say, (14) “Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

In other words, Timothy, as you face suffering, rely on God’s Spirit.
• Don’t face this challenge in the flesh.
• Don’t face this battle in your own strength.
• You must rely on the Spirit of God.

And if we had time we’d go into all the details of what it means
To be “filled with the Spirit” or to “walk by the Spirit”.

But for time’s sake, I’ll just tell you.
GET IN THE WORD!

Paul is not telling Timothy to face this battle on his own,
But rather to face this calling and the threat of suffering
With the strength that God has already provided.

THERE IS POWER FOR THIS.
And there is FOR YOU as well if you are a child of God.

God has more than enough power for you to go into the school
And be a witness for Christ, face that calling with His power.

Now that is sort of the INITIAL MANDATE from Paul to Timothy.
• Don’t be ashamed.
• Join the suffering and stand in God’s power when you do it.

And then Paul expounds on the gospel (which we looked at.)

• Timothy, God saved us.
• Timothy, God called us.
• Timothy, God chose us before the foundation of the world.
• Timothy, God sent His Son into this world to fulfill His purpose.
• Timothy, Jesus abolished death and granted immortality.

You cannot let suffering cause you to be silent about that.
Timothy, you cannot be ashamed of what Jesus did.

And that is an important reminder for each one of us.
• We are the redeemed.
• We are the saved.
• We are the called.
• We are the chosen.
• We are the commissioned.

Jesus came to this earth, fulfilled our righteousness,
Bore our punishment, and granted us eternal life.

And He has called us to stand up and proclaim that message to the world.
• We cannot be ashamed.
• We cannot be deterred by suffering.
• We have been saved and we have been called.

And incidentally, notice Paul’s example.
(12) “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

It’s not like Paul was asking Timothy to do something that he was unwilling to do.
• At the present Paul was in the infamous Mamertine Prison.
• He would soon be beheaded.
• At the end of this letter he reveals that he has been abandoned by everyone.

2 Timothy 4:9-11 “Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.”

Here is God’s apostle, all but alone.
2 Timothy 4:16 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.”

• Paul had faced arrest and imprisonment.
• Paul had faced the abandonment of all his companions.
• Paul now faced death.

But despite all that he said, “but I am not ashamed”

WHY?
“for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

Paul was not ashamed,
NOT BECAUSE he knew the gospel,
BUT BECAUSE he believed the gospel.

• He believed in Jesus Christ.
• He believed that Jesus Christ could save Him.
• He believed that Jesus Christ would save Him.

And thus, Paul had no problem confessing His Savior before men.

Let me tell it to you like this.
AT THE HEART OF EVANGELISM IS FAITH.

You will never suffer for a gospel you do not believe.

Paul IS NOT just calling Timothy to proclaim the gospel,
Paul IS calling Timothy to believe it and to trust it.

• Timothy, do you believe God saved you?
• Timothy, do you believe God called you?
• Timothy, do you believe that Jesus Christ brought immortality to light?

THEN “do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.”

Timothy, join the fight.

That is my call to you church.
Whether you are headed into the school or simply into the work place.
• Join the fight.
• Do not be ashamed of the gospel.
• Take it and proclaim it even if it comes with a cost.

That is Paul’s first admonition to Timothy.

One more point we’ll make.
#2 DEFEND THE GOSPEL
2 Timothy 1:13-14

Here you see two imperatives.
“Retain” & “Guard”

“Retain” is the Greek word ECHO
It means “to have and to hold”

Paul tells Timothy first “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”

In other words, Timothy own the gospel and hold the gospel.
• Hold on to “the standard of sound words”
• Hold on to the gospel you heard me preach.

And then he says,
“Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

That treasure is the truth.
That treasure is the gospel.

1 Timothy 3:14-15 “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

The church has been entrusted with the truth.
And it must be guarded because men will pervert it.

Listen to the last warning Paul gave Timothy in his first letter to him.
1 Timothy 6:20-21 “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”

There are men who are embracing worldly knowledge
And thus have “gone astray from the faith.”

LET ME TRANSLATE THAT FOR YOU.

There is a message that you can go into the world an preach
Which will not bring about suffering.

• You can embrace “worldly and empty chatter”
• You can embrace “what is falsely called ‘knowledge’”

That is to say that
You can just talk about all the junk the world wants to talk about.

I googled what are the “BIGGEST SOCIAL ISSUES OF 2021”.
I’m sure the list varies from site to site, but this is what I found.

1) The Vaccine
2) Same Sex Marriage
3) Gender Identity
4) Woman Empowerment
5) Hunger and Poverty
6) Overpopulation
7) LGBT adoption rights
8) Climate Change
9) Racism / Religious Discrimination (Islam)
10) Health Care Availability

Now, you can go into the world tomorrow
And you can adopt any one of those 10 subjects
And feel like you are really in the flow of life.

(And that doesn’t even include getting lost in politics.)

And if you listen to social pressure and pick the popular side of those arguments you’ll even “be considered knowledgeable and woke.”

In fact, the world WILL LOVE YOU.
They will embrace you.
And there is no threat of suffering.

BUT IF YOU
• “retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from [Paul]”
• And if you “Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

THEN YOU CAN GET READY FOR A FIGHT.

The gospel IS NOT going to endorse same sex marriage or gender identity or LGBT adoption rights.
• The gospel is going to confront those in sexual sin with the Law of God which condemns such behavior.
• And then the gospel is going to offer those in that sin forgiveness and cleansing through Jesus Christ.

The gospel IS NOT going to become preoccupied with things like overpopulation.
• The gospel is going to acknowledge that human life is not a mistake, but rather a divine creation of God, and that God will save any human who will repent and call on His name.

The gospel IS NOT going to get lost in talks of climate change and carbon emissions and saving the planet.
• The gospel is going to remind that this world will last until God destroys it and that one day the earth and even the elements will be destroyed with fire.
• And yet the gospel will offer to any man salvation from this judgment through Christ.

The gospel IS NOT going to turn itself into a social mandate regarding critical race theory or woman empowerment or any other current cause.
• The gospel is going to remind that all people regardless of race or gender are lost and in need of a Savior and that in Christ Jesus there is “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.”

The gospel IS NOT going to belittle itself to the cause of vaccination or health care availability.
• The gospel is going to remind the world that no one is getting out alive regardless of medication and that the only true hope for humanity is salvation through Jesus Christ.

THE GOSPEL IS FOCUSED ON THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY ONE
THAT SAVES MEN FROM ETERNAL JUDGMENT.

And this is Paul’s call to Timothy.
• Timothy you can spend your life talking about everything but the main thing.
• You can avoid suffering and even be popular by addressing everything except what you have been called to proclaim.
• BUT YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED AND CALLED FOR MORE!

• Retain the gospel.
• Guard the gospel.
• Do not be ashamed of the gospel.
• Suffer for the gospel.
• Proclaim the gospel.

DO NOT GET DISTRACTED.
“Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God”

This is what is asked of the church.
And this week as you go into the school,
Remember why you are there.