The Faith That Perseveres
Psalms 44
August 4, 2019

Most of us have lived long enough in this world
That we understand the reality of suffering.

Most of us have walked through things that are very difficult and most of us even realize that this life promises that more difficulty is likely on the way.

• We know the truths about suffering.
• We know about the fall, we know about the curse.
• We know that God also uses suffering to produce sanctification in us.

• We’ve all swam in Hebrews 12 where we learned that “all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

We’ve learned that.

• We’ve listened as James told us to “count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”

This life has a way of teaching us the realities of suffering.
And even in a place like America
Where we almost make an idol out of comfort suffering still reaches us.

• You can air condition your home…
• You can insure everything you own…
• You can faithfully get medical checkups and preventative treatments…
• You can eat right and exercise…
• You can plan for the future and save and build your retirement…
• You can live carefully and not take risks so as not to find yourself in pain…

You can be very committed to your own personal comfort
And still suffering will find you.
GOD HAS DETERMINED FOR IT TO BE SO.

And the longer you live the more aware of that truth you become.

But one truth I don’t think we are as familiar with in America
IS THE TRUTH REGARDING PERSECUTION.

We all understand suffering.
I’m not sure we all understand persecution.

And yet this is also a promise from our Lord.
Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Jesus told the disciples on the night before He died:
John 15:18-21 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘ A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.”

John 16:1-4 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

And of course a study of their lives clearly bears this out.
• James (the brother of John) was the first to go, having been beheaded by Herod.
• Andrew, Peter, Philip, Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot were all crucified. (Andrew on an X, Peter upside down)
• Matthew, Thomas, and Bartholomew were all stabbed
• The other James was clubbed to death
• John lived the longest, but was exiled in prison to Patmos

Point being, they were all heavily persecuted and even martyred.

Paul echoed this reality.
1 Corinthians 4:9-13 “For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.”

And again:
2 Corinthians 4:8-11 “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

They were rejected men.
They were persecuted men.

Paul himself gave his own personal list of suffering when he wrote:
2 Corinthians 11:24-27 “Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”

Tradition teaches that PAUL would eventually meet his death in Rome
Where he was BEHEADED.

PERSECUTION IS REAL.
And that is also the backdrop behind Psalms 44.

It is not a Psalm simply about suffering,
It is a Psalm about being persecuted.

(22) “But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

And while none of us greatly enjoys suffering,
Persecution holds an even greater anxiety for us.
(Namely because most of us have never experienced it on a physical level.)

Make no mistake all true believers are persecuted.
• The Bible promises that.

But most of the time our persecution comes in the form of gossip
Or slander or social exile or something like that.

But not many in America have suffered like the Psalmist indicates.
“killed all day long…considered as sheep to be slaughtered”

And because it is foreign to us,
It presents with it a certain type of anxiety.
Namely: COULD I HANDLE IT?

• If men started attacking me and physically beating me, could I endure?
• If I faced death for my faith, could I persevere?
• If I was forced to witness the murder of my family or friends, could I stand strong?

And the answer is that on your own…NO, YOU COULDN’T.
(Let’s not fall into the trap of Peter boldly promising to die with Jesus)

The human condition doesn’t have that kind of strength.

But we have routinely said that the faith which we have is supernatural.
It did not originate with us; it was a gift from God.
It is a faith from God that God promises will endure no matter the trial.

If you’ll let me first give you the theology
Then we’ll look next at the illustration which is Psalms 44.

Here’s the theology:
1 Peter 1:3-9 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.”

Peter there reminds those he writes to that
Their salvation and their eternal hope are secure.

The inheritance is described
• By words like “imperishable”, “undefiled”, “reserved”
And we are spoken of
• By words like “protected”

And in that passage Peter reminds that all suffering will do to a believer
Is prove just how strong their faith actually is.
(Think of Job here)

And Peter says that this faith which God gives is so strong
That even though it is tested by fire it will “result in
Praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

THAT IS TO SAY, IT’S GOING TO LAST.
• The faith God gives will stand.
• The faith God gives will endure.
• The faith God gives will persevere.

That is the promise.
You will stand.

Jude 24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,”

And that is the truth that is reiterated in the 44th Psalm.

It is a picture of a man who should have defected,
But for some reason he did not.
That reason is because the faith God grants perseveres.

There are 6 points.
#1 HIS CONSIDERATION
Psalms 44:1-3

Here we simply see that this man is more than aware
Of God’s track record for having been a deliverance for His people.

That is to say, this man was well versed
In those famous Bible Stories of God’s deliverance.

He says, “O God, we have heard with our ears, Our fathers have told us The work that You did in their days, In the days of old.”

That brings to our mind all of those Bible Stories we learned as children.
• We remember David and Goliath
• We remember those 3 Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace.
• We remember Daniel in the lion’s den.
• We remember Gideon
• We remember Samson

We’re familiar with the stories.
So is our writer.

But more than that, he has a specific story in mind,
And that story is the story of JOSHUA AND THE CONQUEST.

(2) “You with Your own hand drove out the nations; Then You planted them; You afflicted the peoples, Then You spread them abroad.”

He is remembering the miraculous stories
Of how God gave the Promised Land to the children of Israel.

Do you remember those stories?

TURN TO: JOSHUA 6

Remember how the Children of Israel approached the great walled city of Jericho?
(READ 6:1-5)
• That’s not much of a battle plan, and yet God caused it to succeed.

Then of course they battled Ai and lost because Achan had taken some of the spoil from Jericho, but once he was dealt with listen to what God told Joshua:
(READ 8:1) – “I have given into your hand the king of Ai”
• And God did.
• The men approached, faked a retreat
• When the men of Ai pursued, those lying in wait went in and burned the city

Then came the city of Jerusalem
(READ 10:1-11) – “there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword”
• God was doing it.

Then came the Amorites
(READ 10:12-14) – “the sun stopped in the middle of the sky”

And we could go on and on about the miraculous work of God
As the children took the land.

And that is what the writer of Psalms 44 reveals in verse 3.
(3) “For by their own sword they did not possess the land, And their own arm did not save them, But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, For You favored them.”

Very simply put the Psalmist knows God’s track record
To deliver those whom He favors.

He remembers all those stories of God’s providence
And miraculous intervention on behalf of His people.

That is on his mind.
• See that first.
• He knows what God is capable of.

That leads to the 2nd point.
#2 HIS CONFESSION
Psalms 44:4-8

Well based upon who God has proven himself to be,
You can see our Psalmist filled with faith and confidence.

It is both a request and an expectation.
It is a boast in the greatness and power of God.

(5) “Through You we will push back our adversaries; Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us”

(8) “In God we have boasted all day long, And we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah”

You can feel his confidence can’t you?
You can feel his faith.

And it’s NOT that our Psalmist is proud or boastful.

His humility is right on.
(6) “For I will not trust in my bow, Nor will my sword save me.”

His theology is right on.
(8) “In God we have boasted all day long”

This is simply a man who heard who God was
And is now trusting God to be that for him.

And then we even get that infamous “Selah”
Which can be a pause or a musical interlude or even a crescendo.

I think the crescendo fits here really well.
• The song writer just sang a bold claim about the power and goodness of God.
• The song writer just boasted of the great victory.
• You can hear the music build in power.

And for the sake of our Psalm I simply want you to see this:
• He knows God is a God who delivers His people.
• He fully expects God to deliver Him.

You can see that.
#3 HIS COMPLAINT
Psalms 44:9-16

Well, almost out of nowhere the song comes back down to earth.

The height of confidence
Is met with disappointment and confusion.

WE EXPECTED DELIVERANCE…
(9) “Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor, And do not go out with our armies.”

Remember in verse 3 he reminded that God delivered their fathers
Because he “favored them.”

And now we find the Psalmist laments that God “rejected us”

You’re seeing his dilemma.
• You favored them and thus their enemies were scattered.
• Our enemies have prevailed so You must have rejected us.

The Psalmist continues:
(10-16) “You cause us to turn back from the adversary; And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. You give us as sheep to be eaten And have scattered us among the nations. You sell Your people cheaply, And have not profited by their sale. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and a derision to those around us. You make us a byword among the nations, A laughingstock among the peoples. All day long my dishonor is before me And my humiliation has overwhelmed me, Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.”

And notice the emphasis here on the fact that God is the One who did it.

He doesn’t speak of what the enemy has done,
He speaks of what God has done.

• (10) “You cause…”
• (11) “You give us…”
• (12) “You sell…”
• (13) “You make…”
• (14) “You make…”

He sees that God has sovereignly ordained that
When they go out into battle, not only do they lose,
But they are mocked when they lose.

And the UTTER COMPLAINT in this is that
IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE THERE IS ANY BENEFIT IN IT AT ALL.

(12) “You sell Your people cheaply, and have not profited by their sale.”

Wow, what a statement.
• It would be one thing if our death was for a great purpose.
• It would be one thing if our suffering meant something.

But this Psalmist can’t see that any benefit is coming
From the sale of God’s people.

All that is coming out of this is scoffing and derision and laughing
And dishonor and reproaches and reviling.
There is no benefit coming out of this at all.

In short, to the Psalmist, this suffering doesn’t make sense.

It reminds a little of JOSHUA’S COMPLAINT after the children of Israel lost to Ai.
TURN TO: JOSHUA 7:1-15

We see Joshua’s confusion.
Well at least in that story God answered the reason behind it.
Achan had sinned.

But here the Psalmist is given no such explanation.
It doesn’t make sense to him.
• There is no explanation…
• There is no benefit…
• THIS FEELS LIKE WASTED SUFFERING
• THIS FEELS LIKE POINTLESS PERSECUTION

DO YOU SEE THAT?

From a human standpoint and by human logic
This is unexplainable suffering and defeat.

Our Psalmist cannot find a silver lining.
Our Psalmist cannot find a reason.

AND THAT IS HIS COMPLAINT.

Our suffering can be justified when we see the benefit of it,
But when we can’t see the benefit
Is when we are most prone to complain.

So follow the flow of the song.
• The Psalmist knows that God is more than capable of delivering.
• And because of that he is confident that God will deliver him.
• But then we find that for no apparent reason, God has not delivered.

And here is where our faith gets tested.
Here is where we have a decision to make.

What are you going to do?
• Are you going to defect?
• Are you going to renounce God?
• Are you going to leave because you didn’t see what you were hoping for?

Well let me show you what the Psalmist did:
#4 HIS COMMITMENT
Psalms 44:17-19

The Psalmist determined that
Even though he did not understand the outcome
He was not going to stop trusting God.

(17-18) “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You, And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, and our steps have not deviated from Your way.”

The Psalmist said – WE STAYED

We had absolutely nothing of sight to validate our faith,
But we kept it anyway.

IN FACT, in the midst of our faith all we received was more rejection.
(19) “Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals And covered us with the shadow of death.”

And that is remarkable.
• The Psalmist knows God can deliver.
• He even expected God to deliver.

But God didn’t.
• God gave them over to their enemies.

Regardless of this, the Psalmist decided to remain committed to God.
• And God rewarded that commitment with more suffering; with more persecution.

It’s the old adage,
“Cheer up, it could be worse. So I cheered up and it got worse.”

BUT DO YOU SEE THE FAITH OF THE PSALMIST?
Regardless of the outcome, his faith is not failing.

At camp this past week Austin Duncan shared a story
About a missionary named William Borden.
I had never heard of him before, but apparently he is quite famous.

• William Borden was born to a rich family and at his family’s request he studied
and graduated from Yale.

• But after graduation he left his fortune behind to sale to China on the mission
field.

• He stopped on his way there in Egypt so that he might learn Arabic and be
better equipped to witness to Muslims.

• But 1 month after landing in Egypt he contracted meningitis and died at the
age of 25.

• He was a young man who turned his back on everything this world had to offer
in order to serve the Lord, and it cost him everything before it would appear
that he accomplished anything.

• Austin Duncan told his story and spoke of how when his mother came to bury
him she had a single phrase etched on his grave stone.

It said, “Apart from Christ there is no explanation for such a life.”
https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2017/february/forgotten-final-resting-place-of-william-borden.html

We could say the same of our Psalmist here in this Psalm.

There is no human reason for why someone would keep the faith
When the faith never seems to pay off.

• All our Psalmist has to go by are some ancient stories of God’s power which he has never seen manifest in his life.

• There is no human reason why our Psalmist should endure unless his faith is in fact a supernatural enduring faith.

• Apart from Christ there is no explanation for such endurance.

BUT THERE IT IS.
YOU SEE HIS COMMITMENT.

His Consideration, His Confession, His Complaint, His Commitment
#5 HIS CONFUSION
Psalms 44:20-22

The Psalmist has already determined to stand strong.
The singer has already decided to endure.

But that does not mean he understands.

Notice his confusion
(20-22) “If we had forgotten the name of our God Or extended our hands to a strange god, Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Here our Psalmist takes inventory.
You know Joshua couldn’t figure out why God let them lose to Ai,
But it was because of a sin in the camp.

So the Psalmist takes inventory as well.
• Did we forget God? No
• Did we worship a strange god? No

And God knows this. He knows the secrets of the heart.
• God knows we’ve been faithful.
• God knows we have not defected from Him.
• God knows we have not fallen into idolatry.

And yet, despite our faithfulness, God is not delivering.

In fact, we read (22) “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

That is to say,
“On account of You…On account of our faith…We just die”

They don’t value our lives any more than they do a sacrificial animal
That is bred and born only to die upon the altar.

Here it is:
OUR FAITH IN YOU HAS NOT YIELDED
ONE SINGLE EARTHLY BENEFIT.

Let that sink in for a moment.
• In a day when men are far more concerned about what they can get from God than what they give to Him.
• In a day where God has taken the form of servant genie rather than Sovereign God.
• We live in a day when if God doesn’t immediately give us what we want, we run to someone who will.

Men who do that indicate that their faith is not genuine.
Men who do that indicate that they really have no faith at all.
They don’t love God
They don’t desire God
They don’t trust God
They simply seek to use God and if that is unsuccessful they quit.

BUT OUR PSALMIST DID NOT.
• Trusting God has not yielded one single earthly benefit.
• Trusting God has only resulted in ridicule, suffering, and death.

And yet, the Psalmist is committed.
That is enduring faith isn’t it?

AND NOTICE, even in his request, he does not defect to another God.
Even in his suffering he maintains a commitment to God.

#6 HIS CRY
Psalms 44:23-26

You see that don’t you?
HE’S NOT LEAVING.
• He wants deliverance to be sure.
• He wants protection to be certain.
• He doesn’t understand why God isn’t delivering.
• BUT HE ISN’T LEAVING

In fact He still trusts in God’s CHECED
(26) “Rise up, be our help, and redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.”

SO THE TEMPTATION in reading this Psalm is to read it
And praise this Psalmist for his great faith even when God is silent.

The temptation is to lift him up as a poster child
And tell all other believers, you need to have faith like this Psalmist did.

THAT IS THE WRONG MESSAGE

This is not a story about the great faith of the Psalmist.
This is a story about the faith that God grants to His children.

• GOD WAS HELPING THIS PSALMIST
• GOD WAS INTERVENING ON HIS BEHALF
• GOD GRANTED THIS PSALMIST FAITH IN THE MIDST OF HIS TRIALS
• GOD GRANTED THIS MAN ENDURANCE IN THE MIDST OF DEATH

Otherwise this man would not have endured.
He had a supernatural faith, which was a gift from God
And this is why he was able to endure.

NOW LET ME PROVE IT:

TURN TO: ROMANS 8:35-39

You see there the question. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?”

Now, that question DOES NOT MEAN, “Who will make Christ stop loving us?”
That is NOT what Paul is asking.

If that were so the list might say, “Will sin or defection or immorality or lack of giving or lack of prayer?”

That would be a list of things
That might make us think Christ would quit loving us.
But that’s not what Paul is talking about.

Paul IS ASKING is there anything that can cause us to quit loving Christ?

And that is why the list goes like this: “Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

Can any of those things cause one of Christ’s redeemed
To turn on Him and quit loving Him?

After all: (36) “Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”

You recognize that verse. That’s Psalms 44:22.

And Paul here is asking a very important question.
It is the reality of the Psalmist we study tonight.

Can persecution cause a believer to quit loving Christ?
Can you face tribulation or death to such an extent
That you would be willing to give up Christ to save your life?

That’s a real question isn’t it?
• Will my faith endure such hardship?
• Will my love for Christ endure such treatment?

AND THE UNEQUIVOCAL ANSWER FROM PAUL IS A RESOUNDING YES!

(37) “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”

• Paul doesn’t say that we get through them by the skin of our teeth.
• He doesn’t say, we survive, but barely.

He says we “overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us”

• We love because He first loved us.
• We endure because His faith was poured into us.
• The faith we have toward God and the love we have for God is not from ourselves, it is from God.

And Paul says that no amount of hardship
Can even come close to causing us to fall away.

And that was certainly true of the Psalmist wasn’t it.
There was no human reason why he should have endured.

“Apart from Christ there is no explanation for such a life”

(8:38-39) “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It is the Love Christ has for the Father.
That love has been poured into us.

Romans 5:5 “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

YOU WILL ENDURE

You are a possessor of that same supernatural faith.
It is a faith that endures persecution.

When you understand that you then you rightly understand Psalms 44.
• That Psalmist wasn’t holding on to Christ.
• Christ was holding on to him.

The Psalmist held the bar, Christ held his hands to it.

Does that make sense?
What a blessing then to see
How God has so worked in our life to cause us to stand.

Now read:
1 Peter 1:3-9 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.”

Now read:
Jude 24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,”

Don’t Lose Hope
Psalms 42 & 43
June 30, 2019

Well tonight we are actually going to study 2 Psalms.
The reason is because they clearly belong together.

That doesn’t mean that they are one Psalm wrongly divided,
But simply that they continue with the same theme.

The theme is evident: DON’T LOSE HOPE
As you see the same chorus repeated 3 times.

(42:5 c.f. 42:11; 43:5) “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.”

And so the message is clear.
As the Psalmist delivers his lament or complaint,
He stops himself and has a moment of internal contemplation.

It’s really even an internal rebuke.
“Why are you in despair, O my soul”

“despair” is the Hebrew word SHACHACH
It means “bowed down” or “depressed” or “deflated”

So as the Psalmist seemingly listens to himself talk,
He pauses his lament to ask himself that question.

“Why are you in despair, O my soul”
• Why are you so depressed?
• Why are you so deflated?
• Why are you so defeated?

“And why have you become disturbed within me?”
• That is to say, “What’s wrong with you?”
• What’s your problem?

I don’t know if you’ve ever been at a point in life
Where your mood was just sour or your attitude was depressed
And you had to sort of shake yourself and say, “What’s your problem?”

That is what the Psalmist is doing here.

But not only does the Psalmist confront himself,
But he also rebukes himself.
“Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence”

(11 & 43:5) “…The help of my countenance and my God”

But basically the same point.

Why are you so beaten down, it’s as though you’ve forgotten God.
His presence will show up, and He will win the day.

• It’s time for you to have a little hope here.
• It’s time for you to exercise a little faith here.
• It’s time for you to close the book on this pity-party.

That’s the sermon this Psalmist is preaching to himself.
(He rebukes himself for being depressed)

Now, I am a little compelled here to discuss it
Since it has been so real for my family and for some of you as well.

Any time you mention the word “depression”
And especially the need to simply “get over it”
You open a raw and touchy subject.

In my observation (and I tend to simplify things for my own understanding)
If you feel depressed, it can be lumped into 1 of 3 categories.

1) CHEMICAL

Ten years ago I didn’t believe this existed,
• Personal struggle has proven me wrong.
• I walked with Carrie through this dark reality.
• Something to do with hormones, something to do with brain chemical levels.
• It’s real, and it will mess with a person.

And obviously, just telling a person whose chemicals are off
That the need to get over it is a harsh message.

Now, I will say this.
• Despite my experiences in this arena
• I would still say that this one gets way over diagnosed
• And far too many people get credited with this type of depression when that is not what they have.

But it is real.

2) SPIRITUAL
• Listen, a fruit of the Spirit is “joy”.
• Jesus said that if we abide in Him our “joy would be made full”
• We learn about Jesus that “in Him was life and that life was the light of men”

There is a reason some people live in a defeated state of depression
And it’s because they do not know the Lord.

His Spirit does not abide within them and they have no mechanism or hope for dealing with the disappointments of life.

• They have no faith in the future…
• They have no hope for a better day…
• They have no power for joy in despair because their flesh can’t muster it…

The only reason every lost person on the planet
Is not always in this form of spiritual depression

Is only because they have their “proverbial head in the sand”
And have not been awakened to their awful state or the coming judgment.

If they were to discern their condition,
It would lead to sorrow and depression as well.

They would echo with Paul, “Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death?”

Incidentally, this is a necessary depression.
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 “I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

Spiritual sorrow is that which comes to a sinner
When they realize their pitiful spiritual condition
And the solution for this depression is repentance.

SOOOOO many people suffer from this depression
(sadly they often get diagnosed as having a chemical depression and they spend their life treating the symptoms but never the problem which is sin)

But that’s a real depression.

3) EMOTIONAL

This is simply the pity party
• It is what people in the flesh have when they don’t get their way.
• It is what a 2 year old exhibits when they pout for not getting a toy.

And it’s easy to spot this type of depression
By what causes people to come out of it.

If a person can be pulled out of their despair
By satisfying their flesh
Then it’s obviously nothing more than an emotional depression.

That is to say if you can give them their way
And all of a sudden they are happy, that’s not true depression,
It’s merely a selfish person who finally won.

This is a very common form of depression as well, and by the way, it can even show up in the life of a believer who is walking in the flesh.

1 Corinthians 3:3 “for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?”

James 4:2 “You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.”

Galatians 5:13-15 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”

Those are just selfish people who get “depressed”
When they don’t get their way.

And I genuinely believe you can throw all depressions into one of those 3 categories, and incidentally for you to have a life of true joy you need to have all 3 working correctly.

• Obviously your physical body needs to be functioning rightly with all your
chemicals and such.
• You need Christ and the Holy Spirit who is the source of joy.
• You need to get over yourself.

Well it’s really that 3rd type of depression
We are dealing with here in these 2 Psalms.

You have a man who is looking at the circumstances
And is having a pity party and he realizes it
So he tells himself to get over it.

The solution is to quit focusing on the problem and to rekindle his faith.
• To hope in God.
• To trust God.

Quit focusing on the flesh, quit focusing on your problems,
Quit focusing on how hard things are and start focusing on God.

NOW LET ME TAKE IT ONE STEP FURTHER.
This type of depression (this 3rd type, the emotional one): IS A SIN

It is actually very closely akin to the sin of worry.
• You are familiar with Matthew 6 where Jesus deals with the issues of worrying about what you will eat and what you drink and what you will wear.
• That worry is a sin.
• It is basically accuse God of not being able to care for you.

Well emotional depression or the pity party is the same type of sin.
• It is to basically accuse God of not being sufficient.
• It is a lack of contentment.
• It is filled with grumbling and complaint.

And it is not ok.
And this Psalmist knows that.

And so when he spotted this mentality in himself,
That’s why he gave himself a rebuke.

Get over yourself!
“Hope in God”

But that’s what we’re dealing with, it’s the call to not lose hope.
It’s the call to not fall into some sort of depression
Based on unsuitable circumstances.

Now because the Psalmist has to rebuke himself 3 times
You and I see that there were 3 things
That caused him to be so defeated and downtrodden.

Here’s the kicker…these are things that probably push your buttons too.

Now, let me again be clear.
You aren’t going to like 2 of these 3 things either, but not liking them doesn’t mean you are in some sort of selfish depression.

I’m going to show you in this first one where Jesus clearly didn’t like it either,
But that doesn’t mean He was sinfully depressed.

The Psalmist however; in his frustration lost perspective
And did fall into that despair of which he had to pull himself out.

The point of the Psalm is that you not lose hope even though you may very well find yourself in these circumstances as well.

So let’s look at why our Psalmist was in despair.
#1 THE DROUGHT OF CORPORATE WORSHIP
Psalms 42:1-5

You are certainly familiar with the first verse of this Psalm
As we sing a song inspired by its words.

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.”

That is actually a beautiful statement and one that deserves to be sung.
• It pictures the most basic and urgent of needs.
• We may go without food for a time but water is much more urgent.
• And a deer dying of thirst has tunnel vision for the water.

That is what the Psalmist is relaying.
God, I want You like a thirsty deer wants water.

It is a tremendous expression of desire and contentment and joy
And sufficiency in God alone.

It echoes the statement of Asaph:
Psalms 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.”

But we also find it is a statement
That is driven by the current circumstances.

The Psalmist is in a drought.

(2) “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?”

The Psalmist is away from home.
• He is away from God’s temple.
• He is away from Jerusalem.

And his heart is hungry for to once again experience corporate worship.

The fact that he says, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”

Gives indication that our Psalmist is not dwelling in a place
That is void of worship, it’s just void of true worship.

• He misses accurate worship of God.
• He misses true worship of God.
• He misses the worship which God has prescribed.

All he is bombarded with is some semblance of false worship
To a false version of God.

(3) “My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

To make matters worse those around him mock him
And his desire for worship.

And his memories don’t help.
(4) “These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.”

He remembers “the Good Ole Days”
• Back when men desired worship for God.
• Back when worship of God was a corporate thing and a true thing.
• He can’t find it and he longs for it like a deer longing for water.

And I think you probably understand that frustration a little.

• I fight this frustration every time a school function or a sporting event pulls kids out of church on Wednesday night.

• I fight this frustration when I see Facebook posts from people who are checking in at the movies on Sunday afternoon instead of attending evening worship.

• I fight this frustration when I start trying to schedule something like Disciple Now and hear excuse after excuse from people who remind me that they’ll participate but only if it doesn’t conflict with anything else…at all.

I get frustrated because corporate worship has lost its priority.

And it’s not just me.
I remember my pastor as a boy speaking of the first time his church told him they didn’t want to have a week-long revival anymore but that 3 nights would be enough.

He told me how he went to the church those last two nights and sat out on the front steps of the church and glared at everyone who drove by.

And now Sunday night church
Doesn’t even exist in many congregations any more.

It’s frustrating to see a culture (even a supposed church culture)
That doesn’t hunger for true corporate worship.

I think this is a frustration Jesus certainly felt.

In Mark’s gospel we read:
Mark 11:11 “Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.”

If you keep reading you’ll find that the next day
He went back to that temple and tore it apart.

Mark 11:15-17 “Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’DEN.”

There was certainly frustration for those
Who no longer valued true worship of God.

It’s a frustration we can feel.
But what we can’t do is allow it to
Rob us of our hope or throw us into depression.

Which is what the Psalmist says:
(5) “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.”

• Snap out of it man.
• You are whining and crying like God has lost.
• You are acting like it’s lost forever.

But we know better.
Corporate worship will most certainly return.

We read:
Revelation 5:11-14 “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.”

We can all, with the Psalmist,
• Reminisce back to the time when our churches were full on Sunday nights.
• We can remember when going to church was the norm and expected.
• We can remember schools and secular organizations left “The Lord’s Day” alone.

But we must not be given to despair or depression
Because corporate worship will return.

Don’t get discouraged.
Don’t fall into despair.
Don’t become disturbed.
IT’S COMING BACK.

That is the self-encouragement of the prophet.

Well the Psalmist corrected himself after that first pity-party.
But the flesh is powerful
And there is another area that causes him to struggle.

The Drought of Corporate Worship
#2 FOR DROWNING IN PAGAN OPPRESSION
Psalms 42:6-11

The Psalmist begins here by taking his complaint to God.

“O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.”

• He is not in Jerusalem, he is not at the temple.
• He is further north near the “peaks of Hermon”
• He wishes he was near God.
• He wishes he could be in a place where true worship was occurring.

Instead he is in a place where it feels like he is being bombarded.

(7) “Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.”

That is poetic language speaking of one who is being battered by waves.
He can’t seem to catch his breath as he gets hit by wave after wave.

Or he likens it to be being under a waterfall
That just keeps thrusting him downward and he can’t escape it.

The oppression he is in is relentless.
• He is away from God’s house…
• He is away from true worship…

And whatever he is facing is just a relentless onslaught
Like waves battering him over and over and over.

Now, in that struggle he does know that he can run to God.
(8) “The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.”

• He knows that God is faithful.
• He knows that God is loyal.
• He knows that when he feels alone he can sing to the Lord

This isn’t a lack of faith in God or some concern
That he has no access to God at all.

He knows that.

The problem is that he is being bombarded by a pagan influence.

(9-10) “I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Now we realize that those waves that bombarded him
Was “the oppression of the enemy”

He said it’s like “a shattering of my bones”

And they mock him continually.

Earlier he was frustrated at the apathy of God’s people.
Now he is frustrated at the zeal of the pagan.

When I read that I think about the apostle Paul in Athens.
Acts 17:16 “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.”

I think about Noah who was a preacher of righteousness in a world doomed to destruction.

I think about Lot
2 Peter 2:8 “(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),”

Or we think about the frustrations of Jesus
• As He witnessed the mocking and bombarding of the religious leaders or people who only wanted Him for a quick fix but not for genuine repentance.

And that is frustrating.

Our mission team had that look on last Sunday evening in the meeting.

I told you this morning about that former pastor from Spur holding the banner at the gay pride parade in Houston that said, “I’m Sorry”

Now, it certainly frustrates me as I think about the message that those at the parade heard.
• They heard a wrong message.
• They heard a false gospel.
• Certainly that is grievous.

But what really just cut me was the reality of this nation
We live in where so many churches in the name of “Jesus”
Are living lives so contrary to the message of Christ.

I couldn’t imagine living in Houston trying to be a faithful proclaimer of the gospel.
• And then you realize some churches are out there apologizing at gay pride
rallies.
• Beyond that Houston is home of the infamous Joel Olsteen and his messages
of word faith prosperity.

It would just feel overwhelming
And you’d want to quit or give up or fall into a depression.

That is where the Psalmist was.
And yet again he was forced to correct himself.

(11) “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”

There it is again.
Pick your head up.
“Hope in God”

He is “the help of my countenance”
He is the lifter of my head.

God is going to win this day.
Pagan oppression will not endure.
False prophets won’t win the day.

Peter said:
2 Peter 2:4-10 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”

We’ve read Revelation.
• We know what happens to the harlot of false religion.
• At the end the true gospel will shine forth.
• At the end the real Jesus will immerge.
• At the end all false religion will be gone.

Jude 14-16 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.”

It is one thing to be frustrated but don’t lose heart.
Don’t fall into despair.
Maintain hope.

Well, there’s one more reason why our Psalmist struggled.
The Drought of Corporate Worship
For Drowning in Pagan Oppression
#3 FOR GOD’S DELAY IN FIXING IT
Psalms 43:1-5

Well our Psalmists frustration is once again clear.
(1-2) “Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

It is a common frustration seen from the righteous in Scripture that they don’t understand why God would let the wicked seem so successful.

• It just doesn’t seem right that God would allow Joel Olsteen to have such a huge ministry with so many people.

• It just doesn’t seem right that the Pharisees would get to be the religious leaders in Israel.

Here he was standing for truth but wasn’t having any success.
He was rejected and mocked and maligned
And it didn’t seem like God was doing anything about it.

And that was frustrating for him.

And that is frustrating isn’t it?

When you strive to serve God with all your heart
But just don’t seem to be having the success of the false prophets.

The Psalmist is frustrated.

He is so frustrated that he just wants to go home.
He just wants God to bring him home back to the place where he can once again worship God like he remembered.

(3-4) “O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.”

I can only imagine missionaries at times feeling this way.
Sent out into a foreign land or a pagan land and desperately working but receiving nothing but shame and reproach.

It would be so frustrating.
I can understand wanting to come home.

I think of Joseph here.
• Sold by his brothers, wrongly imprisoned, undeservedly forgotten, rotting in an Egyptian prison just wanting to go home.

Daniel must have felt that way at times living in Babylon.
• Fighting to keep from defiling himself with food
• Fighting to keep a basic routine time of prayer

It must have been terribly hard.

AND WE CAN SEE THAT.
We wake up we turn on the news and see the pagan influence of our culture.
• We see the rise in false churches and false prophets telling the culture what their itching ears want to hear.
• We see church member falling into apathy about true worship
• And when we do try to stand we are branded haters and Pharisees and whatever else.

It’s not hard to imagine just wanting to be called home.

That is where the Psalmist was.

And once again he had to correct his thinking.
(5) “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”

There it is again.
Get over it.
Hope in God.

The days of struggle will end and the days of praise will resume.

Philippians 2:10-11 “so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We know the wicked will not stand.

And so we are called as believers not to fall into despair
Or depression just because the mission where we serve is hard.

• So corporate worship has lost its priority…
• So pagan influence is bombarding the world…
• So it doesn’t feel like God is stopping it…

What do you want to do?
• Do you want to quit?
• Do you want to give up?
• Do you want to go crawl into bed and mope about it?
• Do you want to have a pity party?
• Do you want to pout?
• Do you want to tell God that’s not fair?

DON’T
“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.”

I just want to close with one last passage.
TURN TO: ROMANS 8:18-25

That is where we dwell even in this world of suffering.
• We groan
• We desire full redemption
• But at the same time with eyes full of hope and “with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

Don’t be depressed, hope in God.

In Response To A Growing Crowd
Luke 12:1-12
June 30, 2019

I almost hesitated to start this passage this week
Because it’s going to be about a month before we come back to it.

• Chris Horn will be preaching next Sunday morning as part of his Mission Malawi preparation
• And then I’ll miss the next 3 weeks while on mission and then at youth camp.

But as I began to look at the passage, it seemed to be very timely,
Especially for those who are about to go to Malawi.

This new segment runs from Luke 12:1 through Luke 13:9
IT ENCOMPASSES ONE SERMON FROM OUR LORD.

I didn’t find an official traditional title for the sermon so I’m just calling it: “The Sermon on the Crowd”

I call it that because of the circumstances Luke gives us as context.
(1) “Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all…”

As you will see this is a sermon primarily for the 12.
• This is a sermon for the disciples.
• Jesus doesn’t intentionally address the crowd until verse 54.
• Now, He does address one man in verse 13 who interrupts the sermon with a question about his inheritance,
• But after Jesus deals with that man verse 22 indicates that He goes right back to instructing the disciples.

So what you have is a moment when a large crowd showed up.
Luke records “so many thousands”.
Literally that is “tens of thousands”

It is a massive crowd, perhaps the biggest of Jesus’ ministry.
And as the crowd shows up Jesus turns to address His disciples.

That is why I call it “The Sermon ON the Crowd”
NOT “The Sermon TO the Crowd”

This Jesus taking opportunity to address His disciples
Regarding the effect that a crowd like this might have on their ministry.

That’s is in part why I have decided to go ahead and begin this text this morning even though it will be a month before we are able to return to it.

We have been told that in Malawi we will be preaching to 500.

Now, that’s certainly not tens of thousands,
But it’s still the largest crowd I will have ever addressed.

And Jesus has some very important words for His disciples
As they plan to minister to crowds like this.

So this morning we begin this “Sermon on the Crowd”

Now I also want to give you the major breakdowns of the section.
There will be more to the outline that we will get to later,
But you can easily break this entire section down into 4 points.

I want to give you those, just so you can see
And perhaps even begin to study on your own.

The first segment:
INSPIRED BY A GROWING CROWD (1-12)

That is to say that when Jesus witnessed this enormous crowd gathering,
This was the message He felt compelled to preach to the 12.

The second segment:
INSPIRED BY A GREEDY REQUEST (13-40)

This is where Jesus gets interrupted by a greedy man who wants Jesus to intervene in a civil dispute and force this man’s brother to share the inheritance.

Jesus addresses that man but then returns to the 12
To address in them the dangers of loving the world and money too much.

So it was more of the sermon for the 12,
But it was inspired by this greedy request.

The third segment:
INSPIRED BY A GENERAL CONCERN (41-53)

This is because Peter speaks up and asks Jesus
If the truths He is giving are for everyone or just the 12.

• Jesus will be outlining some tough requirements for these men to live by
• Peter wants to know if it’s for everyone or just him.

It sort of reminds of the incident when the Lord tells Peter that he is going to be bound and led where he doesn’t want to go and Peter looks at John and asks, “What about him?”

Well Jesus responds to this question by Peter
With a point about personal faithfulness.
Peter’s question inspires a sermon on personal devotion.

And then the fourth segment (where Jesus finally addresses the crowd)
INSPIRED BY A GLARING PROBLEM (54-13:9)

THAT PROBLEM IS THE COMING JUDGMENT
AND SINNERS WHO ARE NOT PREPARED FOR IT.

Here Jesus finally addresses the massive crowd.

• He looks at these tens of thousands who do not have a clue
• He preaches to them a harsh message about
• Failing to see salvation,
• The reality of judgment,
• And the urgency of bearing fruit.

Jesus gets a giant crowd and He preaches about impending judgment.

Now those are the main points of the sermon.
Jesus just responds to what is going on around Him
And addresses it first to the disciples and then to the crowd.

Well this morning, we’re just going to look at that first segment.
The Sermon that was: INSPIRED BY A GROWING CROWD

In this segment Jesus gives the disciples 3 very important commands
That have to do with ministering to a crowd.

#1 DON’T FAKE PIETY
Luke 12:1-3

So we see again the circumstances.
• There is a huge crowd and when this crowd shows up Jesus has a very important message for the 12.

“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

Certainly after chapter 11 and that meal at the Pharisees house
We are clear on Jesus’ thoughts about the Pharisees.

But Jesus isn’t here addressing the Pharisees.
Jesus is addressing the 12.

And His first word of warning is to “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

Now I wonder why Jesus would start there?
Because if you will remember,
The crowds had affected the Pharisees in this way.

Do you remember what Jesus said about them?
Luke 11:43 “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places.”

Matthew 23:5-7 “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.”

We remember that the Pharisees
Were very interested in gaining the approval of men.

Everything they did was to gain the admiration of the masses.
• They tithed
• They prayed
• They fasted
• They wore those huge phylacteries
• They had those long tassels

THEY LOVED THE CROWD.
They loved the popularity and the fame that the crowd represented.

NOW YOU WILL ALSO REMEMBER THAT
Even though they put on a display of religion
That they DIDN’T ACTUALLY LOVE GOD.

Remember:
Luke 11:42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”

Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

What are we getting at?

NAMELY THIS:
• The Pharisees didn’t care anything about God.
• They didn’t care anything about holiness or piety.
• But they pretended like they did because they loved the crowd.

They faked their piety so that the crowds would be enamored with them.

And that is dangerous.
Any time you start letting the crowd dictate your level of commitment
Then we have a problem.

And if you think the crowd didn’t control these Pharisees consider this event:
Matthew 21:23-27 “When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. “The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ “But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Do you see them there?
• Even in their rebellion they had no conviction.
• They were just following the whims of the crowd.
• They pretended like they agreed with John the Baptist because the crowds loved him.

AND THAT IS THE POINT.
A crowd is a powerful thing.

And concern for pleasing the crowd
Can cause a man to pretend to be something he is not.

• It can cause men to pretend to be spiritual when they aren’t…
• It can promote hypocrisy.
• It can cause people to fake it because they want to please their peers.

Instead of serving out of a love for God,
It can prompt one to just put on a spiritual show
For the sake of impressing the crowd.
IT’S A DANGEROUS REALITY.

So the first warning Jesus gives to the 12 when this crowd approaches
Is to not fall into the trap of the Pharisees which has been hypocrisy.

And to further support that command He reminds the disciples:
(2-3) “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.”

WHAT IS HIS POINT?
You can only fake it so long and you can never fool God.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

Romans 2:16 “…God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”

Regarding elders Paul said:
1 Timothy 5:24-25 “The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after. Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed.”

Perhaps you remember how some of the Corinthians put Paul on a pedestal.

To them he said:
1 Corinthians 4:1-4 “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.”

If you start faking it to impress the crowd then it will only get you so far.
God will expose it all.

THE ADMONITION?
BE REAL
• Don’t fake it.
• Don’t fake religion.
• Don’t be hypocritical.

That’s the first warning to the 12.
Don’t Fake Piety.
Don’t let a crowd cause you to fake who you are.

#2 DON’T FEAR PERSECUTION
Luke 12:4-7

Like it or not this is another great pressure
That a growing crowd can throw upon you.

We saw what this threat did to Pilate.
Luke 23:13-25 “Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. “No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. “Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” [Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner.] But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted. And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.”

That sort of threat is real. It’s called peer pressure.

And while a spiritual crowd can tempt you to fake spirituality
We also know that a hostile crowd can tempt you to forsake it.

We see this one today like crazy.

Rick Warren really opened Pandora’s Box back in 1995
When he released the church growth book “Purpose Driven Church”.

• It was the book that unapologetically called for churches and pastors to start
surveying their community to find out what the people wanted in a church.
• It was just spiritual marketing, no different than what McDonalds does.
• It was done under this pretense of wanting to reach “seekers”.

The problem of course is that it created a monster shift in church ministry.

Almost overnight,
God was no longer considered sovereign over the worship service.

God’s word and God’s will were no longer the sole pieces of input
To determine what should occur at church.

Now the church had a new sovereign…the crowd.
The crowd became sovereign.

• What sort of sermons did the crowd want to hear?
• What kind of music did the crowd want to sing?
• What sort of schedule was convenient for the crowd?

And more than one church lost their minds
And compromised greatly just so that they could keep the crowd.

And I think you’ll agree this sort of peer pressure continues today.
We may not see much of physical persecution yet in this country
But we do understand SOCIAL PRESSURE.

There’s probably no hotter issue today than the homosexual movement
And the pressure for churches to jump on board
And “lovingly accept” homosexuals as redeemed children of God.

Some of you may have even seen on Facebook last week, a former Spur pastor at the Gay Pride parade in Houston holding the rainbow banner which said, “I’m Sorry”.

And the point is that the social crowd
Can produce a lot of pressure to forsake your convictions.

And may I remind you that the crowd DID NOT have this effect on Jesus.

Do we not remember the famous passage of John 6?
• Where Jesus first fed the 5,000, then walked on water and the crowds of Galilee wanted to make Him king.
• Jesus told that crowd that He was from heaven, that He was headed back to heaven, and that the only way they could be saved was to eat His flesh and drink His blood.

That entire crowd left.
Jesus did not cater to the crowds.

Probably no better example of that can be found than here in Luke 12
Where you will see possibly the largest crowd of Jesus’ ministry
And He preaches a message of judgment to them.

You cannot let the threats of a crowd or the peer pressure of society
Change your message.

And that is what Jesus tells the 12 here.
“I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.”

Now that’s what you call perspective.
• Can the world hate you? Yes
• Can the world cause you pain? Yes
• Can the world kill you? Yes

But that is all they can do.
And you say, “Well isn’t that enough?”

NOT IF YOU KEEP PERSPECTIVE.
(5) “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you fear Him!”

We’ve all heard the analogy “Fight fire with fire”
Jesus said to “fight fear with fear”

FEAR GOD MORE THAN YOU FEAR MAN.

And look there is a whole sermon here.
I liken it to be THE CHIEF PROBLEM IN AMERICA TODAY.

Romans 3:18 “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

You want me to tell you the root sin of America, that’s the one I’m picking.

• When people can stream to social media and argue the right to kill the
innocent.
• When groups of people can organize parades and celebrations taking pride
in their rebellious sin.
• When churches and pastors can attend those events and tell sinners that
“I’m Sorry” for treating you like a sinner.
• When a person can post on social media about sinful life choices like an
adulterous relationship, or a homosexual orientation, or some self-loving
quote like “I’ve just got to do what’s best for me” and the comment section
will overflow with statements of “Love This” “That’s so awesome” “I
support you”

What else can we say but that our culture no longer fears God?
WHAT WE DO FEAR IS PUBLIC PERCEPTION.

And that is what Jesus is warning against here with the 12.
• People will oppose you.
• People will apply pressure to you.
• People will persecute you.
• DON’T GIVE IN.

If you need motivation, fear God, not man.
That is such good advice to those who carry the gospel.

Some day you will stand before God
And His ability to punish is far greater
Than the crowd’s ability to persecute.

Every believer, as they take the gospel into the world, should have this warning resonating in their ear.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

It is a warning to be headed.
• Don’t let the crowd cause you to be phony
• Don’t let the crowd push you into compromise.

FEAR GOD MORE.

Now, in that, there is also SOMETHING MORE YOU SHOULD KNOW.

That crowd will pressure you and persecute you,
But that crowd doesn’t care about you at all.

All they are concerned about
Is that you preach the message they want to hear.

Paul told Timothy that their concern is to “accumulate a great multitude of teachers to tell them what their itching ears want to hear.”

That crowd doesn’t care about you, they only care about themselves.

God however, is passionately interested in you.
(6-7) “Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”

Jesus does tell us that fear of God
Should be a greater motivation than fear of man.

But then He balances that truth with the reminder that God cares for us.
• He is interested in you.
• Even the most obscure facts like “the very hairs of your head”

When you allow the crowd to dictate your message you are in the service of a bully who does not care about you.

When you allow God to dictate your message you are in the service of your Heavenly Father who cares for you greatly.

So you understand the instruction from Jesus.

Crowds can influence all sorts of behavior.
• Don’t let them cause you to Fake Piety
• Don’t let them cause you to Fear Persecution

#3 DON’T FRET REJECTION
Luke 12:8-12

This is another great influence that the crowd can throw at us.
It is the pressure for success.

It is a horrible thing when ministers or evangelists or laymen
Begin to measure their success in the ministry
By the size of a crowd or the number of converts.

When a minister of the gospel falls into that trap
His ministry is in great danger.

AND YET SO MANY DO.
Pastor meetings are flooded with questions like:
• “How big is that church down there now?”
• “How many baptisms did you have last year?”
• “What’s the size of your youth group?”

Those are questions that give ABSOLUTELY NO INDICATION
As to the spiritual health of a church or a minister.

Namely because all of those things can be achieved
Without spiritual maturity, faithful preaching, or genuine worship.

False prophets grow churches of tares all the time
Into massive numbers without any true spiritual conversion at all.

Take those questions and ask the prophets of old.
• “Hey Jeremiah, how big is that church down there in Jerusalem?”
• “Hey Amos, how many baptisms did you get on your mission trip to Israel?”
• “Hey Malachi, how big is your youth group these days?”

Do you see how foolish those standards are?
And yet, those are the types of standards that often drive our ministries.

We think large crowds equal thriving ministries
And small crowds equal dead ministries.

If you buy that message
Then the crowd has just corrupted your ministry.

So Jesus is preparing the disciples for another very important fact:
PEOPLE WILL REJECT YOUR MINISTRY.

NOW HE BEGINS BY
Reminding of the requirement for true conversion and salvation.

Here it is:
(8-10) “And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.”

Don’t confuse this sermon
With the time Jesus preached it to the Pharisees.
Jesus is not preaching to the Pharisees here.

Jesus is here preaching to the 12.
• He is preaching to those who have already confessed Him.
• He is preaching to those who have believed the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is NOT here warning the disciples
About not confessing or not believing.

He is simply reminding the disciples
That the universal standard for salvation has not changed.

If people are to be saved then they must confess Jesus Christ.
They must believe the witness of the Holy Spirit and they must confess Jesus.

That is God’s eternal standard.
• We don’t get to lower the bar.
• We don’t get to widen the gate.
• We don’t get to remove the conditions.

I had a conversation with that pastor who held the sign at the gay pride rally this week asking him why he was there, and what his goal was.

He told me his goal was simply to love unconditionally as Jesus did.
He told me he wanted to put no conditions or requirements, just to love.

Now I know that sounds good,
But do you understand that this is NOT what Jesus did.

He most certainly gave conditions for salvation.
He required men to repent of their sin and to confess Him as Lord.
If you don’t do that then you won’t be saved.
That’s just fact.

And that is what Jesus is reminding the disciples of here.
• If they go out and preach the true gospel
• And the crowd refuses to repent of their sin
• And refuses to confess Jesus,
• That’s not on the disciples.

They may very well suffer rejection of their message, but that’s ok.
God set the standard.

Now, I know that some of you will ask me about the whole “unpardonable sin” mentioned here so let me quickly clarify it.

Jesu says (10) “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.”

Here is what that means.
• When Jesus showed up claiming to be the Messiah, the Son of God,
• In some ways it was understandable that people might balk at that.

After all, He was a man. He looked like a man, they saw Him grow up.
It was understandable that initially they may tell Him He is out of His mind.

However, there is One who came to bear witness of Him.
That is the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that He comes to convict the world of sin,
To guide into the truth, and to glorify Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is the One who comes and testifies
That Jesus is in fact the Savior, the Son of God, the messiah.

We are talking there about supernatural revelation.
And Jesus said, if you blaspheme that, or reject that,
Then there will be no forgiveness.

The reason is because if you won’t believe the message of the Holy Spirit,
You are not rejecting your own logic (or ability to spot Jesus),
But you are rejecting God’s message.

Let me give you a couple of other passages that speak of this reality.
Hebrews 6:4-6 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

That is NOT a passage about loss of salvation.
That passage speaks of a person who had the full revelation
(A taste) of the Holy Spirit’s message and conviction,
But then chose to reject it.

That person cannot be brought to repentance.
They cannot be saved because they have rejected the only way of salvation.

You see it again in:
Hebrews 10:28-31 “Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

There again, they insulted the Spirit by rejecting His message
So now they cannot be saved.

And that is a good reminder to any in here
Who have never yielded their lives to Christ.

• There is only One Savior.
• There is only One gospel message.
• And the Holy Spirit points to Him.

He requires you to repent of sin and confess Him as Lord.
That requirement; that standard isn’t changing.

If you reject it. If you tell the Holy Spirit you don’t want to hear it anymore.
Then there is no salvation.

Now Jesus reminds the disciples that this is the requirement.
And the fact is that not everyone receives that message.

So when you preach to sinners and tell them to repent and confess Jesus,
And they say, “No”, what are you supposed to do?

Change the message? No
Tell them to come on anyway? No

Just keep trusting God and keep preaching the message.
DON’T FRET REJECTION.

By the way, Jesus didn’t fret rejection.
In that passage with the huge crowd in John 6 we read:
John 6:66 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”

But Jesus didn’t run after them. Instead:
John 6:67 “So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”

• When the Rich Young Ruler went away, Jesus didn’t lower the bar and tell him to come on back.

• When Pilate offered Jesus every way to try and compromise to save His life, Jesus wouldn’t budge.

Rejection by the crowd was not His concern.

And even when their rejection turns hostile (as it might)
Just keep trusting God and keep preaching His message.

(11-12) “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

• Don’t worry about winning the crowd.
• Don’t worry about winning the debate.
• Don’t worry about saying the right things so that you’ll get the right results.
• Just keep preaching the message of the Holy Spirit.

That is, keep preaching the gospel.

So you put all these 3 together:
• Don’t Fake Piety
• Don’t Fear Persecution
• Don’t Fret Rejection

DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT JESUS IS SAYING?
• Don’t let the crowd call the shots, let God call the shots.
• The crowd is not sovereign, God is.
• Pleasing the crowd is not the goal, pleasing God is.
• Fearing the crowd is pointless, fearing God is valuable.
• A rejecting crowd is not your problem, straying from the gospel is.

Those are such good warnings.
• It is certainly a timely warning to those headed to Malawi to preach to the biggest crowds of their lives.
• But it is ultimately a good reminder to us all.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

What Jesus Wouldn’t Tolerate – Part 4
Luke 11:37-54 (47-54)
June 23, 2019

If you’ve been with us the past few weeks
Then you know we are currently listening to Jesus
As He has been invited to lunch at the home of a Pharisee.

• Jesus gave a penetrating message on being authentic and following that message this Pharisee invited Him over.
• Upon arrival Jesus purposely passed the water basin which was used for ceremonial washing and sat down at the table.
• This surprised the Pharisee and upon detecting that surprise Jesus began to unload on him.

As we stated; this was pre-meditated on the part of Jesus.

Way back in the prophet Ezekiel and the prophet Jeremiah, and in the prophet Zechariah we read of God’s disdain for Israel’s false shepherds.

• Instead of feeding the flock, they fed themselves.
• Instead of caring for the flock, they cared for themselves.
• Instead of healing the sheep, they skinned the sheep and slaughtered the sheep.
• They didn’t bind up the broken
• They didn’t heal the lame
• They didn’t search for the lost
• Instead they dominated the sheep.

God was furious and promised He would send a Good Shepherd
Who would not only deliver the flock
But would also put an end to those wicked shepherds.

John 10:7-15 “So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

That being the case perhaps you better understand
Why Jesus had no interest in befriending this Pharisee.
This Pharisee had ravaged His flock, and Jesus wouldn’t tolerate it.

And so, as we’ve been studying this discourse we’ve been talking about: WHAT JESUS WOULDN’T TOLERATE.
It’s a bit of a shocking statement to a world who often paints Jesus
As the most tolerant man who ever lived.

While it is true that Jesus was compassionate and gracious
And rightly referred to as “A friend of sinners”.

There was still a group that He would not tolerate.
AND THAT WAS THE FALSE RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF ISRAEL.
JESUS DOES NOT TOLERATE FALSE RELIGION.

And Luke 11 puts that intolerance on display.
We’ve seen that there are 7 realities here that Jesus specifically confronts about these religious leaders as to why He would not tolerate them.

#1 THEIR GREEDY HEARTS
Luke 11:39-41

These were the Pharisees who were clean on the outside,
But Jesus looked at the heart and revealed that
“inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness”

• They were certainly religious on the outside.
• They looked the part.
• But all they really wanted was money.

• This explains why they devoured widow’s houses
• This is why they taught people to neglect their parents
• This is why they taught people to vow by the gold of the temple

They were in it for the money.
Jesus does not tolerate that from religious leaders.

#2 THEIR SUPERFICIAL RELIGION
Luke 11:42

One of the ways they were so easily able to deceive people
Was because of their pretense of religious commitment.

Jesus recognized that they meticulously tithe “mint and rue and every kind of garden herb”

It was quite the display of supposed dedication.

The problem was what they lacked.
“and yet disregard justice and the love of God.”

In short, they were ministers who did not love God.
Can I remind you that even the most extreme religious sacrifice, if not motivated out of love for God, is useless?
• That’s the difference between true prayer and false prayer
• That’s the difference between true Bible reading and false Bible reading
• That’s the difference between true church attendance and false attendance
• That’s the difference between true giving and false giving

Outwardly they look exactly the same.
In fact, you and I can’t tell from the outside if it is true or false.

But the true believer prays and reads and attends and gives
Because he loves God.
The false believer does it for some other motive.

It is superficial religion.
And Jesus would not tolerate it.

#3 THEIR LOVE OF GLORY
Luke 11:43

The Pharisees were those marked by the fact that they “love the chief seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the market places.”

That is to say they were in the ministry because they loved the glory.

And since glory is something that God does not share, that is a problem.

You either serve out of a desire to see God glorified,
Or out of a desire to see yourself glorified.

Jesus doesn’t tolerate those who serve for their own glory.

#4 THEIR DEFILING INFLUENCE
Luke 11:44

Jesus here likened them to “concealed tombs”
Because they made people unclean before God.

They defiled people and the people didn’t even know it.
They made people less acceptable to God than when they started.

Namely because they made people just like themselves.

#5 THEIR POWERLESS MESSAGE
Luke 11:45-46

Here Jesus exposed them as those who “weigh men down with burdens hard to bear”

• It was legalism.
• It was an unbearable list of traditions and requirements
• It was the threat of not being pleasing to God if you don’t strictly adhere.
• They taught salvation through adherence of the Law.

And that is a FALSE MESSAGE

NEVER HAS ONE SINGLE MAN BEEN JUSTIFIED BY KEEPING THE LAW.

• Even in the Old Testament we see it very early on that “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

• The prophets laud the message: “The just shall live by faith”

To preach to men a salvation dependent on their own obedience
Is to preach a message that does not have the power to save.

Go read Romans 7 and listen to Paul finally throw up his hands in the air and cry, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

To tell people that they must do something to earn God’s favor
Is a powerless message. It is a false gospel.

And Jesus does not tolerate it.

WELL, THAT’S WHERE WE’VE COME SO FAR.
Their Greedy Hearts, Their Superficial Religion, Their Love of Glory,
Their Defiling Influence, Their Powerless Message

#6 THEIR REJECTION OF TRUTH
Luke 11:47-51

Now it is likely that when reading through this passage
This one may have caused you to scratch your head a little bit.

And that is because the sin that Jesus exposes as deserving of “Woe”
Doesn’t look that bad to us.

(47) “Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.”

We see that same harsh statement “Woe”.
But when we see why He said it, we are confused.

“For you build the tombs of the prophets”

We are well aware of the fact that the prophets of the Old Testament routinely died a martyr’s death.
• They were roundly hated and rejected.
• They were continually put to death.

Psalms 44:22 “But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

And we understand the sin in that.

But Jesus here pronounces judgment on the scribes
Because they “build the tombs of the prophets”

SO WHAT GIVES?
Does Jesus just not like tombs?
Does Jesus just not want them buried?
What is the problem?

The problem is that their building and adorning of the prophet’s tombs was a work of tremendous hypocrisy.

They adorned the tombs of the prophets AS IF TO SAY, “We would have listened to those prophets; not killed them”

And Jesus (who knows their hearts)
Sees only the hypocrisy in such an action.

BEYOND THAT, LET ME REMIND YOU.
When God sent prophets to the people in the Old Testament, can I remind you why He DID NOT send them?

HE DID NOT SEND THEM TO BE GLORIFIED.
The goal was not to get you to honor them.

WHAT WAS THE GOAL?
To get you to OBEY them.

Listen to this revelation regarding Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 33:30-33 “But as for you, son of man, your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘Come now and hear what the message is which comes forth from the LORD.’ “They come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain. “Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not practice them. “So when it comes to pass — as surely it will — then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.”

Those people would just pack the pews to listen to Ezekiel.
“Oh what a wonderful preacher you are!”

What was the problem?
It wasn’t a lack of honor, it was a lack of obedience.

OBEY THEM DON’T VENERATE THEM

I would tell you this is another one of the areas where Catholicism is so far off the mark.
• Catholicism loves the veneration of saints.
• They love to honor the apostles and even the angels.
• They will build statues and shrines
• They will give them all sorts of glory and praise
• Some will even pray to them

But don’t suppose for one second that that was the goal.
God never intended for them to be venerated,
He sent them into the world that we might listen to them and obey them.

To fail to obey them and then to build them a decorated tomb
Is actually the highest form of hypocrisy and insult.
It is worse than actually killing them.

BUT THEN WE HAVE TO ASK:
So did these Scribes and Pharisees not obey the Old Testament prophets?

NO! NOT EVEN A LITTLE.

Let me prove it to you:
John 5:39 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;”

Do you understand the main point of the Old Testament?
It was to prepare you for Christ.
• The Law condemned you and showed you your need for a Savior.
• The prophets showed you who that Savior would be and called you to look for Him.

And the Pharisees totally ignored their message.
Had they listened to those prophets (instead of decorating their tombs)
They would have run to Jesus.

Let me show you.
Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”

Isaiah was giving clues about the coming Messiah.

Matthew 1:20-23 “But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”

Or another:
Micah 5:2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”

Matthew 2:4-6 “Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: ‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.'”

Or another:
Isaiah 9:1-7 “But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

Matthew 4:12-16 “Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES — “THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.”

Or another:
Isaiah 35:4-6 “Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.”

Matthew 11:1-5 “When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.”

Or another:
Isaiah 42:1-4 “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. “He will not cry out or raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street. “A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. “He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

Matthew 12:15-21 “But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, and warned them not to tell who He was. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. “HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. “A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. “AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE.”

Or another:
Isaiah 61:1-2 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,”

And Jesus even made that one easy for them:
Luke 4:16-21 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

It is obvious that they didn’t listen to a thing the prophets said.
They build their tombs but rejected their message.

Jesus called them on it the hardest when He quoted:
Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

And we didn’t even get into all the prophecies about His death.
Like Isaiah 53 or Psalms 22

NOT ONLY THAT,
Aside from Messianic prophecies, they didn’t listen to the message of the prophets regarding heart worship over religious ritual.

Jesus would quote this verse to them several times:
Hosea 6:4-6 “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud And like the dew which goes away early. Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth. For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

THEY DIDN’T LISTEN TO A WORD THOSE PROPHETS SAID.
But instead in hypocrisy they built their tombs
As if they were so much better than their fathers who killed the prophets.
The reality is, that they would have been right there with their fathers.

And so Jesus announces that the building of the prophets tombs
Was not a rebuke of their fathers, but in all actuality
It was the completion of what their fathers started.

Now, certainly the Pharisees could argue the point.
“No we would not have rejected the prophets”

So Jesus goes a step further here and GIVES PROOF of His indictment.

(49) “For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute,”

Jesus says I CAN PROVE that you would have rejected the prophets and joined with your fathers in killing them.

How?
I’ll send you some more.

“I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute.”

• Do I need to remind you about John the Baptist?
• Do I need to remind you about what they did to Jesus?
• Do I need to remind you about the stoning of Stephen?
• Do I need to remind you about the slaughter of James?
• Do I need to read you that whole list of Paul’s suffering?
• Do we need to talk again about the imprisonment of Peter?

Jesus proved His claim by sending them more prophets and more apostles and they did to them exactly as their fathers did.

And because of this Jesus has a severe judgment for them.

(50-51) “so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’”

Jesus repeated it there just so you’d clearly get what He was saying.

All the wrath that had been stored up for all the prophets
Who had ever been killed in the Old Testament,
God was going to charge it against “this generation.”

THIS GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO WERE LIVING IN THE DAYS OF JESUS
WOULD PAY FOR ALL OF THEM.

Now first of all you need to know that this is not unprecedented.

• We first start reading about the entrance of sin in Genesis 3 and throughout chapters 4 and 5 plenty of people die, even of a ripe old age. But in Genesis 6 it was those alive at the time who paid the penalty for all the sin committed since the fall.

• Sodom and Gomorrah had lived in sin for years as they exploited humanity and lived in sexual perversion, but it was the generation alive in Genesis 19 who felt the fire fall from heaven.

• Israel lived in the sin of idolatry for well over 400 years and yet it was the generation alive they paid the penalty when Nebuchadnezzar broke down the wall and slaughtered the city.

• The world has lived in reckless sin since the days of Noah and yet there will be one generation who will receive the horrors of the great tribulation.

It’s not unprecedented that God forces one generation
To bear the horrors of built up wrath on the sins of the past.

And here that is what Jesus announces for this generation.
THEY WILL BEAR IT ALL.

And who could argue with God.
• After all, this generation was not only privy to the entire Old Testament…
• They not only received the preaching of John the Baptist…
• But they actually met Jesus face to face…
• They saw His miracles with their own eyes…
• They heard Him speak with their own ears…
• They are those who heard Paul preach…
• They are those who heard Peter preach…
• They are those who witnessed the ministries of Phillip, and Andrew and Matthew and the rest of the apostles…

Their rejection of truth was as severe as any who came before them
And so God announced that this generation
Would bear the punishment for all those who came before them.

He said “from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you it shall be charged against this generation.”

And by the way, that is exactly what happened.
• In A.D. 66 Israel would revolt against Rome.
• In A.D. 70 nearly 1,000 towns and villages throughout Israel would be
destroyed.
• Jerusalem would be taken, its buildings leveled, and the temple would be
destroyed.
• Tens of thousands of Jews would be massacred and thousands of others
would be sold into slavery.

They paid for their rejection of truth.
In fact they paid for all the rejection of their fathers as well.

BUT HERE IS THE POINT:
Jesus would not tolerate their rejection of truth.

You don’t get to be a spiritual leader if you reject the truth of God.
And certainly we see that in our day.
With the rise of HIGHER CRITICISM and MODERNISM we saw the rise of liberal theology and the rejection of the Bible as absolute truth.

I have shared with you regarding an incident here in Spur a few years ago where a pastor looked me in the eye and said, “I don’t believe the Bible is true”

We live in a generation of people who will say the Bible is true, but they are REINTERPRETING it just as fast as they can.

Sins that were clear cut just 50 years ago (like homosexuality)
Are suddenly being reevaluated with a new interpretation.

I saw a group of ministers on Facebook who stood up
In support of Planned Parenthood and the right to have an abortion.

What else can we say but that spiritual leaders are rejecting truth.

But I would also tell you that
IT’S NOT JUST those who openly deny the truth of the Bible.

There is also a danger of unwittingly rejecting the truth.
It would be simply to NEGLECT the truth.

This is what Paul warned Timothy of in his letter.
1 Timothy 1:3-7 “As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.”

• They were abandoning honest preaching of God’s word and supplanting it with talk of “myths and endless genealogies.”

At the end of the letter Paul would say:
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 were others who would not come out and openly deny that the word of God was true it’s just that they were preoccupied with other messages.
• Like things which were “falsely called “knowledge””

And to that we would give the same warning.
JESUS WOULD NOT TOLERATE RELIGIOUS LEADERS
WHO REJECTED TRUTH.

Certainly not those who did it with hostility…
But also not those who do it with neglect…
BOTH PUSHED GOD’S TRUTH ASIDE

He does not tolerate those who claim to be His spokesmen
When they do not listen to or speak His words.

I’ve often read it as the gravest of warnings:
Jeremiah 23:25-32 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ “How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD. “Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock? “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who steal My words from each other. “Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD.”

God just doesn’t tolerate it.
Jesus doesn’t tolerate it.
The church must not tolerate it either.

We stand with Paul who adamantly told Timothy, “Preach the Word”
• Hear God’s word
• Believe God’s word
• Obey God’s word
• Preach God’s word

And don’t you dare build some shrine
As a testimony to God and the prophets and the apostles
Like you love them when you have no interest in listening to them.

Can you see why Jesus is so angry at these Pharisees and Lawyers?
They are just so phony.

One more thing Jesus wouldn’t tolerate:
#7 THEIR DAMNING RESULTS
Luke 11:52

Well I think this one serves as certainly a fitting way to end the list.
In case we missed the reasoning behind Jesus anger
At these religious leaders, HERE IT IS CLEAR.

These men keep people from entering the kingdom of heaven.

Could there be a worse sin?
“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge;”

And make no mistake, knowledge is essential to salvation.
No, we are not saved by knowledge, we are saved by grace through faith, And yet Paul reveals to us the role of knowledge in that process.

He wrote:
Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

There we understand that if one doesn’t know the truth
Then they cannot believe it for salvation.

And that is the problem of all false prophets from the dawn of time.
They don’t give people the truth which leads to salvation.

Isaiah 5:13 “Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst.”

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”

Jeremiah 10:21 “For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the LORD; Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.”

That is the problem.
• These men reject the truth.
• And therefore they do not preach the truth.
• Instead they preach a salvation through adherence to tradition.
• It is a false message.

IT IS UNACCEPTABLE
Galatians 1:6-9 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

That is eternal judgment that Paul places on those false preachers.
It just isn’t tolerated.

Jesus told the Pharisees:
Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

Can you see why Jesus has no interest in befriending this Pharisee or his lawyer friends?

This man sends people to hell with his false doctrines.

THIS IS SO SERIOUS CHURCH.
• False prophets don’t just rob people of their money…
• False prophets don’t just weigh men down with burdens…
• False prophets send people to hell.

They preach a message of salvation that is not true.
And people who believe their lies suffer eternal damnation.

AND JESUS WON’T TOLERATE THEM.

And I have to tell you church that we must follow suit here.
• I know in our day confrontation is a negative concept.
• I know in our day it’s not cool to be a voice of reproach.
• I know in our day we are hated for calling people out as wrong.

But if the church doesn’t do it, who will?
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.”

• Jesus is truth and He exposed the false religious leaders.
• We are the pillar and support of the truth and we must do the same.

WE DO NOT TOLERATE IT.

But you say:
“But preacher, that’s not going to make us very popular. People will hate us if we do that.”

That’s absolutely true:
(53-54) “When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.”

You had better believe they won’t love you for it.
They didn’t love Jesus for it.

But this is one of those areas where we have to decide
JUST WHO IT IS WE AIM TO PLEASE.

Do we aim to please our Lord or do we aim to please His enemies?

Greedy Hearts
Superficial Religion
Love of Glory
Defiling Influence
Powerless Message
Rejection of Truth
Damning Results
These are things Jesus wouldn’t tolerate.
His church must not tolerate them either.

Can I Expect Deliverance?
Psalms 41
June 23, 2019

We hear a lot today about “breakthroughs” and “healings” and “deliverances” and things of that nature.

We hear a lot of confident talk
Particularly from the charismatic movement regarding healing in sickness and deliverance in bondage and things of that nature.

And sometimes the claims are so bold and outlandish
That they even cause us to shiver a little.

And certainly there are many problems we have
With the charismatic claims of health, wealth, and prosperity.

But perhaps an overlooked problem with the movement is that
They have actually caused faith in God to decrease.

• Because they claim healing and deliverance in so many areas,
• And because we clearly do not see their claims come true
• They actually produce more skepticism than they do confidence in our God.

And that is sad, because
A genuine believer most certainly CAN EXPECT deliverance from God.

In fact, that is what this Psalm is about.
It is a Psalm in which David is afflicted by the enemy,
But he is confident that God will deliver him.

In an even greater picture it is a prophetic Psalm
• About how our Lord was afflicted by the enemy, even betrayed by Judas,
• But He was also confident in the deliverance of God.

Verse 9, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.”

That verse is said to have been fulfilled during the Last Supper:
John 13: 18 “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.’”

So clearly it is a Psalm of confidence
That God will deliver even from the vilest of enemies.

It is sung both by the lesser David and by the greater David.
But it is a song of expectation that God will deliver.

What I want to make sure you understand tonight
Is where the BASIS OF THIS CONFIDENCE comes from.

What I want you to understand
Is where the foundation of this assurance dwells.

YOU CAN HAVE IT TOO.
But it’s not from naming it or claiming it or sharing the post on Facebook.

We’re going to have a bit of a lengthy introduction and I’m going to ask you to turn to a lot of texts, but follow with me tonight.

I want to start with a very penetrating story that our Lord taught us:
TURN TO: Matthew 25:31-46

• This is the end of the sermon that is typically referred to as “The Olivet Discourse”. It is Jesus’ sermon on the end times.

• He closes the sermon with a series of parables and then this final revelation about the judgment.

(READ 31-46)

• You are likely familiar with that story.
• It is the Lord’s account of the judgment.
• It is very black and white.

We see the separation of the redeemed and the unregenerate.
It is a clear and distinct separation
No different than a shepherd separating sheep and goats.

Our Lord puts the redeemed on the right and the unredeemed on the left and then He pronounces judgment.
• Ultimately the redeemed “inherit the kingdom prepared for [them] from the foundation of the world”
• And the unredeemed are sent “into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;”

What has been confusing to some is the standard of judgment
Our Lord uses to distinguish between the two.

HE DOESN’T SAY (as many would expect)
• That the righteous get the kingdom because they followed Jesus
• And the unrighteous get judgment because they rejected the Jesus.

That would make sense to us from a gospel standpoint
Since He alone is the Savior.

INSTEAD JESUS SAYS that the righteous get to enter the kingdom
Because they cared for the poor
Whereas the unrighteous get judgment because they neglected the poor.

“for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.”

And some then have wondered if the Lord is teaching that entrance into the kingdom of heaven can be earned simply by helping the poor.

And the answer to that question is: NO
Salvation cannot be earned by a lifetime of benevolence.

The reason is because a lifetime of good deeds
Will not erase even one instant of evil deeds,
And regardless of our goodness, our sin warrants judgment.

The gospel message is clear, salvation cannot be earned by good deeds.

So what then is our Lord talking about?

It is this:
You cannot earn life by helping the poor.
However, you do prove life by helping the poor.

Benevolence is not a means of salvation, it is a fruit of salvation.

A man who helps the poor reveals his salvation is GENUINE,
Whereas a man who does not help the poor
Indicates that his religion is WORTHLESS.

James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Religion that doesn’t care for the least is worthless religion.

And this is clearly articulated in Scripture.
TURN TO: Isaiah 58

• It is a great chapter outlining the difference between effective religion and worthless religion
• Because here we have people who are religious (fasting) and it isn’t working.

And they want to know why.
(READ 1-3a)

You see the question:
“Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?”

• Their religion wasn’t working.
• Their religion was not motivating God to respond favorably and they wanted to know why.

So God tells them.
(READ 3b-4)

Basically, because your religion is selfish.
You do what you do for your own benefit not the benefit of others.

And to that God then preaches the sermon.
(READ 5-14)

Now what you notice is that
God has very specific expectations
For what true religion is supposed to look like.

(6-7) “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

And according to God, if you will do that
THEN YOU CAN START TO EXPECT YOUR RELIGION TO PAY OFF.

That is, you can start to expect that God will answer you and deliver you.

In fact, if you do those things:
(11) “the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.”

So you see the same principles.
• Those who evidence the purity of their religion by helping the poor can expect
deliverance from God.
• Those whose religion does not involve helping the poor have only worthless
religion.

WHAT WE LEARN THEN IS THIS:
• Care for the poor is not only a great expectation of God, but it is also a true
fruit of genuine conversion.

BUT NOT ONLY THAT:
Because God promises to deliver those who help the poor,
OUR PARTICIPATION IN BENEVOLENCE
BECOMES A GREAT FOUNDATION FOR OUR CONFIDENCE.

What I mean is this.

Our confidence in God’s deliverance
Is directly proportional to our participation in helping the poor.

One more text:
TURN TO: 1 John 3:13-22

Now it is clear that on John’s mind throughout the letter
Is the issue of assurance.

9 times in the letter John uses the phrase
“By this we know…” (or one similar)

He even gives that great statement at the end of the letter:
1 John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

ASSURANCE IS ONE OF HIS GREAT THEMES,
And he is giving a great hint to it here.

He starts by
• Addressing something that typically attacks our assurance,
• And that is being hated by others.

(13) “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.”

Let’s be honest, no one likes to be hated.
And when people hate us for what we do
It can cause us to greatly question our motives.

But our assurance does not come from men.
AND THAT IS WHAT JOHN WANTS HIS FLOCK TO KNOW.

(14-15) “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

So John is very direct.
• You don’t get assurance from the world’s approval.
• But you do get assurance from knowing you love the brethren.

Well how can we know that we have loved the brethren?
(READ: 16-18)

• So clearly there John is linking our love of the brethren to our benevolent care of the brethren.
• We know we love our brother when we care for our brother.

BUT HERE IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO SEE:
Here comes the assurance

(READ: 19-22)
Did you catch that? It’s rich!
• Even when our heart condemns us…
• Even when we don’t feel saved…
• Even when we are aware of our failures and shortcoming…

There is a place we go for assurance
And that is to the fact that we help the poor.

Even in our darkest days of doubt it is our help of the poor
That assures us that we are God’s children in spite of our failures.

We know we are His by this.

Do you see the assurance?
• Even when I fail, I can still have assurance through benevolence.
• I can still have confidence of God’s deliverance because of benevolence.

I know that was lengthy, but that makes a perfect segue into Psalms 41.

Now, I want to look at this Psalm a little unconventionally.
That is to say, I don’t want to start at the beginning.

I want to actually start by looking at verses 10-12
DAVID’S CONFIDENCE
Psalms 41:10-12

It is certainly a request from David regarding his enemies,
But it is also one that is filled with bold confidence.

Consider verse 10 “But You, O LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up, That I may repay them.”

That’s a pretty bold prayer.
David not only gives his request, but his motive.

I want you to deliver me and I want you to deliver me
For the purpose of vengeance.

Many a commentary has trouble with that statement and rightly so.
It doesn’t really sound Christian at all.

Romans 12:19-20 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.”

We are aware of that command.
We understand the concept of trusting God to secure justice for us.

And look, it’s impossible to know David’s heart here,
But maybe that is what he means.

MAYBE HE MEANS THAT GOD’S DELIVERANCE IS THE REPAYMENT.
For example, “They really want to see me fall, well raise me up, that’ll show them!”

Some have suggested
• David intended it under the banner of him being the King whose job it was to meter out justice for evil doers.

I don’t really know what David is thinking here
Except to point out to you that David is clearly confident
In his right to be delivered and for his enemies to be punished.

There is no hesitation in David’s statement.

And he continues in confidence
(11) “By this I know that You are pleased with me, Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.”

There again, they haven’t even announced the results yet
And David is already standing in the victors circle.

• He has assurance.
• He is confident that God for him and that God will deliver him
• And that God will not let his enemies win.

And again:
(12) “As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, And You set me in Your presence forever.”

That is ultimate victory there.
Those three verses are not spoken like a man who expects to lose.

He speaks of vengeance, he speaks of vindication, he speaks of victory.
He is confident that it will be his.

Whatever is going on in the backdrop I just want to make sure that you see that David is a man who has assurance.

• Can you imagine assurance like that in your life?
• Can you imagine having such confidence?
• Can you imagine being so certain that God will deliver and vindicate and usher
out vengeance on your account and give you victory?

Well David clearly has it.

And of course with this also being a prophetic Psalm of the Lord
We can easily say that Jesus had this assurance as well.

SO DAVID IS CONFIDENT.
HE EXPECTS DELIVERANCE.

WELL, WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT?
• Delivered from what?
• Delivered from who?

Well let’s back up now to verses 4-9
DAVID’S CONCERN
Psalms 41:4-9

Here we find the struggle David finds himself in.

And there is a very important verse that I need you to see right out of the gate.
(4) “As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.”

Ok, so now you can throw out righteous living
As the source of David’s confidence.

• David is a confident man in spite of the fact that he has sinned against God.
• David has assurance despite the fact that he is not perfectly righteous.

Jesus may very well be confident in His own righteousness, but David can’t be.

And I find this very interesting because
I am much more like David than I am like Jesus.
If David can have assurance in spite of being sinful, I want to know how.

Well we’ll get there, but first let me show you why he needs assurance.
And that is because: HE IS IN TROUBLE

(READ 5-9)
You can easily see there 4 problems David is facing.

• Now the backdrop is that he is sick.
• He has an illness and it is an illness that threatens his life.

And in the midst of this illness
We learn that the world is not rooting for David’s recovery.

We see: DISDAIN
(5) “My enemies speak evil against me, “When will he die, and his name perish?”

Well that’s special.
David is sick and the prayer request of his enemies
Is that he will just go ahead and die.

We see: HYPOCRISY
(6) “And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood; His heart gathers wickedness to itself; When he goes outside, he tells it.”

This is especially sweet.
His enemy actually comes to visit him when he is sick
As though he is a friend.

“How you doing David? You feeling ok? What’s your temperature today? Is that where they plug in your life support machine?”

And David knows that this man doesn’t care for him.
David knows that he is only there to fish for information to run back and tell the rest of David’s enemies.

He’s just trying to give them a timeframe as to when David might die.

We see: CONDEMNATION
(7-8) “All who hate me whisper together against me; Against me they devise my hurt, saying, “A wicked thing is poured out upon him, That when he lies down, he will not rise up again.”

That is to say that they all think he deserves what he is getting.
They are all like Job’s friends who assume that his sickness is deserved.

It is like those who sneered at Jesus and according to Isaiah 53 “Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.”

• They know he is sick.
• They are sure he deserves it.
• They are waiting for him to die, and they are rooting for it.

We see: BETRAYAL
(9) “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.”

Even those who should care have bought the propaganda.
To David it feels as though everyone hates him.

So make sure now that you understand the scene:
• David is sick
• The world is against him
• He is not perfect, but has sinned against God
• But he is confident that God will heal him and deliver him and show up those who hate him.

That is confidence isn’t it?
That is assurance isn’t it?

I mean that is right up there with what John taught us when he said, “Don’t be surprised if the world hates you”

• Don’t let the world’s hatred steal your assurance.
• Don’t let the accusations of your heart steal your assurance.

Well David certainly didn’t.
He was confident.

WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THIS ASSURANCE?
How could David be so certain that God would heal him and deliver him and silence his foes?

Well now let’s look at the first 3 verses of this Psalm.
DAVID’S CONVICTION
Psalms 41:1-3

Without breaking it down too much can you see the main point?

God cares for those who care for the poor.

In fact, there are 5 promises made on behalf of those who care for the poor.
• “The LORD will deliver him in a day of trouble”
• “The LORD will protect him”
• “The LORD will…keep him alive”
• “The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed;”
• “In his illness, You restore him to health.”

Furthermore David knew that a man like that
Would not be given over to the desire of his enemies.

No wonder David could say:
“How blessed is he who considers the helpless;”

That person receives the blessing of deliverance,
Protection, care, sustenance, and healing.

Now, just so you understand the magnitude of that statement.
• We are now 41 Psalms into this book.
• In fact you may even notice that before Psalms 42 it says “Book 2”
• In this first grouping of Psalms David has used this phrase “How blessed” in only 5 Psalms.

Psalms 1:1 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”

And if you remember that is referring to
The man who delights in the Law of the Lord.

And for that man there are promises.
Psalms 1:3 “He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”

So to the man who delights in God’s word
God promises provision, production, perseverance, and prosperity.

And none of us question that because we know the value of God’s word.

Psalms 2:12 “Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

There the blessing is for those who take refuge in Christ.

This is also the blessing of:
Psalms 34:8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

And:
Psalms 40:4 “How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.”

And of course there the promise is that those who delight in salvation
Will be saved from wrath and judgment
But will be justified in the righteousness of Christ.

None of us argue with that.
We are certain of it.

Psalms 32:1-2 “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”

That is a man who leans upon grace
Instead of works or self-righteousness.

That man is promised forgiveness and justification.

So…
• If you delight in God’s word you can expect to be fruitful…
• If you take refuge in God’s Son you can expect to be saved…
• If you appeal for grace you can expect to be forgiven…

Do we question any of those things as being far-fetched?

Then don’t see this one as far-fetched either.
If you consider the helpless you can expect to be delivered.

What it screams to us is that God values those who value the poor.
• It reminds that God cares for those who care for the poor.
• It reminds that God delivers those who deliver the needy.
• It reminds that God raises up those who raise up the broken.

And is this not what Jesus taught us in Matthew 25?
Matthew 25:34-40 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

It’s as though Jesus echoed this same blessing
At the end of the Olivet Discourse.

It is the same means of assurance
That the apostle John offered in his epistle.

You can have assurance if you care for the poor.

But let me ask you, since this Psalm is also a picture of Christ who no doubt suffered.
• Was He not delivered?
• Was He not protected?
• Was He not kept alive?

You say, “No, He died”
1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”
He was kept alive

• Was He not sustained?
• Was He not restored?
• Did God not raise Him up?
• Was He not avenged of His enemies?
• Was He not vindicated?
• Has He not been set in God’s presence forever?

God honored that!

Never was there another who cared for the poor and helpless
Like Christ did and God fully honored His word.

Of Christ we read:
2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

AND HE WAS BLESSED

• There is a blessing for those who care for the helpless and the poor.
• There is a promise of deliverance
• There is a promise of protection
• There is a promise of life
• There is a promise of sustenance
• There is a promise of restoration and healing

David certainly knows that.
That is why he is confident God will raise him up
Even though he has sinned against God.

He knows that God has given a magnificent promise that even sinners will be delivered if they care for the helpless.

And that takes us then to that final point of the Psalm
DAVID’S CHORUS
Psalms 41:13

That is why David ends in praise.
Because he doesn’t deserve to be raised up.
He doesn’t deserve to be healed.

It is a blessing only offered by the God of Israel.
• What other god would promise to be your nurse during sickness?
• What other god would concern himself with your infirmities?
• What other god protect you and keep you alive when everyone is against you?

Certainly not the pagan gods of Ammon or Philistia
Or Moab or Islam or Hinduism.
Those gods don’t care and they offer no assurances.

But our God does.
And for that David praises Him!

“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.”

God has given a tremendous blessing to His people.
• He has promised that if you will care for the poor then He will care for you.
• Praise God for that blessing and that promise.