Welcome To God?
Psalms 15
October 21, 2018

• I can’t pretend to say that I know the views of past generations.
• I can’t say I know what the culture 100 years ago thought about whether or not they were acceptable to God.

But I do think I have a pretty good gage on the current culture.

Society in general today is filled with an audacity
And an absolute conviction that they can in fact walk up to God,
Lay on His coach, raid His fridge, and “hang out” with Him
Whenever they want.

People today, in all lifestyles and habits, seem to be overwhelmingly convinced that
• God is not angry,
• God is not judgmental,
• God has no standards,
• And God has no specific requirements.

People are convinced that God is an all-inclusive, super-welcoming,
No questions asked kind of deity that readily accepts everyone.

In fact, He’s often portrayed as overly grieved
That more people won’t come by and visit,
As though He were not totally self-sufficient.

And I can’t say that contemporary Christianity has helped this problem.

Our society is continually bombarded with the message that
• “God loves you just the way you are”
• “That Jesus is anxiously knocking, just begging and pleading that you’ll let Him in”
• “That Jesus would rather go to hell than stay in Heaven without you”
• “That God is not angry, He’s not disappointed”
• “That God’s arms are open wide and ready to overlook all your failures”

Really that God should be viewed similar to your grandmother
Whose door is always open, who always has cookies on the counter,
And who will approve of all your decisions and endorse any lifestyle.

Our culture, by in large, believes this.
And that is partly because many under the banner of “the gospel”
Have proclaimed it.

BUT THAT IS A HORRIBLE MISREPRESENTATION OF GOD

And it causes me to wander what people with such a view
Do with a Psalm like the one we study tonight?

It is a Psalm that asks perhaps the most important question
That has ever been put on paper.

(1) “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?”

There are two questions there, and really they both ask the same thing.

“who may abide in Your tent?”

• That would have been a reference to the “tent of meeting” where God’s glory
dwelled.
• You’ll remember that it was not David who built God’s temple, but rather his
son Solomon,
• And so in David’s day, God still dwelled in that tabernacle or tent.

David is asking, who is able to go inside and camp there with God?

“Who may dwell on Your holy hill?”

The same question asked a little bit differently, but
• Who can live in close proximity to God?
• Or, who is fit to be God’s neighbor?

In a SPIRITUAL SENSE we could expand that to mean,
“Who is able to go to heaven and dwell with God?”

That’s a pretty important question, wouldn’t you agree?
• Who will God accept?
• Who will God consent to live with?
• Who will God consent to stay in His house with Him?

In David’s day the answer was clear.
NO ONE

IF YOU’LL REMEMBER, no one was able to abide in God’s tent.

Only the High Priest ever even went into that tent, and he only went once a year, and not without taking blood, and he most certainly didn’t “hang out” in there.
• He went in quickly, he did his job, and he exited quickly.
• And you’ve even heard about how he had a rope on one leg and a bell on the other so they could pull him out if he offended God and was struck dead.

The thought of anyone entering the Holy of Holies with a sleeping bag WAS ABSURD. And all of Israel knew that.

YOU CAN’T ABIDE IN GOD’S TENT.

And you can’t “dwell” on His “holy hill”.

Do you remember when God’s presence came down on Sinai?
Do you remember the command?

TURN TO: EXODUS 19
This was when God liberated His people from Egypt and they traveled to Sinai.

Look at this scene.
(Verses 1-6) God relates His selection and deliverance of these very people, and He offers that they can be His people; closer to Him than any other.

(Verses 7-9) The people agree, they want to be the people of God, and now God is going to speak to them.

But then look at the warning they are given.
(Verses 10-25)

• Don’t touch the mountain
• Don’t touch anyone who touches the mountain (stone him or shoot him)
• Don’t break through and gaze at the mountain

This was intense and terrifying

And now you’re asking me, “Who may dwell on Your holy hill?”

Does that not seem like a bizarre question?
We can’t even touch His hill, let alone build a house on it.

AND YET THAT IS WHAT DAVID IS ASKING.

Isaiah also asked it:
Isaiah 33:13-14 “You who are far away, hear what I have done; And you who are near, acknowledge My might.” Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. “Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?”

That sounds more like what Moses was talking about.
• Who can walk right up that mountain and pitch a tent in God’s presence?

Consider:
Psalms 24:3 “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?”

Forget abiding and dwelling,
• In Psalms 24 David wants to know who can even climb God’s hill or even stand
in the Holy of Holies.

Who can even go in there?

Consider:
Revelation 6:12-17 “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

These are sinners during the Great Tribulation
And when God peals back the sky and reveals Himself on His throne,
Even the world knows that they can’t even stand before Him.

• Forget climbing His hill
• Forget abiding in His tent
• Forget dwelling on His mountain
• WE CAN’T EVEN STAND WHERE HE CAN SEE US

Do you see the absolute absurdity of the question?

David asked the question and everyone knows the answer.
If anyone could stand before God,
It would require and impeccable person.

And can I just go ahead and say from the outset here,
That IF YOU THINK YOU CAN stand before Him by your own merit
That you absolutely stink at “self-evaluation”.

Do you remember the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector?
Luke 18:11-13 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’”

The Pharisee had no clue, the tax collector gets it.

To have this assumption that we can just kick open God’s door,
Go and raid His fridge, plop on His couch, grab His remote,
And kick our feet up on His coffee table is absurd.

Let me put it to you like this.
GOD IS NOT APPROACHABLE

Now if that causes your antenna to go up,
Because it seems to contradict this warm and fuzzy view of God that you have developed then YOU NEED TO LISTEN UP here.

Where in the Bible do you find God being approachable?

Did Abraham find Him approachable?
Genesis 15:12 “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.”

Did Job find God approachable?
Job 42:1-6 “Then Job answered the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”

Did Moses find God approachable?
Exodus 3:4-6 “When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said also, ” I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

Did Isaiah find God approachable?
Isaiah 6:5 “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

And the list goes on.

I must remind you that God is holy,
And PEOPLE DID NOT go running through the veil as if to say,
“Hey God, what’s up?”

1 Timothy 6:15-16 “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”

TRYING TO ENTER GOD’S PRESENCE NONCHALANTLY IS ABSURD!

Have we not read about Aaron’s sons (Nadab and Abihu) whom God incinerated with fire because they offered strange fire?

Have we not read about Uzza who God struck dead because he reached out and touched the Ark of the Covenant?

Have we not read about Uzziah who tried to enter the temple to burn incense and God struck him with leprosy until the day of his death?

Where did this notion of familiarity and unconditional acceptance before God come from?

The very existence of the tent of meeting and later the temple
Was to illustrate the fact that you did not have access to God.
YOU COULD NOT APPROACH HIM.

And here David asks, “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?”

You get the idea that David is almost asking that question rhetorically, as if he knows the answer is no one.

HOWEVER – GOD GIVES AN ANSWER.
• There is a person who can dwell with Him.
• There is a person who is welcome to sleep in His house
• There is a person who is welcome to be His neighbor.

And then God rattles off 11 characteristics
That a person who would dwell in His presence must possess.
We’re going to group them into 5 just to make it a little easier to walk through.

This is the type of person who can dwell with God.
• Anything short of this, and you must get outside the veil.
• Anything short of this, and you must not even touch the mountain.
• Anything short of this, and you must not even gaze intently so as to gain a peak.

God here gives 5 categories and criteria for the type of roommate He will accept.
#1 HE MUST BE ONE WITH AN INNNOCENT HEART
Psalms 15:2

“He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.”

Let’s examine that a little.

“integrity” there is TAMIYM
It literally means “blameless” or “perfect” or “without blemish”

It was the word God used to describe the type of offering He would accept.
Exodus 12:5 “Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.”

Leviticus 1:3 “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.”

It was also the word used to describe Noah,
who was the only man God chose not to destroy when He flooded the world.
Genesis 6:9 “These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.”

And it was the commanded behavior God gave to Abraham.
Genesis 17:1 “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”

It simply means that if you want to dwell with God
Then you must walk perfectly.
You must have no flaws in the way you live.
There must be no blemishes in your behavior.

Put another way, that person must be one who “works righteousness”

When you talk about what he does, or how he works, it must be perfect.
All of his deeds must be righteous.

And to make sure that you understand that it’s NOT JUST AN OUTWARD ISSUE, God adds, “And speaks truth in his heart”

It’s not only outward perfection that God demands,
But also inward perfection of the heart.

It is summed up by the command “Be holy as I am holy”

If you want to dwell with God then you must have a totally innocent and blameless and upright and truthful heart.
• If your actions ever fall short
• If your motives are ever impure
• If your thoughts are ever ungrateful
• If you ever do anything just for show or pretense
• Then you are scratched off the list as one who is acceptable to dwell with God.

The one who dwells with Him must have an innocent heart
#2 HE MUST HAVE AN IN-CHECK TONGUE
Psalms 15:3

“He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;”

What all of these have in common is that
They are examples of a person using their tongue
To bring ruin to someone else.

“slander” is RAGAL in the Hebrew and it actually is the word used for a “spy”.
It is one who stealthily does danger to someone who is unsuspecting.

This isn’t a person who lambasts someone with hurtful words,
It is someone who uses their tongue stealthily to ruin another.

And that is implied again with one who “does evil”, especially by way of their conversation.

Also of one who “takes up a reproach against his friend”

“reproach” is a word that means “to disgrace”

It is what Job’s friends did to him.
Job 16:10 “They have gaped at me with their mouth, They have slapped me on the cheek with contempt; They have massed themselves against me.”

This is a person who uses their tongue to ruin other people.
• It’s not necessarily talking about someone who speaks mean words,
• But rather someone who gossips and attacks with their words from behind.

They seek to ruin the reputation of another.
They seek to cause other people to hold one in contempt.

And God says anyone that does that sort of thing
Is scratched off the list of candidates.

One who cannot control their tongue is not fit to dwell with Him.

An Innocent Heart, An In-Check Tongue
#3 HE MUST HAVE IMPARTIAL EYES
Psalms 15:4a

“In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honors those who fear the LORD;”

We are speaking here of his JUDGMENTS of others.
• We are speaking here of the type of people he approves of
• And the type of people he rejects.

And the implication is that
If you are someone who is going to dwell with God
Then you must be in total agreement with God’s judgments.

Your judgments must be His judgments.

God says here that “a reprobate is despised”
That’s an interesting phrase.

The word for “reprobate” is actually verb, not a noun.
It is MA’AL and it means “to reject”

It is most commonly used to speak of God’s rejection of unholy people.
Jeremiah 6:30 “They call them rejected silver, Because the LORD has rejected them.”

So the term “reprobate” is a term that
Simply speaks of a person God has rejected.

And here we find that if you want to dwell with God
Then you had better not be one who accepts those whom God rejects.

Instead “in whose eyes a reprobate is despised”

“despised” is BAZAH it means “to hold in contempt” or “despise”

Genesis 25:34 “Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”

If you want to dwell with God then you have hold in contempt the things that God rejects.
• You can’t call evil good, you can’t call good evil.
• You can’t find humor in the base and vile things of the world.

Psalms 50:16-18 “But to the wicked God says, “What right have you to tell of My statutes And to take My covenant in your mouth? “For you hate discipline, And you cast My words behind you. “When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, And you associate with adulterers.”

God says it’s evil. If you are a person who associates with it,
Then you are not welcome to dwell with God.

On the flipside they must be a person “who honors those who fear the LORD”

And it really means to “heap honor” on that type of person.
The word “honor” actually means “to make heavy”.

While you reject those whom God has rejected,
You must heap loads of honor on those who fear the LORD.

If you’re not that person then you’re not welcome to dwell with God.

An Innocent Heart, An In-Check Tongue, Inspired Eyes
#4 HE MUST HAVE AN IMMUTABLE WORD
Psalms 15:4b

“He swears to his own hurt and does not change;”

This is a person of absolute integrity.
• They don’t say one thing and do another.
• They don’t mislead.
• They don’t fail to come through.
• They don’t’ take false oaths or make false vows.

If they tell God they will do something, they do it.

It is NOT the type of person who promises
A certain behavior or offering to God and then fails to deliver.

That type of person is not welcome to God, and cannot dwell with Him.

#5 HE MUST HAVE IMPECCABLE VALUES
Psalms 15:5a

“He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.”

This is not a person who has ever cheated anyone.
In fact, he’s not even a person who has legitimately profited off of the misfortune of another.

Certainly we understand the problem of taking a bribe,
But God even speaks here of a person who loans money at interest.
A person who sees his brother’s need
As an opportunity to bail him out and make a profit doing it.

It speaks of a person who has the right values in life.
• He doesn’t love the world more than he loves his brother.
• He forsakes the world for the good of his brother.

And if he’s not this type of person then he cannot dwell with God.

And then we are told, “He who does these things will never be shaken.”

That is to say they will never get “tripped up”.
• They will never be rendered disqualified.
• They will always be allowed to dwell in God’s presence.

BUT
• If you’ve ever slipped from integrity…
• If you’ve ever used your tongue maliciously…
• If you’ve ever patted on the back those whom God rejects…
• If you’ve ever failed to honor those who fear God…
• If you’ve ever failed to keep your word…
• If you’ve ever profited off of the misfortune of another…

Then forget it, you cannot dwell in God’s presence.
• Don’t go behind the veil…
• Don’t touch the mountain…
• Don’t gaze to see if you can catch a glimpse…
• YOU ARE NOT FIT NOR WELCOME IN HEAVEN

Does that make sense?

And so we ask that question again:
“O LORD, whom may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?”

Well, do you know anyone who fits those qualifications?
And the answer is of course: YES – Jesus does.
He fits those qualifications.

He walked with integrity and worked righteousness and spoke truth in His heart and never slandered or did evil or took up a reproach against His neighbor. He despised the reprobate and honored those who feared the LORD. He kept His word and never exploited the poor or the innocent.

HE ALONE IS WELCOME

And that is why we read unbelievable passages like this:
Hebrews 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

• He entered and He sat down
• He does in fact dwell there with God.

And “in Him” and through Him we also gain our access.
Hebrews 10:19-22 “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

• We draw near through Him.
• We draw near “in Him”
• That is the only way any of us ever draw near to God or dwell with Him.
• That is the only way any of us ever confidently approach God.

AND HERE’S THE REALITY.

We live in a world where the vilest of sinners
Seem to think that they could just waltz into God’s presence anytime,
And that is so not true. God is not approachable for them.

But us, His children, clothed in Christ
Can boldly approach His throne.
And we can dwell with Him forever.
And we can pitch our tent next to His
And drop our sleeping bag in His floor.

We CAN run behind the veil…
Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

We CAN climb the mountain…
Hebrews 12:18-24 “For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, “IF EVEN A BEAST TOUCHES THE MOUNTAIN, IT WILL BE STONED.” And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “I AM FULL OF FEAR and trembling.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

We CAN gaze intently into the glory…
2 Corinthians 3:12-18 “Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

“O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?”

Through Jesus, I can.

Now that’s the main thing I want you to understand tonight.
I want you to see the gospel in this Psalm.

• Through Jesus the unapproachable is made approachable.
• Through Jesus the off limits is made available.
• Through Jesus we are granted access to God.

Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

I first want you to know that.

But I ALSO want you to know something else tonight.

I DO NOT just want you to take a full-blown passive approach
To your being acceptable to God.

While it is certainly true that
None can be made pleasing to God apart from Jesus Christ,
I do not want you to think that this means we just “Let go and let God”

When you read Psalms 15
• You must FIRST come to a humble understanding that these criteria are only met in Jesus.

• But you MUST NEVER just absolve yourself of the fact that this is still how God commands for you to live.

We are made acceptable through Christ,
But you must understand that Christ’s imputed righteousness
DID NOT nullify God’s expectation
That you would still strive for righteousness in your own life.

Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

• Did Christ remove our condemnation? Yes
• Did Christ free us from the law of sin and death? Yes
• Did Christ appease the wrath of God on sin? Yes

But why? “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us”

We are still called to strive for God’s perfect level of righteousness.

That means that Psalms 15 is still very much in effect for us.
God expects you and me to live in this manner.

Recently we studied the book of James with the youth.
I love (and at times hate) the book of James.
James is so bold and matter of fact with his readers.

WHY?
Because James grew up with Jesus.
• He saw Jesus in every conceivable walk of life and now James is looking at this church which claims to be like Jesus, and James says, “Um wait a minute, that’s not how Jesus lived.”

And he confronts the church.
And if you’ll notice it is over things much like what Psalms 15 says.

We read about the necessity of an INNOCENT HEART
That a person’s walk and works must be righteous.

And James said to the church:
James 2:14-17 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

God expects His church to walk righteously.

We read about the necessity of an IN-CHECK TONGUE
That we must not tear down our brother with our tongue.

And James said to the church:
James 3:8-12 “But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.”

God still expects the church to control their tongue.

We read about the necessity of IMPARTIAL EYES
That you honor who God honors and reject whom God rejects.

And James said to the church:
James 2:1-7 “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?”

God still expects the church to honor His judgments.

We read about the necessity of IMMUTABLE WORD
That you keep your word.

And James said to the church:
James 5:12 “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.”

You still must walk with integrity.

We read about the necessity of IMPECCABLE VALUES
That we must not exploit the poor or innocent to gain the world.

And James said to the church:
James 5:1-6 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.”

You still can’t love the world.

AND THAT’S THE FLIPSIDE OF THIS CONCEPT.

• No one who falls short of this standard is welcome to abide with God,
• Since we have all fallen short, none are welcome.
• However, through Christ we are granted access to dwell with God.

But don’t assume that just because you’ve been accepted
That now somehow the expectation has been lowered, it has not.

This is still God’s expectation for His church.
We are still called to walk in such a manner.

Colossians 1:9-10 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

And that is why the church sings this song.
We continually uphold to our congregation this intense righteous standard of God.

On one hand this righteous standard drives us to Jesus and causes us to glorify Jesus.

On the other hand this righteous standard reminds us of the high calling of living like Jesus in this world.

WE CONSTANTLY REMEMBER THAT.

The Jesus We Preach – Part 2
Luke 9:21-22
October 21, 2018

With two funerals and then a Disciple Now all occurring last week, it honestly feels like it has been a lifetime since we were in the gospel of Luke.

But this morning we return, and we return to
The second part of the sermon we began two weeks ago.

We are talking about “The Jesus We Preach”

Of course you are familiar with Paul’s warning to the Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”

Even in Paul’s day, the apostle had already become aware that
Not every “Jesus” being preached was the right Jesus.

It seems Luke was keen to this problem as well.

You may remember that he even started his gospel by saying:
Luke 1:1-4 “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.”

Luke wanted to get to “the exact truth” about the Lord.

In short: Distortions occur.
Not every Jesus being preached is the right Jesus.

And that certainly requires asking:
“Then which Jesus do we preach?”

Certainly the church must get this question right.
• We have been left on this earth for one overarching purpose.
• We are here to proclaim Christ to a lost world.
• We know the Great Commission.

And obviously in that mandate there can be 2 major problems.
1) WOULD BE THE FAILURE TO PREACH.
• That is a sin, and it denies not only the command of the Lord, but also the purpose for why we are here.

2) TO PREACH, BUT PREACH THE WRONG MESSAGE

That is just as big of a problem.
• The first withholds the truth,
• The second spreads error.

Both of those problems fail to get the gospel
To the sinners who need to hear it.

So we don’t just want to preach, we want to preach the right Jesus.
We want to preach the right message.
WHAT IS THAT MESSAGE?

That is precisely the answer we learn from our Lord here in Luke’s gospel.

If you will remember, we just finished a major section in Luke’s gospel.
We called it the “Who is this Man?” section.

Time after time we heard that question asked regarding Jesus.
WHO IS THIS MAN?

While that question was answered every time it was asked in one way or another,
IT WAS MOST DEFINITIVELY ANSWERED BY THE DISCIPLES IN LUKE 9:20

Luke 9:20 “And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

Jesus is God’s Christ.
Jesus is God’s Messiah.
Jesus is God’s Son.

BUT KNOWING JESUS AS MESSIAH IS ONLY PART OF THE EQUATION.
Equally important to knowing that Jesus is the Messiah,
Is knowing the truth about who the Messiah is,
And what the Messiah comes to do.

WHY?

Well, let’s suppose that you have always believed that the purpose of the Messiah is solely to make people healthy, wealthy, and happy.
• He’s going to overthrow Rome,
• He’s going to eradicate disease,
• He’s going to fix the economy,
• He’s going to bring world peace, etc.

You have always expected that when Messiah comes
That these are things He will do.

AND THEN YOU LEARN that Jesus is that Messiah.

Let me ask you then, what do you now expect Jesus to do?
And the answer: You’d expect Him to usher in earthly prosperity.

You can see why it’s important then,
Not only to know that Jesus is the Messiah,
But also to have an accurate understanding of the Messiah’s role.

OTHERWISE you will rightly preach that Jesus is the Messiah,
But you will wrongly preach what He came to do.

YOU MUST KNOW BOTH.

And that is why we enter this NEW SECTION in Luke’s gospel.
We have called it “Messianic Misconceptions”

It is the section where Jesus will systematically reveal to the disciples
The many areas where they are totally wrong
In their expectations of the Messiah.

And that segment starts with a peculiar statement from Jesus.

Let’s read it again, with verse 20 in there as well.
(20-21) “And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone,”

That just seems strange.
• He had already sent them out to preach the kingdom at the beginning of
chapter 9
• So it only stands to reason that now that they have an even better
understanding of who He is
• That He’d be all the more eager to send them out now.

The world thinks He’s John the Baptist or Elijah or some other prophet,
But the disciples know better.

It seems as though Jesus would want them to now get out there
And set the record straight.

But instead He gives the most peculiar command.
“He warned and instructed them not to tell this to anyone”

“warned and instructed” insinuates that Jesus was serious about this.
The command comes with a warning.

And LAST TIME we met, we asked WHY?

AND THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE.
Had the disciples gone out and preached with this new knowledge,
They would have preached a TRUE message,
But it would have been the WRONG message.

I can already hear them ready to go and tell the world how they had found the King,
• The One who’d reign on David’s throne.
• The One who will cause the lion to dwell with the Lamb, and bring peace to the
world.
• The One who will overthrow Israel’s enemies and usher in a reign of joy and
prosperity.

And all of those truths could be easily supported from Old Testament passages about the Messiah.

And someday they will occur.
When Jesus returns all of those promises will be fulfilled.

BUT THAT IS NOT THE MESSAGE ISRAEL NEEDED TO HEAR.
They did not need to hear about Jesus the Prospering King.

In fact, if you’ll remember our timeline.
Jesus just fed the 5,000 not too long ago.

Do you remember how the crowd responded to that miracle?
John 6:15 “So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.”

• If it was an earthly throne that Jesus sought, it was available.
• If He was looking for people who would let Him solve all their problems and
meet all their needs, they were ready.

But lack of prosperity wasn’t the people’s biggest problem.
• These people had a sin problem.
• They didn’t need a bread maker, they needed a sacrifice for their sin.

What good would it be to have a land full of healthy people,
If they were only healthy on their way to hell?
What good would it be to have a land full of wealthy people,
If they were only wealthy on their way to hell?

Preaching the prosperous and coming reign of Jesus
Would be a true message,
But it is the wrong message to preach to a sinful world.

WELL WHAT IS THE RIGHT MESSAGE?

Jesus outlined it for us:
(22) “saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”

Do you see the 4 things we preach about Jesus there?
1) His suffering 2) His rejection 3) His death 4) His resurrection
This is what we preach to the world.

Now, we started looking at this list last time, in fact we covered the first two, let me briefly remind you of them here.

#1 HIS SUFFERING
Luke 9:22a

“The Son of Man must suffer…”

Because we will talk about His death in a moment,
We limited our conversation here to His “pre-cross suffering”.

Obviously He suffered immensely in His death,
But we spoke of the necessity of His suffering
Even before the cross occurred.

And really no greater way was this seen than in His incarnation.
He went from enjoying all the privileges and glory of being considered God to enduring all the scorn and all the shame of being considered a slave.

It was an astronomical drop in status.

And we learned why such suffering was necessary.
On one hand it was necessary to make Him a sympathetic and merciful High Priest.
• If He was going to intercede for us before the Father then He needed to
understand our weakness.
• We suffer, so He had to suffer.
• The writer of Hebrews speaks a great deal about this reality.

The other reason He had to suffer was to vindicate His righteousness.
• This is the purpose behind His intense temptation.
• Similar to the suffering of Job, where Job’s suffering was allowed merely to
prove his righteousness and commitment to God, so was Christ’s.

In every temptation – In every jab – In every accusation – In every affliction
JESUS PASSED HIS TESTS WITH FLYING COLORS.

Jesus didn’t just obey God in a controlled environment.
Jesus obeyed God in the most extreme periods of suffering.
HE PROVED HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
WE PREACH THAT TO THE WORLD

He did what no other human ever did.
HE EARNED GOD’S APPROVAL.

We preach that.

#2 HIS REJECTION
Luke 9:22b

“The Son of Man must…be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes”

This was also necessary.
Jesus HAD TO BE AT ODDS with the religious elite.

WHY?
And the answer is because they preached a false gospel.
• Their message was one of legalism and tradition and outward adherence and there was nothing about it that was salvageable.
• And to make matters worse they had a monopoly on the doctrinal preaching in Israel.

When you read the Sermon on the Mount you find that lengthy section where repeated is the statement, “You have heard…but I say”

It is where Jesus systematically exposes
The false teaching the people had come to believe.

Who do you think told the people all that false doctrine?
It was the religious leaders.

Even though they touted allegiance to the same God,
Their message had absolutely no compatibility with the truth.

• JESUS COULDN’T just “agree to disagree” with them
• JESUS COULDN’T just “focus on the essentials” and leave their differences aside.
• JESUS COULDN’T just give them the benefit of the doubt or “find the good” in what they were saying.

THEY WERE LEADING MEN TO HELL.

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.”

FOR THAT REASON there had to be an undeniable and obvious opposition between the two.
• Jesus made it clear He was not with them and they made it clear they were not with Him.
• Jesus made it impossible to be in the Pharisees system and still think you were pleasing to God.

AND WE PREACH THAT.
We preach that when Jesus came, not only did He suffer,
But He suffered rejection by all the legalistic false teachers of Israel.

He was not coming to echo an external message of religion and tradition.
Jesus came and spoke to the heart.

WHEN WE PREACH JESUS,
We don’t preach a Jesus whose main goal is to make you moral,
We preach a Jesus who demanded righteousness from the heart.

We preach a righteous Jesus and a Jesus who demanded righteousness.

Make sense?
Well, that’s what we covered last time.

This morning we conclude with the final two elements of the Jesus we preach.
#3 HIS DEATH
Luke 9:22c

“The Son of Man must…be killed”

To quote Paul here:
1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

We preach the death of Christ.
And this reality may seem to you to be the most obvious topic in our preaching.

We know why Christ had to die.
• GOD’S HOLINESS HAD TO BE SATISFIED
• God’s wrath against sin had to be appeased.

Romans 3:23-25 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;”

That passage teaches us that God
Had not yet fully appeased His wrath against sinners.

Men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David
Had all drawn near to God,
But had never paid the full penalty for their sin.

David even recognized this, saying:
Psalms 103:10 “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”

Paul described that by saying that God
Had “passed over the sins previously committed”.

That is to say, God had purposely delayed in His punishment of those sins.
• He had not forgotten them.
• He had not determined to just overlook them forever.
• His holiness would not allow that.

God had just left them setting there
Until the time would come when He would demand justice
For all of those acts of rebellion.

THAT TIME WOULD COME ON THE CROSS.
On the cross God would pour out on Christ
All the wrath for all the sin that had ever been committed
For everyone who would ever believe.

We’ve read the story many times.
Matthew 27:45-46 “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

• That darkness that fell upon the land was a living picture of God’s wrath.
• It hearkened back to the descriptions of “the day of the LORD” which was
promised as a day of darkness.
• When Christ was on the cross, God’s wrath arrived.

But in order to make sure that you don’t misunderstand,
God’s WRATH WAS NOT falling on those who were crucifying Jesus.

God’s wrath, God’s fury, was falling on Christ.
• Which is why Christ cried out “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU
FORSAKEN ME?”

On the cross Christ was actually bearing God’s wrath.
He was paying in full the penalty for all the sin
For all who would ever believe in Him.

And this is why before He died, He cried, “It is finished!” (paid in full)

WE UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF THE CROSS.
It was there that Jesus Christ offered His holy life
As an acceptable sacrifice for sinners
In order that He might appease the wrath of God.

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

This was the atoning death of Christ.

But that’s not the only issue on the table here.

We are not just talking about the necessity of Christ’s death.
What we are talking about is
The necessity of preaching Christ’s death.

Jesus did not want His disciples going out preaching
Until they understood the message,
And that message included His death on the cross.

IN FACT, He NEVER fully commissioned them to go out and preach until they understood that this was the message.

Luke 24:45-47 “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

And as we said last time, go read the book of Acts and see if that’s not what the apostles are preaching?
• They aren’t preaching prosperity…
• They aren’t preaching health and wealth…
• They aren’t preaching Israel’s political rise…
• They are out there preaching the cross of Christ.

Again:
1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

AND THE CHURCH NEEDS THIS REMINDER.

It is so tempting to go out in to the world and preach:
• Jesus the healer
• Jesus the chain breaker
• Jesus the blesser
• Jesus the author of abundant life
• Jesus the marriage healer

BUT WE ARE TOLD TO PREACH JESUS THE SACRIFICE FOR SINS.

And let me tell you WHY THIS IS SO DIFFICULT.

The Bible says the message of the cross is offensive.
1 Corinthians 1:23 “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,”

The cross is referred to as both a “stumbling block” and “foolishness”

It is the message that God became flesh
And died on a cross to pay the debt of sinners.
And the world hates that message.

FIRST: Because the message of the cross first condemns the world.

• If the world is not in danger then why was it necessary for Christ
to come and die?
• Why send a Savior if we didn’t need saving?

The message of the cross reminds the world
What God thinks about their sin.

Prosperity preachers and “feel good” evangelists today have gone to great lengths today to try and convince people that God isn’t angry at anyone, and that all He feels is love and that sin is not a big deal.

Well, if sin isn’t a big deal then why did God crush His Son?

Isaiah 53:10a “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering”

SECONDLY: The message of the cross also reminds the world that salvation is only found in the One who paid our debt.

The cross is narrow and exclusive. It refuses other religions.
• It does not open the door for other religions, because no other religious leader
ever appeased God’s wrath.

The cross is pride-crushing. It devalues the efforts of man.
• It puts an absolute end to any notion of human’s appeasing God through their
own goodness.

Do you remember Jesus in the garden?
Matthew 26:39 “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

In effect you have Jesus there asking,
“Father, is there any other way?”

And the fact that God still crushed His Son on the cross
Gives us the answer. NO

If it were possible for humans to save themselves any other way
Then the cross might have been avoided,
But the reality of the cross confirms
That man, on his own is an absolute lost cause.

The world hates the message of the cross.
• It tells them that they need saving
• It tells them that they are in mortal and eternal danger before God
• It tells them that salvation is possible, but only in one place
• It tells them that in order to be saved they are going to have to give up all their own efforts and place their hope totally in another.
It is a humiliating, confronting, exclusive, pride-crushing message.
BUT IT IS THE MESSAGE!

Only through the cross can sinners find forgiveness
Only through the cross can rebels be reconciled to God.

The cross does not magnify the value of humans,
The cross magnifies the mercy of God.

What does Paul say?
Romans 5:6-8 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

I’ve heard the message twisted many times in recent years.
There was even a song published recently that sang, “Help me believe, Lord, I gotta believe that I’m something worth dying for.”

That is such a distortion!

Humans trying to figure out a way
That the cross must be saying how worthy we are.

NO!!!
The whole point of what Paul said was that we weren’t worth dying for,
Not even a good man would be willing to die for us.
BUT God did it anyway.

The cross does not magnify the worth or value of man.
The cross magnifies the mercy, and grace, and love of God.
The cross does not strengthen the pride of man, it crushes it.

THIS IS THE MESSAGE WE PREACH
• Christ came to live a righteous life as verified through suffering.
• Christ came to expose a religious system that that fell short of demanding true righteousness of the heart.
• And Christ came to then die upon a cross fully bearing the wrath of God on behalf of sinners who forsake their own goodness and their own efforts and trust in Him.

That is the message we preach.

That is the message the lost world needs to hear about Jesus.
• He was righteous
• He demanded righteousness
• He died to satisfy the righteous requirements of God

Go preach that message.
#4 HIS RESURRECTION
Luke 9:22d

“The Son of Man must…be raised up on the third day.”

• Certainly we preach His righteous life as proven by His suffering.
• Certainly we preach His expectation of a righteous heart beyond legalistic tradition.
• Certainly we preach His atoning death whereby He satisfied the righteous requirement of a Holy God on behalf of all believers who had fallen short of that standard.

But don’t stop there.
We also preach His resurrection from the dead.

WHY?
There are a number of things the resurrection proves. (And I’m just gonna list them quickly)

1) It proves the righteousness of Christ.

Had He remained dead, we would always wonder
If there was some secret sin that caused Him to be under God’s wrath.

2) It proves the effectiveness of His atonement.

Because God raised Him, we know He was righteous
And therefore we know that the wrath He bore was not for His own sin,
It must have been someone else’s punishment.

This verifies His atoning work.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Romans 4:25 “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”

That is to say, “He was raised because we had been justified through His death”

3) It reveals that He conquered death

Death is the ultimate penalty of sin.
And by conquering death Jesus reveals that
ALL OF OUR CONDEMNATION HAS BEEN REMOVED.

Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

Revelation 1:17-18 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”

4) It gives an example of what salvation should look like.

Paul said it like this:
Romans 6:4 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Christ didn’t come to die for sinners
So that He could leave them in their sin.
He didn’t come to die and in effect remain in the grave.

He went in to death for us and then He brought us out.

Remember the resurrection of Lazarus?
John 11:43-44 “When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Lazarus had been brought out of death and now must walk in life.

AND WE PREACH THIS BECAUSE it declares to sinful man
That God demands righteous living from them,
And that this righteous living is only possible through Christ.

SO DO YOU SEE THE MESSAGE?
• We preach Christ’s suffering which demonstrates that He lived a perfectly righteous life, regardless of the temptation.
• We preach Christ’s rejection which shows us that Christ did not accept superficial righteousness as an acceptable substitute for genuine heart righteousness.
• We preach Christ’s death which shows us not only the penalty for failing to live righteous, but also the only way to be forgiven for not living righteous.
• We preach Christ’s resurrection which shows us Christ’s sacrifice worked and that through Him we are now freed to live the righteous life which God demands.

THAT IS THE MESSAGE.

And Jesus emphatically told the disciples not to go preach until they had that message.
• Don’t go out preaching about Me being the King who can restore Israel.
• Don’t go out preaching about Me being the Provider who can make bread at will.
• Don’t go out preaching about Me being the Healer who will eradicate everyone’s disease.
• Don’t go out preaching about Me being the Messiah who will usher in times of peace.

All of those things will one day be true,
But that’s NOT what I want you to preach.

You go out and preach that
I must suffer and be rejected and die and rise from the dead.

The message that confronts their sin and reveals their salvation.
The message that teaches them to value righteousness.
The message that shows them how to be reconciled to God.

The goal of the church is not to make healthy enemies of God.
The goal of the church is not to make wealthy enemies of God.
The goal of the church is not to make fulfilled enemies of God.
The goal of the church is not to make moral enemies of God.

The goal of the church is to make disciples of Christ
Who are reconciled to God through His righteous life,
Atoning death, and victorious resurrection.

THAT IS THE JESUS WE PREACH.