Download Here:

Understanding Christian Love – Part 1
1 John 3:11-18 (11-12)
May 22, 2022

This morning we return to our study of 1 John
And it is a study we have called “Obvious Christianity”

We just spent about a month looking at verses 1-10 of this chapter
And understanding the reality of
Personal righteousness and purity in the life of a believer.

It is very accurate to say that “Christians live righteous lives”

1 John 3:9-10 “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”

Christians live righteous lives.

But we also notice that as John concluded that thought,
He immediately introduced us to his next thought.

At the end of verse 10 John listed a second reality of the Christian life.
John said, “nor the one who does not love his brother.”

That is to say that anyone who does not love his brother
Is also “not of God”

It is another distinguishing characteristic between the children of God and the children of the devil.

It is another obvious attribute that sets the redeemed apart from those who are still enslaved to their sin.

So beginning in verse 11
John starts articulating for us this second reality which is LOVE.

And what we get in verses 11-18
Is in reality nearly a CARBON COPY of what we got in verses 1-10.

IT IS STILL A PATERNITY TEST.

In the first 10 verses
• John gave us undeniable characteristics about Christ
• And showed us that Christ and the devil are total opposites.

Remember that?

1 John 3:5 “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.”

Talking about Jesus, John said, “in Him there is no sin.”
We remember.
• Jesus never sinned.
• He was perfect and flawless in holiness.

The devil is the exact opposite of Jesus.

1 John 3:8a “the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.”

The devil knows nothing but sin.
• He is a liar and the father of lies
• He was a murderer from the beginning.
• He comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.

So John pointed out that Jesus and the devil are polar opposites
As it relates to their righteousness or their purity.

You can’t have two more opposite beings than them
When you are discussing the reality of righteousness.

And that distinction then helped us to identify their offspring.
• You recognize children of Christ by their righteousness.
• You recognize children of the devil by their lawlessness.

That would have been PATERNITY TEST NUMBER 1.

Well, in the second part of this chapter
John issues A SECOND PATERNITY TEST
And this one works the same way.

John will again compare Jesus and the devil
Only this time John will use THE CRITERIA OF LOVE.

And once again we will see that
The devil and Jesus are on total opposites of the scale.

Look at verse 12
“not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother.”

The example John uses is “Cain”,
But that is only because Satan never became flesh and walked among us.

John is simply quick to point out that Cain “was of the evil one”.

Cain here is a representative of the devil.

And then down in verse 16 you get the opposite example of Christ.
“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us;”

Once again then you see the total contrast between Jesus and the devil.

We have the devil who slays his brother.
We have Jesus who saves his brother.
POLAR OPPOSITES.

And you see that John is doing it again.
He is holding up for you the devil and he is holding up for you Christ and he is asking which one you resemble?

IT IS ANOTHER PATERNITY TEST.

SO
In the first segment of 1 John 3 we repeatedly made the statement that “Christian’s live righteous lives”.

Now we take the next step and say that “Christians love their brother”.

This is another fruit.
This is another obvious attribute.
This is a distinguishing mark.

SO THIS MORNING,
Let’s begin looking at these next 8 verses
And see if we can’t understand why love (along with righteousness)
Is a defining characteristic of the children of God.

We’re going to divide these 8 verses into 3 points.
#1 LOVE IS THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANITY
1 John 3:11-12

By that statement I mean,
There is no version of Christianity
That does not include brother love.

If your faith or doctrine or theology
In any way allows you to hate your brother in Christ,
Then your faith or doctrine or theology is not Christian.

(11) “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;”

“from the beginning” doesn’t necessarily refer to the beginning of creation, though it could, rather it refers to the beginning of your Christian faith.

In other words John is saying,
“From the first moment you ever heard the gospel,
Present in that message was the requirement to love one another.”

The criteria or command for love
Was NOT AN AMENDMENT added to Christianity at a later date,
That has always been the command.

Let me say it another way.

Jesus never saved anyone apart from the absolute expectation
That they love their brother.

This is universal and obvious Christianity.
• It is foundational.
• It is “from the beginning”
• It is Christianity 101

If you are redeemed and have failed to see this,
Then you have failed to understand the very basic expectations
Of what Christ demands of you.

Right there with righteous living is brotherly love.

“For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 15:12-13 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

That was the night before Jesus died.

We talked about earlier in our study of 1 John
How this was a “new” commandment.

It was old in the sense that God had always commanded His people to
“love your neighbor as yourself.”

It was a new commandment in the sense that Jesus totally exploded our understanding of what love is.
He said, “love one another, just as I have loved you.”

Same command, but totally new understanding.
But love was always the expectation.

Romans 13:8-10 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

THE EXPECTATION HAS ALWAYS BEEN LOVE.

And let me just BRIEFLY EXPLAIN WHY that is the case for a moment.

It is because:
Love is the best attribute to describe
God’s behavior toward humanity.

If we wanted to use the best word to describe GOD’S NATURE
We would use the word “Holy”,
For that is the only word used in triplicate to describe God.

He is never called “Love, Love, Love” or “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”.
He is only called “Holy, Holy, Holy”

When talking about His nature we use the word holy.

But when describing God’s behavior toward humanity,
The best word to use is LOVE.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

• And we talked about His BENEFICENCE toward humanity, that He has “good will toward men.”
• And we talked about His BENEVOLENCE toward humanity, that He “sends rain on the just and the unjust”

And certainly we talk about His REDEEMING LOVE for His elect.

But love is the best word to describe God’s behavior toward humanity.

Jesus highlighted this love in His Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:43-47 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”

• What is it that causes God to sustain the lives of even those who hate Him?
• What is it that causes God to provide for even those who are His enemies?
• What is it that causes God to endure with great patience those who reject Him?

IT IS LOVE.
He sacrifices Himself on behalf of even His enemies.

Even the unredeemed awaken every morning
And enjoy the benefits of God’s love.
That is how God treats humanity.

To be certain,
• One day He will judge His enemies…
• There is coming a day of reckoning…

But the reality is that
Every single moment that even the unredeemed live,
They do so because of God’s love demonstrated toward them.

That is true even for the unredeemed.

It is certainly true for those whom He has saved.

Psalms 103:8-12 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Titus 3:3-7 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Romans 5:7-8 “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.”

What else can we say but that God loves us?

Perhaps John says it the clearest later in this epistle.
1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

John says it there:
• “love is from God”
• “God is love”

And this is why love is the expectation of Christianity.

Since love is the perfect way to describe
How God behaves toward humanity (all of humanity)
Then love must be the way in which God’s children behave,
Especially toward their brothers.

Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

And that is what John is referring to here.

John is NOT here talking about our love for the unredeemed.

Now, certainly WE ARE commanded to love our enemies.
Jesus said that in verse we read a moment ago.

Matthew 5:43-44 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”

Clearly we are commanded to love even our enemies, for that is what God does.

But how much more are we commanded to love our brothers in Christ!
We are certainly commanded to love them.

And this is what John is referring to.
• It is absolutely foundational that Christians love other Christians.
• It is absolutely the expectation of Christianity that you love those for whom Christ died.

In fact, if you don’t do that,
You are missing the whole point of Christianity.
It only proves that you do not know God.

For God does love His enemies,
But He has especially shown love to His children.

THIS IS SIMPLE.
Love is the Expectation of Christianity.

But I love the thoroughness of John.
He doesn’t just leave it at that and go on.

John wants to make sure we are clear
On what he means when he tells us to “love one another”

(12) “not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother.”

Immediately John gives us some CRITERIA
By which we can understand what he means.

When he tells us to “love one another” he then shows us what love is not.

What “the evil one” does is NOT love.
And if we act like him then we are not of God.

So let’s look at this example here of Cain.
And as we said a moment ago,
Cain is used because he is a clear child of the devil in Scripture.

(12) “not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”

You know the story.
Genesis 4:1-8 “Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.” Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”

It’s actually a story that I think gets greatly misunderstood.
It is an important story to our understanding of the gospel.

• We have 2 boys.
• We have 2 offerings.
• God accepts one and rejects the other.

And we must recognize that God didn’t just accept or reject the offering, God accepted or rejected the man.

“the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.”

It’s not just about accepting the gift, but even the giver of the gift.

Now some have been confused as to why God accepted Abel, but not Cain.

SOME HAVE SAID
Well Abel “brought of the firstlings” and Cain didn’t and since Abel brought the first and Cain presumably brought the last God accepted Abel and not Cain.

OTHERS HAVE SAID
Well Abel brought a blood sacrifice and Cain brought produce and that is why God accepted Abel and not Cain.

Both of those explanations are wrong.

The writer of Hebrews clarifies it.
Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”

The reason God accepted Abel and his sacrifice and not Cain’s
Is because Abel came in faith, Cain did not.

This is confirmed by John who says in our text this morning that Cain’s “deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”

It is only by faith that righteousness is credited to us.
• Abel came in faith and God justified him.
• Cain came with works and as Isaiah said, “all our righteous deeds are as a filthy garment” before God.

This also helps you understand why Cain hated Abel so much.

When God pronounced the curse on Adam do you remember what God cursed?

THE GROUND.
Genesis 3:17-19 “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

And what did Cain bring?
“the fruit of the ground”

I want you to think about what it took for Cain to bring an offering from the ground to God.
• The plowing
• The watering
• The weeding
• The waiting

IT WAS WORK!

Abel brought “the firstlings of the flock”

Now that’s not to say that
There was no effort involved with Abel’s offering,

BUT IF YOU COMPARE IT SIDE BY SIDE
IT IS CLEAR WHICH BOY WORKED THE HARDEST.

When we explained it to our youth we compared Hannah and Abigail.
• Later this summer Hannah is likely to bring buckets of squash and jalapenos
and tomatoes to the church, because she works the garden.
• Abigail is likely to bring eggs because she raises chickens.

No offense to Abigail, but for every minute Abigail spends working for her chickens, it is not a stretch to say that Hannah spends an hour if not more.

It is far more work to bring a tomato than it is to bring an egg.

Now put yourself in Cain’s shoes.
• You brought that which was the result of your labor and God wouldn’t accept you.
• Your brother brought that which was not the result of labor and God did accept him.

There is the gospel.
God wants faith, not works.

But Cain was furious.
And Cain killed Abel.

WHY?
“Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”

• Abel exposed Cain.
• Cain hated God, but you can’t kill God.
• So Cain lashed out against the one God accepted.

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?

Cain was filled with jealousy which is the opposite of love.
Cain was willing to sacrifice his brother in order to benefit himself.

We have said to many times before, but
“The opposite of love is not necessarily hate. The opposite of love is self”

Abel’s righteous life made Cain’s sin look even worse.
So in order to benefit himself, Cain killed Abel.

NOW CERTAINLY THAT IS AN EXTREME STORY,
But it is one that is played out in our world over and over and over again.

We see babies aborted, but it certainly isn’t done out of love for the baby.
• People choose to sacrifice the baby for their own selfish interest.

We see it in the redefined sexual relationships of our day
• Where immorality and lust and living together is all preferred over the
commitment of marriage.
• It is a situation in which people seek to gratify their own cravings at the
expense of another.
• I’ll convince you to do what God will judge you for because it pleases me.

We see greed or extortion or even price gouging and robbery
• In which someone seeks to benefit financially off of the misfortune of another.

Gossip / Slander or even these bold “self-defense” posts
• That are so prevalent on social media where in order to defend my reputation
or my self-interest a person will verbally bash someone else.

The response of Cain literally saturates our world.
We see the results of “the evil one” all over the place.

AND JOHN IS CLEAR,

That is NOT what we’re talking about
When we talk about the Christian’s expectation to “love one another.”

Genuine God-like love is self-sacrificing not self-gratifying.
God’s love sacrifices self for the good of another.

A quick consideration of “The Love Chapter” is well worth it here.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails”

We see words like “patient” or “kind” or “not jealous”

• Cain’s response to his brother was none of those thing.
• Cain was not kind, but in jealousy he chose to slay his brother.

We see things like “does not seek its own” or “is not provoked” or “does not take into account a wrong suffered”

• And we see so very little of that in our culture.
• Instead of self-sacrificing we are in a world that is self-seeking.
• It is the “make sure I get mine” mentality, and when I don’t, I send the coach an email or lambast someone on social media.
• The world doesn’t understand how to overlook a wrong that is suffered, but everyone must pay.

We read that “love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth”

• We certainly don’t find this in the world.
• The very ADVERTISING that saturates our culture is that which tells us that unrighteousness is where the real rejoicing is.

THE POINT IS THAT OUR WORLD KNOWS NOTHING OF LOVE.

I know our world loves to throw out the words “I love you”
Or likes to champion “love” as the chief goal of humanity.

But it is important for you to understand that
What the world calls love is anything but.

• Love is to suffer long with no time limit.
• Love is when you respond to a sharp rebuke with kindness.
• Love is when you rejoice at someone else’s triumph without jealousy.
• Love is when you downplay your own successes and never broadcast them.
• Love is when you do what is right by another.
• Love is when you forgive the wrong you suffer and refuse to fire back.
• Love is when you don’t laugh at another’s wickedness which will ruin them, but
rejoice when they walk in righteousness.

This is what God does.
This is how God behaves toward humanity.

And this is what God expects from His children
When they relate to their brothers and sisters.

And Jesus said: “by this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

There is no room for bitterness or anger or slander or enmity
Or lack of forgiveness or rudeness between Christian brothers.

The world has those things, Christians are called to behave like God.

Philippians 2:1-4 “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 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?”

When there is jealousy and strife among you
There is no other way to say it other than you are acting like a baby!

Any baby can scream or bite or go over in the corner and pout and throw a hissy fit when they don’t get their way.

We can’t walk “like mere men” we are called to imitate God.

• The Christian is expected to walk in love.
• The Christian is expected to not take record of wrongs.
• The Christian is expected to forgive.
• The Christian is expected to respond in kindness
• The Christian is expected to sacrifice themselves for the good of another.

THAT IS WHAT CHRIST DID.
And that is what He expects of us.

“This is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

Ephesians 4:1-2 “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,”

Colossians 3:12-14 “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 “Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more,”

Hebrews 13:1 “Let love of the brethren continue.”

1 Peter 1:22 “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,”

1 Peter 4:12 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;”

IT IS SIMPLE OBVIOUS CHRISTIANITY.
And more than the expectation, it is also the proof.

CHRISTIANS LOVE THEIR BROTHER.
Up in verse 10 John said those who don’t are not of God.

So this morning we are taking again this paternity test.

We have God who sacrifices Himself that He might love others.
And we have the evil one who sacrifices others because he loves himself.

And then we simply have to ask, “Which one am I?”

• Do I use people for my own personal gain?
• Do I corrupt people for my own satisfaction?
• Do I swallow the wrongs done to me or do I demand restitution?
• Do I rejoice in the victory of others or am I more interested that my
accomplishments are recognized?

I realize Cain is an extreme example,
But you realize that murder was in Cain’s heart
Long before it was in his hand.

This morning I would simply ask you to examine your life to see if
There is any self-sacrificing love like what God shows for humanity.

This is the expectation and even proof of Christianity.

We’ll talk about the others next time.

Download Here:

Anticipating Worship: The Rekindling of Hope
Psalms 125
May 15, 2022

Tonight we return to this segment of Psalms
Which were sung by the pilgrims as they traveled to Jerusalem.

Psalms 120-134 are all given the distinction “A Song of Ascents”

And we enjoy studying them because

In a day when corporate worship seems to have slipped down the list of many people’s priorities

These songs remind us again what a blessing it is for the saints to be able to gather together in worship.

• We’ve been reminded that corporate worship can be a sanctuary from evil.
• We’ve been reminded that corporate worship is a place of joy in redemption.
• We’ve been reminded that corporate worship is a place where we fellowship even in our suffering.
• We’ve been reminded that corporate worship is a physical manifestation of God’s favor.

Corporate worship is more than a command,
It is a blessing to us that we can participate in it.

And TONIGHT in this study we look to the 125th Psalm.

Having read the Psalm to open the sermon, we immediately are able to pick up on THE SETTING that must have inspired this particular song.

We find out for instance that
Currently the land was under what the Psalmist called (3) “the scepter of wickedness”

• A “scepter” is that ornate staff that was carried by a ruler.
• It was meant to be a symbol of sovereignty.

So “the scepter of wickedness” then is an indication that
The land currently languished under an evil ruler.

Israel certainly had plenty that would have grieved them.
• We think of Rehoboam whose arrogance split the kingdom.
• We think of Ahaz who actually imported an Assyrian pagan altar into Israel.
• We think of Manasseh and his idolatry and shedding of innocent blood.

Any of those kings could certainly be described in Jerusalem as
“the scepter of wickedness”

A time in which righteousness is discouraged and evil is rewarded.

We know from the book of Romans that the civil government does have a legitimate function and mandate from God.

Romans 13:4b “…for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”

The civil government is to be the sword of God
To bring swift and physical punishment on those who violate God’s Laws.

That is why God instituted them.
That is why they have authority.

And just like it is when anyone neglects their God-given role,
When the government abdicates that role
It brings hardship and suffering to those who are under them.

It was not a day in which the king ruled in righteousness,
But rather a day in which the king was wicked.

I’ll let you just go ahead and make the present day application as you will.

Certainly the church today understands the grief associated
With living in a land where wicked men and women are in power.

It is a grief to a nation and especially to the righteous.

But that is THE SETTING of Psalms 125.

In addition to that,
It is also clear that some (5) “turn aside to their crooked ways”

It is an added grief when you see the corrupting influence
That the wicked government seems to have.

• Through their wicked rule…
• Through their ability to reward evil and punish good…
• This wicked administration has even succeeded in pulling men and women into their wickedness.

They are producing deserters and apostates.

• How many in Judah began to participate in Baal worship because of Ahaz?
• How many in Judah offered their children to Molech because of Manasseh?

And again we understand the scene.

When wicked men come and threaten punishment to the righteous,
It is to our grief that many will fall away from the truth
And participate in what is evil merely to escape their hatred.

How many descent minded Germans stood by for Hitler?
How many even followed his orders out of fear of his repercussion?

TODAY we have an entire generation that is willing to actually embrace absolute folly just because they don’t want to be ostracized.

Romans 1:22 “Professing to be wise, they became fools,”

I am intrigued at times by these videos where people will street witness or go on college campuses and ask basic questions to students to sort of challenge their acceptance of the lunacy of our world.

I saw one recently where a man was witnessing on a beach
In what appeared to be California.

He would ask simple questions like:
• Is there a difference between a man and a woman?
• What would you say if I told you that “I am a woman”? (he was a man)
• What would you say if I told you that “I am a black woman”?

And you watch these people look at these white man and say, “Well, I’m not going to say otherwise. If that’s what you say, then you are entitled to that.”

Why would an otherwise intelligent person look at a white man and not be willing to say, “You are clearly not a black woman”?

It is because they have been intimidated into compliance.
They are afraid of the social repercussions of simply using their brain.
Satan must laugh hysterically as they admit to such nonsense.

And yet he is far too successful.
Jeremiah 5:30-31 “An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?”

And our Psalmist, like us, lived in such a culture.

The governing authorities were evil and their evil was influencing people
To fall away from the truth and to embrace wickedness.

We understand the grief and THE PRESSURES of such a day.

There is the temptation to adopt their wicked ideology.
• That temptation is real or else no one would do it and people across our land are doing it.

There is the fatigue of resisting it.
• It is exhausting to stand against and to debate with people who have yielded up the faculty of logic and common sense.
• There are no more rational discussions anymore, it’s all name calling and offense and tears…
• It’s exhausting to try and be a voice of truth in a culture that has abandoned truth.

There is certainly a concern for the future.
• The Psalmist must have wondered what was coming for Judah.

I would imagine that watching the nightly news
Produced great despair in our Psalmist.

And perhaps it threatened to overtake him…UNTIL
HE WENT TO CHURCH.

Arriving in Jerusalem, as you will see,
Completely changed his outlook and rekindled his hope.

Now, he’s not the only one who experienced such a rekindling of hope by going to church.

You’ll remember this one:
TURN TO: PSALMS 73

(READ 1-16)
• You see a similar despair there from Asaph.
• And he was totally broken by what he saw.

(READ 17-20)
• He entered God’s sanctuary and he was allowed to see the reality of what is
coming and his entire demeanor changed.

His hope was restored and his resolve was strengthened.

I will tell you from the outset here that
This is what we learn tonight from Psalms 125
As one of the blessings of simply going to church.

It is a time when we get to see that
Everything that appears to be reality in the world
Is not actually the reality at all.

• The world and the media would have you believe that EVERYONE is on board with gender confusion…
• The world and the media would have you believe that EVERYONE agrees with critical race theory…

• Perhaps the media in the Psalmists day had people believe that EVERYONE now thinks Baal worship is the way to go…

And if you stay isolated, the odds are good you might believe that.
But when you step into the sanctuary of God
And you attend the fellowship if the saints

It could be that you might learn that
What is portrayed as reality isn’t reality at all.

So let’s look at this 125th Psalm
And see how attending worship can rekindle our hope.
4 points tonight
#1 HIS EPIPHANY
Psalms 125:1-2

Here we find what it was that sort of strengthened our Psalmist’s resolve.
Oddly enough it was actually the landscape surrounding Jerusalem.

And yet God used that landscape to settle him and remind him.

When he traveled to Jerusalem and saw the mountains surrounding the city
His heart was immediately encouraged
As God used those mountains to remind him of what is true.

1) GOD’S PEOPLE ARE LIKE MOUNTAINS
2) GOD IS LIKE THE MOUNTAINS

(1) “Those who trust in the LORD Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.”

What happened here?

This man lived in a nation of wickedness where wickedness was on the rise and people were falling away left and right to join the evil.
• He must have felt like he was alone in the world.
• He must have felt like the last man standing.

But as he approached the city guess what he saw:
THE CITY WAS STILL THERE
AND PEOPLE WERE STILL WORSHIPING GOD.

He wasn’t alone.
Worship of God endured.
Truth endured.

It may indeed be a time of wickedness,
But the wickedness wasn’t as dominate
As perhaps he had been led to believe.

And the Psalmist immediately likened God’s people,
“Those who trust in the LORD”
To the mountains of Jerusalem.

The idea is that of steadfastness.
That “which cannot be moved but abides forever.”

Mountains are pictures of strength and endurance.
There is a steadfastness about them.
And the Psalmist said, that is also true of God’s people.

No matter how evil and wicked this world gets, God’s people remain.
THERE IS ALWAYS A REMNANT!

We remember the book of Isaiah
• How he preached to people who were blind and deaf and hard-hearted.
• We remember how he was to preach until basically everyone was dead and judged.

However:
Isaiah 6:11-13 “Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate, “The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. “Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be subject to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.”

God would leave a remnant.

We remember Elijah
• His despair as he saw a land overrun by Ahab and Jezebel.
• It was a time when Baal worship was out of control
• The prophets of God had been slaughtered.

Elijah ran to the mountain of God and moaned that he was all alone in the world.

1 Kings 19:14-18 “Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” The LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. “It shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. “Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Elijah was not alone, it only felt that way.
God’s people endured.
God always has a remnant.

Paul rested upon that story for encouragement in his day.
Romans 11:2-5 “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.” But what is the divine response to him? “I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.” In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.”

God’s people are like mountains, they endure!

We think of all the hard times which have plagued the church throughout history and yet here she is.

• The Jews tried extremely hard to eradicate the church and were unsuccessful.
• Catholicism and people like Bloody Mary tried to eradicate the church and failed.
• Islam has tried…

There may be days of wickedness
But the church endures forever.

And when our Psalmist attended this time of corporate worship
HE WAS REMINDED OF THAT.

God’s people “Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.”

Matthew 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

Romans 8:36-37 “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.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”

2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”

“The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord, to defend,
to guide, sustain, and cherish,
is with her to the end;
tho’ there be those that hate her
and false sons in her pale,
against the foe or traitor
she ever shall prevail.”

https://www.godtube.com/popular-hymns/the-church-s-one-foundation/

Do you understand that encouragement?
• How great is it to pull up to church and just see other cars in the parking lot?
• How great is it to hear the congregation sing beside you?
• How great is it to hear the “Amen” across the room?

“I’m not alone!”
• I’m not the only one who thinks the wisdom of this world is foolishness!
• I’m not the only who stands for truth and righteousness!

How encouraging to know that the church has not been overrun!
She stands strong!

“Those who trust in the LORD Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.”

But that’s not all God showed our Psalmist.
He also saw the reason the church is like a mountain.

The church is like a mountain because GOD IS LIKE THE MOUNTAINS

(2) “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the LORD surrounds His people From this time forth and forever.”

The church endures because God wills for her to endure.
She is protected.

She resides behind that hedge or bubble we spoke of this morning.
Though the world would love to eradicate us, they will never succeed.

We remember that WARNING that was given by Gamaliel to the Sanhedrin who wanted nothing more than to squash the early church.

Acts 5:35-39 “And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. “For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. “After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. “So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”

It is because God protects His people.
The church exists because God wills for her to exist.

What great encouragement our Psalmist experienced
Simply by seeing the Jerusalem endures!

• Had he stayed home…
• Had he neglected the journey…

He would have been left with nothing but the world’s propaganda
Which told him he was all alone and all the world believes as they do.

BUT THAT WASN’T TRUE.
And simply seeing the city and the worship which occurred there
Lifted his spirits and rekindled his hope.

What a blessing!
• Go to church.
• Assemble with the saints.
• Have your hope rekindled simply in seeing that God’s people endure!

His Epiphany
#2 HIS ENLIGHTENMENT
Psalms 125:3

Because the church endured…
Because God willed for it to be so…

Now the Psalmist was also keenly aware of something else.

“For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous, So that the righteous will not put forth their hands to do wrong.”

The “scepter of wickedness” might invade for a time,
But it will never find “rest upon the land of the righteous”

And don’t you love that the land is called “the land of the righteous”!
It belongs to them!

Jesus said:
Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.”

The righteous are not the invaders here, the wicked are.
And though the wicked might invade, they never get to rest.
They don’t get to stay forever.

The Psalmist was reminded of that.

Wicked scepters come, but they also go!

Isaiah 40:21-24 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.”

They are not the church.
They have no staying power.

Psalms 49:20 “Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.”

Psalms 73:18-20 “Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.”

God will not let the wicked endure.

I’ve been contacted several times over the past few months
From a pastor in Tanzania who wants some help learning.

I’ve been corresponding with him some back and forth.

He emailed me 2 weeks ago frustrated because the number of Mosques continue to grow in his area but church buildings do not.

He sees the scepter or wickedness on the rise.

But I reminded him of what the Psalmist sees here.
• They may enter…
• They may build…
• But they will not get to stay!

Revelation 11:15 “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

Psalms 2 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’ ” Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. 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!”

Our Psalmist realized that here too.

AND THERE IS A REASON
Why God won’t let those squatters rest in the land.
(3b) “So that the righteous will not put forth their hands to do wrong.”

Paul reminded that God will “not let you be tempted beyond what you are able”.

And this is also a reason why
The wicked don’t get the land indefinitely.

Even in the tribulation we read:
Matthew 24:21-22 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”

God protects His own.
He has determined that the church shall endure,
And therefore He has determined that the wicked will not.

What encouragement our Psalmist received by attending Jerusalem!
It is the rekindled hope which is received from corporate worship.

He was encouraged!

His Epiphany, His Enlightenment
#3 HIS ENTREATY
Psalms 125:4

Do you see his excitement?

He knows what is coming, but in anticipation he can hardly wait!
He wants it now!

“Do good, O LORD, to those who are good And to those who are upright in their hearts.”

His encouragement spills over into a prayer request.

It is the excitement of John upon receiving the Revelation and seeing the sure and ultimate victory of Christ.

Revelation 22:20 “He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

It is even what our Lord taught us to pray:
Matthew 6:10-13 “‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’”

A man who is defeated might give up on prayer altogether.

Jesus taught us through that widow and the unrighteous judge that we “ought to pray at all times and not lose heart”.

Well how encouraged now is our Psalmist’s prayer life
When his hope is restored and he remembers again
That one day the wicked will be removed!

THIS IS HOPE REALIZED.
I am a firm believer that corporate worship strengthens hope
And hope strengthens one’s prayer life.

He knows that God is for His people and he easily prays that
God will carry them and do them good.

#4 HIS EXPECTATION
Psalms 125:5

The Psalmist ends with a chant of victory.
• For all those who caved to the social pressures…
• For the woke mob who chose social acceptance…
• For those who abandoned for the sake of comfort…

“But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, The LORD will lead them away with the doers of iniquity.”

Some day God will not only rid our land of its evil influence
But also of all those who fell prey to it.

God will totally purify our land…
God will totally remove the wicked from it.

It doesn’t matter if they pretended righteousness.
It doesn’t matter if they tried to play both sides of the fence.

SOME DAY THE WICKED MUST LEAVE.

Matthew 7:23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Matthew 13:40-43 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

One day they area all being plucked
And the earth will be restored to the glory which God intended.

Isaiah 66:22-24 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, “So your offspring and your name will endure. “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD. “Then they will go forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched; And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”

In short, it won’t always be this way!
• God’s church endures.
• God makes sure she endures.
• The wicked don’t get to stay.
• God will remove them.

And in that final day: “Peace be upon Israel”

You can see the encouragement of our Psalmist.
It is his new anticipation
Now that he has joined the fellowship of the saints.

Imagine the despair if he had stayed home.
The news is so depressing.

Psalms 73:17 “Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end.”

And not only their end, but our endurance.
It is a blessing to gather with the saints
And be reminded of the victory we enjoy through Christ.

Download Here:

Addressing The Issue of College Apostasy
2 Corinthians 5:20 – 6:2
May 15, 2022

This morning we are going to do something a little bit different.
We’re going to look at a text, but the majority of what we’re going to talk about this morning is of A TOPICAL NATURE.

I’ve had this topic on my mind for quite some time, in fact I had initially thought it might be a theme for a future Disciple Now, but since we recently completed a segment in 1 John and since today is our senior recognition day, today seemed like that day.

The issue we’re going to talk about is what I’m calling:
“The Issue of College Apostasy”

APOSTASY of course is a falling away from the faith.

It is the issue that has grieved and burdened
Countless parents and church members for years.

You take a child who is raised in church and who is active
And then they go off to college and they abandon the faith.

Lifeway has tracked these types of statistics for years and for the past decade the number has rested somewhere between 66 and 70 percent.

That alone is a staggering number.
If that number holds in our church, then of the 7 youth we are celebrating today
That would mean that 5 of them would drop out after they leave here.

We certainly hope that is not the case,
But tragically it is the case in churches all across America.

I want to address that this morning, especially with you seniors and even with those of you who will graduate in the next few years.

This is hardly a new statistic, it’s been discussed for years.
Most of the time THE BLAME for this staggering statistic has been pointed at the church and probably even more specifically, at the youth ministry.

The George Barna group recently posted an article entitled “Six Reasons Young Christians Leave The Church”

Reason #1 – Churches seem overprotective.
• Namely the church painted everything outside as “taboo” and the teen’s own curiosity leads them to try what was previously forbidden.

Reason #2 – Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow.
• Church is boring, they didn’t feel God enough.

Reason #3 – Churches come across as antagonistic to science.
• When they enter a secular atmosphere where science is used to attack Christianity they feel they have to choose one or the other and end up leaving.

Reason #4 – Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.
• Partly it is the issue of sexually active teens who are now feel judged and partly because the church’s views are anti-cultural.

Reason #5 – They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.
• The church isn’t tolerant enough and teenagers don’t want to choose between their faith and their friends.

Reason #6 – The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.
• They don’t feel allowed to question their beliefs or the church doesn’t have sufficient answers for their doubt.

https://biologos.org/articles/six-reasons-young-christians-leave-church/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw4PKTBhD8ARIsAHChzRIgaP3H-nNeDfVFkpCazi_CuAKvfqnEfdpQ-qQnvWGHto0hO978gNMaArKhEALw_wcB

And so typically the reason why teenagers leave the church
Is stemmed from some failure of the church
To do church the right way.

(The one I always heard is that we don’t do a good job of discipling)

Now, I IN NO WAY would say that any church (including ours)
Is a perfect example of what the church should be all the time.

Every church has ways in which we can improve
To be better suited for the work of Christ, and we are no different.

However, it shows an extreme lack of spiritual discernment
To not realize what is really happening.

IN FACT, as we have been studying 1 John recently, I believe John has already clearly and emphatically answered the question.

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

John was clear that believers don’t leave the church.
Those who do fall away do so because they “are not of us”

Now, that DOESN’T MEAN that every kid that goes off to college and temporarily gets out of the habit of church attendance is lost.

The writer of Hebrews is clear that sometimes even genuine believers fall out of habit and need to return.

But for those who totally lose their faith and turn from the Lord,
The problem is not that the church in someway failed,
But rather that their faith was not genuine.

Now perhaps the church was too quick to declare them “saved”
But still the problem is a lack of genuine redemption,
Not some failure of church style.

And this is what I want to address with you seniors this morning,
And even you other teenagers who are not far behind them.

We’re going to bounce around a little, but I want you to understand the reality of this world and what awaits.

#1 THE DANGER

I want to remind you of something that is often forgotten.

In fact, it is ASTOUNDING to me that someone could research why teenagers leave the church and yet no one put this on the list.

1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS DIDN’T MAKE THE LIST.

But here is the reality.
• There is a spiritual enemy of your soul.
• There is one who is on the loose who is looking to attack.

Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

LISTEN TO ME VERY CAREFULLY GUYS.
There is a very active and eager enemy in this world who comes
“only to steal, kill, and destroy.”

He is the chief adversary of your soul.
• He is the DRIVING FORCE behind every agnostic professor…
• He is the DRIVING FORCE behind every sexual temptation…
• He is the DRIVING FORCE behind every woke cultural deception…

Satan is “the god of this world” and make no mistake,
He has set his eyes on toppling you!

Not necessarily in a physical or even financial way.
But of utmost priority his objective is TO WRECK YOUR SOUL.

He is warring to destroy your faith
And to lead you into unbelief, sin, and absolute ruin.

I want you to be aware of that.

But there’s a second thing I want you to know about.
#2 THE BUBBLE

Perhaps you’d call it “the shield” or “the hedge” or whatever.

But I want you to be aware of is that God has
A protective bubble that He places upon His children.

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!”

Psalms 5:12 “For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield.”

Psalms 32:7 “You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.”

Psalms 32:10 “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.”

Psalms 9:9 “The LORD also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble;”

Psalms 31:20 “You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.”

So while there is an enemy who rages and seeks to devour,
There is also a shield from God over His children.

This bubble DOES NOT keep them from being persecuted or hated,
But IT DOES keep them from falling away from the faith.

John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

John 6:39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”

SO while the enemy would seek to pull God’s children away from Him,
There is a protective refuge which God places over His own
To keep them from falling away.

This is easily seen in the story of Job.
Job 1:6-10 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”

There you have that lion prowling seeking someone to devour.
And when God mentions Job, notice what Satan said:

“Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side?”

So you think Satan hadn’t tried to get to Job?
• He’d tried to get Job…
• He’d tried to get to his house…
• He’d tried to get to his possessions…
• He’d tried from every side…

WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?
Satan couldn’t get to Job because God had protected him.
Job was in the bubble, he was in the hedge.

God has a protective bubble or hedge or hiding place or refuge
That He places over those who are His own
And they are protected from the evil one.

NOW LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY TO THIS

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN EVEN NON-BELIEVERS
ENJOY THE BENEFIT OF GOD’S BUBBLE.

There are people, who do not know the Lord; who are not saved,
Yet, who do enjoy the safety and protection
Of living inside of God’s bubble or hedge.

Let me show you:
1 Corinthians 7:12-14 “But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.”

I know this is about marriage, but listen to what is being said here.
• Here we have a marriage where one of the spouses is a non-believer.
• It is either a non-believing husband or a non-believing wife married to a believer.

And the question is: Should I divorce them and send them away?

Paul says, “No”

WHY?
“For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband…”

“sanctified” means “set-apart”

What Paul is saying is this.
• If that non-believer wants to stay, let them stay.
• They are “sanctified” or “set-apart” or in the bubble because of you!

God doesn’t have them in a bubble, He has you in a bubble,
But because of you they get to live under that same protection.

In Job’s day it would be Job’s wife who enjoyed all the blessings of living in the hedge that God had placed around Job.

Let me show you some MORE EXAMPLES of this:

Remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah?
• God determined to destroy Sodom because of their great sin.
• But God first sent to pull Lot out who the Bible says was a righteous man.
• But I want you to notice what the angel says to Lot.

Genesis 19:15-22 “When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.” But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! “Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved.” He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar.”

Did you catch that?
“I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”

God would not destroy Sodom so long as Lot was there.
Why? Because Lot was His child.

Sodom was actually protected from judgment
So long as Lot was in their midst.

There again you see non-believers who are allowed to live inside the bubble that God has placed around one of His children.

Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares?
Mathew 13:24-30 “Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Later Jesus explained that parable:
Matthew 13:36-43 “Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

You see the same principle.
You have tares, who do not know God, and who are not His children,
Yet they enjoy protection only because
God is not willing to destroy any of His wheat.

So it’s NOT that the tares are protected,
But they are living inside the bubble of protection
Which God has afforded to the wheat.

This is why the ultimate penalty of CHURCH DISCIPLINE is to remove the sinner outside of the bubble.

Remember the church at Corinth who had that “so-called” brother who was sleeping with his father’s wife.
1 Corinthians 5:1-5 “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

What did Paul say to do to that man?
“deliver such a one to Satan”

What does that mean?
• Kick him out of the bubble.
• Send him outside of the hedge.

That man is protected so long as he is in your midst,
You need to remove him so that he will be chastised by the enemy.

So are you following the point that I am making here?
• We have a protective bubble which God has placed over His children.
• This keeps them from the evil one.
• And at times even non-believers benefit from that bubble.

At times even those who do not know the Lord are protected
Simply because they live in that bubble.

SO WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH COLLEGE APOSTASY?

Let me tell you what is about to happen in your life.

Everyone of you is about to leave your home.
I think probably most of you are about to leave this church.

YOU HAVE BEEN IN A BUBBLE HERE.

If you have believing parents, you have benefited from God’s protection over their home.

If you have been a part of this church, you have benefited from God’s protection over this church.

Namely there has been a hedge around you that kept Satan at a distance.

But WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN to high school seniors across our nation?
They’re about to leave the bubble.

Does that mean that they are about to be unprotected?
Yes, UNLESS they have their own bubble.

THIS IS THE EXPLANATION
For why so many teenagers go off to college and fall away.

It is because they have spent the first 18 years of their lives
Under the protection that God has afforded their home,
And they have been relatively sheltered from the attacks of the enemy.

But they are ABOUT TO LEAVE THAT BUBBLE; leave that hedge; leave that home and go out into the world.

And once they leave the hedge…
“Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour…”

And the lion wastes no time pouncing on his prey.

And we see the devastating effects year after year
• Of teenagers who grew up in the church,
• But who did not know Christ
• And they find out very quickly that they are no match for the enemy.

They end up doing things people thought they would never do.
They end up abandoning the church and people are shocked.

WHY?
It’s because on their own they are no match for the enemy.
On their own they are no match for the lion.

• The god of this world spews his godless doctrine at them…
• The god of this world hits them with his foolish logic…
• The god of this world showers them with temptation…
• And they have no power to overcome him.

And they stumble and fall because for the first time in their lives
They faced him without the hedge in between them.

And if the statistics hold true
That is happening to 7 out of 10 teenagers in the church.

SO THE QUESTION ON YOUR MIND SHOULD BE:

How do I become one of those 3 who remains?

Well this morning LET’S CONCLUDE YOUR YOUTH TRAINING.

For the past 7 years that you’ve been in youth
We have bombarded you with 2 words.

We’ve talked about it over and over and over.
Those two words are, “in Him”

• We have told you repeatedly that the only way to be justified is to be “in
Christ Jesus”
• We have told you repeatedly that the only way to be saved is to be “in Christ
Jesus”

And now let me tell you that
The only way to be protected from the evil one is if you are “in Him”

UP UNTIL NOW,
• You could come to church or youth, hear the gospel and reject Christ
• You could ignore the call and still live somewhat protected
• Because while you may have rejected Christ you were still safe because your dad is “in Him” or your mom is “in Him”
• They are shielded and you have been living inside their hedge.

BUT THAT TIME IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE.
You are about to leave their bubble.

This morning I want to ask you if you have a hedge of your own?
Jesus Christ is our bubble.
Jesus Christ is our hedge.

Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 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.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 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.”

And I remind you that this promise is NOT UNIVERSAL to all people.
There are plenty who abide under the wrath of God
And who are fair game for the enemy.

That promise of protection.
That promise of victory.
Is only for those who are in Christ Jesus.

He is our hiding place.
He is our refuge.
He is our hedge and our bubble.

And when you leave your home and this church
And you go out into the world,
If you do not go in Christ Jesus,
You will not survive the attack of the evil one.

• He will deceive you…
• He will lead you into sin…
• He will pull you away from the truth…
• He will lure you into that which is designed to destroy your soul…

I CAN’T STRESS TO YOU ENOUGH

You must yield your life to Christ.
You must believe in Christ
You must trust Christ

The time is soon approaching when
You will no longer be trading on the faith of your parents.

You are about to go into this world on your own.

AND AS THE STATISTICS SEEM TO BEAR OUT,
Far too many go out unprepared to face the lion that is hunting them.

YOU NEED THE SEAL OF CHRIST.

Revelation 7:1-3 “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”

Revelation 9:1-4 “Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”

Do you see it again?
You don’t want to face the enemy without God’s protection.

SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US THIS MORNING?

It leaves you with the responsibility to trust Christ.

Remember the book of Acts
• Peter preached to the Jews who had just rejected Jesus.
• Peter revealed to them how much danger they were in for rejecting Christ.

Acts 2:37-40 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”

Are you listening?

Before you face the god of this world, what should you do?
“Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

DO YOU SEE THAT?

AND INCIDENTALLY PARENTS
• This is the goal of raising kids, to lead them to Christ.
• If kids have already strayed, the goal is to lead them to Christ.

SENIORS
• I know this is supposed to be celebratory time in your life.
• I realize there is tremendous pressure for me just to tell you to shoot for the moon and hopefully land among the stars.
• I know the expectation is that I will just sit here and tell you all that you will do great things in life.

But wouldn’t Satan love it
If we decided to party instead of getting prepared.

You must be saved from this perverse generation.

• I realize you’ve all been GOOD KIDS.
• I realize you’ve all been taught GOOD MORALS.
• I realize you’ve all got a handle on ETHICS and right and wrong.

And yet we’ve seen plenty of good kids go to college
And come back supporting abortion and gay marriage
And sexual immorality and plenty other ideas of godlessness.

I see the videos on social media where college students are interviewed and can’t even answer the question regarding what is the difference between a man and a woman?

I promise you they knew the answer 5 years ago in high school.
You all know the answer this morning.

WHAT HAPPENED?

The went into this world and Satan attacked them
With his perverse and backward logic
And without Christ they were not match for him.

Listen to me teenager, THIS IS NOT A GAME.
• You need Christ!
• You personally need Him!
• You cannot trade any longer on the faith of your parents.
• You must hide in Christ!
• You must rest in Him!

And this morning I’m putting that directly to you.

• Have you given your life to Christ or just ignored the issue?
• Maybe you made a decision in the past, but that’s not what I’m
asking.

I’m asking if you belong to Christ today?
I’M ASKING IF CHRIST IS IN YOU TODAY?
Are you His?
Are you serving Him?
Do you love Him?

Are you a child of God?
Do you have your own bubble?

If not, then this morning, I beg you to be reconciled to God.

I beg you not to go off to college without a relationship with Jesus,
You won’t make it.

So let me come back to that text we opened with.
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain— for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”

I am begging you to be reconciled to God.
• Christ was treated as though He lived your life so that you might be forgiven.
• I am begging you to trust in Him
• So that you might be treated as though you lived His life.

You must be in Him.

For the past 7 years God’s grace has been on you.
• He has allowed you to hear the gospel.
• He has offered you salvation over and over and over.
• It is an offer of grace.

And to that we say with Paul:
“we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain”

If you have neglected that offer, then neglect it no longer.
“now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”

Download Here:

Anticipating Worship: The Favor of God
Psalms 124
May 8, 2022

Tonight we return to Psalms and specifically this group of Psalms
That share the distinct subheading “A Song of Ascents”

Psalms 120-134
• They were not all written at the same time.
• They were not all written by the same author.
• But they were all arranged together and became the unofficial hymn book of the Israelites as they traveled to Jerusalem to worship.

We’ve already seen things like
• The lament of God’s people as they live in a world of liars.
• The contemplation of a dangerous journey and how God will safely deliver.
• The utter joy of entering the gates of the city.
• The fellowship of suffering that occurs among the saints.

LAST TIME the Psalmist entered the city and immediately delivered his most pressing request to God and that was for God to “be gracious”.

Namely for God to grant him relief from the contempt and scoffing
That he felt daily at the hands of those who are at ease.

Of course it wasn’t long before he realized that he was not alone in this suffering, but that it was characteristic of God’s people everywhere.

And so his song which began as a singular request for himself
Quickly turned into a corporate request for all of God’s people.

We realized that in corporate worship we enjoy the fellowship of suffering

• To be able to see that you are not alone in your suffering is encouraging.
• To be able to see how others have completed the suffering you are currently
in is encouraging.
• To be able to see that your suffering is the same that the prophets and
apostles experienced is encouraging.
• To be able to see how your suffering strengthens others is encouraging.

All of these are benefits of corporate worship.

WELL TONIGHT WE LOOK AT ANOTHER.
One might say that Psalms 124 is THE FLIP SIDE of Psalms 123.

Psalms 123 finds fellowship in suffering.
Psalms 124 finds fellowship in salvation.

• The Psalmist has anticipated going to Jerusalem
• The Psalmist has contemplated the journey
• The Psalmist has entered the city
• The Psalmist has lifted his request to God

NOW IT IS TIME TO SING!
“Let Israel now say”

And this is a marvelous reminder.
• As great as fellowship is…
• As great as it is to be in this safe-haven away from the vileness of the world…
• As great as it is to be with people who share common faith…

WE ARE NOT HERE MERELY FOR FELLOWSHIP.

WE COME TO WORSHIP.

Malachi 1:6 “‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’”

Psalms 105:2 “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders.”

We think of that conversation Jesus had with the Woman At The Well:
John 4:19-24 “The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Worship, worship, worship, worship
That is what we gather to do.

We come to contemplate the glories of God, for the height of our worship is directly PROPORTIONAL to the depth of our understanding.

We come to contemplate our own frailty and weakness, for the filth of our depravity ILLUMINES the beauty of God’s grace.

We come to contemplate what God has done for us…
AND WE RESPOND WITH WORSHIP!

In John 4 we are told to worship “in spirit and in truth”

“Spirit” – That is to say there ought to be some emotion involved.
• The inner man should be driven and motivated to see God glorified.

“Truth” – As opposed to hypocrisy.
• We are not here to put on a show for pretense.

This isn’t a talent show
This isn’t our time to shine
This is a time in which we come to give God what God desires.
We come to glorify Him.
We come to honor Him.

Psalms 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

There we see both words and meditation.

That is the equivalent of spirit and truth.
• If the meditation of the heart is not right then the words don’t matter.
• And if the meditation of the heart is right then the words can’t be restrained.

When Paul spoke of one who is filled with the Spirit he described them like this:
Ephesians 5:18-20 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;”

And so it is only fitting to read what the Psalmist says in
verse 1, “Let Israel now say,”

There are many things you might choose to ignore in this life.
There may be many events where you sit on the sidelines.
But worship should never be one of them.

• It takes no talent to worship God.
• It takes no experience to worship God.
• It takes only an awareness of what He has done and a heart which desires to honor Him for it.

The Psalmist has arrived and it is time for the worship to begin.

They open with a song.
And we ask, “What is the first song they sing?”

If we were charged with naming the song that the congregation sings
We might name it: “God is On Our Side”

It is certainly something that
Every single one of the redeemed should be able to agree on.

We are here…
We are among the redeemed…
AND FOR ONLY ONE REASON.
GOD IS ON OUR SIDE.

Into our mind pops that famous passage in the book of Romans:
Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

And I remind you again,
That this is NOT a universal reality.

Everyone in the world cannot say that God is on their side.
This is a special reality.

Romans 8:28-31 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

We are talking about those who are foreknown, predestined,
called, justified, and one day glorified.

And Paul took all of those realities,
Which are true in the life of every believer,
And said, “What then shall we say to these things?”

How in the world should we respond to such glorious truths as these?

And Paul says, we should say this: “If God is for us, who is against us?”

That is the content of this opening song as well.
“Had it not been the LORD who was on our side,” Let Israel now say, “Had it not been the LORD who was on our side…”

It is a song intended to cause God’s children to consider
What the absence of God’s favor
Would have looked like in their lives.

We know that God is for us.
He has proven that through redemption.
But have you ever considered your life if He weren’t?

It’s sort of like that old Christmas movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” where George Bailey gets the chance to look at life if he had never been born.

Well stop for a second and imagine your life if God was not for you.

That is what the Psalmist is asking the congregation to contemplate.

Furthermore,
Imagine if everyone had been on your side except the LORD.

As if to say:
Had it been anyone else (and not the LORD) who was on our side how might things have turned out?

If it had been anyone else…
If He had not been there…
Where would we be right now?

What is the song Leo likes to sing:
“Had it not been for a place called Mount Calvary,
Had it not been for the old rugged cross,
Had it not been for a man called Jesus,
Then forever my soul would be lost”

THAT IS THIS PSALM.

In this Psalm there are 4 truths which are considered.

As we said a moment ago, we contemplate our depravity and weakness and need for God and we contemplate who God is and what He has done.

And the more we understand the higher our worship.

Well let’s look together tonight at the 4 things this congregation considered
As they sought to be begin their worship.

#1 THE FURY OF THE ENEMY
Psalms 124:3b

We certainly will look at all the verses,
But FIRST just fix your gaze on the second line of verse 3.

“When their anger was kindled against us;”

The simple point to understand is that
Israel is called recognize the hatred they had at the hands of the world.

We remember that famous chapter of Ezekiel 16 where Israel is compared to a discarded baby.
Ezekiel 16:1-5 “Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. “As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. “No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.”

• Do we not remember the hatred of the Hebrews in the land of Egypt?
• Do we not remember Balak hiring Balaam to curse the Israelites?

There should be no notion in the minds of Israel
That they were loved by the world.
They were hated, they’ve always been hated.

And here they are told to contemplate
What enduring that hatred would be like
If God was not there to love them.

THINK ABOUT THAT.

We know we are promised hatred in the world.
• The world doesn’t appreciate our moral compass.
• The world doesn’t like our desire for what is right and true.
• We are hated, we are despised.

And no one is saying that this hatred is an easy thing or a pleasant thing, but we always enjoy the benefit even in our rejection of knowing that while the world is against us, at least God is for us.

Could you imagine if He didn’t?
Could you imagine if He was on their side instead of ours?

Contemplate for a moment the fury of the enemy.

Contemplate the fury of Satan,
• Whose only objective is steal, kill, and destroy.
• This one who only wants to enslave you.
• This one who seeks your destruction.

How do you face such fury if God is not on your side?
What if God was just indifferent to such hatred?

But that is not all they are called to contemplate.
#2 THE FIERCENESS OF THE ENEMY
Psalms 124:3-5

Now we see their relentless attack.

The end of verse 2 says, “When men rose up against us…”
Not “IF” men rose up.

And the Psalmist takes a moment to recount that onslaught
And just how ruthless and fierce the enemy was.
• “They would have swallowed us alive…”
• “The waters would have engulfed us…”
• “The stream would have swept over our soul;”
• “The raging waters would have swept over our soul.”

It’s a title wave.

One right after another.
• Relentless…
• Powerful…
• Deadly…

The enemy just pounded Israel and pounded Israel and pounded Israel.

Egyptians and Moabites and Ammonites and Philistines and Assyrians and Babylonians and Greeks and Romans and Germans and Russians and Palestinians…

And on and on and on and on.

It is a constant onslaught.
It is a constant attack.

They are filled with hate
And their objective is to absolutely steam roll Israel.

How was Israel going to deliver themselves from Egypt?
How was Israel going to defeat the Philistines?
How was Israel going to resist the Moabites?
How was Israel going to ever leave Babylon?

It was an enemy who hated them and who was incredibly fierce.

And then we consider a 3rd thing.
#3 THE FRAILTY WE DEMONSTRATE
Psalms 124:3-5

It is not expressly mentioned but it is implied.
• We were not match for our enemy.
• We could not stand up to the Goliath that mocked us.
• The Iron curtain of Egypt would forever enslave us.

We were hated and we could not deliver ourselves.
We were relentless attacked and there was nothing we could do about it.

Our enemy had walked right up to our front door
And demanded permission to take our lives.
And they had the power to do it.

NOW CONTEMPLATE THAT.

• The Satan who seeks only to kill you because he hates you.
• The relentless measure with which he will attack.
• And he wants you!

And you weren’t even able to put up a good fight.
He desired to cull you out of the herd and eat you for breakfast.

That roaring lion seeks whom he may devour
And he determines that will be you.

AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.

That is what the Psalmist wants Israel to sing.

Satan demanded for you and you had no power to resist.
You have to stop there for a moment and ponder that
Before you are ready for the next point.

You have to see that you were his prey.
And you had no more chance against him than a baby antelope in the wilderness has against the king of beasts.

CONSIDER THAT.

And then consider this 4th thing.
#4 THE FAVOR OF GOD
Psalms 124:6-8

“Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.”

Satan demanded permission to have you,
AND GOD SAID “NO!”

The enemy wanted to devour you and God refused.
• He intervened.
• He was for you.
• He showed you favor.

Our Sunday school class is studying Zechariah which is an incredibly encouraging Old Testament prophet.

Zechariah 8:7-8 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.’”

Zechariah 8:14-15 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and I have not relented, so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!”

The whole difference is found in God’s favor.

It is the one thing that sets us apart from the rest of the world.
GOD IS FOR US.

What was it that saw Abraham blessed? God was for him.
What was it that saw Isaac blessed? God was for him.
What about Jacob?
What about Moses?
What about David?

Do you see that none of those men
Had really anything going for them except God?

They would have all been chewed up and spit out by this world
If God had not maintained His favor toward them.

Right out of the gate Pharaoh would have killed Abram and stolen Sarai to be his own wife, but God said, “No”

Genesis 12:17 “But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”

Abimelech would have killed Abram and stolen Sarah as well, but God said, “No”

Genesis 20:3 “But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.”

Pharaoh would have destroyed Israel and the Red Sea would have gobbled them up, but God said, “No”

Exodus 14:27-28 “So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.”

Balak hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel, but God said, “No”

Numbers 23:11-12 “Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them!” He replied, “Must I not be careful to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

The King of Assyria would have destroyed Jerusalem, but God said, “No”

2 Kings 19:35-37 “Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home, and lived at Nineveh. It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.”

Haman would have annihilated the Jews in Babylon, but God said, “No”

Esther 7:10 “So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.”

You are getting the idea.

It was fury…
It was a fierce enemy…
It was a frail people…
Their end was all but certain, but God said, “NO!”

“Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.”

THE PSALMIST CONTINUES.
“Our soul escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper; the snare is broken and we have escaped.”

Such a picture!

We weren’t hated in hiding… We weren’t just on the run…

We had been caught.
• We were ensnared.
• We were enslaved.
• It was over!

And God broke the trap!
God released us from the snare!

And we return to the words of verse 1
“Had it not been the LORD who was on our side,”

If it had been anyone else other than God we would have been destroyed.
• We would have been swallowed alive.
• We would have been engulfed by the waters.
• We would have been swept over.
• We would have been torn by their teeth.

But God saw fit for us to escape!

And the song ends with A GREAT DECLARATION!
(8) “Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”

(our only help)
And what a mighty Helper!

• If it wasn’t for God…
• If He hadn’t been for us…
• We don’t even want to think about what might have happened!

And this is the opening song of the worship in Jerusalem.

All God’s people are called to congregate together
And in unison they are called to contemplate their fate apart from God
And then praise Him for being on their side!

“Blessed be the LORD” is what they are to sing!
He is for us and He has saved us.

And we certainly understand this.

Often in the Old Testament, the enemies of Israel are pictures of our great enemy which is sin.
• We think of Goliath as the sin which would kill us where it not for Jesus our
David who slays the giant and sets us free.

So when the Psalmist sings of their enemies
We think also of our pitiful condition.

Each of us was enslaved by sin and none of us could do a thing about it.

We all were forced to sing: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

And then we see that Jesus is on our side!
Jesus stopped sin in its tracks!

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.”

We talked about this a few weeks ago with the youth,
But do you see that we had an enemy we could not stop?

• That enemy was sin which results in death
• And it had us square in its jaws.
• Sure, we had the Law,
• But having the Law doesn’t help once you’ve been caught.

With the youth we likened it to being in African and having been given a field guide which says never run from a lion.
• Well, you see a lion, you run, and it pounces on you and is about to kill you.
• So you pull out your field manual where you read again, “Don’t run from the lion.”

A lot of good that does you now.
His fury is real…
He is certainly fierce…
And you are frail…

And then out of nowhere Jesus shows up.
He slides in between you and the lion and He kills the lion.

You are released from its grasp and set free.

And we would say, “Had it not been Jesus who was on our side,” Let the church now say, “Had it not been Jesus who was on our side when sin rose up against us. It would have swallowed us alive!”

But blessed be Jesus who has not given us to be torn by its teeth! Our soul escaped!

DO YOU SEE THAT?
God is for us!
Jesus is for us!

And this is the first song sung at the corporate worship.

WHY CORPORATELY?
Because we are not alone in redemption.

God didn’t redeem just a person, God has redeemed a people.

1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”

Here as we talk about the blessing of corporate worship
I’m NOT going to tell you anything here about your benefit.
Certainly they are many.

BUT LISTEN, IT IS UNFATHOMABLE TO ME
That anyone could escape the snare of the trapper
And then not feel compelled to join the other escapees
In thanking the one who saved them.

Luke 17:14-19 “When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

That is the sort of story that should be presented to any who claim to be believers but who do not feel the need to participate in corporate worship.

Are we to assume that some day in glory that only a few of the saints will actually show up to surround the throne of Jesus to praise Him for redemption?

Well it is today too.
• Do you not remember the fury of your enemy?
• Do you not remember how fierce he was?
• Do you not remember how helpless you were?
• Do you not remember your certain doom and judgment?

• And do you not remember that it was Christ who entered your battle and set you free?
• Do you not remember His deliverance of you?

How can you not now gather with the saints to worship Him
As He deserves and as He desires?

So now, as you anticipate corporate worship each week.

• We anticipate a place of sanctuary from a world of liars.
• We anticipate God bringing us safely to His kingdom.
• We anticipate the joy of arriving to a place of redemption.
• We anticipate the fellowship of the saints who know our struggles.

But we also anticipate that sacred moment when lift our voices in praise to God to acknowledge how weak we are and how great He is!

Download Here:

Obvious Christianity – Part 4
1 John 3:1-10
May 8, 2022

We’ve been studying this text now for 3 weeks
And this morning we want to bring it to a close.

What we’re talking about here is a sort of SPIRITUAL PATERNITY TEST.
We are identifying those who are children of God
And those who are children of the devil.

And as one might assume, the DIFFERENCES ARE OBVIOUS.
(10) “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”

And I realize just in reading that verse that
It has sort of a tendency to raise the hair on the back of your neck.

After all, if you go out into the world and call someone
“a child of the devil” it is BOUND TO OFFEND them.

In fact, it is common place today for people in the world to say just the opposite about humanity. They like to say, “We are all God’s children”

And one could even quote Paul’s sermon at Athens when he confronted those non-believers saying:
Acts 17:28 “for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’”

SO IT CAN GET A LITTLE CONFUSING.
WHICH IS IT?

Is everyone a child of God like Paul said,
Or are the unredeemed actually children of the devil?

And it is worth explaining a little this morning.

All of humanity is in one sense a child of God

Hopefully our students will remember this from our recent Disciple Now, but man was created back in Genesis in the image of God.
• Man was created to be the image bearer of God to creation.
• Man was to be the representative of God to creation.

But you are aware that man fell into sin.
• That divine image was marred.
• That divine image was distorted.
• Humanity fell into rebellion and transgression and sin and lawlessness.

The usurper (the evil stepdad) entered the garden and KIDNAPPED humanity.

The reality for mankind is this.
• We are all God’s children in the sense that we were made by God in His image.
• However, we are at the same time born children of the devil because of our rebellious and fallen nature.

We are born estranged from God.
We are born at enmity with God.

We are in need of restoration.
We need for that divine image to be restored in us.
We need to be delivered from our captivity to Satan.

So it may be offensive to the world to be called a child of the devil,
BUT IT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE.

They have been kidnapped by him
They are owned by him.
They are enslaved by him.

John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

It is only those who have placed their faith in Christ who have been redeemed and restored back to the position of children of God.

What John is doing in 1 John is helping us recognize
Whether or not that redemption has occurred.

• Have we been redeemed?
• Have we been adopted back into God’s family?
• Or do we still walk enslaved to the devil?

The issue of 1 John 3:1-10 is that of purity or practical righteousness.

AS JOHN SO CLEARLY POINTS OUT.
You recognize a child of God by righteous living
And you recognize a child of the devil by sinful living.

Now, what we’ve been talking about the last 3 weeks is
Why Christians live righteous lives.

Again, it is NOT why they “should” live righteous lives,
But why they “do” live righteous lives.

#1 THE HOPE PRODUCING LOVE OF GOD
1 John 3:1-3

• God loved us when we were unlovable.
• God redeemed us when we did not deserve it.

And God’s love transformed us to the point that
We become unrecognizable to the world.

In reality God’s love is transforming us into the image of Christ.
It is restoring that divine image that was marred at the fall.

And God’s love comes with the ultimate hope that
One day we will actually be like Christ.

THAT IS THE CHRISTIAN HOPE.

To which John said:
(3) “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

Those who have received that love and have that hope
Will naturally and instinctively seek out purity in their lives.

It is not what Christians should do, it is what they actually do.
God’s love produced hope which in turn produced righteous living.

You can tell a child of God by this mindset.

#2 THE SIN-CONQUERING WORK OF CHRIST
1 John 3:4-8

We discussed this last week with two basic questions.
1) What did Jesus come to do?
2) Did He do that in your life?

We found out that:
“He appeared in order to take away sins”
“the Song of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil”

Jesus came to break the yoke of Satan in your life.
• He came to destroy what Satan did to you all the way back in the garden.
• He came to set you free from that slavery.

And so the question is:
Has Jesus done that in your life?

For it is very simple: (6) “No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.”

(7b-8a) “the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil.”

Because Jesus takes away sin from those He redeems
We then know a redeemed person by their righteous living.

So thus far we’ve seen that Christians live righteous lives
Because of the work of the first two members of the Trinity.

God’s Love & Christ’s Work both produce righteous living in the Christian
To such a degree that their redemption is obvious.

THIS MORNING we look at the third reason Christians live righteous lives.

#3 THE LIFE-CHANGING PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
1 John 3:9

Here we have the third member of the Trinity.
It is the Holy Spirit and we see that He also is unified in His work
To produce righteous living in the life of those who have been redeemed.

In fact, John uses the exact same DIRECT LANGUAGE yet again.
• “No one who is born of God practices sin…”
• “he cannot sin…”

There’s no ambiguity in those statements.
They are clear and direct.

So let’s discuss it a little more this morning.
• I want to break this verse down into two points this morning.
• I want to talk about “The Event” and “The Effect”.

1) THE EVENT

John says “His seed abides in him” (or “you”)

The specific event John refers to is the birth or new birth of a Christian.
That event in which they are “born of God”

So what we need to discuss this morning is:
• WHAT IS THIS?
• And: HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

• What does it mean to be “born of God”?
• What does it mean to have God’s “seed abide” in you?
• AND how does that occur?

Well first let’s read a statement from John’s gospel.
John 1:11-13 “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

That is a pretty clear and thorough statement
On the reality of being “born of God”

WE LEARN SEVERAL THINGS
We find out that being born of God is NOT A UNIVERSAL REALITY for all men, but rather it is a privilege that is granted to a person by God.

Specifically this privilege is granted only to those who receive Jesus,
Or who “believe in His name”.

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God”

So it’s not a universal reality for all men.
• Not everyone is born of God.
• Not everyone is a child of God in this sense.

As we already stated, many in our world,
Though they were certainly created in the image of God,
Are in reality today children of the devil.

We also learn from this passage in John’s gospel something regarding
HOW ONE BECOMES A CHILD OF GOD.

John says they “were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

We understand birth.
• It is a common occurrence in our world.
• It is a natural occurrence that most are familiar with.

But John says become a child of God is NOT A NATURAL THING.

You don’t become a child of God by “blood”.
• In other words, it is not genetic.
• Just because your parents are Christians that does not automatically make you one.

We remember John the Baptist confronting the Pharisees.
Matthew 3:9 “and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”

You aren’t born a Christian.
It is “not of blood”

John said it is also not “of the will of the flesh”
• Which means it is not by human effort.

Becoming a child of God is not a status you earn
Through hard work and devotion.

• It is NOT a reward for years of going to church.
• It is NOT an achievement you obtain through religious effort.
• You DON’T graduate into becoming a child of God.

John said it is also not “of the will of man”
• Which means it is not up to you.

Sinners, who have offended God through their lawless rebellion
Don’t just get to wake up in the morning and decide,
“I think I’d like to be a child of God today.”

That would be like me going up to Tommy and saying, “I’ve decided I’m going to become your child today. Go ahead and put me in the will, and Zek (your new grandson) will be hitting you up for college tuition here in a couple of months.”

You don’t become a child of God because you want to.

IT’S NOT GENETIC…
IT’S NOT EARNED…
IT’S NOT UP TO YOU…

But a person becomes a child of God when they are “born…of God”

That is, when God, (according to His sovereign love),
Determines to adopt His enemy and make them His child.

The means of that adoption occurs through the redemption of Christ and when the rebel believes in Christ, God adopts them into His family.

And THE SIMPLE POINT I want you to grasp here is that
Being born of God is NOT something you do,
It is something God does for you.

This should make sense.
How many of you had any say at all regarding your physical birth?
• Did they give you month options?
• Did they ask if you’d like your birthday in the summer or fall?
• Did you get a say in who your parents would be?

Nope, that was all determined for you.
You were a RECIPIENT of birth, NOT a DETERMINER of it.

So it is with being born of God.

Let’s look at another passage:
TURN TO: JOHN 3

You are familiar with this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.
(READ 1-3)

You see here that Nicodemus comes at night
And he comes with a preconceived idea about Jesus.
• Namely that Jesus is “a teacher”
• And even a teacher “from God”

But Jesus blows his thinking out of the water when He says,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again
he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

• A teacher comes for the purpose of education and training.
• A teacher would come and tell you what needs to be done by you.
• A teacher comes to correct and direct and show you what to do.

Nicodemus was looking for a teacher.
(But being a child of God is not something you do, remember?)

Jesus corrected him,
• “You don’t need a teacher, you need a miracle!”
• You need to be re-born.
• You need to scrap all of this and start over.

The statement certainly puzzled Nicodemus.
(READ 4)

It didn’t make sense.
Such a birth is not possible for man to accomplish.

(That’s what we just said wasn’t it?
It’s not something you do, but something God does for you)

Jesus goes on to explain.
(READ 5-8)
• What does Jesus mean by this?
• What is He talking about?

Jesus is making a reference to an Old Testament promise.

Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

So first it was “born again”
Now it is “born of water and of the Spirit”

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 36:22

Know that at this point
• Israel had offended God and were now being judged by having been exiled to Babylon.
• God had given them the Law and they had failed to keep it.
• Their punishment was that they were kicked out of the land.

However
Ezekiel spoke of a day when God would forgive and restore them.
(READ 22-24)

Clearly God has a plan of restoration.

(READ 25-28)

Do you see what Jesus spoke of there?
“born of water and of the Spirit”

When Jesus tells Nicodemus he needs to be born again
Jesus is referring to this reality that Ezekiel spoke of.

“Nicodemus you don’t need to be instructed better, you need for God’s Spirit to move into your life and change you from the inside out.”

And look at what Ezekiel said.
What is the CHIEF THING that God’s Spirit will do your life?

(27) “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes…”

God’s Spirit will cause obedience.

This is what we call the New Covenant.
Jeremiah spoke of it as well.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

You see it there as well don’t you?
God said, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it…”

What is that?
• That is the Holy Spirit moving in.
• That is being born again.
• That is being born of God.

It is something God does in your life.
• You aren’t born that way…
• You don’t do it through your efforts…
• You don’t obtain it by your will…

God does it out of love and through the work of Jesus,
And by sending the Holy Spirit into your life.

He changes you from the inside out.
He washes you and causes you to be obedient through the Spirit.

When we ask: HOW IS ONE BORN OF GOD?
That is how.

• God set His love on you.
• Christ came and removed your sin.
• The Holy Spirit moved in and changed your life.

But we also asked: WHY IS ONE BORN OF GOD?
Why does this happen?

I mean, let’s think about it.
We already know that through Jesus we are justified.

That is to say that His righteousness was credited to us,
We are declared forgiven, and there is no condemnation for us.

In that sense, we have been saved.
We are headed to heaven.
We are forgiven.

But God didn’t stop there.
It didn’t end with the empty tomb or even the ascension.

There was another monumental event that occurred after the cross,
After the resurrection, even after the ascension.

The Holy Spirit was sent to us at Pentecost.

Peter explained it like this:
Acts 2:33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.”

And here’s something to ponder:
• If Christ finished it on the cross and purchased our redemption…
• If Christ sealed our salvation by conquering death and rising from the dead…
• If Christ ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father to intercede…

All of those things speak to the completion of salvation.

Then why did God send the Holy Spirit?
Why did God orchestrate the new birth?

This should be obvious, and from John’s perspective it is.

The Holy Spirit was sent to produce righteousness in us.

He was sent to wash us…
He was sent to cause us to obey…
He was sent to make us new…

I asked you a couple of weeks ago, but it is so clear.
• If I told you that God put a public speaking spirit in you, what would you expect to be able to do?
• If I told you that God put a cooking spirit withing you, what would you expect that to do to your life?

And so, if I tell you that God put the Holy Spirit within you,
What sort of effect would you expect that to have?

So we saw THE EVENT.
God caused us to be His children by redeeming us and placing His Spirit within us.

That is the event
2) THE EFFECT

We see that word “because” jump out at us twice.

“No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

• What is the effect of being born of God?
• What is the effect of having God’s seed or God’s Spirit abide in you?

HOLINESS
• “No one who is born of God practices sin”
• “he cannot sin”

WHY?
• “because His seed abides in him”
• “because he is born of God”

When the new birth occurs, which is God’s Spirit moving in causing obedience, the slavery to sin is removed.

That person is now changed.
That person is now transformed.

God places a new Spirit; the Holy Spirit; into the believer
Which has a profound effect on their life.

The most often quoted verse here is:
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

And this is because of the new birth
In which God’s Spirit moved in and changed you.

John says, “No one who is born of God practices sin”

That is to say,
• Their entire disposition regarding sin has changed.
• They no longer desire to live in it.
• They no longer desire to practice it.

Romans 8:12-17 “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

When the Spirit of God moves in, He changes the persons desires.
1. They receive a love for God which causes them to call Him “Abba! Father!”
2. They are “being led by the Spirit” which indicates that they now live by His desires not their old ones.
3. And “they are putting to death the deeds of the flesh”

That is the effect God’s Spirit has on their own will.
That is the effect God’s Spirit has on their own desires.
When He moves in, He changes the heart; He changes the will.

The new believer no longer wants sin.
The new believer no longer desires sin.
In fact, they hate it in their life.

Galatians 4:6-7 “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”

He changes your entire disposition.
• God’s Law is written on the heart…
• The heart of stone is replaced with a heart of flesh…
• Enmity with God is replaced with love for God…
• Hatred of God’s Law is replaced with love for God’s Law…

You didn’t do it, the Spirit did it in you.
But it changes you.
And God’s Spirit causes a person to no longer want to practice sin.

In fact, John says, “he cannot sin”

And again, it is a mistake to assume John is saying that Christians never sin at all.
Clearly they do and they confess it according to 1 John 1:9

No, what John is saying here is that
Not only does the Spirit change your attitude toward sin,
But He also is actively at work to keep you from sinning.

The Spirit of God WILL NOT ALLOW one of His to remain in sin.

TURN TO: GALATIANS 5:16

(READ 16-17)

Paul says that if you follow the Spirit, you will not follow the flesh.
It won’t happen.

WHY?
(17) “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

The flesh and the Spirit are polar opposites and sworn enemies.

And it is the Spirit who is “against the flesh”.
“So that you may not do the things that you please.”

You are all familiar with that Romans 7 passage
Where Paul lamented not being able to conquer the flesh.

Remember: “For what I am doing I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”

• There you had Paul fighting the flesh with the flesh and he was losing.
• He even later begs to be set free, which Jesus did.
• And then Jesus gave His Spirit.

Galatians 5 is the follow up to that scenario.
After we are saved God then places His Spirit into the believer
And the Spirit fights the flesh.

When Paul says, “so that you may not do the things that you please”
He means is that “so that you won’t do the things that please the flesh”

You’re not alone in that battle anymore.
HE JOINS THE FIGHT!

The Holy Spirit won’t let you stay in sin.

I always liked the statement of Adrian Rogers who said, “God doesn’t make it where a Christian cannot sin. He makes it where a Christian cannot sin and enjoy it.”

That is true!
• He places misery with it!
• He places mourning with it!

The Holy Spirit will make you miserable when you try to live in sin.
Indeed, a believer cannot do it long.

And that is what John is saying here.
“he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

Because of the presence of God’s Spirit,
A believer cannot stay in a lifelong pattern of sin.

That is the 3rd reason Christians live pure lives.
1. They have been given hope through the love of God that produces a desire for purity.
2. They have been set free through the work of Christ that results in Christ cleansing and sanctifying.
3. They have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit who will not let them stay in sin.

And then John SUMS UP the entire segment with this pointed verse.
(10) “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”

“By this…are obvious”
John extinguishes all debate here.

If there is no righteousness or if there is no brotherly love
THERE IS NO SALVATION.

And so upon completion of this text
We really have to do a moment of SELF-EVALUATION.

This text should either give GREAT ASSURANCE or GREAT ANGUISH

This text will either AFFIRM YOU as a child of God
Or EXPOSE YOU as a child of the devil.

And whatever you learn,
The response should then become obvious as well.

If you are a child of God then praise God for such blessed assurance.
• Praise Him for loving you with such a great love.
• Praise Christ for removing your sin and destroying Satan’s grip on you.
• Praise the Holy Spirit for changing your heart and for fighting against your flesh.

God is saving you from sin and He should be praised for that.

If you are a child of the devil then it is time to repent.
• It is time to receive Christ and believe in His name.
• It is time to humble yourself about your sin and lawlessness.
• It is time to cry out for mercy and plead for redemption.

And the good news is that if you are motivated to do any of those things, it is evidence that God is already at work in you.

• For you wouldn’t even see your sin if it weren’t for Him.
• And you wouldn’t be aware of the coming judgment if it weren’t for Him.
• And you wouldn’t even be motivated to cry out to Christ if it weren’t for Him.

Even being exposed is a mercy of God
And if He has done that to you, respond to Him!

Cry out and believe in Christ.
Confess Him as Lord and trust Him with your life.
DON’T IGNORE WHAT IS OBVIOUS.