Gather a group of preachers together anywhere at any time and you will hear a conversation like this one:  “hey man, how’s your church going?”  “Oh, it would be just wonderful if it wasn’t for the church people?”  Jerry Vines who is one of our finest expositors of the Word of God said recently that during his years at First Baptist Jacksonville that he wrote out his resignation almost one hundred times on Monday mornings because of church people.  He would pray and prepare all week, stand and preach with power and passion only to stand at the door and hear complaints about everything from the temperature in the sanctuary to the length of the sermon to the quality of the music.  And then do the same thing over on Sunday night.  Church people.   Someone once asked the wonderful and godly Warren Wiersbe if he ever took Monday as his day off, and Wiersbe’s reply was, “no man; why would I take a day off when I feel that bad. Preach my heart out on Sunday and people are paying more attention to getting home for kick‐off than they are their response to the Word of God.”  Church People.

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1 Thessalonians 2:1-9 [2:1]For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. [2]But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. [3]For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, [4]but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. [5]For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed--God is witness. [6]Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. [7]But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. [8]So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. [9]For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. (ESV)

Jesus gave His church a mission and a mandate. The mission is to gather in His Name and by His Spirit under the authority of His Word for the glory of God to worship and to go in His Name and by His Spirit under the authority of His word into the world with the Gospel. We are to go with the Gospel to every ethnic group and among them we are to declare the glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus. That is our mission. The mandate is that we are to make disciples. That means that we are to declare the Gospel to all and for all who believe we are to baptize them and to teach them the truth of God as revealed in His Word of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Here is the mission and the mandate of every church and any church over which Jesus is Lord the absence of which makes us something other than a church. Developing disciples begins with declaring the Gospel so that the church that belongs to Jesus consists of persons who gather devotedly to worship God in those times designated by the Word of God and the church and from worship we go devotedly and daily to deliver the Gospel to the world. This is the sole purpose for which we were saved by the grace of God and left here for however long so that we might useful to God in the manifestation of the Gospel to the world and in His work of making disciples.

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1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 [2:1]For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. [2]But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. [3]For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, [4]but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. [5]For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed--God is witness. [6]Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. [7]But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. [8]So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. (ESV)

One phrase found three times forms a focus for this second chapter of 1 Thessalonians. The phrase is found in verses 2, 8 and 9: The gospel of God. Although the Bible uses other phrases to describe and define the Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the eternal and everlasting Gospel, the Gospel of our salvation and others; this phrase embodies for us the essence of the Gospel. It is the Gospel of God. The phrase is written in such a way that it is clear that God is the source of the Gospel and that He is the sovereign over the Gospel. It is His Gospel and it comes from Him from eternity past. It was not created along the way in response to the choices and circumstances of human beings in the world; this is the Gospel of God that was in place before a word was ever spoken to bring the world into being. The phrase is written in such a way that it is clear that God is the substance of the Gospel and the sole goal of the Gospel. This Gospel that is from God is also about God and it is the core, the heart and soul of who this God is and how this God relates to His world, and one day all the world will bow in absolute obeisance to this God. Those who have responded to the Gospel and have received it as evidenced by the revolution in their lives that has brought them into the church in which and through which we live to fulfill His purpose will be welcomed into the glory of this God; and all those who have rejected the Gospel choosing to live some other way than the way designed by and declared by God will for the glory of God be cast into eternal punishment in the full vindication of His pure and perfect justice.

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1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 [2:1]For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. [2]But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. [3]For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, [4]but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. [5]For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed--God is witness. [6]Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. [7]But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. [8]So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. (ESV)

Every Christian is a witness. Elton Trueblood in one of the best books ever written called The Company of the Committed says that a “non-witnessing Christian is a contradiction in terms.” The word for witness includes two essentials that are necessary for our understanding what the word means. The first forms the context for the second. The word for witness in the New Testament means fundamentally one who is willing to die for Jesus. It is the English word “martyr.” A witness is one who is willing to die for Jesus because on the one side that person has died to this world and its ways. A witness is no longer controlled or consumed by the concerns of this world. A witness way find herself in places of success and significance but she does not seek them for herself and when they come she knows that they are sent by God as platforms for the proclamation of the Gospel. A witness does not seek after fortune and fame but if they come he knows that they are to be use for the advancement of the Kingdom of God in the world. The witness does not seek the things after which the world seeks because the witness is dead to the things that are of concern to the people of the world. And that is because the witness has been raised by the power of God to live only for the glory of God in declaring daily his devotion to Jesus. His desire is to see God honored, Jesus exalted, sinners saved, and believers built up in the body of Christ. So the True and Faithful witness spends time and invests energy in the seeking of God through prayer and praise and listening to God through the study of His Holy Word. This is the first essential for understanding who the witness is. It is the essential without which the word has no real meaning because it defines the witness first and foremost in relationship to God.

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1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 [2]We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, [3]remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. [4]For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5]because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. [6]And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, [7]so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. [8]For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. [9]For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, [10]and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV)

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1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 [2]We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, [3]remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. [4]For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5]because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. [6]And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, [7]so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. [8]For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. [9]For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, [10]and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV)

One of the chief characteristics in the life of every legitimate child of God is growth in Christlikeness in our character and our conduct that is rooted in our convictions and commitments that are being changed by the Spirit of God through the Word of God. Growth produced by change is an unending constant in the life of every true believer. Every person who has ever come or will ever come into a right relationship with God through the surrender of life to the Lordship of Jesus always begins the same way. We are babies. All that we know at the beginning is that God has done a work of grace in our lives and changed us from living for ourselves in wanting our own way toward living for His glory and wanting His will to be done. All we know at the beginning is that something has happened inside us that has made a change us in relationship to the person of God, we want to love and serve Him; in relationship to the proclamation of God in His Word, we want to learn it and live it and in relationship to the people of God as we want to join with them in the praise of God and in the living out of His purpose in the world. We are just babies who are hungry and thirsty for the milk of the word and the manifestations of the Master in and to and through our lives. And from the moment that we are born into the family of God by faith, there is a constant that does not cease: we are being changed into the likeness of Christ by the Spirit of God and through the Word of God.

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1 Thessalonians 1:1 [1:1]Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. (ESV)

PutThe bulk of the New Testament was written by the apostle Paul. It is
impossible to understand what the New Testament teaches without
understanding what Paul preaches. Even Peter who was prone to defer to no one
would tip his hat to Paul. Peter wrote two of the letters of the New Testament.
James wrote one. John would write a Gospel, three letters, and the final book of
the Bible. But Paul surpasses them all. He wrote thirteen letters and maybe
fourteen depending on where you choose to stand on the authorship of Hebrews.
And everything that he wrote was for a different purpose and from a different
perspective. Romans is a regulatory document revealing in the first eight
chapters what a believer is to believe and in the final eight chapters how a
believer is to behave when a believer believes rightly. The core doctrines of the
Christian faith come right out of Romans. Galatians is given to us to show us how
quickly the Gospel of Jesus can be compromised into something other than it is.
It warns us of what happens when humans hold for too long and handle too
loosely the holy truth of a holy God. The Corinthian letters call us to an
awareness of how quickly the core truths of God can be corrupted even by those
who call themselves the people of God. Every letter of Paul comes to us with a
different purpose and from a different perspective, but all of them revolve around
one single theme: the glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus that by the Spirit of God
through the Word of God saves sinners and brings them together into the body of
Christ that we know as a church. And in none of the letters is there more simple
and straightforward setting forth of who the church is and what the church is to
be than in this opening chapter of the first letter that Paul ever wrote to a church.

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Proverbs 22:6 [6]Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Continuing from last weeks message, Pastor Al continues sharing wisdom, from God’s Word. The Principle verse for parents in Proverbs is Proverbs 22:6 [+/-]Proverbs 22:6 [6]Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
, Pastor Al explains what this powerful verse teaches, and how to apply it to our lives as parents. He also shares the pattern of proverbs, and the 4 principles found within that build on each other.

The primary priority of parents according to the parent book is to teach children to fear God, Proverbs 13:7 [+/-]Proverbs 13:7 [7]One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
(and thirteen other times) Isaiah 33:5-6 [+/-]Isaiah 33:5-6 [5]The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, [6]and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure.
“When we larn to fear God, we fear nothing else. When we do not learn to fear God, we fear everything else.” Chambers

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Proverbs 1:1-7 [1:1]The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: [2]To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, [3]to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; [4]to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth-- [5]Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, [6]to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. [7]The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Book of Proverbs was brought into being by God as a parenting manual. The formal part of the book begins in chapter one verse 8 where God speaks first to fathers as the ones who are raised up by God to take the lead in establishing both the spiritual context and content of the home and then God speaks to mothers. The book ends with that beautiful passage in Proverbs 31 [+/-]Proverbs 31 [31:1]The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: [2]What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? [3]Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. [4]It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, [5]lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. [6]Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; [7]let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. [8]Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. [9]Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. [10] An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. [11]The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. [12]She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. [13]She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. [14]She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. [15]She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. [16]She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. [17]She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. [18]She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. [19]She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. [20]She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. [21]She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. [22]She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. [23]Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. [24]She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. [25]Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. [26]She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [27]She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. [28]Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: [29]"Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." [30]Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. [31]Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
[+/-]Proverbs 31 [+/-]Proverbs 31 [31:1]The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: [2]What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? [3]Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. [4]It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, [5]lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. [6]Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; [7]let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. [8]Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. [9]Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. [10] An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. [11]The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. [12]She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. [13]She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. [14]She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. [15]She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. [16]She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. [17]She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. [18]She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. [19]She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. [20]She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. [21]She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. [22]She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. [23]Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. [24]She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. [25]Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. [26]She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [27]She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. [28]Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: [29]"Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." [30]Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. [31]Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
[31:1]The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: [2]What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? [3]Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. [4]It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, [5]lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. [6]Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; [7]let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. [8]Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. [9]Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. [10] An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. [11]The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. [12]She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. [13]She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. [14]She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. [15]She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. [16]She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. [17]She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. [18]She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. [19]She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. [20]She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. [21]She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. [22]She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. [23]Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. [24]She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. [25]Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. [26]She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [27]She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. [28]Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: [29]“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” [30]Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. [31]Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
This text is from the ESV Bible. Visit www.esv.org to learn about the ESV. that opens with the question, “who can find and excellent wife?” And the rest of the book is a description of this beautifully godly woman. The beginning and the ending are no accident. A man is to take the lead in leading his family toward being a family that honors God in worship and obeys God in witness. The father is the one who leads the way in establishing the context and expressing the content that makes it clear that the commitment of his family to God is foundational to everything else. But in order for that to happen, he has to have alongside him a godly wife. Pray for the man who wants to be a godly man and lead his family as a godly husband but whose wife does not support him in this endeavor. Oh, she may or may not come to church; what is clear at home, however, is that she is more committed to the things of this world than she is the things of God. This man lives in a very difficult place. So pray for him and for his wife that our heart may be changed. And pray for our young people who are dating that they would understand that if they are serious about loving and serving God that the first requirement of anyone they would date is simply that this person be deeply devoted to Jesus. This issue matters more than any other for all of us who call ourselves the children of God. So, the formal part of the book begins and ends with a focus on a father and the father in relationship to the godly wife and mother.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

Proverbs 1:1-7 [1:1]The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: [2]To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, [3]to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; [4]to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth-- [5]Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, [6]to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. [7]The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Book of Proverbs was brought into being by God as a parenting manual. The formal part of the book begins in chapter one verse 8 where God speaks first to fathers as the ones who are raised up by God to take the lead in establishing both the spiritual context and content of the home and then God speaks to mothers. The book ends with that beautiful passage in Proverbs 31 [+/-]Proverbs 31 [31:1]The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: [2]What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? [3]Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. [4]It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, [5]lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. [6]Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; [7]let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. [8]Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. [9]Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. [10] An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. [11]The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. [12]She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. [13]She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. [14]She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. [15]She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. [16]She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. [17]She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. [18]She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. [19]She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. [20]She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. [21]She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. [22]She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. [23]Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. [24]She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. [25]Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. [26]She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [27]She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. [28]Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: [29]"Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." [30]Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. [31]Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
that opens with the question, “who can find and excellent wife?” And the rest of the book is a description of this beautifully godly woman. The beginning and the ending are no accident. A man is to take the lead in leading his family toward being a family that honors God in worship and obeys God in witness. The father is the one who leads the way in establishing the context and expressing the content that makes it clear that the commitment of his family to God is foundational to everything else. But in order for that to happen, he has to have alongside him a godly wife. Pray for the man who wants to be a godly man and lead his family as a godly husband but whose wife does not support him in this endeavor. Oh, she may or may not come to church; what is clear at home, however, is that she is more committed to the things of this world than she is the things of God. This man lives in a very difficult place. So pray for him and for his wife that our heart may be changed. And pray for our young people who are dating that they would understand that if they are serious about loving and serving God that the first requirement of anyone they would date is simply that this person be deeply devoted to Jesus. This issue matters more than any other for all of us who call ourselves the children of God. So, the formal part of the book begins and ends with a focus on a father and the father in relationship to the godly wife and mother.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

Ephesians 6:1-4 [6:1]Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. [2]"Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), [3]"that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." [4]Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (ESV)

Ten words constitute the core of what is communicated here in these four verses.  These words are very clear and very concise.  They make plain the role of children to parents and parents to children.  They lay open to us a choice:  either we commit ourselves to the Word of God to hear and to heed it or in this issue of parenting, we choose another path.  Whenever it is as believers that we choose to defy and thus to disobey the Word of God, that is simply a sign of what is going on elsewhere in our lives.  To be disobedient in one place is to be disobedient in other places even when we do not know it.  The outcome is a life lived where we say with our lips that Jesus is Lord but live our lives in ways that reveal that he is not Lord at all.  So let’s look this morning at these ten words beginning with a very quick review of the two that we tackled last time.

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Proverbs 31:10-31 [10] An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. [11]The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. [12]She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. [13]She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. [14]She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. [15]She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. [16]She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. [17]She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. [18]She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. [19]She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. [20]She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. [21]She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. [22]She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. [23]Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. [24]She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. [25]Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. [26]She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [27]She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. [28]Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: [29]"Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." [30]Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. [31]Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

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Ephesians 5:22-33 [22]Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23]For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24]Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. [25]Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [26]that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27]so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28]In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29]For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30]because we are members of his body. [31]"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." [32]This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33]However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (ESV)

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“Wives, be submitted to your husbands as to the Lord.” The combination of theological liberalism that began to penetrate our culture in the 1920’s and permeate it by the 1960’s along with radical feminism that emerged in the 1960’s and became the fixed lens through which we see women in our world by the 1970’s have combined to make it virtually impossible for us to hear these words. We have so turned and twisted this opening sentence of this powerful passage in Ephesians; we have so contorted and corrupted this very clear communication from God to His people about life in the family that it has so lost its meaning that it has no meaning at all. It is one of the most clear evidences of why it is that we even in the church have lost our way because the living out of the teaching of this text in our homes and families is on the front lines of most visible and vital evidence that we belong to God.

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Genesis 2:18-25 [18]Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." [19]Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. [20]The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. [21]So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. [22]And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. [23]Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." [24]Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [25]And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (ESV)

Mark 10:2-8 [2]And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" [3]He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" [4]They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away." [5]And Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. [6]But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' [7]'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, [8]and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. (ESV)

Ephesians 5:22-33 [22]Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23]For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24]Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. [25]Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [26]that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27]so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28]In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29]For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30]because we are members of his body. [31]"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." [32]This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33]However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (ESV)

The is the first in a series on Marriage.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation to join together this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony; which is an honorable state, instituted by God in the time of man’s innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and His Church.” These are the opening lines of one of the oldest and most beautiful wedding ceremonies ever written by human hand. Found in The Book of Common Prayer this ceremony communicates clearly the biblical foundations and the reasons rooted in the revelation of God for Christian marriage. These words were written at a time when without question or exception people understood that marriage was a relationship between one man and one woman for all of life and that the distinctive of Christian marriage was that it was a revelation of the relationship of Jesus to His church so that who a man was in his family became the most fundamental factor in determining who he was and what he could do in the church.

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Philippians 3:1-4 [3:1]Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. [2]Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. [3]For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh-- [4]though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: (ESV)

Do you know that God wants the fullness of His joy flowing in and through you? The Bible teaches us that when we give our lives to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us and one of His tasks is to produce in us and through us the fruit of the Spirit. Notice that the word “fruit” is singular. Paul lists nine items here or three groups of three. The center one in each group is the focus of each group so that in the first grouping: love, joy, and peace; it is joy that God desires and develops in us as among the first and finest expressions of His presence and power at work in us. He wants to experience and to express His joy. Jesus would remind us that He came so that His joy would be in us and that our joy would be complete. This section in Philippians shows us what is required if we are going to experience and express the joy that is ours as believers.

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Revelation 19:1-10 [19:1]After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, [2]for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants." [3]Once more they cried out, "Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever." [4]And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!" [5]And from the throne came a voice saying, "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great." [6]Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. [7]Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; [8]it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"-- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. [9]And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God." [10]Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God." For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (ESV)

I spoke a couple of weeks ago about some of the changes in the landscape of the life of the church that have happened in the twentieth century. I spoke specifically of the emergence of privatization: my relationship with God is between me and God; compartmentalization: my relationship with God is about my relationship with God expressed in worship but not expressed in work; and individualism: my relationship with God is my relationship with God and in order to be fulfilling it does not have to be connected with others and particularly to those who are in the church. These changes were real and revolutionary but they came into the church on the winds of change in our society so that they were considered normal rather than abnormal. And these changes were contiguous with another reality that emerged in America after World War II that produced a powerfully positive environment that was at least one of the reasons that these other changes were neither challenged nor questioned

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Ephesians 1:15-23 [15]For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, [16]I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, [17]that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, [18]having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, [19]and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might [20]that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, [21]far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. [22]And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, [23]which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (ESV)

It is no stretch to say that some of the most significant shifts in the history of the church have occurred in the twentieth century in our culture. These shifts are akin to the shift in the shape of the earth that occurs in the aftermath of an earthquake or the shattering of a Tsunami. But the shifts in the church have come so slowly and so subtly that the shift is seen at all and the corruptions at the very core of basic biblical Christianity are calculated to be normal. And this significant but undeniable shift is made even more problematic by our almost virtual lack of a sense of history. For many of us history as it relates to the church goes back no further than what our Mothers and Grandmothers taught us; those who lived during the time when the shift in the scene took place. Among the more significant changes that have occurred have left a profound impact on the public witness and the public worship of the church.

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Ephesians 1:15-23 [+/-]Ephesians 1:15-23 [15]For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, [16]I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, [17]that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, [18]having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, [19]and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might [20]that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, [21]far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. [22]And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, [23]which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (ESV)

The most prevalent image of the church in the New Testament is that of the church as the body of Christ with Jesus being the Head of the church. Jesus rules over the church and the church is the avenue through which Jesus rules. This is the most prevalent image that brings together indivisibly the person of Jesus with the people of God in the church. But it is not the most beautiful image. That belongs to the picture of the church in relationship to Jesus as the bride relating to the bridegroom. This image is found in the Gospels, the letters of Paul and the final book of the Bible. It is a beautiful image.

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Acts 2:40-47 [+/-]Acts 2:40-47 [40]And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." [41]So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. [42]And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. [43]And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. [44]And all who believed were together and had all things in common. [45]And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. [46]And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, [47]praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (ESV)

How serious are we about being the kind of church that the Bible describes? Our elders and deacons are taking this issue seriously. We are reading and studying together a marvelous book written by Mark Dever who serves as the pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Dever is serious about the church being what the Bible declares it to be. He went to this church in D.C. when it was close to closing its doors. Sitting in the shadow of our nation’s capitol with little room for parking cars or building buildings, there seemed to be no hope. But this man came to this church with a mission. He asked only one thing of the people who called him: the blessing of the church to begin to restructure from the ground up based solely upon what the Bible says a church should be. Tough times, yes. Loss of people, you bet. But a decade later, Dever leads a thriving church with over 500 members and nearly a thousand in weekly attendance in a place where the church growth pundits said that it was impossible to grow a church. And the only manual he has ever used is the Word of God and particularly what is proclaimed in the early chapters of the Book of Acts.

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Exodus 37 [37:1]Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. [2]And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. [3]And he cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. [4]And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold [5]and put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark. [6]And he made a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. [7]And he made two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work on the two ends of the mercy seat, [8]one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat he made the cherubim on its two ends. [9]The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim. [10]He also made the table of acacia wood. Two cubits was its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. [11]And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made a molding of gold around it. [12]And he made a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and made a molding of gold around the rim. [13]He cast for it four rings of gold and fastened the rings to the four corners at its four legs. [14]Close to the frame were the rings, as holders for the poles to carry the table. [15]He made the poles of acacia wood to carry the table, and overlaid them with gold. [16]And he made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table, its plates and dishes for incense, and its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings. [17]He also made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work. Its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers were of one piece with it. [18]And there were six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; [19]three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch--so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. [20]And on the lampstand itself were four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, [21]and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out of it. [22]Their calyxes and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole of it was a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. [23]And he made its seven lamps and its tongs and its trays of pure gold. [24]He made it and all its utensils out of a talent of pure gold. [25]He made the altar of incense of acacia wood. Its length was a cubit, and its breadth was a cubit. It was square, and two cubits was its height. Its horns were of one piece with it. [26]He overlaid it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And he made a molding of gold around it, [27]and made two rings of gold on it under its molding, on two opposite sides of it, as holders for the poles with which to carry it. [28]And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. [29]He made the holy anointing oil also, and the pure fragrant incense, blended as by the perfumer. (ESV)

Most of us have something like this in our houses: that piece or pieces of furniture that have special, almost sacred significance. In some cases it may be structure of the piece that makes it special but in most cases it is the stories behind them. We have those pieces of furniture in several places in our house and behind each one of them is a story that is rich in importance to us. Four pieces of furniture in our family have been handed down through multiple generations to the eldest son. One of those pieces is our dining room table that is by now tattered and torn but I never sit at that table without having memories both made and made up from experiences around this table. Made from what I can remember and made up from people from the past that sat at this table whom have not seen and do not know. We all have something like that in our homes that are part of who we are here and now but tie us to what has come before us. They remind us that we are not the first ones to perform upon this stage nor will we be the last; those items in our dining room will be passed on to our son.

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Exodus 36:8-38 [8]And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked. [9]The length of each curtain was twenty- eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains were the same size. [10]He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another. [11]He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set. [12]He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another. [13]And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole. [14]He also made curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains. [15]The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains were the same size. [16]He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. [17]And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain of the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the other connecting curtain. [18]And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together that it might be a single whole. [19]And he made for the tent a covering of tanned rams' skins and goatskins. [20]Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. [21]Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. [22]Each frame had two tenons for fitting together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle. [23]The frames for the tabernacle he made thus: twenty frames for the south side. [24]And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons. [25]For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty frames [26]and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame and two bases under the next frame. [27]For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six frames. [28]He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear. [29]And they were separate beneath but joined at the top, at the first ring. He made two of them this way for the two corners. [30]There were eight frames with their bases of silver: sixteen bases, under every frame two bases. [31]He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, [32]and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle at the rear westward. [33]And he made the middle bar to run from end to end halfway up the frames. [34]And he overlaid the frames with gold, and made their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. [35]He made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; with cherubim skillfully worked into it he made it. [36]And for it he made four pillars of acacia and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four bases of silver. [37]He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework, [38]and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals, and their fillets were of gold, but their five bases were of bronze. (ESV)

John 1:14-18 [14]And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. [15](John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") [16]And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. [17]For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [18]No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. (ESV)

God repeats Himself. Follow the flow of Scripture and you will find that there are themes that are repeated over and over. The central theme of the Bible is the glory of God in creation and redemption; God created a world for Himself and populated it with people from whom He will redeem those who will live for the praise of His Name and with a passion for His purpose. This central theme of the Bible is found in every book of the Bible and is woven throughout its pages and passages. The Gospel is at the heart of the Bible, the good news of God’s grace and mercy to those who call upon Him for forgiveness and in faith commit themselves completely to God. The good news of God’s triumph over sin and His victory over death for all who believe is found woven throughout the Bible.

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Exodus 34:29-35 [29]When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. [30]Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. [31]But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. [32]Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. [33]And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. [34]Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, [35]the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him. (ESV)

Back in the day . . . when men were really men and women were really women, that day when we were far smarter than the current generation as evidenced by the mental capacity that was needed to do the dances that were done, you know; the twist, the jerk, the pony – can I get a witness? Back in the day there were two kinds of guys. On the one side you had the brylcream boys, a little dab will do ya. And on the other side you had Vitalis Vikings, that oily, greasy slick your head down and make your forehead shine Vitalis with 7. Anybody remember? Now you talk about a shining and a smellin. Get enough Vitalis with 7 in your head and go to sweatin, well you were shining from your hair to your nose and wherever else that Vitalis with V7 would run. That was a real shining.

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Exodus 34:10-28 [10]And he said, "Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. [11]"Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. [12]Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. [13]You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim [14](for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), [15]lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, [16]and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods. [17]"You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal. [18]"You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. [19]All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. [20]The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed. [21]"Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. [22]You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end. [23]Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. [24]For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. [25]"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. [26]The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk." [27]And the LORD said to Moses, "Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." [28]So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. (ESV)

Follow the flow of the ministry of Jesus and you will find that He found one thing more distasteful and despicable than all other things: hypocrisy. We are studying the Gospel of Luke in our Sunday School Class and we have come to the opening verses of Luke 12 [+/-]Luke 12 [12:1]In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. [2]Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. [3]Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. [4]"I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. [5]But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! [6]Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. [7]Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. [8]"And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, [9]but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. [10]And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. [11]And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, [12]for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." [13]Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." [14]But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?" [15]And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." [16]And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, [17]and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' [18]And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. [19]And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' [20]But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' [21]So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." [22]And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. [23]For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. [24]Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! [25]And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [26]If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? [27]Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [28]But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! [29]And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. [30]For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. [31]Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. [32]"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. [33]Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. [34]For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. [35]"Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, [36]and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. [37]Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. [38]If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! [39]But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. [40]You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." [41]Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?" [42]And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? [43]Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. [44]Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. [45]But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, [46]the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. [47]And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. [48]But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. [49]"I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! [50]I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! [51]Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. [52]For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. [53]They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother- in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." [54]He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, 'A shower is coming.' And so it happens. [55]And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat,' and it happens. [56]You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? [57]"And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? [58]As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. [59]I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny." (ESV)
. I want you to hear what Jesus says to His followers then and His followers now, Luke 12:1-3 [+/-]Luke 12:1-3 [12:1]In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. [2]Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. [3]Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. (ESV)
. He does not say that hypocrisy is like leaven; He says that hypocrisy is leaven. Now you and I know two things about leaven: literally it is what we know as yeast and figuratively it was seen as symbol of evil. Its symbolic nature was due to two characteristics of yeast: first, it was hidden; it does its work in a way that nobody can see just as hypocrisy can be hidden from the eyes of the vast majority of people. Second, it worked secretly and slowly. Little by little the leaven caused the dough to rise. Even so hypocrisy worked little by little, slowly by slowly with its effect on the person and persons not being known until it is too late. In the case of dough, until it is fully risen and ready for baking and in the case of persons until it is fully formed and the person faces judgment.

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Exodus 34:10-28 [10]And he said, "Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. [11]"Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. [12]Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. [13]You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim [14](for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), [15]lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, [16]and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods. [17]"You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal. [18]"You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. [19]All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. [20]The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed. [21]"Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. [22]You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end. [23]Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. [24]For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. [25]"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. [26]The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk." [27]And the LORD said to Moses, "Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." [28]So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. (ESV)

Remember the triangle. It is at the beginning of your outline this morning and having a look at it will not only help us launch this sermon but will help us to remember where we are in our study of the Book of Exodus. Everything had come to a screeching halt at Exodus 32 [+/-]Exodus 32 [32:1]When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." [2]So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." [3]So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. [4]And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" [5]When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD." [6]And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. [7]And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. [8]They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" [9]And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. [10]Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you." [11]But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? [12]Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. [13]Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'" [14]And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. [15]Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. [16]The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. [17]When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp." [18]But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear." [19]And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. [20]He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it. [21]And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?" [22]And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. [23]For they said to me, 'Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' [24]So I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." [25]And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), [26]then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. [27]And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'" [28]And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. [29]And Moses said, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day." [30]The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." [31]So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. [32]But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written." [33]But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. [34]But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." [35]Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. (ESV)
. Those who had been chosen and called out by God to carry forward His work in the world had violated the basic covenant commitment that constitutes any people as the people of God. They were having other “gods” before the One and Only Sovereign God and they were symbolizing that in their making of the golden calf. God could have stopped everything right there. Over. Finished. He did not need them to do His work any more than He needs us. He is God who can and will accomplish His purpose for His glory with or without us. What we are shown in Exodus 32 [+/-]Exodus 32 [32:1]When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." [2]So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." [3]So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. [4]And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" [5]When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD." [6]And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. [7]And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. [8]They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" [9]And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. [10]Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you." [11]But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? [12]Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. [13]Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'" [14]And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. [15]Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. [16]The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. [17]When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp." [18]But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear." [19]And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. [20]He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it. [21]And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?" [22]And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. [23]For they said to me, 'Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' [24]So I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." [25]And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), [26]then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. [27]And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'" [28]And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. [29]And Moses said, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day." [30]The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." [31]So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. [32]But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written." [33]But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. [34]But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." [35]Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. (ESV)
, however, is what we come to see throughout the Word of God: He chooses to come in wrath and in mercy, with judgment and grace. Some are killed, others are saved. And when we turn the page from Exodus 32 [+/-]Exodus 32 [32:1]When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." [2]So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." [3]So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. [4]And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" [5]When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD." [6]And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. [7]And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. [8]They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" [9]And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. [10]Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you." [11]But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? [12]Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. [13]Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'" [14]And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. [15]Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. [16]The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. [17]When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp." [18]But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear." [19]And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. [20]He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it. [21]And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?" [22]And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. [23]For they said to me, 'Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' [24]So I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." [25]And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), [26]then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. [27]And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'" [28]And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. [29]And Moses said, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day." [30]The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." [31]So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. [32]But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written." [33]But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. [34]But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." [35]Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. (ESV)
to Exodus 33 [+/-]Exodus 33 [33:1]The LORD said to Moses, "Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your offspring I will give it.' [2]I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. [3]Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." [4]When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. [5]For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'" [6]Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. [7]Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. [8]Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. [9]When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. [10]And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. [11]Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. [12]Moses said to the LORD, "See, you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' [13]Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." [14]And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." [15]And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. [16]For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?" [17]And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." [18]Moses said, "Please show me your glory." [19]And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. [20]But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." [21]And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, [22]and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. [23]Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen." (ESV)
we begin to be shown what are the internal essentials and the external realities for the forward movement of the people of God. We must have the presence of God in the light of our genuine repentance of sin (33:1-6). We must show a passion for God and His purpose as revealed in our worship of God (33:7-23). And we must understand that what we know of God and who we are called to be and do in relationship to Him comes through His revelation of Himself in and through His Word (34:1-9). WHAT WE WILL SEE IN THE TEXT TODAY IS THAT WE SHOW OUR RECEPTION AND RIGHT RESPONSE TO HIS REVELATION THROUGH THE SURRENDER OF OUR LIVES TO HIS COVENANT CALL AS SEEN IN OUR WITNESS IN THE WORLD, OUR WORSHIP OF HIS NAME AND OUR WAY OF LIFE. We have a passionate desire to persist in the purpose of God. Now to flesh out the triangle notice that the pinnacle point is an ongoing and unending pattern of transformation. And these internal realities are framed by three external realities that form the framework for our lives: the Lord’s Work in and through the Lord’s House with priority attention given to the Lord’s Day.

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Mark 10:35-45 [35]And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." [36]And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?" [37]And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." [38]Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" [39]And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, [40]but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." [41]And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. [42]And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. [43]But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, [44]and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. [45]For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (ESV)

Let me introduce you to some deacons. Jesus is one. So are Paul and Timothy. The angels are called deacons so that those of you who are married to deacons can go home today and thank God that He sent you an angel. Barnabas is called a deacon and so are Erastus, Tychius, Onesimus, Onesiphorous, Epaphras, Apollos, along with Phoebe and Peter’s mother-in law. Add to this list the prophets who are called deacons, the women who ministered to Jesus, numerous unnamed companions of Paul and a host of recipients of the Book of Hebrews. The list goes on and on; those who are called deacons and are named and the host of unnamed men and women who are referred to as deacons.

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Exodus 34:1-9 [34:1]The LORD said to Moses, "Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. [2]Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. [3]No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain." [4]So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. [5]The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. [6]The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, [7]keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." [8]And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. [9]And he said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance." (ESV)

Everything that we know of God is the result of God making Himself known to us. We do not climb up to where He is using the steps of reason and logic; He comes to where we are through the revelation of Himself in His Word the center and culmination of which is His Son. We are told in Psalm 138:3 [+/-]Psalm 138:3 [3]On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.
, “You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your Word.” God makes Himself known to us most particularly and most powerfully in His Holy Word the center of which is the revelation of His Name in all the fullness that we can know it, the name of Jesus. Jesus, there is something about that Name. Philip Graham Ryken says that no matter how far we reach toward God with our reason and our logic, God still has to stoop to reach us.

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Exodus 34:1-9 [34:1]The LORD said to Moses, "Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. [2]Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. [3]No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain." [4]So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. [5]The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. [6]The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, [7]keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." [8]And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. [9]And he said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance." (ESV)

Everything that we know of God is the result of God making Himself known to us. We do not climb up to where He is using the steps of reason and logic; He comes to where we are through the revelation of Himself in His Word the center and culmination of which is His Son. We are told in Psalm 138:3 [+/-]Psalm 138:3 [3]On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.
, You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your Word. God makes Himself known to us most particularly and most powerfully in His Holy Word the center of which is the revelation of His Name in all the fullness that we can know it, the name of Jesus. Jesus, there is something about that Name. Philip Graham Ryken says that no matter how far we reach toward God with our reason and our logic, God still has to stoop to reach us.

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Exodus 33:12-23 [12]Moses said to the LORD, "See, you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' [13]Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." [14]And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." [15]And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. [16]For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?" [17]And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." [18]Moses said, "Please show me your glory." [19]And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. [20]But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." [21]And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, [22]and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. [23]Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen." (ESV)

Wouldn’t it be nice if our journey with Jesus was an ever upward movement toward heaven where each day we grew to be more and more like Him? What it would be like for every day with Jesus really to be sweeter than the day before so that every day is bathed in the beauty of sunlight, garnished with gentle breezes with no difficulties or dark nights of the soul, no problems or pains, no failures or falls but every day we are climbing higher and higher as we reach for glory. Wouldn’t it be nice if walking in the way of Jesus were like floating on a raft down a cool stream on late summer day? But it just isn’t that way, is it? If it is for you then you are either the most to be praised or the most to be pitied. For most of us the journey is jagged. It is a few steps forward and a few steps backward. It is sometimes moving from side to side and then there are those times when we sense that we are going nowhere. The pilgrimage is paused.

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Exodus 33:1-6 [33:1]The LORD said to Moses, "Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your offspring I will give it.' [2]I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. [3]Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." [4]When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. [5]For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'" [6]Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. (ESV)

If your spiritual pilgrimage were controlled by a remote, how many times along the way has somebody pushed the pause button? You knew that you had not stopped, but you were stalled. Your sense was that you were neither going forward or backward, but nowhere and that very rapidly. It happens to all of us in our pilgrimage in pursuit of being faithful to Jesus. And every time it happens we can be sure of two realities that meet and greet each other during times like this. We can be absolutely certain of God’s total sovereignty. He knows exactly what is happening, why it is happening and what will be the outcome. Hidden within the confines of His secret or perfect will or those times of delight and distress that can take us from the straight and narrow path down a detour that is far away from what He wants for us. But we an also be absolutely certain of our responsibility. Those pauses come at those places in our lives where we are not trusting Him as totally as we should or following Him as faithfully as we ought either because life has become so good that we bless Him for His blessings without bothering to bathe our lives with His presence and power or it has become so bad that we blame Him; either way, whenever there is a pause, a sense that we are going nowhere fast; we have no further to look than our own hearts to find the reasons for the relapse.

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Acts 2:36-47 [36]Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." [37]Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" [38]And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [39]For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." [40]And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." [41]So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. [42]And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. [43]And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. [44]And all who believed were together and had all things in common. [45]And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. [46]And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, [47]praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (ESV)

Anne came home from Cleveland this summer with a book she wanted me to read. Our son-in-law’s mother is an avid reader and had shared the book with her. The book is the autobiography of a once devoutly Muslim and now openly atheistic humanist Ayan Hirsi Ali entitiled Infidel. It is not a book to read when you are feeling down and depressed. But it is a book that at least should be read by Christian women. It will help you see the destitution, deprivation, and devastation experienced by Muslim women so that you can know how to pray for them. The Koran teaches that women exist for the pleasure of men and when they do not please men as they desire to be pleased they are to be punished. And you will read of the severities of these punishments.

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Acts 2:36-47 [36]Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." [37]Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" [38]And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [39]For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." [40]And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." [41]So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. [42]And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. [43]And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. [44]And all who believed were together and had all things in common. [45]And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. [46]And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, [47]praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (ESV)

One of my most special childhood memories is young couples coming to our house to meet with my father about building their dream home. They would ordinarily bring a picture of that home and my father could look at the picture and tell them about how much that home would cost. It was then that the happy faces turned to horrified glances as the couple saw their dream home collapsing right in front of them. It was about that time that my father would say, let me take your picture and develop a blueprint for you. I will design a floor plan based on what you have here, and then we will work together to get what you want for the price you can afford. The smiles returned. He would always somewhere near the end of the conversation tell every young couple the same thing; I can hear him even today: You need to know two things before we even begin. First, you have to build at least three houses before you ever you get what you are looking for and second, you need to understand that the day I give you the key to your new house, you will walk in that day and find something that you would have changed if you had to do it all over again. You could see they doubted him, but he was never wrong about that basic building truth. They would leave; he would always begin immediately to work on the blueprint.

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Acts 2:36-47 [36]Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." [37]Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" [38]And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [39]For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." [40]And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." [41]So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. [42]And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. [43]And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. [44]And all who believed were together and had all things in common. [45]And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. [46]And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, [47]praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (ESV)

The second chapter of the Book of Acts opens with these words, When the day of Pentecost had come in its fullness, they were all together in one place. There is nothing peculiar about the Day of Pentecost. It came every year for the Jewish faithful. Fifty Days after Passover. Passover was a wonderful time of remembering the redemptive grace of God; God saw the blood on the doorposts of His people and passed over them as He prepared to bring them out of the dark night of their bondage to begin the wonderful journey toward the light. Pentecost was a wonderful time of remembering the receiving of the law of God at the foot of Siniai in the midst of blazing fire and mystery provoking smoke in the midst of which came the booming voice of God bringing to His people His way which was revealed in His Word. People came every year from everywhere to celebrate these two great festivals.

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Exodus 32:25-35 [25]And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), [26]then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. [27]And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'" [28]And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. [29]And Moses said, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day." [30]The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." [31]So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. [32]But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written." [33]But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. [34]But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." [35]Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. (ESV)

The character and course of what we call Christianity in our country will continue to spiral downwards and out of control until we in the church are captured by the great grandeur of the holiness of our God. I spent part of the fourth of July in prayer for this land that I love and what God was showing me during that prayer time is just how much the church needs to come before Him in repentance. We have created in our country an American Christian subculture whose version of God borrows just enough from the Bible to sound godly while being so foreign to Scripture that it is in fact idolatry. We have created a God who saves our souls and secures us for heaven while serving our needs while we live as we desire during our days here upon the earth. Go to almost any prayer group and it is focused on our needs. Attend almost any Bible Study and the discussion time revolves around what it says to me to help me live a more fulfilled life. Check out our lifestyles and they appear far more driven by the world than determined by the Word. And if you have any thoughts right now about what is wrong with that then you are in a very dangerous place.

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James 1:22-27 [22]But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. [23]For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. [24]For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. [25]But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. [26]If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. [27]Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (ESV)

Well, it is the goal of our great God FOR HIS GLORY ALONE to give us all that we need to experience and express victory over temptation and right in the middle of our trials and tribulations. What we too soon forget in our kind of world must never be forgotten if we are going to receive what God wants to give us so that we can experience and express this victory. God did not design this world or your life for your comfort and convenience. He is not primarily interested in your pleasure or your pursuit of your purpose. His goal is not what you gain in this world; it is not even your good except as that good advances and enhances His glory. In order for God to perfect His purpose in us, He must send us into the fire and flames, He must deliver us into the dark night of the soul, He must accompany us down avenues that from our perspective are absolutely awful, but it is always in those places that we would not choose to go that He shows us what we must see and reveals to us what we must know if we are going to experience and express that overwhelming victory that is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord. I read again this week part of the story of Steve Saint whose father was one of five missionaries killed by the Waodani of Ecuador. Steve was later called to leave behind a very successful business career to serve among the Waodani; But there was a part of his story that I did not know; he and his wife had one daughter who one day came to him complaining of a headache. She asked him to pray for her and to hold her and while he was praying and holding her, she died in his arms of a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Yet, Steve Saint would say that it is the losses that God has used to show him what mattered most in life so that leaving behind success and status and all those things by which we define the “good life” had no meaning to him when he had them so letting them go was no issue. God had used his trials to shape him and to show him where he wanted him to go and what He wanted him to do. He does the same for us.

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Romans 7:14-8:39 [14]For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. [15]For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [16]Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. [17]So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [18]For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. [19]For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. [20]Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [21]So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [22]For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, [23]but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. [24]Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [25]Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. [8:1]There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [2]For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. [3]For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, [4]in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. [5]For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. [6]For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. [7]For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. [8]Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. [9]You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. [10]But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. [11]If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. [12]So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. [13]For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. [14]For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15]For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" [16]The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17]and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. [18]For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. [19]For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. [20]For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope [21]that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. [22]For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. [23]And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. [24]For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? [25]But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. [26]Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. [27]And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. [28]And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29]For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. [30]And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. [31]What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32]He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? [33]Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. [34]Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died-- more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [35]Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36]As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." [37]No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38]For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39]nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

James 1 [1:1]James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. [2]Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, [3]for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. [4]And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. [5]If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [6]But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. [7]For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [8]he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. [9]Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, [10]and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. [11]For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. [12]Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. [13]Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. [14]But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. [15]Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. [16]Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. [17]Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. [18]Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. [19]Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; [20]for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. [21]Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. [22]But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. [23]For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. [24]For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. [25]But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. [26]If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. [27]Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (ESV)

Professing Christians in our culture have for far too long hidden behind Romans seven. We see Paul in this passage showing us the struggle of his soul and we conclude that if this was the struggle of the great apostle whose life was revolutionized by a bolt of lightning in the open countryside, then who are we to think that we can resolve the struggles of our own soul. If this mighty man of God found himself doing what he did not want to do and not doing what he desired to do, then what are we thinking when we say that God wants to give us an overwhelming victory through our Lord Jesus Christ? The problem when we come to this passage is not only that we do not penetrate deeply enough, it is that we do not read far enough. Here is one of those places where chapter divisions hurt us. The truth is that chapters 7 and 8 are interwoven as one piece of very powerful proclamation about the victory that is ours through our Lord Jesus Christ in spite of who we are by nature as sinners whose desires are always seeking to dominate our lives.

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1 Corinthians 10:1-13 [10:1]For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, [2]and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, [3]and all ate the same spiritual food, [4]and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. [5]Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. [6]Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. [7]Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." [8]We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. [9]We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, [10]nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. [11]Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. [12]Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. [13]No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (ESV)

Jesus says, in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. Jesus teaches us to pray,  lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. It is as if in the same breath we are taught to ask that God would not take us into temptation while at the same time acknowledging that it is going to come. Paul puts it this way,  all of us who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus are going to be persecuted. And in more than one place this apostle who knew all about trials and tribulations, temptations and testing would speak of them as being used of God as a gift of grace to bring glory to His Name and to build into us the character of Christ. Jesus would experience the glorious presence of the Father in baptism and then immediately be driven by the Spirit of His Father into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Count on it. Mark it as one of the clear characteristics of every child of God: temptations are going to come and tribulations are a part of the course of our lives in this world as the children of God. But know this: the same God who is absolutely sovereign over every situation in your life and my life wants us to know right in the midst of tempting and testing that overwhelming victory that is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord. Too often you and I read of Paul’s struggles as he portrays them for us in Romans 7 [+/-]Romans 7 [7:1]Or do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? [2]For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. [3]Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. [4]Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. [5]For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. [6]But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. [7]What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." [8]But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. [9]I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. [10]The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. [11]For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. [12]So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. [13]Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. [14]For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. [15]For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [16]Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. [17]So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [18]For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. [19]For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. [20]Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [21]So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [22]For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, [23]but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. [24]Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [25]Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (ESV)
: doing that which he does not want to do and not doing that which he so much desires to do and we simply don’t read far enough. Listen to the crescendo of his conclusion in this chapter, 7:21-25. So this morning we turn from how sin works and where it leads toward this wonderful and precious victory that is ours through our Lord Jesus
Christ.

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