November 14th - The Holy Spirit in John's Gospel

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Text – John 14:26

When I want to teach someone about the Holy Spirit, I take them to three major places, the first is the fruit of the Spirit, where is that located? Galatians 5. Then I like how Romans 8 really does a nice job of telling us how the Spirit is interacting with our lives and guiding us in the truth.

My favorite though, is Jesus’ introduction of him in John 14-16. The Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit all over, even in the second verse, so John’s Gospel is obviously not the only place we learn about the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit is the main point of this passage, so it is our most useful passage when we want to learn about him. Before we dig into John’s Gospel though, let’s just look at some other verses about the Holy Spirit.

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Numbers 11:28-29 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, "My lord Moses, stop them." But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!"

Judges 6:34 But the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him.

Ezekiel 2:2-3 And he said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you." And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Joel 2:29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

Haggai 2:5 My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.

Zechariah 7:12-13 They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts. "As he called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,"

So we see that the Spirit of God in the Old Testament was personal, a protector, a revealer of God’s Word, a maker of prophets, a person, and a massive part of salvation. Here is your first application, that when the Spirit of God lives in someone, that makes them a prophet, not someone who sees the future, but someone who speaks for God. As a Christian anytime you speak about God, Heaven, the afterlife, or morality, you are an official representative of the kingdom and a prophet. Do you absolute best to speak the truth in love and gentleness, never compromising, and always remembering that if the Spirit is with you, you have nothing to fear, nothing even to worry about. My favorite verse is 1 Peter 3:14-15 where it says, “Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy…”

So all that introduction to bring us to John’s Gospel. We’re going to look at five major things, first I want to prove to you that he is a person, then I want to look at the names of the Holy Spirit, then we’ll look at how the Spirit interacts with Christ, then how he impacts unbelievers, then we’ll see how he works in believers.

John 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

The Holy Spirit is a he, he is a Person. A.W. Tozer said it beautifully when he said,

“Spell this out in capital letters: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON. He is not enthusiasm. He is not courage. He is not energy. He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather. Actually, the Holy Spirit is not the personification of anything…he has individuality. He is one being and not another. He has will and intelligence. He has hearing. He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think. He can hear, speak, desire, grieve, and rejoice. He is a Person.”

So is the Spirit a person? Yes!

Now, names, in John’s Gospel he is called three things.

Pneuma Hagion – The Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost. This really shows us that the Holy Spirit is part of the godhead, because God alone is holy. Let’s look at a verse about Jesus first, then a verse about the Holy Spirit,

John 6:69 we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.

John 14:24-26 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Pneuma Aletheias – The Spirit of Truth.

John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Paraclete – Helper. This word literally means “One who walks with”, it is the title of a lawyer, an advocate, or a counselor, someone who helps you in your struggles.

John 14:15-17 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

These names really tell us what his priorities are. He is concerned with holiness, with truth, and with helping us into each of these. This is neat, because who remembers what God’s ultimate goal is for all of his saints? Let’s read it:

1 Thessalonians 4:3 This is the will of God: Your sanctification.

Sanctification is making you holier, love truth more, and succeed in living a Christlike life, all things which are the will of the Holy Spirit and are literally his job. Speaking of his names and jobs, I wanted to teach this class totally from John’s Gospel, but at this point I have to take you back to the Old Testament so we can see a beautiful prophecy for Christ and that these names for the Holy Spirit aren’t new to the New Testament.

Isaiah 11:1-5 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

So let’s see how he acted in Christ. First of all, have you ever heard us say, “You must be born again to see the kingdom of Heaven.”? Why do we say that? Because Jesus said it in John 3. This is not baptism like some believe, but it is synonymous to when the Holy Spirit gives us new life by dwelling in us. Christ needed not to be born again, because the Holy Spirit already dwelt in him. Since we’ve already stepped out of John’s Gospel, let’s set out again:

Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Dude, I think that’s my favorite verse. Or maybe it’s this next one:

John 3:34-35 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

Check this out, this is how John the Baptist knew that Jesus was the Christ, because the Father gave the Son the Spirit without measure,

John 1:32-34 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

The Spirit’s major goal in his existence is to bring glory to the Father through the Son, to show people who Jesus Christ is. This is done mostly through conversion of sinners into saints. It takes nothing for God to crush sinners into eternity, and he will get glory in that for his justice, but God gets far more glory in transforming lives and turning enemies into friends. Let’s look at how the Holy Spirit does this, first in unbelievers.

Our major verse for this is John 16:8, and the verses following that will explain what it means.

John 16:8 When he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

This is a fantastic verse to memorize, because it reminds us what all of our preaching should be, showing the world that they are sinners, that God (Father, Son, and Spirit) alone is righteous, and that there are consequences for sin which will either be judged on the last day or were judged on Christ on the cross.

Let’s let the Bible tell us how the Holy Spirit will do this; first sin,

John 16:9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;

Any idea why sin might be sin because people don’t believe in Christ as God and Saviour? It’s because he is the standard of righteousness, if there were no measure, then there would be no such thing as good and evil. For example, we couldn’t say, “Murder is bad,” we’d be forced to say, “Murder is different…and I don’t like it.” But because Christ is our absolute measure of righteousness, we can call sin sin, and the Spirit will convict of it.

And, probably more important than that, if there were no sin, then Christ died for nothing, so the Spirit will convict that Christ died for a purpose, to substitute himself for his saints and pay for their sins with his own life.

John 16:10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;

Christ again is the measure of righteousness, but at this point his is explaining that he is leaving the planet bodily, but that he won’t leave his saints as orphans and without a guide. He is the light of the world, but with him gone, that title has come to us, and we’re not yet perfect, though we are declared righteous on Christ’s sake. If I were the standard of righteousness, everyone would go to Heaven, but we have the Spirit to convict us concerning righteousness that we must be perfect as our Father and Saviour in Heaven are perfect.

John 16:11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

This is my favorite verse! In Isaiah 53 it says that we esteemed Christ as stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted; that is we thought he was being punished for his own sins, but we see that he had no sins and he was crushed for our iniquities. It looked like he was being judged, but in reality he was laying down his life willingly for our sake. Christ bore our sins to the cross and died for them, our King died for us, and it looked like the end.

But on Sunday morning the ruler of this world, Satan himself, was shown to have no power over Christ, when in the darkness of a sealed tomb the worst sound Satan ever heard started oh so quietly in Christ’s chest; beloved, it was a heartbeat, and it proved Christ was who he said he was, it proved his payment was accepted, it proved our sins were paid for, and it proved that Christ is the true God, not Satan.

The Holy Spirit will convict us that the resurrection is true. The resurrection is the best attested to fact in all of antiquity; the Christian church is a testament to its veracity. All the Roman government had to do to prove it false was produce a body, but Christ is wearing his body now in Heaven, he is alive forevermore.

When these three things, sin, righteousness, and judgment, are proved to be true by the Holy Spirit convincing us, then we can’t do anything except repent and believe in the Resurrected Christ. What do you think we bring to this equation? Is it a little us and a little Christ and a little Spirit and a little pastor that makes us born again? Let’s let Jesus answer that question, his answer makes a lot of people FURIOUS.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.

Our salvation is totally accomplished by him, it says we didn’t help at all. If you want to read John 1:12-13 it says again that we brought nothing, but that it was the will of God to make us born again.

So now, how does he act in us after we’ve been saved and he lives in us? He is first our teacher, the Bible won’t make any sense to you unless the Holy Spirit wants you to be able to understand it:

John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

We see from earlier that with the Spirit in us, we will become prophets, we will have boldness, and we will be transformed to be new people. All of this happens on the inside. The word for Spirit in the Old Testament Hebrew is Ruwach, it is literally the word for wind; Jesus knew this and makes an amazing parallel in John 3, let’s read it.

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

That’s my favorite verse. Check this out, have you ever seen the wind? Do you believe in wind? How are you going to prove to me that there is such thing as wind? We can hear it, we can feel it, and we can see it do things, like rustle leaves or flap flags. The same with the Spirit, because he’s spirit, we can’t see him, but we see his effects in our lives. If he is indeed sanctifying us, then we should be growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, right?

I can’t paint a picture of the Holy Spirit for you, but I can say look at who I once was and who I am today, I can show you your born-again parents and ask them to tell you their testimony, I can show you a life utterly consumed for Christ, I can show you that the mind set on sin is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. We can’t see the Spirit, but we know he exists because he radically works in our lives, changing us to be more Christlike, and leading us in the truth.

So beloved, trust in Christ, receive his Holy Spirit, set your affections on Heaven, and trust totally in the work of God in your life to transform you. Read the Word of God, written by the Holy Spirit to learn his will for your life, spend your entire efforts glorifying Christ, preaching sin, righteousness, and judgment so that the Holy Spirit will convict of these and cause many to be born again. Know that you are a prophet of God when you speak about his kingdom, so pray for the Holy Spirit to help you memorize Bible verses and bring to your remembrance those verses at the right time. He is your Helper, he lives to help you preach Christ and live a holy life. Finally, let’s take a lesson from him, that though he is totally worthy to be praised, he points all of the glory at the Father through the Son, so let us, who are not worthy to be praised, likewise point all of the glory at the Father through the Son.

May 9th - Conclusion to First Peter

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Text – 1 Peter 5:6-14

There is so much in these last eight verses and I hope I do these verses justice. I did the schedule for the rest of the school year and we can just finish Second Peter if we stay on a strict schedule and that schedule requires us to finish First Peter today. Many of the things I could talk about from the end of this Epistle will be reiterated in Peter’s second epistle, so that’s why I don’t have too many qualms with just skipping over them.

So context, what was the beginning of chapter 5 about? Shepherds overseeing the flock, the church, and the church obeying the shepherds. Who is our chief Shepherd? Jesus Christ. Who is our chief Overseer? Jesus Christ. He is our good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep, so that is where we’re going to pick up today, that we must humble ourselves under his leading.

1 Peter 5:6-14 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

This is a major theme at the end Second Timothy and James, that Christ is able to rescue us from the world and the efforts of Satan to destroy us, I think that it is such a major theme because of a very vivid story about David, one that we read two weeks ago but one that is worth rereading,

1 Samuel 17:34-35 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.”

Let’s read the other two Epistles as well to see how Paul and James described it; Peter follows James chapter 4 close enough that I think you could make a case for Peter quoting it as scripture, with will be something we’ll talk about a lot more in Second Peter.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

2 Timothy 4:17-18 the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

In all of this Peter, Paul, and James are making a major point, that as terrifying, big, dangerous, and evil the Devil is, Christ is bigger. Remember when we talked about sheep we realized how defenseless they really are, they are totally without a defense mechanism and are wholly dependent on the shepherd for their safety. Likewise are with Satan, but we have such a great promise as these three passages, and add

2 Thessalonians 3:3 the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

As much as I need to stay on topic to get through this on time, I really want to remind you that it is foolish to worry about one or two things and hope to keep yourself alive. I don’t think it would be exaggerating at all to say there are a million things a day that try to kill you, from germs to gamma-rays, and only by God’s good pleasure are we spared to walk in the good works which he has prepared for us. We don’t resist the Devil under our own power, but by drawing near to God knowing that Satan cannot overpower or defeat the plans and purposes of God.

Our duty in this is to humble ourselves under the watchful and mighty hand of Christ, knowing that he cares for us. We watch for the schemes and plans of the Devil, which are to get us to doubt Christ and love our selves and worldly desires more than him. When we see these things come up, then it is absolutely imperative that we resist and flee to Christ, firm in our faith that he has overcome the world, overcome the grave, and is able to deliver us to Heaven.

You’ll notice to this point we haven’t really gone verse by verse, this is partly my fault and partly how Peter concludes his letter. I really should have taught chapter 5:1-11 as a unit, but also Peter is bringing a ton of themes together here at the end making his letter all come to a head in verse 10, and I’m trying to show you how all of these themes interweave. Verses 6-9 have been connecting the importance of good shepherds to the flock, and now Peter is going to tie that back to the suffering that he says the Christian is called to.

v.9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

Peter is reminding his readers that this world is not their home, because Christians throughout the world are facing the same suffering. Our nature is to think we’re being persecuted worse than anyone ever, or that we’re being tempted more than we can bear, or that we’re being misunderstood and treated unfairly. But there is evidence that we cannot undergo anything that is special to us. And, God is vindicated in ensuring that if we so desired to escape temptation, we could.

1 Corinthians 10:13 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.

Consider this, that there is no way we can be tempted that Jesus wasn’t tempted, yet he was tempted in ways that we will never be tempted. There is no way we can suffer that will come close to how Christ suffered, yet he suffered in ways we will never suffer. The Bible says Christ “learned obedience,” which isn’t to mean that he wasn’t perfect to begin with, but through his really experiencing things he proved through his actions that he is perfect. Theoretical obedience is good, but general tested obedience is better and his righteousness can now be imputed to our sakes.

And all that leads to verse 10, the culmination of Peter’s Epistle which has shown us the value of our faith, the holiness of Christ, the mercy and adoption we’ve received into God’s family, the suffering we must endure, the beauty of the resurrection, and his ability to be our Good Shepherd,

v.10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Some of the suffering that Christians have gone through in history and are going through today is truly terrible, and it could conceivably cut us off from Heaven if we were imaginative; for example, the reason John Huss was burned and then his ashes thrown into the Rhine River was so that he wouldn’t be able to partake in the resurrection…

But look, God has called us to ETERNAL glory, our eternity is secure, because though our body be destroyed, our soul is imperishable. Christ himself will restore, he will put all things back together…restoring health, body, and everything else that was lost. Then he will confirm and strengthen you, which means make everything about you, not just your soul, imperishable so that you can never perish from eternity. The ESV and KJV split up confirm and strengthen, while the NIV keeps them together, I think Peter is saying the same thing twice in very similar ways to emphasize that in Heaven we are done suffering and done sinning. And finally, Peter says Christ will establish you, making our resurrection to eternal life a permanent fact. It is reminiscent of Peter saying in chapter 2 that we are being built up on Christ as the foundation.

Peter’s writing style in chapter 5 is another bracketed passage, verses 1 and 10 set our affection on Heaven, where-as verses 2-9 are living a godly life on this earth. This is our major reminder from this letter that we set our affections on Heaven, on Christ seated at the right hand of his Father, and because of this affection we love the church first, and second we seek to bring others into the kingdom.

And in all of this the point is so that Jesus receives the glory,

v.11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

He is ultimately the owner of everything, the Supreme, the Saviour. We don’t worry about Satan and his roaring because Christ is bigger and has judged the ruler of this world, as Jesus put it in John 16:11 and Paul puts amazingly in

2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Peter is completing the thought of the spiritual danger of Satan by showing that Christ ultimately owns EVERYTHING, including Satan.

There is a poem by Cyril of Jerusalem, a noted theologian from the 4th century, which says, “The dragon sits by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of Souls but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.” As much as I like the poetic language and image it draws, we add that this dragon is defeated, that Christ is our protector, and that in order to pass by we only need to hold fast to Christ in faith. But beloved, if you walk this path apart from Christ, seeking to walk the road yourself, Satan will easily drag you off the way and blind your eyes. And even, perchance, you do make it past Satan apart from Christ, in Matthew 7 it says he will turn you away at the gate; so it is absolutely imperative that we hold fast to Christ and Christ alone, that through his merits of learned obedience, his atoning death, and his saving resurrection, he will deliver us into Heaven.

The "Amen" here is basically the end of the letter, everything that follows is Peter’s signature and final instructions. Chapter 1:1 through 5:11 is a complete thought, and everything from 12 to 16 is a very effective application to us.

v.12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.

Peter didn’t actually pen this Epistle, though it is his thoughts, he spoke them to Silas his amanuensis who wrote them down. This is neat that in Second Peter, Peter is going to say that the words he is writing are not his, but the Holy Spirit’s, and so the Holy Spirit is inspiring Peter, Peter is speaking them, Silas is writing them, and now I’m preaching them, and the Holy Spirit is able to faithfully preserve his words and deliver them to the saints. We’ll talk more about this in a few weeks, but for now think about how big of a privilege and responsibility it is to be a herald of the Word of God.

Peter exhorts, which means to urge to take seriously, the Epistle he has just written. It’s important to remember that we have a huge privilege to have a complete Bible, but Peter is making the point that this Epistle he’s just written is able to stand-alone and for those who only had this letter, it was enough and revealed the true grace of God. He keeps pointing us towards Heaven through Christ’s resurrection as the important thing, not towards worldly wealth or health or getting as much for yourself as possible, but for glorifying Christ for his amazing grace.

Peter’s greatest exhortation is to stand firm in this grace. It reminds me of a wonderful song which says, “No guilt in life, no fear in death, here in the love of Christ I stand.”

Silvanus was a good friend of Paul’s, and here he is a good friend of Peter. There are some things in the New Testament that overlap and are quoted by other writers, and it is hugely important that we remember that the Bible is not a collection of verses, but is a complete thought by God who reveals himself to us through his Word. The writers of the New Testament were friends who grew together, confronted one another when in error, and supported each others’ ministries. Peter doesn’t talk about the requirements for a pastor, because he knew Paul did that, he doesn’t write a gospel because he knew Mark did that. Speaking of Mark, look at verse 13:

v.13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son.

The “she who is chosen” is the church; at "Babylon" is strange language but we’re fairly certain Peter is talking about Rome…so why doesn’t he say Rome? The real physical Babylon was hundreds of miles from Rome. It goes back to Peter’s point in calling Christians exiles, aliens, and strangers to this world, that Israel was a stranger in the kingdom of Babylon in the Old Testament. Rome was the capitol of the world basically when Peter was writing this. It’s important that we see that this world is not our home, that we are exiles and pilgrims, and that when we depart we will finally be home. Peter would die in Rome.

Mark, “my son,” is interesting language, Peter either really liked Mark and discipled him and counted him like a son, or maybe he really was his son. We know Peter was married, and if Mark was his real son then Peter’s wife’s name was Mary, because Acts 12:12 tells us that that was Mark’s mother’s name; but it's strange that Luke wouldn't have referred to Peter in that passage. Ultimately we don't know if this was a biological or spiritual.

What’s more important is that Peter, Mark, and Silas were in Rome together, and this again has huge implications on the construction of the Bible and that there was a beautiful fellowship of these saints to minister together. And that leads to

v.14 Greet one another with the kiss of love.

This is an affectionate greeting, kissing on the cheek. I really have no idea why it is no longer popular in Western Culture, but you can still find it practiced in many Eastern countries. What this definitely wasn’t was a kiss on the lips, and it didn’t carry with it any romance, but was purely an affection shared between friends.

In our hyper-sexualized culture where it is hugely important to avoid any and every appearance of sin we can contextualize this by greeting one another warmly with friendly handshakes and warm smiles and caring words.

Finally, the end of

v.14 Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

Basically Peter has written a whole Epistle describing how the world is at war with the church, and yet he points out that we have peace with God through Christ, which is the peace that really matters. No matter what happens to our bodies we have the full assurance of our faith which will attain the salvation of our souls through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In a life of torment and suffering and strife we have our perfect sinless Saviour who has overcome the world. Beloved, draw near to him and he will draw near to you; humble yourself before him, and he will exalt you.

March 14th - The Comma at the End of the Death Sentence

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Summit in General

Text – 1 Peter 4:1-7

One of the beautiful things about spending a whole year in a single book is that you become to be very intimate with it, you know the ins and outs, you see things you wouldn’t see on just a cursory reading, and you begin to really appreciate both the human author and the Holy Spirit. Last week this jumped out at me that Peter is really spending a LOT of time on the Resurrection of the believer. This thought is REALLY magnified in chapter four, verse 6. This isn’t Peter’s only point in this Epistle, but it is one of his main points. It’s almost like he’s doing his best to point out the benefits of the resurrection in as many ways as he can. Remember that First Thessalonians is the Epistle to the Perfect Church, and Second Thessalonians is the Epistle to the Hopeless Church; if I were to nickname Peter’s Epistle, I would call it the Resurrection Epistle.

Besides this point, which we’re going to look at today, Peter is also really big on holiness, the fact that we are aliens and pilgrims to this world, that our home is Heaven, that the Bible is our final rule of faith and life, that the soul is eternal, that salvation is forever, that good shepherds are essential for the church, and that suffering and death are inevitable. This last point is tied directly to the issue of the resurrection.

So lets look at some verses real quick just to see this theme that Peter is working:

1 Peter 1:3-4 According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…

1 Peter 1:9 …obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:19 …who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Peter 1:23 …since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…

1 Peter 2:12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

1 Peter 3:4 let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,

1 Peter 3:7 since they are heirs with you of the grace of life

1 Peter 3:14-15 Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…

1 Peter 3:18 Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit,

1 Peter 3:21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you,

So once again we’re skipping chapter 3, verses 8-12, the reason is because I think it will be beneficial to teach those verses with chapter 4, verses 7-11, because these verses bracket Peter’s most beautiful defense of the resurrection and fully understanding Peter’s emphasis on the resurrection will help us to see why passages on earthly living and loving the church are placed where they are.

So that leads us to chapter 4, verses 1-7:

1 Peter 4:1-7 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. The end of all things is at hand.

The word used for suffering here is Pathontos, it comes from Pascho, and it is a little deeper than just pain, but it almost requires pain to death, like torture. We see this in Christ, that he suffered in the flesh, and was put to death in the flesh, but as we saw in verse 18 of chapter 3, he was made alive in the Spirit. The way Peter uses this word, it pretty much requires that it is suffering to death, as we’ll see in a bit. Paul doesn’t always use this word to death, so this is why it is so important to read things in context. Christ didn’t just suffer, right? He died, and that’s what Peter means.

v.1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin…

Luke 22:14-15 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

Acts 17:3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ."

So we arm ourselves with this thinking, that it is both inevitable for us to die, and that Christ has gone before us, suffering for righteousness sake. It does us no good to not think about death, because beloved, we’re going to die, lest Christ comes soon. Verse 7 is powerful in this, Peter knew he was going to die, Christ had told him so, he knew there was no way he was getting out of this world alive, so he armed himself with the thinking that it is better to suffer and die for the sake of Christ than for vain things. I very much want to jump ahead, but also want to keep with Peter’s intent. So just briefly in a little while Peter is going to say don’t die for being a lawbreaker, die for being a witness for Christ.

And the beautiful part is that those who have died have ceased to sin; you can’t sin in Heaven. You can also apply this to Hell as well, that God will stop sinners from sinning, they will confess that Christ is Lord and even their unbelief will cease. This is another beautiful thing about going systematically through the Bible, it challenges wrong beliefs. Before we looked at the end of Chapter 3 I thought Jesus descended into Hell, but now I know he didn’t, and a verse in Revelation made me think there was sin in Hell,

Revelation 16:10-11 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

But that verse is not about Hell, it’s people who are still alive. So to die is to stop sinning. This totally refutes the belief that God hates the sin but not the sinner. There is no sin in Hell, only sinners.

So then, if we can’t sin anymore in Heaven, should we get in as much sin on earth as we possibly can? Peter says,

v.2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

He’s going to explain a little more in a second, but the major point is coming from Christ’s suffering to bring us to God, that we live for him and walk in righteousness not to earn salvation, but to glorify Christ with the life we are given and to bring others to salvation or to leave them without excuse on Judgment Day. But haven’t we sinned enough? That is Peter’s next point:

v.3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

The sins in the past are enough, they should remind us of our sinfulness, that we had much that we needed to be saved from. Peter says let that be enough, don’t live in the world any longer.

v.4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;

Two reasons they are surprised, first of all it sounds like Peter’s readers might have once partaken in these sins of outright paganism, and second because the Gentiles, or probably nations is a better translation here, think that this is all there is to life and are amazed that sojourning Christians do not want to sell their souls for the fleeting pleasure of sin. Notice that Peter doesn’t for a second say that these things aren’t fun or pleasurable, but his major point is that there is so much more to be inherited in Christ and so much more to lose than just a good time.

There is a ton in this verse, we’re just going to jump off a little of it. Notice the word Peter uses to describe their debauchery, or outright sinfulness, it’s flood, which is the very same thing that saved Noah and his family from the evil generation. The wages of sin is death, and payday is coming, Peter is driving for verse 7. The flood of death is stored up to wipe away the flood of sin, and it will, just as the flood of Christ’s blood has washed away the stain of the Christian’s sin. And the resurrection of Christ will bring us through the flood of death. Next is that the Gentile’s malign, or hate, make fun of, and slander, those who don’t partake of their sin. They did this to Jesus, calling him a glutton and a drunkard, yet it was totally slanderous, as he was obviously neither of those.

The world loves to call out Christian hypocrites, people who have done one thing wrong, but are still way less sinful than the world. I’ll give you a personal example; I’m not too into watching sports on TV, I like watching championship games and the occasional game, so when I was at the Superbowl this year and last I wore sports jerseys. In Tampa for the Arizona Cardinals I wore a Diamondbacks shirt, and in Miami I wore a Saints jersey with Psalm 37 on the back, which says that God will not forsake his saints. Both times I had belligerent fans heckle me about my sports addiction and that I was no better than them and that I couldn’t judge them. It was amazing how angry some of them got. The rebuttal is that 1. To the pure all things are pure. 2. I’m not addicted to sports. And 3. I wasn’t drunk and blaspheming like the hecklers were.

But in order to justify themselves in their own eyes, they need to drag the Christian down so as to try to make themselves seem ok for Judgment Day. This is obviously utter foolishness because the standard isn’t other people, but Jesus Christ himself, which is verse 5.

v.5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

We need to remind people that they won’t be judged against us, and whether Christians totally abstain or totally partake of their sin, they are going to be judged against perfection, and making someone else look more sinful isn’t going to help at all in front of the judge.

Imagine a car thief standing in front of the judge and saying, “Well at least I didn’t murder the owner of the car like that guy did.” Sure, the other guy is more guilty, but that doesn’t absolve the guilt of the thief. On Judgment Day an account will be given by all people, the living and the dead. So here Peter realizes that the gospel seemingly doesn’t help with the death problem, that all people die. This was a big stumbling block for me before becoming a Christian, that if the Bible seemingly promises eternal life, why then do Christians die?

Friedrich Nietzsche, a famous atheist who lost his mind at the end of his life, believed that faith was worthless because both the faithful and the faithless were afflicted and died. The greatest argument against this is the resurrection, which is Peter’s next point.

v.6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

This is without a doubt my favorite verse. What is the point of preaching the gospel to people who are dead? Why did Noah preach repentance to people who would die eventually anyways? I mean, Noah was saved from the flood, but still he died at 950 years old, so why preach the gospel if we’re going to die anyways?

It’s because judgment is coming to all people, a flood of death, but through Jesus Christ’s resurrection and his application to believers, we will live in the Spirit the way God does. The gospel is not only for life, it is not only for death, it is for both. We both live a godly life and partake in the blessings of the gospel in this life, but we also trust in Christ and his righteousness and resurrection to bring us through our baptism into death, to give us a perfect will in Heaven that we will neither want to sin nor ever sin again.

My favorite verse deals with this in John 11.

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

And we must remember that in all of this Peter was an eye-witness of Christ’s resurrection, the best attested to historical fact in antiquity. Peter, who was afraid of a little girl before the resurrection then stood up to kings and crowds after the resurrection. We trust in the resurrection for three major reasons, its historicity, the effect it has on people, and because the Bible says so. It is a beautiful testament to the truth of Christianity, and it helps us set our affections fully on Heaven, for here we are just sojourners, pilgrims, aliens without a permanent home, and we have no lasting city on this earth, but we seek the city that is to come, which Christ will deliver us into on his righteousness and through his resurrection.

Finally, the beginning of verse 7 gives us a character of urgency and godliness.

v.7 The end of all things is at hand.

In Second Peter he is going to make a minor addendum to this to say that while the end is at hand, it is at hand in God’s time, not necessarily our time. Because really it’s been 1950 years since Peter wrote this and the end has not yet come, and in Second Peter he is going to make a masterful defense of why not.

But ultimately in the grander scope of eternity, the end really is at hand, within our grasp. And this verse really wrecks the Left Behind view of eschatology, that the millennium is not at hand, that Christ’s kingdom is not at hand, but that the Judgment is at hand when this world will be dissolved with fire and the new Heavens and Earth will be created.

So in conclusion, we are called to suffering, both the painful kind and the kind to death. Because Christ is risen death is dead, we will be saved and will no longer be able to sin, so we strive for holiness, we stand against sin, we call others to repentance so that they will glorify God through their salvation and not through their condemnation. Our former sins are enough, we do our best to abstain from all ungodliness, and we trust wholly in the resurrection to come, because through it we will be made eternally alive in Christ, even though our bodies will die.

December 20th - Giving the Gift of Eternal Life

Giving the Gift of Eternal Life

Sermon Notes

Canyon Shearer

20 December 2009

Good morning, for those of you visiting this morning, I am not the pastor, but I do thank him for graciously loaning me his pulpit. My name is Canyon Shearer, I am Summit’s volunteer pastor of evangelism and I also teach Middle School Bible on Sundays. One of the reasons I am preaching this morning is because as of Friday, I have some letters after my name, an MDiv in counseling and an MAR in evangelism. In the 8:30 service we almost didn't get to the sermon, I was so mesmerized by the idea that I don't have a paper due this week that I just stared at the screen.

Please turn with me to Psalm 107. While you’re turning, let me tell you a brief story, you’re going to notice that I don’t move around too much behind this pulpit. The reason is because my normal stage is a soap-box that sits about 18 inches tall, and has a platform about two feet square. If I move around, I’ll fall off. I was preaching once in the open-air from my soap-box and had a lady heckle me, she yelled at me and told me to go read a certain popular book and I would see that “my god is a god of love, and he wouldn’t send anyone to Hell.” I did the last thing that she expected, I agreed with her, I cried out, “Ma’am, you are right, your god wouldn’t send anyone to Hell because he can’t, because he is a figment of your imagination; your god doesn’t exist!” When I said so I put some body movement into it, inertia took over; I lost my balance, and took a tumble. Sometimes when open-air preaching, it is hard to draw a crowd, that day was one of those days, but when I fell off my portable stage people came over to see what was going on and God was able to use my overzealous clumsiness for good.

So that is why I don’t move around much, because this stage is somewhat higher than my soap-box, and if I fell off, I might not get back up.

Hopefully by now you’re seeing a theme, that I like evangelism, and since I know you came this morning expecting a Christmas themed sermon, I’m going to do my best to point you not so much at the event of Christmas, but at the purpose of Christmas, that of giving the gift of Eternal Life. And as we do well to remember; Christmas without Easter wouldn’t be a holiday at all, and Easter without Resurrection Sunday wouldn’t be a holiday either. The whole thing revolves around Jesus’ ability to defeat death, and yet a famous Genevan Reformer once put it perfectly that, “If the gospel be not preached, Christ is, as it were, buried, let us stand as witnesses therefore and do him this honor.” Indeed it might even be said that if the gospel be not preached, Christ might as well not even have been born.

So we’re going to read from Psalm 107 today on how to do that. First, some basic context; this Psalm is anonymous and contextless. There is some evidence that this Psalm was written after the return from the Babylonian exile, but there is also some evidence that refutes that. Without going into it too deeply, the Psalmist here did a fantastic job of writing a beautiful Psalm that works for all believers at all times, and I encourage you to read the entire Psalm later today and see if it doesn’t tell your story; but today we are only going to read the first three verses.

Stand with me out of respect towards the Word of God.

Psalm 107:1-3 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

Prayer – Father, bless the reading and hearing of your Word, let us be doers and not just hearers, recognizing that you are good and your steadfast love endures forever, you have redeemed us from so many wicked things but mainly from the curse of sin, and that you did by sending your Son Jesus Christ. Let us who are the redeemed proclaim your goodness and your grace, your love and your mercy, so that you receive the glory, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, amen.

I know you may be thinking that this is a stretch for a Christmas passage, but beloved, I can assure you that it has everything to do with Christmas. My first point is that we have to know the purpose of Christmas just as much as we have to know the event of Christmas. We all know the story of the census, the manger, the angels, the wise men, the Nazarene baby born of a virgin in Bethlehem called out of Egypt, but why is any of that important? Let’s let scripture answer that, why did Jesus come, why was he born?

John 12:46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

Luke 4:17-19 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He (Jesus) unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

And my favorite,

John 18:37-38 Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"

Jesus was born to bear witness to the truth, and what is truth? The truth is our first verse, that the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever. He is both totally righteous and totally merciful, the just and the justifier, God is love and yet God will by no means clear the guilty; he is a perfect judge and a perfect judge must be just, will not the judge of all the earth do right? Yet he is love and a loving God is mighty to save. these are totally contradictory ideas yet Jesus came to bear witness that God is both good and merciful, but the judge and the forgiver.

Now the translation you are using may not say steadfast love, the reason being is because this word in Hebrew is impossible to translate, it is Chesed and it carries so many meanings with it that it is very difficult to capture in a single word.

The ESV translates it as steadfast love.

The Holman translates it as faithful love.

The KJV translates it as mercy.

The NIV translates it simply as love.

The NASB translates it as lovingkindness.

In fact, the English word lovingkindness was actually invented to try to capture the meaning of Chesed. The word bears with it a faithful love in action that overlooks transgression; grace or agape love fit into the definition of Chesed. Remember this word, we’re going to be looking at it momentarily.

Our second verse says that the redeemed of the Lord ought to bear witness to the truth, but we have to ask ourselves first, what are we redeemed from? This is our second point.

Galatians 4:4-5 When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

We are redeemed from under the law, the law which meant life but which when transgressed has meant death for you and I. This is precisely the definition of sin, according to First John 3:4 which says sin is transgression against the law. One of the biggest sins, I’m sure, is trying to set ourselves up as God, check out Proverbs 20:6.

Proverbs 20:6 Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?

Anybody want to take a guess as to which word translates steadfast love? You guessed it, Chesed. Only God has a perfect steadfast love, a perfect chesed, yet almost every person will proclaim their own. The KJV really gets this verse right when they translate it here, “most men will proclaim every one his own goodness.” And it's true, I've asked over 2,000 people if they consider themselves to be a good person, and I've yet to find a non-Christians who would answer this question correctly, "There is none good but God."

Beloved, if you’re good, then you don’t need to be redeemed, and you certainly don’t need a Redeemer, because you’ve set yourself up as your own personal redeemer. You’ve pretty much declared to God that you are as good as him and therefore are set to go, Jesus agrees in Luke 5 when he says,

Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

He doesn't save good people, he came to save the bad. How do we turn ourselves and others from declaring our own godliness to recognizing that we and they are a sinners in need of redemption? Just as Jesus was born to redeem those of us under the law, so does that same law show us our sin.

Romans 3:19-20 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Jesus said he came to seek and save the lost, if you’ve never been lost, how could you be saved? And this not an easy law, it’s a law that says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” but Jesus said, “If you look with lust, you’re guilty of adultery already in your heart.” It’s a law that says, “Thou shalt not commit murder, and everyone who murders is liable to the judgment,” but Jesus said, “If you hate someone, or call them an idiot or a curse word, you’ll be judged as a murderer, and you’re liable to Hell.” It’s a law that says all liars will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. Surely the wrath of God will be revealed against all ungodliness.

To this effect the evangelist Leonard Ravenhill said,

"If I was to ask you tonight if you were saved? Do you say 'Yes, I am saved'. When? 'Oh so and so preached, I got baptized and...' Are you saved? What are you saved from, hell? Are you saved from bitterness? Are you saved from lust? Are you saved from cheating? Are you saved from lying? Are you saved from bad manners? Are you saved from rebellion against your parents? Come on, what are you saved from?"

I was preaching on KSU some time ago and a female student cried out, “We don’t care!” I responded, “That’s why I’m out here!” She responded, “But we don’t care!” I replied, “I know you don’t care, you need to care and know that lest you repent, you will surely perish, unless you care, you won’t recognize that Jesus Christ is God and you are not.”

She put together a very eloquent and very well structured reply of nothing but curse words pointed at Jesus Christ, then turned and directed a similar assault towards me.

Beloved, I was offended, she said some very nasty things about me, I wanted to vindicate myself so badly and it was everything I could do to not cry out, “Watch your mouth, there’s ladies present!” But something, or more accurately someone, inside of me was also offended, the Holy Spirit, infinitely more offended and infinitely more capable of vindicating Jesus Christ than I was of vindicating myself; so my response came from Psalm 73 and 139 fused together,

“When you take the name of the Lord your God in vain, you set your mouth against Heaven, you declare war on the God who made you. And this is not a God who loses wars.”

Remember I said that sometimes gathering a crowd is difficult? That day was somewhat slow, but with her outright assault against God, a very large crowd that was walking by stopped in their tracks, and I was able to go instantly into the gospel, which is how we are redeemed.

This is my favorite part and the third point. Martin Luther said to preach 90% law and 10% grace, in other words, 90% what you need redeeming from and 10% how you are redeemed; which means most of the message to unbelievers should be outright violence, seeking to show them their lostness, their hopelessness, their sinfulness, then when they see that they are not good, that they are dead in their sins and trespasses, enemies of righteousness, children of wrath, children of disobedience, children of Hell, following after their father the devil and utterly without hope, then you finally you get to open the floodgates of grace.

And how are we redeemed? Two-thousand and some years ago, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, stepped out of Heaven, born of the virgin Mary, he lived a perfect sinless life, tempted in every way we’ve been tempted but he never succumbed, then thirty three years later he went willingly to the cross to pay for our sins. He would pray in Psalm 69 that what he did not steal he had come to repay, we broke the law and he paid the fine. The wrath of God against sin was poured out on him, and he died in our place, despised by men and forsaken by his Father...and then he was laid in a tomb.

He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we can become the righteousness of God in him.

Hebrews 9:15 sums up our redemption,

Hebrews 9:15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

But beloved, it doesn’t end there, but if the gospel be not preached, it might as well; but three days later Jesus Christ rose from the grave, he lives forevermore to judge the quick and the dead and to make intercession for his saints.

So what ought we do about it? This is the third part of our passage and my fourth and last point. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

Notice the verb here, say, you're never going to guess what it means. It means to say, it means speak, which means vocalize, it means declare, it means open your mouth, it means tell, it means you have say something. Peter shares the sentiment in 1 Peter 2:9, that we ought to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Paul said in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of Christ. Jesus said that he who has ears, let him hear. You have to speak, you have to proclaim, you have to vocalize that God is good and his steadfast love endures forever.

There is a quote that many hide behind that says, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” A parallel would be saying, “Feed starving children at all times and when necessary use food.” Beloved, you have to open your mouth, being deliberate as the redeemed of the Lord to tell people of your redemption, both what you were redeemed from what you were redeemed to and how you were redeemed, and especially about your Redeemer.

We’ve all heard that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and so beloved, in this Christmas season and out of this Christmas season, I implore you as the redeemed of the Lord to proclaim the excellencies of the King who was born from Heaven, who though he was rich for our sake became poor, in order that he and now we give the gift of Eternal life. Just as Jesus’ purpose was to bear witness to the truth, you go likewise and make it your purpose to bear witness to the truth.

Titus 2:13-15 really sums up the whole thing well,

Titus 2:13-15 We are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

I love that last verse, let no one disregard you, you go after them anyways, tell them they have to listen to you! You have the words of Eternal Life! So let us as the redeemed of the Lord say so.

And finally, as powerful, as beautiful, and as Christmassy as Psalm 107 is, there is an implication within this verse that it is the redeemed of the Lord who are to be doing the speaking; if you are not redeemed, then this passage is not for you, you have no part nor lot in the kingdom of Heaven, you are still under the law, and God’s wrath abides on you.

If you have never repented towards Heaven and placed your faith in the Living Christ in order to receive forgiveness and righteousness, then I implore you in the name of the Redeemer Jesus Christ, be reconciled to God. There is one mediator between you and God, the man Jesus Christ, who was dead but is alive, so where you sit call out to him in repentance, beg him to save you, and beloved be sure that he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to him in faith. If you have questions, we have counselors available, but they can't save you, only the Nazarene baby born in a manger in Bethlehem called out of Egypt who grew up to die for you can save you; he is good, he steadfast love does endure forever, and he is mighty to save.

For those of us who are redeemed, the call today is to follow Jesus, emulate him in seeking and saving the lost, giving the gift of eternal life, and bearing witness to the steadfast love of Jesus Christ. Maybe that is through an overseas mission trip, maybe that is through open air preaching and street ministry, maybe it is through teaching a class, maybe it is through being an assistant teacher, or maybe you're not even in a fellowship and you need to take the first step and join this church. Whichever it is, beloved, I ask you to do something to declare the excellencies of your King.

Let’s pray. – Lord God Almighty, we are so humbled under your love, that you would send your Son from Heaven to dwell among men so that we would no longer have to dwell under the law, but that you have adopted us as sons. How can we keep this to ourselves? As your redeemed give us the words to speak and the boldness to speak them so that your name receives the glory, for you are good, and your steadfast love endures forever. Let us hail the heaven born Prince of Peace, who has brought life and light, let us join with the heavenly host as they sing his praises. In the righteous and resurrected name of Jesus Christ that I pray, amen.

Benediction

Charles Spurgeon, after preaching a sermon similar to this one, gave one of the best exhortations I’ve ever heard. Charles Spurgeon was a famous preacher in the late 1800’s, the man had a vocabulary that was so large he could make a dictionary blush for inferiority, and so you knew every time he said something it was going to be precisely what he intended to say. When exhorting his hearers, as the redeemed of the Lord to say so, he summarized his sermon this way, “Do something, do something, do something!”

So beloved, I implore you to do something, we have resources on the welcome desk that will teach and equip you on how to give the gift of eternal life, or check out Summit's website, we have a fantastic gospel presentation that is designed to be sent to your friends and family. Just do something.

Remember that if the gospel be not preached, Christ is, as it were, buried, let us stand therefore as witnesses and do him this honor.

Stand with me for your benediction, and won’t you please give someone the gift of Eternal Life this season. Your benediction today is from Isaiah 60 and Second Thessalonians:

Arise, and shine, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness the people, but the glory of the Lord has risen upon you and his light is seen upon you, and nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. May the Lord Jesus Christ himself establish your hearts in every good work and word so that through your life all of the glory goes to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Merry Christmas. Amen.

July 12th - Hope

Prayer Requests
Vacation Bible School
Sarah and Tyler Going to China
Pastor Aaron Preaching

Text – 2 Thessalonians 1:3

We’re going to spend an entire lesson today on a word that is not there. We’ve already looked at this verse, twice, actually, but something flew out at me while preparing that we HAVE to look at, because it sums up the WHOLE letter of 2 Thessalonians, and it’s a missing word.

Let’s see if you can see it,

2 Thessalonians 1:3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

What’s missing? Let’s look at First Thessalonians and First Corinthians;

1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Faith, _______, and Love. These three are a unit, they’re a trinity of good things; a three legged stool, remove one and the other two fall.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. If we lose hope, we lose faith, if we lose faith, we lose our justification, if we lose our justification, we lose everything. Have any of you ever heard of anybody being someone afraid of Hebrews 6 and what it seems to say? Hebrews 6 sounds like you might be able to lose your salvation, if you read it wrongly; but of course that is not true, for we trust in the perseverance of the saints, that he who began a good work in you will see it to completion on the Day of Christ.

Hebrews 6 is about how vital hope is to our salvation, and beloved, if we are without hope, then we are without salvation. Hebrews 6 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, because I’m not afraid of it because I know that the author could not possibly be saying that we can lose our salvation, so we see what this passage is trying to teach us.

It’s strange all of the sudden that we’re in Hebrews 6, but it’s so vital for hope, and because of what it says is why Thessalonica was without hope. It begins by instructing teachers not to spend all of their time on salvation. It is wonderful to preach repentance, faith in Christ, the resurrection, eternal judgment; but there is SOOOOOOO much more to the faith. It says that if you’re saved, that you can’t be resaved, so what is the point of then spending all of your time trying to get saints saved. We have a much better hope and infinitely better inheritance in front of us than just being saved.

Don’t get me wrong, salvation is awesome, it is huge, it is worth talking about, but Hebrews 6 says don’t fixate on one thing while ignoring the full richness of our inheritance in Christ.

Hebrews 6:11-12 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

I earnestly desire to see in each of you the full assurance of the hope we have, so that you might serve the church in love, that this faith and patience will lead to the full inheritance of all of the promises that are available in Christ, not just the salvation.

Hebrews 6:18-20 It is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hope is huge. Where does it come from?

Ephesians 2:12-13 Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

We were without hope without God, but through Jesus Christ shedding his blood, purchasing us in his ransom, we have a full assurance of hope in him.

Hebrews 3:6 Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Hope does not disappoint.

Romans 8:24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Wouldn’t it be a little weird if I said, “I hope [student in class] comes to class today.” Of course it would be weird, because they’re here, I don’t hope because I see, I know, there is no patience required.

On the other hand, would it be weird if I said, “I hope [regular attender not present] comes to class today.” No, because there is a chance of that happening, but my hope is not perfect.

How about, “I hope Pastor Aaron comes to class today.” This is not really hope, because we know he is preaching right now and has made no obligation to come, and so while it would be nice if he’d stop in and say hi, this hope is small.

On the other hand, if before class I said, “I hope [student in class] comes to class today.” And I had talked to that student and he/she told me they were coming, because I trust them, and their parents, my hope was well founded and I wasn’t the least bit surprised when he/she came into class.

Hebrews 10:19-23 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

When Jesus Christ makes a promise, beloved, you’d better believe it is binding. He has promised to return, to gather his saints to him, to present us holy and blameless and above reproach before his Father. It is a big hope, and Thessalonica didn’t have it, and it wrecked their lives.

Jenny asked why they believed the false letter that said they had missed the rapture. I had to think about it a lot, and I think I have the answer. They were trusting in men rather than God, and Satan has many tricksters, tricks, and schemes to damage the faith of the believer and blind the eyes of the unbeliever.

My guess, and this is largely conjecture, but is founded on verses and also on past experiences, is that Thessalonica was trusting more in men than God. For example, I felt awful after our lesson on dating/purity when I said I wasn’t dating or even kissing another girl until I was pretty sure she was the one I was going to marry, then I went and dated a girl who I realized probably there was no future with, but because of circumstances I skipped some important steps. Beloved, I will do my best to be faithful, honest, and true, but I guarantee I will let you down again as I have in the past; so trust in Jesus, who will never let you down.

So why did Thessalonica trust the letter that was supposedly from Paul that said they’d missed the rapture, even when it was directly contradictory with his first letter, which said that saints would be caught up to meet Christ in the air when he returned?

First hint:

2 Thessalonians 3:2 [Pray] that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.

Second hint:

Romans 16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae.

Third hint:

Ephesians 6:21 So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.

The person that carried a letter was an emissary, an ambassador, a representative of the one who wrote the letter. It was a very important position to deliver a letter, and one that required a high level of trust. Not everybody Paul ever ministered with ended up being completely perfect in their theology, we see this Mark abandoning them, Barnabas temporarily falling in with the works-righteous crowd, Timothy starting out in the circumcision-party, and the fourth hint as to why the church at Thessalonica believed the letter;

2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Demas had ministered with Paul for at least two years, and yet he ended up being a false convert. Could there have been a Judas in the mix of Paul’s disciples who delivered a false letter under the guise of being a real disciple? Quite possibly, Demas may have even been the one who delivered both letters to Thessalonica, albeit that is a pretty wild leap.

However it happened, I would bet you that the same person delivered the fake letter as the first letter, and so the church accepted it as being from Paul.

There is a powerful application in this, that me, and your other teachers/preachers who may faithfully bring you the word still shouldn’t be trusted above God. I may preach a rock-solid message one week, then next week I may tell you that in order to go to Heaven, you have to give me $100. The false message doesn’t make the true message false, but the true message also doesn’t make the false message true. Don’t let your guard down, and make sure your hope is in Christ alone.



I was preaching at the Superbowl and had a particularly gifted heckler. He really got me off track and I lost my place in my sermon. I had gotten through that you need to be perfect to go to Heaven, and taken them through some of God’s law to show them they stood condemned before God. At this point, they were without hope. A Christian chimed in from the crowd to get me back on track, he asked, “So you’re telling us we’re without hope?!?!”

It was one of my favorite times open air preaching, my response: “Hope? Hope! O blessed hope; there is hope! When we were without hope, without God in the world, we have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Christ paid our fine on the cross, God manifest in the flesh died for us and defeated death! We can be reconciled to him if we will repent and trust in Jesus Christ, that his payment on Calvary’s cross was entirely sufficient to pay our way into Heaven! I implore you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, be reconciled to God! That’s hope!"

One of Dave’s favorite songs is My Hope is Built on Nothing Less by Edward Mote. Two verses of it go,

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteous;
No merit of my own I claim
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, his covenant, his blood
Sustain me in the raging flood;
When all supports are washed away,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.



When Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, where was his hope and trust? In God and the resurrection. The same with Christ, his hope and trust was in the unfailing promise of God of the resurrection to come. When Thessalonica lost this hope, they lost everything, even their hope and joy in temporal things.

When you would go to Jerusalem on Mt. Zion in the days of David all the way through Christ, you’d have to walk well trodden paths that went through such wonderful sounding places as the “Valley of Death” and other such dangerous and wicked places. Pagans in the area knew that Jews would be making these pilgrimages at certain times, and would set-up for business, selling food, wares, and gods along the path, usually on the hills so that they could be seen. A song that David wrote was specifically designed to be sung when these things were encountered,

Psalm 121:1-2 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

We see this today in many ways; think about Christmas, what are we supposed to be celebrating on Christmas? The birth of Jesus Christ; what do the pagans want us to celebrate? Stuff. On Easter, what should we be celebrating? The resurrection of Jesus Christ; what do the pagan want us to do? Look for eggs.

I lift my eyes unto the stores, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of all this stuff.

2 Corinthians 1:7-10 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

Set your hope on Christ, on his death and resurrection. He is your help and shield, your life and righteousness. He is faithful, he is worthy of your faith and hope, hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into us through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

1 John 2:28-3:3 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Benediction: Now, may the God of hope grant you all joy and peace in believing, that through the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)