I don't know what I was thinking. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number two in the spiral hymnal, number two. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. In commemoration now we stand
Fill our hearts with thy rich praise To our lips to sing thy
praise In thine own appointed way Now we see, we hear, we say,
For we know not how to know, Till a blessing now we sow. Send a message from thy Word,
And make all Please be seated. Oh, how that is our hope, isn't
it? That the Lord would send his
spirit and power and impart his peace to our hearts as we're
able to look to Christ, to rest our hope in him. I wanted to
read those verses from Daniel chapter 12, some raised to everlasting
life, some to everlasting shame and contempt. I've titled this
message, No Shame Christ, no shame in Christ. Our text is
found in Hosea chapter 4. The northern ten tribes of Israel
had forsaken the Lord and were involved in the worship of idols. Judah the two southern nations
who were still in Jerusalem were being faithful. And our Lord
warns Judah in this text how many times our loving Heavenly
Father warns us of the dangers that exist out in the world. This is not a message against
those who are involved in idolatry and worshiping false gods and
believing a false gospel. This is a message for God's people,
as all messages ultimately are. They're all for those who are
able to hear. And, uh, it is our father telling
us about about the dangers that exist when we when we in any
way compromise the truth of who Christ is and what he has accomplished
for us. And as a result of that comes
great shame. Look at verse 15, though thou
Israel play the harlot, they were listening to false prophets,
engaged in false worship, believing a false gospel. The Lord tells
us, try the spirits, see whether they be of God, for many false
prophets have gone out into the world. And if it were possible,
which it's not, even the elect would be deceived. It's a very subtle thing. when the gospel begins to be
compromised. Scott and I were talking about
this before the service about a person we know who made one
compromise and it led to a complete denial of the gospel. A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. And so the Lord's speaking to
Judah. He's speaking to his people. He's speaking to his children.
And he's pointing out what Israel is doing. And he tells them,
don't follow them. Look what he says, come not ye
to Gilgal. Gilgal was a very famous place. Gilgal is where Joshua camped
when they crossed the Jordan River with the children of Israel
after the death of Moses. Gilgal was the place from which
Jericho was attacked. and defeated. And of course the
children of Israel believed that this was a place of blessing,
this was a place of God's power, and they attached to that physical
place a hope in the blessings of God on them But they had perverted
the worship of God to the worship of idols in Gilgal. And so the Lord's warning the
children of Judah, don't do what Israel's doing. Don't think that
worship can be done in a place that's going to obligate God
to bless you. Don't live off of yesterday's
grace. That's what they were doing.
They were looking back to a past blessing that God had given them
in the destruction of Jericho from Gilgal. And they thought,
well, God did that once there. He'll be obligated to do it again.
How easily it is for us to be tempted to look back to past
graces And past blessings, how easy it is for us to think that
that's, no. How subtle it is that we look
away from the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, for in him is all
the promises of God, yea and amen, sure and fulfilled in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not in a place, it's not
in a memory, it's not in a time, it's not in a, no, it's in a
person. It's in a person. And being men
of flesh as we are, we often mind the things of the flesh.
And we are often prone to look for the blessings of God and
the and the hope of salvation somewhere outside of the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But when we are, by God's grace,
enabled to set our affections on things above and to look in
faith to Him, that's when all shame goes away. All men know what shame is. You
would have to have a seared conscience not to know what shame was. Shame
is the guilt that comes as a result of sin. The first mention of
shame is in Genesis chapter two, when the Bible says that Adam
and Eve were naked and they were not ashamed. They were not ashamed
until what happened? Until they sinned, until they
disobeyed God, And then the Lord, they hide. Now they're hiding
from God, aren't they? And the Lord knows exactly where
he is, but in order to expose Adam, Adam, where art thou? And
what does Adam say? Adam says, I heard thy voice
in the garden, and I was afraid for I was naked. He wasn't ashamed
before. He wasn't afraid before. But
now sin has come, and he's afraid. And the Lord says to Adam, Adam,
who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree that
I commanded you not to eat of? That's how shame comes, isn't
it? It comes as a result of sin. And the Lord says that, look
back with me. Let's go back to verse seven
of the same chapter. And they were increased, so they
sinned against me. Therefore will I change their
glory into shame." They were glorying in what they were doing,
in their idolatry, in their false worship. They were glorying in
their works. They were glorying in their accomplishments.
They were glorying in Gilgal. They were glorying in Beth-Avon. You see that? Go back with me
to verse 15. Neither go ye up to Beth-Avon,
Now Beth-Avon, translated, means the house of vanity. But it's
a synonym for Bethel. Now what happened at Bethel?
When Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau, Bethel's the place. Bethel, translated, means the
house of God. And that's the place where God
gave Jacob that vision of the ladder going up into heaven.
and the angels ascending and descending on that ladder. And Jacob built an altar there. He took the stones from his pillow
and made a memorial. And Bethel was a very special
place. And he called it, this is the house of God and the promises
of God that God made to Jacob there in Bethel. And so now the
Israelites are going back to Bethel They're calling at the
house of God, they're calling their worship, worship of Jehovah,
and God calls it Beth-Avon, the house of vanity. He says, your
worship is empty. There's no substance to it because
Christ is not in it. You have forsaken the gospel,
you've forsaken The truth. And so, and you're glorying in
what is your shame. And the Lord goes on to warn
Judah, his faithful people, at the end of verse 15, neither
go ye up to Bethphagen, nor swear the Lord liveth. Now the word
Lord there is the word Jehovah. These Israelites were engaged
in idol worship because they had compromised the form of worship
that God had given them. They had compromised who God
was, but they still were calling him Jehovah. Is this not a warning for us
today? How many false gospels, how many false churches, how
many Bethavens that are being called Bethel, the house of God,
but in fact, they are the house of vanity. Men are glorying in
what they're doing. And the Lord says it's to their
shame. And they're using the Lord's name. They're using the
Lord's name. The third commandment in the
Ten Commandments is that we are not to use the Lord's name in
Dane. We're not to empty it of its
meaning. We hear our religious friends
throwing our Lord's name around as if he's the next door neighbor
or their best bud. They've emptied the name Jesus
of what it means. They've denied his glory in salvation
by crediting themselves and glorying in what God says is their shame. And how the Lord is saying to
us, be careful how you use the Lord's name. Don't swear the
Lord liveth. We're offended when we hear profane
person an irreligious profane person use our Lord's name in
a cursing fashion but I know from my own experience
that to use the Lord's name in a religious manner is worse to empty his name of of its meaning,
and to stand and tell lies about him is much worse than taking
his name in vain as a curse word. And that's exactly what they're
doing here. And so the Lord's telling us, when you come into
the house of God, be reverent, not only The people use the Lord's name
in vain in conversation. They use the Lord's name in vain.
The preachers use the Lord's name in vain in worship. And
then you have music that's being promoted as Christian music,
contemporary Christian music. You know, I was thinking, it
seems to me that any music that, and I like different, types of
music and I like to sing songs and nothing wrong with secular
music in its right place. But when it comes to worship,
worship is not a cultural thing. Worship is a spiritual exercise
and any music that moves my body, is not worshipful. I can remember
when our kids were teenagers, we exposed them to Christian
rock music. And this is what the Lord's taught.
This is such, it's such blasphemy to take the Lord's name and to
use it in this fashion. And the Lord's telling us there's
nothing but shame in that. And in order for, in the day
when Michael comes, and the books are opened and the names are
read, some will rise to everlasting life. That's where I want to
be. And others to everlasting shame. What they glory in now will be
their shame then. Judah, don't follow their example
in any way. For Israel, verse 16, slideth
back as a backsliding heifer. Now the Lord, and I spent some time on the last phrase
of this verse 16, because as it's translated in our King James,
it doesn't seem to fit what the Lord's saying. And I found that
there are some words here I believe a better translation of the second
part of verse 16 is, can the Lord now feed them as a lamb
in a large place? Or will the Lord now feed them
as a lamb? It's a rhetorical question. Will
the Lord feed them as a lamb in a large place? Ephraim is
joined to idols. Ephraim is being used for Israel. They're joined to idols. Leave
him alone. Can't read that verse without
thinking about what the Lord told the disciples when they
came to him and said, Lord, the Pharisees are offended. And don't
you know that in the minds of the disciples, they were trying
to figure out some way to involve the religious leaders in what
they were doing. And what did the Lord say to
the disciples? Leave them alone. alone. They are blind guides leading
the blind and they shall all fall in to the ditch. I believe
that's what the Lord is telling us here, just leave them alone.
Just don't even, don't participate, don't be tempted to think there
may have some truth. There They're using the Lord's
name in vain. They're calling on the name of
Jehovah in their worship. They're bound to idols. They're
going to Gilgal and Bethel and their worship is vanity. You worship God in spirit and
in truth and you won't have anything to be ashamed of. Verse 18, their drink is sour.
They have committed whoredom continually. Her rulers love
shame. Give to them. Their rulers love their shame. Let them have it. Let them have
it. The wind hath bound her up in
her wings, and they shall, they shall be ashamed. of their sacrifice. One day, they will know that all that they're doing in
seeking to work their way to heaven, in participating in denying
Christ His glory and salvation, and participating in a false
gospel, That which they glory in will be their shame, and all
of their sacrifices will be their shame. But Lord, but Lord, we've
cast out demons in your name, and we've done many wonderful
works in your name. And what does the Lord say? Those
were your sacrifices. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. These are the ones that are being
raised, Daniel chapter 12, verse 2, to everlasting shame. and contempt. Depart from me,
the most, that would be the most terrible
thing to hear. Those words spoken. You workers of iniquity. What you thought was to your
glory, what you thought was actually to your shame. Depart from me,
you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Had you known
me, you wouldn't have been worshiping idols. You wouldn't have been
trusting in your shame. Men experience the conviction of
conscience as a result of sin. That's what shame is. And then
they seek to salve their conscience with with religion, with a works
gospel. They seek to atone for their
sin by something that they can do. I can make up for this. I
can fix this problem. And here's what the Lord's warning
Judah about. No, you can't. You can't atone
for your sins. You can't fix it. You can't make
up for it. There's only one that can do
that for you. and they that believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Shall not be ashamed. The Lord told, gave Adam a word
of hope. After he, after he exposed his
shame, he covered his shame. He slew a lamb and shed its blood,
and he covered the nakedness of Adam. And he told Adam, the
seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. Adam,
nevertheless, was not allowed to stay in the garden. He had
to go out into a world where he was going to labor by the
sweat of his brow. He was going to suffer sorrow.
and sufferings and shame as a result of his sin. And here we are,
the descendants of Adam. Oh, we long to get back to paradise. We long for that place where
there is no shame, there is no tears, there is no death, there
is no sorrow. But in the meantime, in the meantime,
we're in this world where we're going to labor by the sweat of
our brow, and the ground's going to produce thorns and thistle,
and we're going to have to deal with our old man, and we're going
to have shame as a result of our sin. What is the solution? Who is the solution? What are
we going to do about this problem? Turn with me to Revelation chapter
3. Revelation chapter 3. The Lord is rebuking his church,
the church at Laodicea, the lukewarm church. What did they do? They compromised the gospel. Yeah, a little bit here, a little
bit there. It's not really that big a deal. And he says in verse 17, because
thou sayeth, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing,
knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked? Here's where we are. Oh, we're
so prone to glory and that which is our shame. We glory in our
accomplishments. We glory in our good deeds. And the Lord's saying, don't
glory in those things. You're poor, you're naked. I counsel thee, I counsel thee
to buy of me gold that tried in the fire. Now there's the
Lord Jesus on Calvary's cross. He's the gold that's tried in
the fire when the fiery wrath of God's judgment fell upon him.
And the scripture says that he despised the shame of the cross. And we'll get to that in a moment,
but look what he says. to buy me gold tried in the fire,
that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest
be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. There's only one way to cover
our nakedness, and that's with that lamb skin. The Lord clothed
Adam with the skin of a lamb. all the fig leaves that men sew
together in order to try to in order to try to atone for their
sin then cover up their shame cover up their shame you have to have a white a robe to cover the shame of thy nakedness
Adam wasn't ashamed until sin came. And now we look at ourselves
and the Lord saying to Judah, Judah, don't do what Israel did. Israel is glorying in their shame. And give it to them, but don't
you go there. Don't you go there. You glory
in Christ and in him, in him, there is no shame. Romans chapter
five, verse five says, we have a hope that maketh not ashamed,
not ashamed. What does that mean? That means
that Daniel chapter 12, verse two, when Michael comes and the
trump of God sounds and the dead in Christ are raised, And the
names are written, names are read in the Lamb's Book of Life
that the hope that we have in Christ, all of our hope is in
Him. All the hope for our righteousness, all of the hope for our justification,
all the hope for our life is in Christ. Christ is all we have,
He's all we need. He's our life. We have a hope
that maketh not ashamed. We don't have to fear being ashamed
in that day. If we had to present something
to God for our righteousness or for our justification, we
would find ourselves ashamed. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. ashamed Romans 933 and Romans
1011 all both those verses say the same thing Paul said nevertheless
I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded
that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Oh, to have all
shame taken away. That's our hope, that's our blessing,
that's our life. To have all shame removed. Hebrews chapter two, verse 11.
He that sanctifyeth, that's the Lord Jesus who made us holy,
and they which are sanctified are all as one," we're talking
about that union with Christ, the head's not separated from
the body, never has been, are all as one, therefore, he is
not ashamed to call them his brethren. He's not ashamed. Those who look to Christ for
all their salvation. He's not ashamed of them. He
gets all the glory. Hebrews 11, verse 16, he is not
ashamed to be called their God. Turn with me to 1 John 1. 1 John
1. Verse 28, and now little children,
Judah, abide in him, abide in him. As the branch abide in the vine,
which gets all of its life from the vine, so abide in him. First John chapter one, verse
28, and now little children abide in me, that when he shall appear,
we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his
coming. We will not be ashamed. Standing
in the presence of a holy God, we have no reason to be ashamed.
We have a perfect righteousness before him in the person of our,
so we got plenty of things to be ashamed of ourselves. We're ashamed of ourselves. but we have nothing to be ashamed
of in him. He took our shame for us. You know, the unbeliever believes
that he can stand naked before God and not be ashamed. And yet that same person will will suffer shame when it comes
to other people finding out things about them. Men love the praise
of men more than the praise of God. Turn with me to Hebrews 12, verse
2. Hebrews 12, verse 2. We'll begin reading in verse
1. Wherefore, After all, the Old Testament
saints are numbered in chapter 11. And we could go back historically
and look at each one of their lives and find out that every
one of them had something to be ashamed of in what they did
and what they didn't do. But they were looking in faith.
to Christ. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset
us." That's our pride. That's our unbelief. That's our
self-righteousness. That's our looking away from
Christ. That's what Israel's doing. That's what the Lord's
warning us against. Identify that for what it is,
something to be ashamed of. And let us run with patience
that race that is set before us. How do we run this race? Looking unto Jesus, who is the
author and the finisher of our faith. He's the one that ordained
it. He's the one who fulfilled it.
He's the one who gives it. He's the one who keeps us. looking
to Him. And I want you to see this next
phrase. Who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross despising the shame. Despising the shame of the cross. Now crucifixion was a torture designed by man to serve as deterrent,
not only in the physical pain associated with it, but also
with the shame and the humiliation that came with it. It was a public
display of the most shameful thing that a man could go through.
Turn with me to Psalm 22. Psalm 22. Look at verse seven. All they that see me, laugh me
to scorn, they shoot out their lip, they shake their head saying,
he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver
him, seeing he delighteth in him. Now turn with me to Matthew chapter
27. Crucifixion was designed to inflict
the greatest amount of shame and the greatest amount of pain
that it could. Matthew chapter 27, look with
me at verse 39. This is the fulfillment of what
we just read in Psalm 22. And they that pass by reviled
him, wagging their heads. Oh, they were being so contemptuous
toward him. And saying, thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself if thou
be the son of God. Come down from the cross also
Likewise, also the chief priests mocked him, and the scribes and
the elders, they were all adding to his shame. He saved others,
himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver
him now. If he will have him, for he said,
I am the son of God. And even the thieves, you know,
I thought about this. I used to preach in prisons and
in prison at Orange County, actually, particularly. And one thing you
learn is that there's a, there's a hierarchy of shame, even among
the criminals. You know, you talk to somebody
and they'll say, yeah, well, I did that, but I'm not as bad
as that guy over there. And that guy over there will
say, yeah, I did that, but I'm not as bad as that guy over there. And that's what's happening here
on the cross. I mean, the thieves are being crucified in shame. And now they're hurling insults
towards the Lord, trying to shame him. He trusted in God, I'm sorry,
verse 44, the thieves also which were crucified with him, cast
the same in his teeth. Now, how did that affect the
Lord? How did that shame affect him? Well, go back with me to Hebrews
chapter 12, and let's look at that verse again. Looking unto Jesus, Did the Lord
Jesus suffer shame before his heavenly father? Yes, he did. Yes, he did. The beginning of Psalm 22 that
we just read from, my God, my God, why'st thou forsaken me? Psalm 38, he bore the sorrow
and the shame of our sin and he identified it as his own sin.
He suffered that shame before God. And now we just read these
verses where he is experiencing the attempts of man to shame
him on top of the shame that he experienced with God. And
here's what our text tells us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame. He was not affected one bit by
the insults that were being hurled at him by man. That word despising means he
disregarded it. He had no interest. He wasn't shamed by their insults. All the things that they said
about him could not possibly add any shame to what he already
was experiencing in burying our sins before his heavenly father.
That was the shame that he was experiencing. What men were saying
didn't affect him at all. He despised their shame. And now, having endured the cross,
having endured the shame of sin, having despised the shame that
men tried to put upon him, now he's seated, sat down, at the
right hand of the throne of God. You know, oftentimes we find ourselves
more concerned about the shame of other men than we are about
the shame that comes from God. A man might it might do something
and think, you know, I don't want this out. I don't want other
people to know and yet have no regard, have no regard for the
fact that God already knows everything. It is just a testimony of how,
how it is that we love the praise of men more than the praise of
God. But here our Lord Jesus was completely
unaffected by the praise or the insults of man. He could care
less what any man thought. He did for us what we have never
done for ourselves. He bore all the shame for sin. as concerned as we are that people,
you know, I'm not talking about just doing something bad. I'm
talking about, you know, aren't you glad we can't read each other's
minds? You know, we'd be so ashamed for people to know what we think. And yet God already knows. He
knows everything we think. He knows everything we've said,
but we, We feel more concerned, I guess I was trying
to say. Here's our hope. We can stand
before God Almighty in the day of judgment without shame. Because
even though in this world we have never suffered shame like
we should, the Lord Jesus did for us. He did for us. And he was completely unaffected
by anything that any man thought. He despised their shame. All those insults didn't affect
him a bit. We get, we're more insulted by the shame
that men give us than God, aren't we? Oh, we're so, we're so shameful. We are, but here's our hope,
brethren. We have a Savior who did for
us what we've never been able to do for ourselves. He suffered
our shame for us so that we can stand in the presence of a holy
God and not be ashamed. All right, Tom. number 28 in
the spiral hymnal. Let's stand together.