While there is much to always
contemplate on this day, which is New Year's Day, I would really
like for you to consider the fact that it's just another day.
If we didn't have calendars, it'd just be another day. But
something changes in our mind when we end one year and we begin
another one. It's just sort of commonplace
for us to find this idea of resolution. Oh, I'm going to do this. I'm
going to do that. This is the year that I will
fill in the blank. And it's always positive. I mean,
I've never heard anybody say, I'm going to be sorrier in 2017
than I've ever been. I want to be lazy this coming
year. I want to gain 30 pounds. I mean, nobody says that. I mean,
maybe. Maybe some guy won't get rid of it. But most people are
like, I'm going to lose weight, I'm going to get in shape, I'm going to
be healthy, I'm going to be a better Christian, I'm going to read
my Bible more. That's why scripture memorization and scripture reading
plans are always, always available on New Year's Day. I mean, I've
seen the Desiring God and I've seen all these other places and
they're just, you know, do this, do that, learn, get the year
started off right. Nothing wrong with those things. But really,
if we're resolving to do something that we're not already desiring
to do because it's just a new opportunity to do it, usually,
psychologically, we're not going to do it anyway. And so I would
just say to you all this morning, don't resolve to be more involved
in the church. Don't resolve to be more embedded
in the in the in the scripture. Don't resolve to be more loving
to each other. Just do it. Just do it, because
we don't start today with a well next week, I'll start next week.
No, we won't. We'll just start talking about
it and then we'll think about it and then we'll say, well,
I'm too busy. We'll start it again the following week. And after
a while, it's August, we might as well wait till next year.
Just do it. When we see the life that we
live, at any given time, there is one thing that's the most
valuable commodity for all of us. What is it? Health? No. Life? No. More time? That would
be nice. But let me argue that peace is probably the most valuable
thing in our lives. Peace. we're looking for peace. Whether it's in the car during
the commute, we're not white knuckled. God, if I could just
have peace. How many of you have ever said you wanted to either
drive a tank or a helicopter? Yeah, I've done that. If I could
just have a tank, no, that might hurt people. I'd just fly over.
Because I believe people are just crazy enough in their road
rage to challenge a tank. Whether it's in the commute,
or the supermarket, or the checkout at Walmart, Over 15 years ago,
I swore that I'd never go into a Walmart. I've been in three
in 15 years. Three times in 15 years. And that was that pure
necessity. It's like the Spirit of God dragged me in there, kicking
and screaming. Because I'll never forget when we got to California,
you couldn't find anything. You know, when you're living in an
area like this, even in Virginia, everything's sort of like in
the local market. And when you get to a place like California,
where all the freeways are set apart from the town, everything's
above. All the roads are above everything.
So you can see everywhere you want to go, you just can't get
there. I want to go there. Wait a minute. What is 11 lanes
for anyway? And then in the middle of that
11 lanes, you've got five exits. And you need this one. And you're
over here in exit 11 because you're, I mean, at lane 11 because
you want to drive slow. Well, really, that's the fast
lane. You know, we read left to right. Don't you think the
slowest thing should be over the left? But that's not the way it works.
And I'll never forget trying to find somewhere just to buy
groceries, just to get some bread, just to get something. What are
we going to do? Hey, there's a Walmart. I see it. Let's jump off this,
like Dukes of Hazzard, and go to the Walmart. Well, guess what? No Walmarts can legally have
groceries because Safeway owns all food in California. They own it all. I mean, if a
7-Eleven sells a loaf of bread, it's got like a Safeway tax on
it. I mean, it's just they own everything. So Walmart does not
sell groceries, but they do have the little cold thing up front
where you can buy a gallon of milk. And, you know, just like
a zippy mart, or what do you call those? A quick station.
What are those guys called? A filling station. I don't even
know what they're called anymore. Anyway, a Parker's. There we go. So I
go in there, and I'm just going to get a few items and get into
the express lane. And the first selfie that I ever
took was in a Walmart in California. Because I'm standing in, no lie,
in the express checkout, 10 items or less, and I am number 81.
81. And all the other lanes were
three times that long. Of course, it wasn't before open
out of the 25. But the express lane was number 81. And I was
actually down almost to the back of the store, standing there,
and I turned around with the cash register behind me. I went,
are you kidding me? And I snapped a picture of it.
And I had what I was buying in my hand. It took me 40 minutes
to check out. I just don't go there. Why? Because
I wanted peace. I wanted peace. I didn't want
to have to stress. It's sin anyway. But those things
that cause me stress, I want them out of my life. We want
peace. We want peace in our own mind.
We want peace. And I believe that peace in our
mind is desired above all things. I believe even those secondary
desires, even the lust of the flesh and the pride of life,
I think it actually is in some sense, if we really boiled it
down to what the motivation is for them, is that we would find
some type of rest and some type of peace. We want more money
because we believe it would give us security. We want security
because we're tired of worrying. We're tired of worrying. So we
want it. We want peace. Unfortunately, we internally
can grasp onto many things to try to find hope and solace in.
We can look for food. We can go to television. We can
go to the escape of entertainment or vacations. We can think that
money will give us peace, that financial security will give
us peace. And all of these things are a
false security of happiness in the world. Alcohol, drugs, sensuality,
power, self-worth, self-help, fitness and the like. All of
these things are attempts to try to find peace and they are
of the world. And as we see in scripture, we
ought not look for these things. much less love them. And we know
they are futile in the opportunity of establishing peace in our
hearts and minds. This year, many of us will endeavor
to follow through with a goal that has been procrastinated.
And inevitably, most of us will continue to procrastinate it
and let it go very soon. The peace that most of us are
looking for can never be found in this world. It is impossible
for the mind to be at peace through any worldly means. Now, as we
all sit here as the church, most of us say, well, I'm glad we're
not that way. But I would suggest to us that there is even that
same struggle in the life of believers. Matter of fact, if
we were able to all stand up and sort of do a little confession,
how many of us would love just a day of rest? Just a day of
peace? Just a day when our mind didn't
have to worry about the fodder of this world, the stress of
it all, the aggravation of it all? Wouldn't it be great to
just have one day where nothing was on our mind? The church,
that is the congregations of the world, are full of people
who profess Christ in one breath, but in the other breath they're
continually discontent, which do not go together. Discontentment
is the epitome of peacelessness. When we're discontent, we're
not trusting in Jesus Christ, as we'll see this morning. People
shop churches like restaurants. The thought came to my mind this
past Thursday as I was preparing to preach this week. And I said
this in my mind, wrote it down, then tweeted it, and it went
on Facebook and truncated 140 characters. But the whole thought
went something like this. People treat their church often
like their favorite restaurant. They love it. The atmosphere
is nice. The food is great. And as long
as all these things stay in line and consistent, they are well
pleased. They know the menu and the staff,
and they're delighted to feel like a family served at every
turn, happy and full. Sadly, though, just like a patron
at the restaurant, those who eat there are not the restaurant,
just as many who eat at the church who are not the church. They
do not possess an investment at heart. They are more willing
to sacrifice truth for a unity that is non-existent with no
cost. People like to have everything
without the cost of anything. And beloved, many churchgoers
are in the same boat. But why? Why do we find ourselves
or why do we find our fellow congregants often in this world
in that way, in that place? Because for them, it's not the
worldliness. It's not the debauchery. It's
not the sinful things. It's not the idols that the world
offers that they go to for peace, but rather it's their created
view of what the church should be. It's their created view of
of I don't know this non non committed, stale mindset that
they are there for the taking and not for the giving. They
will eat the food of Christ. They just don't want to pay for
it. They even love the waiter, but
they dare not invite him into their lives. That's drawing the
line. They've gone too far when that
waitstaff starts sticking his nose in our personal business.
I'm here to eat. Get out of my face or you won't
get a tip. The reality. is that, friends,
there are often times we have a misunderstanding of where peace
comes from. And sometimes we even strive to think, if I just
come to church, I'll find the church. I'll find the peace. I'll find the thing that I'm
looking for. And heavens to bet, see, it's
not there. It's not there. Because no matter who we align
with, no matter where we go, no matter what preacher we listen
to, no matter what, you know why so many people love Spurgeon?
Cause he's dead. If Spurgeon were still alive
today and we were reading the letters he wrote to us, we wouldn't
like him. Read the letters of Spurgeon.
Get off his sermons for a couple of months and read his letters.
Better yet, you want to see something that's really going to wrinkle
your feathers, read Luther's letters. That'll make you wonder
if the man was saved. While we could dialogue on this
all day long, I want to ask you if you have an absolute empowered
peace that surpasses all understanding. Do you know that you are born
of God? Do you have the assurance that you are OK before the Lord?
While we could dialogue on this all day, we could look at 1 John
and look at all the tests of those who are in the faith, and
I believe it is a better use of our time to look at the truth
of peace. The reality of our life in Christ
is that God has decreed his people to display his glory and wisdom.
The church is the display of God's glory on earth. She is
the beautiful bride washed pure and white to be presented to
the groom. She has been prepared by her savior who gave himself
up for her as a ransom. Now she is alive. The church
is God's glorious display of his manifold wisdom. The trees
and the sky can display the power of God, but the church displays
the ineffable glory of his divine wisdom. She is the mark of his
perfection. She is the mark of his divine
affection. She is the standard by which
all mankind will be judged because she is righteous and she is pure. Beloved, these are true things.
Are you at peace in that today? Are you at peace with God today,
knowing that you stand righteous before him, that you are pure
before him, that you are the bride of Christ and Christ will
never take a bride that is impure? Not only are we pure and holy. In Christ, but in reality, we
are not pure and holy in our flesh. And not only is Jesus
righteous, he is the righteousness. He became sin and we became righteousness. This is good news. It's good
news that God has seen the son and is pleased with his right
living. He is pleased with the right standing of Jesus. And
Jesus Christ is what God looks at when he justifies his church. Jesus Christ has put in our account,
beloved, His holiness. It is not our own. It is not
ours to boast in. Turn to Galatians chapter 2. Verse 20 and 21, it's a very
well known verse. Most of you might not know where
it is, but you will recognize it. It says, I have been crucified
with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but
Christ who lives in me and the life I live now in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me. Verse 21, I do not nullify
the grace of God for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ
died for no purpose. Now, there's a grand context
in which these words were written. The context in which these words
were written is here in Galatia, there were a mixed church. And
when I say mixed church, I'm not talking about black, whites,
and yellows. I'm talking about a bunch of pagan people who had
come to faith in Jesus Christ and a bunch of Jewish people
who had come to faith in Jesus Christ. So this was truly the
church of God. And these Jews, Some of them
were truly believers, but others of them wanted to hold to Yeshua
as Messiah, Jesus as Messiah, but rather they also did not
want to let go of the peace that came through the obedience to
the law. And I'm not talking about love the Lord God with
all your heart, mind, soul, strength. And to love your neighbor as
yourself. I'm talking about you must be circumcised. I'm talking
about the ceremonial laws of cleansing. I'm talking about
the obedience to the laws of Moses and the precepts. And if
they had their way, they would have even sacrificed things to
God. And Paul tells them they have
been bewitched. and that they have misunderstood
the grace of God and they do not listen and cannot possibly
hear. He even tells them that those
who have adhered to this type of gospel, that it is no gospel
at all. They are anathemas. What does
that mean? Cut off. I find that a really
punny choice of words. For the argument of obedience
to the law is circumcision, and Paul says, if you do cut, your
body, you are cut off from Christ. Why? Because there is no justification. There is no righteousness and
obedience. It's not there. Christ is our righteousness.
And that's what Paul begins to argue here. There is a lot more. But ultimately, what happened
when Peter and Barnabas came to Galatia and all the church
and these are apostles and all the churches gathered and they're
having a feast and they're fellowshipping together and they're celebrating
the one Christ and the unity of the one faith and the one
gospel and the one baptism. Now, all of a sudden, Peter and
Barnabas go sit at the Jewish table. They begin to show favorites.
They're Christians, but you know, we're the true ones. That's what
they were hearing. And Peter's not saying otherwise. Why? For fear of rejection, for
fear of what it may cause, out of pure habit. These are my brothers,
I'll just sit with them. Most people call that clique,
a clique. But I don't think that has anything to do with it. I
think it's the matter of people feeling they're better because
of certain things they do in their lives. I think sometimes
in our church, it's easy for us to sit and invest an observational
judgment against other people because we're not living the
way they're living. We would not dare allow that. But yet
we would allow self-righteousness in our own hearts. That's what Paul would argue
here. And in this verse, in these verses, Paul is going to clearly
help us to see the workings and the inner workings of the good
news of God through Jesus Christ so that there may be peace in
the hearts of the Christians here. And beloved, my heart today
of the last few weeks, I wanted you to see the priority of the
church and the power of the church through the rebirth, which is
the work of God alone. And today I want you to see the
peace of the church. Next week, I'm going to close this little
segue out and I'm going to show us what our priority should be
as the church. What should we be doing? What
is it the scripture teaches about the church? What should we do
on the Lord's Day? What should we do every day,
week to week? What are we supposed to be doing with our lives? This
is clearly played out in scripture. It's clearly shown verbatim by
the apostles. Because if we have all the knowledge
of the second coming, which is what we're talking about in Thessalonians,
what good does it do if we don't have an affection for each other
that's actually working? Our love for each other is not
thinking about seeing each other today and go, yeah, I wonder
how they're doing. That's not love. I wonder how President Obama's
doing. I don't even know him. I pray for the rulers of our
nation that I've never met, never will meet, don't care to meet.
I pray for the people in our state government when they come
to my mind. But what keeps me up at night
is when I'm praying for you. Not them. And my care is to see
the Lord work in us, that our joy is full, that our peace is
real, that the power of Christ is rest upon us in such a way
that we understand all good things that we have in Christ. And we
know, as Paul taught Philemon, is that that is effectually revealed
as we share our faith, not just preaching the gospel, but sharing
our faith together in life. Our Christian life is not private.
Our salvation is not meant to be Hidden. It's meant to be lived
out together. The gospel of Jesus Christ, this
gospel is milk for the Christian. The good news is that God is
righteous. Man is wicked. God is good to suffer men under
his judgment. God is merciful and loving. And
then God became man, Jesus the son, and lived as we have been
commanded, holy before God. God, the man, then was wrongly
crucified. suffered death in his body, which
is the wage of sin that he did not commit, and his death was
acceptable to replace the punishment of the wickedness of men. God
made alive many who, believing in Jesus Christ, are His and
have no longer their sins to suffer. These people are His
church, those He has gathered. The gospel is that God has decreed
and brought to delivery the grace that is ours through Jesus Christ.
He has declared us just before Him because our sins have been
paid for by Jesus. God has made us alive in Jesus
Christ and we are forgiven, but we are not holy while we are
justified, yet not yet fully holy. So we live in this life
by faith in the one who loves us and gave himself for us. He
who knew no sin became sin that we might be the righteousness
of God. This is the gospel, beloved.
And this is infant baby mushy meal, nursing type formula. This is baby stuff. This is milk. Without that, you're not born
again. Without that, you're not in Christ. Without that, we are
not the beloved of God. This is baby stuff. You can't
come to faith in Jesus without the knowledge of that. Jesus
didn't die to save you from hell. Jesus didn't die to save you
from a sick life. Jesus died to save you from the
wrath of God because of your sin. Which is hell, by the way. Nobody wants to suffer. But very
few people who profess Christ have the peace that comes with
first recognizing their sin. Paul understood this. Let's break
this down. Let's just take it phrase by
phrase. I have been crucified with Christ. Now, interestingly
enough, we know that Paul wrote this and we know this was after
the ascension of Jesus Christ. So we understand that Paul had
not been crucified. I have, really? Yeah. I'm not
being facetious. I have been taught by people
and argued with that Paul was crucified and raised to life
in the flesh. See, he said it right there. But then he goes on to say, it
is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives. We know what
he's talking about there. Let's just work through that for a
minute. Just as Christ was crucified, Paul says, the extent of the
purpose and the fulfillment of the crucifixion of Jesus, Paul
too, in the same manner, had received the full benefits of
the crucifixion of Jesus. Paul had all bragging rights
in his life. We know what he talked about
in the Philippians, remember? To the Philippians, he said that
I am blameless according to the law. And in other words, I'm
the Jew of all Jews, I'm a great guy, and I've done it well, and
I've honored God in my obedience. But Paul says all the bragging
rights that he had, he was dead to them. They had been crucified
with Christ. He had died with Christ, and all boasts and any
of the keeping of the law were no longer his to live in. There
was no obedience that Paul could say, see, I know I'm a Christian
because look how good I'm living. Look how smart I am at choosing a
church, like Grace Truth. Look how cunning I am to be so
holy and to help set people straight because they need to be holy
like me. Paul used to have that argument. Not anymore. He's dead
because Christ killed it. The sinful foolishness that is
within us when we think our right living was the cause of our justification. It's really foolishness. Paul
is saying this foolishness that I thought I was right because
of the way I lived is dead. This person that walked in confidence
is no longer walking in confidence in the flesh. It's dead. Now,
the crazy thing about it is that when we are not in Christ, we
are dead already. But the scripture teaches we
put to death the flesh because we've been crucified with Christ.
What does that mean? Well, let me tell you what dead
things cannot do. This is not salvific. We know dead people
can't be born. And they can't make themselves alive. But dead
things cannot interact with living things. Dead fish, float. Dead dogs,
lay. Dead snakes, good riddance. Sorry. Dead alligators, same boat. They
don't do anything. Dead people do nothing. The flesh
was dead before and now it is dead again. But you know what
else dead things can't do? They can't have control over
the living. And when we've been crucified with Christ, when Paul
was crucified with Christ, he no longer was controlled by the
works of his flesh. He was no longer controlled by
his mind. He was no longer controlled by the things of the flesh because
as the Spirit of God indwelt him and he came to the place
of temptation just like we do. I'm not even going to talk about
that today, but faith without conflict, without opportunity
of exercise, what is faith anyway? Faith is not an arbitrary possession,
it's an act of expression. Faith is a believing, a holding,
a striving, a feasting, a longing, a pushing, a pressing. But it's
not our faith that effectually gives us the strength, it's the
Lord that does the work. It is He who is the object of
our faith. We trust in His work, in His
mind, in His holiness, in His righteousness. Paul is dead. We then in turn are also dead.
Paul, as he was always, is no longer. He died not physically,
but in essence, because he was no longer the man that he was
and he no longer lived to earn God's favor because it had been
given to him. I've been crucified with Christ.
Jesus died and was raised to life. The fullness of the crucifixion
ended in the resurrection. So therefore, at the same way,
in the same way, we are also raised to life. And we're new. We're a new creation. We're not
the same old person. The old man has died. The new
man has come. We are not the same people, beloved. That's what 1 John, that's what
the whole letter does is show you. You can say you're in the
light, but if the evidence of the spirit of God's power is
not in your life, you're not in the light. What's the evidence of that?
Don't be double minded. Don't be worldly. Don't long
to find peace in the world's ways. Don't escape things without
surrendering to the Spirit of God. Don't look to try to find
answers that are outside Scripture. Don't think God called us to
do this one day and then this to the next and this to the next.
Don't come to the place where we're okay with sin because,
you know, the grace of God abounds. Don't neglect the things that
are clearly taught in Scripture because they just don't fit our
lifetime or our culture. Because He says, I've been crucified
with Christ, I no longer, it is no longer I who live. What
does that mean for us? What does it mean? There's a
song I want to learn in a couple of weeks, and it bears the same
name as a new hymn, as an old hymn, How Can It Be. But it talks
about the first few lyrics of that song, talks about the truth
that we see in scripture, that we are depraved and that we are
sinful at heart. And therefore, because we're
sinners, we do things and we sin against God and that all
of the sinfulness of our lives are worthy of justice and wrath. But the Christ pleads our calls.
We are not alive because if we are living in our flesh, we are
set apart from God. If we are living in our flesh,
we are hostile toward God. That which is flesh is flesh
and stays dead in the flesh, but that which is made alive
in the spirit is spirit. That's what I taught last week.
If you didn't remember. How does that so? How will one
be born again? You are born again when God births
you anew. How does it happen? When you
hear the gospel of Jesus, when you hear the Bible, when people are
making disciples of you and teaching you to obey God, when His time
is right, He sovereignly wakes you up. And the response of that
is a lifetime of believing, and a lifetime of striving, and a
lifetime of repenting, and a lifetime of worship, and a lifetime of
joy, together as a people. There is no power in my life.
I no longer live. There is no hope in my life.
I no longer live. There is no urgency about my
life anymore. There is nothing. Paul would
later say in Acts, we see him telling, matter of fact, I don't
even know. I'm not even going to try to
say who the quote is, but yeah, I think it's Paul, that my life is of
no value. My life is of no value and of
no worth, except that I do and finish the work that I've been
called to do. Is that really how we live as
Christians? It should be. What I want is not important. What I desire is not the epitome
of my life. What I'm striving for and planning
for is way down the list, like 20 or 30. What really drives us as Christians
is that the Spirit of God in us drives us to be engaged in
a Christian life with the church. Now, sadly, sadly, I could stand
here and talk about all the things that I have done in the name
of ministry to which very few of them, if any of them, throughout
the history of my pastorate have actually been, quote, ministry,
but rather mundane excuses of keeping people busy and drawn
to the church. I wrote a little post on the
church website yesterday Well, this morning, really early. And
it says 21 reasons why you probably should not worship with Grace
Truth Church. And one of those reasons is we got kids everywhere. And if you don't like kids and
if you don't think it's necessary for children and youth to listen
to the Word of God as commanded by Scripture, then you probably
don't want to come to Grace Truth Church because it's going to
aggravate you. Because some days are great, like today, and some
days they're great less. And we don't apologize for that. We're not going to, we're not
going to plug people in. We're not going to assimilate
folks into a place, into a little puzzle piece and tell people,
well, no, no, no. Now you've got your ministry.
You know what your ministry is? Learn the word of God, love God's people,
live together in fellowship. That's the ministry of church.
And if we can't do that, why would we do anything else? You
know, after all the years in ministry, I've got a larger pile
of people in a bucket on this side who were so burned out they
don't even want to be in church anymore. Because when life comes,
and it does, and it burns us, and we've got things to accomplish,
we don't have time for people. And many of you, I know because
I've heard you, have said that that was sort of the drawing
the line in the sand for you. We're not going to apologize
about those things. Anything we do, it should be able to be
stopped at any given moment so that we can do what's necessary
by the word and by each other. Never should we think that anything
outside the purposes of God's, I'm going to use the word foolish
and stupid commands because they're stupid and foolish to the world. Anything outside of God's commands
are foolishness. to the church, while what we
do is foolishness to the world. So people say, well, how are
you going to grow these people into Christ likeness? Where's
your plan? In the beginning was the word
and the word was God and the word was with God. He was with
God in the beginning. The light had come into the world
and the darkness had not comprehended. As you know, if you're not going
to grow here and there, if that doesn't make your body just. You didn't hear it. I don't live anymore, you don't
live anymore. But Christ. Who lives within
me. I have been crucified with Christ,
it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me. Now here, Paul is saying that
he's dead and Christ is alive. And therefore, because Christ
is alive, he is alive because his life is Christ within him.
Now, this could be a series in itself. If you don't know the
term we're talking about, the imputation of Christ's righteousness,
that means it's been infused, accredited, put on. Given to the account of. Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is our hope. Christ is
our holiness. Christ is our faith. Christ is
our wisdom. He is all in all. Christ is alive
because he is righteousness. He ever thought about that, that
Jesus lived in such a perfect way. Jesus was not the one who
lived righteously. I mean, he did. But that's not
what the scripture teaches. Jesus doesn't say Jesus is the
righteous living one. The Bible says that scripture
teaches rather that Jesus lived as a human man and a human boy
and a human toddler and a human baby and a human teenager to
such a degree of holiness that his very life is called righteousness. It is the righteousness of God. Hear that. Let that sink in for a minute.
We are alive in Christ. He is alive in us. His righteousness
is righteousness and it's ours. You get that? Church, if you
don't find peace in that, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what to tell you.
There is no other place for peace. I don't care how hard we work,
how much we strive, how many changes we make, how many things
we try to have, many ways we try to twist our life to work
so that we get this here and we get that there. And if this
would take place and we can do that, then God will start doing
this. Listen, God will do all that he's going to do, whether
we do anything at all. And if we are being made in the
image of Christ, he is doing the work. If we are living righteously
with a passion and zeal, he's alive in us. If it's not there,
there's something gravely wrong with our profession of faith.
And the beauty is that resting by faith in Jesus Christ, as
we'll see in a minute, is not even a work that we can muster,
but it is a gift of God that he gives us through the Holy
Spirit. Christ is alive. Because he is
the righteousness of God. And if he had even any semblance
of sin, he'd still be in the grave. He'd still be standing
and waiting for the judgment of God the Father. Christ perfectly loved the Father.
Submitted to him, obeyed him. glorified Him and honored Him
perfectly, and Christ perfectly loved His neighbor and His enemy
as God commands. I want you to hear that, church. You know, I've had conversations
with pastors before who brought people up under discipline because
they wore hats in church. I'm sitting there thinking, man,
if I'd have known that, I'd have showed it with a hat on. Not
that I've made the better right spirit in it, but that's ridiculous.
We're wearing flip-flops. Man, we're going to have to bring
in a discipline if you keep dressing that way. That's one thing I
put on there too. We're not going to dress up. If God's not any bigger than
the clothes we wear, let's find another one. I'm not talking
about immodesty. I'm just saying this is ridiculous.
That's not loving our neighbor. How did Christ love the neighbor?
How did Christ love us? He gave Himself up for us. Therefore, Paul could love this
way. That's why when he says to the Thessalonians, I love
you with all the affection of Christ. He meant it. It's not
just lip service. It's actual active love. It's
something that's visible and obvious. Paul loved the Philippians
with all the affection of Christ. He loved the Thessalonians with
all the affection of Christ. Why? Because when he was suffering,
when he was arrested, when he was in jail, when he was being
stoned, whipped, imprisoned and starved, All he could do was
think about how his life could be a benefit to the church that
was suffering and fighting for the joy of Christ. I do not count
my life as of any worth or value. That's what he says. Why? Because Jesus did not count his
own life as any worth or value. So we who are in Christ have
the mind of Christ. It is ours. Paul didn't say,
go get it. He said, it's yours. The problem is we don't. So many
people can look like Christians, but yet they don't act like Christians
because they're so unwilling to love people who are unlovable. Well, I love them. Loving is
not what you feel about them. Loving is what you do for them.
Sliding a plate of food under a door while you go do your own
business so that somebody doesn't go hungry is not love. You let
your business go and you get in there and you eat with them.
That's just what I, that's what I, that picture. So many times,
so many Christians, so many sheep of Christ are in prison in the
local church. And you just, they get ministry through the peripheral. It's like when Katrina came through
and just devastated, I mentioned this last night, just devastated
New Orleans. I really felt the call of God
to go, but I couldn't go. Because all the money for the
conference that I was in charge of helping administrate was at
stake. And so we just wrote a check,
sent it to New Orleans. That isn't what God had called me
to do. I wanted to be there on the ground preaching. Ministry couldn't take place
because something else was in its place. Love is sacrifice. Is Christ alive in us? Christ
loved us more than he loved his own life. Do you realize that?
I often say, and this is true, that God loves himself more than
anything. But Christ, the Son, loves us
more than his own life. Why? Because he gave it. See,
these are difficult to contemplate. That's why it takes a lifetime
of really chewing on this stuff to really start seeing effect.
And it'll have effect today and it may not again for a week and
all of a sudden it'll hit us again. And we grow, we mature on this
milk that we receive and we accept it. Then God builds it into meat
and we learn to grow and apply these things and live together
in such a way that we are maturing and helping others to mature.
Is the joy of the Lord yours? Is the peace of God in you? then
your joy should also be in his people. All the law of God Christ
obeyed it. And because of that, he is alive
in us. And because he's alive in us,
we have peace. He goes to say, in this life
I now live in the flesh. Let me pause there. What does
he mean by that? Wait a minute. Is Paul contradicting
himself? Is Paul saying Christ lives in me, but I'm living in
the flesh? I'm doing worldly things. I'm living for myself.
No, he's already said that that fleshly person is dead, but yet
it still lives. Are we not all here in the flesh?
We're not Gnostics. We don't believe we're all spirits.
We don't believe that we're all just an ambiguous presence together
in the church. We're persons. We have personalities. We have thoughts. We have feelings.
We have bodies. We have needs. We are hungry.
We're thirsty. We're sad. We're happy. Paul was still in
his body and he even prayed and he said to the Philippians, he
said, listen, I don't know which is better. I'd rather go and
die in my body so that I might be with Christ because that's
the reason that I live. But because I love Christ so
much, I love you more than me. So I will give up my greatest
desire for the sake of your joy. Have this mind among you. There
it is. It's not rocket science. It's
not trigonometry. It's not quantum physics. It's
pure, simple language that children can understand. As a matter of
fact, it is a proven thing that children who are able to, before
they're even able to speak, can comprehend what I say from the
pulpit. If we have to dumb down things
for children, expect them to be dumb to their 20. They don't understand those words.
I didn't either when I first read them. laying in the bed just two nights
ago, and Abigail says, Daddy, what is repentance? I'm like,
uh, where'd you hear that? What's repentance? I explained
it to her. How do I do that? I said, only
Jesus can do it in you, baby. Jesus. I go to sleep. Where'd she get that from? I'm
waiting for her to say propitiation. Probably won't. We live in this flesh, we're
still on earth, God has placed his church to be one in glory,
starting today, starting at new birth. But the life in the flesh
we have is filled with the peace of God that is a guarantee. Romans
5, the first few verses of chapter 5 teaches a lot of in-depth things
about the imputation of righteousness. But the first two verses of chapter
five said, therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through
him, we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which
we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. So there's
a prescription of the Christian life right there. We've been
justified by God, declared righteous. And then not only are we declared
righteous, the reason we're declared righteous is because all of the
righteousness of God is in us because Christ has put himself
in us and we are in him. And by faith, we rest in the
sufficiency and the decree and the promises of God so that we
have access into this grace. What is the grace of God? It's
the unmerited favors, the continued mercy. It's the power of God
unto salvation. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is God's everlasting love. It is God's divine affection.
It is always the work of God. And grace is always effectual.
If God puts his mark of affection on someone, they are his. And we have peace because of
that. The believer lives in a clarity
of mind, the believer lives in a peaceful place, knowing that
the will of the Lord is certain and they stand firm. We are not
to be double minded, beloved. We cannot have two masters. We
cannot say God has called me here, but I live contrary to
the call. We cannot say, well, I think this is what God wants
me to do, but I'm going to go over here and test God this way.
We don't set out and do what we saw in the Old Testament.
We don't tell God he's got to prove himself because he's already
done it. Jesus is alive. He's ascended to the father and
he intercedes on our behalf today as our righteousness and our
peace. And we are OK. And it is well with our soul.
We sing it, but do we live it? What do you mean? Is what well
with our soul? Everything. Everything. Is everything well
with our soul? Where's all the money going to
come from? I don't know. It is well with our soul. Am I ever
going to be healed? I don't know. It is well with my soul. Are
my children going to come to faith? I must do something to
bring my children to faith. It is well with my soul. God
is the author of salvation, not me. And I can teach repentance
and propitiation and justification. I can teach every other shun
and shun and everything else that I can find in the systematic
theology book. And my children can bust hell wide open with
the greatest theological knowledge that's ever known to man. But sadly, we really think, oh
God's not going to save our spouse if I don't do something different.
If I don't assimilate. I got an article on my blog last
week about assimilation. Because I was asked, so I answered
it. How does Grace Truth assimilate
people into the church? The Spirit of God brings them
to life and they covenant with us. What else? You run them around the bases?
You put them through the doors? You do red, yellow, green? What
is it? How do you get people started
and plugged in? Listen, if you're not plugged into Christ, you
can't be plugged in with us. are the beloved of God. The church is not the world looking
for a place to hang. And there is nothing apart from
the absolute teaching, preaching, living, and investing in the
Word of God that will ever bring anybody to salvation. Anyone
who thinks that they can cater to someone's self-interests or
felt needs and thus lead them to Jesus is actually developing
an idol, hoping that they can bait and switch. I can do that
with a magic show. I can show you a bottle and I
can show you that bottle again and you think it's the same one,
but it's not. That's called a trick. It's called an illusion. You
know what an illusion is? Showing you something, saying it's real,
but it's not. Misdirection. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 teaches
that the church cannot and should not and will not use misdirection. And I can do a wonderful puppet.
I used to work three puppets. Split my head wide open trying
to do a transition one time. Because I hit the door jam, jumping
up into the sound booth trying to get another puppet that I
left back there. Bled all down my face, but buddy, we didn't
miss a beat. Jay Ray in this hand and Barney
in this hand. I'm not kidding. And we had 600 children in worship,
to which none of them were effectually brought to faith because they
were not with their families, hearing the word of God. How
do we live? Do we trust in Christ? We have
been given all things in Christ immediately at the new birth.
So therefore, we must rest in him, according to Paul in Ephesians
chapter one. All spiritual blessings are ours in Christ Jesus. We
cannot bend the working of this life to the working out of God's
plan. We cannot convince God to do something different because
we change our ways. We cannot engage or entice others
to have peace with God. Friends, it is one of the cardinal
sins of preachers. If I just say the right thing,
they'll hear it. If I use an illustration, they'll
get it. I know. Let's talk about how
church attendance and church affection is like a restaurant.
That'll get them. It doesn't. What gets us and
what helps us to see is God's Word. I have been crucified with
Christ. I no longer live, but Christ
lives within me. Then why do we toil if Adam's
curse has been taken on by Christ and Christ's righteousness has
been given to us? Why do we continually work for
favor? Why do we continually work instead
of believing in God who has given us righteousness. Why do we work so hard internally?
Why do we create such an internal calamity in our minds? Why do
we just divest ourselves of peace when Jesus Christ has given us
peace? Friends, if God has made us alive in Christ Jesus, then
we have peace through Jesus Christ. And there's nothing but hope.
There is no doubt in that. It's certainty. The life of the
one who is without peace, I believe, is the life of the one who is
without faith. Do you hear that? Remember me
telling you guys, probably five or six times last year, that
one of the great litmus tests, one of the gauges of the pastor
is to see the joy of his people. You know why it's so easy? If
I had like a quartet up here singing some incredible songs
with a string symphony, oh man, y'all would be smiling, tears
would be rolling down your face, but it's not real. I mean, if I shot fire out of
my hands, which I can do, I have the equipment to do that. It's
not, I don't really shoot fire. If I could, that'd be cool, wouldn't
it? I mean, you know what, hell, and every time I said hell, fire
came out, and the kids are like, ooh, that's fun, let's go back
to church and see the fire, daddy. Man, that sounds pretty cool. Yeah,
I've done it. It don't bring them forever. I want to see your joy. I want
to see smiles on your face. I want to see more than a smile on your
face. I want to see a smile on your heart. I want to see when the
darkness of this life has encroached every orifice of common sense
joy that there is a light shining so bright A light shining so bright that
there's no darkness to be seen. And that's what it means for
the light of the glory of God to be given to us. The knowledge
of the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
the face of Jesus Christ is seen through the scripture and the
power of God through the scripture is given to the church and the
church and an intimate embassy of the Lord Jesus live together
in power and our joy is complete and our peace is full and in
the midst of pain we resolve because God is resolved to give
us the Lord Jesus. The spirit of God inside of us
resolves to rest in the sufficiency of Christ. Therefore, that's why it's always
sinful to have anxiety and sinful to worry. And remember, what
are we going to do? What are we going to do? It doesn't matter what has
God already done to accomplish the outcome for our good and
for the sake of His glory in our lives. Jesus Christ, the
righteous, has satisfied all the judgment of God. Therefore,
now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
These things are written that you may not sin, but if you sin,
you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous,
who is our propitiation. And so if we are satisfactory
to God, then what in the world would cause us to lose joy and
to lose peace and to lose sleep in this life? It is called unbelief,
beloved. How can I be so sure God has
done such a thing in me because this security and this hope and
this peace is effectual and it's effectual because God has granted
it and God has granted it because he certainly bought it. He bought it. How did he buy
it? At the cost of Jesus. Look at
that. Who loved me. I live by faith
in the Son of God. What is this? Live by faith in
the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The security
and hope is effectual because of the love and the mercy of
God. We know God loves us because Christ died for us. For God loved
the world so in this way, so loved the world in this way that
he gave the only son that he has, that whoever so is believing
in him has eternal life and will not perish. But whoever so is
believing not on him is condemned already. Brothers and sisters,
we have peace. Because God loves us. In Ephesians
chapter 2, it tells us that we were once dead in our trespasses
and sins against him. But God, because of his love
and his kindness, and because he is rich in mercy toward us,
caused us, you hear this? Caused us to be made alive in
Christ. Peter would say, blessed be the God and the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who has caused us to be born again to
a living hope. Where is a living hope if we're
not at peace? How do I know that I have peace?
Because we have assurance in who Christ is and what he's done.
We have peace that is revealed through joy. We have joy that
is revealed, here it is, through thanksgiving. That's why Paul
would command us, do all things without grumbling and complaining.
Do you know why? Because that's the opposite of
faith. When we believe, we don't complain.
When we're not believing, we complain. If we've got to complain
about our lives, if we've got to complain about our church,
if we've got to complain about our friends, if we've got to
complain about our job, we've got to complain about our fears,
then we're not trusting in Jesus Christ. And I believe that living by
faith means that anything that distracts us from the glories
of Christ, we know it's an idol, we throw it away, no matter how
good it may be. Jesus Christ loved us. If God
loves us, then we have no place in his wrath. We have no worry
for his judgment. If he loves us, then we belong
to him. If he loves us, then he has given
his life for us. And we see that Jesus has been
given. Therefore, he loves us and we are his. And if we are
his, then we can surely trust in the goodness of God. We often
forget this during the trials and pains of life, but we can
trust in the goodness of God, even in the pains of life, because
he loves us. We all have someone in our lives
that we can run to when life gets tough, because we know that
no matter what, they will love us and they will tend to us and
they will take care of us. Friends, God has loved us and does love
us. God has already taken care of
us through Jesus Christ. God has already empowered us
through his spirit. And we are the problem, not him. Because we think to ourselves,
how am I going to get right? How am I going to get my life
back on track? How am I going to stand and be a better Christian?
Oh, it's New Year. Now is a good time. No, this
moment, this hour, this second is a good time to believe in
Jesus Christ, not tomorrow. Well, I've already believed.
If you're not believing now, you haven't believed yesterday. My faith is all of him. My salvation is all of him. We often want to engage a different
way when stress overcomes our heart, but God has loved us.
We plan for peace in our lives and we try to work our lives
into God's plan rather than trusting in God's plan with the life that
we have. When we stray and we try to do
things in our own way, when we try to effectually change our
spirituality or the spirituality of those around us, when we try
to see that maybe we could do something a little different
and God might honor it, I believe what we do is we put our plans and our efforts
as the focal point of our lives. And when we do that, we're not
believing on Jesus. We're not trusting in Christ. We're saying that
our ways are greater than His ways. And our thoughts are greater
than his thoughts. And we know the Bible teaches
the opposite of that, correct? Then why do we do it? Because
we're still alive in the flesh. And it is a battle. But friends, it is sin. It is
sin. Because the very next verse,
verse 21, he says, I do not nullify the grace of God. See, nobody
hardly ever uses this verse together because it's one thought. It's
the craziest thing, isn't it? What did Paul mean? Just keep
reading. Somebody asked me yesterday, what does it mean to work out
our salvation in fear and trembling? I'm upset. Keep reading. For it is
God who works in you and wills in you for his good pleasure.
Just keep reading. Calm down. Simmer down now. Quit
using, you know, fortune cookie scriptures and pick up your Bible. I do not nullify the grace of
God. What would that mean? That means if Paul had kept on
living in his own way, pursuing his own plans, trying to prosper
in his own righteousness, even after knowing that Christ had
established righteousness, he would nullify the grace of God.
So if we live in our ways and our plans and our efforts and
our righteousness, guess what? There is no grace. We are still
subject to the law of God and friends, we are never going to
live it. And if one is born from their
mother and never willfully commits a sin ever in their entire life,
they still stand in the judgment of God and will be condemned
for all of eternity because they are sinners. Because Adam is
the father of our DNA and we are wicked. But the second Adam is the father
of our righteousness. He is the giver of hope and the
giver of peace. We do not nullify the grace of
God. My righteousness is all of him. Why is the exercise of
my faith so often not in Christ? Because we fight with the flesh
and this sin is there. But hallelujah, because God is
the author of our sin and Christ is our righteousness and faith
is the gift of God so that when we are failing in our believing,
God effectually brings faith in the midst of unbelief. Do
you hear that? That's what grace is. Faith isn't
up to us. It's about Christ living within
us. Faith isn't up to us to resolve to. And when we do resolve, we're
just lying. I'm going to believe in Jesus
now. I'm going to walk with Christ. Three days later. It's even our greatest resolution,
even the greatest men of God that we've read, that we've read
in history. Jonathan Edwards, God bless the man, as a teenager
wrote this treatise of resolutions. Read it. It'll make you feel
really this big. This cat had his doctorate of
divinity at 18 years old. Because he gave his life to the
work of the Lord. Why? Because God effectually
brought him to it. Have we ever considered that
obedience to the law, even though some of us say, well, I don't
really try to work for righteousness, but friends, let me tell you
what else it looks like when we say, I'll make this happen
in my life for the sake of God. We're doing the same thing. I'll
make this work out. I'll put these places here and
this stuff here and I'll get this right. God, this will work
out because if I can do this, then God will do this. Friends,
there is no, one of the biggest lies that the devil has ever
perpetrated for the church is that God will meet us halfway.
You know what God does? God comes all the way and then
some and snatches us where we're running with our butt shining,
trying to get away. He comes and He catches us and
He snatches us and He brings us to life and we turn and we
look and we see who it is that we are able to see and we see
who it is that we've been entered into and we love Him. Though
we do not see Him now, we love Him and we love Him and one day
we will see Him face to face and then we shall be like He
is. Why? Because He is our righteousness and He will make us perfect in
His time, in His day. Paul closes us out with these
words, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ
died for no purpose. What a way to really bring home
the point. There is no peace if it is not
Christ who is our peace. Vanity and worthlessness is Jesus
Christ if righteousness is through the law. Is Jesus worthless? No. because he's effectually
provided obedience on our behalf. What are some things that we
should take home from this? Think about these. Some practical
applications for us as a body. What is the peace of God and
the imputation of righteousness have to do with us as a church?
Well, I believe a lot of things, just a few things in closing.
Our place among the body is important. If God has called you to be part
of this fellowship, be part of this fellowship. Don't attend
church, be the body. Eat together, grow together,
and give to each other. Secondly, our righteousness is
not our own. So then also must we bear with
others weaknesses and failures. We must not consider each other
lost and depraved and wicked when we are the same. And Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is also the righteousness
of our brothers and sisters. So let us engage in a life together
from that perspective, being slow to count others as less
than ourselves. But we should think less of ourselves
and elevate and encourage others. Thirdly, because Christ is infinitely
sovereign in the matter of us being alive and saved and righteous,
then we are to trust in Him throughout our lives to continue to hold
us. Like that song that we sang,
He will hold us fast. Christ will hold us fast. Not
our wisdom. but Christ, and we'll find joy
in Christ as we share life together. Fourthly, Christ lives within
us, so we are alive, and if we are alive in Christ, then we
are, by example of Christ's life, alive for the sake of each other.
You see that? This is like a whole recap of
1 Thessalonians and Ephesians. We live for the sake of each
other. We don't live so that we can get our lives right and
blessed and peaceful. We live and seek the face of
God and the power of the gospel that we might encourage each
other to live a life of affection and peace. I did a little year-end survey,
which I need everyone to do. It's on the Facebook page, and
then I sent it in an email to those who aren't on Facebook.
Please fill it out. It will help me and the elders
decide on how we're going to do some logistical things coming
up, and as well as giving you an opportunity to express some
things that may be on your heart and mind. But one of the questions
that I ask in that survey is that, have you had opportunity
to minister and give ministry to someone in the local church
this year? Yes or no? And I wanted you to,
first I wanted to see, secondly, I wanted your mind to be stirred,
because that's why you're here. Well, I wish that something would
be different with this, or I wish I could do this. Then do it. You have a carte blanche. Invest
in each other's lives as you see fit. It's a beautiful picture. Friends, I've been in the pastorate
20 years, and there has never been an opportunity like this
one. that's free, with no boundaries, unlimited potential to minister
to each other as we feel called. No longer again will you ever
be told, this is what ministry looks like, stick yourself in
this box. Ever. As long as I live. And then you
have to kill Jesse and a few other men in here. Fifthly, faith in this life in
Christ allows us to be still and to trust in the decrees of
God in all things. We know how he will save and
we know how he brings peace, but we take the reins often and
we should not. If God can save us, God can seal
us. Let God hold the reins in our
lives, in our marriage, with our children, in our jobs, in
our fears, in our doubts, in our insufficiencies. Let God
hold the reins in the maturity of those brothers and sisters
around us. Do you know God has ordained that some of you disciple
each other so that the weaker might grow into the stronger?
But it's easy for us to go, that's such a weak Christian. I wish
they'd grow. When the very thing that we say out of our mouth
is an indicator that God's been putting on our heart to burden
us, that that person might need to grow. How about we teach them
through the commands of Christ? The word of God. Sixth, our faith
cannot be in the fruit of our faith. We can't look at our lives
even when things are going good and say, wow, look at me, I'm
really working this thing out. And this awesome, that's not
faith that's saving. Faith that's saving is, even
in the good times, we go, wow, if it were not for Christ, this
would not be my life. And it will surely come a time
when this will not be my life, for I will sin. And I pray that
I don't. But if the Lord left me, I would
be left to my flesh and I would fall. God seals us and keeps
us. Seventh, we should stop swimming
upstream. Yes, we strive, but we strive
to believe in Christ who then effectively works all these things
out and He will resolve our minds and our hearts. We don't swim
against the stream of the Spirit of God. We trust Him. We believe in Him. Eighth, church,
we can love each other and we can be empowered to be light
and salt and we can be at peace through our homes. Even when
hell is at our door and we can stand firm when the wind of frustration
blows against us because Christ has died for us, because he loves
us and he will hold us fast. And if you don't understand that
that is peace, I pray God would open your ears to see. I pray
that you would help during the times of stress and struggle.
We who are parents would teach our children this stress can
bring sin of our flesh or joy from our Savior. When people hurt us and malign
us and do things against us, it is an opportunity for us to
teach our neighbors we can forgive and it's okay because I have
been forgiven much so I can let this go. When our marriages seem
to be unequally yoked, we can stand in the assurance of knowing
that Jesus Christ is the author of salvation, and He saved us,
and He, by His will and in His time, by His grace, will save
our spouses. And that nothing we do, no matter
how engaged an unbelieving spouse may be in a specific church,
or a ministry, or an activity, or a ball game, or whatever,
it is not eternal joy, it is not peace with God. God can do
it. And so with all of that, beloved,
I pray that you would find rest in the peace that is given to
us through Jesus Christ. And that we truly would look
around this room and would not see a people who are sitting
with us in church, but we would see a people who are our family
as the church. Don't scoot out of here so fast
unless you need to. Let the uncomfortable feeling of, oh no, somebody's
coming to talk to me, go for just a day. And believe it or not, if you
ask God to give you a heart for each other and to help you and
you cry out for mercy, God will give mercy to the humble. I can't
do it, Lord. I can't live in faith. I can't
live in peace. I can't live in hope. I can't live without fear. I can't do it. That is the greatest
prayer that you could ever pray for yourself. I can't. But you
can. But you can. God can. Christ has. And He will. Let's pray. We love You, Father,
because You have first loved us. And we are thankful that
we have such an amazing amazing grace that is ours. Continue
to teach us, continue to hold us and allow us to be who you
called us to be by your power in Jesus name. Amen.