We've seen that Paul has been
very clear to show us that these Christians, though it cost them
dearly, they received the Gospel and the Word of God with power.
They received it with much suffering. We've learned much over the last
19 weeks of this letter. And as we get to the bottom,
we start to stop paying attention. But let me tell you what happens
at the end of an epistle, the word that we know as letter. At the end of an epistle comes
the meat and the potatoes. At the end of the epistle comes
the cannon bursts and the dynamite bursts of the points. And so
as Paul closes this letter out, though there's deep, rich, bold,
molasses style weaved through theology and doctrine, there's
a lot of good things that are majestic and glorious, as we
come to the end, it's almost as if Paul just, well, there's
some other things I want to get out. Let me dump it all on you
in one breath. And so as we get into verse 12
next week, we'll start seeing instruction after instruction
after instruction. into the close of this letter
that will mold and blend so well into the principles and to the
premises, if you will, of everything else we've learned in the letter.
I want to remind you, beloved, that we gather here each week
so that we can see each other's faces, so that we can be encouraged
by each other, so that we can be accountable to each other,
so that we can minister to each other. And we go through these
letters each week so that we may worship God in spirit and
in truth. So that we may see the Word of
God as our utmost, the most premier way, the utmost
way in which we can know God intimately. We see the Word of
God as the power of God to reveal Himself. We know that through
the written Word alone can salvation come, and through the written
Word alone can the Spirit be discerned, and through the written
Word alone the grace of God is given to us. We know that there
is no way possible for us to live a Christian life apart from
the body, gathering under the teaching of the Word of God.
It is impossible. Every person that has ever purposed
to do it has failed in their walk. At the minimum, they've
lost their zeal. At the worst end, they've fallen
away from Christ. And those that fall away were
not of Him. For God does the work in us that we might be purposed
to pray, we might be purposed to press into righteousness,
we might be purposed to love the Lord and to love each other.
That is the work of God in salvation. So to not be in that way is to
say the grace of God is not given to us. So if we see these things
waning in our lives, beloved, we are actually seeing the result,
the fruit of falling away from not just seeing the Word of God,
but not doing the Word of God. which is the power of God in
us. We've learned that there is no condemnation for we who
are in Christ. That we are not those who sleep.
We are aware. We are ready. We are anxiously
awaiting our Savior to come, not to judge us, but to restore
us, to bring us to righteousness, to bring us to Himself. We do
not fear as the dark walkers fear, for we are those who walk
in the light. And so as we move through this
text, you might say, I thought we finished up all of this. No,
this morning, I want to really emphasize what Paul is trying
to teach us in verse 11. Why do you read all that? Because
there's a context there. You see the word therefore, you
need to ask, what's that therefore? What's the therefore therefore?
It's therefore because of everything else. Verse 9, 4. This is true, verse 8, because
this is true. Therefore, because these are
true, this is true. This is what you will do because
of that. It's a declaration. We understand
that doctrine means teaching, and theology is the learning
of God. We see the Scripture as the only means through which
we learn the teaching of God. Salvation comes through learning
the teaching of Christ, that gives hearing in order to hear
the teaching of Christ. So, beloved, are you here this
morning with ears to hear? Exposition is not for you to
sit and listen and be numb. Exposition is for you to hear
and engage. An expositional listener is a
questioning listener. As you hear the preached word
this morning, you question what you hear. Is that really what
it says? Is that really the argument that
Paul is bringing? Is that really the teaching that
God has shown us? I guess it is, for I see it in
the text before me. You're a questioning listener.
You're a learning listener. You're gaining information. You're
conflicted with that which you know and that which you hear.
You're confirmed with that which you already knew, which is being
re-established in your hearts and ears this morning. We're
also a worshiping listener. We are able to hear, as Paul
says, for God has not destined us for wrath. We ought to worship
when we hear that. This isn't just a postcard we
found, pick up grits and potatoes. This is God speaking to us, for
I have not destined you for wrath. Is that not joyous? Is that not
a time for us to choke up in the thoughts of our minds and
well up with tears of joy in the lips of our eyes? What do they call those? The
lids. Our eyelids. So that we might rejoice knowing
that God is sovereign and predestined us for salvation in Jesus Christ. That we are not those who will
fear judgment. How are we destined for salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 10, how? Who died for us
so that whether we are awake, that means alive in the body,
or asleep, dead in the flesh, in the grave, we might live with
Him. We are with Christ. We're with
Christ today. We're with Christ in death. We're
with Christ eternally. We are with Christ. And this is how we listen to
the Word of God. And then when we hear these truths,
it does something to us, because what is typically on our minds? Oh God, how are you going to
work this situation out for me? How am I going to know what to
do? How am I going to know where to go? How am I going to overcome
my fear? Overcome my doubt? Overcome my
sin? Overcome my disobedience? Overcome
my rebellion? Overcome my frustration? Overcome
my anxiety? How am I going to do these things?
For Christ is your Lord and your Savior and He has died for you.
So whether you are dead or alive, whether this world crushes you
and kills you, or you live to be 400 years old, you are with
Christ. So as we hear these things, it
ought to mess us up. It ought to break us apart. It
ought to make us think and worship and wail in our spirits and praise
in our spirits. You know one thing you will never
get in truth? Emotionalism. The Spirit of God is never found
in emotionalism. The Spirit of God is found in
truth. Only in truth. The Spirit of
God reveals the Son who reveals the Father. The Spirit of God
is God the Holy Spirit working out the will of God the Father
through God the Son, Jesus Christ, who we have been purchased through
His blood. And we, no matter what we feel,
know the truth. When our flesh is weak, Christ
is faithful. When our hearts are broken, Christ
is faithful. When our minds are doubting,
Christ is faithful. When our bodies quit, Christ
is faithful. Always given over to death, Paul
says, but being renewed daily in the Spirit. Though our body
is wasting away, our spirit is renewed day by day, Paul says.
As I prayed this morning, that light momentary affliction prepares
us for an eternal weight of glory. How do we know that? Because
God has said it in His Word. So as you listen today, beloved,
don't not hear. There's a big difference. If
you're looking for the two points that'll put you on the right
path for the next year, you've come to the wrong people. But
if you're looking for the power of God unto salvation, then you've
opened the right letter. And that is what we see today.
Because we are in Christ, because we're suffering, because Christ
is faithful, because God has saved us, because we are destined
for salvation, because He is the Lord, because He is all-powerful
and sovereign over all things, because all of these things are
true, because He will set right all things under His feet, Ephesians
1 and Ephesians 3, because all this is true in Christ, you are
in Christ, therefore encourage one another. Build one another
up just as you are doing. I Thought about that this week
about how many years in I'm gonna do the quote ministry I've been
in and how many people I've talked to, and how many counseling sessions
I've had, and how many prayers that I've prayed with people
who are in conflict, how many classes I've taken on psychology,
how many classes I've taken on counseling, how many classes
and certifications I've gotten in grief therapy, and abuse therapy,
and drug therapy, and all these different things, and I look
at it all and I think, what a waste! Because it doesn't work. It doesn't work to get anyone
changed. What gets people changed is that
God does a supernatural miracle in our souls, and we are transformed
by the power of Christ through the hearing of the good news
of God. And that in that hearing of the good news of God, the
Holy Spirit, as He wishes, blows in the hearts and the minds of
men, women, and children, that they may have spiritual ears
to hear, and when they hear, they are healed. And then war
ensues. Then it's like, wow, I've got
a sword in this hand. I've got a sword in this hand.
I've got the word of God. That's the sword of God. And there is
nothing else with which I can fight. There's no specific words
that I should pray. There's no specific ways that
I should pray. There's no magic sentences that I can pray. There's
no specific things that I can touch. There's no specific candies
I can eat. There's no markers that I can
bless. There's no napkins that I can lay hands on. Nothing works
but the Word of God. Only God alone in His Word will
fight our battles. Christ has won our battles. And
if we want healing, if we want counseling, if we want help,
if we want therapy, the only therapy for the Christian, and
I'm not knocking, I'm not talking about medical issues. I'm just
talking about growing in your faith. Being overcomers. Well, you know, sometimes people,
listen, if God can't heal me of my sinful addictions, He can't
save me from hell. If God can't change my anger
to love, I'm hellbound. If God can't heal a marriage
that's on the rocks, there is no God. How do we encourage one another?
With these things. My husband's horrible. He's a
horrible man and he's just so bitter. He's so frustrating. And Christ is your Savior. Love
your husband by laying your life down. Well, my wife, she's just
a nag and frustrates me every day and never stops. Love your
wife as Christ loved the church and died for her. Die to her. What's that mean? Die. What you want, what you desire,
what you think, what you know, off the table. Gone. Throw it
in the trash. Kill yourself in that way. Now
you live as Christ lived, who is the God of all things, who
died on the cross to save us who hated Him. That's how we
do it. Encourage each other in these
things. Well, I just can't. Yes, no. You're right. You can't.
Christ can't. And friends, it's seven days
in between. It's not going to fix it. A meeting
together is not going to fix it. A video is not going to fix
it. Counseling sessions aren't going to fix it. They're just
all the connectivities. They're all the connective tissues
of the body and how we stretch this tendon to there and we exercise
that bicep and we exercise that tricep and we exercise these
deltoids and whatever we are, neck muscles, nose muscles, tongue
muscles, no nose muscles, but you know what I mean. And we just work together and
as we're meeting and counseling and encouraging over here, the
body's being strengthened and encouraged and built up. There's
no one-stop fix for things. It's a lifelong pursuit of intimacy
and fellowship. The problem with our world today
is that we don't like intimacy. We are the biggest posers known
to the world, Americans. And most importantly, American
churchgoers. I won't say American Christians. I'll say American
churchgoers. I would bet you that 8 out of 10 of every member
of most evangelical churches are hellbound. How do you know
that? Because for the last 20 years,
survey after survey after survey after survey after survey in
some of the world's largest churches have asked a simple question,
how do you know that you have eternal life? And 8 out of 10
get it wrong. Most of them go, well, I walked
an aisle. Well, I've been baptized. Well,
great. You've gotten some exercise and you've bathed. I have eternal life because God
has not destined me for wrath because I have been destined
to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Through His
work, through His person, through His finished atonement. He has
redeemed me, He saved me, and there's nothing that I've done
except come with my wicked sin, rebellious before God, and in
that death God saw me and brought the Word to me and saved me.
That's the answer. Simply. Our hope is in Christ
alone. Not our coming, not our doing,
not our going, not our speaking. I believe, therefore I spoke.
So we believe, therefore we speak. Who gives me the words to confess
Christ as Lord? God gives me the words to confess
Christ as Lord. I may not know that for years,
but we do once we read. Beloved, intimacy, is the key
ingredient for growth. It's the key ingredient for life.
No one has ever gotten married in five countries apart and lived
50 years that way. Let's do a Skype wedding. I had
somebody ask me to do a Skype wedding for them two years ago.
I'm like, no. Well, what would it have to do
for you to perform our wedding?" I said, you're going to have
to move to Claxton for about 18 months. And after three months,
after we get through talking about the gospel for about 12
hours, then we'll see if I'm even willing to stand before
God and for you to say that you understand what marriage is all
about. Well, that's a little harsh. I'd rather not marry another
soul than make a mockery of marriage. Intimacy is required. Intimacy with God is required.
It's given to us through Jesus Christ. We're separated from
God. We've fallen short from the glory
of God. We are standing in the condemnation of God. But we who
are in Christ have escaped condemnation, have escaped judgment, because
Christ took the guilt of our sin on Himself. He who had no
sin became sin that we might be the righteousness of God.
And because of that, we encourage each other. Now, see, what does
encouragement look like? I mean, this sermon's going to
be a little loose for most of you. Now, this isn't exactly
typical of the way he preaches. No, it's not. But I want you
to ask yourself, what does it mean for you to be encouraged?
What does it look like? You know what encouragement looks like
in our world today? It's okay. Attaboy. Thumbs up. It's alright, bro. Love you,
man. I mean, that's not encouragement. I'd do that with a stranger on
the street. A football team member. Encouragement sometimes is, it's
okay. It's all gonna work out just the way you want it. That's
not encouragement. That's lying. The way I want it, praise God,
it didn't work out that way. Because if everything that I
prayed for were given unto me, man, my life would be a wreck.
Why is that? Well, man, I've prayed for God
to kill people before in my spirit. Oh, Lord, if you just smite right
now, just one, not kill, but maybe just burn real good, just
a lightning strike right down the butt. And you know what the
Word of God teaches me? I'm worthy of such condemnation.
But in God's mercy and love toward me, He gave me what? Grace. I deserve condemnation. I deserve
hell. I deserve judgment. I am guilty
of sinning against God. For two summers now, I've taught
a summer camp called Camp Stars throughout the whole month of
June, every day of the week, teaching theological studies to 5-year-olds
up to 7th graders, all together in one group. And that stretched me. Next year,
we're breaking them up. I'll take the small kids, y'all
can do the larger ones." They don't listen as well. But I asked
the question to all those children, about 40, 45 kids. I said, if
I, when I was five years old, took a penny out of my mama's
purse and stuck it in my pocket, what did I do? You stole. And the kindergartners said that. And I said, what does that make
me? Another kindergartner. You're a thief! You're a... Pastor
Chippins is a thief! I mean, you know, you're exactly
right. Now, if I don't steal again and
when I'm 90, I die, am I still a thief? Yes, you're still a
thief. You see that? We think that encouragement
is to tell us just how good we are, how wonderful we are, How
great we are. How bold we are. How much we've
got ahead of us. I mean, and it's not wrong to
encourage each other to strive for success in certain things
or to do what God has gifted us to do for His glory. You know
what? If you can play the saxophone or the keyboard, just do it.
Do it for the glory of God. Use that gift that God could
take it away just as quickly as He did. That's not identifying
me. I used to protect my hands. like
they were my brain. I used to protect my mouth like
it was my brain because I thought that after, well, first I thought
I was going to be a surgeon and then I'm like, no way can I do
this chemistry. Music, that was it. Jazz performance,
because I played a year and a half of classical saxophone and I
thought I was going to die. Notes, I couldn't even see, you
know, anyway. I think I've got to protect what
I'm going to do to make a living with. God had a better plan.
I used to identify, that's how I'm going to be known, that's
what I'm going to do. Who cares? That's not who we are. You can
take everything from me, even my life, and I still find an
identity in Christ Jesus. Friends, that's how we encourage
each other. How do you encourage the athlete who everything that
they are is embroiled into all that they can do with their body?
Guess what? Keep living. Your body is going to quit. I'm
only 42 years old and I can't pick up anything with my left
hand. Because I have a really bad, messed up thing called arthritis
in my shoulder. And there's nothing I can do
for it. Because there's no pain meds that work for me. And I
don't want them anyway. Nothing. So if I were identifying
my life into what I could do with my body, I'm in bad shape.
If we identify encouragement based on who we are and what
we can accomplish and what we can do, and that doesn't mean
that we should not encourage each other in those gifts, but
true encouragement is to establish the truth that we are in Christ
Jesus. And that we are not bound by
anything except the gospel. Somebody's mad. Encourage that
child. He's got a great voice. Food works every time. But encouragement. What does it mean, that's where
I was, for you to be encouraged? How is it that you're encouraged?
Well, let's think about this for a minute in the context of
this Scripture. Encourage one another with what?
As we've already said and already seen, we are to encourage each
other as they were already doing, and then also for us, we should
be encouraging each other presently and continually. Christ is coming. This life is temporal. Friends,
it will change your perspective. You won't care as much about
your property if you start keeping this perspective. You still want
to be a good steward. Don't let it fall down around
you. But don't worship it. And certainly don't find your
identity in it. In your wealth, in your health, in your mental
capacity. That scares me to death, and
I can already see, and everybody's like, well, it's just because
you're getting older. I'm not getting older. What are you talking about? I'm
not getting older. I'm 34. And I stopped there,
you know? That's it. That's where I want
to stop. The prime of DNA. I think that's where it is. 34.
Why? Well, that's about what time
Jesus ascended to the Father. He was 34. I figured He'd be
the perfect man. And that was a good year. physically, mentally,
emotionally. Wow! I want to be 34 the rest
of my life. Not going to happen. The coming of Christ and His
gospel, this is an encouragement for us. And we encourage each
other with this truth. That this life is not what it's
about because Christ is coming back. The reason we live here
this day is so that we are continually pressing into the reality that
God is coming back for His church and that we, if He comes before
we die, are made like Him. And we are together with Him
forever. And if we die, we're with Him then and we just await
that day when everything is reconciled and everyone else comes with
us. Friends, we need to look at that which is eternal, not
temporal. That should be an encouragement
on all of our lips, on all of our minds. No matter how bad
the situation is, Christ is coming. This world has an end. For those of you who are scared
because of the nation and what's going on, you don't have to fear.
There's nothing outside the purview of God. And if you don't think
God has plans to destroy the government of this land, just
read your Bible. All governments fail. They all
will fail. Not at the judgment seat, but
eventually forever. No matter what. The United States
of America is not going to last as a nation until Christ comes
back. It's just not supposed to. Why? Because we're too encouraged
by our government. We're too encouraged, even as
a church, by our laws, by our Constitution. It's going away.
It probably won't be in our lifetime, but it could if God decides it.
We don't fear that. Why? Because we're not of this
world anyway. If the world kills us because
of our affection for the gospel, wow, what a great life. Well, that's so wasted. I hear
about children in other countries who were taken from their families
and martyred in front of them. murdered in front of them because
these people stand for the gospel of Jesus. And someone has said
to me, that's such a wasted life. That's not a wasted life, that's
a glorious fulfilled life. You know what a wasted life is? Live
to a hundred and do nothing for Christ. A wasted life is living this
world in fear and put your hope in the government and go to hell.
A wasted life is having your kids grow up and all be successful
and all get an education, all have family, have grandkids,
great-grandkids and great-great-grandkids, and then watch you die around
your bed and you've got everything and you never left the legacy
of the gospel. That is a wasted life. It is worthless. And so before
I waste my life, I pray God would kill me. So if I die all of a
sudden, you know why. We are to encourage one another
for the coming of Christ. We're to encourage one another
in the context here about the grace of God and judgment. We
are not going to have to worry about being judged for our sins
because Christ took that judgment. That's the good news. That's
the point. That's why we call it gospel. This is what God is
speaking to us through His Word. The good news of Jesus Christ,
we are not those who live in the fear of judgment. So be encouraged. Now, where does that come in
when we fear because of our sin? Well, I just can't get control
of this. I can't get control. Exactly. It's about knowing that Christ
has suffered for that sin. Friends, when I think about Christ
taking the guilt of my sin on Himself, and I envision that
reality spiritually and physically, I want not to sin. You see? It doesn't make me feel like,
hey, Jesus has got this. Yee-haw! Jump in. No, Jesus took
this. Why would I want to add another
one to His plate? We are to be encouraged in that
grace of God and judgment. We are also on the flip side
of this judgment as the grace of God is given to the church
for those who believe in Christ by faith. We are also to understand
the antithesis of this grace is justice and judgment. that all those who are not believing
on Christ are condemned already, according to Jesus' talk in Nicodemus
in John chapter 3. And because of that, if they
do not come to salvation through Jesus Christ, they are justly
and rightly condemned. And those who are dead are waiting
for that condemnation. See, I've done a lot of jail
ministry in my day. I'm friends with a lot of felons.
It's amazing. Every place I've lived, especially
when we pastored down in the Golden Isles, we ended up with
a lot of federal agents in our church and a lot of felons in
our church. I don't know how that worked. It was really weird. It was a flat C. But to hear
them talking, one of the scariest moments of their lives after
they were arrested and indicted and waiting for trial, when they
were convicted, one of the scariest moments of their life is as they
sat there in that cell for weeks and weeks and weeks waiting to
go to prison. What's it going to be like? What's
it going to be like? Oh my God, I'm going to hurt. I'm going to suffer.
I'm going to die. Imagine if that's what's happening. It's
like the kids going to get their immunizations. On the way, where are we going? Candyland. Just fall apart. You know why you're scared? Because
you're fearful of what's coming. Friends, we, not us, but those
who die without Christ are waiting for that day and the fear of
that judgment is nothing compared to what the judgment will be. It's just a taste. We're to encourage
each other. Why is that encouraging? Because
it will encourage us to quit looking at our lives from such
a myopic, intrinsic perspective, and we will start considering
the fact that our suffering, no matter how great it might
be, is not supposed to stand in the way of our proclamation
of the Gospel. We need to proclaim the Gospel to the lost and dying
world. We need to preach. We need to share. We need to
encourage, not just each other, but we need to encourage the
darkness to see the light. How do we get them to see? We
don't. God gets them to see. But He's only going to do it
if we teach and if we share. Someone refusing the gospel is
not your fault when you share it. Let God deal with it. You share
and you pray and God will bring life. He's faithful. He's faithful to save. And also, it gives us encouragement
about the judgment when we think of the fact that so many people
have wronged us. So many people are doing wicked things. We've
got cops shooting people because they're scared, and cops shooting
people because they're black, and blacks shooting white cops,
and ISIS killing these people, and these people killing that
people, and supremacist groups thinking that... And we're like,
what are we going to do? What are we going to do? How are we going to change all this?
We've got to have love, we've got to have peace, we've got to have... They've
been saying for years there was peace. And judgment comes like
a thief in the night. But this isn't judgment. This
is grace. You might think, well, there
is no such thing as justice in the hands of man. If the government
sentences a man to die because he's a murderer, that's not judgment.
That's not even justice. Because he already deserved death
in the flesh because he's a sinner. Judgment comes from the hand
of God. And the Scripture teaches us that God is the Avenger, not
us. We do not have to worry about how someone's going to be paid
back for what they've done. It will take an eternity. Be
glad that you and I have been spared that judgment by the sovereign
love of Jesus Christ. We're to encourage each other
with these things. We're to encourage each other when people die about
the resurrection. The fact that my consciousness
does not cease. That if this body drops dead,
it's just a body. Let it rot. For I am now with
my Lord Jesus. Mourn as those who have hope,
not those who do not have hope. Miss. Oh, but one day we shall
stand together. And friends, I'll warn us too
about the idolatry of our affections toward each other. Mark them
as they are. Nothing in comparison to that
joy and that affection that we have for the Lord Jesus. I love
all of you. I love my family. I love those
who have passed on before me. And I say this in a joking way,
but I'm being sincere. Anybody whom I love that gets
in the way of me and Jesus will get pushed. Why? Because he's the point. He's the one. He's the treasure. The beauty of that is we don't
have to push. We'll be together. Loving each other, loving our
Savior. We can encourage each other with that. There is life
forever in Christ Jesus. We should encourage each other,
as Paul has already told these. with the truth of light walking
and living in righteousness because it is the work of God in us.
We don't have to worry about us falling back into sin and
being condemned because God, when we sin, will bring us out
of that. He will restore us. That's why
when we as the church, when we sin against each other and we
come and we sit down and we talk, those who are filled with the
Spirit of God receive the Word of God. It is not a burden. And
restoration happens. Restitution doesn't happen. Restoration
happens. We are resolved to be in unity,
to be in intimacy because we are intimate with God the Father
through Jesus Christ. So therefore, we can forgive
and we can forbear with one another and we can repent of those things
which seem to be wicked and evil in us. We can be encouraged by
that. You're not bound to this sin.
You can and have been given. the power to overcome sin. Not
perfectly, but it doesn't have to hold you. So encouragement is our primary
job as the church. I want to share that with you,
church. As Grace Truth, oftentimes through
the years, though it's been short years, there have been a lot
of people who visit and leave. Visit and leave. Come, stay a
little while. Nah, not really. And there are
several reasons. Some people leave because of
the version of the Bible that I read. Some people leave because I don't
wear a suit. Would you wear a suit in here?
I mean, please. It's hot. Some people leave because the
kids are too loud. Some people leave because it's
too cold. Some people leave because it's too hot. Some people leave
because we're just ugly. No, I'm just playing. Some people are just uncomfortable
with intimacy. Some people don't stick around because of all sorts
of things. But a lot of folks, they sit
there and think, what am I going to do here? What's my job going
to be? What's my ministry going to be?
What ministry, pray tell, do you feel God calling you to?
What ministry need inside of our body and inside of our communities
do you see? If you see it, then it's yours. Do it. The problem
is we think ministry is about the confines of the institution. Ministry is what we do with our
lives. Ministry is how we help each other. If you want a ministry
feeding the hungry, then get a pot, cook, and put some on
plates. And say, hey church, I'm going
to go feed the hungry. Some of us will go with you.
Why? Because we have that passion. I want to go knock door to door.
Good. Go knock door to door. Why do
I have to hire a deacon? Start a program for us to share
our faith. It's backwards. and we administrate things that
aren't really ministry. We spend more time planning and
arguing and fussing and being irritated than we do the work
of the ministry. Friends, you know what our primary
job is as the church? When we gather together, when
we spend our weeks, we should be on each other's mind, we should
be in each other's prayers, we should, as the Lord allows us
to have connection together during the time that we live on this
earth, but most importantly, when we are together, we are
responsible for encouraging one another through the Word. That
is your job. The same job that Paul had. The same ministry that Jesus
came to give. And His teaching ministry. The
same ministry that I have. Well, I want to teach something.
Then teach. To whom? I don't know. Who are
you hanging out with? You think a teaching ministry
is about just building it, they will come? You think sharing the gospel
is about trying to organize folks to come together? We call it
revival or evangelism. That's baloney. That doesn't do anything but
swell the egos of men. It swells the egos of men. You
want to share the gospel? Share the gospel. Don't know
how? Ask your brothers and sisters. The Word of God will show us.
We can be encouraged. All believers are called to the
task of encouragement. Paul did not say here, therefore,
those leaders in the church encourage each other. Therefore, the pastors
encourage the flock. As a matter of fact, he clarifies
what each person should be doing when he starts to come down there
on verse 12. We'll get to you tomorrow, or next week. Some
of the other ways in which we are to encourage each other.
But today, we need to know that we're all called to this task.
Are you available to encourage? Yes. Is breath going through
your lungs? Are you alive? Can you speak? Yes. You can encourage one another.
All believers are called to the task of encouragement. All believers
are equipped for the task of encouragement. Oh, no, I'm not.
I'm not equipped. Yes, you are. You're equipped because you're
hearing the Word of God this day and you're learning that
it's about sharing the Gospel and in striving together to keep
peace in our hearts by trusting in Christ. That's the foundation
of our encouragement. I'll show you what Paul tells
us about that in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 in just a minute. So we're equipped through the
Word of God. Thirdly, I want you to know that as it comes
to being an encourager as a primary job, number one, I didn't even
give you the numbers, we're all called to the task. Number two,
we're all equipped for the task. And number three, we're all comforted
by the task. As we encourage, we're comforted.
And then we comfort others, who then are preparing to comfort
others. You know, it's amazing. Well, how do I do that? Listen,
just treat the gospel like a cool post you see on Facebook. Treat
the Word of God that you hear this day as if it's a meme. With
some weird face or some pretty picture or some bold statement
or Charles Spurgeon with his big beard and his pipe or whatever.
And you just treat it like that and instead of posting it on
Facebook, post it in person. Become A social media post, I
guess. We know how to share. We know
how to encourage one another. We know a good story when we
hear it. We know what a good video looks like. I saw a video
yesterday of a young boy, like six or seven years old, and he's
weeping uncontrollably about the condition of the world, of
the earth. Physically. People are cutting down trees
and throwing trash all over the place and they're killing animals
for nothing and they're making highways in the forest and it's
terrible. He is uncontrollably sobbing because he sees destruction
of what he thinks is precious and beautiful. And it's being
shared all over the place. We share that which we love.
We share that which we think is most impactful in our lives.
Friends, soundbites are not what makes difference in our lives.
Encouraging one another in the Gospel through the Word of God
is what makes a difference. We are equipped and we are called
and we are comforted by this task. We're comforted when we
encourage and when we get encouragement and when we doubt. We're comforted
over our stress and anxiety. We're comforted in our fear.
We're comforted in righteousness. In 1 John 2, verse 1, it says,
I write these things to you that you may not sin. So when people come and talk
to me and they say, I've just got the sin of my life and I
just feel like I'm not a believer and I'm overwhelmed, there's
three or four things that I can say to them. Number one is you
are just like every other human being. And that's a fallacy. That's
an appeal to the masses. It doesn't mean anything. I'm
just telling you, we're all condemned. Two, you are saved through Jesus
Christ, so therefore that sin that you've committed is not
going to be counted towards you in judgment, because Christ took
it. That's an encouragement. Number
two. Number three, I too have struggled with that sin, or I
know someone else who struggles with that sin, and this is what
God showed me in His Word. Number four, you don't have to
be bound to this any longer. And the reason you're bound to
it is because when you feel the temptation to sin this way, instead
of going to the Word of God, which is echoing in your mind,
instead of running to pray, you think, well, I just can't. God
will understand. You run and rebel like David
ran to Bathsheba. You run and rebel, just like
Peter said, I don't know Jesus, I don't know who you're talking
about, don't bother me with this. But Jesus Christ restored him.
Thomas says, I would not believe if I stuck my finger in His side.
I won't believe. And he stood there reluctantly
in the upper room when Jesus walked through the wall and said,
Behold, Thomas, my hand's my side. And Thomas falls down and
said, The God of me, the Lord of me. There's encouragement
in that when we sin. There's comfort in our sin, not
with our sin, but comfort in forgiveness. There's comfort
in repentance. And we encourage each other in
that. Encouragement brings comfort in prayer. Friends, if you don't
know the words to say, then hush. Just talk to our Father. Put your hand on somebody and
say, let me pray for you. And it's not about what they hear,
because you're not talking to them anyway. It's about God. And you can just sit there and
weep and go, and that's all they can hear. But if you're praying
to God, He hears and He comforts. There's comfort in knowing grace
and hope and peace with God. There's comfort in knowing God
is sovereign over all things. There's comfort in praying for
each other. There's comfort in ministry. There's comfort in
knowing that somebody, no matter how hard life gets, is able to
come to your side and weep with you when you weep, and laugh
with you when you laugh, and praise with you when you praise.
There's comfort in knowing that God is the One who brings faith
to the hearts of men. So that is what we should be
doing, is encouraging one another and building one another up just
as you are doing. Now there's a lot of things,
as we'll see next week, that Paul specifically starts to teach
them to do in building one another. So in preparation for that, I
want to give us some basic thoughts about the foundation of building
the church. Number one, who builds the church?
Say it. God builds the church. Jesus
Christ tells Peter, I shall build my church upon the rock of what? Of his confession that Christ
is Lord and the Son of God. There's the bedrock. Jesus Christ
is God the Son and His work is the foundation The Christ. You say, well, He didn't say.
The Christ. The Holy, Anointed One of God. To become the Lamb
of God. That's all encompassed in His title, in His office,
and in His name. Jesus Christ says, I will build
my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. You ever thought about why there's gates on hell?
They're trying to keep the light out. Darkness. I'm just being funny. But it's true. John says in John
1 that the darkness will not overcome the light, the light
will overcome it. Jesus says the judgment is this
in John 3, that this is the judgment, that the light has come into
the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light
because their works are evil. Friends, we are to be building
one another up through the encouragement. And the foundation of the church
is the gospel of Jesus. Christ built His church through
whom? The teaching of the apostles.
All throughout the Pauline epistles, we see Paul saying, teach others.
He tells Timothy, teach others. Teach other reliable men to teach
others. Why? So that as we shepherd the
flock among you, as we labor among you, as we admonish you,
as we exhort you, then you exhort each other and admonish each
other and admonish and exhort me. And then we grow together,
we encourage each other together, and then we are growing into
maturity. As Paul would say in Ephesians,
we're growing to the mature stature of Jesus Christ. So that the
foundation is Jesus, and then we grow into Christ so that we
look like Christ more and more and more every moment of our
lives together. And Paul tells this to the church
in Corinth who was having a lot of problems. They were dealing
with some weird stuff, some sin, a lot of issues. They were scatterbrained
about certain spiritual gifts and they were abusing the privileges
that they had. They were showing favoritism,
they had sexual immorality, they had incest, they had adultery,
they had divorce, they had lawsuits, all sorts of stuff that's going
on in Corinth. And Paul writes to them, and in chapter 3 of
1 Corinthians, we hear these words. Turn there if you can.
Chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians, starting in verse 9. This is the foundation through
which we build one another up. And what it does is it eliminates
anything but Christ. Watch. For we are God's... See,
there's a four there. I'd love to go all the way back
to chapter 1, verse 1, but... 3, 9. For we are God's fellow workers,
you are God's field, you are God's building. You see that?
We are fellow workers working with the Lord, but you are the
field of God. You are the building of God.
God is building you. God is harrowing you. God is
planting you. God is doing the work. He's growing. Verse 10, according to the grace
of God, envision this. According to the grace of God,
given to me, like, as a simile, a skilled master builder, I laid
a foundation. That's Paul talking about. He
came and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and taught them
doctrine. He laid the foundation, which is the gospel of Jesus.
And someone else now is building upon it. You know what the argument
was here, just so you get the context? The people in court,
the church in court, were bragging over whose ministry they came
to faith in. Well, I was saved under so-and-so.
I was saved. You know what? The man that's
saved in the bathroom of the Taco Bell because the tracks
laid on the toilet is just as glorious. Nobody brags on what mouth truth
comes. Before the written Word, bushes
spoke. Mules spoke. Fire spoke. And in these days, He speaks
to us through His Son. He laid a foundation, and someone
else is building upon it. Listen, let each one take care
how he builds upon it. Now imagine this. Here's the
bedrock. Here's the foundation of a building. And it's firm,
and it's solid, and it's true, and it's plumb, and it's level,
and it's graded correctly, and it's reinforced, and it's immovable.
And then along comes somebody like me with popsicle sticks. Or small little tiny pieces of
balsa wood. I'm going to build a house on
top of that. Or a specific ministry. Let's get a biker's ministry. Let's build on top of this foundation
with some ethnocentric ministry to just these people. Let's just
build that. Let's just do that. Oh, let's
get people to fall in love with the 6th chapter of John's Gospel. And let's have a John 6 ministry. That's enough. Let's get people to follow this
preacher, or follow this writer, or follow this track producer.
Let's get people to follow this particular training method. Let's
get people to do this. Let's build upon this foundation
an incredible shopping mall of evangelicalism. Let's get people to come into
the fold of Christ. They're hungry. Let's give them something to
eat. It doesn't matter that they're saved.
It doesn't matter that they don't want the gospel. It doesn't matter.
Let's just bring them in. They're in. They're close enough,
right? No. Look, for no one can lay a foundation
other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if
anyone builds on the foundation, and look what he said. I said
popsicle sticks and balsa wood. This guy is talking to the heart
of issues. With gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay or straw. He didn't say mud. He's talking
about no matter what, how good it is, the best that there is,
if you build upon this foundation with anything like that, guess
what happens? Each one's work, verse 13, will become manifest.
That means it will be seen for what it is, it will be proven,
it will be shown, it will be revealed. For the day, capital
D, the day of judgment, the day of the Lord Jesus Christ's return,
we'll disclose it for what it is. Because it will be revealed
by fire. And the fire will test what sort
of work each one has done. Now, have you ever seen a house
burn to the ground, an old house, and seen the remnant of it? What's
left? Say it again? The chimney. Chimneys don't burn. They can, but they typically
don't. And you walk around, won't walk, but you drive around these
parts here and you can look and you can see chimney after chimney
after chimney. I love to just stop and look
at chimneys. And to try to think, well, children
used to run around, there's a house used to be here. I mean, if my house burned down
today, what would be left is the brick pillars and the two
chimneys. That's it. Even the tin on the
roof would burn. And it would burn fast. When everything is said and done,
if that which is built upon the foundation of the church is not
of the same material as the foundation, it will not survive. You know
what that means? What is your ministry? Just look
around the room. The building of God is the church.
The church are the people. for whom Christ has died and
purchased. So when we minister and when we build, we're building
a ministry which is people. We're building on the foundation
which is people. And if we're investing in each
other's lives and building each other up, apart from the gospel
of Jesus in any way, that will burn away. And the fire will test what sort
of work each has done. 14, if the work that anyone has built
on the foundation survives, look at this, he will receive a reward. What is the reward? What's the
reward of gospel ministry? People. Not numbers. Not seats, not economics,
not buildings, not platforms, not voices, not social change.
That all burns away. It all burns away. Every bit
of it goes away. It's gone. It's worthless. It's
nothing. It's temporal. What remains is those whom we
have shared the Gospel with, and in the sovereignty of God
and His affection for us, He brings to life those who are
dead, and we grow together in the absolute glory of Christ.
Through thick or thin, good and bad, we stand firm on the foundation
of Jesus, and we continually invest in each other with the
Word of God, and through the Gospel, and with the Gospel,
so that we're encouraged, and as we're encouraged, we're built
up. And the means through which we do that, we'll look at next
week. There's a few things, it's not
all inclusive, there's a few things. We encourage each other,
and in doing so, we build on the foundation, and if it survives,
the reward is that we see each other in heaven. The reward is
that we see each other's joy on earth. The reward is that
we stay intimate with each other, that we love each other, that
our affection and our work and every bit of this survives. But if anyone's work is burned
up, verse 15, he will suffer loss. Though he himself will
be saved, it is only as through fire. Do you not know that you
are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? And if you were to move over
in chapter 6, somewhere around verse 18-19, the Scripture tells us
in 1 Corinthians, do you not know that your body is the temple
of the Holy Spirit? So the foundation of the gospel
of Jesus Christ is sealed with the Holy Spirit. We are sealed
with the Holy Spirit. We've been looking at that on
Tuesdays the last two weeks. And we live because we are in
Christ. And because we are in Christ,
we are filled with the Spirit of God. And as Paul prays in
Ephesians chapter 3, that we will be filled with all the fullness
of God. So therefore, that which God seals is His. That which
God builds is His. And it will not fail. Church,
you will not fall away if you are in Christ. And you will not
fail others who are in Christ as you encourage each other. We do this through the Word and
the truth of God as we hold to the righteousness of God through
the gospel of Jesus. It may not seem feasible or pragmatic
for you today. This is not, as you know, an
easy teaching to just say, okay, there are three things I can
do and I'll just put those into practice. No, there's one thing
you can do. Believe on Jesus Christ this
day. And the hour after, and the hour
after, and the hour after, and tomorrow, and a week from now,
and a year from now, and a decade from now, and a millennium from
now, continually hold on Christ. Believing on Christ. It's a forever
continual exercise of belief. Believing is forever. It's not
a point in history. It's not a point in time. You
did not believe on Christ yesterday. You are believing on Christ right
now. That's what salvation brings. That's what brings salvation. We believe. And it works just like that.
How does that work? Join the debate. I'd rather you
not. I'd rather you build on the foundation
of that. With that. Encouraging one another. First
and foremost, yourself. And when you don't have it, reach
out. But you know what's really true? If you need bread and I
have none, I can't give you any. If you don't have Christ, as
a Savior, you can't share Him as a Savior. If you don't have
the Word of God as a believer in you, you can't share the Word
of God in you. If you don't have fellowship with the church, you
can't be fellowship for the church. If you're not encouraged by the
Word, you can't be encouraging to others. So what's in you today? What
is yours in Christ? All things. Beloved, I pray you believe on
Christ this day as your only hope, as your only treasure,
as your only truth, that you be fulfilled and that you be
equipped and that you answer the call to encourage and build
each other up in Christ. Because when it's all said and
done and the Lord looks out at His people, guess what He sees?
He sees a people who He created by His grace for the sake of
His own glory. And He's pleased with His work. Let's pray. Lord, may this Word ring true
to our hearts, true to our ears and our heads. Father, by Your
Spirit, would it cement into good soil. Father, first, that
You would Please bring to life those who
are lost. Bring to salvation those who
are in darkness. Lord, that you would encourage
those who feel so far away from you through this teaching. That
you would equip us and encourage us, not out of guilt or even
obligation, but out of eager expectation that we would invest
in each other's lives to such a degree that we would have intimacy
and unity in the gospel of Jesus. As we look to the week ahead,
help us to see opportunities where we can invest in each other.
Whether it be praying every day, alone, by ourselves, for one
another, getting on the phone and praying together, being in
person, offering assistance. Lord, whatever we might do, even
if we're cooking, it is a ministry of the gospel. As we live out
the Gospel in these details, Father, help us to be mindful
that as we are speaking, no matter what our temperament, no matter
what our expression of passion may be, Lord, that we are to
be encouraging one another every day. As long as it is called
today, let us encourage each other. On to love and to good
deeds toward each other. Father, prepare our hearts to
receive Your Word. not just this moment, not just later, but all
throughout the week as we dive into it, as we remember that
which You've shown us, as we read, as we study, as we pray,
as we labor to fight against the flesh and just waste a day.
Let us take time in the Word for that day. We thank You, Father, for Your
forever work in us through Jesus Christ. And in His name we pray,
Amen.