Turn with me, you're probably
already there to Ephesians now, chapter five, I'm going to read. Chapter five, that's why I wanted
to break it up a little bit. And I want you to see now what
what's happening here, and I want you to see in a spiritual site. Why the teaching of Scripture
is sufficient. We believe sometimes, well, I've
been taught scripture. I had somebody take a phrase
out of a letter and they taught me something from that phrase
topically. And so I've got something out
of the scripture. So the scriptures taught me not
necessarily so. If the scripture is not moving
from beginning to end, especially within the letters and also within
the whole of the text, especially in context, the New Testament.
If what you learn from one piece is not the argument of the whole,
you've not learned Scripture, you've learned something else
and it's called error. You've learned false teaching.
The reason that God gives us this letter to the Ephesian church
is so that we who are the body of Christ, who are in covenant
with Christ by his faithfulness and who then are in covenant
with the church, we are to read this letter as though it were
written to the Christians of Ephesus. That it may apply to
our lives doctrinally, theologically and practically today. And so
what we see then as the whole, it's very easy. Let me tell you
what happens. And I've shared this with some
of you privately. I've had a lot of conversations
about this very thing in some way or another, whether it be
outside or in here, on the phone or on the email, text message
or in the yard or putting up a fence. It doesn't really matter.
But either way, the conversations have taken place. And here's
what we see. Here's what happens. We see the
whole of Ephesians, which by the way, this is the 40th sermon.
to grace through church in this letter 40th. So in 40 sermons. We've been
going through this letter and it's very easy to get very myopic
in our focus and start looking and we look and you know, those
things that you that you that they don't know if they still
sell them, but back when I was in college, they used to sell
these these posters and they didn't look like anything. There
was this blurred mess of garbage. And if you stared at them, Long
enough, they become a 3D image. You know what I'm talking about?
All right. We sometimes in the church can become like that.
And then once you see it, you see it. And the guy standing
next to it says, see, it's an elephant. And he's looking at
it. I don't see it. And he's staring at it and he's
blurring his eyes and he's crossing his eyes. You know, that's how
they tell you. Cross your eyes and then bring them into focus.
I think there's a camera on the other side of that that they're
recording people going. And so that's what we do. And
we all of a sudden see it. And then now every time we look
at it, we see it. We see the elephant in the picture
and we know that it's an elephant. And this dude beside us is sitting
there going, I don't see it. But then when we take our eyes
off the elephant, because we're we're really disfocused in our
in our ocular operation. I don't know what you call that,
how your eyes work and thingamabobs up there and how they work. Then
we go and we look at our friend and he looks like a Picasso.
It's got one nose, three eyes and his ears meet in the middle,
sort of like we do on our MacBooks now when we play with the little
camera. We can make our face. And so as long as we're focused
on that, which we can see in the picture, if we don't change
our focus when we look at the world, we're going to see something
really distorted there. So reality is not easy to see. It's not reality when you're
looking at a picture that's a 3D image. And when we focus on that
one thing for too long, we blur everything else that happens
around us. It is so easy to get carried away like that in Scripture,
where we see a phrase, for example, let's do this. Therefore, be
imitators of God as beloved children. Chapter five, verse one. And
we think, well, we've got to do like God does. So let's smite
the enemies. Let's slay the wicked. You see
what I mean? Well, that's what God does, but
it doesn't say that. and walk in love as Christ loves.
So we oh, you're talking about God, the son walk like God, the
son walk. Exactly. Not like God, the father
walks. We can't walk that way. We're
not called to do that. God is the judge of the world.
And then we get some examples as Christ walked and gave himself
up for us, a fragrant sacrifice and offering to God. So in the
same way, church. We are to walk as Christ walked,
not thinking of himself, not thinking of his of his enemies
and how they hurt him, not thinking of his holiness and how it's
been defiled, but thinking surely and certainly and explicitly
of how he who is the holy, righteous one of God would die at the hand
of sinners so that he could become sin, that they, the killers of
his own flesh, would become the righteousness of God. That's
amazing. So that's you see how easy it is. Oh, depends on how
we're bent. If we watch the Ten Commandments
on the weekend and we see Charlton Heston and see God do all that
mighty stuff and we come in here to imitate God. Drown them and
burn them, kill them. Yeah. And it's just and we get
this, you know, it's like when you listen to certain music,
you don't listen to Tchaikovsky when you're fighting and you're
doing martial arts. But you can't hit that guy. I mean, if you might cook because
you're so sick of hearing it, you know, you don't you don't
listen to that. Maybe Beethoven's fifth, but then you're going
to be punching in rhythm, bump, bump, bump, bump. And so the point is, is
that our our emotions, our environment and our focus can change the
interpretation of how we see scripture. And it doesn't mean
that it's right. So we need to look carefully
there. And so then we go beyond that. OK, we don't fall into
that. We understand someone. But what about verse three? But
sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not be named
among you. And so then we go where we automatically
go to what the scripture saying there should be no sexual immorality
or any impurity. So a lot of people like the couple
that impurity with sexual impurity. Though it's in there, Paul makes
a very clear on purpose, he makes it very clear that he's talking
about all impurity. Because he's talking about sacrificial
love versus fleshly love, he's talking about sacrificial love
of Jesus Christ and the gospel compared to that love, which
is fleshly and selfish and and sort of. Grotesque, if you will,
in comparison, when it's outside the confines of the gospel and
of the marriage. But then he doesn't want people
to get stuck just on sexual immorality. So he says all impurity or covetousness. So then you just go sweep it
all in. Let's make a big fruitcake out of all the sins that could
possibly be there must not be named among you. And we understand
that that naming is being identified. But the point is, is not to get
to the place in this teaching. This is not a teaching about
what not to do. It's very easy to walk around.
Well, I'm not sexually immoral. I'm not covetous and I'm not
impure. No, but you're full of pride,
and I think that falls into covetousness. Well, he didn't say pride. Didn't
have to. So we have to be very careful
not to become so linear when we read the Bible and myopic,
meaning that we just focus on just that one word of that one
thing. That's where the cults find their power. That's where
that's where the baptismal regeneration cults find their power. They
go to the one command. Repent and be baptized, see? The Bible says you must be baptized.
The Bible does say be baptized. It's a command, but it's not
a requirement for salvation. It's a fruit of salvation. It's
an experiential application of that which God has done in your
life. You experience the new birth, you experience holy affections,
you experience the understanding of scripture, you experience
life in the body of Christ, you experience the reality that the
Word of God says you need to, in the same manner, be baptized
so that you can identify with Christ. You don't want to be
named among the world, you want to be named among Christ. So
what better way to be named than to have the picture of the death
and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that gave you life?
and holiness. Then he says, let there be no
filthiness or foolish talking or crude joking which are out
of place, specifically referring back to sexuality. Do not name
these things. Do not talk about these things.
Do not talk about that which is improper among the saints.
Don't even talk about the fact that it shouldn't be talked about,
because when you talk about it too much, you open the door for
this lucidiousness to be driven in. When we talk about sin, when
we laugh about sin, when we discuss the things that we have done
or that we have seen, even if it's like, I'm so, so glad I'm
not like that. Or look at that wickedness over
there. Let's don't show everybody the wickedness. It's sort of
it's sort of like, you know, when you're driving down the
road, you're traveling cross country and you see some dude running
naked in the parking lot of the car or the gas station in the
car goes spins off and you're thinking, man, I hope my kids
don't see that. And some dude behind you look over there, that
naked guy. Well, or worse, the parents that
go, don't look at the naked guy. What naked? My eyes are burned
out. That really happened. Sitting
in an Applebee's, some dude gets thrown out of a car in a gas
station in his birthday suit. And boy, was he in trouble. And
where does he run? Right through our window. Actually, he ran by our window,
didn't he? And then down to the gas station trying to catch the
car that had come out. That's what it was. I said, don't
look at the naked. It was too late, you know. But
let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talking or crude joking,
which are out of place. But instead, so what are we supposed
to talk about? We are thankful. Let there be thanksgiving. So
the the proper the proper hermeneutic is let's praise God. Let's be thankful for that which
God is and for the gospel and for each other. And if we're
thankful, what does Paul say? Do not. Complain, do all things
without grumbling, because grumbling and complaining and fussing and
is not Thanksgiving. I love it in my house where I
have that printed all over the place, and I love when I don't
see Thanksgiving and I see complaining all over everywhere and then
I just complain about the complaining. Believe me, I don't listen to
the Bible. Sometimes that's like looking
in the mirror and forgetting what you look like. For those
of you who know James three. But there be Thanksgiving for
you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral
or impure or who is covetousness of the dollar has no inheritance.
The king of God, for those of you know, grammar, that's a present
reality. These. This person has no. Presently has no inheritance,
the kingdom of God in Christ. Let no one deceive you. Verse
six with empty words. And we talked about those empty
words, I'm just refreshing us because we've got to really be
on the same page here. Those empty words, what empty words,
anything that's not truth, anything that's not prescribed in scripture
is empty words, foolish talk. But because of these things,
the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore,
verse seven, here's a command. Do not become partners with them.
We talked about that last week and the week before. We don't
want to be partners in their talk. We don't be partners in
their look. We don't want to be partners in their presence
of the action of sin, because if we are, then we're partners
in their guilt. And if we're partners in the guilt, we're
partners in the condemnation. So in some sense, we shun that which
is darkness. So we're clear there where all
of a sudden we're seeing what Paul is saying for at one time
or say you were darkness, but now you see that. Be careful,
church, it's so easy for me to say and what I'm going to say
as we are to have wisdom today, I'm going to say this word, I'm
going to say you've got to look to see if there's any darkness
in you. But see, there's a there's a there's a there's a catch there. Because if you are truly in the
light, there is no darkness. So what do you do? What do you
do with the reality of the gospel when you See something that looks
like darkness. But Paul says, for at one time
you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. So therefore,
walk in the light. So if you see something that
looks like darkness in your life, it's not darkness, though it
may very well be pointed in that direction. You are a child of
light. So therefore, walk in the light.
Because if we can walk in darkness, we're not of the light, John
says, that we are not in the light. It does not cohabitate.
Does that mean you're saying I'm sinless? No. But I'll just put it this way.
You won't want to sin, you won't need to sin. You won't need to sin, you don't
have to sin. You don't want to sin. You don't want to walk in
darkness. Though the temptation of darkness
is there, it's not sin. That the thing that you love
or did love that might entice your flesh is dangled before
you, that is not sin that it dangles. It's sin when you meditate,
when you consider, when you reach after, when you grab, when you
plan, when you get up and walk after it. Then we're sinning. And we should not. You should
not do these things. How do we know? And see, this
is where this is why it's so frustrating right now. Because
there's so much I need to preach about six sermons in this one
sermon to get ready to do the introduction for this sermon,
and it's hard. That's why I don't think it's
well, you're not a good listener. Get that little booklet up there,
how to listen well and practice some of that. I think you need
to you need to write some stuff down and I think you need to
come to a place where you're starting to keep some notes.
And if you're real good at mental thinking, if I write too much
while I'm listening, I'll write too much and not listen. And
so some of you may have to go back. These sermons are, for
the most part, other than two weeks in January. They're all
online. You can listen to them again.
Work it out, fight through the word of God, let the spirit of
God take you and rearrange you in such a way that there is no
way you're going to remain where you were this morning when you
woke up. Why, to the praise of his glorious
grace, what position is it for the church to worship a God who
does not sanctify them? So now we look, look at this.
One time you were darkness, verse nine, for the fruit of the light
is found and all that is good and right and true. And verse ten,
this is where we start. But then we got to end in verse
twenty one. And so how am I going to preach
all that? I'm not going to get started and we're going to try. I want to open your eyes to something
today in church. I want you to know this is truly,
truly, truly a sermon to you. Grace, truth, church. This is
a sermon for every Christian. And they can hear it. But as
a pastor, as the one whose God has called to shepherd through
the teaching of the word and to take watch over your souls,
I am telling you that I am preaching to you. For and try, verse ten, to discern
Ephesians, chapter five, verse ten. Try to discern what is pleasing
to the Lord. And he gives some commands in
verse 11. Take no part in the unfruitful
works of darkness. And so it's one thing the Scripture
tells Paul saying, do not practice darkness. Do not walk into sin. Do not go that way. Do not look
that way. Walk away from that in the righteousness
of Christ. Walk in the light. Walk as imitators
of God in Christ Jesus. Do you see what's happening here?
Understand, too, he's talking collectively to the body, not
to James Tippins, though it applies. And it may apply to you personally. It applies in as much as you
are walking effectively individually unto the corporate body. Nobody
ever other than Timothy and in places like that, these letters,
these pastoral letters are written to the church. To the saints. Take no part in the works of
darkness, but instead expose them. Now we know what that looks
like, but do we? For it is shameful, and this
is what I was talking about earlier, not to be named, it is shameful
to even speak of the things that they do in secret. Now what are we talking about
here? We're talking about sinful, rebellious, unbelieving, wicked
people who may be in the church. but are not born again. Now,
friends. These people are clearly lost. You know who they are? Do you know who walks in darkness?
You ever seen somebody walk away from the church so that they
could live in a life of sin? They're darkness. They're not
backslidden. They're lost. The Bible doesn't
say, oh, get your decisions in order. The Bible says repent.
Turn from sin and love Christ. Period. Don't love the darkness. That's the judgment, John 3.
This is the judgment. That light has come into the
world, but that people love the darkness rather than the light
because their works were evil. The evil works and the evil heart
that loves evil doesn't want to be seen by light. I don't
want my Christian friends to see me. I don't want my God to
see me. I don't want my husband or my
wife to see me. I don't want my pastor, for Pete's sake, to
see me. I want to do this in darkness so that I don't have
to answer to God, but God sees Coram Deo. All that we are and
all that we think and say and do is in the face of the Holy
God. So take no part, but try to discern
what is pleasing to the Lord by taking no part in the front
group of worship darkness, but expose them for it is shameful
even to speak of these things that they do in secret, but Verse
13, when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible
for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says
awake a sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine
upon you. And when Jesus says that those who come to the light
do so because it so that it may be clearly seen that their works
have been carried out in God, we touched this last week and
on Tuesday night, we touched it a lot. We're in John three
on Tuesdays. We touched it in an understanding that God is
glorified and praised for the work of his power in the life
of that one who was darkness, who is now in light. And then
that which is now who he is or who she is, is exposed because
the light of Christ shines on that person. The image of Christ
is seen in the church. The image of Christ is seen in
the people of God, not just through benevolence and affection. Yes.
But most certainly through a supernatural holiness and a supernatural sanctification
that even when sin does take place. Brothers, I write these
things that you may not sin, but if you sin. You have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is our
propitiation. That's first John. I write these
things that you may not sin, but if you sin. You have an advocate. Be careful, church, thinking
that walking in darkness is OK because you're saved. Be careful,
church, thinking that you have enough wisdom to discern what
is and is not darkness. Be careful, church, thinking
that you aren't in it. Or at least looking into it. Always test yourself to see if
the fullness of your faith is in the sufficiency of Jesus and
His work and His life. And that the outcome of your
faith is the wisdom of obedience and the wisdom of holiness. Fifteen. Look carefully then
how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. And I'm going to
read this and then we're going to talk about what we just read
earlier. And we'll pick up here next week. Look carefully than
how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best
use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be
a fool. But understand what the will
of the Lord is and do not get drunk with wine. It didn't say
don't drink wine. It said don't get drunk. See
how our discernment needs to be so keen. For that is debauchery,
but be filled in the opposition is be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Let your mind always be sharp, church. Let your heart always
be sharp in the soundness of the truth of God. Don't ever,
ever allow your mind to be weak. addressing one another in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to
the Lord of your heart, giving thanks always for everything
to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, submitting
to one another out of reverence for Christ. Now, look what Paul
just did. Paul brought all this amazing stuff that doctrinally
sounds so deep and enveloped, and he brought it to a head and
said, here's how it goes when you shoot down the slide of this
teaching. It all culminates to unified
worship, unified affection, unified holiness, unified life. So there's some tests, there's
a few tests, and I'm going to say what they are. And then I
want you to just sort of test yourself or ask yourself in this
way. And then we're going to go to Romans 14 and Romans 15,
and we're going to do a real slam dunk snapshot dropkick roundhouse
Bruce Lee type fully automatic in there. And then you're going
to go home and you're going to be driving home and you're not
going to talk to anybody in the car and you're going to drool out
of one side of your mouth. And God's going to work it through
you in the next year. Careful, don't hear what I'm
not saying, church. Listen carefully. Today, I believe what happens
when this stuff comes out, when Paul begins to teach, ugly stuff
comes inside of our hearts, and this ugly stuff plagues the church. Why? Cause. We aren't fighting
one another, church. We're fighting the enemies of
God. And he is a defamed lion with
no claws. with his mouth taped shut by
the power of the victory of the cross of Jesus Christ. But he
growls and purrs and prowls and we need to be wise. So today, really what we're going
to look at in introduction is to look at the difference between
pride and grace. That's what's happening here.
That's what's going to take place right now unfolding in your eyes
is the issue of pride and grace. And be careful before you take
the grace name tag and stick it to your forehead. Oh, that's
mean, gracious. Well, that's prideful. So, OK, I'm going to put the
pride name tag on because I'm pretty sure I've got it and then
I'm hoping that I can replace it with the grace. Wait a minute.
Jesus already did that. And I'm going to close with a little
story. I've not done this ever. I'm going to close a little story
to summarize everything that I'm trying to show you today.
Here's the test. Shut up and just get on with it. OK, here we go. Test. I want to test to see if the
gospel is truly at work in you. I want to test to see if the
gospel is truly at work in you. Or if you stand on legalism or
moralism as a means of grace or even proof of grace. Be careful. Test number one. Test number
two. As I preach this, if you are
highly offended in a manner that you are willing to walk away
from the brethren in disunity and disobedience, you fail. What is it that it says in Hebrews?
If they leave us, they were never of us. Well, that ain't true.
My friends, there are times to leave a fellowship when wrong
doctrines are taught, but not when we can't get along. And I will promise you this,
we will not always get along with our understanding of right
teaching. So the power of the gospel does
what? It resolves it. And sometimes it resolves it
by some of us going, I'm just going to grow up a little bit
and some of us going, I'm just going to back down a little bit
and we're going to be gracious and we're going to see God grow
it up a little bit. How does the church grow? It doesn't grow
up in deep theology. It doesn't grow up into maturity
and deep doctrine, though it's important. How does it grow?
It grows by that stuff multiplying and exposing itself in affection. And what is affection? Sometimes
you have to speak the truth to your brother in love. Brother,
you say you've bathed, but you smell. Are you bathed or are you just
hanging around some smelly folks right now? And of course, that's
a metaphor for being in sin. saying you're in the light, but
look in this mental light darkness a little bit. Do we call them
apostate, burn a cross to their head and throw them out on the
street? No, there's a process. And a brother or sister in the
Lord will come and they'll... But the problem is sometimes
we are so ungracious in our affection. I love you, brother, and you're
a wicked. What did I do? Doesn't matter. You should know.
You should have enough wisdom to know. And I've been on the receiving
end and the giving end of that. Test to see if you can uphold.
The power of God through right, living and gracious forgiveness.
Can you uphold it? Can you stand the test of temptation
and even when you fail, can you come in repentance, bow before
the throne of grace and say, oh, God, whoa. Leave me not there
again. You know why temptation reigns
in the church? Because we don't pray for God to lead us away
from it. We don't fight. We just sit around and hope with
our fingers crossed. Well, I reckon, I guess I'll just live in a box.
If you live in a box, you'll still suffer with pride. I haven't
looked at anything sinful in 16 years. You haven't left the
box, dude. But I'm sure you've drawn some on the wall of your
mind and looked at them. Let's be careful. I want you
to test to see. If you've been enabled. To be strong in your faith. And
forbear those who are weak. I want to see if the strong and
the weak together can be enabled to celebrate the gospel while
knowing that each other are indeed in both categories at some time,
if not simultaneously in something. I want us to test to see if we
can discern that which is an issue of conviction of the heart
and conscience and not a command of Scripture. Like alcohol. Like certain types of food. That's what Peter was rebuked
for. I want us to test to see if the love of God is evidenced
in us by our dying. It's an undying love, but the
love is evidenced in our dying, dying to ourselves for the body
of Christ and overwhelming supernatural humility, grace and power. Test
us. I want you to test to see if
you live in the power of the gospel of Jesus. Are you able
to say the power of God in me is sanctifying me and giving
me forgiveness and graciousness and forbearing and understanding
and wisdom? I want you to test to see if
you fall prey to selfish desires. Because of weakness. Every letter that we see in the
New Testament, we see these warnings, we see them in Hebrews, we see
them in Ephesians, we see them in Galatians, we see them in
Peter, we see them in Paul and John's writing, especially John
James. I hate that stuff. I read one today and I'll read
at the very end. And the dude doesn't stop. He's not like Paul.
He's not gracious. He is gracious, but he's not
as gracious as Paul is. See, Paul comes and says, that's
not who you are, church. You're in the light. Walk in
the light. You're not in the darkness like this. See, the
rhetoric is to point to those who are in darkness and say,
see, you're not like that. You're good because of God. James
just goes, if you say that, you're demonic. Made my stomach hurt. I quit. But there it is, the
full counsel, the word of God. Sometimes the sermon is going
to say you're demons. Sometimes the sermon is going to say you're
saints. And that's the way we're going
to feel, how do we deal with it, we've got to have wisdom. Look carefully
how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, sometimes morality
and righteousness in our own side and our own senses may be
the right way to look, but our motives may not be wise. Be very
careful, church. Because here's what kills sound
churches. It's not. It is not the enemy
coming in and trying to take over. It is not false teaching
from a heretical pastor. It is not those who come in and
sell drugs and start brothels in the back room. It's pride. Pride, pride, pride. And the opposite of pride is
wise. I really believe that. As Proverbs
says, the wise man and my paraphrase here, a whole bunch of preaching
in Proverbs is very difficult to preach, by the way, very difficult
to study and apply. Poor Lemuel, and so we. We see
it the way I summarize the proverbs, this is that the wise man says,
God, no. And the fool says, I know. So
we be careful to not come to the place where I know that don't
kids say that all the time, I know, I know, I know. So let's consider that factions
in the body of Christ are usually in for a church like ours who
starts out of a right foundation, per se, to the best of our ability
into the best of our understanding, the best of our conscience, by
the call of the Spirit of God through his word, we will not always
be perfectly sound and every little squeak. And the minute we think we are,
we have failed. And so factions are usually not
doctrinal, but they they come in through pride, and here's
how it works. A matter of conscience becomes a matter of commandment.
Hear that a matter of conscience, then in some churches like ours,
how do you know that I have been in ministry long enough? And even if it's not the church
as a whole, it'll be maybe two friends who spend time together
several times a week, and all of a sudden they're not friends
anymore. See, that's that's blasphemous. Two sisters who used to talk
and edify one another and somebody says something to the other and
all of a sudden they're not talking anymore. That's sinful. Why does
that happen? Because of pride. Because a matter
of conscience and maturing becomes a matter of commandment and wickedness.
So instead of dealing with the issue of conscience in a gracious
way by sometimes for the stronger, you know what the stronger does?
They forbear. They put up with that weaker
brother. They put up with him. Oh boy,
here comes little weak guy. He's going to tell me my shoes
are too tight. And that pastors ought to wear ties. Oh gosh, I got out of day. I'm
a visitor in another church. Somebody comes in here. Don't
you preach at 2 o'clock? You got time to change? See, I'm going to take off that
corduroy work coat I got on when I'm going to preach. I tell what
we'll do about August. We'll invite them to come in
their suit and sit in here with us. Put him right under the fan.
See how they feel when they're 100 degrees. But you see what
I mean? It's easy to get. And I've been
offended so many times with deacons in churches and economy and the
pastor. We just got to sit down and talk to you now. You can't
wear blue jeans and pulpit anymore. And I'm like, you know, why don't
you buy me some clothes and I'll be glad to wear whatever you
get me. I'm not paying for your clothes, but I'm not paying for
yours either. The point is, I have been prideful
in that, in responding to that, and I have been gracious in that,
and people have been prideful in telling me these things, and
they've been gracious in telling me these things. And either way, we've
got to forbear and forgive, and we explain things, and we may
not agree with the explanation, and that's okay. Because what
about, oh, what about giving God your best? Great. How do
we define best? Is best defined on a cultural
level? Is best defined on a... What
is best? You put a suit on, go to an interview
on the West Coast, you're not getting hired. You know, that
dude must sell insurance. Or be a pallbearer. Nobody dresses
that way. Brunswick, they don't wear suits.
Just don't. What's the big deal? Well, we
gotta be gracious, cause you know what? They can split churches.
That can split relationships, that can split things, and so
we have to be gracious in that. And so if we think, if we think
that we are holistically mature, and if I say, well, the Tippins
family, we've got it together, and we people should do like
we do, and you should only drink milk that is freshly squeezed
from the cow in your backyard. We wouldn't have much milk, I
promise you that, because our dogs don't give milk. But if that's my conviction, then
great. And then I come up here and I say, now, today, we're
not going to talk about the Bible. We're going to come to the place
where the Book of Utter. And I'm going to give you a scientific
explanation of what happens in cows. And that's just nasty. So good Christians... I'm not
going to do it, I promise. Some of you are going, I need
to eat later. So Christians don't need to drink anything but this
particular brand of milk. You see how that works? Now that
might be your conviction. Just like I won't buy but a certain
brand of tires. Several different brands, because they last longer.
That's my conviction. And I believe if I buy a cheap
set of tires, I'm after a place in three months, I'm buying another
set of tires, I'm a poor steward. But that don't mean I've got
to get you to buy my tires. It's a matter of conscience. So what
happens is when we think that we are holistically mature, that
we individually, that we're the picture. If everybody could just
be like me and look like me and think like me and act like me
and speak like me and sing like me and hear like me and read
like me and talk like me and dress like me. If everybody could
just do this, this. You know who did that in the
scriptures? Who did that? The Pharisees did that. Look at me,
how I'm dressed. Look at how we have phylacteries
and they put the word of God in their eye. They would wear it to where it
would hang down in front of their face so that they could actually
fulfill the requirement of always having the Word of God in your
eye or on your mind or before you. And they wore it on their
heart and they wore it and that was their ceremonial practice,
but they begin to take pride in that. Oh, look at there. Here's
this. And they look down at those who were not Jews. And so if we feel we're there,
we should take a picture of ourself, put it on Craigslist and say
new church plan, perfect church. Come see me. You see that it
sounds so silly. But that's what I want to protect
us from, because we who are especially in reform circles, we like to
read and discuss doctrine and get around. And three hours later,
it's eleven o'clock at night on Tuesday and we've been done
for an hour and nobody's going anywhere. And half y'all got
to drive an hour back home and we're having a wonderful time
in a fellowship. It's easy to go, well, you know what? All
those other churches, they leave five minutes after they leave, after they're
done. And why don't they fellowship like we do? And I haven't heard
that now. I'm just saying it's a possibility. I want to protect us as a as
a flock from falling into that. Yeah, I think it's great. I told
the guy this morning and he said something about how people it
was nice to be able to have a meal after church. And I said, well,
you know, people would not leave as quickly if you didn't stand
at the door and wave them out, shake them out the door. I never
thought about that. So he's going to stand in front
maybe next week. So let's consider these things.
These factions come in from pride within the church. Second, the
gospel, when these things happen, demands resolution, which always
begins with forgiveness, with forbearing. And so wisdom, look
carefully then how you walk. The obvious is this. What? The obvious is don't walk in
darkness. The obvious is don't walk in sin, don't become sexually
immoral, don't become in a debauched lifestyle. Don't be, you know,
reproached. Don't hang out in dark areas
with dark people doing dark things and act like you're going to
not be blamed for being there. Don't do that. Well, Jesus did
it. No, he did not. He ate with sinners in their
homes. He did not party with them in their clubs. He did not go to their temples
and worship. He did not go to their brothels and share fellowship. He went into the temple and turned
it upside down. And he taught in it. And so we need wisdom, how do
we walk, be wise, making the best of time because the days
of evil, you know, we don't have time for church faction. But
you know, we do have time for freedom. And I'm not talking
about libertarian freedom. I'm not talking about being libertines.
I'm talking about freedom in Christ to bear our consciences
to one another and still know that even if we don't see eye
to eye on these, well, I will say secondary issues. We are
able to still love one another in covenant and in grace graciously. Because if the church is the
display of the metaphor wisdom of God, Ephesians 3 10. And we
have all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, and we are in
a sound one faith, then what in the world would stop us from
being unified? Pride. Pride. So wisdom here centers on unity
apart from darkness, and sometimes the darkness in itself is disunity. Disunity is dark. Unity is not
the absence of conflict. It's the resolution of conflict.
Unity is not saying everybody walks in the same stinking footstep. It says everybody walks down
the same path, sometimes a little slower than others, sometimes
a little faster, sometimes thinking they're ahead when they're walking
backwards, but they're still moonwalking. And so we have to
be considerate of that. And so there's five ways I want
us to see through the eyes of wisdom. Wow. First and quickly, this is going
to be quick wisdom, I want us to have the wisdom to see and
identify the darkness, learn to see the darkness. How do we
know what the darkness is? Because the scripture teaches
us what it looks like. And if the spirit of God identifies
with us that we are children, his children, Roman 8, 16, then
indeed our spirit would have discernment as to what is sin
and what is not. And if we're unsure, if we come
to a conviction, wow, I think that's wrong. We need to engage
for what purpose? To find out. I've really been
thinking about this in my life, and I think A is wrong. Am I
right in that thinking? Ask some brothers and sisters
in the church, pray, seek and study the scriptures. You know
what sin is. But what about those areas that
are hard to determine? What about those areas that are
very difficult to really start to like, for example, rebuke? Can you rebuke and be sinful? Absolutely. Wisdom to see the darkness and
identify that I want us to have the wisdom to see that we are
no longer in darkness. We don't exist in our pinky is
not in darkness. We're not in darkness. We are
the children of the light. So if there is dark behavior,
it is not of the Lord. Something's wrong. We clean it
up. The new man is alive. The old
man is dead. Stop making excuses for sin. Are you in bondage to poor habits? Are you in bondage to things
that you don't know how to overcome? Then let's pray about. Let's fight together. Let's not
cast someone out as apostate because they do have some kind
of habitual sin. But if that sin governs them,
are they in the light? You see the trouble there? What does it take to see? It
takes wisdom. How do we get wisdom? We ask
for it. We seek after it. We work together for we receive
that which is indeed given to us by our brothers and sisters
in Christ when they come with affection. That's how close our
time out today on how we go to one another with these matters.
How are we to sufficiently and gospel, gospel centrically deal
with things that are indeed troublesome? Well, I think it's an area. of
the weak and the strong, an area of doctrine and conscience and
application. An issue of grace and pride. And I think it's an issue of
grace versus pride and discernment, and when conviction, listen to
this, when conviction wrecks unity. Someone is being weak,
trying to act like they're strong. When conviction wrecks unity,
someone is being weak when they think they are strong. Jesus
died for sinners. Can we not die for our brothers
and sisters in the faith? Or do we desire to live out our
lives in what we call a false unity? We got that mess out of here.
Lock the door. People banging on the door. I
want a fellowship. You don't fit. You don't fit. Get out. What happens when we live in
false unity is we're actually acting. We're pretending to be that which
we're not, which is perfect. And that is hypocrite. The word hypocrite means actor. Romans 14. Fourteen one through fifteen.
Thirteen. The word of God will preach itself
today. So be very careful how you hear church. As for the one who is weak in
the faith. What does it say? Dispose of
him. Killing, stoning, slicing, dicing,
baking. No, what does it say there? As for the one who is weak in
faith, welcome him. Do not quarrel over opinions. Let. One person believes he may
eat anything. See, that's a that's a free guy. And one person who is weak only
eats vegetables. Man, I can't be a vegan anymore.
No, that's not what I saw. It's just about conviction, let
not the one who eats. What's the opposite of welcome?
What is policy despise? Let not the one who eats despise
the one who abstains and let not the one who abstains pass
judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment
on the slave of another? It is before his own master that
he stands or falls. And he will be upheld for the
Lord is able to make him stand. Do you see that? I'm going to
break dance. Because God is showing us that
His sufficient and perfect effectual grace will cause that weaker
one to stand. Persevere, church. One person
esteems one day as better than another. So he talks about what
you eat. Then he says about what you practice in your liturgy,
in your day. People say, well, why in the
world are you worshipping at two o'clock? Why does it matter? While another esteems all days
alike, each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. You mean to tell me that Paul
is teaching relativism? No, he's teaching conviction.
Because the Bible doesn't care what day you worship on. God
doesn't care at all. As long as you worship together
with a people who have the same conviction as you and not fight
about it. What day is the Lord's Day? For thousands of years, it was
Saturday. Actually, that was the Sabbath. And then in the New Testament
church, we've got to minister to the Jews. Jesus raised from
the dead on Sunday. Let's just make it Sunday. And
historically, that's what it's been. Let's have church every
day. The one who observes today observes
it in honor of the Lord, the one who eats, eats in honor of
the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains,
abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For
none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself. For
if we live, we live to the Lord and if we die, we die to the
Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the
Lord's possessive. For to this end, Christ died
and lived again, that he might be the Lord both of the dead
and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your
brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we will all
stand before the judgment seat of God, for as it is written,
as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every
tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give
an account of himself to God. Because of this, let there not
excuse me, therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another
any longer. But rather decide. To put a stumbling block, excuse
me, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance
in the way of a brother and a who's he talking to? The strong. I know I am persuaded in the
Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But it is unclean
for anyone who thinks it's unclean. For if your brother is grieved
by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love by what you eat,
do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard
as good be spoken of as evil. You see what you see, what he
just did, did he not just contradict himself? If what you think is
free, your brother thinks is wrong, stop exercising that freedom
and then tell him it's not wrong. Why? Because you want him to
be free, not because you want your way. You may never eat that
again, but you may encourage your brother to grow. For the
kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of
righteousness and peace, enjoying the spirit of God. Whoever that
serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then
let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.
Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God. Everything is
indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble
by what he eats. It is good to eat meat or drink
wine or do anything. It is not good to eat or drink
wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble the faith
that you have. Keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who
has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.
But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because he's eating. His eating is not for faith,
for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. We who are strong have an obligation
to bear the failings of the week and do not please ourselves.
Let each of us please this neighbor for his good to build him up
for Christ to not please himself. But as it is written, the reproaches
of those who reproached you fell on me for whatever was written
in former days was written for our instruction that through
endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have
hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to
live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ
Jesus, that together you may, with one voice, glorify the God
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, welcome one
another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. Let's
stop there. So in considering this, ask yourself
this question. Has anything I've heard today
related to me? Am I weak or am I strong? And if I'm weak, I need to grow
up a little bit. If I'm strong, I need to die. So the things that we've learned
that we should take away is that we should realize that we are
indeed the weaker in some areas because if we were strong, it
would not offend us when we see it in another. Did you see that? Do not despise the other, but
welcome him. Secondly, we should realize that
our sanctification and maturity is not a badge of honor, but
a gift of grace. And if we were indeed mature,
we would forbear it with others. Thirdly, we should understand
the difference in darkness. And the fact that if it fills
us and satisfies our flesh and rebellion in our conscience,
we should know the difference between darkness and conscience. For we should approach sin as
Scripture calls out for its teaching, not out of our own cultural application
of such things. We don't get to pick and choose
that which is sin, that which is sinful. The Scripture is clear
on those things. Whichever does not proceed from
faith is sin. Can you drink that orange juice by faith? I hope
you can. You're drawing that picture by
faith. You're writing that song by faith. Fifth, we should approach spiritual
concerns in the body of Christ with all humility and not attack
our brothers and sisters while we still recognize and shun darkness. Six, we should always live and
love and learn in grace. If we're not learning, we are
not loving. Seven, we should realize that
when others come to us about sin. That it is for our good. Now, let me give you four ways
and then I'm going to read you a story and we're finished. Four
ways and probably 10 ways, but there are four points of how
we approach. One another. When we have to. First, that when we come to one
another, we never come as a nag. You know, the Bible says about
a nag. Unfortunately, he talks, the scripture talks about it
in the form of a nagging wife. And I'm sorry, but I know that
there are a lot of nagging husbands as well. But in that. Form, it
says this, and I'll just make the change, it is better to have
a millstone tied around your neck and being thrown into the
sea than to live in a house with a nagging husband. Wife. Child. Mother. So drowning at the bottom of
the depths of the sea is better than living with someone who
nags. You know what a nag is? Someone who constantly and consistently
points out and prods and pushes and pounds in an attempt to change
someone. That's a nag. If you think what you have to
say is going to make a difference in the behavior of someone else,
you are a nag if you keep on doing it. And I would suggest
that nagging is a faithless action. The persistent widow is the better.
Pray, hush, be silent, rejoice, look at that person with overflowing
affection and smile and be glad they're there. And be glad they're
there with their weakness and with their sharp edges and with
their ugliness and sometimes with dirt on their face and be
glad they're there. And if you've said wipe your
mouth once, don't say it again. Watch God. Secondly, when we
come to another, it should be done as though it were us we
were coming to. Because ultimately, as one body,
we are indeed guilty of that sin and sometime in our lives,
like a wise pastor told me in California one day, how he used
to get so offended when people would call him a liar. And a
hypocrite and a control freak. He said after about 20 years
of ministry, he had someone attack him that way. And he was not
lying. And he was not a control freak. And he was not a hypocrite.
But he smiled and he loved them and he hugged them. And he said,
thank you for that rebuke. I needed it so. And I looked
at him and I said, you're crazy. He said, no, because I have been
a liar and I have been a hypocrite and I have been a control freak.
And they said that which was true, but it's no longer true
anymore. So it's a testimony of a reminder of what God has
saved me from. And I was so thankful. Let them think what they want. Third, we come and that coming
should be done after much prayer and direction from God and Scripture,
not one own wisdom or wisdom cannot contradict that which
is scriptural. And if we go to someone with
Scripture, make sure that it is truly holistic. What is that
which Paul is trying to teach or John is trying to teach or
the apostles are trying to teach? Be careful. You cannot do all
things in Christ Jesus who gives you strength when you're on the
soccer field. You cannot say, look at the plans
that you have prepared for me, oh God, when you're trying to
start something that's godless. You cannot apply that which is
found in scripture to your actions and your deeds and your wisdom
to fit your fancy. It must be in the context in
which Paul or the apostles have taught it. And if we then take
that theological principle Out of that context, the meaning
that applies to our life. And every time we go to anyone,
it is always for resolution and for repentance. But it also means that the one
who comes to you. And says, brother, sister, this
looks wrong. That that person should come.
in grace and that you should for bear with them as they come. And forgive, even if you do not
see the reality of what they're saying, follow God's Word and
call sin what it is. But realize there's a difference
in sin. And conviction. There's a difference in having
a different opinion on something and sin. We know what sin is
and our opinion is identical on that. It has to be. But not
everything we think is sinful is sinful. Listen to this. How is a true Christian to view
his sin? By what measure should he judge
its nature? its magnitude, its effects and
consequences, as well as its power. There are two prominent
but equally wrong ways in which believers understand the sin
in their lives. And what I'm preaching to is
the issue of wisdom. And we will look at it again
in the next few weeks. Mr. Libertine reckons that he is
justified by the atoning death of Christ and that all his sins
past, present and future have been forgiven by God. There is
truth in this reckoning. All the sins of any believer
have been imputed to Christ and their penalty paid for by Christ.
But justification is not the whole truth of salvation. It
is through sanctification that the perfect, sinless and righteous
character of Christ is imparted to us. Mr. Libertine leaves the process
of sanctification out of his reckoning. He lives with a cavalier
attitude toward his sin, thinking that since it is all forgiven,
there is no consequence. The opposite extreme of Mr. Libertine
stands Mr. Legolas, and Mr. Legolas acknowledges
with his lips, but denies with his heart that Christ has accomplished
a full and free justification. Mr. Legolas is too proud fully
to accept such amazing divine grace. He also underestimates
the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, viewing it as making
little progress in transforming the sinner into an actually holy
saint. Mr. Libertine views his sins
as non-existent. In his claims to make much of
the atoning work of Jesus, he actually reduces the infinite
cost our God bore in his accomplishment of redemption to a little charm
that does away with sin. The libertine speaks. Sort of
glibly of his sin under being under the blood that fails to
consider that his sin was so great that its forgiveness required
the death of the son of God, Mr. Legalist uses sin as Lady
Macbeth viewed her damn spot of murderous guilt. The indelible
nature of which she declared with the words, all the perfumes
of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Mr. Legalist hears
that the death of Christ has made a monumental difference
for the believer, but he does not believe it. He covers himself
not in the cleansing blood of Jesus, but rather in the rags
of self-effort while he fills his mind and heart, not with
the word of the Spirit of God, but with ceaseless self-loathing.
In these ways of a Christian understanding of his sins are
wrong. Excuse me, if these ways of a Christian understanding
his sins are wrong, what then is the right view that we should
have of our sin? The biblical view of man prior
to his regeneration is that he is altogether sinful. The common
sentiment that God loves the sinner while he hates the sin
is fallacious because it fails to understand that sin comes
only from sinners. We sin because we are sinners.
If God hates all sin, then he does and must hate all sinners
who are the source of all sin. And I'm paraphrasing a little
bit. The pre-regenerate sinner can do and desires to do nothing
but sin. Radically different, then, is
the matter after regeneration or the new birth, being born
again. Through the justifying work of God in Christ applied
to the sinner, the sanctifying reformation of the new creation
begins to take place. Nor is it that this sanctifying
work begins with minuscule magnitude. The regenerate man has at the
moment of his new birth not only a fully justified status before
God, but also a fully new heart with new appetites, with new
love, with new hatreds. Mr. Believer, who previously
loved sin and despised God, now has undergone a complete revolution,
wherein he loves righteousness and hates evil, Romans 12, 9.
For him, all things are new. Second Corinthians five seventeen.
He has God dwelling in him by the Holy Spirit, prompting him
lovingly to cry to God as a loving father. Romans eight fifteen
and working within him, causing him to will and to do God's good
pleasure. Philippians two twelve and thirteen.
If Mr. Believer is Mr. Believer, therefore
sinless. No. And if he thinks he is and
says so, he's a liar. First John one eight. But for
him, the sinner he was has been killed. And he must contend only
with the courts of that. From whose dominion he has been
released, Romans 6, 6, 7 and 11. Paul works this out fully
in Romans 7, 12 through 25. For an apostle, as for many believers,
sin is a dead remnant, no longer an animated and an animating
power. David confesses his sin to God in Psalm 6 in terms of
a disease. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones
are dismayed. One can love a man and hate his
disease precisely because the disease is not essential to the
man and the man himself hates the disease that afflicts him.
Mr. Believer's sin can grieve his
God, but never anger him. It can make the believer miserable,
but never separate him from the love of God in Christ. It can
defile him, but only temporarily, as believers are bound to stand
before the throne of God, God's glory, blameless and with great
joy. Jude 24. Therefore, we must never make light of our sin,
for it is a terrible thing to grieve our Heavenly Father, and
it is unpleasant to bring misery upon ourselves. But neither should
we make too much of our sin, esteeming it as a living and
dynamic power, sure to dominate us until the day we die. Our
sin is but a rotting corpse. And as such, a nuisance with
which we must contend, but not a master against whose dominion
we cannot prevail. Let us then neither deny nor
defy our sin. Let us take sin seriously, but
let us take the saving blood of Jesus all the more seriously. And so in closing, then ask yourself,
how do you view it? How's the wisdom of your soul?
See yourself renewed in Christ Jesus by his grace for the sake
of his glorious worship. How do you see yourself? Where
do we go from here, church? My prayer is this very clearly,
very plainly, is that you would make war, that you would make
war In your hearts are the power of the gospel against the wickedness
of that dead rotting corpse that you carry around called flesh.
Recognizing that there is no power over your life by that
thing. And that Christ has fully put
it to death and you are a new creation in Jesus Christ with
the fullness of the power of God at work in you to overcome
every temptation, every desire, and the fullness of sanctification
working in you and through you until the day you die from this
world or are glorified by the coming of our Lord. And if this is true, and it is, Our unity in the faith is greater
than our pride, greater than our conscience and greater than
our sin. Let us work in love to build
up. to build up together, to work
together in a way that displays the full power of Christ. And listen to the words of James
that I honestly say make me turn. But I'm thankful for the grace
of God that he is not leaving me there, but placing us all
in God's grace. When James says in 313, he asked,
who was wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct,
let him show his work in the meekness of wisdom. But if you
have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not
boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes
down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish
ambition exist, there will be disorder. in every bio file practice. But the wisdom from above is
first pure. Get this is first pure, then
peaceable and gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good
fruits, impartial and sincere. And the harvest of righteousness
is sown in peace by those who make peace. Friends, I pray that
our professing brothers and sisters in the Jesus Love movement, no
more wrath, no more sin, would just take seriously what James
just said there. There's no beautiful picture
of God's effectual love and grace toward us that it's a beautiful
picture. As we come to this place, let
us know that it is the worldliness of that dead flesh that causes
the factions. And that we are victorious over
it by the power and the work and the presence of Christ, who
is our Lord, who is our savior and who is the head of this church. Let's pray. Thank you, God. for all that you are in our lives. Father, for how you work so mightily,
God, to even take just written language and through your power,
you bring it living and breathing into our soul. Help us to see
and to savor the beauty of Christ. as a people unified with the
fullness of grace, affectionate till death, pressing toward that
goal and toward that prize, loving one another and coaching and
encouraging and growing one another out of love, even when that love
is tough. Father, when we have to love
in that way, let us be gracious in our advance. And when we are
loved in that way, let us be gracious in our receiving. For these are the things that
you promise will take place with your people. God, display your
glory here. With these. Your body. In this place and with this group. Save us. Hold us. Keep us. Save our children. Grow them
deep into holy things. Help them see Jesus as the greatest
treasure. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.