August 5, 2007

What's Here and What's Coming Soon

Just a quick FYI.

The two studies below come from two of my most recent speaking engagements-both of which were affiliated with my home church. The first is from our College retreat to Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee. The second is the notes from the last time I spoke in "Big Church" (ha ha - yeah, that's what we call it! You call it that too, admit it, lol).

I chose these two studies because 1.) I think they exemplify the basis for 1road1passion, and 2.) you just don't here much preaching like this anymore. Please understand, I'm not trying to put myself on a pedestal-it is only by God's grace that I found guys like John Piper, Jeff Noblit, and others who have, through their sermons, instilled this in me. Much of what you will read here is just a product of their teaching. God still has solid Bible teachers all over the US, though they are getting fewer and farther between.

Over the fall semester, things are really going to be crazy here. I've got four internet classes and a full time job to juggle along with teaching on Wednesday nights. I may not be able to keep something going here every week, but hopefully time will allow.

I pray that you will learn something of use here and that you will help us spread the truth all over the world!

Thanks in advance and God Bless!

August 3, 2007

Examine Your Steps!-Which Road Are You On?

Adoniram Judson, the great missionary to Burma (now called Myanmar), lived in the early 1800s. At that time, Burma was so opposed to the Gospel that William Carey told Judson, “Don’t go there. It is useless. All the missionaries their either died or quit.” For William Carey to say such a thing about a country is quite a statement. William Carey is the reason Baptists are still in mission work today. When everyone else wanted to sit back and let the rest of the world go to Hell, Carey was the one to stand up and say, “Something must be done!”
While in Burma, Judson only made one trip back home—and that was to escort his second wife back to the States in hopes that she might recover from her sickness. Judson lost two wives and 6 of 13 children to diseases. He was imprisoned during Burma’s war with England. His feet were bound, and at night, they were lifted off the ground by a bamboo pole so that only Judson's head and shoulders touched the floor. This was just the beginning of the trials God would allow Judson to go through.
For all that he suffered in his 38 years as a missionary, Judson translated the Bible into the Burmese language, and put together a Burmese-English Dictionary for later missionaries to use in language training. After decades of service, Judson saw great rewards in 1831. People would come from all around to hear from whom they called the “Jesus Christ man” and to get his writings to take back with them. Adoniram Judson did all of this for the glory of his God.
“But that was 200 years ago,” you might say. Well, let us look at some more recent examples. Aside from the numerous and, dare I say, “typical” bombings of churches, and beatings, murders, and beheadings of Christians all around the world, there are a few instances of persecution in our time of which we should take note:

• Iraq—one priest of the Syriac Orthodox Church was disemboweled, quartered, and beheaded.
• Ethiopia—one Christian was first beaten, and then hanged on a cross.
• Somalia—Christian children have been kidnapped and taken to Islamic schools for “rehabilitation.”
• China—prison, torture and death await anyone who professes Christ.

In June 2002, the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary heard this testimony from Ok Lee, a former prisoner in a North Korean prison camp:

“The cast iron factory was considered the most difficult place to work in the entire prison. Christians were usually sent there to work. I was carrying a work order to the cast iron factory in the male prison. Five or six elderly Christians were lined up and forced to deny their Christianity and accept the Juche Ideology of the State [that Kim Jong Li is god]. The selected prisoners all remained silent at the repeated command for conversion. The security officers became furious by this and killed them by pouring molten iron on them one by one.” (From www.persecution.org)

We think we are spiritual because we can drag ourselves to a church building on Sunday morning—if we are not too tired from the wild night before—put on a “Christian” T-shirt, sing a couple of warm-fuzzy songs, and maybe give the preacher an amen during his sermon—if we have not already fallen to sleep.

Do you see something wrong with this picture?

I am becoming more convinced that when—not if—persecution comes to this country, most of the so-called “churches” you see will be able to make a couple of minor adjustments and continue on just as if nothing ever happened. You might now ask, “Why are you so down on the church in America?” I am not down on the church in America; I am down on the American Church. There is a distinct difference. The American Church is a congregation of people who repeat a little meaningless prayer, take a swim in a baptistery, live like Hell 6 ½ days out of the week. They do nothing, nor do they care about anyone else but themselves and their little circle. They have their rights. They have their savior. They are still lord of their own lives.
But the church—the true church—in America is a Remnant—a beautiful Bride. She is a people—regenerated by the Holy Spirit, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and justified by God the Father. Though not perfect by any means, she strives for perfection through love and grace. Her heart beats for her Bridegroom, and to do what he commands.

Look at Matt 7:13-14: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

The American Church has been set upon a road. You will see hundreds of thousands of people on the left side of that road, and hundreds of thousands of people on the right side of that road. But in the middle of that road is a scarlet thread. There are few that find it. There are even fewer that actually walk it. Only the Remnant finds that scarlet thread and walks its length. They suffer ridicule and scorn. Family and friends turn their backs on them. They will be called legalists, blasphemers, blind, brainwashed—even heretics and cultists. People will try to pull them off that thread, push them off that thread, and beg them off that thread. They may even suffer torture and death because they walked along the thread.
But, one day, the Remnant will find their feet clinging to nothing but that scarlet thread, because the road has descended to its destination at the gate of Hell. The Remnant will cling to that thread until they have passed through the fire, and their journey will have a most blessed end.

Now, look at Matt 7:21-23: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"

“Lord, Lord”—this is what is called parallelism. The Hebrew writing system (particularly) had no other way to emphasize a point other than stating that point two or sometimes even three times because they did not have punctuation. The “Lord, Lord” in these verses is an emphatic expression.
“You who practice lawlessness”—this literally reads “you who lived as though I never gave you a law to obey.” Do you see the context of this passage? (Ref. Matt 7:15-20) A Christian is not a Christian because he keeps the laws; a Christian keeps the laws because he is a Christian!

Before I move on, let me tell you about the four distinct differences between the Old and New Covenants.
1. The sacrificial system is no more. Jesus Christ—the perfect sacrifice—came and died for our sins. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ. (Rom 8:1)
2. The law of God is no longer written on stone (in the literal sense), it is written on the hearts of Christians. (Ref. Scripture below)
3. Each Christian is ultimately accountable for his own actions.

Here is a great passage on the New Covenant. See if you can find points 2 and 3 here. Jer 31:31-34 “’Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the Lord. ‘But this is a covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,‘ declares the Lord, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’”

4. The condition of the heart is permanently changed when a person becomes a believer and follower of God.

Look at Ezek 36:24-27: “’For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.’”

This passage is the very definition of the doctrine of regeneration. A man’s heart MUST BE CHANGED in order for him to walk according to the law of God. Conversely, if a man is not walking, or not at least striving to walk, according to the law of God, that fact is evidence that he does NOT have a changed heart!

If you need further proof, lets look at another passage: Luke 6:46-49: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against the house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Again, context demands that this passage is not talking about the difference between a blessed Christian and an un-blessed Christian that still gets in because he prayed a prayer. The context demands that this passage is talking about the difference between a REAL Christian and a NON-Christian! Now that we understand a little bit about regeneration—the essential work in the heart of a true Christian—I want you to examine yourself with one of the simplest commands in scripture to see if that work has been wrought in your heart:

Ex 20:4-6: “’You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord you God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving-kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.’”

We need to understand just exactly what idolatry is. Idolatry is not just bowing before a wooden or stone carving. Idolatry is worshipping something that is less than God. Louie Giglio stated in his book on worship: “You cannot help but worship something…Worship is our response to what we value most. [To find where and what you worship,] You simply follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money, and your allegiance. At the end of that trail you’ll find a throne; and whatever, or whomever, is on that throne is what’s the highest value to you. On that throne is what you worship.” (The Air I Breathe by Louie Giglio)

So what do you really love? What do you worship? What consumes your thought life? Maybe it is one of these things:

• A certain television program?
• A certain music group?
• Your job? Do you spend so much time at work that you hardly know your children—much less where they are at and what they are doing?
• Your vehicle?
• That new house?
• A boyfriend/girlfriend or the desire to have one? (And no, unfortunately, I’m not just talking to single people.)
• A certain football team? After the last game of the season, is the next day you look forward to the first day of the next season? All this twelve national championships, and the thumb—what will it all mean in eternity?
• Hunting? Have you ever said, “I can’t wait for hunting season to start so I can get out of the house and away from my wife”? I have heard that, in not so many words. If that is you, you need to get on your knees and repent before Almighty God! And you should probably read 1st John again to test your salvation, because you are not only an idolater, but you have disdain in your heart for the wife of your youth—the wife that you made a covenant before God to love, honor, and cherish!
• That position in the church? Deacons, Sunday school teachers, etc.
• A larger congregation? “We have 400 people on the church role…” So what? Are they all TRUE Christians-loving and living for God with every single fiber of their beings?
• Your rewards? How many people would sit and sulk on the streets of gold if they found out that they do not get their gold mansion with silver trim? I'm laying my crowns at the feet of Jesus, and if I get the beggar's seat just inside the gate of Heaven, I will praise Him forever because I know that I do not deserve even that seat.

I do not want to make you angry for the sake of making you angry. But, I want to confront you with your sin so that you have the opportunity to repent and go on loving God with all your heart!

REMEMBER JESUS' WORDS! Mk 12:29-30: “Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”’”

Do you love God enough to spend the rest of your life doing whatever it is that He has for you to do—whether it is preaching, teaching Sunday School, or even spending the rest of your earthly life in a jungle telling people about Him? Are you willing to suffer and maybe even die in order to glorify Him?

August 2, 2007

Christ Is Precious!-Where Is Your One Passion?

What makes a Christian different from the rest of the world? -a strong head knowledge? -good works? -a little four step prayer?

I want to introduce the preciousness of Christ by going back to a passage from the previous study. Matt 7:21-23: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"

Here, Jesus is still talking about the religious "many." The "many" here-just like the many in our day-had some good things going for them. Let's outline three:
1. They had a head knowledge about Christ. They called Him Lord-they knew who he was. The problem is that even the demons know who Christ is. (James 2:19)
2. They made a good profession about Christ. They emphatically claim Him to be there Lord. (In "Examine Your Steps!", we noted a little bit about Hebrew parallelism.) But, again, there is a problem. Luke 6:46-49 says basically that someone who has a profession without actions to back it up is no better than the one who does not profess Christ at all.
3. They did many good works. Man, these guys were good! Do you see all that they had right? They prophesied, cast out demons, and did all sorts of amazing things-they even put the Lord's name on it.

So what went wrong?

THEY WERE DISQUAIFIED. Why? They depended on all their good works to out-weigh the evil. While they brought up all the good they did before the Lord, Christ called them lawbreakers-literally, those who lived as though God never gave them a law to obey.

THEY DID NOT FOLLOW THE COMMANDS OF CHRIST. If you study the life and teachings of Jesus, you will come across a very interesting statement. He said, in Matt 5:17 "Do not think that I came to aboish the law or the prophets..." In fact, if you look closely at the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7), you will notice that Christ not only condoned the law, but He made the law even MORE difficult to follow by showing its essence (look particularly at the passages on murder and adultry in Chapter 5). In our introductory passage, Christ said that obedience is what the people lack. Although we cannot be perfect in following the law, the desire of the TRUE CHRISTIAN's heart is to STRIVE to be that way!

Now, while it is important for us to strive to obey the law as best we can (through the Holy Spirit, of course-but that's another lesson), we have an advantage (what an understatement!) when we stumble into sin-GRACE. Grace is a gift of God to the true Christian (Eph 2:8-9). Grace is rooted in love. Grace is and is based in the sacrifice of Christ. He suffered the beatings and mockery of men, as well as the wrath of God the Father (for our sins) to keep us from what we deserve-eternal punishment. (There is so much more I want to say on this; hopefully, God will allow me at a later date.) Finally, grace is the key that unlocks the kingdom of heaven.

With that, let us move to the key text-Matthew 13:44-46 (NASB): "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Pearls in the day of Christ were probably the most valuable treasure a man could own. They were extremely rare and extremely hazardous to harvest. This particular treasure-this pearl-was worth more to the one who found it than anything else he owned-more to him than ALL that he owned combined. Do you think something that is worth all your livelihood in this world is precious? THAT IS WHAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS LIKE! Notice, too, that the man not only sold all that he owned to buy this treasure, but WILLINGLY and JOYFULLY did so! In the same way, Christ is so precious to the true believer that he willingly and joyfully gives up himself and all that he owns to cling to Christ!

Notice Jesus' words in Luke 9:23-25: "And then He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost.'"

In these verses, Jesus lays out the kingdom standards quite clearly:
1. DENY YOURSELF - Luxuries, rights, privileges, (and if need be) family and friends all fall under this category. ANYTHING that would hinder you from walking with Christ is to be discarded like a leperous rag. (Though I may go into each of these at a later time, you can find each clearly taught by Jesus and the Apostles.)
2. TAKE UP YOUR CROSS DAILY - As Paul said, you must be willing to die to yourself-your pride, your wants, your flesh-every day.
3. FOLLOW HIM - Walk as He walked. Live pure and absolutely blameless in the world. Glorify God and love Him above all else. Seek to accomlish His will-regardless of what you must do or where you must go in order to accomplish it.
4. BE WILLING TO DIE - I'm sure you have seen at least one movie where some guy goes out and risks his life to save some pretty girl. Why? Because she is precious to him! A true Christian is willing to give up everything-including his life-for his precious Lord!

Paul had something similar to say is Rom 12:1: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." (NKJV)

Do you see what I mean? Paul said that it is ONLY NATURAL for the true Christian to live a holy, sacrificial life to God! Why? Well, that is where the "therefore" comes in. This "therefore" means "in light of the previous 11 chapters." The previous 11 chapters tell of where humanity has been-the sinful depths they are/were in (depending on whether they are a Christian or not)-and what God has done through Christ on their behalf. YOU MUST REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM IN ORDER TO REALIZE THE ENORMOUS WORTH OF CHRIST! That is why Paul-unlike the vast majority of "Evangelical" pastors today-is constantly reminding the churches what they were before Christ changed them.

Take the example of the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-38 and 44-47: "Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with Him. And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at his feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with fragrant oil....
"Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon [the Pharisee], 'Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.'"

Do you see? LOVE-PASSIONATE LOVE FOR HIM! This is NOT about a head knowledge or a good profession! This is NOT about good intentions and good works! IT IS ABOUT PASSION FOR THE LORD OF GLORY! It is about hanging on His every word, desperately longing to dwell with Him! If all you have is a prayed prayer, a good profession, a dunk in a pool, and a self-righteous religion, you are just as damned as the pagan who bows to a wood or stone carving! (And if you think I'm going overboard and being fanatical, you need to read I John and examine yourself!)

Look at what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:2-11: "Beware of dogs [openly pagan people], beware of evil workers [false teachers], beware of the mutilation [the Judeaizers' doctrine of works-salvation]! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I have counted all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

IS HE PRECIOUS TO YOU?

Is He more to you than a house, a car, a job, a hometown, a boy-/girl-friend? Are you willing to go wherever He wants you to go-even if it means the darkest, smelliest, most remote hole in the jungle of a far off land-in order to spread the Gospel? When you think about seeing Him on that great day, does it make the treasures and trials, the football teams and fancy cars of this world lose their sparkle? Do you desire to know Christ intimately? Does your heart beat only for God?

IS...HE...PRECIOUS...TO..YOU?