All Things

Romans 8:30-32:

Whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

'Paul is telling us that there is no ultimate loss or irreparable impoverishment to be feared; if God denies us something, it is only in order to make room for one or other of the things he has in mind...

Paul's 'all things' is not a plethora of material possessions, and the passion for possessions has to be cast out of us in order to let the 'all things' in. For this phrase has to do with knowing and enjoying God, and not with anything else. The meaning of 'he will give us all things' can be put thus: one day we shall see nothing- literally nothing- which could have increased our eternal happiness has been denied us, and that nothing- literally nothing- that could have reduced that happiness has been left with us. What higher assurance do we want than that?'

- J. I. Packer, Knowing God, pg 307-308

What is the only real comfort in life and death?

This answer from the Heidelburg Catechism is excellent:

That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.'

Knowing that Jesus loves you enough to die for your sins should give real comfort everyday of life, and beyond.

Jesus for the Moral and Immoral

Over the last few days I've been reading The Prodigal God by Tim Keller. It's such a good book! Keller has skill in revealing the true meaning of the scriptures while applying them faithfully and relevantly to contemporary culture.

In case you don't know, the book is firstly about God. The Prodigal God. What does that mean? Isn't a prodigal someone who lives recklessly, rejects authority and spends all he has? Exactly. God is a prodigal God. God came down in Jesus and lived a life of offensive recklessness in the eyes of the religious leaders (the Pharisees hated Christ). Jesus doesn't reject authority but rather surrenders every right He has to be authoritative and be treated fairly, even to the extent of being nailed to a splintered bit of wood. What about spending all He has? Yes. Ultimate generosity is expressed in God giving Himself to mankind, living the life we could not live and dieing the death we should have died all to bring us back to Himself (1 Peter 3:18).

The book centers Christ's parable as recorded in Luke 15:11-31. In this parable we see two sons and a generous Father representing God. One Son is good, keeping the rules of the Father while the other Son rejects the Father, asks for His inheritance and runs off without a thought for the dignity of his family. On the surface it seems that we are taught to make a clear distinction between good and bad from the parable. This is not the case. Jesus is actually exposing the heart of the elder 'good' Son. His obedience is full of pride- He's driven by the pleasure of knowing that he is good in comparison with his reckless brother, an attitude that is despicable. The older brother doesn't love his Father. He loves to feel distinct from his runaway brother.

What's the message? You can reject Jesus by being good or bad. You can reject all the rules or keep them all to push away Christ. You can live morally or immorally without God. Keller explains that religious people avoid Jesus. The same people who are sitting in churches every Sunday (like the elder son in the home of his father), despising the lifestyles of those outside the church are avoiding Jesus by trusting in their own goodness. They don't need Jesus because they think they have their own goodness. Instead Christ wants all of us, moral and immoral, to trust in His goodness. When we trust in our own goodness to make us acceptable we are calling ourselves God, this is the essence of sin.

'Sin is not just breaking the rules, it is putting yourself in the place of God as Saviour, Lord, and judge just as each son sought to displace the authority of the father in his own life' (pg. 43)

'It is only when you see the desire to be your own Saviour and Lord- lying beneath your sins and your moral goodness- that you are on the verge of understanding the gospel and becoming a Christian indeed. When you realize that the antidote to being bad is not just being good, you are on the brink. If you follow through, it will change everything: how you relate to God, self, others, the world, your work, your sins, your virtue. It's called the new birth because it's so radical'. (pg. 78)

More to come...

How Precious is the Gospel?

This precious:

'But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.'

Galatians 1:8

The gospel is the most precious message in existence because it is guarded by the greatest consequence. It is is more wonderful than anyone has ever imagined, prayed, or thought. In Paul's mind getting the gospel wrong- preaching a false gospel- tarnishes its treasure, reducing it to insignificance in the eyes of others. The consequence of doing this is anathema.

'The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.'

Matthew 13:44

Gospel Community

Here's the structure of the sermon I'm preaching this sunday evening (God willing) at MPBC titled 'The Gospel Community'...

Hebrews 10:24-25:
'And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching.’

-The gospel empowers loving consideration not neglect: ‘let us consider one another’

-The gospel empowers personal spiritual nurturing: ‘let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works’

-The gospel empowers commitment to people and a community: ‘let us consider one another… not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some’

-The gospel empowers Christians to lovingly challenge each other: ‘let us consider one another… exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the day approaching’

*Update: Direct link to the mp3 sermon here*

Losing Life for True Gain

Joy and Evangelism

'Restore to me the joy of Your salvation... Then... sinners shall be converted to You.' Psalm 51:12-13

Knowing the gospel is not enough. Evangelism doesn't work when we are satisfied with knowing the gospel. People need to see that we enjoy the gospel. They need to see that we've fallen in love with a beautiful God through the gospel. The attractiveness of Christ is the substance of our joy in God. If the world can't see that Christians are delighted with the gospel they will be forced to assume that Christ is not attractive. And if Christ is not attractive He doesn't need to be and shouldn't be worshipped.

That's why David seeks his happiness in God: 'restore to me the joy of your salvation'. Sinners are converted when Christians rejoice in salvation. Sinners see the beauty of Christ through the joy of Christ's people.

One Gospel for all people, all of the time

The Cross Hurts Proud People

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? I think it means this: First, that the gruesome death of the all-glorious, innocent, loving Son of God for my sin is the most radical indictment of my hopeless condition imaginable. The crucifixion of Jesus is the open display of my hellish nature. And, second, when I see this and believe that he really died for me, then my old proud self which loves to display its power by climbing ladders of morality and intellect and beauty and daring dies. Self-reliance and self-confidence cannot live at the foot of the cross. Therefore, when Christ died, I died.'

-John Piper

Receiving Christ

Here are my notes from a devotion I gave at Olivet english language school last week...

'But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.'

John 1:12-13

1) Receiving Jesus requires:
a) Recognising who you are
i) Jesus is the light and we are the darkness-
We naturally hate the light:
‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it’ (1:5)
‘He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own but His own did not receive Him’ (1:10-11)

b) Recognising Him- you need to recognise Jesus
i) He’s God- Jesus is God (1v1)
ii) Everything was made by Him (1v3)
iii) In Him was life (1v4)- Life is all about Jesus- if you don’t know Jesus you don’t have life- you haven’t experienced beauty - He came to bring abundance of life (10:10)
iv) Jesus came to earth- the word became flesh (1v10)

You need to see that Jesus is valuable
You need to see that He is wonderful and worth following whatever happens to you!

c) Relying on Him
You need to trust who He is and what He says: He gives the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
Receiving Jesus is believing in Him

2) Receiving Jesus shows that God’s given birth to you. Receiving Jesus shows that God's given you life.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Were born = past tense
In these verse John makes a distinction between being 'born' and 'receiving Christ'
First: Born by the Spirit
Secondly: Receive Christ = Believe on Him

These two things might be very close together or years apart

a) Receiving Christ is your decision
This is why Peter preached at Pentecost: ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ (Acts 2:38)

When Jesus said ‘make disciples’ part of that = ‘Get people to receive me’

We’re called to gather people- people come to Jesus by hearing the gospel and being saved

b) Being born of God was God’s decision, not yours
When you were born naturally it wasn't your decision. You only responded to the act.
You then responded with trust and love towards your parent

V13: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
i) Not of the will of man= You didn’t decide =
Something happened that you didn’t ask for

ii) Not of the will of the flesh = This birth wasn't something that your sinful nature wanted.
The flesh loves sin not Jesus

iii) Not of blood = Doesn’t come through family
Just because you’re parents are born-again doesn’t mean that you will be

This birth is a re-orientation of who you are.
It’s a change of what you:
Value
Crave for
Cling on to
Lust after
Love

The Spirit gives birth to you and changes your desires

Once the Spirit’s done that you choose Christ because you finds Him attractive

3) Receiving Jesus gives you ‘God-rights’
We don’t deserve anything from God.
We've all sinned-
You might say: ‘But I’m a really good person, God will have to accept me’ = Your problem is pride

You are without hope if you like to yourself- you have no rights before God
I John 1:8 ‘If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.’
Why? Because God’s character is perfectly white meaning He can see how black you are.
We are dirty with sin- you like filthy to God until Jesus comes in

So we are without rights before God because of sin- we have nothing to claim off God
Society allows you to claim goodness from them – you have civil rights – you don’t before God
But God changes that- He offers us a right- something to claim off Him- access to His goodness- it only happens if you receive Jesus
What’s the right you receive? ‘He gave the right to become children of God’

4) Receiving Jesus makes you a Child of God

God says: I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.” (2 Cor 16:8)

The God you’ve offended wants to be your Dad
You are His enemy and now He wants to be a good Father

All of Heaven praises Him, angels worship and say ‘Holy, holy, holy’…
And He chooses us to join them

Gal 4:3-7
‘Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.’

If you’re a son whatever you inherit what He has. We inherit God through Christ.

5) Receiving Jesus is the only way to become a Child of God
Some think that everyone is a child of God this is not true.
Everyone is an enemy of God not a child
To become a child we need to receive Jesus

Christianity teaches that Jesus exclusively saves
Islam doesn’t save- I need to say that because I care about Muslims

There are 2 ways to reject God:
Religion- doing the right thing, keeping the rules, getting proud and being damned for it in the name of God
Irreligion- rejection of God's standards

We need Jesus who kept the perfect standards of God for us. When we receive Him we receive His perfection (righteousness) this enables us to come to God and enjoy Him. The enjoyment of God is the worship that God demands from all of us forever.

Gospel Not Rules

Here's a handy little quote from TK that I've managed to slip into Sunday's sermon on obedience.

"You can rebel against God and be alienated from him either by breaking his rules or by keeping all of them diligently... the gospel of Jesus is not religion or irreligon, morality or immorality, moralism or relativism, conservativism or liberalism. Nor is it something halfway along the spectrum between two poles - it is something else altogether."

- Tim Keller, The Prodigal God

The gospel is all about loving, adoring, being happy in, and praising Jesus! Hooray!!

HT: Dave Bish

Update: The sermon can be found here

Contentment in God

Below are the notes from a talk I gave this morning at Olivet English language school. Comments and criticisms are encouraged!

This morning I want to think about being content in God. Everyone wants to be content. Everyone wants satisfaction. The problem is that we naturally (because of our sin-nature) hate the most satisfying and amazing person; God. And we fall in love with everything other than God as if it were as beautiful as the real God.

Pray

Read: Hebrews 13:5-6

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
6 So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’’

1) We can only become content in God when we see how wonderful God is
Why is God a wonderful God for humans? God is a wonderful for humans because He wants what is best for us with more passion than anything or anyone else.

So what is best for us? God is best for us.

The Bible is the message of a God who has constantly giving Himself to a people for His own glory- to make Himself look great. Ultimately this happens in Christ (1 Peter 3:18).

"I didn't understand this idea of a God who says, 'You have to acknowledge me. You have to say that I'm the best, and then I'll give you eternal happiness. If you won't, then you don't get it!' It seemed to be about ego. I can't see God operating from ego, so it made no sense to me"- Brad Pitt

Pitt’s understanding of worship isn’t right- he sees a distinction between happiness and worship. Scripture teaches that what we are happy with is what we worship.

2) Contentment in God frees people to kill the love of money
Being content in God is the God-given weapon to attack our love for money.

Verse 5 ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

So the reason why we can be content and not go to money is because God is enough. We don’t need money to make us happy if we have God. He satisfies my desires. He’s my joy and my life.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.26 My flesh and my heart may fail, [money fails, wealth fails to make me content] but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:25-26
When we see God as ultimately beautiful there’s no need to find ultimate beauty in anything else.

Money isn’t needed for our satisfaction because God says I wont leave your or abandon you. He promises to be near and next to you in everything. He promises to love as a Father- a good fair Dad doesn’t leave his kids, he promises to go and prepare a place for us so that we can be with Him forever.
Why would anyone want money and reject this God?

God is better than money. This is good news for us because God is opposed to our love of money. Jesus said more about money then He did heaven and hell combined:

"One thing you lack,"... "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Mark 10:21

‘It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ Matt 19:23

‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ Luke 12:34

Wealth is dangerous because it sucks you in. Money demands worship from people. And when you worship money all you want is more money. Brighton is sucked in. If you want to be religious in this city you need love money- you need to be greedy. Money has cursed this city.

Wealth is more of a curse than a blessing.

1 Tim 6:6-10:
6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

If you want to be sure that you’re going to Hell start loving your wallet.

Love for money will kill God for us if we don’t kill it. It will consume our worship and make God look tiny and unattractive and unpleasant.

But we can kill this love or money if we enjoy the beauty of God- finding him more wonderful than life.

3) Contentment in God gives confidence in the face of man
If we are content with this God and the love of money is dieing- If we want more of God than we do money- If we want to make Him look God and not make money look good then we will have boldness.
13:6 ‘we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"
The Spirit of God has anointed us for what God has for us to do and He will empower us. He gives power so that we can be His witnesses- His witnesses:
Acts 1:8 ‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’
Man should be afraid when we are filled with the Spirit because no-one can God from doing what He does. No-one could stop the early church and they tried. Christian history shows that when you kill Christians, Christian’s grow- it’s strange! Normally when you kill things they become extinct- not Christians!
The apostles turned the world upside down because God they were broken people who relied on an external power. And we have the same power so there’s no reason why we can’t see the same thing happening in Brighton.

What can man do to us?
If they kill us we get closer to God.
If they don’t kill we get the opportunity of getting other people closer to God.

God is saving people because He is God and He does whatever He pleases. And usually He gets weak people who are content with Him and fills them with confidence and power to make Himself look great.

4) You can only be content in God by receiving Jesus
Jesus was absorbed loving His Father. He was the perfect example of what it is to be content in God. He was given boldness and confidence by the Spirit to win people into the Kingdom. He was the ultimate teacher on money and possessions- He was homeless and broke and at the same time more blessed than anyone else.

To become content in God you need to admit the you love to worship what God hates. You need to know that your God’s enemy; God hates your rebellion. You deserve continuous torture for offending a wonderful God. Hell isn’t the only thing God offers. He’s given us great news of hope: Jesus. He was fully God and fully content in God, fully hating the love of money, fully confident in His message.

This Jesus wants you to know His love, God wants you receive Him by admitting your sin and turning away from so that you can enjoy God and not money. Trust in Jesus He died to remove sinners by making them into worshippers.

Loving to Obey

Below are notes from a talk I gave at Olivet English Language School last Tuesday. Comments and criticisms are encouraged!

Deuteronomy 8:1,6-10
1 “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers.
6 “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

Deuteronomy is a collection of sermons written by Moses for the 2nd generation of Israelites. The situation is like this: the first generation of Israelites have been released by God from Egypt - from the bondage of slavery in that land for as a nation for 430 years to the liberation of serving Yahweh.

Moses led the people with divine authority out of Egypt through the red sea and all the way to Sinai to receive the law. On the way they take a diversion through the wilderness for 40 years, complaining, grumbling and sinning against the Lord. And the Lord wipes the first generation of Israelites he destroys them. This book (the fifth book of Moses) is designed to stir up the second generation to obey God and take the Promised Land by looking back at some of the faults of the first generation.

Why should we want to obey God? What motivates us to obey?
Grace- God free love to sinners like us who don’t deserve it at all.
There are 2 types of grace that make us want to obey God:

1) Past Grace:
In Exodus 20 God says:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me….’

God entices the people to obey because He is God and He’s brought them out of slavery. He’s done so much for them. He’s been so good to them. He’s loved them when they deserved His anger.

We should want to obey because we can see change in our life. We hated God now we love Him- God did that! God changed you. We were running to Hell as God’s enemy. Now we can’t wait to get to Heaven to be with our Father forever!

God has given us the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirit we get gifts. We get comfort, we get led, we get taught. We get power to kill sin in our life.

2) Promised Grace:
Look at verses 8:6-10
6 “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;
9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

The Israelites were promised Canaan and encouraged to obey because God was giving them a good land, it’s a beautiful land. In verse 7 Moses describes it with commodities that are precious and expensive. This is the inheritance that Christians –not because we’re good, only because Jesus is good!

God’s got a wonderful place for us. He’s prepared it Himself. He’s going to collect us Himself so that we can be with Him forever.
And the best thing about this place is Himself.
We’ll be observing and enjoying His own dazzling beauty forever. We’ll be looking at His indescribable glory forever.
We’ll be beholding our God and making a loud noise of praise to Him forever.

In heaven we have ‘an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved for [us]’ (1 Peter 1:4).
Thinking about Heaven ignites our hearts to want to obey God.

So what is obedience?
Obedience is the proper reaction to Grace. Obedience looks at the goodness of God and says ‘tell me what to do and I’ll do it because I love you.’

The last phrase ‘I’ll do it because I love you’ is really important.
Because If you ‘do the right stuff’ without having a heart for God- a heart that desires God and see God as beautiful then God does not accept what you do as obedience.

Obedience is never outward acts. Everything has to be done with a love for God and a joy in Him. It has to be delight more than duty. Joy is our duty!

The Pharisees obeyed, they did all the right stuff and Christ said:’ These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honour Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.’ (Matt 15:8).

Obedience is the heart-felt reaction to grace. We love Him because He first loved us! (John 4:19)

In Deuteronomy 7:7-8 God shows His love to the Israelites. He affirms that He is for them.
‘The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.’

God’s love doesn’t consider the ability of a person-
God’s love simply loves for one reason: love! God chooses to love.

God chose to love Israel over other nations God chooses to love us. He didn’t have to-He could have given us what we deserve: Hell- he didn’t He’s gracious and kind.
God chose to love us because He chose to!

The Context of Obedience is Love-
Obedience has to come from a heart of love because obedience is a reaction to Grace.

1) Love makes obedience enjoyable- it becomes a pleasure
Before I was saved I though of obedience as a word that was against me. God was trying to make me unhappy by getting me to obey him.
When I was saved everything that was boring to me became a joy.
His word became enjoyable to me!
Psalm 119:24 ‘Your statues are my delight’.

What makes you read your Bible? Because you know you should or because you love it? Because someone has told you to or because you know that scripture is ‘more to be desired than gold’ (Psalm 19:10)? This book is better than gold!

Jeremiah says: ‘You words were found, and I ate them, and your word was to me my joy and rejoicing of my heart’ (15:16).

2) Love makes obedience liberating – it’s not a burden
‘For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.’ (1 John 5:3).
Keeping God’s commandments used to feel restrictive- they stopped me from doing what I really wanted to do!
Now they are liberating and wonderful- it’s great to obey God and do what He wants!

1 “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe,
that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers.

What does God want from us?
God wants universal obedience – ‘Every commandment’
We should obey all the commandments. He wants us to submit every area of our life to Him- Jesus needs to be Lord over all that we are and do.

God wants exact obedience – ‘be careful to observe’
We need to be constantly re-examining ourselves and asking: ‘is this right in God’s eyes?’ ‘Am I doing His will?’

Obedience brings blessing through the promise – life, multiplication, and possession –‘that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers.’
1) Obedience shows us that we are God’s children
If obeying God is a reaction to grace then when we obey God we are preaching to the world: ‘God has worked in this soul’.

In John 14:23 Jesus says: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him.’

John 14:15 ‘If you love me you will keep my commandments.’

2) Obeying God allows us to enter into a greater fullness of God in this life.
When we live a life that is obedient in every area we experience more of God.

If we don’t love to pray we miss out on more of God
If we don’t enjoy church we miss out on more of God
If we don’t read and study scripture with passion we miss out on more of God
If we don’t have Christian friends to help and support us we miss out on more of God

Be Careful:
Obedience doesn’t save.
If you’re not a Christian then you need to know that doing the right thing never gets anyone into Heaven – it only gets people further into Hell.
Obedience doesn’t make God say ‘Oh you’re doing well.’ We can’t please God like that. Everything good that we try and do for God is filthy rags in His eyes- disgusting and horrible.
God doesn’t want to see all your goodness because you’re not good. We’re filthy, dirty sinners.

The beauty is that one man obeyed perfectly. One man did everything right in God’s eyes. And the amazing thing is He didn’t do what was right so that He could get to God. He did it so that we can get to God. Jesus Christ chose to give the perfection that He earnt (from His perfect life) to whoever wants it.
You must come broken- admit to God that you can’t please Him- you’re a sinner. Then thank God that God loves sinners and is willing to forgive you of every sin- everything that you’ve ever done wrong in His eyes.

Obedience to God shows that grace is working; obedience never wins God to bless us.
If you put your trust in Christ- if you believe that God became a man and died for you then God is for you. And God will give you power to obey like Jesus Christ did.

God's Satisfies us by Loving Himself

God loves Himself supremely above all other creatures. He delights in the purity of His character. He observes and analyses every emotion and mental capacity He possesses and declares it good! God is excellent, all together lovely, more beautiful than any landscape or icon. God's reaction to Himself is worship. He worships Himself loving to demonstrate His magnificence to everyone by speaking through creation. He is clearly seen through the testimony of earth.

He is a consuming fire, burning bright with radiance and indescribable light. He is the lion from the tribe of Judah; powerful, strong, the King of all creatures. He's the lamb that was slaughtered; meek and humble. He's the lamb that wanted to be slaughtered. It was His will to redeem a people to give Himself the joy of adoration. He desired worshippers to worship with His Spirit through His truth. He was willing to look guilty in the world's eyes to purchase our innocence. His cross was horrid and bloody. It was brutal and evil to nail the Son of God to splintered wood yet at the same time it works to express the greatness of His glory. He died and suffered to make Himself look wonderful. He did it to make Himself happy. For the joy that was promised to Him He endured the cross.

What do we get from God's efforts to make Himself look wonderful? We get we've always wanted: the happiness that comes from beholding beauty!

'And he [Moses] said, 'Please show me your glory.'' Exodus 33:18

Learning to Love the Gospel

I had a great time this morning giving a devotion at Olivet English Language School. I even managed to keep it within the time limit!

Here are my notes:

We need to work on learning more and feeling more. Today I want to help us all to cultivate a greater love for the gospel. We should want more of God. We need to love and enjoy more of Him!
Philippians 3:1. Paul says: ‘For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.’
Reminding ourselves of basic truth is not a waste of time. Learning more about Scripture is great but we also need to be treasuring what we already know.
So I want to look at 1 Corinthians 15 to remind ourselves of the gospel-so that we will fall in love with it again in a fresh way!

Read: 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

This is the essence of the gospel
What should we expect the gospel to do for us?
1) The gospel is a picture of God’s beauty. It’s God’s love demonstrated therefore when we think about the gospel we should desire more of God.
2) If we desire more of God this will lead to holy living- a life where we hate sin and love God.

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you,
We only declare what is serious. Declaring is strong.
We need to show the world that the gospel is not a theoretically addition to philosophy. It’s not another way of life compatible with a post-modern society.
We need to be showing Brighton that the gospel deserves to be proclaimed because gospel living is the only way of living!

Colossians 1:28 says:
‘Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom’

Paul declares the gospel to the Corinthians because he loves them.
He declares the gospel because some of the Corinthians denied the resurrection from so Paul wants to correct them. He wants to get rid of their bad theology.
He does it because he really cares about the church. He is working for their good and joy.

which also you received
The Corinthians have received the gospel. Why does Paul write it again? Paul explains this gospel again because the Christian life is a gospel-centred life.
Paul is telling the church that the gospel is not the basics of the Christian life that are left behind after you get saved. The gospel is the primary focus of everything; the gospel is the whole message of scripture. Every theological fact orbits around the gospel.

We will be remembering the gospel in Heaven as we sing:
‘Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honour and blessing.’ (Rev 5:12).

The gospel should be enjoyed. We love to eat our favourite food because it gives experience: Satisfaction. We know what the food tastes like because we’ve eaten it before. But we just need to taste it again because it’s so good. It’s the same with the gospel. We should be wanting to hear it again because it’s beautiful.

and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

We stand in the gospel. We are secure if we really believe that Christ died for our sins. The true Christian cannot lose their salvation.

Look at the if …if you hold fast that word which I preached to you.
When are only saved if we hold on to Christ.
Remember Lot’s wife. She turned around when fleeing from Sod and Gom and was destroyed.

What is believing in vain?
This is believing Christ for something other than himself.
Some people want Jesus just to help them out or just to make them feel God. Some people don’t want Jesus to rule over their lives.
Some only want the gifts that Jesus’ gives. True Christians want Jesus Himself. They love everything about Him!

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
Paul gives the Corinthians the first message He received.
‘Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures’ is the centre of the gospel. The gospel tells us that we are more wicked and evil then we ever imagined yet more loved in Christ than we ever hoped for!
Because we are wicked Christ took our sins. Because we are loved Jesus wanted to die for us.

Galatians 3:13: ‘Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written: cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’. God condemned sin in the flesh. He was angry at Christ for our sin. We deserved to experience all of His anger in our body. He loves us that’s why He died. He loves us so much.
Our sin was punished in Jesus’ flesh.

Numbers 6:24-26 is the blessing that the Priest would say to the people:
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
When Christ was on the cross He heard the exact opposite because of our sin.

‘The Lord curse you and abandon you, the Lord withhold His face from you and show wrath to you, the Lord take away the light of His countenance from you and give you no rest.’ This is what He went through for His children.

Christ enduring the curse for our sin isn’t the end of salvation. The aim of the cross is not the forgiveness of our sins. The forgiveness of our sins is a means to an end. God curses Christ to free us from the bondage of sin so that we can love Him. Worship and awe are the goals of the cross.
We come to the cross to be freed from sin to worship God. We get given power to break our love for sin and start adoring God.

The proper reaction is John’s reaction:
‘Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God.’ 1 John 3:1

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
Paul got all his theology from the OT He loved the OT.
The OT shows us Christ’s death. The Bible is full of the gospel from start to finish.

4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
God died and was buried to ascend and make a spectacle of death. Death is defeated and has been conquered. Christ made death look weak!
We have all that Christ is as Christians therefore we are more than conquers. Death serves us. It helps us.
Paul wants the Corinthians to know that their faith is empty if Christ has not risen.
We can praise God tonight that He did rise because we are not in our sins. He has taken them. People saw Him as weak-they weren’t expecting God to die!But we know that He is our conqueror defeating all our enemies to bring us into everlasting happiness which is His own presence!!

How can you believe in a God who is so narrow minded?

Keller on the Gospel

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

-Tim Keller, The Reason For God

Taste and See

This is the new tract that MPBC will be using very soon for street evangelism . We give out tracts and booklets to people in Brighton every week. Please pray that lots of people will read it and be changed by the beauty of God's glory!

Why is Hell hard to take seriously?

The Law of the Lord is Perfect

Why the commandments are good

1) Commandment keeping indicates a submission to God's authority and reverence to His word.

2) The commandments are the written representation of the character of God.

3) Keeping commandments is all about faith (Romans 14v23 with 1 John 3v4)

4) Keeping commandments is all about faith working through love towards God. (Romans 13v10)

5) God keeps the commandments. (Psalm 25v8)

6) The commandments make us depend on God for the Spirit (Psalm 119v10)

7) The law brings conviction of sin that leads to conversion. (Psalm 19v7a)

8) The psalmist enjoyed the commandments (Psalm 119v47)

9) Commandments make the heart rejoice (Psalm 19v8a)

10) Keeping the commandments makes society a good place to be (Psalm 33v12)

Other things about the commandments:

1) The law can never make us acceptable before God as it becomes 'weak through the flesh' (Romans 8v3). Therefore it can't be viewed as a list to earn God's pleasure.

2) The Christian should keep the law to glorify God by faith (working through love) to express the pleasure of God's perfection. Christ fulfilled the law and claimed that it was still applicable (Matt 5v18).

3) Christ's perfect obedience to the law (His righteousness) has been transferred to every Christian by faith (Rom 5v1 with 2 Cor 5v21).

4) The implications of 3) give that every Christian has a righteousness which exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees. This means that every Christian is entitled to the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 5v20) :-)

Note: The words 'commandment' or 'law' always refers to the moral law (the 10 commandments) in this post