“They were glorifying God because of me” (Galatians 1:24).
Audio Sermon: Galatians 1:11-24

To your knowledge, has anyone ever glorified God because of you? What person do you know has so studied your life and found your life to be so God-honoring that he shall praise God throughout all eternity for the life you live? This is a short list, is it not? Nevertheless, why is the register of those glorifying God due to your demonstration of Godlikeness so meager?

Many people have a faith in God but they have never been regenerated – a faith is not the faith Paul expresses in Galatians 2:20. Their faith is the faith of their fathers, or of their church, or a cultural faith, or even a national faith, but it is not true trust in the Christ of the Bible. They may be churchmen or deists, but they are not converted by the Spirit of Christ into the relational religion known as Christianity.

Your nation and perhaps even your church is in need of an awakening from the darkening sleep of licentious liberalism couched in such an acceptable term as moderation. Those who have been brought out of darkness into light know that it is far easier to study, teach and preach Christianity than to practice it. The marrow of one’s inability to live a life affording others the opportunity to glorify God is their desire for their own self-realization which is nothing more than a code word for selfishness, pride, self-importance and navel gazing.

Biblical Christianity, the lifestyle practiced by the Apostle Paul, is the practical daily imitation of Christ. This requires the circumcision of one’s heart by the Holy Spirit so that he has genuinely received the gift of the second birth (Jn. 3:3). In addition, God’s promise to His beloved in Jeremiah 31:33 has taken place so that God’s law is within him because the Spirit of Christ has written it upon his heart. This practitioner of godliness is one who volunteers freely and in holy array to represent his Christ in all matters great and small (Ps. 110:3). He not only wills to be holy, he is so immersed in the manner and ways of the Lord’s Spirit that the Spirit of Christ clothes this disciple with Himself.

What examples would the Lord afford in trying days to allow you to know the walk of those so glorifying God that their onlookers become glorifiers? Perhaps the following description will be the Spirit’s assist for you.

Dr. John L. Girardeau, in the last year of his life, came to hear Dr. Robert L. Dabney preach at Arsenal Hill Church in Columbia, South Carolina. “When the service was over the two came down the aisle together; they were men of imposing presence, each like the son of a king; their faces showed the influence of chastening grace; their foreheads betokened the might of the intellects behind them; venerable men! Dignity, goodness, and greatness sat with ease and naturalness upon them. Dr. Girardeau said: ‘Doctor, that was a glorious sermon this morning.’ Dr. Dabney replied, ‘This has been a sweet service to me, and this singing carries me back to old Tinkling Spring.’ Dr. Girardeau said: ‘But what will it be in heaven?’ The answer of Dr. Dabney was lost in the tramping of the congregation. And so, blind and lame these princes of Israel walked on, talking of the past and future worship of God. A few months after this meeting they both joined the general assembly of the church of the first born in the majestic worship of their God and Savior.”

May this become your blessing to your God in Christ. “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.  Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (I Pe. 2:11f.).

GLORIA  IN  EXCELSIS  DEO!

“He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them” (John 10:12).
Audio Sermon: John 10:11-13

Why do we have hirelings as preachers, teachers and professors in seminaries? God says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths” (II Ti. 4:3f.). The time Paul refers to in the above passage is upon your land today.  Though some continue to hunger for sound doctrine, their numbers are lessening in proportion to the population and of those migrating toward less doctrinal teaching.

God says many churchmen are transferring to less biblical churches because they want their ears tickled.  They seek what agrees with their own lusts and have come to hate the only medicine that will cure their true disabilities.  The church is populated with fickle hearers whose selfish blindness itches their perverted tastes. God said through the prophet Jeremiah, “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so!” (Jer. 5:31).

God’s warning to His bride is that they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires rather than His desires.  The hearer makes himself the measure of who should teach and what teaching is acceptable rather than looking to God’s word.  Perhaps Christendom is in need of an angel from heaven to come down and trouble the pool of Christendom so people will want to be plunged afresh into the waters of the true church.  Many preachers and teachers motor through the Lord’s parish clothed in the wool of the lamb, but they do not feed the flock.  These preachers and teachers may be well-intending, but they are actually turning aside the ears of those lambs under their care from the word of truth.

God’s biblical truth requires the proclamation of sin, judgment, damnation and hell as well as the hopeful rainbows of heaven. Numerous preachers and teachers have been deceived into believing that they can accommodate the church and the word of God to the world.  Those so attempting this vice have unchurched and unholied many because they attempt to nullify the distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous.

Both the beauty and success of a church is measured in the depth of transformed lives, the holiness of its members, the nearness of her doctrine to Scripture and the glory she offers to the Trinity. The true church is being strengthened by the present storms, fires and floods of mal-teaching because God the Spirit shall bring His bride nearer to godliness and the accompanying worldly criticism in order to purge out of her the profaneness of her membership.  Difficulties within Christ’s church remove earthly dust from her pulpits, teaching stations and offices so that her loveliness can be seen. When she is sifted by others claiming Christianity, the barnacles of this perishing ocean of sin are scrapped away.

Many saints are discouraged by what they witness in God’s church and amongst those professing loyalty to Him.  You should be concerned and you should be battling the malpractice of Christianity you witness in the church as well as your church.  Nonetheless, remember Jesus’ promise: “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Mt. 16:18). The bride, the wife of the Lamb, shall be presented to the Holy One most perfect in the heavens, and all of the powers and thrones and dominions of this world shall discover themselves without any value for their purpose in the building of Christ’s kingdom shall have been served.

GLORIA  IN  EXCELSIS  DEO!

“Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I shall demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I shall deliver My flock from their mouth, that they may not be food for them’” (Ezekiel 34:10).
Audio Sermon: Ezekiel 34:1-31

Are your shepherds feeding on you? Have you ever considered that scores of those posing as shepherds of the Lord’s flock are actually devourers of the flock because they labor primarily for a financial payment rather than the glory of the Lord and the blessing of His beloved people?

God says, “There will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies…. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned… their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep” (II Pe. 2:1, 2, 3). This matters to you because Jesus says, “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Lk. 6:40).

False teachers are counterfeits who “have crept in unnoticed” (Jude 4). Though they diligently propagate a fabricated gospel through their oratorical cleverness, they are smuggling into your life destructive opinions. These mind-shapers finance your implosion. Remember, you are made in the image of God, not the image of animals – be God-like, not animal-like.

Christians familiar with their Bibles are warned repeatedly about the commonness and pervasiveness of devouring shepherds. Jesus said, “Many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many” (Mt. 24:11). Paul advised the Ephesian elders, saying, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29).

The difference between truth and error may appear slight. Nonetheless, the chasm between truth and error is a gorging abyss, the mass of which only eternity can measure.
You must “see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of man, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).

Fraudulent shepherds deny the person of Christ, the character of Christ or the teaching of Christ. If you listen to them closely with a biblical ear, you will realize that they are subtle denouncers of the infallibility of Scripture, the virgin birth, the divinity of Christ, His bodily resurrection or His triumphal return to take His bride, the church, to Himself.

Many follow them because they are attractive personalities, they are calling you to do what you want to do anyway, or obedience to their teaching requires far less effort than the teachings of Scripture. They foster vice rather than virtue, unbridled living rather than self-control, or they play to your natural lusts. Their teaching and their conduct curse Jesus.

Nevertheless, God says their judgment is not idle and their destruction is not asleep. Be mindful of Scripture’s warning: “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Js. 3:1; Mt. 18:6).

Do not follow those who seek to court rather than to praise God for converts. Beware of present day moneychangers. If they speak “I” more than “Jesus,” you have identified a false teacher.

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6).
Audio Sermon: Galatians 1:6-10

Before you can determine what Paul intends by “a different gospel,” you must define the gospel that is in accord with “the grace of Christ.” The gospel is the “word of truth” assuring “an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (Js. 1:18; I Pe. 1:4f., respectively).

A different gospel is premised upon “worldly-mindedness” – it hinders “you from obeying the truth” (Jude 19; Gal. 5:7, respectively). The freedoms enjoyed in western civilizations are founded upon Jesus’ gospel. That is the very reason for western nations having chief magistrates, but no slaves. You have authorities over you, but you are not oppressed. Western rulers rule, but they are not tyrants as long as the liberties they foster do not lead to licentious license. Contrast that with the different gospels offered throughout the world that “turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh” (Gal. 5:13).

Paul is writing to the churches of Galatia. Why do people within the church so quickly desert God’s gospel for a different gospel? Different gospels make offerings of happiness and ease without holiness and responsibilities. Different gospels offer peace without sacrifice and heaven without heavenliness. Different gospels are most broad in their offerings and quite narrow in their blessings.

Perhaps the two primary motivations for churchmen deserting God’s gospel for a different gospel are social and economic incentives or reprisals. Paul references men pleasing in this same chapter, verses 10 and following, with a most compelling illustration of that inducement in Galatians 2:11ff. You also have the economic impetus emphasized in the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1ff.

The Lord tries those claiming to honor Him and commands you to “test yourselves to see if you are in the faith,” so that the gospel you follow shall be revealed to you and to His church (Ex. 20:20; II Cor. 13:5). Churchmen in every generation would be benefited by remembering the warning of the Apostle of Love to those he called “my little children:”

They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been
of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that
it might be shown that they all are not of us (I Jn. 2:1, 19).

If the Apostle Paul came into your home, marketplace and church, what would amaze him? Would he witness deserters or honorers? Would your address to life declare the grace of Christ or a different gospel that disturbs and distorts the gospel of Christ? Is your gospel Jesus’ gospel or an accursed contrary anathema?

“May it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them” (Gal. 6:14, 16).

GLORIA  IN  EXCELSIS  DEO!

Responsive Reading
Audio Sermon: John 10:7-10

Minister: God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Congregation:
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any graven image.
3. You shall not take the Name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness.
10. You shall not covet’ (EXODUS 20:1-17).
(continue)
Jesus said, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost     commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the
Prophets’ (MATTHEW 22:37-40).

QUESTION.
Why is the Word preached the ordinary means to convey grace?  Why not conversation or reading?

ANSWER.
The reason is because God has appointed it to this end, and He will grace His own ordinances.  I Corinthians 11: ‘It pleased God.’  What reason could be given why the waters of Damascus should not have as sovereign a virtue to heal Naaman’s leprosy as the waters of Jordan?  Only this, because the Lord appointed and sanctified the one to this work and not the other; if therefore we would have grace, let us wait where the manna falls, and there expect the dew of the Spirit to fall with manna.  The power of God goes along with His Word.

SOLI  DEO  GLORIA!

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen” (Galatians 1:3-5).
Audio Sermon: Galatians 1:1-5

Jesus gave Himself for the sins of His people to the end that you would be delivered out of this present evil age. Jesus did all of this according to God’s will because God loves His people and wants them sinlessly delivered. So what are some of the more subtle sins wherefrom you have been delivered?

Your generation has been tutored in the high value the present evil age places upon self-realization. Could self-realization be but a code word for selfishness, pride, self-importance and the endorsement of navel gazing? Could self-realization result in you becoming less committed to believing that “it is more blessed to give than to receive?” (Acts 20:35). Could the hymn of self-realization chill your desire to commit your life to a cause larger than yourself?

Jesus died for Paul so that he would give up his Judaism for Jesus’ Christianity (Gal. 2:11-14). Have you surrendered your gospel for Jesus’ gospel?

Nehemiah lived in an era much like your own wherein those in positions of authority took advantage of those they governed. Nonetheless, Nehemiah refused to take advantage of his position “because of the fear of God” (Neh. 5:15). His respect for the Lord affected his everyday life and established a standard significantly more demanding than that of his culture.

Freedom is the mantra of Westerners – but what really is freedom? Non-biblicists foster a form of freedom known as moral emancipation so they are no longer tethered to the “strictness” of Scripture. They fail to realize that this is the sin of libertinism and it shall culminate in enslavement to the idol of the flesh (Gal. 5:1).

You live in an era when no truth is safe from the assault and disregard of a society gone amuck. Sodom and Gomorrah has been estimated to have had 100,000 – 200,000 people in those cities when they were destroyed, but there were not ten righteous men in such metropolises. With the exception of Lot’s family, every person therein conformed to their present evil age and were not delivered.

Christian nonconformists are of noble character because they know they are being delivered out of this present evil age according to the will of their God and Father. Their disposition toward customary practices is uncustomary. Non-compliance with evil and aberrancy is the foundation of one being involved in a cultural shift.  Delivered ones abort sloth, cowardice and natural imitations in their refusals to avoid dangers and conflicts, for they know that this world is not worthy of the lives their God enables them to live.

Your God and Father expects your refusal to comply with ungodliness.  Do not allow the tyranny of a majority to affect you.  Look through the eyes of God, the mind of Christ and the Bible of the Holy Spirit.  Become a voice for God rather than a mere echo of men.  Rebuff enslavement to the fashion of the day.

God’s truth generally takes up residence in least favored positions. Are you is willing to be the war-trumpet of the Lord – His sword – His mouthpiece? Could your city become the most perfect school of Christ this present evil age has ever known?

GLORIA  IN  EXCELSIS  DEO!

“They did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them” (John 10:6).
Audio Sermon: John 10:1-6

Jesus has been speaking to the Pharisees about their spiritual blindness. He has alerted them to their living in sin. Beginning in John 10, Jesus draws the contrast for his attackers between those the Lord is going to gift with heaven and those He is not.

Jesus wants these Pharisees and everyone to know that the Christian life is a risen life affording the risen ones a mind set on eternal matters, for they are graced with eyes seeing what earthly eyes cannot see, ears hearing what earthly ears cannot hear and hearts loving what earthly hearts cannot love. Christians are being bedewed by the blood of Christ, educated by the Spirit of Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places by the love of Christ. Biblical Christians have a mental quiver being filled with uncommon treasures.

You are commanded to take your mind off earthly matters. Your mind should be ever meditating upon Jesus’ person, His work, His coming and His reign of glory. He is going to establish a new heaven for His church triumphant. Why would you want to hold fast to the waterpots of this world? (Jn. 4:28).

God has gifted you with the firewall of the new birth separating you from all that is passing away. Estrange yourself from the Towers of Babel, the eastern Asherah and the graven images of the west. Trust heaven’s God rather than the earthly Goliaths who conceal their clay feet and weak limbs.

If heavenly thoughts are strange to you, you are not heavenly. If you do not perceive yourself betrothed to Christ, then you are not.  If you do not know that you have received the grace of eternal life, you have not.

Christians are losing their eye for the familiarities of this world (Gal. 6:14). They are being weaned from the perversion of a life that lacks everlasting harmony with God in Christ (Ro. 6:2). They are increasingly disinterested in conventional living that conforms to earthly traditions (Heb. 12:1).

Everything alien to Jesus is alien to His saints. The infrastructure of Christian thought is being hidden in Jesus’ wounds, being sanctified by Jesus’ law, being escorted into Jesus’ heaven, being safe in Jesus’ likeness and being content with Jesus’ God. Saints place their heads upon the heaving bosom of Christ because they know its dearness.

Jesus alone affords you an inexhaustible life. Nonetheless, this boundless life requires a new nature marked by a fresh illimitable purpose for your life. Jesus actually lives in you by the person of the Holy Spirit. Because He lives in you, though He is invisible to the world, you make public His magnificence so that men of every tongue and tribe become interested in the imminence of His return.

Are you expecting Jesus to perform miracles in your life? Are you numbered amongst those setting their minds on things above? Does Jesus’ final advent belong to you so that you know you will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of your heavenly Father? (Mt. 13:43).

“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2).

SOLI  DEO  GLORIA!

“Revive me according to Thy word” (PSALM 119:25).
Audio Sermon: Psalm 119:25-32

David is crying out to the Lord to revive him. David knows that the only means to bring about revival is God’s word. Every Christian in this House of Prayer this evening should be imitating David in his pleading and devoting himself to the word in order to capture the revival only the Holy Spirit can afford.

Revival occurs when God visits His people by pouring out His Spirit upon them so that their consciences are quickened to the eternal cause of Christ (Jer. 29:10-14; Zech. 2:10f.; Acts 2:17ff.).  Seasons of revival are marked by an awareness of being always in God’s sight and spiritual matters take on a reality as never before.  Converts are identified; Christians become fearless and tireless; a community experiences overflowing joy; loving generosity abounds (Acts 4:32).

God says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Ps. 19:7).  Man will not experience the year of jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord, until the doctrines of grace are brought to bear upon his heart. You should not expect to encounter revival as long as preachers smooth the cutting edge of the sword of God’s word.  Revivals come at the invitation and expense of unashamedly preaching rightly divided scriptural truth.

The gentle zephyr filling the Church and the hearts of churchmen shall not be experienced until sermons pour forth from the sacred desks arousing churchmen to purity in their Christianity.  The Church of Christ cannot expect revival when they preach and teach for the purpose of entertaining or amusing.  The Lord’s work must be prosecuted with fresh energy.  The awakened consecrated Church is God’s principal earthly instrument in issuing the invitation to the Holy Spirit to capture a people for Himself.  The Bible must be preached, taught, sung and lived with a pulsating, enthusiastic, uncompromising earnestness.

Revival occurs when the word of God cuts to the marrow of men’s souls.  You can identify revival by the prayers accompanying the conversions.  The people begin to pray as though live coals have been placed upon the altar of their consciences.  They pray as a people looking through new eyes into a new world.  They pray with a sincere urgency for the outpourings of the Holy Spirit to rend the heavens and come down Himself so that every valley would be lifted up and every mountain brought low (Isa. 40:4).  They crave the great Sovereign of the Church who alone can give the increase.

Are you applying yourself to the task of studying the Lord’s Bible and devoting yourself to prayer. Your study of His word should be occurring in your home, your marketplace and your church. Your prayer should be heard from your breakfast table, your office desk, your evening bedside and your participation in times set apart for congregational prayer.

Pray for the Lord’s Spirit to starve all the gods of the earth and to ride upon His chariot of salvation so that the bones of man might tremble at the preaching of His word and might experience the most expansive revival this world has ever known (Zeph. 2:11).  Pray the Psalms: “It is time for the Lord to act, for they have broken Your law.  Therefore I love Your commandments above gold, yes, above fine gold” (Ps. 119:126f.).

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO!

“Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (John 9:35).
Audio Sermon: John 9:35-41

Jesus was not challenging the congenitally blind man who had just been healed to trust in his feelings about Jesus. The unnamed now seeing man had experienced the power of the very God of very God, the Great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, the image of the invisible God who is the first-born of all creation; the One who made all things and without Whom nothing was made that was made.

Trust affords the boldness that sacrifice authenticates. Can a man become so convinced of the value of placing his trust in Christ that even excommunication from society would fail to dissuade him from consecrating his life to the Light of the world? Was this man a fool, self-delusive or justified by faith?

Jesus alone is your near Kinsman – He is the Israelite indeed in Whom there is no guile.  Paul tested Jesus when he was beaten, stoned, in prison and shipwrecked – Jesus always proved true.  You cannot know the strength of Christ until you trust His strength.  No one following Christ fully has ever experienced a single regret.

You must taste Christ before you can see that the Lord, He is good.  If you consistently shelter yourself from apparent biblical risks, you will never experience the advantages of eternal trust.  God allows no room in His Church for lacking confidence in Him.  Failing confidence assures timidity, cowardice and living in the flesh rather than the Spirit.

Your God is not going to leave you defenseless.  Moses said to the exodusing Israelites, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.  The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent” (Ex. 14:13f.).   Christians too quickly forget that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Ro. 16:20).

Man is hurried to trust his worldly synthetic armaments.  Therefore, King Jehoshaphat said to God’s people, “Put your trust in the Lord your God, and you will be established” (II Chron. 20:20).  Your dependence upon God in Christ is the most effective armament you possess.  You have no control over what God will do, but you do direct your independence from worldly alliances and your dependence upon God.

God is calling you to live and speak with apostolic confidence by refusing to baptize distrust or doubt.  Lifestyle confirms confidence.  Trust may be quiet in its unveiling, but your duty is to trust that the Spirit of Christ will superintend your circumstances and life so that God will be glorified.

You should be growing in the grace and knowledge of your Lord Christ.  When this growth occurs, your assurance of His presence, power and provision increase.  If these three characteristics of biblical assurance are not increasing, you are charged with the responsibility of examining yourself to verify whether or not you are genuinely a Christian, examining the teaching you are receiving to determine its strength and examining your activities and associations to make sure none of them are damaging the hope that should have taken up residence within you.

You should possess the present trust and eternal hope of Abraham who said to his associates as he went to sacrifice Isaac, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship and return to you” (Gen. 22:5, italics added). Do you know the One in whom you have believed and are you convinced that He is able to guard the life you have entrusted to Him? (II Ti. 1:12).

SOLI DEO GLORIA!