Podcast appearances and mentions of Don Richardson

So, God calls you to preach to a tribe of cannibals. You move your family, learn their language—only to find they have no concern over sin, or judgment, or eternity. This was the dilemma Don Richardson found himself in as he sought to evangelize the primitive Sawi people. Thankfully, he pressed himself into entire dependence upon the Holy Spirit to show him how to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in this seemingly impossible context. And when God moved, He moved dramatically! In this episode, we'll talk about why you should read “Peace Child” by Don Richardson.   Resources we mentioned: Peace Child (Book) By Don Richardson "Why You Should Read" (Podcast Series) By Pure Life Ministries

How do we connect with a culture that seems distant from God? Mark Moore explores how Don Richardson's journey to reach the Sawi tribe with the gospel offers powerful insights. The Sawi's "peace child" tradition became a bridge to understanding Christ's sacrifice. Similarly, we look at Paul's approach in Athens, finding common ground with intellectuals by highlighting God's fingerprints in nature, history, culture, Jesus, and the church. Join us as we learn how to stand firm and share our faith in today's challenging culture.

Salvation only started when Jesus died on the cross, and it doesn't end there. Join Jesus in his ongoing mission to spread this incredible news of eternal life! -Sermon Transcript - As we come to the end of the Gospel of Mark this sermon... next sermon, there'll be one more summary at the end, God willing, we really come to the point of everything. We come to the point of it all. There is a purpose and a reason why God created the universe. We believe in eternity past, that the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit before anything was created at all, existed in perfect fellowship, in a loving fellowship, one with another. It was not out of need at all that He created the universe but out of a sense of generosity that He might create a context whereby He could reveal Himself to sentient beings, angels and humans who would be able to know and appreciate His glory and be delighted in it and be happy in it and have fellowship with Him. That is why God created the universe. But sin intervened, stepped in. Adam sinned on our behalf. And we all fell in Adam, we all sinned in Adam. We became what Isaiah 9 calls “the people walking in darkness”, the people who do not see the glory of God, do not understand it. But God sent His son to be the light of the world, and He has rescued us out of the dominion of darkness. He's given us spiritual eyes. The eyes of our hearts have been enlightened, if we're Christians. We have seen the glory of God in Christ. We have been saved, we have been redeemed, and though we see only a little of that glory... as it says in one Corinthians 13, "We see through a glass darkly," someday we're going to see it clearly face to face, and that brings us great joy. But why are we still here? Having come to salvation, having received the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith, having received the forgiveness of sins and adoption, why are we still here in this sin-cursed world? I believe that part of the answer to that is we are here for the glory of God in the salvation of others who have not yet crossed over from death to life. We're here to be witnesses. We're here to become fishers of men, that we will be instrumental in the hands of God to draw people out of Satan's dark kingdom. That is part of the reason why we're still here. "We are here for the glory of God in the salvation of others who have not yet crossed over from death to life. We're here to be witnesses. We're here to become fishers of men, that we will be instrumental in the hands of God to draw people out of Satan's dark kingdom." I also believe we're here to grow in grace in the knowledge of Christ to become more and more conformed to Christ, to be like Jesus more and more in our minds, in our hearts and our lives to grow in holiness. Those things are not different from each other. They are conformed together, that we begin to see other people the way Jesus did. When He looked out at the crowds, He saw that they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd, and His heart went out to them, and He said, "The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out labors into his harvest here." That was His heart when He saw them and He saw their true spiritual condition. The text you just heard read is one of five different versions of the Great Commission given to disciples at the end of the life of Jesus on earth. He commands us, His church, His people to go into all the world and preach the good news, the Gospel to all creation and to put people who hear that message at the fork in the road. If they believe and are baptized, they'll be saved. If they do not believe, they'll be condemned. That's the text we're looking at today, that’s the calling. I. Christ’s Mission Continues We come to the point of Jesus' mission, why He came from heaven to earth. Jesus came into the world to save sinners, period. That saving work of Jesus Christ was only begun during His time on earth. When He died and rose again, it only began. The blood of the Passover lamb that dreadful night, the night of the 10th plague in Egypt had to be shed, but then it had to be painted on the doorposts and the lintels of the house for the angel of death to pass over. The redemption by the Passover lamb had to be accomplished and applied. Also, Jesus' blood, having been shed, then has to be spiritually applied to sinners all around the world. That is the purpose of Jesus' continuing mission in the world, the application through the Holy Spirit of God, the application of His shed blood to individual sinners for their forgiveness. That is the work that we are about here at First Baptist Church. The unifying message of Mark’s Gospel, it starts Mark 1:1, “The beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” essential to the Gospel message, is the identity of this person, Jesus Christ, declared to be the Son of God. The whole Gospel of Mark unfolds details and dimensions of that truth, that Jesus is the Son of God. The NIV has the phrase, "The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Other translation simply say, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."The word “gospel” means “good news”. The word in English accurately translates the Greek grammar in the simplest sense of, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What does that “of” mean? It's either the good news from Jesus or it could be the good news that Jesus proclaimed, “of" meaning “origin” there; the message that came from Jesus or, as the translation says, it could be “about”. It's the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the end both are true. This is the Gospel that Jesus proclaimed, but it is also the about Jesus Himself. It is marvelous then to think of Jesus not as merely the messenger of a message we now take on and proclaim, the good news that Jesus proclaim, but that He actually is the good news itself. He is the good news. He is the Gospel. In another place in Matthew 13:44, He said this, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hit it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." A treasure box hidden in the fields. I believe Jesus is that treasure, and I believe He is worth selling everything you have in your life so that you can buy that field and own the treasure. Paul said in Colossians 2:3, "In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." When you open up that treasure box, that box hidden in the field, you're going to find all wisdom and all knowledge. But wisdom and knowledge are not the only treasures you're going to find hidden in Christ. We also find perfect love. We find total forgiveness of sins. We find reconciliation with Almighty God. We find access to the throne of God. We find a promised eternal inheritance in heaven for each one of us who have believed. We find, in that treasure box, resurrection from the dead and life forevermore, and infinite other treasures besides. Christ is infinite and immeasurable treasure, most of it hidden from our minds in this world. We'll never get to the 1,000,000th of a percent of the treasure that Jesus is in this life, and therefore I believe in a eternal education, in the glory of Christ, in heaven. Forever and ever and ever we'll be learning how glorious He is. We'll never stop. Jesus is the treasure hidden in the field. The Gospel, the good news, is not merely a message that He proclaimed, He is the good news. His incarnation is good news. His perfect, sinless life, perfectly fulfilling the two great commandments, the only man that's ever done it in history, is good news. His astonishing miracles are good news. His astounding teachings, unlike any teacher had ever lived, is good news. His fulfillment of all of those Old Testament prophecy, fulfillment of prophecy is good news. His substitutionary death on the cross, giving His life as a ransom in your place is good news. His bodily resurrection from the dead, defeating death forever for us is good news. His promise to return to earth someday and establish an eternal kingdom, the kingdom of God is good news. Christ's mission to earth began in His life on earth almost 2,000 years ago, but it continues. Mark starts with a statement, “the beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” The Holy Spirit's not just saying through Mark that Mark 1:1 is the first of 679 verses that will come in the Gospel of Mark. This is the beginning. I think it's more than that. Rather, it's that Jesus' mission to earth was just beginning with His short, His brief life on earth. It was just starting. Jesus Himself had more work to do even at the end. Luke makes the continuation clear in Acts 1:1-2. There, he says, "In my former book, Theophilus," [Gospel of Luke], "I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach." I love that word, “began”. That was just the start, [Gospel of Luke] of all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day He was taken up to heaven after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. In our text today, if you look at it, Mark makes it just as clear. Look at verses 19-20 of Mark 16, "After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven. And He sat at the right hand of God. Then, the disciples went out and preached everywhere," listen, "the Lord working with them or worked with them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it." There's Jesus up in heaven continuing His work at the right hand of God. This is just the beginning, the beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus is continuing His saving mission to sinners in this cursed world. II. What Christ Commands of the World What does Christ command of the world? There is a command given to the world shortly after that initial statement in Mark 1:1. He gives this command, Mark 1:15, "The time has come. The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news." That is a command given to the world worldwide. "The time has come. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel." That's the command He gives. It's the command of the Gospel. From Almighty God through His only begotten son, Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the church messengers to the world, this command is given, “repent and believe.” The Gospel is good news to be believed, but it's also a command to be obeyed. It is a command from God to sinners that they must obey. Paul picks up on this in Romans 1:5, "Through Him, and for his namesake, we," Paul and the other apostles, "we receive grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience of faith." Or one translation has “the obedience that comes from faith." Faith produces obedience to the king, to God, the king. Again in Acts 17:30, Paul preaching there says, "In the past, God overlooks such ignorance," idolatrous pagan religions, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent." This is a command from God to repent. When I meditate on this and consider myself and my role as an evangelist, I realize I'm an ambassador from almighty God and I'm going to a rebel, I'm not going there begging and pleading and sniveling, I'm going there as a messenger from God, the king who's commanding that sinner to repent. That doesn't mean you have to be mean or harsh or have an angry look on your face, none of that. But the fact is we are messengers of a God who is telling sinners to throw down their weapons of rebellion against His kingly rule. He's commanding them to repent. It's a command. These two commands of the Gospel, “repent and believe.” Those are the two basic commands of the Gospel, repent and believe. What does that mean? Repent literally means to “think differently.” That's the meaning in the Greek. It's the meaning also in the Latin that is the basis of our English word, “repent”. It means to think differently, have a different mind, a change of mind resulting in a change of life, a radical transformation of how you think, resulting in a transformation of how you live. That's what repent means, “to turn away from sin to God." “Believe” means, I think, “to see with the eyes of the heart”. I believe that faith is the eyesight of the soul by which we see invisible spiritual realities. It is the ability to see invisible things and to know that they're true. The invisible truths of the good news, of the Gospel, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, though you have never seen Him and you don't see Him now. Believe that He died on the cross in your place for your sins, though you didn't see any of that. Believe that He rose from the dead on the third day, though the only evidence you have for that is written in the pages of this book. You've never seen it, but you believe that it's true and that He offers full forgiveness of sins to any who will repent and believe. That's what it means to believe the Gospel. The reason for this is there's a sense of urgency. The time has come and the Kingdom of God is at hand, meaning it's right here. There is no time to waste. Time is of the essence. There's an urgency here. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:2, "Today is the day of salvation." We don't know if we'll be alive tomorrow. As James says, "You don't know what tomorrow will bring." You don't even know if you'll be alive tomorrow. The Kingdom of God is at hand, coming. It's right here. It's not distant, it's right here. God, the king here, and He's calling on people to repent. Time is essential. Salvation is eternal, eternity in heaven, a place where there is no more death, mourning, crying, or pain; free forever from those things, an eternity in a world like that, a glorious world. But on the other hand, an eternity of condemnation for those who do not believe, who do not repent and believe. Whoever does not believe will be condemned. Condemnation, Jesus taught, is terrifying. No one in the Old Testament ever taught so clearly about hell as Jesus did in His teaching ministry. He was very, very clear about hell as a place of eternal conscious torment. Mark 9, "If your hand caused you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell where the fire never goes out." Five verses later, "Where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched, where existence is upheld by the sovereign God, and so also is the fire that brings about torment." If people say it's just a metaphor, it's like the reality is worse than the metaphor. It's terrifying. Jesus came from heaven to earth and suffered and bled and died on the cross so that people who believed in Him would not have to experience that eternal conscious torment. There is an urgency in this Gospel work. We're surrounded by people who are on their way to hell, surrounded by people who are on their way to being condemned justly for their sins. That's what Christ commands of the world. III. What Commands of His Church What does He command of us, His church? As I said, there are five great commissions, so-called, that have essentially the same message, but they're all different from each other. It's beautiful how Matthew's version is different than Mark's version, which is different than Luke's version, which is different than John's version. And it's different than the version given in Acts 1:8. They're all different, and they all contribute something, but they tell the same basic message. Our version here, Mark 15: 16, Jesus said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." He commands us to go and preach. Those are the commands given to the church, to go and proclaim the message. The proclamation of that Word, the proclamation of the words about Jesus, His life, His death, His resurrection, and the theology of salvation wrapped up in Jesus' mission, those words are the power of God for salvation to sinners who believe. Our job is a words task. It's not the only thing we do, but fundamentally, the call here is to proclaim words. Paul says in Romans 10 very plainly, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." The universal statement to every human being in every context. "Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved." How then can they call on the one they've not believed in? Before they call, like the verse tells them to do, they have to first believe in the Lord Jesus. And how can they believe in one of whom they have never heard? You need the facts about Jesus before you can believe. And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? That's the work of the church, to give them the facts they need to be saved. And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” According to Scripture, we have been sent. Jesus said in John's Gospel, "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." We are sent. Then a few verses later in Romans 10:17, it says, "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." Our task is to proclaim the words of the Gospel to lost people in the hope that they will repent and believe those words and be saved. The extent of the Great Commission is to go into all the worlds and preach the Gospel to all creation. That's Mark's version, all the world, all creation. Matthew's is probably the most famous of the five great commissions. Matthew 28, 18-20, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I'm with you always, even to the end of the age." In Matthew's version, it's “all nations,” go and make disciples of all nations, with the end that having become a disciple, they obey all the commands. It's a comprehensive life obedience, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. This is going to happen in all areas of human history. "And surely I'm with you always, even to the end of the age," all nations, all commands all time. In both Matthew and Mark, baptism is an essential sign of discipleship. Mark says it in verse 16, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved." Matthew 28 says, "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, of the Holy Spirit.” A disciple is a learner, a follower of the master of Jesus, the great teacher. We're disciples. We follow him and not just cognitively agreeing or assenting to his teachings, but with our lives obeying and following his pattern. That's what a disciple is. But in order for that, we have to be obedient to the master, we have to be obedient to the king, and so an initial test of obedience is water baptism. We don't believe that water baptism is essential for salvation because a thief in the cross was not water baptized. Paul says, "God did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel." If water baptism were required for salvation, he would never have made such a careless statement. It's not water baptism that saves. However, having been genuinely saved, justified, forgiven, it is a first step of outward visible obedience to the commands of God, a willingness to do this simple thing. The word “baptism” means “to immerse or plunge in liquid.” To all my friends that think that sprinkling is baptism, it isn't. The word means “immerse”, and so it's a plunging into a vat of liquid, like a garment being dyed or a ship being launched or something like that, it's a plunging in liquid. For us, water baptism is an immersion in water as an outward and visible symbol of an immersion in the Holy Spirit that Jesus has done first. We are baptized by Jesus through the Spirit into one body through our faith in Christ. That baptism, real baptism having already happened, we then do the symbolic water baptism as an outward and visible sign. You don't have to be water baptized to be saved, but no, you can't refuse to be water baptized and think that you are saved. That is a clear essential first step of obedience. That's what we're called to do. The church, we, the members of this local church, and Christians worldwide are called to this great and glorious work. Go and proclaim. Make disciples. Baptize them, teach them, do the work of the great commission. That's what we're called to do. IV. How Christ’s Church Has Obeyed How has Christ's church obeyed? The church has been overwhelmingly and stunningly and gloriously obedient for 20 centuries. That's how we've gotten to this point in which there are hundreds of millions of Christians around the world. It says it right in our text. Look at verse 20, "Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere." It is very easy for us to be discouraged about our failures. I was saying to the staff this week, we were talking about it, it's like massive step down when Jesus said, "As the Father sent me, I'm sending you." The “me" is the only begotten Son of God who the Father chose and sent. He's sending people like you and me. It's part of God's plan to use weak, fragile, sinful, even vessels like us to do this Great Commission. Weak, fragile, sinful, broken people have done incredible things for 20 centuries to spread the Gospel as far as it's gone. In the first three centuries of church history, many unnamed, unknown Christians were willing to risk their lives under the oppressive Roman Empire to spread the Gospel and permeate that part of the world until the Emperor Constantine thought it, at least politically expedient, to declare himself a Christian. Whether he was genuinely converted or not, I don't know. Find out. If you get up there to heaven, you see Constantine, you'll know. But the point is that the Gospel had made such progress at that point that he thought it was at least beneficial. Many of his centurions, many of his soldiers were Christians. It's an incredible, spiritual conquest of the Roman Empire in three short centuries. And since that time, the missionary drive has only continued and expanded. Over the last two centuries in particular, it's been stunning how much progress missions has made. The Gospel spread through the Indian subcontinent, led by William Carey and others, spread through Burma led by Adoniram and Ann Judson and others, spread through China, led by Hudson Taylor and Lottie Moon and others, through Africa, led by David Livingstone and Mary Slessor and many others, through the steamy jungles of the Amazon, led by Cameron Townsend and Jim and Elizabeth Elliot and others, even to Erie and Jaya, led by Don Richardson and Mark and Gloria Zook and others. What an incredible story, the spread of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit has indeed come on the church and empowered the church and enabled us to be His witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Yet for all of that, we must admit tons of failure as well. Church history is a mess. I'm being honest with you. Battles with cults, battles with false doctrine, battles with decades of indolence and laziness. The Crusades, Ralph Winter calls, the most misguided conception of the Christian mission in history. That's big picture. What about individually? Do you not often feel like a failure in this topic? Isn't it easy to feel like a failure when it comes to witnessing? I do. When I look at the tens of thousands that live in the immediate proximity here, and I realize the level of unchurchedness and lostness coupled with high education rates and wealth, prosperity, and then others that don't have those educations or wealth; we're surrounded. They've lived near our church; now they live maybe a little further away from our church, but they're lost. There's darkness there. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged. But this is exactly what Acts 1:8 is all about. You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you need that power. This is the call. Mark 15:16 is the call to our church now. This is what we're called to do with the rest of our lives in part. V. How Christ Confirms his Word Christ confirmed His word. Look at verse 19 and 20. Marvelous. We see Christ's sovereign power, which is essential to the spread of the Gospel. “After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God. And then the disciples went out and preached everywhere.” The Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it. What a beautiful picture this is. Jesus ascends, goes through the clouds, the cloud hides Him from their sight. He goes into the heavenly realms, He passes through the heavens, He goes above the heavens. He sits down at the right hand of Almighty God far above the heavenly realms. And Jesus said, "Therefore," in Matthew 28:18, "all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me by God." Or again in Ephesians 1:20-23, "God raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one that come." It's hard to believe that Ephesians 1:21 is actually an understatement when it says, "Far above all rule and authority." Infinitely far above them. That's the great power of Jesus at the right hand of God. God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. This authority, Jesus' authority, to rule all things is essential to the spread of the Gospel over 20 centuries because every step of the way, the advance of the Gospel has been opposed by Satan and his demons and by human enemies of the Gospel. It's been a bloody advance, it’s been hard. The church is portrayed as taking enemy territory. He said at Caesarea Philippi, "On this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prove stronger than it." The idea of gates is “we're storming the gates.” We're taking enemy territory. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe, but when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and he divides up the spoils. That's Jesus plundering Satan's kingdom. We're part of that. But it's a dangerous, dangerous journey. And Jesus' sovereignty is essential to it. He's able to control the minds and hearts of the movers and shakers in every era of history. Proverbs 21:1, "The king's heart is like a water course in the hands of the Lord." He directs it whichever way He pleases. He's sovereign over even tyrants who hate the Gospel. He's able to direct their decisions. He says to the church at Philadelphia in Revelation 3: 7-8, "What I open, no one can shut. And what I shut, no one can open." Isn't that a great statement? “I know your deeds.” He said to the church of Philadelphia, "Behold, I have placed before you an open door which no one can shut." That's an opportunity for that church of Philadelphia to go through that door into Gospel fruitfulness. That's the sovereignty of Christ. The nations, there is nothing before Christ's power. Isaiah 40: 15, "Surely, the nations are like a drop in the bucket. They're regarded as dust on the scales. He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. He sits in throne above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of the world to nothing." Jesus, therefore, is at the right hand of God. He is exerting his authority to spread the Gospel of salvation in every generation. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity, delivers that power. The Holy Spirit is the delivery agent of the power of Jesus from the right hand of God down to earth. It is the Spirit. It is by the Spirit that Christ actively works in this present evil age to win sinners and spread the Gospel. He said in John 16:7, "I tell you the truth. It is for your good that I'm going away. Unless I go away, the counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And the spirit works that power in us. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes in you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria to the ends of the earth." Let's be honest, we are weak, we are frail, we are fearful, we are selfish, we are lazy. Peter's failure, the night that Jesus was arrested, is proof that we are all essentially frail and weak. In just a matter of a few hours, he went from that confident assertion, “even if all fall away on account of you,” to denying he even knew who Jesus was. Furthermore, the parable of the Good Samaritan depicts the priest going by and seeing the bleeding man by the side of the road, and he just keeps on going. The Levite does the same thing; sees the bleeding man by the side of the road, and he just keeps on going. How can we not, when reading the parable of the Good Samaritan with tears and brokenness, see ourselves in those two? Oh, Heaven forbid that you would ever say, "I thank you, God, that I'm not like the priest or Levite in the parable of the good Samaritan." Don't say that. Say, "Oh, God, show me how I'm like that." Especially spiritually, people are broken and beaten down and bleeding by the side of the road spiritually because of their lostness, and we know them. We work with them, we live around them, we shop with them. We are surrounded by that brokenness and that lostness. How can we just walk by on the other side? But that's our nature, isn't it? It's our nature. We need to be honest. It is our nature to be priest or Levite. Only the Spirit enables us to be different. He will enable us to be different. Again and again, He'll enable us to care, to cross over that road, to bend down, to say something to somebody, to ask what's going on in their lives, to get involved in the mess, to get involved in the brokenness, and to win people to Christ. And we will. And we're going to tell the story for all eternity in heaven. It's going to be an awesome story. It's going to be an awesome story. But in the meantime, there's so much sorrow. Jesus wept over Jerusalem's lostness. Paul wept over the lostness of his own Jewish nation. "I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit." Paul said, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish, for I could wish that I, myself, were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people. I would do it. I would lose my own salvation if they could be saved." There's that yearning and that brokenness. Jesus works and works and works and is by His Spirit to make us care about lostness, to care about people on their way to hell, and He moves us. He exerts power, conquering our fears. But He didn't just work in us, He works in them. He powerfully works in lost people, convicting them of their sins so that they can be saved. It says in John 16:8, "When the spirit comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. And He will give them the gift of repentance in faith." The Spirit has the power to do that. It's nothing the person can do for him or herself. The change is so radical, it's like a heart of stone being removed and a heart of flesh being put in. You can't do that to yourself, but the Spirit can. As Ezekiel says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I'll put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." As we're doing this witnessing, we're hoping that the Spirit will do that miraculous regenerating work that only He can do. It's not something we can do. The Spirit works repentance, the Spirit works, faith, and the Spirit calls to His sheep, unconverted elect. But the day has come, the day of salvation has come for them. And it says beautifully in John 10, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life. I call them by name, and they follow me." That's a beautiful work, isn't it? Don't you want to be there when that happens? Don't you want to watch it happen as somebody who is walking in darkness crosses over into the light and with tears coming down his or her face that Jesus is my Savior, He's my shepherd? How beautiful is that? The text says that Jesus confirmed His word by signs of the Spirit. Verse 20, "The Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." The Lord worked with them. What a majestic picture of cooperation. As 2 Corinthians 5 says, "We are, therefore, Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." We're, again, working together with Him, then “… implore you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” This sovereign power of Christ is working in us. By the grace of God, we are what we are. And His grace to us will not be without effect. "We're going to work for the Gospel," as Paul said, 1 Corinthians 15. Concerning signs and wonders, it's very clear that that happened in the apostolic age. Look at verse 17 and 18, "These signs will accompany those who believe. In my name, they will drive out demons, they will speak new tongues, they will pick up snakes with their hands. When they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all. They will place their hands on sick people and they will get well." Those things all happened. That's not fiction, it's not myth; those things happened. We have a record of it in the book of Acts, many of them, except the poison part. But I'm sure that happened too, it's just not recorded. Paul testified to it as well in Romans 15: 18-19, “I will not venture to speak about anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done by the power of signs and miracles through the power of the Spirit. From Jerusalem all the way around to the Balkans, to Illyricum, I fully proclaimed the Gospel of Christ.” Miracles following everywhere, healings, speaking in tongues, all of those things, even the serpent thing. Amazing. The miraculous signs confirm the truthfulness of the Gospel. In Acts 8: 6-8, “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. And when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. There's great joy in that city.” The signs also showed that Satan was being driven out of his throne in people's hearts. Jesus sent out 72 evangelists during His mission, and they returned full of joy. Luke 10: 17 -19, "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, 'Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.' He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.’" I've been thinking about that verse. This morning, we sang about martyrs who died. What's that whole, “nothing will harm you” thing? The martyrs weren't harmed by their death, they were ushered from this sin-cursed world by great sacrificial service, both to God and to sinners, into eternal glory and a martyr's crown. Do you think up in heaven they're thinking they were harmed by their martyrdom? They were not harmed. People were benefited because Tertullian said, "The blood of those martyrs was seed for the church,” and by their willingness to die to themselves, and even physically die, new Christians came. "The martyrs weren't harmed by their death, they were ushered from this sin-cursed world by great sacrificial service, both to God and to sinners, into eternal glory and a martyr's crown." VI. Our Part in This Work What is our part in this work? Obviously the most important thing anyone listening to me right now can do is make certain that you, yourself, have been saved, that you, yourself, have repented and believe the gospel for the forgiveness of your sins. Nothing's more important than that. The time has come. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news. But let's say you've already done that. What now? What is our work? Our work is to share the gospel with near neighbors and distant nations. This sermon and next week's as well, we're going to lay out specifics for FBC's members. The elders of this church are all unanimous that the single greatest area of growth for our church is faithfulness and fruitfulness in evangelism. We want to see far more baptisms happening in a year than we do. We want to see those kind of baptisms that happen in this pattern saying, "I was lost, I met so-and-so from this church, and now I'm here today to testify to my faith in Jesus." I want to hear that. Don't you? I want to be part of that. That's our calling. That's what we're called to do, to be fishers of men. We cannot sit comfortably in this beautiful sanctuary, hearing the Word of God week after week and not pay the price to share it with the thousands of lost people that are around us throughout the week. This area is going to grow. Estimates say we're going to add about half a million people in this region over the next 25 years. Most of those will be lost, unchurched. That's our field to work. This is our area to work. This is what we're going to be held accountable for on Judgment Day. We're called on to do evangelism. What is evangelism? Max Stiles says, "Evangelism is teaching the Gospel with the aim to persuade.” Teaching. We're going to teach concepts about people. We're going to explain theological truths to people who don't understand them. We're going to teach. What are we going to teach? The Gospel. God, man, Christ's response. We're going to say things about God, that He created the ends of the earth and that He's a king and a ruler, and He makes laws. We need to follow them. That man, that we are created the image of God for a relationship with Him, but we have broken His laws and we're rebellious against Him, and we stand in danger of eternal condemnation. Christ, that Christ is the Son of God. He came and lived a sinless life, He died on the cross and rose again. And response, repent and believe, as in Mark 1:15. We're going to teach the Gospel to people with the aim... We're going to have an aim. We're going to focus on winning, lost people to faith in Christ. It's intentional. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the loss. We have to have an aim, a purpose, and we're going to persuade. We're going to win people. We're going to persuade them to repent, to turn to Christ. We're going to use argumentation, we're going to use proofs, we're going to use passion, we're going to use persuasion. We're going to plead. I've never really pled with a lost person before. It's in Acts 2. I do a lot of airplane evangelism. I have yet to be broken down and, with tears, beg a lost person to cross over. Now, I think I probably would get arrested. But there is that passion in our hearts of pleading with people to be saved. Our goal is a culture of evangelism. What does that mean? A culture of evangelism. Max Stiles speaks of communal evangelism where it's a church-wide focus. We're going to hold one another accountable. We're going to strengthen our mutual resolve in evangelism. We're going to learn from each other. How do you do it? How do you do it in the workplace? How do you do in the community? How do you do hospitality? We're going to learn from each other. We're going to rejoice together in successes, and we're going to cry over failures and setbacks. We're going to bond through shared experiences in intense situations. What is a church culture? Isn't culture like shared ideas, shared language, shared behavior patterns, shared experiences, shared expectations? That's what a culture is. A culture of evangelism is motivated by love for Jesus and His Gospel. It's a culture that's confident in the Gospel as the power of God for salvation. We don't need gimmicks, we don't need entertainment, we don't need smoke machines. We don't need any of that stuff, we need the Gospel. We trust in it. It's a culture that understands the danger of this present evil age. A culture that sees people clearly, a culture that pulls together as one, especially in prayer, a culture in which people teach one another what the Gospel is. What is evangelism? What is conversion? How can we best share this Gospel message? That new converts are taught these things, and then they're sent out as messengers themselves. It multiplies. A culture that models evangelism. A culture in which people who share their faith are celebrated and learned from in this church. A culture that knows how to affirm and celebrate new life. A culture that does ministry that feels risky and is dangerous. A culture that understands that the church is the chosen and best method of evangelism in the world. Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the chance that we've had this week, and God willing that we'll have again next week to look at our responsibility in the Great Commission. Help us, Lord, to be faithful. Help us, oh Lord, to be courageous. Help us to be humble and admit our weakness and our failure. Help us to help each other. Help us to ask each other how you're doing in evangelism. Help us to be involved in the summer's “Let's Go program” of going out on Wednesdays and sharing and being trained and doing prayer walking and doing prayer meetings and just being involved. Help us, oh Lord, to be more fruitful and faithful than we've ever been before. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Bài Giảng: Chúa Giê-su, Đấng Mê-si-a Cho Mọi Dân Tộc (phần 2) Diễn giả: Don Richardson Chuyển ngữ: Đội ngũ Ba-rúc Giới thiệu tác giả: Don Richardson (1935-2018) là cái tên xa lạ với nhiều tín hữu Việt, nhưng ông có quyền nói về truyền giáo. Vợ chồng ông đã từng đến New Guinea Indonesia hẻo lánh để rao truyền Chúa Giê-su cho bộ tộc coi lừa dối là một mỹ đức và có tục ăn thịt kẻ thù. Anh chị em có thể xem bộ phim của ông tại:    • Bài Giảng: Chúa Giê-su, Đấng Mê-si-a ...   Trong bài giảng này, mục sư Don kể tiếp về việc Chúa Giê-su qua cuộc gặp gỡ của Ngài với người đàn bà Ca-na-an có con bị quỷ ám đến xin Ngài chữa lành cho bà, nhưng Chúa Giê-su trả lời rằng Ngài được sai đến, chỉ vì những chiên lạc mất của nhà Y-sơ-ra-ên mà thôi, mặc dù nhiều người nghĩ rằng Chúa Giê-su nói như vậy để thử xem đức tin của bà, nhưng thật ra Ngài đang giúp cho các môn đồ nhận ra được sự khác nhau giữa sự ô uế thật và sự ô uế về mặt nghi lễ để chuẩn bị họ cho Đại Mạng Lệnh sắp tới. Anh chị em có thể nghe bài giảng audio của Giảng Luận Kinh Thánh tại địa chỉ sau: Spotify: https://sum.vn/HybEq Apple podcast: https://sum.vn/SccJB Giảng Luận Kinh Thánh là dự án dịch thuật/lồng tiếng sang tiếng Việt các bài giảng, thông điệp Cơ Đốc kinh điển của những diễn giả đã được thời gian khẳng định và cộng đồng Cơ đốc chung xác nhận. Đây là dự án phi lợi nhuận nhằm cung cấp nguồn tư liệu cho các tôi tớ cùng con dân Chúa tham khảo và sử dụng miễn phí. Để hiểu hơn về chúng tôi vui lòng truy cập website : https://giangluankinhthanh.net/ Đội ngũ Giảng Luận Kinh Thánh hoan nghênh mọi đề nghị cộng tác của quý con cái Chúa khắp nơi trong các lĩnh vực như dịch thuật, lồng tiếng, quảng bá, cầu thay, v.v. Nếu quý con cái Chúa sẵn lòng đóng góp công sức của mình vào bất cứ lĩnh vực nào, cùng đồng công trong những sứ điệp giúp tỉnh thức nhiều người. Xin vui lòng điền thông tin cá nhân vào biểu mẫu sau: https://sum.vn/m4wqt Kênh Giảng Luận Kinh Thánh hoạt động vì các mục tiêu phi lợi nhuận, không phát quảng cáo. Vì vậy, chúng tôi mong tiếp tục nhận được sự dâng hiến và ủng hộ của quý con cái Chúa khắp nơi trong việc phát triển kênh. Quý vị có thể dâng hiến theo thông tin trong biểu mẫu sau: https://sum.vn/ZZ19m Xin chân thành cảm ơn! #Giangluankinhthanh #DonRichardson #chuagiesu #dangmesia #baigiangtinlanh #baigiangkinhthanh #baigianghay

Bài Giảng: Chúa Giê-su, Đấng Mê-si-a Cho Mọi Dân Tộc (phần 2) Diễn giả: Don Richardson Chuyển ngữ: Đội ngũ Ba-rúc Giới thiệu tác giả: Don Richardson (1935-2018) là cái tên xa lạ với nhiều tín hữu Việt, nhưng ông có quyền nói về truyền giáo. Vợ chồng ông đã từng đến New Guinea Indonesia hẻo lánh để rao truyền Chúa Giê-su cho bộ tộc coi lừa dối là một mỹ đức và có tục ăn thịt kẻ thù. Anh chị em có thể xem bộ phim của ông tại:    • Bài Giảng: Chúa Giê-su, Đấng Mê-si-a ...   Trong bài giảng này, mục sư Don kể tiếp về việc Chúa Giê-su qua cuộc gặp gỡ của Ngài với người đàn bà Ca-na-an có con bị quỷ ám đến xin Ngài chữa lành cho bà, nhưng Chúa Giê-su trả lời rằng Ngài được sai đến, chỉ vì những chiên lạc mất của nhà Y-sơ-ra-ên mà thôi, mặc dù nhiều người nghĩ rằng Chúa Giê-su nói như vậy để thử xem đức tin của bà, nhưng thật ra Ngài đang giúp cho các môn đồ nhận ra được sự khác nhau giữa sự ô uế thật và sự ô uế về mặt nghi lễ để chuẩn bị họ cho Đại Mạng Lệnh sắp tới. Anh chị em có thể nghe bài giảng audio của Giảng Luận Kinh Thánh tại địa chỉ sau: Spotify: https://sum.vn/HybEq Apple podcast: https://sum.vn/SccJB Giảng Luận Kinh Thánh là dự án dịch thuật/lồng tiếng sang tiếng Việt các bài giảng, thông điệp Cơ Đốc kinh điển của những diễn giả đã được thời gian khẳng định và cộng đồng Cơ đốc chung xác nhận. Đây là dự án phi lợi nhuận nhằm cung cấp nguồn tư liệu cho các tôi tớ cùng con dân Chúa tham khảo và sử dụng miễn phí. Để hiểu hơn về chúng tôi vui lòng truy cập website : https://giangluankinhthanh.net/ Đội ngũ Giảng Luận Kinh Thánh hoan nghênh mọi đề nghị cộng tác của quý con cái Chúa khắp nơi trong các lĩnh vực như dịch thuật, lồng tiếng, quảng bá, cầu thay, v.v. Nếu quý con cái Chúa sẵn lòng đóng góp công sức của mình vào bất cứ lĩnh vực nào, cùng đồng công trong những sứ điệp giúp tỉnh thức nhiều người. Xin vui lòng điền thông tin cá nhân vào biểu mẫu sau: https://sum.vn/m4wqt Kênh Giảng Luận Kinh Thánh hoạt động vì các mục tiêu phi lợi nhuận, không phát quảng cáo. Vì vậy, chúng tôi mong tiếp tục nhận được sự dâng hiến và ủng hộ của quý con cái Chúa khắp nơi trong việc phát triển kênh. Quý vị có thể dâng hiến theo thông tin trong biểu mẫu sau: https://sum.vn/ZZ19m Xin chân thành cảm ơn! #Giangluankinhthanh #DonRichardson #chuagiesu #dangmesia #baigiangtinlanh #baigiangkinhthanh #baigianghay

Steve Richardson was raised in Indonesia, where his parents planted churches in a jungle tribe. He witnessed the impact of the gospel on their war-like society, a story documented in his father's missionary classic, Peace Child. Listen today as Steve gives more insight to how his parents were able to use the concept of a peace child to reveal the gospel to an unreached people group. Steve also shares advice for those thinking about going on the mission field using his experience as a child as well as his role as the President of Pioneers-USA, a growing international mission movement impacting more than 500 unreached people groups with the gospel! Don't miss this powerful story!More resources:Click here to hear Steve's full story!Don Richardson's Book: Peace ChildSteve's Book: Is The Commission Still Great?Peace Child Short Video

Marilyn Adolph Scarabin gives an update on the giant 50 lbs. over-the-limit package that Helen Mae and the sisters sent. A great camera that D.D. wanted. So much bubble gum and balloons which she'll save most for Christmas instead of giving the kids all of it at once. Included too were many new cassette tapes to record on instead of recycyling the ones from Louisiana. Jason and Deron thank everyone for what they sent. Two-year old Josh Scarabin talks and says he went to Portsite. Louis M. "D.D." enjoyed getting all the "junk" but were really a bunch of "goodies" including some Milky Ways and Snickers. Marilyn and Jason smacking gum. Josh kept wanted to talk but then wouldn't. Happy to hear Saints won 4 preseason games - as usual. Time-Picayune is delivered over there two weeks late. Tell his family hello including Happy Birthday to his dad and sister Judy Willig. Said Marilyn seems to be doing ok despite Carolyn Bergeron reading her handwriting that she's "depressed." Thanked Uncle Emmett, Aunt Yvonne and Aunt Annie. Josh has a stone ax. Marilyn explains a visit from Don Richardson who was a missionary that bought machetes and tools for the native Asmat and Sawi tribes who were cannibals and they didn't kill him. Marilyn explains the tradition of eating their first born and breast-feeding pig then do the opposite for second born. Pig tusks through their noses. Natives digging in the garbage. Marilyn feels sympathy towards them. Josh tells MawMaw he ate some strawberry ice cream. Grateful for everything. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-scarabin/message

Join us for our Midweek Bible Study! We will be looking at the work of a missionary named Don Richardson. In his book, Eternity in Their Hearts, he relates dozens of examples of God not leaving Himself "without witness" in primitive cultures (Acts 14:17). We will look at the Incas of South America, the Santal of eastern India, the Gedeo people of Ethiopia, the Mbaka of Central Africa, the Karen of Burma, the Chinese writing system, and more! God truly has been at work in every culture preparing them to receive the Gospel of His Son! When missionaries are able to find these contact points with the Gospel great numbers of baptisms and conversions take place!

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health and well-being of billions of people across the world, especially frontline health care workers. In this episode of the DocTalks Podcast, host Ian Gillespie sits down with Dr. Don Richardson, a psychiatrist and the medical director of St. Joseph's Health Care London's Operational Stress Injury (OSI) Clinic at Parkwood Institute. Dr. Richardson is also the Scientific Director of the MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre and is leading a team conducting a study on the current state of health care worker mental health and how health care organizations can help support their teams. Dr. Richardson is a foremost expert on military-related post-traumatic stress disorder with more than two decades of experience in the assessment and treatment of Canadian Armed Forces members and Veterans. Note: The content of St. Joseph's DocTalks Podcasts is for informational purposes only. The material is not intended for and should not be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from a licensed health care practitioner.Brought to you in partnership with St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation. Produced by The Pod Cabin and Kelsi Break

Today Ted speaks with Don Richardson, founder of Arizona Fireplaces - a family business that has been operating for over 40 years. Don shares the struggles he went through to help his business succeed through different economies, national events, and growth spurts. His success is grounded in his family values, and he's proud to talk about his sons continuing his legacy for years to come. Ted and Don cover how it all began and where it's headed next. Join us as Don touches on innovation, hard work, and knowing when it's time to transition.TOPICS DISCUSSED[2:08] Marriage[5:45] The people you never forget[11:30] Innovation and the American Spirit[16:45] Why winning all the time can be boring[18:30] College football[20:56] Starting a business during a recession[24:45] How Arizona Fireplaces began[26:15] Struggling through dark times[31:00] Bringing the kids into the family business[35:10] What have your children taught you?[47:50] Get comfortable being uncomfortable[52:30] What story do you tell to inspire people?[56:35] Quality time remainingCONNECT WITH GUESTWebsiteInstagramLinkedInFacebookKEY QUOTES FROM EPISODEWell we can't get the green tag on the framing final until that stupid fireplace guy installs the fireplace. Zero clearance fireplace, which is the last thing that goes in on a framing file. But they had no control. So I said why don't we hook you up with the builder supply? Can we supply these? They were cheapy woodburners back then. Can we supply you the fireplace? We could pay for you. Get our framing final. That's what created Arizona fireplaces. It's the craziest silly story, but it's the truth.And so you really get into  a dark spot, financially and even.When you're in the financial dark, spot it it affects you emotionally and you wake up two in the morning, sweating, not wanting the sun to come up. I mean, anyone who's been in that position knows exactly what I'm thinking.But those years I would have never– I would have lost forever and I wouldn't even know about it, that I lost them, because I did. They wouldn't have existed. So I looked back and I go, wow, that was a moment that I could have really messed things up. So right then, I said, ”You will never do something that would put us in a position to where I have to sacrifice my family and sacrifice my parenting.”

Steve Richardson has served as President of Pioneers-USA since 1999 and is the author of Is the Commission Still Great?: 8 Myths About Missions & What They Mean for the Church. Steve was raised in Indonesia, where his parents planted churches in a jungle tribe. He witnessed the impact of the gospel on their war-like society, a story documented in his father's missionary classic, Peace Child. Steve and his wife, Arlene, also spent eleven years planting churches among an unreached people group in Southeast Asia. (Learn more about Don Richardson in The Mind of a Missionary.) Is the Commission Still Great? dismantles the myths that obscure God's beautiful plan to make disciples of all nations. Misperceptions discourage God's people from joyfully participating with Him in reaching the world. Yet, deepening our understanding of the call to missions restores perspective and motivates us to participate in God's grand design. Find Missions Pulse episode #89 on our website at https://davidjoannes.com/090steverichardson/

In "The Recipe to Make Peace," we continue our exploration into how the gospel saves people. Spoiler alert: It's by faith. The post The Recipe to Make Peace first appeared on Faith Recovery Podcast.

On this episode of the Mission Minded Podcast we are joined by Steve Richardson, president of Pioneers-USA. Steve was raised in Indonesia, where his parents planted churches in a jungle tribe. He witnessed the impact of the gospel on their war-like society, a story documented in his father's missionary classic, Peace Child. Steve and his wife, Arlene, also spent eleven years planting churches among an unreached people group in Southeast Asia. On todays podcast we discuss Steves new book IS THE COMMISSION STILL GREAT? Steve uses stories from Scripture, history, and his own ministry experience to impart timely lessons on modern missions. Mission Minded Podcast: In Matthew 28:18-20, we are commissioned by Christ to make disciples of all the nations. Living in light of this scriptural call can be challenging. Join the Mission Minded podcast and participate in discussions with mission-minded individuals that come from diverse backgrounds, working all over the world, to bring some of the challenges into the light. The ITEC team hosts special guests who tell stories, ask questions, and inspire us to use our God-given gifts to take the Gospel to our neighbors and the nations. Mission Minded Podcast is produced by ITEC. The goal of this podcast is to inspire conversations about Great Commission participation. The views, organizations, and individuals represented, interviewed, and discussed on the podcast do not necessarily represent an official position or formal partnerships with ITEC. Show Notes: · Peace Child. The story of Don Richardson and family/the conversion of the Sawi Tribe. · Treachery on the Twisted River. An adaptation of the Peace Child more suited for younger audiences (ages 13-18). · When God Comes Calling by Ted Fletcher (Steve Richardson’s Father-In-Law/founder of Pioneers). This is the story of Ted Fletcher’s conversion and the eventual formation of Pioneers. · Western Christians in Global Mission by Paul Borthwick. We actually interviewed him on a previous podcast. · When Everything Is Missions by Denny Spitters/Matthew Ellison. · A Third of Us by Marvin J Newell. This book that mentions the 5 Great Commission passages in the New Testament. · Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: https://www.perspectives.org/ · Step In Study: a five-session “alternative” to Perspectives produced by Global Frontier Missions. https://globalfrontiermissions.org/step-in/ · Xplore Study: a seven-session “alternative” to Perspectives produced by the Center for Mission Mobilization. https://www.mobilization.org/resources/live-missionally/xplore/ · “Never The Same.” The 16-minute documentary about the Richardson family visiting the Sawi tribe years later (similar to “The Last Chapter” at ITEC). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm6R9EPtMHo · Pioneers.org/myths

On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University Alumni Association engagement strategist Carolyn Tatro shares FHSU Homecoming 2022 details.  Transcript: EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.   James Bell  The Fort Hays State University Alumni Association is get ready for this year's homecoming, Alumni Engagement strategist, Carolyn Tatro stops by to share some of the details on this episode of the post podcast.   Carolyn Tatro  It's only got a month away at this point, right about a month away and really for homecoming for us. It's there are parts of it that are year round. But by the time we get to this time of year, we kind of can't believe that it's already around the corner. And we have some really exciting things planned. So I'm really looking forward to it. I know a lot of other people are too.   James Bell  Yeah, yeah, it's always a good time. And I know, you know, COVID kind of changed some things, you guys introduced some virtual events, and that seemed to go over really well just, you know, as we were having to deal with that, but a lot of back to normal kind of stuff. Um, you know, oh, my goodness, look at the list of thing. No, lots of stuff going on. Yeah, you want to give us some highlights?   Carolyn Tatro  Yes. So first of all, we had a record sell out of the golf tournament. So the golf tournament is currently sold out. It's one of our most popular events throughout the three days, which by the way, before I forget, October 6, seventh, and eighth is what we're talking about here for our alumni homecoming events, the golf tournament sold out in five days, which record for us. So we're excited about that. But we, we know a lot of people didn't get into it, but we you know, give us a call and we want to talk to you about it. Because there's a lot of other things that you can do lunch with Coach Brown is also happening that afternoon, which the golfers can participate in because it's during lunch. So we want people to come and have lunch with football coach, Chris Brown and and learn a little bit about game day routines, and learn about the team, that kind of stuff. So that'll be a really exciting event as well. And then I know later that evening, we'll have the bonfire. Hopefully Weather permitting knock on wood was a great event last year. So hopefully we'll get to do the bonfire again.   James Bell  You guys do that right there to the the west of the Alumni Center, right   Carolyn Tatro  right next to the Robins.   James Bell  The one that always floods.   Carolyn Tatro  Hopefully we're you know, we're again, month away. We'll see what happens. But the bonfire is always a big event when we get to do it. So yeah, very fun. Yeah. And then lots of exciting things planned for Friday. And we have a rather exciting slate of award recipients this year, our homecoming awards are always, you know, a really big deal. There are some of the most distinguished alums that we get to celebrate. And Friday is sort of the the big day to do that Friday and Saturday, we get to have lots of events to celebrate these award winners. So looking forward to that have people from all over the place that I'm looking forward to meeting in person, some really fascinating individuals that I think people want to meet.   James Bell  Yeah, for sure. You want to tell us maybe what some of those awards are? I know, I've seen them year after year, but I'm drawing a blank. Yes.   Carolyn Tatro  So we have four awards that we honor at homecoming. One is the Alumni Achievement Award is sort of the most prestigious for our alums via NIDA, Landrum and distinguished service awards are some of the others. This year, we are honoring four Alumni Achievement Award recipients and two Young Alumni Award recipients. So we've got alumni achievement, and NIDA Landrum Distinguished Service and young alum. And the this year, we have four alumni achievement, and two young alum award recipients. So very exciting people.   James Bell  Cool. Cool. Yeah, I'm gonna talk more about these events. But I am curious, like, how do those folks get selected? You guys drop out a hat or is there a vote   Carolyn Tatro  there. So we have a nomination process that takes place, December, I read around December in January, we open it up for about a month, but people are sending us names year round, you know, oh, I met so and so who's doing some really cool things that you guys need to know about. So we do collect names pretty much year round. Our Alumni Board has a committee that reviews these nominations. And then based on specific criteria, we they select who they believe should be the standout award winners for the coming year. So the selection is usually made end of January, sometime in February. So a lot of us are sitting on this secret for several months before we finally announced them in the summer.   James Bell  I can tell by your face. You know who they are?   Carolyn Tatro  Oh, yes, yeah. And we know we, we know who they are for a long time. And we usually release, we put out the press release in the summer. So, you know, it's it's maybe six months before we get to tell the public about it. But um, yeah, they're out there. And I think some people are very excited about who we get to celebrate this year. Very cool.   James Bell  Very cool. Well, moving back into some of these events. I mean, that's gonna be fun. That's again on Friday. I had it open in the morning, Friday morning, but lots of stuff going on that Friday afternoon night, right?   Carolyn Tatro  Yes, that's right. So Friday morning, we will have a meet and greet for these award recipients now I should say. So John Allen, who is a world renowned journalist in Rome, he will be unable to join us but we're So excited to celebrate him. And also Mike McCarthy, who's the current head football coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He's a little busy right now. So he's not going to be able to do it because I know he's he's got some things going on. But we're really excited the meet and greet will involve Judy billings, who's a lifelong nurse educator, Don Richardson, who's also a lifelong educator been teaching for more than 50 years. Tory blue, who is the current House Majority Whip in Topeka. She's great Ben native ran for office before she even graduated from Fort Hays, and then Brandon Penny, who I'm very excited to meet great creative mind doing some really cool things in New York for Saks Fifth Avenue. So it's, those four individuals will be at the meet and greet. And there'll be at the Alumni and Friends awards banquet on Friday evening, as well. So just a couple of different opportunities to meet them on Friday, they'll be doing some presentations in classes, mostly from the departments that they graduated from, but opportunities to speak to students, and then we get to celebrate them in the parade on saturday as well. So get to spend some time with them this week, that weekend.   James Bell  I love that. And you know, it's always so amazing to me. The I mean, obviously, we have a large number of alumni out there doing amazing things, but it always seems like you guys are finding new ones that you know, maybe the general public doesn't know or people that left years ago, and they're doing amazing things internationally. You're on the coasts. Yeah. And it's like an endless supply of amazing four days long.   Carolyn Tatro  I'm telling you even just yesterday, there were a couple people who came up to me and said, Did you know that so and so has a connection to Fort Hays? And it's, it's really cool to see some of these names that you're right, we just we don't always know that they have the connection to Fort Hays. And that's why we like to celebrate them with some of these awards, because it's just a really exciting time our community gets to see how connected we are to some people that are doing some really amazing things out in the world.   James Bell  Yeah, very cool. And to be able to celebrate and bring everybody together, or almost everybody in this case and, and hang out and get to meet those individuals. What a cool experience.   Carolyn Tatro  Yep. So a lot of those events, you can check out the full list of our events at fhsu homecoming.com. Now, I will say that is the website for our alumni events. There's a lot of other stuff happening happening on campus that week of Homecoming. So make sure you check out the fhsu website as well, but fhsu homecoming.com. A lot of the events that I've mentioned already, you do have to pre register for, but you can do that through September 29. So you still have a couple of weeks to do that. But we were very excited. And yeah, I can't contain it. Honestly, this is one of my favorite, favorite times of the year, just getting ready for all this and then watching it all come together and and seeing people come to the events is just a really great time.   James Bell  Yeah, I bet because I mean, you guys have to plan this for such a long time. There's so many moving pieces, and especially when with your events, and then the university events you got a whole has to coordinate together and to some degree and so many people make this event how happened it just you know, everybody gets together have a great time. But there's a lot of work in the behind the scenes.   Carolyn Tatro  That's right, and we participate with Oktoberfest as well. We're going to have an Oktoberfest tent out there, come out, meet people, you know, if you're meeting up with a group of friends, our tent will be a great place to do that. Sit down, enjoy the delicious food and the atmosphere will be out there both days too. So again, something happening pretty much every day, Thursday, Friday, Saturday through a homecoming so yeah, on on all the time.   James Bell  And Oktoberfest you also know that's separate, but it's the same. And it brings a lot of people to town to do that. But while you're there, come make the connection to Fort Hays, where you connect with Fort Hays and go check out the bit like if you've been on campus, holy smokes, it still boggles my mind. How much has changed even from the time that we were there, which was, you know, we're pushing in almost a decade, I think since we both graduated, but so much activity, physical activities there. And it's just, it's still it's great. It looks amazing. But it's different. And it's it's a it's fun to explore even I think some of those new facilities and buildings   Carolyn Tatro  it is. And we do offer, you know, we offer the opportunity for people to take tours of campus while they're out there as well. Even some of our awardees that I've talked to on the phone, I haven't been to campus in a long time is there going to be a chance for me to see, you know, this such and such new building or my building has been renovated since I was there. So you know, things are changing all the time. And they still are and so yeah, this is another just a great time for people to come see how things are different on campus and all the cool things that we get to do out there. Absolutely.   James Bell  Well, Carolyn, I tell you, we've got just about a minute left last thoughts or anything else you think that folks need to know before we go?   Carolyn Tatro  Well, again, just check out fhsu homecoming.com. We really encourage people to pre register for some of these events because they are going to fill up again lunch with Coach Brown on Thursday afternoon. So that will be October 6 That noon. Again, something we don't get to do all the time. So come and have lunch with the football coach Chris Brown, and then sign up for our alum. I award events as well. So you can meet some of these really cool people we have coming to town, September 29. That is the deadline for a lot of our registered events. Don't   James Bell  wait. Don't get you know what happens when you have a deadline like that. Always for me, people wait   Carolyn Tatro  till the day I wait till the deadline is right. Don't wait till the deadline, get it out, get   James Bell  your computer listening to us and probably at work. So go ahead and just take a minute to lock out. Get it in do it now. Yeah, no, it'd be a good time and hopefully you get a great turnout. And you know, I'll be around I always am.   Carolyn Tatro  Yeah, absolutely. And everybody, give us a call if anybody has questions, lots of stuff happening. So we want to be able to point you in the right direction.

Derek shares inspiring illustrations of the Gospel, including (1) the Gospel encoded in the Genealogy of Christ, (2) My Son - the dramatic story of John Griffith, (3) the Peace Child (the story of Don Richardson), (4) the Bridge over the River Kwai, and (5) the Record Book.

Derek shares inspiring illustrations of the Gospel, including (1) the Gospel encoded in the Genealogy of Christ, (2) My Son - the dramatic story of John Griffith, (3) the Peace Child (the story of Don Richardson), (4) the Bridge over the River Kwai, and (5) the Record Book.

Derek shares inspiring illustrations of the Gospel, including (1) the Gospel encoded in the Genealogy of Christ, (2) My Son - the dramatic story of John Griffith, (3) the Peace Child (the story of Don Richardson), (4) the Bridge over the River Kwai, and (5) the Record Book.

As Christians, it's easy to adopt the idea that the lost in our culture are hopeless, beyond reach - so we don't even try. Don Richardson's example among the lost in interior New Guinea proves that no-one is beyond the power of the Gospel.  It's time to call the enemy's bluff. Our culture is not beyond God's reach, and He loves them more than we can imagine.  So let's not be distracted by the enemy's intimidation tactics, but have faith in what our mighty God can do. For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/. If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/

Once upon a time, two podcasters, Stan and Marshall, sat down to discuss the complex art of storytelling, and how to do it right. The two chatted about what makes stories work, and the process, principles, and components that go into successful stories. The End. Show Links (some contain affiliate links): Kristian's Sketchy Van Podcast: https://linktr.ee/KristianNee Lost in Space - https://amzn.to/3xckcnz Peter Guber's “Tell to Win” - https://amzn.to/3HKwYyv Storynomics by Robert McKee https://amzn.to/3HMCFfq Heavyweights movie -https://amzn.to/3nGLW0i My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett - https://amzn.to/3FBi7o8 Jesse James (1939) - https://amzn.to/3FJ4SC1 Home Alone - https://amzn.to/3CHAYfm U.S. Steel Hour - https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/ussteel/all Film Scriptwriting by Dwight Swain - https://amzn.to/3oRWCsr R. L. Stines Masterclass - https://www.masterclass.com/classes/rl-stine-teaches-writing-for-young-audiences Frazetta Back to the Future - https://amzn.to/2ZdXRtj Robert McKee's seminar: https://mckeestory.com/ Human Proportion Chart: https://proko.com/figure Twilight Zone - https://amzn.to/32jT2zD O. Henry - https://amzn.to/3cC4AQD The Anatomy of Story by John Truby - https://amzn.to/3DKAd6L My Life as a Dog - https://amzn.to/30SWbpR Paper Moon - https://amzn.to/3cFsuLa Donald Davis: https://www.ddavisstoryteller.com/ Gerald M. Weinberg - https://amzn.to/3CLVmvQ Superboy - https://amzn.to/3CI2rxD Emma Coats- Pixar 22 Rules of Storytelling: https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/07/pixars-22-rules-of-storytelling/ Knick Knack (pixar's first animated short): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c43oD22i4Sg Toy Story - https://amzn.to/3CUzZJ7 The Verdict - https://amzn.to/3cFt63q Midnight Run - https://amzn.to/3nEX26c Acting Without Agony by Don Richardson - https://amzn.to/3xf2rnz Big Lebowski - https://amzn.to/3nE9jI2 12 Angry Men - https://amzn.to/3FKtASB Groundhog Day - https://amzn.to/3FFxTOR The Godfather - https://amzn.to/3CJfP4k Nemo in Slumberland - https://amzn.to/3r0LV9z Alice in Wonderland - https://amzn.to/3r5m5Bo The Simpsons - https://amzn.to/30Oeexd Casablanca - https://amzn.to/3DKWWzo Flight - https://amzn.to/3oOGqZ7 Gran Torino - https://amzn.to/3xlTvNq Alan Moore - https://amzn.to/3oRlroz Sophie's Choice - https://amzn.to/2ZckyOo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Always Learning Always Teaching with Don Richardson E3 Kyle McIntosh (Mac) and Scott McIntosh welcome Don Richardson, Founder of Arizona Fireplaces and AF Steel Distributors, as he discusses his greater purpose for his businesses: passion and striving for excellence. And how tough love is the foundation of success. From a garage business to over 300 […]

Always Learning Always Teaching with Don Richardson E3 Kyle McIntosh (Mac) and Scott McIntosh welcome Don Richardson, Founder of Arizona Fireplaces and AF Steel Distributors, as he discusses his greater purpose for his businesses: passion and striving for excellence. And how tough love is the foundation of success. From a garage business to over 300 […] The post Always Learning Always Teaching with Don Richardson E3 appeared first on Business RadioX ®.

In Episode 16, Bishop Richard speaks with Fr. Don Richardson, Dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. They discuss Church Architecture and Fr Don's new book, Beauty and Light with Faith. Fr Don Richardson has been Dean of St Mary's Cathedral since 2016, but his association with the cathedral goes back further. He regards St Mary's as his spiritual home, a sanctuary where people are given a glimpse of the divine even in the midst of life's worldly cares.  As a young working man Fr Richardson worshipped regularly at St Mary's. He became an acolyte there, and in 1985 he worked full-time as the sacristan. It was then that he began to make notes on the cathedral's stained glass windows. A trip to see the great cathedrals of Britain, and his seminary studies from 1986, helped enrich his appreciation for St Mary's. For several years each January, during the seminary summer breaks, he returned to the cathedral to conduct daily guided tours.  Ordained a priest in St Mary's in 1992, Fr Richardson went on to serve successively in the Sydney parishes of Mount Pritchard and Menai. Then, appointed Assistant Priest at the cathedral by Cardinal Clancy in 1997, he remained there until the end of 2003. Fr Richardson subsequently took up the pastoral care of the parish of Dulwich Hill until, in 2009, Cardinal Pell asked him to do postgraduate studies at the Liturgical Institute at Mundelein, near Chicago, in the United States. This study further deepened his appreciation of how the cathedral's stained glass windows can draw people towards God.  Fr Richardson returned to Sydney in 2010 to serve as Parish Priest of Woollahra and as Director of the Archdiocesan Liturgy Office, and he remained at Woollahra until his appointment back to the cathedral as Administrator and Dean by Archbishop Fisher in 2016. He thinks he has the best job in the whole Australian Church.

Já se imaginou trabalhando como missionário em uma tribo canibal? Esta pode não ser a sua primeira opção, mas foi exatamente o primeiro trabalho missionário realizado por Don Richardson e sua família. Essa é uma história para se inspirar e para aprender muitas lições importantes. Livros citados: "O Totem da Paz" - Don Richardson "O Fator Melquisedeque" - Don Richardson Você está se preparando para a missão ou já está em ação no campo missionário? Participe da Comunidade Missionária! Clique aqui para saber como: lizhermann.com/comunidade Me encontre no Instagram @liz_mottahermann Dúvidas ou comentários? Escreva para podcast@lizhermann.com

May 3. Don Richardson. At the age of 17, Don Richardson dedicated his life to Christ. After he graduated from bible college, he and his wife moved to Papua, Indonesia, where—for the next 15 years—they served the Sawi tribe. Serving the Sawi was a soft assignment except for the prevalence of malaria, dysentery, hepatitis, and […] The post Don Richardson, Canada, Missionary first appeared on 365 Christian Men.

In this series, “Our Stories” we are hearing of what God has done and is doing within the lives of our community. We will build courage and hope as we celebrate our ever present God in the midst of real lives. This week our story is shared by Don Richardson. Psalm 34:19 & James 5:15. The song that Don references is Patiently Praising by Fred Jerkins.

O Fator Melquisedeque é designação dada a consciência universal da existência de um Deus único, entre as diversidades de expressões culturais e religiosas dos diferentes povos e civilizações ao longo da história. O primeiro a utilizar o termo foi o teólogo Don Richardson, autor do livro de mesmo nome: "Fator Melquisedeque", que através de relatos antropológicos expõe um testemunho de Deus nas culturas através do mundo. Melquisedeque é uma alusão ao sacerdote "do Deus Altíssimo", considerado Rei de Salém, a qual haveria de se tornar na cidade sagrada de Jerusalém. Em um relato bíblico, esse sacerdote-rei, abençoa Abraão, "o pai da Fé", que o oferta a décima parte dos despojos de guerra ao qual estava retornando. A referência a esse personagem místico, aponta para a existência do culto monoteísta anterior às grandes religiões atuais. ACESSE: https://linktr.ee/GuerrasCulturais

Most people accept that religion evolved from a primitive form to what we have today. But what if history didn't see it that way and instead of religion evolving it was originally monotheistic? If you want to see my other content or support the ministry check out my linktree: https://linktr.ee/beardeddisciple Purchase suggested content from these links and support the channel: Purchase The Case for Original Monotheism by Winfried Corduan: https://amzn.to/3nJiHrA Purchase "Neigboring Faiths by Winfried Corduan: https://amzn.to/3hbDcL4 Purchase "A Tapestry of Faiths: The Common Threads Between Christianity and World Religions" by Winfred Corduan: https://amzn.to/2WD31Kt Purchase "Eternity in their Hearts" by Don Richardson : https://amzn.to/3aBtEYj --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bearded-disciple/support

Most people accept that religion evolved from a primitive form to what we have today. But what if history didn't see it that way and instead of religion evolving it was originally monotheistic? If you want to see my other content or support the ministry check out my linktree: https://linktr.ee/beardeddisciple Purchase suggested content from these links and support the channel: Purchase The Case for Original Monotheism by Winfried Corduan: https://amzn.to/3nJiHrA Purchase "Neigboring Faiths by Winfried Corduan: https://amzn.to/3hbDcL4 Purchase "A Tapestry of Faiths: The Common Threads Between Christianity and World Religions" by Winfred Corduan: https://amzn.to/2WD31Kt Purchase "Eternity in their Hearts" by Don Richardson : https://amzn.to/3aBtEYj --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bearded-disciple/support

The Word of God says the Lord has put “eternity in their hearts.” Learn of the incredible cultural compasses that God has provided around the world to make himself known to all people! Be amazed by the redemptive analogies unearthed by renown author Don Richardson and his son Steve Richardson. Find out how an unreached people group was transformed through the Word of God and a revelation about the Lord's Peace Child. Be encouraged by how God meets His creation in every culture, displaying His eternal power and love to all people.

Come gather around the campfire as Larry is joined by Don Richardson, Ted Simpson, and Chase Phillips.  The gang discuss some of their recent guide trips on behalf of Wildlife Systems.  The stories unfold and drift to their favorite types of hunts as the firelight dances around their faces and the nighttime insects and frogs … Continue reading 047 – Campfire Stories with Don, Ted, and Chase →

En esta edición del podcast presentación parte dos de "Nuestra Peregrinación en la Misión parte 2". Compartimos como Dios nos llamó a prepararnos con World MAP (World Missionary Assistance Plan), misión que fue fundado por Ralph Mahoney un amigo y mentor importante en nuestras vidas. Gracias al excelente "Programa de Entrenamiento para los Pueblos No Alcazados" dirigido por Donald and Noreen Marchant en World MAP, pudimos estudiar cursos puntales en el Centro de Misiones de EE.UU. fundado por el Dr. Ralph D. Winter, como "Perspectivas sobre el Movimiento Cristiano Mundial" donde conocimos grandes luminarios y pioneros en las misiones fronterizas como el Dr. Donald McGavran, el Dr. Don McCurry, Warren Chastain, Ralph y Roberta Winter y Don Richardson entre otros. Fue ahí en World MAP, mientras estudiamos y trabajamos en las oficinas de la organización en Burbank, California, que yo inicié un ayuno de siete días. El quinto día del ayuno debido al trabajo, el calor del verano californiano y la falta de comida casi me caigo atrás en una escalera a casi dos pisos del edificio que estaba pintando. Fui directamente a la oficina del señor Mahoney para pedirle una dispensación de mis labores físicas mientras terminaba dos días más del ayuno. Le dije, "Señor Mahoney usted sabe que siempre nos ha enseñado que si queremos escuchar la voz de Dios para nuestra vidas debemos esperar en el Señor (a veces con humillación y ayuno para cosas mayores), escuchar su voz y después planificar e implementar el plan que Dios nos indicara." Ralph le dije: "Estoy tomando en serio tu enseñanza y estoy ayunando por siete días para realmente escuchar la voz del Señor sobre nuestro llamado y misión y con el fin de recibir dirección específica de Él." Es que realmente esperabamos una "Rhema"1 de Dios dirigido a nuestra misión. "Hoy es el quinto día de mi ayuno con el fin buscar la voluntad de Dios para nuestra misión a un pueblo no alcanzado. Hoy casi me caigo atrás de la escalara mientras pintaba. Por favor déjame dejar de trabajar por dos días para este fin." Su respuesta me respondió y fue seca y tajante. "¡No! Ustedes estaban de acuerdo con el plan de estudiar y trabajar y esto no incluía tiempos de ayunos mientras estudiaban." Me pareció contradictoria su respuesta con respecto a su enseñanza pero le dije: "Muy bien, me veo obligado a dejar mi ayuno. Es una lastima esto. Ni modo." El próximo día mientras estaba haciendo mi devocional sentado en el escritorio viejo del señor Mahoney antes de estudiar en las clases de misionología con los Marchant. De repente, después de un rato de oración y alabanza, la voz del Señor me habló y me dijo: "Tu vas a ser líder de una agencia misionera". Yo miraba el escritorio del señor Mahoney y le dije te reprendo Satanás", razonando que estaba codiciando la posición de director Mahoney. Pero siendo cuidadoso y no estando seguro sí la voz fue del enemigo o del Señor decidí poner la palabra que había escuchado en un estante de archivos importantes en mi corazón. No entendía realmente la importancia de lo que el Señor me habló y fue el Señor!, no el diablo, quien me habló hasta casi año y medio o dos años después. Tomamos cursos puntales como Antropología Misionera con el Dr. Paul Hiebert y "Aprendizaje de Idiomas y Culturas" con los Drs. Thomas y Betty Sue Brewster, en la Escuela de Misionología de Fuller Theological Seminary. Nuestros estudios en Fuller y el Centro de Misiones de EE.UU. (USCWM: US Center for World Mission), ahora llamado Frontier Ventures Center, fueron realmente enseñanzas diseñadas en el cielo para nuestro llamado misionero familiar. El podcast y el testimonio termina con el inicio de nuestros estudios en el USCWM y Fuller School of Missiology. Sin embargo la historia de lo que Dios hizo sobre los años estaba apenas arrancando! Así amados hermanos esperen por favor otros podcasts en el futuro cercano que hablarán de la implementación de la visión celestial que Dios nos...

Headhunting cannibals who used their victims’ skulls as pillows, the Sawi people of New Guinea seemed to still be living in the Stone Age. Among the Sawi, treachery was more than a way of life; it was an ideal which unnumbered generations of their people had conceived, systematized and perfected. For them, to “fatten with ... Read more Episode 58: Peace Child

A test-bed for tiltwing and V/STOL aircraft and flexible assault transport aircraft both started life as a large assault glider in 1948. Both projects evolved with the demands of the United States Air Force and advances in technology, and both provided excitement and challenges for its designers and engineers, including a young Don Richardson. The lecture was addressed to the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 11 May 2006, the podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.

Doug from YWAM shares his journey of choosing God’s call over his own comfortDiscover how Doug learned to trust God in everything and Keep his edge sharp AlongTheWayHis AlongTheWay moments include...Life as a missionaryDo First, then TeachMoving his family to a dangerous country by faithEncouraging yourself in the LordYWAMPittsburgh.orgPineapple Story Peace Child YWAM Publishing Watch episodes of RealLifeEmail MeMore episodes and Social links for AlongTheWaySupport the show (https://mailchi.mp/4657de6b487f/alongtheway)

Hoje a conversa sai do campo missionário além-mar e coloca o foco em povos não alcançados no Brasil mesmo. O Lucas Luiz dos Santos é missionário na região Amazônica onde é desenvolvido o trabalho com indígenas e comunidades ribeirinhas. Ele é também responsável por missões de curto prazo nesse mesmo projeto e tenho certeza que você vai aprender muito sobre o trabalho lá. Projeto Salva-Vidas Amazôniahttp://www.salvavidasamazonia.orghttps://www.instagram.com/salvavidasamazonia/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCArvAaCMGL0lE65lkCjK_OA Filme do Missionário Mórmon: “O outro lado do céu”Missionário que trabalhou com indígenas nas Colombia: Bruchko (Bruce Olson)PDF do livro: PorEstaCruzTeMatarei.pdf O que ele está lendo: “O Fator Melquisedeque” – Don Richardson, “Antropologia Missionária” – Ronaldo Lidório.PDF do livro: AntropologiaMissionária.pdf Estudo bíblico em Sateré

Jeanette Chaffee is guest hosting on the noontime program Rose City Forum w/Timothy Moore on Portlandâ??s KKPZ 1330AM (KKPZ.com). Tuesday May 24, she will interview: Steve Richardson, Son of famous missionary Don Richardson. Steve tells about what it was like growing up with cannibals and updates us on what heâ??s currently doing. https://vimeo.com/51235132

Eugene has the unique privilege to interview someone he has admired for some time. This interview with Don Richardson is a great one. Tune in as Don shares some of his extensive knowledge about Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures.

It's one of the biggest struggles I think that every person has in life, is a sense of purpose. You know, “Why am I alive?” “Why am I even here?” “Why do I live each day?” And people struggle with that. “What gives meaning to my Mondays and my Tuesdays?” “What is the remedy to the terrifying sense of aimlessness and purposelessness in life that kind of dogs my heels.” And that same idea led the wisest man who had ever lived on earth up to that point, King Solomon, as he wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes, and he looked around at the world that surrounded him as he looked at his own life, his own achievements. And he looked at all of those achievements and the power and the wealth and the pleasures and all of that, and He said in Ecclesiastes 1:2, “Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity, it's all emptiness, it's all meaningless.” As he looked at it. Now, we don't want to reach the end of a single day and feel that it was all vanity, it was all meaningless. We don't want to live a single day that's empty of purpose. And praise God through His grace, we don't need to, isn't that awesome? Every single day for us as Christians is a day just crackling with energy and promise with good works that are worth doing. I mean, eternally worth doing. And the more we meditate on Ephesians 2:10, the more joy that can come to us, and I hope the more energy and zeal and power through the Holy Spirit to live an active life of good works. For it says in Ephesians 2:10, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them.” So, this idea is very powerful. There are a few verses that I think about every single day. There's a few of them, and I don't do it intentionally, I'm just saying they come in my mind. This is one of them, I think about Ephesians 2:10 every day. I think about it in the morning when I get up, and when I pray and say, “Lord, I want to do the good works that you prepared for me to do today. I want to walk in those good works. So Lord, give me a wise and discerning heart, show me what they are. I don't want to miss any of them.” I think we all have the feeling, and it's a mystery how Ephesians 2:10 fits into failure to do the good works but we know that we miss opportunities don't we? There are some things that we should have done and didn't do. And I don't want that to be my life, I don't want that to be any single day, and I sure don't want that to be the cumulative effect of my whole life that I missed them. I missed the good works. And so I pray for that every morning I just say, “Lord, to help me to walk in that pathway of good works that you have ordained for me,” There are various types. There are some just grand and glorious big, good works that you might only do once in your life, and years later you'll be thinking about that good work and what God did and in and through that time, and never do it again. And then there are just those day-to-day mundane small good works that you may be tempted to despise and wonder why it's still your job and why somebody else doesn't do it, by now. But that God has set out for you to do everything's included for me in Ephesians 2:10. So it could be anything from a word of encouragement that you speak to somebody, you pick up the phone and call them. Or you just take a moment and pray for a situation you know about it in the church. And no one needs to know about it. You don't need to tell anyone like Jesus said in Matthew 6, “you go into the room and close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen.” No one ever knew about it, but you prayed for a brother or a sister, or a situation and God sees it and He knows, and He hears it. Or it could be right a check for a ministry, or something large or small, wouldn't matter. So all kinds of good works. And so, God has ordained these good works, and in the language of Isaiah, I think of a pathway of good works in which God says “This is the way, walk in it.” Like there are these golden steps that we're going across, across the river of life, and we're just stepping from good work to good work to good work, and you can just live your life that way. This is the way, walk in it. It's what glorious grace from God to arrange ahead of time, a life of good works that have eternal significance and to be able to join with God the Father in the work that He's doing. As Jesus said, “My Father is always at His work to this very day and I too am working.” And we as sons and daughters of the living God, we can say that God's at work. He's working in the world, always working and I have, by faith, joined in His work, and that is glorious. There is also a sense in this verse, I think of craftsmanship, a sense of craftsmanship. We are God's workmanship, and the day is God's workmanship. The both of them and we're going to talk about that today, but there's a sense of craftsmanship. A little while ago, I came across a website that was talking about these expensive mechanical watches, from Switzerland and from Germany, and I came across one that cost 2.6 million dollars. For a wristwatch. Alright, now if I had 2.6 million, I would not invest it in a wristwatch. Imagine giving Jesus an account of that on Judgment Day, alright, enough said. But at any rate, this German watchmaker, Lange & Söhne, makes this one watch, it's called “The Grand Complication,” that's the name of the watch. And it takes a skilled craftsman, an entire year to make a single watch. And every part that goes into it, is hand-crafted the complexity is staggering. It has different chimes for different parts of the hour, 15 minutes, 30, 45 and the hour, a different chime, like it's a grandfather clock on your wristwatch. Imagine being at work, and the thing goes off and people are like, "What is that?” “Well, that's my new watch for 2.6 million dollars.” And the craftsmanship is amazing. It's got a calendar and it's got all of these things, it's all mechanical, it's not computer it's all gears and sprockets, and springs. And I just think about the complexity of it. And it's about that big and all of that fitting together, centuries of craftsmanship, but then I thought about this verse today. And we are more complicated than that. Vastly more complicated. And the craftsmanship that has gone into us is staggering, and the craftsmanship frankly, that's gone into the world around us, the complexity of how we as sons and daughters of God interact with other Christians and with non-Christians to achieve His eternal purpose is just staggering. It's exquisite craftsmanship. So God has been crafting you and shaping you and molding you for this lifetime of good works and He continues to do it, He's doing it right now for me and for you. And He's getting us ready for these good works. Not Saved by Good Works Salvation from Sin is Not by Works Now, when we come to the issue of good works, again, we need to stop and just be careful of context here, don't we? And it's very important. I chose to divide Ephesians 2:10 from Ephesians 2:8-9, and from the larger section, that Andy just read. And so I think it's good for us to look back and understand where we just came from last week, Ephesians 2:8-9, “It is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them.” So you really need to see the whole thing together. So we have to go back and remember what we talked about last week because it is so pernicious, and so powerfully magnetically attractive this idea of justification by works, or being saved by works, and it's just consistently dogging our hearts whenever we feel guilty, whenever we know we've sinned, we want to turn to our own works, and try to pay for our sins by good works, and that cannot be. “It says it is by grace you have been saved,” “have been saved.” And so we said last week. Saved from what? Well, the answer is: Saved from eternal condemnation under the judgment of God, when it says in Revelation 20, that we will all be “gathered before this great white throne. And the court will be seated and the books will be opened and everyone that has ever lived will be gathered and we will all be judged, according to what we have done as recorded in the books, and by the Lamb's Book of Life and if anyone's name was not written in the Lamb's Book of Life, they are thrown into the Lake of Fire.” So we could sum this up. To answer the question, “Saved from what?”, it's from the lake of fire that we deserve because of our sins. How can we be delivered from condemnation, how can we be delivered from Hell? And the answer is, it is by grace, through faith, faith in Christ, faith in the blood of Christ that you have been saved, and this is not of yourselves, he says, it is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. We can't emphasize this too much, although I don't want to just go off and preach last week’s sermon now because if Ephesians 2:10 is so glorious and beautiful, but we just need to understand that no amount of good works, no amount of the things that we could ever do in service to God can ever be used to pay for our sins. It is “through faith,” by simple trust in Jesus, by believing the words of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and this faith “is not of ourselves,” It doesn't originate with us, it comes from outside of us in, it's a gift of God. And it's not by works. The Spiritually Dead Cannot do Good Works Why not? Because Paul already said in Ephesians 2:1-3 that “we were dead in our transgressions and sins, even while we lived, we were enslaved to the world, the flesh, and the devil and we could not have delivered ourselves.” Our good works cannot deliver us from that bondage, that slavery. “We were by nature objects of wrath, but God because of His richness, of His mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions God made us alive with Christ. It is by grace you have been saved, and God raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms, in Christ Jesus.” So that's God, God stepped in, “but God” intervened, God raised you from the dead. You couldn't have done that. That couldn't be by works, and that's the Gospel of free grace. We talked about grace, remember unmerited favor, and how that's a good starting point. There's an unmerited side and there's a favor side, how we said that those are infinite under statements. We deserved condemnation and wrath. So it's definitely unmerited. And it's not mere favor, but it's a river of blessings, “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” a river of blessings that has come to us and will continue to come to us forever. It is by grace, it is God's settled determination to do us infinite good, we who deserve infinite punishment. That is grace. So that's salvation by grace, and “it's by grace we have been saved through faith, not of yourselves but it is a gift of God” and not by works. But though we have not been saved by works, the text most certainly asserts that we have been saved for works, for good works, Not by good works, but for our good works. “For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them.” So we are clearly told that we're saved for good works. Good works cannot be used to pay for sins, but God when He saves us, by grace gives us a new nature, He gives us a transformed nature. And from that transformed nature flow a river of good works, or the nature hasn't been transformed. So we have been born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We have had the heart of stone removed, and we've had the heart of flesh put in. I love what it says in his Ezekiel 36:25-27. "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean." Oh, isn't that beautiful? You will be clean, “I will cleanse you from all your impurities. And from all your idols and I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you and I will remove from you your heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh.” And now, listen to this, this is Ezekiel 36:27. “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Now we come to the complexity of the role of the law in the Christians life. And the way I put all of this together is the law condemns us, and brings us to the cross of Jesus Christ, saying we can't save ourselves And so we despair our self-salvation, despair our salvation by works. We can't keep the law and so we come and throw ourselves to God at the feet of the cross, and we plead for mercy and we get it. And we receive full forgiveness and salvation by grace through faith. But then having done that we have received now, a new nature, a transformed nature and the Lord turns us back to the Law and says, Now by the Spirit, keep this law. It's beautiful, it's the best life you can ever live in Psalm 119, the whole Psalm, 176 verses are “Oh, how I love your law, and how beautiful it is and how majestic and how right it is.” So we're dead to the law and its power to condemn us, but now we now live the law, the moral law, the beautiful virtuous law the Ten Commandments, or the two commandments Take the two commandments Jesus said, “All of the law and the prophets hang on this that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and the second command is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.” So the Holy Spirit, then moves us to love God with all that we have and to love our neighbor as ourselves in ways that we've never even imagined. Salvation by Works is no Gospel at All Now, there's been so much controversy about this over the years, so much misunderstanding. Before the Reformation in the 16th century, the medieval Catholic church had a whole system of religious works, and a terrible confusion about justification and a false Gospel, honestly, that they were preaching, “which was no Gospel at all,” and the Lord raised up Martin Luther. And Luther tried to earn his own salvation by works of Medieval Catholicism, by becoming a monk, by scrubbing floors and doing penitential prayers and doing confessional, and all of these works of Medieval Catholicism. But all it did was make him realize the inner corruptions of His heart more and more and more and he just felt greater and greater condemnation, until at last, he finally understood the Gospel. In Romans 1:16-17 Paul writes, “I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, for in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is from faith for faith just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.” And he finally understood that the righteousness of God there was not the righteousness by which, He condemned sinners, but the righteousness by which He saves sinners. It's a context issue, it's good news, it's the Gospel, and this righteousness of God is now mine as a gift to save me. He said, “Then at last, the Gates of Heaven flew open and I ran through I understood at last salvation.” Well, he spent the next number of years understanding more and more and preaching more and more on justification by faith alone, “apart from works of the law,” and he's preaching this, and being diligent and emphasizing this again and again, because they really needed to hear it, and He preached from Romans 4 about how “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” and he didn't work for it. It was just given as a gift. Preaching all of these things and they never tired of preaching “justification by faith, apart from works of the law.” Spurgeon and Luther Charles Spurgeon, and said they hit that same nail again, and again, and again, and again with their hammers, and so gradually became imbalanced, imbalanced on the issue of works, and it's easy to happen. And it shows up when Luther translated the Bible into German, and he came to Romans 3:28, which says, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith, apart from observing the law,” he's stuck an extra word in there to help the scripture out a little bit. Hey, look, the scripture doesn't need help. If the Greek word is there, put it in there. If it's not in there, don't put it in there. Good. Just a good rule on translation. All you Bible translators. He stuck the word alone in there. “We maintain that a man is justified by faith alone, apart from works of the law.” God wasn't hindered when Paul wrote Romans. If He wanted him to say alone, He would've, He didn't. But it got even worse when he came over to the Book of James. And James in James chapter 2, from verse 14 on to the end of the chapter is talking about the role of works and faith, and he's actually asking a different kind of question than Romans 3 and 4 is asking. And that is, “What kind of faith justifies you?” That's what James is dealing with there. He says a “faith that has no works is a dead faith, he says It's a demon faith, even the demons believe that there's one God but they shudder.” So James is dealing with what kind of faith, and the faith that produces no works is dead, it's demon faith, it's empty faith and it will not save you. Well, Luther couldn't handle some of the phraseology that James used. The person justified by faith apart from works, but James says, that Abraham was justified by works, and he just couldn't figure it out. How they're using the word slightly differently etcetera. And coming at it from a different angle. Saved for Good Works Good Works Validate Justification And that Luther did teach the place of good works in the Christian life and he understood it properly. He was so upset at James, by the way they've worked it out, they're friends now, everything's good. But he called them Jimmy in the German language, and all that, and he said he wrote an epistle of straw, and if he could, he'd have it out. Well, that's disrespect for the word of God, and let me tell you something, when you come to two texts from the scripture that don't seem to harmonize, roll up your sleeves and work and pray. Don't throw one of them out. So, “we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works.” But James says yes, “but what kind of faith saves, the faith that produces a lifetime of good works.” Paul would say the same thing right? From Ephesians 2 8-10, wouldn’t he? That's what's going on here. So, good works validate justification, they prove it. They show that it happened, that you've been born again by faith, you're leading a transformed life. It's the issue of fruit. There's going to be fruit in your life. Good works equals fruit in other places. So John the Baptist said, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." If you've genuinely repented, you will have good works, you'll have fruit. Jesus said, "By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people ever pick grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear a bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear a good fruit. Thus by their fruit you will recognize them." And then Jesus said "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven." Plain Doctrine And again, this is a very hard thing to understand, but we will not be justified by works, but we will most certainly be judged by works. It would be easier to understand if I change the word judge, to say he's assessed or evaluated. Is that a little bit easier to understand? We will not be saved by good works, but we will be evaluated on the basis of our works on Judgment Day. Many passages teach this, but most clearly Romans 2:6-10, "God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, He will give eternal life." Who's that? Christians. That's a description of the Christian life. People who by persistence in doing good are seeking for “glory, honor and immortality.” To them, He's going to give eternal life. "But for those who are self-seeking, who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger." Who's that? Non-Christians. Then he says the same thing doubled up. “There will be trouble and distress for everyone, every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile,” Romans 2:10, “but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, for God does not show favoritism.” So Jesus is a perfect fruit inspector, and He will inspect the fruit of your life. He will have the full record of your words, He'll have the full record of your deeds. And He will evaluate your heart perfectly accurately based on the works. But you will not be forgiven or saved on the basis of your good works. Does that make sense? Just evaluated. Was there saving faith? If so, there's definitely going to be these good works. I've had to say that I don't want you drawing that back down on it. I see it in my own heart. You do something wrong, you have to do something right to make up for it. Don't do that, go to the cross, go and pray, ask for forgiveness, and then get up by the power of the Spirit, and start living a works-filled Christian life again. Alright now, God's workmanship is on us and around us concerning these good works and that's awesome, isn't it? It's really exciting. “We are God's workmanship created in Christ is to do good works.” So, that means that God prepares us for the good works, God crafts us, He shapes us, and without that craftsmanship in our lives, we will not do the good works. That means all of your good works are a display of God's glory. To God be the glory for all of the good works, because He got you ready to do them. Now, His workmanship is done through Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. He makes us a new creation. We're born again, we're made new, created new, without that no good works are possible. So, wait a minute pastor, you're saying that non-Christians do no good works? Yes, that's what I'm saying. Non-Christians do zero good works because none of it's done by faith. And “anything that's not from faith is sin,” anything not done for the glory of God is sin. So, they do none. We now ,as Christians born again, we now can do good works. We're able to do good works, and that's awesome. Now, He then continues to work on us, to craft us for more and more good works. How is he do that, by pouring the Bible into you? Just pouring scripture into you by your daily quiet time, by the sermons that you listen to, the books you read, the conferences you go to, the conversations you have, Bible study groups you're part of, just everything you do alone and in groups. He's getting you ready by the ministry of the Word of God for good works. Fruit And all of this is based on our union with Jesus Christ. Look at the verse again, “we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus.” So we are created new creations in Christ Jesus. It's all by union with Jesus. We do our good works in union with Christ by the Holy Spirit, not alone. Clearest passage on this is John 15, Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. If anyone remains in me, you will bear much good fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing." That's powerful, isn't it? So as we abide in Jesus by prayer and by the Word, and stay close to Him and walk with Him by the power of the Spirit we'll do good works, we do it in Christ Jesus to His glory. Apart from me, you can do nothing. So God is working on us. God’s Workmanship on Us and Ahead of Us Both Sides of the Equation Now, it's so cool about all this, is God works both sides of the equation. He works on us for the good works and He gets the good works ready for us. That is really exciting, isn't it. Clearest example of this in the Bible, I think, is in Acts chapter 10, the story of Cornelius and Peter, do you remember that story? So Cornelius was a Gentile, a Roman centurion, who was a God-fearing man, interested, very interested in the Jewish religion, fasting, praying, doing lots of good works, but not converted. And one day an angel appears to him, and said, “Cornelius your good works have come up as a memorial offering before God, send men to Joppa to find a man named Peter who's staying in a house of the house of Simon, a tanner, he will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved. So he's not saved by all of his good works, but an angelic messenger said, Now, go send to get this man Peter.” Alright, so that's God working that side of the equation. Now, the next day, Peter gets up for his quiet time and he's having his quiet time, and putting one of those flat Middle Eastern roofs and he gets hungry. Isn't it funny how God uses little things, and so he's hungry and he asked for someone to make him a sandwich. Sorry, they didn't have sandwiches back then. Anyway, to make himself lunch or breakfast or whatever it was and while the meals being prepared he has a vision, he falls into a trance and has a vision, you remember. And how there was this large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners and the sheet contained all kinds of unclean animals and reptiles, and nasty things that Jews can’t eat. And the voice came from Heaven, "Arise Peter. Kill and eat." And Peter did what Peter does. He said, "Never Lord", four times he says, Never Lord, look it up. That was the last of the four. And that's after the resurrection, and the ascension into Heaven, “Never Lord.” Don't ever say, “Never Lord,” don't do that. Alright. If it's the Lord speaking and say “Yes Lord,” alright? "Never Lord, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." And the voice comes a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." God is able to declare foods clean, that were unclean before and he's able to make people clean who were unclean before, but he didn't understand all that, he's just like, "What is this?” And it happened three times. Then the men from Cornelius appear at the gate. And the Spirit tells him, "Get up Peter and go with these men, don't be afraid to go with them." So they traveled back and they get to Cornelius' house, which Peter as a law-abiding Jew, would never have entered that home, and would never have had a meal with them, wouldn't have had anything to do with them because they're unclean. He understood, “wait a minute, I get it.” And as he's preaching the message the Holy Spirit falls on them and they become brothers and sisters in Christ by faith in the Gospel. He said, “Now I understand that God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who love him and believe him and do what's right.” And he learned a lesson there. He wasn't done learning, read about in Galatians 2, another day, we'll talk about, I already did, look on the Internet, I already preached that sermon. God’s Good Works are “Prepared in Advance” But yeah, he has not done learning yet, but God got both sides of the equation ready. Do you see that? He's doing that all the time, He's getting people ready for you, and you ready for those people. I don't just mean in terms of missions or evangelism everything. It could be another Christian brother or sister who's got a need, and He's getting her ready or him ready for you and you ready for that person, and it's just beautiful. God prepares these works in advance. Andy did a great job of emphasizing that. I mean, God has gone ahead of us. I like that it's redundant, “prepared in advance.” You know, that's redundant, don't you? All preparation is done advance. Imagine if your friends came, and there was no meal ready and you're like, what's going on and all that, and it's like maybe your friends say, “I thought we were coming in for dinner.” “Oh yeah, we're going to prepare it after you leave.” Well, that doesn't make any sense. Alright, preparation happens ahead of time, but Paul strengthens it with some extra phraseology, and says “God has gone ahead of you and gotten everything ready.” So I had this picture in my mind a number of months ago of how at Lowes you can do these kits, like you can go make a bird feeder, and you get there and everything's laid out. All of the pieces are cut. There's this little dish with the right amount of glue, and you've got all the tools, and just put it together. Do you like it like at Christmas time especially Christmas Eve. “Some Assembly Required,” isn't that cool? No, it's not cool. Not at 3 in the morning. Some Assembly Required, “tab A,” “slot B,” and all that. By the way, never put tab A in slot B, that's the problem. Put tab A in slot A please, alright. As a mechanical engineer, I had to say that. At any rate, some assembly required, these good works, we have something to do with them. God wants us to put it together and do it and it's awesome. It's very, very exciting. So every day the day is a masterpiece of good works, the day as I said, crackling and sparkling and filled with possibility, and energy and good things worth doing. So how far in advance does God get these good works ready? Minutes? Hours? Years? Centuries? Yes, all of the above, the complexity is beyond the brain to calculate. When it comes to, let's say, the mission field for example, there are many stories told of traditions, tribal stories passed down from generation to generation that got that tribe ready to hear the missionaries to come. Don Richardson tells the story in Peace Child, the Sawi people in Irian Jaya who had a tradition of a peace child, where warring tribes would exchange the son of the chief, and as long as that child was alive there could be reconciliation piece between the tribe. He used it as what he called the redemptive analogy. A way to explain the Gospel. They've been doing that for time immemorial. They didn't know when they started that. That was worked in providentially in that tribe. I heard another story, once of another tribe in a jungle area and they had passed down a prophecy by word of mouth of a man with yellow hair was coming with leaves with some kind of writing on it that would come and tell them the way to know the Most High God. Is there any chance that missionary is going to be bald or red-headed? No! Yellow hair. Imagine the mission agency, they don't know about the prophecy, they know nothing, and they're like, “Yeah, I like this guy, he's got yellow hair.” That's their requirement for the job, but God got that tribe ready to hear the Gospel in advance even, I don't know, centuries in advance or it could be just an individual encounter that God prepares. When we were missionaries in Japan, I had the experience of going, every Saturday, I would go to Takamatsu and I would take a train from Tokushima to Takamatsu and teach the Bible in English there, and then I would take the train back. And one thing I noticed on that train ride is that Japanese people didn't like sitting next to me. And listen, I was looking after my hygiene, I was doing what I needed to do whatever it was necessary but it just, I frequently had an empty seat next to me. The train could be crowded. So after a while, I kind of liked it. I actually used it, just put my books there, I had a little more space and it was good. But you know, until one day, a young man came, college-age, and asked if he could sit next to me, Japanese man. I said “Sure.” So I moved my books, and he sat down, and we got in a conversation. It turned out his mother is a Christian, but he's not a Christian, not yet, and he had questions about Christianity. He didn't sit down to talk about Christ, he just sat down. But we got into an incredible conversation about an hour long train ride and it led to many other Bible studies and he eventually came to faith in Christ and he said, after that happened, he said, "I think it was God's work in my life that I sat next to you on the train. I'm usually very shy, and I don't talk to strangers. And so God was working in him and in me to get us ready for that encounter. Walking Daily in a Pathway of Good Works “That We Should Walk in Them” And it's a pathway of good works, it says literally that we should “walk in them.” The NIV just simply says for us to do. I like "walk in” better so I like quote the NIV until I get to the end of that verse and say that we “should walk in them.” Is that okay? Anyway, that's what I do. “For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them.” So, again, I get this picture of like tunnel vision, and this is the road ahead of me and I need to do these good works, this is how I'm going to make my way through my life. And Mondays works are not Tuesdays works and Tuesdays works are not Wednesdays works, and I can never go backward and do yesterday's works and I honestly can't go ahead and do tomorrow's works. I've got today's works to do today. And so we need to redeem the time, don't we? We'll get to that in Ephesians 5, but we need to make the most of every day, “redeeming the time because the days are evil.” So what kind of good works? Two Categories Well, he didn't say what kind, but I'm going to break them into two categories. Here in our church, we talk about the internal journey and the external journey. The internal journey is sanctification, or growth in Christ-likeness, growth in holiness, sanctification and good works. And then the external journey, is works you do in service to other people. You could say external, what either external to me, it could be both Christians and non-Christians are external to the church is non-Christians as we're reaching out. Okay, so two categories that I'm commending to you. Sanctification and service. Those are two main categories of good works that God wants you to do, that you should walk in, or another way to put it would be works of growing and works of going. So if you like the alliteration, I will give you two versions of alliteration. Sanctification and service if you like the letter S, growing and going if you like the letter G, and you like the rhyme. But the point is that you would be “growing in grace in the knowledge of Christ” internally and going out to serve other people in whatever way God has determined. Both are needed. Now, concerning the internal works, you are to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” you are to “grow in the grace and the knowledge of Christ.” How do you do that? Daily quiet times. Get up and have a time in God's Word every day, and have a time in prayer every day. Also you're to grow by being a covenant member of a good, local church and receiving the benefits of the Body of Christ as they pour into you, as people hold you accountable, as people speak into your life and you do the same, so good works of growing that will feed your soul. You have to, by the Spirit. Romans 8:13, "by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh.” That's a work you have to do, if you're tempted in some area of lust, or weakness, or sin, you have to work and put that sin to death that's something you do by the power of the Holy Spirit. So those are works of sanctification. And then there are works of service. So everyday life, just deeds you do with your hands, with your mouth, with your feet, things you do to serve others, and they could be menial and mundane. It could be just everyday stuff you do around the house. It could be like emptying the dish-washer or loading the dishwasher. It could be vacuuming, it could be chores. It says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God,” the name of Jesus Christ. Do even the most menial things, those are some of the good works that you do. And we don't neglect them. But we also do good works toward other Christians by means of our spiritual gifts and so we're going to get to that later. I'm not going to say much about spiritual gifts now, but Ephesians 4, is all about it. But there it says in Ephesians 4 that, “to each one of us grace has been apportioned as Christ measured it out,” that Christ has given you. Each of you, a spiritual gift package, by which you can serve other brothers and sisters in Christ and advance the Gospel. And so you need to know what your spiritual gifts are and do your spiritual gift ministry. And there are other things that don't have anything to do directly with spiritual gifts but just ministries of care and compassion for other Christians, ministry of mercy. Going to visit people in the hospital, making a meal for a couple that just had a baby, or it has a medical need, there might be works of financial generosity where you see a financial need and you meet it financially. Home fellowship starts tonight. The works of just getting the house ready and hosting a home fellowship are good works that God's prepared in advance for you to walk in, beautiful works that bless others. Works of hospitality. Then there's works of evangelism and missions, reaching out to lost people. And that's something I just have a heart for in our church, that's the future of our church that we would grow and flourish more than ever before. In works of outreach of evangelism, external journey ministry. I am yearning for us to help, like the elders, to help people become better evangelists in their world. It's staggering to me, all the different mission fields you folks are going to go scatter to this week. All the workplaces, and schools, and neighborhoods, and malls, and shopping areas, and all these things. You're going to go throughout this week, and it is up to us to prepare God's people for works of service, “so that the body of Christ can be built up,” it says in Ephesians, get you ready for that. Application So one of the things that I would commend to you is the idea in terms of evangelism, say, "Lord, I want to be a witness. Would you please today give me someone to talk to? Just give me someone to talk to. And Lord, make me alert to it, I pray for that, and I want to be faithful, I'm willing to be bold but I don't need to even share the Gospel, I just want to talk to somebody knowing that my desire is to be evangelistic, but I want to just be more social, more outgoing and connect with somebody. Connect that also if you would with a challenge I'd like to give to each member of our church. That a year from now, somewhere between now and a year from now, you will develop a list of five people that are lost, you know them to be lost, by name that you're praying for, for them to come to Christ. I'm not saying you should evangelize them. I'm kind of saying that, we'll get to that another time, but I'm just saying that you're praying for them now, that's all, you're just praying for those five names. Now if you say, "I don't have five names,” then just go get them. Go to the same convenience store every week until you know the name of the person who's there on Monday evenings, find out what his name is or her name is. Ask if there's some way you could pray for them. They'll usually tell you something, even if they shut you down, you can still get their name. And just they're one of your people and then just until you've got five, all of us can do this. And then Home fellowships, I urge you to just hold each other accountable, who are you five? Well, I've got two, great praise God. Be positive, no guilt, just positive. Great. Who are you two? I'll pray for you for those two. So, we're going to do in our home fellowship this year and it's something I want to urge you to do. We are God's workmanship created for evangelistic good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to walk in. At some point as you're pleading with God to send some missionary or evangelist to this person, it might be you and God might just work that in your heart. So, assess yourself. As you listen to this sermon, assess yourself. It says in 1 Timothy 6:18, “they are to do good and to be rich in good works, to be generous, and ready to share.” Talking about the rich there, but I think it's true there. Are you rich in good works? That's what I'm asking you, just look at your life. Are you rich in good works? Do you feel a sense of excitement about God crafting you to do a specific array of good works today and in your lifetime? Do you look at every day as unique in terms of God going ahead of you, preparing good works for you to do? Are you doing the daily good works of internal holiness, daily quiet time, Bible intake, prayer, putting sin to death by the Spirit, is that happening for you? Are you feeding on God's word? And are you using your spiritual gifts? Do you have a spiritual gift ministry here at FBC [First Baptist Church of Durham]? Are you doing a pattern of good works? If not, just find out, say, "Lord I want to, give me a ministry here,” and then evangelistically reaching out, as I've shared. Close with me in prayer. Prayer Father, this is such good news, it's such a blessing to know that you have eternally significant, good works for us to do that we're not justified by works, we are no more children of God because we do the good works than before we did them, and we're no less if we should miss some, and we feel terrible, and we ask forgiveness for being selfish, or we're cowardly and not doing the good works, but Lord, we're secure, we're children of God, but Lord, we want to please you, and we want to do these good works. Lord, open our eyes to them, and help us by the Spirit to walk in those good works in Jesus' name. Amen.

Called to Magnificent Mission Amen. Well, God has called us as Christians to an astonishing work of worldwide and eternal significance in the Gospel. We are called on to be witnesses to Christ and we're called on to share the gospel and to be part of the advancing church of Jesus Christ. Satan is very skillful at wrapping invisible spiritual cords around our hearts, cords of fear that keep us from proclaiming the gospel plainly and boldly. I think every one of us in this room, we know what that feels like. You feel tied down and you feel bound up by fear of man, fear of what people will think. And so we are unable to fulfill the works, the good works that God has gone ahead of us, to prepare in advance that we should walk in them because we're bound up with these invisible cords, these chains. Now, the word of God has power, it is sharp, it is living and active, and it can cut through those bonds, it can cut through those chains, those invisible chains on our hearts and make us free and make us bold to be witnesses for Christ. Thursday, October 31, 1991, Halloween night. 1991 was a night that I will never forget. It was the night of a hurricane in Massachusetts. Halloween hurricane. There was a movie made later about it, about that storm and starring George Clooney. It was called The Perfect Storm. It's a true story of a triple storm system that came together, collided, and whipped itself into a massive frenzy. The storm lashed the east coast of the United States with high waves and coastal flooding. Waves as high as 30 feet crashed into the eastern seaboard, including Massachusetts, where Christy and I were living at the time. Now, the previous year in 1990, at Halloween time I had led an outreach, an evangelistic outreach to Salem, Massachusetts. Salem, of course, is the place of the famous Salem Witch Trials. But what many people who don't live in Massachusetts, don't know is that it's also a center of real witchcraft now and that people, registered witches from all over the country, indeed all over the world go and live there, so they can be together. It's a very spiritually dark place where Satan has a throne. And so the year before in 1990, I had led an outreach there and we brought tracts, and we went, especially this one place. Laurie Cabot's House, Laurie Cabot was named by Michael Dukakis, who was Governor at that time, as the official witch of the state of Massachusetts as though our state needed an official witch. But we had an official witch, her name was Laurie Cabot and her house was a real focal point for college students in the area on Halloween and they would go and party and she opened up her house like a little bit of an occult museum and people are interested and they'd line up outside her house. So, perfect opportunity for us to witness, so I thought. And so we went and we were sharing the gospel, we were passing out tracts until Laurie Cabot's daughter came out and came right at me, asked what I was doing and I told her, and she spun on her heel, went back in and called the police, and the Salem police came and talked to me, found out what we're doing, etcetera, and then said, "Look you're not doing anything wrong, but this is a really busy night for us, would you mind just moving on." And we were done, we passed out all of our tracts, it was time to go home. Well, I figured the next year, even better time for ministry and outreach, and so I wrote a little tract on the occult in the Bible and we printed out a bunch of those and I got a team ready and we were going to go. But as the day drew near for that outreach, I started becoming more and more fearful about it, about what had happened the week before. I mean, a year before, the persecution, the things. You know what I'm talking about, that satanic fear that starts coming over your heart, like these invisible chains. And then the storm came along, this epic storm. Unlike any I'd ever seen in my life. That Thursday was one of the longest days I can never remember. I was not a pastor, at that point. I was working as an engineer and just getting through the work day was so hard and I was talking to Christi and I was saying, "I think I'm just going to call it off. Nobody's going to be there. And storm and wind and rain and all this." And she said, "I think you need to go, alright. There's going to be college students there, you know that." And so she really convicted me. But what really convicted me was I was doing scripture memorization in Isaiah 51, the very chapter we're in today. I think in some ways I've been waiting for more than two decades to preach this sermon today. Because I was going over verses 12-16 that day. And I want you to look at it with me. You just heard Gary read it. But I felt like every word was speaking right to me. Have you ever had that happen before with scripture, where everything in this text is talking to you, this is what it says, to remind you. "I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor? The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread. For I am the LORD your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD Almighty is his name. I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand- - I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, 'You are my people.'" That was the text I was memorizing that day, seemed relevant to me. Look at the points of contact. I was living in terror of what people would do to me or think about me. I was forgetting about God's amazing power. I was more fearful of man than of God, so that I didn't want a witness. And here was God churning up the sea so that its waves were rowing like I'd never seen before in all my life, and God was going to rescue spiritual prisoners through us and God had put His words in my mouth and he was going to cover us with the shadow of His hand, and I must go and lead that outreach. I must go. Well, that night was one of the most incredible of my life. We witnessed to tons of college students that were, in fact, there. Christi was right about that. They were going to be there. And so, they were. And I witnessed to a Native American man, who was blind, what we would call an Indian, was blind. He had a leather vest, and all of these weird talismans hanging on his vest and he had two beautiful women, one on each arm, and he debated me for a long time, about the Bible and the occult and a huge crowd of people gathered around while this debate went back and forth, and our team members were sharing the Gospel with them, and a several of them came to faith in Christ. See that college night is a night of recruiting for witchcraft. The witches actually recruit college students, male and female into their religion. But we were recruiting them into Christ, and numbers of them came to faith in Christ. But the most amazing part of this whole story was yet to come. A day later we went on a church retreat to Cape Cod. The ocean was still heaving and churning. I remember seeing this, we drove by the ocean, it was still just amazing and we got to the retreat center, it was dark and it was a small church, we were there, and a young woman who was in our church named Heather came. She had been involved in the occult before she was converted, and she was very anxious to talk to me. We weren't particularly close, but she was asking where's Andy and she wanted to know if I was okay, in particular. I said, "Sure what's up." Well, she asked if I'd gone to Salem the night before, had we done the outreach and she was very anxious about that. I said, "Yeah, it went great. We had a great time." I said, "Did you hear anything about it?" She said, "No, I didn't even know if you went. But I had a dream about you, the night before and I just wanted to be sure you're okay." I said, "Well, what was in the dream?" She said, "Well, in my dream, I was in the town hall," that's where we met for worship, the top hill town hall second floor, it's a Victorian era building. Very creepy. Except on Sunday mornings, okay? Then it wasn't creepy. But it was night time and the moonlight was coming in through the windows, in her dream and she was there with Satan, and Satan was tormenting her. I mean, things from her past probably. And I came in, again, we weren't close and I wasn't a pastor, but I came in and I told Satan to be gone and he crashed through the window, and he was gone, and she was so filled with this fear about this dream and specifically about me and she said, "It was weird, too. I knew it was Satan, but he was dressed up like a blind American Indian." I said, "Have you heard nothing about our outreach?" She said, "No." It was like each of us had two parts of a puzzle that fit together. It was one of the most incredible moments of my life. It would never have happened if I had given into the fear that Satan was putting around my heart, and not done that outreach. It would never have happened. I am afraid for our church that we are too concerned to protect ourselves and keep ourselves safe and not risk things in evangelism that we miss some of the greatest stories that God has set up in advance, for us to live in because of our fears and Isaiah 51 has the power to set us free, has the power to set us free. Basically, the message of Isaiah 51 is, look back at what God has done to gain strength and courage and hope for what God is yet to do in the future. That's what's going on in this chapter. The basic idea is this, despite all appearances, God will most certainly finish this incredible plan of salvation in this sin-cursed world and He will bring about perfect righteousness, and He will bring about salvation for his sinful people, resulting in eternal joy and celebration and any doubts we may have about this should be, instantly, swept away when we consider God's astonishing track record. The same God who created a nation from an elderly man and his barren wife can create a righteous nation, out of nothing. The same God who made a way through the sea can make a way through vicious enemies to establish Zion for all eternity. Look to the past to know that the future is staggeringly bright. The Context of Isaiah 52 The immediate context is powerful, God is speaking a word of comfort across a century and a half through Isaiah the prophet to Jews who would be in exile in Babylon to comfort them for all the suffering they were enduring and to give them courage and strength. Keep in mind that Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had not yet even been born when these words were first written but through the prophet, God looks beyond the time of His wrath and judgment on his people. He addresses His remnant as if he were actually looking backward on the events of the exile, and the judgment of God that happened at that time, he addresses his remnant at that point, he speaks in verse 3 of the Lord comforting Zion, that's Jerusalem, restoring her waste places making them like the Garden of Eden. These words would mean nothing if God were not going to make Zion, into a desert by destruction. He speaks in verses 17-20, directly of the destruction that God is going to bring on Jerusalem as a display of His righteous wrath against the Jews for their sin., Jerusalem will be drinking to the bottom, to the bitter dregs, a cup of God's judgment because of their sins. A remnant will be all that survives. But in this chapter God addresses that remnant. They're tormented by the memories of that slaughter, of the destruction of their beloved Zion. After that, they're tormented by the taunts and threats of their captors. Verse 7, verse 12 and 13, verse 23, all mentioned mocking terrifying tormentors. God is promising that these mere mortals, He calls them in verse 12, will soon be drinking the same cup God's righteous wrath and judgment for their sins, verse 23. By contrast, God is making some amazing promises to His chosen people. He will repopulate that godly nation, He will establish again His people in their beautiful homeland but the promises of this chapter soar beyond just that. God will populate the heavenly Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, with people from all over the earth. He will destroy the entire universe. Heaven and earth will be destroyed, verse 6, wrapped up, like an old garment, and He will create a new heaven and a new earth, not mentioned in this chapter by clearly mentioned in Isaiah 65 and 66, in which His chosen people, will dwell eternally with great joy. God's going to do that. Until that happens, or as God is working out that plan to make that happen. God wants His people filled with joy, confidence, hope and power. Despite the taunts of their oppressors and the apparent impossibility of these grand promises being filled, so that they can actually do the work of evangelism and missions that's going to be essential to making all of this happen. He wants us filled with confidence, and courage and power, so He calls on them again and again to awake and listen to Him. Shaking off weariness, sadness, fear, depression, shaking those things off in order to be confident of the future, God's people must look to the past as recorded in scripture. The same God who created the first Heavens and Earth will create the new Heavens and the new Earth. The same God who first called the people out of nothing from Abraham and Sarah will again create a people for His pleasure, to dwell in righteousness for all eternity, the same God who led Israel through the Red Sea and slaughtered Rahab the sea monster, symbol of death frankly, slaughtered that will bring them through that, through death, resurrection into eternal life. The same God who built the earthly Zion through King David will build the heavenly Zion through King Jesus. Look to God's actions in the past so you can look ahead with hope to the future. Then you can look on your tormentors unafraid, you can look at your persecutors unafraid, unimpressed. I. Listen to Me! The God of Abraham Will Again Create Righteousness from Nothing (vs. 1-6) So that's an overview let's look at it carefully now, verses 1-6, listen to me, the God of Abraham will again create righteousness from nothing. Verse 1 and 2, "Are you seeking righteousness? Are you seeking the Lord? Look to Abraham and Sarah, listen to the verses. I would urge you just look along in the copy of the Bible if you would, I'm going to just be following through the words of the text or just listen to me, verse 1 and 2, "Listen to me you who pursue righteousness, and who seek the Lord, look to the rock from which you are cut and to the quarry from which you are hewn, look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave you birth, when I called him he was but one and I blessed him and made him many." So God calls to the godly His people in every generation, first the exiles in Babylon, and then beyond them to every one of his people in every generation in church history. To those he says who pursue righteousness, and who seek the Lord, those are believers in Christ right? We pursue righteousness and we seek the Lord. He calls on them to listen and to look, Listen to me, He says, by hearing the words of the prophets. Look by faith to the rock from which you were cut in the quarry from which you were hewn. Look to Abraham and to God's faithfulness to His promise to Abraham. Now Abraham in the Book of Galatians is called in Romans 2 our father in faith, if you're a Christian, a believer in Christ, Abraham is your spiritual father. Galatians 3:7 says that those who believe in Christ are children of Abraham." Romans 4 says speaks of all Abraham's offspring. Not just those who are of the law but also those who are of the faith of Abraham, he is the father of us all, as the Scripture says, "I've made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, the God in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Look to Abraham our father in faith. Look to the supernatural circumstances of the beginning of the Jewish nation. A barren couple, no hope of children, God made a promise to him and he believed it, there wouldn't have been a Jewish nation, if it weren't for the miracle that God did with Abraham and Sarah verse 2, "When I called him he was but one and I blessed him and made him many." So you exiles to Babylon, do you think that the Jewish nation is over, all hope is lost? Well think again, the same God who raised Isaac out of that barren womb, will raise up a nation out of this seemingly death penalty. Now beyond that, you Christians, you aliens and strangers in this world, do you think God cannot redeem the elect from every tribe and language and people and nation? He can't redeem His elect people from closed countries, Muslim countries, He can't redeem His elect in communist countries or totalitarian regimes in the 10/40 window, He can think again, the same God who raised up Isaac is able to raise up His elect and populate the eternal Zion, He can do it. Zion Will Be Transformed: From Desert of Sin to Paradise of Joy Verse 3, Zion will be transformed from a desert to a paradise of joy. Verse 3, "The Lord will surely comfort Zion and look with compassion on all her ruins, he will make her deserts like Eden, her waste lands like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing." So again Zion equals Jerusalem, the City of God where God dwells in fellowship with his people, generally just the physical city of Jerusalem, God at that point was not finished with the physical earthly city of Jerusalem. He would comfort Jerusalem, and he would look with compassion on all her ruins, Jerusalem would be destroyed ruined, turned to rubble by the cup of God's wrath that he was going to give them. But that's not the end of the story. The image again is of a desert that's made to bloom like a garden, like the Garden of Eden, the sounds of celebration of worship and Joy will fill the streets once again. It's going to be a populated place. It's the exact same image and vision that Zechariah has in Zechariah 8:4-8, don't turn there but I'll just summarize what it says there, there the prophet Zechariah again before the exile, saw the streets of Jerusalem will once again be filled with old men and women watching streets filled with boys and girls playing there. So you picture these old people sitting on their stools and watching the little kids play like you would at a park. It's just going to be filled, and he says there in Zechariah 8, you think it's impossible but God can do it. God will save his people from the east and the west, and gather them to live in Jerusalem, and they will be His people, and He will be faithful and righteous to them as their God, Zachariah 8:4,3. Exact same image here but better than the restoration of the physical Jews, to physical Jerusalem to rebuild the physical walls, and have a physical life there? Better than all of that is the ultimate purpose of God in building a heavenly Jerusalem, Heavenly Zion, through the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ, God's going to call the children of Abraham spiritually from every tribe and tongue and language and nation to the heavenly Jerusalem to live there forever, and the new Jerusalem will be far better than the Garden of Eden. God's Salvation Goes Forth and Will Outlast this Universe Now, I know that we're on the right track. If you just look at the next verses 4-6. "Listen to me my people, hear me my nation, the law will go out from me, my justice will become a light to the nations, my righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait and hope for my arm." Oh dear friends, this is missions language. Do you see it? My justice, a Light to the Nations, my righteousness, my salvation, justice to the nations, the islands will look to me and wait for me and hope. This is the language of missions, it's gospel language, the light to the nations is Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Christ. This message of the gospel is the message of God's righteousness for the whole world. And so Paul says in Romans 1, "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first, for the Jew, then for the gentile, for in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, the righteousness that is from faith to faith just as it is written, 'the righteous will live by faith.'" That's the Gospel. That God, sent His son, the Lord Jesus Christ by the Virgin Mary we just celebrated his birth, his incarnation at Christmas time and that Jesus lived a sinless life, and Jesus did astonishing signs and wonders, and taught amazing things, but most especially, He died on the cross in our place as our substitute, under the wrath and judgment of God for our sins. God made Him who had no sin to be sinned for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. And that if we just believe in this Christ crucified and resurrected we'll have eternal life. That's the message, that's the good news in verses 4-6, that God's going to send to the islands, to the distant lands. God's righteousness is drawing near speedily. His salvation is coming, it's on it's way. Now, if I could just stop here and say, I don't know all of you and I don't know why you're here today, but it could be that God brought you as a lost person here just for this moment to hear this gospel. In the ancient words of Isaiah 51, to hear that Christ is a great savior flee to Christ, flee to Christ. The God of Isaiah 51 is a terrifying enemy but a great and loving Savior. So flee to Him, flee to Christ, don't leave this place unconverted. If you don't know how to trust in Christ, if you don't know what to do, come and talk to me afterwards, or any of the leaders of the Church or any church member. Church member that you get talked to, please share the Gospel with that person when they come. But this is the place where you can come to have all of your sins forgiven, you don't have to walk out under the burden of your sins, but this is the message of verses 4-6, the distant islands are going to look to the same God and trust in Him. John Paton, a Scottish missionary in the 19th century, got on board a boat and sailed a long, long distance to the New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific and there he went specifically as a missionary to some cannibals that he knew had killed and eaten the last missionary that was sent there in full view of the ship that had brought that missionary. And he went there anyway, and he led them to Christ, he established a Church there. Don Richardson went to the island of Dutch New Guinea. He was from Calgary, Canada, and went to Dutch, New Guinea to the Sawi people. They also were cannibalistic head hunters, and they revered treachery. When they first heard the gospel story, they thought Judas was the hero because he had been tricky and treacherous and they loved that. How do you reach a people like that? But Don Richardson found something in their culture, something called the peace child, an analogy of the Gospel where warring kings would trade children and each of them would hold on to a child as a pledge concerning the other of peace between the two peoples, and he pounced on that as Christ as God's peace child to us. And as long as the peace child lives, there'll be peace between the entities and he used that to lead them to Christ. Now listen, all of this missionary success to the distant islands was predicted in the Old Testament. Was predicted in the Book of Isaiah, we've been seeing it in Isaiah 42, it says, "In his law, the islands will put their hope." Again, same chapter Isaiah 42:10, "Sing to the Lord a new song. His praise from the ends of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it. You islands and all who live in them." And then Isaiah 49, remember this one? "Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations," and in the Lord, or God speaking to Christ saying, "It's too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept., I will also make you a light for the gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." So, in Isaiah 49:1,6, its islands and ends of the earth and Christ is coming there. He's the light for the world. And now, here again in Isaiah 51, look at Verse five, "My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way and my arm will bring justice to the nations, the islands will look to me and wait and hope for my arm." God is working an amazing salvation even for the distant islands to trust in Him, and the end of the story is nothing less than a new creation, a new heavens and a new earth. Look at Verse six, this is awesome. "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath. The heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die like flies, but my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail." This is a clear prediction of the end of the world. Verse six, Isaiah 51:6, A clear prediction that everything you see with your eyes, all of this physical stuff will wear out like a garment and disappear some day. All of it, all of it. 2nd Peter 3 he says that the day the Lord will "bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with His promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and new earth, the home of righteousness." Revelation 21. "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city a New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven like a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband." II. Listen to Me! The God of the Exodus Will Again Make a Way for His People (vs. 7-11) In verses 7-11, God calls on His people to listen to him. The God of the Exodus will again make a way for His people. Look at verses 7-8, he says, "Do not fear the taunts of men. God's salvation is going to outlast all of them." Verse 7, "Hear me you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts. Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults for The moth will eat them up like a garment, the worm will devour them like wool but my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations." God calls on His people, His godly in every generation." Again, look what he says, "You who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts... " That's regeneration language, where God takes out the heart of stone and puts in the heart of flesh, he writes his laws on our minds, in our hearts. That's the new covenant. So he's calling to you, what is he telling you to do, listen to him, "listen to me," He says, "Hear me, don't fear your enemies, don't be afraid of those who reproach you or taunt you or insult you." Now, Nehemiah faced that when he was there rebuilding the rubble filled city of Jerusalem, rebuilding the wall, remember that and they started making progress and some enemy Sanballat and Tobias. You remember those guys and they started to mock the work. They said, "Why, if even a fox jumped up on this little wall they are building it, it would tumble down." So they're just pitching insults and mocking. The same happens with evangelists and missionaries. People would go out in faith, to share the Gospel mocking starts happening, opposition, persecution, taunts. We're going to have to face reproach, we're going to face insults for the name of Christ. Jesus told us to rejoice. I had lunch recently with Jonathan who's a church member and serving the Lord in Central Asia and he told me that a Kazakh man there said to him. "I hate you." Can you imagine that being said straight out to you, right to your face. "I hate you, I hate everything about you, I hate what you're here to do, I hate that you've married a woman from our people. I hate what you're trying to do to our culture. I hate you." Jonathan filled with the Spirit said, "Well, I love you. I'm here because I love you, I want you to know Christ." But this is the kind of opposition. And they had a long conversation at the end of that. The man said, back to him. "Just the final words I want to say to you, is I hate you" and he walked away. Well, that's terrifying, intimidating, sad, hurtful. I shared with him at that moment Matthew 5:11-12 where Jesus said, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." But it still hurts. And what this text says is if these enemies don't repent, a moth is going to devour them like wool and their worm will never die, and their fire will never be quenched. It says later in Isaiah, but God's salvation will shine like the sun for all eternity. So do not fear the reproach of men, he says. Now in Verse 9-10, Isaiah speaking for us calls on God, to wake up. "Awake O Lord," he says. Look at verse 9-10, "Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength o arm of the Lord, awake as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut to pieces, who pierced that monster through? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep? And who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over." The redeemed, in every generation, call on God to wake up, why? Because God sometimes seems like he's asleep, sometimes it seems like God isn't doing his plan. Like, where is God in all of this, where is God in all of this, and this is prayer, they're calling, we're calling on God to move with His mighty strength like he used to do. "Do in our generation what we heard you did in the past? Move O mighty arm of God." That's what we do in prayer, we ask. In intersession, we say, "Oh God, build your church. Oh God, thrust out missionaries. Oh God, make us evangelists. Oh God, lead us to people here in this community who are ready to hear the Gospel." The same God who pierced the monster Rahab through. What is this? It's like some kind of a mythological sea creature, I guess something like that, all kinds of interpretations of this, but I think it simply represents the death that the depths of the sea pose to us, the terror of the depths of the sea, the sea monster, it just kind of equals death to me and God killed it. God pierced that monster through. Now, it's interesting, the next time we're going to see that word pierce is in Isaiah 53. We'll get to that in a few chapters. But, he pierces and kills death by the piercing of his son Jesus. And He made a way through the sea. "Moved out O arm of the Lord. Oh mighty God do in our day what you did in the past." So this is a simple application. Pray like this. Pray like this. Pray for God's church to be established here in the Raleigh/Durham area. Pray like this, pray for God's church to be established in unreached people groups. Say, "Move out O arm of the Lord." Verse 11, the ransom will sing eternally. "The ransom to the Lord will return. The will enter Zion with singing, everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee away, salvation songs for all eternity, everlasting joy. Think about that, think about that phrase, everlasting joy crowning your heads, sorrow and sighing fleeing away." Can't you see this cannot be fulfilled in the mere rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, and the rebuilding of the city. There's no way. It's not everlasting joy, and sorrow and sighing never to be seen again. They're still surrounded by enemies. They're still under Gentile Domination. The Persians will give way to the Greeks, will give way to the Romans. No, no, this is about heaven. This is about the new Jerusalem, when the gates will always stand open, because there are no enemies, left and there'll be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away. Everlasting joy will crown your head and sorrow and sighing will flee away forever. III. How Dare You Fear Man More Than Me? Through You I Will Establish Eternity! (vs. 12- 16) Now, in verses 12 through 16, some of the most convicting words I've ever read on fearing people. It really just cut... It cut me to the heart that day, that Thursday. How dare... That's the tone I get here. "How dare you fear mortal men, more than you fear me. How can you do that?" God is saying to us. He's convicting us here. Look at the verses, "I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal man, the sons of men who are but grass? That you forget the Lord your maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor who is bent on destruction. For where is the wrath of the oppressor?" God challenges his weak, small, feeble, frail, children in every generation, not to fear man not to fear human opposition. He reminds them that he is the one who comforts them especially by the redeeming work of Christ. By Christ's death and resurrection, oh be comforted dear people. Be comforted. And He commands them to fear God more than they fear men. It greatly dishonors God, if we fear men more than we fear God and disobey God as a result, that's just a great dishonor to God. Now, we do not minimize the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted in other places in the world. We don't minimize it. We don't minimize the fact that brothers and sisters are presently being imprisoned, tortured, beaten and killed for the faith. We're not minimizing that. We do not minimize the sufferings of those who are beheaded by ISIS or their families that fled from ISIS and grieved for their losses. We don't minimize that. We don't minimize our brothers and sisters who are being detained for questioning by the religious police in Iran. We don't minimize the suffering of house church pastors in China who are detained just for doing ministry, or ordinary ministry, in house churches and imprisoned. But all of them and us must learn to fear the Lord infinitely more than we fear anything that man can do to us. Jesus put it very plainly, He said, "I tell you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do nothing to you. I'll tell you the one to fear; Fear the one who after the death of the body has the power to destroy both soul and body in hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him." That's Luke 12. Fear God, the God who created heaven and earth. Now, American Christians, generally, do not face that level of persecution as we try to be faithful in evangelism. We generally are going to face horizontal societal rejection. Some insults, snide comments you might be held back at work, you might not get a promotion or a raise. You might even get a bad haircut. Okay, that happened to me once, as I was witnessing to a woman at Great Clips. And the next time I witness at Great Clips took more faith than the previous time because she said my hair cut was done and that was that. So that may happen and again, I'm not making light of it, but these are things that amazingly are still effective at keeping us from sharing their faith. "I might get a bad haircut." Yes, you just might but the Lord will reward you on Judgment Day. So just ask yourself right now as an application, how does fear of man hinder you in being faithful in evangelism? What are you afraid of? Think of someone right now you would like to share your faith with. Think of someone. Thinking, thinking, thinking of someone. Ah a person, Okay. A lost person, just popped in your mind, I hope. You'd like to share with him or her, but you're afraid what will happen. Cut through the invisible bands of fear and be faithful and witness and share the Gospel with that person. Now, when we think about ISIS we think about vicious persecutors, we think about these words, Verse 13,14, "You live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor who is bent on destruction. For where is the wrath of the oppressor?" The cowering prisoners will soon be set free. They will not die in their dungeon nor will they lack bread." God's going to set all the prisoners free. He's going to set his own children free from incarceration, but even better, more significantly, he's going to set his elect unconverted children free when they hear the Gospel and they get out of Satan's kingdom by repentance and faith, he's going to set them free. Those are the cowering prisoners that were set free that night in Salem. Luke 11, Jesus said this, speaking of Satan, "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe but when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils." Jesus is stronger than Satan and he's taking Satan's stuff, that's people, and he's plundering Satan's dark kingdom through the gospel, and that's awesome. The Lord Who Rules the Sea Will Use You to Establish Eternity Verse 15-16, the Lord who rules the sea will use you to establish His eternal plans. "I am the Lord your God who churns up the sea so that it's waves roar. The Lord Almighty is His name. I put my words in your mouth, I've covered you with the shadow of My hand. I, who set the heavens in place who laid the foundations of the Earth, and who say to Zion, 'You are my people.'" This is a direct reminder of God's splitting of the Red Sea, by a powerful east wind. For me, personally, it's a reminder of the perfect storm. Perfect storm, the triple storm system and the churning and the 30-foot waves and a God who can do that can do anything. What am I afraid of? What am I afraid of? Only thing I should fear is dishonoring him. We need to please God and advance the Gospel. Satan will use intimidation, he'll try to cow us so we stop preaching the gospel. IV. Wake Up! The Time Has Come for Your Tormentors to Fall (vs. 17-23) So wake up, verses 17-23, the time has come for your tormentors to fall. God is going to hand to Jerusalem, still in the future in Isaiah's day, a cup of wrath and they're going to have to drink it. Verses 17-20 talk about that. "Awake, awake, rise up O Jerusalem, you have drunk from the hand of the Lord, the cup of His wrath. You have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger. Of all the sons she bore there was none to guide her, of all the sons she rear there was none to take her by the hand. These double calamities have come upon you, who can comfort you. Ruin and destruction, famine and sword, who can console you. Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of every street, like an antelope caught in a net. They're filled with the wrath of the Lord and the rebuke of your God." That's a description of the judgment that's going to come on Jerusalem, the cup of wrath handed into the hands of Jerusalem and they're going to have to drink it to the bottom, to the dregs. But verse 21-22, those days are now over, those days are over. Therefore hear this, you afflicted one made drunk but not with wine. This is what your sovereign Lord says, your God who defends his people. Behold, I have taken out of your hand, the cup that made you stagger. From that cup, the goblet of my wrath you will never drink again. There's going to come a time... First of all, for us as Christians, all condemnation is gone, because Jesus died. No fear of hell, no fear of condemnation. We're done. Tribulation and suffering is not done yet, and that's the cup we're drinking now. Some day even that cup is going to be taken and we'll never drink it again, we'll be free from death, mourning, crying, and pain. But for our tormentors who never repent, who never find faith in Christ, verse 23. I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, that cup. Who said to you, fall prostrate that we may walk over you and you made your back like the ground like the street to be walked over. Some day God is going to judge them. V. Applications Alright, I've sprinkled applications throughout the sermon, I just want to give you a few final ones and we'll be done. The basic message of Isaiah 51 is look to the past to gain hope for the future. Look to what God has done in the past. So do it. Do it. Okay? So much of this book, so much of the Bible is history, so much of it is. Even ancient history. It's written so that we can learn the character of an unchanging God. God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He'll never change. So he'll do different things in every generation, but he himself is the same, he never changes. So this book was written to give us hope and faith, we feed on it, read these stories be in the Word every day in 2015. Can I just urge you? Read through the whole Bible in this year in 2015, there's so many different programs and plans. I use every day in the word with the ESP Bible and it takes about 12 to 15 minutes per day, and you get through the whole Bible in a year. Read through the Bible in a year and then add to it. Big faith step, memorize one verse a day. You can do it. I know you can. It can be done. 365 and 1/4 verses, pastor? No, just 365 verses, we're not in a leap year. So just 365. Just memorize Scripture, hide God's word in your heart. Build your faith. Now, especially look to what God's done in your life and in the Scripture in the past and be encouraged. Say, "Look at all the faithfulness God showed me." And look back to Christ crucified and resurrected. Keep your eyes on Christ, remind yourself that you are forgiven and strengthened by Christ. By Christ crucified. So trust in him, look to him. Believe in him for future grace. Thirdly, marvel at how specifically God predicted missions in Isaiah. It's very, very clear. Isaiah 42:49-51 again and again, talking about the Islands. When Christ rose from the dead, he went to the upper room and he met with his disciples. In Luke 24 it says, "He opened their minds so that they could understand the Scriptures." Then he said, "This is what is written, that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem." That's what was written. Well friends, it's written in Isaiah. So what does that mean for us? Let's be more missions-minded than we've ever been before in the year 2015. That's what God is doing in the world. Let's give more money. I'm encouraged by Lottie Moon. We're not there yet, we're at 96,000, I think. But we've got money coming in. I would like to see missions giving 12 months a year, amen. Not just December, but 12 months. I would love to see more people going on short-term mission trips. I'll like to see more passionate prayer for unreached people groups. Get an app, joshuaproject.net, or something like that, and pray for an unreached people group every day in the year 2015. And especially, let's be active in evangelism. Let's seek people we can share the Gospel with. Let's risk things. Let's risk persecution. Some great stories are ready out there waiting to be told. Push through the fear and find those great stories. Find a neighbor, a co-worker, a total stranger, frequent a restaurant, go to that one place and build relationships for the sake of evangelism. I yearn to see more people converted, genuinely converted, baptized and then discipled by our church than ever before. Fourth, look forward to the new heavens and new earth and new Jerusalem. Yearn for it, delight in it, read about it. Look for the day when it's going to come and speed its coming. And ask God specifically until that time comes to fill you with hope and deliver you from fear of man. Close with me in prayer.

sermon transcript Introduction Well, Christmas is a time of journey, it is a time of moving around from place to place, many of you are going to be traveling this week, I know of some of you who have traveled to get here, to be with family, and maybe you are guests or visitors. And so we know this a time of moving around, a time in which people move. They travel to be with family, they're willing to pay elevated air fares or to bear the traffic around urban centers. They're willing to just get in a car packed up with all kinds of gifts or whatever and drive long distances to be with family, and just to sit and to enjoy that family time together. I picture in my mind's eye: a crackling fire in the hearth, that we haven't had one in years but I just love that picture and the tree right there, hopefully not too close to the fire, but just the enjoyment of being with family and friends, it's a time of moving around. I also picture sometimes, this is a time of the year after Christmas in which people go to missions, conferences, I know a year ago we went to the cross-conference and traveling through the hills of West Virginia or Western North Carolina, seeing the snow and all that. It's a great time. A time of movement. Christmas has always been associated with journeys, if you look at the very beginning, in Luke chapter 2, when Caesar Augustus issued his decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And that meant movement. It meant populations moving around within Palestine, as each of the Jews went to their home area to their tribal - their place of tribal ancestry - and they would go there to register, and we know that that's what moved Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem, where the prophecy had said that the Christ was to be born. After Jesus was born, shepherds moved a very short distance from the hills outside of Bethlehem to see this incredible thing that the angel had told him about as the angel descended, and who told them, "'Today in the town of David, a Savior is born to you, who is Christ the Lord.'" And so they said, "Come, let's go see what the angel has told us about." And they left the sheep and went to see, and it was just what the Lord had told them would happen. And of course, we know the story of the Magi, we don't know how far they traveled, but they moved from distant lands and they were following a supernatural light, a star that moved and was able to stop over at the place where the child lay, and they traveled from their great distances because of the birth of Christ. And these long journeys were caused by the coming of Christ into the world. And so people since that time have been traveling also, because Christ came into the world. The entrance of Christ into our sin cursed world, result in massive movements of people, providentially. God has been moving people around to achieve His sovereign goals. I think especially of missionaries who have left their own homes and have gone long, long distances to bring the news of Christ, the coming of Christ and of his birth, of His death and resurrection, to those who have never heard his name. John Paton was a missionary from Scotland in the 19th century. He traveled probably farther than any missionary in history, I don't know that this is true, but I can't think of anyone that traveled farther. From Glasgow, Scotland to Tana in the New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific. A distance of 9987 miles as the crow flies. Don Richardson, who wrote the missions book, Peace Child, traveled from Calgary, Alberta to Papua New Guinea, a distance of 6167 Miles. William Carey, for him, the distance from London to Serampore, India was 4934 miles as the crow flies, but he had to actually navigate around Africa to get there, an additional 5000 miles. So many people have traveled long distances to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have never heard his name. In 1993, Christie and I boarded a plane with Nathaniel and Jenny. Our two children that were alive at that time - please don't think we left the other three behind, they just weren't born yet, they were in the mind of God. But we took those two and they came with us to Japan, and for us that distance was over 7000 miles and our desire was to bring Christ to what was at that time the largest unreached people group in the world, the Japanese, that they would hear the gospel. Yet I would say that of all of these journeys, no journey is as vast and immeasurable, even indeed infinite as the journey traveled by Christ Himself, in the text that we're going to look at today, in Philippians Chapter 2, it's an infinite journey. The coming of Christ from Heaven to Earth, to the cross, to the grave. No one has traveled so far. Look again at the words of Philippians 2, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." So in this Christmas sermon, we're going to trace out the words from the words of the text, Christ's stunning and amazing journey. Where Christ began in divine and heavenly glory, how Christ traveled downward into human form, how He traveled further downward to human humility, how Christ traveled infinitely downward at the cross. How then God exalted Christ upward in resurrection glory. How God exalted Christ even further to heavenly glory at His right hand. And now, how God through the Spirit has been exalting Christ to worldwide glory, that's the journey we're going to follow. Down and back up again. Where Christ Began: Divine and Heavenly Glory Before the Incarnation, Jesus Existed Eternally in Heavenly Glory And so we're going to start with where Christ began, divine and heavenly glory. Look at verse 6, "Who being in very nature God, speaking of Christ, who being in very nature, God did not consider equality with God, something to be grasped." Some of the translations have, "Did not think it robbery to be considered equal with God." So before the incarnation, Jesus existed eternally in heavenly glory, He was not created by God the Father. He was eternally begotten as God the Son and received from Him equal glory and equal worship from the heavenly angels. Now, as we've been studying in the book of Isaiah, we realize that He does not share His glory with any created being. Remember how we saw in Isaiah 42:8, The Lord says this, "'I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.'" There is an infinite gap between God as the creator and all created beings, the creature. A.W. Tozer put it this way In his classic Knowledge of the Holy, he said, "We must not think of God as the highest in an ever ascending order of beings starting with the single cell and going on from there to the fish, to the bird, to the animal, to man, to angel, to cherub, to God. This would be to grant God eminence, even pre-eminence, but that is not enough. We must grant him transcendence in the fullest sense of the word. Forever, God stands apart. In light, unapproachable. He is as high above an archangel, is above a caterpillar. For the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite." End quote. In that quote from Tozer, there is 1 Timothy six, 15 and 16, which says, "God, the Blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who dwells in unapproachable light whom no one ever has seen or can see." That's God. But Jesus shared God's glory equally. He shared his position in the universe as Almighty God equally. We know that, because as his work was nearing an end the night before He was crucified, He asked in John 17:5, "'Father glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began,'" which would be infinitely bold for him to ask if He were not almighty God. Christ Equally God, Equally Glorious, Equally Worshipped So Christ was equally God, equally glorious, equally worshipped. It was not robbery, as one of the translations has, for him to be considered equally God. Another way to look at it is He didn't think it was something He had to grab hold of, to be God or something to hold on to, all the trappings of divine glory. There's different ways to look at that. But He didn't consider it robbery to be considered equally God. It was not arrogance, it was not idolatry, it was not presumption, it was not wickedness. In Isaiah 6, in the call of Isaiah, we have these unforgettable words. "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. And above Him were seraphim, each with six wings. And with two wings, they covered their faces. And with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another. 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory.'" Now, in John 12, the apostle John says, Isaiah spoke about Jesus's glory because he saw him. He saw Jesus's glory and spoke about Him. He said, Jesus's glory, so I think his definitely having in mind Isaiah 6. And so he sees Christ in throne before the incarnation. Jesus's glory was so brilliant before his incarnation that the holy angels couldn't bear to look on him. They'd never committed any sin, they were holy and pure, morally perfect and yet, they're covering their faces. Because Christ dwelt an unapproachable light. 100 million angels, Daniel 7, gives us the implication of a 100 million angels worshipping Christ. That's hard to even fathom what that would have looked like. And so Jesus did not think it robbery to be counted equal with God, it was not robbery to be as divine as God the Father, as omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, righteous, just, loving, wrathful, eternal. All the attributes you can think of when you think about God, they are equally true of Christ before his incarnation. It was not robbery to be as glorious as the Father. He was as brilliant, as radiant, as terrifying to the holy angels, as was God the Father. And it was not robbery to be worshipped like God the Father, there was nothing wrong and everything right for the son being worshipped by those 100 million angels. The Downward Journey: To Earth, to Servanthood, to the Cross The Father Sent Him and He Obeyed That's where Jesus was when he began his downward journey - the pinnacle of glory, the pinnacle of deity and worship - but then the downward journey begins, to earth, to servanthood and to the cross. First, we must understand the Father sent Him and he obeyed. 1 Peter 1:20 says that "He was chosen before the creation of the world" to be our savior. The father sent him from his side into the world 40 times in John's Gospel. It is said of Jesus that the Father sent Him. He is the sent one. Again and again in John's gospel, it stresses this, that the Father sent Him. For example, John 6:38 and 39, "'For I have come down from heaven. Jesus said, not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me, and this is the will of Him who sent me that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day.'" Friends, by the way, John 6:38, 39 too are the most encouraging verses in the whole Bible. The Father sent the Son into the world to save his children, and he will not stop until He raises you up on the final day. And isn't that encouraging? But again, clearly, the Father sent Him. Or again, John 8:42, he said, "'I came from God,'" this is Jesus speaking, I came from God and now I'm here. "'I have not come on my own, but He sent me.'" So it is clear that the Father sent Jesus on a mission into the world. The Father sent Jesus to become a baby. Jesus Chose to Become Human The father sent Jesus to seek and to save the lost, but Philippians 2 emphasizes Christ's own decision in the matter. His own will in the matter. In his pre-incarnate state, he chose to enter the world. He willed to do it. He was delighted to do it even. He chose to become a human being. Look again at verses five through seven, "Jesus: who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness." You see the willfulness of it, the choice of it on Jesus's part. He is choosing to do this, it was His will to leave heavenly glory, to make himself nothing. It was his will to become human, to be made in human likeness. And the phraseology here, he was in very nature, God, is the NIV's translation. He became in very nature, servant. I've meditated on it. He was as much servant as he ever was God. He didn't play at being a servant, act at it, he truly to his core was a servant. And the essence of that is he became human in order to do it. Once Made Human, He Chose a Downward Journey From There Now once made human, he chose a downward journey from there. God ordained for the birth of Jesus to be noteworthy in its humility and noteworthy in its poverty, actually. It was extremely poor, the circumstances of his birth. Unusually poor, very few babies in the world are born into as degrading circumstances as was the son of God. You know the story, of course, no room in the end, and so Jesus ends up being born in a stable, it might have been a cave outside Bethlehem, it might have been one of those barn type things that you look at. But it was a degrading situation, surrounded by animals. And then after His birth, He was wrapped in cloths by His mother Mary, who apparently, had no help at all. I'm not trying to be insulting to Joseph, but he was probably no help at all. There were no midwives, there were no nurses, there were no OB-GYN, there was no NICU standing by in case there was a problem with the baby, no one took his Apgar score, I don't think any of that happened. And then he's laid in a box of feeding trough for animals. I mean, you think of all the efforts made at Duke or at UNC to keep new-born babies free from any infections at all and free from viruses, and that's a laudable effort, and I know some of you are involved and I praise God for your work. And it's well done too because the infant mortality rates are - it's just a terrible tragedy, I get that. But none of that was there for Jesus, none of it. He's born into abject poverty. I mean, think about 2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our lord Jesus, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor. So that you, through His poverty might become rich." So the vast majority of the world's population is poor, below a certain line of poverty, and Jesus, by being born in this way, identified with their poverty. Downward Further: Servant to All He willingly chose by his humble birth circumstances, but then once he became a man, he made more and more of the same kind of conscious choices. Verse 8 again, "Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient." He was obedient, he always did what the Father told him to do, He was constantly obedient. We talked about that last week with Isaiah 50. The Lord gave him an opened ear, and he was not rebellious, He didn't draw back, He did everything the Father commanded him to do. He humbled himself and served the father. And at the horizontal level, He humbled himself and served anyone and everyone who came to him for anything. I mean, do you read an account of someone coming to Jesus for something and not getting what they came from for? It's amazing how humble He was to people who came and needed something from him. Think about Matthew Chapter 8, "When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 'Lord', He said, 'My servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.' Jesus said to Him, 'I will go and heal him.'" Matthew chapter 9, the very next chapter, "…a ruler came and knelt before him and said, 'My daughter has just died, but come and put your hand on her and she will live.' Jesus got up and went with him." Matthew 14, "When Jesus heard [that John the Baptist had been executed], He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place." All He wants to do is be alone and pray to his father. He was grieving. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with suffering, and He was grieving over the death of John the Baptist, his friend. And so He just wanted to be alone, but the crowds wouldn't let him be alone. When He landed on the other side of the sea, a huge crowd was waiting for him. And when He saw them, “He had compassion on them and healed them” and taught them many things and fed them. And so He fulfilled his own words. Mark 9:35, "If anyone wants to be first, He must be very last and the servant of all." So, Jesus humbled himself and became obedient. But Jesus’ Obedience and His Humbling Went to the Infinite Level But Jesus's obedience and his humbling went to the infinite level. So let's finish the thought, "And being found in appearance as a man", Verse 8, "He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross." The cross was His perfect act of submission and obedience to His Heavenly Father. He said, "The world must learn that I love the Father, and I do everything the Father has told me to do. Including dying." And so He said in Gethsemane, "'Not my will but yours be done.'" He drank the cup for us. Now, the cross was infinitely degrading to Jesus. You cannot measure it, you cannot understand how degrading it was. Isaiah 52:14, which God willing we'll get to soon, it says this, "Just as there were many who were appalled at Him, His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness." Now that's got to be talking about Jesus's death on the cross. And then in the very next chapter, Isaiah 53, it says, "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." No one can possibly imagine, fathom how infinitely degrading and humiliating it was for Jesus, the Son of God, the Holy Son of God, to bear our sins, our defilements, our iniquities, our wickedness on himself like swimming in a swamp of un-holiness covered with the muck of our lusts and murders, and thefts and blasphemes and corruptions. And then being justly with him as our substitute, crushed by God the Father, suffering the infinite wrath of God for us as our substitute. This was the very reason why He became human. This is why He took on a body that He might lay that body down in our place on the cross, that was the nadir, that was the bottom of this downward journey that we have been tracing out here in Philippians 2, from Heavenly glory to death, even death on a cross, and then to burial in the grave. The Upward Glory: Resurrection, Ascension, Enthronement God Glorified Jesus in His Resurrection But now, we begin the infinite upward journey as well. Resurrection, ascension, and enthronement. Look at Verse 9, "Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name." God the Father glorified Jesus in His bodily resurrection from the dead. At Christmas time, we celebrate the commitment of God the Son to be human, that is eternal, it's perpetual, he's still human. He took on a body because we humans, we have bodies. He died and laid that body down. God raised him from the dead in a resurrection body to show his perpetual commitment to Christ as human, as our mediator. And so, God glorified Jesus in His resurrection. Verse 4 of Romans Chapter 1 says, "Through the spirit of holiness, Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord." So this, just glory as God raised Him from the dead. God Glorified Jesus in His Ascension And then God glorified Jesus in His Ascension to Heaven. I love that moment in Acts 1 verse 9, where Jesus after he'd spent 40 days with His disciples. Teaching them many things about the Kingdom of God took them out to the Mount of Olives. And it says in Acts 1:9, "He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight." I remember at one time, a number of years ago, one of my kids got one of those free balloons from Kroger and - a helium balloon - and it wasn't properly secured around the wrist. You know those moments. You ever seen that? And then off it goes, we step out, and it just goes, and I just stood there watching it go higher and higher and higher, thinking about the Ascension of Jesus Christ. It's funny my child wasn't thinking about the Ascension of Christ at that moment. It was a moment of great sadness and sorrow, but I was just thinking, what would it have been like to stand there on that hillside and see Jesus as He went higher and higher until finally, a cloud hid Him from their sight. It must have been an awesome sight. And you get the picture of the apostle just standing there staring and like the world. Their lives have ended. They're just there now. And they're immobile. And so God has to send an angel to say, "Come on, let's move along, now. Go back into Jerusalem. The Lord's going to come and give you the power of the Holy Spirit. Don't stand here waiting. He's coming back some day." But what an awesome glory that was to Jesus to ascend. But the book of Hebrews tells us that even the cloud hiding from the sight. That wasn't enough. Jesus, it says, "Has moved through the heavens," So you can imagine like circle upon circle of heavenly reality and exaltation and glory, and Jesus is going higher and higher and higher, even within the heavenly realms. God Glorified Jesus in His Enthronement at His Right Hand It says in Hebrews 4:14, "We have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens. Jesus, the son of God, and then God glorified Jesus in His enthronement at His right hand." Mark 16:19 says, "After Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into Heaven and sat at the right hand of God." Psalm 110 verse 1, "The Lord said, to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." Ephesians 1:20-22 kind of captures all of this upward journey that we've just covered so quickly. Ephesians 1:20-22 says this, "That God raised him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." So that's the upward journey from the grave to a resurrection, to ascension, to sitting at the right hand of God over everything there is in the universe. “Therefore” Means the Humiliation Results in the Exaltation I also want you to notice the link between verse 8 and 9. By the word, therefore, the downward journey was the causal relationship to the upward exaltation. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. No one has humbled himself as much as Jesus, and therefore no one is as exalted as Jesus. There's a connection. Therefore God raised Him from the dead and seated him at His right hand. Therefore, He exalted him to the highest place. Jesus Given the Name that is Above Every Name: God There's a link there. And then it says, Jesus is given "the name that is above every name." Well, that simply is God, He's given the name God or any name that we could refer to God, God the Son, Almighty God, omnipotent, powerful ruler of Heaven and Earth, the one who sits in throne above the circle of the Earth and all its people are like grasshoppers. He is the sustainer of everything in the universe. He is the judge of all the Earth. Any title that could be given that's glorious. Jesus has those titles. Christmas Results in Greater Glory for Jesus Than if He’d Never Come And Christmas results in a greater glory to Jesus than He would have had if He had not come to Earth. He ends up with more glory because of what He did. Revelation 5:9, it says, "They sang a new song in Heaven, singing to Jesus, You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals because you were slain and with your blood, you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." They're celebrating his atoning work, and so He is in Heaven, and He is glorified and exalted. But there is a remaining glory yet for Jesus, and that is a worldwide worship. Look at Verses 9-11, "Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." The Remaining Glory: Worldwide Worship The Glory of Christ Has Been Spreading Since His Resurrection Now the glory of Christ has been spreading and increasing since His resurrection and ascension. It's been getting greater and greater every day, every single day. On the night of His resurrection, Jesus came to where his disciples were in the upper room where the doors were locked for fear of the Jews, and Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you," and they were stunned when they saw him and filled with joy, and He showed them His hands and His side. The marks of His atoning work. And again, He said to them, "'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so, I am sending you.' And then He breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" And with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the church started moving out, started that external journey that we talk about, just pouring out of the Upper Room to those thousands of pilgrims who had come there for the day of Pentecost and began preaching the Gospel beginning in Jerusalem, a church started there, it grew to 3000 baptized that first day, and it just continued to grow in Jerusalem. Persecution broke out, it spread throughout Judea and Samaria, and they preached the Gospel in that area. It was taken down to Ethiopia by that eunuch that Philip witnessed to out in the desert from Isaiah 53; we will get to all that. It spread to the Gentiles by Peter's witnessing to Cornelius and his family. It spread to Cypress and then throughout Asia Minor by Paul and Barnabas as they went on their first missionary journey. And then it spread across to Macedonia and Thessalonica, and down to Athens and Corinth by Paul and Silas as they were called there by the Holy Spirit. It was taken in chains by Paul to Rome, the center of the Roman Empire, but God's word was not chained, and a church was growing up there in Rome and spreading, and everyone in the Roman world heard about that. It continued to spread after the apostolic era through the Roman empire by the blood of martyrs, seed for the church, and our brothers and sisters willing to die for their faith so that the Gospel might spread and Christ might get more and more glory and honor. As the Gospel spread throughout the Roman world, it continued to spread through the barbarian tribes of Europe, it spread to Germania and Britannia, by early Roman missionaries continued little by little to conquer Europe, spread eastward to the vast rolling hills and valleys of Russia, the distant, mysterious kingdoms of India and China in those early centuries, under the Nestorian's, spread along the Silk Road into the steps of Central Asia. Explorers started taking banners of their Christian kings and queens to the New World, but genuine missionaries came too and started sharing the Gospel among those that were already living in the new world, and the Gospel continued to spread. The Name of Jesus is Greater and Greater with Every Day of Missions The last three centuries have seen an explosion of missions to India, Burma, China, distant islands of the South Pacific. After World War II, the unreached people groups began to be isolated and focused on, and more and more turning to the Gospel that they're hearing as this thing relentlessly spread. You know how it says, there's more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 who don't need to repent? Everyone person who turns to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit under the true Gospel, that's more glory for Jesus up in Heaven. Amen. That's awesome. And every saint that dies and is "absent from the body, present with the Lord" and sees his or her Lord face-to-face and is instantly transformed and made holy and perfect in every way, more glory for Jesus, and there is yet more glory to come, there's more and more work to be done. The Gospel is going to continue to spread. We're going to continue to evangelize right here in the Durham area and to be involved in missions to the ends of the Earth. And it's going really, really well. It's exciting, actually. This is a great time to be alive. I read an incredible article in World magazine written by David Garrison. The name of the article was the rising tide of Muslim converts to Christianity. And David Garrisons is an IMB missionary for 25 years, PhD from the University of Chicago. He's written a book called, A Wind in the House of Islam. A Wind in the House of Islam. He believes - and in that book, he does research and relates the results of his research - he believes, based on his research, that somewhere between two and seven million former Muslims have converted to Christianity in the past two decades. He says there's been lots of upheaval in the Muslim world, but some of that has actually loosened the grip of Islam on the hearts of people living in Muslim countries. Key example is Iran. Garrison says that The Ayatollah Khomeini has been one of the greatest evangelists for Christ that Iran has ever seen. He didn't mean to be that way, but that's been the outcome. What do I mean? What did Garrison mean? Well, because of his overwhelming dedication to enforce the Islam that is actually taught in the Quran, hear me carefully, it's not extreme Islam, it's genuine Islam, and he desired to enforce that in Iran, thousands and thousands of Iranians don't want any part of it. Don't want any part of it. They're leaving Islam in record numbers. Tens of thousands and probably hundreds of thousands in Iran are now brothers and sisters in Christ. And Jesus's glory has increased as a result of that. That's happening on a grand scale in many places. Garrison said this; there are movements of Muslims to Christ. And by that, I mean not just individuals, but movements of at least a thousand within a single community who have been baptized or 100 churches planted over the last two decades. Those are his criteria from one end of the Muslim world to the other, so from West Africa to Indonesia and everywhere in between. He said Muslims are having their sleep disturbed by visitations and by answered prayers as well. He said we've talked to a number of folks who just talked about how they tested God. They said, "If this is real, I'm just going to pray, and if you're really there, Lord, I want you to hear this." And Jesus began to reveal Himself through His faithfulness in amazing ways, and they realized that to follow Christ was not to follow a 2000-year-old dead prophet. It was to follow the living Lord. That, for them, was the turning point. Garrison said this, "I traveled more than a quarter of a million miles into the Muslim world, and in every corner I interviewed people, I would never have imagined I'm talking about Sheikhs and Imams and Mullahs, leaders in the Islamic community who gave testimony to having been baptized after having met Jesus and knowing that in doing so, they were saying, "I am willing to die because they knew very well that Islamic law did not allow for conversion from Islam to anything." "Over the next... The course of the next couple of years, as I began compiling lists," said Garrison, "What I discovered was that in the whole course of Muslim-Christian interaction, there have been 82 times, 82 movements of Muslims to Christ of at least a thousand baptisms or 100 church plants over the last two decades," 82 times. Now, here's what's striking, 69 of those have occurred since the year 2000, we're in the midst of the greatest turning of Muslims to Christ in history. I don't think the Church of Christ is aware of this. Now, even though it's minuscule, when you look at 1.6 billion Muslims, it's less than 1.5% of Muslims have been touched by the Gospel at all. Yet we're seeing 84% of all the movements that have ever happened in the history of missions right now among the Muslim world, and that's exciting. By the way, all of that's in a book written by David Garrison. It's on my desk, in my office. I will give that book after worship is over. I'm going to go to the back of the church to the first person that promises that they'll read it sometime in the next three months. I mean, all of it. If you make me a promise that you'll read the whole book, I'll give it to you for free. Moving on. Jesus Deserves to Be Worshipped and Glorified as God Jesus deserves to be worshipped and glorified as God. Verse 10:11, "At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Simply put, people are saved. They're saved from their sins when by the power of the Holy Spirit, under the hearing of the true Gospel, they confess the deity of Christ. And when they do, Christ's glory increases that much more. This human baby that we're celebrating at Christmas time recognizes fully God and their own savior by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christmas Leads to Missions! So, therefore, Christmas leads to Missions. Amen. It leads to missions. This is a completely appropriate emphasis of Southern Baptist churches across the nation. The Lottie Moon Offering $120,000 for our goal, 175 million nationwide, if you happen to have 175 million lying around somewhere, give it to The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering or less is fine to consider the widow who gave two copper coins, and we're told she gave more than anyone, whatever God calls you to do. But more than that, lay yourself on the line in 2015 to grow in your commitment to evangelism and missions. You're commitment to seeing Christ's glory expand more and more, that every knee would bow and every tongue would confess. That should be the passion of our hearts. Applications Celebrate with Great Joy! So some final applications, first just celebrate with great joy. Christmas time, enjoy yourselves in a Christian way, enjoy yourselves. Have a good time with your family. But let's be sure that we remember Him who gave everything that we might have all of these gifts. Let's make Him the center of our celebration. Amen. I know we mean to, but often we forget. We've got our own family traditions, etcetera. Don't forget. Don't forget, and I mean, just literally like the text says, bow your knees to Jesus, get down on your knees on Christmas morning, and thank Him for dying for you and rising again. Worship Him as God. I'm going to especially challenge fathers, okay? Lead your families on Christmas morning with the Bible, read scripture, Colossians 1, John 1, Hebrews 1, or the accounts that were so familiar with in Luke and Luke 2, and in Matthew 1 and 2. Focus on Christ and worship Him. Imitate Jesus’ Downward Humility Secondly, imitate Christ's downward journey in your own way. We cannot travel as far as he traveled, but the same downward upward journey is commended by Paul to all Christians in Philippians 2. That's the reason why he's even talking about it. He wanted the Philippian Christians to get along and to serve one another. And so take to heart what he says in Verses 2-5, "Be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interest but also to the interest of others." Have this mind in you, which is also in Christ. Think like He did, who went that downward journey. Missions Thirdly, missions. The exaltation of Christ has continued now for 2000 years. God has sent people on long journeys to win the ends of the Earth. Ask God to make you more attentive than ever before to missions, learn more about it, ask him to give you a heart for missions, embrace church members who are serving overseas, who are presently there in the field now. It's actually pretty lonely to be on the field at Christmas time. It's a strange feeling. In Japan, they celebrated Christmas in a purely secular way. There was nothing Christian about it, in that way, similar to the US, but without churches and people assembling together. Other places, it's just another day. There's no difference at all. Pray for our brothers and sisters who are serving on the field. Young people, I just believe that God is going to be calling some of you to go and lay down your lives to the unreached people groups. I'm talking about high schoolers, college students. What is God doing with you? What is He calling you to be and to do? I just would love to see FBC as a launching pad for unreached people group missionaries. And so if you're young, you might be in elementary school and you just, your ears are perking up. You might be in middle school. You might be in high school, college, or just out of college. What do you want to do with your life? How do you want to sacrifice and serve? Could this be something God is calling you to do? Consider it. Come to Christ And then, finally, if I could just say if you're a visitor here, you were invited here, and you know you're on the outside looking in, and you've never given your life to Christ, today is the day for you. Repent and believe. Give your life to Christ, trust in Him. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for this time of celebration that we have, this time of year, in which we get to rejoice and delight in the gift of Jesus Christ for us. Closing Prayer Father, I pray that we would... That we would not think too highly of ourselves. As we're opening gifts, Lord help us to not feel I deserve this, or we deserve this. So Lord, help us to realize that you have lavished grace on us contrary to what we deserve. Thank you for Jesus, who is God in the flesh, and who gave Himself fully for us, and thank you for His bloodshed on the cross. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

July 6, 2014 Proverbs 9:1-18 - Don Richardson

July 6, 2014 Proverbs 9:1-18 - Don Richardson

In this episode our good friend Don Richardson from the band See Monsters stops in to chat a bit about Nirvana, and pretty much any other random topic possible... as usual!

I. By Faith the People Crossed the Red Sea (vs. 29) What an incredible night that was. We talked about a week ago, the Red Sea crossing as God led Israel through the Red Sea on dry land, how the pillar of fire lit their way, and how it kept Pharaoh's mighty army, and the chariots, and the horsemen from devouring the Israelites as they intended. "By faith, the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land," with the water walling up to the left and to the right. A night that could have been fraught with terror and bloodshed and death instead for them meant life and a picture of salvation. And by doing that awesome thing, God established a name for himself and a testimony that lives to this very day. And the reason for that is what I just prayed a moment ago, God never changes. The same God who did that at the Red Sea is alive today. And though he may do and will do different things in our generation than he did in their generation, still he's the same. Israel’s Identity and the Red Sea Crossing Almost a thousand years after the Red Sea crossing, Daniel in exile in Babylon prayed concerning the restoration of the Jews back to the Promised Land; they had been deported because of their sin, their violation of the covenant of God. And Daniel prayed in this way, in Daniel 9:15, "Now O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong." You see, he's going back in his mind almost a thousand years to the Red Sea crossing, and he says that God made a name for himself that day. From that moment on, the moment of the Red Sea crossing on, the Red Sea crossing would live and shape Israel's identity as a nation. It would never be forgotten. Later on in the Exodus, right before they entered the Promised Land, in Deuteronomy 11, God reminded them of what he had done at the Red Sea crossing. And then again at the end of Joshua's life, as he's reestablishing the covenant, he reminded them of the Red Sea crossing. In the Psalms, the Psalmists can't get enough of talking about the Red Sea crossing. Psalm 66:5-7, "Come and see what God has done. He turned the sea into dry land." Psalm 77:19, "Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters. Though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." Psalm 78:13, "He divided the sea and led them through, he made the water stand firm like a wall." They just can't get enough of talking about the Red Sea crossing. So also the prophets, Isaiah 43, "This is what the Lord says, he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and there they lay, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick." Isaiah 43. After the exile, Nehemiah returned back to it again. Nehemiah 9:10-11, "You made a name for yourself which remains to this day, you divided the sea before them so that they pass through it on dry ground. But you hurled their pursuers into the depths like a stone into the mighty waters." Even on into the new covenant era, Stephen, as he stands on trial for his life before the Sanhedrin, returns to the Red Sea crossing. In Acts 7:36, "He led them out of Egypt, and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt at the Red Sea, and for 40 years in the desert." This became part of Israel's manner of speaking. God led us through the waters. Because God led us through the waters, don't be afraid now of whatever trial you're facing. Again, Isaiah 43, in verse 2, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you." Later in Isaiah they return to the Red Sea crossing as if to say, God, you led us then, why aren't you leading us now? You were mighty and powerful then, why not now? Isaiah 63, "Where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them, who sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses' right hand, who divided the waters before them to gain for himself everlasting renown." Who led them through the depths…Where are your zeal and your might? Your tenderness and your compassion are withheld from us." God, what you did at the Red Sea crossing, do something like that for me now. The future restoration of Israel likened again to the Red Sea crossing in Zechariah 10: "Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands, they will remember me. They and their children will survive, and they will return. I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon. And there will not be enough room for them. They will pass through the sea of trouble, the surging sea will be subdued, and all the depths of the Nile will dry up." And so their restoration will be as a Red Sea crossing through the sea, the surging sea of trouble, God would restore them to the Promised Land. And so the Red Sea crossing was a major part of Israel's self-identity as a nation, but it was far more than that. As we have already said, it was by this that God glorified himself. It was by this that God made a name for himself that endures to this day. Three times in Exodus 14 he says his motive for the Red Sea crossing. He says, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, but I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and all the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord." Again. Exodus 14-17, "I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army through these chariots and horsemen." Exodus 14-18, "The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and horsemen." So the point of the Red Sea crossing, ultimately, was that God would gain glory for himself and make a name for himself; why that? It's so someone like Rahab would call on that name and be saved. It's really that simple. That sinners to the ends of the earth would hear of these kinds of stories, and look to the God who did them, and trust in him for the salvation of their souls, that's why. Now, not everyone who passed through the sea as on dry ground was ultimately saved. Korah and Dathan and Abiram passed through the Red Sea as on dry land, they were not saved. Nadab and Abihu passed through the Red Sea as on dry ground, and they were not saved. And the 10 spies who came back and brought a bad report about the land and led Israel in rebellion against God, they were not saved. They passed through the Red Sea as on dry ground. Isn't it amazing? Aren't God's ways strange, that in the cases of those men that I just listed, the actual physical experience of walking through the Red Sea as on dry ground did not save them, but an Amorite woman, a prostitute living in the Wall of Jericho, hears about the report, and by that she is saved. She's not even there, just heard the report years later, believed it and was saved. Aren't God's ways marvelous? Isn't the sovereignty of God and salvation a marvelous thing to behold? II. By Faith the Walls of Jericho Fell (vs. 30) And so, in our study in Hebrews 11, we come to beyond the Red Sea crossing to the city of Jericho at last. Now, you may wonder what happened from the Red Sea crossing to Jericho, and what happened was rebellion; the 40-year gap. We already covered this in the Book of Hebrews, we discussed it in Hebrews chapter 3, how he quotes psalm 95 and says, "So, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" Forty years, 40 lost years through unbelief, through unbelief. They weren't converted by passing through the Red Sea as on dry ground. They get to the other side, and they soon complain about food and water. And they murmur and complain against God. And they defied God, they defied the Lord at Mount Sinai by crafting a golden calf, which they bowed down and worshiped, despite the fact that they had heard the voice of almighty God forbidding them to do it, they did it anyway because their hearts were going astray. And then, as I mentioned, when the 10 spies came back, and there were 12 that went out, but 10 of them brought a negative report about the land, and said that the land devours its people. And we saw mighty warriors there, the Anakites, and we saw vast cities with walls that reach up to the sky. And "We seemed like grasshoppers in our own wyes, and we looked the same to them." And they led Israel to rebel against God and to not trust in him, to not trust in his promises. And they led Israel to talk of stoning Moses, and to go back to Egypt and serve as slaves there. And so their punishment was 40 years of wandering. But now the time has come, that's over, that generation's dead. They're dead, all of them dead. Their bodies were scattered through the desert. Some of them died right away, some of them died over decades, but they were all dead except for Joshua and Caleb. But they're all dead. Now, the time has come for their children to believe God and to trust in him and to take the Promised Land as God had promised. But there are some major obstacles that were facing them. The Jordan River was in front of them at flood stage, and on the other side of the Jordan was the awesome city of Jericho, of which it is said we saw city walls there that went up to the sky. They had no siege weapons to destroy those walls. Gunpowder hadn't been invented yet. There were terrible obstacles, and they couldn't just bypass the city, they couldn't leave it in their rear militarily, and besides which it would dishonor God to leave any part of the Promised Land not conquered. It was part of what God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, it was going to be conquered. And so the city had to be taken, and so the city was taken, but it was done by faith. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell after the people had marched around it for seven days. Now, Jericho was prepared for a siege, it says in Joshua 6:1. "Now, Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites, no one went out and no one came in." So they were ready for a siege. God commanded the people what to do, step by step he told them what he wanted done. Day one, first day, they were to march around the city in total silence. An armed guard would lead the way, the Ark of the Covenant would come next, seven priests carrying trumpets would come next, and then the people after that. And they would march around the city and not say a word. They would not raise up a war cry, they wouldn't do anything, they would just march around the city and then go back to their camp. And so they would do the same thing on the second day, and the third, and the fourth, right up through the sixth day. Same thing every day. Finally, on day seven, they were to march around the city in the same pattern seven times, and then they were to shout to the Lord, for God would give them the city and they were to go, each man, straight into the city and conquer it. And by faith, Israel obeyed those strange commands, and by faith the walls of Jericho fell, and the people obeyed and by faith Jericho was conquered. What an awesome story, what an incredible thing, and again, unpredictable. What Does the Unique Siege Teach Us about God? Well, what does this teach us about God and his ways? Well, first, God's ways are radically different than ours, aren't they? "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" You know what the direct corollary of that is? "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and let him direct your paths." His thoughts are better than yours; they're not just different than yours, they're better. And so we just have to trust in him, stop relying on our own wisdom, and our own patterns, and our own ways. Has anything like this ever happened since? Had anything like this ever happened before that? It's an incredible thing. God has an endlessly creative list of different things to do in every generation. It's just amazing, every generation something new and different. A baby born under a ban, put in a basket, and set afloat in a river grows up to lead God's people in a mighty way, that'll never happen again, not like that it won't. A young shepherd boy goes out with a stone, five smooth stones, one stone and a sling against a nine-foot giant, the two of them representing their armies, they fight and he kills him without a sword in his hand. Friends, that'll never happen again. It was just that one time. It's incredible. A prophet ascends to heaven in chariots of fire while his successor watches on, and a cloak falls to the ground. It's never going to happen again. God has lots of different things to do. He's so creative. In every generation there's something different. A Gentile general covered with leprosy comes and bathes seven times in a river, comes up clean. Incredible. Every generation, something different. So God tells his people do some strange things, to do them by faith, and he does different things in every generation. Now, when they come to Jericho, they come to a walled fortress, a city with thick walls, no one going out, no one coming in. What do you do? You have to conquer it. Well, you have four options, at least that's how it looks to military science. You can go over the walls by means of siege towers or siege ramps, you can go through the walls by means of siege engines; like I said, there wasn't gunpowder, which kind of put an end to walled fortresses at that point. But there were catapults and battering rams, things like that. You could tunnel under the walls, or you could surround the walls and wait, and that would be a siege, and eventually running out of food and water, they would have to come out. Those were your four strategies. God said, in effect, none of the above. None of the above, we're not doing any of those four options. Carnal wisdom will avail you nothing at all. We don't have time for the siege, we've got other plans, we've got other people to conquer. And you don't need any siege engines, just watch what happens to the walls. There's no need to go over them because you can walk right on top of them when they come down. God's ways are better than our ways. And so God does unusual, different things in every generation, this we learned from Jericho. Secondly, we also learned that God is independent of all laws of nature. He created them, he set them up, but he is not bound by them. And we thank God for them. The sun rises in the east, it sets in the west, there's a certain rhythm that God set up to the seasons, which he said would never fail after the flood. God set up that rhythm of the seasons. Gravity always takes objects in the same direction, and you know what that direction is. You count on friction every day; you may not think you do, but you count on it. I know that, because when our floors are incredibly slick, down we go. We've cleaned them with polish before, and that's... It's been exciting. It's like walking on ice, you're never sure what's going to happen. So we rely on these things, though you may not have studied them, and you may not appreciate them the way some engineers or scientists do, but they're just part of the physical world in which we live. More in everyday life, if it were not so, we couldn't learn by experience, because every day would be something weird and new, it'd be like we'd be learning the universe new every day. But God hasn't done that. God sets up things, and we use the term laws of nature, or physical laws because of their constancy. It is the basis of science, it's why it's even worth studying, because God is so consistent. I'm just telling you, God is not bound by any of them. He's not bound by any of them, he can do what he wants. And there are no visible means for that wall, those walls to come falling down, but that didn't mean that they couldn't come falling down, because God can do anything that power can do. That is the nature of God. God is independent of all laws of nature. Thirdly, God loves to raise up mighty obstacles before his faith-filled people, and then conquer those obstacles by the faith of his people; he loves to do it. He loves to raise up difficult tests, and challenges, and obstacles so that he can gain glory for himself when his people trust him enough to get through them. And fourthly, Satan can't stop God. He can't stop him. Satan's powerful, far more powerful than any person in this room, or all of us put together. He is powerful, he is the God of this age, so called, but he is nothing compared to Almighty God and that Jericho, that was a walled satanic fortress of might, that Canaanite religion was wicked. It was wicked and it was evil. And God had given them time to repent. In the days of Abraham, in Genesis 15, he said, "The sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." But you know what? This is just maybe a little allegorical, I don't know, but I see with the 13 times that they traveled around that walled fortress, that satanic fortress, 13 times, that was the death knell of their Amorite religion. It was the final tolling of the bell when God would crush it for good. The time had run out, 400 years had run out. The time had run out, the time had come to repent, and it was done, and Satan can't stop it. Now, you look at that Jericho like a walled armed satanic camp, a fortress. Jesus Will Build His Kingdom And Jesus said it this way. He said speaking of Satan and his kingdom, he said, "When a strong man fully armed guards his own house, his possessions are safe, but when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils." Amen, Jesus is someone stronger than the strong man. Satan's a strong man, Jesus is stronger. And Jericho could not withstand the power of Almighty God, Satan can't stop God. And throughout history God has in his sovereign way, in his sovereign... For his sovereign glory and purposes allowed mighty walled fortresses to be erected by Satan himself against the advance of the people of God. And they've stood in our way, these walls. Jesus said these walls would be there. He said it, "I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." He knew about those walls, he just said those walls are coming down. So look at the walls of the Roman Empire, that pagan, luxurious, militarily unconquerable it seemed Roman Empire. The one that put Jesus to death through Pontius Pilate, with all of its mighty roads and all of its economic infrastructure and all that sort of stuff. Mighty walls, but they came down into the steady onslaught of the Gospel. So that at some point, one of their emperors declared himself to be a Christian, Constantine. I mean, whether he was or wasn't, matters to him a lot. But we cannot judge from the outside. All I'm saying is, look at the progress of the Gospel, by the blood of the martyrs it advanced. And so also, hundreds and hundreds of years later, the walls of false doctrine by the Medieval Roman Catholic Church were erected against the Gospel, all kinds of additions and subtractions from the Word of God, and human wisdom, and perversions, and traditions of men came in. But they could not stop the reclamation of the Gospel and the reformation of the church, those walls came down. Just how about the walls of paganism, of godlessness that have come down under the steady advance of the Great Commission in the last 100 years? Hasn't it been beautiful to watch? Really since the days of William Carey, and Adoniram Judson, and then, Hudson Taylor in China and Robert Moffat in Africa, Jim Elliot and the others in Ecuador, and Don Richardson in Irian Jaya. Just one missionary hero, after another, those walls of unbelief coming down, the Gospel advancing, fewer and fewer unreached people groups. God is awesome. And so, he erects these mighty walls and then by his sovereign power brings them down. Islam is such a wall. A walled satanic fortress with people who are held by a false view of God and they're getting liberated every single day by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are our brothers and sisters, isn't it sweet? And God has that kind of power in your life as well, by faith, though. All of these victories are won by faith. After the people had marched around the wall for seven days, it was by faith the walls of Jericho fell. So what do we learn about faith and its ways? Well, first the daring of their faith, how daring were they? They were on the other side of the Jordan River, back at flood stage now, with it behind them, they're in Palestine, they're in the Promised Land on the side of the... With their enemies, but they don't have any walls. They don't have any city, they're there on their own with only God to protect them, but isn't that enough. One commentator, AW Pink, talks about the courage, the daring of their faith. He said there are three types, there are three degrees of faith. I thought this was insightful. There's a faith which receives, like a beggar you go to King Jesus and you say, I have nothing. And like a beggar you receive what he has to give you, by faith you receive salvation, forgiveness, simply like a beggar, a faith that receives. There is secondly a faith, which relies or counts on God to fulfill his promises, by that you move out in your Christian life. But thirdly, there's a faith that risks. A faith that risks, which dares something for the Lord, it puts earthly resources, earthly pleasure, earthly comfort on the line for Jesus. I fear that many of us stop after the second. We've got that faith that receives and the faith that relies, but we don't have that faith that risks. We're set here in Durham, we're set here in the Triangle area. We've got people to reach with the Gospel, but they will not be reached if we don't risk. And so, look at the daring of their faith. Look at the obedience also of their faith. Did not God's commands appear strange? What would walking around the city in total silence do? What would walking around it 13 times do? But they just obey, they simply did what they were told. How rebellious we are. How much we think our ways are better than his ways. But they were obedient. We see also the discipline of their faith. They were like well-trained soldiers, they did what they were told, they didn't argue with Joshua saying, "Hey, you know, we built high ramps when we were building the pyramids, we could build a ramp up to the walls of Jericho, we could do that." Carnal wisdom, carnal knowledge, they didn't do that. They just disciplined themselves under their commanding officer. We see the patience of their faith. Day after day after day, walking around the walls, the seventh day 13 times, and the wall still didn't fall. 13 times of walking, the wall's still intact. Then they gave that war cry, and then the wall came down. They praised the Lord, and that wall came down. But they had to be patient. God exercises our faith so that we may develop perseverance, that we may develop patience. And we see also the anticipation of their faith. I love how they shout the victory before the walls come down. Isn't that cool? They shout the victory, before the walls even show any indication of coming down. Trusting in him, that God's going to act, he's going to be faithful. Reading about the missionary, Robert Moffat, early 19th century Scottish pioneer missionary in South Africa, the Bechuanas, he was reaching out to them. He labored for years without a single convert among that people. Some friends from England wrote to him and asked, they knew about his trials, his difficulties and they wanted to brighten his day. So they said, "We'd like to buy you a gift and send it to you. What can we buy for you?" They were thinking maybe a book or something that would bring some comfort or a consolation to him. He said, "Would you please send me a communion set? I have no set with which I may share communion with the converts." He didn't have a single convert when he wrote that letter. Before the communion set returned, he had 12 of them. Isn't that a great story? The anticipation of faith. Mark 11:24, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." So it was with the Jews at Jericho. III. By Faith Rahab Was Saved (vs. 31) But now let's focus on a single individual. There was living in the walls of Jericho a woman. And her name was Rahab. Verse 31, "By faith, the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies was not killed along with those who are disobedient." How did Rahab get in here? I mean, do you ever wonder that? This is the Hall of Faith. I mean, you have Abel and you have Enoch and you have Noah and you have Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob, and Joseph, and Moses, and Rahab? How did she get into the Hall of Faith? I tell you, the salvation of Rahab is one of the four greatest salvations in the Bible. I'm just going to go on, you're going to come ask me, what are the other three, aren't you? You're interested, what are they? One of the four greatest trophies, shocking trophies of God's grace. Nebuchadnezzar, Saul of Tarsus, thief on the cross, each for different reasons. Nebuchadnezzar filled with arrogance, the dictator, tyrant, murderer, animal for seven years and then lifted his eyes to Heaven and God restored his sanity and he wrote one of the most beautiful praises to the sovereignty of God you'll find anywhere in Scripture. Saul of Tarsus, you know well, the morning breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples, converted by the evening, by display of the resurrected Christ in his glory. Thief on the cross, the most surprising to me, because Jesus had so little time to work with. And at the beginning of the time on the cross, he's reviling Jesus, by the end, he's saying, "Remember Me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom." And then there's Rahab. And when you come to Rahab, you realize all of the obstacles. Again, we're talking about obstacles. She was a Gentile, not a Jew, worse than that, she was an Amorite, about which I've already spoken. And they were under the wrath of God. They were set to be exterminated, to be condemned, every one of them. The Amorites had had 400 years to repent and they had not redeemed the time and now the wrath of God was about to fall. Not only that, but she was a notorious sinner, she was a prostitute. And there was a logistical problem, her house was in the wall, [chuckle] God intended those walls to come down. And you see in all of that, that God is no respecter of persons whatsoever. He chooses sinners who will most glorify him for his grace. What did Rahab have to offer? All of that mess by which she could glorify God for eternity for his grace to her. There was nothing whatsoever in this woman that could have commended her to be chosen by God for eternal salvation, it was by the sovereign pleasure of God alone that she escaped the wrath for which the rest of her countrymen were destined. Amazing grace. And yet there were no visible means of grace. There were no Sabbaths, there were no reading of the Scriptures, there were no prophets, there was none of that. What there was, was a report from the Red Sea crossing, and then the killing of Sihon, king of the Amorites and Og, king of Bashan, that's what they had, that's what she had. Everybody had that, there in the city of Jericho. And evidently she was regenerated before the spies even came there. Before the spies even came there. Again, what was the point of the Red Sea crossing? It was that God would make a name for himself. Why Did God Want to Make a Name for Himself? Why did God want to make a name for himself? Is he likes some praise-craving fading star in Hollywood that needs people around him, sycophants to say, "Oh, you're so wonderful. Oh, you're so great. Oh, you're so amazing." No, God is very well-secured within himself, he has no needs like that, he's fine, he's not suffering from self-esteem problems, not at all. No, he makes a glorious name for himself that sinners like you and me will call on that name and be saved, for everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. And so, he makes much of his name so that we will call on that name and be saved. It's for salvation of Rahab that the Red Sea crossing happened and others too. And faith comes by hearing the message, and so, some messengers came to say what the God of... The Jews had done to the Egyptians. Rahab, living in the walls, as a prostitute was there, and she heard and believed, then Joshua was sent out two spies to scout out the land and this is what Rahab said to them, when they came to her house. "We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites East of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed, when we heard of it, our hearts melted, and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the Earth below" Do you hear the faith in that? Here is the true God. I know it's true. Now, then please swear to me by the Lord, that you will show kindness to my family. All of Jericho was terrified of the Israelites, but only Rahab cried out for mercy. And frankly, she's the only one that got the chance to do it. God sovereignly orchestrates both ends of that. And she had that faith established before they came, despise, it says in James 2:25, "In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified or considered righteous, [the NIV has] for what she did, listen, when she gave lodging to the spies?" You see, she had faith before they came, so that she opened her home to them and took them in, that was a display of her faith at that point and then sent them off in a different direction. And her faith worked in her a hope. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. She actually has a hope that the God of Israel might spare her and provide a place for her. There might be life for her. Salvation for her, she has a hope based on that. I notice the breadth of her faith as well. She's concerned not just for herself, but her family. And so, her family is extended grace because of her faith, they are blessed. I don't know if they were saved. I know that they were safe from the sword at that time, I don't know if they were spiritually saved. I have no idea. So, what was the effect of Rahab's faith? Well, James' point, James 2, is genuine faith always produces works, and so good works came from that genuine faith. She welcomed the spies. She sent them off in a different direction to protect them from their pursuers. She hung the little red cord in the window to identify her house as her own house, she did what she was told. In a minor way, I want to say we see the imperfection also of Rahab's faith. Faith doesn't make you a perfect person. She lied to the king of Jericho about the spies who she was hiding among the flat stalks on her roof. Now some of you are going to come to me and say, "Hey, what could she have done? What could she have done?" She could have told the truth, that's what she could have done. Well then, she and they would have been killed. Maybe, I don't know that. But I just want to ask you a question, can you imagine Jesus lying to save his life? Can you imagine Jesus lying to save someone else's life? Can you imagine that? So, she's imperfect. But so are you, and yet you believe in Jesus, amen. And Hebrews 11 and James 2 doesn't touch on those things. It's in the Old Testament, we know about it, but it's not a major feature. By faith, our sins are forgiven. By faith, our sins are covered. Now, if you want to come after it and talk to me about Corrie ten Boom, and all of that and what they could have or should have done, let's have a lively discussion. I'm just saying the Scripture says it's better to die than to lie. And not one of us has that commitment to truth, not the way Jesus did. Jesus, when he was charged on trial for his life, under oath by the high priest, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the living God?" He said, "I am." He made the good confession. I am. And in the future you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven and then the high priest tore his robe, and condemned Jesus to death. It's Jesus' way of thinking, he would rather die than sin. And what was the outcome of Rahab's faith? Her life was saved, and I say to you, not merely her life, but her soul was saved too. For God, a genuine faith came into her life, turned her away from wickedness, sanctified her, made her yearn for holiness, she gave up the life of a prostitute. She was accepted into the congregation of Israel, she married Salmon of the tribe of Judah, and she gave birth to Boaz, whose story you can read about in the Book of Ruth, what a godly man Boaz was. King David's grandmother. And amazingly then, this prostitute made it not only into the Hall of Faith, but into the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1. Incredible, by faith. IV. Applications So what? So come to Jesus. Come to Jesus, God has made a far greater name for himself at the cross and the empty tomb than he ever made at the Red Sea. By sending his son, a descendant of Rahab, by sending his son in the flesh to die on the cross in our place, he has made the only way through condemnation you will ever find. It's the only way of salvation, faith in Jesus. That's why the author wrote Hebrews 11, that we would hear and believe and be saved through Jesus. Trust in him. And if you say to me, "Well, I have trusted him," I say, "Keep trusting in him." Keep believing in Jesus, feed on Christ, go to the cross again and again, you're still a sinner, you still need cleansing. The cleansing is still the same way. There's a fountain open in the House of David to cleanse you of all your sins, trust in him and maybe you've never trusted in Jesus. Maybe you were invited here today by a friend, maybe you had not yet made a commitment to Christ. Don't leave this place unconverted, the rest of the sinners, the Amorites in Jericho they all died under the righteous judgment of God, all of us deserve it. But by faith, God calls out his chosen ones to believe. You say, how can I know if I'm chosen? Come to Jesus, it's the only way you can do it. If God chooses you, you will come and I say come. It's not hard. Just look to Jesus with eyes of faith, trust that God gave him for you, that his blood shed on the cross is to forgive you of your sins, look to Christ resurrected for your eternal life, your resurrection, trust in him. And second of all, can I just urge you, stand in awe of God and the Red Sea crossing. Let's talk about it, why not? Say, wasn't God awesome at the Red Sea crossing? Like, well, that's old news. It's alright. It was old for the psalmists that were writing about it. God's the same yesterday, today and forever, to say, "My God can make a way through the Red Sea." And Zechariah 10 implies that we can kind of allegorize it to some degree. Don't go wild, now, Bible teachers, don't do it. But God can make a way through a sea of trouble for you. He can do it. He does the same thing in Isaiah 43. He said, "Look, I made a way through the Red Sea at that time. I'm going to make a new way, a better way in the future," uses that kind of way of speaking. Walk through your troubles and don't expect an easy life. Are you shocked by the trials that you're going through? Medical trials, financial trials, are you struggling? God delights to raise up obstacles, and then have you by faith conquer them and overcome them. He's set before us two infinite journeys. The internal journey of growth and holiness, Christ's likeness. You cannot do it without suffering. You can't do it without facing obstacles, you'll only bypass them or conquer them by faith. And neither can we make any progress in the external journey, except by courage and faith. We've got to risk things, brothers and sisters, we will not make progress. Close with me if you would in prayer.

Lets open our Bibles up to Lukes Gospel, the first chapter-the Christmas story. [This is] one of the important events of the Christmas story. Were ending our series this morning on The Cold War. Weve been talking about the importance of reconciliation, peace, forgiving one another, peace between man and our fellow men. This morning, were going to talk about the highest form of peace that there is. Have you ever had something happen that was not what you were expecting, but once you experienced it, it was better than what you had hoped for. It was better for you, more beneficial for you than what you were expecting and planning for. I know you Packer fans did. I remember years ago when your quarter back-who was a pretty good quarterback, I think Don Majkowski was his name-was hurt. Your second stringer from Atlanta-a guy named Brett Favre-came in the game. How many of you were disappointed when Majkowski got hurt and Brett Favre came in the game? Oh, you fibbers! You didnt know who he was! I remember that! Nobody knew of him. They said, Oh, dont worry about it! One of the greatest quarterbacks of all times is going to come in and take his place. Hell lead us to the Super Bowl! Relax! You werent thinking of that! You were thinking, This is bad news! You got more than you were bargaining for. Im a Bears fan, but Ill call it the way it is. Thats just the way it is. You were blessed by that. Sometimes in life, we dont get what were expecting. Thats true in the realm of spiritual matters as well. God sometimes does not give us what were hoping for or expecting, but He gives us what we need. He gives us whats beneficial for us. Thats what were going to see this morning in our story. Whats happening here in the Christmas story is there has been an announcement made by the Angel, Gabriel. Before he came to Mary, he came first to a man by the name of Zachariah. Zachariah was told by the Angel, Gabriel, as he was doing his duties in the temple, that his wife Elizabeth-though they were both old in age-they were going to conceive a male child. They would name him John, and he would be the one who would herald the coming of the Messiah, the King. Zechariah didnt understand how this was possible. He doubted the word of the Angel Gabriel. Gabriel said, I stand before the presence of God. Ive been sent by God to give you this message. Because youve not believed, you will be unable to speak. Zechariah lost his voice until such a time when his son was born, and he wrote on paper, His name is John. As soon as he did that, he was able to speak. The first words out of his mouth were praise-praise unto God. Were going to read that in Verse 67 of Luke 1 (page 1014 of pew Bibles). As we read it, I want you to notice the expectation that he has, the expectation of what this child, this King, will do. His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come and has redeemed His people. He speaks prophetically of what is in the future as though it had already happened. ‘He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of our servant David (as He said through His holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us-to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath He swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies and enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. He reiterated that same thing twice. Did you catch it? To live in freedom from fear of our enemies. His expectation was when this little child grew up, he will be a military, political leader who will lead a conquest to defeat Rome, who was their occupying country. They had a freedom, but that freedom was determined by Rome. If they got out of line-if there was a disturbance, that freedom was fragile and could be removed from them. They were not a sovereign, independent nation. They were under the dictate and rule of Rome. When the Messiah comes, He is going to reestablish us. Hes going to set up a throne in David, and Hes going to rule a kingdom from there. That was the expectation of Zechariah. He will bring peace, but that peace will come at the conquest of the enemies of Israel. We all know thats not the peace that God was coming to bring. He turns to his son, John, ‘And you, my child, you will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God. Notice, why will our sins be forgiven? Because were great, wonderful, good and righteous? No. Because God is merciful. ‘To shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. He will bring us into peace. The peace he was looking for was physical peace. That didnt come, did it? Is the peace that Jesus was going to bring a peace that would end conflict in the world? Is it a peace that would end trouble between man and man or nation and nation or race and race? If that was the peace that Jesus came to bring, then He failed in His mission at this event because all we have to do is turn on our television and open up the paper. We know that the world is not a peaceful place. We know that conflict, tension and evil are still very much a part of our existence and our world. The peace that Jesus came to bring was the highest form of peace. It was a peace between God and man. [It is] the highest form of peace because it is an eternal peace, because it is a spiritual peace. How would Jesus accomplish this? As He comes is He going to flex His spiritual muscles or his Godly muscles and just impress us with His strength? Is He going to overpower us and intimidate us into submission-because God could do that? Thats an effective tool you know. I am now 48 years old. I play basketball against guys that are half my age. The sons of the men I used to play against I now play against. Im older than they are, slower than they are. I dont jump as high as they do, but Im stronger than they are. Thats the one thing I have going for me. Anytime an old man can show up a young person, thats a good thing to do. A couple of these guys-big guys-are 63; one is 67; theyre well-built guys. Theyre in the weight room, and I saw them on the bench press. A couple of these guys get really feisty on the court. I like them, but one guy in particular gets a little feisty and his temper has gotten the best of him a couple times. A couple times when I was guarding him, he got a little jumpy. I looked at him and I thought, Theyre on my turf now. Now we can have some fun. So they were doing the bench press, and they were [saying], Ahhh, one. Ahhh, two. They were grunting, and I said, Hey, can I jump in here? They said, Sure. Are you sure you can lift this? Ive been doing that for years. They said, You need a spot? I said, No, Im fine. I lifted it off, and I did ten. I had plenty of room left over, and I racked the bar without warming up. They were like, Whoa! One guy goes, I will never mess with you again. I swear I will never, ever… He was serious. He said, I will never, ever mess with you. He kept saying that for the next half hour. He said, I will never… Did you hear me? I will never mess with you again. So is God going to come down and just show us how strong He is and cause us to go, Oh, man, Lord, Youre strong, so Im going to submit to you. He could have, but thats not what He chose to do. Is He going to come down and kind of call a truce? Is it a ceasefire? Is He going to come down and say, Well, listen, time out? Lets cease hostilities for just a period of time. While Im here, therell be peace. After Im gone, trouble will happen again. Its kind of like the woman who found out that her husband was going to write her out of his will. He wrote her out of the will, and she was so angry with him that when he died, she put on his tombstone, Rest in peace…until I arrive. Ill deal with you. Is this going to be a temporary peace? Not at all. The peace that Hes going to bring is an eternal peace. Or maybe Jesus will come, and Hell compromise with us. Maybe when He grows up, Hell negotiate. Hell say, You know, I know the bar has been raised too high. What Im here to do is kind of lower the bar. God is going to kind of look the other way at some sins now. Were just going to kind of meet in the middle. You do your best, and Well lower Our standards. Well just kind of meet in the middle somewhere. What do you think? Well just kind of negotiate on this salvation thing. Well, God cant do that. God is righteous and holy. His holiness demands judgment, purity. So how will God, who is holy, still exercise justice at the same time He exhibits His love? He will establish peace by removing the very thing that has caused hostility, by removing the very thing that has stood between us and God-removing the barrier which is sin. In the Book of Colossians 1 (page 1165 of pew Bibles), the Apostle Paul writes about that. Were going to see the story of the Gospel from the Creation of the world to the manger to the cross. In Colossians 1:15, the Apostle Paul writes these words: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created; things in Heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He didnt simply come into existence in Bethlehem in a manager. He is God. He is God, the Son. He created the world. For, He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. So we see Jesus before the incarnation. We see Jesus in Heaven. We see Jesus in eternity. We see Jesus as Creator, and then Paul takes us to the incarnation. He takes us to Bethlehem; he takes us to Christmas. He says, For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him… Were mindful as we think about the child in the manger-that its not just a child whos simply blessed by God but gifted by God or God is present by him in a strong way, no. All of the fullness of God dwelled in that little child. All the fullness of the deity was wrapped in Him. Then he talks about the cross, and he says, …and through Him to reconcile Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in Heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. Shed on the cross… Once you were alienated from God, you were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviors; but now He has reconciled you by Christs physical body through death to present you holy in His sight without blemish and free from accusation. How can we be free from accusation because we all know that we continue to sin; we continue to struggle because though we are free from the penalty of sin, presence of sin is still very much in our world. We are righteous because we have been declared righteous by faith as an act of grace. Jesus received our sin and imparted to us His righteousness. In the incarnation was the continuation of a divine conspiracy-conspiracy for harmony and for good because it says that He is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. God knew man would fall; and even before man was created, a plan was made for man to be redeemed. The next step in that redemption would be for God to take on flesh, and He would live a life that would be a perfect life offered as a sin sacrifice for us on the cross. That is the message of the Gospel-that He Himself is our peace. Paul says in Ephesians 2:14 (page 1157 of pew Bibles) that He, Jesus, is our peace. He didnt just come to bring peace; He was peace and is peace. There was a story told on the mission field, a true story, of a man by the name of Don Richardson. He and his wife Carol left the comforts of home. They received their education-he in linguistics training and Carol in medicine. God sent them to reach an unreached people group in Indonesia. They lived in the west part of Indonesia in the jungle. They were a remote tribe-an unreached people group called the Sawi. The Sawi were cannibalistic headhunters. You have to know that God is calling you if youre going to go and try to reach cannibalistic headhunters, right? God, Ill go anywhere You want me to go. You tell me where to go, and then God says, Fine, Im sending you to cannibalistic headhunters. You might say, Well, is there any place else? Could that be like Option Z maybe? Are there other choices that You have for me? They took their 7-month old child, and they embarked to this little island in Indonesia. There they met the Sawi people. They knew they were different. Theyd never seen any people like this before, but they brought with them tools, and they brought with them medicine. This medicine was like magic. It treated their illnesses and sicknesses and made them better. So they didnt understand who they were; they didnt understand why they were there, why they were so interested in their customs, their culture and their language; but the tools and the medicine, they liked having them around. Now whats really interesting about this people group is they valued among all things… We might say, Well, we value faith, we value truth or we value love. Sawi valued treachery above all things. Murder was a common place, but not just murder-murder with a twist. If you really wanted to be esteemed in the Sawi culture, then what you would do was get somebody to think they were your friend, gain their trust and then kill them-betray them and kill them. As crazy as that sounds to us, that was their culture; so thats how they esteemed one another. [Its] like when you have a pig thats a family pet. You fatten the pig; you have it at your table. The pig thinks hes one of the family, one of the gang. Then one day you rise up, slaughter the pig and eat him. Thats what youd do. Youd make your enemy your friend, kill them and eat them. Finally the day came after many years of study and preparation. Don Richardson translated enough of the Gospel into Sawi that he began to convey the story of the Gospel. He told them about Jesus, and he told them about the Twelve. He told them how Jesus was betrayed by Judas and how then Jesus was crucified. As the Sawi listened to the story, the hero of the story to them was Judas. They clapped at Judas; he was their hero. He pulled it off. Hed gotten Jesus to trust him and then betrayed Him and had Him killed. Jesus was the dupe; He was the one you laughed at in the story, and Richardson thought, How in the world can I reach this people when they think Jesus is someone to be laughed at and Judas is one to be admired? In fact, he was so discouraged that he decided he would quit. For whatever reason-maybe hed miss God, maybe he wasnt the man for the job-but he was unable to communicate. How in the world could he reach a people whose thinking was so perverse, so different from ours? He informed the warring tribes that he and his wife would be leaving, and of course if they left, the medicine would go too. They didnt want that, so they decided that they were going to call a truce. There were three warring Sawi tribes, and they called a truce. Skeptical of the truce, Richardson said, How in the world can I trust people who make friends and then kill them? He could trust them because they had what was called the Peace Child. What would happen was if tribes wanted to call peace, then the leaders of the tribe would take their son and offer him to the leader of the other tribe as a Peace Child. All the cultures valued the life of the Peace Child. No one could take the life of the Peace Child. As long as the Peace Child was alive, there was peace. As soon as he saw that, he realized he had an inroad. He shared with the Sawi people that Jesus Christ was the Peace Child, that mankind had rebelled against God. We had sinned against God-that we are making ourselves to be Gods enemy by breaking His law-and that God has offered us peace. God wants to have a relationship with us and in order to demonstrate His love and His sincerity, He has given us; His Son and His Son lives for all eternity. The peace that God offers is for eternity. Salvation came to that little village. If you looked that little village-the Sawi village-up on your computer, youd see the major religion there is Christianity. The church is alive and well. In the 70s, Don left that region, and he is now a missionary at large for a team called World Team where Pastor Sean and Heather Christensen from our church are. So, again, [heres] another famous missionary story with ties to our church. I just found this interesting too. I knew I was going to be talking about this missionary story in Indonesia, and I came to the service last night and went through my mailbox. I pulled out something and said, Whats this? I read it and it said, Voice of the Martyrs has received a gift in honor of Reverend Jeff Williams. Hey, that's me! Whos it from? Oh, thats nice. It says, The donor has requested that the gift be used for Village Outreach to Indonesia. They had no way of knowing I was going to talk on this story, and thats what I found last night as I was here. It was just kind of God giving a see, there, God giving us a nod and saying, Thats the message I want to share. I want people to know that Ive offered them peace. Im going to ask if youd bow your head in prayer. We still have some more things to take care of before we go home, but Id like us just to take some time and to pray. Father, were grateful today for the child that brought peace, not a temporary peace. It was not a political peace. It was not a physical peace that would end hostilities between man and his fellow man of the races. There is coming a day when You will physically rule. The peace that Youd come to bring in Your first Advent was a lasting peace, the highest form of peace. It was a peace and reconciliation between us and You. You demonstrated Your sincerity; You demonstrated Your commitment by offering us Your Son. Remove the barrier of sin, so we can come right into Your presence through His name. Father, my prayer this morning is for those who might be here whove not yet received that gift. As Im praying, if youre here today and youve never trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior, I invite you to pray this prayer with me. In your heart, pray, Heavenly Father, I come to You in Jesus name today. I confess to You that my heart has not been where it should be. I confess to You that Ive wondered and that Ive done things that I know are not pleasing to You. This morning, I come and ask for Your forgiveness. I confess to You my sins. I ask that the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross be applied to the sin in my life; that You would forgive me; that You would cleanse me; that Your Holy Spirit would reside within me; that Youd give me a new Heart. Its my desire to live for You all the days of my life. I enter in to the peace that You have offered me through Christ, and I give You thanks for it. In Jesus name, Amen. Father, we have the assurance that if we prayed that prayer, prayed it in faith, that our sins are forgiven, that Your Holy Spirit lives inside of us, and we have the promise of Heaven. Its not an empty, shallow promise based upon myth or superstition, but there is an empty grave. There is a place where You are not because, Lord, You rose again from the dead and have offered life eternal for all those who would follow You. God, were grateful for Your redemption, for Your gift. We celebrate that gift this morning. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.

An overview of the Book of Isaiah and the scope of the Kingdom of Christ that extends to the end of the world and the end of the ages. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - I hope you've all gotten one of these green sheets, the ones at the bottom of the pile of white, and we haven't gotten there yet, so they're all green, if you need one, we've got some up at the front and you'll want them, you'll also want your Bibles, we're gonna be looking through the book of Isaiah. I did not put all the quotes in the green sheet, we're gonna have to follow along. Ordinarily, I'm going through the book of Exodus, and I hate to digress, but I just felt compelled, I was just so excited by this study that I did earlier. I was challenged recently as I was preparing for a talk that I'm gonna give to some ministers tomorrow, about the role of the word of God in the ongoing devotional life and healthy spiritual life of a pastor. By the example, I had forgotten, but of the example of George Muller, who read through the Bible 100 times in his life. Now, you may not think that's any big deal, but have you ever tried to read through the Bible once in a year? And he went, read through it 100 times, so that's on average, about twice a year for him, and maybe a little faster. That's incredible. And just the scope, what that does for you, you see, in-depth memorization of Scripture, memorizing whole books of the Bible gives you knowledge and depth, you take one book and you study it carefully and you go as deeply as you want with that one book. Reading through the Bible in a year or reading through it 100 times gives you the overall breadth, the scope of what God is doing, and you just keep learning new things, so I thought, "Well, I'll see if I can combine it,” and I've really never been able to do that before, is read through the Bible in a year and memorize books of the Bible, it's really hard to do, but I thought I'll keep going until I just can't do it anymore. And so I was going through Genesis again and some things started to click into place, and it started with the passage in Isaiah 42, which I preached on this morning. Now, you see in your outline there, this morning's quote from Matthew 12. In Matthew it reads, "Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight, I'll put my Spirit on him and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out, no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed, he will not break, and a smoldering wick, he will not snuff out, until he leads justice to victory. In his name, the nations will put their hope." Now, in the Isaiah passage, if you look, especially at verse 4, you see a difference, he says there, “He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.” And then it says, “In his law the islands will put their hope.” It's kind of interesting, isn't it? Matthew brings it over as nations, and really the scope, and it ends up about the same, but there's a detail or a specific understanding of islands in the book of Isaiah, I spent about a year and four months doing scripture memorization in Isaiah, and I'll tell you what, the things that are there, in the book of Isaiah, it's like I've likened it before to the new world, when Columbus landed, or when Lewis and Clark went across on their expedition, there's so much to learn in the book of Isaiah, so many details. And you could take one theme, like I've done here, this is really just a word study on the word island, in Isaiah, and you would see the riches there. But that's what we're gonna do this evening. “In his law,” it says, “the islands will put their hope.” Now, Isaiah, if you look at Isaiah 1:1, it's there on your sheet, or you can turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 1:1, either way is fine. But it says, “The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Now, this is important, in two senses, number one, that Isaiah is, I think of all the prophets, all the Old Testament prophets, the most visionary, by far, what I mean by that is, you could close your eyes, and listen to someone reading Isaiah and streams of visions, would come into your mind, pictures really. He was a very picturesque writer, you know, you're gonna see images of streams in the wasteland, of the desert blooming with crocuses, you're gonna see the shadow of a great rock in a dry and thirsty land, a voice crying in the wilderness, for example, or you're going to see great, mighty tall sailing ships with tall masts being toppled over, an image of the humiliation of human arrogance and pride, there's lots of images that come in, one of them in chapter one is the daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege. You can imagine a melon field, and so it's just flat and there are vines everywhere and there's a hut, perhaps a shelter to rest in the middle of the field, and so you can imagine the starkness of that, there's this hut, sitting all by itself, and then just a field all around it with nothing else there, and that's Jerusalem when the Assyrians came in and conquered everything but that one city, Jerusalem, and there was nothing left, and so Jerusalem was left alone, isolated like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege. So you see the images there, or at the end, “You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water, the mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark, both will burn together with no one to quench the fire.” Speaking of idolatrous Israel and their works being really like drying leaves ready to burn and crackle with a fire, and that fire is coming, so they're images. It's a visionary book, and one of the images he gives us again and again is this image of the kingdom of Christ, the overall glory of the kingdom of Christ, and he gives that probably most clearly, I think in Isaiah 9, very familiar to us. Verse 6-7, "To us, a child is born, to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end.” And here it is, it says, “He will reign on David's throne, and over his kingdom.” You see that, now, the kingdom image for Christ and the Messiah is not strong in Isaiah, but here it is clearly taught, that the coming Messiah, the descendant of David, “will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness,” it says, “from that time on and forever, the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Accomplish what? Well the kingdom of Christ, from the time he comes, from that point on, the kingdom will reign and it will grow and get stronger. And so that's what we have in mind, the increasing glory and the eternal glory of the kingdom of Christ, and Isaiah gives us the scope of that vision, the geographical scope is what we're really kind of looking at tonight, to the ends of the earth or to the distant islands, will be his reign. We're gonna talk about that. The ethnic scope, it includes the Gentiles, the strongest verses on God's saving intentions to the Gentiles in the Old Testament are found in the Book of Isaiah. And we're gonna look at some of them tonight. The nations, he has in mind, the nations, and also the timeframe, he's going to go from that time on and forever, right to the end of the world. So we have the scope here of Christ's Kingdom, to the ends of the earth and to the end of the age. That is the scope of Christ's kingdom. "To the ends of the earth and to the end of the age; that is the scope of Christ's kingdom." Now, the roots of this are the beginning, namely the original creation mandate. In Genesis chapter 1, God after creating man, male and female, in his image and after his likeness, gave them this commission. “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.’” Now, what does that mean, “Fill the earth?” It means, “Replicate, have more of yourselves, have lots of children who are also created in the image of God, and then just be there, be all over the world, everywhere that I've made, live there, and see what I've made.” The glorious creation, and be there as worshippers of God, those that take in the glory of God, that see it, that admire it, and that reflect it back up to him in knowing worship, something nothing else in creation can do, that's something we alone can do, we who have been taken from the Earth, physically, created out of the dust of the earth. We can stand on the ground and we can look around us and say, "This is my Father's world, God made this, and he's glorious, and he's majestic." That was our job. And so God intended, I believe, from the beginning, that the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, and that we would do that, that we would have children and grandchildren, Adam and Eve would, and they would fill the earth with the knowledge of his glory, and that all over the world his image would be there, standing on this spot, or on that spot, or on this hill, or that mountain, we would be there all over the world, and we would see what God has made and we would honor him and we would give him glory and praise, for he made it. But sin ruined everything, didn't it? In one sense, sin interfered, sin stepped in and made us selfish and made us wicked so we could not see his glory, we became blinded because of sin, we were cast out of the garden of Eden. Genesis 3:23, "The Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken." So we had to wrestle with the dust and with the thorns to make a living, and so everything changed when sin entered, we changed and our task changed. And so we see at this point, the idea of scattering coming in. Now this is very interesting, so I've only begun to have these thoughts over the last two days, so this is very undeveloped for me, but the idea I have here is that God still wants the world filled, even sinners that we are. And so what he's gonna do is he's gonna scatter people all over the earth. He's gonna spread them everywhere, even though they don't know him or acknowledge him, they're going to be there, but they're not going to acknowledge him. Then he's gonna go get them, with the gospel. That's the kind of the big picture here. He's gonna send them out there, they're gonna be there, and then the gospel is gonna come after them and transform them into worshippers of God. You see what's gonna happen. So that's his second plan, and obviously he knew that the fall would happen, I'm not getting into that, but the idea is he would scatter them to the ends of the earth, and they would populate those places, and then he'd come after them with the gospel. Cain was the first who was scattered, if you look at his situation, that he murdered his brother, over worship really, and it says "The Lord said, 'What have you done? Listen to your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground, now you are under a curse and driven from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand, when you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you,'" and then it says, "You will be a restless wanderer on earth." That's very important, isn't it? Who does that remind you of, a restless wanderer on earth? Isn't that the devil's role? You're very demonic, at this point; he's a restless roamer over the surface of the earth, that's what Cain would be like. But that's a sense of the scattering, he's gonna go out and move out at that point, and he's gonna have cities and he will, and his descendants will as well, and they're going to set up cities and they will populate them. We see the same thing happening after the flood, Noah's flood, in Genesis 9:18-19, “The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Ham was the father of Canaan. These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.” do you see that? That's very interesting, Genesis 9:19, from these three sons of Noah came the peoples who are what? Scattered over the earth. What is he doing? He's spreading people all over the world, scattering them. Now, when did that happen? Well, in Genesis 11 it happened with the incident of the Tower of Babel, you remember that story? And they had the technology, they developed a technology on how to build bricks and bake them thoroughly, and when I preached on Genesis, you remember in Genesis 11, I talked about that, why is that important? Well, it had greater compressive strength, you see, as an engineer, I can stand here and tell it, and when you bake them thoroughly, and all the moisture gets out and you can stack one on top of the other, and when you can do that, you can build tall towers and great cities at that point. And so at this point, we look in and we see what is their motive? And in Genesis 11:4, it gives the motive, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may [number one] make a name for ourselves and [number two] not be scattered over the face of the earth.’" They're doubly thwarting the plan of God. Do you see that? They're not going to be spread or scattered all over the Earth, they don't want that, they wanna come together and be in this one place, and why, so that they could glorify themselves; make a name for themselves. And so in this way, it's frustrating the plan of God, who would have them fill the Earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Exactly the opposite, of what he intended, and then in Genesis 11:8-9, “So the Lord scattered them from there all over the earth and they stopped building the city, that's why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world, and from there, the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” that's twice now, in two verses and three times, in this account, in Genesis 11, this idea of scattering, the people are being scattered all over the Earth. God did it. It's not an accident. He intended it to be done. He scattered the people. Where did they go? Well, Acts 17:26 tells us where they went. What does it say? It says, "From one man, he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole Earth." What does the word, that, mean in that sentence? God intended that people be all over the earth, he intended that. “From one man, he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he determined the time set for them and the exact places where they should live.” So where did they go? They went where God determined that they should go, they spread out, and they took their place on the earth where God intended. Alright, well, the descendants of Japheth were particularly interesting to me as I went through the table of nations, “The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras, and the sons of Javan were Elishah, and then Tarshish, it says, Kittim and Rodanim,” now, Tarshish and Kittim are particularly interesting to me, but I'm gonna keep reading, “From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.” These were the maritime peoples, what does that mean? They got into ships and sailed to places you couldn't reach except by ships. Well, how do they know how to do that? Well, Noah built an ark, a very impressive ship, I must say, and so it wouldn't be so shocking for his descendants, a few generations later to know enough to build sailing vessels that could take them anywhere on the surface of the earth, they could go anywhere. And so they did. And so they peopled, among other places, the islands, the distant islands, and there would be people there, and they would have their own culture, and their own language, it says. Now, Tarshish is the most distant populated colony of the Mediterranean Sea, perhaps as far as Spain. You remember Tarshish, in that Jonah tried to flee there from the presence of the Lord. Well, the problem was that he hadn't read Psalm 139, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” “If I go to Tarshish, you are there. It doesn't matter where I go, you're there,” but he thought he would flee from the presence of the Lord. Was he going as a missionary? No, it's more of that scattering. He's just going. He wants to get away. It has nothing to do with being a missionary; it has to do with just running away from the presence of the Lord. Well, God didn't intend that Jonah go to Tarshish at that point, he said, no. Alright, now, Kittim is the general term for the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, but especially Cyprus, I think, in particular Cyprus, that's gonna play in later, again, when we see the fulfillment of the islands, I'm just setting the table right now, say, “Well, when are we gonna eat the course?” I don't know, but we're getting there, we're getting there. Okay. So the descendants of Japheth peopled the islands of the sea. Now, Israel was called out. You know after that, shortly after the Tower of Babel, God called a man, Abraham, from Ur of the Chaldees and set his love on him and made a covenant with him, that through his offspring, all peoples on earth would be blessed, right? And so God would bless the whole world, all nations on earth blessed through Abraham, and he was the father of the Jews, the Jewish nation. And so he made a covenant with him and that they would have the Promised Land, but it wouldn't be until after the events of Exodus that we're studying, when God would lead them out with a mighty hand, outstretched arm, into the Promised Land, and they would take that Promised Land, but with a conditional covenant. What do I mean by conditional covenant? Well, there are unconditional covenants, like the covenant that God made with Noah after the ark, he said, "Look at the Rainbow. There's the sign, I'm never gonna do this again." Okay, That's unconditional covenant. God makes it, that's it. We don't need to agree or disagree, obey or disobey, he's just not gonna flood the earth anymore, like he did that one time, that's what, a uni-directional covenant. Okay, but this one, when they entered the Promised Land was not like that. It was a conditional covenant that if they disobeyed, he would do what? He would scatter them. He would kick them out of the Promised Land and scatter them to the four winds. And so it says, in Deuteronomy 4:25-31, "After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and provoking him to anger, I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, you will not live there long, but will certainly be destroyed." And here in Verse 27, "The Lord will scatter you among the peoples... " See that, kind of hard to miss, I put it in bold, underlined. But there it is, “the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. There you'll worship man-made Gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear, eat or smell, but if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all of your heart and with all your soul. And when you're in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey him." Very big theme in the book of Isaiah, namely the re-gathering of Israel back to worship in the Lord and back to the promised land, very big theme, if from there, you turn, he will bring back... Now, we're studying this in Sunday school, aren't we? With the books we've been doing recently with Haggai and Zechariah and all these, but that was just a token, you have to understand that. You have to understand that's just the first fruits, that was not the ultimate, I think, re-gathering, that's prophesied in Isaiah, and others might disagree, but I think that the scope is so huge in the book of Isaiah that there's something else yet to come, and I'm excited about that. It's remarkable because, I'm just tipping my cards right here, you know who's gonna be bringing them back? It's the Gentiles who're gonna bring the Jews back. They're already out there, they're gonna hear the gospel, they'll believe it, and they'll carry the Jews back to the Promised Land. It's a remarkable thing, and Isaiah gives us the whole vision, but he says, "I'm gonna scatter you," and he did, didn't he? Song of Moses predicted all of it, they did rebel, they did become idolatrous, and he did scatter them, to the four winds, it was called the diaspora. And they were spread everywhere. The Jews went everywhere, and yet remarkably, they maintained their Jewish identity, in all the communities they went, whether it was Russia, or Greece, or Rome or whatever, they continue to be Jews, which is very interesting how God maintained that identity, and yet they're rejecting Christ, fascinating thing, but he scatters them out. Now, Christ comes, in the fullness of time, at the right time, he enters in the world, and one of the things he's here to do, I would say one of the ways he's here, that one of the ways we speak of his mission is that he is here to re-gather. And we're gonna get to this shortly, in Matthew 12, if you look down on the third quote there, Matthew 12:30, Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me... " Does what? “Scatters.” So you're either, in one of two categories, you're either a gatherer or a scatterer. That's it. “Well, I like a third category. Some grey area. I mean, isn't it possible for me to be kind of an in-between? Kind of a semi-gatherer?” No, you're either a gatherer or a scatterer according to Jesus. Okay? Jesus came to gather. Well, what did he come to gather? Well, look at that verse in Isaiah 11:12, we'll get to that in a minute, but it's so fantastic, “He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel. He will assemble the scattered peoples of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.” Isn't that fantastic? He's gonna raise up a banner and say, “Here I am, I'm the Messiah!” and they're gonna come, from the four quarters of the earth, they're gonna worship Christ. Or in Matthew 3:12, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering up his wheat into the barn but burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” What is he gathering? His wheat, just another image of the same thing: his people. Or then in Matthew 24:31, this is at the end of the age, “He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect, from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” Well, that's a big gathering, and you don't wanna miss that one, folks. Okay, don't miss that one. That's the final gathering, when the angels come. So through faith in Christ, he'll come and get you and he will gather you. But you see the gathering going on, he's bringing them back together, not only Jews are gathered, but Jesus has, according to John 10:16, other sheep as well. And you remember that passage? John 10:16, “I have other sheep that are not of the sheep pen, I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” Isn't that fantastic? He said, “I've got sheep out there, I've got people that are mine, my chosen ones,” his elect, it says in Matthew 24:31, “but they're mine, I'm gonna go get them. They're not of this pen, but they will come and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, there's one new man, believer in Christ, that's all, and so he's gonna gather them together into one flock, the gathering is only spiritual at this time, not physical. People stay where they are, and know God, aren't you glad? You don't have to go to Jerusalem like the Muslims go to Mecca? It would get really crowded if all Christians went physically to Jerusalem. And I'm so glad we don't have to do that. Now, the Jews did. You remember that? Physically, three times a year, they had to go up to Jerusalem. We don't need to do that. Jesus said so in John 4, “Woman, believe me, the time is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” What is he saying? You don't need to change your location. Not at all, God must change your heart, and if God changes your heart, you will be a spirit-filled knowledgeable worshipper of God, right where you are. And guess what, when that happens, what's gonna happen? The Earth will be a little more filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord because you are converted, you are transformed, and you'll just look at everything differently. "He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, there's one new man, believer in Christ, that's all, and so he's gonna gather them together into one flock." What do you mean everything? Well, the other day I was driving to a friend of mine's house, and as I was driving I noticed a turtle on the road, I don't know if they're out these days, 'cause I've seen three in the last two days. Now, I am not a tree hugger, okay? But I just felt a stewardship responsibility to pull over and move that turtle to the side of the road, and it was actually one of my more spiritual moments in the last several days, it was like an act of worship, "God, you made this turtle, I would hate to see it crushed." And so I picked it up and I moved it to the side, and I said, "Go on your way, off you go, whatever it is you do, you know? Go be a turtle somewhere, but just don't get crushed, this is not a good place for a turtle." And so I felt a sense of the glory of God in that turtle, and the Lord made it. And so that's it. I think the thing is, when the Lord transforms your heart, you see everything differently, “This is my Father's world, and we're here as stewards, we're not here to kill and to destroy, we're here to serve” like Adam was supposed to in the garden. And so there it is, we are transformed and right where we are, we can worship God, who is spirit and truth. But yet there is in a metaphorical sense, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, our hearts face there now, don't they? There's been a streaming of the nations with the advance of the Gospel, and so in one sense, every new Christian, wherever they are, their hearts are moving towards Zion, we're looking there for our lawgiver, Jesus to give us the law and tell us how to live. He becomes our ruler. Now ultimately, we will be gathered in the New Jerusalem and yet filling the whole earth with the knowledge of God, and this I haven't fully developed yet. That cubicle, New Jerusalem, a thousand stadia, or 10,000 and all that, that's hard to understand, there are depths here that, see, we're all in one place, and yet we're filling the new heavens and the new earth, so we'll work on that later. Let's move on before we get too, whatever, the islands of Isaiah; let's look at the first one. Turn to Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11. And we're looking at verses 1-12. Now, my watch here says three till six, is that what you guys have? Is that? Okay, yeah? Okay, alright, now that's good, that's right, I appreciate that. Why are you laughing? Okay, alright. I don't know how we started so early to... And I'm grateful for it though; I think we did well starting at five and getting going, so I'm excited. Alright, Isaiah 11, it says, "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him- the Spirit of wisdom and understanding- the Spirit of counsel and power- the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord- and he will delight in the fear of the Lord." Who is this? This is our Messiah, the anointed one. This is Christ, the shoot from the stump of Jesse coming up. “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy. With justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.” He's a king. This is what he does, he rules; he reigns. “He will strike the Earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked.” He's a righteous ruler. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness his sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isn't that marvelous? What a prophecy. “In that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the Gentiles;” or the peoples, “the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.” So he's gonna stand up there and everybody's gonna rally to him, and it's gonna be a glorious place of rest. Look at verse 11, “In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim,” one could also say, re-gather, “the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, from lower Egypt, from upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.” Wow, they've gone a long way, haven't they? Yes, he's gonna reach out and he's gonna reclaim them, he's gonna bring them back, “He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel. He will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. And so the root of Jesse will come and establish his kingdom, the remnant of Israel, and God's chosen people from the Gentiles will be gathered from the distant corners of the earth.” Second, Isaiah 24:15, turn there if you would. Now, Isaiah 24 is a picture of judgment. The Lord's devastation of the whole Earth, “See, the Lord is going to lay waste to the earth and devastate it, he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants, it will be the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor, the earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord has spoken this word.” and brothers and sisters, this is gonna happen. 2 Peter 3 talks about it, how everything is going to be destroyed in the fire, it's all gonna go. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people, they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant, and therefore a curse consumes the Earth, and its people must bear their guilt, therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up and very few are left. The new wine dries up, the vine withers, all the merrymakers groan, the gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent, no longer do they drink wine with a song, the beer is bitter to its drinkers. The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred. In the streets they all cry for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth. The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces. So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest. They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the Lord's majesty. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, [Where?] in the islands of the sea. What's going on? There's this huge devastation, and yet there's celebration right in the middle. These are the people who love God; these are the worshippers of the Lord, and where are they? Well, first of all, there are as far as in the east and the islands of the sea, verse 16, “From the ends of the earth, we hear singing: ‘Glory to the righteous one.’” Stop there. What's going on? The ends of the Earth, the distant islands are praising the God of Israel, they're worshipping. They're giving honor to him. That includes us; I would think we'd be kind of like ends of the earth to Jerusalem. Durham, North Carolina. Where is that? If you had asked Isaiah and said, "We live in Durham, North Carolina." "Oh, that's the ends of the earth as far as I'm concerned." They're singing to God. Wow. Next, Isaiah 40:15. I'm actually gonna begin at verse 12, verse 11, sorry, “He tends flock like a shepherd and gathers his lambs in his arms,” isn't that wonderful? He's gathering them. “He who is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.” He's gathering, gathering people together. “He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads those that have young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales or the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the Lord or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him understanding?” Now look; verse 15, “Surely the nations, are like a drop in a bucket, they're regarded as dust on the scales, he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.” Isn't that remarkable? We'll just stop there. The basic idea here is clear. The nations are as nothing to him. He's immense, he's powerful, and he takes these distant islands and weighs them like they're dust on the scales. They're just small, compared to his immense power. Look at the next one, Isaiah 41, next page, verse 1-9. This is what he says, “Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment. Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to wind-blown chaff with his bow. He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before. Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord- with the first of them and with the last- I am he” The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approached and come forward; each helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!” The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says to the welding, “It is good.” he nails down the idol so that it will not topple. “But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham, my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.” What is this teaching? Well, the distant islands are guilty of idolatry, most of them are idolaters, they're idol worshipers, and so they set up an idol, so it won't topple, they nail it down, and they encourage one another, but they're trembling in fear, why? Because God sends forth judgment, first of all, their own hearts condemn them, that their idolatry is wicked. But secondly, events happen. One from the east comes, who is this, well there's different interpretations, but I think it's a military conqueror, it could be like Cyrus who comes and he gives over the lands, the islands into their hands, and so there are under the sway of the rise and fall of history and of empires that rise and fall, and they're always afraid, they're idolaters, the ends of the earth, the islands. Let's not think of the islands of the earth as though they're the noble savage, who don't need the Lord, oh they're idolaters and they're wicked, and they're under the judgment of God if they won't repent, but God's gonna bring them the gospel, isn't that wonderful? They're gonna see the light, and they're going to believe. Look at the next one, Isaiah 42:1-12, this will sound familiar, I hope., Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight, I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed, he will not break, and a smoldering wick, he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope. Stop there for a moment. Who are we talking about? Well, this is Jesus Christ, he's going to come, the servant of the Lord, and he's gonna establish his kingdom, and in his sovereign reign, in his law, the islands will hope. They'll find their hope. They will trust in him. Now, it's interesting, Matthew translates it, "in his name the islands will put their trust or their hope." But is there really a distinction between law and name? “Open up in the name of the king.” It's the same thing, right? And so the king, with his name and with his authority and with his law will come and the islanders are going to accept, they're going to yield. They'll submit to the king of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus Christ. Continue reading, verse 5, “This is what God the Lord says- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it”. Verse 5 says, “I made them, I made the islanders. I created them. I formed them in their mother's womb.” Verse 6, “I the Lord have called you in righteousness, I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, and free captives from prison, to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place and new things I declare; before they spring into being, I announce them to you.” Verse 10, “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it, you islands and all who live in them. Let the desert and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops. Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise in the islands.” Isn't that wonderful? Let them praise and exalt God in the distant-most reaches of the earth. Will they? Is this a prophecy, a prediction? Is this actually going to occur? Oh yes, it will. I'm telling you it has. It's already happened. It's not done yet, but it's already happened, it's already occurred. Even over the last century and a half, these prophecies are being fulfilled right in our own time. But they're very specific, aren't they? Look at Isaiah 49:1, "Listen to me," it says, "You islands; hear this, you distant nations," by the way, who's writing this? This is Isaiah. Where is he? He's probably living in Jerusalem. When? Seventh century BC, and he's writing down on a piece of scroll or parchment or something like that, "Listen to me, you islands." Now what are the odds, humanly speaking, that they'll ever hear anything he says? The answer is zero, humanly speaking. What are the odds, divinely speaking, that they will read this and hear it and believe it? 100%. And so he's speaking to them, he's addressing them, "Hear, O Heavens and Listen, O Earth for the Lord has spoken." He says, "Isaiah, just write this down. Let me take care of the delivery. I'll get it there, you just write it down." Okay, alright, Isaiah, what do you say? "Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations." Now he is speaking as a prophet, and he's speaking Christ's words here. Isn't he? Listen. Before I was born, the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” [Verse 4] But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I've spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God.” And now the Lord says- he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring back Jacob to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength- [I love verse 6] he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." Now, this has gotta be Christ. In one sense, you could say it's Isaiah who's writing it, but it's got to be Christ, because Simeon said that Christ would be a light for the Gentiles. And so Christ is the light for the Gentiles, and God, the Father has spoken to him and said, “It's too small a thing for you to save Israel only. It's too small; I will make you a light for the whole world. Even to the distant most islands of the earth.” Isaiah 51:5, look at verse 4-6, it says, "Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait and hope for my arm. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath, the heavens will vanish like smoke. The earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants die like flies, but my salvation will last forever. My righteousness will never fail." So this is a strong exhortation to the islands to trust in Christ, why? Because they're vanishing like smoke, the heavens will disappear, there'll be no place to live any longer. And so come to Christ. Now, what's interesting is in Isaiah 51:1-3, it says, "Look to the rock from which you are cut, to the quarry from which you are hewn, look to Abraham, Your Father and to Sarah, who gave you birth." This is a Jewish Messiah. And so, “Salvation,” said Jesus, “comes from the Jews,” and so all the islands, the distant lands are gonna look to a descendant of Abraham, the rock from which they were cut, they're gonna look to him and trust in him and find their salvation there. Isaiah 59:18, now, Isaiah 59 speaks about sin. Verse 1, it says, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that you will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken an adder is hatched. Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin, they're swift to shed innocent blood." That's quoted from Romans 3; he quotes it there. What is this talking about? It's talking about the universality of personal sin, and when they try to cover themselves with their deeds, cloak of righteousness, you're gonna stand before God on judgment day with your cloak of righteousness, it's gonna be like covering yourself with cobwebs. Your righteousness is nothing. You've lived the life of an adder, of a snake, and so there's no righteousness to cover yourself, and that's true to the ends of the earth. Look what it says in verse 18, "According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due." Do you see that? Judgment comes even to the islands, to the Jew first, and then what? To the Gentile, and that includes the islands. So they have personal sin, and if they do not repent and trust Christ, if they do not accept the gospel, then they will come under vengeance, they will come under vengeance, 'cause judgment reaches to the ends of the earth. Nobody escapes. Isaiah 60, magnificent chapter, the glory of Zion. "Arise and shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn." This may be the most important chapter in our study tonight. Concentrate now on verse 4, "Lift up your eyes and look about you, all assemble and come to you, your sons come from afar and your daughters are carried on the arm. Then you will look and be radiant. Your heart will throb and swell with joy." What are we talking about here, Zion? What is Zion? Well, in one sense, it's Jerusalem, the center of Jewish worship. This nation that's been trampled by the Gentiles, stripped and ruined and the walls are cast down, what does he say here? You're gonna look good, you're gonna be dressed up and you're gonna be dazzling and glorious, You'll look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. All Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar and I will adorn my glorious temple. “Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests? Surely the islands look to me; in the lead, are the ships of Tarshish, bringing your sons from afar, with their silver and gold." Now stop there. This is fascinating. The people from the islands, Tarshish, are sailing to Zion, aren't they? And who are they bringing with them? Your sons, who are the sons? The Sons of Zion, they're Jews. And how... In what sense are they bringing them back to Zion? Well, who do you think is gonna lead the unbelieving Jews to Christ? Some Jews maybe, Jews for Jesus do that. It's mostly Gentiles though. We're the ones that make them jealous according to Paul, and we have the gospel. And who do you think in the end, when all Israel will be saved and there's a great in-gathering of Jews is gonna be, are gonna be the witnesses, the evangel, those that are taking the gospel? Is it not the inhabitants of the islands, among others, who will bring them to personal faith in Christ and bring them back home? Why don't you read the whole chapter when you have time, we're gonna finish with Isaiah 66:18-22, turn there. And it says there, this is the new heaven and new earth, "And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them and will send some of those who survive to the nations- to Tarshish [that's that distant island], to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, [these are all Gentiles, by the way] and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. [Now listen] They will bring all your brothers, [these are Jews] from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord- on horses, in chariots and wagons and on mules and camels, says the Lord. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord. “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, 'so will your name and descendants endure.'" This is the eternal state, isn't it? And what's happening is, again, these Gentiles from the distant lands from Tarshish, from Lydia and all of these other places, are going to bring Jews back to Jerusalem to personal faith in Christ. Now, I wanna add a quick footnote on how this has been fulfilled. In Acts Chapter 13, when Paul and Barnabas went out on their first missionary journey, where did they go first? Does anybody know? They went to Cyprus; that was their first place, they left Joppa and went to Cyprus. That's Kittim, that's their first place that they preached the gospel, that's the beginning of the missionary endeavor of the church of Antioch, they go to the island of Cyprus and they begin preaching there. And then at the end of Paul's recorded life in Acts 28, he's shipwrecked and where does he end up? Malta, an island off Italy, you remember? And he gets to witness there to the governor and they come to faith in Christ because of a miracle he does there when he shakes off a snake and he heals some people there. Malta. Maybe that was even Tarshish, I don't really know what Tarshish is, just the distant islands in the Mediterranean, that's pretty distant. Paul intends to go even beyond there to Spain, and perhaps as far as what he intends in Tarshish. That's the apostle Paul. What about in our day? Well, perhaps you've heard of John Paton, he went to the New Hebrides in the 1850s and '60s, and led them to Christ. They were cannibals. They ate the last missionary that was there, you remember the story, and the ship that had left the missionaries on the beach sat there and watched from the shore or from the distance with their telescopes as these cannibals ate them, John Paton was the next missionary at that stop. Now, that took incredible courage, didn't it? He went there and he led them to Christ, they became an offering to the Lord and they worshipped God, and that beautiful island there that God had filled with his glory so long ago, those islanders, they knew his glory. The Earth was filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And after World War II, when soldiers had gone island-hopping with General MacArthur, after the war was over, they said, "Hey, let's go back, let's go back as witnesses," MacArthur called for thousands of missionaries to go to Japan, we've been there, Jordan and I and others have gone to witness to that island, that counts, it's an island in the sea. And there are Christians there. And also Irian Jaya, like Don Richardson, brought those islands idol worshippers to faith in Christ. Now, there's still work to be done, isn't there? But this is... I'm arguing from the greater to the lesser. If God cares about little dots and islands in the ocean, he cares about every square inch of this earth, and the earth will most certainly be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Take your Bibles and open to Matthew chapter 10. We'll be looking now at the commands that Jesus gave, the marching orders, one could say, to the twelve as he sends them out on mission. You've heard before, and it's a common proverb, that a 1000-mile journey begins with the smallest step. We have in the instructions that Jesus gives here in Matthew 10, the beginning of an incredible march, the advance of the Gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth. This is the first indication we get, the clear indication that Jesus is going to entrust to His people to the ministry of reconciliation. He gives to his twelve apostles that ministry. That 2000-year advance has been irresistible, it's been fruitful, it's advanced, it's been sweet as individual hearts have been conquered by the Gospel message to the salvation of their own souls, and it continues even to this present day. As a matter of fact, I believe that it's accelerating as we reach the end of the age. I don't have any idea, I'm not standing here to say that we are the final generation, but I do perceive a great acceleration of the Gospel in our time. We know that World War II, for example, was a terrible tragedy, we know that many millions of people were killed, but yet through it all, the sovereign hand of God overruled it for good. I'm thinking right now specifically of the island of Irian Jaya [Papua New Guinea]. Before World War II, many Americans had never heard of it, didn't know anyone even lived there. But because our soldiers were sent there, and soldiers from other lands were sent to fight there, all of a sudden after the war was over, there came a thought, "Why can't we who have gone as soldiers of our respective nations, go as soldiers of the cross and bring the Gospel to Papua New Guinea? So the Gospel went. We have the story, for example, of Don Richardson recorded for us in Peace Child of how the Gospel was taken there. All of this, in fulfillment of the prophecies from the Old Testament, and then the specific commands that Jesus gave in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 42:1-4, Jesus is spoken of there when God the Father speaks of His Son and says, "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, my chosen one in whom I delight. I'll put my Spirit on Him and He will proclaim justice to the nations." In Isaiah 42:4 it says, "In His law the islands will put their trust." Well, could it be that Papua New Guinea (Irian Jaya) and some of these other islands that are now hearing the Gospel for the first time were in Isaiah's mind or in God's mind when Isaiah wrote that prophecy? We have here in seed form in Matthew 10, the entire advance of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and it's an exciting, thrilling chapter. We're going to look today at the scope of that mission, we're going to look at the strategy of the mission, we're going to look at the supplies of the mission, and we're going to look at the support of the mission. We're going to try to learn what God would have for us to learn. For us, we have to understand that the mission has not changed. It has been passed on from generation to generation. The twelve apostles are dead, they've gone on to be with the Lord, and they passed on this ministry to their disciples. Their disciples are dead, they've gone on to be with the Lord, and so it has passed on eventually to us. We are responsible for this generation; we're responsible to evangelize the people in this age. This is our time and this is our opportunity to pass it on to the next generation, if the Lord tarries. The Scope of the Messenger’s Mission We see in verses 5and 6 the scope of the mission that He gives to His apostles at that time. It says, "These twelve, Jesus sent out with the following instructions: Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans; go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." I want to connect this to the context that we've been noticing here in chapter 10 of Matthew, and the instructions given at the very end of Matthew chapter 9, in which Jesus saw that the people were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus says, "I'm going to send you out to the lost sheep of Israel." There's a direct connection between the two. He sends them out in fulfillment of the compassion and the love that He has for them. He sees that they're harassed, He sees that they're helpless, they're like sheep without a shepherd, and they need the ministry of the Gospel. The first thing He tells them there in Matthew 9 is that they should ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest field. Then He prepares and sends out these twelve to go as laborers into the harvest field. The scope of the mission here is to Jews only. It says," These twelve, Jesus sent out with the following instructions: Do not go among the Gentiles, or enter any town of the Samaritans; go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." This is the initial phase of the advance of the Gospel, the advance of the Kingdom of God, and it is to the Jews first. This was Jesus' self-conscious mission in the days of His incarnation. He was not sent, at that time, to minister to the Gentiles. He's going to show that later on in Matthew 15, to a Canaanite woman, who comes to Jesus looking for healing for her demon-possessed daughter. He doesn't speak a word to her, though this Canaanite woman, this Gentile woman, follows and intercedes and begs, He does not answer a word. The disciples come up and say with a disparaging attitude, I believe, "Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us." And Jesus says at that time, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." Jesus, in the days of His incarnation, was sent specifically to the Jews. He sends the apostles out also specifically to the Jews. The apostle Paul, when he went out on his missionary journey, would go first, always, to the Jews. He would go to the synagogues, and he would speak first to the Jews. In Acts 13:45-46, it says when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly, "We had to speak the Word of God to you first." Do you hear that? That's what he says strategically. Paul, in every town, wherever he would go, he would go first to the Jews. "We had to speak the Word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles." Paul articulated this very principle in Romans 1:16, in which he says, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile." He sends the twelve out first to the Jews, to the lost sheep of Israel. But you should not misunderstand; Jesus always had the Samaritans and the ends of the earth in mind. He had the Samaritans and the ends of the earth in His mind even at this point. We know that Jesus ministered to the Samaritans. Even though He said, "Do not go to any town of the Samaritans," He ministered to the Samaritans. In John chapter 4, it said that He had to go through Samaria. A very interesting expression in John 4, "He had to go there." Why did He have to go there? Because there was a woman waiting for Him by the well, and He was going to speak to the Samaritan woman, and He was going to bring her into the Kingdom of God and not only her, but her whole village. When they hear her witness and testify to Jesus' power, she says, "Come and see a man who told me everything that I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" The whole town comes out, and at some point they listen to Jesus, they hear His words, they believe, and the entire community believes in Jesus Christ. They say to the woman, "It's no longer because of what you said, but because of what we have heard from this man that we believe that Jesus is the Messiah." Jesus clearly, even in the days of His time on earth, have the Samaritans in mind. The Samaritans were a kind of a mixed group of people; they were of Jewish ancestry, but they had intermingled with the Gentiles and had married with those that were still in the land. They were despised by the Jews, but they were clearly a stepping stone, eventually, to ministry, to the Gentiles and to the whole world. Not only did Jesus have the Samaritans in mind, He really had the uttermost parts of the earth in mind as well. Christ was always thinking about us, He was always thinking about the Gentiles. And so, "To the Jew first", was just a stepping stone, through Samaria, eventually to the uttermost parts of the earth. God speaks to His Son in Isaiah 49:6, saying, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, and bring back those of Israel that I have kept." Just stop right there. "It's too small for you just to be a Savior for the Jews, that's not enough, I've got a bigger purpose for you." This is the Father speaking to His own Son. "It's too small a thing for you just to be the Savior of the Jews. I will also make you," He says, "A light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the Earth," including Irian Jaya, I might add. To the ends of the earth, the salvation is going to come. And so this was prophesied at His birth by Simeon, that godly Jewish man who's waiting for the Messiah, and it had been spoken to him and promised internally by the spirit that he would not die before he saw the Lord's Messiah, before he saw the Christ. The baby comes, and the Spirit testifies, "This is the one." Simeon goes and takes that little baby, Jesus, into his arms, and he prophesies over him, praying and saying, "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light of revelation for the Gentiles, and for glory to your people, Israel." Simeon saw it too; Jesus was too big for just one nation. He's Savior for all the ends of the earth, for every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. Jesus knew that even in the instructions He gives here to His twelve. He says in Matthew 10:18, "On my account, you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles." In Matthew 10, Jesus is thinking about the Gentiles, but there's a process, there is a procedure to how He's going about it, but for now He's sending them out only to the lost sheep of Israel. This very thing Jesus prophesies later on in Matthew 24:14. He says, "This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come." In the great commission Jesus says, "All authority in Heaven and earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I'm with you always, even to the very end of the age." Jesus is thinking about the Gentiles, but at this point He narrows the scope of the ministry. The disciples are not permitted to go and speak to the Samaritans. Just an editorial comment; I think they weren't ready to talk to the Samaritans. I think they were still prejudiced against the Samaritans. I think they still wanted fire from Heaven to come down and destroy this Samaritan village. They went into town to buy food and never once opened their mouth and witnessed to the Samaritans. It wasn't time yet for the apostles to go. In Acts 8, they would go, but not yet. The time had come just for a narrowing of the scope of the ministry. Jesus says, "I want to send you to the lost sheep of Israel." Here, I think about Isaiah 53:6, in which the prophet says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him, on Christ, the iniquity of us all." Jesus is truly the shepherd who gathers back the lost sinners, not only from Israel but from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. Every single one of us is burdened by sin. You've come in this day, and you've already committed sins today. It's not that I know you personally, I just knowing human nature and the Scripture. You've committed enough sin since today to send you to eternity in Hell, and yet the grace of God flows through the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and there is no other Savior. Jesus is going to send them out with this message to the lost sheep of Israel, that there is a shepherd who will gather them back in, there is a sacrifice, a lamb of God, who will die in their place for their sins, if they'll only believe. We see in the scope of the mission, I think an important strategic principle; we are not called to go to every single nation on the face of the earth. I mean “we” being each of us individually. We can pray all over the world, we can have a worldwide global focus in our prayer, but we have our own scope of ministry, we have our own field assigned to us. There is a scope to what God calls us, calls each group of people, each local church to do. We see the scope of the twelve's ministry right from the start. The Strategy of the Messenger’s Mission Secondly, we see the strategy of the mission, and the strategy is simple, it's going to be the preaching, the proving, or the demonstrating of the Kingdom. Matthew 10: 7-8 says, "As you go, preach this message: The Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons." We see the preaching and the proving or the demonstrating. First the preaching, the apostolic task was centrally the proclamation of the message. They were called upon to preach the message. What was the message? The Kingdom of Heaven is near. The center of their proclamation was the Kingdom, the Sovereign God who rules over all things. We've been saying all along that the Gospel of Matthew is written to convince us that Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. He is the One who rules over Heaven and earth. Therefore He has called, He has sent to call, all of us to a full obedience to His sovereign rule, a glad obedience. Therefore, I believe that the Kingdom of Heaven is wherever Jesus is gladly obeyed by the power of the Spirit, from an internal transformed heart — that's the Kingdom of Heaven. The message is that the Kingdom of Heaven is near, it's very near you. The Word of God that we are proclaiming, it's very near you, it's in your mouth and in your hearts, the word of faith that we are confessing. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your hearts that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” That Kingdom is near, it's very close to us, if you will, simply reach out and take it. Later, after the death and resurrection of Christ, the Kingdom would come even more alive in vivid color. The historical events had already happened, Jesus' blood had been poured out on the cross. Jesus' tomb had been emptied on the third day. The crucifixion and the resurrection now would be the center of their preaching, the apostolic preaching of the cross, and they would proclaim the cross and the empty tomb to the ends of the earth. But at this point, they're just told to proclaim this message, "The Kingdom of Heaven is near." But not only were they called to proclaim, they were also called to prove or to demonstrate Kingdom power by doing miracles. "Heal the sick," He says, "Raise the dead. Cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons." I was talking to my children recently, and they said, "It would have been really exciting to be Jesus." I said, "Why is that?" Because they could do all these great... “He could do all these great miracles. Everywhere He goes, He gets to heal people, raise the dead and all that." I said, "So you think Jesus had kind of an easy life?" Well, they thought maybe He did. I said, "Do you realize that in every place where He was healing, there was immediate opposition, people standing in his face wanting to kill him?" Yet there must have been for Jesus, a special joy in freeing from bondage those who were so bound. For example, on a Sabbath, He heals a Jewish woman who's been bound over and kept in chains through her physical infirmity for many years. Even though He's opposed at that moment, there's a delight in freeing her from her bondage. The disciples, when they came back from this mission trip couldn't get over that the demons were subject to them in Jesus' name. They were so thrilled. They said, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, rejoice not that the demons are subject to you in my name, but rather that your names are written in the book of life in Heaven." So you think, "Why, I'd like to do a miracle. My Evangelistic ministry would just take off if I could just do a miracle." Imagine if you're involved in workplace evangelism, and you just go and try to witness, and you find out that somebody's got some kind of infirmity. If you could just heal them, everybody would listen to your message. I’ve thought that myself. Actually, it's not far wrong from why Jesus gave the apostles authority to heal. Everywhere they went, they were demonstrating the power of the Kingdom, and huge crowds would gather as a result. It says in Acts 5:15-16, people used to bring the sick on the streets and lay them on beds and mats, so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed. Peter's shadow just falling on people as he passed by. I believe that was the point, the point was to demonstrate the Kingdom, to give a context for the proclamation of the Gospel in order that people might hear it. It says in Acts 8:6, when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. I think that's the point; the miracles give a context, a platform for the proclamation of the Gospel. So, it's the proclamation, but it's also the proving of the Kingdom. It also demonstrates God's compassion and His love. He would have us healed, He would have us freed from all effects of sin, just not yet. It says in Revelation chapter 21, "There'll be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain." What's the next part? "For the old order of things has passed away." It hasn’t passed away yet folks. We're still under the time of death, and mourning, and crying, and pain. It's not going to be a river of miracles, it's not true what the “health and wealth” people tell you, that if you're not healed, it's because of a lack of faith on your part. I say rather, it's because that the old order of things is still here, but someday, it's going to be past. The miracles were given as a kind of a first fruits of what that would be like, to be free from all death and mourning, and crying and pain. The Supplies of the Messenger’s Mission We see the mission of the apostles. First, the scope, to the Jew only at that point. And then the strategy, the proclamation and the proving or demonstrating of the Kingdom. Next, we see the supplies for the mission in verses 8-10, traveling light and depending on God. I like this better, "traveling light and trusting in God”. You can use the word "depending". Either way, we're called to travel light and to trust in God. The twelve were sent out. In verses 8-10, "Freely you've received," it says, "freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts. Take no bag for the journey or extra tunic or sandals or a staff, for a worker is worth his keep." They were to travel free, they were not to be encumbered by the weight that we encumber ourselves with. They were to be, first of all, free from greed. In verse 8, it says, "Freely you have received, freely give." Do you realize how much money they could have charged for this healing ministry? Do you realize how much money people will pay to be healed? They'll pay almost anything. Greed can drive a whole healing system. And they could have commanded probably any price. But Jesus said, "Don't you dare do it, because I am giving you this healing power freely. Freely you have received, freely give. Not only have I given you healing power freely, I've given you everything freely. The grace of the Gospel is free of charge. I have forgiven your sins freely. I'm going to give you Heaven and an inheritance with me freely. I'm going to give you the indwelling Holy Spirit freely. I'm going to give you membership in a local church where there's other believers freely. I'm going to give you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms freely. Freely you have received, freely give." That's why He says, "Don't charge anything for what you're doing." Healings were to be done free of charge. They were also to be free, not just from greed, but from material anxiety. In verse 9 Jesus says , "Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts." Those are the three kinds of metals that were stamped into coins. The gold, the most valuable, the silver of intermediate value, the copper of the lowest value. He said, "Don't take along anything, not even any copper coins." Later He's going to say, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? You won't even be able to buy two sparrows with the money you carry with you. Travel light, travel free, travel free from material anxieties." What does this mean? First of all, Jesus lived this way. In Matthew chapter 8, one man wanted to come and follow Jesus, and Jesus said, "Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay His head." Jesus traveled and ministered in the same way. He wanted them to be free from material anxiety. If they were carrying huge bags of gold, or silver, or copper, perhaps they would be robbed on the way. When you have possessions like this, you're always anxious on how to protect them, how to keep them safe from harm. It's something that you're carrying with you. He said, "I want you to be free from that burden, so please carry no money, travel light." In verse 10 He says, "Take no bag for the journey or extra tunic or sandals or a staff, for the worker's worth his keep." Don't carry along bunches of stuff. Don't carry all this equipment I was reading about the Queen Mary, a luxury liner that was fit to carry 1,957 people in comfort and luxury across the ocean. It sailed on its maiden voyage May 27, 1936. But once World War II started and America got involved, the Queen Mary was converted to a troopship. As it was converted to a troopship, the number of passengers it could carry went from 1,957 to, at one point, over 15,000. 15,000 soldiers were carried across the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary. You may say, "Well, I would think if I owned a luxury line like that, I would want to try to make as much money as I could and I'd try to get 15,000 people on board before the war." Would they have come? No way, because they're coming with baggage, they're coming with 50 or more boxes or satchels of all the things that they would need. They would need state rooms and big room. Luxury liners, right? There's no time for luxury when it's wartime. They stripped everything out that was not essential, and they put in bed after bed after bed. You had barely enough room to get your body in , and you could touch the rack right above you. There was just enough room for a certain number of people to sleep at a time, and they had to sleep in shifts. Everything had been stripped down. This is what they call "war time austerity". It seems to me that the Gospel calls us to similar wartime austerity, and it's a call that is so often unheeded. To go from being able to carry 2,000 approximately paying passengers to 15,000, means that everything that's not necessary was stripped out. “Take no bag for the journey, no extra tunic, no sandals, no staff.” There was a time, I remember, when we were going overseas as missionaries. We had a yard sale. We stripped ourselves of everything. We were totally liquid at that point. We had money in our belts, that's true, but we didn't have much else. I noticed at one point- I'm always in the habit of patting my pants to be sure that my wallet is there and my keys as well - my wallet was there, but my keys weren't there. And then I realized, "Wait a minute, I don't have any keys. I have no keys. We sold both our cars, we've moved out of our home, we have no keys left." And that became kind of a symbol to me of traveling light. I will say this, we did have four big Rubbermaid Action Packers filled with all kinds of stuff, and that was a challenge to get through Narita Airport in Japan. We didn't travel as light as these men did, but we were stripped down, we had almost nothing, except our clothing and the basic necessities. The key principle here is that ministry is to be supplied or supported by those who benefit. "The worker is worth his keep." You don't need to carry along all this baggage, because as you're doing the work of the ministry, the worker is worth his keep. This is a very, very important principle. In Matthew 10: 40-42 He's going to talk about a cup of cold water. It says, "He who receives you, receives me, and he who receives me, receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet, because He is a prophet, will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man, because he is a righteous man, will receive a righteous man's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." These verses are so frequently taken out of context -verse 42, especially, the cup of cold water. Clearly, Jesus is talking here about support for those that are going out to preach the Gospel. Anybody who receives or takes care of those world traveling messengers will receive a reward, just as they will. The worker is worth his keep means, you don't need to carry all this stuff, because out there, there are going to be people who will benefit from your ministry and they will materially support you as you do it. The same principle is taught by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:7-14. He says, "Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses, 'Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.'" He goes on from there to make it very plain what he's talking about. He says, "Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar get their share from what is offered on the altar?" 1 Corinthians 9:14, "In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the Gospel should receive their living from the Gospel." This is the principle, those who receive the spiritual benefit of the ministry should materially support those who give the ministry. It's taught over and over in many places, and that's what Jesus means when He says, "The worker is worth his keep." They are to go depending or trusting in God. They are basically to put into practice what Jesus taught earlier when He said, "Do not worry about your life, what you'll eat or drink, or about your body, what you'll wear. The pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His Kingdom, and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you as well." They're to go out without a tether. It's like, you're out in the space shuttle and you're supposed to go out and there's no line, just going out and trusting in God to provide for your needs. What kind of faith does that take? Support for the Messenger’s Mission We've looked already at the scope, and the strategy, and the supplies of the ministry. We see the support for the mission in verses 11-15, “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it. If it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your word, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for that town." We see here the problem of lodging, where are they going to stay? There were individual inns. You remember that Joseph and Mary were turned out from the inn. There was a place you could go from time to time and pay for lodging, but these were few and far between, so there was going to be a problem of lodging. We know that hospitality is taught many places in the Bible. Abraham and Sarah entertained three strangers one day, not realizing that they were angels. Lot entertained the exact same angels who had come to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. It says in Hebrews 13:2, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." In the New Testament, we have a command which I love, "Offer hospitality without grumbling." Does that verse not tell you how little human nature has changed in 2,000 years? Offer hospitality without grumbling. Why? Because taking somebody into your home messes up your routine. It's a burden in one sense, if you look at it the wrong way. Peter said, "Don't look at it the wrong way, but offer hospitality without grumbling." 3 John 5-6 says, "Dear friend, you are faithful in what you're doing for the brothers even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God." It was for the sake of the Name that they went out. John, in 3 John is talking about messengers of the Gospel who have gone out to preach, and these folks that John is writing to have taken the messengers in. They've accepted them in, they've put them up. They've provided for their needs. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. In verse 8, “We ought, therefore, to show hospitality to such men, so that we may work together for the truth." So you see, hospitality supports the ministry of the preaching of the Gospel. The standards and the search are listed in verse 11, "Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave." “Worthy” means righteous person, an upright person, somebody who keeps the commands of God, somebody who's welcoming to your message. What this shows me is kind of the human-ness of the messengers. Don't go and stay somewhere where the people hate you and hate your message. Rather, go in a place where after a day of preaching, after a day of proclaiming the Gospel, you have a place of refuge to be renewed and refreshed. Be renewed, therefore, and refreshed by staying at the home of a worthy person, search for a worthy person and stay at his house. Luke adds more, saying in Luke 10:7-8, "Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you." Don't complain about the food as long as it's nourishing and healthy, eat it, whatever they set before you. I remember right before we went as missionaries to Japan, we had a prayer time together, and all the missionaries were crying and encouraging each other and praying, and some were concerned about an ailing parent, or something that they might never see again, etcetera. But I couldn't get out of my mind one thing in particular, and when my chance to share my prayer request came, I said, "We're going to Japan, where they eat fish, and I hate seafood. So pray for me that I might somehow be given grace to eat the seafood, and thank the people for it." I wasn't a month after we got there that we helped a Japanese man put his ceiling fan in, and he took us out to eat, and there was no McDonalds, no Kentucky Fried Chicken, we went out to Japanese food. And there before me was a plate of Sashimi, raw fish, staring me in the face. And I liked it, God gave me grace. It says in Luke 10, "Whatever they set before you, eat it," and implied, be thankful for it, be grateful for what you eat. Jesus also says, "Do not move around." In Luke 10 again, "Do not move around from house to house. Don't try to find a better place, that's not the point. Find a worthy family or a place to stay and then just set up there and stay there as long as you're in that area. Let that be a place of refuge, a place of good fellowship, place of comfort for you." In 1 Timothy 6 it says, "If we have food and clothing, we'll be content with that. We're not looking for a luxury, we're not looking for the best place to stay, we're looking for a godly family that will support us and care for our ministry. If we have food and clothing, we'll be content with that.” "Now, as you enter the home," in verse 12 it says, "Give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it." This is somewhat of a Jewish ritual, but a sense of saying Shalom or peace to everyone in this house. If the home is deserving, the peace will stay there. There's a sense almost of Joseph's blessing. Everywhere Joseph[Old Testament] went, there was a blessing coming, whether it was Potiphar's house, or the blessing that came on the jailer. Eventually, all of Egypt under Pharaoh were blessed by Joseph. Everywhere that Joseph went there was a blessing. It seems in the same way, everywhere that these messengers of the Gospel go, there is a blessing coming to the house that will support them. He says, "Let your peace rest on that home if it's deserving." This is exactly the context of verse 40-42, "He who receives you, receives me, and he who receives me, receives the one who sent me." Anybody who takes you in, it's like they're receiving me, and anyone who receives me, it's like they're receiving the one who sent me, and that's God the Father. So they will never lose their reward.” This, I believe, is kind of in seed form, the eventual full understanding of the body of Christ. The body of Christ has varied ministries. Some are what we could call support ministries. They support the proclamation or the preaching of the message. I believe all of us are called to witness, no question about it, but some are specially called out with the gift of evangelism, or say, as missionaries. And the body is to support them materially. The body is to pray for them, to give them money or other resources that they need, to give them a place to stay when they need it. He says you'll never lose your reward. One is not more important than the other. The eyes should do not say to the foot, "I don't need you." The hand should not be jealous of the mouth, because it's not a mouth. But every part of the body has its role to play. The cup of cold water, even something that small, will not be forgotten. He speaks here of freedom for the rejected in verse 13 - 14. He said, "If the home is not deserving, let your peace return to you." Then He says, "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your word, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town." What does it mean, "Let your peace return to you"? “Don't let it bother you, don't let it trouble you if the home is not deserving. Don't get ruffled in your spirit because they won't welcome you or accept you. They're the ones with the problem, and they're going to have a huge problem if they will not repent, so if any home does not welcome you, they won't listen to you, don't let it bother you, let your peace return to you. Walk in the peace that God gives, because you're out on mission from Him. Don't let it bother you when they don't welcome you, when they don't accept you.” Then He says, "If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that home or town." My missionary instructor, Christy Wilson, was a missionary in Afghanistan who did work there for 20 years. He was one of the most compassionate, loving men I've ever seen in my life. He helped to set up hospitals there, preached the Gospel, taught the people. His wife, Betty was a godly woman, and the two of them ministered together. They were evicted by the communists who were in the very government that the Russians invaded to support. When the communists took power, they evicted Christy Wilson and his wife Betty from Afghanistan. They did everything they could to stay, but they would not welcome them or listen to their words. At the airport right before they got on the plane, they took their shoes off and clapped them together and then put their shoes back on. They shook the dust off their feet and they moved on. It's not a burden for the messenger when you're rejected, it really isn't. It really is a burden for the one who does the rejecting because judgment is coming. He said, "I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for that town." This is a terrible curse. The basic idea is that when a king sends out messengers, if the messengers are rejected and treated scornfully, then the wrath of the king may fall on that country or city that rejects them. He says it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. It gives an indication, by the way, of a certain grading of punishments on Judgment Day. And this is a fearsome thing for America. The more you know of the Gospel, the more you know of the truth and reject it any way, the more judgment will come upon you on Judgment Day. The less you know the truth, the less you know the Gospel and reject it, the less judgement comes on you on Judgment Day. Isn't that what Jesus is saying here? It'd be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah because they had less proclamation of the truth than that home or town or village had. It's a fearsome thing. America is supersaturated with the proclamation of the Gospel. Evangelical churches in every community. There is television, print media and radio - a supersaturation with the Gospel, and yet still hearts reject. “It'll be more bearable on Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that town.” He says, "Listen, don't take revenge, don't be concerned about that, leave all of that to God, you shake the dust off your feet and move on." Application What application can we take from this? First of all, look at missionary zeal. Let me ask you, what do you live for? Are you delighting in spreading the Gospel of God's glory? The twelve apostles are dead. So also are their successors. The Ministry has been passed on to us, the ministry of reconciliation. Are you living with missionary zeal for that same Gospel message that Jesus Christ gave to His twelve Apostles? Second of all, missionary methods. The missionary methods are still the same, the preaching and the proving of the Kingdom. We are to display Christ's compassion. When we do an inner city ministry like tutoring, when we reach out in some way and try to show ministry to their physical bodies and their felt needs immediately. This is the proving of the Kingdom. We're not necessarily called on to do great miracles at this point, but we're called to prove the compassion. But nobody is going to be saved by our good deeds to them. They get saved by hearing the preached message, so we must proclaim the Gospel message that Jesus died on the cross, shed His blood, and was raised from the dead on the third day. Thirdly, materialistic hindrances. Are you, are we, am I traveling light or are we accumulating? You know, you think about one of the wealthiest men in the Old Testament, Abraham. He owned a lot of stuff, didn't he? But he also lived in a tent. Do you know what that means? He could move around, right? Can you imagine moving around from place to place with the things you own? Can you imagine what that would be like? Once you set up in a place with a foundation, it's easy to begin accumulating. Americans have to especially be careful that we do not put mill stones around our necks and be unable to advance with the Gospel. I want to speak especially to college students. One of the biggest dangerous is, you have a zeal for the Kingdom of God and for mission work but then you get out and start getting into debt bondage, whether mortgages or credit card payments or other things, and you cannot travel light for the Gospel. Don't do it. If God is calling you to mission service, keep yourself free and clear, travel light. Finally, the missionary supply. How have you used your material benefits, your home, your money, your life, to support those who are specially called to go out as missionaries?

I. Wreckage of a World of Empires I'd like to ask if you would, take your Bibles and open to Habakkuk 2, continuing our series on Habakkuk. And this is the second time that we're looking at these verses, which culminated in one of the greatest verses, I think, in the entire Bible. Verse 14, "The Earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." We are surrounded everyday by the evidence of the two great empires that are being built right in front of us. We have the empire of the glory of man, and we have the empire of the glory of God. Now, Babylon represents the first, the empire of the glory of man. And yet, it's not just military empires that are around us. Yes, the lines are drawn on the map as a result of conquest and military action of the past, but not much of that is going on right now. It went on 55-60 years ago during World War II, but right now nations are not seeking to expand their borders. And yet there are still the effects of past conquests, military and otherwise, around us all the time, because there are other empires being built. There are, for example, financial empires. I've been doing some research now on 100 years ago. There was a group of people called Robber Barons, these were a powerful industrialists who were sometimes called captains of industry. I guess it depends how you look on it, but they would organize an industry to its nth degree, and monopolize it so that they could gain control, complete control over that industry, because they wanted no competition. And ultimately they organized America for business. It's true, but they wielded such incredible power that they had to step up and the government had to break apart some of those trusts and those monopolies. I'm thinking for example of Andrew Carnegie who organized the steel industry, or Cornelius Vanderbilt, the commodore who organized the railroad industry, JP Morgan who organized finances. By the way, we got a discover bill, I'm not going to tell you what was in it, but I turned over in the back and there was the word Morgan, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, The House of Morgan is still with us. We're still surrounded by the effects of these empires. And then there's perhaps the greatest of all, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, which in its hey day controlled 90% of the oil industry in the United States, 90%. How did he do it? Well, he had special deals with the railroad, so they gave him kickbacks and information and little by little, he was able to put smaller competitors out of business, an empire was built, step-by-step, not very different from the military conquest that we've talked about. As a matter of fact, he frequently, in his writings and his journal, compared himself to Napoleon. And so we have the effects of empires all around us even to this very day. Ruthless men who sweep the earth, those that use their power and their strength and their intellect and their ability for their own glory. No, I'm not saying each of those did that, but I'm saying that there is building and structuring and empire building going on all the time. Now, the same was going on in Habakkuk's day. Habakkuk looked at his own people and he saw a little mini empires, little mini emperors. There were people within Jewish society that were using their position for their own advancement. They were using their position as a judge to accept bribes, for example, and not render justice where it was due. And so they would get wealthy. Other businessmen were using unjust tactics to crush competitors and to crush the poor and they're adding And Habakkuk looked at that and just lifted up his hands and said, "How long O Lord, is this going to go on? Why do you remain silent? Why are you doing nothing when there's just corruption and injustice among your own people? Why?" Well, God answered, and said, "Look at the nations. Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed for I'm going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. They are a feared and dreaded people. They'll allot to themselves and promote their own honor. They're coming, Habakkuk, the Babylonians are coming, and they're going to destroy you just like they destroyed the Assyrians and the Egyptians before them, they're going to destroy you too." Well, this was a deeper problem, wasn't it? Habakkuk said, "How can this be? I was intending that you just fix the problem, not that you erase the nation. How can it be that you're going to use this wicked pagan godless people to come in and erase the people of God, the Jews? Now, I admit we have our problems, we have our sins, but it's not that bad, is it? How can it be?" And so he asked the why question even deeper. Habakkuk 1:13, he says, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? Why God are you not acting on the unrighteousness in human history? Why do you hold back? Why are you quiet while these empires get built?" Habakkuk chapter two, is God's timeless answer to that question. Now, that's a big picture question, isn't it? What is going on in human history with the rise and fall of the nations? For Habakkuk, he wanted a specific question. What is going on with the Babylonians? What are you going to do with the Babylonians? God gives a four-part answer to Habakkuk in Habakkuk chapter two. First he says, and we talked about this last time, Babylon will be destroyed in turn. That's the first answer. Secondly, Babylon represents a cycle of human history, so that one nation rises and then falls and the next one comes and takes its place, and all of that is going to amount to dust in the wind, all of the human labor of self-glorifying empire building will amount to nothing. It's going to be fuel for the fire, it's going to be dust in the wind. Because thirdly, God is building his own empire. And it will last forever and ever. You see the two juxtaposed in Verses 13 and 14, look again at them. "Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Do you see it? You see the human empire building and it's going to amount to fuel for the fire. You see God filling the whole world with His own glory, just as the waters cover the sea. That's the third answer. And then fourthly, it's really the first one he covers, but logically the fourth. We've got the big picture all of the empires rising and following God's glory. Well, what about the individual, what about the lowly person? What about the single prophet for example, like Habakkuk? What about the righteous in the land? What about individual people? He answers that in Habakkuk 2:4 look again at it, he says there, "The righteous will live by his faith." By faith alone do you survive the ebbs and flows of human history. By faith alone do you enter that Kingdom of God's glory. By faith in Jesus Christ has God's redemptive plan unfolded. By faith in Christ alone, will you survive history and ultimately judgement day. That's the four part answer that he gives. II. The Law of the Boomerang: Babylon Will Be Destroyed in Turn Now, last time, we talked about the first of these, that is that Babylon will be destroyed in turn. Now, recently, my children and I were listening to a Patch The Pirate tape, we love Patch The Pirate. Some of you that are younger parents have heard it. He's great and he talks about... He takes these biblical principles and weaves them into an interesting story. And this particular one was said in Australia. And he taught what he called the Law of the boomerang. The law of the boomerang. How many of you've ever seen a boomerang? It's a curved pieces of stick with a twist on one side and a twist on the other, and if you throw it in a certain way, it flies through the air and if you're good at it, it ends back in your hand. If you're not good at it, it ends in the neighbor's window. So you need to be very, very careful. You need a huge yard or don't use it. Well, the aborigines out in the outback know exactly how to throw it so that it goes around accomplishes its task, or it comes back into their hand. Now what, according to Patch The Pirate is the law of the boomerang? Well, it's got to do with the golden rule, do to others as you would have them do you. And the flip side of that is however you do to others, it's going to come back on you. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 7:12. "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you." Matthew 7:2 says, "The measure you use is the measure that will be measured to you." This is a consistent biblical principle, isn't it? Consistent warning, look at, listen to Psalm 7:15-16, it says, "He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made. The trouble he causes recoils on Himself, his violence comes down on his own head." Proverbs 26:27, says, "If A man digs a pit, he'll fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him." The schemes that you make, the way you treat others, that's what's going to come back on you. If you dig a pit you're going to fall into it. Concerning military conquest, Jesus put it this way. He said to Peter, "Put your sword away for whoever draws the sword will die by the sword." If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword. That's the law of the boomerang. Common everyday way of speaking is what goes around comes around, right? And so if you are a Babylonian empire builder and you sweep in and conquer your neighbors, what are they going to do when the time is right and your time has finished on the world stage? The empire that you have built will crumble because the people you have dominated will come back, and will conquer you. Babylon will get there’s too. Look at verses 7-8. It says "Will not your debtors suddenly arise, will they not wake-up and make you tremble then you will become their victim because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you, for you have shed man's blood, you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them." Then again, look at Verse 15-17, it says "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunks so that he can gaze on their naked bodies." He's talking there about conquest, about the wine of conquering. And He says, "You poured it out for your neighbors, guess what? The cup from the Lord's right hand is coming around to you." It's the law of the boomerang. You gave it out, now it's coming back on your head, "Drink and be exposed. The cup from the Lord's right hand is coming around to you and disgrace will cover your glory. The violence you've done to Lebanon will overwhelm you and your destruction of animals will terrify you, for you have shed man's blood, you've destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them." It's the law, isn't it? The law of the boomerang. The way you treat others is the way it's going to be treated back on you. The measure you use is the measure you'll receive. Well, Habakkuk says, "Sounds good. Babylon will be destroyed in turn. They'll get it." And so in chapter 3:16, he says, "Okay, that's worth waiting for." He says, "I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us." I'm waiting now for Babylon to get theirs. But you know something, it goes a lot deeper than that, doesn't it? III. All Human Empires Are Fuel for the Fire The second point is that, you know something, Babylon is going to get there is by another empire that's going to rise, it's the empire of the Medes and the Persians. And they're going to ride it for a while, aren't they? They're going to be on the crest of the wave for a while. And so on and so on. "Nation will rise against nation," Jesus said, "and kingdom against kingdom, until the end comes." So really Habakkuk two echoes through all of human history. Look again at chapter 2:2-3, "Then the Lord replied, 'write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets, so that a Herald may run with it.'" Look at verse 3, "For the revelation awaits an appointed time. It speaks of the end." Do you see that" it's speaking of the end. The end of what? Well, the end of the Babylonians but it speaks to the end of history, doesn't it? Because this cycle just keeps on going and going. One Nation rises and another falls. If you look throughout chapter two, you don't see the word Babylon anywhere, do you? Woe to him who... Woe to the one who does this. If the shoe fits, wear it. If this is what you have done to your neighbor, then the woes of Habakkuk two come down on you. It's universal language written to any military conqueror who rides out with wicked motives, even perhaps to the owner of a monopoly or a trust that uses their power to squelch or to push out other smaller businesses so that they alone stand as the dominator. Look at Verse Six, it says, "Woe to him who piles up stolen goods, and makes himself wealthy by extortion." You see how it works. It's not just military conquerors but anyone who deals in this way with his neighbor. And so the Lord gives us general language in Verse 13, "Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing." It literally says, "Is it not from the Lord? It is from the Lord that the people's labor ends up to nothing, it is God's decree because God will have no competition. In the end, his glory will stand alone. It's not an accident that the empires have come and gone and there's very little show for them. It's not an accident that there's almost nothing to show of Napoleon's empire. It's not an accident that there's very little to show of Genghis Khan's empire, by the way, the biggest that the world has ever seen, in terms of land mass, and nothing to show for it except for records in history. The reason is that Babylon itself is a symbol of human glory, and God opposes human glory with all of His being. He hates it. Well, you glorify yourself, if you elevate yourself arrogantly pridefully, you will be cast down. He who exalts himself will be humbled, the Bible says so. Now Babylon has a past, an ancient past. Babylon, it also says in Scripture, has a future. Very interesting. Where did Babylon come from? It was founded by a man named Nimrod. Genesis Chapter 10 refers to him. He was, I believe, probably the first military conqueror potentate type. Genesis 10. It says that Cush, Noah's grandson was the father of Nimrod and he grew to be a mighty warrior on the Earth, He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. The first centers of His kingdom, Genesis 10:10, were Babylon, Eruch, Akkad, Calneh and Shinar. From there he went on to Assyria and built Nineveh. So he built Babylon and he built Nineveh. And so he was a world-conquering guy. This is Nimrod. It wasn't long after that in Genesis 11 that the people that inhabited Babylon built the tower of Babel for their own glory. They built a tower, and it rose higher and higher, for their own glory. And God came down and confused the languages and cast them down, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. In New Testament times however the mantle of Babylon had passed to the Romans. And so in 1 Peter 5:13, it says this, Peter writing, I believe church tradition places him in Rome at the time of his death. He died in Rome. And Peter said this, "She who is in Babylon, [the church] chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son, Mark." Babylon meant Rome. You see the mantle of Babylon had passed to the Roman Empire at that point. They'd wear it for a while and then they'd pass Babylon on to the next conquering nation, and so it went on and on. Well, Babylon also has a future. It's mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Revelation 14:8, "a second angel followed and said, 'Fallen fallen is Babylon the great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.'" And then in Revelation 18:1-2, "After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority and the Earth was illuminated by his splendor, with a mighty voice, he shouted, 'Fallen fallen is Babylon, the great. All the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.'" and so in the end, Babylon the symbol of human glory, gets judged by the second coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus comes back and destroys Babylon. He destroys the city of human glory. And in Revelation 18:9 and following, this is what it says this is the lament of the Earth over Babylon the Great. "When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry, 'woe, woe, oh great city, oh Babylon, City of power, in one hour your doom has come, the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes, anymore. Cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen, purple silk and scarlet cloth, every sort of citron wood and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and carriages, and bodies and souls of men." What is that? That is the truck and trade of Babylon the great. It is the stuff of this earth. It is human glory and all of the human comforts that that glory brings. The final incarnation of Babylon the great is the rule of anti-Christ on the Earth. He. 2 Thessalonians 2, sets himself up in God's temple, make himself equal to God whom Jesus Christ, it says, will overthrow with his breath and with the glory of His second coming. Jesus will come back with his glory. So in summary of the second point, Babylon represents all of human glory and in the end God fights against human glory and overthrows it. IV. God’s Eternal Empire Well, what does he overthrow it with? Well, with the kingdom of His own glory, the glory of Jesus Christ who will reign forever and ever. Somebody say, Amen. The glory of Jesus Christ and he comes and establishes a kingdom and the world-wide scope of that kingdom is laid out in Verse 14. Look at it again. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. This is a prophecy, is it not? It's speaking of the future, it speaks of the end. It's not been fully fulfilled at this point. It's going on, it's advancing but it's not complete yet. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Now, look at the first word in Verse 14. It says, "For the Earth will be filled," what is that? It's a connection to verse 13. Well, all of the labor of human glory is going to be fuel for the fire. What is that? At the clearing of the building site, you got to remove just like What's going on down at ground zero of 911, they've got to remove all of that twisted melted wreckage and get it out of there, if they want to build something else. And so it is with human glory, it must be removed, utterly removed if the kingdom of God is going to stand in all of its glory. You've got to remove it for the earth will be filled instead with the glory of God, the knowledge of the glory of God. You've got to remove all of that human glory. What is Glory? Now, what is his glory? Well, let me tell you something. The Glory of God already fills the earth. Did you know that? We've talked about it before, but this is what it says in Isaiah 6, The prophet Isaiah in his call, it says "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple," this is Isaiah seeing Jesus glory. "Above him there were seraphs, each with six wings. With two wings, they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is filled with His glory now.'" It's already here. Well, how did it get there? Well, He wove it into creation. It was there at the start. He made this world glorious. He put his fingerprints on everything he did. But he had a higher plan. He intended not only that the Earth be filled with His glory, but according to Habakkuk 2:14, that the Earth be filled with the knowledge of His glory. And for that, you need people, don't you? Worms and eagles and trees and babbling brooks and clouds cannot know God. And so, he said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…" Male and female, He created them in the image of God, that they would know His glory, that they would be creatures after his own mind so that they could see a babbling brook or a worm or an eagle or a cloud or a forest and say, "God made that, to God be the glory." But something happened, didn't it? Sin entered the world and perverted everything. And so the mind of man was twisted and perverted, and instead of seeing glory of God everywhere, it saw instead, things to be worshipped. Romans 1:20-23, "For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man, and birds, and animals and reptiles." They exchanged the glory of God for something created, God therefore cursed the world. And we had therefore diminished glory. He subjected the created world to futility, to frustration. And we were born with darkened minds so that we could not see the glory of God in creation. But all that's going to change. All that is changing now, and why? Because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ reverses that whole thing, and why? Because the Holy Spirit comes with the Gospel of God's glory and changes your mind. We did pretty well, biologically filling the world, didn't we? There are people everywhere, even the most remotest places are filled with people. But is the world filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea? Have you ever been down to the sea? Have you seen how completely the waters cover that territory? Do you realize that in some parts of the ocean it's six miles deep? Do people know God's glory that much? Is the earth filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord now that way? No. But it's changing, isn't it? The kingdom of God is advancing step-by-step through missionary endeavor, through you going out and sharing the gospel with your neighbors and co-workers with other people, and what happens. Well, I'll tell you what happens. You share that powerful gospel, the apostle Paul said, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because it's got power…" it's got power to put it back the way it used to be, the way it was meant to be, that we would know God's glory. It's got power. The gospel comes through your lips and an unbeliever hears and their hearts are changed. In 2 Corinthians 4:6, it says, "For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness…'" that's glory, in Creation, isn't it? The same God who did that "made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." That's called conversion, folks, and it comes by believing the Gospel. So you hear the Gospel and your heart is changed. Immediately, you start seeing the world differently, don't you? Look at an unbeliever in Irian Jaya, Stone-Age tribe. He has been an idle worshiper all his life. The missionaries come, Don Richardson, let's say, shares the Gospel and they come to faith in Christ. They repent and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God comes into their mind. Everything's different. The next morning the sun comes up like it always has. But it's different now, isn't it, for that individual? What does he see in the sun rays as they go across in the pink early morning sky? Does he just see a sunrise? Does he believe that his god of stone did it? No, he understands this is my Father's world. God made that. God made it. It changes everything. It changes it for a scientist. Scientist goes into the laboratory and sees some principle of scientific technique. Does he say, "Oh, how smart I am," no that's idolatry. Instead he says, "God made it that way. Everything changes." The Earth starts getting filled more and more with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea The kingdom of Jesus Christ is spreading. But it's got a future, doesn't it? We're not going to see it completed in this world. Forces of darkness are still strong and there's still a future for Babylon isn't there? But when Jesus Christ comes back, he's going to destroy this present world, everything not built for the glory of God will go. All of it. Everything will go. And he will create, it says in Revelation 21:1, "A new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and there was no longer any sea." Isn't that interesting? Why is there no longer any sea? Well, in the Book of Revelation, where do all the beasts come from that rule over the earth? They come up out of the sea, don't they? The churning mass of pagan nations, all of this churning mass of rise and fall of the world, rise and fall, that's gone. It's gone. There's only one kingdom now, the Kingdom of God's glory, it's the only one left. A new heaven and a new earth are perfected in glory. And not only that, we will be perfected. We'll have new eyes to see and a new heart to understand. And we will see a glory such as we have never seen before, there'll be no sun, there'll be no moon, no need for stars, no need for a lamp, just the glory of God shining in that new place. And Jesus Christ is the lamp. That's the future. And at that point, it will be fulfilled what Habakkuk said so long ago, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. VI. Review and Application Now, by way of review. Habakkuk asks a question, "God, how can you stand and look at history, at the rise and fall of the Nations and all these wicked people and do nothing?" Answer, "I'm not doing nothing. I'm ruling over the whole thing. I'm raising up the Babylonians and when their day is over, I'm going to raise up the Persians, and when their day is over, I'm going to raise up the Greeks, I'm running the whole thing. And in the middle of it all, I'm building a kingdom for my glory. It's hidden, only the believers can see it now, but it's coming. And righteous people will enter that Kingdom, simply by faith in Jesus Christ." That's what he says in Habakkuk 2. What can we say then in response? I think number one, come out of Babylon. Come out. What business has the church in Babylon? What do we want to be in there anyway? This what it says in Revelation 18:4-5, "Then I heard another voice from Heaven say Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues for her sins are piled up to heaven and God has remembered her crimes. Come out of her." Now, we can't leave the world but come out of the way of thinking. Don't do your work for your own glory, do it for God. Don't be a mother for your own glory, be a mother for the glory of God. Don't be a father for your own glory, do it for God's glory. Don't be a businessman, don't own a business, don't be an employee in a business except for the glory of God. Everything you do, do it all for the glory of God. Come out of her also, and that don't share in her track, don't share in her stuff. What do we want with that? It's all going to pass away. The desires of this world will pass away but the one who does the will of God will last forever. So therefore do not love the world or anything in the world, for anything in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, that comes not from the Father but from the world, and it's going to disappear. Secondly, enter and live by faith in Christ. What do I mean by enter? You enter through the narrow gate, you enter the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We've already shared in Babylon's sins, haven't we? And therefore, we have judgment on us if we're not Christians, we will be judged by the wrath of God. The cross is God's answer. Jesus Christ came to take away our punishment for our sins. By simple faith, not by accomplishments or great achievements, but by simple faith in Christ, you enter the Kingdom of God's glory. That's all. But then you live in it, don't you? The moment you come to faith in Christ, you go up into the kingdom of glory. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Of course, you'll be taught to be a pastor, because you've only been pastoring unbelievers all the time, right? As soon as they come to faith, they're gone. God has ordained that we stay on Earth, for a while. We've got some good deeds to do by faith in Christ, we must do them for his glory, we must live by faith, the righteous will live by faith. Thirdly, I want to exhort you to be ambitious. There's a lot of ambition and backache too, isn't there? But it's all self-ambition, self-glory. I think God's put kingdom building in our hearts, that's why we keep perverting it into earthly kingdoms. Now, let it be sanctified and build the kingdom for the glory of God. Do you realize some of the great figures in church history have been incredibly ambitious people? Hudson Taylor threw himself on a map of China and said God give me China or I'll die. Now that's ambition. Now, I think Coca-Cola threw itself on the map but didn't say God give me China or I die. I went to Kashgar, China and there was Coca-Cola, the most remote place I've ever been. They're ambitious, but not for the glory of God. You see Hudson Taylor was ambitious. Every bit as ambitious, but for the glory of God. C.T Studd, said this, attempt great things for God, expect great things from God. I'm calling you to be ambitious, but ambitious for the glory of God to build a kingdom for His glory. And where does it start? We have to start by conquering right at home, your own body. Control yourself and your own passions, your own lusts. That's why Paul said, "I beat my body and make it my slave." You want to conquer something? Conquer yourself, and once you've conquered yourself, keep it conquered. He said, "I beat my body and I keep it my slave, lest after I've preached to others, I myself may be disqualified." Alright, after you've conquered yourself then move out, start with your family and with your group. And I'm talking, conquering for the glory of God. It's a whole different kind of conquer. Jesus is servant, loved conquering. That's how it works, and it goes on from there to the ends of the earth through the power of the gospel. And why? Because the Earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. You do that labor and your work will last forever.

I. Paul’s Genius: Total Concentration Please take your Bibles if you would and open to Romans chapter 4. This morning we're going to be looking at verses 9-12 on the issue of Abraham's circumcision. Now as we've been moving through Romans, we start to see the train of thought and we start to see exactly why it is that Paul gave us these words. The Book of Romans is written that sinners like you and me might stand before God on judgment day free of our sins. I can't say it any more plainly because all of us have sins, every last one of us. We know it and we experience it every day. And we may or may not have a sense of God's attitude towards those sins, of His holiness, His righteousness, His blamelessness. But as we read the Scripture, we can't miss it that our God is a God who has a great wrath against sin. A great wrath. And that wrath is removed only in one place, and that is the cross of Jesus Christ. And we've seen that, we've seen the nature of our sin and how deeply it's woven into our very being, so that we cannot escape, we can't help ourselves. But we struggle against sin day after day and there's no way to escape it apart from the salvation that God has given us. And as we have seen, that salvation is so beautifully manifested in the cross of Jesus Christ. It's the only place of salvation and that we are connected to it only by faith. And so we're talking about justification by faith alone, apart from works. And you have to ask yourself as you go through this, and as we move from chapter 3, on into chapter 4 and then into chapter 5, Paul, why? Why so much on this one theme of justification by faith alone, apart from works. William James, author, said this, "Men of genius differ from ordinary men, not in brain power, but in the aims and purposes on which they concentrate and the degree of concentration which they achieve." In other words, what separates a genius from the rest of regular people is the thing that they're concentrating on and how powerfully and totally they can concentrate on that. Napoleon said the same thing. He spoke of his own ability or mental power to concentrate on his objectives for a long periods of time without tiring. And so also it was with Churchill, that same kind of genius. In the midst of all the swirling activities in the '30s, when all kinds of events were coming and going, he had his mind and his concentration fixed on what was happening in Hitlerite Germany. That was what mattered. All the other things were trifles, and he was right. Total concentration on one thing despite all the other swirling things. And so it was with Paul. That is the genius that he brings to us here, he is concentrating on what really matters; how sinners like us can be made right before God like him. Justification by faith alone. And so with Paul we get a total concentration on Christ. How many times in the writings of Paul do we have a phrase like 'In Him.', 'In Christ.', 'Through Him.', 'Through our Lord Jesus Christ.' A total concentration on Christ. And so also a total concentration on Heaven, the glory that waits for us. Which I have already referred to, the fact that every day brings us Christians closer to seeing it. And that we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Every day brings us closer to that glory. And so Paul also just saturated with Heaven. You couldn't get near him without him talking about the glory that is to come and the way that we sinners can see it through justification. And a total concentration from Paul on pure doctrine, the gospel of our salvation, the message which can transform us and bring us into Heaven. Total concentration. And here again, as we come to this section, we see justification by faith alone. And we're tempted to say, "Paul we got it. We got it, we understand. We understand Romans 3:22, that there's a righteousness from God apart from law. And this righteousness comes to us by faith alone. We got it." We got it in Romans 3:28, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law." We got it. And then we got it with the illustration of Abraham, "What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather discovered in this matter. If in fact Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about. But not before God." We got it. Romans 4:1-5. And then Romans 4:6-8 the same thing. David's experience with all the sin in his life with Bathsheba, the whole thing. How is that sin cleansed? By faith alone. We got it, a blessedness. But Paul isn't finished, now he's going to deal with the issue of circumcision and through that, I think connected with that, the whole thing of observing the law. How does that relate to our justification? And he's going to move on through the rest of chapter 4, on into chapter 5. And he's going to keep teaching this doctrine until we get it. And why is it? I think perhaps because of our nature. There's something inside us that wants to save ourselves, thank you very much. We want to do it ourselves. Have you ever seen a little child? "Me do it. Me do it." From very early age, they're grabbing the crayon from your hand. They want to show that they can do it. We want to do the same thing with our own salvation, that we may save ourselves. Paul says not possible. Now I want to give you the blessedness that comes from a salvation apart from yourself. I want to give you the blessedness of getting your eyes off your own puny powers, onto an immeasurable power which is at work in you, to confirm your salvation. That's what he's doing. And so he's going to take us through this whole discussion of justification by faith alone and we're going to understand it. II. Overview of Romans 4:9-12: Justification & Circumcision And so we come to Romans 4:9-12. Look down at the text with me if you would. Beginning at verse 9, "Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised? Or before? Is was not after but before. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then he is the father of all who believe, but have not been circumcised in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised, who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised." And what is Paul saying in these verses? He begins by speaking of a blessedness. Verse 9, "Is this blessedness only for the circumcised?" What is the blessedness he's referring to? Well, he just got done talking about it. Romans 4:6,7 & 8, the word blessing or blessedness in there three times. It is the blessing or the blessedness of the state of justification, that you as a sinner can stand before God free of your sins. Remember, we've been saying that justification has a positive and a negative side. Positively, that Jesus Christ will take His righteousness, and cover you with it. Remember, we've called that an Asbestos robe that enables you to survive the fire of judgment day. It's a righteousness that doesn't belong to you. It's Jesus' and He'll cloak it on you by faith positively. Then we saw the negative side of justification, whereas Jesus' righteousness is imputed to you or considered to you by God. Your sins, however many they may be, are not thought of by God. They're not imputed to you for He has covered them in the blood of Christ. Now, that is a blessedness, isn't it? And the question Paul asked here is, "Is this blessedness only available for Jews? Is it only available for the circumcised? And do we Gentiles, do we need to become Jews in order to get into this thing? Do we have to become circumcised? Do we have to follow the law of Moses?" That's what he's dealing with here. The Jewish Perspective: Circumcision is Part of the Covenant Now, what would the Jews of Paul's day have said? "Oh yes, oh yes, we are the children of Abraham, and blessedness comes to us alone through the covenant." And circumcision is part of that covenant. If you don't keep that covenant, you have no blessedness. There is no forgiveness of sins apart from that covenant. And so they divided all the world into two categories, circumcised and uncircumcised. Now, where would we fit into that categorization? Every last one of us were Gentiles as far as I know. We're Gentiles. And is it possible for Gentiles like us to receive the blessedness of justification? Now, they called Gentiles by such cute names as dogs, Gentile dogs, and all that. I think they were worn out by five empires one after the other, tramping on the promised land, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, Persians, Romans, one after the other trampling on it. They're worn out, so they hated the Gentiles. Furthermore, within God's own law, there were some barriers, weren't there? There were some walls, which prevented us as Gentiles from coming into the presence of God, couldn't come close. And if you as a Gentile, you wanted to be saved, you could become a Jewish convert. You would have to be baptized, a cleansing ceremony, washing away all that Gentileishness from you, and of course you would have to be circumcised if you're a male. And in this way, you could become somewhat of a Jew, but you're still a second class citizen because you couldn't call Abraham, father. That was reserved only to the genetic descendants of Abraham. And Paul cuts through all of this, and he does with it Scripture. He asked about this blessedness, and he says, "Okay, what are we going to do? Do you Gentiles have to become like us Jews in order to be saved?" And everywhere that Paul went, he preached the gospel to Gentiles. They're coming to faith in Christ. They're believing. And in his trail is this group of Jewish Christians maybe who were coming along and saying, "The gentiles must be required to obey the law of Moses." They were called Judaizers. And everywhere they went, they said, "You've got to follow the laws of Moses or you can't go to heaven." Well, this brought them into great dispute. And there was a controversy, and they worked it out in Acts 15. Praise God that they got it right under the authority and the inspiration the leading of the Holy Spirit, so that we Gentiles are not troubled with the burden, the crushing burden of the law of Moses in order that we may be saved. What Dos the Scripture Say? – The Chronology is Crucial But Paul just cuts through it very simply here in Chapter 4, doesn't he? And he does it by asking a simple question. We've asked it before. "What does the Scripture say?" Sit up when you hear that. "What does the Scripture say?" It answers everything. The Scripture answers these questions. And Paul just simply goes back into Genesis, and asks a simple question. "What does the scripture say? How was Abraham justified? And how did his circumcision relate?" And he answers it very plainly. "Was Abraham circumcised when he was justified? No, he was not." And in effect, therefore, Abraham was a Gentile when he was justified. He's a Gentile, just like you and me, uncircumcised. And look what he says. He goes back in time. He says, "Under what circumstances was Abraham's faith credited as righteousness?" Verse 10. "Was it after he was circumcised or before?" Verse 10, "It was not after but before." Remember the context, Genesis 15. God invites Abraham out of his tent and says, "Come on out and look up at the stars. Look up at all the stars, and see them. Count them if you can, so shall your offspring be. You're going to have that many descendants, even though you're childless." And Abraham believed God. He thought "it's true." And at that moment, God saw his faith, invisible. But He saw his faith and justified him. He declared that all of his sins are forgiven. Past, present, future, all of it wiped away. Now at that moment, Abraham had not yet been circumcised, for that came later in Genesis 17:9 and following. "Then God said to Abraham, 'As for you, you must keep my covenant. You and your descendants after you for the generations to come. And this is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep. Every male among you shall be circumcised.'" And He goes on to say, "If you're not circumcised, you're not part of the covenant." So what is Paul doing? It's a simple chronological argument. Genesis 15 happens before Genesis 17. In Genesis 15, Abraham is not circumcised. He's justified in that chapter. Genesis 17 comes anywhere, we don't really know, but from 12 to 30 years later, and all that time Abraham was justified by faith alone without being circumcised. It's just simple, a simple argument. Chronology. And so therefore, Paul draws out some conclusions. Circumcision is not the source of Abraham's justification. Couldn't be, because he was justified before he had it. It is instead a sign and a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith. Sign and seal, not source. That's what he's speaking. Well, then you may ask then why did He give circumcision? And that brings us into the whole reason for all those regulations and the dietary laws and all that stuff in the Law of Moses. I think He wanted the Jewish people to be a separate people until the Christ came. And when the Christ came, the need for all that separation from the Gentiles was over. It was over. It was fulfilled, in the fullness of time Jesus came. Born under the law, but to free us from all that law that we might be justified by faith. III. Why is Justification by Faith ALONE So Important? Justification by Faith Alone Excludes Boasting Now to take a step back and look at this, we have to ask again why is this so important to Paul? Why justification by faith? And I think there's five answers. We're going to look at each one of them. The first is that justification by faith alone excludes boasting. Now we've already seen this at the end of chapter three, you remember? In verse 27. It says, "Where then is boasting? In the face of the cross of Jesus Christ, how can we boast?" Answer, it is excluded. It's left out. There's no boasting available. He deals with the same thing at the beginning of this chapter. If Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about. Now, why is this boasting thing such an important thing? Well, it has to do with our nature. It's in our nature to boast about ourselves. We live in the most self-focused, self-esteeming, boastful age, perhaps in the history of the world. And it's funny as you look at the curriculum and all the other thing, what we need is more and more self-esteem. Self, self, self. I'm thinking, "Oh my goodness. You are trying to put out a fire with kerosene." We need to have our pride slain, not encouraged. And the gospel does that. It humbles us. And you say, "Well, why do have to be humbled? Why do have to have the boasting removed? Do I have to have my boasting removed?" It's like asking a doctor, "Do I have to have the infection removed in order to get well?" Oh, yes. You must have the infection removed in order to get well. You must. And justification by faith alone is good at that. There's nothing in us to boast. How does boasting fit into justification? Jesus answered that with a parable. To some who are confident of their own righteousness and look down on everybody else Jesus told this parable, "Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself." He prayed about himself. What a topic. How limited is that? I'd rather pray about God. But this man, who stood up and prayed about himself, "God, I thank you that I'm not like other men. Robbers, evildoers, adulterers, even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." Oh, by the way, that last little part, that's the resume, that's intrinsic to justification by works. You've got to have a resume. You've got to be able to say what good things you did. "I went to church for 20, 30 years. I was on this committee. I did that." That's your resume. And if you're standing on the basis of that, then you're no different that this Pharisee who's standing on the basis of his fasting and his tithing and the other good things he did. "And I'm not like this other person. But the tax collector stood off at a distance and he wouldn't even look up to heaven but instead beat his chest and said, 'Be merciful to me, oh God, a sinner.' And then the one who has been appointed as judge of all humanity," that's Jesus Christ, "He said, 'I'll tell you the truth. That one went home justified.'" He went home justified because of his broken-hearted faith. "Be merciful to me, oh God, the sinner." And so we must have our boasting slain. We must have it destroyed, and justification by faith alone does this. Justification by Faith Alone Ensures Imputed Righteousness Secondly, justification by faith alone ensures a righteousness for us. It ensures that on Judgment Day, we're going to be covered with something that'll stand up to the test. It ensures that we will be as righteous as Jesus Christ because of an imputed righteous, a gift of righteousness that is not ours. Now, we've talked about that so much, there's no need to belabor it, but it comes by faith alone. It ensures imputed righteousness. And thirdly, it explains the relationship between faith and works. We talked about this last time, remember? We're always confused about this. We always get the order wrong. Which comes first, faith or works? Well if they're genuine works, faith always comes first. Justification by faith alone enables us to stand holy and blameless before God, and from that standing comes a river, a lifetime of good works not the other way around. And if you try to present to God a river of lifetime of good works and say, "On the basis of this justify me", then you're like the Pharisee. Justification by Faith Alone Explains Relationship Between Faith and Works Now we've talked about the strife or the conflict between Paul and James on this point, there is none. The faith that justifies always produces good works, that's all. And justification by faith alone explains the relationship between faith and works. We see it here in verse 11, look down with me. It says that Abraham received the sign of circumcision. A seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So therefore Paul calls circumcision two things here. He calls circumcision a sign of inner righteousness and also a seal of inner righteousness. In other words the righteousness is there first and then the act of circumcision comes along as a sign and a seal. Just like this wedding ring is a sign or a symbol of my marriage but it is not my marriage. It's just a symbol of it. External, visible to all who can see my hand but it represents my relationship does not consist in it, it's not the source of it. And so also circumcision, a seal of the righteousness. And so what does this mean, the seal? Well back in those days if you're writing a document or writing a letter they would take a candle and they'd melt some wax on it and then they'd take their signet ring, or a seal and they'd push it into the molten wax and it would leave an imprint. And it meant this letter comes from me, this is mine. It's almost like a seal of ownership. An authoritative seal of ownership. And so also circumcision sealed these people as God's people and also when one did this, when one was circumcised, they were putting their own seal to the fact they were children of the covenant. That's how the sealing worked. Paul talks about his sealing as an apostle. In 1 Corinthians 9, there were some people questioning him, they're saying, "Is he really an apostle?", and then there's others that were boasting and very strong in themselves and Paul says, "I've got a seal of my apostleship." You know what the seal of Paul's apostleship was? The Corinthians. "I led you to Christ. I came to your town, you were pagans. Utter pagans before I got there, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, now you're believers in Jesus Christ, you are the seal of my apostleship." Let me ask you a question. Was Paul an apostle before they came to Christ? Absolutely. But they were the outward, visible sign or seal of the fact that Paul was truly an apostle. "You are the seal of my apostleship." Now you can come along and say, "Now if there was nothing like that, if there was no seal like that, would Paul still have been an apostle?" Foolish question, because apostles bear fruits don't they? They're indwelled by the Holy Spirit, everywhere they go they speak with passion, with power, there's going to be fruit. That's an absurd question, you can't separate the faith and works. You can't separate the righteousness and the seal. And so we understand it properly. Justification by Faith Alone Empowers Worldwide Evangelism The fourth point is this, that justification by faith alone empowers worldwide evangelism. Look what it says in verse 11, "So then he is the Father of all who believe, that have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness may be credited to them." The law of Moses was symbolized by circumcision, in other words circumcision represented the whole law. If you're going to be circumcised, you got to keep the whole law, and that involved all kinds of regulations other than just circumcision. For example, dietary regulations. Have you ever read the list of foods that you are and are not allowed to eat in Deuteronomy? I actually was only able to identify less than half of what these beings, these animals, were, but there was a very careful list of what you were and were not able to eat. And they gave regulations about whether they chewed the cud, or their hoof was divided and all this kind of thing. You know one food they definitely couldn't eat was pig. All of these dietary regulations. Now what was the purpose of all this? Now you would say the purpose was, and I've heard this before, the purpose was they didn't have refrigeration back then. Have you ever heard this argument? They didn't have refrigeration and so God was trying to protect them from all those diseases that came from eating pig. Don't you believe it, because God forbid the Jews from eating it, but said that the gentile guests can eat it, go ahead. So God doesn't care about them? And even more Jesus, in Mark 7, declared all foods clean. Did you know they didn't have refrigeration in Jesus' age either? I don't think they had Amana or anything else back then. They still didn't have refrigeration and yet Jesus coldly, cruelly declares all foods clean? What is that? It's not for protection, it was that the Jews might be a separate people. That they might be a different people. And when He declared all foods clean, Jews and gentiles alike, go ahead and eat pig. There may be other reasons not to eat the pig, find out about those in the 20th century. There are other reasons, but it's not for this. The time had come because the Messiah had come and the need for the separation of the Jewish people was no longer, the Messiah had been identified. He was a child of Abraham, born under the law, but the time for those ceremonial regulations was over. Wasn't just food, it extended to your clothing, you couldn't wear clothes with a certain fibers woven together. It extended to your hair style, you had to let the hair in the corners of your head grow long, you couldn't trim the edges of your beard. Have you ever seen Hasidic Jews? And they have those long locks going down from here? That's because of the literalistic reading of that text. Let me ask you a question. Can you take a gospel like that to the ends of the earth? I've been reading recently this wonderful missionary biography, Peace Child, by Don Richardson. I don't know if any of you have heard of it, it's an incredible story. In 1962, Don Richardson and his wife Carol and their seven month old baby went to Irian Jaya, Netherlands New Guinea. It's a wild island north of Australia. Went there to preach the Gospel, and they worked with the Sawi people. Now, the Sawi tribe were a bunch of head hunting cannibals. Great place to bring a seven month old, but they had faith and God had called them. Head hunting cannibals. And in their culture, they came to found out that these people revered and respected treachery above all things. That makes sense for head hunting cannibals. And they had a saying that they were fattening so and so for the day of slaughter with friendship. You see how that works? You befriend them, you're kind, you welcome them in and then the day of slaughter comes, and they never suspect it. Let me ask you a question. As you think about the Gospel and all the events that led up to Jesus' arrest, the whole thing, who would be the real hero of the story in that mindset? Not Jesus, but Judas. You see? Judas is the real hero. Jesus is the weak one, and Judas' kiss is the moment of triumph. How perverted is that? But they came to understand through what Richardson calls a redemptive analogy. Two Sawi tribes when they're at war with each other and they want to make peace, they give each other a peace child, a son of one of the chieftains. And as long as that child lives, there's peace between the two tribes, but if the child dies, there's no peace, and as soon as the child died they'd be back at war again. And Jesus was in effect God's peace child to the world, but He lives forever and as long as He stands firm and lives forever there's peace between God and man. Well, he explained the Gospel and they came to Christ. What's fascinating about the Sawi tribe is that they revered and respected treachery but also strength with a bow, and their chief became chief, because he was able to take a bow and an arrow and drive it through a wild boar all the way through without hitting bone. Amazing. Now, let's say we go and preach this Gospel, the Gospel of Justification by law, by Moses, by works and all that, and they have to submit to all those rules and regulations. And you're saying to the Sawi tribe, "You aren't allowed to eat pig. You must be circumcised. You're not allowed to eat pig. You have to go to Jerusalem three times a year. I don't know how you're going to get the plane fare, but we'll figure that out later. You're gonna have to do all of these rules and regulations in order that you may be saved." Is that gospel transportable to the ends of the earth? Absolutely not. No, the time for that had passed. The Gospel is simple as this: If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved, and the Sawi tribe they were saved. It's a simple Gospel message. Justification by Faith Alone Enables final unity between Jew and Gentile And fifthly, justification by faith alone enables final unity between Jew and Gentile. Let me ask you a question. How in world can a believing Jew and a former head hunting cannibal Sawi tribesman truly be one? The way is through justification by faith alone, because God does the exact same thing in both of them, the exact same thing. Look what he says in verse 12. "He [Abraham], is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our Father Abraham had before he was circumcised." In other words, he is the father of the Sawi tribesman who comes to simple faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit enters the Sawi tribesman and He begins to put sin to death. He begins to walk by faith. He begins to serve God. And how does it work out? By the law, by the law but not that old law… The law of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself. The Holy Spirit fulfills that in the Sawi tribesman; does the same thing in the believing Jew. It's not the Law of Moses anymore but the same law, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself." And when you're justified by faith, the Holy Spirit enters you and you are able, empowered to obey those two laws. What does he say here? "Those that walk in the footsteps of the faith that our Father Abraham had." Have you ever seen a child walking behind a father maybe on the beach or in the snow trying to keep in step with the father, jumping from footprint to footprint? That's the image I get here; Abraham a giant of faith. And what it meant was that Abraham's faith had footprints. Do you see that? Abraham's faith had footprints. You could trace out his life. His life was different, because he believed and so also will yours be if you are justified by faith, and you're going to follow in those footsteps of Abraham, the same faith. And God by His Spirit is going to work it in you, and you're not going to talk about the footprints. You're not going to talk about all the work you did and present it to God on Judgment Day. You're going to talk about Jesus Christ and Him alone, and Paul clears this whole thing up. It is not circumcision that saves the Jew. If you're Jewish living in the first century, cast it aside. Cast it aside. Galatians 5:6 "For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. The only thing that counts is faith working itself out through love." Faith which works itself out through loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; loving your neighbor as yourself. Well, today we've looked again at the issue of justification by faith alone. We've seen Paul continuing to concentrate on this one thing, that we may turn away from our confidence in our own obedience, our own law keeping, our good deeds, that we may turn away from these things. The Jews had an obstacle to all this. It was circumcision. "Now, God told us to be circumcised. You're telling us now that we shouldn't have been or that we should disobey that? God gave us a warning that if we're not circumcised, we're going to be cut off." Paul explains all of that. We're in a New Covenant now. There's no need any longer for circumcision. Abraham himself was a Gentile when he was justified. He's our example. Righteousness comes by faith. And we've seen how this excludes boasting, that we may not boast in anything but Jesus Christ. It ensures a righteousness that is not ours, but will cover us on judgment day. It explains the relationship between faith and works. It empowers worldwide evangelism, a gospel that's transportable to the ends of the earth. And it enables the final unity between Jew and Gentile in heaven. But what are the applications for us? I've written them out for you on your outline. IV. Applications The first is a lesson on right boasting. "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." Your salvation is all of Him. If in your quiet moments you think, "On what basis am I going to heaven?" And you begin to think to yourself of good things you've done, you're in trouble. You have not understood justification by faith alone apart from works. Let him who boasts, boast in what Jesus Christ has accomplished and Him alone. Second is a lesson on ritual baptism. Now where does baptism come in here? Well, what is the sign and seal, the outward visible sign and seal of our inward justification? What ceremony has God given to us? Baptism. Baptism. And may I say to you that your baptism doesn't save you anymore than Abraham's circumcision saved him. Your baptism does not save you any more than Abraham's circumcision saved him. Both of them commanded by God, both of them in and of themselves good righteous obedience. But they are not the source of anyone's righteousness, only a sign and seal of it. Don't rely on religious ritual even if God commanded it. And it's sad to me if I go and meet with people who may be on the edge of death, and I talk to them, and all they can talk about is certain things in the past. "I was baptized, I walked the aisle, I signed the card, I did, I did, I did, I did." Your righteousness is Christ. Talk to Him, praise Him, give honor to Him, and don't rely on ritual baptism for your salvation. The third is a lesson on radical obedience. What are the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had? Where did his faith carry him? To another land, a distant place. It was an incredible life of radical obedience. Are you living that kind of a life? Is your faith in Jesus Christ radically changing your life? Has it made any difference in your life at all? Are you following Abraham's footsteps? And furthermore, what kind of footsteps are you leaving so that others will follow in your tracks? What legacy are you leaving to your children? What kind of footsteps are you leaving behind you? Are they footsteps of faith, faith in God alone? And then the final is a lesson on worldwide evangelism. Are you living to take the gospel to the ends of the earth? This gospel travels light and moves. Are you involved in the worldwide evangelistic endeavor? Are you praying for our missionaries in Uganda? It's a simple way. They saw someone come to Christ this week. Somebody say Amen. Amen. And all of you who prayed, you have a part in this, 2 Corinthians 1. We take part in our prayers, by our prayers. We take shares. We're not to be credited for that anymore than they are. It is God who gives new birth in Christ. But are you taking part in the worldwide outreach? God has brought some of the world right to our door. We've got international students. Are you taking part in the harvest? You may say, "God hasn't called me to go to the ends of the earth." Well, all right, God made it easy for you, brought the ends of the earth right to you. Are you involved through your prayer and through your footsteps? Is there any action, any activity in your life toward worldwide evangelism? If not, just let God work it in you. Let Him work it in you. There's nothing like the life that follows in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised. Will you close with me in prayer please?

Erwin discusses the life of the missionary Don Richardson.

Julie Lavender continues to reveal the world of DreamFarm with this behind the scenes episode in which she shares more of her own music, creative influences and life at the farm. Julie talks with engineer Don Richardson inviting listeners find out more about what makes DreamFarm Radio a feast for the ears.

Julie Lavender continues to reveal the world of DreamFarm with this behind the scenes episode in which she shares more of her own music, creative influences and life at the farm. Julie talks with engineer Don Richardson inviting listeners find out more about what makes DreamFarm Radio a feast for the ears.

Julie Lavender continues to reveal the world of DreamFarm with this behind the scenes episode in which she shares more of her own music, creative influences and life at the farm. Julie talks with engineer Don Richardson inviting listeners find out more about what makes DreamFarm Radio a feast for the ears.

Julie Lavender continues to reveal the world of DreamFarm with this behind the scenes episode in which she shares more of her own music, creative influences and life at the farm. Julie talks with engineer Don Richardson inviting listeners find out more about what makes DreamFarm Radio a feast for the ears.