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[0:00] Good morning, saints of Siwi Bay. It is great to be with you, and it is a joy and an honor to preach for you this morning.

[0:10] And I bring greetings from the saints of Holy City, the pastors, the elders, the membership on James Island. There's nothing more necessary in today's day and age than like-minded, healthy churches.

[0:27] The reality is we live in a world of compromise today, and it was a joy for me to get acquainted with you all and to speak to your pastor and to just know that the faithful word of Christ is being proclaimed out this way as it is our way.

[0:44] This morning, thus far, we have worshiped the triune God in at least three ways. So far, we have confessed the faith. We've used our minds and our voices to exalt the triune God through singing.

[1:02] We have responded to the goodness and mercy of God through our giving. And as we come now to the preaching of the word, the apostle Paul tells us in Romans that the word of God preached and proclaimed is the means by which we have been born again.

[1:25] Through the word preached, the saving gospel of repentance and faith has come to save us from our sins. And whether or not that was through our parents, maybe an evangelist, maybe in a church service, nevertheless, it was God's truth proclaimed that was used by the Spirit to transfer us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son.

[1:50] It is the word of God preached and proclaimed, not only, but loved and trusted and applied to the saints by which we are instructed in righteousness, encouraged, admonished, sanctified.

[2:11] How we endure trials, trusting Christ alone for salvation, and how ultimately we're kept till the end. Our text this morning will be Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 11.

[2:27] And before we read that and the word is exposited and preached, I'm going to say one more prayer and ask the Lord to be with us and to bless our time together.

[2:39] Lord, we love you. We've come together to worship you on the Lord's day. The day in which we remember that the resurrection of Christ actually occurred.

[2:53] Lord, we remember that you are Lord and you are exalted and you are the King. Lord, please speak, convert the lost, and edify the saints.

[3:04] We love you, Lord. In Christ's name, amen. If you haven't yet, you can turn in your Bibles to Paul's epistle to the Philippians, chapter 2, verses 5 to 11.

[3:22] Again, Paul's epistle to the Philippians, chapter 2, verses 5 to 11. Please stand for the reading of God's word.

[3:34] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

[3:59] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so 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.

[4:25] Let he who has ears to hear the word of God, let him hear. Please be seated. Well, I certainly didn't expect the Baptist Catechism confession and reading in the Lord's providence to align in particular with our text this morning.

[4:50] He's kind to do such a thing to remind us he's truly with us. This text is important. It's very special.

[5:01] It's special and important because it is the clearest explanation of the truth that the eternal person of God the Son became man.

[5:14] If we get Christ wrong, we end up trusting in a Christ who doesn't exist. We end up perishing.

[5:26] And that is why Satan has launched since the apostolic age a full assault on teaching regarding the person of Christ. false doctrine, false religion, false apostles, Jesus warns, false prophets, Paul warns, the Ephesian elders, many false prophets will arise even from among yourselves, speaking what?

[5:51] Twisted things. Not necessarily immoral things, things that are intentionally wrong. False teachers, if you want to remember something, remember this.

[6:02] False teachers use our vocabulary but not our dictionary. They use the same words and they mean something else.

[6:17] And we want to be diligent in the whole counsel of God, understanding it. Reading the Bible is one thing. Understanding what the Bible teaches is something altogether different, vitally important.

[6:33] We want to be diligent in understanding what God has revealed to us by his word. And not just understanding it, not just understanding it to win theological arguments. No, we want to love him.

[6:46] We want to have true inward devotion toward him. We want to know him, love him, and worship him rightly. We want to trust it, speak it, believe it from the heart.

[6:59] And we want to apply it to our lives so we can walk in holiness and honoring him. A saving relationship with Christ is the most important relationship you can have in this life.

[7:15] He honors the Father because the Father sent the Son and commands that the Son share in that honor.

[7:27] There are approximately 150 to 200 warnings and references related to false teaching and doctrinal error in the New Testament alone.

[7:41] It is the constant fear and, in a sense, anxiousness of the apostles who are planning churches, who are raising up lost people, who are establishing the truth and teaching.

[7:54] Hey, watch your doctrine. Watch your teaching. Hold fast to it. Don't depart from it. Love it. The Apostle John, later in life, inspired by the Spirit, gave us the letter 1 John.

[8:11] And in 1 John chapter 4, our Father in the faith gives us a warning regarding the theology of the person of Christ.

[8:22] In 1 John 4, I'll read it. You can stay in Philippians. He says this, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, spirit meaning person, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

[8:39] For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

[8:53] And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world today.

[9:06] Jonathan Edwards, commenting on this passage in his work, The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, has argued, rightly, I think, that the first test of any movement of any church that claims itself to be of Christ or Christian, or whether or not they're orthodox in their confession, faith, and teaching, He argued that 1 John, from 1 John, that a right Christological view that is birth of the Spirit leads people to truth regarding Christ and not error.

[9:49] And moreover, produces genuine love for God. If we are to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, we must know who He has revealed Himself to be.

[10:06] And when He is dishonored or falsely taught, we must be bold to clarify the truth and defend that truth. We remember earlier, from John's Gospel, in chapter 1, that he laid the theology of the person of Christ, of whom we are to trust and believe for eternal life in a few ways.

[10:35] Briefly, I love John's Gospel, because in the Synoptic Gospels, or Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it takes a bit of time to see the full glory of Christ and His deity on display.

[10:50] John is just like, chapter 1, verse 1, Jesus is God. I love that. And you see the rest of the storyline unfold from there. As we transition to Philippians, I want to lay this foundation.

[11:04] He is the Word. He is the Logos. Logos, John doesn't define why he uses that term. There's a reason for that.

[11:14] Because the audience, the recipients of the letter, didn't need a definition for that. For the Jews, the Logos, they understood, was the eternal Word of God's power who created all things in Genesis 1.

[11:28] For the Gentiles, they had a false Gentile theology of the same word, which was our today's unbelieving version of intelligent design, an agnostic view.

[11:45] The Greeks understood there is a God, but we don't know Him. But we know that He's omnipotent in power, created all things. John says, Hey, Greeks, that eternal, omnipotent, unknown person who created all things, His name is Jesus, and He became man.

[12:06] We also learn that Jesus is distinct from the Father, is God, and is eternal and uncreated.

[12:20] Jesus, or the Word, is with God, and is God. That word, with God, in our English, doesn't give us enough information.

[12:33] In the Greek, prostantheion, speaks of an eternal love relationship. It speaks of communion. Eternally, all three persons of the Trinity have existed, being three distinct persons sharing one divine nature, in perfect love, in fellowship, in communion.

[12:56] We see that this eternal Lagos created all things, and we see that this eternal, uncreated person who was with God in perfect loving community and relationship, He took on flesh, and He dwelt among us.

[13:21] This is what the Nicene Creed states about the divinity of Christ. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made.

[13:46] Briefly on begotten, not made. Look, I understand that's confusing. Okay? Because we're not God, we're human. This must be understood.

[13:58] Okay? Begotten is only meant to communicate. Okay? The eternal way that the Father and Son have loved and related to another eternally.

[14:12] The Son is loved as the Father's begotten. That is what it's meant to communicate. It is not meant to communicate in any way that as to the three persons of the Trinity's deity, one has more authority or more power or more attributes.

[14:34] They are all omnipotent. They share the, they share immutability, impassibility. They're all omniscient, omnipresent. But although they're distinct and have distinct, specific roles in redemption and how they relate to one another.

[14:52] They are the, the triune God is the only being in existence that exists as three distinct persons yet shares the same divine nature. Okay?

[15:04] It is abundantly clear that the prophets foretold the Messiah would be God in the flesh. Genesis 3.15, the proto-euangelion, the first gospel, it's going to be a seed of a woman who's going to crush the serpent's head.

[15:24] But, in Isaiah 7.14, we see a bigger glimpse that the sign of the Messiah, behold, the virgin will conceive.

[15:34] A virgin conceiving. And his name will be Emmanuel. God will be with us. Later, in Isaiah 9.6, we see that exact same Davidic king's son, the fulfillment of 2 Samuel 7 in Isaiah 9.6, that his name will be everlasting father, mighty God, prince of peace.

[15:59] and the apostles who lived and witnessed the life of Christ, witnessed him personally, proclaim to be God in the flesh, and validate those claims by his miracles, resurrection, and even the father himself, personally speaking from heaven on multiple occasions, affirming Jesus' person and work.

[16:24] briefly on that. You see the launch of the earthly ministry of Christ at his baptism. John the Baptist, hey, you need to baptize me.

[16:37] I'm not baptizing you. the Lord Jesus obviously had no need of showing any form of repentance through baptism, but he did that to fulfill all righteousness.

[16:50] That is to say, whatever the father required of man, Jesus was going to submit and obey. And the father speaks, all three triune persons are present at the baptism of Jesus.

[17:03] This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. On the Mount of Transfiguration, when the glory and divinity of Christ is peeled back for Peter, James, and John to see, the father again speaks, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

[17:22] Listen to him. When Jesus enters Jerusalem, obviously at this point, it's very hostile because Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead.

[17:36] They have no way to put those rumors to death since there were tons of witnesses to this. And it was the Jewish leader's idea, wait a minute, this is so undeniable, here's our only option, we've got to kill Lazarus.

[17:55] That's how bizarre it got. It was undeniable the truth that Jesus had the ability to raise the dead. The issue for the Jewish leaders was they were trying to teach and proclaim that Jesus was doing his miracles by the power of Satan.

[18:11] That's a big issue because the man is clearly divine. The man is clearly approved by God and Jesus in Jerusalem when he's pronouncing woes on the Pharisees for their false self-righteousness, their false form of Judaism, which was completely foreign to Moses and the prophets.

[18:36] The Father speaks from heaven. These people are trying to have Jesus arrested, put to death according to God's sovereign redemptive plan and Jesus says, Father, glorify your name.

[18:54] And the Father speaks for the whole crowd to hear. These people who are the Pharisees are saying, no, don't listen to him. Jesus says, Father, glorify your name. God speaks from heaven for all to hear.

[19:08] I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. With that being said, let's begin unpacking our text today.

[19:22] This is the theology of the incarnation. Paul begins with this, verse 6, The phrase form of God here is very important.

[19:45] Okay? Paul uses this Greek word morphe. This is referring to Christ already existing as God.

[19:55] It refers to Christ possessing the nature and status as God. And this is reinforced by the next phrase Paul uses, equality with God.

[20:10] He came in the form of God, actual, eternal God, and he was willing to not hold on to that status.

[20:21] Paul said he didn't count equality with God a thing to be held on to. Paul is not describing a mere human being who later became divine.

[20:36] He starts with Christ already existing as God. And I love this in John 17, Father, only someone who is equal with God could pray in this way.

[20:49] Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. He did not give up his deity, okay?

[21:04] We need to understand this. Paul continues, but emptied himself, Philippians 2, 7. The key question is, how did Christ empty himself?

[21:16] What does he mean by he emptied himself? Paul explains, taking on the morphe of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

[21:33] Now, he exists in the form of God. He emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant or a slave, a doulos, being born in the likeness of men.

[21:48] Now, notice that the emptying occurs by taking on, not surrendering anything, okay? He does not say, okay, he does not say he emptied himself by ceasing to be God.

[22:05] He emptied himself for a time during his humiliation salvation by adding to himself a true human nature with a true human mind, born under the law, born as our brother prayed in a lowly manger.

[22:28] The eternal son, the eternal creator condescended and he added to himself a true human nature, the eternal son of God, uncreated, all-powerful, became the incarnate son.

[22:55] So he emptied himself by adding humanity and assuming the role of an obedient slave. Dr.

[23:06] Stephen Wellam bringing clarity to this, the son remained truly and fully God during the incarnation. He did not surrender omniscience, omnipotence, or any other divine attribute.

[23:22] Rather, in becoming human, he willingly took on the role of a servant and chose to live in obedience to the Father according to his human nature. The emptying is seen primarily in his humiliation, taking on true humanity, accepting the limitations of human life, and ultimately submitting to death on a cross.

[23:47] The passage is deliberately contrasting in verse 6 and 7, form of God, form of servant. And the word morphe, Paul uses intentionally to communicate, he really is eternally God, he really did become truly human.

[24:07] Paul does not say that Christ exchanged one form for another, but rather, the one who is in the form of God took on the form of an obedient slave.

[24:21] The same eternal person of the Son in the incarnation, incarnation, this is incomprehensible, by the way. If this sounds confusing, it is, okay?

[24:35] But we want to be diligent because it's in the text, it's God's given it to us for us to love and trust and understand and confess and defend and die for. The same eternal person of the Son in the incarnation now possesses both a divine nature and a human nature.

[24:54] He is. He is the God-man. His humiliation is his becoming human and obedient.

[25:08] We also read from the catechism of his exaltation. I love this quote by Dr. MacArthur that the stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in.

[25:31] How do we know that? Because later that night, they're locked in a room, it intentionally says doors are shut and locked, windows are boarded up, and Jesus appears in the midst of them, in his human body.

[25:44] His exalted, glorified state of his new creation body has different limitations. His new glorified human body is made for the new world, which we ourselves will be given as well.

[26:03] No sin, no death, no pain, no crying. He will wipe away every tear. And I love that because it is a reminder for us that there are better days ahead.

[26:19] Here's a question, I think a good question. Now, what is your appeal to heaven? When you think about, man, I can't wait to go to heaven, what are you thinking about?

[26:35] Now, obviously, for some people, okay, they have physical disabilities or things, they're really looking forward to having a new body, that's totally understandable.

[26:46] But, what's your appeal to heaven? Is it simply because you just want no hell? Is it simply because you want the big mansion prepared for you, the crown?

[27:01] What are you thinking about? You know what I'm thinking about? I'm thinking about unhindered true communion with a trying God.

[27:11] God. He is the prize. All of the other things, the blessing and the sonship and the sitting on his throne with him and all that, no, that's not our motive.

[27:27] Our motive is we want to be with him. We want to truly see him as he is, love him as he is. Let that be your motivation. Look, we live in a materialistic, sinful world where all we can think about is getting something else.

[27:46] Now, we must be heaven-minded. We must be. Because true love for God is what motivates us and motivated the apostles to be beheaded and crucified.

[28:01] Some of our Protestant brothers being tied to a stake and set on fire with the attitude Hugh Latimer, Calvin Ridley have the flames coming up to their feet.

[28:18] Mr. Ridley play the man. For we will have sorry he says we will have good dinner.

[28:33] we will have a good dinner with the Lord tonight. And we shall set such a fire in England that will never be put out.

[28:48] So Paul, here's a reminder, do you think about this? Paul was literally killing Christians. the risen Christ appeared to him.

[29:05] He's now writing us this text exalting the son whom he was just executing people for professing him. This is true. Paul, who was formerly Saul, describes this downward movement.

[29:23] ask yourself this question. If you are at the state of the exalted eternal son, are you willing to come be flogged, beaten, murdered, slaughtered, spit on, falsely accused, false trial?

[29:38] Are you doing that if you're God? This is hard to comprehend that God would do such a thing. It elevates the gospel message.

[29:51] Paul describes the downward movement. He existed in the form of God, truly God, took on the form of a slave, servant, really a slave, truly human, truly obedient servant, being born as a man, humbling himself, God humbling himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

[30:20] The humiliation, listen, is not that he ceased being God. The humiliation is this, that the divine son entered the conditions of human weakness, suffering, and death, so that he might store up for us a perfect righteousness that will be imputed to us.

[30:42] He was perfectly a little baby. And then, if you can imagine, sinless, perfect, obedient toddler, and then a young man, and then a teenager, and then a fully grown adult man, perfectly sinless, obedient, loving, worships truly, worships with a right mind.

[31:09] after describing Christ's humiliation, he goes on to say in verse 9, therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

[31:28] And at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Now, this language is taken exactly and precisely from Isaiah 45, verse 23, where it is Yahweh himself speaking.

[31:50] In Isaiah, it reads this, to me, Yahweh, the true and living triune God, every tongue shall swear allegiance.

[32:03] Who's Paul apply that to? He applies it to Christ. The same way in which the apostle John applies Isaiah's vision of Yahweh in Isaiah 6, the holy, holy, holy text, the whom, who will go, who will send me text, of Yahweh sitting on the throne, and the robes and the train of his garment filling the temple.

[32:27] John says, Isaiah saw Christ. And now Paul is saying, hey, in Isaiah, every knee shall bow to me, every tongue swear allegiance to me.

[32:38] Paul applies that to Christ. Thus, the one who became man is still worthy of worship that belongs only to God.

[32:50] And you know, here's the thing. You're going to meet plenty of people, false teachers, mainly deceived people, okay, who have been wrongly taught by cults their whole life on wrong things about Christ.

[33:04] They're going to take you to all of the texts that clearly are teaching of his humanity. He was tired. He slept. In some cases, he says he didn't know the day or the hour.

[33:19] Well, that's his humanity on display, because the eternal son who became man, okay, is still truly and fully and totally God. But, he has a true human brain and mind and emotions and soul.

[33:36] The eternal person of Christ, during his humiliation, lived his human life by the power of the spirit. The spirit is pushing him into the wilderness.

[33:49] The spirit is telling him what he ought to say, what he ought to speak, where he ought to go. Hey, we're going to have to go through Samaria. I've got an eternal divine plan there.

[34:02] I've got to meet someone there. He is truly God and truly human. They're going to try and take you to those verses and prove to you, see, he's not God.

[34:15] He says right here he doesn't know. He can't be God. No, he is God and he is human. And he lived inwardly and outwardly a perfect righteous and holy life without sin.

[34:29] And we got to think about this as well. He didn't just fulfill the whole law according to all of the commands given to Israel from Moses. Of course he did. He lived a holy life without sin, fulfilling the whole law.

[34:44] But at the same time, this is probably even more important, every thought, every inner desire, all of his affections, were holy and blameless.

[34:59] He absorbed the wrath due to all those who would believe on the cross. He validated his lordship by being raised and he is the firstborn of the new creation.

[35:13] He is the first new created man. He is the new Adam of the new creation. And now the crowned exalted God man inherits the entire creation with all of the worship, all of the glory and honor that comes with it that he is worthy of.

[35:32] So Paul's argument looks like this. So Philippians 2 teaches not that Jesus stopped being God at all.

[35:56] It does not teach that. But it teaches that the eternal divine son added human nature and entered a state of humiliation while remaining fully divine truly God.

[36:12] So this is why many theologians see Philippians 2 as this summary. Okay? Pre-existent uncreated eternal deity incarnation taking on human flesh humiliation suffering obedience having to deal with living in a sin cursed world yet being perfectly holy and obedient the entire time.

[36:40] Being crucified which is not just being crucified he absorbed God's eternal wrath in our place and exaltation after his resurrection.

[36:57] This man who is also God is being rewarded for his perfect obedience and his exaltation. This is so vitally important for us to remember and to meditate on.

[37:13] Meditate on. People think meditate means go sit in your room and be quiet, turn out the lights. Meditation really is thinking. When you're driving in your car, what are you thinking about?

[37:24] When you're going on a walk, what are you thinking about? When you're laying in bed at night, what are you thinking about? you think of these things, you put your mind on these things, you meditate and think on these things regularly, your inner man is going to be transformed.

[37:41] You're going to be provoked when you hear Christ dishonored. You're going to desire more to boldly evangelize the people whom you're so normally afraid of speaking truth to.

[37:54] We've got to meditate on this, think of it as often as we can because for too many people, really, the gospel is just this word that gets thrown around and just becomes meaningless to them.

[38:09] We're talking about God becoming man and absorbing your sin, your immorality, your blasphemy, your lying, your dishonoring him, your sinfulness.

[38:25] The eternal blameless son was treated on the cross by God as if he lived your life. That is why there is no room for boasting.

[38:41] For our sake, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

[38:53] You know why Jesus was bleeding sweat drops of blood in the garden? Because an eternal divine holy person is contemplating becoming sin for us.

[39:06] We can't imagine that. Through his human nature, that right, holy, non-sinful, anxious thoughts is made evident through his human faculties.

[39:26] He is truly, sorry, let me say it this way, only because this is important, okay, because if you look, you cannot have the attitude, well, does this matter?

[39:37] Like, yeah, I mean, my friend denies the deity of Christ, and you know, he believes Jesus is a good teacher, right? Isn't that good enough? He believes in Jesus. Does that matter? Absolutely it matters. Does sound doctrine matter?

[39:49] Yes. Listen, only because Jesus is truly God could he provide an infinite atonement. Only because he is truly man could he die in our place as our representative.

[40:07] Reject either, and the gospel is emptied of its saving power. that is why whenever I meet someone who says they're a Christian, and look, it's not from a place of self-righteousness, it's not, I'm not trying to be suspicious, look, I just know what's out there.

[40:29] I know deceived people are everywhere. That is why it is normally my custom when someone says, yeah, I'm a Christian, oh, let me just ask a few questions. What is the gospel? What?

[40:41] What do you mean? I met this girl who told me she, at a coffee shop, she just became a Roman Catholic on Easter, and I was like, oh, okay, why are you going to heaven?

[40:55] She had no idea what I she didn't know how to answer that. How is that possible? Then I took her to her supposed pope's preaching in Acts 2.

[41:09] What must we do to be saved, Peter? Repent and believe and be baptized for your sins. You will be saved. If the eternal son willingly humbled himself, okay, to endure human weakness and rejection and suffering for our sake, how much more should we?

[41:34] His slaves, his servants, those who claim his name, who claim to be devoted to him, who claim to love him, who apparently have counted the cost of discipleship, which one of those costs, he says in Luke 14, you must be willing to bear your own cross.

[41:53] Look, that's not talking about your boss being mean to you. That's not your cross. He's literally saying in the immediate context, you must be willing to suffer Roman crucifixion if you're going to follow me.

[42:05] He's not trying to prevent people from following him. He's trying to prevent false converts. We must do the same. We don't try and draw people into the church with earthly pleasures.

[42:19] We don't tell them, hey, there's no suffering after you follow Christ. No, Jesus literally says the world hates you because it first hated me.

[42:30] Paul says I bear in my body the marks of Christ. The world doesn't hate you personally. They hate Christ in you.

[42:43] We speak his words. We love like him. We represent him. They hate him. And it is our job to bring the message to them regardless of what it costs.

[42:56] If the son of God willingly humbled himself unto death, how much more should we be willing to bear hardship in faithful obedience? obedience.

[43:08] When the Lord of glory willingly stooped to human frailty on the cross, sorry, human frailty and was willing to suffer on the cross, he established the pattern for his people, for us.

[43:24] We are not above our master but called to follow him in humble obedience through suffering. What does he say? look, a slave is not greater than their master.

[43:38] If this is how the world treated me, who had no sin, who loved perfectly, who treated everyone perfectly, who obeyed the father perfectly, who is God, if that's how they treated me, you don't think your life is going to be void of suffering, do you?

[43:55] how much more so, he says, look, a slave is not greater than his master. That's why he got a little frustrated with James and John. Lord, can we sit at your right hand? Can you stop?

[44:08] Can we put aside these future plans of succession or reigning? The son of man must suffer dying on the third day be raised. Remember that.

[44:19] Let's start with that. What does he mean by that? They found out. As we bring the message to a close, a very important quote that I love is very dear to me.

[44:43] Really transformed my life, the trajectory of it, because it's far too easy in this life to get caught up in cultural Christianity, where you might just go to church, and you get married, you have kids, culturally you're Christian, you'll go to church, you might even become a member of a church, but your internal motive and attitude isn't full, complete, total devotion.

[45:18] This quote really moved me in that direction. not that I was deceived, but I just kind of was a product of my environment. I was in a weak teaching, seeker friendly church, where that was just the attitude.

[45:33] I heard this, a lot has changed. Dr. John Piper says this, John MacArthur commenting and clarifying this, he says the gospel offers what the sinner does not want naturally.

[46:06] It offers reconciliation with God. It offers righteousness, holiness, forgiveness, heaven, and dominating all of that.

[46:17] Christ. The gospel is not a gospel. Our message is not a message of self fulfillment. It is a message of self denial.

[46:32] Paul in Philippians 3 later in this letter goes on to say, but whatever gain I had I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

[46:48] For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith we must remember our message that we proclaim and ourselves believe that the good news of Christ must first come only after the good I'm sorry the good news of the good news of Christ must first come only after the bad news it was Arthur Pink who said many have a sense that they're saved how is that happening the sinner must have a right view of their sin and offense and dilemma before a holy and just God before they can see the sweetness and beauty of the saving person and work of

[47:49] Christ this is the model of Christ preaching I love that Mark 115 first words after the baptism repent and believe the gospel Jesus launches his earthly ministry right out of the water repent the kingdom of God is here believe the good news this is the model of the apostles preaching this must be our model as well look you gather on Sunday you are then launched into your community into your stores into your schools into your places of work that's where we evangelize the lost that's where we represent Christ that's where we call sinners to repent and believe and remind them hey listen deny yourself repent trust Christ all your sins all of them will be washed away and not only are the sins washed away he also gives you his perfect righteousness he then unites you to himself with full communion and sonship with the trinity your sins aren't just forgiven you're also given full righteousness the father now looks at you as if he looked and approved of the eternal son in his full obedience that's good news if we are in

[49:13] Christ today Paul says we have been saved by grace through faith this is not our own doing but the gift of God there is no room for boasting here only true worship and thankfulness and gratitude toward the merciful loving and holy triune God the reason you even believe is a gift Jesus says no one can come to me unless it's granted to them from the father he's explaining to Nicodemus the wind blows our wishes and no one knows where it comes from so it is of everyone who's born of the spirit John says those who believed in him he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood or water but by the spirit born again born from above your sinful nature you were born with he gives you a new one a new regenerated heart lastly

[50:20] Charles Spurgeon one of my heroes probably many of yours as well he has a sermon to me which stands above all others here's the title you think of Puritan thought and they've got these really long names even like the Edwards earlier the distinguishing marks of a word here's Spurgeon's title now that's it now he was preaching on 2nd Corinthians 6 2 he was preaching on behold now is the accepted time behold today now is the day of salvation he argued today is the Lord's day and tomorrow is the devil's day what does he mean by that he means people who hear the gospel and want to keep living in their sins always tell themselves tomorrow

[51:23] I will repent tomorrow I will come to Christ I will turn and believe tomorrow I want to keep living in this sinful relationship I don't want to be bold and proclaim the truth I don't want my parents to denounce me tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow I'll stand my sins until tomorrow and unfortunately for many and I mean many tomorrow never comes look for some reason everyone thinks they're going to die in their bed at 100 years old painless in a hospital with plenty of pain meds surrounded by family and dying their sleep painless why do we think that you know I think of like 9-11 a lot when you watch the plane hit the tower like someone was probably sitting there pouring their coffee getting ready for their meeting next thing you know we know what happens next why do you think that do you think that way the

[52:28]  Christian must live for Christ now the believer must serve Christ now and the sinner must come to Christ now today if you hear his voice do not harden your heart no matter who you are what you have done the savior stands ready to receive you come unto him now let's pray father we love you we thank you for your truth your word your spirit lord thank you for the bible in our own language lord please bless the saints equip them embolden them remind them of your love remind them of the truth that you are with us to the end of the age we love you lord please bless these saints by your word in christ's name amen