Yeah, so Josh was gone this week to BC for the general general Baptist conference meetings.
! So rather than have Josh come back and try and do a full service, Dave and I said we'd split this up.
! So today, today is communion. Today is communion. The remembrance of Christ.
And as we worship Christ, we look at the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
and understand the who, what, where, and when of his life clearly.
Like, it was Jesus. He died on the, he was born, he died on the cross, he was resurrected at Calvary 2,000 years ago.
The letters that are written later focus mostly on the why and the how of the story.
Like, the epistles, they fill in the rest of the blanks.
Romans chapter 8, and we're going to use that, yeah, it's coming up.
Explains the assurance of who Jesus is and what we see by faith in him.
Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life, has set you free from the law of sin and death.
So this explains better than, in a way, than the Gospel, what happened.
So we are free from the law of sin and death, if there's those who are in Jesus Christ.
We see no rules or extra costs to becoming free from sin and death.
It is through faith, and faith in Christ alone.
In the Old Testament, the law included many sacrifices of blood to be a substitution for the penalty of death.
Christ dying on the cross fulfilled that need for reconciliation to God.
Romans next, try this.
Romans 8, 7 to 11.
Make clear the distinction between believers of Jesus through faith and those who reject the faith.
Even though those who feel they can earn their way by doing good, honorable things, that they feel they can earn a place in heaven.
Romans 9, 7 to 11.
Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
These verses make clear the how and the why of Scripture.
Not submit, nor can do so.
Cannot please God.
These are definitive, not allowed for wishy-washy, I'm better than I am bad type of acceptance of God.
I have heard that.
I have heard a guy say, yeah, on the scale of things, I'm a little bit better than that, so I'm going to go to heaven.
This is very definitive.
You cannot please God in the realm of the flesh.
There are many who want his acceptance without repentance and faith in Jesus.
One of the smallest yet most powerful words in the Bible is if.
God's grace allows eternity with him if we have faith in him.
An example of this is if you do not make any payments of your car, the finance company will repossess it.
No ifs, ands, or buts.
Legally, the company has the right to take it back after a length of time.
So in this passage, there is implied a no argument case.
If indeed the Spirit lives in you, you are a believer.
Here.
8 verse 9 says,
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but are in the realm of the Spirit.
If indeed the Spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
So this is a, you do not, you are not in the, you, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the Spirit.
So we are, this is the born again.
This is the living in the Spirit.
This is the Spirit of God that lives in us.
But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
So this is a very definitive if.
And again, but if Christ is in you,
they do not belong to you.
Yeah, okay.
If Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death,
because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
So no matter what happens, if you have Christ as your Savior,
even though your body is subject to death,
because of sin, we're all sinners, we all deserve death,
the Spirit gives life.
So this is the born again.
We are allowed to have Christ's reconciliation with us.
And later on, 11,
it says,
And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you,
He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
because of His Spirit who lives in you.
So this tells us we will have our bodies when we get to heaven.
He promises that.
So we will go farther down in the passage.
We read about the power of Christ.
There are a series of questions that demand an answer.
What then shall we say in response to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
There is a saying that rings true.
One plus God is a majority.
The God, Jesus, who in six days created the universe by His word,
alone has no equal.
We talked about this in the Alive program with the six kids this morning,
emphasizing that there is a six-day literal creation,
and God spoke it into existence.
He didn't have to take stuff and make it.
He created it by His mouth.
He made it.
This God, there is no equal.
There is no another God.
There is no one else that could do this.
We are promised that we will be rejected and hated for faith in Jesus,
but having the Spirit who lives us gives you us the endurance to face these trials.
So we are promised that the world hates us,
and it's proven that over and over.
We have the strength of God Almighty on our side.
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Next verse.
He who did not spare His own Son,
but gave Him up for us all,
how will He not also,
along with Him,
graciously give us all things?
Gravy train.
Luxury.
Prestige.
Stuff.
Not all things is the knowledge.
No, all things is the knowledge that no matter what happens,
we have the faith that God gives us,
the strength through His Holy Spirit,
to endure hardship,
even being martyred.
And martyred means being killed for our faith.
There's been thousands of martyrs.
Even a couple years ago,
there were 12 guys in,
I don't know if it was Afghanistan,
and they got marched out,
and they said,
if you rescind your faith in Jesus,
we will let you live.
You just have to bow to Mohammed.
They said, nope.
They lost their heads.
They were martyred.
They went to heaven because of their faith.
Paul wrote the book of Philippians
to encourage people
that this world and that all it offers is temporal.
No matter what we think about this world,
no matter about the luxuries,
all the fun stuff,
all the great stuff we have,
it's just temporal.
There's no U-Hauls behind a hearse.
Remember that.
The message that Paul had was
to live is Christ,
to die is gain.
So I have three examples given us
that comes from the autobiography of Corrie Ten Boom,
The Hiding Place.
This is the story of a Christian family
who hid Jews in their homes during World War II.
After being caught and spending time
in a Nazi concentration,
she lived to be a powerful witness for God.
She, yeah,
they had a little hole in the wall
and they hid Jewish families
and one of their own friends gave them in
and the Nazis put them in a camp.
So the three,
there were three things
that really stood out
from her autobiography.
And this is part of the,
the blessings that we get from Christ.
Graciously giving us all things.
Here are the three things.
First,
she did not want this blessing at all.
Lice.
The barracks that the internet,
that the intern lived in,
were infested with lice.
So the guards would not enter there.
This enabled Corrie and her sister
to lead Bible studies
and sing hymns to God uninterrupted.
The guards would not,
like,
there's lice,
I am not going in there.
So they didn't.
So they,
even though they were bitten
and they,
it was infested,
she got to be a believer,
she got to minister to others
uninterrupted.
The second,
10 days after Corrie's sister died
of starvation and disease,
Corrie was released
due to a clerical error
on the paperwork.
So instead of stamp,
you're going in the gas chamber,
it was stamped,
you're going out the gate.
This mistake saved her
from the execution
that was shortly scheduled.
And the third,
and probably the hardest,
years after the war,
she met one of the guards
who brutalized her
and her family.
Can you imagine,
here's somebody
that you knew
killed your sister,
killed your father,
killed your friends,
stuffed them into the gas chamber,
made your friends
haul out the bodies
and the...
Through the strength
and grace of God,
she was able
to forgive this person.
This does not come
from our own power,
but the strength
God gives us
at these times.
So God believed
that God
could give her
the strength
and she was able
to forgive this guard.
It's worth watching.
You can look
this story up
on YouTube.
I looked it up yesterday.
There's lots of places
on YouTube.
Corey Ten Boom.
There are some
who teach
that we can live
our best lives now.
And honestly,
for them,
it might be true
if they do not have
salvation in Christ
and reside forever
in heaven.
That's the false gospel
that some people teach,
that things,
material things now
are great.
But we realize
for someone like
Corey Ten Boom,
the great things
were fleas,
clerical errors,
and the ability
of...
Who will bring
any charges
against those
whom God has chosen?
It is God
who justifies.
Who then is the one
who condemns?
No one.
Christ Jesus,
who died,
more than that,
who was raised to life,
is at the right hand
of God
and is also
interceding for us.
There is one
who tries to bring
allegations against us.
That is Satan.
We read in Job
that Satan brought
accusations forward
to God in heaven
about Job.
He is full of hate
and deception,
desiring that those
redeemed by Christ
will be condemned.
So we have a
spiritual battle.
There is a spiritual
battle in heaven
and Satan
and his demons
are fighting,
wanting every person
to spend eternity
in hell.
But Christ
is interceding
for believers.
In effect,
because Christ
is the judge,
he's our redeemer,
but he's also
interceding for us.
So he's already
done,
the case is done.
There is no case
for rejection.
Case is closed
if we are a believer.
Devil can't talk God
into kicking us
out of heaven
if we are believers.
Next.
Is that
30?
Yeah.
Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble
or hardship
or persecution
or famine
or nakedness
or danger
or sword?
As it is written,
for your sake
we face death
all day long.
We are considered
as sheep
to be slaughtered.
No one
in all these things,
no,
in all these things
we are more than conquerors
through him
who loves us.
You know,
we realize
in Davidson
these threats
are symbolic
for now.
There is no one
at risk of famine
or sword
and even nakedness
is only a choice
but in many countries
these are real threats.
And we want to support
those people
in Iran
and Afghanistan.
Like that's why
we're wanting
to support
that school
that takes
and teaches
the true gospel
because they don't have
the chance
to even
hardly go to church
in some of these countries
and to give them
a deeper knowledge
so that they're not
led astray
with,
oh man,
you can have
your best life now.
if you're
in Afghanistan
and you're being persecuted
that's not your best life.
So we want
to make sure
that we support people
with a deeper knowledge
of scripture
so they can stand up
against these threats.
And don't think
that right now
that we are immune
from these threats.
God has given us
this time
to read
and study
his scripture
and pray to him
and seek his guidance
for what we can know
so that we can know
him who loves us.
So that is
that is why
we have the ability
to read.
God has enabled people
to have the ability
to read
and comprehend.
He's given us
the scripture
so that we can know him.
We can understand him.
Finally,
for I am convinced
that neither death
nor life
neither angels
nor demons
neither the present
nor the future
nor any powers
neither height
nor depth
nor anything else
in all creation
will be able
to separate us
from the love of God
that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
Yes.
Powerful.
This is the assurance
the assurance
that we can have
faith in Jesus
as Redeemer
and nothing
nothing
can separate us
from him.
In heaven
there is nothing
that can change us.
By rejection
Christ
by rejection
Christ's invitations
people already
are separated
from the love of Christ
for all eternity.
So if you don't
accept Christ
you have rejected him.
there is no changing
of minds
after a person
dies.
Nothing a person
can do
or pay
will ever change
the amount.
Not
the idea
that we're going
to be in purgatory
and if we spend
a bit of time
there that God
will let us
into heaven.
This
lifetime
is all we got.
This is why
Christ's invitation
is serious.
Christ's love
is reserved
for those
who believe
in his
substitutionary
death
in our place
and it's available
to everyone.
So he loves
everyone.
He gives the
opportunity.
He says
believe in him.
So
to finish off
why is heaven
going to be
so great?
Heaven is going to be
absolutely
wonderful.
Why?
The answer is
in Hebrews
chapter 2
and I don't
I think I do
have it.
There.
Hebrews
chapter 2
verse 14
and 15.
Hebrews
chapter 2
14 and 15
give us the
reason why
there will be
joy in heaven.
Things will
never be like
they are
on earth.
Never.
It's never
going to be
the same
and the
reason is
since the
children have
flesh and
blood
Jesus
too shared
in their
humanity
so that
by his
death
he might
destroy him
who holds
the power
of death
that is
the devil
and free
those
who all
their lives
will be held
in slavery
by their fear
death.
Jesus has
promised that
and this
goes right
back and
this again
we talked
about this
in Sunday
school
that
Jesus
crushed
Satan's
head
Satan
bit
Christ's
heel.
This is the
fulfillment
that
Jesus
by his
death
on the
cross
and
resurrection
he might
destroy him
who holds
the power
of death
that is
the devil
so the
devil
is gone
there is
no devil
in heaven
there is
no he
will tempt
us to
do things
there is
no devil
going to
God
and accusing
us
the devil
is permanently
in hell
but he's
not there
yet he does
not live in
hell right
now
but he
comes to
the presence
of God
to make
accusation
so as we
wrap this
up
we realize
communion
is a
solemn
occasion
reserved
for those
who are
being saved
who have
a saving
faith
so please
pass the
emblems by
if at this
time
you feel
you do
not have
this faith
we look
at ourselves
and reflect
on our
lives and
how we
have fallen
short of
perfection
also we
look at
life and
sacrificial
death and
resurrection
of Christ
to realize
that we
have eternal
hope
so that
is
communion
is to
look at
that it
is only
through his
blood
through his
resurrection
that he
destroyed sin
that he
died in
our place
and as we
think about
ourselves
what we
have done
why we
deserve
punishment
and then we
look at
Christ and
realize he
paid that
punishment
so as
we
pass the
emblem
it's a
chance to
really
think about
Christ
not about
ourselves
but about
Christ
well
ourselves
and the
fact that
we
don't deserve
his grace
and the
fact that
we can look
at Christ
and realize
he gave
us grace
thank you
and that
we
take
him
take
him
and
him
!