Father, thank you that it wasn't as if just it goes up to the book of Acts and then nobody's a Christian until us.
We thank you, Father, that you have maintained your church in every generation from the death and resurrection of Jesus and his ascension in the day of Pentecostal today.
You have maintained your church.
And in every generation there have been people who have loved you and praised you.
Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us that we might be faithful in our generation.
Father, send out laborers into the harvest.
This harvest, you have a harvest in Ottawa.
And Father, send laborers into the harvest.
Use us.
But now we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would calm and settle our souls so that as we read your word written and hear your word, that you will come and minister deep within.
This we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.
Amen.
This is the year 5,777 if you are an Orthodox Jew.
5,777.
And Orthodox Jews have calculated this date.
It's the number of years that everything has existed.
They go back through what we call the Old Testament.
They call the Tanakh and have calculated that the world is 5,777 years old.
And we're just finishing up a series.
Today is the last Sunday of my series of going through the first 11 chapters of Genesis.
Genesis.
And so one of the things is, you know, do Christians have to believe that the world is 5,777 years old?
Or is there a little bit of variation that is in that?
How do we read the Bible?
One of the things that people have asked me is, George, do you read the Bible literally?
And so this last of Sundays on Genesis 11, I've sort of said a little bit about it before, but it's actually an appropriate time, especially given what happens in Abram and especially given the spiritual needs that we have, to actually take a time just for a second and consider this question.
Do Christians have to believe that the world is 5,777 years old?
So if you have your Bibles, Genesis chapter 10, and we're going to, Genesis 11, sorry.
And we're going to just look at verse 10, which gives us another one of those genealogies.
And it's a genealogy with ages.
And we'll just start reading.
And when I move, we'll just start reading.
And then I just want to make a few comments about it.
And here it goes.
First chapter 11, verse 10.
And these are the generations of Shem.
When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpashad two years after the flood.
And Shem lived after he fathered Arpashad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Arpashad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah.
And Arpashad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber.
And I'm not going to keep reading.
You get the idea.
So here's the thing.
First of all, if you want to really know some of how I've been trying to understand the age of the earth, etc., etc., which I'm not going to reiterate.
I just encourage you to go back and listen to some of my sermons.
The first one on Genesis 1-1 and how I talked about historical Adam and how I talked about knowing the flood.
I'm not going to reiterate those things.
I just want to look at a very particular way of actually listening to what the Bible says and what the Bible doesn't say.
And what it actually says here in Hebrews, in Hebrew means that we actually can't really calculate the age of the earth from this.
Because the genealogy doesn't work like a combination, the numbers in a combination lock where everything is just one number after another.
And it's like a mechanical type of order.
The word fathered just can also mean ancestor of.
And instantly I can feel certain people feeling a little bit antsy.
But here, could you put up the first point, Andrew?
This is going to be my big, this is really a far more important point than maybe most of us realize.
Let God be God and let his word written be his word to us.
When scholars study the Bible, not just this one bit, but when they study the whole Bible from cover to cover,
one of the things they notice when they study the Bible from cover to cover
is that the biblical writers don't treat genealogies in a, like the way you treat instructions to fix something in your computer
or instructions on a bank machine or combinations in a combination lock.
So for instance, if you read the same genealogy in the book of Luke,
you'll discover that in fact,
I have to make sure I get the names right here.
If you study the same genealogy in Luke,
you'll discover that
Shelah,
if you look down here,
you know how it says verse 12,
when Arpashad had lived 35 years,
he fathered Shelah.
If you read the same genealogy in Luke,
you'll discover that Shelah is Arpashad's grandson.
So does this mean the Bible's...
No, what...
They didn't write genealogies
to try to communicate this type of historical knowledge.
You can skip generations.
That's not me saying this because I'm some liberal.
It's actually because
if you read all of the Bible
and just see how it is that the Bible
is trying to communicate,
you realize that they don't...
They use...
One of the things they do with genealogies,
I think is in the Indiana Jones movies
or some of those other older movies,
he has to go on a trip from wherever he is in California or whatever,
and he has to go to some other place in the world,
and all of a sudden you see a map,
and maybe you see like a picture of a plane
moving across the ocean and landing places,
and then maybe like a picture of a camel or a balloon or something
as it goes from place to place to place.
Part of the way that the Bible uses genealogies
is to just show a connection between one group and another.
Part of what it's talking about
is it's trying to communicate who's significant.
And part of what it's trying to communicate
is if you actually count up the ages,
and this is another reason for you to understand
that just the way they use it,
it's like the significant person
that is the ancestor of this person,
is if you add up the ages,
then Shem, right,
who's one of the sons of Noah,
who was in the ark,
if you add up the ages,
Shem outlives Abraham by 35 years.
And yet there's no record wherever in the Bible
that when Abraham's going around
that Shem is around
or some of these other people on the list.
If you add up the ages,
Shem and Abraham's grandson Jacob
would have been able to hang out together.
And Jacob would have been able to talk to Shem
for 35 years after his grandfather had died.
See, here's the real big significance to this.
Let God be God and let his word written
be his word to us.
Like a lot of us,
when we hear things like this,
we say, well, that's not fair.
Why doesn't the Bible just say what it means?
But what we're doing when we say that
is we're not actually saying,
why doesn't the Bible just say what it means?
What we're actually saying is,
God, we think our ways of writing
are the way that you should have written.
How dare you not write the way we write?
Like, how dare you not write
the way we write newspapers
or we write academic papers?
Like, if you want to speak to us,
speak in the type of ways
that we understand things.
God, like, how dare you just...
Hold on a moment.
Like, for a committed Christian,
like, what's going on there?
See, here's one of the other things about this.
Like, when I was growing up,
and I still see it so many times
when I listen to different speakers
and I go to different conferences
and I get involved in different debates,
that a lot of people,
what they think of is somebody
who takes the Bible literally,
who finds one simple text
and uses it to shout down
every other text
and every other type of idea of nuance
and just uses it like a battering ram.
I'm not going to get into a discussion
about baptism,
but I was just listening to something
and a guy went on and on and on
and on and on
about how he believed the Bible
and the Bible's view on baptism.
And he just went on and on and on
and he kept quoting this one verse.
And what you'd never know
if you listen to him
is that there's 88 different passages
in the New Testament
that talk about baptism.
88 different passages.
I'll say it again,
88 different verses.
And this guy,
who for a lot of us,
we think of,
that's a strong Bible man.
He's a Bible teacher.
He doesn't just sort of give,
you know, blah, blah, blah, blah.
He teaches the Bible.
He gives you the Bible.
It's simple.
It's clear.
But he actually isn't giving you the Bible.
He made no attempt
to talk about 87 other verses.
He made no attempt whatsoever
to try to say,
well, you know,
if you look at all of these verses together
and listen to all that God says,
this is what God says.
And one of the very hard things
for Bible-believing churches
and for Bible-believing Christians
is a lot of times
we don't actually believe the Bible
and we don't actually listen to the Bible.
So what we want to do
is we want to find one simple verse
that we can use
like a club
or a battering ram
to knock everybody else out of the way
or we want to use it
like a megaphone
to shout everybody down
and we pick a verse
which is sort of the way that we think.
But the whole point
of listening to the Bible
and listening to God
is to try to figure out
how he thinks
because he's smarter than us.
He's wiser than us.
He's God.
And so scholars
who study the Bible
very, very carefully
and don't just read this one little bit
but read it from cover to cover
have understood
that the way the Bible uses genealogies,
the way that God chose
to reveal his word
actually preserves mystery
about calculating certain things.
And if we say
that God can't do that
we say,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
what do you mean God can't do that?
Really?
He can't?
Well, suck it up.
He did.
That's what he did.
Like get over yourself.
Like let God be God
and let his word written
be his word to us.
And don't just harp on one verse
but have a deep commitment
to read the Bible
from cover to cover
and to just really listen deeply
to all that God wants to say to us.
And then as he speaks to us
throughout all of scripture
and we are humbled before it
we can say,
isn't that very interesting?
Is it God uses genealogies?
He chose a time
when genealogies were used
and it was fine for people
to skip one generation,
two, five,
who knows how many generations
to just show the significant thing.
And you know,
here's the thing
which is really interesting
is that we get so caught up,
those of us
in a more evangelical
type of tradition,
we get so caught up
with these types
of very, very
like an attempt
to, I don't know,
defend the Bible
but we actually miss
what the other thing
which is really going on
in the Bible
because here's the thing
which is also so significant
about this text
is that just before this text,
just before this genealogy,
we have the story
of the Tower of Babel
which I talked about last week.
That God comes down
and as part of God's grace to us,
when he judges,
he judges in mercy
and part of his mercy
is he scatters people
throughout the entire face
of the earth.
They want to do a great evil.
They want to remove all barriers.
They want to remove all limits.
They want to pretend to themselves
that they've become gods.
They want to do
whatever a god can do
because in the ancient world,
just as we on one level
implicitly think,
the ancient world gods
can do whatever they
dang well feel like doing
and that's what human beings
want to become.
They want to become like gods,
do whatever they dang well
feel they can do
and God in his mercy
scatters them
throughout the whole face
of the earth
so then immediately after that
what he does
is he shows these
significant people going along
and what he's saying to us is
on the ground
it looks like God
is out of control.
I mean the world
is out of control
that God has not
remembered his promise
to send a person
who would destroy
the serpent
and open the way
back to the garden
of Eden
in fellowship with God
and what this genealogy
does amongst other things
is say,
look at that,
throughout all of the changes
and chances of this fleeting world
God has not forgotten
his promise
and time after time
there's a significant person
and every time you see
this significant person
you are being reminded
that God has not
forgotten his promise.
There is going to come one
who will slay the serpent
and be used by God
to make us right with God again.
That's what God is doing.
It's really important for us
who live as Christendom
increasingly lies in ruins
around us
and we live amidst the ruins
and the fragments
of Christendom
to remember that God
is still sovereign
and in control
and remembers
and is committed
to his promises.
We have to let God
be God
and let his word
be his word to us
because we follow God
with our ears.
We follow Jesus
with our ears
by listening to him.
We come to faith
by our ears.
Not by our ability
to see the future.
Not by our ability
to control the future.
But we follow Jesus
with our ears.
Now,
some of you might say,
okay, George,
that's a very interesting thing
to get out of a genealogy.
And I have to confess,
I sort of don't really,
you know,
those of us
who maybe aren't
from evangelical backgrounds,
we might say,
yeah, George,
you get those Bible-believing guys,
you know,
take them down a peg or two.
And for those of us
who are from Bible-believing
that type of backgrounds,
we might say,
well,
it's a bit of a surprise
to maybe think
that some of those people
that we like to listen to
who are really harangue
on one verse
that they might actually
not be listening to the Bible
and it's a very humbling
thing for us
to try to get our mind
around some of these
types of things.
But,
okay,
so God is keeping
his eye on the ball.
He's going to send a promise
and it all comes down
to Abram.
I think that's what John said
if I just read
and I guess it comes down
to this hero,
doesn't it?
This hero of faith,
this father of three
of the great religions
on the planet,
Christianity,
Judaism,
and Islam,
all trace back
the significance of Abraham.
And so I guess you're right.
This genealogy comes
and it ends with Abraham,
this really,
really,
really great man.
And as soon as we start
to think,
yeah,
I guess it does come down
to this really,
really great man,
and I guess I am listening
to the Bible,
George,
that's where we have
to say,
time out.
It doesn't come down
to a great man.
It doesn't come down
to a great man.
It comes to a guy
with no hope
who worships the moon.
Can you put up
the next point?
God does not build elites.
He calls and blesses
the hopeless.
You see,
here's this other thing
in terms of our own thinking
and the way we sort of
just assume
that the Bible
is going to match
with our thinking
rather than listening
to the Bible.
And in our thinking,
I don't know,
you get education
so you can become
like more,
you know,
you can get a better job,
you can have,
you can get promotions.
I remember a few years ago
I asked somebody
what was the difference
between somebody
who got a computer
engineering degree
and a computer science degree
and they said
$20,000 a year in salary.
The engineer getting more money
than the computer scientist.
And I don't know
if that's true,
it's just what they said.
And we're just used
to the fact that,
you know,
that we try to become
more and more powerful.
We try to become
better and better and better
and surely then
the way God is going
to work
is if he's going
to be keeping
his eye on the ball
and if you're going
to have a great man
of faith
that it's all about
God just building up
this thing
to getting to this point
where Abraham
has it all together,
like where he's,
he just has this great faith
and God recognizes
his great faith
and he has all this potential
and that's what God recognizes,
but that's not what
the genealogy says at all.
Like,
look what it actually says.
Verse 27.
Now,
these are the generations
of Terah.
Terah fathered Abram.
Later on,
his name becomes Abraham.
Nahor and Haran.
And Haran fathered Lot.
Okay,
so there's this guy,
Terah.
He has three sons.
Haran died in the presence
of his father,
Terah,
in the land of his kindred
in Ur of the Chaldeans.
Now,
there's only Terah
and two boys.
And Abram
and Nahor took wives.
The name of Abram's wife
was Sarai
and the name of Nahor's wife,
Milcah,
the daughter of Haran,
the father of Milcah
and Iscah.
Now,
just pause.
We know from
archaeological evidence
that in Ur
of the Chaldeans
that they worshiped
the moon god.
and people
who know Hebrew
say that both
Sarah and Milcah
are named
after aspects
of the gods
and goddesses
under the panoply
of the moon god.
God is calling people
who worship the moon.
The whole genealogy
has come down
to one guy,
Terah,
who has three sons.
One son dies.
The two remaining sons' wives
who become important
are both named
after goddesses
in the moon god's
pantheon.
We know actually
from other places
in the Bible
where it tells us
that in fact Abraham
before God's call
worshipped other gods,
not the true
and living God.
And then a verse
which is going to be
unbelievably important
in a couple.
Look at verse 30.
Now Sarai,
that's the wife of Abraham,
was barren.
She had no child.
So as God formed an elite,
it's come down to Terah,
has three sons,
one dies,
two left,
and one of the sons,
his wife has no children.
These aren't the powerful elite,
at least not the way
Christians and Jewish people
would understand it.
You see,
one of the things we have,
one of the problems we have
with thinking that God calls
and forms elites
is that it does
several things within us.
it either means
that we become
very,
very proud
because obviously
he's coming
and dealing with us.
So obviously,
like I'm going to have faith
like Abraham,
obviously I'm part of the elite.
Or it lets us off the hook
from having to follow God
because we say,
well,
you know,
I'm not like,
I'm not like Abraham.
You know,
I'm not very well educated.
I don't have that many abilities.
I'm not a great at praying,
you know,
whatever it is.
So I'm sort of off the hook.
But the whole point
of this text
is it's all setting us up
to the hopelessness
of the line
and how God speaks
into hopelessness,
how God speaks
into this mixture
of strength
and frailty
and weakness,
and how
in the midst
of something
which looks completely
and utterly unworthy
and utterly helpless,
God's commitment
and promise,
God being God
and God speaking
creates things
when people listen
and say yes.
You see,
if God actually works
through both
the hopeless
and people
who have excellency
and stuff like that,
in fact,
it's all about God
and not about us,
then there's nothing
to ever be proud about
if you're a Christian.
Nor is there ever
any reason
why we should think
that it can't be us,
that God is calling.
Look down to chapter 12,
verses 1 to 3.
And actually,
just a pause here.
Could you put up
the next point, Andrew?
Here's the thing
which is going to be
really, really amazing
is that one of the things
that characters
is if you study
ancient paganism
and even modern paganism,
the gods are fickle.
One day they wake up,
they don't like you.
Don't like you,
don't like you,
don't like you.
But they like you,
you, and you.
Next day,
sucks to be the first group.
I like a different group.
The gods are fickle.
You have to sort of figure out
maybe what you've done.
And a lot of times
it hasn't been
that you've done anything,
it's just that the gods
are fighting with each other,
that the gods,
many wives or lovers
have gotten jealous
with each other
and they've just
zapped a few of you
or blessed a few of you
and it's the gods fighting
and we're just
their little pawns.
And that's the world
that Abram grows up in.
In a world
of fickle gods,
the true God
commits promises
and keeps his word.
Look at what happens
in chapter 12
verses 1 to 4.
Now the Lord said
to Abram,
go from your country
and your kindred
and your father's house
to the land
that I will show you
and I will make you
a great nation.
I will bless you
and make your name great
so that you will be
a blessing.
I will bless those
who bless you
and him who dishonors you
I will curse
and in you
all the families
of the earth
shall be blessed.
So Abram went
as the Lord
had told him
and Lot went with him.
Abram was 75 years old
when he departed
from Haran
and if you go back
and if you go
and read more
of the story of Abraham
you'll discover
that his wife
was 10 years younger
than him.
That means
that when Abram
goes out
he's 75 years old
he has a wife
who's 65 years old
and his wife
has never had a baby.
His wife
has never had a baby.
And yet
look what he says
to Abram.
Go from your country
and your kindred
verse 1 again
and your father's house
to the land
that I will show you
verse 2
and I will make you
a great nation.
I will make you
a great nation.
He's 75 years old
he's going out
with a 65 year old wife
who's never had a baby
and God says to him
I will make you
a great nation
and I will bless you
and I will make
your name great
so that you will
be a blessing.
I will bless those
who bless you
and him who dishonors you
I will curse
and in you
all the families
of the earth
shall be blessed.
If you could put up
the next point Andrew
that would be very helpful.
God's commitment
and promises
engender faith.
I know that's a bit
of a complicated word
that some of you
have never heard before
but no one's faith
causes God
to commit
and promise.
What you're seeing
here in the Bible
is the great divide
between the true God
and all idols.
What you see here
is the great divide
to how the Bible
describes the gospel
and what God
wants to do
for people
and all religion
and all spirituality
and all irreligion.
If you go along
the Trans-Canada Highway
from Ottawa
as if you're going
up to North Bay
and somewhere along
the trip
as you're going
on the Trans-Canada
to go west
there's a sign
on the side of the road
and on the side
of the road
the sign says
that from this point on
all the rivers
that you see
flow north.
They all flow north
to the Arctic Ocean
to Hudson's Bay.
Before that
the waters flowed
in a different direction.
After that
they flow
in a different direction.
and basically
every religion
every spirituality
and part of the reason
that people say
that they can't be religious
or they can't be spiritual
is at the heart
of all of these systems
of thought
is the belief
that I have faith
or I do rituals
or I learn yoga
or I learn
how to say
the Lord's Prayer
or I get confirmed
or I pray to Allah
five times a day
or I make my pilgrimage
to Mecca
or I learn
all of the right
praise songs
or memorize
part of the Bible
or I sacrifice
to the right
Hindu gods
and goddesses
or the right
Buddhist gods
and goddesses
and I follow
the right practices
and if I follow
the right practices
then God will commit
to me
and make promises
to me
and that's how
all religion
and all spirituality
works
but look at
how it works here
God takes someone
who worships
the moon
and he's not
even very swift
in listening
to God
some of you
are using versions
of the Bible
that when I read
chapter 12
verse 1
in my version
it says
now the Lord
said to Abram
and some of your
versions of the Bible
said the Lord
had said to Abram
and in Hebrew
like they're both
good translations
had said
is probably
a little bit
more accurate
what it's saying
is that while
Abram
was still in Ur
of the Chaldeans
God had called him
and he continued
to call him
and Abram
sort of started
to obey
what had to be done
but he didn't really
obey what had to be done
he left Ur
of the Chaldeans
but he left
with his dad
and his brothers
and he goes
to another place
and it's only
after the person
dies there
in fact he goes
to another place
which is prosperous
and another place
which worships
the moon
and God
has been calling him
and calling him
the moon god worshiper
and he hasn't responded
until finally
the time comes
after many calls
that he responds
and in God's
look how it goes
the Lord said
to Abram
go from your country
and your kindred
and your father's house
to the land
that I will show you
and I will make you
a great nation
I will bless you
I will make your name great
so that you will be a blessing
I will bless those
who bless you
and him who dishonors you
I will curse
and in you
all of the families
of the earth
shall be blessed
it's all
God will do it
and he says to Abraham
I am calling you
from worshiping the moon
I am calling you
even though
on a certain
on a human level
you are lacking
and respecting
you have no hope
I am calling you
I am committing to you
I am promising
these mighty things
to you
I will do these things
to you
if you go
the promise
the commitment
the promise
the commitment
the promise
the commitment
and then in verse 4
so Abraham
went
as the Lord
told him
you see
God commits
to Abraham
he promises
to Abraham
and it's God's
commitment
and promises
which engender
faith
he doesn't look down
and say to Abraham
gosh you were so
faithful
gosh
you're just like
Andrew
you have 10 kids
great kids
I'm going to do
spectacular things
through you
get ready
you know
hang on
you're going to go
on an adventure
because you're so
faithful
you're so smart
you're good looking
all of those types
of things
you're
look whoa
wow
the theology
you know
whoa
you know
I can hardly
look down
at your halo
so bright
no
you worship
the moon
your situation
is hopeless
I've been calling
you for years
and you haven't
said yes
God commits
God promises
that's what
engenders
faith
that's what
engenders
faith
you see
that's one of
the reasons
why the mission
statement of this
church
is
making disciples
gripped by the
gospel
learning to live
for God's glory
making disciples
gripped by the
gospel
learning to live
for God's glory
because
we live
if you put up
the next point
that would be
great
God's promises
to Abraham
are spectacularly
kept
in the incarnation
birth
life
death
and resurrection
of Jesus
Messiah
I mean one of the
amazing things
about all of this
remember I said
that we follow
God with our ears
we follow Jesus
with our ears
not with our eyes
the text goes ahead
and says that
God's going to show
Abraham these things
all Abraham has
is God's voice
and God's promise
to go
God makes this promise
God makes this commitment
Abraham's response
is to respond in faith
and do what he says
God makes this promise
he makes this commitment
we begin
not just to trust
God
but to trust
in what he says
because it's when we
trust in what he says
that we're really
trusting him
and so we hear
with our ears
we hear with our ears
faith comes from hearing
we hear with our ears
and we step out
in faith
and as we step out
in faith
God will show us
from day to day
what we need to be seen
but primarily
we follow him
with our ears
and Abraham
did not know
that this
him finally responding
as he finally comes
the Bible doesn't tell us
why exactly it is
that Abraham
finally believed
and trusted
what God
was saying
to him
and I think
the reason
the Bible
doesn't tell us
that is because
that was something
unique to him
what we need
to listen to
is the rest
of the Bible
we need to see
the trustworthiness
of God's word
the wisdom
of his laws
we need to see
the wisdom
of the story
the beauty
of the story
we need to see
Jesus
we need to see
Jesus
dying upon the cross
as the perfect
revelation
of God's love
we need to understand
how God
has been keeping
his promises
from the time
of Abraham on
we need to see
how God
has been keeping
his promises
even to Adam
and Eve
that he would
send one
who would
slay the serpent
we need to see
how the tomb
is empty
and after
the tomb
is empty
and they cannot
find the body
and because
Jesus is risen
and the body
is not there
and thousands
of people
who can just
walk down
to the grave
and see the body
of Jesus
believe that
Jesus has risen
from the dead
that he's no longer
there
that God
has vindicated
Jesus
as the one
who can slay
the serpent
and make human
beings right
with God
and we need
to see all
of these things
and have a new
certain ground
of hope
based on how
God has kept
his promises
that for every
single human being
and planet
on the earth
that God
has a call
to them
to come
to be made
right with him
through putting
their faith
and trust
in Jesus
and we need
to be gripped
with this story
we don't need
praise songs
to pump us up
we don't need
Bach
to make us
just think
how beautiful
and melodic
things are
we don't need
great art
I mean those
things are wonderful
when they come
we don't need
to have
spectacular rhetoric
we need to be
gripped with
God's promises
and gripped
by the gospel
and as we are
gripped by
God's promises
that's how
faith grows
within us
and the wonderful
thing about the gospel
the wonderful thing
that all of these
promises
when they culminate
in the coming
and the death
and resurrection
of Jesus
is we understand
in a far deeper
way
what God is going
to do to slay
the serpent
in a far deeper
way
what God is going
to do to make
us right with him
how Jesus
God the son of God
when he dies
upon the cross
that he's dying
upon the cross
and he is able
to die
and bear the punishment
and the shame
of every single
thing that we have
ever done wrong
every accusation
in our head
every accusation
by our loved ones
every accusation
by coaches
or bosses
by demons
or by the world
or by our own conscience
every accusation
all of those
accusations
against us
fall on him
and are dealt
with by him
and all of the things
that we cannot do
that Jesus
we not only have
Jesus taken away
all of the bad
things we've done
all of the things
that we are ashamed
of
all of our weakness
not only have
all of those things
dealt with by Jesus
but his actual ability
to obey the father
and to live a life
of obedience
where even though
he is tempted
in every way
as we are without sin
that he has not sinned
his perfect life
standing for me
when I get in him
by faith
made right with God
by faith
if I preach
the most spectacular sermon
that has ever been preached
in the history of the world
next Sunday
it does not add anything
to what Jesus does for me
and God does not love me
one iota more
if next Sunday
I preach the worst sermon
of my entire life
God will not love me less
it doesn't take away
from what Christ has done
my hope is built
on nothing less
than Jesus' blood
and righteousness
I dare not trust
the sweetest frame
but wholly lean
on Jesus' name
that's what we sang earlier
that's the promise
of the gospel
and as it grips
as faith grows
just wind up
with a couple of things
if you could put up
the next point
the mind matters
but we must obey
our way to clarity
the mind matters
don't kiss your brains goodbye
but we obey our ways
to clarity
you know
when we began
my wife and I
began the adventure
of trying to actually
give away 10% of our money
to God's work or more
I wish I could tell you
that we had such
unbelievable faith
in God's word
that we just went
from what we were
which was virtually nothing
to giving 10% of our income
but no what we did
is we trusted God
for 10 more dollars
and you know what
the sky didn't fall in
we didn't go hungry
God met our needs
so we trusted him
for 10 dollars more
the sky didn't fall in
we didn't go hungry
we trusted him
for 10 dollars more
until we could trust him
with it all
because you know
we tithe
because we want to trust
that God is our Jehovah Jireh
because
giving is the highest
form of living
you know
with sexual faithfulness
with working on your marriage
with trusting God's word
about miracles
trusting God's word
about miracles
makes you smarter
not dumber
trusting God's word
makes you wiser
and so you don't fear
what the world fears
and you don't trust
what the world trusts
but you start to have
a type of balance
and wisdom
that comes
not from being ashamed
of God's word
but from trusting God's word
that's how it is
that our minds
get renewed
we got to obey
our way to clarity
it's when you bear witness
to Jesus
and people make fun of you
and they beat you
in arguments
but you bear witness
to Jesus
and you call out to him
and say Lord
help me to know
what to say
I want to trust your word
I want to be able
to bear witness
that's how you learn
that's how you grow
that's how God's word
becomes more precious
and deep to you
use our minds
but you obey
your way to clarity
we just want to use
our minds
until we've had it
all figured out
but we obey
our way to clarity
and here's the really
big thing
in closing
if you could put up
the final point
I follow my
I follow Jesus
with my ears open
and my eyes closed
you see in a sense
that's what Abraham
had to do
isn't it
okay
Abraham
you're 75 years old
you have a 65 year old
wife
you've never had a child
I'm going to make you
into a great nation
go
I'm going to go
to a high school
graduation ceremony
on Thursday
I can tell you
right now
one of the main things
we're going to say
in the graduation ceremony
what are they going to say
we all probably know
follow your dreams
don't let any other people
tell you what your dreams are
follow your dreams
one of the things
that you know
the wardens and I say
when we
every fall
when we come down
to make our budget
one of the things
we say is
we say
we want to try to live
in the real world
and in the real world
how does the real world
work in the fall of 2017
when we sit down
we don't say
follow our dreams
we say
you know what
only God knows
the future
we have no idea
how much money
God will provide
for us
in the next year
now that doesn't
sound as sexy
and as moving
as follow your dream
but which one's real
every human being
goes into the future
with their eyes closed
no human being
not the smartest person
in the world
not the greatest musician
not the greatest poet
not the greatest mystic
no human being
by their own power
knows what will happen
in three minutes
in two minutes
in one minute
every single one of us
walks into the future
with our eyes closed
see the Bible
brings us
to the real world
and the real state
of our heart
and in the real world
and in the real state
of our world
the real state
of our heart
I am not a god
I am not a goddess
sorry the movie
Arrival
spoiler alert
is completely
and utterly wrong
learning a new language
will not allow you
to know the future
like you're a god
it's a dumb idea
like it's dumb
but it appeals
to our pride
nobody knows
the future
the Bible
is both
unbelievably
on one level
depressingly realistic
but it's not
depressingly realistic
it's realistic
and God says
I know the future
follow me
with your ears
and George
when you follow me
with your ears
what have I told you
I have told you
George
that 4,000 years ago
I spoke to a man
Abraham
about how I would
bless every family
on the earth
through him
and George
I kept that promise
2,000 years later
I never forgot it
I kept that promise
I sent my son
he died upon the cross
George
follow me
with your ears
and George
as you follow me
with your ears
listen to what I say
that I tell you
that my son died
on the cross
for you
that when my son
died upon the cross
you are seeing
the perfect picture
of me
and of my love
and of my concern
for you
you see that I desire
to bless you
that I will bring you
to the new heaven
and the new earth
and that when you
merely reach up your hand
not that you can reach
to me
but I can reach down
to you
that I will reach
my son's hand
will reach to you
and his hand
will never let you go
and that I don't
you do not know
George
whether you will be rich
you do not know
whether you will be successful
you do not know
any of these things
but you can know
that when you put
your hand up to mine
and Jesus reaches down
and grabs it
and he has died
on the cross for you
he is
his righteousness
covers you
he will never let you go
and you will be
in the new heaven
and the new earth
and I love you
and I care for you
I love you
and I care for you
follow me
with your ears
let God be God
listen to his word
from cover to cover
follow me
with your ears
I will never let you go
please stand
Father help us
to listen to your word
help us to be honest
with ourselves
Father
when your word
bugs us
and it irritates us
but Father
help us to have
our bugging
and our irritation
come to you
help us to lay it
at your feet
humbly
help us to let you
be you
to let you choose
the words
you want to choose
and
because it's your word
and Father
help us to follow you
with our ears
help us to follow you
with our ears
Father
we so desperately
want to know
the future
we so desperately
want to be able
to describe
what we see
we so desperately
want to be able
to do that
Father
but we cannot
but you have said
you will never
leave us
or forsake us
that your word
will lead us
to yourself
that your word
and your son
will bless us
so Father
help us to follow you
with our ears
follow you
with our ears
Father
if there is one here
who has not yet
put their trust
in you
Father
may this be the Sunday
where they call out
to you
and say
Jesus be my Savior
and my Lord
for what you have done
for me on the cross
be my Savior
and my Lord
Father
make us disciples
of Jesus
who are gripped
by the gospel
learning to be
to follow you
with our ears
as you free us up
so we will live
for your glory
and all this we ask
in the name of Jesus
your Son
and our Savior
Amen
the Son
and Your Amen
A
Man