WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.780 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:20.760 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.920 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:31.520 for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:37.939 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really, 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:42.579 I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible, 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:48.760 they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:54.560 do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.340 non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:04.680 hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.760 types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:19.200 Now, I sort of have like a double introduction to the sermon. The first one is this. Some of you who've 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:25.140 been coming to this church for a while know that we are not a church that does like a lot of stuff 00:01:25.140 --> 00:01:30.299 that other churches do. We don't give up our whole service to Mother's Day. We don't do a big 00:01:30.299 --> 00:01:37.020 Father's Day service. We don't do a Valentine's Day service. We don't do a Canada Day service, 00:01:37.180 --> 00:01:43.460 Remembrance Day service, New Year's Day service. There's lots of secular holidays that we actually 00:01:43.459 --> 00:01:48.579 will make a mention of it. You know, hey, moms, appreciate you. Let's pray for you. We prayed 00:01:48.579 --> 00:01:54.259 on Remembrance Day. Of course, we prayed for our armed forces, especially those in the past and 00:01:54.259 --> 00:01:59.899 former days who paid the supreme sacrifice. But we don't do a lot of stuff like that. And so you 00:01:59.899 --> 00:02:05.659 might be saying, oh, look at George. Here's going to talk about Romans chapter 13, verses 8 to 14. 00:02:05.739 --> 00:02:10.740 And that's just George. That's just Church of the Messiah. They don't really get into all of that other 00:02:10.740 --> 00:02:19.480 stuff. But I want to tell you that is not true. Now, there will be a thing, a blog, put out, a little 00:02:19.480 --> 00:02:24.020 note from me about a thousand words long that will come out, I think, on Tuesday that will go to you. 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:31.219 And I'll explain this a little bit more. But actually what we're doing is ancient advent as 00:02:31.219 --> 00:02:37.760 reformed by the gospel. But what I mean is this. If you went back in a time machine to 424, 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:45.780 where if you went back in a time machine to 1549, we're doing an advent service like they did. 00:02:46.620 --> 00:02:51.859 Like that's a bit of a surprise to you. Somewhere along the line, probably since the 70s, 00:02:52.319 --> 00:03:00.479 advent became a day to prepare, a time to prepare for Christmas. But if you go back in the ancient 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:07.099 texts and the ancient prayers, the ancients saw advent as the beginning of the Christian year. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:16.199 And so advent was a time to rededicate your life to Christ and to recommit to living a godly life 00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:23.079 for the coming year. That's what they saw as advent. And that's what we're doing. That's why this week 00:03:23.079 --> 00:03:28.199 we're going to look at a text which gives you a very, very fundamental view about how you grow and 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:33.379 become more godly. Next week, well, how are you going to become more godly? Well, you need to be able to 00:03:33.379 --> 00:03:38.479 read the Bible. We're going to have a text about the Bible. The week after that, to be godly, you should 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:43.099 be connected to a local church. So there's going to be a text about that. And then the fourth Sunday 00:03:43.099 --> 00:03:48.579 is once again, another insight about what Christian godliness and holiness looks like. And that'll be 00:03:48.579 --> 00:03:56.079 the text because the focus is on living the entire year rededicated to Christ. So just so you know, 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:06.420 you are right, we are not doing a 2024 advent service. We are doing a 424 advent service or 1549 00:04:06.420 --> 00:04:13.320 because Cramner took a few things that the gospel got a little bit murky between 424 and 1549. So 00:04:13.320 --> 00:04:17.520 Cramner cleaned some of that up to make sure the gospel was the center. That's what we're doing. 00:04:18.220 --> 00:04:22.720 So there you go. I sort of think that's cool, by the way. Anyway, here's the other thing. Last week I 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:28.560 began, that's my first introduction. My second introduction is, last week I very helpfully 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:35.500 began by telling you that God doesn't need you. But that's actually good news if you understand 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:41.260 the gospel. And this week I get to give you a similar word of profound encouragement. You are 00:04:41.260 --> 00:04:50.740 in debt right now and you will be in debt till you die. Hallelujah! Now just so you know, I will explain 00:04:50.740 --> 00:04:55.879 why that's actually really good news to know that right now you're in debt and every day until you 00:04:55.879 --> 00:05:03.079 die or see Jesus, you will be in debt. Well, let's look. So if you take your Bibles, we're looking at 00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:12.079 the book of Romans chapter 13 verses 8 to 14. And just while you turn there, Romans chapter 13, 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:18.540 8 to 14. This is a very dense text. It's almost like creed-like. It would be one of those texts, 00:05:18.540 --> 00:05:21.580 if you wanted to highlight the important parts, you'd have to highlight the whole thing. 00:05:22.140 --> 00:05:26.819 But the way the book of Romans is organized is there's a bit of introduction verses 1 to 15. 00:05:27.420 --> 00:05:32.439 Verse 16 and 17 in chapter 1 gives you sort of the theme or the prairie of the whole book. 00:05:32.939 --> 00:05:38.420 And then for the rest of the book up until the end of chapter 11, it is all about what is the gospel? 00:05:39.259 --> 00:05:46.060 What is the good news? And then from chapter 12 to the end, it's about given that the gospel is true, 00:05:46.060 --> 00:05:51.660 how do you live? That's how the book is structured. So we're in the part, he's already talked about the 00:05:51.660 --> 00:05:56.560 gospel. Now, how is it you live if the gospel is true? And it begins like this, verse 8. 00:05:57.819 --> 00:06:04.360 Owe no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves, and that's for the one who loves 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:10.100 another has fulfilled the law. Now just sort of pause here. This little verse here, but first of all, 00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:15.760 it's not telling you that you can't take out a mortgage. Okay? That's not saying that. It's saying 00:06:15.760 --> 00:06:19.860 something else. If you could put up the first point, Claire, that would be very, very helpful. 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:27.800 This is actually a very, very, very profound statement that reveals a profound and unique truth 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:36.360 of the Bible. The triune God created human beings to have such a deep dignity and worth, 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:46.860 so that each person is deserving of love from others. That's what the Bible teaches about human 00:06:46.860 --> 00:06:51.699 beings. That's what the Bible teaches about you, friend, brother, sister. That's what he teaches about 00:06:51.699 --> 00:06:56.480 me. That's what he teaches about little kids. That's what he teaches about handicapped, the elderly. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:05.040 Does it matter the color or anything like that? God, the triune God created human beings to have such 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:12.160 an awesome dignity and worth that it's not that he has to command us. I mean, maybe he has to because 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:18.300 we're sinful, but he has to command us. But the fact of the matter is, if we really understood what a human 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:33.580 being was and how God had created us to be, we would know that I actually owe Jono love. I owe Daniel love. 00:07:33.980 --> 00:07:38.560 I owe Diane love. I actually owe them love. 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:46.199 That's how God has designed human beings. It's actually very, very profound. I mean, you know, like in most 00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:53.439 systems of thought, human beings are tragic, either tragic accidents or something that's wrong that has 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:57.720 to be fixed. Like in Hinduism, at the end of the end of the end of the end of the end, no human beings 00:07:57.720 --> 00:08:02.899 exist. It's just the one. Because in a sense, it's a type of tragedy that human beings exist. 00:08:02.899 --> 00:08:08.199 And of course, in secular Canadian thought, at least at a very, if you take the science, 00:08:08.379 --> 00:08:14.560 the so-called science very seriously, human beings are just accidents. And I think it was Dawkins who 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:20.659 said the universe is completely indifferent to us. We have no inherent worth or dignity that comes from 00:08:20.659 --> 00:08:25.620 the scientific account, the current scientific account of how human beings came to be. But Christians 00:08:25.620 --> 00:08:32.399 believe that God created all things, and he made every single human being to have such a deep dignity 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:40.439 and worth that they are owed love. We are owed love. That's what it means to be human. 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:46.600 Now, it's also, if you think about it for a second, it means that actually how God intended human 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:52.759 beings to exist was a type of never-ending, intricate dance of love. 00:08:52.759 --> 00:09:04.159 We watched, okay, true, I'm going to confess a sin here. I watch guy movies, mainly, okay? Which means 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:13.379 that I have never seen the movie Emma, any of the versions, ever, until last night. And we watched 00:09:13.379 --> 00:09:19.299 the most recent Emma. It was a really good movie. I really enjoyed it, to my surprise. Like, I was willing 00:09:19.299 --> 00:09:23.759 to do it, to watch it with my daughter and my wife, but I really enjoyed it. And it was probably even 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:27.539 greater enjoyment, because since I had never read the book, didn't know anything about it, it was all 00:09:27.539 --> 00:09:31.579 a surprise to me. Like, there was nothing predictable about it to me. But here's the point. 00:09:31.859 --> 00:09:38.679 It's set in the 1800s, and there's a scene, an extended scene, inside the movie where there's a dance, 00:09:38.759 --> 00:09:44.799 a ball. And if you watch the dance, it's very intricate. I said out loud, after I was watching it for a few 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:49.199 minutes, it said, gosh, like, you have to actually take lessons to dance like that, you know, because 00:09:49.199 --> 00:09:53.159 they're coming in, and then they're coming out, and then they're doing moves, and then they're crossing, 00:09:53.359 --> 00:09:56.779 and then they're linking arms, and then they're twirling, and they're doing all this. It's very, 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:02.859 very intricate. And in a sense, a ball like that is how God designed human existence to be. 00:10:03.859 --> 00:10:10.159 You see, on one hand, if the truth is that I actually owe Jono love, he owes me love. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:19.319 As do you. As do you. We owe each other love. And so, in a sense, and the type of love which is 00:10:19.319 --> 00:10:24.559 described here in the Bible is agape love. It's a type of love which almost was invented by 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:30.559 Christianity. It's a love that is self-effacing, which means it's not look at me type of love. 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:35.319 It's a type of love that never says look at me. In fact, a type of love that actually is really, 00:10:35.319 --> 00:10:39.500 really glad if people even sort of don't even notice you. It's a self-effacing love, 00:10:39.500 --> 00:10:48.320 self-giving love that seeks the true good and beauty and flourishing of the other person. And 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:53.360 that's the type of love which is being described. So, in a sense, the Bible's describing that God 00:10:53.360 --> 00:11:00.580 intended human existence to be like this intricate 1800s ball of this complicated movement of giving 00:11:00.580 --> 00:11:06.740 and exchanging of loves, which is just beautiful. And that's how God designed us to be. And that's, 00:11:06.740 --> 00:11:12.539 I just think that's, I think that's just so wonderful. And if you don't understand that, 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:21.460 the next bit is going to sound sort of, well, it's just going to sound weird. And because it's 00:11:21.460 --> 00:11:26.560 going to have just a bit of a warning. It's going to talk about sex. And we all know that a lot of us 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:34.639 Christians in 2024 in Canada are a bit hesitant to fully affirm and defend how the Bible describes 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:39.939 sexuality. But we shouldn't. Remember that's the first bit. Listen to what goes. Let's turn to 00:11:39.939 --> 00:11:46.219 verse 8 again. And here's how it goes. Chapter 13, we'll read verse 8 again, down to verse 10. 00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:52.259 Oh, no one anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:57.460 And here the law means, by the way, the moral law, not the Canadian law, but the moral law, the true 00:11:57.460 --> 00:12:04.360 moral law. For the commandments, referring now to the Ten Commandments, you shall not commit adultery. 00:12:05.539 --> 00:12:10.419 And committed, I'll explain what that means in a moment. You shall not murder. That means you shall 00:12:10.419 --> 00:12:15.679 not take innocent life. You shall not steal. That is, don't take the money or possessions of other people. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:20.899 You shall not covet, which is a type of envying, which can poison your whole life and create hatred. 00:12:20.899 --> 00:12:27.519 And any other commandment are summed up in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:12:27.980 --> 00:12:35.740 Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Now, brothers and 00:12:35.740 --> 00:12:40.879 sisters, well, here, if you could put up the second point, Claire, that would be really helpful. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:50.100 The life which is true and good and beautiful is love-centered and ten-commandment-bounded. And I 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:56.440 could actually put here biblical commandment-bounded. The life that is true and good and beautiful is 00:12:56.440 --> 00:13:03.639 love-centered. And it's not only centered, it's love-driven, love-walking, love at the end, 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:08.600 and ten-commandment-bounded. Actually, Claire, I should have sent you a note about this. Could you 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:13.200 throw up for a moment the final point, the fifth point? Or the fourth, the fifth point? Then I'm going 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:17.060 to go back to the second. Here, in a sense, is the big idea of the whole text. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:29.000 To Christ, in Christ I live, on Christ I stand, by Christ I begin, with Christ I walk, to Christ I head. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:57.240 To go back to the second point, Claire, that would be really helpful. The life which is true and good and 00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:03.360 beautiful is love-centered and ten-commandment-bounded. So let's look at this. So the adultery text is, 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:10.840 it says that, what it's saying just very, very clearly is that, we'll use me as an example, 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:16.500 but it's the same for every human being, is that there is to be no sexual knowing or sexual stimulation 00:14:16.500 --> 00:14:26.720 for any human being unless it is connected to the person of the opposite biological sex to whom you 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:34.899 are married. And that's a very strong for no. And so what that means for me is, I don't know how many 00:14:34.899 --> 00:14:39.559 human beings are on the planet. Let's say there's eight billion. And we're going to round this up a 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:47.399 little bit just to make it work. I'm married to Louise, and that means the only sexual stimulation 00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:54.379 or sexual knowing that I should engage in, period, should be centered on her and with her. 00:14:55.479 --> 00:15:00.279 And the other four billion women and the other four billion men in the planet, I'm not to relate 00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:07.559 that way to them. That's what the Bible's teaching. Now a lot of people in our culture think that's 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:14.419 terrible, but look at what this text is saying. This text is absolutely brilliant. I have to tell 00:15:14.419 --> 00:15:17.519 you, there have been times this week where I just thought, I'm not going to be able to communicate 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:24.239 this, how it's affected me emotionally. My wife and I and my daughter, a week ago, we watched the movie 00:15:24.239 --> 00:15:34.259 The Woman of the Hour. I'm not recommending you watch it. The acting is spectacular. The story is very well 00:15:34.259 --> 00:15:39.519 done. Everything about the movie is very good, but the movie is deeply, deeply, deeply disturbing. 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:45.539 It tells the story of a serial killer who might have killed over a hundred women, and it focuses, 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:49.879 I think, on five women, some of whom will die, all of whom are traumatized, but some live. 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:56.960 And because it's so well done, it is deeply disturbing and unsettling. And one of the things which is done 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:02.660 in the movie is, believe it or not, this actually happened. This serial killer was so confident 00:16:02.660 --> 00:16:09.720 and arrogant that he actually appeared on one of the most popular national TV shows called The Dating 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:17.860 Game as one of the contestants to date the young woman. He's so arrogant, so confident that he did 00:16:17.860 --> 00:16:26.100 that in front of national television. And one of the questions in it is that the contestant asks the 00:16:26.100 --> 00:16:34.379 three men is, what is a woman for? And actually, the movie is very, very interesting because it's 00:16:34.379 --> 00:16:40.720 actually true in a way that they don't understand it's true. The other two men give sort of jerky 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:46.659 answers, okay? And the third man, the serial killer, who's an expert at manipulating woman, 00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:52.220 who's already boasted to the guys that he's going to win because he knows how to talk to women, 00:16:52.220 --> 00:16:59.759 he gives the answer that the person on the, that the contestant really wants. And you can see the 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:06.160 audience, all the women, they almost want to clap because he says, well, women have to decide that 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:15.519 for themselves. Now, obviously, there's a profound truth in there, but I think nobody realized that what 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:20.440 they thought was a really wise thing to say was said by a man who manipulates and murders women. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:27.039 Like, I don't think Anna Kendrick realized that that's what was going on in the movie. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:31.440 But you see, here's the thing which is so beautiful and powerful about this text. 00:17:32.220 --> 00:17:36.400 You see, if you look at the different things about stealing and coveting and whatever, what it's doing 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:43.480 is it's actually setting guardrails around a very, very vast and beautiful land where many, 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:48.779 many, many people live. And what it's saying is if you go across these guardrails, you will fall to 00:17:48.779 --> 00:17:56.880 your ruin. But within there, okay, well, I now know that for four billion women and four billion men, 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:02.099 I'm not to have sexual thoughts or sexually know them. That's restricted to Louise. And if Louise 00:18:02.099 --> 00:18:08.380 predeceases me, which I hope is not the case, then there will be nobody. I mean, I have to live a 00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:15.500 chase life without that sexual knowing or stimulation. But gosh, there's eight, four, 00:18:15.580 --> 00:18:21.120 four billion women. How do I relate to them? You love them. 00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:30.000 You love them with a self-effacing, self-giving love. You seek their flourishing. You seek their true 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:39.140 good. You seek their beauty. You seek justice for them. You seek their growth. You seek their protection. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:47.599 That's how you relate to them. There's a guardrail and there's this huge propulsion about how you're 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:52.900 to live. Think of it with the other thing. You shall not steal. What is that saying? They're saying 00:18:52.900 --> 00:18:57.720 that one of the guardrails in this very, very large and very, very beautiful world where eight billion 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:01.620 people live. I don't know what the number is. I should have Googled it. Let's say it's eight 00:19:01.620 --> 00:19:06.319 billion. Maybe it's more, maybe it's less. And in this entire world, one of the guardrails is that 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:09.880 when I see other people's money and other people's stuff, I'm not to take it from them. 00:19:11.539 --> 00:19:16.259 To go over that guardrail is to fall to ruin. It doesn't matter if it's the government stealing. 00:19:16.500 --> 00:19:20.460 It doesn't mean it matter if it's one country stealing from another. It doesn't matter if it's a 00:19:20.460 --> 00:19:26.559 drug addict. It doesn't matter if it's a corporate executive or a cabinet minister or your neighbor. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:31.279 However, you don't take other people's stuff. You don't take other people's money. It's a guardrail 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:35.099 and to go over it is to ruin. Well, how do you live in a world where there's stuff and money? 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:42.919 Well, you love. And what is love going to mean? Well, love means that, of course, you have to make 00:19:42.919 --> 00:19:47.179 sure that you're, you know, we need to have jobs and we need to have good labor practices and we need 00:19:47.179 --> 00:19:53.079 to have protections around investment and we need to have solid property rights. And you should be able 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:57.859 to work and to be able to make money and to get a fair wage and you should be able to provide for 00:19:57.859 --> 00:20:02.439 yourself. And you shouldn't be only just seeking to make enough money to provide for yourself, but 00:20:02.439 --> 00:20:08.379 to have a type of, you know, to provide for if you have a family and loved ones or you have an elderly 00:20:08.379 --> 00:20:13.539 mom or an elderly dad. And there should be enough money that you can give money to the poor because 00:20:13.539 --> 00:20:18.579 you should be generous and you should be wanting to show hospitality and you should be making enough 00:20:18.579 --> 00:20:24.299 money so that you can show financial generosity for the church to spread the gospel and to bring 00:20:24.299 --> 00:20:29.619 the gospel to different parts of the world. And that's what money's for. That's what stuff is for. 00:20:29.939 --> 00:20:38.139 For love. Like, isn't that beautiful? I don't know if I can communicate it. We should not be embarrassed 00:20:38.139 --> 00:20:43.159 about biblical teaching on set. We should say, listen, you're embarrassed about biblical. Look at Romans 8. 00:20:43.160 --> 00:20:52.900 Isn't this wise? That's what women are for. That's what money's for. That's what life is for. For 00:20:52.900 --> 00:20:59.220 generosity. For towards the good, the true, the beautiful and flourishing. And don't fall off the 00:20:59.220 --> 00:21:06.779 guardrails to your ruin. I just think it's so beautiful. I really do. I don't know if I can 00:21:06.779 --> 00:21:13.519 communicate it. I hope I have to some small amount. But some will say, okay, George, that is very 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:25.299 beautiful, but it's not real life. And by the way, the Bible says, amen. It isn't real life. That's not 00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:36.220 how we live. But the Bible's not naive. And it's not nihilistic and depressing, but it's not naive. 00:21:36.220 --> 00:21:42.680 It's very, very, very realistic. You can already see the realism here in the text about the fact 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:47.700 that there's these guardrails that you can't transgress because it'll go to your ruin. And the 00:21:47.700 --> 00:21:53.180 next text, which gives you a different complementary image of what it means to have the gospel become 00:21:53.180 --> 00:22:02.860 real to your heart and live, actually doubles down on human realism. Let's read it. It's verses 11 to 14. 00:22:02.859 --> 00:22:10.319 13. And he says, besides this, okay, so this is the big image. By the way, you can see how if you 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:14.579 now look at this text as not preparing you for Christmas, but preparing you to live the rest of 00:22:14.579 --> 00:22:19.719 your life rededicated to Christ, doesn't it make a lot more sense? Right? It makes a lot of sense. 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:25.419 What a good text to begin your year. And now there's a second type of image besides this. Verse 11. 00:22:25.420 --> 00:22:35.100 You know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer to us now 00:22:35.100 --> 00:22:43.620 than when we first believed. The night is far gone. The day is at hand. So what this text, by the way, 00:22:43.660 --> 00:22:48.600 is saying, I'm not going to really go into depth about this, but basically what the Bible is saying, 00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:55.000 that every single one of us live between, every single person on the planet lives between the 00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:03.279 birth of Jesus, his life, death, resurrection, ascension, and that was God's fundamental act 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:10.059 to save us. We all live between that and when he comes again. That's the real world. 00:23:10.059 --> 00:23:16.460 The real world isn't that the second law of thermodynamics will eventually mean that all 00:23:16.460 --> 00:23:22.039 things cease to exist. The real world isn't that eventually all human beings merge into God. 00:23:22.500 --> 00:23:28.839 The real world isn't that, you know, human, you know, it's just one dang thing after another and 00:23:28.839 --> 00:23:35.059 there's nothing, no type of direction or meaning to history. The real world is that between the 00:23:35.059 --> 00:23:39.679 death and resurrection of Jesus and his coming again, that's the world we live. And in some ways, 00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:45.519 part of that new, that future is already present in terms of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And in 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:51.279 other ways, it, it, it, we still obviously live in a world where people are selfish. Uh, they, 00:23:51.360 --> 00:23:58.380 they steal, they, you know, government steal, corporation steal, individual steal. Uh, you know, 00:23:58.380 --> 00:24:03.940 we live in a culture which celebrates death, uh, not life as much. I mean, we, it's life and death. 00:24:03.940 --> 00:24:08.019 And that's obviously the world we live in and that's what it's tame. And then it moves into the second, 00:24:08.019 --> 00:24:11.379 we'll read verse 12 again. And then we move into this other, this other part, which I'm going to 00:24:11.379 --> 00:24:15.579 talk about more, which is this verse 12, the night is far gone. The day is at hand. So, 00:24:16.579 --> 00:24:29.139 so then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in 00:24:29.140 --> 00:24:34.500 the daytime, uh, not, uh, I'll just say these words and I'll explain what they mean in a moment, 00:24:34.500 --> 00:24:40.860 not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling 00:24:40.860 --> 00:24:47.320 and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. And here, 00:24:47.380 --> 00:24:54.259 the flesh means that part of our human nature, which is sinful to gratify its desires. Now, actually 00:24:54.259 --> 00:24:58.240 here, first, if we just, um, put up the third point, that would be very helpful. And I'm going to 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:02.620 explain some of these terms and we'll get to the big point here. What the text is saying is that the 00:25:02.620 --> 00:25:12.019 real you cannot help, but do real wrong and turn from doing real good. Bible is profoundly realistic, 00:25:12.019 --> 00:25:19.920 but not with it, without, not with despair. The real you, the real you cannot help, but do real wrong 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:26.720 and turn from doing real good. And, uh, and so we see, um, so flesh here is that part of our human 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:32.880 nature that does wrong and wants to do wrong, that does wrong, even when it's going to hurt us. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:37.799 Uh, and it's that part of us that turns from doing good things when we could easily do it, 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:42.880 even if it got us compliments, but we just, you know, selfishly turned from doing good things. 00:25:43.380 --> 00:25:47.559 And, and the, the list of things here is just a very partial, partial one. The word, so the word 00:25:47.559 --> 00:25:51.759 orgies, if you go back and you look at like five or six different English translations, you'll see 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:57.039 different words and orgies is one of the words that try to capture what the original word is. 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:02.000 But really what it means, uh, at a more deep level is, um, 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:13.920 people going crazy together. It's, uh, a Panda Day celebration, uh, on steroids where the police decide 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:20.160 to, to, to not have anything to do with it and just let people go crazy. It's, uh, let's just go crazy 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:26.800 as a group. It's, it's riots. It's, it's parties that just spill over into the whole surrounding 00:26:26.800 --> 00:26:33.600 neighborhood and destroy property. Uh, and that's what it's being pointed to. Uh, the, the next word, 00:26:33.740 --> 00:26:38.920 which is drunkenness, means drunkenness or getting stoned. Uh, sexual immorality is what I just described 00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:44.519 earlier from a biblical point of view. Sensuality is where you start to see everything in the world 00:26:44.519 --> 00:26:53.800 in sexual terms. You sexualize everything. Canada 2024, right? Sexualize everything. Whether it's 00:26:53.800 --> 00:26:59.100 transing everything, gaying everything, whether it's making sure there's women in bikinis helping 00:26:59.100 --> 00:27:03.720 to sell your product or really buff looking men sell your product, it's sexualizing everything. 00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:10.100 It's sexualizing all of your relationships. That's what sensuality means. Quirreling means just, 00:27:10.100 --> 00:27:15.360 uh, a type of person that you say, you know, it's, it's just, uh, I'm going to have, I'm going to fight 00:27:15.360 --> 00:27:21.460 about that. I, uh, even I'm going to fight. I'm going to disagree. Uh, I'm going to state my case. I'm, 00:27:21.460 --> 00:27:25.480 I'm going to do that even when I know I'm wrong because I want to get my way. I'm, I'm more interested 00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:31.839 in being, in proven right even than, than being right. Um, and, uh, jealousy and envy. We've talked about 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:35.859 that before, you know, seeing other things that people have that we think that we should have and 00:27:35.859 --> 00:27:41.639 wanting to bring them down. And the very, very interesting image which is going on in here is this, 00:27:42.259 --> 00:27:49.199 um, which is that, um, these things are underneath George's surface. 00:27:49.200 --> 00:27:58.160 And so maybe you could say, well, I don't do any of those things. There's nobody in this room that 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:04.240 could say that I have done any of those things ever. But what are you like when nobody sees you? 00:28:06.059 --> 00:28:08.799 How have you dealt with people who are weaker than you? 00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:14.960 What's going on in your thought life? 00:28:17.879 --> 00:28:22.799 And if you still say that none of these six things, and they're just suggestive, apply to you, 00:28:23.339 --> 00:28:31.599 with all due respect, you are vastly fooling yourself. And you don't know yourself. 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:39.619 Because, by the way, if you were to say with a straight face to people, you know that, boy, 00:28:39.679 --> 00:28:48.240 none of these things go on in my life. They'd say, huh, yep. Yeah, sure. Think whatever you want, 00:28:48.379 --> 00:28:56.419 dude. Legend in your own mind. Not what's going on. And so the images of these things that are within, 00:28:56.420 --> 00:29:03.240 and they bubble up. And what the image is, that is, is that, in a sense, by the help of the gospel, 00:29:03.840 --> 00:29:08.940 that I'm to be reaching in and taking them and throwing them away. Throwing them away. 00:29:10.620 --> 00:29:15.480 As they cling to me, and they're very obvious that I'm caught up with it, to throw it away. 00:29:16.420 --> 00:29:23.039 And as I know that there, I know it's in there, I know it's in here, and to reach in and throw it away. 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:30.319 And the image is, in a sense, of Christ somehow settling and descending upon us. 00:29:32.619 --> 00:29:38.319 And he descends upon us in such a way that when he descends upon us, he descends into us. It's like 00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:44.920 a patch that delivers medicine. And remember what I said at the beginning, that God designed us 00:29:44.920 --> 00:29:50.099 to love, that in such a way that I owe love to other people, and other people owe love to me. 00:29:50.099 --> 00:29:55.000 And so what it is, it really is, that underneath the things that I do that are wrong, there is this 00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:03.379 health, this ultimate health of a deeper nature that was God built. And so the coming, Christ coming 00:30:03.379 --> 00:30:11.719 upon me, it activates and makes healthy that, and helps me to throw away the things that are inside, 00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:18.620 that only lead to my ruin. If you could put up the fourth point, that would be helpful. 00:30:19.019 --> 00:30:27.079 Jesus put on himself the evil that you do, and the evil of failing to do the good you should have done, 00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:34.980 and offers to put on you his perfect fulfillment of the true, the good, and the beautiful. 00:30:34.980 --> 00:30:43.059 Jesus put on himself the evil that you do, and the evil of failing to do the good you should have done. 00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:51.039 By the way, this is a really important point of Christian morality. It might very well be 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:57.079 that some of these six things aren't things that describe you, but then we can go back up to those 00:30:57.079 --> 00:31:04.819 commandments. Oh yeah, okay, so you're really generous? If I just look at your finances for the last year, 00:31:04.819 --> 00:31:10.439 well, I see that you've given away lots and lots of your money. Oh, you didn't do that. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:14.720 Well, that's actually not. It's just a failure to do. 00:31:17.179 --> 00:31:23.799 Right? And offers to put on you his perfect fulfillment of the true, the good, and the beautiful, 00:31:23.980 --> 00:31:27.179 which is like a bigger way to understand what all the commandments are about. You see, 00:31:27.500 --> 00:31:32.919 that's the wonderful thing in the gospel, is I, you know, people, if somebody was, if I was to share 00:31:32.920 --> 00:31:37.000 this with somebody who's outside of the Christian faith, and they say, well, George, do you do those 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:46.860 things? And I say, friend, I don't. Friend, I can't. Friend, you can't. But I am so grateful that I am 00:31:46.860 --> 00:31:56.300 in the one who did what I could not do, and offers what he did, and the destiny he deserves, he offers to 00:31:56.299 --> 00:32:02.059 me, and the doom that I deserve, he took upon himself. See, the big point of the whole sermon 00:32:02.059 --> 00:32:10.319 is in Christ I live. I live in Christ because of what he has done for me. On Christ I stand. 00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:16.339 That's this, as the story and the person of Christ and what he's accomplished for me in the gospel, 00:32:16.440 --> 00:32:20.659 as that becomes more real to my heart, that's the reality on which I can stand, 00:32:20.660 --> 00:32:29.820 so that I can be honest about the crap inside of me, the failures inside of me. By Christ I begin. 00:32:30.180 --> 00:32:35.259 It's as the gospel becomes more real to my heart that I can begin to deal with these things, that I 00:32:35.259 --> 00:32:40.580 can begin. I can tell you, my wife and I didn't tithe for many, many years, and when finally we both 00:32:40.580 --> 00:32:45.940 finally got convicted to tithe, it was very, very hard. The devil tells you, how can you give away any 00:32:45.940 --> 00:32:51.480 of your money? Just like for those of you who are addicted to porn, the devil tells you, how can you 00:32:51.480 --> 00:33:01.620 live without porn? Well, you can. You'll live better. Generous living is way better than greedy living. 00:33:02.900 --> 00:33:09.820 If you make money your idol, well, it destroys you. You know, and I don't know what it was, like, 00:33:09.819 --> 00:33:15.919 okay, $20. Okay, and the sky didn't fall in. Okay, well, how about $40? No, the sky doesn't fall in. 00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:21.259 Like, actually, we still ate this week. We still have clothes, like, and you give more, right? And we're 00:33:21.259 --> 00:33:27.359 timid and slow and started by it, but, you know, it's because the gospel becomes more real to you that 00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:34.000 you can begin. You can begin to treat people better. You can begin towards hospitality or generosity or 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:40.599 or a beautiful life of relating to people the way that you should. In, with Christ I walk. To Christ I'm going. 00:33:41.319 --> 00:33:46.940 And, and, and, and all of it, it's the finished work of Christ. You see, the, the, the first John 4, 10 says, 00:33:47.099 --> 00:33:53.759 this is love. Not that, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice 00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:59.920 for our sins. So another way to say that the Christian life, the beautiful life, is to be love-centered 00:33:59.920 --> 00:34:07.140 and 10 commandment-bounded is also to say to be Christ-centered and 10 commandment-bounded, 00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:15.099 because Christ is love. There is no better story of self-effacing, self-giving for the good of the 00:34:15.099 --> 00:34:22.800 other love. And it's not just that some dude who happened to accomplish this, and he's like a, the, the, 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:29.519 he's like the Usain Bolt of, of runners, but he's done it in the moral life. No, this is God, the son of God, 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:35.119 the second person of the Trinity coming down and taking into himself our human nature and living 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:40.820 the life that we were designed to live but could not, and dying the death that we deserve, but it 00:34:40.820 --> 00:34:47.039 would unmake us, and him dying in our place, it is the second person of the Trinity doing that for us. 00:34:47.300 --> 00:34:50.039 It is solid, rock solid. 00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:58.440 That's, that's how I fulfill the law. 00:35:00.340 --> 00:35:03.500 You know, just before we have this final point, 00:35:04.340 --> 00:35:05.460 on one level, don't you, 00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:09.860 I'll just say two more things, just I'm wrapping it up. 00:35:09.860 --> 00:35:17.480 I, I, I was listening this week to a, a story of a, a woman telling how she, she, an Australian woman, 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:22.660 and grow up in a secular household, that, were they just, like her father was a university professor, 00:35:22.660 --> 00:35:27.240 she just, like everybody in her circle, just assumed that smart people believe that God doesn't exist. 00:35:27.579 --> 00:35:30.480 They don't believe it, they just know. Smart people know that God doesn't exist. 00:35:31.140 --> 00:35:34.200 And she just grew up in that, and through a series of circumstances, 00:35:34.199 --> 00:35:37.839 after she got her PhD at Cambridge, and while she was teaching at Oxford, 00:35:38.539 --> 00:35:43.039 and then, and then some other things happened, and eventually she came to the point where she 00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:47.359 actually went to church for the first time. She'd been to church for services for other things. 00:35:47.739 --> 00:35:50.500 She goes to a church service for the very, very first time, 00:35:51.460 --> 00:35:56.359 as a person inquiring as to whether it might possibly be the case that Christianity is true. 00:35:56.819 --> 00:36:00.859 She's a historian, and it comes time towards the end of the service, they have the Lord's Supper. 00:36:00.860 --> 00:36:06.400 And she said, she had this profound feeling well up within her. 00:36:08.220 --> 00:36:14.440 She was in a room with people who were doing something that had been done continuously for 2,000 years. 00:36:16.180 --> 00:36:23.300 When we received communion this morning, that's been happening unbroken for 2,000 years. 00:36:23.300 --> 00:36:31.760 And it rehearses salvation for us, and tells us that we need to get the gospel in tight of us, 00:36:31.840 --> 00:36:39.039 and feed on Christ spiritually, feed on his person, feed on his work, feed on his words, 00:36:40.140 --> 00:36:43.539 feed on his presence in person, to feed on him. 00:36:43.720 --> 00:36:47.640 And we are part of a community of people unworthy as we are. 00:36:47.639 --> 00:36:50.139 2,000 years. 00:36:50.859 --> 00:36:51.819 Isn't that cool? 00:36:52.739 --> 00:36:56.639 It's so neat what you learn from listening to people who become Christians from outsiders. 00:36:57.119 --> 00:36:58.239 It's just so wonderful. 00:36:58.639 --> 00:37:01.599 It's going to change probably for the rest of my life how I view communion. 00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:04.480 2,000 years of continuity. 00:37:05.099 --> 00:37:10.359 We are a community of memory and depth, rooted ultimately in the triune God. 00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:15.579 You know, and it's true. 00:37:15.680 --> 00:37:19.579 It's not like just telling people about Santa Claus, and people would like Santa Claus to be true. 00:37:19.660 --> 00:37:23.120 You know, if you're outside the Christian faith, don't you want this to be true? 00:37:23.240 --> 00:37:28.180 Don't you wish that there was, in fact, a universe where human beings have that worth and dignity? 00:37:28.500 --> 00:37:34.700 Don't you wish you lived in a university, a universe that had such understanding of guardrails that lead to ruin, 00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:37.980 and have this positive vision about how you can grow and flourish? 00:37:37.980 --> 00:37:40.579 And it's not just that you have to wish that it's true. 00:37:40.659 --> 00:37:41.639 It actually is true. 00:37:41.740 --> 00:37:44.599 Like, if you're outside the faith, I encourage you to go on a quest. 00:37:45.380 --> 00:37:49.539 I mean, this letter itself is written some 25 years, some 20 years or so, 00:37:49.599 --> 00:37:51.380 after the death and resurrection of Jesus. 00:37:51.480 --> 00:37:54.260 It's written by a man who knew that the grave was empty, 00:37:54.860 --> 00:37:59.440 and knew they never found the body of Jesus, and actually saw Jesus resurrected. 00:37:59.880 --> 00:38:02.719 And this same man who writes this letter in about 10 years' time, 00:38:02.719 --> 00:38:08.079 he's going to die a violent, gruesome death, because he's going to say it actually happened. 00:38:08.579 --> 00:38:10.859 And so I encourage you to go on to the quest. 00:38:10.980 --> 00:38:14.739 There's good reasons to believe that this is true, not like 2 plus 2 equals 4, 00:38:14.839 --> 00:38:19.119 but the hints and the learning, there's good evidence that this is a true story, 00:38:19.179 --> 00:38:20.519 a true story of the universe. 00:38:20.519 --> 00:38:27.739 And then if you receive it, if you enter into it, if you could put up the final point, Claire, 00:38:27.780 --> 00:38:28.739 that would be so helpful. 00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:33.619 And this should be like our mantra. 00:38:34.340 --> 00:38:36.980 Forget all those mantras they tell you. 00:38:37.900 --> 00:38:39.119 This should be our mantra. 00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:41.519 In Christ I live. 00:38:42.259 --> 00:38:44.179 On Christ I stand. 00:38:45.179 --> 00:38:47.039 By Christ I begin. 00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:49.880 With Christ I walk. 00:38:50.159 --> 00:38:51.420 To Christ I head. 00:38:52.259 --> 00:38:52.619 Amen. 00:38:53.579 --> 00:38:54.380 Let's stand. 00:38:57.059 --> 00:38:58.400 In Christ I live. 00:38:58.460 --> 00:38:59.500 On Christ I stand. 00:38:59.599 --> 00:39:00.639 By Christ I begin. 00:39:00.759 --> 00:39:01.719 With Christ I walk. 00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:02.679 To Christ I head. 00:39:02.739 --> 00:39:03.579 Let's pray. 00:39:03.719 --> 00:39:08.380 Father, your word, at first it seems like it's a bit awkward, 00:39:08.380 --> 00:39:14.360 like that awkward, angular uncle who says things that everybody's a bit embarrassed about. 00:39:14.360 --> 00:39:20.940 And Father, sometimes in Canada we feel like your word is like that awkward aunt or awkward uncle. 00:39:21.420 --> 00:39:28.500 But Father, when we look at Jesus and now look at your word, it is wise, it is beautiful, it is good, it is true. 00:39:29.579 --> 00:39:31.900 And so Father, we thank you for Jesus. 00:39:32.160 --> 00:39:37.260 We thank you that we can be in him, that he gives us life, that he fulfilled the law for us, 00:39:37.260 --> 00:39:43.760 that you see the real us with the things that go on within us that bubble up and ruin our lives. 00:39:44.200 --> 00:39:47.520 And we give you thanks and praise that he died for us. 00:39:48.200 --> 00:39:52.880 And so Father, we ask that you would make this true, that you would help us be centered in Christ, 00:39:53.040 --> 00:39:59.180 trusting in Christ, walking with him and heading towards him with these really good boundaries, 00:39:59.179 --> 00:40:04.299 and that you would help us to help others flourish in the true and the good and the beautiful, 00:40:04.460 --> 00:40:11.339 that you would help us to help our city and our country flourish in that which is truly good and beautiful. 00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:16.359 And so Father, we ask that you do this wonderful work in us and make Christ, 00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:19.259 make the gospel more and more precious and real to us. 00:40:19.739 --> 00:40:22.919 And we ask these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. 00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:24.359 Amen. 00:40:24.359 --> 00:40:24.519 Amen.