WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.060 Father, we ask that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us as we read your word, as we think upon your word. 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:09.700 Father, we ask that you would lead us and guide us into all truth, 00:00:10.460 --> 00:00:17.000 that you would give us minds that are always inquiring to know you more, to know you better, 00:00:17.580 --> 00:00:25.000 and to be more completely and utterly open to you and your rule and your saving and healing power in our lives. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:29.320 And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:31.179 Please be seated. 00:00:35.859 --> 00:00:41.439 So, I don't know how carefully you were listening as John read the text, 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:45.560 but is the Bible encouraging us to demonize people? 00:00:46.359 --> 00:00:50.439 Is the Bible encouraging us to demonize people? 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:57.600 So, first of all, some of you, if you're a guest here, you might wonder, why on earth is George even talking about that? 00:00:58.160 --> 00:01:02.219 It'll become a little bit clearer as we go on, but we are an unusual church. 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:05.480 We're not the only church in the city who does this, but we're an unusual church, 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:11.400 in that what we do is we read and preach through whole books of the Bible or big chunks of the Bible. 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:17.000 And the main reason that we do this, by the way, is because the Bible was written as books. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:23.040 It's not written as a series of quotes that you can just sort of pick and choose some different quotes that you'll look at this week. 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:28.379 It's not like the Koran, which is just a series of independent little thoughts. 00:01:28.739 --> 00:01:31.939 You don't have to know anything about the context if you read the Koran. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:34.140 Every thought just sort of stands on its own. 00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:38.079 But the Bible was written as the New Testament is 27 different books. 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:44.340 Paul began at what is now chapter 1, verse 1, and he went through till the end of chapter 13. 00:01:44.900 --> 00:01:46.460 And so it's a natural way to read things. 00:01:46.579 --> 00:01:51.920 And the second thing is that it helps to protect us as a congregation and those who are guests 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:57.180 and are maybe seeking and searching to understand that we're not just trying to hide fine print from you 00:01:57.180 --> 00:02:00.680 or the awkward or uncomfortable parts from the Bible. 00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:07.360 And I don't sort of, I'm not picking on people or it's not like I have a hobby horse when we talk about particular things. 00:02:07.720 --> 00:02:12.920 Whatever the Bible talks about next in that book of the Bible, that's what we talk about. 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:16.760 And today it seems to talk about demonizing people. 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:19.159 And that's a big human problem. 00:02:19.780 --> 00:02:23.719 And we're going to look, does the Bible encourage us to demonize? 00:02:25.300 --> 00:02:28.219 I was speaking on Parliament Hill on Friday. 00:02:28.219 --> 00:02:34.379 I had the great privilege to speak to some of the staffers on Parliament Hill on Friday at lunchtime. 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:37.319 And so I gave them a rough draft of this sermon. 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:43.039 And I began by saying, I know that in Parliament Hill something like this never happens. 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:48.860 So you're really going to have to imagine what it's like to have to struggle with demonizing people who differ from you. 00:02:49.579 --> 00:02:53.979 And of course they all laugh because that's exactly what they have to deal with all the time. 00:02:53.979 --> 00:02:55.759 It's a very, very big human problem. 00:02:56.340 --> 00:02:58.799 And it isn't helped if the Bible encourages us. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:04.759 So first, you might even think, boy, did John say that in the text when John was reading the Bible? 00:03:04.959 --> 00:03:07.179 Let's just look at the text and see what it says. 00:03:07.939 --> 00:03:12.060 And then as we continue to go more deeply into the text, we'll just try to understand, 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:16.079 is the Bible encouraging us to demonize those who differ with us? 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:23.220 So it's 2 Corinthians chapter 11, and we're going to begin with verse 1 of chapter 11, right down to verse 15. 00:03:23.940 --> 00:03:29.700 And if you weren't here last week or you don't remember, what happened just before this 00:03:29.700 --> 00:03:34.860 is that Paul, the Bible reminds people that they're jars of clay. 00:03:35.640 --> 00:03:42.340 And that what matters and what is important and what is powerful isn't us because we're jars of clay, 00:03:42.340 --> 00:03:45.280 but it's the message, God's message that we share. 00:03:45.379 --> 00:03:48.480 It's the message which is powerful, not the messenger. 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:55.159 It doesn't matter if you're a PhD or a bishop or anything like that. 00:03:55.159 --> 00:03:58.500 It's the message, God's message, which is powerful, not the individual. 00:03:59.219 --> 00:04:04.800 And so it's always unwise to compare yourself to others and commend yourself 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:09.300 because what really matters is God using you and saying well done. 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:14.280 And that's what happens just before this, and then he continues on in verse 1. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:18.259 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:24.040 Do bear with me, for I feel a divine jealousy for you. 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:29.960 And in a moment, later on in the service, we're going to put this verse up on the screen. 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:32.759 In the original language, what he's actually saying is, 00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:35.580 I feel God's jealousy for you. 00:04:36.180 --> 00:04:37.879 And jealousy is a bit of an odd word. 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:43.319 It can also be translated as zeal, like great passion and concern. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:48.379 And that's also a proper way to understand the text. 00:04:49.019 --> 00:04:51.459 And it's that God has this great zeal. 00:04:51.899 --> 00:04:56.199 He's zealous for you, and Paul is feeling a little bit of this. 00:04:56.860 --> 00:04:57.980 God's zeal for them. 00:04:58.120 --> 00:04:59.740 He's feeling a little bit of it himself. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:01.740 So it's saying in the original language. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:02.480 So I'll say that again. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:11.640 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 00:05:12.580 --> 00:05:17.600 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, 00:05:18.400 --> 00:05:23.900 your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 00:05:23.899 --> 00:05:31.239 You might remember that it's from Genesis 3, that the big question that the serpent asked Eve is, 00:05:31.419 --> 00:05:32.560 did God really say? 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:35.439 Did God really say? 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:43.259 And that's a good question if somebody's misquoting the Bible. 00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:53.279 But if, in fact, you say this to try to twist the scriptures or obscure the scriptures or take people away from even thinking about that, 00:05:53.339 --> 00:05:54.939 then it's not a very good question. 00:05:55.079 --> 00:05:57.100 And, in fact, it was ruinous for Eve. 00:05:57.100 --> 00:05:58.460 Verse 4. 00:05:59.500 --> 00:06:04.939 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, 00:06:05.460 --> 00:06:09.379 or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, 00:06:09.460 --> 00:06:14.340 and note that if you have Bibles and you're following along, the word spirit here is in lowercase. 00:06:14.420 --> 00:06:18.220 In other words, it's not that God has seven different types of Holy Spirits. 00:06:18.280 --> 00:06:22.600 He has a Holy Spirit for, I don't know, heterosexuals and a different Holy Spirit for gay people 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:25.580 and another one for people from Africa and another one from... 00:06:25.579 --> 00:06:27.159 No, no, no, there's only one Holy Spirit. 00:06:28.599 --> 00:06:30.399 And so you can't receive... 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:32.819 You either receive the Holy Spirit or some other type of spirit. 00:06:33.219 --> 00:06:35.259 And that's what's being said here. 00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:38.800 We'll say verse 4 again. 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:42.979 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:45.819 or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:49.579 or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, 00:06:50.019 --> 00:06:51.959 you put up with it readily enough. 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:58.039 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super apostles. 00:06:59.060 --> 00:07:02.959 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge. 00:07:03.139 --> 00:07:05.939 Indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. 00:07:05.979 --> 00:07:09.259 And just sort of pause here, because you might wonder what's going on about super apostles. 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:18.479 There's a letter that comes from about, I think it's about 60 or 70 years after the death of Paul. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:24.160 And it was written by a man who claimed to know a man who knew a man who knew Paul. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:27.500 So, you know, you can't take this to the bank. 00:07:27.620 --> 00:07:31.100 But in this, there was a bit of a description as to what Paul looked like. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:36.960 And Paul is described as having very bushy eyebrows with no gap between them. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:48.799 He had bulging eyes, close set in his head, a very prominent nose, a bit of a pot belly, short of stature, and bowed legs. 00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:54.019 He did not look like George Clooney or Brad Pitt. 00:07:54.679 --> 00:08:00.060 And so one of the things that Paul is dealing with as a problem is that there's been a group of people who've come into the church. 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:06.600 And, you know, just to put it in, like, modern language, they all look like George Clooney. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:12.959 And, you know, they all went to Oxford or Cambridge or Harvard or Princeton. 00:08:13.620 --> 00:08:15.399 And they knew how to dress well. 00:08:15.660 --> 00:08:19.840 And they knew how to, they'd all taken the top-level speaking abilities. 00:08:20.600 --> 00:08:22.420 And, you know, they knew how to dress. 00:08:22.579 --> 00:08:25.279 They knew how to, they're just culturally very smooth. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:31.059 They had a forceful personality, but not so forceful that it was obnoxious, but just forceful enough that you were drawn to it. 00:08:31.679 --> 00:08:41.539 And they were just really culturally more attuned and superior to Paul, who just looked like a little bow-legged hick compared to them. 00:08:42.819 --> 00:08:45.879 And, you know, let's just be honest, you know. 00:08:46.100 --> 00:08:52.360 We're drawn to people who just are very, very smooth and culturally sophisticated, but not in an obnoxious way. 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:53.919 And we're drawn to that. 00:08:54.019 --> 00:09:02.039 And these people had come in, some of these people had come into the congregation, and they're teaching about a different Jesus, a different gospel. 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:05.320 Basically, it's something that sounds like the same religion, but it's very different. 00:09:05.800 --> 00:09:07.220 And they're drawing people away. 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:17.039 And Paul here, he just acknowledges that, listen, you put me up beside George Clooney or Brad Pitt, I'm going to lose every time in the looks and smoothness department. 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:19.060 But then he says, it doesn't mean I'm a dummy. 00:09:20.379 --> 00:09:21.639 It doesn't mean I'm a dummy. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:25.659 And that's what's going on here. 00:09:25.700 --> 00:09:26.680 And then look at verse 7. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:36.800 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge? 00:09:36.800 --> 00:09:43.300 In the original language, this is one of four, I think it's just four places in the New Testament where Paul plays a little bit of a thing of word. 00:09:43.419 --> 00:09:50.180 It literally, if you were to translate it literally, he'd say, because I gospeled God's gospel to you free of charge. 00:09:50.179 --> 00:09:52.120 He uses gospel as a verb. 00:09:52.239 --> 00:09:54.500 I gospeled God's gospel to you. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:58.120 And what he's talking about humbling himself and all here is there's this other thing. 00:09:58.219 --> 00:10:01.259 He had this, I've been a pastor now for a long time. 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:18.919 And I think there's been maybe three times in my ministry where a person, in every case it happened to be a man, who had significant means, took me aside and basically said, unless I change what I was preaching or what the church was doing, he was going to take the money away from me. 00:10:19.299 --> 00:10:19.879 The church. 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:49.860 He's going to take the money away from me. 00:10:49.860 --> 00:10:53.860 Because this church has existed for about six years now. 00:10:54.019 --> 00:11:00.519 He was the one who was, that God used him and his team to bring people in Corinth to a faith in Jesus. 00:11:01.419 --> 00:11:05.019 Several of them came out of Judaism, but most of them came out of paganism. 00:11:05.899 --> 00:11:14.200 And, but Paul had a sense for some reason when he came there that he should never accept any money from any of the people in Corinth. 00:11:14.780 --> 00:11:15.860 Like not a penny. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.080 They didn't have pennies back then, but whatever the smallest unit of money was. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:19.600 Not a penny. 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:21.259 He just had this sense. 00:11:21.680 --> 00:11:24.740 Because, you know, the fact of the matter is, is in the world, what is that saying? 00:11:25.040 --> 00:11:27.759 He who pays the piper calls the tune. 00:11:28.020 --> 00:11:28.180 Right? 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:33.240 If you're paying the musician, you can ask the musician to play whatever you want. 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:48.899 And he just had this sense maybe that in Corinth, there were a lot of people who were coming to faith who had financial means that were going to try to use their power, their money power, or their, you know, that they had big groups of people who'd follow them. 00:11:48.940 --> 00:11:51.100 And they were going to try to use that to try to manipulate Paul. 00:11:51.100 --> 00:11:54.940 So Paul had this sense in his spirit that he was to humble himself. 00:11:55.080 --> 00:12:01.120 And so what he did is he engaged in manual labor to support himself while he shared the good news of Jesus. 00:12:01.659 --> 00:12:06.060 And what he did is he took very manual labor because that was something that he knew. 00:12:06.340 --> 00:12:14.480 So it would be a little bit like if you or me were going to go and try to plant a church in Rockcliffe and to support ourselves, we worked as garbage men. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:18.620 And that probably wouldn't impress people in Rockcliffe. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:23.300 But somehow or another, many people in Corinth became Christians. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:26.539 Paul continued to do manual labor. 00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:35.320 And one of the things that these culturally smooth people were doing when they were coming in is now started to say, you know, are you sure? 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:37.899 Are you sure that Paul's like a real apostle? 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:43.940 Like, come on, you know, like in our example, you know, if somebody says they're a lawyer and they're going to help you out, 00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:49.140 well, they like to get paid, like if somebody says they're a doctor and they're helping you out and they never get paid from anybody, 00:12:49.260 --> 00:12:50.780 well, come on, are they really a doctor? 00:12:50.900 --> 00:12:52.280 Are they just some sort of hack, you know? 00:12:52.860 --> 00:13:01.480 And so these very smooth, well-educated, well-connected people are undermining Paul. 00:13:02.520 --> 00:13:10.840 But Paul, in his spirit, even more so can feel that if he starts to accept money from them, 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:19.180 they are going to want to start to try to think that they can pull him around like he's a, you know, a dog on a chain and move him around. 00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:20.120 So that's what's going on in the letter. 00:13:20.180 --> 00:13:23.120 Let's just continue and we'll get down to this part about the demonizing. 00:13:23.879 --> 00:13:24.980 Read verse 7 again. 00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:32.519 Where did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I preached God's gospel? 00:13:32.680 --> 00:13:35.560 I gospelled God's gospel to you free of charge. 00:13:36.220 --> 00:13:40.000 I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:47.899 And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. 00:13:47.899 --> 00:13:52.439 So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. 00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:58.480 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. 00:13:58.819 --> 00:14:03.720 He's boasting not in himself, but in the fact that God's provision, God's gospel, that's what he boasts in. 00:14:03.819 --> 00:14:06.059 God's revelation, that's what he boasts in, not in himself. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:06.620 And why? 00:14:07.199 --> 00:14:08.199 Because I do not love you. 00:14:08.299 --> 00:14:09.620 God knows I love you. 00:14:09.620 --> 00:14:20.379 And what I am doing, I will continue to do in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission, they work on the same terms as we do. 00:14:20.580 --> 00:14:23.659 For such men, and here's the part about demonizing. 00:14:25.019 --> 00:14:34.820 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 00:14:34.820 --> 00:14:41.820 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 00:14:42.780 --> 00:14:48.620 So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. 00:14:49.460 --> 00:14:51.920 Their end will correspond to their deeds. 00:14:53.100 --> 00:14:59.100 And here Paul isn't claiming, you know, that every night behind closed doors they get down and invoke Satan. 00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:10.820 He's just claiming that just as the serpent ended up leading Eve away from God, in whatever way they're following, 00:15:10.980 --> 00:15:18.540 if it's just trying to make Jesus more compatible to religious Jews, whether he's making it more compatible to those who go to pagan temples, 00:15:19.060 --> 00:15:26.960 whether they're trying to make Jesus more compatible and palatable to Platonic thought or Stoic thought or Aristotle, 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:35.420 that whatever it is that they think they're doing to improve Jesus and improve the gospel and improve the emotional experience of the people, 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:39.720 whatever it is that they think they're doing to help them, the fact of the matter is, 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:46.120 is that in fact they're doing just what the devil ultimately wants, which is to lead people away from Jesus. 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:49.279 So is this demonizing? 00:15:50.740 --> 00:15:58.159 And is the Bible here encouraging us on a path to disagree, to call people of the devil if they disagree with us? 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:02.519 When I was, just after I became a Christian, I attended a church for a short period of time. 00:16:03.340 --> 00:16:11.100 And because I'm old, this was a long time ago, and the charismatic renewal had just come into the Ottawa area in a very powerful way. 00:16:11.100 --> 00:16:20.379 And the church I attended, they couldn't get in their doctrinal statement of faith this because of some technicality. 00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:26.320 So right behind, after their statement of faith, they put in a statement that tongue speaking is of the devil. 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:31.200 Tongue speaking and those who promote it are of the devil. 00:16:31.940 --> 00:16:35.379 It was one of several reasons why I left the church. 00:16:36.060 --> 00:16:37.399 Just a bit of a time out here. 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:38.959 I'm not going to talk about this very much. 00:16:39.059 --> 00:16:39.419 You know what? 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:44.860 If God, if God, I don't know, God's holding the universe. 00:16:45.779 --> 00:16:47.659 He's making suns and stars. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:49.319 He gives the gift of speech. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:50.340 Like what? 00:16:50.620 --> 00:16:54.059 This is like my pay grade to tell God he can't have somebody speak in tongues? 00:16:54.319 --> 00:16:55.299 I mean, it's in the New Testament. 00:16:55.480 --> 00:16:56.759 Come on, guys. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:58.620 You know what God wants to do, he's going to do it, you know? 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:01.879 I just, I didn't get it then. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:02.860 I don't get it now. 00:17:02.860 --> 00:17:09.039 No, it was just, it was demonizing is what it was in the bad sense. 00:17:09.099 --> 00:17:10.319 But is this what Paul's doing here? 00:17:11.099 --> 00:17:12.360 So how do we sort of get it? 00:17:12.420 --> 00:17:19.640 Well, the way to begin to understand this text and why it's not demonizing and why it's not at all this huge process that we're all very familiar with. 00:17:19.860 --> 00:17:24.299 In this same church just before I left it, they used to have prophecy conferences all the time. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:25.740 I don't know if churches still do that. 00:17:25.819 --> 00:17:26.460 We don't do it. 00:17:26.460 --> 00:17:32.180 And this was in the late 70s, mid to late 70s. 00:17:32.360 --> 00:17:40.200 And if you went back in a time machine to churches back then, on Sunday morning, everybody dressed up in jackets and shirts and ties. 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:45.480 And everybody had like the same type of very conservative haircut. 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:49.440 And at the time, I had, my hair was down to here. 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:54.460 And I wore jeans and like a plaid shirt. 00:17:54.460 --> 00:17:58.740 And so if you came into this church, there were like 100, I don't know, 150, 180 people there. 00:17:59.460 --> 00:18:03.240 And, you know, let's say there was 180 and 179 of them all looked the same. 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:04.200 And then there was me. 00:18:05.299 --> 00:18:14.059 And so this guy in the prophecy conference, he had a, he had the, you know, this is really old stuff, you know. 00:18:14.120 --> 00:18:20.480 But there used to be these things you could write on plastic and there'd be an overhead picture that you could sort of see overheads. 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:22.000 And he was a bit of an artist. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:23.859 He would draw as he was talking. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:25.960 And he got talking about the Antichrist. 00:18:26.539 --> 00:18:30.660 He looked around the room and he said, let's make him a hippie. 00:18:32.420 --> 00:18:35.900 Oh, 179 people with conservative haircuts. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.039 All look like young Republicans. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:42.119 And me, let's make the Antichrist a hippie. 00:18:42.380 --> 00:18:44.900 I mean, that's how you make people feel really welcome. 00:18:44.900 --> 00:18:51.660 Anyway, that was another reason why I left that church a little bit after, you know. 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:55.140 Being the model for the Antichrist, you know. 00:18:56.340 --> 00:18:57.160 There you go. 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:00.880 I mean, maybe that's one of the things that's different about me than the rest of you. 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:05.800 Maybe you've never been used as a model for the Antichrist in a public sermon. 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:09.240 Anyway, so is Paul encouraging this? 00:19:09.259 --> 00:19:10.359 Is that what's going on in the text? 00:19:10.460 --> 00:19:18.879 Okay, the key to understanding this entire text and the key to understanding a lot of what's going on in the entire 2 Corinthians is in verse 2. 00:19:19.879 --> 00:19:24.339 Okay, verse 2 is a big image that Paul gives. 00:19:24.339 --> 00:19:32.199 And if you understand this image in verse 2, then you'll understand what's going on in the entire text. 00:19:32.299 --> 00:19:33.959 And if you could just put verse 2 up. 00:19:35.399 --> 00:19:41.359 And just to, you know, to be honest with you, what I've done is I've taken one of the academic commentaries that I read. 00:19:41.459 --> 00:19:46.319 I've taken how they translated the first part of verse 2 and then the last part of it is just from the ESV. 00:19:46.419 --> 00:19:49.579 This isn't to get around any complicated stuff or anything like that. 00:19:49.659 --> 00:19:52.859 It's just, it's, and if you could, why don't you read it out loud with me? 00:19:52.859 --> 00:20:04.699 For I am zealous for you with God's own zeal, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 00:20:05.099 --> 00:20:08.479 So notice the key thing here is the second part of the verse. 00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:14.359 This very, very, very powerful image of what it means to come to faith in Jesus Christ. 00:20:15.819 --> 00:20:18.159 Okay, it's not joining a denomination. 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:21.579 It's not taking upon yourself a particular philosophy. 00:20:21.579 --> 00:20:24.519 It's not learning how to dress a certain way. 00:20:24.639 --> 00:20:26.119 It's not learning certain rituals. 00:20:26.439 --> 00:20:29.720 It's not coming to certain political beliefs or beliefs about music. 00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:36.399 It's not coming to a certain set of beliefs about how economy should work or psychology should work or social work should work. 00:20:36.879 --> 00:20:42.939 It's not coming down to an acceptance of a particular guru or anything like that or sect or party. 00:20:43.619 --> 00:20:46.159 Paul gives this very, very powerful image. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:51.660 I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 00:20:51.660 --> 00:20:58.740 And as well as that, just to understand, if this was being translated by Irish people, they have a plural for you. 00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:07.140 And they would say, I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:07.720 It's plural. 00:21:08.460 --> 00:21:11.380 But it's plural in a sense of it's involving everybody. 00:21:11.380 --> 00:21:15.340 So it's both an individual reality and a corporate reality. 00:21:15.620 --> 00:21:17.020 And it's a very, very powerful image. 00:21:17.100 --> 00:21:18.580 And here's the first thing about this. 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:24.900 I'm going to give you three points sort of close to each other to try to unpack this single big idea in the text. 00:21:24.980 --> 00:21:26.860 Help you to understand this one thing. 00:21:27.340 --> 00:21:28.220 First of all, if you could put it up. 00:21:28.300 --> 00:21:31.320 The Christian faith centers around a real person. 00:21:31.319 --> 00:21:36.919 The Christian faith centers around a real person. 00:21:37.619 --> 00:21:38.019 Jesus. 00:21:39.339 --> 00:21:41.059 Messiah, Savior, and Lord. 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:47.139 Imagine for a second that you're the parent and there's a 10-year-old girl. 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:48.299 Let's call her Annie. 00:21:49.220 --> 00:21:58.259 And Annie, she invites one day, she invites Christine, another girl, to come over to play at her house. 00:21:58.339 --> 00:22:00.059 Maybe to have a tea party with her and her mom. 00:22:00.059 --> 00:22:03.519 And Christine says to Annie, I'm not going over to your house. 00:22:05.099 --> 00:22:07.539 And Annie says, well, why aren't you going to come over to my house? 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:10.099 And Christine says, well, because your mommy's really mean. 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:11.940 Like, you know what? 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:16.220 Your mommy, when she makes raisin cookies, they're not raisins. 00:22:16.460 --> 00:22:17.460 They're flies. 00:22:17.720 --> 00:22:20.179 They're dead flies that look like raisins. 00:22:20.299 --> 00:22:22.220 That's what she puts in her cookies. 00:22:22.639 --> 00:22:24.960 And she twists people's ears. 00:22:25.099 --> 00:22:26.639 And she's really mean. 00:22:26.919 --> 00:22:28.799 And she hurts people. 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:32.579 And I'm not going to go to your house to play with you with your mommy. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:37.460 And Annie would say, that's not what my mommy does. 00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:41.379 She doesn't put dead flies in the cookies instead of raisins. 00:22:41.379 --> 00:22:42.960 And she's not really mean. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:44.579 She's really nice. 00:22:44.899 --> 00:22:46.200 Why are you saying that? 00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:52.240 And Christine says, well, Priscilla, she's the smartest girl in the class. 00:22:52.660 --> 00:22:55.840 And she's the best athlete and the best artist. 00:22:56.019 --> 00:22:58.120 And that's what she says about your mommy. 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:02.360 And Annie would say, but none of that's true. 00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:14.099 You see, in Canada, we tend to just think of religion and spirituality as just being something private, just something emotional, and just something spiritual. 00:23:14.099 --> 00:23:18.959 Well, at the heart of what Paul is talking about here is Paul's talking about a real person. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:24.920 You know, so this isn't like when I was doing my first degree. 00:23:24.920 --> 00:23:29.759 Basically, every one of my professors in the sociology faculty were Marxists. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:36.320 And they would regularly snipe at each other about what's real Marxism. 00:23:37.140 --> 00:23:43.000 And they would snipe at each other about whether they were following the young Marx or the old Marx or something like that. 00:23:43.080 --> 00:23:45.840 And then they would get into these complicated historical things. 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:49.919 I mean, you know, it's just like back, I don't know if they have them very much nowadays. 00:23:50.179 --> 00:23:53.819 I remember there's a, I was watching the pro-life demonstration. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:57.099 There were a whole pile of communists demonstrating against them. 00:23:57.159 --> 00:23:59.000 And I said to the person beside me, communist? 00:23:59.159 --> 00:24:00.379 Like, who's a communist anymore? 00:24:01.259 --> 00:24:02.759 And they said, yeah, you're right. 00:24:02.879 --> 00:24:03.299 Like, who's a communist? 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:05.839 Anyway, there used to be lots of them in university campuses. 00:24:06.619 --> 00:24:09.319 And, you know, the Trotskyites hated the Marxists. 00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:13.279 And, you know, and they hated the, you know, the Maoists. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:16.920 And, you know, they'd say horrible things about each other. 00:24:18.119 --> 00:24:20.720 But, you know, it's all just about philosophy. 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:25.200 It's all just about, you know, a theory about how economies work and how history is developing. 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:26.660 It's just theories. 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:28.960 And people get all hot about it. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:30.599 They can get really angry about it. 00:24:30.639 --> 00:24:31.940 And it's just all about ideas. 00:24:32.099 --> 00:24:32.980 It's about their party. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:33.920 It's about their group. 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:34.920 It's about their sect. 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:36.259 It's about having control. 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:41.559 But what Paul is wanting to say here is, listen, it's just like Annie talking about her mom. 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:43.960 That's not my mom. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:46.179 Listen, I don't have 10 moms. 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:47.139 I don't have 20 moms. 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:48.299 I just have one mom. 00:24:48.399 --> 00:24:49.519 And that's not my mommy. 00:24:51.259 --> 00:25:03.779 And so you can't have an apostle, somebody who claims they're a super apostle, who's talking about a different Jesus than the Jesus that Paul knows, that he's met, that he's seen on the Damascus Road, 00:25:03.779 --> 00:25:09.879 and that he's checked his understanding of Jesus with all of the other people who knew Jesus face to face. 00:25:10.119 --> 00:25:13.579 And he's saying, listen, I'm not telling you that there's not depths to Jesus. 00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:16.399 I'm not saying that there's not intricacies about Jesus. 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:19.299 I'm not just I'm not saying there's not subtleties about Jesus. 00:25:19.299 --> 00:25:23.859 But what I'm going to tell you is what they're talking about isn't Jesus. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:25.960 He just isn't. 00:25:27.220 --> 00:25:28.839 It's just not Jesus. 00:25:28.839 --> 00:25:49.579 And you can't just sort of pretend that Jesus somehow he's really like a Platonist or that somehow Jesus is just like a Pharisee or that somehow Jesus is just like a Stoic or that somehow Jesus isn't just like a Marxist or he isn't like a like a white South African. 00:25:49.579 --> 00:26:02.639 Or he's not like somebody he's not like a person who wants to build colonialism or he's not somebody who who's completely and utterly into post-colonialist thought and that Jesus is some type of an early form of post-colonialist thinker. 00:26:03.059 --> 00:26:03.319 Jesus. 00:26:03.939 --> 00:26:05.220 There's just Jesus. 00:26:10.119 --> 00:26:14.439 When I first came to the church, there was a bit of a thing in some of the papers about people. 00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:19.519 I think it was for single women in particular that part of the way they would protect themselves. 00:26:20.080 --> 00:26:21.799 It was a little bit of a flurry. 00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:26.220 I don't know if it was in Ottawa, but it was in the papers in the in the mid 90s. 00:26:26.820 --> 00:26:28.080 And so they'd have pictures. 00:26:28.180 --> 00:26:32.380 They would pretend they had a boyfriend or a husband or something to make it look like there was a man in the house. 00:26:32.820 --> 00:26:37.180 So there was this woman and I went to I went to visit her on a regular basis. 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:39.559 She had her mom living with her. 00:26:40.279 --> 00:26:43.120 And and I would go and bring communion to the mom. 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:48.479 And this the woman who came to the church, she only came to the eight o'clock service, the early service. 00:26:48.939 --> 00:26:50.799 She didn't know any of the other people in the congregation. 00:26:50.899 --> 00:26:53.959 She started coming about six months after I'd arrived to the church. 00:26:54.619 --> 00:26:56.299 And she always came by herself. 00:26:56.399 --> 00:26:57.799 She didn't know anybody else in the congregation. 00:26:57.799 --> 00:27:00.079 I would go and visit there and she would talk about her husband. 00:27:00.139 --> 00:27:01.099 But I never met her husband. 00:27:02.500 --> 00:27:05.039 Like she came to the church for like four years and then she moved. 00:27:05.099 --> 00:27:06.219 I never met her husband once. 00:27:06.339 --> 00:27:10.119 And I remember after I'd been doing this for a couple of years, my wife says to me, are you sure she has a husband? 00:27:10.119 --> 00:27:17.899 You know, like there's been these things in the paper about people have the pictures, you know, of the boyfriend or the husband to make people think. 00:27:18.139 --> 00:27:21.159 But George, you actually like how do you know she has a husband? 00:27:24.539 --> 00:27:26.079 And so here's the thing. 00:27:26.159 --> 00:27:26.879 Here's the second thing. 00:27:26.939 --> 00:27:33.619 If the first point is that the Christian faith centers around a real person, Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior and the Lord. 00:27:33.619 --> 00:27:40.159 If you could put up the next point, the Christian faith centers around a real relationship with a real person. 00:27:40.659 --> 00:27:44.359 The Christian faith centers around a real relationship with a real person. 00:27:44.479 --> 00:27:45.779 Listen again to verse two. 00:27:47.479 --> 00:27:49.000 We'll just say the second half. 00:27:49.139 --> 00:27:55.559 I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 00:27:55.559 --> 00:28:03.659 I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 00:28:05.259 --> 00:28:11.220 It's a very, very powerful image. 00:28:11.799 --> 00:28:16.980 If you come to church over Christmas season, and it doesn't matter if it's this church or just about any church, 00:28:17.059 --> 00:28:23.359 and when they talk about Matthew and Luke, one of the things they'll try to explain to you is the strange status of Mary. 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:30.379 Because at the time of the New Testament, they had this sort of, there's two stages of betrothal and marriage. 00:28:30.719 --> 00:28:32.939 And they're not like having a fiance today now. 00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:34.459 It's a different type of thing. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:40.379 And at the time, when you became betrothed to someone, you actually went through a ceremony. 00:28:40.740 --> 00:28:42.639 And there was like vows exchanged. 00:28:43.459 --> 00:28:45.859 And it was very, very solemn. 00:28:45.859 --> 00:28:54.059 And even though you still lived in separate houses, and even though you didn't share the same bed or have like just, in a sense, one financial purse, 00:28:54.579 --> 00:29:02.740 it was a very solemn commitment of a relationship that was going to culminate, unless death happened, it was going to culminate in marriage. 00:29:03.159 --> 00:29:05.519 And it was a season of being betrothed to the other person. 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:16.160 And as people will talk with Mary and Joseph, that when Mary was betrothed to Joseph, and it was after that that the angel came and asked Mary if she was willing to be open to God. 00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:17.359 And then she said yes. 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:24.319 And God does a miracle so that a fertilized egg is created in the womb of Mary and attaches itself to her. 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:26.160 And that's going to be Jesus, the Messiah. 00:29:26.259 --> 00:29:27.680 It's a miracle done by God. 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:37.360 And of course, in the angel world, when you were betrothed, if something like marital unfaithfulness happened, you literally had to be divorced, even though you weren't married. 00:29:38.360 --> 00:29:42.039 And so what Paul is saying here, he's using this very powerful image. 00:29:42.460 --> 00:29:48.920 He's saying, you know, when you came to know of Jesus, and when you came to hear about what he did for you on the cross, 00:29:48.920 --> 00:30:01.100 and when you hear that he took upon himself everything that estranges you from God, every obligation and debt and wrong thing you've done to another person in God, 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:09.259 and the punishment that was due for that, and he took every single thing upon himself that keeps you far from God and far from others, 00:30:09.259 --> 00:30:13.900 every shame, every claim that anybody, he takes it all upon himself. 00:30:14.019 --> 00:30:18.039 In a sense, he takes his doom upon himself as he dies upon the cross. 00:30:18.039 --> 00:30:20.079 And he deals with that on your behalf. 00:30:20.379 --> 00:30:25.099 And in exchange, he takes your doom and he offers you his destiny. 00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:29.139 And that this is what Jesus really does for us on the cross. 00:30:29.180 --> 00:30:32.519 And it's vindicated when he rises from the dead on the third day. 00:30:32.619 --> 00:30:37.180 And so that when you're, in a sense, reaching out your hands to Jesus and saying, 00:30:37.180 --> 00:30:39.099 Jesus, will you be my savior and my Lord? 00:30:39.159 --> 00:30:46.539 It isn't that your arms are long enough to reach Jesus, but that Jesus's arms are long enough to reach you and want to reach you. 00:30:46.539 --> 00:30:50.619 And it isn't even as if you have to have a full, complete and utter surrender to it, 00:30:50.639 --> 00:30:53.379 because some of you might be sort of just putting your hands a little bit like this. 00:30:53.460 --> 00:30:56.299 In fact, it might be that one of your hands are like this or just like this. 00:30:56.639 --> 00:31:01.980 And it's not about how firm your desire is and how powerful and assured your desire is. 00:31:02.200 --> 00:31:04.619 It's that Jesus wants to take your hands. 00:31:04.940 --> 00:31:10.139 And at the least sign that you want to give yourself to him, his arm is long enough to reach you. 00:31:10.140 --> 00:31:15.060 And it's not that your grip is so steadfast that you never let him go, that you never have any doubts, 00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:20.140 that you never have any questions, that you never do anything which just makes you feel deeply and utterly ashamed. 00:31:20.340 --> 00:31:22.220 It's not at all about your grip. 00:31:22.560 --> 00:31:27.100 It's that his grip is strong enough to hold on and never let you go. 00:31:27.880 --> 00:31:33.160 And rather than just using this imagery of that type of relationship of grabbing you, 00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:38.900 he's also saying it's almost as if that when you've given your life to Jesus and he takes you as his child, 00:31:39.420 --> 00:31:42.920 you become betrothed to him. 00:31:45.900 --> 00:31:52.220 It is as if you are a bride and he is your betrothed husband. 00:31:54.140 --> 00:32:00.240 And when Jesus comes a second time or when you die before that day and see him face to face, 00:32:00.460 --> 00:32:01.779 that's your marriage. 00:32:03.160 --> 00:32:05.500 That's your marriage. 00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:14.519 And so you're not just some unimportant, 00:32:16.660 --> 00:32:19.960 maybe not culturally very sophisticated, 00:32:20.460 --> 00:32:21.880 not always full of faith, 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:25.420 not always full of, you know, perfect thoughts, 00:32:25.700 --> 00:32:29.200 not all full of, it's not, you know, it's not, 00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:33.640 Jesus has become your betrothed husband. 00:32:33.640 --> 00:32:38.780 And that relationship will not come to an end. 00:32:39.300 --> 00:32:41.580 In fact, it will only culminate in marriage. 00:32:43.040 --> 00:32:46.060 And so the Bible is saying is that the gospel leaves, 00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:47.180 the faith, the faith, 00:32:47.259 --> 00:32:51.440 the Christian faith centers around a real relationship with a real person. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:53.900 And some of you might say, 00:32:53.980 --> 00:32:56.720 George, you know, this language of pure virgin, 00:32:56.840 --> 00:32:58.160 it's very, very complicated. 00:32:58.380 --> 00:33:00.720 Boy, if you knew who I was, 00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:04.180 pure virgin would not be the word that would come to your mind. 00:33:04.180 --> 00:33:07.440 If you knew the things that I've done. 00:33:07.980 --> 00:33:08.580 In fact, George, 00:33:08.620 --> 00:33:11.080 if you even knew the things I think this week, 00:33:11.160 --> 00:33:13.799 the things I think even just a few minutes ago in the service, 00:33:14.279 --> 00:33:16.019 if you knew the different things, 00:33:16.100 --> 00:33:16.880 if you knew, George, 00:33:16.940 --> 00:33:18.279 how proud I can be, 00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:20.820 and then how full of despair I can be, 00:33:20.900 --> 00:33:23.100 if you knew the things I said about other people, 00:33:23.620 --> 00:33:24.320 then, George, 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:25.299 you would not, 00:33:25.379 --> 00:33:27.819 you would not ever think that this, 00:33:27.859 --> 00:33:29.159 this verse could never, 00:33:29.299 --> 00:33:29.579 ever, 00:33:29.700 --> 00:33:30.079 ever, 00:33:30.179 --> 00:33:32.200 ever possibly describe me. 00:33:33.039 --> 00:33:34.700 Some of you are Christians is thinking that. 00:33:34.779 --> 00:33:36.139 Maybe if you're here as a seeker, 00:33:36.179 --> 00:33:37.319 that's going through your mind, 00:33:37.740 --> 00:33:38.480 you might say, 00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:38.659 well, 00:33:38.679 --> 00:33:40.240 that's all right for these other people here. 00:33:40.299 --> 00:33:41.139 They look pretty good, 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:41.359 you know, 00:33:41.419 --> 00:33:42.319 but inside George, 00:33:42.379 --> 00:33:43.359 that is definitely, 00:33:43.619 --> 00:33:44.079 definitely, 00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:45.299 definitely not me. 00:33:47.419 --> 00:33:49.299 Let's listen to the text again. 00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:51.179 For I, 00:33:51.419 --> 00:33:53.319 in my version here, 00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:55.720 for I am zealous for you with God's own zeal, 00:33:56.299 --> 00:33:57.879 God's own zeal, 00:33:58.019 --> 00:34:02.939 since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin of Christ. 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:04.179 If you could wrap the third point, 00:34:05.179 --> 00:34:07.960 the Christian faith centers around a real person, 00:34:08.819 --> 00:34:11.199 and what he really has done, 00:34:11.940 --> 00:34:12.840 is doing, 00:34:13.179 --> 00:34:14.199 and will do, 00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:17.440 for ordinary people like you and me. 00:34:19.619 --> 00:34:20.420 You see, 00:34:20.420 --> 00:34:24.720 I don't make myself pure. 00:34:29.720 --> 00:34:30.280 And, 00:34:30.420 --> 00:34:33.980 you know, 00:34:34.059 --> 00:34:35.599 I can't say that I haven't, 00:34:35.680 --> 00:34:37.639 I've not given myself to idols, 00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:39.900 to pride, 00:34:40.200 --> 00:34:41.619 to idolizing myself. 00:34:41.619 --> 00:34:46.039 I can't say that I haven't told lies, 00:34:46.099 --> 00:34:47.000 or done very, 00:34:47.139 --> 00:34:48.139 very evil things, 00:34:48.259 --> 00:34:48.859 some of which, 00:34:48.960 --> 00:34:50.139 if I shared them to you, 00:34:50.139 --> 00:34:51.699 you folks would be very horrified. 00:34:54.079 --> 00:34:55.679 If I was to say those things, 00:34:55.719 --> 00:34:56.719 I would be a liar. 00:34:57.279 --> 00:34:59.699 If I was to say that somehow I was pure, 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:01.559 like a pure virgin, 00:35:01.859 --> 00:35:02.839 in and of myself, 00:35:02.920 --> 00:35:04.000 and by my accomplishments, 00:35:04.139 --> 00:35:05.079 I would be a liar. 00:35:05.559 --> 00:35:06.839 I would be a deceiver. 00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:11.079 I would be an arrogant bleepity bleep. 00:35:12.900 --> 00:35:14.539 And it would be even worse, 00:35:14.579 --> 00:35:17.059 if I somehow or another managed to convince you. 00:35:20.940 --> 00:35:24.480 It's Christ who makes me pure. 00:35:24.480 --> 00:35:27.400 It's Christ 00:35:27.400 --> 00:35:30.800 who makes me beautiful. 00:35:32.300 --> 00:35:33.480 It's Christ 00:35:33.480 --> 00:35:36.019 who has dealt 00:35:36.019 --> 00:35:38.340 with all the muck in my life. 00:35:40.019 --> 00:35:41.940 And no amount 00:35:41.940 --> 00:35:44.780 of accomplishments on my part 00:35:44.780 --> 00:35:46.099 can make me ever, 00:35:46.360 --> 00:35:47.840 even one iota, 00:35:47.980 --> 00:35:50.300 more beautiful than Christ has made me. 00:35:50.300 --> 00:35:52.800 And all of my striving 00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:53.960 and my accomplishments 00:35:53.960 --> 00:35:56.240 cannot make me more pure 00:35:56.240 --> 00:35:59.380 than Christ has made me. 00:36:01.200 --> 00:36:03.420 And this is the gospel message. 00:36:06.539 --> 00:36:08.600 Everything else is religion. 00:36:08.940 --> 00:36:09.760 It's advice. 00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:11.000 It's striving. 00:36:11.340 --> 00:36:12.360 It's rule keeping. 00:36:12.880 --> 00:36:14.280 It's subtly teaching you 00:36:14.280 --> 00:36:15.480 to boast in yourself. 00:36:16.940 --> 00:36:19.600 It's subtly making you 00:36:19.599 --> 00:36:20.619 hard in your heart. 00:36:21.400 --> 00:36:22.380 Like, what is it like 00:36:22.380 --> 00:36:23.920 if you're in the Hindu system 00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:25.059 and you're at the top 00:36:25.059 --> 00:36:25.960 of the social order 00:36:25.960 --> 00:36:27.779 and you really do believe 00:36:27.779 --> 00:36:29.900 that your excellency 00:36:29.900 --> 00:36:31.400 in your former lives 00:36:31.400 --> 00:36:33.519 and your excellency today 00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:34.400 somehow means 00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:35.199 you deserve 00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:36.699 to be rich 00:36:36.699 --> 00:36:37.339 and powerful 00:36:37.339 --> 00:36:38.099 and influential. 00:36:38.279 --> 00:36:39.559 You deserve that. 00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:41.539 How can that possibly 00:36:41.539 --> 00:36:43.059 not harden your heart 00:36:43.059 --> 00:36:43.839 against the poor 00:36:43.839 --> 00:36:44.400 and others 00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:45.900 and make you proud? 00:36:46.599 --> 00:36:47.460 And the gospel 00:36:47.460 --> 00:36:49.440 undercuts this 00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:50.539 time and time 00:36:50.539 --> 00:36:51.840 and time and time again. 00:36:52.039 --> 00:36:53.300 It's constantly trying 00:36:53.300 --> 00:36:54.720 to knock us off 00:36:54.720 --> 00:36:55.340 our pride 00:36:55.340 --> 00:36:56.320 and knock us off 00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:57.500 our self-justification 00:36:57.500 --> 00:36:59.059 and knock us off 00:36:59.059 --> 00:36:59.960 of our boasting 00:36:59.960 --> 00:37:01.500 and mock us 00:37:01.500 --> 00:37:02.500 and make us realize 00:37:02.500 --> 00:37:04.340 I am a jar of clay. 00:37:04.840 --> 00:37:06.500 I am not innately beautiful 00:37:06.500 --> 00:37:07.340 in and of myself 00:37:07.340 --> 00:37:08.360 because of my rebellion 00:37:08.360 --> 00:37:08.960 against God 00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:09.880 and I can never 00:37:09.880 --> 00:37:11.000 make myself beautiful. 00:37:11.139 --> 00:37:12.500 I can never make myself 00:37:12.500 --> 00:37:13.139 into those things. 00:37:13.260 --> 00:37:14.599 I am completely dependent 00:37:14.599 --> 00:37:15.960 upon the real person 00:37:15.960 --> 00:37:17.199 who really died 00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:18.119 upon the cross 00:37:18.119 --> 00:37:19.319 who really rose 00:37:19.319 --> 00:37:19.980 from the dead 00:37:19.980 --> 00:37:21.339 who really took 00:37:21.339 --> 00:37:22.739 upon himself 00:37:22.739 --> 00:37:23.839 my doom 00:37:23.839 --> 00:37:25.259 and really gives me 00:37:25.259 --> 00:37:25.960 his destiny 00:37:25.960 --> 00:37:27.259 and really makes me 00:37:27.259 --> 00:37:27.719 beautiful 00:37:27.719 --> 00:37:29.199 and really makes me 00:37:29.199 --> 00:37:29.940 his bride 00:37:29.940 --> 00:37:31.139 and will really 00:37:31.139 --> 00:37:31.900 one day 00:37:31.900 --> 00:37:32.559 in a sense 00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:32.980 be like 00:37:32.980 --> 00:37:33.440 it's like 00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:35.019 where it's an intimate 00:37:35.019 --> 00:37:35.579 relationship 00:37:35.579 --> 00:37:36.199 like a marriage 00:37:36.199 --> 00:37:37.079 for all of eternity. 00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:38.440 Only Christ 00:37:38.440 --> 00:37:39.440 can do that. 00:37:41.299 --> 00:37:42.339 No other. 00:37:44.599 --> 00:37:49.719 And all of church history 00:37:49.719 --> 00:37:50.460 has been filled 00:37:50.460 --> 00:37:51.059 with people 00:37:51.059 --> 00:37:51.579 who want to make 00:37:51.579 --> 00:37:52.579 Jesus more divine. 00:37:52.719 --> 00:37:53.119 They want to make 00:37:53.119 --> 00:37:53.839 him less divine. 00:37:53.940 --> 00:37:54.380 They want to make 00:37:54.380 --> 00:37:55.079 him more human. 00:37:55.199 --> 00:37:55.639 They want to make 00:37:55.639 --> 00:37:56.319 him less human. 00:37:56.619 --> 00:37:57.339 They want to make 00:37:57.339 --> 00:37:57.880 him palatable 00:37:57.880 --> 00:37:58.779 to Marxism. 00:37:58.860 --> 00:37:59.319 They want to make 00:37:59.319 --> 00:37:59.839 him palatable 00:37:59.839 --> 00:38:00.779 to Freudianism. 00:38:01.019 --> 00:38:01.639 They want to make 00:38:01.639 --> 00:38:02.199 him palatable 00:38:02.199 --> 00:38:03.239 to apartheid 00:38:03.239 --> 00:38:03.940 and white privilege. 00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:04.659 They want to make 00:38:04.659 --> 00:38:06.900 him palatable 00:38:06.900 --> 00:38:10.019 to anti-colonialist 00:38:10.019 --> 00:38:10.339 thought. 00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:10.920 They want to make 00:38:10.920 --> 00:38:11.739 him palatable 00:38:11.739 --> 00:38:12.839 to capitalism 00:38:12.839 --> 00:38:13.339 and they want 00:38:13.339 --> 00:38:13.759 to make him 00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:19.200 palatable to queer theory, and they want to make them palatable to transgender theory, 00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:25.760 and they want to make them palatable to Muslims, and they want to make them palatable to Asian 00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:28.600 thought, and they want to make them palatable to this, and they want to make them palatable 00:38:28.600 --> 00:38:33.800 that. And all of it it's doing is taking you away from the real Jesus who really died upon the cross, 00:38:33.800 --> 00:38:42.460 who relativizes all cultures, all philosophies, all isms, relativizes all of them with his once 00:38:42.460 --> 00:38:48.920 for all invasion of our world to seek and save ordinary people like you and me, so that when 00:38:48.920 --> 00:38:54.320 we put our faith and trust in him and what he's done from on the cross, he makes us beautiful 00:38:54.320 --> 00:39:01.220 and pledges his love for you and me as real people as we really are for all of eternity. 00:39:01.300 --> 00:39:08.199 And his hand will never let us go. He will never divorce us. There is nothing that can ever come 00:39:08.199 --> 00:39:13.339 that we have done that will make him turn from us. That is the gospel. 00:39:15.839 --> 00:39:21.799 And there is no other Jesus. And people thinking they're helping him by improving him by making 00:39:21.799 --> 00:39:28.619 him palatable to capitalism or anti-colonialism or Marxism or queer theory, all they're doing is 00:39:28.619 --> 00:39:35.599 taking us away from what he's done for us on the cross. There is no other gospel. There is no other 00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:38.920 spirit. There is no other Jesus. There is just the one. 00:39:44.139 --> 00:39:49.779 Friends, just in closing, we'll put these points up really quick. A couple of carryaways. You could 00:39:49.779 --> 00:39:56.440 put up the first one, A. It's not a Canadian thing. It's a letter. Jesus is the Savior and the Lord, 00:39:57.319 --> 00:40:01.920 and Satan is doomed. So in the words of Douglas Adams, don't panic. 00:40:01.920 --> 00:40:08.300 You know, if it was all up for me and my accomplishments and all that to make these things, 00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:12.800 and then you think there's somebody who's basically, while they might be well-meaning, 00:40:12.900 --> 00:40:17.579 or really just like the serpent in the garden and saying, did God really say, you know, you should 00:40:17.579 --> 00:40:21.619 really be more like God? Or, you know, you should be a bit more divine. Like, you know, 00:40:21.619 --> 00:40:28.599 don't, don't, don't, you know, the heart of demonizing is it's all about ego. It's all about 00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:35.279 power. It's all about insecurity. It's all about crushing other people. It's all about ganging up 00:40:35.279 --> 00:40:41.099 on them. It's all about non-self-reflection. The gospel is so completely different. Nothing can help 00:40:41.099 --> 00:40:46.500 self-reflection more than knowing that nothing I have done will make me love God less when I have 00:40:46.500 --> 00:40:52.820 Jesus my Savior. Nothing I can do will make him love me more. And nothing can give us the security 00:40:52.820 --> 00:40:58.940 of self-reflection and self-assessment and humility more than being grounded on what Jesus has done for 00:40:58.940 --> 00:41:09.059 us in the cross. So don't panic. Second thing, Jesus is the Savior and Lord, and Satan still does live, 00:41:09.059 --> 00:41:14.599 and he still lies. So we do have to deal with false teaching seriously. 00:41:17.340 --> 00:41:25.440 I mean, that's part of my job. Gary at Ryle Seminary as the academic dean, it's part of his job 00:41:25.440 --> 00:41:30.820 to train Christian leaders so they understand what the truth is of the scriptures and they can deal with 00:41:30.820 --> 00:41:38.920 error. The third thing, search the Bible from cover to cover to be clear about who Jesus 00:41:38.920 --> 00:41:44.579 is and what he has accomplished for us. This is the encouragement. I almost said be Bereans, 00:41:44.720 --> 00:41:49.820 but most people don't. You know, there's a thing in Acts when Paul goes to the particular place and 00:41:49.820 --> 00:41:54.880 every day he preached and afterwards the Bereans, I think he said, were more noble than the others 00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:58.840 because every day they'd search the scriptures to see if what he said was true. And that's why I want 00:41:58.840 --> 00:42:03.559 to encourage you. You know, if you can help me to understand the Bible better, pray for me that I can, 00:42:03.740 --> 00:42:08.599 share with me how I can, share good books with me. But you know, all of us together should jointly 00:42:08.599 --> 00:42:15.319 be trying to read the Bible from cover to cover to understand Jesus better with more humility, 00:42:15.500 --> 00:42:20.940 with more surrender, with more awe at what he's done for us on the cross, what he has done, 00:42:21.039 --> 00:42:27.000 is doing, and will do for us. And D, the final one, almost final one, for those in error 00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:34.420 who really are leading people away from Jesus, hear the message of 2 Corinthians as a whole, 00:42:34.420 --> 00:42:42.860 always pray for them. Seek to persuade them. Okay, don't seek to bully them, intimidate them, 00:42:43.260 --> 00:42:52.240 scare them, harangue them, denounce them, threaten them, frighten them, gang up on them. Don't do that. 00:42:52.320 --> 00:43:01.019 Seek to persuade them from the Bible. God wants us to freely give ourselves to Jesus. Freedom matters 00:43:01.019 --> 00:43:05.860 to the Christian. And finally, use godly authority as necessary. 00:43:08.719 --> 00:43:11.900 Could you put up the beginning of the final prayer? Could you all stand, please? 00:43:14.119 --> 00:43:21.039 I'm going to invite you to pray a prayer. If the sermons touched you in any particular way, 00:43:21.559 --> 00:43:25.480 I just want to say before I do that if you're here today and you've never given your life to Jesus, 00:43:25.480 --> 00:43:31.500 there is no better time than right now. And as you've heard, I hope that the sermon has come 00:43:31.500 --> 00:43:37.539 through and this text has come through you. I can't make you anything, but in the gospel, 00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:41.460 it doesn't matter what you've done in your life, it doesn't matter how spectacular you've been 00:43:41.460 --> 00:43:46.599 or how broken you've been, how sinful you've been or how perfect you've been, 00:43:46.599 --> 00:43:55.699 that only Jesus can love you to such a depth that he will take everything that has kept you from God, 00:43:56.279 --> 00:44:01.940 every shame, only he has dealt with it on the cross, and he will never turn you away if you 00:44:01.940 --> 00:44:06.579 give your life to him this morning. And you don't have to be perfect in reaching out if you can just 00:44:06.579 --> 00:44:12.779 say, Jesus, be my Savior and Lord and never let me go. Use your own words. You can use the words of 00:44:12.780 --> 00:44:16.580 this prayer as well, but use your own words. And I'm just going to read this prayer out, 00:44:16.660 --> 00:44:20.260 and then if this is, if God has touched your heart, you'd like to pray it out loud with me, 00:44:20.300 --> 00:44:24.280 I'm going to tell you what, because it's on two screens. The prayer is, Heavenly Father, 00:44:24.420 --> 00:44:30.900 please fill me with your Holy Spirit and keep my heart from listening to false and evil spirits. 00:44:31.760 --> 00:44:37.060 Please help me to know what your word written tells me about Jesus and what he did to save me. 00:44:37.059 --> 00:44:44.599 Please free my mind from all errors and lies about who Jesus is and what he did for me on the cross 00:44:44.599 --> 00:44:51.000 and in his resurrection. Please make me a disciple of Jesus gripped by the gospel and living for your 00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:57.099 glory. In Jesus's name, amen. I need to pray this prayer. I make no claim that I've arrived. 00:44:57.940 --> 00:45:02.159 I need to keep searching the scriptures. Please pray for me. 00:45:02.159 --> 00:45:13.319 Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, please fill me with your Holy Spirit and keep my heart from 00:45:13.319 --> 00:45:20.799 listening to false and evil spirits. Please help me to know what your word written tells me about Jesus 00:45:20.799 --> 00:45:30.079 and what he did to save me. Please free my mind from all errors and lies about who Jesus is and what 00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:37.779 he did for me on the cross and in his resurrection. Please make me a disciple of Jesus gripped by the 00:45:37.779 --> 00:45:44.799 gospel and living for your glory. In Jesus's name, amen. Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us all. 00:45:45.559 --> 00:45:52.380 Be sovereign in our lives. Thank you that in Jesus you will never let us go. You will never forsake us. 00:45:52.380 --> 00:46:00.880 You will never give up on us. That's all been dealt with by your Son. Father, thank you for this. In Jesus's name, amen.