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The Millennium-Tony Evans Do you know your answer could be sitting right next to you, but you'll never know it until God is ready to reveal it? God says, "If you come back home, you'll see I haven't gone anywhere". So, you draw near to him, and he will draw near to you 'cause he's the one who's never left. If you walk in the Spirit, or walk by means of the Spirit, he will open up the hole for you to get through. The snake is gonna try to stir stuff up. The snake is gonna try to get you away from God. There is a serpent in the garden, and your job is to keep him out. Sometimes he brings a little something that's a little cue to let you know, "Keep on going, keep on trusting because I hear you". Mankind has longed for utopia, paradise. You've seen it in TV, in movies; where we long for a time when the pain will end, when peace will reign, when problems will go away. Something has interrupted the dream of utopia. It's called sin. Whether it's your sin or somebody else's sin that affects you or even the environment that has been cursed by sin, sin has disrupted the possibility of utopia, paradise. In fact, Paul says in Romans chapter 8 that the whole creation groans under this curse. However, there is coming a time when there will be utopia, and that time is coming in history before we ever get to eternity, and we call it the millennium, the millennial rule of Jesus Christ. Millennium means 1.000. Let's review. Jesus raptures the church, seven years of tribulation, Jesus comes back to set up his millennial kingdom. And so, today I want to talk to you about paradise, not heaven. We haven't gotten to heaven yet. I'm talking about history, the 1.000-year rule of Jesus Christ. To understand this, you have to understand why this 1.000-year period of time must occur. When God created Adam and Eve, he said let them rule. We call it the dominion covenant, where man was going to rule on Earth as managers of God's creation. That rule got interrupted by Satan and sin when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, leading to the deterioration of Earth. Lifespans began to decline, marital conflict entered in, Cain kills Abel. The world becomes wicked. The whole world, in Genesis 6, has to be destroyed by a flood because sin cursed the creation that man was supposed to rule on behalf of God. Because of the sin cycle, there was no man who God could use to oversee the rule on Earth, so God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. In Luke 1:31-33, we are told that Mary, the mother of Jesus, gave birth to a son who was to be in the seed of David and who was to rule on the throne of God. We know him to be Jesus. He has redeemed the people for his namesake called the church: Christians. There will be tribulation where God will remove the church. All hell is going to break loose on Earth as God's wrath is revealed, for it will no longer be held back because of the death of Christ. Christians during that seven-year period of time are going to be rewarded based on their faithfulness now. So, what you do now (I'll pick this up in a moment) will affect what you get to do in the millennium, in the 1.000-year rule of Christ, or what you don't get to do. Luke 19 gives one of the many illustrations in the Bible of a person who, based on their faithfulness, gained or lost reward in the millennial kingdom. He says some will be over ten cities, some will be over five cities, some will be over no cities because they were unfaithful during their earthly life here. All of this is setting the stage at the return of Christ, when the Bible says Christians will come back with him for this 1.000-year rule of Christ known as the millennium. The two reasons why the millennium will be utopia, paradise, the Bible even calls it a return to Eden, Ezekiel 36:35, a return to Eden, we get back to what God originally designed. There are two reasons why this will be paradise. One, as we'll say in a moment, Jesus will be ruling from Jerusalem. The capital of the whole earth will be Jerusalem. It's the conflict of the whole earth today. It will be the capital of the whole earth then. Jesus Christ, the Bible says, will rule with a rod of iron. In other words, there will be allowed to be no rebellion. You and I, based on our rewards, will be the people who he utilizes to make sure his rule is exactly as he wants it to be, and nobody will be able to override you 'cause you will have a glorified body. So, you won't have to worry about rebellion against you 'cause nobody can overcome you. Now, who exactly will you be overseeing in the millennium? Well, that is explained to us in Matthew 25:31-46, because in those verses, at the end of the tribulation, God is gonna separate the sheep from the goat, that is, the unrighteous Gentiles, the goats; from the righteous Gentiles, sheep. It says the unrighteous Gentiles coming out of the tribulation will be sent to eternal judgment; and the righteous Gentiles coming out of the tribulation, they're going to go into the millennium in their natural human bodies. So, there's gonna be a whole earth full of folk in natural bodies while you and I will be overseeing them in glorified bodies. So, in our glorified bodies, based on the positions that we have earned during our stay here in our natural bodies, will affect your assignment, then, in your glorified bodies over those who are in the millennium in their natural bodies, and I'll prove to you in a moment how those natural bodies will function, but of course, you and I are in a glorified body, and this will last for 1.000 years before we ever get to eternity. So, one reason is that Jesus will rule through the saints from the capital of the world, Jerusalem, when he returns. There is a second reason why this will be paradise. The second reason you read in the first two verses of Revelation 20 because it says, "And Satan will be bound for 1.000 years". Satan will be bound so that he no longer is able to deceive the nations. Let me give you a little summary of satanic strategy. It exists today. That's why he has to be bound. And that is deception, that he will no longer deceive the nations anymore. The reason why we are messed up is 'cause we've been tricked. And because Jesus will rule with a rod of iron for 1.000 years, even if you wanna rebel, you won't be able to. You will not be allowed to rebel. So, your rebellion, you better keep it to yourself because in the millennium with you and I as judges and in various relationships, we'll be co-heirs, the Bible says. We will be co-heirs with him. So, this will be the ultimate answer to the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". Earth will take on the look of heaven. So, let's get this straight. For 1.000 years, if you are a believer today, most of your time is going to be spent on earth, not in heaven. There will be an event that will lead into the millennium. The judgment separates your sheep and goats, but leading into that is going to be a wedding. Look at chapter 19, verses 7 to 10. "Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him, for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, 'Right, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are true words of God.' Then I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, 'Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brother, who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.'" So, everybody loves a wedding. So, let me tell you about a wedding, because this wedding involves you 'cause you're the bride. See, the Bible calls the church the bride of Christ. So, God uses this terminology to express our relationship. Jesus is called the bridegroom, okay? So, there's gonna be a wedding. To appreciate this, you have to understand the oriental weddings. So, let me tell you the oriental weddings, and then how it applies to us, and then how that applies to the millennium. In biblical days, the wedding took on a number of different parts. The first aspect of a wedding in biblical times was the betrothal period. You and I would say "engagement," but there was a big difference between our engagement and the biblical times' engagement because the biblical time engagement was a legal contract. Then there was the marriage, okay? That would lead to what we all are aware of, and that is the reception. You know what the reception is? It's a party. Jesus's reception is gonna last 1.000 years. They were being made ready for the marriage supper of the lamb. That's the reception. So, there's going to be a party with Jesus and his bride, and it is gonna happen on Earth even though you're in a glorified body, and for 1.000 years carrying out your responsibilities as Jesus's bride. You are going to be in a wedding reception called the marriage supper of the lamb, and you will be there based on the level of your reward. So, everybody won't party equally, and, in fact, the Scripture says some who are part of the wedding will be in outer darkness.   www.ocbf.org .

The Bethlehem Principle Micah 5:2 ; Matthew 2:1 ; Genesis 49:10 S-1741 ☻SLIDE #: ANCIENT WHISPERs Turn to Micah 5:1-5 . ☻SLIDE #: Mother-in Law To daughter-in-law: You call this a meal… Give me a rag; I’ll clean this house right. I don’t know what my son ever saw in you! To son-in law: I always knew you’d turn out to be a loser. Would you stop watching tv long enough to listen to me. *The Talking Mother in Law Nutcracker is not really a nut cracker. ☻SLIDE #: Marie Antoinette Bobble head on spring: push on her head and it pops off ☻SLIDE #: Door mat: Nice Underwear 99 cent store: Light up Christmas Madonna Our gifts to God at Xmas. God probably chuckles. Insignificant to the one Who holds the stars in his hands. He loves everyone of them. “Ancient Whispers.” Old Testament Prophecies predicting the advent (coming) of Jesus Christ. ☻SLIDE #: THE Bethlehem Principle: strength FOR the weakest of the Weak. ☻SLIDE #: Micah 5:1 : Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek with a rod. Babylonian Hordes sweeping upon Israel in 600 BC. Israel weak and defenseless. No hope. All is lost. Success could never depend completely on them. If God did not send a Savior they were really in trouble.         (Jehoikim blinded and taken in chains to Babylon. Jerusalem burnt to the ground.) ☻SLIDE #: Micah 5:2 : “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” ☻SLIDE #: Micah 5:3-5 : Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. 4 He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. 5 And he will be their peace. (Double fulfillment) (Overarching prophecy spanning 600 BC to second coming of Christ. ☻SLIDE #: Matthew 2:1-2 : After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” ☻SLIDE #: Matthew 2:3-5 : When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ☻SLIDE #: Matthew 2:6 : “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.” Of all the places for the Savior to come, why in the world would God pick Bethlehem? ☻SLIDE #: God: Why not Alexandria, Egypt etc, All the resources of ancient Egypt to fund His ministry! Rome was the power city. Kingdom spanned the known world. If you want to get the message, start in Rome and cover the earth. Jerusalem was the center of Israeli religion and culture and power. These are the power cities, wealth, resources to fund the ministry. Anybody who was anybody came from these. If Christ were to come from Arizona, He would not come from PHX or TUS, PHX looks down on TUS; TUS looks down on Marana; Marana looks down on Oro Valley and Oro Valley looks down on Marana; they both look down on Eloy; and Eloy looks down on Picacho. Jesus would be born in Pichaco. Jesus did not come from the power broker cities of the world. ☻SLIDE #: He came to a little, powerless, weak, vulnerable village named Bethlehem. You don’t have to be a powerbroker in life to experience God’s grace and power. ☻SLIDE #: THE Bethlehem Principle: strength FOR the weakest of the Weak. The Bethlehem principle is the hope of Christmas: If the Messiah can come as a little baby from one of the weakest villages on earth, then He can come for me. ☻SLIDE #: Thank God, what happened in Bethlehem didn’t stay in Bethlehem. ☻SLIDE #: the CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE ☻SLIDE #: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 : But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. If this kind of Grace was sufficient for Paul, then it can be sufficient for us. ☻SLIDE #: READ AND EXPOUND 2 Corinthians 11:21-31 . ☻SLIDE #: READ AND EXPOUND 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 . Describes vision he had fourteen years ago Probably a spiritual highlight of Paul’s life — transported to the third heaven. But, in the time of his greatest exaltation came also his greatest weakness. Read 2 Corinthians 12:5-7 . ☻SLIDE #: The word here for “Thorn” is the same word as “Stake:”  No, not the kind of Not steak we eat. “Stake” like a tent stake you drive in the ground.  From Babylonians – sharpen trees and impale people on stake.  Paul had stake twisting in his body to keep him humble. (Boxers: “ Torment: “to strike with the fist.” ”) “Torment” means “to beat, to strike with the fist.” Four Main Guesses as to the nature of Paul’s thorn. – l. Ugly – 2 Corinthians l0:10 – “Letters weighty but bodily appearance is weak.  “Beaten with rods.” 2. Malaria – very prevalent and incapacitating in Asia Minor. 3. Epilepsy:  Read Galatians 4:13-14 .   Ancient world believed epilepsy caused by demons.  Spit to ward off demons.  In Galatians 4:14 , “reject” = “to spit at”  (read with “spit at”) 4. Eye trouble – Most probable – blind at conversion, scales –         Galatians 6:11 ″Large letters with my own hand”         Galatians 4:15 – “Pluck out eyes”         Acts 23 – trials, chided high priest, slapped “Didn’t you know you were speaking to high priest?  “No didn’t perceive that.” ☻SLIDE #: To one degree or other, we are all like Paul in our weaknesses. How many of us have stepped on the gas but we have to admit again and again that the power just isn’t in us. God didn’t equip us with 8 cylinders or with 6 – only four – and those none too good. Maybe you had expectations of a normal, well-adjusted, happy life, but like a beast from ambush, an accident, or sickness leaped and now you must work with crippled machinery. Maybe yours is a life that wanted love and missed it. Maybe yours is a home where marriage might have been a thing of beauty but was a tragedy instead. Maybe yours is a family where a child created as a blessing became an inward agony. Maybe yours is a household where death has severed the tie that binds. ☻SLIDE #: The “AH-HA!” moment: God promises to us the same Grace for our weaknesses that He poured into Paul during his great weaknesses. ☻SLIDE #: GRACE POWER We usually think of grace in terms of something soft and feminine like a petite young lady, or a graceful ballerina. Or we think of the Holy Spirit as a dove. But that is not at all the connotation of the concept of grace. The working hypothesis behind grace is awesome, unleashed power. ☻SLIDE #: A mechanic from a garage in Mangum, Oklahoma, answered the distress call of a woman whose car had stalled. He examined the car and informed her that it was out of gas . The woman asked the mechanic, “Will it hurt if I drive it home with the gas tank empty?” With Grace, we never drive on an empty tank. VIDEO TECH: SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER SCREEN. Grace = God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense Grace is experienced at the moment of our spiritual New Birth when God gives us forgiveness of our sins and peace with God. (By the way, grace is when Jesus gives us what we don’t deserve. Mercy is when Jesus does not give us what we do deserve.) Grace is experienced as a deep-inner strength and peace that carries us through the most difficult of circumstances. Grace is strength in times of suffering, help in times of need, comfort in times of hurt, courage in times of fear and sustenance in times of despair. Paul in Philippian jail: beaten, whipped. Bleeding, chained. Singing songs at midnight. Ask Paul, “is it still worth it?” “Yes, I know that His grace is sufficient.” VIDEO TECH: SWITCH BACK TO OVERHEAD PROJECTOR SCREEN. ☻SLIDE #: The potential for experiencing great grace is built through Prayer, Bible Study, and Previous Life Experiences with Christ. In other words, the foundation for experiencing grace comes out of a deep-trusting relationship with Jesus Christ. VIDEO TECH: SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER SCREEN. Spiritual Growth Graph from -10-+10 Experience Grace better at different spiritual levels. This is one more reason to grow up in Christ. Grace is more caught—experienced—than taught. so, let’s just have a little talk. VIDEO TECH: SWITCH BACK TO OVERHEAD PROJECTOR SCREEN. ☻SLIDE #: ·Grace Enables To Live On A Higher Plane. ☻SLIDE #: Many Americans were moved by the Vietnam-era Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of 9-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc (pronounced fuke), naked and horribly burned, running from a napalm attack. But for John Plummer, pastor of Bethany Methodist church in Purcellville, Virginia, that picture had special significance. In 1972 he was responsible for setting up the air strike on the village of Trang Bang. He was twice assured there were no civilians in the area. ☻SLIDE #: In June of 1996 he saw a network news story about Kim Phuc and learned she was not only alive but living in Toronto. Plummer found out she was speaking at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. As Kim addressed the crowd, she said that if she ever met the pilot of the plane she would tell him she forgives him and that they cannot change the past but she hoped they could work together in the future. Plummer was able to get word to Kim that the man she wanted to meet was there. “She saw my grief, my pain, my sorrow,” Plummer wrote in an article in the Virginia Advocate. “She held out her arms to me and embraced me. All I could say was, ‘I’m sorry; I’m so sorry,’ over and over again. At the same time she was saying, ‘It’s all right; it’s all right; I forgive; I forgive.'” Plummer learned that Kim Phuc became a Christian in 1982. ☻SLIDE #: ·Grace May Be Experienced As A Second Chance. ☻SLIDE #: ·In 1986 Bob Brenley was playing third base for the San Francisco Giants. In the fourth inning of a game against the Atlanta Braves, Brenley made an error on a routine ground ball. Four batters later he kicked away another grounder. And then while he was scrambling after the ball, he threw wildly past home plate trying to get the runner there. Two errors on the same play. A few minutes later he muffed yet another play to become the first player in the twentieth century to make four errors in one inning. Now, those of us who have made very public errors in one situation or another can easily imagine how he felt during that long walk off the field at the end of that inning. Brentley’s manager must have thought about his removal from the lineup.  But instead he chose to forgive him and to give him another chance.  It paid off.  In the bottom of the fifth, Brenley hit a home run. Then in the seventh, he hit a bases-loaded single, driving in two runs and tying the game.  Then in the bottom of the ninth, Brenley came up to bat again, with two outs. He ran the count to three and two and then hit a massive home run into the left field seats to win the game for the Giants. From the outhouse to the penthouse: Broadcaster; 2000 became manager of Arizona Diamondbacks. ☻SLIDE #: ·Derrek lost 45 pounds with a problem in his esophogas. Spasms kept food from going down. Considering putting in a feeding tube. Vocal Cords injured. Couldn’t talk loud or long without his throat spasming closed. For someone who intends to preach this is a career killer. Led 7 sports camps and could hardly talk. Gave invitations and 115 children prayed to receive Christ. Only one in 630,000 have this problem. God led us to surgeon who had pioneered a surgical repair. Only done 112 in his career. Complete recover. In Palestine, Texas last Sunday as forty men prayed over Derrek and ordained him to Gospel Ministry. Brie had a severe reaction that scarred one-third of her lungs. Swollen breathing problems. Pneumonia. Almost died twice on the way to the hospital after attacks. Doctors care. Breathing treatments. Couldn’t leave house—fear of germs for three months. “Are you angry at God?” “Yes. But if I have to live with this, God will give me grace. Kept writing for Insight for Living. On the road to recovery. Last week was the best week she’s ever had. ☻SLIDE #: ·Grace May Be The Only Thing That Enables Us To Handle The Most Difficult Experiences Of Life. Relocation sign story ☻SLIDE #: ·No Matter Where We Are In Our Spiritual Journey, We Can Experience God’s Grace. Even -5s Non-Christians can experience God’s grace. Story told by John Goth, the English Evangelist. Once saw two boys in hospital — cots were side by side. One boy had a fever…other boy had been struck by a truck. The boy with the fever was very weak and the one who had been struck by the truck said to him: “Say, I was down at the Mission SS and they told me about Jesus and I believe that if you ask Jesus, He will help you. They said that if we believe in Jesus and pray to Him, when we die, He will come and take us to be with Him.” The little boy with the fever said, “But, what if I am asleep when He comes and I can’t ask Him?” The other boy said, “Just hold up your hand. That is what we did in SS. I guess that Jesus sees it.” The fevered boy was too weak to lift up his hand so the other fellow leaned over and propped up the pillows and braced it under the fevered boy’s arm. And so the little fellow fell asleep with is arm up in the air. In the morning when the nurse came in, she found the little fellow dead, but with his arm still propped up! Now, you know that the Lord saw that arm. “Well,” you say, “that was very simple faith.” Jesus said, “If you have the faith of the grain of a mustard seed…Except a man become as a little child, he cannot enter into Heaven.” Bow heads: Feel weak today? Like for God to pour in the power? Simple faith? You don’t need much—trust God. ☻SLIDE #: O little town of Bethlehem how still we see thee lie, Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light, The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

Introduction Favorite Christmas Song “White Christmas” – best-selling Christmas song of all time Guinness Book of World Records – over 50 million sales Written in 1940 by Irving Berlin Popularized by Bing Crosby Written in Palm Springs, California Irving Berlin was from Russia Moved to New York Now in Palm Springs dreaming of a white Christmas We have chosen the theme of this Christmas: Red (not white) God's perspective: It takes red to get white Blood red Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (see Hebrews 9:22) The blood of Jesus cleanses us (1 John 1:7-9) "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" Isaiah 1:18 Galatians 4; three verses Theology, history, and philosophy By Christmas - hope that you will be thoroughly equipped and knowledgeable of what Christmas is really all about Galatians 4, "The fullness of time" The end of a period of preparation God readying the whole world The Law of Moses that governed the Jews had accomplished its purpose All people failed to keep the Law God introduced a new era of redemption Picture: a glass slowly, slowly, slowly filled with water, until it finally reached its proper fullness Why didn't Jesus come sooner? Why at that time, in that culture? That was the fullness of the time --the right time Two main thoughts: God always keeps His appointments; God's time is always the right time - He make appointments and always keeps them "To everything there is a season..." Ecclesiastes 3:1 Story: Skip's busy earthly dad "God is not slack or slow..." 2 Peter 3:9 "There are no loose threads in the providence of God, no stitches are dropped, no events are left to chance. The great clock of the universe keeps good time, and the whole machinery of providence moves with unerring punctuality." -- Charles Spurgeon Jesus comes on the scene (seed Mark 1:9-15) 1. Goes down to John to be baptized 2. Goes into the wilderness to be tempted 3. Came back and started His ministry 4. His first words: "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand." (Mark 1:15) There are references throughout Scripture about the time 1. At the miracle of the water into wine, He tells his mom, "My hour has not yet come." (John 2:4) 2. They tried to take Jesus by force and make Him a king. (see John 7) 3. At the Last Supper, He got up to wash His disciples’ feet because He “knew that His hour had come” (John 13:1) 4. In His prayer, “Father, the hour has come.” (John 17:1) God makes appointments and He always keeps His appointments God's time is always the right time We look at B.C. and A.D. - Jesus split time forever What made this time the "fullness" of time? 1. The right time spiritually a. A pervasive hunger for spiritual things b. Influence of Monotheistic Judaism c. Alexander the Great "colonize the world" d. Rome had conquered the world i. The gods of the cultures who had been conquered had not saved them ii. They were open to an alternative belief system e. The Jews believed in Messiah -- a Deliver i. Romas also believed in a deliverer ii. A Roman poet, Virgil, wrote that Caesar Augustus was the ideal savior king, "This one will be the divine king of which the world has awaited." iii. They were already open to a deliverer coming f. The world was ripe spiritually for both the Romans and the Jews i. The expectation of the Messiah coming reached fever pitch ii. "Prior to the first century, the Messianic interest was not excessive. The first century however, especially the generation before the destruction of the second temple, witnesses a remarkable outburst of Messianic emotionalism. When Jesus came into Galilee, spreading the gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand, He was voicing the opinion universally held that the age of the Kingdom of God was at hand. The Messiah was expected around the second quarter of the first century of the Christian era." -- Rabbi Abba Hilel Silver iii. That is exactly when Jesus came iv. No wonder when John the Baptist was at the Jordan River baptizing, people asked, "Are you the Christ?" (see John 19) g. Jews believed that was the time because i. Ancient prophecy in Genesis ii. Jacob gives his last words to his sons iii. Judah - "The scepter shall not depart...until Shiloh comes" (Genesis 49:10) iv. Rabbis down through the ages believed that Messiah would not come until the right to rule was taken from Judah v. Josephus, the Jewish historian tells us that in the first quarter of the first century, when the Romans took over, they took the right of tribal rule from Judah vi. When that happened, the Jewish Sanhedrin put sackcloth and ashes on their bodies and marched through the streets of Jerusalem bewailing, "The scepter has departed from Judah, but Shiloh has not come." vii. They believed God broke His promise viii. Interesting: about that time Jesus was about to lay down His carpentry tools and march down to the Jordan river - Shiloh had come h. It was the right time spiritually It was the right time culturally 1. First time since the tower of Babel there was a universal language - Greek 2. Alexander the great thought that the world should be Hellenized 3. He managed to go as far as India and make Greek the language of the East 4. Then Rome made Greek the trade language of the West i. Now you could express ideas together in the same language ii. People could understand each other - free flow thought in expression and ideas iii. Greek is the most precise instrument to convey human thought iv. Interesting that God waited for the most previse language to be the language that the New Testament would be written in It was the right time politically 1. Rome was in charge 2. Caesar Augustus established the Pax Romana - Roman Peace i. Peace ii. Cultural growth iii. Road system - 250.000 miles, 50,000 miles paved iv. Travel safely and freely around Roman Empire v. Some of the soldiers got saved It was the fullness of the time It was the perfect time The right time By the end of 312 A.D., every one in ten people in the Roman world claimed to be Christian Closing - God's timing in your life is perfect We don't always understand God's timing This day could be the perfect time in your life He might be bringing you to a personal confidence and trust in Him, in a relationship with Him This could be the fullness of the time for you Today is the day of salvation (see 2 Corinthians 6:2) If you would like to commit your life to Christ, do it right now Publications referenced :  Guinness Book of World Records Figures referenced : Irving Berlin, Bing Crosby, Charles Spurgeon, Virgil (Roman poet), Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, and Josephus Cross references :   Genesis 49:10 ,  Ecclesiastes 3:1 ,  Isaiah 1:18 , Mark 1:9-15 ,  John 2:4 , John 7 , 13:1 , 17:1 , John 19 ,  Hebrews 9:22 ,  2 Peter 3:9 ,  1 John 1:7-9

Beatitudes: Blessings of Kingdom People Tony Evans The beatitudes: These are the blessings that accrue to Kingdom people. Not church people - Kingdom people. Kingdom people are the men and women, boys and girls, who consciously, upfront, unapologetically flow under the rule of God. "Kingdom" means "rule or authority". Jesus preaches this sermon to espouse Kingdom living. He gives the beatitudes to tell you the blessings of those who adopt this Kingdom mentality, mindset, orientation, focus, and priority. Nine times in this segment, the word "blessed" is used, and it is a rejection of religious externalism. When we get into these beatitudes, there will be a rejection. He does this a number of times throughout the sermon, and I would encourage you to read the whole sermon, chapter 5 through chapter 7. It is a rejection of religiosity, that is, worshipping God for show. You know, you're doing the religious thing. Jesus Christ rejects the religious thing. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven". He didn't say, "Blessed are the poor". He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit". He's not talking about money here, finances, stuff, or things. He's talking about a spiritual poverty. In other words, "Blessed are those who live their lives in conscious dependency on God". In other words, they are needy people for God. They're poor. The Greek word "poor" was used of a beggar in Biblical times, a beggar, somebody who would be on the street corner because they were insufficient of themselves to take care of themselves, and so they would be out on the streets, begging. He says, "The blessed person, the blessed Kingdom person, is the person who recognizes their own inadequacy," and, in the words of an old school song, "ain't too proud to beg". They recognize their own insufficiency. They recognize, "I can't do this without you". They recognize spiritual impoverishment. They recognize their need for God, and they are not ashamed to declare spiritual bankruptcy. The greatest sin of all is the sin of independence or self-sufficiency, that, "I don't need God". But he's not just talking about your ability to say it. He's saying, "Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, who feel this thing". It is a spiritual dependency, or, as Jesus said in John 15, "Without me, you can do nothing". In other words, "You cannot accomplish what I want you to accomplish. You can't be what I want you to be. You can't do what I want you to do without me," and, as long as you think you're rich in spirit, meaning, "I can pay for this myself. I can handle this myself. I can take care of me myself," then that makes you independent, and, if you are independent, you're proud. If you become spiritually impoverished, meaning you are desperately dependent upon God if you're gonna make it, if you're going to be what you were created to be, do what you were created to do, become what you were created to become. He gives you a promise. "Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven". Remember, a Kingdom is rule. You get to see God's heavenly rule in your earthly life. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who are saddened by what saddens God". In other words what makes God sad makes you sad. Mourn. To mourn is to be sorrowful over something. Blessed are those who cry at stuff that shouldn't be laughed at because they have the heart of God, and the only thing that makes God mourn is sin and its consequences. That's what makes God mourn, when he sees people being independent from him, sin, and, when he sees the fallout of sin in the consequences. Jesus looked over Jerusalem, and he was saddened, and he was in a mournful state. He said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you like a hen who gathers her little ones, but you wouldn't let me". When Jesus was at Martha and Mary's brother's tomb, Lazarus, the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11, "Jesus wept," when he saw the consequences of sin that produced death, when he had to cry with these two sisters who had lost their brother. What causes God to mourn we often laugh at. We don't mourn over the sin and consequences of others, and so we've lost the heart of God. Nothing shows the heart of God than what saddens God also saddens you. He says, "The blessing is for those who mourn," so one of our prayer requests is, "To God, give me your heart and your emotion". Nothing should sadden you more than when you have saddened God or when you see others who have saddened God. God mourns over our culture. He weeps over our culture because he knows everything that's wrong with our culture has come because our culture has departed from him. He says, "The blessing is they shall be comforted". When you develop, I develop, we develop God's heart about sin and its consequences, he comforts us. The word "comfort" is used of one who comes alongside to help. It's the word used of the Holy Spirit, who comes alongside to encourage us, strengthen us, enable us as we deal with the pain of what we're going through. "Blessed are the gentle or the meek. They shall inherit the earth". Meekness in the Bible does not mean weakness. Meekness was used of breaking a horse, breaking a horse. You've got this stallion that's wild. It's bucking. It's trying to knock the rider off because it doesn't want anybody on its back, so it's bucking. The cowboy gets on it, and the horse bucks, bucks. "Get off me. Leave me alone. Yeah. If you don't get off, I'm gonna shake you off," throws the cowboy off. What does the cowboy do? Get right back on. It's trying to, watch this, break the horse. It's what they call it, breaking the horse. What is he breaking the horse of? He's breaking the horse of his will 'cause the horse was saying, "Get off of me". He's breaking the horse of what? He's not breaking of horse of its strength. He's not breaking the horse of its power. He's not breaking the horse of its speedy ability to run. He's breaking the horse of its will so that, now, the horse does what the rider calls for... Whoa... Giddy up. In other words, the horse now comes under the direction of the rider 'cause it's been broken. That's the Greek word for "meek". Meek means to be broken of your self-will. "The meek shall inherit the earth," okay? To inherit something means something has been willed to you, okay? He's not talking about heaven. He says, "You will inherit the earth". Let's put it another way. "You shall receive your allotted portion," for those who will allow God to break them, whatever is yours, you get 'cause it's in the will. You have an inheritance. Many will live their lives never getting what God has prescribed for them to have because they were never meek enough, broken enough, to submit to him, and you don't get your allotted portion. Verse 6, "Blessed are those who hunger, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied". He now wants to discuss the blessing of having the right spiritual appetite, the right spiritual appetite, because far too many of God's children are malnourished not because they're not eating. They're just not eating the right stuff, so the question is hungry for what? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, that is, who have an insatiable appetite for what pleases God. Why? Here. Let me tell you a secret. Your soul, my soul, our souls are starving for what pleases God. If you are saved, you have a hungry soul. David said, Psalm 42, "As the deer pants after the water brook, so pants my soul after thee, oh, God". You have a hungry soul if you're saved, and that hungry soul wants to be fed with righteousness. There will be some things about righteousness you don't like. There'll be some things you don't want to eat, but the question is do you want to be healthy? He says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness". Let me tell you about hungry folk. You go to a restaurant, and they give you a menu, right? They give you a menu. The menu is a written documentation of what they have to offer. Sometimes, you can salivate just by reading the menu. You're reading the menu. You're going... I mean, it just looks good. "Ooh. That looks good. That looks good," so you can read it and feel good about it just by reading it, but not only do they give you a written menu. They have somebody there to proclaim the menu, to teach you the menu. It's a waiter or waitress, and they are menu expositors. They do an exposition of the menu. They say, "Well, this is this. This is this. This is this," and they offer you a Q and A session. "Do you have any questions"? So, they will proclaim the menu to you. Now, after you have read the menu and after they've proclaimed the menu, and you do not then ask for your coat to leave because you didn't come there to read about it or to hear somebody else tell you how good it is. You came there for your personal experience with it, and until you've experienced the meal, you're not satisfied that you read about it or that somebody talked about it until it has entered into your tummy. See, the reason why a Sunday meal isn't enough is 'cause you come with a menu. It's a thick menu. It's called a Bible. It's got all kind of recipes in it. Then you got somebody who will teach you about the menu, but it's not over yet 'cause God wants you to taste and see that the Lord is good. He wants you to taste this thing. He wants you to meditate on this thing so that it just doesn't become something you heard in your ears. It becomes something that you start to digest in your soul so it can take root and flow all week long. He says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness," and then he gives the blessing, "for they shall be satisfied". Guess what God offers you? When you passionately pursue him and his Kingdom through that which pleases him, he says, "I will remove your discontent," but you've gotta be hungry and thirsty after what he's cooking. Hunger and thirst after righteousness, and he removes the discontent. The more we hunger for righteousness, the more satisfied we become. He says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy". Mercy is not giving you what you do deserve, not giving you what you do deserve. To express mercy is to seek to remove the misery that someone is going through, even if they deserve it. Mercy is not just feeling sorry. Mercy is a tangible act of removing the misery. He says, "There's a blessing for those who show mercy," 'cause you can bet your bottom dollar there is coming a day in your life when you're gonna need mercy, when you're gonna want God not to give you all that you deserve. Yeah, there's coming a time. I don't know whether it's already been, it is, or it will be, but there will become a time when you're gonna want God to, "Hold back. Don't give me what I deserve". You may be good now, but there is coming a day when you're gonna want mercy dispensed to you. He says, "Blessed are those who show mercy, for they will receive mercy". On the day you need it, God's gonna check your record to see whether you gave it. This is one of the great blessings, that you can call on God for the mercy that you showed somebody else in their day of misery when you have your day of misery, when you are needing it. He goes on, and he says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God". The word "pure" means "unmixed, undivided, no defect". It has to do with being authentic on the inside, being for real on the inside. Now, you know you. You know you better than anyone knows you, but you don't even know you perfectly, but, but all of us knows what it is from time to time to be plastic, you know? Pure in heart means to be authentic, and, in order to be authentic, you have to first of all be honest with God. You're respectful, but you are clearly honest, raw with God, no double-mindedness. Jesus told us, told the Pharisees in Matthew 23, he said, "Clean the inside of the cup before you clean the outside". See, here's the problem. Many of us want to change what we're doing outside when we haven't dealt honestly with what goes on inside. In order to have a pure heart, you have to be authentic with God. You have to come clear with God. You have to be honest with God about the good and the bad and the ugly. The pure in heart, being authentic. He says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God". Are you tired of just talking about God and never seeing him? "They shall see God". You'll see him operating, moving. He won't just be a concept to you anymore, a thought, an idea, a perspective, a philosophy, a religious ornament. You're gonna see his reality moving, rolling, tweaking, twisting, turning in your life. God will become real. You'll see him. You'll see him. The unseen God, you will see, and you will see him for yourself. You won't need somebody else's testimony 'cause, if you come real with him in the heart, you'll see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God". Peacemakers, not peacekeepers. Peacemakers. Peace is harmony. It is the resolving of conflicts with the truth by which sin is exposed and addressed and right relationships established, the peacemakers. Sometimes, we want to keep peace. Jesus said you've gotta make peace, and you make peace by identifying the truth, by exposing the sin, addressing the sin, and then constructing a bridge between the parties that were at odds. That's what you do. Whether it's a marriage or whether it's two Christians or two groups of Christians, he said you've gotta make peace. You don't just keep peace. We keep peace by ignoring it. He says you make peace by addressing it. "Blessed are the peacemakers," and he says, "Peacemakers shall be called the sons of God". Why will you be called the son of God? Because you look like your daddy. He got the same DNA 'cause the Bible says, "God sent Jesus to make peace and to bring sinful men to a holy God". Jesus is the emulsifier 'cause a perfect God and sinful men can't mix, so what Jesus did was he reached up and grabbed God. He reached down and grabbed man so that the two could get connected again. That's what. He is our, he is our mediator. He is our emulsifier. Let me tell you something else about a son of God. A son gains access 'cause you're dealing with Daddy. You're dealing with Daddy. Let me close. He says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted". "Treated in an evil manner," that's what it means. Why are you being treated in an evil manner? Because you're showing these qualities. You're not talking about treated in an evil manner because you evil. He's talking about treated in an evil manner because you're showing these characteristics, these Kingdom characteristics, and some folk won't like you. And he says, "And you're in the company of a great class of people, those who've gone before you," and he pronounces a double blessing on those who are willing to be rejected by men in order to be accepted by God. So, don't take my word for it. Try it. Try becoming a Kingdom Christian, and watch the blessings come your way. Don't take my word for it. Don't buy it because I said it. Go read it for yourself, and begin to implement it, and you tell me whether you're experiencing God at a whole 'nother level. A man one day was dying of thirst, and he was in this desert place with no water. He couldn't make it much further when he saw a little shack. He walked into the little shack, and there was a well with a little jar of water and a sign. The sign said, "Use this water not to drink but to prime the pump because, then, you'll have ongoing water". He says, "I don't know whether I can take this risk. I'm dying here. If I pour this water in, and this pump doesn't prime, I'm gonna die. At least if I drink the water, I can live for a while and hope tomorrow will be a better day". So, he had to make the decision whether to take the risk on the well or just be satisfied with the jar. He took the risk, poured the water in the well, in the pump, primed the pump. Up gushed enough water to last him for as long as he needed it. A lot of you are gonna take this sermon and use it like a jar. You're gonna drink it up, and, by tomorrow or Tuesday, it'll be gone, but, if you let it prime the pump of the well of the Kingdom of God, you'll find it flowing for life ongoing. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus opens it up by offering to his followers the blessings, that is, the benefits of the Kingdom. He calls them blessings or the beatitudes we know them as. These blessings have to do with the favor that God dispenses when we are Kingdom people doing Kingdom work the King's way. These blessings, a blessing is a, the experience, the enjoyment, and the extension of God's favor in your life and through your life to others. By the way, a blessing is not just what you get. It's what God can give through you because you got it, and he gives a number of blessings that come when we are aligned with the Kingdom aptitude and attitude of the King. Whether it's mercy or whether it's the pursuit of righteousness or whether it's the pursuit of purity or even when it's the struggle with persecution, when we function in a Kingdom way, he says that will accrue benefits from the King to this Christian who is Kingdom-oriented, so it is absolutely critical, if you want to experience all the favor of the Kingdom and all the benefits of the King, then you must be willing to be a Kingdom Christian. When these blessings come your way, these are not blessings only for eternity. These are blessings that God offers his followers, his disciples in history as well, so you can affect how much you get from God and how it flows to your life, in your life, and through your life by how you align with the King, who offers these blessings. The backdrop to this whole concept is a little island that was self-contained. The beautiful thing about God's Kingdom blessings is that they are built in, so you don't have to, like, go get them. They're already set up to flow like lava coming out of a mountain. It's already built in when the conditions are right, so we establish the conditions for the flow of God's goodness in our lives, so don't lose out on the blessings because you refuse to honor the blessedness of our King.

A short summary of Biblical teaching on Christ's appearances in the Old Testament.

PRE-INCARNATE JESUS TOMMY NELSON “Now Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” (John 17:5) “. . . He existed in the form of God . . .” (Phil.2:6) “. . . He was rich . . .” (2 Cor. 8:9) Where does one begin in examining the unfathomable majesty and mystery of Christ? One begins in eternity, for “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” But we must always remember that the unique Person of the Godman, Jesus Christ, that unique theanthropic Person has only existed from Mary’s womb onward – an existence that will never end or be altered. But the preincarnate Son of God, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, had eternally delighted in the Father’s love. The Bible only hints at that unique and inexplicable relationship. Only that there was the sameness of deity and of glory. There is just so much that created beings are able to peer into. “Things into which angels long to look.” But never has a distance so enormous been so traversed as that from the Son, the infinite Creator, to the finite creation. Never has a humiliation been so great, never a condescension as enormous as the Word become flesh. The classic type and prefiguring of this was the Old Testament tabernacle. There the unobservable, unendurable glory and Presence of God, the Shekinah, was localized in a small cubicle. A Holy of Holies, where Glory and the fullness of deity was contained and confined in skins. A glory upon which no unauthorized eye could gaze, and yet confined to that which was approachable. And so was the “mystery of godliness – God manifested in the flesh.” Such was the eternal Son of God taking residence in a body that could be laid in a manger – sit at table – mount a cross. As Paul wrote, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who though He was rich for your sake became poor . . .” (2 Cor. 8:9) What a thought. “He was rich.” Rich in power. Rich in glory. Rich in angelic worship. Rich in deity. Such was the “form of God.” Yet He became a pauper for me. This is a theological point we cannot fully understand. This is not merely a moral admonition we can obey. All we can do is stand back in awe and wonder. What profound humiliation. God will never demand more from me than He has modeled in the most extreme form. He, as God, taking up time and space. Indeed did Isaiah understand this when he prophesied, “His name shall be called ‘Wonderful’ . . .” The Hebrew word for “wonderful” is elsewhere used in the repeated Old Testament statement “nothing is impossible with God.” It means something which, though true, is beyond our ability to comprehend. Such is the baby born in Bethlehem who was named by Isaiah “Everlasting Father.” Such is full of wonder. Certainly did the angels sing at His birth and announce to Mary and Zacharias His approach. Certainly did the angels attend Him in the wilderness and Gethsemane. Certainly did the angels sit reverently in His vacated tomb and stand reverently in mid-heaven at His ascension. Certainly will they sound forth His return when He descends from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. And most certainly did the demons fall prostrate at His feet in the body of that most wretched demoniac and beg not to be sent in to the abyss. And how rightly does John’s gospel end in the crescendo of Thomas – “My Lord and my God!”

I was in Starbucks a few hours ago, getting coffee for the weekend and getting some beans, and I heard something that I guess I didn't expect. It was busy, it was crazy, it was loud in Starbucks. But over the PA it was Elvis Presley singing Silent Night, and it just sort of struck-- it was like, (IMITATING ELVIS) Silent night. And it's like, OK, there's the King of rock and roll singing about the King of Kings, and it's a very silent, quiet night, and it was crazy pandemonium in Starbucks. It's just not what I expected. Speaking of what you don't expect, there was a woman in Australia who woke up to something very odd for Christmas. And it wasn't a gift under the tree, it was a snake under the tree. It was a snake that's very venomous, highly poisonous, indigenous to Australia, and it was curled up on the branches amongst the tinsel. It shocked her and she, of course, had to call the authorities and get the snake removed. It's not what she expected for Christmas. Nobody would expect that. For Joseph and Mary it was also very unexpected. It's not what they expected in their relationship with each other. Suddenly they're confronted with an unexpected pregnancy. They are not certain what to do. It requires special Revelation from God in order to deal with it. What they did know is that there had been a snake for centuries underneath the tree of humanity, so to speak. Back in Genesis when Satan showed up and beguiled Eve, and a prophecy came forth in Genesis 3 that a woman would one day have a child, and that child would have the power, the authority to crush the serpent's head with its heel. To take it completely out of the picture. Well, this is all new to Joseph and Mary. And so Joseph has a dream about what is happening with his girlfriend, whom he is engaged to, and what to do about it. I'm going to read the story. It's familiar to you. It's out of Matthew, chapter one. This is Christmas through the eyes of Joseph. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother, Mary, was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus. For he will save his people from their sins. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son. And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated, "God with us." Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took him his wife. And did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Experts tell us that every one dreams. You do it every night. You don't remember them all, but you dream. You go into a period of sleep called REM, R-E-M, rapid eye movement. That's where you are more likely to have a dream than any other period during the sleep cycle. Your dreams last anywhere from just a few seconds to up to 30 minutes, and you typically have between three and five dreams a night. Again, the problem is always the recall, but sometimes they're very vivid and you remember them. My wife, when she dreams, she communicates to me in her dreams often. And it's very sweet and very articulate. She'll say the sweetest things. I'll carry a conversation on with her and she will have no recollection the next day that any of that took place. So a few years ago, in the middle of the night, she turned over. She was in her dream but she said, honey, I love you so much. And I told her I loved her. And we had a little conversation and it was sweet. And then a few minutes later she turned around and she said, OK, now shut up and go to sleep. It was a dream, or so I'm told. She had no remembrance at all the next day that that took place. We dream as a means of our subconscious dealing with what goes on during our conscious, normal activity of life. Sometimes we go through a very difficult period of time and we try to sort it out in our dreams, we are told. At other times we get the weirdest, wildest dreams that seemingly are unrelated to anything at all. Am I right? It's the result of a late night pizza with red chili. And so you'll get some kind of a response in your brain. You'll get a dream. But sometimes God uses dreams. He uses them to communicate to people, and he did throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament Abraham received a dream that confirmed the covenant that God made with him and with those who would follow after him, in Genesis, chapter 15. A man named Abimelech, who was the King of Gerar, received a dream not to touch Abraham's wife, Sarah, in chapter 20 of Genesis. Jacob received a dream when he ran away from his brother, and he saw a ladder stretching up to heaven with the angels of God going down and going up, all in a dream. Joseph is one of the most famous dreamers in the Bible. Remember, he received a couple of dreams, and he didn't win any points with his family because of those dreams. He went to them one day and he said, hey guys, I had a dream last night that there were 12 stars, the sun, and the moon, and the sun and the moon and the 11 stars all bowed down to my star. And they didn't really like that dream all that much. But God was setting it up, and he was speaking through a dream. This is a dream where the Lord is speaking through his angel to this man, Joseph. Now, I find something interesting. Basically the same information that Joseph gets is what Mary gets earlier from the angel Gabriel, when the angel Gabriel appears to Mary in real time. Not a dream, but more of a vision. She actually sees the angel and hears the angel while Mary is wide awake. Joseph, on the other hand, gets it in a dream. I can't tell you why, except sometimes guys are just harder-headed and they need to be put out to get a message. By the way, sometimes God does his best work when he puts a man to sleep. And I don't say that facetiously. Adam was asleep when God fashioned out of his side, Eve, and then brought the woman to the man. This story of Joseph is a story of what I call the forgotten man of Christmas. There's a lot of Christmas songs and there's a lot written about Mary and Jesus. Joseph is there, we know, but he's sort of the background guy because he didn't have anything at all to do with the pregnancy of Mary, but he is part of this family. This forgotten man-- in fact, did you know that in the Bible there is never a single recorded word that Joseph spoke? We know he spoke, but there is no recorded word in the Bible of what Joseph said. And then somebody, just for fun, decided to take their church hymnal and go through it and they found five songs, five references by name, to Mary and not a single reference in any song to Joseph. But he's in this story. And in the verses that I just read to you, there are eight verses that tell the story. I read to you eight versus. The first two verses deal with what happens before the dream, then there are four verses that tell what happened during the dream, and then the last two verses tell what happened after the dream when Joseph woke up. And there are three words that sum it all up. There is confusion, there is clarity, and finally there is compliance. It begins with confusion. Joseph is just plain confused at the news that the girl that he loves and wants to marry suddenly turns up pregnant. It broke his heart. We are told this, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother, Mary, was betrothed-- I'll explain that in a moment-- to Joseph, before they came together-- that is in marital, physical union-- she, Mary, was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, or a just man, not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. In two verses Joseph goes from excitement to bewilderment. From planning a wedding to filing for divorce. We don't know when Joseph got the news. We don't know how the news was presented about Mary, but his world came crashing down the moment he got the news. Now, in those days, there were two levels of a relationship before marriage. There were two stages. The first stage was called, in Hebrew, the kiddushin, which was the engagement, the betrothal. Typically it lasted a year. And then that was followed by the crescendo, the event itself, the chuppah, which was the wedding ceremony, the party. So there was a year engagement followed by a wedding. When couples were engaged or betrothed in those days, they couldn't decide to break it off unless they got a divorce. They were legally married in simply signing the promise, the contract, usually arranged by parents, not by the couple, and you couldn't break it up unless you got a formal divorce. The other catch was, there was no physical contact during that one year of betrothal or engagement. They rarely saw each other. They were too busy working, planning the wedding. No physical contact at all. Joseph was excited about that. Until he gets the news. Because he immediately thinks, and rightly so, wait a minute, that's not my baby. And purity was, in those days, highly regarded-- and, by the way, it still is by God. Sexual purity was highly regarded as something to be aspired to by every couple. So Joseph is confused. And we know what Joseph did. We typically call him a carpenter. He was a craftsman. I can just hear what His buddies must have said when they found out the news. Listen, I worked around builders, and I can just imagine they said, yeah, Joseph, you had nothing to do with it. Right. We believe you, buddy. Or they might have said something-- you ought to just dump her. She's a loser. If she would do something like that before a wedding, you could never ever trust her again. It was a sad day for Joseph. I'm sure even this man's man cried. Now, Mary had an advantage. She was told by the angel Gabriel what this was all about. The angel appeared to her and said, you're going to have a child. And she asked the right question. She goes, wait a minute, how can these things be? I've never been with a man in my life. This is impossible. And so Gabriel gives the explanation. Not much of one, not a long one, but sufficient. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the highest will overshadow you so that that which is born will be the son of the highest, the Son of God. Now, Joseph didn't have that visit. Mary did. So Joseph hears the news. My girlfriend's pregnant. He panics. He decides, I need to put her away, give her a divorce privately. Now, when I read this I go, oh, Joseph. Hold on, buddy. Just wait until-- you need to read Luke, chapter one, man. You're still in Matthew 1. Just give it a little bit of time. Luke one's coming up. Of course, they didn't have the Bible back then. He was just living this out. He hears the news, and in verse 19 it says, being a just man, not wanting to make a public example of her, he was minded to put her away privately. Now let me explain that Joseph had three options. Option number one, he could have exposed her publicly, and in the Old Testament, years before this, that would have meant public stoning. Public shaming and public stoning. Death in public. That had long been not practiced, but it would still be very shameful to expose her publicly. The second thing he could have done was a private divorce. This is what he opted for. That is where you take two witnesses, bring a certificate, something you write down, ending the relationship, presenting that to the bride to be or the bride that used to be with two witnesses, and it's over. The third thing Joseph could have done is just said, I'm going to bite the bullet and I'm going to marry this girl. He couldn't get his head around that one, so he opted for number two. Of course, today there would be a fourth option, unfortunately. A guy would hand a girl $200 and say go get an abortion. But Joseph, it says, was a righteous man. He was a just man. And though he cared about his own personal life, he also cared about Mary. He'd loved her deeply and he cared about her reputation. So in that quandary, at the lowest point in his life, he goes, I'm going to give her a private divorce. This boy needs a dream. This boy needs to be put down, put under anesthesia by a divine surgeon. And that's what happens in the next few verses. We go from confusion to clarity. That's what the dream brings while he thought about these things, I'm sure very emotionally, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. Now, I love this. He gets a personal pep talk by an angel in a dream. But there are a few components to this short little dream of Joseph. First component was recollection. The angel wants Joseph to remember a promise that happened and who Joseph was. Listen to what he says. Joseph, son of David-- stop right there. Reminding Joseph that he was of the lineage of the house, the royal house of King David and that God made a promise to David that somebody would be born from his lineage that would rule the world one day. He wants to remind Joseph, you're part of that picture. You will provide for the child that is not really your child, the legal right to the throne of David. So there is first that recollection. The second component is an exhortation. The angel says, do not be afraid. Or literally, stop. Stop being afraid. You know, sometimes you have to tell a person who's freaking out, stop. And so the angel does this exhortation. Don't be afraid. You know, when I first asked my wife to marry me, I was so scared just to ask her. I was so scared, I still to this day don't really remember how it all happened. I remember being at her dad's house, I remember standing up, I remember saying words that she tells me made no sense at all. She goes, you were talking about street lights and them turning green and then red and driving a car and going left and going right, and I had no idea what you were saying, and suddenly it dawned on me, she said. Oh goodness, he's going to ask me to marry him. This I do remember. I remember when she said, honey, I said yes. I said, what? I said yes. You just asked me to marry you, and I said yes. And then I said this. Now, wait a minute. And I walked away, just like this. I said, wait a minute. Uh, we've got to talk about this. This is-- this is big stuff here. And she thought at that moment, he's-- I mean, this is the worst proposal in the world. I was just so frightened of what I was getting into. I think some single guys are. Joseph was afraid of what this would mean for Mary and what this would mean for him. This was news he just did not expect. And so there's now an explanation. That's the next component. The angel says this, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. I gotta tell you, Joseph had no idea what that meant. He didn't get it. He didn't understand that. He was just going, oh. OK. In other words, Joseph, you can't figure this out, but God did this. This is a God thing. But, listen, to this day I can't fully explain to you the virgin birth. I believe it, but I can't explain it. Larry King, years ago, who used to be an interviewer on CNN, you may remember, he was once asked, Larry, if you could interview anybody, any person from history, who would you interview, and what would you ask that person. He said, I'd interview Jesus Christ and I'd ask him one question. Were you really born of a virgin? Because if the answer is yes, he said, for me that changes everything. You may know, Larry King is Jewish. And if he discovered that Jesus was indeed born of a virgin as his prophet Isaiah predicted he would be, that changes his whole view of history and the future. So there is that explanation that that is indeed the case. Followed by another component, instruction. Listen to what the angel says. She, Mary, will bring forth a son. You will give him the name Jesus. He will save his people from their sins. You get those 1, 2, 3. She's going to have the baby, you're going to name the baby, the baby's going to save the world. How's that for a solution to our ills? She's going to have the baby, you're going to name the baby, baby is going to save the world. You got the easy part, here, dude. You don't even have to think of a name. Here's the name. That's followed by a clarification. Matthew said, all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying-- quoting Isaiah-- "behold, a virgin shall be with child." 900 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a prophet said, a virgin is going to have a child and call his name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us. In other words, Joseph, this is all part of God's plan. He predicted this from the beginning. It's going down exactly like he said. Now, why a dream? Well, the dream is going to help Joseph understand not only the situation but it's going to help Joseph understand what Mary has been going through these past several months. Remember, when Mary was told that she was pregnant she goes away for several months, down to Judea, to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Then she comes back, great with child by this time, no doubt. So she's been carrying the information in her head and Joseph thought, that sounds crazy. You say, how'd you get pregnant? God did it. That sounds nuts. Well, that didn't sound any more nuts than, an angel appeared to me in a dream and said, God did it. So now it's going to help Joseph understand what she's been wrestling with. So we begin with confusion and then go to clarification. It's clarified in the dream, and the third is compliance. The last two verses tell us what he did after the dream. Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife. And did not know her, did not have physical, normal marital relations with her until she brought forth her first born son, and he called his name Jesus. Joseph woke up, Joseph obeyed. And you know why he did? Because that dream was such a relief to him, giving him the necessary information. He woke up from that dream-- what a good dream that was. He woke up refreshed, going, oh, man I'm so humbled that I get to be a part of this incredible plan that God has had from eternity past. Takes Mary, who's probably in maternity clothes at this time, finds a rabbi, they get married, they go through the marital ceremony. Something quiet, no doubt. And he says to Mary, I'm not going to touch you until after you have this baby. I'm not going to have any physical relations with you. I don't want anybody even having a rumor that I had anything at all to do with the birth of this baby. So he backed off until after Jesus was born. But listen to that little phrase that says-- it says, Joseph, being aroused from his sleep. That is, Joseph woke up from the dream. You know, that is always the problem when you have a good dream, it's waking up. I don't know if you've ever had a dream where when you wake up, the alarm goes off, and you go, man, I want to push snooze. I need 10 more minutes. I need to finish that dream. Have you ever done that? It's like, it's so good I want to see how the story ends. I've done that. And a few occasions I've gotten right back into it. And it's cool when that happens. But Joseph had this great dream and he woke up from it. It's over now. Listen, the dream was easy. What's going to follow is going to be hard. For Joseph, the easiest part of this whole thing was the dream. The reality that's going to be his future is going to be difficult because now he's going to take that pregnant girl to Bethlehem because of a mandated census. That's going to be hard on her and on him. Then, because of a threat from Herod, the Grinch, they're going to have to leave and flee to Egypt where they'll be protected by God. And then he's going to move that family back up to Nazareth. And by that time, people have heard the story and they have figured out the time, the dates, and tongues are wagging and gossip is flying. And Joseph and Mary and Jesus will have to live with that for years to come. But he obeys. He obeys. The dream was the easy part. The reality would be the hardest part. But I want you to think about this. The hardest part is the best part, because that baby will grow up from the manger, say some very controversial things, but always with the view of going to a cross where he will be mistreated, spat upon, beaten up, hung on a cross, and left to die. And anybody who has some of this background would look at the cross and go, oh no, how could this happen? This is horrible. This ruins the plan. I mean, there was an angel and a dream, and now this? This is the end of the plan. No. This was the plan from the beginning. You will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sin. That's what he's doing right now on that Roman cross. You see, that prediction, way back in Genesis, that the head of the serpent is going to bruise the heel of the Messiah, but the heel of the Messiah will crush the head of Satan, the serpent. That took place on the cross. The easy part was the dream. What followed was the hardest part, but the hardest part is the best part. Because of what it meant for you and for me. Jesus on the cross would crush that serpent so that nobody has to wake up on Christmas and have that snake bothering him ever again. It's done with. It's over with. Now, Joseph woke up physically. But you might say he also woke up spiritually. When he woke up from that dream it was as if Joseph said, I get it now. I understand. I don't understand it all, but I get what's happening. It is our prayer that not will you just enjoy a Christmas presentation and hear a few words about Jesus and feel good inside, but it's our hope that you'll wake up from whatever sleep you've had to the reality of life itself, that Jesus came for you. That he's alive and he loves you. That he has a plan for you. That you will wake up and you will let him save you. Because that's why he came, to save people from their sin. I remember the night I said yes to Jesus, and he saved me from my sin. Last week I saw people come forward at a church service. Jesus saved them from their sin. And on Christmas Eve I'm going to give you an opportunity, as we sing this final song, I'm going to pray with you, and then we're all going to stand up and I'm going to give you an invitation to come and make Jesus the savior of your life. Father, we want to just bow for a moment in prayer. We want to thank you for your plan. It wasn't willy-nilly. It wasn't just some myth or some favored tale that God passed down and then things added to. We have the record of scripture that shows the hundreds of predictions made about who that child was, what he would do, when he would do it, where it would take place, how would happen. It's unfolded in our midst. It's not a dream, it's a reality. It's a reality in time and space. It happened in history. And life change can happen in our history, and this could be the time for many of us. Because I believe that people are here tonight with family members maybe invited, maybe for the first time. Maybe they've been here many times, but their hearts are broken. They're hurting. Christmas is not what they expected this year. And it's funny how every year we just sort of try to reconstruct a feeling of Christmas that we had when we were young. The truth is, we approach this season, many of us, with broken hearts, hurting hearts. Things have happened to us during the year that have rendered us in great pain, and walking with a limp. You are here for us. You are here for anyone who fits that description. You are here to save and to change and to invade a life and bring transformation. And I pray that you would. In Jesus' name, Amen. Would you stand please, to your feet? I'm going to give you an opportunity. We don't do this to embarrass you. You're going to find out. We do this to celebrate with you. If you are willing, in this family of believers gathered, to say yes to Jesus-- maybe you have never, ever in your life, personally turned to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You've been wondering about the meaning of life. You've wondered if there would ever be anything better than what you've already experienced. You have this nagging emptiness, some of us, in our hearts, in our lives. We want that filled. Others of you, far from that. You've been to church your whole life. Sadly you have looked to church or religion to fill that empty spot. It never will. It never can. Only Jesus, the person, can because he is alive. He is God. He died for you. He was raised to glory for you. His blood is enough payment for your sins. And if you give him your life, he'll come in and change you forever. But you have to do that. Then some of you may remember making some kind of pledge or you sang some song, maybe you even threw a pine cone in a fire at a camp one time and thought, oh, that feels so good. But the truth is, tonight, you're not walking with Jesus. You're not following him, and you need to come back home to him. As we sing this final song I'm just going to ask you, no matter where you're standing, balcony, middle of an aisle, way in the back, right up front, family room, over-flow, I'm going to ask you to get up from where you're standing, find the nearest possibility, aisle, and stand right up. I'm going to lead you in a word of prayer to say yes to Jesus on this Christmas Eve, to receive him as Lord and Savior into your heart, to make you a brand new person. As we sing this song, you get up and come. We'll wait for you. (SINGING) Oh, come to the alter. The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Oh come to the alter. The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We're just about over but, you know, I know what it's like to wrestle with this decision. I know what it's like to listen and to evaluate and then say, another time, another time. So I want to give you the opportunity. This is why you were created. You were put on this earth to know God, to have a relationship with God. The only way a person can have a relationship with God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Not through any religion, not through any church thing. In fact, I'll just say it. Religion is one of the biggest barriers between humanity and God. Always has been. It makes people think they're OK with God just because they get religious or attend a service or light a candle or get on their knees or say a prayer. And that won't make you right with God. Only Jesus, the person, Jesus, who died for you can make you right with God. So I don't want to get you religious. I want you to be saved. He came to save people from their sin. You're going to wake up tomorrow and you're going to probably open a present or two and, you know what? You'll forget about him probably the next day. A present can't change you. A gift can't change you. But there's a gift that God gave, and that can change you. He, Jesus. For God so loved the world that he gave-- that's the gift. That's the gift you need to receive, if you haven't personally done that yet. You get up and come. It's Christmas Eve. It's your time to get up and make a decision for Jesus.

Hebrews – A Letter for all Seasons Context of Persecution 64-67 AD – First great persecution. Nero (666) – burning crosses “Caesar is Lord” – Incense Time – before 70 AD – Temple still standing Author – unknown KJV – Letter of Paul to Hebrews: Written to Hebrews by Timothy Living: Love, Paul. Comes to end: Good-bye They know who he was – Hebrews 13:18 Never signed his name – Persecution? Handwriting. Paul? No. Timothy? Priscilla? Didn’t know temple well. Whoever? He loved Jesus. Recipients No one knows – Hebrews 13:24 Recipients persecuted mercilessly. Not Rome – Hebrews 13:24. Who knows? LIKE BASKETBALL GAME – 5 QUARTERS, 5 TIMEOUTS AND OVERTIME. Quarters: Balls in play – Talk about Jesus. Five quarters and overtime. Time out – warning Overtime: concluding remarks FIRST QUARTER - Jesus is Superior to Angels – Hebrews 4:4-13 Hebrews 1:1-3 If we are to know anything about God, He must speak. We don’t break out of box – “Where have you been?” Follow any religion. No. God broke into our world in Jesus Christ. “Icon” – “Spitting Image” – 1 Colossians 1:15; 1:19; 2:9 The preeminence of Christ – verses 2-3 – His characteristics “Sat down” – contradiction to Old Testament priests – Fred and sister crossing street. When do I die? Hebrews 4:4-14 Guardian Angels – Angels: first created: unable to procreate: Revelation 5:11 – 1000x1000 and thousands and thousands. Free choice: Wrong Demonic angels after Fall: (1)On earth tormenting (2)In Tartarus to be released at Great Tribulation Jesus better than angels in 5 ways. Ministering spirits – Guardian Angels Brianna’s angel FIRST TIME OUT – Danger of Drifting Back to Judaism – Hebrews 2:1-4 Read Hebrews 2:1-4 “Whose mask goes on first?” “Pay Careful Attention” – listening to instructions on airplane -- Brie Demas – Drifting Philemon 24-24 – “Demas my fellow believer.” Colossians 4:7-14 – “Demas” Eight co-laborers complimented, but not Demas. Paul already seeing the drift – Silence speaks volumes 2 Timothy 4:5-11 – “Demas has forsaken me.” Why? – Loved present age. See Paul in prison. Christ outlive Nero? Christianity outlast Roman Empire Name dogs Nero How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? SECOND QUARTER: Jesus Superior to Moses – Hebrews 2:5-3:6 Hebrews 2:9 – He leads us back to Jesus. Measure Jesus as better than Moses “What are your measurements?” Heart surgery – ICU Didn’t dare ask Julie while dating – She wouldn’t tell me. Asked after we got married – Still wouldn’t tell me. Made like his brothers to be a faithful High Priest Read Hebrews 2:14-17 Greater than Moses – Hebrews 3:5-6 Hebrews 2:10 – Author of salvation=perfect through suffering. Author – Archegos – pioneer, trailblazer Shipwreck – one swims ashore with rescue line. Perfect through suffering Already perfect – “Teleios” by suffering. 2ND TIME OUT – Tough times – Encourage each other not to quit – Hebrews 3:7-8, 12-13 through 4:13. Hebrews 3:7-8 – “Today, don’t harden your hearts.” Hebrews 4:1-3 – Enter God’s rest Hebrews 4:12-13 – Spiritual surgery Divide = soul and spirit and marrow Our ability to enter into God’s rest is directly proportional to the quality of our inner lives. Led by spirit, not soul. THIRD QUARTER – Jesus is a great High Priest--Hebrews 4:14-5:10 Key verse is Hebrews 4:14: Hold fast IXOUS (Greek) – Jesus Christ Son of God Savior Two requirements for Priest (1)Genuinely human – able to feel pain (2)Appointed by God. Hebrews 5:5-6 – Appointed by God. Hebrews 5:7-10 – Genuinely human and suffering. Verse 7 refers to climax in Garden Vs 8-9 (1)Dying spiritually – separated from God (2)Experiencing full load of sin   At Alison’s house A 3 year old naked from the waist down. “Don’t touch furnace” – Mom not looking. Backed in just to see how hot. THIRD TIME OUT – Grow up! Don’t commit apostasy – Hebrews 5:11-6-4 It’s time to grow up – Hebrews 5:11-6:3 SERIES OF DIAGRAMS HERE RELATING TO Conversion of Hebrews, Maturity, and Apostate “Not laying again” (These are Jewish religious issues) (1) Foundation of repentance – offerings of heretical system (2) Faith toward God – issue of faith and works is settled (3) Instructions about baptisms – ceremonial washings (4) Laying on of hands – Priest lays hand on scapegoat (5) Resurrection of the dead – Old Testament teaching in Daniel=2 02:12-13; Psalm 16:9, etc. (6) Eternal judgment – Judgment settled at cross Still Time-Out Three – Don’t Commit Apostasy Hebrews 6:4-6 Saved or Lost? Once saved always saved? Lose=2 0salvation? 5 great advantages – (1) Once enlightened – Matthew 4:16 – People on darkness seen a great light. (2) Tasted the heavenly gift = gift of salvation. Tasted – not eaten or drunken (John 6) Julie at B&R – tasted vanilla ripple, pistachio, bubble gum – “Look lady, I’m going to have to start charging you.” (3) Shared in Holy Spirit (not received Holy Spirit?) Judas is example – preached and miracles and lost! (4) Tasted goodness of Word of God – Mark 6:20 – “Heard John the Baptist gladly” (5) Tasted powers of coming age – Miracles of the day “If” they fall away – Apostasy = stand next to and fall away Doom pronounced – Not possible to return to repentance. Why? (1) They don’t desire to repent (2) No other message to give (See Hebrews 10:26-27) (3) No man, no angel has power to bring repentance (4) Crucifying Son of God again and public disgrace (Hebrews 10:26-29) Fourth Class Conditional Sentence FOURTH QUARTER – Jesus’ Priesthood was in the line of Melchizedek and thus far superior to Aaron’s! -- Hebrews 6:13-10:25 Read Hebrews 6:19-7:8 Melchizedek’s work – Bread and wine Inferior (Abraham) is blessed by superior (Melchizedek) Read Hebrews 7:11 – Levitical priests couldn’t do it. Read Hebrews 7:15-17 – Jesus after order of Melchizedek Read Hebrews 7:25 – Able to save for all time those who draw near Read Hebrews 7:26-27 – No need to offer daily sacrifices – Offered self once for all. Scottish fisherman – Little inn, evening meal. Gestured wildly about fish that got away. Hit tea glass and stained wall – Apologized profusely. Man: “Don’t worry”, pulls pen and sketches around ugly brown stain. Magnificent royal stag emerged. Sir Edward Lansier – England’s foremost painter of animals. This is what grace does to the stain of our sins. Read Hebrews 9:11-12; 27-28 (once to die and judgment) Read Hebrews 10;11-14 – “Sat down once for all.” World War II – German boy – captured – needs transfusion – Race supremacy – refused blood. “There is a fountain filled with blood…” FOURTH TIME OUT – Hebrews 10:26-39 – Those who turn away from Jesus are really in trouble. Read Hebrews 10:26-31 Out of context - Appeal for lost to get saved. In context – Appeal for Christians not to turn back. 10:26-27 – Sin deliberately… no longer sacrifice.” Not referring to any premeditated sin. 10:32-39 – Suffering – They were persecuted in many forms: Verbal, financial, physically. Don’t quit now. Alexander Solzhenitzen: “Consider yourself dead – died a little early. No property, no family, all is dead to me. “Only my spirit and conscious remain precious to me. Confronted by interrogation with that kind of man the interrogator will tremble. Only the man who has renounced everything can win that victory!” 10:39 – Real Christians will persevere to the end! FIFTH QUARTER – Men and woman of faith and especially Christ provide the encouragement we need to carry on at any price-- Hebrews 10:39-12-24. 11:1 Definition of faith (Diagram of train) – Faith – Facts – Feelings 11:3 – Universe created Abel/Enoch 11:6 – Without faith impossible to please Him! List men and women of faith – “and all the rest” 10:39-40 – All commended but hadn’t seen promises – God planned something better = “be made perfect.” Hebrews 12:1-3 – Looking unto Jesus overview Consider what He gave up to save us! Emptied Himself – Philippians 2 Shameful rejection Shameful accusation Shameful mocking – kingship, deity Prayer – Head falls… 12:3-11 – Discipline those He loves. FIFTH TIME OUT – DO NOT REFUSE HIM WHO SPEAKS – HEBREWS 12:25-29. Read Hebrews 12:25-29. OVERTIME – HEBREWS 13 1:3: Hospitality to strangers 1:4: Let marriage bed be undefiled 1:5: keep free from love of money 1:7: Remember your leaders 1:8-16: Jesus is the same…don’t be led astray by strange and diverse teachings 1:17 Obey your leaders; give an account 1:18-19: Pray for my clear conscience 1:20-21: May the God of Peace Blessing 1:22-25: Timothy is released. Greet all; Grace be with you all. “FAITH IS THE VICTORY” By Buell Kazee

Christ is superior to the angels. Here's why.

“All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing has come into being that has come into being.” “For by Him all things were created . . .” (Col. 1:16) “. . . yet for us there is but one God the Father from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” (1 Cor. 8:6) “But of the Son He says, ‘Thy throne O God is forever and the righteous scepter is the scepter of Thy kingdom . . . and you Lord in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of your hands.’” (Hebrews 1:8, 10) “The Son of Man is Lord of Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:8) The scripture is quite clear.  Not only is the Son of God the creator of the angelic realm.  Not only is He the object of history through which God shall save His elect, but He is also the creator of the heavens and the earth. The Father is the architect who decrees.  The Son is that One in perfect union.  “The Son can do nothing of Himself unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19)   Thus the Son created, as carrying out the Father’s will.  That by which He accomplished the Father’s purpose was the Holy Spirit.  This is first mentioned in Genesis 1:1-3. “ God  created the heavens and the earth . . .” “. . .  the Spirit  of God moved over the surface of the deep . . .” “. . . and God  said  (the Word)   ‘Let there be light.’” The implications are beyond description.  The divine Son, the Son eternally in the bosom of the Father, the Father’s eternal first-born, who has never  not  been the Son of God – this unique 2 nd  Person of the Tri-unity laid aside His glory and the free use of His divine attributes, to take “the form of a bondservant and to be made in the likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:7) The One who said “Be fruitful” became the object of Elizabeth’s blessing, “Blessed be the fruit of thy womb.” The giver of life would be sustained breath by breath. The Bread of Life would hunger. Living Water would say “I thirst.” The Light of the World would hang in darkness. Omnipotence would sleep from weariness. Omniscience would grow in wisdom and ask questions of the teachers. The Life everlasting would die in His strength. The Holy One forsaken by the Father. Mary held Him who is The Everlasting Arms. O most excellent mystery. “When Christ the mighty Maker died for man the creature’s sin.” Rightly did the water blush at its Creator and become wine. as did the winds and waves at His voice “Hush” and “be still.” as would fish and grain instantly multiply to feed the multitudes. or fish come as commanded to the nets, or the one fish swallow the one coin when and where He willed. How gently could He sit on a colt, the foal of a donkey upon which no one had ever sat. How responsive were the demons, the diseased, disabilities and death to disappear before Him. For death to thrice bow at His feet. Though omnipotent He rested in the womb aboard the donkey in the stable in a manger. Our Incomparable Christ.

Adapted from: Master's Seminary Journal Volume 8 Spurgeon’s defense of the truth and concern for integrity follow the pattern set by Paul in dealing with his opponents in Corinth. In 2 Corinthians, Paul’s response to criticism consisted of a defense of his integrity, without which his ministry would have been ineffective. He placed before his readers a number of reasons to reassure them of his integrity. They included his reverence for the Lord, his concern for the church, his devotion to the truth, his gratitude for Christ’s love, his desire for righteousness, and his burden for the lost. In defending his integrity, he risked being called proud by his enemies, so he also displayed several marks of his humility: an unwillingness to compare oneself with others, a willingness to minister within limits, an unwillingness to take credit for others’ labors, a willingness to seek only the Lord’s glory, and an unwillingness to pursue anything but eternal commendation. Paul had right motives and he defended them for the right reasons, that is, to glorify God and to promote the truth of the gospel and Christ’s church. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the gifted nineteenth-century London preacher, said this in one of his later sermons, “I feel that, if I could live a thousand lives, I would like to live them all for Christ, and I should even then feel that they were all too little a return for His great love to me”[2] Spurgeon was a pastor and Christian leader who clearly loved the Lord and defended His cause with integrity. That fact never exhibited itself more clearly than during the late 1880s, just a few years before his death. That is when he was a central figure in a major British church struggle known as the Downgrade Controversy. This doctrinal debate began within the Protestant churches of England (most notably the Baptist Union) when Spurgeon could no longer refrain from criticizing the church’s alarming departure from sound doctrine and practice. Many churches and their pastors, who previously had been firmly conservative and evangelical, became more tolerant of theories that undermined the authority of Scripture and its view of man. Spurgeon also observed a deviation from the great Reformation doctrines and the proper role played by God’s sovereign grace in salvation. From his pulpit and the pages of his magazine, The Sword and the Trowel, he courageously and consistently spoke out for the truth and urged average believers to resist false teaching and stand firm on the fundamentals of Christianity. However, the tide of doctrinal declension among the churches in Charles Spurgeon’s day continued, and his godly conscience constrained him to leave the Baptist Union. Shortly after his death in the 1890s, some of Spurgeon’s supporters formed a new society called the Bible League to continue the battle for doctrinal purity and practical orthodoxy among evangelical churches. During the months of controversy, Spurgeon received harsh criticism from his opponents, but he never wavered from his defense of the truth. The following excerpt, preached during the Downgrade from a sermon entitled “Something Done for Jesus,” reveals the true nature of Spurgeon’s righteous motives and proper integrity: We love our brethren for Jesus’ sake, but He is the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely. We could not live without Him. To enjoy His company is bliss to us: for Him to hide His face from us is our midnight of sorrow . . . Oh, for the power to live, to die, to labour, to suffer as unto Him, and unto Him alone! … If a deed done for Christ should bring you into disesteem, and threaten to deprive you of usefulness, do it none the less. I count my own character, popularity, and usefulness to be as the small dust of the balance compared with fidelity to the Lord Jesus. It is the devil’s logic which says, “You see I cannot come out and avow the truth because I have a sphere of usefulness which I hold by temporizing with what I fear may be false.” O sirs, what have we to do with consequences? Let the heavens fall, but let the good man be obedient to his Master, and loyal to his truth. O man of God, be just and fear not! The consequences are with God, and not with thee. If thou hast done a good work unto Christ, though it should seem to thy poor bleared eyes as if great evil has come of it, yet hast thou done it, Christ has accepted it, and He will note it down, and in thy conscience He will smile thee His approval.[3] Paul’s Defense of His Integrity Charles Spurgeon’s defense of the truth and concern for integrity aligned with the legacy of the apostle Paul. Throughout his ministry, Paul faced opposition from those who hated the gospel and wanted to pervert its proclamation for their own purposes. Most of the opposition came from a group of false teachers in Corinth. They accused him of being incompetent, unsophisticated, unappealing, and impersonal. As a consequence, Paul was obliged, much against his normal preferences, to defend himself and his ministry. He did not seek to glorify himself, but he knew that he had to defend the gospel and the name of the Lord from those who sought to destroy the truth. It soon became clear to the false teachers in Corinth that if they were going to redirect the Corinthian believers toward error and a false gospel, in addition to getting rich and gaining power and prestige, they would have to destroy Paul’s integrity. Since he had established and taught the church at Corinth, the false teachers would have to undermine the church’s confidence in Paul if they were going to replace his teaching with their own. If his opponents at Corinth could destroy his integrity, they could also do away with Paul’s usefulness, fruitfulness, and ability to serve the Lord. Therefore Paul had to maintain his integrity. While he had acknowledged his own humility in ministry—”We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7)—he also understood the real issue at stake in defending his integrity: “that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:7). An essential goal for any spiritual leader is to gain people’s trust through genuine integrity. Like Paul, a leader’s conduct must be trustworthy and consistent with his words. But once a leader proves to be hypocritical in any area of ministry, no matter how seemingly insignificant, he loses everything he has labored for in ministry and sees his credibility destroyed. That is what Paul feared as he confronted the rumors and lies of the false teachers at Corinth. Paul used his second letter to the Corinthians, and certain passages in particular, to defend his integrity to the church. Second Corinthians 5:11 begins one of those passages, where Paul says, “We persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.”4 Paul wanted the church to understand and accept his sincerity in all things, as God had. As Paul began this defense of his integrity, common sense dictated that he not expend any more time or energy in further self-promotion (2 Corinthians 5:12)—the Corinthians were already well aware of his consistent character and what he had done. Nevertheless, because of the insidious, persistent, and often vicious nature of his enemies’ attacks, Paul outlined several reasons the Corinthians could look to for reassurance regarding his integrity. Paul’s Reverence for the Lord The first reason Paul offered in defense of his integrity was his “fear of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:11). Fear in this context does not mean “being afraid,” but “worship” and “reverence.” A few Scriptures easily illustrate this: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10). So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and, going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase (Acts 9:31). Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1). Having the fear of the Lord means holding God in such awe that a person is wholeheartedly motivated to pursue His holiness and His service. Without question, that was true of Paul. He was so committed to the glory of God that it grieved him even to consider the possibility of dishonoring the Lord’s name. Paul’s intense reverence for God was therefore a powerful incentive for him to convince others of his integrity. People sometimes ask me what is most difficult about receiving false criticism. I tell them that what is deeply disturbing and disconcerting is that the unfair criticism can lead others to believe I am misrepresenting God. That is what upset Paul about the allegations from the false teachers at Corinth—he knew they were misrepresenting him to the Corinthian believers. A reverential knowledge of God’s greatness is what characterized Paul. How else could he make this powerful declaration about God’s attributes: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17). Paul’s life was summed up in the exhortation he gave to the Roman Christians: “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans 12:1). His reverence for the Lord was complete, and he was grieved when enemies of the truth sought to undermine his integrity and threaten his ability to teach and preach. Paul therefore felt constrained to launch a defense of his integrity, not for his sake, but for God’s. Paul’s Concern for the Church Paul’s concern for the church at Corinth was well established (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:10). And potential harm from false teachers had freshly aroused his interest in her spiritual welfare. He was concerned that the false teachers would eventually gain converts and more influence within the fellowship, leading to an ideological war between their faction and Paul and his supporters. That would shatter the unity of the church, which would yield other negative results such as a discredited leadership, stunted spiritual growth among church members, and a hindered outreach to the surrounding community. Paul’s response to this array of threats against the Corinthian church is instructive for all who strive for integrity. Rather than jumping into the rhetorical trenches and answering each criticism and lie of the false teachers, Paul took a wiser, more judicious approach: “We … are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, that you may have an answer for those who take pride in appearance, and not in heart” (2 Corinthians 5:12). The apostle knew that in spite of all the dangers to the church, it was not prudent to mount a personal defense directly before his foes. Instead, Paul armed the people he ministered to so they might ably defend him and his integrity. In the long run, that is a much sounder method to contend for truth and integrity with one’s enemies rather than trying to answer each and every charge personally. As Paul discovered, one can go to his opponents repeatedly and present the best-reasoned, most balanced defense of the truth and his integrity, yet all they will do is twist what he has said and use it to tear him down some more. A person is better off to let his friends be his defenders, because those who have something against him are not as likely to feel the same way toward his friends. The Corinthians certainly experienced Paul’s consistent behavior and integrity, so they had no reason not to defend him. So Paul appealed to the brethren in the Corinthian church because he was passionately concerned with their unity and growth. In the end he could leave the results of his efforts with God: “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord. For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends” (2 Corinthians 10:17–18). Paul’s Devotion to the Truth A few years ago I was invited to speak in a philosophy class at one of the state universities located near my home church in southern California. I began my remarks by saying, “I’m here to tell you about the truth you’ve been searching for all your life. It is all the truth you need to know.” My approach dumbfounded the students in the class. Students in those kinds of classes invariably spend the entire term considering various views of the truth, but never reach any conclusions. Quite likely they leave the course not ever expecting to find the truth. That is why I went against the conventional wisdom and expounded the truth of the gospel. Whenever you are dogmatic, affirmative, and absolute in speaking the truth, as I was in that classroom, the world thinks you have lost your reason. That is how Paul’s adversaries in Corinth characterized him. His passionate zeal and devotion to the truth became another reason for defending his integrity: “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.” The Corinthian believers did not need to question Paul’s reason—they came to Christ through his preaching, grew in their sanctification under his teaching, and, as a result, loved Paul and trusted in God. His sound mind was obvious to all. But the false teachers and their “converts,” in their attempt to overthrow Paul’s scriptural teachings with their own self-centered, erroneous ones, charged that Paul had lost control of his senses. But the apostle made it abundantly clear that he and his fellow ministers were beside themselves for God (2 Corinthians 10:13). The phrase “beside ourselves” refers to his passion and devotion to God’s truth. The term does not refer to a person who is clinically deranged, but it can describe someone, such as Paul, who is dogmatically committed to truth. And Paul could be more dogmatic than anyone else because he was dealing with direct revelation from the Lord. Nevertheless, Paul’s enemies insisted and persisted in labeling him a dogmatic extremist who was off balance mentally. But dogmatism has always had a negative connotation for the world, as the apostle discovered on other occasions. Notice what happened when Paul gave an earnest, straightforward presentation of the gospel before the Roman official, Festus: “And so, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He should be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.” And while Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad.” But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth” (Acts 26:22–24). Once again the solid thread of integrity is evident in Paul’s ministry. He was in complete control and possessed a sound, sober mind. Both at Caesarea before Festus and at the church in Corinth, Paul’s message was passionate and zealous because the truth of the gospel was at stake. But he also knew how to be humble and well-reasoned so that people would receive and apply the truth. In the end the issue was the same—he defended his integrity so he could continue to proclaim God’s truth unhindered. Paul’s Gratitude for Christ’s Love Another reason Paul was so concerned to defend his integrity was his thankfulness for the Savior’s love for him. He told the Corinthians: “The love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died” (2 Corinthians 5:14). Paul defended his ministry and offered its richness to Christ as an act of gratitude. To emphasize the strength of this motivation, Paul used the Greek word translated “controls.” The simplest, clearest meaning of this word is “a pressure that causes action.” The gratitude Paul had for Christ’s love for him exerted great pressure on him to offer his life and ministry to the Lord. And the overriding factor for Paul was the Lord’s substitutionary death and the application of that death to him. The essence of Christ’s substitution is summarized well in Romans 5: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (2 Corinthians 5:6–8). The death of Christ is meaningless apart from an understanding of its substitutionary impact—if Christ didn’t die in our place, then we would have to die for our sins, and that would result in eternal death. That certainly should be motivation enough for all of us to strive for integrity in our ministries and all aspects of our lives. After all, everyone who died in Christ receives forever the saving benefits of His substitutionary death (cf. Romans 3:24–26; 6:8). That’s the conclusion Paul is referring to in the second part of 2 Corinthians 5:14 when he says, “One died for all, therefore all died.” The truth of our Lord’s substitution is both a comfort and a motivation for thanksgiving, for Paul and for us: “I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:20–21). Paul’s Desire for Righteousness The great eighteenth-century English hymn writer Isaac Watts composed the following stanzas about the pursuit of righteousness and obedience to God’s Word: Blest are the undefiled in heart, whose ways are right and clean, who never from the law depart, but fly from ev’ry sin. Blest are the men who keep thy Word and practice thy commands; with their whole heart they seek the Lord, and serve thee with their hands. Great is their peace who love thy law; how firm their souls abide! Nor can a bold temptation draw their steady feet aside. Then shall my heart have inward joy, and keep my face from shame, when all thy statutes I obey, and honor all thy Name. Those words, based on Psalm 119:1, could easily have been uttered by the apostle Paul as a way of declaring his all-out desire to live righteously. His desire flowed logically from his tremendous gratitude for Christ’s love and was another reason Paul so vigorously defended his integrity to the Corinthians. Paul told them, “He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:5). In defending his integrity, Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that his old, self-centered life was finished. Against all the distorted accusations from the false teachers, he wanted his brethren to be persuaded that his motives in ministry were completely pure. And Paul had a strong case because, by God’s grace, he was without self-promotion, self-aggrandizement, pride, or greed as he labored to plant and nourish local churches among the people of Asia Minor. The Corinthians should never have doubted Paul’s integrity. He had already instructed them about the spiritual lifestyle they ought to adopt: “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:31–11:1) Paul’s beliefs and motivations had not changed, no matter what his hypocritical opponents were accusing him of. He still lived for Christ and for the sake of righteousness, not for himself. Any other standard was unacceptable to him. So Paul defended his integrity because he desired to live boldly for the Lord and did not want anyone to think his motivation in life was anything less than that. Paul’s example should be an encouragement to all of us to cultivate and defend our integrity, because without it, we cannot minister effectively for the Lord. Paul’s Burden for the Lost Paul was extremely passionate when it came to reaching the lost for Christ. Seeing people converted by the sovereign power of the gospel message was the ultimate reason for him to continue in ministry. Paul’s burden for the lost therefore is the last of his reasons for defending his integrity. Acts 17:16 illustrates the intensity of Paul’s evangelistic burden: Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was beholding the city full of idols. So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. Paul writes about his passion for the unsaved in Romans 1:13–16: I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far) in order that I might obtain some fruit [converts] among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Later in his letter to the Roman believers, in perhaps the most telling statements he ever wrote about his burden for lost souls, Paul says, I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren [the Jews], my kinsmen according to the flesh… . Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them [the Jews] is for their salvation (Romans 9:1–3; 10:1). As he continued to defend his integrity to the Corinthians, Paul said, “Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16). This connects back to verse 15 and simply means that, since his transformation in Christ, Paul no longer evaluated people by external, worldly standards. He had a new priority, and that was to meet the spiritual needs of the people of God. Prior to our transformation we used to assess others by external criteria only—physical appearance, outward behavior, social and economic orientation, and engaging personality were our old yardsticks. But when a person comes to faith in Christ he begins to evaluate people by a new set of criteria. And the central issue we want to determine when we meet someone is: What is his relationship to God; does he know Christ? Perhaps you have a neighbor who is kind and considerate, who helps you out often and is especially available when you have an illness or emergency. As is often the case, you develop a warm and friendly relationship with someone like that. But if you are honest, you can never be content in your friendship until you are sure he has a right relationship to God. In fact, the more you build your relationship with your neighbor or anyone else, the more burdened you become for his spiritual welfare. Paul gives believers no option but to think of the unsaved and everything in life from a transformed perspective: “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul had certainly experienced complete change in his life—from self-centered Pharisee to dedicated apostle of Christ—and he knew such transformation would happen to anyone who became a Christian. Is it any wonder that Paul defended his integrity so ardently? If any of his enemies could destroy it, he would lose his credibility and influence in preaching the gospel and thus his entire reason for living. If only every Christian could have the same passion and purpose as the apostle Paul. Paul Reveals His Humility Time and again as Paul defended his integrity, he risked being labeled proud by the false teachers at Corinth. Yet such a designation could not have been more unfair or untrue. Paul had already, by the sovereign plan of God, distinguished himself as the most noble, most influential, most effective earthly servant the church had ever seen, apart from the Lord Jesus Himself. Yet undergirding all his strong character qualities and various motives for defending his integrity was the all-important characteristic of humility. Scripture demonstrates that Paul was aware of his weaknesses and shortcomings. In Romans 7:18 he says, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul describes himself in the lowliest of terms: “We have this treasure [the light of the gospel] in earthen vessels [garbage pails].” Finally, the apostle’s humble self-analysis is seen very clearly in what he wrote to Timothy: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Timothy 1:15). No Christian virtue is more cherished than humility. Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Humility is best defined as a true and genuine sense of conviction that one is utterly and completely unworthy of the goodness, mercy, and grace of God and incapable of anything of value apart from those divine gifts. Paul culminates his defense of his integrity before the Corinthians with a thorough presentation of the marks of humility (2 Corinthians 10:12–18). In this passage he continues to contrast his pure motives and righteous goals in ministry with the impure motives and unholy agendas of the false teachers. Paul was certain his humility would be convincing proof to his readers of his true integrity. An Unwillingness to Compare Oneself with Others The first mark of humility for the godly teacher and leader is an unwillingness to compare himself with others and claim superiority over them. False teachers typically elevate themselves. But Paul had a different approach. He told the Corinthians, “We are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves” (2 Corinthians 10:12). Those who invaded the Corinthian church with error used glib speech, a superior attitude, and a hypocritical front to appear better than everyone else, especially Paul. But he refused to lower himself to their childish, egocentered games. In fact, he did not even consider such a strategy, saying, “To me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4:3–4). Paul was concerned only with comparing his credentials with God’s standards. He did not use man-centered criteria to boast of his successes. Instead, he was more inclined to boast of his suffering, such as the sadness, tears, imprisonment, pain, and persecution he endured—all for the love of Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:23–31). In contrast, those who are proud and without integrity will establish these standards for success: charm, flattering personality, authoritarian bearing, rhetorical skills, and mystical spiritual experiences. They invent the standards, measure themselves by them, and commend themselves for superior “success.” Paul’s standards were objective and God-centered. The false teachers’ standards were subjective and worldly. Based on that simple comparison, it is easy to determine what pattern one should follow in pursuit of genuine integrity. A Willingness to Minister Within Limits The humble servant of God will also have a willingness to minister within limits. That was not the attitude of Paul’s opponents at Corinth. They overextended and overstated everything they did in an effort to widen their influence, enhance their prestige, and increase their fortune. They exaggerated everything so that they would look better than they actually were. We do not know exactly what the false teachers told the Corinthian believers about their battle with Paul, but undoubtedly they portrayed themselves as more powerful, more sophisticated, more articulate, and more successful than him. And they had to lie to make that case. How did Paul respond to those claims? Again he refused to engage in the same dishonest tactics of his enemies but simply told the Corinthians, “We will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you” (2 Corinthians 10:13). Paul was concerned with only one thing: to portray accurately the reality of his ministry. Paul always understood the principle of ministering within limits. He mentions it both at the beginning and the end of his letter to the Romans: Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name’s sake (Romans 1:5). Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed . . . And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man’s foundation (Romans 15:17–18, 20). Pride and overstatement were not characteristic of Paul. He spoke only of what Christ had done through him and supported his statements by objective, truthful evidence. God had sovereignly gifted Paul and given him a specific commission to fulfill. He was completely content to preach the gospel in the Gentile world and found churches and train leaders in those unreached regions. He did not need to be more important than God intended him to be; he just wanted to be faithful to God’s plan and carry it out with a depth of excellence that would please the Lord. What is remarkable about Paul’s pattern for ministry is that he simply followed Jesus’ example. We often forget that Christ willingly functioned within the narrow limits His Father established. First, Jesus’ ministry was limited by God’s will. In John 5:30, Jesus told the Jewish leaders, “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” Second, Jesus obeyed the Father’s will according to His timetable only (Matthew 26:45; Luke 22:14; John 2:4; 4:23; 5:25; 7:30; 17:1). Third, Jesus limited His ministry to God’s people and to those who recognized their need for salvation (Matthew 15:24; Luke 5:31–32). Fourth, Jesus limited His ministry by God’s plan. He preached the gospel to a small group of people first (including the disciples) before extending it beyond the regions of Judea. Never did Christ allow Himself to get sidetracked onto other issues, and neither did Paul. An Unwillingness to Take Credit for Others’ Labors Plagiarism has been a problem in the world for centuries. It is defined as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own.” A truly humble person with real integrity will avoid plagiarism, and that was true of Paul. He never displayed a willingness to take credit for others’ labors. His deference for others contrasted with the false teachers’ desire to take credit for things they had never achieved, such as their contributions to the spiritual progress of the Corinthian church. But Paul could confidently and accurately tell the Corinthians how God had used him in their lives: We are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ; not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we shall be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you, so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another (2 Corinthians 10:14–15). Paul did not overstate or claim credit for what was not his. Nor did he flaunt authority that did not belong to him. He underscored what he had said previously: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth… . According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it” (1 Corinthians 3:6, 10). Paul was determined to avoid the pride and dishonesty of those who “ministered” in a worldly fashion. He would not go to a place and tell lies about his alleged accomplishments. He would not go into a city and usurp the credit for ministry that belonged to another. Instead, Paul knew that those who truly desired to further God’s kingdom would do so through their own virtuous lives. Romans 15:17–18 summarizes well Paul’s attitude about this third aspect of humility: “Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed.” A Willingness to Seek only the Lord’s Glory A fourth way in which Paul exhibited the true humility of the man of integrity was by a willingness to seek only the Lord’s glory. The mere thought of selfglory was utterly repulsive to Paul, whereas those who teach error are willing, for the sake of their own glory and pre-eminence, to tear up the church and tarnish the glory of Christ. Paul had already laid out his position quite plainly in 1 Corinthians regarding why Christians should seek only God’s glory: For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God . . . that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29, 31). Paul here reminds all that if they boast, it must be only in the Lord, and if they seek anyone’s glory, it must be only His (cf. Psalm 115:1). That is the essence of humility—the recognition of one’s basic unworthiness and the acceptance of no worthiness but God’s. An Unwillingness to Pursue Anything but Eternal Commendation Authentic biblical humility is also revealed in Paul’s unwillingness to pursue anything but eternal commendation. In 2 Corinthians 10:18 he says, “For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.” False teachers commend themselves. But Paul desired God’s approval, and he proved that he did not fabricate his own commendation. The Greek verb he used for “commends” in verse 18 literally means “to be tested” or “to be approved.” That’s what Paul meant when he said, “But to me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself” (1 Corinthians 4:3). Paul was not concerned about what others thought of him; the only praise and commendation he desired was from the Lord. That is an important reminder for all of us as we pursue integrity: we will receive God’s approval not as a result of our gifts, our skills, our personality, or our popularity, but because of our humility. In summary, Paul possessed the power of integrity. His motives were pure (1 Corinthians 4:5), and he defended them for the right reasons—to glorify God and promote the truth of the gospel and Christ’s church. Paul’s humble defense of his integrity is, with the exception of the Lord Jesus Himself, the most outstanding and thoroughly detailed example of Christian integrity found in Scripture. Modeling Paul’s integrity should be a goal for us all. [1] 1. The source of this essay is the recently released volume entitled The Power of Integrity (Crossway, 1997). It is adapted and used here by permission. [2] 2. Cited in Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, 2d ed. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1973), 20. [3] 3. Cited in The Forgotten Spurgeon, 205–6. For a more complete discussion of the Downgrade Controversy and its significance for today’s church, see Appendix 1 of my book Ashamed of the Gospel (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1993), 197–225. [4] 4. The New American Standard Bible is the source of all Scripture quotations in this article unless otherwise noted. [1]The Master's Seminary. (1997; 2002). Master's Seminary Journal Volume 8 (8:137-149). Master's Seminary. www.gty.org. Used by permission.

Biblical details of the events just preceding Christ's death.