who needs a hand out raise your hand if you need a handout got some people down in the sanctuary keep them up anybody else anybody else need a handout well this morning we are going to continue our discussion on the subject of coherence most specifically as it relates to answering our critics and uh as I told you last week I'm excited about this particular subject most especially what we will be talking about in relation to it uh next uh week so some really good things in store as it relates to this particular subject coherence let's go ahead and ask the Lord's blessing in our time and we'll jump in father thank you that you give us each week time to come as your people together the Gatherings that uh may happen during the week are not such that we can all be together in one place and so this is indeed a very special time we know also that it is special because We Gather in your house and your word is very clear about there being a house that is your house a place where we meet with you in a very special way and in a very special way receive your blessing father we pray that as we now enter into the high point of our worship time that you would use what is taught from your word to bless our lives father to equip us so that we can take this message to the world and see others come to know your son as Lord and savior make it so we pray in his name in Jesus name amen well as I did last week I want to start by just defining this word coherence or coherent you'll see there in the definition that that term means the following to be clear and consistent logical and reasonable to be clear and consistent logical and reasonable the job I began last Sunday and we'll finish this Sunday is to demonstrate to you that what we believe and practice here at Christ Covenant Church is indeed that that it is coherent that it is clear with respect to God's word that it is consistent with the whole of God's word or its message that it's logical and that it's reasonable that what we teach and what we practice here is coherent and the reason that I've taken on this mission is threefold first of all because you cannot have truth without coherency and that includes the truth of God's word if something is true it will be in other words coherent hence the reason for what they call in philosophy the theory of coherency or the coherent test of Truth secondly because we are not unaware of Satan's schemes as Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and one of his schemes is to accuse the church or Christians of being incoherent that the message that they preach practice is uh not logical or reasonable that it's not consistent any of the above that it's not clear this is the uh the first play in his Playbook going all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 with the words did God really say and that or those words are an attack on coherency or the coherency of God's words and so we need to be aware of that that this is his attack his most frequent attack against the church or God's people and thirdly because this is the example that is given to us by Jesus and the apostles they did not hide from their accusers or their critics or from their accusations of incoherency that what they were teaching was false or somehow uh wrong as the saying goes truth loves and appeal we should never be afraid of our critics of those who accuse us of wrongdoing we should see it rather as an opportunity to V what it is that we believe and practice a time when we can show the beauty of coherent parency and uh that's again what we've been doing or attempting to do we started that last week as it relates to the accusations of our critics and again as I've already mentioned we're going to complete that task today so without further Ado what I hope to do this morning is again show you the coherency of what it is that we believe and practice here at CCC and to do that by way of the accusations of our critics we covered three last week and so we are on number four we'll begin with number four this morning number four your requirement of faithful obedience to be a Christian is too difficult your requirement a faithful obedience to be a Christian is too difficult we are totally broken and unable to live Faithfully obedient lives to God common message today this idea that we are totally broken you'll see churches even advertise themselves this way if you are broken then here's a place where you can come and find other broken people this is the place for broken people and usually again what is meant by that is the idea of inability the inability to be faithful to God and so this is the accusation that is made against us you believe that we have to be faithful to get to heaven to be a Christian that's too difficult that's too difficult in light of the fact that we are according to them totally broken we can't do it we can't be faithful to God it is for this reason they say the message of Salvation is faith in Christ not faithfulness to Christ it is also the reason Jesus came to Earth they will say to obey so we wouldn't have to isn't that great the standard of obedience preached at your church this church is just making people into self-righteous Pharisees God doesn't expect nor require this level of commitment to get to heaven I think I could take this particular accusation and I could send it to all the churches in Denver probably all the churches in the United States and the majority the vast vast majority of churches would respond with a am in to that we're broken we can't do it Jesus came to obey for us that's the message faith in Christ not faithfulness to Christ and anyone who says anything different or other than that is just making people into self-righteous Pharisees how do we respond to that how do we respond our response a biblically obedient and coherent response to that though we are born depraved that's the term that is sometimes used to refer to our state as Sinners though we are born depraved or with a strong desire for sin or to serve self over God and his commands we still possess the ability to choose and do good I.E to obey God's commands we still possess that ability we still possess that ability if this were not true then God would be unjust for condemning people to Hell based on their deeds and everything in scripture Old Testament New Testament teaches that on that final day on Judgment Day every single person who has ever lived will be judged according to their deeds never once does it mention that they will be judged according to their faith never once always instead what we are told is that we will be judged according to our Deeds well again if that's true clearly that's true then God would be unjust if we did not have the ability to perform those deeds as the saying goes ability establishes Culp ability which means the antithesis of that is also true if you do not have the ability then you do not possess culpability or responsibility for those things so if God's going to judge us according to our Deeds then we must have the ability to perform those deeds and there's a string of verses there that I've given to you that make it very very clear from both the Old and the New Testament that God will indeed judge us according to our Deeds that he will give to man he will pay a man according to his deeds or he will reward each person according to what they have done again that is the consistent message throughout scripture it has never ever ever changed so again if that's true and again it is is and that must mean we have the ability to do it to obey those commands and for sake of time we're not going to turn to those texts but I would encourage you if you are not familiar with the verses that are there I would encourage you to turn to those texts and to look them up for yourselves for sake of time once more we will not turn there I need to be selective given the amount of material we have for today God's requirement of faithful obedience not Perfection big problem by the way in Evangelical churches this idea of uh we need to be perfect which is found nowhere in the Bible including in Matthew 5:48 the context has nothing to do with moral perfection God does not uh send the reain on both the righteous and the the wicked because he is morally perfect and so that's not how that term is being used there and yet often times that is the text that evangelicals will turned to that is not the standard or what God requires to get into heaven rather it is faithful obedience and there's a big big big difference between faithfulness and Perfection is there not the standard is faithfulness that has never ever been too difficult including for those under the old Covenant meaning those who did not have the indwelling spirit those who were not regenerated those who had not received propitiation for their sins even for them it was possible to be faithful to God and uh these verses though you know them I want to remind you of them uh Deuteronomy will start in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 28 you know the text that I'm going to turn to if you are a member of this church now it shall be if you diligently obey literally in the ESV it's translated this way if you Faithfully obey the Lord your God being careful to do all his Commandments which I command you today the Lord your God will set you on high above all the nations of the Earth all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey again the condition is obedience the Lord your God what kind of obedience perfect obedience no again verse one if you Faithfully obey and again that is something that even those under the old covenant could do even though they didn't have the indwelling spirit they did not have regeneration they did not have propitiation how do I know that well if you turn over then to chapter 30 Chapter 30 and we'll start in verse 10 so you can see the connection back to what we just read in chapter 28 if you obey the Lord your God to keep his Commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul for this commandment this commandment to obey his Commandments for this commandment which I command you today is notice not too difficult for you nor is it Out Of Reach it is not in heaven that you should say who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it that we may observe it nor is it beyond the sea that you should say who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it that we may observe observe it no excuse right God is saying there's no excuse for doing this but the word is very near to you in your mouth and in your heart again that you may observe it no excuses none whatsoever it is not to difficult for you and again these are the words that God spoke to those under the old Covenant how much more then is this true for those of us under the new those of us who do possess the indwelling spirit those of us who have been regenerated and our sins have been propitiated which means that we have been freed not only from the condemnation of our sins but also from the power of our sins Romans 6 Revelation 1 how much more then faithful obedience then is something that we can do it is not too difficult the message of Salvation by the way has always been both faith and faithfulness in Christ not one or the other but both faith and faithfulness to Christ Faith itself is a pledge or personal promise to faithfulness to God over self or anything else and we've talked about that for years here in this church how that word pistus for example in the New Testament that's translated to Faith oftentimes uh refers to a pledge or a promise that's how that term was used uh in ancient times in the days of Jesus that's what it referred to was a pledge that a person would make a pledge to faithfulness or loyalty in relation to that person to whom it was applied it is a pledge a pledge in this way to live for or love God above anyone or any else and this by the way has always been true it's not something that's uh just true for those under the uh the New Covenant but was true uh for all of those all the saints under the Old Testament going all the way back to uh Abraham Abraham in Genesis chapter 15 which is quoted by Paul for example in the uh the book of Romans he quotes from Genesis 15 from this specific verse verse 6 then he speaking of Abraham believed in the Lord and he reckoned it to him as righteousness what does that mean that he believed in the Lord is this like uh believing in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus is that what this is God's just like oh I just wish you believe that I existed and that's what Abraham did he he just made the mental Ascent to the place of believing that God was there that that's really what it's referring to here no what it refers to is Abraham's pledge any ancient Jew and the ancient Jews who read this understood it that way they didn't understand this as merely mental Ascent this idea of Abraham believing in the Lord meant that he pledged a Le aliance to God that's what he's doing here that he gave himself in allegiance to God most specifically according to John 8:56 he gave his allegiance to Jesus Jesus himself says there that Abraham saw his day reflecting on this very event he saw my day he was I was the one there with him when he made that pledge of allegiance to me FASTT tracking then to chapter 17 all by the way part of the uh the same Covenant that was created or was initiated back there in Genesis 15 if you continue to read that's what happens a covenant is made between Abraham and God and in 17 we have really the completion or the confirmation of that Covenant with God now giving his pledge or his promise it goes both ways it's a bilateral Covenant with both parties making promises to one another pledging their allegiance to one another we have the completion of that in Genesis 17 with these words now when Abram was 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him I am God Almighty walk before me and be blameless what is God doing there he's just repeating to Abraham or Abram as it is here the promise he made to him which was allegiance to him which meant walking before him and being blameless which is just another way of saying being Faithfully obedient to what it is that God said do that and I will establish my Covenant between me and you and I will multiply you exceedingly skip down to verse S for sake of time I will establish my Covenant between me and you you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an Everlasting Covenant to be God to you and to your descendants after you I will give to you and your descendants after you the land of your sojourning all of the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their god notice here God making as I said his promise his Pledge of Allegiance then to Abraham and the same way that Abraham has pledged his allegiance to God God now does the same to him I will be your God I will be your God and you will be my people the Covenant is made through both Faith or that Pledge of Allegiance and then the follow through which is what's picked up in the very next chapter God speaking about Abraham that makes mention that uh he shall receive these things if he continues to keep the way of the Lord verse 19 for I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and Justice so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him notice it's conditional it's still conditional other words the pledges of Faith were not enough they needed to be followed up by what was pledged which is again faithfulness faith and faithfulness has always been the way to one enter into saving Covenant relationship with God and to to remain in that Covenant unto the realization of its promises and we see the same thing with the people of Israel in Exodus 24 you know the text Exodus 24 veres 7 and 8 so we have the abrahamic Covenant we see both faith and faithfulness now we come to what's known as the Mosaic or the old Covenant and in verses seven and eight we read this then he speaking about Moses took the book of or the book of the law and read it in the and they said all that the Lord has spoken we will do we will be obedient what are they doing there they're making their pledge of Faith their pledge of allegiance to God their loyalty to God their promise of loyalty to God and notice what Moses does as a result of that verse eight so Moses took the blood the blood of the Covenant and sprinkled it on the people and said behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words you you pledge your your faith Your Allegiance to me and you get the justification you need for your sins you get the blood the blood of the Covenant a pledge of faith that then needed to be followed up again by faithfulness and we see exactly the same thing communicated under the New Covenant first Peter and uh as many of you know I'm uh being selective in the text that I'm going to for the sake of time there's many many many more that we could turn to to support this but First Peter chapter 1 verses 1 and two uh is an illusion back to what we just read which tells us that the framework of Salvation that we find under the New Covenant is no different than it was under the old or even in relation to Abraham Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontius galatia capadia Asia and bethenia who are chosen according to the forn knowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the spirit to obey Jesus Christ notice the order you've been chosen to come into Covenant relationship with God to obey this is the Pledge obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood the exact same order that we see in Exodus 24 the people pledge their obedience and as a result of that and only as a result of that do they receive propitiation or the sprinkling with the blood and this idea again of Faith being a pledge is picked up also in First Peter chapter 3 verse 21 we are told this exactly what's happening in the water of baptism if you've ever wondered what baptism is about well baptism is the place where God accepts our faith or our pledge of obedience to him or faithfulness to him corresponding to that baptism now saves you this is the reason that Peter can speak of baptism that way because that's the place where we make our pledge to God not the remove of dirt from the flesh it's not a physical bath that's happening there but rather an appeal literally a vow of loyalty or a pledge that's what that word appeal means there but a pledge to God a pledge of faithfulness to God in return for a good conscience how do we get that well we get that through the blood of Christ through the resurrection of Jesus Christ we want that that good conscience we want that right standing before God and uh the only way we're going to get that is by making the pledge and then following through on that Pledge on that promise that the pledge itself must be followed by faithfulness for salvation to be secure is confirmed by many texts uh not least of all James James chapter 2 ver 14- 26 there he makes it abundantly clear that faith alone does not save it's matter of fact the only time the word alone is ever used in that text verse 24 is to speak in the negative he says you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone imagine that James speaking under the inspiration of the holy spirit says just the opposite of what has been the message of the Protestant Christian faith for years for 500 years if Jesus did did indeed come to Earth to obey on our behalf this is what is otherwise known as the active Obedience of Christ Doctrine another Fantasy Made Up by the Evangelical Church Jesus came and obeyed for us with the assumption that again we couldn't do it ourselves and so somebody had to do it and God after you know 2third of redemp emptive history was already behind us got frustrated enough to finally say well I give up they can't do it and so I'm going to send my son to do it for them uh then this to incriminates or indicts God why do I say that well given his expectations of obedience and severe judgments for Disobedience that were inflicted on all of those Jews in that period that I just mentioned uh in the Old Testament for example most of the first generation under Moses those that he's uh making Covenant with there on Mount Si in Exodus 24 most of those people died and went to hell because of their unfaithfulness not because they didn't make the pledge they had the faith what they missed was The Obedience the follow through according to Hebrews chapter 3 they were Unfaithful they were disobedient it's a poor translation by the way there in uh verse 19 if you turn over to Hebrews 3 this is a text worth looking at because just prior to verse 19 that I want to speak a little bit more about he gives us a warning because the same again is true for us same framework we need to make sure that we follow through that promise our pledge of faithful with actual faithfulness in our lives to Jesus Take Care Brethren he says for that very reason that there not being any one of you an evil unbelieving apista is the uh the term better translated Unfaithful and I'll tell you why keep that in mind here though because uh whatever he's doing here is exactly what he's doing at the end of verse 19 an evil Unfaithful heart that falls away from the Living God falling away is the idea of apostasy and it's picked up all over the book of Hebrews here as well as in chapter 3 chapter 6 chapter 10 and chapter 12 take care that that not be in you a heart that apostasis is from God because of unfaithfulness but encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today so that no one will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin for we have become partakers of Christ if and notice it's again conditional just as it was for Abraham and the children of Israel so it is for us if we hold fast the beginning of our Assurance firm Until the End while it is said today if you hear his voice do not Harden your hearts as when they provoked me for who provoked him when they had heard indeed did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses he's speaking here of that first generation and with whom was he angry for 40 years was it not with those who sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness notice it's all about their actions and to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who were disobedient Unfaithful so we see that they were not able to enter Because and here is the the poor and unfortunate trans ation unbelief again it's our word apista which to be fair that word pistus is the term that we get Faith from it can also be translated faithfulness Romans chapter 3:3 where it talks about the faithfulness of God is that same word and so the context is what will determine how it is translated why I say to you that uh this should be in the a in front of it just tells it's the it's the the opposite it's the negation of whatever it's saying so like atheist means someone who does not believe in Theos or God atheist against God or not for God and so the same aisus means not that either unbelief or unfaithfulness again the reason I say that this should be translated as unfaithfulness rather than unbelief is because that's exactly what we're told was the reason for why uh the second generation gener ation was forced to wander in the wilderness until their parents were dead for 40 years in Numbers Chapter 14 if you turn back to numbers 14 you'll see this numbers 14 verse 33 numbers 14 verse3 verse 33 says this your sons shall be Shepherds for 40 years so the connection back to uh this text here where he says uh and who with whom was he angry for 40 years speaking again of that first generation and here he says now in relation to their sons your sons shall be Shepherds for 40 years in the wilderness and they will suffer for your not unbelief what does it say unfaithfulness unfaithfulness until your corpses lie in the wilderness and so that's so why it is that God was angry wasn't their unbelief it was their unfaithfulness which means that's exactly how we should be uh uh interpreting that aisus we find again back up in verse 12 take care here now the writer of Hebrews speaking to those under the New Covenant why because the framework of Salvation is the same faith and faithfulness you make the pledge you make the promise you better see it through you better be faithful you better be faithful as it relates to the Pharisees oh this church is just producing a bunch of self-righteous uh Pharisees that idea of self-righteous the Pharisees viewed themselves as righteous that's true but not for valid reasons they claim to be or to be faithful or to keep God's law were but were in reality According To Jesus Hypocrites not willing to exert the smallest am amount of effort to obey God's commands this is something that has always uh perplexed me and that is evangelicalism's uh idea that the Pharisees were a bunch of lawke keeping people they wanted people to see them that way that they were faithful or people who were uh keeping God's law but in reality According To Jesus and this is really what perplexes me I don't know if they just have they don't have Matthew 23 in their Bibles maybe maybe I should try that sometime go on to Amazon and look for you know just kind of put an Evangelical Bible and maybe when I get it I'll see that 23 is out and that's the problem I say that because I don't know where they get this idea because Jesus makes it clear that that's not the problem the problem isn't that they were trying meticulously to keep God's law it was just the opposite they preach that way but they were Hypocrites because they didn't practice that way notice starting in verse one then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples saying the scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses therefore all that they tell you do and observe but do not do according to their deeds for they say things and do not do them they preach it but they don't do it where's this idea that they're doing it coming from they tie heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger they don't put any effort or energy into obeying God doing what he says hence the reason by I believe it's verse uh 18 verse or 28 is it 28 yes so to uh so you two appear outwardly righteous to men but inwardly Jesus speaking to them outwardly you appear as though you are but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and notice lawlessness not lawfulness which is exactly what you would expect if they were those trying to keep God's laws instead like evangelicals the Pharisees believed they were saved simply because of their faith and being a part of Abraham's family what they failed to accept is that God will remove from Abraham's family all those who are Unfaithful through baptism according to Galatians 3 we become a part of Abraham's family through Christ or in Christ we are not a part of his family which means we receive all of the promises that were promised to Abraham and yet according to what John the Baptist preached in places like Matthew 3 and Luke 3 that the acts is already laid at the root of the tree and if you do not repent and you do not do deeds in keeping with repentance which he then goes on to say in Luke 3 or deeds related to the law you do what the law says you obey the law repentance is faithfulness that if you do not do that that you will be cut out and that God is able to raise up John says from these Stones children of Abraham do not come John says thinking that just because you're in the bloodline of Abraham spiritual or otherwise that you're going to heaven that was the mistake that the Pharisees made this is picked up also in John 8: 31-39 we are the children of Abraham we have never been slaves to anyone and Jesus says anyone who practices sin who is Unfaithful is a slave to sin you are only free if the sun sets you free and to be free for by the sun set free by the sun means you practice and Obey God's commands again John 831 through 39 the same we are told in Romans 11: 21-23 there where he talks about the Jews being cut out because of their Disobedience and uh warns that the same will be true for us those who have been grafted into Abraham if we do not continue in faithful obedience if God doesn't require this level of commitment to get to heaven here's the question then why do those who failed to possess faithfulness end up apostate and in Hell or under God's Eternal and unforgiving wrath isn't that exactly what we see in places like Matthew chapter 7 21- 27 where Jesus says many on that day will say Lord Lord they believe that he's their Master their lord their Savior and he says away from me for this reason you workers of lawlessness same term that we saw there in Matthew 2 uh 23 being used by Jesus back in Matthew 7 this is what characterizes them they have faith hence the reason they call Jesus Lord but they do not have faithfulness and he says depart from me I never knew you and they go into the place of utter Darkness to the place of weeping and nashing of teeth this is the reason why Paul also warns of such things in places like Galatians 5 and Ephesians 5 that if we continue in disob obedience and he lists the various attributes of Disobedience that we will end up like the sons of Disobedience and again under God's Wrath this is the reason why also Hebrews 10 speaks about those who continue after receiving the knowledge of the Son of God or Jesus Christ they go back to their sin and they continue in their sin that there will no longer remain a sacrifice for sin for they have trampled underfoot the Son of God and it says there at the very end of those verses that God will judge his people this is not talking about Outsiders but insiders that brings us to this fifth accusation your place or your church places loyalty to Christ and his church above loyalty to biological family including one's spouse children and parents we do that's true we believe and teach in this church that you must be loyal to Christ in his church Above All Else and that includes uh biological family that includes your spouse your children even your parents as a result you divide families and even approve of divorce God made the marriage and the family to be the most important institutions on the planet God also commands that children respect their parents how do we respond that our biblically obedient and coherent response then is as follows our choice to place loyalty to Christ in his church above loyalty to biological family including one's spouse children and parents has always been a condition of God's or Jesus's Covenant salvation Eternal promises whatever you want to call those it has always been a condition not just under the new it has always been a condition going back to uh Genesis what did the god require of Abraham Genesis 12 verse1 but that he leave his family behind in order to follow him now the Lord said to Abram go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house verse four so Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him as it relates to his son Genesis 22 Genesis 22 notice by the way before we go there go back I skipped over verses two and three they're important notice again it's conditional if you do that if you leave your relatives I will make you a great nation I will bless you I will make your name great and so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the ones who curse you I will curse and in all uh and and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed the very same promises that are repeated later are mentioned first here and again they're conditioned upon what show loyalty to me over your family your biological family Genesis then 22 the ultimate test Abraham's promised son his special son Isaac now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him Abraham and he said here I am he said take now your son your only son whom you love Isaac and go to the land of Mariah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains on which I will tell you and Abraham said this cannot be the Lord because the Lord would never ask me to sacrifice my son for him the Lord knows that the family the biological family is where my heart should be I am to be most loyal to my biological family and God said to him you are blessed Abraham you did what was right that's how the story goes right that's how it goes in America we call that sometimes americanism right which is a an offshoot a heresy a deformity that attempts to look like Christianity but it's really about all of these things that Christianity finds vile and disgusting and wicked Abraham Rose early in the morning verse three and saddled his donkey early he didn't wait to do what God told him to do God of course spares his son it was a test Verse 18 and this is the result of it notice in your seed Verse 18 all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed the very thing again that he initially promised back in chapter 12 why why will they be blessed because you have notice obeyed my voice you showed loyalty to me above your biological family even your special son even your special son and uh James by the way chapter 2 verses 21 and 22 picks this up James chapter 2 that text that I mentioned uh earlier as it relates to our works was not Abraham verse 21 Our Father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son in the altar you see that Faith was working with his works and as a result of the works Faith was completed teos perfected completed Abraham was sealed in his faithfulness because of what he did here sealed in his is faithfulness hence the reason God's promise there is no longer conditional you shall surely be blessed and God gives us those kinds of opportunities opportunities to seal ourselves in our faithfulness to him hence the reason for tests and trials in our own lives but again what must we prove in those tests and trials God is the one that we're most loyal to loyal to over family biological family wives children parents Luke 14 Jesus knew that many who were claiming him as Lord early in his ministry did not have this kind of loyalty and so these are the words that he preached to them verse 26 if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters yes and even his own life he cannot be my disciple pretty clear hence the reason he says you need to count the costs and and that includes the the cost of biological family hence the greatest commandment is Thou shalt love your biological family with all of your heart mind and soul is Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul the loyalty to the church what about that say well okay I need to love God or Christ that way but what about loyalty to the church that loyalty to the church is how we express loyalty to Christ that's the issue and that is confirmed by several facts first of all the church is identified as the body and bride of Christ in scripture in Scripture it is identified as the body and bride of Christ so here's the question can a person sin against a man's body or wife and not sin against the man himself can a man be disloyal can man can a man be unfaithful to somebody's wife and not be unfaithful to the man himself Proverbs 6 says no this is the passage where it talks about can a man bring bring uh hot or burning coals into his lap and not be burned and the answer is no and he connects that to what a man does when he takes another man's wife wife and the idea is here is that to be faithful to that man you need to be faithful in the way that you handle his wife and yet many today think that they can be faithful to Jesus and have nothing to do with his church and yet the second Point here which really drives this home the church according to Ephesians 1:22 and 23 is the fullness of Christ on Earth which means if you want the answer to how you love Christ on the earth you do it by loving by being loyal to his church being loyal to his church Ephesians one Ephesians 1 verses 22 and 23 and he put all things in subjection under his feet speaking of God the Father to Christ and he gave him Christ as the head over all things to the church who who which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all the church is the fullness of him do you see that in the Greek that phrase the fullness of him uh means this the fullness of him just as it says here no different the fullness of him you don't love his body can you really love him you're not loyal to his body can you really be loyal to Christ I'm loyal to my biological family over God's family is that possible when God's family is the body of Christ that to me is incoherent absolutely incoherent given that Christ essentially made loyalty to him synonymous with loving our covenant Brothers and sisters are being loyal to his church hence the reason that Jesus could say uh you shall love one another in John 13:34-35 you are to love one another and by this the world will know that you are my disciples my disciples those who are loyal to me Jesus says the world will know you are loyal to me because you are loyal to my body which is the Covenant Community the church your brothers and sisters that's what he's saying you see that's coherent that's coherent Christianity not incoherent Christianity which says well I can serve Christ and I can have Christ without his church or his people that's incoherent how do you love Christ without his people when his people are his body on Earth he's in heaven the only way to love Christ on Earth is to love his people hence the reason this was a major focus of John the Baptist in Jesus's Earthly Ministry what was their focus to turn God's people back to him and his family to turn God's people back to Jesus and his family over their human families as their first loyalty Malachi 4:6 this is at the very end of Malachi's prophecy Malachi 46 speaks of the one who will come and do this very thing Malachi 46 says this and he the Elijah who is to come and prepare the way for messiah he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse and uh this uh this promise is picked up at the beginning of Luke's gospel Luke 117 I believe it is speaking of John or connecting it to John and it is he will go who will go as a forerunner he the prophecy of his birth to John's father and he will goes a forerunner before him in the spirit of the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous so as to make a people ready and prepared for the Lord uh the fathers there is not talking about uh daddy in the home this isn't about kids who love their Papas the fathers here refers to the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and J Jacob most specifically Abraham it's going to turn God's people back to the heart of Abraham and what was the heart of Abraham was he loyal to his biological family or to God's family the family that God promised to make through him through you all nations shall be blessed Abraham's heart was loyal to God's family over against his biological family hence the reason also Jesus predicted that many families would be divided over his message this is Matthew 10 you know the text I did not come to bring peace but a sword and that sword will divide families a father against his son a mother against her daughter etc etc and he who does not do that is not worthy of me it's going to divide why because Jesus is just in the business of destroying families no because this is the kind of loyalty he's going to require and that kind of a loyalty a loyalty that says God is first even over my biological family will cause problems in families who demand it the other way around and we've seen that plenty of that as it relates to divorce the only divorce we approve of are those sanctioned by Jesus and the divorce sanctioned by Jesus is divorce for sexual immorality according to Matthew 531 and 32 to not allow what God allows meaning divorce for sexual immorality to not allow what God allows is no different than allowing what God does not allow I'll say that again to not allow what God allows divorce for sexual immorality why do I say this by the way because there's lots of churches that even though Jesus allows this says well we're never to allow it but if you do that that's no different than allowing what God does not allow which always brings God's Wrath against the Covenant Community who am I to stand in the way of what God allows Isaiah chapter 5 Isaiah chapter 5 verse 20 says this what are those who call evil good and good evil who substitute Darkness for light and light for dark darkness who switch them right who don't allow what God's allows or who allow what God does not allow who call evil good and good evil who justify the wicked for a bribe and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right the rights of the person who has been defiled by sexual immorality that person has the right to divorce and for those who don't do it therefore as a tongue of fire consumes the stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame so their root will become like rot and their Blossom blow away as dust for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despise the word of the Holy One of Israel on this account the anger of the Lord has burned against his people and he has stretched out his hand against them and struck them down we don't do that here we don't want that kind of problem here in this church the problem of God's Wrath because we have not allowed what God allows the most important institution on Earth I agree is marriage in the family I agree with that the most important institutions plural on Earth are marriage in the family Christ's marriage to the church and the Covenant family that it creates the church it's true but not in the way they think of it every other form of marriage and family is subservient to this to Christ marriage to the church and the family it creates every other form of marriage and family is subservient to this given to facts the marriage of Christ to his church is the archetype or model for human marriage and family is that not true Ephesians 5:22 through 32 makes that clear so it's the model it's the archetype that that we in our biological versions of that are to follow which means they are subservient if we're the ones following it we can't be the ones that are uh are the uh the thing we are to be most loyal to that makes no sense and secondly the creation of of the Holy Family not the biological family was the goal of all creation Ephesians chapter 1 and Ephesians chapter 3 uh tell us this it was the creation of God's covenant Community his holy family not the biological family that was the goal of God creating in other words God the father's plan for creation was to gather a people for his glory and future inheritance a holy family made holy through the Redemption and marriage covenant realized and accomplished through his son Jesus Christ you read chapter 1 of Ephesians 1-1 or Ephesians chapter 3 1 through 11 and you'll see that that's true respecting one's parents looks different when a child is under the home in headship of their parents versus once that child becomes an adult and is no longer dependent or living at home the former requires full submission to their parents' commands and wishes saying anything directly opposed to God in his word whereas the latter no longer requires such such submission but only that the now adult independent child see to it the needs of their elderly non- apostate parents are being met that's Matthew 15 and so we are not a church that teaches people to disrespect their parents but there's a big difference between uh the child who is now an adult outside of the home and saying well you just need to listen to your parents and do whatever they say based on what is just discussed or what we just discussed children being loyal to their parents above God or his church has never been acceptable or expected by God that should be obvious number six as it relates to accusations if your church is doing everything right if your church is doing everything right then why have there been why have there been so many disciplinary cases including excommunications and Declarations of apostasy if you're doing everything right why are those things happening in this church so many disciplinary cases over the years 23 years now including excommunications and apostasies as well as betrayal and moral failures among those serving as officers the church is to be a place of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit again these things signal problem our response or biblically obedient and coherent response the New Testament churches were filled meaning those that we find in the New Testament were filled with disciplinary cases including excommunications and apostasies as a matter of fact many if not most of the New Testament Epistles or letters to the churches were written to deal with disciplinary matters and uh I kid you not the list that I've given you right here is only part of it I finally just got exhausted and said there's enough there that they get the point if this was true for the churches planted and pastured by the apostles filled with disciplinary cases how much more those living in the worst or last days think about that they had the apostles some of the people in these churches saw Jesus we should therefore expect the church in the last days to feel as though they are overrun with such difficulties According To Jesus in Matthew 24 he says that in the last days most will fall away not many most because lawlessness is increased most will fall away their loyalty will grow cold and they will fall away most second Timothy chapter 3 a text worth reading 2 Timothy chapter 3 you can either turn there or just listen as I read starting in verse one but realize this Paul says to Timothy that in the last days difficult times will come for men will be lovers of self lovers of money boastful arrogant revilers disobedient to parents ungrateful Unholy unloving irreconcilable malicious gossips without self-control brutal haters of good treacherous Reckless conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God we've got some people like that in this congregation they turn to pleasure rather than saying no to that for love of God holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power avoid such men as these for among them are those who enter into households and Captivate weak women weighed down with sins LED on by various impulses these kinds of people always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth just as Janice and jambre opposed Moses so these men also oppose the truth men of depraved mind rejected have corrupted themselves to this point reject in regard to the faith but they will not make further progress for their Folly will be obvious to all just as Janice and Jam's Folly was also now you followed my teaching conduct purpose Faith patience love perseverance persecutions and sufferings such as happened to me at Antioch at Iconium and at Lyra what persecutions I endured and out of them all the Lord rescued me indeed all who desire to live Godly and in Christ Jesus will be persecuted but evil men meaning those that he just mentioned and Impostors those that he just mentioned will proceed from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived thus the reason he says it will be difficult times you however continue in the things which you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reprove for correction for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work I read all the way through because I wanted you to notice where our confidence is to be in these difficult and confusing times it's not uh in looking at what's happening in the body he says it's going to be difficult these kinds of people are going to be here evil men and imposters they will proceed from bad to worse but our eyes are not to be there but instead on the word of God which gives us the wisdom that leads to Salvation the scripture that equips us makes us adequate for any good work which includes those that require trials testing for all those who desire to live this way will be p persecuted consider also the Covenant communities under Moses and Jesus say well you know you've got all this stuff going on in your church doesn't seem like it lines up with what I see in scripture well what about Moses and Jesus under Moses most went apostate almost the entire First Generation generation out of Egypt that we spoke of earlier as it relates to Jesus pretty similar many if not most of the Jewish religious leaders and people of Israel went apostate did they not they rejected him that was his ministry at the end at the time of Jesus's Ascension even though there were thousands at one time at the end he had but 120 people that was all that was left in the upper room with regard to betrayal and moral failures among leadership this also was true for Moses and Jesus Moses list of names Aaron naab and Abu Kora and his entire tribe or family as it relates to Jesus though all knowing he was still burned by and betrayed by those he picked again Judas and also Peter by the way we sometimes think of Judas as kind of the pick that he had to pick because he had to fulfill the scripture and that's that's not fulfillment of the scripture that's a setup he fully believed that Judas would stay the course and be faithful if that wasn't true again it was rigged he knew everything about that man and he picked him because out of all of the Jews he could have picked he was considered one of the best and yet he failed and betrayed Christ in the end Paul also suffered betrayal according to second Timothy 4:10 Deus and Titus are among those to speak of the church in terms of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit as though these are the only things that should characterize the church is highly misleading especially given that the verse which speaks to this effect starts with the attribute of righteousness it comes from Romans 14:17 it says righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit not just peace and joy Paul could not have conceived of a church filled with the Holy Spirit peace and joy that was not also filled with righteousness given that the spirit will not provide such things without it in other words you need first to be practicing righteousness adherence to all of God's law that's what it means as prescribed by the spirit in God's word to receive his peace and joy the only problem signaled then by the aforementioned concern turns is that we are indeed living in difficult times in other words it is the world that has the problem not our church unless we of course start looking and acting like World which means looking the other way rather than dealing with the sin Among Us any church not filled with disciplinary issues as a church not being faithful to the spirit which means their peace and joy is false let me give you an example one from uh the statistics we talked about last week the majority of men and pastors are looking at porn we saw that the majority of men in this country and pastors are looking at porn here's the question how many are being disciplined out of the church for many if not most this would cause them to close their doors how much peace and joy do they have now it brings us to our seventh and final accusation I added this one to the list I told you uh we had three this week and I added this one because it came up your church blindly follows the pastor or his interpretation of the Bible rather than listening directly to the Bible majority of Christians on the planet disagree with what you believe making your church a cult Church blindly follows the pastor our resp response many if not most of the people in our church could hardly be labeled as blindly following their Pastor given their regular and rigorous reading of the Bible books on church history theology philosophy and ancient Jewish culture and beliefs not only that but many in the congregation are also involved in apologetic or Evangelistic forms of ministry where they are exposed to and learning about the beliefs of others claiming to be Christian last but not least the congregation is frequently encouraged to vet the church's beliefs against those who oppose it as well as ask questions where they find confusion or contradiction though it is true that the congregation follows the teaching or interpretation of their pastor this is true for all churches is it not the pastor is the one tasked with interpreting the scriptures and teaching what he believes to the congregation as part of this role he is also to demonstrate that his interpretation and teaching on a particular text or subject are in agreement with the rules of literary communication things like grammar and context and the rest of what scripture teaches sometimes called the analogy Faith he is as Paul tells Timothy to retain the standard of sound words to rightly divide the word of Truth this I believe has been the regular Pastor uh the regular practice ice of this Church's Pastor the belief that one can listen directly to the Bible without the need for interpretation we hear that today don't don't we the belief that one can listen directly to the Bible right just go to the Bible and you can just read it for yourself and that's all you need to do without the need for interpretation well that reveals a high level of ignorance and those making such claims given that the Bible does not interpret itself nor does it always communicate in such a way that it can be understood by simply Reading Alone the fact that it was written in ancient languages unknown to most readers With backstories Idioms and other literary devices also unknown to most readers means that it is more likely that the average untrained reader will grossly misinterpret its message than truly understand what's being communicated probability of this is enhanced by the sinful instability of most along with their inability to understand the in individual or smaller parts while not losing the larger meta narrative or message presented by the whole hence the reason second Peter chter 3: 15 and following talks about those who because they are untrained and unstable misinterpret to their own destruction the words of Paul the chances of getting a correct interpretation are therefore greatly increased for those afforded the aid of a person well trained and able to demonstrate Proficiency in the four aforementioned disciplines all comments calling for the people of our church not to listen to their pastor and the teaching of our church or accusing people of not thinking for themselves are in the end hypocritical if those making such claims were following their own advice they would be forced to shut their mouths since by their advice they're not truly calling for independent thinking but rather that people would instead listen to them regarding what the majority believes as the litmus test for what we should believe Biblical history teaches otherwise majority is more often than not the place of error the Old Testament and the new New Testament uh uh depiction of Israel is a perfect lesson in that the majority were getting it wrong it is likewise a logical fallacy to think something to be true or correct because of its acceptance by the majority this is known as the ad populum fallacy the first Christians as it relates to the issue of being called a cult well the first Christians were condemned as a cult it's the word used in scripture we should therefore receive such accusations as a compliment closing contemplation then beloved what I've done for you over the past two weeks is similar to a company who performs an audit of their books to make sure that everything is copacetic as a result you now know in almost grandular detail the reasoning behind those practices or beliefs where we receive the largest criticisms as a result I think someone would be hardpressed to say that this church is running according to the personal interpretation of Scott Jarrett you would also I believe be hardpressed to say that what we've done does not possess biblical support or more accurately is not justified by the scripture in other words that what we have done and continue to do in this church is somehow incoherent we instead may be the most coherent form of Christianity on the planet today that is the challenge I would propose to our critics the problem is not that we are un IAL or incoherent but rather just the opposite we are so coherent and connected to the scriptures that we look strange when compared to everybody else and as I've said before we are still waiting for those brave enough to come and make their case rather than simply calling us names from behind their keyboards let's pray father thank you for the time we've had to discuss these issues and uh I know that for many of us they're close to the heart I pray that I've brought Clarity they've seen the consistency throughout scripture you see that it's logical and reasonable the things that we believe the things that we do here in this church use it not only to comfort them that they are in a place of truth but also again to equip them to take this message out from these four walls and to share it with others that others might be saved and know you in your truth make it so we pray in the name of our great king in Jesus name we pray amen well God's people please stand with me we will conclude our time together as we do every week in obedience to our Lord's command in number six and I'll bless you with these words may the Lord bless you and keep you may be may he be happy with you and give you Grace may he be favorable to you and give you peace and all God's people receed that blessing by saying all for King Jesus amen you were dismissed