Expectation of Joy in Unity

The message is about the expectation for joy in unity. Paul talks about how Jesus Christ began a good work in us and will continue it until His return. He emphasizes that only God has the right to tell us what to do, as we are bought with a price. Paul encourages the church in Philippi to have unity through humility, which leads to joy. He reminds them of Jesus' example of humility and obedience. He urges them to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, and to do all things without complaining. He emphasizes the importance of shining as lights in a crooked world and holding forth the word of life. Paul shares his own joy in serving God and encourages the church to rejoice with him. He concludes by saying that as Christians, we need to change our thinking and let the mind of Christ be in us, showing our faith through our works. The title of our message this morning is Expectation for Joy in Unity. And it tells us in Philippians 1 and verse 6 that Paul understood this work that was going to be done in our life. And we saw he said, being confident in this very thing, that he, referring to Jesus Christ, which began a good work in you, will perform it until the day of His return. Until the day of Jesus Christ. And so, when we look at this, he told Paul, he said, you know, we don't have the right, or I don't have the right to tell you really what to do or how to live. That is your choice and your decision. And I know I've been told that before. You don't have a right to tell me what to do. And I don't. Sometimes I earn that right with some people and other people, I don't ever earn that right. But there is one that has earned that right. There is one that has given that right and has done that, and that is God. God has a right to tell you what to do. As a matter of fact, He tells us in 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 19, He says, What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God? And you are not your own. For you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are the Lord's. Peter wrote this in 1 Peter 2.9, who also had quite a bit of problems with Jesus Christ telling him what to do. But finally, when he wrote his letter in the epistles, he says, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. And so we come to our passage this morning, and if you remember, he started out in chapter 2, giving us this idea about how to have unity, how to execute unity within the body of Jesus Christ. And unity is accomplished through humility. And so when humility produces unity, unity produces joy. And that's what this whole letter is about. It is about joy. Paul was in prison. He was waiting, didn't know if he was going to make it out of prison, if he was going to be killed. He didn't know what the outcome was going to be. But yet he said, I have joy in my heart. Because why? He was doing the will of God. He was accomplishing the will of God. And so there was joy that was there. And while he was in prison, he decided, You know what? I need to check on them people down there at Philippi. And so he writes this letter to check on them, because can you imagine being a very young church, being a church that's not like we are, 200 years old, but a church that had just begun, hadn't been there very long, but one that started this church is now in prison. Can you imagine what they must have been feeling as a congregation? Thinking, well, if they'll arrest Paul and going to kill Paul, then what are they going to do to us that are part of his church and part of his congregation? And so you can imagine the fear and the turmoil that was going on within the church at Philippi. And so Paul gives this expectation, this exhortation of unity. And then he gives us the greatest example that has ever lived in Jesus Christ. And he said it was Jesus Christ that humbled himself. He became a man and went and carried our sins to the cross of Calvary. That is humility. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He didn't claim all of his rights and everything. You know, it's one of the things that just upsets me so much as a pastor is when we as Christians try to demand our rights all the time, right? If you remember, according to the study in Romans, we were born what? Dead. We are dead men walking. We have no life. We have no eternity. We are dead. But Jesus Christ gives us life. And so Paul said, guess what? In myself, I don't have any rights because a dead person don't need rights, right? Those people laying in the grave across the street, they don't need to vote. They don't need to know what the current laws are. They don't need to know what their right is to wear a seatbelt or not wear a seatbelt. Why? Because they're in the cemetery. But guess what? We have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. So look down at verse 12. And so now we come to this. Last week, we looked at the first wherefore, the first conclusion. And we saw that because of Jesus Christ and His humility, that God exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name. And we discovered that that name was not Jesus. The name that was above every name, His second coming name, the name that He will have for the rest of eternity is not Jesus. That was His incarnation name. That was His name at the first coming. But His new name is going to be Lord. And every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. He's ruler. He's the one that gets to make the decisions and control our life. So now we come to the second wherefore of chapter 2. In verse 12, He says, "...Wherefore, My beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in My presence only, but now much more in My absence." And notice this phrase here, "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that you may be blameless and harmless to the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and a perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do you joy and rejoice with Me." So Paul gives us an expectation. We are to expect it to obey God. Salvation is free, right? It is a gift from God. But because we were dead and God has given us life, guess what, we owe Him our life. We owe Him obedience. And so Paul is saying here, he says, Wherefore, now my beloved, and he refers to them as ones that he loves, those that he cares for, those other saints. And he gives us this example. Why do we say example? Because that wherefore, you remember, is just like a therefore. How many times have I said when you see a therefore, and you stop and you go back and see what it's there for, right? A wherefore is the same as a therefore. And so what was he just talking about in Philippians chapter 2? The humility of Jesus Christ. The exaltation of Jesus Christ by God. And so now he comes and he says, Wherefore, that example that has been given to us, that God did Jesus Christ, who had all the right in the world because He is God, right? He was the same God that said in the Old Testament, no one should bow down and worship another God. I am the only God. But yet, he said, you know what? He thought it's not robbery to be equal with God. But he gave all that up. He did away with His rights and what He deserves in order that He might die for you and me. So he says, wherefore, you, my beloved, those people that have been saved, those of you that are children of God, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now, the wherefore leads us back to verse 5 where he says, Let this mine be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. See, as Christians, if we want to have joy, if we want to have unity in the church, if we want to have harmony in the church, then guess what? We've got to change our thinking. We've got to think differently. And a lot of our churches today and a lot of people are suffering in Christianity, I believe, is on the decline today. It's not on the incline. If you look at all the statistics, if you look at our statistics here in Kentucky, we're not getting more people, we're getting less. Our attendance is not getting greater, it's getting less, right? More and more people are dropping out. More and more people are giving up. Why? Because we're not thinking like Jesus Christ thinks. And so he says, Let this mine be in you. And then he tells us in James 2, verse 18, Yea, a man may say thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. See, you can't prove that you have been saved because of what you do. Remember, we saw that last week. He said there's going to be meaning because at the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And you remember what Jesus said in Matthew? He said, In that day, in that day when people are bowing before me, there's going to be meaning. He says, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy thy name? Lord, did we not cast out many devils? Lord, did we not do thine works? And he says, Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. And so making him Lord and working and your church attendance and you giving an offering and you singing specials and you maybe even teaching a Sunday school class, that does not prove that you're a saved person. But guess what? By you doing things, by you being faithful to Jesus Christ, by working with Jesus Christ, proves that there is a salvation in this day. Because when we start thinking about Christ, when we start acting like Christ, here's the cool thing about it. If Christ didn't think about himself, he always had others in mind. That's not a natural place in our society today. We don't think about us if we're interested in ourself. Then we are in self-preservation mode, right? The model of the finished. It's just right down to us. Darwin started this idea that has been around since the very beginning of time. It wasn't until the middle of Darwin and it's not going to die out with this generation of what? Everybody was interested in themselves. But Jesus said, you know what? I'm not interested in what I deserve. I'm not interested in my life. I'm interested in you. And he humbled himself. He was unto death. That's the example. That's the example. And so when we think about that example that's there, notice what he says. He gives us this exhortation to work. In other words, he exhorts us. He says, my beloved, my brothers and sisters in Christ, those of you that I care so dearly about, he says, work out your salvation. Now, this has been a part of the Scripture that has been messed up for over 2,000 years. This is that everybody has their own idea and their own opinion about what does it mean to work out their salvation. And I'll tell you, most of them are wrong. Most of them are wrong. Because we've got to understand the entire Bible. What is he talking about when he talks about working out your own salvation? Before I tell you what it means, let's look at some things that it does not mean, OK? And that way, maybe help us understand what it does mean. Number one, it does not mean that you work to be saved. You cannot work for salvation. So when he says work out your salvation, he's not talking about working your own salvation so that you do enough that all of a sudden you're going to gain salvation. As a matter of fact, we know this is directly opposite of what the Bible teaches. In Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, he says, for by grace are you saved. What? Through faith that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. You cannot work for your salvation. So when Paul says to the children of the church of Philippi to work out their salvation, guess what? He's not talking about working in order to gain salvation. As a matter of fact, he says in verse 9, not of works, lest any man should boast. So that's pretty slave, right? You're only saved by grace through faith. And then he says, if you don't understand what I'm talking about, that means you cannot work for your salvation. So the Bible's not going to contradict itself. And so when we read in Philippians, now Paul is telling the church at Philippi, guess what? The church at Ephesus, you've got your salvation by grace through faith, but now at Philippi, you've got to work out your salvation. He's not talking about working for your salvation. So what does it mean that? So then let's look again at Philippians 1. We know that the Philippians were already Christians, right? He said in verse 1, to all the saints in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ Jesus, that means you have been saved. You have made a profession of faith in order that you might receive the grace and the gift of Jesus Christ. That's how we're saved, right? I was thinking on one of the propagation songs where Jesus, one of the phrases in one of our hymns this morning was that Brother Philip made mention that Jesus came speaking of us. We wasn't speaking of Him. But when he made that statement, I got to thinking, but I sure am glad when he knocked on my door, I opened it, right? It was a case of lies. And he knocked on my door when I was nine years old and I realized, dear Lord, I am a sinner. My destination is in hell. I am so glad that I've chosen Jesus. And at that time, I received this gift. I confessed Him to the Lord of my life, the Savior of my life. And guess what? He saved me. And from that point on, until He comes back, I am in Christ Jesus. And so everything that Jesus has, now I have, were in Jesus. So when a father looks at his discovered son, guess what? I'm discovered because of Jesus Christ. And so I have an heir and a joint heir to Jesus Christ. And so when he says, so these are already saved people. So again, he's not talking about working out your salvation because they are already saved. So number two, it does not mean to work out an inward salvation. Now there are some that seem to think about this inward salvation that you can confess your sins to God and ask Him to save you, and that's great, but you've got to continue growing and continue doing, and then you will finally receive your salvation. That's what I'm talking about here. What we refer to, what I refer to in the news a lot, is the process of sanctification. You are saved, but you've also been growing and maturing in Jesus Christ. And then what happens? After sanctification, there will be glorification. In other words, there will be a time when I see Jesus, that I will be like Jesus. There will be no more sin, there will be no more body, there will be no more flesh. And so I will be glorified. This is a process, but it's a process of sanctification and glorification. It's not a process of salvation. Salvation again is what? By grace through faith. I cannot reiterate that enough today. So it does not mean working out this inward salvation and working so that you feel saved, right? So you feel better about yourself. And number three, it does not mean to work to stay saved. Folks, you cannot lose your salvation. How can you lose something that you never did anything to get? If I didn't work for salvation, then I didn't lose salvation because it was a gift, right? Now, if somebody gives me a gift, what happens? I can do with that gift whatever I want. I can break it, I can throw it away, I can trash it, or I can cherish it, or I can actually use it for a purpose, right? There's a lot of things I can do for that gift. But guess what? It's mine. And I can't take it back. And so salvation does not mean that we work to stay saved. And so what are we? We are to rest in Jesus Christ. Our work is over with. We are just supposed to be alive with joy. Living for Jesus Christ does not work, right? It is joy. Paul said, here I am in prison and guess what? I consider it joy. And he said, and I look at your obedience that when I came to you, what happened? I came to you and I preached the gospel. Go back to chapter 1. They received the gospel. Remember back in chapter 16, 18 where we put the serpent to a pie? They received His message and what happened? They've been faithful to that message. They've been obedient. Paul said, even when I'm in jail, guess what? You're not serving the ministry. You're serving Jesus Christ. And so you're still doing it. You're still participating in everything that's going on. And so you don't work to stay saved. So what does it mean? What does it mean to work out your salvation? Well, Romans 8 and verse 29, another passage that gets totally messed up and so many people are wrong on because they're looking at the wrong object. They're not looking at the context. They're looking at a couple of verses. But Romans 8 and verse 29 says, For whom He did foreknow, that's foreknowledge, right? Did God know me before I was ever born? Yes. Did God know everything? Did God know that man was going to sin before He created Adam and Eve? He sure did. Because they were going to sin each way. And so what happened? For Moses' foreknowledge that Adam and Eve was going to sin, what would be the result of what had to happen? Jesus Christ was going to have to come and die. Remember I said that. One of the things He said. And so He foreknew this. And so what did He say? For those who He foreknew, He did what? Predestinate. What does it mean to predestinate? It means to make a plan ahead of time, right? So He died when He knew before He ever created Adam and Eve, He foreknew that they were going to sin. And so He already predestinated a plan that they would do what? That they would be saved. And that plan of salvation only happened through the Son of Jesus Christ. Because of His humility and His obedience, He suffered death, even the death of the cross. Why? Because the wages of sin is death, right? For Jesus Christ didn't sin, right? He died on the cross. At the time of death, this man's judged. He doesn't know anything at all. The guard when Jesus Christ died isn't finished. So one of His brothers was sitting in the stage just slapping him and mocking him and gambling over his clothes. And truly, this is the Son of God. This guy has no sin in Him. And so over and over, what happens? For God so loved the world that He came. He predestined the day and the time for Jesus Christ to come back to die for our sins, right? And who's sinning? Anybody but sin has it, right? Everyone in the Lord of the Ladies is being overly glad all the time because the Lord of the Ladies can't deliver God. And I tease her sometimes. I say, you don't have to go back to Abraham because you can't do it. You don't have to go back to Noah because you can't do it. When God starts everything over, right? And so every one of us, ultimately, are sinners because of Adam and Eve's sinning. And we're born into that sin. We're born into that sin, ain't we? So God knew us and predestined that we would stay in that condition but then what? We had to tell a lie. He wanted us to have to tell a lie. And He knew what it is. He foreknew. He also predestined. And look at this next phrase, because this is the key. This is the goal of God's life for your life. God wants you to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Who did we just read about? The example in chapter 2. Jesus Christ, right? He thought it not appropriate to be equal with God, but did what? Made of Himself no reputation, took upon Himself the form of a what? A man that went to death, even the death of the cross. And God said, guess what? It was planned from the very beginning that every single one of you, every one that's outside of these walls, God has a desire that has already made a plan for you to be conformed to the image of the Son of Jesus Christ. And He thought it. And He thought it the other day from a long time ago, that you might be the firstborn among many brethren. He didn't predestine some to be saved and some to be lost. That's not what it said. What did He predestine? He knows everybody and He predestined everybody, not saved and lost, but He predestinated everybody to be conformed to the image of His Son. That's the goal and that's the purpose. The only way that I can be conformed to the image of His Son, though, is what? I have to accept His salvation. I have to recognize that He is Lord. And when I recognize that He is Lord and I am saved and I result in His glory, guess what? Then I become obedient. And as I am obedient, guess what? I'm conformed to His image. You remember back before in chapter 1, verse 6, I showed you what I know? What did Paul say? Paul was convinced that He was again working in you. With what? Completely. Hopefully, today, I look more like Jesus Christ than I did when I was nine years old when I was saved. Hopefully, I look more like Jesus Christ today than in 1987 when I surrendered my life to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hopefully, I look more like Jesus Christ today than 31 years ago when I married my wife on June the 19th. Hopefully, I look more like Jesus Christ than I once did. You see, we should always be moving to the confirmation of Jesus Christ. I'm not perfect. I'm not without sin. But I should be getting better because I'm being obedient to Jesus Christ. And when I'm disobedient, what do I do? I repent and I confess my sins. And when I confess my sins, be faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and save me from all unrighteousness. And so then guess what? Then we hug each other, He loves me, He cares for me, and we go back to being obedient again. And so notice, that's what he's talking about here in Romans chapter 8 and verse 29 is that God's desire is for everybody in this world to look like Jesus Christ, to act like Jesus Christ, to have eternal life. But we know that some are not going to do that, right? Because He says what? Paul told us that there's going to be some that are going to be forced to make the deal. We know that they're going to be forced to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And then there's going to be trouble with everyone who says, you know what? I'm going to call you Lord. And you know what? What are you guys here for? Because I'm doing all of these works, right? I'm prophesying, I'm casting out devils, I'm doing all of this stuff in your name. But Jesus Christ said, you're calling me Lord, but I've never known you because you've never confessed it because then you never have been saved. You've never been in Christ. And so once you get in Christ, you cannot get out of Christ. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 13 tells us that He gave all these ministers and ministries and gave us a church, a church, a body, till we all come to the what? The unity of faith. And of the knowledge of who? The knowledge of the Bible? The knowledge of the Gospel? No, the knowledge of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was a perfect man, who was without sin, who everybody on the inside recognized Him as sinless. But you know what? Everybody on the outside recognized Him as sinless too, as blameless. As a matter of fact, Timothy writes in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and he says, if you want to be a pastor, if you want to be an overseer of His people, you know what you've got to be? You've got to be blameless. Not only for those within a congregation, but you've got to be blameless for those outside the congregation. In other words, people all look at me when I go to the riverside, they know I'm not going in there to buy a drink of water and tea. They know when I go to the riverside, they know I'm not coming in there to buy a beer or wine. Why? Because He knows me. He knows me. He knows what I stand for. He knows who I am. And so He does not expect me to do that. That's there. And so God wants to do this work with all of us until we all come in that type of unity, until we're all focused on what? Thinking like Christ thinks. Giving up our rights. Do I have the right to buy a lottery ticket? Yes, I do. Do I have a right to drink alcohol? Yes, I do. But guess what? Neither one of them produces the things that God wants to produce in my life. The lottery ticket is designed for you to lose. It's designed for you to get rich and for you to lose. Alcohol is designed by deal to what? To get you from not coping with this world. It's destroyed marriages. It's destroyed families. It's destroyed jobs. Alcohol is designed to make you forget and get away. Neither one of them things is profitable for me in Jesus Christ. So I have a right. I can do it. You can do it. Where's the truth? You couldn't kill me in the bottle when the lottery buying lottery tickets is a bad thing. Well, I can tell you what Jesus said to make sure that you first take a drink from the storehouse. Well, he blessed you with it. He's not blessing you if you lose it. You're going to gamble and do it with everybody else, right? So the odds are, if I'm not doing that, then at least I'll have more to bring them than me. Right? So there's principles that are there. And that's what we're not thinking. We want our rights. Well, I have a right to do this. I have a right to do with my body whatever I want to, right? I can tattoo it up. I can pierce it up. Because why? This is my body. No, if you're a Christian, it's not your body. Paul says you were bought with a price. The price of God himself dying for your sins. Therefore, take that filthy, sinful, wicked, damned body that you've got and give it to God and glorify him. You see the mind of Christ? You see how our churches and Christianity is not on keeping on the mind of Christ? That's what Paul was saying. That's why our churches do not have unity. That's why our churches don't have joy. We come in at the last minute. We leave as soon as the service is over with. We want the same when we came in as when we leave. There's no joy. There's no harmony. There's no unity. Because why? All we are is focused on ourselves and checking out some boxes. And Paul says I'm challenging you. You need the mind of Christ. You need the mind of Christ. You need to think about others. So then he goes on to the enabling of the work. Look at what it says in verse 13. For it is who? Who? God. Work out your own salvation. But guess what? You can't work because you're a dead, reputable sinner. So what? It is God which worketh in you. What? Both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Not what you want to do. Not what your desire is. But what does God want you to do? And how many people have gone on to say, First of all, I would love to tell the young men that don't you pray for me and don't you sign God's will for my life. No, my answer is, I'll pray for you. Please, you can just recognize me as Lord. No problem. Because it says, God works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And if I tell you what you ought to be doing, then guess what? You're serving the flesh and you're not serving God. God is the one that gives you the will and the determination to do it. He's the one that puts you in order to do it. He does it. And so it is God which worketh in you. In John chapter 16, verse 7 through 11, Jesus said, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. The truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. Who is He talking to? His disciples. Those that are saved. For if I go not away, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And so now think about what is Jesus Christ? He taught Him not to offer His people to God. And He did what? He laid aside all His confidence. Did He cease to be God? No. He always was God. He was 100% God. He was 100% man. But what He did, He didn't set aside His confidence. What He did was, He set aside the attribution of the power of His heart to His disciples. You get that? And so He said, I'm going to minister to a body. I'm going to minister to another. I'm not going to call it. You know, how many times do they tell us, Jesus is your real God. And call Him your Father. And He'll stand with His relatives to take you off of that cross. Because Jesus has done it. I don't think anybody should believe that. I think Jesus Christ could handle it very well on His own. And it is His order, right? When all of a sudden it came to Him, You just betrayed Him with a kiss, right? And then they asked Him, Are you Jesus the maverick? And what did He say? I am. And all of a sudden He would say, I am. What do you mean? And He said, Every one of the Lord's and everybody around Him, pat on their face. He said, You know, you don't have to pay me with taxes and stuff. You don't have to fine me. This is for the purpose that I came. I'm going to go where you were with me. Wow. I don't know if you've seen this, but this is amazing. Because He was God. He was good. But He said, You know what? I'm not going to use my power. I'm going to set it aside so that I might fully understand every temptation, everything that we struggle for in a fleshly body, trying to live without sin. And He says, So I need to get out of the way. I need to get out of the way, but I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit is not confined to a body. The Holy Spirit can be here this morning. He can be at Sharon this morning. He can be down at Mexico. He can be down at the other side of the world. The Holy Spirit can be everywhere at the same time. And guess what? Be speaking to all of us and dealing with all of us all at the very same time. You don't have to invite the Holy Spirit. Hey, if you got time on your schedule, would you stop by Kentucky for 1045? He's already here because He came in with me. I hope He came in with you. But He's already here. He says, Well, I've got to go away so this Comforter can come to you. And when He has come, who is He again? The Comforter. Who's the Comforter? The Holy Spirit. He will what? Reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Why are we as Christians trying to reprove the world of sin and righteousness? Why are we as Christians judging the world? It's not our job. Whose job is it? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. And I'm going to show you here in just a second what we are supposed to be doing. Now look at what he says in verse 9. Of sin because they believe not on me. It's not what they're doing. People do what they do because why? They don't recognize Jesus Christ because if you recognize Jesus Christ, He is what? Lord. Why? Because He died on the cross. He humbled Himself and came to the cross of sin and God exalted Him. So if you accept His sacrifice, then guess what? You've got to accept Him as Lord. And so guess what? Yes, you're going to sin. You shouldn't want to sin. It shouldn't be easy. It shouldn't be fun. It shouldn't be exciting. And why? Because if you believe on Jesus Christ and He is Lord, you don't want to sin. You're going to step away from it. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged. God has already judged this world. We're studying that on Wednesday night at the end time. God has already judged. He's already predestined to plan. He already foreknows, right? And guess what? Since they won't be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, if they won't accept Him as Lord, Israel, what's going to happen? There's going to be a seven year tribulation period where God is going to do what? Pour out His wrath until Israel decides to do what? We are going to accept Jesus as Lord. And then He's going to tell them, OK, great. Come into the millennial reign. But He's not going to let them in until they're at their worst bottom, until they finally realize that Jesus is King. He's already judged. Verse 13, How be it when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. But notice what I underlined there on the screen. What is the job of the Holy Spirit? To guide you into all truth. John 14, who is truth? Who has the truth? Who is truth? Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So who is the Holy Spirit leading you to? Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? His new name is not Jesus. That was His birth name. You know, we have a lot of people today that are named Jesus and Jesus and it's spelled the same way. There's a lot. But guess what? That was His birth name. Now He's a little soft at the right hand of God, and God calls Him Lord. And we will also. Then answered Jesus and said unto them in John 5, verse 19, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that He Himself doeth, and He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel. What marvel is? Marvel is a word that just simply means that you stand back with your mouth wide open wondering how in the world did that happen, right? We marvel at creation. How many of you said not too long ago was marveling at the Eclipse? What were they doing? They were standing there with their heads up, their mouths wide open like, wow, this is so cool, right? How did this happen? And nobody, none of the people that I was watching on TV or TV, but nobody says that God created it. Nobody talks about the point that it is just predicted. It is the evolution. You can't predict stuff that's evolving. But God created everything. He set it in motion. We've been talking about it for years, right? The Eclipse was coming. We've been preparing. We've been just pushing through. We set down our hope and our faith for an entire day. Because why? Because it's marvelous what's in it. And God didn't even give it to us. That's all he did. And so he said, guess what? There's going to be those that come greater than me. But notice what he said there. He said, Jesus will always obey the Father. And Jesus said, I'm going to do what it seems to bother me. Now, let's move back to our life. We should only do what Jesus has said. All right? We obey Jesus. What would Jesus do? Paul said, this mind can do that if it's in Christ Jesus. And so Jesus said, I have to obey God. Because all I know is obedience. All I know is God. And if God says to do it, then I have to do it because God has already done it. Who made the plan? Jesus Christ died. God. God made that plan. And what did Jesus Christ? He humbly accepted that plan. And so see, Christianity is not that tough. It's not that hard that we make it out to be. We just need to start thinking like Christ. And putting other people before ourselves. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10. That other part of that, for we are saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, as any man should boast. This is the verse everybody forgets. Because we want to be saved. Now we're satisfied and we just want to wait and sing songs about the good things, wait until we get to heaven, right? What God said, we're not saved just to sit around and sing songs about the good of the day. He said, no, we are his workmanship. We are created now in Christ Jesus unto good works. What works? The same works that Jesus did. The same works that the Father did. Guess what? Jesus said, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit so that because you haven't always been with the Father, you haven't always known the Father, so I'm going to send the Holy Spirit because he was used to that way. The Holy Spirit will guide you to behave like God in Jesus Christ. What a plan, what a design that he made for us. He said, God has before ordained that we should walk in them. First Corinthians 12, 7, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit. Who? Why does the Holy Spirit guide you into truth? Why does the Holy Spirit help you to know the will of God and the doing of God? So that you'll profit yourself? So that you'll look great? How did that work out for Jesus Christ? Right? He died on the cross, right? Man, I'm going to do this because man, it's going to make me this great guy, right? But even in his death, how many people reject him? How many of his own people are still 2,000 years old and still reject him? It's not to profit you. God's not interested in you. God is interested in those that have not recognized him before and has been reformed in his image. That's what God's interested in. And so he said, the Holy Spirit will give to every individual that is in Jesus Christ. You've got to get there first, but then the Holy Spirit will lead you to obedience that will profit someone else. When was the last time as a Christian you did anything to profit someone else at your sacrifice and suffering? We don't hear about that anymore, do we? Man, we've talked about the church of yesterday, right? And how sacrificial and self-caring the people were and everything. And the churches was growing. People were being saved. But where are we at today? We want to profit ourselves. Lord, I'll serve you, but make me great, right? No, make me. I'm a servant. Verse 11 says, But all these work at the wood in the self-same spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. So we're out of time. So let's wrap this thing up right quick. And Paul does that. Look at the walk of obedience. Do all things without murmurings and disputings. Now, in your Bible, underline all things, right? That's the good, the bad and the ugly. Everything is all things, right? Everything is an all. Whether it's fun, whether it's pleasant or if it's not. All things, right? I keep telling my wife when she's had her back surgery and I appreciate your prayers, but I keep reminding her, Honey, I said in sickness and in health till death do we part. I'm having to take care of all things. She said, Oh, I'm sorry you're having to do this, right? Well, guess what? I know what I signed up for. And guess what? When I made Jesus Christ my Lord, I know what I signed up for. Not everybody's going to like me. Not every job's going to be pleasant. Not every church is going to be great and spectacular. But guess what? My God is. And so the job is, is not to get on their level and to get who they are, but the job is to make them more like Jesus Christ, to bring them to His level. And that's what Paul says here. Do it without murmurings and disputings. You know what murmuring is? Murmuring. And look what I was reading in verse 15, that you may be blameless and harmless to sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. See, God's not going to take you out of this sinful world. He wants you to shine in the sinful. Where does light shine the best? In darkness. You'd be ridiculous if you're sitting in this auditorium this morning with a flashlight. You don't need it. The lights are sufficient, right? Man, if the lights went out, what are we going to do? We're going to be looking for a flashlight. Paul said to Ephesians, not with our service as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God. What is the will of God? Jesus Christ made Himself with no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant that was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Murmurings and disputings. Murmurings is not somewhere I've lost all of my notes. I had a few notes, so I'm going to have to decide if this is going to be true or not. But here's what you're told in the Old Testament. What are the murmurings? Murmurings is complaining of evil. You remember the people of Israel? God had to tell Moses, my people are murmuring. Well, they're not out and about with everybody else. No, they're right in their shell. You know, they're kind of sitting in this tent thinking, man, I put this back in. He should shut down. He should sanction or something. And all God's doing is this man of right. It's an inward thing. You know what a disputing is? Disputing is an outward complaint. All complaining starts inward. It starts in murmuring. I don't like the temperature of the church. I don't like this. I don't like that. Right. And then what happens? Then we begin to dispute it. We begin to get other people on our side. Right. Then the murmuring is inward. Disputing is outward. And what does it all say? Do all things without complaining inwardly and especially outwardly. Why? Because we're looking for unity. We're looking for harmony. It's not about what style of music do I like. It's not about what songs do I like. It's not about is it traditional music or is it contemporary music. It's about does it lift up Jesus Christ? And if you're someone in your building and I have so much traditional music, so much southern gospel quartet, you wouldn't even believe it. But guess what? I've been to youth events and I've been in services where some of the contemporary songs are reaching younger people and younger generations. And so you know what? What it does? I've stumbled my way through the best way that I can to be able to sing these verses so that Jesus Christ will be glorified. Do you know what I've been doing? I get back in my truck. I throw one throw of seeds. Right. I get my other stuff. Right. But what? I do all things. I didn't murmur or complain. I didn't drink another beer. I didn't have a misservice. I didn't divide a church so that we can have a traditional healed service and we can have a conventionary music church. I didn't divide the church to do that. I said we say one, but what are we doing? We're trying to reach all people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So therefore, we're for all people. And that's what he says. So quit doing the murmuring and complaining. Why? That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God. Satan is the one that comes to steal, to kill, right? Satan is the one that comes to steal, lie, cheat, right? Jesus Christ said he came to unify us, to bring us together. And so we need to be blameless. We need to be harmless, the sons of God. Christians hurt more people than need to be hurt. The worst hurts that I've had since I've been in the ministry has not been from the outside world. They're a crooked and perverse generation. I expect them to be that way. The most hurts I've had has been in the church from Christians. Because they're supposed to be blameless. They're supposed to understand the struggles that we're going through. They're supposed to be the sons of God. They're supposed to be without rebuke. You know, James says, confess your sins one to another and pray fervently for one another that you may come together. We ain't confessing our sins. When was the last time you heard somebody confess sins in church? We don't do it. Why? Because it won't take five minutes until church is out, until Riverside's already heard about it and it's already heading into Benton and Malvern and everywhere else. So I'm not sharing my life, right? I'm not sharing my life. I'm sharing my life, right? And what happens? We rebuke each other. I don't want people looking at me bad, right? Guess what? We're all struggling. We're all sinners saved by the grace of God, right? We're in this thing together and we are living in a crooked and a perverse nation. But what are we supposed to do? Shine us lights. Shine us lights. So Paul says we're to do two things. And listen, we're going to close right here. We're to stand out. Peter said we are peculiar people. We're an odd people. Who in the world... Name me one person in the United States living today that lives their life and you look at me and you say, that person is all about someone else. That person cares more for others than they care for themselves. I can name some people in the past. Mother Teresa. Right? I can name some people in the past. But who in our generation today do you think that cares more about others than they do themselves? I'm telling you, right? We're to stand out. We're peculiar people. We're odd. We're different. We're not even different. Not that we look like what we act like, what we say, but what? We're different because sinners have been saved by the grace of Jesus Christ and we are meant to heal us and we care about others more than we care about ourselves. We have the mind of Christ. And when we do that, guess what? Then we will shine. We'll shine. What does it all tell us? You remember back when your sister beat you? They said put out the whole lot for God? None of these folks have put out the whole lot for God. Did she make the apples or what? Shame, shame. You cannot shine until you shame. And so you put on the mind of Christ and be like Christ, then guess what? Then you start to shine and you draw people to you at all times. And Jesus Christ said, what? If I don't do this job, I will draw all the people unto me. In other words, if I shine, what am I doing? I hate shine because I'm dead. I'm a sinner. But I can lift up Jesus Christ. I can serve others. I can humble myself. I can be obedient. I can do sacrificial. I can be a servant. And when I do that, that's what I'm acting like Jesus Christ. And so when people look at me, they don't see that I'm a saint. They don't see that I'm a selfish slur. But they see that it's Jesus Christ. This man loves me. This man cares for me. And when I act all of a sudden, I don't need to create it. Jesus Christ needs to create it. And when Jesus Christ needs to create it, then guess what? He needs to kill his father. If I'm the father, then I'm going to be the son of the one who created Adam and Eve, right? It's a pretty cool play. I mean, who doesn't want to fall down and create something that is going to hate me, that is going to despise me, that is going to be disobedient to me. But I am going to die to get their love back. One more, because I can foretell to be over 50% in America today if both of these wives finish in the marriage thinking, you know what? No matter what happens, whether she loves me forever or not, I'm going to give my life and die in order to get her love back. If I believe that, at the same time Mary did, and my wife loves that, right? Then I have my reminders of that day and day, right? Don't come up to me three months from now and say, you don't tell me that you love me. Remember what I'm doing to you right now, right? I'm proving my love. I'm here, I'm sacrificing, I'm putting in the silver, right? And she's listening to it today. Folks, we just need to think like Jesus. We think like Jesus. I think we're thinking like Jesus, and we're thinking like Jesus. As we stand together, we should do the same. Page 434.