thespeakndeacon.com

God is Just

Justice

Review:

God is Holy,  We are not

God is Just; Righteous, we are not

God is Judge;  We are not

God will Judge; We will receive Justice.    Oh oh!

God’s Attribute

Our Consequence

God’s Role

God’s Attribute  1 Sam. 2:6-10, 2Ch 19:5 –10,  Psalms 5:1-12

Our Consequence:

Genesis 3:1-10,  2 Thess, 1:4-10 ,  Psalms 51:1-4,

God’s Role:  Psalms 50:1-6,  Psalms 9:7-8.

God’s Plan To Save You from His Judgment

Someone who is Righteous must receive God’s wrath in your place.

A righteous person has to die on your behalf.

1Pe 3:18 NIV - For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

God is Holy

Homeliness

Before Grace, Mercy.

Before Mercy, Justice.

Before Justice, Holiness.

What is holy?  100% Pure Good, Absolute Good, Righteous, Just

God is Holy  Gen. 2:3, Exd. 3:5, 1Sam, 2:1:2,  Exd, 26:33, Matt, 27:50-51,   Isa 6:1-5,   Rev. 4:8-11.

Our problem with Holiness.

It kills us.   Lev. 9:22-10:11,  2 Sam,

The Flood, Conquest of the Holy Land, Judges, The CROSS!

Holiness Exposes Us as we truly are;  evil.

Joshua 7:19-26,

God is God and we are not.     Romans 9:14-24.

Holiness confuses us.  John 1:1-12.

Holiness Scares us.  Gen3:7-10,  Luke 5:8.

The Holiness of Communion.  1 Cr. 11:23-31.

Blessed By Sanctification

Blessed is your Purpose in Christ.

Justification & Sanctification Romans 5

Your Purpose, Meaning, Life, Goal, Mission.

More then you could ever imagine.  Ephs 3:16-21

God Disciplines His Children,  Sanctification: Hebrews. 12:4-13.

Work Out!

Phil:  2:12-13.

The Scariest Truth

Be Objective:  Hbr 3:12

Warning:  Hbr 10:26-31

Gospel First:   Romans 8:1-4, Romans 10:4, 9-13

Salvation through Jesus Alone!  Act 4:12

Two Truths:  1.  There is a Hell,   2. By Default, You are going.

1. There is a hell.

Mark 9:42-48, Matt 13:36-42, Matt 13:47-50,   Matt 22:1-14, Matt 24:48-51,  Luke 13:23-29,  Luke 16:19-24, Matt 25:30-32, Rev. 19:20

2. By Default You are going there.

Rom.  3:19, Rom. 7:14,  John 2:16-18, Mat. 7:21-23,  Rev. 20:10-15,  Luke 9:26, Hbr 10:29.

You will finally get what you always wanted.

1. Judged by your works.

2. “Freedom” from God. . . . kind of, . . . .not really.

Rev.   20:9-15.

Going to hell is not a good idea.   Ask Jesus to save you from hell.

Blessed Are

Blessed Are. . . .

Blessed is your Purpose in Christ.

Examples of blessings.

Psa. 1:1-2,  Psa 1:3-6,   Psa 112:1-10,

Psa 41:1, 144:15, 146:5.

The Sermon on the Mount:   Matt 5:1-16!

Poor in spirit:   Psa 51:17,

Those who Mourn.  James 4:8-10.

The Meek:  Psalm 37:7-17,   2 Cr. 12:9-10, James 1:12.

Hunger & Thirst for Righteousness.  Psa 11:4-7, Rev. 20:12-13.

The Merciful:  Luke 10:30-37.

Pure in heart:  Jhn 14:18-23,  Rev. 21:1-5.

Peacemakers:  James 3:17-18, 2 Cr.s 5:17-21.

Jesus Ramps It Up!

Get your focus on your reward!   Matt 5:10-12,

Salt,  Light, Shine!   Matt 5:13-16

You are Blessed!

What is a Blessing?

1. pseudo dichotomy . There is no such thing natural vs supernatural, only revealed realms/progressions of the supernatural or divine.

God’s creation

(Gen 1:1 NIV) - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

God is the creator and sustainer of the universe.

(Act 17:28 NIV) - 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Form & Function = Purpose:

When something functions as it was designed.  Good.

When something functions less than designed,  Cursed

When something functions beyond its original design, Blessing.

Example from Genesis

When something functions as it was designed.  Good.

(Gen 1:31 ESV) - And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

When something functions less than designed,  Cursed

Creation:  Curse

(Gen 3:16 NIV) - To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

(Gen 3:17 NIV) - To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

(Gen 3:18 NIV) - It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

(Gen 3:19 NIV) - By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

When something functions beyond its original design, Blessing.

(Gen 1:28 ESV) - And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

(Gen 1:29 ESV) - And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

(Gen 1:30 ESV) - And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.

What is the purpose of creation & mankind?

(Mat 22:37 NIV) - Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

(Mat 22:38 NIV) - This is the first and greatest commandment.

(Mat 22:39 NIV) - And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

(Mat 22:40 NIV) - All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

How do we Love God?   Obey His Commands

(Jhn 14:15 NIV) - "If you love me, you will obey what I command.

What is God’s Commandment?

(Mat 28:18 NIV) - Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

(Mat 28:19 NIV) - Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

(Mat 28:20 NIV) - and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

It takes the power of God to obey the will of God. = Blessed

(Gal 5:22 ESV) - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

(Gal 5:23 ESV) - gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

(Gal 5:24 ESV) - And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

(Gal 5:25 ESV) - If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Who Would Jesus Vote For?

Pseudo Dichotomies: God & Politics

It’s a moral issue.

The Bible is alive, more than we realize!  Ecc 1:9

Who’s moral foundation will you follow?

Humanism or The Bible?

The United States is not a church & the Prez is not a pastor.

Fact: Neither the Republicans nor Democrats are interested in the Cause of Christ.

Socially liberal but fiscally conservative?  1 John 5:16-17.  Sin that leads to death.

Who would Jesus vote for?   “What instructions does the Bible give us in this matter?”

The USA is a republic not a monarchy.

Two important facts about our presidential choices.   Unveiled Evil!

1. Mormonism is a theological antichrist cult.

2. Marxism is the foundation for communism.

Currently leader’s stance on sexual immorality.  Total disregard.

Living as Christians: Romans 13,   Acts 5:28-29.

A True Christian:     The Great Command & Great Commission.

You are a chosen Priesthood.   1 Peter 2:9-10.

What About Ghosts?

Let’s talk about your homemade religion.

Ghosts are always popular.

Ghost:  A disembodied human spirit.

Ephs 6:12.

A real ghost story in 1 Sam. 28:3-19.

Where does our spirit go when we die?

Hebrews 9:24-28.   Judgment

Paradise for the saved:   Luke 23:40-43

Tribulation Saints at God’s Throne:  Rev. 6:9-11

Two people in history who did not die.   Enoch & Elijah.

Gen 5:23,24,    2 Kings: 2:11-12.

The transfiguration guest appearance. Matt 17:1-3,

Paul looking forward to his future.  Phil. 1:20-24.

Mark 12:24-27.  Sad Sadducees,  Happy Jesus

Our future transformation:  2 Cor. 5:1-11.

Warning: You have one life time to decide what you will do with Jesus.  . . . . . . And there is only one right answer. Acts 4:10-12,

A Potent Warning:  Hebrews 10:29-31.

What does God think of talking to dead people?

Lev. 20:6-7,  Manasseh’s bad start.   2 Ch 33:1-7.

What about you?   Rev. 21:8.   Gal.  5:16-26.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with it’s passions and desires.

What Is Evil?

What it’s not:

Not an ability;  no person can ‘do” evil.  It’s a condition: Gal 5:19

It’s death: Rom. 8: 6-8.

Not a Choice:   Deut. 6:4-6

Not Self-Sustaining nor eternal.   Gen 1:31,  Romans 8:19-22.

Not the equal/opposite of Good but the absence of God.

Order—Disorder, Life-Death,   Love –Hate.

God’s Omnis:   God ‘needs’ nothing.  Gen 1:1.

Good:  God

evil:   Everything Else  Isiah 64:6,  Romans 3:23, Romans 3:9-20, Luke 11:13, Romans 7:15.

How come evil seems so powerful?   Psalms 94:1-7.

How can we get to heaven if we are evil?    Mat 19:24-26.

God takes people to Heaven: It’s called Grace.   Romans 8:1-4,

God Saves You:  Ephs 2:1-7.

God punishes your evil and saves you:  Ephs 1:2-14.

God brings you to life & gives you His Holy Spirit.  Gal 5:22-25.

Sins of Omission & Commission

Sins of Omission & Commission.   A battle of Heart and flesh!

Sin of Commissions are the sins we commit.  The sins we want to do.

Sins of Omission is when we don’t do what God clearly tells us to do.

(Jam 4:13 NIV) - Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."

(Jam 4:14 NIV) - Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

(Jam 4:15 NIV) - Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

(Jam 4:16 NIV) - As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

(Jam 4:17 NIV) - Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

The reflective nature of God’s Revealed Law.

One of the characteristics of God’s Word is to reveal the true spiritual condition.

(Rom 7:12 NIV) - So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

(Rom 7:13 NIV) - Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

(Rom 7:14 NIV) - We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

(Rom 7:15 NIV) - I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

(Rom 7:16 NIV) - And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

(Rom 7:17 NIV) - As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

(Rom 7:18 NIV) - I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

(Rom 7:19 NIV) - For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.

(Rom 7:20 NIV) - Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

(Rom 7:21 NIV) - So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

(Rom 7:22 NIV) - For in my inner being I delight in God's law;

(Rom 7:23 NIV) - but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

(Rom 7:24 NIV) - What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

(Rom 7:25 NIV) - Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

The Gospel meets the requirements of the Law.

(Rom 8:1 NIV) - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

(Rom 8:2 NIV) - because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

(Rom 8:3 NIV) - For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,

(Rom 8:4 NIV) - in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Side Note:  It is these two parts of the Gospel, that people do not like.

No one likes to be told they are inherently evil and God will punish them.

Then when you offer the 10 commandments, people become very irritable.

Because it leads them to a truth they don’t not want to acknowledge.

Christians are the first to admit they are guilty of breaking God’s law and deserve God’s punishment.

Our Obligation.

(Rom 8:12 NIV) - Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.

(Rom 8:13 NIV) - For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,

(Rom 8:14 NIV) - because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

(Rom 8:15 NIV) - For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

(Rom 8:16 NIV) - The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

(Rom 8:17 NIV) - Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

(Rom 8:18 NIV) - I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Our Intent.

(Phl 2:1 NIV) - If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,

(Phl 2:2 NIV) - then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

(Phl 2:3 NIV) - Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

(Phl 2:4 NIV) - Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Our Example.

(Phl 2:5 NIV) - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

(Phl 2:6 NIV) - Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

(Phl 2:7 NIV) - but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

(Phl 2:8 NIV) - And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!

(Phl 2:9 NIV) - Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

(Phl 2:10 NIV) - that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

(Phl 2:11 NIV) - and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Phl 2:12 NIV) - Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

(Phl 2:13 NIV) - for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

(Phl 2:14 NIV) - Do everything without complaining or arguing,

Our Excuse:

(Eph 2:10 NIV) - For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

What if the “good work” God prepared in advance for you to do, backfires?

What if my good work . . . .

was misunderstood

offends someone

was not appreciated

was assumed

was maligned as bad

Jesus has got the answer.

(Luk 6:22 NIV) - Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

(Luk 6:23 NIV) - "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.”

(Mat 5:10 NIV) - Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(Mat 5:11 NIV) - "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

(Mat 5:12 NIV) - Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

(Mat 5:13 NIV) - "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

(Mat 5:14 NIV) - "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

(Mat 5:15 NIV) - Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

(Mat 5:16 NIV) - In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

(Jhn 16:1 NIV) - "All this I have told you so that you will not go astray.

(Jhn 16:2 NIV) - They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.

(Jhn 16:3 NIV) - They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.

(Jhn 16:4 NIV) - I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

(Jam 4:17 NIV) - Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.