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1 Corinthians 1-26,31 -Consider Your Calling- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2024-02-04
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First Corinthians one twenty six through 31, would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Embase things of the world, and things which are despised has God chosen. Yea, and things which are not, to bring to not things that are. That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. That according as it is written, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. Father, we thank you for your holy word, and Lord, to you be the glory. Great things you have done. Lord, thank you for saving us. Thank you for not leaving me in my sin and my heading to hell, Lord. Thank you for intervening. Lord, we we we are so thankful. We attribute our salvation, the greatest thing we've ever ever that we ever could possess and on into eternity. Lord, we pray that you would save our loved ones, you'd save our friends, save those in our community, that you'd equip and strengthen us and help us to be able to reach the lost. As one man sows another waters, Lord, you bring the increase. Lord, we pray that as the fields are white under harvest, that the Lord of the harvest would raise us up, that we'd be laborers in that field, Lord, sharing the glorious good news of your coming kingdom. Lord, give them ears to hear. In this twilight zone, they can't hear, Lord. Give them ears to hear. Open open their eyes. Cause the scales to melt off, and Lord, help us to share the glorious good news of the cross. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Would you please be seated? The wisdom of the cross is manifested in the people that God chooses to save. Who's worthy to be saved? Who who should God choose? The wealthy, the mighty, the wise, the noble? If man were to devise a plan of salvation on the face of impending nuclear destruction of America, what kind of people would be invited into the globalist bunkers? Did did you get an invitation? I I didn't. They're building billion dollar bunkers to get underground with food. Food that they tell you there's a food shortage of chicken, or this chicken went bad, or this beef went bad. No. It didn't go bad. They just took it all for themselves and have it underneath the ground. Huge deep underground military bunkers. Not to mention the bunkers that the wealthy have getting ready to go underground. How do I know? Because Revelation six says they're underground, and their knees are bopping back and forth like Belteshazzar. They're peeing their pants because of the wrath of the lamb found them there. And so can you imagine being underground with swimming pools and all that other sort of stuff and horticulture growing stuff, but the walls, everything, no matter how much steel you put there in concrete or whatever, it's just cracking. It's cracking and it's it's a crumble. And I've I grew up in California when they had a lot of earthquakes when I was younger. And, man, you'd after a while, happened so often, just lay in bed and, you know, just watch the whole thing sway. We had a hanging Mexican kind of a big chandelier kind of a thing, and it just, you know, just go like that. And and anyway, so I haven't been invited. I haven't been invited to the clergy response team either. Can you guys get me in on that? So I can lead you guys all to FEMA camps when things go bad, you know. But but nobody is gonna invite people like us because we're the losers of society. And that's that's what's happening here is who's worthy? Who would be invited under this? I didn't get invited. They've got underground bunkers underneath the Denver Airport, and it's not for the poor. It's not for the illiterate. It's not for the nobody useless eaters. Man's wisdom says that we're worthless. God says, whosoever will, let them come. So consider your calling, brethren, as we look first of all at who has God chosen? Number one, the world's unimportant. Verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Where are we called? We're called to heaven. Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it weren't so, I'd tell you. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, receive you onto myself that where I am, there you may be also. You're not gonna be in the bunkers. You're gonna be with Jesus. You're be raptured to heaven to be with Jesus when all hell breaks loose upon planet Earth. God has chosen you before the foundation of the earth. He chose you, the world's unimportant. He says, not many wise. The wise are the educated. The mighty are the capable, the gifted. The noble are the the inbred blue bloods. Can I say that word? High born, aristocrats, the elites, if you will, as they marry within their families and stuff. And who did Jesus choose? Fishermen. Fishermen. Women love to fish. You're a woman, you love to fish. There I knew there's a couple over there. Fishermen. Would you choose fishermen to turn the world upside down, to hang out with you for three and a half years, and to pour into their lives that they'd be the ones that go out and make disciples for you? You choose a tax collector, you know, this time of year, April 15 and all, but the majority of them are just common guys. One brilliant guy, an apostle born out of due time, was the apostle Paul. He's the only one that was actually brilliant. The rest of them were just normal people like you and I, and harlots. You're a harlot? No. Don't do that. Tax collectors, the poor, the uneducated, the blind, the lame, demon possessed of society. Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus. And in Mark sixteen nine, it says that not only did she have seven demons cast out of her, those who were forgiven much love much. She's the first one at the tomb. She grabbed hold of Jesus with a with a Brazilian jujitsu death grip and wasn't gonna let go. And Jesus said, hey, chill. I'm gonna I gotta send to my father. You can't keep me down here, you know. But she was just so incredibly in love with Jesus. Every time you turn around, Mary Magdalene's there. She's never gonna let go of Jesus. Never forgotten how good he is, that before she met him, she was a demon possessed person, tormented in her mind and heart, and and Jesus chose her. He chose Mary Magdalene. John the Baptist, in Matthew eleven eleven, it says, among them that are born of women, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist. By the world standards, John the Baptist is a loser. Long haired, bearded dude, religious fanatic, fundamentalist, Jesus freak, unvaxxed, uneducated, no degrees, no credentials, a loner living in Montana eating grasshoppers in the in the in the spring, a poor dresser, didn't know how to dress, camel skin Carhartt overalls. He's a virgin. He's homophobic, losing his head over sex, adultery, Herodias. Wants his head on a charger, on a plate, because Salome dances erotically. Herod took his brother Philip's wife and John the Baptist. He he was told, don't be political. Don't be political. But he had to. He had to let him know that that what you were doing was wrong. Didn't understand the the importance of separation of church and states could have saved him. You know? But the world's unimportant are the greatest in the kingdom of God. Notice the m of not many. If you're queen Victoria, you're glad for the m because if it said not any, not any of the noble, not any of the rich, then it'd be just us poor losers. But the m is there, so she's thankful for the m. Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy man. Jesus used his tomb for the weekend. Nicodemus, Nick at night, Jesus, he came to Jesus at night, and Nicodemus was wealthy. He and Joseph of Arimathea had enough money to prepare our Lord's body for burial, and they went to Pilate and begged for the body. Erastus, in the book of Romans chapter 16, he's a wealthy guy. Lydia, seller of purple, a very successful businesswoman that had lots of money. Zacchaeus, very wealthy tax collector. Jesus said, Zacchaeus, I'm gonna eat at your house tonight. And Zacchaeus is so blown away that Jesus would recognize him and want to have a lunch with him. All the wealthy believers, these are the wealthy ones, and so not many, but some. And so a rich young ruler came to Jesus, said, good master, what must I do to enter the kingdom of God? And Jesus said, keep the commandments, which I've kept them all which, you know. And you'll love the Lord thy God with all your heart, all mine, and soul straight. You know, don't give in to idols. You know, honor your father and mother. Don't steal. All these and these. All these I've done for my my youth. What's yet? What what's yet? What do I lack? And Jesus is gonna give him a lesson. He's just gonna hone in on something that none of us ever hone in on from the pulpit. Never hear a sermon from Joel Olsteen in this regard. Take and sell all that you have, give it to the poor, and come and follow me. Oh, went away sad. Why? Because he had much riches, had lots of stuff. Now the issue here is not the stuff. If riches increase, don't set your heart on it. It's not the money, dude. It's the love of money. Jesus doing surgery on you. He's pointing out within your heart, you're covetous. And in your covetousness, we've gotta deal with that. And that's why he's testing him, go sell all you have. Probably would've given it all back to him, but go sell all you have. Give to the poor and come follow me. He's not gonna just take poor people. He'll take the rich too, but the rich need to be rich in the unsearchable riches of Christ. Can't have any idols in your life, dude. And so he went away saddened. And Jesus said, oh, it's really difficult for a rich man to enter heaven. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. The disciples are kinda blown away by this, and Jesus adds to it. But with God, all things are possible. Even a rich guy, but very few, it's narrow, even a rich guy can be saved. And so the poor are rich in faith. As we've said many times, when the stock market crashes, don't expect any of us poor people to jump out of a building. Who's gonna jump out the building? Because they lost it all. Their whole identity. Everything was wrapped up in how much stock they had. That's their identity. That's who they are. But you and I, our identity is Jesus. We're waiting for heaven. We've stored our treasures up in heaven where moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves can't break through and steal. Right? And so we're we're aware that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. And so that's the way we roll. But why not many? The wise intelligent don't see their need because of pride. They have a god complex. They're gods. They make $100 a month. They're gods. They're better than everybody else. And their narcissism leads to becoming psychopaths and and and then reaching a place where, like with the Bill Gates family, his entire family, his mom and dad before him, are Malthusian eugenicists. And so they're wanting to destroy and kill people. They think that in their god complex that they can determine the amount of people that are allowed to live on this planet. And presently, look what's happening to the food supply. Look what's happening to the the famine that they're wanting to implement the way Stalin did where he killed twenty million of his people, but eventually 40,000,000 of his own people, Stalin. 60,000,000 Mao killed of his own people. That's called democide from the University of Hawaii. Your greatest enemy is your own government in cahoots with the World Economic Forum bankers. They're plotting to remove from America because of the Daigle report tells by 2025 to get our population down to 90,000,000 people. You're described by Yuval Noah Harari as useless eaters, as just jellyfish is the way they look at you. Crazy, isn't it? They're they're pontificating. They're acting like they're gods, and and it's amazing to me. I hope and pray more and more people wake up and and give them the fear of god that they'd come to know. That would that would be I told him many times, I'm looking for Denzel Washington to be the equalizer. You know? Just slip into their oligarchs' houses and deal with one of them. Just one. Just one. Deal with one, and the rest of them will cry till till the cows come home because they'll be so afraid. You know? And but they have they have this insulation. They have this this 5,000 Swiss troops around them when they meet at Davos, you know, Switzerland. What are they afraid of? Why do they need so much protection? Why do they need so many bodyguards if they're gods? You know? Jesus said destroy this temple in three days. I'll raise it up. You think you're god? Why do you need a bodyguard? You know? Jesus had no bodyguards, and he didn't go until it was time. And so they they they fear death their whole life. They fear death their whole life long, and we don't fear death. Jesus said in Matthew eleven twenty five, I thank thee, oh, father, lord in heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent has revealed them unto babes. We are rich in faith. The greatest thing that you possess is your faith. If your faith were to be taken from you, who would you be? What would you be? You'd probably go insane, wouldn't you? My faith. The faith that God's given me is the greatest gift that he's ever given me, that faith and trust that I can have in him. How terrible it would be to receive the meat that I'm craving for. No. I better rephrase that because that's a good thing. No. The children of Israel are tired of eating manna. They're tired of eating the manna. The manna is described as angels food, the corn of heaven. And it could sustain a body. It wasn't veggies. It wasn't veggies. It was a mixture of something. Wasn't three d meat, something God concocted, God made, and it would come out of the sky. They'd go down and eat a daily a day daily measure. They weren't allowed to hoard it and grab three, four, five days. Why? Because the Lord told us in the prayer that he taught the guys, give us this day our daily bread. Why? Because if we had three days supply, we wouldn't come back and pray till three days. God wants us coming every day. God wants us dependent upon him every day of every moment. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Well, they got tired of Jesus, the manna, come down from heaven. They were born with Jesus. They said, we want meat. Give us meat. So the Lord sent flocks of quail in, and they were hitting belt high homers of quail till it was coming out their ears. But what happened? Leanness. He filled their hearts with leanness. Do you know how horrible it'd be for you to finally get what you're demanding of God and not be able to enjoy it? Because you extricated yourself from the fellowship that you once enjoyed with him. You lost your faith, your apostate. You're spending using your money, using your wealth to destroy people's faith. Many apostates throughout history did just that. They had Christian upbringing, Christian start, and then in college, somehow they fall away, and they they gain money, they gain influence, they gain power, and they use that eventually against God, against his kingdom. How tragic. How tragic that would be if that were to happen to you and I, but God has revealed himself unto us. Jesus said in Matthew eighteen three, the the boys were fighting over who's gonna be the greatest. Who's gonna sit on the left hand? Who's gonna sit on the right hand? Yeah. They're just like you and I. Jockey in for position when Jesus overthrows the Romans and sets up his kingdom. And Salome, the mother of James and John, she actually goes as a good Jewish mother to Jesus quietly and says, hey. When you get your kingdom, put one James on one side of you and John on the other side in your kingdom. You know? Left hand, right hand, right hand, left hand man. And the boys, mom, you're a good mom, man. Thanks, mom. And and Jesus said, you know not what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm gonna drink up? Oh, we can drink the cup. They don't they don't have a clue what he's talking about. He's about to drink the cup of his father's wrath that's coming upon him. They don't have a clue. But Jesus took a small child and put him in to the midst of them. And he said, except he becomes a child, you'll no wise enter the kingdom of God. You need to have a childlike faith, a childlike trust in the true and living God. Otherwise, you won't enter in to the kingdom. Whosoever thou shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Pride blinds men, blinds men of their need. So Paul had to give up his religion, his status, his family, his friends, everything to go to heaven. And when he evaluated it all after Jesus revealing himself onto him on the road to Damascus, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. Concerning the law, he was blameless. Concerning his contemporaries, he exceeded them all. He was voted most likely to succeed by all of his friends. Possibly, you know, he was already they believe in as a member of the Sanhedrin. But one of the greatest intellects, the greatest of of Judaism there was, zealous concerning the law, persecuting Christians, you know, zeal and all. And he says, I consider it all as dung, all as trash, all as refuse. All of that. All those things that the Lord gave Moses in Egypt. It's all as refuse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. That day that God revealed himself to you, the light bulb went on, and a whole vast library, inexhaustible library of who God is began to enter your heart and mind as God reveals himself to you. And on into eternity, he's gonna continue to reveal unto you and I who he is, his kindness in the ages to come. Just scratching the surface presently. Truly, we're the plutocrats. Consider your calling, brethren. Who has God chosen? Number one, the world's unimportant. Secondly, the world's unvalued. Verse 27, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. So God reveals the greatness of his power by demonstrating that it is the world's nobodies that are his somebodies. A guy named Zavadimi, a shoe guy. Talked about him last week. Deal Moody. Deal Moody, a shoe salesman. Overweight, not very attractive shoe salesman, but became a Sunday school teacher. And as a Sunday school teacher, the Lord captivated him. The Lord overwhelmed him, and he began to dig in and begin to get to know the Lord, and he became one of the greatest evangelists going over to Europe to evangelize America, one of the greatest evangelists Americans have ever known. And he had a quote that I love to quote, you can never be too small for God to use, only too big. Too big for your britches. Because God resists the proud, and he gives grace to the humble. And God takes a humble guy like D. L. Moody and turns him into a great evangelist. Many others throughout church history, cobblers, and just guys with menial tasks, menial jobs and stuff raised up to be missionaries to go around the world, and great things God has done. And we see that. We we adore that that God values. He gives us value. The foolish means the moros or morons. We talked about that week, the stupid. He's chosen the foolish things of the world. So Paul's saying you and I are the foolish things. The world looks us as morons, as stupid. The weak things barely have a bank account, barely have anything. We're the weak, the impotent. No no power. To confound, that word means to shame, to shame people, to shame the world. God chooses the foolish and the weak to shame, to disgrace the supposed wise and mighty. And we see this. We see the Lord transforming and changing lives, things that men can't do. The technology, as great as it is, there's so many cases where the Lord will bring a drunk to a place of sobriety, working with his family. There's no pill that can do that. They can help. They can help with alcohol poisoning and things like that, but they can't transform and change a heart and mind. Only God, by his spirit, can transform a person. Because a demoniac seated and cutting himself and breaking chains, and they're seated naked. You know, the two are there at Gadara, and they're coming Jesus is coming toward them, and we know who you are, Jesus. Have you come to torment us before our time? A legion of demons are speaking through these guys. And Jesus, as they requested to go into the swine, he allowed the demons to go into the swine. And then it says these demoniacs, these guys possessed with demons that nobody could help, none of the doctors, nobody could help. And we have many, many people like this in mental institutions. We have many people like this who are homeless, whom the moms and dads and schools and doctors and psychiatrists and everybody have tried to help, but there's no help. There's no means of transformation, no means of change. And it says they were seated, they were clothed, and that they were in their right mind. God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but a power of love and a sound mind. We don't have to lose our mind over all this stuff that's happening. We have faith. We have a we have a faith and a and a hope in Jesus Christ that that balances us and helps us to experience a peace that surpasses all understanding regardless of what circumstances or what birth or family or wherever we come from. We may not have come from the good families. But Jesus came to us, and he said, whosoever will, let him come. And we responded. And there's no going back, is there? God chooses the foolish, the weak, to shame, to disgrace the supposed wise and the mighty. In acts chapter four, Peter and John in chapter three had seen a beggar, and he'd been beg he was begging. He was impotent in his feet from his birth. And in chapter three, Peter and John say, silver and gold have we not? In the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. They don't have no money. They don't have Joel Olsteen's money. They can't run the business of Church Incorporated with all the money in their banks. They have to rely upon the holy spirit that's poured out upon them. What a amazing idea that is, you know, to rely upon the holy spirit. And the guy stood up. And then he people began to see him, and they knew this was a man that was impotent for over forty years. He's over 40 years old, and he's been begging. How did this happen? God did it. And so Peter and John and the boys, they begin to preach in chapter four of the book of Acts. 5,000 people come to Christ. The religious leaders, all of them that were assembled to to condemn Jesus, Annas, the son-in-law of Caiaphas, who is the high priest, but Annas really ran things, and the whole Sanhedrin that were there to condemn Jesus as he went through six different trials on that night as he's apprehended from the Garden Of Gethsemane. He first went over the house of Annas, then he went over to Caiaphas privately, the high priest, his son-in-law. Then he went over to, Pilate or excuse me, to the Sanhedrin, the three Jewish interrogations at night. Then he went before the Romans to Pilate, to Herod, back to Pilate all that evening and condemned. The same group of Jewish leaders, these big shots are there, and they're condemning Peter and the boys preaching the gospel. What were they preaching? They're preaching the resurrection. And the religious leaders were incensed that they're preaching this. You know, we warned we warned everybody. You know, put a guard around the tomb. Put a criterion of soldiers around the tomb. Mark it. Seal it. Make sure that nobody steals that body. Well, nobody did steal the body. He's risen. Risen indeed. Right? And these guys are preaching it, people are coming to Christ because over 500 saw him at one time in first Corinthians 15. So the people know Jesus is resurrected from the dead, and these men, these fishermen are transformed. They're different than before the resurrection where Peter you know, when the shepherds spit, the sheep will scatter. And one night, Peter, you're gonna deny you even know me before the cock crows. Well, not anymore. They can't stop these guys. Can't stop them. Can't stop them. Right? And so they're preaching, and the religious leaders come. They they harass them. They threaten them. They put them in jail. You know? And and they describe them as ignorant and unlearned men, but they took note that they had been with Jesus. These were not the professionals, but they had a powerful moving and working of the Holy Spirit in and through them. Just as Stephen, a deacon, a Greek deacon. Right? You see Stephen in chapter seven? He chapter six and seven of book of acts, he's shredding Saul. They lay the coats at the feet of one Saul of Tarsus. In all of his brilliance, he couldn't step in and shut Stephen up. Stephen rehearses for the Jews that are there. Their history, you stiff necked and uncircumcised. Which of the prophets did not your fathers kill? And he's laying it to him. And you killed Jesus, and they're pricked to the heart, and they gnash upon Stephen to stone him to death. Right? They couldn't stop the reasoning, his ability to reason, his ability to go through the scriptures. He had a working knowledge of the scripture. So to you and me. We're nobodies. But the Lord wants to plant within each of us a working knowledge of the scriptures, just like Stephen had. The Lord wants to use you and I before nobility, before people that think they're really important, and proclaim the good news of his coming kingdom. To let people know prophetically where we're at, where we're going, what the Bible says is powerful. And Stephen, his face shown like that of an angel, and Jesus stands up from being seated at the right hand of his father, and Saul of Tarsus was there. And I believe Saul went away from there humiliated, ashamed, and tormented, haunted at the face of Stephen. And the words that came out of his mouth, Lord, lay not the this sin to their charge. Just as Jesus said, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And Saul is tormented. He's all the way from Jerusalem to Damascus to apprehend more Christians. You You know, just just crazy like Nero that said that Nero that the apostle Paul had a chance to minister to Nero and to share the gospel with Nero, and Nero kinda just shook it off the first imprisonment of Paul. And then Paul left there. And as Paul's away from there, Nero had a a psychotic episode, we would call it today. Nero went insane. And some commentators, some pastors believe that Nero was actually became possessed by the Antichrist, the spirit of Antichrist, by the devil, by demons. He was so psychotic, so crazy, so hateful toward Jesus and Christians that he would take Christians and impale them upon poles, be rolling them in pitch, in candle wax, and then impale them, lift them up off the ground on a pole, and then he would take his chariot, and he'd take his chariot through his garden naked, in his chariot shrieking. What's it feel like now, Christians, to be the light of the world? That's what happens when you resist the Holy Spirit. And Paul was resisting the Holy Spirit, but these fishermen, these ignorant and unlearned men had been with Jesus. And Paul's life was sacrificed. The Lord the Lord saved him. He didn't have to continue to live that life, you know, of the flesh. He had to give it all up, give all that stuff up, but what did he gain? He gained Christ, and he said, I count as all is done as refuse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. And these guys, they've been with Jesus. They're spirit filled. Are you spirit filled? We can't be witnesses of Jesus unless we're spirit filled. The holy spirit within and upon us, the dunamis, dynamic power of the holy spirit empowering you and I to share the scriptures. God gives us remembrance, and the world looks at us and like, how did you know these things? How how how do you know these things? Who's taught you these things? Where did you go to school at? Well, I went to Calvary Bremerton. No. Just kidding. I do that as I went I sat under pastor Chuck, and I did, and he's a great, great, great teacher. And I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for the work of the Holy Spirit in helping us. It doesn't you know, nowhere in my past was I brilliant at school. I got 11 a's and 11 a's and two b's one time, and I got a new baseball glove. You know? But the problem before you're a Christian is you don't apply yourself. At least I didn't. There was no guidance. And then when I became a Christian, I got me a Bible, and, man, I just love learning. A voracious appetite to learn, to listen, to hear, to be teachable, to apply those truths. And it's amazing thing. It's just an amazing, amazing thing. Pastor Chuck never went on to get a doctorate, so everybody'd call him doctor Chuck. A lot of guys do. Nothing wrong with that. Doctor David Hawking, one of my pastors, he's a brilliant, brilliant man. He's doctor David Hawking with earned doctorates. The guys today, many of them just get it online, and that's a credential. It's, oh, I'm important. But really, at crunch time, what comes out of your mouth? You gotta be able to bring it. Can you bring it? Can the Lord use you to turn the world upside down? Do people look at you and say, oh, he's he's just a janitor. I got my back MRI'd when I got in the accident here. When I first week we came here, I got in a head on car wreck, my family, and it irritated my l four, l five. And so I got to go I finally had medical insurance because of the accident. So I went over to Seattle, they did an MRI on me. And the doctor there was kinda asking some questions. And and, well, what what do you do? And I says, well, I'm I'm I'm a pastor now. I'm up here to plant a church. What did you do before? Well, I was had a cleaning business. I cleaned carpets and flood restoration, things like that in my twenties. And and he says to me, how's that work? It was like, to become a doctor, I had to go to a lot of school, you know. How do you become a pastor out of being a carpet cleaner? Scratched his head. And I'm like, I don't know. God used the foolish things, confound the wise. Are you confounded? People are still confounded. Right? And that's the beauty of it. God gets the glory. Only God gets the glory. And that's that's the whole point of this message here this morning. It's all for his glory. It's all for him. Anointed men of the word. The secret is that we are all inadequate. That's the secret. Our sufficiency is of Christ. The night that I graduated from the school of ministry, we got I don't know. I think Carl gave us ninety seconds to say something, and he had a bell, cause us guys will talk long. So here you go. Here you go, Rick. Here's your ninety seconds. And then ding ding ding ding ding ding ding. Time for you to stop. You know? And, so all I could say was, who is sufficient for these things? Even though I've just gone to school, brutal, and it was a great school, equipping me and helping me. You come out of that whole situation, the danger would be is that you think you're adequate, that you think you're sufficient for these things. So Paul asked that question, who is sufficient for these things? And he's a brilliant guy, and he feels inadequate. And he concludes, our sufficiency is of Christ. If we're relying on Jesus, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Nobody can stop me. Nobody. There's nobody with any credential that can stop me or stop you. You can be Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and the king is gonna be back down. He's gonna back down. Did you see it on VeggieTales? Do you need me to tell you? Who wins? I mean, I wanted to teach on VeggieTales. I wanted to teach on Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego every single Sunday during COVID. I was imploring people to go back to their Sunday school lessons of simplicity of just trusting Jesus. Don't bow to these guys. Don't bow. They're threatening you. Do not bow. Our God is able to deliver us from you, o king. And even if he doesn't, we're still not gonna bow down to you. That's the chutzpah we need. They didn't fear the king. They feared God more than they did the king. And where there's three in that fire, there's a fourth, and he says, the son of man, Jesus is there with you in that fiery trial. Do you get that from VeggieTales? If you don't, go back home and and watch that. And turn on the rifleman thereafter. Okay? Going through some hard times. I know all the places. We keep learning. Right? The secret is we're all inadequate, but only some realize this. And how does God get us to realize this? AW Tozer said it best. Before God will use a man or a woman greatly, he must hurt them deeply. All the years of your best, most productive natural years, you accomplish very little. And you reach a place having been in prison for thirteen years like Joseph, or having run from king Saul for ten years like David, or Abraham and Sarah, reaching a place of impotency after twenty five years of holding on to the promises and looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. As Jacob, you're gonna cross the brook in the morning, and your brother Esau is gonna be there, and boy, it's gonna be a rough morning. But you're crossing the brook to get a good night's sleep, and the Lord Jesus is there to wrestle you. He enters the the octagon, and he says, Jacob, what do you got? Let's go for it, bud. You've been you've been a heel catcher. You've been a conniver. You've been getting by with your wits, with Laban and everybody. But that's inadequate, grossly inadequate for what's coming, bud. And so they begin to wrestle in that will, that will deep within Jacob is busted, is broken. As God cripples Jacob, causes his hip to be dislodged. And he's in great pain, and he's gonna walk away from that encounter with a limp the rest of his life, but he's always gonna be reminded that he's no longer Jacob, but his name has changed. His character is that of Israel, governed of God, in submission to God, a prince of God. And God's gonna do great things through him, but it couldn't be in the arm of the flesh lest he glory in what he has done. Only God gets the glory. If you're going through a time of breaking, it's because God has greater things he wants to do in and through you. It's not because you've done something wrong or he's angry at you. Quite the opposite. He reaches into his toolbox, and he reaches down there, and he finds this screwdriver that's all broken up, that can't even screw a screw in anymore, and he says, you'll do. I can use you. In the hands of a master, that hammer and that chisel, that screwdriver, whatever it is we are, however we come, We come just as we are. And he fashions and he makes us into a vessel of honor. A vessel that he fills with himself, that he fills and he uses, and the world is blown away. They're absolutely blown away. Is this not the carpenter's son? Is this not the guy that lived with us in Nazareth? You know? They're blown away. How could a carpenter do this? How could he do this? We know Joseph. We know Mary. We know his siblings, his brothers and sisters. And a prophet is not without honor except among his own family, you know, his friends, Jesus said. Consider your calling, brethren. Who has God chosen? Number one, the world's unimportant. God's chosen the world's unvalued. And thirdly, the world's unloved. Verse 28, and base things of the world, and things which are despised has God chosen, ye in things which are not. This word base means lowborn, poor pedigree. Some would call them bastards or no family. Despised means of no account, contemptible, things that are not, the nothings, the nonexistent, the nobodies, the unwanted. That's who's God has chosen. It's estimated there's over 60,000,000 slaves in this Roman Empire at this point in time. 60,000,000 slaves with no rights. 60,000,000 slaves. Slavery has been going on since the beginning of time, and slavery continues today. They just changed the name to human trafficking. And the most innocent, the most weak and vulnerable among us are sold into slavery by their parents and grandparents and by society who does nothing to stop it. Why? Because the Romans and the Americans and the elite of today have a lust for blood. They have a lust as pedophiles for these children. In Costa Rica, the the men predict primarily the men, the women, they go to Thailand, they go to Costa Rica to prey upon these children who are sold for them, sold for their use. Epstein Island, all these different places we're finding out. Enormous desire for children. And we're told that it's not so much for sexual pleasure anymore as you would think if you can get any pleasure from something so heinous as that. But these people are sick, aren't they? It's more for their occultic religious purposes. They're wanting to break down in the strongholds. They wanna break down the good and cause evil to prevail, much like the Nazis did in the occult. They're trying to call down power if they can or raise up power under themselves and demons to give them secrets and technology and such. They're they're have an insatiable desire to be as gods. And one of the windows, one of the ways they go into the demonic realm is the preying upon children. Well, there's 60,000,000 slaves in this Roman empire. They're described as a living tool, like a rake or a hoe. They're not a person. There's no marriage. They're tortured. They're killed. They're just as cattle. When I think of what we did and Britain and others did with black people from all the different African continents and Jamaica, and and the whipping that they took upon their back, and the way just just criminal mistreatment. It just makes you sick to think that somebody could do that to another human being. But in this culture, it was even worse. Des description by William Barclay of a slave owner who had a pond filled with piranha, man eating fish. And one of his slaves did something that he didn't like, and, you know, you could just take and throw this guy into that pond, and there's no repercussions. There's no criminal investigation. The person's not a person. He's a slave. It's something you owe. You could do whatever you want with. They had no rights. Many of the slaves would come to Christ. These were the ones coming to Christ. That's why Paul said, I was freeborn to the centurion. He said, with a great price, I purchased this citizenship, Roman citizenship. Very valuable to be free. And we're gonna give up our freedom for what? Really? For what? Just give it up? It's blood bought. Your freedom's blood bought. It's the blood of Jesus that purchased you out of sin and slavery. We're just gonna give it up to the demons, to the demoniacs? They're gonna just steal it, or we're we're just gonna give it up, and you'll be happy. You'll owe nothing, but you'll be happy. God chooses to love the world's unlovable. In Jeremiah thirty one thirty one one three, he says, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. It's God's love that drew me. It's God's love. It's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. It's his love. We are not those of Islam where we say you believe or you're gonna die. We're gonna kill you right here. We recognize God's a God of love, first and foremost, and God proved his love by sending his son to the cross to die for us. The second person of the Trinity, Jesus is God, and he died as the son of man in our place. He willingly went to the cross. And you and I, we receive salvation by grace through faith alone. God gives us a choice. We choose whether or not. But we're drawn by his love. It's his love in that condition where we feel worthless. Where we feel the weight of the world telling us we're losers and worthless. It's at that point where the Lord Jesus sends somebody to remind us how very much God loves us, how valuable we are. That he's like a man that went out and sold all that he had because he so that he could purchase this field, this earth. Because there's a treasure on that earth, A treasure of people that Jesus would purchase with his own blood, and that treasure is you. It's believers. It's Christians. It's the saints. It's those who love him. All that the father gives me shall come to me, and him that comes to me, I'll no wise cast out, Jesus said in John six thirty seven. All that the father gives me there's election. God's giving people to the son. All that the father gives me shall come to me, and him that comes to me, I'm not gonna reject. I'll know why he's cast out. He'll never say, no. You're too much of a loser. He'll never say, no. You don't measure up. You're not smart enough. You're not big enough. You're not attractive enough. You're not wealthy enough. He'll never say that. He'll say, you'll do. I can make something out of you. I'm gonna make something out of you. The spirit and the bride say, come. Let him that hears say, come, and let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Consider your calling, brethren. God chose the world's unimportant, the unvalued, the unloved. Why did he choose you? Why did God choose you? I know some of your chest is puffing out. Well, he knew what a great prize I am. He knew that I'd give so much money to his work. He knew that I I, you know, I'd build building, whatever. People get puffed, don't they? Like puffed rice. Interesting. Before they give, they want their name out in the lobby on a brick. You know? They want everyone to know that I gave. You know? They want a seat up here with their plaque on it. I think Rob's in somebody else's seat there, and there's a plaque there. I purchased that seat. I gave to that campaign, that program. I'll give, but everybody needs to know how great I am if I give. I can't let my left hand know what my right hand's doing. I can't give anonymously. Don't they know how great a person I am? Why did God choose you? Number one, to manifest his strength. The second part of verse 28. To bring to not things that are. God abases the proud. God's able to abase a proud nation. A proud Americans, God is able to abase, to bring down. In Isaiah 40 verse 15, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and counted as the small dust of the balance. Proud kings, king Nebuchadnezzar. In Daniel four verse 30, Nebbe's like, is this not great Babylon which I have built? And it's not even out of his mouth. And he's been preempted. He's been told by by Daniel the interpretation of the dream that, dude, don't don't say these words. These are bad words for you to say, man. And he goes out, and his mind, his faculties are taken away from him. And he's out eating grass with the dew falling on his head, his beard growing long, his hair growing long, nails growing long like eagles' talons for seven seasons, for seven years. What happened to the king? Oh, he's out eating grass. He's a he's not a carnivore anymore. He's eating grass, man. And then after seven years, the Lord gives him his faculties back. And his commentary is those that walk in pride, he is able to abase. Those that walk in pride, he is able to abase. Wouldn't you just love that? The Lord just humble all these guys that think they're gods. Oh, just oh, Lord. Humble them. Humble them. But they're tools. They're tools of the devil that God's using to set the stage for the carpenter from Nazareth to come back and cause the blood to be as high as the horse's bridle. Right? The foolishness of man, the wisdom of God. He's able to abase not only proud nations and proud kings, but proud men. Isaiah thirteen eleven, I'll punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity, and I'll cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. Never too small for God to use, only too big for your riches. Why did God choose you? To manifest his strength. Secondly, to manifest his mercy. Verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence. We all come the same way, broken, bankrupt, and in need of mercy. Broken, bankrupt, in need of mercy. You have no ability to repay the debt that you owe God. You have no ability to put your life back together as you've crashed and burned. It's only God. Complete dependency upon him. Complete dependency on the finished work of Jesus when he said to Talos, I paid in full. It is finished. You need to tap in to that finished work of Jesus. There is no work for you to do. No work. The work's already been done. You come to him in John six. What must we do to be saved? What's the work that we should do that we for us to be saved? This is the work that you believe on him whom he has sent. Believe. Our response is to believe. Return from our sins. We repent of our sins. We turn toward God and we cry out, God be merciful to me a sinner. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We call upon him while he is near. We humble ourselves to manifest his mercy. Romans three twenty three, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not one. And anybody that thinks you're righteous enough, good enough, your righteousness, God says in Isaiah, is as a filthy rag. A filthy, filthy, stinky rag. That's your righteousness. In comparison to his righteousness, his coat, his gown of righteousness that he clothes you with. In Revelation 19, unspotted, unblemished. The robe of righteousness given to the prodigal is your righteousness. The ring on your finger, you've been you've been selected. The earnest down payment, the Holy Spirit, sealed with the Holy Spirit. You belong to Jesus. He's coming for you. You're his bride. That every mouth may be stopped, Romans three nineteen, and all the world may become guilty before God. All the boasting. All the I'm better. We're better. I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cephas. I'm of Christ. All of those celebrity seeking saints out there who are trying to identify with a, quote, unquote, winner. They've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We all come the same way by way of the cross, that no man would glory in his presence. Ephesians two eight nine, for by grace are you saved. Through faith. Grace is unmerited favor. His unmerited favor toward you. You don't deserve it. Through faith, you didn't even have the faith, and that was a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. There's no boasting. Salvation is a free gift. In Lamentations three twenty two, it is the Lord's mercies that were not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. You want justice? That's getting what you deserve. You don't want justice. You want mercy. You want God's grace. You want his unmerited favor. You want salvation to be a gift. You want your relationship to be such that God blesses you because it comes from his heart. It's who he is. He's the blesser. He wants to bless. Don't approach him with a vow, or a work, or a deal. Let's make a deal, God. Don't go there. You can't hold up your end of the bargain. You never will. Come to him, a recipient of his mercy, in appealing to his grace. And come boldly, boldly in the in Hebrews four. Come boldly because of relationship. Picture yourself a grandson or a granddaughter. You think papa's gonna say no? My grandkids came into the sugar shack, and Sean was there fixing my truck. And I don't know. There must have been three or four boxes of popsicles there all over the floor. They downed them. Kathy bought these these ones you can only get a certain time of year, these these root beer ones. And Sean just kinda shakes his head like, dads can't do that. Yeah. Dads can't do that. But grandpa's can. Rock star grandpa's can. And they're still asking me, papa, do you got any more of those popsicles? No. But I got chocolate, and I got ice cream, I got you know? Come boldly before his throne of not judgment. Grace. Grace. He says, man, I missed you. I missed you. Where have you been? Oh, I've been busy, man. I've been doing all my electronics. You know, you should see the people I connect with and all my electronics, you know. Hey, do you think they love you? Oh, they love me. Yeah. They love me. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. Fair weather friends. Socialization. Glad you came here. Let's talk. Grandpa, will you buy me a truck? I mean, what grandpa wouldn't try? You may not have the money. You certainly try. He can ask anything. Anything. If you can do it, you're gonna do it. Well, he can do it. He's got the resources. There's no stupid prayer. Bring them before him. He's gonna put in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is at work in you putting in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Delight thyself in the Lord and to give you the desires of your heart. Your heart's desires is Lord, I wanna know you. Lord, I wanna be used of you. Lord, help me to share the good news of your coming kingdom. Lord, save a throne of grace. To find grace, to find help, to find mercy in our time of need. Why did God choose you? To manifest his strength. Secondly, to manifest his mercy. Thirdly, to manifest his grace. Verse 30. But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Now in your bibles, when we were studying the book of Romans, we reminded you that the theme of the book of Romans was in Romans one sixteen and seventeen. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for his power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. Here, this verse gives us the outline for this book. Paul is letting them know what the theme of this book is. And so his his teaching on wisdom, because it contrasts in the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world, is in chapters one through three, of righteousness in chapters four through six, of sanctification, chapter seven through 14, and of redemption, chapter fifteen and sixteen. So Paul is laying the groundwork here. What's the word wisdom mean? Says he is the expert in life. God knows everything. Everything. He's omniscient. He knows all things. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who freely gives. And not doubting, don't be a doubter. Don't be like the the waves of the sea tossing to and fro an unstable man. Let them ask in faith that God's gonna give you that wisdom. In Colossians two verse three, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, quit looking your first look to Google. Quit making your first look to answer a question to a man. Quick making the first look, the first investigation to a parent or whatever, go straight to God. Ask God for wisdom. And then he might bring a a a wise family member, a grandpa, a grandma, a mom and dad, a brother, sister, coworker, someone in your life that then you can bounce something off of and and test them. If they if they go to the scriptures, you know, you got wisdom. If they give you their own wisdom, well, wait. Wait. God throws so many curveballs through life. Some things that might, you know, seemingly work for one guy don't work for you. You need God's wisdom. You need God to help you. Righteousness is a right relationship with God. We need a right relationship with God. We need God's grace in our life that we have a right relationship with God and with man. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Isaiah fifty four seventeen. Let me remind you again. Your righteousness is as filthy rags. I want you to look that up, what that means. Your righteousness, look up the filthy rags, and you'll see what God thinks of your stinking righteousness. My righteousness. Our righteousness. See, God gets the glory. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. None righteous, no, not one. All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. We're free that way. We're free. We don't have to compete or work. We simply believe and receive. When the devil comes to condemn you, you agree with the devil. The letter of the law condemns. The spirit gives life. The spirit of the law was to shut my mouth that no man could boast. And there's no boasting. I'm a sinner. God be merciful to me a sinner, o wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I agree. The law did its job. Where do I go now? Grace. The new covenant. Grace. The law was a pedagogue, a tutor to drive us to Christ. Jesus is my only way out. He's my only hope. Only his righteousness. So devil, guess what? The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son continually cleanses me of all unrighteousness. Be gone, Satan. It's not my righteousness. It never was my righteousness. It's his righteousness imputed to me in the ledger. It is finished, paid in full. There's no debt. Jesus paid it all. I'm righteous. His righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. And then sanctification speaks of being holy, of being set apart, the Greek word hagios. And so, we have a position with the Lord of being justified, justification, righteous before God, just as if we've never sinned. And there's a work of sanctification whereby we're being changed from glory to glory into the image of Christ, that when I see him face to face, I'll know even as I am known. He's gonna complete that work that he's begun in me, and I will be holy. It's a working, progressive work of his spirit transforming and changing me. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove as that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We go through tests. We fail the test. We retake the test. And as we go through these tests and as we exhibit faith and trust in him, naked came I into the world, naked I'm gonna go, the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord, I pass the test. God's transforming and changing me in the image of his son. I'm becoming more like Jesus. And one day, I'll know even as I am known. One day, I'll know the completed Rick, the holy Rick, be holy. Sanctification, set apart, set apart from the world, taken out of the world and set apart for the master's use. And then redemption speaks of deliverance from sin, slavery, and self. A price had to be paid to redeem me. It's his precious blood, not silver and gold. The precious blood of Jesus. No longer a slave. No longer a slave to sin. No longer a slave to self. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away. All things are become new. No longer me living, but Christ living through me. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. The newness of life. Why did God choose you? To manifest his strength, to manifest his mercy. Thirdly, to manifest his grace. Fourthly and finally, to manifest his glory. When David sinned with Bathsheba, and not just Bathsheba, David sinned against Uriah the Hittite, one of his mighty men. He he he slept with, he committed adultery against one of his friends. One of the mighty men, the 600 that that cruised with him and that fought and were giant killers and fleeing from, you know, Saul. And in a time when kings go out to battle, David's at the pinnacle of his midlife crisis. He got a red chariot, a Ferrari chariot, and got his hair plugged and everything, all that stuff done, and trying to take some testosterone to get real lean and cute and all that. And and he's feeling he's getting older, but, man, I need to be hip and cool, and a time when kings go out to battle. And then there's this woman over there, and she's bathing. She's naked. And God made them beautiful for a reason. You know? These transvestites, I don't know what you call that. That's not beautiful. You know? That's a shame to God's creation of women. And David's a real man, and he's looking over there, but he's a sinful man. Drink water out of your own cistern. You know? You got plenty of wives, plenty in your harem, David. You got a problem with lust? Pluck an eye out, man. It's better to enter into heaven with one eye, go in there as a pirate than to have two eyes and go to hell, you know. Your eye causes a sin, pluck it out, buddy. Your hand causes a sin, cut it off. That's hyperbole. Don't do that. Okay? Don't do that. That's how extreme sin is. And so David, get her. I want her. And so you know the story. David goes into her. They think it's cool and she comes back and says, I thought I was on the pill, but I I guess not, know. I'm pregnant. You did that on purpose. Weird world. Well, we got a problem. Let's bring Uriah home on leave. Let's get him drunk. Let's do what he can to come sleep with you. Now, do you think Uriah knew something was up? Word traveled fast in those circles. Do you think Uriah would prefer the death of a soldier than the slow death of a husband betrayed by his best friend. Uriah wouldn't go into his wife. So, David becomes a murderer. Complicates the sin of adultery as that of a murderer. And David has betrayed one of his best friends, the grandfather of Bathsheba as Ahithophel. And you'll see Ahithophel side with Absalom when David's kingdom becomes divided. And the wisdom of Ahithophel was like the voice of God. But God's hand was still upon David. But David was waxing worse and worse every day, the guilt, the shame of trying to cover his sin, rather than coming to the Lord and keeping the account short and confessing his sin unto god. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all righteousness. David in his pride said, no. I'm not confessing nothing. I'm gonna double down. I'm gonna make her my wife after we kill Uriah as we send him to the front of the lines. And so she comes and becomes his wife, and God and his grace and his mercy, because he loves David. And in Psalm 32 and Psalm 38 and Psalm 51, you can hear David. Any of us who are covering our sin. Any of us who have lived in that way as David lived, falling the way David did. We have a way to see what the Holy Spirit says to us in Psalm thirty two thirty eight and fifty one. We see God's love, his unending, undying love for us as sinners. We see his work of restoration and restoring us as murderers, as adulterers, as unfaithful men, as those who would betray those we love. We see God's mercy. We see God's grace. And Nathan the prophet came to him and eventually told David, you're the man. You're the one that did this. As he told the story of a neighbor having one little ewe lamb. And rather than the rich guy taking one of his own, he takes up one little ewe lamb who who is like a child, like a daughter to the poor man, and barbecued it to serve to all of his friends. And David said, that man will surely die. David, you're that man. Our sin looks so ugly on somebody else, doesn't it? So self righteous in condemning somebody else. And Jesus said, just to cool our jets, if you look upon a woman with lust in your heart, you've already committed adultery, so cool your jets. If you're angry with your brother, you've already committed murder, so cool your jets. You're not that good on your best day. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. David, you're the man. And then he says this, God saved us to manifest his glory. When David was nothing, when David was the son of Jesse and just a wee little shepherd, he's a giant killer, isn't he? And the and the the people sang songs, Saul has killed his thousands, and David has tens of thousands as you're going after the enemies of Israel. Top 40, top guy, top dog. Saul's jealous of him. David running for ten years. Finally, he's not in Hebron anymore. Now he's in Jerusalem. He's in Jerusalem. He's The Jebusites are done. He's king. He says, David, you've given great occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme his name. And that's what happens to us when we fail to walk as God has called us. Why he's called us. He's called us to manifest his glory. Not to shame him in public. Not to blaspheme his name among the heathen who say, I knew it. I knew it. That Jesus they worship, that church they go to, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. But you know what? Even their condemnation doesn't stop who Jesus is. He's still glorified in the way that he restores us. And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. And Samson's hair began to grow back. And David had more children. Right? And David had a good marriage with Bathsheba. But the sword never departed from his family. There's consequences. That which you did in secret, God's gonna show openly Absalom's gonna take your harem up on top of the palace in front of everybody, and he's gonna defile your women, your wives, your concubines, David. Your sin will find you out, Moses said. But, David, I love you. David, you're gonna rule and reign as a prince one day in my kingdom. The Davidic covenant. That according as it is written, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord, that no flesh would glory in his presence. So he made us from dirt. Remember the intrinsic value of your body. What what can you get on the free market for the minerals that make up your body? 50¢? Couple bucks? You're worthless. Absolutely worthless. You're dirt. When God made Adam, he fashioned him from the dust of the ground. Worthless. But in the hands of God, priceless. And Jesus chose to become like you. Do you mention that? He chose to be a human being. He chose to be the babe of Bethlehem, the son of man. To give you way back is the last Adam. But just dirt in and of yourself without god. We're just dirt. We're just dust from dust to dust. We're going back to the dust. In Isaiah forty two eight, I am the lord. That is my name and my glory. Will I not give to another? He doesn't share his glory. Moses, I wanna see your face, god. You can't see my face and live. No man can see god face to face and live in the fullness of his glory. Well, I wanna be a part of the afterglow. Go by me and Moses face all shining bright after that. Right? He comes down from the mount. And why did he put a veil over his face? Not because everybody had to wear sunglasses and he's so bright, but because it was a fading glory. He didn't want them to see the glory was fading. He wanted people to think that he still got it. You know? It's a fading glory. That's why we go to the well every day. That's why we we go to the Lord every day. That's why we spend time with the Lord every day, not just once to get this buzz on Sunday. You know? God's gonna cause you and I to have a eternal glory. In our new glorified bodies, no longer just of dust. In Jeremiah nine twenty three, thus saith the Lord, let not the wise men you think you're wise? Let not the wise men glory in his wisdom. Neither let the mighty men glory in his might. Neither let the rich men glory in his riches, but let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and he knows me. Paul said that I might know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings be made conformable unto his death. Paul's whole life was summarized in knowing God that I might know him. You can boast. You can glory in. I know God. And say it this way, I love God because he first loved me. All the glory goes back to him, doesn't it? And that I am the Lord which exercises loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Consider your calling, brethren. You were nothing when God found you. Absolutely nothing. Worthless. A slave to sin. Bankrupt. On your best day, your very best day, the best things you've ever done are as righteous as as dung as filthy rags in comparison to his righteousness. In John nine, you say with the man born blind, all I know is I was blind and now I see. That's all I know. I can't glory in nothing. Well, how did he heal you? Who did heal you? It was a man named Jesus. And the religious leaders are all uptight in John nine about this guy, you know, being being healed on the Sabbath day. Well, the disciples prior to that, when they saw this this blind man who was blind from birth, forty years of blindness, He's about 40 years old. The disciples had a very interesting philosophical question. Religious question. Who did sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind? How would you answer that? Why do bad things happen to good people? Well, there's no good people. Why did this bad thing happen to him? He didn't have a have a chance to sin. He was born blind. Why this plight of forty years of begging? What a terrible thing to be born in such a way. Who did sin? Did he sin in his womb? John the Baptist filled with the Holy Spirit from his womb. Who did sin, this man? Or his parents? What's their perception? What's their thought process? They must think they're pretty good. And that bad things only happen to bad people. You ever feel like that? Some bad things start to happen to you and people treat you like you're a leper? Well, how did they treat Jesus? How did they treat the the apostles? How are how are godly people treated throughout history? And Jesus said what? He said, neither. Well then why? So that the works of God could be made manifest. So so that the glory of God could be made manifest in this man's life. The stage is set for me to heal this guy this day. And if I don't heal him, if I don't heal Fanny Crosby, who writes over 5,000 hymns as a blind woman, many of which we still sing, her perspective, When people would feel sorry for her, not being able to see? She said she had a sight that they didn't have. And that the first thing that she will ever see with physical eyes is the face of Jesus. Who did sin? This man or his parents? And Jesus takes because of the wisdom of the world, Jesus takes some spit and he grabs a little mud and makes some mud and puts it on the eyes. If any of you tell me you're losing your eyesight, I might try that. I might try hey, let's try that. That's not the wisdom of the world, is it? And the guy can see. And then the religious leaders are all indignant. You didn't get permission from us to do this miracle. It's a Sabbath day. How dare you? And they're questioning the kid, the the man. He's 40 years old. All I know is he's a man. His name was Jesus. And then they go to the parents, and the parent, he's of age. Ask him. Don't excommunicate us from the temple. He was born blind. They started saying, oh, this is the wrong guy. He wasn't born blind. No. I'm the guy. I was born blind. Yep. He's my son. He was born blind. And then they ask again, who is it? Who did it? Kinda like an equalizer. What's your name? They keep saying that to Denzel. What's your name? You know? Who did it? Sorry for that. He says, well, he's a prophet. He's a prophet. And these guys begin to challenge some more. He can't be a prophet. He's gotta be a sinner. He's gotta be a bad guy. He did it he did it on the Sabbath. And the kid says, the man says, well, is a marvelous thing. Never in the history of the world is a man that's born blind able to see. Whether he's a sinner or not, you decide. Maybe you wanna be one of his disciples, and then they're getting all mad at him. And then Jesus comes to the man because the most important thing is not that the man can see physically, but that the man can be saved. Jesus healed 10 lepers. One came back. Where are the other nine? They got their healing, but this man went away whole. Jesus administering to the woman at the well. He's drawing the faith out of her. He's getting the faith to the surface. Jesus in denying the woman whose daughter was demon possessed, He's telling her no at first. He's drawn the faith out of her. Well, sir, even even the puppies even the puppies get the crumbs that fall from the table. Great is thy faith. Draw on the faith out of him. So Jesus meets this guy and he says, who do you think I am? Who do you think the Messiah is? Who do you think the the Christ is? I don't know. He that you're looking at. The one you're looking at right now, the one that's speaking to you is the son of man. And it says, he began to worship Jesus. All I know, man, I didn't go to school. I didn't join a church. All I know is I was blind, and now I see. It's all I know. Nobody can take your testimony away from you. All I know is I was once a drunk in a family of drunks, but God sobered me. God saved me. All I know is I was once on the street as a as a harlot, and all I know is God saved me. All I know is I had seven demons in me and the Lord delivered me. All I know is I was in the tombs, demon possessed, and the Lord caused me to be clothed and seated in my right mind. That's all I know. His name is Jesus. He saved you to manifest his glory. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's our only glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus died for you. Jesus died for sinners. To God be the glory. Great things he has done. Consider your calling, brethren. Why me? Consider your calling. Why me? Not why me was I born blind. Not why me did I have a miserable husband. Not why me what was I in a such a horrible home. Why me, God? Why why did you why did you cause me to live like Job? Why me? No. Why me? Why would you choose me? Why would you choose to save me? God saved me. And there's so many friends that you have. People you went to school with, coworkers. He hasn't saved them. He may not save them. Consider your calling, brethren. God saved you, and you are privileged to suffer for him. You are privileged to be crippled, to be hurting, to be poor, to go through pain and suffering. People are reminded of the cross. They're reminded of what Jesus went through to show his love for man. It's a privilege for you to be selected by God, and for you to fill up his sufferings as he's glorified in and through you with your countenance, with your love, with your faith. As people can only conclude, it must be Jesus. The only explanation is Jesus. Nobody could go through that with a smile on their face, with a song in their heart, with such joy, with such triumphant faith, if it wasn't a God thing? It has to be God. And that's where they come to you and they say, tell me about your Jesus. Tell me, how did you come to Jesus? Well, all I know is I was blind, and now I see. Father, we thank you, Lord, that it's always been your idea to save us. We never even thought of it. What's it mean to be saved? Saved from what? But Lord, you poured out your love, you poured out your kindness upon us. You pulled back the scales, you removed the devil that was holding us captive against our will. You gave us a measure of faith and and Lord, you spoke through your Holy Spirit to our hearts. You showed us the cross, you showed us your love. And Lord, in comparison to who you are, we saw immediately our own sinfulness, our own nakedness. We knew instinctively, Lord, we knew within, deep within, that Lord, we couldn't pay this debt. That you're a holy God. That you see right through us. You see everything. But Lord, your love is so great. Your love's so great, even greater than our sinfulness. And Lord, we surrendered our hearts unto you at that very moment. We cried out, God be merciful to me a sinner. We turned from our sins and we continue to cry out, Lord. Change me from within, Lord. Change my heart, oh God. Make it ever new. Change me, Lord. Make me like you. And as you pray, as you continue to pray, if there's anybody here this morning, and this is your birthday, this is the day you're gonna be born again. This is the day that you turn from your sins and you cry out to God. And he's waiting there, he's speaking to your heart, and he's reminding you how very much he loves you, and that for all those sins, he died. He died for your sins. He paid the price. He that knew no sin became sin that you might be made the righteousness of God in him. Salvation's a free gift and Jesus is inviting you to come. He's saying, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. That burden, that burden of your guilt. That incompleteness, that emptiness within, God wants to fill, and he wants to take away the filth of your life. He wants to wash and cleanse you and see that you know your name is written in the lamb's book of life. That from the foundation of the earth, he's known you. Before the foundation of the earth, he's known you and ordained that you would be his. He's chosen you. God chose you. Consider your calling, brethren. Consider now, God is calling you. The spirit and the bride say, come. And whosoever will, let him come. God's inviting you. Anyone here this morning? Just lift your hand up. In receiving Christ, just lift your hand up. Don't reject, don't resist the Holy Spirit. Nero went crazy rejecting the Holy Spirit. Saul of Tarsus almost went crazy, but Jesus intervened, didn't he? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who art thou Lord? I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Anyone here this morning? Father, thank you once again that we can leave here in peace. Your peace, Lord. Thank you that we have no guilt, that we have no condemnation. There's such a liberty of freedom and fellowship with you and knowing the work's complete, and knowing that you're gonna complete that work you've begun in us also. Father, thank you for the relationship we have with you, that we know you. Lord, we wanna enjoy you today. We wanna revel in, Lord, our relationship with you today. We wanna keep our mind on you. We pray, Lord, as we interact, as we fellowship, that you'd be the center of attention. That we'd be one with you, even as you and the Father are one. So blessed now we pray. Thank you so much, Lord, for saving me. Thank you for saving us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
