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1 Corinthians 4:1-5 -Thick Skin~Soft Heart- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2024-03-17
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First Corinthians four one through five, would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word, together? You guys sound really somber. We're gonna try and focus on heaven now. And, America's in your rear view mirror. You're never gonna get back to normal America. The pedals to the metal on globalism and, nothing short of repentance and a revival will save America. It's not a political problem. It is a spiritual problem and the churches are silent. If they'll wake up and start speaking out, maybe you can get a little reprieve like Nineveh. But if you keep putting your hope in Donald Trump, you're just taking the bait. That's all you're doing. Alright. I don't know if I can get past that. Alright. So let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judges me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God. Father, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for the great men and women students of your word who are teachers all all throughout history in our community. Those who teach Sunday school, teach bible studies, ladies and men bible studies, and pastors who teach your word. And Lord, we just pray that you would be our teacher this morning. You'd open the scriptures to our understanding. Lord, that we would glean. We'd be able to feast upon your word, Lord, and and nourish us spiritually, and open our minds, and help help things connect for us. Help us to go away from here with a prophetic picture, and to let the things of the world fade, in our rearview mirror, Lord. Help us to be looking out more and more, recognizing everything's happening according to plan, and Lord, that you're sovereign, you're in control, and your kingdom's coming. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Would you please be seated? Throughout, Christendom, churches play a game, called roast the pastor. The judgment of pastors is nothing new. It began at the moment God chose for a man to lead his people. So, you know, it could be that the Lord caused Abel to be a leader and Cain killed him, you know. And then later we see where Noah's a leader, he's a preacher of righteousness, and he's preaching for a hundred and twenty years and building an ark saying judgment's coming and only his family got into the got into into Christ, you know, into the boat. The people were antagonistic toward him. And then we see, you know, Abraham as a leader. He and his 318 men rescued Lot and king of Sodom and Gomorrah and all, and he has communion with Melchizedek. And so we see Abraham as a great leader. We see Moses as a leader. The Lord raised him up to lead his people out of Egypt. We saw the roast of Moses, you know, over and over again where they're plotting to stone him. They didn't like his leadership, his skills, or his decisions. They didn't like not having water and food. The accommodations weren't to their liking. And so let's kill Moses and let's go back to, you know, back to Egypt and such. The judgment of pastors is nothing new. And so, the church of Corinth judged between Paul, so they're one one faction. Hey, it's Paul. It's Paul. It's Paul. And then the other groups are against Paul, and they're criticizing Paul. And then you got Apollos and Peter, and so everybody's kinda kinda bouncing around and and finding the good, the bad, the ugly within there. So it even included some of the false prophets, cruising through Corinth. The criteria under scrutiny encompasses such topics as who could teach, preach, tell the best jokes, what kind of chariot they drive, the house they lived in, their shoes, their robes, their dresses, their skateboards, driveways, family, wife, children, pets, cats, dogs, lizards, how many beats per minute, complexion, hair, eyes, food, music, friends, enemies, income, education, hobbies, and even body types. Nothing seems to evade the critical eyes of those judging. So Paul agreed, preachers will be judged, but only one opinion matters, and that's Jesus Christ. It's a game. Judge the pastor. Roast the pastor. Roast the pastor's wife. Did you see that dress she was wearing? Did you see her kids? Did you see this? Did you see that? How come he talks so long? How come he doesn't like Donald Trump? You know? I can read your minds. It's nothing new. It's nothing new. And all I have to do is be faithful. The people that hate me, the line is so long, you have no idea. I'd have quit a long time ago if I was concerned about your opinions, the opinion polls, if you like me or don't like me. There's no way you can preach and teach like I do if you're concerned about whether they like you or not. Taking a poll, oh, I'm gonna lose people. One guy at the pastor's meeting that we went to last week, you know, asked after Kevin got done teaching, he did a great job. Some of the guys came and said to him, you know, I wish our pastor would teach like that. I wish he would I wish he would really be bold and all that. I got a call last Sunday, so that's where I got this information. And and Kevin's and and they said, but he won't. And we asked them, why why won't you? Why won't you bring up these topics? He said, because I'm afraid I'll lose people. So they're really good guys. These guys are wonderful pastor friends of mine, but but they're really concerned about the love of the people. The fear of man's a snare. It brings a trap. You you can't please God and men. You've got to determine, I'm gonna please God. I'm gonna live to please God. I'm not gonna be like King Saul, you know, a a people pleaser. I'm gonna be like David. I'm gonna have a heart after God's own heart. The only person I need, you know, to, you know, hearsay well done is the Lord. People are so fickle. They one minute they like you, next minute they don't. So anyway, the preachers will be judged. It's a fact. His faithful are described. Notice first one. Let man so account of us. So Paul talking about it. You guys wanna judge us as ministers. You want the proper view of us of us pastors. He says, as of the ministers of Christ. That word he uses there for ministers, he chooses a word at the very bottom of the Greek language from the standpoint of of, you know, status. He picks one out, which means an under rower. And so I posted a video of Judah Ben Hur, the movie that was made 1959, a blockbuster, shows Charlton Heston going into the under the deck of of the Roman warships, and there would be a whole row, huge row of rowers, row of rowers. And this is what's called under rowers, and these were condemned criminals. The only reason they were still alive was to row for Rome. Paul's saying we're ministers. Yeah. You guys want to judge us? We're ministers. We're under rowers, but we're not rolling for Rome. We're rowing for Jesus. And I know how we're treated. This is how we're treated by people as underwrowers. That's that's the lack of respect people have for us. We are underwrowers. And so just underwrowers, condemned slaves. And Judah Ben Hur, you know, I love that movie. I watched it again last night. It's my favorite movie. And, they've got a guy with a drum there, and he'll bark out battle speed, attack speed, ramming speed, and they pick it up and they're going for it. And and number 41, you know, Ben Hur was number 41, and he believes in God. And and a beautiful story, meets Jesus, and people get saved, and has good, bad, and the ugly, good things, bad things. Marcellus, you know, the the race at the top, the chariot race, and Marcellus, a childhood friend of his, turning on him and, oh, just all the all the ingredients of a very, very good good movie. And today, people can't make movies like that. It's it's an incredible movement. So many different movements there and things that happen, and and I just love it that people are coming to Christ in it. And and so he's, you know, he's sold out by his best friend, Marcellus. His mom and sister are put into a, you know, into prison for so long that they get leprosy. Now they're at a leprosy colony when he comes back to look for him and all. He's a condemned criminal, and he winds up, you know, surviving five years or so rowing, and then the ship that he's in sinks, and he's able to save the the captain of the ship, and and the guy's gracious toward him. Now he becomes a Roman. He excels in all the upper echelons of Rome, and he comes back with the ring, the signet ring. And there's so many pictures, biblical pictures there, if you can pick them up. And so this word here, minister, is that of an under rower. When we when we're next week, when we're in verse nine, there's another really pregnant word. The Greek words, many of them are just incredibly pregnant with meaning. The next one is in verse nine called a spectacle. And I'll let you know more about it next week. But it's a it's a Theotron. It's like all the angels, everybody are watching us. You're you're in a big stadium and you're being watched. You know? Theotron, a spectacle. And, and then another one over here is, we're the filth of the world. We are the off scouring of all things under this day. Verse 13. That word in the Greek off scouring is a picture of a bathtub ring. That scum that's there after you drain the bathtub. Now that's how Paul's treated. You really wanna go into the ministry? You really wanna be a minister? Do you think he cares what anybody thinks? We he says we're we're in hunger. We're thirsting. We're naked. We're buffeted. In second Corinthians, he's gonna talk about five times we received die, you know, 40 stripes less one. I was beaten with rods three times. I was a shipwreck a night and a day. I was stoned. And he says this, he says, we despaired even of life. I reached the point where I didn't wanna live anymore. There's a sentence of death upon me, and I learned not to trust in myself but in God who raises the dead. So think about it. Think about what Paul has gone through. Think about what pastors and pastors' wives, what they go through. I'm not talking about the millionaires today. It wasn't an easy job for Paul. He didn't have a wife and kids. He was prolific. He was great. But I mean, there was a his outward man was perishing. His inward man was being renewed day by day. This light affliction, he says, is but for a moment, and it's working a far more and exceeding eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen, but at things which are not seen. The things which are seen are temporal. Things which are not seen are eternal. Paul was banking on the eternal. He was looking to Jesus. And he wasn't gonna be unfaithful. No if, ands, or buts about it. He was not gonna be unfaithful to Jesus. Jesus, the captain of our faith, keeps us alive to serve not Rome, but his kingdom above. The tyranny the tyranny that's coming against the church. That's the next cycle within a culture like ours. It's from freedom to the opulence and the prosperity, and there's a cycle where we're degraded to a place of persecution and tyranny. And then the people cry out, and they want revolution, and the revolution lends self to freedom and prosperity again. It's a cycle. The book of Judges, you've seen the cycle with the children of Israel in the same way. And so we're gonna the whole world's gonna come under tyranny of the antichrist, and that's what's being being put in place is the beast system. And so we need to remember, there is no compromise. We will never compromise with the government. Our government is a constitutional republic presently, and we have no intention of disobeying the constitution. So if any of these pretenders come up and try to change the constitution or misinterpret it or mandates whatever, we're gonna say we're gonna meet because we're gonna obey God rather than men. End of story. Easy. Easy peasy. Daniel three, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. It's Christianity one zero one. I heard of a pastor that shut down for six six weeks during COVID, received the PPE money, and his church is flourishing. Mind boggling to me. I don't know that I could trust a pastor that would believe that lie and shut down for any period of time, let alone six weeks. Why? Why? Why would I do that? Why would I why would I shame my Lord Jesus? Why would I take the lie hook, line, and sinker and not stand up for truth? And people say, well, it's Romans 13, man. You gotta obey the government. No. You don't. You're the government. The constitution is the government. You're not disobeying the constitution by meeting. The first amendment gives you that right. There's no pandemic. They lied to you. But, hey, beating a dead horse. Move on, Rick. We just want America back. That's all we want. My kingdom's not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that it should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. And so Jesus is saying, hey, there's no Christian nationalism. There's no dominion theology. There's no kingdom now. There's no new apostolic reformation at the end of the age. The church is gonna fail miserably. Church is gonna depart from the truth at a great apostasy. In the midst of that apostasy, there's a remnant of believers, very few, narrow is the way that leads to eternal life and few there be that find it. Few, very few, they're gonna be raptured. That's my bride being prepared. So Paul knew who he was and who called him to minister. In acts twenty six sixteen, he rehearses what had happened in acts nine, when the Lord Jesus arrested him. The Lord said, rise and stand upon your feet. So Paul's on the way to Damascus to whoop on some more Christians. They traveled all that way to Syria to Damascus because they're being persecuted now. It wasn't a party in Jerusalem anymore. So they're going out with the gospel now. Persecution is a good way of purifying the church. I believe we're in a season of sifting. God is sifting his church and you and I are able to see to a greater measure the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats. It's becoming much more clear. Rise and stand upon your feet for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou has seen and those things in which I will appear unto thee. Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom I will send thee. And so the Paul, I'm gonna deliver you from the people and the Gentiles, the sheep and the goat bites that you're gonna get. To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to life from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sin and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Paul took such a beating, so many beatings. I I read, an account of the voice of the martyrs, William Worm Richard Wormbrandt and his right wife Sabina. And when, Romania was coming under communistic rule, one of the things that happened is they had a, the communist got together a meeting they called the Congress of the Cults. And they wanted to, lessen the faith of the people and gain greater control over the people that were that were worshipers of Jesus. And, they wanted the the churches to swear loyalty, to the government. Can you imagine you guys us doing that? I mean, we pledge allegiance to the flag, a constitutional republic. We're gonna we're loyal to our republic. Constitutional republic. But to communism, no. So they swore a loyalty to the government. They extolled the virtues of communism. And one after another, the pastors and the church's representatives got up there and began to wax eloquently with their speeches, fawning over the government and how wonderful, you know, this communist government is and all. And Sabina, his wife says, Richard, stand up and wash this shame away from the face of Jesus. Richard, stand up and wash up this shame off the face of Jesus. And he says, if I do, you won't have a husband. Would you make that decision right there, right then? And I can see Kathy saying this to me. Sabina said, I don't wish to have a coward as a husband. Richard stood up and declared that the church's duty is to glorify Christ. And he was soon imprisoned and his wife imprisoned, and they spent years being tortured and imprisoned. You can read the book. It's in the foyer there. These are people that understood there was nothing more important than pleasing Jesus. That's what they live for, to please Jesus. He says, and stewards of the mysteries of God. That word steward's another big word. It's and it means a house manager. So you remember again in Judah Ben Hur, he had a house manager. He had people there, very wealthy that would manage his his finances and affairs and the slaves and all that sort of thing. And so, overseeing the house of God, and so entrusted stewardship, if you will, to oversee. So entrusted with the treasure, the mysteries of God. And so I look at it as the Lord has entrusted each of us with the unsearchable riches of Christ. You and I have been entrusted with the word of God. What a trust. God's holy word. And what are we gonna do with God's word? Are we gonna bury it? Are we gonna dissect it? Are we gonna say, hey, I can't preach this part of it that people get bummed out and leave? I can't preach the book of Revelation because I've never studied it. Well, do you wanna go to the hospital and have a respiratory therapist work on you to be able to breathe, but he hasn't been schooled? He hasn't studied? He doesn't know how to use a ventilator? He doesn't know how to use the meds? Do you want a doctor doing surgery that hasn't studied, that doesn't know what he's doing? As a pastor, you come in with with incredible inadequacies, but our sufficiency is of Christ. Study to show yourself approved under God, Timothy. You gotta study. You gotta step out in faith and say, I'm gonna tackle this book of Revelation. I'm gonna study it. I'm gonna get some commentaries and some dictionaries and and some other pastors that are my teachers, and I'm gonna listen. I'm gonna study. I'll spend when I first started teaching home bible studies, I would spend an excess of forty hours just getting ready for one bible study. It takes a lot of work because I didn't have much of a reservoir built up at that time. I was just getting started. So I'd have to have books all over the table and spend hours and hours and hours and legal pads and and I'd go into the bible study, my hands shaking I was in such fear. Rattling those legal things I'd written down. But it gets easier. It gets better. You keep learning. Keep growing. You don't shirk away from your responsibility to feed the sheep. You know, wimping out saying, nobody taught me. Well, you better be a student of the word or you're disqualified. You shouldn't be in the ministry if you're not a student of the word. You have to first learn before you can teach. And the best way to learn is to attempt to teach because you've got to know 10 times more than what you're giving out. That's my problem is I wanna try and bring it. But one of my pastor's teachers told me, Rick, the secret of teaching is knowing what you can leave out because you can't bring it all. You got a time limit there, Rick. What time is it? Oh, we got a half hour. And to me, who am let the least of the lesser saints is the grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hidden God who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. Ephesians three eight through 10. Notice he says verse two, more of it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. God requires faithfulness. Richard and Sabina Wormbrandt, all they wanted was to be faithful to Jesus. They feared going to jail. They feared the torture. They feared all those things. But God helped them to overcome that fear and to be faithful. Why do you think the bible over and over and over again, 144 times the bible says, fear ye not. 81 times, fear not or be not afraid. Look it up. The only reason he says is because we're so prone to be being afraid and fearing. And so fear is the opposite of faith. It's okay to be fearful, but don't stay there. Begin to seek the Lord. Begin to believe in him. Begin to trust in him once again. He'll help you to alleviate that fear and to move forward with faith. And so accountable under the Lord. The steward is accountable to God for the treasure entrusted for his word. In Job in John twenty one fifteen, Simon, Peter denied the Lord three times, bailed on the Lord. And the Lord, when he came to Peter, wanted to restore Peter. So one time for each of the times that Peter denied him, Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou more than these? Yeah. Lord, you know that I love you more than these. What is these? The fishes maybe? Independent of Jesus, now I've got my fishing business. The nets can't hold all the fish. Maybe a fillet of fish sandwich business. I don't know. Do you love me more than these? Yeah. Lord, you know. And he says, feed my sheep. Ask him again, Simon, love me more than these? Yeah. Lord, you know that I love you. Tend my lambs. Feed my sheep. What's the food gang? The word of God. You've been entrusted with the word of God. Bring the word of God. Not psychology, not self help, feel good therapeutic messages, and certainly not the lies of the wicked one. The fables, the fairy tales that people are hearing today. Bring the word of God. Allow the holy spirit to minister his word to the people. Feed the flock. The apostle Paul spending three years in Ephesus in Acts chapter 20, he told the the leaders, the elders, the pastors. He had a pastors meeting on the island of Melita, and he says, for the space of three years, night and day with tears, I've been ministering to you and I've given you the full counsel of God. I'm innocent of the blood of every single person here because I didn't hold back. I made sure all of you understood the gospel, all of you understood that what you need to understand. And I've taken you through the bible, through the scriptures, the space of three years. Now you guys, I'm passing this off to you, you take heed. You remember that these sheep are blood bought. They're bought with the blood of Jesus. God's entrusted you these lives, these souls, these sheep, and beware because there's gonna be those who come in from without that are wolves, and some are going to come from within within the church to cause trouble, to steal the sheep, to cause the sheep to be a go astray and such. So you guys take heed. You're entrusted as stewards of the sheep that Jesus purchased with his own blood. Preachers will be judged. His faithful describes, secondly, the fickleness of your detractors. Pastor Chuck used to tell us, just outlive your detractors. Always gonna have detractors. Always gonna have people that find fault that always focus on the negative. There's no perfect church, no perfect pastor. Just outlive them. You can't please them, Rick. Just just outlive them. Be faithful. Keep serving. Is he still there? Is he really still there? Yeah. He's still there somewhere. Verse three. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. People's courts of opinions means nothing. One minute they're crying out, Hosanna, Hosanna, save now, save now. They're putting palm branches down, you're riding into the city according to Zechariah, just as the prophet foretold. You're coming in on this thy very day in Luke 21. If you'd known the day of your visitation, but now your city is left unto you desolate because you didn't know the prophecy. You didn't study the prophecy. He could see Titus surrounding that city and destroying it. They rejected their messiah. The pharisees are telling Jesus, tell these people to be quiet. They're crying out, hosanna, hosanna, save now. That's a messianic, you know, crying out. And Jesus said, if they if they refrain, then the rocks, the very rocks would cry out. How often I would have gathered you together as a mother hen does gather her brood under her wings, but you would not. Your cities left you desolate. Why? Because you didn't know the time of your visitation, very day that was prophesied Jesus rode into Jerusalem. That's a pretty big fulfillment of prophecy. Hundred and seventy three, eight hundred and eighty days after the command went forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. On March fourteenth four forty five BC, Artaxerxes, Lodimonenes, he gave the command for Nehemiah to come in and start rebuilding the walls. On April six thirty two AD, Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on this thy very day. Your bible is filled with prophecies that make your faith an intelligent faith. God doesn't want you to follow blindly. God wants you to be a student of his word. He wants your faith to be built upon facts, irrefutable facts. As Luke starts out his gospel to Theophanes, he says, many un what's he call it? Many. He'll come to me. Many infallible proofs. Many infallible proofs. And then we see Peter citing the more sure word of prophecy. Prophetically, God, eternal, letting you know ahead of time what's coming, and you bring it. And they're crying out, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. And then four days later, they're flipping out. These same people are flipping out. And they're crying, crucify him. Crucify him. So if you're trying to be the people's choice, think how quick they could go from, he's a god. He's not a man. He's the he's the dude. Look at him. To crucify him. Crucify him. Then they go they go even further. Let his blood be upon us and upon our children. Do you know what you're saying? Do you know what you're saying there? How could you go from one side to the other? That's human nature. They're never satisfied. Jesus was condemned and crucified by the people's court. Pilate said, I find no fault in him. Pilate knew that for envy, was delivered by the religious leaders. Pilate was backed into a corner. He was looking for a way to let Jesus loose. He even brought forth Barabbas, son of the father. But what father? A murderer. And they choose Barabbas. The people. His own family was confused. His brothers were confused. They didn't believe on him until after the resurrection. His neighbors rejected him. Isn't this the carpenter's son? Aren't his sisters here, the son of Mary and Joseph? The nation rejected him. He came unto his own and his own received him not. He was in the world, the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He says in John five, I come in my father's name and you receive me not. Another shall come in his own name and him you will receive. The antichrist, the people's choice. Let's vote. Yeah. Let's vote, man. Do you vote for Jesus? I asked some of the guys at the table when I was invited to a voter meeting, a political meeting, I said, do you go do you attend church? Well, yes, sometimes. Well, each time you attend church, that's a vote for Jesus. When you don't attend church, that's a vote against Jesus. So let's talk about voting. Let's talk about seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things be added unto you. Let's talk about Jesus outside the church, the apostate, Laodicean church that says, we're rich and increased with goods in need of nothing. Are we idolatrous and that we want a Donald Trump so that we can keep all of our stuff, but we've kicked Jesus out of his own church? The word of God is not taught in the churches in America? Are you kidding me? Vote for Jesus. Don't be idolatrous. And God will give you leaders after his own heart when you seek his heart, when we seek his heart. The leaders we have today are the leaders we deserve. Jimmy Carter, not Jimmy, but Bill Clinton, with all of his scandals, it said that there was a plaque on the wall that basically said, it's the economy, stupid. It's all the people care about. You can demoralize the country, you can do more and more immorality. People don't care about that. What they care about is the economy, their check, their lifestyle. Just give them a little more time to have their stuff and then incrementally change the nation, change the courts, allow George Soroson to put his attorney generals in, the teachers in, every facet of communism. Let it infiltrate, but just keep the money going until the point in time you finally pull the plug. Boy, all hell's gonna break loose when they pull the plug. Oh, your pensions, all that you you've worked for, BlackRock stealing everything. Can you imagine the anger? Can you imagine how crazy people are gonna get? So when did we ever get that crazy about abortions? Oh, we're just gonna vote a guy in there that'll stop it. We vote him in there and he keeps funding it. They never stopped funding it. In their in their lead up to being elected, they're against it. But it never stops being funded. But boy, you take my money. Man, you got a fight coming. Well, we've got a bunch of Chinese troops to wear US Military uniforms. We're ready for you. They're gonna door go door to door and take your weapons away from you when you're starving. Can't you see it? Don't you see it coming? It's here. And without faith, you're not gonna be able to navigate it. You can't trust in people. You gotta come back to Jesus. Got our come back to Jesus moment. People are brutal. They're fickle. They're tyrannical. They're cruel. Judges of God's servants. David didn't want his life in the hands of people, of men. David made the mistake and God moved him in that way because God was angry at the children of Israel. But in second Samuel 24 verse 14, David made a huge mistake at the beginning of the chapter. He numbered the people. And we look at David as the murderer, David as the adulterer with Bathsheba and, know, killing Uriah and all, that's a heinous sin, horrible sin. But this numbering of the people, this is even worse, and it just goes over our head. God instructed him not to number the people because it's indicative of you trusting in your military, trusting in yourself. And so David wanted the intoxication, the ego intoxication of numbering the people. So he had Joab, his general, go out there and number the people, and he come back with a number. Then Gad, the prophet came and said, David, you're in trouble with God. You're in trouble with God. You got 333 things to choose from David. One, you could you could, have a famine, for seven months. Number two, you could run from your enemies for three weeks or three months, whatever it was. And the third one is you could have a plague for three days. And David, he described it this way. He said, David said unto Gad, I'm in a great straight. Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of man. David ran for ten years from king Saul. He didn't wanna be given over to his enemies and have to run from his enemies in the hand of the people. The people would stone him to death. You know? I don't want the people. I don't I don't want that to happen. I don't want the famine to happen. But the pestilence, so the angel of the Lord came over and slew 70,000 people because of David's sin. David knew that the Lord was merciful and that we'd be over and quick and that once God once God, you know, judged him for what he was doing and punished for what he'd done, then God would, you know, restore him. So the 70,000 are killed and the angel comes over Jerusalem as to destroy Jerusalem, and the Lord says that's enough. And then the Lord instructed through the prophet Gad for David to go and purchase the threshing floor of Aruna. And Aruna says, you're a prince of a man, David. I'll just give you the threshing floor and I'll give you all the stock that you need for the offerings and all. And David said, no. I will not offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing. And he gave Aruna 50 shekels of silver, purchased the threshing floor of Aruna so that he could build an altar there. God told him to build an altar. So we see the cross. We see God instructing Abram to take his son Isaac to a mount that I'll show you and offer him as a burnt offering upon Mount Moriah. The threshing floor of Aruna there is at Mount Moriah, the same place as Calvary. David will deal with your sin my way with the blood of my son. And so we see David didn't wanna be put to the hands of men for them to decide what to do with him. What's for dinner? Roast pastor, barbecued, burned at the stake. How many pastors, how many William Tyndale's and others that simply just tried to transfer the the bible into English are gonna die. Polycarp and such. Do you know what an ordeal is if you're handed to people? An ordeal is oh, that's he went through a real ordeal. An ordeal is they would tie you up and they'd throw you into the water, and they'd say, well, if God's for him, he'll get out of that somehow. Same thing with being at the stake. Well, if God's for him, God will get him out of there somehow. That's putting you in in a I mean, people are wicked, the stuff they come up with. In acts seven fifty two, Stephen asked, which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted and they have slain with which showed before the coming of the just one of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers? And Jesus said, if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? What happens when I'm gone, when I'm not here? The kind of things, the evil that people are going to do. Alright. We're gonna have to really ramp this up now. Preachers will be judged. His faithful described the fickleness of your detractors. And thirdly and finally or no, not thirdly and finally. I got a fourth point. The futility of defending. How are gonna defend yourself against these people? He says, verse three, the second part, yay, I judge not mine own self. You guys wanna judge me? I don't even judge myself. For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judges me is the lord. So let the lord defend you. Past Chuck used to always tell us that. Let the lord defend you. The morbid self introspection leads to disability, paralysis, and paranoia. So you don't sit there and and and hover over or look within, you'll find nothing but evil within within the heart. The heart's deceitful above all things desperately wicked, and who can know it? And so the devil wants to use the letter of the law and condemn you and I by looking within at all of our faults and all of our failures and it'll paralyze you. It's morbid. Paul said, I don't even judge myself. I'm relying upon the grace of God. I know that I sin every day and me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. I have no confidence in my flesh. So if you're having confidence in your flesh, then you're like Peter, though everybody betray you tonight, not me. I'm not gonna. That's confidence in your flesh. And God's gonna break Peter and let him know that Peter, yeah, you're gonna deny that you even know me before this night's over three different times. So Paul says in second Corinthians two sixteen, who is sufficient for these things? What things? The ministry. Who's sufficient? What makes you sufficient? What makes you good enough to do this? Do we begin again to commend ourselves or need we as some others epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Do I need a degree? Do I need to be doctor Rick Baudry to be able to speak before you? Are you looking for a pastor with a doctorate? Some of them are great. Learning is good. Degrees are okay. But a lot of guys have phony degrees and phony credentials and phony this and phony that, and and God God chose one brilliant man, the apostle Paul, and the rest of them were just common folk, fishermen and such. Men with a working knowledge of the scriptures. The experts say, aren't these ignorant, unlearned men? But they took note that they had been with Jesus. He says in Philippians three verse three, we rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Job spent too much time trying to defend himself. God came the sons of God came, Satan came to the Lord and he says, where you been, Satan? O to and fro, walking upon the earth. Have you considered my servant Job, a man perfect and upright in all of his ways, a man that fears God and excused evil? And Satan says, oh, does he love you for who you are? Does he love you for nothing? Take away his stuff. Take away all of his stuff, and we'll see if he loves you. So the Lord allowed Satan to take away all of his stuff but save his life. And Job says, naked came I end the world naked. I'm gonna go, Lord. Give it to Lord. Take it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Well, skin for skin, all that a man has will he give for his life. Take away his health, and he'll curse you to your face. So Job is scraping his body, scraping the boils, dust upon his head, sitting in the ground, all the all the peasants, the servants who used to respect him are mocking him and such, running around him. What's what's Job must have done something really bad. He must be a bad dude. He's like a leper, you know. So Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar began to pontificate and act like philosophically they knew, hey, there's sin in the camp. Job must be a bad guy, but they couldn't see behind the curtain God bragging on Job. It could be that some of the pastors go through hell because they're a target of Satan. That they're actually good. That they're worth fighting against. And others who just prosper have compromised and taken the money from the devil. And then the church thinks that's God's blessing on their life, their best life now. Where's your value system? How are prophets treated? How are godly people treated throughout history? How is Jesus treated? Don't think you're strange when things go sideways. It may be you're right in the pocket. You're right where God wants you. But Job makes the the the mistake when Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and later Elihu come and begin to, you know, prophesy over him of what the problem is. He makes the mistake of trying to defend himself, crying out for a dazement, a mediator, someone to mediate between him and God because he's he's he's defending his innocence. I'm innocent of all this. And yet the Lord says in Job one eight, have you considered my servant Job? Chapter two verse three, my servant? All along is my servant. So let the Lord defend you in chapter 42 verse seven. The Lord said to Eliphaz, the Timonite, my wrath is kindled against thee and against your two friends for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Job has. Therefore, take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering and my servant Job shall pray for you. For him will I accept. We're accepted in the beloved of in Ephesians one, you and I, we're accepted in the beloved. Lest I deal with you after your folly in that you have not spoken of me the thing which is right like my servant Job. Do you get it? My servant Job. My servant Job. My servant Job. His wife says to him, you still maintain your integrity? Why don't you curse God and die? Die. And he says, oh, you speak as the foolish women speak. Shall I not receive good at the hand of the Lord and not evil? We're walking by faith. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord. In Genesis twenty six twenty four, my servant Abraham. In Numbers twelve seven, my servant Moses. In Numbers fourteen twenty four, my servant Caleb. In second Samuel three eighteen, my servant David. In Isaiah forty two one, the branch Jesus, behold my servant speaks of Jesus. In Zechariah three eight, I'll bring forth my servant the branch. Whose servant are you? Who do you serve? Preachers will be judged. His faithful describe the fickleness of your detractors, the futility of defending, and fourthly and finally, we got time. The final decision. Verse five. Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then shall every man have praise of God. The heart's deceitful above all things desperately wicked. We don't even know our heart, Oprah. I can't go with my heart. I don't know my heart. I can't trust my heart. But God's gonna reveal my heart to people. He's gonna show the motives of why I did things, why I did that which I did in his name. Did we not prophesy in your name? Cast out demons in your name? Did we not do all that, oh lord? And he says, away from me. I never knew you you that practice iniquity. Matthew seven. Everything is gonna go through the fire of judgment. Wood, hay, and stubble is gonna be burned up, but the precious metal is gonna go through and be refined and be part of your crown to lay at his feet. Right? You're gonna have something to give back to Jesus as he rewards you. How are servants treated? How is Jesus treated? Then why are we surprised when people mistreat and misjudge us? Jesus said, if the world hates you if the world hated me, they're gonna hate you. It hated me before it hated you. So Jesus hated. You're hated, and he's letting you know, the world hated me before it hated you. He says, woe unto you when all men speak well of you. I'd be a really nervous dude if I was Billy Graham or pastor Jack Hibbs or anybody that would go to congress and pray for them or go golfing with the presidents, I'm wondering who's compromising because I'm in with a den of iniquity, major iniquity. And somehow I gotta keep my mouth shut. Somehow I gotta yuck it up with them and act like we're buddies? That hey, I can help you get the evangelical vote, man. Go golfing with me. Can you picture Jesus going golfing with the Romans, with the Pharisees, with the religious leaders? How long do you think that would last? How long did John the Baptist last? Come on. Woe unto you when all men speak well of you. Somebody's not thinking. Mind boggling to me. We have this Christian celebrity thing going on. Jesus wasn't treated like a celebrity. Throughout history, pastors and teachers and prophets have not been treated like celebrities, like royalty, Christian royalty. Jesus said, remember the word that I said to you, the servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they'll keep yours also. If you're not being persecuted, something's wrong. All they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, Timothy. All. The reason you're not suffering persecution is you're compromising. I mean, you get persecuted from your kids, your grandkids, family members. People don't wanna hear it. Those of you that open your mouth, that's all you gotta do is open your mouth. Just give the truth, give the word of God, and you'll be persecuted. You'll be mocked. They'll have roast you. They won't let you see the grandkids. They'll leverage you. And then you gotta remember as people have been reminding me, as God reminded Samuel, Samuel, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me by asking for a king, by asking for Trump to lead them. If they'd have just kept their eyes on me, if they wouldn't have kicked me out of the church, then I could have gathered them together as a mother hen does gather her brood under her wings, but they would not. They became intoxicated with the pleasure. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. The power, the money, the mammon. They've kicked me out. Get over it. Jesus prayed, father forgive them for they know not what they do. That's the heart we have to have. We've got to have that that skin, thick skin. That's the hard thing. Don't let them get under your skin. You got to have thick skin, just rolls off of you. Expect it. Expect the insults. Expect the rejection. Expect the mocking, making fun of you. That's how everyone before you was treated. Move on to the next one. Wipe the dust off your feet, move on to the next one because there's someone there that Jesus has given you a divine appointment with that wants to hear, that needs to hear. And you're the mouthpiece of God. But don't allow the bitterness to fester in your heart. Remember, father forgive them for they know not what they do. Or Stephen, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. You're free. Be faithful to what God has called you to do as his minister, as his under rower. Live to serve Jesus. He will give you thick skin but a soft heart to minister to the hurting critics. Dead men don't whine. Get back to work. Elijah, get back to work. Go to Damascus and anoint Hazael king of Syria. Grab hold of Jehu and anoint him king of of, Israel. And then grab ahold of Elijah to be the prophet in your stead. Elijah, you're coming up in a whirlwind, a chariot with me, buddy. You killed the 450 prophets of Baal. You ran away from Jezebel with her threat. You wanted to die. I fed you. I got you sleeping. Got you restored. Physiologically, we wear out. But Elijah, the best thing for you is to get back to work. Keep serving me. Do what I'm telling you to do. Remember ramming speed. Go for it. Thick skin but a soft heart. For your critics out there. Oh, I love speaking to my critics. A lot of them can't even make it through a service. They walk out that door and I'm like, oh. People that are in love with Trump, they've already a lot of them already left. Some of them drive away from here. What's he think? Who else do we have? We gotta vote for the lesser of the two evils, don't we? And I'm gonna say, how'd that work for you last time? Let's practice insanity. Okay? Whose servant are you? Are you his servant? As Bob Dylan said, the prophet Bob Dylan, you gotta serve somebody. You're either serving Jesus or you're serving the devil. Jesus paid for you with his blood. You don't need to serve the devil anymore. Jesus came to set you free. He whose son sets free is free indeed. Man, I'm good. Look at that clock, man. Just good. Good. Oh, you guys love it when I finish early. You love it. Even when they start me late. Alright. We're gonna pray for we're gonna pray for the critics. We're gonna pray for those who aren't surrendered to Jesus. Okay? There may be an unbeliever or two in here, and and maybe they wanna get saved today. So let's pray. Father, we come before you, and Lord, we lift up the body of believers that you've drawn here today. And Lord, if there's anybody here that doesn't know you, that's fighting against you, that's just really rattled, that has no peace in their heart because they're outside of your will. Lord, we pray that they would become those who are blessed, become part of the beloved, become those that are in Christ Jesus. Lord, we pray that you transform and change hearts and minds today, that people would be born again, born of the spirit, born from above. So Lord, pour out your holy spirit now, and Lord, draw by the power of your holy spirit as you bear witness of Jesus, give that measure of faith, and Lord, help those who are here be able to turn from their sin in repentance, and cry out to God, God be merciful to me a sinner. Anyone here this morning? That's the cry of your heart. God be merciful to me a sinner. Just lift your hand up. We wanna lead you in prayer. Anyone here this morning? Father, thank you for the tenderness of your love. Thank you for the the soft heart that you exhibit, that your son exhibits, Lord. As he as he weeps over the city, as he as he cries out, father forgive them for they know not what they do. Lord, give us that heart. Give us that softness in these last days. Help us to prepare in our hearts, Lord, for those who are gonna come mocking, criticizing, wanting to persecute and all. Cause our skin, Lord, to be thick, let it just roll off us, not deter us, not distract us, not stop us. But Lord, may we never be guilty of not praying, not interceding on behalf of those that are perishing. Just as Abraham interceded on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lord, we too can intercede. We can cry out to you, Lord, if there's 50 righteous, there's 45. Lord, help us, we pray. You ever live to make intercession for us. We thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, 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.
