LANNYFAULKNER.COM

Romans 7:21-25                                                                                                                                ²¹ “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

“Sin” is anything that comes short of God’s standard of perfection! I realize that this strikes humans as an “unreasonable” and “impossible” standard; but, what other kind of standard would be reasonable for a creature to be made acceptable to their Creator after the creature’s rebellion against their Creator required the death of His Only Son to remedy?

There is nothing about Our Creator that we could know about Him had He not chosen to reveal it to us. He is so far above our ability to imagine – let alone perceive – that His Self-revelation to us is the only way we can know Him.

So, why did we rebel against a loving, merciful, and gracious Creator? Last week, I focused on the three reasons:

Human Beings are sinners by Nature!

Human Beings are Sinners by Choice!

Human Beings are sinners by Continual Practice!

The Scripture is clear that we are all sinners and our sins separate us from our God; therefore, the MOST IMPORTANT issue with which any human will ever deal is, “What can I do about my sins?”

First, in verses 7:21-23, I will address the cause of our sin.

Second, in verse 24, I will address the consequences of our sin.

Finally, in verse 25, I will address THE GOOD NEWS, which is the cure for our sin.

I hope that you will read over these verses carefully and pray that the Lord will “open your mind” to understand the spiritual truths of His Holy Word!

REMEMBER: we may have several guests present since this Sunday is our “VBS Family Celebration.” I hope you will take the opportunity to introduce yourself to those you do not know or that you know do not attend our church.

Please plan to stay after church and join us and our guests for a special “VBS Fellowship Luncheon” immediately after the morning service!

I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!

¹² “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— ¹³ for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”

Among the many really difficult doctrines in Scripture is the doctrine of sin. This will be a difficult assignment with which to deal mainly because I only have two sermons to devote to this major doctrine!

There is passage after passage that is as clear as anything can be on the subject of sin. So the question for me is, “How do I decide which passages best encapsulate this teaching in a brief form that can be presented – let alone digested – in just two sermons.”

Well, at least I am going to try.

Of course, I always welcome – and I mean I always welcome – questions about my sermons and the topics I teach. So, if I am not able to address a particular question you have about sin, feel free to email, message, text me, or (if all else fails) call or come by the office – and I will happily take time to work through the Scriptures with you.

With only two sermons to available for this subject, I have chosen to begin our study this coming Lord’s Day by looking at one of the best known passages on the subject and one that gives lots of needed information.

The word, “sin” appears hundreds of times in the Bible. It is, in fact, the translation of several different Hebrew and Greek words. Since our time is limited, I will stick to the best known and most often used of the Old Testament and New Testament words that are translated by our English word, “sin.”

The most common Hebrew word for sin, “ra-ah” is used 600 times in the Old Testament; while the most common Greek word for sin, “hamartia” occurs 174 times in the New Testament.

No small subject this subject of sin!

In both cases, the words mean “to miss the mark of God’s standard.” That standard, by the way, is perfection! Matthew 5:48 records Jesus as saying, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It is, as you understand, a humanly impossible standard to meet.

One of the simplest, yet vitally important, aspects of sin is that there are basically two kinds of sin – there are thousands (if not millions) of different sins – but, there are two main “kinds” of sin:

There are sins of Omission!  These are things that we do not do that by not doing we miss the mark of God’s standard of perfection.

The Bible says in Romans 7:15-18, ¹⁵ “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”                                           

There are also sins of Commission! These are things that we do that miss the mark of God’s standard of perfection.  Again, the Bible describes these sins in Romans 7:19-23, ¹⁹ “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”

Sin, in any and every form, is an insult to the thrice-Holy God of the Christian Bible! Whether it is that we do not do what we are commanded to do; or, if it is when we do that which we have been commanded to not do, either way we insult the holiness of God and bring us under His righteous and necessary judgment.

And, we do sin! The Bible reveals that we are sinners by nature, by choice, and by continual practice. We will closely examine the following scriptures to prove these points:

1^st Corinthians 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

Romans 3:10, 23 ¹⁰ “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one…” ²³ “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”

Genesis 6:5-6 ⁵ “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”

I am beginning to think that this will never be described as a, “Feel Good Sermon.”

In our focal passage from Romans 5, I will try to reveal and make clear five major applications about sin…

I will address how sin came into the world and how it is passed on to infect the entire human race; the reality that each of us is personally responsible for our sins against God; that God’s righteous punishment of sin is death; that sin is more than breaking the Laws of God – in fact, for the two-thousand years from Adam’s sin until the giving of the Laws of God, everyone still faced God’s judgment on them for their sins – death!

Fifthly, I will close the sermon with THE GOOD NEWS that our loving and merciful God has provided a way to deal with our sins and to bring us to Him as His children! WOW… NO WONDER THEY CALL IT, “GOOD NEWS!”

I hope you will take time to read over, pray over, and think through these verses. I hope you will pray for the blessing of God as you prepare your mind to hear the preaching of God’s Word this coming Sunday.

As Tom Rains loves to say, “I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!”

I really do.

¹¹ “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. ¹² And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³ They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. ¹⁴  So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. ¹⁵ Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress. ¹⁶  Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. ¹⁷ Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. ¹⁸ Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. ¹⁹ But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. ²⁰  So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, ²¹  I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, ²² in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” ²³ So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.”

The events recorded in The Book of Judges take place over a period of about 425 years from the death of Joshua in 1475 BC to the time of Samuel, Saul, and David about 1050 BC.

Judges is the story of eleven men (thirteen, if you count Barak and Samuel among the Judges) and one woman whom God raised up to deliver Israel from their enemies. Among them are some famous and some not-so-famous names like Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephtah, Ibzan, Elan, Abdon, and Samson.

While we see lots of things about them, including both good and bad – and sometimes, very bad (think Samson); these were real people who faced real challenges as God used them to restore His rebellious people when they repented of their sins.

The Book follows a famous and well-known pattern of behavior. This five-part pattern is as follows:

Part #1 Rebellion!

Part #2 Recompense!

Part #3 Repentance!

Part #4 Rescue!

Part #5 Repetition!

Over and over again we see this pattern being vividly portrayed in the life of God’s people. Sadly, no – make that tragically, God’s people (including those of us in America today) still repeat this pitiful pattern!

The purpose of the Book, and the purpose of my sermon is to remind us of this pattern; help us individually (and Nationally) understand where we currently are; and, determine what we need to do to escape this, “Merry-Go-Round of Misery.”

I hope that you will take time to read over this passage several times and prayerfully seek the Lord to reveal to you where you are in this cycle and what you can do to move on to a new and higher level in your relationship with God!

I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!

¹³ “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Since last fall, I have been preaching a series of messages on Bible Doctrines. I began this series with four sermons on how to categorize or “triage” Bible Doctrines to know which of them are the most vitally important to us. My sermon today is the 19th in that series and it is the 6^th on Ecclesiology – the Doctrine of the Church.

I have spoken to you about the Birth and Baptism of the Church; the Nature of the Church; two sermons on the purpose of the Church (to Make the Invisible Visible and to Carry out the Great Commission); the Characteristics of the 21^st Century Church; and this coming Lord’s Day – as I complete this series on the Church – I want to teach you about the glorious future of the Church!

As the Lord allows, I am planning to preach two sermons on the Doctrine of Sin and five sermons on the Doctrine of Salvation before I begin a new series on “The First Eleven Chapters of Genesis” on August 8^th of this year.

If I do nothing else by taking time to do this series of twenty-six sermons on a Survey of Bible Doctrines, I hope that I can instill in you a sense of how vitally important it is that we more understand these Doctrines.

The sermon for this Sunday is “The Future of the Church.” Of course, I am speaking about the Church in the “larger” sense – that is the future of the world-wide Church which is made up of every born-again person since the birth of the Church.

We do face difficult days as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our immediate future will most likely bring more and ever increasing difficulties as we stand for the truth of the Word of God.

I am focusing on the eternal future of the Church, the Bride of Christ! Jesus Christ is the Lord, Savior, and Head of His Church!

It is He Who created His church, died for His church, saved the individual members of His church, baptized His church, grows His church, and, it is He Who is coming again to take His church out of this present world and bring it to Himself!

I want us to think about six specific truths about what the future holds in the providence of God for HIS Church…

God’s providential plan for HIS Church is a cause for hope. Of all people on earth, Christians ought to live in a constant state of hopefulness rather than hopelessness. Jesus Christ has promised to return for HIS Bride, the Church, and we may be – just may be – the “Generation” who is alive when HE comes!

Happily, the future of the Church involves all of the Church from the birth of the Church in the Upper Room to the removal of the Church at the Rapture. ALL of us will be together and be forever with the Lord!

Those who have repented of our sins and have trusted the Lord as our Savior will be involved in four wonderful events in relation to the future of the Church:

1. There will be a personal and physical return of Jesus Christ to earth!

2. Those Church-age believers who have died will be raised to meet the Lord in the air!

3. Living believers will be removed or – raptured – from this earth when HE returns!

4. And, we will be together with HIM and with THEM forever and forever!

Certainly, the best news in all of this is that we will be with HIM in Heaven. We will be completely purified and glorified. We will not only be saved from the penalty and power of sin… we will be saved from the very presence of sin!

We will serve Jesus Christ forever!

I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!

¹⁴ “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. ¹⁵ ” ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. ¹⁹ Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. ²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. ²¹ The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ “

As the Lord allows, this coming Lord’s Day morning I will continue our series of Bible Doctrines with my penultimate message on the subject of Ecclesiology – the Doctrine of the Church. Sadly, the report on the condition of the 21^st Century Church is painful to read and even more painful to live out.

Revelation 2 – 3 is a really interesting passage of Scripture. When John outlines the Book in 1:19 that he is to write about “the things that are…” he is referring to the seven local churches named and described in these two Chapters. I am absolutely convinced that God uses these seven churches for three prophetic purposes:

(1) They are simply seven local churches that existed when John was given The Revelation of Jesus Christ on the Isle of Patmos around 95-96 AD.

(2) They are “typical” of all churches that existed at that time and over the two-thousand years since. If you use the primary characteristics of these churches as “seven categories” or “types” of churches; every church would fall into one of these seven types. This is still true today.

(3) They are a “trajectory” or “road map” of where the predominant church type would go over the life of what scholars call “The Church Age.” That is for a time most churches would be in the category of the first church, then the second, then the third, and on and on.

Sadly, today, most churches clearly fall into the category of “Laodicean” or “end-time” churches. The characteristics of the Church at Laodicea are seen in a majority – indeed, the vast majority – of churches in the 21^st Century.

This then begs the question, “What are the characteristics of the Laodicean, or end-time church?” As we look at these verses, we find these heart-breaking but inescapable answers:

First, since these verses are the very words of Jesus, the true nature and condition of the Laodicean church is known by HIM!

Second, it is clear to any fair minded reader of this Book that the Church at Laodicea is a compromised church. Jesus uses imagery here that is unmistakable. They are, ”neither cold or hot…” This is a sad picture of today’s politically correct so-called “church” that seeks to tolerate everything and stand for nothing!

Third, this is a very prosperous church! They have great physical resources. I know that this is not true of the church in many places around the world, but, it is more true overall than at any time in human history. Even medium to moderate sized churches today have literally thousands upon thousands of dollars in property and monies in the bank.

Fourth, unfortunately the spiritual condition of the church of today is nothing like the physical condition. The harshness of the words Jesus uses to describe them is terrifying… they are, “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”

Fifth, they are a church called to repentance! Martin Luther was dead on when he stated in the first of his ninety-five thesis, “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said “Repent”, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” The church at Laodicea – and the majority of contemporary churches – need to repent!

Sixth, in verse 20, we have an unusual and often debated verse that tells this church that Jesus is actually “outside” the church rather than “inside” the Church. It is clear from the context of these verses, as well as the entire teaching of the Scripture, that this promise is to them as a “church” and not to lost people in general. There is nothing about this verse that is untrue about a lost person’s invitation to accept Christ; it just happens that that is not the context of the verse.

Seventh, even in its desperate condition, Jesus still promises true believers that they will receive the promised blessings of God. “He who overcomes…” is (according to 1^st John 5:4-5) synonymous with “a believer.”

So, even in the last days… even in a compromised and compromising church… true believers can expect to receive all of the promised blessings of God! “The Church of Today” is a mess, but God promises to respond to real repentance by coming once again into their midst.

I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!

¹⁸ “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

As the Lord allows, this coming Lord’s Day morning I will continue my series on Bible Doctrines with a message on the Local Church. The title of the sermon is, “The Mission of the Church!” I have planned two more sermons on Ecclesiology (The Doctrines of the Church) before we move on to a few more basic doctrines for the rest of the summer. Hopefully, in August I will be able to begin an exposition of Genesis 1 – 11.

For this week’s message, I have chosen to talk once more about why we exist as a Church. A few weeks ago we focused on the fact that the Church exists to make the invisible visible. This time, I want to focus on our Mission of “Making Disciples.”

I realize this is “old news” but, it is still the missing link in the mission and ministry of almost every Church. As a refresher, let me remind you that “We exist to Live out the Great Commandments and CARRY OUT THE GREAT COMMISSION by Loving God, Loving People, and Sharing the Good News!”

The Great Commission is to “make disciples” of Jesus Christ. We have often defined it as “becoming and bringing others to be fully-devoted followers of Jesus.” It just does not get more clear than that!

I know that I sometimes overdo the emphasis on grammar, but it is usually key to rightly understanding the Scripture. I will spend a large part of our time explaining the fact that the single Greek word translated “make disciples” is a Finite; 2nd Person; Aorist; Present; Imperative; Active Verb!

G-L-O-R-Y! (Now, THAT is preaching!)

Clearly, those seven descriptors are vitally important to understanding what it means to BOTH “become and bring others to be” a fully-devoted follower of Jesus. This main verb is further explained by three “participles” functioning as adverbs to answer the question “How?” to we make disciples.

We are to make disciples “as we are going…”

We are to make disciples by “baptizing them…”

We are to make disciples by “teaching them to observe all things that Jesus has commanded us…”

The Great Commission closes with the happy promise that Jesus is “with you always, to the end of the age.” Not only is this a promise upon which to stand, it is a challenge to us to manifest the reality of HIS presence with us to the watching world.

Beloved Ones, making disciples is everything! It is not just the main thing; it is everything in the life and mission of the Church! Making the Invisible Visible, and Making Disciples… that’s is why we exist!

I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!

⁶ “So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.”  – Nehemiah 4:6 (ESV)

I know; I know; me too! I would much rather sit in a worship service than in the Nursery… I would much rather sit in my Sunday School Class than teach a Sunday School Class… I would much rather be in “Big” Church than work in “Children’s” Church… I would rather be at home or out doing things I really enjoy on my few and precious evenings off than working in VBS!

I know; I know.

But, someone has to do the hard things if we are going to minister the Word of God to our people and their families.

 BY THE GRACE AND GOODNESS OF GOD, we are having what we all know are “Growing Pains!” Our Church is about twice as large and half as old as it was six years ago. Thank God for so many dear and faithful people who attend week after week after week after week; and, for sending us a continuing stream of new families, (and additions to our families) who are attending our Church! THANK YOU GOD!

But, this means we desperately need more people who will sacrifice to serve others! RIGHT NOW we have a real need for workers in all of these areas.

We always need more helpers in the NURSERY; we really need someone, or a couple, who will teach a Children’s Sunday School Class; we need teachers and helpers for CHILDREN’S CHURCH; we are going to need a lot of help with VBS; we are going to really, really need helpers this Fall for AWANA (including a couple of people who will ride on the bus and help manage the Children); and, we need about four or five people who will come to church by 8:30am each Sunday and greet and assist people getting unloaded in the parking lots.

Please help. Please let me know where you are willing to help. Please let me know right away! Thanks!

John 20:19-22

¹⁹  “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

 Acts 2:1-6

¹ “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. ⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.”

As the Lord allows, this coming Lord’s Day I will continue my series of Bible Doctrines about the Church with a message from John 20 and Acts 2 dealing with the Mission of the Church. Our mission is the “raison d’etre” or the very reason for our existence. In the earlier sermons in this series, we have seen that the Church is a “mystery” not seen in the Old Testament. We are a unique manifestation of the people of God which is made up of both Jew and Gentile in One Body of Christ.

I spent an entire sermon trying to help us understand the great purpose of the Church is, “to make the invisible visible.” But, in addition to that unique calling, we have something that we are here to do! And the thing that we are here “to do” is what is called, “The Mission of the Church.”

In the New Testament, the Church is revealed in two “senses…”

First, the Church is revealed in the “Larger” sense; that is the Body of Christ that is made up of all believers from the birth of the Church in the Upper Room in John 19 to the rapture of the Church seen in 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-17.

Second, the Church is revealed in the “Local” sense of being local congregations of born-again, baptized believers associated together for the ongoing work of the Kingdom. The New Testament reveals many local churches, and, in fact several of the Books are addressed to local Churches such as Galatia, Ephesus, Thessalonica, etc.

While every believer – including every believer who is a member of our Church – is part of the Body of Christ in the larger sense, it is in the local sense that we minister and carry out the work of the Lord and His Kingdom. So, I will focus this sermon on the/our “Local Church.”

Those of us who make up the New Testament Church have been both “birthed” and “baptized” by the Holy Spirit or God for the unique purpose of doing God’s work in the world. We have summarized that work in a “Mission Statement” that says…

“The reason we exist is to Live Out the Great Commandments and Carry Out the Great Commission by Loving God, Loving People, and Sharing the Good News!”

As we begin in John 20, I will discuss the “Birth” of the Church. We are born into the Family of God by and through the work of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, I will focus on how we are “Baptized” by the Holy Spirit to empower us to do the supernatural work that God has called us to do.

I hope to make clear to you four life-changing Bible truths:

1. While a believer will be filled with the Spirit many times during our life, we are initially “baptized” with the Holy Spirit at the moment of our salvation. Every Bible-believing Christ follower has this experience and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit for as long as we live.

2. While many teach that this “gift” is something that is only experienced by “some” believers, the Bible is clear that this is experienced by “all” believers. Paul goes so far as to say in Romans 8:9, that if one does not have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, “they are none of His.”

3. In spite of the neo-Pentecostal error about this, the gift of languages seen in the New Testament was the expressed in human language that was understood by someone present.

4. Finally, we will see that people are saved by hearing words in their own language that they can understand. God has chosen to communicate His truth to humans by the means of human language, and there is no other way for anyone to be saved apart from hearing and responding to the Word of God.

Beloved Ones, it is vitally important that you and I know why God created the Church and saved us to be part of it. His work and His will is to bring lost people to salvation and then be equipped to bring other lost people to salvation.

He has created and chosen His Church to do this work. That means – us! We are His chosen people and we are entrusted with His Spirit and His Word to bring the lost to faith.

That is our Mission!

I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!

²² “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body. ³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

Biblical morality is under increasing attack in America. While this has been going on for some time, the unprecedented pace of this attack is a deeply troubling and heartbreaking thing to observe. Since the moral revolution of the 1960’s to this present day, our once “Nation under God” has become a Nation “out from under” God.

The rise – and (in my opinion) cultural triumph of the “autonomous self” has brought into question the right of anyone, anywhere to question the personal lifestyle choices of anyone else. “Who are you to tell me how to live” is the often heard and widely-worshiped mantra of our day. Some time ago I heard a minister say that the only verse of Scripture that most Americans believe today is Matthew 7:1, which they take completely out of context. And, of course, if they rightly understood the context of that verse they would reject it along with the rest of Holy Scripture.

Now added to the long list of Biblical teachings the culture desires to pile on the trash heap of history is Christian marriage. This attack has come from all parts of the culture…

Many heterosexuals have defied the Biblical teaching on marriage by rejecting both the sacredness and the permanence of it. Such godless lifestyles as cohabitation and both “starter” and “serial” marriages have made mockery of the clear teachings of God that marriage is a life-long monogamous relationship of one man and one woman.

Homosexuals have defied the Biblical teaching on marriage by rejecting the very nature of what marriage is. Marriage (like everything else) is exactly what God says in His Word that it is! In Genesis 2:24, God defines marriage when He states, “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Marriage is not whatever a government or cultural majority say it is; marriage is what the Creator of marriage says it is. No truth (including the definition of marriage) is established by whether or not it is held by the majority; it is established by the declaration, description, and decree of God.

This issue is so important and so timely that I have chosen to address it on Mother’s Day this year! This will be my seventh Mother’s Day Sermon as Pastor of this Church and I have used those messages to teach God’s Word on the subject of motherhood. This year I am taking this opportunity to go beyond the scope of Motherhood (as vitally important as that is) to address the equally important topic of marriage itself.

As you prepare your mind and heart to hear the Word of God on this coming Lord’s Day, I want to give you a preview of how I see our text applies to this contemporary issue. I will do so, as the Lord allows, using six points of introduction followed by four principles revealed in the text of Ephesians Five.

First, I want you to think about how people come to be part of a family. There are three ways: birth, adoption, and marriage. These are – by the way – the same three ways one comes to be part of God’s Forever Family! (Don’t forget that point, I will come back to it later.)

Second, since marriage is one of the ways that the Church of Jesus Christ (as His Bride) comes into relationship with Him, it is evident that God created marriage as a living illustration of how we come into and remain in a personal relationship with Him!

Third, God designed humans to both function and flourish in families! This is true of both our earthly and heavenly family. God loves us and wants us to flourish, so He created marriage. As in everything else, His way works and every other way will not.

Fourth, God not only built the marriage for the good of the couple and their children; He also designed marriage as the foundation of a stable and blessed society. It is not hard to see how the rejection of biblical marriage by both heterosexual and homosexual people is devastating the society in which we live.

Fifth, God designed marriage to be the foundation of the Church and His Kingdom work in the world! It is well and often been said, “A Church is a Family of Families” and nothing is more true about the Church. Not only is the local church designed to minister to families, it is in fact modeled after the family.

Sixth, Since God used marriage as one of the three ways people come into a relationship with Him through salvation, any and every attack on biblical marriage is an attack on God’s illustration of how He saves sinners!

Marriage does not save us, but it is a picture of how God saves us. Just as a man and woman both take one another and give themselves to each other, so it is that God chooses to take us to be His Bride and we take Him to be our Savior. Just as we are married when we give ourselves to one another, we are saved when we give ourselves to God!

Read this passage over and over. As the Lord allows, I will deal with four key biblical principles taught here…

Wives are to live in submission to their husbands because they are an illustration of the Church living in subjection to our Lord. Husbands are to love their wives because they are a living illustration of the love of Christ for His Church.

In this passage, God makes the “mysterious meaning of marriage” clear – marriage is (more than anything else) about Christ and His Church.

Finally, even though marriage is primarily about Christ and His Church, we are commanded by these verses to actually live out this teaching in our relationship to our spouse. A wife must respect and submit to her husband and a husband must live his wife the way that Christ loves His Church!

I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!

¹² For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. ¹⁴ For the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? ¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”    ²² On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,         ²³ and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, ²⁴ which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, ²⁵ that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

One of the questions I hear most often about the Church is, “why do I need to be a member of a Church?” Sometimes it is worded this way, “where do you find Church membership in the Bible?” If I think the person is sincere, I usually take the time to point it out to them.

Well, as the Lord allows, this coming Lord’s Day morning I will “point it out” to all of us! Few things are clearer in the Word of God than the priority of the Local Church and the responsibility of every Christian to be an active and participating member of a bible-believing Local Church.

Before I point these things out from the text above, let me emphasize, as does the Bible, that the Church is the Body of Christ.

First, the Church is formed the way a body is formed. God forms the Church by implanting the seed of the Word of God in the womb of the human spirit. And, just as the body comes into the world through birth, the Church comes into the world by way of the “Second Birth.”

Second, the Church functions like a body functions. Just a body is one body made up of many different parts, so it is that the Local Church is made up of many different “members”. These members are very different in design and function, but they are all essential to the overall health of the Body.

Third, the Church fails like a body fails. A body fails for at least four major reasons and these are the same four key ways that a Church fails!

A body fails when its members are either missing, or present but not functioning; or when its members are unhealthy or damaged; or, as a result of poor diet and/or lack of exercise. All of these are reasons that a Local Church fails as well.

If we get the diagnosis right, the corrective is both simple and clear. A body as well as the Local Church needs all of its members present, functioning, and healthy!

All around us we see the human tragedy of disability. We see people with “members” of their body missing, or that are not functioning because of accident or disease. Sadly, this is all-too-often true of Local Churches as well.

No “Body” can be more healthy than its constituent parts! In these verses, Paul argues that one part of the body cannot say to another part (or member) that “I have no need of you.” A healthy body – and Church – must have all of its parts present, functioning, and healthy.

Sadly, a Local Church that does not is disabled. Like people, some Churches are more or less disabled than others. But, the ideal is for complete function and perfect health.

My hand is part of my body whether or not it works well. I, like you, are part of a Local Church whether or not we are present, functioning, or healthy. The question is this: if our members are not present, functioning, or healthy; just how disabled are we as the Body of Christ?

This is real life and it really matters. I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!