GraceLife Church Worship Service - Sep 12, 2021

well good morning grace life it's so good to see you all what a blessing it is for us to be together and to worship our lord and save your jesus christ together what a joy it is to gather on this day and to celebrate the finished work of christ in the gospel for the forgiveness of our sins it's a joy to be with you a joy to see you of course i missed you last week and truly did miss you but it was a wonderful time at fairview baptist church was grateful to be able to be there and to minister to that church and to spend that time with tim and raquel and as well with james kitchen and his wife katrina which was a real blessing james kitchen is um not currently one of our lawyers but was previously and he's a wonderful man greatly appreciate him and so thankful for that time that we got to spend spend together you know we never made this announcement and i think it's uh it's worth announcing though i'm sure most of you are already aware a grace community church back i think on august 30th had everything finalized whereby they were vindicated in court and so they they won their court battle against the government of california they were awarded yeah absolutely they were awarded eight hundred thousand dollars but you need to know that that money is just gonna pay for the legal fees both the the lawyers on the the state side as well as the lawyers representing the church and so that was basically like a legal fees plus a dollar kind of a result but um but i believe as well as a result of that an injunction has been put in place whereby the the state cannot impose restrictions on religious gatherings ever again and so yeah obviously our judicial system could take a page out of that book and go to school on that just a little bit but we're grateful for them the timing of that is providential that'll make sense in the months ahead i'm sure and uh and so we're just so grateful to to rejoice with them and to give really glory to god for vindicating them in their stand we've got an announcement to make as well this is a neat announcement it's an engagement it's going to be a busy calendar in the months ahead here we have lowell mcallister and caitlin schmidt who are engaged to be married [Applause] so yeah we are excited about that um grateful for for just the lord working in your lives and and uh yeah so much to say just about both of you and and just how you are going to be blessed by each each other and so that's just grateful to to celebrate that with you before we get into the bulletin announcements just a comment about the service format that we announced uh last sunday uh it's not official but it's certainly leaning heavily in that direction because the feedback that's come to us so far has been largely positive and we're going to be in a meeting this wednesday evening to finalize all of that there will be an announcement to inform you that yes we're going ahead with this format it'll lay out all the times for you and ahead in advance of sunday and you'll be able to identify which service that you would like to attend and so not final but near final i would say and we'll finalize that uh in the days ahead with respect to the bulletin there the nursery is now open it's on a first come first serve basis it's open to infants and toddlers and so we draw that to your attention more information will follow uh with regard to the two service format and how nursery would be impacted by that you've got an announcement there concerning youth and men's ministry it's going to take place both youth and men's every first and third saturday in the evening time at 7 00 pm here at the church and next saturday is a kickoff for both ministries and so we welcome you to come to that 7 p.m next saturday both youth and men's meeting here at the facility and so we we draw that to your attention we've got a membership class kicking off on friday of this week if i'm not mistaken where's mark is he he's probably back in his desk pretty sure it's friday we sent an email out yesterday and so you should have seen that if you are pursuing membership i'm told that 83 people are signed up for that membership class and so um we probably won't finish that class until about a year from now as far as all of the interviews that that take place in that and so uh we're eager to connect with all of you and to uh to spend that time with you college and career there is a chilly supper today at the pillage household 4 p.m this afternoon and you're asked to bring a side or a dessert and with respect to college and career this is a wonderful time in in the development of our church because adam who has recently become an elder is is overseeing that ministry and really giving to that ministry the leadership that that it needs and deserves and so cnc has kind of been an area of our church that we haven't quite given the leadership and direction to over the years that that we ought and we're now at a point in time when we can do that and adam's going to take that on and and bring some structure and organization to that ministry and there's a an elder q a that's going to be coming up as a part of that there are events that adam is going to be planning and we're grateful to have him overseeing that where he can shepherd you see and see folks and so we're grateful for that excited about that that's a wonderful development in the flow of our ministry here at grace life church and so i commend that to you women of grace is going to kick off on wednesday that's the 15th and that's going to be in second timothy both morning and evenings and so that's a wonderful time for you to be in the word and i encourage you women to be a part of that and to do that and then also for fos for those of you who have signed up for fof you will want to see pastor jacob spence following the service today as he will have fof books to put in your hand so you can begin studying the material on that at the desk the welcome desk yes they're at the welcome desk so see mark yes see mark to secure those those booklets let me just read to you psalm 113. it reads this praise the lord praise o servants of the lord praise the name of the lord blessed be the name of the lord from this time forth and forever from the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the lord is to be praised the lord is high above all nations his glory is above the heavens who is like the lord our god who is enthroned on high who humbles himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth he raises the poor from the dust he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes with the princes of his people he makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children praise the lord and that's exactly what we want to do we want to praise the lord let's pray well father we praise you you are worthy of all praise and we want to praise you now in song and so we pray that you would help us and assist us to worship you in a manner that would be pleasing in your sight that you would find full delight in our sacrifice of praise this day we give you praise in jesus name amen please stand good morning can we uh can we just have like 15 seconds of quiet or so just to prepare our hearts and think about where we are today and who we're standing before the king of kings and the lord of lords and we're going to begin our service with turn your eyes upon jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of the earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace let's just take a moment there prepare your hearts [Music] turn your eyes turn your eyes upon jesus look full in his wonderful faith and the things of earth will grow strangely in the light of his glory and grace [Music] turn your eyes to the hills where justice and mercy and break there the son of god gave his life for us and our measureless thank you lord [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] we adore you behold you our savior ever true oh jesus [Music] turn your eyes to the moon and see christ the light away [Music] [Music] [Music] we adore you behold you our savior ever true [Music] will bow return we'll shout all glory to jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] we adore you behold you our oh jesus we turn our eyes to you jesus [Music] we adore you behold you our savior ever oh jesus we turn our eyes to you oh jesus we turn our eyes to you [Music] i invite you to remain standing for the reading of god's word we are continuing to read through the book of deuteronomy today we find ourselves in deuteronomy chapter 1 and as is our custom we'll read the entire chapter deuteronomy chapter 21 beginning in verse 1. again deuteronomy chapter 21 beginning in verse 1. if a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the lord your god gives you to possess and it is not known who has struck him then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one it shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man that is that is the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd which has not been worked and which is not pulled in a yoke and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water which has not been plowed or sown and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley then the priests the sons of levi shall come near for the lord your god has chosen them to serve him and to bless in the name of the lord and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them as the elders of that city which is nearest to the slave man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley and they shall answer and say our hands did not shed this blood nor did our eyes see it forgive your people israel whom you have redeemed o lord and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people israel and the blood guiltiness shall be forgiven them so you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst when you do what is right in the eyes of the lord when you go out to battle against your enemies and the lord your god delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive and see among the captives a beautiful woman and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself then you shall bring her home to your to your house and she shall shave her head and trim her nails she shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house and mourn her father and mother a full month and after that you may go into her and be her husband and she shall be your wife it shall be if you are not pleased with her then you shall let her go wherever she wishes but you shall you shall certainly not sell her for money you shall not mistreat her because you have humbled her if a man has two wives the one loved and the other unloved and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved who is the firstborn but he shall acknowledge the firstborn the son of the unloved by giving him a double portion of all that he has for he is the beginning of his strength to him belongs the right of the firstborn if any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother and when they chastise him he will not even listen to them then his father and mother shall seize him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate way of his hometown they shall say to the elders of his city this son of ours is stubborn and rebellious he will not obey us he is a glutton and a drunkard then all the men of his city shall stone him to death so you shall remove the evil from your midst then all israel will hear of it and fear if a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree but you shall surely bury him on the same day for he who is hanged is a curse of god so that you do not defile your land which the lord your god gives you as an inheritance this is the reading of god's word let us pray together as we draw near to you father god in this time we're so aware of all that is happening in the world today there seems to be so much chaos unrest injustice so much error so many lies untruth and so it's in that context father god that we rejoice that we can draw near to you and fix their eyes upon you father we acknowledge that you are holy that you are righteous and are perfect in righteousness that there is no darkness in you you are a god of truth and you only speak what is true and you have given us your word which is truth the truth by which you sanctify us and conform us more fully into the image of your beloved son and so father we are richly blessed that in a time like today can draw near to you with full assurance of faith with full confidence knowing that we do so on account of our great high priest the lord jesus christ and can do so knowing that having come to you through him we have built our house on the rock and that whatever would befall us in this life that house will not come down and even as we've read here in deuteronomy 21 we we realize that the one who hangs upon a tree is accursed and we're reminded that our lord and savior jesus christ hung upon a tree that he was cursed and really bore our curse in our place that we might go free and so father we rejoice we rejoice in full atonement we rejoice in a substitutionary sacrifice the sin bearing savior taking upon himself our sin dying in our place that we might know and know the forgiveness that comes to us through him and would have the very righteousness we need to stand holy and blameless before you and we pray father god that you would assist us and strengthen us for the road ahead we don't know what the future holds but we know the future is in your hands and we know that we too are held firmly in your hands and so we pray that you would strengthen us empower us equip us for the road ahead give us wisdom and discernment and discretion to navigate all of the different issues that are before us and we pray that you would continue to bring honor and glory to your name through this body of believers and not just ours but every true body of believers throughout the whole world that you would be honored and glorified and receive the honor and glory your due father we're mindful of afghanistan we realize that even to this point corporately we haven't lifted up that nation in prayer it's been so difficult to get a handle on what's actually happening there on the ground we're grateful for heart crime ministry and the way that they have access to what's happening in that region we're grateful for sean ransom who we support in the philippines and how he has a pulse on things and father we pray that you would be with your people in that region that you would protect them and watch over them that the gospel would go forth that for those who are attempting to flee that nation you would get them out and that for those who desire to remain and give their lives for the sake of the gospel that you would give them length of days many opportunities precision in their proclamation of the death and resurrection of christ and that you would grant them souls that would be won through their proclamation we would certainly pray for the peace of that nation that order would be brought to it and that even in what's taking place there you two would be glorified and so father we thank you for your goodness your grace the joy of bringing these things to you minister to us this day through all that takes place we want to worship you we want to do so in spirit and in truth and we commit ourselves to you and to that end this day in christ's name amen let me be seated [Music] jesus keep me near the cross [Music] [Music] man [Music] rest beyond [Music] [Music] so [Music] shed his beams around me in the cross in the cross be my glory [Music] shall find rest beyond the river [Music] near the cross [Music] help me walk from day to day [Music] in the cross be my glory ever till my ransom soul shall fight rest beyond [Music] near the [Music] till i reach the [Music] in [Music] [Music] rest beyond [Music] sing that with us now [Music] in the cross in the cross glory [Music] [Music] very nice [Music] please stand [Music] my savior i am his and he is mine cherished for returns [Music] he is [Music] to stand again [Music] i will see [Music] grace to christ [Music] lifted through his offering satisfied through suffering all the blessings [Music] [Music] every breath that i have [Music] is [Music] power to the lamb upon the throne [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] i [Music] lamb upon the throne [Applause] hallelujah [Music] i will sing breath that i am given i will see salvation and i'll join the chorus of creation giving praise to christ of all stars will fade and mountains fall christ will shine forever [Music] [Applause] salvation [Music] praise the lord [Music] his mercy is more stronger than darkness knew every more our sins there are many his mercy is more what love [Music] thrown into a [Music] his mercy is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the poor [Music] our sins they are many [Music] darkness [Music] his mercy [Music] what is of kindness he lavished on us his blood was the pain was the cost we stood [Music] his mercy is more sing it out now praise the lord [Music] [Music] his mercy is stronger than darkness [Music] his mercy is more praise lord be exalted i will [Music] praises to thee upon the nation [Music] for christ [Music] and thy faithfulness my faithfulness to the clouds [Music] did thy glory be over [Music] these [Applause] [Music] let thy glory be [Music] i will sing praises to thee among the nations [Music] [Applause] the clouds [Music] let thy glory be [Music] [Music] let thy glory [Music] let thy glory let thy glory [Music] do that again [Music] let thy glory [Music] let thy glory be [Music] amen thank you so much you may be seated well thank you so much music team for leading us in praise of our great god and king so effectively yet again this morning we are grateful for your ongoing ministry among us and no doubt our lord is blessed well as i anticipated getting back into the normal rigors of the preaching ministry here at grace life church with all that's happening in the world today i sense that this was one of those moments where a sermon outside of the normal flow of john's gospel would be needed there are so many issues in our day today that need to be addressed and i began the week looking at a number of different portions of scripture and considering a number of different issues that might be this might be addressed in more topical fashion and then at the end of that reflection i thought you know what let me just take one more pass at john 12 verses 1 to 11 and just see what's there and as i read john 12 1 to 11 it occurred to me that the content of this portion of scripture is incredibly relevant and incredibly applicable even to a number of the issues that are taking place in our day and time and so we're going to be in john 12 this morning we're going to be in verses 1 to 11 and let's go ahead and begin now by reading this portion of scripture john chapter 12 beginning in verse 1. jesus therefore six days before the passover came to bethany where lazarus was whom jesus had raised from the dead so they made him a supper there and martha was serving but lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume but judas iscariot one of his disciples who was intending to betray him said why was this perfume not sold for 300 daenerye and given to the people the poor now he said this not because he was concerned about the poor but because he was a thief and as he had the money box he used to pilfer what was put into it therefore jesus said let her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial for you always have the poor with you but you do not always have me the large crowd of the jews then learned that he was there and they came not for his sake only but that they might also see lazarus whom he had risen from the dead but the chief priests planned to put lazarus to death also because on account of him many of the jews were going away and were believing in jesus we are now within less than a week of the crucifixion of christ his hour has nearly come and the sun is setting on his earthly ministry in the preceding chapter we know that jesus raised lazarus from the dead and as a result the religious leaders had conspired to put him to death and even here in chapter 12 we we find that the resurrection of lazarus plays a an important role it's a a miracle that has a lingering effect even into chapter 12 in the events of this chapter the people were abuzz with the news many had flocked to jerusalem for the passover many were seeking out both jesus and lazarus and many were at least superficially believing in jesus in fact in the flow of john's gospel it's the raising of lazarus that sets the stage for the triumphal entry when jesus is hailed as the king of israel and so it's the raising of lazarus that really helps to set the stage for the response of the people as jesus enters jerusalem on palm sunday before all of that we find ourselves at a home in the town of bethany in a moment when worship and the world collide because the lavish and spontaneous worship of one disciple exposes the worldliness of another and where even the worldliness of the religious leaders of israel are on full display and as we come to this passage we're going to let it speak to some of the issues of the day not because this portion of scripture is primarily here to do that but because it legitimately does speak to a number of matters that need to be addressed and so we're going to honor its authorial intent and unleash it on some current events and here's what we're going to see no need to jot these down just yet we're going to see true worship true miscalculation truth told and then truth suppressed and so if you're taking notes jot down first true worship this comes out in verses 1 and following it says there jesus therefore six days before the passover came to bethany where lazarus was whom jesus had raised from the dead that it was six days before the passover likely places our lord's arrival late on friday afternoon just prior to the onset of the sabbath the jews counted days from sunset to sunset so the sabbath would have commenced on friday evening and ended on saturday evening upon his arrival they likely rested and then once the sabbath had ended they reclined at a table on saturday evening and enjoyed a meal together verse 2 so they made him a supper there and martha was serving but lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him you'll note here that martha has taken up her usual place of service she was an incredible woman of service and as we saw back in john 11 she is a woman with rock solid theology so she had the the full package not just being a woman devoted to service but also a woman of the word lazarus was also there you'll note that john by way of the spirit of god identifies lazarus as being one of those who were reclined at the table with jesus and that's obviously no worthy because in chapter 11 he was dead in a tomb had been dead four days and jesus had risen him from the grave and so we have a man at the supper alongside jesus who sometime a few days or weeks ago was actually dead in a tomb rotting and that really makes this supper somewhat noteworthy because as we know from matthew and mark this supper took place at the home of simon the leper and it's almost certain that simon was no longer a leper because lepers didn't attend social functions they didn't host social functions and so no doubt jesus had healed simon of his leprosy and so you've got the son of god a man risen from the dead and a man healed from leprosy all at the same supper this was quite a supper the conversation would have been rather intriguing and then at some point during this supper something comes over mary and she engages in a remarkable act of worship look at verse three mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume this was a marvelous and costly expression of love and affection and we need to paint the scene just a little bit that they were reclined at this table meant that they were lying on their side on one elbow with their head toward the table and their feet away from it mark indicates the perfume was contained in an alabaster vial mark 14 3. and it's even possible that mary had acquired this alabaster vial of costly perfume for this very purpose mark also indicates that mary broke the vial and poured it over the head of jesus matthew notes that in addition to his head it was poured over his body and we know that john here for a particular purpose that we'll see in a moment emphasizes that it was actually poured over the feet of jesus and so this this bottle of perfume was emptied over the entire body of jesus a pound refers to a roman pound equaling 12 ounces and this is costly perfume it came from northern india it was a fragrant oil extracted from a plant in the mountains of that region it was pure and as we'll see in a moment it's worth about 300 daenerye which is equal to about a year's wages that mary poured it on the feet of jesus and then wiped his feet with her hair expresses great humility into humility and devotion this was an act of humility just think in john 13 for a moment how when the disciples enter the upper room with jesus and it's time for someone to wash the feet of the disciples none of the disciples take up the towel to do that jesus then does washes their feet as a an example for them and so to to take upon that role was really to take upon the task of the lowliest slave and so mary as an expression of her worship of christ and her deep humility pours this this perfume over the feet of jesus and begins to actually wipe his feet with her hair she reflects the heart of john the baptist who didn't deem himself worthy to even untie the thong of the sandal of jesus john 1 27 and that she used her hair was very unusual women in that culture did not let their hair down and so for her to let her hair down in public for this act of worship was really a denial of social custom it was it was putting aside any sort of shame and scorn that may have come to her for doing so as she committed herself to this wonderful act of worship it expressed love it expressed affection it expressed humility it expressed devotion and it expressed a sense of urgency mary was not going to wait to see if she got another opportunity to worship christ in this way she had this moment this was the moment she was going to seize and so she made this moment the moment that she would anoint jesus for his burial and really she may have had some sense some perception of the imminency of the death of jesus and so she may have appreciated to some level in some extent that jesus was in fact just days away from his own death and as a testimony to this exceptional act of worship the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume everyone in that home knew what had taken place it was undeniable and so there was testimony in the air of this wonderful and glorious worship in fact on account of this matthew and mark indicate that jesus declares truly i say to you wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her this was god pleasing worship this was worship that that is met with the affirmation of jesus christ jesus christ puts his stamp of approval on this act of worship and we would do well to take note of its qualities it was humble it was heartfelt it was sacrificial it was costly it was urgent it recognized the supremacy of christ over everything and it was with a complete disregard for social custom or public shame and i think it's fair to say that as we consider the qualities of that worship as being worship that brings honor and glory to god is being worshiped that jesus himself testifies as being pleasing worship that worship is fairly rare today this is not the the norm that we see today by those who claim the name of christ worship today is rarely humble rarely earnest rarely sacrificial rarely costly rarely with a sense of urgency rarely recognizes the supremacy of christ and is rarely with a complete disregard for what the public might have to say about it i think it's accurate to say that most churches in the world today in the world are not currently gathering to worship the lord jesus christ in the world they're concerned about the cost by way of the punishment that could come they're concerned about their testimony the way they'll be perceived by the world around them they're concerned about their health seemingly prioritizing health physical health over spiritual health and they're banking on being able to worship christ at some later time they're assuming that another day will come another time will arrive when they can actually engage in worship and so they are delaying present worship as they bank on and hope for later future worship this kind of worship is rare but though it's rare it isn't extinct i think we can see the marks of this kind of worship here at grace life church i think we can see the marks of this kind of worship at fairview baptist church i think we can see the marks of this kind of worship at grace community church but there's one church in particular that i want to highlight this morning trinity bible chapel pastored by jacob ryum trinity has been found in contempt of court twice for its worship the first time cost them 83 thousand dollars the second has them on the hook for a hundred and thirty five thousand dollars now what are many gonna say about that many are going to say that is utter foolishness but be careful because that's effectively what judas said and i don't think you want to be in judas's shoes when i look at the worship of trinity and i'm not the lord that's ultimately his judgment i see a commitment to the honor and glory of christ i see a commitment to the absolute supremacy of christ over all rule and authority i see urgency to worship christ to seize the day this day as the day to come together and worship him i see costliness a willing to to suffer personal shame scorn sacrifice even financial penalty and so in that we see even an absolute disregard for the world's approval that's the kind of worship that we see with mary it's the same expression of worship that we see reflected by mary right here in john 12. it is in my estimation christ exalting worship worship that makes much of him worship that puts his worth on display really we could just call this true worship true worship second if you're taking notes jot this down true miscalculation true miscalculation and here we see the effect of true worship on a worldly heart look at verse four but judas iscariot one of his disciples who was intending to betray him said why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and given to poor people now stop for a moment you and i have the vantage point of hindsight we've read this portion of scripture we we know that judas is a betrayer judas has already been announced as a betrayer back in john 6 and so we understand that judas is an apostate but the rest of the disciples didn't even by the time judas is in the process of betraying jesus they have no idea that judas is going to do what he's going to do we're going to see that in john 13. and the disciples went along with judas judas here in john is the one that spoke he is the leader but the other gospels indicate that the rest followed with him yeah yeah why wasn't that given to the poor they said and what john brings out here is that judas wasn't concerned for the poor at all he was concerned for who himself and that comes out in verse 6. now he said this not because he was concerned about the poor but because he was a thief and as he had the money box he used to pill for what was put into it so judas is a virtue signaler he effectively virtue signals concern for the poor when in reality he's concerned about himself he's a thief and he's looking at the money that could have been sold for that perfume and he would have had at least a portion of it had it got its way into the money box that's where judas is at his apostate heart is now beginning to come out he doesn't love christ he isn't committed to the honor and glory of christ he was in it for himself he was beginning to see the writing on the wall there was no immediate kingdom he wasn't going to have an immediate place in that kingdom there was not going to be a payday in this for him just a life of self-denial cross-bearing and obedience to christ and by the end of john 13 he's prepared to betray jesus for what 30 pieces of silver and so mary brings this out god uses mary's worship to draw this out of judas mary lavishly worships the lord anointing him with perfume worth about a year's wages and judas deems it a waste and betrays him for 30 pieces of silver that's a stark contrast and it's a contrast that's instructive this is what worship does when christ is truly worshiped it brings the worldiness of folks of the hearts of folks out onto the table it brings it out into its full expression and i think we can see it happening in our day because as churches put their money where their mouth is as we saw a moment ago with trinity in their worship of christ there are those who speak out against them and when they do they sound a lot like judas and so either they are a judas or they've been led astray by a judas like the disciples and have made a terrible miscalculation let me give you an example this comes from a gentleman named paul carter very outspoken often for the gospel coalition canada when it was announced that charges would be brought against trinity bible chapel here's what paul tweeted quote what a disaster this was a major topic of discussion in premier ford's press conference today whatever this was supposed to accomplish it has failed more than failed it has backfired loudly publicly embarrassingly backfired please please please reconsider unquote i don't think that's aged well i don't think that's going to age well trinity has committed themselves to the worship of christ and there are naysayers who come alongside and want to ultimately cast embarrassment scorn and shame upon them again that sounds more like judas than it does mary and in many cases churches that have complied with the government have received government subsidies you can see this online there are lots of churches that record money as having been received from the government in year 2020 it's financial assistance assistance they've effectively sold the headship of christ over his church for a serb check i interact with a number of folks who want to interact with me about why their leadership is forcing compliance upon the congregation one question you might want to ask your leadership is this have you received money from the government have you received financial assistance from the government because i would say if you have then you are compromised you have just sold the headship of christ over his church to the government you are now in a position where you would be a hypocrite to take money from the government and then defy their public health orders their compliance has been bought in some cases and if they speak out at that point in time i think it's safe to say they're compromised and again bearing more resemblance to judas than to mary i remember being in prison in my jail cell listening to a radio station talk radio and hearing a pastor in the greater edmonton area speak out negatively against us in our church sound like mary or something judas well mary worships the lord in exemplary fashion judas speaks foolishly and draws the other disciples into an awful miscalculation and though we've already cited our lord's judgment from matthew and mark it's now time for him to speak here in the context of the gospel of john and so if you're taking notes jot down third truth told truth told verse 7. therefore jesus said let her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial and the language here is tricky it sounds like there's still some perfume left and that jesus is telling judas to leave her alone that she might save what remains for his burial but it's clear from matthew mark that mary emptied the vial this was poured over his head his body his feet she emptied it and so in effect jesus is saying that the perfume has served its purpose it's as though he's saying what he did in mark 14 8 she has done what she could she has anointed my body beforehand for the burial and then jesus says this verse 8 for you always have the poor with you but you do not always have me that is a statement of fact and one that in no way minimizes acts of benevolence for the poor there's no question that acts of benevolence for the poor are a legitimate expression of compassion and benevolence but here the issue is one of priority mary has worshipped the lord at a critical point in his earthly ministry just days removed from his death and so she has demonstrated the right priority in giving worship to the lord jesus christ they would always have the poor but they would not always have him and it's the statement about poverty that i'd like to comment on for a moment we can conclude from this statement that our lord makes that poverty is an unavoidable reality in a fallen world all efforts to eradicate poverty will inevitably fail and that's especially true when government is involved government is incredibly and enormously inefficient in everything that they do all you would have to do is look at your health care system inefficiency waste that's the government so anytime the the government is involved in anything it's not going to go well that is that is sure but the matter i want to address is critical race theory or crt and this is just a thirty thousand thirty thousand foot look at it and it's really connected to our lord's statement about poverty because critical race theory is concerned with equitable outcomes it's not about equal opportunity it's about ensuring that there are equitable outcomes crt wants to ensure the current social systems in place don't result in disparities among classes and ethnicities now that might just sound a little bit like socialism to you which is not a new idea and so it might sound somewhat benign it isn't crt has essentially redefined the essence of racism it has shifted racism away from a personal attitude of superiority about one's own ethnicity to systems social structures and institutions and it does this with a view toward destroying those systems it deems to be systemically racist and it just so happens that all of the systems social structures and institutions of western society are in their estimation systemically racist the economic system the vocational system the educational system the judicial system law enforcement everything crt believes that the western world is ultimately rooted in and founded upon an inherently racist system which essentially makes everyone in the system in particular those who are deemed to be among the category of the oppressor racist the reason these systems are deemed to be systemically racist is due to the fact that there are clearly disparities i mean jesus has said that that poverty is inevitable you will always have the poor with you that's just built into the framework of a fallen world what crt does is it essentially takes something that is impossible to eradicate and on the basis of its presence in any given society determines that that society must be racist because it's the only way to account for these disparities the very fact that poverty exists is deemed evidence of racism and so crt wants to solve all of that and it wants to do it by disintegrating western civilization as we know it everything that is currently happening in the western world is all in an effort to entirely restructure our society and freedom personal autonomy and civil liberty is deemed to be the byproduct of an inherently racist system a system that oppresses some and benefits others and so what crt does is it views society through the lens of the oppressor and the oppressed everyone falls into one of these two categories and what puts you in one category over another is typically either your gender or your ethnicity why do i say ethnicity and not race because there is but one race it's called the human race and among that one race there are many ethnicities and so until recently you might have thought that racism on a broad and wide scale was a thing of the past it was it's just been redefined and it's been redefined along systemic lines that's why a year ago as major cities in the u.s were coming undone and you had bedlam and anarchy rioting in the streets people breaking into stores and and running out with goods the reason nothing was done about that is because to do anything about that had law enforcement actually imposed itself on that it would just prove the system is racist the writing was essentially deemed to be a just response to an inherently racist system and so what was happening there was essentially what you would call reparations individuals who had deemed themselves to be oppressed in society were essentially taking back a portion of what they believe is already theirs and so law enforcement essentially stood by and just watched it happen had they involved themselves as they should have involved themselves they would have been deemed racist now why do i bring this up even here in the context of the local church because this is being embraced by many in evangelicalism it's not just staying outside in the world even though that too affects us it's being brought inside the church there are those in evangelicalism that believe that crt is a neutral tool and that it's useful and that we should take what is useful from that tool and apply it to our our churches and and to really every sphere of life in order to ensure that we weed out any of this systemic racism any of this built-in bias that's a byproduct of being a part of an inherently racist system and the way this is sort of cloaked is that we all have blind spots in our lives and we have these blind spots in our lives because we're a part of this inherently racist system and so we need crt to come alongside and help us because the word of god is insufficient on its own and employ this tool in order to be able to to weed out any expressions of of racism in our lives so the whole thing is cloaked in humility it's cloaked as this very christ-like humble thing that is being done to bring this tool inside the church and use it for the quote-unquote betterment of the church and really what it is is yet again another example of the church embracing another worldly and godless ideology even just to put a a verse to this and and the the precedent for even addressing matters like this in the context of preaching i want you just to listen for a moment to second corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 and following paul writes this for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses a word that refers to ideological fortresses we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of god and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of christ preaching is intended to destroy ideologies with the hammer of god's word now a lot more needs to be said about crt but make no mistake about it it is an inherently wicked ideology it is not neutral it is wicked to the core there is absolutely nothing redeemable about it and if we were to pull back the curtain on crt i'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet but what i think we would find is that behind that curtain is the the framework that will ultimately be used to persecute the seed of abraham both his physical seed and his spiritual seed jesus in john 12 here declares the truth for you will always have the poor with you and that statement has vast implications for dealing with the issue of crt and that leads us forth to the truth suppressed the truth suppressed look at verse 9. the large crowd of the jews then learned that he was there and they came not for jesus's sake only but that they might also see lazarus whom he raised from the dead now remember bethany's just two miles from jerusalem so when they catch word that jesus is in bethany they want to see jesus and they want to see lazarus they want to see the evidence of this man who had been raised from the dead and we know already back from 11 john 11 56 that they were seeking for jesus look at that john 11 56 they they were seeking for jesus and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple what do you think that he will not come to the feast at all and so when they hear that jesus is in bethany along with lazarus they go to see him and lazarus because they want to see the evidence of what they've heard has taken place in the resurrection of lazarus verse 10 but the chief priests plan to put lazarus to death also because on account of him many of the jews were going away and were believing in jesus so what do the governing authorities want to do they want to destroy the evidence they want to put lazarus to death lazarus was evidence of jesus power to raise the dead and so they don't just want to kill jesus they want to kill the evidence that he can raise the dead and you see this actually even at the end to the resurrection of christ how the pharisees put in place parameters to try and guard and protect the tomb so that when you know no excuse or no no no falsehood could be raised that jesus had risen from the grave well it just ended up proving the fact that he did because the guards went back to the leaders and said he's risen from the dead and and they said well don't tell anybody this and they paid them not to just a comment about the the faith expressed here no comment is made about the integrity of the faith expressed by this crowd and there's really precedent for even raising that question we know throughout john's gospel that there are superficial expressions of faith we saw it back in john 2 jesus clears the temple performs many miracles many are believing in him and jesus is not entrusting himself to them because he knows what's in the heart of man he knows it's a superficial faith we saw in john 6 after he fed the thousands they wanted to take him and make him king and by the end of john 6 they're walking away because his teaching was too hard so we know that there's superficial faith that we realize that even here it likely is that because even though they're going to herald him as king as he enters jerusalem for the triumphal entry by the end of the week they're they're calling for his crucifixion so this is no doubt a superficial expression of faith but it was enough to make the chief priests want to suppress the truth and i think we can look at that and just see the very same thing taking place in our own day can't we the governing authority of israel the sanhedrin was not just a religious governing authority it had political components as well we saw that back at the end of john 11 that when they put jesus or at least created the plan to put jesus to death and it was motivated by a political desire political aim and we're seeing the same thing in our day that just as the governing authorities of israel wanted to control the information made available to the people so too does our government they want to control the narrative and anything out of step with their narrative is deemed to be misinformation or disinformation and the government the mainstream media and big tech are all in on it the the whole system is in cahoots together as they ultimately control the information that has gotten to the public in order to pull the wool over the eyes of unsuspecting people this is what tyrannical governments do this is why when you look at the u.s the the the freedom of the press is so critical you take away the freedom of the press and go to a state-run media much like ours is here in our country and you end up with nothing but a a false narrative being continually brought to the people of the nation to indoctrinate them to see the world a certain way and once they see the world that certain way the government can then control them and their behavior because they've be they've drunk the kool-aid as it were and this isn't just happening in our country it is happening on a global scale they want to control people and so they control the information they have access to we can see our federal government is already trying to put in place legislation that would give them the kind of power that would even shut us off from the alternative avenues of information that we have access to today but even then it raises the question why are the masses so easily deceived why are people believing what they're hearing from the mainstream media why are they believing what they're hearing from the governing officials why are they doing so especially when there's still access to good information well let me give you a couple of reasons one they've refused to honor god or give him thanks and have been given over to a depraved mind romans one they have a depraved mind they're unable and in capable of seeing straight they have no anchor in the truth for them up is down left is right and good is evil they have a depraved mind that's what happens when you reject god and when you remain settled in that rejection over a long period of time god just continually gives you over to the depravity in your heart it's a removal of his restraining grace to let your human heart do whatever it pleases two they have a poor anthropology that's the doctrine of man they believe man is inherently good that is incredibly problematic man is inherently evil and if you believe man is inherently good then you're going to believe what that your government is inherently good and that it has your best interests in view that is utter folly it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that governments are filled with corruption they have been since time began it's the way it's always been and what's amazing is that our country at one point seemed somewhat aware of the possibility that our government wasn't entirely honest and truthful and so people with this poor anthropology have become far too trusting of government believing government has their best interest in view and three and this is really important this is satan's world system and satan is the father of lies and the world's ideologies are expressed in a manner that disguises their true intent i mean all you would need to do is look at anything that is being said by government and the mainstream media and they they express their their positions and their ideologies in language that is so sanctimonious that it sounds as though it is right and for the best interest of mankind and good when in reality it's the exact opposite just look at what they're saying and you can know that what's really true the real intent is the exact opposite of what they're saying and anything that opposes the ideologies that are being propagated in accord with satan's world system are deemed to be the exact opposite they're deemed to be misinformation disinformation anti-science you know all of this and so with no ability to discern and think clearly and with a poor anthropology and with the language being used to describe the ideologies of the day being cloaked in such sanctimonious garb you have an easily deceptive people who are low hanging fruit for governments to come along pull the wool over their eyes and make them think that government has their best interest in view and i think this is akin to what we see paul described in second thessalonians chapter two turn there for a minute second thessalonians chapter two is definitely dealing with future events but those future events don't just arrive in a vacuum and i think we can see how many of the events of the end times could easily become a reality in our day as we see aspects of what will take place in the end times already in shadow form coming to fruition so this comes in a context that announces the coming of the man of lawlessness the man of lawlessness is the antichrist this is one who will come and who will demand worship you will have to worship this one revelation indicates that you'll have to receive a mark of the beast in order to buy and sell you will have to worship the beast the beast and the man of lawlessness are the same and so when that takes place there are two verses that describe what will happen and i think we can see shadow forms of that already taking place in our day look at verse 11. for this reason god will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false in order that they all may be judged you did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness and so in accord with the arrival of the man of lawlessness god will send upon the people of the entire world a deluding influence they will look to the man of lawlessness and they will offer to him worship and it's all because they believed what is false would not believe the truth but instead took pleasure in wickedness though i don't think we're seeing the fulfillment of that today i do think we're seeing something like it something akin to it taking place at present and so really we can say this that just as romans 1 declares that what is happening at present is god's judgment that it is god's judgment and really with the reality of the judgment of god so evident you look at the world today you can see the judgment of god upon our nation upon the nation south of us upon the the whole world it is really almost a down payment on the certainty of coming eternal judgment god is putting his glory on display in the judgment that we're seeing take place in the world and so if you are not in christ then you need to see this judgment for what it is as evidence of a coming judgment one that is everlasting in nature it is appointed unto man once to die and then comes the judgment and all of us have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of god and so if you have not believed on the lord jesus christ then what you are doing is you are refusing the the only way to be saved from your sin and you are leaving yourself in a position whereby you are under the judgment and condemnation of god for every violation of his righteous standard you need a savior and there is only one savior there is only one name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved jesus came lived the life that you couldn't he died the death that you deserve he suffered under the wrath of god for all who would ever believe on his name he died went into the grave and rose on the third day he is seated at the right hand of god he will return to bring the very judgment that we're describing and if you would turn from your sin and believe on him you will be saved delivered from the wrath to come your sin will be forgiven you will be clothed in the righteousness of christ be given everything you need to stand holy and blameless before god and you will have the hope of heaven such that as the world continues to implode all around you you have utter eternal certainty before god in christ and so i would encourage you i would urge you to look to christ this day and believe on him judgment is on the way judgment is already taking place and you do not want to die in your sins and enter eternal judgment and so believe on him and be reconciled to god through him this is what happens when worship and the world collide it's polarizing jesus brings division the darkness rages and the light shines all the more brightly that's evident right here in john's gospel jesus is six days removed from his crucifixion when darkness will have its initial moment and then jesus will atone for sin rise from the grave ascend to heaven and the gates of heaven open wide as the gospel is taken to the four corners of the earth and salvation is offered to all who would ever believe on him and so though it's dark right now we can take courage the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining john 2 8. and greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world let's pray together father we thank you for this time in your word we thank you for this wonderful gospel we thank you for the practicality of this portion of scripture and the way that it speaks to our present time we are so thankful for the example of mary and her worship and how she's modeled for us the essence of true worship and we're so grateful that when true worship takes place it exposes worldliness where the light shines bright in the face of darkness and so father we give you honor glory and praise we thank you for this time in your word use it for your honor and your glory as you see fit in jesus name amen please stand what is our hope in life and death christ alone [Music] what is our only confidence that our souls to him belong who holds our days within his hands what comes apart [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] what you can't call the trouble god is good god is [Music] arise who stands above [Music] [Music] oh hallelujah [Music] [Music] what will we see christ he lives christ he lives and what reward will heaven bring everlasting life with him there we will rise to see the lord then sin and death will be destroyed and we will feast in their joy when christ is ours forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] christ our hope in life and death [Music] christ our i don't know about you but i have tasted and seen that the lord is good amen amen let me leave you with this second corinthians 13 4 or rather 13 14 the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you all and we all said amen you may be seated this concludes our live stream thank you for tuning in

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Published: Sun Sep 12 2021