HEALTHY LIVING IN A SICK WORLD | Part 1 | Sermon | Dr Michael Youssef

hello my friends welcome to the Church of the Apostles it's always a joy and a delight to know that people watching in China Australia England all over the world thank you for joining us [Music] I don't think that it's a doubt in anyone's mind that our world is very sick and is getting sicker by the day I don't think this is information to any of you I have having some non-believing friends who are saying that to me amazing the so-called sexual revolution has kept on digging deeper and deeper moral Hall selfish ambitions and not the security of the nation is blinding so many politicians the pursuit of in self-interest is another pursuing interests of the citizenry on the part of the leadership of our country but self-interest and self-promotion and even in the Church of Jesus Christ as some who have abandoned the truth that there once preached and once believed for the sake of popularity and acceptance in many a marriage today there is so many broken vows for the sake of one's unbridled lust and selfishness globally you look around and you see how nations are raging as nations and and hacking computers of other nations and seeking the destruction of other nations everywhere you look you see that our world is getting sicker by the minute the greatest danger for believers who live in this sick world is that they can get infected by the world's spiritual illness and we see it all around church leaders both lay and clergy who once have known that I personally have known had strong biblical stance now they question the authority of the scripture and the question is this how can you and I live healthy spiritual life in a sick world as getting sicker now through the years when I needed answers to big questions in life I have learned the hard way that all of my attempts all of my studies and all of my answers they at best not the worst at best a very temporary but if I go to the Word of God which are fully trust as infallible and an arrant I get permanent and lasting answers and that's what we're going to do today we're going to go to the Word of God as I commenced this series of messages entitled healthy living in a sick world we're going to be looking specifically at the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians I'm going to explain to you why I'm done this so you may ask why did you choose first Corinthians in order to show and illustrate this well Corinth the city and Corinth the culture identified with modern 21st century Western culture you will see how the sickness that the believers in Corinth were exposed to is very similar to ours you're going to find out that so many of the issues that Paul points to here in that first epistle is part of our world today that so many of the cultural infections that was threatening to infect the Church of Corinth are familiar to all of us today so many of the elements that we see today Paul faithfully deals with in the Church of Corinth and that is why it is of other most importance and relevance for us today a little bit of background Paul pioneered the church in Corinth he was the first one to preach the gospel in the town in the city of Corinth he founded the Church of Jesus Christ there in Corinth Paul received a lot of grief from the Church of Corinth and that is why he writes two of his longest letters two of his longest epistles in the Bible to that church in Corinth why because Corinth was not an easy City to preach the gospel in Corinth was not an easy City to for the believers to remain faithful to the Lord in that city current is a city where an and currents of the culture it was very difficult and as is difficult to live the Christian life as it comes in fact my wife and I have visited Corinth back in 2009 2009 we happened to be in Greece and we said you know I preached from and I've studied the Corinthian epistles I want to go and see the town so who it's a it's a short distance from Athens we drove up there and I'm telling you it is a non significant city now it's not all that great but back then it was the crossroads of trade back then it was the entertainment center back then it was a cosmopolitan city where people from all over the world were living in Corinth back then it was the center of pagan worship back then it hosted two of the global major global athletic events back then it was renowned for its corruption back then it contained the temple of the goddess Venus with its 1,000 prophetesses in fact chorus became so synonymous with immorality and the dreadful immorality of Corinth who was known for a sexual license that sometimes you wanna insult the person or insult the town and you say they are being crystallized again it's these impossible odds the Apostle Paul preaches the gospel in Corinth and there he founded the Church of Jesus Christ in that city and so you can imagine you can imagine that in the midst of this toxic environment to say nothing of the human tendency toward friction and infighting and you see the issues that Paul deals with like so many churches today the Corinthians believer listen to me the Corinthians believer had a very hard time not to import the godlessness and the immoral culture into the church they have had a very hard time and they had an extremely difficult time to not to be impacted by the immoral culture around them the Corinthian church had a ferocious battle in their hands in resisting the infection of that sick world bottom line they were importing godless lifestyles into the church they were importing godless methodology and methods of operation into the church they were importing worldly techniques into the church please listen carefully here is the real battle among the believers they wanted to hold on to all of the blessings that came as a result of their putting their faith in Jesus but they also wanted to hold on to the immorality of the culture of the day they wanted to have one foot with Jesus and one foot with the corrupt culture they wanted to go to church one day a week but for the rest of the week they want to be like their immoral friends and that is why Paul tells them in chapter 6 verses 8 & 9 that this is impossible it's impossible to do something is going to give sooner or later others in the church had confused priority listen to me very carefully this is important because easily we have confused priorities Duloc the Corinthians what they did they shunned the pagans and the world completely whom they supposed to be reaching out to and testifying to and reaching for Jesus Christ but then they've been chummy with the immoral incarnate Christians and Paul is saying you should do the opposite you should shun the immoral and the carnal Christian and then you should reach out with love to the pagan world confused priorities and he says stop that confusion in fact the Church of Jesus Christ in Corinth had so many elements and that is why Paul is anxious particularly in this first epistle to deal with these issues to treat those illnesses to rehab it ate them to back to spiritual health to bring them into wholeness in Christ the one thing that he hits you like a lightning bolt if you focus on it there in the midst of all this he called them Saints then avi said holy but really literally the word sin some other translation says Saints that's more accurate listen to verse 2 to the Church of God that is in Corinth to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be Saints can you imagine that together with all those who are very in every place who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ both Lord their Lord in ours back many years ago and basically in the infancy of this church and we were discussing the vision and the mission of the church and as many of you know we settled on the reaching the lost and equipping the Saints which comes from the scripture but one of our new believers who went to be with the Lord now ask me that question he said who are the Saints and the believers I don't feel I'm a saint and that's because we have we use the word Saint in a very wrong meaning today if somebody does something nice to you you say oh you're a saint nice not that be kind but he's a believer he's a saint anyway sometimes we think of a saint of those in shrine and stained-glass windows or like in Rome the Roman Church where they you have to have done something supernatural something powerful in order to be canonized and called the saint yet Paul is calling the Christian believers in Corinth messed up as they are as they were he calls them Saints how come beloved listen according to the Word of God every true believer in Jesus is a saint every born-again believer is a saint everyone who believed that Jesus is their only Savior and Lord whether they are faithful or not whether they are totally committed to him or not whether they are active or not whether there are faithfully living for Christ or not Paul calls them Saints I told you it's a mind-blowing when you think about it why because believers in Jesus are saved by grace and not by works can I get an amen because believers in Jesus are positionally saved even if they are not acting like it because believers in Jesus have nothing to do with what they did or did not do now before I go any further on the balance system isn't carefully God has an amazing way of disciplining his way were children now I know that some Christians don't like the word discipline I said you want me to take it out of the Bible he says he disciplines those whom he loves he just stays as those whom he loves God has a way of chastising sinning Saints God has a way of dealing with it constantly and continuously disobedient Saints I just want you to know the scriptural balance here you being chastised you've been disciplined because you're running away and you're being a saint but not living up to it these Corinthians with all of the flaws they had doctrinal Fuhrer flaws they had moral flaws they had personal flaws they had confused priority flaws and yet Paul calls them Saints in practice there were gross sinners but in position there were Saints why because positionally God see the believers through the righteousness the prism of the righteousness of His Son Jesus who took our sin upon his cross positionally we already sanctified but also we are daily being sanctified and that is why the Holy Spirit always brings us under conviction in the area of our practice he doesn't bring us under conviction in the area of our position because that is settled therefore there is no condemnation upon those who were in Christ Jesus so the conviction comes in the area of our practice I want to explain this a president is a president whether he acts presidentially or not a prince is a prince and it's called Prince whether he acts princely or not many years ago in this church we had the privilege of having my dear friend and mentor the late John Stott one of the great theologians of our time he came and spent a whole week at the Church of the Apostles and he taught every group in every area was just a great highlight I still looked back to it with with great fondness and on Saturday morning we're just you in this building and brought out vestry members and the trustees and all the leadership of the church together for breakfast and he spoke for two hours and he was talking to us about this whole subject of sanctification and he told the story about King George v of England some of you were there I know and you remember this and he said that King George v for ever saying to his sons to his boys my boys remember who you are remember who you are as a matter of fact you know one of them disgraced the family and had to abdicate the throne and then of course as a British patriot who is happened to be the chaplain to the Queen at that time he went on to express lament over what's happening to the current royal family so beloved listen to me listen to me if we are honest with ourselves we will discover that every time we fall into temptation every time we deliberately sin every time we fall into ungodly behavior it is because we have forgotten who we are we have ceased to think that we are truly princes and princesses that we are children of the king of kings that we are the brothers and the sisters of the Lord Jesus who took our sin upon the cross listen to me when we are tempted to take the wrong turns when we attempted to wink at sin when we attempted to compromise convictions when we are tempted to take the shortcuts and the easy way out when we know it's wrong at that moment we need to stop and remind ourselves who we are who our Heavenly daddy is who are older brother Jesus who died for us is that he who dwells in us is greater that he is in the world that he who dwells in us is more powerful than temptation that he will dwell in us can give us the power to live a healthy life in a sick world on what basis are we to live healthy lives in the sick world well chapter 1 verses 4 to 9 Paul gives us the answer because we have been declared to be Saints or as I said the other translated holy we already been declared that therefore we should live holy lives because we have been given holy nature therefore we can live holy lives because we are seen by a holy God to be holy therefore we can live holy here you see the indicative comes before the imperative is it what's big about this it's very big listen to me the indicative forms the basis for the imperative because the Pharisees and the legal Essos you must not do this in you must do this you must do this you must not do this what it means for the indicative becomes the basis for the imperative here's the indicative you are that's indicative right this is in you are what's the imperative therefore you must live like it because you already are therefore you live like it you are live like it that is really what this great blessing is about listen to me beloved your child will always be your child no matter what they do he or she is your child and for those who may have why were children let me tell you the most important thing you can do is to remind them of the love you have for them because he or she is your child nothing is going to change your love for them I'm going to say more about this when I get to chapter 7 this is going to be one of the most exciting series I've ever preached but listen I'm also aware of the fact listen to me that those wayward children may break our hearts into about what they're practicing but that does not change their position as your child this is true with the believer who is living deliberately in disobedience they are breaking the heart of God in 2 but God remains faithful to them because he cannot deny himself oh but listen as I said he will chastise them he will discipline he will go after them and I know that from firsthand experience when literally God grabbed me from the back of my neck kicking and screaming he's going to get his man God is going to get his woman if it takes him years he's going to do it that is a great blessing of our faith but today I want us to look at the very first inconsistency between position and practice our position as children of the Living God redeemed for all of eternity and the unfaithfulness that some of us practice I'm gonna show you the first inconsistency and I'm going to show you why Paul of all the problems that we're going to see in the coming series all of the problem he chooses this one as the first inconsistency that is not honoring to God here in verses 10 to 17 you're going to see that first inconsistency because the one thing that breaks the heart of God when any any Church any church when there is a strife and division I am aware of the fact that quarrels and arguments and disagreements are all part of life I know that if you watch a little child before he can verbalize and speak well and he looks at something now with four kids and ten grandchildren I've seen it happen over and over and over again before they can talk if they want something and they don't know what the name of it is they got like this you know what they want right and if the if you refuse to give it to them what do they do they throw a tantrum right they throw a royal royal fit now beloved you and I have seen 200 pound babies who throw fits and tantrums when they don't get their way we've seen it in homes between spouses and we've seen it in churches here's the problem that I think all of us know when one spouse continuously and always insisting on their own way insisting on always taking and taking and taking insisting and always demanding and demanding the seeds of destruction begins to be sown in that marriage now I don't know about your marriage I know about mine and the core problem is sin than the sin of self-will and most of it on my part listen from birth to death the natural inclination is to be and to have and to do what we want the whole culture encourages that the whole culture says grab all you can the whole culture said the sky is the limit go for it regardless of whom you hurt I want to give you a little nugget here that I want you to tuck it in your mind you're gonna need it at some point the word that's translated here contention I don't know what your translation said but the word translated literally mean contention this is the word iris that's e R is an iris was the goddess of strife and wrangling beloved listen when the goddess of strife and wrangling rules supreme among Christians Satan rejoice when the goddess iris of strife creates the atmosphere of gossip and backbiting and fighting and disagreements Satan is delighted he really is why do I say this because there are a few things that can Mar the testimony of a believer like quarreling and fighting today there are many divisions in the church which actually causes some non-believers to be squirmish about the Christian faith and I'm not talking about the silly things and unimportant things an unnecessary force of a I'm talking about the big biblical doctrinal issues I want to give you a let must test here's a let must test you can apply it to yourself apply to your Christian friends if a person says pastor smell fungus said you know that he belongs to a cult it's cultish they follow a leader if a person says the Word of God says you know they Bible believing Christians the person who quotes the scripture he's a follower of Jesus the person was constantly quoting a pastor no matter who the pastor is he belongs to a cult listen and hope to god that no one none of the members of this church and nobody would go say Michael said because if I'm saying is what the Word of God said and I want to encourage you to cut out the middleman and just say the Bible said can I get an amen alright alright that's alright that's fine the Corinthians here there were lots of spiritual sickness but the Apostle Paul chooses to deal with this one cult of personality first because it's that important that important to fall because cults seek converts to their cult and to the cult leader instead of converts to Christ in fact you look at this beautiful sanctuary when when it was being built delayed bill Johnson who was the chairman of the building committee he would ask me for two years he would ask me to come to the building committee meeting I wouldn't do it he didn't need to come to the board I said I'm not coming he said why I said I don't care if it's a yellow green carpet I don't care if you paint the church red that's fine by me I don't care why would I come and waste your time he said when I worked with pastors before he would not have a building committee meeting without them being present I said that's right but you got an odd one here my personal view is that these men know what they're doing why should I go waste of time when it comes to the issue of biblical authority when it comes to the infallibility of the word of God when it comes to the centrality of Jesus Christ I want you to know this is a hill that I'm not only willing to die for I'm ready to die for it even today when it comes to biblical authority when it comes to the inerrancy of the scripture you'll find that in this church there is no division and I'm going to tell you why what you hear from this pulpit is what you hear in Bible classes is what you hear in home groups why because God is not confused or self-contradictory because God does not disagree with himself because God and His Word are one the Holy Spirit authored his word and that is why Paul was appealing to the Corinthian Christians to agree on the fundamental truth of the scripture he said they should not follow personality cults even if Paul himself is one of those personalities and I belong to Peter now I'm really following Paul I'm following Cephas UNAM following you come on Paul said did Paul died for you was Paul crucified for you was was Apollo's crucified for you no no in a million dollars what's the ultimate purpose of unity in Christ what so what's the reason why why is it because unity in Christ is the will of God can you say that with me unity in Christ is the psalmist said how beautiful it is when the Brethren dwell together in unity in 1st Peter chapter 3 he talks about unity between husband and wife and he makes it very clear when there is this there is this dysfunction of no no unity or this unity between husband and wife he said your prayers will not be answered read it would when you go home first Peter chapter 3 the second reason why because unity in Christ glorifies the Lord and that is why the source of our unity is none other than the Holy Spirit himself and he is the author of the Bible his youth of the scripture Paul repeats this very principle to the Philippians when he said do nothing out of selfish ambitions or empty conceit but with humility put others ahead of yourself now beloved listen to me walking in the spirit submitting to the authority of the Spirit placing oneself under the Word of God produces both humility and unity can I get an amen certainly produces love for one another but carnality on the other hand produces pride self-centeredness self-will and hence division years ago I read the story and when you hear the language you'll understand it was the language used back then we don't use it now but that's just I'm gonna repeat the story as I read it a visitor went to visit what was called back then and insane asylum and the visitor saw that only three guards were guarding hundred inmates and so he asked the deputy warden he said don't you fear that these hundred people will pass over power that the three guards and an escape I'm quoting word for word here the deputy warden said no because lunatics never unite as I said that's the language of yesteryear we don't use that now but it is true spiritual sanity unites people in Christ and for Christ true spiritual sanity will produce the fruit of the Spirit true spiritual sanity is going to attract non-believers and even those starving Christians who are in in a dry land is going to attract them to Christ when they saw that unity and love and commitment thank you so much for watching and for being part of this worship time it is our prayer that God would use this time to bless you but also we want to hear from you if you've never been in touch with us why don't you contact us we love to hear from you god bless you have a wonderful week [Music]

Channel: The Church Of The Apostles

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Keywords: Sermons by great preachers, testimonies of christians, jesus christ, leading the way, Dr Michael Youssef, The Church of the Apostles

Id: E4ZXInNwIW0

Length: 35min 9sec (2109 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 10 2019