The Stability of Gospel Shoes - Tim Conway

[Music] basically here we are verse 15. in these words we come to examine this piece of the armor that god has provided for his people to resist the enemy so let's look at it verse 15. as shoes for your feet this is what the esv says the english standard version says as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace now we all recognize this is analogy you have a picture here of the armor of a soldier the new king james version says it this way having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of there is no word here there is no noun for shu it's actually a verb participle what is a verb participle how do you identify one typically it has what at the end what was that ing that's exactly right a verb participle typically has an ing at the end that's what this is it's not a noun the esv i don't like that quite honestly i wish that the translators would stick closer to the original the new english translation says it this way by fitting there's the ing the new king james having shad there's your ing having shad the new english translation by fitting your feet with the preparation so the word can be readiness or preparation there's a preparedness what is it you put on your feet the gospel of peace or the good news of peace now here's the thing whether you know about the foot gear of a soldier or not back in paul's day whether it's a roman soldier whether it's whether it's a a jewish soldier i mean whether you know what they put on their feet maybe you've seen pictures it really doesn't matter because listen whether you're a soldier back then or you're a soldier today or you're a hiker or you're a mountain climber or you're a football player when it comes to shoes there's something that everybody that's involved in those things wants there's two primary realities about the foot gear that's critical to our feet one is stability two is mobility and they're not at odds with each other stability mo we on the on the one hand we don't want to slip that's your stability if you're mountain climbing if you're a soldier if you're playing football you don't want a shoe that slips mountain climbers slip to their death on a regular basis you can look that up you can find out you can just google it you will find mountain climbers who have slipped to their death or or you you can find the athlete who you know what he was just making the move to do the play and he slips and it costs him the game he gets scored on or he was going to try to score but he can't score now stability mobile we don't want to slip but we do want to move i mean we don't want our feet so anchored that we can't move and so what you want is you want the kind of shoe the ideal shoe is the kind of shoe where it gives you good traction but at the same time you can move quick with it that's what you want stability mobility we want to be able to move fast and yet stand fast now you're supposed to put this gospel on your feet you see there's what the apostle is doing is he's saying there's something shoe like in the gospel the gospel of peace that's the issue here now the consider the foot gear of the roman soldier anybody ever seen a picture of it you know you live here in the land where you can actually dig them up i've gone to the london museum and i've seen some of this have you seen some of the stuff they've dug out of your your the the river there in london have you ever seen the foot gear of a roman soldier anybody ever seen it well let me tell you about it it basically is sandal-like but it's got a bunch of leather straps that give it the sandal-like appearance but those straps you were able to they were interwoven and you were able to bind them tightly upon the foot and being sandal-like those straps were only in certain places they didn't put pressure on the feet in the very areas that would be prone to getting sores and blisters so you could move in them they were light and you could march for a whole day without getting blisters and if you look at the bottom they put studs basically these these what do they call them hob hop nails or but they would they would stud the bottom of these things so on the one hand they're light they're from you can maneuver i mean look if you're a good general often times if you look at the wars that have been fought especially when men traveled on their own legs a lot of times the way in fact alexander the great was a typical example of the kind of general that moved his troops fast you catch the enemy unaware unprepared for you could move your soldiers fast you wanted to be quick you wanted to be fast but the thing is as much as you wanted lightness on your feet you also wanted traction and they put studs on the bottom and if you look at the bottom they were covered with these studs and it was interesting i pulled up a website and the guy that created the website actually thought that the primary purpose for the studs was to stamp on the enemy brethren that is the primary purpose was to give you footing as you advanced against each other on the battlefield folks it's for traction their shoes were light they had traction and there it is stability mobility good traction good tread to prevent sliding slipping falling while being light and tight and quick for good movement now the thing that you have to recognize is paul paul sees that and he says you know what in your battle the christians battle with the devil who's real and cosmic powers these spiritual forces he said you know what you need to have on your feet you need to have the gospel of peace on your feet because it's going to give you something in the spiritual realm that is like that see that's it we're not interested in what the romans wore the real issue here in our day in the 21st century is we're interested in the spiritual application of this analogy what does this mean for us is this just some archaic thing and we we think about roman soldiers it's not that at all this has to do with how you live your life tomorrow today this has to do with how you resist this has to do with how you fight this has to do with how you make it to glory how you survive how you endure in this battle and there's something shoe-like about the gospel a soldier's feet must be made ready for battle with foot gear that provides the two things the stability the mobility and paul is saying the gospel of peace is like that in a spiritual sense brothers sisters think with me here look this needs to be real to us you can't come and i'm not saying that any of you are necessarily doing this but this is just a caution we can't come and just hear a sermon and it's like you know blah blah blah it's just this information it's coming at us and do you recognize we're talking about the devil who confronted our first father and mother in the garden and he deceived them into their own damnation and the downfall of our human race and when the lord jesus christ came on the scene he met him out in the wilderness and he set to destroy the lord as well he is out to destroy us he would gladly destroy you and destroy your children he would gladly take you to hell he wants to damn you he delights in that this enemy is real you got to think about it we live in a world where death is real death is coming where'd that come from it came from sin where did sin come from it came from the fact that the devil deceived eve in that garden that is not fairy tale that explains exactly how we are where we are and how we got here listen when i when you walk around and you want to tell people about the lord jesus christ and you see the animosity in people's hearts you recognize when the scripture says the whole world is in the power of the evil one there it is you see it there's an animosity against christ just as there was in the crowd on that day when they cried out to crucify him this is this is where we are this is a battle the devil he's nimble and paul knows it paul looks at our feet and says you better get something on your feet that's going to prepare you for this battle because your enemy he moves swiftly he's overtaken many he seeks to give your feet a slip and give you an everlasting fall by it don't take this enemy lightly this is not some red guy with a pitchfork in his hand and horns on his head this is a spirit that loathes you he wants to damn you and nothing would delight him as much as your eternal suffering in the lake of fire brethren the tim what you have to recognize is where he is he's here he's been cast down to this earth and he is battling against us and you see here's your life you see where is he you think about the temptations the temptations in your life to fret the temptation to anxiety temptations to depression temptations to laziness temptations to worry to despair these are real temptations to panic have you ever had spiritual darkness come upon you these things can be very real what happened to job was real that was a spiritual darkness and it was brought on by the devil and it was real do you recognize that when god gave the devil liberty he had control of men evil men he had control of the wind he had control of disease there was one woman who jesus healed she was bent over and it was said that she had a spirit of infirmity brethren the things that we experience uncertainty that unbelief sense of hopelessness that comes in gloom discouragement depression the sinking the uncertainty does anyone feel these kinds of things brethren these temptations that come against us temptations to worldliness temptations to disobedience these things are real distractions very real we're engaged in a mortal conflict and the devil is right there and he follows us he tracks our steps you've got to realize he's here he visits this church he's in your home he wants to damn your children he would delight if that be the case he's out for blood and we've got to sit up and take notice and what the what the apostle is saying is there are real ways to defend yourself you don't want to write this off as meth fairy tale and just some religious thing oh we're going to go to church today and we're going to hear a sermon brethren this book has to do with life and death it's got to do with making it to the end we've got to have stability beneath us i'm going to deal with stability today i want to deal with mobility next week but here it is and i've i've seen it you've you ever seen it in sports we play american football the guy has the ball he's running much like your rugby he tries to cut the corner and back in the day now there's a lot of artificial turf today but back in the day the fields were not so artificial and well preserved and rain and the weather could really mess up those fields and there could be parts of the field that were a bit soggy parts of the field and you know they depending on field conditions would depend on the kind of shoes that they would wear and oftentimes early in the game they didn't know exactly what cleat length they needed and you watch it here's an athlete he tries to cut the corner and bang he falls he was good it was wide open in front of him he cut the corner he had the sideline he he could have run the thing the distance and his feet went out from under him and i'll tell you this if you were on the battlefield and you had sword in hand and you had shield and they're coming at you and you're coming at them and you came up to engage the enemy and your foot went out from under you it cost you your life josephus this article that i brought up the author talks about josephus was a jewish historian who was actually allied to the romans and so when the romans came and destroyed jerusalem josephus the jew was actually on the side of the romans and he chronicled this thing he said that there was a roman centurion by the name of julianas he said he saw he was a centurion he was he was head of a hundred soldiers he said that his his soldiers were not acting the part and he became very aggressive and he picked up his sword and he charged out into the midst of the enemy he was actually i think it was specifically when they were taking the temple and he ran out on the floor of the temple engaging in the the jews were fleeing before him and you know what happened you know what happens if you wear cleats on stone not small stones like their roads were made of the great big blocks of stone that made up the floor of the temple he ran out with cleats on there engaging the enemy not what you want on the bottom of your feet be like on this floor you have studs on the bottom he slipped the enemy was on him like that it cost him his life and see that listen do you recognize you see you don't want to take your understanding of the doctrines of grace or the sovereignty of god and dismiss this because if there's anything about the scriptures that we see to be absolutely certain it's that people make shipwreck of the faith in scripture it's that people fall out of this race and don't endure to the end jesus said you'll be saved if you endure to the end now that's that's not dismissing the reality that we don't get saved by faith and we're not saved immediately when we believe on the lord jesus that's true why would jesus say you'll be saved if you endured the end because the reality is you got to endure to the end because a lot of people fall out a lot of people prove that they have no root a lot of people do go down on the battlefield there are people who engage the devil and they don't win the battle you say but i'm a christian when saved i always say yeah but that's not the way the scripture speaks the scripture speaks about this is a battle and you need to win this is a race and you need to run it this is this is a fight and you've got to endure and only those who do endure make it to the end and the only way you're going to endure against such an enemy is you've got to put on the kind of armor that we're being told to put on that means your feet need to be prepared that means in the spiritual realm you've got to take the gospel of peace and you've got to so equip yourself with it that you're going to be able to stand up in the evil day brethren i'll tell you what this is saying the point that paul is making is precisely this christian do not run out onto the battlefield in your bare feet and that battlefield is now it is today is right where you live in middleton manchester england in the year 2020 in the month of september that this is where this happens is not somewhere else in another day in another time daily life is the battlefield and it's the gospel listen it's the gospel of peace that is going to give your spiritual feet the kind of steadiness and firmness and stability no matter what the most powerful demons when you think cosmic powers spiritual forces those are heavy duty words these are not lightweight angelic beans but you know what what we're told is we can stand against them but only if you take the armor god has given to you and you actually do with it what he is telling you here to do with it and what's that well you put it on your feet but not actually i mean it's we do spiritually we don't have feet spiritually where you put the gospel on again the battle is in the mind the feet in the spiritual sense are up here they're in the head how do you put the gospel on your feet now i know you could you could get into it an evangelistic image here but you want to be careful because this has to do with hand-to-hand combat against the devil and how you stand individually so it's the mind you've got you've got to have a firm grip stay firmly planted that's the stability aspect here in the gospel just listen to this paul says something similar first corinthians chapter 15 i would remind you brothers of the gospel i preached to you which you received in which you stand see gospel in which you stand by which you're being saved if you hold fast you see there's that holding fast it's like it's like the gospel is like these cleats or these spikes for the bottom of your feet that are going to give you good traction when you're out there on the mountainside doing battle the mountainside of real life when you're doing battle against these demons gonna stay firmly planted this is where we hold fast this is what gives stability and cos see if you don't have stability you slip you slide that's precisely what we don't want to do now gospel okay what is the gospel i didn't get saved till i was 25 years old if you would have said the gospel it's just i don't know that's a religious term it would make me uncomfortable because it's like i i was one of those guys i'm good leave me alone what's the gospel is it just some religious terminology it's let's let's consider anglo-saxon it's goad spell and the god it's it's not coming from god it's coming from good it's it's basically the idea of good spell and i think the spell it's not like casting a spell it's more like spelling it's the idea of you spell out a story it's a good spelled out story is basically where the term comes from in the greek it's yuang gaelian it means glad tidings now i'm not certain what goes through your mind when you think about glad tidings but let me just give you a few ways that the word is used and i don't want you turning to all these i'd rather you just listen when the gentiles who do not have the law this comes from romans chapter 2 but just listen to it when the gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires he's talking about just the pagan out there they don't have the law they they don't have moses but even on cannibal islands in the south pacific they have some idea that you shouldn't murder they have some idea that it's wrong to take another man's wife even though they didn't really know what marriage was they did know that women kind of belonged to men and they knew it was wrong to steal it was written on their heart and he says that kind of thing is a law to them even though they do not have the law they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts their conscience is this is the issue they have a conscience god designed a conscience into people it bears witness they're conflicting thoughts conscience either accuses or it excuses them on that day when listen to this according to my gospel god judges the secrets of men by christ jesus isn't that amazing the judgment is according you see the gospel has to do with the with the fullness of this truth it's not just simply christ went to the cross and he died for our sins now that's core that's that's essential but it's the full picture it's according to my gospel even judgment it's it's really sometimes we can use the gospel in a more narrow way but it can be used in a broader way where it seems like it has to do with christian teaching in a more broad sense or there's this this is galatians 8 the scripture is foreseen that god would justify the gentiles by faith preached the gospel beforehand to abraham okay the gospel isn't just for jesus day what paul says is the gospel actually got preached to abraham long before how was it preached in these words in you shall all the nations be blessed paul says that's the gospel in abraham all the nations will be blessed or second corinthians 4 4 the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god that's how he sums it up there you can look at the god what's the gospel about the gospels about the glory of christ it's about the glory of christ the one who is the image of god this is the one who who declares god this is the one who is god there's this i would remind you brothers of the gospel i preach to you here it is the gospel i preach to you this is first corinthians 15 which you received in which you stand by which you're being saved if you hold fast to the word i preached to you unless you believed in vain for i delivered to you as of first importance what's of first importance in the gospel here it is christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that's essential that's core he was buried he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures or how about this we talked about this in the weeks past concerning righteousness but paul says in romans 1 i'm not ashamed of the gospel for in it the righteousness of god is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the righteous shall live by faith what was that that was this what's declared in the gospel in it is revealed the righteousness of god how are sinners declared to be righteous that's the message how can an ungodly person how can somebody like ellen she's she's admitting all of her sin how can a person like that suddenly be accepted by god because god declares them righteous how can god just declare a person righteous who's not righteous you see that's what's declared in the gospel that he became sin who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of god in him this is imputation now look what this is is this is a message that gives stability to us it's got to be something that's fresh in the mind it's got to be something that you think about if you're going to put it on your feet if you're going to have shoes on your feet that actually work to give you traction in life you've got to have them on your feet and this is an analogy you've got to have them in your brain you've got to have this gospel of peace running through your mind just you know what i i'm thinking about this i came across this quote by rc sprole this morning and i threw it on my notes listen to what he said recently a protestant seminary professor supposedly evangelical was quoted to me as having said that the doctrine of imputation by which our sins are transferred to christ on the cross and his righteousness transferred to us by faith this supposed protestant seminary professor evangelical he claims that such a teaching is of human invention and has nothing to do with the gospel sproul said i wanted to weep i would say this if you don't think that people are not slipping all you have to do is look around open your eyes people slipping into christian license and liberty just look around you people ins listen do you know this the church is in slippery places why because we're in this world do you recognize this where are we we're on the earth where does revelation 12 say the devil is he got thrown down where to the earth he's where we are we're doing combat you know why the church is always in such a slippery place because we're where the devil is and he's declared war on us and he means to make it a slippery place and he's putting slippery things in our path and in the path of the the church all the time this is why it is so critical to be berean you better be in your bibles folks because the only way you're going to figure out if i'm not a false prophet or any other guy that comes in here is going to be because you know what this gospel of peace is you need it on your feet you need to be equipped with it the reality is you just look around the church today are there not large numbers of people whose feet are not shod with the preparation or the readiness of the gospel can't you see them we got people slipping and sliding all around us their feet are uncertain it's everywhere they're no we've got people that are no longer resolute by anything they no longer know what they believe compromise is everywhere slipping sliding shifting moving it's every i'm always struck by what john says listen to this you may have never noticed this before but just listen one one of second john is not often referred to but there is a statement made there by john just listen to it everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of christ does not know god everyone who goes on ahead the church has always stood in slippery places and god is looking for people who will stand i mean this is one of the things that we remember about martin luther he said here i stand i can do no other this is what we need today at this hour in this place those who they know what their position is doctrinally theologically biblically yes let people call us biblicists i've been called i don't care i you know what ultimately i don't care what calvin said or what luther said or what r.c sproul said what this book says is what we need to stand on now there may be good men that have been raised up in the history of the church but even there we need to be careful because men are fallible and they can imbibe error we need to be people of a book brethren we need to know what we believe we need to be resolute we need to be determined to stand for it no matter what happens that's what it means to have something on the bottom of your feet that isn't going to cause you to slip and slide and the devil is trying to he's trying to trip us up slippery places muddy places icy places he loves to put those down and people slip into it everywhere what happens today i'll tell you what happens today no none of that you see we live in this age where we just we need we need love we need everybody to be to be nice that's the thing nice we've got to be we've got to be pleasant and and i'll tell you this i've i've heard it said that i think it was martin lloyd jones who actually said he said you will notice that most of god's men are not handsome and in fact did did some of you see the article that somebody wrote about john mcarthur recently saying that they just don't know why people go to hear him well they were saying this people don't go to hear john macarthur because because he's handsome because he's and they they put a lot of things out there and he was actually reading this to his congregation you know he's he's got this flaw in that flaw and and the the author of the article actually said people go to hear him because he preaches the bible and macarthur liked that and lloyd jones was saying you know typically typically the the true man of god he's rough around the edges he may not be the nicest guy he may not be the the the most handsome guy in fact i think lloyd jones said you know typically typically the men in the pulpit are are not that but i'll tell you what the men that so often we get attached to and we get drawn to they're the ones that are smooth and they're the ones that are nice and they're the ones that they look really good but you need to be careful this is what this is what everybody wants today brethren we need to be loving we need to be accepting there was a woman yesterday it's interesting i got i got over there by the by the atm machines and there were people lined up so i'm handing out tracks to him and i'm basically able to preach to the whole crowd there and so i'm carrying on there's one woman who's dialoguing back and forth and she says well you know christianity and islam are similar no ma'am they are not similar i mean they both may be monotheistic but they are not similar and she said well you know the muslims are just as confident as you are i said but the muslims are wrong because there is only one name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved there is he is the way the truth and the life there are not many ways and brethren we have listen you need to be resolute by something you need to stand on something we live in a day where the this is no day for softness now look that doesn't mean we can't be gracious and we can't be gentle with people we have to be but you know what how are you graciously and generally going to tell somebody you're wrong and there are not multiple ways no ma'am that is not the right way i remember ruby and i years ago we were out evangelizing door to door and we came up to a house nicest guy you can imagine old man nicest guy he said he said you know what getting to heaven is like going to austin austin's about 70 miles north of san antonio he said some take the interstate that's the motorway some some go by this road i said sir that is not the case at all there is only one way to heaven and the look on his face turned do you remember that he was angry gonna spit at us then do you know what to believe i mean this is the issue is there anything for which you're prepared to stand that's that's where jesus said thy word is truth folks do you recognize i mean one of the reasons that i did a series about a year ago on genesis is because one of our supposed evangelical guys that you know one of the biggest churches there in atlanta andy stanley he's he's saying you know we've got to debunk the myth of genesis especially the first three chapters and and oftentimes it's the first 11 chapters science is just disproving it we're just setting up a stumbling block for all sorts of people if we keep preaching that this is actually true this is myth we've got all we need to do is we need to preach christ yeah well he's just dismissed the infallibility of scripture and now he wants to tell us about christ where is he going to figure out who christ is from scripture or his own imagination i mean look do you do you believe this i'll tell you this how are you going to explain where sin came from how do you explain you know what evolution doesn't explain it and you know what the scientists know that it doesn't they hate christ they hate god but if you talk to them if you just if if you listen to them as they are examining the cell and the increasing in intricacies of of the rna the dna it's as they are looking at how the cell works and the complexity and the information that is stored there they know it did not happen by chance and yet the microbiologists they look over at the paleontologist and they say well you know they've they've found it over in in the fossil records and then the bones and then you've got these guys over here and they're saying well you know no it's it's the astronomers they figured out from but you know what they all none of them have the answer and they all know it they're depending on another uh some other leg of science has figured this out but when you look at it there's not a shred of proof not a shred and i'll tell you this you basically want me to believe that everything was in steady state and then suddenly it's like rc sproul said you know suddenly on one thursday at 3 a 3 p.m the whole thing decided to blow up and give us the big bang brethren it's ludicrous i went to school to become a mechanical engineer i know the laws of thermodynamics i know that basically what these scientists are doing is because of their hatred of the truth they will say that this whole universe came into existence by violating all the known laws of physics and they don't want to go there and if you listen to dawkins you ever heard dawkins well he's got all of his theories but when he's really pressed to it how did life begin well we don't really know there was some event and he will even talk about crystals and he will talk about aliens you see he will accept that some intelligence was behind it but it can't be god brethren do you have something to stand on if you want to know where sin came from we know where sin came from if you want to know why death is in the world we know why death is in the world brethren all you have to do is look around you look at the way things are created there is so much design there is so much amazement with the first song we sang you think about the creation you think about a worm becomes a butterfly he said the whole thing is a miracle you think about a man and a woman coming together and a baby can come out of that that is absolutely a miracle and yet they're denying it all do you have anything to stand on brethren are you are you gonna stand on the fact that there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved and be dogmatic about it listen this is not a day to be mr nice guy and say well you know i can't offend the muslims you can't offend them what are you going to do just sit back let them go to hell listen the gospel is the power of god unto salvation you better not be ashamed of it you better get it on your feet and you better be confident about something confident about what this book teaches about what it says this cry for acceptance today oh brethren the word of our god shall endure the grass may wither it it may the flower fades but god has promised to perver preserve this word one of the reasons we can have confidence that we actually have the word of god today is because god promised to preserve it and you know what when jesus came along he didn't look back at adam and eve and say well you know that's all myth folks he talked about adam and eve he talked about noah he talked about those things as though they were historical realities you ready to stand there we better be ready to stand there and this gospel has to do with the glory of christ who is the image of god you know what you better not move from that the deity of christ christ said what is it in john 8 unless you believe that i am you will perish in your sins i know a lot of the translations they like to put a he in there but he is not in the original it's the same kind of i am that you get before abraham was i am if you don't believe that i am you will perish in your sins be very careful we want to protect you see there are these people in john's day who went on ahead they slipped they went on ahead from where that stable place of the truth of the of the apostolic doctrine we need to be ready and willing to stand right there and not be moved from it how about marriage you live in a day when i've told you this i looked at the stats less than 20 of women marriage age women in great britain are married people don't get married you know what's happening in marriage is being redefined but you know what marriage is in scripture marriage is defined man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the shoot too shall become one flesh you ready to stand you know what that's got to do with the gospel have you ever read we're going to backtrack just a little while when i'm done with this series we're going to go to the family back in ephesians chapter 5. do you know what husband and wife the mystery is that this all points to christ and the church you think this has marriage doesn't have to do with the gospel this is one of the reasons why god has so many warnings in scripture about sexual immorality do you think he's serious about sexual purity yes and that this picture of christ and the church be maintained he is dead serious because of these things the wrath of god is coming so says scripture this is listen we need to have our feet shod with the gospel how about miracles you better be standing there you know why john says right in john 20. he said you know what jesus did many other signs that's miracles in the presence of his disciples many others that are not written about that he has not included but he said you know what i've included these miracles the ones i've given to you i've included these they're written so that you may believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and in believing you might have life in his name you believe this this has to do with the gospel brothers brethren you don't want to move away from the miracles you don't want to move away from the fact that christ is miraculous you know what jesus did his miracles in front of all those cities in capernaum chorus and bethsaida and he rebuked them because they did not repent when he did those works i'll tell you what those works do you remember what he said which is easier for me to say your sins be forgiven you or rise up and walk you see those those miracles give authenticity they're his credentials you don't want to brethren we need to have some confidence about this we are to be the light and the salt in this day and age you need your feet planted you need to be you need to be convinced of some things you need to be able to tell with no shame unashamedly why i'm not ashamed because it's the power of god unto salvation you want to see some people saved well then be ready to be embarrassed be ready oh i'm reading all about the days of whitfield and wesley and and senec and the the many others back in those early days of of the english methodism and and also the revival that took place across the ocean brethren they were they were stoned they had they had the pig stuff thrown at them and rotten eggs and they i mean john cena was preaching he's one of those early calvinistic methodists he's preaching they were trying to run cattle through the crowd that was listening to him they're pelting the here's with raw sewage one man came up to cynic's sister and began to hit her in the head and he kept preaching one of those preachers he took a stone or something in the eye and he was blind and shortly thereafter he was hit in the head and he died i forget what his name was brethren there's going to be persecution if we're going to stand for all of this and the devil is going to stir people up but so what it's the truth and this is nothing other than you know what jesus said rejoice and be glad they did the same thing to the prophets they s i mean sawn into isn't that what hebrews 11 says they think that that's that's what happened to isaiah brother what's don't seek the protected place seek the stable place seek the place where you've got something on your feet now listen satan disguises himself as an angel of light the devil doesn't come along always appearing ugly and foul and cruel and harsh he comes looking very pleasant just just because somebody is a very pleasant looking preacher you need to listen you know what don't tell me what they look like don't tell me what they sound like don't tell me how gracious they seem tell me what they teach and look that's not to take away from the fact again that we shouldn't be gracious and gentle and loving and patient obviously we should be we should be striving for those things we should be striving to be christ-like but if that's all they have that's not the issue tell me what they teach you remember one of the things that jesus commended the church at ephesus for was when these guys came in they're claiming to be to be apostles he said you've tested those who call themselves apostles and are not you found them to be faults the devil he many are deceived this way so common to accept somebody because they sound good they act nice and they seem kind but the question is what does he believe that's the important question in the realm of the gospel it's not whether a man or a woman is nice or good humored or funny or pleasant it's that's not the issue now listen i'm just going to end with this it's the gospel of peace you need to have that on your feet the gospel of peace now listen i find that very interesting for this reason typically when i come across terminology like that it's like that strikes me as interesting unusual so i get on my bible works and i search there anywhere else in all the bible where that same terminology is used gospel of peace nope it's nowhere else that's significant paul could have called it anything he calls it this and this is the only time he calls it that that's the only time anyone in the scripture calls it the gospel of peace so then you know what the next thing is that comes in my mind when i'm trying to just proper hermeneutics hermeneutics is just the science of biblical interpretation how do you interpret the bible what's the significance of this so then i ask myself this question does paul talk about peace anywhere else in the epistle to the ephesians you know what he actually talks about peace in chapter two more there's a more condensed presence of the term peace in ephesians 2 than any other chapter in paul's writing now i see i find that significant so i want you to look there actually turn there to ephesians 2. just bear with me we're almost done i like this look at verse 12. remember that you now now here's the thing we're gonna we're gonna find peace shows up a number of times right here but when i hear gospel of peace and it's for our feet that peace is for us and you see if there's anything that paul wants you to feel behind these truths it's not just he doesn't want you just to embrace these truths objectively he wants these to be personal subjective he wants them to be yours that's where the real stability comes it's not just saying christ died for sins no it's he died for my sins and i have peace by that watch this 2 12 remember that you you see this is very personal i want you to remember this this can just as easily be said to you today as much to those ephesians then you remember that you remember how you were when you were lost see this takes me back to when i was 25 years old remember this is how you were you were separated from christ what what is that when we think of lost people do you ever stop and really think what it means separated from christ he's the savior that's where we were we thought we were okay those people i'm okay that's where i was i'm okay you know what i tell those people you're not okay and that's what i used to think and i know i was not okay i was a child of wrath like the rest of mankind that's what it says back earlier in in ephesians two separated from christ alienated from the commonwealth of israel i was not a jew i was not a true jew a true jew is one inwardly and i wasn't that i was alien and it's you see the covenants were made to the jews when we become christians we become true jews that's the issue we were strangers to the covenants of promise we had no hope we were utterly hopeless but we had a hope but it was going to be dashed one day we had a plan we were hopeful things would work out but what the apostle here is saying is we had no real hope we were headed for destruction no matter what we thought we were without god we're in the world but now in christ jesus you you who were once far off see we were separated from christ alienated from commonwealth strangers to the covenant we were way out there even though we couldn't see it yet we weren't dead and in hell and in the outer darkness we were way out there we were so far away but we've been brought near by the blood of christ for he himself and this is where it comes in he himself is our peace you talk about a gospel you talk about glad tidings good news of peace he himself is our peace and he's made us both one both jew and gentile we've become one he's broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility between jew and gentile but all the more between sinner and god by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two here it is again so making peace and the real piece is now we sang about it in wesley's song god and sinners reconciled do you recognize that that verse probably wesley's verse probably comes from this right here might reconcile us both to god both jew and gentiles in one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility and even though the word peace isn't used there that's what killing the hostility means that's just another way of saying peace and he came and preached peace to you who are far off now there's a textual issue here if you've got the king james or the new king james you won't see it if you've got the esv or the new american standard you'll see it peace is twofold here he came and preached peace to you who are far off and peace to those who were near for through christ we both have access in one spirit to the father you want to talk about a gospel you see what this is all about giving us access to the father and we have access because there's peace we've been reconciled this these aren't just objective realities here this is a personal gospel this is what you're supposed to put on your feet let me just tell you something about this gospel jesus said this he said those who are well they don't need a physician that's what he says i've already mentioned this but we have this truth there's no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved so you take this scripture says this only those who are sick see their need of the physician there's only one physician there's only one name not two there's not two ways and then this christ himself said whoever comes to me i will never cast out and then scripture says this it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the lord shall be saved the same lord is lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him and you know what paul says in first corinthians right at the beginning of that letter he calls christians everywhere saints are described as those who in every place call upon the name of our lord jesus christ let me tell you this here's the picture somebody's sick somebody recognizes that their sins this is what jesus talked about come unto me all you that labor you're heavy laden you're pressed down with sin the sick if you've ever been in a place where you recognize you're sick sin sick you've done things you know you're guilty you cannot stand before god you know there's not two ways of hope there's not three ways of hope there's not three ways of salvation there's only one name given he is the way the truth and the life he alone christ there's no other way to the father except through him you know that if you go to him he will never cast you out no matter how you may feel he will never cast you out doesn't matter feelings he will never cast you out it says that everyone who calls upon him will be saved now there p you know what if you called upon him genuinely in the beginning paul describes all christians they're people who continue to call upon him why because we continue to need to be washed we continue to need help we continue to need forgiveness this is the gospel for your feet it's very personal if you [Music] in a sense of your sin if if you recognized you need a physician you're sick christian are you standing here are you resolute on this does this give traction to your feet can you say can you say this i know without christ i'm sick i deserve hell i deserve nothing else i need a physician i needed it then i need him now are you firm that without christ you're nothing you can do nothing ultimately the only thing that's going to drive a man to christ and make him rely on christ alone is a true conviction of your own rottenness your own sinfulness but if you've come to that apart from christ i'm all together sick my sins it's like bunions pilgrim you got that load on your back you're heavy laden you know it your sins mount up to heaven i'm a sinner it's you're firm and you're convinced that you have nowhere else to go you were separated from christ but he's the one you need you must have him or you're going to be undone and damned and you're firm on that he promised he'll never cast you out not anybody that goes to him he saves all who call bestowing his riches on all who call and keep calling are you ready to stand there and i just ask you what's your view of christ why did he come into the world what has he what has god done through christ you know what he's done he's given us that access to god because we were without god and we were without hope and we were far off by his blood the peace is there you know what you never want to do you never want to start paul's epistles just reading this as some mundane mindless salutation when he says grace to you and peace that is from from god that's what he says god is speaking and you know what we can go through life and the devil is going to be there to bring these discouragements and depressions and uncertainties and anxieties and we can get to the place where you're going to go through suffering you're going to be like job you're going to go through dark seasons you may go through physical things all so often physical physical issues are so closely tied to spiritual ones if we're physically down we can feel spiritually down you go through all of these but i'll tell you this if on your feet you've got this gospel of peace where you know you've got this certainty i as a sinner went to christ and i can stand on that he will never cast me out everyone who calls upon him he will save that is a gospel of peace that you want to put on your feet that'll give you stability in the evil day brethren put that on your feet and wear it it's i don't know where charles lighter got the story from but if you've ever read his book on justification and regeneration he basically describes a man who has lots of faith in a crumbling bridge versus a person who has very weak faith in a very strong well-built bridge you get a you get a bridge that's decayed and ready to fall to pieces isn't going to support you but you're extremely confident it will versus the guy who is hesitating whose faith is small but he steps out on a steel bridge well girdered can support tons which one holds the man you see it doesn't have to do with how strong your faith is it has to do with how strong the bridge is and christ is that bridge and he said you put your weight on me i will hold you you put your weight on me i will never cast you out you put your weight on me i will save you and you know what you can go through storms you can go through dark you can go through difficult seasons but look if your only hope is christ you're a christian you're on solid ground you can weather any storm you better have that on your feet put that on your feet father i pray that you would help us to be so girded in christ's name i pray amen

Channel: I'll Be Honest

Views: 2,730

Rating: 4.8305087 out of 5

Keywords: Tim Conway, stability, shoes, Gospel, Ephesians

Id: foC6WZask3M

Length: 64min 56sec (3896 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 21 2020