Latest / THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together / Stop Complaining, Part 2 (Philippians 215–16) John MacArthur

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Stop Complaining, Part 2 (Philippians 215–16) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Let's open our Bibles then this morning to Philippians chapter 2,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: verses 14 through 16, and the second and final message
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: in our little series entitled.
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  Speaker 2: Stop Complaining.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Moving through this wonderful Philippian epistle, we have arrived at
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: verses 14 to 16. We have heard a very simple
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  Speaker 1: command by the Apostle Paul in verse 14, do all
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: things without grumbling or disputing. And that, of course, is
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  Speaker 1: the substance and basis of the exhortation for our text.
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  Speaker 1: We looked at that last time, and today I want
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  Speaker 1: to give you the reasons for obeying that they are
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  Speaker 1: given in verses 15 and 16. So the command is
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: in verse 14, the reasons are in verses 15 and 16.
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  Speaker 1: Before we look at them, however, let me go back
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  Speaker 1: and just touch a little bit on this matter of complaining.
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  Speaker 1: Social critic Christopher Lash wrote, and I quote, Every age
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  Speaker 1: develops its own peculiar forms of pathology, which express in
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  Speaker 1: exaggerated form its underlying character structure, end quote. And I
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  Speaker 1: would suppose that he would agree that the pathology of
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  Speaker 1: our age is narcissistic self-indulgence. We are a culture who
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  Speaker 1: conduct ourselves like that legendary Greek youth Narcissus who was
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  Speaker 1: looking in a pond one day and saw himself and
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  Speaker 1: fell furiously in love with himself. And so much in
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  Speaker 1: love with himself that he kept staring in the pond,
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  Speaker 1: pining over this shadow of himself which he loved. Rapturous
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  Speaker 1: was his self-love. And it seems as though we have
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  Speaker 1: found ourselves in the pathology of narcissism in our society.
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  Speaker 1: And as we continue to love ourselves, as we continue
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  Speaker 1: to indulge ourselves, we continue to breed within ourselves a
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  Speaker 1: very great discontent.
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  Speaker 2: We add the fantasy world that is around us.
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  Speaker 1: The fantasy world that demonstrates to us that there should
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  Speaker 1: be out there some plastic perfection.
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  Speaker 2: We see it on television.
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  Speaker 1: We never seem to attain it and so our narcissism
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  Speaker 1: only casts us into deeper shadows of despair. We feed
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  Speaker 1: on self-indulgence. Having everything, we still brood over what we
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  Speaker 1: don't have. We complain to the degree that we are rarely,
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  Speaker 1: if ever, satisfied. I think there's another factor in our complaining.
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  Speaker 1: At MIT, there is a psychologist by the name of
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  Speaker 1: Kenneth Kingston, made an interesting statement.
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  Speaker 2: Listen to what he said.
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  Speaker 1: If you live in a society where you believe the
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  Speaker 1: public institutions are deeply flawed and not easily improved, that
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  Speaker 1: leaves the pursuit of individual happiness in a private way
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  Speaker 1: as the main challenge to your energies, end quote. And
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  Speaker 1: I really believe that we are living in that time today.
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  Speaker 1: I think we are a more than ever complaining society,
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  Speaker 1: not only because we are more indulgent than ever, because
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  Speaker 1: we are more exposed to a fantasy world which we
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  Speaker 1: can't attain than ever, but also because we have become
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  Speaker 1: disillusioned about the social things that once gripped our hearts,
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  Speaker 1: and we have left only the pursuit of personal happiness.
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  Speaker 1: The best illustration of that would be a comparison between
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  Speaker 1: the 60s and the people of the 70s and 80s.
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  Speaker 2: The students in the 60s were protesters.
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  Speaker 1: They were so much protesters that I remember reading about
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  Speaker 1: a group of Harvard students who came to their professor
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  Speaker 1: and said, we have a group that would like to protest.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know of a good cause?
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  Speaker 1: It was almost as if the protesting mentality came before
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  Speaker 1: the issue to be protested.
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  Speaker 2: But what happened?
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  Speaker 1: In the 60s we had all of the protesting students.
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  Speaker 1: They tried and they failed to change the flawed institutions
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  Speaker 1: of our society. And when they realized that all of
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  Speaker 1: their efforts and all of their work could not change
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  Speaker 1: the flaws of the social institutions, They then became the materialistic, money-hungry,
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  Speaker 1: success-oriented yuppies of the 70s and 80s who said, we
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  Speaker 1: can't change the social institution. We will pour all of
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  Speaker 1: our energies into our own personal pursuit of happiness. And
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  Speaker 1: that's where our society is, madly pursuing things and fulfillment
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  Speaker 1: and happiness, narcissistically looking at itself, wanting to indulge itself,
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  Speaker 1: realizing it can do very little to change social institutions.
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  Speaker 2: It begs the issue of.
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  Speaker 1: Self-indulgence by constantly focusing on that. And built into it
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  Speaker 1: is terrible, terrible potential disillusionment. So you have a mood
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  Speaker 1: of complaint. And I see it every place. You see
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  Speaker 1: it all over. You are part of it. Let me
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  Speaker 1: give you some things that people complain about. And you
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  Speaker 1: have to think about this and think about how frivolous
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  Speaker 1: they are and see if you don't identify. Here are
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  Speaker 1: typical things that cause people to have increased blood pressure,
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  Speaker 1: that make them angry, hostile, even and sometimes make them violent.
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  Speaker 1: Things like, for example, traffic jams. Bring incredible hostility, anger, complaint.
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  Speaker 1: Slow drivers in front of you can be enough to
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  Speaker 1: cause you to lose your sanctification. Freeway cutters who cut
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  Speaker 1: in front of you. Talkative people irritate you. Long lines,
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  Speaker 1: short lines, any lines. Having one person in front of you.
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  Speaker 2: Makes you complain.
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  Speaker 1: You wanted your way and now crying babies If you
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  Speaker 1: don't think there is a terrible, frightening, brooding discontent over
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  Speaker 1: crying babies, then ask yourself why there is such an
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  Speaker 1: increase of frightening child abuse precipitated by crying babies. Once
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  Speaker 1: held to the breast of a mother, now hit with
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  Speaker 1: an iron or a frying pan or who knows what.
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  Speaker 1: Phone calls at inappropriate times. Misplaced keys, would you believe?
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  Speaker 1: Great trauma caused by that. Non-housebroken puppies. I mean, we
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  Speaker 1: really get distressed by the biggies, don't we? But you see,
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  Speaker 1: it's a mood. Stuck zippers, especially if you're already in
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  Speaker 1: the car halfway there. Cold food. We not only want it,
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  Speaker 1: we want it the temperature we want it. Somebody interrupting
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  Speaker 1: your conversation, noisy neighbors, being rushed by your husband, late airplanes,
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  Speaker 1: tight clothes, unsuccessful diets. Peeling onions, squeaking doors, incompetent people
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  Speaker 1: around you, flat tires when you're in a hurry. Some
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  Speaker 1: people complain constantly over the fact they have to balance
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  Speaker 1: a checkbook. I'm not going to ask those of you
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  Speaker 1: who've never balanced your checkbook to raise your hand.
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to know.
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  Speaker 1: Doing the dishes, your mother-in-law, weeds, high prices. These are
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  Speaker 1: the things that, imagine it, these are the things that
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  Speaker 1: generate hostility in people. Cause tremendous conflict in marriage. We
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  Speaker 1: complain about all these things.
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  Speaker 2: How ridiculous.
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  Speaker 1: Now, if you're in Hiroshima and it's 1945, you have
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  Speaker 1: a problem. worthy of considerable concern. But just because you
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  Speaker 1: lost out on a promotion or a business deal, just
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  Speaker 1: because your child announced last week that she hates her room,
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  Speaker 1: just because the bank notified you this morning that you're overdrawn,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure you can find a way to survive. calm down,
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  Speaker 1: review the situation, think it through. I hear all about
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  Speaker 1: midlife crisis. Do you know that there are nations in
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  Speaker 1: the world that don't ever have midlife crisis because they
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  Speaker 1: don't live that long? Some people aren't bothered by such
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  Speaker 1: things at all. There are parts of the world where
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  Speaker 1: the average lifespan is 37 years, and men and women
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  Speaker 1: are spared the distressing reality of a 40th birthday.
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  Speaker 2: Some people complain about grocery bills.
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  Speaker 1: More than 10,000 people die of starvation every day, and
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  Speaker 1: you're complaining about grocery bills? Millions more suffer from malnutrition.
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  Speaker 1: Some people say they complain about the high cost of rent. Well,
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  Speaker 1: maybe you'd rather be a pavement dweller in Calcutta.
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  Speaker 2: They don't pay rent. They're born to live and die
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  Speaker 2: on the pavement.
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  Speaker 1: The only thing they have to worry about is to
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  Speaker 1: find a rag they can put under their head and
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  Speaker 1: they go to sleep.
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  Speaker 2: You see, while these kinds of.
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  Speaker 1: Horrors go on around the world in sort of normal,
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  Speaker 1: accepted pace, we throw tantrums because we got seated at
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  Speaker 1: a poorly located table in a fancy restaurant. Or we're
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  Speaker 1: frustrated because we can't lose 10 pounds. Or we gripe
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  Speaker 1: about our monthly debts. You've got problems relative to what?
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  Speaker 1: But you see, it's the mood of the mob to complain.
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  Speaker 1: And then the idealistic, fantasy-oriented, consumptive culture feeds the sin
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  Speaker 1: of discontent.
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  Speaker 2: How can we be discontent? Remember Lamentations 3.39, why should
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  Speaker 2: any mortal being or anyone.
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  Speaker 1: Offer complaint in view of his sins? What do we
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  Speaker 1: have to complain about? So Paul gives us a general
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  Speaker 1: principle in verse 14. And it really speaks to us
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  Speaker 1: at a time when we live in a culture of complaint.
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  Speaker 1: Do all things without grumbling or disputing. Do all things
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  Speaker 1: without grumbling or disputing. What do the all things refer to?
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  Speaker 1: The living out of your inward salvation. The working out
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  Speaker 1: of your salvation. Here is the pervasive attitude for the
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  Speaker 1: Christian's experience. As we work out our salvation, as we
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  Speaker 1: live our godly life, we are to do it without
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  Speaker 1: ever complaining about the circumstances which God has put around us.
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  Speaker 2: We are to live a life without complaint.
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  Speaker 1: We are to rejoice always, to use Paul's later terminology,
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  Speaker 1: and again I say rejoice. We are to be content
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  Speaker 1: whether we are abased or whether we abound, whether we
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  Speaker 1: have much or whether we have little, whether we like
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  Speaker 1: the circumstances or don't like them.
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  Speaker 2: There is no place for complaining.
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  Speaker 1: And I only submit to you that it's much more difficult,
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  Speaker 1: it seems, in this culture than in some because we
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  Speaker 1: are breeding a culture of complainers, absolute culture of complainers.
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  Speaker 1: And Paul then gives us a general principle that does
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  Speaker 1: speak to us very directly. Now note, as I pointed
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  Speaker 1: out last time, that this matter of doing all things
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  Speaker 1: without grumbling or disputing has reference to God.
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  Speaker 2: Not so much grumbling, disputing among others. That too is
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  Speaker 2: a sin.
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  Speaker 1: But the idea here is to accept that providential plan
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  Speaker 1: which God has ordained for your life. Live out your
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  Speaker 1: salvation without any complaints directed at Him. a joyful heart,
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  Speaker 1: a thankful heart, no emotional grumbling, that's the grumbling word,
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  Speaker 1: and no intellectual disputing or arguing with God, but rather
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  Speaker 1: without complaint, gratefully we live out our salvation. That is
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  Speaker 1: what he calls for Christians to maintain in terms of
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  Speaker 1: an attitude that pervades all their living. Now, he gives
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  Speaker 1: us three reasons why, okay? And I'll just lay these
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  Speaker 1: before you.
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  Speaker 2: They're not new.
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  Speaker 1: They're just a brief review, a summary, and I know
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  Speaker 1: you will be familiar with them, but nonetheless, they are
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  Speaker 1: the Word of the Spirit of God for us today.
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  Speaker 1: Reason number one, in verse 15, that you may prove
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  Speaker 1: yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach.
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  Speaker 2: Let's say, first of all then, we are to stop.
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  Speaker 1: Complaining for our own sake, for our own sake, that
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  Speaker 1: we might be the kind of children that God has
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  Speaker 1: saved us to be.
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  Speaker 2: It starts with us.
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  Speaker 1: And this is, by the way, clearly a purpose-result clause,
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  Speaker 1: a little particle hinna with a subjunctive always indicates purpose-result.
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  Speaker 1: And so it could be translated in order that or
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  Speaker 1: with the result that or given the purpose that. In
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  Speaker 1: other words, this is the very reason why you are
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  Speaker 1: to do this. So that you will be a blameless, harmless,
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  Speaker 1: above reproach child of God.
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  Speaker 2: You are called to be all that a child of
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  Speaker 2: God should be.
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  Speaker 1: In Ephesians 5, 1, that very, very important injunction of Paul,
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  Speaker 1: where he says, be imitators of God as beloved children.
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  Speaker 1: Be imitators of God as beloved children. If God is
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  Speaker 1: your Father, then imitate God. Then pattern your life after Him.
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  Speaker 1: If you are a child of God, then live the
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  Speaker 1: way a child of God should live, manifesting the character
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  Speaker 1: of God. As it says in Titus 2, adorning the
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  Speaker 1: doctrine of God in the manner in which you live. So,
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  Speaker 1: note again then, we'll look at the verse specifically. You
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  Speaker 1: are to stop complaining, doing all things without grumbling or disputing,
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  Speaker 1: in order that you may prove yourselves to be. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the Greek literally says, in order that you may become.
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  Speaker 1: In order that you may become. And I believe here
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  Speaker 1: is a process, right? you are to be in the
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  Speaker 1: process of becoming a blameless, innocent, above reproach.
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  Speaker 2: Child of God.
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  Speaker 1: So you are not to complain in order that that
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  Speaker 1: process may work, that you may be in the process
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  Speaker 1: at the end of which you become a harmless, blameless,
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  Speaker 1: above reproach child of God. Now those two words, blameless
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  Speaker 1: and harmless, or some of your translations will say blameless
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  Speaker 1: and innocent, really are not a great deal apart in
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  Speaker 1: terms of meaning.
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  Speaker 2: They both speak of moral purity.
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  Speaker 1: Blameless simply means a life that can't be criticized, a
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  Speaker 1: life that can't be criticized. There's nothing for which you
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  Speaker 1: can be held responsible by way of sin, evil, wickedness.
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  Speaker 1: It's a life without blame. It's a life that has
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  Speaker 1: no blemish, no blot on it, no sinful stain which
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  Speaker 1: people can discern and see. And then the word innocent
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  Speaker 1: could be translated harmless. It is so translated in Matthew 10, 16,
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  Speaker 1: where Jesus says, Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
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  Speaker 2: It is also translated... simple.
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  Speaker 1: In Romans 16, 19, I think it is, Paul says
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  Speaker 1: that we are to be simple concerning evil. It has
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  Speaker 1: to do with being pure. It has to do with
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  Speaker 1: being unmixed, unadulterated, undefiled. It is used, for example, to
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  Speaker 1: refer to unmixed wine and unalloyed metal. So, he's simply
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  Speaker 1: using two somewhat basic terms, saying that your life is
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  Speaker 1: to be a life of which cannot be criticized for
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  Speaker 1: sin and which is pure and undefiled and unadulterated and
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  Speaker 1: unmixed with evil. So really two ways to say essentially
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  Speaker 1: a pure life, a life without fault and a life
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  Speaker 1: without flaw. That's God's desire for His people, that their
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  Speaker 1: character and their conduct should be so pure that they
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  Speaker 1: cannot justly be accused, that they are above criticism that
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  Speaker 1: is legitimate. There is no foreign element which contaminates their life.
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  Speaker 1: We are to be, in the terms of 2 Corinthians 11,
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  Speaker 1: a chaste virgin.
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  Speaker 2: A pure virgin.
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  Speaker 1: In terms of Ephesians 5, the church is to be
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  Speaker 1: a blameless, without spot, without blemish bride.
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  Speaker 2: Same concept.
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  Speaker 1: Then you'll note also in verse 15, he uses the
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  Speaker 1: term above reproach. That too is one word in the Greek.
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  Speaker 1: You have amentos, karyais, and then you have amamas. All
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  Speaker 1: of them have an alpha privative, which means they're negative terms.
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  Speaker 1: And this means above reproach. Faultless, flawless, spotless, blemishless. This word,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, is used in the Greek Old Testament
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  Speaker 1: in Numbers, I think it's several times, Numbers 6.14, Numbers 19.2,
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  Speaker 1: I found in both places. And it's there referring to
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  Speaker 1: a sacrifice, without blemish, without spot, the kind of sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: to be brought to the Lord. So really three ways
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  Speaker 1: He's saying the same thing. Harmless, blameless, flawless, faultless, sinless, pure.
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  Speaker 1: That's what He wants. Why?
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  Speaker 2: And the key is this, children of God.
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  Speaker 1: You are to be becoming the proper kind of child
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  Speaker 1: of God. In other words, the kind that would rightly
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  Speaker 1: represent God, that.
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  Speaker 2: Would be believable if you said, I belong to God.
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  Speaker 2: He's my father. I'm His son. I'm His child.
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  Speaker 1: We are to be truly God's children, not only by
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  Speaker 1: divine decree, but by testimony as well. In Romans 12,
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  Speaker 1: we are to present our bodies a living and holy
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice acceptable to God. So we are like a sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: to be without spot, without blemish, without stain, undefiled, pure.
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  Speaker 1: We're children of God. We have to get in touch
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  Speaker 1: with that. Who do you belong to? Whose are you?
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  Speaker 1: Who owns you? Whose name do you bear? Whose identity
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  Speaker 1: do you share? Whose life do you share? The very
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  Speaker 1: life of God. And so every believer needs to live
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  Speaker 1: in consistency with who he is. Peter gives us a
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  Speaker 1: good motivation, I think, in 2 Peter 3. He's talking
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  Speaker 1: about the second coming of Christ when he comes.
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  Speaker 2: Day of the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: And he says in verse 14, therefore, beloved, since you
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  Speaker 1: look for these things, in other words, since you look
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  Speaker 1: for the coming day of the Lord, the intervention of
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  Speaker 1: Christ in the world, the second coming, since you look
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  Speaker 1: for these things, be diligent to be found by Him
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  Speaker 1: in peace, spotless and blameless. In other words, if you
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  Speaker 1: know Christ is coming, that ought to clean up your life.
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  Speaker 1: If you know His coming is imminent, that ought to clean.
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  Speaker 2: Up your life. You live in the light of the
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  Speaker 2: coming of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: You're His child. Jesus is coming for you. You want
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  Speaker 1: to behave as a child of God should behave. Because
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  Speaker 1: we are children, we bear the Father's name. And we
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  Speaker 1: need to be sure that we are consistent in living
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  Speaker 1: a life that will speak well of the name we bear.
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  Speaker 2: That means no complaining in this context. No complaining. If
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  Speaker 2: you are a complainer, a.
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  Speaker 1: Grumbler, a griper, a belly-acre, if you are a disputer
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  Speaker 1: with God, or if you are a grumbler, and if
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  Speaker 1: you are discontent, and if every little thing in life
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  Speaker 1: from stuck zippers to slow drivers and all of the
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  Speaker 1: other stuff, causes you to blow your fuses in discontent
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  Speaker 1: and complain and so forth, then you have distorted the
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  Speaker 1: picture that some are seeing with regard to the child
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  Speaker 1: of God.
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  Speaker 2: You have sinned. You are not without blemish. And that's
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  Speaker 2: a tragedy.
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  Speaker 1: So for your own sake, because of who you are,
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  Speaker 1: it is mandatory that you obey the injunction of verse
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  Speaker 1: 14 in order that you might properly represent the children
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  Speaker 1: of God. I remember as a boy, I mentioned this
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  Speaker 1: to you some years ago, getting caught in a very
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  Speaker 1: compromising situation and having a deacon of my father's church
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  Speaker 1: say to me, don't you know who your father is?
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  Speaker 1: How can you act like that? That has stuck in
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  Speaker 1: my mind as a spiritual truth. I do not want
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  Speaker 1: to behave in any way or conduct myself in any
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: matter of conduct, which will cause someone to say, don't
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: you know who your father is?
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: How can you act like that?
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Second point, when we talk about the reason for obedience,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: not only for our own sake, but for the sake
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: of the unsaved. Here's a very basic principle here, for
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: the sake of the unsaved. He says in verse 15,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: you are to become blameless and innocent children of God.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: generation among whom you appear as lights in the.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: World holding forth the word of life.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Now here he is saying this matter of how you
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: live has a dramatic impact not only on whether or
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: not you're consistent as a child of God, but how
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: you affect the world in which you appear as lights.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Now we're talking about the unsaved. Now we're talking about
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: our witnessing. Now we're talking about our evangelistic mandate. And
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: this is the heart of the appeal, by the way.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: The first part just led into this. The last part
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: just leads out of it. This is the main issue.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Evangelism is primarily a matter of God's children shining as
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: lights in a dark world. But doing that effectively comes
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: down to two things, character and content. Character and content,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: or personality and proclamation. It's not just what you say,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: it's also what you are.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: And we know that. This is a good reminder.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Now, would you notice verse 15, just to get you
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: in touch with the specifics? He says, in the midst
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: of a crooked and perverse generation. And he there borrows
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: a phrase from the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: 32 and verse 5.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: There Moses was speaking to apostate Israel and saying, you
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: are no more the children of God, for you are
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: a crooked and perverse nation. So he borrows that same phrase,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: only this time he's not defining an apostate Israel as
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: The writer of Scripture is now defining the society of
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: the world in which the church exists. In Deuteronomy 32,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Moses characterized apostate Israel as a crooked and perverse nation,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: and here Paul borrows that phrase to characterize the whole
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: world in which the church exists. We are living in
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. And that
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: is something we need to be very careful to understand.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: I thought, you know, well, maybe I could just take
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: some time and talk about the perversity of our nation.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: And then I thought, no, everybody knows how perverse it is.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Anybody need any information on that? I don't think so.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: We live in a crooked and perverse generation.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Please note, we are in the midst of it.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Jesus said in John 17 when He prayed to the Father,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask you to take them out
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: of the world. I'm going to ask you to keep
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: them in the world. There we are as lights in
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the world. It is a world of God rejecters. It
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: is a world of Christ haters. It is a tragic world,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: morally warped, spiritually perverted. It rejects God's message as Israel.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Of old did.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Would you notice those two words, crooked and perverse? The
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: word generation is genea, could translate nation as well. But
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the words crooked and perverse are interesting. Crooked is a
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Greek word, skolios. Have you ever heard of an illness
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: called scoliosis of the spine? It's a curvature of the spine.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: It comes from this word because the word means curved,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: bent out of shape. It describes something that is out
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: of proper alignment, that is often deviated from the standard.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Proverbs 2.15 describes the society of this world in these terms.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: It says their paths are crooked and they are devious
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: in their ways. Isaiah 53 puts it this way in
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: verse 6.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: All we like sheep have gone what? Astray.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: And so man has a spiritual disease, scoliosis of the heart,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: in which he has deviated from God, in which he
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: has left the standard of moved away from the straight
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: plumb line of righteousness. And then an even stronger word
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: is the word perverse. This word means to be severely
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: twisted or severely distorted.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: So man has.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Deviated from the path and in the deviation become severely
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: twisted and severely distorted.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: It is an abnormal condition. By the way, our Lord.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: also used this basic same expression in Luke 9. Jesus said,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: with you and put up with you? This is a
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: good characterization, one used in the Old Testament, one used
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: in the Gospels, one used by the writer of the Epistle,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: to describe someone who is deviated from the path of righteousness,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: deviated from the plan of God, become twisted, perverted. Now,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: you'll notice here that it says, in the midst of
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: a crooked and perverse nation. And then it says, among
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: whom you appear as lights in the world. So, in
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: a sense, generation and world go together. Generation speaks basically
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: of the populace. World speaks of the moral, ethical, sinful
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: system in which they think and by which they operate
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: their lives and conduct their behavior. So we face a twisted,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: distorted world. This is continuously brought.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Home to me.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: It's a twisted, perverted world. Fornication is right. Adultery is right.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Homosexuality is right. Lying is right. Cheating is right, and
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: all the rest of it. Not the Word of God.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: So the whole culture has deviated from the standard of righteousness,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: and in the deviation become distorted and twisted, and their
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: thinking is so convoluted that we would never expect the
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: natural man to understand the things of God.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: They are to him what? Foolishness.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Now, that leaves us then with two very important things.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: We are to reach this perverse world. We are to
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: reach this crooked world. And there are two ways.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: One, what we are. Two, what we say. Let's look
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: first of all at what we are. Verse 15.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: You are children of God above reproach in the midst
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: As lights in the world. Now, this is what we are.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: This is what we are. Among whom.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: You appear, phainomai, probably could be translated, you are shining.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Could be you must shine. But he is saying you
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: have to shine. And this is talking about not what
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: we say, but what we are.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: What we are. You shine, and here's his analogy, as lights, phosteri.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: That word in a metaphorical sense can refer to a
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: lot of different lights. But whenever it's used in a
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: specific non-metaphorical sense, it always refers to the sun, moon,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: or stars. And I take it here that that is
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: probably what Paul is saying. We find, for example, such
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: a use of this term in the Septuagint in Genesis 1-4,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Genesis 1.16. We find some non-biblical sources where this word
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: is used to refer to the sun, moon, and the stars.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: And what he is simply saying is you live in
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: a dark universe and you are the stars and the
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: sun and the moon.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: You're the only light the world has.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: As the sun and the moon and the stars shine
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: in the heavens, and as they illuminate an otherwise dark sky,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: so you shine in the world, illuminating an.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Otherwise totally dark world. society.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: We shine. What do you mean by shine? We demonstrate
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: the light of God.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: What is that?
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: It's the life of God. I'm not going to go
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: into a whole study, but light and life are one. Life,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the life of God in us emphasizes the character of
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: that life. The life of God in us as light
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: emphasizes the impact of that life. And you find John
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: jumping back and forth to those concepts, light and life,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: as well as Paul on some occasions.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: Jesus says in the Sermon.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: On the Mount, you are the light of the world.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: You are a vessel in whom the light of God
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: has been poured with the life of God. And now
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: you have life as to its quality and light as
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: to its impact.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: It is a shining life. It is a living light.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: And so we are called to be what Israel failed
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: to be.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: You remember in Romans 2, 19, Paul says, you're confident
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: that you're a guide to the blind and a light
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: to those who are in darkness, but you're not. Israel,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: the Jews, the Jewish leaders of Paul's time thought they
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: were the lights, but they weren't.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: And thus they are called the blind leading the blind
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: and both will fall in the ditch. But we are
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: the light of the world. Why?
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Because the light of life shines in us and the
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: light of his life in us shines from us.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: We are vessels.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: In 2 Corinthians 4, 6, Paul says, God, who first
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: ordered the light to shine in the darkness, has flooded
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: our hearts with His light. We can now enlighten men
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: by giving them the knowledge of God's glory that comes
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: We're lights. We are children of light.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: In Ephesians 5, 8, there's a good reminder of that,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: and you know it very well. You were formerly darkness,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: of light. Then he even talks about the fruit of light.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: And what is it?
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: The fruit of light is goodness, and righteousness and truth,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord and
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: not participating in the unfruitful deeds of darkness.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: Our light shines in our deeds, goodness, righteousness, truth, what
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: we are.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: That's how the light shines. You actually light people one
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: way or another. You send out an impulse of light. You,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: as a child of God, You cannot come in contact
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: with other people in this crooked and perverse generation without
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: impacting them in some way. And if you are a godly, holy,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: obedient Christian, you will have an almost startling impact on
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: most people. And they will feel the light and they
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: may even shy away from the light. because it is
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: so obvious that you possess something they don't possess. They
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: may feel the vibrations, to put it in another analogy,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: of your own holiness. They may feel a yearning to
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: be something better than they are. They may even sense
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: the appetite, the hunger, the thirst for the unseen and
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: the eternal, which they know they don't have. It's also
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: true that if you're a bad person, And you'll bring
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: dark vibrations. And your life will touch someone else and
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: it'll put out a corresponding current that you've induced. So
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: you affect people for good or for bad. Everybody does.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: And in a sense, it's a terrible thing to think about. F.B.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Meyer wrote, These thoughts press on one's heart, that one
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: can never speak a word, never transact a piece of business,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: that one's face is never seen lighted up with the
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: radiance of God or clouded and despondent without it being
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: made harder or easier for other men to live a
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: good life. Every one of us every day resembles Jeroboam
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: the son of Nebat who made other men sin. Or
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: we are lifting other men into the light and the
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: peace and the joy of God. No man liveth to
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: himself and no man dieth to himself, but the life
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: of every one is telling upon an increasing number of
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: mankind what a solemn responsibility it is to live.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: And we have that responsibility. You are light. You have
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: been called to light the dark world.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: And the quality of your life is the platform of
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: your personal testimony.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: You have to understand that.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: By the kind of life you live, you build a
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: platform on which what you say is made believable. If
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: you have no platform because of your life, your message
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: isn't believable. And a murmuring, discontent, grumbling, griping, complaining Christian
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: is never going to have a positive influence on others.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: You can't be talking about the gospel, forgiveness, joy, peace, gladness, comfort,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: and be moaning and grumbling and complaining all the time.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: People are not going to believe the gospel will do
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: what you're trying to say it will do. That's why
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: the philosopher Hein in Germany said, show me your redeemed
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: lives and I might be inclined to believe in your Redeemer.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: But in addition to our character is our content.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: It's what we say. Look at verse 16.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Also, he adds, in the process of shining as lights
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: in the world, you are holding forth the word of life.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: Now, some would translate it holding fast.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: My own feeling is that if Paul wanted to say
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: holding fast, he probably would have used kateko. Instead, he
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: uses epeko, holding forth or holding out. That same verb
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: used here is used in Homer's Odyssey to refer to
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: holding out a gift of wine for someone to take
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: and drink, so it's kind of an offer. It can
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: mean holding firmly, holding tightly, but the context here is
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: one of shining in a dark world.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: It's one of sending light into a dark world.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: So both the word, its uses, its comparison to other terms,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: and its context seems to me to favor holding forth,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: holding out. We are shining as stars in terms of character.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: We are holding out the word of life.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: What is that? The word that gives life. What word
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: gives life? The gospel. The gospel. The message which gives life.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: The gospel of salvation that gives life, the life of
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: God to the soul, the soul of man. Men are
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: dead in trespasses and sin. Ephesians 2, 1 says.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: They need life.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: We hold out that life. We hold forth that life.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: That's proclamation. So on the one hand, it's personality. On
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: the other, it's proclamation. It's character and it's content. It's
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: what we are. It's what we say. So stop grumbling,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Paul says. Stop complaining. Stop arguing with God. Obey God joyfully.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Work out your salvation without complaining. And in the process
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: of shining as lights in the world, hold out the
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: gospel that saves, and you will find there will be
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: a ready reception because a transformed life is the greatest
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: advertisement for the gospel.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: Not a negative, griping, complaining spirit.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: So it's your joyful, thankful, positive, enthusiastic trust in and
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: love for and obedience to God that makes your witnessing effective.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: Third and last point.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: And I saved this for the last and I only
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: want to say a brief comment or two on it
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: because I don't want you to think that it's self-serving.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: But this is a most interesting point. Point number three.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: Stop complaining for your own sake. Stop complaining for the
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: sake of the lost or the unsaved in the world. Thirdly,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: stop complaining for the sake of your pastor.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: Did you get that? You say, wait a minute. Is
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: that in the Bible?
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: It is. It is.
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: Look at verse 16. Verse 16.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: So that in the day of Christ I may have
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: cause to rejoice because.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: He says, look, if you'll obey this command, I'll be
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: happy in the day of Christ. And I'll look back
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: on my life and I'll say it wasn't in vain.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: It wasn't in vain. So he says, do it for
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: my sake. And his pastoral heart is showing here. He says,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: be pure, be godly, without complaint, for the sake of
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: the one who's given his life in service to you,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: for the sake of the one who's been called by God,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: for the sake of the one who's been commissioned by God,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: for the sake of the one who has extended himself
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: that he might minister to you. Please do this for
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: my sake, and not for my temporal sake, but for
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: my eternal sake, he says. Not to make me like
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: my ministry better. No, but to give me a greater
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: joy in eternity.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: Why? I believe it's very simple. This isn't proud. This
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: isn't self-serving.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Paul's saying this. Look, I love God. I love God
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I live
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: in this life to serve God. And I look forward
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: to heaven for one great reason. I want to glorify God.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: And the more effective my service has been in this world,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: the greater my capacity to glorify Him will be in
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: the world to come. So don't limit my capacity to
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: glorify Him in the world to come by rendering my
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: labors here in vain because you have not followed through.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: And so here's his third and compelling motivation. Do it
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: for your sake that you might be a proper child
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: of God. Do it for the lost sake that you
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: might shine as a light in the world holding forth
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: the word of life. And do it for my sake
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: that out of love for me and esteem for me
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: and desire to see me fully able to glorify God
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: in eternity, do it. Marvelous point, isn't it? He had
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: given his life for them. He was the human instrument
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: of their salvation. It's recorded in Acts 16 how the
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: Philippian church was born. Now he's in prison. He doesn't
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: know how long he has. For all he knows, at
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: this point, he may lose his life. It turned out
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: he didn't lose it until later in a second imprisonment.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: But at the time he faced that prospect... He looks
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: forward to meeting the Lord, and he says, when I
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: meet the Lord, verse 16, in the day of Christ,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: and that, by the way, is different than the day
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: of the Lord. It's a different emphasis. Day of the
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: Lord emphasizes judgment. Day of Christ emphasizes rewards. Day of
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the Lord focuses on the unbeliever. Day of Christ focuses
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: on the believer. So he says, as I look at
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: the day of Christ, and by the way, we did
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: detailed study on that in our message on chapter 1,
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: verses 6 and 10. As I look forward to the
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: day when I see Christ and I receive my reward,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: he says... I will have cause to glory, or better,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: cause to rejoice.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: Cause to rejoice. And why will I rejoice?
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: Because I will know that I didn't run in vain,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: and that's a word that's used to speak of runners
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: in a stadium, making a maximum effort to win a
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: great event. And I didn't toil in vain, that's kapiao,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: work to the point of sweat and exhaustion. In other words,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: I want to get to the end, I want to
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: see Christ and know that none of the tremendous effort
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: that I made was for nothing. Will you encourage my
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: heart throughout all eternity by being faithful?
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: I don't think anybody ever has that kind of thought.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: Do you ever have that kind of thought? Boy, I
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: want to be a faithful.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Christian in order that John MacArthur might get a full reward. Yeah,
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's so bizarre. You never thought of it. Well,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: now you know, right?
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: It's right here. I don't say that selfishly.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, some people think the best thing you can
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: do for the preacher, you know, is take him to
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: dinner or send him a card and write him a
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: nice letter.
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: And those are wonderfully encouraging.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: The best thing you could ever do for the pastor
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: and the pastors and all of those who lead you
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: here and whatever other churches you've been in, the best
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: thing you could ever do is to live out everything
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: they ever taught you so that when they get to glory,
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: they will have the fullest capacity to praise and glorify
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: the God they've served all through eternity.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: I don't want anything in this life. Neither did Paul.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Interesting.
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: Interesting.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: You are to esteem them very highly in love's sake,
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: it says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 12, for their works.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: You are to follow their faith, it says in Hebrews 13, 17.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: You know what John said in 3 John 4? Listen
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: to this.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: He said, I have no greater joy than to hear
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: of my children walking in love. The greatest joy of
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: any servant of God is the obedience of his flock.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: That's the greatest joy.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: Then you're going to get to the day of Christ
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: and know you didn't run in vain and you didn't
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: labor in vain. You didn't work to the point of
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: sweat and exhaustion and you didn't run to the max
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: in the race for nothing because the people were faithful.
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: It's not egotistical.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: It's that you so cherish the responsibility of ministry that
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: you want God to know you have rendered the very
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: best effort possible. Paul, if he's going to boast, Romans
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: 15 says, In Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting,
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: but I will not presume to speak of anything except
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: what Christ has accomplished through me.
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: He knows everything.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Whatever we rejoice in, Christ has done. Whatever good happens
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: in your life, Christ has done. But be faithful for
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: the sake of those who poured their life into you.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Be faithful for the sake of those who planted the
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: seed and those who watered the seed. Contrast this, just
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: as we close, with a verse back in the 49th
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: chapter of Isaiah.
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: Listen to Isaiah.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: Listen to what he said. Way back in chapter 6,
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: he was called to ministry. Now he's looking back.
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: Verse 4.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: But I said, I have toiled in vain. I have
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: spent my strength for nothing and vanity. Isn't that sad?
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: I've toiled in vain. I've spent my strength for nothing
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: and vanity.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: Heartbroken prophet. Oh, Paul knew it wouldn't all end bad.
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: So did Isaiah.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: There was a reward for Isaiah. And Paul knew that
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: it wouldn't totally be for nothing. Because he said in
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 15, 58, that he knew that his toil
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: in the Lord was not in vain.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: But what he is saying is, I want a full response.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: I want a full reward so I can have a
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: full rejoicing and a full capacity to glorify God. And
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: so I say to you, dearly beloved, Be faithful to
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: this command for your sake, for the sake of the unsaved,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: and for the sake of those who have given their
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: service to you as your shepherds.
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: Let's bow together in prayer. Father, we.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: Needed this reminder again because we are so prone to
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: a complaining spirit. We remember the words of Isaiah 45, 9.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Woe to the one who quarrels with his maker. An
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth? Will the clay
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: say to the potter, what are you doing? Or the
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: thing you are making say, he has no hands? Are
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: we going to complain against you? Are we going to
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: answer back to you for the way you've made us,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: for the design of our life? Help us, Lord, to
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: do all things in working out our salvation, all things,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: without complaining, with joy and thankfulness, that we might be.
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: Children that bring honor to their Father.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: That we might be shining lights in a dark world,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: that we might bring eternal joy and rejoicing to the
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: heart of those who have labored in our behalf. And
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: we all, Father, have precious shepherds who have given portions
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: of their life for us. May we be faithful that
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: they may come in the day of Christ to see
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: that their labor was not in vain. Thank you, Lord,
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: for all that you're doing in our congregation. Thank you
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: for the continually faithful way in which you manifest your
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: grace to us. Forgive us for our complaints and set
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: our feet on the path of obedience.
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: For Christ's sake, amen. You've been listening to John MacArthur,
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: Bible teacher with Grace to You. For free access to
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: all of John's lessons and a listing of study Bibles
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: and books available for sale, visit Grace to You's website
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: at gty.org. John MacArthur and Grace to You reserve all
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: at gty.org, and it includes instructions for and limitations on
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: duplicating this digital file.