Latest / HBCWestminster / 9.27.20 Luke 9:46-56 Pastor Danny Gardner

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9.27.20 Luke 9:46-56 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Our text this morning is Luke chapter 9, verses 46 to 56. Luke 9, 46 to 56. And we're going to jump right in. I would ask you to stand in honor of God's word if you're able. I'm going to read our text. We'll pray and begin. Luke 9, beginning in verse 46. An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
• 0:30
  for he who is least among you is the one who is great. John answered, master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us. But Jesus said to him, do not stop him for the one who is not against you is for you. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem and he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him.
• 0:57
  But the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, forgive us for the times that we have stolen your glory, the glory that is rightfully yours. And enrich our lives, we pray, by the hearing of your word.
• 1:26
  May it be taught this morning with accuracy and conviction, and may we be submissive to its truths. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. You can be seated. This past Tuesday, I coached a high school baseball game.
• 1:42
  A funny thing happened. Every now and again this happens where the umpire of the game, the home plate umpire didn't know the count, the balls and strikes. And one of our freshmen, one of my freshman boys was up there hitting and had actually struck out. He had swung at a pitch and then watched two strikes. And so he had actually struck out, but he stood there. He wasn't sure of the count either. And he's young. He's pretty timid and lacks confidence. And so he just stood still. The umpire had lost track of the count, I guess. And so never, never.
• 2:12
  called him out and so he was standing there like he was going to receive another pitch and the umpire was going to allow it to happen until the opposing coaches came out and said hey this kid struck out that was three strikes the umpire did then did something funny which i've i don't know that i've ever seen before the umpire asked my kid what the count was he said did you strike out and my player responded with honesty and said yeah that was three strikes the umpire chastised him
• 2:38
  Got mad at him, called him out, and then kind of rebuked him for receiving another pitch, being ready to receive another pitch. And I just made a simple observation by saying aloud from our dugout, I just said, you get paid to know the count, sir. In fact, it occurred to me only a moment later that he was actually the only person out there getting paid.
• 3:00
  I mean, there were probably 100 people around, two teams, all the parents, the coaches, and everything else. Nobody out there was getting paid but him. He was the only one being paid, and he had lost track of the count. And listen, Church, he did not like that one bit.
• 3:14
  In fact, he stared me down for about two minutes. He just stared at me the whole time. It was really awkward. It was kind of funny, you know, but really awkward as the two teams, one of the teams was going back in and our team was now going out to take the field. He just stared at me. Was my statement true? Yes. Was my statement respectful?
• 3:38
  I mean, my wife disagrees with this, but I called him sir. I mean, you get paid to know the count, sir. Was it true? Yes. Was it respectful? I mean, yes. Sarcastically so, I suppose. But in reality, the problem was neither of those. The real problem was that I had wounded his pride. One of the hardest things we ever have to do is swallow our pride when we are wrong. The problem of pride is a plague handed down to us from...
• 4:08
  our fathers. Romans chapter 5 and verse 12 says, therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, that is Adam, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned. So in other words, we all sin because of the sin of Adam. Now we all sin because of the sin of Adam and he died. Now we will all die because we all have sin. And pride is an interesting sin because we know how pervasive it is in our own hearts. We know how corrosive
• 4:37
  pride left unchecked is. We know that pride is what expelled Lucifer from heaven. We know that it was pride that caused even the fall of man back in the Garden of Eden. We know pride to be at the very root of most of the divisions within our homes, within our churches, and yet it is pride which we are most willing to admit that we struggle with without fear of being judged. And I think this is because we as a church have a very low view of the sin of pride.
• 5:07
  We will readily admit pride's presence in our lives before admitting other things like drugs and alcohol abuse or theft or violence. We may say, please pray for me in our church small groups because I'm really struggling against pride as if pride is a more acceptable sin than some others. But what we see in our text this morning is how devastating pride truly is. And we also see
• 5:33
  That if there was a pride stick, then the disciples had been beaten senseless with it. This next section, three portions, could be summarized with three simple statements. I am the greatest, is the first one. Second, anyone who doesn't see that is wrong. And third, and I will stomp on anyone who gets in my way. We've been walking along the road with Christ in our study.
• 6:02
  of the gospel of luke since last november about 10 months we've been in luke's gospel and what a joy it has been i can recall brennan manning author of the ragamuffin gospel
• 6:15
  saying one time that he began every morning by taking a walk with Jesus. I begin every morning, he said, by taking a walk with Jesus. And by that, he meant that every morning he wakes up and reads a portion of the Gospels. And that is, honestly, church, exactly what it's been like for me as I've studied. It has felt like I am one of the apostles watching, learning, failing, and being picked back up. In fact, one pastor has actually said discipleship
• 6:42
  is, it can be defined as interpreting life with the mind of Christ. And if you want to be discipled, then walk with Jesus through life the way that the 12 apostles did, walking with him every day, waking up with him every morning, being taught by him, stretched by him, rebuked by him every day for three and a half years. That is what discipleship is.
• 7:05
  Be discipled by Christ. And you will recall that last Sunday, Christ began his final sermon in the region of Galilee, the northern region in Israel, where he had grown up and where he began his ministry. Last Sunday, that final sermon was brief. It was only a few statements long. It was a gentle rebuke dealing with the failures of the apostles. First, a failure of faith.
• 7:32
  Then, last week, a failure of understanding, and this morning, a failure of humility. Our title this morning is When Humility Fails. And we see first that pride ruins unity and reveals depravity. Pride ruins unity and reveals depravity. And look at verse 46. An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.
• 8:03
  I am the greatest is what each of them were saying, like a bunch of little Muhammad Ali's all running around bloating, not floating like butterflies and stinging like bees. And you'll recall from last Sunday that Jesus's popularity was soaring. The messianic expectation, anticipation was at a zenith. Central to the crowd's focus was these men who walked with and were empowered by Jesus.
• 8:31
  You can imagine the cheering and the high-fiving and the clamoring to get to the 12 apostles. The apostles were like disease-healing, demon-exercising rock stars. How quickly they fell from being humbled before the weight of Christ's transfiguration to chest-puffing self-promotion. Have you ever seen those...
• 8:57
  really elaborate and huge, incredibly detailed, awe-inspiring sand castles. Have you ever seen anybody, these artists that are just so talented and create these castles of sand? Sometimes hours, sometimes days in the making where they are sculpting these unbelievable art forms out of sand on the beach. Have you ever seen those? How easily they are destroyed by one wave.
• 9:25
  at high tide. One wave comes in, hits them, and they are washed away as if they never existed. And that's what pride does to the work of God in our hearts. Except it doesn't even take a whole wave to destroy the humility that God has been working in us. A little popularity, a little acknowledgement, a little recognition, even the slightest believing of our own hype.
• 9:55
  And that humility that has been painstakingly built over the course of years will come crashing down in a moment like a sandcastle hit by a wave. One has said, although I am small, ugly, and dirty, at the slightest flattery, I begin to strut like a turkey. I'm small. I know small, ugly, and dirty, but just a little bit of flattery. And it's unbelievable how highly I think.
• 10:24
  of myself. And you may ask, well, why is pride such a big deal? What's the big deal if we think highly of ourselves? Why is pride perhaps even worse than other sins? That's because pride can be defined simply as replacing God with self.
• 10:45
  That's what pride is. When we are arrogant, our arrogance is a declaration of our depravity. We are replacing God on the throne with ourselves on the throne. That's what pride does. And how could the apostles, who only months previous were a know-nothing, ragtag group of fishermen, tax collectors, and zealots.
• 11:06
  That's who they were. They didn't even know one another. They had no notoriety, no fame, no power. They were no nothing and ragtag. How could they, only months previous, how could they, only days previous, walking in the glorious aftermath of the Transfiguration, after having witnessed the full display of the majesty of Christ through his miracles, how could those same guys now get into an argument among themselves about who was the greatest? How?
• 11:34
  Because they were replacing God with self. J.C. Ryle has said it this way. All this happened in the company of Christ himself. Can you imagine this? Jesus is standing there.
• 11:49
  the one that had only recently been transfigured, glorified in front of them, he is in their midst as they begin to argue about which of them is the greatest. All of this, J.C. Ryle says, has happened in the company of Christ himself and under the noontide blaze of his teaching. But such is the heart of man. Of all creatures, none has so little right to be proud as man. And of all men, none ought to be so humble as a Christian.
• 12:20
  I visited beloved friends and members of Highland this week, Roger and Carol Sweeney. And honestly, church, Roger and Carol could write a book.
• 12:30
  about how to bless their pastor. They really could. Since our family came here six years ago, since we moved, very few have been as encouraging, as supportive, as loyal as Roger and Carol Sweeney. They are a generation ahead of me. And because of their kind of health compromised status, they're unable to join us again for in-person worship. They've been joining us online. They're no doubt watching this.
• 12:58
  I visited with them this week. They took me up on my offer. And you guys know every time I preach online, I remind you guys, if you're not able to come to church, allow me to come to you. I would love to come and visit you in person. And so I got a text from Carol last week saying, please come to our house. And I did. I masked up. I did the whole thing. I walked in to their house and spent about an hour talking with them. And church, honestly, what a joy. What a joy.
• 13:20
  We talked about their lives. We talked about how they met, when they got married, where in the world they've traveled. We talked for some time about the gospel too. And Carol said, oh, Danny, while you're here, let me give you our tithe check and you can deliver it to the church. I reminded her to put it in an envelope.
• 13:39
  And I just said, Carol, any special instructions that need to be written, write in a note to our financial secretary. I reminded her, I'm not going to look at it, put it in an envelope. What you give is between you and the Lord. And so I'm not going to look at it. Any special instructions, make sure Lori knows because she'll make sure everything gets where it needs to be. I reminded her that I don't know what anyone gives and it's true church. I don't know what anyone gives. I know what I give.
• 14:03
  I know what my mom gives because I do my mom's taxes, but that's it. I don't know what anybody else gives. I said, I'll make sure that that is kept discreet. And she joked with me. Carol said, oh, you know, that's too bad because I was really going to try to impress you this time. I thought that was just funny. Try to impress others. You know, she was obviously joking, but how often do we do this? How often do we do spiritual things? Not to impress the Lord, right? Not that we could impress the Lord.
• 14:33
  But not for the recognition that we'll get from him, but rather the recognition that we'll get from other men. The disciples lived in a culture that literally took pride in their religion.
• 14:45
  They would wear things like phylacteries, little boxes that had scriptures rolled up and put in them. And they'd strap them to their hands. And even on their forehead, they'd walk around with this box on their forehead so that everybody could see how spiritual they are. This is what I think of God's word. It's right there on my forehead all the time. They would hire trumpeteers to blow trumpets every time they gave to charity. Right? Look at the check I'm writing. And they'd put it in the offering. You know, look how pious.
• 15:13
  I am. Every time they prayed, they prayed with loud voices on the street corner so that everybody could hear in the presence of others and for the purpose of receiving recognition. And Christ chastises such practices. Any practice that is performed for earthly recognition. And then Christ said that those practitioners have received their reward in full. If you wanted the recognition and applause of man, congratulations, Jesus said, you got it.
• 15:43
  Got it. There is no more reward for you in heaven because you've already received your reward. You'll notice how Christ responds. Look at verse 47. But Jesus, knowing the reason of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, whoever receives this child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. Christ responds simply by showing them a child, a baby. Children are helpless, helpless, independent.
• 16:14
  If your children are anything like mine, they need help getting dressed. Then they need help getting undressed. They need help preparing food. And then they need help eating that food. If your house is anything like my house, then the most repeated word echoing through your halls is mom. Mom.
• 16:37
  Right? Children constantly in need of help. They're completely dependent. And church, the application on this point is easy. You are not the greatest. You're not the greatest. They're arguing among themselves which of them is the greatest. We're not the greatest. I'm not the greatest.
• 16:55
  One has said sanctification is the progressive triumph of humility over pride in the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, do you want to know how sanctification can be defined? It can be defined or determined simply by how humble you are. You want to know how godly you are? Ask yourself, how humble am I? John the Baptist's statement really was profound when he said, I must decrease.
• 17:20
  And he, Jesus, must increase. I must decrease. He must increase. Luke chapter 14, Jesus warns against taking the place of honor at a banquet by saying that you will be knocked down if you do. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 3, do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. In other words, I've actually written this in my margin of my Bible in Philippians chapter 2, right next to that verse. I've written, I am the least important person in every room.
• 17:50
  I'm the least important person in every room. And not in like a self-deprecating kind of way, because even that is kind of a backward form of pride. We can actually take pride in how lowly we view ourselves, but rather in a God-exalting, Christ-honoring way, so that he gets credit for every good thing in us, because every good thing we do is really just God in us.
• 18:17
  And Geldenhaus, in his commentary on Luke, says the most difficult but one of the most indispensable lessons to be learned by every follower of Christ is to be truly humble and to be small in one's own eyes, to be faithful in service, even to the most insignificant ones whom we are called upon to help. Jesus just takes a child and says, listen, in the kingdom, by the kingdom standards, this child is better than you.
• 18:44
  You've only been put here to serve this child. You've only been put here to serve those who are helpless. You've only been gifted in order to use those gifts for those who cannot help themselves. And he finishes verse 48 by saying, he who is least among you all is the one who is great. And to compare ourselves to the spiritual standards of others, rather than comparing ourselves to the spiritual standards the Lord has laid out, is to declare our own depravity in so doing.
• 19:14
  Are we not coronating ourselves as gods? We are putting the crowns that God deserves on ourselves. The higher we think of ourselves, Jesus says, the lower he says we actually are. The higher we think of ourselves, the lower we actually are. That is first. But notice second. Pride not only ruins unity and reveals depravity, but pride also reacts exclusively.
• 19:44
  reacts exclusively. And look at verse 49. John answered, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he doesn't follow with us. But Jesus said, do not stop him for the one who is not against you is for you. So John says, listen, Jesus, we saw this guy and he was casting out demons in your name. He's preaching, in other words, the same gospel we preach and he's performing the same miraculous signs that we are performing. But we told him to stop because he's not with us.
• 20:13
  We wouldn't get the credit for that one if we allow him to continue. We told him to stop. Jesus says, what are you doing? You don't get to decide who does what. If he's not against you, he's for you. So in other words, not only are the disciples saying I'm the greatest, but now they're saying anyone who doesn't see that is wrong. Can you imagine the apostle saying, listen, you may be doing a good thing, but you're cutting in on our action. And so stop it. No, I wish.
• 20:41
  church that that attitude had died the day that Christ rebuked it. But there is, even today, a bizarre territorialism in the church that just doesn't belong. Pastors' conferences are pretty cool. I enjoy them. There's a small part of pastors' conferences that I really dislike, and that is when a whole bunch of pastors sit down at a table together and they introduce themselves, and the questions are always the same.
• 21:11
  Where's your church and how big is it? It's a point of bragging, right? Whoever has the bigger church is automatically assumed to be the most successful. How big is it? How big can I create my kingdom? And our Converge district, the North Metro district here in Denver, is comprised of about a dozen churches. We meet for lunch once a quarter or so to talk, encourage one another, pray for one another.
• 21:38
  We have in recent years, just in the last couple of years, been making concerted efforts to work together in church planting. At one of these lunches recently, we invited a guest speaker who was a high-ranking manager at UPS, at the company UPS. He talked to us about the skill of management because he was actually very high-ranking in the UPS Corporation.
• 22:01
  And the skill of management has some obvious parallels to pastoring, as well as how UPS strategizes opening new branches. And it was interesting because he was looking at the church from a business model, from a business perspective, which he is. He's in the realm of business, not in churches, pastoring. And so he just asked this question very simply. He said, when UPS is considering opening a new branch,
• 22:22
  We look around at population densities and need and other things, but we also look at where other UPS stores already exist. And he says it doesn't make any sense for UPS to put another branch right across the street from one we already have. Will they not cut into the same customer base? He said, I've never understood how churches make these decisions. I thought, oh, I know where he's going with this.
• 22:45
  Why do you pile churches all up together? I don't get that. Why do you have churches right next door to each other? Aren't you, in so doing, just stealing one another's customers? Why would that make sense? Aren't you all on the same team? One of the things I have always appreciated about Highland, and it's actually one of the things that drew me here. This was true long before I was ever here. One of the things that drew me to Highland was our churches.
• 23:11
  priority on working together with other local bodies in order to advance the kingdom. One of my favorite things about our church that was true then and is still true now is that Highland cares less about our own kingdom and about our own name. We don't care about the credit. We really don't. We want to give and not receive. We care less about our kingdom and our name than we do about Christ's kingdom and his name. Acts chapter 4 and verse 12.
• 23:42
  It says, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. That is the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus. There's no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. No one will ever get saved through Hyland's name. Listen, church, God bless those churches that plant other churches and name them after themselves. That's fine. Whatever. Do it your way. Okay? I don't mind at all.
• 24:07
  But if and when Highland plants a church, and I can't wait for that day. Honestly, Lord willing, church, listen, I don't think we're that far away. I really don't. I think we're going to get to plant a church soon. If and when we do, if the Lord allows. The only stipulation that we will have is that they not name themselves after us. We are not looking to build a Highland kingdom. We're not.
• 24:29
  Our hope and our prayer is that we would plant a church, that they would be self-sustaining and autonomous, that they would be another place where the gospel is preached, and that they would have no allegiance or tie or expectation back to us. That's not what we want. We want Jesus to be the head of that church. There is no other name.
• 24:50
  And humanity has a tendency to, when we find something valuable, try to keep it to ourselves, for ourselves. And in this case, the apostles were more concerned about receiving credit, about feeling important, than they were concerned about getting the good news out. And we have to be careful with our attitude toward other churches that way, Highland.
• 25:13
  As if we're the only ones doing it right. As if we're the only ones where people are going to be fed. We're the only ones who are doing worship right. I love how we function. I love our church. I love it. I think it's the greatest church in the world. I really do. Number one on my list. Favorite church in the world. Highland Baptist Church. I really do. I think we're doing it right. But not in an exclusive kind of way. Not only do we need to be careful with our attitude toward other churches.
• 25:39
  But honestly, we also have to be careful with our attitude toward those in our own ranks as well. We can have this weird territorialism with our church and other churches, but we can actually have this within our own church as well. We can stroke our own egos within the church in really funny ways. I'm older, and therefore you should listen to me. Right? That's funny. I've heard people say that. I've also heard the opposite. I've heard people say, well, I'm younger.
• 26:08
  And therefore, you should listen to me. I've heard both. Just taking pride in these silly things. I've heard people say, well, I've been here the longest. I've been here the longest. And therefore, my opinion counts more. I've heard the opposite too. Well, I've not been here very long. And therefore, you should listen to me because I probably have more experience at doing things different ways that are better. Well, I've taught longer.
• 26:33
  Okay, well then it sounds like we need some new blood. Well, I have more degrees. Well, I know more people. Well, I've served in more and greater ways. Well, I'm more creative. And listen, church, all heaven hears is pride. Pride, pride, pride, pride, pride. Pride reacts with exclusivity. Notice finally that pride rejects.
• 27:00
  And this part of our passage is tragic. Pride rejects mercy. Look at verse 51. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem and he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him. As we've said in previous weeks, Christ has been preaching and ministering in Galilee. And in verse 51,
• 27:27
  He departs from Galilee for the last time. He'll never return. He knows he'll be crucified in Jerusalem. He departs from Galilee for the last time and begins his journey toward Jerusalem. Now, other times when he had traveled from Galilee down to Jerusalem or from Jerusalem up to Galilee, other times the text actually says, and he had to pass through Samaria. He had to pass through Samaria.
• 27:55
  And this just says he did pass through Samaria. And so we're going to do a little geography lesson here. It says that other times, like I said, it says he had to pass through Samaria. And church, no, no, he didn't. He didn't have to pass through Samaria. Anytime he passed through Samaria, as is the case today, he chose to do so. He chose to go through Samaria. And so I'm going to give you just a little reminder of Israeli geography, okay, Palestinian geography.
• 28:22
  And I'm going to turn around in order to do it so that we're all kind of looking from the same perspective, okay? But you can imagine the Sea of Galilee kind of being in the north. The Sea of Galilee is up here in the north of Israel, okay? Modern day Lebanon to the north and Jordan to the east, okay? But there is the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights and all of that, Arnon and everywhere else. And that's where Jesus grew up in the north of Galilee. From the Sea of Galilee out...
• 28:47
  uh was the output of the sea of galilee is the jordan river the jordan river kind of comes down and separates modern day israel from jordan okay the sea of galilee flows south down to the dead sea in the south and that's where that ends and evaporates the dead sea is called so it's the lowest place on earth the water can't get out and so it's dead so the sea of galilee jordan river and dead sea galilee in the north judea kind of borders the sea of galilee down here in the south and in between
• 29:17
  is samaria okay that's where the samaritans lived most jews when they were going to travel from galilee down to judea they had they thought so lowly of the samaritan people that they would actually avoid at all costs that center region from galilee down they didn't want to go through samaria and so what they would do is take the long way around they would cross over the jordan river into what it was called the decapolis
• 29:44
  the Decapolis, the area of the 10 cities, the region of the 10 cities, okay? And those were all Gentile cities. That was the Gentile region, the Decapolis, on the east side of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. And so what they would do is they would cross over and actually, rather than talking to the Samaritans, they would rather be with the Gentiles.
• 30:07
  They thought so lowly of the Samaritan people that they'd rather be with the Gentiles. They'd take the long way around and then skirt back across and go into Judea. But that's not what Jesus did. Jesus would purposefully go through the Samaritan villages in order to share the gospel with them. In fact, he even told a parable one time, the parable of the good Samaritan. And he wanted to prove. What he wanted to do was to break down that social barrier.
• 30:38
  That thought that people held onto for so long that caused them to think so lowly of the Samaritan. The Samaritan became the hero of the story. Jesus had visited Samaria many times before. And had actually won many converts there. Many, many had believed in him. Listen to John chapter 4 verse 39. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. Remember the woman at the well.
• 31:02
  They said to the woman, it's no longer because of what you've said that we believe, but we have heard for ourselves. We know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. This is the Savior of the world. So Jesus had many converts and disciples through Samaria, but we notice this time, maybe he thought he was going to be received there, but this time he was not. Look at verse 53. Their reaction this time is different, but the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw it, they said,
• 31:32
  Lord, you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? You can imagine James and John have this predisposition against this prejudice against the Samaritans already. They've experienced the woman at the well in that story. They've seen that the harvest was white and ready for...
• 31:51
  There were so many people who were ready to come into the kingdom that the harvest was ready. All we need is harvesters. So they had been part of that where so many had come to faith in Jesus. And so maybe they had softened toward the Samaritans. And now all of a sudden they're going from Galilee down to Jerusalem. They go through Samaria. But nope, what we thought about the Samaritans was true all along, Jesus. They never liked us. They never wanted us. Let us call down fire from heaven. No mercy, only justice.
• 32:20
  Holy justice, if you don't agree with us, we're going to burn you and consume you. We are burning this place down. No mercy, only judgment. But Jesus, verse 55, turned and rebuked them and they went on to another village. Perhaps one of the most difficult things we ever have to do is to swallow our pride when we're wrong.
• 32:52
  I began our sermon that way just a few minutes ago. One of the most difficult things we ever have to do is to swallow our pride when we're wrong. But you want to know the one thing that might be harder than that, church? Harder even than that is swallowing our pride when we're right. I really do think that's one of the hardest things we ever have to do is swallow our pride when we're right because mercy is the opposite of pride.
• 33:24
  Mercy is the opposite of pride. Proverbs 3, verse 3, and I'm going to read from the NAS, the New American Standard Version. Proverbs 3, 3 says, let not mercy and truth forsake you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you.
• 33:43
  He puts these two, mercy and truth, he puts them side by side. He links them together. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Mercy is ranked alongside divine truth. Can you imagine that? We are a people who is obsessed with truth. We want to know the truth. Sound doctrine. That is the foundation of the church and our Christian life. Sound doctrine. Sound doctrine from the word. We want
• 34:12
  the truth and here the writer of proverbs solomon says linked together with divine truth is mercy hosea chapter 4 and verse 1 again from the nas the prophet hosea brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land and he says hear the word of the lord o children of israel there is no truth or mercy found here
• 34:38
  There's no truth or mercy. Again, he links these two together. Not only have you rejected sound doctrine, but he says you've rejected mercy and those two go together. Truth, very often in scripture, truth is tempered by mercy. Listen to Ephesians chapter four and verse 15. Speak the truth in love. Speak the truth in love.
• 35:06
  And there is no less accurate reflection of Christ on earth than when his church exercises truth without mercy. Let me say that again. This is so important because this is exactly what the apostles were doing. The apostles were right. They were right. But they were right without mercy and the Christ rebukes them for it. I'm going to say it again. There is no less accurate reflection of Christ on earth.
• 35:35
  than when his church exercises truth without mercy. Mercy is one of the chiefest of Christian virtues. But Lord, we might say, aren't we right? Aren't we right? And he may say, yes, my beloved child, but even being right, you are wrong. It is possible to be right and yet be wrong. Christ in Matthew chapter 7 calls us the salt of the earth.
• 36:07
  The salt of the earth. And indeed, that is what we are. We are meant to be a preserving and enriching influence on the world around us. And I thought of this illustration this week. Table salt. Table salt. We are the salt of the earth. Salt is a combination of sodium and chlorine. Sodium chloride. N-A-C-L. Right? And it's chemical form. That is salt. Sodium chloride. And it does. It's a preserving agent.
• 36:37
  It's an enriching agent, giving flavor to food, but also preserving food. And that's what we are to be. The church is the salt of the earth. Sodium and chloride. Now, if you were to separate those two things, sodium and chlorine, sodium in its purest...
• 36:54
  form is heavily reactionary, even explosive. Look up this week on YouTube. Taking just a small, small, small, I mean just the size of a grain of sand, a little tiny piece of sodium, pure sodium, and just drop it into a glass of water. It is violently reactive. It catches on fire almost immediately and can even explode.
• 37:21
  In fact, I can recall in my high school chemistry class, my chemistry teacher doing that exact thing, just taking a tiny, tiny, tiny little piece of sodium, dropping it into a pail of water, and it literally exploded in front of us. Heavily volatile and reactionary sodium. And so is truth without mercy. Truth without mercy is reactionary. It is volatile. It is even explosive.
• 37:50
  Truth, but without mercy. Now chlorine, chlorine taken by itself and at room temperature is a gas. It's in a gaseous form. Chlorine is noxious, even poisonous. If you were to walk into a room filled with chlorine gas, you would die by breathing it. It will kill you. And so is mercy, but without truth.
• 38:19
  If you're nothing but merciful but never tell people the truth, that is death. There is no good that will come from that ultimately and for eternity. Truth without mercy is explosive, divisive, volatile. But mercy without truth is deadly poison. And only by combining the two, sodium and chloride, truth and mercy, do they then bless the hearer. Pride, arrogance.
• 38:49
  rejects mercy. It separates truth and mercy. At church, pride ruins unity. Pride reveals depravity. Pride reacts exclusively. Pride rejects
• 39:05
  mercy, and we would ask, Lord, guard us from that corrosive attitude, the attitude of the apostles. I am the greatest. Anyone who doesn't agree with me is wrong, and I will stomp on anyone who gets in my way. Church, we know we are not the greatest. We must not replace God with self. We must never seek the credit because everything good we have ever done is God in us. We must speak truth, but only combined with mercy toward those who disagree.
• 39:35
  knowing that anything else, truth without mercy, is an explosive poison. And Lord, I pray that you would bless the preaching of your word today. God, make us a people that is humble. God, make us a people who will not exercise our pride and not fall into the trap of the devil who saw your throne, who lifted up his eyes and said, I should be there.
• 40:05
  instead of him. God, that same pride has caused a myriad of other problems. Every problem that we have on this earth, including sin itself, was because of that initial sin of pride. And so Lord, we reject that. We repent of it. Lord, be gracious toward us. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.