Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / It-s-a-Mad-Bad-Sad-World-But

Transcript

It-s-a-Mad-Bad-Sad-World-But · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: You may remember a movie that was released back in
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three. It was titled It's a Mad, Mad,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Mad Mad World. It involved a gaggle of stars in
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a mad cap frenzy to find three hundred and fifty
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars buried under a large w Remember that movie.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Though it was a farce, the movie accurately captures the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: reality of life. For many people, purpose and meaning are
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: found by seeking pleasure in the crazed pursuit of things. However,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: those engaged in such pursuits have a deep and gnawing
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: knowledge that their chase is downright madness, that they will
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: never escape the misery and hopelessness of this world that's
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: lost its way. On the other hand, though Christians experienced
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the same joys and sorrows as everybody else, we know
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: there is something far better than what this world offers,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: don't we. We're living testimonies that the purpose of life
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: is never found in the mad pursuit of pleasures and
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: empty treasures. Paul's instructions to the Philippians regarding how to
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: represent Christ to this mad, bad, sad world are similar
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: to jesus instructions to his disciples, which is summed up
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: in our passage for today, I'm referring to Philippians three,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: verse seventeen through chapter four, verse one. So find your
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: bible and turn with me to that passage. I'll begin
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: reading a chapter three, verse seventeen, and then our reading
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: will take us through the first verse of chapter four. Brethren,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: join in following my example and observe those who walk
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: according to the pattern you have in us. For many
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: walk of whom I have often told you, and now
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: tell you, even weeping, that they are enemies of the
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for our savior,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: our humble state into conformity with the body of His
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: glory by the exertion of the power that he has
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: given to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: whom I long to see my joy and crown, in
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: this way, stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. The
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: role of the Christian is unusual, but it isn't impossible.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I suppose the best words to use would be our
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: role is unique. We have a unique relationship as compared
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: to all other living beings on this earth. Because we
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: have been born physically on this planet, we are earth bound.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: But because we have been born from above, born anew,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: we are heaven bound. Scripture says, in more than one way,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: is that our citizenship literally is in heaven, but we
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: pay taxes on this earth. We are firmly fixed on
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: this planet for the making of our living, for the
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: bearing of our young and for the rearing of them,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: and for the carrying out of our earthly heritage. So
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: there is always this sense of conflict, isn't there now?
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: That poses a problem. Even though, as the Old Gospel
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Quartet says, this world is not my home, I'm just
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: to passing through, it is nevertheless my home. It is
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: the place where I live my life, and where I
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: face the conflicts that are a part of pressurized living.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: In the midst of the pressures, it is easy for
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: us to be overly impressed with the world and its power,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: especially those and places of great influence and authority. I
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: was thumbing through Chuck Colson's excellent work kingdoms in conflict
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: just this morning, and in doing so so, I came
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: across a couple of paragraphs that, to me describe how
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: intimidated we can be though Christians facing the powers of
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: this earth. And I quote and he speaks of his
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: days when he was a presidential assistant and personal confidante
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: to Richard Nixon. I took all kinds of groups to
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: see the President, from friendly cattlemen to sophisticated educators enraged
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: over budget cuts or the Vietnam War. It was always
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: the same. In the reception room. They would rehearse their
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: angry lines and reassure one another. I'll tell him what's
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: going on. He's got to do something, they would say.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: When the AID came to escort us in that set
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: their jaws and marched toward the door. But once it
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: swung open, the AID announcing the President will see you,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: it was as if they had suddenly sniffed some intoxicating fragrance.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Most became almost self conscious about even stepping on the
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: plush blue carpet on which the sculpted on which was
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: sculpted the Great Seal of the United States, and mister
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Nixon's voice and presence like any presidents filled the room. Invariably,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the lions of the waiting room became the lambs of
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: the oval office. No one ever showed outward hostility. Most
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: except the labor leaders forgot their best rehearsed lines. They
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: nodded when the president spoke, and in those rare instances
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: when they disagreed, they said so, apologetically, assuring the president
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: that they personally respected his opinion. Ironicly, none were more
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: compliant than the religious leaders. Amazing in a sense, we
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: can understand. And that's not a place to take off
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: his shoes and run around barefoot. At the same time,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: it is just another man who represents only earthly authority,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: who must live his life under the mercy and grace
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: of God. For him to simply continue to breathe, to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: say nothing of just simply continuing to have a heartbeat.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: We can become overly impressed though we are heaven bound.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: We can become overly impressed with this world's authority, might
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: and power. On the other hand, we can become so
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: heavenly minded. We are of little earthly good And we
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: have all been around Christians like that sort of weird people.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: And I don't mean that to be unkind or means spirited,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: but where the pious spirit is so much that you
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: wonder why the Lord has delayed in calling them home
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: and why they have been left. But we are strange people,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, at best, the worlding must wonder what manner
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: of man or woman is this? At times I'm refreshed
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: to read over a w Tozier's words. A real Christian
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: one whom he has never seen. He talks familiarly every
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: day to someone he cannot see, expects to go to
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: heaven on the virtue of another, empties himself in order
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: to be full, Admits he is wrong so he can
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: be decay, clared right, goes down in order to get up.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Its strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: and happiest when he feels the worst. He dies so
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: he can live, forsakes in order to have. He gives
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: away so he can keep. He sees the invisible, here's
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the inaudible, and knows that which passes knowledge. He's weird.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: It's a strange person that does all of that, and
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: yet God has left us on this earth. It is
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: for a purpose that he does not quickly give us
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: an escape route to Heaven. As soon as we are converted,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: we are left here often and masses in comparison to
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: other groups who were suddenly taken. Why. What is our reason?
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: What is God's strategy? What is the purpose of leaving
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: heaven bound people bound to earth, and some of us
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: for decades of time after we are converted. This strange
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: strategy is described in simple terms in John chapters sixteen
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: and seventeen, to which I want you to turn on
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: our way to Philippians chapter three. Understand right away that
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: this grand section of scripture contains only our Lord's words.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: It isn't dialogue. There is no historical narrative to wade through.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: This is simply monologue. This is discourse where Jesus teaches
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: his faithful eleven. They are only ours removed from the cross.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: He is only minutes removed from Gathsemine, where he pours
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: out his heart, asking the Father, if it's possible, well
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to let the cup pass? Let it pass. Nevertheless, not
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: my will, but yours be done. All of that is
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: future to this moment. If you carry a red letter
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: edition of the New Testament, this is all in red.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Jesus is speaking his final will and testament to his
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: men on earth. I think if I were asked to
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: put it all in a statement or two or three,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I would choose three statements that would describe the strategy
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: God has for his own on this earth. First, you
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: will have inner peace amidst outer pain. You will have
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: inner peace in the midst of outer pain. Verse one.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: These things I've spoken to you that you may be
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: But an hour is coming for everyone who kills you
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: to think he is offering a service to go godd
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: You men have that to look forward to. There will
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: come a time when people will think they are doing
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: God a service by getting rid of you from this earth.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Look at the last verse of the same chapter. These
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: things I have spoken to you that in me you
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: may have peace. Now in the world you have tribulation.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: But take courage. I have overcome the world. Don't be
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: so impressed with the authority or the opinions, or the
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: convictions or the suggestions or the counsel of the world,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: or its threats or its wars that you lose direction.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: You'll find peace in me, I've overcome the world. But
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: you can count on this. In the midst of this peace,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: you're going to experience pain. As the old country preacher says,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: when the Lord sends us true, he spects us to tribulate.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: And a lot of us have been through times of
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: great tribulation, and in those times we've wondered, is the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Lord in it? Yes, is the answer. But in the
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: midst of it all there can be peace. So then,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: First of all, Christians are not supernaturally protected from life's blasts, aches, pains, heartaches, sorrows.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Christians can be murdered. Christians can be raped. Christians can
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: be divorced by uncaring mates. Christians can be taken advantage of.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Christians can become bankrupt. Christians can suffer the blows that
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: the worlding suffers, but there can be a peace that
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: accompanies the pain. Second, Christians are insulated, but not to
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: live isolated lives. That's very important. Christians are insolated, but
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: were not to live isolated lives. Look at Chapter seventeen.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: These things Jesus spoke, and lifting up his eyes to Heaven,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: said Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the son may glorify THEE, even as thou gavest him
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: authority over all mankind, that to all whom thou hast
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: given him, he may give eternal life. I love this verse,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: and this is eternal life, that they may know THEE,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: the only True God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: As an aside, how often I've heard people say, but
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: isn't it arrogant to say that there is only one
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: true God? Think of the sincere worshippers of their God
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: all around the world. Jesus's opinion is there is only
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: one verse three, the only True God and Jesus Christ,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: whom thou hast sent. Now verse eleven, I am no
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: more in the world. He's on his way out, you see.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: The crucifixion is just around the corner. I am no
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: more in the world. And yet they themselves are in
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the world, and I come to THEE Holy Father. Keep
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: them in thy name, the name which thou hast given me,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: that they may be one even as we are. While
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I was with them, I was keeping them in thy
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: name which thou hast given me, and I guarded them,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: and no one of them perished. Than as a quick reference,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: to Judas no one but the son of tradition, that
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to THEE,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: and these things I speak in the world, that they
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: may have my joy made full in themselves. I have
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: given them thy word, and the world has hated them
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: because they are not of the world, even as I
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: am not of the world. I do not ask THEE
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: to take them out of the world, but to keep
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: them from the evil one. You see the insulation but
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: not isolation emphasis here in verse fifteen. Don't remove them
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: from the midst of the cosmos, keep them in the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: midst of the world, but protect them almost like living
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: in the midst of that threat of a biological warfare,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and the protection of a mask and a proper clothing,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: which we have seen are military and even citizens draped
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: with over in the Middle East. They're in the midst
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: of a world that is deadly and deadening. Lord, protect
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: them in the midst of it. But let's not take
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: them out of it. Let's not isolate them. Life isn't
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: to be one simple Bible study of small cells of
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Christians removed from the earth. Things we are to mingle
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: among and be in touch with those of the world,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: though not to live like them. Now one more, Christians,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: though different, are to be unified verse sixteen. They are
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: not of the world, even as I am not of
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: truth verse twenty one. That they may be one, even
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: as Thou Father art in me, and I in thee,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: that they may be in us. That the world may
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: believe that thou didst send me. Notice why we are left,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: that the world may believe that thou didst send me
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Verse twenty three. I in them, thou in me, that
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: they may be perfected in unity. I read some one
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: of the translations. That they may be perfected into a unit.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Why that the world may know that Thou that send
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: me and it'st loved them, even as thou dost love me.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: There it is in a simple nutshell we are left
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: on this earth, that the world may come to know
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: they are loved. Christ has died. Eternal life is available
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: in Jesus Christ, and in him only Lord. Send them
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: into the midst of this world. Protect them in the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: blast that the world will give them. But let the
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: world hear from this unified front that you are real,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: that you are the only true God. Now, with all
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: of this as a background, turn finally to Philippians Chapter three.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Over a little further into the Letters of the New Testament,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: you'll find a four chapter book. We're working our way through.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Mine's starting to come out of its binding. We've been
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: in it for a while. Philippians, Chapter three. We've come
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: to the end of this chapter. And don't let the
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: chapter break throw you. Verse one of chapter four really
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: belongs at the end of chapter three, so let me
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: read it that way. And then we're gonna look at
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: this bad world with this big job we have to
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: do in the midst of a bigger God who watches
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: over us. Look at verse seventeen of Philippians three, brethren,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: So he's writing to Christians, brethren, join in following my
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: example and observe those who walk according to the pattern
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: you have in us. For many walk of whom I
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: often told you, and now tell you, even weeping, that
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: they are enemies of the Cross of Christ. That he
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: describes the enemies whose end is destruction, whose God is
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: set their mind on earthly things, for our citizenship is
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: in heaven. From which also we eagerly wait for a savior,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: our humble state into conformity with the body of His
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: glory by the exertion of the power that he has
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: whom I long to see my joy and crown, so
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: stand firm in the Lord. Okay, we learn from John
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: chapters sixteen and seventeen that God has a unique strategy
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: for those of us who fill this unique role. It
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: is not to take us off the earth when we're converted.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: It's to protect us through Even though there will be pain,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: we can have peace. And in the midst of it,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: while we are not isolated, we are able to live
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: insulate lives, and living those kind of lives means we
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: do so unified, giving the message to the lost world
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: that there is a true God and his son, Jesus Christ,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: who has died for their sins. Now, Brethren, Verse seventeen begins,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: there are several things that will help you with what
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I will call marching orders for the Christian I want
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: to reduce these verses to four statements. Something we need
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: is mentioned in verse seventeens there are those we are
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to live among eighteen and nineteen. Then there are those
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: we belong to in twenty and twenty one, and finally,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: there is something we must keep doing to make the
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: greatest impact. First we need we need examples to follow.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Chapter three, verse seventeen. Brethren, join in following my example.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: God has not put us on this earth to live
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: isolated lives, out of touch with and unimpressed by any
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: other human being. God leaves a wonderful legacy, not only
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: in printed form in Christian biography, but in living form
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: among those we admire, and so Paul is one of them.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: In the first century. He doesn't hesitate to say follow
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: my example. In one Corinton's eleven to one he says,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: follow me as I follow Christ. Is it limited to Paul? No,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the verse continues, and observe those who walk according to
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: the pattern you have in us. In other words, the
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: apostle Paul the first century lived a pattern. He lived
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: out a kind of life style that honored God. But
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: he wasn't alone, he said, there are others, and he
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: says to them, not only join in following his example,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: but observe others who walk according to the same pattern,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: and the implication is follow them as well. I've said
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: for years that it is terribly important that we have
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: heroes in life. Some heroes have gone on before us
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: and died. We read of them, we admire them as
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: they live their lives in absentia from our present existence.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: We often can call to mind their words because they
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: have been put into books. We remember their model. We've
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: seen them in the ranks of historical figures in years past.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: God has also given us people who are admirable that
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: live their lives on earth today. There is nothing in
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: the world wrong. In fact, there is everything right about
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: following their example. The only warning is that we not
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: idolize them. Our tendency is to pedestalize people we greatly admire,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and before long, if we fall into that trap, they
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: discourage us by some perfection, by some area of humanity
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: that emerges. What is it we look for in a
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: person's life we want to follow. Let me take a
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: quick excursion into first into two Timothy chapter three. So
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: I'll answer the question by reading another few verses a scripture.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: He says, follow my example in verse seventeen of Philippians three.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Let me show you what that includes, tewod Timothy three,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: verse ten. You want to know what to look for
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: in another person's life, what to model, what is worth modeling?
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Second Timothy three ten, and following. But you followed my teaching,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: my conduct, my purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, sufferings
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Listra.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: What persecutions I endured? And out of them all the
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Lord delivered me verse fourteen, same chapter. You, however, continue
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: in the things you have learned, and become convinced of
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: knowing from whom you have learned them. Once again, there's
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: another model we have learned from other people. Now, in
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Timothy's case, from childhood you have known the sacred writings
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: which you are able to give you the wisdom that
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Some of us are to follow the model of our parents.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: If we look for godly examples, some of you and
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: some of us can say, I remember a mother who
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: loved the name of the Savior. I remember a father
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: who modeled the message of Christ. Now back to Philippians three.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Those are the kind of things that you look for
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: in the exemplary lives of other people, people, all of
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: which cause me to say, are to give these words
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: of council. Number one, choose your friends very carefully. Close
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: friends become the people you emulate. Choose your close friends
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: very carefully. Second, privately study their lives those you admire,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: study them. How is it they're able to do what
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: they do? This is called at times mentoring. That is
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: the sort of the flip side of mentoring. There are mentors,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: and then there are those we admire, and we look
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to their lives. So study those lives privately. Third, follow
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: those who are most worthy of your admiration personally, needless say,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: many are not worth our following, And that becomes the
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: next subject. In Philippians three, there are many, so we
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: don't follow these, but he does describe these. There are
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: many who walk of whom I often told you, and
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: now tell you weeping. They are enemies of the Cross
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: of Christ. We live among enemies of the cross. Let's
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: add the word many. We live among many who are
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: enemies of the cross. And let me add we're supposed to.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: We're not to be isolated from those who are enemies
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: of the cross. We live among them on purpose. We
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: work among them, we do business with them, we relate
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: to them, so we limong those who were lost. I
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: get very nervous when I am around Christians who have
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: restricted their social involvements only to the saved. We are
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: to continue ministering to being among, doing business with, living
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: alongside those who were lost. In fact, you might think
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: verse eighteen sounds arrogant. They are enemies of the Cross. No,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Paul says, first, I tell you this weeping. There isn't
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: a sense of arrogance. In Paul's words. He saw them
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: as what they are, and he said it makes it
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: makes me weep when I realize the lostness of their estate. Fact,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: verse nineteen is maybe the most succinct description of the
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: lost person you can find in the New Testament, maybe
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: in all the Bible. Let me give it to you
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: in different words, and appears here. It says, whose end
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: is destruction? First, they are destined for eternal hopelessness. Let
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: that burn its way into your brain. They are destined
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: for eternal hopelessness. Nothing changes if they die in their
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: condition without Christ. It is a hopeless destiny. Think of that.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Their end is destruction. Second, God, their God is their appetite.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: They are driven by sensual appetites. Don't be surprised if
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: the whorling gravitates towards the sensual. I'm surprised when they don't.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: The whirling lives his or her life, and the eat,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: drink and be merry philosophy. That's all they know. That's
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: the way they've been taught. Their education is based on that.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: They've been brought up. That way they're exposed has been
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: like that. They're driven by sensual appetites. Third, they are
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: devoid of personal restraints. Their glory is and their shame,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: no holes barred. They lack of standard, Why hold back,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: get rid of unhealthy ideas that bring you guilt. You're
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: to live it up. And Fourth, they are dedicated to
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: material obsessions. They set their mind on minds on earthly things. Everything,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: it seems, draws the lost person to the scene. The tangible,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: the things that have price tags. Now that's a pretty
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: good list for you to guide your life behind and
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: staying away from the things that are like that, because
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: we're to live lives of salt and light that make
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: a difference. I think the most understated word in verses
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: eighteen and nineteen is the word many many walk who
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: are enemies of the Cross. Unless I miss my guess,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: most of us are not good students of the world population.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Most of us would have to admit it's been a
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: long time since we've looked at the facts based on
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: hard evidence that explained the condition of our entire world.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Spiritually speaking, I was rebuked this past week in reading
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: over a book entitled Target Earth how much I didn't
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: know about the hard evidence concerning our world. Listen, there
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: are one hundred fifty thousand Protestant missionaries today working in
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: the world at large, eighty five thousand from North America,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: thirty five thousand from other Western countries, thirty thousand from
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: non Western countries. Over ninety percent of these one hundred
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: fifty thousand Protestant missionaries are working where the church has
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: already been planted, and they're doing a tremendous job. You
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: know that among them, thirty five hundred churches are planted
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: every week, and you know, because of their efforts, seventy
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: thousand people receive Christ daily. That's the good news that
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: makes us want to shout. For the church has been planted.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: There is an explosion of effectiveness However, where the Church
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: has not been planted, nothing is happening. Fewer than ten
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: percent of today's missionaries are working among the two point
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: two billion people living in twelve thousand unreached people groups
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: where there is no witnessing church. The unreached people groups
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: speak over five thousand languages and have wide cultural differences.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: And now listen to this. Sixty six thousand people from
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: these groups die every day without Christ. That's forty six
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: every minute. Imagine. That's why the Savior said, go into
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: all the world, all the world, because as of nineteen
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: ninety one, there are two point two billion who will
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: never once hear the name of Jesus in a lifetime.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: That's why he prompts many to say, in one way
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: or another, yes, yes, Lord, Yes, their end is destruction,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: that God is their appetite. Their glory is in shame,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: and they mind, they set their minds on earthly things.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: God has placed us among enemies of the Cross on
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: purpose not to fight, not to get in arguments over theology,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: but to tell him about the Savior, and equally important,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: to live him among them. And if the unreached don't
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: touch you, that is those in those people groups that
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: are just beyond your imagination. How about those who work
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: across the desk go to the same school during your
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: sales force. They're a part of your law practice. They're
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: raising kids next door. Yes, Lord, yes, now, no mistake
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: about it. We belong to those who are bound for heaven.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: That's our number. Look at verse twenty. Our citizenship is
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: in heaven. Maffitt translates this, we are a colony of Heaven.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: I'm intrigued by that word citizenship. Poly tuma. The word
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: politics and politicals at the heart of that Greek word polytuma.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: By the way, it's used only in all the New Testament.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: It's the idea of conducting oneself or managing oneself as
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: a good citizen. So interestingly, and once again, the word
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: is unique. We are left on this earth as unique creatures.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: We have a conduct that's heavenly. Are supposed to be
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: living among a world of earthlings who are enemies, and
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: the difference is the salt and light. The contrast between
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: lifestyles is enough to make them sit up and take notice.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Our citizenship is in heaven. We have a different kind
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: of commander, of lord, of authority. We eagerly await the
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: savior of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and there's no reason
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: to hasten our departure. Some Christians read verses like this
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: and think the answer is to go now to glory. Well,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: who will take your place? Another argument against the Christian
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: and suicide. The purpose of living on this earth is
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: to make him known, to live his life. He will
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: one day transform the body of our humble state into
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: conformity with the body of his glory. By the exertion
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: of his power. He has to subject all things to himself.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: That'll happen, and by the way we are to live
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: our lives in the eager anticipation of his return, you
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: recall that you'll be transformed. Your body will be changed.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Wonderful thought. Those with handicaps no more handicaps. I've often thought,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: I wonder if that applies to fat Those who were
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: fat now will never be fat again. It's great. Would
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: it be be just like the Lord to surprise us
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: and get us in heaven and we'll all be fat
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: right there? I don't know. You know what it isn't
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: the problem of being so heavenly minded, We're no earthly good.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: I think it's a problem of being so earthly minded.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: We're of no good at all to buy into the
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Earth's system so completely that there's no difference. Why would
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: a lost person want something from someone else who looks
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: just like them, and sounds just like them, and struggles
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: over the same struggles and lacks of peace just like
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: they lack. No, you got the message question for you?
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: How's the war coming along? How's the battle? You're following
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: good examples? Are you encountering regularly enemies of the cross,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: sharing with them the answers to the things they're missing?
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: Is your conduct different? Is it representing heaven? Where your
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: citizenship is? Are you standing firm? Not standing still, but
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: standing firm. I'm very well aware that it isn't God's
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: plan to call every one of us to some foreign field.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: He hasn't called me, for example, so obviously my message
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: is not a design to bring people under guilt. He
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: may be calling you, he may someday call me, But
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: what is it he would have us do? How do
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: we go? I want to suggest that, in the month
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: that is unrolling in front of us, equip yourself with
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: an amount of knowledge that will give you a sense
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: of confidence. Make plans to set aside other involvements, so
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: you can do that. There's a summer missionary program around
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: the corner. You could put your business on hold for
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: a few weeks go. You could put your medical practice
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: on a temporary set aside period of a hovering while
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: you get involved firsthand in some form of missions. You
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: can step away from the sales responsibility. Maybe if it's
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: just the two to three week vacation. Could be it
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: could be a financial commitment that's deeper than you've ever
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: given to some particular phase, so that somebody else can
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: go in your place. Could be that that literally means
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: go and to get there will mean a serious plan
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: to get out of debt, to free yourself up. So
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: you if you're married, you and your family can go,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: or if you're single, you can on your own, be
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: on your way. So what does it take? Verse one?
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: We must stand firm there it is. That's how we're
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: to live. Follow examples. Don't idolize the models. Be with
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: those who are enemies, but don't be like them. Live
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: heavenly lives, though earth bound. And finally, stand firm, but
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: don't stand still. That verse doesn't mean stand still and
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: collect dust. There's a war on and in the midst
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: of the war. It is easy, as we have seen
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: on television, it is easy for those warriors to feel panic,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: or to be tempted to defect, or to lose our orientation.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: No standing firm represents a gain plan of consistently and
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: continually representing Christ sharing his message. Stand firm in the Lord,
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: my Beloved receding message. It's a mad, bad, sad world,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: but was copyrighted in nineteen ninety one and the sound
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: recording was copyrighted in two thousand and eight by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.