Covenant Caswell

Genesis 1:1-2:3 
Who 
 
I. Know Yourself 
1. “Know yourself,” was the advice of ancient Greek philosophy. Oedipus didn’t know himself. 
2. Who you come from is key to knowing who you are. 
3. Modern, materialistic people believe in the myth of time and chance; that we are only a “naked ape.” 
4. The major problem with the myth is not how but who. The myth says we are only the products of time and chance. 
5. So, they believe that we are nothing more than animals that happened to develop brains rather than claws. 
6. That myth produces people who think that man was made for bread alone. So, they live for making money instead of worshipping God. 
7. Genesis 1 lifts humanity up, telling us we are more than the lucky product of time and chance. 
II. The Scene Setting (1:1-2) 
A. God Created the Universe (1:1) 
1. God created everything, all matter, all stars, galaxies, the solar system, etc. 
2. God was already there in the beginning. Only He is the Creator. Everything else is created. 
3. The pagans believed the sky, the seas, the sun, moon, and stars, were gods. 
4. That God created the universe means that He created matter, even your body. 
5. Materialism is the belief that matter is all there is. So, they live for money, for the stuff you can buy, for your body, etc. 
6. Pseudo-spirituality is the belief that matter doesn’t matter; that nothing “natural” is spiritual. 
7. Biblical Christians are pro-science because God made nature and invites us to study it and master it. 
B. Setting the Stage (1:2) 
1. “The earth was void and desolate.” It was not, immediately after creation, fit for living. 
2. God creates out of nothing. We make things out of pre-existing things. God is the only One who creates. 
3. “And darkness was over the face of the deep,” implying that the earth was dark and watery. 
4. “And the Spirit of God was hovering ...”. The verb hovering is used in Deuteronomy 32:11. 
5. It evokes the image of a hen brooding over her chicks. It suggests nurturing, care, supervision. 
III. The Scene (1:3-2:3) 
A. The Days 
1. There are seven days, each of them introduced with the same refrain, a signal, like a rooster crowing. 
2. Every day begins with this signal: “and God said.” So, the first day begins in verse 3. 
3. In the first day, God brings light on the “face of the deep,” on earth. It’s day and night on earth. 
4. Every day is marked as ending with “there was evening and there was morning,” the number of the day. 
5. Six times, in verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, God sees the creation in its various stages and says, “It is good.” 
6. The second day God makes the sky with rain-bearing clouds (1:6-8). 
7. The third day He makes the dry land separate from the seas (1:9-10), not the creation of the earth. 
8. The third day, God makes plant life, “according to its kind,” the wide variety of plants (1:11-13). 
9. The fourth day, God makes the sun to rule the day and the moon the night (1:14-19). They were created in verse 1. On day four they are were given a role. 
10. In the fifth day God creates the aquatic animals (1:20-23). The special word for “create” is used for life. 
11. Life doesn’t arise randomly, by chance, out of matter. It is created by God. 
12. The sixth day comes in two parts (1: 24-31). First, the creation of land animals, God’s “footprints.” 
B. Humanity Created in God’s Image 
1. God consults with Himself. A singular God speaking to Himself in the plural. 
2. Theologians debate what the image of God is but whatever it is, it sets us apart from the animals. 
3. To treat other races as beasts show is to reject that all people are made in the image of God. 
4. We are also created man, as male and female. Sexism that denigrates women is not pleasing to God. 
5. The sexes were made by God. Sexual identify is not a social construct but a divine construct. 
6. No kind of human being because of race or sex or age is less in God’s image than any other. 
7. God gives us a mission: multiply and subdue the earth, complete the work He began, be life-cultivators. 
8. Living for dead things leads to deadness. Fertility is a gift from the One true God. 
9. The myth of chance has ended with people being reduced to the level of the beasts. 
10. Do we spend so much on material luxuries, that we have little left over for other image-bearers? 
11. After God has made humanity, He sees it all and proclaims, “It is very good,” (1:31). 
12. Like God, we not only have work, we have rest. That’s why there is the day of rest (2:1-3.) 
13. We were all made to need a day of rest, time to turn away from the material to the spiritual. 
IV. Invitation: We don’t comprehend the magnitude of what God did when He became man, came as Jesus; what He did on the cross because so often we don’t comprehend who we are, how small we are; just a creature; how big God is, the Creator, how we’re not God. When we understand who God is and who we are we see that grace is amazing.

Genesis 1:1-2:3
Who

I. Know Yourself
1. “Know yourself,” was the advice of ancient Greek philosophy. Oedipus didn’t know himself.
2. Who you come from is key to knowing who you are. 
3. Modern, materialistic people believe in the myth of time and chance; that we are only a “naked ape.”
4. The major problem with the myth is not how but who. The myth says we are only the products of time and chance.
5. So, they believe that we are nothing more than animals that happened to develop brains rather than claws.
6. That myth produces people who think that man was made for bread alone. So, they live for making money instead of worshipping God.
7. Genesis 1 lifts humanity up, telling us we are more than the lucky product of time and chance.
II. The Scene Setting (1:1-2)
A. God Created the Universe (1:1)
1. God created everything, all matter, all stars, galaxies, the solar system, etc.
2. God was already there in the beginning. Only He is the Creator. Everything else is created.
3. The pagans be

Genesis 1:1-2:3, Who

Romans 6:1-14 
What Now? 
 
I. What now? After a Major Stage in Life 
A. What Now? After Some Major Event in Life 
1. Maybe you want to start a restaurant? How do you start? First, find a location. 
2. Is one of the first things you do is buy a sign? Do you hire staff right away? 
3. You get married, then have children, then raise them. You wonder, is this all there is? 
4. Inactivity doubles the risk for depression. They with-draw and become more inactive. 
5. Some people waste their time and gravitate to whatever entertains them. 
B. What Now? Is a Question for the Truly Saved? 
1. After believing the gospel, is there anything you have to do? 
2. After being freed from serving sin, is there anyone you have to serve? 
II. The Myth of Neutrality (6:15-16) 
A. Are We Live Like We Were Before? 
1. “Yes” say those who pose the absurd question thrown at Paul (6:15). 
2. The myth of neutrality: that you can be saved and what you do now is neutral. It’s justification without sanctification. Sanctification is growing in holiness. 
3. “By no means.” It is the false teaching of antinomianism, lawlessness, easy-believism: the false idea that you have no new master; that we’re neutral. 
4. True conversion is a transfer of one kind of slavery to another. It is switching masters. 
B. “Do You Not Know” That Neutrality Is a Myth? 
1. You serve one master or the other, either sin or the Lord (6:16) 
2. You have to decide which master you will present yourself to: Sin or Obedience. 
3. The antinomian gospel, that you can be saved and unchanged, is a diabolical lie. 
III. The Master of Our New Selves (6: 17-19) 
A. Christians Have Become Slaves of a New Master 
1. The obedience, the right practice (orthopraxy). 
a. The modern Christians often thinks that that is “legalism” to be told to “obey”. 
b. You’ll have to accept the tortuous word “obey.” What you do now is obey. 
2. The obedience “from the heart”; the right feeling, the right spirit (orthopathy). 
a. Now you love God with all your heart and do as you please! 
b. You have to have a heart that truly loves God and wants to obey Him. 
3. The “standard of teaching”, the right doctrine, the orthodoxy 
a. They are obedient to a “form of teaching,” a specific body of instruction. 
b. Our church covenant is a standard of teaching, to which we are to be obedient. 
B. Slaves To Righteousness 
1. “Lawlessness” led to more lawlessness. We became more uninhibited. 
2. If we disobey sin, then God is our master and He leads us to “sanctification” (6:19). 
IV. The Moral of the Story (6: 20 To 23) 
A. The Difference Salvation Makes 
1. Which master we choose will result either in our moral deterioration or our moral transformation. 
2. Now you serve God. It’s as big as the difference between reality and fiction. 
3. The theory of the “carnal Christian” says we can continue in sin and still be saved. 
a. They say, that the carnal Christian has just not yet made Jesus “Lord” of his life. 
b. There may be some immature Christians for a while but all truly saved people are now “slaves to God” (6:22). 
B. What Now? Sanctification, Growth in Holiness. 
1. True conversion is an act of self-surrender which leads to obedient serving which leads to growing in holiness, fighting sin, maturing, becoming more like Jesus. 
2. If you are not being sanctified, there is no reason to believe that you have been justified. 
V. Invitation: True salvation begins a new life. You are free from sin but not free for neutrality. You’ve got to serve somebody! Sin will pay you with death. God will give you a gracious gift, found in Jesus Christ your Lord: eternal life. What now? From the heart, serve Him!

Romans 6:1-14
What Now?

I. What now? After a Major Stage in Life
A. What Now? After Some Major Event in Life
1. Maybe you want to start a restaurant? How do you start? First, find a location.
2. Is one of the first things you do is buy a sign? Do you hire staff right away?
3. You get married, then have children, then raise them. You wonder, is this all there is?
4. Inactivity doubles the risk for depression. They with-draw and become more inactive.
5. Some people waste their time and gravitate to whatever entertains them.
B. What Now? Is a Question for the Truly Saved?
1. After believing the gospel, is there anything you have to do?
2. After being freed from serving sin, is there anyone you have to serve?
II. The Myth of Neutrality (6:15-16) 
A. Are We Live Like We Were Before?
1. “Yes” say those who pose the absurd question thrown at Paul (6:15).
2. The myth of neutrality: that you can be saved and what you do now is neutral. It’s justification without sanctification. Sanctification 

Romans 6:15-23, What Now?

Romans 1:18-32 
What Is God Angry About? 
 
I. Is God Angry? 
A. Our Culture Says No 
1. We get angry when we get irritated, something doesn’t go our way, treated disrespectfully. 
2. Selfish drivers in front of you, insults, printers that don’t work, customers who don’t pay. 
3. We think of anger as a petty, selfish, passing thing, a fit that overcomes us, an outburst. 
B. God’s Wrath is a Fixed Fury, an Ongoing Opposition to Sin 
1. Jonathan Edwards’ (愛德華滋約拿單（1703-1758）) preached the famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. 
2. People today think it is a bizarre, even perverse, expression of a twisted, false theology. 
3. False teachers congratulate themselves that they know better about God. 
4. The reality is that the gospel begins by declaring that God is angry. 
5. John the Baptist declared “the ax is laid to the root of the trees” (Luke 3:9.) 
6. Jesus declared “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand;” judgment is coming. 
7. In Acts 17, Paul declared that now, “He commands all men everywhere to repent.” 
II. The Horrible Exchange (1:18-23) 
A. Not Ashamed of the Good News Because the Bad News is Revealed 
1. We desperately need to be right with Him because He is angry. “Wrath” means anger. 
2. The simplistic idea is that the Old Testament pictures an angry God, judging and punishing. 
3. The opposite is the case. Before, God was patient, now He’s revealing His anger. 
4. The word for “anger” (“wrath”) is a word that implies passion, fury, heat. 
B. God’s Anger Is Against Two Things: (1) Ungodliness And (2) Unrighteousness. 
1. Our basic problem is our bad relationship with God (“ungodliness”). 
2. Truths about God are manifest, exposed, brought out to the open, so anyone can see. 
3. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, (384 – 322 BC) looked at the universe and saw that there must be One eternal God, whom he called “the necessary Being.” 
4. Other scientists have looked through a telescope at space and seen evidence of a Creator or through a microscope at single cells and DNA and seen a Designer. 
5. But other, “secular bigots”, suppress the truth. He has enough evidence in nature. 
6. So even the isolated tribe that has never heard of God and Jesus has enough evidence in the stars at night, to turn to God and seek Him. So they are not innocent. 
7. The horrible exchange: instead of keeping the knowledge of God, they exchanged it for worthless things, like the god of wealth (财神), still followed in our modern age. 
8. Americans exchange the true God for money, pleasure, the one “true love”, the fantasy lover. 
9. This is like having pure gold and being foolish enough to exchange it for gravel. 
III. The Terrifying Surrender (1:24-32) 
A. We’ve Been Given Over 
1. The worst thing that God can do to you, now, is to leave you alone. 
2. Suppression of the truth about God leads to a surrender to perversions. 
B. God Gave People Up to Dishonorable Passions (1:26) 
1. The prime example of dishonorable passions is the perversion of homosexuality. 
2. It used to be that people assumed homosexuality to be dishonorable, unnatural, shameless. 
3. Now homosexuality objections to it are commonly categorized as if they were a bigotry like racism but that is bogus. When we object to homosexuality, we’re not pre-judging the people; it’s post-judging the actions. 
4. A society that has opened the door to something this plainly unnatural has suffered the terrible surrender. 
5. C. S. Lewis said, “A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.” 
C. God Is Angry: We’ve seen not worshipped God and so God gives people up to what they want to serve. We want to be left alone and feel there really isn’t much wrong with us after all. 
IV. Invitation: God’s anger is our problem. We’ve turned from God and He is angry at us. But the good news is that the anger of God is revealed against our sin on Christ on the cross. Even though Jesus was the one person in all of history who had never exchanged the truth of God for a lie, yet the Father revealed His hot anger on Him, so that He could have none left for us. In the gospel, the anger of God is being revealed. And in the gospel it is being revealed that God solved the problem of His own anger, on the cross. In the gospel now it is revealed that He has no more anger for His people. Has that been revealed to you?

Romans 1:18-32
What Is God Angry About?

I. Is God Angry?
A. Our Culture Says No
1. We get angry when we get irritated, something doesn’t go our way, treated disrespectfully.
2. Selfish drivers in front of you, insults, printers that don’t work, customers who don’t pay.
3. We think of anger as a petty, selfish, passing thing, a fit that overcomes us, an outburst.
B. God’s Wrath is a Fixed Fury, an Ongoing Opposition to Sin
1. Jonathan Edwards’ (愛德華滋約拿單（1703-1758）) preached the famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”.
2. People today think it is a bizarre, even perverse, expression of a twisted, false theology.
3. False teachers congratulate themselves that they know better about God.
4. The reality is that the gospel begins by declaring that God is angry.
5. John the Baptist declared “the ax is laid to the root of the trees” (Luke 3:9.) 
6. Jesus declared “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand;” judgment is coming.
7. In Acts 17, Paul declared that now, “He commands all

Romans 1:18-32, What Is God Angry About?, Dr. John Carpenter

Malachi 2:10-16 
What Does It Mean to Be the People of God? 
 
I. What’s It Mean to be God’s People? 
1. Nations teach us what it means to be of their nation. Americans know that to be American means to keep Thanksgiving. Chinese learn what it means to be Chinese. 
2. In 1779 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Mrs. Deane married John Fisk. She was a Christian. He wasn’t. 
3. Mrs. Deane’s pastor objected to them being married. When she married him, she was excommunicated. 
4. What it meant to be one of God’s people is that they were not supposed to marry non-God’s people. 
5. Mrs. Fisk believed that “marriage is purely a transaction of a civil kind.” 
6. In Mrs. Fisk’s attitude her faith was disconnected from her marriage. It’s just a “personal relationship.” 
II. The Trap of Compromised Covenants (2:10-12) 
A. Covenants 
1. God’s people are in covenant. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us and so made a new covenant. 
2. God accuses them of being faithless. They’ve put a lot of attention to their religion. They cry. 
3. Then they would date and marry like anyone else. Or maybe handle money like anyone else. 
4. If we’re emotional about God, does He really care about our love life or money? Yes, He does care. 
5. Notice those strong words: “faithlessness”; “abomination”, “profaning.” What’s the heinous sin? 
6. Many have “married the daughter of a foreign god.” They’ve married those of another religion. 
7. God considers the intentional entering into a marriage with a non-believer to be a lack of loyalty. 
B. Relationships 
1. To call yourself one of God’s people and then live just like the world is to commit treason. 
2. To be unfaithful is to be faithless, to not believe that the Lord is sufficient, that He is enough. 
3. By entering into such relationships we show that our relationship with Jesus is a low priority to us. 
4. The Lord describes this kind of inter-marriage as an “abomination”, that means it is “detestable.” 
5. It is profaning the sanctuary. Profaning means making common something that is special to God. 
C. Exceptions that Prove the Rule 
1. We are not talking about when a spouse is converted after they were married and the other is not. 
2. The believer is supposed to stay faithfully married, even if the other spouse remains unconverted. 
3. God may use the witness of the believing spouse to save the other one (1 Cor. 7). 
4. We are not talking about when one partner appeared to be a Christian before marriage but wasn’t. 
5. When a Christian marries a non-Christian the relationship slowly erodes her commitment to God. 
6. Some people thought they were Christians until they became involved with a non-Christian. 
7. Immature Christians become involved with a nominal Christian (a Christian in name only). 
8. Christians can unintentionally get involved with someone who is not a believer. 
9. To intentionally walk into a relationship with an unbeliever is faithlessness. 
10. John Piper: “I will never fall in love with a person who does not love Jesus.” 
11. Nancy Leigh DeMoss: “I purpose never to become involved in a relationship with a guy who is not a true follower of Jesus Christ.” (in Lies Young Women Believe, p. 90.) 
III. The Tragedy of Cancelled Covenants (2:13-16) 
A. Covenant-Keepers Like God 
1. God’s people are covenant-keepers. Guard against the tragedy of cancelled covenants. 
2. God takes our marriage commitments very seriously. He holds us to our wedding vows. 
3. In marriage He makes us one with our spouse. He is seeking “godly offspring” (2:15). 
4. Teach children the gospel, their need for salvation, bring them to church. 
5. The man who divorces just he doesn’t feel in love, has committed adultery and done violence. 
B. Guard Yourself 
1. Guard yourselves. Be diligent, like a guard on duty on a wall, like a sentinel expecting an attack. 
2. Lookout for ingratitude, bitterness, unforgiveness; for too much expectation, for other relationships. 
3. Be on guard against pornography and anything that could make you a covenant-breaker. 
4. Guard yourself to stay faithful even when it’s not so fun any more; watch your fantasies. 
5. God is angry with compartmentalized religion. Outside that box, we think we can be like the world. 
6. That kind of disintegrated religion creates self-indulgent, covenant breakers. 
7. To be one of God’s people means everything about all your life: sex, money, our words, TV, etc. 
IV. Invitation: To be one of God’s people means to have a faith that makes you faithful, to be full of faith in every compartment of your life. Our first need is to see whether we are really in the faith. “Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. . . . Don’t you know that Christ is in you?” (2 Corinthians 13:5.) If He is in You, He will not be confined to your religion. He will be the Lord of all your life. But if your faith can be confined, if it doesn’t fill your dating and your married life, your money, your work, your family, all your life, then you ought to examine yourself whether you fail the test.

Malachi 2:10-16
What Does It Mean to Be the People of God?

I. What’s It Mean to be God’s People?
1. Nations teach us what it means to be of their nation. Americans know that to be American means to keep Thanksgiving. Chinese learn what it means to be Chinese.
2. In 1779 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Mrs. Deane married John Fisk. She was a Christian. He wasn’t.
3. Mrs. Deane’s pastor objected to them being married. When she married him, she was excommunicated.
4. What it meant to be one of God’s people is that they were not supposed to marry non-God’s people.
5. Mrs. Fisk believed that “marriage is purely a transaction of a civil kind.”
6. In Mrs. Fisk’s attitude her faith was disconnected from her marriage. It’s just a “personal relationship.”
II. The Trap of Compromised Covenants (2:10-12)
A. Covenants
1. God’s people are in covenant. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us and so made a new covenant.
2. God accuses them of being faithless. They’ve put a lot of attention to their religion. 

Malachi 2:10-16, What Does It Mean to Be the People of God?

Sermon Title: The Pernicious Problem of Pride 
Sermon Text: James 4:6 
 
1. How does the Bible define pride? 
a. Definition: Pride is... 
i. An internal disposition of the heart - 2 Chronicles 32:25-26; Psalms 101:5 
ii. Which inordinately elevates self - Isaiah. 2:11-17; Matthew 23:12 
iii. Over and against God and others - Psalm 10:2-4 
b. Is pride the original sin? 
2. How does God respond to pride? 
a. God opposes the proud - James 4:6 
b. God will judge the proud - Isaiah 2:11-17; Proverbs 16:5; Zephaniah 3:11 
3. How does pride manifest in our lives? 
a. Biblical examples 
b. Day-to-day life examples 
4. What medicine does the Bible give us to treat the sin of pride? 
a. Broad spectrum antibiotics 
i. Believe the bad news of the gospel - Romans 3:23; 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3; Jeremiah 17:9; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 
ii. Believe the good news of the gospel - John 3:16; Ephesians 2:4-9; Romans 5:8; 1 John 2:1. 
 
 
布道标题：骄傲是有害的问题 
布道文本：雅各书 4:6 
 
1. 圣经如何定义骄傲？ 
1.定义：骄傲是... 
i .内心的性情倾向 - 历 代 志 下 32:25-26;诗篇 101:5 
ii.过度地提升了自我——以赛亚。 2:11-17;马太福音 23:12 
三、反对上帝和其他人 - 诗篇 10:2-4 
骄傲是原罪吗？ 
2. 上帝如何回应骄傲？ 
1.神阻挡骄傲的人 - 雅各书 4:6 
神会审判骄傲的人——以赛亚书 2:11-17；箴言 16:5;西番雅书 3:11 
3. 骄傲如何在我们的生活中体现？ 
1.圣经例子 
2.日常生活中的例子 
4. 圣经给了我们什么药来治疗骄傲的原罪？ 
a .广谱抗生素 
i .相信福音的坏消息 - 罗马书 3:23； 6:23;以弗所书 2:1-3;耶利米书 17:9; 1 哥林多前书 1:26-31 
ii.相信福音的好消息 - 约翰福音 3:16；以弗所书 2:4-9;罗马书 5:8;约翰一书 2:1。pi  
iii. Make it your highest ambition to glorify God - John 3:30; Romans 11:36; Matthew 6:33; Colossians 1:16; Psalm 104:1; Habakkuk 2:14; Revelation 7:9-12 
iv. Cultivate the grace of humility - James 4:6; Isaiah 57:15; 66:2 Philippians 2:3-8; Matthew 23:12 
b. Targeted antibiotics to treat specific forms of pride 
i. The pride of moral self-righteousness: 
1. Humility remembers that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled - Luke 18:10-14 
2. Humility remembers that our best deeds are as filthy rags - Isaiah 64:6 
3. Humility acknowledges that except for the grace of God we could be just as bad or worse than anyone around us - Titus 3:3-7; 1 Corinthians 15:9-10. 
 
三、要把荣耀神作为你最大的志向——约翰福音 3:30；罗马书 11:36；马太福音 6:33;歌罗西书 1:16;诗篇 104:1；哈巴谷书 2:14;启示录 7:9-12 
四、培养谦卑的恩典 - 雅各书 4:6；以赛亚书 57:15； 66:2 腓立比书 2:3-8；马太福音 23:12 
靶向抗生素治疗特定形式的骄傲 
i .道德上自以为是的骄傲： 
1. 要记的谦卑，因为凡自高的必降为卑 - 路加福音 18:10-14 
2. 谦卑记得，我们最好的行为就像污秽的破布 - 以赛亚书 64:6 
3. 谦卑承认，除了上帝的恩典，我们可能和我们周围的任何人一样坏或更坏- 提多书 3:3-7； 1 哥林多前书 15:9-10。  
ii. The pride of elevated position 
1. Humility lowers itself like Christ to sacrificially serve others - Philippians 2:3-8 
2. Humility counts service as true greatness - Mark 12:42-45 
iii. The pride of achievement or possession 
1. Humility happily admits that everything we have is a free gift from God so that whatever we have we cannot boast in it - 1 Corinthians 4:7 
iv. The pride of attention-seeking/recognition 
1. Humility cares only about God’s recognition - Matthew 6:4 
v. The pride of a critical spirit 
1. Humility sees the log in one’s own eye before the speck in another’s eye - Matthew 7:3-5. 
 
 
ii.崇高地位的骄傲 
1. 谦卑的像基督一样降低自己，以牺牲的方式服事他人 - 腓立比书 2:3-8 
2. 谦卑的将服事视为真正的伟大 - 马可福音 12:42-45 
三、完全的骄傲或拥有的骄傲 
1. 谦卑愉快地承认，我们所拥有的一切都是来自上帝的恩典，因此无论我们拥有什么，我们都不能以此自夸 - 哥林多前书 4:7 
四、寻求关注/认可的自豪感 
1. 谦卑的只关心上帝认可 的事-—马太福音 6:4 
v. 批判精神的骄傲 
1. 谦卑的看到自己眼中的梁木，而不是别人眼中的刺 - 马太福音 7:3-5

Sermon Title: The Pernicious Problem of Pride
Sermon Text: James 4:6

1. How does the Bible define pride?
a. Definition: Pride is...
i. An internal disposition of the heart - 2 Chronicles 32:25-26; Psalms 101:5
ii. Which inordinately elevates self - Isaiah. 2:11-17; Matthew 23:12
iii. Over and against God and others - Psalm 10:2-4
b. Is pride the original sin? 
2. How does God respond to pride? 
a. God opposes the proud - James 4:6
b. God will judge the proud - Isaiah 2:11-17; Proverbs 16:5; Zephaniah 3:11
3. How does pride manifest in our lives? 
a. Biblical examples
b. Day-to-day life examples
4. What medicine does the Bible give us to treat the sin of pride?
a. Broad spectrum antibiotics
i. Believe the bad news of the gospel - Romans 3:23; 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3; Jeremiah 17:9; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
ii. Believe the good news of the gospel - John 3:16; Ephesians 2:4-9; Romans 5:8; 1 John 2:1.


布道标题：骄傲是有害的问题
布道文本：雅各书 4:6

1. 圣经如何定义骄傲？
1.定义：骄傲是...
i .内心的性情倾向 - 历 代 志 下 32:25-26;诗篇 101:5

The Pernicious Problem of Pride, Brad Kinnison, James 4:6, etc.

Deuteronomy 32:48-33:29 
Which Gift Do You Want? 
 
I. If You Could Have Any Talent What Would It Be? 
1. Would you like to have Bill Gates’ genius at business? Or Warren Buffet’s ability to invest? 
2. Or is popularity your goal? Or would you like to be an athletic star? The Olympics is coming soon. 
3. Often we only dream of being the star not one of the many people needed to make it happen. 
4. Our culture (including our church culture) elevates one or two gifts as the really important ones. 
5. There’s a lot of people trying to be preachers but there aren’t a lot willing to help the church minister. 
II. Moses’ Half-Gift (32:48-52) 
1. These are Moses’ last words, he announces God’s gifts to them. Different gifts for different people. 
2. Moses is told ‘this is the end.’ Go up to Mount Nebo. The vista is the Lord’s half-gift to Moses. 
3. Moses had broken God’s command. Moses was told to speak to the rock so water would come out. 
4. Instead, he hit it. He made it looked like it came out by human exertion, sheer force of human will. 
5. Moses had not treated Him as “holy.” Moses didn’t show that God’s word is weighty. 
6. Moses felt more of his own frustration than He did the holiness of God. So he hit the rock. 
7. We must have such a sense of the holiness of God that when He commands we obey. 
8. There’s little sense of the holiness of God when we only consider what we want, not God’s commands. 
III. The Giver and the Gifts (33:1-29) 
A. The Giver (33:1-5a) 
1. Most people want their last words to be meaningful, memorable, a gift for those they leave behind. 
2. The greatest blessing you can give to anyone is to let them know that first God is to be exalted. 
3. The Lord has come to us, dawned on us, shone forth for us. He is the God who has spoken. 
4. The great Christian philosopher Francis Schaffer (died 1984) wrote The God Who is There. 
5. Modern, Western culture essentially doesn’t believe in God. So it has no standard of truth or beauty. 
6. God has revealed Himself. That’s one of His greatest gifts to us. He has come, dawned and shined. 
7. The Lord came forth “from the ten thousands of holy ones,” from His church (assembly, kahal) 
8. He reveals Himself to and through the church. They see churches like restaurants instead of families. 
9. God loves His people and He expects you to also. The church is a body you belong to. 
10. His written revelation, the Bible, is the possession, the gift to the church. By it God becomes king. 
11. Through the Bible His Kingdom comes over His people “Jeshurun,” the “upright one.” 
B. The Gifts (33:5b-25) 
1. The elders assembled, then Moses gave them his blessing, a different gift for each tribe. 
2. Do you want to be the one that gets to rule, the kingship or be intermediaries with God? 
3. Reuben: They’re blessed to continue to exist, but cursed to be few because of Reuben’s immorality. 
4. Judah: The Lion of the Tribe of Judah was heard; the Lord brought Him back safely by raising Him. 
5. Simeon: gets no gift; Genesis 49:7, “scatter them in Israel;” they are absorbed by Judah. 
6. Levi: “at Massah” the rest of Israel failed but Levi didn’t; they become priests and deacons. 
a. “Bless, O Lord, his substance,” or ability, or “skill.” They need a talent, a gift, that is blessed. 
b. Some of the Levites are priests and some of them support the priests, like deacons in the NT. 
7. Benjamin: “beloved of the Lord;” the Apostle Paul boasts that he’s from the tribe of Benjamin. 
8. Joseph: usually divide him into two: Ephraim and Manasseh; “the choicest gifts of heaven above.” 
9. Zebulun & Issachar: will draw abundance from the sea and treasures in the sand, so “rejoice.” 
10. Gad: Anyone who expands Gad is blessed because Gad went over to expand the rest of Israel. 
11. Dan: small, like a cub, but fierce, like a lion 
12. Naphtali: “sated with favor.” Wouldn’t we want to be fully satisfied with God’s love. 
13. Asher: “most blessed,” “favorite;” one of the few still existing in the New Testament (Luke 2:26.) 
C. The Giver (33:26-29) 
1. “There is none like God, O Jeshurun,” upright one. Instead of looking at the gifts, Look to the Giver. 
2. “The eternal God is your dwelling place.” Live in Him, for Him, not for gifts, not for the spotlight. 
3. Lean on His everlasting arms; they uphold you. Safe and secure from all alarms. We live in safety. 
4. Blessed are you, holy ones, the church. Together, you have all the gifts you need. 
5. “Who is like you?,” church, a people “saved by the Lord.” No one else is. 
IV. Invitation: We didn’t save or bless or give to ourselves. The Lord did it, shielding us, giving us His sword of the Spirit, His Word, putting all His enemies under His feet so we are lead in triumph. Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift.

Deuteronomy 32:48-33:29
Which Gift Do You Want?

I. If You Could Have Any Talent What Would It Be?
1. Would you like to have Bill Gates’ genius at business? Or Warren Buffet’s ability to invest?
2. Or is popularity your goal? Or would you like to be an athletic star? The Olympics is coming soon.
3. Often we only dream of being the star not one of the many people needed to make it happen.
4. Our culture (including our church culture) elevates one or two gifts as the really important ones.
5. There’s a lot of people trying to be preachers but there aren’t a lot willing to help the church minister.
II. Moses’ Half-Gift (32:48-52)
1. These are Moses’ last words, he announces God’s gifts to them. Different gifts for different people.
2. Moses is told ‘this is the end.’ Go up to Mount Nebo. The vista is the Lord’s half-gift to Moses.
3. Moses had broken God’s command. Moses was told to speak to the rock so water would come out.
4. Instead, he hit it. He made it looked like it came out by hum

Deuteronomy 32:48-33:29, Which Gift Do You Want?

Deuteronomy 32:1-47 
Who Do You Think You’re Dealing With? 
 
I. Ever Met Someone Who Turned Out To Be Different From What You Thought? 
1. Maybe you under-estimated someone you thought was average but he turned out to be a big shot. 
2. You start talking about your health to someone who turns out to be a doctor. 
3. It’s important to know who you are dealing with. In World War 2, a US general was detained. 
4. A common theme on TV is an encounter in which one person doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. 
5. Hebrews 13:2 says be hospitable because some people have “entertained angels unaware.” 
6. Jesus said, “As you’ve done it to the least of these you’ve done it unto Me” (Matthew 25:40). 
II. God’s Eternal Majesty(32:1-4) 
A. Why We Sing 
1. This chapter is meant to be sung. Many people think singing is for our entertainment. 
2. Many people think the way to teach about God is with a catechism, or teaching, maybe a book. 
3. Some people can’t imagine that singing is part of learning about God. They think it’s too soulish. 
4. Songs give expression of the soul better than teaching and catechisms. He gives them a song. 
B. Praise 
1. People need to hear about the greatness of God. Praising God refreshes. 
2. C. S. Lewis, “the humblest and at the same time the most balanced and capacious minds praise most, while the … malcontents praise the least. … Praise seems to be inner health made audible.” 
3. God’s work is perfect because all His ways are justice. God defines what justice is. 
4. God is faithful. He keeps His commitments. Psalm 15 says the faithful swear to their own hurt. 
5. God swore to save His people and kept that commitment at the cost of the cross. 
6. If you really care about something you don’t feel complete until you get to tell others about it. 
III. God’s Past Generosity (32:5-18) 
2. God is their father who created them, who made them and established them; put them on a rock. 
3. “The Lord’s portion is His people.” He chose to be a father to them, to care for them. 
4. He finds us in a dry and weary land where no water is, nothing life-giving in this world. 
5. Keeping them as “the apple of his eye,” protecting them like we instinctively protect our eyes. 
6. The Lord caused even the rocks to produce sweetness and refreshing for His people. 
7. Dave Ramsey says that “generosity is God’s way of creating community.” 
8. No healthy person sees the generosity of his parents and thinks he can get a better deal with others. 
9. The idolatrous ignore God’s grace and think mammon is promising them everything they want. 
10. They should have been “Jeshurun,” “Upright.” They grew fat on all the tofu and mutton they were fed. 
11. Cotton Mather: “Godliness begat prosperity and the daughter devoured the mother.” 
12. God blesses us with the money and the family, and then we make the things He gave us into idols. 
13. Our idols are “strange,” “detestable,” demonic, and unimpressive. They make us unmindful of the Rock. 
IV. God’s Present Jealousy (32:19-33) 
1. Do you think you’re dealing with someone who has a right to be jealous, who owns you? 
2. Our idolatry is a “provocation” and so He spurns us. He hides His face if you’re chasing some idol. 
3. His anger is like fire. It burns down to the dead, devouring the planet. He heaps up disasters. 
4. He would have wiped out His idolatrous people but He didn’t want His enemies to boast. 
5. God in His jealousy gives us over to enemies when we serve idols but He won’t let them prevail. 
V. God’s Future Mercy And Severity (32:34-47) 
1. What is laid up in store with God. “Vengeance is mine.” Recompense. He will pay back. 
2. “For the time when their foot shall slip.” God orders whatever “accident” overtakes His enemies. 
3. He’ll repay those who hate Him, shooting His arrows into them, pouring out their blood. 
4. Severity on His enemies makes His mercy on His people stand out. Mercy is displayed over severity. 
5. “The Lord will vindicate His people.” He will show them to be right; that they were right to trust Him. 
6. Our idols can’t help us. But the Lord will help us after destroying His enemies. So, rejoice. 
7. He atones “His land, His people.” His land is His people. So all their sin is washed away. 
VI. Invitation: That’s the song that we’re to take to heart. Do you tremble and rejoice? You’re dealing with a God who kills and makes alive, who wounds and heals, who ordains when foots slip. We have this song so we’ll know Him; so we’ll do His word; so we’ll know God, put away our idols (like money), give to Him our life, our soul, our all and establish our life on Him, our Rock, the Rock of Ages.

Deuteronomy 32:1-47
Who Do You Think You’re Dealing With? 

I. Ever Met Someone Who Turned Out To Be Different From What You Thought?
1. Maybe you under-estimated someone you thought was average but he turned out to be a big shot.
2. You start talking about your health to someone who turns out to be a doctor.
3. It’s important to know who you are dealing with. In World War 2, a US general was detained.
4. A common theme on TV is an encounter in which one person doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.
5. Hebrews 13:2 says be hospitable because some people have “entertained angels unaware.”
6. Jesus said, “As you’ve done it to the least of these you’ve done it unto Me” (Matthew 25:40).
II. God’s Eternal Majesty(32:1-4)
A. Why We Sing
1. This chapter is meant to be sung. Many people think singing is for our entertainment.
2. Many people think the way to teach about God is with a catechism, or teaching, maybe a book.
3. Some people can’t imagine that singing is part of learning about God. They

Deuteronomy 32:1-47, Who Do You Think You’re Dealing With?

Deuteronomy 30 
What Are You Capable Of? 
 
I. What Can You Do? 
1. Can you run a small business, cook good Chinese food, practice medicine; play musical instruments? 
2. Running a restaurant seems easy for those who’ve never tried it. The hardest is the restaurant work. 
3. Things that are harder than they appear: comedy, cooking, surfing; playing a musical instrument, etc. 
4. Somethings look hard but with enough practice, enough training, time and exertion, you could do it. 
5. Some things require talent, skill, ability. “You can’t put in what God left out.” 
6. I could have learned Mandarin if I was taught it as a small kid but now I couldn’t get good at it. 
7. Arminianism says that you are capable of whatever God commands. Matthew 5:48 says, “be perfect.” 
8. An obstacle course in the military shows the new trainees that they are incapable of finishing it. 
9. What if the purpose of God’s commands is to get you to know that you aren’t capable? 
II. The Heart (30:1-10) 
A. The Problem of the Heart 
1. What you are capable of depends on your heart. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. 
2. God wants complete, loving, eager, unreserved, heart-felt obedience. Are you capable of that? 
3. If you can’t be perfect, from your heart, there’s judgment. Judgment makes you aware of your sin. 
4. John 16:8 says the Holy Spirit convicts people of “sin, righteousness, and judgement.” 
5. We require the Holy Spirit. By themselves, people aren’t capable of knowing or doing right. 
6. Augustine, “Lord, You command self-control. Grant what you command, command what you will.” 
7. Pelagius claimed that people were using what Augustine said is their inability to not try to obey. 
8. The Lord Jesus finished Matthew 5 by telling us to “be perfect” to show us that we’re not capable. 
B. Circumcision of the Heart 
1. You turn from your sin. The Lord restores you. He has compassion on you. He gathers His elect. 
2. Matthew 24:31 says God will send His messengers to gather His elect from all over the world. 
3. “If your outcasts are in the uttermost part of the heaven” — in they’re in America or China (30:4). 
4. He’s taken care of the heart of the problem by taking care of the problem of the heart. 
5. The true, spiritual mark of the covenant, marking you off as His people, is circumcision of the heart. 
6. God will take out the heart of stone and replace it with a living heart of flesh that now loves God. 
7. “The Lord your God will” give you the new mark of the covenant. God does it because we can’t. 
8. He has commanded us to love Him with all our heart and promised to grant what He commands. 
9. Baptism is not the sign of the new covenant. Colossians 2:11-12 says, “In Him you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by the circumcision of Christ.” 
10. Baptism is the sign of having received the circumcision of the heart. It’s the sign of the sign. 
11. The Lord does what we’re not capable of then gathers us together from all peoples in the world. 
12. The Lord takes great pleasure in blessing us, enriching us, healing us, raising us from the dead, etc. 
III. The Work (30:11-14) 
2. “This commandment” — to love the Lord — is “not too hard for you, neither is it far off.” 
3. He’s given to some a circumcision of the heart, so that the Word of God is in their heart, so they obey it. 
4. What is the work? John 6:29, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” 
5. You aren’t capable of that unless you’ve been given a new heart; that the Lord has done the work. 
6. If He has changed your heart, suddenly, it’s not hard at all. It’s not far off. It’s right within reach. 
IV. The Choice (30:15-20) 
1. The Lord set before us “life and good, death and evil.” God is not stopping people from believing. 
2. If you want to follow Jesus, that’s because God gave you a heart to do so. 
3. The choice: life or death. You choose. But people don’t have eyes to see what life is. 
4. You obey by loving the Lord your God. Love, by definition, comes from the heart. 
5. If we do what we naturally do and our heart turns away from the Lord, we’ve chosen death. 
6. Since there are no other gods, the Lord calls the universe to witness this choice (30:19). 
7. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life” that you may live. 
8. You choose life by “loving the Lord your God” (30:20), holding your money loosely but God tightly. 
9. Do that because “He is your life.” He’s the One who will give you “length of days,” eternal life. 
V. Invitation: You are capable of choosing the Lord if the Lord has given you a new heart, eyes to see that He is your life, ears to hear His invitation: believe in Jesus, choose life. That’s your choice: life or death and He is your life. Now, choose wisely.

Deuteronomy 30 What Are You Capable Of? I. What Can You Do? 1. Can you run a small business, cook good Chinese food, ...

Deuteronomy 30, What Are You Capable Of?

Ephesians 5:21-6:9 
Defining Relationships 
 
I. Are You Defined By Your Relationships? 
A. The Paramount Idea of the Reigning Individualism 
1. Today’s idea is that we should define our relationships rather than letting them define us. 
2. Our identify and relationships are like a hamburger at Burger King: have it your way. 
3. Male and female are different; and those differences determine our relationships. 
B. Be Filled With the Spirit and So Submit To Each Other Out of Reverence for Christ (5:21). 
II. Wives (5:22-24): “Wives submit to your husbands, as to the Lord.” 
A. Just For The Culture of That Day? 
1. “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church.” (5:23). 
2. That relationship is not based on culture. 
B. What Does “Submit” Mean? 
1. Only that the husband is the tie-breaker? Two detached individuals? 
2. “To take a subordinate role in relation to that of another.” In Genesis 2, to be a “helper”. 
3. Girls should ask, about the man they are considering marrying: Is this a man I want to help? 
4. William Booth, “Don’t instill . . . into the hearts of your girls the idea that marriage is the chief end of life. . . . .” 
III. Husbands (5:25-33): “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.” 
A. Jesus is the Model for the Husband. 
1. Loving a partner made specifically for him who is supposed to submit to him, sounds easy. 
2. Husbands are to love just like the One who gave Himself up for the church. To die. 
3. The Second Person of the Trinity is now defined, in part, by His relationship to the church. 
B. Jesus Gave Himself Up For the Church 
1. The abusive husband is as insane and self-destructive as the man who abuses his own body. 
2. Isn’t it reasonable, even desirable, to submit to a husband who is like Jesus? 
3. A man must leave his father and mother to be united with his wife. “Leave and cleave”. 
C. “This Great Mystery” (5:32): the perfect union of Christ with His people. 
IV. Children: “Obey your parents in the Lord” (6:1) 
1. Jesus by doing that because Jesus Himself did that (Luke 2:51). 
2. “In the Lord leading them to the Lord, like teaching children to contribute to the family. 
3. Obedience to human authorities is never absolute and unquestioning. 
V. Parents (6:4): “Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” 
1. Parents show reverence for Christ by raising children like you want the Lord raising you. 
2. One easy and important way you can do that is by bringing them to church. 
3. Don’t be unnecessarily severe, unreasonably harsh, or unrealistically demanding. 
4. Be pastors to your children, to “bring them up”, knowing of the Lord. 
5. “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” (Proverbs 13:24) 
6. Children should be in church. They are in danger from believing money is more important. 
7. Care more for their loyalty to Jesus than their athletics or academics or making money. 
VI. Workers (6:5-8): Workers should work in a way that shows they respect Jesus. 
1. The Bible and Slavery: In Paul’s time, slavery had nothing to do with race; it wasn’t just for manual labor; was more widespread, and there wasn’t an alternative. 
2. Obey our earthly bosses like we say we obey our heavenly one, not just when supervised. 
3. Every single piece of work you produce must be good enough to make for Jesus. 
VII. Bosses (6:9): treat employees in a way that shows reverence for Christ. In the end, your position here isn’t going to give you any advantage at your final performance review. 
VIII. Invitation: He came not for what we could do for Him but what He would do for us. To give, To ransom. To save us; to cleanse us. We all need that cleansing, to be washed first by His blood, and then in the water of His Word. And Jesus came, so we could have what we need. To a Lord like that, isn’t it right to submit?

Ephesians 5:21-6:9
Defining Relationships

I. Are You Defined By Your Relationships?
A. The Paramount Idea of the Reigning Individualism 
1. Today’s idea is that we should define our relationships rather than letting them define us.
2. Our identify and relationships are like a hamburger at Burger King: have it your way.
3. Male and female are different; and those differences determine our relationships.
B. Be Filled With the Spirit and So Submit To Each Other Out of Reverence for Christ (5:21).
II. Wives (5:22-24): “Wives submit to your husbands, as to the Lord.”
A. Just For The Culture of That Day?
1. “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church.” (5:23).
2. That relationship is not based on culture.
B. What Does “Submit” Mean? 
1. Only that the husband is the tie-breaker? Two detached individuals?
2.  “To take a subordinate role in relation to that of another.” In Genesis 2, to be a “helper”.
3. Girls should ask, about the man they are considering

Ephesians 5:21-6:9, Defining Relationships

Luke 20:1-19 
Sez Who? 
 
I. The Crisis of Cultural Authority 
1. Who says something is wrong or right or forbidden or required or what something means? 
2. A psychologist was forced out of academics because she documented the harm done to children being given drugs for “gender dysphoria.” She’s to be admired for some integrity. 
3. If all you have is your psyche, then why believe your biology? Males have x-y chromosomes. 
4. The ethic is if it feels good to me and doesn’t hurt anyone else then it is good. 
5. When people are “free” of any authority, then they are free to tell others that they are wrong. 
6. Relativism is the idea that there is no truth, no standards, no authority. There is no truth to learn. 
7. The Closing of the American Mind has led to political correctness and now the cancel culture. 
8. Here they ask Jesus who says that He can drive out the merchants from the temple. 
9. The leaders thought they were who said what could be done so they’re going to cancel Jesus. 
II. Who’s In Charge of the Temple? (20:1-8) 
1. The religious leaders think if Jesus says, ‘God gave me authority,’ they can get Him for blasphemy. 
2. They ask Jesus in public, so the people will see because they want to embarrass Him before the crowd. 
3. The Lord Jesus answers the question by getting to the root of what they got wrong. 
4. He asks, did God inspire John to baptize people or was that just something he made up himself? 
5. Nowhere in the discussion of the religious leaders does truth enter in. They don’t think about truth. 
6. They weren’t brave enough to say what they thought was true. They had no integrity. 
7. Jesus answers the question by exercising authority. ‘If you’re not going to answer My question …’ 
III. Who’s In Charge of the Kingdom? (20:9-18) 
A. The Parable of the Tenants (20:9-16) 
1. The owner did the hard work of planting the vineyard. Then he lets it out to tenants. 
2. Then he goes off to another country, for “a long while.” The tenants begin to think they own it. 
3. They beat up the servants sent to get rent. So he sends his son, “my beloved son” (like 3:22). 
4. Jesus asks the crowd, “What will the owner of the vineyard do to them?” 
5. The vineyard is the Kingdom of God. God expects fruit. He sent His prophets to get it. 
6. Then God sent His Son, His “beloved Son.” They killed the Son. So He will destroy them. 
7. The owner – God – will give the Kingdom to other people, the church. The crowd finds it stunning. 
8. They shout back, “May it never be!,” . ‘That’s impossible,’ they thought. 
9. Jesus looked directly at them. He fixed His stare at them to make sure they were paying attention. 
B. The Stone (20:17-18) 
1. He quotes from Psalm 118:22, a “Psalms of ascent,” people on their pilgrimages to Jerusalem. 
2. 
IV. Invitation

Luke 20:1-19
Sez Who?

I. The Crisis of Cultural Authority
1. Who says something is wrong or right or forbidden or required or what something means?
2. A psychologist was forced out of academics because she documented the harm done to children being given drugs for “gender dysphoria.” She’s to be admired for some integrity.
3. If all you have is your psyche, then why believe your biology? Males have x-y chromosomes.
4. The ethic is if it feels good to me and doesn’t hurt anyone else then it is good. 
5. When people are “free” of any authority, then they are free to tell others that they are wrong.
6. Relativism is the idea that there is no truth, no standards, no authority. There is no truth to learn.
7. The Closing of the American Mind has led to political correctness and now the cancel culture.
8. Here they ask Jesus who says that He can drive out the merchants from the temple.
9. The leaders thought they were who said what could be done so they’re going to cancel Jesus.
II. Who’s In

Luke 20:1-19, Sez Who?

Luke 19:28-48 
How Does God Come to You? 
 
I. Thanksgiving Begins Christmas Season 
1. If there were Puritans now we’d have a day of fasting because of Covid-19 then a Thanksgiving. 
2. This plague has not turned out to be nearly as bad as we at first feared. 
3. The fatality rate in declined to 0.6% by September and will probably go lower with the new medicines. 
5. The Puritans were opposed to Christmas because they were trying to purify themselves of traditions. 
7. They think of Jesus as a baby. They’ll pray to “baby Jesus.” They think of God coming to us as a baby. 
II. Peacefully (19:28-40) 
A. The Triumphal Entry 
1. Here is the end of Jesus’ long pilgrimage, like Mao’s “Long March” in 1934 and ’35. 
2. As soon as He has taught the parable of the Minas in Jericho, He goes to Jerusalem by foot. 
3. Coming to the Mount of Olives He gets a view of Jerusalem below. He gets ready to enter. 
4. He sends two disciples ahead to get a colt of a donkey. It’s never been ridden yet. 
5. Jesus supernaturally knew there would be a colt belonging to the people who would let them use it. 
6. Riding a donkey was a sign of royalty coming peacefully, not ferociously on a warhorse. 
7. The people spread out their cloaks on the road so it was as if He were coming in on carpet. 
8. They rejoiced and praised God. They are happy because they want Him to become the King. 
9. They didn’t understand what He came to do because they didn’t understand what they needed. 
B. What Makes For Peace? 
1. Is it money? If you have enough money, you’ll be fulfilled. Does wealth make for peace? 
2. Or is it politics, having the right president? Or the relationship, having a sweet marriage? 
3. Jerusalem, literally means, “the city of peace.” But they don’t know what makes for peace. 
4. Some are convinced if they have enough in the bank, that will be what makes for peace. 
5. Here, the people are wrong. They think it’s just politics, power, success. 
6. The hail Jesus as the King. “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Does it sound familiar? 
7. In Luke 2:14, the angels announce, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace …”. 
8. The angels declared it first, here echoed by the crowd, not now about baby Jesus. 
9. This is the fulfillment of the angelic announcement. God comes peace-makingly. 
10. What makes for non-peace? Our main, first problem is that we are sinners. God is at our sin. 
11. We need, first, peace with God or else He will come to us, like the king in the parable of the minas. 
12. The religious leaders don’t know. They were just the keepers of the status quo. 
13. Jesus says, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” 
14. God comes to us: as the King, glorious, bringing peace. 
III. Sovereignly (19:41-44) 
2. He wept over Jerusalem. Because they don’t know what makes for peace, they’ll kill Jesus. 
3. He sorrows for the people. God commands them to bless the One who comes in the name of the Lord. 
4. “But now the things that make for peace are hidden from your eyes.” God hid them. 
5. In chapter 18:34 the disciples didn’t understand Jesus’ prediction because it was “hidden” from them. 
6. God is hiding it from them because God is sovereign over those who do and do not accept Jesus. 
7. He weeps over the consequences of them not accepting Him because He takes no pleasure in their death. 
8. Most of these people in this city, and their children, will be destroyed because of they rejected Jesus. 
9. Jesus says, “because you did not know the time of your visitation,” the time God came to them. 
10. Recognize when God has visited you. He comes to us as the sovereign, the One in control. 
IV. Purifyingly (19:45-46) 
1. He comes into the temple and sees in the outer area is an open air market. 
2. Profiteering – charging more because you control the market – is theft and immoral. 
3. Instead of being a place where God is worshipped, it had become a place where profits are made. 
4. God will come to His church and purify it of those who use it for their profit or ego. 
V. Impressively (19:47-48) 
1. Jesus is impressing people with His teaching, His authority; defying this world. 
2. Jesus moves in and takes over, as if He owns the place. The leaders were conspiring to kill Him. 
3. Jesus got away with it because He impressed the people, in the after-glow of His triumphal entry. 
4. “All the people hung on His words.” If He hides His impressiveness, then we esteem Him not. 
5. We slink away from His house. Or we might be too bored with His Word to care, not rapt by Him. 
6. He will come to you as someone overwhelmingly impressive, whose every word captures your attention. 
VI. Invitation: He comes peacefully, making peace between you, the infuriating sinner and a holy God. He’s the one who makes peace – satisfaction – for you, not money. So you cannot but help announce – lest the rocks do it for you – “Blessed is my King. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”. That’s how He comes.

Luke 19:28-48
How Does God Come to You?

I. Thanksgiving Begins Christmas Season
1. If there were Puritans now we’d have a day of fasting because of Covid-19 then a Thanksgiving.
2. This plague has not turned out to be nearly as bad as we at first feared. 
3. The fatality rate in declined to 0.6% by September and will probably go lower with the new medicines.
5. The Puritans were opposed to Christmas because they were trying to purify themselves of traditions.
7. They think of Jesus as a baby. They’ll pray to “baby Jesus.” They think of God coming to us as a baby.
II. Peacefully (19:28-40)
A. The Triumphal Entry
1. Here is the end of Jesus’ long pilgrimage, like Mao’s “Long March” in 1934 and ’35. 
2. As soon as He has taught the parable of the Minas in Jericho, He goes to Jerusalem by foot.
3. Coming to the Mount of Olives He gets a view of Jerusalem below. He gets ready to enter.
4. He sends two disciples ahead to get a colt of a donkey. It’s never been ridden yet.
5. Jesus supernatu

Luke 19:28-48, How Does God Come to You?

2 Corinthians 12:14-13:14 
Have You Been Tested? 
 
I. Tests 
A. Tests Are a Part of Life. 
1. In school you have regular tests. Almost every class ends with a test. 
2. End of Term Exams, SAT, ACT, GRE, IQ tests, Driving Tests, Eye Tests, ASVAB, Aptitude Tests, Relationship Tests, health inspections at restaurants, Competitive Sports as tests. 
B. Is the Church a “Test-Free Zone”? 
1. Many people believe that the assumptions of tests are the opposite of what the church is about. 
2. Tests require an authority to implement, some criteria that has to be met, possible failure, etc. 
3. This is major reason why so many men, especially young men, find the church so boring. 
II. Tested (in 12:14-18): Authenticity 
A. Paul’s Authenticity Has Been Tested 
1. He’s not going to be a burden because he seeks not their cash but their souls (12:14). 
2. He loved them more but was loved less (12:15), at least by some, because sometimes the most loving thing you can do for someone is what they don’t want. 
B. Paul Loved Them 
1. The authenticity of that love was proved by his willingness to sacrifice for them. 
2. In a culture full of frauds, it’s easy to be cynical. Where nearly everyone is inauthentic, you don’t recognize authenticity when you see it. 
3. They thought that maybe Paul is just very crafty; he’s deceived them. They are cynical people. 
4. Have you been burned so often by people who claim to “love you” or to give you something for free that you don’t really believe it anymore? 
III. Testing (12:19-13:4): Audacity (Arrogant or bold assumptions about oneself) 
A. Is Paul Submitting to Testing from Them? 
1. The authority does the testing. It’s not the students who test the teacher. 
2. He’s been trying to teach them that their spirituality is wrong; that their love of swagger, is all misplaced; to show them what it means to take up your cross. 
3. It’s not you testing me but me testing you (12:20). 
B. The Sins of the Flesh (12:20): Pride (Audacity), all rooted in proud people being unwilling to submit, respect or tolerate one another 
C. The Sins of the Flesh (12:21): sexual immorality, living for pleasure 
D. Paul is coming for testing them. 
1. They audaciously think they can continue testing him (13:3). They are seeking proof from him, as though they are in a position to seek proof. 
2. The proof is he will not spare them. He is coming to test them. If necessary, he’ll expel them. 
3. We will all be tested by God, right now by His Word; later at the judgment. 
IV. Test Yourselves (13:5-10): Authority 
A. Preparing for God’s Test 
1. The best way to prepare for that is to test yourselves (13:5). 
2. Some think that “being in the faith” means just agreeing mentally with a few basic doctrines, and that once you do that, then you are “saved.” So they don’t understand how they can fail the test. 
3. Authentic salvation results in a real change that it will show in some definite ways. 
4. It’s not just like having a change of opinion. There is new life that wasn’t there before. 
5. If you are born again, the same Jesus who was raised from the dead is in you. 
6. Do you test positive for the presence of Jesus? 
B. The Church is for Testing 
1. We come for the purpose of being tested, including all that go with tests: an authority that can implement the tests, criteria that we have to meet, the possibility that we could fail. 
2. You need spiritual authorities who will ask you the hard questions. 
3. Paul is the authority, the tester (13:10), and he still is today, along with the rest of scripture. 
4. You need that authority to over-turn your audacity and authenticate your relationship with Jesus. 
V. Benediction (“Good Word” 13:14): the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who makes it possible to experience the love of God the Father, from whom we get the fellowship – the relationship – with the Holy Spirit, who makes our fellowship with the rest of the saints possible. Do you test positive for this God in three Persons being with you?

2 Corinthians 12:14-13:14
Have You Been Tested?

I. Tests
A. Tests Are a Part of Life. 
1. In school you have regular tests. Almost every class ends with a test.
2. End of Term Exams, SAT, ACT, GRE, IQ tests, Driving Tests, Eye Tests, ASVAB, Aptitude Tests, Relationship Tests, health inspections at restaurants, Competitive Sports as tests.
B. Is the Church a “Test-Free Zone”?
1. Many people believe that the assumptions of tests are the opposite of what the church is about.
2. Tests require an authority to implement, some criteria that has to be met, possible failure, etc.
3. This is major reason why so many men, especially young men, find the church so boring.
II. Tested (in 12:14-18): Authenticity
A. Paul’s Authenticity Has Been Tested
1. He’s not going to be a burden because he seeks not their cash but their souls (12:14).
2. He loved them more but was loved less (12:15), at least by some, because sometimes the most loving thing you can do for someone is what they don’t want.
B. Paul

2 Corinthians 12:14-13:14, Have You Been Tested?

2 Corinthians 11:1-12:13 
What’s Your Spiritual Style? 
 
 
I. Bad and Good Spirituality 
A. Bad 
1. The racist who stops a black person at the door to church and then sings “I’ll Fly Away”. 
2. The person who doesn’t care about injustice but uses his religion to try to get rich. 
3. The person who tries to escape this world to prepare to die. 
B. Good 
1. The one who denies himself because he really believes in something more important. 
2. We see that we have to serve the Lord in this world, deal with its problems, weep at funerals. 
II. False Apostles (11:1-15) 
A. Their Spirituality is Wrong 
1. They preached for the money or “glory”. They were business men or show men. 
2. Like the man who says he’s a master carpenter, but he’s just guy with a hammer. 
B. Satan Disguises Himself (11:14f) 
1. Satan’s servants look like us. 
2. The false messenger makes much of himself. The true makes much of Jesus. 
C. The True Church is Engaged to Christ (11:2f.) 
1. All the commitment but not all the rewards yet. 
2. Satan’s servants try to lure us away from Christ but we must have a sincere, pure devotion. 
3. True spirituality is simple. It is what it is, like pure water, no mixtures. 
III. Foolish Boasting (11:16-33) 
A. Paul Can Out-Boast the Boastful 
1. That’s the burden of leadership, the burning you feel when the sheep are preyed on by some predator (vv. 28f). 
2. He has to do it to show them that what they’ve been making much out of isn’t really much. 
B. He Boasts in His Weaknesses 
1. The sellers of false spiritualities boasted in their glory. Paul boasts of his humiliation, such as having to sneak out of a city, over the wall, instead of conquering a city. 
2. Our boasting should not be in big numbers, of people attending or dollars. Our glory is in the cross, the things we suffer for the sake of Christ. 
3. What things have you been willing to endure or give up for the sake of Christ? 
IV. Fulfilling Grace (12:1-13) 
A. A Great Revelation (12:1-5). 
1. Bad spirituality boasts of dreams and visions. So too can Paul but it pains him to do it. 
2. He’s been with the Corinthians for years, written them other letters, but unlike the boastful, he’s never mentioned this before. 
B. The Thorn in the Flesh 
1. He received so great revelations that he was given a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from being conceited. 
2. He prayed to be relieved of it but was told, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (12:9). 
3. Grace is sufficient now, so we can embrace discipline, sacrifice sinful pleasures, give generously, stand up for what is right, even if it means great suffering. 
V. Invitation: it is through the cross that finally we see we are powerless; how deeply sinful we are; that we are weak and can be content in that weakness, with insults and hardships, and persecutions, and calamities, only because we’re following a crucified Lord who invites us to share some in His crucifixion. Because it’s when we’re weak – here and now – that we are strong.

2 Corinthians 11:1-12:13
What’s Your Spiritual Style?


I. Bad and Good Spirituality
A. Bad
1. The racist who stops a black person at the door to church and then sings “I’ll Fly Away”.
2. The person who doesn’t care about injustice but uses his religion to try to get rich.
3. The person who tries to escape this world to prepare to die.
B. Good
1. The one who denies himself because he really believes in something more important.
2. We see that we have to serve the Lord in this world, deal with its problems, weep at funerals.
II. False Apostles (11:1-15)
A. Their Spirituality is Wrong
1. They preached for the money or “glory”. They were business men or show men.
2. Like the man who says he’s a master carpenter, but he’s just guy with a hammer.
B. Satan Disguises Himself (11:14f)
1. Satan’s servants look like us.
2. The false messenger makes much of himself. The true makes much of Jesus.
C. The True Church is Engaged to Christ (11:2f.)
1. All the commitment but not all the rewards yet.
2.

2 Corinthians 11:1-12:13, What’s Your Spiritual Style?

2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5 
Where Do You See Glory? 
 
 
I. Where Do You See Glory? 
1. “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” by Julia Ward Howe in 1861. 
2. In a spectacular view? In an “awesome” basketball performance? In an army camp? 
3. “Cape Flattery” on the extreme northwest corner of the continental US is a beautiful sight. 
4. Many people assume that glory is not something seen in people or nature, that it is mystical. 
II. People (8:16-21) 
A. Titus 
1. Paul thanks, not Titus, but God for Titus being concerned for God’s people (the church). 
2. He was willing; he had a heart for the church and so gave his time and his life (v. 17). 
B. The “Famous” Man 
1. He does something for the gospel. The glory of God is shown in somehow serving the gospel. 
2. This famous man is helping Paul deliver an offering from the Greeks to the Jew. 
a. Concern is crossing ethnic lines, breaking down the “dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2). The Greeks and the Jews were separated, even hostile. 
b. It’s not so remarkable that Chinese people would want to be around other Chinese people. 
c. What else could bring people together from such different backgrounds? Jesus! 
d. When people come together who have nothing else in common, that’s supernatural. 
C. Accountability: The “famous” man helps ensure the money is handled right, that there can be no false accusations to take away the glory of the offering. 
III. Partners (8:22-24) 
A. The “Earnest” Brother 
1. He’s a reliable partner so he’s being sent “with” the other two to provide accountability. 
2. If there were not multiple witnesses, they wouldn’t have any way of denying accusations. 
B. Titus is Paul’s “Partner” (8:23). 
1. They work together for the benefit of the Corinthians. Titus and others are partners. 
2. When people see us working together, they should be able to see the glory of God. 
C. Churches: “The Glory of Christ” 
1. There is a dimension to the church higher than any other human institution. 
2. Not the family or the nation: the church is the glory of Christ. 
3. The glory of God is seen on earth in the church, called out of the world (from all kinds of people) to be one people around one Lord. 
4. We have to “give” proof by giving. Our love for the church has to be seen. 
IV. Passion (9:1-5) 
A. Earnestness Already Important: for example, Paul mentions the earnestness (enthusiasm, or zeal or diligence) of Titus (8:17); Mr. Earnest! 
B. Be On Fire for God! 
1. The glory of God should inspire in us a passion – great zeal. They were “on fire” for God 
2. That makes us willing to give. Have a plan for generous giving. You’ve got to love it! 
3. Don’t leave giving up to what we feel like giving at any given time, to impulse giving. 
4. The problem is that our heart loves our money too much and our Lord too little. 
5. Why do we have so little zeal for God that it doesn’t compel us to give eagerly? 
6. Robert Murray M’Cheyne: “To give largely and liberally, not grudgingly, desires a new heart. An old heart would rather part with its lifeblood than with its money.” 
V. New Hearts Needed: Our first problem is a disease of the heart. Are we sick, needing healing, poisoned, maybe, by too much love for all the other things we could buy to glorify ourselves or are we dead? Our need is to be made new so that we want to give, like a poor teenage girl in Singapore who saved bus fare money and drinks so she could give. She insisted she wanted to give: ‘You can’t stop me from giving.’ What do you see as you see that poor girl walking down the crowded sidewalks? Your eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord!

2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5
Where Do You See Glory?


I. Where Do You See Glory? 
1. “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” by Julia Ward Howe in 1861.
2. In a spectacular view? In an “awesome” basketball performance? In an army camp?
3. “Cape Flattery” on the extreme northwest corner of the continental US is a beautiful sight.
4. Many people assume that glory is not something seen in people or nature, that it is mystical.
II. People (8:16-21)
A. Titus
1. Paul thanks, not Titus, but God for Titus being concerned for God’s people (the church).
2. He was willing; he had a heart for the church and so gave his time and his life (v. 17).
B. The “Famous” Man
1. He does something for the gospel. The glory of God is shown in somehow serving the gospel.
2. This famous man is helping Paul deliver an offering from the Greeks to the Jew.
a. Concern is crossing ethnic lines, breaking down the “dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2). The Greeks and the Jews were separated, even hos

2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5, Where Do You See Glory?

2 Corinthians 8:1-15 
What is Grace? 
 
I. Example of Grace: How Covenant came to have the Providence Gym 
1. A hypocrite loves to talk about “the doctrines of grace” but gives 1% of his income. 
2. To get our building, we were promised $1,200/month but that was withdrawn when we moved here. 
3. Mary’s friends in Houston, Texas, didn’t know about our trouble, pledged $1,200. 
II. Grace is Seen 
A. “Grace” Is Not Just a Doctrine. 
1. Grace is a dynamic power that can be seen, especially what we do with our money. 
2. Grace is seen gushing out through their wallets as they open them up to give. 
3. Chong Siew Hoon gave $52,000 so we could have our building and refurbish it. 
B. The Macedonian’s Grace 
1. Paul wants the Corinthians to know about the Macedonians’ gift to the Jerusalem church. 
2. In that gift they can see grace and finally learn what it’s about. 
3. A bad question: ‘Do I have to tithe?’ Grace is not a ticket out of tithing. 
III. Grace Serves 
A. Macedonians Example 
1. Paul was taking up an offering from his churches – made up mostly of Gentile Christians -- to take back to Jerusalem where the Jewish Christians were suffering. 
2. Macedonian Christians begging for the privilege of giving. 
3. Grace does not ask about the minimum. It begs to give the maximum. 
B. Their Participation (8:4) 
1. Fellowship (Greek “koinonia”), the gift of sharing to work with other Christians. 
2. Grace wants to participate in the lives of others. The Macedonians pleaded for participation. 
IV. Grace Acts (8:6): 
A. Grace Is Seen In Acts That Serve. 
1. Grace changes you so that you act differently, including in your handling of money. 
2. It should make you willing to share an equal load. 
B. Dependence 
1. Paul tells them that their abundance should go to help others who were needy (8:14). 
2. So participate in the lives of other churches and ministries, like in Ethiopia. 
V. Grace Frees (8:7): 
A. Grace is Not: 
1. Grace is not commanded (8:8). Law and commands can’t create givers. Only grace can. 
2. Grace is not nothing; nothing seen, nothing changed; nothing given. 
B. Grace Is 
1. Grace frees us from the law and self-indulgence but frees us to give. 
2. Grace doesn’t mean nothing; nothing seen; nothing served; nothing acted; nothing given. 
VI. Grace Enriches (8:9-15) 
A. The Supreme Example of Grace: our Lord Jesus Christ. 
1. Rich! He had all the treasures of heaven, every planet and star and galaxy and glory itself. 
2. He gave up everything, became poor, so we could be rich. 
B. Jesus Paid Our Debt 
1. He paid the debt our sins owed with His perfect life. Grace gives to enrich. 
2. In that moment on the cross He was bereft of the Father Himself. 
3. He gave everything for our sins so we could have that rich relationship. 
4. That’s why it’s inappropriate question about tithing, “Do I have to give 10%?” 
5. When we see Jesus on the cross giving Himself for us, then we beg to give ourselves. 
IX. Conclusion: Grace is Amazing! “Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all.” (“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”

2 Corinthians 8:1-15
What is Grace?

I. Example of Grace: How Covenant came to have the Providence Gym
1. A hypocrite loves to talk about “the doctrines of grace” but gives 1% of his income.
2. To get our building, we were promised $1,200/month but that was withdrawn when we moved here.
3. Mary’s friends in Houston, Texas, didn’t know about our trouble, pledged $1,200. 
II. Grace is Seen
A. “Grace” Is Not Just a Doctrine.
1. Grace is a dynamic power that can be seen, especially what we do with our money.
2. Grace is seen gushing out through their wallets as they open them up to give.
3. Chong Siew Hoon gave $52,000 so we could have our building and refurbish it.
B. The Macedonian’s Grace
1. Paul wants the Corinthians to know about the Macedonians’ gift to the Jerusalem church.
2. In that gift they can see grace and finally learn what it’s about. 
3. A bad question: ‘Do I have to tithe?’ Grace is not a ticket out of tithing.
III. Grace Serves 
A. Macedonians Example
1. Paul was taking u

2 Corinthians 8:1-15, What is Grace?

Living for the Advancement of the Gospel 
Philippians 1:12-18 
 
I. What or Whom Are You Spending Your Life? 
1. The Pudding guy story 
2. Need: Sadly, many are spending their lives on the temporal rather than the eternal. 
3. Many spend their lives for Careers, or Marriage/Family, or for Pleasure. 
4. Textual Idea: Paul showed that our lives should be laser-focused on making much of King Jesus by living for the advancement of the gospel, regardless of the circumstances. 
5. Sermon Idea: Live for the advancement of the gospel, regardless of the circumstances. 
6. Interrogative: How do we make much of King Jesus by living for the advancement of the gospel regardless of the circumstances? 
7. Transition: Our text gives two ways we can make much of Jesus by living for the advancement of the gospel, regardless of the circumstances. 
II. Division 1 Statement: Live for the advancement of the gospel by obedience (1:12-13). 
A. Explanation 
1. Define obedience: Willful Surrender 
a. Because Paul was sold out to Christ, God used him greatly to advance the gospel (Phil. 1:21; 1;5; 7; 16; 27; 1 Cor. 9:16), as we see also in the text. 
b. If God is going to use us to advance his Gospel, regardless of the circumstances, we must surrender our wills, desires, passions, and plans for His will for us (Phil.1:21). 
2. The Sovereign Surprise (1:12-13). 
a. The Metacomment (1:12) 
b. The Surprise (1:12) 
1. God in his providence uses Paul’s imprisonment as a primary means to spread the gospel in Rome. 
2. What is the Gospel? 
a. Its Essence- Term; Text-1 Cor. 15:3-4 
b. Its Extent- 1 Cor. 15:1-2 
c. The Result (1:13) 
3. Illustration: John Bunyan and Pilgrim’s Progress 
4. Argumentation: Living obediently to Jesus results in a Gospel-centered lifestyle that advances the gospel regardless of life’s circumstances. 
5. Application: You can be used by God to advance the gospel by rejecting a Self-centered lifestyle, and embracing a Gospel-centered lifestyle by getting informed 
 a. Let God feed you His Word (Ps. 119:105; 2 Tim. 2:15). 
 b. Let God equip you to contend for the Faith (Jude 3). 
6. Let God use your chains (your job; family; community) to advance His gospel. 
7. Be humble and courageous in the face of persecution (1 Peter 5:6; 2 Tim. 3:12). 
8. Transition: So, live for the advancement of the gospel, regardless of the circumstances, by obedience. 
III. Division 2 Statement: Live for the advancement of the gospel, regardless of the circumstances, by example. 
A. Explanation 
1.God uses Paul’s example of Gospel-centered living to encourage the people of God to live for the advancement of the gospel v.14. 
 a. The Detractors- Their Message; Their Means; Their Motives (1:15a; 17). 
 b. The Supporters- Their Message; Their Means; Their Motives (1:15b-16). 
2. The Conclusion of the Matter (1:18). 
3. Illustration: Life Shadowing Story 
B. Argumentation: “Your actions are blazing a trail that others will follow for good or ill.” Titus 2:9. 
C. Application: You can live in such a way that will encourage other Christians to live for the advancement of the gospel, regardless of the circumstances 
IV. Conclusion: Visualization: Quote from JD Greear from his book, Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary, p.23. 
 Reiteration: So, live for the advancement of the gospel by obedience and by example. 
 Action: Beloved, spend your life on the eternal. 
 Appeal: Make much of King Jesus by living for the advancement of the gospel and watch God use you for His glory and your good.

Living for the Advancement of the Gospel
Philippians 1:12-18

I. What or Whom Are You Spending Your Life?
1. The Pudding guy story
2. Need: Sadly, many are spending their lives on the temporal rather than the eternal.
3. Many spend their lives for Careers, or Marriage/Family, or for Pleasure.
4. Textual Idea: Paul showed that our lives should be laser-focused on making much of King Jesus by living for the advancement of the gospel, regardless of the circumstances.
5. Sermon Idea: Live for the advancement of the gospel, regardless of the circumstances.
6. Interrogative: How do we make much of King Jesus by living for the advancement of the gospel regardless of the circumstances?
7. Transition: Our text gives two ways we can make much of Jesus by living for the advancement of the gospel, regardless of the circumstances.
II. Division 1 Statement: Live for the advancement of the gospel by obedience (1:12-13).
A. Explanation
1. Define obedience: Willful Surrender
a. Because Paul was sold ou

Philippians 1:12 18, Living for the Advancement of the Gospel, Ed Davis

Hosea 11:12-13:16 
Have You Learned Your Lesson? 
 
I. Have You Been Learning Lately? 
1. We like to think we learn lessons with time so that we grow in wisdom and maturity. 
2. Many people never seem to be able to learn past what their beliefs allow them to learn. 
3. If you don’t learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. Today, we think we’ve corporately learned. 
4. People are ideological; they have ideas through which they interpret the world. 
5. If you don’t change those basic beliefs, they won’t learn from history. Change people’s basic ideas. 
6. “History repeats itself” because people, being ideological, only learn what their faith lets them learn. 
7. Today, people’s basic belief is that they are autonomous and that the purpose of life is selfish pleasure. 
II. History and Destiny Cycle 1 (11:12-12:6) 
1. Their recent history is that they surround the Lord with lies and deceit. Their image of God was a lie. 
2. Today leaders in some “churches” say there’s such a thing as “same-sex marriage”. It’s a lie. 
3. It is like, “feeding on the wind,” on nothing, a “windbag religion.” They’re empty people, full of hot air. 
4. They didn’t learn from their history and so they’re repeating it. They were connivers from the beginning. 
5. His “memorial name” is the name He is to be remembered by, part of the name Yeshua, Jesus, the Lord. 
6. They’ve reverted back to Jacob because of their ideology, like Jacob before he wrestled with God. 
7. Don’t forget our history, that the Lord Jesus took up His cross and told us we will have to do the same. 
8. Their destiny is that the Lord will punish “Jacob.” The Lord will “repay him.” 
9. Change your mind, your basic ideas; learn your lessons; learn from history so that you aren’t doomed. 
III. History and Destiny Cycle 2 (12:7-14) 
1. The recent history is that like the Canaanites, they love to oppress. They're living like Canaanites. 
2. Like the Canaanites, their merchants cheat, oppress, use deceptive business practices. 
3. The Lord brought them out of Egypt, from living in tents for a generation. He spoke to their prophets. 
4. They had no sense of their sinfulness, they thought they were moral and religious and so were arrogant. 
5. Today, there is very little preaching of the law, so many people don’t know how sinful they are. 
6. So we have a bizarre combination today of much self-righteousness interwoven with unrighteousness. 
7. They don’t learn from their history that they came from nothing, from Jacob fleeing with nothing. 
8. They’ll be doomed to repeat their poverty, their transience.The Lord will leave their bloodguilt on them. 
9. Have you become a Canaanite, an exploiter, so you look at a life as a chase to the money you want? 
IV. History and Destiny Cycle 3 (13:1-11) 
1. Their history was that they were once a powerful, dominant nation: “Ephraim,” the Northern Kingdom. 
2. The result of their worldliness, “they sin more and more.” It started as a small compromise and grew. 
3. Images represent how we think about God. Images are projections of ourselves. 
4. They’ll become like the mist, the dew, the chaff, the smoke. Like mist, you’ll fade away in the heat. 
5. That’s the destiny of those worship only a projection of themselves. Change you mind about God. 
6. The lesson that they should have learned is that they need the Lord to sustain them. 
7. If you think the history of your life is the story of you succeeding with grit alone, you’ve forgotten God. 
8. They had once been a powerful, prosperous nation and so were full and smug, self-satisfied. 
9. In 721 BC, the Assyrians destroyed them, ripping them apart, mauling them like a bear or lion. 
10. Have you learned that He’s your helper? That every good gift comes from Him? 
V. History and Destiny Cycle 4 (13:12-16) 
1. Their history is one of iniquity, of sin, of failure, of foolishness. Their iniquity is bound up like grain. 
2. Israel is like a child to be born that won’t be delivered. Is he dead? “Shall I ransom them from” death? 
3. Will the Lord buy them back from death? That depends on who they are, which Israel they are. 
4. For those He will have mercy on He will save them from death. He will purchase them out of it. 
5. Their history is one of iniquity. Their destiny is divided: one destiny of compassion and another without. 
6. You destiny depends on whether you’ll learn your lesson. Learn that you’re sinful and need redemption. 
7. Their history had been success but because they didn’t deal with their sin, they will bear their guilt. 
VI. Conclusion: Our history is sin. Our sin must be paid for. Either it is paid by us, suffering eternally under death, or it is paid for by the Lord who has ransomed us from death. Our destiny, can be, by the help of our God, by the ransom of the blood of Jesus, eternal life. Which destiny is for you?

Hosea 11:12-13:16
Have You Learned Your Lesson?

I. Have You Been Learning Lately?
1. We like to think we learn lessons with time so that we grow in wisdom and maturity.
2. Many people never seem to be able to learn past what their beliefs allow them to learn.
3. If you don’t learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. Today, we think we’ve corporately learned.
4. People are ideological; they have ideas through which they interpret the world.
5. If you don’t change those basic beliefs, they won’t learn from history. Change people’s basic ideas.
6. “History repeats itself” because people, being ideological, only learn what their faith lets them learn.
7. Today, people’s basic belief is that they are autonomous and that the purpose of life is selfish pleasure.
II. History and Destiny Cycle 1 (11:12-12:6)
1. Their recent history is that they surround the Lord with lies and deceit. Their image of God was a lie.
2. Today leaders in some “churches” say there’s such a thing as “same-sex 

Hosea 11:12-13:16, Have You Learned Your Lesson?

Hosea 11:1-11 
What Kind of Relationship Do You Have With God? 
 
I. Do You React Differently to Different People? 
1. We can often be more blunt with family because we know the bonds of the relationship can withstand it. 
2. I respond much differently to how a child acts depending on whether that was my child or not. 
3. The way we react to each other often depends on our relationship to each other. 
4. A vending machine never develops relationships with customers. It treats everyone with perfect fairness. 
5. Does God deal with people differently depending on the relationship? Is God relational or mechanical? 
II. His Rearing of His Children (11:1-4) 
A. God’s Relationship With Israel 
1. He reared Israel, nurtured him. He called them to live His way, to be a “holy nation.” 
2. He pictures that rearing, like a parent teaching a toddler to walk; holding his hands (11:3). 
3. The parent, like God, takes care of the child if he or she gets sick because of the relationship. 
4. You have a pet, like a dog or cat, to have a relationship with it, not like a donkey for work. 
5. That tender rearing and gentle invitations should have created in Israel a relationship with the Lord. 
6. “Generosity is God’s way of creating community.” God wants His generosity to create worship. 
7. They thought the Lord was mechanical: offer to Him sacrifices, then He’ll return the blessings. 
8. It’s not a relationship. It’s just a cold, impersonal, business exchange, they thought. It’s mechanical. 
 
B. Jesus Is the True Israel 
1. Israel is God’s Son. Our instinct today is to take “Israel” to refer literally to the nation Israel. 
2. Matthew 2:15 quotes, “out of Egypt I called My Son,” for the infant Jesus returning from Egypt. 
3. Now, with Jesus, that prophesy is “fulfilled,” meaning that was the ultimate purpose of Hosea 11:1. 
4. God has a Son, He loved and brought out of Egypt: Israel. Is God a cosmic racist? No. 
5. Jesus is the true Israel. The people whom God sees in Christ are the ultimate Israel. 
6. God has sons and daughters whom He is rearing and calling from all nations. 
7. The Father is rearing children through Christ who will tied to Him with cords of kindness. 
III. His Rage at Not His People (11:5-7) 
1. God turns to the “Not My People,” and pronounces His rage against them. They are not His Son. 
2. They would not repent and worship and love Him alone. They did not want a relationship with God. 
3. “The sword shall rage against their cities.” Swords don’t wield themselves. The Lord wields it. 
4. These people are “bent” on turning away from the Lord, like a car with a bent frame. 
5. Even if they should call out to the Lord, the Lord would still not raise them up (11:7). 
6. God doesn’t have the kind of relationship with these people to heed them when they cry out to Him. 
7. Some say, ‘That’s not fair!’ Fairness is not the issue. He doesn’t have to save anyone. 
8. Why does the Lord turn some people back to Himself? Because of His relationship with them. 
IV. His Roar (11:8-11) 
1. In chapter one the Lord goes from saying an Israel is “Not My People,” another is His people. 
2. He says He can’t treat them like Admah and Zeboiim, two suburbs of Sodom and Gomorrah. 
3. “I will not execute My burning anger.” He won’t wield His raging sword against them. 
4. If we were treated by someone like the God has been treated by these people, we would be enraged. 
5. He’s gone from expressing rage at Israel to resolving never to pour out His wrath at Israel. 
6. The Israel that He won’t raise up is different than the Israel that He resolves not to be angry against. 
7. The Israel that He won’t give up is, first, His Son, Israel in the one Person of Jesus, then the church. 
8. The Israel that He promises not to forsake, not to destroy, to keep to the end, is the true one, the church. 
9. 1 Thessalonians 5:9, we “are not appointed for wrath.” He reared us not to destroy us with His wrath. 
10. The supernatural Israel “shall go after the Lord.” They respond differently than natural Israel. 
11. God’s children hear His voice as a roar. It moves their response. His children hear the roar. 
12. They come trembling, in reverence and awe, knowing that they are sinners. They come from exile. 
13. God has children scattered around the world, and He recoils at the idea of condemning them. 
14. God roars for them, a call of irresistible grace. When His children hear that call, they are justified. 
V. Invitation: Some are His children. Some are not. He doesn’t respond to us mechanically, as though we can get what we want out of Him if only we put in the right coins and push the right buttons. He has an only begotten Son who lived the perfect life we didn’t and took the wrath we couldn’t. If we’re in Him we’re also His children and He’s not appointed us to get eternal anger from Him but to have our home with Him forever. If you believe in Jesus, then you are the Father’s child. The question, then, for you, do you believe?

Hosea 11:1-11
What Kind of Relationship Do You Have With God?

I. Do You React Differently to Different People?
1. We can often be more blunt with family because we know the bonds of the relationship can withstand it.
2. I respond much differently to how a child acts depending on whether that was my child or not.
3. The way we react to each other often depends on our relationship to each other.
4. A vending machine never develops relationships with customers. It treats everyone with perfect fairness.
5. Does God deal with people differently depending on the relationship? Is God relational or mechanical?
II. His Rearing of His Children (11:1-4)
A. God’s Relationship With Israel
1. He reared Israel, nurtured him. He called them to live His way, to be a “holy nation.”
2. He pictures that rearing, like a parent teaching a toddler to walk; holding his hands (11:3).
3. The parent, like God, takes care of the child if he or she gets sick because of the relationship.
4. You have a pet, like a 

Hosea 11:1-11, What Kind of Relationship Do You Have With God?

Hosea 4:1-6:3 
Do You Know God? 
 
I. What Do You Know? 
1. Everybody likes to feel that they are an expert on something; that they know a lot about part of life. 
2. Christians seem to put a big emphasis on knowledge. We emphasize the sermon and teaching the Word. 
3. It’s important to learn the Bible and some theology so that through that, you know God. 
4. Our challenge is that we can know a lot about the Bible or theology but still not know God. 
II. Charges (4:1-3) 
A. Faithfulness 
1. There is no faithfulness. It means “firmness,” “truth,” reliability, stability, integrity. 
2. An uncle had a wife who went violently insane. He stayed married to her for over 50 years. 
3. Some modern Christians find it repugnant to be asked to be faithful, rather than a consumer. 
4. The little bit of lip-service we give to faithfulness to marriage is shallow. There is no faithfulness. 
B. Steadfast Love 
1. “Hesed,” is loyalty; it’s covenant love. It’s portrayed for us in the book of Ruth. 
2. Ruth said, “Where you go, I will go; .… Your people shall be my people and your God my God.” 
3. Today, there’s back-stabbing, self-seeking, the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately attitude. 
4. That’s why we dare not forget Mr. Perry or the Lord will have a controversy with us. 
C. Knowledge of God 
1. The people don’t know God. We know that because there is no faithfulness or steadfast love. 
2. 1 John 4:8 says, “Anyone who does not love, does not know God, because God is love.” 
3. If there is no faithfulness and no steadfast love, then there is no knowledge of God. 
4. Without knowledge of God, we become just like the people around us; just as selfish, as uncaring. 
D. Results 
1. “They break all bounds,” (4:2). None of the restraints that should hold people back work. 
2. The covenant they made to “walk together” doesn’t hold them back from walking away. 
3. The maternal instinct doesn’t hold some back from killing their children in the womb. 
III. The Accused (4:4-6) 
2. This controversy is with the Israelites but now He narrows the charges to priests, spiritual leaders. 
3. The professional prophets, the preachers, were leaving people in the dark. They were enabling sin. 
4. “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” (4:6.) They don’t know God. 
5. They think learning to be a person of integrity, who loves the Body Christ died for is too hard. 
6. The preachers don’t tell them about the true God. They’ve rejected the true God for respectable religion. 
7. The ministry has rejected knowledge of God because the people want them to. So, God rejects them. 
IV. The Case (4:7-19) 
1. They increased in number and increased in sin. “They feed on the sin of my people.” (4:8.) 
2. When people wanted to made a sin offering, the priest got to eat most of the animal being sacrificed. 
3. So, the more the people sinned, the more meat the priests got. “Like people, like priests.” (4:9) 
4. Instead of the ministry changing the people, the people change the ministry. 
5. They preached where racism ruled and never mention it, because, if they do, they lose their meal ticket. 
6. They’ll eat from the food earned by their compromise but not be full. Their life will be futile. 
7. Don’t go to Israel’s shrines. Don’t darken the doors of its churches because they are a bad example. 
8. They’re proud of their religion now but one day God will make them ashamed of it. 
V. The Verdict (5:1-6:3) 
1. Instead of helping people, showing them the light, you’ve caught and trapped people. 
2. “I know Ephraim” (5:3). They lack knowledge of God but God doesn’t lack knowledge of them. 
3. They take their flocks for sacrifice to seek the Lord at their shrines but they will never find Him. 
4. God is like a moth to them, slowly eating away; then, He is like a lion tearing them up. 
5. He afflicts us that He might make us whole. He disciplines every child He receives. 
6. The Lord will go away from them until they plead guilty and earnestly seek God’s face. 
7. Distress leads to recognizing our sin. Acknowledging our guilt leads to knowledge of God. 
8. “For He has torn us that He may heal us; he has struck us down and He will bind us up.” (6:1.) 
9. First our problem isn’t just something we can be trained or educated out of by learning information. 
10. We are dead in trespasses and sin; our spirits are held captive to sin and we are unable to seek God. 
11. We need Christ Himself to take our guilt on Him, to be torn and on the third days be raised up. 
12. So, “We may live before Him” (6:3). He was raised for our justification. 
VI. Invitation: “Let us know,” (6:3), “let us press on to know the Lord.” Know that He is coming to judge as sure as dawn will come tomorrow. Know what He’s done, that He’s faithful, that He has steadfast love for His people that is new every morning. Know the Lord.

Hosea 4:1-6:3
Do You Know God?

I. What Do You Know?
1. Everybody likes to feel that they are an expert on something; that they know a lot about part of life.
2. Christians seem to put a big emphasis on knowledge. We emphasize the sermon and teaching the Word.
3. It’s important to learn the Bible and some theology so that through that, you know God.
4. Our challenge is that we can know a lot about the Bible or theology but still not know God.
II. Charges (4:1-3)
A. Faithfulness
1. There is no faithfulness. It means “firmness,” “truth,” reliability, stability, integrity.
2. An uncle had a wife who went violently insane. He stayed married to her for over 50 years.
3. Some modern Christians find it repugnant to be asked to be faithful, rather than a consumer.
4. The little bit of lip-service we give to faithfulness to marriage is shallow. There is no faithfulness.
B. Steadfast Love
1. “Hesed,” is loyalty; it’s covenant love. It’s portrayed for us in the book of Ruth.
2. Ruth said, “Where 

Hosea 4:1-6:3, Do You Know God?

Deuteronomy 10:12-11:32 
What Comes First? 
 
I. Who Takes the Initiative? 
1. The old question was, ‘What comes first? The chicken or the egg?’ It’s a conundrum. 
2. Who comes first in a relationship? Traditionally people thought the man should take the initiative. 
3. The culture said I the man was supposed to take the initiative, which could be a useful to hide behind. 
4. With relationships there’s a complicated chain of events, a dance; one thing leads to another. 
5. Someone has to start the chain; someone has to push over the first domino; someone has to come first. 
6. With God, who comes first? Is my decision the crucial one? What sets the dominoes falling 
7. The crucial question, in this dance, that results in some people being saved is what’s the cause? 
II. The First Cause 
A. The Call and the Cause (10:12-15) 
1. “Israel, what does the Lord require of you?” What are you called to do? Fear and love the Lord, etc. 
2. Some think, ‘I keep the rules, etc., then that starts the chain of events that leads to my salvation.’ 
3. They’re not being told, do this to become God’s people but do this because you are God’s people. 
4. These people have already been brought out of slavery and saved from the oppression of the enemy. 
5. The call is not what they are to do to get salvation but what they are to do in response to salvation. 
6. Keep these commands for your good. Your life will be better if you live God’s way. 
7. “To the Lord your God belong heaven,” the entire universe with billions of galaxies. 
8. All of the universe and the earth belongs to God not just a land in the Middle East. 
9. “Yet”, despite how enormous He is and how small we are, the Lord “set His heart in love” on us. 
10. He determined in His heart, from the beginning, to love you, to make a covenant with you. 
11. The cause of your salvation is the Lord setting His heart to love you. God’s choice comes first. 
B. The Mark (10:16-22) 
1. Circumcise your heart. Take the mark of the covenant. Be set apart, in a relationship with the Lord. 
2. Don’t be stubborn, unchangeable, unteachable, always assuming that you are right as you are. 
3. The effect of God’s prior covenant with you is that you are meek, open to His Word. 
4. He is “God of gods,” the reason for being, of all the things you are tempted to serve, like money. 
5. “Hold fast to Him.” It’s the same term as used in Genesis 3, a man shall hold fast to his wife. 
6. “He is your praise,” the thing in your life that you praise as the cause of all the other good things. 
C. The Motive (11:1-7) 
1. Love the Lord because He first loved you. His love for you should cause your love for Him. 
2. Your motive is love, not trying to manipulate Him to giving you what you want. 
3. Then you consider His discipline and greatness. He disciplines His children. Think about that. 
4. Then consider how He judges the world. Think about what He did to the rebels. 
D. The Manifestations (11:8-17) 
1. Show manifestations in obedience, in a changed life. God grace is the cause that produces effects. 
2. Because the Lord first set His love on you, then you shall keep all the commands. 
3. Following God’s word brings benefits. It makes your family better; you’re more self-controlled. 
4. God is cultivating the Promised Land, as picture of the promise that He has for us. 
5. God’s love manifests. So our love for Him will manifest itself in obedience, in all of your life. 
6. Take care (11:13). Be careful “lest your heart be deceived.” Don’t lose your first love. 
7. The Lord manifests His love by blessing you when you manifest your love by serving Him. 
  
E. The Mind (11:18-32) 
1. Attend to your mind. “Lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul.” 
2. The effect caused by the Word of God will be that you will enter into a new life, starting now. 
3. Don’t just be a hearer about loving the Lord, be a doer. Hold fast to Him. 
4. If your faith leads to walking in His ways then you are bound for the Promised Land. 
5. See (11:26). In your mind see that He’s placed before you a blessing and a curse. 
6. Life comes from having the Lord set His love on you that causes effects in you. 
7. Renew your mind, constantly, with the Word of God, so you know, God’s commands are good. 
III. Invitation: See that if it depends on you, then what you will earn is judgment. The cause of your judgement will be your stubbornness. See His judgment and tremble. See, also, God’s prior love for you. See that He set His love on you, made a covenant with you, prepared a place for you. See that fair and happy land where your possessions lie. Thank God that you love because He first loved you. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
E.思想（11：18-32） 
1.注意。 “将我的这些话放在你的内心和灵魂中。” 
2.上帝圣言所造成的影响是，您将从现在开始进入新的生活。 
3.不要只是做关于爱主的聆听者，而是做行动者。紧紧的倚靠他。 
4.如果您的信仰引导你走神的路，那么你就会走向应许之地。 
5.参见（11:26）。在您的脑海中，您将看到祂把祝福和诅咒摆在你面前。。 
6.生命源于主将祂的爱放在你身上，从而对你造成影响。 
7.用神的话语不断更新你的思想，所以你知道，神的诫命是好的。 
三，邀请：看看是否取决于您，那么您将获得的是审判。你的固执导致你审判，看到他的审判而颤抖，同样也看到上帝对你的爱，祂要将爱放在你的身上与你立约，为你预备地方。看看你拥有美丽幸福的土地吧！感谢神，你爱祂，因为祂先爱你。l ll。

Deuteronomy 10:12-11:32 
What Comes First?

I. Who Takes the Initiative?
1. The old question was, ‘What comes first? The chicken or the egg?’ It’s a conundrum. 
2. Who comes first in a relationship? Traditionally people thought the man should take the initiative.
3. The culture said I the man was supposed to take the initiative, which could be a useful to hide behind.
4. With relationships there’s a complicated chain of events, a dance; one thing leads to another.
5. Someone has to start the chain; someone has to push over the first domino; someone has to come first.
6. With God, who comes first? Is my decision the crucial one? What sets the dominoes falling
7. The crucial question, in this dance, that results in some people being saved is what’s the cause?
II. The First Cause 
A. The Call and the Cause (10:12-15)
1. “Israel, what does the Lord require of you?” What are you called to do? Fear and love the Lord, etc.
2. Some think, ‘I keep the rules, etc., then that starts the chain of 

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