Immanuel Baptist Church

Matthew 6:1-4

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Part of our series on the Sermon on the Mount, this sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the evening service on Sunday, January 31, 2010.

Psalm 119:89-105

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This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on Sunday, January 31, 2010

We are taking an unexpected break from Ephesians this morning. I had an experience a few days ago which I found profoundly disturbing. I will not give you the details but I will tell you the result. It left me desperate for Scripture and with a desire to focus on Scripture this morning. So we are diverting from Ephesians to look at that which God has given us as our light.

The Bible ought to be our lifeblood. It ought to be said of us as Charles Spurgeon said of John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress: “Prick him anywhere, and he bleeds Bible.” The Bible ought to saturate our lives so that it flows out in everything we do. Too often our lives are more like the words of John Piper who said, “Let it not be said of the King’s heralds: ‘Prick him and he bleeds movies.’” I want my ministry at Immanuel to be one of helping people grow in their love of God and, because the Bible is God’s Word, grow in their love of Scripture and find the Bible to be a greater source of delight than anything the world has to offer. So in this service I offer a different sort of sermon. This sermon is a prayer of thanksgiving, of supplication, of confession, and of intercession.

Father, I thank you for your Word. I thank you that you have not left us blind but have shown us yourself. You are the master painter and have taken the canvas of Scripture to paint in these pages the picture of your truth. You are the great writer who has created language by which you might be known and then have used language to reveal yourself to us. You have not remained distant from us but have revealed yourself through the Bible.

In this Word we learn that you are creator. You spoke all things into existence and made man your crowning achievement. In your Word we learn that man was not content to be the shining treasure of God. We wanted to be god and so we disobeyed. In the garden we cast ourselves at the feet of your enemy and we have served him ever since. By your grace there have been some who were faithful, some who trusted you, some who abided by your Word. And it was only by your grace that they had your Word to begin with. You could have wiped us out but in love you showed us mercy and grace.

Father, it is your Word that tells us of your Son, Jesus Christ, who took on flesh and made his dwelling among us. We deserve wrath and Hell but we received the Son of God and through your Son the promise of the gospel was extended to everyone. So many have rejected. So many have turned aside. So many have despised the Words you have spoken. But again by your grace you have chosen some to be children. By your grace, they have believed. By your grace you have brought your children into your kingdom. By your grace you have given us work to do so that our lives are not meaningless and empty but are rich as we proclaim your glory throughout the earth. Oh God, by your grace you have given us your very presence! The Spirit of God to dwell within us! By you grace we know that one day your Son will return and will carry us to paradise. Not my hand but thine will lead me safely to that land.

Father, I would know none of these things if not for your Word. So many riches and treasures are found in these pages, and so many more things that I have not mentioned. I feel the passion of your servant David as he wrote these words in Psalm 119:89-105: Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts. The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies. I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad. Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Oh how I love your law! Make it my meditation all the day! Make me like the wise man of Psalm 1:2 who has his delight in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Father it is to my disgrace and it is my sin that I neglect this gift of yours. I have sinned every time I sought comfort from television rather than from you. I have sinned every time I sought instruction from magazines rather than from your Word. I have sinned every time I neglected Scripture for entertainment. Lord forgive me! I am such a wicked and wayward person. Set my sights on your law. And like Psalm 119:18, open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.Your law, your Word, your precepts, your revelation is glorious. When I look into the sky the stars fill me with wonder. When I stare over the ocean I am filled with awe. When I gaze upon the mountains I am amazed. When I stand before your Word I am blown away. And yet I do not love Scripture as I ought.

Father, the world draws me! All around distractions abound! Even in your church there stand a host of those who do not uphold your Word. Give us discerning hearts! Give us the wisdom to know when we are being led astray! Make us so tuned to Scripture that the warning goes off the moment someone would lead us the wrong way. Father, you have given us the tuning fork. You have given us the warning light. Cast aside all our distractions and fill us with your Word.

Day and night, Lord, day and night, make us to meditate on this Bible. Help us to think and give us understanding. You offer this promise through Paul in 2 Timothy 2:7, Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Father, we do not trust you enough. We do not live as though Proverbs 2:6 were true, that the Lord gives wisdom; from your mouth come knowledge and understanding. We are quick to speak highly of your Word but just as quick to turn aside and rely on the teachings of men. Lord, you have blessed the church with countless teachers and writers whose works can help us as we think about your Word but let it be your Word that they teach us. So many would give us the world’s philosophies. It is only your Word that give us light and it is you that gives us understanding.

Teach us to think deeply about the Bible. Teach us to meditate on it day and night. Stir us to memorize your Word, to keep it in our hearts, to trust that when we study, you will give understanding. And make us patient, knowing that you are the eternal wise God who knows when it is best for us to understand the things we find confusing.

And Father there are so many things in Scripture that shock us. Let us not turn aside from these difficulties. Let us not be quick to accept explanations that make us comfortable but let us wrestle with God in the tent of Jacob, for even if we are left with a limp, we will come through it having been blessed by you. Even if understanding takes us years, never let us give up on hard texts.

Father, you have not just given us Scripture. You have not just promised understanding. You have given us the Holy Spirit to lead us to understanding. In Isaiah 11:2 we learn of the Spirit that filled your Son: And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. This same Spirit is the one given to your children, the promise of 1 Corinthians 2:12 that we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

People in the world do not have this promise nor do they have understanding of your Word. You have said of them in 1 Corinthians 2:14, The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. They laugh, they scoff, they put us down. But you sustain us. Your Spirit fills us. By your Spirit you give us understanding of your Word. Apart from the Spirit, there is no understanding of your Word. But we also know, Father, that apart from your Word the Spirit gives no understanding. What will he help us understand if we do not meditate on your Word, if we do not think about these things written in the Bible? So let us have your Spirit, and stir us to study the Bible.

Father, give us understanding. Teach us how to live. Teach us how to behave as sons and daughters of God. Teach us how to serve you well and carry out the work you have for us. You told us in Ephesians 2:10 that we are your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which you prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. We are born again in Jesus Christ, raised with him in new life, and raised to walk not in the world’s ways but in your way. You saved us to serve you, to do good works, works which you planned and prepared before the ages began.

How can we know how to live out those works? What can prepare us for every good work you have prepared? Thank you Father that here again we are brought back to your Word, for 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Teach us, then, to study your Word. Teach us to understand Scripture. Make us passionate to dive deep into these waters and emerge with precious jewels of truth and life. Your Word, these pages which are breathed out by you, is the means you have given us for growth and service. You equip us through Scripture. You make us competent to fulfill our calling through Scripture. You have not cast us into the world and told us to figure out your will on our own. You have given us light in your Word to train us for godliness, as we see in 1 Timothy 4:6-8: If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Lord, how I love your law. Make it my meditation day and night so that I might be trained for godliness, equipped to carry out the work you have called me to do.

So, Father, as Paul writes in Colossians 3:2, set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Set our minds on Christ and fill us with his Word. Make your Word our delight. Our souls are dry and battered. We are weak and frail. The enemy howls and rages all about us. We are so quick to grasp at anything looking like hope but let us settle for nothing but your Word.

Father, you know what it was that disturbed me so. Thank you for experiences that drive me closer to your Word. I pray for myself and for those others and for these who are here today that we would find our rest in you and in the rich waters of your Word. Open our eyes to behold wondrous things in your law. Make us to love the Bible and to read it and to study it and to talk about it and to memorize it and to dwell on it day and night and to speak it everywhere we go and to recite it back to you in prayer and to praise you for it and to never, ever find your Word a dull thing. May it be for us like the Psalmist in Psalm 40:8-10 who spread your Word wherever he went: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

Thank you that we are your children and that you have given us such good gifts. May we never neglect your Word.

Join us for our church-wide Valentine’s Day Banquet, scheduled for Friday, February 12th at 6:00 pm. Tickets are $12.00. Contact the church office to find out who will be selling tickets.

College and career folks, young singles and couples, and anyone else, join us on Monday, February 1st at 7:00 in the church youth house for a time of fellowship and study. This will be our first meeting together and we will decide what to study in our future meetings.

The youth house is located on College Avenue, across the street from Immanuel’s sanctuary.

Join our adults on Friday, February 5th at 6:30 pm. This group will meet at the home of Mark Mercer. Contact Mark or the church office for the address and directions.

This group is going through Timothy Keller’s Reason for God and has just begun looking at the book.

I have programs planned through April and I am seeking ideas for further programs. Remember, if you know of a good program idea for our luncheon meetings, please let me know.

For our February meeting someone will be here from Anchorage Children’s Home. For our mission action we are going to bring socks and underwear – all sizes.

Stay involved.

Martha

The following is our menu for the Wednesday evening fellowship meal on February 3rd.

Baked chicken
Potato salad
Green beans
Baked apples
Rolls
Dessert

The meal will begin at 5:30 in the fellowship hall. Those unable to attend the meal are welcome to join us at 6:15 for the prayer time and Bible study.

Cost for meals is $5.00 per adult or $3.00 per child. Call the church office by noon Tuesday to reserve your meals.

I am excited about our new community group ministry. It is my feeling that we do not take enough opportunities throughout the week to gather with other believers. Community groups provide a way to spend more time in fellowship and study in a smaller setting that allows people to get more personal, more involved with one another. It is like Sunday school, only during the week and in a more relaxed setting.

Our first group is for adults and is being coordinated by Mark Mercer. They will meet every other week and will be discussing Timothy Keller’s book Reason for God, a great tool to learn how to respond to arguments against Christianity. Contact Mark to find the time and place of the next meeting.

The second group, for young adults, will meet each Monday at 7:00 pm in the youth house. The first meeting will be February 1st and we will decide at that meeting what to study.

Pray for this new ministry of the church. Consider if you might want to join – or even start! – one of our groups. I believe these groups will be a great asset to build the lives of our people and to provide an entry point for people not yet a part of Immanuel. Pray and participate and let’s see what God will do!

Matthew 5:43-48

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Part of our series on the Sermon on the Mount, this sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the evening service on Sunday, January 24, 2010.

Ephesians 5:15-17

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This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on Sunday, January 10, 2010

On June 6, 1944, 50,000 American troops landed on the shores of Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. They faced well defended Germans who had fortified bunkers located in the cliffs above the beach. As the soldiers stormed off their landing craft they made no mistake of where they were. This was enemy territory. All around their brothers fell to enemy fire. The ground around them was pitted and laced with wire. They held their weapons and charged through bombs and bullets to scale steep cliffs and overthrow the German forces.

Soldiers on the battlefield who forget where they are will soon lose their lives. A soldier cannot turn his attention from the task before him. He cannot treat the battlefield as though it were his living room. I am afraid that today many Christians have forgotten the battlefield. We have forgotten that we live in enemy occupied territory. The machine gun nests are firing hot and heavy and around us souls are being lost. We ourselves might be captured as prisoners of war and our only notice is to change the TV station. We are soldiers on the battlefield but we too often act as though this world were nothing more than an amusement park.

As we live life, we must recognize the battle and we must decide which side we will serve. In our text today, Ephesians 5:15-17, Paul will describe our days as evil days. How will we live out those days? Will we make the most of our time, redeeming the time for the cause of Christ, or will we be slothful, negligent of the battle around us, essentially traitors to the kingdom of God, supporting the work of Satan and his domain of darkness.

Ephesians 5:15-17

Paul wants us to be aware of where we are and the situation we find ourselves in. As believers, we have been saved and brought into the kingdom of God. We already enjoy privileges of being adopted as the children of God. We are no longer sons of darkness but are children of light. Nonetheless, we are not yet in our heavenly home. We live in enemy territory, in a realm where the days are evil. We must never let ourselves be fooled about our present state. We cannot close our spiritual eyes in slumber while the war rages around us.

One of the greatest tricks an enemy can use is to fool solders into a sense of peace. Let an army fall into a sense that all is well and they are most vulnerable to attack. All is not well in the world around us but we often refuse to see the danger.

One of our weaknesses is our desire for acceptance. We have all heard the story of Chicken Little who cried, “The sky is falling!” only to suffer shame and rebuke when the sky remained intact. We fear that if we raise the standard of Christ and speak against the ways of the world we would be labelled Puritanical or Pharisaical. We fear being called intolerant. We fear what we might have to give up if we acknowledge the dangers in the world around us. We fear a million things and as a result we ignore the danger and plunge into the ambush of the enemy.

Christian, it is time to awaken! Paul’s words in Romans 13:11-14 are words for us today: Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

In Ephesians 5:16 Paul says that the days are evil. This is his warning to us to remember the battlefield we are in. The prevailing position of the world is against God. We are not surrounded by neutral people trying to decide what side they want to serve. All who are not part of the kingdom of God are part of the kingdom of darkness. The days we live in are evil days and have been so since the fall of mankind.

In Galatians 1:4 Paul says: …the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father… The age we live in is an evil age and we were once a part of it. It is because of the work of Jesus that we have been brought into the kingdom of God. But though we have been brought into the light, the rest of the world walks in darkness. Jesus delivers a strong indictment against the world in John 3:19: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. They are servants of the enemy and they delight in his darkness.

This does not change our position toward people in the world. In Ephesians 6:12 Paul will tell us, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Humans beings are not our enemy. They serve our enemy. Satan and his forces remain our enemies. Our work in the world is to spread the light of God and show sinners the way to salvation in Christ. These days are ruled by Satan who sets himself in opposition to God and blinds the eyes of unbelievers, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4: In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Satan has blinded people. Only God can make them see. We must shine his light into the world, but too often we will not even acknowledge the battle being waged. Nonetheless, those who serve Satan do so willingly as they willfully reject Christ. They delight in their sin as they walk in darkness.

We have seen in Ephesians descriptions of those who walk in darkness. Throughout chapter 5 those sons of disobedience have been contrasted with we who are in Christ, the children of light. There is – or should be – a massive difference in the lives of the sons of disobedience and the lives of the children of light. But we live in a day when there is little difference between many Christians and unbelievers. We have ignored the world’s dangers and have not just fallen into Satan’s traps, we have thrown ourselves into them.

Consider some of the dangers in the world. I believe entertainment to be perhaps the greatest danger to Christians. Some would accuse me of overstatement but look at so many of our lives. Christians are absolutely consumed with worldly entertainment. When we are in church we should focus on corporate worship but our minds drift to sports. When at home we should study our Bibles or spend time in prayer but our favorite TV show is on. When we have free moments we should reflect on God but our desire is for easy entertainment. Even in many of our churches we have exchanged the rich preaching and teaching of God’s word for feel-good fluff that keeps us from having to think too hard. We should give money for missions work or church growth or to feed the needy or to save lives in Haiti but instead we spend our money on bigger, fancier toys.

What is the use of Christians who are nothing like Christ? What is the use of children of God who look more like sons of disobedience? What in your life sets you apart from the world?

So Paul begins this passage with the words, look carefully then how you walk. Back a few verses, in 5:8, Paul reminds us that while at one time you were darkness, now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. With dangers all around us, we cannot afford to ignore the way we live. We must regularly, carefully examine our lives to see if we walk as children of light. No aimless wandering, no haphazard living, we are to see if what we think and do measures up to Christ’s expectations.

Two passages come to mind to help us as we look carefully how we walk. The first is Psalm 119:105 where the Psalmist writes, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. We cannot know how we ought to walk if we do not have the lamp of God in the Word of God. Scripture tells us how to live. The less we have of Scripture, the less we will live as God wants us to live. Somehow Christians today seem to feel that we can get by on a handful of verses we learned as children. None of us are in Scripture or memorizing Scripture as we ought. We need to be like the man in Psalm 1:1-2: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Did you catch that last part? Such a man finds his delight in the law of the Lord – that is, the word of God – and he spends day and night meditating on God’s word. Such a man will not easily be led astray.

We give the Bible lip service. “Yes, I believe this book to be the fully inspired word of God and that it is the final rule of faith and practice and I should guide my life by what it teaches.” “So how often do you read it?” “Oh, you know, I read a few verses a few days ago.” “Well what did those verses say and mean?” “I don’t remember right offhand but it was good!”

If we really believed that God wrote this book, how could we justify our neglect? The word of God is light and life! And by this word our steps are guided. It is to be our delight and the source of our meditation and when we look carefully how we walk, we measure our lives against Scripture. Do you avoid the things the Bible tells you to avoid? Do you do what the Bible says do? Do you delight in this God described by the Bible? Then you must know what the Bible says.

The second passage to help as we examine our walk is Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Do you want to know if there is sin in your life? Ask God to show you. Then be ready – for you have more sin than you know. God is the one who declares right from wrong. He is the standard of righteousness. He will measure your life and by the Holy Spirit will convict you of sin. A person lost in a forest cannot see above the trees to find his way to safety. But God stands above the trees, he stands above our sin and fallenness. He will reveal to us what we cannot see.

So much is at stake. As we wander the battlefield we see all around us those who have fallen. Brothers and sisters who have truly come to Christ by faith but have neglected the battle, have desired the enemy’s goods, and have been cut down. Their holiness broken, their witness shattered, they are tools in the enemy’s hands. Others around us have claimed Christ but have never shown the first sign of true repentance. They feel content in the fact that they once prayed a prayer or walked an aisle but their heart was never truly given to God. Saints and sinners alike are found walking with the enemy, ignoring the raging of battle.

In our verses Paul makes two contrasts. In verse 15 he says we are to walk not as unwise but as wise. Then in verse 17 he says, do not be foolish, but understand… What does Paul say of those who ignore the battle, who do not see the evil day, who follow the path of the sons of disobedience? First, they are unwise. Then, they are foolish. There is no excuse for a Christian to follow the world’s ways. It is dangerous, irresponsible, foolish.

Psalm 14:1 tells us, The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Many people today are voicing the claim of the fool, declaring there is no God who judges the affairs of men. But many, many more people are living as though the fool were right. Having no fear of God before their eyes, they live in whatever way suits them.

Wisdom means walking according to God’s will, living in ways pleasing to God. This is why Paul concludes our passage with the instruction in verse 17, understand what the will of the Lord is. This world is in enemy hands. We would be foolish to follow the ways of the world or to seek instruction from the world. We must follow Christ. We should make it our goal to live according to 1 Peter 4:2, live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

Already in this sermon we have presented the means God has given us for knowing his will: the word of God. To give another illustration from Psalms, listen to what the Psalmist relies on in Psalm 119:25-32: My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word! When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes! Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me. I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame! I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!

It is Scripture that will guide us in the will of God. But learning from the Psalmist we see there is one thing necessary with Scripture. He is studying God’s Word, but is he expecting to understand Scripture on his own? No. Over and over his cry is, make me understand the way of your precepts. The natural mind will never come to a right understanding of God’s Word. So as you seek out his will in Scripture, seek it with prayer, asking God to illuminate these pages and to enable you to understand by the Holy Spirit how God would have you live.

In closing, I want to remind you once more of where you are. The battle around us rages fierce and deadly. We do not have time to play around. We must make the most of time, redeeming it to serve Christ with every moment we are given. As I read the book of Genesis I have been astonished by the words of Jacob in Genesis 47:8-9. Pharaoh asks him his age and Jacob responds, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” The man was 130 and yet he said his days were few. Those of you who have many years behind you know the truth of the statement that life is short. Far shorter than we usually realize. In Psalm 90:12 the Psalmists asks God, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Realize that life is short and in a very little while your body will fall into dust. At the end of your days will you look back and say you did the bidding of Satan or will you be able to say with Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. May we wake up to the battle around us and give ourselves wholeheartedly to Christ. May the Lord find us faithful all the days of our lives.