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[0:00] Well, things got really off schedule. Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and there's certainly no exception for preachers.

[0:13] So November 14, we had our 50th celebration, or 50th anniversary celebration, although it was a year late because of everything so discombobulated during last year.

[0:26] That was postponed until we were able to work it in, and that was November 14. And then in connection with that, the message that I was going to deliver then, that did not develop either because everything took a different tack that morning, so we just trust that the Lord was in that as much as, or maybe even more so than what I had intended to bring.

[0:49] So what you're going to get this morning is a 50th anniversary message, which delayed. Last week, we had communion, and we didn't want to take anything away from that.

[1:02] And the week before, Marie and I were isolated because of exposure to COVID, although neither of us had any symptoms, and we both eventually tested positive.

[1:13] So we just don't know where this thing is going to go. What? Yeah, I know. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

[1:25] And she was. You know, it works. I wish it worked both ways that way, but sometimes she says, you didn't hear what I said.

[1:37] And I said, well, I would if you didn't mumble. And she said, do you have your hearing aids in? And I said, well, no, but that's why you're mumbling. It's because I don't have my hearing aids.

[1:48] But I've got them in this morning. Anyway, there are things that I do tend to forget, but my sweet wife never forgets anything.

[2:01] And I'm the beneficiary of that, actually. And in my absence, I once again want to thank Ron Gannon and Roger Phipps for filling in for me, especially with such short notice, like maybe 24 hours or less.

[2:15] So thank you. I do appreciate all that you do for us in our presence and in our absence. Would you open your Bible, please, to...

[2:29] What? Yeah? Okay. I told you that she never forgets anything. Okay. For the singles thing Thursday, we're going to the Olive Garden at 1130, and we need to know...

[2:51] Can I see your hand, please? Singles, if you're... Two. What? Again? Again? Again? Again? Again? Well, I don't know what to attribute...

[3:10] Well, I'll just have to stay close to home, then. I'll just use the pulpit, Mike. And, as I was saying, can we have a show of hands, once again, for those of you who are going to the Olive Garden Thursday upcoming...

[3:26] Is it upcoming? Okay. At 1130, and we need to know an approximate number. Could I see your hands again? Okay. One, two, three, four...

[3:39] Five, six... Okay. So far, an even half dozen. Now, where was I before we were so rudely interrupted?

[3:53] 1 Timothy, chapter 3, if you would, please. 1 Timothy, chapter 3. And we're only going to read a couple of verses, beginning with verse 14.

[4:15] And I want to inform you that the Apostle Paul, in writing this first letter to his young protege, Timothy, is giving him all kinds of information that Timothy needs to know so that he can implement those items in this new congregation that the Apostle Paul founded when he was there and preached.

[4:39] Now, he is writing back to Timothy to bring him up to speed as to what he needs to know and how he is to conduct himself and how others are to conduct themselves in the church.

[4:50] You've got to keep in mind now, this is a very new concept that we're talking about. Prior to this time, there were no churches. There was the Jewish synagogue and there were places of temple worship for pagans in every kind of religion that you could imagine.

[5:08] But there was no such thing as what could be called a Christian church. It did not exist until during this first century and as a result of the ministry of the Apostle Paul called of God to reach Gentiles as well as Jews.

[5:25] And this was a totally new thing. Now he's writing back to them directions. And in verse 14 of 1 Timothy, chapter 3, Paul says, I am writing these things to you hoping to come to you before long.

[5:42] But, in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

[6:00] And by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

[6:24] There is a formula that needs to be applied in connection with the Christian life. And it is actually revealing the basis for our Christian life.

[6:36] When Paul says, great is the mystery of godliness, he's not talking about what it is that makes God, God. He's talking about what is it that makes people who are called Christians godly.

[6:53] If you are in Jesus Christ because you have received him as your personal savior, you have admitted your sin and you've placed your trust and faith in him, you are a godly individual.

[7:06] your behavior will probably not always exhibit that because you are more than godly. You also have an old nature to deal with and sometimes that will lead you astray and away from godly things.

[7:23] So there's two categories. One is godly and the other is ungodly. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are a godly person and it is not to be defined by your lifestyle so much as by your ultimate position.

[7:39] You are a godly person because Christ is in you regardless of your behavior. Sometimes Christians can be pretty nasty and very unlike Christ, but that doesn't mean they stop being godly.

[7:56] So there is a positional godliness that every believer enjoys and then there is a behavioral godliness whereby they are acting out that which they truly are and the difference is of course considerable.

[8:10] Now Paul is refining the issue here and he is dealing with the question what is it that makes you people what you are?

[8:22] what is the dynamic that has been provided for you to be a godly person and consequently to have the potential for conducting yourself outwardly as a godly person?

[8:41] What is it that enables you to do that? And that's where this formula comes in. Actually, what we are reading here in verse 16 is an ancient hymn.

[8:53] We don't ordinarily think of it as a hymn but it is and no, you can be relieved I'm not going to try and sing it for you. I have no idea what the melody would be anyway but we do know that the records tell us that this is an ancient hymn and it was frequently sung in the congregation and actually it reveals what we are all about.

[9:15] So let me preface this with some questions if I may. Here at Grace Bible Church what has been our purpose for these past 50 years?

[9:28] Why are we in business? Why is any church that names the name of Christ in business? It is not so much what we are all about but it is who we are all about.

[9:44] we are all about the same person the Apostle Paul said he was all about and what who is it that is the secret that belongs to godliness?

[9:59] That's the question that he's asking and when he asks a question or makes the statement about the mystery of godliness he is talking about what it is that makes you so different from everybody else.

[10:20] In essence it's Christ in you the hope of glory. That's the difference between night and day. That's the dynamic that we are to be presenting to the world because Christ is in us he wants to live his life out through us.

[10:37] what is it that was required to make humans acceptable to God so that we might be revealers and proclaimers of godliness?

[10:49] That is the mystery of godliness. So what is the secret of your being who and what you are? We are called upon to reveal our secret to everyone.

[11:01] The secret is out. What is it? Could it be that the world's most wonderful secret is also the world's best kept secret?

[11:21] That should not be but it is. Do you realize what a tiny percent of the world today is what we could actually call Christian?

[11:35] I'm not talking about Christendom everything that goes under the banner of Christianity but I'm talking about those who have a personal honest relationship with Jesus Christ through the new birth they've been regenerated and they've been made a child of God by the grace of God.

[11:56] It's a very tiny percentage and it was a tiny percentage in the first century. we have no idea no way of knowing exactly how many people there are for instance in the United States who are truly Christian.

[12:10] We know what the numbers of Christianity is like and it includes Roman Catholics some of who are saved and some who are not.

[12:21] It includes Protestants some who are saved and some who are not. But generally when they're collecting numbers like this for statistics they just take church records and membership lists and lump them all together and they come up with the final total and it's probably greatly exaggerated as opposed to the number of people who are not only Christian in name and Christian officially but Christian in reality so far as God is concerned.

[12:50] It's a small number and we talked about this a little bit in the Sunday school class this morning. One reason for that is simply because Christianity in its essence is a hard sell and the reason it is a hard sell is because the message of grace is contrary to the way people think.

[13:15] Grace presents itself as a gift that is given and received and the gift was paid for by the one who picked up the tab and he did that when he died our death on the cross.

[13:31] That is what provides Christianity for Christians. It is that simple profound act of dying on the cross that provided a message for us and it is a substitutionary thing.

[13:50] It is activated on the basis of the human will that when this message and this gospel is preached this good news is preached people understand it, they hear it, they have two things going for them.

[14:03] Number one, they acknowledge their sin without trying to excuse it or justify it or anything else. They admit their sin and secondly they admit that Jesus Christ is the one who paid the penalty for their sins and when those two things are in place God does the most miraculous thing, he enters that individual's life and he quickens them.

[14:27] He makes them alive on the inside so that they become a completely different person than what they were. They still look the same, they may still sound the same but internally they are regenerated or they are a new person in Christ.

[14:46] That's what the Bible talks about when it talks about people being in Christ and it has nothing to do with statistics or your name on a roll or how many belong to this group or that group or anything else.

[14:58] So that's why I'm saying it's a rather small number in comparison and what Paul is talking about here and he is reminding Timothy of what actually occurred in order to make this a possibility.

[15:12] So it is to be reflected in our behavior and he indicates that as well. In verse 15 he says, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the household of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and support of the truth.

[15:33] In other words there is a certain standard of conduct that is supposed to be in keeping with our Christian faith and he also addresses this in numbers of other places like for instance Galatians when he talks about walking in the spirit and you'll not fulfill the desires of the flesh and so on.

[15:54] So people need to be not only in Christ but once they are there they need to be educated and that too was what Nathan was talking about this morning a little bit when Paul said that he was writing to the Galatians so that Christ might be formed in them but they were already believers.

[16:12] believers what did he mean by that? When you receive Christ as your Savior Christ comes into your life you have you have undergone a kind of conception if you will Christ has been born in you but for in order for him to be formed in you he needs to grow and develop and when Christ comes to maturity in the believer as opposed to just having been conceived there then we are conformed to the image of Christ and that makes all the difference in our behavior so this is what Paul is talking about here he is relating the importance of living on the outside what Christ has done on the inside not only in the church but out in the public as well so when he says that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God which is the church of the living

[17:14] God the pillar and support of the truth and here is the formula that was given first of all it is a mystery that means it's a secret what is the secret of our Christianity you know I think it was last week a couple of weeks ago when we looked at the the daily thing that Mr.

[17:40] Stamm had pointed out about Christians discerning all things but not being understood by anyone and the the gist of it was is that to the world the believer in Christ is a mystery they cannot discern you they don't understand you the world at large does not understand what makes the Christian tick they just don't get it and the reason they don't is because it's not because they aren't smart enough many of them are brilliant but they don't get it because the Christian is functioning and operating on a different wavelength now might not be easy to understand that but let me give you a simple illustration if you have a radio that's got an FM and an

[18:42] AM dial on it and you want to listen to FM radio and you turn the dial to AM you aren't going to get it because you're not tuned to the right frequency you have to tune to the FM frequency to pick up an FM radio signal that perhaps is a crude comparison but it illustrates the difference between a believer and an unbeliever we are marching to a different drum beat that the world simply does not understand many a Christian has been told by unbelievers what is it about you anyway I don't get what I don't see where you're coming from where you get these ideas what is it that makes you you don't dance drink smoke or chew nor do you go with girls who do

[19:44] I can't figure you out what's wrong with you anyway why can't you be like me why don't you want to be like me there is a disparate between believers and unbelievers that is undeniable as different as night and day and Paul addresses it as talking about an unequal yoke in the same way that that under the Jewish law they were not permitted to yoke two different animals like a donkey with a horse or an oxen because that was an unequal yoke and it was considered completely improper so when a believer and an unbeliever are yoked together that's an unequal yoke and Paul talks about that in first Corinthians chapter six and he says that's a union that cannot work it is doomed to failure because these people represent two different worlds they've got two different value systems they've got two different ways of looking at things and that is all involved in this mystery of godliness what is it or what was it that was performed that enables you as a believer to really be different not only on the inside but outwardly in your standards your attitudes your values everything this is what he meant when he said if any man be in crisis a new creation old things have passed away behold all things become new and by the way this is a good time and a good place to ask you for each of us to ask ourselves when did you become that new person when was it that you passed from night into day when was it that you came from being outside of

[21:52] Christ to being in Christ when was it that you moved from being unsaved to saved from being unregenerated to regenerated when was that time and it's a very good thing that we don't have to be able to pinpoint a time many of you can and I can and it's a date I shall never forget in fact I've probably mentioned it enough that you may have it memorized it was December 8th 1956 when I became a new creature in Christ and it's entirely possible that you may not be able to pinpoint a day on the calendar when you came to faith in Christ and that's not important but what is important is that you did regardless of when it was some were maybe four or five years of age and they don't know what date it was they are not even real sure what year it was and that doesn't matter all that matters is you must know there was such a time in your life when you passed from death unto life spiritually from being outside of

[23:13] Christ to being in Christ from being headed for hell and the absence of God to being headed for heaven and the presence of God there had to have been such a time and the question I'm asking you is was there you cannot be asked a more important question and now what Paul is going to do is explain what it was that made that possible to what length what steps did God take to make your salvation a reality and this is what he says he some translations render this God depends on the particular version you have so whether the term God is used or whether he is used I'm confident that the word

[24:14] God is what is referred to is what's actually there it's the same he or God who was revealed in the flesh that's the incarnation and it's the word it's the word from which we get the word carnivorous and we talk about a carnivorous animal is a flesh eating animal and when it talks about the incarnation it means the enfleshment of deity because you see before Christ before the son of God became Jesus he was simply the son of God without the name Jesus he dwelt in eternity past in a relationship with his father that we cannot begin to understand and I want to make that clear because we are talking about the concept the trinitarian nature of

[25:14] God father son and holy spirit and when we use the term father and son we automatically think in earthly terms where the father of course comes first and is responsible for producing the son our Muslim friends find that concept abhorrent and they think it impossible that God could have a son because they are limiting themselves into thinking of it in human terms and in human terms it is God the father had sex relations with some female being or deity and as a result Jesus the son of God was born that is totally foreign the scriptures do not even come close to teaching that unfortunately that's what many of our Muslim friends believe that we believe and of course we do not believe that at all and I want to say this as clearly as I can and that is this it is absolutely impossible for us to grasp the father son relationship because all we can think of is in terms of humanity and the connection that exists there it is not like that with

[26:31] God the father and the son are co-eternal and so is the Holy Spirit they are all God and they are not one third God each but each is fully God in every right yet there are not three gods there is one God the scriptures make this very clear so our question is how can this be my answer is I don't have a clue I have no idea how it can be but I can tell you this it simply suggests and reinforces the concept that the character and being and nature of God is so far removed from humanity that we cannot imagine the difference the great gulf that separates so what God is pleased to do is use terminology that we can grasp at least a little bit get a handle on it but that which really consists of the deity is completely beyond us so much so as is the whole concept of eternity we can't get our brains around that either and you know what this boils down to

[27:52] God is the creator you and I are the creatures deal with it the difference that separates us is immeasurable and that's what makes this hymn this ancient hymn so amazing we are talking about the enfleshment of deity we are talking about God becoming a man this is this is the center piece of the universe the word became flesh and dwelt among us john's gospel chapter one and it starts out with in the beginning was the word and the word was with

[29:05] God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made and the word the logos that word in the Greek the logos we would spell it l-o-g-o-s logos it's a word from which we get the word logic Jesus Christ is the word of God think of it that Jesus is the logic of God when God wanted to reveal himself to humanity he couldn't do it in such a way that we could survive this is what he told Moses Moses said show me your glory I want to see you I don't want to see what you look and the

[30:07] Lord told him you can't handle it Moses it would destroy you immediately I'm going to put you here in the cleft in the division of this rock this split rock I'm going to put you here in the rock and I'm going to pass by and you can view my hinder parts for no man can see me and live we talk about God being awesome that doesn't begin to tell it we cannot define we cannot conjure up a word that is descriptive of God it's just beyond us this is why I frequently refer to him as the otherness that's best

[31:09] I can do he is the otherness he is completely unlike us and this God who subsists in three persons who has dwelt and inhabited eternity before there was any stars any planets any anything before there was any materiality there was nothing but this eternal God subsisting as Father Son and Holy Spirit and wonder of wonders this incredible immeasurable being was pleased that's all I can tell you that's Revelation 411 it just says for by thy pleasure they were and are created he was pleased to create everything and this this more than awesome

[32:25] God condescended to become as one of his creatures yet there's no way there's no way that this God in his person and character could just become human and that's it no he could not do that obviously due to his very nature of being who and what he was that he could not do that so you know what he settled for he settled for half but then that too is not adequate because Jesus is not half God and half man nope see if you can get your brain around this he's fully God and fully man in one entity he isn't half and half he is altogether both well you say well now how can that be and my answer is

[33:35] I don't have a clue all I know is the almighty dwells in a completely different venue than we do and where we have difficulty is when we try to bring him down to our level and make him fit our perspective he just won't do it he can't do it because he is who he is and we are who we are so this enfleshment whereby he became one of us for the express purpose of balancing I can't think of a better word for the express purpose of balancing the moral scales of the universe that would prevent us from forever being with God he is going to do something that will not only compensate for our sin but actually have the effect of being able to treat our sin and our injustices and our violations of his character and his holiness being able to treat that in such a way that it is completely totally removed and we stand before him as sinless and spotless and in order to do that he had to become one of us but not just a human he had to be a sinless human he had to be one who could stand in the place of all humanity and how many humans are we talking about talking about billions with a

[35:21] B and in this person this theanthropic person he lived among us he demonstrated his credentials with the miracles that he performed and he on different occasions said if I cast out demons by the power of the spirit of God then the kingdom of God has come unto you and he communicated this in the miracles authenticating his personhood establishing his identity and one would have thought that that would be more than sufficient in fact a number of people in John chapter 6 which we won't take time to go to but in John chapter 6 we are told that the people were so enamored with the miracles that Jesus performed that they were ready they were actually planning entering into some kind of a plan whereby they were going to take him by force and make him the king and when

[36:31] Jesus got word of it he just disappeared he left them he went out but think about that wasn't he the king where is he that is born king of the Jews he was a king and on a number of occasions and I want you to think clearly as you can on this a number of occasions when Jesus had performed certain healings to individuals he said see to it that you don't tell anybody keep this under your hat well what's that all about and it happened more than once and when he told Peter when Peter told Jesus that thou art the Christ the son of the living God and Jesus said Peter flesh and blood did not reveal that to you but my father who is in heaven and then he went right on and told the disciples in the same setting after

[37:34] Peter said you are the Christ the son of the living God Jesus said don't tell anybody what was that all about wasn't who he was supposed to be noise to everybody wasn't that the idea to get the word out that he is the son of God that he's come to establish the kingdom why on numerous occasions did he say don't tell anyone about it healed a man of leprosy nobody ever got healed of leprosy but this man was healed of leprosy and Jesus said don't tell anybody about it just go and present yourself to the priest so you can get the official bill of cleansing so that you're not contaminated anymore but don't tell anybody what was that all about and when they were going to take him and make him king and he refused why did he tell Peter blessed art thou Simon Barjona for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my father who is in heaven here is one of the real conundrums of the

[38:44] New Testament and I've come to a conclusion that is least satisfying to me as to why Jesus did that and when they were ready to take him by force in John chapter six and make him a king he knew immediately what that was going to create which would be what be bedlam it would be it would be a mass insurrection because after all Caesar was king and when someone else is presented king of the Jews well what's what's that going to do remember when the wise men came and said where is he that is born king of the Jews and Herod says what can't I'm the king of the Jews what are you talking about and he actually went to the length of of planning to do away with all the children under two years of age to make sure that he would kill this supposed king this potential rival when Jesus told them not to tell anyone he knew that if word got around that he was indeed the

[39:53] Messiah of Israel the people would begin to revolt against Rome and there would be a blood bath of immeasurable proportions and his whole plan and program could be scuttled so what was his whole plan and program it was Calvary the father sent the son to be the savior of the world Jesus came into this world for just one purpose just one don't you ever forget this it wasn't to be our example he came to die that was his whole purpose in being here he came to die you know when they presented the gifts the magi came with the gold frankincense and myrrh what in the world what's that all about what is frankincense and myrrh those are burial ointments those are the things that you swath over the body of a dead person because they didn't have embalming back in those days like we practice it today so they smothered the body with these herbs and spices that were very pungent and they were designed to lessen the odor of death death smells so badly we want to get it out of our presence you can't stand and be in the presence of something that has died because the flesh begins to break down and corrupt so we embalm it and we do what we can to preserve it and we dress it up and then we bury it or we incinerate it but you cannot be in the presence of death like that with the odor so when the women came to the tomb they were coming with spices to finish the job because they had to hurriedly get

[42:24] Jesus into the tomb because the sunset was coming the Sabbath was ending and you couldn't do anything like that once the Sabbath set in so they got short circuited in their burial preparations and they had to wait until the Sabbath was over and then the next morning Mary and the other came to the tomb and they were concerned about who's going to roll away the stone for us and when they got there the angel was already there and they were coming with laden down with aloes and myrrhs to finish the job that they had just begun because they didn't have time to do it before Jesus came for the express purpose of dying for the sins of the world and do you know to this day that express purpose is still lost on so many people that's what Jesus was all about he was the sin bearer he came here into this world and listen we are talking about a depth and a quality of love and compassion and caring on the part of the creature on the part of the creator for his creatures that we just cannot get into we just can't imagine this

[43:48] God demonstrated his great love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us that's called Calvary love think of that the creator in love with fallen rebellious creatures how could one who is holy love the likes of that I don't know I don't know don't you have trouble liking some people let's step it up if you have trouble liking some people think about loving the same people that you don't like it's quite unthinkable isn't it in our humanity we can't get into that but

[45:03] God did and in Romans 5 he goes on to explain you know Paul says there are cases where someone is willing to die for a righteous man there are those who are willing to give their own life in exchange for another person whom they know to be a good upstart individual upstanding individual and they're willing to lay down their life for that person but God in the person of Christ laid down his life for his enemies where do you get that kind of love well you have to be God to have that kind of love and that's the kind of love that God had for God so loved so

[46:03] God in this manner loved the world that he gave wow when Jesus was on that cross and screamed out tetelestai it is finished done the great transactions done he who knew no sin was made to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and don't you ever leave out those last two words in him this makes what Jesus did on that cross this makes it the centerpiece of the universe for all times when the time would come and

[47:05] I don't know how this is going to come about but if we were in heaven looking at the whole expanse of creation of humanity of eternity of all times what is it that would be the one the singular focal point of the whole thing it's Jesus on that cross dying for the sins of humanity that's what it's all about that's what everything is all about he who knew no sin was made to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ he gives to you a totally undeserved gift of righteousness that enables you to stand before

[48:07] God without spot and without blemish and somebody here is saying that sure wouldn't be true of me oh yes it is the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives makes no difference who you are people say things like well you don't know what I've done doesn't make any difference listen whatever you've done however heinous however terrible however criminal however ugly however unthinkable so much so that you wouldn't want anybody to know what you've done or even what you've thought God God takes all of that all of that ugliness and he cancels it out it is gone gone gone all my sins are gone buried in the depths of the deepest sea that's good enough for me praise God my sins are gone think of that and you know the most amazing thing of it is it's all a gift it's a gift it's a gift it's a gift what can you do to get a gift you just accept it you just receive it and as

[49:31] I've told you before people's objection is oh that's too easy yeah it is too easy it's because Jesus did everything that was hard he left nothing for you to do that was hard what he left for you to do was easy Jesus paid it all all to him I owe sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow you get no credit because you don't deserve any credit well you know what your contribution was to this whole thing your sin that was your contribution was your sin you get no credit Jesus gets all the credit and you get all the benefits that's what grace is and that's why it flies so much against human thinking and human reasoning people don't want anything to do with that well if you go that way you don't have anything to bring

[50:46] I don't get any credit well no you don't deserve any credit but you know what even though you don't deserve any credit you still are able to acquire rewards and your rewards are based on how you used the gift that God gave you that will decide your rewards and for some of us it'll be wood hay and stubble first corinthians three when our deeds are placed in the crucible of God almighty they're going to go poof where they go there's nothing there yeah well that's what you're going to be rewarded for there's nothing and yet you shall be saved yet so as by fire wow what a deal even though I didn't earn any rewards I didn't do anything to gain rewards yet

[51:49] I'm still saved yep and the reason you are was books the price that Jesus paid was incalculable and the worth the worth and the value of the payment that Christ made being who he was and is was more than sufficient to take away the sins of the entire world so God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself wow and then for those who utilize the gift with their Christ honoring labors whatever they may have been however small or however large they will not go unrewarded because Jesus keeps good books and he knows exactly what is deserved by whom and under what circumstances and he not only knows what you did he knows why you did it and sometimes why you did what you did will eliminate you for the word for the works because you didn't do it with the right motive and that's going to be gold silver and precious stones well it's not going to be that

[53:07] I don't I don't want a pile of rubies I don't want a bar of gold what good are those no that's just an analogy all he's using reward and they're going to be take away things for the loss of reward so this business of being a Christian is a serious thing and it has eternal consequences now one reason I'm bringing you a message like this is because in my waning time with you as your pastor and I don't know how long that's going to be none of us do but there are just some things that I really want to make sure that I've made as clear as I can possibly make it and I can't think of anything more exciting than communication of truth from one who is giving it to one who is receiving it and if you understand the same concepts that

[54:22] I am trying to communicate then we are on the same wavelength and communication has occurred but if you happen to be sitting there or listening on the radio audience and you're saying to yourself boy I don't get any of this I wonder where in the world this guy is coming from or what is this all about communication has not occurred between us if somebody is thinking that but if you're able to think the same thoughts that I'm trying to express then we've communicated and I can't think of anything more exciting than that Jesus is the logic of God and we want to communicate him however we can we will take five minutes for Q&A I can't imagine there not being questions after a message like this so feel free anybody with a microphone we've got and it doesn't have to be a question you may have a comment that you would like to make and that would be perfectly appropriate it doesn't have to be a question anyone okay

[55:39] Sarah so about the angels singing at Jesus birth it was a custom back then to have the women gather and sing at the birth of the child and since Mary and Joseph didn't have family and friends gather I would think that the angels did sing because that was a custom back then that they would have people gather and sing and rejoice at the birth interesting okay well I know that that's been kind of a controversial thing hark and that little cute little boy in kindergarten was singing that and he was singing why are they singing hark why are they singing hark what's hark he thought that that was what they were singing hark hark hark no it's like a dog bark hark hark no the word hark if you look at it in your hymnal the word hark has an exclamation mark after it and it's an it's an old

[56:39] English word for listen listen hark listen the herald angels are singing listen hark they aren't singing hark okay thank you something else anyone well it's entirely possible and there are questions that you are uncomfortable asking and if that's the case I can understand that so I would just give you the same opportunity that I have in the past feel free to write out any question that you may have if you want to be anonymous just write out any question that you may have about anything that we've talked about whether you agree and you don't have to sign it of course and just drop it in the offering box and that way we'll have time to look at it and give you our best answer and it may be I don't know sometimes it may be

[57:40] I don't know I was talking with a group of pastors one time and they said oh yeah you're the church that has the Q&A and I said well yeah we don't always but I try to work it in he said I don't get that and I said what do you mean he said well it could be really embarrassing couldn't it and I said well if the people think you know everything and you turn out that you don't know everything yeah that could be embarrassing but my people already know that I don't know everything so all I have to do is say beats me I don't know don't have a clue and they're happy with that because they've suspected for a long time that their preacher doesn't know everything and doesn't even come close in fact sometimes I think sometimes sometimes

[58:40] I wish that I was as part as some of you think I am I tell you what well it's a joy to be here and a joy to be with you and a joy to talk about these things and I just it's like I said it's something that I just want to make sure that I leave with you and that you are able to understand to the extent that we are able and if you'll stand we'll be dismissed loving truth just truth that you've provided in this amazing book that we often neglect often take for granted but we stand in amazement of what you've been willing to communicate to us and we recognize that our understanding is often very deficient we appeal to you for more insight and more light and our only justifiable reason for wanting information from you is so that we might respond to it with obedience and that is our prayer for every person here should there be anyone in our midst or anyone listening by way of radio who's never had that time of spiritual regeneration they've never really come to faith in

[60:18] Christ they have no assurance of sins forgiven or the reason or basis for it we pray the spirit of God will tenderly speak to their heart and woo them and win them to the Savior Jesus did all the hard part by being made sin for us the least that we can do is the easy part by thanking you and trusting you for providing a Savior to do for us what we could never do for ourselves we bless you and we thank you again and again for the wonderful redemption that we have in Christ Jesus and we look forward to the time when we'll be able to shout your praises throughout eternity and enjoy a fellowship that even now is just unimaginable we bless you and thank you for it in Christ's name amen to we you what

[61:22]  I you you you you you you you