← ArchiveSunday, September 13, 2015DateSeptember 13, 2015Speaker—TextRomansPassages in this sermonRomans 7:157:22Romans 79:18Ezekiel 28:210:53Proverbs 29:2311:09Psalms 3217:33Proverbs 2818:04Genesis 218:282 Corinthians 118:52Luke 519:20Isaiah 620:01Matthew 320:25Matthew 520:29Ecclesiastes 522:29James 623:19Romans 526:34TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00If you brought your Bible, and I hope you did, turn with me to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5. I am so excited about unpacking these eight verses today with you. Not all eight, we're going to look at several of them, but we want to read the entire text,0:26not the entire Sermon on the Mount, because that's three chapters, but we want to look at just the Beatitudes section. I want you to notice something with me when we read this text down through verse 16. Thank you, choir. Thank you, Greg. Thank you, instrumentalists. Thank you so much for leading us to the throne of grace in biblical worship, and we thank you so much. If you notice when he begins this text in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5, verse 1, notice what he says.0:50I ran across this several weeks ago, and it just kind of has just been kind of mulling over in my heart and doing some research about it. It just confirmed it that if we listen, God will speak to us. Amen? Because look what he says, seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down,1:12his disciples came to him, and notice what he says in verse 2, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying. Now, folks, let me tell you something. He was actually teaching the disciples. The multitude gathered around him heard the message, but he was actually pouring life into his small, intimate life group,1:34his small, intimate group, his band of believers. That's where he started, and then the rest listened in. In verse 3, it says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be mourned. Blessed are those who, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.2:05Verse 7, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the poor in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers. Hallelujah, underscore the word peacemakers. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to be blessed as peacemakers, not troublemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.2:32Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sakes, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you who others revel against you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.3:00Let me go on and read a couple more verses because it's just good stuff. Verse 13, You are the salt of the earth. If the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket or on a stand, and it gives light to all the world.3:26In the same way, my life verse is this, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Let's pray. Father, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart today be acceptable in your sight.3:52Lord, we love you, we thank you, we bless you, we thank you for what you're about to do in this place today. In the next few moments, Lord, as we unpack your word, I pray, Lord Jesus, you do what you want to do, do all you want to do in this place. Change our life in this place today. God, do something unusually special in the life of this congregation of people here today, and we give you all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor.4:20In Jesus' name we pray, and the church said, amen. Look at the message text that I've given, or truth that I've given you in your handout. I admit that I need help, that I'm powerless to control my tendency to do what's the wrong thing, and that my life is completely, my life is unmanageable. Now, several years ago, we took our son to his birthday party, and we had his birthday party at a restaurant called Chuck E. Cheese.4:50How many of y'all have ever been to Chuck E. Cheese? Worst food on the planet is Chuck E. Cheese. That's the worst pizza on the planet is Chuck E. Cheese. However, Chuck E. Cheese is a fun place to go. Occasionally, I just hope someone, I do hope someone will invite me to their child's birthday party. I'm not going to eat the pizza, but I want to go to Chuck E. Cheese because I like the games. I think they're fun, and there's one in there in particular that frustrates me, but I enjoy it.5:17It's called whack-a-mole. You know what I'm talking about. You put the token in there, and the thing pops up, and you got the hammer, and you hit it, and another one pops up, and it just keep popping up, popping up, popping up. All around us, the whack-a-mole. You can't win the game. It's not designed for you to lose that game every time. I know some people say, well, I hold this one down. I hit this one. No, you don't do it that way because they're going to keep popping up.5:45Well, that is exactly what I want to talk to you about today. Not whack-a-mole, but persistent sins. It's so sins, not just little problems, not little nagging things or temptations that come our way, but persistent sins, just about the time you think you got one knocked down, another one pops back up. It just keeps going over and over, and I want to ask a survey. I want to ask you some questions this morning before we get into the message, deep into the message this morning. I want you to answer these in your own heart, would you?6:14Have you ever stayed up too late when you knew you needed to sleep? Have you ever stayed up too late and slept in church? I've seen you. Yes, I have. I've seen you nodding back and forth. I don't have a problem when people sleep in church. I have a problem when I sleep in church. Usually I hit my head on the pulpit, but, you know, some of us in this room are staying up too late because when you come in here, we're tired, we're sleeping in church. Have you ever eaten or drank too many calories that you know that you shouldn't have?6:40How many say amen to that? We all have done that, right? Have you ever made commitments that you knew you possibly could not ever keep? Yes, we have. Did you know that you should exercise, but you didn't, right? Have you ever been unkind to someone when you know you should have been kind? Yes? Well, I want to tell you something. Welcome to the human race and welcome to Bethel Baptist Church because we're all in this the same way.7:09Amen? We're all just like that. I love what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Rome. Listen to what he says in Romans chapter 7, verses 15 and 18. I don't understand what I do. What I want to do, I don't. But what I hate to do, I end up doing. I know that nothing good lives in my sinful nature.7:35I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Now, I've read hundreds of commentaries on that particular subject before. I've read many, many commentaries on the explanation of that part of his writing. Some even have said that this was pre-Christian days. This is pre-before he came to faith in Christ. This is before the Damascus wrote its spirits.8:03Well, folks, let me tell you something. The verbiage does not tell you that. The language does not tell you that. He is talking to the church at Rome. The fact that he was writing in the middle of it, and the verbs are present tense, which says, I'm doing it right now. We all can contest to that. We know what to do. We've been fed the truth so many times in life group. We've been fed the truth so many times from the pulpit. We've been led so many times in our own personal Bible studies, but we continue to do the wrong8:32thing. Why is that? It's called those whack-a-mole persistent sins that keep popping up. I want you to turn with me in your handout, and I want you to notice there is an inventory list. There is a list of things on that little handout, and any of those, I want you to circle them as I read them if they bother you. Stress, fears, my overwork, attractions, addictions, regrets, diet, worry, bad habits,8:58anger, dishonesty, need to control, finances, relationships, painful memories, perfectionism. Boy, that's one we don't ever want to talk about. There's some people that just have to be perfect, which they can't be perfect because Romans 7 tells us we can't be perfect, right? And then there's the resentment, those that resent others, compulsive thoughts.9:27You see, those at inventory, that's not an exclusive, that's not an all-inclusive list. It's a list that could go on and on and on, but yet we try to handle those things on our own. Oftentimes, we think we grasp it. We can do that. When I want to tell you here, based on God's Word, we can't handle it. We can't.9:56We can't. We try to play God, don't we? You know, see, playing God is the oldest lie that Satan has always thrown out there to us. It's the oldest lie in history. It all started back in the Garden of Eden when he says, you need to eat this fruit and you'll be a God. You see, that's the oldest lie. And it's been carried on into other generations. In fact, the matter is, and it's still a lie. It's not as much of a threat today, but they couch it and hide it under different languages.10:22It's called the New Age Movement. The New Age Movement says, you are divine. You are a God. God is in you. Okay, we get that. So, you are a God. Well, I hope you know something, folks. The Holy Spirit of God, yes, dwells inside me, but I am not divine. Nor am I part of the divinity. Nor am I God. God in me, the hope of glory. Ezekiel chapter 28 verse 2 says this, in pride of your heart says, I am a God, but you10:53are just a man and not a God, though you think you are as wise as a God. Folks, that's the oldest lie in history. Proverbs chapter 29 verse 23 says, pride ruins people. And the common denominator that every person at the sound of my voice in this room today, every person at the common denominator of this problem in our bad relationships, in our bad11:21choices that we make is two-letter word, us. U-S. Us. We are our own problem. We try to cause, or we try to take care of all these problems, yet we don't surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, who can and will take care of these problems. We have resentment, take it to the Lord. We have financial issues, take it to the Lord. We got overeating issues, take it to the Lord.11:51Yes, and then back away from the table, amen? And I'm just as guilty, I'm telling you, this is a message for me. Folks, let me tell you something. The word, in these eight verses of this beatitude, this wonderful message that Jesus was giving to his disciples and all that heard around him, he said, blessed. The word blessed or blessed means happy. Happy is. Happy is.12:21Happy is. Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The sermon of the mount is the best sermon that's ever been written. And I'm telling you, folks, that is full of truth from our Lord and Savior. This beautiful thing called being a Christ follower is that not we're saved by our works or our good deeds, but we are saved for his good works and his good deeds by his glorious12:43grace. That's how we are saved. The two key words that I want us to lock into today on this one verse, verse three, the two key words is this. And I want you to circle them in your Bible. In spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. He's not talking about physical poverty, folks.13:12He's not talking about physical poverty. He's talking about spiritual poverty. Recognizing my sinfulness. Recognizing my helplessness. Recognizing my hopelessness without God in my life and surrendering to his Lordship. Church, if we grasp this, this could launch us all into another area of growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. So how do we develop the spirit of being poor in spirit?13:39I think there are three things, and I want you to jot these down for me. Number one, we must humbly admit we need help. We're the most self-sufficient people on the planet, especially we North Americans. We got it all. We think we've got it all. We've got more cars. We've got more houses. We've got more land. We've got more food.14:08Recently, I saw a statistic that was staggering to me, that in North America, we throw away 40% of all the food that's manufactured or grown in this country. We throw away 40%. Folks, I want you to let that sink in just for a second. There should never be a person in the United States of America ever go hungry. There should never be a child go home on Friday afternoon and not have food to eat on the weekend.14:34Folks, let me tell you something. We've got a plan for that. It's called Backpack Buddies. Amen. And we are neck deep in it, and we're going to get even more neck deep in it if you can get more neck deep in it. I believe that we should eradicate those that are hungry. We should eradicate those. So he is not talking about us being physically poverty. He's saying that we need to utterly depend on the Lordship of Christ. We must humbly bow before him and say, Lord Jesus, today you are King of kings and Lord of lords.15:04Folks, I challenge you to surrender to the Lordship of Christ and let God have complete control. Write a blank check and say, God, it's all up to you. It's all in your control. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Now, I want you to understand we've got to be honest when we do this. We can stand up and get shouting and clap and hallelujah and do jumping jacks for Jesus all15:30we want to and be humble and admit that we need help. But we've got to realize and be honest that we are broken. We are a broken generation. We got more money. We got more cars. We got more stuff. We got more materialism. We got all the stuff. Got more clothes than we need. I got a closet full. You do too. We are the wealthiest people on the planet.15:58I'm not saying there's anything wrong with us having things. But I'm telling you, we're still a broken people. Nothing is perfect. No marriage is perfect. If you think your marriage is perfect, you better look out because it's not. But we are an imperfect people striving to serve a perfect Savior. When we admit that we need help, we realize that the economy is not good. We are broken people.16:28The world is broken around us. We are all in the same boat. Broken. It takes the humble to admit that. Another thing that we need to admit and be honest about, that we got secret sins. We do. I dare say that there's people sitting in this room right now that have got secret sins. When you hide your sins, it will eat away with you, and it will literally make you sick. Men, I want to challenge you.16:57October 1st, I challenge you to come and hear my friend Trey Lover, and as he shares his heart about some secret sins. Come, eat a nice steak and a baked potato and a nice salad, or forget the potato and just do the steak and the salad, and you'll be healthier. But regardless, come. I want you to hear what happened to Trey Lover, how Satan attacked his life and how God has resurrected his life. Men, come to that men's night out, October the 1st,17:26and listen to what secret sins will eat away with you. Psalms 32. When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak, miserable, and I groaned all day long. My strength evaporated me like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed my sins to you, and I stopped trying to hide them all. And you forgave me, and all my guilt was gone. Folks, first of all, we got to be honest that we're broken. We got to be honest that we have secret sins gnawing at us.17:55We must admit it to defeat it. Proverbs 28, I want you to look what it says. Verse 13, you will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up. Then God will show you mercy. When we confess, he hears our prayer, and he wipes it completely clean. I must admit my pride and my fear keeps me stuck.18:23That's what the guy in the garden said in Genesis 2. I was afraid, so I found me a fig leaf to hide. Right? We want to hide. We must admit that we have a need for help. Number two, I must humbly ask God for that help. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 9 says,18:52We saw how powerless we were to help ourselves, but that was good. For then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us. For he can even raise the dead. Church, let me tell you something. The Lord Jesus Christ can raise the dead. He can heal your situation, and he can help you. But you've got to humbly bow before him. Simon Peter doubted him in Luke chapter 5.19:20Lord, let me tell you about fishing in the Sea of Galilee, a lake of Gennesaret, right? Let me tell you about that. Lord, we don't fish in the middle of the daytime. Now, Peter went on to say, but at your word, I will let down the nets. And they closed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break. And they signaled to their partner, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Zebedee fishing company. Guys, get your bass boats out here. These fish are about to get away. And then the Bible says in verse 8 of Luke chapter 5, he fell down at Jesus' feet.19:47He fell down, meaning he bowed down before Jesus, said, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. Same idea in Isaiah chapter 6. Whoa is me, for I am a man of unclean. If mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Folks, let me tell you something. I must admit, I asked God for help. I need God to help me through this process.20:14I got to admit it, then I need it. Then I got to ask the guy who can fix it. Matthew chapter 3 in the new, the message translation. It's a paraphrase, and I don't normally preach, but I want you to listen to the language of Matthew 5, verse 3. You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God and his rules.20:41Now, Peterson's translation of that is a paraphrase for sure, but you get the gist of it. The gist of it is, I must need, I ask that I need help from God. And finally, number three, I must humbly accept help from others. Now, this is where I'm going to kind of get in your soup a little bit. Because we're all good about saying, God, I know that you're the person to take care of this.21:09I need help. We're good about that. We're also good about saying, God, we're going to let you help us. But we never want to talk to anybody else about it. We have a biblical counseling ministry here at this church that helps hundreds of hundreds of people. If you're in need of help, they're here for you. They're phenomenal. Go to them. Don't call me. My counseling skills are like this.21:40Get over it and get on with it. I'm just confessing to you guys. I'm a great listener, but I'm a horrible counselor. Usually, you're going to leave suicidal. So, go see Bill Deal in the counseling ministry. They know how to do it right. I'm going to point them to the guys who know what they're doing. Just like I love life groups, and I'm involved in two, and I enjoy life groups, and I want you to be, I'm not going to lead them. I'm going to enjoy sitting in a jar and grasping at it.22:09Folks, get involved in life groups. If you want to know what life group's about, talk to Brad. He's the guru of life groups. Church, let me tell you something. We have got to accept help from others. If we're struggling, get the help. It's available for you. Ecclesiastes 5, verse 16. The word of God always gives us the right thing. That is he not. Look what it says. Two are better than one because they are good return for their work.22:35It falls down. If one falls down, his friend can come and help him up. You say, well, wait a minute. I can do this on my own. Let me give you a line that I wrote this morning. If you could, you would. But you can't, so you won't. Boy, that's deep theological teaching right there, isn't it? If you could, you would do it. But you won't do it, so you can't do it.23:04You would. If you could, you would. But you can't, so you won't. You and I are weak, and we need others to come alongside us to shoulder the load. James 6, verse 16. Boy, James is phenomenal. If you're not involved in a life group or in a one-on-one mentoring program, you should be.23:23If you think you're going to get all you need in your journey with Jesus by this pulpit, it ain't going to happen. If you're not in a Sunday morning life group, get involved in one. I'll say it this way. If you've only got one hour to give for God, try that first.23:50I beg you to go to a small group, or one that's off campus, try that first, and then come back in this room. We understand if you get involved in that, you're probably going to come here as well. Folks, let me tell you something. You need to be involved in that. So we need help with each other. In closing, I want to share with you, there's some ground rules that you need to know about Satan. Satan's not a guy running around in a red suit with a pitchfork.24:19He looks like us. He's a liar, and he is a deceiver, and he wants to kill, steal, and destroy. But Jesus says, I've come that you might have life and life more abundant. But you need to know the ground rules. And they all start with the word fear. The fear of our own emotions. We won't be able to handle this. That's what keeps us stuck, is that we just hide and hibernate, and we won't be able to handle this.24:48Number two, fear of the reactions of others. If I really open up, what are they going to think about me? Well, let me tell you what I think they're going to think about you. Praise God that you opened up. Let's walk this journey together, because I'm faced with some of the same stuff. If you only knew who I was, is what my brothers and sisters in this room that are open and honest25:13and being led by the Lordship of Christ. If you only knew who I am, don't worry about the reaction of others. Will they reject me? Let me gather in here close to me, brothers and sisters. If there's a person in this building right now that would reject you because of your situation in your life, they don't need to be a member of this church. Because I'm just telling you, what I know about this bunch,25:43and I've been here a year now as your interim pastor, this church is open to you to come, just as you are. And God's going to shape and clean you up to be the way he wants you to be. Amen? So don't worry about the reaction of others. And thirdly, fear of being honest is useless.26:09What's the point, you might say? What's the point? Nothing's going to ever get done. Well, just confess and watch Jesus do the work. Amen? Romans 5 verse 6 says, when we were able, unable to help ourselves at that moment,26:38Christ Jesus died for us. Admit you need help. Ask God to help you. And admit and accept help from other soldiers going in the battle every day. Let's pray. Let's pray.27:22youMore sermons on Romans →
