WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:12.480 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.000 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:26.719 Lord, we've not come to fight and to increase our determination or try harder. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:33.840 We've come instead to bask in all that you've accomplished for us on our behalf and for our pleasure and yet for your glory. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:36.799 And so we're fighting battles, but you've already won these battles. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:46.240 So we're here to appropriate the victory of God over everything in our life that wars against the knowledge of God, the enjoyment of God, and the freedom that comes from God. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:49.280 This is not about religion, this is about a relationship. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:52.159 And so, Holy Spirit, illuminate your scriptures today. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:56.240 It's not a book full of stories that don't matter, that were made up by men. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:02.640 No, men spoke as they were carried along by God, by the Holy Spirit, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:07.200 So when we crack open the Bible, we are looking at the breathed-out words of God. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:11.359 These living oracles, as we'll see today, that have power. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:24.640 And so, Lord, we submit ourselves, even before we read what it says, we say yes to it and help us get our head around it and our heart around it and our hands around it so it can be lived out this week in our lives. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:30.480 Because other people are watching, the prisoners are listening and they long for the freedom that is ours. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:37.200 Give us words, God, give us a life that makes them curious and words that helps them to become convinced. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:38.560 This is our prayer, God. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:40.560 Make it our experience, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:42.480 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:42.959 Amen. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:46.799 If you've got a Bible, uh you you can open it up to Acts chapter 7. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:50.239 If you don't have a Bible, uh that's okay. 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:52.000 Everything I say will come up on the screen. 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:52.480 Uh here. 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:54.640 We are, if you're our guest today, let me tell you what we're doing. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:56.000 We preach the books of the Bible. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:58.239 We do New Testament book and then Old Testament book. 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:03.359 We want to have a holistic view of who God is and what God has called us and created us to be about. 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:04.799 And so we're in the book of Acts. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:06.959 The book of Acts is the book of the New Testament. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:13.280 It's the Acts of the Apostles that kind of records what happened after Jesus died, rose from the dead, appeared to people. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:17.360 It picks up the story that God has been telling uh all along at that point. 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:19.280 And so we started in Acts chapter one. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:20.639 Today we're in Acts chapter seven. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:22.080 I'll start reading verse 35. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:24.879 Uh, we've there's a guy named Stephen that's been brought on trial. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:25.520 They accused him. 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:30.879 They said, Hey, you're bad mouthing Moses and the customs of Moses, and you're talking about God and his temple. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:34.000 And there's this religious police called the Sanhedrin. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:35.840 They were like, dude, you cannot do that. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:41.520 And so they brought him before, he's in court, they brought him before, and they said, Hey, uh, is this true what people have said about you? 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:47.120 And they brought up Moses in the temple, and he's like, dude, you bring up Moses, you're bringing Kool-Aid to a gin party, bro. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:49.759 He goes all the way back to Abraham, he talks about Abraham. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:51.039 We broke it into three sections. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:58.800 He talks about Abraham, and then last week he talked about Joseph, and then this week, Stephen gets to in this long dance mixed version of an answer. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:00.400 He gets to uh Moses. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:03.520 And so I want to talk to you about gospel capacity. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:04.879 Gospel capacity. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:05.599 What do you mean? 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:08.159 The gospel, which is just the good news of Christianity. 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:09.280 That's what gospel means. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:10.000 Good news. 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:13.599 It makes you capable of things that you by nature are not capable of. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:16.080 Think of it like this it's like a beach entry pool. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:18.479 If you know what a beach entry pool is, say amen. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:21.439 If you don't know what it is, it's basically there's no steps. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:22.879 It's just kind of slanted. 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:28.960 You just kind of start walking, you can stand it, it's up to your ankles, and every step you take, it gets a little deeper and a little deeper and a little deeper. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:32.240 If you keep walking, you get out there where you can't touch, it's over your head. 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:34.639 You got to float by faith or tread water. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:36.159 This is what the gospel is like. 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:41.199 It's so shallow, it's available to everybody, but it's so deep it can support everybody. 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:42.319 Does that make sense? 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:45.439 And so when I talk about gospel capacity, that's what I'm talking about. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:49.039 Some of you, if you're just kind of putting your toes in the pool today, don't feel bad. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:50.479 We've all been there, okay? 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:55.840 We remember what it was like to come to church and be like, uh, I don't have clothes, I don't fit in. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:58.319 Do they smell last night on my breath? 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:00.240 But enough about way caller. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:03.039 Anyway, uh just a joke. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:05.919 Gospel capacity. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:06.800 Let me start reading. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:08.960 And this is why when it's a long section of scripture. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:10.240 I'm gonna break it into three parts. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:16.639 I'll read the first part, I'll unpack that, read the second part, unpack that, read the third part, unpack that. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:18.000 All right, here's what the Bible says. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:21.199 I'm gonna read uh verses uh 35 to 43. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:22.800 Gospel capacity. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:28.319 Stephen continues, he said, This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:35.759 This man sent as both this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:42.000 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:48.160 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, uh, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:57.920 This is the one who was the who's in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai, as with our fathers, he received living oracles to give to us. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:04.160 Our fathers refused to obey him, but he threw, but they thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:10.079 Mark that in your Bible, in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make for us gods who will go before us. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.959 As well, this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:14.720 We do not know what has become of him. 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:20.879 And they made a calf in those days and they offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the work of their hands. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:26.000 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:31.839 Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:40.399 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your God Ripon and the images that you made to worship, and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.279 And we'll just pump the brakes right there and unpack this section. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:47.600 Here's a when I talk about gospel capacity, here's the first thing the gospel makes you capable of doing. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:50.240 The gospel makes you capable of knowing well. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:52.720 The gospel makes you capable of knowing well. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:54.240 You say, What do you mean knowing well? 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:02.319 Knowing the gospel well, moving from just, hey, touching the toe and it barely in the pool to just progressing and walking and progressing and walking. 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:13.519 And what helps if you find a church that actually teaches you what the Bible says, instead of using the Bible like a self-help manual and like a life coach and giving you the little tidbits here and there, you're not gonna be helped by that. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:16.639 You're gonna be it's you're gonna be stirred, but not really changed. 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:21.519 And you're gonna have conversations with people at work where you're not prepared because you don't know the gospel that well. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:25.439 You know a feeling that you like to feel, but you don't know the gospel that well. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:28.879 And gospel capacity makes us capable of knowing well. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:37.040 We got to work hard to not allow the gospel to be shrunk down to the size of our experience or our experience with it or our opinion of it. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:38.240 Let me say that again. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:47.199 You have to work hard to not let the gospel get shrunk down to the size of our experience with it for the believer or for the unbeliever, our opinion of it. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:52.399 What you see here is not only gospel fluency, we talked about a couple weeks ago, but gospel capacity. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:57.600 Let me point out four or five things in this section about how well he knew the gospel. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:00.079 Now, the Bible is like sand at the beach. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:01.680 Okay, let me just warn you. 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:06.079 It's easy to read a section like like this and just kind of think, okay, what's that got to do with me? 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:12.240 Uh, the Bible's like sand at the beach, it gets into places you didn't know it was getting into and requires you to do something about it. 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:13.759 And it's gonna happen today. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:18.079 You read that part we just read, you're like, okay, sounds like a history lesson, bro. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:20.720 It's about to get up in your business, okay, in a good way. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:23.279 And it's just gonna say, hey, we got to do something about this. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:25.040 Let me point to a couple things. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:29.600 Number one, God came to solve a problem, not to condemn people with problems. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:32.560 God came to solve a problem, not condemn people with problems. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:33.600 It's verse 35. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:35.040 Look at what they said right off the bat. 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:39.439 They said, This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, Who made you ruler and a judge? 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:42.000 See, this is what people expect when it comes to God. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:43.120 Ruler and judge. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:47.519 By the way, remember last week I told you God's not the umpire, but he's like the third base coach? 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:48.639 He's not the umpire. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:51.199 See, I'm I told you I'm addicted to the College World Series. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:52.560 I watched LSU last night. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:56.240 Is it just me or do the players on easy, easy rednecks? 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:00.959 Is it just me or do the players on LSU look like they're 40 years old? 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:02.879 They got like man beards and the Mr. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:04.720 T starter set, the three gold chains. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:07.759 I'm like, dude, you need to check a birth certificate on these guys. 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:09.920 Those guys on the other team, they're like, hey, we're 19. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:11.839 I'm like, LSU, they got tattoos. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:14.560 I think they got like a trailer park they all live in. 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:17.920 And I'm for LSU, by the way. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:20.639 Yeah, because I like hairy men with gold chains. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.519 Uh but remember, I told you last week, God is not like the umpire. 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:24.720 He's not looking to call you out. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:25.920 He's like a third base coach. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:28.800 He's cranked in his big windmill arms of grace, going, come on home. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:29.680 Where did I get this? 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:30.560 Right out of the Bible. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:35.120 That word right there that says, you know, they they rejected, saying, Who made you ruler and judge? 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:38.480 That word judge, that Greek word's where we get our English word umpire. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:43.360 Because the mindset of humanity is that God's out to get you, God is out to exclude you. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:47.279 He's throw you out of the game if you dispute a call, all that kind of stuff. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:51.679 And I just want to say, God came to solve a problem, not condemn people with problems. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:54.159 When he came, it was to redeem, not to judge. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:58.080 Here's why he came knowing that you and I were already guilty. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:01.120 He didn't leave heaven and come to earth just to inspect and see. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.200 Hey, are you guys breaking any of the rules? 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:04.159 He already knew that. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:06.720 So if you already know that, why come to condemn? 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:08.799 He comes as redeemer, because look what he says right here. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:10.159 He changes the word on him. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:12.480 They said, Who made you ruler and judge? 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:16.639 This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:23.759 See, they expect judgment and they get redemption because God came to solve a problem, not to condemn people with a problem. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:25.759 Jesus said it like this in the New Testament. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:27.759 He said, I didn't come for people that ain't sick. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:29.919 I didn't come for people that don't need a doctor. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:31.440 I came for the sick. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:33.279 It's borne out all through the gospel. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.440 Here's the second thing I want you to see in verse 37. 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:37.759 Eventually, prophecy becomes a problem. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.840 Prophecy becomes a problem. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:42.320 You say, where do you get that? 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:48.080 He says, This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:53.840 This man led them out performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:59.360 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:00.399 Hear that part. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:06.639 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:08.720 This is the prophetic reference to Jesus. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:11.440 Now, when he says it right here, it's already a problem. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:17.919 When Moses said it, but he's quoting Moses from back in in the book of Exodus, Genesis, Exodus, second book in the Old Testament. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:22.639 And so when I say prophecy becomes a problem for these people in Acts, this has already happened. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:24.720 Moses spoke it back in Exodus. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:25.759 It was a prophecy. 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:28.559 Now, here it's not a prophecy, it's a problem. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:29.120 Why? 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:32.480 Because it came to be just like Moses said. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:35.279 This person that God raised up is Jesus Christ. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:36.559 And here's why it's a problem. 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:39.360 These people he's talking to had just killed him. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:42.559 And all of a sudden they're like, uh oh, wait a minute. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:44.879 They thought this was a history lesson. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:47.039 Abraham, Joseph, they're nodding their head. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:48.399 Yeah, we went to Sunday school. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:55.919 We know all these church answers, and all of a sudden he sharpens the lens and focuses in on them, and it's about to get real uncomfortable. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:01.679 This was kind of the first sign that, uh oh, this is not quite like we thought it was good. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:05.039 Well, what you're not talking about history, you're talking about us. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:06.799 Here's the third thing I want you to see. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:08.960 The gospel makes you capable of knowing well. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:19.120 Stephen was an ordinary man, he wasn't a preacher, he wasn't, he didn't pastor a church, he was a deacon, he was a servant in a church, he was the guy making sure that widows got plenty of food to eat. 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:20.799 Here's the third thing I want you to see. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:22.879 The church has been around a long time. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:25.200 The church has been around a long time. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:26.480 It's verse 38. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:38.639 And he says, This is the one after he said that God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers, this is the one who is in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:40.159 It's that word congregation. 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:42.399 He's the one who is in the congregation. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:45.440 That word congregation is the Greek word ekklesia. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:50.799 Ecclesia, which means called out ones, which is that's the Greek word also for church. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:55.840 And so, what I want you to see today is that the New Testament church has its origins in the Old Testament. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:05.120 And so, way back in Exodus, when you look at Exodus, you see God not only liberating people out of slavery, but calling them to be a part of his church, the called out ones. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:11.120 This is why we talk about church membership, not because we want to be the moral police, that's not our desire at all. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:13.440 We just say, hey, we're the called out ones. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:19.840 We're the people that God called out of slavery, out of addiction, out of bondage, out of darkness, into light. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:25.039 The Bible says it like this: once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:26.399 It's not just freedom from. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:29.440 God didn't deliver them from slavery and say, do your best. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:36.720 God said, Hey, I'm gonna deliver you from slavery and freedom from, but I'm also gonna deliver you from that, and deliver you into this. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:43.759 Colossians talks about it like this that we've been delivered from the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of his beloved son, whom he loves. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:47.919 You didn't just get forgiveness, you became a people of God. 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:50.799 This is why the church, this is what the church is all about. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:53.759 It's not like we're an institution, it's an organism. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.399 And so it's been around a long time. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:00.159 Here's the fourth thing I want you to see the Bible has power. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:01.840 The Bible has power. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:04.320 Now you may hear that and go, Of course you say that, dude. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:05.039 You're a preacher. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:06.159 All you guys say that. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:07.679 Let me show you where I get that from. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:11.120 Right after uh verse 38, he says this. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:17.600 Uh he picks up, he says, He received, at the end of verse 38, he received living oracles to give to us. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:20.960 Our fathers refused to obey him, thrust him aside. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:23.120 We received living oracles. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:24.080 You know what he's talking about? 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.320 He's talking about Moses getting the Ten Commandments. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:28.639 Now, did anybody read the Ten Commandments this week? 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:29.600 Say amen. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:32.080 Think about it. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:35.360 Now, this is how jazz up they get in the Bible about the Ten Commandments. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:38.159 You know, it's kind of like, wow, this is a big deal for these people. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:47.519 When I say the Bible has power, that word living oracles, those two words, it means this having vital power in itself and exerting the same upon the soul. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:49.279 Let me say it again. 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:52.480 It means having uh vital power in itself. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:54.000 You should think, why vital? 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:55.200 We'll get to that in a minute. 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:59.360 Uh, vital power in itself and exerting the same upon the soul. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:06.080 I read the Bible not for information, but so that just to submit myself to the power that the Bible has over me. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:11.360 This is how I change, not through effort or determination, but there's power in these living oracles. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:15.360 This isn't a book written by a bunch of dead guys and uh stories that they made up. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:16.559 No, no, no, no, no. 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:18.559 This has vital power. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:27.679 Uh now he's again he's talking about the Ten Commandments, but it's not just the Ten Commandments, it's the entire Bible, because the entire Bible is the Ten Commandments lived out. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:28.080 Okay? 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:33.600 Not again, not a bunch of out-of-date words by dead people, living oracles that have the power we need. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:35.039 And here's why it's vital. 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:38.720 These are the words that he was talking about, the Ten Commandments. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:43.679 I brought them this morning, in case you haven't been to the courthouse lately, but never mind, they're not on the wall there anymore. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:46.720 Remember when you were a kid growing up, the Ten Commandments were everywhere? 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:48.559 I remember I would go to a barbershop. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:50.000 This is I had hair as a kid. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:56.000 I would go to the barbershop, and the Ten Commandments were on the wall in the barber shop, and I just thought, man, they're serious about the Bible up in here. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:57.840 Uh so I I brought the list. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:01.120 Here's here's the big 10, uh, little top 10 list from David Letterman. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:01.519 Here you go. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:02.399 The Ten Commandments. 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:06.000 This is what he was talking about, and said, This has vital power. 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:09.440 These are living oracles, not dead religion. 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:10.559 I'll just read them off. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:12.879 You shall have no other gods before me. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:20.960 You should not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:26.720 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:29.120 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:34.240 Honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God has given you. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:35.519 You shall not murder. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:36.480 Let me stop right there. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:38.320 Notice it doesn't say you should not kill. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:42.559 If you've ever been involved in military service, it's not murder. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:45.200 You said, Yeah, I had to take life in defense of my country. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:46.720 Uh, it's a different thing. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:56.399 It it's you shall not murder, you should not take an innocent life, you should not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:57.519 That means lying. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:08.000 You should not covet your neighbor's house, you should not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is that is your neighbor's. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:12.320 Now, you may think, oh, that's a pretty unimpressive list of things there, Neil. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:14.720 Uh just think about it like this: go home tonight. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:23.279 If you don't think the Bible has power, then watch the news tonight and ask yourself, what kind of world would we live in if everybody in the world lived by these realities? 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:26.720 What would the news report? 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:29.440 There would be nothing. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:31.519 No school shooting, nothing. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:33.200 Nothing. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:37.200 Again, living oracles, vital power. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:39.440 Here's another thing I want to point out in this little section. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:40.559 It starts in the heart. 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:41.600 Verse 39. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:42.559 Look at it there. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:44.799 It says, Living oracles to give to us. 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:50.960 Our fathers refuse to obey him, they thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turn to Egypt. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:52.000 Look at me, beloved. 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:55.679 You turn in your heart before anybody notices that you're turning. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:01.279 It happens in your heart before it happens, shows up in your body or in your behavior. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:03.200 You turn in your hearts. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:07.200 And so it's important that we're mindful of our heart posture towards the things of God. 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:11.440 Or if you're married, it's important that you understand your heart posture towards your spouse. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:16.799 And so tonight, before you go to bed, ladies, ask your husband, what's your heart posture towards me? 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:20.480 And get prepared for okay. 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:23.839 You see, here's the thing, man. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:28.480 Your wife may give you her body, but without giving you her heart. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:30.400 And you want to have her heart. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:32.640 You don't just settle for her body. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:36.960 Ladies, you're you should insist that you get your man's heart. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:39.680 Because it happens in the heart. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:54.079 You can be living with somebody, doing life, paying the bills, crushing it, going great vacations, and you've kind of turned just a little bit your heart from your spouse to protect your heart from what he does to you and doesn't even know it, or what she does to you and doesn't even know it. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:56.240 Again, it happens in the heart. 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:00.079 He said they turned in their hearts, they turned to Egypt. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:00.799 What do you mean? 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:03.279 This is the place that God delivered them out of. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:05.279 And they were looking back, saying, you know what? 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:08.480 We kind of want to go back to that because we don't know about this God over here. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:12.799 They go on to say, Hey, actually, this guy Moses that led us out of the out of out of Egypt. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:14.160 We don't know what's happened to him. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:16.720 Church people always have a short memory. 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:20.720 I mean, Moses is gone for a couple of days getting the Ten Commandments. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:22.400 They're like, Oh, we don't know about that guy. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:23.279 How about you, Aaron? 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:23.839 Get up. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.400 Make us something we can fixate on and look at. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.559 And the Bible says this, just just let me point this out, verse 41. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:37.200 And they made a calf in those days, and they offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the work of their hands. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:38.400 It's that phrase. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:42.400 And they were rejoicing in the work of their hands. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:43.519 Hold on to that. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:45.200 We'll come back to that in just a little bit. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:45.680 Okay. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:47.200 It starts in the heart. 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:49.599 And here's the last thing I want to say from this section, okay? 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:51.519 There's a texture to God's being. 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:53.119 There's a texture to God's being. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:59.680 Verse 42, but God turned them away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:01.119 And God, hear it again. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:02.960 And God turned away. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:17.200 They turned in their hearts, and God said, Okay, see, if you think, when I say there's texture to God's being, if you just think the only thing God can do when you sin is feel sorry for you and be sad and cry and then forgive you when you ask for it, that's not the God of the Bible. 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:19.359 You need to know the gospel well. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:23.039 You need to step deeper into the pool of knowledge that is God. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:26.880 Because God has more responses to sin than, oh, I'm sorry. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:29.759 I'm here when you get tired, I'll take you back every time. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:33.200 He turns away and then he gives them over. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:38.240 Let me just say it like this whatever you persist in, God will give you over to. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:40.000 Let me say that again. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.440 Whatever you persist in, God will give you over to. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:49.599 So if you're here in this room this morning or you're watching online and you're thinking, hey, I kind of got me a little side hustle going over here. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:50.559 It's no big deal. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:53.279 Here's how you know God is giving you over to that. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:55.519 It doesn't bother you anymore. 00:19:56.480 --> 00:19:57.519 It used to bother you. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:07.680 You used to say, hey, maybe we shouldn't, uh, I shouldn't, or I'm gonna stop, or I'm gonna quit, never again, one last time, and now you just shrug like, oh, you know, God's a God of love. 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:10.559 Or are you most people, my God's a God of love? 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:18.960 Your God doesn't have any texture to him, he's not to be feared, and you won't worship him either, because he has no texture to his being. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:26.559 He's flat, one-dimensional, passive, incapable of just saying, Hello, what do we think we're doing here? 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:31.519 You see, this the gospel, first of all, makes us capable of knowing well. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:35.440 The second thing the gospel does is it makes you capable of applying well. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:38.400 It's an exception of scripture starting in verse 44. 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:42.079 It's one thing to know, it's another thing to apply. 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:43.519 Let me say that again. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:46.880 It's one thing to know, it's another thing to apply. 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:49.119 Ask yourself this question before you go to bed tonight. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:54.480 If you applied everything about the Bible that you knew, what would your life look like? 00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:57.680 Would there be any drastic difference in you? 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:01.039 Would it be like, oh, I'm all of a sudden I'm accelerated here? 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:03.599 Or it'd be like, nah, no big deal. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:05.440 Let me read verse 44. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:06.400 Pick up the story. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:14.240 He says, Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:20.799 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they just dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:27.680 So it was until the days of David who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:29.519 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:30.720 It's talking about the temple. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:37.920 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the as the prophet says, Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:40.720 What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:42.480 Or what is the place of my rest? 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:45.119 Did not my hands make all these things? 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:46.880 And then Stephen gets personal. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:49.200 He realizes hey, we're applying this. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:51.599 As long as you're just talking about it, it's one thing. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:54.000 Knowledge is is is easy. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:56.240 Application is offensive. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.279 It's like saying to your girlfriend, hey, you're a Christian. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.920 Not what are you doing dating him? 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:07.519 See, everybody loves gospel knowledge, but gospel application, them's fighting words. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:09.359 Look what happens. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:17.359 Stephen says in verse 51, You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in the heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:19.359 As your fathers did, so do you. 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:22.319 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:27.920 And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, whom you have betrayed and murdered. 00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:32.960 You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:37.680 The gospel makes you and I capable of applying the gospel well. 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:40.799 Remember, they accused him of sinning against Moses and the temple. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:44.319 Now he schooled them on Moses, and he now turns to the temple. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:45.519 And the issue is real simple. 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:49.359 The Sanhedrin, these people that are talking, they had a beautiful building. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:51.599 Stephen has a beautiful God. 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:54.319 And there was always an indication of God's presence. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:58.240 And this is what he's saying to them in verse 44 our fathers had the tent of witness. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:22:59.680 Tent of witness. 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:02.000 Now, there's people in our church who like to go camping. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:06.000 If you like to go camping and say amen, we're never going to be friends, okay? 00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:10.960 Uh but anyway, but the tent of witness, you don't have a tent, you put it up and call it the tent of witness. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:11.759 None of you do that. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:14.160