WEBVTT 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:13.359 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:18.399 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:24.719 If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Philippians chapter 2. 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:26.160 Philippians chapter 2. 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:28.399 And if you don't have a Bible, there's one on your row. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:30.879 I'm on page 981. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:33.759 If you're our guest today, let me just say welcome. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:36.320 Thanks for uh looking into a new church. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:40.159 Uh what you see is that uh we have we're a church that observes Advent. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:46.159 So let me just give you a brief history lesson about Advent, what Advent is, uh what are all these candles down here? 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:49.840 Advent uh is a Latin word that means arrival or coming. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:56.000 And basically uh it's the four Advent in the history of the church is the four Sundays that lead up to Christmas. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:59.039 And so each Sunday, like we have a theme for Advent every year. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:02.000 This year, our theme for Advent is hope on the horizon. 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:06.719 Uh and that's not a that's not a form of escapism as much as engagement with the culture. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:08.799 Uh and each Sunday has a theme. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:16.480 Uh, and this this this Sunday's theme is hope, and then next Sunday will be uh uh uh uh peace and then joy and then love. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:22.000 And each Sunday we'll light a different candle on our Advent wreath here in our Christmas Eve service. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:31.439 We light the Christ candle, the white one in the center, uh, to signify the incarnation that God has left the sanctity of heaven to come be with his people here on earth. 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:44.480 And so let me tell you kind of the backdrop, the historical backdrop to Advent, because if you read the Old Testament, uh a lot of times, like I was talking to a friend this week, he said, Hey, uh, I mean, I I I read the Old Testament, it kind of scares me. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:48.239 I don't really like the Old Testament, so I read the New Testament mostly. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:51.040 Uh, because he asked me, he said, Do you what do you preach out of? 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:52.719 Which part of the Bible do you preach out of? 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:54.159 And I said, I preach out of all of it. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:55.439 He goes, Well, I don't like the old part. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:56.640 And I said, You mean the old testament? 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.799 He goes, Yeah, he said, God seems ticked off. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:00.159 Uh and I said, Yeah. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:01.760 And he said, But I like Jesus. 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:04.560 He he hung out with hookers and forgave people. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:05.519 And I like that. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:10.159 And I said, How hard is it to not like a guy that hangs out with hookers and forgives people? 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:14.159 And he said, You just said hookers, and I'm like, I'm not getting in trouble for that or anything. 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:14.879 Relax. 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:16.800 Uh and but but I said, here's the thing. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:19.840 What if I told you that it's the same God in both places? 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:21.599 And he went, Oh, I don't know about that. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.080 Uh and so here's the beauty of Advent. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:34.000 Advent signifies and symbolizes and reminds us that between the Old Testament, the close of the Old Testament, and the beginning of the New Testament, there was 450 years of silence. 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:35.439 God just didn't speak. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:42.240 God just kind of said to people who were stiff-necked, hard-hearted, and didn't want to listen, he said, You don't want to listen, and I don't want to talk. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:42.719 Okay? 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:51.680 God got so mad at his people in the Old Testament, he said to them at one point, You cats have played the harlot on every high hill and under every green tree. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:53.120 He was beside himself. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:59.919 So you see a cycle in the Old Testament of God gets mad at people, his people for sinning, and then God says, That's enough. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.599 And then they say, God, we're sorry. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:03.280 The Bible word for that is repent. 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:05.759 They repent, they come back and say, God, we're sorry. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:07.439 We've sinned against you, take us back. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:08.719 And God takes them back. 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:12.800 And so there's a cycle of breaking up and making up, breaking up and making up. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:17.199 And it gets to a point where God realizes these people are not learning what they need to learn. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:18.159 They're not trusting me. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:22.879 So God uh moves from asking them to have convictions to bringing consequences. 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:24.719 And so God says, Hey, let me tell you something. 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:32.479 If you guys don't start listening to me and my word, I'm gonna raise up the nations around you, and I'm gonna use other nations to punish you if you don't listen to me. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.439 And by the way, God's still the same way. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:38.240 That's free. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:40.479 Anyway, back to Advent. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:41.120 Hope. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:46.960 Uh, and so uh and it's a great day because I want to talk to you about the absurdity of hope. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:54.000 Uh but but but but but the Old Testament, if you read the Old Testament, if you notice you get closer to the end of it, God seems to get more and more angry. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:04:03.439 You get to that last part, it's called the minor prophets, Obadiah, Hezekiah, all those kind of got Malachi, the part where homeschoolers go to get names for their children. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:09.039 That part back there, whoo! God is not in a good way with the time. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:11.840 I love we by the way, we have all kinds of people in our church. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:13.919 Homeschool, private school, but I don't care, okay? 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:14.719 Just relax. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:20.639 So you get to the back, the guys with the funny names, okay, like Malachi and Habakkuk and all that kind of stuff. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:26.480 I mean, God is like, I'm gonna tell you what, you better, and then all of a sudden, whoop, radio silence. 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:28.319 450 years. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:37.680 Advent, it commemorates the time between the close of the Old Testament when people weren't listening, so God just kind of said, All right, I'm gonna just let you guys figure this out yourself. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:40.560 And the incarnation of the New Testament. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:41.519 What was it like? 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.639 There was a guy in the Bible, the weeping prophet Jeremiah. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:48.160 Jeremiah said this uh way back in the Old Testament. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:50.240 He witnessed this, he saw this happen. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:51.839 And so this is what it was like. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:05:14.079 Now, I read this today, by the way, just as a reminder that uh I'm not saying we could go back and recreate these circumstances, but if we're not careful, we'll have the same sense of alienation, isolation, and darkness that God sent on his people, he sent on uh the the the the world uh in the Old Testament because God told them, hey, you guys better listen to me. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:16.639 I'm gonna raise up these other nations, and they didn't listen. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:20.560 And so God raised up a nation called Babylon and the Babylonian captivity. 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:22.160 They besieged Jerusalem. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:23.600 This is how dark it was. 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.959 Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, wrote these words about that time. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:30.319 He said, I am the man who has seen affliction. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:35.920 Under the rod of wrath, he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:42.160 Surely against me, he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:46.240 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:52.959 He has broken my bones, he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:57.120 He has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:01.519 Now, by way of reminder, he's talking about God. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:03.439 He's lamenting. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:09.199 See, if you're here today and you're like, you know, I just get sad different parts of the year. 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:12.639 Christianity is not about being happy and clappy all the time. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:14.800 This is a man that loved God very much. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:17.680 There's a book in the Bible called Lamentations. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:20.399 It doesn't worship being depressed. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:27.199 It acknowledges that, hey, if we don't get it right with God, we're gonna experience a lot of sadness. 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:32.480 And even when we have it right with God, we live in a world that's gonna be besotten with sadness. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:34.319 Jeremiah continues. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:39.360 He said, He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, he's broken my bones. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:42.560 He's besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:45.680 He's made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.879 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:50.639 He has made my chains heavy. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:54.480 Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:59.120 He has blocked my ways with blocks of stones, and he has made my paths crooked. 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:04.000 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:07.040 He turned aside my steps and he tore me to pieces. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:08.560 He has made me desolate. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:12.639 He bent his bow and he set me as a target for his arrow. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:16.000 He drove into my kidneys the arrow of his quiver. 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:20.720 I have become the laughing stock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:24.639 He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:29.519 He has made my teeth grind on gravel and made me cower in ashes. 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:33.040 My soul is bereft of peace. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:35.759 I have forgotten what happiness is. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:41.759 So I say, My endurance has perished, so has my hope from the Lord. 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:46.800 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:52.560 My soul continually remembers how it is bowed down within me. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:58.240 But this I call to mine, and therefore I have hope. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:02.240 Steadfast how the love of the Lord never ceases. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:04.639 His mercies never come to an end. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:06.480 They're new every morning. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:08.480 Great is your faithfulness. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:11.040 The Lord is my portion, says my soul. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:12.879 Therefore, I will hope in him. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:17.519 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:22.879 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:31.600 Advent is a time where we acknowledge that there are going to be periods in your life where it gets hard, it gets dark. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:36.639 You look around you and the culture and you and fatalism haunts the human experience. 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:40.720 The thought begins to go through your mind that just kind of says, What's the use? 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:43.840 Am I the only person who cares about the right thing? 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:50.000 Do I work with just a pack of liars who care about nothing but profit in the bottom line and making more? 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:52.320 This is lonely, God. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:54.399 I don't want to do this anymore. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:09:01.840 Advent is a time where we have to ask ourselves, Am I willing to embrace the absurdity of hope? 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:05.039 Surrounded by a culture of darkness? 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:09.840 Am I willing to be the woman that kind of stands up and speaks the truth? 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:15.440 Or am I going to become that negative Nancy that just the glass is always half empty? 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:18.159 Everyone's wrong, and it's always going to be this way. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:19.919 Matter of fact, it's just going to get worse. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:21.519 Let's just eat dirt and die. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:25.120 Don't get your hopes up because you're just going to be disappointed. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:35.200 You're going to be the guy whose flat screen TV gets bigger, your truck gets bigger, your garage gets bigger, your man cave gets bigger because you really don't have that many friends. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:39.360 And so you have to increase the space where you escape from culture. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:44.639 And escape from the fact that everything in your life is big except your circle of friends. 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:57.600 Or are you going to be the person who chooses to live as a beacon of hope in a dark culture? 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:05.039 One thing you'll notice is it doesn't you don't have to be a cube or a spotlight, even a lighthouse. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:10.159 The smallest expression of light in a room full of darkness draws everyone's attention. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:13.919 This is the hope of the gospel. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:21.519 And this is the privilege that we have to bear this hope into a culture that prefers darkness over light. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:24.879 Let's pray this morning as we talk about the absurdity of hope. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:25.679 Let's pray. 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:32.639 Father, we acknowledge that one of the things that's always distinguished your people from the culture around them is our obedience. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:35.919 It's not anything else about us, it's just our simple obedience. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:38.559 And so, Lord, say something today that has our name on it. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:41.200 Say something in a language that we understand. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:45.279 We realize, God, when we look around, that fatalism is a vain hope. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.919 It's a vain substitute for obedience. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:54.720 And so, Lord, we understand today and we come today to accept and believe that we are the expression of hope that the culture is looking for. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:11:00.240 And so remind us today of what makes this possible and why it's personal in Jesus' name. 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:02.799 And everyone said, Amen. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:06.080 The absurdity of hope from Philippians chapter 2. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:07.679 I'll start reading in verse 12. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:11.519 The Bible says this, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:13.600 So let me just stop right here and say this. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:21.440 When I talk about the absurdity of hope, I don't mean being the happy, clappy person that you see on TV or the late-night TV preacher that looks like this. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:22.879 Hey, everybody. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:25.600 I don't trust anybody that smiles all the time. 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:27.600 And neither does the Bible, okay? 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:28.960 Uh and so just relax. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:34.399 If you're visiting today, you're kind of like, you're gonna tell me that I just gotta like just fake it till I make it? 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:35.200 Not at all. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:40.320 I just read to you out of the Bible about a man that said, God, it's like you don't even hear my prayers. 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:42.000 You built a brick wall around me. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:46.559 All I can hear is my voice bouncing off the ceiling and coming back to me. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:48.480 I'm not even gonna pray anymore. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:53.200 And I am saying, in such a culture as that, that hope feels like this absurdity. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:55.600 And yet here's what the Bible calls us to. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:03.840 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:07.600 For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:20.559 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:26.960 So that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:28.480 And we'll just stop right there. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:30.879 What do we mean when you talk about the absurdity of hope? 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:34.559 Basically, it involves three things that I'm gonna ask you to embrace this morning. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:36.480 Number one, it involves obedience. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:37.600 It involves obedience. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:39.360 Look at verses 12 and 13. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:47.360 Hear these words, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only in my presence, but much more in my absence. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:51.440 Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to obey when everyone's watching? 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:55.360 And how easy it is to disobey when no one's watching? 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:56.720 And that's what Paul says. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:00.639 Paul says, Hey, not only my presence, but now much more in my absence. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:03.039 And don't miss the fact that he refers to these people with this. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:05.919 He says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:08.480 Wouldn't you like that to be said about you one day? 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:10.399 As you've always obeyed. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:16.240 Hey, I'm writing to people that always obey, not only when I'm around my presence, but much more in my absence. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:24.639 And he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:35.679 One of the things I want you to think about today, this morning, when it comes to obedience, is look at me, not just right and wrong, and don't don't go back and revisit all the times you screwed up and disobeyed. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:37.759 I want you to go, that's surface. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:43.360 I want you to think structurally and ask yourself this question: hey, kind of what is in my theology of obedience? 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:45.279 What do I think about obedience? 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:49.200 Because what you think about something informs how you relate to something. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:14:00.320 And so when you think about obedience, the problem, it's not that you you obey or don't obey, it's just that we think wrongly, we think insufficiently about the reality that the Bible calls obedience. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:01.600 You say, What do you mean? 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:06.799 Well, what I mean is that according to the Bible, obedience is just the expression of our salvation. 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:08.159 It's our Christian faith. 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:12.559 The way you know who is a Christian is not the people with the fish on the back of their suburban. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:19.519 And I'm not saying take the fish off, because when there's a long line of traffic, I pull out and I look for you so I can honk and wave and cut in. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.679 So keep the fish there, okay? 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:23.600 Here's what I'm saying. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:25.360 It's not just profession. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:28.720 It's not just, hey, hey, I profess to be a Christian. 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:32.240 Here's how you know who a Christian is: it's the people that obey. 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:38.159 You should not think, listen very carefully, you should not think that I'm a Christian just because I pastor a church. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:44.000 You should watch my life and you should say, does that man's life match up to the gospel? 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:46.960 Does he live what the Bible talks about? 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:52.399 Said differently, is he obedient to the truths of Christianity? 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:56.799 Obedience is just an expression of our Christian faith. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:59.919 And biblically speaking, it's as simple as these two phrases. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:02.159 It's work out, work in. 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:04.080 Work out, work in. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:05.919 If you look there, you see Paul says this. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:09.200 He says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:11.200 Now, a lot of times that gets a bad rap. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:16.559 We say, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, but you have to see that against the backdrop of the next phrase. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:19.679 He says, For it is God who is at work in you. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:24.000 Both to will and to work according to his good pleasure, okay? 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.480 We'll talk about mutual pleasure in just a minute, all right? 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:27.679 We'll just hold on to that. 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:29.279 So I say work out, work in. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:32.320 When it's the Bible says work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:39.440 It's not saying try harder, get more determined, double down, hate yourself, hate the world, and just do what's right. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:40.320 No, no, no. 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:46.480 And when it says work out your salvation with fear and trembling, it's basically saying give outward evidence to this inward reality. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:47.279 Here's why. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.360 Because God's at work in you. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:53.120 If God's not at work in you, there's nothing for you to work out. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:58.080 Remember a couple Sundays ago, I said there's a rhythm to creation where God does and we respond. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:15:59.600 You see it again right here. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:02.799 When it comes to obedience, work out your salvation. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:05.919 Demonstrate outwardly that God's at work inwardly. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:07.279 That's what obedience is. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:13.279 It's not taking something external and trying to make yourself do this regardless of how hard it is. 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:14.240 No, no, no. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:15.759 Because God's at work in you. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:24.080 And the Bible says this, not only is it God at work in you, it says God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:29.440 You have to ask yourself, this all this is under the banner of what is my theology of obedience? 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:31.279 How do I think about obedience? 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:35.120 Because if you think wrongly about obedience, you're not going to obey. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:39.600 Here's something that helps us think rightly or biblically about obedience. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:43.679 It's this question, do I find pleasure in the things that God finds pleasure in? 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.279 Obedience at the end of the day comes down to mutual pleasure. 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:51.600 Do I find pleasure in the things that God finds pleasure in? 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:54.080 Because if not, you're not going to work with God. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:17:00.559 Because the Bible says that God's at work in you to will and to work for his good pleasure. 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:04.319 If you don't find pleasure in the things that God finds pleasure in, guess what? 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:06.000 You're going to go do your own thing. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:08.319 And the Bible calls that disobedience. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:15.680 Now, when you think about it, hey, work in, work out, all that kind of just work out what God's working in, it sounds easy, but yet it's not. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:16.640 You ever wonder? 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:19.680 It's like, hey, it's not that I don't understand it. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:22.559 It's just that sometimes I just don't want to do it. 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:24.400 That's what it comes down to. 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:28.880 Because when you talk about, hey, just work out what God's working in, that sounds easy. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:33.359 But then you have to ask, why is obedience so inconsistent in our life? 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:34.400 Two reasons. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:39.519 And I found right here in the same chapter, just look up if you would to verse 5 of Philippians chapter 2. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:44.640 The Bible says it like this have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:46.240 Hey, just make a little note on that. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:55.759 I don't have time to go into that today, but when the Bible says, have this mind in yourselves that is yours in Christ Jesus, it's a reminder that the Bible never asks you to do anything you can't do. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:00.319 Have this mind in you, which, by the way, is yours in Christ Jesus. 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:04.000 You already have the capacity to think this way as a Christian. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:12.799 Have this mind in you among yourselves, uh, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:25.039 But he emptied himself by becoming, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:26.480 And we'll just stop right there. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:36.319 Again, remember we're talking about why is obedience, if it's just simply, hey, work out what God's working in, it seems like that would be easy, but why is obedience so inconsistent in us? 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:37.440 Two simple reasons. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:38.160 We just read them. 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:42.400 Number one, we still count equality with God as a thing to be grasped. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:46.400 We still count equality with God as a thing to be grasped. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:47.200 It sounds like this. 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:48.160 What's my body? 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:49.440 I can do what I want. 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:52.000 All right, we're consenting adults. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:55.359 I'm old enough, I'm old enough to know what's right and wrong for me. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:57.279 You have your truth, I have my truth. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:58.960 Now, this sounds new. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:04.960 We call it progressivism, uh, social liberal progressives, progressive feminism. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:12.079 It's got a bunch of different labels on it nowadays, but can I just say to you, this is the oldest lie that humanity has ever believed? 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:13.519 You say, What do you mean? 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:14.319 What are you talking about? 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.720 We still count equality with God as a thing to be grasped. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:17.759 Look at the Bible. 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:21.680 It's not hard, it's very helpful and it's very clear. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:29.119 He says, right there in verse 6, talking about Jesus, he says, Who, though he's in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:30.720 Hold on to that phrase for just a second. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:33.680 Did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:37.359 I know we don't we don't put words together like that, but what is he referring to? 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:46.880 He's referring to back in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, when the devil in the form of a serpent came to them and said, Hey, uh, surely has God said you shouldn't eat of any tree of the garden. 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:48.480 He said, No, no, God didn't say that. 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:52.880 God said that we could eat of any tree of the garden, but of this one tree we shouldn't eat. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:54.799 Because if we eat of that tree, we're gonna die. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:58.559 The devil, the serpent, speaks up and says, Oh, you surely won't die. 00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:01.920 God's afraid that you'll be like him, knowing good and evil. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:04.559 Translation, you'll be equal with God. 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:07.200 We we still fall for that. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:15.359 It just has new labels and party, political parties crank out and put new labeling on it and say, Oh, we're progressive this and we're socialist this and blah, blah, blah. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:16.559 No, no, it's not. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:28.160 All it's trying to do is to get you to be complicit in your own destruction and to believe in your head, and it's in the water of our educational system in public schools that teaches our kids to say, you know what? 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:30.160 I can be like God. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.240 I can be the master of my own destiny. 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:33.759 You can't oppress me. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:40.079 I everyone's a victim, and so I'm gonna accuse you of something, and I'm going to advance my cause behind the accusation. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:43.279 And the devil, who's real, has been so successful. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:47.759 He's convinced us that, hey, by the way, equality with God is a thing that can be grasped. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:51.279 Why should you submit to God when you can be God? 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:54.160 That's why obedience is hard. 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:57.200 Because we still count equality with God as a thing to be grasped. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:59.279 That's one of the ways that Jesus is not like us. 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:14.480 The Bible says, though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and being born in the likeness of man and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:19.440 Here's the second reason that obedience is hard is because obedience is an expression of humility. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:22.400 He humbled himself by being obedient. 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:25.359 I hear people all the time say, you know what, I just want to be more humble. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:27.200 And I'm like, oh, watch yourself. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:28.960 What do you mean, preacher? 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:30.319 You should like it when I talk like that. 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:35.200 Oh, I like it when you say that, but then when I tell you what's required to be, you want more humility? 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:36.240 Well, what do you mean? 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:40.880 I just I just think it means, you know, being quieter, not interrupting my wife and stuff. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:41.839 Oh, that'd be great. 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:43.200 That'd be wonderful. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:49.279 Matter of fact, while you're praying, pray my wife don't interrupt me because I'd like her to stop interrupting me because I got things to say. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:52.720 Like yesterday, our Christmas tree fell over. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:53.279 Okay? 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:55.200 Help me with this. 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:59.680 I'm here all morning building baby Jesus mangers with little kids who've never held a hand. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:04.720 Some of you men take your kids' phones up and give them a hammer and nails. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:06.480 Cause dang. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:08.960 And this kid was just beating me with a hammer. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:11.200 I was like, if you want to do this. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.400 One kid just took it and started just beating the children's building. 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:16.799 I was like, we need to whip your parents, my man. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:17.200 Okay? 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:21.519 I'm done with that, and I'm thinking, this is I've done so much good today. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:23.680 I could just coast until the new year. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:25.599 My wife calls me, hey, I had to leave. 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:27.119 I'm taking lunch with somebody in our church. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:28.640 Our Christmas tree fell over. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:30.640 There's water and ornaments everywhere. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:37.440 And so got it up, got it, and because I'm a redneck, I took some fish and string and tied it to the window so I wouldn't fall over again. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.839 Hey, I didn't go to AM, but I is an engineer. 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:48.160 My wife came back and she's like, Really? 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:49.039 This is your solution? 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:53.279 Yeah, I jacked it up, put some books under it, tied it to the, anchored it to the wall. 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:54.559 It ain't going anywhere. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:56.559 And then I had another solution. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:05.039 How about we get rid of some of these ornaments that are weighing the tree down that my kids made in Mother's Day out in 2004? 00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:12.960 So she went to the two name thing, Neil McClendon. 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:19.680 I'm just saying, I mean, the MRS does not make us keep records this long. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:25.759 Maybe the tree is crying out for help. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:28.079 Get them off of me. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:28.960 Oh no. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:30.880 We have to save every one of those. 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:32.960 It's if I don't know they're her children. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:35.759 My children made these with their own hands. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:39.279 Yeah, they're my kids too. 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:43.599 And I think we could throw most of them away and just keep the rest of the stuff. 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:45.839 I think the tree wouldn't fall over anymore. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:46.559 Oh no. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:50.960 Prop the tree up, anchor it to the wall of fishing line, and put it all back on there. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:52.480 That's a good idea. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:58.640 And I'm trying to get that woman to be more humble. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:05.920 And she's saying to me, maybe you need to experience some humility. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:07.039 I'm trying to obey. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:10.000 The Lord said too many ornaments is the problem. 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:16.079 No, apparently just having an opinion is the problem. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:19.599 Not bitter anything. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:31.359 Here's the thing if you want to be humble, and which by the way, humility, uh would to God that it were so easy as just gonna be like, oh, I'm mousy, and I don't talk a lot. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:32.799 Let me tell you something. 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:36.799 Some of the quietest people in this room are the most prideful people you'll ever meet. 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:41.599 Because they're just like, yeah, I'm not a loudmouth like that person. 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:43.440 You think that's humility? 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:45.200 That you don't talk? 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:46.480 No. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:48.079 No. 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:50.480 Humility is that you obey. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:53.359 That's how you do it. 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:55.920 So, so what is the absurdity of hope? 00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:59.119 How do I be this beacon of light in this dark culture? 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:01.759 It doesn't mean you go pick at the abortion clinic. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:03.200 It means that you obey. 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:05.039 Secondly, there's this little distinction. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:06.960 Look at verse 14 to all things. 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:09.759 Here's what distinguishes us from the world around us. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:22.079 We do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:27.279 There's two sets of words I want to draw your attention to, two pairs of words I want to point to. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:31.359 And the first pair is simply this grumbling and disputing. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:33.279