Remember what our Christmas offering was, but it was $17,000. That's incredible. Remember, there's a crib shower downstairs for baby Rafferty. Ladies Bible study being led by Mrs. Pastor starts virtually on the 20th. You can see that in there and in person next week. But we have books. So 12 Extraordinary Women. by John MacArthur, let's see, Catherine Layton is chapter one, Linda LaFleur's chapter two, Gail Alexan's got two chapters in there, because she's, anyway, these are in the back, so pick them up, and something that, very important is we have our true life conference in February. The whites aren't here, but you've heard me say it, but supposedly it's a great conference. I do not do conferences, and Isaac's been trying to get me to go there, but you couldn't pay me to go to a conference. I just don't do them, but I hear that it's excellent. Sharon, you've been there, right? Yep. So it's great if you do conferences. So how's that for a lousy endorsement? That was really bad. Oh, well. Make it right, Pastor. You're a tough act to follow, that's for sure. Thanks, Julia, for coming and filling in today to pray for the Nelsons that are battling illness. There are a lot of people that are, the whites as well, and some others that I'm not quite as familiar with. What? Patty as well, Warren, so pray for her. So a lot going on. And then some inclement potential weather. So any case, be in prayer for all of them, that's for sure. But we're thankful that. we've gathered together today to worship Christ. I just want to mention by way of announcements before we begin that on Wednesdays I'll be hosting this. We're doing it virtually on Zoom, and if you don't get the link, check with Andy and you'll get it. But I'm focusing on some resolutions towards training in godliness over the next month, and right now we're focusing on Scripture memory. I want to thank Gail for helping us with this every year with the fighter verses. This is something that we have and it's in your bulletin. We do this each week and here's a little bookmark we made and have some in the back if you want to pick one up to hang on to it. It also gives you some tips on the back on how to engage in Bible memory. But we're doing this, the thrust of it was for the children, and of course we as adults can also benefit from Scripture memory as well. And I've indicated that beyond just memory, and that's good, but if you're not able to grasp all of it by perfect memory, Meditating on scripture each week is going to be really beneficial, and I'll give you some ideas about that further on Wednesday. I hope you can be a part and maybe think about participating with us on this. I have a difficulty, sometimes we put this in the ESV, mostly for the children to help them. You know, in my Christian life, I started out, I think, with the King James, then went to the New King James, and then the NASB for a while, and then now we went to the ESV to help with the children for these fighter verses and whatnot. We did that a few years ago. So I always add a little, you know, these and thous occasionally when I Remember a verse this week, if you notice, is from Psalm 1611, a great one. To know you make known to me the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures evermore. if you don't get it perfectly right, that's okay. And then if you have something from, you know, where you picked it up in the past and you have a whereupon and so forth, a slight difference, that's okay. It's a translation, right? And the whole point is to get the idea of the Scripture and then to hide it in your heart and to meditate on it, to think about it day and night, and it'll be really beneficial for you personally, and it may be helpful for someone else that you might encounter during the course of the week. So far, we've had Isaiah 40 verse 8, as the grass wither, the flower fades, but the Word of God shall stand forever. We had Romans 10, 13 through 15, which is a lot longer section. But this week I'm going to talk about how to memorize something of greater length like that. And then this week is Psalm 1611, so these are great treasures to hide in your heart, to at least meditate and think about, and we'll help you with some of that prospect. Jerry's going to come now and lead us to sing Joyful Joyful. When I saw this selection here, thanks, Julia, for helping getting our song selections today. I had to smile and think of my father who is now with the Lord in his presence in fullness of joy. One of the things that he taught me was when you sing a song like this, be sure to smile. It's kind of funny now that you know that. If you see somebody singing joyful, joyful, you know, and they've got a frown on their face, it just doesn't work. Try it with a smile on your face, and think about why you should be joyful, because in His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. Let's stand and sing together as we open hymn number 13, Joyful Joyful. Psalm 71 says, my lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you. Amen. ♪ Joyful, joyful, we adore thee ♪ ♪ God of glory, Lord of love ♪ ♪ Hearts unfold like flowers before thee ♪ ♪ Helping to the sun above ♪ ♪ Melt the clouds of sin and sadness ♪ ♪ Drive the dark of doubt away ♪ Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day. All thy works with joy surrounding, earth and heaven reflect thy rays. Stars and angels sing around thee, center of unbroken praise. ♪ Hill and forest, vale and mountain ♪ ♪ Flowing meadows, flashing sea ♪ ♪ Singing bird and flowing fountain ♪ ♪ Call us to rejoice in thee ♪ ♪ Our God giving and forgiving ♪ ♪ Ever blessing ever more ♪ Amen. Let's turn to 150. Sorry Jerry to disturb you on that. But I just wanted you to be joyful. He got it all in and that was good. You guys were joyful too. We have much to be thankful for and to be joyful as we gather together as God's people to think of His goodness and the joy that is ours in Christ regardless of whatever circumstance you might find yourself in. I'm going to give you a moment to privately respond and express that in your prayer to God right now. I'll give you a few moments to do that privately, and then I want to pray for us corporately. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Oh Father, we are gathered together as your people to worship and praise your holy name, to reflect and think about great truths that are beyond this day, the truth of your very word. It is you who have disclosed, indeed, the path of life. in the way of death, but through Jesus Christ, our Lord, you have brought us the path of life. And so we praise your holy name for the life that is ours in Christ Jesus. I pray, Father, that each one of us, whether we're battling with illnesses at home or even circumstances in life that might be really challenging, I pray, Father, that we will have a joy and peace in Christ even now, regardless of whatever circumstance, because our hope is on you. And we seek your presence even this day and now. I pray that you will feed us through your word. May we, as your body, encourage one another Evil day is here among us and approaching. Things look incredibly dark. I pray that the light of Christ will shine through. I pray that our faith in you and the power of the gospel will be increasing in this day. I pray that anyone that might be discouraged through whatever in the future, that we would find our encouragement in you and our ultimate pleasure in you. May you be glorified and lifted up, indeed, a God who is our help, a God of grace and a God of glory. May you be adored and worshiped this day, I pray in Christ's name, amen. Now I stand and turn to 115. God of grace and God of glory. The God of all grace will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. First Peter five. ♪ For the facing of this hour ♪ ♪ For the facing of this hour ♪ Give us wisdom, grant us courage For the living of these days For the living of these days Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, Let us be disciples of God. ♪ Lasting is thy kingdom's joy ♪ ♪ Set our feet on lovely places ♪ ♪ Let our lives that they may be ♪ ♪ Honored be a prize like praises to thee ♪ Amen. Let's turn over a few pages to one hundred and twenty-two. One hundred and twenty-two. Old God, our help in ages past. We must tell future sufficiently is mine Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ As a dream dies at the opening day ♪ ♪ O God, our help in ages past ♪ ♪ Our hope for years to come ♪ ♪ Be thou our guard while life shall last ♪ ♪ And our eternal home be thine ♪ Page 495 with the Pew Bibles. We just sang, lo the hosts of evil round us, scorned by Christ. And that's certainly not changed and is the case today. Oftentimes it is difficult to remember and trust in the promises of God in view of what we see in the world around us and in the situation of our lives. And that's what we see here in this psalm, especially with the messianic promises concerning the Davidic kingly line. You can see that this is a maskal, essentially a teaching psalm, instruction of Ethan the Ezraite. And last week we were in, I think, Psalm 88 with a maskal of Heman the Ezraite. And with checking on these names as they appear in scripture, if they were the same men, they were contemporaries with King Solomon and perhaps outlived King Solomon. So think about the tension and dissonance if they were familiar with the promises God had made to King David and his family once the kingdom has split. For example, in 2 Samuel 7, we saw some of these that Nathan says the words of God to David about his line, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. skipping to verse 15, but my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul. whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure before me. Your throne shall be established forever. And the New Testament is explicit that that is messianic, with I will be a son and he will be my father. But how, in view of not knowing what will happen with Christmas in the New Testament, what could they have thought about those promises that God had made after Israel has split in this way? Calvin writes in his commentary, what a horrible spectacle it was to behold that kingdom, which might have flourished in unimpaired vigor, even to the end of the world, disfigured and miserably rent asunder at the close of the life of one man. But with a lot of these psalms, you see the beginning of the psalm being distress, and then ending with praise and trust in God. Psalm 89 is kind of the reverse, and it's because of that situation. Yet, at the same time, God's promises are sure. And now, in this case, we saw what God's plan was for the Messiah King. But in many cases we, and when we live in our daily life, we don't know the end, but we just know that God is faithful. Psalm 89. Amaskel of Ethan the Ezraite. I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, steadfast love will be built up forever. In the heavens, you will establish your faithfulness. You have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one. I have sworn to David my servant. I will establish your offspring forever and build your throne for all generations. Salah. Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? O Lord, God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? You rule the raging of the sea. When its waves rise, you still them. You crushed Rahab like a carcass. You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. The heavens are yours. The earth also is yours. The world and all that is in it, you have founded them. The north and the south, you have created them. Tabor and Herman joyously praise your name. You have a mighty arm. Strong is your hand, high your right hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are the people who know, the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face, who exalt in your name all the day, and in your righteousness are exalted. For you are the glory of their strength. By your favor, our horn is exalted. For our shield belongs to the Lord, our King to the Holy One of Israel. Of old, you spoke in a vision to your Godly One and said, I have granted help. to one who is mighty. I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found David my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him, so that my hand shall be established with him. My arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him. The wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him. And in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to me, you are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation, and I will make him, the firstborn, the highest of all the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his offspring forever, and his throne as the days of the heavens. If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove him from my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon, it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies. Salah. For now, you have cast off and rejected. You are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced the covenant with your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust. You have breached all his walls. You have laid his strongholds in ruins. All who pass by plunder him. He has become the scorn of his neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of his foes. You have made all his enemies rejoice. You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle. You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground. You have cut short the days of his youth. You have covered him with shame. Salaam. How long, O Lord, will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is, for what vanity you have created all the children of man. What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol, Salah? Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David? Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations with which your enemies mock, O Lord, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed. Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and amen. Heavenly Father, I pray that we would echo that in your hearts and in all times and circumstances. Blessed be the Lord forever. I pray that in living amidst a rising tide of godless secularism, that you would judge the emptiness and evil of godless thought and its fruits in society. Let us, with passion and vigilance, strive to be salt and light to Chattanooga and the world around us. and in a way that glorifies you, oh Father, give us the grace to do that and to worship you with joy today. As we just sang, joyful is the cry of our heart because of your goodness and the gospel. Though in an age of materialism, let us give money to the church. And I pray that it would be worship that you take pleasure in and that you would use to grow your kingdom and support this ministry here in this local church. So we ask in the name of Christ, amen. So, You. you Number three, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 145, three. ♪ Worthy and wonderful ♪ ♪ Worthy of worship and praise ♪ ♪ Worthy of reverence ♪ ♪ Worthy of fear ♪ ♪ Worthy of love and devotion ♪ ♪ Worthy of love and devotion ♪ ♪ And bled me to my knees ♪ ♪ Worthy of all this I'm added to Thee ♪ ♪ In my body ♪ ♪ Father who created in my body ♪ ♪ Saviour who sustains in my body ♪ Worthy and wonderful, worthy of worship and praise. Almighty Father, Master and Lord, King of all kings and Redeemer, Wonderful Counselor, Comforter, Friend, Savior and Source of Life without end. Thank you Jerry, thank you Julia, and thank you church for leading us in worship of Christ our King today. I invite you, if you will, to turn in your Bibles to a different verse today. We're going to step out of the normal path that we're on in John, and I'm just going to focus on a single verse, Jude 3. address a particular topic but I thought it would be appropriate to do so this time of year and I may make this a little series just depending how much I'm able to get done today and there are a few other issues that I wouldn't mind addressing this being the first part of the year. Next week, some churches will commemorate and think about and call the church to pray for sanctity of life. If you remember in, I think it was around 73 in the, somewhere around the 22nd or so of January, Roe v. Wade was passed. And I don't normally address that directly from the pulpit, but this might give me a time to actually talk about the sanctity of life. I talk about God's design for humanity and marriage, children, gender, and these kinds of things. So, but ultimately these issues are really those that are addressed in a general way by Jude. calling the church to contend for the faith. And what brought this about, at least today, this Lord's Day on the 16th, was a memo that I received, produced by John MacArthur's staff, as well as some preaching that I heard, as well as some podcasts, if you will, that I heard on a subject that is quite alarming. And so I thought today we can provide both information to the church here in America as well as some instruction to guide in how to respond. MacArthur's memo was essentially, he calls it, a call for pastors to stand united on biblical sexual morality. If you're not aware, I'll just introduce his memo and another one that responded to it as well. MacArthur writes that this is an urgent matter concerning the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is under attack. That's really what matters, the gospel. And I agree, it is clearly under attack. He writes, he received an email on December 22nd from a pastor in Canada, and they wrote this memo stating that the Canadian government decided to pass a bill called C-4. which, quote, directly comes against parents and counselors who would seek to offer biblical counsel with respect to sexual morality and gender. James, that's the pastor writing, indicates that it could be used to criminalize evangelism. And as I read it, and as I've heard different people, and read the bill myself, I agree. It's a bill that ultimately could be very well easily used to criminalize evangelism, the gospel, the missions that we support throughout the world, and it is very alarming. This pastor in Canada wrote to Pastor John essentially this in his memo. He said, thank you for willingness not only to shine a light on the situation here in Canada, but also partnering, calling other men to preach on biblical sexuality on January 16th in unity and solidarity with ministers here in Canada. I and we are truly grateful for your ministry and service. Bill C-4 passed through the House and the Senate without opposition. I heard about this bill in the previous session that they have, I'm not that familiar with Canadian Parliament and how they work, government, but I did hear about it and it failed by 63 votes. Somehow it was brought up again and yeah, you gasped, rightly so. This bill that we'll talk about passed with zero opposition, not a single opponent to it. When it passed, they all got up and cheered and clapped. They celebrated. And my thought is, are there not three Hebrew children in Canada? No conservative party, even politically? It received royal assent is how they do it on December 8th, which means it becomes law January 8th, 2022. Well, let me explain this bill and perhaps I'm just an alarmist and you decide. The bill will amend the criminal code in Canada to ban conversion therapy. That's the term, conversion therapy. And what do you think about that term as it relates to the gospel? And perhaps these people, I'll let them off the hook a little bit, maybe, perhaps they're just ignorant and they have no idea what the gospel is or what it's about. And if that's the case, it's a sad day for the proclamation of the gospel. But it will criminalize, among other things, and this is a quote from it, causing another person to undergo conversion therapy, promoting or advertising conversion therapy. You see how broad that could be? In the preamble of the bill, it says, the belief, and note that, the belief, this is what this bill says, the belief, if you believe this, the belief that heterosexuality, cisgender, gender identity, by the way, if you don't know what cisgender is, you should be applauded, but it has to do with your birth gender, Why these terms are even made up and put in here? In any case, and gender expression that conforms to the sex assigned to a person at birth. You see how this is filled with words that actually are not agreed upon? We don't assign sex to someone at birth, we observe it. Okay? It's self-evident. It's not assigned. It did come up neutral, and they said, well, I think this one ought to be a boy, and this one ought to be a girl, and maybe this one should be a crayfish or something. I digress, and I will a lot. It might take me more than once. But anyway, the quote that conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth are to be preferred over other sexual orientations. Are you hearing what this is saying? Gender identities and gender expressions is a myth. I will show, and hopefully you know, and we'll get to this over the course of this series, what they're doing is establishing in law that this that you have before you, which expresses something different than what this law is written, is a myth. That's what they're declaring. That's the foundation. You first knock that out. You say, this is all a myth. If that's your authority, it's a myth, and therefore Anything we say is true, and you will be penalized by law for teaching myths. Come back to this letter. The belief in God's design, this is this pastor writing, which I agree with, the belief in God's design for marriage and sexuality will now be seen as a myth. The bill then defines conversion therapy. So what is that? They define it, quote, a practice, treatment, or service designed to change a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual. Again, they make assumptions, right, at the very beginning. It goes on to change in a person's identity to cisgender. Change a person's gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth. Repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behavior. Repress a person's non-cisgender gender identity or repress or reduce a person's gender expression that does not conform to the sex assigned to the person at birth. This is a promotion of evil. The definition is intentionally broad. It can clearly be used, this pastor writes, against any preacher or elder who either speaks against homosexuality, transgenderism, or who counsels a person to obey Christ and abandoned their homosexual transgender actions and lifestyles. This means as of January 8, 2022, it will be against the law to preach, teach, or counsel regarding God's design for marriage and sexuality. They have declared the scripture to be a myth." Here's the criminal law, and I'm quoting. Everyone who knowingly causes another person to undergo conversion therapy as they defined it, including by providing conversion therapy that to that other person is guilty of an indictable offense and liable for imprisonment for a term for not more than five years. Similarly, everyone who knowingly promotes or advertises conversion therapy is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years. Pastor writes on January 16th, 2022, faithful men across this country, he's speaking of Canada, and many in the United States, and we're one that join. will be preaching on God's design for marriage and a biblical ethic of sexuality. The folks in Canada, he writes, we will be doing so illegally, declaring to the state that there is one God and one Lord over his church and that Christ alone gets to define both a marriage and dictate what is required in the pulpit. He writes, we are honored that our American brothers will be joining us in this. MacArthur responds, I'm eager to support our Canadian brothers to preach on the biblical sexual morality on January 16th, and I invite you as a faithful pastor to do the same. Our united stand will put the Canadian and the US governments on notice that they have attacked the word of God. I agree. We're all well aware of the evil power and destructive influences of the homosexual and transgender ideology. Our government is bent on not only normalizing this perversion, but also legalizing it. And furthermore, criminalizing opposition to it. If you read what's going on, and if you're aware of it, what they want is not a toleration. They want a celebration. And they want to imprison anyone who would speak out against it. And if you're to preach the very Word of God, you will have to preach a different ideology than this. MacArthur goes on to write in his report of this, of this conversion, banning conversion, has passed in other states. He notes his own in 2012 in California. New York and New Jersey and Nevada have also sought to do these same things. In August of 2020, the Democratic Party declared that at the National Convention that it would ban harmful conversion therapy practices, and the Obama administration, which followed, appointed more than 250 of these self-described alphabet groups to serve in the government. And Biden has promised to increase that number and you already know they've done it. So we're going to stand and take a stand on the truth. I think this is important because even though some of it is in a different land for sure, and say, this can't happen here, but it is happening. It's on your border. And I think it would be helpful to take a stand on the truth. And I'm becoming an old man. Some people say I already am one. But as I age, my focus becomes increasingly towards the next generation. the little ones. And for those of us who have lived most of our life, I ask you to continue to take a stand and bear the brunt of what will come, that we might be able to carve out a window of reality and light for these little ones who will have to grow up in a different world, should the Lord tarry, than we have. And I'm going to give you some positive response, that's really what I'm going to focus on. But I will address this issue directly to some degree, it's quite a bit. But I invite you to turn to Jude, that little book before the book of Revelation, and we'll just focus on a single verse, verse three. Jude writes this, beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. I didn't say it any better than Jude. Let's pray. Father, I do pray for myself and your people. Know that we would not be contentious people. But we would certainly contend for the faith, for the truth, that we would speak the truth in love. Be merciful, be gracious, be patient, but speak the truth, and do so in loving ways, that it may be a practice of our life, and may our life be seasoned with a prayer for truth and righteousness. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Jude writes here, and if you're not familiar, he's one of Jesus' half-brothers, if you will. He's from Mary. You may be familiar also with his other brother, James. We talked about them in the gospel that Jesus didn't give of John. Jesus didn't assign his mother to these two because they weren't born again at the time of his death. But they do come to Christ. through the preaching of the gospel after his resurrection, and they do become key parts of the church. Like his brother James, who wrote the epistle of James, Judas came to believe in Christ. And notice here in our text, verse 3, he refers to his fellow believers then as the beloved. This is a great term to think of all of those that are in Christ. This is a unique relationship that they have with God through Jesus Christ, as the Father loves the Son, and so God loves those that are in Christ, thought of as the beloved, a unique relationship that we have. If you notice in the tension of his statement here, he wants to talk about the glory then of this relationship that we, the beloved in Christ have. It is a glorious relationship. It is a common unity brought about that transcends even biological connections or ethnic circumstances. This unique relationship in Christ for every tongue, every nation, every tribe. through Christ, then, are the beloved who have this glorious salvation and common unity. He wants to talk about the glorious light of Jesus Christ. I can imagine that would be a very uplifting message, but at this point, almost mid-sentence, he sees a dark cloud on the horizon. He calls the church, then, at this point, to stop and contend for the faith. This contention is a charge for the church then to take up arms. Oh, not physical arms, spiritual arms to contend for the faith. This glorious salvation that he would like to revel in and our union with God in Christ Jesus is about to be snatched away. That's the problem. Snatched away in his circumstance through false teachers. So he preaches the sermon against the apostates, and he calls for the church to stand faithful for the truth, the faith. He says it's a faith that is once delivered. Once delivered is an expression of this unchanging nature of the truth that is here. It doesn't change. It will stand. You remember, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God and his word cannot change with the times as the times might change, as the cultures might change. He cannot, otherwise he wouldn't be God. What would he change to? Something better? Something worse? He's already perfect. There is no variableness in him. There is no change. There can't be. Otherwise he wouldn't be God, would he? God isn't going to progress. He's perfect in all of his attributes. Jude then is calling the church to wage war, and I'm going to go through a number of scriptures. You can follow along. I'll address some that probably might be worth spending a little bit more time noting down to get in your mind. Our idea here is not only to be informational about what's going on, but also instructional, so I want to encourage you in the truth of Scripture. And here I invite you to turn to 2 Corinthians 10, and we'll follow that by Ephesians 6. Jude is calling the church to contend this war that you will fight. It's a war against ideologies that contend for the faith, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul describes that to the church at Corinth. This is not a new battle. This just didn't begin with this particular assault. This assault has always been going on. Oftentimes we just don't look at it and see it. It's not always codified as clearly as it is here by this charge in Canada. But in verse 3, notice here in 2 Corinthians 10, Paul talks to the church that, for though we walk in the flesh, we're not waging war according to the flesh. And I think that's important to understand. We don't run around. I'll talk about the sanctity of life, Lord willing, perhaps next week. But we're not charging anybody to go around bombing abortion clinics, okay? be clear about where our battle is and the war and how we will engage it. I remember in our gospel in John, as we're reading through, remember, at Jesus' arrest, Peter draws his sword, chops off a guy's ear, and Jesus clearly instructs him, no, that's not our charge. This is not what we're doing. He didn't even tell Padre that my followers, they're not here to take up arms and fight. This is not a physical battle. We will not accomplish it that way. There will be a physical battle. Christ will show up, and they'll all fall over dead like they did when they asked him and he just said, I am. Do you know who Jesus Christ is? Yes. He doesn't need our help in that regard, right? But we do need to wage war, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And that's what He has given, and that's what He has called us to do, and this is how we will contend for the faith. He'll go on to explain, Paul does, for our weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have, note this, divine power to destroy strongholds. I'll just interject here. You can see it, right? Here is the power of the gospel that can actually change ideas and ideologies. This is what you have. We destroy arguments, he says, and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. Take every thought captive to obey Christ. This refers to our behavior, which I'll dress, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. The church militant is a church that will stand for the truth, destroying arguments against the truth. It isn't a call to physical acts of aggression. It is the proclamation of truth and believing that it has the divine power to destroy strongholds. The what? The preaching of the gospel. That's the answer to this. We don't remain silent or passively obey those who wage war against God. You say, well, what do we do? Well, if I don't get a chance to finish this, I'll give you the tools of the trade, at least three of them. There are more, but I'll mention three so that you can hold on to them in an easy way. One is to proclaim the truth. That's all. That's primarily what we do. We preach Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of the sins, for transformation. We practice it in and of ourselves, number two. We practice the truth. It's one thing to preach it, but we're also being conformed to Christ as Christians. And finally, we pray, and we should pray. We call the church to pray. These are strong implements of war. This is the divine power to actually destroy all of this. Preach the word. Practice the Word and pray the Word. Do you believe this, church? It will overcome all of this nonsense. And it should motivate us to indeed do that and not, you know, run around writhing, acting as if we're not equipped. I wasn't sure I was going to do this, but I'd like to do this. Look at Ephesians chapter 6, just to give you the same idea using a different imagery maybe you haven't thought of before. It's good to think of the world in which we live as a conflict, and our call then to be equipped to fight the battle, if you will, the Christian soldier we might sing, Going off to war, it's a spiritual war, it's a spiritual battle. This is not a crusade of the Middle Ages. No, this is Christ going forward. Paul will conclude this wonderful letter to the church of Ephesus in chapter six with his final statement, finally. And then he'll say finally again. Preacher has a hard time quitting sometimes, I understand. But he says finally, verse 10 in chapter six, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. That that's how you're going to accomplish it. Not the strength of your flesh, strength of the Lord and his might. Recognize his what? His divine power. And for the Christian, then, it is a call to do this, verse 11, put on the whole armor of God, that you might be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. He has a lot of schemes to take you down, to take the world down. And notice this consistency here, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, that's not what's going on, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil, in the heavenly places. It is demonic. It is Satan. That's what's going on. He was ruling in the hearts of men when this parliament can gather together men in them who claim to be Christians, claim to be conservatives, whatever it might be, and not a single one of them would see anything wrong with calling the Word of God a myth. and the directive in which we are called then to teach illegal. These are schemes of the devil ultimately. So what do we do? His imagery here to the church at Ephesus, verse 13, therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you might be able to withstand in the evil day. If it's an evil day then, it's an evil day now, you always need to put on your armor. Some days we're reminded about it more clearly than others. And having done all to stand, stand firm. That's what we're doing. We're calling the church to stand firm. Notice then he takes some articles for you to then think about in this imagery. Stand therefore having your, fasten on the belt of truth. Not a myth, but an absolute truth. and having then put on the breastplate of righteousness." What righteousness? The righteousness of Christ that changes who you are. It is the righteousness by which you will stand before God. It is an imputed righteousness given to you, the imagery of this breastplate of righteousness that will protect you from all the fiery darts of the devil. And his shoes? What do you put on your feet? The gospel. that brings about peace. If you looked at our memory verse last week, remember from Romans chapter 10 verse 15, how beautiful are those feet that bring the gospel of good news. It brings peace. What peace is going to come? A peace, a reconciliation between God and man, which is the foundation for reconciliation from man to man. It is God. Take the truth. That's our offensive weapon. That's our sword, right? Take the sword of the Spirit, verse 17, which is the Word of God. Take that offensive weapon. That's the weapon we will use, the sword of truth. We'll have the breastplate of not our righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. which is a sanctifying righteousness and it will change our behavior from error to truth and put truth on your shoes. Truth shoes on your feet, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's talk about those three things that we can do, proclaim or preach, practice and pray. And I'll see if I can squeeze that in, maybe. Jude 3 talks about a faith that was once delivered. As I've mentioned, it is an unchanging gospel. It doesn't change with the seasons. There may be seasons in which people will hear it and heed it, and there may be seasons when they don't. As Paul told his protege Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, we'll preach it anyway. Reprove, rebuke. and that has to happen. Exhort with all longsuffering and patience, because there's going to come a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but teach it anyway. And this is our weapon of warfare, is just to stand on the truth and proclaim the truth. And guess what? You're going to have some fiery darts thrown at you You might think it's a person across the way. No, it isn't. It's from the devil. You'll need the shield of faith. You need the breastplate of righteousness to stand. When we preach the gospel and proclaim this great truth that was once delivered to all the saints, that we have before us right now, no updated needed by the way, no revision, it's the same. This is a powerful truth, and oftentimes those that would even follow Christ don't recognize the divine power that is the Word of God. The Apostle Paul would tell the church at Rome, it's a tough place by the way, He would tell them in 116 that I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because it is the power of salvation unto all who believe, the Jew first and also to the Greek. It is for every single person, every single man. This gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Unfortunately, in many churches, and perhaps one of the ideologies these folks had, I don't know why they would support this, but perhaps they have an idea that salvation is just something in which, well, you affirm some facts and then that gets you a ticket into heaven. You get your ticket punch and you can go there and it doesn't really affect any of your life. You go about your life living with the ideologies of men and functioning in any way you wish. Well, you have no idea what salvation is, if that's your concept. You're ignorant in that regard. may not have been taught, and many churches don't teach the power of God unto salvation. Can I tell you what salvation is and what the final result is? You can read it in Romans 8. The final result is everyone that He justifies Everyone that he declares righteous in salvation will be glorified. It skips right over the idea of sanctification that we talk about within this life that is conforming more to the image of Christ. You know why? Because in God's eyes, when you're saved, you are glorified in that sense, right? It will come about. You'll be perfect in Christ. The end goal is already there and conformed. It is a great power. to conform you into the image of the Son. This faith, this gospel, is not a static, lifeless creed. It is not just an expression and an affirmation of certain content. It is a dynamic expression of the truth of God, which will have an effect on those who truly believe. It is the power of Christ to transform the believer. Grace is not an empty promise, but it is a powerful, life-changing, life-altering work of God in the life of the believer where He regenerates him through the power of the Holy Spirit, Titus chapter 3. It is through this proclamation then of this truth that sinners will come to faith in Christ. They're not going to come to faith in Christ because we lay out a bunch of how-tos, we lay out a bunch of facts about this and that. Nothing wrong with how-tos, nothing wrong with facts, but I could tell you this, that the proclamation simply of Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of sin. It is the Holy Spirit will work in dynamically in the heart of the unbeliever to wake them up to where they can actually see and savor that truth. It is the work of God in the heart of the unbeliever to bring them to life. It is a life-altering mindset. It not only changes your attitude, it changes your affections and ultimately your actions. Now I have to admit when I first came to Christ, incidentally I'm just thinking about it, I'll never forget another personal moment that I had. You know, I heard the gospel. It was explained to me. It was actually written down in a little booklet. It had a lot of scriptures with it. It told me what I needed to do to get saved. Repent and believe and trust. And it had a little formulaic prayer for me to pray. And I think I've told a lot of you this, but I like to repeat myself. Sorry. I prayed that prayer a dozen times. I couldn't tell if it worked or not. I wanted it to work. I didn't want to go to hell. I didn't want to be judged for my sin, and here I heard of a Christ that would save me. But I wasn't knowledgeable about this. I could see the Scriptures, and there was something compelling me to want to confess my sin, and I did in the simplest way I could. I had a hard time with that for a while, trying to figure that out. How does this work? Did I do it right? Did I get the words right? And then one day I'm sitting there talking to my father who is also recently converted. We're sitting there eating crackers with jelly and peanut butter late at night. He always liked a late at night snack and so do I. And he said, Bud, there's something different about us. He didn't know what it was either. I said, you're right. I want something different. I want Christ. Even in our babe-like ignorance of this truth, you know, it would unfold in years as I grew in grace and the knowledge of the Lord and figure out to a greater degree, still haven't accomplished it, what is going on here. There was something that we knew. There was something transformational. For him as a 35-year-old man, he went from darkness to light. He had two different lives, one before coming to Christ and one after. Yeah, he took time to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, and he was continuing growing. And same with me as a teenage boy. But there's something uniquely different. That's what I'm saying experientially. It isn't just, oh, okay, you affirm these facts. It is a life-changing event that is salvation. It changes the very nature of who you are. We have time. Let's walk through Ephesians. I will not finish this, but there is always next week. Let's look at Ephesians, because I'd rather just share with you the text of the Scripture than finish a homily, quite frankly. Salvation changes everything. That's what we're saying. Paul would tell the church at Corinth, if you remember, right, that if anyone is in Christ, He's a what? New creation, right? The old has passed away. All has become new. By the way, it goes on to say all of this is from God. That's what we're preaching to. This is what God does. It isn't just an all of a sudden reform of the flesh. I want to stop doing this and start doing that. That's not our conversion therapy. Our conversion therapy is simply this. We preach Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of sin. He will change the very hardened nature of the person. All things will become new. They all will be passed away. It doesn't mean they won't sit there and struggle and wrestle with whatever they might have been involved with, for sure. And if you dig some—this is the danger of sin—if you dig some deep roots in sin, you'll have a hard time getting off that track. And you'll constantly slide over there. But I assure you this, you'll want to stay there. There'll be something in your heart that constantly says, oh, forgive me. I repent. I don't even know why you would forgive me. You confess and you pray that God would and you remember, oh yeah, He's faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. And you're just absolutely for it again. You're miserable about your own condition in that state, but you don't want to stay in that state. You are miserable. You don't create different ideas and terminologies then to somehow make this state of sinfulness to be okay. You don't go redefine all this stuff. It is God who does this. And, by the way, Paul would also say in 2 Corinthians 5, 18, the following verse, he says, not only all this is from God, but then he has given us, that is to the church, this ministry of reconciliation. This ministry of conversion therapy, if you want to put it that way. We have, as the church, we have the ministry of reconciliation. We can really change, truly, the very minds of men. Through how? The proclamation of the gospel. All of this is from God. He has given us this ministry. And He, through the Holy Spirit, is the one who will bring to life those that do not have a regenerate mind. This is why I asked you to turn to Ephesians, just to remind us from the teaching of the doctrine. In chapter 2, familiar passage, it does describe the default stance of all men. This is how we come into the world, not as a neutral slate. We come in dead spiritually. Verse 1 of chapter 2, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived." How? In the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. This is the default condition in which we all worked. It is, notice he's again emphasizing this spiritual battle, the demonic power Working then in the sons of disobedience, sons of disobedience as opposed to what? Sons of obedience, those that are obedient to Christ and those that are disobedient to Christ. There's really only two types of people, regenerate and unregenerate, obedient and disobedient. Again, when we talk about obedience, we're not talking about perfection, we're talking about a direction of their life. That's the Spirit that's working. We were all there and by nature children of wrath. What do you mean children of wrath? That is God's wrath is on display on those that are disobedient to His law. That's it. Of course. His wrath is being revealed, Paul would say in Romans, even now. How? He allowed this bill to pass in Canada. It is a judgment of God. You know what? If you want to be disobedient to God and His law and His Word, if you want to die in your sin, you can. He'll give it to you. He'll let you to do it. He will allow you. And furthermore, this will not only harm you, it will bury you deep But there is a beautiful response to this condition, and that is called the gospel that we preach. God, verse 4, but God, that changes everything. That's where the focus is. It's God being rich in His mercy because of His great love with which He loved us. By the way, every time I see the word love, I think about, among other things, grace and mercy, right? The giving and the not giving, the love with which He loved us. In where we were dead in our trespasses and sins, He made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. That's God's unmerited favor is grace. He makes you alive so you're once dead, now you're alive with Christ, identified with Him. That's my identity. So what do you identify as? A Christian. That's what I identify. He raised us up with Him, seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ so that the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. You want to know why you're saved? Because it glorifies God. That's why. It's all God's work. It glorifies Him. That's what salvation is about. For by grace you have been saved through faith. It's not of your own doing. it is the gift of God lest anyone boast. It's not a result of works that you might do. You would boast about that. Instead, notice verse 10, we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God had prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." That is, there is now a newness of life for those that are alive in Christ, no longer dead in trespasses and sins, no longer walking according to the course of this world, no longer in alliance with the sons of disobedience, right? That's how we did walk. Now we walk differently. We walked as God has prepared us, that is, we live in that light. Canada has just made it illegal to engage in any type of this proclamation to where it will change the very life of those who come to Christ. The proclamation of the gospel is a supernatural conversion therapy. It isn't external. It isn't just setting up some guides and guidelines and changing external actions and behavior. It is supernatural. It is the power of God unto salvation. It changes the very heart and nature of the person. He will not be subdued by men, even at the highest level. Preach the gospel. Preach Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of sins. We don't run around trying to necessarily focus on actions of what disobedient people do. We preach Christ and He'll change the heart. and make them alive and have a new disposition of heart, a change of mind. I'll finish with one more because you should walk away with this. It's just a confirmation of it, and that's 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9. Perhaps you've thought of this passage as well as we brought this up, and we'll finish on this note. This is a gospel issue that they're telling us not to preach because the gospel inherent in it changes the very nature of those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. It changes their heart. It changes their disposition. It changes their desire. It is supernatural conversion therapy, if you will. Paul will explain to the church at Corinth. Let's just, for the sake of time, drop down to verse 9 of chapter 6. He says, don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? That's a good rhetorical question. We know that, right? The unrighteous are not going to inherit the kingdom of God. And then he has to repeat it to the church of Corinth, because they had a lot of issues going on. Clearly they weren't a completely regenerate church, they had a lot of unbelievers among them, and so he's preaching. Don't be deceived then. Don't make excuses for your unrighteousness, if you will. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor men who practice homosexuality. nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." You see why it's a gospel issue? This is salvation. Their circumstance demonstrates they need the gospel. I know it might be hard to talk to some. In that situation, I remember speaking to some fellow who's a homosexual, and he really got mad at what I said. It's hard to confront, I know. It'd be easier just to say, well, you walked an aisle when you were a kid, signed a card, so you're going. Your ticket's punched. Just do whatever you want. That's not helpful. leading them to the path of death. We really love them to preach the gospel, Christ, Him crucified for the forgiveness of sin. Christ will take care of these sins and the rest of what's going on in their heart. He'll change them. We preach the gospel. We can't confirm people that are going to judgment and just let them go without warning, The bridge is out. Oh, they don't care. They're going just fine. My car runs really fast. I know, but you're going over the cliff. Oh, I don't see one. Not yet. It's there. The beautiful thing is, verse 11, note here, and such were some of you. This is past tense. Do you understand this is what the gospel does? This is what we preach. It changes the very character of the person, right? It doesn't bring them out to absolute perfection in time, in this time. You're still going to struggle with things. We understand that. The difference is there's somebody that is alive who wants to confess constantly their sin and come to Christ. They were, that is, this was the pattern of their life. This is how they were characterized. That's how they were. But something's changed, and he explains it here in verse 11, you were washed. What a beautiful imagery. You're filthy, and now you're washed. You were sanctified, that is set apart, made holy by God. Justified, that means declared righteous by God. What a great declaration. Who's gonna say anything about God's declaration? Is there any higher court you can go to? No, that's it. in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God. Beloved, I bring this up today really and to stand with those that are preaching and who may suffer the consequences because this is a gospel issue. And we as the church ought to be reminded how powerful it is. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Now contend for the faith. Let's pray. Father, I do pray that we would be strong in the power of your might, not ours, that we would trust you. As grievous as some of this may be to those that have first heard this now, I pray it also be encouraging because we have now another talking point to bring up the true answer, and that is Jesus Christ our Lord. And perhaps our faith in Christ will be increased as we reflect on the power of the gospel in our own heart and recognize what you can do in the hearts of others. Thank you for this ministry of reconciliation. and may we always preach the word in season and out of season. I pray in Christ's name, amen. Beloved, you may take a moment to think on these things. Take a moment privately where you're at now. For now, especially for my brothers in Canada as they preach the word today, I pray it'll go forth. I pray there'll be a great salvation come about in that land. Use your word to bring about life in the life of many. I pray in our land too that the hearing of this word will come faith, transformative faith, May your light shine and may we glorify your name. In Christ's name I pray, amen. Let's all stand and turn to number 22 in our hymnals. We will glorify number 22. Blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the one seated at the throne of the Lamb. We will glorify the King of Peace We will glorify the Lamb Let's go ahead and bow our heads and we'll be dismissed. Pray. Lord, your psalmist has written these words. Oh, you who love the Lord, hate evil. He preserves the lives of his saints. He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, oh, you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name. Amen and amen. You're dismissed. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. th th Thank you. Okay. Okay. Okay.