Please take your Bible and open to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 We're gonna start reading here in verse 5, okay 2nd Corinthians 4 and verse 5 Paul has some pertinent information for us today truths of God are eternal, apply to all ages. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 5, Paul wrote, for we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants, for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. Last Sunday, we saw that salvation is present, it's past, it's present, and it's future. We live in all these time frames. We understand, however, that God does not, and so time is not a problem for God to cross. He doesn't have that limitation upon him. But we have been saved in the past. Nothing is going to change that. We're always going to be saved. We're saved in the present. Nothing that we do in the present is going to dislodge that. And we're also saved for eternity from henceforth and forever and forever. And there's nothing in the past or the present or that was going to come in this future earthly life that we live that's going to change that either. So once saved, always saved, we believe that, we preach that, we hold to it, the Bible teaches it, and we are grateful for it. But as a child of God, we need a firm grip on both realities, that is, the reality that we're living in the present, we can't, of course, go back to the past and live, but we are living in the present, and we are headed for the future. We need a firm grip on both of those realities. One of the problems, and I've been talking about the effect that the positive mental attitude movement has had on Christianity, and I think one of the fallacies of the positive mental attitude movement is that it infiltrated the gospel and puts an unbalanced emphasis on the present. You say, well, what's wrong with that? Well, you know, I can't say there's anything terribly wrong with that, except that when we focus on the present, generally, we basically associate that with the flesh, and we associate the present with the physical side of life. When we think about the present, we don't necessarily think about the spiritual aspect of our lives, but we think about the physical aspect of our lives, and that's where the positive mental attitude puts a lot of their focus. I was reading a little bit of this week on Millennials and there was a guy wrote a very, made a very astute observation about Millennials. And he made the observation that Millennials are always talking about the balance between their jobs and life. Like, okay, we have our jobs, and that's the reality, and we need to deal with our jobs, and we need our jobs. We have to have income. We have to have to live. I mean, they have to live. They understand that principle, you know. They've not gone totally socialistic at this particular point. And so, but they say, here's our job life, and then here's our life. You know, and so to them, what they're looking for is an employer to be flexible. Okay? So what that means is that, okay, we want to get a job where our employer will allow us to work basically when we want to work. And when we don't want to work and we want to live life and experience life, we don't want our jobs to interfere with our real life. And so they make this dichotomy here, and they're very interested in what they call a balance. I'm not sure what that means, but a balance between their job and between their lives. And basically, a millennial says, I want to experience all that I can experience of life. I am interested in the here and now. I want to grab hold of life. I want to get all the gusto out of life that I can get. And that's it. That's their thinking. thinking revolves around experiences now. They don't think so much about the future. Now, the problem with that, and I don't know necessarily that they realize it or not, they probably don't, but when you focus on the present, and you're ignoring that there is a real Eternal future out there Morality takes a hit Morality takes a hit Our morality is undergirded by the Christian principle in the Christian teaching that you know what I There is an eternal future and in that future we're going to face consequences of the way that we have lived in the here and now. And all those experiences that you're wanting and all those experiences of life that you're gathering together, you're going to have to answer for them before a holy God who is real and who you're going to have to face in the future. But they're not concerned about that. They're concerned about the here and now. And therefore, that lack of future discernment has undergirded the reality that they have a morality for which they're going to have to answer for. Studies show that baby boomers use principled moral reasoning 42% of the time. And I thought that was, whoa, that's low. Forty-two percent of the time when they make a decision, they use principled moral reasoning. And then I looked at the Gen Xers, and the Gen Xers use principled moral reasoning only 37 percent of the time. And then I looked at a study that came right after that on millennials, which was several years ago, and they said at that particular time that millennials used moral principle more reasoning 31% of the time and then I looked at the most recent survey that was done by Weber and Elm And they found that the Millennials used a principle more reasoning less than 25% of the time Less than 25% of time they Have any basis moral basis for their decisions I All that matters to them is, will this make me happy? Will this fulfill me? Will this feel good? You know? Is this going to please my flesh? Is this going to promote me? Is this going to satisfy me? Is this going to make me comfortable? Is this going to make me laugh? Am I going to have fun? That's their reasoning. That's the basis of their decisions right now. But because we as Christians believe in a future judgment, it serves as a baseline for the reality that we need to make good moral decisions. We're going to stand before God and we're going to answer for our lives in the here and now. For the Christian, the present is not our only consideration. In light of the fact that we are moving to the present and to the future of eternity, how then should we see ourselves? How then should we think about ourselves? Or to the point is, how should we refer to ourselves? And we get to this discussion, well, you need to see yourself as a sinner or you need to see yourself as a saint. So which one is going to take precedence? Are you going to see yourself as a sinner, or are you going to see yourself as a saint? How are you going to judge? What is the biblical perspective of the perception that you should have of yourself? You know, the Bible tells us, and you can turn there. Let's go there, as a matter of fact, and you can go to 1 Timothy 1. This will serve as kind of the base point for the first point. And so in 1 Timothy 1, Paul is presenting a view of himself This is not going to surprise you. You've heard this before. But nonetheless, this is Paul looking at himself, and he's doing some introspection here. He comes to a conclusion. Now, I understand that all of this, of course, is under the auspices of the work of the Holy Spirit. But in 1 Timothy 1, Paul says in verse 15 an interesting statement. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all. And I think if you're looking at the King James Version, it says that he is the chief of sinners. Pardon me. Now, when I read that, I have to tell you that, you know, as a young Christian, I found that rather disturbing because my view of the Apostle Paul was not a chief of sinners. My view of Paul was he was a great man of God. I mean, you know, I had read the letters that he wrote, and if anyone could be called a saint, I think Paul would be called a saint. But that's not how Paul is referring to himself in this particular passage of scripture. I see Paul as a godly man. I see Paul as a righteous man who faithfully served God. But I read this statement, and all of a sudden, all of that is put into check, and he makes this self-depreciating statement, I am among the sinners. I am foremost, or I am chief, or I am first of all, or I am greatest of all the sinners that there are. That's how Paul said, I see myself. Paul even referred to himself at one time as as being the least of the Apostles and even in another point He said he was least of those who were God's chosen people this man this man who said who said we're new creations in Christ this same man who said that we've been taken out of the dominion of darkness and brought into the minion of light this same man who said that we are in Christ says I am chief of Sinners so are we new creations or not? Have we been taken out of the dominion of darkness and brought to the dominion of light or not? Was Paul having an identity crisis here? Was he forgetting something here? Was he having a moment of low self-esteem? Did Paul have some hatred in here? Did he need to be pumped up and built up, you know? Is this self-hate language that he's talking about here? He's riding under the influence of the Holy Spirit. So what's going on? Well, we all have a past, and many people say that Paul was looking at his past, and I think that's been involved here, no doubt about that. But here's the thing about being in Christ. Even though we may not be able to forget the past, and we can't. I know there's, you know, you hear that phrase, you know, to forget the past, forgive and forget. But we can't do that as human beings. We can forgive, praise God for that, but we really can't forget the past And when Paul, you said, well, Paul said we're to forget what lies behind. Paul said that we're to forget the past. And there's a sense in which, yes, that is true. But Paul didn't mean that we lose a consciousness of what we've done. That's not what Paul said when he said, forget those things that are behind. He didn't say, oh, all of a sudden, you become amnesic about everything that's behind you. No, that's not what happens. You don't. You know? Paul said this, Paul said, if you're still there in 1 Corinthians, you can look at verse 13 and notice what Paul remembered. Paul said, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor, Paul said, I haven't forgotten. I am very well aware of my past, but his past did not control him. He did not live under guilt and shame. The future he had in Christ is what controlled Paul. You say, well, why was Paul remembering the past? Why was Paul remembering that he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor? Why didn't Paul just leave all that and not reveal any of that stuff about his life? What's the purpose of remembering the past? The purpose of remembering the past is this. Humility and grace and meekness. We need a constant memory of how weak we are. We don't need to be carried away with ourselves. We need to know that we could fall at any second. Paul was aware of that. He was aware of that, and he was bringing it up. He was making an observation of his own possible weaknesses. Why? Because he said, when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. That's when I'm leaning on the Lord. Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 10, I am well content with weaknesses and insults and distresses and persecutions and difficulties for Christ's sake. When I am weak, Then I am strong It's our it's our it's our awareness of the fact that we could fall that we are sinners That reminds us we need to depend on Christ and we need to be depending upon him at all times Dietrich Bonhoeffer Old German pastor killed by Hitler Toward the end of the war He made an observation I think that is worthy of our attention tonight. He made the point that if we are viewing our sin as smaller or less offensive than the sins of someone around us, we are failing to truly grasp our terrible sinful condition. If we look at the sins of other people and we consider them to be worse than ours, we lack humility. That's what Paul was writing about. That's why he was bringing these things up. We are putting ourselves above them. Paul says, I am not putting myself above anybody. I am the chief of sinners. It worked humility in him. It drew him to the Lord. It made him dependent upon the Lord. What Paul was saying was legally correct. He was a sinner even though he was saved. Yes John said if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us first John chapter 1 and verse 8 We need to be alert to the danger We need to be alert to the danger of our condition and our need to constantly appeal to the work of the Holy Spirit But you say wait a minute preacher then the Bible say we're Saints and It does, time and time again. It reminds us that we are saints. And just for a second, I want you to review with me what it means to be a saint. What does it mean to be a saint? When you use the word saint, what does that mean? Well, it means to be what? Set apart. The word means to be a holy one. And the idea, of course, is that we are set apart for God's use. Unfortunately, today, a lot of people think, oh, you're a saint, you must be sinless. No, no, absolutely not. Being a saint has no idea whatsoever connected with it that you have reached some plateau where you're not going to sin again. That is not what a saint is in the Bible. You know, you say what about the Catholics they have Saints among themselves Yes, they have Saints among themselves the way you become a saint in the Catholic religion Is it somehow another you do something miraculous? If it can be proven that you've done a miracle or you've done something unusual Humanly impossible then you can be applied by somebody else for sainthood But the way you become a saint of the Bible is you be saved You trust Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. And being called a saint is something that God calls you for the purpose of fulfilling His will in your life. You are a saint. You're set apart for God to use in His service as He wills it. That's what a saint is. A saint is someone who is a citizen of the kingdom of God. You're no longer of this world. You don't belong to this world. This world doesn't have dominion over you. You don't have anything in common with this world. You don't have anything in common with the values of this world. The way you handle your money is different than the way this world handles their money. Your morals are not of this world. What you watch on TV, where you go, what you think, is all under dominion of the reality that you are a saint. That is what God has called you. You are being used for his purposes. The way you think, the attitudes that you have, the things that you say, come and are founded on the kingdom book, which we call the Bible. Now, it's not a sin to call yourself a saint. You're perfectly biblical in doing that. It may be a little uncomfortable because some of the false connotations that are made with being called a saint, but at the same time it can be one of the greatest sources of encouragement that you have to your faith and acting like God wants you to act. So, what are we? Sinners or are we saints? Well, obviously by this point you figured out we're both. Okay? We're both. I like to think of myself as a redeemed sinner. The truth of the matter is that we were lost, we were undone, we were on the road to an eternal Hell because of our Adamic inheritance. But by the grace of God He convicted us of our sinfulness and our sinful state and He showed us that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and that His righteousness would be placed into our account. That Christ's death was enough to satisfy His wrath against us and to buy us freedom from our Adamic sinful inheritance, okay? We understand that. We are eternally saved through the blood of Jesus Christ, but we're still in this body and we're still subject to sin. There's the balance. And I know that doesn't fit well with the positive mental attitude people and their undercurrent that says, well, y'all, you just need to think about yourself as only being good. You're a saint, that's all you need to think about. But that's an unbalanced view, and it's going to cause you some problems. You say, well, what about that verse over there in Proverbs? Well, again, we need to kind of hit on that verse in Proverbs there, you know. We become what we think, and that's a big staple in the pause of mental attitude movement and it has infiltrated Christianity today. Psychologists tell us you become what you think, you know. You have the power to be what you want to be. All you got to do is think it, you know. And it's true that in Philippians chapter 4, 8 we're told to think upon those things which are genuine, which are which are good and right and moral and upstanding and those things that have value to them. We ought to think about those things. And they do impact our lives. And they should impact our lives. But the idea is that you can be transformed. No, you cannot be transformed. The idea of the positive mental attitude movement is that you can transform yourself by the power of your mind. That is the basis from which they come. That is unbiblical. Cannot be done. You become a new creation in Christ. That's the only way you become a new creation. It's through faith in Jesus Christ. And I know we hear, all of us have centered the preaching of men who have told us, you know, who have made us feel good about what we could accomplish and made us feel good about where we can set our minds to, you know, and reach for the moon and there's nothing you can't do that you set your mind to, you know. And I've been under the influence of that preaching and it really does excite the flesh, you know, and it makes me think that I can accomplish great things and so forth and so on. But when you really get down to it, basically what they're talking about is some kind of self-glory, self-promotion that is not biblical. In 1902, James Allen wrote a book, as a man thinketh, in 1902. And it became one of the most popular books on the market. And it remained at number one best sellers list for a long time. And you can find the book still being published today. Over 100 years later, it's still a popular book today. But Mr. Allen was engaged in a lot of Buddhism. and transcendentalism and other eastern religious concepts formed his thinking. It's ironic that he named the book, As a Man Thinketh, and took it obviously from Proverbs 23.7. But like a lot of things that people use, they're taken out of context. And when you look at Proverbs 23 and verse 7, you find there that the writer is warning us. It's a warning against deceptive motives in our hearts. We may the idea in that context is that you may do something very very kind and you maybe do something very very Generous and you may do something that looks really really good, but in your heart you have an ulterior motive That's what that verse is about Deceptive motives Ulterior motives And the fact of the matter is that most of today's best-selling Christian books and best-selling Christian authors are popular because they take a lot of verses out of context. And they want to make Christians feel good about being themselves. A lot of Christian preachers are no different than a lot of motivational speakers that you hear today. And anything that makes people feel good about their ability to do something or to accomplish something or to be something or to be prosperous or successful or important is going to sell like hotcakes. And every religion on the face of the earth knows that there's something wrong. Every religion on the face of the earth knows that things are not right. And every religion on the face of the earth is going to prescribe something to try to make things right. They're going to try to prescribe a solution to what they see as the problem. And if you really look at all of these false religions on the face of the earth, and you really look at all that's presented in other Motivational concepts they're all going to have one thing in common and that the problem is intellectual and that you need to find the secret One of the most popular Christian books lately that has been written has been titled the secret the secret Well that is indicative of modern Christianity's thinking today and that you've got to discover a new way of thinking. You've got to discover new knowledge. If you don't have this new knowledge and you don't have this secret, then you won't be able to have the enlightenment that you need or the power that you need to change things. Beloved, the Bible says that your problem is not a lack of intelligence or intellectual, it is moral. You have created to be the moral image of God. We have fallen from that which God created us to be. We have sinned against God. That is our problem. That is our problem. We are helpless, hopeless to change it. We are foul and we are wretched and we cannot save ourselves. And anybody that comes along and says you can look within yourself and you have the power to change is lying to you. The power to change only comes from Jesus Christ who changes us. Not that we change anything about us. We don't have it within us to change anything. Our hope is external. Our hope is in God's promises in Christ Jesus. Look again at our text. Go back to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, let me remind you again of what saith the scriptures. Listen carefully to what Paul said in verse five. For we preach not, we do not preach ourselves. We do not preach ourselves, folks. Isn't this opposite of almost everything you hear in culture and society? We do not preach ourselves. But Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God." Not the glory of self. In the face of Christ. And Paul makes this astounding assessment, he says in verse 7, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. Totally different. The difference between feeling good about yourself and feeling good about what God has done for you is that when you feel good about yourself, you operate in your own power and you operate independently of God. But when you feel good about what God has done for you through Jesus Christ, then you realize your necessity to depend completely upon the Father and you operate within his power. And so much more is accomplished. If you really need a pick-me-up, you say, I'm feeling low about myself. You really need a pick-me-up? Go to the cross. See what God did for you. See how much God loved you at the cross. See what the payment was for you at the cross. You'll get the pick-me-up that you need right there at the foot of the cross. Well, thank you tonight. I appreciate you being here in God's house this evening so very much.