On many liquid medicine bottles is the following instructions: "Shake well before using since some of the key ingredients may have settled to the bottom."  There is a little known and seldom welcomed procedure that our heavenly Father employs in child-training His children for maximum influence in His kingdom. I call it the Shake Well Procedure. The classic example of this process is found in the life of the disciple of Jesus known as Simon Peter.

In our text, Simon Peter is made to understand the fact that he is about to be severely shaken by an experience with Satan himself. He is encouraged in this revelation by the fact that the Lord Jesus Himself will take an active part in his trial. In essence, Jesus was saying to Peter, "I am going to allow you to be shaken really hard, all because I intend to use you greatly."

I. The Wicked Designs of Satan

A. Expose the Believer's Faults -- Luke 22:31b

"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,"

Only Luke tells us about Satan’s desire to have you that he may sift you like wheat. Notice how Jesus addresses Peter:  “Behold!” exclamation point, surprise, shock, warning - Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.  Demand is a very strong word in the Greek and only appears here in the whole New Testament.  The word is “exetesato", a compound form meaning a demand to take you out. The longer verb in this word means "to demand to obtain by asking permission." This is the very term we use in English for a boy dating a girl.  We say, "He took her out."  So, Satan has asked God for permission to "have a date" with you!  He wants to take us out - to expose our faults, to prove we're false professors. He wants to take us out to embarrass our Savior and hinder His cause. He wants to take us out of service - to take us out of life. He has come only to kill, steal, and destroy.

B. Eclipse the Believer's Faith -- Luke 22:32b. -- "...but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail..."

The word translated "fail" is the Greek word "ekleipo."  We get our English word "eclipse" from this Greek word.  A Christian's faith may conceivably be brought by Satan into partial eclipse, but never into total eclipse!!  And Jesus is praying that Peter's faith be not "eclipsed."

On May 30, 1984, the mid-Southern United States experienced a rare partial solar eclipse. The eclipse lasted from approximately 10 a. m. to approximately 1PM, reaching maximum coverage at 11:15 a. m. when 88.6 percent of the sun's surface was obscured.  Two things were very evident in this partial eclipse.  One was that the atmosphere grew noticeably darker; the other was that the temperature dropped from 5 to 7 degrees.  This is what happens spiritually when a believer's faith is in partial eclipse.  His life is noticeably darker spiritually, and his spiritual "temperature" drops. When a Christian deliberately chooses to honor the flesh, he is voting against the prayer of Jesus and for the prayer of Satan. But as usual, "Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound." So Satan is actually God's "errand boy," or God's agent of accomplishment!  He sifts the saints, separating the chaff from the wheat and polishing and purifying the grain for God's storage (Matt. 3:12) and for God's service (John 12:24).

II. The Wrong Dependence of the Saint

A. The Deceitful Path of Self-confidence -- Luke 22:31a, 33; Mt 26:33, 35

Jesus speaks to His most prominent disciple, Peter, but He does not address him by the name Jesus gave him.  He does not say "Peter," but "Simon" - and He repeats the name -- Simon, Simon!  This repetitious use of Simon is in itself peculiar.  "Simon" is the disciple's pre-Christian name.  Jesus gave him the new name, "Peter."  Then why does He here call him "Simon"?  Jesus' use of this name is a serious warning to Peter that he is about to act extremely in the flesh.  He is going to act as if he had never come to Christ!

God often uses the shake well before using of Satan as a destroying work to eliminate misguided self?confidence.  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1: 8, 9:... "we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead." In chapter 3:5, he writes: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves but our sufficiency is from God." In chapter 4:7: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us."  The expression "earthen vessels" literally means "baked clay."  In other words, we live in clay pots ? frail and fragile. Yet in spite of our frailty, we frequently rely upon our own abilities.

There was a young lady that came to Will Rogers, the famous American humorist, and said, "Mr. Rogers, I have a problem with pride." "How's that?", asked Will. To which she replied, "Well, every morning after I have gotten dressed, I look at myself in the mirror and I can't help but say out loud, `You are absolutely beautiful.'  Will Rogers said, "Honey, that ain't pride, that is a mistake!"

Our self?confidence is not only misguided, it is a mistake.

B. The Downward Path of Self-confidence

1. The Smugness of Peter's Declarations

(a) He thought he knew more than Jesus - (no need to pray for me - I got this!)

(b) He thought he was too strong to fail - (others may bail out on you, Lord, but not me!)

(c) He thought he was superior to and stronger than the other disciples - Notice him as he is:

c1. Boasting instead of trembling -- 22:33

c2. Sleeping instead of praying -- 22:45

c3. Fighting instead of submitting -- 22:50

c4. Lingering behind instead of following closely -- 22:54

c5. Keeping company with Christ's enemies -- 22:55

c6. Denying Christ instead of confessing Him -- 22:57

2. The Sinfulness of Peter's Denials

Peter told four lies - (1) denied being with Jesus - Mt 26:69-70 - (2) denied being his disciple - Jn. 18:17, 25- (3) Denied even knowing Jesus - Mt. 26:72, 74 - (4) denied even understanding the accusation - Mk 14:68

III. The Winnowing Disciplines of the Savior

A. The Rough Disciplines of the Winnowing Process

Luke 22:31, "Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat."

Sifting is an agricultural term that refers to the savage process of separating the husk of the wheat from the grain. The wheat was crushed under foot, then it was agitated, or thrown into the air. The chaff, or husk, was blown away by the wind and all that was left behind was the good grain. Satan wants to prove that Peter and all other disciples are just worthless chaff. Satan wanted to tear the heart of Jesus by proving that there was no reality to the faith of the disciples. Satan believed that he could crush them, sift them and that nothing would be left but a broken heart and years of time wasted on His professed followers. He had already done this with Judas! He believed that he could do it to the rest.

But Satan always over extends, and finally outwits, himself!  Satan sifts us in order either to prove that we are all chaff, or to have the good grain for himself.  But he can accomplish neither! As a result he gets chaff blown in his face and Jesus gets disciples who are better equipped for ministry in the Family Firm of Almighty and Sons.

1. Jesus permits the devil's sifting -- 22:31
2. Jesus prays for us -- 22:32a
3. Jesus protects us -- 22:32b

B. The Remedial Designs of Jesus' Discipline

1. Remove the chaff from our lives so we are more attractive and useful to Him

Our Heavenly Father has committed Himself to purge away our sins, to brighten and increase our graces, to wean us from the world, and to prepare and preserve us for His heavenly kingdom. Thus even severe sifting or shaking by the devil is covenant mercies. Even in the midst of the most severe hardships, heartaches, and heavy shaking, we can rest assured that God is for us.  Being for us means that He has committed Himself, in covenant mercy, to develop our character into the image of His Son, and then to display us, for His glory, before all intelligent beings in the universe!  Having made such a covenant commitment, we may rest assured that He will not spare any means necessary in order to accomplish His design, even if it is extremely painful.

2. Ready us for greater service. The severe shaking is not punishment for our sins but child-training for greater usefulness

a. Shaking reveals us -- What's in the well comes up in the bucket.

b. Shaking refines us -- Exposes areas of darkness in our lives. He lets us fail in order to reveal that what were trusting in was not strong enough to supports in the future storms of life.

c. Shaking reinforces us -- (makes us stronger and more useful)

d. Shaking reassures us -- (In spite of the devil's accusations, we are shown to be wheat -- real believers and not chaff or believers who professed Christ but didn't possess His life.)

C. The Restored and Refined Disciple

Was there a future for Simon Peter after such a fall? Was his destiny to be a follower of Christ and a fisher of men beyond recovery? Having resigned, could he be – re-signed? How could he be restored to a sense of spiritual wholeness, much less usefulness and destiny-fulfillment in the kingdom of God?

Many of us would find ourselves identifying with Peter over our own sense of spiritual faltering and falling, of failing to confess Christ in the presence of His enemies. Oh, at one time or other, we have made good confessions, committed to firm resolutions of faithfulness, received prophetic words about our destiny, and then have defected, denied, and disbelieved all of the above. We may have not fallen into what others would call “gross sins”, but we have lost our passion for Christ, moved into spiritual coldness and barrenness, and now feel that we will never find again, much less, fulfill our destinies in the kingdom of God. How often have we done the very thing we said that we would not do in terms of spiritual commitment and destiny fulfillment?

1. Restoration Involves Encountering the Risen Christ for Personal Restoration

Mark 16:7, "But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you."

In John 21:15-17, Jesus takes special time with Peter. And when He speaks to him it is in Terms of His Future Destiny and not His Past History!

a. Feed My Sheep – Three times Jesus issues to Peter the re-assigning commission that would overwrite his three fold denial and desertion of Christ.

b. Follow me – Two times Jesus tells Peter to follow Him irrespective of another person’s assignment. (John 21:19, 22)

Pay close attention!! When God views us in Christ, destiny is the standard, not past history! Destiny keeps us forward focused and not past possessed. When God speaks to me as a King's Kid it's always in terms of my future destiny and not my sinful past!

Fulfilling your Destiny is more about Knowing a Person than Discovering a Plan!

Jesus didn’t ask, “Do you work for me, give for me, go for me, speak for me, war for me, witness for me – but, “DO YOU LOVE ME?”

Destiny is not knowing all the details of the will of God for your life, but knowing the heart of God’s love and knowing some accurate things about God’s ultimate purpose for our lives so that we can begin in the immediate a faith-filled and faithful journey of glorifying God and enjoying the trip!

2. Restoration Involves Experiencing the Baptism of the Holy Spirit for Powerful Ministry - Acts 2

For 53 days after his denial of Jesus, Peter is basically silent and is waiting and worshipping in the upper room. But on the day of Pentecost the Other Jesus without a body - Holy Spirit falls upon the 120, including Peter, in the Upper Room and they become Spirit-filled and Spirit-spilled. They staggered out into the streets and the crowds accused them of being drunk with wine. Then Peter stood up and boldly and brilliantly preached and 3000 men were saved. He had been shaken, sifted, and now Spirit-filled, he would be mightily used of God!

Question? Are you being shaken? Is the enemy is telling you that you not only failed, but that you are a failure? Have you considered quitting it all because you cannot seem to find the stop button for all the painful shaking that is going on in your life? Could the shaking be, not because of past failures, but because of God's intended future usefulness to Him?

One final word of warning.  God Himself will cause the final sifting of the unrighteous from the righteous.  Matt 3:12: "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Today the devil is allowed to sow his tares among the wheat (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43), so many unbelievers are ranked among the wheat.  But, at the end of the age, the tares will be separated from the wheat, and the unsaved will be cast into a furnace of fire where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth (cf. Matt. 3:12).  In that day of judgment, the lost "shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind" (Isa. 17:13).  Then it will be clearly seen that "the ungodly are not like the godly, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away" (Psalm

Growing up, when one of our purported "friends" proved their disloyalty by saying one thing and doing another, we called them "two-faced." By this we meant they acted one way in our presence and then another way in our absence.

Our face is like a billboard upon which our inner life is made public. Our face displays shame and honor before our lips or anyone else's ever declare it. The link between our physical face, and honor, and shame is inborn. The Scriptures tell us that "shame" turns our faces pale (Isaiah 29:22: "Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale."). Someone feeling entitled to a sense of honor walks with their head held high and chest puffed out; the shamed hunch over and gaze at the ground. The standard visual for shame is someone covering their face or looking down.

The word “face” is often a synonym for reputation and respect. In many cultures, particularly in China and South East Asia, “face” is the common word for honor and shame.

The absence of God’s face is the greatest shame in so many ways (Ps. 143:7: "Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.). We long for face…not simply our own face, but The Face. The words of Psalm 27:8-9 is the cry of our hearts: "You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!"

We begin our examination of shame-- the two-faced tormentor -- by going back to the time when there was no shame and man enjoyed The Face of a loving Father.

I. The Original Sonship Position of "NO SHAME"!

Genesis 2:7, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

Genesis 2:25, "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed."

Adam wasn't just God's Masterpiece; He was God's Son -- Luke 3:38, The son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

It wasn't just Father's creative power that brought Adam to life, but His love.

In all human experiences, there is nothing that can compare to the very moment God breathed life into Adam. In that moment of coming alive by the Spirit of God, Adam experienced the first of firsts: The first voice, the first face, the first touch, and the first emotion Adam experienced was that of a loving Father.

Adam and Eve enjoyed the Father's presence, his pleasure, his provision, his purpose, his protection, his partnership.

The text says that they "were both naked and were not ashamed." This is not a commentary on nudism or seeing a persons' private parts. They were naked and didn't know it because they were not self-conscious, but God-conscious and other-person conscious, and probably enshrouded with light emanating from the glory of God in and on them.

II. The Orphan-Spirited Condition of "SHAME and BLAME"!

Yet, the first son, Adam, in spite of living in a perfect environment, with a God-arranged wife, enjoying the Father's presence, his pleasure, his provision, his purpose, his protection, his partnership -- sinned. At the moment, the unholy trinity of guilt, shame, and fear were introduced into the human race. Notice shame's source and blame's speech:

Shame's source --Gen 3:7, "Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. Shame began with the loss of God-consciousness and God-centeredness and the perception and deception of self-centeredness and self-consciousness.

Blame's speech -- Gen 3:12-13,  "The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

1. Shame Comes From Listening to the Enemy's Lies -- Gen. 3:4-5

Adam and Eve believed the first and original orphan's lie. You see Satan, originally known as Lucifer, rebelled against the Father and was kicked out heaven, thus losing his home.

The devil told Adam and Eve that God was holding something back from them and that they could do something to exalt their status even higher. Believing that they could subdue the earth without being subdued by the Father, they ate from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God's love was rejected and Satan's lie was accepted.

After disobeying God, Adam became an orphan in spirit and a short while later was kicked out of his first home he enjoyed with the Father. So we find he and his wife, self-conscious instead of Father God-conscious, naked and filled with shame and guilt, hiding behind a bush, attempting to cover up their nakedness with fig leaf underwear (the original Fruit of the Loom), afraid of God, their Father, guessing who he was and what he would do with them, instead of knowing and enjoying Him. In a short while they would be homeless -- on the outside of the Garden of Eden looking in.

In this message, we want to particularly focus in on the issue of shame.

Shame wears two faces -- one true and the other false. Nevertheless, even the true face of shame in the life of the believer, is a tormentor unless they respond in repentance to the conviction the Holy Spirit follows true shame up with.

There is true shame and false (or toxic) shame. There is illegitimate shame that comes when we fail to measure up to our goals and expectations, or other person's goals and expectations for us. Toxic shame follows on the heels being told that we are at fault, or from self-imposed feelings that it's always our fault because if we had not done this or that or had only done this, then we would not be constantly feeling so empty, alone, exposed, embarrassed, ashamed.

Legitimate shame involves the exposure of our sinful hearts. The Spirit of God living within the child of God convicts us for grieving or quenching Him and sinning against love. Thus, legitimate shame is the same inner experience as biblical humbling and Holy Spirit conviction.

Daniel 9:8: "To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you."

1Cors. 15:34: "Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame."

Shame is both the fruit and the root of sin. Shame is both a subjective and an objective reality.

       2. Shame Leads Us to Self-absorption -- Gen. 3:12-13

Dr. Dan Allender notes: "Shame creates an absorption with self that can make us feel as if we are drowning in quicksand. The self-awareness that comes with shame seems to shake brutally our very ground of being. Our core identity, the self, seems too ugly to face up to without dire consequences. Therefore, we contemptuously label the ugliness in terms of flawed dignity: I am stupid, fat, undisciplined, always late, never prepared.

True shame says, "I made a mistake."
False shame says, "I am a mistake."
False shame says, "I am unloved", I am unwanted." "I am unclean." "I am not ever good enough." "I am a failure." "I will never amount to anything." "I am stupid." "I am unacceptable." I am always feeling like I'm on the outside looking in."

The root meaning of shame is, "to uncover, to expose, to wound." Other persons are usually involved in a shame experience and start the process of exposure, but the essence of shame is not simply exposure to others. A full experience of shame is an exposure of oneself to oneself.

Christian psychologist Ed Welch says shame makes you feel both hidden and hideous: "You are shunned. Faces are turned away from you. They ignore you, as if you are hidden. "You are naked. Faces are turned toward you. They stare at you, as if you were hideous."

Adam and Eve were undoubtedly theologically guilty for breaking God's law, but their immediate reaction was not one of feeling guilt. Instead they reacted with a profound sense of shame as is indicated by the repeated reference to the term nakedness. Nakedness is commonly used as a symbol for shame in the Scriptures (Nahum 3:5, "Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame).

        3. Shame Lures Us Into Hiding -- Gen. 3:10

"And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."

Shame prompts a flight to some self-created world of safe numbness. “Dissociation” is a fancy word that means, “I’m out of here. I’m going somewhere that offers an escape from my inner agony. I’ll fly to the safety my own creation -- a place without the pain or demands of God’s world.”

     4. Shame Labels Us as Dirty and Dishonorable

Shame connects four human experiences:

(1) Feeling Untouchable -- You feel like an outcast. You don't belong.

(2) Feeling Unclothed -- You feel naked, exposed, vulnerable. You feel that others are looking at you even when they aren't and that what they see is ugly, repulsive, and cheap.

(3) Feeling Unclean -- You feel dirty and contaminated -- a carrier of a deadly contagious virus -- SHAME!

"Shame is like dirt. No matter how it happened, you are a mess and something has to be done about it.

"Some of our modern day synonyms for shame would be, unclean, dishonored, filthy, shunned, disgusting, defiled, outcast, unlovable, discarded, repulsive, disgraced, worthless, loathed, scorned, vile, etc.”

(4) Feeling Unvalued -- A sense of having lost honor and respect. This sense of having lost one's honor is unbearable to many. In many countries of the world, especially in Muslim lands, respect from the community is more important than life itself. The human craving for honor is so great, people would rather die with honor than live with shame. In other words, social death is worse than physical death.

Dr Sania Hamady (Arab scholar and authority on Arab psychology) states that the three fundamentals of Arab society are shame, honor and revenge. Honor for an Arab is the absence of shame.

Honor-killing, is the traditional practice, especially amongst Muslims, of killing a family member who is believed to have brought shame on the family. In some parts of the world, women who have been raped have also been murdered for the 'dishonor' of being a victim and the 'disgrace' and 'shame' it brings to their family.

Listen to the recent words of a Muslim immigrant in Europe: “There is nothing in this entire world that you need to protect more than your honor. Because you’re nothing without your honor. You’d be dirt, just dirt and nothing else. If someone tried to take my honor, then I’d do anything to get it back. Literally anything.”

      5. Shame Causes Us to Look for All Types of Solutions and Lose All Sense of Direction

         a. Shame Causes Us to Cover Up Our Mess with Inadequate Means -- Gen 3:7: "Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths."

Imagine the scene: Adam and Eve, hiding behind a bush, ashamed, alone, separated from God, aware of their own guilt, dishonor, and sinfulness, trying to cover their mess with inadequate means. God created them to rule and to reign on the earth, but after their treasonous choice, we find them running and hiding and trying to fix their problems with some fig leaf underwear! Shame will cause you to try to cover your mess with fig leaves.

Today fig leaves come in a variety of types. There's the fig leaf coverings of work and play, of fame and fortune, of religious activities and social activism, of education and sophistication. We try "sweeping it under the rug", "drowning it in drink", "numbing it with medication", "burying it with busyness", and "explaining it away with new names."

      b. Shame Causes Us to Seek Shelter in Silly Places -- Gen 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

If you're really sick, you seek a hospital. If you need food, you go to the grocery. If you have a tooth ache, you seek a dentist. If you have car that is broken down, you seek a mechanic. However, when guilt, shame, and fear has left us exposed and feeling untouchable, unclothed, unclean, and unvalued, we seek shelter and solutions in some really ridiculous places. We hide from God. We run behind bushes. We try to play hide and seek with the omniscient, omni-present God of the Universe! How dumb to think that we are going to hide from the Creator in some stuff that He created?

We have people calling psychic hotlines and running to different gurus. They pay large sums of money to hear a counselor tell them it's not their fault. They become devotees of Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, and New Age Oprah in an attempt, for the most part, to hide from God and hear someone declare you're not to blame.

    c. Shame Causes us to Run From the One We Should Run To -- Gen 3:10, "And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."

The moment Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit, the pleasure they expected turned to pain as they felt the strange sensation of death and mortality rush through their bodies. They once had an unhindered relationship with God that filled their lives with joy and happiness. They used to look forward to a daily walk and talk with their Creator/Father/Friend as He came to visit them in the beauty of the garden in the cool of the day.

But everything changed the moment they believed the devil's lie over God's truth. Suddenly the voice that used to draw them in, now somehow repelled them. The presence they used to long for and thirst for, now somehow filled them with fear and dread. The glory and majesty, the greatness, goodness, and holiness that used to fill their lives with such light and love, now only reminded them of their own sin and weakness. Before they bit into that fruit, they used to run to God when He would come to them in the garden, but now, all they could think to do was run and hide. THE VERY PRESENCE THEY LONGED FOR WAS THE VERY PRESENCE THEY RAN FROM. That's what shame does to us, it makes us RUN FROM THE ONE WE SHOULD BE RUNNING TO. Shame fills us with an overwhelming awareness of our sin and God’s holiness. When we see how sinful we are and realize how perfect and holy God is, our natural inclination is to do what Adam and Eve did -- run and hide.

False shame, embraced by the Believer, will do the same today. We listen to our flesh and the lies of legalistic religion, made operative by demonic affirmation and feel that we are too dirty, too distant, too unworthy to come running to the mercy seat and find the forgiving heart of our Father in heaven. We feel like confessing our shame and sins and trusting Him for forgiveness and cleansing is just too easy. So, we punish ourselves, and then hand the whip to others so they can add their lashes to our loathings.

III. The Only Solution for the Unholy Trinity is Provided in the Gospel!

Adam and Eve's original sin introduced a real unholy trinity of humanly unsolvable problems: guilt, shame, and fear!

Gen. 3:10: "And he said, 'I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.'"

When Adam and Eve broke God’s law, they were in a position of guilt. When they broke God’s relationship, they were in a position of shame. When they broke God’s trust, they were in a position of fear.

A three-fold solution is needed - a not-guilty, declared-righteous verdict for our guilt; a hope-filled, mind-renewing, soul-cleansing for our shame; a soul-saving, demon-delivering experience from our bondage to fear.

The astounding truth is that the gospel of God provides all that we need, both before we are saved and after we are saved, to fix the mess and the mistaken shame and blame we wear. The gospel is the solution for true shame and false shame. It's the answer for factual guilt incurred by our sins, and false guilt imposed by ourselves and others.

Jesus' death on the cross was a perfect answer to our guilt problem. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus' crucifixion was also a perfect answer to our shame problem. He "endured the cross, despising its shame" (Heb. 12:2).

The cross preserves God’s honor (saves God’s “face”), and takes away human shame. Jesus’ substitutionary atonement is not only a penal substitution (the traditional Protestant view), but is also an honor substitution. Jesus said to the Father, “The glory (honor) that you have given to me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.” (John 17:22)

On the cross our naked Savior took responsibility for our spiritual nakedness. And now, with the veil of the temple torn, we can approach our holy God without shame. To all who believe in him he offers white clothes to cover our shameful nakedness (Rev. 3:18). He not only covers our shame; he exchanges our shame for a glory that reflects his own. Jesus referred to his death as the hour of his glorification (John 12:23). In taking responsibility for our sin on the cross, he transformed the cross from a symbol of shame into a symbol of glory.

"Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; do not be discouraged, for you will not suffer disgrace; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the disgrace of your widowhood you will remember no more"(Is. 54:4).

What's the Answer for Shame?

For the Child of God dealing with false, toxic, illegitimate shame, the first steps toward breaking the shackles of shame is to:

1. Identify the Lies that You Believe -- Christians functioning under the tormenting face of false shame have no sense of identity, thus they never feel at home in Father God’s Family, and must pretend to be someone they are not in order to be accepted.

Christian's operating under the face of tormenting shame view themselves as having worth based on what they do. They live trying to do unto others before they do it unto them again.

Shame causes the Christian to believe that they are unwanted, unloved, unacceptable, unclean, unneeded, unworthy, and unfit to even live.

Shame causes the believer to maintain an attitude that says, "Don’t trust anyone; look out for number one; fight your own battles; and believe that God only helps those who help themselves!"

2. Certify the Life that You Have Received -- John 1:12, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name."

Roms. 5:17, "For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ."

3. Notify the Demons that They Must Leave! As I have come to Jesus as my Deliverer, I claim the promise of God's Word that, "Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be delivered" (Joel 2:32). So I call upon you now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver me and set me free from guilt, shame, and fear. I speak to any and every demonic spirit, declaring, I renounce you and all your works. I declare that you have no place in me nor any power over me. I loose myself from you, in the name of Jesus, and command you to leave me right now, in Jesus' name.
4. Apply the Whole Gospel that You Have Misperceived -- Most Christians have received Christ as the one who bore their sins on the cross but not their shame. Hebs 12:2, "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

As a child of God, I am in Christ and Christ is in me. I am a Designer's original, and despite what others may consider to be a defect in God's design, he made me for greater effect.

I am not unloved or unwanted, but I am one of the few, the free and the forgiven. I am not condemned or cursed but chosen of God and called of the Spirit and made complete in Christ.

I am not shamed or blamed, but reclaimed by the grace of God!

I have a shame-off-me Relationship in God's Spiritual House -- I have been selected by the Father, saved by the Son, shaped by the Spirit to fit into God's master building project.

I have shame-off-me Fellowship in God's Family. I belong to the only Family that has a never-ending future!

I have a shame-off-me Membership in the Holy, Royal Priesthood ?? 1 Peter 2:9: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession..."

I have a shame-off-me Citizenship in a Holy Nation ? 1 Peter 2:9; Eph 2:19. My residence has been established. I am no more a stranger and foreigner living on a visas, subject to deportation. I am by the grace of God a "free?born" citizen of God's kingdom. My passport is stamped, "Paid in full by the blood of Christ."

I am a shame-off-me object of God's Workmanship -- Eph 2:10. I am a saint, a soldier, a sheep, a stranger and pilgrim. I am a cracked clay pot that contains the treasure of Christ in me my hope of Glory.-- 2 Cor 4:7

I am who I am because God said that's who I am. I am not, in spite of what I, or others think or say, worthless, useless, aimless, meaningless, purposeless, or valueless.

SHAME OFF ME AND YOU!

The really good news, when you receive and believe it, is that you no longer will live under shame's tormenting face, but under Father God’s Loving Face with a smile on it -- not because of what you're doing, but because of what Jesus has done!

We can, with the eyes of faith, behold God’s face: "Look to him [God], and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed” (Ps 34:5). On three occasions Psalm 80 says, “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved”. To see God’s face implies royal access. God’s face is his gracious and honorable presence. God’s people stand in God’s presence, and connect intimately with the God of glory. Seeing the face of God is our greatest honor, in so many ways.

We are saved by seeing God's face in Christ: 2 Cors. 4:6  For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We are continually being changed by going on seeing God's face: 2 Cors. 3:18  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

Heatter gained a reputation for trying to find uplifting but absolutely true stories to feed his commentaries. In April 1939 he gave the first national broadcast exposure to the burgeoning self-help group Alcoholics Anonymous.

During World War II, American forces sank a Japanese destroyer. That night, Heatter opened his nightly radio commentary accordingly: "Good evening, everyone—there is good news tonight." The phrase sparked a small flurry of letters and calls, almost all in his favor. From that night forward, Heatter's sign-on, "There's good news tonight", became both his catchphrase and his caricature."

At this juncture in American history, such an opening statement as Heatter's would be meet with outright incredulity and scorn. No news broadcast ever opens with such "fantasy-world" optimism. Even if they attempted such, their ratings would be too low to measure, because the many sensational and tragic happenings around the world habituate and titillate our taste for more of the same.

Based on the incessant "horrible", "tragic", "sorrowful", "doom and gloom", 24 hour news services available today, anyone believing that there is actually an abundance of "good news" to be heard and seen is considered to be out of touch with reality.

A few years ago, while I was ministering in an African nation, one of the young men from a remote village engaged me in conversation. Having never been very far outside his own village, and getting all of his information concerning life in my country formed by mass media, he asked me if I was fearful of living in the USA. And then what he said next really surprised me, as he emphatically said, "I would never want to live in America!"

Briefly stunned, amazed, and intrigued by such a statement, I inquired why he felt that way.

He said, "It would be far too dangerous for me and my family." He went on to say, "Everyone seems to be shooting, beating, looting, burning, and protesting all the time."

After some reflection, I realized his opinion of America was a logical conclusion based upon the only type news he had ever gotten concerning my beloved country.

As of late, I, too, have found myself sinking into fear and despair over what is happening at home and abroad based primarily on the constant "bad news" I am getting -- even when something good has happened.

Couple this with the discouraging words I hear from so many of my Christian friends who take the "bad to worse" news reports as only further fulfillment of signs that have been inevitably prophesied in the Bible. Adding to the discouragement and trepidation, they remind me that we haven't seen anything yet. The worst "bad news" is still ahead. "The end of the world, the coming of anti-Christ and his forced one world government, the wholesale slaughter of Christians, concluding with the Second Coming of Christ, should be obvious to every true Christian," they confidently expostulate.

Beginning tonight, I am repenting of a diminishing confidence in the promises of God and the power of the gospel, and I am turning back to the truly "Good News" of the gospel of the kingdom of God.

I am reaffirming the words of missionary/evangelist Paul Washer as he declared: "The world and the church’s needs are greater than ever, and so are the opportunities. The stage is set for possibly the greatest advancement in missions the church has ever known. Political upheavals have opened the door to countries that were previously closed, and all the great “ism’s” of secular man have fallen under the weight of their own error. Humanism has left our world disillusioned and cynical. Secular thought has left it soulless and empty. Materialism has left both the “haves” and the “have not’s” miserable and constantly at war. Sexual libertarianism has raped the individual of human dignity, exiled beauty, and driven a knife through the heart of innocence. Finally, the current revival of paganism has left men praying to rocks, hugging trees, and killing babies. The enlightenment of the twentieth century, which was to bring peace and prosperity has spawned more ignorance, poverty, immorality, and violence then any scholar could have predicted or any prophet could have foretold. It is a day to do great things."

I say "yes and amen" to the words of Puritan James Renwick, made during one of the most dark-filled times in English history: "There have been great and glorious days of the gospel in this land; but they have been small in comparison of what shall be."

"I summons my soul to "hope thou in God" for I have been born again to a living hope and have Christ, the Person of all hope living in me.

In spite of no longer affirming as public policy what our coinage once declared -- "In God We Trust" -- we are not getting the real good news of what millions of followers of King Jesus are doing here and around the world. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ will not end as an apostate whore, but as the beautifully big and wide, "Bride of Christ."

I declare the good news in unison with Pastor Doug Wilson: "In unbelief we look around at the world instead of looking to the Word. The conquest of the world and the overthrow of the devil happened definitively at the cross, and this is progressively and increasingly manifested as the greatness of the great commission is made apparent.

"The sun has risen, but is not yet at its zenith (Mal. 4:2). The mustard seed has been planted, but the tree is not yet full-grown (Matt. 13:31-32). The leaven of the kingdom is in the loaf, but the loaf is not yet fully risen (Matt. 13:33). The rock has struck the pagan statue on the feet, but the rock is not yet a mountain that fills the earth (Dan. 2:44). The trickle of living water has cleared the threshold of the temple, but has not yet become the river which cannot be crossed (Ez. 47:1-5).

"The Lord is seated at the right hand of the Father, but His enemies are not yet His footstool (Ps. 110:1). The root of Jesse has been raised as an ensign for the people, but the stream of Gentiles coming to Him is so great that we can honestly say that after many millions of converts, it has barely started (Is. 11:10). The Child has been given to us, but the increase of His government will have no end (Is. 9:7). In short, the Scriptures teach that the taking of this dark world will be as slow and methodical as it is sure and glorious. Christ is our prince. He reigns in both heaven and earth, and the processes He set in motion are inexorable. All authority in heaven and on earth is His, and on the basis of this authority He tells us to disciple the nations (Matt. 28:18-20). He has been raised from the dead, and therefore God has given Him the name that is above every name (Phil. 2:9-11). He has ascended on high, into the throne room of the Ancient of Days, and at His coronation He was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him (Dan. 7:13-14).

"The earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The kingdoms of men are shaken down so that what cannot be shaken may remain. And we are solemnly charged to take this gospel from the river to the ends of the earth. Such triumphalism frightens us. The task frightens us, and so we feel the need to get away from what the Bible says. But unlike liberals, modern evangelicals do not feel the freedom to reject the words of the Bible . . . at least overtly. And so we prod and squeeze, and exegete, and lop off, and hermeneut, and shape, and form, and publish journals, and tell one another what the Greek word for this is, and figure out what already/not yet is supposed to mean, and settle into our eschatologies. Boiled down, our problem is that we are slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken."

It is time we stopped being "protestors" and started being "proclaimers."

It is time we recover being "heralds" of the gospel of the kingdom of God, announcing a salvation for the world that has already been accomplished, instead of being "campaigners" hitting the trail to try and get people to vote for Jesus as their Lord and Savior. He is Lord, none can do what His Father has already done -- Crown Him the Lord of All!

God has already anointed and appointed His victorious Son as Lord of all -- both in heaven and on earth, and He will not be disappointed (Psalm 2:6-9; Mt. 28:18).

So what if the "the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain; the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 'Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us,'" King Jesus is large and in charge -- now!

The gospel of Jesus Christ will NOT fail. Christianity WILL BE successful in its worldwide task. Christ’s Great Commission to disciple the nations WILL BE carried out. Satan and the forces of anti-Christ WILL NOT prevail in history, overcoming the Church and virtually wiping it out – until Christ returns at the last moment to rescue the ragged little band of survivors.

"Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross, lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory, His army shall He lead, till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed!" (George Duffield).

Good evening everyone! There is Good News -- tonight and tomorrow and everyday -- Jesus Christ is Lord!

The unending litany of indignant protests from the "immorality-forcers" shout:  “Who are you to judge that person?" "Don’t you understand that you can do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody?" "Everything is relative." "What's true for you may not be true for me."

One man in speaking to a church leader said, “I think that anybody who holds to absolute truth is oppressive, intoler­ant, self-righteous, rigid, close-minded, and an arrogant know-it-all.”

There was a banner seen hanging between two trees in a local park, stating, “It isn’t wrong to think you’re right, but it isn’t right to think others are wrong.” Nice sentiment, isn’t it? What it is saying is that it isn’t wrong to have to personal con­victions or opinions about what’s right and wrong; it’s just not right to judge the opinions of others. After all, what gives you the right say that another person’s actions are wrong? This philosophy of life is not only false, but unlivable.

Matt Walsh, a columnist for The Blaze, writes about the numerous responses he got after posting an article on the Masterpiece Cake Shop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission lawsuit. This lawsuit concerns an attempt to compel a Christian to make a cake for a homosexual wedding, no matter how inconvenient it may be to drive 18 and a half feet to the next bakery and get a cake from someone who isn’t a devout Christian.

Matt posts one person's response to his article: “If you want to be a bigot, that’s your issue. But you can’t FORCE your “morality” on OTHER PEOPLE. I have a RIGHT to live my life as I see fit. If I want to marry a person I love, I have a RIGHT to do that and to have the same kind of wedding that everyone else has. Yes that includes a cake. You can think what you want and say whatever bigoted sh*t you want in your backwards churches, but stop trying to FORCE it on everyone else.”

Matt then writes, "Let me recap: Christians are “free” to think whatever thoughts they want in their heads (a generous concession, to be sure), and they’re “free” to be as religious as they want while within the walls of designated religion buildings, but anything beyond that is oppressive. Meanwhile, Leftists can force you to make a cake, they can force you to share the bathroom with the opposite sex, they can force you to fund the abortion industry, they can force you to pay for their birth control, they can force all sorts of beliefs and doctrines on your kids in the school system, they can literally march down the street half naked in a celebration of sodomy and hedonism, and none of that can be construed as oppressive. In fact, you’re oppressing them by objecting to it.

"It’s truly amazing that they’ve been able to frame the argument this way. Somehow, they succeeded in redefining “force” as “refusing to do what we tell you.” They were greedy in their lie, and it paid off. Rather than being satisfied with shoving their ideology down our throats and pretending they haven’t shoved it down our throats, they went for the home run and claimed that we’re shoving our beliefs down their throats by not swallowing whatever crap they feed us. And they got away with it. Many Christians have bowed down and apologized for not being quite submissive enough, and now they lay their like beaten dogs, awaiting instructions from their cultural overlords.

"So it bears repeating for the benefit of those who haven’t quite noticed how this works: when a leftist complains that you’re “forcing your morality,” he’s really just upset that you’ve resisted his attempts to force his immorality on you. “Don’t force your morality,” translated into traditional English, means “lie down, shut up, and let me stomp you into dust.” If you let out a peep of protest while he presses his boot onto your neck, he’ll cry that you’re persecuting him, and then he’ll press harder. If you dodge his punches while he swings for your face, he’ll whine that you’ve enslaved him under a theocracy, and then he’ll swing faster.

"You have the right to be still and take the abuse. If you want more rights, you better get a new belief system. That’s the American system in the modern age."

"Immorality-forcing" is seen most dramatically and dangerously in the push for instituting and enforcing federal “hate crimes” legislation. The aim of this activist tool is to silence traditional views on human sexuality and sexual morality. Similar laws have already been used around the world, and even right here at home, to persecute Christians and other traditionalists. For example, in 2004, eleven Christians were arrested in Philadelphia and charged with a “hate crime” for merely preaching the Bible at a public homosexual street festival. They could have served up to 47 years in prison.

More recently, a Christian photographer was dragged before the New Mexico Human Rights Division for refusing to photograph a “commitment ceremony” for a lesbian couple because lesbian behavior is inconsistent with Christianity.

Such stark examples of "immorality-forcing" persecution continues to mount. Noted homosexual activist and pornographer Clinton Fein addressed the “gay” agenda in a 2005 article candidly titled, “The Gay Agenda”:

• On “hate crimes” laws:“Hate Crime laws are just the beginning. Once those are passed either federally or in all 50 states, begin campaign to eliminate homophobia entirely.”
• On “hate thoughts” and “hate speech” laws: “Homophobic inclinations alone, even without any actions, should be criminal and punishable to the full extent of the law.”
• On “same-sex marriage”:“Demand the institution and then wreck it. James Dobson was right about our evil intentions. We just plan to be quicker than he thought.”
• On “gays” in the Church: “Reclaim Jesus. He was a Jewish queer to begin with, and don’t let anyone forget it.”

Morality-forcing is unavoidable. The question is whose morality or immorality. Remember, all law and legislation is an attempt to force someone's morality upon others. Absolutes are unavoidable.

Truth does not change over time or when knowledge increases. It is self contradictory to make an absolute truth claim that absolute truth does not exist.

Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” God’s purpose for you is freedom. His method of freedom is truth. His revelation of truth is Jesus Christ. Freedom is not doing what you want to do, but what you ought to do for the glory of God and the good of others.

Since history has demonstrated that all of the socialists, big-government, liberal leftists arguments are baseless, bankrupt and untenable, they have discovered that pounding the streets and shouting and screaming accusatory epithets will avert any need for defending their indefensible arguments for their worldview.

So the favorite and most successful tactic of today's leftists is to shut up and shut down and silence all conservative voices by any means necessary. Since the secular left have very little intelligent arguments of their own, they resort to other means to win the public debate on hot potato issues. And the main means they use is bullying, intimidation, shouting, name-calling, mud-slinging, and simply preventing the other side from getting a hearing.

Author and retired attorney, John C. Wright, reveals the left's "Shut Up" tactics as he notes, "The Left at one time made an attempt to construct arguments along political and economic lines, attempting to show that, for example, centralized control of the economy lead to the immense wealth of Venezuela, or to the immense political freedoms enjoyed by Stalin-Era East Germany.  Or they would argue that goods could be consumed before they are produced, or that a minimum wage did not create unemployment as low wage earners were priced out of the market, or that slavery was freedom, ignorance was strength, and unilateral disarmament provoked peace.

"That time is past. Their attempts have been laughed to scorn. Their skill at the administration of large cities is on display in Detroit and Chicago and other murder capitals of the world. The burgeoning economic growth produced by Keynesian meddling we have had for eight years under Obama, easily compared with the decades-long boom economy produced by Reagan’s policies.  The disaster of socialized medicine is perfectly clear to everyone, except, apparently, to GOP lawmakers.

"In the current day, all neutral onlookers recognize that the Academy, Hollywood, the Mainstream Media, the Courts of Law, and finally the Scientific Community have all become corrupt and beholden to political correctness. It is an empire of lies.

"The left controls most of American academia and has created environments on college campuses that deem any non-leftist views to be punishable “hate speech.”  Those expressing conservative views are to be “counseled” and “re-educated.”

"When a college occasionally attempts to engage in ideological diversity by inviting a conservative to speak on campus, the leftist faculty and students break out into violent riots – not to express opposition, but to silence those voices."

Using "Orwellian newspeak" language, these professing proponents of diversity, repeatedly expose themselves as hypocrites by not only opposing diversity of thought and belief, but by attempting to shut it up and out of the public square."

Those who hold views that are not consistent with this settled left-wing, liberal worldview, are immediately and vociferously  branded as racists, homophobic, bigots, fascists, and misogynists. All such malicious, and usually untrue, labels are have one goal in mind -- to shut up and shut down any one who contest their positions and stifle free speech.

Madison Gesiotto, a staff editor for the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law writes: From Yale University to the University of Southern California, institutions of higher learning nationwide have become prime locations for the left’s growing campaign to silence speech, specifically conservative speech.

Regularly, harmful labeling and harassment are used on college campuses as go-to tactics for liberal students and administrators to shut down conservatives who disagree with them.

Instead of arguing on merits, these leftist bullies attempt to delegitimize dissenters of their liberal opinions through the use of intimidation tactics and appalling labels like racist and right-wing extremist.

Their mission is to hush conservative dissenters of the settled liberal worldview in order to make examples of them and in turn silence other conservative dissenters.

For example, people who don’t support abortion are labeled as misogynists wanting to control women, instead of being seen as people who care about the unborn.

Furthermore, women who voice conservative views on campuses are treated despicably, immediately branded as mindless gender traitors who don’t care about women’s rights.

Black women who voice conservative views are treated even worse, not only labeled as gender traitors but also characterized as race traitors or sellouts, as people who could not care less about citizens of their own race and gender.

John C. Wright sums up the "Shut Up" position of the leftists: For the Left, all thought is thought-crime. Thought must be abolished. If thought it so be abolished, all must be browbeaten into a dishonesty not just of statements and thoughts, but of words themselves.

The leftist must advocate that all men never be allowed to call anything by its right name.

Clarity of thought depends on clarity of definitions. Instead of saying ‘infanticide’, say ‘pro-choice’. Instead of saying ‘sexual perversion’ say ‘sexual orientation’ and so on. The art of substituting a real and honest word for a false and deceptive one is called ‘lying’ but this art requires that lying itself receive a new name: Political Correctness.

A man who promotes chastity, that is, simple prudence and honor in sexual relations, is called a homophobe, and accused of having a phobia that is, a psychopathological disorder.

Sexual relations are called heterosexual, as if there were such a thing as sexual relations between two members of the same sex.

Common sense and obvious facts can and must be ruled out of bounds.

Thought is thought-crime. Reason is hate-crime. Free Speech is hate-speech.  

One who says marriage is between male and female is called a homophobe.

Leftism is not a political movement. Leftism is a psychological escape mechanism used to affirm one’s own unearned goodness, to excuse one’s own unearned expropriations and thefts, and to avenge the envy losers feel against winners, ignorant against educated, fools against wise, miserable against joyful.

Once the argument merely ruling all questions out of bounds fails and all reason and logic has vanished, the Left is left with only one remaining tactic: to claim that speech is the same as violence, and therefore that the proper way to answer the curiosity of an unconvinced skeptic is with violence. If someone does not believe your words utterly and without question, don a facemask and bash them.

Answer questions with riots. Burn cities.

The police will step aside. For, as it turns out, they are also a sympathetic authority."

And that's what's "left of the Leftists"!

Many people -- including those of other faith persuasions, as well as those who claim to have no faith -- tell us that they are prepared to accept portions of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. They declare that it contains some of the greatest principles and precepts every given for man to live by. They know that the teachings of Jesus in­cludes such sayings as 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy,' Love your enemies,' No one can serve two masters,' `Judge not, that you be not judged' and 'Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.' Then accolades pour forth  -- awesome, wonderful, beautiful, unparalleled teaching!

Here, they say, is gentle Jesus, meek and mild from Nazareth, the moral teacher at his simplest and best. They believe this is the core of his message before it became distorted and covered over with the worthless additions of his interpreters. Here, they say, is the 'original Jesus', with plain ethics and steps to take to live a fulfilled life. Here is the un­sophisticated prophet of righteousness, claiming to be no more than a human teacher, and telling us to be good, do good, and to love one another. A Hindu professor once said to missionary to India, E. Stanley Jones: "The Jesus of dogma or doctrine I do not understand, but the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount and the cross I love and am drawn to." On another occasion a Muslim teacher told him that 'when he read the Sermon on the Mount he could not keep back the tears'.

This popular explanation of the Sermon on the Mount, and all of the rest of Jesus' teachings for that matter, will not stand up to serious examination. It's wrong on two points: (1) its identity of the Teacher; (2) its interpretation of His teaching.

The main question this sermon forces upon on us is not, "What are we to make of this teaching?" But, "Who in the world is this Teacher?" This was most certainly the reaction of the crowds who heard this sermon taught and preached. Listen again to Mt. 7:28, "And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,"

I. The Astonishment Over His Teaching Was Because of the Authority He Possessed -- Mt. 7:28-29

There are two key words in this two verses:

(1) Astonishment -- 7:28 -- "they were astonished"

The root of the word astonished or amazed in the Greek is, "Ekplesso" and is used 13 times in the NT where it is translated "amazed) five times and "astonished" eight times. Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest explains that "ekplesso" is a very strong word meaning, “to strike out, expel by a blow, drive out or away, and in a passive sense “to be struck with astonishment, amazed.” The verb is in the pictorial imperfect, describing the prolonged amazement of the audience. It is in the passive voice, showing that this amazement was caused by an outside influence, i.e. the tremendous impact that the Messiah made upon them by the new type of teacher and teaching that met their eyes and ears. In modern vernacular, "it blew their minds!"

They had never heard such wisdom, or seen such depth, or understood such range of teaching.  Every dimension of human life was touched in a wealth of words that was breathtaking.  They had never heard such deep insight into the law of God or the sin of man.  They had never heard such fearful warnings about hell, hellfire and judgment. They had never heard anybody who so confronted the religious leaders of the time.  They were utterly shocked that He didn’t use anybody else as an authority but seemed to stand upon His own authority.  They never heard anybody speak with such love.

You can follow this astonishment throughout the four gospel accounts as they asked questions again and again like: Who are you? Why are you speaking like this? Are you the One who is to come? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? What sign can you show us? Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners? Where did this man get all this wisdom? How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Why do you not follow the traditions of the synagogue? Can the Messiah come from Galilee? Who then is this? Aren't we right to say that you're a Samaritan and have a demon? What do you say about him? By what right are you doing these things? Who is this Son of Man? Should we pay tribute to Caesar? And climacti­cally: Are you the king of the Jews? What is truth? Where are you from? Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One? Then finally, too late for answers, but not too late for irony, one of the thieves crucified next to Jesus ask: Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us! If you're the Messiah, why don't you come down from that cross?

(2) Authority

Two Powerful Keys in Kingdom Life is Power and Authority

Authority -- exousia" -- is the legal right to act. Used 108 times in NT, and it always relates to people. It is a personal right to assert power, whether in legal, political, social, or moral ways in the human world or in the spiritual realm.

Power -- "dunamis" -- is the latent ability to act (i.e., the resource)It occurs 118 times in the NT. It is translated power, might strength, and miracles.

In the Kingdom of Heaven, authority is born out of and flows from relationship.

Humanly speaking, authority is given and received -- never earned -- except by Jesus -- We read in Luke 10:19, "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you."

Mt 28:18, " And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

King Jesus had authority by Right of His Person and by Reward for His Performance! Authority hinges on obedience. Unless we are obedient to the authority of the Lord within us, and what He has asked us to do or say, then He does not uphold our authority with His power.

The spiritual authority Jesus demonstrated wasn't found in a position or a title, but in a towel -- the symbol of the foot-washing-servant-spirited-Spirit-filled man in total submission to the will of His Father.

The scribes and teachers of Jesus' day spoke by authority, resting all they said on traditions of what had been said before. Jesus spoke with authority.

All teachers who had gone before Him said, "Thus says the Lord", but Jesus never speaks this way. In the Sermon on the Mount, we hear Jesus saying six times , "For truly, I say to you (Mt 5:18;6:2, 5, 16, 25, 29). Then six more times with even stronger and more astonishing assertions, Jesus said, "You have heard it said, but I say unto you." This is the claim of the Legislator and not a Commentator! In Jn 7:16, Jesus said, "...My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me."

Then what's even more astonishing is His declaration in Mt. 7:24, 26 where He asserts the only wise persons are those who build their lives on what He says and failure to do so will result in total devastation and destruction for time and eternity! WOW!

In Mt. 8, Jesus comes down from the mount and goes out into the community and begins to demonstrate His authority:

1. Jesus has authority over disease.
2. He cleanses the physically unclean. -- 8:1-4-- cleanses a leper
3. He heals the ethnically outcast. -- 8:5-12- heals a Roman centurion's servant
4. He restores the culturally marginalized. -- 8:16, That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.
5. Jesus has authority over disciples.
6. Jesus is worthy of unconditional trust and of undivided affection.
7. Jesus has authority over disaster. He has authority over nature and nations.
8. Jesus has authority over demons.

In Matthew 9

1. Jesus has authority over sin.
2. Jesus has authority to save.
3. Jesus has authority over death. He gives hope in the midst of despair. He brings life in the midst of death.
4. Jesus has authority over disability.
5. Jesus has authority over the Devil. Jesus' ministry on earth: Satan has been defeated. Jesus' promise for eternity: Satan will be destroyed.

Who in the world is this MAN?

II. The Authority of His Preaching was Based on the Identity of His Person

Jesus' identity is the central issue of His instructions. You cannot get or learn what He offers without relating to who He is! You cannot have the fruit of righteousness without the root of a relationship with the Righteous One -- King Jesus. The Kingdom of heaven is not first about keeping rules, but about relating to the King in an ever-loving, ever-living, ever-lasting relationship. To be saved; to be in Christ, to be in the kingdom, is to be "yoked up to the King" in a relationship, rulership, and partnership.

Some say Jesus was an egomaniac -- always talking about himself and commanding us to love him, praise Him, and worship Him.

It's easy to conclude this from a natural perspective. When one reads the teachings of Jesus, we discover that they are very egocentric, i.e, self-centered -- yet perfectly appropriate. He did not just enunciate paths to follow but declared, I am the Way. He didn't just set forth truths to be believed, but declared that He was the Truth, to be received!  He didn't just talk about the mysteries of life, but declared that He was the Maker of all Life."

He didn't just talk about God, He claimed to be God! He said," I and my Father are one." He accepted worship and forgave men their sins. In all of his teachings he never apologized, hesitated, equivocated or restated a single word that he uttered. He was never resentful or fretful. He never retaliated when wrongfully treated. All the saints and great holy men of the past were  always lamenting their sinfulness. Yet Jesus lived more closely to God than any other and was free from any sense of sin. He prayed Father forgive them but never Father forgive me.

Who is Jesus and what will you do with Him are still the two greatest questions a person will ever have to answer -- and answer we must.

Some say that he was a Myth -- that He never actually lived. Others declare that he was a Martyr -- who lived and died for a good cause. Others suggest that he was Master Teacher that set forth great truths for us to follow. Others say that he was simply Man -- albeit a good man, who lived for a worthy cause, died and is now dead.

The identity of Jesus is still the central issue of human history. Was Jesus simply a good man, or the God-man?  Was Jesus a spiritual guide into the truth, or the Sovereign God who gave the truth? Was Jesus just another created being, or was He the Creator of all beings?  Was Jesus a way-shower, pointing others to the way, or is He the only Way to God?

Hymn writer and pastor John Newton was absolutely correct when he penned these words:  "What think ye of Christ?  Is the test to try both your state and scheme?  You cannot be right in the rest unless you think rightly of Him."

Liberal Christians say Jesus was a good man who lived for a good cause and left us an example to follow.

Jehovah Witnesses say He was Michael, the archangel, a created being that became a man.

Mormonism teaches that He was not God, but only a man who became one of many gods and that He was a polygamist and half-brother of Lucifer.

New Age guru, Deepak Chopra says Christ is a state of consciousness we can all aspire to. His latest book is entitled, The Third Jesus."

Buddhism teaches that Jesus was just and enlightened man like Buddha.

Hinduism teaches Jesus was one of many gods and an avatar like Krishna or Shiva.

Islam teaches that He was a prophet.

Matthew, the converted tax collector, is given the privilege of writing the lead story of the NT. We could call his gospel account “The Messiah’s Report.” Although his is not the first New Testament book written -- Mark’s account is chronologically first -- it is placed first because it gives the whole story of how the Messiah fulfilled all the Old Testament promises to Israel in the true Israelite, the ultimate First-born Son – Jesus.

“From the beginning, Matthew’s aim is to demonstrate how Jesus summarizes the whole story of Israel. He wants to show how Jesus re-enacts the pattern of events in Israel’s history so as to bring to completion and fulfillment the purpose for which God chose Israel.

In Matthew’s Messiah Report, beginning in Mt 1:1, we are shown that Jesus is the New and Last Adam, who now rules over creation and promises to fill it with those re-gened (regenerated or born again) in his image. As the new and last Adam, he subdues his enemies and protects his bride, the church, making her big, fat and wide, yet mean, in the good sense, and lean so that she is comprised of persons from every people group, who learn to reign in life through Him. He is her Shield and Defender that protects her from attempts by the serpent to destroy her.

He is the promised seed of Abraham, born of the “barren” womb of the virgin by the Spirit’s power. Like Isaac, he is sacrificed by his father, and received back from the dead.

He is the New and ultimate Moses, and as such Jesus goes up on a mountain – not as a Law-giver, but as the perfect Law-Maker and Keeper. There He sets forth in Matt 5-7, the terms of the New Covenant. Our Moses, Jesus, has led us out of bondage from Satan and the world system. He has gone into the wilderness to meet and defeat the enemy of our souls. He has led us, not to Mt. Sinai, as the Law-Giver, but to Himself, as Mt. Zion and the Perfect Law-Keeper. He has cut the new Covenant with Father God in His body and by His blood. This covenant can’t fail and won’t be broken by sinful people, because it’s made with Him, and not them, and now all Father’s dealings with us are in Christ. He has written the Law, not on tablets of stone, but on our hearts, which gives us the desire to both will and do of His good pleasure.

As the ultimate Moses, He then begins the New Exodus that will take Him through the Jordan River of Death, and out the other side in Resurrection victory. He then goes to the top of the Mount of Olives and gives the Mission Mandate to expect to go down and out instead of up and out! Down from the mountain with the good news, which is to be taken to the whole world as the only good news that can make men whole. (Mat 28:18 -20, “And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.")

He is the New and ultimate Joshua. Jesus is the NT equivalent of the OT name Joshua and means Jehovah saves. Like Joshua, the Captain of our Salvation leads his people in a new conquest of the earth with the sword of the Spirit to make disciples of all nations.

He is the New and ultimate David, who is calling and crowning a New Israel, based on grace not race. In Matthew 4, He charges out to confront the Goliath of Satan himself, and defeats him in the wilderness where the enemy had beaten the Israelites as they journeyed on their Exodus from Egypt. He is Great David’s Greater Son, who is God’s anointed, who was divinely appointed and will not be disappointed. He defeats the giant goliath of Satan and finally ascends to the throne and takes possession of the kingdom. He is the one wiser than Solomon, who builds the Lord’s true house and delights the bride with his love, and is made unto us redemption and wisdom ( 1 Cors 1:30).

David's greater son, our King Jesus, has by redemptive purchase and royal transfer, taken us from the kingdom of darkness and placed us in His kingdom. We’re now a kingdom of priests unto our God in a global community that confesses Jesus Christ as Lord of all. We’re King’s Kids in Training for Reigning and know that even if we lose some battles, the final war has already been won. Thus we are winners, even when we lose, and failing is something we sometimes do and not who we are.

He is the Messiah or Christ. This means the "anointed One". In the OT three types of persons were anointed -- Prophets, priests, and kings.

Jesus is the Ultimate Prophet who Revealed God’s Final Word – Hebs 1:1-2a -- Jesus Christ is the “alpha and omega” – the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Jesus isn’t the ABC’s of Christianity; He is the A to Z of it. He is the reality of all OT rituals, the substance of OT shadows, and the author of salvation. He declared God’s purpose fully, displayed God’s power mercifully, disclosed God’s principles clearly, and demonstrated God’s presence flawlessly.

Jesus is the Unique Priest who Resolved God and Man’s Greatest Problem – Hebs 1:3a -- How can a holy God do anything but condemn an unholy people who are guilty of cosmic treason – attempting to overthrow the kingdom of God and set up their own little kingdom? How can sinful man ever hope to approach holy God?

Bearing shame and scoffing rude in my place condemned He stood, sealed my pardon with His blood – Hallelujah what a Savior!

Jesus is the Unending King who Reigns Over God’s World -- Hebs 1:4, 8 -- “He sat down” – This is an expression that denotes honor, authority, satisfaction, and intercession. All authority has been given Him in heaven on earth! There is no limit to His legislation, jurisdiction, or administration.

Jesus is the Final Judge -- Read Mt. 7:21-23. John 5:22, "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son: John 5:24  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life: John 5:27  And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

King Jesus is the Maker and Maintainer, the Originator and the Overseer, the Creator and Caretaker. He is the Captain of all conquerors, the Head of the heroes, the Leader of the Legislators, the Master of the Mighty, the King of kings and Lord of lords.  The dynamics of nature and the destinies of the nations are directed by His nail-pierced hands!

In Jesus, we have the priest, the sacrifice, the tabernacle, the temple, the new Jerusalem, the new Israel, all in One person – our High Priest/Covenant-maker/Sovereign King/Prophet Full-filler  – the Lord Jesus Christ.

III. The Allegiance Obligation From Having heard His Teaching was Believing the Reality of His Proclamation

1. A Response to His Claims is Unavoidable

The crowds were astonished, awed, amazed, dumbfounded, bewildered, blown away. But it's not enough to be astonished at His teaching, or be awed by His person, or heap adulations upon Him.

They didn’t respond the right way. Their problem -- unbelief and an unwillingness to give unrivaled, undisputed allegiance and loyalty to one King -- Jesus.

Although astonished, they couldn’t believe that a Man would say He was the fulfillment of the law, that a Man would say He was the determiner of righteousness, that a Man would say He was the corrector of the scribes and Pharisees, that a Man would claim to be the way of life, that a Man would claim to be God Jehovah, that a Man would claim to be judge of all, and the one who could come and be the final judge of all mankind.  They couldn’t believe that a Man like this could say He was the King, the Messiah.  So their response was astonishment.

In the gospel accounts we see three possible responses to the Teacher and His Teachings:

1. Revere Him like the crowds.
2. Reject Him like the rulers and religious leaders.
3. Renounce everything to follow him like His true disciples.

The only acceptable and saving response is absolute allegiance. FOLLOW ME -- sums it all up.

The words of "authority" in Matthew 5-7 are addressed as directly to us as to those who first heard them! By its Kingdom precepts and Person, our conduct must be directed: by its promises and encouragements our souls are to be sustained, for in these very scales we will be weighed in the Day of testing and judgment. To us this Sermon comes with even greater authority than to those who heard it preached in Palestine. For this reason we are warned, "See that you refuse not Him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaks from heaven" (Heb. 12:25). Then let us earnestly seek grace to be something more than "astonished" with this Sermon, namely receive it into our hearts and minds and incorporate it into our daily walk.

What’s your response? Your eternal destiny depends on it.

The hymn writer says,

“In every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the vale. When all around my soul gives way He then in all my hope and stay.  On Christ the solid rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.”

Your life is either built on rock or sand, on disobedience or obedience, on apathy, astonishment, or total allegiance to King Jesus.  Why do you call Him, Lord, Lord and do not the things He says?

How many of you want God's blessings and favor upon your life?

Are you hesitant to pray for God to bless your life because you feel it's selfish? Admittedly, many do pray a selfish prayer like --"Lord, bless me my wife, John and his wife, us four and no more." Far too many Christians have adopted the modern view that it is one’s right to blessings and prosperity to use in any way that will make them feel happy, satisfied and fulfilled. The prevalent attitude is, “God chose me because of me for the sake of me so that I could enjoy me while the world revolves around me. If you have any questions, just ask me.”

In contrast to selfish believers asking for blessings for personal consumption are those believers who do not boldly ask God in faith to bless them because they struggle with the concept of living in, by, and from God’s grace. They have such a deep sense of unworthiness that their mindset is, “I don’t deserve the least of His favors!” DUH! Of course you don’t that is what grace is all about! They pray for others to be blessed, but are hesitant to pray for themselves to be blessed because they don’t understand the depth of God’s love and God’s grace for them and want to feel like they can do something to earn His blessings.

Psalm 67 tells us that we most definitely should seek God's blessings and informs us of why and how we should pray for them.

What exactly are we asking for when we ask for blessings? The most common Old Testament Hebrew word translated “bless” is the word “barak,” means, "to bow with bended knee in order to express awe and worth." In the New Testament, the word “bless” often translates “makarios”, meaning “blessed, fortunate, happy.”

A great definition of the meaning of the "blessing of God" is given by John Calvin, as he notes: “The blessing of God is the goodness of God in action, by which a supply of all good pours down to us from His favor, as from its only fountain.” God wants us to believe that He is the God of the overflow, of abundance, of great grace and generosity.

Palm 67 majors in an area where the Church has often minored -- earnestly, persistently, and believingly, seeking God's blessings.

The Lord wants “a supply of all good pouring down to us from His favor, as from its only fountain” for numerous reasons and we are going to explore these from Psalm 67. We should pray for and expect God to bless us because:

1. The Most Supreme God that We Worship -- Ps 67:1

God, our God, is the Blessed and the Blesser! Paul writes in 1 Tim 1:11, "... the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted."  

In Psalm 67, the noun and pronoun for God is used 11 times in 7 verses.

A. God's Presence Known Personally is God's Purpose for all Peoples -- 67:1

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah."  One translation reads: “The Lord turn His face toward you.” The expression "make His face shine upon you" means to show his face and favor, look cheerfully on his people, declare himself well pleased with them in Christ, and appear as smiling upon them through him, blessing them with HIMSELF! God’s face is the personal manifestation of His loving presence. One’s face speaks a language all its own and when God says his face is toward his people, it means he has given them the ultimate blessing -- HIMSELF! The goal of the gospel is God. The reward of faith is not things, but God.

What’s the best, the most beautiful, helpful, loving, generous, glorious, long-lasting, life-impacting thing God can give the nations of the world? Answer – HIMSELF! And He intends to give Himself to the nations through those of us who have been rescued by His mercy and ravished by the majesty, the mystery, and the meaningfulness of His love.

What is the primary incentive for sharing the gospel? Some would answer, love for lost souls; others the reality of hell and the prospects of heaven. Others would say because of the peace and joy that knowing Christ brings. But the first and foremost incentive is that we are captured by the majesty of our God and worship Him in such a manner as to magnify the Glory of His Grace and Mercy to us and through us to All Peoples. The ultimate goal of evangelism is not saving sinners, but the gladness of the people in the glory of God. Ps 97:1, “The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” Then in our text from Ps 67:2, "that your way may be known (yada= to know personally and intimately) on earth, your saving power among all nations."

John Piper was on target when he said, “God is pursuing, through His redeemed people, with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of his name among the nations.” We should be crying out, "Bless us Lord, SO THAT we can spread the Fame of Your Name to the all the nations SO THAT they also can be Glad in God!

The Great Commission is not first to go, but to be glad in God -- “delight yourself in the LORD” (Ps. 37:4) and then as you're going declare, “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy” (Ps. 67:4). In this way, God will be glorified from beginning to end, and worship will motivate and empower the missionary assignment until the coming of the Lord.

"Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." Revelation 15:3-4

Worship is not a gathering. It is not a song service or sitting under preaching and teaching. Worship is essentially an inner stirring of the heart to treasure God above all the treasures of the world. It means to adore Him, and to prize, pursue, praise, follow, fear, and love Him above all persons or things!

B. God's Purpose Is to Be Praised in All the Nations!

Psalm 67 teaches us four things concerning God's Purpose:

• To be known: 67:2 - "That thy way may be known on the earth."
• To be praised: 67:3 - "Let the peoples praise thee, O God; Let all the peoples praise thee."
• To be enjoyed: 67:3 - "Let the nations be glad and sing for joy."
• To be feared: 67:7 - "That all the ends of the earth may fear him."

God is jealous to be known and praised and enjoyed and feared. He is displeased when people are ignorant of him or disrespectful to him or bored around him or improperly casual in his presence.

For the Christian praise is the pinnacle of satisfaction that comes from living in fellowship with Christ. For God, praise is the sweet echo of his own excellence in the hearts of his people. Praise is the appropriate response of the person who has come to appreciate the majesty, the mystery, the might, the ministry, and the mercy of our Great God.

May God look at you, or turn his face toward you. May you enter into a face-to-face relationship with Him, a place of presence and intimacy. This is the blessing of all blessings! -- to know, praise, enjoy and fear God!

C. God Wants People to Know Him for the Solitary, Supreme, Sovereign God that He Is!

What God wants people to know about him is that He is a God of justice, a God of power, and a God of grace.

• He is a Gracious Savior -- A God of grace: verse 1-2—"God be gracious to us and bless us." "Your way and salvation be known"
• He is a Righteous Judge -- A God of justice: verse 4—"Thou wilt judge the peoples with uprightness."
• He is the Sovereign King -- A God of power: verse 4—"[Thou wilt] guide the nations on the earth."

The God of the Bible is Completely Righteous, Inexhaustibly Powerful, Absolutely Truth, Eternally Unchangeable,  Gloriously Holy,  Infallibly Wise, and Infinitely Loving!  There is only one true and living God and he wills to be known by all the peoples of the world. And that means to be known subjectively, personally, scripturally with joy and praise and fear, and known objectively as being one kind of God and not another, i.e. being just and powerful and gracious.

Psalm 67 provides no liberty for any other gods. The Allah of Islam is not the God of Christians. The gods of new age spirituality so common today is not the solitary, sovereign true God of Scripture. God wants to be known and will be known for who he really is: just and gracious and powerful, so that our praise and joy and fear are rooted in reality not imagination; in divine revelation and not in demonic imitations, so as to really and truly show God's worth and glory.

2. The Most Scriptural Praying in the World -- Psa 67:2:

"that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations."

Knowing that God wills to be known and praised and enjoyed and feared for who he really is, the psalmist's response is to pray that God would bless Israel in such a way that God really would be known among the nations. Notice that the psalmist turns the promise into a prayer, which is what we should do with God's promises.

The main point of the psalm is the connecting word between verses 1 and 2 found in the word "that." He prays, "God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us; that thy way may be known on the earth, thy salvation among all nations."

So, the most scriptural praying we can do is to ask God to bless us, His people, so that we can be a blessing, not just next door, but for the sake of the nations. 

God sovereignly selected Israel, making them His own SPECIAL people. He gave them the best system for success in every area of life that the world has ever known. As a result they became the healthiest, wealthiest nation in the history of the ancient world. Just as God promised they became the head and not the tail, the lender and not the borrower. But somewhere along the way they began to idolize their system of law, ritualize their style of worship, and organize their way of life around their material successes and special status as the chosen of God, and in so doing, left out two little words of God’s covenant with them – SO THAT. They forgot that the reason for their being selected, given special provisions and position, and incredible success, and wealth and health was so that they might be a blessing and show the nations around them the mercy, majesty, and might of their glorious God. The exclusion of God’s SO THAT continued generation after generation so that when Jesus appeared -- the One promised and prophesied, the fulfillment of all that had God mandated and symbolized in their way of life and worship – they said in essence – SO WHAT! Our Messiah won’t be a man of mercy but a man of military might. He will not be a suffering Savior but a successful Sovereign that will break the yoke of Rome from off our necks and once more make the world revolve around us! Forgetting the SO THAT of God's blessings resulted in the SO THEN judgment of God, in which He took the kingdom from them and gave it to a nation bearing the fruits of it (Mt 21:43).

Here's the unbreakable, inescapable truth: If we, God’s people, miss the SO THAT of the reason for His saving, blessing, and prospering us, we will assume that it is our right to be blessed, prospered and pampered, and the result will be a SO WHAT attitude toward God and His purpose of having all the peoples of all the nations prize and praise Him. Then we will find ourselves experiencing the SO THEN of God's burying us and raising up another generation that will embrace His SO THAT!

So it is most likely that God will bless us the fullest and most frequently when we are planning and longing and praying to bless the nations. Once more, I quote Dr. John Piper: "If God wants his goods to get to the nations, then he will fill the truck that's driving toward the nations. He will bless the church that's pouring itself out for unreached peoples of the world. And this blessing is not payment for a service rendered; it's power and joy for a mission to accomplish. When we move toward the unreached peoples, we are not earning God's blessings, we are leaping into the river of blessings that is already flowing to the nations."

3. The Most Shareable Message in the World -- Ps 67:3-5:

"Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!"

No wonder the Holy Spirit inspired the NT writers to title this message the "GOSPEL" which means good news!

We proclaim: "Nations be glad in God and sing for joy! We've got a message so great, good, and glorious, and we've been so blessed by it that we cannot keep the "Good News" to ourselves. So we "Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!" (Ps 96:3)

Ps 105:1  Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!

Ps 97:1  The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!

Ps 70:4  May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, "God is great!"

For us on the New Covenant side of the gospel, we need to keep before us the reminder that the word gospel is a Greek word that means good, merry, glad, and joyful tidings, that makes a man’s heart glad and makes him sing, leap, and dance for joy. The Bible reveals that the gospel of God is a good news announcement of total victory, great power, and endless provision. People living in Jesus’ day would quickly recognize and understand the “gospel” because it was "a technical term for "news of victory."

The gospel, as revealed in the Bible, is good news about what God has done through His Son, Jesus, the Christ, and not good advice about what we are supposed to do! So be glad -- not in military might or monetary amounts, but in God!

4. The Most Successful Measure of Our Witness -- Ps. 67:6-7

"The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!"

In commenting in Ps 67:6-7, C.H. Spurgeon said: "Our prayer and labor should be, that the knowledge of salvation may become as universal as the light of the sun. Despite the gloomy notions of some, we cling to the belief that the kingdom of Christ will embrace the whole habitable globe, and that all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for this glorious consummation we agonize in prayer.

He goes on to say, "The prayer of the first verse is the song of the last. We have the same phrase twice, and truly the Lord's blessing is manifold; he blesses and blesses and blesses again. How many are his beatitudes! How choice his benedictions! They are the peculiar heritage of his chosen. He is the Savior of all men, but specially of them that believe. In this verse we find a song for all future time. God shall bless us is our assured confidence; he may smite us, or strip us, or even slay us, but he must bless us. He cannot turn away from doing good to his elect. And all the ends of the earth shall fear him. The far off shall fear. The ends of the earth shall end their idolatry, and adore their God. All tribes, without exception, shall feel a sacred awe of the God of Israel. Ignorance shall be removed, insolence subdued, injustice banished, idolatry abhorred, and the Lord's love, light, life, and liberty, shall be over all, the Lord himself being King of kings and Lord of lords. Amen, and Amen.

a. This Prayer must be constant on our lips - Oh, Lord, let your way be known. Let your salvation be known. Let praise arise to you from all the peoples. Let joy overflow from the hearts of the nations. Show yourself a Gracious Savior, the Righteous Judge, and a Sovereign King that can powerfully guide all peoples into gladness in God.
b. This Purpose must captivate our lives -- Bless us that we may bless the nations.

c. This Promise must compel risk-taking, life-giving, death-defying confidence in our Lord -- God shall bless us!

Remember God's SO THAT blessings comes to His people as material wealth for the sake of the world’s spiritual worship. That is, he blesses his church with riches for the sake of reaching the nations. He gives a bountiful wheat harvest for the sake of a bountiful world harvest. He gives us more money than we need so that we can meet the world’s greatest need -- the need to know God through Jesus Christ so they too can be glad in God and praise and sing of His glory, grace, and goodness to all creatures here below!

BLESS US LORD SO THAT we may be a blessing to all people groups on the earth as we spread the Fame of Your Name for Your glory and for their joy -- in You!

Intro -- If we stick strictly to what the scriptures tell us in Acts 17 about Paul and his team's ministry in the Macedonian city of Thessalonica, we learn that they stayed there only 3 weeks. Yet, in such a short period of time, they left behind a freed-up, filled up, fired-up, fruit-producing church that was not just the talk of the town, but of the whole of the Roman Empire. How? Was it in their techniques, or persuasive talk, or positive thinking, or in the programs and procedures they used to find the sinners and then follow up with after they made decisions for Christ? NO! I submit it was in the nature of the gospel they preached, which was the original "King Jesus" gospel.

In contrast, the leading denomination in the world in respect to size and evangelism, has reported a decline in baptism for seven years in a row. According to Christianity Today, one out of four Southern Baptist churches reported no baptisms in 2012. If we take the 46,000 churches in the SBC and use the 1 out of 4 percentage, that would mean 11,500 churches had zero baptisms. Let's assume only half those churches have pastors, that's 5,750 pastors; each church has at least two deacons, that's 23,000 deacons; each church has three Sunday School teachers, that's 34,500 teachers, and each church has a total offering of at least $50,000. (The total annual offering for those 11,500 churches would be 575 million dollars.)

Putting all this together; in 2012, the SBC had 11,500 churches, 5,750 pastors, 23,000 deacons, 34,500 Sunday School teachers and gave a total offering from these churches of $575 million, yet all of this together did not result in one single baptism. And, even worse, the SBC is considered the leading denomination in evangelism, so these stats are as bad or worse in other denominations.

The SBC counts 15.7 million members and 5.8 million Sunday worshipers. (This means 9.9 million members are missing in action!

What kind of gospel is it that has produced so many deciders for Christ who by their lifestyle raises the question of what they decided? Why is it that for the first 300 years of Christian history governments and religionists wanted to kill Christians and today, for the most part, in the Western World, nobody wants to kill them anymore?

One doesn’t have to have keen discernment to notice there is a great disparity between the message and the fruit of modern outreach efforts in comparison with that of the New Testament.

What has happened? In my humble opinion, the answer is two-fold: The Master’s Assignment and Announcement have been severely and seriously tampered with. The “American” brand of Christianity privatized the assignment from making disciples of all nations to making ME a better disciple. It then has compartmentalized the nature of the announcement and the number who are sent forth to make the king’s announcement so as to exclude the majority of the laity and leave the job to the professional, full-time clergy persons. And even these, as a whole have changed the announcement so as to offer Jesus as the Manager who supplies the stage props for our life movie, entertaining us, psychoanalyzing us so as to make us feel good, giving us a fire insurance policy against Hell, and assuring us of free pass to Heaven when we die, as well as teaching us that salvation is all about ME.

What is the difference in the original gospel and today's facsimiles? What does the "King Jesus Gospel" sound and look like when transmitted and received? Perhaps the clearest answer and real life illustration is found in the lives of the believers in Thessalonica. The King Jesus Gospel involves:

I. A Proclamation of the Gospel Based on the Scriptures -- 1:5a, "our gospel"

"Our gospel," as Paul stated it, was an announcement based on scripture. Rom 1:1-2, "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,(What scriptures was he talking about? OT).

Jesus public ministry begin with an announcement of the gospel. What did he preach? Did he declare, believe in the virgin birth, sinless life, the sacrificial death of the Christ on the cross, His bodily resurrection, and victorious ascension back to Heaven? NO.

Notice His words in Mark 1:14-15: "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." Jesus said, in essence I have come from heaven and I brought my world with me -- that world is called the kingdom of God or heaven.

Jesus proclaimed that the long promised kingdom of God, or heaven, was breaking into time in His person. I assert that for the most part, we have lost the King Jesus gospel of the kingdom of God. The good news Jesus announced was that in His person the faithful Son had come and would complete the story that begin with Adam, Moses, Abraham, David and the children of Israel.

The gospel of the kingdom of God is the good news of a new creation – a new order of God’s government – one of righteousness and justice, bringing peace to all peoples and nations as they receive the good news in repentance and faith. For many, it is a shock that this has already begun in the person of God’s Son. Through becoming man, living his sinless life, learning obedience through suffering, and finally through his death, resurrection and ascension to the Father, the kingdom has come definitively to this planet. With God becoming man, a permanent shift of cosmic proportions has occurred. Restored to the image of God, man has been reinstated into co-partnership with King Jesus in rulership of the universe, and the new creation has begun.

Peter closes his gospel presentation on the Day of Pentecost as an herald of the King of Glory with this assertion, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that this truth I have just announced has now received its full confirmation in the resurrection, ascension, and sending back of the Holy Spirit, and we our full commission to publish and proclaim it. Here’s the proclamation summarized: “God has made that same Jesus whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36-37)

The First Century Christian’s message was the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom, which is God’s dynamic rule, breaking into human history through Jesus, confronting, combating and overcoming evil, spreading the wholeness of personal and community-of-faith well-being, taking possession of his people in total blessing and total demand. As kerux or heralds of the King they made known the good news of God’s renewed reign over all of creation. Christ’s kingly authority extends over the entirety of creation. God’s mission is equally comprehensive. It is to declare the fact that to surrender to King Jesus is to embody the good news that He again rules over marriage and family, the market place and all government, art and athletics, the sauna room and the schoolroom, sex and the city! Since it is a gospel of the kingdom, its coverage is as wide as creation.

This is a far cry from the individualized, watered down gospel message of today that pleads for people to come to Jesus for peace, purpose, prosperity, problem-solving power and the personal security of positive identity and the promise of an eternal destiny in heaven when you die. This is not the message that causes governments and religions to want to kill Christians.

In the early church, all were heralds or announcers sent forth by their Lord and Christ with the King’s message we call the gospel. The announcement was called in the Greek the kerygma. One of the most frequently used words in the NT, and usually translated by the word family of preach and preaching, is the word “kerygma.” The apostolic “kerygma” was a proclamation of the death, burial, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus that asserted that in His person, He was both Lord or King and Christ. This confronted mankind’s rebellion and religion with the necessity of immediate and radical repentance, and promised the forgiveness of sins, to those who believe and are baptized in water, with a drenching of the Holy Spirit, poured out upon them for enjoyment of the King and employment in His kingdom (Acts 2:38)!”

Paul and the early Christians understood something we do not. The gospel of the kingdom is not just about a gift. It is about a change of allegiance. If Jesus is King then Caesar is not. The problem, of course, was that the affirmation of the Lordship of Caesar was the fundamental assumption upon which the Roman life and society of New Testament times was built — it’s political, social, economic, cultural, and religious life. The declaration “Jesus is Lord” was understandably viewed as subversive and a threat to everything the Romans held dear. That’s why Christians had to die. That’s why tyrants such as Stalin and Mao both tried to stamp out the church.

The kingdom of God isn’t about a piece of real estate called heaven; it’s about a real state -- a real state of a living, loving relationship with the King. It is about the about the companionship of an Unchanging Person—Jesus, and the partnership in the Unshakable Kingdom of Almighty and Sons! Jesus is the kingdom personalized, universalized, and realized!

Jesus established His kingdom definitively at His First Advent, is extending it progressively through His kingdom agents and ambassadors, the people of God -- His Church -- and He will establish His kingdom decisively, victoriously, and permanently at His Last Advent.
The essential nature of the kingdom of God is divine power, wrapped in love, directed toward reconciliation of man to God, of righteousness, peace and joy--displacing the rule and ruin of the demonic.

In the redemptive work of Christ, the kingdom of God is an actual reality that is available and accessible and upon entering it by the miracle of the new birth, we have access to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, all the hosts of elect angels, the company of the redeemed of God – to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant who are ministering spirits to those heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14) everything is new. We have a new standing - a new approach - a new name - a new sacrifice - a new priest - a new law - there is a new kingdom, a new body, a new covenant. In chapter 10 of Hebrews, we are told that He has perfected forever those who come to Him, and the Holy Spirit has brought us into the covenant and then brought the covenant into us – writing in our hearts and minds (Hebrews 10:15-17).

The Gospel is about forgiveness and eternal life, but it is also about much more. It is about embracing a new King. It is about heralding the death of the gods of our age — whatever they are. And they are legion- scientism, consumerism, individualism, humanism, capitalism, conservatism, liberalism, secularism to name just a few. We announce their ruin and proclaim that there is one God and His Son Jesus is Lord.
The King Jesus Gospel involves:

II. A Demonstration of the Power of the Gospel of King Jesus -- 1:5b, "because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction (KJV -- in much assurance").

1Cors 4:20, "For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power."

Notice the Word came with power and the Holy Spirit. "The Spirit without the Word is weaponless; the Word without the Spirit is powerless" (John Stott).
There are two truths in the expression, our gospel came to you in word, power and the Holy Spirit. One, it means that conversion is an inside miracle that only the Holy Spirit can produce. Two, it means that the gospel was confirmed by outside, visible miracles that demonstrated that King Jesus' gospel was who he said He was and had accomplished what His gospel message asserted.

From the outset of the New Testament, one is impacted with the obvious – the gospel was advanced by signs and wonders. When Jesus initiated His public ministry, He proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven was available and accessible by the miracle of the new birth. To further authenticate His claims, He performed miracles, signs, and wonders that demonstrated that the power of God was present to overthrow and oust the devil and his demons from their trespassing occupation of God’s property and from their enslaving holds upon God’s people. When Peter preached to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost, he stated that Jesus "was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs" (Acts 2:22). The disciples saw Jesus as their model and followed Him in the ministry of signs and wonders. After the Great Commission was given, the apostles continued to carry out what Jesus had begun to do and to teach.

After the Resurrection, during the approximate 35 year period of the Book of Acts, there are over 80 references of the miraculous in the ministry of the apostles and the disciples recorded.

The Spirit of God gave the Church a supernatural entrance and will give her a supernatural exit. Therefore the church must live a supernatural existence and experience. The church may employ Madison Avenue tactics to draw the masses, but there won't be any miracles. And without the obvious presence of the supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit, we will boast about being many for God, but we won't be much for God!

Dr. Jerry Rankin, former president of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, in speaking of reaching places such as India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Argentina, Uruguay, and the Ivory Coast with the gospel says, “I am convinced the people in these areas under Satan’s power for these many generations will not be changed without a remarkable demonstration of the Lord’s power.”

Fifty years ago there were no known Christian in the country of Nepal. Today there and estimated 900,000 Nepalese Christians. The Nepalese Christians attribute church growth to miracles, prayers, and Jesus' continuing acts of healing and deliverance. Nepali Christians say their neighbors often call them to pray because sick people are being healed and the demon-possessed are set free…. At least 40 to 60 percent of the Nepali church became Christians as a direct result of a miracle. Most of the people don't know what we are talking about when we preach the gospel. That's why it is very important to demonstrate the Gospel. We preach. Then God heals the sick when we pray. The gospel is not only preached but demonstrated in Nepal."

In the American church, we tend to analyze with natural reasoning what we can realize only by Supernatural Revelation! We tend to rationalize the Supernatural to the Natural in order to minimize our lack of power. We tend to philosophize and sermonize about God’s miraculous word and works in the past, rather than believe that we can realize them NOW!

The typical evangelical, fundamental church has no mystery about its operations nothing explicable only in terms of God's miraculous working. So many believers have rationalized, psychologized, analyzed, and traditionalized everything until the church is paralyzed and institutionalized! They believe that the only miracle God works today is in saving a person's soul. True, this is an awesome, and the most important miracle in your life, but that is not the end of supernatural living, it's only the beginning!

We need not only revival and reformation, but a radical interior renovation of our worldview to embrace the power of the life, love, and light of kingdom living under and open heaven as supernatural co-partners for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven over the cross-defeated, kingdom of darkness.

Living saved, but not supernaturally is living below our privilege and short of what Christ died for us to have. Teaching the Gospel without demonstrating the Gospel is not enough. Good preaching, sound doctrine, and being a good person is not enough.

Hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is grievous; believing in His presence without seeing Him manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy; believing in healing without seeing people healed is absurd, and believing in deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous.

Testifying that one attends a good church with good worship, preaching and fellowship is not enough. Having good Bible studies is good, but not good enough. Knowing about God without truly knowing and experiencing God is worthless. Just reading about the book of supernatural acts of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts without living the book of Acts is unacceptable. It is time that we become the ones telling the stories of God’s signs, wonders, and miracles -- not just the ones hearing about them.

What we so desperately need is bold proclamations of the gospel attended by mighty demonstrations of the power of Spirit, which will compel people to pay attention -- to look, and to listen. When God so acts, he can do more in a minute than man with his organizing can do in a generation.

We must refocus and re-frame the manner of our praying. To accept a miracle-less, gift-less church is to settle for a diminished statement of who Jesus is, of what His church is and what her mission is.

Beloved the crying need of today is for an authentication, demonstration, and explanation of the supernatural, the spiritual, and the eternal reality of the gospel of the kingdom as we align ourselves with Jesus’ strategy for world impact. When we embrace His commission we will have access to His power and will see greater things happen than Jesus did! (John 14:12)

The King Jesus Gospel involves:

III. A Replication of the Process that Reproduces Disciples who Make Disciples -- 1:6-7, "And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia."

1 Thess. 1: 8: "For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything."

A. They were Miracles of Grace -- 1:4 -- They were chosen in Christ by Christ and for Christ. They were the recipients of the mystery of the grace of God, the marvel of the love of God, and the miracle of the saving power of God, which came to them in word and power in the message of the gospel of God.

B. They were Mimics of the Men of God -- 1:6 -- The word “imitators” is a Greek word (mimetes) from which our English word “mimic” derives. Upon being converted to Christ, the Thessalonians became mimics of Paul, Silvanus, Timothy, and, ultimately, Christ Himself. As he writes, “You also became imitators of us and the Lord,” the apostle was commending their humble emulation of him as he followed the Lord. That is to say, they followed Paul as he followed the Lord. To the Corinthians, he would later write, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1).

Jesus said, “A pupil or disciple is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40).

C. They were Models of the Transforming Power of God --1:3, 7 --

The King Jesus gospel not only confronts and convicts, but it changes the person who believes it. It makes disciples and not just deciders! It leads to a holy life and not just a get-to-go-to-heaven-when-I die type life.

Paul said, that those Thessalonian Christians were examples. The word is patterns. It's like a pattern that someone would lay out and then trace around. He says your life was literally the model or the pattern of Christian living. Remember Paul told Timothy, he said, "In all things be a pattern of good works." Or he told Titus. And then Paul told Timothy "be an example or a pattern of the believer."

They had a faith that was alive -- resting on the past as they looked to a crucified Savior.
They had a love that was aglow -- working in the present with a Lord that was crowned Savior.
They had a hope that was aflame -- anticipating the future as they looked for a coming Savior.

Their example was very effectual to make good impressions upon many others. Not only was their example effectual, it was very extensive, and reached beyond the confines of Thessalonica, even to the believers of all Macedonia, and further, in Achaia; the Philippians, and others who received the gospel before the Thessalonians, were edified and challenged by their example.

D. They were Megaphones in Broadcasting the Gospel -- 1:8

The phrase “sounded forth” carries the idea of the sounding out of a trumpet or of thunder, to reverberate like our echo. It is not used anywhere else in the N.T. So “from you” as a sounding board or radio transmitting station (to use a modern figure). It marks forcibly “both the clear and the persuasive nature of the word of the Lord."

A trumpet is a wind instrument. The gospel must be trumpeted by believers being breathed upon by the Holy Spirit.

The King Jesus Gospel is too good to keep to ourselves. Our attitude should be that of Paul as he says, "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel" (1Cors 9:16). Are you convinced that the gospel is as great, glorious, good, and powerful as the NT asserts it is? Are you proclaiming it, announcing that Jesus is both Lord and Messiah? Or, are you like a goldfish in a fish tank, always opening and closing your mouth but nothing ever comes out! Like Arctic rivers -- frozen at the mouth! Only 5 percent of modern Christians ever share their faith with an unsaved person.

What made NT Christianity so vibrant, victorious, and dangerous was that every member was considered a “kerux” – this was an announcer, herald, or preacher for the King and His Kingdom. They went forth with “charismatic muscle” or experience and a “kerygmatic message” or expression. When Christians recover the “King Jesus" gospel, they will be constrained by love for its King, that they will hurl themselves out, out, and onward, to the ends of the earth, heralding, announcing the good news:

Their message will announce with passion and power, born of faith in the Spirit and the Word, that through the death and resurrection of Jesus a new order of things has come into being. Not just something in an individual’s heart, but a new reality in history. The fullness of time has come; a new creation has been birthed; the long-anticipated age of the Spirit foretold by Joel has arrived. Now the last days of this present evil age has come as well as a new world of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

The reason you must believe and repent isn’t just to go to heaven when you die, get peace in your heart now, or a have happier marriage and better kids. The reason to repent and believe is quite simple, “God made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” and the ruin and route of the devil and his demons is ongoing; the curse is being reversed, and the kingdom is coming and His will is being done on the earth as it is in heaven. This being true, there are no other options other than rebellion and more religion; repent or perish!

The King Jesus Gospel involves:

IV. A Jubilation that is Centered in the King's Person -- 1:6b -- "for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,"

Sherwood Wirt asks, "Is Christianity nothing more than a sorrowful and woebegone Via Dolorosa, i.e. a pathway of sorrows? Is our existence on this planet a cosmic tragedy, and is the Bible a moralistic stepmother, a Miss Manners directing us to quit whatever we are doing and do something else?" No! Ten thousand times NO!

Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, former pastor and honorable chaplain of the United States Senate, accurately diagnosed modern day Christianity’s greatest problem: “Joy is the missing ingredient in contemporary Christianity. The problem is our powerless piousness and grim religiosity.”

William Tyndale described the Christian gospel as "good, merry, glad, and joyful tidings that makes a man's heart glad, and makes him sing, dance, and leap for joy."

Pastor Philip Ryken, in his commentary on Galatians 5:22, gives a great definition of joy: “Joy is the ability to take good cheer from the gospel.”

Wow! If this definition is valid, then when I as a believer get discouraged and downcast it’s because I have displaced the gospel and lost the joy of His salvation. In my self-curled sinfulness I have re-calibrated my gaze to the low horizon of my own little world rather than the broad horizons that encircled the gospel of God.

We have had a four-square and a full-gospel church, but God’s desire and design is a WHOLE GOSPEL church filled with King Jesus Gospelers! God desires that His Church recovers and is captivated and motivated with a passion for His-Story, the Big, Good News Story that’s played out on the stage of life with a God-entranced view of the world that’s hope-filled, joy-abounding, Spirit-empowered, Christ-exalting, devil-crushing, and world-conquering! A dangerous, demanding, yet supremely delightful and destiny-fulfilling God-authored, Christ-centered, cross-shaped, and resurrection empowered WHOLE, KING JESUS GOSPEL that is not just in word only – but in power in the Holy Spirit, with much assurance!

We need to begin to pray in earnest in the manner the New Testament church prayed as they faced powerful, satanically energized opposition:
Act 4:29-30, “ And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

We pray, Sovereign Lord, like the Church in the book of Acts, lifting our voices together to you, the Creator of heaven, earth, the sea and everything in them.
Lord, we ask you to take care of their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal. Let signs and wonders be performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. We are not just open to signs and wonders, but desperate for them so that the world we are war with may know the kingdom of God we announce doesn’t consist in loud talk but in great power.

Empower us in such a way that the name of Jesus will be vindicated, the unsaved liberated, and Satan’s kingdom decimated!

Sovereign Lord, grant our request and let the place where we gather together be shaken with the glory and power of your presence. Grant a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us so that we can go on speaking the Word of God with boldness and see signs and wonders confirming the Word we are proclaiming for the glory of God!

Merciful and Mighty Father, through our yielded lives let the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the cancer-ridden be healed, the deaf hear, and some who die, be raised up, and let the poor have the good news preached to them. In the name of King Jesus, we pray!

We look with our eyes but see with our minds. Looking at the event of the resurrection isn't a matter of seeing things as they really are, but seeing them as we are. How we look at things is based on what we are like. This means that all are looking is done through a particular paradigm or worldview, so that we always see things, not as they are, but as we are.

Have you taken a "good look" at the resurrection of Jesus? How well do you see the resurrection of Christ?

A pastor friend tells a true story of a trial that took place in a courtroom in north-west Mississippi. A shooting had taken place and one old black man was the only material witness to the shooting. On the witness stand the defense attorney was questioning the old fellows ability to see clearly enough in the twilight to properly identify the man accused of the crime. He said, "Sir, how well do you see?" "I sees pretty good," replied the old man. "How far can you see at night?" asked the lawyer. The man paused and thought for a minute then asked, "How far it be to de moon?"

It's not how far you can see out, but how far you can see into the greatest event in history -- the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus -- that matters. In other words it's not sight, but insight that really matters.

John Piper articulately summed up the importance of the right look at the risen Christ when he said, "If your life is flat, empty, without exhilaration, without significance, without a single and fulfilling orientation, it is because you do not see the risen Christ, for who be really is. Some of you see him scarcely at all, perhaps. Others have such a pitifully small and sentimental picture of him on the wall of your mind that you are starving for the real thing. If we could keep in view the risen Christ as be really is, our bottomless appetite for beauty and greatness and wonder would find satisfaction, and our lives would be unending worship and joyful obedience."

I. Three Ways of "Looking" at the Resurrection

A. A Curious Glance into the Empty Tomb -- Jn 20:5

The Greek word used for John's "looking in and saw," is "blepei." This is the common word for the way we look at most things throughout our day — a sweeping glance. The word means to see it, but not to see into it.

Many people today have the outlook toward the empty tomb that the disciple John initial possessed - that of the curious glance. The resurrection becomes the focus of their attention annually around Easter. They realize that something significant has transpired but it doesn't make any difference in their daily lives.
The word "blepi" is the word that is used in verses 1 and 5 of our text in chapter 9 of John. In verse one, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb and "saw the stone taken away." The word "saw" is this word for a "curious gaze." She was very much interested in what she observed, but as yet she did not understand it. The same word is used for John's first look into the tomb in verse 5. "He stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying..." He, too, was puzzled, but did not yet understand.

Many people "experience" the resurrection today in this same shallow, superficial, powerless way. Their interest is casual, curious and kind. In fact, if they happen to attend church on Easter Sunday, they hear the music and are stirred. They listen to the sermon and "see" the Easter tokens with approval and appreciation, and may even join in with the rest when they give a hearty, Amen! But these sights and sounds make little if any difference in their spiritually dead hearts and absolutely no difference in their decent lifestyle. They don't get a "good look" at the reality and response the resurrection requires. Their "seeing" is only casual and curious and leaves them with no objection to the resurrection and no life-transforming experience of it either.

Without a good look" – a clear resurrection perspective, we are a lot like the little girl in Sunday school The Sunday school teacher asked her class of four year olds, "Does anyone know what today is?" One little girl said, "It's Palm Sunday!" "Very good," said the teacher. "And does anyone know what next Sunday is?" The same little girl lifted her hand again. "Yes, next Sunday is Easter," she announced. The teacher was very pleased with this little girl, and she complimented her effusively before asking a third question. "Now, does anyone know what makes Easter so special " The same little girl again raised her hand and offered this answer: "Yes, next Sunday is Easter because Jesus rose from the dead. Before the teacher could compliment her, she kept on talking: "but if he sees his shadow, he has to go back in for seven weeks?"

B. A Critical Look at the Empty Tomb -- 20:6

When Peter went into the empty tomb, he began to investigate every important detail, but he was baffled by what he saw at this point. The word, in verse 6, for his seeing, "theorei," is the word from which we get our word "theory", and it gives us an insight as to its meaning. Peter examined the situation inside the tomb carefully, critically, questioningly, like a good detective would, trying to make sense out of what he was looking at. He began to develop a theory as to what the absence of the body of Jesus could mean. He looked critically and carefully, but he only had logical deductions and psychological sight. At this point, he could draw no real spiritual conclusions. He saw only with critical sight.

A critical look can be used to find the truth or only to prove what one has already precluded about the event. Some cases in point: Controversial, extremely liberal Bishop John Shelby Spong, Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, in his book "Resurrection -- Myth or Reality?" presents the Easter story as "late developing, pious legends." He writes "There was no visit of the women to the empty tomb at dawn on the first day of the week because there was no tomb. The body of Jesus was in all probability placed in an unmarked common grave used for criminals, covered and forgotten. Other elements of the story like angels who descend in earthquakes to speak, to cause soldiers to faint, and to roll back stones covering the tomb; ... thieves who converse from their crosses of pain these are legends all, sacred legends, but legends, nonetheless."

John Dominic Crossan, co-chairman of the Jesus Seminar, claims that after the crucifixion the body of Jesus was throw in a shallow grave and eaten by wild dogs! He claims His burial in a tomb was "wishful thinking." What evidence does he have from any source at all? He has none! He states it is merely his "hunch". He does not even consider the evidence of other scholars.

Barbara Thiering, in "Jesus The Man" says Jesus was poisoned, did not die upon the cross, but was buried in a tomb which was actually a latrine. It was so cold he recovered with help from Simon Magus and Judas, who also had been crucified, their legs broken, and who were buried with Him. Jesus drank some aloe juice, which purged out the poison. The guard was really the latrine attendant. A second latrine attendant removed the stone, helped Simon Magus (who had both his legs broken) carry Jesus out. Mary Magdalene, who was pregnant to Jesus, was there but did not recognize Jesus standing there until He said "Mary". He said, "Do not touch me," because he was dirty from the diarrhea which expelled the poison. He and Mary traveled to Rome where he lived for thirty years. Imagination run riot! Where is the evidence to support these imaginings? There is none. These are speculative imaginings based on a false reading of the New Testament rejected by the vast majority of scholars.

Why do Spong, Crossan and Thiering make these claims that the Resurrection of Christ is myth, not reality? Because myth not reality, is the inevitable consequence of their presuppositions. They work from a basic assumption of prejudice against anything that is supernatural. They believe only those things for which they can find a naturalistic explanation.

Yet there are many who love Jesus, like Peter and John, but still don't have a "good look" at the implications of His resurrection.
Luke 24:12, "Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulcher; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass."

Peter was marveling to himself at what had happened. He knew something spectacular had happened because of the condition of the grave clothes, but because he had forgotten the words of Jesus, he did not yet understand.

The fact is that you can know that Jesus rose from the dead, but unless you know something of His words as found in the Bible, it won't make sense. Unless you know the basics of the life and teachings of Jesus, you don't know that the resurrection means that the God has been glorified, propitiated and satisfied with the payment that Jesus made for our sins on the cross, and as verification of this, He raised Him from the dead. You don't know that the cross was the payment and the empty tomb is the receipt. You don't know that the resurrection proved that Jesus was who he claimed to be — God manifest in the flesh. You don't know that death's grip has been broken and it's sting detoxified, and that it no longer has a hold on God's redeemed people. You don't know that when God's love and man's hate battled at the cross, God's love won. You don't know that because Jesus was raised from the dead, we can be resurrected in Him and that resurrection power can fill you this hour!

C. A Comprehending Look -- 20:8

"Then went in also that other disciple, who came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed." The Greek word for "saw" is "eiden". It describes the Holy Spirit illuminating, eye-opening, heart-reaching, life-transforming insight of a true believer in Jesus Christ. From this word we get our English word "idea". John got the idea! He looked a second time looked through the trappings and trimmings on the inside of the tomb and saw the truth of the resurrection. He very well may have said, "Wow! Now I get it! I see!!!" Mary and Peter had sight, but John had insight.

Peter "entered" (aorist tense) and "went on beholding" (present tense). What they were examining was the cocoon-like wrappings that were the customary coverings for a dead body in that time. Along with the mummy-like body wrappings, which extended up across the shoulders, there was a "napkin," or a head covering. In a Jewish burial of that day, the head was wrapped in a separate covering which had the neck-space between it and the body-wrapping. The body of Jesus had "vaporized," in effect; it had vanished, dematerialized, disappeared. Nothing had happened to the burial clothes at all. They had not been touched or manually rearranged. They were simply there but without the body.

When John saw this, he "believed."

John Newton, in his famous hymn, said it this way: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see."

II. The Biblical Way of Looking at Jesus' Resurrection

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the central fact of human history, the greatest evidence of Christianity, the greatest assurance of coming glory, the whole alphabet of human hope. In the resurrection conflict is turned into conquest. When our Lord said "It is finished," the apparent victim became the Victor.

A. The resurrection of Christ was the demonstration of the virtue of His life.

How? Because when He entered those dark cavernous jaws of death, the only claims or authority that death had, the guilt produced by sin, had been rendered invalid in that the penalty for sin had been paid. Thus, with the sins of His covenant people no longer upon Him, death no longer had any claims upon Him. When He was raised from the grave the third day, Almighty God was attesting to the fact that there was absolute virtue in His life, absolute sinlessness in His being, or else he would have never been raised from the grave.

B. The resurrection demonstrated the value of His death.

It proved that Jesus Christ was for real. That He was not a myth, nor a mirage, but the miraculous God-man - that He was everything He claimed to be. When asked for credentials to prove His identity, He gave only one. He said as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, even so must the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the earth and then come forth. The resurrection was His one credential. Everything else hinged upon the fact that if He were not raised from the dead, then His credentials were false and He was a counterfeit.

When He was raised from the grave, it was not as a good man, but as the God-man; not as a martyr but as the Messiah; not as a revolutionary, but as a Redeemer; not a Truth-bringer but a Sin-Bearing, Salvation-bringing Messiah.

C. The resurrection was the demonstration of the victory of Christ over sin, Satan and the grave.

"Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great. He shall divide the spoil with the strong." The penalty for sin has been paid. That which was premeditated murder on the part of the Romans was predestined salvation for God's ruined people. At Calvary, Divine justice laid hold of and arrested and exacted the penalty upon the Son of God for the crimes of becoming the surety, substitute, and sin-bearer for His people. The cords of eternal retribution bound Him in the prison house of death and the pangs of hell got hold of Him. His incarceration in the prison of skulls and skeletons filled angels with alarm, demons with delight and the disciples of Jesus with despair. However, three days later, the Judge of the Supreme Court of the Universe ratified the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ by issuing a universal decree and deputizing an angel to go down and open the seal, defying the strongest government in the world. Then having flung aside the stone, he must have said something like this to Jesus: "The Father has sent this word - it is finished!"

Yes, He arose in His own power. Yet what He did was not like a prison escape. He did not break out of the prison of skulls and skeletons only to have to go into hiding like an escaped felon. The law was satisfied and the Supreme Court of this universe verified the fact by sending and angel to throw aside the stone and say, as a designated officer of the Law of God - "Arise my Love, no more suffering, death no longer has a hold on you, Arise, Arise!”

Take a good look! Christ's Resurrection has reclaimed the glory of His Father's name, resolved the debt of sin, removed the devil's hold over the world, and reconfigured death. Prior to the resurrection of Christ, the place where the dead were buried was called a "necropolis" --city of the dead"; after the stone was rolled away from Jesus' tomb, death's name for the believer and death's place was reconfigured. Death became known as falling asleep. The Necropolis -- city of the dead - became a cemetery -- a koimeterion -- which comes from the Greek word koimao, koy¬mah'-o -- to put to sleep. Our word dormitory, a place to sleep comes from this word. Death becomes a dormitory -- a changing room, where this mortal puts on immortality.

Death is no longer a prison house. Instead it has become a passageway to glory for all of those that have fallen in faith at the feet of King Jesus. Death is no longer a potentate over the kingdom of skulls and skeletons, but instead it has been made the porter transporting all of those who die in Jesus safely into His presence.

"He breaks the power of canceled sin; He sets the prisoner free."
"Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph over His foes!"

All of the early church went forth as resurrection power-filled soldiers of the cross, confronting pagan darkness and depravity, powerful demons, and painful diseases, not with just a word of proclamation but with a demonstration of the power of God. They demonstrated that resurrection life infilling them in the now gave them Power over Disbelief; Power over Demons; Power over Disease; Power over Death

III. The Resurrection of Jesus Requests Your Personal Investigation

Just as the angel had a word for these ladies on resurrection morning, likewise, he has a word for us. Matt.28:6: "He is not here, for He is risen as He said. "Come see the place where the Lord lay." The first part of angels message was:

A. Investigate the Empty Tomb's Witness.

I want to challenge any unbeliever - investigate the tomb. Don't write Christianity off as a crutch for people who cannot help themselves. Do not write it off as just another religion. Investigate first the empty tomb. Many who were honest enough to do so found their lives forever changed.

Lew Wallace intended to write a book presenting Jesus as a mere man. The problem was that Lew Wallace had never even bothered to consider the evidence. He concluded that if he were going to write such a book, he should at least have the intellectual honesty to examine the evidence. As a result, he began to sift through the New Testament records. When he had concluded his research, he had come to the glorious conclusion that Jesus was not a mere man. He became convinced that He was none other than Almighty God Himself, manifested in human form. Lew Wallace's conversion to Christ compelled him to write that great classic,"Ben Hur", in which he declares without equivocation the deity of Jesus Christ.

Simon Greenleaf was an outstanding professor of law at Harvard University. He wrote a book, that is still used in many law schools today, on the basis for determining evidence in a court of law. Simon Greenleaf was an unbeliever who constantly ridiculed Christians. After listening to one of his harangues against Christianity, one of his students challenged him to employ the same procedure that he had developed to determine evidence in a court of law to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He accepted the challenge, and as a result was soundly converted to Christ. Investigate the empty for yourself!

B. Propagate the Evident Truth in Wonder.

The angels second command was "go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead." In other words, after you have come to know the Risen Lord, after you have been convicted of the truth of His person and work and converted to the faith, the next command is to propagate the evident truth.

Herb Hodges said, "Feet that once were as heavy as lead because of the dead weights of despondency, depression, despair, disappointment, and disillusionment, were now as light as feathers as each began to realize Christ's incredible victory over death. Each became like a world-class runner, oblivious to everything else, totally captured by the victory of the resurrection and the Person of the Risen Christ. It is no accident that all four Gospels show us bright-faced, breathless runners as the practical expression of the resurrection, because the resurrection gloriously brings a new impulse, a new vitality, a new vigor, a new movement, a new momentum, a new excitement, a new and unbelievable joy, a new exhilaration to life.

"Never lived a greater joy than that breathless moment when angels standing near the tomb whispered, 'lo! He lives again!' Spread the truth to every nation! Sing abroad in exaltation! Hail the God-sealed confirmation! Alleluia! Easter morn!"

What kind of witness are you giving to this glorious, liberating truth that Jesus Christ can "break the power of canceled sin and set the prisoners free"?
Are you living in the power of His resurrection? What difference does the resurrection make in your life? Are you thrilled at the thought and implications of what it means for Jesus Christ to be resurrected from the grave?

What will death and resurrection be for you? Will it be a resurrection unto life eternal or unto eternal damnation?

I closed with the words of John Piper: "Here is our Easter witness to the world: The risen Christ is your King and has absolute, unlimited authority over your life. If you do not bow and worship him and trust him and obey him you commit high treason against Christ the King, who is God over all. Easter is God's open declaration that he lays claim on every person and tribe and tongue and nation. Easter has to do with power and authority. Easter is the claim of the risen Christ on every life that breathes. "All authority on earth is mine. " Your sex life is his to rule; your business is his to rule; your career is his to rule; your home is his; your children are his; your vacation is his; your body is his; He is God! So if you resist his claim, feel no admiration for his infinite power and authority, and turn finally to seek satisfaction from thrills that allow you to be your own master, then you will be executed for treason in the last day. And it will appear so reasonable and so right that you should be executed for your disloyalty to your Maker and Redeemer that there will be no appeals and no objections. Your life of indifference to the risen Christ and of half-hearted attention now and then (perhaps on Easter) to a few of his commandments will appear on that day as supremely blameworthy and infinitely foolish, and you will remember this sermon and weep that you did not change."

Have you taken a good look at the resurrection? Have you encountered the Resurrected Christ through the Word of God by the Spirit of God, so that you have really seen, not just casually, nor critically, but comprehendingly, that Jesus is alive and is none other than your Lord and your God?

What is life really about? Is it no more than a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing; a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage of life and then is heard no more? Everyone in every culture knows that it has something to do with relationships. From a horizontal perspective down here under the sun, the most enjoyable and the most significant things are real, loving, quality relationships and the most painful thing is a broken relationship.

Recovering the heart of the gospel means knowing both propositionally and personally that the good news does not start at the cross of Jesus or with the gifts of the Spirit, but with the Father who so loved the world that He gave us His Son in His Spirit. The heart of the gospel is not that man can have his soul saved, or his body healed, and his church revived, but that he can glorify the Father and enjoy Him forever. The Christian gospel is essentially a Father movement whereby the forgiveness of sins and the regenerating work of the Spirit give us confident, continuous access to the Father as forever sons in His Family! Man was created to live in conscious, continuous, relationship, companionship, fellowship, and partnership with the Heavenly Father. When that relationship is rejected or neglected, life is nothing but a tangled mess of loose ends without any meaningful connections or pattern. Trying to make sense of life without this Father/Son dynamic is frustrating, futile and fatal.

God is called "Father" 15 times in the Old Testament and 245 times in the New Testament. One hundred of these references are found in John's gospel and the name is used 51 times in John. 13-17! Both Fatherhood and Sonship are manifest and modeled by Jesus.

Of all the names and titles of God, none is more precious, promising and currently politically incorrect, as is the term “Father.” Radical feminist want to replace the Heavenly Father with the Earth Mother. Many Bible printing companies are now producing gender inclusive translations that refuse to acknowledge God as Father and the Sons of God as His only children. We are told that the concepts of a Father God, of fatherhood, and all fathers in general have had its day, and that we must get away from patriarchal societies and back to matriarchal ones.

There is a “Father-shaped” vacuum in the heart of us all. I believe that this is God-arranged. God has so fixed us that we can’t ever find all that we are looking for and need in a human father. Because of this we must come to understand that God in Heaven has so programmed life that until we come into a personal relationship with Him as our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, we will forever be searching for a human father or father-figure to meet needs that only God can meet.

J.I. Packer asks, "What is a Christian? The question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father. “Father” is the Christian name for God."

Scottish pastor and professor, and one of the key leaders for many years in the charismatic renewal, Tom Smail, was on target in his assessment of the charismatic renewal when he said, “If I were to diagnose and prescribe for its present ills in a single sentence, I would say that it needs to know the Father. The Father is forgotten today in pretty much the same way the Holy Spirit was twenty years ago.”

All mankind is located in one of three types of attitudes toward Father God. (1) A rebelling prodigal son in the far country away from Father, family and home; (2) A striving religious orphan in a religious house trying to merit Father God or some god’s favor; (3) Living as an abiding, secure, loved, spiritual son in the Family of Faith with Father and Sons.

What you believe about your relationship with Father God will determine how you perceive yourself, which in turn will determine what you receive and how much you achieve in the kingdom of God.

I. Living in the Default Mode of an Orphan Spirit

John 14:18, “"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Since that earth-shattering moment in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve believed the devil’s lie that they were being denied their rights to a better life, and chose to act on the devil’s promise of a new and better perspective, they lost all their spiritual sight and no longer could see or sense that God was their Father. Instead of running to Him and walking with Him in the cool of the Garden, they ran from Him and hid in fear of Him. They had become prodigal sons who preferred the far country of rebellion against the Father, as to loving, relating and living with Him as sons. They became the first spiritual orphans and everyone born since then comes from the baby factory in the default mode of an orphan – with God as their Creator, but not their Father. Experiencing the miracle called the new birth or spiritual regeneration, is required to bring us from orphans to sons in Father’s Family. But, alas the remains of the old life, the old man, called the flesh, still challenge us to operate out of the old default mode of spiritual orphans.

In his last, precious, instructive, loving interaction with his disciples, Jesus explained to them how He came to restore the relationship with the Father. He had spent approximately 33 years on earth demonstrating the true nature of God the Father. He is about to finish the work necessary for their restoration to take place. He tells them in John 14 that He is going to the Father to prepare them a place in the Father so they can have the relationship He has with the Father.

Dudley Hall, in commenting on the response of four of the disciples to Jesus’ explanation said, “They didn’t really understand what he was saying. Like the rest of mankind, they were orphans and could not see what the Son was telling them. They still had Adam’s eyes and were peering from behind a bush trying to keep the fig leaves in place. Peter couldn’t conceive of where Jesus was going. Thomas contended that contrary to Jesus’ statement, he didn’t know where or how to get there. Phillip asserted that if they could just have a visitation like Moses or Isaiah they would be satisfied. Judas was baffled by the very thought of Jesus being real to them but not to the world. These all reflect similar perspectives we have.”

What are the hallmarks of an orphan spirit?
1. Inability to have lasting relationships
2. Hatred of authority, general distrust for leaders
3. General lack of direction for your life
4. Inability to make key, strategic decisions
5. Drawing near, then backing away from intimacy
6. A sense that they’re just going to reject you anyway
7. A gnawing sense of failure, never quite good enough
8. An inexplicable drive to succeed, win, prove yourself
9. No home, No inheritance, No name
10. Fight for everything

Are you as a Christian operating more in the old default mode of an orphan spirit or in the new birth instilled spirit of Sonship? Test yourself by answering honestly the following questions:

Christians functioning with an Orphan spirit have no sense of identity, thus they never feel at home in Father’s House, thus they must pretend to be someone they are not in order to be accepted.

Christians functioning with the Spirit of Sonship have an assurance of true identity, a sense of belonging, and know that they can be themselves.
An Orphan Spirit causes the Christian to view themselves as having worth based on their productivity. A Spirit of Sonship causes the Christian to view their worth as being based on their paternity.

An Orphan Spirit causes the Christian to live primarily by rules and the love of law – (Luke 15:25-32) A Spirit of Sonship causes the Christian to live by relationship and the law of love – Gals 5:6,14

An Orphan Spirit causes the Christian to feel like a common laborer rather than co-owner in the Family Business of Almighty and Sons. Work is done out of fear for what their future might be if they don’t earn their way. The attitude of an orphan spirited Christian is don’t trust anyone; look out for number one; fight your own battles; and believe that God only helps those who help themselves!

A Spirit of Sonship knows they are co-owners and work from a position of settled identity, purposed destiny, and eternal security -- and not for it. (John 13:3-4)
An Orphan Spirit thinks since I don’t have an inheritance I must run, run over, push, climb the ladder to success, and claw and grab for everything I can get. No one but me can meet my needs.

The Spirit of Sonship thinks because I am a Son I am an heir of Father and a joint-heir with His Son. Because I have an inheritance I can work relaxed and not try to get all I can, can all I get and set on the lid and poison all the rest. I know that I am not here to make a good living to make a God-filled life!

II. Replacing the Defective Mindset with the Sonship Spirit

The orphan spirit cannot be cast out, reformed or rehabilitated; it must be replaced with the disposition of the Spirit of Sonship. A Son can never know He is a Son by focusing upon or trying hard to be a Son. Our identification doesn't come from investigation of ourselves but from the revelation by the Holy Spirit who affirms and confirms our relationship with Father God! Spiritual Fatherhood is always defined by Christ and revealed by the Spirit. So how does the believer replace the defective mindset of an orphan spirit with that of a sonship mindset? May I suggest from the Scriptures three major things:(1) Believing the Word of the Son of God; (2) Bearing with the Witness of the Spirit of God; (3) Basking in the Wonder of Having God as Our Father:

A. Believing the Word of the Son of God

John 14:18-20, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (19) Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. (20) In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
There are four life-transforming promises in these three verses:

(1) Living with a “Now” Presence of the Father – “I will come to you” – This means that all New Testament believers can live conscious of the presence of Jesus and the Father. Jesus is saying that there is no longer a need for a physical building called The Temple because the Temple will Now be the disciples both corporate and individual. Like Adam in the Garden and Jesus on earth, we can live in the daily experience of His presence and work in the power of His released life in us so that our fleshly orphan natures do not drive or dictate the terms by which we live.

(2) Living with a “New Perspective of the Father – “you will see Me” -- Now because the gospel opens our eyes, we can again see spiritual reality. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (ESV). We are told in these verses that the gospel reveals the true nature of God. He is Spirit and Father. The Holy Spirit will open our eyes to perceive what sin has blinded us from so we can receive the Spirit of adoption as sons who do not run in cowering, cringing fear of God, the Judge, but run towards God, our Father, in confident, kinship love.

(3) Living with a “Never-ending” Persuasion – “you will live also”— The same life he demonstrated on earth will be transferred to his own believers. They will know what it means to live with open eyes seeing true, truth and ultimate reality again. Because they know whom they have believed and are conscious of being sons of the Father, they will be conscious of Father’s unconditional love and will want to display his glory to all creation.

(4) Living in the “Noblest” of Positions – “You will know”-- They will know that they are caught up in the perichoresis or the Circle Dance of the Trinity – intertwined, indwelt, interacting, in a never-ending love relationship! This knowledge is beyond the reasons of the mind and the emotions of the soul. It is that spiritual knowledge that cannot be explained but is more real than thought. We are now getting an education for eternity when we will know as we are known. How are we known by God? He knows us in spirit. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 2 Corinthians 5:16 (ESV)

B. Bearing with the Witness of the Spirit of God

Galatians 4:6, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

In Galatians 4:5 we are told that Father God sent the Son that we might have the status of sonship. Then in verse 6, Father God sent the Spirit that we might know the experience of sonship. The confirmation of sonship is the indwelling Holy Spirit. Beloved, if we didn't have the Spirit, we would have absolutely no guarantee that we were the sons of God, subjectively. Here we have that most beautiful statement, "God sent the Spirit into your hearts."

Notice that God the Father has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father”! Then in Romans 8:15 we are told, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" So who is doing the crying the Holy Spirit or us? The answer is both. The Holy Spirit prompts and inspires the cry. He puts the cry into the heart and mouth of the believer. It is his cry because he suggests it, approves of it, and trains us to it. We would never have cried thus if he had not first taught us the way. As a mother teaches her child to speak, so he puts this cry of "Abba, Father" into our mouths; yea, it is he who forms in our hearts the desire after Father God and keeps it there. He is the Spirit of adoption, and the author of adoption's special and significant cry.

Let’s explore this word “Abba” by considering it in a two-fold manner:

First, Abba is a Spirit-Generated word which is spoken by the Sons of God who Treasure their Father so Fervently for Adopting them Personally and Permanently!

Abba is the cry of praise that describes the way that we approach God as Father, in the access that the Spirit provides. Our right to address God as Abba comes from His Son and is given to us as adopted sons by the Spirit. The phrase “cry out” is from the Greek word krazo which refers to a loud cry or shout. This intensity means that deep emotion is expressed and experienced.

The combined use of the Aramaic, “Abba,” and the Greek, “Father,” are terms of endearment and intimacy that means something like "dear Father", "Daddy" or "Papa." Remember that in the Roman Empire of the first century, adopted sons enjoyed the same privileges as natural-born sons. So, instead of cowering in slave-like fear, all sons and daughters by the new birth can confidently, boldly (and yet humbly) approach God in an intimate way, reverentially calling Him Abba, Father. Hallelujah!

Regeneration gives us the nature of sons and adoption gives us the privilege of sons. Adoption as sons is one word in the Greek, made up of two parts: (huios, which means son and tithemi, which means to place) literally it means "to place one as a son". The word thus speaks of adoption or being placed in a position and rights as one’s own child. It means to formally and legally declare that someone who is not one’s own child is henceforth to be treated and cared for as one’s own child, including complete rights of inheritance.

“Abba, Father!" How tender the relation! How intense the affection! What power it imparts to prayer! What may you not ask, and what can God refuse, with "Abba, Father" breathing in lowliness and love from your lips? Remember, it is an inalienable, unchangeable relation.

Second, Abba is a Gethsemane word which is spoken by the Son of God who Trusts His Father so Fully that He Obeys Him Completely!

Mark 14:36, “And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."
When the Holy Spirit inspires us to cry Abba, He is reminding us that Abba Father is the one who wills obedience to the cross to achieve His redemptive purpose for His children. The Holy Spirit is inspiring us to remember the cross and to obey the Father in a similar sacrificial way.

The location at which we say Abba to God always has something of Gethsemane about it. It is the place where the son comes home to the security of his father’s love and knows that he can trust it and all the provisions that it will make for him. But it is also the place where he is called and enabled for a new and costly obedience, where the way ahead is going to have in it something of death and of glory, until at last there is a final death and glory and the son is home at last!
Shared Sonship Means Shared Suffering!

We are joint-heirs with Christ (Roms 8:17). We will have what He had, sufferings and glory or glory through sufferings. This is what it means to be able to cry, “Abba Father.”

Abba Father falls from the lips of God’s SPECIAL people, but we are not His Sheltered people. We will experience tribulations. We can’t expect to be “carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while others have fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas.” Some trials, such as sickness, accidents, disappointments, and even incidents that seem to be nothing but utter tragedies, come upon us simply because we are human and are still living in a fallen world. Other tribulations are an essential part of God’s training for reigning preparatory school for King’s Kids. God is intent upon training and preparing His Kids to reign with Him forever, and not in protecting them from troubles and pampering them with a lot of toys and things! He ruthlessly perfects those whom He royally elects!

We are told in the book of Acts that the early church was taught that suffering was a required course for King's Kids in Training for Reigning. We read in Acts 14:22, "strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."

In Philippians 1:29, we are informed that suffering for Jesus is a gift that comes with the package of faith: "For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,"

The Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:12-13, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation."

In reaction to the fiery trial of tribulation, pressure, and suffering that you're undergoing, King Jesus says in essence, "Don't be surprised. Don't be self-pitying. Don't be self-accusing, i.e., what did I do to deserve this kind of suffering?"
Although the devil may initiate the affliction with the intent of destroying our bodies and deranging our minds and disgracing our character, God has designed it to develop our maturity.

C. Basking in the Wonder of Having God as Our Father!

Galatians 4:6, “And because you are sons” or as a consequence of your being adopted into the family of God, and being regarded as his sons. It follows as a part of his purpose of adoption that his children shall have the spirit of the Lord Jesus whereby we have the desire and the dynamic to called God, our dear Father, our Papa, our Daddy.

The phrase the “Spirit of his Son” has the idea that as the Lord Jesus was enabled to approach God with the language of endearment and love, so do we. He, being the true and exalted Son of God, had the Spirit appropriate to such a relation; we being adopted, and made like him, have the same Spirit. By the Spirit we are enabled to approach God as his children, and use the reverent, tender, and affectionate language of a child addressing a father. It is that language we Christians use when we have evidence of adoption; the expression of the warm, and elevated, and glowing emotions which we have when we can approach God as our God, and address him as our Father.

Our address is a cry, “Abba, Father.” In ancient times slaves were never permitted to use the title of Abba in addressing the master of the family to which they belonged. Thus the language which Christians are here in Gals 4 represented as using is the language of freemen, of sons, not slaves or orphans. From our born again nature and our son-placed name, we are fixed to glorify Father by enjoying Him forever beginning now. (I am indebted to Dudley Hall for these ideas.)
Let’s explore five facets of what a daily experience of Abba Father enjoyment might look like:

1. Enjoying the Unhindered Relationship of Sonship in the Father -- Adam had enjoyed the unhindered presence of God before sin intruded. The wonder of having God as our Father is the privilege to live and realize His manifest presence in an unhindered and unbreakable relationship.

Jesus promised His disciples in the Upper Room that he would not leave them as orphans, but would send one just like him without a body to make real to them the same relationship he had with the Father (John 14:18-20). They would know perceive, experience personally and consciously that Jesus is in the Father, they were in Jesus, and Jesus was in them. This was an amazing promise. It was as radical a thought as had ever been in their minds. Jesus was saying in essence that they could have the same sense of intimacy with the Father as He had.

Abba Father – This Provides Intimacy (a sense of Father’s Presence.

Our fellowship is with the Father" (I John 1:3). The word for "fellowship" (koinonia) is rendered "communication" in Philemon 6, "communion" in II Cor. 13:14, "distribution" in II Cor. 9:13, and "contribution" in Rom. 15:26, and comes from the word "koinonos", which means one who shares something with another, hence we read of those who were "partners" with Simon (Luke 5:10). Fellowship with the Father means mutual communication, for we bless Him with our grateful praise, and He blesses us with His gracious provision; mutual distribution, for He gives to us the blessing of His love, that we may love others with the love of His blessing; mutual contribution, for He makes us partakers of His holiness, that we may by our holiness prove we are partakers of His nature. We are partakers in all His business, and He is a partner in all ours, so there is fellowship, fellow-help, fellow-feeling, fellow-work, fellow-purpose, fellow-company, and fellow-care.

2. Experiencing the Unmerited Favor of Fellowship with the Father -- Adam and Eve enjoyed the presence and pleasure of the Father without doing anything to merit it. And Father obviously enjoyed fellowshipping with them. Dudley Hall, “It is difficult to believe that God enjoys us. When I get up in the morning and look into the mirror, I can’t imagine anyone delighting in me. When I think of all the selfish things I have done, I can only imagine others being repulsed. To believe that the Father actually looks forward to being with me is a stretch. I have been programmed by the orphan’s perspective. I can only hope God will tolerate me. If I could actually believe God the Father was anxiously waiting for me to wake up and visit with him, I wonder would that make me eager to get up"

Abba Father – This Provides Identity (a sense of Father’s Pleasure);

There are two principal words translated "sons," or "children," in the New Testament, namely, "huios" and "teknon." The former is always used in an adoptive sense, and refers to the dignity of sonship, and the latter expresses kinship, a descendant, and denotes nature. "Huios" is used in Rom. 8:14,19; Gal. 3:26; 4:6; Heb. 12:5,6,7,8; and "teknon" in I John 2:12; Rom. 8:16,17,21; I John 3:1,2,10. As the child owes its being to its parents, so being begotten from above by the Spirit we possess the nature of God, and that nature is love.

Spirit-realized sonship will embrace the Father's heart and enjoy Father's love, and be stunned and stay amazed and wonder how he could love me a former sinner, condemn and unclean.

3. Employed in the Undertaking of Partnership with the Father -- Adam knew his purpose, but because he got out of alignment with Father, he missed his assignment and messed up all his offspring. Adam was to enjoy the Father and partner with him in developing creation. In short, he was to glorify God—make his nature known in the earth. The last Adam, Jesus came to do the will of the Father and having done it perfectly, he revealed it in his “high-priestly prayer:” “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do…I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.”John 17:4,6a (ESV)

Guess what? This is our purpose as well! When we believe we are sons of God destined to make Father’s name known in the earth, we can rise to the occasion and make a difference during our time here. There are mysteries to be solved and treasures to be discovered in this creation. The sons of God will enjoy working with the Father in fulfilling his purpose for creation no matter where they are assigned. If we aren’t living to glorify him, it doesn’t really matter what we do vocationally. In fact, if we are living to glorify him it really doesn’t matter very much what we do.

Abba Father – This Provides Responsibility (a sense of Father’s Purpose and Partnership)

4. Expecting to be Underwritten by the Ownership of Everything by the Father -- Adam had plenty of food on every tree in the garden. When we are in sub-mission to his co-mission, we will never lack provision because what he orders he pays for. We are not dependant on the Federal Reserve or the Federal Government. Our Father is rich in house and lands and he holds all the wealth of the world in his hands. When we are conscious of his abundant provision, we are liberated from worry and fear and can work with confidence.

Abba Father – This Provides Sufficiency ( a sense of Father’s Provision)

5. Encircled by the Undefeatableness of the Companionship of the Father – Adam had the angels surrounding the Garden of Eden. We in Father’s hand and no one can snatch us from it.

On numerous occasions in Jesus’ earthly life, people tried to kill him. He was able to simply walk away. In his words, “My hour is not yet or my time has not come.” The Father was in charge of the events of his life. Regardless of how powerful and wicked the Roman government was, or how bitter and evil the Jewish leaders had become; no one could touch him until his hour had come. Likewise, we are invulnerable and indispensable until our assignment is done. We are not walking the tight rope of survival wondering if accidents or terrorists, or demons and antichrists are going to prevail. We are in the hands of The Father. When he determines our assignment is done, he will decide how we leave from this world. His promise is sure. Jesus has prepared a place in the Father for us and we can enjoy it now. When death comes we will still enjoy the consciousness of the Father that we are getting accustomed to now.

Abba Father – This Provides Security ( a sense of Father’s Protection)

One final question, are you operating from an “orphan spirit” even though you have been born anew and reconciled to Father God by the Holy Spirit? Are you still living as a stranger instead of a son, alienated instead of reconciled, as an outsider looking in, or as an illegal alien who is still trying to win favorable sonship status.

It is time to repent of Your Orphan’s Mindset that has Deprived You of all the Provisions of Father’s Heart and House!

It is time to receive the Father’s Embrace and Restoration to the House of Grace!

Remember when you first came from the far country of sin, how a father’s embrace awaited you. You need a fresh homecoming.

Remember when you first came from the far country, how at the Father’s house you received life for your deadness, direction for your lostness, strength for your weakness, healing for your sickness, clothing for your nakedness, love for your happiness, and sonship authority for your usefulness in the family firm of almighty and Sons!

Receive afresh the Spirit of Sonship of adoption and believe that you’re a son in Father's House and that He alone is the source of your True Identity, Eternal Security, Real Intimacy, Divine Destiny and Spirit-filled Joy.

Spirit-realized sonship will result in a fullness that embraces the cross in order to defeat death and bring forth life. Spirit-realized sonship brings breakthrough as it declares the word of the Cross and the glory of Christ; it confronts demonic powers in the power of the Blood of the Lamb and in the spirit of prayer and extends the kingdom of the Father so that he is glorified in all things.

Will you pray with me:

“Abba Father, empower us to recover the heart of the gospel –the Father/Son/ and sons dynamic/ in and by the Spirit so that we can live in the spirit of sonship and not with an orphan’s mentality.

Holy Spirit, give us ears to hear your cry of Father/sons intimacy in our hearts. Empower us with a realized, sonship “anointing” that will embrace the Father's heart and enjoy Father's love; that will enable and ensure that Father's will is done, and enlarges Father's kingdom so that it comes more fully and brings many sons to glory!

Abba Father, empower us to recover the heart of the gospel so that we intimately, personally, gladly, freely, and confidently, cry in every location and situation, “Abba Father, NOT MY WILL, BUT THINE BE DONE!”