Episode Transcript
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(00:16):
Good morning, and welcome to StormsCreek Missionary Baptist Church this Sunday morning radio
program. This morning, we'll bejoining Pastor Kenny Hurts because we once again
open the scriptures and study God's work. Okay, this morning we're going to
be in the Book of Philippians Philippians, chapter two, and I'm going to
(00:39):
begin by reading verses fourteen down throughverse sixteen. Do all things without murmurings
and disputings, that you may beblameless and harmless, the sons of God
without rebuke, in the midst ofa crooked in perverse nation, among whom
you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life,
(01:03):
that I may rejoice in the dayof Christ, that I have not run
in vain, neither labored in vain. I've titled the message for this morning
shine, Don't whine. Complaining issomething that we all well, we're all
(01:23):
guilty of from time to time.When I think about complaining, if I
think about an example from the Bible, I think about Old Testament Israel during
the time of their bondage and theirdeliverance from Egypt. They could be described
as being a complaining people, awhining people. For example, They complained
(01:49):
because they were in Egypt, andthen they complained because they were taken out
of Egypt. Remember, they toldMoses on more than one occasion, why
didn't you just leave us in Egypt? Did you bring us out here in
the wilderness to kill us? Wewere much better off even when we were
slaves in Egypt. They complained whenthere was no food. Then they complained
(02:15):
when there was too much food.We're tired of eating this same food.
We want something different to eat.They complained when there was no water,
Then they complained when the water wasbitter. They complained about the way that
Moses led them, and on andon and on. We could go by
(02:38):
looking at all the different ways thatthese people complained to God. But let's
make sure that we don't point thefinger at these people, because the truth
of the matter is is that weall do our share of whining, We
do our share of complaining. Imean, just think about today. I
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think it's safe to say that weAmericans today probably live in the most prosperous
society that's ever existed. Now,I can't say that for sure, but
just looking back through history, Ithink it would be hard pressed to find
a time or a period when peoplewere more prosperous than we are in this
(03:25):
country today. Most of us notonly have everything that we need, but
most of us also have the thingsthat we want that we necessarily don't need,
and yet so many people are notsatisfied. People complain, They whine
(03:47):
about everything, even though they haveso much to be thankful for. Let
me ask you, is complaining thiswhining? Is it something that we should
be concerned about or do we justsimply say, well, everybody does it.
Everybody complains just like most people overeat, and so we just kind of
(04:12):
have a tendency just kind of pushedthat to the side or just kind of
laugh it off as if it's notreally a big deal. Yeah, it
might be a sin, but it'snot a it's not a big sin.
It's not sin like other sins are, and so we just kind of brush
it off. I kind of fearfear that that's kind of the way that
we treat complaining. You know,we complain. It's just you know,
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it's just part of our natural makeupand that's just who we are. It's
not really a big deal. Well, the truth of the matter is is
every time that you and I complain. Every time that Israel complained, their
complaining was really against the Lord,because it was he who was directing their
(04:56):
circumstances. And so really, whenthe they complain, they complained against the
Lord. When you and I complain, we're complaining about the way that God
has ordered our circumstances. And sowhat it means is is that complaining is
a sin. It's a sin thatwe should treat seriously. In the Book
of James and James, chapter fiveand verse nine, James writes, grudge
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not one against another, lest yoube condemned. Now, another way of
translating that would be, do notcomplain brethren against one another, so that
you yourselves may not be judged.So James is talking about complaining four and
verses nine and ten. Use hospitalityone to another, without grudging or without
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complaining, as every man hath receivedthe gift. Even so, minister the
same one to another as good stewardsof the manifold grace of God. See
God called the nation of Israel thelight in this world. They were different.
They were God's people, and theywere to function as a light in
(06:06):
a world that was filled with darkness. Well, instead of shining as lights.
What they did was they whined andthey acted dislike the nations around them
did. So what I want todo for our time today is focus on
verses fourteen through sixteen, where Paulis continuing to talk about what I believe
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is the doctrine of sanctification. Versestwelve through thirteen. I believe Paul's talking
about sanctification. He talks about howthat we work out our salvation with fear
and trembling, but it is Godthat works in us. And so we
see that sanctification is both a workof man and a work of God.
(06:55):
We work together so that we canbe made into the image of Christ.
But keep in mind that God isthe inspiration. God is the source behind
our sanctification. So if you wantto alliterate, you could say that verses
twelve and thirteen we talked about theinspiration behind our sanctification, the one who
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inspires us, the one who works, and that's God. Last week we
looked at John chapter seventeen, Versesseventeen through nineteen, and once again we
talk again about sanctification. They're inJohn chapter seventeen and verse seventeen. Jesus
as he prays to his Father,he prays, sanctify them through thy truth.
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Thy word is true. And herewe focused on the instrument of sanctification.
We looked at the inspiration behind sanctification. Now we're looking at the instrument
of sanctification, and that's the Truth, that's the Word of God. So
why is it that we focus somuch of our time when we gather together
(08:03):
for our church services. Why dowe spend so much of our time reading
and talking about the Bible? Whydo we stress the importance of every day
spending time in the Bible? Whywhat's so important about the Bible? Because
it's God's Word and it's the instrumentof our sanctification. If we're going to
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be sanctified, if we're going tobe set apart, if we're going to
be godly, we're going to beholy, if we're going to be like
Christ, then we have to besanctified by the Word of God. And
so then this morning I want tolook again at the doctrine of sanctification,
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and we're going to look at theimportance of sanctification, and that I believe
is found in verses fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen. And what we're going
to look at this more is threereasons why it's important that we be sanctified.
Now, keep in mind, theseare not the only reasons. You
could probably come up with more,but these are the three reasons that I
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see in this particular text. Andso the first reason why it's important that
we be sanctified, it's because itpleases God verse fourteen. Do all things
without murmurings and disputings. Now,if you go back to verse thirteen,
which we looked at a few weeksago talking about sanctification, for it is
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God which worketh within you both thewill and to do. Now notice of
his good pleasure. God works inus because it pleases him to do so.
He's working to make us holy,to make us like his son.
It pleases him to do this eventhough keep in mind we're sinners, we
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were rebels against him. And yetin spite of that, God is pleased
to work in us well. Whenwe then do what verse twelve says,
when we work out our own salvationwith fear and trembling, when we steek
to obey the Lord, when wedo his will, when we live like
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Christ, the result is we pleaseGod, which should always be our aim.
Everything we do, we should doto please God. So God is
pleased to sanctify us. And whenwe are sanctified, when we work,
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we keep in mind that pleases God. You notice he says there do all
things, all that God prompts usto do. He does it for a
purpose. He does it for apurpose. And also keep in mind he
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gives us the strength to fulfill thatpurpose. Now, just what is God's
purpose anyway? What is it thatGod is doing? Why is it that
God saves us just so that we'llescape hell to make us a part of
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his family. Those two our benefits, but they're not the primary reason.
The main reason why God saves usis found I believe in Romans Chapter eight,
verses twenty eight and twenty nine,a passage that I'm sure we're all
very familiar with. Paul writes,and we know that all things work together
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for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to
His purpose. So he talks aboutbeing called according to his purpose? What
is his purpose? Verse twenty nine, for whom he did for No,
he also did predestinate. Now here'sthe purpose to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he mightbe the firstborn among many brethren. So
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I can't stress or emphasize too oftenwhat these two verses say to us.
Again, why is it that you'resaved. If you're saved, why does
God save you? Why did Godjustify you well to make you into the
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image of his son. That's whatGod's doing, That's what he's working in
us. That is the work ofsanctification, to make us more and more
like Jesus Christ. And so that'shis purpose. Now, keep in mind,
nothing happens by accident, nothing happensby just luck. You know,
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a lot of times, and Icatch myself doing this sometimes and I try
to not do this, but alot of times when somebody's going to do
something, you know, say mygrandkids are getting ready to play a football
game or a soccer game, andI say, good luck in your game.
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Or if they have a test that'sgoing to say, good luck on
your test, or if they're goingto take their driver's license the test,
good luck on your test. Ifthey go in for a job interview,
good luck in your interview. I'msaying something that I don't even believe,
because I don't believe there's any suchthing as luck. Not when a God
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who is sovereign who rules and reignsover all things. There's no such thing
as luck. No, there's noaccident. God is in sovereign control over
all things. So let's make surethat we always keep that in mind.
Now, our desire, as thosewho belong to Christ, our desire is
to please Him, to please theone who has saved us and the one
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who is sanctifying us. And weknow that Jesus always always pleased his father.
We know that on two occasions,when the father spoke audibly from heaven
in regard to his son, hesaid, this is my beloved son,
in whom I am pleased, knowin whom I am well pleased. So
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Jesus always did what pleased his father. Well, you and I who are
in Christ, you and I whoare united to Christ, you and I
who are saved, We should belike Christ. And the result is our
father will be well pleased. Now, in order for us then to do
this to please him, there's acouple of things that we need to avoid,
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and he brings it out in versefourteen. He said, do all
things noticed without murmurings and disputings.Murmuring that means grumbling, complaining, or
he talked about Israel and how theycomplained the Pharisees. They often grumbled and
complained about the Lord Jesus Christ.He breaks the Sabbath, he doesn't keep
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the sabbath, he doesn't keep thelaw. We're looking at him. He's
eating with prostitutes and tax collectors.So they were always grumbling. They were
complaining about what Jesus did. Thenhe talks about disputings. Means the question
to argue to where we get ourword dialogue. You know, today people
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are encouraged to well, to openup dialogue, to converse with each other,
to talk to air out our differences. Now, from a human standpoint
men regard relating to other man,there's no problem there. We probably do
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need to be more like that.We need to have a dialogue, We
need to have an open conversation.We need to be able to sit down
and air out our differences. Butfriends, when it comes to our relationship
with God, we don't need adialogue. We don't need to air out
our differences. What we need todo is put our hand over our mouth
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and be quiet. Stop questioning God, because the problem between man and God
does not rest with God. Theproblem is with man, and God has
spoken in his word of what manneeds to do, so there's no dialogue
that needs to take place. Butso often what happens is is that men,
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well, they question God's right torule and to reign and to do
the things that he does. Talkingabout obe and that's what we're doing.
We're to live in obedience to theLord. That's what it really means to
be sanctified. There's two different typesof obedience. There's a willing, cheerful
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obedience, where we do things becausewe want to and we do it cheerfully,
which is the way we should obey. And then there is a complaining
there's a grumbling obedience where we're doingsomething but we really don't want to.
I'm reminded of the story of theyoung boy who kept standing up in the
back seat of the car. Momkept saying, you need to sit down,
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you need to sit down, andfinally she said, if you don't
sit down, I'm going to pullover the car over and you're going to
be in trouble. And then theboy reluctantly sits down and mom looks back
and says, now that's better.And a little boy looks at his mom
and says, hey, i mightbe sitting down on the outside, but
I'm a standing on the inside.Well, that is the natural man.
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That is the way people are whoare not sanctified. You see, God
desires that his children obey, thatwe cheerfully obey and serve him. We
don't question him, we don't complain. You see, what happens is is
so often we find ourselves in adifficult situation. We find ourselves struggling,
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hurting, and we begin to question, We question God, we murmur,
we complain because of our circumstances.And it's easy for us to do this.
Oh, we probably all find ourselvesdoing that sometime, just questioning God,
complaining about our circumstances. Why God, why are you doing this?
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Don't you love me anymore? Don'tyou care? Well, when we find
ourselves in that situation, when thathappens, what do we need to do?
Well? A couple things real quickly, I think. First of all,
we simply need to remind ourselves ofwho God is. Friends. God
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is holy, God is just,God is righteous. God never does wrong.
God doesn't tempt us to sin.God always does what is right,
and so we have no reason tocomplain. Because God is just and right,
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and what he does, whatever comesinto our life, God means it
for good, not evil. Doyou believe that? Do you really believe
that? I certainly hope that youdo, because if you don't, you're
gonna find yourself murmuring and complaining allthe time. Sir, Heavenly Father is
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not so much concerned about how muchmoney we make, or how big a
house we have, or what kindof car we drive, or what kind
of clothes we wear, or howwell known we are or whatever we've accomplished.
No, He's mainly concerned with howmuch we look like his son.
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You realize that that's God's main purpose. That's what he's most concerned about.
He wants us to look just likehis son. He wants us to be
like him. Oh, if wecould really truly understand this, if we
would just grasp this, if wewould just continually remind ourselves every day that
this is what God is doing,This is what God's purpose is, and
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whatever comes in our life, goodor bad, it's for a reason.
It's for a purpose to make uslike his son, to sanctify us,
and we would stop complaining and pleasehim. Also, we need to remind
ourselves of God's greatness, of hissovereign power over all of us, which
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I just mentioned a minute ago.Let me read to you from Isaiah chapter
fifty five and verse eight. Formy thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways, saiththe Lord. How true that is verse
nine, For as the heavens arehigher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways and mythoughts. Then your thoughts kind of puts
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things in the right perspective, doesn'tit. Let's just realize something I heard
a pastor not too long ago saysomething. At first kind of kind of
caught me off guard, But thenas I thought about it, I thought
it makes good sense. And thatis every day when he starts out today
and is he's praying and having timewith the Lord, he will pray.
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Lord, help me to realize I'mnot God. Well, you say,
of course, he's not God.We're not. None of us are God.
But how often do we live likewe are? See, we put
ourself above God. We put ourways above his ways, our will before
his will. When we do that, what are we doing? We're saying
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I'm God? No, God isthe one who's in control, and he
doesn't have to explain to us everythinghe does. We don't have to understand
everything that he does. We knowthat he has a purpose in it,
and he's working for our sanctification.He's working to make us like his son.
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And when he does that, andhere's the point why that's important,
it's because it pleases him, andcertainly we want to please him. Well,
look at the other two more quickly, won't spend as much time with
them. Number two are sanctification crews. That we are the children of God
verse fifteen, that you may beblameless and harmless, the sons of God
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without The idea is is that well, when we work at our salvation with
fear and trembling, when we areas he says here, that we would
be blameless and harmless when this happens. What this does is it gives us
proof that we are the sons ofGod, that we are the children of
God, that we are saved.So he says that when we do this,
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he says, we're going to beblameless, means we're going to be
without the fact or without blemish,free from the judgment of others. I
think of Daniel as an example ofsomeone who was blameless. Daniel was taken
from Jerusalem, brought to Babylon,lived in the palace of an ungodly king,
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and yet he was blameless. Infact, later in his life,
when his enemies tried to get ridof him, the only fault they could
find with him was the fact thathe was fully devoted to serving his God
friends. Daniel was blameless. Andhe talked about harmless, being unmixed or
pure. Our lives are to bepure, they're not to be mixed with
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sin. And he talks about withoutrebuke, same idea, without blemish,
without spot. The Old Testament sacrificesall had to be without blemish. Why
because they represented Christ. They picturedChrist, who himself was without sin,
without blemish. So we talk aboutproving that we're the children of God.
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Who do we prove this too?Well, not to God because God already
knows, but we do it toourselves. We prove to ourselves that we
are the children of God. See, when we're sanctified, we're giving ourselves
an assurance and evidence that we aresaved, that the Holy Spirit is working
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in our lives. But also otherswill see this. So he says that
we do this in the midst ofa crooked, in perverse nation, crooked,
twisted, bent, old Testament.Israel was twisted so often. The
city of Philippi, where the Churchat Philippie was located, was a twisted,
corrupt city in need. I evensay today that we live in a
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day and time, in a societyof a country that is twisted and bent.
But as the children of God,those who are being sanctified, we're
called to be different, to livenot as the children of the world,
but to live as the children ofGod. And so when we're sanctified,
that just gives us a proof thatwe are we are different, we are
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the children of God. And thenfinally, our sanctification provides us an opportunity
for us to proclaim Christ. Atthe end of verse fifteen, he says
that we are to shine as lightsin the world. The world dwells in
darkness. We need to shine aslights. We are to be, as
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Jesus said, the light of theworld. We're called to dispose the darkness.
And to do that we have tobe different. And so if we're
going to be sanctified, and rememberthat's what we're talking about here, then
we're not gonna be able to livelike the world. We got to live
like Christ. And when we dothat, rest assured the world will take
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notice. The world's eyes are uponyou, Christian. The world is watching
you to see how you live theWhy it's important, he says in verse
sixteen, because we hold forth theWord of life. See when it comes
to us proclaiming Christ to the world, we need to do both of these.
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We need to live a godly life. We need to live a righteous
life, which then leads to anopportunity for us to proclaim the Gospel,
to proclaim Christ. Other words,think of light. Light has two function.
It exposes things. It shows thingsas they really are, and then
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it guides. He gives direction.It helps keep us show us the right
path. Well, friends, aswe talked about this morning, we need
to live a righteous life in orderfor us then to give guidance to those
who are in darkness, to showthem their need of Christ and to show
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them that He is their only hopeis salvation, and they need to put
their faith in trust in Him.And I certainly hope that you've done that,
that you live a righteous life,and then you're able to guide and
direct others. To show them theirneed of Christ. So what we've done
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this morning, as we wrap up, is we've looked at why it's important
for us to be sanctified, andI've given you three reasons. Because it
pleases God, because it proves thatwe're the children of God, and because
it provides an opportunity for us toproclaim Christ. Remember the title for the
message, Shine, don't Whine.So I pray that you know Christ,
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that you know Him as your Lordand Savior, and that you are now
in the process of being sanctified,and that you'll be able to do the
things that we've talked about this morninghere in this passage. We'd like to
thank you for listening to our programthis morning. We pray that God has
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used this message to draw you closerto Him. Storm Street Missionary Baptist Church
would like to take this opportunity toinvite you to any of its services.
We have a Sunday School which startsat nine thirty am, Sunday Morning Worship
ten fifteen, and our Sunday Eveningservice starts at six pm. We also
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have a Wednesday night Bible study thatstarts at seven point thirty. Storms Creek
Missionary Baptist Church is also on theinternet under sermonaudio dot com. You can
go to www. Dot sermon Audio, look for Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Church,
and listen to any of our sermonsin full length audio at the side.
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Again, we'd like to thank youfor listening this morning and make God
bless you throughout the week.
Good morning, and welcome to StormsCreek Missionary Baptist Church this Sunday morning radio
program. This morning, we'll bejoining Pastor Kenny Hurts because we once again
open the scriptures and study God's work. Okay, this morning we're going to
be in the Book of Philippians Philippians, chapter two, and I'm going to
(00:39):
begin by reading verses fourteen down throughverse sixteen. Do all things without murmurings
and disputings, that you may beblameless and harmless, the sons of God
without rebuke, in the midst ofa crooked in perverse nation, among whom
you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life,
(01:03):
that I may rejoice in the dayof Christ, that I have not run
in vain, neither labored in vain. I've titled the message for this morning
shine, Don't whine. Complaining issomething that we all well, we're all
(01:23):
guilty of from time to time.When I think about complaining, if I
think about an example from the Bible, I think about Old Testament Israel during
the time of their bondage and theirdeliverance from Egypt. They could be described
as being a complaining people, awhining people. For example, They complained
(01:49):
because they were in Egypt, andthen they complained because they were taken out
of Egypt. Remember, they toldMoses on more than one occasion, why
didn't you just leave us in Egypt? Did you bring us out here in
the wilderness to kill us? Wewere much better off even when we were
slaves in Egypt. They complained whenthere was no food. Then they complained
(02:15):
when there was too much food.We're tired of eating this same food.
We want something different to eat.They complained when there was no water,
Then they complained when the water wasbitter. They complained about the way that
Moses led them, and on andon and on. We could go by
(02:38):
looking at all the different ways thatthese people complained to God. But let's
make sure that we don't point thefinger at these people, because the truth
of the matter is is that weall do our share of whining, We
do our share of complaining. Imean, just think about today. I
(03:04):
think it's safe to say that weAmericans today probably live in the most prosperous
society that's ever existed. Now,I can't say that for sure, but
just looking back through history, Ithink it would be hard pressed to find
a time or a period when peoplewere more prosperous than we are in this
(03:25):
country today. Most of us notonly have everything that we need, but
most of us also have the thingsthat we want that we necessarily don't need,
and yet so many people are notsatisfied. People complain, They whine
(03:47):
about everything, even though they haveso much to be thankful for. Let
me ask you, is complaining thiswhining? Is it something that we should
be concerned about or do we justsimply say, well, everybody does it.
Everybody complains just like most people overeat, and so we just kind of
(04:12):
have a tendency just kind of pushedthat to the side or just kind of
laugh it off as if it's notreally a big deal. Yeah, it
might be a sin, but it'snot a it's not a big sin.
It's not sin like other sins are, and so we just kind of brush
it off. I kind of fearfear that that's kind of the way that
we treat complaining. You know,we complain. It's just you know,
(04:33):
it's just part of our natural makeupand that's just who we are. It's
not really a big deal. Well, the truth of the matter is is
every time that you and I complain. Every time that Israel complained, their
complaining was really against the Lord,because it was he who was directing their
(04:56):
circumstances. And so really, whenthe they complain, they complained against the
Lord. When you and I complain, we're complaining about the way that God
has ordered our circumstances. And sowhat it means is is that complaining is
a sin. It's a sin thatwe should treat seriously. In the Book
of James and James, chapter fiveand verse nine, James writes, grudge
(05:19):
not one against another, lest yoube condemned. Now, another way of
translating that would be, do notcomplain brethren against one another, so that
you yourselves may not be judged.So James is talking about complaining four and
verses nine and ten. Use hospitalityone to another, without grudging or without
(05:46):
complaining, as every man hath receivedthe gift. Even so, minister the
same one to another as good stewardsof the manifold grace of God. See
God called the nation of Israel thelight in this world. They were different.
They were God's people, and theywere to function as a light in
(06:06):
a world that was filled with darkness. Well, instead of shining as lights.
What they did was they whined andthey acted dislike the nations around them
did. So what I want todo for our time today is focus on
verses fourteen through sixteen, where Paulis continuing to talk about what I believe
(06:31):
is the doctrine of sanctification. Versestwelve through thirteen. I believe Paul's talking
about sanctification. He talks about howthat we work out our salvation with fear
and trembling, but it is Godthat works in us. And so we
see that sanctification is both a workof man and a work of God.
(06:55):
We work together so that we canbe made into the image of Christ.
But keep in mind that God isthe inspiration. God is the source behind
our sanctification. So if you wantto alliterate, you could say that verses
twelve and thirteen we talked about theinspiration behind our sanctification, the one who
(07:16):
inspires us, the one who works, and that's God. Last week we
looked at John chapter seventeen, Versesseventeen through nineteen, and once again we
talk again about sanctification. They're inJohn chapter seventeen and verse seventeen. Jesus
as he prays to his Father,he prays, sanctify them through thy truth.
(07:40):
Thy word is true. And herewe focused on the instrument of sanctification.
We looked at the inspiration behind sanctification. Now we're looking at the instrument
of sanctification, and that's the Truth, that's the Word of God. So
why is it that we focus somuch of our time when we gather together
(08:03):
for our church services. Why dowe spend so much of our time reading
and talking about the Bible? Whydo we stress the importance of every day
spending time in the Bible? Whywhat's so important about the Bible? Because
it's God's Word and it's the instrumentof our sanctification. If we're going to
(08:24):
be sanctified, if we're going tobe set apart, if we're going to
be godly, we're going to beholy, if we're going to be like
Christ, then we have to besanctified by the Word of God. And
so then this morning I want tolook again at the doctrine of sanctification,
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and we're going to look at theimportance of sanctification, and that I believe
is found in verses fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen. And what we're going
to look at this more is threereasons why it's important that we be sanctified.
Now, keep in mind, theseare not the only reasons. You
could probably come up with more,but these are the three reasons that I
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see in this particular text. Andso the first reason why it's important that
we be sanctified, it's because itpleases God verse fourteen. Do all things
without murmurings and disputings. Now,if you go back to verse thirteen,
which we looked at a few weeksago talking about sanctification, for it is
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God which worketh within you both thewill and to do. Now notice of
his good pleasure. God works inus because it pleases him to do so.
He's working to make us holy,to make us like his son.
It pleases him to do this eventhough keep in mind we're sinners, we
(10:00):
were rebels against him. And yetin spite of that, God is pleased
to work in us well. Whenwe then do what verse twelve says,
when we work out our own salvationwith fear and trembling, when we steek
to obey the Lord, when wedo his will, when we live like
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Christ, the result is we pleaseGod, which should always be our aim.
Everything we do, we should doto please God. So God is
pleased to sanctify us. And whenwe are sanctified, when we work,
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we keep in mind that pleases God. You notice he says there do all
things, all that God prompts usto do. He does it for a
purpose. He does it for apurpose. And also keep in mind he
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gives us the strength to fulfill thatpurpose. Now, just what is God's
purpose anyway? What is it thatGod is doing? Why is it that
God saves us just so that we'llescape hell to make us a part of
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his family. Those two our benefits, but they're not the primary reason.
The main reason why God saves usis found I believe in Romans Chapter eight,
verses twenty eight and twenty nine,a passage that I'm sure we're all
very familiar with. Paul writes,and we know that all things work together
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for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to
His purpose. So he talks aboutbeing called according to his purpose? What
is his purpose? Verse twenty nine, for whom he did for No,
he also did predestinate. Now here'sthe purpose to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he mightbe the firstborn among many brethren. So
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I can't stress or emphasize too oftenwhat these two verses say to us.
Again, why is it that you'resaved. If you're saved, why does
God save you? Why did Godjustify you well to make you into the
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image of his son. That's whatGod's doing, That's what he's working in
us. That is the work ofsanctification, to make us more and more
like Jesus Christ. And so that'shis purpose. Now, keep in mind,
nothing happens by accident, nothing happensby just luck. You know,
(13:03):
a lot of times, and Icatch myself doing this sometimes and I try
to not do this, but alot of times when somebody's going to do
something, you know, say mygrandkids are getting ready to play a football
game or a soccer game, andI say, good luck in your game.
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Or if they have a test that'sgoing to say, good luck on
your test, or if they're goingto take their driver's license the test,
good luck on your test. Ifthey go in for a job interview,
good luck in your interview. I'msaying something that I don't even believe,
because I don't believe there's any suchthing as luck. Not when a God
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who is sovereign who rules and reignsover all things. There's no such thing
as luck. No, there's noaccident. God is in sovereign control over
all things. So let's make surethat we always keep that in mind.
Now, our desire, as thosewho belong to Christ, our desire is
to please Him, to please theone who has saved us and the one
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who is sanctifying us. And weknow that Jesus always always pleased his father.
We know that on two occasions,when the father spoke audibly from heaven
in regard to his son, hesaid, this is my beloved son,
in whom I am pleased, knowin whom I am well pleased. So
(14:33):
Jesus always did what pleased his father. Well, you and I who are
in Christ, you and I whoare united to Christ, you and I
who are saved, We should belike Christ. And the result is our
father will be well pleased. Now, in order for us then to do
this to please him, there's acouple of things that we need to avoid,
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and he brings it out in versefourteen. He said, do all
things noticed without murmurings and disputings.Murmuring that means grumbling, complaining, or
he talked about Israel and how theycomplained the Pharisees. They often grumbled and
complained about the Lord Jesus Christ.He breaks the Sabbath, he doesn't keep
(15:18):
the sabbath, he doesn't keep thelaw. We're looking at him. He's
eating with prostitutes and tax collectors.So they were always grumbling. They were
complaining about what Jesus did. Thenhe talks about disputings. Means the question
to argue to where we get ourword dialogue. You know, today people
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are encouraged to well, to openup dialogue, to converse with each other,
to talk to air out our differences. Now, from a human standpoint
men regard relating to other man,there's no problem there. We probably do
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need to be more like that.We need to have a dialogue, We
need to have an open conversation.We need to be able to sit down
and air out our differences. Butfriends, when it comes to our relationship
with God, we don't need adialogue. We don't need to air out
our differences. What we need todo is put our hand over our mouth
(16:27):
and be quiet. Stop questioning God, because the problem between man and God
does not rest with God. Theproblem is with man, and God has
spoken in his word of what manneeds to do, so there's no dialogue
that needs to take place. Butso often what happens is is that men,
(16:51):
well, they question God's right torule and to reign and to do
the things that he does. Talkingabout obe and that's what we're doing.
We're to live in obedience to theLord. That's what it really means to
be sanctified. There's two different typesof obedience. There's a willing, cheerful
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obedience, where we do things becausewe want to and we do it cheerfully,
which is the way we should obey. And then there is a complaining
there's a grumbling obedience where we're doingsomething but we really don't want to.
I'm reminded of the story of theyoung boy who kept standing up in the
back seat of the car. Momkept saying, you need to sit down,
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you need to sit down, andfinally she said, if you don't
sit down, I'm going to pullover the car over and you're going to
be in trouble. And then theboy reluctantly sits down and mom looks back
and says, now that's better.And a little boy looks at his mom
and says, hey, i mightbe sitting down on the outside, but
I'm a standing on the inside.Well, that is the natural man.
(18:00):
That is the way people are whoare not sanctified. You see, God
desires that his children obey, thatwe cheerfully obey and serve him. We
don't question him, we don't complain. You see, what happens is is
so often we find ourselves in adifficult situation. We find ourselves struggling,
(18:22):
hurting, and we begin to question, We question God, we murmur,
we complain because of our circumstances.And it's easy for us to do this.
Oh, we probably all find ourselvesdoing that sometime, just questioning God,
complaining about our circumstances. Why God, why are you doing this?
(18:45):
Don't you love me anymore? Don'tyou care? Well, when we find
ourselves in that situation, when thathappens, what do we need to do?
Well? A couple things real quickly, I think. First of all,
we simply need to remind ourselves ofwho God is. Friends. God
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is holy, God is just,God is righteous. God never does wrong.
God doesn't tempt us to sin.God always does what is right,
and so we have no reason tocomplain. Because God is just and right,
(19:29):
and what he does, whatever comesinto our life, God means it
for good, not evil. Doyou believe that? Do you really believe
that? I certainly hope that youdo, because if you don't, you're
gonna find yourself murmuring and complaining allthe time. Sir, Heavenly Father is
(19:53):
not so much concerned about how muchmoney we make, or how big a
house we have, or what kindof car we drive, or what kind
of clothes we wear, or howwell known we are or whatever we've accomplished.
No, He's mainly concerned with howmuch we look like his son.
(20:15):
You realize that that's God's main purpose. That's what he's most concerned about.
He wants us to look just likehis son. He wants us to be
like him. Oh, if wecould really truly understand this, if we
would just grasp this, if wewould just continually remind ourselves every day that
this is what God is doing,This is what God's purpose is, and
(20:38):
whatever comes in our life, goodor bad, it's for a reason.
It's for a purpose to make uslike his son, to sanctify us,
and we would stop complaining and pleasehim. Also, we need to remind
ourselves of God's greatness, of hissovereign power over all of us, which
(20:59):
I just mentioned a minute ago.Let me read to you from Isaiah chapter
fifty five and verse eight. Formy thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways, saiththe Lord. How true that is verse
nine, For as the heavens arehigher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways and mythoughts. Then your thoughts kind of puts
(21:26):
things in the right perspective, doesn'tit. Let's just realize something I heard
a pastor not too long ago saysomething. At first kind of kind of
caught me off guard, But thenas I thought about it, I thought
it makes good sense. And thatis every day when he starts out today
and is he's praying and having timewith the Lord, he will pray.
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Lord, help me to realize I'mnot God. Well, you say,
of course, he's not God.We're not. None of us are God.
But how often do we live likewe are? See, we put
ourself above God. We put ourways above his ways, our will before
his will. When we do that, what are we doing? We're saying
(22:14):
I'm God? No, God isthe one who's in control, and he
doesn't have to explain to us everythinghe does. We don't have to understand
everything that he does. We knowthat he has a purpose in it,
and he's working for our sanctification.He's working to make us like his son.
(22:37):
And when he does that, andhere's the point why that's important,
it's because it pleases him, andcertainly we want to please him. Well,
look at the other two more quickly, won't spend as much time with
them. Number two are sanctification crews. That we are the children of God
verse fifteen, that you may beblameless and harmless, the sons of God
(22:59):
without The idea is is that well, when we work at our salvation with
fear and trembling, when we areas he says here, that we would
be blameless and harmless when this happens. What this does is it gives us
proof that we are the sons ofGod, that we are the children of
God, that we are saved.So he says that when we do this,
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he says, we're going to beblameless, means we're going to be
without the fact or without blemish,free from the judgment of others. I
think of Daniel as an example ofsomeone who was blameless. Daniel was taken
from Jerusalem, brought to Babylon,lived in the palace of an ungodly king,
(23:44):
and yet he was blameless. Infact, later in his life,
when his enemies tried to get ridof him, the only fault they could
find with him was the fact thathe was fully devoted to serving his God
friends. Daniel was blameless. Andhe talked about harmless, being unmixed or
pure. Our lives are to bepure, they're not to be mixed with
(24:06):
sin. And he talks about withoutrebuke, same idea, without blemish,
without spot. The Old Testament sacrificesall had to be without blemish. Why
because they represented Christ. They picturedChrist, who himself was without sin,
without blemish. So we talk aboutproving that we're the children of God.
(24:29):
Who do we prove this too?Well, not to God because God already
knows, but we do it toourselves. We prove to ourselves that we
are the children of God. See, when we're sanctified, we're giving ourselves
an assurance and evidence that we aresaved, that the Holy Spirit is working
(24:52):
in our lives. But also otherswill see this. So he says that
we do this in the midst ofa crooked, in perverse nation, crooked,
twisted, bent, old Testament.Israel was twisted so often. The
city of Philippi, where the Churchat Philippie was located, was a twisted,
corrupt city in need. I evensay today that we live in a
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day and time, in a societyof a country that is twisted and bent.
But as the children of God,those who are being sanctified, we're
called to be different, to livenot as the children of the world,
but to live as the children ofGod. And so when we're sanctified,
that just gives us a proof thatwe are we are different, we are
(25:37):
the children of God. And thenfinally, our sanctification provides us an opportunity
for us to proclaim Christ. Atthe end of verse fifteen, he says
that we are to shine as lightsin the world. The world dwells in
darkness. We need to shine aslights. We are to be, as
(26:00):
Jesus said, the light of theworld. We're called to dispose the darkness.
And to do that we have tobe different. And so if we're
going to be sanctified, and rememberthat's what we're talking about here, then
we're not gonna be able to livelike the world. We got to live
like Christ. And when we dothat, rest assured the world will take
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notice. The world's eyes are uponyou, Christian. The world is watching
you to see how you live theWhy it's important, he says in verse
sixteen, because we hold forth theWord of life. See when it comes
to us proclaiming Christ to the world, we need to do both of these.
(26:45):
We need to live a godly life. We need to live a righteous
life, which then leads to anopportunity for us to proclaim the Gospel,
to proclaim Christ. Other words,think of light. Light has two function.
It exposes things. It shows thingsas they really are, and then
(27:07):
it guides. He gives direction.It helps keep us show us the right
path. Well, friends, aswe talked about this morning, we need
to live a righteous life in orderfor us then to give guidance to those
who are in darkness, to showthem their need of Christ and to show
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them that He is their only hopeis salvation, and they need to put
their faith in trust in Him.And I certainly hope that you've done that,
that you live a righteous life,and then you're able to guide and
direct others. To show them theirneed of Christ. So what we've done
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this morning, as we wrap up, is we've looked at why it's important
for us to be sanctified, andI've given you three reasons. Because it
pleases God, because it proves thatwe're the children of God, and because
it provides an opportunity for us toproclaim Christ. Remember the title for the
message, Shine, don't Whine.So I pray that you know Christ,
(28:15):
that you know Him as your Lordand Savior, and that you are now
in the process of being sanctified,and that you'll be able to do the
things that we've talked about this morninghere in this passage. We'd like to
thank you for listening to our programthis morning. We pray that God has
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used this message to draw you closerto Him. Storm Street Missionary Baptist Church
would like to take this opportunity toinvite you to any of its services.
We have a Sunday School which startsat nine thirty am, Sunday Morning Worship
ten fifteen, and our Sunday Eveningservice starts at six pm. We also
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have a Wednesday night Bible study thatstarts at seven point thirty. Storms Creek
Missionary Baptist Church is also on theinternet under sermonaudio dot com. You can
go to www. Dot sermon Audio, look for Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Church,
and listen to any of our sermonsin full length audio at the side.
(29:18):
Again, we'd like to thank youfor listening this morning and make God
bless you throughout the week.
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