Well, good morning. Our main passage will be in Luke chapter 16. We're going to read about the rich man and Lazarus. There's so many things we could take out of these passages, but really I only have four points. Jesus told this story to the Pharisees because they were Lovers of money. And they also taught that if you were rich, that means God approved of you. And if you were poor, God disapproved of you. So this story is coming from that. I would like to start with verse 19 of Luke chapter 16. There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus, in like manner, bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you is a great chasm. It's been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able and none may cross from there to us. And he said, then I beg you, Father, send him to my father's house where I have five brothers. so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment. But Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said, no, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. He said to them, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. Point one is Abraham's bosom. Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom. It's not translated that for us because that doesn't really have that much meaning to us, so at Abraham's side is how we read it, but culturally it did have a meaning back then. Fast forward to the night before Jesus was crucified. He's in the upper room with His disciples, and they are celebrating the Passover meal. I know you've seen that picture of them sitting around a table. That's not how it happened. The table had legs only a foot or two tall, and they reclined at the table. and their feet would go out to the side. And the way they were sitting that night, Jesus and John were back to back with their feet going out, and it would go all the way around. And there was a point where Jesus said, out of nowhere, He said, one of you is going to betray me tonight. And that was shock. What? Is it me? Is it me? And Peter being Peter, he's off to the side. He looks at John and he goes, ask him. Ask him. Find out who it is. So, John leans into Jesus' breast. In other words, the scripture says he was in his bosom and he asked him who it was. And of course, it was Judas. That's how he found out. Well, our culture is different. If you're in my bosom, you've violated my space. You know, get away. But we also sit at a table. You know, back then, it was okay. They would lean up against each other and John actually probably leaned and turned and whispered into his ear. But being in someone's bosom is a sign of feasting and a fellowship and all is good. All is really good. So what we have here, my first point is we're considering the condition of Lazarus when he died. The angels took him and carried him to Abraham's bosom. Immediately, immediately, he's in a place of feasting and fellowship. And did you notice who he is fellowshipping with? Abraham himself. I see social distinctions going away, don't you? It doesn't matter your lot in life here as far as whether you're somebody important or somebody low. If you are a believer in Christ, you have a crown of righteousness waiting for you. And you are going to be in Abraham's bosom. So actually you're going to be in Jesus' bosom. So that's point one, consider the condition of Lazarus. Point two, consider the condition of the rich man. Look at verse 23. He's in torment and anguish. And the next verse, he is experiencing a burning from flames. But something else I want you to notice about this rich man. Now let's say you've never heard this story before and we hadn't read it yet and I was telling it to you. And then what do you think would be the first thing out of the rich man's mouth if he's looking over this chasm and far off in the distance he could see Abraham and Lazarus and he could communicate with them? I would guess it would be something like this. Oh, Lazarus, I'm so sorry. I should have treated you better. I had more than enough. I really should have had mercy on you. And I should have treated you kindly. And I didn't. And I am so sorry. And Abraham, I should have read the prophets. I should have understood. I see now that you were justified by faith and not by words. I see that and I am so sorry. No, no, not at all. He didn't even talk to Lazarus. He went directly to Abraham and he said, Father Abraham, he's using the race card, or the ethnic card. Hey, bro, brother, I'm Jewish, you're Jewish, would you do me a favor here and send Lazarus at my bidding? He must have really been in torment because the only thing he requested was a drop of water on his tongue. You know, if you get the flu real bad or you've got a fever, what are you thinking about? You're just thinking about one thing. You're not going to pick a book off of the shelf and read Ben-Hur or something like that, no. I want relief. That's the only thing you can think about. And so that's what this man is thinking about. He still thinks he's better than Lazarus. He still thinks, send that guy to do my bidding. So, his character hasn't changed, has it? He's still unconverted. And he's still the same guy, but now he is in torment. So that's point two. Consider the condition of the rich man. Point three that I want to give this morning is there is a, as the King James says it, a great gulf fixed. There is a chasm. Now, even if Lazarus did have compassion on him and wanted to give him a drink of water or whatever, he couldn't. There's no way he could cross. And, obviously, the rich man cannot leave where he is at all. Do you know there's not even a break room in hell? No relief whatsoever. No way of getting out whatsoever. Now, I know there are some, even today, that are saying, you know, yeah, hell exists, but they're only going to be there a certain amount of time, and then God is going to annihilate them, and they will cease to exist, because that's just too awful to think about, that someone could be in hell forever. But if that's the case, then Jesus is lying to us. Or he's mistaken. Because he says it's a place where the worm dieth not. So, go with the Scriptures, go with what Jesus says, and this is a permanent condition with no relief. Where the tree falls, that's where it will lie. Now, I will confess this. I have a hard time. I have a very hard time with hell being forever when I think about it. But I think there's two reasons why I have a difficulty with it. One, I really do not comprehend how holy God really is. I can't bring it in. I can't. There's another thing I can't comprehend fully is how bad my sin is. Now, I do see that my sin is not as bad as your sin. I'm teasing, I'm teasing. But isn't it how we think? We've got an excuse for our sin. But listen, in God's eyes, our sin is really, really bad. And we need a Savior, don't we? Okay, so we've looked quickly at the condition of Lazarus, and we like that one, being in Abraham's bosom or in Jesus' bosom. We've considered the condition of the rich man, we don't like that at all, but we know it's true. And point three, that is a chasm that is fixed, and it's eternal. Hard to comprehend, but that's what God's Word says, that's what Jesus says, and so we're going with it. Now my fourth point is Moses and the prophets. From this story, we know that if the rich man and his brothers, if they would hear Moses and the prophets, they could escape that place. That was the Bible back then, the Old Testament. Well, let's go there for a moment. Turn to Deuteronomy 18. Or if you want, you could just listen. And we will see in the Old Testament Scriptures a way that a person could escape this eternal torment. And they are rightly to be there because of their sin. Verse 15, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to him you shall listen. Just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire anymore lest I die. And the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth. and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words, that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him." In other words, God is sending a prophet greater than Moses who will speak the words of God and we must listen to him or we will be judged. That's what that said. Now, I'm going to read from John 3, 34. For he whom God has sent, oh, he has sent somebody, utters the words of God. Oh, God put words in his mouth. I think we've got the prophet that Moses was talking about. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." Remains on him. Remains on him. Forever and ever and ever. 1 John 4, verse 13 says, By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit. And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. I think I've shown you through the scriptures that Jesus is the one that God has sent with His words, and He has the words of eternal life. To disobey the Son is to disobey what Jesus said. He said, repent and believe the gospel, for the kingdom of God is at hand, and it is by faith in the Son of God. So, my four points. Consider the condition of Lazarus. That's where we want to be. I'd rather be a poor man on this earth materially speaking, and spend my eternity in the bosom of Jesus. Point two, the rich man. That rich man, right now today, 2,000 years later, is still in torment, and he has no less days. Point number three, there's a great gulf fixed. His condition is not going to change. And by the way, your condition in heaven is not going to change either. Man, we can relax. Isn't that great? And point number four, eternal life is found in the Scriptures, and that is through Jesus Christ our Lord. Alright, I always look forward to these times, this time of year, the new year before us. I'm so thankful that the Lord has allowed another year of life for all of us here today. I'm just going to be doing a reading from Joshua chapter 24. Joshua in the Old Testament chapter 24. I want to take the reading from verses 14 and 15 in Joshua chapter 24. Joshua says, now therefore fear the Lord. Serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. And if it's evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. This portion of Scripture that we have before us this morning is a fascinating portion in the Old Testament as when the children of Israel came into the land. And what's going on here, just to give you a little bit of context, in chapter 24, if you turn back there and look in the very first verse, you see there, right above the heading in 24, the covenant renewed at Shechem. Now we know that Shechem was a place that where Joseph was buried, and we know that they were commanded to go back there. And so here we are, in the beginning of them coming through the land. And what's going on here is that Joshua is about to go off the scene. He knows his time is brief. And what he does, he gives the nation of Israel a brief synopsis or survey of how God has dealt with that nation. And he goes back even before any of these people were born. He goes back to the time of Abraham. And he talks about how God has shown the nation all of his power and keeping all of his promises. And he gives them this brief history lesson all the way back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then in verse 5 through 7, what he does is he speaks about them being in Egypt and the plagues and the eventual destruction of the Egyptians at the Red Sea. And at the end of verse seven, he says this, your eyes saw what I did in Egypt and you lived in the wilderness a long time. Now, all of these people that he's speaking to here were in Egypt at that time when they came out. If you remember what happened to those people, all of the people that came out, there was a certain amount of them that didn't come into the promised land. Why is that? It's because they didn't believe God and they wouldn't come in and pursue and take the land. And so everybody 20 years old and older died in the wilderness. God said every one of your bodies are going to lay strong in the wilderness. But everybody that's under 20 and younger, 19 and under, they're going to come into the land because they what? Didn't grumble. And then we see that there in verse 7, he says, and you lived in the wilderness a long time. And then in verse 8-10, God is speaking through Joshua and he speaks of his activity for them in the 40 years of the wanderings. And he talks about how he defeated the Amorites and God says that they fought with you and I gave them into your hand and I destroyed them before you. And then in verse 11 through 13, God speaks of his recent activity in their site, what happened when they came across the Jordan and when they started overtaking Jericho and all the other people in that land, the Gergesites and the Jebusites and all of the Amorites and all of these Rites and Ites and all that. And we see that in the text. But what is God doing when he's rehashing all of this stuff that's gone on in the life of these people? And what He's doing, beloved, He's reminding them of His goodness and His faithfulness to them and causing their remembrance of His activity and benefits to them is for the purpose to do something. It's this right here. It's to naturally bind their hearts and their obligation and their affection to Him. That's what He's doing it for. God has to remind you and I of that too many times. Do you know that? He does. But what God is doing is He is showing them his faithfulness and his love for this people. And he says that in verse 14 that I just read, it says, now, therefore, in other words, now, all of this that I just said, therefore, this is what you're to do. And he says this, you're to fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Now, when we read that, what is the, What is the application that we can make to our own lives about this? Because I love to do that when I see a portion of scripture and I'm reminded of something that's gone on in my life. And even before I was born and even before you were born, God was at work. Do you know that? He was at work in your life before you ever existed. It tells us that in Psalm 139. Before you were formed in the womb. He knew your days before they were ever formed for you. And God knew that. And God brought your parents together at one time. And they had you, didn't they? And you were birthed physically into the world. And God saw that. He saw to that. He saw that that would happen to you. And then also there was a time in your life that you lived your life. You were in sin. You didn't know the Lord. You weren't saved. You weren't converted. You were living in darkness. You weren't in the kingdom of light. And God preserved you in all of that time in your life. until the gospel came to you, until somebody told you the gospel, until you heard a preacher preach it, whatever the case may have been, you saw yourself as a sinner, and God preserved you up until that time to when you said, Lord, I'm yours. I'm not mine anymore, I belong to you, so Lord, do with me what you will. And God preserved you up until that time. And also, He saved you, and He's grown you since that time that He saved you, and He's helped you all along. Look at the past year. Look at all of us. Here this morning, the past year, there's been times in your life, I know that you've gone through dark valleys. I mean, recent activity in your life that God's done in your life this past year, He's helped you. We've heard of people going to the doctor and the doctor giving good news. We've heard of people being helped by physicians and things like that. We've heard that God was in control of that because of the prayers of the saints that went up for you, that God helps you. And God has helped us. In the recent activity, and he's done all this this past year, God has been faithful. And the principle that we see from all this is this right here, is that God is always working on behalf of his people, whether you know it or not. Did you know that? Right now God's working something in your life. If you're a believer here today, God's working something in your life. We don't know what it is, but He's doing something. Even when you're going through a trial or you're going through a dark valley or whatever it may be, you may be on top of the mountain right now. I hope you are. But beloved, no matter where you're at on the scale, God's doing a work right now. He's never not idle for His people. He's prepared works beforehand. It tells us that in Ephesians 2.10 that He has prepared works for you and I before you and I were ever born that we should walk in those works, right? So we know that God's working. He works for His people. He knows you personally. And He's done that work since before you were born just like the Israelites before they ever came into existence. He worked with Abraham, pagan moon worshiper. He brought him to faith. And justified him because why? Because Abraham believed God. Now, the question is this. What does it look like to serve the Lord in sincerity and faithfulness? That's what it says in the text. Serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Well, let me just give you a few little things here before we wrap this up. Number one, sincerity. It means this. It means genuine motives. It means that our motives should be genuine, doing the things in our life that don't bring us any acclamation or praise or anything like that, but it brings God glory. Everything that you and I should be doing in our lives shouldn't be for somebody to say, look at me, but just look at Him. Look at God. See what God's done. And if somebody says, well, this is what happened in my life, and God did this work in my life, then look at Him, because He's the one that did the work in my life and in your life. And so we see that, number one, that there's genuine motives. It's not self. It's not for man's praise. It's not out of convenience. Many times serving the Lord isn't convenient. Many times when we serve the Lord in faithfulness and in sincerity, it's not for convenience. And a lot of times it's not convenient. Sometimes it's even painful. But we're not doing it for us. We're doing it for His glory. And we get the blessing out of it. Also, being honest and having integrity. That's another way of insincerity. Being truthful and just in all dealings. Rejecting hypocrisy. I can't stand it when I hear somebody talk about how much they love the Lord and then you don't see them for a long time. I'm not talking about this, but I'm talking about people out in the world that I've talked to in different situations. Oh yeah, I love the Lord. I'm a Christian. I'm this and I'm that. Where do you go worship at? Well, once in a while me and the family may head over to this church or that church or whatever. But they're not being honest. They're having hypocrisy in their life. They're living one way and claiming something else. We talked about it in Psalm 1 this morning just a little while ago. And also we see in sincerity there's authentic worship. Beloved, you and I are here this morning just to check it off the list. I'm not here, and you're not here, just to say, well, I attended Salt Rock Baptist Church this morning. I'm good to go for another six or seven days, or until we meet again, or whatever. That's not why we're here. We're here, number one, to worship the Lord and give Him praise, honor, and glory in our lives. That's what we're here for. And I just count it an honor and thankfulness to God that I'm allowed to even speak to you, because I don't feel worthy to do that at all. None of us do. None of us feel worthy for anything that God's done in our life. But look in the past. He's done stuff in your life. Why did He do that? Because He loves you. And He loves me. And many times we don't want to accept that love because we don't think we're worthy. Well, you're not. Join the club. You're not worthy. I'm not worthy. But oh, He's worthy to praise Him for all that He's done for you and I. Authentic worship. We're not here just to check it off the list. Secondly, the faithfulness. What is faithfulness? Well, faithfulness, beloved, is following the Lord even when it's challenging. It's being faithful and being obedient. That's what it is. It's obedience. It's being unwavering and with a commitment and steadfastness and following the Lord. You know, a lot of times it is hard to follow the Lord and to be committed and to have that steadfastness and diligence. working unto the Lord, working even when somebody doesn't even see it, and working and knowing that the Lord is the one that's keeping the account. He's the one that's keeping the record. He's the one that's watching us and watching all that we do. And what are we doing it for? We're doing it because we're faithful, we want to be obedient, we want to be committed Christians, indulgent. And beloved, listen, I want to say this before I finish this up, is that Your children, they notice your faithfulness more so than anybody else. The people that live in your home notice faithfulness more than anybody else. And I've seen this over and over times past, that if they don't see a steadfastness and a commitment and an obedience to the local body, they're going to believe that church is unnecessary. They're going to believe that it's not necessary to be there. And beloved, it is necessary if you're not providentially hindered. It's a necessity to be with other believers. I could not picture my life without doing life with you all. Every one of you in here. If I don't speak to you, I'm sorry. Just come up to me and slap me. I love every one of you in here. And I want you to know that. And I want you to know that when I come here, I find it a joy and a blessing to see your face. It's one of those things that God can only do. Christian family is more important than anything in this life. And your children see that. They see your committed steadfastness and your diligence in doing that. And so, just for two things I want to say for two different people. For the saved person, look back at this past year and see what God's done in your life. I guarantee if you're breathing right now, you can sit there and go, yes, Lord, I thank you for this. I know you were over here, Father. I know you did this for me. Lord, I couldn't have stood if you hadn't have been undergirding me with your Holy Spirit. I couldn't have done anything unless you were the one that was doing it. And to the lost person, God's given you opportunity to be here this morning. You're sucking air. His kindness and patience is meant to bring you to repentance and to cause you to see yourself as you truly are and to know your weakness and to trust Him and to turn to Him. So my exhortation to you, beloved, is this. Trust the Lord this year with everything. Be committed to the Lord and serve the Lord with sincerity and faithfulness in all things, amen? Father, thank you so much for all that you do. Lord, we pray that you'd bless our time together today, Father. Help us to see you, Father, afresh and anew, in Christ's name, amen. Good morning. If we take your Bible and turn to the book of Proverbs, chapter number 16. The book of Proverbs, chapter number 16. We'll be in Proverbs, then we'll go to another place here in just a moment. Proverbs 16 and verse number 18. Very familiar verse. Proverbs 16, 18. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Let me read it again. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. The first step toward destruction, it says, is pride. It's pride. I was thinking about the seven churches in Revelation. Revelation 2 and 3 talks about seven churches. There are letters from Jesus to those seven churches, and He's basing it off of what He sees. There's commendation in there saying, good job, you're doing good, and then there's also a rebuke in there to some of those churches, things that they need to correct. If you look at those seven churches, there are two of them are not rebuked at all. Jesus says, keep doing what you're doing, you're faithful, you're doing fine, and He has no corrective for these two churches. But the other five, They are given direct orders to correct their error or else. And Jesus threatens these churches. We get a few observations from those seven churches, from those points. And that is that one church is not necessarily as good as another. Some churches are given commendation with no correction. Others are given correction. So some churches are more healthier than other churches. Well, there's no perfect church. Some are more healthier than others. And while there is no perfect church, it is still possible for a church to receive a commendation from Jesus, a good job and approval, without the need for correction. I want to be that kind of church. I don't know about you. I would like to fit into that kind of a church. We see that there's five others that are given rebukes. And these seven churches, they're types of churches that exist today. So you can use those seven as gauges to really evaluate any given church in our modern day. Question is, if Jesus sent a letter to Solid Rock Baptist, what would that letter say? What are the things he would commend? What are the things he would rebuke? Well, I always thought about the church of Ephesus. And the church of Ephesus is a wonderful church that had a lot of doctrinal soundness to it. They held fast to doctrine, they practiced church discipline. But Jesus said, the one thing against you I have is that you've left your first love. And that's the only thing that he rebukes them for, and leaving your first love, leaving the love of Christ, leads to a downfall. So you can have things doctrinally in order, you can practice church discipline, you can correct error, you can teach properly. And I think about our church, I do think about that we have Gifted elders here. We've got four men that preach and teach the Word. I'm thankful to sit under these three men. And we're pretty blessed. I mean, there's a lot of churches that don't have a pastor right now. There's tons of churches. And we've got a little bit more than we know what to do with sometimes. We've got four men. And that's great to have. I think we've got great teaching. I don't think we've arrived. And if we think we've arrived, that's the first step to falling. Pride goes before destruction. So we don't need to think we've arrived. But I'm very thankful for the teaching and the doctrine that comes from this church. But I do think that knowledge, according to 1 Corinthians 8, 1, it has a tendency to puff up. So if we're not careful at our church, Solid Rock Baptist Church, we can take on an attitude, I think, of pride. I know I can. That's a danger that I have to guard personally all the time. And I think a church that is as gifted as we are and has the eldership that we do and the teaching that we have, I think we need to guard against pride. We really need to guard against that because I think that a church that is well instructed becomes vulnerable to pride. And I think a church that is vulnerable to pride becomes capable then of leaving their first love. Your affection for Jesus starts to grow cold and you're content in what you know. And that can take on a coldness about a church. So a doctrinally sound church can become cold with no affection and lead to a downfall. I don't want our church to be susceptible to that. So how do you guard against pride? I could write a book about that because I'm a very prideful young man. I used to be quite prideful. I still struggle with that. I'm working on a book on humility right now. It's called How I Arrived. It'll be out shortly. I'm just kidding. As soon as you talk about humility, it's shy. It leaves, right? You can't really talk about it. But how do you guard against pride? Well, there's some things that I keep in my mind. I keep in my mind that number one, I'm not God. Now you need to know that by the way. If you don't know that, you need to know that. God is in charge and there's no office running for re-election and there's nobody running against him. I'm not God. So that should automatically make me humble to know I am not in charge of everything. God is. Another thing that I keep in mind is I am finite. I am limited. I'm more limited in many ways than a lot of other people that are more gifted than I am. I'm a finite person. I'm also fallible. So are you. We're fallible. We're finite. We're capable of falling. And also, lastly, that I keep in my mind is I'm sinful. I have fallen many times. And I need to be very careful about thinking that I've arrived when I've demonstrated many times that I've tripped over my own self. I'm a sinful person. These things help you to keep you humble. Remember, you're not in charge of everything. You're not God. You could fall. You have fallen. You're sinful. You're blinded. God is omniscient and eternal. He sees the end from the beginning. We're short-sighted and ignorant. We don't see anything beyond right now. We're very ignorant. These are things that help. But while these are great reasons to be humble, there's one more that I want to bring to your attention, that I want you to focus on. And it is an example from one man, namely the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to tell you about Christ is that He chose to humble Himself But He's God. So He can't use that as a reason to humble Himself. He's God. He's also infallible. He's not finite. He's infinite. He's not sinful. But He chose to humble Himself. That's an amazing example. I want to take you to a place you know where I'm going, and I want to pull out a few verses and show you the example of Jesus Christ. Go to Philippians chapter 2, and let me show you a few verses about Christ. I just want to talk to you about Jesus and His humility. I need this. I need to focus on Him, and I need to be more humble like He is, and this is a great place to go. Philippians chapter 2, and you'll see it in verses 3 through 11. I want to focus on verses 6, 7, and 8. Philippians chapter 2, notice in verse number 3. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. But in humility, there's our word, in humility, count other people more significant than yourself. That's a good instruction. You need to not think you're the most important person in the church. I'm not the most important person, no matter what we do. We need to count others as more important than we are. That's a great attitude to have. Verse 4, here's how you do that. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. I'm prone to seeking my own interests and neglecting others and putting the plan over the people. But we need to see to the interests of others. We need to have this mind, this humble state of mind among ourselves, verse 5, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Now, speaking of humility, He points you to Jesus Christ. This is the ultimate example of humility. I want you to think about what these next few verses are going to say. Follow them with me. Look at this first point in verse 6. Speaking of Christ Jesus, though He was in the form of God. Now, the word was, we could translate that a different way. We could say He existed. in the form of God. The word was makes it sound like maybe He was something that He's not anymore. And that's not what this is trying to say. He existed in the form of God. It's a continued state. He always was, He is, and always will be. That's what that word was means. He existed then when He chose to do something. He was in the form of God. And the word form, let me give you a couple of Greek words. Morphe is one of them. Schema is another one. Now, Morphe is the essential nature of something that never changes. Schema could be the outward shape that changes. In other words, my form, my Morphe, is a man. I'm a male. But my schema has changed over the years. I was a baby at one time. I became a toddler, a young man. And one day my form will change even more and I will be an old man and I won't be able to eat as much as I do now. And that makes me sad that the outward form is changing. Is it not though? The schema is changing. But the form, the morphe, never changes. I'm always going to be a male. That's free, by the way. You can't change that no matter what you try to do. That is your essential nature. You're either a male or a female. But that's free, neither here nor there. I digress. But Jesus was in the, and this is the word morphe of God. That means the essential nature of Jesus that never changes is that he took the morphe and was in the morphe of God. Jesus himself was God. Jesus' essential nature that existed before the beginning of the world was in the exact same unchanging configuration as that of eternal God Himself. He is God. That's His morphe. That's what this is saying. He's central nature. Jesus existed before He was born. That boggles my mind. He existed before Bethlehem. He not only existed then, but He was by very nature the one true and eternal God, namely Yahweh Himself. Hebrews 1.3 says He is the exact imprint or the exact representation of God's nature. He is God. He didn't become God. He's always been in the morphe of God. And then number two, look at what it says about him. While he was essentially God, he did not count or he didn't think or consider equality with God a thing to be grasped. He was equal with God here, but he didn't count that as something to be grasped, the best phrase is to be held on to. He didn't think about equality with God, something to be held on to. And this is where we see the beginning of his humility, the beginning of his condensation, the beginning of him coming down, is in his mind, he didn't think of the rights that I have as deity as something I should hold on to. He didn't give up His deity, but He gave up His rights as deity. That's amazing to me. He didn't stop being God, but He didn't demand His rights. He refuses to hold on to His prerogatives. He doesn't cling to His privileges, although He could. He didn't stop being God, but he does lay down his rights. This is his attitude. He didn't demand his privileges as God that he could have demanded. He didn't demand his rights. The incarnation, him becoming a man begins with his attitude of being unselfish. We could say humble. He had the attitude of humility. He didn't think of that to be something to be held on to. And then look at this third thing, verse seven, but he emptied himself. He emptied himself. This is his action. If the end of verse 6 there, if that's his attitude of humility, here is the action of humility. Being equal with God did not cause him to fill himself up with those privileges, but he emptied himself of those privileges. The word empty is where we get the idea of kenosis. Sometimes really Kyle he goes to sleep about nine o'clock at night I'll call him at 855 and I'll say let's discuss the kenosis and he's about to pass out because he's so tired because it's late The kenosis is not something you want to discuss whenever you're about to go to bed That's where we get the word kenosis from it is the self emptying of of Christ. It's his choosing to empty himself nobody emptied him he emptied himself and please note He did not empty Himself of His deity. He didn't stop being God. He didn't empty Himself of His deity, but of His rights as deity. He didn't demand the rights that were rightfully His. Wow, that's amazing to me that He didn't do that, that He did not demand those things. It says in John 17, 5, that He laid aside His own glory. Because He wants that glory back whenever He accomplishes the work that the Father sent Him to do. Remember the song, Mild He lays His glory by. Born that men no more may die. He lays aside His glory. He lays aside the use of His independence. When He became a man, He depended on God. He lays aside that use. He lays aside the use of His omniscience. He said, not even He Himself as a man knew the day or the hour of the second coming. He didn't stop being God, but He didn't use His omniscience. He lays it aside. He lays aside the use of His omnipotence. On the cross, He could have called down legions of angels. By speaking a word, He caused people that came to arrest Him to fall over. He had great power, but He didn't use it. He didn't use it. He lays it aside. We could say 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, though he was rich, he became poor for your sake. He lays aside the use. He emptied himself. And then it tells us how. By, and here's the explanation of the self-emptying, by taking the form of a servant. The word is slave. Oh, here's our word morphe again. He took the essential nature of a man. He became a man. He took the form, the essential nature of a slave. Jesus came to serve. It's amazing. Luke 22-27, I am among you as one who serves. You know Mark 10, where He said, the Son of Man, He didn't come to be served. He came to serve. That's the self-empty. I didn't come to be served. I came to serve. And if He didn't, we wouldn't be saved. This is essential. He took the form. He took the morphe, the essential nature of a slave. Amazing. Even after His resurrection, even right now, There is a God-man in heaven. There's a man in heaven that sits on the throne. But it's not just any man, because He didn't stop being God when He became man. Two natures in one person. That is amazing to me. He took the morphe, the form, the essential nature of a slave, and He was born in the likeness of men. He took the essential attributes of humanity on Himself. It says in John 1 that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We saw His glory. He became a baby, the One who made everything. The one who created Mary was born and depended on Mary. The one who made everything experienced hunger. That is a level of humility that I don't know anything about. He took on the form of a slave. He was born in the likeness of man. Verse 8 was found in human form. Without ceasing to be what He always was, He became something He had never been. That is amazing. Without ceasing to be God by nature, He became a human by nature and added that nature to Himself. Verse 8, being found in human form. It's the word schema. Not only did he become a human, but he became a human that had to experience changes in his outward shape. Remember, he was a baby. He was 12 years old in Luke. He became a man. He had to experience changes in his humanity. He was a real man. He wasn't just somebody that had a halo over his head that kind of floated around. He was a real human being that experienced real temptations. Real weaknesses. He identifies with us. He was found in human form. And here's the phrase, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. His death was an act of obedience to God. And not only death, Even death on a cross, the most degraded form of death you could imagine. The most humiliating death you could imagine. The death of a criminal. Now we're talking about a different level of humility. Now, he not only was obedient to the point of death, he experienced a criminal's death. He's lower, lower, lower, and lower from the heights of heaven to the depths of Golgotha on a criminal's cross. What an act of humility. Therefore, what did God do? Well, since he did this, God has highly exalted him. He humbled himself and God exalted him. And he bestowed on him the name that's above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The rich man in Hades He confesses that Jesus is Lord, even where He's at in Hades suffering. But He did it too late. You need to do it today. Because every knee will bow. His knee is bowed to Jesus right now. His confession is that Jesus is Lord right now. But if it's not made before death, your eternity is settled. Forever. You've got it to do. You have to bow the knee to this Jesus and confess Him as Lord. I'm going to let Peter give you the last word. The Apostle Peter said, chapter 5, verse 6, humble yourselves. Jesus humbled Himself for you. You should humble yourself for Him. Humble yourself. Under the mighty hand of God, now listen now, so that at the proper time, He may exalt you. You humble yourself and let God take care of exalting you. He'll do it in the proper time. We should be humbled by who we are, but we should really ultimately be humbled by who He is and what He did. Study Christ this year. Do not study anything else more than you study Jesus Christ. Learn to be humble. We can't let our church become cold and dead with a bunch of knowledge without an affection that burns for this Jesus. We can't lose our first love. Stay humble, study Christ, follow him. Humble yourselves and God will exalt you at the right time. Amen. Lord, thank you for the day. Thank you for the morning. Thank you for Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen. Well, you've endured all the way up to the end. After that, I commend you. One more to go and we'll be finished. I hope you've been encouraged by the words of our brothers up to this point. And praying God will help us all the way here to the very end. You know, one of the responsibilities that we elders have is to give counsel to the people of God. We're to lead in the Word of God, we're to preach the Word of God, teach the Word of God, and to give counsel. And oftentimes that counsel comes privately. Perhaps you have a question or something going on in your life and you need counsel, you need help, you need insight, you need direction. That happens a lot pastorally. We get asked questions and have the great privilege of shepherding the people of God by giving counsel. And also, not only do we preach and teach, but I think it's important, like on a day like today, where we give public counsel from the pulpit. And that's what I want to do. is take a few moments. These exhortations that I have, the counsels that I have, they can all be traced back to individual passages in the Bible, and so I'm not going to go to every single passage that I could to proof text the things that I want to say, but I want to give you... These are biblical counsels that certainly could be traced to individual passages, but let me read one text of Scripture this morning, and it's in Proverbs chapter 15, if you want to turn there. Just a couple of verses, verse 31 to 33, this is very familiar to you, at least the concept will be. Proverbs 15, 31 to 33. This is a reminder to us this morning about listening to counsel. It says, "...the ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom and humility comes before honor. This is one place in the Proverbs, among many, that the listener is exhorted to listen to and to take counsel. And so what I want to do in the time that I have this morning is I want to give you six counsels and then I want to conclude with a final word of comfort as we enter into the new year. Number one, my first counsel to you this morning, be certain that you are in fact a true Christian. Be certain that you are, in fact, a true Christian. Now, why would I have to say something like that today? Obviously, we're here in a church, speaking to members of the church. We come as professing Christians, so why do we need to be exhorted to be sure that we are true Christians? Well, the Bible tells us to do that, doesn't it? In many places, our Lord Jesus was so kind and compassionate to warn us and to let us know and understand the fact that there would be people along the way who would make those professions of faith who would end up not being genuine Christians. That certainly has been true all along the line, since the very beginning of the church. But we think about the times in which we live today. We often talk about the state of the church as we look around at large. It certainly is a discouraging day from many perspectives. There's so much error. There's so much bad doctrine that's been propagated through the years. Pretty much on every head of theology. Not just salvific doctrine, but just about any category that you could talk about. Satan has his agents and has had men to propagate false doctrine. And what happens in the mix of all of that is that people start getting confused about what is the truth. What is the straight and narrow? What is the real thing? What is the plumb line, so to speak? So with all of that confusion and all of the mess that's out there, there's so much opportunity for people to encounter a counterfeit gospel. Now I know our brother Brent just a moment ago was talking about the great privilege that we all have together in coming to the church to hear truth, to hear men stand and speak and proclaim the message of the gospel. And we say to you that we do our very best to make sure that we're highlighting all the different elements of the Gospel so that you can see the luster of the Gospel diamond shine brightly and so that you understand it from all of the many angles at which it's laid out in the Holy Scriptures. But beloved, outside of that, outside of a protective environment like that where you get to hear the Word, and because of the fact that we have so much access to different teachers and different ministries and different whoever, talking heads, all the technology. When you leave the protective environment that God has placed you in, you enter out into that world where all that confusion is fluttering around. And so, we need to be careful, those of us who have professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we have not subscribed to a counterfeit gospel and actually have become hypocrites. And so, we need to be sure of our salvation. That's my first counsel to you, is to be certain that you are, in fact, a true Christian. Number two, my second counsel. Live a holy life before a watching world. I don't think there's a premium, high enough premium today placed on holiness. We should talk about holiness more, shouldn't we? After all, our triune God is what? Holy, holy, holy. And the Bible tells us that as He is holy, we are also to be holy. And we are to shine, the Bible says, as lights in the world. We are to point to our Heavenly Father. We're to live in such a way that The man of the world can look at the Christian and say, there's something different about that man or that woman. There's something that should be in our lives that's attractive to the onlooker. And I think that attractive thing is the sparkle of godliness or holiness. And so we need to live holy lives. We need to practice what we preach. Whatever we profess, we need to practice that. And we need to work at it. And we need to grow in holiness. We need to grow in maturity. We need to grow in these areas so that we honor the Lord Jesus Christ in all of our lives so as to, again, shine the gospel light. It's holiness and love that sets us apart. And people need to see that. So as you think about your life, you think about the fact, am I really a Christian? You check the box and you say, yes, the Lord has saved me. He's changed my life. I've subscribed to the true gospel. I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Not mixing anything to that. No element of my works. None of that. God's changed my life. Step number two is what? Start living a holy life before a watching world. You should never tire of striving for greater degrees of holiness in your life. That's my second counsel. Live a holy life before a watching world. Number three, know the times in which you live and be a discerning Christian. Know the times in which you live and be a discerning Christian. A great error in the life of professing Christians is to be oblivious to the things that are going on around us. Beloved, we are called upon how many times over and over in the Scriptures to be watching and to have our eyes wide open. We are to take captive everything to the Lord Jesus Christ. We should be looking certainly in our own local environments, in our nation, in the world. I mean, the cause of Christ is a global cause, isn't it? and we're to participate at every level. Certainly, the Lord has placed us in a local church. He's given us a local environment where we live and move and have our being. We bump into people. We have a certain environment in which we live. We need to be discerning about our own environment. We need to understand the spiritual obstacles that are even right here locally that we face in this part of the world. You know, if you lived in a different part of America, some of the spiritual obstacles might be a little bit different than what they are here. They might take on a different form. I mean, what do we have right here on our own local environment? I mean, think about the number of churches. Think about the different denominations that are present right here in such a small locale, and then we start thinking about the state of the church, and we hear this group over here with this message, and this one over here with this message, and oftentimes those messages don't agree. And you mix all of that up in an environment and that produces a certain religious landscape. If you were to go to another part of America, let's say that you went out west somewhere where there aren't as many churches gathered together. Maybe they're a little bit more spread out and you have to drive a pretty good piece to get to a church. Certainly they're going to have their own spiritual landscape and difficulties and it's going to look different than it looks right here. What's the point? The point is that as believers we have to be very discerning, don't we? About the times in which we live, our own local environment, what's going on nationally, what's going on in the world. We're to pay attention. We're to be alert. The Scriptures call us to this. We need to be alert so that we can make the proper responses to things. And if we're just unconcerned about it, or if we're distracted by other things, we need to understand that's a deadly position for us to take. It's not going to be good for us. It's not going to be good for our families. Certainly, let me just put as an addendum here, that if you're going to grow in discernment, beloved, you have to be much in the Bible. You have to have the mind of Christ. So as you enter into the new year, be much in the Bible so that you can be discerning. Alright, that's three. Number one, be certain you're a Christian. Number two, live a holy life before a watching world. Number three, know the times in which you live and be discerning. Number four, Be wise about your enemy and do battle. Be wise about your enemy and do battle. Beloved, we must understand that as Christians we have a formidable enemy. There is a being that exists in the world and he and his minions and his system in the world is absolutely opposed to everything that you love and stand for. He hates the Lord Jesus Christ. He hates your person because you've been saved by him. And we would be quite foolish if we weren't conscious of and mindful of our great foe and our great Adversary. The Bible tells us that He prowls around. He's looking to devour. He's looking to mess up your life. He's looking to mess up this church, and the church down the street, and this family over here, and that family over there, and the halls of government there, and over there, and all the rest. He's very active. He never tires. He never rests. He's always pressing His agenda. And beloved, we have a responsibility to push right back. And we're called upon to stand our ground. We're to put on the Christian armor. We're to know how to use that armor. And we don't give up one inch to the enemy. Let's not be oblivious to the enemy because if you're oblivious, you're going to be defeated in a moment. We have a formidable enemy. Be wise about your enemy and do battle. Do your duty. Let me say it this way. Don't be naive about it. Don't be naive about the devil. There certainly is a battle that's going on in the world and we need to participate. It's a battle for souls ultimately, isn't it? Satan wants to keep people blind and in the dark. We have a responsibility to go to war against him for the good of the souls of other people. Number five, number five. Give your all to the local church. Press into the local church to the max. Give your all to the local church. You know, there's so many ways to think about the local church, and you've heard us use the language before that the church is an outcropping of heaven. I like to think about that. I mean, this is as good as it gets down here. I mean, this side of heaven. I mean, obviously when we enter into heaven, we're going to be in the presence of all the saints and the angels and the Lord Jesus Christ, and you know, you're going to see things in their perfection. But down here, this is an outcropping. This is a drop of heaven, so to speak. What we do here is much of what we're going to be doing there. The worship of God. The corporate worship of the people of God. And there's so many metaphors to think about the church. It's an outcropping of heaven. Another way to think about the church is that the church is the Christian's fort. It's the Christian's home base. This is the place of safety. This is the place that you run to for protection and to get your armaments and to get built up so that you can go out into the world. God has designed it so that the believer needs the local church this side of heaven to be prepared for heaven and to live their life successfully while they're down here below. You deceive yourself if you think that the local church can just be on the fringes of your life. Beloved, the church needs to be front and center in your life. You need to pour everything that you can into the church. This is where God wants you to live out your life. It requires a serious commitment from the people of God. And you should be willing to make those commitments to the local church that God has placed you in. By the way, this is not a rebuke in any way. I'm so thankful for you in the way that you love the local church. This is just a counsel of something that you need to remember to give your all to the local church. Press in, make those commitments. Listen, just make the commitment, right? Just do it one time. Be convinced, be convicted in your mind that you must have the local church. I am so thankful Looking back over the course of my life, and I think about the commitments that my parents made in raising myself and my two brothers, I just knew what was happening on Sunday and Wednesdays. There wasn't any question about it. There wasn't ever a getting up on Sunday morning and saying to my dad, Dad, are we going to church today? There wasn't ever a Wednesday that came around and I'd say to Dad, Hey Dad, are we going to church tonight? I remember when I played little league baseball. I remember our practices. We had a couple of practices a week. One of them fell on Wednesday. Fell on Wednesday afternoon and evening. And had I stayed at the entirety of the practice, I would have not been able to be at church. Practice was a couple hour practice. Guess what my dad did? My dad let me go the first half of the practice, then he came and picked me up and took me to church. Because being at practice was going to interfere with being with church. Listen, you know what that communicated to me as a young man? My dad. I didn't believe it yet, but my dad believed church was important. And my dad put his action behind what he said he believed. I mean, I understood there was something special about this place that we go to called the church. And I'm so thankful for that witness that my dad did not capitulate. He didn't give one, he didn't care we were going to be there because he centered our family's life around the local church. Parents, it's one of the best things you can do for your children. Listen, I know I'm hanging out here for a little while, but if you will be consistent in showing your children that the church is the place where you center your life, it's going to produce a measure of safety and stability for your children. And if you say, we're Christians and we love the local church, but you don't back that up by consistent action and participation and involvement in the church, your children will remember that. Not what you said about the local church. They will remember what you did. You follow me? My dad's actions of having us at church all the time preached so much louder than any words he said about being at church. Give your all to the local church. Press in to the max. Lastly, number six. Walk with the Lord now and be ready and expecting His return in the future. Walk with the Lord right now and be ready and be expecting His return in the future. As you think about that, being prepared, walking with the Lord now, being prepared for His coming in the future, you have to remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said would be the condition in the culture before He comes again. Do you remember that statement where Jesus says, as in the days of Noah, so it will be? Well, what was happening in the days of Noah? The people were completely unprepared, weren't they? They just weren't prepared. And that's what's going to happen in the future, beloved. There is a great spiritual earthquake that is coming one day in the future where the Lord Jesus is going to rock this world. And people are going to be unprepared for it. They're not going to be ready. As the approaching of the second coming gets nearer and nearer, beloved, that is going to create a crisis for so many people. And we need to be ready. We need to be prepared. The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is next on the timetable of God. Do you believe that? He came the first time. He's been building His church and the gospel. He's been going to the ends of the earth. Well, what's next prophetically on the timetable of God? Oh, beloved, it's the second coming of Christ and all of the things that have been prophesied that are connected to that second coming. You need to think about the time clock of God and recognize that Jesus is in fact coming again. You need to expect it. You need to watch for it. You don't need to be surprised by eschatological events when they come. Maybe we can say it this way, we have to stay awake and we have to be serious and we have to move on and we have to walk with the Lord and we have to be ready for His return. Amen? So what are these six things again that I have to say to you today? Be certain that you're a true Christian. Live a holy life before a watching world. Know the times that you live in and be discerning. Be wise about your enemy and do battle. Give your all to the local church and walk with the Lord now and be ready and expecting His return. There's my six counsels and I'll finish with a final word of comfort. Hebrews chapter 13 verses 5 and 6 come to be some of my favorite verses. Beautiful, beautiful words. He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? You see, that's what we should remember while we're here below in our earthly pilgrimage. We've been saved. We started a spiritual pilgrimage when we were saved. We're moving forward to the promised land, to use that language. We're in a pilgrimage now, walking through the wilderness of this world, and we need to remember. I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you down there below. God's going to come through on His promises to us, beloved. And you need to preach that to yourself. And in response to that, you say, no matter what happens down here, no matter the way I may be assailed by the enemy, no matter the way Satan may mess with me and the troubles and the trials and the hardships of life, I have to remember He's not going to leave me. He's not going to forsake me. What can man do to me? What ultimately can happen to me down here that my Lord won't be able to overcome? Be confident. Be comforted in your God as you enter into the new year. Amen. Father, we thank You for Your Word today. We thank You for these exhortations from all the elders. Lord, I pray that it's been an encouragement to Your people. I pray that they would grab on to at least something that we've said today, Lord, and they would be able to meditate on it and think about it. Lord, use it devotionally in their life or instructively in their life. Whatever the medicine is for the hour, Lord, You know the needs of Your people. So Lord, we take all of this instruction that's come out of the mouths of Your servants today, Father, and we just ask for a blessing on it. Lord, we pray as we enter into the new year that You would go with us and be with us and help us. Lord, we don't want to stray from Your paths or from Your ways. We want to be faithful to You, Father, as You are always so very faithful to us. Help us to keep our eyes on Your Word and on the Lord Jesus Christ as we go forward. Lord, we pray for a bountiful new year. Lord, not just temporally and physically in our own personal lives, but we pray for a bountiful year, Lord, here in the church. Lord, we long for a harvest. We pray that through the ministry of this church, through the preaching of the word and the ministry of the saints, Lord, that many people would be saved and that you would do great things here and that you would bless us, Lord, and that we would just find joy and gladness in you. Thank you for this church. Thank you for the friendships and the relationships that we have with one another. We pray for help and we pray for guidance and blessing. Be with your people. In Christ's name, amen.