Hey everyone, thanks again for listening to another Q&A with the pastor. On the Tuesday following when Keith preached on Colossians chapter 1 verses 21 through 23. Now Keith, it seems like this passage was very connected to the passage in the previous week of exalting Christ, but what was specifically different about this passage? The previous passage was all about who he was and then Paul makes these very strong transition and verse 21, and you. So the focus turns from who Christ is to what he has done for us. So he's the creator and savior and then Paul begins to apply his salvation to us and then make application for that. Now it seemed like in the first third of your sermon you were really driving hard at us in light of the cross but still being sinful. Is that a hard message to preach to a crowd? Is that difficult? Do you feel weary? What do you think about when you think about preaching to a crowd about... No, those kind of passages are actually fairly easier to preach in the sense that what Brian Chappell calls the fallen condition is just absolutely clear. This is who we were as sinners. I want the church to feel the full weight of what their sin is and what the consequences of it were without Christ. That way we can appreciate Christ all the more. So, the real wrestling I did was to preach to the church, this is who you were, while also showing that there are still consequences of it that continue now because we still are sinners. or to kind of just focus on the non-Christian. I decided to stay with the Christian who is still a sinner, although forgiven, mainly because that's where Paul's going and I hope that non-Christians in attendance would already start feeling the weight of sin by the power of the Spirit. Yeah, just going along with that, you asked us to remind ourselves where we came from, where we were in a condition without Christ. Can it be dangerous to think about where we came from too much in the sense of if I keep reminding myself of my past in life, does that approach a danger of being enticed by that once again? Yeah, if you continue to play back, you know, it's kind of how somebody gives a testimony. Do they glorify the Christ who has redeemed them from who they were? Do they talk about their past sin in such a way that actually glorifies it in some way? I've heard people give a testimony that way. It just sounds weird and, well, it's odd. Yeah, where the sin part seemed to be more fun. Exciting them. Yes, and they emphasize that even more than with Christ. So, yeah, the danger could be that you could be enticed by it. The danger could be that you are overwhelming yourself with guilt for it. I really think it would be up to kind of the different kinds of personalities and the way they approach it. But the key is to remember who we were so that when we look at, that draws to the cross and so that gives us a deeper sense and gratitude towards Him. So, there has to be a balance. It isn't just looking at your sin. That's kind of where the intense introspection alone is just not helpful. It's looking within and looking up at the same time. Now, you encouraged us to examine some things in our life, more specifically of when reminding ourselves of what God did in light of our sin, but also when you spoke about feeling separated from God, you encouraged us to find the root of that, go back to that maybe sin pattern or that sin circumstance that led to us feeling separated from God. What's an example of that, or are there examples that you can kind of play out that would help us to fully understand what you're talking about in terms of finding the root of a sin pattern. Yeah, an obvious kind of hard, concrete example would be someone who is continually looking at pornography and wondering why they don't feel like God's love is present in them or that they feel distant. Or someone who is stealing regularly, someone who is in such a clear life of rebellion, someone who is cheating on their wife or their husband. and then wondering why I don't feel the same joy in Christ anymore. Those are kind of the obvious ones. Less obvious would be something like feeling the conviction that maybe you should stop watching TV as much. Something a little more innocent than those other clear, blatant, sinful habits or sinful choices. Maybe you should stop watching as much TV, but you continue to watch TV and not focus on what scripture and prayer and so forth. The other side of that is self-righteousness. You know, that it's not just kind of gross sins, but self-righteousness. Trying to certainly think too much of yourself can also keep you from really finding and experiencing that regular joy in Christ. So, I think that is as dangerous in the church, if not more, than the gross sins. So, yeah. Yeah, I think I hear what you're saying is what, you know, define the focus. When you're feeling separated from God, what is your focus on? And I think we can easily find my focus is on Facebook all the time. I mean, is that what you're kind of going at, or? Well, as I was, you know, a main thrust of this sermon, even in the first two parts, I tried to drive it towards the idea of perseverance and assurance. Martin Louis Jones taught this, and that's something I've always remembered. If you're ever battling with assurance, the first thing you need to do is start tracing back to when you lost that assurance and identify the sins that you were not repenting of around that, around that time. And so, anytime he ever wrestled with someone who was having a lack of assurance and was never trying to answer intellectual problems, he always focused first on the most likely problem, and that is a sin problem. that is causing a lack of assurance. I think that's a good diagnosis from a spiritual doctor there. The doctor. Yeah. Well, just going along with that with perseverance and You know that was a big thrust and a big ending to your sermon. How important of a doctrine is perseverance of the saints? And I know that you spoke about the difference of just taking refuge and perseverance versus once saved always saved. But how important of a doctrine is that to study and ask about and examine the scriptures with? Yeah, you know, I think the... Because it seems to be always assumed that I'm saved, so I'm okay. Yeah, the teaching that once saved, always saved, okay, on face value, that's good, but what is that really saying? Is it giving people tickets to heaven that are really false hope? You know, that I don't have to worry about what I do now because Jesus died for all my sins. I mean, that's clearly not following what Paul taught in Romans 6. And so many people who are wrestling with assurance, I think it comes down to sin. I think a Christian having a proper balance between God's preserving them and then their call to persevere, those two have to always be present. It's not me trying to keep myself in God's will because it's He who keeps me, but also recognizing that I have to be fighting and driving towards God because my sin is so dangerous. And so there's a certain amount of rest that we have in his preservation and a clear call to fight and our call to persevere. So those two have to be together. And I fear that oftentimes we put one against the other. We don't have both together in a clear doctrine of assurance, actually. Well, just going along with that with the idea of perseverance. Do you see it more as a comforting doctrine or as a hopeful doctrine, or should it scare the Christian within their perseverance? How do you look at those passages within this context or within Hebrews, where you can read it and feel like Paul is warning us, but also you can read it and feel very comforted? What angle do you take from that? Yeah, there's a fear. What I see the author of Hebrews doing is saying, if you're approaching God with fear, you do not have the proper perspective of Christ and assurance. I think assurance gives you hope and joy and perseverance is something that grows out of that. If you're doing it out of fear, you need to be very afraid, wary that that really is a motivation of self-righteousness or doing something outside of Christ. You persevere out of joy. You're compelled by the love of Christ. So, I think we should be afraid of sin and the power it can have. And so, we persevere against it. But, yeah, fear of God. Again, I mentioned in the sermon, Hebrews 12 makes it very clear. You do not come to the mountain with fear anymore. You come to the mountain with boldness and with joy because of what Christ has done. So, if your motivation is fear related to God, there's something wrong. If you're afraid of sin, well, that's probably good. That means you've got a good grasp of the depth of your hostile mind. It's really a matter of where the fear will be placed. Now, when you spoke about this within the sermon, you basically had some militant language within it. I mean, you were using fighting words to talk about fighting words, I think. Is that how you always examine perseverance? I mean, are we in a battlefield? Whereas, you know, we're all looking for harmony and peace with others. Yet, how should we look at that within a militant kind of framework that Paul's writing in? Yeah, I kind of walked away thinking I just sounded like a dictator. You know, I mean, really making a charge to go to battle. Actually, it was from A.W. Tozer, you know, the world is not a playground, it's a battlefield. That was actually just taken straight from him. That's something that's always been challenging to me from his writing either on the knowledge of the holy, I think it's another work of his actually. But anyway. Yeah, I think we do have to prepare ourselves for battling. Paul talks about being a good soldier, running a good race, fighting a good fight. Again, there's the balance of resting in Christ, but also being armed and ready for the temptation of Satan and the temptation of our own sin nature. Yeah, it is. I actually quoted the hymn. I'm not sure if I quoted it correctly in my closing prayer. I'm definitely quoting it wrong now. The church at battle will be the church at rest. The church who is militant now will be the church at rest. We need to have the hope that we will have rest. That we're going to battle now. So yeah, I think there is a clear call to arms. When I think about battle, I mean, we can internalize it certainly. Like, I think, how can I fight sin and temptation? How do you as a pastor, and for the other leaders in this church, how do you work to prepare others for that battle? I mean, all of us know some younger Christians, and how do you encourage them that you are saved and that's wonderful, but the battle's not over? Like, Satan still wants to bring you down. Yeah, the number one thing I try to do is make sure they find absolute peace in what Christ has accomplished for them. He is the victor. That's where our battle cry begins. He is our victor. He is the champion. He has accomplished sure victory. And so we go to battle under his banner. And then it is battling inside our own nature, battling against the desires that come up within our hearts. Also going to battle against Satan. I think that's something that's lost in the evangelical church. Clearly, taking in mind that Satan is at work fighting against the church, placing false prophets within a church, being aware and being very on guard, being watchful, as Paul said. So, yeah, there's numerous ways. There's being internally watchful and battling there, and being externally watchful and battling with what you hear and what you're being taught. Well, just to kind of close this out, you opened your sermon and closed your sermon talking about Polycarp and what he dealt with, with being burnt and being persecuted. What are some other heroes that we can look up to as Christians, such as Polycarp, who we can take pride in the fact that we want to have that kind of boldness and have that kind of love for Christ? I mean, who else besides Polycarp can you think of? both if there's a recent history or a long-ago history that you would look at? Well, for more recent, which would be easier things to read, we could look at missionaries that were under persecution. And so we have Adnarum Judson, we have Hudson, we have, well, contemporary, you have to be on the mission field. For early church fathers, you'd have to look anything kind of pre-origin, pre-Constantine, where Christians are now safe because, well, Constantine had a dream. It is interesting, there is a turn in the way the early church fathers wrote about these things between, say, Origen and the Cappadocians because their parents were under fear of persecution and they are no longer. That's where you start seeing Christian writing blowing up because they literally needed freedom. Athanasius was persecuted, he was actually exiled four different times. Yeah, you asked for a resource, Fox's Book of Martyrs. is a really helpful kind of resource of many people who are martyred and persecuted throughout the church age. I actually think D.C. Talk recently came out with a book, recently, in the last decade, came out with a book of kind of contemporary persecuted peoples. I didn't read it, but, I mean, I'm a big fan of anything Tooey Mack does. So, I'm down with the D.C. Talk. I'm just thankful for our new intern that actually did all the studies on polycarp for me. He got me out of research. Yeah, I have my own researcher. So thank you Cedric, who's here. He's been very helpful and enjoyable while we've been here. Yeah, I know we've got a couple of copies of Fox's book in our library. So I know that people want it. They can come and have it. So Keith, what is coming up this weekend with your sermon? What text are you talking about? What are you looking for in that? Finishing up chapter one. Looking at the mystery of the gospel that is revealed, and one of the great blessings of the mystery of the gospel that is revealed with this particular passage is that Gentiles are brought into the kingdom of God. The mystery of the gospel is fulfilling the promise that all peoples, all nations, all tongues are going to be brought in to be one people, and as the Colossians get the benefit from that, so too we. We're looking forward to it. Keith, thanks for taking our questions and we look forward to your sermon on Sunday.