Love makes us new. We live in a culture that magnifies offense. Too often our brains go into past and into the future. Authority of sin in my life has been broken. Shimei came like a shark, like a bully. David chose to forgive. He trusted God that curses would turn to blessings. Body can help us to come to spiritual connection with each other.(2 Samuel 16:5-16)

Speaker(s): Pastor Thomas Schaller, Pastor Dennis White
Sermon # 11639
6:30 PM on 3/3/2019

 

 

P. Schaller

How many of you met my mom and Cindy my sister? How many remember meeting my mom here? Today is her birthday. 97. My sister is here and her husband and yesterday my other sister and her husband. We had a big family birthday party at the place where my mom is staying. It was sweet. The whole gang just about. A bunch of sinners gathering together.

This morning we raised the question – it was a really good service here this morning. God ministers to us. This morning the point was and I’ll introduce the theme for tonight, we’re going on part 2 from Rom. 8:29. The guys do a great job up there. They’re waiting for the verse. If you can get me the verse, we will get it up there.

vs. 29. We’re trying to compliment them! They are awesome. This is great theology. When we study God, foreknowledge, predestination. He also did predestinate – another way of saying God is God, so he knows the end from the beginning. No sequence, not learning anything. He knows everything infinitely and completely and he knows you. This is what he has purposed. That we would be conformed to the image of his Son. Anything hard to understand about that? We will be like Christ. This is what he has planned. When? Later.

Diagram, here’s the unbeliever. Here’s the believer and here’s heaven. When an unbeliever believes, he is immediately made righteous. That’s called justification. 100% declared righteous the moment he believes.

Rom. 3, Rom. 4. It’s amazing.

2 Cor 5:21 that the Son of God was made sin for us so we might be made the righteousness of God in him. It’s not a process. It’s a miracle in the mind of God. God has decided you would be righteous because of Christ. Sometimes when we talk to people and you ask them if you do this much bad and this much good, it will cancel out the bad, right? A lot of people say I hope so. I hope I could do so much good it would cancel out the bad. In civil law, it doesn’t work that way. If I commit a crime and the rest of my life I do so much good, it doesn’t cancel out the crime. It’s the same with God. How much good you do doesn’t cancel out the sin. Only by the blood of Christ is our sin taken care of. He who knew no sin became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God. The perfection of God. Not 99%.

In Rev. 21, the city of God has 12 gates made of pearl and it says nothing defiled can enter into the city, nothing unclean. There is no way anyone can enter into heaven with sin. It has to be taken care of, forgiven, and washed away. God decided we will be righteous because of J.C. It’s beautiful. It’s called the gospel. So many in the world don’t know this. They say I have done this much bad or this much bad. I’m never as bad as I could be. I have a brain that says don’t be that bad. My culture says don’t be that bad. But I have in me the seed of every sin ever committed ever been committed and will be committed is in me. Every sin is in me. I have that potential. I may not do it but it’s in me. I want to give the good news tonight. The unbeliever lives a life up and down morally. Basically morally good and circumstances and his mood and various aspects and decisions he makes. He lives a life of an unbeliever and then dies. He faces God and the judgment. Much can be said about it. The moment you believe, you are brought into the family. This is called adoption. We would say we are all brothers and sisters.

No, we are all the offspring of God in Acts 17 but to be a child of God, you must be born of the seed of God, the incorruptible word of God. The nature of Christ put in you by his grace. Justified by your simple faith. Born into the family.

Born again in Jn 3:5.

I Peter 1:23, to as many as receive him, to them gave he the power. It’s legal power like an old man signing the document. He can hardly hold the pen, but it’s legal power. We have been give the legal right to be a child of God. God never forsakes his children.

I have planned, Rom 8:29 that you would be conformed to the image of my Son. So being adopted our life goes like this. We are saved so it’s a guarantee. Our life in time there is a process of growth and this goes on until the day we die. When we die, we are out of our body without our sin nature. Our sin nature is attached to our physical body. Sin dwells in our body. Sin has power and authority over us. Unless, this is amazing, -there’s a lot to say about it.

The diagram looks complicated and confusing. We’ll make it simple.

The moment you believe, you are seated in heaven, Eph. 2:8. We are seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Accepted in the beloved. This life, is there growth? Downs and ups and turns and passivity and indifference and care and interest and revival and the Spirit moving and growth and conformity to the image of Christ. Is there? This is the question. Is there?

I read a piece about a man 37 years he said I have an anger problem. I blow up. I get angry and this is the way I am. I will be this way all my life.

Of course, we’ve met those people and maybe we are one. There are believers that say I will never change. I could ask my sisters, do you ever have a moment I’m just like my mother or I’m like my father? It could be disappointing. I’m just like my mother. I’m just like my father. Think about it.

What are we called to? Really. Think about it. This is an awesome thought. No, I believe that as I started in my Christian life and I’ve been exercised in it in my faith, I am being – what is the word here? Sanctified. It mean a lot. It means a lot.

I’m going to stop there. Would you all stand with me please for a moment? Here’s the question. The old normal is I am who I am and the question is, is there a new normal? That’s the question. What does it mean? I am changed from glory to glory. What does it mean? There is something new. A new way, mind, heart.

*************************
P. Dennis

Rom. 5. I have a few thoughts to share. I was thinking of relationships. They’re a lot of fun, aren’t they? Some are colorful, lots of fights and emotions and some are passive and I was remembering the first time trying to get into a relationship or trying to impress somebody you were really interested in. How hard you tried and how long you persevered to do it. I am married to the person I tried to impress and maybe now I stopped trying to impress them. I used to write a lot of notes and now I don’t write a single note. Now my wife asks me and it doesn’t feel the same when someone asks you. It’s a relationship.

Rom. 5:8, God who demonstrated his own love. This is the new KJV. God who demonstrated his own love. I thought of this word “demonstrated.” How many times are we trying to demonstrate something deep inside of us? Often times, we only demonstrate it because we want to get something. Why am I trying to demonstrate my love by writing letters? I want this person in my life. It’s a selfish reason. I recently started a new job. I was on a 30-day probation period. You’re under a microscope. If you screw up, you are fired or they cut your wages. Now I’m having to perform. I have to put my best foot forward and show this is the best I can do. In our relationship with God, this is what we do. We hear this word sanctification and we become religious. We put our best foot forward and play the role. We come and behave but maybe in our homes there is a demon in our heart crying out. When you get married, you’re trying to put your best foot forward but then you’re married. It’s all over now. I don’t have to pretend to be something I’m not. I can be myself. You see that in each other. You see this other side of someone you never thought could exist. With our relationship with God, we are trying to impress God. We are always trying to play the role we are sanctified. What would conformity be without love? Here is God. He is not commanding but producing the action of us being conformed into the image of God. God is become a real part of who we are. We can begin to love church, the Bible, the person sitting next to me in church. This is happening inside of me. What would that be unless there was love there? There has to be love. God knew this.

Rom. 5:8 God says he has demonstrated his love toward us. What he has done, he has taken me and has taken his love and put them together. Now they are together. The love God has is together with me. That is a beautiful thing. Something you desire but so far from you. You can’t work hard enough to get it. We work hard to get the house, having the car paid off, having the girl of your dreams, the child of your dreams, having all your dreams fulfilled always seems out of reach. I’m going to demonstrate my love and connect you together.

Romans it says we are transformed. We were studying “transformed” in class. It means you can take iron and turn it into gold. Is that possible? No, it’s not. Conformity is possible. I could beat my flesh. I could learn to read my Bible. I could become sanctified in my actions. Now there is transformation. Where there is iron being turned into gold, as one author says, water turned into wine. The chemical base is completely changed. Sanctification isn’t something I’m trying to obtain but through the love of Christ I am becoming. God has made me something I didn’t know I was. Like a muscle. You can work out in a gym and become strong. It’s not like that. That’s conformity. That could be conformity and not transformation. In Isaiah, it says you were ashes but I’m going to trade it in and make you beautiful. My heart is knit together with the heart of God.

1 Sam 18 when David’s heart was knit with the heart of Jonathan. How does this sanctification happen? How can we grow with God? We become estranged, distanced from God. God says you are not distanced. I have knit you together with the love of God. That knitting process has been done for eternity. You can’t tear it apart.

We have been sealed in the book of Ephesians. The Holy Spirit is with us. The love of Christ is with us. We understand what God has done, how God has demonstrated something towards us. God, I’m trying to demonstrate something to you. It’s coming out of a weak heart. God says it’s okay. How could a man like David be called a man after God’s own heart? You look at the sin but at the same time we see growth. We see the heart of God.

How do we see the heart of God knit with the heart of David? He understood he couldn’t obtain sanctification by himself. He had to abide in the fact the love of God was knit with him. If he went here, the love of God was here. If God can demonstrate his love in this way, which is so much greater than ours, what does it look like when we demonstrate our love? We could say it’s messy. The up and down pattern but to God it is beautiful.

Peter, do you love me? Funny question. I just really messed up, Jesus. I better be careful how I answer this. I’ll be responsible now. You loved me Peter, but it was a messy kind of love. Jesus didn’t run away from Peter because his love was messy. He went back to Peter and pursued him. God’s love was knit to Peter.

I think of sanctification where God has brought me because of his love and where God is going to bring me. If I ever find myself in a place where I’m not going with God, what do I do? I think I find myself on my face maybe lifting my hands toward heaven saying God loves me. This is where I want to be in the presence of God. Help me to get there.

************************************************************************

P. Schaller

That’s the message. That was awesome. I’ll speak for a few minutes just to wrap it up. I can’t believe my sisters are over here. Isn’t that amazing! Love changing. The new normal. Wow. I have so many things to say but will say a few things. I like it if our service is right – and Pastor Dennis did it. It’s good.

I shared this. I don’t want to repeat my morning message, but I want to carry it further. But I have to repeat it because maybe we’ll get a little more out of it.

2 Sam. 16, those that were here at 9 am service heard this. The Samson part of it, too. What P. Dennis said about the transformed mind, the mind changed, iron or steel made into gold. That’s not possible. METOMORPHOO, a real change. A metal steel made into a sword, conformity. Just change the shape and make it a sword. I change my clothes, my vocabulary, my education, my family, my country, my language and so on. But this change, this change, this is the change. It’s huge. We are living in a culture where people are easily offended. You can’t say anything or you are offending someone. In social media, likes and dislikes and opinions and you offended me and everything. In Jesus Christ, God came here and if anybody has ever been offended or had grounds to be offended, it was him. There he is on the cross. He made the world and the world rejected him. He is light and darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Instead of saying you do this to me, you hate me and I hate you. You hate me and I love you. I died for you. I am your answer. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Believers, all of us, we get so sensitive in our emotions to what people say about us, think about us. We are so worried and concerned about life, our future and our past. Dogs are generally happy. I think because their brain doesn’t go into the past or future like people. Our brain goes into the past. The Scripture says forgetting the things behind. Pressing for the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ. How can I change? Jesus came not only that someday we will be in heaven but that a little bit of heaven will be in us. Let there be a new normal. The old normal is I’m easily offended. The new normal is it’s hard to offend me. Christ came and the authority of sin in my life has been broken.

That this is Romans 6.

It’s written there in vs. 19. It’s a fantastic story. I now read it at 9 this morning.

vs. 5. 2 Sam 16:5-6. He’s throwing stones at David and cursing him.

vs. 7. The Lord has judged you because you are a bloody man. This man cursing is from Saul’s household. He resents Saul had died and David is king. Now he is deposed. A coup has happened by Absalom and Absalom wants to murder his father. The guy who hates David takes the opportunity to pour it on. He is going on. You get a little wounded and hurt and sharks start circulating because they know there is blood there. The devil is like that. You see it in schools. They call it bullying. They go after a kid who is a little odd or poor or clothes aren’t right or a little disabled. The sharks come. Like Shimei in the story. One of David’s mighty men said I’ll take his head off. I can do it with my eyes closed. David said no. Let him curse. Maybe it’s good for me. Maybe God sent him and it will result in my blessing. If you’re offended, eat it. Bless your enemy. Don’t say I’m offended. Don’t say those words. Grow up and be like him on the cross. I am offended. Wait a minute! You are being sanctified that J.C. dwells in us. There is another spirit. The spirit of the world says we are not understood. You are pushing us around. You have a lot of strength. We are the disabled or minority. We are all victims. I realize that is true in various circumstances and we are on the side of the victim. On the side of the person hurt and unjustly treated. However, as a believer, we have a calling not to be a victim but bless our enemy and pray for them and think of our misunderstanding. This guy is misguided and wrong. Let him live. Maybe God will turn his heart around later. Right now I’m in trouble and not looking for bloodshed but blessing. I’m looking for the Spirit to fill me and God to visit me. Say to your neighbor, I know this. I believe this. Okay. We’re going to end. It’s so good. David is saying, let’s read it.

vs. 8-11, I’m offended. What are you offended about? What’s the big deal? That’s a trap. That’s a trap. I’m a victim. I’m lower than you are. I’m lower in this world. I’m being walked upon. Jesus came so we would not be the tail but the head.

De 13:10, have you ever noticed how Jewish people in our history somehow they get on top? Ever notice that? God has said to them he promised them. It’s a testimony in history. There is another group that gets on top. Those sanctified by Jesus Christ. Those transformed and are being. It’s a process. We learn how to be Spirit filled, how to think with God. Meditate on it. Embrace it. Obey it. Going to the cross means people are hurting me or taking advantage of me. I go before God in my heart. I feel I’m a victim. I’m offended. God says sit. Wait on me. I will be your glory and the lifter of your head. I will anoint you with my Spirit. You will have things to say in that hour. I’ll give you. I’ll visit you with my glory and honor. You are not under. You are crowned with glory and honor by J.C. He promised it. We are not in this world to be underneath but to learn to reign with him and be with him and grow in love and wisdom.

There is a little man in Ec. 9 and a great king came with great bulwarks and machinery of military artillery and there was a certain little wise man in the city that delivered the city and then they did not remember him anymore. They forgot about the little old wise man that delivered the city. This message and those like it, the words of Christ and the reality of Christ are forgotten. That wise man represents you and me. The living Christ promised us sanctification. We would become holy like him. We have a sin nature still. The power of the sin nature is broken at the cross. We are believing it in our faith. He is changing us from glory to glory and we are powerful people. The big machinery and all the artillery is there. The little wise man is with God and comes with a solution. I have an answer and the whole thing changes. Daniel in Persia, Esther in Persia, Paul in jail, Timothy a disciple, Jesus on the earth changes history. His disciples, his church, the people in Uzbekistan whom we’ve known for a couple decades. The guitar player whose dad is there and his mom. These are people you could throw them away like all of us. We would be victimized by our circumstances by government, poverty, but a way God has given us is unique and different. It’s the way of the Spirit, the way of truth, of Christ. It’s our new privilege. The last thing I want to say about it is the Body of Christ. We help each other. We know each other. Sometimes I’m feeling I don’t know if everyone is connected in the Spirit like we should be.

The folks over here are generally young. I’d like to say would you come in to ask God where to sit? Sit in some new place. Sit where God leads you but I do care about spiritual connection with each other. Some people come in here hurting and are needy or hungry or someone spiritual over here can minister to somebody and have a new connection in the Spirit. It’s a lot more than geography. Come to the church prayerful. The day you don’t come, maybe someone comes prayerful. I was thinking about you. Let’s have a talk. Let’s pray for each other this week and fill the chairs and see the Spirit of God move. We are being sanctified. We are changing. The new normal is not the old normal.

My wife and I got in a tiff, a little argument many years ago. I was acting like a little boy. I shut down talking. My wife is there. It was maybe an hour or two. We don’t get that way for long because she is so right there. What’s wrong? Nothing. Why aren’t you talking? You know how it is. A little boy. Shutting up, quiet, pouting in the corner. Looking at my fishing pole and I don’t even have one! Go away and not dealing with it. Hurt, wounded, offended. A little boy pouting. That’s normal for some people. It has to be a new normal. We went to bed. I was facing the wall and she’s lying like a mature adult. I’m facing the wall. Stubborn. That’s a good word. Rebellious, stubborn. My wife if you know her she is pretty direct. Never go to bed with the sun going down on our wrath. Under the covers, she kicked me. She gave a good old kick to my feet under the covers. I’m thinking I know this is ridiculous. I’m a child. A little boy. I am. So I rolled over and that was very hard to do. I rolled over and I said these words, – I can’t believe I said them – please forgive me. I love you. With her it is easy. That’s all it takes. And we lived happily ever after!

What are we saying? That’s the old normal and it cannot be. If you are in the church and you are listening and you have your privacy and your own life, no one is interfering but you are exposing yourself to the pulpit before God. I’m not perfect and a lot in my life I could grow in a lot of areas. I don’t know what they are but you know. I’m going to follow and believe and trust you and prove all things. I believe you’ll do it. He does it. It may take a while. Ten years later you might say I wonder if I changed at all. You have changed. God changes us. He will finish what he started.

Be real patient because it’s not as if automatically you see your life change. There is a new born desire. There is some kind of living hope. There is love that passes understanding. There is a new kind of maturity. Honey, let’s keep talking and work it out. Let’s forgive each other a lot. Keep forgiving and believing and see what God will do in married life and in church life.

 

 

---

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.