Alright guys, I don't know if you're still in Psalm 118, we're not going to be looking
at the whole chapter, I just wanted to take one verse out of that Psalm, so if you look
at Psalm 118 verse 8, Psalm 118 verse 8, it says, it is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in man, okay, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put
confidence in man, the total sermon tonight is called confidence in man, confidence in
man.
I've preached this sermon, what are we now, 2018, I've preached this sermon three years
ago in the church in Punchbowl, I quoted standards and samples then, I don't think any of you
guys were attending when I preached this sermon, it was one of my very first sermons
that I preached in the church in Punchbowl, but I've decided to call it confidence
in man this time, and I've made some little changes here, but the key thing that I want
to preach on today obviously is who ought we are to trust in, in man or in God,
now here's the problem, the problem that I see with new believers, okay, bathes in Christ
is they often put confidence in man, it happens all the time, even if they say to
me, no, I'm only trusting Jesus, I mean for salvation they're only trusting Jesus,
but when it comes to just their daily walk and learning the scriptures, I'm telling
you, more often than not they're trusting in man, okay, they're putting their trust
in their favorite preacher, they're putting their trust in their pastor, now there's
nothing wrong with that in and of itself, there's nothing wrong with having godly
examples in our life that we look up to and that we learn from, okay, but the
important thing about the Christian life is that we have a balance, okay,
because if we put all our trust in a man, we know they're made of the same
flesh and blood that we are, we know that we struggle with sins, we know we
struggle with difficulties, we know that we fail, then of course the men of
God that you look up to, guess what, they're going to fail sometimes in life,
okay, now they should be more mature, they should be more developed in their
Christian walk, they ought to be reflecting Christ more than others, but
at the same time they've still got that same sinful flesh, they still have
that sinful nature, and I promise you this, it doesn't matter which man
you look up to, what preacher, what pastor, what church you look up to, there's
always going to be problems, you know, I don't know if anyone looks up to me,
but at some point you're going to find my faults, you're going to find
the things that I struggle with, you're going to see things, I might say things
to offend you, I might say things to upset you, and then you're going to have to
decide, wow, I was offended by Kevin that day, maybe I don't even know about it, but
you know, I was offended, you're going to have to decide, well, am I going to go to church
next week, am I going to show up to the next service, or am I going to let this
bother me and look elsewhere, and this is what the problem that I find with a
lot of new believers is they look to man, you know, let's say a pastor for
example, a bishop, that pastor fails them, and then instead of going, ah, I've
got to learn my lesson not to trust in man, instead of that they look for another man
that they can trust in, and they go from man to man to man to man, and I often
associate this with people that are church hoppers, I don't know if you're familiar with that term,
people that go to this one church, they're there for a while, everything's alright,
then something happens, they get offended, ah, I can't go to that church anymore, go to
another church, it's all going well for a while, they get offended, I can't go to that church anymore, go to that church, they're not
established, they're not balanced, they don't have their trust and reliance on the Lord Jesus
Christ, they have it on man, they have it on a specific church, and I just want us to make
sure that we're balanced as Christians, okay, that we're balanced, that we
understand, yes, there's a place for good godly men, there's a place for good
preachers in our life, but we must always have our eyes fixed on Jesus
Christ, because he's not going to fail us, he's perfect, he's without error, you
know, he's without sin, he's always the same, today, yes, today and forever, so our
eyes are ultimately fixed on Jesus, let me say to you this, if you just have your eyes
fixed on Jesus Christ, you know that you're going to rely and draw your
strength from him, then when men fail, it's not going to discourage you, when
men fail, you're not going to leave a church over some small issue, okay, so
this is the important thing, now, I call this standards and samples when I
preach this in the church in Punchbowl, let me explain to you very quickly
why that is, because I think it's very important, and while I'm explaining this,
you guys can turn to Philippians chapter 3, turn to Philippians chapter 3,
we won't get to that passage just yet, but just so that you're ready,
Philippians chapter 3, there are two things that are often mistaken, okay, in
our lives, we have things that are standards, and we have
things that are samples, okay, now think about this word standard, what is
a standard, now the etymology of that word standard comes from a old Frankish
term, it's an old military term, meaning stand hard, if I said to you, stand hard,
what am I saying, don't be movable, you know, stand firm in where you are,
okay, that's where the word standard comes from, it's something that ought to
be unmovable, okay, it's a military term, but in a modern use of that word
standard, it's often at a level of quality and a level of attainment, oh
you've reached this standard, and we might, you know, we're talking about the
qualifications of a bishop for example, we might call it the standards of a
bishop as well, you know, this is something to attain to, this is
something that a bishop ought to have in his life, or something that's
striving to be a pastor, striving to be a bishop, this is the standard that they
ought to meet, okay, so standards are important in our lives, it's something
that is supposed to be unmovable, something that's fixed, something
that you can be assured about, that's what a standard is, and then when we
talk about a sample, what's a sample? A sample is a small portion of that
standard, okay, a sample is a small portion of a larger whole, so you might
think about when you go to, you know, Woolworths, you know, grocery shopping or
sometimes people have a sample of a product, right, sometimes you might try
something, you might, you know, try it, you go to a restaurant, you walk past a
restaurant, they're giving out samples, okay, now obviously that sample does
not represent what's in their menu, it's just a small part of a larger whole, okay,
you don't go in there and get it, and choose from a menu something you're gonna
eat, and they're going to give you this small little sample, no, the sample is
there for a purpose, so you can try it and say, hey, that tastes good, I want
to see what the standard is, I want to see, you know, what that full meal is
like, and get you as a marketing thing, right, to get you in to purchase that
product, so a sample is a small portion of a larger part, a sample is taken for
analysis, for review, or for testing, now when you think about the Christian life,
what ought to be the standard, when we understand these concepts, what ought to
be the standard, which person is the standard in our lives, which person is
unmovable, which person are we to look to, knowing that they're not going
to change, and they're always reliable, who's going to stand hard for us, when
we're down and we need his help, it's Jesus Christ, isn't it, it's Jesus Christ,
but then Jesus Christ has also given us samples, okay, men that we can look up
to, men that we can learn doctrine from, that we can grow in
the Lord for, these people are samples, or as we would use it, examples, okay,
examples, and they ought to be a representation of the standard, that
standard being Jesus Christ, but when the sample fails, the
standard remains true, okay, it doesn't change, and this is what happens to new
believers, they come into church, like I said, they get offended by some man, they
get offended by the preacher, by the pastor, and it's like, oh, forget it, I
don't want to be in church, oh, forget it, you know, this Christianity stuff, it's not worth it, why?
Because their eyes are on the sample, and their eyes need to be on the
standard, that standard being the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, let's talk
about food for a moment, you know, have you heard about the Heart Foundation, and
the ticks of approval for the Heart Foundation on certain foods? Well, if you
buy that product, if they've got that Heart Foundation's Heart and
Tick of Approval, then supposedly you're supposed to know that product is
good for your health, okay, so that product meets a certain standard, okay,
that's what a standard is, that product meets that standard, but then other
products that don't have that Tick of Approval does not meet the standard of
the Heart Approval, or maybe it does meet it, but it just doesn't want
that approval for whatever reason, and one of my jobs that I had in a previous
firm that I worked for, it's quite a large business, it's quite international as
well, I worked as a quality auditor, I don't know if you guys know what an
auditor is, an auditor tends to go into a business and work out whether the
things they're doing, the practices they're doing, the processes they're doing, meets up
to a certain standard, okay, a lot of companies strive to meet certain
standards so that, especially if they're a large company, and especially
if they're selling to, say, government departments, that the
purchaser, the consumer knows, ah, this is a legitimate business, this is a
legitimate company, and when I go and purchase their products, their goods or
their services, I know it meets a certain standard, and so my job as an
auditor, as a quality auditor, was to go in, I had a set of standards that I had to
make sure the business was meeting, and if the business was not meeting those
standards, then I would need to raise that as an issue to the
management team, and say, hey, the standard says this, but you're doing this,
and, you know, if we get auditors from outside, you're going to be marked as
failing in this area, so we need to fix this up before we get those
external auditors to come, you understand? So my job as an auditor, I didn't know
everybody's job, I didn't know what everybody did, but I knew what, you know,
I'd just sit down with someone, I'd get a sample of the work they were doing, they
would tell me, ah, we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this, I
would then take out the work instructions or the processes, the
documentation they would have of that job, and I would compare, okay, this is
what your standard says, this is what your process says, and this is
what you're doing. Does it line up? Does it match? And if it matches, cool, you
meet the standard, but if it's not matching up, there's a problem. Either
you're doing it wrong, or that documentation needs to be updated to
reflect what you're doing now, okay? So we need to understand that we need to
take samples in order to understand what the standard is, whether that sample
is failing, or whether that sample meets what that standard is, okay? And again,
just reinforcing the fact that man, godly men, pastors, preachers are an
example or a sample of the standard, which is God, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now let's look at Philippians 3.13, Philippians 3.13. The Bible reads,
Brethren, so this is Paul speaking to the Philippian church, Brethren, I cannot
myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Now notice
the next words in chapter, verse 14, I press toward the mark. Now this is
Paul's way of saying, I press toward the standard, okay? He's pressing toward
this mark for the prize of the high calling of God and Jesus and Christ
Jesus. So we see Paul's vision, Paul's eyes were on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he's saying, hey, I'm pressing toward that mark. I want to be more like Jesus
Christ in my life. You see that, right? Look at verse 15, let us therefore be, let
us therefore as many as be perfect, be thus minded, for if anything ye be
otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we
have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same
thing, and look at verse 17, brethren, be followers together of who? Of Jesus?
And he says, of me, of Paul, and mark them which walk as ye have at us
for an ensemble. You notice those words? He says, hey, our Philippian church,
you've got me and others that walk like me as your ensemble. And he says, but
we're trying to go for that high calling of Jesus Christ, but pressing
toward that mark. And one thing that you're going to find as you read
through your Bible is, especially when it comes to the epistles of Paul, you're
going to see him many times saying, hey, I'm here to be your example, follow
after my steps, follow what I'm doing, okay? But at the same time, he says, as I
seek after Christ, as I walk after Jesus Christ, okay? So it's not that we
just take every man, every preacher, every pastor, and every church and think, wow,
this is a great standard to us, a great sample to follow. You only can follow
them if they have set Jesus Christ as their standard and they're seeking to
follow after Jesus Christ as well. Because again, guys, your favorite
preachers, me, we're going to fail. At some point we're going to make a
mistake, we're going to do something wrong, hopefully it's nothing too serious, but I hope
in your minds you think, wow, you know, that just proves that we're all men.
That just proves that none of us are perfect and that we're all striving
to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ. So the standard that we read in
Philippians 3 was that mark, the mark for the prize of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus. And Paul and other men were the ensembles. Now I'm not
sure if all your Bibles, if you go to King James, if they all say
ensembles, sometimes they change it to examples, okay? But again, these are
different words, okay? What does yours say, brother? Ensemble. Does everyone have
ensample? You got example? Ah, see, there you go. Your King James Bible actually has both, okay?
The ensample and the example. And a lot of people change it because they
think the word ensample means example. And in many ways it's exactly, it's
almost exactly the same word. They think it's an archaic word for the word
example. But there actually is a difference. Because the prefix for
ensample is en, right? And then the prefix for example is ex, and they
drop the s. But they're both talking about samples. Ensample, example, okay?
Now the difference is, it's a prefix. So right now we've entered the
building, we've got the prefix en, we've entered the building, but then we
exit the building, it's ex, right? Now, it's not on the same level, but think of
the word inhale. I know it's I-N, not E-N, but you've got inhale and you've got
exhale, okay? So in the same ways how those things are opposite, in a way, so
is ensample and example. And I won't go, I'm not going to go through all this today, but
just very quickly to explain to you just a basic principle of this. When
the Bible speaks of an ensample, it's an indirect, something that you can
learn from indirectly. And an example, oh no, I'll go the other way around, sorry.
Ensample is something that you learn directly, and an example is something
that you learn from indirectly, okay? So for example, let me give you a very
quick example of this. Let's say I tell my kids, hey, you know, you're not
allowed, my little kids especially, because my other ones, you know, I say to my little kids, hey, don't
touch the stove, because it's hot, okay? Now if someone else, one of the
other kids comes and touches the stove and gets burnt, that's an example for them.
Hey, wow, you know, that's dangerous, right? It's an example, they're learning
from that thing indirectly. But if they themselves went and touched it and got
burnt, and they learned that way, that's an ensample, it's something that they've
learnt directly, okay? So it's not a big deal in your Bibles, it's not like
you have to worry that much about it, but there is a little pattern of
difference between these two words, okay? Turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 4,
1st Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16, 1st Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16, I just
want to show you this example a few times here. 1st Corinthians chapter 4
verse 16 says, wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. So again, now we
have Paul talking to the Corinthian church, and again he's saying, hey, be a
follower of me. Why? Is it because Paul is the standard? No, keep reading, verse 17,
for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved Son and
faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which
be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in the church. So be ye followers of me,
that's the sample of my ways there, that's the sample, but then which be
in Christ, that's the standard. Okay, so we always see this, Paul is always very
careful to say, hey, follow me as long as I am in Christ, as long as I am
following the Lord Jesus Christ. Now turn to chapter 11 please, same book,
1st Corinthians chapter 11, 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1, this
one's a little bit more popular, 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1,
it says, this is Paul again to the same church, be ye followers of me, even as I
am of Christ. Okay, be ye followers of me, he's the sample, he's the example to
the church, even as I am of Christ. Christ is the standard. Now let me read
to you quickly, Hebrews 13, you don't need to turn there, Hebrews 13, 7 and 8,
Hebrews 13, 7 says, remember them which have the rule over you. So this is now
Paul is talking about the pastor or the bishop of the church, he says, hey,
remember them that have the rule over you, and let me just quickly say this
to you, while we're in church, when we're gathered together, I do have the rule
over you, but when it comes to outside of the church, when it comes to
your workplace, when it comes to your house, your family and everything else
that you do outside of the church, I don't have the rule over you, okay, and a lot of
people make this mistake, they think the pastor has the rule over them in
every aspect of their life, you know, pastor, what job should I get, you know,
pastor, should I go on holidays, like, what are you doing, you know, the pastor or the bishop has rule over you in the church, in the
congregation, okay, that's just a side thought, it continues going, who have
spoken unto you the Word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of
their conversation, that's Hebrews 13 verse 7, so it says, hey, you know,
those that have the rule over you, the bishop, the pastor, yeah, follow after them, okay, but
then verse 8 says this, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever,
so what is, you know, so you're talking about considering the end of their
conversation, what should be the end of the conversation, what should be the
end of their walk, what should they be striving to achieve to be like Jesus
Christ, that's why verse number 8 says Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today
and forever, so it's good to follow the faith of certain men, of faithful men, of
godly men, but again, that's just an example, the standard which never
changes is Jesus Christ, the same today, yesterday, or yesterday, today and
forever, okay, I should, turn to Acts 17 please, Acts 17, because standards
should never change, that's why it's a standard, okay, it should never change,
and that's why it's so important to have Jesus Christ as our standard, because
churches will change, you know, even pastors that once preached sound doctrine,
that once preached things correctly, change, and they start preaching heresy,
or they start preaching things they didn't believe before, or they start
teaching things that are not in their statement of faith of the church, that are
contradicting to the statement of faith in their church, that's not a good
thing, but again, I've been, I've been, I've been saved since I've been four, you know,
I've been in church since I've been young, you know, I've got two, two of my
uncles in Chile are pastors themselves, so I'm pretty familiar with how
churches go, and quite often just churches change, you know, I grew up in a
Baptist Union Church, in Capramatta, Capramatta Baptist Union, Baptist Union
Church, and back then it was great, they had the old-fashioned hymns, they were
preaching from the King James Bible, I couldn't really fault anything that
was being preached there, but slowly they changed preaching the modern Bibles,
slowly they changed all the music, started to become a hymn song, slowly they
started to have dancing as the entertainment of the church, and
whatever, and I went, it wasn't last year they were celebrating a hundred
years anniversary, you know, we went there and it's just, it was a joke to me, it
was just, it was slow watered down, it was nothing to learn, the entertainment, like I
said, was dancing, and I was like, man, I can't believe this is, this is what's
happened, and then at the back of the, at the back of the church, they had like, the
old pulpit that they used to be preaching, they had the old King James
Bible they had back then, I felt like, wow, now, now it's just like this
museum display, you know, we were once like this, but now we're like this, you
know, rock band or whatever, like, you know, learning hymn songs, look, churches change,
people change, it's not a good thing, but the thing that we can be sure
about is that Jesus Christ does not change. Okay, what did I tell you to turn to?
Acts 17, okay, thanks. Look at the Bereans here in Acts 17 verse 11, Acts 17
verse 11. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures
daily, whether those things were so. So the Bereans reviewed everything to the
standard. Yes, Jesus Christ is the standard, but the Word of God, the Bible,
is the standard as well. In fact, they're both called the Word of God.
Okay, Jesus Christ is the living Word of God, your King James Bible is the
written Word of God, both essentially, you know, never changes, okay, both are
the standard, and we see that the Bereans, whenever they were here preaching, they
would line up that preaching with the Word of God. Does it line up with what we see
in the scriptures, or is it contradictive? They had the right
mindsets, but again, young Christians, immature Christians, carnal Christians,
are going to get to a point where they say, well, this preacher seems okay,
you know, Pastor Kevin seems alright, you know, is he sacrificing, coming down
from the Sunshine Coast every week? I'm just going to believe what he says
every time he preaches. Wrong. That's the worst thing you can do, okay,
because I am not the standard. You know, I'm trying to serve an example,
I'm trying to seek after Christ and be that good example, but at the same time,
whatever I preach needs to be compared to the Word of God.
And any man you listen to, any of your favorite preachers,
whether it's online, or people you know in person, you must make sure
that they line up with the Word of God, okay? Understand the differences
between the standard and the sample. The Word of God is definitely
the standard. I'll just quickly read to you from Malachi 3.6. Malachi 3.6 says,
for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
are not consumed. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord God, changes not.
The standard never changes with the Word of God. You know,
the world changes all the time. You know, standards in this world just
get worse and worse. I don't know if you guys watch a lot of television,
I don't recommend that you do, but often when you watch TV or watch
a movie, it says, it gives us the ratings, right? If it's G rated,
it's supposed to be general for kids. If it's PG, it's, you know,
parental guidance recommended. If it's M, I don't know, mature, 15 plus,
I don't know. M, no, no. M is, I think it's for 15 and over,
but you can watch it if you're younger. And then MA, I think you must be
15 and over. And then is it R, R-rated for 18 plus or something like that?
Look, when I was a kid, when things were G or PG, they really were, okay?
But now, if you put on the TV and watch a PG-rated movie or whatever,
it's filled with wickedness. You know, it's filled with, you know,
women dressed immodestly. You know, it's filled with dirty jokes.
It's filled with drug use. It's filled with, you know, fornication.
It's filled with all these things, and it's PG. You say, well, why?
It's still the same standards. It's still G, PG. Yeah.
But they've changed the standards. The world keeps changing.
It continues going down this downward spiral. It gets worse and worse.
I mean, marriage has changed in Australia. What was the standard of marriage
before? One man and one woman. Now, it's whatever. I don't even know what
it is anymore. Have you tried, you know, we're going to have our 10th kid.
Every time we've had another kid, you know, you've got to fill out the
forms for Medicare and all that kind of stuff. It gets more and more complicated.
Every, every, it's like, what now? What do they want? You know,
it used to be mother and father, but now it's like mother and then
mother or father or something else. It's like, and then it's like,
the form just gets more and more complicated. It's like, I don't know anymore.
What am I? Am I a father now? You know, the world has changed.
But the word of God never changes. And the more this world changes,
the more freaks like us, people that actually believe the Bible,
are going to stand out and look weird. Okay? Because we're just trying
to follow that standard, right? This is what happens.
The world just keeps changing. Let me just keep going.
Oh, yeah. I had notes on marriage. I already covered that, okay?
But okay, I'll just say this very quickly. Obviously, our laws have changed in marriage.
Obviously, now a man can marry a man or a woman can marry a woman.
One day, a man's going to be able to marry a robot or their pet or their house.
Look, they've destroyed what marriage is. It's just going to be this downward spiral now,
just a continual downward spiral. Soon, you'll be able to marry, you know,
pedophilia is going to be legal, I'm sure. Soon, marrying a little kid is going to be fine.
Or marrying, you know, between your own family is going to be fine.
You know, incest and all this kind of garbage. And in some ways, this agenda are winning
in some ways, okay? And they've made changes to the law.
Eventually, the changes are going to happen in our dictionaries.
Eventually, there's going to be a generation of Australians that won't even know
that marriage was once between man and woman, and that's what it was.
But the thing that they're never going to be satisfied about,
the thing they're never going to be happy about, is the fact that the Word of God
has never changed in regard to this. The Word of God is always between,
marriage will always be between one man and one woman, okay?
And they'll keep pumping out these modern Bibles, and one day,
these modern Bibles are going to say, yep, it was Adam and Steve,
if they haven't already, right? But the true Word of God will never change.
And God has promised that He's going to preserve His Word forever.
So what might seem like victories today, I'm telling you now,
what frustrates them more than anything is the fact that they cannot change the Word of God,
and they cannot destroy the Word of God.
But what's important for us is that we stand true to what the Word of God says,
because we're not looking at the Word as our standard,
we're looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, we're looking at the Word of God as the standard.
Place them to Matthew chapter 7, Matthew chapter 7, Matthew chapter 7, verse 24.
Matthew chapter 7, verse 24.
Just to reinforce this, Matthew 7, 24.
Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, this is Jesus speaking,
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man,
which built his house upon a rock.
So if you want to be a wise man, and build our house,
or our life upon a strong rock, on a strong foundation,
what are we to do?
We're hearing the sayings of his, and do them.
Don't be a hearer only, but be a doer of the Word of God.
Make sure that when you learn, you apply in your life,
because that's what's going to give you the stability of the foundation
that comes from the Word of God.
Look at verse 25.
And the rain descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house,
that it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.
Now let me just say this.
If you're trying to serve the Lord,
you're trying to follow after God's ways,
you have the Word of God as your standard,
as your foundation, it doesn't promise here
that there won't be trials and difficulties in your life.
Okay?
Because it says there that the floods came,
the winds blew, it beat upon the house.
And in your life, you're going to go through beatings.
You know, you're going to go through trials,
and difficulties, and tribulation in your life.
But if you founded your faith and your life
on Jesus Christ, and on his words,
and you're doing his words,
then you're going to remain founded upon that rock.
That house will stand strong.
Look at verse 26.
And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine,
and doeth them not.
Don't think that this is about the unbelieving world.
No, this is about believers.
Believers that hear the Word of God,
but doeth them not.
That can be on any of us, okay?
Shall be likened unto a foolish man,
which built his house upon the sand.
And the rain descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house,
and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
Great was the fall of it.
And let me say, I've seen pastors,
good men of God that I have personally looked up to,
okay, in my past, and this is where I learned
all this stuff, failed big time.
I mean, great was the fall of it.
You know, committing adultery, or whatever,
and destroying their ministry.
You know, no longer being qualified to lead a church,
totally destroy all the ministry work that they had,
because they've done some foolish thing,
some foolish acts.
They look like men that were serving the Lord,
they look like they're on track,
there's so many people looking up to them,
and then they fail,
and everyone gets depressed and saddened.
And I've experienced that,
I'll tell you about that later on.
I've experienced that myself,
but I want you to understand,
yes, it's depressing when a good man of God fails,
but have your eyes set on the standard
being Jesus Christ and His word.
Turn to 2 Peter, please, 2 Peter chapter two.
2 Peter chapter two.
Because the Bible doesn't just have
good examples to follow,
the Bible also has bad examples,
so we can learn from those bad examples, all right?
So look at 2 Peter chapter two, verse four.
2 Peter chapter two, verse four.
It says, for if God spared not the angels that sinned,
but cast them down to hell,
and delivered them into chains of darkness
to be reserved unto judgment,
and spared not the old world,
but saved Noah the eighth person,
a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly,
and look at this,
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an ensemble unto those
that after should live ungodly.
So we see here that Sodom and Gomorrah
was set as an ensemble
to those that should live ungodly in the future.
So not only do we have good examples to follow after,
but the Bible also gives us bad examples to be careful of.
And I think about immediately,
I think about some of the godly men,
the Old Testament saints that we read about.
You know, we read about Abraham and Joseph,
and well, maybe not so much Joseph,
he didn't do too many mistakes,
but Abraham and Jacob and King David and Samson.
One reason I don't like Sunday school,
one reason I don't like taking kids
and teaching them watered down preaching,
I was at Sunday school for about four years
and I was a Sunday school superintendent.
So I was looking after the Sunday school classes
in my church, and I did the best I possibly could.
But one thing that bothered me
was the kind of doctrine
that was being taught in Sunday school.
Because they'd learn about these Old Testament saints,
and they'd learn about how great they were,
how they served the Lord,
how they'd fallen after the Lord,
but this material would not teach them
about their mistakes.
The material wouldn't teach them about their failures.
They wouldn't teach how they had committed murder,
or had committed adultery,
or had left the Lord and fallen after ungodly idols
and things like that.
And I'm thinking, why are they leaving out this information?
This is the good stuff, right?
Yes, we can learn from the good examples,
but we need to learn from the bad examples as well,
because we need to learn,
hey, we ought not to make these same mistakes
that these men of God made.
And I remember as a child,
because I obviously went to Sunday school in the church,
I used to think, wow, these men,
they're so good, they're so godly,
they're doing the best they can, wow.
And then when you start reading your Bible,
it's like, hold on, who are these people?
I didn't even learn about this.
I didn't know King David took another man's wife
and then ends up killing him.
I didn't know that.
No one told me this story.
And then it kind of puzzles you,
like, what in the world?
But then when you leave out these bad examples,
you diminish the purpose of why they're there, okay?
The purpose of why they're there
is so that we learn that it's not about
being so much a great man,
but that they serve a great God,
that it's God that receives all the glory and praise
that these men were able to accomplish anything
in their lives in the first place,
even in their failures,
and they failed sometimes worse than all of us have failed,
but still God was able to use these men
to do great works.
And that's the lesson, right?
When you learn the bad examples, you say,
wow, wow, you know, men, we're failures,
but God, you're perfect, and you can still use us.
Great is your mercy, great is your grace,
great is your love.
Wow, we serve an amazing God.
That's what these lessons are there for.
So then when you read the Bible, you go,
wow, great God, but this,
what, that's unethical material,
you end up, wow, great men.
No, they're looking at the samples
and not having their eyes on the standard, okay?
And then again, they grew up in church,
they see that their pastor did something wrong,
they get discouraged, and they're out of church.
You know, modern day Christianity can't, you know,
compare to, you know, the saints of old,
not knowing that the saints of old
made even worse mistakes, right?
So it's about having the right mindset,
having the right mind.
So I was talking about Solomon Gomorrah,
and this is more about, obviously, the homosexuals, okay?
Because we talk about Solomon Gomorrah,
we talk about homosexuality, sodomites,
how wicked they were.
You know, they themselves had changed
the natural use of man and woman.
You know, these are reprobate people,
and Jesus Christ himself came down with the angels
and destroyed these ungodly cities
for their homosexuality.
And what do we see here in Sydney?
I'm glad I got out of Sydney,
you guys have to hear about the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras,
at least on Sunshine Coast, I didn't even know it happened.
You know, I didn't even know that was going on,
but you guys have to put up with this stuff.
And it just keeps getting worse.
It's not just the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras,
now it's all over the media,
it's all over the kids' programs,
it's all over the schools,
people are being taught this stuff.
But look, there's an example here
that was brought to our attention
how God hates this sin of homosexuality
that he would destroy entire cities filled with these people.
And we're headed down this road.
We're headed down this road
because preachers, because pastors,
because churches are now too afraid
to preach against this sin.
Too afraid, so now, hey, it's open season
for all manners of wickedness and ungodliness.
Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter one,
1 Thessalonians chapter one, verse six.
Because I wanna show you, it's not just the preacher,
it's not just the bishop or the pastor
or some godly man that is the example, okay?
Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter one, verse six.
So Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church,
and ye became followers of us and of the Lord,
having received the word in much affliction
with joy of the Holy Ghost.
Now look at verse seven.
So that ye were ensembles
to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
So he's saying to the Thessalonian church,
you're an ensemble.
It's not just the leadership,
but the entire church is serving to be an example,
a great ensemble to the people in Macedonia and Achaia,
to the other believers.
And I would like this church,
New Life Baptist Church in Sydney,
to one day be seen as a godly ensemble
to other believers in this area.
And they would see that we have a love
for the word of God,
they would see that we have a love to worship
and praise our God,
that we have a love for the lost sinners,
that they need to hear the gospel, okay?
And that we would hopefully grow,
if it's the Lord's will, that we would grow in time,
and that we would serve in an ensemble.
You know, that we wouldn't just set the pastor
or just some godly man as the one
that everyone ought to look at to.
No, it's the entire church.
All of us ought to mature
and become more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not just for the bishop.
A church can be a great example to other believers,
a great blessing to other believers.
Now let's go to John 13.
John 13.
Because I want to leave you with one more example.
We have godly man as one example.
We have bad examples.
That's another way to look at examples, right?
So we can learn from the mistakes.
Number three, a church can be an example
to other believers.
But the last one I want to look at here
is the most important one, John 13, 13.
John 13, 13.
This is Jesus speaking, look at this.
He says, you call me master and Lord,
and you say well, for so I am.
If I then, your Lord and master, have washed your feet,
you also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example
that you should do as I have done to you.
So we see in Jesus Christ, not only is he the standard,
but he also came to set an example for us.
Yes, we do look at the godly man,
we can look at Paul and Peter,
and good men of God in the Bible,
and set them as our examples,
but Jesus Christ himself did not just come
to be the standard, not just to show us
that he's the perfect lamb of God
that takes away the sin of the world,
but he came to set us an example
that we should walk after him.
And there's a lot that we can learn from Jesus Christ.
You know, don't look at the Bible and say,
well, Jesus was God.
Of course he managed that situation well.
Of course he was able to overcome temptation
and willness.
Of course, all these things.
Of course, at the age of 12,
he was able to teach the law
to the doctors of the law during that time.
Don't have that mindset.
Remember, yes, he's God, obviously,
but he was man at the same time.
He was fully 100% man,
and he came and set us an example.
That means at 12 years old,
you can, how old are you, brother?
Brother Michael?
10.
Two more years, get a sermon ready.
Two more years, you'll be preaching for us,
because Jesus Christ set this example for us.
It can be done.
Okay, don't think, oh, that was just Jesus.
No, he came and set this example
so we can follow after his steps.
I'll just read to you 1 Peter 2, 21.
For even he run to were ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.
That ye should follow his steps.
Okay?
Jesus Christ is definitely the ultimate example.
Jesus Christ is both the standard and the sample.
Both the standard and the sample.
No, no man, there's no other man on this planet
that can fulfill both those roles.
The rest of us, we just serve as an example,
doing the best we can to reflect
Jesus Christ in our lives.
Now let me talk to you about the consequences
of not rightly dividing between a standard and a sample.
Okay, let me talk to you about this very quickly.
Again, just reinforcing the facts
that God will never change.
God will never fail.
God will never fail you.
Men will change and men will fail you.
And I'm just giving you the heads up right now,
I'm gonna fail you, somehow.
All right, I'm not necessarily saying
I'm gonna get into some major sin or anything like that,
but there's gonna be something, there's gonna be something.
I'm a bit sarcastic.
And sometimes when I'm sarcastic I say something
that just to keep things light,
then I easily offend people sometimes by my sarcasm.
I might say something like that and then you'll be like,
does Kevin hate me?
Why did he say that, right?
Look, you know, I have failures.
If you're true to yourself, you have failures also.
And quite often when I see people in churches
fighting with one another and you finally figure it out,
why are you guys fighting?
It's this tiny little thing.
It's a tiny little thing.
Someone offended someone by, it's like, get over it.
It's just a human being, they did wrong,
just forget it or ask for forgiveness or whatever it is.
Seek to make things right.
But don't get so discouraged that you hate going to church.
Don't get so discouraged that you don't go to church.
Don't get so discouraged that you throw out Christianity
thinking, oh, there's no one
that's serving the Lord properly.
Always fix your eyes on Jesus Christ
because it doesn't change.
Another consequence of not rightly dividing
between the standard and the sample
is you're gonna have wrong expectations,
wrong expectations because as I said,
Christians sometimes set man as standards.
I've already kind of, sorry, I covered this already.
I merged these two things together.
But my concern again was for new believers,
new Christian believers again,
setting man as a standard instead of a sample.
But the third consequence of not rightly dividing
between this is when the standard becomes the sample.
When the standard, which is Jesus Christ the word of God
becomes the sample.
Now, this is when the Bible just becomes
another holy book.
Now I'm thinking of someone in particular right now.
I know of a young man that grew up in church.
His father was a pastor,
grew up knowing the word of God,
was able to tell us the gospel
but right now wants nothing to do with church.
He wants nothing to do with Christianity.
In fact, it's almost like he hates his parents
for bringing him up the way they brought him up.
I know of someone in particular right now
and when I last spoke to him, he said to me,
you know how Christians take the Bible
and you base everything in your life in the Bible?
He goes, I don't think that's the way
the Bible is meant to be written.
I think it's just meant to be something you can take
and read a little verse here,
take something good out of that
and it's just like any other self-help book
that's out there.
So what did he do?
He got discouraged about church for whatever reasons.
I don't know all the reasons
but now he sees the Bible
which is meant to be set to the standard
as a sample, as just some other book
to get you through life
but there are many other books out there
that can help you get through life.
When you do that, you'll become spiritually malnourished
because in Luke 4, Jesus answered,
saying, it is written that man shall not live
by bread alone but by every word of God,
every word of God.
Now, if you've not read your Bible cover to cover,
let me encourage you, you need every word of God
to be malnourished and to grow spiritually, okay?
If you've not read the Bible cover to cover,
start now, start tonight.
You know, when you get home
and my recommendation is read the New Testament first.
Start in Matthew, get to Revelation
because that's the easier books to get through.
Then go to the Old Testament,
start reading through the Old Testament.
Especially if you're a younger believer
or you're someone that's been saved for a long time
but you've not really grown or matured much, do that, okay?
Because sometimes when you start with the Old Testament,
you're not gonna have the light of the New Testament
helping you get through the Old Testament.
When you have the light of the New Testament,
the Old Testament becomes a lot clearer
but you need every word of God.
You know, make it your plan, make it a part of your life
to get through the whole Bible at least once a year.
It takes 15 minutes a day.
Give me your fourth 15 minutes, 15 minutes a day
in town, I don't have that time, okay.
What takes 15 minutes of your day in your life, you know?
Making yourself a coffee, that's five minutes, maybe.
You know, drinking that coffee another five minutes.
There, skip that one coffee.
You've already got three 10 minutes to read your Bible
and then just find another five minutes in your life.
Okay, but you need every word of God to get through
because it's the standard.
And when you use it as a sample,
oh, it's just one book that I use to get through life,
you're going to be spiritually malnourished
because you need every word of God.
Now the other problem when you don't write a divide
is when samples become the standard.
When samples become the standard.
So this is an example where a believer
would listen to one preacher, let's say.
They've got their favorite preacher
and they listen to that preacher
every day of their life or whatever.
They listen, that's what, you know,
all their understanding of the word of God
is on that one preacher.
What does that mean?
That means they've taken this sample
and they've made it their standard in life.
They've made that man their standard, okay?
Now the problem with that
is it hinders the Holy Ghost from teaching you.
It hinders the Holy Ghost from teaching you
because in 1 John 2.27, 1 John 2.27, it says,
"'But the anointing, speaking of the Holy Ghost,
"'which ye have received of him, abideth in you,
"'and ye need not that any man teach you,
"'but as the same anointing teacheth you all things,
"'and is truth, and is no lie,
"'and even as it hath taught you,
"'ye shall abide in him.'"
So who's supposed to teach you in this life?
The anointing, the Holy Spirit that indwells you.
That's your teacher.
And yes, I'm not saying we shouldn't listen to preachers
because the Holy Ghost can use that preacher
to get some truth into you.
But if all your mind is on that one preacher,
that's your favorite preacher,
you listen to that one person all the time,
then you're in danger of setting a man as your standard
rather than the Word of God
or God himself, the Holy Spirit,
that is to teach you all things.
It is the Holy Ghost's role to teach you,
and it's going to teach you God's wisdom.
It's said there in 1 John 2.27,
"'and is truth, and is no lie.'"
When the Holy Ghost teaches you through the Word of God,
it's the truth and there is no lie.
The problem when a man teaches you
is that yeah, we try to use as much Bible as possible,
we do the best to teach what we can,
but there's always that opportunity
because we have the flesh,
because we have man's wisdom,
to say something that is not quite accurate.
Now that's not my goal.
It's not my goal, obviously, to teach something false.
But I promise you, if you're going to be a preacher
and you're going to be preaching every week,
there's going to come a time
when you just say something wrong.
And there's been time,
I've been preaching for about, I don't know,
five or six years on a monthly basis
in my previous churches.
I've gone back and listened to some of my old sermons
and I was like, ah man, that was bad.
I wouldn't preach that anymore.
I'd preach that differently
because it just wasn't accurate.
There was some mistakes in that sermon.
Though at the time, it wasn't my intention.
And at the time, I was trying to preach
the word of God as truth.
But every now and again, you know,
you're going to, because you're a man,
you're going to preach something that's not quite right.
Okay, it's just going to happen.
But if you've got the Holy Ghost as your standard,
it's going to make sure it's 100% correct.
Now, please listen to Acts 14.
Acts 14, I'm wrapping up now.
Acts 14, verse eight.
This is a really interesting story.
And I think it's really applicable again
to newer believers that hold man
as a standard rather than the sample.
Okay, Acts 14, Acts 14, verse eight.
So obviously this is after Jesus Christ had resurrected
and gone to be on the right hand side of the Father.
And then we have Paul here.
So let's pick it up in verse number eight.
And there sat a certain man at Lystra,
impotent in his feet, so he couldn't walk,
being a cripple from his mother's womb,
who never had walked.
The same heard Paul speak,
who steadfastly beholding him
and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
said with a loud voice,
Stand upright on thy feet.
And he leaped and walked.
So Paul was able to do this miracle, okay?
Now, why was he able to do this miracle?
Because it says here that the man has a faith
to be healed.
The man was a believer, okay?
He was healed physically,
and he was able to raise this man who couldn't walk,
who was lame, and was able to get up on his feet.
He leaped up and walked in verse 10.
And look at verse 11.
And when the people saw what Paul had done,
they lifted up their voices,
saying in the speech of Laconia,
the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.
The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.
So when they looked at Paul,
were they looking at a man?
No, they had elevated him as a god.
They started to worship him as a god.
Paul, who's meant to be a sample,
who's meant to be an example of Jesus Christ
to the people in this city,
had risen him to the standard,
had risen him up to godhood, okay?
And look at this, verse 12.
And they caught Barnabas,
because Barnabas was his helper at the time.
They caught Barnabas Jupiter and Paul,
Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
Then the priests of Jupiter,
which was before their city,
brought oxen and garlands unto the gates,
and would have done sacrifice for the people.
So not only are they saying they're gods,
and they're worshiping like gods,
and had set them as the standard,
now they wanna worship and sacrifice animals at their feet.
Look at verse 14.
Which when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of,
they rent their clothes,
and ran in among the people crying out,
and saying, sirs, why do you these things?
We also are men of like passions with you,
and preach unto you that you should turn
from these vanities unto the living God,
which made heaven and earth and the sea,
and all things that are therein,
who in times past suffered all nations
to walk in their own ways.
Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness,
in that he did good,
and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons,
filling our hearts with food and gladness.
Now, before I read verses 18 and 19,
I just wanna paint this picture to you, right?
The city had seen and done a great work for God.
They had healed this man who was lame,
and they start worshiping him as God.
They start sacrificing and giving of themselves
to these, you know, gods,
God men, if anyone wants to call that.
And this is, and I know this is an extreme case, okay?
But I do believe we can apply this to Christianity.
When young believers, carnal Christians,
lift up their pastor, lift up their favorite preacher,
almost to the point of godhood,
and they wanna worship them.
Their whole life is centered around that one person, okay?
And it's like, whatever they say, that goes,
that must be true, you know?
And even when they fail, it's like,
no, they're still right!
Even when they do good, you know,
when they do wrong, they're still right!
Because they've transformed what was meant to be an example,
what was meant to be a sample to the standard.
This is very dangerous.
And I see this happen time and,
I've seen this in my whole life, time and time again.
Someone praising a preacher
beyond what they ought to be praised.
Yeah, it's good to have your favorite preachers.
I'm not saying that.
It's good to honor and respect your pastor.
That's good.
But make sure you have Jesus Christ as the standard.
Make sure even when you realize they fail,
they're men, they're going to fail
because they have like passions,
they have difficulties in their life,
they have frailties in their life,
but I know that Jesus Christ will never fail.
And you have Jesus Christ as your God.
And if you read the book of 1 Corinthians,
you'll see that Paul likens that church
because they had their favorite preachers.
I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas, I'm of Apollos.
They had their favorite preachers.
And he says, hey,
it's like you've put them in the place of Christ.
You know, he says, was Paul crucified for you?
You know, were you baptized in the name of Paul?
No, they had set these men higher than they ought to.
This is something that carnal Christians do all the time.
And here's the problem.
When you're too enamored with one man,
when you hold one man way too high in your heart,
which that position ought to be God,
when they fail, then the amount that you love them,
the amount that you enamored with them,
the amount that you worship them becomes the opposite.
That same love now becomes,
that measure of love becomes a measure,
that same measure of hatred.
That same measure of appreciation
becomes the same measure of bitterness, okay?
Because they were unbalanced to begin with, okay?
Someone else that looked at that preacher
and they've made a mistake that was balanced
to be like, oh, that's a shame.
It's a shame they made a mistake,
but they're not going to turn around
and totally try to hate that person
and be obsessed on that person on the other side,
because they were able to maintain a balance.
They had Jesus Christ as the standard
and not mad as the standard.
Look at verse 18, verse 18.
And when these saints scarce restrained they the people,
that they had not done sacrifice unto them,
and there came thither certain Jews from Antioch
in Iconium, who persuaded the people,
and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city,
supposing he had been dead.
The same people who worshiped them like gods, right?
When they realised that, oh, Paul doesn't mean,
well, he's not what we wanted,
and things have gone wrong.
Now they stone him, they try to kill him,
they hate him.
The same measure that they loved
now becomes that measure of hatred.
And I've seen, again, it drives me crazy
when I see this happen.
And when I see one person so obsessed
in hatred toward a preacher, in hatred toward a pastor,
it just tells me that there was a time in their life
that they loved that preacher way too much,
they were so enamoured,
and they worshiped that preacher way too much,
and had set that person in the place of God.
That's what happens.
So I want us to be mindful, I want us to be balanced.
Yes, have your favourite preachers,
have men of God that you look up to,
but don't elevate them to the level of God,
don't elevate them to the level of Jesus Christ,
who is the standard.
And the problem happens again,
when men fail, when men fail,
when you have this imbalance in your life,
you're going to think God has failed me,
you're going to think church has failed me,
and you're gonna get out of the Bible,
you're gonna stop reading,
you're gonna get out of church,
because you see the hypocrisy of man,
and yes, all men are hypocrites to some extent,
because we all have that frail flesh,
and then you totally get off track,
because you were unbalanced,
you didn't have, you didn't rightly divide
between the samples and the standard that God has left us.
So I hope that's given you some things to think about.
Let me just wrap up with a personal story.
When I first sort of got myself into a good church,
my first IFB church, it was a church in seven years,
there was a great preacher, a great pastor,
I got baptized by him, my wife did as well,
we got married in that church, Christine and I,
and I learned a lot of great truths,
because in the watered down Baptist church,
what Baptist union church I was going to,
I wasn't really learning all that much.
God is love pretty much every week.
I mean, of course God is love,
but I didn't mean to hear it every week,
one of the other things too.
So when I got into a good church,
I was hearing good doctrine, good foundational things,
and I didn't know at the time,
but I had risen, that man had risen in my heart,
probably in a bad place.
I looked up, I was learning such great truths,
and I was really appreciative
that I was learning all these great things.
Eventually we left the church for other reasons,
but then it came out that he was a missionary,
I won't give too much information away,
but he was a missionary in a foreign land,
and then he committed adultery against his wife,
committed adultery.
And this was, honestly, this man of God,
in my eyes, was amazing.
He preached Sunday morning, Sunday school,
and then Sunday service, then he preached Sunday night,
then he had Wednesday night, he preached on Wednesday night
and then on Tuesday night, he had a Bible college course
that he taught in the church,
and I think, or was that, maybe it was Thursday night,
every second Sunday night after church service,
he'd be on the community radio preaching on Christianity
and answering questions and phone calls,
and then he'd be soul-willing every Saturday,
and I think he was soul-willing every Wednesday,
and then he was preaching at the,
he was teaching, he was lecturing at the Bible college,
the main Bible college, IFB Bible college that's in Sydney,
Sydney, I can't remember what it's called, Sydney,
I can't remember, anyway.
I'm saying to you, he was doing a lot.
He had a lot on his plate.
I was thinking, how can this one man do so many things?
Obviously, God was using him in a great way,
teaching great doctrine, okay?
The church was about 300 people,
one of the biggest churches in Sydney,
then he finds himself as a missionary,
commits adultery, okay?
And I remember when I heard about it,
I was like, have you ever gone through shock?
Maybe you've had a car accident and you go through shock.
I didn't have a car accident, but I went through shock.
I was like, how can this man, who I looked up to,
who I love so much, fail so badly?
And I was burdened in my heart.
I was so sad in my heart,
and I felt like someone had punched a hole right through me.
Like, I just felt empty, right?
And day after day, just thinking about it,
can't believe it, can't believe it, can't believe it,
one week passed, can't believe it, can't believe it,
can't believe it, two weeks passed,
and I'm thinking, why am I feeling like this?
I got to a point, well, what's going on?
Why am I so discouraged?
Why am I so downcast?
And I finally realized I must've been holding a man
way too highly, you know?
I've got to set my eyes back on the Lord Jesus Christ,
who never changes.
I need to set my eyes back on God,
who never lets me down.
Set my eyes back on God, who is always with me,
because men are going to fail.
Even the best men that you can think of,
there's a possibility that they can fail
because they have that flesh.
So church, please keep this in mind.
There's going to be times that I fail you.
I hope it's nothing big like that, like I said,
but I hope you're able to understand,
well, it's because the man, you know,
doing the best he can to serve the Lord,
trying to be that example, but even when they fail,
I always have my eyes on Jesus.
That's what's going to keep me grounded.
My eyes are on the word of God.
I'm doing and listening and doing the word of God,
and I'm going to set my life upon that strong foundation,
which is the word.
I'm going to set my eyes on the standard
and not purely on the samples.
And follow the samples, follow the examples,
as long as they are following Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.