The Spirit And The People of God – Part 2

Has it come on? Okay.

Okay, so we continue with what we did last week, which was

the spirit and the people of God.

Part two.

Like I was saying at the start of the service, six days ago

Lazarus was raised and last night,

just to set the context of Palm Sunday, last night Jesus was having supper at

their house in Bethany. So really sometimes when you put stories that way that six days ago Jesus

had gone and raised Lazarus from the dead and then last night if he were to follow the narrative, last night

he was in Bethany and he was having dinner with

Mary and Martha and Lazarus and some of their friends and then that was happening last night and

some who saw Lazarus raised had definitely gone and spread the word that Jesus had raised him from the dead and

people were wondering if Jesus would turn up this morning in Jerusalem

because everyone goes to Jerusalem from Bethany because it's Passover and

so the city trebles in size from a few to thousands and

so everyone's thinking will Jesus come to Jerusalem because they know that the rulers are out to get him. When you read John 12

12 to 17 you find that

Let's read John 12 12 to 17

John 12

12 to 17

The next day the great crowd

that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem

and they took palm branches and went out to meet him shouting Hosanna

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord blessed is the King of Israel and so

the strange thing though is

The strange thing though is

all this entire thing began guys in Matthew 16 in Matthew 16 was

I don't remember the words in Matthew 16

Jesus had declared to Peter

That this revelation did not come from you

What was the revelation that you Jesus Christ are the son of the living God Peter had said that and then Jesus

It says in Matthew 16 that once Peter made the confession and where was the confession being made it was in a place called Caesarea

and

Ever since Peter made that confession Jesus decided that he would set his face towards the cross and start walking

And that was about two and a half weeks ago over the last two and a half weeks Jesus has walked

98 miles to Jerusalem. This is the only problem if I had been a disciple then

It would be a lot of walking

I'd probably need the donkey for the last two miles, but

Here's the thing. He's walked 98 miles

From Caesarea to Bethany and then forward but for the last two miles he refuses to walk and instead he

Asks for a donkey to be brought that he can ride. It's deliberate

It's not that the crowd decided. Ah, let's get him a donkey to ride. No, it's it's intentional

In fact last night Jesus told two of his disciples

Can you go into town and when you go into town you'll find a person?

Who has a donkey tied to the door and say to them the master has need of it?

We don't know whether it was a word of knowledge or whether it was in it planned previously

All we know is that Jesus is planning this thing

And so for the last two miles he rides in on a donkey

After a hundred mile walk from Caesarea Jesus rides the last two miles and as he's riding there are pilgrims

So there here are the people that are there tons of pilgrims

There are guys from Galilee. So there are a lot of Galileans and

his disciples and

Then there are the people in Jerusalem Jerusalem natives

These are the three groups say this group does is just heading to Jerusalem

This is a group that is shouting Hosanna

And this is a group that is saying who is he

There are three groups there

This is also perhaps a group who later on in about five days shout crucify him

There are three groups that are going into Jerusalem

And so the Galileans are the ones who are welcoming Jesus and they're welcoming him

Some of them may have recognized Zechariah 9 9 and Zechariah 9 9

It says behold your king who comes riding on a donkey and comes in

Humble as he comes riding on a donkey and yet the reason they take out their

Clothes and laid down on the ground and start waving palm-brows

Clothes and laid down on the ground and start waving palm branches is because there is precedent for it

When Jehu was anointed king it sets in second Kings in second Kings

913 in second Kings 913

It says when Jehu was anointed King people did the same thing they took off their outer clothes and put it on the ground

So

This is not uncommon when you welcome a king some of them perhaps saw Zechariah 9

Zechariah 9:9

Verse 9 and 10 coming to pass if you go to Zechariah 9 was 9 and 10 come can you read that Zechariah 9?

verse 9 and 10

Here's what it says in the NIV rejoice greatly daughter Zion

Shouts daughter Jerusalem see your king comes to you righteous and victorious

Lowly and riding on a donkey on a colt the fall of a donkey. That's what we normally read on

Palm Sunday look at the rest of the verses. I

Will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war horses from Jerusalem and the battle bore will be broken

He will proclaim peace to the nations his rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth

That's what's written on the Parliament building in Ottawa as for you because of the blood of my covenant with you

I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit

Return to your fortress you prisoners of hope even now I announced that I will restore twice as much to you

That's Jubilee. I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim

I'll rouse your son Zion against your son's grief and I will make you like a warrior sword. This is no ordinary

humble

Jesus riding in on donkey he's coming in as king but in the process that a few things happening in Zechariah 9 9 and 10

There's humility there is war there is peace and there is the extension of his kingdom

Now in hindsight it's easy to see that but I don't think many people saw it then

Most of the things Jesus did was to fulfill prophecy guys

He would deliberately do things or God would orchestrate things so that prophecy could be fulfilled and these are the four things happening here one

I will come in writing as a king

in humility to I

Will come to make war

As I come in as king three through war I will bring peace for I will advance my kingdom

All this is being announced in this triumphal entry

So when we talk about a triumphal entry we just think he's someone coming and they take palm branches and throw clothes and that's a triumphal entry

No, that's not the triumphal entry. The triumphal entry is a king coming to do four things. I'll come in humility

I will not come riding a war horse that is reserved for revelations 19 when I'll come on a white horse

But right now I'll come in humility because he's going to die to conquer

To I am coming to make war

To I am coming to make war

Three through war I will bring peace

For I will extend my kingdom from the river to the ends of the sea

That's the triumphal entry

Which then requires a different kind of response from us when we sing these songs of Ozana I

If you were there that day and you were a Galilean or a disciple and you even caught a glimpse of Zechariah 9 9

Man, it would have been so easy

To dance like a child and to lay down your clothes, which is why when this

Pharisees and the elders say to Jesus tell them to stop shouting

What does he say if they stop shouting the stones will cry out out of the mouth of babes?

I have ordered ordained strength and praise

That's the kind of thing that should come up from within us and it doesn't matter what culture we are

We must reconstitute the way we praise because to keep silent is to give God stillborn praise, which is wrong

It's a fulfillment of Zechariah 9 9 and 10 and there were other kings who were treated this way when you go to Psalm 118

It's this psalm that they used to always read when they would go up the hill to the temple

It's called the psalm of there are five Psalms called the psalm of the temple, which is called the psalm of the temple

It's called the psalm of the temple

and when they would go up the hill to the temple

It's called the Psalm of there are five Psalm's called the Psalms of a cent and psalm 118 was one of them

That's where you get the word hosanna psalm 118. If you go to verse

25-27

It says they're in psalm 18-24. The Lord has done it this very day

Let us rejoice today and be glad Lord save us

That's the whole idea of Hosanna. The actual Hebrew word or the Greek translation of the Hebrew is Hosanna.

Lord save us. Lord grant us success or prosperous.

And then verse 26, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

From the house of the Lord we bless you.

And then look at the next one.

The Lord is God and he has made his light shine on us with bows in our hands,

with branches or palm branches join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.

And that was what they were doing.

So everything they were doing was kind of from scripture.

And they had done this for kings before them.

Any questions?

Where do you get the word of the Lord?

Zechariah 9 verse 10.

Zechariah 9:10

It says there, when you go to Zechariah 9 verse 10, it says,

Zechariah 9:10

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, the war horses from Jerusalem,

the battle bow.

And so it's his idea of I will decimate everything that is coming against you.

Ephraim was his own. Ephraim means double fruitfulness.

Jerusalem is his own city of sorts.

And so he's saying, I'll cut off the bow.

I will break the chariot so that they can no longer bother you.

So it is through war that he then ushers in peace.

And he's warring against the powers that come against us.

Yeah.

Strangely and wonderfully, the statement on the Parliament Building of Canada

is actually from some hundred and...

Sorry, it's from Zechariah 9, where it says,

His rule shall be from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.

This was written on the Parliament Building.

The enthusiasm of the children and the people enrages the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin was a group of 70 or 72 people that formed the eldership.

It's so sad that today we still have Sanhedrin's in every religious institution.

The ones who have the key of knowledge,

but will not open the door for others to enter into.

And so you have the Sanhedrin and they are outraged.

And here's the strange thing, we don't often realize this,

but Jesus is confrontational

through the people who are in his church.

Throughout...

I know I've spelt it wrong.

Throughout this week, he's not conciliatory.

There's nothing about the first three days of this week

that shows any desire to be conciliatory or to accommodate or to tolerate.

He's absolutely confrontational.

We will see that.

Palm Sunday is so confrontational.

We get stuck with the waving of palm branches.

We don't realize that Palm Sunday is so confrontational in everything that Jesus does.

So what does he do first?

What's the first confrontation that he brings up?

Why does he do it?

He's doing it for one reason.

Why is he being confrontational?

Because he is consumed by zeal to rebuild the temple.

That's something that's really getting to him.

He knows he's going to leave soon.

He has to build the temple.

This is the time when he makes a statement.

I will tear this temple down in three days and I will...

I'll destroy it in three days and I will raise it up.

This is when he cleanses the temple and says,

the zeal of the Lord has consumed me.

This is Amos 9, 11 coming to pass, where it says,

in the days, David's tabernacle will be rebuilt.

And he begins it then and it's still continuing now.

Why does he want to rebuild the temple?

Why does he want to reconstitute the church?

Why is he always doing this?

Why is the Holy Spirit always looking at things that need to change?

Why?

So that as we become his temple, the way he designs it,

the Gentile world or the non-Christian world will seek God.

Strange, eh?

You should read Amos 9, verse 11.

Amos 9:11

Amos 9, Amos 9...

Knock, knock, who's there?

Amos, Amos who?

A mosquito.

Amos 9...

I know, that jokes as I get older.

Amos 9, verse 11.

Amos 9:11

In that day I will restore David's fallen shelter.

I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins.

And will rebuild it as it used to be,

so that they may possess the remnant of Edom, as in the Gentile world.

And all the nations that bear my name, declare the Lord who will do these things.

And it's the same verse that's then repeated in Acts chapter 15.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Go to Acts 15, verse 16.

Acts 15:16

Acts 15, verse 16.

Acts 15:16

Acts 15, starting at verse 15.

Let's start at verse 13.

When they finished, James spoke up.

Brothers, he said, listen to me.

Simon has described to us how God first intervened

to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.

The words of the prophets are in agreement with this as it is written.

After this, I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent.

Its ruins I will rebuild, I will restore it.

That the rest of mankind may seek the Lord.

Even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord,

I will rebuild David's fallen tent.

I will rebuild David's fallen tent.

I will rebuild David's fallen tent.

I will rebuild David's fallen tent.

I will rebuild David's fallen tent.

I will rebuild David's fallen tent.

I will rebuild David's fallen tent.

I will rebuild David's fallen tent.

I will rebuild David's fallen tent.

Partly through the schools he went to.

But what brought him to the point of decision?

A people.

Didn't matter who he associated with.

They kept telling him about the Christ that lives in them.

How do you think you came to Christ?

There is not a single Jew here, as far as I know.

We are Gentiles who have come into the Church

through people of the Church who drew us in.

This is the passion that consumes Christ, eh?

And one has to ask this of oneself.

Is there a consuming passion for the bride in your heart?

And if there is a consuming passion for the bride in your heart,

how does it show?

Because passion shows.

Because the Church or the bride is a magnificent obsession

of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit.

The Father sends his own beloved Son

so that he can pay the moher or the dowry price

for the bride in blood.

The Son comes and lays his life down

so that he can present to the Father

a bride that is blemishless.

And the Spirit of God comes

so that the Spirit of God can create the bride.

This is the central obsession

of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

And therefore must become the central obsession

of the bride.

Us.

It consumes Jesus then, it consumes him now.

And the Spirit of God keeps working towards it.

The question is, how passionate are you or I

about the bride or the Church?

And if you are passionate about it,

how does it show?

Sela.

We've got to think about that.

Those of you who are married,

it's a strange thing, eh?

It doesn't matter how bad a husband and wife

you are doing today.

This I can guarantee you,

and I'm speaking to the women right now,

your husbands would lay down your life for you in a second.

Strange.

They can have a fight with you today,

they did everything wrong,

they didn't throw out the trash,

they threw the cat out of the window, praise the Lord,

and yet, if it came to laying their lives down for you,

they would do it in a second.

Every husband here.

Strange how that works.

Women need to know that.

Because you can write a long list of complaints

of what your husband is not,

but this one thing I guarantee you,

they would lay down their lives for you

in a second without thinking.

And yes, they are problematic.

But that's a different story for a different day.

And so what is it that consumes you in terms of the bride?

The same Jesus who said,

it was in my time when they would ask him to come for meetings in Jerusalem.

The same Jesus who would stay on the outskirts of the city,

I wouldn't enter in because he didn't want the crowds to recognize him.

The same Jesus who would shun messianic recognition

when they would try and make him king,

he would run away.

The same Jesus who told us this was a lie,

he would run away.

The same Jesus who would tell us this was a lie,

he would run away.

The same Jesus who told his disciples not to tell anyone

is no longer keeping it a secret.

On Palm Sunday,

it's almost like he's saying the time of concealment is over.

And so go blow the trumpet,

warn Zion.

So what is the confrontation?

It's on multiple levels.

The first one, the first confrontation is royal claim.

He is willing for people to see.

That he is Messiah.

And so well aware of Zechariah 9,

he rides into

the chief city of the world,

Jerusalem,

like kings of old.

And in doing that,

he is without any mistake

letting the people know

that I am he.

That is confrontational.

All this time he's avoided it.

But now he's not letting it stand in the way.

So that's the first confrontation on Palm Sunday.

I am the Messiah.

Second confrontation,

second one is the attack

of the people of Jerusalem.

The people of Jerusalem are the people of Jerusalem.

On the traders in the temple precinct.

So this is in Mark 11,

Mark 11:1–11

verse 1 to 11.

This is in Mark 11, 15 to 19.

The attack.

And we have to use the word attack.

And so he is a man who has entered the church.

And he is not coming to the sanctuary.

But he sees all the coffee and all the stuff being sold there.

Thank God we don't sell it.

And he takes a whip.

And he takes a whip and he goes around

turning, up turning tables.

Man, Jane would get a long list of things that would have to be put back next Sunday.

Up turning tables,

taking a whip, running around,

chasing traders away.

And why does he say he does it?

He says you have turned this place into a den of thieves.

This is my father's house.

And so zeal consumes him.

Zeal for what?

That there will be nothing done by you

as a church that will prevent the world

from seeking me and seeing me undistorted.

Hear me again.

What is he cleansing the temple from?

He is cleansing the temple.

Why?

He is saying listen, what I am building here on earth

is supposed to be something that reflects me

undistorted to the world.

So that when they come, they will know my presence,

see my presence through you.

And if there is anything that stands in the way

of them seeing an undistorted presence,

I will cleanse it

because this is my father's house

and I will make sure that it is cleansed.

Confrontational.

And every time you do this,

someone dies, eh?

You cannot confront institutions like this

even today

without losing a job, losing money,

or dying.

This was the ultimate thing that put him on the cross.

They got together and they said

people are going crazy, we got to do something about this.

If he hadn't done this,

maybe he could have prolonged his life some more.

I am telling you man, there is nothing

as cursed and as evil as legalism.

The traditions of the world

are not legal.

The traditions of men

that is stronger

than the spirit of God.

We hold on to the traditions of men

saying my father taught me this,

my grandfather taught me this.

And it's legalism.

It put Jesus on the cross

and it does it even today.

It puts people on the cross.

So that's the second confrontation.

The attack on the traders in the temple court.

Here is the third one.

The third one

is the

prophetic

destruction

of

the fig tree.

Mark 11,

12 to 14.

So he's

finished

he

he

he's come into the temple

with the pilgrims

riding on a donkey

and he spends some time in the temple.

He walks around the temple.

The bible says that he walked around looking and taking in the sights of the temple.

And after that it says

and then he went back to Bethany.

And so he goes back to Bethany.

Probably stays at Lazarus' house again.

Sen is leaving the building.

And the service is not over.

See ya.

And so he goes back to Bethany.

The next morning

he decides to return to the temple.

As he is coming to the temple

he sees a fig tree.

And on the fig tree he sees the leaves have come.

So the fruit must be there.

He goes to pluck fruit and there is no fruit.

And he declares something that is prophetically symbolic.

He says you have leaves but you have no fruit.

No longer will this be allowed to continue.

From this day on

this tree will not bear fruit.

That's the third confrontation.

He is literally looking at a whole system of religion

that follows laws but doesn't have fruit.

And he is saying this will not be allowed to continue.

No more.

No more of your litanies.

Of your rituals.

Of your prayers.

If there is no fruit.

No more.

And so he curses the tree.

And that's when he cleanses the temple.

The next day when they are coming back

they see that the tree has dried up from its roots.

It was a prophetic judgment of things that don't bear fruit.

And that happened on palms.

During this week too.

And then the fourth confrontation.

The fourth confrontation is from

Mark 11

27 to Mark 12

27

where he goes into

a series of parables

that are aimed

at the Pharisees

and the Sadducees.

He calls them

things man

that one would shudder to call them even today.

And so from Mark 11

27 to Mark 12

27 he denounces the leaders

through parables.

Any questions

before we move on?

So Palm Sunday is more about

confrontation than about praise.

And then

it requires then that we practice

this too.

That we take stances in certain areas

against certain things so that it's not perpetuated.

When we talk about a bride that is blemishless

how do you get a bride that is blemishless?

I mean when you want to take a wrinkle out of your shirt

or your pant, how do you do it?

Sink to it?

No.

Try it, it doesn't work.

You have to iron it out.

Any questions?

So what does the Holy Spirit

still confront today?

Just three things that

you have to be mindful of.

Why does he confront?

Because he is

serious

sometimes dead serious

about

raising

an

alternative

community.

As in he's not interested in raising

a community that looks like the world

or is better than the world or can jump higher than the world.

He wants it to be starkly different from the world.

The very use of the word

ecclesia which stands for church.

Ecclesia means a called out people.

A called out people.

A people that look different from the world.

That's the very meaning of the word church.

And so

because the Holy Spirit is

dead serious about raising an alternative community

what he does is he confronts.

He confronts

or he exposes.

We'll just look at three things

that he does.

There might be more but just three things.

One, he confronts counterfeit

devotion.

He confronts counterfeit

devotion

or

manipulation of God.

Or manipulation in the church.

He confronts

or exposes

counterfeit devotion or manipulation.

He sees devotion that is not sincere.

He exposes it

and sometimes confronts it.

Or whenever he sees

people manipulating

things that are

of the

body of Christ

to their gain or to their fame

he begins to expose it or confront it.

Are there examples? Yes.

First example.

Ananiasen.

Sapphira.

Acts chapter

Acts 5 · chapter mention

5.

They displayed counterfeit

devotion.

What did they do?

They

kept back money and yet

pretended that they were being super

generous and that they were giving everything away.

The intent was to gain

influence or

gain influence with the

leadership through counterfeit faith

and generosity.

And the Holy Spirit deals with it.

Strangely enough in Acts chapter 5

Acts 5 · chapter mention

it actually says, Peter asks

Ananias,

did you lie

to the Holy Spirit? It doesn't say did you lie to God.

It says did you lie to the Holy Spirit?

How do you lie

to the Holy Spirit?

How do you lie to the Holy Spirit?

We lie to the Holy Spirit

one by brazenly

challenging

or testing

the grace

of the Spirit.

How can you arrive at that conclusion?

Go to Acts chapter 5 verse 9.

Acts 5:9

Acts 5 verse 9.

Acts 5:9

Acts 5 verse 9.

Acts 5:9

It says

Peter said to her,

how could you agree to

the grace of the Holy Spirit?

And she said,

I don't know.

Peter said to her, how could you agree

to test the Spirit of the Lord?

Look the feet of the men

who buried your husband

are at the door and they will carry you out.

One of the ways we

end up

one of the ways

we lie to the Holy Spirit

is by brazenly

sorry that wasn't meant to happen

by challenging

or

testing

the grace of the Spirit.

That's one way. When we test the grace of the Spirit

you know that God is

being gracious. You know that

you've erred here before. You know that

you've been warned. I know

that he's given me space to repent.

I know I shouldn't do it.

But even though I know, I keep pushing it.

Keep pushing it.

That's one of the ways we lie

to the Holy Spirit.

We're not being truthful or honest with the

Spirit.

Second,

we manipulate God

for personal

fame or gain.

Manipulate God for personal fame or gain.

You see that in

the story of Simon Magus

in Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

In Acts chapter 8

Acts 8 · chapter mention

you see that

in Acts chapter 8

Acts 8 · chapter mention

if you look at verse 13

it says there was

this guy called Simon Magus who was a

practitioner of sorcery and that he

believed and was baptized and he

followed Philip everywhere, astonished

by the great signs and miracles he saw.

And yet in verse 18 it says

when Simon saw that the Spirit

was given at the laying of the Apostles' hands

he offered them money and said

give me this ability so that everyone on

whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

I remember long ago

being in a certain

meeting and

there was a guy who was coming up

for prayer and as I saw him

come up for prayer I knew that

if I laid hands on him

that he would fall

to the ground and that

the demon would begin to manifest.

And so as he's coming up

I know this is going to happen

and there are people and they'll watch

him fall on the ground and they'll watch

him manifest and look ugly.

And

as soon as I knew

that was going to happen I also knew that

it would be a good idea for me to take the

person and deal with the person later on

so that his dignity remains

intact and deliver him

quietly.

And yet because people were watching

I thought to myself let them see

the power that works for me.

And so the guy comes up

and I lay hands on him and he falls and he begins

to write on the ground like a snake

and it begins to manifest.

I felt so ashamed

at what I had done

because I knew the power that was

present but instead of protecting the

person's dignity my thing was

let me show them how much power there is when

I pray for somebody.

I was so embarrassed at what I did to the guy

stripped him of his dignity. Why?

For the applause of men.

And so

the spirit of God

doesn't like

manipulation of power

and two

counterfeit devotion.

Devotion that

doesn't have fruit

or that

isn't towards

the corporate intent

of God.

And he

takes a stance against it.

Any questions?

Any questions?

This can't be

decoded by human perception.

You have to have discernment to know when

someone is acting this way.

This is where we need discernment.

Where we know what is of the flesh, what is of the

devil and what is of the spirit.

Knowing things of the spirit and of the

devil are easy. Knowing things of the flesh is difficult.

Any questions?

I think if

you were to cast a demon out of me

I would rather that you did it in a way

that preserves my dignity

and doesn't shame me. But there might be

situations where there's nothing else you can do but

deal with me then and there.

But otherwise, do it quietly

because it can

pardon?

It could.

So this is not a blanket statement.

This isn't a blanket statement.

But at that moment I knew that I had

the freedom and the availability

of

all the room and all the

time I needed to deal with this differently.

It's always a motive of the heart, right?

At the end of the day, it's the intent of the heart.

And

it was almost like God giving me a choice saying,

what are you going to do? And I chose wrong.

The next thing that

the Holy Spirit likes confronting

is false teaching.

And dissension.

And these are things that we need to confront

whenever that comes in.

False teaching and

dissension. In Acts chapter 15,

Acts 15 · chapter mention

it's surprising, in Acts chapter 15,

Acts 15 · chapter mention

the church was about to really

break apart because in Acts chapter 15,

Acts 15:1

verse 1, it says

that people came

into the church in Jerusalem and they

started insisting that

people be circumcised and

that they follow a Jewish ritual.

It almost split the church,

it almost broke the church.

That's when

the Holy Spirit intervenes and

he begins to do it differently. Acts chapter 15,

Acts 15:1

verse 1, can you read that?

Acts 15, verse 1,

Acts 15:1

Some men came down from Judea to Antioch

and were teaching the brothers.

Unless you are circumcised according to the custom

of Moses, you cannot be saved. Verse 5,

Then some of the believers who belonged to the

party of the Pharisees stood up and said,

The Gentiles must be circumcised

and required to obey the law of Moses.

It was an issue that was going to cripple

the church. False teaching.

Again, go to 1 Timothy 4,

1 Timothy 4,

try and track with the Scriptures if you can.

1 Timothy 4,

1 Timothy 4:1

verse 1 and 2,

And this is a warning to every church

that exists today.

Look who's saying it, eh?

You have no idea how passionate

the Spirit of God is about the community

of God.

The Spirit clearly says that in later

times, some will abandon

the faith and follow deceiving

spirits. I've seen that among

some of the elect, some of the ones you thought

will never walk away.

The Spirit clearly says that in later times,

some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving

spirits and things taught by demons.

Such teachings come through hypocritical

liars whose consciences have been

seared with a hot iron.

Acts 20, verse 29,

Acts 20:29

Acts 20, verse 29,

Acts 20:29

Acts 20,

Acts 20:29

verse 29,

I know Paul is in Ephesus,

he's about to say farewell to the Ephesian

elders. I know that after I leave,

savage wolves will come in

among you. From your own number,

men will arise and distort the

truth in order to draw

away disciples after them.

This is being said to us

and must be confronted.

And how does the Holy Spirit confront?

He exposes false teachers.

He reiterates

the apostolic doctrine

or the doctrine that we see

in the letters written to the church.

And he executes

apostolic authority. We'll stop with

this. We won't go into the third one.

I'll just mention it.

This is how the Holy Spirit

deals with false teaching and dissension.

He exposes false teaching.

He exposes false teaching.

And so it's required of you

as you lead

people, be it in any capacity,

be it two people or be it

two thousand people, it is required

of you that you expose false teaching.

That you don't allow it.

As new people come in, guys,

those of us who have been here for a while

or who have been here for more than six or eight

months, do not allow

silliness and idle discussions

and

controversial speculation.

Do not allow it.

Don't allow it.

PK, you've got to make

sure because you have an amazing

ability to draw people.

Be a pillar of truth

because people look up to you.

They're drawn by you.

But make sure that when new people come in,

you know the truth and you begin to speak it in a way

that does not allow any deviation.

It's important, eh?

I wanted to say this to you at some point

this week but I'm saying this to you right now

because it is an important charge that God wants to give to you.

Because as new people

begin to come in, this will begin to happen.

Controversial

speculations, silliness,

genealogies that don't

that are absolutely useless.

Expose it.

What doesn't line up with the word of God

or stuff that

you know is what

is taught in this church. Whenever it deviates,

have the ability to speak up and say,

that's not exactly what we believe here.

It's important because

this place is going to grow.

I mean, every time worship happens and I stand

here and look, I think to myself, how did so many

people turn up?

It's going to grow and

you have to protect what you have learned.

Let me rephrase that.

You have to protect the truth.

And if it is not truth that you're

learning, then challenge it while it's being taught.

But if it is truth you're learning,

then protect it.

Any questions on that?

Yeah. Yeah.

How do you balance it when people are new in faith

and they begin to... We don't encourage

it. We let them speak.

But we don't fuel it.

We know how... So you might meet

someone who does not believe in healing at all.

You can't challenge them on healing because

they don't even know Christ heals. But you don't

say, yeah, you're right.

You begin to tell them stories

of how you used to think

so too. But then this

happened and your wrist got healed.

That happened and your son

was prayed for and he recovered.

In any area,

we let people talk where they are.

But we also tell them

about the one we know and the truth that we have.

We do both.

We are not shutting down people. But we are not

encouraging falsehood.

Sometimes the way to expose

false is just by presenting the truth.

Expose false teaching.

Second, reiterate apostolic

doctrine. As in, what you've taught, repeat it.

Repeat it as many times as necessary.

Paul would often say,

I know you've heard this before and

I'm repeating myself but let me please repeat myself

for your own good. Repeat it.

This is what you believe in.

Repeat it as many

times. If you catch me

saying something that is contrary to the truth,

say, but Jacob,

you say this and then you do this.

Peter did that to Paul, man.

Sorry, Paul did that to Peter.

Peter, you hypocrite. You tell people

that you shouldn't be legalistic.

But now that the guys have come from Jerusalem, you're eating

with them and pretending you are

legalists. Stop this.

Third one is executing

apostolic authority.

And that is the

stage where nothing works

and we have to go down this route.

So look at 1 Timothy

1.20. We land with this.

1 Timothy 1.20.

1 Timothy 1.20.

So there were these two guys,

Hymenaeus and Alexander.

And

executing apostolic authority is when

you do something that is contrary

to the truth.

So the apostolic authority is when

you do something to stop

those that are beginning

to destroy the body

either through falsehood or through strife

or discord or dissension.

Or all four combined.

And so Hymenaeus and Alexander,

we'll see what they did. If you want to know

what Hymenaeus and Alexander did,

go to 2 Timothy 2.18.

Just keep your finger in 1 Timothy 1.20.

Go to 2 Timothy 2.18.

Starting at verse 16.

Avoid godless chatter

because those who indulge in it

will become more and more ungodly.

Their teaching will spread like gangrene.

Among them are Hymenaeus and Philates

who have wandered away from the truth.

They say that the resurrection had already

taken place and they destroy the

faith of some. And so what does

Paul say should be done?

Go back to where you put your finger in

1 Timothy 1.20.

So they say that the

You put your finger in 1 Timothy 1.20

and it says that, so

here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to hand over

to Satan, Hymenaeus

and Alexander so that they may not blaspheme.

Let's look at what

Alexander did.

Go to 2 Timothy 4.14.

2 Timothy 4.14.

It says that Alexander the

metalworker did me a great deal of harm.

The Lord will pay him for what he has done.

You two should be on your guard against him

because he strongly opposed our

message. When you know

something is the truth and

you begin to strongly oppose the truth

or strongly oppose the message

that is preached, this is

and there's

no desire to be

corrected. Then a point comes

where Paul does

what he does. And what do you mean by

handing over someone to Satan?

All it means is that

you put someone

out of the community

and Satan becomes a means under God's

sovereign control to discipline

the person and bring them back to the truth.

You put someone outside of the

community. One of the things that Satan said

to God about Job was

you have put a hedge around Job.

What we don't realize guys

and this is a precious thing to realize.

We don't realize it because there's another church

down the road that you think you can go to.

But here's a precious

precious truth. That

just as there was a hedge around

Job

that was so protective

that Satan had to say to God

I cannot touch him because

you have a hedge of protection around

him.

That is the same protection

afforded to us.

And what Paul is doing to Hymenaeus

and Alexander is saying I am putting you

outside of this community

that the spirit is forging.

And in doing that you

do not have the hedge that

you previously had.

And God in his sovereignty

uses the enemy to discipline

so that they will return.

That's how this works.

It is important to

realize the protection afforded to us

because of what we belong to.

There is no pastor

and leader and

nothing like that there. It's afforded

to all of us. It's the same afforded to all of us.

And therefore dissent and strife, discord

and false teaching

is something that is actually

equated with blasphemy

of the spirit here.

Strange, eh?

You would never

think that this equates to blasphemy of the spirit.

Those are the words that we just

read.

Yep.

Yeah, we can go

to the church down the street and we get accepted

but the protection is still not there.

Because if

someone is sent out

from a place,

the reason a person

is sent out is so that God can use

different means to bring them back.

Going to another building doesn't change

that.

Because you go into another place and

I mean there was a situation in Acts 29

where a person created a

lot of strife and discord at a particular

church. And they

came to Acts 29 and

they said this is

what we've been waiting for all our lives.

That the teaching

here is the best.

Why is it that I hadn't

come here before?

The things they would say

about the church and about me were so splendid

I wanted to have him sit next to me

and say it continuously. But there

was only one problem. The person

created so much strife and discord

in the church that he left that it was

impossible, despite

him being so nice,

it was impossible to have him come

to Acts 29 and be a part of Acts 29

without dealing with that.

I almost felt bad.

I didn't want to...

Sorry, say that again, Marcus.

Yeah.

Part of the reason was...

And so he joined, he came

for five, six weeks.

And then one day

this guy used to be here, Jason.

Jason Dueck.

He'll be here next week, by the way.

Jason and I went and sat with him. I was so scared

to confront him. Part of me

was afraid of how he would react, because

in the past his reaction hadn't been good.

So I took Jason with me. We sat at Starbucks

and I told him, listen,

you cannot join this church

till you deal with the strife

and discord you cause in that church.

And his response was,

who do you think you are? You think

you and your church are the best thing here on Earth?

I thought to myself, that's what you said

five weeks ago. But I didn't say that.

So he stopped coming to Acts 29.

But the point is this, that

we cannot just receive

just because someone changed

this church. If there is strife in this

God-cast, I assure you, it will

ferment here too. Guaranteed.

And so he never came back.

So,

error begins in small dribs,

guys. Error begins in small dribs.

Error

begins

in small

dribs and raps.

In 1 Corinthians 5, 6,

it says, a little leaven

affects the entire

batch of dough. And

what begins in small dribs is what

ends up being deviant

or distorted.

Therefore,

as ones who've been here

long enough, it is

your responsibility.

Especially if you

have any leadership role

in this church, be

it

official or unofficial,

because of the influence you have,

it is your responsibility

to confront,

expose,

but gently

and correct.

You read it in 2 Timothy 2,

25 and 26, and we'll stop with that.

2 Timothy 2,

25 and 26.

Verse 24.

2 Timothy 2,

2 Timothy 2:24

verse 24. And the Lord's servant

must not quarrel. Instead,

he must be kind to everyone,

able to teach, not resentful.

Those who oppose him,

he must gently instruct

in the hope that God

will grant them repentance, leading

them to a knowledge of the truth,

and that they will come to their senses

and escape the trap of the devil

who has taken them captive to do his will.

Third thing that we won't touch today

was false ideologies and powers.

That's another thing that the

Holy Spirit deals with.

False ideologies

and powers.

We won't deal with

that today. Any questions?

Palm Sunday is confrontational, guys.

Yeah?

Just keep that in mind.

As new people are added,

become a pillar of the truth.

The church is the pillar of truth.

That's what it says.

The church is the pillar of truth.

Who's the church? You.

You carry in you certain things

that have already been established.

Be litmus.

Be litmus.

Be litmus.

Be litmus.

It should be hard for people

to do things that are distorted

or untrue when you are around.

Because you're like a plumb line.

Yeah?

If you need prayer, there'll be

people that pray with you.

Otherwise, remember we're here

3.30 on Friday for Good Friday

service.