Buckets of Courage to Confess Christ
One of my brothers in this room, I don't want to out him, but he's asked for prayer. And the way that he's formulated his phrasing, I've adopted it. I've stolen it from him. I've co-opted it from him.
Pray that we'll have buckets of wisdom, courage, and faith. That's a good prayer. Buckets is very suggestive. It's very, you know, profuse.
There's an abundance of it. I don't want just a little glass. I want buckets of wisdom. I want buckets of faith.
The church today wants buckets of courage. We're too afraid to publicly confess Jesus. We're too afraid to actually maintain God's Word relative to the Seventh Commandment. We're too afraid to ever appear to be those sort of brimstone and fire preachers.
We can catch a lot more flies with honey. No, we catch flies with the word of the living God, trusting in the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to make effectual that word, to draw sinners out of darkness into marvelous light. That's what we trust in. We're not supposed to capitulate.
We're not supposed to be full of fear. We're not supposed to be, well, we can't say that in the public arena. We must say it in the public arena. We must maintain the word of the living and true God.
Paul Before Festus: Courage in the Face of Mockery
Remember that scene where the apostle is standing before Festus, and Festus says to him, much learning is driving you mad, Paul. You sound like you're off the reservation. You sound like you've lost it. You sound like you're a lunatic.
What's Paul's response? Well, I don't want to come across that way. I want to make sure you like me. I want to make sure you accept me.
He says, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but I speak the words of truth and reason. What do you think that this chaotic world desperately needs right now? A capitulating church? A relevant church?
A hip church? A cool church? She needs a church that's going to effectively communicate the word of the living and true God. A church that's going to preach law and gospel.
Law so that sinners will see their need for the Savior, and gospel so they'll see that fountain open for sin and uncleanness. Brethren, there is in us today, within the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, a lack of courage. We look like these rulers that are a bit too feeble and weak to ever announce or to ever confess that no, Jesus is our master, Jesus is our Lord, Jesus is our Savior, His words are truth and reason, and therefore, we're gonna launch our offensive and engage in our defense with reference to that word. We're not going to compromise.
We're going to celebrate with the Apostle Paul that primary vehicle by which God extends the kingdom of Christ.
Preach the Word: The Church's Offensive
Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. Notice, convince, rebuke, exhort.
A feebly weak and effeminate church won't do that. I don't want to convict. I can't rebuke them. I can't exhort them.
What might they think of me? They might get offended. They might get upset. They might frown.
This is unacceptable behavior on the part of God's people in church. Now you know, I preached it last Sunday night, that I think that the Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs in Ephesians 519 refers to the Psalms of David. Brethren, I think, now just indulge me a minute here, that when the pulpit preaches Jesus as a self-help guru, then the church will treat him as a self-help guru. When the church sings Jesus is my boyfriend songs, then the church is going to treat Jesus as their boyfriend.
The Church's Vision: King of Kings
The vision of the church ought to be Revelation 19. King of kings, Lord of lords. The sword of his mouth proceeding by which he makes war, he wages war. It is through His Word.
His Word preached, His Word sung, His Word propagated, His Word confessed, His Word celebrated, and His Word, and I speak metaphorically, rammed down the throats of the God-hater. That's what the church needs to be about. We don't apologize for God. We're sorry we did this, God.
No. We stand our ground on the word of God, understanding that everything else is sinking sand.
Secret Belief and Fear of Consequences
These rulers, in their belief on Jesus, were too afraid of the Pharisees and too afraid of the consequences of being put out of the synagogue. Many in this room have suffered consequences for identifying