The Gifts

Welcome to Insights. This is Pastor John

and today we're going to be talking

about

the gifts.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just

thank you and praise you for your word.

We thank you for your knowledge and for

your

desire to share with us

the depths of your own

wonderful wisdom, God. In Jesus name we

pray. Amen.

So

in Romans chap 11 starting at verse 25

it says for I would not brethren that

you should be ignorant of this mystery

lest you should be wise in your own

conceits that blindness in part has

happened to Israel until the fullness of

the Gentiles be come in. And so all

Israel shall be saved, as it is written,

there shall come out of Sion the

deliverer, and shall turn away

ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my

covenant unto them, when I shall take

away their sins. As concerning the

gospel, they are enemies for your sakes,

but is touching the election, they are

beloved for the Father's sakes. For the

gifts and calling of God are without

repentance. For as ye in times past have

not believed God, yet have now obtained

mercy through their unbelief, even so

have these also now not believed, that

through your mercy they also may obtain

mercy. For God has concluded them all in

unbelief, that he might have mercy upon

all. You know,

I uh talk to people a lot about

different things and uh one of the most

important things that we as believers

need to do is have a very solid

foundation of what scripture actually

says. And um so when it comes to

studying the Bible,

we need to make sure that we're using

good Bible study tools.

And uh

to use the exact terms, it's uh

homalytics, hermeneutics, and ex Jesus.

And basically what that is is putting

the Bible into context and studying it

based on who it was written to, when it

was written, why it was written,

and

really trying to understand what God is

trying to tell us based on who he spoke

to at the time. And so Paul is in in

this passage in Romans. First of all, we

need to understand that Paul wrote this

letter

to the believers

in Rome and that and the church in Rome

at the time was a mixture of Jews and

Gentiles.

And

if if we really want to understand why

Paul made these statements the way he

did is we need to understand that Paul

was in Rome uh facing trial

because the Jews rejected the message of

Jesus that Paul preached

and they tried to kill him and Paul

appealed to Caesar because he was a

Roman citizen therefore they couldn't

kill

they had to send him to Rome to be tried

by Caesar.

And uh there's a lot of things that we

really really need to take a look at

when it comes to studying and

understanding the church.

um

in the when Jesus was teaching

the sermon on the mount, his longest

sermon in the book of Matthew, it covers

three chapters.

And uh

one of the things he said was not one

jot or tit of the law shall fail until

that which is perfect is come.

Paul says, uh you're a new creature in

Christ Jesus. Behold, old things are

passed away. Behold, and all things

become new. And one of the things we

have to keep in mind is that

when Jesus is hanging on the cross

and he says, "It is finished."

He's fulfilling what he said back in

Matthew chapter 5.

The law had come to its conclusion. It

was no longer active because

the redemption price was paid at that

point when Jesus said it is finished.

His body was broken and his blood was

shed

and that fulfilled the Old Testament.

And so we have to take a look at when we

uh the law of Moses compared to the law

of God. God's laws, there's only 10, the

ten commandments, and we follow those

even today as Christians, those ten

commandments are put in place.

But the other things that are listed in

the book of Leviticus

ended when Jesus said, "It is finished."

And the new covenant, the new testament

in Christ's blood was enacted and it was

empowered when he came out of the grave

three days later. So we have to be able

to take a look at the Old Testament with

the proper uh

interpretation of scripture. There are a

ton of promises to corporate Israel in

the Old Testament that

don't apply to the church

because the promises that God makes us

where um in the New Testament are

personal. You have to personally accept

that promise. It's no longer based on

the whole country accepting the promise

which is what you have in uh the Old

Testament but that those promises those

gifts that God promised to give

are fulfilled individually.

Each person is responsible for their own

sin. just you can take a look through

all all the different passages as

Israel's going into uh the conquest of

Canaan under Joshua's leadership and the

whole country they they came to Ai and

one of the one person one person had

kept gold silver and idols and buried

him under the floor of his tent and it

brought defeat to all of Israel. one

person sin.

And so in the Old Testament,

one person

could cause a problem for the whole

country. Whereas in the New Testament,

you're held responsible for your own

sins. I'm not if you sin against God, it

doesn't come against me. Where in the

Old Testament, it did. And uh so one of

the passages of scriptures people like

to stand on is Deuteronomy 28 uh:es

1-14. It it lists the blessings.

And if we go back there, if we flip back

to Deuteronomy,

it starts out, it says, "And it shall

come to pass, if thou shall hearken

diligently unto the voice of the Lord

thy God, to observe and to do all his

commandments, which I command thee this

day, that the Lord thy God will set thee

on high above all nations of the earth.

And all these blessings shall come on

thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt

hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy

God.

So, we get focused in on this. Oh, man.

I I' I've been grafted into the true

vine. That's my that that I'm part of

that blessing. Well, that's true in one

way, but it's not completely true

because if you want to understand the

blessing that you partake in, you have

to go into

what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6.

And um

he starts talking

in the sermon on the mount he starts

talking about worry

and he says to take no thought for your

life what you shall eat what you should

drink or yet for your body what you

shall put on is not the life more than

meat and the body than raignment and he

goes on through and he talks about the

fowls of the air and God takes care of

them and how not to worry you can't make

yourself any taller than God created you

to be and uh not to worry about what

you're going to wear or um

not to worry in verse 31 it says

therefore take no thought saying what

shall we eat or what shall we drink for

wherewith all shall we be clothed for

after all these things do the Gentiles

seek he says for your heavenly father

knoweth that you have need of all these

things. But seek you first the kingdom

of God and his righteousness. All these

things shall be added unto you. And

therefore take no thought for tomorrow.

For uh tomorrow will take thought for

the things of itself and sufficient to

the days evil thereof. So as we're

looking through this and he talks about

the gifts and calling of God are without

repentance.

He took the message to the Jews first.

He took them to Israel and they rejected

when they rejected him. They rejected

the very gifts that God had promised.

And what happened? It became uh our

thing where

when we accept Jesus Christ and what he

did through the gospel of grace because

we are saved by grace and not by works

lest any man should boast.

Um we become an inheritor of those

promises that are listed in what Jesus

said. And if you want to determine for

yourself

if these gifts that God promised in the

Old Testament to Israel apply to you as

a believer through the New Testament

through the gospel of grace. You have to

find out by reading the New Testament if

Jesus restated

those things and brought them in under

the new covenant.

And there's a change in application

under the Old Testament. You had to keep

the law. You had to practice the law.

You couldn't fail in keeping any part of

the law. And Paul talks about Galatians

chapter 3 that if you uh that the law is

actually a curse because it makes you it

brings you knowledge of sin. And so when

you're there and you're looking at this,

you have to ask yourself a question.

What is the difference between a

believer follower of Jesus Christ

under the New Testament,

the gospel of grace

and the Old Testament under the law of

the promises that God made the Jews or

made to the children of Israel.

And we have to be able to balance

between the two and say, "Okay, so under

the law, I'm required to do all of these

works to receive this blessing, but

under grace, I'm required to trust and

believe in God because

I'm not keeping these laws out of duty.

I'm not following Christ out of duty.

I'm following Christ because of the love

and the grace and mercy that he showed

me. And it's personal. It's no longer

corporate. In other words, it's not

uh for the whole country where one

person can sin and it brings a curse on

the whole country. Now, it's in your

life. If you're following along and

following Christ

and you sin, it only affects you or your

immediate family, especially if you're a

man. And uh a lot of people don't like

to hear that. A lot of people don't like

to be responsible, especially this day

and age. But I say this to the men that

are listening to this message. You are

responsible for the spiritual health and

welfare of your family.

You are not your wife, not your kids.

You are. God gave you that

responsibility to lead your family in

spiritual things. to lead them in

prayer, to lead them in Bible study, to

lead them in knowledge according to what

God's word says. Now,

if you're not a man and you're not

married and you're a single person,

um, guess what? You're responsible for

doing it for yourself. But if you're a

man and you get married, you're

responsible to lead your family

according to the to what God's word

says. Uh Proverbs 22:6 says to train up

a child the way he should go and when

he's old, he shall not depart from it.

God put this leadership responsibility

on men and said for you to be a man of

God, you have to lead your family.

You have to lead them in prayer. You

have to lead them in praise. You have to

lead them in worship. Uh don't send your

kids to church. Take them to church. And

don't just go to church out of duty. Go

to church because it's where God said to

be.

And we as

Christians

like to blame other people. It's a human

nature. Uh you go all the way back to

where uh Cain says to God when God asks

him, "Where is your brother?" He says,

"I don't know. I'm not my brother's

keeper. Uh you are your brother's

keeper. You do have to warn those that

are walking a far off, but more

especially your first and most important

ministry is to your own family.

Um I I find it strange how I look and

and you see these things where women

these days, they don't want to get

married, they don't want to have kids or

focus on their careers. Um,

and they will do whatever they can to

continue being successful in their

careers when the most successful thing

they can do is to be a wife and mother

and to raise their children

to honor and respect God.

To do that successfully, you have to

also have a man that's following God.

And um there's a reason God put things

together the way he did. Have you ever

noticed that?

Well, if you look at national statistics

right now, 45% of people being raised

today are being raised by single

parents, most of them mothers. There is

no male influence in that family. There

is no leadership in that family. There

is no man that is standing there saying,

"Come with me. I'll show you the way."

because as I follow God, you can follow

me. And that's uh important because

the enemy's biggest weapon

these days is the destruction of the

family, the nuclear family. Just look

around and see how many people that uh

even married people, even Christians.

This is this is scary. Even Christians,

they're still focused on me, me, me, me,

me, me. What does it do for me? What do

what is the benefit to me? And we are in

the me generation.

And when you're serving Christ, there is

no me generation.

We we're following Christ because of

what he did, not because of what we did.

The only thing good about me is Jesus in

me. Uh before I knew Jesus, I was the

worst sinner on the face of the earth.

But after Jesus, I became forgiven.

And I'm thankful because of that

forgiveness. And I do what God has

called me to do because of that

forgiveness. Because God loved me when I

was unlovable.

And so when we go through our day-today

life and we're going through and and

we're facing struggles and the Bible

never says, Jesus never said you

wouldn't have trouble. In fact, he said

just the opposite. He said because your

beliefs you will have troubles. And so

we have to be focused on what is my life

experience here doing? And the main

thing it's doing is preparing the way

for where we're going to spend eternity.

You don't get a second chance when you

die. Nobody can pray you out of hell.

Nobody can pray salvation on you after

you've died because salvation is a

personal experience. Only you get to

determine

where you spend eternity. Jesus already

paid the price. He already went to the

cross. He already said, "Father, forgive

them for they know not what to do. He

said it is finished. So now it's up to

us of whether we accept the message of

Christ or reject the message of Christ.

And then our responsibility

from that point forward is to learn how

to live our lives according to Christ.

And uh

you're going to fail.

But thank God there's such a thing as

repentance.

You're going to fail. you're going to

get back up. The Bible says, "A

righteous man falls seven times and

rises." Um, first John 1:9 says, "If we

confess our sins, he's faithful and just

to forgive us our sins and cleanse us

from all unrighteousness."

You are going to fail. You are going to

have times where you totally utterly

failed God. Peter, who spent three years

walking around with Christ, on the night

of Christ's arrest and trial, Peter

denied him three times. He said, "I

don't know who you're talking about. I

don't know who this man is." So on and

so forth. So

we all fail. We all have that Peter

moment. We all also

have the Peter moment where Jesus

extends love and forgiveness to us and

then follows it up. Feed my sheep. So if

you're a man and you're a parent,

feed the sheep. Your kids are your

future. Your kids are your inheritance.

You need to give them the very same

thing that Christ gave you, which is

himself. It's your greatest ministry.

So when

when you're making your way through this

week and you're looking at things and

trials and tribulations come, and they

do come,

remember, you're not in this alone.

Jesus already paid the price and made

the way for you.

The promises of God are yay and amen.

And everything that God said he would

do, he will.

But it requires something from you. And

what it requires is for you to be able

to trust him even when you feel like you

can't figure it out.

So

I want you to think about

what God is asking you to do. See, in 1

Thessalonians 5, he tells us what God's

will for our life is. And it's in

everything give thanks, for this is the

will of God in Christ Jesus concerning

you. That's God's will for your life is

to be thankful. Romans 8:28 says

um for all things work together for good

to them that love the Lord and are the

called according to his purposes not

your purposes his purposes.

So we come to this place in our lives

where we have to realize that

it's not about us.

It's not. It's about God. And the fact

that God brought us in and says, I want

to partner with you. I want to be part

of the life you live. I want to help you

help others and empowers us to do so.

Those are the gifts. And that calling

that's without repentance is to share

the gospel with other people.

And I I just want you to realize just

how important you are to God. You're so

important to God that he came and died

in your place to wipe out sin.

So let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just

thank you and praise you this week,

Lord. We ask God that you help us to

understand just how important it is to

have the proper understanding of your

word to realize God all the things that

you have done for us and that you will

want to do through us. Help us Lord to

be that person that brings other people

along. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. See

you guys next