LBC Sermons & Messages

Matthew 5

If you want to build a structure that will last, you need the proper footings and foundation. It is also true of building a structure that God can continually bless. The footing that we discovered on Mother’s Day is the fact that all blessings come from God James 1:17. Anything else is just temporal and not truly a blessing. In addition, God yearns and desires to bless us Luke 11:13. If you try to build without the proper footing, your building will crumble under the load.

Once you have the proper footing, the foundation is just as critical. The foundation of the building that will hold God’s blessings is the fact that true blessings are built upon the Word of God. When you decide to walk away from God’s Word, you willingly choose to walk away from God’s blessings.

Once the footings and foundation are in place, we can then begin to build the structure that will house the blessings. For this structure, we find the blueprints in Matthew chapter 5. The structural framing is in the first instruction. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Poor in spirit means that we come to a point where we empty our selves of ourselves and we become poor of our own desires or spirit. When we are full of ourselves, there is no room for God and because He is a perfect gentleman, He will not force His way in. God tells us that He will bless those who have a broken and contrite heart Ps. 34:18, 51:17. This is also the key to heaven because we must come to a point where we realize there is nothing we can do for forgiveness of our sins except to cry out to Christ and only He can wash away our sins and guilt granting us access to the Father. Phil. 2:1-8 also informs us that this is the very mind of Christ. Christ emptied Himself and allowed the Father complete authority in His life.

After we have the framing, we need the roof to our structure. This is found in the next verse which says blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. God does not want us to walk around being emotional basket cases but rather mourning because of our sins and the sin of the world. This is shown to us in the life of David, II Sam. 12, and is the reason why God calls him a man after God’s own heart. David was a man of repentance. Mourning should be our response to sin, James 4:1-10, but we will not mourn if we are full of spirit. True mourning comes through brokenness. The choice of the structure that you build is yours and yours alone. So, choose wisely.

Psalms 1

Is the love of God conditional? The answer is no. God loves us unconditionally and is so very longsuffering. Are His blessings conditional? The answer is yes. God does not stop loving us but He will stop blessing us when we are disobedient to Him. Our eternity is secure but we can loose the blessings of God upon our lives.

Psalms 1 tells us of the foundational conditions of God’s blessings. You will notice in the equation given to us that there are two progressions. First, in verse 1 we see that we walk, stand, and than sit. This gives us the idea of our comfort level with sin. Think of it this way, you are walking and something catches your eye, you stop and stand, and then you get more comfortable so you sit and get involved. We start by walking away from God which leads to the next level of standing in sin. Still not totally comfortable but as time goes on and we stand, we grow more comfortable and eventually we find ourselves sitting in the seat of the scornful.

The next progression is found in verse 1 as well. Notice the words counsel, way, and seat. We walk in the counsel of the ungodly. This is the persuasion of the world. Today we are constantly bombarded by worldly philosophy. If we are not careful, we will fall prey to the world’s ways. Proverbs 24:6 instead tells us to find wisdom in the multitude of counselors, Godly counselors.

Then we stand in the way of sinners. This is not a defensive stand but a submissive stand. The worldly philosophies begin to affect our thinking. The world’s ways will slowly become our ways if we do not purpose in our hearts to stand for truth, Daniel 1:1-8

Finally, we find ourselves sitting in the seat of the scornful. We are so comfortable with sin that we are now partaking in the worldly heart. Where are you today? The choice is yours, Matt. 6:22-24

Numbers 6:22-f.f.

Have you ever known someone who repeated themselves again, and again, and again, and yet again? If you are on the receiving end, it can be a little annoying. When people repeat themselves, it is for a reason. Usually it is because they are passionate about what they are talking about. My grandmother was one of these types. My father, brother, and I would go up north in Michigan to work at her house and we would work for the morning, go to a late lunch and then go back for some fellowship. We would go in the house and grandma would start talking and telling us about the past, the same stories that we have heard repeatedly.

My father would start dosing off and my brother and I would head outside for some baseball. We would come back in periodically to hear grandma still talking and dad still sleeping. Later, it dawned on me that these stories all had to do with her past relationships with families in the church. She loved people in her church and neighbors, therefore, she talked about them all the time.

God is passionate about His people, He therefore talks about them often, and most of the talk is about blessing them. God wants so much to bless His children and He gives them a blessing here in Numbers 6. Notice the nature of the blessing.

First, we see the originator of this blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you. It is not a blessing from your neighbor, your pastor, or even the president. Our blessing comes from the Lord, God Almighty Himself. The rest of the blessing hinges upon Him and not us.

Secondly, the blessing is for the Lord to keep us. The keep in a castle is the safest place and holds the most valuable items. We are very valuable in God’s eyes and He is our keep, our fortress, our hiding place in a time of turmoil.

Next, God blesses us with communication with Him, the Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious. What a blessing Moses had because the Lord choose to talk to him face to face, the Bible tells us meaning personally. Today, God can talk to all His children personally.

Finally, we see God blessing us with His countenance that comes with peace. When we have the mind of Christ, we can rest in a time of trouble.

God then seals the blessing with His name. We shall go forth with the name of God. Are you sealed with the name of God?

Romans 7:14-f.f.

Paul continues on the idea that the Law not only shackles the saint but it causes the saint to struggle. This truth was lived out in his own life. First, Paul was a Pharisee that was so zealous for the law that he persecuted the church of God. He thought that he was fulfilling the law. Second, he met the Lord on the road to Damascus but still tried to find peace in doing the law. This is evident by what Paul tells us here in this seventh chapter of Romans. Many Christians are living in this phase and feel frustrated. The final phase, Paul gets into in the next chapter and so will we when we get there.

In verse 14, Paul gives us the recipe for the struggle. The law is spiritual but we are carnal. We are physical beings and we must realize that trying to live the law is trying to fight this battle in the flesh. It cannot be done and only leads to frustration.

Verses 15 – 17 are a little confusing upon first reading them but are actually very simple. Paul is telling us the reality of the struggle. In the Christian are two natures; the old man and the new man. When we accept Christ, we are new creatures, all things are passed away, and all things are become new. However, the old nature revives it self and battles against the new nature in us. When we sin, it is the old man working in us not the new for the new man agrees with the law.

Paul then gives us the key to understanding this struggle in the next few verses. Paul tells us that there is nothing good inside him. This is because of what he said in verse 14 he is carnal. We must realize this if we are going to be victorious over the struggle. There is nothing good in and of ourselves. Therefore, we cannot fight this battle alone.

Paul ends the last two verses with the remedy for the struggle. We must realize that our power to live in Christ and not the law lays solely in Christ and His finished work. The key is not living the law but living Christ.

In closing, look at II Corinthians 10 and Luke 9:23. First, we notice that we walk in the flesh but our battle is spiritual. We cannot fight in the strength of our own arms. Then, when we take ungodly thoughts captive, we must be in readiness of mind. This happens before we need it. We must do our part to be ready so when temptation comes our way, we are ready and can bring it into captivity. Then if we want to follow Christ, we must take up our cross, which means to get rebellion out of our lives. We cannot follow Christ until this happens. So, where are you in the battle today? Do not live the law but rather live Christ.

Romans 7:1-13

In chapter 5, we see the potential sanctification. Paul introduces the idea that we, a fallen creature, can obtain sanctification. We deserve death and hell but God’s grace offers life. In chapter 6, we see positional sanctification. This sanctification comes only through the person of Jesus Christ. Now in chapter 7, we see powerless sanctification. Our sanctification can be powerless if we try to live it in the wrong strength. Once we receive forgiveness, we can live in the power of Christ in which we will experience the amazing power of God or we can live it in our strength in which we will shackle ourselves to the law loosing all power.

In verse 1, Paul shows us that he is writing to a people that have comprehension of the law. We all know the law for God wrote it upon our hearts. Acts 7:53 Paul tells the Israelites that they knew the law but chose not to follow it. Also in Acts 15:10, he tells them that the law is a yoke.

Next, Paul gives a correspondence to the law, a picture to make it clearer. He uses marriage. Now He is not giving rules and regulations concerning marriage but using it as an example. He simply says that when a spouse dies, the other is free from the marriage law to marry another. When we ask Christ to forgive us and be our Lord, we die to sin through the law and are free to marry another, Christ.

In verses 4-6, we see our connection to the law. We have become dead and are no longer bound to it. The law can no longer condemn us verses 7, 8. Since the law is dead to us and no longer condemns us, when we try to govern ourselves by the Law, we shackle ourselves.

So, what do we do with the law? Is not God concerned about our good works? Yes, but the law is only our schoolmaster and once we come to Christ, it is dead. Instead of running the race with a dead body strapped to our back, we should run in the freedom of Christ. In verse 4, we die to bear fruit. This is our service out of duty. In verse 6 we see a shift from duty to love for we are delivered to serve. Service, once we live in Christ, becomes an act out of love and a privilege.

I do not work my soul to save,
That work my Lord hath done.
But I will serve like any slave,
For the love of God’s dear Son.