Phil 2:14-16, Continually Be Doing This

Unfortunately this message recording ended without the final prayer.  This message originally delivered June 16, 1991.

Episode Transcript

Kimber Kauffman (00:00):
Philippians chapter two. And we continue to
continue our study in thisjoyful epistle of Philippians
Philippians chapter two followalong and your Bibles as I read
verses 14 through 16. Therefore,my dear friends, as you have

(00:30):
always obeyed Jesus, I guess Ipicked up in verse 12, once you
start there with me, therefore,my dear friends, as you have
always obeyed, not only in mypresence, but now much more in
my absence, continue to work outyour salvation, with fear and
trembling for his God who worksin you, to will and to act

(00:50):
according to His good purpose.
Now, here's our text for today,get this, do everything without
complaining or arguing. So thatyou may become blameless and
pure children of God, withoutfault in a crooked and depraved
generation in which you shinelike stars in the universe. As
you hold out the word of life inorder that I'm a boast on the

(01:12):
day of Christ that I did notrun, or labor, for nothing. So
much of evangelism today isbased on methods. Think about
that. All the emphasis onevangelism today in America
anyway, seems to be on methods,training people to do
evangelism, or to do witnessing.

(01:37):
Right. But as our missionaryKent Craig spoke to the Amen
group Friday morning to thegroup that made over at the
roars house, he made a greatcomment and that is in Acts
chapter one, verse eight, Jesussaid, you shall be My witnesses.
He didn't say you shall dowitnessing he should, you shall
be My witnesses. Now listen,there is a world of difference

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between doing witnessing. Andbeing a witness, you realize
that quite a difference. In myopinion, one of the greatest
problems in AmericanChristianity or in evangelism is
that we try to make witnessingevangelists and it's something
we do rather than something weare. That is so very important.

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So here's what we do today,because we've made it into a
method get this now, we take thepowerful, awesome, deeply
offensive, or richly welcomemessage of the gospel. And we
make it as palatable aspossible. We make it as as easy
to ask someone to agree with aswe possibly can. Therefore, we

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can put another notch in ourbelt or we can either we can
mark up another person that hasmade a decision instead, in
fact, this the message hasbecome so man centered that the
goal of the message is decisionsrather than regeneration to the
glory of God. So listen to this,we'll go across town to do
witnessing when we're not beingwitnesses to our neighbors or to

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our co workers get that we'll godo witnessing somewhere else
where it's easy, rather than bewitnesses at our workplace, or
to our neighbors. heard womensay one time about that. He
said, You know, I used to go outa ghost to go all the way across
town and witness to a strangerand tell that stranger about a
stranger named Jesus Christ andI was a stranger to that

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stranger. He says when my nextdoor neighbor who I knew I never
witnessed at all. They wonderwhat in the world are you
talking about him? What do youlittle hobbyhorse around today
about evangelism? No, this iswhat Philippians 214 through 16
is about. You see, last week weconsidered in Philippians, what
the doctrine of progressivesalvation is all about

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progressive sanctification isall about. And that is this. If
you look at verse 12, we havethe responsibility to work out
our salvation. If you look atverse 13, you realize also the
other side of the coin, and thatis this, God will also do his
part. So we've got our part, Godwill do his part. But here's
what I want you to see. If wereally are progressing and

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sanctification, that is this ifwe are really becoming more and
more like Jesus Christ. If we'rereally developing and growing as
Christians, there is going to bebenefits from that as we go
deeper. And it wasn't a lot ofpeople say this, oh, we've been
accused of this here. In fact,minds will know what our enemies
say about us. And that is justthey say, Oh, well, that's

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yours. It's all on teaching.
There's no heart for evangelism.
For people say this about us.
But here I'm gonna tell yousomething. This text perfectly
proves what we're trying to say.
As we do make progress insanctification as we know the
God that we claim to be ourSavior. As we get to know him
and grow in relationship withHim. Guess what automatically
happens? A good testimony, agood witness. Evangelism

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automatically takes place frompeople that grow some good
people have gotten to their mindthat the deeper Christian life
is some type of dunkery When yougo off into some mountain
someplace, and you're all byyourself, and it has no
relationship now listen, as youbecome like Christ, what did he
do? He loved people from earlymorning till late at night, he
ministered and loved people. Andas we grow closer in a

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relationship with Jesus Christ,we are going to be better
witnesses. Actually, we couldtitle this section verses 14
through 16, the horizontal sideof the of sanctification, and
that is you be a witness. Now,considering all that, go back to
verse 14, and consider what itsays. It says in verse 14, do
everything without complainingand arguing. In fact, let's see

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if we had to get a breakdown ofPhilippians 214 through 16. We
could say like this, the mainpoint is this. Do everything
without arguing, or complainingor without complaining and
arguing? I'm not sure. Let mejust work through the text with
you real fast as I see it,outline that is this. So that,
look at verse 15. If you doeverything without arguably

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complaining, there's going to besome results, natural results,
what is it so that you may proveyourselves to be number one
blameless and pure, right?
Number two children of Godwithout fault. Number three
shining stars in the midst of acrooked and perverse generation.
And we'll look at the logic inthis text with the way Paul

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breaks it down, of course,inspired by the Holy Spirit, do
all things without complainingso that you may prove yourselves
to be blameless and purechildren of God, without faults,
shining the stars in theuniverse, as you hold out the
word of life. Notice this pointA, so that you may prove
yourselves to be all thesethings here, point B, as you
hold out the word of life,that's verse 16. A by the way,

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and then get this so that on theday of Christ, I may boast that
I did not run or labor fornothing. Well, let's go back
here to the beginning. And thatis the main point, the main
thrust of this, and that isthis, do all things without
complaining or arguing we mayget back to that in just a
minute. All right. Now noticethis, the text says everything.

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In fact, in the Greek text, itstarts off like this, everything
I do, and the reason is thatway, is because the emphasis is
on the first word, and that isthis, everything or all. And the
word do is just the common word.

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Well, but it's a presentimperative, in other words,
continually be doing this andit's an imperative, the command
of the King always be doingeverything without grumbling and
complaining. Now, when it sayseverything, the way it reads,
The reason that Ponta is firstin the verse is because the
emphasis is this in everything,every single stinking thing in

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your life. You do it withoutarguing and complaining. Now,
these are one of those versesthat we usually don't like
because the Bible says this,give thanks in some
circumstances. So what it says,Give thanks in what all
circumstances for this as thewill of God, Philippians four
four says this Rejoice in theLord on Friday. Rejoice in the

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Lord always. And again, I sayrejoice. You see, the key to in
everything, doing everythingwithout complaining or arguing
is this. If all things worktogether for good, then there is
not any circumstance that cancome into your life, that you
are not to give thanks andpraise God for and that you are
not to face without complaining.
And without arguing. Why?

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Because there is a sovereign Godthat we can fully trust that
says, Look, no matter what hashappened to you, if you
absolutely can know that I amsovereign I am control over your
life. Now, let's go break thisdown a little bit farther. Look
at the first word complaining,actually, it's grumbling. I
believe in the NewInternational, the New American
Standard. Here it iscomplaining, arguing, grumbling.

(09:00):
But it's very, very interestingword. It means to monitor or to
grumble. It's low suppressedgrumbling. If I were to say
every one of you sort of leanyour head over to the person
sitting next to you and sort ofjust right now let's just do
this. Just sort of go ahead andtry that. We'll just go ahead.
That's grumbling. You're here,right there. All right. In John,

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chapter seven, guess whathappened? Jesus is teaching and
he's teaching some tremendouslyhard truths. And it says
everyone started to go ahead.
Yeah. And he said to them, wouldyou Stop grumbling? But the idea
is more than just low mutteredsounds. You know what it
actually means this? It's anexpression of inward rebellion.

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You get this inward rebellionthat causes you to speak in a
grumbling complaining type ofway. Is the expression get this
it is the expression of secretand Solon, this content.
The Grecian Jews complainedagainst the Hebraic Jews that
the widows were not being takencare of X six, one same word. Or

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how about this? First Peter fournine, offer hospitality to each
other without grumbling, offerhospitality without secret and
Solon discontent. Don't be inyour heart. And guy you have to
do that. That's an attitude thatis wrong. Listen, Paul says as
you are growing yourrelationship with God, one of

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the signs of growing andmaturing is this, you do
everything without complaining.
Oh, you see an illustration ofthis, go with me the Exodus, the
14th chapter. Keep your fingerright there in Philippians and
go over to Exodus chapter 14.

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In Exodus, chapter 14, here arethe children of Israel, they're
starting to get into someserious trouble. And it says
this started with verse 10 ofExodus chapter 14. Follow along
and look what it says. AsPharaoh approached, the
Israelites looked up, and therewere the Egyptians marching

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after that. Remember, they hadleft Egypt, they'd had the 10
plagues, they left Egypt, here,the Earth, the Red Sea, they're
caught there at the Red Sea. Andbehind them, here comes the
Philistine army. And notice whathappened to this people. They
said, verse 11, was it becausethere were no graves in Egypt
that you brought us to thedesert to die? They're saying
this to Moses, what have youdone to us by bringing us out of

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Egypt? Didn't we say to you andEgypt to leave us alone? Let us
serve the Egyptians, it wouldhave been better for us to serve
the Egyptians than to die in thedesert. By the way, if you go
back and study, they weremiserable people in Egypt,
because it was oppressive andthey were slaves. They were
building buildings with theEgyptians had very little pay.

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And it was a miserablesituation. Look what they're
saying they're griping. Now wehave it, we can give them a
little bit of a break. Right?
Why? Because my goodness,they're at the Red Sea. They're
leaving this nation, they'rereally sort of defenseless. And
here comes the Egyptian armyafter them. And they're sort of
in a slightly tight spot. Butwhat happens? God opens the Red
Sea, they crossed the Red Sea.
The Egyptians say, Hey, look atthis, the Red Seas open, let's
go. They go out the Red Seacloses the Egyptians are dead,

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right? So now let's go to the15th chapter and see what
happens in fifth chapter 15.
Look at verse 24. By the way,most all of chapter 15 is a song
of Moses and Miriam, praisingGod for his great deliverance.
But look what happens in verse24. It says, so the people
grumbled against Moses saying,what are we going to drink?

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They, the Red Sea has beencrossed. They saw it with their
own eyes. And now they're outand they're starting to get
thirsty and they start grumblingand complaining inward rebellion
of secretly Solon discontent,even though God had just done a
great thing. So what happens?

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Moses throws his stick into thewater, the bitter water becomes
sweet and they're all filledagain. So that's what happens.
Go to chapter 16. Look, again,is unbelievable. It says in
verse one of chapter 16, thewhole Israelite community set
out from Elam and came to thedesert of sin, which is between
such and such and such and such.
Now verse two in the desert, thewhole community grumbled against

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Moses and Aaron. The Israelitessaid to them to get this, if you
want to know a definition ofwhen Paul says, do all things
without complaining, here it is.
Here's what it's like when youcomplain. Look at verse three.
The Israelites said them, ifonly we had died by the Lord's
hand in Egypt, there we sataround pots of need and had all
the food we wanted. But youbrought us out into this desert

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to start the entire assembly todeath. Think of what God had
already done for these people.
And here they are griping andcomplaining again against Moses
and against God. Okay, we're notdone yet. So guess what happens?
God says, Oh, you want somefood, you're afraid that you're
not gonna take care of, here'ssome mana, and here's some
quail. They wake up in themorning, there's man on the

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ground, they put up some nets, abunch of quail fly into them.
Better hunting luck than I everhad, that's for sure. And these
tremendous things happen. Andnow we get to the 17 chapter and
get this. Look at this. Though,verse one, the whole Israelite
community set out from thedesert of sin, traveling from
place to place as the Lordcommanded they kept it rough

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hidden, but there was no waterfor the people to drink. So they
called with Moses and said, Giveus water to drink. Most replied,
Why do you call with me? Why doyou put the Lord of the test but
get verse three, but the peoplewere thirsty for water and they
grumbled against noses. Theysaid, Why did you bring us out
agent to make our children lasteyes don't die of thirst. Now,
you want to know what thepsalmist thought about that

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action? Go to Psalm 78. I wantyou to see something. Move over
to the 78 Psalm. And I want youto see exactly a commentary, a
Bible's commentary on the BibleWhenever the Bible comments on
the Bible, it's always the rightcommentary. By the way. Look,
look what happens in Psalm 78.

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Go with me to verse 17. And itsays this. He is describing
about all that has justhappened. We can pick up with it
from the very beginning. But hesays in verse 17, but they
continue to sin against Himrebelling in the desert against
the Most High. They willfullyput God to the test by demanding
the food that they craved. Getthis verse 19. This is

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complaining. They spoke againstGod, saying, Can God spread a
table in the desert? When hestruck the rock, water gushed
out and streams flowedabundantly? But can he also give
us food? Can he supply meat forhis people? And look at the
Lord's response? When the Lordheard them? He was very angry.
His fire broke out againstJacob, his wrath rose against

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Israel, for they did not believein God or trust in his
deliverance. Now, that was God'sresponse, anger, by the way,
every time you hear a commentaryabout Israel in the wilderness,
what do you find? You find thegod is frustrated with these
people? What was it about them?
Well, basically was unbeliefthat God was good that God would
take care of them. And so whathappened? They complain and they

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complain, and they gripe andthey grumbled. Paul says in
first Corinthians 10, I'll goback over to First Corinthians
10. I want to show you one lastNew Testament commentary on this
whole passage, and it comes byway of a warning to us. So First
Corinthians, chapter 10. Andlook with me to verse one. Hope
you're with me today. You got towork hard out, I promise to work

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hard to preach and you betterwork hard listening. Alright.
Look here. First Corinthians 10verse one, here's another
commentary about grumbling andcomplaining. Look what it says.
Paul says in verse one, I do notwant you to be ignorant of the
fact brothers, that ourforefathers were all under a
cloud and they all pass throughthe sea. Now look at verse six.
Now these things occurred asexamples, to keep us from

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setting our hearts on evilthings as they did all wait a
minute. There, you start to getan insight. When someone is
grumbling and complaining, it'sbecause their heart is not set
on God. It's because their heartis set on something else. Look
what he says, Do not beidolaters verse seven, don't
commit sexual immorality, verseeight, do not test the Lord

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verse nine and look at verse 10.
And do not grumble as some ofthem did and were killed by the
destroying angel led thiscommentary, verse 11. These
things happen to them asexamples, and were written down
as warnings for us, on whom thefulfillment of the ages has

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come. They were written down towarn us You see, when bad things
come into your life or into mylife, the natural reaction that
you have is to blame God is toget bitter, is to become griping
and complaining or to blameother people. And there is

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usually a stubborn refusal totrust God and to rejoice in
trials. Usually look at thingsthat we just constantly and the
natural reaction is to grumble.
The children of Israel grumble,it didn't matter what God did
for them, he grumble, he givesthem quail, he gives the man and
he gives them water out of therock. He delivers them from the
Egyptians over and over again.
And what do they keep saying?
They keep saying this, we'regonna die out here who would

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have been better off for us togo back? Listen, at the heart of
a grumbling person, is this factthat the grass always seems
greener somewhere else? You cannever be content with where you
are. Because you're all the timewishing that you were someplace
else doing something else,always in some better
circumstance, because you're notsatisfied with what God has done
for you. The bottom line isthis. It's rebelling against

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God's character. It's saying Godcan't take care of me. God
doesn't really love me. And youargue and you complain, and you
fight against God. That's whatit means to complain. Oh, man,
I'll tell you, you're looking ata complainer. Now I don't want
to be a complainer. But you'relooking at one that all sudden
circumstances will come that Idon't like. And as a result of

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it, they'll be some grumblingyou know who it usually is first
to my wife, sometimes to myclosest friends, but it's
grumbling and complaining. Atthe heart of it is unbelief. At
the heart of it is saying Godreally isn't good. He won't take
care of us. And this is what weare supposed to do all things
without complaining. Now let'sgo to the word arguing. We won't

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quite spend that much time onthe bulk of the word arguing.
You know what the Greek word is?
It's where we get the worddialog. That's the word for
arguing. It actually has theidea of evil thinking or evil
reasoning, which leads todisputes and arguments is
translated in Romans 121 vainimaginations is translated into
Romans 14 One disputablematters, but get this. It is the

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idea that we're complaining andwe're grumbling is the first
word. The second one is at leasttwo arguments. At least to
dialogue with each other, whichhurts each other. The
complaining and arguing can beagainst both God and man. But I
want you to see one thingfriends, listen, everybody here
I think if you love the Lord, ifyou know that you're saved, not

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by any good works in yourself orany good thing about you, but
you're completely saved byChrist, there is that flicker to
want to grow. And if thatflicker to want to grow is in
your heart, then there is onething that you better know.
Listen to your tough self talk.
Listen to the way you talk toyour spouse. Listen to the way
you talk about the people youwork with. Listen to yourself
talk because guess what? Out ofthe abundance of your heart if

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you really want to know whereyour heart is, the mouth speaks.
And when you hear bitterness,complaining, arguing these
findings coming out of yourmouth, guess what is your sis
reveals one thing, guess what itreveals? It reveals just like
the children of Israel, you arein rebellion against God. That's

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what it means. The fruit of theSpirit when someone is full of
the Holy Spirit, and they haveyielded themselves to God, guess
what comes out of their mouth.
Praise, Thanksgiving. Goodness,love. Peace. When someone is in

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the flesh, and is living life intheir own strength and taking on
circumstances, and there's thisbasic attitude, I'm not
satisfied, I want more, I'munhappy. You know what comes out
of your mouth, complaining,arguing, hatred, fighting and
strife.

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If you're making progress, inyour sanctification, you're
becoming more and more likeChrist. And more and more of the
things of gratitude and praisewill come out of your mouth and
less than less will bitternesscome out of your mouth? What
would happen if we could listento what went on in your home

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this last week? Or this lastmonth? Would you be here for
people to see? Know what yousay? I want to tell you
something friends. It wouldn'tsurprise me number one, because
I know what's come out of my ownmouth in the last month. But

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secondly, if nobody in this roomhas ever heard it, I want you to
know something. God heard it.
Because God heard every wordthat the children of Israel said
to Moses, and they'recomplaining and they're arguing.
And you heard it. And you don'twant to know something. You can
say pastor, you're putting me ona guilt trip, man, I thought I
supposed to come to church tofeel good. Well just find that

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in the Bible that you'resupposed to come to church to
feel good. And then I'll changemy preaching. But I want you to
know this. That if you did speaklike that, if your mouth and
your wife has beencharacteristic of griping and
complaining, then mark thisdown, God is grieved with you.
And the only hope that you haveis in repentance. Because it's

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sin, it's sin, for a person thathas tasted of the grace of God,
for a person that was once underthe wrath of the all mighty. And
you have been forgiven of all ofhis sins and all of his
transgressions to have beenwiped away. For that person who

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is now reconciled to God and nowat peace with God for that
person to complain against Godor to complain against others,
which is really complainingagainst God. That is a
tremendous sin. What should makeour life you think you're in
first Corinthians But go over toPhilippians and then go back one

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book to Ephesians. In otherwords, just go to Ephesians. And
I want you to see somethinghere. He's writing to Christians
in the in the in emphasis. Andhe says this in verse three,
please get this of Chapter FiveEphesians chapter five and verse

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three, please get this. Butamong you, there must not even
be a hint of sexual immoralityor of any kind of impurity or of
greed, because these areimproper for God's holy people
to get this verse For nor shouldthere be obscenity fully bullish

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talk course joking which are outof place but rather
Thanksgiving. What is the sayingthere? What should more Your
Life. Once you mark the life ofsomeone redeemed to God is
Thanksgiving, once you mark yourlife as praise, once you mark
your life as thankfulness to theAlmighty God, that you're no

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longer under his wrath, and nowyou're his children, you could
go to Colossians chapter three,and read verses five through 14.
And you'll see the exact sameone. But you know what, Friends,
listen. Someone told me theother day that in their
businesses, they try tointerview people to see if their
person wants to get involved inthe business. They're in. You
know, one of the questions theyask them, they say this to them,

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listen, they say this. How doyou like your job? I bet it's a
great job. I bet you're reallyhappy where you're at. And you
know why they say that? Becausethey're assured of them getting
all of the complaints about thatjob. You just ask the question,
why? How what's it like? I betyou real happy, and all of a

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sudden the person like oh, yeah,well, it's not what you think it
is. Let me tell you. Oh, yeah,you think it's probably both
chairs, let me tell you whatit's really like. You can see
the grass is always greener, theheart of man is never satisfied.
People, Christian people look attheir homes and think if I only
had this other home, they'lllook at their cars if I could
only have this kind of car. Theylooking for money. If I can only

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have this Paul said be contentwith what you have. The Bible
says those that chase aftermoney and chase everything's
they've pierced themselvesthrough with many sorrows. It's
gonna lead to all kinds oftrouble. Because you cannot fill
up a heart with satisfaction. Ina world that you think is going
to satisfy only God in arelationship with God can bring

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satisfaction to your heart. Sodo all things. Let's look at
this again, do all thingswithout arguing and complaint.
Are you ready? You think what along sermon man, he's only here
on the first point. Look here,so that you may prove yourselves
to be in fact, let's just moveit down and get the rest of this
verse 15. Look what it says. Sothat you may prove yourselves to

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be in a better way. That's whatthe new meta standard says the
New International Version saysthat you may become but the
point is this, that you might beimpractical living what you
already are in Christ, that youmay approve yourselves to be
Christians. In other words, ifyou knew all things without
griping and complaining, here'swhat's going to happen. You're
going to prove that you'rereally a Christian, because once
you mark your life as a newheart, and what what reflects

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the new heart proper speech. Andas we speak properly, we are
showing that we really is andnotice this number one that we
will be blameless and pure. It'svery difficult to develop
distinguish distinction betweenthe two. But the word blameless
is without blame when judged byothers, other people look at
you, and they don't blame you.

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Pure means this unmingledunmixed, unadulterated it is
solid gold jewelry without anyalloy. It's translated in Romans
1619. Concerning evil, besimple. It's translated Matthew
1016, harmless as doves. But theidea is no mixture, that you
really are not on the fence.
Remember, a double minded man isunstable in all his ways. You're
not on the fence. One thing I'mtrying to get satisfaction in

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the world. The other thing Itried to get it from God, no,
you're absolutely committed tohis ways. Now, as a result, we
get this, you'll be children ofGod without fault. How many
times have you heard this byunsaved? People? Or if that's
what Christianity is, man, Idon't want any part of it. You
know, the sad thing about thatstatement? Usually the people
that are saying it are right. Ifthere isn't unity and oneness

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among believers, the Bible saysthe world has the right to
believe that Jesus did not comefrom God. And one of the key
things here is this. We are tobe without fault that is this.
Nothing to disfigure ourwitness, what is the best way
that you can be a good witness?

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You are to be witnesses not dowitnessing what's the best way
to be a witness to live yourlife without complaining and
arguing? When you live your lifewithout complaining and arguing,
you are going to be a goodwitness. I'll illustrate that
more in just a minute. Butnotice what else the text goes
on to say then, shining stars inthe midst of a crooked and
perverse generation. I believeit's scoliosis of the spine.

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Isn't that the word? Scoliosisinside? This is the Greek word
scoliosis is where we get it. Itmeans crooked, the Mr. Back
appear in the midst of a crookedwhere am I? It's crooked, right?
They're crooked and perversegeneration. be curved. In other
words, here's what's right. It'sright and wrong straight this
way. We are weaker than bent inneeds. The second one is even

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stronger. And that is the worddepraved and that needs to be
permanently twisted or to be sodistorted that it's actually
perverse or, or weird. And thewhole point here is this. The
world in which we live iscrooked and perverse. If anyone
should understand the newspaper,it should be the Christian.

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Right? So many people, I can'tbelieve what's happening to you
but what the doctor did Did youhear about this? Do you hear
about that? The world in whichwe live in is crooked and
perverse. Read the newspaper,read the magazine, watch the
news. And then tell me this isman basically good or basically
bad. Come on. I told you aboutwitnessing before I went to the

(30:16):
witness to man dying of cancer.
His wife was involved in a cult.
And as I sat there, I startedtrying to get the gospel
presentation off. The man onlyhad a few weeks to live. And I
said, Well, she was justhovering over him like a
chicken. She didn't have amother, hen. She didn't want him
to be touched by anything. I wasgonna say. That's it only just
asked you. I just thought I justtalked to her and let him
listen. I see that is accordingto what you believe is man

(30:39):
based? Oh, I believe the Bible Isay the Bible backwards and
forwards. I know everythingabout the Bible is what she
said. And it will tell me thathis man basically good, or
basically that Oh, basicallygood without doubt. And I said,
Great. You take pick up yourBible, please. Could you show me
one verse that says that? Nowknow, I said, Could you show me
one phrase that says that? Couldyou show me one word that says

(31:01):
that? She said no. And I said,well, then how come Ma'am, I
don't mean to be a snot. But I'dsay this. How come that I can
stay here the rest of the nightand could show you that man from
the top of his head to thebottom of his feet. There is no
soundness in it but bruises andwounds and putrifying sores that
there is nothing to do with goodno, not one, that we are all

(31:24):
once children of wrath, or Allwe like sheep have gone astray.
But there is a wicked perversitythat the heart of man is
desperately wicked deceitful,above all things who could know
it. And that's just the first ofthe 50 verses that I know. And
then if I got my Bible startedlooking, there'd be another 500
verses to follow. And I'm notexaggerating.
Unbelievable that we areperverse, there's a twist and

(31:44):
bet nature in us, as a result ofthe fall in this world in which
we live is crooked and perverse.
But notice what we're supposedto do. We're supposed to be
shining stars, we're supposed toappear on the black night as the
shining stars in the universe, Ilove to look up at the stars,
I've learned a couple littlethings about the stars. And you
know what I know you could filla thimble up and still get a big
drink of water out of it. Butthe fact is this, I love to

(32:07):
think about the stars and to seethem and in fact, is this this
beautiful to consider in thedark night, there's a shining
star. And the point here is thisthe Christian is to be different
in the world, the world iscrooked, the world is perverse.
The generation in which we livemen are far from God, we're in
desperate need of the grace ofGod and the relationship of

(32:27):
Christ. And the work where we'resupposed to be are shining
stars, would it be different?
Namely, how are you namely to bedifferent, that you do all
things without arguing andcomplaining? That's how you're
to be different. We are notshining stars often think of
what has happened inChristianity in the last few
years. You don't want shinystars. Let me give you an

(32:49):
illustration. You know what willshock people? I haven't been
doing it recently. But I used tohave regular times to play
basketball at the YMCA over thelunch hour. And you know what,
you got to hear the way the guystalk about their wives. It's
pretty sick. You think of themafter you listen to those guys
like they're just some sexobject, or that they can

(33:09):
absolutely hate him. And ifthere's any way they could
possibly get away, they would.
It's if it's, you know, the oldball and chain routine literally
just for me to talk about howmuch I love my wife. It's been a
tremendous way to be a shiningstar in the midst of a crooked
and perverse generation. Becausethe average person is so

(33:31):
discontent with their spousebecause their heart is far from
God. And when your heart is notright, it doesn't matter what
you're driving, who your wifeis, what, who your husband is,
it doesn't matter. You're goingto be discontent. But our hearts
are right with God. There'sgoing to be praise. Listen,

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shining light stars means thiswe are to be separate from the
world. separation has been soperverted in Baptist circles
these days. It doesn't meanseparation from brothers. In the
Christ. It means separation fromthe world. No, listen, I did not
say isolation. I saidseparation. We are to be in the
world but not of the world.

(34:14):
Jesus Christ was called a winedeliver a drunk and in the
glutton. Why? Because peoplejust made up stories about him.
No, because he was with wine,bevers drunks and gluttons. If
you wanted to find Jesus oneTuesday night in Israel
someplace, you could have goneto the bar and you could have
found him because he hung outwith people that he knew needed
him. Was he in there whipping itup and drinking it up like my

(34:38):
friends? Of course not. He wasdifferent, and that's what made
him attractive. I must givecredit that credit to our
missionary Kent Craig, he gaveme this illustration but listen
to how it fits. It's a truestory. While attending a
university in London, England, ayoung man was nearly convinced
of Christianity and converted toChrist. He was Nearly converted

(35:00):
to Christ. After graduation hewas still weighing the evidence
of Christianity against the hisnative Hinduism. He accepted
employment in East Africa andlived with a family who
professed Christ and attended anevangelical church. He thought
that there were there he wouldfind the proof of Christianity

(35:20):
he was searching for. But as themonths passed, what impressed
him was the worldly lifestyleapathy towards the religion,
disharmony with otherChristians. He concluded that
Christianity was a goodreligion, but not the one true
supernatural religion he wassearching for. He rejected
Christianity clung to Hinduismand explained I would believe in

(35:43):
Christ and embrace Christianity,if it were not for Christians.
Who said that Mahatma Gandhi theHindu nationalist and social
reformist? Let me ask you this.
What would he have said if hewould have lived with you? I

(36:03):
don't mean live with you puttingon your little show to look
good. I mean, if he would havelived with you day in and day
out and could have heard everyWhat if he would have lived with
you this last month? What wouldhe have heard? What would he
have believed aboutChristianity. We live in a
crooked and perverse generation,which is displeased and happy.

(36:28):
You remember the oldillustration think about it.
Friends, this is the perfectillustration. The guy is on the
golf course with his buddies.
And he stands there like this.
And he lines up his shot. And hehits a beautiful shot down the
fairway is absolutely perfect.
Just bouncing on the fairway.
Just picture in your mindrolling closer and closer to the
green. Those of you golf playersyou love this part. That's why
you go out and play golf. It'sfun. And what does the buddy

(36:52):
say? Great shot George. Whatdoes he do? Little Barney five
action. Right. You take the sameguy, he does it again. And then
he gets up another six stroke.
He slices one off the tree intothe lake, and what comes out of

(37:14):
his mouth. long as man hasanything good. He'll take the
credit for it. As soon assomething bad happens. God gets
blamed for it. And cursings comeout of the mouth. There is such
dissatisfaction in our hearts.
Well, look at this, we are to bedifferent from all that. And
what's gonna be the difference.
If I just said it a few timesright now let's don't be that
way. Come on. No, thedifference, the strength is

(37:36):
going to come right here. As youhold out the word of life. As
you hold out before you to thelost world, the word of life and
as you live, holding on to theword of life and scholars
disagree was the which meanswe'll just take it as both
meanings here. I think it'spretty simple. And the fact is,
as you hold on to the word oflife, what happens? Well, here's

(37:59):
what happens. Follow my logic.
That put his present participleyou're continually holding on to
the word of life. You give alight of God's word to others,
but you also have a renewedmind. Remember Romans 12, one
and two. It says in the secondpart there, be not conformed to
get this you got to follow mylogic here. be not conformed to
the world, but be transformed bythe renewing of your minds,
right? That you may be able todiscern the will of God. That's

(38:21):
what it says. Am I right onthat? No, listen, don't be
conformed to the world. Don'tthink like the world but have
your mind renewed how? As youconsider the Word of God as you
consider the mercies of God asyou have the light of God's Word
in your life. Now just listen.
Without the word at work in yourlife, you will not have a

(38:42):
renewed mind. Without a renewedmind. You will become conformed
to the world. When you areconformed to the world, you will
forget God's mercy. Eventuallyyou'll become hopeless and
despairing like those who livein this world and have no hope.
Now listen, when your heartbecomes hopeless and despairing,

(39:03):
you no longer are grateful andrejoicing but you start
complaining started arguing andyou are no longer an effective
witness for Christ. Hits pitchwithout this, you don't have the
strength to do this. But it isthe word of God which is active
and that work and brings revivalto the heart and what is so 19

(39:24):
What is Psalm 119? What isHebrews four what is the whole
Bible say the word of God seepeople say, Oh, you're gonna
tell me to memorize a versethat's gonna help me. Well, no
of us memorize verses I can helpyou. Alright? But the point is
this. If you take the word ofGod who lives in your heart, and
you meditate on it, and you letit do its work, there is nothing
more powerful than the Word ofGod. It brings life it brings

(39:47):
hope it brings renewal it givesyou strength and the way to be
able to handle whatever comesyour life. For instance, some
big trial James chapter one,First Peter chapter one, the
store We have John Joseph, thestory of Joshua, the story
through what is it? We kind ofwe say, Yes, God is sovereign,
he has the reason I have hopeand victory. And so we are

(40:10):
holding on to the word of life.
Jesus really said something whenhe said, Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every wordthat proceeds out the mouth of
God. We don't really believethat. But the fact is, we can't
make it without his word. Youshow me somebody who has been
slow here, I'm going to show yousomebody who's complaining and
arguing. It's just plain simple.
It's all there is to it,friends. But here, we are now at

(40:34):
the conclusion. And it's toomuch of a conclusion for the
time we have, so you better hangon. Because look at the last
part is quite shocking. All of asudden, now the clearblue
liquidy says the last part ofour 16 He says this, so that on
the day of Christ, I'm a boastthat I did not run or labor for
nothing. Did you get thatthere's two main points here. If

(40:58):
you do all things withoutcomplaining and arguing, number
one, you're going to be a goodwitness. Number two, at the
Judgement Day, it's going to begood. That is amazing. What a
motivation that most Christiansdon't live by. And that is this.

(41:19):
How many times have you madeyour decisions based upon what
Jesus will say to you at theBBC. You want to live by faith,
you say, this has to be one ofthe strongest motivations in
your life. Somehow, it doesn'tseem to count for so many
people, they say yeah, butthat's then you know, I want to

(41:42):
live now.
John MacArthur was saying thatout of this college when this
war broke out, and everybodystarted teaching prophecy that
all the kids were gettingmarried real fast, because they
wanted to experience maritalbliss before the Lord returned.
See, as if, if the Lordreturned, we're really gonna
miss out on something here.

(42:06):
My freshman year in college, Iwas like the 11th, man out of 12
on the basketball team. And Iwould sit there at our home
games. And I get to play maybetwo or three minutes a game. And
I would watch during the gameand the place would be full, the

(42:27):
people would be screaming, thepep band will be playing. And
I'd be sitting thinking, I wishso bad. I was in the game. That
made a couple of commitments,the glory and the praise and the
honor that from the fans, for an18 year old sitting on the bench
was so great that I made adetermination, I am going to
come back so well prepared nextyear that they're going to have

(42:50):
to play me. So you know what Idid every day at scrimmage for
about two hours. All summer. Iran every evening 80% of the
evenings, I should say. I ran amile and a half worth of
sprints, there was a mile and ahalf course. And there were
telephone poles about 60 yardsapart. And I would sprint run
sprint and jog one sprint or runjog run the whole time for a

(43:13):
mile and a half till I wasabsolutely dribble the
basketball between my legs,shoot 100, free throws a day.
Come up because I wanted it. Nowyou may think that it'd be sort
of a strange thing. But Paultalks about this. In athletic
terms. He says I strive not asone that beats the air. I fight

(43:33):
not as one who shadowboxes Iactually aimed to hit my
opponent. Why? Because he'stalking that he would be it
would not be a cast away, butthat he would be rewarded one
day. And the fact is this thatwe have got to keep before us
that we're gonna give an answerto God some day. Arguing and

(43:54):
complaining. We're gonna give ananswer for every word that comes
out of our mouth, we will get ananswer for it. Did you ever
notice how quickly you'resanctified and all of a sudden
someone is overhearing yourargument? I'll never forget my
but my pastor friend, Dan Davis,him his wife were having this
huge fight in the summer day,and their doors were open. And
all of a sudden they realizedthat one of the head deacons

(44:15):
were not one of the deaconswives, the head deacons wife was
at the door and the screen doorsand they're having this big
argument and suddenly they bothwere sanctified and holy before
God, because we all came to astop just like that. Why?
Because the realization ofsomeone else's presents they
were quite embarrassed. Myfriends, this is what it means
that on the day of Christ, youmay have grounds for boasting.

(44:37):
Paul would have grounds forboasting that he did not run
that is wearisome running and hedid not labor that is toilsome.
Tough labor for nothing. Inother words, one of the keys to
whether or not you're going tobe rewarded the Bema Seat is
what comes out of your mouth. Isthere going to be complaining
and arguing? Is it going to be aterrible testimony for Christ?

(44:57):
I'll listen to what a goal whatthe pastor has As this goal is
pulled into the Bema Seat, youdon't cater to the rich. You
don't worry about numbers onSunday. Would you please remind
me of that? You are concernedabout one thing, What will Jesus
Christ say about yourcongregation on that day?
Alexander white, the greatpreacher said this, as long as
I'm your pastor, you are nevergoing to get out of Romans

(45:18):
chapter seven. And those of youthat don't understand that, I'll
tell you later. But listen