October 23, 2025 • 56 mins
A Christian is devoted above all to one person, the Lord, and to one purpose, pleasing Him. Pastor Lance gives 8 principles from Scripture on how we please the Lord.
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Father, we thank you, Lord, for today.
We thank you for this week. We thank you for the things
you've already taught us, Lord, through your word.
Tonight we want you to open our hearts and minds to understand
more of what you have for us as your children.
We love you, Lord, and that's why we're here, and that's why
we want to study the Word of God.
And that's why, Lord, we anticipate that what you're
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going to teach us tonight, we'llstick with this, not just for a
brief moment, but for the rest of our lives.
We just thank you, Lord, that you have allowed us the
opportunity to study your word. It's such a, a precious,
precious tool. And we are so grateful that
you've given it to us to equip us, to teach us, to lead us and
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to guide us, to comfort us and to move us on to maturity in
Christ. May that happen in all of us
this evening. Lord, we pray in Jesus name,
Amen. Now by now, hopefully you have
been able to understand and answer more of what it means to
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to be a Christian. I hope that's the case because
if someone was to ask you what is a Christian, I, I'm sure that
you'd be able to explain things maybe hopefully better than you
could have seven weeks ago. But I'm sure that if someone
asks you what is a Christian, you would tell them that a
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Christian is known by, by their decision.
And that decision is based on Luke 923, right?
That if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up
his cross and follow me. And so you'd also tell them that
a Christian is known not just bythe decision that he or she
makes, but by the definition of Scripture.
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And that is in Philippians chapter 3 verse #3 that we are
the marked ones, we are the circumcision, we worship God in
spirit, we glory only in Christ Jesus, and we put no confidence
in the flesh. That is the best definition of a
Christian in the Scriptures. Philippians 3 verse #3 You'd
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also be able to explain to them that a Christian is known by by
description. That is second Corinthians 517
that a Christian is described bybeing in Christ.
For the man be in Christ. He is a new creation.
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become
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new. That's how it is.
A Christian is described in the Bible.
They are in Christ and Christ isin them.
And then you'd be able to say, well, a Christian is also known
by declaration. They have a declaration that
they speak loudly, without hesitation and without
reservation, that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God,
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that Jesus is the Messiah, and that he is God in the flesh.
Every Christian understands that.
And next a Christian is known byby his dedication.
Philippians one verse #21 For itto me, to live is Christ, and to
die is gain. A Christian is dedicating to
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living for Christ because they want to live for no one else but
the Christ. And then a Christian is known by
his or her denunciation. That is, they denounce the
things of the world, so much so they're willing to put to death
the members of their body in order to glorify and honor the
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Christ. That's Colossians 3 verses 1 to
8. That was last week's lesson.
Tonight I want to talk to you about the Christians devotion.
The Christian is devoted to one thing and one thing only.
The difference between dedication and devotion is this.
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A person who is dedicated is committed to one purpose.
A person who is devoted is committed to one person.
A person who is dedicated is committed to that purpose, but
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it demonstrates itself by a disciplined pursuit of
fulfilling that purpose. A person who is devoted is
committed to one purpose, and tofulfill that purpose, they are
deeply passionate toward that person.
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That's the difference between the Christian's dedication and
the Christian's devotion. And So what is the Christian
devoted to? He's devoted to one thing.
It's summed up in one verse, Second Corinthians chapter 5
verse #9 where the apostle Paul said it very clearly this way.
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Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or
absent, to be pleasing to him, Paul says.
I have one ambition, I have one drive, I have one passion.
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I am completely devoted to doingone thing and that is pleasing
the Lord. You see, you are either going to
please the Lord or you're going to please yourself.
It's very clear that in Romans chapter one that those whom the
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wrath of God is poured out upon are those who want to please
themselves. They want to worship the
creature rather than worship theCreator.
And God pours out His wrath uponthose people.
Paul would say it this way in the book of Ephesians, Ephesians
chapter 5. He would say this, let no one
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deceive you, verse number six with empty words.
For because of these things, thewrath of God comes upon the sons
of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers
with them. For you were formerly darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the light
consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.
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Trying to learn what is pleasingto the Lord.
Paul says, Seek to please the Lord.
Walk as children of the light live in a way that honors and
glorifies the name of the Lord. You were created for this
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purpose. Revelation chapter 4 verse #11
All things were created for His desire or for His pleasure.
Everything was created for the pleasure of God.
Therefore, His creation is designed to please their God.
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Those who don't experience the wrath of God.
When you seek to please yourself, it is foreign to the
original purpose for which you were created.
The Bible says in Psalm 115, verse #3 that the Lord is in the
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heavens. He does whatever He pleases.
In Psalm 135 it says this in verse #5 For I know that the
Lord is great, and that our Lordis above all gods.
Whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven and in earth, in
the seas, and in all the deep. Interesting that Jesus said in
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John chapter 8 verse #29 I always do those things that are
pleasing to the Father. Our Lord's devotion was seen in
that statement. I always do those things that
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are pleasing to the Father for us to be like Christ.
We then too want to do all things that are pleasing to the
Father. That was our Lord's ambition.
That was our Lord's devotion. That was Paul's ambition.
That was Paul's devotion. That should be the devotion of
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every single believer. They want to please the Lord
over in Romans chapter 15, Romans chapter 15, the apostle
Paul says these words in verse #1 He says now we who are strong
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ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not
just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his
neighbor for his good, to his edification, for even Christ did
not please himself. But as it is written, the
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reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me.
Paul says, If you want to be like Christ, then you need to
understand that Christ did not please himself.
No, He sought to please his Father.
Therefore you were looking out for the welfare of others, for
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those who want to please themselves.
I'm not looking out for the welfare of others.
They're looking out for their own welfare.
But Christ wasn't that way. And so in order to be like
Christ, then you want to please the Lord.
Paul said in Galatians chapter one verse #10 these words.
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For I am now seeking the favor of men or of God.
Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please
men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ, Paul
said. If I seek to please man, I cease
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to be a bondservant of Christ. In other words, a bondservant
seeks to please his master. So if I seek to please men, I
cease to find the favor of God or I cease to please God.
Now this is hard for us because we are narcissistic at nature.
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Everything in our lives revolvesaround us, or so we think it
does. Or we want it too, right?
We want it to revolve around us.We want people to please us.
And we are more men pleasers than we are God pleasers.
Just ask yourself how you converse with other people so
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that they like you and not confront them when they live in
sin. That would make you a man
pleaser, not a God pleaser. And if you're going to live out
your devotion, you are devoted to pleasing God above all else.
That's so incredibly important. Over in Colossians chapter 3,
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Paul says these words verse #22 slaves and all things.
Obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external
service as those who merely please men, but with sincerity
of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do you work
hardly As for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from
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the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance is the
Lord Christ whom you serve. So whatever you do, you, you
seek to please the Lord. The apostle Paul knew this.
So in Second Corinthians chapter5, after he says in verse #9
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that it is his ambition to please God, he says in verse #10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so
that each one may be recompensedfor his deeds in the body
according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Poemics are very clear that the reason I please the Lord is
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because one day I will stand before my Lord.
I will be judged before my Lord.And this is not a judgment of
condemnation. This is not the Great White
Throne judgment of Revelation chapter 20, that that's a
judgment for unbelievers, not for believers.
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This judgment is only for believers and this judgment is
is what they call a a Bema seat.And the Bema seat was a raised
platform where those who who were winners of their athletic
contest would stand upon and receive a wreath for their
victory. Paul is talking about the
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judgment seat of Christ being that platform by which believers
step up on and receive their crowns, and at that time they
will receive that which is done on their body, whether it be
good or whether it be bad or whether it be evil.
That's not the word, for it's not the word Ponte, Ross or
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kakia which deals with evil, butit's the word phallos which
deals with worthless or useless.In other words, the things that
you do based on the motive for pleasing God are those things
that are good, those that were based on the motive for pleasing
myself. Those things are useless and
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they are burned up, and they arenot attributed to whatever it is
you have done. What you think in the name of
Christ is because your motive was wrong.
Your motive was to please yourself, and God is the one who
weighs the heart. God knows those things, so God
will judge you based on the motive of your heart as to why
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you did what you did. That's why Paul says I make it
my ambition. This is my soul devotion to
please the Lord, please the Lordand how I speak, please the Lord
and what I do, please the Lord above men.
The Bible says these words in the book of Hebrews chapter 13
verse #20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the
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great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal
covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you and every good thing
to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His
sight through Jesus Christ, through whom be the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
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The right of Hebrews makes it very clear that God is working
in you, the Good Shepherd is working in you to equip you, to
put you together so that you will do those things that are
pleasing to the Lord. Solomon said in Proverbs 16
verse #7 When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even
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his enemies to be at peace with him.
That's just an incredible statement.
When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies
to be at peace with him. Years ago, it must have been at
least 20 years ago now, I was talking to an individual who had
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come to see me about his marriage, and he came to me and
poured out his heart. He says I need to leave my wife,
I can't be with her anymore. I can't stand to be around her.
I said, why can't you stand to be around your wife?
He goes. She is the most critical person
I've ever met. She has to support me in
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anything. In fact, I really believe that
she is my biggest enemy, therefore I need to leave her.
I said I got good news, he says you got good news.
I said I got good, I got great news, he says.
What's the good news? I said, Well, by your own words
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you said she was your enemy, andthe Bible says you are to love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
On top of that, you can do that because Romans 55 says that the
love of God is shed abroad in your heart.
In other words, the love of God is everywhere already in your
heart. And Galatians chapter 5, verse
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23 says the fruit of the Spirit is love.
So here's the good news. You can love your wife who is
your enemy, because the love of God is shed abroad in your
heart. And the fruit of the Spirit is
love. And the Spirit of God is going
to produce love in you that you might reach out and volitionally
love your wife as Christ. Love the church.
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He goes, that's not good news. I said that's great news.
I said, what do you mean? That's the best news ever?
See, you can do this. You're telling me you can't.
I'm telling you, you can. Why?
Because of what God has done. And when you when you listen,
when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies
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to be at peace with him. If your wife truly is your
enemy, don't you want your wife to be at peace with you?
If that's the case, then your ways must please the Lord.
And how do you know you're goingto please the Lord?
By loving your wife as Christ loved the church, by nurturing
her, by protecting her, by caring for her.
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This is a great opportunity for you to demonstrate to your wife
who Jesus Christ is. This is great counsel.
He didn't accept the counsel. Unfortunately, he didn't want to
do that. He thought it was beyond him.
I tried to help him understand that it wasn't beyond him
because God is working in Him sothat He can please the Lord
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Jesus Christ. You see, so many times we forget
that we have a we have a responsibility to honor and
glorify the name of Christ, to be pleasing to Him.
But the problem is, the problem is, as Paul says in Second
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Timothy chapter 3 verse #2 that in the end times, men will be
lovers of self and lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God. And that's very true.
We, we really do love ourselves,so much so that we don't
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necessarily want to love other people, and we certainly don't
want to please the Lord because we're too busy trying to please
ourselves. Solomon was this way, right?
We read for you a couple of weeks ago from Ecclesiastes
chapter 2, where Stalin said I'mgoing to do this for myself, I'm
going to do this for myself, I'mgoing to do this for myself and
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enlist all these things he did just for himself.
It was all empty. It was all futile.
But but why did, why did he do that?
Well, the answer lies in the Book of Second Kings Chapter 11,
which says these words. Now King Solomon loved many
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foreign women, along with the daughters of Pharaoh, Moabite,
Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, andHittite, women from the nations
concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, You
shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with
you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their
gods. Solomon held fast to these in
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love, in spite of what God said,He held fast to those he loved.
And then it says he had 700 wives, princesses and 300
concubines, and his wives turnedhis heart away.
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For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away
after other gods, and his heart was not holy, devoted to the
Lord. His devotion was not to please
the Lord. His devotion was to please
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himself. His devotion was all about him.
He was devoted to doing whateversuited him best.
Forget about what God said. Forget about what God commanded.
He wanted to please himself, andEcclesiastes 2 says he did not
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withhold one thing that would bring pleasure to himself.
Not one. He found out it was all futile,
it was all empty, but his heart was turned away.
It says his heart was not whollydevoted to the Lord his God, as
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the heart of David his father had been.
David's heart was devoted to hisGod.
Solomon's heart was not. For Solomon went after Astaroth,
the goddess of the Sedonians, and after Milkham, the
detestable idol of the Ammonites.
Solomon did what was evil in thesight of the Lord, and did not
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follow the Lord fully, as David his father had done.
Then Solomon built high a high place for Chemish, the
detestable idol of Moab on the mountain which is east of
Jerusalem, and for Molech, the detestable idol of the sons of
Ammon. Thus also he did for all his
foreign wives, and burned incense, and sacrificed to their
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gods. Now the Lord was angry with
Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the
God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
And it commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not
go after other gods. But he did not observe what the
Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon,
because you have done this and you have not kept my covenant in
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my statutes which I've commandedyou, I will surely tear the
Kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
Here's the king of Israel whose devotion was not to God but to
his own self, and it ended up dividing the Kingdom of Israel.
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God didn't do it till after Solomon died.
God was gracious to Solomon for 40 years has he reigned as king.
There was no wars in Israel. Complete and total peace.
God bless them because of his father David.
But yet when he died, the Kingdom was divided simply
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because he was not devoted fullyto the Lord is God.
You see, whatever you're devotedto, you love, right?
Whatever you're devoted to, you love.
That's why you, you, you need tostay true to the Lord.
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And so if you love your wife, you're you're, you're devoted to
your wife. If you love your kids, you're
devoted to your kids. If you're devoted to the Lord,
if you love the Lord, you're devoted to the Lord.
See our our devotion wanes because of our of our love for
God. That wanes.
And therefore we need to realizethat the Christian is known by
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his devotion. He wants to please the Lord.
For those of you who love your wives, which I trust all of you
do, you want to please your wife.
Those of you who who love your children, you want to please
your children. Children want love their wives.
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Excuse me, Children who love their parents, that they want to
please their parents, right? If you love your parents, you
don't want to displease them. And if you love your wife, you
don't want to displease her. If you love the Lord, you don't
want to displease them, you wantto please them.
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So the question comes, how do you please the Lord?
Simple question, very simply answered in the scriptures.
Let me answer it for you. You want to please the Lord.
Those who please the Lord pleasehim by proclaiming the message
of the cross. You please him by proclaiming
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the message of the cross. Listen to what Paul says in
First Corinthians chapter one verse #18 For the word of the
cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved, that is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
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and the cleverness of the clever.
I will set aside, Where is the wise man?
Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this
age? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world? For a sense in the wisdom of
God? The world through its wisdom did
not come to know God. God was well pleased through the
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foolishness of the message preached to save those who
believe. When you proclaim the message of
the cross, you please the Lord, because he was well pleased
through the message that the world calls foolishness to bring
about the salvation of lost souls.
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It's interesting that Paul wouldquote from the book of Isaiah as
an illustration about the power of God.
Once the Nekireb would come withthe Assyrian army against Judah,
Hezekiah would want to revert tothe ways of wisdom, the counsel
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that he would receive from thosein leadership.
And God said, don't do that. Trust me, I am the all powerful
God, I will deliver you, but yougot to trust me and God did.
The Angel of the Lord came and one foul swoop killed 185,000
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Assyrians. And God made it very clear that
your victory comes through me and my power, not through you
and worldly wisdom. Paul uses that as an
illustration to say, you know what?
God's gospel is powerful. The message of the cross is
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powerful. Just preach.
That message you're preaching does not make the message
powerful. The message of the cross is
powerful in and of itself. You don't make it powerful.
God made it powerful. That's why Paul said, For I am
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not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God unto salvation to the Jew 1st and also to the Greeks.
Paul says I'm not ashamed of thegospel.
Why? Because the gospel has the power
in and of itself to save men. You being filled with the Spirit
don't make the gospel any more powerful than it is.
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It's powerful in and of itself. It's powerful not to save
people. That's why it's well pleasing to
the Lord when you proclaim the message of the cross.
But the cross is foolishness to the unbeliever.
It's a stumbling block to the Jew.
Remember in that encounter that Christ had with Peter and the
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apostles in Matthew chapter 16, when the great confession was
made, that great declaration nowwith the Christ, the Son of the
living God, when Christ said, Who do men say that I am?
Who do you say that I am? And then Christ said something
very interesting. He said, don't tell them what
you just said. Instead, tell them this.
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Tell them that the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem, suffer
many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, be
killed, and be raised up on the third day.
Don't tell them that the Messiahis the Son of the living God.
Tell them that the Messiah is going to die and rise again.
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And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying God
forbid. Why?
Because the message of the crossis foolishness to the Jew, and
the Bible says cursed as everyone who hangs upon a cross.
Peter knows that. So why would you take upon
yourself a curse and die and rise again?
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The Christ says this is what youneed to proclaim freely for all
to hear, because that's the message.
That's foolishness to the world,but is the power of salvation to
men. And Peter only had in mind the
things of man. That's why Christ said, get thee
behind me, Satan. Peter was being used by Satan to
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detract Christ from the mission of the cross because the cross
is central to the mission of Christianity.
And we'll talk more about this in weeks to come.
But when you proclaim the message of the cross, it is
pleasing to the Lord. So if you want to please Him,
you proclaim the message of the cross.
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Not only proclaiming the messageof the cross is pleasing to the
Lord, but living a life of faithis pleasing to the Lord.
Living a life of faith. Hebrews 11 verse #6 For without
faith it is impossible to pleaseHim.
Impossible. So in order to please the Lord,
you must be living a life of faith.
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What is faith? Faith is defined by two words,
trusting, obedience. That's what faith is.
Faith is, if you recall our study in Hebrews Chapter 11,
where we spent 17 weeks in Hebrews Chapter 11, that faith
is believing absolutely in what God said, and faith is behaving
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accordingly to what God said. That is trusting obedience.
It behaves absolutely or believes absolutely in
everything that God said withoutreservation and then behaves
accordingly to what God said. That's faith.
That's living the life of faith.That's why it says in Hebrews
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11/5 about Enoch that Enoch had this testimony that he walked
with God and was well pleasing to God and God took him.
Enoch was well pleasing to God. Why?
Because he lived a life of faith.
And therefore, in order to please God, you must live a life
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of faith. And remember, Enoch was 65 years
old, according to Justice chapter 5, when he began to walk
with God. He died at age 365 S.
For 300 years, Enoch had this testimony that he pleased God.
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That was a man of supreme devotion.
He wanted to please his God. So the writer of Hebrews comes
around and says, listen, withoutthis kind of faith it's
impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek him. Faith not only costs you, but
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faith always compensates you. It rewards those who diligently
seek him. So in order to please the Lord,
you must proclaim the message ofthe cross.
You must live a life of faith, that is believing in what God
has said, looking at His Word, trusting what He says is true,
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and saying, Lord, you said it, it's true.
I'm going to follow it no matterwhat others might think, what
others might say. Lord, I'm going to do what your
word says because I'm going to live a life of trusting
obedience in the living God #3 Faith is proclaiming the message
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of the cross, living the life offaith, and exalting Jesus Christ
the Son of God. When you exalt Christ, the Son
of God, when you lift Christ high, when you acknowledge His
glory, when you acknowledge the fact that He is to be magnified
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in through your life, that is, He used to be seen so big in
your life, you please the Lord. Matthew 3 verse #17 The Lord at
the baptism, the voice out of heaven came.
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
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Listen to what Paul says in Colossians chapter 1.
Colossians chapter one verse #15He is the image of the invisible
God, the first born of all creation.
For by Him all things were created both in the heavens and
on earth, visible and invisible,with the Thrones of dominion or
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rulers or authorities. All things have been created
through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in
Him all things are held together.
He is also head of the body of the Church, and He is the
beginning, the first born from the dead, so that He Himself
will come to have first place ineverything.
For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to
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dwell in Him. It pleased the Father for the
fullness of the Godhead to dwellin Him.
He is preeminent, He is above all things.
He's all powerful because He created all things, and
therefore all the fullness of God dwells in Him.
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So whenever you exalt the Son, you are bringing pleasure to
God, because that's the Son thatbrought pleasure to God.
Therefore when you exalt the Son, you are pleasing the Lord.
John 5 verse 23 says He, he who does not honor the Son, does not
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honor the Father who sent the Son.
In other words, he who does not exalt the Son, he who does not
glorify the Son, he who does notput the Son first, does not
honor the Father who sent the Son.
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And therefore, in order to be well pleasing to the Lord, you
honor the Son of God. So proclaiming the message of
the cross, living the life of faith, exalting Jesus Christ the
son #4 asking God for wisdom brings pleasure to God, asking
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God for wisdom. First kings three.
God said to Solomon, Ask me anything that you want, and I
will give it to you. And Solomon asks, Give your
servant an understanding heart to judge your people, to discern
between good and evil, for who was able to judge the great
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people of yours? Verse 10 It was pleasing in the
sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
Solomon asked for wisdom in order to discern between good
and evil, and it pleased the Lord.
So when you go to the Lord and you ask for wisdom, it brings
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pleasure to Him. Why?
Because you're not relying upon human wisdom, You're not relying
upon your own understanding. You're relying upon the Lord who
gives you wisdom. Over in the book of Colossians,
the first chapter, Paul says this verse #9 for this reason
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also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray
for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of
His will in all spiritual wisdomand understanding.
Paul prays that they would be filled with spiritual wisdom so
that you will walk in a manner worthy the Lord to please Him in
all respects. In other words, we're asking God
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to fill you with all wisdom so that you can walk in a manner
that is pleasing to the Lord. You can't please the Lord
without wisdom, He says, Bearingfruit in every good work,
increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthen with all power
according to His glorious might,for the attaining of all
steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the
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Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the
Saints in light. In order to walk worthy of the
Lord, those things must happen. In order to for that to happen,
you must ask God for wisdom thatcomes, and it's pleasing to him.
Therefore you begin to bear fruit because you are pleasing
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to the Lord. That's why James says, if any of
you ask, ask wisdom, let him askJames one verse #5 and those of
you ask, God gives generously. God gives without condemnation,
without rebuke, so that you don't become a double minded
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man, but that you become a man singularly focused upon God.
So if you lack wisdom, you ask for wisdom.
Why? Because wisdom pleases God.
Pleasing God means you proclaim the message of the cross, you
live a life of faith, you exalt Jesus Christ's Son, you ask God
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for wisdom #5 you stay away. From sexual sin you should know
this. First Thessalonians chapter 4.
We spent many weeks here. Finally then, brethren, verse
one, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you
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receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and
please God, just as you actuallydo walk, that you excel still
more. For you know what commandments
we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is
that you abstain from sexual immorality.
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Paul says we want you to walk and please God.
In order to walk a life that's pleasing to God, you must
abstain from sexual immorality. So many people, so many people
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don't want to do that. Even in the church.
They just don't want to abstain.Why?
Because they're lovers of self rather than lovers of God.
They're lovers of pleasure rather than they are lovers of
God. Those who are devoted to the
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Lord want to please the Lord. Your devotion begins to wane
when you engage in sexual immorality.
Why? Because you find yourself
willing to give in to those sensual desires we talked about
last week that need to be put todeath so that you can walk in a
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manner that's pleasing to the Lord.
Staying away from sexual immorality is pleasing to God
and look at Solomon's life. He just could not stay away. 700
wives, 300 concubines. How do you celebrate an
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anniversary with 700 wives? How do you do that?
There's not enough days in a year to celebrate an anniversary
with all those wives, right? And so, but he could not forego
his own pleasures, his own desires, and therefore his heart
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was turned away. He was not devoted to his God
fully like his father David was.And he continued in sin.
And of course, the book of Ecclesiastes is a record of his
downfall. And so we need to realize that
that in order to please God, youjust stay away from sexual sin.
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Number six, you want to please God.
Please pleasing God comes because you imitate the Christ.
You imitate the Christ. John 829 we quoted to you
earlier says, I always do those things that are pleasing to the
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Father. So in order for us to please the
Lord, we imitate the Christ. We do what He did.
We seek to please the Father because we want to imitate the
Lord Jesus. How badly do you want to be like
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Christ? How badly do you want to walk
like Christ? How badly do you want to be
Christ like? In your behavior then, you seek
to please the Father as the Son,please the Father.
Over in first John chapter 3 verse 22, John says whatever we
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ask we receive from him because we keep His commandments and do
the things that are pleasing in a sight.
You want to know why you ask forthings and do not receive them?
It's because you do not do things that are pleasing in the
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sight. Paul says we know.
John says we know them when we ask.
We receive what we ask because we keep His commandments, and in
keeping His commandments, we're doing those things that are
pleasing in His sight. So whatever you're asking God
for and you're not getting an answer to, ask yourself this
question. Am I doing those things that are
pleasing in the sight of God? Am I proclaiming the message of
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the cross? Am I living a life of faith?
Am I exalting Jesus Christ, the Son above myself and everything
else? Am I asking God for wisdom?
Am I staying away from sexual sin?
And am I imitating the Christ? Because if you are, you will
always do those things that are pleasing to the Father.
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Now granted, Jesus Christ is theperfect Son of man.
He is sinless and we are sinful.That's why last week's lesson
was so important that we are constantly putting to death the
members of our body. Why?
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Because it hinders us from pleasing the Lord.
And that's why the Christian life is marked not by
perfection, but by progression. Are we moving on toward maturity
in Christ? Are we further along in our walk
with the Lord now than we were yesterday and last week and last
month and last year? That's the question that needs
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to be asked and answered #7 you.Please the Lord when you neglect
not to share with others. Neglecting not to share with
others. Had to have an N word there
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because I'm spelling the word pleasing.
If you're taking notes, you knowthat if you're not taking notes,
you're not spirit filled anyway.Neglecting not to share with
others. Hebrews chapter 13 verse #16 Do
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not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such
sacrifices God is pleased. What sacrifices?
I told you on Sunday, I'll reiterate it this Sunday, that
we are a priesthood of believers.
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Priests offer sacrifices. There are three sacrifices that
all Christians offer #1 the sacrifice of their person.
Romans 12 verse #2 We present our bodies a living sacrifice #2
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There is the sacrifice of praise, right?
That's in verse number 15 or 14.If he was 13.
We'll talk talk to you about that in a second.
A sacrifice of praise. So there's a sacrifice of my
person. There's a sacrifice of my
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praise. Are you ready for the next one?
There's a sacrifice of my purse,my money, my goods, right?
You can say it this way, the sacrifice of myself, the
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sacrifice of my song, the sacrifice of my substance,
whatever words you want to use. There are three sacrifices that
every Christian offers as a priest of the believers, and it
becomes the sacrifice of my substance.
I'm not going to neglect others by hoarding everything for
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myself. There are people that are in
need and therefore I'm going to offer up a sacrifice to those
who are in need of my substance to help them in their time of
need, to move them on to maturity in Christ to help them
understand that I, I love not just in Word and in tongue, but
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in deed and in truth, as John says in first John chapter 3.
That's why Matthew 25 is so important, right at the, at the
judgement of the sheep and the goats at the at the end of the
tribulation in the Jezreel and in the the Kidzman Valley, right
that there is this great judgement where the sheep are on
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the right and the goats are on the left, right.
And the Lord says to the sheep, when I was hungry, you fed me.
When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.
When I was naked, you clothed me.
When I was in prison, you visited me.
And the sheep will say, When didwe see you hungry?
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When did we see you thirsty? The sheep are perplexed.
When, when were you in prison that we visited you?
When were you naked that we clothed you?
And Jesus says these words, whenyou did it to the least of
these, my brethren, you did it as unto me.
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It's it's a remarkable judgement.
Why? Because you see, the direct
opposite happens with the goats.When Christ says when I was
hungry, you didn't feed me. When I was in prison, you didn't
visit me. When I was hungry or thirsty,
you didn't give me something to drink.
And when I was naked, you didn'tclothe me.
And the goats say the same thing.
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When did we see you naked, hungry or thirsty in prison?
Christ responds when you didn't do it to the least of these my
brethren, you didn't do it as unto me.
You see, both were perplexed. But you see, the sheep did it
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and the goats did not Why? Because inherit.
Inherent in your DNA as a Christian is the desire to do
that which is pleasing to the Lord.
You don't neglect to do good to those who are in need.
And so when there was a need forsomeone who was thirsty, they
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gave him something to drink. When there was a need for
someone who was hungry, they fedthem.
When there was a need to visit someone in prison, they visited
them. When there was a need to close
someone, they clothed them. And you know what?
They did it simply because it was part of their spiritual DNA.
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They weren't doing it for recognition, they weren't doing
it for a crown. They weren't doing it so that at
the sheep goat judgement they would be rewarded.
No, they did it simply because it was part of their nature.
So Paul, the right of Hebrews, it might be Paul, I don't know,
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but the right of Hebrews says donot neglect in sharing with
those who are in need, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Neglecting not to share with others is pleasing to the Lord.
You ever notice that sometimes we can hoard that which is ours
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and not be willing to share it with those who are in need?
And that's just pleasing to the Lord, especially when it's in
your power to do that which is good.
And lastly, pleasing God comes when you give praise in His
name. That's the earlier verse in
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Hebrews chapter 13. Through him then let us
continually OfferUp a sacrifice of praise to God.
That is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name.
Do you know that you please God when you OfferUp a sacrifice of
praise? When you when you get to a place
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where where you don't want to praise and sing to God and thank
Him, but you do anyway? That's a sacrifice that brings
pleasure to God and don't you want to please him?
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Of course you do. I love what the psalmist said in
Psalm 69 when he said these words.
Psalm 69, verse #30 I will praise the name of God with Saul
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and magnify him with Thanksgiving, and it will please
the Lord better than an ox or a young bull with horns and hoofs.
There's one thing that will please God more than anything,
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that's offering a song of praisein His name simply because of
who He is. So I spelled out the word
pleasing and gave you 8 principles that if you follow,
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the Lord is pleased. This is our devotion, the
Christian's devotion. As the apostle Paul said, this
is my ambition. This is my soul desire.
This is my driving passion. This is what I'm devoted to.
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I'm going to please my God. How about you?
I would trust that that's your prayer this evening.
Let's pray together. Father, we thank you, Lord, for
the word of God. We thank you, Lord, for the fact
that you spell out what it meansto be pleasing to you.
Our prayer is that that's exactly what we would do, that
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truly our our efforts would be toward you.
Forgive us, Lord, for always seeking to pleasure ourselves.
We, we do love ourselves more than we ever should.
We do love pleasure more than weever should.
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We should totally love God. Be devoted to you.
Our prayer, Lord, is that we would be so devoted to you that
everything else pales in comparison to the glory of our
God. That we would exalt your name.
That we would abstain from sexual sin.
That we live a life of faith, trusting obedience in our God.
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That truly we would do good to others, help them in their time
of need. That we give praise to your
glorious name. That when we lack wisdom, we'd
ask for wisdom to the God who gives to all men generously.
And that we'd always proclaim the message of the cross.
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For it's that message that's thepower of God and to salvation
for all men. We ask us in Jesus name, Amen.
Father, we thank you, Lord, for today.
We thank you for this week. We thank you for the things
you've already taught us, Lord, through your word.
Tonight we want you to open our hearts and minds to understand
more of what you have for us as your children.
We love you, Lord, and that's why we're here, and that's why
we want to study the Word of God.
And that's why, Lord, we anticipate that what you're
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going to teach us tonight, we'llstick with this, not just for a
brief moment, but for the rest of our lives.
We just thank you, Lord, that you have allowed us the
opportunity to study your word. It's such a, a precious,
precious tool. And we are so grateful that
you've given it to us to equip us, to teach us, to lead us and
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to guide us, to comfort us and to move us on to maturity in
Christ. May that happen in all of us
this evening. Lord, we pray in Jesus name,
Amen. Now by now, hopefully you have
been able to understand and answer more of what it means to
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to be a Christian. I hope that's the case because
if someone was to ask you what is a Christian, I, I'm sure that
you'd be able to explain things maybe hopefully better than you
could have seven weeks ago. But I'm sure that if someone
asks you what is a Christian, you would tell them that a
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Christian is known by, by their decision.
And that decision is based on Luke 923, right?
That if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up
his cross and follow me. And so you'd also tell them that
a Christian is known not just bythe decision that he or she
makes, but by the definition of Scripture.
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And that is in Philippians chapter 3 verse #3 that we are
the marked ones, we are the circumcision, we worship God in
spirit, we glory only in Christ Jesus, and we put no confidence
in the flesh. That is the best definition of a
Christian in the Scriptures. Philippians 3 verse #3 You'd
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also be able to explain to them that a Christian is known by by
description. That is second Corinthians 517
that a Christian is described bybeing in Christ.
For the man be in Christ. He is a new creation.
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become
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new. That's how it is.
A Christian is described in the Bible.
They are in Christ and Christ isin them.
And then you'd be able to say, well, a Christian is also known
by declaration. They have a declaration that
they speak loudly, without hesitation and without
reservation, that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God,
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that Jesus is the Messiah, and that he is God in the flesh.
Every Christian understands that.
And next a Christian is known byby his dedication.
Philippians one verse #21 For itto me, to live is Christ, and to
die is gain. A Christian is dedicating to
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living for Christ because they want to live for no one else but
the Christ. And then a Christian is known by
his or her denunciation. That is, they denounce the
things of the world, so much so they're willing to put to death
the members of their body in order to glorify and honor the
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Christ. That's Colossians 3 verses 1 to
8. That was last week's lesson.
Tonight I want to talk to you about the Christians devotion.
The Christian is devoted to one thing and one thing only.
The difference between dedication and devotion is this.
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A person who is dedicated is committed to one purpose.
A person who is devoted is committed to one person.
A person who is dedicated is committed to that purpose, but
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it demonstrates itself by a disciplined pursuit of
fulfilling that purpose. A person who is devoted is
committed to one purpose, and tofulfill that purpose, they are
deeply passionate toward that person.
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That's the difference between the Christian's dedication and
the Christian's devotion. And So what is the Christian
devoted to? He's devoted to one thing.
It's summed up in one verse, Second Corinthians chapter 5
verse #9 where the apostle Paul said it very clearly this way.
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Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or
absent, to be pleasing to him, Paul says.
I have one ambition, I have one drive, I have one passion.
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I am completely devoted to doingone thing and that is pleasing
the Lord. You see, you are either going to
please the Lord or you're going to please yourself.
It's very clear that in Romans chapter one that those whom the
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wrath of God is poured out upon are those who want to please
themselves. They want to worship the
creature rather than worship theCreator.
And God pours out His wrath uponthose people.
Paul would say it this way in the book of Ephesians, Ephesians
chapter 5. He would say this, let no one
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deceive you, verse number six with empty words.
For because of these things, thewrath of God comes upon the sons
of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers
with them. For you were formerly darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the light
consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.
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Trying to learn what is pleasingto the Lord.
Paul says, Seek to please the Lord.
Walk as children of the light live in a way that honors and
glorifies the name of the Lord. You were created for this
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purpose. Revelation chapter 4 verse #11
All things were created for His desire or for His pleasure.
Everything was created for the pleasure of God.
Therefore, His creation is designed to please their God.
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Those who don't experience the wrath of God.
When you seek to please yourself, it is foreign to the
original purpose for which you were created.
The Bible says in Psalm 115, verse #3 that the Lord is in the
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heavens. He does whatever He pleases.
In Psalm 135 it says this in verse #5 For I know that the
Lord is great, and that our Lordis above all gods.
Whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven and in earth, in
the seas, and in all the deep. Interesting that Jesus said in
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John chapter 8 verse #29 I always do those things that are
pleasing to the Father. Our Lord's devotion was seen in
that statement. I always do those things that
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are pleasing to the Father for us to be like Christ.
We then too want to do all things that are pleasing to the
Father. That was our Lord's ambition.
That was our Lord's devotion. That was Paul's ambition.
That was Paul's devotion. That should be the devotion of
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every single believer. They want to please the Lord
over in Romans chapter 15, Romans chapter 15, the apostle
Paul says these words in verse #1 He says now we who are strong
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ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not
just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his
neighbor for his good, to his edification, for even Christ did
not please himself. But as it is written, the
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reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me.
Paul says, If you want to be like Christ, then you need to
understand that Christ did not please himself.
No, He sought to please his Father.
Therefore you were looking out for the welfare of others, for
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those who want to please themselves.
I'm not looking out for the welfare of others.
They're looking out for their own welfare.
But Christ wasn't that way. And so in order to be like
Christ, then you want to please the Lord.
Paul said in Galatians chapter one verse #10 these words.
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For I am now seeking the favor of men or of God.
Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please
men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ, Paul
said. If I seek to please man, I cease
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to be a bondservant of Christ. In other words, a bondservant
seeks to please his master. So if I seek to please men, I
cease to find the favor of God or I cease to please God.
Now this is hard for us because we are narcissistic at nature.
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Everything in our lives revolvesaround us, or so we think it
does. Or we want it too, right?
We want it to revolve around us.We want people to please us.
And we are more men pleasers than we are God pleasers.
Just ask yourself how you converse with other people so
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that they like you and not confront them when they live in
sin. That would make you a man
pleaser, not a God pleaser. And if you're going to live out
your devotion, you are devoted to pleasing God above all else.
That's so incredibly important. Over in Colossians chapter 3,
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Paul says these words verse #22 slaves and all things.
Obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external
service as those who merely please men, but with sincerity
of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do you work
hardly As for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from
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the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance is the
Lord Christ whom you serve. So whatever you do, you, you
seek to please the Lord. The apostle Paul knew this.
So in Second Corinthians chapter5, after he says in verse #9
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that it is his ambition to please God, he says in verse #10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so
that each one may be recompensedfor his deeds in the body
according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Poemics are very clear that the reason I please the Lord is
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because one day I will stand before my Lord.
I will be judged before my Lord.And this is not a judgment of
condemnation. This is not the Great White
Throne judgment of Revelation chapter 20, that that's a
judgment for unbelievers, not for believers.
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This judgment is only for believers and this judgment is
is what they call a a Bema seat.And the Bema seat was a raised
platform where those who who were winners of their athletic
contest would stand upon and receive a wreath for their
victory. Paul is talking about the
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judgment seat of Christ being that platform by which believers
step up on and receive their crowns, and at that time they
will receive that which is done on their body, whether it be
good or whether it be bad or whether it be evil.
That's not the word, for it's not the word Ponte, Ross or
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kakia which deals with evil, butit's the word phallos which
deals with worthless or useless.In other words, the things that
you do based on the motive for pleasing God are those things
that are good, those that were based on the motive for pleasing
myself. Those things are useless and
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they are burned up, and they arenot attributed to whatever it is
you have done. What you think in the name of
Christ is because your motive was wrong.
Your motive was to please yourself, and God is the one who
weighs the heart. God knows those things, so God
will judge you based on the motive of your heart as to why
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you did what you did. That's why Paul says I make it
my ambition. This is my soul devotion to
please the Lord, please the Lordand how I speak, please the Lord
and what I do, please the Lord above men.
The Bible says these words in the book of Hebrews chapter 13
verse #20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the
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great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal
covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you and every good thing
to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His
sight through Jesus Christ, through whom be the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
(15:34):
The right of Hebrews makes it very clear that God is working
in you, the Good Shepherd is working in you to equip you, to
put you together so that you will do those things that are
pleasing to the Lord. Solomon said in Proverbs 16
verse #7 When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even
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his enemies to be at peace with him.
That's just an incredible statement.
When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies
to be at peace with him. Years ago, it must have been at
least 20 years ago now, I was talking to an individual who had
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come to see me about his marriage, and he came to me and
poured out his heart. He says I need to leave my wife,
I can't be with her anymore. I can't stand to be around her.
I said, why can't you stand to be around your wife?
He goes. She is the most critical person
I've ever met. She has to support me in
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anything. In fact, I really believe that
she is my biggest enemy, therefore I need to leave her.
I said I got good news, he says you got good news.
I said I got good, I got great news, he says.
What's the good news? I said, Well, by your own words
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you said she was your enemy, andthe Bible says you are to love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
On top of that, you can do that because Romans 55 says that the
love of God is shed abroad in your heart.
In other words, the love of God is everywhere already in your
heart. And Galatians chapter 5, verse
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23 says the fruit of the Spirit is love.
So here's the good news. You can love your wife who is
your enemy, because the love of God is shed abroad in your
heart. And the fruit of the Spirit is
love. And the Spirit of God is going
to produce love in you that you might reach out and volitionally
love your wife as Christ. Love the church.
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He goes, that's not good news. I said that's great news.
I said, what do you mean? That's the best news ever?
See, you can do this. You're telling me you can't.
I'm telling you, you can. Why?
Because of what God has done. And when you when you listen,
when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies
(18:15):
to be at peace with him. If your wife truly is your
enemy, don't you want your wife to be at peace with you?
If that's the case, then your ways must please the Lord.
And how do you know you're goingto please the Lord?
By loving your wife as Christ loved the church, by nurturing
her, by protecting her, by caring for her.
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This is a great opportunity for you to demonstrate to your wife
who Jesus Christ is. This is great counsel.
He didn't accept the counsel. Unfortunately, he didn't want to
do that. He thought it was beyond him.
I tried to help him understand that it wasn't beyond him
because God is working in Him sothat He can please the Lord
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Jesus Christ. You see, so many times we forget
that we have a we have a responsibility to honor and
glorify the name of Christ, to be pleasing to Him.
But the problem is, the problem is, as Paul says in Second
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Timothy chapter 3 verse #2 that in the end times, men will be
lovers of self and lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God. And that's very true.
We, we really do love ourselves,so much so that we don't
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necessarily want to love other people, and we certainly don't
want to please the Lord because we're too busy trying to please
ourselves. Solomon was this way, right?
We read for you a couple of weeks ago from Ecclesiastes
chapter 2, where Stalin said I'mgoing to do this for myself, I'm
going to do this for myself, I'mgoing to do this for myself and
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enlist all these things he did just for himself.
It was all empty. It was all futile.
But but why did, why did he do that?
Well, the answer lies in the Book of Second Kings Chapter 11,
which says these words. Now King Solomon loved many
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foreign women, along with the daughters of Pharaoh, Moabite,
Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, andHittite, women from the nations
concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, You
shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with
you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their
gods. Solomon held fast to these in
(20:51):
love, in spite of what God said,He held fast to those he loved.
And then it says he had 700 wives, princesses and 300
concubines, and his wives turnedhis heart away.
(21:13):
For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away
after other gods, and his heart was not holy, devoted to the
Lord. His devotion was not to please
the Lord. His devotion was to please
(21:34):
himself. His devotion was all about him.
He was devoted to doing whateversuited him best.
Forget about what God said. Forget about what God commanded.
He wanted to please himself, andEcclesiastes 2 says he did not
(21:56):
withhold one thing that would bring pleasure to himself.
Not one. He found out it was all futile,
it was all empty, but his heart was turned away.
It says his heart was not whollydevoted to the Lord his God, as
(22:17):
the heart of David his father had been.
David's heart was devoted to hisGod.
Solomon's heart was not. For Solomon went after Astaroth,
the goddess of the Sedonians, and after Milkham, the
detestable idol of the Ammonites.
Solomon did what was evil in thesight of the Lord, and did not
(22:39):
follow the Lord fully, as David his father had done.
Then Solomon built high a high place for Chemish, the
detestable idol of Moab on the mountain which is east of
Jerusalem, and for Molech, the detestable idol of the sons of
Ammon. Thus also he did for all his
foreign wives, and burned incense, and sacrificed to their
(23:03):
gods. Now the Lord was angry with
Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the
God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
And it commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not
go after other gods. But he did not observe what the
Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon,
because you have done this and you have not kept my covenant in
(23:26):
my statutes which I've commandedyou, I will surely tear the
Kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
Here's the king of Israel whose devotion was not to God but to
his own self, and it ended up dividing the Kingdom of Israel.
(23:51):
God didn't do it till after Solomon died.
God was gracious to Solomon for 40 years has he reigned as king.
There was no wars in Israel. Complete and total peace.
God bless them because of his father David.
But yet when he died, the Kingdom was divided simply
(24:14):
because he was not devoted fullyto the Lord is God.
You see, whatever you're devotedto, you love, right?
Whatever you're devoted to, you love.
That's why you, you, you need tostay true to the Lord.
(24:38):
And so if you love your wife, you're you're, you're devoted to
your wife. If you love your kids, you're
devoted to your kids. If you're devoted to the Lord,
if you love the Lord, you're devoted to the Lord.
See our our devotion wanes because of our of our love for
God. That wanes.
And therefore we need to realizethat the Christian is known by
(25:00):
his devotion. He wants to please the Lord.
For those of you who love your wives, which I trust all of you
do, you want to please your wife.
Those of you who who love your children, you want to please
your children. Children want love their wives.
(25:20):
Excuse me, Children who love their parents, that they want to
please their parents, right? If you love your parents, you
don't want to displease them. And if you love your wife, you
don't want to displease her. If you love the Lord, you don't
want to displease them, you wantto please them.
(25:41):
So the question comes, how do you please the Lord?
Simple question, very simply answered in the scriptures.
Let me answer it for you. You want to please the Lord.
Those who please the Lord pleasehim by proclaiming the message
of the cross. You please him by proclaiming
(26:05):
the message of the cross. Listen to what Paul says in
First Corinthians chapter one verse #18 For the word of the
cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved, that is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
(26:26):
and the cleverness of the clever.
I will set aside, Where is the wise man?
Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this
age? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world? For a sense in the wisdom of
God? The world through its wisdom did
not come to know God. God was well pleased through the
(26:48):
foolishness of the message preached to save those who
believe. When you proclaim the message of
the cross, you please the Lord, because he was well pleased
through the message that the world calls foolishness to bring
about the salvation of lost souls.
(27:11):
It's interesting that Paul wouldquote from the book of Isaiah as
an illustration about the power of God.
Once the Nekireb would come withthe Assyrian army against Judah,
Hezekiah would want to revert tothe ways of wisdom, the counsel
(27:33):
that he would receive from thosein leadership.
And God said, don't do that. Trust me, I am the all powerful
God, I will deliver you, but yougot to trust me and God did.
The Angel of the Lord came and one foul swoop killed 185,000
(27:56):
Assyrians. And God made it very clear that
your victory comes through me and my power, not through you
and worldly wisdom. Paul uses that as an
illustration to say, you know what?
God's gospel is powerful. The message of the cross is
(28:17):
powerful. Just preach.
That message you're preaching does not make the message
powerful. The message of the cross is
powerful in and of itself. You don't make it powerful.
God made it powerful. That's why Paul said, For I am
(28:40):
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God unto salvation to the Jew 1st and also to the Greeks.
Paul says I'm not ashamed of thegospel.
Why? Because the gospel has the power
in and of itself to save men. You being filled with the Spirit
don't make the gospel any more powerful than it is.
(29:01):
It's powerful in and of itself. It's powerful not to save
people. That's why it's well pleasing to
the Lord when you proclaim the message of the cross.
But the cross is foolishness to the unbeliever.
It's a stumbling block to the Jew.
Remember in that encounter that Christ had with Peter and the
(29:24):
apostles in Matthew chapter 16, when the great confession was
made, that great declaration nowwith the Christ, the Son of the
living God, when Christ said, Who do men say that I am?
Who do you say that I am? And then Christ said something
very interesting. He said, don't tell them what
you just said. Instead, tell them this.
(29:48):
Tell them that the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem, suffer
many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, be
killed, and be raised up on the third day.
Don't tell them that the Messiahis the Son of the living God.
Tell them that the Messiah is going to die and rise again.
(30:11):
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying God
forbid. Why?
Because the message of the crossis foolishness to the Jew, and
the Bible says cursed as everyone who hangs upon a cross.
Peter knows that. So why would you take upon
yourself a curse and die and rise again?
(30:36):
The Christ says this is what youneed to proclaim freely for all
to hear, because that's the message.
That's foolishness to the world,but is the power of salvation to
men. And Peter only had in mind the
things of man. That's why Christ said, get thee
behind me, Satan. Peter was being used by Satan to
(30:58):
detract Christ from the mission of the cross because the cross
is central to the mission of Christianity.
And we'll talk more about this in weeks to come.
But when you proclaim the message of the cross, it is
pleasing to the Lord. So if you want to please Him,
you proclaim the message of the cross.
(31:21):
Not only proclaiming the messageof the cross is pleasing to the
Lord, but living a life of faithis pleasing to the Lord.
Living a life of faith. Hebrews 11 verse #6 For without
faith it is impossible to pleaseHim.
Impossible. So in order to please the Lord,
you must be living a life of faith.
(31:41):
What is faith? Faith is defined by two words,
trusting, obedience. That's what faith is.
Faith is, if you recall our study in Hebrews Chapter 11,
where we spent 17 weeks in Hebrews Chapter 11, that faith
is believing absolutely in what God said, and faith is behaving
(32:02):
accordingly to what God said. That is trusting obedience.
It behaves absolutely or believes absolutely in
everything that God said withoutreservation and then behaves
accordingly to what God said. That's faith.
That's living the life of faith.That's why it says in Hebrews
(32:26):
11/5 about Enoch that Enoch had this testimony that he walked
with God and was well pleasing to God and God took him.
Enoch was well pleasing to God. Why?
Because he lived a life of faith.
And therefore, in order to please God, you must live a life
(32:46):
of faith. And remember, Enoch was 65 years
old, according to Justice chapter 5, when he began to walk
with God. He died at age 365 S.
For 300 years, Enoch had this testimony that he pleased God.
(33:06):
That was a man of supreme devotion.
He wanted to please his God. So the writer of Hebrews comes
around and says, listen, withoutthis kind of faith it's
impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek him. Faith not only costs you, but
(33:30):
faith always compensates you. It rewards those who diligently
seek him. So in order to please the Lord,
you must proclaim the message ofthe cross.
You must live a life of faith, that is believing in what God
has said, looking at His Word, trusting what He says is true,
(33:55):
and saying, Lord, you said it, it's true.
I'm going to follow it no matterwhat others might think, what
others might say. Lord, I'm going to do what your
word says because I'm going to live a life of trusting
obedience in the living God #3 Faith is proclaiming the message
(34:20):
of the cross, living the life offaith, and exalting Jesus Christ
the Son of God. When you exalt Christ, the Son
of God, when you lift Christ high, when you acknowledge His
glory, when you acknowledge the fact that He is to be magnified
(34:44):
in through your life, that is, He used to be seen so big in
your life, you please the Lord. Matthew 3 verse #17 The Lord at
the baptism, the voice out of heaven came.
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
(35:08):
Listen to what Paul says in Colossians chapter 1.
Colossians chapter one verse #15He is the image of the invisible
God, the first born of all creation.
For by Him all things were created both in the heavens and
on earth, visible and invisible,with the Thrones of dominion or
(35:29):
rulers or authorities. All things have been created
through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in
Him all things are held together.
He is also head of the body of the Church, and He is the
beginning, the first born from the dead, so that He Himself
will come to have first place ineverything.
For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to
(35:52):
dwell in Him. It pleased the Father for the
fullness of the Godhead to dwellin Him.
He is preeminent, He is above all things.
He's all powerful because He created all things, and
therefore all the fullness of God dwells in Him.
(36:12):
So whenever you exalt the Son, you are bringing pleasure to
God, because that's the Son thatbrought pleasure to God.
Therefore when you exalt the Son, you are pleasing the Lord.
John 5 verse 23 says He, he who does not honor the Son, does not
(36:41):
honor the Father who sent the Son.
In other words, he who does not exalt the Son, he who does not
glorify the Son, he who does notput the Son first, does not
honor the Father who sent the Son.
(37:03):
And therefore, in order to be well pleasing to the Lord, you
honor the Son of God. So proclaiming the message of
the cross, living the life of faith, exalting Jesus Christ the
son #4 asking God for wisdom brings pleasure to God, asking
(37:24):
God for wisdom. First kings three.
God said to Solomon, Ask me anything that you want, and I
will give it to you. And Solomon asks, Give your
servant an understanding heart to judge your people, to discern
between good and evil, for who was able to judge the great
(37:46):
people of yours? Verse 10 It was pleasing in the
sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
Solomon asked for wisdom in order to discern between good
and evil, and it pleased the Lord.
So when you go to the Lord and you ask for wisdom, it brings
(38:10):
pleasure to Him. Why?
Because you're not relying upon human wisdom, You're not relying
upon your own understanding. You're relying upon the Lord who
gives you wisdom. Over in the book of Colossians,
the first chapter, Paul says this verse #9 for this reason
(38:31):
also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray
for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of
His will in all spiritual wisdomand understanding.
Paul prays that they would be filled with spiritual wisdom so
that you will walk in a manner worthy the Lord to please Him in
all respects. In other words, we're asking God
(38:53):
to fill you with all wisdom so that you can walk in a manner
that is pleasing to the Lord. You can't please the Lord
without wisdom, He says, Bearingfruit in every good work,
increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthen with all power
according to His glorious might,for the attaining of all
steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the
(39:16):
Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the
Saints in light. In order to walk worthy of the
Lord, those things must happen. In order to for that to happen,
you must ask God for wisdom thatcomes, and it's pleasing to him.
Therefore you begin to bear fruit because you are pleasing
(39:36):
to the Lord. That's why James says, if any of
you ask, ask wisdom, let him askJames one verse #5 and those of
you ask, God gives generously. God gives without condemnation,
without rebuke, so that you don't become a double minded
(39:58):
man, but that you become a man singularly focused upon God.
So if you lack wisdom, you ask for wisdom.
Why? Because wisdom pleases God.
Pleasing God means you proclaim the message of the cross, you
live a life of faith, you exalt Jesus Christ's Son, you ask God
(40:20):
for wisdom #5 you stay away. From sexual sin you should know
this. First Thessalonians chapter 4.
We spent many weeks here. Finally then, brethren, verse
one, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you
(40:43):
receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and
please God, just as you actuallydo walk, that you excel still
more. For you know what commandments
we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is
that you abstain from sexual immorality.
(41:07):
Paul says we want you to walk and please God.
In order to walk a life that's pleasing to God, you must
abstain from sexual immorality. So many people, so many people
(41:29):
don't want to do that. Even in the church.
They just don't want to abstain.Why?
Because they're lovers of self rather than lovers of God.
They're lovers of pleasure rather than they are lovers of
God. Those who are devoted to the
(41:50):
Lord want to please the Lord. Your devotion begins to wane
when you engage in sexual immorality.
Why? Because you find yourself
willing to give in to those sensual desires we talked about
last week that need to be put todeath so that you can walk in a
(42:11):
manner that's pleasing to the Lord.
Staying away from sexual immorality is pleasing to God
and look at Solomon's life. He just could not stay away. 700
wives, 300 concubines. How do you celebrate an
(42:34):
anniversary with 700 wives? How do you do that?
There's not enough days in a year to celebrate an anniversary
with all those wives, right? And so, but he could not forego
his own pleasures, his own desires, and therefore his heart
(42:56):
was turned away. He was not devoted to his God
fully like his father David was.And he continued in sin.
And of course, the book of Ecclesiastes is a record of his
downfall. And so we need to realize that
that in order to please God, youjust stay away from sexual sin.
(43:20):
Number six, you want to please God.
Please pleasing God comes because you imitate the Christ.
You imitate the Christ. John 829 we quoted to you
earlier says, I always do those things that are pleasing to the
(43:42):
Father. So in order for us to please the
Lord, we imitate the Christ. We do what He did.
We seek to please the Father because we want to imitate the
Lord Jesus. How badly do you want to be like
(44:02):
Christ? How badly do you want to walk
like Christ? How badly do you want to be
Christ like? In your behavior then, you seek
to please the Father as the Son,please the Father.
Over in first John chapter 3 verse 22, John says whatever we
(44:28):
ask we receive from him because we keep His commandments and do
the things that are pleasing in a sight.
You want to know why you ask forthings and do not receive them?
It's because you do not do things that are pleasing in the
(44:49):
sight. Paul says we know.
John says we know them when we ask.
We receive what we ask because we keep His commandments, and in
keeping His commandments, we're doing those things that are
pleasing in His sight. So whatever you're asking God
for and you're not getting an answer to, ask yourself this
question. Am I doing those things that are
pleasing in the sight of God? Am I proclaiming the message of
(45:14):
the cross? Am I living a life of faith?
Am I exalting Jesus Christ, the Son above myself and everything
else? Am I asking God for wisdom?
Am I staying away from sexual sin?
And am I imitating the Christ? Because if you are, you will
always do those things that are pleasing to the Father.
(45:37):
Now granted, Jesus Christ is theperfect Son of man.
He is sinless and we are sinful.That's why last week's lesson
was so important that we are constantly putting to death the
members of our body. Why?
(45:57):
Because it hinders us from pleasing the Lord.
And that's why the Christian life is marked not by
perfection, but by progression. Are we moving on toward maturity
in Christ? Are we further along in our walk
with the Lord now than we were yesterday and last week and last
month and last year? That's the question that needs
(46:19):
to be asked and answered #7 you.Please the Lord when you neglect
not to share with others. Neglecting not to share with
others. Had to have an N word there
(46:40):
because I'm spelling the word pleasing.
If you're taking notes, you knowthat if you're not taking notes,
you're not spirit filled anyway.Neglecting not to share with
others. Hebrews chapter 13 verse #16 Do
(47:01):
not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such
sacrifices God is pleased. What sacrifices?
I told you on Sunday, I'll reiterate it this Sunday, that
we are a priesthood of believers.
(47:22):
Priests offer sacrifices. There are three sacrifices that
all Christians offer #1 the sacrifice of their person.
Romans 12 verse #2 We present our bodies a living sacrifice #2
(47:47):
There is the sacrifice of praise, right?
That's in verse number 15 or 14.If he was 13.
We'll talk talk to you about that in a second.
A sacrifice of praise. So there's a sacrifice of my
person. There's a sacrifice of my
(48:08):
praise. Are you ready for the next one?
There's a sacrifice of my purse,my money, my goods, right?
You can say it this way, the sacrifice of myself, the
(48:29):
sacrifice of my song, the sacrifice of my substance,
whatever words you want to use. There are three sacrifices that
every Christian offers as a priest of the believers, and it
becomes the sacrifice of my substance.
I'm not going to neglect others by hoarding everything for
(48:51):
myself. There are people that are in
need and therefore I'm going to offer up a sacrifice to those
who are in need of my substance to help them in their time of
need, to move them on to maturity in Christ to help them
understand that I, I love not just in Word and in tongue, but
(49:12):
in deed and in truth, as John says in first John chapter 3.
That's why Matthew 25 is so important, right at the, at the
judgement of the sheep and the goats at the at the end of the
tribulation in the Jezreel and in the the Kidzman Valley, right
that there is this great judgement where the sheep are on
(49:33):
the right and the goats are on the left, right.
And the Lord says to the sheep, when I was hungry, you fed me.
When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.
When I was naked, you clothed me.
When I was in prison, you visited me.
And the sheep will say, When didwe see you hungry?
(49:53):
When did we see you thirsty? The sheep are perplexed.
When, when were you in prison that we visited you?
When were you naked that we clothed you?
And Jesus says these words, whenyou did it to the least of
these, my brethren, you did it as unto me.
(50:17):
It's it's a remarkable judgement.
Why? Because you see, the direct
opposite happens with the goats.When Christ says when I was
hungry, you didn't feed me. When I was in prison, you didn't
visit me. When I was hungry or thirsty,
you didn't give me something to drink.
And when I was naked, you didn'tclothe me.
And the goats say the same thing.
(50:39):
When did we see you naked, hungry or thirsty in prison?
Christ responds when you didn't do it to the least of these my
brethren, you didn't do it as unto me.
You see, both were perplexed. But you see, the sheep did it
(51:01):
and the goats did not Why? Because inherit.
Inherent in your DNA as a Christian is the desire to do
that which is pleasing to the Lord.
You don't neglect to do good to those who are in need.
And so when there was a need forsomeone who was thirsty, they
(51:23):
gave him something to drink. When there was a need for
someone who was hungry, they fedthem.
When there was a need to visit someone in prison, they visited
them. When there was a need to close
someone, they clothed them. And you know what?
They did it simply because it was part of their spiritual DNA.
(51:44):
They weren't doing it for recognition, they weren't doing
it for a crown. They weren't doing it so that at
the sheep goat judgement they would be rewarded.
No, they did it simply because it was part of their nature.
So Paul, the right of Hebrews, it might be Paul, I don't know,
(52:06):
but the right of Hebrews says donot neglect in sharing with
those who are in need, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Neglecting not to share with others is pleasing to the Lord.
You ever notice that sometimes we can hoard that which is ours
(52:29):
and not be willing to share it with those who are in need?
And that's just pleasing to the Lord, especially when it's in
your power to do that which is good.
And lastly, pleasing God comes when you give praise in His
name. That's the earlier verse in
(52:49):
Hebrews chapter 13. Through him then let us
continually OfferUp a sacrifice of praise to God.
That is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name.
Do you know that you please God when you OfferUp a sacrifice of
praise? When you when you get to a place
(53:09):
where where you don't want to praise and sing to God and thank
Him, but you do anyway? That's a sacrifice that brings
pleasure to God and don't you want to please him?
(53:31):
Of course you do. I love what the psalmist said in
Psalm 69 when he said these words.
Psalm 69, verse #30 I will praise the name of God with Saul
(53:53):
and magnify him with Thanksgiving, and it will please
the Lord better than an ox or a young bull with horns and hoofs.
There's one thing that will please God more than anything,
(54:13):
that's offering a song of praisein His name simply because of
who He is. So I spelled out the word
pleasing and gave you 8 principles that if you follow,
(54:35):
the Lord is pleased. This is our devotion, the
Christian's devotion. As the apostle Paul said, this
is my ambition. This is my soul desire.
This is my driving passion. This is what I'm devoted to.
(54:56):
I'm going to please my God. How about you?
I would trust that that's your prayer this evening.
Let's pray together. Father, we thank you, Lord, for
the word of God. We thank you, Lord, for the fact
that you spell out what it meansto be pleasing to you.
Our prayer is that that's exactly what we would do, that
(55:19):
truly our our efforts would be toward you.
Forgive us, Lord, for always seeking to pleasure ourselves.
We, we do love ourselves more than we ever should.
We do love pleasure more than weever should.
(55:40):
We should totally love God. Be devoted to you.
Our prayer, Lord, is that we would be so devoted to you that
everything else pales in comparison to the glory of our
God. That we would exalt your name.
That we would abstain from sexual sin.
That we live a life of faith, trusting obedience in our God.
(56:04):
That truly we would do good to others, help them in their time
of need. That we give praise to your
glorious name. That when we lack wisdom, we'd
ask for wisdom to the God who gives to all men generously.
And that we'd always proclaim the message of the cross.
(56:27):
For it's that message that's thepower of God and to salvation
for all men. We ask us in Jesus name, Amen.
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