Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Many years ago I used to interview a lot of people for jobs, and a lot of times people would submit a resume in advance, but I never really put a lot of stock in them. Sometimes, I never even read them, because words on paper never really compared to meeting someone in person. Sometimes people will spend hundreds of dollars on the right type of paper, the right font, or other things that have to do with appearances. There are all kinds of things that people will include in a resume, telling you about their education and all the years that they have spent obtaining a certain degree. But out of all the religious people who surrounded Jesus when he was preaching, do you know who He picked to become His Apostles? It wasn’t those who were highly educated in religious things. It wasn’t people who had spent years in leadership training. It wasn’t people who wore priestly robes and garments. It was a group of fishermen and even a tax collector, men who would be considered by most as common and sinful people. But without a doubt, God can do a lot with a sinner.
1 Corinthians 1 ²⁶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
²⁷ But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; ²⁸ And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: ²⁹ That no flesh should glory in his presence.
God chooses people who recognize the error of their way.
Mark 2 ¹³ And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. ¹⁴ And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. ¹⁵ And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. ¹⁶ And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? ¹⁷ When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Scriptures are clear that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God, yet many people abide in a state of self-righteousness. They are actually no different than the religious leaders of old that Jesus condemned for their own hypocrisy. The church is supposed to be a place that is filled with people from all walks of sinful life, publicans, harlots thieves, fornicators, adulterers and so on, who are striving each day to reject sinful living for obedience to Christ. Just think of all of the confessions that John the Baptist must have heard, people who just like each of us have wounded themselves and others through their own foolishness. Incredibly enough, it was the sinners who were receiving the teachings of Christ. It was the people who were outside the pool of religion, untainted by the sin of hypocrisy, and who knew what they were.
“When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Luke 5:8
The main problem with hypocrisy is the refusal to admit sin in your own life. It is the rejection of owning up to your own sinful living and turning away from your worldly life. This is the reason for the preaching of the Gospel in the first place, to make people realize that there is grace available for those who turn from their sins and do works meet for repentance. God chose the Apostle Paul to preach this message, a man who originally persecuted the church of God. He was doing evil to the saints, but then his life went through a radical change when he became a believer in Jesus. God created a great Apostle out of the chief of sinners.
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:15
Acts 26 ¹⁶ But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; ¹⁷ Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, ¹⁸ To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. ¹⁹ Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
²⁰ But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
God chooses people to lead the church who the world might consider inappropriate. These are people who have a past, people who have a record of faults, people who have made mistakes along the way, but they are a people who sincerely acknowledge what they are. I’ll be very blunt with you, I want to live forever. I enjoy life, and through faith in the gospel we can achieve that very thing, but it requires repentance from dead works. It requires a change that leads to obedience to the will of God. We cannot change what we were in the past, but we can change what we become in the future. We are not robots, and the entire New Testament is about making a choice. To choose right over wrong, to choose good over evil and to choose the will of God over the will of men.
It is amazing what God can do with a sinner, one who readily admits what he is. Only at that moment can the transfer of power happen, from the power of darkness into the power of light. God chooses the foolish things of this world to work His will, which is the strength of the Gospel, over the professionalism of….
…. The Resume
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 