What’s the Difference? Or The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Christ The KING Presbyterian Ministries Rev Paul Wallace
Paul Wallace
Ordained Pastor, Both Conventional & Social Media Ministries, Fire Department Chaplain, Maintenance Worker 1, Certified Safety Professional, Proven Governmental Leader, True Team Builder, You will love all of this resume
What’s the Difference?
Or
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Video Introduction link to Instagram
We had a great conversation awhile back, and it reminded me our how we by the Power of the HOLY SPIRIT alone can we guard (or be protected from) against self-righteousness, and legalism just to Name two, just a reminder to us all and especially ME, We are to Love our wives and others as Christ Loved the Church
The Church Picture in the Old North Orange Baptist, in Orange, New Jersey, it was torn down to make room for a now defunct Brewery Parking Lot.
As I walked through my reading in Luke the theme of Christ alone being Righteous kept causing me to pause and think, just how this denial of this truth actually causes the Foundational fall of The Church, Synagogue, Mosque, and to be honest you can insert your faith here, as there really are Romans 3:10 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
Nor, as in my reading, can Jesus ever dine with Non-Sinners, as HE is constantly badgered but the Religious Leadership, as they too are Sinners in need of Mercy, Since Christ alone is truly RIGHTEOUS.
But yet, many religious Groups (thinking of the Post by the Gospel Coalition talking about our associations, never suggesting the HOLY SPIRIT alone causes us NOT to stray!) prove their struggles as the point out the Sins of others, instead of our joint need to be on our Knees before Jesus Christ Our LORD!
You will not I use my self in all three examples, as IT IS TRUE, I am a sinful Creature SAVED ALONE BY THE MERCY OF the FATHER, SON, and HOLY SPIRIT, Period!!! So, NO there would be NO difference, had Christ not redeemed my worthless soul!
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Let’s Run to Worship
Call To Worship
Psalm 51:4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
7 ¶ Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Processional
Alleluia Sing To Jesus
St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, New York City, New York
Passing of the Peace of Christ
May The Peace Of Christ Be With You
Response By All: And Also With You
Please Take A Moment To Pass The Peace Of Christ
Hymn
The Church Is One Foundation
Grace Community Church, Sun Valley California
First Reading
Isaiah 6
1 ¶ In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
3 And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."
4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
5 ¶ Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
7 He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven."
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
9 ¶ He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.'
10 "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed."
11 Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And He answered, "Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate,
12 "The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 "Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be subject to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump."
(NAS95)
This Is The WORD Of The LORD
Response By All: Thanks Be To GOD!!
Hymn
Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee
Royal Albert Hall, London, South Kensington, England
The LORD’S Prayer & Apostles Creed
Matthew 6:9 ¶ And Jesus said "In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Christian What Do You Believe?
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried:
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The Holy Catholic Church;
The Communion of Saints;
The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body,
And the Life everlasting.
Amen.
The Doxology
Praise GOD From Whom All Blessings Flow: Tune All Creatures of Our God and King
Faith Presbyterian Church Tacoma, Washington, Organist Mr. Ronald Bechtel
Second Reading And Lesson
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Luke 18:9-27
9 ¶ And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'
13 "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'
14 "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."
15 ¶ And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them.
16 But Jesus called for them, saying, "Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
17 "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all."
18 ¶ A ruler questioned Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
19 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
20 "You know the commandments, 'DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.'"
21 And he said, "All these things I have kept from my youth."
22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, "One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
23 But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
24 And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!
25 "For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
26 They who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"
27 But He said, "The things that are impossible with people are possible with God."
The Holy Gospel Of Our LORD Jesus Christ
Response By All: ALL Glory To YOU LORD Christ!
Lesson
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The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
1 Coming to grips with We are NOT The Good
Reformed Pastors who have the Letter to the Romans beat in them, and in many ways improperly, will give credit to the Apostle Paul for Romans 3:10 & 11, 3:23 and that we are not righteous.
They are correct in that Paul does say this, but they seem to have been trained in the Paulinian text, and sadly ignorant of who Bluntly states that we are the ugly earlier.
This is where the more Liberal of Denominations also miss use the Whole Bible as they seem as Thomas Jefferson did to tear the pages out they don’t agree with.
A quick example is the Messages “We need to be more like Jesus”, and that “Jesus’s message is all about love”, twisting our Savior’s words as HE sure does talk about Love, and at a Standard that is impossible for we sinners to achieve.
But what gets missed by both groups it that Jesus was kindly and yet bluntly honest with us.
Here is an example, Luke 18:19 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
Luke 18:24 And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!
25 "For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
26 They who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"
27 But He said, "The things that are impossible with people are possible with God."
28 Peter said, "Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You."
In the second passage, it get normally taught as the Rich alone as the subject of the camel through the eye of the needle, and yet how did the Apostles understand the camel through the eye of the needle?
"Then who can be saved?"
They understood it as Jesus bluntly meant it, except in Jesus Christ alone NO ONE can be saved period!
For the record and we have spoken on this before, We are NOT the good, but really are the Bad & the Ugly!
When you walk in the doors of Church this Sunday, it is NOT a collection of the Good, but instead a collection of sinners saved by Grace.
The only thing that makes us different was never of our doing, nor were we smart enough to choose Jesus Christ!
What made us different was Grace and Mercy ALONE, and NO it was not totally free Grace, as it was for us, but cost Jesus EVERYTHING.
So this brings us to our next point
2 Understanding WE are the Bad & The Ugly
This is true, and actually the most freeing understanding we can by GOD’S Grace come to.
Why you ask?
Why coming to the conclusion the Apostle Paul came to that we are all Chief of Sinners is actually freeing?
We will address the latter in the final point, so let’s look at the former.
When we have truly come to grips that we indeed are the Bad, & the Ugly, and that can only be done in GOD’S timing, and if you think Paul again was the originator of GOD’S Providence dictating all things let us let Jesus speak for HIMSELF;
Mt 16:17 And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon (Peter) Barjona (Son of John or Jonah), because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My FATHER who is in heaven.
Jesus clearly explains the FATHER alone chooses and predestines.
Why when the LORD breathes life into us through HIS HOLY SPIRIT, do we normally not understand how bad we are right away?
Well the answer is in the popular saying that we hear almost daily;
“Let me break it to you gently”.
We notice when Jesus deals with the Woman at the well, the Woman caught in adultery, as HE explains the Resurrection on the Emmaus Road, and the Restoration of Peter as a couple of examples, Jesus does indeed break the news gently to each.
It sets the pattern for how we actually witness, as we don’t wave the Bible in the air and say “You are ALL going to Hell, repent right now!!” but instead break the truth gently, and truthfully.
So it is natural that the LORD walks us to what our true condition was outside of Christ.
HE gently walks us to understand the we really were Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
(NAS95)
So coming to grips with the fact that we were not the ones who chose Christ, but HE who chose us is actually the greatest news we could have ever heard, as we could not have heard save regeneration period.
So I believe this is why then do we not grasp that we really are Bad, and Ugly right off the bat.
This will walk us to our third point
3 The Great News is The LORD Alone chooses of from the Bad & Ugly
Let’s start with two questions, “Why coming to the conclusion the Apostle Paul came to that we are ALL Chief of Sinners is actually freeing?”
and “How do we know the LORD finds us and we do NOT find the LORD?
Again we will start with the Second question first;
From the very first sin, found NOT buried in the Bible but by Chapter 3 what do we read;
Genesis 3:6 ¶ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 ¶ Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."
Who find Who here, and WHAT are Adam & Eve doing??
I used and example in a Sermon I delivered in Texas as I told of when we were Kids we would actually throw rocks at each other, yes meaning to do harm, and when we accidently Hit Mr. Connolly or Mr. Smith’s house we would run and hide in the bushes my Parents had in front of the house.
As I said we have not changed much from the first sin, as we see Adam & Eve do what?
Correct run for the Bushes!!!!
What though do we see, and it is clearly in the text?
Who Seeks Who???
8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 ¶ Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" (As if the LORD did not know)
So from the very beginning we see the LORD find us, and not the reverse, and yes this is throughout the Bible, as in Esau & Jacob and the Promise the Older will serve the Younger, the Promise of Isaac before he is born, and the LORD’S calling of Moses just to use a couple of examples.
I know this is tough for the “Have you found Jesus or How many have you won to Christ” crowd, but the Bible is clear the LORD alone calls us to himself, and NOT the opposite.
I must say briefly that the question of why then do we witness may come to mind, but it is put to bed by the fact that we have been made alive in Christ, and an alive person LIVES, and would be incapable of not witnessing the truth.
That said let us look at the first question, as it really is the most freeing;
“Why coming to the conclusion the Apostle Paul came to that we are ALL Chief of Sinners is actually freeing?”
The LORD Fully knows who HE is redeeming, and IT IS again it is of EQUAL Sinners and NOT from the Good;
Remember what Jesus said “No one but GOD is good”.
And when we actually realize that we are the worst of the worst (we all are), and are guilty in our sins of really being responsible for Jesus Death on the Cross, that is right the Jews and Romans are not the only ones who condemned Jesus to death, WE all did too, that we then see better the standard of the Love Jesus displays!
When we actually realize it is NOT about our good works, but about the Grace and Mercy in Christ and HOM alone, we actually start to see clearer.
But does this mean we don’t have to do good works???
Well as a requirement for us to be saved Absolutely NOT, but as a Fruit of regeneration, and done without conscience though as a GOD given proof ABSOLUTLY!!
As James tells us clearly, it is impossible to have faith and NOT have works, just as it is impossible for a healthy fruit tree to NOT bear it particular fruit.
James 2:18 But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
(NAS95)
Robin and I lived in the middle of a Mango grove when I interned, and what I learned in those two years was that the Mango trees will produce Mangos and they did not have to have a tee shirt or bumper sticker on to make us aware they were Mango Trees.
Well I know for some this lesson was a lot to take in, but I just wanted to remind that I am not the one who said this, NOR was the Apostle Paul the first;
John 15:16 "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
(NAS95)
Jesus did, and HE brings us to this gently, but honestly.
Next week we will look at Good Samaritan from aside that perhaps you have not heard before
Hymn
Jerusalem
The Royal Prom, (2012) Royal Albert Hall, London, South Kensington, England
The LORD’S Feast
We Sit and Use Raised Bread and A Full Cup of Grape Juice (not wine do to the amount) as Christ has Completed the Work, and has called us NOT to Stand shoes on, staff in our hand ready to flee, but in HIS finished work, HE commands us to Have a Seat, take your shoes off, relax, no need to rush, let the bread dough rise.
1Co 11:23 ¶ For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
When I serve Communion I serve a Raised Roll on Purpose, and a Cup of Grape Juice (4 oz) can you guess why?
Yes, The Lord’s Table we are to have a Seat, take your shoes off, no need the rush, Jesus has indeed Finished the Work.
Amazing Grace, My Chains Fell Off
Chris Tomlin
The LORD’S Benediction
Jude 1:24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
(NAS95)
Let Us Go Forth As Those Who Love, And Proclaim Our Risen Savior Jesus Christ
Response By All: Thanks Be To God, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, AMEN!!
Recessional
Ye Watchers And Ye Holy Ones
St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, New York City, New York