Why You Live At This Time

Introduction:

1. America and so-called Christianity are collapsing and imploding downward to total destruction.
2. We have recently studied many ancient landmarks of our faith for which we are to earnestly contend.
3. When David arrived at the battle, he could not believe Israel stood still in the face of Goliath’s taunts!
4. After also hearing about King Saul’s great offer of rewards, he was confounded by their fearfulness.
5. Eliab, his oldest brother, ridiculed his status and accused him of laziness, pride, and naughtiness.
6. David asked what he had done to deserve such treatment, and he declared Goliath warranted anger!
7. David loved Israel’s God and all that pertained to him and would not put up with this Philistine dog.
8. How much do you love the Lord Jesus Christ, and how much does your love of Him drive your life?
9. We have been called to a conflict and form of worship far superior to Goliath and the Old Testament.
10. Esther and her people faced annihilation by wicked Haman, and she was in a place to do something.
11. While God would not fail to deliver His people, He would judge her and her family for cowardice.
12. Mordecai pressed his cousin to consider that she had been put in her position for just this event.
13. By faith in God’s sovereignty and providence, we know that we exist for very specific purposes.
14. As we view these perilous times, we should consider well that God has chosen us to live in them.
15. The blessed God has looked for a man in times past and found none. What about you (Ezek 22:30)?
16. The character and zeal that recognizes the danger and chooses to stand is very manly (I Cor 16:13).
17. Where are those men like Phinehas, who will grasp the situation and then grab it (Numbers 25:6-8)?
18. Remember the judgment God poured out on those who did not rise to the occasion (Ezekiel 9:1-7).
19. There is no excuse by background or past, for God used Jephthah well (Judges 11:1-3; Heb 11:32).
20. The man with two talents received the same commendation as the man with five (Matt 25:20-23).

There Is a Cause

1. Most men live without a cause: their lives are empty of purpose and provide only worm food: getting up for work, providing for your family, and hoping to retire is no more than beasts.
2. The rest of men live for causes that are at best nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit – like the spotted owls of Oregon, world peace, universal literacy, wealth, health, education, etc.!
3. If Japanese kamikaze pilots would die for an effeminate emperor and island of rock in a lost cause, then there is overwhelming cause for baptized believers to live for the King of kings!
4. If Muslim terrorists would blow themselves up for the moon god of the Arabians and an infantile book composed by an illiterate nomad, surely we can live for the Lord of lords!
5. If priests and nuns can take vows of celibacy and poverty for the devilish lies of Roman Catholicism, how much more should we be zealous for the true gospel of Jesus Christ!
6. Consider along with David the zealous responses of other men of faith (Num 25:10-14; Joshua 14:6-15; Judges 15:14-17; I Sam 11:1-7; 14:1-15; II Kings 10:16; Daniel 3:13-18).
7. David was gripped by the cause of God’s word through his great zeal for it (Psalm 119:139).
8. But the greatest cause, the one that should grip us, is that of Jesus Christ (Is 9:6-7; Hag 2:7).
9. It is good to be zealously affected in a good cause, and the greatest is Christ (Gal 4:17-19).
10. Paul, the greatest apostle, was most zealous for Jesus Christ (Gal 6:14; Phil 1:20-21; 3:7-14).
11. Paul communicated that zeal for the cause of the kingdom to Timothy his son (Phil 2:19-22).
12. God may not have appeared to you in a vision like Isaiah, but He is calling you (Is 6:1-8).
13. There should rush from our lips the cry that Saul made on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:6).

The Cause Is Glorious

1. Our cause is the true Jehovah God, His glorious Son Jesus Christ, the truth of the universe, redemption, adoption, immortality, eternal heaven, final and ultimate victory, wisdom, etc.!
2. Jesus was so gripped by the cause of God and truth that it ate Him up (Jn 2:13-17; Ps 69:9).
3. Paul wrote extensively about the cause and its constraining effect on him (II Cor 5:9-17).
   1. If someone died for you, how would it affect you toward him? What if the person were important? What if he gave you an enormous promotion? What if it is Jesus Christ?
   2. There is no greater cause than serving the Lord Jesus Christ – the perfect Godman.
   3. Consider the resume of Paul (II Cor 11:22-28)! How did he do it? Is there not a cause?!
4. Paul wrote about the effect that God’s mercies should have in our lives (Romans 12:1-2).
5. John wrote about the effect that our adoption should have in our lives (I John 3:1-3).

The Cause Is Divisive

1. Simeon told Mary that God had appointed Jesus to reveal men’s hearts (Luke 2:34-35).
2. The Lord Jesus Christ caused a division in the nation of Israel (John 7:43; 9:16; 10:19).
3. The Lord Jesus Christ is precious, or a stone of stumbling and offence (I Peter 2:6-8).
4. Jesus Christ did not come to bring peace: He came to bring a testing sword (Matt 10:34-39).
5. The perilous times of the last days exalt a form of godliness, so that those contending for apostolic religion make themselves a prey to other Christians (II Tim 3:1 – 4:5; Is 59:14-15).
6. God will arrange for heresies to enter His churches to expose frauds and liars (I Cor 11:19).

The Cause Is Exclusive

1. Just as with David in the face of Israel and Eliab, you will be exceptional and different from the crowd, and those you think friends will ridicule and accuse you of pride (I Sam 17:28).
2. The blessed God sought a man, not a crowd, who would stand before Him (Ezekiel 22:30).
3. Wide is the gate, broad is the way, and many are the travelers on the way to destruction; the strait gate, narrow way, and seldom traveled way leads to life (Matt 7:13-14).
4. Both John and Jesus were ridiculed by their generation, which envied them (Matt 11:16-19).
5. Consider how Festus accused Paul of being crazy and mad during his testimony (Acts 26:24).

The Cause Is Extensive

1. To zealously pursue any cause means that you must sacrifice other goals or interests for it, as Paul’s examples of athletic competition indicates so clearly (I Cor 9:24-27; Heb 12:1-4).
2. The Lord Christ was very open about the cost of discipleship in His cause (Luke 14:25-33).
3. The rich young ruler could not part with his wealth to follow Jesus Christ (Mark 10:20-27).
4. The possibility of living peacefully, especially in this generation, is fully false (II Tim 3:12).
5. If you live for the cause of Jesus Christ, the world will count you very strange (I Peter 4:1-5).

The Cause Is Pervasive

1. Christianity is not a form of godliness for Sunday morning – it is a comprehensive lifestyle that affects everything you think, say, and do; it reaches every aspect of living in the world.
2. It is perilous times of the last days that has Christians loving pleasures more than God, having only a form of godliness (ritual only), and rejecting sound doctrine (II Tim 3:1 – 4:5).
3. If you believe on Jesus Christ, everything you do should be for Him (I Cor 10:31; Col 3:17).
4. Every word of Scripture and every command of God is part of the cause of God and truth, part of the wholesome words of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of grace.
   1. The true disciples of Jesus Christ are those who keep His commandments in all things.
   2. What caused Joseph to resist Potiphar’s wife’s warm embrace? Is there not a cause?!
   3. Training children is not just a good idea: it is the perpetuation of truth through children!
   4. Loving brethren and serving others are more than nice sounding words. They are our life.
   5. Any and every Christian duty takes on a life and purpose of its own when seen this way.
   6. Working in order to have money to give for the cause becomes a motivation (Eph 4:28).
   7. Hospitality is no longer a burden or an expense but rather a blessed privilege for Christ.
   8. Forgiving others to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is a sweet delight.
   9. Great delight in singing, contrary to most worship, is part of the cause (Ps 47:6; Ep 5:19).
   10. How could Anna give her life to fasting and prayer in the temple? Is there not a cause?!
5. If you have a great job or business, then God has given that to you to fund kingdom projects.
   1. This provides an entirely different motive for working than what most men wake up with.
   2. Note women who followed Jesus and Barnabas as examples (Luke 8:1-3; Acts 4:32-37).
   3. If you do not have a great job or business, workers are essential (I Kgs 5:15; I Cor 12:28).

The Cause Has Consequences

1. If you lose your life for Him and His cause, you will find it; but if you try to save your life for yourself or some other cause, you will lose your life in this world (Matt 10:39; 16:25).
2. There is no respect for those who mind earthly things and neglect the cause (Phil 3:18-19).

Conclusion:

1. Peter denied Jesus Christ and His cause, and he wept bitterly over it (Luke 22:62). Are you like this?
2. Peter boldly proclaimed Jesus Christ and His cause later (Acts 2:33-36; 4:1-12,18-20). Be like this!
3. Is your life motivated, structured, and executed toward God’s kingdom and righteousness (Mat 6:33)?
4. There is a cause – a glorious one – but to be David or Esther you must step forward in faith and zeal!
5. Pray for God to stir up your heart for the task, as He has others before you (Ezra 1:1; Hag 1:14).
6. I want to thank my father for his daily effort to provide you with a guide for reading and meditating.
7. For the year 2007, let us return to our memory program of several years ago to hold fast God’s words.
8. There are reading programs to get you through the Bible in 2007 to learn God’s hidden wisdom.

For further study:

1. Sermon Outline: “The Love of Christ Constraineth Us,” exposits II Cor 5:12-17 and Christ’s love for us.
2. Sermon Outline: “A Mighty Man’s Life,” prioritizes the duties in a man’s life to live for Jesus Christ.
3. Sermon Outline: “Spiritual Adultery,” shows the heinous wickedness of not living entirely for Jesus Christ.
4. Sermon Outline: “Is There Not a Cause?” reviews David’s conflict and the sermon’s text in greater detail.
5. Sermon Outline: “The Offence of Jesus Christ,” reviews the divisive nature of Jesus Christ’s religion.