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00:01 Good morning church. Today's passage is taken from Galatians chapter 6 11-8.
00:09 Galatians chapter 6 vers 11 to 18. Let's focus on the word of God. Verse 11. See
00:18 what large letters I use as a right to you with my own hand. Those who want to
00:24 impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised.
00:30 The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are
00:37 circumcised keep the law. Yet they want you to be circumcised that they may
00:42 boast about your circumcision in the flesh. May I never boast except in the
00:47 cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me
00:52 and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What
00:58 counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule to the
01:04 Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body
01:10 the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit
01:15 brothers and sisters. Amen. This is the word of God.
01:21 Thank you Sue for the reading of the word. This is the
01:26 last section of the book of Galatians which we have been going through for the
01:33 last gee it's been one year almost. So the gospel hopefully would have been
01:39 really drilled into us. Um our elder Arnold will be taking us uh in a new
01:46 series. We're starting off next week which is basically psalms. We had a by
01:52 God's grace a great prayer seminar yesterday. I am told uh that there are
01:57 about a hundred people who had come and attended about intimacy with God and prayer. So I think that's really good.
02:03 So to to basically uh carry on with that trajectory, we are going to be focusing
02:11 on praying. All right. So we're going to go through all the sermons in the next few weeks will be on psalms. How do we
02:18 actually u execute the kind of intimacy with God which our heart's
02:24 uh evolves around repentance? A change of our mindset and how do we actually pray through that? Now, for some of you
02:30 who are basically in our disciplehip program, we're going to be going in
02:35 depth into the Psalms, uh we're going to start off early September online uh with
02:42 the 3rd of September and then there is a group of physical people when they come here and have the actual study together
02:49 with groups. Some of you who like to be with a group and some of you tired of
02:54 Zoom, please come on a Thursday. Brother El um Israel Key is leading that. So please uh take note and
03:01 register with us. All right. So today it's the last sermon on the book of
03:06 Galatians. Let's pray. Father Lord, we come to a time where your word
03:14 encounters us. We ask, oh Lord, that our hearts be tender, open,
03:21 and that your word, which is sharper than a two-edged sword, will cut through our hearts, dividing bone and flesh,
03:30 bearing the message to the place in our hearts that matters. We ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen. So, we've covered the
03:39 three parts of the gospel in Galatians. the true gospel what it is because the people who had come into Paul's church
03:48 in Galatia had kind of a false gospel not based on Jesus Christ.
03:53 We've covered the inclusive gospel. It includes Jews and Gentiles. There's no difference. Then with last section is
04:00 the liberating gospel. How this gospel frees us to live to love God and to love
04:06 each other. All right. So today we go at a topic of boasting.
04:13 Something which we're all familiar with. I'm sure. Is there anybody here who doesn't boast?
04:18 You put up your hands, you'll be boasting, right? This is a trick question. That's
04:24 why nobody answers me. How do we boast? Why do we boast? And how should we
04:31 boast? I'm not saying boasting is wrong, but how do we do it? Why do we do it?
04:36 And how should we actually do that? So how do we actually boast? If you look at this passage which has read the the the
04:44 thing that comes out is that the Judaizers false teachers want them
04:50 to be circumcised. Why is is it that they they they they are doctors and they make money from your circumcision. No,
04:56 they want to boast in your flesh. Okay. But Paul takes a different approach. He
05:02 says, "Far be it for me to boast. I don't boast. I only boast of one thing,
05:07 the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, not necessarily boasting is wrong. But
05:13 you need to boast in the right thing. And the contrast here is Paul
05:18 totally boasting is totally repugnant to him. He's unimpressive. He's not paid.
05:24 He's been suffering. Contrast him with the Greek philosophers and false teachers and the Judaizers
05:31 that come. They've been impressive. They're bold, visionary, triumphalistic. There's signs and wonders in their own
05:37 sense. I got great rhetorical skill and that the contrast is there. Paul doesn't
05:43 boast. I've got a PhD. I got this and that. He doesn't do that. We're all familiar with boasting, isn't it? All
05:49 right. Humility is something that's quite new in that
05:54 uh setting. All right. We know what boasting is, isn't it? All right. So, boasting is I alone can do it. I look
06:01 and do this and that. But before that, in Greek and Roman society, boasting is
06:09 a way of life. If you look here, it's a picture of the Spartans under Leonidis.
06:14 They boast. How? That's a war dance. Before you go into the war where you
06:20 could possibly die, you'd be afraid. Who wants to die, right? So therefore, they work themselves up into a frenzy. They
06:26 dance here and there. Because everybody is shouting together, they gain courage. All right. modern days has been
06:32 translated to the all blacks. They do the same the Maui people that's boasting, isn't it? Standing in front
06:37 and they intimidate their opponents before they even start. All right. So, philosophers were the rock stars at that
06:43 time. Self eulogy detailing triumphs gained, battles won, great speeches,
06:49 they are all part of their CV. They got to put the CV out. Here's Polyon. Okay,
06:55 he is a philosopher. He said used to talk to cities as a superior, to kings
07:00 not as inferior, and to gods as an equal. The way you speak to people must be full of confidence. You're no less
07:07 than a king. That's their whole thrust of life. The word in Greek is filmmia,
07:14 which is basically the love of honor. If one had achieved great things, it was
07:19 only right and proper that the full recognition be given. achievement deserves public praise. You know there
07:27 was a deli cannon that talked about all the the the good points about human
07:33 being 40 pity maxims or words or proverbs not one mentions humility as an
07:41 asset nobody is humble if you look at Augustus Augustus he's got this ray
07:47 guest where he actually outlines all his military endeavors here's favius
07:52 Josephus who is a Jewish historian and he writes his autobiography, "My family
07:58 is highly respected from priestly ancestors. Different races based their claims to nobility on various grounds
08:05 with us. A connection with the priesthood is a hallmark of an illustrious line. Not only, however,
08:11 were my ancestors priests, but they belong to the highest class of priests. I very highly educated renowned for my
08:20 excellent memory and my understanding. While still a mere boy about 14 years old, I won the universal applause for my
08:27 love of literature. So much so that the chief priest and leading men of the city constantly came to consult me on the
08:33 law. Wow. The professors of university consult a 14-year-old boy. That's the
08:39 way to write an autobiography, right? Boasting takes several ways. If you look
08:45 uh there's a young lady who is a influencer called Mariel Desca Los.
08:50 She came to Sunway Hotel and you know this familiar restaurant, right? The
08:56 person's pictures in the back, Gordon Ramsay, right? And uh here she is there
09:01 eating and the most famous dish of Gordon Ramsey, probably the only one he can cook uh beef Wellington,
09:09 right? So if you got a spare 310 ringit, you go there and and have a bite, which
09:14 she did on her YouTube channel. And this is what it looks like. I think it's a bit undercooked in the middle. Uh
09:22 a and she said, "I had Kobe beef in Japan which melted in my mouth.
09:28 Unfortunately, meat used in Wellington pales in comparison. So she's so high
09:33 class, so atasa that she goes to coo and have have coo beef and that's this is nothing. Do you know that's a way of
09:40 boasting? It's it's a way of boasting that she's so high class. She's been to better places than this. And and you can boast
09:47 without really boasting is introduced by a comedian called Harris Whittleles. Humble bragging. A humble brag is a type
09:55 of boast disguised in modesty. You meet somebody in the airport and he's on the
10:01 golden lounge if you know what I mean, right? And you happen to be upgraded for once your entire life. You go there, all
10:06 your points. Oh my god, this is the golden lounge. And then you see the first sitting there. Hey, hey, uncle.
10:13 Ah, Tony. Uh, what are you doing here? Oh, I so terrible, you know. I've got I'm here. I'm practically leaving here.
10:19 I've got to I've got to go and travel to Dubai, Katala, London, New York, my job,
10:26 you know, terrible. I feel like resigning. That is a humble brag, isn't it? You're
10:35 telling people, you go to Kata, London, all these places, you riff refit in the kettle class, right? All right. or your
10:42 friend comes and say, "Oh, yo, I need a whole bunch of clothes, no money to buy. You know what? I lost so much weight."
10:49 Yeah, this is called humble bragging. Proverbs say, "Let another praise you,
10:54 not your own mouth." Okay, so that's how we boast. All right. Important question today is why do we boast? Okay. Now,
11:04 here it is those who want to make a good showing of the flesh. ah
11:11 translated in Malay is tayang kaki who would force you to be circumcised
11:16 and only in order that they not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Here
11:22 you the fish first missionary journey of Paul and he goes to the area of Galatians and here we got a pacidian
11:28 Antioch Acts 13 the Jews persecuted him
11:33 the Gentiles responded to the gospel he went to Iconium the Jews tried to stone
11:39 him but he escaped then he went to Lististra they caught up with him they actually stoned him and left him for
11:45 dead so if you are a Christian and you're spreading the gospel you're undermining the Jewish faith you will be
11:51 persecuted. All right? So, but the trouble is the people who persecute them and want them to be circumcised and
11:57 become proper Jews. Even those who are circumcised themselves do not keep the law. Double standards. They desire to
12:04 have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh so that they have a large
12:11 following. Isn't it? They're only doing it to keep appearances so they look good to other Jews. Here is Galatians 4:17.
12:19 They make much of you for no good purpose. They want to shut you out that
12:25 you may make much of them. So they want to shut you out of the gospel so that you belong to them and you can then
12:32 sanjong themi. You can praise them. You become part of their gang. That's what
12:37 false teachers do. It's like this gentleman has a huge following with all
12:44 his antics and later on you know he's worth 60 million all right
12:51 and and he says this now so I came to conclusion in 2019 that I don't want to
12:56 be part of the gimmickry of it and I still stand by that but sadly I let the pressure get to me because of that
13:03 pressure I said things and did things that I should not have done. There's a roundabout way of telling you he messed
13:09 up. He did things and said things, prophecies in order to draw people in so that he gets the accolades and is worth
13:16 $60 billion. Why do we boast? Functional MRIs have shown that is as
13:24 pleasurable as eating well beef wellington or having sex. That's true.
13:30 They've done studies to show the parts of your brain that light up when you actually boasting. So boasting is a very
13:35 pleasurable thing. Psychologists tell us why do we boast? We boast because of two
13:40 things. Boasting is based on our self-esteem and our selfidentity.
13:47 You see what I mean? That's why we could project in a room of various people. We
13:52 need to project to them who we are and that we are actually worth it. We are
13:58 worth for for you to know me as it were. Look at famous stars, the Mi Mall
14:04 out all the time. her favorite uh occupation in the past was plastic surgery. What scares me is that I'm
14:11 ultimately going to find out at the end of my life that I'm not really lovable. Uh that I'm not worthy to be loved.
14:18 There's something fundamentally wrong with me. I was that I wasn't here in the first place. I wasn't wanted to be here.
14:25 So So why do we boast? Why do we do all this plastic surgery? Because right in the core of our personality, we don't
14:31 have the self-esteem. We and it affects people whom you think have got it all. Look at Will Smith. This was before the
14:37 slapping. Uh I still doubt myself every single day. What people believe is my
14:44 self-confidence is actually my reaction to fear. So underlying all the boasting
14:51 is actually fear. Why do people put themselves up to the indignity of being
14:56 laughed at by these three jokers? Right? Because they want to have the acclaim. Even though you cannot sing,
15:03 you still go up there because publicity for publicity sake is still something.
15:09 Now, what do you think the lady here is trying to convey? Anybody know
15:15 my boyfriend handsome? Huh? See, if he's handsome, I'm good, isn't
15:22 it? Moa or I managed to attract a guy like that. Maybe he's a billionaire. And so therefore the whole media, social
15:29 media is actually a a an environment that you actually
15:34 project yourself. You mark on beef Wellington, you take picture and yourself next to it. Why don't you take
15:40 the beef bell picture on its own? No point. You have to take it with you. It's called selfie. So everywhere you
15:48 go, they're taking selfies, the Tik Tok, everywhere, you know. Uh in fact,
15:53 there's this website called clout. So after this you go and download uh it gives you a score every day how many
16:00 retweets, mentions you get on Twitter, how many comments, wall posts and likes
16:05 you get on Facebook. So today you wake up oh my score is 76. Tomorrow you wake up your score is 10 nobody look at your
16:12 website then you feel sad or happy right? We we live in a generation where
16:19 self-promotion is part of life. If you don't project yourself, you are nobody. You're stupid.
16:26 And that's what we tell our children. We live in this kind of environment. Edward Welch wrote a book called when
16:33 people are big and God is small. And he says that the love of the glory that comes from man
16:39 comes down ultimately to needing something from other people. We need their approval, their love, their
16:45 affirmation, their attention to save us from our sense of insignificance and bestow value upon us. We need them to
16:54 bestow value so that we will feel that we're worth it. All right. Even our nightmares actually reveal that. I
17:02 remember a recurring nightmare when I was a student, a medical student where I would sit for the exams and if I could
17:09 get good marks, I get accolades from my colleagues, right? And one day I had a
17:14 nightmare where I have to go to the exam hall and I was half naked from the bottom
17:20 down. I can tell you what that's called a nightmare.
17:25 If you go there, they will laugh at you because you're naked from the bottom down. If you don't go there, you fail
17:30 the exam. Then they will still laugh at you. This is called typical nightmare. Either way, you die. Why? Because of
17:37 self-esteem. Even our nightmares betray that. And so God created man in his
17:43 image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female created them. Honor
17:48 and glory to reflect. I mean, imagine all of creation, how whatever
17:54 complexity, whatever beauty of the furthest far-flung stars in the
17:59 universe, there's only one creation that bears the image of God. And if you look
18:07 at God, what is his chief characteristic? Glory.
18:14 Glory. Why do you boast? because of the glory for which God had
18:20 created you. Jr. Vasa wrote this concept of glory
18:26 hunger. Very interesting book. You should actually get it. Um he says
18:32 all your desire to shine, your passion for greatness, your longing for beauty,
18:38 your wanting to win, your ache for affirmation, your hunger for health and wholeness are clues to what you were
18:45 made for. Our greatest need is to have that glory restored to us. Deep down, it
18:52 is the unnamed ache of every life. We need to have his commendation over us,
18:58 his image renewed in us, and the greatness reclaimed for us. That is the legitimate glory hunger we all possess
19:07 to be restored to a glorious image and crowned with honor by God. every glory
19:13 hunger we have for approval and acceptance. So he's saying deep down inside because we're created for glory,
19:20 we hunger the glory. All right? Uh so we're like the moon. The moon on its own
19:27 has no light. The moon is created to reflect the light that comes from the
19:32 sun. In the same way we are created as reflections an image of the glory of the
19:40 true God. So instead in Adam and Eve sin instead of glory reflecting God they
19:47 have shame right and and and and in order because they have shame because
19:52 they don't have they're not reflecting the glory of God they then take fig leaves to cover their shame. And now we
19:59 use this to cover our shame. The better we looked, how much money we spend,
20:04 right? Sin can twist our desire for glory. Our careers, why are our careers
20:11 important to us? Because they are illegitimate and idolatrous expression
20:16 of the hunger glory. And don't tell me it doesn't affect it affects you. It affects me. If I lost my job tomorrow,
20:24 the glory which I get from the job that I do is lost, right? It affects every
20:31 single person. Why do you think they die five years after retirement? Because we want that glory and it comes from our
20:37 own hands and and doing that and disregarding God are illegitimate and
20:43 idolous idolatrous expressions of hunger of glory. If we can't get the glory because we don't do well, then we follow
20:51 a football team law. Right? They kick the ball well, I can't even kick the ball, but as long as I wear the correct
20:57 t-shirt, I got glory. Right? And if you say I'm wrong, I fight with you. So that that's how the psychology works. So now
21:04 we know why we boast. Now the question is how should we boast? Right? Now
21:11 Christian boasting in this passage um three-fold. We should boast in the Lord
21:17 in weakness and another passage uh side points in others just to be complete.
21:23 All right. So here we look far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
21:31 by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world for neither circumcision counts for anything but nor
21:37 circum uncircumcision but a new creation. Right? So the Old Testament
21:43 principle is Jeremiah. Thus says the Lord let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not not mighty man boast in
21:49 his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boast boasts in this that he understands and knows me
21:56 that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love justice and righteousness
22:02 in the earth for in these things I delight declares the Lord. That's the Old Testament principle. So he what he's
22:09 saying that the things that you that that that you identify with and your self your identity and selfesteem rely
22:17 upon which is basically for the Jews circumcision right and for us it's our
22:23 careers so we need to transfer that to what Christ has done which means it's a
22:30 crucifixion crucifixion you're dying so you're dying to that part of your identity to assume a new part of your
22:36 identity and if you do that all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon
22:43 them and upon the Israel of God. That's what we should be doing and the results
22:48 of that. So basically the Israel of God is basically the people Jew and Gentile
22:55 because the whole idea here is that he's being being besieged by Judaizers who want the Gentiles to become Jews. And
23:03 Paul is saying, "No, the Israel of God is the one that's true Israel by faith
23:08 in Jesus Christ. They want you to follow the Levitical laws." But Paul says, "And
23:14 for all who walk by this rule," what is this rule? This rule is not the Old Testament. This rule is neither
23:21 circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
23:27 That's the only rule that you should be following. Right? So the new creation 2
23:33 Corinthians 4:6 for the Lord said for God said let the light shine out of darkness and has shone in our hearts to
23:39 give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. When you said when a God said
23:46 let there be light or let light shine out of darkness that is a quotation from Genesis which means when you become a
23:53 Christian it is a new creation you've been
23:58 recreated the light is a metaphor for insight for all along when you when they
24:04 preach gospel you to you you think it's rubbish and one day suddenly you wake up you you believe that this is true well
24:11 simply because it's a new god has created this, made you born again by his
24:17 spirit. Now, and then when that happens, you get peace and mercy. How do you actually get this? You either identify
24:23 with your circumcision or you boast in Christ. How do you actually transfer that? That's very difficult because all
24:30 along what you do, whether you're circumcised, which church you attend, what job you are are the basis of your
24:38 self-esteem and your identity. And you know the problem with that?
24:44 You're vulnerable. Every time you base it on what you do, you will be vulnerable. How do you know
24:52 that you're not boasting in Christ? You wake up in the morning if you're despondent, anxious, worried, unhappy.
24:58 Why? Can you ask yourself question? Why are you angry today? Why are you anxious today? Well, because I have to do this
25:05 particular surgery. It's very difficult. If a complication comes, patient will sue me. then I will be devastated.
25:12 Right? Which means my feelings give me an idea of where my self-esteem lies. My
25:20 self-esteem lies in what I do. Let's say I wake up in the morning. Oh, I'm very happy. Oh, fantastic. Why my stock price
25:27 went up double? Then you know where your self-esteem is based on, isn't it? So, I
25:34 want us to look back. Our feelings and emotions, our attitudes are guided by
25:40 where we place our weight on. And where you place your weight on is extremely
25:46 vulnerable, extremely. Look at the traders and the businesses. Suddenly some joker, you know, 20,000 miles away,
25:54 you know, puts tariff and then suddenly your business is finished. Nothing to do with you, right? Nothing to do your achievement. It is so vulnerable, you
26:01 know. Let's take you through various biblical stories. one Jesus and the Samaritan woman. John
26:09 chapter 4. He goes there, ask for a bit of water. She gives it to him and then
26:14 he peaks her interest. The water that I will give him will become a in him a
26:20 spring of water welling up to eternal life. Wow. She came here for water and he's going instead of her giving him
26:27 water, he says, "I got better deal for you." All right. What he's saying is that he's pointing to something that's
26:32 missing in her life. And then she says, "Sir, give me this water so I will not
26:38 be thirsty or have come here to draw water." So, we're talking about water, right?
26:45 You know what does Jesus do? And he says, Jesus said to her, "Go and call your husband. Come here." And the woman
26:51 answer, "Hey, I got no husband." Jesus said to her, "No, you're right. You have no husband. You're in between husband.
26:57 for you had five husband and the one that you have now is not your husband whatever you say in true so she's in
27:03 between men and what has that got to do with eternal life and water what Jesus
27:09 is doing is pointing out to her she got serial partners and she's got a glory
27:15 hunger she wants the love and security of men and how does she get it because
27:21 she's drop dead beautiful she uses her sexuality
27:26 to achieve that purpose because she wants to be loved, cared for
27:33 by men. That's why one after another the men cannot satisfy her. So the most
27:41 important thing that Jesus did was to let her identify her circumcision. Where
27:47 did she place her self-esteem? So what happened here is that if you understand
27:52 where you place your self-esteem for her it was her sexuality self-worth fulfillment and husband if you realize
27:59 that that is actually not enough then you can go for eternal satisfaction. So
28:04 the process of transferring also involves us understanding
28:09 where we have placed our weight. Here's Hannah who basically as a woman in 1
28:17 Samuel chapter 1 who is the mother of Samuel
28:22 and she was in a difficult relationship. The husband has two wives. Don't tell me
28:28 about whether good or bad to have two wife but Bible doesn't say anything is you have to read that it's not good
28:33 based on the context. So here we actually have um he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah and the name
28:39 of the other was Panina. And Hannah had children and Panina had children and
28:45 Hannah had no children. So imagine one wife you know 15 children jumping up and
28:50 down you nothing. All right. So she feels very sad and the rival used to pro
28:56 not only sad the rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb. So every
29:01 day she parades her 10 children in front of her. I got 10 you got none. Imagine doing that every day. All right. Uh and
29:09 then she goes before the Lord and pray and then you see you you find that her problem was her depression or anxiety is
29:17 because her self-worth is based on having children. She said Lord please
29:22 give me one I can learn taro back cannot you see the self worth for women
29:29 at that not today women got you know all sorts of professionals they don't care about women uh children a lot of younger
29:36 people don't want to have children they find self worth in their professions but there that time if you don't have
29:41 children you are nothing all right so so therefore that was her cry before the lord and then husband very clever he
29:50 comes to her every time give gifts to the other wife, he gives give double portion to her. See? All right. No
29:57 children but double portion. So, and Elana her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why
30:03 is your heart so heart so sad? Am I not more to you than 10 sons?" Whoa.
30:10 Imagine Eden going up to his wife and say, "Am I not worth more than your 10 sons that you don't have?" Okay.
30:18 So what this what he's trying to do is to say that there is a selfworth based on romantic relationships.
30:25 So we all going to base our our selfworth and boaster on something which
30:30 society tells us society tells us is your sons or your husband or something.
30:37 But Hannah prayed and when the Lord gave her the one son she gave him up to be a
30:44 Nazarite. You know what a Nazerite is in Israel? They have got priests. They're called Levites. If you're not born in a
30:51 Levite family, you can never be a priest. But a Nazerite is a nonacredited priest, which means you are a priest.
30:59 You don't cut your hair just like a priest, but you don't come from that tribe and you live in the temple and you
31:04 goodbye to your mother. And she did that because she realized that she could not place her self-esteem and self-worth and
31:12 identity on having children or being the romantic lover of her aging husband.
31:19 Remember John chapter 7 when the woman who was caught in adultery was brought before by Jesus with men who wanted him
31:26 to condemn her, right? And you know what he did when they all when he said those
31:34 who don't have any sin you can throw the first stone and none of them did right he didn't say did he say I you forsake
31:41 your sin and then I will not condemn you a lot of non a lot of Christians in church will tell you that you forsake
31:47 your sin and then I will not condemn you no this is what Jesus said and Jesus
31:52 said to her neither do I condemn you go and from now on sin no more. You know,
32:00 when he said that, what's happened is that you've got this adultery, you got sexual desire, you got
32:08 guilt, Jesus suddenly just gives you mercy, grace, forgiveness, even though
32:15 you didn't deserve it. And now she can stand tall. Why can she stand tall?
32:22 Because Jesus gave her forgiveness. Jesus didn't put or you do like that that item one two three and then only I
32:28 forgive you. You know what that is? That is salvation by works and because of
32:35 Jesus forgiveness and grace her life was transformed.
32:40 Let's look at another guy. This king looking out one day, David. 1 Samuel
32:47 11-12. And he happened to spy a young woman taking a bath on the rooftop
32:54 completely naked. Don't know what she's doing there. Her name was Bat Sheba. And we all know the story, right? He he
33:00 called for her and you can't refuse the king. He had sex with her, got her pregnant, okay? And then uh to cover up
33:09 the pregnancy, he tried to get the Uriah, the husband, back to have sex with the wife so that the pregnancy can
33:15 be blamed on him, not David. Didn't quite work out that way. And so what he
33:20 arranged was to send tell the leader of the army army, his name is Joab, to send
33:27 Uriah and his platoon to the place where there's most enemy to assault the wall.
33:34 Obviously, you assault the wall, you die. So, he and his platoon died. So, the problem is taken care of. Later on,
33:41 a year later on, Nathan the prophet confronted him and he's then realized
33:46 his sin. And then we got Psalm 51. Now, look at Psalm 5. I will be preaching on
33:52 it in three weeks time, but here's a preview. David says, "Have mercy on me, oh God,
33:59 according to your steadfast love, your abundant mercy. Blot out my
34:04 transgressions, for I know my transgression, my sin ever before me. Against you and only you, I have sinned
34:10 and done what is evil in your sight." You know, when you are get caught by a police,
34:18 would you ever say to the police, "Against you and you alone, I have sinned." Auntu,
34:24 would you do that? Looks a bit funny, isn't it? And and not only that. Hey, hello David against God only. What about
34:32 Uriah? What about his platoon? What about the army hierarchy which you corrupted the Joab? What about Bath
34:39 Sheba? You sin against all of them. And then you got a chick to turn around
34:45 against you and you alone. You see, you don't do that to the policeman because it's impersonal. So he doesn't give a
34:51 damn who you are. He just, you know, uh, and all you're worried about is the
34:58 consequences, right? All you're worried about consequences. This this fellow there in the uniform is, you know, this
35:03 by the way, you want to get out of it. So sin is a personal betrayal of God
35:10 against you and you alone. Now when the Hebrew says you you double you and Jesus says truly
35:18 truly means it's emphasis for us we bold make it bigger and underline right or if
35:24 you're trumper everything is all caps all right so different people have different way of emphasis in Hebrew is
35:30 always the doubling and you and you alone I've sinned and done what is evil in your eyes that you may be justified
35:36 in your works the focus of repentance is on the person not the consequences.
35:44 David's God. Psalm 36. Your steadfast love, Lord, extends to the heavens. How
35:51 precious is your steadfast love, oh God. Oh, continue your steadfast love. The focus of his attention is the steadfast
35:59 love of God. So Tim Keller says, "When the thing that most assures you of your
36:05 value is the very thing that most convicts you of your sin, then you will
36:10 hate the sin for what it cost God and not yourself." So what he's trying to tell you when
36:17 David sin, it's not just the fact that he's worried about the consequences. He
36:23 sinned against the very God who put him on the throne who loved him from a young
36:30 shepherd boy. So what you're doing is that you're betraying the very love of that very God whom you love.
36:39 That will give you the power to repent. So you identify your sin. Your sin is
36:47 tied up to your self-esteem. What you did is who you are. If you
36:53 steal, you're a thief. If you commit adultery,
36:59 you're a no good. Yeah. Isn't it? So, and and our self-esteem if it's based on what we
37:06 did. So, what we did is who we are. And this is inextricably linked. So
37:14 therefore when you actually try to counsel someone in church to repent of sin I tell you nine time out of 10 they
37:21 tell you to do a fly kites why they did who they are they cannot
37:28 extricate the difference right but David could what he did was we
37:36 refuse to repent because it diminishes our self it means that we have messed up
37:41 you know why we have messed up because our parents teach us wrong. Every time you mess up, the parents say ah you see
37:47 you messed up every time. Society also tells you every time you mess. Yeah. So
37:52 we tie our selfwork we are what we did. Okay. So what David did was focus on the
37:59 steadfast love of God and for us we focus on Christ's love and Christ's work
38:06 for us. When you do that and we tie our self-esteem not to what we did but to
38:12 what we are in Christ self-esteem self who are you I am born again through
38:17 Christ that's who I am I stand tall while the woman who had committed adultery and Jesus said I don't condemn
38:25 you anymore she stood tall and then
38:31 what he did is who you are not what you did is who you are what he hate is who
38:37 you are and then you look at your sin and then you begin to hate and reject
38:42 your sin because your very sin is a betrayal of the love for which he has
38:48 granted you that grace so in that way you learn to repent the secret of
38:56 repentance now now I know preached about restoring people you know it's not easy to restore
39:03 people brothers if anyone is caught in any transgression You who are spiritual should restore him
39:08 in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch for yourself lest you too be tempted. There are two points I want to point out
39:14 here. If you look at we are to restore him in gentleness. Why? Because
39:20 everybody what we did is who we are. If we committed adultery then we are an
39:26 adulterer and our identity as self-esteem is based on that. So we refuse to repent because it diminishes
39:32 our selfworth. So what you who are spiritual, you are the ones who recognize that who we are is based on
39:39 what he did. So what we do is we come gently to the person because you know
39:44 that if you come rough and start to condemn his selfworth is tied to what he
39:50 did. So you come not because you did better, you know, oh you had adultery, I
39:55 didn't. So you choose all the guys who didn't have adultery and then he go and counsel the guy who did, right? Well,
39:60 because you got different criteria. Our criteria of being spiritual is that we
40:06 base our self-esteem and self-identity on what he did. And so therefore, when
40:12 we look at that sin, we help him hate and reject the sin and remind him of
40:19 Christ who died for him. So only then when we find true glory will we have
40:25 peace and mercy. And that's a message to all of us today. Where do you place your
40:31 dignity and selfworth? Is it on Christ or yourself?
40:36 Christian boasting is not only in the Lord. Christian boasting is very paradoxical.
40:42 Is based on weakness. This part is very difficult to understand. All right. So,
40:47 uh from now on, let no one cause me trouble. All right. Don't catch on me
40:54 because I bear on my bodies the marks of Jesus. Now you read this and say what's
40:59 happening here? What what what's wrong with him? Right? So you you got to understand slaves at that time have
41:06 tattoos belongs to Leidian [Music]
41:11 any defect anything go and complain to Leian. Okay. Sometimes they actually put what
41:18 he did. He's a slave because he stole money. One MDB $15 billion put out
41:23 there. You cannot run one. So every time you look at you, hey nice tattoo nowadays you're so proud of your tattoo.
41:30 Show your tattoo everywhere. Now the tattoo say I'm a thief. Wow. Would you like to show people I'm a thief? All
41:36 right. And then there some who put tattoo if you catch me please return me to Leian.
41:41 They actually put it there. So nobody wants to see the the the the tattoo
41:47 because it's humiliating, degrading and a lifelong even though you bought yourself out of slavery, right? They
41:54 look former slave formerly owned by Lee Yian.
41:59 You see I mean so it's very very shameful. So what Paul did where all of
42:04 us would wear medals on our chest Paul medals of honor
42:11 are basically the scars on his back that are sign of ownership by whom? Jesus
42:18 Christ. I bear on my marks on my body the marks of J. What are the marks of
42:24 Jesus? Five times beaten, 39 lashes, three times beaten with a rod.
42:30 He will bear marks, isn't it? Most of us will be ashamed to show the marks of our
42:35 scourging. You go to Pudu jail and they rot you. Nobody wants to rot, you know,
42:41 because you show the mark. But here instead, Paul shows this is my and he's
42:47 proud of it. He's proud of it. And they are not supposed to catch out him. You know why? Because he's a slave that
42:54 belongs to who? Jesus. I don't belong to you. I belong to Jesus. So you cannot
42:59 catch out me. Right? That's what he's saying. I bear the marks of Jesus. I'm a slave of Jesus Christ. His credentials,
43:08 stone, shipwreck, whole bunch of things. If you want to boast, he'll boast. In 2
43:14 Corinthians 11:37, if I must boast, he's forced to. I will boast of the things that show my weakness. You don't boast
43:21 of things that show your achievement. Why? Because glory is revealed in our brokenness. If we have this treasure in
43:28 jars of clay, 2 Corinthians 4 7-10 to show that a surpassing power belongs to
43:35 God and not to us. You see, your scars
43:41 show that you belong to God. Your scars show the power of the gospel. We are
43:48 afflicted in every way, not crushed. Perplexed, not driven to despair.
43:53 Persecuted, not forsaken, struck down, not destroyed. Now, a lot of modern
43:60 churches ignore this. You know what that picture of power is? Power is stand up,
44:06 touch you, you fall down. My big church worth 50 million. I've got victory every
44:12 single day. I'm successful. I listed five companies and I'm still a Christian.
44:18 That is the picture of modern Christianity which is a far cry from the
44:23 power of God here. You know what it says? We are afflicted but not crushed,
44:28 perplexed, not driven to despair, persecuted, not forsaken, struck down, not destroyed, which means blean.
44:36 His enduring quality is endurance. Not victory, jumping up there, wearing a
44:43 medbells, having those scars and still worship Jesus Christ. Never deny Jesus
44:49 Christ. That is the power. And when people see those scars and say, "Wow, this fellow
44:56 went through all this and he still worships God and he still believes in
45:02 the gospel." It must be true. It must be true. It's so easy to to be true if you
45:09 are living well, millionaire, 15 cars. It's very hard to be true when you think
45:15 God betrayed you and you got all these scars and you lost your job and you're homeless and you're depressed,
45:22 but you're still hanging on. It's like the advertisement of the Duracell bunny.
45:28 All the bunnies, they all start off very well, right? But on the end, only one
45:33 fell still like tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck. I said why the bunning can do well? You look at the back there's only
45:39 one duracell battery. That duracell battery is then highlighted by the ad.
45:44 Right? So we are like all those duracell battery powered bunnies. We continue
45:50 where we we are afflicted not crushed perplexed not driven to despair.
45:56 Persecuted not forsaken struck down but not destroyed. Why? Because we have a duracell battery. And that duracell
46:02 battery is called the holy spirit. That's the real deal.
46:08 Lastly, I want to talk about the nature of true glory. Philip went and told Andrew in John chapter 12. And Philillip
46:16 uh uh Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus said, "The hour has come for the son of God to be glorified.
46:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and
46:30 dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. You see, Jesus is
46:37 talking about glory. All right? The hour has come for the son of man to be
46:42 glorified. We talk about all the lights and the victory.
46:48 But Jesus says, "Unless a wheat, grain of wheat falls to ground and dies, it bears much fruit." So Jesus' concept of
46:56 glory is different from your concept. His concept of glory in this world is dying, losing.
47:03 I I remember years ago I was so enamored because Michael Chang won the French
47:09 Open 1989. I was saying, "Wow," you know, stood up there, I thank the Lord Jesus Christ and he held up this thing
47:16 and this the glory of Christ, you know, and I sort of thought maybe I should take up tennis
47:23 and I did, but I couldn't take the serve. So no glory there. But you see
47:30 the concept of glory is this that we will take this trophy which is the
47:37 emblem of our human achievement and we dedicate to God. Right? If Michael Tang
47:43 lost and became last place you think he say anything is that mean that's not how God is
47:48 glorified. Not like that. You see go Paul's gospel versus the false gospel.
47:55 Paul's gospel is like the Malaysian durian outside offensive smelly like toilet
48:03 inward you eat wow changes your entire life compared to the nightshade berries
48:10 beautiful outside red and luscious inviting inward poisonous so you bring the durian
48:18 everywhere people will look at you one kind in fact they will persecute you go to the hotel in Sunway resort and then
48:23 bring a durian you think they'll persecute They will persecute you. They confiscate your gentle and they kick you out.
48:29 Everywhere you go, you go in a train, you go in the plane, you go to the uh school, you go anywhere, you take the
48:35 gospel of durian, and they will persecute you until they
48:40 eat it. Then they will love you. So that's the thing with Paul's gospel. All
48:47 right? So, so the God said, "Let the light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of glory of God to the face of
48:53 Christ." Only when the light shines in their hearts then the durian can
48:58 actually be tasted as it were. Light is a metaphor inside. So the glory that actually is gloria is actually cross-
49:06 shaped. You admire a guy not because he's got a great job or earns a lot of
49:11 money or drives a lumberj but because he gives his life in sacrifice of other people and he lives in a tiny house or
49:19 an apartment and he doesn't have enough money to make rental next month because he gave his life sacrificially. That
49:27 is glory. We're just too blind to see it. We're just too afraid to express it
49:34 by faith. Right. So lastly is that Christian boasting is boasting on the cross a
49:41 weakness and in others. Right. Let me end. This is the tallest mountain in the
49:47 world. Mount Everest. The chap there both then Tenzing and uh Edmund Hillary.
49:55 You know when he climbed up there he's the first people to basically climb the tallest mountain in the world. The the
50:01 the pinnacle of human achievement. You know what he put there?
50:06 a cross to him. It all meant nothing. What
50:12 really matters at the top of the world is the cross.
50:18 Then you look at the bottom of the world. You know where the bottom of the world was? David.
50:24 David sinned against Bath Sheba. David sinned against Uriah. In fact, if you
50:30 talk about Najib, he's actually a saint compared to David. Here you have somebody who murdered people, murder a
50:36 platoon of people, had adultery. Hey, I so far as know he's still with Rosma, right? So,
50:42 he's good guy. Maybe he should get the pardon. I don't know. All right. But he's a good guy. David is is a is a
50:49 terrible fellow. He doesn't deserve anything. He's at the bottom of life. David comforted his
50:55 wife, went into her, and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his
50:60 name Solomon. Hey, then the Lord loved him and sent a message by Nathan the
51:05 prophet and he called his name Jediah. He called him Solomon. Hey, the God says
51:11 I can do better. You know what the Jedi mean? Jediah means beloved of the Lord.
51:19 A murderer, adulterer, a horrible leader
51:25 at the bottom of his life. The grace of God gave him another son and called that
51:32 Jediah, beloved of God. Which means however depths of life that we have gone
51:37 because of our own sinfulness. The story of David tells you there's redemption
51:44 that God will still bring you back if you repent and call and David repented
51:51 and called your son Jediah. practically. Let me read to you a
51:58 testimony by a Christian who is basically a professor of theology in Cedar University.
52:08 And he comes back to his house and he says, "I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough." His professor, you know,
52:16 my wife doesn't appreciate me enough. My daughter doesn't respect me enough.
52:21 Do you have days that you feel like that? I I certainly have, you know, I come back and I my world has fallen
52:28 apart if you know my children don't do as well or my surgeries don't do as
52:34 well.
52:39 The cross reminds me I'm not as worthless as I think.
52:45 And I am I'm loved and approved by my heavenly father and through his son and
52:51 by his spirit. Work is more fulfilling when I remember that God placed me there
52:58 for a purpose. And for me, God places me at the hospital.
53:04 And whatever cases I do, it's a for a purpose to help people heal
53:10 broken lives. Marriage is more joyful than I've ever imagined. When I remember, you got to
53:16 remember that faithfulness trumps lust, perseverance trumps comfort, and
53:22 displaying the gospel trumps Instagram and couple selfies. My self-esteem,
53:28 good or bad, cannot sustain me. It's a toothpick house in a tornado
53:36 because the esteem of Christ, his perfect love on full bloody display. I'm
53:44 redeemed, made whole. No power of hell. No scheme of man can ever pluck me from
53:52 his hand. Now, how can he say that? Because he went to this gentleman just
53:59 like the woman in John chapter 7. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no
54:07 more. What a wonderful, beautiful savior.
54:13 We are broken people. And as much as we'd like to say that we
54:21 boast in the Lord and we place our self-esteem and identity in the Lord day
54:27 to day in the trenches, it's not so simple. Every time something happens and a sin
54:35 occurs or a failure occurs at work or at home,
54:41 we mess up and we are our sin and we feel guilt.
54:47 We don't even dare to pray to you because we're messed up. We let our failures define us.
54:55 This is what we struggle with. And when we sing how beautiful you are, how
54:60 wonderful you are, often the words don't really mean anything.
55:05 It's so far removed. The things of the world seem more real.
55:12 But Father Lord, this morning we want to take your word in second Corinthians
55:18 just as you said, let there be light. We ask this morning
55:24 in our lives we are a new creation. We pray oh Lord you give us the light. You
55:31 give us the insight. You give us a hearts that are receptive to see the glory to feel the glory to be
55:41 excited about the glory in the face of Christ. May you bless us this way to
55:49 glorify your name. He who is king, who is blessed and only sovereign, the King
55:56 of Kings, the Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has
56:03 ever seen or can see. To him be the glory and eternal dominion.
56:11 Amen.
