Calvary Baptist Church - Canyon Texas - David Crump, Pastor

These events are saturated with meaning. This is the fulfillment of hundreds of OT prophecies, foreshadowing, and prototypes. We’ll look at three of those this morning. They celebrated the Passover together – which was a foreshadowing: The Passover celebrated an event for 1450 years when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. God sent plagues on Egypt for their treatment of the Israelites. The last plague was the death of every first born in the country. But the Lord spared the life of the firstborn whose doorways were covered with the blood of a slaughtered a lamb. The angel of death came and “passed over” those homes. The Passover had been celebrated for 1450 years, foreshadowing what Christ would do as the Lamb of God, sparing their lives by the death of the Lamb. Matthew 26:26-30 - Jesus with the disciples at the last supper v. 26 He taught them about how they must accept the sacrifice of his body for forgiveness. v. 27 His blood was poured out for them. v. 28 You must accept the sacrifice of his bod

OT people didn’t worship idols for no reason. The reason they worshipped a particular idol was because it was supposed to help or save them. The idol was a physical form representing some spiritual being that had power over some area of the world. There were gods of strength, weather, fertility, etc. Today, we worship what helps us, what saves us. “Every one of us is, even from his mother’s womb, a master craftsman of idols.” – John Calvin Sometimes we look to another person to save us. There is an idea in our culture that if the right man finds the right woman, they will be complete and fulfilled. They will find perfect satisfaction in each other. The man will feel significant in the eyes of his wife. The woman will always feel secure, perfectly protected and provided for by her perfect husband. They will cure each other’s feelings of loneliness and lostness. There is an idea between a man and a woman, “I’ll save you and you’ll save me.” “Fix You” by British group Coldplay. And high up above or down below

The Beauty of Biblical Marriage Part 2 – Balance and Leadership Marriage is like a dance – It takes balance between the partners. Marriage is mutually dependent, back and forth, mutually important. Galatians 3:26-28 26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. What I know about me… what I know about you… You will come to decisions that don’t consider all sides of an issue. You will want to spend money when you need to save. You will want to save when you have money to spend. You will be gracious toward your children when they need discipline. You will be harsh toward your children when they need grace. You need someone to balance you out. When you lean out, your partner will lean out. If you over-spend, your partner will try to save . If you hoard money, your partner will try

The Beauty of Biblical Marriage Marriage is like a dance. Marriage takes unity – You must be doing the same dance. This starts before marriage – it starts before dating. You must make up your mind to guard your heart Proverbs 4:23 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Your heart is easily swayed. You must decide to make your heart vulnerable only to someone that your head knows will work. You must make up your mind to only expose your heart to someone who would be equally yoked 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial[b]? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will

The early church – what did they spend their time doing? Who were they hanging around? What did they do when they got together? What was important to them? Acts 2:42 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 7 – Stephen is stoned. Acts 8 – Persecution breaks out, the church is scattered. This young fellowship of believers left Jerusalem and is scattered throughout the region. Gospel is taken to Samaria and they believe Acts 10 – the Lord appears to a Gentile, leads Peter there and he shares the Gospel with him – the first Gentile believer. Acts 13 – the church in Antioch sends out the first missionaries – Saul and Barnabas Acts 17:5-11 5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.[a] 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some oth

Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these. John 15:1-8 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples

Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these. John 14:10-12 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. Who? Those who believe in Jesus. Greater things? Really? Perhaps not in extravagance, but in outreach. What? The works Jesus was doing. The work that Jesus did in John: He healed the sick John 5: He healed an invalid. John 9: He healed a blind man. He fed the hungry John 6: He fed 5,000 All the while, He taught people about Himself John 4: He taught a lost, sinful Samaritan woman that He is w

Luke 2:8-12 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” We see in the Bible over and again that there is fear when people see angels. Perhaps it is their appearance, but Charles Spurgeon also noted about these verses that Jews believed that if a man saw a heavenly creature, that he would die because of his sin. But the first words of the Gospel would end all of this. “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” No more would it be a dreadful thing for a man to approach God. This child would change all of

Luke 2:8-14 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” In our world, peace is understood as an absence of conflict. But the peace of the Bible is not just absence of conflict. Romans 16:20 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. The peace of the Bible shalom and its Greek equivalent word e

All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you. (Colossians 1:6) Romans 8:1-4 v. 1 Those of us who are in Christ are no longer under any condemnation. v. 2 The power of the Spirit overcame the power of sin and death over me, through Christ Jesus. v. 3 God condemned sin completely and finally through the suffering and death of Jesus for everyone who comes to him. v. 4 What does Paul mean that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us? Christ fulfilled the law for us when he obeyed the law perfectly and died as the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. In him, we are perfect with his perfection and in him we are pardoned in his blood. Romans 5:19 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. But that is not the point of verse 4. It does not say that the law is to be fulfilled for us. Then Paul focuses specifically on our walking, that is our

The Power of the Gospel Part 3: He Condemned Sin All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you. (Colossians 1:6) Romans 8:1-4 v. 1 Those of us who are in Christ are no longer under any condemnation. v. 2 The power of the Spirit overcame the power of sin and death over me, through Christ Jesus. v. 3 God condemned sin in sinful man. How could God condemn sin in the flesh of Jesus Christ? There was no sin in Jesus Christ to condemn. So the question is: Whose sin was condemned when Jesus' flesh was tortured and killed? God condemned sin in the flesh of his completely innocent Son. What sin? Whose sin? 2 Corinthians 5:21, "[God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." It was my sin and your sin that was condemned in Jesus Christ. He was innocent. He committed no sin. He deserved no punishment. But he took on the punishment of your sin and my sin once and for all that that we should never b

All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you. (Colossians 1:6) Three decades after Christ’s resurrection, the Gospel had spread rapidly to every corner of the Roman Empire. Everywhere the Gospel was introduced, in every culture, every socioeconomic group it was growing and bearing fruit. Among the poor, rich, slave, free, Jew, Gentile, it was overcoming every boundary and changing lives all over the known world. The Gospel has the power to change lives. Not just one time. We put so much emphasis on conversion that too often people miss the power of the Gospel throughout the rest of our lives. We think that conversion is up to God, and then the rest of sanctification is up to us. Not true. The Gospel is so powerful, that the fullness of what Christ has done for us has to be explored for the rest of our lives. Talking to other parents… the hope we have for our children is not our ability as parents, not our wisdom, the only real hope we have for them is the me

Two weeks ago: Laodiceans were rich and did not know their need for God. They became lukewarm in their faith. Jesus told them “come to me for His true riches, His white clothes to cover their shameful state, and salve for their eyes so they could see their true spiritual condition.” Last week: He is the treasure in the field. He is the pearl of great value. If we lose everything, but gain Christ, we are truly blessed. Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. God must be pursued. Jeremiah 2:11-13 11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror," declares the LORD. 13 "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. God is

The Rewarder Your Very Great Reward Last week: Laodiceans were rich and did not know their need for God. They became lukewarm in their faith. Jesus told them they needed to come to Him for His true riches, His white clothes to cover their shameful state, and salve for their eyes so they could see their true spiritual condition. Genesis 15:1-6 1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." Abram’s very great reward is not only the inheritance that God had promised him, but that God Himself was his reward. For Abram to know God was in itself a reward. Matthew 13:44-46 44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Th

What do you need from God? To Moses, God described Himself "as compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” He is described in scripture as the God who hears, sees me, provides, heals me. The God Who is present, is peace. The God Who is my righteousness. God is seen in the scriptures as the unending source of life, light, joy, truth, wisdom. Spring of living water (Jeremiah 2 & 17, John 4, and Revelation 21) He is to the psalmist the rock, fortress, shelter in who we can find strength and safety. He is the giver of joy and comfort, the God in Whom we delight. He provides wisdom and strength to those who ask of Him. He is the One who shows mercy, forgiveness, and love. He is the One who brings salvation, redemption, Jesus is referred to as the “Author and Finisher” of our faith The richness of God is something that can be forever explored, but never fathomed. Isaiah 64:4 4 Since ancient times n

Psalm 37:4 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. The idea that God is to be our joy and delight is lost on most Christians. We know God is to be feared, obeyed, respected, devoted… but enjoyed sounds foreign to our minds when it comes to God. But delighting in God is no less a command than the commands to obey him. We have a mindset that the things of this world are what bring us joy. But this is not the psalmist’s view Psalm 4:7 7 You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. The truth is that we are all looking for joy, delight, happiness. “All men seek happiness, this is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.” – Blaise Pascal Aug

There is a yearning in the hearts of men for meaning; a cause; something significant; bigger than ourselves. We look for meaning all around us. We hope to find it in love – in the eyes of a man or woman, but it’s never enough. In a career, but so many people are either bored or lost in work. In your talents, finding what you’re good at and doing it well. But there’s never enough success. All of those things, love, career, talents are good, but they’re not ultimate, not able to satisfy. What is THE answer? Psalm 19:1-2 Creation declares His glory. 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. Isaiah 48:9-11 His patience is for His own name’s sake. 9 For my own name's sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off. 10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, fo

Pressing On Your High Calling What fills your heart with passion? The human spirit is built with a desire for significance and impact. Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. -Henry David Thoreau There is a yearning in the souls of men for meaning. God created us this way. Philippians 3:12-14 To Paul, his calling was something he followed after; chased. It did not strike him like lightning. It wasn’t handed to him on a silver platter from heaven. He had to press on to attain it. Calling must be actively pursued. “not that I have already taken hold of all this, but I press on” He hadn’t taken hold of it – When Philippians was written Paul had already taken three missionary journeys. The third he went all the way to Greece and Macedonia. Calling is a lifelong pursuit. You cannot tire of chasing after Christ and His purpose for you. You must press on and press in to Christ. It rarely comes all at one time. It comes step by step. Calling is unique. “for whi

Philippians 3:7-11 v. 7 “what was to my profit” – the things Paul used to hold on to as valuable. Paul’s superior Jewish tradition had once made him confident in His standing with God. Now, he considers them “loss” for Christ. He renounced them. They were actually a hindrance in gaining righteousness in Christ. Pharisaic righteousness was a danger to his soul. v. 8 “everything a loss” – any religious effort, everything that I he thought gained God’s favor. To come to Christ, you have to give up everything else that you think gives you merit with God. Everything else is a hindrance from gaining Christ. The knowledge of Christ eclipsed everything else in Paul’s vision. Christ came into Paul’s life and transformed him. God made him conscious of a new way. The old things passed away gone and everything became new. “rubbish” refuse or excrement. “that I may gain Christ” to gain His righteousness and enjoy all the grace and glory that surrounds Him. v. 9 “found in him” passive voice – discovered or proved to b

Psalm 78:38 38 Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. Exodus 34:6-7 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." In describing Himself, God says He is • slow to anger • abounding in love (hesed) and faithfulness • maintaining love (hesed) • forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin God, in His nature, exhibits a forgiving love. It is part of Who He is. When we look at the righteousness of God, we see that we need a forgiving God, because we’re nowhere close. I’ve been walking with God for 24 years, I can see growth in my life, but I see better now than ever that I