Simple Faith

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry, coming to you from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today we bring you Pastor Bill's weekly prophecy update. He'll be taking a look at current events and he's going to share how they relate to end times prophecy we read in the Bible. Obviously, there's a lot going on in the world, so let's get right to it. Here's Pastor Bill.

Bill Henry: Well hello and welcome again to Stay Awake Radio. What a blessing it is to be kind of live with you. This is obviously pre-recorded for the weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday portion of our program. But I always like to come on and just spend some time with you to address some of the things that might be happening in the world around us, trying to take that into the light of scripture. Other times, I just like talking as a pastor to people and doing my best to follow Christ so that you might follow me as I do so, to a point. It's not about me, it's not about you, it's all about Jesus.

And so that's my heart again today. Some of you are hearing this on Good Friday where we remember once again the great sacrifice of God the Father as He gave His only begotten Son through Jesus Christ as He gave His life for us, as He died upon the cross for our sins, His blood shed, the new covenant made. And then we come into, and again, whether we believe that really happened on that Friday or was it actually Thursday or Wednesday even, it could be we don't know. I kind of go in that direction, but my point is maybe you're hearing it Saturday, maybe you're hearing it Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday, and we're celebrating now the resurrection of Christ because He didn't stay there. Amen.

I love how Paul talks about that. If Christ didn't raise from the dead, we above all men are most miserable. And yet we're not. And my heart today, it's funny, sometimes as a pastor you read through and you're studying things either in the Greek or you're reading these commentaries or you're doing this or that. And sometimes though, inspiration comes from just the simplest of daily things that we do. Like one of the things that I like to do is read different devotionals every day. And one of the devotionals kind of hit a little thing that I wanted to talk about today, just talking about resurrection.

And I'm reminded of what Paul said in Philippians chapter 3 and basically he's talking about verse 10, Philippians 3:10, "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." And he goes on to say, "if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." You see, once we repent of our sins, believe in Jesus Christ, that He died on the cross for our sins, that He rose from the dead on the third day, and that He's now become the Lord and Savior of our lives, we're what the Bible calls born again. Jesus said you must be born again.

And so once we've been born again of the Spirit of God, we become new creations and the old man, the old woman, the Bible says, is passed away. But since we still have our flesh, the Bible also says that we're to reckon that old woman, that old man, dead. That we're to crucify our old man, crucify our old woman, deny ourselves every day, Jesus said, pick up our cross and follow Him. And I think that's part of what Paul's talking about here where he says that he wants to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.

But he also goes on to say, "and the fellowship of His sufferings." And I don't know about you, I'm going to be honest with you, yeah, give me all the power of His resurrection, but my flesh says we can do without the fellowship of His sufferings. I don't want to suffer. I think especially for us as Americans today, we don't want to suffer. We've worked hard and we're working towards this and that, and I want my life to be easier, I want my children's life to be even easier, and we make it too easy. And we need to remember that that's not God's way.

God allows things in our lives, He allows trials, He allows hardships in our lives to refine us. Just as a jeweler will take gold and they'll heat that up and the dross comes to the top, that gunk, the stuff that's mixed in with the gold, so that they can scrape it off. And you see, my point of today's study is that the power of Christ only comes through the suffering of Christ. And our power in our lives, the power that we have over sin, the power that we have to walk and to witness and to be the light and salt that we are in Christ, comes through the denying of ourselves and that takes suffering. It comes through the crucifixion of ourselves where the Spirit that is now alive within us takes our flesh and crucifies it every day. In other words, denies it, puts it off, and that means suffering.

And so that's what I think Paul is talking about here when he says that he may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. You see, a lot of times we don't want to put off the old man, the old woman, but we end up being more like Lazarus. We're talking about resurrection, we're celebrating the resurrection of Jesus this week. But let's talk about Lazarus. You remember Jesus came and after He waited even extra time so that people would know, and he said, "well let's roll the stone away," well Lord by this time surely he stinketh in the old King James.

And yet Jesus cries out with a loud voice in verse 43 here in John's gospel and says, "Lazarus, come forth." And he who had died came out. And so that's us, we're born again, come forth as Christ calls us out of our sin, out of our flesh and into new life in Jesus Christ. And we come out of every lifestyle. We don't stay there. I love what Paul says in 1st Corinthians 6: "as were such some of you," when he lists all these different sins from everything from fornication to adultery to homosexuality to stealers and all these different things. As were such some of you. That's who we were, it's not who we are anymore.

And so yet we come out and that's Jesus' cry out: He says, "come out, Lazarus, come forth." And he who had died came out. And so we are to die to our old self and that includes our sin. But notice it's interesting, it says he who had come out came out, this is Lazarus coming forth, it says he came out bound hand and foot. So it's interesting that as he came out bound hand and foot, he had his grave clothes still and his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, "loose him and let him go."

And it's interesting, this is the part I was talking about earlier where I was inspired by one of my devotionals. This is a beautiful picture of a lot of us who are in Christ, we've been born again of the Spirit of God, we've come out, but at the same time we're still struggling with so many different things with our grave clothes. And it's these old things, these old thoughts that we have. Some people believe, "well gosh, I'm going to be a drunkard the rest of my life." No, in Christ you're no longer a drunkard or an alcoholic, you are now a new creation in Christ.

Now, in Christ we've been born again of the Spirit of God and we are new creations. We're no longer an alcoholic. We're still going to be have inclinations to go towards that, our flesh is still going to want to default and go back to that sin. Yes, there'll be some great temptations at times. But in Christ we are now new creations, we don't identify with that old person anymore because I love what Paul said earlier in Philippians chapter 3 before he talks about the resurrection, he says, "but what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ."

Look, we need to look back at the old man we were, the old woman, and count them as loss for Christ. And even the things we might think were good, count them as loss. He goes on and says, "yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him." So a lot of times you have a lot of churches saying no, just come as you are and bring your homosexuality into the church, bring your adultery into the church, bring your drunkenness into the church, bring your drugs into the church, no big deal. It's a huge deal.

Because we get delivered from those things. We don't stay in those things. Those are the things that we suffer the loss of all things. And now we count them as rubbish. Peter calls them vomit when we go back to those things. It's like he says it's like a dog returning to its vomit. And that's how we see the old man, that's how we see the old woman, that's how we see our sins. It grosses us out, it should. And even the word rubbish, I challenge you to do a little Greek dive into the word rubbish as he counts them rubbish here in Philippians chapter 3 verse 8.

You see, Jesus Christ gave everything so that we might live. He gave His very life, He shed His blood, and yet He rose from the dead so that we might have life in Him. And Paul goes on to say that not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. You see this all comes by faith. We don't have to sit there and do all these good works or, "oh, I don't have to do this or not do this to be saved." No, we believe in Christ, we receive by grace and grace alone salvation.

And by the way, we keep our salvation by grace and grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ. Once we get saved it's not like "okay, now it's time to work and do all these things to keep my salvation." No, we're saved. But true salvation will always lead to works, that's just a simple biblical principle. And so my point is this: those works sometimes are going to be hard. Why? Because we have to put off the old woman, we have to put off the old man, we have to put off ourselves and we have to live for Christ, not for ourselves anymore. And that's rugged.

That can be hard. That's the biggest struggle I believe that we have here on this life because yes, the enemy comes in to tempt us, yes, the world comes in to tempt us, but we're only led away because of our own desires, James says. Now it's interesting because James talks about this same thing in chapter 4. He says basically talking about worldliness in chapter 4 verse 1: "where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from desires for pleasure that war in your members?" And so again remember James, the half-brother of Christ, he's writing to Christians.

And so we have this battle, this war, the same war that Paul talks about in Galatians chapter 6: the flesh against the spirit. He goes on to say, "you lust and do not have, you murder and covet and cannot obtain, you fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss." I love it because it goes to what the problem is: worldliness. Why am I still not living that victorious Christian life? Because I have too much worldliness in my life. And sadly a lot of churches encourage us to have worldliness in our lives and our own flesh.

Or maybe some churches we've gone to, oh they're too legalistic, they're too this or that. And maybe some were, maybe some weren't. Maybe it was more that you just have too much worldliness in you. We're asking but we're not receiving because we ask amiss. Why? James goes on to say: "that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture says in vain the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?"

"But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, 'God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.'" So if this is you, if you're Lazarus and you know the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you know all about it, but your life is just miserable. You're not even though you made a profession in Christ and let's say you are a born again Christian, you're still having all these problems. There's never victories in your life. There's never, you don't hear from the Lord and it's just a real struggle. Look, it's called worldliness. Paul points this out, James here is pointing this out. We need to consider all the things of the world rubbish compared to Christ.

We need to understand because I love how James though goes on to give the cure. How are you released from the garbs when you're buried as Lazarus came out and he was still all bound up. And again, a lot of us come into salvation as we come into Christ and we still leave ourselves bound up because we don't go to the word of God and truly read and believe who we are now in Christ and the power and the wonderful things available to us. And so I love this as James goes on to tell us how do we get over this? How do we have victory over this?

He says this in verse 7, chapter 4, James 4:7: "therefore submit to God." So that's the first thing we do, number one, submit to God. How do we do that? We do that through His word and by the power of His spirit. We start to read our Bibles and we read our Bibles and we see, Lord, what have you told me to do? Oh, I'm not doing those things. Now I'm going to start doing them. Lord, you've told me not to do these other things and I've been doing some of those, I'm not going to do them anymore, by the power of Your spirit, all for Your glory, Lord, because I love You Jesus. You died for me.

And so we now submit ourselves to God instead of ourselves, our own thoughts, instead of to the world, to the enemy. And secondly, number two, he says, "resist the devil and he will flee from you." So number one we submit to God, number two we resist the devil and he will flee from us. Resist him in the name of Jesus Christ, in the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, by the word of God. Have faith in the word of God, have faith in Jesus. Resist the devil when he comes tempting you, resist the devil when he's attacking you and find your comfort and your solace at the foot of the cross and call upon the name of Jesus Christ.

Notice number three: he says in verse 8, "draw near to God and He will draw near to you." How do we draw near to God? It's actually very simple. First and foremost we just come to Him through our prayers and with our love and our affection and just come come to Him. Lord Jesus, here I am. I am yours, I'm your son, I'm your daughter and I love You because You first loved me. And we also draw near to God as we read His word and we understand who He is and we believe His word.

You see we can have knowledge of all kinds of things, but until we take that knowledge and put it into practice and we actually use that knowledge. And so draw near to God and He will draw near to you. I heard the story years ago of an old fellow and an old wife they're driving along been married for over 50 years and they're in their old truck their old '62 Chevy and they're driving they have a bench seat and she looks over and he's driving and she looks over and sees the big space in between them on the bench seat and she goes, "I remember when that space that I would always be right next to you and you'd be holding me and this and that." And he just looks over at her and says, "well, I haven't moved."

And a lot of times maybe you were close to Jesus years ago, maybe you haven't been. But Jesus is never the one who moves. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. Return to your first love, scoot back over on the seat, get nearer to Christ instead of nearer to the things of the world. So draw near to God, He will draw near to you. Four says: "cleanse your hands, you sinners." Remember he's talking to Christians. Look, Jesus had come and He wanted to wash the apostles' feet, you'll remember that, and Peter said, "don't, You can't wash my feet, Lord."

And it's like "well if I don't wash your feet, then you have nothing to do with Me." And, "well wash the rest of my body, wash my head, everything." He said, "no, no, the word I've spoken to you, you've basically been washed." And so sometimes we still need to get our hands cleaned, so cleanse your hands, confess your sins. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So cleanse your hands, confess any sins, repent, turn away from them, stop doing them. And it goes number five: "purify your hearts, you double-minded."

Purify there is that thought again of that dross clearing off the dross. Get away from the things of the world. Turn off the phones, turn off the iPads, turn off the televisions, close the books that are not Christian and start just loving Jesus more and more. Spend more time with Him and love on Him and stop being double-minded. Oh, I love being with Jesus but I also love these reels, they're so funny. Number six: he says in verse 9, "lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom."

Look, it's okay to weep over our sins even now as Christians. A lot of people say we don't even sin as Christians, that's not true. But mourn and weep, allow yourself to feel that love for Christ and that you've grieved Him and turn away from those sins. And lastly, number seven, he says, "humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up." Look, this is all in James chapter 4. If you forget, you're driving around, you're hearing these things, look in James chapter 4. These are the things that we do to escape that if we've allowed worldliness to creep into our lives and we feel bound, but yet not by the Holy Spirit of God.

We're nervous to share the gospel or I'm really grumpy with the people around me or I'm always fearful. All these things still show that we have some grave clothes on and they're not part of the resurrection of Christ. So if I can encourage you as we're coming to a close this morning: I pray that the Lord blesses you, I pray that His word is just more clear than ever and that you take steps of faith in His word. And that as we look to His death and His resurrection, remember that as we're baptized, it represents that our baptism that's already happened into Christ by His Holy Spirit.

It represents that we as we go down into the water that we have now died in Christ and as we rise from the water that we've now been made alive in Him. We've been resurrected. And I pray that you might know as Paul says, may know Him and the power of His resurrection. I love what he goes on to say. This is what I'm closing with: "not that I've already attained or I'm already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ has also laid hold of me."

May you this Easter season, may you this time of year, be reminded of who you are, reminded of who Christ is and may you press on, lay hold for that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of you. Lord bless you, Happy Resurrection Day, Happy Easter, and I just pray you have a wonderful spirit-filled week walking in Him. God bless.

Guest (Male): This has been Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today we brought you Pastor Bill's weekend prophecy update. It's our sincere hope and prayer that you've been blessed by the words you heard from Pastor Bill today. If you'd like to hear today's message again, go to oneplace.com and search for Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry. We also have a large number of Pastor Bill's Sunday and Wednesday messages archived at simplefaith.org. That's our website. Just go there and click the media tab and you'll find a huge archive of Pastor Bill's past messages.

And if you'd like to contact us, just click the contact tab at our website, again at simplefaith.org. And there's a tab at the top of the homepage where you can also send in a prayer request. And if you'd like to call us, our phone number is area code 833-BY-GRACE. That's 833-294-7223. And if you'd like to write us, we love hearing from you that way as well. Our mailing address is Post Office Box 55, Battle Ground, Washington 98604. Here at Simple Faith Calvary Chapel, we have three services on Sunday morning at 8:00, 9:45, and 11:30. We also have a great time of studying God's word on Wednesday night at 7:00. For more information and directions, go to simplefaith.org. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks for joining us today, be sure to join us next time here on Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry, brought to you by Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington.