Who Should We Be Watching?

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone. It is Tuesday, July the second, twenty twenty four. It is currently two forty five pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, it was January the fourteenth, January the fourteenth, nineteen eighty four. January the fourteenth, nineteen eighty four. Right, do you remember that some of you weren't alive? That's okay. January fourteenth, nineteen eighty four. I was sitting in my bedroom, Buffalo Gap, Texas. I was sitting in front of all of my stereo equipment, and I was listening to the top forty pop radio station. Now, nineteen eighty four. You gotta know who was the king of pop at that time, right, Michael Jackson was ruling the world in nineteen eighty four. Okay, So Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson nineteen eighty four, Okay, all right.

1:22 And so all of a sudden, the DJ said, hey, we have a new song and Michael Jackson is on it. And I was like, WHOA a new song? Wait? When did Michael put out a new song? Now the song is not by Michael Jackson, but Michael Jackson is on the track, and I'm like, okay. Now, there was no one in the room to talk to, but I basically was like okay. No one interrupted, this is going to be life changing. January fourteenth, nineteen eighty four. I cannot tell you the exact time, but I'll never forget when the song started because the lyrics went something like this, Who's watching? Tell me? Who's watching? Who's watching me? I'm just an average man with the average life. I work from nine to five. Hey, I won't say the next word. I pay the price. All I want to do. All I want is to be left alone and my average home.

2:15 But why do I always feel like I'm in the twilight zone? I always feel like somebody's watching me, and I have no privacy. I always feel I always feel like somebody's watching me. Tell me? Is it just a dream? When I come home at night, I bolt the door real tight. People call me on the phone. I'm trying to avoid but I can. But can the people on TV see me? Or am I just being paranoid? When I'm in the shower and I'm afraid to wash my hair because I might open my eyes and find someone standing there. People say I'm crazy, just a little touch, but maybe showers remind me of Psycho just too much. That's why always feel like somebody's watching me. Oh come on, I know some of you. You don't remember it. You're you're way too young. I mean you should. You may not remember it, I mean you should know it. I mean you don't have to be born at a time to know. I mean, we know who Beethoven is, we know who Mozart is, we know who the Beatles are. You don't have to be born and know a song because you have access to every song that's ever been made on any streaming service. So you should know it. But okay, but even if you don't. All I cared about now At first I tuned in because Michael Jackson's on. He does the backing, he does the background vocals, so I just oh, there's Michael. Oh, there's Michael. Oh there's Michael. Oh there's Michael. That's all I cared about it first. But then I was like, I like this song. I like, okay, this is kind of clever. Okay, this is kind of funny, somebody's watching me. Am I paranoid? Am I just a

3:45 little touched? Maybe showers remind me of Psycho? Just too much? Okay, I remember, I'm like and then next thing you know, you know, everybody's walking around singing song. And then of course you run to MTV. You want to see the video. You gotta see the video. I loved that song. So watching me by Rockwell, if you don't know the original artist rockwell, okay, that's who it was by. Of course everyone just knows Michael Jackson was on the song. But that's the song. Now, why am I talking about January the fourteenth, nineteen eighty four and me listening to a song you probably don't care about music or you probably think is horrible and ungodly. I understand you don't talk to Christians about music, but I had to use that opening illustration because that's all I can think about because just a little while ago, I was listening to a webcast. Now, remember we're all supposed to be listening and watching the live webcast on the Sermon's two point o app. That's the challenge, right, that's the challenge for the next two weeks, is you're supposed to be watching the live webcast.

4:42 I know there's plenty of them going on right now that we're supposed to be watching, but that's what you're supposed to be doing, just choosing random ones. So I chose a random one. And at first it was really I was maddening. I was just sitting here in my chair just rocking back and forth because it was just silence. That the way the camera angle was, it just showed this huge Bible and then someone we kind of walk up there, take a drink of water, walk away, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Finally the service began, and you know, all I can say it was very formal, ver very formal, Okay, very just very not a lot of how can we say? It was very understated, very somber, some may say, very reverent. Right. They sang Psalm forty six, They did a scripture reading. The scripture was First Corinthians, chapter sixteen. They read the entire chapter. Then they prayed. And this is probably no exaggeration the pastor his prayer, and I don't think I'm trying to be fair here. It felt like it was twenty minutes long. It was like a twenty minute long prayer and it felt like a sermon, Like I was thinking, as I'm listening to this prayer, should I have my head bout or should I be taking notes? Because I mean, he talked about election and predestination and effectual calling and regeneration, and it just went on and on and on and on. I think he covered every major I think he covered everything from Genesis to Revelation. It was the longest prayer and the history

6:14 of recorded prayers. Okay, so it's like okay, good, good, right, good, all right. Then finally the sermon began on First Corinthian sixteen, and it became it became obvious really really quick that even though he read the whole chapter, he wasn't going to actually expound or exegete the chapter. He was going to focus primarily on one verse. And I'm like, okay, okay. And in fact, as soon as soon as anytime I hear a sermon and the pastor says turned first Corinthian sixteen, it's almost inevitably they're either going to talk about money giving, right, because that's the first part of First Corinthian sixteen if you look at it, First Corinthian sixteen, Verse one. Now concerning the collection for the saints. I have given an order to the churches of Gala. Even so do ye again. It tells you how the collection of the saints, how the giving should be done in the church. All right, So it's either going to be that, and if it's not that, it's inevitable it's going to be. First Corinthians, Chapter sixteen, verse thirteen, where we read this word watch somebody's watching me, okay, watch now. At that point I wasn't really thinking about the Rockwell song, all right. But he read watch ye stand fast and the faith quit you quit, you like men, be strong, Let all your things be done with charity. But he focused primarily on verse thirteen, watch ye stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong,

7:46 all right, or as it reads in this translation, watch stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong, Let all that you do be done with love. I think he was reading from the King James. He was reading from the King James. But so there's two translations, so I didn't really give much thought about it. The watch there didn't really jump out at me at that point, so then he kind of basically before he really started expounding or executing. First Corinthia sixteen thirteen. He went back through kind of an overview of First Corinthians, which is I thought was really good. Right. He went through kind of the overview, but then he got to First Corinthian sixteenth sixteen thirteen, and in some ways it felt like he kind of forgot everything that came before, because immediately he said, watchy. Now here's the question and One Corinthians sixteen thirteen. This is the if we were in a harmoneutics class, this is what I would do. I would walk in and all right. Class today is First Corinthians, chapter sixteen, verse thirteen. Day. I hope you do well. Good. Portion of your semester grade is going to be determined on how well you can interpret this verse.

8:56 But we're not going to even have you work on the entire verse. We're gonna just have you work on the first two words, watch ye. That's all we're gonna focus on. Watch ye. And here's the question, what should you be watching? For? What should you be watching? So immediately when I started thinking this out, as I'm listening, writing out my own hypotheses, I'm like, you know, who should I be watching? Somebody's Oh wait, okay, oh the Rockwell song January the fourteenth, nineteen eighty four. Then immediately, because I relate everything to music. Okay, so then I started thinking about the song. But really I want you to think about and that's the question. That's the interpretive hermenudic class question of the day. All right, whoever gets this right, you'll be val victorian.

9:41 Whoever gets this wrong, you get kicked out a seminary. Okay, are you ready? You've got to get this right. Who are you to be watching for? Who are you to be watching for? A First Corinthian sixteen thirteen. Now in the webcast, he turned it into watch for Satan. Satan is out to get you, watch for his schemes, watch for his devices. And I think most I think if you preach that in most churches, they'd be like, amen, we need to be watching for Satan. But I'm going to challenge that, and I'm going to argue that in the context of First Corinthians sixteen thirteen, that's not telling you to watch for Satan.

10:22 So you can either go, Now, what some people may say, watch for Satan. You may agree that of the things I'm about to tell us we need to watch for, or you may say watch for both but I just think in the context here, I don't know if Satan is really the focus here, all right, And so I just started doing a little bit of research. The first thing I wanted to know is, well, is Satan mentioned in First Corinthians. Well, I know the only place, and I could be wrong. I believe he's mentioned in First Corinthians chapter five, verse five. But when First Corinthians five to five, Paul is not telling them to watch out for Satan or Satan is out to get you, no, actual look what they're telling them to do in First Corinthians chapter five.

11:03 This is pretty fascinating. And First Corinthians chapter five, we know we have some sexual sin going on in the church, right it is actually this is First Corinthians chapter five, verse five of First Corinthia chapter five, verse one. In the New King James, it is actually reported that there is sexual and morality among you and such sexually and morality has not even named among the gentiles. Hey, there's you've got some sexual sin going on in your church. Even the gentiles don't even talk about this. You guys are taking it to a whole new level. Now, Please note this is happening inside the church, inside the church. Inside the church, I know, we always like to think the church is the bastion of family values and the church is the fortress of sexual morality. The church is just as messed up as everything else, because we are, say, by an imputed righteousness, meaning we are declared to be righteous, but in practice we're still sinners. Okay, well, we can get a whole discussion there. But there's some something going on. So what is going on in the church That a man has his father's wife. So there's a son having relations with his father's wife.

12:13 Okay, something's going on here. This is an issue, all right. So and you were puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who have done this deed might be taken away from among you. The people in the church are kind of like, well, you know, so what, We're not gonna do anything about it. We're just gonna We're just not gonna do anything about it. So what does Paul tell them to do? Here we go for indeed, as this is verse three. For indeed, as absent in the body, but present and the spirit, have I already judged, as though I were present him who has done this deed. And the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you are gathered together along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. This is church discipline. Hey, this is going on. You guys don't seem to care. So I'm gonna tell you what to do. When you come together, you turn this person over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. This is not be on the lookout for Satan. Satan is out to get you. This is not even. This is not even. Satan is the cause of this. There's no blame of Satan. There is no warning about Satan. This is like, no, give the man to Satan so Satan can destroy his flesh.

13:24 Right. I mean, that's why church discipline is the most frightening, horrifying, scary concepts like I should scare people to It's why you used to. It should be like the last last, last, last, last, last, last, last, last last last last beg please please No, I've got to avoid church discipline at all costs because you're basically taking a person saying, here you go, Satan, kill them, destroy their flesh. Now you're doing so in order that the person then will be broken and repent of the particular sin. But it's a frightening concept. But so right there, I know, and First Corinthians Satan is not seen as the cause or the concern or the enemy. Really, it's not really focused on that much.

14:09 So in light of One Corinthians sixteen thirteen, who should we be watching for? Should we be watching satan? I don't think First Corinthian sixteen tells me watch for Satan. So let's let's back up and let's do a little work here. So I while I was listening to this webcast, I started doing some work, right I think. And now you can correct me if you think I have anything wrong here, But I believe I'm pretty accurate and the church, and the only reason I feel somewhat I feel somewhat confident about my approach here is I did spend four years going verse by verse through the Book of First Corinthians, and I've taught every single verse of the book. I spent four years in the Book of First Corinthians. So I think I'm I think I'm pretty good taking who knows how many seminary and Bible college classes on it. So I feel like I have a basic grasp of it. I could be wrong on my approach to One Corinthians sixteen thirteen, but I think I feel pretty confident with what I'm about to say. The church in corinth Now, remember this is the way I always describe it. When I was preaching the First Corinthians for four years, every single service Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, when in some cases we were using four services a week to teach First Corinthians, I stated it every single time. First Corinthians is a letter written to a church that was located in the city. The city was influencing the church more than the church was influencing the city. I said that over and over, and people got I mean just every I mean I could walk into my church now and just start saying that, and everyone's going to finish it. They may not know anything else, but they know

15:41 that, all right. And in that church, that church faced various issues and challenges that were causing division and morality and confusion among the believers. These problems included division based on loyalty to different leaders, sexual morality within the church, lawsuits among believers, misuse of spiritual gifts, and proper conduct during the Lord's Supper, and some serious questions about marriage. And while we can get into a whole discussion about that food sacrifice to idols and other and questions and doubts about the resurrection, all of that was going on. In fact, I put an outline. I could break this down for you, but I can just go through quickly through probably about maybe six major issues. There were divisions and factions in the church First Corinthians chapter one, ten through seventeen something along those lines, divisions and factions in the church. There was clearly sexual in morality, as we've seen in First Corinthians chapter five. We can go say versus one, verse eleven, twelve something along those lines. There were lawsuits among believers that were suing one another. I think that's not like First Corinthians six, one to ten, one to nine, one to eleven.

16:56 Somewhere along those lines. Then there was clearly some serious issues about spiritual gifts, and I think that kind of covers on Corinthians twelve through fourteen. And I know I put the Love chapter there, but I think the Love chapter is instrumental in trying to fix their misuse of spiritual gifts because you should be caring about other people more than flaunting your own gift. Okay, we could get into the whole discussion there and proper conduct during the Lord's Supper. Okay, I think that's that First Corinthians eleven. I mean they had some serious people were dying and getting sick with the how they were approaching the Lord's table. It's one of those things that I don't think anyone takes. I look the way most churches serve the Lord's Supper. I'm like, I don't think anybody here takes this seriously, because if you really believe people were getting sick and dying, I would think there would be some serious cause of concern for how you approach the Lord's table. I think there would be like you would fence the table. You would not have close communion or open community. You would have closed communion. Nobody unless they were a member of the church you'd even be near the table. Okay, I mean we could have long discussion there, right, I mean, if people are going to die, you hand it out. Hey, we're gonna hand out the Lord's supper. I mean you may die, but hey, thanks for visiting our church. Now, drink the Lord's here's the cup and the bread. If you die, don't blame us, I mean, like, okay, no, all right.

18:12 Then there's questions about marriage, food sacrifice, the idols, and the resurrection. And you have this in chapter seven eight and fifteen is the resurrection chapter. So you have all of that. Then chapter sixteen you have questions about giving. Now you could argue whether there was a problem there. So those are the main problems. Divisions, sexual morality, lawsuits, misuse of spiritual gifts, and proper conduct at the Lord's table. And then all kinds of issues pertaining the marriage, food sacrifice, them, the idols, and the questions about the resurrection. And then we could talk about chapter sixteen giving. Those were the issues. Those were the issues. Now now I'm taking this from a different this is not me. In order to understand the exhortation in First Corinthians sixteen thirteen, we have to consider the entire epistle. It is helpful to consider the overarching themes and messages conveyed throughout the letter. How can we interpret the exhortation in light of the context of the entire epistol?

19:26 How can we interpret it? So my thing is, if you're gonna say, who are we to be watching for? He went into Satan, Satan, Satan. Now I'm not gonna say that's all he focused on, but I felt like that it really started turning into that, and I was sitting here going, I just don't get the Satan part. Where is he getting Satan from? How did Satan show up here? I think the issue is what the what he is exhorting them. If I can speak correctly what he's exhorting them to do, I mean, I can spit it out. Just be patient with me. He's exhorting them to be watching I think something specific that would be related to everything that's wrong in the Church of corinth. Now, see, some people say it's Satan is the fault, Satan is the problem. Satan is the problem, and I look Satan. We talked about Satan last Sunday. Okay, we talked about him, and I went through a lot of the issues and subjects, and we can get into a big talk about Satan. But I think in fir Corinthian sixteen, I don't think you're being told to watch out for Satan. Satan. I don't think is ever blamed for most of it throughout the epistle, Paul addresses various issues within the Corinthian Church, such as division and morality doctrinal errors. By exhorting the Corinthians to be on guard or to watch, he underscores the importance of spiritual

20:56 vigilance and the face of those challenges the Corinthians are called to be alert to. Well, I think the issues in the church. Now, I've got a lot more notes here, but let's I'm going to say that the hypothesis that the exhortation in First Corinthian sixteen thirteen is about Satan, I'm going to say that that exhortation does not stand. I don't think it is supported by the textual evidence of the chapter. In fact, even in the message I was listening to, he had to go to Ephesians and then bring Ephesians over to First Corinthians. I know, you stay in the original context first and foremost. If you're going to go do cross referencing, the cross reference has to have some link and be related in some way, shape or form, typically right, typically, I think. So, So here's what I'm going to say. I'm going to put forth the hypotheses that Watchee just start with.

21:59 Watchie is that he is telling them to watch them. Somebody's watching me. Yeah, you, we have to watch ourselves. The church loves to watch the world, and we've got to be. Oh, everyone, we need to be on the lookout for the world. Watch what the world is doing. Watch what's going on in the culture. We got to fight the culture. We got to be on the lookout. We got to be on guard to that. You better be on guard. Not to the people outside the church. You better be on guard to the person sitting in your pew. You you the problem. I'm the problem. Somebody better be watching me.

22:40 And it's me that has to be watching me, because I know me better than the person sitting next to me. I know me better than you listening to me, because I know what's going on inside of me. Oh. I can put on a good facade, but I know I need to be watching me. The way one source breaks this down, beyond your guard, stand firm and the faith. Be creageous, be strong, beyond guard, be alert. Paul urges the Corinthians to be watchful and alert, to be aware of potential dangerous temptations and spiritual attacks. The admonition highlights the importance of vigilance and discern it in the Christian walk. Now, the only problem I have with that source it completely ignores the context. No, he's saying, hey and light of Look, he's giving you sixteen chapters of a church.

23:33 He's writing the people. You guys have failed failed, failed, fail fail fail. Like if I was grading for the church at corinth I'd be like, guys, look, I'm not even gonna bother giving you an F because I'd have to apologize to all the f's ever given to anybody else. You guys are so your score is so low there's no way to score it. You're the biggest your churches. Your church makes the s of course look godly, and they're a pagan city. You make the pagans look more godly than the godly. Okay, Like it would be like, you guys are a mess. You need to be watching you. You've got all of this failure. You've got to stop. You gotta worry about you. You've got to watch yourself. Now, I'm gonna look up First Corinthians sixteen thirteen.

24:25 I didn't even think about doing this, But remember I'm reacting to all of this in very real time, very real time, I'm gonna go first Corinthians sixteen thirteen. First thing I'm gonna do is look at how this is translated in like every English translation. Be on your guard, be on your guard, beyond guard, be watchful, be on the alert. What are you guarding? What are you watching? What are you in the alert for? You're an alert and watch yourself. The church has been a total mess. Guys. You gotta watch yourself. You gotta see how all of these issues I've addressed, whether it's sexual and morality, whether it's people dying at the Lord's table, I mean, maybe you should care a little bit about people dropping dead. Maybe maybe you needed to be watching your own pride and arrogance when it comes to spiritual gifts. Maybe you need to stop suing one another, Like all these things, you need to be watching you. You need to be on guard for you. You need to be on the alert of you. The church constantly. You listen to Christian radio, listen to Christian podcast. Oh the world this, Oh they did this on Netflix, they did this in this show, And we got to be watching this, and we gotta be guarding this, and we gotta be banning this, and we gotta be censoring this, and we gotta be on the look out for this, and we gotta be on the lookout for that. Oh, social media is destroying us. This everything is something else. How about we just look at the problem that we have. We're the problem. I'm the problem.

25:49 Hello, it's me, I'm the problem. Okay. Now, in quoting Taylor Swist, Okay, you get the idea. We're the issue. We got to be watching us. Now, if I go to the actual Greek here, I'm going to go to the uh. I'm going to go to the intilinear watchee as it is in the King James. Watchee. Is this Greek word? Here's watchee. Oh, this one should be fun to say. Here's this Greek word. Strong's g eleven twenty seven, Gregreo, Gregareo, greg Garreo. Okay, it is issues twenty three times, it's twenty one times. Watch one time, wake, be vigilant one time. Strong's definition to keep awake, watch, be vigilant, wake, to watch is the outline of biblical usage to give strict attention, to to be cautious, to take key. Let's through remission and some destructive calamity would could possibly overtake you. You got to be paying attention. Why do you have to be paying attention? Because we have a sinful nature. Look what I know.

27:03 We always want to worry about everything outside of us. The greatest danger lives inside of you. The greatest threat is inside of you. What pastors should do They should hand out mirrors. There should be a mirror, and every pew there should be a mirror. And then the pastor every Sunday should come up and go, ladies and gentlemen, I have on good authority identified what is the greatest threat to your spiritual life? And everybody like what, pick up the mirror, look at the mirror. You, not the person sitting next to you, not the men. Stop blaming the women. Women, Stop blaming the men. Everyone. It's you kids. Stop blaming your parents parents, Stop blaming your kids. Stop blaming your circumstances. It's you worthy issue. Watch ye yourself. If somebody's watching you, and it should be you watching you. You have to be, in a sense, your own best accountability partner. You know why you can be your own best accountability partner because you know when you're playing games, Come on, you know when you're like, oh, I so want to stop doing this, but I'm going to do it soon. Oh, come on, we all know. I don't think this is about saying. I think it's about us. Now, there's the watch, be alert, be guard, beyond guard, pay attention.

28:34 You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you. That's what we have to be on the lookout for. Now. It says watche stand fast, stand fast. This translation has it watch says stand fast, stand fast. The this translation has or I'm gonna go to the Greek here stand fast. Is this Greek word strongs gnine stayko, stayko steakko. Now this is kind of the way. Now, he did a good job in the webcast pointing this out. Now he he put it.

29:21 He focused on Satan. But what I did appreciate is he kind of said that there's a progressive order here. And I do like that. First, you're on a lookout, you're on the alert, you're on guard. Right, you're on guard, you're standing post, right, standing post. When when I was in the United States Military, I was put on a team called the Dirty Dozen. Right, we were given a test and guess what our reward was for acing? And you had to ace the test. Guess what the reward was for acing the test? You got put on guard duty overnight. Yay, yay, I'm so glad I passed that. If I would have known what the test was gonna give me, I would to flunk the thing fifty times over. But okay, I got so. There you are two in the morning, guarding a door to the dormitor. Everyone else in there is asleep, and you're there guarding a door. Just oh, I mean, all you're doing is just standing there. You're just watching the door. And if anyone comes to the door, you have to assure that they have proper identification, a proper authority to enter the room. If they don't, you have to turn them away. No matter who they are, they don't have proper identification, you turn them away if they yell, scream threat and you but you are to stand guard. You are to be alert.

30:40 Now, if someone came to the door and saw you and you're in there sleeping, you're in trouble. I'll never forget Desert Storm. I get sent well, I didn't know where I was going. The plane breaks down over New York City. Then we get taken off the plane because a terrorist threat a terrorist threat. The whole thing's crazy. We end up back on the plane. We don't know where we're going. Next thing, you know, they're like, hey, we're about to approach our landing and I look out the window. I'm like, wait a minute, there's no sand, there's no desert or not or nowhere near a rock or nowhere near Kuwait where are we? And it's like we land in Germany. I'm like, ooh, this is pretty cool, right. So we end up in Germany at a place called Swabrooke, and now we are there to set up a turnkey facility. That means everything is ready in the building. All we got to go in turn the key, pull everything out, and we're now ready to go to set up a medical facility so those who are wounded or seriously injured and the front lines can be then airlifted to us and then we can provide you know, surgery or whatever else is needed. Okay, so we get it all ready, We're good to go. But here's the thing. The hospital was downtown Swabrook and the military base was I don't know, ten fifteen, twenty miles from where it is, so we had to take city buses they said city buses to pick us up and drive us to the hospital.

31:55 Right, So we have a shift at the hospital. We get on the bus and we drive back to the military installation, the Air force base. The bus pulls up and the bus driver's just sitting there. It's I don't know, it's like midnight, one in the morning. I don't even know what time it is. And we're just sitting there, sitting there, sitting there, sitting there, sitting there, sitting there, sitting there, and the bus driver is picking up his radio and he's calling other people and he's laughing, and he's saying something in German, and we're like, what is going on. All of a sudden, one of the sergeants look out, and we're like, you've got to be kidding me. We're in the middle of a war, heightened heightened security alerts for all military installations of the possibility of terrorist attacks. And guess what the guards were doing. They were sound asleep the military installation. Anybody could have just driven right on to the militaries.

32:54 They were gone, they were out. And now here's the civilian bus driver laughing at the situation. So he gets the sergeant gets out. He walks up to them, walks all the way into the guard check they're just completely asleep, and he goes bang and then they jump up and he's like, you're dead and your career is over. Now. I don't know what happened to him, but obviously they were in serious, serious trouble because they were asleep at the guard at the gate. They were asleep at their post. They in a sense, had abandoned their posts. Well, we are sometimes asleep to the danger of us. We got to be looking for us. We got to be in a sense, we need to take a test to see how good we are at watching us. How good at you are watching here? Are you an alert? Are you guarding yourself? Well?

33:42 So, in a sense, we have to be on the lookout. So you think about we're guarding. So let's take the first part. Watche we're looking, we're watching. Oh, I see the threat, I see the problem. Now what we're watching is us, And I see the issue inside of me. I see a desire, a feeling, a thinking. I see I see issues inside of me. So I gotta watch. I gotta watch. And what do I do after I watch? What do I do after I watch? And I and I and I see what do I do? I do this strongs g stayko I stay o steako, stayko I watch and then I stayko i stako. Okay, what does that mean? It means to It is to be stationary. It is to preserve. It is to stand fast the outline of biblical usage to stand firm, to persevere, or to preserve, to persist, to keep one standing. I'm to be stationary, I'm to be I am to stay right there, not move.

34:44 But what am I standing like? So what what a lot of people think you'll do? Oh? This means I'm going to stand against it. Now. Look, look, I think it's fascinating the way the text is read or the way the text is written. Watch stand fast in the faith. Stand fast in the faith. I find that fascinating. Now one source put it this way, if I can go back to my nose, stand firm in the faith. The call to stand firm and the Faith emphasizes the need for unwavering commitment to the core tenets of Christianity. Believers are encouraged to hold faster their beliefs, to remain steadfast in the truth of the Gospel despite challenges or opposition. What I think is when you are watching and you're looking for yourself, you see your depravity, your weakness, You see your doubt, you see your fear, your confusion, your anxiety, you see all of the dirt right like you know, you're watching and you know what's in the behind the closet door. You know what's there, and you see stuff that makes you think, what is wrong with me? Why am I so depraved?

35:46 Why am I such a sinner? Why do I want to do this? Why do I desire this? Why do I not care about anybody else? Why do I only care about So? You know what, You've got to stand firm in your faith in Jesus Christ, standing firm in the faith of his imputed righteousness. You're standing firm in the faith of his work and his obedience. You watch and you see, and you stand firm in the faith of Christ. Everything thinks it's like stand firm against these things. I think it's staying firm in your faith. Now I do agree, it's standing firm in the basic tenets of Christianity. But most important, you're standing firm in your faith that we live by faith, that just lives by faith.

36:27 And what does that mean? I live my life based off my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ and his imputed righteousness. Because when I'm watching and I'm on guard and now I'm on alert, i am gonna see the constant issues inside of me. And I may want to throw my hands up in despair and say that's it. I give up. I'm a complete dumpster fire. I'm trash, I am I'm a loser. I'm pathetic, I am weak, I am depraved, I am disgusting, I am vile. I don't even does serve to breathe. And you know what, there's a probably from a theilological standpoint, when you compare yourself to the holiness of God. Oh of that is true. But I'm gonna stand firm in my faith.

37:07 I'm not going to crumble because of my depravity. I'm gonna stand firm and faith, knowing my only hope is not on me trying to be a better person. But it's about me. Guess what, standing firm in my faith? But then what's next? Watch stand fast in the faith, be brave, quiet quite you like men, I think is the way the King James puts it. Be be courageous, all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna go to the Greek here. I'm gonna go to the Greek here. Okay, they're wanting, uh, they want a donation here. I don't want to give you a donation. What I need is to get back to the text or here we go. All right, So watch you stand fast and faith, Quit you quiet, Quit you like man. I keep saying it the wrong way. I apologize because I've got multiple translations. Here, quit you like men? Is this is a the of a Greek word strong's g four O seven, andrids am I anddrids of I ondrids of I. All right, this is used one time, all right, Quit you like men?

38:14 Choose one time? All right. It means to uh to act manly, quit like men, to be a man, be manly, to make a man of or make brave, to show oneself a man, be brave. I think the idea. I like the idea the way it's translated to the new King James, be brave, bravery. You need to be brave. You need to be courageous. Now why well, you're you're looking out and you're like, oh man, oh man, oh man, I'm a sinner. I got this problem. There you're you're watching yourself and then guess what. You stand firm in your faith and guess what you need. You need to be brave and courageous in light of your depravity and you and that bravery comes from the fact that you stand in the puted righteousness of Christ, which gives you the strength to say, you know what, I should probably walk away and embarrassment because I'm a hypocrite, but I'm gonna stand firm and I'm gonna be courageous because I stand firm in the faith of what Christ did for me. My notes, I put it this way, Paul's encourages the Corinthians to exhibit courage and the face of adversity and face of your own failure and face of you. I think what he's seeing to do, be strong or be brave here, be brave in the face of your own failure, in your own look. Guess what you after Paul lays out all of your failures. You know what I would think about doing. I would think about, like, you know what, maybe just call it a day. This

39:45 church thing, this Christianity thing, is really not working out for me because I keep sinning and I keep failing. No, no, no, no, no, Stand firm in your faith and then be be brave to stand there. You know why, it's going to be hard to be brave, because everyone's going to be like hypocrite, sinner, loser, never do what you're supposed to do. You fall short continually. You're a loser. You're pathetic. Accusation after accusation, you know what, And sometimes all you can say is, you're absolutely right. I have no business calling myself a Christian, but you know what, I'm a Christian not because of what I do, but because of what Christ did. It takes a little bit of bravery to continue to stand there when everything around you everyone should say, just give it up. You're not even being remotely You're everyone in the Church of Court should just kind of walk away. Go. You know what, well, let's just close this church down and call it a day because we are losers.

40:42 No, stand firm and your faith and be brave, and the face of that failure and the face of your weakness, and the face of your shame and the face of your sin, be courageous. It's boldness, it's fearlessness because of because you're standing firm in your faith. So watch what do you want what are we watching? Who are we watching? We're watching ourselves. We stand fast in the faith. Why do we have to stand fast in the faith? Because I don't know, Watch yourself and report that back to me. You're gonna you're gonna see some really disturbing things. You're gonna need to stand fast in your faith. And guess what, You're gonna have to be brave because as you're standing fast in your faith, you're going to be confronted with your own failure, in your own hypocrisy. And if you and look, I don't know how old your kids are now, just wait till they get a little bit older. They'll point out all of your hypocrisy or the propriority, telling your their Sunday school teacher about how messed up you Mom and dad are all right right? Be brave? Next, be strong, Be strong. The King James has it as watch ye stand fast in the faith? Quit you like man, be strong? That idea, be brave. Now be strong. The command is to be strong, and justcourse, the idea of drawing that you're drawing strength. But I think the idea where do we standing strong in? I think we're standing strong in the context.

42:00 Everyone will kind of go other directions. So I'm gonna not rely on any other resources here. I think we are being strong in our faith. We're being strong in our position in God. Look, I'm not gonna be strong in my ability to do better. Look, I mean think about it from a political from a logical standpoint, Why would Paul even give them this exhortation. They've demonstrated in sixteen chapters they can't do anything right, So now they're going to go ahead and do things right. No, I think what he's saying, Hey, guys, based off all your weakness and failure, you need to watch yourself and then you need to stand firm in your faith and then be brave in your faith and be strong in your faith. Be strong in the fact that I am in Christ, and in Christ, not practically but positionally, I'm a new creature. The old is gone. Everything is new. I am perfect and holy. Be strong in that. If you're going to be strong in your efforts, are going to be strong in your attempts to do the right thing, You're gonna just realize you're not that strong. Look, as long as you have a sinful nature, whatever strength you pretend to have, it's only it's only it's only a pretend strength, because internally you are a depraved sinner and it's there, whether you can maskt or not. So watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong, and let all that you do be done with love. Everything

43:31 you do, do it with love. You know why you should be able to do everything you do with love, because the only reason that you can stand firm in your faith is because not because you love God, but because He first loves you. He sent his son to die for you, and in Christ he is giving you. He is accredited to your account perfect a righteousness. So you can stand firm in that, and then you can be brave, and you can be strong because of what you are in Christ, not because of what you are in practice. You watch to see how the stuff you are you're strong, and you you stand firm in your faith, then you are brave and you're strong. And then we should do everything out of love because of the love we have received. That I think is a better approach to First Corinthian sixteen thirteen. And I don't think it's about me watching Satan. I think it's about me watching me. I didn't even get to all my notes. In fact, ignored ninety percent of my notes.

44:34 All right, there we go. I don't think I I think the only thing I may have messed up is quit. You like man? Quiet? Quit you like man? Right? Yeah, I think that's the only thing I may have messed up. Right. If I messed that up, I apologize, all right. I think everything else I got halfway decent. Probably messed up some of those Greek words pretty good. See, you know what, I'm watching myself and gives what I'm seeing. I'm seeing my mess ups, I'm seeing my failures. Now this is in podcasting, but in my normal life. Guess what. And when I watched myself, I said, oh, kN I messed up here, and I messed up here, and oh I had this bad thought and wooh I had this and do this and I had lust, and I had this and I had creed, and I had this, and I had this, and I had hatred, had bitterness and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this. Oh man, I'm a man.

45:22 I'm going to stand firm in my faith. My faith is in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and He's imputed his perfect righteousness to me. Now in the light of that truth, I am going to be brave. I'm going to be brave and even though people may accuse me and falsely accuse, not even falsely accused me, correctly accuse me and say all kinds of horrible things about me, it may be all true, but I'm going to be brave in the face of that because of what I am in Christ Jesus, and I'm going to be strong in that positional standing. And I'm going to try to then respond and do everything I do out of love. And I think that interpretation day is true to the text, and I don't have to go import something in there. Now. You could argue, well, how does that fit with Satan if you want to bring Satan into it. I just think the context there tells us exactly what's going on personally. I think it does. But you can give me your thoughts. Now. That is all based off the live webcast that was ending as I went live. That's what I was like. Now he said some other things there that were just in this crazy stuff, like you're not showing reverence to God if you're like, I don't know, leading singing or preaching and you put your hand in your pocket. That and if you get ready to tell people it's time to pray and you're smiling, that is somehow not showing reverence to God. That was the most insane thing. The thing I'm going to find the audio clip from is he referred to ordinances as a means of grace, which is insane because that's sacramental language, not the language of a church that believes in ordinances

46:57 versus sacrament. So we're going to definitely do some work on that. All right, there we go. That's my adventure and live webcasting on the two point oh app today. I don't know how your day is going. Now go listen to some random live webcasts on the Sermon's two point oh app. That's remember for the next two weeks. That's your challenge. Just whatever's on the live webcast. It look, you don't get to choose whatever is there. That's what you get. Now. If there's multiple ones, just try to pick a random one. Don't try to look and see you oh oh I know this church. No no, no no, just try to just close your eyes and pick one. Like Wednesday night, they'll probably be a five six hundred. Just choose a random one, all right, take good notes, summarize it. He focused on first Crientia sixteen thirteen, telling us basically to watch for Satan. I'm saying first Criuentia sixteen thirteen is about us watching us. Somebody's watching me, probably should be me. Thanks for listening, everyone, Have a great day. God bless