Stop Bragging - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

That's a statement. He doesn't share his glory. He's jealous of his glory. You see, and whenever we brag, we embezzle his glory. Instead of saying what the Lord has done in your life, you tell people what you've done.

We can't do that. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. I mean, I've heard people brag. I've even heard some of you brag. And it's a lot more obvious to me than this. All this guy said is, hey, tomorrow the next day I'm going to go to another place and I'm going to be there a year and I'm going to do business. I'm going to make some money. Does that sound like bragging to you?

See, it's interesting. Bragging always assumes things. And there are some assumptions going on here. He says, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

You know, you're just a vapor that appears for a little while and then you vanish away. None of us have promised tomorrow. Certainly not next year. You see, you're presuming things. When you brag, you always presume things.

And he said, I'm going to do this. Notice he then says, instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. I can't presume anything with the Lord. My life, my direction, my success belongs to the Lord. It doesn't belong to me. But whenever I brag and tell you what I'm going to do, I'm embezzling the Lord's glory. Notice what James then says. As it is, he says, you boast in your arrogance.

Wow. You boast in your arrogance. That word, boast, cocks, oh my. Only time in an entire New Testament you see that word, boast there.

Cocks, oh my. Literally, it means a wandering quack. That's what it means.

Put it in American West, a snake oil salesman. Somebody that goes around saying something will be able to deliver something that never really does. That's what he says here about bragging. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. Now watch, all such boasting is evil. Wouldn't you rather see the word misguided, a mistake, evil? I mean, ISIS is evil. Yes, ISIS is evil. Bragging is evil. That's not my opinion. That's what the word says. Bragging is evil.

Wow, why? God embezzles the glory of God. You see, what does belong to God is something you embezzle and try to own for yourself. He says, therefore, to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. You see, no bragging. There's no place for it.

Now, are you sure? Why is God so uptight about this? Why is this so important to him? We need to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19. And here Paul explains it in a little bit different way. In verse 19 of chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians, Paul says, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, that you have from God, and that you are not your own?

For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. The dokes that goes to God. Glorify God.

He gives four reasons here. One, God has taken up residency in each and every one of us who are a child of God. When you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you are indwelled by the Spirit of God. Two, therefore you are not your own. You're not your own anymore. You belong to God. You've been born again into the family of God. Three, you were bought with a price. You were redeemed. You were purchased with a price. Not gold and silver, Peter says, but with the precious blood of Christ.

You have been bought with a price. Therefore, he says, you need to glorify God, not the empty vessel. You see, if my tongue is going to brag, if my tongue is going to give praise, it better not be for me. It better be for the Lord who saved me, the God who created me.

You see, that's what he is saying. This is really serious stuff to God. I want to illustrate that. I want you to go with me to the book of Acts chapter 12. The book of Acts chapter 12 in verse 20. I could have gone to a lot of places. For example, you could have gone to the Old Testament with Nebuchadnezzar. Remember Nebuchadnezzar was this great king of Babylon, and he made a statue of himself, and it was 90 feet high. And the only reason it wasn't taller is probably that's all they could do. He got a 90-foot statue, and he asked everyone to come and worship him. Now, if that's not bragging, I don't know what is. And how did that turn out for him?

Didn't he end up like a cow chewing the cud, eating grass? What was the message there? You see, what is God saying?

I don't share my glory. I don't care if you're king of Babylon. And here we've got a New Testament example of it. This is Herod Agrippa. The he in verse 20 will be Herod Agrippa. He's the grandson of Herod the Great, who was Herod at the time of Christ. It says, Now Herod, he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Now, you have to understand, Herod Agrippa, Tyre and Sidon are outside his territory. He is a very powerful man. He has the largest territory of any of Agrippa's grandchildren.

He is the tetrarch of Rome. And he's angry at Tyre and Sidon, and they're upset about it. They're afraid he's going to do something to him. And so it says, With one accord they came to him, and having won over Blastas the king's chamberlain, they were asking for peace because their country was fed by the king's country. They didn't want to get on his bad side.

Their people would starve. And it says, On an appointed day, Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. Now, you have to read something into this that comes outside the Bible a little bit extra biblical. Josephus, the Jewish historian in his antiquities, he writes about this event. What did Herod Agrippa look like? And he says this, The occasion was a feast in honor of Herod's patron, the Roman Emperor Claudius. And it says, Herod put on a garment wholly of silver, of the contexture that was truly wonderful, and came into the theater early in the morning, at which time the silver of his garment was illuminated by a fresh reflection of the sun's rays upon it, and it shone out in a surprising manner. He clothed himself in real silver, head to toe, and then had him facing the sun when he came out, and of course the sun hit the silver.

So you can get an idea of just how grand he must have looked. And notice then what happens. The people kept crying out in verse 22, the voice of a god and not a man. This is a god. Look at him.

Listen to him. And Josephus writes that when the people did this, Herod did neither rebuke them nor reject their impious flattery. Look at the next verse. And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.

Wow. That's a bad day. I mean, you start out and people are saying you talk like God, you look like God.

You end up warm food. That's a statement. He doesn't share his glory. He's jealous of his glory. You see, and whenever we brag, we embezzle his glory. Instead of saying what the Lord has done in your life, you tell people what you've done. We can't do that.

So we're left with a question. What does it take to stop bragging? I thought about this a lot all week. I was trying to think out what is it that we really need to do to stop bragging.

And this is what works at least for me. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, very famous. And Paul's going to talk about our salvation.

And he's going to make a very important point. In verse 8, he says this. For by grace, charis, it means a gift, unmerited favor. That's grace. For by grace, you have been past perfect tense.

It's over. You're saved. For by grace, you have been saved through faith. There's the instrumentality, my part, faith. And that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God.

And then he says this. Not as a result of works so that no one may boast. You see, what did you do to be saved? Nothing.

Absolutely nothing. Isn't that an amazing statement? Now you might say, no, no. I can remember I really wrestled with this and then I put my faith in Jesus. That's great.

I'm glad you did. That's true. But understand, there's no merit in having faith. Everybody has faith. Faith is universal.

If I am a staunch atheist, I am a man of faith. I have faith in me. I have faith in my intellect.

And I say there is no God. Now I can't prove that, but I can say it because I have faith. Everybody has faith. You may have faith in Buddha or you may have faith in Allah. You see, you may have faith in anything. There's no merit in having faith.

The merit comes from the object of your faith. And that's what we brought to this scene. We believed.

But we didn't do anything. You see, and God knows our heart because you know if you did anything to get saved, you know what you would do? You'd brag about it. And by the way, a lot of people are that way. Well, you know, how does a person get saved? Well, Jesus did something, I know that, but you've got to be a good person. That's me. You've got to go to church most of the time.

I do that. You have to give something. I don't give a lot, but I give some.

You see, and the idea is, and that's how I'll be saved. That's bragging. He says, no, it's by grace. It's a gift. All you can do with a gift is receive it.

There's nothing else you can do. You don't earn it. You don't deserve it.

You just receive it. You see, my point would be this, that whenever you truly embrace the grace of God, the bragging will stop. When you truly understand and embrace the grace of God, the bragging will stop.

I want to show you one more picture of that as we close. Go with me to Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23 beginning in verse 13. Let me read these first verses down to 17 first.

The day of the crucifixion. Pilate summoned the chief priest and the rulers of the people. And he said to them, you have brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion. And behold, having examined him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges of which you make against him. Nor, he says, no, nor has Herod, for he sent him back to us. And behold, nothing deserving death has been done by him. Over and over again, Pilate wants to get rid of this responsibility because he knows this is not just.

I've examined him. He's not starting a rebellion. He says now he was obliged to release to them, he said at the feast, one prisoner. Wow, there's a tradition that Romans would release one prisoner. Now you got to believe that Pilate's thinking it's got to be this fellow. But you're never going to let that happen.

But I want you to imagine with me a little bit different scene. There's a man who's all alone in his cell. There's no one but him.

It's the day of his appointed death. He's a rebel. He's a murderer. He knows what's going to happen to him. He has seen men crucified. He has seen men beg for death in crucifixion. Just imagine how he felt at this time.

You see, his name is Barabbas. Just imagine how he felt. This is when I die. But I'm not just going to be executed. I'm going to be crucified.

Just imagine what this was like. And then we pick it up and it says, They cried out all together in verse 18, Away with this man, release for us Barabbas. Now he's sitting in his cell. Did they just chant my name? Did they say Barabbas? Wait, now he's listening.

And he hears the whole thing. Maybe a chant. Release for us Barabbas. Release for us Barabbas.

What? They're chanting release for us Barabbas? Just imagine as he's there and what he's thinking.

Wow. Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again. And they kept calling out saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said to them the third time, Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in him no guilt demanding death. Therefore, I will punish him and release him. Look, he'll be scourged.

Roman style will let him go. But they were insistent with loud voices asking that he be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. And Pilate pronounced the sentence that their demand be granted. And he released the man that they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder.

But he delivered Jesus to their will. Could you imagine that? He hears this name. He hears them talking. And all of a sudden he hears the cell open. And someone says to him, a guard says to him, You're free to go. How do you think Barabbas felt? What would be your first thought?

I think mine would be, this is too good to be true. I mean, this is amazing. I'm a murderer, likely murdered a Roman. You see, and now I'm released to go.

Now I want to change gears just a moment here. You're in a dusty cell. And so am I.

You're awaiting the final judgment. Just like Barabbas. Just you. You're sitting all by yourself. You know what's coming. Because you know there's none righteous, no, not one. You know that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You also know that like sheep, all of us have gone astray. You know that.

And you know something else. The wages of sin is death. Not just temporal death on a cross, eternal separation from God. Eternal death.

Now you know all that. And you're sitting there. And you hear what you think is the executioner's footsteps. And the cell door opens. And you refuse to make eye contact. And you hear the voice arise, stand up. And you do. But it's not the executioner. It's Jesus. And he puts his arms out to you. He pulls you close to him and says, I'll die for you. You see, I'll go.

I'll die for you. You know what that is? That's grace. That's what grace is. That's what grace has done. You see, it's an amazing thing. It's one thing to say, boy, we love going out in the world and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus. And tell the whole world that Christ died for their sins. And that's really a wonderful thing to proclaim that as loudly and as long as we can.

But isn't it somehow sweeter to whisper it in your own ear? He loves me. He came to my cell. He embraced me.

He told me he would die in my place. You see, that's the picture of the grace of God. Whenever you truly embrace the grace of God, the bragging will stop.

It did with Paul. And it can with us. We need to stop bragging. Let's pray.

Father, my prayer this morning is simply this. We know we brag. We know that we want the approval and adulation from other people. But Father, I just pray that we temper that.

That we put whenever we can in the context of these words. Our total reliance and dependency on you and our Lord Jesus Christ. We would have no hope of anything but execution, but you love the world so much you sent your son to die. Your son loved us so much that he not only lived the perfect life, but he was our substitute on the cross. Father, you were so pleased with that sacrifice you raised him from the dead.

He's ascended into heaven. And by just simply putting our trust and faith in him, we have the promise of eternal life. The promise to avoid eternal judgment. Not because of anything we did, but because of your abundant grace. Father, I pray that that becomes our mindset as believers in Jesus Christ. That at each and every opportunity we have, when we can give you the praise. When we can boast of you and brag about you. We take advantage of that opportunity. For your glory and for our good.

In Christ's name, Amen. We have a one place website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station.

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