{"id":18465,"date":"2017-12-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-03T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-006\/"},"modified":"2017-12-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-03T06:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-006","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-006\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 006"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[99],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18465","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-timothy","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 006","sermon_date":"20171203","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5213,"sermon_slides":5214,"sermon_mp3":5219,"sermon_id":"12317957301","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":99,"chapter_and_verse":"3:15","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 006\n\n12-3-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 6\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Hebrews chapter 4, verses 14 and\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 15.\u00a0 We are continuing our study in the subject of ecclesiology which as you know is the study \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of the church.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the outline that we\u2019re following.\u00a0 We\u2019ve taken a look at the definition of ecclesiology, or the definition of the church.\u00a0 And then from there we got into the differences between the universal church and the local church.\u00a0 And then from there we began to look at word pictures of the church.\u00a0 A picture paints a thousand words, and what the New Testament gives us are at least seven word pictures of the church.\n\nSo when we kind of flush out these word pictures it\u2019s astonishing how much we learn about the church.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen the shepherd\/sheep word picture, the body\/head word picture or metaphor, the bride\/groom word picture which I think we finished already, and I think the last time we were together we talked about the church is the temple\u2026 the temple!\u00a0 So we\u2019re going to try to cover, God willing, at least 5 and 6 today, maybe seven if time permits.\n\nThis takes us to word picture number 5 which is the high priest priesthood image.\u00a0 And take a look, for example, at Hebrews 4:14-15.\u00a0 It says, \u201cTherefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. [15] For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet<\/em> without sin.\u201d\u00a0 And then verse 16 says, \u201cTherefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.\u201d\n\nSo we learn here that Jesus is our high priest, we have direct access to God the Father through God the Son because of what He has done for us.\u00a0 We learn that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father as we speak, and He is functioning (as we speak) as our high priest.\u00a0 It\u2019s a higher priesthood than Aaron\u2019s priesthood.\u00a0 The author of Hebrews tells us that it\u2019s a priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.\u00a0 And it\u2019s got to be something higher than Aaron\u2019s priesthood because you\u2019ll notice that Jesus has passed through the heavens, verse 14, so Aaron\u2019s priesthood was always something that happened on the earth, in the earthly tabernacle.\u00a0 Jesus has to have a higher priesthood because what tribe was Jesus born of?\u00a0 Judah, and to qualify to be an Aaronic priesthood you had to come from which tribe?\u00a0 Levi, so obviously what Jesus is doing as high priest is very, very significant, much higher than Aaron\u2019s.\n\nNow if\u00a0 you take a look at 1 Peter 2 just for a minute we learn that not only is Jesus our high priest but we are actually, as members of Christ\u2019s church sub priests\u2026 can I put it that way, functioning under the high priesthood of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 If you take a look at 1 Peter 2:5-9, we went through these verses last time, but it says, \u201cBut you also are being built as living stones, being built up into a spiritual house\u00a0 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy\u201d what? \u201cpriesthood,\u201d and then it tells us what priests do, \u201cto offer up\u201d not animal sacrifices in our age but what? \u201cspiritual sacrifices\u201d so you\u2019ll notice that Jesus is our high priest and He has given us the designation priests functioning under Him as well.\n\nAnd that\u2019s where the Book of Revelation, chapter 1 and verse 6 is so powerful.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd He\u201d that\u2019s God, \u201chas made us\u201d that\u2019s the church, \u201cto be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father---to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So there we\u2019re very clearly told that we are actually a kingdom of priests under the priesthood of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And don\u2019t let that word \u201ckingdom\u201d disturb you too much because we don\u2019t actually reign as kings in this kingdom until the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 And to get that you have to cross reference Revelation 1:6 with Revelation 5:10, which says: \u201cand He has made us to be a kingdom, priests\u201d that\u2019s our current title, so we\u2019re not reigning now because it says there, \u201cand they will reign,\u201d future tense, where?\u00a0 Not in heaven but where?\u00a0 On the earth.\n\nSo you may not think of yourself as a priest but the reality is that your New Testament position under Christ, you are a priest.\u00a0 And of course that word \u201cpriest\u201d is loaded with Old Testament imagery.\u00a0 The garb that Aaron\u2019s priests wore was described in great detail in the Book of Exodus, chapter 28, the color, the sash, the bells on the hem of the garment, what was tied to the priest\u2019s foot.\n\nIf the Book of Exodus doesn\u2019t talk about it then Jewish tradition talks about it in great detail.\u00a0 And under the prior dispensation a person could not be a priest unless they were from the tribe of Levi, and from whose lineage?\u00a0 Aaron\u2019s.\u00a0 So you had to be from Aaron\u2019s lineage. First you had to be from the tribe of Levi and then even beyond that just being a member of the tribe of Levi didn\u2019t qualify a person to be a priest, they had to be able to trace their lineage back somehow to Aaron, the first high priest.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice that within the nation of Israel you have the nation and some of the people within the nation were priests, a select group, and compare that to Revelation 1:6 where it says, \u201cAnd He\u201d God, \u201chas made us\u201d His church, \u201cto be a kingdom of priests.\u201d\u00a0 So guess what?\u00a0 We\u2019re all priests aren\u2019t we?\u00a0 We don\u2019t have a special select group as priests.\u00a0 And this is part of the modern day confusion, because I grew up in a church, the Episcopalian denomination, that had priests in it.\u00a0 So the priests were sort of separated from the rest of the flock; they were sort of dressed a lot like Aaron is dressed.\u00a0 And the priests were sort of considered a special category of people.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice that to get that whole thing to work you\u2019ve got to not pay attention to what the New Testament says, you\u2019ve got to go back into the Old Testament.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what a lot of people do to build their ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church), they\u2019re not really paying attention to what the New Testament says and how all of us are priests.\u00a0 They\u2019re going back to Old Testament times and just kind of willy-nilly picking out things.\n\nSo priests in New Testament times is all Christians; if you\u2019re in a church or a situation where you\u2019ve got some people as priests and the rest are not, and they\u2019re dressed in a different way and you confess your sins to them and they\u2019re kind of looked at as some kind of a special pipeline to God that other people don\u2019t have.\u00a0 You\u2019re in a church that\u2019s not really functioning according to the New Testament paradigm; you\u2019re in a church that doesn\u2019t understand the Israel\/church distinction.\n\nSo the reality is the Protestant Reformers taught the priesthood of all believers; every believer is a priest.\u00a0 And that was a monumental change because prior to the time of the Protestant Reformation the only people that had access to the Scripture were the priests; the rest of the people were told what the Bible says through the priesthood.\u00a0 And once the Reformers began to look at Revelation 1:6 and understand that we are all priests, that pushed the move towards Bible translations, getting the Bible translated into the language of the common man.\u00a0 That was a huge preoccupation of Martin Luther; that was a huge preoccupation of the Protestant Reformers in general.\u00a0 And that flows from the idea that every single Christian is a priest, therefore they can read the Bible and they can understand the Bible for themselves; they didn\u2019t have to have it packaged to them through the paradigm of a priesthood.\n\nSo here at Sugar Land Bible Church I don\u2019t really consider myself a priest; the gift that I have spiritually is the gift of pastor-teacher which is simply explaining the Bible in a way that your average person can understand it and apply it.\u00a0 I may have a spiritual gift in that area but I don\u2019t have some kind of office to God that you don\u2019t have.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have some kind of extra pipeline to God that you don\u2019t have because we are all priests in the New Testament church.\u00a0 All of us can read the Bible, understand the Bible for ourselves, certainly the people with the gift of teaching can maybe clarify some things but there\u2019s no special truth that I have that you don\u2019t have because all of us are designated as priests in the New Testament.\u00a0 That\u2019s a monumental thing that is depicted here.\n\nSo what does a priest do exactly?\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of interesting that when you go out to lunch with people and they want someone to pray and I\u2019m in the group they all look at me like I should pray.\u00a0 Or when I\u2019m at family reunions they say well who\u2019s going to pray\u2026 well, let\u2019s get Andy to pray, as if I\u2019m some kind of special priest that they are not.\u00a0 And the reality is anybody can pray at any meal; I don\u2019t have some kind of special access to God that you don\u2019t have.\u00a0 And a lot of people are like this with our prayer chain; they\u2019ll send in requests, prayer requests, and they\u2019ll say make sure Andy prays for such and such.\u00a0 I don\u2019t mind doing that of course but my prayers don\u2019t have any more validity than anybody else on our staff, any of our pastors, assistant pastor, youth pastor, secretaries for that matter, bookkeeper, elders.\u00a0 In fact, you don\u2019t even need to go through those categories, you can just have\u00a0 your friends that are in Christ pray for you as well.\u00a0 The only way you can miss that is to jettison the New Testament and go back to how it works under the dispensation related to the nation of Israel.\n\nSo what do priests do?\u00a0 Priests basically represent God before man and man before God.\u00a0 So that\u2019s basically what Jesus does as our high priest, He\u2019s our intermediary between us and God the Father.\u00a0 He represents us to God and God to us.\u00a0 So that\u2019s basically one of your responsibilities as a New Testament Christian; you represent people before God and what I mean by that is you can represent the unsaved (who have no relationship with God) to God.\u00a0 So you can intercede for them, you can pray for them, and that kind of thing.\u00a0\u00a0 All Christians are priests but the unsaved don\u2019t know God at all and we, as priests, can represent the plight of the unsaved.\u00a0\u00a0 You might have someone that\u2019s in your family, a friend, a coworker, that you\u2019re burdened for and you start to pray for them, you start to intercede for them.\u00a0 That would be a prerogative that you\u2019re fulfilling as a priest in the New Testament church.\n\nAnd beyond that not only can you represent man before God but you can represent God before man.\u00a0 So the priests were looked at, at least in Old Testament times, as those who were the representatives of God.\u00a0 And this is why the Lord is so hard on the priests. For example, in the Book of Malachi the Lord just takes the priests to task.\u00a0 Why does He do that?\u00a0 Because they were misrepresenting God before man.\u00a0 So since we are basically New Testament priests, you\u2019ve heard this saying before, you might be the only Bible somebody ever reads.\u00a0 So we need to take our calling very seriously as we are looked at by the unsaved as representatives of God.\u00a0 The moment they know you\u2019re a Christian they\u2019re going to look at you as if you\u2019re a representative of God.\n\nSo the question is, when the unsaved look at your life, when they unsaved look at my life do they see faithful priests or not?\u00a0 Do they see people who represent the character of God, not perfect people but growing people representing the character of God or do they see somebody that\u2019s at work taking shortcuts, or gossiping or that kind of thing.\u00a0 So we need to take our responsibility as priests very seriously. We need to be in intercession for the lost before God and we need to also represent God correctly to the unsaved world, to people that don\u2019t know anything about spiritual truths or spiritual realities.\u00a0 And so Satan is always at work to try to get you to compromise your lifestyle so you can\u2019t be effective in your divine calling as a New Testament Christian, to be a New Testament priest.\n\nAnd going back, just for a minute, to the 1 Peter verse that we read a little earlier, 1 Peter 2, going back to verse 5, it\u2019s very interesting what it says here.\u00a0 It says, \u201cBut you also, as living stones, are being built as a spiritual house\u00a0 for a holy priesthood, to offer up\u201d what kind of sacrifices? \u201cspiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 So we, in the New Testament church, obviously are not offering up animal sacrifices any more as priests because Christ\u2019s singular death on the cross made the practice of animal sacrifices null and void.\u00a0 It\u2019s no longer necessary.\u00a0 So we\u2019re not offering up animal sacrifices but we are offering up, according to 2 Peter 2:5, \u201cspiritual sacrifices.\u201d\n\nSo as a priest you can do certain things that come up before the Lord that the Lord will receive as a sweet aroma or a spiritual sacrifice.\u00a0 And by spiritual sacrifices I\u2019m not talking about things we do to somehow add to the finished work of Christ.\u00a0 A lot of people have a 99% theology; Jesus did 99%, I\u2019ll kick in the 1%, and that, of course, is an unbiblical teaching because Christ\u2019s final word, it\u2019s really a singular Greek word, His final word on the cross tetelestai<\/em>, translated in English means \u201cit is finished.\u201d\n\nSo we\u2019re not offering up spiritual sacrifices to somehow supplement what Jesus did, to add a few fine points.\u00a0 These are things that we do as priests out of adoration for what He\u2019s done for us, out of gratitude for what He\u2019s done for us, out of respect for what He\u2019s done for us, out of worship for what He\u2019s done for us.\u00a0 And Paul, in Romans 12:1, when he\u2019s talking about spiritual sacrifices that we in the New Testament offer up he basically says this is what\u2019s reasonable.\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s reasonable to do this when you consider everything Jesus has done for us.\n\nRomans 12:1 says, \u201cTherefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy\u201d what? \u201c sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.\u201d\u00a0 Now some Bible translations say \u201cwhich is\u00a0 your reasonable worship.\u201d\u00a0 So once a person discovers what God has done for them, Romans 1-11 explains that, what\u2019s the logical thing to do?\u00a0 It\u2019s to say I just can\u2019t believe what I have in Christ, so what\u2019s reasonable is to offer God my body and say take my body, be glorified in my body, do what You will with my body.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m not doing that because I\u2019m trying to pay God back; I can\u2019t pay Him back.\u00a0 I\u2019m not trying to do that to add to a completed work that Jesus has already done, you can\u2019t add to a completed work.\u00a0 But out of an act of gratitude we can respond by way of thankfulness and worship, and offer spiritual sacrifices. And there are at least four times in the New Testament where spiritual sacrifice imagery is used, and one of them is right here in Romans 12:1, you offer your body to the Lord as a Christian.\n\nWhy would I offer my body to the Lord?\u00a0 Because of what the Lord has done for me.\u00a0 You get to the end of Romans 8 and you learn that nothing can separate us from the love of God.\u00a0 It talks about all the potential things that could separate\u00a0 us from the love of God, famine, nakedness, perils, sword, and Paul concludes that chapter by saying nothing can separate us from the love of God.\u00a0 [Romans 8:38, \u201cFor I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d]\n\nThe angels themselves, fallen I\u2019m assuming he\u2019s talking about, cannot separate us from the love of God.\u201d\u00a0 NOTHING!\u00a0 That\u2019s what you call a merism where it\u2019s like saying \u201cIn the beginning the Lord created the heavens and the earth.\u201d\u00a0 Well, did He create the heavens and the earth, how about everything in between the heavens and the earth. Well, it would include that too.\u00a0 Like the outer edges of something which would encompass everything in between.\n\nJeremiah 23:24 tells us that the Lord dwells the heavens and the earth, and heavens and the earth is a merism or a figure of speech for saying everything.\u00a0 [Jeremiah 23:24, \u201c\u2018Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?\u2019 declares the LORD. \u2018Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?\u2019 declares the LORD.\u201d]\n\nSo Paul in Romans 8 when he talks about all the things that cannot separate us from the love of God he\u2019s using a merism communicating totality.\u00a0 Now some wise guy in the back of the room raises his hand and he says yeah, but what about Israel, God forgot Israel!\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t Israel have a covenant?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Is Israel in unbelief?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Did Israel reject her own Messiah? Yes.\u00a0 Well then how can I trust God\u2019s promises in chapter 8 if He\u2019s cut off Israel?\u00a0 I mean, didn\u2019t God say in the Book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, that as long as the sun, moon and stars exist Israel will always be a nation before Me.\u00a0 Yes He did say that.\u00a0 Well then how can I take God at His word in chapter 8 if He\u2019s broken His word to Israel?\u00a0 Paul gives an answer to that in Romans 9, 10 and 11.\u00a0 The short answer is God has not broken His word to Israel; Israel\u2019s promises have been delayed but not denied.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been postponed but not cancelled.\n\nSo God has not forgotten Israel.\u00a0 In fact, God has a great plan in store where He\u2019s going to do everything He\u2019s promised to do for the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 Paul explains that in Romans 9, 10 and 11.\u00a0 Romans 9, Israel in the past elected. Romans 10, Israel in the present rejected.\u00a0 Romans 11, Israel in the future accepted.\u00a0 And then\u00a0 you get to the end of that section and you say wow, everything God has ever promised He will do, not just for the Jew, for Israel, but for me as a Gentile.\u00a0 You\u2019re supposed to leave those chapters just overwhelmed with gratitude; you just can\u2019t believe what God has done for us.\n\nTherefore Romans 12 follows Romans 11.\u00a0 You agree with me on that?\u00a0 Romans 12 comes after Romans 11, Amen!\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Paul says, \u201cTherefore I urge you, by the mercies of God\u201d what mercies?\u00a0 All the ones He just finished explaining in Romans 9, 10 and 11, even going back to 8, even going back to the beginning of the book.\n\n\u201cTherefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies aa living sacrifice,\u201d you say Lord, just take my body, I\u2019m not trying to pay you back, I\u2019m not trying to add to salvation, but just take over; take over my tongue that is very gossipy.\u00a0 Glorify Yourself in my body the way You want to.\u00a0 Paul says that\u2019s what\u2019s reasonable.\u00a0 And the moment that the child of God does that is the moment a sweet aroma goes up to the Lord in heaven, where the Lord receives that as a spiritual sacrifice.\u00a0 So how do we offer up spiritual sacrifices?\u00a0 We just give to the Lord our bodies.\n\nIf you go over to the Book of Hebrews, chapter 13, we were just there a moment ago, at least we were in chapter 4, but if\u00a0 you go over to Hebrews 13 you\u2019ll learn there\u2019s a second way we offer up spiritual sacrifices to the Lord.\u00a0 And what does He say here, Hebrews 13:15, \u201cThrough Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice\u201d see how this sacrifice imagery keeps getting used here?\u00a0 That\u2019s what I\u2019m doing, I\u2019m finding the places in the New Testament that reveal the reality of spiritual sacrifices. \u201cThrough Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name\u201d\n\nSo I can open my mouth and I can talk and I can just praise the Lord for what I have in Christ and the moment I do that is the moment the Lord is receiving that as a spiritual sacrifice.\u00a0 I can bring up situations in my family where I just say you know, we\u2019re just so blessed, even if everything we had at an earthly level disappears tomorrow I am complete in Christ, I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, I just want to thank the Lord for that. \u00a0And as that happens what\u2019s happening?\u00a0 Spiritual aroma goes up to the Lord and He receives that as a spiritual sacrifice.\n\nOr I could come into the church worship service and say to myself, you know, I\u2019m just going to praise the Lord in this time of worship and music; I may not agree with every little jot and tittle of the worship team or I may love the worship team but that\u2019s really not the issue, I\u2019m just going to come in and I\u2019m going to take this opportunity that I have just to sing (to the best of my ability) and to praise the Lord.\n\nAnd the moment we do that and we have this attitude of gratitude where we stop critiquing everything and I\u2019m not against fixing things and making them better, but the worship wars in the evangelical church are something that disturb me.\u00a0 There\u2019s generations that are at war with each other in evangelicalism related to worship.\u00a0 And my preference is the traditional hymns, the hymns that are theologically rich and all of those kinds of things.\u00a0 But generations go to war with each other over the subject of worship. When I was in the Dallas area churches were dividing over the subject of worship and I get it, there\u2019s a shallowness of worship that takes place amongst the millennials, I understand all that.\n\nBut sometimes with these worship wars I worry a little bit about is the issue theological or is it a preference thing.\u00a0 One generation has one preference, one generation has another preference and so now the focus is not on God any more, it\u2019s on my specific preferences.\u00a0 And I know also young people that say you know, we really like\u00a0 your teaching but we just don\u2019t like the worship at this church and they won\u2019t come.\u00a0 Well, what\u2019s the root of that I\u2019m wondering?\u00a0 You get all these masquerades as a veneer of, you know, we\u2019ve got to reach out to the younger generation, but I\u2019m wondering if there\u2019s not a personal preference thing that motivates that.\u00a0 And so I think the worship wars themselves have gotten our eyes off the prize in many cases; we\u2019re not really thinking about the Lord, we\u2019re more thinking about our own personal preferences.\u00a0 And we\u2019re missing\u2026 what I\u2019m trying to get at is we\u2019re missing our calling.\u00a0 We\u2019re missing our calling as to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, making Him the focus rather than personal preferences the focus. \u00a0So how do you offer up spiritual sacrifices to the Lord; you offer Him your body.\u00a0 You offer Him the praise of your lips when the opportunity arises; the Lord receives that as a spiritual sacrifice.\n\nNow let\u2019s go to the bottom here, number 4 so we don\u2019t have to go to Philippians and come right back to Hebrews, if you go to verse 16 there is another way that we offer up sacrifices to the Lord, spiritual sacrifices.\u00a0 It says, \u201cDo not neglect doing good and sharing for with such\u201d what? \u201csacrifices God is pleased.\u201d\u00a0 So there\u2019s the word \u201csacrifice\u201d again.\u00a0 So the moment I look at my energy and I pour myself into a project to bless somebody else within the church is the moment the Lord receives that as a spiritual sacrifice.\u00a0 The moment I\u2019m looking at my billfold, I\u2019m looking at my bank account and I say you know, here\u2019s some money that the Lord has allowed me to earn, allowed me to gain, I just can\u2019t believe what God has done for me, I\u2019m going to give part of that to the church.\u00a0 What happens is a sweet aroma arises to heaven where the Lord receives that as a spiritual sacrifice.\n\nSo one of the most important things to understand is we don\u2019t give to get blessed; everybody with me on that?\u00a0 Because a lot of people have a mentality that I\u2019ve got to give this money to get blessed and get more money, so God becomes sort of like a cosmic slot machine.\u00a0 It\u2019s in so-called Christian television, it\u2019s called the hundred fold blessing, so I put in this percentage, I pull back the lever and then a hundredfold is supposed to pop back.\u00a0 And may I just say to you that that is not at all a New Testament motivation for giving.\u00a0 We don\u2019t give to get something from the Lord.\u00a0 Now I will say this, when you give to the Lord Jesus says, \u201cIt\u2019s better to give\u201d than to what? \u201cto receive.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Acts 20:35, \u201c\u2026 remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, \u2018It is more blessed to give than to receive.\u201d\u2019]\n\nThe person that\u2019s always blessed in any transaction is always the giver rather than the receiver.\u00a0 There\u2019s an internal satisfaction that comes upon us when we become givers.\u00a0 But what\u2019s happening is people are giving, not because they have been blessed, they\u2019re giving to get blessed.\u00a0 And that\u2019s not our New Testament motivation; the reality is you already have been blessed \u201cwith every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.\u201d\u00a0 We come before the Lord and we say Lord, bless me. He\u2019s like, well, what else can I give you?\u00a0 I\u2019ve given you \u201cevery spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,\u201d Ephesians 1:3, and then we contemplate that, we reckon it, we study it.\u00a0 [Ephesians 1:3, \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,\u201d]\n\nLewis Sperry Chafer identified 33 things we have that we didn\u2019t have before we came to Christ.\u00a0 All of these wonderful terms, propitiation, reconciliation, freedom in Christ, a future in Christ, the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit, I just can\u2019t believe I have all of this.\u00a0 You know what I\u2019m going to do?\u00a0 I\u2019m going to give some money to further the church\u2019s message so more people can learn about this, so we can have good teaching on these subjects and we can become rooted and grounded.\u00a0 And that becomes the motivation and all of a sudden a sweet aroma arises to heaven where you as a high priest didn\u2019t offer an animal sacrifice but you just offered a spiritual sacrifice.\n\nSo giving of the body, giving of the lips, giving of the finances with right motivation are all spiritual sacrifices.\u00a0 Let me take you to one more, this is the fourth spiritual sacrifice that I know of and maybe some of you can find passages that expand this list, these are just the four I know of.\u00a0 Philippians 2:17, Paul writing, not from the luxury suite in the Hilton, by the way, from prison, \u201cBut even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the\u201d what \u201csacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.\u201d\u00a0 You notice that Paul is talking about giving. Here it\u2019s not so much financial giving the way it seems to have read back in Hebrews 13:16, but giving of Himself.\n\nOf course in 2 Timothy He says I\u2019m being poured out like a drink offering.\u00a0 [2 Timothy 4:6, \u201cFor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.\u201d]\u00a0 And that was what Paul\u2019s whole life was, just being poured out to the people he was serving.\u00a0 And as that was happening the Lord was receiving that as a high priest, part of the priesthood, Paul part of the priesthood, as a spiritual sacrifice.\n\nSo you give to the Lord and you do some kind of task in the church that\u2019s very menial, no one really appreciates it, no one even sees you doing it but it\u2019s expending energy and effort; you start to expend yourself on behalf of somebody else.\u00a0 No pats on the back, no accolades, it\u2019s just something between you and the Lord where you just can\u2019t believe what God has done.\u00a0 I think what\u2019s reasonable is I expended myself in this certain area and all of a sudden a spiritual sweet aroma arises up unto the Lord where the Lord receives a spiritual sacrifice from us as priests, He being the high priest of course.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a lot of information, isn\u2019t it, just on that one word picture.\u00a0 A picture paints what?\u00a0 A thousand words.\u00a0 And you could take this list and go deeper in all of these things.\n\nWell, let me take you to number 6, see if we can sneak in number 6 this morning, the sixth metaphor or word picture is that the church is the pillar of truth.\u00a0 So let\u2019s go to 1 Timothy 3 and verse 15.\u00a0 And this is why Paul writes three letters in the New Testament called the pastoral letters.\u00a0 And they\u2019re really about how to order the church properly.\u00a0 The church is supposed to function a certain way according to certain parameters and certain guidelines.\u00a0 1 Timothy is all about order within the church.\u00a0 Titus is all about order in the church.\u00a0 2 Timothy, which we\u2019ve studied in depth at this church is really about how to persevere in your ministry in the church.\u00a0 But those three books, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus are a special collection of books in the New Testament called pastoral letters because they are written to pastors.\n\nSo we don\u2019t look to the latest Peter Drucker management theory related to how to get the church to\u00a0 function right.\u00a0 And that\u2019s one of the great tragedies that we see is\u00a0 you go into so-called Christian bookstores and you go to church management and you pull one of these books off the shelf and you look in the appendix or the index in the back and they never mention, if at all, the pastoral letters.\nThey talk a lot about marketing, they talk a lot about Peter Drucker, the three-legged stool, and all these sort of management type concepts; they quote all of the latest Wall Street Journal type, CEO type periodicals.\u00a0 I mean, there\u2019s even a book called Jesus CEO<\/em>, which to me lowers immeasurably who Jesus is, make Him a mere CEO.\n\nNot that you can\u2019t learn leadership concepts from the Bible,\u00a0 your best leadership concepts you\u2019ll learn from the Bible but that\u2019s really not what\u2019s happening because people are drawing all of this sociological secular data to try to figure out how a church should function and God is saying well, for the last 2,000 years I\u2019ve given you three books, all the answers to all of your problems related to the functioning of the church are right there: 1 Timothy, written by Paul from Macedonia to a young man named Timothy who was very young and sickly and struggling to be a pastor of a great church, perhaps one of the well-known churches of the first century world that Paul himself planted and started, called the church at Ephesus.\u00a0 1 Timothy written from Paul\u2019s final Roman imprisonment to the same man, Timothy, about five years later, who\u2019s thinking of throwing in the towel and quitting.\u00a0 Ever feel like that in your ministry\u2026 read 2 Timothy!\u00a0 And then he also writes Titus from an area called Nicopolis, near Macedonia, to a guy named Titus on a little tiny island called Crete in the Mediterranean Sea.\n\nAnd I\u2019m thrilled on this cruise that my wife and I are going to be going on, and I hope you guys will think about going with us on it, we\u2019re going to be going to Crete and I can\u2019t wait to go to Crete and see what it was like to be a pastor trying to pastor a church out on this little tiny island.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a lot of language in Titus about how Cretans are lazy and gluttons.\u00a0 So not only is he on this island\u2026 I mean think about this, think about this assignment from God.\u00a0 You know, you think you have it rough, think about being told to go out on this island with a bunch of lazy gluttons and trying to be a pastor.\u00a0 How would you even do that?\u00a0 How would you organize?\u00a0 How do you pick leaders?\u00a0 Well, the Book of Titus is an explanation of that.\u00a0 So we have literally gold in these books and yet the church growth movement hardly consults these.\u00a0 It\u2019s all about the latest secular theory.\n\nSo in the process of this pastoral letter, written to Timothy, Paul explains why he is so concerned about the proper order and functioning of the church.\u00a0 He said in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God.\u00a0 [1 Timothy 3:15, \u201cbut in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.\u201d]\u00a0 So there\u2019s a right way to conduct yourself in the household of God; there\u2019s a wrong way to conduct yourself in the household of God.\u00a0 Why is Paul concerned about this?\u00a0 Because the household of God is the church of the living God, that\u2019s temple imagery that we covered last time; the church is the place where God has decided to dwell in the church age.\u00a0 Not only does He dwell us individually but He is in our midst corporately.\n\n\u201c\u2026the church of the living God,\u201d now look at this last clause here, \u201cthe pillar and support of the truth.\u201d\u00a0 Think of everything that is communicated in that word picture about a \u201cpillar\u201d and a \u201csupport.\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019ve got some audio visuals, we\u2019ve got pillars over here, don\u2019t we, one, two, three, and there\u2019s some more, four, five, six.\u00a0 And even in our building here you can see how important those are; what if those just disappeared, or one or two of them disappeared it would cause pressure on the whole structure, would it not, to bring it down.\n\nSo what is the church exactly in God\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 The church is that pillar that God has put in a fallen world to uphold, not a version of truth, see the definite article in front of truth there?\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cbut in case I am delayed, I write<\/em> so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the necessity of the pastoral letters; you\u2019ve got to get the church functioning according to biblical guidelines because God has called the church to be \u201cthe pillar and support of the truth.\u201d\u00a0 The church is the only institution which holds up \u201cthe truth\u201d in a fallen world.\n\nAnd think about this, where are people going to get the truth today?\u00a0 Well, the politicians will tell them the truth, right?\u00a0 NO!\u00a0 A politician has two goals, number 1 to get elected, number 2 to get re-elected.\u00a0 They\u2019ll say whatever it takes to get you to pull the lever for them.\u00a0 So (with some exceptions) politicians aren\u2019t going to tell you the truth.\u00a0 Well, I know what\u2019s going to give us the truth?\u00a0 Academia is going to give us the truth.\u00a0 Well, the academics are the people that told us that we came from the monkeys; they can\u2019t even get that straight.\u00a0 Within academia, as you know, there is a very strong political correctness. If you publish a paper, for example, in the field of biology indicating at all that you believe in creationism your whole career is over, your grants dry up.\u00a0 The Ben Stein movie expelled, No Intelligence Allowed<\/em> documents this very carefully.\u00a0 So you can\u2019t look to academia for truth; you can\u2019t look to political institutions for the truth.\n\nI know\u2026 the media will tell us the truth!\u00a0\u00a0 Well, we know about the media\u2014we distort, you decide.\u00a0 Right, I mean\u2026 the media has been infiltrated by leftists for a very long time.\u00a0 This was all documented by McCarthy and all of these things, and Sadists, and Marxists, infiltrated the media a long time ago, and McCarthy also brings out how even Christendom was infiltrated by Sadists and Marxists.\u00a0 In the Methodist Church, I realize there\u2019s some really good Methodists churches but it\u2019s very well documented that in the Methodist church the Marxists infiltrated the seminaries and began to teach social justice issues; they began to take an emphasis off individual salvation of souls and put the emphasis onto collective salvation of nations.\u00a0 So they moved into a lot of works oriented type projects, humanitarian type projects.\u00a0 And of course, in their minds the ultimate good work that they can do is bring in mandatory redistribution of wealth.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the Marxist version of Christianity, where Christianity knows nothing about that.\n\nChristianity is not about collective salvation of societies through statism and mandatory wealth distribution.\u00a0 Christianity is about keeping people out of hell.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 Because \u201cthe wages of sin is\u201d what? \u201cis death.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Romans 6:23, \u201cFor the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d]\u00a0 So you can see how there\u2019s a compromise of truth almost everywhere\u00a0 you look and it ought not to be this way within the church because the church is given the function of being \u201cthe pillar and the support of the truth.\u201d\u00a0 [1 Timothy 3:15, \u201cI write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.\u201d]\n\nGod help us if we reach a point, and I think we have reached that point, where the goal of many churches is not to tell people the truth; not to make them holy but to keep them happy so they come back next week.\u00a0 And that is a marketing strategy; you don\u2019t find any shred of New Testament evidence supporting it.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a marketing mix designed to appeal to the fallen instincts of humanity and they call that today church growth.\u00a0 I\u2019m in favor of church growth if God is doing the growth.\u00a0 I\u2019m not in favor of manmade manipulation type church growth because if you reach a situation where people can come into a church, never be exposed to sin, or the blood of Christ\u2026 I can name\u00a0 you specific people and churches, going back decades that will not bring up blood.\u00a0 Why won\u2019t they bring up blood?\u00a0 Because blood alienates the unchurched.\n\nWell, I\u2019m sorry folks, the Bible is all about blood. \u00a0\u00a0I mean, the Bible is a very bloody book and the great thing about it is Christ shed His blood so I wouldn\u2019t have to shed my blood, in terms of judgment.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we call the gospel or good news.\u00a0 But the name of the game in many places is don\u2019t exactly tell them the whole truth; tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.\u00a0 Can you imagine going to your doctor or your lawyer and your doctor or lawyer tells you want you want to hear instead of what you need to hear?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t such a person be disbarred or have their license taken away\u2026rightfully?\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet in the world of Christianity, in Christendom, that\u2019s sort of normal, a normal practice, called the church growth model.\n\nAnd you see how that slips away from what Paul says in this word picture about the church?\u00a0 That the church is \u201cthe pillar and the support of the truth.\u201d\u00a0 You take truth out of the church, the pillar of any truth, and society just disintegrates.\u00a0 So show me the trajectory of the church and I\u2019ll show you the trajectory of almost any nation.\n\nNow the big thing today is we\u2019re going to do ecumenical dialogue.\u00a0 Have you heard of this?\u00a0 We\u2019re going to bring Muslims into churches and we\u2019re going to sit on the stage with a Muslim and the Muslim is going to give his side of things and we\u2019re going to work out a deal whereby the evangelical church gets a shot in the mosque and they give their side of things.\u00a0 And so you stand up in church as a Muslim Imam and you make a bunch of statements.\n\nBy the way, Muslims (you might know this) are allowed to lie under what\u2019s called Taqiyyah, so we\u2019re going to let Muslims into a church, before the assembled saints of God, we\u2019re going to give them a platform and let them give any propaganda they want to give. We\u2019re not going to vigorously cross-examine them, we\u2019re not going to debate them.\u00a0 And this whole thing broke this summer when a tape was discovered of James White, a well-known Christian apologist, doing this very thing in a church in Memphis, Tennessee.\u00a0 So James White, who is supposedly one of the evangelicals greatest debaters is sitting on the stage with this Muslim Imam, letting this guy spew out one piece of propaganda after another, not just politically but theologically.\u00a0 And James White is sitting there like a potted plant, not challenging the statements, not aggressively cross examining, but sitting there and nodding and affirming and saying I\u2019ve learned so much from this particular Imam who\u2019s name was Yasser Chadi.\u00a0 Yasser Chadi, by the way,\u00a0 has national security risk issues, if that weren\u2019t bad enough.\n\nSo this whole thing is done under the guise of reaching Muslims for Christ.\u00a0 And it\u2019s called ecumenical dialogue.\u00a0 And I found this quote from\u2026 and by the way, the bad people are the people who call this out. If you call out a guy like James White then what happens is all of the people that are theologically aligned with James White, a very strong Calvinist, they start to dogpile on you.\u00a0 So key ministries are now defending what James White did; James White is unrepentant about this and the bad people are the ones that brought the spotlight of truth to this recording which you can see for yourself on the internet and once you watch it you\u2019ll see exactly what I\u2019m talking about.\n\nAnd so this whole thing has been brewing all summer; we\u2019re now in December so it\u2019s kind of settled down, but in the process I ran into this quote from Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones who lived from 1899-1989.\u00a0 Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones is very Reformed, like James White is, but I have a lot of respect for him; I have a lot of respect for his love for the truth.\u00a0 He succeeded G. Campbell Morgan in Westminster Chapel in London.\u00a0 So he\u2019s a famous Bible expositor from the past.\u00a0 And I ran into this quote from him and the quote was so good (I ran into it on Facebook) the quote was so good I didn\u2019t believe it was a true quote.\u00a0 So I went and actually bought the book and lo and behold, I read the whole quote, the whole quote is even better than the little thing I read on Facebook.\u00a0 It goes three pages here, but I just want to read to you this.\n\nHe\u2019s commenting, it\u2019s almost he\u2019s prescient or prophetic commenting on this ecumenical dialogue mentality that he saw coming into Christendom in his day.\u00a0 And I want you to notice the word picture he concludes with in this quote.\u00a0 1 Timothy 3:15, \u201c\n\nDr. Martyn Lloyd Jones says, \u201cTo regard a church, or a council of churches, as a forum in which fundamental matters can be debated and discussed, or as an opportunity for witness-bearing, is sheer confusion and muddled thinking. There is to be no discussion about \u2018the foundation,\u2019 as we have seen. If men do not accept that, they are not brethren and we can have no dialogue with them. We are to preach to such and to evangelize them.\u201d\u00a0 Watch this!\u00a0 \u201cDiscussion takes place among the brethren who share the same life and subscribe to the same essential truths. It is right and good that brethren should discuss together matters which are not essential to salvation and about which there is, and always has been, and always will be, legitimate differences of opinion. We can do no better at that point than quote the old adage, \u2018In things essential, unity, in things indifferent liberty, in all things charity.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cBefore there can be any real discussion and dialogue and exchange there must be agreement con\u00adcern\u00ading primary and fundamental matters. Without the acceptance of certain axioms and propositions in geometry,\u201d now Martin Lloyd Jones was a medical doctor; it\u2019s a very interesting analogy he uses here.\u00a0 \u201cWithout the acceptance of certain axioms and propositions in geometry, for example, it is idle to attempt to solve any problem. If certain people refuse to accept the axioms, and are constantly querying and disputing them, clearly there is no point of contact between them and those who do accept them. It is precisely the same in the realm of the church. Those who question and query, let alone deny, the great cardinal truths that have been accepted throughout the centuries do not belong to the church, and to regard them as brethren is to betray the truth. As we have already reminded ourselves, the apostle Paul tells us clearly what our attitude to them should be:\u201d A quote from Titus, which is also a pastoral letter, \u201c\u2018A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition reject\u2019\u201d (Titus. 3:10).\u201d\n\n\u201cThey are to be regarded as unbelievers and need to be called to repentance and acceptance of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. To give the impression that they are Christians with whom other Christians disagree about certain matters is to confuse\u201d you see the unsaved world is watching this ecumenical dialogue mindset.\u00a0 \u201cTo give the impression that they are Christians with whom other Christians disagree about certain matters is to confuse the genuine seeker and enquirer who is outside. But such is the position prevailing today.\u201d\u00a0 He saw this in 1981 or earlier about the time he died.\u00a0 Watch this, this is why I\u2019m bringing this up.\u00a0 \u201cIt is based upon a failure to understand the nature of the New Testament church which is\u201d the what? \u201c\u2018the pillar and ground of the truth\u2019 (1 Tim. 3:15).<\/strong><\/u> In the same way it is a sheer waste of time to discuss or debate the implications of Christianity with people who are not agreed as to what Christianity is. Failure to realize this constitutes the very essence of the modern confusion.\u201d\u00a0 [Knowing the Times<\/em> (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1989; reprint, 2001), 161-62.]\n\nYou don\u2019t bring a Roman Catholic, a Mormon, a Muslim, into an evangelical church before the assembled saints of God and give people the impression that we\u2019re going to have an ecumenical dialogue and find some kind of middle ground.\u00a0 That would be like trying to do geometry problems with people that don\u2019t accept the principles of geometry.\u00a0 You don\u2019t do geometry problems with people that don\u2019t accept the laws of geometry; that\u2019s a waste of time.\u00a0 So in the same way, to have true dialogue within the church about areas of disagreement, and there are some, you do that amongst people that already accept the fundamentals of Christianity.\u00a0\u00a0 And you see, this is what\u2019s being denied in this ecumenical dialogue mentality.\n\nI have no interest at all, I have zero interest in dialoguing with a Muslim.\u00a0 What I want to do is I want to proclaim the gospel so that that Muslim can get saved.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do.\u00a0 But the ecumenical mindset of people like James White, and it was sort of shocking to watch him do this because he\u2019s had a long career as a very conservative guy, defending conservative theology.\u00a0 But to go into that ecumenical mindset is to defy what God said the church is.\n\nEverybody today is into dialogue; it\u2019s almost like Jesus said go into the world and dialogue.\u00a0 He never said that, did He? \u00a0He says \u201cgo into the world and preach the gospel.\u201d\u00a0 Now if you see something slightly different than I do and you agree with the fundamentals of Christianity and I agree with the fundamentals of\u00a0 Christianity, yeah, then that\u2019s the appropriate place for dialogue.\u00a0 But not amongst people that don\u2019t even agree on the fundamentals.\n\nAnd this is why 2 John 9-11, and I\u2019ll close with this.\u00a0 It says, \u201cFor many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as<\/em> coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 9 is where I wanted to focus, 9-11, \u201cAnyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. [10] \u00a0<\/sup>If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching,\u201d what teaching?\u00a0 The fundamentals of Christianity.\u00a0 Look at this, \u201cdo not receive him into your<\/em> house.<\/u>\u201d now let me ask you a question.\n\nWhere did the early church meet?\u00a0 You don\u2019t have cathedrals and stained glass windows and church buildings in the first century.\u00a0 Those came later; John is addressing first century audience when he says \u201cdo not bring him into your house\u201d what he\u2019s saying is you don\u2019t give people who don\u2019t accept the fundamentals of geometry access to the lectern in a church.\u00a0 You don\u2019t give people who do not accept the fundamentals of Christian a pulpit by which they can expound their abhorrent ideas.\u00a0 You don\u2019t give them a Sunday School class; you don\u2019t let them set out their own literature on the table that people can take on the way out.\u00a0 And by the way, we\u2019ve had Muslims come here and put their literature out and they do it very sneaky because they masquerade it to look exactly like our literature, same gift bag to a T.\u00a0 So you get the idea that we\u2019ve sort of been monitored a little bit.\u00a0 And a lot of times we haven\u2019t discovered it until later.\u00a0 So if we were just to say well, go ahead and put out your literature because we\u2019re all broad minded\u2026 well, God would be saying you\u2019re so broad minded your brain just leaked out.\u00a0 You don\u2019t give people who don\u2019t accept the rules of Christianity access to anything.\u00a0 And you don\u2019t do it in the name of compassion for them.\u00a0 And you don\u2019t do it in the name of the need to evangelize them.\u00a0 What you do is you give them the gospel.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s disappearing, is confrontational evangelism.\n\nAnd then John says, \u201cand do not give him a greeting;\u201d why not?\u00a0 Verse 11, \u201c\u00a0<\/sup>for the one who gives him a greeting\u201d that would be a greeting, money, a pulpit, an audience, look at what it says, \u201cparticipates<\/u> in his evil deeds.\u201d\u00a0 When you give to a ministry you don\u2019t give to them, you give through them.\u00a0 That\u2019s what God says.\u00a0 You can do it for good to a ministry that\u2019s bearing fruit in God but the moment you get into an ecumenical mindset or you start subsidizing an entity that doesn\u2019t agree with the fundamentals of Christianity is the moment you just participated in their evil deeds.\u00a0 Now why would John, Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones and all these people say this type of thing?\u00a0 Because the church is the pillar and support of the truth.\u00a0 That\u2019s why.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s sort of a modern day flushing out of what that metaphor means.\n\nAnd I\u2019m really sad that we\u2019re out of time because no doubt I provoked some questions but we\u2019ll try to get to those next time.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for these metaphors and what they communicate about the high calling that we have today in the church.\u00a0 Help us to walk these things out and bless our worship service, time of communion and fellowship that follows. We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said \u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t