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Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located in

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beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship Ministries

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with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, discipleship

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and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church and other sermons

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from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your host for this

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podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing to you and

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bring you closer to God. Hello and welcome to the P.H.S.A. Podcast. My name is David Bickford. I'm

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the pastor at the Potter's House Church in Salmon Arm and located in beautiful British Columbia.

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And I thank you for joining me today. So my message today is going to be called A Worthy Standard.

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We're going to look at God, Israel and the elect. So our jumping off text today will be Romans 12,

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one through two. And so I want to take a look at before we jump into the text though, the Roman

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Army standards. The signa militaria or the military standards served as landmarks between

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different Roman units serving as rally points in the chaos of battle. The various units that made

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up the Roman Army needed some kind of recognizable symbol to be followed in the confusion of combat.

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So it was very important that the naked eye could see and know what it was for. On the morning of

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19 February 1945, the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions invaded the islands of Iwo Jima as part of General

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MacArthur's island hopping campaign. The small island lies 660 miles south of Tokyo, Japan.

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The 28th Regiment of the 5th Marine Division was ordered to capture the extinct volcano of the

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southern tip of the island named Mount Siribachi. The Marines reached this base, or the base of the

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volcano on the afternoon of 21 February and by nightfall on the next day, the Marines had

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surrounded, had the mountains surrounded. The flag raising earlier on the morning of the 23rd,

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the flag raising was earlier on the morning of the 23rd and the Marines from the Easy Company

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2nd Battalion started to climb the volcano. By 10.30 they had reached the top and erected a small

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American flag. But later that afternoon, six Marines raised a much larger, more visible flag.

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The second flag raising is what is depicted in the monument at Arlington, Virginia.

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So what does this have to do with the Roman Army standards? Well, everybody needs something to

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look towards. Everybody needs something to resonate with and militaries on the battlefield,

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they constantly need to be able to know the direction they're heading. They need to know

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the state of the Army. And so the Marines on Iwo Jima, they needed to be able to understand what

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was happening for both their own morale and to affect negatively the morale of their enemy.

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By seeing the American flag on top of that mountain and by making it a larger flag that

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was more easily recognizable gives great boost in morale or in enthusiasm to those fighting

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on the American side because they can see that success or victory is at hand. Whereas the Japanese

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military, they would see that as defeat, something that is hurting their goals, leading them

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closer towards defeat. So let's look at our scripture that we're going to start with today.

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And again, that's Romans 12, one through two. So if you had the time to look it up,

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you could follow along with me. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,

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to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual

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worship, your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal

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of your mind and by the testing that you may discern what is the will of God and what is good

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and acceptable and perfect. The definition of a standard is a conspicuous object or something

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established by authority, a model or an example. And the definition of worthy is something that is

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valuable, honorable, meritorious, fit or safe, or deserving. So when we think of the text or the

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title of this message being a worthy standard, we are looking for something that is both valuable

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and established by authority, something that is honorable, something that is a model or an example

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for us to look at. And what the American flag meant to those fighting men during the

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battle of Iwo Jima, that is exactly what that embodiment of the flag meant to them, is something

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to be valued to them. It was a worthy standard because it was valuable and established their

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authority on that island. So let's look at in terms of our Christianity, that God himself is the most

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worthy of standards. From the beginning of time, God intended to provide us with this standard

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of himself. A worthy standard to look to as an example, he desired us to be in direct relationship

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with him so that in the beginning we were able to commune with him directly and in the Garden of

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Eden before sin entered and polluted our world, the standard was God himself and he was the most

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worthy of standards. We know that God had a direct relationship with man because of Genesis 3,

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8 through 9. It says, the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord as he was walking in the

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garden. In the cool of the day, they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden,

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but the Lord God called to the man, where are you? It was at this time that sin had just entered

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into the world, we can no longer be directly in the presence of God because of our first sin. God

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not wanting man to be separated from forever, you know, from his presence. The whole Bible, both old

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and new, is part, is God's plan to bring man back into that direct relationship with him.

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The entirety of the Bible is focused on this initial first sin,

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has disrupted the goal that God wanted for man, so he has created

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a way for us to come back into relationship with him. But just like Adam and Eve needed a covering

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to hide their nakedness, we too need something to cover our sin. And so God accomplished that

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in Christ, when Christ died for our sins and then rose again to bring us back into relationship with

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God. God uses many standards. The rainbow, for example, is a sign of God's covenant that he will

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never again destroy the earth by flood. You can see that in Genesis 9.13. The placement of the

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twelve stones in the River Jordan to remind the Israelites of the crossing that God had provided

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them as a sign in a memorial in Joshua 4.3-7. So another standard that was used

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by God was actually the nation of Israel itself. God's promise to Abraham and his descendants,

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the Israelites, were meant to be a standard or a focal point for all humanity, and to this day,

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they are still meant to be that in large part. A small group of people,

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they are still meant to be that in large part. A small group that can never be overlooked for even

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through the ages and everything they've gone to, they are still God's chosen people.

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In Genesis 12.1-3, it says, Now the Lord said to Abraham, Go from your country, your kindred,

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and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation.

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I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who

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bless you and him who dishonors you. I will curse, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

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This was God's purpose for Israel. His purpose was to use Israel as a blessing

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for all other nations and all other peoples.

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An example of God's never-ending love for his people, his mercy and his dedication to those

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who will turn to him as their father. God repeats this promise again to Abraham and his descendants

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throughout the Old Testament. You can see it repeated in Genesis 13, 14-17, again in Genesis

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15, 18-21, again and again and again in chapters 17, 18, 28, and on. You see God promise this

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covenant relationship with Israel, with Abraham's descendants. It becomes a theme of Israel's

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psalmist and the prophets in Psalm 2, verses 1-12 and in Psalm 22, verse 27.

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All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families and nations will

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bow down before him. Isaiah brings this up in chapter 25, verses 6-8, again later in chapter 42

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and on. Micah brings it up in chapter 4, verses 2-3. The God of Israel is the God of all nations,

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and will therefore bless the people of all nations. Even though Israel routinely did not live up to

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the expectations that God still kept his promise to them, and to this day they are still an example

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to us of God's never-failing love. That does not mean bad things are not going to happen.

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It means that God will never leave us. He will always be looking for ways to bring us back into

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relationship with him. During the time of the exile in Jeremiah, we can read from Jeremiah 29,

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4-7, it says this, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have

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sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat

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their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives from your sons and give

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your daughters into marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not

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decrease. It's a good one to keep in mind for today, do not decrease. But seek the welfare of

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the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare

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you will find your welfare. That's a good thing for Christians to grab ahold of right there.

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It says for us not to decrease. That means you are meant to have kids and to be bountiful

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and increase. But not only that, but it says to seek the welfare of the city where you live in.

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Even as an exile and as Christians, we're all citizens of heaven and we're emissaries of that

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kingdom here on earth. So when we are in these places that have fallen into much depravity,

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it's important for us in Christian kindness to remember to pray and intercede on those places

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where we live to the Lord on its behalf. Israel used many standards to remind them of these

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standards, to remind them of the important covenant relationship they had with God.

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Moses had his 10 commandments. The judges are tied to repentance. So Israel would falter

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and they would end up in some sort of calamity and then God would raise up a judge. And the judge

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would be able to use the covenant relationship to bring people back into repentance and right

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relationship with their Lord and God would free them. And eventually even the kings and the

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prophets were used as a guide on or a standard for the people of Israel to live to. Now, as we know,

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not a lot of the kings ended up being good kings, but there's always King David, King Solomon. There

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were kings that were standards. And that brings me, and it's a bit of a shorter message today,

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but it brings me my next point, which is we, the elect, the promises fulfilled in Christ.

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And that's something we have to remember as, you know, as I, as I preach to you today,

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is that the promises of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Christ. Why does the New Testament

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start out with genealogies in Matthew one versus one through 17? That is to tie the standards of

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Israel to the promise of Christ. Christ becomes our highest and most worthy of standards. And it's

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through that promise that we've been grafted into the covenant with God and Israel. We have been

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made part of God's promise through his son, Jesus. In Romans 11, verses 17 through 22, it says this,

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if some of the branches have been broken off and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted

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in among others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself

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to be superior to those other branches. If you do consider this, you do not support the root,

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but the root supports you. You will say then, branches were broken off so that I could be

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grafted in. Granted, but they were broken off because of unbelief. And you stand by faith.

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And you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the

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natural branches, he will not spare you either. This is something we need to take into our hearts.

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We are grafted in because of God's grace.

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We need to remember that there's a standard to live up to. Now, I don't stand here today to

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tell you that you have to be perfect to be Christian. Far from it, we are saved by grace

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through the blood of the Lamb. But that doesn't mean that God stopped providing us standards to

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try to live up to. And to be Christian is to be Christ-like. And our emphasis should be on

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becoming more like Christ, not more like our individual selves. Now, I know that's going to

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rub a lot of people the wrong way because I'm an individual and I want to do what I want to do.

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You can battle that with your own salvation, but the Word of God tells us that we are meant to be

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more like Christ. We are meant to move in that direction, not our own direction, but in Christ's

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direction. Peter writes a letter to the Christians as an introduction and he calls them exiles.

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1 Peter 1.1. We live as exiles, our citizenship is in heavens,

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and heaven, and we know that Philippians 3.20. And until Christ returns, we continue in this

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cultural exile living here on earth. We must also be an example and a standard to sacrifice

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because now we move from looking at the standards of God, of Israel, and then of Christ to now

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we have to make ourselves a standard so that others will also find their way to Christ.

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In our text, Romans 12, one through two, again it says,

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I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as living sacrifices,

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holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,

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but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, by the testing you may discern what is the will

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of God and what is good and acceptable and perfect. We need to focus in on humble service

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in the body of Christ. You could see that in Romans 12, three through eight.

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We also need to present ourselves in kindness to our neighbors. We have to have

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love in action. And you could see that in Romans 12, nine through 21. In Romans 13, eight through

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10, it says, love fulfills the law. Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to

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love one another. For whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments you shall not

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commit adultery, you should not murder, you should not steal, you shall not covet, and whatever other

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command there may be are summed up in this one command. Love your neighbor as yourself.

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Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of law. So I've heard this

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recently and it resonates with me and I want to share with you is the fact that

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Jesus says to sum up all the commandments that love your neighbor.

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So he tells us that that is such a critically important thing and what love really is is a

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commitment. It's a commitment to do right. It's a commitment to do no harm.

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But he also tells us that with the great commission to preach the gospel.

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So you have to remember that there's a standard to abide by. You love

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by showing that you're standing, but not partaking

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in the fallen nature of man, but rather in kindness and gentleness and meekness.

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Being there for your neighbor, being there for your even your enemy.

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We are called to be the standard. So what do we have to do?

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Well, first, we must repent of our sins, accept Christ as our savior.

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That's the first thing is understanding that you're not perfect. That's what that means.

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No man has ever you live the life pure of any sin outside of Jesus Christ.

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So that understanding and if you really understand that, you're not perfect.

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So that understanding and if you really think about it, there's a lot of people get hung up on

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this. I think, well, I'm not a sinner. Well, have you ever told a lie? Have you ever had

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in what you'd even consider an evil thought, a negative thought that you kind of thought about

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and dwell on a little long because Christ tells us that if if a man even looks at a woman in lust,

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he is committed adultery. So therefore, we know as Christians that the human heart is wicked

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above all things. I know the world wants to tell you to look into the inner light that's in you,

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but I would contest that and say when you look at human history, whenever man or woman,

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you know, mankind or looks internal to themselves and does only what they feel is right for

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themselves, it doesn't turn out well for society.

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Because humanity is falling. So if you ever had a speeding ticket, if you ever jaywalked,

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if you ever broken a law of any kind, you ever said a mean thing to somebody, well, then you've

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fallen. And that is evident in your action. It doesn't mean that you're the worst person on the

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planet. It just means that that's evidence of sin that's in your life. And so you have to repent

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of that sin, except Jesus Christ, your Savior, because what that means is you're saying, I want

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to do better. I want to live to a higher standard. That's what it means. And Christ is the highest

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of standards. So you accept Christ as your Savior, because he intercedes for you on behalf of the

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Father. This is what brings us back into that direct relationship of God the Father through

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Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We must live a life that is an example to the society we

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live in. We are no longer citizens of this world, but rather of heaven. We are no longer citizens

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of this world, but rather of heaven. We are emissaries to a fallen world. This doesn't mean

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that we rebel against all of society, but rather we live like the Israelites in Babylon that we

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read about in Jeremiah. We do the right things because they're right. We live according to the

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biblical standard because it's right. We don't partake in the wickedness of the world, but we

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stand as salt to the world. In our text from Romans, and I'll end with this, it says,

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I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercy of God to present your bodies as living sacrifice,

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holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. And I emphasize this as my closing.

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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,

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by the testing that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

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We all have standards we live by. You might be living by the standards of this world.

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You might have made your own standards up that you hold yourself to, but then you have other

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standards you hold others to. Your standards for others might be way up here, but your standards

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for yourself may be way down here. The hard part about being a Christian is that Christ says our

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standards are up here. Now we're saved by grace, but we're constantly shooting for that standard

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that's way up there. That's the struggle of Christianity, but that is also the beautifulness,

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the beauty of grace, because you don't have to be perfect to be saved, but in salvation you strive

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for perfection. So with that, if I could have you're not driving every head bowed, every eye closed,

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and I just give you that invitation again that if you're not saved, you can signify that in

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your spirit and you can repeat this prayer after me and say, Dear Lord God, I know that I'm a sinner,

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but I know that your son Jesus Christ died for me and I repent, I turn from my sins,

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and I accept Jesus as my Savior and I give my life to him. And Jesus, mighty name, I thank you for

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your salvation. Amen. Simple prayer, very powerful. If this message is resonated with you today,

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I just appreciate it if you reach out and say something. I thank you for the time that you've

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given me today and I look forward to the next message and I hope that you're blessed this week.