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The Distinctive Qualities of the True Christian, Part 3 (Philippians 33) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

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  Speaker 1: Shall we open our Bibles together to Philippians chapter 3,
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  Speaker 1: as this morning we continue in the examination of the
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  Speaker 1: opening three verses of this great chapter. We have entitled
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  Speaker 1: this section, The Distinctive Qualities of the True Christian. And
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  Speaker 1: that is such a very, very important subject. Christianity has
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  Speaker 1: always been centered around the gospel of Jesus Christ. It
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  Speaker 1: has always been centered around the message of salvation. The
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  Speaker 1: heart and soul of the New Testament is the gospel
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  Speaker 1: of grace, the gospel which saves men from sin, death,
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  Speaker 1: and hell, which makes them children of God and heirs
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  Speaker 1: of heaven. That is our message. And, of course, the
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  Speaker 1: saving gospel message which we proclaim is based on the
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  Speaker 1: finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: is the ringing theme of the New Testament. You look
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  Speaker 1: into the Gospels and what is the Gospel record? It
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  Speaker 1: is the record of Jesus Christ, the one who came
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  Speaker 1: and who lived and who died and who rose again.
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  Speaker 1: And that record is given to us, says John in
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  Speaker 1: the fourth Gospel, that we might believe that Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: the Christ and that in believing we might have life
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  Speaker 1: through His name. When you come to the book of Acts,
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  Speaker 1: what do you have? You have the proclamation of the
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  Speaker 1: gospel of Christ. And in its proclamation is the extension
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  Speaker 1: of the church, starting in Jerusalem and extending to Samaria
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  Speaker 1: and extending to the uttermost parts of the world. Then
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  Speaker 1: when you come to the epistles, what is the theme
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  Speaker 1: of the epistles? Whether it's Paul or whether it's James
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  Speaker 1: or whether it's Peter or whether it's John or whether
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  Speaker 1: it's Jude, every writer is extolling the virtues of the gospel,
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  Speaker 1: elucidating the elements of the gospel, enriching our understanding of
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  Speaker 1: the gospel that Jesus Christ has come into the world
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  Speaker 1: to save sinners. When you come to the book of Revelation, again,
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  Speaker 1: you have the focus on the culmination of the gospel
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  Speaker 1: in the exalted Christ taking His place as King of
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  Speaker 1: kings and Lord of lords. You have in the book
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  Speaker 1: of Revelation further expansion of the elements of the gospel
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  Speaker 1: as we see the Lamb of God in a new
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  Speaker 1: setting before the throne of God, as we see the
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  Speaker 1: Savior gathered with the redeemed in glory yet to come.
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  Speaker 1: So from the Gospels, through the book of Acts, through
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  Speaker 1: the epistles, and out into Revelation, to the conclusion of
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament, the theme is always the saving gospel
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. That's the heart and soul of New
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  Speaker 1: Testament teaching. And that is precisely why that as over
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  Speaker 1: the years we teach through primarily the New Testament, we
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  Speaker 1: are constantly intersecting on the significance and the meaning of
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  Speaker 1: the gospel. We are not surprised then that it is
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  Speaker 1: a constant theme in this ongoing exposition of God's revelations.
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  Speaker 1: But having said all of that, I want to note
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  Speaker 1: for you that there is a corollary theme as well.
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  Speaker 1: There is another thread that runs through the whole of
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament and that has to do with this
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  Speaker 1: fact that salvation must be assessed as to its reality.
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  Speaker 1: The message is salvation. But following close on the heels
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  Speaker 1: of that is a very constant occupation of the New
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  Speaker 1: Testament writers by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with
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  Speaker 1: the matter of who is a real believer and who
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  Speaker 1: might be deceived. It starts all the way back with
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  Speaker 1: John the Baptist. When John the Baptist confronts the religious
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  Speaker 1: leadership of Jerusalem, those who have come down from the
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  Speaker 1: Temple Mount to assess what John is doing, those who
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  Speaker 1: claim to know God and be the people of God, yea,
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  Speaker 1: the favorites of God. He says to them, let me
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  Speaker 1: see the fruit of your life. To find out whether
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  Speaker 1: your motives are right and whether there is genuine repentance,
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  Speaker 1: show me the fruit that is fit for repentance. Again,
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  Speaker 1: calling into question the fact that someone who believes they
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  Speaker 1: are right with God might not be. There was a
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  Speaker 1: genuineness question then that was posed by John the Baptist.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't much further into the first gospel of Matthew
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is given in which
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  Speaker 1: in chapter 7 He says, there will come a day
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  Speaker 1: when many people will say, Lord, Lord. We have prophesied
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  Speaker 1: in your name, and we've done many wonderful works in
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  Speaker 1: your name, and we've cast out demons in your name.
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  Speaker 1: And he will say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
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  Speaker 1: I never knew you. Again, Jesus himself pointing to the
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  Speaker 1: fact that there are people who think they know him,
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  Speaker 1: think they serve him, think they represent him, but are deceived.
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  Speaker 1: You come into the 13th chapter. of Matthew and he
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  Speaker 1: gives parables and in those parables you find there are
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  Speaker 1: some people who appear to have a legitimate response to
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  Speaker 1: the gospel but they wither away and die. There are
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  Speaker 1: some people who appear to have a legitimate response to
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  Speaker 1: the gospel, but they love the world and the things
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  Speaker 1: of the world too much to yield their lives to
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  Speaker 1: Christ in a genuine way and they fall away. You
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  Speaker 1: have the very clear description that where God sows wheat,
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  Speaker 1: the enemy comes and sows tares. Where God plants the true,
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  Speaker 1: the enemy puts the false. You come into the book
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  Speaker 1: of Acts and you aren't very far into the book
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  Speaker 1: of Acts before you meet a man. who claims to
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  Speaker 1: be a believer in Jesus Christ, and we shall see
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  Speaker 1: him in a few moments this morning, but who in
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  Speaker 1: fact is not a true believer in Jesus Christ. He
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  Speaker 1: is deceived and would be a deceiver. We're not surprised
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  Speaker 1: at such a man, for we have already encountered Judas.
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  Speaker 1: You come into the epistles and you find that it
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  Speaker 1: is of great concern to the writers of the epistles
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  Speaker 1: that there be an understanding of the genuine reality of salvation.
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  Speaker 1: So the apostle Paul, for example, takes on those who
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  Speaker 1: say they know God but do not really know God.
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  Speaker 1: He writes about them in Romans. He writes about them
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  Speaker 1: in Galatians. And then you find that John the Apostle
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  Speaker 1: is eminently concerned about who is a real Christian and
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  Speaker 1: who is not. In fact, the epistle of 1 John
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  Speaker 1: is a series of tests. Those who are true Christians,
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  Speaker 1: he says in chapter 1, don't deny sin, they acknowledge it.
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  Speaker 1: Those who are true Christians, he says in chapter 2,
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  Speaker 1: walk the way Jesus walked, love their brothers, obey the word,
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  Speaker 1: hate the world. In chapter 3, he says true Christians
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  Speaker 1: do not continue over and over again to practice sin.
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  Speaker 1: In chapter 4, he says true Christians are characterized by
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  Speaker 1: their love for God and their love for one another.
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  Speaker 1: And then in chapter 5, he gives the thesis for
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  Speaker 1: his epistle. Verse 13, these things I have written to
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  Speaker 1: you who believe in the name of the Son of
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  Speaker 1: God in order that you may know that you have
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  Speaker 1: eternal life. This is an assurance promise. It is designed
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  Speaker 1: for those who believe to know they have eternal life.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, to provide tests by which you can
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  Speaker 1: measure your salvation. By the way, the gospel of John
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  Speaker 1: also has a thesis in chapter 20 verse 31. These
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  Speaker 1: things are written in order that you might believe. So
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  Speaker 1: the gospel of John is written to unbelievers in order
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  Speaker 1: that they might believe. The epistle of John is written
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  Speaker 1: to believers in order that they might know that their
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  Speaker 1: faith is real. And so you see then these two
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  Speaker 1: themes in the Scripture, the gospel and the reality of
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  Speaker 1: salvation running right along behind it. You come, for example,
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  Speaker 1: to the epistle of James, and James offers tests of
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  Speaker 1: genuine faith. The first one is perseverance in trials in
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  Speaker 1: chapter 1. And then he discusses the matter of blame
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  Speaker 1: in temptation. A true believer accepts the responsibility for his
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  Speaker 1: own sin. False ones would tend to blame God, very
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  Speaker 1: much like John chapter 1, denying sin. In this case,
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  Speaker 1: denying one as the source of temptation. James discusses the
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  Speaker 1: fact that true believers have a proper response to the
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  Speaker 1: Word of God. He discusses the fact that true believers
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  Speaker 1: are impartial in their love, they're righteous in their behavior,
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  Speaker 1: James chapter 2. Their tongue will manifest their heart, chapter 3.
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  Speaker 1: In chapter 4, James discusses the fact that true Christians
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  Speaker 1: don't love the world, they're at enmity with the world.
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  Speaker 1: Their whole involvement with the system will reveal where they
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  Speaker 1: are spiritually. And so whether you're talking about James or
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  Speaker 1: John or Paul or even Peter, who also is concerned
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  Speaker 1: to elicit a genuine faith, or whether you're talking about Jude,
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  Speaker 1: who is very concerned about the false among the true,
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  Speaker 1: who are polluting the church, or whether you're talking about
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  Speaker 1: the book of Revelation, where you have a church that
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  Speaker 1: has a name that it lives, but in reality is dead,
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  Speaker 1: and where you have people who say they're Christians, but
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  Speaker 1: Christ will spew them out of his mouth, All through
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament, you have this concurrent relationship duality, the
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  Speaker 1: gospel and the measure of true salvation. And those two
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  Speaker 1: things run along from the beginning to the end of
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament. It is thus, then, our lot in
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  Speaker 1: studying the New Testament to constantly becoming face-to-face with this issue.
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  Speaker 1: Not only the issue of the gospel, but the issue
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  Speaker 1: of who is a true believer. That, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: is the precise issue in Philippians chapter 3. It is
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  Speaker 1: the exact issue to which the Apostle Paul is addressing
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  Speaker 1: his attention. In verse 2, he speaks of the false circumcision,
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  Speaker 1: the religious Judaizing Jews, and he says they are dogs,
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  Speaker 1: they are evil workers, and they are the mutilation. And
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  Speaker 1: we went into that last time. He contrasts in verse
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  Speaker 1: 3 the true circumcision, the real believers who are marked
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  Speaker 1: as those who worship in the Spirit of God and
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  Speaker 1: glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Again,
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  Speaker 1: we can see very clearly that the Apostle Paul is
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  Speaker 1: concerned about spiritual reality. Back in chapter 1 verse 28,
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  Speaker 1: the whole matter of true salvation is brought up as
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  Speaker 1: he mentions the opponents and speaks of their destruction but
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  Speaker 1: the salvation of the true believers. Here he elucidates a
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  Speaker 1: little more on that same subject in verses 2 and 3.
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  Speaker 1: Now all of that to say this. It is over
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  Speaker 1: and over and over again the lot of a Bible
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  Speaker 1: student in the New Testament to have to come to
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  Speaker 1: grips with this issue, which obviously in my mind says this,
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  Speaker 1: God is eminently concerned that the lost become saved, and
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  Speaker 1: He is equally concerned that no one be deceived about
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  Speaker 1: the reality of their spiritual conditions. because there are many
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  Speaker 1: who believe that they're in a right relationship with God,
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  Speaker 1: when in fact, they're not. They're not. In 2 Corinthians 13, 5,
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  Speaker 1: you have sort of a summation of all of this.
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  Speaker 1: Paul writes,' Test yourselves to see if you are in
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  Speaker 1: the faith.' Examine yourselves, or do you not recognize this
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  Speaker 1: about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed
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  Speaker 1: you fail the test? Imagine, he is saying, can you
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  Speaker 1: really recognize that Jesus Christ is in you? Can you
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  Speaker 1: put yourself to the test and come to that assurance?
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  Speaker 1: You must. You must test yourself. You must examine yourself.
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  Speaker 1: How do you do that? Well, as I said, starting
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  Speaker 1: with John the Baptist, fruits of repentance, all the way
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  Speaker 1: out to Revelation, where you have the characteristics of a
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  Speaker 1: church that lives and the characteristic of a church that
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  Speaker 1: says it lives but doesn't live. You have this long
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  Speaker 1: and continually repeated list of marks and characteristics and qualities
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  Speaker 1: by which we can assess our spiritual condition. It is
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  Speaker 1: not enough to just preach the gospel in its simplicity
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  Speaker 1: and majesty and beauty and assume that everyone's response to
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  Speaker 1: that is sufficient or right or God-ordained. We must examine.
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  Speaker 1: And so the New Testament is loaded with the tests
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  Speaker 1: for a true Christian. Now would you please note just
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  Speaker 1: by way of brief review. The Apostle Paul was preaching
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  Speaker 1: the gospel of salvation by grace through faith, plus or
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  Speaker 1: minus nothing. He was preaching Christ crucified and faith in
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  Speaker 1: Christ as the means by which the gift of grace
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  Speaker 1: was received. He was preaching the gospel of grace, no
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  Speaker 1: works at all whatsoever involved. And as he moved around
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  Speaker 1: and preached that and established churches, He was being followed
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  Speaker 1: by some Jews. And these Jews were of a mind
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  Speaker 1: to believe that, yes, Christ and His death and resurrection
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  Speaker 1: is important. But God will not accept you, even though
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  Speaker 1: you believe in Christ, and even though you believe He
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  Speaker 1: died and rose again, God will not accept you unless
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  Speaker 1: you are circumcised. And if you're a woman, you believe
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  Speaker 1: in the right of circumcision, which can only be done
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  Speaker 1: to a man. But you must affirm physical circumcision, surgical circumcision,
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  Speaker 1: because that's the mark of God's people. Secondly, you must
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  Speaker 1: keep all the ceremonies and laws of Moses. So Paul
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  Speaker 1: would establish a church. Into town would come these Jews.
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  Speaker 1: They would be accepted because they would affirm Christ. They
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  Speaker 1: would affirm the gospel. And then they would say, however,
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  Speaker 1: that's not enough. You have to be circumcised and you
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  Speaker 1: have to keep the law of Moses. It reached such
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  Speaker 1: a pinnacle that it became the major concern of the
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  Speaker 1: Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 as we saw last week.
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  Speaker 1: Major issue. So you had people on the one side
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  Speaker 1: who were saying salvation is by grace and works. God
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  Speaker 1: does His part in Christ. You do your part by
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  Speaker 1: being circumcised and keeping Mosaic law. And on the other hand,
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  Speaker 1: you had those who said salvation is by grace through faith,
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  Speaker 1: plus and minus nothing. No works at all. No circumcision.
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  Speaker 1: No ceremonies. No necessity to please God by your own merit,
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  Speaker 1: your own effort. So you had those two views. Paul
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  Speaker 1: takes the view of the Judaizers and he identifies it
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  Speaker 1: in verse 2. He calls them dogs, evil workers, and
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  Speaker 1: the mutilation. Very clear terms. They are dogs. Why? Unclean outcasts.
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  Speaker 1: They are evil workers. Why? Because they think they're doing good,
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  Speaker 1: they're working good, but the fact is they're working evil
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  Speaker 1: because they're attempting to please God by their own self-effort.
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  Speaker 1: And he calls them the mutilation because they do not
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  Speaker 1: have a true cleansing which circumcision symbolized. All they have
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  Speaker 1: is a physical surgery that's nothing more than a mutilation.
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  Speaker 1: He really lets them have it. They are not real.
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  Speaker 1: They are not genuine. They are dogs outcasts. They are
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  Speaker 1: workers of evil, not good. Everything they do is filthy rags.
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  Speaker 1: They cannot attain to God by their own effort. And
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  Speaker 1: they are nothing more than an outwardly mutilated group rather
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  Speaker 1: than an inwardly cleansed group. But on the other hand,
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  Speaker 1: he comes then in verse 3 to the true circumcision.
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  Speaker 1: Now remember, circumcision was always an outward symbol of an
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  Speaker 1: inward reality, and it symbolized the need for a cleansed
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  Speaker 1: life and a cleansed heart. We went over that a
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  Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago. And so he is saying we
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  Speaker 1: are the true circumcision, not the physical, but the spiritually cleansed.
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  Speaker 1: We have been spiritually made clean. And how do we
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  Speaker 1: know the true circumcision? Three things characterize them. Three things.
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  Speaker 1: They worship in the Spirit of God, they glory in
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, and they put no confidence in the flesh.
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  Speaker 1: Those are absolutely monumental things. In fact, it's almost as
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  Speaker 1: if you could take the New Testament list of all
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  Speaker 1: of the tests for true salvation. and make them into
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  Speaker 1: a mountain range. And these three would sort of rise
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  Speaker 1: above as the pinnacles. Paul, under the genius and the
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  Speaker 1: amazing economy of words that is available only to the
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  Speaker 1: infinite mind of the Holy Spirit, has reduced the whole
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  Speaker 1: thing to three statements. Here are the tests, the distinctive
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  Speaker 1: tests of true Christianity. And you will notice that they
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  Speaker 1: do not speak of what you do. They do not
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  Speaker 1: speak of function. They speak of attitude, worship by the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit of God, glory in Christ Jesus, and put no
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  Speaker 1: confidence in the flesh. Those are the things that are
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  Speaker 1: the distinctive qualities of true Christianity. Now, I'm not in
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  Speaker 1: any hurry to get through this. This, I've told you
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  Speaker 1: in the past, is I think my favorite description of
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  Speaker 1: a Christian. It's the description of a Christian that I
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  Speaker 1: like the best because it's the most comprehensive. of any short,
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  Speaker 1: sort of pithy definition. But before we look at these
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  Speaker 1: three characteristics, would you indulge me for just a moment?
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  Speaker 1: When I was back in college and I was learning
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  Speaker 1: forensics and I was learning debate and I was learning
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  Speaker 1: speech and oratory and rhetoric and all of that, they
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  Speaker 1: used to tell us that the best way to make
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  Speaker 1: your point sometimes is to come at it from the negative.
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  Speaker 1: And so may I do that for you this morning?
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  Speaker 1: May I come at this whole thing from a negative
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  Speaker 1: before we get into the particulars of the positive? You say,
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  Speaker 1: what do you mean? This is what I mean. I
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  Speaker 1: want to give to you some characteristics that do not
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  Speaker 1: verify your salvation. All right? Some characteristics that do not
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  Speaker 1: verify the reality of your salvation. You can't look at these.
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  Speaker 1: These are not appropriate characteristics. tests. And I think you
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  Speaker 1: will be surprised. Number one. I'll give you five of them.
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  Speaker 1: Number one. The first inappropriate non-proof of salvation is a
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  Speaker 1: past test. conversion, or suppose, say it this way, a
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  Speaker 1: past supposed conversion event. A past supposed conversion event. Say,
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  Speaker 1: what do you mean by that? I mean that some
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  Speaker 1: people think they're Christians because of some event in the past.
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  Speaker 1: They prayed with a Sunday school teacher. They prayed with
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  Speaker 1: their mother. They prayed with their father. They went forward
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  Speaker 1: in a church service. They signed a card. They were
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  Speaker 1: at a youth meeting and a guy spoke at camp
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  Speaker 1: and they went down and they prayed a prayer or
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  Speaker 1: they knelt by their bed. Some point in the past, well,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I was over there. I was in Northern
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  Speaker 1: California one time in a church and so-and-so and I
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  Speaker 1: prayed the prayer. Okay? No past event of a supposed
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  Speaker 1: conversion is a verifier of true salvation. Let me tell
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  Speaker 1: you what I mean. Now listen very carefully. It is
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  Speaker 1: no proof, it is no proof that a person is
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  Speaker 1: not a Christian because they cannot remember when they were converted.
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  Speaker 1: Did you understand that? It is no proof that a
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  Speaker 1: person is not a Christian because they cannot remember when
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  Speaker 1: they were converted. How many of you do not know
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  Speaker 1: when you were converted as to time and place and date.
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  Speaker 1: Put your hand up. Amazing? They don't have an event.
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  Speaker 1: There was no event. There was no moment in which
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  Speaker 1: in their own mind they knew the time and the
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  Speaker 1: place and the event. Now I would dare say that
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  Speaker 1: those people in large measure were raised in Christian families.
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  Speaker 1: and they came through a process of believing and they
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: do not know that moment in time when they went
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: from not believing to believing because they never did not
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: believe and so they can't nail down that event or
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Some of you people may have lived in a pagan situation.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: You may have been raised in an unsafe family, and
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: maybe at some point you began to be exposed to
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the gospel, and you were more and more exposed to it,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: and you realized one day that you had committed your
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: life to Christ, but you can't necessarily identify the moment
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: in time. because the Lord was taking you through a
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: process of opening your heart to an understanding of the
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Word of God. Listen, I say it again, it is
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: no proof that a person is not a Christian because
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: they don't have an event, because they can't identify a moment.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I can't. There was never a moment when I didn't believe.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I can't nail down the event in my life. And
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: even if there was an event, it wouldn't necessarily mean
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: that I was a Christian, so let me say it
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: that way. Nor is it any proof that a person
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: is a Christian because they had an event. You have
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: to have both of those. Just because you walked an aisle,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: prayed a prayer, signed a card, went to camp, did whatever,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: that in itself is not a proof. Let me give
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: you a classic illustration. Turn in your Bible to Acts
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: chapter 8 verse 9. Now, by the way, let me
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: say this while you're turning to Acts 8. There are
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: conversions that do occur at an event. That's not what
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: I'm saying. But that's not the proof of the conversion.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Look at chapter 8, verse 9. There was a certain
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: man named Simon. Must have been a Jew since that
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: is a Jewish name. He formerly was practicing magic in
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: the city. He was in Samaria. and astonishing the people
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: of Samaria, claiming to be someone great. Now, magic would
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: be probably some demon activity. He may have been a
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: clever deceiver, but I think he was involved in some
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: satanic activity, that his magic was demonic. And everybody from
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the smallest to the greatest, verse 10, were giving attention
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: to him, saying, this man is what is called the
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: great power of God. That's typical of the world. They've
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: got it exactly backwards, right? They think he's of God.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: He's actually of Satan. But he had some tremendous satanic,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: demonic power. And they were, verse 11, giving him attention
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: because he had for a long time astonished them with
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: his magic arts. Now when Philip arrives, now you've got
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: a true man of God. Now the man of Satan
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: is going to be exposed. So you've got a true
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: man of God and the comparison is going to be clear.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: So they believed Philip preaching the good news about the
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ. They
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: were being baptized, men and women alike. Philip was having
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: this tremendous, tremendous response. Now watch verse 13. And even
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Simon himself, what? Believed he had an event. Sometime, someplace,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Philip preaching, Philip preached. He responded. I don't know how
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the format worked, but he had his event. And he
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: was baptized. So Simon could look back and say, I
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: remember the day Philip preached, and I remember the day
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: I heard the message, and I remember the day I
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: prayed the prayer, and I remember the day I was baptized. Right?
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: He had his event. That was his event. And not
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: only that, he continued on with Philip. He followed him.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Philip was continuing to preach and not only that, he
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: was doing signs and great miracles and Simon was observing
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: those and he was constantly amazed. You say, why was
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: he amazed? Because the power of God is infinitely greater
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: than the power of Simon or the power of Satan.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: And what he was seeing was not the blunted, depraved
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: wonders of a vile being, Satan and his demons, but
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the pure, unadulterated, majestic power of the living God flowing
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: through Philip. And the level of achievement was way beyond
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: anything Simon had ever experienced or accomplished. Now, go down
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: to verse 18. The apostles lay hands on these people
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: that believe, and they received the Holy Spirit. And Simon,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: verse 18, saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: laying on of the hands of the apostles. He offered
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: them money. And he said, give me this authority or
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: power as well so that everyone on whom I lay
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. I want that. Man,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: can I get rich with that? That's the greatest trick
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: I've ever seen. Why? Well, what happened was the apostles
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: were laying hands on these new believers, and I am
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: convinced without any equivocation that they began to speak in
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: languages just like they did on the day of Pentecost
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: because that was the whole point, to associate them with
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: the same church that was born on Pentecost. These were
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: half-breed Samaritans and they were one with the Jews in Christ.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: And so when they began to do this miraculous speaking
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: of languages and this phenomenon occurred there, and it may
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: have even been a phenomenon like Acts 2, we don't know.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: with the Spirit descending in that kind of manner. It
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: doesn't say that, but there was enough there to convince
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Simon that this was some kind of power. And so
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: he said, I'll pay anything for that power. I'll pay
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: anything for that power. Now it becomes apparent to us
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: that the reason Simon had an event was because he
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: wanted to be able to do bigger tricks, right? He
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: wanted the magic. The motive was wrong. Now look what happens.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Peter is a very confrontive guy. Peter looks at him,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: verse 20, and says, may your silver perish with you.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Now what does that tell you? Where was Simon headed?
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: What does perish imply? Hell, your money perish with you.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Follow this, because you thought you could obtain the gift
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: of God with money. You have no part or portion
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: in this matter. Your heart is not right before God.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Repent of the wickedness. Pray the Lord, if possible, the
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: intention of your heart may be forgiven you. For I
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: see you are in the gall of bitterness, you are
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: in the bondage of iniquity. Now there's a spiritual characterization
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: of Simon. You want to know what he's like? Here's
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: his spiritual condition. He was going to perish. He thought
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: he could buy the gift of God with money. He
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: had no part and no portion in the true coming
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. His heart was not right before God.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: He was wicked and needed to repent. The intent of
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: his heart was wicked and needed to be forgiven. He
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: was in the gall of bitterness and he was a
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: slave of iniquity. Now you tell me, was he a Christian?
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: No way. Did he have an event? Yes. The event...
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: in isolation from the life proves nothing. That is why
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: I say it is no proof that a man is
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: not a Christian because he can't point to an event,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: nor is it a proof that a man is a
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Christian because he had an event. And yet, I tell you,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: the church is filled with people who are banking salvation
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: on a past event. Particularly do parents find themselves saying, well,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: I know my son or daughter is living an undisciplined life,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: a godless life, rejecting the Lord, rejecting the church, but
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I remember when they received Christ at the age of so-and-so.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: That event doesn't mean anything unless it was a real change.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: And if there was a real change, then you don't
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: need to look at the event because you can see
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: the change. And what do you look for? Do they
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: worship God? Do they glory in Christ Jesus? Do they
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: reject the flesh? See? You don't look at the event.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: A moment of believing, whatever kind of believing it was,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: didn't save Simon. Let me give you a second. Non-proof.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Living by a moral code. Living by a moral code.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: People say, oh, so-and-so must be a good Christian. Very,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: very moral person. Listen, many people are moral. Many people.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Many people live by high standards of honesty, charity, kindness, morality, ethics.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Many people. Look at the Mormons. Very ethical on the surface.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Very moral. Very charitable. Very kind. Very honest, ostensibly. That's
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: what they propagate. A lot of people like that. There
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: are a lot of unsaved people in liberal churches who
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: are very compassionate, very ethical. They are set to live
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: according to the Ten Commandments. Many of them trying to
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: live according to the Sermon on the Mount. Live out
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: the quote-unquote golden rule. Many ethical people living by a
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: moral code that in itself does not verify salvation because
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: you can subscribe yourself to a moral code for a
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: multiplicity of reasons, right? Fear. Some people live by a
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: moral code because they're afraid of God. They're afraid of God.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Some people live by a moral code because they want
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: to please their parents. And it's very important that their
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: parents be pleased because they're under their parents. In other words,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: mentally they feel the bondage of parental pressure to live
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: by a certain code. There are some people who live
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: by a moral code because they believe that if they do,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: that'll get them to heaven. or they believe if they do,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: God will reward them somehow in this life by making
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: them rich or famous or successful. There are some people
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: who live by a moral code just to avoid a
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: dirty conscience and guilt. I mean, there could be a
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: lot of reasons for that. But that is not synonymous
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: with salvation because there are so many reasons why people
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: could live and do live by a moral code. Let
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: me give you an illustration of that. Go back to
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Matthew chapter 19. And here you meet a very familiar personality.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: In Matthew chapter 19 and verse 16, here comes a
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: rich young ruler as we know him, and he says
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: in verse 16,' Teacher, what good thing shall I do
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: that I may obtain eternal life?' Now the guy confesses,'
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: I don't have eternal life. I don't have any hope
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: for the future. I'm worried about dying. I don't know
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: where I'm going.' He was not secure. He was afraid
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: of the future.' I want eternal life.' Now, mark it
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: in your mind. He knew he didn't have eternal life.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: The point is this. He hadn't attained what he wanted.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: He hadn't yet attained what he wanted. How had he
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: been trying to attain it? Well, Jesus brings that out.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Because Jesus says to him, if you want to enter
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: into life, in verse 17, keep the commandments. In other words,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: if you want to do it the way you're trying
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: to do it, then just keep the commandments. He says,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: which ones? Jesus said, you shall not commit murder, you
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And the young
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: man said to him, all these things I have kept,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: what am I still lacking? Is that amazing? What he
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: is saying is this, I never murdered anybody, I never
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: committed adultery with anybody, I never stole from anyone, I
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: have not purposely borne false witness against someone, I have
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: done my best to honor my father and my mother,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: and I have tried to love my neighbor as myself.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: I've done all those things. Mark it in your mind.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: He had done all those things, at least to the
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: level that he assessed them, which would not be a
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: true level. He hadn't truly done them, but his deceitful
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: heart would lie to him about what he'd done. But
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: he thought he'd kept it all. That was his goal.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Keep the Ten Commandments. Keep the Ten Commandments. So here
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: he's got a life of keeping the Ten Commandments. He
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: comes to Jesus and says, all this keeping of the
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Ten Commandments, and I'm telling you, I don't have what?
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Eternal life. Because eternal life is not the product of that. Sure,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: He hadn't kept them in their fullness. Jesus said that
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: when I said you shall not commit murder, I meant
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: you shouldn't hate either. That's behind the murder. And when
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: I said you shouldn't commit adultery, I meant that you
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: shouldn't even look on a woman to lust after her.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: You have committed it in your heart. No, He hadn't
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: fully kept those things, but on the surface, He had
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: done His best to keep them all. But he knew
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: he still didn't have eternal life. The point is this,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: you can live by the highest ethical code, the one
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: given in Exodus 20, the very ten commandments of God,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: and still not have eternal life. Because the one does
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: not necessarily mean the other. A moral life didn't save him,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: and yet he was trying to live a moral life
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: in order to get eternal life. So, A past event
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: doesn't assure your salvation and neither does living by a
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: moral code because you could do that for a lot
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: of reasons. A lot of people do. Thirdly, another, I think, misconception,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: another element of this negative approach, what does not verify salvation,
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: is knowledge of the truth. Knowledge of the truth. We
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: used to call it head knowledge. You ever heard that phrase?
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: Head knowledge instead of heart knowledge? There are a lot
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: of people who know the facts about Christ. They know
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the facts about God. They know God is God. They
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: know God is three in one. They know Christ is
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: the Son of God. They know Christ is deity. They
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: know Christ came into the world and did miracles. They
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: know Christ died on the cross. They know that He
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: died a substitutionary death. They know that He rose again
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: on the third day, that He offers salvation by grace.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: And they know all of that in their head, but
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: that's not synonymous with salvation. It's not what you know.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: In fact, the Pharisees and the scribes, like the other
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Jews that I've just mentioned, like Simon, who was looking
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: at an event, like the rich young ruler who was
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: looking at a moral ethical standard, other Jews knew all
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: about Christ from His birth on. They knew everything about Him.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: That's why He says in Matthew 12, you can't be saved.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: You've committed an unpardonable sin. Why? You've seen it all,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: you've heard it all, you've experienced it all, and you
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: won't believe. You have it all in your mind. It's
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: the same thing in Hebrews 6. You've been enlightened. You've
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: tasted the heavenly gift. You've tasted the powers of the
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: age to come. But you won't believe. You won't receive.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: It is not enough to have a head knowledge. Faith
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: without works is what? Dead. And James 2.19, the devils believe,
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: but they tremble. And they're not saved. You can believe
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: it's all true. I've had a friend through the years,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: and for as long as I've known him, and it's
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: probably 25 years, he says, I believe, I believe, I
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: believe it all, but I'm not going to commit my
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: life to it until I'm through enjoying the things that
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I want to enjoy. Head knowledge doesn't mean anything. Because
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: someone talks about Christ, talks about God, knowledge isn't the
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: means of salvation. Head knowledge. Jews had all of that.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: Many people have that. The classic illustration is a man
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: among the twelve. What's his name? Judas. What more information
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: could that man have had in his head? He had
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: it all. He had it all. Three years under the
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: tutelage of the living Son of God. He knew it all.
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: He saw it all. He felt it all. He experienced
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: it all. And he never ever was saved. He went
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: to his own place when he committed suicide. Fourthly, This
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: is another non-proof of salvation. Let's call it religious activity.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: Religious activity, going to church, being baptized, taking communion, or whatever,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: lighting candles, praying beads, doing religious pilgrimages, doing certain prayers,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: staying on your knees, marching here, marching there, whatever it is. Many,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: many people go through complex religious motions and thinking that
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: all of that religious activity equates to salvation. I think
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: the perfect parallel of this is in Matthew 25. You
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: remember you had the ten virgins waiting for the wedding?
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: And when the bridegroom came and went into the chamber
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: to join the bride for all of the wonderful festivities,
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: five of the virgins went in and five had to
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: stay out because five had failed to put what? Oil
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: in their lamps? That's a very graphic picture of Israel,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: of the unpreparedness of Israel. And yet it's amazing that
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: they were prepared up to a point. I mean, they
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: were from a visual viewpoint no different than the other
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: five virgins. In their wedding garb, with the lamp in hand,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: in the right place at the right time, in somewhat
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: similar character, ten virgins, assumes the characterization is somewhat the same.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: But the missing factor was some had an internal quality
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: that others didn't have. That's basically what Jesus is saying there.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: They had oil. Well, oil, some say is the Holy Spirit,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: some say is salvation. What I take it as is
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: simply that salvation, the right to enter the kingdom, which
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: includes the Holy Spirit. Some had all the dress and
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: all the garb and they were there in the right
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: place at the right time but without the reality. It
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: was external and it was not what? Internal. So many
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: like that. So they were left out of the kingdom.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Israel was religious but shut out. Many people today, religious
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: but shut out. There are some churches where there's reality
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: and some churches where there's form and no reality. There
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: are a lot of people who have very religious life,
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: very religious. It's a form of religion without reality. So
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: religious activity isn't the issue. Fifthly, and finally, service in
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: the name of Christ isn't a proof of salvation. Service
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: in the name of Christ isn't a proof of salvation.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Matthew chapter 7, many will say to me, Lord, Lord,
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: done many wonderful works? Have we not cast out demons
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: in your name? And I will say, depart from me,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. Saying you
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: represent Christ is not enough. I'll tell you, there are
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: a lot of people who say they represent Jesus Christ,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: but when their life gets exposed, you ask the question,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: do they? Just because you say you do doesn't mean
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: you do. Just because you preach Christ doesn't mean you
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: really know Christ. There have been a lot of people,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: false people, preaching a true message, right? A lot. A lot. Many,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: many people doing things for God. I hear about it
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: all the time. Another expose this week of some guy
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: with a big-time preacher, well-known to everybody, with a 20-year
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: adulterous affair ongoing. Horrible kind of stuff. On and on
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  Speaker 1: the expose went, page after page after page after page
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  Speaker 1: of the dissolute life. And you say, but he preached Christ.
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  Speaker 1: He preached Christ. Yeah, well, that does not in itself
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  Speaker 1: verify his spiritual condition. So, when you look for the
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  Speaker 1: verification of a person's spiritual condition, where do you look? Well,
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  Speaker 1: Simon had an event, but he wasn't saved. And the
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  Speaker 1: rich man had a high, high moral ethical code which
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  Speaker 1: he lived by, but he wasn't saved. And the Pharisees
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  Speaker 1: and the scribes and Judas saw everything that Christ did,
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  Speaker 1: heard what He said, particularly Judas, and he wasn't saved.
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  Speaker 1: And there were people in the church certainly at Sardis
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  Speaker 1: in Revelation that were doing their religious duty and serving
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  Speaker 1: Christ and thinking they were alive but they were dead.
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  Speaker 1: And there were people in the church at Laodicea who
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  Speaker 1: were doing the same kind of stuff and Christ spit
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  Speaker 1: them out of His mouth. No, there have been lots
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  Speaker 1: of people praying and fasting, giving money, going through religious
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: motions who will never enter the kingdom. Because, you see,
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  Speaker 1: you can have a past spiritual event. You can live
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  Speaker 1: a moral, ethical life because of peer pressure or because
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  Speaker 1: of some motive to gain favor or to avoid judgment.
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  Speaker 1: You can know the gospel in your mind. You can
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  Speaker 1: even believe that it's true. You can be dutiful in
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: your religious ceremonies. You can go to church, get baptized,
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  Speaker 1: take communion, and you can even render service to Christ, preaching,
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  Speaker 1: teaching if need be, and still not be a true Christian.
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  Speaker 1: Does that surprise you? Because, you see, any of those
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  Speaker 1: things can be counterfeit. You can have a counterfeit event.
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  Speaker 1: You can have a totally wrong motive for your moral life.
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  Speaker 1: You can know something to be true in your mind
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  Speaker 1: and never commit your heart to it. And you can
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: carry out external religious service all you want, and your
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: heart cannot be necessarily right with God. And say, well,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: what marks a true Christian? Look at it. Three things.
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  Speaker 1: the true circumcision, worship in the Spirit of God. Listen,
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  Speaker 1: the first thing is an overflowing heart of worship. So
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: if you want to look at your life, don't look,
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: do I attend a service? Have I been baptized? Ask yourself,
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  Speaker 1: does my heart long to glorify the Lord? Do I
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  Speaker 1: love to praise Him and worship Him? Is it my
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: heart's desire to serve Him? We're going to look in
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  Speaker 1: detail at these three things next time. I'm only going
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: to give you a general brush this morning. But the
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: question you want to ask is, what is my attitude
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  Speaker 1: toward God? Because if I'm a Christian, the Spirit is
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: in me, and if the Spirit is in me, then
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: He is prompting me to worship. And so I'll have
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: a heart of adoration and a heart of praise and
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: a heart that longs to serve God. from the inside out.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: So I have to look at my heart. So when
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: the Scripture says, examine yourselves, it starts there in the heart.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: Oh yes, there will be a moral code by which
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: you live and there may have been a real event.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: There was for all of us a time when we
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: were saved even though we don't know it. And we
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  Speaker 1: do have to know the facts and service will be
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: a part of our life, but all of that will
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: flow from the inside. Because we worship God prompted by
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: the Spirit. It's worship on a supernatural level. It's not human.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: It's spiritual. It's energized by the Holy Spirit. So you
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: ask yourself then, do I love to praise God? Do
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: I love to talk with Him? Do I love to
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: learn about Him in His Word? Do I want to
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: serve Him? Oh, sure, sin gets in the way and
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: interrupts that and confuses my mind sometimes, but isn't there
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: something deep within me that longs to praise and worship
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  Speaker 1: and love God, to read His Word, to know more
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: about Him, to serve Him with all my heart? You see,
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: that's the evidence coming from the inside. And the second
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: thing he says, and glory in Christ Jesus. That verb
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: in the Greek, to glory, kaukomenoi, basically means to boast,
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: but it has the idea of a rejoicing, exultant, almost
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: a hilarious kind of boasting. And what it's saying here
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: is that if you're a true Christian, all your boasting,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: all your rejoicing is going to be in Christ because
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: all the credit belongs to Him. So you haven't done
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: anything to earn it. So how do you tell a
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: true Christian? A true Christian gives all the credit to Christ.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: They rejoice in Christ. They're so thankful for Christ. Christ
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: has done it all. Whereas the false religionist wants you
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: and God and everybody else to appreciate what he has done.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: The true Christian wants everyone else to appreciate what Christ
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: has done. Then finally, not only is the true believer
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: characterized by worship, by rejoicing in Christ, but thirdly, by humility. Humility.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: That is the basic attitude of a genuine believer. He
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: puts no confidence in the flesh. Very humbled by the
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: fallen condition of his human flesh. He doesn't trust it.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: He doesn't trust in it. He began in the Spirit,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: and He will continue in the Spirit. He knows that
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: all the good that comes to Him and through Him
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: is by the power of God. He has no confidence
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: in His flesh to please God. He knows it can't.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: So there's a humility there. There's not a pushing of
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: one's merit, of one's achievement, but there's humility. How do
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: you identify a true Christian? Look for one who worships
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: from the heart. That's prompted by the Spirit. Look for
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: one whose glory and joy and boast is all Christ.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: Look for one who, when viewing himself, is humble. Therein
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: are the distinctive qualities of a true Christian. And more
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: detail about them in our next study next Lord's Day.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: Let's pray. We say thank you, Father. Thank you for...
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: your work in Christ, which has made us the true circumcision,
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: who are inwardly cleansed and thus are the true worshipers
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: whom the Father seeks to worship, are those who rejoice
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: only in Christ, only in Christ, and like Paul, find
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: all their glory in the cross, and those who are
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: humbled We know James says that you give grace to
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: those who are humble. Father, help us to look into
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: our own hearts this morning and ask these questions. Do
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: I have a desire to worship God prompted by His Spirit?
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: Do I find myself ever rejoicing in what Christ has
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: done for me? And when I look at myself am
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: I humbled in seeing the sinfulness and the fallenness of
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: my own flesh? Therein are the distinctive marks of a
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: true Christian. And then, Lord, if those things are part
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: of our lives, we can look back and say, yes,
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: that event was real. And yes, I want to live
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: by a moral standard out of love and gratitude and
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: obedience to the one who saved me. And yes, my
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: knowledge has gone from my head to my heart, and
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: I know Christ not as a fact but as a friend.
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: And yes, I long to worship and serve, not to
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: earn anything, but to give glory and to render to
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: God what is due Him. Father, help no one to
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: trust in these five things isolated from these three things.
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: But help us to know that as we examine our
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: hearts to see whether we're in the faith, we must
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: look for a worshiping attitude, a rejoicing in Christ, and
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: humility in our own weakness. Reveal to each person here,
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: O God, their spiritual condition. For those who are genuine,
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: may your Spirit fill their hearts with assurance. May they
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: be overwhelmed with confidence. May they know the joy of
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: the Lord. May they know the assurance that they belong
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: to you. And, O God, for those who in such
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: an examination find themselves inadequate, who don't really worship out
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: of the heart, who don't really glory only in Christ Jesus,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: who are not humbled. Oh, God, save them today. Save them.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: May they pass from death to life. Save them. Reach
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: down into the depth and darkness of their sin and
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: depravity and bring them into your light, your cleansing, your kingdom.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: Save them, Lord. Save them. We'll give you all the
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: praise in Christ's name. Amen. You've been listening to John MacArthur,
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: Bible teacher with Grace to You. For free access to
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: all of John's lessons and a listing of study Bibles
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: and books available for sale, visit Grace to You's website
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: at gty.org. John MacArthur and Grace to You reserve all
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: at gty.org, and it includes instructions for and limitations on
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: duplicating this digital file.