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The Work of Christ - Lesson 5 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Turn in your workbooks to page 41, and under there, the first point there, man's need for Christ's works. And if you looked up Romans 3, 10 to 12, every man is guilty of what six things? What's the first thing that you put down? Somebody. Of what? Not understanding. Was that the first thing you got? It was one of the six. I'm looking for the first one.
• 0:38
  None is righteous. No one is right before God. Why is that? Matthew 5, 48. Whoever had that. Be perfect, therefore shall have. Heavenly Father is perfect. No one's perfect. I mean, we're all... No one's righteous. No one's right before God because God's standard is ultimate perfection. You must be perfect because your Heavenly Father is perfect. What's the second thing that you found in that passage?
• 1:12
  No one understands. Unredeemed man, or Paul calls him the natural man in 1 Corinthians 2.14, has no spiritual capacity to understand God. Who has 1 Corinthians 2.14?
• 1:40
  They're spiritually discerned. The natural man, the unsaved man, can't understand spiritual things. It's just foolishness to him. Because man is darkened in his understanding. Ephesians 4, 17-18. This I say, therefore, in testifying to the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God.
• 2:12
  Okay. They're blind. They can't understand. No one understands. What's the third thing we found in Romans 3, 10-12? There's none righteous. No one understands. And what? No one seeks for God. That's right. No one seeks for God. Men on their own wouldn't want to seek for God. They have hard hearts. They don't want to seek God.
• 2:45
  Man, men only seek God or hunger for God because God seeks them first. John 6, 44. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. If God hadn't put in my heart a desire for him, and it was revealed to me because of my fear of the darkness and of being alone in the dark, and the fear of unknown,
• 3:17
  drawing me to Himself. I wouldn't have sought God. Man does not seek God on his own, but God draws him first and then men seek Him. The fourth thing. None are righteous. No one understands. No one seeks God. Unprofitable. I was looking for one just before that. Say what? No one does good. That's the sixth one I've got down. But those are both there. One more. What? All turned away.
• 3:53
  From God. They have all turned aside. Who have men turned aside from? They've turned aside from God. Unrighteous men don't seek God. They don't have a desire for God. They don't understand spiritual things, as we've talked about. And they've all turned aside from God. Isaiah 53, 6.
• 4:21
  Without God's Spirit drawing us and leading us in our life, the natural man, they're just going to go our own way. We follow our own desires and our own will. And then the fifth one, you said already, is unprofitable. In other words, they've become useless. Why? Because in Ephesians 2.1, how are we described? We are dead. We're useless.
• 4:57
  really do anything. We are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sin. And the sixth one, I think Emma said, no one does good. We're worthless for any good deed. Titus 1.16. Is that Brenda? Okay. Good. Now also on page 40.
• 5:34
  41 is under part 1. B, it says, to what is man a slave? What did you put down in that answer? Anybody? We're a slave to sin. What is sin? Sin is, okay. Anything that takes you away from Christ? Emma? Oh, you learned that at Child Evangelism Fellowship. Good definition. Anything you say or do.
• 6:15
  Sin is anything contrary to God in thought, word, or deed. Do you think, say, or do? In thought, you know, Jesus said, you know, I tell you, if a man even looks at a woman with lust in his heart, he might as well have committed adultery. That's sin against God. That's in thought. In speech, we need to have holy speech.
• 6:41
  Have unholy speech. I was always impressed with Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6 when he was caught up and he had a vision of God's throne room. And his response to God's holiness and that scene of the seraphim crying out continually, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts. His response was, I am a man of unclean lips.
• 7:11
  Woe is me, I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips. So, that's word. And then D's, there are sins of commission and there are sins of omission. Sins of commission is doing something that violates God's law. What's the sin of omission? Knowing what's right to do and not doing it. That's the sin of omission. Right, not doing the right thing.
• 7:47
  And we can sin by just sitting on a rocking chair on a porch and smiling. That could be sin if we're supposed to be doing something else. That's the sin of omission. We talked about those six things. I skipped one paragraph here I wanted to point out. Those six things that show how depraved we are. Total depravity. MacArthur had this in his notes. He said total depravity, and that's...
• 8:17
  I don't know if he even came up with it, but that was a big point on John Calvin. I know he talked about total depravity, and he might not have been the first one to come up with that term. I don't know. Total depravity does not mean that a man is void of any quality that can please God. And it doesn't mean that every person is as bad as he can be. What total depravity means is that every part of man is tainted by sin.
• 8:48
  Our motives, our actions, our desires, every part of man is tainted by sins. And therefore, men are slaves to sin, totally separated from God. A condition in which it is impossible to please God. That's what total depravity means. Any questions on that? It doesn't mean that you're really the lowest scum on the earth. You can be what everyone considers a saint.
• 9:15
  but every part of man is tainted by sin. We are slaves to sin because we are born into sin. And we are slaves to sin. We're not indentured servants. I don't know if you've heard that in the news about the governor of Virginia. They were having all these problems and that. Someone advised him and said, well, don't use the word slave. Use indentured servants.
• 9:47
  Created more flack because an entry servant is... No, they were slaves. They weren't there willingly. Brought to this country willingly. On page 42 now. I just want to walk through this. Will God tolerate sin? Will God assert His holiness and demands conformity to that holiness? Because man is faced with sin. Romans 3.23. I bet someone can quote that. Romans 3.23.
• 10:27
  Okay, Danielle, yeah. All sinning comes short of the glory of God. It means we have sinned. We have God as our enemy before we were saved. James 4 of 4. James wrote, you adulterous people, do you not know that? Friendship with the world means enmity with God. You cannot be friends with God and friends with the world at the same time. Man is subject to the power of Satan. 1 John 5.19.
• 10:57
  John writes, little children, we know that we are from God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. It means we're being helpless to save ourselves. Romans 5.6. Can anybody quote Romans 5.6? Anybody know that one? For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For while we were still helpless, I think NAS has it, we were helpless.
• 11:28
  as we read Ephesians, we are dead. We're spiritually dead. So a dead person can't save himself. A dead person can't help himself. But while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. We were faced with death. Romans 6.23. I know someone knows that one. What's 6.23? No, that's 3.23. The wages. Start with the wages. The wages of sin is death.
• 12:07
  But the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I always like to point out what are wages? It's something you earn for your labor, right? And what do we earn for our sin? Death. That's the wages that we earn for our death. We also experience condemnation and eternal separation from God. 2 Thessalonians 1.9 And Pastor Danny preached on this very well a week and a half ago.
• 12:34
  It talks about they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction. Now, hopefully, because we're so short on time, it would help if everyone filled out the blanks here. Number two, the cost of Christ's works. Last week we looked at who was Jesus Christ. He was the perfect man. He was the God-man. And tonight we're looking at the works of Christ.
• 13:03
  So from Philippians 2, 7 and 8, what are three things Christ did when He came to the earth? What did you write down? He emptied Himself as one. Someone else? Okay, took on the form of a servant. And He was born in the likeness of men. Yes. What way did Jesus humble Himself? In verse 8, what did you write down? Okay. What else? This is a little more in that verse.
• 13:41
  Yeah, he even lowered himself so much he humbled himself to die on the cross. And the cross is a very painful way to die. And in the sermon for this week, MacArthur talked a lot about the cross. It had to be of wood. And it was the cross of wood that he was hung on. Because the scripture says, curse is every man that hangs on a tree.
• 14:12
  humbled himself to the point of death, even dying on the cross. What happened to Jesus on earth according to Isaiah 53.3? What else did he experience? Brenda? Rejected by man, despised and rejected, acquainted with sorrows, acquainted with grief. Forgiveness of sins requires what in Hebrews 9.22? Shed blood. God states the law.
• 14:47
  in Leviticus 17.11, said it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. It is the blood. It says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. It does not say, without the confession of sins, there is no forgiveness of sins. I want to camp on this thought for just a second. Everyone turn to 1 John 1.9.
• 15:17
  And most of you probably have that memorized already, but I want to show you something else there. So turn to 1 John 1.9. And would someone quote that? Or you can read it if you don't know it. To confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, how do I get forgiveness of my sins? My sins are forgiven by my confession.
• 15:54
  True or false? You feel me leading you down a path, don't you? Is my confession what gets my sins forgiven? No. What does 1 John 1.9 say? What is it that gets my sins forgiven? His payment. Which was? His blood. Look two verses ahead. This is why I wanted you to turn to it.
• 16:29
  to verse 7. Read 1 John 1, 7. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. It is Christ's blood, shed blood, that gives me forgiveness of my sins, not my confession. A confession is a good work. We should do that. Those who have their sins forgiven by the blood of Christ are those who are confessing their sins.
• 17:02
  But I don't get my sins forgiven by my confession. It's the blood of Christ that pays for my sins. I look at that, if we confess our sins, that Greek word is a conditional term. It puts it on a condition. And the condition, most commonly, is whether it happens or not. If you confess or you don't confess. But another condition is time.
• 17:33
  You could translate that when we confess our sins. You know, the condition is a matter of time, not so much whether it occurs or not. So, those whose sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ, because we accepted His payment for my sins, my sins are forgiven and I can have that assurance because when I confess my sins, He promises He'll forgive. Those that...
• 18:06
  think I have to confess my sin to get forgiveness. If that's what's tied to my forgiveness, there are sins of omission, probably even sins of commission that I do, that I've totally forgot about. I don't even know I did them and I didn't confess it. Does that mean I can't get into heaven if I didn't confess it? No, because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from how much of our sin? All our sin. And this is crucial for the believer to understand.
• 18:36
  Because many people wrestle with, well, are my sins really forgiven? What if I forgot to confess a certain sin? What if I die before I confess a certain sin? Will God take me in? It's not my confession that gets me the forgiveness of my sins. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. And once we appropriate that and accept His payment on my behalf, as Carlos said, all my sins are paid for.
• 19:07
  Past, present, and future. What, even the future sins I'm going to commit tomorrow? Well, all my sins are future when Christ died on the cross anyway, from my perspective. That's not hard for Him. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Praise the Lord. That you can have confidence that all my sins are forgiven, even if I don't confess them. Once I have appropriated eternal life,
• 19:38
  God put his spirit in me because I accepted Jesus' payment alone on my behalf. All my sins are forgiven. Any questions or discussion on that? Those that have been in my class over the years have heard this before, right? Sounds familiar? Because that's really important. What did Jesus cry out on the cross in Matthew 27, 46? Would you write down? Why have you forsaken me? Why did the Father...
• 20:15
  forsake the Son? Why did He abandon the Son? How would you answer that? For the sins of man was put on Him. What has become my favorite verse in all of the New Testament, I think, is 2 Corinthians 5.21. 2 Corinthians 5.21, and that's down there in part 3, question C, on that same page, 43, if you might have handled it. What does that say about His provision?
• 20:54
  What did God do in 2 Corinthians 5.21? He made us righteous. What did He do in the process? What else did He do in that verse? He made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. That we would become the righteousness of God. My label I made up for that is the great exchange. What an exchange. God took all of my sin and put it on Christ.
• 21:29
  became my sin. And God took out His wrath on His own Son, paying for my sin. And He gave me His righteousness in exchange. I am righteous in God's eyes. It's a great exchange. Someone look up 1 Peter 2.24. It has a similar idea, but I think this is really important here to read. 1 Peter 2.24 He Himself wore our sins in His body on the tree.
• 22:03
  That we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. Why did Jesus bear our sins on the tree so that we could get to heaven? A lot of people think that. That's not what that verse says. Why did he bear our sins on the tree? So that we could die to our sins? He did free us from our sins because of that. So that what? We could live righteously now.
• 22:45
  That's why, I mean, if he died on the cross, just so to get Danny to heaven, then as soon as Danny accepted the Lord, he'd just take him to heaven right then, right? Wouldn't that be the right way? But no. He died on the cross. He did free us from our sins. And it does pave the way into heaven. But that verse really struck me. And I got that from MacArthur's sermon when I listened to it this afternoon. He stressed, the reason he died on the cross,
• 23:16
  It was not just, okay, you can go to heaven now. It's not for give us a ticket. We are to live a righteous life on this earth so that others can see Jesus Christ in us. And too many people I have seen think that they were saved by walking down an aisle and repeating this little mantra that we call the sinner's prayer. And you just repeat these words and you're in. And then they go home and they live just like they always lived.
• 23:48
  Okay? Anybody known anybody like that? I've seen a lot of that. Okay? Repeating this little mantra, this we call the sinner's prayer, doesn't get me saved. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin. And we need to appropriate that by accepting it as a sacrifice. But remember that He saved us, not just to take us to heaven, because you're so great in God's eyes that He...
• 24:19
  Couldn't live in heaven without you. But He wants us to live righteous lives now. And that's the point. Questions or comments on that? I've jumped all over my notes, so I've got to stop for a second and see where I'm at. This might be a good time to read a paragraph of MacArthur. I'm reading out of the teacher's manual. He has this paragraph here. He says, Note, during the crucifixion is the only time that Christ...
• 24:55
  addresses God as my God and not as Father. When He was hanging on the cross at this one time when He said, my God, my God, why has He forsaken me? When He's talking to the Father, this is the only time that He addressed Him as God. Do you feel the pain there, the separation that He feels on the cross? Think of it. He and the Father were one through all eternity.
• 25:25
  And this is the first time ever he was separated from his father. I just went through four weeks of being separated from my wife because she was in Tennessee. And that was tough on both of us. Boy, we were ready for that to be over. But that was nothing compared to what Jesus felt in the separation from his father because he'd been with him in perfect unity and harmony through all eternity. And for the first time, he experienced abandonment.
• 25:58
  By the Father. And he called him, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is the mystery of mysteries, MacArthur goes on to say, as the Father forsakes the Son, leaving him utterly alone to bear our sins in his body on the cross. This separation between the Father and the Son was a relational separation where the intimate fellowship between the Father and the Son was broken.
• 26:22
  The Son could never be separated from the essence of the Trinity, for then the triune God would cease to be. Christ remained God. The Trinity remained unbroken. Nevertheless, in a way our minds cannot fully comprehend, God the Father forsook God the Son as He laid upon Christ the iniquity of us all, abandoning Him to bear His Father's righteous wrath against the sins of His people.
• 26:52
  And I think that's why that verse in 2 Corinthians 5.21 strikes me so much. That He became sin for me, who knew no sin, that I might become righteousness for God. Why did God the Father abandon the Son? Because we said Christ had become sin. And with the judgment of God upon Christ at the cross,
• 27:30
  It shows how much God loved us. That He would put all our sin upon His Son. And that this is the only means by which they can be forgiven. How do we know that that's the only way? Couldn't there have been some other way? What did Jesus pray in the garden? It's recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus prayed what? There's no other way. Is there some other way?
• 28:05
  Because he knew what he was going to be facing. But he said, nevertheless, Father, not my will but Your will be done. And he went through with the cross. There is only one way. We needed to shed blood of a perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins. I'm on page 45. Well, let's see. I'd like to have your answers on number 4. So on the bottom of page 44, number 5.
• 29:10
  The motive of Christ's work. Why did God save man? What did you write down? Some of you shared that. Love. Okay. He loves us. Anything else that you see? Huh? We're sinners. So there would be compassion there on us. Certainly there. Yeah. Out of love and compassion. B. What attribute of God is demonstrated in His salvation of men? 1 Peter 1.3 His mercy.
• 29:48
  According to His great mercy, He's caused us to be born again to living hope. Why? What did you get from Romans 5 here? Why does the author call God's mercy so great? What did you put down? Because He died for us. He died for us? While we were still sinners. Yeah, we certainly weren't worthy of it. We didn't deserve it. We were sinners. In fact, the Scripture says we were enemies. We were His enemies.
• 30:24
  died for us. That is pretty amazing. What about Christ's work now? Well, let me ask you, I was going to do this in my introduction and I skipped it because I was jumping all over and not thinking, but now after we've done this part of the study, why did Jesus come to earth? How would you answer that question? Why did Jesus come to earth? Can you say that in one sentence? The one thing that he came to do if he didn't do anything else?
• 31:02
  To save man? That's a good answer, but that's not what I was thinking of. What? Resurrection? That was accomplished, certainly. But from our discussion, what we've been discussing, He came to die. He came to die on the cross. That's why He came. And nothing would deter Him from that. Christ came, if He only came to do one thing, it would be to die on the cross for us.
• 31:38
  Now he accomplished much by that. In other words, he provided a way into heaven. He provided the atonement for our sin, to take our sin away. He provided righteousness for me, so I can live in righteous life. And plus he came to reveal what God is like to us. You know, he said to his disciples, have I been with you so long you don't recognize me? You know, when they said, show us the Father. He said, if you've seen me, you have seen the Father.
• 32:07
  That was the main thing. He came to die. Now, in part 5 on page 45, the resolution and continuation of Christ's work. Christ's death on Calvary finished His redemptive work for man. But salvation's story doesn't end there. Because the grave could not hold Christ. He continues the work He began in us. As our memory verse for this week says, He not only was...
• 32:36
  died for our sins. He was buried and He rose again on the third day according to Scriptures. So in Romans 1.4, how was Christ declared to be the Son of God? Would you write down? With power. Okay. And that power was demonstrated by resurrecting from the dead. Absolutely. Yeah. He was resurrected from the dead. After Christ made purification of sins,
• 33:13
  How was he exalted from Hebrews 1.3? Yeah, he ascended into heaven and sat down on the right hand. You know, sitting down indicates what? It's finished. It's done. It's completed. It's completion. He sat down at the right hand of God, which is even the more impressive to me that in Acts.
• 33:49
  When you see, I think it's chapter 7, Stephen was stoned. What did he see? He didn't see Jesus sitting down. He saw him what? Standing at the right hand of God. It's like Jesus stood up to receive Stephen into heaven. I thought, whoa, that's really cool. Kind of gives me goosebumps because when he was exalted, he sat down at the right hand of God and he was seated. But he stood up to receive Stephen. Okay?
• 34:22
  We experience spiritual death through Adam's sin. What benefit do we gain through Christ's resurrection? That guarantees eternal life. Yes, yes. A chance for eternal life that He raised. Was raised from the dead. Okay. That we also will be raised to life. Yeah, and maybe that's what you meant by eternal life. That we will be... Our resurrection is guaranteed because...
• 34:58
  of Christ was raised from the dead. Paul makes that point very strongly in 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter of the Bible. In Christ, we were all made alive. So it gives us life. We know that we can have life. So that is... How did I phrase that? Well, that's the benefit of Christ's resurrection to what is Christ doing now?
• 35:29
  In part D, now that we have been drawn to God through Christ, what is Jesus able to do? What is He doing in Hebrews 7.25? What's Jesus doing now? These next three questions. What's Jesus doing now? He is interceding for us. Praise God, I've got somebody interceding for Lance because Lance needs a lot of intercession. And he always lives, that verse says, he lives continuously to make...
• 36:02
  intercession for them. What role does Christ hold exclusively in 1 Timothy 2.5? There is one God and there is one mediator between God and man. There are some segments of the Christian faith that think there are a lot of mediators. They teach that you can pray to saints. You can pray to Mary. In fact, they encourage that rather than praying
• 36:40
  To Jesus, or the Father, because, well, Jesus must be real busy. A lot of things to do, and if we pray to Mary, anybody from a Catholic background? Butch was, a little bit? No? If you pray to Mary, Jesus would listen to Mary. So they'd go to Mary to be a mediator between us and Jesus. You know, certainly he would listen to his mother, right?
• 37:12
  From the human perspective, that makes sense. Emma. There's what? Okay. I'm sorry. I've got to get closer to you. My old ears aren't hearing too well. Oh, okay. She said if you have to go to Mary in order to get to Christ, what's the point of the cross? Yeah. Okay.
• 37:49
  But, yeah, we aren't to pray to saints. We aren't to pray to Mary. We are to pray to the Father in Jesus' name. And Jesus is the only mediator. There is only one mediator between God and man. The man, Christ Jesus. When Jesus was going to leave, what did He promise He would do in John 14, 3? What did you write? He's going to come again. What else did He promise?
• 38:24
  Okay, He's going to take us to Himself so we can be with Him. But what's He doing now? Preparing a place for us too. All of that was true. Now, y'all, that's all in that verse. But right now He says He's preparing a place for us. And just by way of comparison, I heard one preacher once say, created this great universe in six days.
• 38:57
  He's had 2,000 years now. When is He going to be prepared for us in 2,000 years? Wow! I think that's pushing it a little bit too literally. I don't think that's literal, but it's just fun to imagine that. It's like He's not just going to be a shanty, a shack. He's preparing a great place for us. God accepted Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. We know He did. Why?
• 39:30
  I've skipped over this section. I don't remember if you read it. How do we know that God accepted Christ's sacrifice on our behalf? There's something that He did that proved that His sacrifice was accepted. He died on the cross. Well, that was His sacrifice. What's the proof that His sacrifice was accepted by the Father? The resurrection. That's right. The resurrection is the proof that He...
• 40:02
  God accepted his sacrifice. I know I must have skipped a whole lot that I intended to do because I've got to the end already. And I thought I was going to be short on time. You know, that does. When you fill out the questions, that really helps the discussion we can go through. Now, ideally, MacArthur wants us to look up every verse that I've referred to. So we read the verse in that.
• 40:35
  But I'm trusting you did that at home this week, and because we've got a shortened time here, I'm not going to do that unless no one did their homework. I have a question. Yes.
• 41:07
  In Hebrews it says, when it describes him serving as our high priest, it says we don't have a high priest like man has, but our high priest is eternal. Our high priest has suffered in every way, experienced every temptation we have, so that he can... I forgot the right term. I should look it up. Do you have that? Hebrews 2.17 says, Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect,
• 41:39
  so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. That's great. What was that reference again? Hebrews 2? Hebrews 2, 17-18. Hebrews 2, 17-18.
• 42:05
  The book of Hebrews is a great study on the work of Jesus Christ from the theological perspective. That he's our high priest and that he suffered everything that we suffered so that he can identify with us. And he is able to help us when we struggle. And he knows when you struggle. And he is able to help you.
• 42:35
  And so He's also a very effective mediator and intercessor for you as He intercedes for you and prays for you. By the way, in Romans 8, the Holy Spirit intercedes for you too. So, I mean, Jesus is interceding for you before the Father and the Holy Spirit is too. That's a lot of prayer power there. What are we to do as a result of this? This lesson was meant...
• 43:12
  for us to realize how sinful we were. How sinful we are. And that we are totally depraved. That we can't reach God by ourselves. We were dead spiritually. We can't save ourselves. So God sent His Son while we were still sinners. And He died for us. And He died a most cruel death. And by the shedding of His blood,
• 43:53
  our sins were placed on Him on the cross. He became sin for us who knew no sin. And God poured out His wrath on Jesus, His Son, for my sin. And so that all my sins are paid for. And He proves that He accepted that sacrifice because through raising Jesus from the dead and then exalted Him on high. And He is now seated at the right hand of God. Signifies His work on earth.
• 44:29
  was done. And it was accomplished. What are we to do? On page 46, I hope you read that to the end of this chapter. What do we do? Well, we need to acknowledge that we have sinned and we're not acceptable to God. We need to repent and call on the name of Jesus to save you. And seek forgiveness through His blood shed for you. We need to acknowledge that He is the rightful ruler of our life.
• 45:03
  A lot of times I've heard people say, well, I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was young. Now I need to accept Him as my Lord. Well, Jesus is always Lord. He's always Lord and Savior. It's not a two-step thing. When you accept Christ as your Savior, you're accepting Him as your Lord. And that's why He saved us for good works.
• 45:31
  live righteous lives, is why we were saved. So we need to acknowledge that He is the rightful ruler in our life. And then we thank God for His love and grace. And you know, then we know that we have all our sins forgiven, past, present, and even future ones. Because it's not dependent on me. It's dependent on Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for me. Have you repented of your sins?
• 46:02
  And he called on the name of Jesus Christ. Believing in him as Lord as well as Savior. I think it's easier than we want to believe. To grow up in a church. And we do all the things that people do. And yet I've never really given my life to Jesus Christ. With the intent of serving him. And living a righteous life. And if anyone here in this room is not.
• 46:39
  sure, 100% sure that all your sins are forgiven and that you're going to heaven, talk to Pastor Nathan or me or any of the pastors here and make certain. And that's why I think this lesson is probably the most important lesson in the whole book because it comes down to accepting Christ as your Savior and really knowing that you're saved. Do you want to say something?
• 47:11
  He's still very different than my pastor now in Utah, but a friend of mine that I met in college came to that realization when he was in college and Bible school. He realized that he had grown up in the church, knew about God, that God is a Savior. It's very possible for him that it is solely through Christ's sacrifice. And it was a transition in his actions. Everything reflected that change, that that was a real...
• 48:37
  Even if we have believed, we can fall away from the majesty. Tonight, going through this lesson, it was a real reminder to me again, the way you taught it, a reminder to me of just how wonderful it is that we...
• 49:08
  You can be a pastor and a pastor's wife and still not truly be saved. I think Karen and I are reading through a book. It kind of gives a very short biography of somebody in the Christian history. And last night we read about Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley. She gave birth to 19 children.
• 49:45
  Eight of them died in infancy. Real young. Her husband was a pastor. A lot of things. Then her two boys, when they got a little older, they actually got saved and started the Methodist movement. John and Charles Wesley. A lot of hymnals. I don't know the ones that we use, but a lot of hymnals, like a third of the songs in there are written by the Wesleys. Because they wrote...
• 50:13
  hymns to teach doctrine to people that couldn't read, so they sang them in the church. They did that. It wasn't until Susanna, was it two months before she died, or two, within the last two years of her life, that she finally realized her need to accept Jesus personally. Here she'd been a pastor's wife and raised up kids in the Bible and everything, but she didn't have the assurance of her salvation.
• 50:43
  committing her life to Christ until right at the end of her life. It's kind of an amazing story. You kind of go, really? How can that be? But it's happened. So if you don't have that assurance, speak to somebody tonight. Okay, Emma? So is it possible that because we are sensitive people, we do forget sometimes and we have to remind ourselves?
• 51:29
  It is possible to walk away. There's been some seasons in my life that I'm proud of that I was not walking.
• 51:41
  Close with the Lord. That's possible. That's true because I did not save myself. Jesus saved me. So if I didn't save myself, I can't take myself out of his hand. Okay? Jesus said, no one can pluck him out of my hand.
• 52:12
  And no one can plug them out of my Father's hand either. That's double security there. Even at times when I walk away in sin and turn my back on what I know is right. Don't worry, He won't let me get too far. He will do what He has to do to bring me back. And I hope I come back sooner than... Yeah. Okay. Thank you for your attention. Thank you. It sounds like most everyone did their lessons. And that really helps us get through the lesson and cover it.
• 52:47
  And that really helps when we're limited time. Let's pray. Lord, what a lesson tonight. Such an important lesson. And that we have seen how depraved we are. And that there's nothing good in us. Yet You loved us. Sent Your Son to die for us. And that You made Your Son to be sin. My sin. And that You could pour Your wrath out on Him that I might live.
• 53:23
  So, Lord, may we be faithful to that and may we live the righteous lives that you have called us to live as a result of these great truths we've seen tonight. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.