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Transcript

What is a Christian: By Decision · CCC West Covina

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Father, we thank You for today and we are grateful that You
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have brought us together tonight to spend time in Your Word.
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We realized that in the middle of the week things get kind of
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hectic and time consuming. And yet, Lord, those who are
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here have made the effort to be here, to hear the Word of the
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Lord and to understand what it is You have for us.
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So our prayer is that You would use Your word in our lives to
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strengthen us, convict us, comfort us, and motivate us to
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live for the glory of your Kingdom.
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We love you Lord, and we are so grateful for those who are here,
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maybe for the first time, others for the second time, others for
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a long time. We just thank you.
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Thank you for those who are here.
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So bless our time together this evening in Jesus name, Amen.
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We are discussing what I believe is probably the most crucial
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topic for us to discuss at this time.
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The question is what is a Christian?
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And we're going to answer that question for you.
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Last week was by way of introduction, and this week
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we're going to begin to move through the text of Scripture
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and answer what is a Christian. And I wonder if somebody asked
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you that question, how you would answer that question?
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Would you answer it based on what the Bible says?
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Would you answer it based on your own opinion?
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Would you answer it based on what your pastor has said?
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How would you answer the question, What is a Christian?
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Would you be able to take someone to the text of Scripture
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and explain to them Christianity?
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Articulate to them what Christ has clearly stated in the word
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of the Lord. I would trust that that would be
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the case for you. I promise that when we're all
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done, 11 weeks from now, you will say, yes, I know what a
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Christian is. I know that I am a Christian,
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and I know that heaven is my eternal destiny.
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That's very, very important. It's unfortunate that in today's
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day and age, we live in a state where Christianity is very
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confusing. It shouldn't be.
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It's not confusing because Christ made it confusing.
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It's not controversial because Christ made it controversial.
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It's it's very clearly stated in the Bible about what is a
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Christian that the problem is not what Jesus said.
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The problem is with with teachers and and preachers and
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pastors who who misread or misinterpret or mis apply what
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Jesus said, thus leading to all kinds of confusion in in
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churches all around the world. That shouldn't be, but it
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happens that way. And that's quite unfortunate.
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You know, there are there are churches that have started out
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extremely strong, great churches.
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In fact, if you were to think about all the churches in the
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Book of Revelation, the seven churches in Asia Minor, all true
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churches, all started out great, all were on fire for the Lord.
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But when John writes to those seven churches under the
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inspiration of the Spirit of God, the Lord speaks to those
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churches because of what has taken place in them.
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Even though they started out really, really good, over time
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they became pretty bad. It was the downgrade of the
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gospel. It was a downgrade of
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Christianity in those churches. It begins, of course, with the
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Church of Ephesus. That was the cold church.
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They had lost their first love. And these, these seven churches,
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five of whom were told to repent, show us the downgrade.
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When it comes to how churches begin to move away from sound
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doctrine and move away from the truth, it's Satan's ploy to
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detract the church from its mission, to move the church away
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from the truth of the gospel. And it begins by churches losing
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their first love, that they become cold churches.
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Satan's ploy is to steal their passion.
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Once he steals their passion, he then begins to supplant their
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devotion. That's the Church of of
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Pergamum. So once a church grows cold, the
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church then begins to compromise.
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Once Satan is able to steal their passion, he then supplants
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their devotion. And then you come to the Church
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of Thyatira. Once a church grows cold, it
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begins to compromise. Once it compromises, it becomes
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corrupt, and Satan's ploy was to subvert their affection.
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If he can effectively steal your passion, supplant your devotion,
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he will subvert your affection and your church will become
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corrupt. And then the the next church,
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the church at Sardis, which was told to repent, that was just
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the dead church there Satan secures their destruction.
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And once he secures your destruction, then he seals their
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deception. And that was the Church of
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Laodicea. They were the counterfeit
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church. And that's exactly how how Satan
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begins to operate in churches that begin really, really good,
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but he wants to take them away from the truth of the gospel in
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the mission that they've been called to accomplish.
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It's a warning to churches all around the world.
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But let me give you a, a, a modern day illustration.
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I think it would be good to do that for you because we can read
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about the churches in Asia Minor and they're in the Scriptures.
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It's all true. But when you think about
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churches today, you can think about a lot of good churches all
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around our community, all around our, our, our state, our
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country. That started out really, really
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good. But over time, things began to
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change. So let me give you an
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illustration. 32 years ago, I was called to be the pastor of
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what was at that time, or what was that once called, the most
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prestigious church in all of Southern California.
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That church was called Church of the Open Door.
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I was called to be their pastor. And so this church, which began
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with the likes of RA Torre, a great evangelist, strong Bible
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teacher, that's how the church began.
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Other men along those lines were Louis Talbot, the founder of
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Talbot Seminary. He was another great man in a
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long list of men who were great. You would know the church
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baseball basically, by the testimony of J Vernon McGee.
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I mean, he still speaks on, on the radio today.
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His tapes, dude, not him. He's long home with the Lord.
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But he was probably the most famous pastor of Church of the
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Open Door for 21 years. But after J Vernon McGee stepped
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aside, things began to change at the church.
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How they changed, how far they had changed, I did not know
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until I went there. The first sermon I preached was
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on 1st Corinthians 16 verse #9 where Paul says these words for
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a wide door for effective service as open to me.
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And there are many adversaries. That was my installation message
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that I preached at that church in 1993.
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Little did I know I wasn't a prophet, nor was I still the
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prophet what that verse would actually mean.
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As I began to preach each and every Sunday, it wasn't long
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before I opened the to the Gospel of Mark and began to
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preach steadily through Mark's gospel.
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If you have read anything at all about Mark's gospel, that begins
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with the ministry of John the Baptist and he is about
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preaching A baptism based on repentance because the Kingdom
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of heaven was at hand. And of course Jesus followed
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John and he preached the same message.
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And so as a young 35 year old pastor, I'm, I'm preaching the
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same message about repentance and how you need to turn from
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your sin and, and follow the Savior.
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And I'm preaching it with, with vim, vigor and vitality.
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I'm, I'm, I have a lot of passion when I preach.
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And so I'm preaching about repentance.
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Little did I know that the church, the leadership of the
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church, did not believe that repentance was essential for
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salvation. I didn't know that.
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How could that possibly be? So we had this discussion among,
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among the leadership about repentance.
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And I would describe to them what repentance is, what the the
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Greek word means, and and how do you define repentance?
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And they didn't agree. And they soon began to say that
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I was preaching A workspace salvation because repentance was
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a work. I said no, repentance is a gift.
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Second Timothy 225, Acts 11, verse #18 tells us that
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repentance is granted to us by God.
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It's not a human work. It's a God work that causes man
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to turn from their sin. But they didn't believe that.
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And I began to realize how far things had changed in the Church
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of the Open Door. Let me tell you some of the
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things that they believed. They believed that repentance
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was a change of mind only about the Christ, that there was no
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turning from sin required for salvation.
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And I said to them, how? How do you gel that with First
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Thessalonians chapter one verse #10 where it says that the the
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Church of Thessalonica turned to God from idols in order to serve
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the true and living God. That's what repentance truly is
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all about. And I even quoted J Vernon
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McGee. But they also believed that the
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whole of salvation, including faith, is the gift of God, which
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I agreed with. But they also said that that
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faith might not last. A true Christian can completely
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cease believing. How can that be?
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Show me in Scripture where a true Christian ceases to
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believe. They also believe that saving
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faith is simply being convinced or giving credence to the truth
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of the gospel. It is confidence that Christ can
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remove guilt and give eternal life.
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But saving faith is not a personal commitment to Christ.
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I said, well wait a minute, how can true saving faith When I put
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my trust in someone I'm not trusting in a set of statements
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about the Christ, I am trusting in the person and work of the
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Christ. That's what saving faith
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encounters. They believe that some spiritual
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fruit is inevitable in every Christians experience, but that
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fruit, however, might not be visible to others.
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Christians can lapse into a state of permanent spiritual
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barrenness. Again, how do you gel that with
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Matthew chapter 13 and the soft soil that produces fruit, some
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30 fold, some 60 fold, some 100 fold.
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That's obviously seen by everybody, but spiritual
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barrenness completely over long periods.
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Show me in Scripture where that is evidence they could not.
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They said that only the judicial aspects of salvation,
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justification, adoption, imputed righteousness and positional
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sanctification are guaranteed for the believers in this life.
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But practical sanctification and growth in grace requires a post
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conversion act of dedication. In other words, sanctification
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is not a guarantee. Practically, if you're a
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Christian, wait a minute, we're set a pardon to God for his his
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glory for his purposes. They were saying that if you
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want to be sanctified sometime after you are saved, you can
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then make Jesus Lord of your life and completely dedicate
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your life to Him now. But believing in Christ is Lord
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and accepting His Lord that salvation is not necessary.
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They would go on to say that submission to Christ, supreme
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authority as Lord, is not germane to the saving
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transaction. Neither dedication nor
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willingness to be dedicated to Christ are issues in salvation.
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Really, they want to say that Christians may fall into a state
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of life long carnality, a whole category of carnal Christians
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born again people who continuously live like the
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unsaved exists in the church. Listen.
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But does it exist in Scripture? If it exists in the church,
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those people probably were never saved to begin with.
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But show me where it exists in the scriptures.
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You see, it's important to always keep your finger in the
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text to prove whatever it is you say you believe, because it must
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be supported 100% by the words of Christ.
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They would say that disobedience and prolonged sin are no reason
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to doubt the reality of 1's faith.
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Had they not read first John? Had they not read what John says
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very clearly? That he who practices sin does
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not love God nor know God. They believe that a believer may
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utterly forsake Christ and come to the point of not believing.
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God has guaranteed that he will not disown those who thus
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abandoned the faith. Those who have once believed are
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secure forever, even if they turn away, even if they
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apostasize the faith. Well, the right of Hebrews
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speaks all against that. The question is, how do you get
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there? How do you come to those
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conclusions? You come to those conclusions
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because you are led by a pastor who has compromised the truth.
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For the previous pastor had lived in immorality for at least
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seven years before he was dismissed.
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Other people that he had an affair with was still
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speculation, but he had lived with one young lady half his age
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for seven years and as he preached living in sin, the
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gospel was completely and totally diluted.
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That you could believe in God and still carry on any way you
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wish because everything is forgiven by God and the grace of
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God accomplishes everything. In fact, he was asked before he
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left, why is it you didn't feel the conviction of the Spirit of
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God when you were involved in this immoral relationship?
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He would just say, well, we believe that everything was
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covered by the grace of God and that when we asked for
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forgiveness he would forgive us. That was his response to those
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who asked him the question. Unbelievable.
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See, the grace of God does not mean we have permission to do as
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we please. The grace of God means that we
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have the power to do what God pleases.
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That's the difference. But they were led by a man who
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was the fulfilment of what Jude says in Jude 4 when he says
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ungodly persons have turned the grace of our God into
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licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
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He had turned the grace of God into lawlessness, that you could
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live without any kind of law and live as you chose and it would
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be OK. And that came out very subtly,
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but very, very determinedly in his sermons as he preached.
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And so you have people that would come to the church, hear
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those things, believe that they could.
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Add Jesus to their lifestyle and continue to live any way they
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wanted afterwards without any consequences because of the
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grace and forgiveness of God. He had turned the grace of God
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into disgrace. And so when you think about that
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and you realize how quickly things begin to turn.
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So here I am, 35 years of age, all passionate about preaching
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the gospel of repentance and turning to God from idols to
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serve the true and living God. And so I am preaching what I
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believe is the truth. But because the church had heard
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error for so long that when someone comes and preaches the
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truth, they think the truth is error and their error is the
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truth, that's what happened. I carry in my desk at work a
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pamphlet of when Church at the Open Door celebrated 90 years of
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existence. And in this pamphlet they list
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all the previous pastors of the church.
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I happen to be the eighth in line, also the shortest tenured
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pastor, 14 months. And in it, it says this.
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This was the greatest crisis in the history of the Church of the
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Open Door. The greatest crisis was not that
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there was a pastor who had turned the grace of God into
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licentiousness and denied the only master Lord, the Lord Jesus
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Christ. That wasn't the greatest crisis
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in the church. The greatest crisis in the
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church is that that people heard a false gospel being preached.
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No, the greatest crisis in the church was when the man who came
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to preach the truth was said to be a heretic.
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And therefore because they swallowed error hook, line and
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sinker, they believe that the error or the truth was error.
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And so that was what they have said is the greatest crisis in
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the history of the Church of the Open Door.
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I give you the illustration because it's a modern day
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illustration of how a church begins.
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Great is a great testimony, the great light in the community.
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But all of a sudden, over time, very gradually, what did Paul
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say in Acts chapter 20? He said it very clearly.
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These words, Paul warned them. I know, he says.
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Paul says to the Church of Ephesus, that after my
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departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing
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the flock, and from among your own selves men will arise,
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speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.
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Paul warned the Church of Ephesus, and that is so true.
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And so if the leadership of the church is not careful, not
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protecting the flock, not warning the flock, not watching
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the flock, the set of heresies rise from within and lead people
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astray. That's why it's so important
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that you understand these sermons on what is a Christian.
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So you understand the importance of of what it means to be a
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follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Having said that, let me give you a test.
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Let me give you a simple test and I want you to answer this In
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your mind, is this describing a Christian?
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If someone is devoted to seeking God, are they a Christian?
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If someone is devoted to seeking God daily, are they a Christian?
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If someone is to take pleasure in understanding God's ways, are
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they a Christian? If someone wants to do what is
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righteous, are they a Christian? If someone remains true to their
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beliefs and stay loyal to their faith, are they a Christian?
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If someone says to God that they will seek Him and seek Him for
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guidance on what is just and what is right, are they a
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Christian? If someone was to take joy in
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drawing near to God, are they a Christian?
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Well, you would think that someone with those
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characteristics would demonstrate true Christianity.
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And you would think that the verse in Scripture that states
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all that would be describing people who knew the Lord except
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for one thing. God says they didn't know him.
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God says they were in sin. God said they were far from him.
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That verse is found in the book of Isaiah, the 58th chapter.
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In verse one, it says cried loudly, do not hold back, raise
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your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their
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transgression and to the House of Jacob their sins.
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Isaiah, you need to declare loudly, not subtly, not
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secretly, not behind closed doors, but make sure that
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everybody hears this. Everybody knows this.
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That's the way he says and say. Yet they seek me day by day and
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delight to know my ways as a nation that has done
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righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinances of their
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God. They asked me for just
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decisions. They delight in the nearness of
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God. This is what they say.
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We delight to know your ways. We delight to know you.
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We delight to be near you. We want you to act righteously
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among us, Lord. We want to seek you not just
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today, but we want to seek you daily.
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And God says to Isaiah, you tell them about their transgressions.
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You tell them about their sins, because this is what they're
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going to tell you, Isaiah. And then they're going to say
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this, Why have we fasted, Lord? And you do not see, why have we
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humbled ourselves? And yet you do not notice,
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Isaiah. They're going to ask you that
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question. And this is what you tell them,
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Isaiah, Tell them this. Behold, on the day of your fast,
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you find your desire. Here's the problem.
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You do what you please. You do not do what I please.
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This is your transgression. This is your sin, This is why
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you are so far from me, he says. Behold, you fast for contention
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and strife, and strike with a wicked fist, yet do not fast
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like you do today to make your voice heard on high.
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You don't come to fast in order to draw near to me and cry out
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to me. You do it for your own
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attention, for your own admiration.
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You do it for your own pleasure. Everything you're doing is
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self-serving. It's all about seeking me,
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drawing near to me because you want to be noticed by everybody
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else. It's all the outward externals.
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But everything about Christianity is all about the
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internal, not the external. But Israel was known for
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honoring God with their lips, but their heart being far from
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Him. So he would go on to say, as you
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read through Isaiah 58 verse 13, if because of the Sabbath you
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turn your foot, in other words, you keep from breaking my law
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for doing your own pleasure on my holy day, and call the
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Sabbath of delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor
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it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own
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pleasure and speaking your own words.
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You see, everything was about them.
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Everything was about them. Then you will take delight in
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the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the
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earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your
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father. For the mouth of the Lord has
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spoken verse to the 59 verse #1 Behold, the Lord's hand is not
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short that it cannot save, nor is this here dull that it cannot
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hear. But your iniquities have made a
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separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden
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His face from you, so that He does not hear.
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For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with
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iniquity. Your lips have spoken falsehood,
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your tongue mutters. Wickedness describes them, their
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transgressions, their sins so easily.
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People become self deceived. And the sad thing about it is,
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is that there are pastors who confirm them in their self
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deception without warning them, without challenging them,
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without causing them to examine their lives to see whether or
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not they're in the faith, to know for certain whether or not
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they are truly born again believers.
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They're truly followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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See, Christ was never confusing in what he said.
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He wanted to make sure that nobody was confused about
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Christianity. So when Christ would speak, he
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would make it very clear to people to understand who he was
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and why he came to earth. He preached the gospel message
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over and over and over again to make sure that people understood
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exactly what he was saying. In fact, he preached the gospel
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so significantly that he concluded his ministry with an
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illustration. Let's just call it a closing
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illustration. All good preachers in with a
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great illustration. I don't because I'm not a great
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preacher, but most great preachers end with great closing
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illustrations and our Lord would would end his ministry with with
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the greatest of all illustrations about the gospel.
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He wanted to make sure that everybody understood what it
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meant to be a Christian. He wanted to leave no doubt in
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anybody's mind about all the things he had said throughout
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his three-year ministry. And so he closes his ministry
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with an illustration. That illustration is summed up
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in one verse in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all three gospels
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recorded. But the illustration in one
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verse. And I'm surprised that so many
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preachers miss this because it is the epitome of all
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illustrations of the Gospel and Christ one to leave etched in
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the minds of every man, every woman, what it means to be a
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follower of Jesus Christ our Lord.
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So what happens on the the Via Dolorosa, the way of the cross?
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Christ has been beaten beyond recognition, and so He is
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carrying this cross beam from where he was before Pilate to
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Calvary. The place of the skull in this
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crossbeam would wear anywhere between 82 to 100 lbs and so you
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have to imagine that having been beaten as severely as Christ was
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beaten, that he was still able to carry the crossbeam.
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Isaiah 52 tells us that He was. He was beaten beyond all human
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recognition, but as he began to carry the cross on the Via
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Dolorosa, on the way to the place of the skull, he would
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fall, thus giving the way for the greatest illustration of the
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gospel in the Bible. Luke tells us this in Luke 23
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verse #26 when they led him away, they seized the man Simon
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of Cyrene coming in from the country and placed on him the
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cross to carry behind Jesus. There it is.
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That's the illustration. Talk about being in the right
35:00
place at the right time. You might want to consider it
35:04
maybe consequential. I see it as providential.
35:10
You might see it as an exact accident.
35:12
I see it as a divine appointment.
35:16
Why? Because Simon's name was
35:19
mentioned, Simon the Cyrene. Now, we don't know anything
35:24
about what he knew about Christ before he got there, but the
35:28
crowds had gathered and Simon had gathered in the crowds and
35:34
Simon was watching like everyone else was watching about this
35:39
individual who was carrying his cross beam to the place of the
35:43
skull. Cyrene is a city in North Africa
35:51
today. It's modern day Libya.
35:55
And we know from the book of Acts that there were many
35:59
Cyreneans on the day of Pentecost, and that there was a
36:03
synagogue, A Cyrenian synagogue in Jerusalem.
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But Simon was compelled out of the crowd to carry the cross of
36:15
Christ, and he would carry that cross beam from where they were
36:22
to the place of the skull. Whether he remained there or not
36:27
we do not know, but there would be this living illustration of
36:33
what it means when Jesus said if any man came after me, let him
36:37
deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
36:45
Simon became the quintessential illustration of what it means to
36:49
be a follower of Christ. It's at the end of his ministry.
36:52
He's about to die for the sins of man and he wants to leave.
36:58
Indelibly etched to the minds of everyone in the crowd.
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This is what I've said to you all along.
37:05
If any man came after me, he must deny himself.
37:08
He must take his cross and follow me.
37:11
A life of self denial, a life of self sacrifice, a life of
37:15
submission. And Simon was compelled out of
37:20
the out of the crowd. Was Simon born again?
37:25
He was or he was. He became born again.
37:28
He'd be a follower of Christ. How do we know that?
37:31
Romans 16 tells us that his wife ministered to the Apostle Paul
37:37
in Rome. His son Rufus is also named in
37:41
Romans 16 verse #13. Simon was instrumental in the,
37:46
the, the church in Cyrene. And so something happened in the
37:54
life of of Simon Cyrene. That's why his name is mentioned
37:58
here. That's why the illustration is
38:00
in the Scriptures, because you need to understand the essence
38:03
of the gospel. This is what it's all about.
38:08
And Christ wants to make sure that everybody sees it and
38:11
understands it. It it says in the very next
38:13
verse. And following him was a large
38:15
crowd of the people that they weren't followers of Christ, but
38:20
they were following along like a lot of people were quote
38:24
followers of Christ for a while. But Simon and Cyrene, different
38:32
kind of man. He was totally committed to
38:37
follow his Christ. He would lead his wife to the
38:40
Lord. He lead his son Rufus to the
38:43
Lord, maybe left his other son Alexander as his other son to
38:47
the Lord. But he realized that this one,
38:52
the Christ, was worth dying for because Christ died for him.
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Simon's decision to follow the Christ was irresistible.
39:15
He was compelled when you when you give your life to Christ,
39:21
you are compelled to give your life to Christ.
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It's what the Bible calls irresistible grace.
39:28
There's common grace for all men, but the irresistible grace,
39:32
it cannot be refused because when God calls you to himself,
39:39
they get grants you the gift of grace and the gift of faith and
39:42
the gift of repentance and the gift of of belief, because
39:45
they're all gifts granted to us by God.
39:49
And when God compels you to come, you can't say no, you
39:54
come. Why, all the Father gives me
39:59
will come to me. You will.
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As Simon was compelled, so we, when we give our life to Christ,
40:10
give our life to Christ because we're compelled to do so.
40:13
We've been drawn by the Spirit of God to come to Christ.
40:19
And we give our lives to him. And so we begin to understand as
40:26
you read through the Gospels that a Christian is known by his
40:35
decision, his decision to follow Christ.
40:43
And that decision is based on the fact that God in his
40:47
sovereignty has chosen you and called you into his Kingdom.
40:54
And that's why it's an irresistible compulsion.
40:59
So Jesus would say these this long before, long before the the
41:07
illustration, there was the instruction Luke 9 verse 23.
41:17
And Christ was saying to them all, if if anyone wishes to come
41:19
after me, he he must deny himself and take up his cross
41:21
and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his
41:24
life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for
41:27
my sake, he is the one who will save it.
41:32
For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses
41:37
or forfeits himself or his own soul?
41:43
Such a tremendous statement. This is the gospel message.
41:50
You see, we live in a world designed for self fulfillment,
41:55
but we preach a gospel about self denial.
41:59
That's why it's rejected. We, we live in a world filled
42:04
with self respect, self dignity, self importance, self
42:11
fulfillment, self satisfaction. And we come along, we preach a
42:15
gospel that says you need to sacrifice yourself, you need to
42:19
deny yourself, you need to be willing to surrender yourself.
42:24
And that goes against everything that society teaches and wants
42:29
us to believe. But the gospel is directly
42:33
opposed to what society teaches. And that's why Christ will say
42:38
it over and over again. If you want to keep your life
42:41
today, you're going to lose it for eternity.
42:43
But if you're willing to lose your life, if you're willing to
42:45
give your life away. You see, Christianity is not
42:49
about exalting myself. Christianity is about executing
42:56
yourself, willing to die for Christ, take up your cross and
43:01
and follow him. But we've got that all wrong
43:05
today because you want to appeal to the masses.
43:08
We want to appeal to the crowds and say, listen, if you just
43:12
come to Jesus, everything will be better for you.
43:15
That's not what Jesus says. In fact, he says direct opposite
43:21
you read on the Luke Chapter 9. It says in verse 57, as they
43:24
were going along the road, someone said to him, I will
43:27
follow you wherever you go. Matthew's account tells us it's
43:30
a scribe. So here's this scribe who says,
43:34
I, I want to learn from you. I want to follow you wherever
43:37
you go. And you think that Jesus would
43:39
say, come on, then you want to follow me, get in line with
43:43
everybody else. This is great.
43:45
It's not what Jesus says. He says the foxes have holes,
43:51
the birds of the air have nests, but instead of man has nowhere
43:55
to lay his head. Christ wanted to make sure the
44:00
man was serious. You got to realize, if you
44:04
follow me, there's no comfort here.
44:06
There are no accolades here. There are no palaces here.
44:12
It's not a life filled with happiness.
44:14
You're going to go through life and and not, not not find a
44:17
place to lay your head. The birds there, they got a
44:21
nest. Foxes have holes.
44:22
But you follow me. You got nothing.
44:25
You got nothing. See, Christ didn't make it easy
44:30
for if you're going to follow him, he made it so incredibly
44:32
hard. Why?
44:34
Because you see, if you're called by God and chosen by God,
44:37
you're going to accept whatever he says.
44:39
If you're not, those sayings are too rough for you.
44:45
You don't follow. So verse 59 and Jesus said to
44:53
another, follow me. You can imagine the scene.
44:58
Here's Jesus walking along and some scribe because I'm going to
45:01
say, Hey Jesus, I'll follow you wherever you go.
45:06
And then Christ gives him the statement and doesn't follow.
45:14
So Jesus says you, hey, you follow me.
45:19
See, that's the call of salvation.
45:22
The call of salvation is to follow Christ.
45:26
The call of salvation is not a not an event, it's not a prayer,
45:31
it's not a card you sign, it's not a moment in time.
45:35
The call of salvation is the continuous act of following
45:38
Jesus without reservation for the rest of your life.
45:44
We forget that. And so he says you follow me.
45:51
Have you heard what Jesus just said?
45:54
He said to Jesus, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my
45:59
father. I need to go bury my father now.
46:03
His father wasn't dead yet. How do we know that?
46:06
Because in Judaism, the burial took place the same day as the
46:11
death. So if his father had died, he'd
46:14
be sitting at home decaying while he is out trying to follow
46:17
Jesus. That's not the case.
46:18
His father's still alive. He hears what Jesus said about
46:23
no place to lay your head, no place to sleep, no comforts.
46:26
Hey, you know what? If I wait till my dad dies,
46:29
guess what? I'll get the inheritance.
46:31
Take the inheritance and guess what?
46:33
I'll have a place to sleep. And this guy will have a place
46:35
to sleep. I'll have clothes to wear.
46:36
This guy will have clothes to wear.
46:38
Everything will be OK. My dad's not dead yet.
46:42
I need to bury my father, Jesus says to him.
46:46
Allow the dead to bury their own dead.
46:52
This is so crude, isn't it? But it's not.
46:56
It's Jesus's words. Let the spiritually dead bury
47:00
the physical dead. But As for you, go and proclaim
47:04
everywhere the Kingdom of God. You want to follow me.
47:08
Let the spiritually dead take care of those who will die
47:12
physically one day. You be engaged in proclaiming
47:16
the Kingdom of God. The first man's deterrent was
47:22
materialism. The second man's deterrent was
47:25
pacifism. He was going to wait that maybe
47:30
Jesus will let him follow him sometime down the road when
47:33
everything is financially secure for him.
47:39
Then verse 61 another also said I will follow you.
47:44
I will you can you can just see the person in the crowd.
47:47
Oh, oh, oh, Jesus. Oh, I'll follow you.
47:52
I'll. I'll do it.
47:53
These are the two losers. They won't, but I will.
47:56
I'll follow you. But first permit me to say
48:02
goodbye. Permit me to say goodbye to
48:05
those at home. Let me, let me go back home and
48:10
and say goodbye to mom and dad, brother and sister, aunt and
48:14
uncle, nieces and nephews. Come with me first to go back
48:20
home and say goodbye. His deterrent was
48:23
sentimentalism, but Jesus said to him, no one having or after
48:29
putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the
48:34
Kingdom of God. There are to be no rivals for my
48:42
affection. There is to be nothing that
48:45
comes between me and you because if something does that becomes
48:50
more important to you than me, that then becomes your God and
48:54
not me. And no man can serve 2 masters,
48:57
therefore you can't follow me. See, those are hard sayings.
49:05
They're not easy. That's why when you when you
49:09
come a little further in Luke's gospel to the the the 16th
49:16
chapter, Luke chapter, chapter 16, it says these words, verse
49:25
16, the law and the prophets were proclaimed until John.
49:29
Since that time, the gospel of the Kingdom of God has been
49:32
preached and everyone is forcing his way into it.
49:37
What kind of statement is that? Who's forcing their way into the
49:41
Kingdom? What's that mean?
49:44
Am I trying to fight to get into the Kingdom?
49:46
What is going on here? The whole forcing aspect is that
49:50
all of Satan and all of his minions are doing all they can
49:54
to keep you out of the Kingdom and you are exercising self
49:58
denial, self sacrifice, self surrender.
50:01
You are fighting your own pride, your own will, your own
50:04
stubbornness, your own sin. All those things are, are the
50:07
hindrance to you coming to the Kingdom and that's why man is
50:10
forcing his way into the Kingdom, because without the
50:13
Spirit of God moving, controlling, calling you to
50:18
come, you can't just can't. So important.
50:28
Earlier Christ would say these words in Matthew's gospel.
50:33
He would say, therefore everyone who confesses me before men, I
50:35
will also confess him before my father was in heaven.
50:39
But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before
50:41
my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to
50:45
bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace,
50:48
but a sword. For I came instead of man
50:51
against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and
50:54
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
50:56
And a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.
50:59
He who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of
51:02
me. And he who loves son or daughter
51:04
more than me is not worthy of me.
51:05
And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not
51:10
worthy of me. He was found.
51:12
His life will lose it and he has lost his life for my sake.
51:17
We'll find it. See, these are the words of
51:20
Christ. But but those aren't the
51:23
messages that preachers preach today when it comes to
51:26
presenting the gospel to people who need to give their life to
51:30
Christ. Because we try to water down the
51:34
gospel, dilute the gospel so much down to it's, it's, it's
51:37
bare minimum just to get someone to make a decision just to get
51:43
someone to say yes, I will follow, yes, I will come, yes, I
51:48
will pray instead of as Christ did make it virtually impossible
51:54
for man to do it on his own because he can't.
51:56
But when God calls a man, he's willing to do whatever Christ
52:02
asks because He empowers him to do that, to accomplish His
52:10
purposes. Back in Luke's gospel, in the
52:13
14th chapter, Christ says these words.
52:19
Now large crowds were going along with him.
52:22
Stop right there. Large crowds.
52:24
That's verse #25 of Luke 14. Large crowds.
52:28
How large are large crowds? Well, what do you do when large
52:32
crowds follow you? You want larger crowds to follow
52:35
you, right? So you do whatever you can to
52:38
keep the large crowds coming. Not Jesus.
52:42
He didn't want anybody to be deceived.
52:46
He didn't want anybody to think that they, they, they just by
52:49
getting on the, the, the, the Jesus train that, that everybody
52:53
was going to be going to heaven. No, He turned and said to them,
53:01
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and
53:04
mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and
53:07
even his own life, He cannot be my disciple.
53:10
He cannot follow me. He cannot be one of mine.
53:14
That's just a hard saying. Christ doesn't want any
53:20
superficial followers. This is one of these shallow
53:23
followers. He wants totally committed
53:27
people following Him. So he says in verse 27, Whoever
53:32
does not carry his own cross, come up to me, cannot be my
53:35
disciple. Same thing he said in Luke 923.
53:38
Same thing he said in Matthew chapter 10 verses 34 to 39.
53:42
He says the exact same thing over and over and over again.
53:47
This is this. For which one of you, when He
53:51
wants to build the tower, does not first sit down and calculate
53:54
the cost to see if He has enough to complete it?
53:57
Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to
53:59
finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying this man
54:03
began to build and was not able to finish.
54:05
Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle,
54:08
will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong
54:11
enough with 10,000 men to encounter the one coming against
54:14
him with 20,000, or else, while the other is still far away, he
54:17
sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
54:20
So then none of you can be my disciple who does not give up
54:24
all his own possessions. Have you calculated the cost?
54:30
Have you understood the ramifications of what it means
54:33
to follow me? Have you sat down and began to
54:37
add up everything that it consists of?
54:40
Christ wanted to be sure that that's exactly what they wanted
54:44
to do, because He knew that it would cost them everything.
54:55
We just don't want to present Christ like that to anybody.
55:03
And yet, when someone's called by God, they are desperate
55:10
enough to embrace all that Christ says, no matter how
55:13
difficult it may be, because they understand the parable of
55:19
the treasure and the Pearl in Matthew chapter 13.
55:23
The man who found the treasure, he stumbled upon the treasure.
55:28
The man who've obtained the Pearl, he sought.
55:31
The Pearl in Christ has given an illustration of those who who
55:34
stumble upon the Kingdom, realizing its value, go back.
55:40
Sell all that you have to purchase the field or set out on
55:46
a journey for a specific Pearl. Willing to give up all that you
55:51
have. Sell all that you have to pay
55:55
the price for the Pearl. It speaks of the inestimable
55:59
value of the Kingdom, that when someone understands the Kingdom
56:04
of God, the forgiveness of sins, the relationship you have with
56:10
the living God, you are willing to sell everything that you
56:13
have. Matthew 1626.
56:14
What will a man give in exchange for his soul?
56:21
That's the gospel. What will a man give in exchange
56:26
for soul? The word exchange is a is a is a
56:30
transactional term. What will a man give up to
56:38
obtain a soul? Answer everything in his life
56:43
because this life means nothing compared to Christ life.
56:49
Are you willing to give up all that you have to obtain Christ
56:52
life? Or is your life so valuable to
56:56
you that you are an unwilling to give up your life for Christ's
56:58
life and thus lose your life? That's the bottom line.
57:07
And the Christian decides to follow Christ and there's no
57:16
turning back. You know the course.
57:19
I decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning
57:23
back. Though none go with me.
57:27
Still I will follow. No turning back, No turning
57:32
back. My cross I'll carry till I see
57:37
Jesus. No turning back, no turning
57:42
back. The world behind me, the Christ
57:49
before me, no turning back, no turning back.
57:57
And that's the decision that the Christian makes.
58:01
But that decision is based on a divine decree by the living God
58:07
who calls man to himself, the God.
58:12
The man's decision is always subject to the sovereignty of
58:17
Almighty God. To as many as received him, to
58:22
them gave you power to become the sons of God.
58:26
It is true that man receives the Messiah, he accepts the Messiah,
58:32
but he's born not of the will of the flesh nor the will of man.
58:36
He's born completely by the will of God.
58:44
Christ says if you want to follow me, it's the end of you.
58:50
That's what it means to deny yourself.
58:53
It means you refuse to associate with yourself any longer.
59:01
That's what it means to deny yourself.
59:07
Man, unfortunately wants glory. He wants his needs met.
59:19
God. God does not want to meet your
59:24
earthly worldly needs. That's not why He came to die.
59:32
He wants you to abandon all your earthly worldly needs and
59:38
embrace Him. That's what self denial is.
59:44
That's what self sacrifice is. That's what self surrender is in
59:54
today's day. We we have rewritten the gospel
1:00:00
or we have reinvented the gospel.
1:00:05
Thus we get a multitude of false converts because we dilute the
1:00:15
truth. Hoping to gain more people to
1:00:20
follow Christ. Jesus never did that.
1:00:26
He knew that all that the Father had given him would come to him,
1:00:31
but he wanted to make sure that nobody was ever self deceived.
1:00:36
No one was ever, ever thinking they were saved, when in reality
1:00:41
they were not. So he kept preaching the hard
1:00:44
truths of the gospel over and over and over and over again,
1:00:51
because he didn't want anybody to be confused, anybody to to be
1:00:57
a counterfeit Christian. He wanted everybody to
1:01:02
understand the genuineness of salvation, the gracious, saving
1:01:09
mercy of a living God. Our Lord is the quintessential
1:01:18
evangelist. He came to seek and to save that
1:01:22
which was lost. That was his mission, and he
1:01:28
wanted to make sure that nobody would have a question about
1:01:31
their commitment to the Christ. And so he spelled it all out
1:01:37
very clearly for those who wanted to follow him.
1:01:43
But for most of what he said in John 6, unless you eat my flesh,
1:01:50
unless you drink my blood, you have no part with me.
1:01:56
And people said, who can hear that?
1:02:00
And many of his, quote, disciples, followers walked
1:02:04
away. They left him.
1:02:08
Why, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, all symbolic of
1:02:14
the life that he would give and the blood that he would shed
1:02:16
you, you have to take in all of me.
1:02:19
You can't take bits and pieces of me.
1:02:21
You must embrace all of who I am and all of what I said and all
1:02:26
of what I'm going to do. People don't want to do that.
1:02:32
So Christ turns to his men. He says, will you go away also?
1:02:39
And Peter said, where are we going to go?
1:02:43
We've left everything to follow you.
1:02:46
You have the words of eternal life.
1:02:54
You have the words that give life.
1:02:59
And before we met you, we had no life because you don't.
1:03:04
If you're not a Christian, you have no life.
1:03:06
You exist. You walk around, but you have no
1:03:10
life. The only people who have life
1:03:13
are those who have Christ's life.
1:03:15
That's true life. I came that they might have life
1:03:19
and that they might have that life more abundantly.
1:03:22
That's that's the life that Christ wants to give.
1:03:24
And I wonder if you've embraced that life.
1:03:32
I wonder if you understand what it means to follow Christ.
1:03:39
Christ wanted to be very, very clearly stated, authorized
1:03:43
ministry. So he concluded his ministry
1:03:46
with an illustration with Simon Cyrene, who would carry that
1:03:51
cross to the place of the skull. And that man would realize this
1:04:00
is what the Christian life is all about.
1:04:03
And that man became the living. Illustration of Luke 9/23.
1:04:09
My question to you today is, are you a living illustration of
1:04:14
what it means to be a Christian for the world to see?
1:04:19
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today,
1:04:23
the opportunity you give us to spend time in your word.
1:04:27
Truly, Lord, you are a great God, and we are grateful for
1:04:32
your mercy, for your grace, for your love, for your goodness,
1:04:39
for your kindness. We are grateful, Lord, that you
1:04:44
died for us. Lord, no greater gift in all the
1:04:53
world than the indescribable gift of eternal life.
1:05:00
It is so valuable. It is so incomparable, It is so
1:05:06
immeasurable, that we can't even begin to compare with anything
1:05:11
on earth. And those of us who have
1:05:14
embraced that gift understand the beauty of it, and we have
1:05:23
decided to follow Christ. So Lord, as we journey on each
1:05:29
and every day, may our lives exemplify the beauty of Christ.
1:05:36
But all who come behind us would see that Jesus is our King, our
1:05:43
Lord, our Master, our Savior forever in Jesus name, Amen.