House Calls

Baptism Part 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton

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Series Code: HCL

Program Code: HCL150011A


00:01 Hello, friends, grab your Bible and a friend and sit back
00:03 as we explore God's word together
00:05 on this edition of House calls.
00:26 Welcome to our Bible living room.
00:29 This is our Bible living room.
00:31 I like it.
00:32 We are comfortable
00:34 and we want to make you comfortable
00:35 with what the word of God has to say to you today.
00:37 Welcome to House calls, the,
00:40 what I call one of the best Bible...
00:42 Well, sorry. Let me repeat.
00:44 The best Bible program, undeniable, incomprehensible.
00:50 What other word can we add to that, John?
00:51 Unrivalled Unrivalled.
00:53 And John and John are residing here,
00:56 waiting for the Spirit of God to speak to our hearts
00:59 so that we can speak to your heart.
01:01 And so get your friends,
01:02 your family members, your Bible, your pens
01:05 and prepare yourself a wonderful time
01:08 as we have another excursion through the living word of God.
01:12 But before we do anything, before we get to your questions
01:15 and your comments,
01:16 John will lead us
01:17 before the throne of grace through prayer.
01:19 Let's do that.
01:21 Gracious Father,
01:22 we thank you for another opportunity
01:24 here to gather together to study your word,
01:26 we pray that
01:28 we will rightly divide the word of truth
01:30 as we study the various topics in line for today
01:33 and the questions that have been submitted.
01:35 Please, Lord,
01:36 guide our minds and help instruct us
01:39 and give us the words to share from your word
01:41 that answers the questions in the hearts of all of us.
01:43 In Jesus' name, amen.
01:45 Amen. Thank you, John.
01:47 And, friends, as you may know we get the Bible questions,
01:50 you e-mail them to us,
01:52 we try our best to respond to them.
01:55 And, John, I'll let you go ahead
01:56 and dive in for the first question today.
02:00 Alright.
02:02 A question from Clark.
02:04 And it says, "Can a Christian lose his or her salvation?
02:10 What text do you have to support the conclusion?"
02:13 So, let's take a look at a few things here.
02:18 You know for the most part,
02:19 I think the Christian world today
02:22 has moved into a teaching
02:25 where, two things God's covenant always exist.
02:31 He is covenant to save mankind
02:32 and he will not fail with his covenant.
02:34 And number two,
02:35 that because of that once you give your life to him
02:39 you cannot lose that salvation.
02:42 While the first is true, God is true, God is,
02:46 he will always keep his covenant with us.
02:49 The second is not true.
02:51 And to conclude that once you're saved
02:55 that there's nothing you can do,
02:57 to walk away from the redemption
02:58 you have in Jesus is to miss
03:00 many very clear text in scripture
03:02 that say that some have done that
03:04 and will do that right on through to the end of time.
03:07 That's right.
03:09 And, so we'll share some of those text
03:10 with you here today.
03:11 But I want to start off with a general concept here
03:14 that is found throughout scripture.
03:17 And it's driven by the word "Keep," OK.
03:21 So we know we read from scripture,
03:23 especially from the Old Testament,
03:25 when the covenant of God to save his people,
03:28 this everlasting covenant to save all mankind
03:32 was lay that he will be true to that covenant,
03:34 true to that promise to save.
03:36 And by sending Jesus
03:38 he is guaranteed salvation now for all.
03:40 OK.
03:41 So that part is the true part of this two pronged equation.
03:46 But the other part is that he asks us to keep,
03:50 OK.
03:51 Keeping the covenant
03:53 not in the way that God keeps the covenant
03:55 because God is true and forever true
03:57 and his truth goes beyond what we're capable of.
04:00 But in the way that we with our will give ourselves to him
04:04 and keep those things which he gives to us
04:06 and entrust to us
04:07 for the redemption of our lives.
04:10 Let me give you just a few examples.
04:13 From 1 John 2:5,
04:16 the Apostle John says,
04:17 "But whoever keeps his word
04:20 truly the love of God is perfected in him.
04:24 By this we know that we are in him."
04:26 So he's writing to the church,
04:28 the whole church has professed the name of Jesus.
04:33 Yet, he's saying that you need to allow,
04:36 you need to keep the word
04:37 so that the love of God can be perfected in you, OK.
04:40 So there's he's going somewhere,
04:42 he wants to transform, and remake,
04:44 recreate our life into the image of Christ.
04:46 Here's another one, same book, Chapter 3:24,
04:51 "Now he who keeps
04:52 "his commandments abides in him,
04:54 "and he in him,
04:55 "and by this we know that he abides in us
04:57 "by the Spirit whom he has given us."
04:59 So another "Keep," OK.
05:00 So twice we've heard,
05:02 keep the word, keep the covenants.
05:04 And here's another one, from Revelation 16:15,
05:07 "Behold I'm coming as a thief,
05:08 blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments."
05:11 Right.
05:13 Now the interesting thing about this one...
05:14 I was about along that line,
05:16 I'll just put in this right to...
05:17 Yeah.
05:18 The neat thing about this is that he adds to this lest
05:20 he walk naked and they see his shame.
05:23 So again writing this letter to the church,
05:25 he's saying that you need to keep
05:26 that garment on or you will be found naked.
05:29 Right.
05:31 We know that the garments, the white garment,
05:34 that is spoken of throughout scripture
05:35 represents the righteousness of Jesus.
05:37 And that righteousness is given to us,
05:40 it's not only imputed to us,
05:41 it's credit to do our count and we're justified in him.
05:45 But we are we receive the imparting of righteousness
05:48 from Christ.
05:50 The garment itself represents both.
05:53 And unless we have that garment on we're not saved,
05:57 that is very clear throughout scriptures.
05:58 Right. There several text about that.
06:00 But here's the thing, go back to this word, Keep.
06:04 If we didn't need to keep, why the command to constantly,
06:09 command throughout scripture to Keep, keep the commandments,
06:11 keep the word, keep the garment,
06:13 keep your relationship in Christ.
06:17 Keep yourself unspotted from the world
06:18 Unspotted from the world, keep yourself blameless.
06:22 So this word keep, evidently as a concept
06:24 that something that you don't hold on to it,
06:27 you would lose it.
06:28 Another keep, remember the Sabbath,
06:29 to keep it a Holy.
06:31 Keep it Holy, there we go.
06:32 So keep is throughout.
06:33 And if it's something that you could not lose anyway,
06:37 why the admonition to keep?
06:39 It doesn't make sense.
06:40 So we find that throughout scripture
06:42 God is going to keep his covenant
06:43 to save all mankind
06:45 but we enter into that covenant with him.
06:47 And as we do that by faith and it is the grace of God
06:51 then that saves us, he gives us things,
06:55 the word, the commandments, a garment.
06:57 And he says, keep those things I've been trusted to you.
07:00 Here's the other thing is you can't keep something
07:02 you haven't been given.
07:05 So those that are not in Christ
07:06 have not been given these things.
07:08 It's those who are saved, who are called to keep.
07:11 In fact, John, this whole thing about the command,
07:13 you have to keep the command is to be saved.
07:15 It's kind of a moot point.
07:17 Here's why.
07:19 God only gives us the commandments
07:21 when we're saved.
07:23 Right.
07:24 He doesn't give his commandments
07:26 to people that are unsafe,
07:27 he didn't go to the nations of the world
07:28 who didn't follow him and say, "Keep my commandments,"
07:30 he gave them to his people.
07:31 Right. And he said, "Keep them."
07:33 Right, when you enter into that saving relationship
07:35 now the parameters into that,
07:37 is like saying to it's like walking up
07:39 to a woman on the street and say, "Hey!
07:41 "Let's enter into a contract
07:42 "that married people have entered into,
07:44 "but we're not married."
07:46 And that's kind of like, "Well, who are you?
07:48 "How could you require me to do something
07:49 "when we don't have a relationship?"
07:51 It reminds me several times I think you've said this.
07:53 It's like going to the altar saying,
07:55 "I deal with your wife."
07:56 And then saying, "See you later."
07:59 You don't go live together, you don't do anything together,
08:02 you just married.
08:04 You just married and that's it.
08:05 You profess that you're married
08:07 but there's no evidence of marriage.
08:08 Not the relationship.
08:10 And so these are the reasons why God encourages us to keep.
08:13 And the other reason I bring this up
08:16 is because the question here is,
08:18 can you lose your salvation?
08:20 Well, if you called to keep something,
08:22 obviously, you can lose it too.
08:23 Right, that's right.
08:25 And one of the examples there with the garment.
08:28 I think it's in the book of James 1 or 2,
08:31 where it says,
08:33 "That your garments are moth eaten."
08:35 Right. OK.
08:36 They, they're, they're falling off of you.
08:38 They're no longer there,
08:40 which is why the admonition to keep your garments.
08:42 And if you lose your garment, Revelation 16:15, says,
08:45 "That you are naked and your shame is exposed."
08:49 Which means that you are no longer saved
08:52 and you will be lost.
08:53 Now here's what I'm not saying,
08:56 I'm not saying that God is not concerned for you,
09:01 and loves you,
09:02 and does everything he can
09:03 to keep you in that relationship
09:05 once you're saved.
09:06 This is not an issue of whether or not God loves you.
09:08 Right.
09:09 This is an issue of whether or not in a relationship,
09:11 you're committed to him,
09:13 and you return those affections
09:15 and you desire to remain in that relationship.
09:17 Because many times I think one of the things
09:19 that really attracts,
09:21 the most common thing that pulls us away from Christ
09:23 is the things in the world, the enticements of the world,
09:26 and the things,
09:27 they are to go back into that into a life of sin,
09:30 and to do those things that the body
09:32 which is sinful is naturally inclined to.
09:35 Which I'll bring one text and then I'll let you, John,
09:38 chime in on a few other ones here too.
09:40 But let's read from Hebrew 6:4.
09:46 Hebrews 6:4, and here's what it says,
09:52 "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened
09:55 "and have tasted the heavenly gift
09:58 and I become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
10:00 and have tasted the good word of God,
10:02 and the powers of the age to come.
10:04 If they fall away to renew them again to repentance,
10:07 since they crucify again for themselves
10:09 the Son of God
10:11 and we'll put him to an open shame."
10:14 Now it's interesting, we read that, we go, oh, boy,
10:15 I've lost my salvation I can't get it back.
10:17 This is actually not
10:18 what the writer of Hebrews is saying.
10:20 He's saying it's impossible for God to save you
10:23 if you've decided to go back into the world.
10:25 In other words,
10:26 he's not going to save you against your will.
10:30 So it's impossible for God to save one
10:34 who is left the taste of the good heavenly things,
10:36 and experience that it has see the world
10:39 as being more in enticing
10:40 and he's gone back into the world
10:41 to then save him
10:43 because they've chosen the world.
10:44 That's right. It's not impossible.
10:46 If they repent again and come back to him,
10:48 then it's possible.
10:50 But the impossibility is God never goes against our will,
10:53 he will never save us against our will,
10:55 and this is something that he's always given.
10:57 He's established from the very beginning.
10:59 Even to Adam and with Adam and Eve before sin,
11:02 he gave them the ability to choose sin which they did.
11:06 And so God does not save even against our will.
11:10 And in some respects
11:11 he won't even 'cause us to be lost
11:13 with outside of our will too.
11:15 But, anyway, John,
11:16 you probably have a couple more there let's, let's...
11:17 Yeah, I want to this, this idea.
11:20 I think the whole context of it is the,
11:22 once saved, always saved ideology
11:24 that oftentimes people get tripped up on.
11:29 Because the concept of salvation is misunderstood,
11:31 many people don't understand what salvation is.
11:34 So they remember these dates,
11:36 you know, I was saved on February 2,
11:39 you know, 1992, I got saved, I got saved.
11:42 It's like a God thing. Yeah, right.
11:44 It's like, I got a car on the next day,
11:46 and I got a house the week after.
11:48 Well, I don't want to be little,
11:49 that whole transaction,
11:51 but what you actually did when you said you got saved
11:54 or you were saved,
11:56 you entered into a saving relationship.
11:59 So when you were saved,
12:02 you were saved from the penalty of sin.
12:05 But you know you aren't safe from the presence of sin
12:07 because it's still there in the world.
12:09 Temptation is still there.
12:11 That's why Paul says, "I die daily."
12:14 Paul, as a matter of fact, after he was converted,
12:17 had a terrible struggle.
12:19 He says, "What I want to do I can't do,
12:22 "what I don't want to do, I find myself doing."
12:24 And then he said, "Oh, wretched man that I am,
12:27 "who will deliver me from the body of this death?"
12:30 In other words, the body of this death
12:32 and he didn't say the death of this body,
12:35 the body of this death.
12:37 Who is going to deliver me from the body of this death?
12:40 What he actually meant was he entered into a covenant
12:44 where the spiritual body or the corrupt body is dead,
12:49 but he's now...
12:51 the corrupt nature is dead,
12:53 but he's dealing with a body that is still mortal.
12:56 So the challenge of Christians is to enter,
13:00 to say, I have died to sin
13:03 but I've got this mortal body that remembers it.
13:06 Now I want to say that again, this mortal body,
13:08 when Paul says,
13:10 "Don't let sin reign in your mortal body."
13:13 He is saying even after
13:14 you've given your life to Christ,
13:16 sin wants to come back
13:18 and establish itself in your life.
13:21 Don't let sin...
13:23 Now matter of fact, go to Romans 8,
13:24 I have a couple of text I want to show you.
13:25 But Romans 8, pulls it into beautiful,
13:28 into a beautiful equation, what the saving relationship.
13:33 This idea that I was saved...
13:35 Somebody once said to me, "I was saved when I was four."
13:37 And I thought, you know,
13:39 you were not saved when you were four,
13:40 you just got a new bottle.
13:43 Salvation is like, salvation to the Christian
13:46 is like marriage to the husband or wife.
13:49 You got to know the parameters of your...
13:51 you don't get saved at four years old.
13:52 What did you do?
13:54 You enter into your first class and in church?
13:56 Some of these language statements are like,
13:59 well, OK, well,
14:00 so that means your saved longer than I was.
14:03 No, let's just understand the whole context here
14:05 of what salvation is.
14:07 Let's look at this now.
14:08 Give me the text again. Romans 8, OK.
14:13 This is Romans 8:12, 13.
14:20 Well, verse 13 actually is the direct one,
14:23 "For if you live according to the flesh,
14:27 you will die
14:28 but if by the spirit you put to death
14:31 the deeds of the body you will live."
14:34 Now get this.
14:36 Why would you live according to the spirit
14:37 if you are not in the spirit?
14:39 So he says, in the very next verse,
14:42 look at verse 14 to pull the whole context together,
14:46 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God
14:50 these are the sons of God, or these are sons of God."
14:53 So now,
14:55 when you enter the saving relationship
14:56 you enter a spiritual covenant with God.
15:00 Matter of fact,
15:01 let me just go and add one more,
15:02 you don't have to turn there,
15:04 but John 1:10, go there very quickly.
15:09 Look at this,
15:12 John 1:12,
15:19 "But as many as received him to them he gave the right."
15:25 Or the King James Version says, "The power,
15:27 to become children of God
15:29 to those who believe in his name."
15:32 Get this now, verse 13,
15:34 "Who were born not of blood
15:37 nor of the will of the flesh
15:39 nor of the will of man, but of God."
15:41 So when you're born of God
15:43 now you enter into this spiritual relationship.
15:46 You enter the spiritual relationship.
15:48 Being born of God, entering into the relationship,
15:51 one word.
15:52 Justification.
15:54 Think of it this way,
15:55 you have just been released from death row.
15:57 The death sentence has been hanging over your head
15:59 all your life,
16:00 now you've just been released.
16:02 Watch this,
16:03 you've just been released from the penalty of death,
16:06 but the criminal that's just been released
16:08 from the penalty of death,
16:10 wakes up in the morning and has to acknowledge the fact
16:12 that if I am not delivered from the power of sin,
16:17 I just been living from the penalty of sin.
16:21 If I am not delivered from the power of sin,
16:24 I could end up back in jail.
16:26 And you know they call that the recidivism rate,
16:29 I can end up right back where I was before.
16:30 So this idea
16:32 that you enter into a relationship with Jesus
16:33 and you'll never ever have the chance to go back
16:36 or fall or fall through, or for that matter,
16:39 walk away, then you forget this text.
16:42 Listen to this,
16:43 and this is one of the Gospel workers
16:44 in the New Testament church.
16:46 A man by the name of Demas, 2 Timothy 4:10.
16:50 Paul simply says, "For Demas has forsaken me,
16:56 having loved this present world,
16:59 and has departed for Thessalonica,
17:02 Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia."
17:07 So, Demas he says, the reason why he forsake me,
17:12 Demas was working for the Gospel.
17:14 He was a convert in the New Testament church.
17:18 But somewhere along the way,
17:21 he got caught up in the world and he left.
17:24 He says, I'm no longer doing this,
17:26 he went back.
17:27 And look at 2 Peter 2:20-22, John.
17:30 Something came to your mind?
17:32 No, go ahead.
17:33 2 Peter Chapter 2:20-22.
17:36 I'm going to make reference to Demas here
17:38 and to those who have given their lives to Christ.
17:41 That's why this phrase the word that John kept emphasizing,
17:44 keep, keep, keep, keep, keep.
17:46 Paul uses another word,
17:47 "Press toward the goal for the prize
17:49 of the upward call of God in Christ."
17:50 Press, you've got to you've got to press,
17:52 you've got to push, you've got to make sure
17:54 you move in the right direction.
17:55 Yeah. Here it is, 2 Peter 2:20-22.
17:58 This is powerful,
17:59 "For if, after they have escaped,"
18:03 let me it, "For if,
18:05 after they have escaped the pollutions of the world
18:08 through the knowledge of the Lord
18:10 and Savior Jesus Christ,
18:12 they are again entangled in them and overcome,
18:18 the latter end is worse for them than the beginning."
18:22 Get this,
18:23 if they've already escaped
18:25 but now they've gotten entangled again
18:27 and it's going to be worse this time.
18:28 And I'm going to make emphasis, remind me of that.
18:31 it says, "For it would," verse 21,!"
18:33 it would have been better
18:36 for them not to have known the way of righteousness."
18:41 They knew the way of right...
18:42 it's better they didn't know it.
18:44 Then,
18:46 "Having known it to turn away from the holy commandment
18:49 delivered to them,
18:51 but it has happened to them according to the true proverb.
18:55 A dog returns to his own vomit and a pig, having washed,
19:00 to her wallowing in the mire."
19:03 So what's happened here?
19:05 He's went back.
19:07 He knew about the vomit,
19:08 he knew about the mud
19:10 and he went back to the vomit of corruption,
19:12 the vomit of sin,
19:14 the vomit of the world,
19:15 because that's what dogs do.
19:17 And why does it say that?
19:19 The dog did...
19:20 You know what happened here?
19:21 He wallowed,
19:23 he panted in there until he went back.
19:25 Now, I use one more example
19:26 then I'd throw it back over to John.
19:30 In the New Testament,
19:31 the Bible talks about when a man is cleansed,
19:33 when a man is cleansed
19:35 and the Lord cast demons out of that person.
19:38 It's power story.
19:39 And the demons are cast out and they go all out,
19:42 the Lord cleanse cleansed him.
19:44 But the Bible says,
19:45 The demons came back
19:48 and the demons looked at the man's house,
19:51 he found it swept,
19:53 that means that nothing was in there.
19:55 He found a clean,
19:56 that means those former things
19:58 he did were no longer being, done.
19:59 But he found it empty.
20:02 And because it was not filled by the Spirit of God,
20:06 he went back and got seven demons of worse
20:09 than the one that was there before.
20:11 And the Bible says,
20:12 "The latter end is worse for them than the beginning."
20:15 See, it's not enough to be swept,
20:16 it's not up to is not enough to say,
20:18 I've given up this, giving up that.
20:20 It's is not enough to be clean.
20:21 I've been justified
20:23 but you've got to be filled by the Spirit.
20:25 When you are not, filled by the Spirit,
20:27 you don't have the power to live by the spirit.
20:29 Romans 8:1.
20:31 Are you at that?
20:32 Where are you, are you at this particular...
20:33 I'm at another...
20:35 OK, I'll just hit Romans 8:1 and we'll dive into this,
20:37 "There is therefore now no condemnation
20:40 to those who are in Christ Jesus."
20:43 Here's where the condemnation is removed.
20:45 "Who do not walk according to the flesh
20:48 but according to the spirit."
20:51 So the devil does a serious a sinister thing here,
20:53 he removes the commandments, the obligation to follow God.
20:57 The obligation to provide evidence of your salvation
21:01 with good works.
21:03 He removes that entirely just to overemphasize really.
21:07 Maybe the word overemphasize isn't right,
21:09 but to emphasize justification
21:11 to the exclusion of sanctification
21:14 where salvation is both it's a package.
21:17 It's imputed righteousness, justification
21:19 and the imparted righteousness of Christ
21:21 the changing power of God,
21:22 giving you power, victory over sin.
21:24 That's right.
21:25 Those both are necessary for a transformed life,
21:29 one that's prepared and ready for Jesus to come.
21:30 Right.
21:31 And that's why it says in Luke 21.
21:34 And by the way, John,
21:36 the Bible was written to the churches.
21:40 Right.
21:41 It was given to those who had accepted Jesus.
21:44 OK.
21:45 Now granted, people come to another Lord
21:47 through reading the word, they give their hearts to him.
21:49 But the depth of the Word of God
21:52 the transforming power is given to those
21:54 who have entered into relationship with Jesus.
21:57 And so when he saying,
21:59 "Don't let these things snare you,
22:00 make sure you watch out for this and that"
22:03 it's telling people who are saved of those things.
22:06 Like, it's like giving somebody an auto manual for a car
22:09 that they don't have.
22:11 I like that.
22:13 You know... Exactly right.
22:14 And so you can't read these things in like,
22:16 they're for people that are unsaved
22:18 that they need to wake up and give themselves to Jesus.
22:20 These are written to people that are saved,
22:22 who want to stay safe.
22:24 Yeah.
22:25 Can you imagine that, I never said that before,
22:26 as you know.
22:28 Imagine a Toyota manual show up in your mailbox.
22:32 John Stanton, Toyota Avalon manual,
22:34 And you say,
22:37 "I think you sent this to wrong..."
22:38 "No, no, no we have the right name,
22:39 John Stanton."
22:41 "But I don't have a Toyota Avalon."
22:42 "According to our records you need this manual."
22:45 "I don't have it."
22:47 You cannot maintain something you don't have.
22:51 The Bible is a manual for the Christian,
22:54 it's a book that leads you in wisdom,
22:56 it unfolds a knowledge
22:58 that will lead you to accept Christ.
23:01 But once you accept him, now, you live by... Matthew 4:4,
23:05 "Man shall not live by bread alone
23:08 but by every word
23:10 that proceeds from the mouth of God."
23:12 It becomes our life manual.
23:15 So, nutshell, can you lose your salvation?
23:18 Of course, you can.
23:20 When you put it in your own hand
23:22 and not allow yourself to be daily moulded
23:25 by the Spirit,
23:27 you are in danger of going back to the dog pan,
23:30 and going back to the mud pan.
23:33 Going back to the vomit and going back
23:36 to the whatever garbage the pig eats.
23:38 That's right.
23:40 But if you submit yourself to Christ,
23:42 He said, the Bible says, and Paul says,
23:45 "I am persuaded that he is able to keep
23:50 that which I have committed to him against that day.
23:54 I am persuaded that neither death,
23:57 nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
24:00 nor thing present, nor things to come,
24:02 no height, no depth,
24:03 nor any other created thing
24:05 shall be able to separate me from the love of God
24:08 which is in Christ Jesus."
24:10 Submit yourself to God,
24:12 resist the devil and he will flee from you.
24:14 These are all action scripts.
24:17 Resist, submit, commit,
24:19 and when you do that the Lord will give you power.
24:21 That's why it says, "As many as received him,
24:24 to them he gave the power to become the children of God."
24:27 There's a power in the Christian life
24:29 that we don't often tap into that's why we fail.
24:31 And I'm gonna end with this one point,
24:33 I think that the doctrine of once saved always saved
24:38 is better described as the doctrine of insecurity.
24:42 Beautiful.
24:43 And here's why I say it's a doctrine of insecurity,
24:46 because you ask the person...
24:49 Well, because, the,
24:51 the assertion is that what you're saying
24:53 you're always saved, they're secure.
24:54 You know that you're in Christ. I'm on a conveyor belt.
24:57 OK.
24:58 But my question to them then would be,
25:00 and I've asked people this,
25:01 so what about the person
25:03 that gives their life to Christ,
25:04 he's in the church,
25:06 and they leave the church later and they become a murderer,
25:07 and they get on death row.
25:09 Are they saved?
25:10 They're going to heaven, no matter what.
25:11 That's what they teach.
25:13 But you know what their response is?
25:14 Well, they weren't really saved in the first place.
25:18 Yeah, I've heard that.
25:19 So, what is it that saves you?
25:22 Do you mean, when he was in the church
25:24 and he gave his life to Christ
25:25 and professed his commitment to Jesus,
25:28 he wasn't saved at that moment?
25:29 Didn't understand how...
25:30 You're going to actually,
25:32 what you will breed is a bunch of people
25:34 running around a church saying, "Did I.did that take..."
25:39 You know I said I give myself to Jesus,
25:41 did that work, did that one work?
25:43 Well, the murderer on death row would have to say,
25:46 I guess that one didn't work.
25:48 Right. You see, this is simple.
25:50 You're in Christ, you're saved.
25:52 You're out of Christ, you're not.
25:54 The evidence of that is what is your life look like.
25:58 Are you following him? Are you committed to him?
26:00 Do you have a devotional life? Do you have a prayer life?
26:02 Are you becoming Christ like?
26:04 Are you becoming more and more like him?
26:06 Those are evidences that you are in Christ
26:08 and you are saved.
26:10 If you're walking away from him,
26:11 you're going back in the world,
26:12 you start parting again, you're drinking things,
26:14 you're doing stuff you know really isn't good.
26:15 That's evidence that you're not saved.
26:17 I know where I stand with God by the evidences of my life,
26:21 that brings security.
26:23 That's why the Bible says,
26:25 "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
26:28 that everyone must give an account
26:30 for the deeds done in the body.
26:33 So speak and so do as they that shall be,
26:36 judged by the law of liberty.
26:39 So speak, so speak,
26:41 and so do as those that would judge by love."
26:43 Fear God and keep his commandments
26:45 for this is the whole duty of man
26:47 for God will bring every work into judgment,
26:50 with every secret thing
26:52 whether it be good or whether it be evil.
26:54 Why is that so important if you're just saved and locked
26:57 and, "Hey, guys,
26:59 I've been spiritually fastened into the seatbelt
27:02 and even I want to get out I just have to go to heaven.
27:05 I don't want to be there any more."
27:07 This is ridiculous.
27:08 But that is the deception, the doctrine of insecurity.
27:12 Thank you, John, I appreciate that,
27:13 the doctrine of insecurity.
27:15 So, what are we saying?
27:16 Maintain your relationship by the power,
27:18 the presence that God makes available.
27:21 The Spirit of God wants to work in your life
27:23 but he can only work in your life,
27:25 if daily you are willing to die to self.
27:29 And what's the promise?
27:31 He who has begun a good work in you will complete it
27:34 until the day of Jesus Christ.
27:36 But you got to awake in the morning and say,
27:38 OK, Lord, please keep going
27:40 because if I have try I'm going to mess it up."
27:43 And he says,
27:44 "It has not yet been revealed what we shall be,
27:47 but we do know that when he is revealed,
27:49 we'll be like Him for we will see him as he is,"
27:52 1 John 3:2.
27:53 So let him keep working.
27:55 I began the work, I'll complete it.
27:56 But if you don't give me permission,
27:59 you will end up as you are.
28:00 I think that's a good enough for the first question.
28:02 I think we need to dive in.
28:03 We have some good questions for the next program.
28:05 But, you know, it's important to spend time sometimes
28:07 on really important questions because saving relationship
28:10 is what everybody needs to know about.
28:12 Yes, that's really critical.
28:13 You know, it's like saying to a husband and wife,
28:15 "Well, you're married, you know, go and sin no more."
28:20 You know...
28:21 What does that mean? How do you know that?
28:22 That means, get rid of your black book,
28:24 you get rid of all of the girl friends you have,
28:26 and we know it's deeper than that.
28:28 Well, anyway, if you have any questions
28:29 you'd like to send to us,
28:31 the following e-mail address will let you know
28:33 how you can get those to us.
28:36 You can send those to House Calls at 3abn.org.
28:39 That's housecalls@3abn.org.
28:42 And surely, we will do our part to answer your questions.
28:47 Praise the Lord for that.
28:48 John, we're continuing today in a wonderful study,
28:50 just lead us into that.
28:52 We've been talking about baptism.
28:54 You have part one already.
28:56 And some of the important aspects,
28:58 really the essential foundational parts baptism,
29:03 the fact that its right, it's important,
29:05 something we must do.
29:07 The Bible has called us, commanded us to do that.
29:09 And what we didn't talk about, John, I think,
29:13 maybe this will help us segue into the rest of the study
29:17 is that although it is a commandment,
29:20 a command to be baptized, it's a right of the Christian.
29:24 It's a statement that I now belong to Christ,
29:26 I do not belong to the world or to Satan
29:28 or do anything else,
29:29 I've left those things behind, I've died to self.
29:32 That what about the pride, I know it's out there,
29:35 so what about the person
29:36 that can't get into the baptismal waters
29:38 but wants to give their life to Christ?
29:40 What about you know,
29:41 if I haven't been saved
29:43 or someone give their life to Jesus,
29:44 and they had an accident and their life is over,
29:47 and they don't they couldn't have a chance.
29:49 So, let's answer that before we move on to the rest,
29:51 because I know some people will be thinking,
29:53 hey, if unless you're baptized, unless you're underneath water,
29:55 you're lost and you know...
29:58 Well, you want to answer that one?
29:59 No, go ahead.
30:01 You know, when Jesus was baptized he said to John,
30:04 "Permitted to be so now for thus
30:06 it is necessary to fulfil alrighteousness."
30:10 And I want to clarify something and actually amplify it
30:13 what I said on a previous program about this.
30:16 I made the statement, when Jesus went into the water,
30:19 since he was not a sinner,
30:21 the Bible says, he became sin for us,
30:23 but he was not a sinner.
30:25 You got to separate the two.
30:27 He became sin for us that we might through him
30:30 become the righteousness of God.
30:32 OK.
30:33 So when he went into the baptismal pool
30:35 or the Jordan River,
30:37 he made provision for those
30:40 who could not physically have a baptism
30:44 and for those who could physically have a baptism
30:47 because alrighteousness was fulfilled.
30:50 And what John was talking about and what we mean by that
30:53 is there are those extenuating circumstances.
30:55 And you know, it wasn't too long after that,
30:58 that a perfect example came up.
31:00 We, today,
31:01 have incessantly referred
31:03 to this as a thief on the cross.
31:05 The thief on the cross,
31:08 "Lord, remember me when you come in new kingdom."
31:11 "I'm saying to you today, you'll be with me in paradise.
31:14 I promise you that.
31:15 When I come I will remember you."
31:17 And so, the Lord, when he returns
31:20 he will respond to the request of the thief.
31:23 The thief said, "Lord,
31:25 remember me when you come into the kingdom."
31:26 And the Lord says, I'm telling you this today
31:29 you will be with me in paradise.
31:31 He couldn't come down to be baptized,
31:33 there could be no possible...
31:34 That's right.
31:36 So Jesus imparted to that man his righteousness.
31:39 And that's what Paul,
31:40 that's what Matthew meant when he said,
31:43 when John said, when Jesus said in Matthew,
31:45 "Permitted to be this way now
31:47 for it is necessary to fulfil alrighteousness.
31:51 But in most cases, John...
31:52 Most people are cut off from being baptized.
31:55 So you need to make that decision
31:57 and follow through with it.
31:58 But you know what in some of our pastors have done this
32:00 in this is wonderful how provision can be made.
32:02 Other than a baptismal pool,
32:04 but we've been instructed Ellen
32:07 White talks about this in our church manual says,
32:09 if at all to make this ceremony special
32:11 if it's possible at all to have a baptism
32:14 in running water in a wonderful river
32:17 or lake do it is so special.
32:20 But if not if they can't make it to a baptismal pool
32:23 or river anything at all.
32:25 And they are incapacitated.
32:27 There was a young man in Russia
32:28 that Mark Finley did his baptism in a bath tub.
32:31 He said I want to be baptized,
32:32 I want to he said but you can't make it to the church.
32:34 So they said OK, fill up the baptism
32:37 fill up the bath tub and they baptized in the tub.
32:41 But this right is a beautiful thing.
32:43 And so, yes people can be saved without baptism
32:46 in extenuating circumstances.
32:48 Don't make you as an excuse and say,
32:50 'Well, I actually intended to be here."
32:53 It's not that that but that's not what we mean.
32:55 Yeah, you give your life to Christ unreservedly.
32:57 Right without reservation.
33:01 So yeah, you mentioned the thief on the cross
33:03 and the fact that he was not able to be baptized
33:10 but still was saved
33:12 and so that kind of dance that answers that question.
33:15 But let's talk about more about this ordinance about baptism.
33:17 OK.
33:19 And those that are sincere I want to follow through that
33:21 and what does that represent what does that mean
33:23 when we talk a little bit about how this is death to self.
33:26 New Life in Christ we die to the old man.
33:29 We live now to Jesus through his power his strength
33:33 but it also there is there is other things
33:37 that it symbolizes as well.
33:40 One of those coming into a faith with doctrine,
33:46 the church the body that's part of what baptism symbolizes.
33:52 In fact, Ephesians 4:5,
33:56 Ephesians 4:5 Let me read that.
33:59 Sure.
34:01 While you turn there let me just hit this one
34:02 because you talked about this a lot of times
34:04 you get baptized.
34:06 They said, I don't want to be baptized into a church
34:08 I just want to be baptized into Jesus.
34:09 Well you know saying
34:11 I don't want to not only be in a football team.
34:12 I just want to football uniform.
34:14 Well nobody is and said, island of,
34:19 of activity unto themselves.
34:22 The Lord Acts 2:47
34:25 the Lord added to the church daily
34:28 those who were saved in the saving relationship.
34:33 There's a place is a community there's a fellowship
34:35 and let me tell you something.
34:37 There's a text in the Bible says, "Iron sharpens iron"
34:41 You will never know what kind of Christian
34:43 you have become
34:44 unless you have somebody to test you.
34:47 And saints will test you.
34:48 And believe me Saints will test you.
34:53 You will test others and they will test you
34:56 you've gotto you grow in a community.
34:59 You don't you know,
35:00 you don't grow into
35:02 you don't grow into grace you grow in grace.
35:07 You don't grow into Christ you grow in Christ.
35:12 See so we're not a fish doesn't swim into the water,
35:16 he swims in the water.
35:19 A plant doesn't grow into the pot
35:20 it grows in the pot.
35:22 So when you planted it was Christ,
35:25 you grow as the phrase has grow your planted
35:27 was the text you have for us John.
35:30 Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 4,
35:33 There is one body and one spirit,
35:36 just as you were called in one hope
35:37 of your calling one Lord,
35:39 one faith, one baptism,
35:41 one God and Father of all
35:43 who is above all and through all and in you all.
35:47 But each one of us grace was given
35:49 according to the measure of Christ's gift."
35:51 So we're talking about here a body of believers
35:54 who have received doctrine.
35:58 They've received the Holy.
36:00 Spirit into their lives,
36:01 they've been bonded together in peace.
36:05 They have been, given hope,
36:06 they have one faith that they practice
36:08 and they had been, baptized.
36:11 So as this message this word was going out
36:13 and people were being saved day-by-day
36:15 you also read that baptisms
36:17 were happening by the thousands...
36:18 By the thousands.
36:20 In the Book of Acts, so baptism went clearly
36:22 along with those that were being saved,
36:24 but it also was bringing them into the Body of Christ.
36:28 So someone can say,
36:29 Well I like to be baptized in a river and do I really
36:31 I really don't like being in church,
36:33 I don't like being in public.
36:34 It really challenges me I get anxious and so forth.
36:37 What we understand those kinds of anxieties.
36:39 But unless you're connecting with a body.
36:41 You're actually creating a very huge gap.
36:46 Not only in potential for growth,
36:48 which was what John always spoke about
36:49 already spoke about
36:50 but of being able to be sustained and encouraged
36:54 by the Saints to continue on.
36:57 I find John that when we're home.
36:59 If I'm home and I don't have a lot to do
37:02 I better find something to do.
37:04 And those are the times after well, lets say, OK,
37:07 where's my project list
37:08 and I've got to get out there wash the car.
37:10 I've got to get in the garden
37:11 and maybe mow the lawn or do something.
37:13 Because as we know slothfulness are just sitting around
37:17 with nothing to do
37:18 that doesn't incline us to do good things.
37:21 No.
37:22 It causes the old man to kind of rise up
37:24 and unless you're involved with the Saints
37:28 unless you're involved with the church,
37:30 and only you will not grow,
37:31 but I think there's a greater chance
37:33 to fall back into sin.
37:35 Right.
37:36 And as we're going into
37:38 the continual unfolding of baptism
37:42 the church is necessary
37:43 you grow together in the community.
37:46 I said this in a moment ago,
37:47 when you look at this when you look at this word
37:49 in the in the phrase in the New Testament
37:51 in the Book of Acts one accord, one accord, one accord.
37:54 You know they were in one accord
37:56 for prayer and supplication they were in one accord
37:59 when the Holy Spirit was poured out,
38:00 they continued daily with one accord in the temple
38:05 and breaking bread from house to house.
38:07 This accordance you can't be in one accord
38:10 with yourself you have to be in accord
38:14 in the word accord there means unity harmony.
38:18 Fellowship is the word Koinonia is the word,
38:22 fellowship with one another 1 John 1:7,
38:26 "If we walk in the light as he is in the light
38:28 we have fellowship." Koinonia.
38:30 The church is a place of fellowship
38:31 is also a church a place of service.
38:33 A place of growth
38:35 the Spirit of God works on you to bring you to a conviction
38:38 then you accept the Lord that is justification,
38:41 you into now into the relationship
38:43 with all the others who have done the same.
38:45 That's called, Sanctification
38:46 but you know you have to enter into this.
38:49 But let me also add this John, Mark 3... Matthew 3:11.
38:54 This is interesting because when Jesus,
38:56 was baptized by John the Baptist
39:02 a statement followed about what kind of baptism this was.
39:06 But read that for us.
39:09 "I indeed that is you with water unto repentance,
39:13 but he who is coming after me is mightier than I who sandals
39:17 I am not worthy to carry,
39:19 he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire."
39:22 OK,
39:23 so this says this is another baptism
39:25 people don't often think about,
39:27 what I want to also do is straight now
39:29 the distortion of baptism by the Holy Spirit of fire.
39:33 When the Lord descended on the disciples
39:35 on the day of Pentecost,
39:37 they were able to communicate the language
39:40 to the world in a tongue
39:42 that all the other nations knew.
39:44 But they themselves as galleons
39:45 didn't know the Lord equipped these Galilean men.
39:49 Let me just use of a loose phrase today,
39:51 he I'm from New York, so I'll use this,
39:54 he equipped all these people brought born in New York.
39:57 You know Brooklyn
39:59 with the ability to speak German
40:01 and Italian and Dutch and Portuguese and Spanish.
40:05 And the languages of the world,
40:07 what he didn't do
40:09 was 'cause them to start talking in tongues
40:12 things that nobody understood.
40:14 And so when you're baptized with the Holy Spirit.
40:18 That means the Holy Spirit now comes into your life
40:21 and makes you capable of accomplishing,
40:24 accomplishing what you could not accomplish in the flesh.
40:28 So as walk in the spirit.
40:30 So you will not fulfil the days of the flesh.
40:32 That's what happens the Holy Spirit comes in
40:35 and says, OK, I'm here
40:37 now there are a number of things
40:38 that you are going to do as I train you
40:40 as you submit to the will of God each day
40:42 the Spirit of God will come into your life.
40:44 And want to says, also with fire
40:46 it doesn't just mean on the day of Pentecost
40:48 the cloven tongues as of fire
40:50 representing the power of the Holy Spirit.
40:51 It means I'm going to burn everything out of your life
40:54 that doesn't have any place in the Christians life.
40:58 I'm going to consume all the sin
41:00 consume all the draws I'm going to purify you.
41:03 And that's why Jesus says,
41:05 "By of me gold tried in the fire in the fire."
41:10 This is the faith that work of the by love
41:13 the gold tried in the fire.
41:14 So before, we get to the kingdom.
41:16 Before we are perfected,
41:19 we will be under the constant firing of the Spirit of God
41:24 burning all the way that's what happened to Joshua
41:27 the angel put a cold on his lip
41:30 and he says, OK you're clean now see.
41:35 Isaiah I'm a man of unclean lips.
41:37 So we have a cleanliness that is necessary.
41:39 There's a cleaning process,
41:41 that's necessary for us to become like Jesus.
41:45 But Pastor.
41:48 I just I don't get along with the people in the church.
41:51 They just sometimes they're not very nice to me
41:54 and they just they're always judge mental,
41:56 they look at me funny.
41:58 I just I don't really get along there.
42:02 Well, here's something that is the challenge.
42:05 Here's where growth can be its greatest right.
42:08 Be that transforming agent in that church
42:13 be the one that's Christ like in the church
42:15 to introduce them to what Christ really is like.
42:21 Manifest his character.
42:22 Don't just go home and sit there,
42:24 that's what the devil want you to do.
42:26 He's the one telling you to stay home.
42:28 God is saying get in there,
42:30 and mingle and transform that church by my spirit.
42:33 I can use you to transform these Judge Mental unkind
42:37 even in words and even sometimes deeds
42:39 people by your love my love through you to them.
42:44 And yes, it's going to be a challenge.
42:46 Yes, you're going to have some difficulties...
42:47 But that's the iron sharpening the iron.
42:48 It is.
42:50 It is and when we shrink back from that,
42:54 I think it just allows the church
42:55 to continue to, to foster this negative kind of attitude
43:03 even keep us from ministry to others
43:05 and you know the heard those horrible stories
43:08 you know about the young girl
43:09 that walks in and her skirts too short or,
43:12 or maybe her.
43:14 Her neckline is a little too low
43:16 and grandma steps up and says,
43:18 "You better leave here now
43:20 and don't come back until you change your clothes."
43:21 you know and so no they never come back
43:24 you know that's the devil working
43:25 he does work through people in the Saints
43:28 column saying it's but not all of them are saints.
43:31 We've got convicts in the church
43:32 as we mentioned in a recent program,
43:33 but not a lot of converts.
43:35 And so that that is what
43:36 you're going to run into so expect it.
43:38 I always tell someone baptized I maybe do this too.
43:41 If I'm baptizing I say, listen
43:43 this is where the battle begins you realize this.
43:46 This isn't like
43:47 just a culmination of the joy of the journey in Christ.
43:50 Just what is going to be Joy.
43:52 This is a culmination this is the beginning
43:54 of some incredible trials in your life
43:56 because, the devil's not to be happy
43:57 with you you're making a statement
43:59 you're standing up on, on a mountain,
44:00 you're saying, "Devil, I'm done with you."
44:03 I'm in Christ now, I'm his army."
44:05 What you think is going to do with his armory.
44:07 He's in the image right at you. Oh, yeah.
44:10 So when you're baptized when you make that statement.
44:12 The devil is going to come after you
44:14 and he doesn't do that specifically with himself
44:16 or with his demons
44:18 although there's temptations and other things.
44:20 But he uses even the people of God
44:21 to come after us
44:23 to discourage us to get us
44:24 to give up hope and to walk away.
44:27 Don't let him do that,
44:29 just allow Christ to transform you
44:32 and use you is that transforming agent
44:33 in the life blood of the church.
44:35 You know 1 Peter 4:12, there's a beautiful text here
44:38 that talks about the Christian life
44:39 and we were talking today
44:40 not just about the act of have to sin
44:42 but the kind of life
44:43 that a person who is baptized a lives.
44:44 We're trying to be practical,
44:46 We're trying to be practical here,
44:47 because a lot of times
44:49 people come to the life of a Christian
44:50 they enter into the community of faith
44:51 in the fellowship of believers
44:53 and they think it's going to be smooth,
44:54 they think that somehow
44:56 I have now been I have now been scotched guarded against sin.
45:00 No, you haven't.
45:02 You have received the righteousness of Jesus
45:06 keep it now, keep that garments unspotted from the world.
45:10 Keep it, committed, dedicated, grow in Christ,
45:15 grow in grace, understand that yesterday,
45:19 you're a hopeless center today you are a sinner with hope
45:24 without Christ as a hopeless and with,
45:26 with Christ as an endless hope.
45:28 So you have now entered the relationship
45:30 and like a husband or wife
45:31 on the first day of your wedding.
45:34 You can say, "Wow!
45:36 We've been married a long time."
45:38 I said to people when you hit 10, 15, 20, 25, 30
45:44 you understand you want it
45:45 you understand better than anyone else.
45:47 You don't just get there
45:49 because you both are war sanded before you met
45:51 you both sanded each other.
45:53 Your iron sharpened his iron in her iron
45:56 you both had those moments
45:58 where now like I said to my wife,
46:00 "Honey,
46:01 It took a long time for us to get to where we are today.
46:03 I don't want to do this again."
46:05 Not that undesired, undesirable
46:07 but once you once if it is
46:09 you know marriage is like
46:11 all the relationship with a Christian.
46:12 Is like you get a piece of wood and you've ever seen those
46:16 what structures that they put in those trinkets stores
46:19 and they look so beautiful.
46:21 One of the well let me use another example,
46:23 and I know
46:24 this is not something we all desire
46:25 because nobody wants to kill
46:27 elephants for their ivory tusks.
46:28 But have you ever seen some of those,
46:30 those little things that look like
46:32 how did they get in there
46:34 that they build an entire carbons
46:37 you know hard ivory.
46:39 And you look at the intricate detail
46:41 you think unbelievable.
46:43 How do they even see all that they see
46:47 by just looking at this ivory tusks?
46:49 The Lord looks at us as an ivory tusks so to speak
46:52 and he takes out his sharp Holy Spirit tools
46:55 and start carving out to create in us his image.
46:59 So that's a trial. But listen to this.
47:01 I talked about the fire matter of fact.
47:03 I've just been talking read 1 Peter 4:12 to 16.
47:10 This is so indicative
47:12 of how we are shaped in our Christian journey.
47:17 How we are shaped in our walk with Christ.
47:20 Starting with 1 Peter 4:12 down to 16,
47:23 "Beloved, do not think it is strange
47:26 it's a strange thing concerning the fiery trial
47:29 which is to try you as though
47:30 some strange things happened to you."
47:32 Look it's not unusual don't get bent out of shape
47:35 this is suppose to happen.
47:36 The Holy Ghost and with fire don't think it strange.
47:38 "But rejoice to the extent
47:40 that you partake of Christ sufferings
47:43 that when his glory is revealed.
47:44 You may also be glad with exceeding joy.
47:47 If your reproach
47:49 for the name of Christ blessed are you
47:51 for the whole for the spirit of glory
47:52 and of God rests upon you
47:55 on their part he is a blast fiend
47:57 but on your part he is glorified."
47:59 Now watch this, this is this is important now.
48:02 "But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief
48:05 an evil doer or as a busybody in other people's matters,
48:09 yet if anyone suffers as crude as a Christian.
48:12 Let him not be ashamed
48:13 but let him glorify God in this matter."
48:16 Right.
48:17 OK, so just stop there for a moment.
48:19 So this, this council is to the Christian.
48:22 This is not to the person who has a...
48:24 who hasn't accepted Christ and I want to bring this up
48:27 because he said,
48:28 you know some of you are going to suffer.
48:30 Everybody's going to suffer
48:32 but make sure that you are not suffering
48:35 because you want to head and kill somebody
48:38 or that you are thieves or that you're an evil
48:40 to know that you're a busybody in other people's matters.
48:44 Please as a Christian don't let that happen to you.
48:47 But if you suffer as a Christian.
48:49 Don't be ashamed.
48:51 So Christians do suffer
48:53 but don't let the suffering
48:55 be based on what you did and my good friend.
49:01 He's now a union president Ricardo Graham,
49:03 he once said to me years ago,
49:05 when I was in Northern California conference
49:06 he said John people will throw people will throw stones at you
49:11 but don't give them any.
49:13 OK.
49:15 and I never forgot that
49:17 because that's in fact the truth.
49:18 You're going to have trials.
49:20 That's a part of the process.
49:22 I want to read this statement here very quickly.
49:24 Listen to this and Ellen White wrote this.
49:27 This is powerful.
49:28 This is in Testimony Volume 5 page 344 listen to this
49:32 and for those of you that are not Adventists
49:33 listen to this council.
49:35 And this fits into everybody's category of life.
49:37 "There is a high standard to which we are to attain
49:41 if we would be children of God, noble, pure, holy,
49:46 and undefiled and a pruning process is necessary
49:51 if we would reach this standard."
49:53 What happens when a tree grows its branches out really fall
49:57 what do gardeners do...
49:59 They prune stuff off it's not as healthy.
50:02 Right and you say,
50:03 but the only thing we look at after the tree
50:04 is probably see how many cut so much off of this thing.
50:07 It's going to grow back.
50:09 And next season or look at the rose bush.
50:12 I'm glad I didn't do it
50:14 because I don't know how to prune it.
50:15 But the pruning process is necessary but get this.
50:19 "How would this pruning be accomplished
50:22 if there were no difficulties to meet
50:25 no obstacles to some mound,
50:27 nothing to call out patience and in durance
50:30 these trials are not the smallest blessing
50:33 in our experience,"
50:34 in other words they're really good blessings.
50:36 They are designed to nerve us to determination to succeed.
50:42 We are to use them as God's
50:44 means to gain decided victory over self.
50:49 Instead of allowing, it to hinder,
50:51 oppress, and destroy us
50:53 so John, have you been through a new trials as a pastor?
50:56 Oh, yes. Yeah.
50:58 Do they still show up. Their rhetorical.
51:03 To be a Christian means the devil is against you
51:07 and you will be hit
51:09 and let me think a number
51:11 of other of a number of other texts
51:14 that we need to bring into also
51:16 the other thing about the other thing about
51:18 the life of a Christian.
51:20 You have to grow.
51:22 You have to grow spiritually
51:25 so many Christians
51:28 have no spiritual plan of growth.
51:34 We begin with milk because we're babies,
51:37 but at some point
51:38 you've got to go to the solid stuff.
51:41 And so many of us
51:43 don't have a plan of growth matter of fact.
51:47 I think you fit into this category
51:49 because you're involved in personal ministries
51:51 in your conference.
51:52 So talk to the issue of why is it
51:55 and why is it important for Christians to grow up.
51:58 Well, there is something called spiritual practices
51:59 that we have.
52:00 You know in the life of every Christian
52:02 the basic absolute necessity
52:05 to maintain that relationship you have with Jesus.
52:07 Number one, prayer, Prayer is absolutely, important
52:12 it's critical when on time not just praying for things
52:16 but just a connection with God If you have time, time a prayer
52:20 and you're not connected with him.
52:21 If you don't sense of connection
52:22 with the source of power throughout the day
52:24 you won't have any power.
52:26 So day-by-day morning-by-morning
52:28 and in the evenings,
52:30 you know I often say this, I say,
52:32 in the morning talk about
52:34 what you're going to need for that day.
52:35 Give yourself a place yourself into the hands of God
52:39 seek your spirit and let make sure
52:41 that you're walking in that spirit
52:43 from that moment.
52:44 At the end of the day
52:45 the evening when you pray to God at night
52:47 thank Him for all the things
52:48 in the way he used you throughout the day
52:50 it's a different kind of prayer.
52:51 Lord, I know I'm going to this day
52:52 I need these things, I need your blessing,
52:54 I want you with me at the end of the day
52:55 or thank you for being with me.
52:57 Oh, I praise your name for what you did through,
52:58 through me today,
53:00 that to touch this life or that life.
53:01 It's your per life bookends of your day
53:06 really, really important.
53:07 The second essential
53:08 one of the spiritual practices is reading the word
53:11 studying the Bible,
53:12 get to know the death of it's truths,
53:15 it is power in fact.
53:17 Was it Romans says
53:18 it has the power to save your soul.
53:20 Yeah.
53:22 Paul... Receive the implanted word.
53:24 Right
53:26 because it is the power to save your soul,
53:27 some of that effect.
53:29 Yeah, it says,
53:30 "Continue in the doctrine that you have learned
53:33 for in so doing you shall both save your soul
53:36 and those who hear you."
53:38 And so but continue in the thought pattern here.
53:42 Well those that's the second one.
53:43 And here's the third spiritual practice
53:45 and that is service to others.
53:47 Don't, don't cut off the spigot of what's flowing into you.
53:51 Make sure what flows into you is flowing out to others.
53:55 You're not you know your God is feeling you
53:57 so that you can empty yourself in the lives others
54:00 invest time in the lives of others.
54:03 Be there to encourage them, strengthen them, love them,
54:06 care for them, support them,
54:07 and whatever gift he asked you he's giving you to use,
54:10 use that gift to the best that you can
54:12 I say John,
54:14 that God has given us two things
54:16 one we're saved through his Spirit.
54:19 Number one, he gives us fruit.
54:22 And number two, he gives us gifts.
54:25 The fruit is desired designed to change us.
54:28 But if all you do is rely on the fruit
54:31 and that's your salvation.
54:32 That's selfish.
54:34 That's preparing yourself for the kingdom.
54:36 You've got to move into the gift categories.
54:39 Whatever gifts he's given to you one, two, three.
54:41 However many if you don't use that gift.
54:44 It will not grow either.
54:45 Just like if you don't allow Christ to transform you
54:48 and grow the fruit in you,
54:50 you won't see a change in your life
54:51 if you don't use the gifts given you.
54:53 You want change in areas of ministry.
54:55 Right.
54:56 So fruit and gifts both are designed to help
54:59 save you day-by-day
55:01 and to bring you into a deeper relationship
55:03 with Jesus and a relationship with others
55:05 and so don't just say you know what I'm going to
55:08 I'm going to receive this fruit to change me.
55:10 I'm going to kind of lock myself away from the world
55:12 and nothing's going to get to me
55:13 and I just wait for Jesus to come.
55:16 You're missing the second half,
55:17 the other part of what saves us,
55:20 I'm talking about sanctifies us and that is the gifts.
55:24 So those things are critical
55:26 all those things are critical in your daily life.
55:29 One of the one of the dangers that we have to talk about here
55:32 before we wind up this topic and as you know
55:34 we're not talking about doctrinal baptism.
55:37 We're not talking at all the tenets of the faith.
55:40 We are talking about the practicality
55:41 of how to survive and after your baptized.
55:45 One of the ways that you can guarantee your failure
55:47 is when you choose not to when you choose not to mature.
55:53 You know there are five dangers I did a series called,
55:55 The Danger Zone,
55:57 so you can probably get that at 3ABN
55:58 and if you have a desire to do that call
55:59 and ask for the series called, Danger Zone by John Lomacang.
56:05 I pointed out five dangers
56:07 that the book of Hebrews outlines
56:09 the want the first one is, The Danger of Neglect.
56:11 How shall we escape if we neglect.
56:14 The second one is, The Danger of Un-belief,
56:17 they did not enter because of unbelief.
56:19 The third one is, The Danger of Not Maturing
56:22 and this is the one
56:23 I want to talk about right now very quickly.
56:25 It says, "Therefore leaving the discussion
56:27 of the elementary principles of Christ,
56:30 let us go on to perfection
56:32 not laying again to form a foundation of repentance
56:35 from dead works of faith and of the doctrine of baptism.
56:41 But to go on to perfection to go on
56:44 and to add to your walk with Christ
56:47 this level of maturity."
56:49 I don't want to get into the program.
56:51 I want to take a little bit. We'll pick that up next time.
56:53 We'll pick it up in the next program.
56:55 But if you're not maturing you're going to die.
56:58 John go ahead and take it from here.
56:59 Where I found that verse James 1:21.
57:02 "Therefore,
57:03 lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness
57:05 and receive with meekness the implanted word
57:07 which is able to save your soul."
57:08 There you go, there you go.
57:10 So that's what I was looking for but praise God,
57:11 he probably has provided all we need to save us
57:15 that he has saved us
57:16 and he is saving us still today.
57:17 That's right.
57:19 Saves us from death row and saving us for his glory
57:22 producing in us day-by-day
57:24 that which will one day
57:26 finally, become the perfect image of Jesus.
57:29 May the Lord bless you and go toward to that goal,
57:31 until we see you again.


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Revised 2016-08-22