I was with someone this week that said,
"Mention things like Jesus,
and then mention things like Gandhi
in the same conversation."
Listen, those two things,
they can't come together.
There is no Gandhi and Jesus coming together
unless Gandhi repents of his sins,
puts his faith and hope in Jesus Christ
as the all-sufficient Savior.
But there is no uniting of arms
and just being one big happy
kumbaya family with these people.
These are the people that Paul is warning about.
These are the plausible arguments
that Paul says they appeal
to your human intellect.
They appeal to your emotion.
Doesn't it make sense
that Jesus would want us all to get along
and set doctrine aside?
And Paul says, "No!"
You can't do that.
And we as a body must say no.
We must recognize this is happening out there.
That's one of my jobs is defend against these things
by proclaiming truth
so when you hear heresies come in,
you identify it.
You mark it.
I need a church
because I need help to press on
when the going gets really tough.
I don't have the goods.
I don't have the grace in myself.
I don't have the strength or the wisdom
or the perspective in myself
to make it through
this waste howling wilderness of sin
without the brethren strengthening me in God.
And you don't either.
To press on with the going gets tough.
To realize and remember
that Christ saved me individually
to include me in His body.
And they were selling their possessions -
look at that!
They're selling their possessions.
The things that they wanted to hold on to.
Well, that's been in my family
for three generations.
That piece of property over there. I can't part with that.
That's how people are here.
They've got to hold on to things.
You know why they can sell
that piece of property
that's been in the family for three generations now?
Because something's more important!
This person over here,
even though they may be
another economic level than me
and their skin color may be different,
we have this in common:
we have believed on the same Christ
and I love them
and I'm willing to sell my lands for them.
The glory of Christ's Kingdom
is what He's doing in the trenches
in local churches
where He's building your life
and you sit under pastors and elders.
And they teach you
and they feed you
and you grow.
And the truth grows in you.
You don't even realize it's happening.
But you're in the atmosphere
of where Christ pours His water.
You see Christ is the fountain of living water.
But He has a well in the earth.
Guess what the well is?
The well is His church.
That's where He deposits His water.
This is the church.
It is a world of love
and it goes back to the spring of God Himself.
He overflows with love towards us.
And if He so loved us,
how can we not love the others?
Look to Jesus.
Turn away from yourself.
Turn away from what you're believing today.
Turn away from what you're trusting.
Look to Jesus Christ -
the dying Lamb of God.
The Bible says,
upon Whom God poured His wrath out
for your sin and for my sin.
God poured His wrath out
on the Son of God,
as if He hated Him because He hated us
and our sins.
But Jesus took that in our place.
Our God took that in our place
that we might be saved.
Turn away from everything else.
Turn to Christ.
I admonish you.
I beg you.
I plead with you.
Turn to Jesus Christ.
For more information go to:
GospelForNewEngland.com