-
"I would love for some help navigating
-
my Christian experience.
-
My question is how far can a person
-
really go as a false convert?"
-
He's asking this question for this reason:
-
"I've been reflecting on my own life,
-
and I'm a bit confused about some things
-
that might be evidences of salvation.
-
I believe the Gospel,
-
repented of my sin - or so I thought -
-
spent countless hours preaching
the Gospel to people,
-
evangelizing,
-
even street-preached a couple of times
-
overcoming much fear.
-
It seemed like the Holy Spirit
was working to some degree.
-
I also had a deep sensitivity,
-
conviction over sin.
-
I spent a lot of time in prayer
-
by which I was also deeply affected.
-
I wept over sin and for
others to get saved.
-
There seemed to be a real love for Christ,
-
for the brethren, for the lost.
-
I was doing my best to
walk in obedience to God,
-
though I suspect I wasn't wholehearted.
-
I may have been holding
back some secret idols.
-
I also fought hard and had victory
-
over much sin like pornography,
-
much worldliness,
-
though there were still a few things
-
that were an ongoing struggle
-
that I continue to fight really hard
-
like lust, pride, fear of man,
-
watching bad TV and movies
-
which often got the better of me.
-
Regardless, I made a lot of
progress in sanctification.
-
However, I ended up holding on
-
and toying with one or two of those sins
-
and fell into a very hardened heart
-
and lukewarmness
-
and just deliberate unrepentant sin
-
and stopped feeling conviction.
-
My question is:
-
Is it really possible to have such fruits
-
as I have had
-
and still not have saving faith?
-
How far can a person go in deception?
-
If so, how is an unsaved man
-
able to even feel that way
-
if not by the Spirit?
-
Any tips to help me
understand my past experience?
-
Could God have caused me to fall like this
-
so it would become
clear that I'm not saved?
-
Giving some hope
-
since only a lost person can be saved?
-
I'm trying to seek the Lord
now for salvation,
-
but my past experiences have
been a cause of confusion.
-
Hence, my question. Thanks."
-
I just want to look at several texts.
-
How far can a person go?
-
He's asking this: how far can a
person go in deception?
-
How far can a person really go
-
as a false convert?
-
I just want to look at several texts.
-
The first one is Hebrews 6.
-
How far can they go?
-
When I was a brand new convert,
-
I read a Puritan book by Matthew Mead -
-
the Puritan Matthew Mead -
-
called "The Almost Christian Discovered."
-
Anybody heard of that book before?
-
Have you ever read it?
-
As a brand new Christian,
-
I found myself falling on my face
-
on the floor often as I read that book,
-
pleading with the Lord
-
that if I wasn't genuine
-
that He would search that out and show me
-
because that book really rattled me.
-
I had come to the Lord,
-
but it had never occurred to me -
-
you know what?
-
Because I was around such lost people,
-
I just assumed -
-
because I was around such lost people
-
and around nominal Catholicism,
-
I just thought if people claimed
-
to be true Christians, they were.
-
That's what I thought
when I was first saved,
-
so to come across that book,
-
it really jolted me.
-
Hebrews 6:4. Somebody
begin reading right there.
-
"For it is impossible in the case of those
-
who have once been enlightened..."
-
Tim: Okay.
-
What he's going to say
-
is it's impossible to renew unto
-
or to restore unto or
to bring back to a state
-
of repentance
-
somebody who has been -
-
so this is a person who it's impossible
-
to be saved.
-
So one thing we know for certain:
-
They've never been saved
-
if it's impossible for them to be saved.
-
They've been enlightened.
-
That was the first thing that was said.
-
They have been enlightened.
-
What does that mean?
-
Light.
-
You know what it's like.
It's dark outside.
-
You come to the light, you can see things.
-
If you guys go stand on my porch,
-
and the light's not on,
-
you can't see things.
-
If I turn the light on - whoa!
-
All of a sudden, everything
appears around you.
-
Light we are told makes manifest.
-
What is it about light?
-
Enlightenment.
-
It means I am brought to see
-
what I never saw before.
-
So, how far can a person go?
-
They can be exposed to preaching,
-
to the Word of God.
-
They can be exposed to the light of truth
-
and brought to a place that
they never were before.
-
What's the next thing said there?
-
"...Who have tasted the heavenly gift."
-
Tim: Okay, isn't that amazing?
-
They've tasted.
-
It's like the heavenly gift -
-
it's like they've taken salvation.
-
They've put it in their mouth.
-
And they've rolled it
around on their tongue.
-
They've got the flavor of it.
-
Keep going.
-
"...Who have shared in the Holy Spirit."
-
Tim: Okay.
-
You know what's interesting?
-
He said this:
-
"Is it really possible
to have such fruits?"
-
Or he says this:
-
"How can an unsaved man
-
be able to even feel that way
-
if not by the Spirit?"
-
Well, I would say this,
-
it probably was by the Spirit.
-
You say, what do you mean?
-
I'm saying this,
-
the Spirit of God works in many people
-
who come short of genuine salvation.
-
The Word of God can be preached.
-
You know what you find
oftentimes in times of revival?
-
Or you find this even on a given Sunday.
-
Somebody stands up and preaches a message.
-
You get people who - they're moved.
-
They're swayed.
-
They're convicted.
-
They feel some power in the preaching.
-
They go out and they're
concerned for their souls.
-
Their conscience has been made alive.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
They've participated in
the work of the Spirit.
-
It's possible for that to happen
-
and truly be of the Spirit,
-
and yet they get to a
place where it's impossible
-
for them to repent.
-
Keep going.
-
"...And have tasted the goodness
-
of the Word of God
-
and the powers of the age to come."
-
Tim: See? They've tasted of the Word.
-
They've tasted the truths.
-
That's swirled around
in their mouth as well.
-
And even the world to come.
-
There's power.
-
They're actually experiencing the power
-
of the supernatural.
-
And not just any supernatural,
-
this is actually the power of God
-
that they're being exposed to.
-
Something even that's representative
-
of the world to come.
-
There's exposure.
-
Keep going.
-
"...And then have fallen away."
-
Tim: Okay, now these
people have fallen away.
-
Here's the reality we looked at before.
-
When it's genuine salvation,
-
it can't be lost.
-
So these people -
-
it's impossible once they've tasted -
-
look, when it says
that they've fallen away,
-
you can't fall away from true salvation.
-
Why? Because He puts His fear in us
-
that we not fall away;
-
that we not go away from Him.
-
Christ says if you come to Me,
-
I will raise you up at the last day.
-
You see, these people,
-
(incomplete thought)
-
what they fell away from
is not being saved.
-
They've fallen away from the very things
-
that are described there.
-
They've fallen away from the impact.
-
This is a person
-
who is exposed to truth.
-
They may claim to believe the truth.
-
They may make a profession.
-
They may get baptized.
-
They may join the church.
-
They feel they've been impacted.
-
They feel they've been convicted.
-
And look, based on that text,
-
it's real supernatural
operations of the Spirit.
-
But it comes short because they fall.
-
They go away. Remember this:
-
If you're sealed with the Spirit,
-
He's the guarantee of your inheritance
-
until you acquire possession of it.
-
It's a guarantee.
-
These operations of the Spirit right here
-
fall short of that.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
All those things right there
-
a person can have happen and come short.
-
Let me take you somewhere else in Hebrews.
-
Turn to Hebrews 12:16.
-
This is Esau.
-
Esau is another great example to look at
-
as far as how far a person can go
-
and still come short.
-
Somebody read v. 16.
-
"...That no one is sexually immoral
-
or unholy like Esau
-
who sold his birthright
for a single meal."
-
Tim: Keep going.
-
"...For we know that afterward,
-
when he desired to inherit the blessing,
-
he was rejected,
-
for he found no chance to repent
-
though he sought it with tears."
-
Tim: Here's the thing.
We know he was lost.
-
"Jacob I have loved; Esau I have hated."
-
This text says he's an evil person.
-
But what was true of him?
-
I'll tell you two things that
can be true of a person
-
and yet they fall short.
-
You see them there.
-
You can repent of sorts.
-
Remember, that's a change of mind.
-
He had a change of mind
-
where he easily cast away his birthright.
-
He then later had a change of mind.
-
He wanted it back.
-
In fact, he even wept tears.
-
A person can weep.
-
A person can change their mind,
-
but fall short.
-
I want you to see another one.
-
Turn to Luke 8.
-
Somebody read verse 13.
-
"And the ones on the rock
-
are those who when they heard the Word
-
received it with joy."
-
Tim: Okay, you can have people
-
who hear the true Word.
-
Something has happened in them.
-
The Spirit may be moving and convicting.
-
They may see something in this
-
that their eyes have been opened to -
-
enlightenment like we saw in Hebrews 6.
-
They embrace it.
-
They receive it with joy,
-
but keep reading.
-
"...But these have no root.
-
They believe for awhile..."
-
Tim: Notice that. They believe for awhile.
-
Very interesting.
-
Keep going.
-
"And in time of testing fall away."
-
Tim: They fall away.
-
So they weren't genuine. They had no root.
-
They never had any root.
-
It's not like they were saved,
-
and then they weren't saved.
-
They were defective from the beginning.
-
But here's the thing,
-
you can be enlightened.
-
You can taste of the heavenly gift.
-
You can taste of this good gift.
-
You can participate in
the operations of the Spirit.
-
You can repent.
-
You can weep tears.
-
You can even believe.
-
You can receive gladly.
-
You know what Matthew 7 says.
-
You can say, "Lord, Lord."
-
You can know the right lingo.
-
They say, "Lord, Lord." What did they do?
-
Well, we cast out demons,
-
and we prophesied in Your name.
-
We cast out demons in Your name.
-
In Your name!
-
We prophesied in Your name.
-
We did many mighty works in Your name.
-
You remember Judas?
-
He undoubtedly cast out
just as many demons
-
and healed people as well as the others.
-
You can do many mighty works in His name.
-
He's not saying the people didn't do them.
-
Many of these things can happen
-
and still people fall short.
-
You know the church at Sardis?
-
"You have a name that you're
alive, but you're dead."
-
Oh, you can call yourself
all the right names.
-
I'm a Christian.
-
I'm a child of God. I'm born again.
-
You can say all the right things.
-
You can say, "Lord, Lord."
-
And He says it's not everybody
that says to Me, "Lord, Lord."
-
You can have a name that you're alive,
-
but the name is a lie.
-
People run around calling themselves
(incomplete thought).
-
When Jesus comes, He's
going to set all names right.
-
He's going to put the
right names on people.
-
You know, there's a place there in fact,
-
Jesus talks about the people
who say they're Jews,
-
but they're not. They lie.
-
Physically they were Jews,
-
but they weren't really Jews.
-
And Jesus is going to set all names right.
-
People love to call themselves by names.
-
You can call yourself many names
-
and still fall short of being genuine.
-
So, I just want us to think.
-
Okay, how does all of that
-
compare to the genuine?
-
And that's the thing.
-
And James preached through
Philippians not long ago
-
and I think I mentioned it last week
-
or one of the last times.
-
But Philippians 3:3 -
-
can anybody quote it besides James?
-
James, can you quote it?
-
"For we are the circumcision,
who worship by the Spirit of God
-
and glory in Christ Jesus and
put no confidence in the flesh..."
-
Tim: Yeah, worship in the Spirit.
-
So, this is the reality
-
that their glory is in Christ.
-
They worship in the Spirit.
-
They put no confidence in the flesh.
-
Their confidence is in Christ.
-
I mean, look, listen.
-
If somebody falls away
because of persecution,
-
you know what?
-
You know what they really believed?
-
They didn't believe that Jesus
was to be had at all costs.
-
What will make a man
walk away from Christ?
-
Only if he truly believes that Christ
-
isn't the most necessary thing.
-
Because as persecution goes up,
-
why does it cause people to fall away?
-
Because they put suffering
and Christ in the scale,
-
and they say my own not suffering,
-
my own ease,
-
my own not being
persecuted and feeling bad
-
is more important than having Christ.
-
The reason the true believer
will not let go of Christ
-
is because he truly believes.
-
He believes he's got
to have Christ or perish
-
and he won't let go of Him for anything.
-
He glories in that.
-
That is his hope.
-
He worships God in the Spirit.
-
That's what Christ said
the Father's looking for.
-
Not worshiping in the flesh.
-
You say, what do you mean?
-
You know what worship in the flesh is?
-
It's praying like the heathen do.
-
They think by their repetitions,
-
they're going to get God.
-
Believing that because you pray -
-
it's trusting your prayer.
-
Trusting the repetition of your prayer.
-
It's trusting in what you do.
-
The person who worships by the Spirit,
-
what's happening?
-
From the heart,
-
they delight in God.
-
From the heart, they admire
-
and they adore
-
and they're amazed
-
and they're in awe,
-
and they find God glorious
-
and they're shaken by His majesty
-
and by His purity and by His holiness.
-
When they sing, there's a joy that comes.
-
You see, those who don't
worship by the Spirit,
-
it's a work.
-
What's happening in the worship
-
is it's an exercise that they go through
-
because they're
accumulating points with God.
-
Versus the worship that's of the Spirit -
-
it's when the Spirit
takes the blinders off
-
and allows us to see the beauty
-
and majesty of God
-
and we worship Him from the heart level
-
because we're thankful,
-
because we find beauty.
-
We're legitimately thankful.
-
We come to God thankful that He saved us
-
based on the merits of Jesus Christ.
-
Not like the Catholic comes
-
who counts the beads.
-
What is bead counting?
-
Why? Why each one?
-
Because it's merit.
-
I'm doing it to get something.
-
So I count all these out. I'm rigorous.
-
I walk on my knees till they bleed.
-
I told you guys this.
-
I went to high school with a guy
-
that became a Jesuit priest.
-
He likes to tell people
that when he was a kid
-
back when he was my friend -
-
I grew up with this guy -
-
that he put rocks in his shoes.
-
He likes to tell people.
-
Why?
-
Because it's another notch in the belt
-
of his righteousness
-
that he's earning this merit.
-
That's what it's all about.
-
What do you think purgatory is?
-
Purgatory is where you go pay in the fire.
-
If you weren't able to
pay well enough here
-
and get enough here
-
and do enough here,
-
then you pay more there.
-
It's all this merit system.
-
When you worship God in the Spirit,
-
it's totally different
-
because what the Spirit
does is exalts Christ.
-
You see there. There's appreciation
-
and there's thankfulness
-
that He has saved you.
-
And it's based on Him.
-
And there's thankfulness and gratefulness.
-
And you don't put confidence in the flesh.
-
Counting those beads is all flesh.
-
It's what you can do in your own strength.
-
But you see, we cast that away.
-
That's what Paul did.
-
That's what Philippians 3 is.
-
It's this great big list
of all these things
-
that he put his confidence in.
-
But you know what?
-
That's what it is to
worship in the Spirit.
-
The Spirit comes in and just devastates
-
all the confidences that we formerly had.
-
All the hopes we formerly had
-
of how we were going to get to heaven -
-
He just devastates them all
-
until we're broken, we're
empty, we're bankrupt,
-
and there's only one hope,
-
and that's we glory in Christ Jesus.
-
Those three things stated
there in Philippians 3:3.
-
That's the essence of it.
-
Sometimes people can feel discouraged
-
or you feel like when I
was a brand new convert
-
reading this Puritan book
-
and falling on my face all the time.
-
But the reality is even though
-
so many things can be real of your life
-
and you fall short of
being the real thing,
-
you never fall short
of being the real thing
-
if your only confidence
is in Jesus Christ.
-
You will not be put to shame.
-
No matter what else may happen,
-
no matter whatever winds may blow,
-
whatever persecutions may come,
-
whatever attacks you may suffer,
-
whatever thoughts may
run through your mind,
-
I'll tell you this -
-
if your sole confidence in
being saved before God
-
rests in the merits,
the death of Jesus Christ,
-
that's your only hope,
-
that's your only confidence,
-
and you have none in the flesh -
-
in your own doings, in your own worship,
-
in your own merit -
-
none in your own goodness,
-
it's not there, it's only in Him,
-
I'll guarantee you this: you are saved.
-
You are going to glory.
-
Scripture promises it.
-
You have root if that's the case.
-
So, this guy, I would say this to him.
-
He said, "I made a lot
of progress in sanctification."
-
But he says,
-
"I've ended up holding
on to one or two sins."
-
He says, "...lust, pride, fear of man,
-
watching bad TV, bad movies...
-
often gets the better of me."
-
I would say this,
-
that that isn't a good
picture of sanctification.
-
He says, "I've made lots
of progress in sanctification."
-
I don't think that is lots of
progress in sanctification likely.
-
If lust, pride, fear of
man, watching bad TV
-
and bad movies are often
getting the better of him,
-
that's not a good
picture of sanctification.
-
And so, what I would
say to people like this
-
is if you look at your life
-
and you recognize something's wrong -
-
look, people are looking for the solution.
-
They're looking for the magic formula.
-
But I'll tell you this,
-
if something's wrong,
-
there's only One who can fix it,
-
and you can't.
-
And the thing is you've got to be
-
like blind Bartimaeus
-
where you cry out until He fixes it.
-
You cry out until He sets your eyes right.
-
Because if you don't,
-
if you just go back to your life,
-
go back to your sin,
-
go back to your religion,
-
you just ignore these kinds of things,
-
and you just let them go,
-
he's going to drift deeper and deeper
-
into what he describes as lukewarmness,
-
unrepentant sin,
-
stop feeling conviction,
-
hard heart.
-
And you just wake up in hell.
-
You cry out until the Lord heals you
-
or you perish.
-
If something's wrong,
-
there's only one place to go.
-
It's not the church.
The church doesn't heal you.
-
It's not the pastors - any of them.
-
All of us together -
-
all the pastors in our church,
-
all the pastors from every church in town,
-
we can come together
-
and we can all lay hands on you
-
and we can't do anything for you.
-
We can pray for you,
-
but in the end, we're
going to call upon Him
-
who is your only hope.
-
That's the only hope
of anybody sitting here,
-
anybody listening.
-
If something's wrong,
-
if you're spiraling into sin,
-
look, what we can say is this:
-
Scripture says in no uncertain terms
-
you've been raised to newness of life.
-
Sin shall not have dominion over you.
-
You need to reckon yourselves dead to sin.
-
The reality of Scripture is
-
without holiness, you don't see the Lord.
-
The reality is God is in the business
-
of transforming people
-
into the image of Jesus Christ.
-
And if that is not happening
-
in some stark, very real,
-
very recognizable fashion,
-
something is wrong.
-
Like I say, if something is wrong,
-
only Jesus can set it right.
-
Only He can heal this.
-
Only He is the doctor to do
-
the kind of surgery that's necessary
-
on the heart of people.
-
You go to Him. You go to Him.
-
You cry to Him. You look to Him.
-
Scripture says if you call
upon the name of the Lord
-
you will be saved.
-
So you call. You call. You go there.
-
That is the only hope.
-
There is no other place to direct people.
-
I would give the Lord no rest
-
if you're in a position
where you're uncertain.
-
And whether there's such things happening
-
in your life with regards to lukewarmness
-
and hardness and spiraling into sin
-
and just not really knowing
-
what it even means to worship the Lord
-
in the Spirit and glory in Jesus Christ
-
and to find all your hope there.
-
Give Him no rest.
-
Look, hell is real and once you're there,
-
it's permanent. It's done. It's over.
-
And you're devastated forever.
-
You're damned.
-
You're destroyed.
-
And there's no hope. Fire is real.
-
You wouldn't cast yourself into a bonfire.
-
Think of the lake of fire. It's real.
-
You're going to be cast in there.
-
You don't want to just play with your soul
-
as though it's some cheap little toy,
-
something easily squandered.
-
You don't want to do that.
-
You lose your soul - Jesus said,
-
what will a man give in
exchange for his soul?
-
There's nothing.
-
You'll give everything in
exchange for your soul.
-
There's nothing to hold on to
-
at the cost of your soul.
-
This sin that you think
that you have to have?
-
You will curse yourself one
day for holding on to it
-
if it costs you your soul
-
and you end up perishing.
-
Especially when you were so close.
-
If you perish after having sat
-
under the preaching
-
that you people have sat under,
-
what a horror in that!
-
Can you imagine?
-
It's one thing to end up in hell
-
and how devastating that is,
-
but can you imagine?
-
Can you imagine if you came this close?
-
It was like, wow, God put me in church
-
where they taught the truth
-
and I heard the truth
-
and I entertained the truth
-
and I saw it from the pages of Scripture
-
and I heard Christ proclaimed
-
and He was lifted up as the only hope.
-
And you know there were times
-
I even experienced some of
that power of the Holy Spirit
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and I felt convicted
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and I came this close.
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And there were times I was even reaching.
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There were times I asked the Lord to save.
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Oh, I look back now and I recognize
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I wasn't totally committed to that.
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I didn't totally want it.
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I wasn't really being honest.
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But there was some movements
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and I was this close!
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Can you imagine if you got that close
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to the Treasure?
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To touching the Treasure
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and then you turned
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and you chose your sin instead?
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And you perished.
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You will curse yourself forever.
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You came that close.
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And you will hear those words.
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It is now going to be more tolerable
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for Sodom than for you.
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That's what Scripture says.
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Oh Father, I pray that there would be
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some serious dealings with You
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by hopefully some of these young men
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who have written will hear these things
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and others like them.
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Lord, I pray,
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have compassion upon sinners.
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We pray You'd bring revival to our land.
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Bring a stirring.
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Sweep people into Your kingdom.
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Cause salvation to fall down from above.
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We ask it in Christ's name, Amen.