-
He says this,
-
"How would you recommend witnessing
-
to somebody who believes they are saved,
-
but they show no
understanding of the Gospel
-
and have no evidence of being born again?
-
I do not want this person
-
to remain deceived,
-
but I also don't want to be self-righteous
-
about how I do this."
-
Well, I would say -
-
you know what I would say about this?
-
Look, you guys,
-
we may have some in this room
-
who think they're Christians
-
and they're really not.
-
And this applies to some of us
-
with regards to you.
-
And then there are some of you
-
who are truly converted in this room
-
and you've come across this.
-
You come across people.
-
Some of them might be your parents.
-
Some of them might be
those that are close to you,
-
they might be a brother or sister,
might be co-workers,
-
might be some you know
right in the church,
-
in the Bible study, wherever.
-
Maybe other churches you came from.
-
There are people in your life
-
that you care about.
-
You want to see them converted.
-
You want to see them in glory.
-
But you have real concerns
-
that something isn't right.
-
You have real concerns
-
that they claim to be a Christian
-
and they're not really.
-
Okay, what do you do?
-
Well, I mean, the self-righteous thing,
-
certainly, I'm not going to stay away
-
from confronting other people
-
because of a concern
of self-righteousness.
-
Look, if you're a Christian,
-
you need to love them.
-
Be done with the self-righteousness.
-
Just put it away. Don't be it.
-
I would say put that away.
-
Don't be judgmental. Don't be hard.
-
And for one thing, we
have to understand this,
-
you don't know another man's heart.
-
And so the best you can do
-
is be pretty convinced
-
that things aren't right.
-
Because I'll tell you what,
-
there was a time in David's life,
-
if you looked at him, you'd have said,
-
yeah, it looks pretty doubtful, right?
-
I mean, there are people in the Scriptures
-
there are certain times if you looked,
-
you would have gazed in, you know,
-
right there when Jesus was on trial,
-
you would have looked over there at Peter,
-
you'd have thought that guy's cursing,
-
and that guy's swearing
-
and that guy's denying Christ.
-
Nope, he's off the list.
-
He can't be a true one.
-
You know, we have to be careful, right?
-
Sometimes we get looking at other people,
-
some of the self-righteousness
-
we need to be concerned with
-
may fall in just having an
overly harsh judgment.
-
You know, God did not make us
-
the spiritual policemen,
-
the spiritual judges to go around
-
and condemn everybody else and tell them.
-
Now look, but at the same time,
-
love says if I know my Bible well enough
-
to look at what the
characteristic of a true Christian is
-
and I look at yours
-
and I'm not seeing
them line up, guess what?
-
I have a responsibility
-
to call you to repentance,
-
whether you turn out to be true or not.
-
And you know, there's definitely
-
certain people's lives you can look at,
-
especially over a longer period of time,
-
and you can become very concerned.
-
I'm a pastor and some of you know.
-
I don't want to be mean to people.
-
There are people I've
called into question.
-
There are people I've asked about.
-
There are people I've pressed,
-
people I've taken them to the Scriptures,
-
there's people that I've said,
-
you know, I have concerns here;
-
I have concerns there,
-
and I've seen some of them fall away
-
and I've seen some of
them run extremely well.
-
And I don't always have this figured out.
-
I've told you guys there's some people
-
coming into the church and I'm like
-
that's a tremendous testimony.
-
A month later, they're gone.
-
There's other people that come in
-
and I'm thinking, no way,
-
that doesn't fly.
-
And you know what?
-
Eight years later, they're running
-
just as well as ever.
-
And so I realize I can be wrong.
-
You can be wrong.
-
But okay, what do we do?
-
Well, if indeed we've got somebody
-
that it appears they're probably lost
-
and they have a false profession,
-
we know this.
-
What did Jesus Christ say sets us free?
-
Truth.
-
You're not going to help anybody,
-
and you're not going to love anybody,
-
you're not going to
really care for anybody
-
unless you hit them with truth, right?
-
The truth sets free.
-
If somebody says they're
a Christian and they're not,
-
well, they're not free.
They're in bondage.
-
And they're in double bondage, right?
-
Because not only are they lost,
-
they're all the more
deceived into thinking
-
that they're saved.
-
So they're not really going to be
-
aggressively pursuing that.
-
It's not like you can come to them
-
like you can if you slide
up next to a Muslim
-
and he obviously rejects Christ.
-
You're on a whole other thing there.
-
The problem is we have so much of that
-
in this country, don't we?
-
People with false professions.
-
You've got all sorts of folks
that think they're saved.
-
Well, the truth sets free.
-
Okay, now hear this.
-
Because I think this is an important text.
-
Matthew 13:15, and I know we have
-
parallel verses on this probably
-
over in what Luke 8? Mark 4?
-
We were talking about this text
-
just the other night.
-
Matthew 13:15. Listen to this.
-
Jesus Christ gave the
parable of the soils.
-
Now just think about that.
-
Parable of the soils.
-
What's true about the
parable of the soils?
-
Well, the Gospel's preached.
Some people hear it.
-
Bang! They're gone.
-
Birds come down. Demons come in.
-
They pluck the seed up.
-
There's not even a profession made.
-
But you've got other people,
-
the Gospel's preached,
they make professions.
-
They're like fireworks.
-
They're all out there.
-
They spring up.
-
There's all sorts of likeness to a plant.
-
You've got lots of leaves and everything.
-
But what happens? Sun comes out.
-
That's a likeness of persecution.
-
They wither away.
-
There was one, professed to be true,
-
wasn't true. Withered away.
-
You've got the other ones.
-
You've got the weeds and stuff.
-
They grow up. They choke it out.
-
And it's no good either
because it's not fruitful.
-
And Scripture says you
know them by their fruits.
-
Bottom line: fruit's the issue.
-
The ones that are good -
-
you've got 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold.
-
And they're good. And why?
-
How can we tell? Fruit.
-
By their fruits you know them.
-
That's always the case in the Scripture.
-
Well, here's the thing.
-
Right in the middle of this whole deal,
-
after He gives the parable,
-
His disciples come to Him
-
and they want to know the interpretation.
-
Between the parable and the interpretation
-
Jesus says this in Matthew 13:15.
-
Listen to this,
-
"This peoples' heart has grown dull,
-
and with their ears they can barely hear
-
and their eyes they have closed
-
lest they should see with their eyes
-
and hear with their ears
-
and understand with their heart and turn
-
and I would heal them."
-
Now here's the thing,
-
truth sets men free.
-
You got somebody that's
got a false profession?
-
Let me tell you this.
-
What must happen to somebody
-
based on Matthew 13:15?
-
What has to happen to somebody before
-
they can be spiritually healed?
-
It says they must turn -
somebody said repent.
-
Turn. Repent.
-
That's the same thing.
-
They must turn, but what must happen
-
before they can turn?
-
They must be understanding.
-
You see it there?
-
There must be understanding.
-
To have understanding, they must hear.
-
To hear, someone must be doing what?
-
They must be talking or preaching.
-
Somebody must be telling them something.
-
This one came in by Brad Jones.
-
Brad, the fact is,
-
we need to show people
about the new birth.
-
If you're going to have people
-
genuinely healed,
-
the people have got to turn.
-
If they're going to turn,
there's got to be understanding.
-
If they're going to be understanding,
there's got to be hearing.
-
If they've got to be hearing,
there's got to be somebody talking.
-
We've got to take truth to people.
-
Listen, you've got somebody out there.
-
You're concerned about them.
-
You've got to take truth to them.
-
That's the way to do it.
-
Now look, you don't have to charge in
-
like the bull in the china closet,
-
and say "you're going to hell!
-
You know, I've got it figured out.
-
You're lost and you're going to hell
-
and it's all false."
-
You know what kind of hearing
-
you're going to get from
people when you do that?
-
About none.
-
You go charging in like that -
-
the best way to do is
not to go charging in
-
and just jump all over them
-
and create a big scenario.
-
You can express that you
have concerns in some place,
-
or you might even just begin
-
to bring some Scripture up.
-
Well, what kind of Scriptures?
-
I mean, basically, if you've got somebody
-
with a false profession,
-
and you're wanting to bring truth
-
in order to bring understanding
-
that might lead to the turning
-
that leads to the healing,
-
well, what are we going to do?
-
What kind of truth are
we going to bring out?
-
Well, obviously, there are verses
-
that deal with false
professors, are there not?
-
Do we not have tests for true Christianity
-
in the Scriptures?
-
Anybody think of where some might be?
-
1 John, Matthew 7.
-
Yeah, there's a lot.
-
Well, let's kind of go
through these in order.
-
The first one I would say -
-
and what I want to do is,
-
this is not an extensive, full list.
-
This is just some places you can go to
-
in the Scriptures. Just some.
-
I'd start out with this.
-
You know where a good place is I've found?
-
It's in the Old Testament
-
where the New Covenant is talked about.
-
That's a tremendous place.
-
You know why?
-
There in Jeremiah 31
-
and in chapter 32 of Jeremiah,
-
and in Ezekiel 36 -
-
those are three of the
most prominent texts
-
from the Old Testament that give us
-
the character of the New Covenant.
-
And by the way, what's the New Covenant?
-
The New Covenant is the
way you are saved
-
if you are saved.
-
It is salvation through Christ.
-
It is the way God saves now.
-
Well, it's the way God has saved always,
-
but it's set over against the Old Covenant
-
which was works, right?
-
Old Covenant - "do this and live."
-
How many people did it?
-
None.
-
All of sinned and come
short of the glory of God.
-
That was the defect of the Old Covenant.
-
Nobody could keep it because
it didn't give any power.
-
But then the New Covenant,
-
basically God says,
I will, I will, I will.
-
What did He say He would do?
-
Let's go through them real fast.
-
Jeremiah 31 - you guys
don't have to turn there
-
but just listen to it.
-
Jeremiah 31:33,
-
"This is the covenant I will make
-
with them after those days
-
declares the Lord..."
-
And He's speaking of the house of Israel.
-
And of course, we know a true Jew
-
is one who is a child of Abraham by faith.
-
True Jew. True circumcision.
-
Those are the ones that
worship God in the Spirit.
-
He told the Philippians.
-
We see the Galatians
are called the true Israel.
-
Basically, you've got to become a Jew
-
to be saved.
-
The way you become that
is by faith in Jesus Christ.
-
That's how you become a son of Abraham.
-
What's true of this New Covenant?
-
He says, "I will put My law within them."
-
You know what that means?
-
That means He puts His
law within our heart.
-
You know what John said?
-
His commandments are not grievous.
-
You know what it says in Romans 8:7?
-
It says that the lost -
those that are in the flesh -
-
they cannot keep God's law.
-
Right there,
-
if you say you know Him,
-
and you don't keep His commandments,
-
1 John 2, "you're a liar and
the truth isn't in you."
-
Isn't that the same
thing Jesus Christ says?
-
Somebody said Matthew 7.
-
You don't do the will of the Father,
-
you're not inheriting
the Kingdom of Heaven.
-
Why? Is that because
we get there by works?
-
No, it's because where there is true faith
-
in Jesus Christ,
-
where a man is justified by faith,
-
he always has the law
written on his heart.
-
He always has a new heart.
-
He always has the Spirit
of God put within him.
-
God says He's going to cause him
-
to keep His statutes.
-
That's what He says He's going to do.
-
Regeneration, folks.
-
Men are born again.
-
They're transformed.
New creations in Christ.
-
That's what we need to tell people.
-
Look, if you're genuinely saved,
-
you're a new creation in Christ.
-
If you're genuinely saved, guess what?
-
You go from being a person
-
who cannot keep God's laws
-
to one whose practice in life
-
is doing the will of the Father.
-
And if that's not true,
-
those who practice unrighteousness
-
are of the devil.
-
We find that in 1 John 3:9-10.
-
You have that idea come right out at us
-
about these things.
-
But let me jump back just a second.
-
Jeremiah 31.
-
God says, "I will put My law within them.
-
I will write it on their hearts.
-
I will be their God.
-
No longer shall each
one teach his neighbor
-
and each one his brother,
saying, 'know the Lord,'
-
for they shall all know Me,
-
from the least of them to the greatest,
-
declares the Lord.
-
I will forgive their iniquity.
-
I will remember their sin no more."
-
The very next chapter, Jeremiah 32:38-40.
-
He says, "I will be their God.
-
I will give them one heart and one way
-
that they may fear Me forever,
-
for their own good
-
and the good of the children after them,
-
I will make them an everlasting covenant
-
that I will not turn away
from doing them good
-
and I will put the fear
of Me in their hearts
-
that they may not turn from Me."
-
Guess what?
-
That's another thing
that's going to be true.
-
The fear of God is going to
be put within their heart
-
that they not turn away.
-
Guaranteed. If you see somebody
-
that has no fear of God
in the way they live,
-
guess what?
-
It's an indication that they've never
-
had this New Covenant performed on them.
-
Ezekiel 36:25-27.
-
"I will sprinkle clean water on you.
-
You shall be clean from
all your uncleannesses
-
and from all your idols
I will cleanse you,
-
and I will give you a new heart,
-
a new spirit will I put within you.
-
I will remove the heart
of stone from your flesh
-
and give you a heart of flesh.
-
I will put my Spirit within you,
-
and I will cause you to
walk in My statutes
-
and be careful to obey My rules."
-
You see that?
-
God will cause you to be careful
-
to obey His commandments.
-
He will cause that.
-
If you can basically live your life
-
with no regard to the
fact that Jesus Christ
-
gave you commandments to live by,
-
you say you know Him and that's true?
-
1 John 2:4,
-
"you're a liar and the
truth isn't in you."
-
You see, we can come to people like this.
-
We can be pretty dogmatic.
-
You're living a life practicing sin,
-
1 John 3:9 says
-
you don't belong to the Lord,
-
you belong to the devil.
-
1 John 2:3-4 says you're not
keeping those commandments.
-
Matthew 7:21, you're not doing
-
the will of the Father in Heaven.
-
You've got some problems here.
-
We're new creations in Christ.
-
We can remind them of such things
-
that Jesus said.
-
He says, "I tell you, unless you repent,
-
you'll likewise perish."
-
If there's been no turning in the life,
-
you say well, I've just walked along
-
the same way all my life.
-
That's bad. That's bad.
-
Because Jesus Christ says
-
for somebody to be genuinely converted
-
and healed,
-
there has to be a turning.
-
If there's never been
a turning in the life,
-
that's bad.
-
You come across somebody,
-
"Well, I've been a good
Catholic my whole life."
-
That's bad.
-
You may be a good Catholic.
-
You may think this certain
thing, but that's bad.
-
Because what the Scripture says
-
is when a man comes to Christ,
-
when a woman comes to Christ,
-
they become new creations.
-
They're born again.
-
They walk in newness of life.
-
That's the whole thing.
-
There's radical transformation.
-
You go over to Luke 14.
-
Jesus Christ, right there towards
the end of the chapter
-
gives three distinct statements
-
about who cannot be His disciple.
-
If any of these are true,
-
then you're not His disciple.
-
A disciple is a learner. It's a follower.
-
If you're not a follower of Christ,
-
you don't belong to Him.
-
His sheep follow Him.
-
They hear His voice. They follow Him.
-
If you're not following Him,
-
you've never heard His voice.
-
It's basic. It's simple.
-
He says "if anyone comes to Me
and does not hate his father,
-
his mother, his wife, child, brother,
sister, yes, even his own life,
-
he cannot be My disciple."
-
Luke 14:27, "Whoever does not
-
bear his own cross and come after Me
-
cannot be My disciple."
-
Luke 14:33, "Anyone of
you who does not..."
-
This is a big one.
-
"Anyone of you who does not renounce
-
all that he has, he
cannot be My disciple."
-
You say wow, I never heard that before.
-
Yes, you did. I just read it to you
-
from the tenets of the New Covenant.
-
One of the things that
the New Covenant says
-
is God will cleanse you
from all your idols.
-
You know what that means?
-
You'll renounce everything.
-
You're going to renounce every idol.
-
Every one of them.
-
Now, I realize there's progress here.
-
I realize that as we
live our Christian life,
-
He comes back to us over and over.
-
We have to repeatedly turn.
-
We still have the flesh
that we battle against.
-
But let me give you another one.
-
We can talk about what the apostles say.
-
You know this one. I say it often.
-
Romans 8:13, "Unless by the Spirit
-
you put to death the deeds of the body,
-
you will die."
-
That's what the Apostle Paul says.
-
You will die if by the Spirit
-
you're not putting to death -
-
if you're not at war with sin,
-
you're not saved.
-
1 John tells us repeatedly.
-
If you don't love the brethren,
-
you're not saved.
-
It says that.
-
You don't have the Holy Spirit?
-
You're none of His. You're not saved.
-
Why is that so important?
-
Because in Romans 8:16 it says
-
that the Spirit of God bears witness
-
with our spirit that
we're children of God.
-
If you have no witness bearing
-
going on in your heart,
-
inside you,
-
from the Spirit of God -
-
and how does that happen?
-
Well, you know Romans 5:5
-
talks about the love
-
being shed abroad in our hearts
-
by the Spirit which has been given to us.
-
God sheds His love abroad.
-
If you're not knowing tangible,
-
experiential communications of God
-
to your soul that you're truly His,
-
that's reason to be concerned.
-
Because the Bible says
that the Spirit of God,
-
if you're truly His,
-
you have the Spirit of God within you.
-
We saw that again in the
tenets of the New Covenant.
-
If you're one of His,
-
He's given His Spirit to you.
-
Like it says in Romans 8,
-
if you don't have the Spirit,
you're none of His.
-
If you've got the Spirit,
the Spirit bears witness.
-
If you've got the Spirit,
the Spirit puts to death sin.
-
If you've got the Spirit,
the Spirit helps you pray.
-
If you've got the Spirit,
it's the Spirit of adoption,
-
and you find yourself
crying out, "Abba, Father."
-
There's suddenly an intimacy.
-
Again, tenets of the New Covenant.
-
You're not going to
have to teach everyone.
-
There's basically, when a person comes,
-
they suddenly are made to know God
-
in a way that you don't have to be taught.
-
There's an intimacy.
-
Something is worked out there.
-
Now yes, it's important
to sit under teachers.
-
It's important to study your Bible.
-
But what it's saying is something happens.
-
God intervenes.
-
Christianity isn't just about
sitting under a teacher.
-
You suddenly come into
-
some kind of relationship
-
and some kind of
communication with God
-
that goes above teachers.
-
If these things are all
foreign to you guys
-
or to any of you, it's
time to be concerned.
-
One of the things the Apostle Paul says,
-
"If anyone has no love for
the Lord, let him be accursed."
-
I'll tell you this, if
you don't have any love?
-
"All things work together for good
-
to them who love God,
-
to those who are called
according to His purpose.
-
You're not loving God?
-
You're giving the indication
you're not called.
-
You haven't been called
according to His purpose.
-
Basically, the apostle says
let these people be cursed.
-
If you're not knowing
what it is to love Christ,
-
if there's no special affection
that you have for Him,
-
you're in trouble.
-
That's not a good place to be.
-
God has saved men and women
-
to be lovers of His Son.
-
This is basically how it is.
-
Well, I don't need to keep going on.
-
These are the verses,
-
and you guys could think of many others.
-
I mean, you know what James says.
-
"Don't be deceived," by being what?
-
A hearer and not a doer.
-
And he talks about dead faith.
-
What's dead faith?
-
Dead faith has no works.
-
And he says can that faith save you?
-
Demons believe.
-
It can't save.
-
You can believe all the
facts about Jesus Christ.
-
You can believe much.
-
You can go to church a long time.
-
But I'll tell you, the bottom line is
-
if this isn't working out,
-
true salvation loves,
-
true faith loves, true faith works,
-
true faith keeps the commandments,
-
true faith battles sin,
-
true faith loves the brethren,
-
true faith loves Christ,
-
true faith is being communicated to
-
by the Spirit of God which is indwelling.
-
True faith - we have that Spirit
-
that helps us to pray,
-
gives us an intimacy with God.
-
And these things are a reality.
-
We can begin to press people.
-
We can take them -
1 John is a tremendous place.
-
Take people there.
-
Somebody said Matthew 7.
-
Tremendous place.
-
Take people to these.
-
You guys, I really want you to remember,
-
Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah 32, Ezekiel 36.
-
You guys need to have that pinned down.
-
You need to know those texts
-
because when you come across somebody
-
and those are not realities,
-
you know, you don't have
to clobber people with it,
-
but you can just take them
there and show them.
-
If the Spirit of God is involved in it,
-
then you know what?
-
That Word of God is going to be effectual.
-
You don't have to beat people.
-
It's the Word of God.
-
It's the incorruptible seed of the Word
-
by which men are regenerated.
-
It's truth.
-
We don't have to be mean with it.
-
We don't have to be harsh with it.
-
It's that truth that sets men free.