-
I'd like you to open
your Bibles to Acts 5.
-
We're going to be looking
-
at several different verses here
-
thoughout our New Testaments.
-
Acts 5:14.
-
"And more than ever,
-
believers were added to the Lord;
-
multitudes of both men and women."
-
Let's pray.
-
Father, I pray for our brother Brandon
-
as he's preaching at the prison today;
-
Brother Craig as he's preaching
-
up in Austin and Temple;
-
our brothers and sisters
in many different places.
-
I think of Kevin there in Manchester.
-
I think of Adam having served the brethren
-
there in Poland and Switzerland.
-
I think of Javier speaking this morning
-
and if he was able to get
to where the brethren are;
-
our brother Matt Wilkinson
-
and Alberto as he takes the pulpit;
-
our brethren in many different places.
-
I think of Justin over
there in New Mexico.
-
Lord, these men laboring -
-
our brother Mark down in Corpus.
-
Father, we ask for grace.
-
May great grace fall upon
-
all of Your people in the
places they are today.
-
We need Your help.
We need Your grace.
-
Lord, we don't ask You to deal with us
-
according to our righteousness,
-
but deal with us according
to Christ's righteousness.
-
Deal with us according to His merits.
-
Deal with us in a gracious fashion.
-
Give us what we need.
-
Empower us, Father.
-
I pray in Christ's name, Amen.
-
Acts 5:14.
-
"More than ever, believers
-
were added to the Lord."
-
You know what the reality is?
-
You know what the reality is,
-
but a lot of times we just need to rethink
-
what the reality is.
-
Before these people were
added to the Lord,
-
they were not the Lord's.
-
They were lost and they were hellbound.
-
And that's the reality.
-
What do you call somebody
-
who's been added to the Lord?
-
Well, what does the text call them?
-
Believers.
-
Let's not lose the significance of this.
-
Christians are called "believers."
-
This is at the very heart
and soul of Christianity.
-
This is what I want to talk about today.
-
I want to talk about genuine saving faith.
-
Christians are believers.
-
The Christian is a Christian
-
because he or she possesses
faith in something.
-
Think of some of the very common verses.
-
"The righteous shall live by faith."
-
"We walk by faith, not by sight."
-
"We're saved by grace through faith."
-
Exactly. Faith. Faith.
-
It's at the heart of what
it is to be a Christian.
-
This is essential to everything
that a Christian is.
-
The most popular verse in the Bible -
-
we dealt with it a couple weeks back.
-
But, "God so loved the world
-
that He gave His only begotten Son,
-
so that whosoever believes in Him
-
should not perish..."
-
Perish - that means go to hell.
-
That means you die eternally.
-
Unless you believe in Christ.
-
So what is faith? Faith -
-
if we were to define it.
-
Faith very simply is this -
-
I know, I know... you can look
-
at the theologians and they break it up
-
into these different components,
-
but I'll tell you this,
-
at the end of the day,
-
true faith is this:
-
It is a conviction of
the truth of something.
-
That's what it is.
-
Conviction.
-
You don't just know the facts,
-
you're convicted about those facts.
-
You're convicted.
-
You can tell when somebody has
conviction about something,
-
or, versus just a casual,
-
oh yeah, they recognize
something may be true.
-
That being said, I want
to point something out.
-
Everyone in the world who can think,
-
they believe.
-
They believe something.
-
I mean, think with me.
-
Unbeliever.
-
That's what we call people
who are not Christians.
-
Unbelievers.
-
What does that mean?
-
That they don't believe anything?
-
Unbelievers believe a lot of things.
-
And the reality is,
-
unbelievers believe a lot of things
-
that are true.
-
You know what?
-
Most of the people up and down this street
-
who are not Christians,
-
if you ask them what two plus two is,
-
they're going to tell you it's four.
-
They believe that.
-
An unbeliever believes lots of truth.
-
You know what?
-
Unbelievers believe a
lot of truth about God.
-
They may believe truths
about Jesus Christ.
-
By and large, the majority of unbelievers
-
in this world believe that Jesus Christ
-
was a historical reality.
-
There are some that reject that.
-
I want you to turn in your Bibles
-
to this text: 2 Corinthians 4:4.
-
Unbelievers. The Bible
talks about unbelievers.
-
Do not be unequally
yoked with unbelievers.
-
An unbeliever.
-
That's what we call a person
-
that is not a Christian.
-
You know what? There's a lot of believers
-
that believe that Jesus Christ
is a real, historical figure.
-
They believe He went to the cross.
-
They believe that there's a heaven.
-
They believe that there's a hell.
-
And yet, they're an unbeliever. Why?
-
What is it? What's significant about that?
-
Well, right here.
-
2 Corinthians 4:4.
-
"The god of this world..."
-
That's Satan.
-
That's the devil.
-
We're not playing any games here.
-
The devil is not something to laugh at.
-
He blinds eyes to keep you from seeing
-
the only thing that can save you.
-
He is in the business of keeping
-
people's eyes blind so they're damned.
-
You should know that.
-
"The god of this world has blinded
-
the minds of unbelievers."
-
Blinded their minds to what?
-
Two plus two is four?
-
No.
-
No, not that at all.
-
To what?
-
Not even to the fact that Jesus
-
was an actual historical character.
-
A person - a real person.
-
That's not what he blinds the eyes to.
-
Notice: "...to keep them from seeing
-
the light of the gospel
-
of the glory of Christ
-
who is the image of God."
-
You know what? You may have a man -
-
high IQ - have you see
some of these guys?
-
Stephen Hawking who just died
-
not too long ago?
-
Some of these guys -
-
their IQ can go through the roof.
-
They can understand quantum physics.
-
But I'll tell you this,
-
that's not what the devil
blinds their minds to.
-
They can know all about those things.
-
What is it?
-
There's only one thing.
-
What is a believer?
-
A believer is someone whose mind
-
sees a glory.
-
They're convicted about that glory.
-
They embrace that glory.
-
That's what it says.
-
And it's a glory that other men don't see.
-
And so what inevitably happens
-
is men find glory in other things.
-
And they are blind to this glory.
-
And so you know what they do?
-
They pursue the other glory.
-
That's exactly what happens.
-
Look, what this is telling us is this:
-
The devil keeps men's minds,
-
women's minds blinded,
-
so that they can't see this.
-
Because the reality is,
if people can see it -
-
listen, who would not want this?
-
After the things I've done,
-
all my sins can be forgiven
-
and God will take me to paradise?
-
And to see what salvation really is -
-
God delivers me from
everything that's bad,
-
everything that's wicked,
everything that's sinful,
-
everything that's destructive,
everything that hurts me and harms me,
-
and will take me where
I'll have life abundantly.
-
And the reality is,
-
Jesus Christ has a beauty and a glory -
-
who would not want that?
-
The only reason men don't want that
-
is because their eyes are blind.
-
And they're made to
see that a football team,
-
or a basketball team,
-
or sex, or alcohol, or money, or cars
-
have a greater glory.
-
That's what the reality is.
-
What is it that makes a
person a true believer?
-
That's what we're talking about right now
-
and I want you to see something.
-
Because there's something in Scripture
-
that ought to disturb us.
-
I want you to turn now
in your Bibles to Acts 8.
-
This is the essential question:
-
What is it that makes
a person a true believer?
-
Because this is life and death.
-
Life and death.
-
Coming to church is not
what determines this reality.
-
It's being a believer.
-
But it's being a believer
of a certain sort.
-
Notice this.
-
Many of you are familiar with this,
-
but let's remind ourselves.
-
Acts 8 - Simon.
-
What is true saving faith?
-
I want to start looking at a believer
-
who looks good at first sight,
-
but upon closer examination,
-
there's a defect.
-
So Acts 8:9, "There was a man named Simon.
-
He had previously
practiced magic in the city
-
and amazed the people of Samaria,
-
saying that he himself
was somebody great."
-
So, notice this. This guy was
-
very stuck on himself; very proud.
-
Probably, he had real magic abilities.
-
Probably, he was dabbling in the occult.
-
Probably there was real
supernatural power -
-
powers of darkness, not light.
-
He probably was dabbling
in real witchcraft.
-
"They all paid attention to him
-
from the least to the greatest,
-
saying this man has the power
of God that is called great."
-
So, not only did he call himself great,
-
other people were looking at him
-
and saying this guy really is great.
-
This guy is amazing us.
-
"They paid attention to him
because for a long time,
-
he had amazed them with his magic."
-
But here comes Philip.
-
Philip - one of the deacons
-
from the church at Antioch.
-
A man has come here with the gospel
-
and he begins to preach it.
-
And I'll tell you this,
God began to move.
-
And God began to move in ways
-
that got people's attention,
-
even more than they were paying attention
-
to this Simon.
-
"They believed Philip as
he preached good news."
-
There's the gospel.
-
The good news.
-
He was lifting up Christ
crucified for sinners.
-
Christ dying in the place
-
of wicked men and women.
-
Sins forgiven.
-
He's preaching this message
-
about the kingdom of God
-
and the name of Jesus Christ.
-
"They were baptized, both men and women."
-
People were believing.
-
And here's the thing - verse 13.
-
"Even Simon himself believed,
-
and after being baptized,
-
he continued with Philip."
-
And I'll tell you this, if
we stopped right here,
-
we'd think: Wow!
-
God saved a big sinner.
-
That's what we would think.
-
And we'd have no reason not to think that.
-
Except for what comes after it.
-
"And seeing signs
-
and great miracles performed,
-
he was amazed."
-
This ought to be a giveaway.
-
Remember what the devil hides us
-
from seeing the light of the glory
-
of the gospel.
-
That's the thing.
-
The light of the gospel
-
of the glory of Christ.
-
But see, this guy, it doesn't say
-
that he's really seeing and
being amazed by Christ,
-
or by the wonder of
having our sins forgiven.
-
He's amazed by the miracles.
-
"So when the apostles at Jerusalem
-
heard that Samaria had
received the Word of God,
-
they sent to them Peter and John."
-
I mean, here's two pillars.
-
Men who walked with Christ.
-
"...Who came down and prayed for them
-
that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
-
for He had not yet fallen on any of them,
-
but they had only been baptized
-
in the name of the Lord."
-
And you know this.
-
"They received the Holy Spirit..."
-
Verse 18, "Now when Simon saw
-
that the Spirit was given through
-
the laying on of the apostles' hands,
-
he offered them money,
-
saying, 'Give me this power also,
-
so that anyone on whom I lay my hands
-
may receive the Holy Spirit.'
-
Peter said to him..."
-
Now notice this.
-
I want this gift.
-
I want this power.
-
And Peter doesn't skip a beat.
-
He looks at him and he says
-
you, sir, are going to hell.
-
You are fake. You are false.
-
You are not the real thing.
-
Why? Because he wanted
to buy the Holy Spirit
-
or the ability to impart the Holy Spirit.
-
He wanted to buy that with money.
-
"May your silver perish with you."
-
Peter's saying, "You're perishing."
-
"...Because you thought you could obtain
-
the gift of God with money."
-
You see, he doesn't understand grace.
-
There's no sense of God giving me a gift
-
when I don't deserve it.
-
I've done nothing to deserve this.
-
"You have neither part
nor lot in this matter.
-
Your heart is not right before God.
-
Repent therefore this wickedness of yours
-
and pray to the Lord that if possible
-
the intent of your heart
may be forgiven you.
-
For I see that you are
in the gall of bitterness
-
and in the bond of iniquity."
-
He's in the bond of iniquity.
-
There's bitterness and iniquity.
-
What do you have here?
-
True preaching? Yep.
-
True miracles? No doubt about it.
-
And then what happens?
-
He believed.
-
He was baptized.
-
But he wasn't real.
-
Why?
-
Because you know what miracles are?
-
Miracles are a sign.
-
We're going to talk
about it in a little bit,
-
but you know what John said:
-
I've recorded these miracles
-
that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ.
-
These miracles are like a big arrow
-
pointing to Christ.
-
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
-
And that by believing in Him,
you might have eternal life.
-
They're a sign.
-
Who goes down the road
-
and you see the sign that says,
-
"Exit here," and it's like, yes.
-
Yes. That's my exit.
-
That thing is pointing to
where I want to go.
-
And so what do you do?
-
You get off the exit
-
and go to where you want to go.
-
What if I slammed on the brakes
-
and you're in there, and it's like,
-
we just sit there in front of the sign?
-
You say, yeah, that's funny.
-
That's the kind of funniness
that will take men to hell.
-
And that's exactly what's happening here.
-
Signs are meant to show
us something about Christ.
-
And you see, he got stuck on the sign.
-
He got stuck on the miracle.
-
He got stuck on the amazement.
-
No heartfelt sense of sin.
-
Not a need: Oh, Christ!
-
None of that.
-
I want you to turn to
another well known passage.
-
John 2.
-
You know this. I know you know this.
-
But let's think about this again,
-
because listen,
-
I know this... I know this.
-
There are people around us
-
whose faith is not real.
-
And that's what I want to talk about:
-
true saving faith.
-
How can we tell?
-
Listen, if we don't know this,
-
if we're not clear
-
on true saving faith,
-
then we're going to accept that
-
as being genuine which is not genuine.
-
And we're going to teach
other people like that,
-
and we're going to lead people wrong.
-
And the danger is, if we don't know
-
what true saving faith is
-
over against unsaving faith -
-
the faith of an unbeliever -
-
isn't that a strange concept?
-
The faith of an unbeliever.
-
And yet, Scripture at times
calls them believers.
-
They're unbelieving believers.
-
It's a crazy thing, but it's a reality.
-
It's a biblical reality.
-
And men will be damned for it.
-
How do we know?
We need to know.
-
Why? Because your soul
and my soul is at stake.
-
We don't want to be wrong about this.
-
So, John 2:23.
-
John 2:23,
-
"Now, when He (this is
Jesus Christ our Lord)
-
when He was in Jerusalem
-
at the Passover feast,
-
many believed in His name."
-
Mark that.
-
It doesn't say that they didn't believe.
-
It says they do believe. They did believe
-
"in His name
-
when they saw the signs
-
that He was doing."
-
But watch this:
-
"But Jesus on His part,
-
did not entrust Himself to them
-
because He knew all people,
-
and needed no one to
bear witness about man,
-
for He Himself knew what was in man."
-
Now, you know what?
-
V. 23 - think about if we
were just reading that.
-
"He was in Jerusalem
at the Passover feast.
-
Many believed in His name
-
when they saw the
signs that He was doing."
-
If we stopped right there,
-
it sounds like revival.
-
If Diego and I come back from Ecuador
-
and we basically give this report:
-
"Many believed in His name."
-
Whoa! That's a mighty move of God!
-
We would think...
-
But, then there's v. 24.
-
You know, this literally could be read:
-
"Many believed in His name,
-
but... Jesus did not believe in them."
-
It's the same pisteuo word group
-
that we get "faith" from.
-
They believed in Him.
He didn't believe in them.
-
Did they have faith?
-
I mean, read what it says.
-
"Many believed in His name."
-
It doesn't say they didn't believe.
-
It says just the opposite.
-
They did believe.
-
But Jesus knew something wasn't right.
-
And notice His words:
-
It says that "He Himself knew
-
what was in man."
-
In man.
-
Where others can't see.
-
There's something wrong.
-
This is life and death.
-
Do we have the faith
-
that Jesus would entrust Himself to?
-
Or does our faith fall short of that?
-
And you see the defect
-
is somewhere where you and I can't see
-
in others.
-
We've probably got some
idea about it in ourselves,
-
but it's somewhat hidden from others.
-
But Jesus knew what was in man.
-
So, we need some help here.
-
What's going on? What is this?
-
Okay, over to Matthew 13.
-
Matthew 13:20.
-
We're going to dive into the middle
-
of Jesus' well known parable of the soils.
-
Now, you know the second soil type
-
is the stony ground.
-
Jesus gives us a picture of a man
-
throwing seed.
-
Sowing seed.
-
And some of that seed
-
falls on ground that's called stony ground
-
or rocky ground.
-
The idea is not so much that it's rocks
-
interspersed with soil,
-
as much as there's rock underneath
-
shallow soil.
-
And so when a plant begins to grow in it,
-
there's no place for the roots to go.
-
It can't go down into the moist soil.
-
And so what happens?
-
The sun comes out and it withers.
-
What's that a picture of?
-
Well, Jesus tells us right here.
-
Matthew 13:20,
-
"As for what was sown on rocky ground..."
-
Now, what you want to notice,
-
this is not theoretical.
-
Jesus is saying when
the gospel is preached,
-
this is one of four common results.
-
Here it is.
-
Here's the Word -
-
somebody's preaching the gospel.
-
Somebody's hearing the gospel.
-
The person who hears the gospel
-
immediately receives it with joy.
-
That sounds good.
-
But, notice verse 21.
-
"Yet he has no root in himself."
-
Now, that's very similar to John 2
-
because we're talking about
-
where people cannot see.
-
You know, when I lived out in the country,
-
I planted a pine tree.
-
It was a four or five foot pine tree.
-
And a gopher chewed
the roots off that thing.
-
I couldn't see it.
-
But how did I know
-
that its roots got chewed off?
-
At first, it began to look pale.
-
Now, it was a pine tree,
-
so it wasn't the kind of tree
-
that the leaves are
immediately going to wilt.
-
It just started looking bad.
-
The color was not deep green,
-
and it was looking sickly.
-
And then, the thing was not good.
-
That's what we have going here.
-
No root in himself.
-
"...Endures for awhile,
-
and when tribulation or persecution
-
arises on account of the Word,
-
immediately he falls away."
-
Now, I know the word "faith,"
-
the word "believe," are not here,
-
but they are in Luke's.
-
Don't turn to Luke's, but listen.
-
Here's the Luke account.
-
"The ones on the rock are those
-
when they hear the Word,
they receive it with joy,
-
but these have no root.
-
They believe for awhile..."
-
Receiving and believing -
-
they're synonymous words.
-
You know that from John 1.
-
"To all who did receive Him,
-
who believed in His name,
-
He gave the right to become sons of God."
-
Receive; believe.
-
It's the same idea here.
-
So here in this parable,
-
Jesus tells us
-
wherever and whenever
-
the gospel is preached,
-
there are going to be people
-
who hear the gospel;
-
they receive the gospel,
-
they get excited.
-
Through the years I've seen that.
-
Gospel preaching.
-
I've seen it.
-
People are all excited!
-
Boy, they've got a testimony!
-
Oh, the Lord has saved me!
-
It's glorious!
-
Joy.
-
That's what he says.
-
They want to join!
They want to get baptized!
-
They have a testimony!
-
But look, before long,
-
back to the world they go.
-
We see this all the time.
-
But something is wrong.
-
Where is it wrong?
-
Below the surface
-
where you and I can't see.
-
But here's the thing,
-
this is critical.
-
Persecution and tribulation -
-
difficulty -
-
it exposes this faith
-
for what it really is.
-
This is very helpful.
-
This is very helpful.
-
If we think carefully,
-
I think we can all discover the defect
-
in this faith.
-
Let me ask you a question.
-
Why would someone embrace
Christ with joy today
-
and walk away tomorrow?
-
Why would they do that?
-
When persecution comes?
Or tribulation comes?
-
I mean, this is getting right down
-
to the heart of what true
saving faith is all about.
-
Do you know why a true believer
-
does not walk away from Christ
-
no matter how hard things get?
-
There's a reason.
-
It's because he or she believes
-
at the deepest level something.
-
Think about this.
-
Jesus says, "Follow Me,
-
and I will lead you to glory."
-
You know, He said that.
-
He said that to the rich, young ruler.
-
"You follow Me,
-
you will have treasure in heaven."
-
"I'll take you there.
I'll take you all the way there.
-
You follow Me."
-
"Follow Me."
-
And as you follow Him,
-
what happens?
-
I'll tell you what happens.
-
He says, "Follow Me."
-
Your mother, your father -
they don't like it.
-
"You joined a cult!"
-
Your friends - they laugh; they mock.
-
You maybe in some countries,
-
you'll lose your job.
-
Your families will disown you.
-
They threaten your life.
-
You may be in some countries
-
where they'll throw you in prison.
-
Jesus does that.
-
He says, "Follow Me,
-
but I want you to know this.
-
I'm going to take you
-
to the valley of
the shadow of death.
-
I'm going to take you
to the dark chasm.
-
I'm going to take you to the furnace.
-
I'm going to take you to the fire.
-
And I'm going to take
you to the brink of it
-
and I'm going to pass
through ahead of you
-
because I'm asking you to follow Me.
-
And I'm going to bid you to come.
-
I'm going to bid you to follow."
-
And you see, right at that time;
-
right at that point,
-
it tests what you truly believe.
-
You see, you're not tested
-
when the sun's out.
-
Now, the sun as far as persecution
-
in the parable is a bad thing,
-
but I'm talking about when life is easy.
-
That's not when you're tested.
-
That's not when what you really believe
-
is put out on the table.
-
It's right here.
-
It's persecution. It's tribulation.
-
Because it tests at the deepest,
-
deepest level.
-
And you see, when you're faced by that,
-
you're standing at the edge of the fire
-
and He's telling you to come,
-
and everything inside of you is resisting.
-
It's recoiling.
-
I want to go back!
-
But what?
-
There's a conviction.
-
I desperately need Christ.
-
I don't want to go through that fire,
-
but I know at the deepest level,
-
I need Christ! I cannot turn back!
-
Because if I turn back,
where am I going to go?
-
I have no place to go.
-
And you follow.
-
And you put one foot ahead of the other.
-
I mean, you just consider these two cases.
-
You consider the case of persecution.
-
My friends laugh at me.
My friends mock me.
-
They avoid me.
-
They don't invite me to the thing anymore
-
whatever it is.
-
That's a reality.
-
Or maybe they threaten me.
-
Maybe it's the government
that threatens me.
-
Do you see what my
faith is confronted with?
-
My faith is confronted
-
with what they were
confronted with in Jesus' days.
-
And He said to those Jews,
-
"How can you believe
-
when you desire the glory of men?"
-
And you know, it said that
of the Jewish leaders too.
-
It specifically says in John 12,
-
"The authorities believed in Him,
-
but for the fear of the Pharisees,
they did not confess it
-
so that they would not be
put out of the synagogue..."
-
Here's the reason:
-
"...They loved the glory
that comes from men
-
more than the glory that comes from God."
-
See, it tests,
-
do I want the approval, the applause?
-
Do I want the acceptance?
-
Or am I willing to follow Christ
-
though the whole world turns against me?
-
And see, that tests you.
-
God made us social creatures.
-
We don't like to be rejected.
-
We don't like to be outcasts.
-
We don't like to be in isolation.
-
They put men in isolation in prison.
-
Why? Because that's considered
-
the most extreme way you can punish a guy
-
without actually putting him to death
-
in our system.
-
Why? Because we don't like that.
-
You're tested right then.
-
Christ - the other.
-
Family. Ah, family!
-
The approval of our parents.
-
But see, then you have tribulation.
-
What's that one all about?
-
Remember, the person
joyfully received this gospel.
-
But what happens when God lays your joys
-
in a pile of ruin?
-
I'll tell you this,
-
He never will or can -
-
if you'll let me use that word -
-
if your joy is in this:
-
I was a wicked wretch.
-
And the main thing I
want out of this deal:
-
I want Christ, and I want His salvation.
-
And I know that no matter what comes,
-
I can't lose that.
-
You see, the problem is
-
that the joy that people are coming with,
-
it's often: it's my ticket out of hell.
-
You know, Jesus said to count the cost.
-
Because you know when people hear:
-
"Oh, this is great!
-
There's going to be no hell in the end."
-
They get all excited.
-
But you know what?
-
Some people believe:
-
I can become a believer.
-
There's no hell in the end,
-
but I can live my life -
-
I'll just live my life just the same.
-
But see, you have to remember,
-
Jesus is calling us all the time
-
to follow Him; to follow Him.
-
They call His name Jesus
-
because He's going to save
His people from their sin.
-
He's not going to leave you in it.
-
And you see, some people
didn't bargain for that.
-
It's like, well, no, I
wanted to keep this sin.
-
I wanted to miss hell,
-
but I wanted to hold on to my sin.
-
Or we have this idea -
-
you know, there is this idea,
-
we kind of associate Christianity
-
with forgiveness and heaven
-
and happiness and joy,
-
and rightly so.
-
But then when people get in there,
-
they're thinking,
-
"I thought I was getting
earthly blessings here.
-
I thought life was going to be better
-
and easier.
-
I mean, I imagined the blessed life -
-
like God's going to bless my work,
-
and He's going to help me to make money,
-
and He's going to bless my family,
-
and things are going to get good.
-
It's like I didn't see in this fine print
-
He brings swords into the family.
-
What's all this?"
-
You see, there are people
-
who haven't really counted the cost.
-
And you know what happens
-
when things get difficult?
-
When your joy was set on something else?
-
You get angry.
-
What's this?
-
I'm getting a raw deal here, God.
-
And you know that happened in John 6.
-
You remember?
-
He's saying, "eat My flesh."
-
And they're looking at this thing
-
and they're saying,
-
"Man, this is too hard.
-
This is too hard.
-
Your teaching's too hard, Jesus."
-
And you remember what happened
to many of those disciples?
-
They turned tail and
they were out of there.
-
That's what happens
to people all the time.
-
It just gets too hard.
-
This is not what we bargained for.
-
This wasn't what we
were thinking up front.
-
And Jesus - you know what?
-
He wanted to test men
at the deepest level.
-
Jesus was not for cheap decisions.
-
Listen, He is in the business
-
of not entrusting Himself to people
-
whose faith doesn't go deep.
-
And He'll test it.
-
And He even turns to the twelve,
-
and He says to those guys,
-
"Are you guys going to go too?
-
There's the door."
-
And you know what answer
is the only right one?
-
The one Peter gave.
-
You see, when you're faced
-
by the hard times and the difficulties
-
and the fires and the persecutions,
-
that's the right answer.
-
"Lord, where are we going to go?
-
We don't have anywhere else to go.
-
You're our only hope.
-
Lord, we've put everything in this bag!
-
I mean, Lord, it's You, or we perish.
-
You have the words of eternal life.
-
There's nobody else that has them.
-
There's no other place of our hope.
-
We're not going."
-
Mark well those words.
-
"Lord, yes.
-
What You are saying is hard,
-
but where will we go?"
-
You know when Geoff Thomas was just here?
-
He's sitting on our sofa.
-
And he told a story that
I'm not going to forget
-
the rest of my life.
-
He told about a man from the U.K.
-
A pastor/preacher who Geoff said
-
was powerful, effectual preacher.
-
This man - his 18 year old daughter
-
went with friends to India -
-
some kind of vacation.
-
She went out one day
with one of her friends,
-
and the friend wanted to go do something.
-
And the girl didn't want to do it.
-
And so she stayed put.
-
They never saw her again.
-
Geoff said that her dad went to India
-
every single year for years
-
trying to follow up
reports on a white girl
-
that might be seen somewhere.
-
Geoff talked about the people
-
that heard him weeping.
-
I think he mentioned in the hotel,
-
the people in India would hear him
-
just weeping.
-
Can you imagine that?
-
I thought about that with this.
-
Is this what this man bargained for
-
when he threw in with Christ?
-
But when Christ called him
to stand in those flames,
-
can you imagine?
-
Angry - "I'm Your servant!
-
Where is my daughter?"
-
He never found her.
-
He never found her.
He died two months ago
-
and never found her.
-
He never turned his back on Christ.
-
Why?
-
Because there's where
your faith is tested.
-
What do you believe most?
-
As much as his heart hurt,
-
he believed, "I need Christ more."
-
"I need Him more."
-
You see, the issue here is
-
saving faith is more than just
-
grasping truth intellectually.
-
It is that.
-
Your mind needs to be engaged.
-
We need to know the Christ of Scripture.
-
This is not a mindless religion.
-
A lot of people would
have us believe that.
-
It is not.
-
We believe in a Christ
-
who is revealed for us in Scripture.
-
But there's more.
-
There's conviction.
-
There's commitment of your will.
-
See, that's what happens.
-
When you so are convinced in your brain,
-
your will, by conviction, lays hold
-
and will not let go.
-
And we've got some people,
-
somebody out of this church
going around right now
-
and blasting this whole Lordship thing
-
and saying it's works.
-
Let me tell you this,
-
if your faith will not
continue to follow Christ
-
and to obey Christ,
-
it is cheap; it is false;
-
and it has no root.
-
It is keeping on.
-
That's what faith does.
-
It's throwing in with Christ.
-
All or nothing.
-
There's no backup plan.
-
You see, too many people have that.
-
They come: Well, I'll try this.
-
If this doesn't work...
-
No contingency plan here.
-
It's all or nothing.
-
You throw in with Christ.
-
If He doesn't save you, you perish.
-
There's no backup.
-
When things get hard,
we must consider this.
-
And the thing is this,
-
if you're not going to follow Christ,
-
it's like Peter said,
-
who are you going to follow?
-
Where are you going to go?
-
John 8.
-
Turn in your Bibles to John 8.
-
Because Jesus in His parable
-
talks about people who believe
-
but then fall away.
-
I want us to look at
-
what does that mean to fall away.
-
It doesn't mean you're standing there
-
and you fall over backwards.
-
It doesn't even necessarily mean
-
that you leave the church.
-
It might.
-
"They went out from us
because they were not of us."
-
But you know, at the deepest level,
-
what does it mean to
fall away from Christ?
-
Let's look at John 8 here.
-
Verse 30.
-
"As (Jesus) was saying these things..."
-
He's preaching. He's
proclaiming the truth.
-
"...Many believed in Him."
-
But you see, Jesus, again, is not so quick
-
to just jump on the bandwagon.
-
He has a warning for them.
-
Verse 31, "Jesus said to the Jews
-
who had believed in Him..."
-
Not, "oh, great, you've
all believed in Me,
-
so you all must be genuine."
-
Nope. None of that.
-
"If you abide..."
-
Now you need to get this.
-
We need to get this.
-
"If you abide in My Word,
-
you're truly My disciples."
-
Did you get that? "Truly My disciples."
-
In Acts 11:26, it says in Antioch,
-
the disciples were
first called Christians.
-
You know what a disciple is?
-
A disciple is a Christian.
-
The disciples were called Christians.
-
There's too many people that want to say,
-
"Oh, well, disciple is another class."
-
No, it's not.
-
It's a Christian.
-
And what Jesus is saying is this.
-
Hey, I know, you can
go places in Scripture
-
and show where some
of the disciples walked away.
-
That's true.
-
There are false disciples
-
and false Christians in Scripture.
-
But Jesus isn't talking about them,
-
because look what He says.
-
He says, "If you abide in My Word,
-
you are truly My disciples."
-
That's what Jesus is concerned with here.
-
He's concerned with true disciples.
-
Here are these believers.
-
It says, "many believed."
-
But you know what?
-
Jesus sees two categories of believers.
-
We see that.
-
There are those who abide in His Word
-
and those who do not abide in His Word.
-
And this is the very heart
-
of what it means to fall away.
-
Now, you want to pay
close attention to this.
-
Many who fall away don't
even realize that they have.
-
Because they didn't burn their Bible.
-
They didn't raise up and
shake their fist at God.
-
They may even still be
coming to the church
-
and to the meetings.
-
That isn't the issue.
-
To fall away from Christ -
-
notice, you're not abiding in His Word.
-
You're not following Him.
-
See, when He says, "Follow Me,"
-
that means, "Follow My teaching."
-
"Follow My instruction."
-
That's what the Great Commission is.
-
"Teach them to observe all things
-
whatsoever I have commanded."
-
That's following Christ.
-
You remember, Jesus said to His disciples,
-
"Follow Me."
-
And what does He say at the end
-
when He's praying to
His Father in John 17?
-
"They have kept Your Word."
-
That's what it means.
-
It's not everybody that
says, "Lord, Lord."
-
"It's those who do the will
of My Father in Heaven."
-
It's always been that.
-
That's the issue.
-
What does it mean to fall away?
-
To fall away simply means
-
when difficulty comes
-
or when trial comes,
-
when mocking comes,
-
when persecution comes,
-
you say,
-
I think I'm going to go pursue money.
-
I think I'm going to go pursue sex.
-
I'm going to go pursue alcohol.
-
I'm going to go get high.
-
"You know what, Jesus??"
-
We don't say it like that.
-
But it's like: This is hard.
-
This is hard.
-
I think I'll go pop some pills
-
and get drunk.
-
You see, that's what falling away is.
-
That's where you're tested.
-
Didn't Jesus say it in Luke 6?
-
He says, "Why do you
call me, 'Lord, Lord,'
-
and do not do the things I say?"
-
If you're living your life
-
and you claim to be a Christian,
-
whatever it is - boredom?
-
Loneliness?
-
People giving you a hard time?
-
The pressures?
-
The world drawing you?
-
Listen, if those trials come upon you,
-
and you can depart from His commandments
-
and walk away -
-
you still may come to
church the next Sunday.
-
That's not the issue.
-
That's not the issue.
-
Do you believe?
-
Do you really believe
-
that Jesus is everything?
-
Do you believe He is wisdom?
-
He is Wonderful Counselor.
-
Do you believe He's Lord?
-
You see, that's what Jesus is saying.
-
You call Me Lord like you believe it,
-
but then your actions show
-
that you really don't believe it.
-
You're not doing this.
-
Somebody will say -
-
this is what's being said
out there on the Internet.
-
Some of you have seen it.
-
"Oh, this is being saved by works!"
-
No, this is not being saved by works.
-
This tests what you believe
-
at the deepest level.
-
This is faith.
-
Faith always acts on what it believes.
-
Jesus leads you to this difficult place;
-
to this chasm, to this darkness,
-
to this difficulty, this trial, this fire,
-
this thing in your life.
-
And He still beckons to the man
-
whose daughter was lost.
-
"Yes, I took your daughter.
-
Will you still follow Me?"
-
And see even then, you want
the answer that Peter had.
-
"Lord, You've broken my heart.
-
I will weep and I will cry before You.
-
And I'll not get over this my whole life.
-
But I'm going to follow You,
-
because You have the
words of eternal life.
-
You're the Savior. There is no other.
-
Where else am I going to go?
-
Though You kill me; though You slay me;
-
though You throw all my joys
in this ruinous heap..."
-
You see, you can receive Christ with joy,
-
but if God's got the ability
to pop that joy bubble
-
to where you walk, then you see,
-
it shows what you really believed
-
and it shows where your joy really was.
-
Brethren, I can tell you this.
-
The two greatest things
-
as I've examined my life,
-
my thoughts, my everything,
-
I can honestly say to you,
-
I want two things
-
more than anything else.
-
I want to see Christ.
-
I want to have Him.
-
And I want to be perfect.
-
I want to be done with sin forever.
-
Those are my two greatest desires.
-
And so far, everything
that has tested them,
-
there hasn't been anything more compelling
-
that I've said, no, I'm
throwing in the towel.
-
I can't do this.
-
He's my only hope.
-
Brethren, I don't have a backup plan.
-
Peter didn't have a backup plan.
-
It's not like if this doesn't work,
we're going to go try Allah.
-
That's not even on my radar.
-
And it's not like if this doesn't work,
-
I'm going to go back to my old life,
-
or to the world, or to money,
-
to power, to the stuff.
-
I'll tell you this,
-
a lot of times people,
-
when they throw in the towel,
-
they don't blame Christ.
-
And they don't say,
"Well, I'm falling away."
-
They blame the church.
-
That's so common.
-
"Ah, they're a bunch of legalists.
-
They're teaching salvation by works."
-
No, it's not that.
-
Our obedience is so much an expression
-
of what we believe.
-
It's an expression of faith.
-
Oh, I know, you can do works
-
where you've got no
regard to Christ at all.
-
And it's all done in
pride and in the flesh.
-
That's not what I'm talking about.
-
I'm talking about the stuff
-
that James is talking about.
-
He says, "You show me
your faith without works,
-
I'll show you mine by my works."
-
Why? Because they say what you believe.
-
Look, you've got the title Christian,
-
but you'll run after your sin in a second.
-
And you know what you
do every time you do that?
-
You call Jesus "Lord" but
you don't do what He says.
-
"Not everybody that
says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
-
is going to inherit the kingdom.
-
Those that do the will of My Father..."
-
Why? That shows what you believe.
-
And if that's not reflective of your life,
-
don't be deceived.
-
You will not inherit the kingdom.
-
There is a true faith.
-
And there is a faith that
Jesus commits Himself to.
-
There is good soil out there.
-
And I'll tell you what,
-
(incomplete thought)
-
You think about faith -
-
saving faith involves a Person
-
as its object.
-
What is it that John said?
-
John said I've given you these miracles.
-
What miracles? The healing
of the official's son.
-
The first one - changing water into wine.
-
You think of all the things
that you find in John's Gospel.
-
Blind man - John 9.
-
The raising of Lazarus.
-
Jesus Himself rising from the dead.
-
You think of feeding of the 5,000.
-
You think of these.
-
You know what John is saying?
-
"I have written these things
-
so that you might believe
-
that Jesus is the Christ,
-
the Son of God."
-
You see what's supposed to happen?
-
What's supposed to happen
-
is not like Simon,
where you just get all:
-
"Oh boy, that was neat!
-
Give me the power. I'm amazed!"
-
No. It's a sign.
-
And you're supposed to follow the arrow
-
beyond the feeding of the 5,000
-
to the One that did the feeding and say,
-
"What is it about Him?"
-
"If He can do that..."
-
There's something that needs to grab hold
-
of your will and your conviction
-
that I need Him.
-
I need Him.
-
And have you got some
running sore of the soul?
-
You've got some leprosy?
-
Spiritual wickedness there?
-
And you're seeing: "I will. Be clean."
-
I mean, can you imagine them?
-
People are watching.
-
It's like, lepers are unclean!
-
We don't even get that today.
-
Ah, you know, we go to the hospital.
-
Somebody's got some kind of leprosy.
-
They had to walk around in that day
-
saying, "unclean, unclean."
-
They didn't cut their hair,
so they had a mop of hair.
-
And some of you heard
Paul Washer's message -
-
you could smell them before you see them.
-
Can you imagine this just filthy
-
mess of a man? Unclean.
-
People just avoided;
-
people ran from them.
-
People went on the other
sides of towns or streets
-
to get away from people like this.
-
Here he comes at Jesus
and everybody's like, "ahh!"
-
And He doesn't move. He doesn't budge.
-
"I will. Be clean."
-
See what John is saying?
-
You should find something in that
-
that would cause you to
embrace Him and not let go,
-
even if God took your
18 year old daughter away
-
and you could never find her.
-
See, the difficulty of that situation -
-
there was no closure.
-
You don't find a body.
-
Where is she?
-
I'm not going to let go.
-
I will weep before Him,
but I will not let go.
-
Why? I am convinced
-
of these things in Scripture.
-
Saving faith is believing the facts
-
concerning the feeding of the 5,000,
-
but it's believing it with such conviction
-
that will keep my hope from shifting
-
when all hell breaks loose against me.
-
That's the issue.
-
God has given you these stories.
-
Remember 2 Corinthians.
-
Don't turn there, but listen to it again.
-
"The god of this world
-
has blinded the minds of unbelievers
-
to keep them from seeing
-
the light of the glory
-
of the gospel of Christ
-
who is the image of God."
-
Have you seen something today?
-
You know, it's interesting, Isaiah said,
-
"Who has believed our report?"
-
Who has believed?
-
But you know, he keeps saying it.
-
He says, "To whom has the arm
of the Lord been revealed?"
-
It's like: have you seen it?
-
Have you seen the
arm of the Lord revealed?
-
Who has believed?
-
"He grew up before
him like a young plant,
-
like a root out of dry ground.
-
He had no form or majesty
that we should look at Him."
-
You see the difference?
-
That's the devil blinding.
-
There's nothing.
-
I don't see any
attractiveness in this Christ.
-
"No beauty that we should desire Him."
-
You see the difference?
-
When the blinders are taken off,
-
and we behold,
-
there's a beauty,
-
and there is something to be desired,
-
and there is something
necessary for your soul.
-
It embraces - it's a Person.
-
Our faith is based on a Person.
-
The angel said, "He will be great."
-
The angel said, "No end to His Kingdom."
-
He is going to be the
very offspring of David.
-
He is going to take his
throne - David's throne.
-
He's going to be on that -
an everlasting Kingdom.
-
We're told that He is going to be born
-
of this virgin.
-
This is the offspring of the woman.
-
He's come.
-
It's the hope; it's the
desire of the nations.
-
He's come.
-
There is no other hope.
-
This is the test.
-
This is the test of our faith.
-
This tests it at the deepest level.
-
Christ - He came.
-
And He came to lay His life down
-
as a ransom for many.
-
And He went to the cross.
-
And you know, Peter tried to distract Him.
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Peter pulled out the sword.
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"No, Peter. Put it away."
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"I will drink the cup
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that My Father is giving Me to drink."
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"I will drink it."
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There was no wine in that cup.
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There was no water. There was no milk.
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There was wrath in that cup.
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Wrath. God is angry.
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God is angry with sinners!
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Jesus stands in the way.
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Fury. Words like that. Fury.
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Anger.
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Wrath.
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That's where our faith needs to cling.
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Lord, to whom will we go?
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You have the words of eternal life.
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May God help us clearly to grasp
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the true from the false.
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This is life and death.
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Father, I pray
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open our eyes.
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Some here, Lord,
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may the scales come off.
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The god of this world -
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yeah, we know he's at work.
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But You're stronger, Father.
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You're mighty.
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You can hold his hand.
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You can subdue Your enemies.
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We read of One who's
stronger than the strongman,
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who's able to bind
him and take his goods.
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Lord, we pray, do that.
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Do that in our midst.
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May we be able to see
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these mighty works.
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I pray in the name of the living Christ,
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Amen.