Are You Truly Saved? Sermon by Paul Washer at Grace Community Church

let's let's open our bibles to first john chapter five before we read the text just like to say i was talking with my dear friend justin peters this week as we minister together and it is one of the highlights of our lives to always come here and one of the way i one of the ways that i judge where i want to be is when i leave that place when i leave those brothers or those sisters in christ what is my slant what is my inclination and when i'm with many of the men and women here i always leave here wanting to be a better man always wanting to study the scriptures more deeply always wanting to be more faithful more christ-like and i wanted to say that but then i also want to say that i work with about 42 different countries around the world and i'm talking to indigenous missionaries people groups daily and when many of them heard that i was coming to preach at expositoris um china paris russia my father i just got a an email from about belarus and they were all saying please please tell the church there that we are strengthened because of what we hear about them another thing that i'd like to point out is none of them feel manipulated coerced or guilted into doing the same thing you're doing but they all feel emboldened to be more faithful to christ and to be more faithful as a witness to christ you need to hear that and you need to just keep going in the same direction humbly trusting in christ and be ready to give an answer to every man so let's look at first john chapter 5 verse 11 and the testimony is this that god has given us eternal life and this life is in his son he who has the son has the life he who does not have the son of god does not have the life these things i have written to you who believe in the name of the son of god so that you may know that you have eternal life tonight we're going to talk about salvation and the evidences of salvation now someone might say brother paul are you just out of touch with reality the whole world is coming apart but you see i'm not preaching to the whole world i was asked to preach to a local church tonight although my burden may be wide my burden tonight is you my burden are all the visitors and all the people who have just recently begun to come to this church the students that have come back to study you see we live in a day and age where evangelicalism is very very confused diffused where you can hear all sorts of things to the point where the name evangelical no longer has any meaning at all i have been privileged by the elders of of the church i attend to to teach on two university campuses each week and i it's my joy and many of the young students that will come to those universities many of them come from conservative homes they come from homes where they've been raised in the church and i'm absolutely astounded that when i talk to them and i say are you a christian these are sincere young people are you a christian they'll say i'm trying to be they'll say i've you know i my dad gave me a bible and i'm trying to read it and i'm trying to be more faithful and i'm trying to go to church and i'm trying to do this and i was raised in the church and i was baptized and i realized that the great majority of people who are so-called church today in evangelicalism does not they do not even begin to understand the most basic principles of salvation in christ so what i'm going to teach here tonight may be known to many of you but it may not be known to some of you and my desire is for you to have salvation and to know it biblically biblically now in 1st john we have this text in verse 13 these things i have written to you who believe in the name of the son of god so that you may know that you have eternal life this is an amazing thing whenever you're going to study a book you want to read through it several times and ask yourself why did the author write the book here we can see why he wrote the book that those who are professing faith in christ might know might know that they truly have faith in christ and they truly have eternal life now why was this necessary well many scholars believe that there was a group that later became known as the gnostics who were very very esoteric very very mystical in that they they taught that in many ways god was very very hidden and god's will was secret and only certain people could know it and so they came in to a church that had been apostolically planted and were causing confusion and people were in doubt you know we see these super spiritual people over here doing super spiritual things and we just have the simple gospel could it be that it's like they say we do not have eternal life look what john says in verse 11 and the testimony is this that god has given us eternal life and this life is in his son and again verse 12 he who has the son has the life he who does not have the son of god does not have the life do you see a pattern here our salvation is found in only one place the person and work of jesus christ that's christianity i have spent over 30 years serving my lord i have suffered terrible things i have lost i have been in danger in mountains and in valleys i have suffered fevers in jungles i have walked through malaria pits i have been both loved and hated hunted and applauded i have worked at starting orphanages and taking care of street children and living with street people and all these years add nothing to my salvation if i died right now i would go to heaven for only one reason 2 000 years ago the son of god shed his blood on calvary for sinners that's my only hope that thief on that tree and i have everything in common there is only one foundation of our salvation our vicarious substitute our atonement our savior jesus christ the lord and until you understand that until you abandoned all hope in self all hope and obedience all hope in the fulfillment your fulfillment of law or hope in your own spirituality all hope in your own mysticism until you abandon all of it and throw yourself on the one rock that is christ you are not christian just look very quickly with me just look over into philippians chapter 3 and we have here one of the most powerful and beautiful descriptions of genuine christianity verse 3 of chapter 3 of philippians for we are the true circumcision we are the true people of god he is saying now what are they like who worship in the spirit of god and glory in christ jesus and put no confidence in the flesh what is our what is the boast of a religious man what is the boast of a religious man i am good i am righteous i have labored he's making god is deader you owe me he's placed confidence in the flesh but through the work of the spirit through the inherent scripture the christian has come to realize that they can glory in nothing of self if salvation was 99.99 percent jesus and .01 percent us we would all be damned if you were in the full course of your life to take only your finest second of piety and if only that your finest second of self-sacrifice your finest second of worship if you were to take only that and put it on the scale it would only earn you hell we have only boast one boast one boast we do boast but it's one boast it is jesus christ our lord now just i want to really nail down this point just run over to romans just quickly chapter one and we're going to study the first three chapters in about 60 seconds chapter one what is paul doing in chapters one two in the first part of three paul's main plan is to bring the whole world under condemnation under hopeless condemnation with no way out so in verses 18 through the end of chapter 1 verse 32 paul is addressing the pure pagan the barbarian who has actually left off even natural law and will no longer even submit himself to the course of nature someone who has become worse than the beasts and when paul does that you know what happens the pagan philosopher and moralist stand up and applaud yes paul you're right in condemning that group and then paul turns around said and woe to you ethicist moralist philosopher because you say one thing and you do another and you too are under condemnation and when the jew hears that the religious jew hears that he jumps to his feet and says that a boy paul you're a true pharisee you've condemned them as they should be condemned and paul turns around and says and woe is you because the very law you boast about you do not keep do you realize i could say the same thing today there are people marching in the streets demanding justice who have no justice or righteousness of their own there are people gathered in politically conservative unions and auditoriums seeking a conservative answer to every one of our problems and they too are guilty the whole world is guilty so i make no friends here this evening everyone is condemned paul will go on in romans chapter 3 and look what he says in verse 10 as it is written there's none righteous and paul knowing human nature what is what does he say there's none righteous no not one because soon as someone hears there's none righteous someone stands up to applaud thinking they themselves are the exception and paul says there is no exception there is none who understands there is none who seeks for god they have all turned aside together they have become useless there is none who does good there is not even one whenever i'm preaching on the streets or witnessing on the streets one of the one of the most frequent answers i hear is that i'm good i'm going to heaven because i'm good compared to hitler if hitler is your standard you may have a boast there but if the thrice holy god is the standard and he is your boast has been removed look what paul says in verse 19. now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law what's paul's purpose what's the law's purpose so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to god it is paul laboring with all his might as the great preacher the great apostle that he is he builds a wall in front of the center here and stops him in his righteousness his self-righteousness and then the sinner turns and paul builds another wall and then the center turns and paul builds another wall and then the center turns and paul builds another wall and then the sinner tries to dig under it and paul pours concrete and now the sinner has only one thing to do look up look up look up look up look up to the mercy of god but herein lies the great problem man self-righteousness so first of all the greatest evidence that someone is truly christian is they have abandoned all hope in self all hope in their own righteousness if you and jesus got your own thing going you're going in the wrong direction without jesus because this is not about you and jesus this is about the perfect work of jesus christ on behalf of his people there's a young lady i know and she is a very very bears fruit a lovely young lady and she is always struggling with assurance and one thing i tell her is dear dear listen to me you have forgotten what i've told you there's only one hero in this story and it's jesus christ our elder brother who has triumphs where all of us have failed that is the christian message it is not ethics it is not morality christianity is not primarily a moral or an ethical religion it has a morality and it has an ethic that is the highest of the highest but that's not what it's about is that it is a redemptive religion we are saved not because of our work on behalf of god but god's work on behalf of us and even the smallest boast of self-righteousness and christianity is blasphemy and it's a perversion of the gospel now how goes it with you do you have assurance before god tonight because you're a good man raised in a christian home you don't do what others do you know not christ if you were to walk up to a genuine christian and begin to applaud them and say you know if anybody's going to heaven you are i mean you're you've done this and done this and done this you're such a good person you know what the christian would do would become so nauseous so as to vomit would scream out and stay away from me enough with this blasphemy don't associate it with my name i have one hope jesus christ died for sinners and i have thrown myself on him i have thrown myself on him that's christianity but now here's something else i want you to understand going back to first john john is telling us that he has written this letter so that we can compare our lives not to other believers not to other professors but we can compare our lives to the inerrant scripture and the holy spirit working through that scripture can give us assurance that we have truly come to know christ or possibly take away false assurance because our lives contradict our profession and we know that because our lives contradict the scriptures there are characteristics of a christian now how can i be so sure of this i must go into another doctrine and that is the doctrine of regeneration there is this one of the most beautiful doctrines in all the bible is the doctrine of regeneration it is described in modern vernacular also in john chapter 3 as being born again or being born from above but modern-day evangelicalism has reduced that down to nothing more than a human decision and you praying a prayer what you need to understand the person who believes in christ believes in christ because god has done a miraculous thing in them this is not hyperbole it's not metaphor and it's not poetry it's reality it's biblical fact they have become a new creature it is described in the old testament in this way that prior to come prior to the work of the spirit prior to the work of regeneration you had a heart of stone it was dead to god and alive to every wicked stimuli through the work of the holy spirit that heart of stone is turned into a heart of living flesh that can respond to god and will respond to god recreate it i was in a discussion with a group of theologians and they were talking about the the absolute the the infinite display of the power of god in the creation of the universe and of course i agree but then i said something i know a greater display of the power of god than even the creation of the universe ex nihilo out of nothing well what the recreation of a mass of fallen humanity the recreating supernatural work of the spirit of the living god paul says if anyone be in christ he is a new creature or a new creation there's some words added there for our english actually what it's saying if anyone in christ knew creation and yes it means that if if if the holy spirit has regenerated your heart you are really ontologically you are a new creature you're not the same person that you were you're a new creature recreated in righteousness you're a new creature and a new creature is going to live a different way let me give you an illustration i heard spurgeon mention this and i kind of elaborated it i'm from a farm raised cattle and quarter horses some of you may not get this but some of you will let's say i had a pig a big hog in the back of this auditorium and right here i had the finest food from paris and here bucket of garbage and i look at the guys that are holding that pig down and i say loose him and let him go where's he gonna go garbage why he's a pig that's what pigs do pigs love garbage by nature by nature do you see that by nature and what you need to understand when luther was talking about the bondage of the will what he was talking about is this your will is in bondage to your corrupt nature you're free to act but when you act it's always going to be in accordance with that nature that you have which is fallen so when you loose that pig he's going to come right here and eat garbage and he is going to be happy and he's going to be gobbling it down and he's not going to be ashamed but if i have the power in one second to change that pig into a man what's going to happen the very he's going to pull his head out of that bucket the very garbage that he was gobbling down he's going to throw it up why is he going to throw it up because a man can't eat that he has a new nature and not only that he's going to turn around he's going to see you and he's going to be ashamed of the very thing he once delighted in i just described your conversion if you're converted i just described your conversion and if you're offended at that then come see me afterwards and we'll talk about the possibility of you needing to be converted i just described your conversion a new nature produces new will new action and that's that's why john can write this that's why john can write this and he's just playing off what his master said you will know them by their fruits and so john sets forth under the inspiration of the holy spirit such wisdom in helping us discern have we truly come to know christ we're saved by faith alone but how do we know we truly believe what is the evidence of conversion well let's take a look let's start in john chapter 1. look at verse 5. this is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that god is light and in him there is no darkness at all if we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not practice the truth but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of jesus his son cleanses us from all sin now when we hear light in the bible we're really quick to associate that with holiness and righteousness there's nothing wrong with that that's in here but i believe there's something else going on remember who was attacking this church a group of people who would later become known as gnostics and one of their doctrines was god is esoteric he's dark he's hidden he's mysterious you can't know him unless unless you've been initiated into our group and so all these simple believers are standing there going are we even saved then i mean we don't have that and john comes back and this is what i believe saying john is saying that's a lie god is light and light also has a great reference in the in the gospel of john and i believe here to revelation and i believe that what john is saying no no no god's not dark god's not esoteric god's not hidden god has revealed to you through the apostolic teaching who he is and what he requires of thee in this sense john is saying god has revealed to us who he is his character and god has shown us his will so anyone who says they're a christian and yet they walk in a manner that contradicts what god has revealed in the scriptures about his nature and about his specific will they cannot have assurance of having come to know christ now we need to look at the word walk it's very important here present tense pretty pateo to walk around it's talking about style of life because some of you may be sitting there right now going well you know sometimes i do not live in conformity i do not walk in conformity to what i know about god or what i know about his will i still sin so what you need to understand here is john is not talking about perfectionism he's talking about a style of life an inclination of life before before i was a believer i didn't care to know about god's nature i didn't care to know about god's will if i somehow discovered that i was doing something against god's nature and god's will it was no big deal to me the moment i became a christian i began to want to know who is god i begin to want to know from the scriptures what does he require of me and the inclination of my life began to flow in that direction i wanted my life to conform to what the scriptures said about god's attributes and about god's will and when my life did not it left me unsettled it left me with a broken heart it left me mourning repentant and wanting to start again do you see that so let's say that you really didn't like me at all i don't know how that would be possible but let's just say that you really didn't like me at all and you wanted to prove to everyone that i wasn't a christian so you hid outside my house with a snapshot camera and one day it's late it's snowing i'm tired i haven't slept hardly that night and i walk out and the worst thing that could possibly happen there's a cat there i don't like cats and i kick the cat and at that moment you take the picture bam and you publish it everywhere on the internet that's what people do right publish it everywhere on the internet look paul washer's not saved and some of you theologians will debate well he did kick a cat and not a dog so there is possibility but that's not an accurate description is it of my life one photograph is not an accurate description of whether or not i'm a christian but if you come to my house and you live for a year and you have a video camera and 24 7 you're there now you're going to be able to see not one moment in my life but my style of life of seeking to be conformed to the nature of god the will of god and mourning and repenting when i fail you're going to see a different person you're going to set me beside an unbeliever and say there's really a difference here not perfection at all still needs to be greatly sanctified but something's happened to this man the inclination of his life has changed and it's obvious now let's go on to the second verse 8 if we say that we have no sin and we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us what is one of the greatest evidences that a person is a christian it's not that they're sinless but that they have a new relationship with sin it's like before sin and the unbeliever is walking arm and arm hand in hand in the in the same direction at conversion there's a change they may lock arms every once in a while but opposing directions it's a struggle it's a fight so one of the greatest evidences is a new relationship with sin but also along with that the result of what happens when we discover that we are in sin when the holy spirit reveals to us that we are in sin how we react to that is one of the great evidences whether or not we're converted the true believer acknowledges the true believer the true christian is the only person in the world that's not self-righteous because he is seeing his sin and not only seeing it he's confessing it now confession doesn't mean you go to bed at night and right before you fall asleep you say lord if i've sinned forgive me that's not confession confession homologo is to speak the same thing so if you're a believer you will be maybe reading the word or maybe some brother sister in christ may have to confront you but you begin to see your sin the closer you come to christ the more light of scripture you see the more you're going to see the real you let me give you an example let's say that i come home one day and my my my 13 year old daughter runs up to me and says hey dad can i do this can you talk to me can you go here can you take me here and i say look don't you understand i just got out of work and i am so tired why are you you know just give me a moment what's going to happen there's sin isn't there impatience self-centeredness selfishness what is confession it's not if i've sinned it's speaking the same thing all of a sudden through the word of god the spirit of god says you were impatient you hurt your daughter confession is lord i speak the same thing what you say about me at this moment is true i have sinned i was impatient with my daughter do you see forgive me and then go to your daughter oh and for you parents just so you know when you go to your child and say i was impatient with you and they look up at you and say oh don't worry about it dad stop them no no no no forgiveness is release i have sinned against you please forgive me and to teach your child that so that your daughter looks at you and goes yes dad you were impatient with me and you sinned seriously but forgive i forgive you and i love you you see speaking the same thing blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted you see the christian life is is really if we had time in mark it talks about you know the kingdom of god is at hand repent and believe the gospel both of those are present tense uh imperatives and and what he's saying now spend the rest of your life repenting and believing and so the christian life is this amazing it's almost like a paradox it's hard to describe because what happens as you begin to walk in the christian life your christian life is basically one of repentance and faith ongoing repentance and faith so as you're walking and growing in maturity and you're seeing more and more of god you're also seeing more and more of you which results in a deeper repentance a deeper sorrow and a deeper mourning but that mourning does not turn to despair it is not a repentance unto death why because the more light you see of god and the more you see your sin also the more you see the grace of god and the person of christ and you rejoice but what's amazing there's a transition now you're no longer rejoicing in how well you did but you're rejoicing in how great his salvation actually is blessed are those who mourn it's amazing i preach in a lot of churches and some of them not not very biblical and there have been times where i have preached and in the middle of the sermon or something people start weeping and then these people are weeping and then we don't practice this in our church but people have been taught to do this i guess they come forward they're crying i'm still preaching do you know what's one of the most amazing things i've noticed in these 30-some years of preaching and i asked the pastor usually it's usually the holiest godliest people in the church that come forward weeping and those who are stone cold carnal sit back there as though they had no sin at all and what are we seeing the division of the sheep and the goats the wisdom is amazing here after telling us that one of the evidences of true christianity of true conversion is that you walk in the light then he comes right back and says yes but we're not talking about perfection one of the greatest evidences also is the recognition of sin and living a life of repentance and confession because your nature has been changed let me give you another illustration so uh this illustration never happens in my house just so you know so this guy is late for work this guy he's late for work it's snowing outside papers are falling out of his briefcase and he's an unbeliever and he's getting ready to walk out as soon as he walks down walks gets ready to walk out his wife comes down the stairs she's got the big fluffy slippers on her hairs look like medusa and she screams at him take out the trash like i said that's i'm not describing my house i don't want another one of these and he turns around and he just tears into her tears into her says her slippers are ugly she looks like medusa everything and he storms out and he storms out and you know what he storms out absolutely totally justified in his own mind he's done nothing wrong nothing wrong six months later he's converted truly converted he's got six months of discipleship now six more months go by then one day it's snowing again and he's late for work and his papers are falling out of his briefcase and he's worried about the presentation he's got to give at his work and all these different things and right when he's getting ready to leave his wife who still hasn't progressed much in sanctification comes down with the big furry slippers again the hair i mean with the yeti look and she comes down and she says take out the trash and immediately turns around goes you take out the trash what's wrong with you your slippers your hair you're driving me crazy you say what's the difference the moment he does that it's like a knife went through his heart it's like a knife went through his heart and he knows he's in sin he knows it but maybe he bucks up storms out he gets in the car he's miserable he's miserable he goes to work he forces himself to go into the meeting and he's in there trying to pretend everything's okay and then finally he has to look at his boss and he says look i need to step out for a moment he gets on the phone he says please wife please forgive me why he's new creature and it may take longer he may buck up and buck up and buck up but god always wins that battle with his children and eventually he will come and say you say well doesn't it ever get but yes it gets better it does get better what i'm just trying to show you is this it's real he is a jealous god he takes control of our life now let's look at another it says here in chapter 2 verse 3 by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments the one who says i have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word in him the love of god has truly been perfected by this we know that we are in him now look verse 4 the one who says it's basically like this the one who says i've come to know him i've come to know him but john says but you don't keep his commandments you're a liar now this is john the beloved you're a liar now again we need great caution here we need to understand what this text is saying because a surgeon can take a scalpel and save a life and a fool can take the same scalpel and kill somebody that's the same way with these tests because we look at this and we're all painfully aware of our disobedience we're painfully aware of our struggles even the most pious among us but again what is john talking about he's talking about a new relationship a new style of life a new inclination before i was a christian i did not care to know the commandments of god i did not set forth effort to obey the commandments of god when i broke the commandments of god it didn't break me i even boasted in my ability to break commands greater than other men but when i became a christian what happened i wanted to know the commands of god i did i wanted to obey them when i broke them it hurt sorrow loss of joy shame but not repentance to despair or death because of the grace of god throwing ourselves once again on god's mercy in christ do you see yeah the true christian because i want to set this straight i don't want to overburden you he wants to know god's commands he wants to obey god's commands but also he laments the fact that he wants to know god's command so little he laments the fact that that he puts forth so little effort to obey i want to keep you away from the idea of perfectionism and i want you to see i think i'm describing many of you aren't i you lament the fact that you don't seek out the commandments enough but how many unbelievers walking around l.a right now are lamenting the fact that they don't seek god's commandments that much you see that something's happened to you you've become a new creature am i describing you or not now let's go on verse six the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walk now before i get that let me say this i want to i want to summarize something when someone comes to me and says i have a new relationship with god based on chapter one first thing i ask him is do you have a new relationship with sin because if you don't have a new relationship with sin you don't have a new relationship with god if your relationship with sin hasn't changed your relationship with god hasn't changed then someone says well i've come to know i have a new relationship with god do you have a new relationship with god's commands because if you don't have a new relationship with god's commands it's difficult to tell you have a new relationship with god and then i guess in verse 6 we're being asked the question who do you want to be like who do you want to be like it says the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked and you say to yourself well then we're all doomed who walks like jesus well again think about it the inclination of our life the desires of our heart and real and genuine progress it's called sanctification because one of the evidences of justification is sanctification now let me give you an illustration maya my father was well you know to every little boy their father is is the man you know he was bigger than life to me he was a big man strong and we would have these big snows and we would have to break ice to water the cattle break eyes sometimes we'd have to go in with big five gallon buckets and pull the water out and then take it to the horses and things like that and in my dad's world when you were old enough to walk you were old enough to work so i would you know i remember i mean from the time i was a little boy my dad every time he walked in my bedroom before the light of day and he would say paul boy get up no rest for the wicked that's what he would say to me every day amala paul boy get up no rest for the wicked okay and you you better be up before he gets to the next part or the discipline is going to come and my dad would be snow you know two feet deep and he'd have these big five gallon buckets and he'd dip them break the ice and dip them in there and pull it out and take off walking and he'd leave these big footprints and me i'm like maybe this much taller than the buckets i want to be just like my dad so i'd dip the buckets in fall in the water come out i would pick up the buckets like this and then you know what i would do i would uh i would try to put my foot in my dad's footsteps but his stride was so long mine was so short i mean i looked like a drunken spider going through the snow but if someone would have seen me from a distance they may would they may have laughed about my inability laughed about my failure but there's one thing they would have had to say that boy can't do it but it's obvious that boy wants to be like his dad it's so obvious that that boy wants to be like his dad when they look at you i know they're not going to see perfection they don't see perfection in me not even close but would they say man despite everything that that guy he wants to be like jesus and when he's not he admits it and even the unbeliever when they see you fail and you confess your failure even that will have an impact upon them now i want to go to one more test and then we'll be finished and this is so important verse 7 beloved i am not writing a new commandment to you but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning the old commandment is the word which you have heard on the other hand i am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining john what are you doing i mean john's like i'm not writing to you a new commandment but an old commandment but i am writing a new commandment not an old commandment well which is it it is a very difficult text but when you look at it in the light of the incarnation and the person of jesus christ and the cross event maybe this will be helpful god has always as brother grauman taught in the expositors god has always been love always been love and from the very beginning the commandment to love was there even in the law even in the book of deuteronomy love is not a new command it's an old command but the revelation of divine love through the incarnation and the cross work of jesus christ so excels the previous revelations that it is almost as though it's an entirely new command it is so profound that in christianity love is not a thing it's everything shall love the lord your god with all your heart soul mind and strength you shall love your neighbor as yourself it's love now here he talks about loving our brother now we're to love all men and women children created in the image of god but he's not talking about all men and women here he's specifically talking about believers that one of the greatest greatest evidences that you are truly christian that you have been converted that your heart has been regenerated is that you want to be with other believers i remember hearing a guy one time he goes i don't have a problem with christ but man i have problem with the church i don't want to have anything to do with the church i'm sorry that doesn't work now there is a problem in the united states because much of what is called the church is not the church and much of what is called christianity is not christianity and even in the true church there's going to be people who depart from the faith and they're going to be deceivers there's no perfection on this side of glorification but when a person is converted truly converted those types of complexities don't even enter into their mind i can remember making fun of believers and then i can remember being converted and all i wanted to do was go to church and to to go with people after church and to talk to people about christ and to hang out with people who knew christ young person let me let me ask you a question what are your friends like your friends love the world act of the world and have nothing to do with christ and those are the people you're drawn to you're drawn to them because you're like them not be deceived now i have friends who are unbelievers and things like that but what i want you to see is the passion of my heart is god's people i want to know god's people be with god's people meet god's people and it's not just natural affection this is also a work of the holy spirit i remember i had been converted and our church was having some kind of citywide campaign and i got the privilege to be able to set up chairs and all kinds of stuff and um i remember i'd never experienced anything like this before i'm setting up chairs and everything else and i had to go backstage to get something so i go backstage and it's kind of dark and i bumped into this guy and i could hear from his accent he was he was african and i didn't know he he was studying at the university and i was studying the universe and he was helping out with another church and i bumped into him we were same age and everything we talked about two or three minutes i would have died for him i would have died for him and i was like goodness this is real everybody today is fighting for their people i'm fighting for mine i've been fighting for mine for 35 years spent much of my life working with conrad and bayway to get churches planted all over africa because that's my people i've been working with sue hal michelan and the cubans and the peruvians and everything because that's my people we've been sending people into hell holes into papua and everywhere else in vietnam and cambodia and everything those people who are rotting in a jail cell in north korea that's my people the chinese pastors they're friends of mine that just got out of prison a few weeks ago they're my people i am so knit to them i am knit to them closer than anything that has to do with the flesh anything that's my people and that's the evidence the great evidence that i'm christian that i'm christian my people and oh they're beautiful to be with the aguadunas when they are beating el tambor in the middle of the jungle and singing to christ the redeemer to be with the russians covered in snow and they're singing to christ the redeemer to be in with the bimba language people in zambia or the losi people in the west near the zombies and they gather together it's my people it's my people the world can't create that no matter how hard it tries it can't create it politically socially anyway it is a work of the holy spirit there are my people and you and i if we're christian we will live for them we will die for them because there are people we will love all men if they invoke call upon the name of jesus christ with genuine faith that is my people justin peters and i have had the privilege over many many years to travel all over the world and i'm not trying to be emotional or anything i'm just telling you neither he or i are now a complete man because you leave pieces of you all over the world with those people you know think about the day think about the day think about it when that trumpet blows with god's people god's people come oh the beauty of it the garden that it will be that's what we live for now let me show you kind of what that means with an illustration and we'll close go to matthew chapter 25. verse 31 but when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him then he will sit on his glorious throne all the nations will be gathered before him he will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left then the king will say to those on his right come you who are blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for i was hungry and you gave me something to eat i was thirsty and you gave me something to drink i was a stranger and you invited me in naked and you clothed me i was sick and you visited me i was in prison and you came to me then the righteous will answer him lord when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink and when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothe you when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you and the king will answer and say to them truly i say to you to the extent that you did it to one of the least one of these brothers of mine even to the least of them you did it to me then of course you know the counterpart to this those who did not now this text possibly is the most misinterpreted abused text in the bible because it is used as a a proof text for social ministry for feeding all the poor in the world for going to prison for doing all these different things and i've i've been involved in prison ministries i have fed the poor and we need to do that but that's not what this text is talking about we need to do those things but that's not what this text he's not saying you went to prison to evangelize a murderer that's not what he's saying even though we should go to prison to evangelize murders what is he saying he says these brothers of mine now let me give you an illustration let's say that we are in late 1st century rome 2nd century and we're a group of persecuted christians and we're meeting out in the forest just outside of rome and we have a service but we always stay out there until dark and then we have a plan we all make our way back through different ways back into the city so that we're not noticed or things like that you go out there you worship you come in you go to bed and it's about four in the morning and you hear a knock on the door frantic you open up the door it's a deacon you say brother what what what's going on you you got to come back to the meeting place come back to the meeting place what happened i'll tell you just just get your clothes on come back and you go back and here's most of the believers gathered there out there in the woods what happened well two of our brethren when they were headed back into the city they were captured they were identified as christians they were thrown in the prison okay okay let's let's let's pray let's think what okay all of a sudden a young guy jumps up full of zeal brand new christian couple years full of zeal he said i'll go i'll go see what's going on as in many prisons around the world you get thrown in prison if someone from the outside doesn't help you you die they don't feed you in there they don't give you water in there now our brothers are beaten naked and in prison and so a young believer jumps up and says i'll go i'll take them whatever needs to be taken to them i'll go and an older man's two older men stand up and go no no no sit just calm down what you've got to realize is when we go those of us who go well we'll probably be identified also so we run the risk of death or imprisonment ourselves and then the two old men look at each other they look at the young man and they go look young man you've got many years we've lived long we will go and so all the people go okay i i'll go home and get get water i'll go home i've got some bandages i'll go home i've got some meal i'll mix i'll take flour i'll make some bread i'll do this what time do we meet back here and they're talking about what they should do each one of them willing to risk their life and then all of a sudden there's one group of about 12 people and they stand up and go this is ridiculous we didn't sign on for this all right we believe in jesus just like the rest of you but this is crazy we're not putting our lives in jeopardy for this they got caught it's their problem and they go home what have we just seen the division of the sheep and the goats the division of the sheep and the goats how much do you love god's people and let me share something for you church your church has had an impact around the world but that doesn't mean that you as an individual necessarily have been giving yourself fully to that many in your church have but have you let me share with you something to live your life for christ but let me say this add something to that to live your life for god's people to pray for them not just those here even though that's extremely important but to start thinking about prisoners in north korea start talking about evangelists in somalia start talking about this and this and the needs and the things you can give and the things you can do when your life is directed towards i live for god's people i want to tell you something it is like christmas every day it is like christmas every day just searching around what else can be done what else can be done our time is maybe so very short do you not see that but i'm getting distracted my main purpose here what i've said here tonight can you identify with it at all is it a reality in your life so many people think they're christians because one time they prayed a prayer and asked jesus christ to come into their heart and then a pastor who should have known better pulpishly declared them christian because they repeated a prayer that's not christianity christianity is not of works we've already settled that but christianity is a supernatural work of god that when you are saved he who began a good work and you will finish it he begins to change you transform you love you beat you discipline you encourage you he will not let you go am i describing your life if not then come to the leaders come to the elders and say you know what i've been kind of outside of this church i'm just new here i never really heard anything like that i mean nothing of what that preacher said really had anything to do with me i need to please contact someone here now let me pray for you father please please help your people in jesus name amen

Channel: Big Sam The Evangelist

Views: 134,691

Rating: 4.8854942 out of 5

Keywords: iMovie

Id: Q5TgKjwC_YE

Length: 64min 52sec (3892 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 23 2020