Atrophy in the Christian Life | Pastor Roger Jimenez (Fundamentalist Conference 2021)

you again for being here we appreciate you being here tonight we're there in revelation chapter number three and i'd like you to look down at verse number one revelation chapter number three and verse one the bible says and unto the angel of the church and sardis write these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of god and the seven stars i know thy works that thou has a name that thou livest and art dead be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for i have not found thy works perfect before god as we were preparing uh for this conference and coming and and and again thank you for inviting us and we're we're uh we're honored to be here tonight uh i i thought about two things first of all the theme of the conference the conference is called the fundamentalist conference and the bible uh i like the name of the conference because the bible emphasizes fundamentals and i am a fundamentalist and i'm not ashamed of it i'm not ashamed to say it the bible says if the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do and the fundamentals are really the foundation of our faith but then of course the conference this year has the theme of leveling up as a christian and i wanted to preach a sermon that kind of brought those two themes together and kind of tied them in and i'm preaching a sermon tonight and that might seem a little odd at first but i'm preaching on the subject of atrophy in the christian life atrophy in the christian life and you may or may not be familiar with that term atrophy let me just give you a definition the word atrophy is defined as a wasting away of the body as from defective nutrition or lack of exercising the body atrophy is a wasting away it is a decaying it is a dying of muscle and muscle tissue as a result of defective nutrition or a lack of exercise let me read for you just a little tiny excerpt here from what causes atrophy lack of physical activity due to an injury or illness poor nutrition and certain medical conditions can all contribute to muscle atrophy muscle atrophy can occur after long periods of inactivity if a muscle does not get any use the body will eventually break it down to conserve energy and atrophy physically is something that is usually dealt with in in the body when someone maybe because of medical reasons maybe because they're in a coma they lay in bed for a long time i just thought of this i didn't think about this but i probably should have talked to you a little bit about atrophy over soul winning this afternoon uh with the line of work that you do you're probably very familiar with atrophy atrophy in the muscles can be a problem if you if you lack nutrition if you lack exercise then uh then your body and your muscles can begin to deteriorate waste away can begin to really die and what i'm talking about tonight is not physical atrophy but it is about spiritual atrophy spiritual atrophy can happen like uh physical atrophy let me give you a few examples of that first of all we see an example about of atrophy in a church you're there in revelation three look down at verse number one again and until the angel of the church of sardis write these things say he that have the same spirits of god in the seven stars notice what jesus says and of course we know that in revelation chapter two in chapter three jesus is speaking to the seven churches of asia he's giving a message to each one of the churches and notice what jesus says to this church in sardis he says i know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead he said you have a reputation that you were alive but now you're dead but i want you to notice they're not completely dead because in verse two he says be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die what is that that spiritual atrophy did you know that a church could die i was speaking with pastor webb this afternoon we were out soul winning today fellowshipping together and he was telling me that there's a lot of churches in this area a lot of baptist churches that have died away they might have nice buildings and sometimes churches that are alive can capitalize from that and can can join together with those churches and and be able to bring some revival into those buildings and bring some life into those buildings but all throughout this area and i know all throughout the country you can find churches that are dying they're not bad churches they're not bad places but like physical atrophy spiritual atrophy can happen when we have a lack of exercise when we have defective nutrition here jesus says he says be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die he says for i have not found thy works perfect before god go with me if you would to the book of james james chapter number two if you're there in revelation and you head backwards you've got the books of jude third second and first john ii in first peter james revelation jude third second and first john ii first peter james james chapter number two james chapter two look at verse number 17. let me show you we saw in revelation 3 that atrophy can happen in a church let me show you that atrophy can happen in the christian life james chapter 2 and verse 17 notice what uh james says he says even so faith if they have not works notice is dead being alone this is atrophy did you know that your faith could die now often times people read this and they make assumptions of this passage and they assume things that are not there this does not say that you lose your salvation this does not say that you're no longer saved this does not say that you no longer have faith he says even so faith if it hath not works he doesn't say is non-existent he says is dead being alone he says yeah a man may say thou has faith and i have works show me thy faith without thy works and i will show you thy faith by my works we're gonna come back to that statement later on in the sermon in fact if you would i'd like you to put a ribbon or a bookmark or a bulletin or something there in james chapter 2 because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it later in the sermon and i'd like you to be able to get to it quickly but notice what he says in verse 19 i believe is that there is one god thou does well the devils also believe and tremble but without know o vain man that faith without works is dead he said your faith can die your faith can atrophy your faith can begin to die now i want you to notice in verse 26 for as the body he gives us analogy he says for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without words is dead also he here's what he's saying and again i want to be clear that the bible is not teaching here that you need works in order to be saved it's not teaching that you must have works in order to have faith which is what some people teach the bible does not teach that romans chapter 4 tells us that you can have faith and have no works and you're saved you can have faith with absolutely no works at all and still be saved in fact the analogy here he says for as the body is without the without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also and i just want to uh i'm not really preaching on on on that this this evening but i just want to make it clear because this is a passage that's often taken out of context he says look if the body is without the spirit he says is it alive and the answer is no when your body physically when the spirit leaves your body your body is no longer alive it is dead he says he says the body without the spirit is alive here's a question i have for you in case you're misinterpreting james chapter two is the body without the spirit does it still exist when somebody dies does it in their spirit leaves their body does their body just disappear there's a reason we have funerals why because we've got to do something with the body that is left over see a body without the spirit still exists and what james is saying he's saying the same way that a body is without the spirit is how faith is without work here's what he's saying faith without works is it alive the answer is no but does that mean that faith without works does not exist and the answer is no faith still exists even without without works romans chapter four you have to return i'll just read this for you the bible says for if abraham were justified by works he hath wear up to glory but not before god for what saith the scripture abraham believed god and it was accounted unto him for righteousness now to him that worketh is a reward not reckoned of grace but of debt verse 5 says but to him that worketh not notice it doesn't say to him that worketh a little bit to him that worketh some it says to him that worketh not this guy did no works but believeth he didn't do any works but he believed believeth on him that justified the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness so is it possible to have faith and not have works yes you say well what's the problem with having faith and not having works here's the problem is that you may have faith but your faith is dead what does that mean it means that your faith is inactive it's it's unprofitable it doesn't do anything it doesn't accomplish anything when you are alive you can work you can get up you can do things but when you die it doesn't mean you no longer existed it just means you're no longer active your faith can die churches can die there is a such thing as spiritual atrophy go be if you would to the book of hebrews hebrews chapter 5. if you kept your place there in james i'd like you to keep your place there just go backwards one book into the book of hebrews so how do we combat atrophy how do we fight it well uh pastor webb is is uh works in this right physical therapy is what he does in his secular work and what what does he do when when people uh have their bodies uh that that maybe they've been laying in a coma they've been laying in bed they've been bedridden someone needs to come in here come in there and begin to help people to exercise to to start moving that that that muscle start moving getting the blood flowing and getting it working well in the christian life is the same way look here's the point of the sermon you can die spiritually i didn't say you could lose your salvation but but i did say you can begin to atrophy you can begin to decay you can begin to waste away in fact in fact many do here in a couple of weeks at in in verdi baptist church in sacramento my wife and i will celebrate 11 years of ministry and over the last 11 years we've seen a lot of people come and we've seen a lot of people go and unfortunately we've seen a lot of people who were saved who believed in god who were born again and they were in it and they were with us and they were working and they were in church but they are no longer there i didn't say they lost their salvation but they they died spiritually they began to atrophy look your christian life in your christian life if you get a lack of nutrition and a lack of exercise you will die spiritually you can die spiritually and a church can die spiritually so what do you do you must exercise here's the interesting thing there are three things in the bible as far as i can tell and maybe there's more and i missed one but there's three things that god tells us we must exercise as a christian i want to give you those three thoughts tonight three things to exercise in order to not have atrophy in the christian life if you're taking notes i encourage you to maybe jot these things down hebrews chapter 5. look down at verse number 12. notice what the bible says for when the time hear the writer of hebrews we don't know who the writer of hebrews is it is an anonymous book i believe it's the apostle paul but i may be wrong about that here the writer of hebrews says for when the time he's talking to believers he says for when the time ye ought to be teachers he's speaking in a negative term here he's saying you should be further along than you actually are he's saying you should be more mature than you actually are you should be more profitable than you actually are he says for when the time he ought to be teachers he says ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of god and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat what does that mean when he says there that you become such as ones that have need of milk and not of strong meat the idea there is that you are immature he said you're you're you're a baby in christ and again physically what when a baby is born or babies brought into this world we don't just a baby don't just come out and we just start you know give it a hamburger and give it a steak right uh that baby's gonna choke the baby is not mature enough to be able to handle strong meat what do you give a baby you give a baby milk why because that's all baby can can uh can can take now there's nothing wrong with drinking milk if you're a baby there's nothing wrong with being a baby we all started off as babies i mean you started physically as a baby and by the way you started spiritually as a baby when you got saved you were born again into the family of god nothing wrong in the world with being a baby if you're a baby there is something wrong with being a baby when you're no longer a baby there is something wrong with acting like a baby when you're now a toddler acting like a baby when you're now a young child acting like a baby when you're now an older child acting like a baby when you're a preteen acting like a baby when you should be when you're a teenager acting like a baby when you're a young man or a young lady there's not there's something wrong with acting like a baby number one acting like a baby when you are a baby but when you've grown you should get off the milk and start taking some strong meat and here paul paul says or the writer of hebrews he says for when the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracle of god and i become such as that need of milk and not of strong meat now here's what he's saying he's saying you have not matured spiritually because here's what you need to understand spiritual maturity has nothing to do with time oftentimes we look at the maturity physically and we and we obviously base it off of time a child is one year old or two years old they're five years old or 13 years old or 20 years old maturity has nothing to do with time you could be very old physically and be a babe in christ maybe you just got saved but you could also have been saved for a long time and not grown just because you've been saved for a long time doesn't mean you're mature because spiritual maturity has to do with how much exercise you've put into your spiritual growth for everyone that uses milk notice verse 13 is unskillful you see we're done skillful there means you don't have the skills why because you don't you because you haven't put in the practice i i haven't had a chance to listen to pastor thompson's sermon from last night yet but from what i've gathered from the sermon is that he taught everybody how to play video games i guess what it seems like i don't know anything about video games i didn't grow up playing video games my parents didn't let us have video games when we were growing up part of it was because we were christians part of it was because they were cheap but we didn't we didn't have those video games here's what i tell you uh if i played pastor thompson and you know mario kart or whatever uh he'd probably win why because i'm unskillful never done that haven't haven't spent a lot of time doing it and here here paul says for everyone that uses milk is unskillful here's what he's saying now again what does it mean to drink milk versus uh having strong meat here's the major difference a baby gets fed a baby gets fed how do you know when you're not a baby anymore when you start feeding yourself i mean when a baby when a baby has to be fed it has the inability to feed itself and if it's not fed if there's not a mother there to care for the baby the baby will die how do we know that a baby is growing and maturing when they no longer need to be fed and that baby now starts picking up a fork and starts picking up a spoon and starts trying to stab at those uh vegetables and start trying to guide it into its mouth that's that shows us there's some maturity there that shows us that it's growing uh there's some growth there well guess what in the spiritual life spiritual maturity you say pastor how can i know if i am growing spiritually here's a question i have for you when it comes to being fed spiritually when it comes to being nourished spiritually from the word of god are you the type of christian that only gets fed the word of god if there's a pastor feeding it to you now there's nothing wrong with that there's a place for that it's called church god has given you a pastor to open up the word of god and take the word of god and feed you the word of god nothing in the world wrong with that and nothing in the world wrong with that if you're a brand new christian but let me tell you something there comes a time in the christian life where you need to pick up the word of god and start feeding yourself he says for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is obeying notice verse 14 but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age they're mature even those who by no don't diminish this in fact maybe you ought to underline these words in your bible even those who by notice these three words reason of use have their notice senses exercise you say what does god say that we must exercise because remember in the christian life you may atrophy in the christian life you can die if you don't begin to get some nutrition and you don't begin to exercise your spiritual muscles what are the muscles that we should exercise number one you must exercise your senses the bible says but strong meat belonging to them that are full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised senses exercise the bible says that you must exercise your senses you say what does that mean exactly to exercise my senses well notice he describes it for us there he says even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil we see what the exercising of your sentences is and we see how to exercise your sentences you say what is the exercising of your senses it is when you are able to discern both good and evil you say how do i do that when you by reason of use when you grab your king james bible and you begin to become skillful in the word of god you say how do i become skillful in the word of god you become skillful in the word of god the same way you become skillful than anything else you want to get good at video games which i don't recommend play a lot of video games you want to get good at table tennis then play a lot of table tennis you want to get good at any you want to get good if there's anything you want to get good at just start doing it start doing a lot of it the bible says that if you want to get good at the word of god you need to open up the word of god begin to open it begin to read it begin to use it and by reason of use you'll exercise your senses and you say well how do i know if it's working you'll begin to be to discern both good and evil what does that mean it means your mind will begin to understand from the word of god what's right and what's not right what you should and what you should not do keep your place in in the book of james go with me the book of romans if you would romans chapter number 12. romans chapter 12. see when you first got saved when you were a baby you started coming to church like this or maybe you started listening to preaching like this on the internet or whatever and you begin and you said things like this wow i've never heard that before i didn't know that was in the bible and sometimes i'm not picking on you sometimes the things we say we don't know we're in the bible i mean it's kind of embarrassing i didn't know the bible said you're not supposed to get drunk i didn't know that i didn't know and look i'm not picking on you and if you're here tonight you know our church in sacramento we've got people filled with tattoos all up and down they show up in our church i didn't know i didn't know the bible said you weren't supposed to get tattoos well here's why you didn't know it and i'm not mad at you in fact i i like the fact that we got a church filled with tattoos why because it shows that we're reaching people it shows that we're not just transferring people you know we're and i'm not against transforming people either but we're trying to reach people in our community here's all i'm saying is there's all sorts of things that you didn't know when you first got saved when you first started coming to a church like this and you say i didn't know we were supposed to run our marriage that way i didn't know we were supposed to raise our children that way i didn't know i wasn't supposed to drink that or snort that or take that or watch that or go there or say i didn't know those things and that's understandable you were a baby but as you grow and as you begin to exercise your senses you begin to discern both good and evil you begin to realize well that's not i'm not supposed to say that i'm not supposed to go there i'm not supposed to think that way see the bible says that as we mature we're supposed to have our minds renewed romans chapter 12 are you there look at verse 1 romans chapter 12 and verse 1 i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your body as a living sacrifice holy acceptable to god which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world notice but be transformed how can you be transformed here's how by the renewing of your mind oftentimes in sacramento we get accused of being a cult people come to our church they get saved they get baptized they start growing we start discipling them they start growing you know just a matter of time before they show my family says i'm in a cult and i'm like join the club what they that's what they all say everybody says that my my my family says i'm being brainwashed and my my response is always this your brain needs to be washed you you they say uh that you're you you know you're i'm gonna call i mean brainwashed yeah well here's how the bible calls it the renewing of your mind your mind needs to be renewed the world look the world tells you all sorts of craziness and everything the world tells you is wrong the world says oh no no in a marriage there's no husband that is a leader and wife that's submissive no that's antiquated you know it's a 50 50 split you're both in charge you both make choices well here's the thing that's fine and dandy that the world tells you that but the world's also uh having divorce rate at 60 percent the world's also unhappy in their marriages your mind needs to be renewed you need to be renewed on what the bible says about marriage what the bible says about health what the bible says about finances what the bible says about child read you need to be renewed in those things and god says god says i want you to exercise your senses i want you to get in the word of god and read the word of god why that your mind may be renewed go to ephesians chapter 4 ephesians chapter 4 if you would look at verse 23 ephesians 4 and verse 23 you exercise your senses by reading and studying the bible reading and studying the bible you say what's the point of reading sun bible is it just so that i can check off some chart somewhere and say that i finished it that's not the point now we'll use those things to track our reading and we'll use those things to motivate you for reading but that's not the point of reading the bible you say what's the point of reading the bible well the first point is so that you can know what the bible says and it can begin to transform your mind begin to transform the way you think begin to transform the way you see the world see there are some simple things that we can teach you and and don't go there don't do this don't go but honestly there are other things in the christian life that they kind of start getting into that area where maybe the bible doesn't specifically speak to that issue there have been times in in my life you know my wife and i uh sometimes as a pastor and a pastor's wife maybe people and they're kind and their hearts in the right place they'll give us a gift card to a restaurant or something there's been times when somebody gave us a gift card to a restaurant we said oh sure let's go there on a date night or whatever and we walk into the restaurant and just immediately we're just kind of like uh i don't think this is where we should be and it's not that the people that gave us a gift card or bad people whatever but you know it's dark and it's loud and there's screens everywhere and it's just and and that's not really a a thou shalt and a thou shalt not that you can teach a christian that's just something that you kind of by reason of use begin to exercise your senses and you begin to realize no this is probably not a place for us let's just let's just order this to go this is probably not somewhere we should be sometimes you know it's hard to dial it in and it's hard to teach a young person you know there's certain conversations you shouldn't have well should i is it okay if we talk about this or we okay we talk about that and sometimes it's harder sometimes you just have to tell people hey you just have to exercise your senses by reason of use and be entombed to the holy spirit of god enough to where sometimes you just kind of know hey we're going in a direction we shouldn't be going right we're we're we're starting to talk about things starting to get comfortable with some things that we shouldn't be talking about as you exercise your senses by reading and studying the bible your mind begins to get cleaned up you begin to think differently you begin to see the world differently you're there in ephesians 4 look at verse 23 notice what the bible says and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that's why i don't apologize you're brainwashing people yeah we want them to be renewed in the spirit of their mind we want them to be transformed by the renewing of their mind and i want you to notice in ephesians chapter 4 verses 22 23 and 24 we actually get a three-step process let me just tell you right now because we were going to say you're in a cold or brainwashing you well now you have a place to take them ephesians chapter number 4 verses 22 23 and 24 you actually have a three-step process for properly brainwashing new cult members i mean look at what he says look at verse 22 that you put off he uses this analogy of putting clothes on and putting clothes off he says that you put off we got step one what is it step one is remove step one remove if you're if you're a man here tonight i want you to say that word with me remove that was weak you want me to have the ladies do it okay but if you're a man tonight stay with me step one remove all right let's say it in unison all right remove good step one remove notice that you put off what are you supposed to put off what are you supposed to remove that you remove that you put off notice concerning the former conversation the word conversation means conduct or behavior or lifestyle he says you used to have a former life you used to have a former conversation a former conduct a former behavior there were things that you used to do there were places you used to go there was ways you used to think there were ways you would you used to resolve your conflict there was ways you used to treat your children there were ways you used to treat your wife or used to treat your uh husband he said that you put on off concerning the former conversation the old man you say why which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust sometimes people show up to church because their life's not working sometimes people show up to church because their marriage is falling apart sometimes people show up to church because things aren't going well sometimes people start searching on on youtube and they start searching for preaching why because they know that it's just there's not it's not right there's just something's wrong here this is not how it was supposed to be and god says yes exactly in fact i need you to step one remove remove concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful loss notice step 2 verse 23 and be renewed here's step two renew let's say let's say that together guys renew step one remove step two renew and be renewed in the spirit of your mind notice verse three uh step three verse 24 and that ye put on here's step three replace what step one remove let's say remove step one remove step two renew step three replace and that you put on the new man which after god is created in righteousness and true holiness you know what god wants you to do god wants you to remove some things from your life he wants you to renew your mind through the exercise of the word of god and he wants you to replace those things with some new things and people look at that and say you're in a cult see they didn't mind that you suspend they didn't mind when you spent friday night and sunday night at the bar and all you're doing is you're saying there were some things that i used to do in my former conversation i'm going to put off i'm going to remove those things because i've been reading the bible and i've been renewing my mind and now i'm going to replace the bar with the house of god see the bird tells you you know sometimes it's nice to go where everybody knows your name well you know what there's somewhere you can go everybody knows your name it's called the house of god and it won't destroy your life it won't ruin your life that you put off concerning the former conversation the old man and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which after god is created in righteousness and true holy how does this happen it happens because you exercise your senses you exercise by reason of use have your senses exercised to discern both good and evil how do you keep from dying in the christian life how do you keep from atrophy in the christian life go to the book of second timothy if you would second timothy chapter two if you find all the t books in the new testament they're all clustered together first second thessalonians first second timothy titus ii timothy chapter two how do you do this in the christian life you must exercise you must exercise your senses you must exercise your descent senses to discern both good and evil how do you do it by reason of use don't answer this question out loud but let me just ask you how's your bible reading how's your bible reading do you have a time set aside where you read the bible where you by reason of use begin to mature and you open up the bible let me ask you something and don't ask her out loud i'm not trying to pick on you i'm just trying to help you out is there a time on monday when you have that you have set aside where you get alone and you pick up your king james bible and you open it up and you begin to read it is there a time on tuesday is there a time on wednesday is there a time on thursday and friday and saturday or is the only time that you ever get the word of god when you come to a place like this and you have a man of god preach the word of god to nothing wrong with that but if that's the case if the only time you get spiritual nourishment is when someone is feeding you i'm excuse me i'm not trying to offend you but you're a babe you're a babe in christ and i'm trying to encourage you you say pastor mattis did you really come all the way from sacramento all the way to cincinnati ohio to teach us about bible reading yes it's called the fundamentalist conference that's pretty that's pretty foundational yeah it's pretty fundamental in fact it'll keep you alive it'll keep your life spiritually it'll keep you your faith from dying spiritually it'll keep you going listen to me and i'm not i just want you to understand this there are two types of christians in this world the ones who read the bible and the ones who don't which one are you you have to exercise your faith or it will die how do you do that pick up the word of god and read it why don't we do it here's why we don't read the bible because it's a lot of work second timothy 2 15 are you there second timothy 2 15. study to show thyself approved unto god uh notice this word work men that need is not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word truth you're not studying the word of god is a lot of work you don't know it ask pastor thompson you don't believe it ask pastor webb you don't believe it ask deacon oliver you don't believe it i just ask any preacher whose job is to get up and preach the word of god you know what they'll tell you people say to me oh you're a preacher oh all you do is uh is preach three times a week i always kind of chuckle well no that's not all i do but i'd like to see you get up and preach three times a week for 11 years and see how you do it's a lot of work study to show myself approved unto god a workman that needed not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth we must exercise our senses number two you're there in second timothy go to first timothy chapter four first timothy chapter four number one i said you must exercise your senses number two you must exercise godliness you're there in first timothy chapter four like verse seven first timothy four and verse seven but refuse profane and old wise fables now i understand that the context of this passage is primarily to ladies but that's not uh the only way in in which it can be taken and i want you to see it excuse me not not this one first to me two nine is for the ladies i'll i'll show you that in a second but look at verse seven but refuse to prevent an old wives fables and notice the words exercise thyself rather unto godliness notice that god says that we must exercise ourselves unto godliness and he's using this compare and contrast notice verse eight he says four the word four means because he said why should i exercise myself rather into godliness here's why because for bodily exercise profit is little now some of us like that you know that's our life verse he's not saying there's anything wrong with bodily exercise he's just saying this bodily exercise profits little in comparison to exercising thyself rather under godliness you say why here's why but godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to cut you know that being godly will help you in this life and in the life to come it'll help you in this world and it'll help you earn rewards in the next god says that we must exercise ourselves rather unto godliness well what does that look like how do we do that how do we exercise in godliness go to first timothy chapter two this is the one i meant to tell you that the context is primarily for the ladies but it can be applied to everyone first timothy chapter two look at verse nine you're there in first timothy four just flip over to first timmy chapter two verse nine first time two nine says in like manner also that women adorn themselves and modest apparel with shame facing is a sobriety not with broided hair gold or pearls or costume ray but which may come with women professing godliness he says i want women to profess godliness now remember we saw in first time before eight that we should exercise ourselves rather unto godliness because bodily exercise profit is little but godliness is profitable to all things here he says which becometh women professing godliness you say how do we do that notice with good works you say how do i exercise godliness here's how you exercise godliness with good works go to ephesians if you would ephesians chapter two ephesians chapter two i'm not sure if i had you turn to ephesians earlier or not but i'd like you to keep your place there in ephesians i did for ephesians 4. i meant to tell you to keep your place there ephesians chapter 2. we must exercise godliness with good works in fact the the root word of the word good comes from the same uh word as as god god is good when we do good we are being godly we are being like god how do we profess godliness how do we exercise godliness we do it with good works and again i've already talked about this a little bit at the beginning of the sermon but let me just make sure that we're clear on this we're not saved by works we understand that salvation is not of works ephesians 2 look at verse 8 for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god the the word saved there is referring to being saved from hell the word that is referring to being saved he says you're saved by grace through faith he says and that the word that going back i know calvinists get confused on this the word that's not going back to faith you know it's not faith that you're getting you're getting saved and that not of yourselves you don't save yourself i don't save myself why not here's why because it salvation is the gift of god not of works unless any man should boast we are not saved by works ephesians 2 8 and 9 probably the most clear verses in scripture that teach us that we're not saved by works however verse 10 tells us this though we are not saved by works we are saved to work look at verse 10 we are his workmanship created in christ in christ jesus unto good works which god has before ordained that we should walk in them do you know that you were saved to do good works you were saved to live a life that produced good works you say why here's why because your testimony is connected to your works go back to james james chapter 2. did you keep your place there james chapter two remember what i say by works and you can have faith and not have works but you know what you cannot have you say can i be saved and not have works yes can i have faith and not have works yes can i have a good testimony and not have works no so what do i need my my works for for your testimony for your testimony on this earth james 2 18. notice what it says yea a man may say not god may say a man may say what what what what what a man what may a man a human a person say about you yea a man may say thou has faith and i have works do you get do you understand the context we walk around we walk around telling people hey salvation is a free gift it's not of works you have to earn it you don't have to do anything and and and the problem is the problem is not that we're teaching people that salvation is not of works but problem is that oftentimes we when we are preaching people and telling people that salvation is not of works that you don't have to earn it that you don't have to work for it and all that is true yet when we live like the devil the religious catholic the religious mormon the religious whatever they say thou has faith and i have works show me thy faith without thy words and i will show thee my faith by my works this is the context of faith without works is dead go to matthew chapter five matthew first book in the new testament should be fairly easy to find matthew chapter number five matthew chapter number five see we must exercise our sentences how do we do that we do that by reading the word of god we do that by having our minds renewed through the word of god we do that by discerning both good and evil but we must also exercise godliness how do we do that godliness has to do with our works professing godliness with good works godliness is is uh dependent on how we live our lives matthew 5 verse 16 notice what the bible says let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven now matthew 5 16 is a verse that is often misused misused by the liberals the liberals will say we don't have to go door knocking we don't have to go soul winning we just live live a life of christianity and then people you know let your light so shine before men and they'll see our good works and glorify your father which is in heaven and they say you know just live a good life and that's all we got to do the bible doesn't say that paul said that i may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel god teaches us to go he says go you therefore into all the world and preach the gospel go into all the nations we're supposed to go we're supposed to be on the offense we're supposed to confront people with the gospel i'm not for lifestyle evangelism i'm for you go open your mouth and preach the gospel evangelism that's the only type of evangelism the bible teaches you say well what about matthew 5 16. here's the thing i'm not foreign lifestyle evangelist i am for a lifestyle that matches your evangelism i am for you living your life right enduring right you say why should i live a life of good works let your light shall shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven what kind of testimony do you have before the unbelieving world what kind of testimony do you have around your neighbors around your co-workers around your family here's a question for you if you were put on trial for being a christian would there be enough evidence to convict you i always think it's funny how people are all worried about the tribulation and i'm all for the you know end times prophecy and teaching on enzymes prophecy we're always worried about the tribulation the tribulations are going to come and they're going to arrest us they're going to put us on trial for being a christian and they're going to listen some of you don't have nothing to worry about there's not enough evidence to convict you no one's coming after you the way you live your life nobody's suspecting you the neigh the neighbors are gonna turn all said well here's the problem you got to actually live a godly life for your neighbors to suspect you to be a christian when the same music comes out of your house that comes out of their house when the same fighting comes out of your house that comes out of their house when the same uh words come out of your house and it comes out of their house then you've got nothing to worry about the bible says that we're supposed to live our lives in such a way that the world takes notice my wife and i in june will be celebrating i need to get this right luckily you guys aren't live streaming so we can edit this out i want to say it's 18 years i think we just celebrated 17 years 18 years of marriage when my wife first got saved i had the wonderful privilege of getting my wife saved we weren't married just you know and we were teenagers working at subway and i got her saved and later on we dated and got married when my wife first got saved you all know what her family said they said you're nicole they said you're being brainwashed they said all sorts of things they thought all sorts of weird things about us and and i've got a nice mother-in-law and i love my mother-in-law and she she loves me and all those things but you know i will say this at first my mother-in-law was very suspicious about what what's what's her daughter getting into and what are these things you know what's all these things going on you know and and she was very suspicious and of course my wife through the years she got her mom saved and she got all her siblings saved and she's gotten all her extended family saved over the years but let me tell you something you know who won my mother-in-law over to kind of our way of thinking i'm not saying she's a baptist like we're a baptist but she's no longer hostile towards it in fact she's for us she's for us she's for our church she's for our preaching she she knows all the radical things that i teach and preach she's four you say how was she won over you know how she was won over by the grandchildren now it wasn't because she just loves her grandchildren although she loves her grandchildren but it was because of this in fact my mother-in-law comes over maybe every friday she comes over and spends time with the with the kids and and with the grandkids and she tries to make sure she has a good relation with them and and every time she comes over if she gets a chance to talk with me if i'm there she always she always says something to me along these lines you're doing it right you know when when when she first got when she first got uh uh i learned about christianity and independent fundamental baptists and king games only and all these things she thought you guys are nicole you guys are kind of weird you're going out there she used to call it soul searching like no no soul winning you're like you're gonna go out there zoro searching well we're kind of soul searching i get you know and yeah yeah sure we'll call it that and and she thought it was all odd and she thought it was all weird but you know after uh some years have gone by and after 18 years have gone by and and some time has gone by and she's seen her kids establish families and her kids raise other grandchildren and she's had time to watch how some of her other grandchildren maybe are being raised now our grandchildren are being raised and she's kind of looked around and seen around eventually she says i still think you guys are kind of crazy maybe i still think you're kind of cuckoo maybe i still think you're a little odd but i will say this whatever you're doing it's working this is what the bible says when it means let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven here's all i'm saying is that you you should be the best employer job you should be the best worker at your job look at the workers in the bible look at joseph look at daniel look at shadrach look at me shaq look at the band and go look at mordecai look at esther whenever god's people were put into a secular environment they were always the best workers what does your testimony say about your christian life what does your testimony say look here's all i'm saying i'm not saying to be a teacher's pet i'm not saying all those things but i'm just saying everybody else shows up late for work you ought not show up late for work but everybody else does it the boss doesn't mind but here's the thing you're supposed to work as unto the lord you're not working for the boss with eye service as men pleasers you're working for god you got to be honest you got to show up on time you got to uh uh uh take your breaks properly you are not steal from the boss you are not saying that you did a certain amount of work when you didn't do that you got to take uh things from home from the office here's all i'm saying in your job in your neighborhood in your life people ought to say that guy's crazy you know what your boss had to say about you that guy's crazy that guy's weird he believes some weird things about the lgbt he wears some weird t-shirts all the time with all sorts of sayings about soul searching and so when he believes he's an odd guy but i would hire every friend he's got because he's that good because they may see our good works and glorify our it's not about them glorifying you it's about glorifying our father which is in heaven you need to exercise you need to exercise godliness how do you do it how do you do it go to matthew chapter 7. you're there in matthew 5 flip over to matthew chapter 7. chapter 7 look at verse 24. matthew chapter 7 and verse 24. i want you to notice that in matthew chapter 7 we have the ending of one of the most famous sermons in the entire bible it's called the sermon on the mount it's probably the most famous sermon in the entire bible it's a sermon that jesus preached it begins in matthew chapter 5 and ends in matthew matthew chapter 7. it has the most famous introduction to any sermon ever the introduction to the sermon on the mount is a little passage you may be familiar with called the beatitudes you know jesus a good preacher when his introduction goes down in history as one of the greatest passages in scripture we preach whole series out of the introduction of the lord jesus christ the beatitudes then he preaches the sermon in the sermon on the mount it's really all about the christian life the christian life in action how to live the christian life and he's very practical gives a lot of application then he ends his most famous sermon and the probably the most famous sermon in the entire bible he ends it he concludes it with a very famous parable notice what he says in matthew 7 24 therefore this is how jesus concludes this sermon he was a master teacher he says therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine now keep in mind he just got done preaching a sermon he's talking to a crowd who he's literally just preached to and he's now saying to that cloud he says in conclusion whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and do with them i will liken him unto a wise man that built his house upon the rock brother oliver this morning talked about applying the word of god and applying the preaching of the word of god and i would commit to you this morning this evening excuse me that the the purpose of coming to a place like this to hear the preaching of the word of god is not that you might hear good preaching is that you might hear it and you might do it apply it jesus said i will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock notice 25 and the rain descended the floods came the wind blew and beat upon the house now i want you to notice and i won't have you turn there but in the parallel passage in luke chapter 6 and verse 48 you have to turn there let me just read this for you when jesus gives the same parable he says he is like unto a man which built his house upon which built in house and dig deep and laid the foundation of the rock and he uses his word when when the flood arose when the stream beat vehemently upon the house and could not shake it for it was founded upon iraq i want you to notice that jesus said he's giving this parable and he says he says anyone that hears these sayings and do with them he says let me tell you what i think about them i would liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon the house but in luke he said he says when the rain descended see here's the thing in life there's going to be storms that come into your life just know that just take that down as a guarantee there are storms that will come into your life it's not if it's when right it's going to happen i often tell our church family back home i tell them look the christian life just get used to it the christian life is this you're either in a storm you're coming out of a storm or you're going into a storm but the christian life is a life of storms the wind will blow the rain will descend the floods will come notice verse 25 and be upon the house the house is a picture of your life and god jesus says that the the rain descended upon that house and the floods came upon that house and the wind blew upon that house and it beat upon the house that is verse 25 and it fell not why for it was founded upon a rock now we know that jesus is the rock we know that jesus is the word and jesus said if you hear these sayings of mine and you do them that's how you get founded upon the rock of the word of god verse 26 and everyone that heareth these sayings of mine here's the other crowd and do with them not they show up to church on sunday morning they show up to church on sunday night they show up to church on wednesday night they hear the sermon they know the stories they know what the bible says but they don't apply it shall be likened unto a foolish man he says you know you know what a fool does a fool shows up to uh bible believing baptist church has a man of god open up the king james bible the word of god and teach them what they should do and then goes out and doesn't do it that's what a fool does so i don't think you should you should call me that i didn't jesus did right likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand notice the rain descended the floods came the winds blew and beat upon the house notice these words and it fell you had to underline these words and great was the fall of it oftentimes over the last 11 years of ministry my wife and i have noticed that sometimes things happen in people's lives storms come it's not if it's when they're coming you don't know what that storm may be but i don't know what that storm is but i know this it's coming it may be your health it may be your marriage it may be your finances it may be your children it may be some heartbreak it may be some issue that you're going through some struggle that you're going through the rain will come the floods will come the wind will blow it'll blow upon that house and sometimes people atrophy they die they're not there and you talk to people and you talk to people and and you say what happened to brother so-and-so what happened to sozo and you'll say well they had problems in their marriage or remember they had that problem with their child or remember they they lost their job or they they they lost this or they lost fat or they had a health issue and it was just too much and they and the trial took them out of the christian life but let me tell you something the trial did not the storm did not get you out of the christian life the storm does not take you out of the christian life the storm only reveals what's already there the storm only reveals the foundation that you've already laid because when you hear the word of god and you don't do it you fail to apply it you don't do the good works you atrophy you die and it's only a matter of time before the big bad wolf comes and huffs and puffs and blows that house down we have to do we have to apply you came to a conference and i appreciate you coming we appreciate you coming you came to a conference i hope to hear some good preaching i commend you for that but you know what would be better than coming to a conference to hear good preaching would be coming to a conference to hear and to apply to hear and to do so you've heard as i'm preaching on on bible reading you know what you ought to do tomorrow morning you got to get up and read your bible you've heard some preaching on on church attendance you know what you ought to do you got to be faithful in the house of god on sunday you got to be here in the house of god on sunday you got to be in the house of god whatever that house is for you wherever you live you ought to be in church don't say well uh you know we went to uh cincinnati and uh we're kind of tired and we were there on on thursday night and we were there on friday morning we're there on friday night we got enough preaching i think we can skip out on church no that means you came to a conference like this and you heard and you you didn't do just say i'm going to go to the church of uh to the house of god i'm going to be faithful to to the house of god let me tell you something if you live within the driving distance of of this location this is the church you ought to be going to y'all be coming to this church why because it's not enough look you need to exercise your senses you need to know what this book says you need to read the bible have it renew your mind understand what it is that god wants you to do with your life but then you actually need to do it you must exercise your senses then you must exercise godly let me give you a third one we'll finish up to not atrophy in the christian life you must exercise your conscience notice acts chapter 24 acts chapter 24 matthew mark luke john acts we're going to go back to matthew here in a minute just so you know that acts chapter 24 look at verse 16. acts chapter 24 and verse 16. notice what the bible says knows what the apostle paul says and herein do i here's our key word exercise we've been talking about different things you need to exercise what do you need to exercise you need to exercise your conscience what do you need to exercise you need to exercise uh your senses what do you need to exercise you need to exercise your godliness he says and herein do i exercise myself paul says how do you exercise yourself paul here's how he says to have always a conscience void of offense toward god and toward men you need to exercise your conscience keep your place there in acts we're going to come back to it go go to matthew chapter 22. let me explain something to you about the christian life the christian life always has two connections if you're going to be right with god there are two areas of relationship that you have to be concerned with paul brought it up in acts 24 16 he says he says and here and do i exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward god and toward men in matthew 22 and verse 35 the bible says this then one of them which was a lawyer asked him a question tempting him and saying master which is the great commandment in the law jesus was asked a very specific question what is the great commandment and jesus said well here's the thing in order to answer for you the question i have to give you a two-part answer he says in verse 37 jesus said unto him thou shalt love the lord thy god he said you all know what the great commandment is thou shalt love the lord thy god with all my heart with all my soul with all my mind this is the first great commandment but then jesus says but that's not enough see there are two thoughts that go together he says he says and the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself on these two commandments hank all the law and the prophecy the bible always concerns itself with our relationship in two directions one is vertical our relationship with god the other one is horizontal our relationship with men you cannot separate the two here's the point you can't be right with god while being wrong with man you can't be right with man while being wrong with god to be right with god you must be right with men you must love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and you must also love your neighbor as yourself they're connected you don't have to turn here let me just read this for you first john 4 20 the bible says if a man say i love god and hateth his brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen how can he love god whom he hath not seen and this commandment have we from him that thou that he who loveth god loveth his brothers see our concern as christians must always be this our relationship with god and our relationship with men our relationship in a direction that is uh vertical and a direction which is horizontal we must be right with god psalm 139 says this search me o god and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting see god does not want us to read the bible so that we can learn something that we can beat over the head someone with god does not want us to do good works so that we can become pharisaical and begin to say well see how much better i am than this person or that person god wants us to read the bible and put the bible into practice so that we might say search me o god and know my heart try me know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me you know what god wants god wants you to be right with him god wants you to live right and to do right not because i'm trying to earn my way to heaven but because god has made a way for me to be saved because i love him because he loved me we love him because he first loved us and god wants us to be right with him not as a pharisee look at how much i do not just for knowledge but that we might say to god i want my heart to be right with you and then god says that our heart must be right with others now there's a lot of areas we can talk about this and a lot of ways that we can uh apply this but let me just say this the best way to love your neighbor go to acts chapter 20 if you would acts chapter 20. the best way to love your neighbor is to do what we did this afternoon is to go out and preach the gospel to your neighbor in fact when jesus taught the parable about loving your neighbor when he was asked about he he talked about the fact that you ought to love your neighbor and and some pharisaical lawyers said well who is my neighbor he gave that great parable on the on the good samaritan and he said let me tell you who your neighbor is your neighbor is that guy that's beaten down that's spiritually down and he needs you to go and help him restore him invest in him reach him with the gospel how can i love my neighbor i can preach the gospel see the best way to have a conscience clear void of offense toward god and toward men to have a conscience void of offense before god is to confess sin and to keep your heart right with god but a great way not the only way but a great way to have a conscience of a void of offense toward men the best way to love your neighbor is to preach the gospel to your neighbor acts 20 look at verse 26 acts chapter 20 and verse 26 wherefore paul says i take you to record to this day that i am pure from the blood of all men for i have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of god paul says you know what my conscience is clear i am clear he says there i i am pure from the blood of all men go back to acts chapter 18 look at verse 6 acts chapter 18 and verse 6 acts 18 verse 6 he says this and one day the bible says and when they oppose themselves and blaspheme this is after paul has tried to preach the gospel to them tried to preach the gospel to the jews he says it uh it says there and when they oppose themselves and blaspheme he shook his raiment and said unto them your blood be upon your own heads i am clean from henceforth i will go unto the gentiles you say how can i have a conscience clear of offense towards men here's how you have a conscience you go out and you knock every door in your neighborhood in your community in your city and you preach the gospel you say what if they don't get saved then that's between them and god what if they don't come to church that's between them and god our goal is to say i am pure your blood be upon your head i warn you look sometimes we win them sometimes we warm them but we always are doing what god has called us to do your job and my job is to have a conscience clear to exercise like paul said myself to have always a conscious void of events toward god and toward men to love your neighbor as yourself and part of that means that we should go and reach our neighbor with the gospel go to philippians chapter two we'll finish up right here philippians chapter number two if you do not exercise and get good nutrition you will die spiritual atrophy you'll die spiritually your faith will die i didn't say you'll lose your salvation but your faith will die it'll be inactive it'll be good to no one you say well what do i do so i can exercise myself well we must exercise our senses you must by reason of use open up the word of god begin to feed yourself with the word of god you say pastor i don't understand i don't i don't know how to do that and i don't know how to read the bible and and and i need help well let me let me help you out especially if you live here in cincinnati oh how you have a pastor a man by the name of pastor ted webb he's not only a physical therapist he is a spiritual therapist he can help you he can start taking those muscles you haven't used and help you start stretching them and help you start moving them and eventually get you off that bed and get you out there preaching the gospel reading the bible being right with god so you can exercise yourself have your senses exercise have your yourself exercise into godliness and have your conscience clear and exercise your conscience here's the point it's time to get to work philippians 2 12 says wherefore my beloved philippians 2 12 paul says this wherefore my beloved as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence he says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling again this is a verse that is often taken out of context people say see you gotta you gotta work out your own salvation you gotta work to be safe here's the problem with that that's what it says it doesn't say work for your own salvation and say work for your own salvation says work out your own salvation salvation is already inside the people he's talking to they already got salvation it's already on the inside see salvation see true salvation is something that happens on the inside false religion the world tells you salvation something happens on the outside you go to church you get baptized you repent of your sins you you quit smoking you quit drugs you quit alcohol you do all those things in order to get saved here's the thing all of that is outside church membership is outside baptism is outside repenting of your sins turning over and you leave all outside inside goes to hell salvation is believe on the lord jesus christ confess with your mouth believe in your heart and thou shalt be saved it happens on the inside salvation is something that happens on the inside but you know paul says paul says when you've got it on the inside he says you got salvation on the inside he says work out your own salvation he says work out what god worked in work out what you've already got on the inside and the reason i like the term work out because it kind of reminds me of exercise you need to exercise your senses you need to exercise your godliness you need to exercise your conscience it's time that you get yourself on a spiritual exercise regimen and you begin to work out the salvation that god has worked in because here's the point if you don't you'll die if you lay in bed physically if you lay in bed you don't eat you don't exercise you will die physically and if you lay in bed spiritually you don't eat and you don't exercise your faith will die enough christians die a church may die we must exercise spiritually and work out our own salvation let's buy our heads that have

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Published: Sun Sep 05 2021