Rick & Bubba Bible Study Live - May 27, 2020

6:3 welcome into the Wednesday Bible study we were continuing today in the series the unsaved Christian reaching cultural Christianity with the gospel that is a book by Dean in Sarah pastor out of Tallahassee Florida and why I tell you this one is continuing to stir a lot of emails and a lot of questions and and I think this is good you know with the really the reason why we're taking on this series is Paul telling us at the end of his letter to the church at Corinth where he's telling us to always examine ourselves and to see if we're even of the faith examine ourselves with what it should look like for Christ to abide in our lives according to Scripture then asked the uncomfortable question do we pass the test remember this was a church that Paul was writing to and he saw a lot of open sin in the church which he did not take lightly and he was reminding these people of what we claim to believe so here was a group of people meeting as a church that Paul saw a lot of open sin and he saw a lot of things that did not look like people who had truly been redeemed by Christ James and the book of James which will quote today here he is talking to her church body and James says I see things going on in this church body that shouldn't be going on something's wrong and then you know there's the call for action for them to assess themselves submit to God resist the devil come near to God meaning they lost their way so cultural Christianity is extremely serious and as I've told you the reason why I'm I hope that you can can you know take time if this is something that starting to grind on you a little bit and remember that I'm teaching this from the point that I once was a cultural Christian I was delivered from cultural Christianity and to true Redemption and reconciliation to a holy God through the price paid by Jesus on the cross by repenting of my sins turning away from sin turning to Christ submitting to his authority acknowledging him as Lord and Savior and then of course starting the process of sanctification that continues today so we're going to jump into another chapter we may not take up the whole time today because I don't want to get into the next chapter because I think the next chapter chapter six it's probably going to be one of those that is gonna push back a little bit and there's gonna be some discussion that may take place and I think it needs its own session so we'll do that next week but today we'll be talking about the unsaved Christian from the book it is part 4 of the study as far as our YouTube archives and our podcast archives however it's actually chapter 5 from the book so let's open up in a word of Prayer Lord thank you for today may you be glorified may you refine us may you convict us may you affirm us and give us the peace Lord that's only found in you special day today because if you're watching this live or listening to it on May the 27th which is when this is a recorded or it's being broadcast now this is the day that my youngest son William Bronner Burgess was born he was born 15 years ago today and those you that know our family's story you know that he went to be with the Lord on January the 19th of 2008 but he was born today in 2005 and it's been interesting you know all the different years and all the different markers for some of you out there who have you know buried your children or you have people that are dear to you your spouse or whatever the case may be you know these markers you know that they're used at different times for different things and believe it or not on this one I've been filled with gratitude I really have I'm not filled with sadness because I've seen what God has done through this through the pain and suffering it certainly has helped me to be broken and to be weak so that I'm completely dependent on the Lord but but more than that today I'm actually trying to be thankful for the fact that somebody is wretched as as I am you know just a wretched sinner who was redeemed through Christ in the grace that God provided and then through the faith of action of submitting to his authority repenting of sin somebody is wretched as I was and still am outside of you know my righteousness found in Christ to have been given such grace by God on a day like today 15 years ago that I could actually be with my wife and experienced the joy of another son and enough another child it was a joyous day 15 years ago when William Brunner Burgess came into the world sherry and I had already had you know four children and we had been parenting for a while and we kind of knew the deal and and Bronner's birth was flawless and it was joyous and it was a celebration and so I just want to publicly today thank you Lord for allowing someone as wretched as me to actually have experienced something as joyous as the birth of Bronner fifteen years ago today and even though am i flawed view of life i view his earthly life is short you don't Lord because I'm flawed and your will is perfect so I submit to that and thank you for all you've taught me through it so as we get ready to unpack this today one programming note if you're listening on Wednesday tomorrow night the man church calm we will do a webinar tomorrow night so that is free all you have to do is is to sign up and join us and if you want to do that go to Rick and Bubba com look it up coming events you'll see that listed for tomorrow the 28th 6:30 Central time and if you would like to if you're a leader of men's ministry and your community or your church you can join us on the webinar at no charge you can ask questions and we'll walk through our discipleship strategy and we'll teach you how to implement that with men of your community and the men of your church so just go to Rick and Bubba com fill out the information you'll be sent the link and I'll be part of that and we'll be talking to you tomorrow night I'll be along with Andy blanks and also Michael Helms and we'll talk to you about the strategy look forward to that all right so let's talk about the unsaved Christian part forward and what this one's called you know the title of is overcoming obstacles these are barriers to reaching cultural Christians it would also be barriers that are in the way of a view or me acknowledging and coming to the conclusion that we are cultural Christians so we'll talk about some of those that it starts out in chapter 5 with a quote from George swen 'ok thou mayst enjoy sermons sacraments Sabbath's seasons of grace the society of saints and yet myths at last of salvation basically saying the cultural Christian may believe a lot of things maybe around a lot of things that are tied to faith and you know it may have an understanding of them but still miss salvation altogether I used to be this guy so I understand it so the pastor Dean and Sarah is talking about when when when he was preaching a sermon and he decided to take this on and preach the sermon and he said what he was trying to do is to rattle the people in the congregation by talking you know about the different here had chairs that represented the different you know people that are in the church in the third chair where he spent a great deal of his sermon was the chair that represented what he called falsely assured believers the unsaved Christian now I've had some people say why does he call an unsaved Christian what's the play on words yes we acknowledge as does pastor and Sarah acknowledged that there is no such thing as an unsent Christian a person who would fall in this category is no Christian at all but but what it is it's talked about those two have a false assurance that they are Christians but of course that isn't true so anyway so he's talking about this and he represented that as as the third chair but he said it's really a form of being a Christian without Jesus which is impossible as we know so anyway so he then gets into some of the barriers because he said he found it kind of strange and you know I have a great respect for there's so many pastors out there and men of God that it meant so much to me and so I remember hearing this from Edie Litton who is you know a great friend and a pastor in Mobile Alabama and I saw him put this on social media one day but I thought it was incredible he said that he just finished a message and I forget what it was on I think it was something in the book of Romans and he said as he was leaving he kept having people in the congregation coming up to him and telling him how much they enjoyed the sermon to which he replied well you must not have been listening because this was not a sermon for us to enjoy it was actually a sermon that should have been quite convicting to all of us so if that was an enjoyable experience to you you probably weren't listening and then that brings up the question how do you get someone to realize that the sermon was directed at them just like he said I could believe the number of people and he had had friends who who brought he tell us a story about a friend bringing a friend there he thought was a cultural Christian he thinks oh good you know he or she has heard this incredible message they get back to work the next week and the person that really the sermon was intended for didn't get it they didn't think they didn't think the sermon was talking to them so how do you get someone to realize that it's a it's directed at them and then we walk through some things in this chapter one of them is one of the barriers if is is a cultural Christians belief system it can actually be a barrier because and we've talked about this a lot the cultural Christian believes in God and they believe in heaven so you have to you have to understand what cultural Christians actually believe because these beliefs can actually be a barrier for you to reach them or to convince them that they're in need of something they don't already have so that's one thing the other thing the cultural Christian they're not a theist they're not AG Gnostics we keep talking about that they live really if you look at the culture of Christian I was certainly this way they live more like a theist but not a pure theist or deist meaning you know because the the true deist believe in in God of some kind but they don't they don't know any real details about God but they do believe that he exists but they know very little out him he doesn't reveal himself they don't understand what the role is between us and him but yes they acknowledge that there's a God the cultural Christian isn't a pure deist or theist because the cultural Christian does believe certain details about God so it's not exactly that way but it leans that way because of the details even the details in and of themselves are not overly detailed does that make sense so anyway that's because they do believe they do believe in Jesus they believe that Jesus was born in Bethlehem they don't they doubt that they think marry it no doubt was Jesus mom and you'll even see with the culture of Christian I don't know if you've ever been to a cultural Christian's house but a lot of times you'll see words like faith and you'll see words like hope and there might even be a little crocheted Bible verse in the bathroom over the toilet which I've always thought was a weird place for Scripture right over the toilet but but you know it can be there you know there might be a little something you know over here you know usually you know it almost every time it's some of the same Bible verses but you will see these things represented and they'll even use words like faith and hope and they're gonna put up a nativity every December they're gonna defend the nativity they're gonna have a little nativity in the house somewhere might even have one in the yard they're also going to understand what Easter is about they certainly will you might even seem to put a cross up in their yard something like this and they understand what Easter is about they know stories that are in the Bible of course they treat them a lot like stories but they've they've heard about David and Goliath and you know they've heard about Moses in the Red Sea and and and and they know these things and they're aware of these things they don't doubt these things they're they're not against these things but then you get to the book of James that I just mentioned and I remember this was the book that was used to rattle me out of my cultural Christianity and and and in the book of James James isn't impressed at all with this kind of belief system as he says in James 2:19 you believe that God is one good meaning you believe in the Trinity you believe the concepts of God good even the demons believe and they shudder so James isn't impressed with knowledge of Christian facts alone well James was looking forward he makes this pretty clear you hear me talk about this a lot too because of something I had to learn because we are saved by grace through faith by grace through faith but this faith is a faith of action and this is what James was looking for one that would compel people to actually respond to Jesus with works not now not saying the works earn salvation but James says that that if you've truly encountered Jesus Christ and you have God's seed the Holy Spirit about it in your spirit that that faith is a faith of action it will compel you to then produce good works if you love me obey my commands if you're connected to the true vine that produces fruitfulness so so there is action not just a knowledge of biblical facts that don't really change anything about you you know you don't really do anything other than just believe and and so if that's the case then James as we've talked about this many times and I remember when it hit me like a ton of bricks he calls this faith cultural Christianity the faith of a demon if you just believe facts about God and facts about Jesus and facts about the gospel you know you just have knowledge of all this they have all that knowledge as well so so he said a faith that does not compel us to live for Christ James says that's a faith that's dead that's that's not a faith that's alive at all it's a dead faith so so then we would have to look at ourselves and then we'd have to help other people but like I ran into last week when I was dealing with a cultural Christian that was living in perpetual sin just like I used to okay and when he said that he was saved I said based on what and this person could not tell me much about it they didn't really understand how they were saved they just knew they were in the first thing the person said was well I believe in Jesus so did the demons so it's so so anyway so so James is talking about this there should be something happening that is the work of Christ you know what really were saying is back to what Dean and Sarah said back in his sermon at the beginning of this chapter if there's no change if nothing has no action is taking place you haven't been compelled by something bigger than you to change the way that you live then that means Jesus doesn't have the ability to change you and we all know that's not true the Holy Spirit shouldn't even have the word holy in it don't know why that's in there it's descriptive meaning that that this spirit will make us holy and if that hasn't happened then something is going on so here was a question I love that pastor and Sarah said he said I wonder when James was making these statements from the pulpit if people called him extreme can you imagine in some of the modern-day Western churches if somebody like James or the Apostle Paul or Peter or John the Baptist got up in the pulpit and begin to preach John can you imagine I doubt very seriously the end I said I'd say James is just kind of been extreme about all this but you start this kind of preaching today and you'll be called extreme but he made the comparison between demonic faith and a true faith and he certainly wasn't called extreme it's difficult to point people to their need to trust Christ when they already believe the basic facts about him thought that was a great statement from the book it is difficult to point people to their need to trust Christ when they already believe the basic facts about him I've run into this before it and I was an issue about this people come talk to me I'm like I believe all that we don't man I'm a Christian I believe everything you're supposed to believe of course you know then when finally somebody took it a step further which I wish would have happened sooner in my life when my mother was the first person to say I questioned your salvation then it was the pastor in my premarital premarital counseling when I about to marry Shari he was the one that said I'm gonna have to point to the way you're actually living and then let me force you to ask a question how can Jesus be lord over this and these were all legitimate points and and so that's really the way to approach like we talked about last week take things that that Christian cultural Christians already believe and use those things against them here you believe the Bible let me tell what the Bible says and that's one way to go because saying that that if you ever suggest that a cultural Christian doesn't believe the right things or doesn't have knowledge about certain biblical things you're gonna run into a wall I was in a situation before with the cultural Christian and everybody was there were some people there that had been like similar to what I went through and they talked about being redeemed and experiencing true salvation and how it was part of their culture but it really didn't change them and everybody's giving these testimonies about this this this this and it comes around to the - one of the people and they were like mom you know and we'll talk about this in a minute I went for it as a kid and said a prayer got baptized and I've been pretty much good ever since and see I need a person so I knew that wasn't true now I wouldn't question in their salvation but that was concerning that they would use the word I'm good and I pretty much got it I pretty much being been fine ever since when I knew things about their life that that would tell me immediately that wasn't true maybe they're just stumbles but there was even no acknowledgement of stumbles which I thought that was that was kind of a red flag but anyway so understand that that that one of the difficulties that cultural Christians have is they say I already have the knowledge and I believe these basic facts but James wasn't afraid to go there by claiming that the demons also believe these basic things believing in God does not make one a Christian it just doesn't so belief can be a barrier the next one he talked about they can be a barrier to reaching a cultural Christian or by acknowledging that you are or I may be a cultural fish is our values values values we hear about values family values values I hate have good values and this is the thing you run into of this concept that good people go to heaven good people go to heaven the only problem is that there are enemy the Bible tells us that in and Dean and Sarah talks about this we'll get into it this is the theology of many people they think that their values send them to a place where they're gonna wear white and they're going to be in the clouds and they're gonna see their loved ones that's that's where the concept that a lot of cultural Christians have about heaven I'll wear some white outfit I'll be in the clouds and I'm gonna go see my memo or go see my loved ones and that's heaven to me well the Bible says a lot of things deeper than that about heaven but that's kind of the way they see it and and this of course if this is what you're going to love this is pride if you think about it anybody thinks they're a good person has an issue right immediately with the sin of pride because compared to a holy God and by the way comparing ourselves to other people isn't the standard it's comparing ourselves to God in our need of redemption that that's the problem because they believe as good moral people that that that can function as as the chief end of one's family and you know we've all been around these people what what's what's the instruction for your family hey let's be good people well how do you how do we do that well you know what I mean let's let's have values let's try to be honest and and let's heart this let's just work hard be hard workers and you know take care of people and and you know it's just you know let's just try to try to be good let's try to be good people not be like some of these other people you know just trying to do good things and they think that's the end all that that that's it needing to be forgiven for sin for the culture of Christian is usually irrelevant they really don't see a need because there's such good people and they they have such good family values and they're on the right side of you know most things morally now they may they may have in and say they can't they don't seem to look into their life like the person I was talking about and see that they're really quite wretched when you consider the holiness of God but they don't see it that way they don't think they've really done a lot they have to be forgiven before they go to heaven because they have lived in line with their family values and they've raised some nice kids so what's gonna send you to heaven well you know I've tried to live a good life I've tried to be a good person and look at my kids I've raised some pretty nice kids well that's not that's not the gospel certainly I guess a great societal thing but that's not the gospel no the gospel says that that we're all wretched and what this is really is a salvation by works is what they're talking about but then we know though that that that God really doesn't you know factor in as far as the details so are y'all god-fearing people that live under the authority of Christ do you get on your face and cry holy holy holy and and are you thankful that because you were such wretched sinners compared to the holiness of God that you were redeemed that God came to you when you couldn't come to him and and you need a Savior because you need to be saved from from from sin and the severity of sin that is in your life whether you want to acknowledge it or not the only way anybody looks into their life and they don't see any need for redemption or any need for forgiveness is they're taking a very broad general look at their life I promise you that but if you ask them what defines a good person according to God or scripture you don't give any real detailed answers there it's always very broad answers you know we hey we just I'm a good old boy you got you know good old kids and a good old wife and good old this and good old that but you ask for details what makes you good they really don't give you much answers other than these broad things they think that they are on the nice list really a cultural Christian really looks at God sometimes like Santa Claus I just don't want to be on the naughty list well what would put you the naughty list well I mean the big stuff big you got to be bad building all this I I think I'm on the good list with God looking at me over here with the good list I'm you know I'm not as I'm not as horrible some of these other people I know I've never been divorced I've I've never you know never really been out done anything really bad never stole anything i-i've never done this never done that you know I'm a hard worker yeah yeah but it's it's it's it's my I'm glad those things haven't happened but you're still an equal need of redemption whether you acknowledge it or not because scripture says that so every cultural Christian believes they're on the good list if you ever noticed that it's kind of like what I have some fun one time I'd do this and I do these jokes you know let me be clear I don't want to get in some of the theological things and and I know but sometimes you can't help but you veer into some of it and look it is important for some of these things but I'm talked about the secondary issues but for instance I've never met a person who was a hyper-calvinist never I've never met one that says I believe in pure I mean total predestiny an election I believe in it completely I don't believe there's anything in them in this in any way shape or form I don't believe in that dance of free will and God's providence and sovereignty I believe you know there were people before they were ever born and that these people are going to heaven and some people are going to hell I believe people are predestined to hell I believe people are predestined to heaven and when they were woven together in their mother's womb I've never met one of those persons that doesn't believe they're the ones going to heaven never now look I run into somebody that believes that and it's pure sense and says and I don't think I made it now that's sticking to your principles but isn't it convenient that everybody who believes that we were either predestined to heaven or hell before we were ever born that those people always believed they were predestined for heaven but you'll find this with the cultural Christian they're always on the nice list there they're always in good standing with God but Romans 3:10 disagrees with that I mean Romans 3:10 is I mean Paul really really drives this point home and Romans 3:10 by saying what that none of us are good no not one let's let's read it from Scripture so here's what Paul says in in verse 10 as it is written none is righteous no not one no one understands no one seeks after God all have turned aside together they have become worthless no one does good not even one the throat their throat is an open grave they use their tongues to deceive the venom of ASPs is under their lips their mouth is full of curses and bitterness their feet are Swift to shed blood and their paths are ruin and misery and the way of peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes well my goodness it looks like Paul is laying down that through various Psalms in the Old Testament that God has already gone on record that nobody's good eye compared to him so what they're doing is they're saying well I'm not saying I'm good compared to the standard of Scripture you know the cultural Christian disagrees that that no one is righteous that no not one because their cultural Christians they they don't think in things of the righteous and the unrighteous they don't think that way what they think of is I'm a good person in terms of the definition by my Western standards according to American Western standards I'm pretty good yeah but the Bible to talk about Western standards the Bible talks about righteous and unrighteous well I don't see things that way and the cultural Christian doesn't so that can be a barrier to reaching them or coming to the conclusion that you are a cultural Christian what's next what else stands in the way heritage heritage our heritage cultural Christians are usually you know they're they're usually a generation or two removed from a gospel believing Christian how are you a Christian cuz of my grandmother my family have all been Christians or you might be a one generation Christian my parents were Christiaan so that that of course makes me a Christian heritage of faith and a family can easily be confused with saving face faith in Christ that's a good statement let's say that again heritage of faith and the family can easily be confused with saving faith in Christ hey let me say this God did not say that he has sinful man who has chosen to turn away from him and to rebel against him and the only way for me to save you is through your family that's not what scripture says the only way to save you and the only way to save me is for is through Christ not my family my grandmother I promise you is has received a well done good and faithful servant but I cannot get to heaven through Margaret Burgess okay I thought that for a while I'm part of a good Christian family I must be fun no and you know what you but you better check your children Christian parent who's watching this or listening to this be real careful because if you haven't sat down and laid out what this really looks like to your children there's a lot of children out there that think they're saved because you may be and you need to clarify that so heritage can be a problem the faith of a grandparent is respected nothing wrong with that but may be viewed as extreme by the younger generation of the family so so here's what happens what so then what they do is they try to ride the ride the coattails of a reverent family member and adopt more of a comfortable casual form of that faith yeah I mean I thought this right here look if you can't see me if you're listening to this that are watching it I'm pointing to me I had this attitude you know what I thought my grandmother is extreme she's radical well yes she was rigged because that's real faith she goes to church like on a regular basis she'll even go on Sunday nights I can remember us being her house and her deal was y'all come and go to church with me because that's where I'm going and you know we would do we would leave and go home boys she's a radical so what did I do it exactly what this book talks about I adopted a more casual comfortable version of the faith of my grandmother my dad adopted a more comfortable casual form of faith than his mother because his mother and my grandmother was radical but the more that I've studied Scripture and the more I've looked at Scripture my dad and I were wrong and my grandmother was right so but what would then you kind of hang on to those coattails now praise the Lord my dad and I have both figured this out and we have been truly redeemed in a true faith in Christ but I gotta tell you for the longest I thought my grandmother was was over the line she's right what a radical but really she was devoted to crisis which was and she lived her faith out and she impacted others and pointed them to Jesus unlike me until I discovered that actually what my grandmother was doing here's a bizarre concept was living out a true faith she didn't do these things to earn her salvation she did these things because of her salvation and I didn't do them because of my lack of salvation so that's the thing that you have to watch out with his heritage stuff God doesn't have grandchildren well when I read that I thought whoa I almost push back and it's true scripture doesn't say that your grandparents our parents faith will not get us to heaven I can't get to heaven through me my leg or my mother's faith or my dad's God has children and they are brought about through faith in Christ but look at this Gospel of John we studied it Gospel John chapter 1 verses 12 and 13 listen to what scripture actually says it the same thing about grandchildren but to all who did receive him who believed in his name talking about Jesus he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God so God gave us the right to become his children he doesn't have any grandchildren everybody has to become his child because nobody can be his grandchild and and that has to be understood because the legacy of faith should be celebrated it absolute should be celebrated but faith that is inherited is not a saving faith at all let me say that again your family may have a legacy of faith and that should be celebrated but if your faith is only inherited from your family then you don't have a faith at all maybe that's a wake-up call for somebody today I know it was for me so don't let it become a barrier cultural Christians have an issue here it's common for one to see himself as being born into Christianity rather than really being born again say that again the problem with heritage and thanking your right on the Kotel coattails of your family's faith is that you get to the point where you think that you were born into Christianity which means what you never took the time to be born again listen you weren't broke you were not born into Christianity I know I know there's some theology out there well how are you a Christian well I was born into a Christian family no no that's hogwash I don't know told you that that's not faith that's not how one is redeemed so so that can be an issue the next thing that can be a barrier that stands in the way of reaching a cultural Christian are by assessing whether or not you are or i am a cultural christian the famous rites of passage rites of passage now this is the one if you have read the book a pastor dean and sarah says that he was shocked when somebody came into him excited and said their kid was about to be baptized and he'd never seen this person graced the door of a church and he knew these people did not live a life that that reflected Redemption he was shocked that they were taking the time to baptize their kid and and what this was all about and he talked about how you want to pick time in place to say these kinds of things so so here are some things that that can be barriers to reaching a cultural Christian or by assessing whether you we are one or not some of the rites of passage that can be stumbling blocks infant baptism which you'll find nowhere in Scripture the the people who've tried to justify that all they do is use examples of talking about if someone was redeemed and then they would say well your hope then the whole house became redeemed well whole house rigged that means there had to be babies there well the bible didn't say that out where you coming out with that now if you if you know we can get into the the discussion and certainly i've lived into my own life about age of accountability and what happens to people that before they're old enough to understand their right hand from the left we can have that discussion but no one is redeemed that lives to adulthood because they were baptized as a baby and that can be a false security for for people first communion that doesn't save anybody as a matter of fact the scripture says if you're not saved you shouldn't be taking communion i have a friend of mine that talked about that moment when they were living as a young adult and they went back to go to church with their parents who were who were devout christians and they gave time for communion and they were passing around the the elements of the lord's supper and he didn't take it and he said it was it was a real sad moment for my dad because this man knew he was not living as a follower of christ and he knew that scripture forbid him to take the Lord's Supper because he could bring him he could bring a curse on himself from god and so he just passed the elements on to his father and his father's eyes and he met and in that moment his father knew that his son was not living out the faith or maybe was not of the faith so certainly first communion doesn't save anybody confirmation doesn't save anybody baptism by immersion if you're a child if you didn't understand redemption they could dunk you in that water all day long I had that happen I was baptized twice by water before I was redeemed you know and and and I'm gonna be careful with the next one saying a sinner's prayer does not deem one redeemed I did that as well as a child let me be clear I'm a little bit different than son I know it's becoming mud out there to say detrimental things about the sinner's prayer or this prayer doesn't do this and why are we doing this prayer and and this is some superstition that's not even in the Bible and say I take issue with that I disagree with that now what I do agree with is these words don't save you I do agree with that but I do not I'm not part of this because when people say you got to be careful but we always go too far senators prayers know where in the Bible well yes it is now you don't have a place where you turn to verse so-and-so and so-and-so and it says now we turn to the sinner's prayer but the things that are found and what some people have named the sinner's prayer are active these are just people saying here's what the Bible said you should do now it's a hard issue it's not a word issue that I totally agree with but it's almost become on if you want to have fun with those that take the sinner's prayer and and they're always making fun of it or say that's not in the Bible or some superstition or whatever ask them how somebody does get saved ask them that and and sometimes though they won't have an answer for you okay I understand what you're saying so so if I'm not if I'm at least if the center prayers a senator's prayer and these elements don't tell me what the Bible says about Redemption so how am I supposed to be saved and then though if they if they're if they know they'll say things like well you got to repent okay you tell me a lot we talk about the sinner's prayer you got a you got to believe in your heart confess that Jesus Christ is Lord oh you tell my Romans like Romans 10:9 and 10 you you believe that Jesus paid the price for you on the cross you mean like Romans 10:9 and 10 yeah so in other words you're saying that I need to repent of sin I didn't confess Christ as Lord and believe he was raised on the third day and believed that he paid the price on the cross and now I need to have faith in that and I need to submit resist the devil come near to God and and and and ask for redemption and Reconciliation yeah that's what I mean so how do I know if I'm saved well if you really mean it in your heart and we'll see the results of it by the way you live your life you mean kind of like this thing they keep telling me about about this prayer that has these sayings of elements in it so I'm not anti a type of response I'm not even anti instructing people on what they need to do to be saved according to scripture now I am against I said some words so not so now I'm saved I completely agree with that that is not redemption because I had that happen in my own life I said a prayer I got baptized when I didn't understand Redemption I didn't understand repentance I didn't understand the severity of sin I didn't understand coming to the authority of Christ I stayed under my own authority so I certainly understand how that can can be a false assurance of faith because I had it in my own life but I'm not out saying that this shouldn't be done or it isn't in the Bible because the elements of it absolutely are in the Bible and it's what the Bible says about Redemption so be careful about that but yes true the words do not save you that is completely true if there isn't a clear understanding of the conversion then these are all just false assurances and these things do not place us in good standing with God rites of passage do not place this in good standing with God only repentance only Redemption only reconciliation through the price paid on the cross and believing in our heart confessing with our mouth Romans 10:9 10 that Jesus Christ is Lord turning from sin and turning to God as a wretched sinner and asking to be saved and and then whether that sincere not will be shown what in your life how do you know when somebody say brick according to Scripture by the way they live their life also they're trying to good works huh no the result of salvation so things that that are a problematic for us and we've we've gone through and let me review and then we'll they won't end our belief system can be a barrier our values can be a barrier our heritage can be a barrier rites of passage can be a barrier what else ignorance ignorance I just don't know what I'm talking about I don't know scripture I don't understand the gospel I don't know what that's going on many cultural Christians simply don't know the difference between what they believe in true Christianity the only difference they detect with their Christian friends meaning people who are truly been redeemed and I've seen this the only difference that they detect with their Christian friends is that their Christian friends are just really into church are very religious well I'm a Christian or you mean like sewing so well he's really in the church and he's a he's a little more religious than I am know what you may be seeing like we said before while we make fun of things like this by calling people holy rollers self-righteous holier-than-thou these are things that we've come up with the cultural Christians like I used to be I used those things because I didn't like that the standard had been raised by people who were actually followers of Jesus and the cultural Christian you'll find will always explain his or her lack of fruit lack of holiness lack of commitment lack of devotion they'll always play it off as I'm devoted enough they're just a little more devoted but we're equal in our standing with God this happens a lot this comes from ignorance again when it comes to the need to believe the gospel and repent it may be they don't know because they've never been told some you know why we got a lot of cultural Christians in this country a lot of it rests on the kind of preaching that's coming from the pulpit and a lot of Western churches when was the last time that you heard a message in your church I hope I hope you say Rick I hear it all the time about the severity of sin and the need of repentance it doesn't get preached a lot the reason why cultural Christianity is so palatable is a lot of it comes from what you take away I can remember where sherry and I first started visiting churches we moved to a new city and I can't tell you the number of times we would go home and she said what did you think about that I said I felt like I was at a self-help class you know we're doing life together all this stuff you know I felt like we were sitting around talking about ways to to go out and try to find a way to get some self help and maybe some principles or philosophies for life but I didn't feel like that I was confronted with the gospel at all and so some of it has to do with a lot of places these cultural Christians go they're made to feel perfectly comfortable and you know what they're they're falsely assured that there that's part of it ignorance again cultural Christians may not know the difference because the difference between the mainline Protestant church they attend on holidays and the gospel preaching church next door if all they've ever had is the ritual church or the church that the only thing they've ever been exposed to is you know some of this this place they go on holidays and they go on you know the certain special days so they might go to a wedding the reason why they've never been confronted with the gospel is they've been going to the wrong Church they're not technically an unreached people group but they often like exposure to biblical preaching I love that cultural Christians it's not like they're unreached meaning they never get around to church but the problem is a lot of times they they don't get around a church that preaches the gospel a lot and and that that sometimes can be a problem there's not a lot of biblical you know always be leery if you're whoever's in the pulpit wherever you may be going to church be real careful if they'll do something like maybe one verse will come up on the screen but they never really ever reference it again or they're not really going through the Bible now if you ever message that does not include the Bible be rural Erie of that you know so so look for these kinds of things biblical preaching will always if you're preaching from the Bible it can't help but confront you and it demands a response ignorance is not bliss when it comes to authentic Christian faith have you heard that before ignorant is bliss and sometimes that that works in life because you're glad you don't know how bad things can be but ignorance is not bliss when it comes to your salvation vigorous is death it's not bliss at all so don't let ignorance be something that stands in the way as well it causes people to miss the gospel altogether barriers such as belief values heritage and rites of passage fuel the ignorance and allow for a religion to exist that claims Christianity but not Christ it claims Christianity but it doesn't claim Christ so as we wrap up today you always have to do what you have to ask the question where does where do I land in all this I don't know the answer to that I know that I'm more than willing to help you because I am a recovering cultural Christian myself or if you have cultural Christians in your circle hopefully these are things that will help you to know what you're up against and it can be quite difficult but I have found that when one is confronted with what the Bible actually says what it should look like to be a devoted follower of Christ who have been redeemed the standard as we've talked about here for over four years it's actually really high and it's so hard that it can only be achieved by true salvation so let's bow our heads and let's ask God to to reveal to us or maybe to reveal to the people that you're trying to work with that that day of realization is near let's pray lord thank you for today thank you for the opportunity to to get into your word and to discuss this uncomfortable topic about our cultural Christianity I pray Lord that if there's people listening to this or watching this then they'll have an experience like I had with where that day when I was confronted with who you really are and I realized the version of you that I'd created was a false version of you I pray Lord that that there may be others that experience the same thing today and then they'll take this opportunity and them and they'll get on their face right now Lord where they are if they're driving they'll do it when they get to a safe space and they'll they'll get on their face and they say lord I repent of my sin I'm gonna turn a 180 from my sin Lord and I'm gonna turn to you I do believe in my heart and now I'll confess out loud with my mouth that you are Lord and I will submit to your authority and release my own authority and I will Lord turn from my sin and I will turn to you and I ask that you redeem me of my sins and I do believe that your father raised you from the dead with the power of the Holy Spirit on the third day and I asked that that seed of God the Holy Spirit now be given to me to help me to be sanctified and grow your own record for how much you love me I see that on the cross the Lord Jesus will you please teach me to love you because when I love you then I'll begin to obey you and I ask these things in the name of Jesus amen if I can help you in any way Rick at Rick and Bubba calm I look forward to talking with you again next week thank you for being with us

Channel: Rick & Bubba

Views: 2,456

Rating: 4.8048782 out of 5

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Id: YBnGwX5U2lk

Length: 49min 46sec (2986 seconds)

Published: Wed May 27 2020