Sunday Morning Worship | Easter 2021 | Twice Saved | 4.4.21

[Music] the kingdom agenda good morning ocbf family and to those of you that are viewing all around the world we want to welcome you to our online worship experience this resurrection weekend we also want to welcome our largest in-crowd in congregation in-person gathering ocbf can you make some noise listen we're in the house we're ready and we also want to greet those of you that are viewing in our overflow today and we're so thankful for the presence of the lord that's going to be here with us i don't know about you but i feel the life of god in the room and we're so glad that you've joined us before we move forward make sure you go to your kitchen grab your elements for communion whether it's water juice or crackers because at the end of the service pastor is going to lead us in a time of fellowship with the lord as we remember his sacrifice and what he's done but today the focus is on the finished work romans 8 11 says this the same power that raised jesus christ from the dead now resides on the inside of you and i'm so thankful that we worship a living god and so we stand to our feet in celebration this morning we want to make sure that you connect with the one true living god and we want to welcome a couple of guests this morning we have a guest artist that's with us that's going to be expressing his worship as he paints a canvas and his name is david rodriguez can we welcome mr david rodriguez and then leading us into worship this morning is one of my favorite worshipers of all time minister fred hammond he's with us this morning stand to your feet and give god the praise that's do his name somebody say hallelujah how's everybody doing y'all sit down we ain't even doing that sit down praise the lord everybody praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord i'm gonna get into this quick so i can be seated listen to the word dr evans it's you know it's hard when you as a singer i'm not one of those guys that try to preach and sing every now and then i come up with something good to say but i might mess this one up because i was thinking about it i just wanted to kind of set up this first part because i'm going to take y'all back we're going back we're going to celebrate and we're going back you know i've always wondered about the saying the scripture that said for every idle word will be taken into account every idle word and i thought well you god so you just can remember everything and that's just you know any other question but i was with i went to lunch with some millionaires and billionaires about a year ago man i didn't get no money you know sometimes folks are stingy but got a nice lunch out the deal but one of the guys pulled me aside and said you know we're a company that owns the patent to a machine that you can take into any room any room and you can sit it in the room and it will play back every conversation that was ever had in that room up to five years and i said i i just think that's something you white folks are telling me so i won't talk about you for not giving me no money i'm cool but then i was with micah stampley good friend of mine he said hey i was with an fbi former fbi agent and he was telling me about a device that they have that's real that you could place in any room anywhere any place and it will play back every conversation that ever happened in the last five years and it blew me away he said because one thing we don't know that science says is that science says sound waves never die they never die and and then it it came to me it's like what keeps the sun right there and the earth right here there was a word that was spoken and it said let there be and it said son you stay there earth you just go around him and don't go three inches to the left or three uh degrees to the right stay in place because sound never dies okay so just remember that okay i'm doing good so far okay let's just start all right go ahead go [Music] ahead [Music] [Applause] now imagine if that same box can go back say 10 million years let's put it on a rocket and shoot it into the center of the universe this is what i think it would say but i know i'm guilty but [Applause] [Music] now take it to calvary 2 000 years ago [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's done [Music] [Applause] snatch the keys of the universe [Music] now let it rotate around the sun and it'll say this oh god [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey now bring it in this room right around december 2 2019 and you're here [Music] [Applause] [Music] over this pandemic it says and it is well with my [Music] soul now let's go back and have a little church i'm gonna take y'all back to some old school back in the 70s i'm a 60s baby [Music] this song right here might have special significance to all of us it says [Applause] [Music] i was we want to say this [Music] [Applause] come [Music] come on [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] up mining [Music] [Applause] come on [Music] [Applause] [Music] holy spirit go [Music] show me [Music] dedicate this song [Music] to the singles ministry i don't know when y'all meet but this is going out to the singles [Music] ministry [Applause] [Music] [Applause] go ahead and make some noise out there [Music] until [Music] [Applause] when we all cry [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] don't need to [Applause] [Music] now everybody dedicated to ministry this one is for you lord [Music] [Applause] me my story [Applause] [Music] now this is my grandmother's favorite [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank song [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's go [Music] now this was our favorite part right [Applause] here [Music] [Music] [Applause] now let's go to edwin hawkins the father of contemporary music he said can i get y'all to sing it through your [Music] mask [Music] [Music] what [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] rejoicing [Applause] everybody lift you up oh happy oh happy day [Music] [Applause] oh happy day thank you [Music] it could have been [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] hey thank you thank you [Music] [Applause] for your power thank you for protection give your neighbor our air high five keep your social distancing but just high five them from where you are say i'm grateful [Applause] hungry didn't have to do it what you did and we're grateful take your seat [Music] hey hey [Music] hallelujah hey i'm so glad grateful that he died for my sins and your sins behold the lamb of god which taketh away the sins of the world john christ [Music] but on sunday morning on sunday morning start that track [Music] [Applause] oh i know [Music] i know we live [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] people came from [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] they took my savior [Music] away [Music] [Music] rejoices [Music] [Applause] [Music] if you know me [Music] [Applause] let's see it again [Music] [Music] riverdale [Music] make some noise [Applause] [Music] [Applause] celebrating [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on [Music] [Applause] [Music] good to know he lives you know a few years ago i could do two hours standing but at 60 i need a seat every now and then and an oxygen tank on the side wouldn't be half bad [Music] huh let's do this go ahead erskine [Music] the bread of life many things you were on earth a holy king a carpenter you have to live [Music] awesome [Music] god with us let me call you by your name jesus [Music] jesus say it is [Music] open up [Applause] wow [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] she [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you are the living words skin hold up a second stop right there stop right there i'm looking at the clock and i want to be as close to obedient as [Music] possible and i still want to leave you with something oakley thank you for inviting me let's uh put me in a flat [Music] if i don't leave you with anything if you didn't hear anything i said about science and all that stuff remember this and you're a testimony to this because a year ago we had an announcement and here we are we see the light at the end of the tunnel because we put our trust in him right so it just simply means you can do all things [Music] you can do a thing but fail cause you never lost the battle you never loved the battle and i know i know [Applause] and i know i know thank you and you never will see it again [Music] [Applause] [Music] and this is how i know [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] cause i know god will do what he can [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] you never lost [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] stay with me [Music] [Applause] [Music] i know i got two minutes and 35 seconds go ahead and put me in e flat this this this [Applause] this [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me can you help me please [Applause] [Music] my savior [Applause] [Music] foreign it's gonna work [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hmm david rodriguez what a great job of an empty tomb what great talent thank you wonderfully done and fred hammond somebody's acting like they're glad to be in the house on resurrection weekend we're so glad to have you here our biggest crowd yet as things are slowly opening up and uh we're doing likewise still each week we're sort of adding features to uh let people know that uh it's okay it's okay and we're gonna be okay and we're trying to demonstrate that illustrate that uh but also still be wise so uh it's good to see you in the house and for all those who are joining us online as well it's uh it's great to be here i'm glad to be here glad to be here with you just a few things we want you to know beginning next sunday beginning next sunday on excuse me next saturday actually our live service will be 4 p.m we're moving from 10 30 on saturday to 4 p.m on saturday we know that a lot of families who wanted to come were not able to children's activities and all of that but we needed to get in this habit of of uh doing it this way and so we were able to give us more time doing it at 10 30. but beginning next saturday when you register we still want you to register so we can know how many people are coming uh and plan for that properly but it will be four o'clock so you register online we've made it real simple now you don't have to do a lot of uh extra things uh if you're going to come live and we want we want the place to be as full as it can be safely live and then 10 o'clock on sunday it will be it will continue as it is we are going to continue to watch this and as things open up we will open up we'll we'll look at multiple services and all of that we're in a constant flux of planning preparation safety responsibility and uh and uh wisdom so thank you for walking with us so that's next saturday at 4 00 p.m and uh so you will look forward to that and then um this wednesday this upcoming wednesday we're calling super wednesday super wednesday is when we have special a special kind of emphasis and so we will be live this coming wednesday if you want to come and join us we will have a live service at from from eight o'clock to nine o'clock maybe 9 15 this wednesday we've been online every wednesday from 8 to 9 or so but we'll be live this wednesday on the uh uh ocbf online church so you can come and be part of that it'll be a special time of praise a special time of prayer and i'm going to bring a special challenge okay so please feel free to come or join us online at ocpf online church this coming super wednesday well if you uh live in the metroplex and um you uh are looking for a church home then we welcome you to find out about ocbf and see if this is where god would have you become a kingdom disciple so that you can function as a kingdom servant in order to make a kingdom impact because we seek to disciple the church to impact the world and so you can go online and we have once a month our online membership process and uh you can register for that if you have come to christ and you wish to grow in christ but grow in christ in the context of community because we seek to experience god together here here at oakley bible fellowship and so we want to we want to welcome you if that is your desire and of course uh your your faithful support of the ministry both in service so we asked three things of our members to grow spiritually that's the first and most important thing that's why we want you in the word every day reading the scriptures reviewing what you hear in the sermon having a devotional life we want you in the word and in his presence then to serve and we will be bumping up many of our ministries now that we can do a little bit more and uh the the more people serving the greater the impact and then to give giving is our response to the goodness of god now if god hasn't been good if he's failed you if he's left you if he's abandoned you uh then that's one thing but if he's been faithful even in a pandemic if he's been good even though times have been bad then giving should be a joy not a job it should be a pleasure not a pain and so uh i was just uh working on some long-term things in my own life and updating my will and uh talking to the folks and i said well i want look before i do anything else i want to make sure when i'm not here that the lord's work goes on so the first thing long term even we've always done this as a person and as a family my father taught me when i was growing up if you honor god first i couldn't even get an allowance without paying my tithe my father taught us that i taught my children that and long after i'm gone i want god's work to go on even in my will so that god knows that he is first long-term so so honoring the lord because of his goodness to us and where would we be without the lord even through the ups and downs of life right so your tithe and thanksgiving offering allows us to do kingdom work here at our church and beyond and uh if you are not a part of our ministry uh then please honor your your pastor your church if it's serving the lord if it's doing kingdom work then support that and then if we are blessing being a blessing to you then you can give over and above that to uh to our ministry so we're going to have a prayer of praise and i want you before i pray to give thanks for whatever you can give thanks for whatever you can give thanks for take a moment and tell the lord thank you yes there are things to be concerned about but there's also a lot to be grateful for so give thanks and then i will lead us in thanksgiving and i will pray a special prayer for those who may be struggling in a unique way during this season let's pray and now lord we come humbly we've come some beaten some broken some bruised all grateful grateful because it could be so much worse if it were not for you grateful for your forgiveness grateful you're for your grace grateful for your patience grateful for your your love we're just grateful but we know sometimes those gratitudes come with tears loneliness fear discouragement disappointment and in the middle of all that we still say thanks [Music] even david said even when you seem far away he said in psalm 42 i will yet praise him so we will yet praise you in song and celebration and meditation and contemplation but in purpose and in anticipation we can't figure out all that's happening around us it seems so daunting and confusing and just conflicting lord and you know all the answers that's why we have to trust in you so we're going to join jehoshaphat and say we don't know what to do but our eyes are on you we're going to keep looking up so that we can be okay here while we wait for the change to come so lord as your people worship you celebrate you listen to you learn from you respond to you kumbaya come by here and while on others thou art calling do not pass us by find in here a heart and hearts that love you and want to celebrate you for you alone are worthy in jesus name all god's people said amen and amen greetings ocbf church family and friends this resurrection celebration weekend we are highlighting the fact that the body of christ is replete with so many gifts of artistic expression and our next guest is a tangible example of this she is articulate innovative and passionate about her profession of faith she is no stranger to us ocbf church family and friends let's welcome our friend the ministry of miss shy speaks they say we're keeping it real right well my generation don't feel like celebrating easter because we're doubting jesus god seems like a myth because in the midst of our trials he mysteriously goes amiss trial after trial we face then mile after mile our minds race into doubt because undoubtedly it's too difficult to keep faith when you're facing trials you see trials and tombs both start with the letter t and they apparently have a lot in common i say that because i search for a list of things that are the common struggles with this generation you know what all of our reservations about jesus and it read almost like an autopsy it didn't read like here's a list of things that we can overcome more like here are all the reasons why we are done all that was missing was the done done done and by the time i finished reading it in my mind i heard the voice of a thousand screaming why like why why are we surrounded by trials that say that we are destined for destruction and doomed which took me back to the word tomb but anyway this article it read if jesus is real why did covet 19 sweep this world and god stand idly by if jesus is real why do so many unarmed minorities have to die if jesus is real why didn't he save my loved one from that sickness we were praying for that miracle and they seem to be have lost to that disease it sounds like it's science well sign seems like it has more power to god than me the article read if jesus is real why do you wish hope and pray for something and it's still not happen if jesus is real then why are there so many ways to get to god i mean i know people who've never stepped foot in a church and they still are connected to the source with good energy and good vibes i mean it sounds like there's some more reliable ways of spirituality to me i read that last part like ouch as you can see the article was filled with so much doubt as you can see that article was filled with so much doubt the water of that article was half empty but it was crystal clear and made a hard case that this generation is stuck between a rock and a hard place seemingly surrounded by bricks and stones like tombs but it's not what i see you see i believe in this generation so i ditched that article because in order to see what i see i had to get that out of my head i set out on a lurch search for a new list of things that arise and this is what the new article read it said air wind water waves heat sun and then it dawned on me that nothing that naturally rises is man-made and you were created by god which means that you have the natural ability to rise so rise like the air rise like the wind rise like the water rise like the waves rise like the heat rise like the sun rise like the sun yes rise like the sun no listen rise like the sun jesus i am told was surrounded by trials that said that he was destined for destruction and doom jesus was crucified for our sins and then he was laid in a tomb he was literally surrounded by bricks and stones like you but i am also told and i do believe that his intended burial place was no place to grieve because when they went to roll the stone away everybody was blown away because he had risen from a tune so your trials your trials are just a list of difficult things and i'm not saying that they are irrelevant it's just that when you're nestled between a rock and a hard place it seems to me that's when god's resurrection power is most prevalent i'm saying those difficult things are not irrelevant but when you are nestled between a rock and a hard place that's when god's resurrection power is most prevalent so pardon me pardon me as i imagine jesus in a rock-cut cave smirking like yeah and i'm the rock of salvation so if we're keeping it real right the next time we don't feel like celebrating jesus this is what i believe we should do we should sing to ourselves it may look like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded by you what i'm saying is the next time you find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place remember that he yes he was nailed to the cross in that most infamous position so that the death grip that tombs and trials had on you could both end with the letter t there are currently close to seven billion people on planet earth the amount of people who live on planet earth today is equal to the amount of people who have lived on planet earth since the beginning of time is the guesstimation so let's just round that up to 15 billion people all the sin of 15 billion people that is everything they have done or everything they have wanted to do or thought about doing both motives and actions were accumulated on that day when jesus christ come on the cross and all of the sins of 15 billion people actions and attitude were hurled at jesus christ how bad was that moment see we think that the pain of the cross was the catalan tail that stripped its back was the cross on his head that crushed his skull where the thorns in his hands and feet and spearing inside all that was painful but it was nothing compared to that one moment when jesus looked up to heaven and said my god my god why hast thou forsaken me at that moment jesus became sin the definition of god is one being made up of three co-equal persons father son spirit that are one in essence yet distinct in personality the father's not the son the son is not the spirit but they all make up the one godhead it's called the trinity on the cross however there was watch this now an interruption in the trinity there is a split in the trinity jesus christ the eternal son of god looks up to his father and says my god my god why has you forsaken me so on the cross when the whole sin of the whole world was heard in jesus christ the father turned his back on the sun and said in essence go to hell on the cross god told jesus go to hell because that's exactly what jesus did in that moment in time there was an eternity separation between god the father and god the son god the father looked at god the son and said go to hell and for that moment in time there was a break in intimacy so here's what god did for you and me god stop being god without stopping being god so he could be god for you and me jesus christ experience hell so that you and i could experience [Music] heaven and so lord as we come in these moments designed to bring spiritual clarity on a very special special resurrection weekend give us clarity of thought from the truth of your inerrant word and we will give you glory in jesus name amen a man had a friend of his who was an alcoholic he was consumed with her passion to drink he was burdened for his friend and he knew he had to do something that would be radical to wake his friend up so he came up with an idea the idea was to meet his friend at the bar he would regularly go to where he would normally become intoxicated and so he tracked him there and he said john john i'm really concerned about you i'm burdened for you i'm burdened for you he then took two small glasses and had the proprietor put water in both he then had the proprietor add alcohol to one of them left the other with just water he reached in his pocket and he looked took out a packet and it was two worms he put one worm in the glass that had the alcohol mixed in and the other worm in the glass with just water after a few moments the worm with the alcohol mixed in [Music] died while the worm in the glass with water kept moving around the worm with the alcohol didn't make it very long the worm with the water was doing fine he said now look at these two glasses look at these two worms do you get the point this drunken friend looked at me and said i think i got your point are you sure you get the point i think i got it okay tell me the point it says i think the point is if you drink a lot of booze you won't have a lot of worms obviously he didn't get the point when it comes to this weekend a lot of people don't get the point they recognize it they give homage to it but they missed the point so i want to take our moments here today to review the point and i want to talk to you about being twice saved now the word saved in the bible as in our normal human discussion means to be delivered or rescued from something or somebody when you say somebody saved me they delivered you they rescued you from a difficult dangerous or disastrous situation for which you have been extricated so you have been saved in the bible the word saved is used of three realities now we typically use it about one reality but it is thrice used in the bible applied to three different realities and you don't know which reality it's being applied to until you see the context in which the word was used and sometimes because we're so used to using the word in one way we only use it in reference to that one thing when it is used in the bible about three things the first way that the word saved is used is relative to our eternal destiny where you will spend eternity the third way in which the word saved is used it is talking about the glorification that a believer receives in heaven the second way in between the two justification and glorification is historical transformation so it's used in three ways when you use the first one you get the third one but when you use the first one you may or may not get the second one everybody who gets justified the first one gets glorified but everybody who gets justified who gets glorified does not equally become sanctified the first and third refer to heaven the second refers to history the first and third refer to eternity the second one refers to time since the first equals the third because the third is guaranteed by the first if you understand the first we don't have to spend a lot of time on the third because the third comes out of the first but we need to clarify the second so i want to know how many times have you been saved now to understand in more detail what i am referring to when i say twice saved in the book of romans chapter 5. the apostle paul talks about the first and second salvation now he talks about all three in the book but in this passage i want to make sure you are saved once and saved twice verse 6 says for while we were still helpless at the right time christ died for the ungodly for one would hardly die for a righteous man though perhaps for the good man some would dare even to die but god demonstrated his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us if you went to the doctor and he said you have cancer and then said take two aspirin and get some rest i'm sure you would agree he's not taking your situation seriously if some burglars were breaking into your home and you called the police and their response was boys will be boys i'm sure you would concur that they're not taking your situation seriously it is unfortunate today that people do not take seriously the offense of sin to a holy god and they will throw out statements god understands he knows i'm human but paul says that our condition apart from god is helpless he says while we were still helpless that while we were yet sinners you see what you have to understand about god is that he cannot compromise his perfection with imperfection you've seen doctors go into operating rooms you've seen them wash their hands sterilize their utensils because the smallest amount of bacteria can be a crisis to a helpless situation in an operating room if a human doctor has to get rid of all bacteria in order to save the life of a parent what makes it unclear that a perfect god has to get rid of imperfection in order to heal sinful mankind because we we do not understand because we don't see it the same way you take the virus that we've all been battling with you don't see it but boy it can hit you with a whopper so is sin before a holy god god cannot dumb down his standards just because he loves us let me say that again god can't change his protocol just because he loves us verse 8 says but god demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us here's how you know whether somebody loves you the price they're willing to pay for you single ladies if he cheap he ain't the one the way you know how much somebody loves you is the price tag they're willing to be if he says let's go dutch he ain't the one because he's not willing to pick up the full tab christ love god loved sinful mankind so much that he was willing to pick up the full tab [Applause] now god only has three options given his perfection the first option is to condemn us because scripture is clear all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god that there is none righteous no not one we sin at different levels but since we're in the purity of god's holiness it's still bacteria it's still a virus he doesn't change his standard from a big sinner to a little sinner because all are sinners and a little bacteria versus a lot of bacteria still contaminates the room his holiness when you and i understand that he cannot dumb down his standard then he has to condemn us you say but but i'm not as bad as john but god is not measuring you against john or betty or bill or ralph he's better measuring you against him and since he is the standard and he can't dumb down his standard he has to condemn us now this started with adam like a lineman who jumps offside the whole team had to be condemned now you might be saying well that's unfair because because he jumped offside yeah but you on the human team and if you would look at your life close enough you've jumped offside a few times yourself since all have sinned and come short of the glory of god so god cannot dumb down his standard to rescue us to save us the other option is to compromise his righteousness to say let's skip it but the problem with that is if he compromises his just reaction to unrighteousness then he is compromising his character and if he compromises his character he is no longer god so he would be living in a self-contradictory environment which means there would be an explosion of the universe because he would no longer be him to compromise his standard so he could condemn us he could compromise or he can make us righteous what god did on the cross on good friday was come up with a plan whereby that god could show his love without compromising his character in order to here is the technical word impute righteousness to sinful men on good friday imputation took place now let me change it and say it another way god changed your credit score in order to rescue us from eternal judgment he needed for everybody to have a perfect credit score the problem is we're imperfect people so our credit score is not sufficient to warrant heaven so he got to change our score but he can't make up a number he just can't say you have a perfect credit score it has to be a perfect credit score enter his process of salvation the first salvation to change your score through imputation how did he do that second corinthians 5 21 puts it this way he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of god in him for 33 years jesus christ lived a perfect life on earth he had a perfect credit score he never sinned in thought in word or indeed or as he said i've come to fulfill all righteousness he is the son of son sinless son of god he who knew no sin perfect score on the cross on good friday jesus christ took the sins of the whole world and took it upon himself and god judged him as though you were on the cross he was what we call in theology our substitute he took our place on the cross jesus christ paid for the sins of the whole world so god says this anybody who comes to christ god will take the credit score of jesus and place it on their account i stand before you with a perfect credit score not because i'm a perfect person but because i have a perfect credit god has credited the perfection of jesus christ to my account so that when god looks at my righteousness account he sees the score of jesus that's been credited to my account because i've placed not faith in me i've placed faith in him and because god has transferred the credit from him to me i stand before god as though i were him it is the transfer of credit here is where a lot of people are confused they're trying to build their own credit score the passage says why we were helpless in other words we could not improve our own score not with a holy god now you can improve it with your neighbor you can improve it with the folk you work with but not to a holy god who demands perfection he must have a perfect credit score so if you're trying to make heaven your home you're in for a big disappointment because no matter how much better you are this year than you were last year unless you are perfect you do not qualify before a perfect god and so if you're on the titanic if you're on the titanic the fact that you're a better person than the one in the next cabin is irrelevant the fact that you're the nicest person on the ship is irrelevant cut a whole ship going down so your human status doesn't change your destiny because the ship is going down the bible says that this world is headed to judgment now you may be better than the person in the next cabin but unless you satisfy the demands of god you're going down with the ship but god demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us sin has produced a debt with eternal interest payments said again sin has produced a debt with eternal interest payments it can never be paid off some of y'all don't need salvation to know that you got a debt you ain't been able to pay off because the interest keeps accumulating so god says i will pay off the debt and all the interest because i'm satisfied with the sacrifice of jesus christ so to participate in the first salvation which guarantees your heavenly glorification means that you have to come to jesus christ apart from works apart from trying to earn it apart from trying to deserve it unless you can be perfect you do not qualify for the demands of a holy god and a lot of people are confused because they think they can earn eternal salvation it cannot be earned by grace are you saved through faith not according to works so that no one will boast ephesians 2 8 9 says to put it another way you won't get to heaven and said say to god we did it didn't we he will get all the credit for your eternal salvation because you couldn't do it apart from him but he he loved you and me so much he said i'll do the whole package i do the whole kid in caboodle i'll take care of the whole process but you must place faith alone in christ's tone and he gives eternal life to all who come to him by faith he gives it away he will not let you earn it so that you don't get credit for it and so many people have not gotten a clear understanding of the gospel and so they're trying to earn something that god will only give away he said in order to give you eternal salvation i have to pick up the tab so if you come to christ and accept his death as your personal substitute he will forgive all of your sins and he will grant you eternal life i worked my way through college as a water safety instructor for a number of years before that i or a year before that i had been certified a lifeguard then i graduated through a course you have to take to become a water safety instructor now a water safety instructor trains lifeguards so i had been a lifeguard i swam competitively in in high school and then went to become a lifeguard then became a water safety instructor so now i'm supervising and training lifeguards on one occasion at the pool there was a gentleman who was in trouble he was drowning well this was a teaching opportunity for me to teach my lifeguards and in fact they were looking at me anyway so i dove into the water and began to freestyle out to him and got within about three feet and began to tread water he was panicking trying to survive i mean he wasn't light about this his arms were flailing gurgling coming out of his mouth because he was drowning and you could hear him muddle the word help help help but there was a problem i dove in to save him but he was insisting on saving himself the harder he tried to save himself the further he kept me from being his savior i couldn't be a savior if he was going to be his own savior unbeknownst to him he was keeping me from delivering him because he was insisting on trying to deliver himself and so the hands went everywhere and he didn't understand you cannot save yourself and me be your savior because as long as you insist on saving yourself you're keeping me awake and i'm here to save you i said to him trust me trust me stop flailing your arms he took a moment and he stopped trying to save himself i could see the terror in his eyes but when he stopped trying to save himself i was able to take over i swam around the back it's called the fireman's lift put my hand under his chin the elbow right against his back so i could boy him up and then sidestroked him to the deck mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and when things settled down the only thing he could say was thank you for saving me that's all he could say he couldn't take the credit because he was drowning trying to save himself you see some people are flailing their arms with church attendants if i go to church enough i'll get saved some people are flailing their arms with good works if i'm a nice neighbor i'm gonna make it to heaven somebody is flailing their arms with the ten commandments believing that if i keep more of the ten this year than i did last year i will save myself some people are flailing their arms with charity feeling if i'm charitable enough i'll get to heaven not understanding why we were helpless while we were unable to save ourselves christ died so the first thing you need to do is to come to jesus christ acknowledging that you are a sinner that you need a savior and that jesus christ is that savior and i accept him and him alone as my rescuer because to be saved is to be rescued from eternal judgment but what about if you're already on your way to heaven about if you're already saved in the traditional use of the word notice something that's often missed missed read over bypassed he says in verse 9 much more let me say much more much more means on top of all that now he already said in verse eight god demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were sinners christ died for us he deals with the death of christ in verses six through eight but now in verse nine he says much more having now been justified by his blood oh amen having been justified saved in number one having become a christian having accepted christ you're now on your way to heaven the word justified means to be acquitted is when god says not guilty it's when god says you've been pardoned you've been imputed on top of that in addition to that i want to save you again twice saved you know i'm talking about twice saved because he says we shall be saved from the wrath of god through him watch this verse 10 for if while we were enemies before we became christians we were reconciled to god through the death of his son much more there's our two words again having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life that's the resurrection he says you're justified by his death but you're saved by his life we just went from friday to sunday because we are justified by his death but he says we're saved the word saved to people who already justified by his resurrected life this is the second salvation this is the salvation that he offers to believers the first one he offers to sinners so that they become believers the second one he offers to believers related to their life in history your day-to-day life while you are on your way to glory he says i want to save you with my life it is unfortunate that believers do not understand the historical purpose of the resurrection there is the eternal benefit because you can't place a living faith in a dead savior but there is a historical benefit to be saved by his life jesus christ for the believer is in the salvific business the saving business remember to be saved means to be delivered to be rescued what does he save believers from once they become christians he says i save you from his wrath oh wait man wait a minute wait a minute i know could be a little confusing wait a minute i thought i was saved from his wrath when i got when i accepted christ i'm going to heaven oh yes yeah absolutely right you are saved from eternal wrath he's not talking about eternal wrath he's talking about historical wrath now time will not allow me to go into the all the idiosyncrasies of this when you have a chance read romans chapter 1 beginning with verse 18 he says the wrath of god has been revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness present tense you know talk about health and i talk about gehenna you know talk about the lake of fire he says the wrath of god has been revealed against all unrighteousness so he in romans 1 the same book is talking about a present wrath most of the time we think about eternal wrath not present wrath so let me explain present wrath so that you know how he wants to save you a second time present wrath is what we call the passive wrath of god the active wrath of god is like sodom and gomorrah he came down from heaven and he burned the cities up uh that's when he does it directly he opened up the earth cora and his family were judged uh the flood when he when he let it rain 40 days and 40 nights that's the active wrath of god he does it himself he brings it boom the death of jesus christ on the cross provided salvation from eternal wrath but the passive wrath of god in history still operates in romans 1 verse 24 26 and 28 it says these words in all three of those verses and god gave them over and god gave them over and god gave them over okay this is called divine abandonment this is when god abandons us to the consequences of our sin just because you saved don't mean you don't have consequences just because you saved and on your way to heaven don't mean you can't mess up your life on earth just because you're on your way to heaven doesn't mean that you cannot ruin your historical life the bible is full of messed up christians people who are on their way to heaven but who are not doing too good in history the wrath of god in romans 1 is god's wrath where he allows us to have the consequences of our rebellion many parents know what it is to love a child because you're their parent but abandon the child because of their actions not abandon your love but abandon your fellowship your relationship and your intimacy because they've been going crazy some of god's children go crazy many of us know what it is to have those periods in our lives where we acted a spiritual fool where we didn't obey god where we operated in a way of life that brought discipline or brought consequences or brought addictions we were saved number one but we're not saved number two he says god gave them over he released them to the consequences of their abandoning him and he calls that his wrath the passive wrath of god is his built-in abandonment not of his love relationship but of his intimate fellowship even with his own children but i have good news he still wants to save you uh much more on top of that i had a much more situation i was eating at some restaurant and i uh asked for the check the bill the waiter came over to me and said your meal has been paid for i i was saved from using my credit card your meal has been paid for one of the people here said they were a member of your church and they pay for your meal so whenever y'all see me in a restaurant they paid for your meal so i they didn't even show me who who it was or they may have already gone but your meal has been paid for so then i i said boy that's that's nice i wish i knew who they were so i could thank them and then then i said well let me give you your tip he said no no no much more than paying for your meal they told me not to let you give the tip and they gave me a very generous tip so i got my meal paid for and my tip was covered i then go out to get my car and if the restaurant was one of those uh places where you you you had to uh you had to pay for the valet and so i went to pay the valet and the valet guy said your car has already been covered they paid the valet for the car that's called much much more they paid for the car i went to give him a tip they said no no they told me not let you tip us and they gave me a generous tip on the cross jesus paid for your meal but he says twice much more on top of your eternal destiny he's saying by his life his resurrected life let me let me just review the weekend i don't want you to miss the weekend look on friday he died on sunday he rose okay but you need to know about saturday he didn't skip saturday because the scripture tells us that on saturday he went to hell and proclaimed victory okay on saturday he went to hell and told satan you lose we win he proclaimed defeat in hell which is why he could lead all the souls of saints to heaven at his resurrection which is why the bible says something many christians don't know when jesus rose from the dead it says a group rose with him and walked the earth with him to demonstrate the power of his resurrection on earth so jesus proclaimed victory on saturday based on his death on friday so that he could be your ongoing deliverer based on sunday so guess what that means your addiction doesn't have the last save your rebellion doesn't have the last say the consequences don't have the last say because he can deliver for believers after you've been saved number one to deliver you in salvation number two he can do that for you when you are walking with him so you go to him for forgiveness and then you walk with him for deliverance so that he can reverse the curse change the situation and i know there's somebody here who can testify i had wondered from god and i needed him to rescue me out of this problem rescue me out of this difficulty and he jumped into my pain jumped into my problem jumped into my rebellion jumped into my circumstance and he turned that thing around i'm here to tell you he not only wants to save you for heaven he wants to save you on the trip to heaven and he can turn your midnight into dancing he can turn yesterday's defeat into victory if you will decide to walk with the savior who saved you for free because he wants to deliver you much more so heaven is one thing but you're not there yet he wants to walk with you on earth so you give him all you've got because he's earned the right to be the boss if you will give him all you have he wants you to be twice safe twice safe so here's what i want you to do right now if you need to be saved once or twice i want you to talk to the lord for those online you can do it right where you are say lord number one i'm a sinner and i need a savior and i'm coming to jesus christ to be my savior i i cannot save myself i'm helpless i bring you my sinfulness and i trust you now to come into my life and be my only sin bearer to give me eternal life i'm not trying to earn it i'm receiving the credit score but then if you are already a christian but you need to be saved in history much more you need some victory some deliverance some rescue would you tell him lord rescue me i'm going to follow you because now that salvation demands following him i'm going to obey you i'm going to submit to you because i need to be saved from the consequences that i created for myself due to my sin or maybe it's not due to me it's due to somebody else but i still need rescue now that i have on the screen a qr code and if you ask for salvation one or salvation two i want you to fill that out or you can raise your hand and our ushers will give you a card and you can fill that out because we want to pray for you we want to we want to take you before the throne of grace so just the qr code or hold your hand up and they will give you something to fill out that you'll just put in one of the baskets as you leave so raise your hand up high so they can see that or take your phone and use your device to give us the information because we want to pray for you wherever you are online or in the house would you would you let us know we want to know who you are so if you neither if you need the card raise your hand up high unless you're using the code so that we can we can pray for you we can respond to you we can encourage you that's what we want to do so either way god is in the rescue business he wants to rescue you he wants to rescue you [Music] and for the rest of you just give him thanks that he's the rescuer and as you give him thanks we'll take a minute and be ministered to before we conclude with communion [Music] far away stood [Music] suffering and change but i love that old cross [Music] weather [Music] was so i'll cherish the old rocket crawls [Music] i lay down i will clean to the wrong [Music] our crown lord we come we come to you because we need saving thank you for the eternal salvation but thank you for much more thank you for the tips the additional things you do to remind us that you're still in the rescue business lord for those who need rescuing for eternity or rescuing for history rescue them as they come to christ apart from works and then as they walk with christ with obedient works intercede for them rescue them rescue us we have a nation that needs rescue lord we come to you we come to you so lord we eat this bread in remembrance of you and we're sure thankful for the blood we're justified by the blood we dream [Music] so we thank you for jesus the author and the finisher of our faith and we give you the glory in jesus name all god's people said amen and amen amen [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship

Views: 38,504

Rating: 4.9327216 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: WuqzDrbxNTw

Length: 105min 11sec (6311 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 04 2021