The Impossibility of the Christian Life - Paul Washer

[Music] let's open our Bibles to John chapter 15 moment we're going to stand from the text but before I explain a few things about the reading of Scripture Church maybe some of you are purchase we're not a great deal of priority is given to reading the scripture and yet it is commanded in 1st Timothy chapter 4 Timothy tells of Paul tells Timothy to not neglect this important aspect and I think that the Word of God is no longer read because it's simply reflecting modern attitudes in evangelicalism with regard to the Word of God now I know that sometimes you may be called upon to stand and to look at the scripture while a pastor is reading and you may say you know I've done that I don't get a lot out of it what does that mean what does that say about you and about me but let me encourage you as pastors sometimes we stand and we read the word and maybe we have to read the same passage several times in order to read it correctly for the congregation I want you to see two very important things one is that we read the word we listen to the word is an active portion you know it's not really biblical to say that we're going to do worship but after worship we're going to have the reading of the word and preaching because everything is supposed to be worship another thing that you need to understand is that when you and I listen even if we're not comprehending and even if there's a battle raging in our minds in the sense that we're being distracted but every time we're distracted we pull ourselves back to the text and we try to listen that much harder do you realize what you're doing you're loving God with your mind you are declaring that yes there is still an aspect of me that's very fallen yes I struggle through this Christian life but yes because the holy spirit has regenerated me I understand these are the words of life and by faith I am going to fight to keep my mind centered upon this text that's being read another thing that I would like to point out is the idea of faith God has set up in in this economy in which we live that everything we do practically is by faith for me to come here to preach I want you to know it's by faith because it's so often that we preach and we don't see anything we don't see a changing we don't see the revival that we're looking for so do we simply curl up in a ball do we do we give way to these types of things no our ministry is a ministry of faith you see so we come and we preach the Word of God by faith believing that even if we see nothing something has happened and when we stand and we read the Word of God we don't allow our minds just to stray unhindered we pull it back and we say no I will bring you into subjection I will bring every thought in subjection to Christ so when we stand and we read this is not some reformed ritual this is biblical and it offers you a greater opportunity right now to worship God than the song that we sang you see you were helped in that song by the rhyme in the rhythm and even the accompanying music you were helped but now you have no help when we read this text except the only one true helper the Paraclete the Holy Spirit so having said that let's stand up and let's read John chapter 15 in verse 1 I am The True Vine and my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine so neither can you unless you abide in me I am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him he bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing if anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you my father is glorified in this that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples just as the father has loved me I have also loved you abide in my love if you keep my Commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's Commandments and abide in his love these things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full this is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you greater love has no one than this that he lays down his life for his friends you are my friends if you do what I command you no longer do I call you slaves for the slave does not know what his master is doing but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you you did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name he may give to you this command I give you that you love one another let's pray father I come before you Lord in the name of your son father it's his character it's his righteousness it's his faithfulness that gives me confidence to pray he is my mediator father and I come before you in no other name but his Lord all my righteousness is like filthy rags Lord please for his sake for the building up of your people Lord used the weak use the the pitiful Lord make your word known to your people that they might live with a new sense of life and a new sense of power and a new sense of purpose that they might have hope that they can overcome sin that they can be more like Christ that you who began a good work in them will finish it Lord that there is a source of life and power in this Christian life much greater than what they've known father please help us Lord everything is rocked everything is useless everything is weak apart from your spirit Lord even our sacrifice of preaching Lord is nothing unless you sanctify what's laid on the altar father please for the reputation of Christ and for the good of these people out of my own need father I cry that you would speak to us that you would teach us in Jesus name Amen all right you may be seated I want so much for your joy to be increased I want so much for your joy to be increased if you are a Christian I want that the life of Christ be a greater reality in your life than you've ever known I know you because I'm just like you I look in the mirror I know what I see I see the spots and the blemishes in the deformities I know that many of you because you have been born again you have a heart to be more like Christ you have a heart to look like him act like him talk like him but then you look in the mirror and you see so much failure and oftentimes you see so little power and you wonder sometimes will this just keep grinding on and grinding on and grinding on and then I know you turn on the television in desperation and you hear all sorts of wild promises from wild and undisciplined men who do not know the scripture in the scripture they do know they twist and they promise you all sorts of things but it all turns into nothing I know it's life to preach and the pulpit in front of thousands of people and I know what it's like to see many many people converted and I know what it's like to be impatient with my children and not to love my wife as Christ loves the church I see the contradiction inside me all the time but I want you to know that even though the Christian life is a work of sanctification and the progress is sometimes three steps forward and four steps back and sometimes 10 steps forward one step back I want you to know that there is great Oh that you will become more like Christ and there is a source of life and power there truly is it is an abiding ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ and it's laid out for us here in this chapter I want to understand this chapter not simply so that I can teach it to you I must understand this chapter so that I can live because just like you I grow tired sometimes so many words and so little power so much knowledge and yet finding it difficult to do the most simple things I know that until Christ comes and I experienced my final glorification with you I know that the Christian life is going to be a struggle yes I will acknowledge that a struggle yes but not a defeat we can go from glory to glory but it is somehow all uniquely intimately related to Christ it is not related to a gimmick it is not related to a teaching it's not related to a certain blessing it is related to a person and that's what this text is about that person and how do we abide in him I was looking through my notes yesterday and today and I just don't know if I'm going to get through this in one sermon if and if I don't I might have to carry on the next time but we need to understand this you need to there is so much more out there and it's ours it's ours the promises are ours Christ is yes and amen for we are the ones living in the end in the last days in the fullness of time the Messiah has come the Messiah is reigning now as we live here on this earth we will always be the church in the wilderness we will always be a people battered and belittled we will always struggle against this flesh don't let any one kid you but at the same time these are the days of Messiah these are the days of Christ the work has been done but that finished work is not a call to apathy these things must be fought for and applied I want us to look we begin in verse 1 Jesus says I am The True Vine now in a nutshell what does that mean now I know this is going to sound cliche but it could take you a lifetime to actually understand it Jesus is the source of all true spiritual life there is one mediator and it is Jesus Christ so whatever this message is about it is about you throwing down every so called teaching and gimmick that supposedly will prop up your spiritual life and this is begging you this sermon to run to Christ like the woman to grab ahold of the hem of His garment to not let go not just my friend for salvation in the sense of justification but to grab a hold of him and not let go for everything because he is not only our justification is not only our Redemption he's our sanctification he's everything he is the source of all true spiritual life now whenever you look at a passage like this one of the things you need to ask yourself is did this just come up at this moment or is Christ drawing on a metaphor found somewhere else because you would be amazed if you would the old testament how much of everything jesus said is drawn from the old testament it truly is and so I want us just to hold our place for a second I want you to look at something I want you to go to Psalms chapter 80 and verse 8 as a matter of fact one of the things that so convinces me as though I needed some other convincing other than the illumination of the Holy Spirit but just an a practical scientific sort of way that the Scriptures are truly the Word of God is the unity of them and how they just flowed together you can't make this stuff up but in Psalms 80 per se he's speaking of of Yahweh of God and the nation of Israel and he says you removed a vine from Egypt you drove out the nation's and planted it you cleared the ground before it and it took deep root and filled the land the mountains were covered with its shadow and the cedar of God with its boughs and it was sending out its branches to the sea and it shoots to the river and then it changes why have you broken down its hedges so that all who passed that way may pick its fruit a boar from the forest eats in a way and whatever moves in the field feeds on it and so what do we see we see the nation of Israel was a vine that God brought out of Egypt he redeemed the nation of Israel from Egypt and Israel under the blessing of God walking in obedience walking in the covenant with God was to be in a sense a vine that spread out into all the world giving what spiritual life and bearing fruit but then we see all of a sudden a turn where the one who was supposed to be bearing fruit is now being attacked is being eaten alive why is that well I want us to go for a moment to the Book of Isaiah chapter 5 beginning in verse 1 let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard my well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile Hill he dug it all around removed its stones and planted it with the choicest vine and he built a tower in the middle of it and also hewn out a wine VAT in it when he expected it to produce good grapes but it produced only worthless ones or wild ones and now o inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge between me and my vineyard what more has there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it why when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones so now let me tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground I will lay it waste now listen it will not be pruned or hoed but briars and thorns will come up I will also change the clouds to rain no rain on it now what are some of the points that I want us to see first of all Israel as many other characters individual personalities in the Old Testament were raised up by God as types as types of something that was to come that would be much great a perfect completion of that thing and here we have the nation of Israel which was to be something of a source of spiritual life for the nation's and bear fruit unto God but we see what that it failed that it failed why did it fail because it was flesh because it was man because it was dependent upon men and every time man is figured into the equation there is failure but this thing in the Old Testament that we see of this consistent failure is designed to produce in us what looking away from man who is nothing more than a nose full of breath at any given time to look away from men and to look to God for all spiritual life let me give you an example we see it all over here we see the Magnificent faithful Noah but isn't it end isn't it amazing that in the end what do we see about him he fails why because men are not saviors and Noah and all his failure is pointing to one who is to come who is greater than Noah we have a Moses magnificent Redeemer of Israel one used mightily of God to deliver his people from the land of bondage but he himself cannot even enter in why human failure so what do we learn from this that if there is a vine out there if there is some fountain to give us life it is not a man nor is it the work of men it is 100% God and therein lies your problem and therein lies my problem whether we are trusting in Christ or another man or another teacher or another camp or we are trusting in Christ and self whenever man enters into the equation all you can expect is failure now another thing that I want you to see in this metaphor of the vineyard and of the vine of course ultimately it is speaking about Christ but there's also some warning here for us today in the church we are not the vine but we are the branches and we are to grow and spread and go over walls and bear fruit throughout all the land but there is a thing that can stop that and that is our own disobedience that is our own failure to see that we have been separated uniquely for God and for no one else the God who governs over his church is a jealous and zealous God it is because He loves you he did all this to bring you to himself and not to share you the men and the women down through church history that have been most used of God have been quite different in their personality and even sometimes in their theology but they all seem to have one common thing running through their veins a sense of separation unto God that they belong to God and that the fruit they bear is to be bore unto him and for his glory I know that you want to bear fruit I know that you want to do good things in the name of your God but you've got to realize this is not I'm going to go 25% 35% 75 percent or even 98 percent you must have a heart that although you will never achieve perfect devotion you must have a heart that is longing for that God I want to be all for you I've turned 50 a few months ago my only regret is not what I've given it's what I've kept it's what I kept and I hate it and it hangs on me like canker sores as we talk about Christ as the true source of all spiritual life I want you to know it's just talk unless you're willing to go after the major problem and that is a heart given to him all for him everything for him your life for him breathing for him heartbeats for him movements of the hand feet nose mouth and ears all for him you are not your own you were bought with a price I can teach you absolutely everything possibly you need to know about John 15 but it will do you no good unless a decision of the heart is made unless it comes to you taught by the spirit that you belong to God and you are to bear fruit for him alone and you say yes by the grace of God this one thing I pursue blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God so well think that that has to do something to do with mysticism or some type of monkish purity oh the word there literally means unalloyed a heart with no mixture with no competing loyalties you see you can bear fruit and you can be mightily used of God with a bare minimum of information in your head if your heart is pursuing purity undivided loyalty to God some of you who are young believers you desire ought to be to pour yourself out for him to be his vineyard to bear fruit for him that everything you do with eat or drink or any other thing you do it all into the glory of God and if you are older beyond my years in your 60s and 70s and 80s your passion should not be diminished you should still be crying out I want to give more to God than I have given so you see it's not just about learning what does John 15 mean it's preparing the heart Lord I want to be yours I want to bear fruit for you if you've given me talents I will not spend them on the world given me gifts I will not use them for my own advantage if you give me breath I will return it to you and praise to give me strength it's that I love you with all my strength you see we almost need to stop now don't we because the great searching of the heart is required to go on if you want to be half way about this then the rest of these meetings will do you no good but to be passionately given over to this one thing I want to be his I don't want the world I don't want its glory I don't want its Fame I want to bear fruit for him and I want to bear fruit if God wills it in front of 5,000 people preaching or if God wills it no one knows my name I want to bear fruit I'm going to hit a lot of things I'm going to throw a lot of stones I want you to realize this if you're a young preacher here today there's a terrible thing going on everybody thinks that being well-known on YouTube or in at the book table or in the conference's is a sign of spirituality there has never been a greater lie you do not dedicate yourself to the cause of God so that people might recognize you even the people of God in this life you do not know you do it for him and never forget this as a philosophical question would God plant his most beautiful rose his most beautiful branch in the middle of a forest where no living human being ever walks would he do that the answer of the first-year seminary student is why no how could he get glory out of planting such a beautiful thing in a place where no one passes by you fool he gets glory out of it every day because he looks at it he doesn't need other men to look at it he doesn't need other men to applaud he doesn't need other men to buy books and to get glory out of an individual he sees a godly man a godly woman dedicated unto Him and bearing fruit unto Him he sees it and rejoices and he takes the attention of every creature in heaven and pulls it off the one of renown and makes them look at one no one knows so be encouraged we don't live our Christian life just on a stage for men to see we live our Christian life on a stage for God to see and he sees us all so will you make that decision of the heart will you make this a matter pursuit that I long to bear fruit for him to not give off wild grapes to not be a wild vine with no order to it along to be his and to bear fruit for him that's the first challenge will you do this because if you do not there's no need to go any farther so we see here Jesus says that he is the true vine he alone he's not in a conjunctive relationship it's not Jesus plus something it's Jesus alone who is the true vine now I want you to notice something here that's very important first of all Jesus is and I've said this before but I'm gonna say it again he is the exclusive source of all spiritual life so whatever that means you should from the very beginning that if you are going to live this Christian life with any degree of power it is going to come directly from your intimate personal real biblical relationship with Jesus he is the true vine but also he's the bread of life listen to what John 6 says Jesus said to them I am the bread of life he who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in Me will never thirst let me ask you a question do you go through your Christian life many times hungry inwardly hungry in the soul I do do you go through Christian life at times thirsty inwardly there's a thirst of the soul you feel barren do you know what that is it's not the devil robbing your joy that is God screaming out to you to run to Christ to draw in deeper to Christ I want you to know that those who grab a hold of him truly and in vibe of him and drink of him and feed from him they are not hungry they are not thirsty and if you find yourself most hungry and thirsty it is God screaming out to you to return to return I see so many believers that say I'm hungry and I'm thirsty so therefore I'll go from sea to shining sea chasing a word from the Lord I'll listen to this new teacher a watch YouTube to find out if there's some exciting personality on the horizon who can help me and God is screaming at you saying now run to my son we were in Romania years ago and my wife was teaching over the weeks a few of some of the girls that were there some of the ladies and they in the end they were kind of put out with her because one girl said every problem I have you give me the same answer that I need to run to Christ through the Word of God in prayer and my wife says I'm sorry I have no other answer but we don't want to do that do we we would rather run to min and teaching and procedures and methods and ten steps to get this or that rather than running to Christ you see the old Saints knew this that's where they talked so much about being alone with God in the closet reading through the scriptures on their knees crying out to God I'm sorry America there is no instantaneous Christian power there's no microwaves in heaven it's no instant anything it is clinging and clinging and clinging and clinging to Christ it is clinging to him you know in the fall where we see that a curse comes upon the devil a curse comes upon Adam and a curse comes upon Eve the implications of that of course with the devil it's pure judgment but within the curse upon man and woman we also see mercy do you know how every time the man goes out he goes into the field and he works day and night only to lose his own crop he sweats every day of his life and feels the knife pain of utility and uselessness and vanity you say that's the judgment of God yes but mixed in that is the mercy of God because every instance of utility it is God screaming out at him fallen fallen fall and return to me return to me return to me there is no life apart from me every time the woman gives birth and screams out with a pain a man it's never comprehended it is God crying out to her fallen fallen return to me return to me every time the Christian in orderly feels thirst and hunger it is God crying out to you return to me return to me but you would not you be led away by some Pied Piper if you led away by some promise of a certain method that if it's applied correctly you will be okay nothing nothing will take away your hunger and your thirst if you're to truly regenerate but Christ only Christ you see if you have been read generated by the holy spirit know this you are now too high a creature to be satisfied by anything less than God you are now too high a creature to be satisfied by anything less than God and if you can be satisfied by something less than God it is good evidence you are not converted God will be the one who will ensure there is emptiness in your soul chasing after anything except Christ himself it's also he says here that he is the fountain of living water in John 7 it says now on the last day the great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried out saying if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink he who believes in me as the scripture said from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water now I want us to look at this for a moment because it's so important to understanding John 15 it's very important first of all I don't need any other text in the Bible to prove the deity of Jesus Christ this statement is blasphemy no prophet talks this way no prophet in the Old Testament no apostle in the New Testament no you can't say these things my dear friend unless you're God you cannot say these things on the last now on the left day the great day of the feast it's the last day we've ever been to a great feast even a great religious festival or a great preaching conference went there with this great anticipation of just your life being changed of you being totally filled by some preacher and the wisdom that God has given him and you get in your car and you drive home and you feel almost nauseous why because just to be almost as thirsty and hungry leaving as when you came that's the mercy of God he's crying out to you there is only one fountain and it's Jesus now you say but brother Paul I've sought him I hear so many people will tell me this brother Paul but I've read the scriptures and I I cry out to him and and nothing and my question even though it may seem too practical too simplistic is always how long how long an hour a day 24 hours a week a year how long most have to just simply put their head down and say I can't even use that language you see my dear friend I wish I could take you through the annals of church history and show you how superficial we are as a people we feel a thirst we feel a hunger in our heart we decide to increase our Bible study from 5 minutes to 15 we try to sneak in a little prayer maybe an hour or two for a couple of days and then what it's gone oh my dear friend were such know not only do I tell you to study the scriptures I tell you to look at church history it's never been this way what do you see you don't see great Saints who were just born great Saints what you see you see is desperate men desperate women who had no place to go who became convinced they could not be satisfied who were known to study the scriptures for months on end digging with all their might who were known to wrap themselves up and in a closet and cry out to God night after night after night after night we've developed this thing of he should come if he doesn't come in a few minutes well this this stuff just doesn't work oh my dear friend it's a lifetime it's a lifetime you see one of the things I think that is so different from the preachers who raised me and the preachers of today preachers of today are very smart I don't know how much time they spend with God preachers of old like the Prophet they could say the God before whom I stand they dwelt with him they fed upon his word they cried out in the watches of the night when they couldn't sleep they saw it as God coming to them and wooing them from their bed to meet with him when they were confronted with problems they ran to God and they were known to stay there for days we're not like that are we will give a few minutes a few days and then say it doesn't work something's obviously wrong Moses on a mountain for 40 days and then another 40 not saying that's what we have to do but just look at the comparison between him and us my dear friend I want to tell you something these words are true and that's the thing that so encourages me they really are true he says you come to me you will not hunger you come to me you will not thirst that means to me I can go into the prayer closet I can grab ahold of the horns of the altar and I can stay there and wrestle with my God until he fulfills the promises he has made such boldness God loves he loves that tell most like every angel passes by and says you fool how long will you tarry at this door until you can prove to me my masters words are not true he will answer he will fill me he will the problem is we do not tarry the problem is we think there's a plan B the problem is we think there's an easier way there's no easier way than to trust and obey and then to seek Him in prayer than to join him in the night watches listen every time you thirst that's God calling you to prayer it's God calling you to the word it's God calling you to seek Him every time you're hungry it's God I don't want to know don't don't talk to me about words but power life that is what validates talk talk talk nobody cares but power to live see there's hope isn't there there is hope but this Christian life is not this little thing it's everything it's not this little quiet time it's 24 hours it's a wild and wonderful and dangerous impassioned journey pursuit chase after God who loves to be found now one of the things that I must warn you on more than probably anything else during this sermon time is simply this if you look in the Old Testament and you look and look in church history and you look around you today you will find that you and I even the regenerate even those who are truly converted we are still prone to chase after false cisterns false fountains mirages that truly will not quench our thirst and I want you to know that evangelicalism is absolutely full of them now let me read amaya 2 11 and 13 the nation changed gods when they were not gods but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit be appalled o heavens at this and be very silat declares the Lord for my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living water to hew for themselves cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water a broken cistern I guess it's not a synonym for broken cistern could also be just simply and something that you are running to something that you are going to in replacement of Christ something that you as an individual are something that the church as a whole runs to and I want to give you a list of some of those things but before I do let's look at jeremiah just for a moment chapter 2 he says here has a nation changed God's when they were not gods he says there's never been this is amazing he's basically saying this there's really never been a case with the pagan people that had false gods that changed their false gods I mean there are pagans who would die before they would change their gods and yet he says my people that have a true God they have changed their glory for that which does not profit now he says this be appalled o heavens at this and shudder be very desolate declares the Lord I want you to know something you know it may think about and rightfully so that adultery is it is a terrible terrible vile crime against God and against the body that's true murder is a vile thing lying stealing all these things against the law of God they are vile God says they are an abomination to him but very rarely do we hear something like this be appalled O heaven at this and shudder and be very desolate he's calling all of heaven to attention and telling heaven to literally shudder at some sin that is so vile what is it when we go to anyone other than God to fill us when we go to anything other than God to satisfy us now again let me go back to this my dear believer listen to me God is so jealous now I know the way Hollywood puts its twist on that in a way media puts its twist on it's just because they don't understand the Scriptures what that text mean is means is that God loves you he really really loves you and that he knows there is nothing good for you apart from him his jealousy is motivated by his love he knows that the best thing you could ever do is forsake absolutely everything to claim only him and angers him to see you thirsty it angers him to see you poor spiritually it angers him to see you hungry out of his love for you his burning zeal for you and therefore he cries out to you turn to me turn to me this is one of the great reasons for trials this is one of the great reasons for all the maladies that are in our life they are God's strong wind to blow us to him and I see this all the time if you study church history in times of persecution you see a purified people why do you see a purified people because everything is taken away from them every prop in every help but God or you see even a country vineya it seems to just kind of be meandering through its spiritual life and then all of a sudden the beloved Saint and that small congregation is struck down with some disease that is supposed to be fatal what happens in the church something of a revival why no one can help them but God but we live in a nation that has so many props in so many helps in so many salesmen and so many things being offered to fill the people of God that we so easily turn away from him and we look for hope and joy and peace and life and power and so many things other than simply the person of Jesus Christ and an intimate relationship with him and when we do it is appalling it is appalling he goes on my people have committed two evils they have forsaken name as I grow in my Christian life and as the years roll on so quickly there is an intimacy there is a thing that starts happening let me give you an example I love the law of God I'm taught in the scriptures to love the law of God but I can honestly tell you I don't walk around all day thinking about the law of God or being really concerned about breaking some precept it is walking around concerned that I not offend a person that are not grieve a person that are not quench a person that I am walking with Christ that Christ is dwelling in me and yes I meditate upon the law of God I love the law of God it instructs me and all these things but what I have as a person and I don't just do not look there because the law says don't set your eyes on that evil thing no it's do not look there because I do not want to offend Christ because I enjoy the life of the Spirit because there is something of a power there is something of a life flowing through me changing me transforming me encouraging me and when that thing is quenched it gives me is this intimacy with Christ he says my people have committed two evils one of them is they have forsaken me my dear friend you will run to every person in the world to fix your problems you'll run to every counsellor in the world to fix your problems but spend so little time with Jesus Christ so little time in his word when I was a missionary in Peru and a young man God was really prosper the church and it was growing and this this peruvian pastor came to me one day and he sat down in front of me and he said Paul I've come here to rebuke you and I said well okay brother why you're leading your people into idolatry it's a brother that's a pretty stiff charge what's your grounds he goes when they have a problem who do they come to so they come to me I'm the pastor and what do you do well I pray with them I look in the scriptures I do you know I show them things and he goes Paul as a pastor you have taken the place of God in their life he says these he said were Peruvian we were we were raised to believe that the priest had all the answer you've just exchanged places and I said well brother what should I do he said when they come to you the first question ought to be have you tarried with God what has God shown you how has God helped you how has God directed you and Paul when they tell you I don't know what you're talking about then say that God is the only one that can fix your problems and as a pastor I will help you find the answers I will lead you back to Christ over and over again so that you do not draw your life from me you do not draw your wisdom from me but from God and so people would come to me and they'd say brother Paul I had this problem and I would say okay what is it what's this this this what has God shown you what what do you mean well how much have you studied the scriptures with regard to this matter and how much time have you spent in prayer and they'd say well I have you know I have I came to you who exactly I want you to go back and I want you to study this now there were some times when it was a crucial matter that had to be addressed immediately but for the most part I could say I want you to go back and study the scriptures and pray for two weeks and they'd say to me I don't even know where to begin I would write out a list of all the texts and I would take this go home cry out to God seek the will of God come back and I will continue to and trust you and lead you back to him and back to him and if you come to me with a wild interpretation I'll show you a better way but I'll keep pushing you back to him you see believe need pastors we need teachers we need these things but what you've got to understand is there are no priests except Christ there are no high priests or mediators except him now that doesn't mean you're an island unto yourself that you should never go to a brother you should never go to a pastor you most certainly should but you shouldn't bypass Christ that's a false a broken system I want to point out something for you that I think are very very important first of all one of the great broken cisterns in our world today is religious ritual it's very possible some commentators believe that when Jesus was coming out of the upper room and passing through the Kidron Valley on his way to the Garden of Gethsemane that you could possibly look back and see the front of the temple and over the temple gates was a gigantic golden vine some historians say it was it was gigantic that the grapes were the size of a man was a gigantic golden vine that represented Israel and represented the ritual and the service of the Old Testament cult of the Old Testament worship service of the sacrifices and the rituals and the washings and it's very possible that Jesus was looking at that and saying the same thing he said to the woman in Samaria I'm telling you the source of spiritual life isn't on that mountain and it's not on that mountain and it's not in this ritual in that ritual and that sacrifice and that washing it's in me I am The True Vine and if you want spiritual life and spiritual growth if you want to mature if you want to bear fruit you must come to me to do it they said brother Paul we don't have a temple so what how could this be applied today well let me give you a few things first of all now I'm please understand me when I say this if your church has this I'm not trying to attack you and I'm not saying it's wrong I'm just saying that it's awful interesting that it's almost on every website I say that you look you click on a church and you see in so many churches especially those that specialize in church growth in categorizing people and demographics you click on the website and the first thing you see are all these beautiful smiling people who are there to affirm you to love you they're just wonderful people to be around you can raise your kids with them do you know what that saying they're using the congregation they're replacing Christ with the congregation they don't even you can't even find Jesus on the website it's all about this wonderful affirming congregation and if you come within this wonderful affirming congregation then your needs will be met my friend that's a false system there are so many people today around this country those of you that are from more reformed circles you may not even know this is going on but I can assure you it is it's all about the congregation come and see our beautiful affirming congregation are happy people who will make you happy too but it's true now I know Jesus said that all men will know that you are my disciples by your love for one but this is completely different you can't find Jesus on the website it's all about a beautiful congregation and getting connected is the word now with all those wonderful people you're lonely we've got wonderful people here you have no friends we have wonderful people here be very hard for them to sing a hymn about Jesus being the friend of sinners being a friend like no other friend because Jesus is far away in the background because a group of smiling affirming loving people is not scandalous a crucified and risen Savior is scandalous another thing that I want to point out is the church event I have sometimes been asked to preach in places I investigate better now where the whole thing is a cleverly designed festival entertainment extravaganza and everybody lives they live from week to week just on what goes on in those meetings wonderful beautiful orchestrated music powerful emotional full of joy a lecture or some sort of talk that builds you up and edifies you and makes you think you can you think you can and you go out there again for another week and Christ is not there not pointing the people to Christ it's all about the music it's all about the atmosphere it's all about presenting certain things in certain ways so as to encourage certain people my dear friend the one thing I love so much about the church where I attend where I'm just I'm just a member if you're coming there you won't come there for anything other than Jesus because Jesus is the only thing offered that's it what are you doing your church pray corporate prayer the reading of the word the exposition of the word few hymns more corporate prayer seeking Christ my dear friend I love people I love congregations and I love music and I love all these things but they are so far in the background it's Jesus you need Christ I know it sounds like a cliche but I really mean you need Christ woman you're so dissatisfied in your husband because he doesn't meet all your needs he was not designed to meet all your needs and if you are a Christian he will never be able to meet all your needs now that you have been rated there was only one who can satisfy you it's not your husband it's Jesus it's not your wife sir it's Jesus it's not your parents it's not your children it is only Christ do you see that everything else is a broken sister another thing that sometimes replaced is Jesus today as a source of spiritual life daily devotions quiet times I met I did my thing me a modern day scenario listed to read your two chapters today did you pray down through your prayer list yes good good the old preachers would say this did you meet with Jesus in the word today did you meet with him in prayer today are you clinging to Christ are you looking on to Jesus are you growing in dependence upon him we just reduced everything down to little rituals and little blocks of time so the person can be satisfied in the Christian life it's as though Jesus pulled him out of a closet for 10 minutes and then put him back in and go live the rest of their life everything in our life is designed so that we never let go of Jesus you see the metaphor that we're going to get to hopefully in the next several days in this text is simply this a branch can no cannot live apart from the vine it cannot you can not live apart from an ongoing imbibing and feeding off of Christ now there is a sense and we will talk about it in which that is positional that you have been redeemed you have been united with Christ he is your head you're the body but there is another sense in which that must be appropriated that it becomes a reality we're going to talk about that in time another thing that has become very popular in churches very popular is that they have replaced Christ with the calash inherit of worldly wisdom and philosophy psychology self-realization self-help getting your best life now if someone wants to be a motivational speaker that is fine with me be a secular motivational speaker it's like giving giving wine or liquor to a man who has no hope take away his pain but in Christianity we don't have that sort of stuff it's like it's like I don't know it's like Jesus rides the coattails of other things let me give an example the idea of marriage I teach on marriage marriage is very important to me but it's like when churches and Christianity is based around just having a good marriage and a good family and riding in on that is Jesus or even I've seen it with finance know there are ministries out there Dave Ramsey's and others who do all this stuff in finances I appreciate some of the wisdom that's there and I'm not blaming them but I see people get all excited about in the name of Jesus fixing their finances but they have no love or passion for Christ they're hopped up about what all this does for them in the name of Jesus but there's no sense of relationship my dear friend this is wrong the mature Christian doesn't want a good marriage as an end in itself that's idolatry the mature Christian doesn't want sound finances that's not their goal that would be idolatry the mature Christian wants to honor Christ in his marriage wants to honor Christ in his finances there are professions there are politics that have adopted Jesus as a means to attain their end no my friend all of that stuff is far less than secondary Christ alone is primary another thing that we have supernatural experiences now I know I'm probably dealing with two very different or extreme groups of people possibly here tonight there are people who are all about experiences all about experiences have no truth there's people have all kinds of truth and are deader than a doornail but I want to tell you something the Christian life the source is not going to some meeting and getting all excited acquiring fire or having something happen to you again it is going to Christ my different listen to me as I grow and as I become older and with age and the study of scripture wiser it doesn't make me more independent it makes me more dependent there's so much at stake I cling to him I can help my children I can help my wife I can't help the congregation's I preach I can't even help my own soul the only word is to the sinner run to Christ flee to Christ cling to him do not let him go and the same messages for the saint run to Christ run to Christ it's not supernatural experiences its Christ another thing and this is very important I want you to listen to me this has become very very rampant in Christianity today a moralism we are all witnessing the demise of the Western culture some of you young people can't even understand what I am saying because they do not teach you history anymore we do not live in the same country that existed even 25 years ago we do not live in the same country that existed 50 years ago 150 200 years ago it is a completely different entity our founding fathers would be so nauseated they would vomit they may even turn them if they knew what would become of their work they may have turned from it and never even sought out this great experiment in democracy so we have that demise but I see parents especially homeschooling parents and I'm a homeschool they don't make much of Jesus they make much of the founding fathers of our country they make much of principles and rules and laws and character building and integrity and precepts and all these things these moralities these these different ways of acting that are excellent my dear friend my number one purpose as a homeschooler is that my children might see Christ to be everything that they might see Christ to be precious Christianity is not primarily an ethical or moral religion it has a distinct ethic it has a distinct morality but our our faith is not about a group of propositional truths merely or a certain ethic our faith is about following a person it's about being devoted to a person it is about loving a person and the greatest thing I can do for my children is to genuinely be passionate about Christ for them to see that everything even my morality is rot in comparison to the person of Jesus Christ and knowing him this is what we want to instill I hear so many people will go to when they're talking about raising their children they'll go to Deuteronomy chapter 6 these things should be on our heart we should teach them to the children when they go out when they come in when we walk by the way and they totally miss the point it is not that we're supposed to just teach them rules on how to walk how to live how to talk how to stand or how to shake somebody's hand no the whole idea is in walking in the way and going out and going in we teach them to love the Lord their God with all their heart soul mind and strength yes your children need morality but if that's all you give them congratulations you're building a pharisee before I became a Christian I was a wild man and I am still a wild man and it is not a desire for rules and principles that cause me to walk in the narrow way it is a person who shared his own blood for my soul that's the only thing that will tame this heart it's the only thing that will tame any heart we follow a person we seek after a person and he is real and he can be known another thing is a powerful preacher has been placed many times as a substitute for Jesus Christ let me share with you something the charismatic s' they have their men and white coats who can blow on people and knock them down those are the heroes the evangelicals they have their men with big buildings big budgets and a bunch of baptisms and they are the heroes and in the reform movement we have men who are very very very intelligent and all of it's wrong my dear friend I have learned so much I love church history I'm not ashamed to say I love the Puritans I love Spurgeon and Martyn lloyd-jones I love many of the preachers today from the Pipers and on that have been such a blessing to me but they can not replace Christ and I cannot run to them or run to their books I can only read their books if their books take me to Christ and the men I most appreciate would rather have all their books burned than for someone to read them and stop there it is Christ that we need you see I'm saying this to you but everybody says there's something but here's the thing I know that only the Holy Spirit can make this real in your mind and make you understand what I'm talking about is to cut away all other things and run to Christ I so appreciate my wife one time because I'm always I mean it thunders it lightnings or anything I'm out of bed in a second I'm wanting to check on my children my little boys in there something's happening I want to check on it and one time it kind of thundered and one of my children were kind of stirring and I jumped up and my wife reached over and she said Paul that child does not need to learn to call upon a dad who will come running every second that child knows enough now and needs to learn to call upon a God that doesn't mean we don't seek to meet the needs of our children or go to them when they're crying but I think the point is very clear isn't it my children don't even need a wonderful dad who will always be there as a matter of fact I would say this it would be better that they had a drunken dad who was never there if his absence caused them to turn to Christ oh my dear friend I love to say this a young man came to me one time and he goes brother Paul you're right Jesus is is all we need I said young man Jesus is all we have that's what I meant but that's not what you said he is all we have and apart from him we have nothing he's all we have another thing and I want to be very clear about this but it sometimes replaced Christ in the circles in which I run is knowledge theological knowledge now I want you to know something again I'm addressing several different camps of people here people ask me sometimes brother Paul where does the zeal come from and I say this I'd love to say it this way systematic theology and Asia they can't you didn't hear me that my question is where does the zeal come from now I say systematic theology why because it's gotten such a bad report for most people these days my zeal comes from Christ but I understand the things of Christ from the truths of Scripture well-ordered and I want you to know that knowledge is not divorced from Christianity in the scriptures we are to grow in our knowledge we are to love the Lord our God with all our mind the reason why Christianity in America is in the state it's in is two reasons one a great majority of the people call themselves Christians are unconverted unregenerate and are not Christian the other is the absolute theological ignorance of those who are preaching I will say it and I will say it again it is true have so many young men will come to me and they go I want to be a missionary I'm going to go the mission field right now and the first thing I'll ask them is okay great wonderful we need more missionaries I'm gonna give you five minutes talk to me about penal substitution and though I don't know what you're talking about and I'll explain it I still don't know what you're talking about and then I plead with them please whatever you do do not go to the mission field we do not need another person who wants to give us life away there are more missionary activity in this world today than in the history of the church and most of it is wrought and why is it wrought I'll tell you why it's wrought a man called me years and years ago and said brother Paul I want to come to Peru and work with you I said talk to me about your doctor and he says I'm not big on doctrine I just want to come to prune give my life away I said how are you an intercessory prayer he said prayer I've always struggled with but I want to come to Peru just give my life away I said young man there is no one in Peru who needs your life they need God and they need someone who can open up their mouth and tell them about God correctly with passion and with power so knowledge is necessary knowledge isn't everything you can have just one fallen head teaching another fallen head words words words so many words so little power we must know but this Christian life is not just propositional truth our faith is founded upon the sound doctrine of the scripture but the sound doctrine of the scripture is not an end in itself listen to what Jesus said he said you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life it is these who testify about me I know men who know all about the Scriptures but if I were to talk to them about depending upon Christ clinging to Christ they wouldn't have a clue what I'm talking about it's more than words its power and if I get a chance I'm going to talk to the one of the essentials in prayer is that the words that we study the knowledge that we have that it becomes a reality in our life that it's fanned into a flame through our prayer lives and through the Providence of God my son we were we were doing something one day saw in a magazine of this metal man or iron man if it's called it shoots flames out of his hands and his feet and everything else and my son said I'd like to build a suit like that and I told him and if you I'd really like to fly in it but then I said it's not that there's some certain problems here and I said what I said well I don't know about much about this character but just looking at this picture I can tell you this there's not enough metal in that suit to withstand the weight he is supposedly picking up so I don't know what's inside that suit but I know that our technology is not that advanced that's an impossibility son but there's greater problem he said what's that I said it is the great problem in mechanics all mechanical engineering it doesn't matter if you can build it doesn't matter if it's structurally sound can um here's the battery thing and the battery on this thing unless I guess your metal man or Iron Man would be so large that you would need all the strength of the thing to pick up the battery itself and so my pull point is son the idea is you can have the structure but if you do not have the power or the life it doesn't matter it's the same way for those of you who are from a more reformed perspective I love the Creed's I love the confessions I'm marvel in the things the conciseness the preciseness the beauty of them but I want you to know something you can have the knowledge of David Brainerd but unless you're out in the snow laying upon a log crying out to God for power it will do you a little good as we learn in this text and I'm sorry we have advanced so little but as we've learned in this as we will learn in this text there is a sense in which every bit of fruit that we produce there's a sense as a result of prevailing believing prayer if you think I made that up we're going to see it in scripture but also one of the most marvelous things that I see da Carson saying about this text is simply that that the fruit that we produce as Christians the life that we produce as Christians is directly related to prayer in these last moments that Jesus has with his disciples here in the book of John it is amazing how much he is dealing with prayer with prayer with prayer everything is accomplished in prayer the power is found in prayer the life I at least in my own experience if you want to hang me out on a noose for that term then so be it but in my own experience I know this that it is prevailing enduring loneliness with God it makes whatever difference there is in my life I am NOT a great expose Ettore preacher although I wish I could be my thoughts oftentimes come too fast into my head to the point where I feel like there's a train wreck inside my brain but I have seen God do great things and I believe that the battles are won in prayer life to be gotten it is in prayer and if there is walls to be knocked down it is in prayer if there are enemies to vanquish it is in prayer it is the hidden life of a man before God I come to conferences like this they scare me to death I would rather be out in the jungle preaching somewhere because all these people that are so smart they know so much and sometimes not most Reform guards but some of them just sit there and they just wait for you to say something that is arriving and me I'm always saying things like I told Joe Becky one time dr. Becky ever in this book but I really want you to edit it he said why I said dr. Becky sometimes I really paint in big broad strokes and I think some of them probably need to be redirected but it's in weakness that if a man is weak and a man knows something of his limitations and it drives him to cling to Christ I've even heard of Spurgeon just grabbing ahold of the chair or the table and not even wanting to go out and preach that is Spurgeon secret he is going to be so mad at so many biographers when they to heaven because all they do is talk about his brain and I know I'm gonna say to them you twit you thought you told him it was my brain it wasn't my brain cuz I was so helpless I was so scared I was so empty I had nothing and that's why when he walked up into the pulpit he would walk up into the pulpit going I believe in the Holy Spirit I believe in the Holy Spirit I believe in the Holy so it's not simply knowledge and then finally this is as far as we'll go tonight goodness gracious we didn't even get to the first phrase did we you're just very fortunate I'm not Richard oh and Robert so I don't know if you know who he is but he's in his 80s and he was preaching for last week his his introduction to himself was 45 minutes to an hour and then he said now we'll go to our text for the night and that old man preached two and two and a half hours every night but we're more spiritual than you guys in Virginia so we love that kind of preaching but I'll let you guys go the last thing I want to say that is a broken that kills us is a Laodicean spirit and an independence a spring that we jesus said in revelation 3:17 because you say I am rich and I have become wealthy and have need of nothing and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked heard of a Chinese believer who once came to the United States and after he visited so many churches he said this it's amazing what you people can accomplish without God Jesus said in Luke 6 and turning his gaze toward his disciples he began to say blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God blessed are you who Hunger Now for you shall be satisfied blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh now I want to close with that and we're going to talk about this a great deal there's no way I can emphasize this enough to you poverty of spirit is the key if there is one to the Christian life and I will say that the great force of all of God's providence God's working in your life which includes as we will see trials disciplines all of it is designed every last bit of it to create a new poverty of spirit everything I'm sorry this is true is that God will go through your life and plan out absolutely everything to create in you greater and greater weakness but weakness is not a hindrance to the Christian life you must understand this weakness is the catalyst to the Christian life but your problem is not that you're too weak your problem is that you are too strong or at least you think you are and I can prove it how much time did you spend in the word today how much time did you meditate in the word and how much time did you pray there your answer will tell you just how weak you think you are weakness is the catalyst to spiritual life and strength but here's the problem the devil who is a murderer through his lies will intervene and will use your weakness to drive you away from Christ rather than drive you to him now I'm saying this to the regenerate soul not to the unconverted churchmen because the unconverted churchmen here's about Grace and it causes him to neglect holiness altogether and to run into sin but when the when the true convert the true regenerate soul the true Christian hears of grace it causes him to run to holiness now when I sinned or when it is a sin let's say the sin of impatience that I had to apologize for let's say yesterday to a child and then the very next day although I truly repented before God and I truly asked forgiveness from the child and I truly and resolutely set out to abandon that sin I find myself falling into that sin again the next day with my wife the devil comes at that moment in the life of the believer and says go to the penalty box you hypocrite I mean you you repented supposedly yesterday and now you've done it again today go away he doesn't want to hear from you get things right first and then go back to him that is a damnable lie straight out of the pit of hell it is in the midst of that repetitive sin if you truly are a believer that you ought to run to him sin ought to cause you to run to Christ not run away from him and now let me just make it a little larger the circle everything ought to cause you to run to Christ every weakness the devil will use against you even your own heart will use against you to condemn you and tell you you that you belong on the penalty box for a while to prove your sincerity before you come back to Jesus all of it is a lie everything in our life should cause us to cling that much harder to Christ to see that and I can make here an even a very dangerous statement to the untrained ear that for the regenerate heart who hates sin he can even realize that his own sin is a catalyst to drive him to Christ when I lived in Peru during the Civil War with the Sendero Luminoso and people were dying he would die on my doorstep bombs blowing up everywhere you'd have to stand in line for two or three hours to get a bag of rice he didn't know if you were going to live or die firefights in front of the church blowing the windows out of the church with bombs everything else going on death threats scared to death terror paralyzing terror the church was absolutely exquisite during that time it was the purest form of Christianity I ever saw in my life you couldn't drive people out of the church you couldn't break up their fellowships you had to make them go home they wanted to be together they wanted to talk about Christ they wanted to reach out to their loved ones war was on the doorstep of Lima bombs are blowing up everywhere eternity was right in everyone's face and everyone knew you're not getting out of this alive apart from some work of Providence and the church was so beautiful so strong because it had no hope but Christ and then the war was over for and money began to trickle in the parks became beautiful again businesses started opening jobs were being put out there you no longer had to stand in line for food you no longer had to depend upon God and it be came just like the church in the West you live in a very dangerous place don't you know great dangers all around you things that can steal eternity from you follow after Christ cling to him so when I sin I cling to Christ when I don't want to cling to Christ it leads me to cling to Christ when I look at myself and I say I have no passion that I must run to him because I have no passion everything to Christ it almost comes to a point where then Jesus begins to eclipse everything Christ is all and in all if you don't know him and I'll be willing to talk with you after this meeting please come to Christ Bible teaches that all men are wretches before God you are in such a state outside of Christ that the last thing you will hear after you have been condemned on the day of judgment the last thing you will hear when you take your first step into hell is all of creation standing to its feet and rejoicing and applauding God because he has rid the earth of you that's how vile you are before a holy God but that God in the great love with which he loved us he sent his son and his son on that tree the sins of his people were cast upon him the guilt of his people's crimes were thrown down upon his head and all the wrath of God that you should experience throughout all of eternity fell upon the head of Christ and crushed him you against his people sins he cried out it is finished and he gave up his spirit on the third day after his death he rose again from the dead and the Bible says that's a public declaration of several things one of them is this romans 1 that it's god's public declaration that he is the son of god you can say i need more proof than you will go to hell with your need because god says he'll give you no more proof he raised him from the dead but it not only proves him to be the son of god it also proves according to romans chapter 4 verse 25 that his sacrifice merits the justification of his people that that sacrifice was accepted as payment for our sins and those who believe will be fully pardoned then the book of acts and it's proclamation tells us that the resurrection is God's evidence that this world has a king and a judge and he will return one day and he will judge the living and the dead and the only way you will stand before him is clothed in his righteousness alone you say what must I do to be saved repent of your sins so what does that mean well let me just give you an idea of what it looks like repentance is in one sense the other disintegration of your reality you say what do you mean forgive Apostle Paul as an example the Apostle Paul well repentance means to change your mind did you know that you say well that's kind of superficial not when you realize what the mind is that it's the control center of absolutely everything you are it's a control center of your will your emotions everything to change your mind let me show you with the Apostle Paul when the Apostle Paul was headed to Damascus on the road to Damascus in his mind he thought Jesus was the greatest black steamer who ever lived in his mind he thought all Christians should be killed on the road to Damascus he changed his mind he realized every fitna imagine this everything he thought was true about the most important things he realized that moment he was wrong about everything everything the one he thought was the greatest blasphemer is the long-awaited Messiah and God in the flesh the people he thought should die were the very people of God he changed his mind and what happened he began preaching the very faith he once tried to destroy that's repentance what is faith an old deacon in my church back home in Illinois when I was a young man a young Christian he said he was always a good man people thought but one day went to a sermon the Spirit of God illuminated and heart lumen ated his heart and showed him he was just good enough to go to hell but he couldn't figure out what it meant to believe because he'd always as a boy heard about Jesus and had no problems with the fact that he was the son of God but he knew that's not what the Bible meant when it said believe and he said he climbed up in his hayloft and he just put his feet over the end of the hayloft and it was about a 10-foot drop but he just kind of went back and forth like this and he said he looked down he said all of a sudden it just dawned on him and this was the expression of his heart he said God I'm going to trust in what your son did for me and if that's not good enough to save me then I'm going to hell because I refuse to trust in anything else faith is when it's Christ alone you say how will I know when I believe now here is the difference between what I believe what I believe church history teaches and what I most certainly believe that Scriptures teach you come up here tonight and I say do you want to go to heaven you say yes and I say pray this prayer and ask Jesus to come into your heart you do that and then I pronounce you saved that's as heretical you can get how do you know you're saved do you really are you really going to stand on the affirmation of a man how do you know you're saved you search the Scriptures you get counsel you cry out to God until the spirit of the Living God affirms in your heart that you have been born again the work of the Spirit of God of the love of God being shed abroad in your heart you see I can lead you to water I cannot make you drink and I cannot tell you when you have it is to trust in Christ to seek Christ I have seen people in the middle of the service while I was preaching jump up and say praise God I was over in Wales preaching in Evan Roberts place over there preaching and a man jumps up in the middle of the service and said what do I do to be saved I said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ he said I would say so well that's good but I've also seen people in which I've had to deal with them for weeks and months struggling until one day the spirit of the Living God confirmed in their heart they are born again and then he bore witness to it with the continuation of their life because the one that God sanctify the one that God justifies he also sanctifies and that's why there are pastors here who know enough that if the Spirit of the Living God confirms in your heart tonight that you've been born again they will rejoice with you and then they will caution you with gospel warning say wonderful if you truly believe you have been saved but now we're going to go through the scriptures we're going to examine your life we're going to be watching you and helping you till this faith is totally and completely confirmed or they'll tell you that they'll work with you for months until God shows you that's the difference between biblical evangelicalism and the mess that's going on today so let's pray father I pray that you would help this people lord please help us Jesus name Amen please visit our website at heart cry Missionary dot-com there you will find information about the ministry our purpose beliefs and methodologies and extensive information about the missionaries we are privileged to serve

Channel: I'll Be Honest

Views: 87,728

Rating: 4.8861423 out of 5

Keywords: Paul, Washer, john, 15, Christian, life, church, salvation, born, again, Holy, Spirit, abide, vine, fruit

Id: iODLtiNGvo8

Length: 103min 48sec (6228 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 14 2012