The Last Days by Raymond Woodward

[Music] ah you [Music] I'm going to get right into the lesson tonight I am so impressed with the attendance tonight thank you for your faithfulness to the house of God and I'm praying that these sessions are a blessing to you so we're going to move quite quickly Canadians can talk quite fast sometimes so I'll try to not race ahead but I want to make maximum use of our time second Timothy chapter 3 Paul says this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come this is the last day this is our day he's talking about men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural affection trucebreakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good now that's something that has really taken off in our day that people are calling evil good and calling good evil that's unbelievable in our day they will be traitors heady highminded and here's why because they're lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God now here's what Paul says in summary about all of that mess you would think that he's describing of the the world and the filthiness of the world but here's what he's saying they have a form of godliness these are people that actually have some kind of form of religion and yet they do all of that stuff and think they're okay they have a form of godliness but denied the power thereof and Paul tells Timothy from that you need to turn away the pastor already said it we live in a culture that is definitely headed the wrong way and Paul's describing our culture when he's talking to Timothy and if you really want to live for God today you will have to do some counter culture living counter culture is actually a sociological term it's used to describe a group that has values that run against what is considered mainstream counterculture describes a group that their behavior deviates from what everybody else is doing now our problem in the first part of the 21st century where we live it would be one thing if we just had to live counterculture to secular culture but I got to tell you tonight we've got to live counterculture too much of what calls itself Christianity today Christianity in the East and in the South in South America the Latin countries and in the East in Asia in China Christianity spirit-filled Christianity apostolic kinds of Christianity it's flourishing and growing but where we live in the north and in the West Christianity has become compromised it's become much more of a religion kind of a social thing and so if we're going to be the kind of church God has called us to be we've got to do something different than what every other kind of denomination and religion and version of Christianity is doing and you say well why is that because you think you're right and everybody else is wrong no it's because I think this is right and anybody else is wrong this is the Word of God and so what we do as a church is we go back to the original we want to be like the book of Acts search and we want to pull what we learn there into the 21st century a lot of people want Jesus as their Lord as their Savior rather they want them to save them from their sins that's what they want they don't want to go to hell they want to go to heaven so they want Jesus as their Savior but they don't want him as their Lord they don't want Jesus to kind of mess up their life from Monday to Saturday I'll show up on Sunday but Jesus you know kind of you can just kind of if I can leave you at church and I'll just go do my thing and I'll come back to church and that's not the kind of church that you stepped into when you walked into Woodlawn and I'm so grateful for that this is a great great church one Gallup poll declares that 94% of North Americans believe in God but obviously they don't believe in God in the biblical sense of the word and I think many North American Christians don't believe in a biblical God either they've kind of made God in their image instead of letting God make them in His image James chapter 2 says you believe that there's one God you're doing well James is a little sarcastic the devil's also believe and tremble but wilt thou know o vain man you can believe in God but faith without works dead it doesn't matter it doesn't work the demons believe in God enough to tremble many so called Christians they say they believe in God but they don't really fear him they don't reverence him they want just enough God to do what they want him to do just enough God to get into heaven stay out of hell but not enough God to have any effect on their lives and again that's not us that's not what we do we don't believe in cafeteria Christianity that you picked the pieces of the Bible that you like and you ignore to death the pieces that make you uncomfortable that's just being a cultural Christian those people say they believe in God but they live like he doesn't even exist and I don't want to be that I don't want to be an apostolic atheist that has apostolic doctrine but I really don't live like God exists and my life I go to an Apostolic Church I know the right doctrines but my everyday life doesn't even reflect anything about Jesus I don't want to be that person a couple more scriptures and then we'll just kind of dive in the book of Proverbs is a really incredible book in your Bible and and here's a couple of scriptures from Proverbs because the only thing that will make you live like God wants you to live and not just kind of do your own thing and pretend to be religious is the fear of the Lord if you really reverence God now fear in the Bible sense here is not terror I'm not terrorized by God it is what we would call reverent awe God made this universe God made me of God made everything that I enjoy in life and I just figure he's my Lord not just my advisor and so the Bible says in proverbs 9:10 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding basically there righter they're saying if you reverence God enough to obey Him that that's the beginning step if you haven't obeyed God you're not very wise here's another scripture from Proverbs 29 verse 25 the fear of man bringeth a snare if you have this reverent awe of people and you want to please people and you live your life to please people and you do what people expect you to do the fear of man brings a snare but whosoever puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe so here's the statement that I want to start with tonight a person who fears man they want men to be pleased with them they want culture to accept them a person who fears man will do something tragic they will offend the one they cannot see to please the ones that they can see what a terrible way to live we live exactly the opposite if necessary we will offend the ones we can see to please the one we cannot see that's how we live Jesus first God's word first his principles first and so we're going to talk about a subject over the next couple of days countercultural living I'm going to tag it with another term that makes people really uncomfortable so just maybe kind of slide your hands down unobtrusively and grab hold of your seat cushion here it can be used as a flotation device if things go really wrong here here's the thing we're going to talk about this word called holiness there you can breathe now some churches if you say that word they'd like oh my goodness but that's not a scary word to us because we subscribe to the principles and the commandments of a Holy Bible and we serve a holy God and were filled with His Holy Spirit and we're headed for a place called the holy city New Jerusalem and so it makes sense to us that God has called us in a very unholy culture to live holy lives and so that runs against culture they want us to a except everything except absolutes and when it comes right down to it we say wait a minute there's some absolutes here in this book that we cherish and we live by so so let's talk about this this word this everybody say holiness now holiness is a very strong word in Scripture it's many times there and the word holiness is a synonym for several other words that we could put in the scripture holiness if you were to say that word you could define it in two or three ways and these words would be synonyms you could take the word holiness out and put these words in and it would mean the same thing scripturally the first word is withdrawal the word withdrawals if you were to withdraw from drug addiction you pull away from that by what you do well holiness means withdrawal you cannot be holy by definition unless you are willing to withdraw from something and in this case that sin and the world and the culture that's around us that's against God now we do not withdraw and this is very important we don't withdraw from people to make them feel unholy we don't look down our nose at people this church is involved in this community and loves this community and believes in this community so so that's not what this withdrawal is the word holiness is the Hebrew word Kadesh if you went way back in Israel's history you'd find this hebrew term code esh kodesh ooh the Holy of Holies it was a place in the tabernacle where the high priest went one time of year now here's how that worked nobody else could go there only him and to go there he had to leave the ordinary Israelites he had to leave the Levites he had to leave all the other priests and he alone withdrew from them because unless he withdrew from them he couldn't go into the presence of God here's what holiness means it means that anything that is anti-god against God anything that displeases God we withdraw from that not to try to make other people feel less than us or feel less holy or feel unholy no we withdraw for only one reason because when you withdraw from the world you withdraw unto God and that's that's holiness now here's another synonym for the word holiness you could replace the word holiness with the word separation because holiness means separation now imagine this amazement imagine if I stood here tonight and I started saying you know we had a baptism at ccc in Fredericton last week and it was a beautiful baptism we brought a little cup of water up and we stood some people on the platform and we dipped our fingers in the water and we started saying i baptize you i baptize you i baptize you about the time I got to that point in my little story this ship would be over here he'd have me body slammed on the floor and pastor Jaron will be over here with his elbow going like this you know why because they're smart enough to know that the word baptism has a definition baptism means to baptize Oh in the Greek it means to immerse to plunge to fully cover to dip to bury and water and that's why we baptize by immersion so baptism has a definition so they wouldn't let me stand up here and just say anything I wanted to about baptism well folks holiness has a definition by definition the word holiness means to be separate from something so if there's no part of your life where somebody would look at you and say they're different they're separate then probably there's some little deficiency in the way you're living for God people should know people say well I don't want to be different but that's the point of holiness is that we are a set apart people in fact the Bible in one verse says we're a peculiar people and and some of us really are we really fulfill that Scripture but we're all that rare treasure to God now what one lasts of one last word holiness is also a synonym for one final word and that is sanctification and if I can there we go wonderful the Canadian can spell if he thinks about it he's not used to printing in all capital letter of sanctification everybody say sanctification big theological word holiness is a synonym for sanctification which by definition means to be made holy so you've heard people say I've been sanctified sometimes we sing about being filled with the Holy Ghost and sanctified sanctified means to be made holy I want to read your scripture and then I want to show you something first Peter chapter 1 verse 15 to 16 the Bible says but as he which has called you is holy somebody say God's holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation now the word conversation in that verse that's the King James Bible which was translated into English about four hundred and four years ago coming up to four hundred and five so the Word of God never changed but the English language has changed four hundred and four or five years ago the word conversation meant more than it does today today conversation means talk talk talk talk but but back then conversation meant every way in which you converse with the world around you so conversation our modern word for that word would really be lifestyle the way you live that lets everybody know you that's your lifestyle it's the way you converse with things around you with the world around you so what God's saying here through Peter is as God which is called you is holy so you be holy in all manner of your lifestyle because it is written be ye holy for I am holy now that's a big job to be holy especially when there's an ungodly world and there's temptation and all kinds of stuff but here's the good news when God gives a command there is power in the command to help fulfill the command two examples real quick first chapter of your Bible God said let there be light guess what happens next there's light because when God gives a command there's power in the command to help fulfill the command if you're new at Woodlawn let me give you another one last chapter your Bible book of Revelation John is right in and God summing up his holy word through the pen of John and and and the words of Jesus are if any man thirst let him come let him drink of the water of life freely I got good news for you there's power within any of God's commands to help us fulfill the command so if God says to you come and he says to the world and the devil let him come there's no devil that can keep you from getting to God if you want to get to God there's no power in this world that can keep you from being a Christian if you want to be a Christian because God will help you because he said let him come get out of the way devil let him come well here's the good news about this scripture in 1st Peter God says you be holy for I am holy and that means he's going to help us be holy he's going to give us the power to do it now let me show you so I learned this from an elder in my life a great great man of God named Allison Post who was one of our missionaries way way back in Ceylon before it became Sri Lanka great brilliant man self educated he taught this and this is really important he said salvation is the most elastic word in the Bible it stretches it covers a lot of things now here's what brother post taught us I experienced the new birth I repent of my sins I'm baptized in Jesus name I get filled with the Holy Ghost we call that the new birth Jesus said talked about being born again of the water in the spirit so we talked about the new birth that's when I experienced salvation that's my entry point into the Christian life and for me that happened none of your business years ago no that happened of 40 oh my goodness 41 years ago can you imagine I was 12 years old for those of you that are really good at math you already know something about me I was 12 years old I experienced the new birth and I was saved somebody say I was saved now that could have been two years ago that could have been 2 months for you that could have been that could have been 60 years ago for you but everybody say I was saved that's what the theologians call justification they always have a great big word for everything and justification describes that moment God took my sins and he justified me and at that moment when I'm justified I'm saved from the penalty of my sin now I was only 12 when I experienced that but I was just as saved at that moment as I am right now justice said I'm no more saved tonight than I was then I was just as saved just as ready for heaven because it's not anything I do it's my obedience to the new birth plan that God gave to his church that's what saves me so I'm not more saved tonight than I was then but how many know that you got a lot to learn after you get saved I compare like something like baptism baptism takes like a minute in Jesus name and you're baptized I have studied baptism now for forty some years since I was baptized and I've learned a gazillion things about baptism that I did not know when I was 12 years old I like to compare getting baptized to get married getting married takes about two seconds I do and then you spend the next several decades of your life figuring out what in the world you promised in those two seconds right can I get a witness you're all scared to death to raise your hand but that's true baptism I'm not I know more about baptism I know more about repentance I know more about the Holy Ghost but I'm not more saved now than I was then so what is the difference between me at 12 and me at 53 what's the difference there what's the difference well the difference is this next process the next process the theologians talk about is called sanctification sanctification is what happens to me every day you could say it like this everybody say I was saved now today everybody say I'm being saved and you are because you know what happens to you as you go through life the devil comes in tries to tempt you things happen in your life there's discouragements there's trials and tests and the Holy Ghost will lead you and say oh don't do that go there you know what happened last time and the holy ghost if you listen and the word of God if you listen and your spiritual leadership if you listen that leads us and we grow not more saved but we do grow more mature and maturity in scriptural terms is this process of becoming more like Jesus Jesus has this idea that he wants to make you more like him in your actions and your reactions and your thoughts and everything that goes on in your secret heart of hearts and all of that and that's called sanctification that's being made holy it's being made like Jesus one of the great reformers I think it was Martin Luther said I invited Jesus into my heart I expected him to hang up a couple of pictures he started tearing out walls Jesus wants to renovate your life from the inside out and he's on a lifelong building project to make you like him everybody say I was saved I am being saved and then someday every say I will be saved because there's another process and the theologians always have this great big long word it's called glorification we call it the rapture it's when Jesus comes back for his church and all the dead in Christ they're going to rise first and we're going to join them and on that day I'm going to be forever set free from even the possibility of temptation no wonder some of the old songs say what a day glorious day that's going to be because we're forever set free from the possibility of failure so watch this this is this incredible brother post used to say to us salvation is the most elastic word in the Bible it applies to all the periods of your life living for God I was saved I am being saved and I will be saved or he would say I was justified every day that I live on being sanctified someday when Jesus comes back I'm going to be glorified or he would say like this I was say from the penalty of my sin washed it all away but today as I live I'm being saved from the power of sin in the world in the flesh and the devil over me I was saved from the of sin on bein safe from the power of sin but someday I'm going to be saved out of the very presence of sin and then he just kind of smiled at us and say so salvation is the most elastic word in the Bible now here's why that's important because if you're a part of the church that doesn't mean you joined up or signed a card that means you've experienced the new birth according to the scripture and that puts us into a lifelong process listen to me the new birth is not your graduation it's the new birth now you start living for God and so this whole middle process that goes from your new birth which for me was twelve years old until the end of your life or the rapture whichever comes first that middle process is called what it's called sanctification that's where we're all living if we're in the church we're living in this middle process called sanctification now you remember sanctification is a synonym for the word holiness so here's God lifelong project in you to make you more holy to make you more like him to make you think his thoughts to make you act like Jesus to make you react like Jesus and that's a big project but God's capable and he gives us the power to do it let me read you another scripture this is 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 and this is verse 23 23 and 24 and the very God of peace look at the screen there sanctify you wholly look at that first word second line that's not hol Y that's WH o LLY and that means totally or fully or completely on pray and Paul said that God sanctifies you totally fully completely what do you mean Paul well I mean that you got a long way to go you got a long life to live and so God's going to work on you and it's not going to happen in a weekend and it's not going to happen in one service and it's not going to happen in one week this is a lifelong project so I'm praying that God sanctifies you fully or completely totally Oh li and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it um this is really neat you may be seeing those commercials this is your brain this is your brain on drugs well this is you you look like this kind of like a fried egg that's you now you are a 3-part being here's here's what you are you are body that's the outside physical part of you and then just inside that we call it the soul that's this part our modern equivalent for the word soul would be the word mind so the body is the physical part of you the soul or the mind is the individual part of you it's the part that makes you you you've got some really neat things about your soul you have a personality you have an intellect you have a will you have a temperament you've got memories that's all in your soul or in your minding it makes you an individual so the body's the physical part and the soul is the individual part and then you have an eternal part and that is this inner part is called the spirit and this is what's so cool about the new birth message the new birth message has part has a part of the new birth for every part of you it is with your soul or your mind that you choose to repent it's your body that submits the baptism and it's the Holy Ghost that fills your spirit with his spirit so this new birth message that we preach that's not just some kind of accident or some little theology we cooked up no that's something that God designed so that every part of you would be affected and here's what Paul prayed he said Timothy I'm praying your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of the Lord I'm praying that sin doesn't get an advantage over any part of you and then he says in that verse 24 he says faithful is he that calleth you also we'll do it Timothy you don't have to do it on your own it's not just you kind of doing New Year's resolutions and gritting your teeth and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps God's going to help you if you'll live for him and you'll submit to him and you'll get your face in his word and you'll get your heart in his presence and you'll get your carcass in church when the people of God are working with Timothy God's going to help you do that and that's what we live for to be made into the image of Jesus every say I was saved I'm being saved and I will be saved and it affects all of these parts of my be and that's that's what's so incredible about the plan of God let's go to another scripture this this one is really neat because I got to tell you that since we're all living here in this middle part how many of you've you've experienced the new birth would you raise your hand so this puts you in this part of living for God anybody here been raptured good okay great so we're all here that means people do get raptured probably in church I don't know if we fall asleep pass out whatever happens sometimes when I'm talking I think every say I was saved I'm not back there right now that happened for me 41 years ago so I'm in this middle point everybody say I'm being saved every say I will be saved but we're not there yet I don't even see one pair of angel wings in this place no nobody's graduated been raptured gone to heaven we're all still here so it's this middle part now here's what's important to realize that when you get saved God puts you in his family you're born again and now you start to walk with Jesus and Jesus is not going to just let you do whatever you want after that he's going to teach you he's going to train you he's going to speak to you his spirit will tap you on the shoulder sometimes and say mm-hmm you shouldn't do that and you've got to learn to listen to that voice because if you don't listen to his voice which is coming from there you're going to listen to the world's voice that's coming from there and that's called backsliding and you don't have to be out laying in a gutter somewhere to backslide you can backslide sitting on a church bench so we've got to be very careful that we keep living and walking in the right direction now that's what's so incredible about a great church like this think with me especially you that have been around here for awhile anybody just kind of been around for a while you're not old I'm not saying that he's just been around anybody been around for a while now me I've been in Pentecost for all my life I was born in a Pentecostal church not like literally but I was born in a hospital but but I've been raised in a Pentecostal church either part of Pentecost for 53 years it's kind of like you know I'm 53 years old I've been around for like a hundred and fifty years I've seen everything none of you people scare me I've seen some weird wild wacky stuff I've been living for God for a while but here's what I know about a church like this we've got people at every stage and that's what's wonderful we've got new babies that were just born into the family of God they just got baptized they just received the Holy Ghost they just repented of their sin we've got little babies being born into the house of God but into the spiritual house of God and then we got people some of live for God for 10 years 20 years 50 years 60 years we've got the whole spectrum here now here's what's really important folks to do what we're called to do as a church we got to love all those people the thing we got to work with all those people we've got a shepherd and pastor and lead and pray for and love all those people I got to tell you a lot of churches it's kind of like they think it's like Sam's Club or something it's like if you get seniority then you got membership and you got benefits and I've been around here for a while everybody should listen to me no that's not exactly right think about your family when a little baby was born who did the adjusting it was the parents that did all the adjusting wasn't it this kid cries in the middle of the night and a whole household is mobilized the dogs even awake because you've got a baby and babies are demanding and babies take a lot of effort and time and babies need a lot of love and babies need a lot of protection and when you got babies you got to feed them and you got to clean up messes and whatever the family of gods very similar when you've got new ones being born those of us that have been around for a while guess who adjusts when a church grows it's those of us that have been around for a while there's new ones coming and we've got to adjust and adapt and and try to love them and train them and teach them so in a church like this that's growing and God's doing great things there's people all along this spectrum now if you've lived for God for a while and you're somewhere in this middle part do you know what your job is Paul said it like this be an example of the believers so your job is to be a good older sibling in the family of God we have two kids Emily and Matthew and we didn't think Matthew was ever going to talk because not because there's something wrong with him because he had an older sister who functioned as a surrogate mother and she's three years older than that and Emily did all his talking for the first two years of his life Matthew wants a cookie Matthew actually wants two cookies he wants to give me one of she did all his talking for like a couple of years we didn't think the kid was ever going to talk finally I think he learned to talk in self-defense um she butts kids you know this if you've had kids kids learn from other kids they mimic and they imitate and they watch and it's amazing now Matthew he talked later than Emily he walked a little later than Emily we didn't throw him out it's like kid you're not on schedule like come on Emily walked at this right we love them both the same and Matt learned a lot from his older sister now when new believers are born into the family of God you know what your job is your jobs to be a good example of what a believer is I love your leadership here I love your bishop and I love your pastor and they can preach till they're blue in the face but you know who the best example of a Christian is it's not the people who are paid and on staff and on salary we're not the kind of church that says ok those are the paid religious professionals no we're all in this together and so the best thing that you can do the people that are looking at you if they see that you live this and you love this do you know how new believers learn how to worship by watching you worship so if you never lift a hand they're never going to how would they ever learn they don't learn that in the world they'll never learn how to lift their hands in the presence of God if they don't see you do it how would a new believer learn how to respond to the Word of God by watching you how would a new believer learn that it's so important to get to church by watching you how would they learn that that it's really critical for them to go to the altar and pray they learn by watching their older brothers and sisters and the question that's pertinent to tonight is how would they learn how to live a lifestyle that pleases God it would be by watching all of you so if you've grown up into this you need to be an example to those that are coming behind you now this is a really important statement here when we talk about holiness we will in the next couple of nights talk about some of the convictions we hold that are very precious to us about how we live but let me be very clear right now we are not saved by what we do or how we live that is not what saves us I'll tell you what saves us Jesus died on a cross was buried in a tomb and rose again the third day and because he call or death hell the grave sin the devil now we can live for him he provided salvation for us so I am NOT saved by what I do or how I live now that creates a little bit of a conundrum because there's two extremes on this some people think that you know I'm saved by what I do there they're kind of like Pharisees in Jesus day you know so the way I live and the choices I make and the activities I do or don't do and the way I dress you know that's what saves me and and and those people kind of become paranoid after walkers if they make one little mistake if they're imperfect if they have a bad day they think they're lost because they're relying on what they do to save them that's an extreme that's not biblical but there's another extreme that we see in our day where people think you know what nothing matters I'll just live however I want I'll add Jesus into my life and it doesn't really matter how I live it doesn't really matter how I acted doesn't really matter what I choose to do with my media or my friendships or or it doesn't matter and that's wrong too here's the truth that I'm not saved by what I do but I do what I do because I am saved I do what I do because I appreciate that a great God an eternal God who didn't have to have me in his kingdom he could have existed for eternity and just created more angels to praise them but he didn't he wanted fellowship with us and he came and robed himself in flesh and died for me and was buried and rose again so I love him so much that I live the way I live not to get saved or to keep safe or to merit salvation but I live the way I live because I am saved I'm so thankful for it do you realize what a privilege it is out of seven billion people to be saved to be on your way to heaven that is not the majority of this planet and yet it's us we all got a great great debt let me show you Scripture because here's what here's what some people do well good I just figured out the secret code since I'm not saved by how I live I'll just do whatever I want I'll just kind of you know never grow up I'll just stay kind of spiritually in the church nursery forever I'll just act like I don't get it I'll just act like I don't understand I'll just act like you know and I'm just still struggling with that I'm just going to do whatever I want and I'm going to say well you know I'm not mature enough to understand that here's the problem with that folks I've met people that say you know since I'm not saved by what I do I'm just going to do what I please that's a dangerous attitude because here's what James said look at this next scripture James for therefore to him that knoweth to do good and do with it not to him it is sin sins a Salvation issue the things that we hold as convictions our lifestyle and our holiness standards they're not what saves us but just because they're not what saves us doesn't mean they're not important and at some point walk in this journey with God Jesus is going to teach you his Spirit is going to guide you and he's going to tap you on the shoulder and say you know what you really should be looking after this in your life let me give you a great word of advice when God's Spirit starts to convict you don't puff up with pride don't kind of raise up and rebellion don't harden your heart be open and listening to God because here's what happens if you know to do something that God's Word teaches and you say I don't want to do that pastor I'm not going to do that that would make me look odd that would make me not fit in culture that's the point this is a counter-cultural faith and and so if I say nope not going to do it to me it is sin you know why because as soon as I stop going that way I start going this way and so to him that knows to do good and does it not damn it a sin that's a really really important concept now so what is this holiness thing is it just a list of rules is it just what is it here's a great scripture Romans chapter 12 Paul's writing and he says I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God odd that you present your bodies a living sacrifice now we all know the problem with that and the Old Testament it was easy you get an animal you knock it over the head you slit it's throat shed its blood put it on the altar burn the carcass it's easy it's messy but it's easy this is New Testament living sacrifice put yourself on the altar then Monday morning comes and you're tempted to get back down off the altar and a living sacrifice you have to choose to take yourself to the altar every day you have a will you have temptation you have stuff that pulls at you and so Old Testament it was easier New Testament we have to take a living sacrifice ourselves to the altar every day and Paul says I beg you to do that present your bodies that outside part of you that everybody sees in the interaction of the world present that a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service now here's the secret next verse and be not conformed to this world every say conformed that is the world's process the world wants to conform us the word conformed means to be pushed into a mold to be squeezed into a mold and that's what the world does to us they make you feel stupid if you're different they make you feel dumb if you live holy they make you feel like you don't belong or that you're not cool or whatever the word is now you know they change all the cool words it's cool and rad and bad and whatever but but you're not in and that's what they do and it's ironic because our culture talks so much about being an individual you have a right to be an individual I'm an individual I have individual rights we've made almost a god out of that and yet in our culture if you don't do what everybody else does they try to squeeze you into their mold people wear the same sunglasses and the same tennis shoes and the same designer brand names and the same blue jeans and and all the while say I'm an individual but they don't dare to be a little bit different than the culture around them that's the world's process every state conformed so that's what we don't do pulse it but be e here's another word everybody say transformed this is God's process that's the world's process but God's process is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind the word transform there in the Greek is the same root from which we get metamorphosis when a caterpillar crawls into a cocoon and later comes out a butterfly a totally different kind of creature that's what God wants us to do that we may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God so here's what I'm saying folks these things that we're going to talk about this week they're not salvation issues I'm not saved by what I wear I'm not saved by my modesty I'm not saved by my activity I'm not saved by what I don't do that's not what saves me Jesus saved me but just because something is not a Salvation issue does not mean it's not an issue prayer is not a Salvation issue I'm not saved by how much I pray if you're a new Christian and you just got baptized last Sunday for example you probably have prayed very much if you lived in the world all the years up to your baptism maybe the day you got baptized you didn't pray at all in fact you never even thought about it you came to church you got convicted you got baptized you're just to save when you experience the new birth as you are going to be any other time in your life prayer is not a Salvation issue you're not saved by what you pray or how you pray or how long you pray but how many know that if you live for God for a few months and you never pray to him that knows to do good and does it not to him it is sin so prayer isn't a Salvation issue in and of itself but it can become a Salvation issue if you never grow in what God wants you to grow in so this is really important there are Salvation issues that's being born again but then there are maturity issues it's God's will for everybody to grow in the Lord and learn of him and do what He commands now this is a this is a growing church it's a wonderful family of God so that means there's going to be people at different places on the spectrum there's going to be people that just they're brand-new they don't really get it they're just learning and that's wonderful but then there's going to be those of us that we've been around for a while I had a lady come to me one time and say pastor Raymond you have a double standard which is like a cuss word in Pentecost you have a double standard I said what do you mean she said well I see you being nice to all those new babies and those new believers and those new Christian I see you loving on them and being nice to them and my daughter wants to sing in the choir and you won't let her sing in the choir you have a double standard I look back at her with my pastoral face which looks very benign I said sister that's not a double standard that's a totally different standard that's the standard for a little baby who's just come into the church and they don't know anything and we're going to love him and be patient with them and and Shepherd them but your daughter she's been around here for a long time furthermore that new believer isn't asking the sing in the choir your daughter is and the choir is an example of what we teach and believe so that's not a double standard that's a different standard let me just explain that when Matthew my son is now 24 when he lived at home and he was - we didn't ask Matthew to take out the trash when he was - the trash bag was this high and Matthew was this high we didn't ask him to do that but when Matthew was 16 and he still lived at home if I said Matt take out the trash for Dad and he gave me some kind of attitude thing well this is an American statement right houston we have a problem why is that because I love Matt less no I loved him more he'd now been part of my life not just two years he'd been part of my life for 14 more years he was now 16 I actually loved him more loved him fiercely he's my son but I realized that if he's ever going to Oh up and mature and have a great life he's got to learn some responsibility so it's not taking out the trash that puts him in the family he was in the family when he was born into our family but he needs to learn to have some responsibilities and he needs to learn to grow and and that's so important and God's family is not a dysfunctional family we love everybody but we want people to grow up do you realize there's people in churches that grow old and never grow up they just kind of hang around it's like you know we used to sing standing on the promises they're just sitting on the premises uh they just never grow up they're just around you know they're just here and and that's not what I want to be by the way if you're a new believer listen to me I'm gonna I got the best piece of advice when you're looking for somebody because you need this don't try to do this on your own look at somebody that's successfully serving God and has done it for years and hook yourself to them get to know them look at what they do imitate some of the things they do now here's what you don't do don't find an old sourpuss that criticizes everything and they look like you know the devil standing on their head beaten on their skull don't get one of those people get somebody that's got the joy of the Lord and when they get in church you watch them and they worship God and get somebody that gets themselves to the altar and find somebody that's live in what pastors teaching and and hook yourself to them that's the best piece of advice as a new Christian you could ever get and and and you know why because those people are to be an example of the believers and you need some good examples so now let's take one more step on this issue before we move on this is a neat scripture I've had some negative experiences with this verse because I usually have people come with their finger out like this right under my nose and they usually quote this verse if he's in chapter 2 verse 8 it's amazing you can have people quote the scripture and they're mad when they quote it pastor Raymond if he's ins to verse eight for by grace are you saved through faith and it's not of yourselves it's a gift of God and they always emphasize this next little verse not of works lest any man should boast there I did it I said and their attitude is I don't have to do anything I'm saved by grace it's true faith it's not of me it's of God not of works I don't have to do what you're talking about pastor Raymond I don't have to live different than the culture I don't have to change my life when I become a Christian I can just continue on what I was doing and just kind of add Jesus he's kind of like building a porch on my life I just added him on no you can't do that but they always look at me and say well what are you going to say to that Paul says you're not saved by works it is not of works and I was answered all those people the very same way I say exactly the same thing every time I would say would you read the next verse let's read the next verse for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them now here's my point there's this big kind of feeling in Christianity today that we can have Jesus but not do what he says Jesus talked about people like that he said in that day they're going to say Lord Lord didn't we do this didn't we heal a second did we feed the hungry did we do all of this didn't we do all these good things and he's going to say depart from me I never knew you in the Greek language that phrase means depart from me get out of my sight I put up with that long enough that's scary to me I do not want to be in that group of people on Judgment Day Jesus doesn't only expect us to call his name or sing songs about him he expects us to actually obey Him Jesus said to people one day in the Gospels he said why do you call me Lord Lord and you don't do the things that I say and so I want to obey the Lord now here's the point before I'm saved if this is the moment of my salvation before I'm saved I could lock myself in a room with no windows and not talk to anybody for a hundred years I could grit my teeth and I could try to live so holy but before I'm saved I am not saved by works everybody say not of works so I can do everything I try to do I could live that way for a thousand years but I can't merit salvation because salvation it does not come because of my works but after unsaved on the other side of salvation the Bible says he ordained good works that I should walk in them people look at that and kind of like well you know what God's going to give me rules well of course he is the reason you didn't run you didn't run up and down the street hollering to everybody else's kids do your homework you didn't care if they did their homework you hollered at your kids do their homework you didn't put everybody else's dog in a fence you put your dog in a fence because it's yours you care about it and you love it and that's why God gives us the Bible and that's why God gives us Commandments they're not to hurt us or burden us they're to bless us and to protect us now Israel has a statement that I think is brilliant you know about them keeping the Sabbath day and they have this statement has come down through their history more than Israel kept the Sabbath the Sabbath kept Israel what they're saying when they say that is you know as long as Israel kept the Sabbath God's protection and blessing was on them when they stopped keeping the Sabbath God lifted his hand a blessing so more than Israel kept the Sabbath the Sabbath kept Israel people talk about our holiness standards or what I like to call our lifestyle convictions and they say why do you do that and why do you teach that don't you realize that culture thinks that's foolish don't you realize that many so-called Christians think you're crazy to live that way and to actually obey the commands of God the Bible I mean goodness the newest parts are 2,000 years old why would you do that here's why because more than we keep holiness stand holiness standards keep us they put a fence of blessing and protection around us it puts the pleasure of God over us in the favor of God and we walk in his covenant so it's not that we're keeping this it's that this is keeping up and the more we go into history in the last of the last days and the end of the end times the further we get there do you know what we better watch the way we're living because the world is sliding and the church world is sliding and we need to lock it in and live it this protects us now as we get ready to kind of wind down here I want to tell you something about this this is really important that you have three teachers in your life that teach you about this holiness thing the first teachers right here ever say the Bible and the Bible teaches us through God's commandments God says thou shalt not and we don't do it God says that's an abomination to me and we stay away from it God says that doesn't please me and we don't go anywhere near it the Bible is your first holding this teacher and it gives you a certain kind of standard it gives you a Bible standard very important but there's another kind of standard because the Bible doesn't say everything about every subject that we might need in modern living for example the word Internet is not in the Bible there's no commandment that says you know thou shalt not look at pornography on the internet but there's lots of principles there's I have made a covenant with my eyes and I will set no evil thing before my eyes and and as a man thinks in his heart so is he so I've got lots of principles about this and so those principles are important now here's your second holiness teacher this is your first holiness teacher do you know your second holiness teacher is it's that man sitting right over there your pastor or your spiritual leadership and you know what part of his job is and it's a difficult part you need to pray for him as he leads in this kind of a world that we're living in his job is to look at issues where the Bible is not specific and he gets before God and he studies the word and he prays and he seeks counsel and he gets wisdom and then he comes to you and says church Woodlawn here's how we need to interact with this modern issue that's not even in the pages of the Bible but that's the job of your spiritual leadership and we need like never before a baptism of obedience and submission to our spiritual leadership that protects us as a people now what pastor is doing when he does that he's given us what we call a church standard it's our standard for our church it might even vary a little bit from culture to culture different cultures have different issues it could vary from different areas in America it could vary from church to church but do you know what when you've been privileged to have a great pastor and and you know that that man loves God and is sincere before God and seeks God and doesn't want to burden you with anything that's not necessary then I want to have my heart open to hear his word plus the Word of God so so my first holiness teacher is this the Bible it gives me Bible standards my second holiness teacher is my spiritual leadership and he gives me church standards this is how we're going to deal with this modern issue that the Bible doesn't say anything about you say is that right is that true yeah absolutely Paul said in one place this speak I not the Lord Jesus didn't tell me to say this I'm saying this because I'm your pastor I'm the Apostle Paul in another place Paul says I speak this by permission and not of commandment God didn't make me say this he didn't give me a command in his word but he gave me permission to tell you this I've been praying and this is how we need to deal with this and so that's the precedent in the Word of God now I have a third holiness teacher here's my first one ever say the Bible that gives me Bible standards my second holiest teacher is my spiritual leadership and by the way we're here for three nights and thank you for coming out what a great crowd this first night I'm so thrilled and honored that you would do this um but you're not responsible to submit to me I'm not your pastor I'm a guest they've honored me by allowing me to speak to you but I'm not your pastor you are not responsible spiritually to submit to me you're responsible spiritually to submit to that man over there he's your pastor that's Church standards that's what they do but then you've got a third holiness teacher this one's really important it's the Holy Spirit who lives inside of you that's your third holiness teacher so the Bible teaches me Bible standards these are the absolutes my pastor my spiritual leadership teaches me Church standards these are areas where the Bible might not address it but he knows that we're going to be in trouble if we don't address it so he gives us a church standard but then the Holy Spirit teaches me what I like to call personal standards now you need to be careful of personal standards because anybody can come up with a personal standard about anything you know down here you got real sensible people but in Canada we got some wackos up there I got to tell you and we'll ship them postage-paid 39.95 no shipping no handling we'll just send them to you some of them are crazy up there we got people that have convictions against everything convictions against fresh air and convictions against all kinds of stuff if people don't believe in Christmas there's people that don't believe in all kinds of stuff there are people that don't believe in smiling III do know that they it's like they got a conviction against smiling they just look as sours a dill pickle but there are people that they have sincere personal convictions God convicts them about something you know why if you're a new believer please listen to me the Holy Spirit will talk to you personally and the Holy Spirit may ask you to do something that even Pastor hasn't asked you and even the Bible hasn't asked you to do because the Holy Spirit knows where your temptation zones are and the Holy Spirit knows where you used to live and what might get you in trouble so the Holy Spirit might tap you on the shoulders they don't go there you say well pastor goes there everybody else goes there but the Holy Ghost knows that when you go there you get in trouble now there are people that are so foolish just take a second look at this let's say that that this line right here at the edge of the platform that that is that's the Bible standard if I cross that line right there I fall into the Grand Canyon of sin I fall into it so I can't ever cross that line of a Bible standard here's what a church standard is a church standard is not less than a Bible standard a church standard is where your pastor says this is what the Bible requires but you know what we're dealing with this issue in our culture Saints I've been praying I've been seeking God I've been studying the principles of the Word of God and he backs up a couple paces and he puts another fence right here says this is going to be our church standard it's higher than a Bible standard because the Bible doesn't require it but pastor knows that it's something we're facing in modern society and that's why we do need good godly men and women to teach us about how to use all the technology in the media that's here and the Bible says nothing about it but we need some church standards on that kind of stuff but then the Holy Ghost will sometimes say wait a minute you've got a unique issue you've got a unique challenge in your life and the Holy Spirit will say this is the Bible standard this is the church standard that pastors teaching but you need something unique in your life and the Holy Spirit will back you up three or four more paces and say you put a fence here and don't you cross it and you need to learn to value the work of the Holy Ghost enough in your life to not resist that but to appreciate it I pastor people bless their heart I pastor people that will not go to an establishment like an uh an Applebee's or something with an open bar in the center now I don't have any problem with that in fact really honest I've never had a drink in my life you could lay me on the bar and they could pour alcohol on me all night and I wouldn't be tempted by that I would be irritated by that I would not be tempted by that but I pastor people who sincerely will not go to some of those places and you know why because that's where they messed up that's where they became an alcoholic that's where they cheated on their spouse that's where they messed up their life and so they have this strong conviction do you think I look at them and say oh my goodness you're crazy that's so silly no I look at them and I honor them that they value the work of God in their life so much that they would inconvenience themselves and do something that's not even required by the Bible not even required by Pastor but live and holy before God is so important to them I thank God for people like that so you don't just have one kind of holding this standard that you need to learn about you have three the Bible's going to require some things that's a Bible standard pastors going to teach us some things about things that we encounter in modern society that's a church standard and finally you're going to have personal standards where the Holy Ghost is going to talk to you now let me bring this up close jesus said in matthew chapter 5 and verse 16 a lot of people say well yeah I've got holiness I've got the Holy Ghost people say Jesus is in my heart he's in there way down in there somewhere he's in there I always want to say let him out that's a hostage situation to let Jesus out because we can't tell he's in there where you're living jesus said let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven jesus said if you've really got the Holy Ghost inside of you if you've really got God doing a work inside of you you are not going to say I've got Jesus but I look just like the world I've got Jesus but I live just like the world I've got Jesus but I do all the stuff the world does impossible Jesus said you need to let your light so shine before men well Jesus can see my heart yes he can but we cannot and so jesus said let your light so shine before men and they will see what will they see when your light shines they will see your good works that's what they'll see and that's what we're going to talk about the next couple of nights in the next couple nights we're going to deal with some very specific convictions that you've observed and if you're new here I really want you to be here because you've looked around this church and you thought that's different than what I see even at other churches we're going to try to explain why some of that happens but tonight I want to end right here this is Romans chapter six this our last scripture and I thank you for your kind attention what a privilege to teach you thank you Pastor and Bishop for the opportunity Romans chapter six in Romans six Paul's writing to a group of people enrollment he's never met he's he's writing ahead of his trip there he doesn't know that by the time he gets there he's going to be a political prisoner they're gonna throw him in jail it's not going to be a pleasant voyage but he loves the people in Rome because that Roman Empire's the center of the world he wants to grow a church there he wants to impact people here and so he writes in Romans this beautiful beautiful book in the Bible and and he writes about the gospel and the power of it it's enrollment that he says I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ it is the power of God unto salvation and in Romans 6 he gets talking about how we come from our old life and how we come into a new life and this is sewing so important he says Romans 6:12 let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body now that you're a child of God you're counterculture in the world is just like whatever the devil throws at them they just take the bait off they go you are not that any more you've got the Holy Spirit living in you you're serving a holy God you're obeying a Holy Bible so so don't just let sin reign in your mortal body that you would obey it in the lusts thereof don't just let sin run rampant in your life like it used to run rampant and you're like don't do that anymore and Paul launches it he loves he's a preacher he's a theologian brilliant he loves to repeat words and emphasize it and so he starts using this big word here everybody say yield now every time he uses that I want you to shout it up yield or yield it or yielding or whatever he says if he uses that word I want you to shout it up with me as we do because he's going to show us something now that you're a child of God next verse neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members the physical parts of you as instruments of righteousness under God now that you're in the family of God sin shall not have dominion over you because you're not under the law this isn't just rules and religion you're under grace now Paul knew that there would be people in his day and in our day that would say well I'm under grace I'll just do whatever I please so he said what then shall we send we just keep on living like the world shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace god forbid which I think in the original Greek means don't be so stupid I said but I can't remember he says know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness but God be thanked that you were somebody say past you were servants of sin but now you've obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you being then made free from sin you became the servants of righteousness you didn't just become a free agent you moved from being a servant of sin to now you're a servant of righteousness I speak after the manner of men because the infirmity of reflection in other words I'm trying to talk this in simple terms for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness now Paul's a brilliant theologian so let me kind of bring him down to where we the usual possible this word yield think with me people when you were in sin how did it work the first time the devil came to you maybe you were in high school maybe you were in college maybe you were a young adult maybe you were out with friends maybe something happened to you earlier and you yielded to sin you just let sin take over and you did what your flesh felt was good to do and you healed now let me ask you a question that Paul asked the next time you went back to that temptation the next time you were put in that situation the next time you were out with those friends listen was it easier or harder to yield the next time it was easier wasn't it and you yield it and here's what Paul says you yielded your members the parts of your body your mind your eyes your ears your hands your body you yielded the members of your body as instruments of sin unto uncleanness and unto ungodliness and unrighteousness he said you yielded once and it became easier to yield and easier to heal sicilus before you finished you were bound you were addicted you were in trouble you were in bondage to the devil understand and all kinds of habits and addictions and some of you in this room you just escaped with your life you yielded and it just became easy now listen you didn't fight that you didn't have to learn that you didn't argue with it you just yielded them because you yielded it was easier to get deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper in sin until you were bound Paul said wait a minute now you've experienced salvation now you're in God's kingdom the same members the same eyes the same mind the same body thus the same life that you used to yield assent now that you're in the kingdom of God it's not rocket science it doesn't take 42 degrees to figure this out now that you're in the kingdom of God do the same thing in the opposite direction yield your body yield your members servants to righteousness and holiness and godliness think with me the first time you hear about well this is live and holy and this is what living godly means this is what modesty means and this is what the Bible requires the first time you hear some of that and you may hear it for the first time this week if you're new the first time you hear that you may think my goodness s that's a big ask that's somebody really putting some some requirements on me and I don't know if I can do that I don't even know if I want to do that I've got a great piece of advice for you because it's Jesus asking you and it's his word that requires them and it's his church that's leading us and teaching us just yield and when you yield the first time you don't argue and you don't fight and you don't pop up push back you just yield think the next time you come across the commandment in the Word of God the next time God's Spirit teaches you to do something or God's Spirit checks you and says don't go there is it going to be harder or easier the next time it's going to be easier you can yield yourself into Christian maturity you can yield yourself into holy living you can yield yourself into pleasing God it's just that Jesus I used to fight you because I was a sinner I'm not fighting anymore I'm not pushing back anymore there's no argument in me when the Holy Ghost says Raymond don't go there don't do that watch out for that I just want to heal because I yielded once they got me in trouble some of you yield until it almost killed you in sin but now we're in the family of God and it's the same process just in a different direction so if I could sum up holiness at the end of this first night in one word I would just use the word yield just heal God wants to teach you this church wants to teach you and love you and grow you and it should just yield you'll look back maybe two years maybe five years from now and what right now looks like I don't think I could do that I look around at all these people and they look like they've got this down to a science and I don't think I could ever do that I don't think I could ever be that I don't think I could ever live that way you know what you're absolutely right you can't but Jesus in you can and if you'll just yield you'll turn around someday it'll be in a service maybe and you thinking oh my goodness I used to struggle so much of that I haven't thought about that for months because you yield it to the leading in the Holy Ghost that's what holding would you lift your hands right now we're closing I I just like you to lift up a praise to Jesus his spirit is in this room tonight I know it's teaching in its seminar and I got that but Jesus is here because it's his word we're talking about it's pleasing him that we're talking about do you want me to live that don't be scared to say that that's the best best place you could ever be however you want me to live Jesus that's the way I want to live if I need to lay something down or give something up or walk beyond does it house do it for you and it's so much oh my goodness that's just you feel that nobody just wants to give a great grace of the Lord we probably need to stand for that one why don't you stand let's close this night with a great frame clap your hands and lift your voices what a great privilege to live for God so thank you I said [Music] could you sing this example I think we should pray together our Father who is in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven whoa whoa whoa come on a undead crucifix so Restless - queer we leave our town a marsala food or cool attack new food ha ha [Music]

Channel: The Faith Once Delivered To The Saints

Views: 10,460

Rating: 4.7692308 out of 5

Keywords: God (Deity), Holy Spirit (Deity), Holy Ghost (Deity), Jesus Christ (Deity), Religion (TV Genre), Religion (Literary Genre), New Testament (Religious Text), Old Testament (Religious Text), Christianity (Religion), Pentecostalism (Religion), Apostolic (Religion), christianity (religion), monotheism (belief), religion (tv genre), Oneness Pentecostalism (Religion), the bible (religious text), salvation (belief), believer's baptism (religious practice)

Id: dPE-1KaHpck

Length: 76min 49sec (4609 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 18 2017