1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,040 The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,040 Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,280 or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,760 us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,040 message from God's Word will be a blessing to you. 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,200 Thank you for being here for our Sunday school hour, for those 8 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,720 joining us online. Thank you for being here as well 9 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,800 as we continue a lesson that we started last week looking at why 10 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,160 biblical Christianity is different. 11 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:40,040 And of course, this is a little different from other lessons 12 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,760 that we have done before in the sense that we don't necessarily 13 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,600 have a text. Her text is going to be those 14 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:49,680 verses that we are talking about as we go through these about 25 15 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,440 other points here this morning as we really try to cinch up the 16 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,040 difference of biblical Christianity to any other cult 17 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:58,560 that is out there. It is important that we 18 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:01,200 differentiate biblical Christianity because remember 19 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,840 the cults are those that say that they are Christians but yet 20 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,200 are not biblical Christianity. I think particularly the Jehovah 21 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,160 Witnesses and the Mormons, those who would claim to be part of 22 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,880 the Christian faith. Yet just by looking a little bit 23 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:16,880 beneath the surface, you find out that there is really nothing 24 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,520 Christian about them because they would not hold too many of 25 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,000 these tenets of what biblical Christianity is. 26 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,360 And although we are going through these very quickly, I 27 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:27,640 would also say that this is not an exhaustive list, nor are we 28 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:29,360 covering them in an exhaustive way. 29 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:31,880 I might be exhausted when it's done because there's just so 30 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:33,280 many we're going through so quickly. 31 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,040 But we're not trying to cover each of these points in a way 32 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:41,240 that would really expound all the depth of the doctrine. 33 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:45,280 Because really, we could do a lesson on each one of these 50 34 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:49,240 and probably go through a pretty serious series if that's what we 35 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,200 were to do. But that is not what we're doing 36 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:52,400 here. We're just giving you the 37 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:57,440 different differentiation between Bible, Christianity and 38 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:59,960 what the world has to offer as well. 39 00:01:59,960 --> 00:02:03,680 And then we looked at several questions last week and the 40 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:08,919 first that we looked at just by way of review was who is God? 41 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:13,440 We wanted to see who he was and how is he active in the world. 42 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:18,560 And then the second question that we saw was who are we and 43 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:20,760 where do we come from? And of course the word of God 44 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,280 gives us the answer to that. We saw what is the Bible and how 45 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:26,920 is it different from other religious texts? 46 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:30,040 And certainly we could talk at great length about that as well. 47 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,200 And then question four, who is Jesus Christ and what did he 48 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:36,280 accomplish? Well, we do have three more 49 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:38,800 questions that I want us to look at here today. 50 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,880 And getting right into it, we were looking at question #5 51 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:45,480 which is this? What is Christ doing now by the 52 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,480 Holy Spirit? We saw that Jesus Christ died, 53 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:50,760 was buried, and that he rose again. 54 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:53,520 But Jesus Christ is still active today. 55 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:55,640 Why? Because he is alive and he lives 56 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:58,160 forever more. And So what is His ministry 57 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,560 today and how is that ministry accomplished through the Holy 58 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,280 Spirit? The Gospels record what Jesus 59 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:09,000 began to both to do and to teach, but his activity did not 60 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,600 cease when he ascended into heaven. 61 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:13,720 That he is still quite active today. 62 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:16,640 And through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of 63 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:21,200 us, there are still many things that he is active in doing and 64 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,960 will be active in the future. And so the first is this. 65 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,360 The Spirit convicts sinners of their sin. 66 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,960 The Spirit convicts sinners of their sin. 67 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:34,920 And Christ said that He was going to convict. 68 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,160 Send the Spirit, John 16, verse 8, to convict the world of sin 69 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:42,520 and of righteousness and of judgment. 70 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:43,400 I don't know if you remember that. 71 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,680 That was in those three chapters where Jesus is talking to His 72 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,960 disciples in the upper room and He says the Spirit will come and 73 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:54,600 He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of 74 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:57,160 judgment. And this promise was given. 75 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,240 And then we see at the day of Pentecost what happened, that as 76 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:06,480 the Spirit descended and as the disciples began to preach, what 77 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:08,120 happened? The Bible says that they were 78 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,120 cut to their heart and they basically asked the question, 79 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:12,760 what shall we do? What? 80 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:16,120 What do we do with this message that you have preached? 81 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:18,560 And Peter told them to believe on Jesus Christ. 82 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,079 Well, how did that happen? The Holy Spirit convicts sinners 83 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:24,960 of their sin. That happens before you get 84 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,080 saved, by the way. That still happens today. 85 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,520 You know, when we are saved, we are saved from the penalty of 86 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:35,560 sin forevermore, and all God's children can say Amen to that. 87 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,080 But yet we still sin, don't we? We still transgress against the 88 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:39,840 Lord. First. 89 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:42,080 John chapter 1 makes that abundantly clear. 90 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,000 So what do we do when we do wrong? 91 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,640 The Holy Spirit still speaks to us and tells it. 92 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:48,600 You shouldn't have said that. You shouldn't have done that. 93 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:50,840 You shouldn't have thought that. For what purpose? 94 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:54,320 To remind us that we need to confess that sin before the Lord 95 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:56,480 so we can be saved again? No, of course not. 96 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,280 But so that we can resume a right relationship with God. 97 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,040 And that's what the Holy Spirit does for us today. 98 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:05,520 And the Spirit of Christ is active in that. 99 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:10,240 But we also see that the Spirit causes sinners to be born again 100 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:16,520 by grace alone. Conviction of sin is not just is 101 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,520 not necessarily salvation of sin in and of itself. 102 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,000 Why? Because someone can feel 103 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,560 convicted about their sin and then do nothing. 104 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:29,000 I think of Agrippa who said almost that has persuaded me to 105 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,520 become a Christian. Remember that he was on that 106 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:33,680 edge but then pulled himself back. 107 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,880 Conviction of sin does not necessarily mean confession of 108 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:38,880 sin. Conviction, student conviction, 109 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:42,400 is necessary through the Spirit, but at the same time, it's the 110 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:46,240 Spirit that leads people to understand that their need in 111 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,720 their life is to be saved. Sinners are dead in their 112 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:53,280 trespasses and sins. Only God can make them alive by 113 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:55,880 His grace. God does not do this in response 114 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,400 to any good thing or any merit that there is within us. 115 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:04,120 It's a gift of mercy to us. And we talked about mercy this 116 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:05,560 morning. We just heard a few minutes ago 117 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,960 in our men's charge the idea of the mercy of God, that that he 118 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:13,920 would even be willing to convict us of our sin and to draw us to 119 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,640 Jesus Christ. And we see that that's what the 120 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:18,720 Spirit does, is he draws us to Christ. 121 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,320 That spirit testifies to our spirit that we are the children 122 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:24,400 of God. That's, that's what the Spirit 123 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,800 does for us, that it's Jesus drawing us unto himself. 124 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:31,160 And again, we can't find God on our own. 125 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,640 We, we, we can't just ascend to the heavens and find him. 126 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,280 But what does he do? He reveals himself to us through 127 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:40,000 his word and then convicts us through the power of the Holy 128 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:45,400 Spirit saying this, you need to. But then we also see this, that 129 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:49,120 Jesus made the gift of salvation possible. 130 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:50,960 Now that's talking in past tense. 131 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:55,120 Jesus made the gift of salvation possible. 132 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,040 But we're talking in the present tense, right? 133 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,360 What What is Christ doing now by the Holy Spirit? 134 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,520 So I would say, not only did Jesus make the gift of salvation 135 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,840 possible, which means that it makes the gift of salvation 136 00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:09,840 possible in the present. Aren't you glad that salvation 137 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,680 wasn't just for those who lived during the time of Christ or 138 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,760 those who had heard the words of Jesus Christ, but that he made 139 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,400 the way for all by the way, he made the way for all of those in 140 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,320 the Old Testament who were waiting for his appearing that 141 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:25,800 by faith looked, remember Abraham, that he knew there was 142 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:27,960 a better promise and looked ahead. 143 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:31,320 And those Old Testament Saints that we find in Hebrews Chapter 144 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:33,720 11, they were looking ahead to their Messiah. 145 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:38,200 We look back to our Messiah, Messiah knowing that he is Jesus 146 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:42,320 Christ, but through the Word the Holy Spirit offers Christ and 147 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,360 promises that whosoever believeth in him should not 148 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,720 perish but have everlasting life. 149 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:52,000 That's John 316, that we have that available to us because of 150 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,400 what Jesus Christ did on the cross. 151 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:59,040 When God regenerates A Sinner by the Spirit, Christ draws that 152 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:02,680 Sinner to himself by the power of his saving death. 153 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:07,000 And So what Christ did on the cross had enough efficacy that 154 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:10,840 all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 155 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:14,680 That there is not a limited amount or a limited atonement in 156 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:16,520 the sense that God chose certain people. 157 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:19,240 And it's not limited in the sense that it's only, well, 158 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:23,320 144,000 people, as the Jehovah Witnesses at once taught, that 159 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,800 those first 144,000 get the ticket and everyone else, 160 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:28,400 they're on their own. Now after there were more than 161 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,680 144,000 Jehovah Witnesses, they had to change that doctrine 162 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:34,120 because it wouldn't seem to make sense what it that there was 163 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:36,080 more than and what they had accounted for. 164 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:38,200 But I'm thankful that we don't have to keep changing our 165 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,400 doctrine to match what we see out here in the world today. 166 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,760 We can just say the Lord the same, the yesterday, today, and 167 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,120 forever. And Jesus made the gift of 168 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:51,880 salvation possible. But we also see that God unites 169 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:57,080 people to Christ by the Spirit. When God saves sinners, the Holy 170 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:01,120 Spirit dwells in them as his temple and lives within him. 171 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,040 As a result, they become one with Jesus Christ. 172 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:05,640 This is first Corinthians chapter 6. 173 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:09,360 Know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, 174 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:12,000 that he lives within us. By the way, that's why we have 175 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:13,560 to be careful what we yoke up with. 176 00:09:13,560 --> 00:09:15,200 That's what the end of that chapter is all about. 177 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:18,440 What we have fellowship with, what we have concord or 178 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:20,720 communion with. Why is that important? 179 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:24,560 Because we got the Holy Spirit living inside of us and that the 180 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,040 Comforter was to come. Jesus said it is good that I 181 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,960 depart because the Comforter will come and His ministry now 182 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,840 isn't to indwell the believer. Not like the Old Testament where 183 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:37,200 he would come and go. And sometimes people think that 184 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:39,560 the Holy Spirit just appeared in the New Testament, that he just 185 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:40,240 popped up. Nope. 186 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:42,040 He always has been and always will. 187 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:43,920 He didn't just appear in the New Testament. 188 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:45,880 He's very active in the Old Testament. 189 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:49,520 But we see that His ministry was different and that he would fill 190 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:51,680 and then leave, that he would come and go. 191 00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:54,920 And Saul certainly is a great example of that, one who was 192 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:58,480 filled by the Spirit, but then had done enough that the Lord 193 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,440 removed that from him. And of course we saw that he had 194 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:03,280 a much different life after that. 195 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,920 But you and I, the moment that we trusted Jesus Christ as our 196 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:10,200 Savior, we were sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise, the 197 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:14,440 earnest of our inheritance. The Spirit lives within us. 198 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,920 And, and that's something I, I don't think that we truly 199 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:22,040 comprehend to the length and the breadth that we ought to, that 200 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:26,240 literally believers have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. 201 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,600 What an incredible joy, what incredible blessing, the 202 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:33,240 comfort, the peace, the guidance, the conviction, all of 203 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,280 that that comes along with that, that that before, you know, 204 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:38,040 listen, we're not Jiminy Cricket, you know, let your 205 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:40,600 conscience be your guide. You know, that may make for a 206 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:42,800 great song, but you know what, It's not a great way to live 207 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,080 your life because the Bible says our conferences can be seared 208 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,760 with a hot iron. There are some who are so far 209 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,840 departed that God has Romans chapter 1 allowed them to 210 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:53,680 descend into their own foolishness. 211 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:55,560 He's made that very clear. Well actually mentioned that 212 00:10:55,560 --> 00:10:59,000 this morning during the message but when the Holy Spirit is 213 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:02,600 within you, he can lead you and he can guide you and he can 214 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,080 comfort you. He can help you, He can convict 215 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:10,800 you and it God is is active Father, Son and Holy Ghost to to 216 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:14,320 ensure that that same Holy Ghost lives within us. 217 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:18,080 But we also see this in this question what is Christ doing 218 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,200 now that God justifies sinners by faith in Christ alone. 219 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:28,080 This cannot be understated. Salvation is in Christ by faith, 220 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,080 not through works. It's not faith and works. 221 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:32,600 We talked about this a few weeks ago. 222 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:36,160 It's not, well, the sacraments. Well, no, it's not about the 223 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:37,760 sacraments. Do you know what it's about? 224 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,760 It's about Christ and what He did on the cross and trusting in 225 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,240 Him to be your Savior. Nothing else say, well, well, I 226 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,640 have to stop as soon as you say that you've already messed up 227 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:52,080 the gospel, unless you're about to say I have to trust him as my 228 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:53,480 savior. Because if it's something that 229 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,200 you have to do, remember that means that there's something 230 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:59,240 within us that we can boast of. There's something within us. 231 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:02,640 Well, I was good enough because I spent enough hours in church. 232 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:04,640 I was good enough because I gave enough money. 233 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:07,760 I was good enough because I took the sacraments every week. 234 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:10,480 I was good enough because I sat across from a priest. 235 00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:13,240 I, I, I, I, I and you know who said that? 236 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:15,080 You know who had that eye problem? 237 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:17,280 We can go all the way back to Isaiah chapter 14. 238 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:21,760 Satan talked a lot about I, I will be, I will be, I will be. 239 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,440 And he wasn't. And there's a lot of people who 240 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:29,040 will think that what they have done in the name of good works 241 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:32,440 will, even in the name of Jesus Christ will be enough to get 242 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:34,960 them to heaven. And they have so backwards 243 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,360 gotten everything when they don't realize that. 244 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,440 James chapter 2 says this. Your works come from a heart 245 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:45,120 that belongs to God, not that you have good work so that you 246 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:49,280 can belong to God. And so God justifies sinners by 247 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:52,280 faith in Christ alone. That word, justification, it's a 248 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:54,880 wonderful Bible word. It's not often talked about. 249 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:57,880 It's not often preached about, but justification has always 250 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:01,240 been explained to me in a very easy to understand way, that 251 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:04,840 it's just as if I never sinned. That when God looks at us, 252 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:08,160 justification means it's just as if I never sinned. 253 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:10,640 And that is what salvation is all about. 254 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,800 When God joins believers to Jesus Christ by faith, he 255 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:17,880 becomes their righteousness. We'll see that on Wednesday 256 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:23,600 night in First Corinthians one, verse 30, that God credits them 257 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,880 with the righteousness of God because they are in Christ and 258 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:30,160 Christ took upon Him the penalty of their sins. 259 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:34,120 First John chapter 2 tells us that He is the propitiation of 260 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,840 our sins. He paid the debt that we could 261 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,800 not pay. And I love that word. 262 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:42,680 Again, just like justification, propitiation, certainly not a 263 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:45,000 word that rolls off the tongue in 2025. 264 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:47,800 No one's out there usually using the word propitiation. 265 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:49,920 But that doesn't mean we should take it out of the Bible because 266 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:53,960 it is so important to understand what Jesus Christ did. 267 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,520 The debt was so large you couldn't pay it, and I couldn't 268 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:01,120 pay it, but Jesus Christ paid it with the precious blood that was 269 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:05,360 shed there on the cross. And so God justifies sinners by 270 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,520 faith in Christ alone. Just to try to talk about each 271 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:10,520 of these for like 3 minutes is almost impossible. 272 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,640 All right, because I want to just preach on it, but that's 273 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:13,640 all right. We understand. 274 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:17,320 We're giving an overview of it. Holy Spirit makes people holy. 275 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:20,120 This is part of the ministry of the Spirit. 276 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:22,040 He makes people holy. That that's probably a good 277 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:23,720 thing to say because it's a Holy Spirit, right? 278 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:25,440 He's a Holy Spirit, I should say. 279 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:29,480 And so we understand that joined to the Lord Jesus, believers 280 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:33,120 also find that Christ is their sanctification, which I just 281 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:35,960 mentioned. And the Spirit of Christ is 282 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:38,080 within us. The Holy Spirit is within us. 283 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:40,440 To do what? To make us more like Christ. 284 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,440 That is the desire that we are in the process of our 285 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:45,760 sanctification, that we are in our life. 286 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,360 Every day we're trying to be a little bit more like Jesus 287 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:50,200 Christ. Every day we're trying to be a 288 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:52,480 little bit more like Him. How do we do that? 289 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,560 Well, again, it's the same way that you got saved. 290 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:59,600 It's through the Spirit who helps you and He guides you. 291 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:03,360 You remember the Galatians, that the Galatians got saved, but 292 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,200 then they got all mixed up about works and all these things. 293 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:10,160 And basically Paul says this in Galatians, I believe it's 294 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:13,160 chapter #4 and he says this, you foolish Galatians. 295 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:14,880 Now you talk about some hard preaching. 296 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:16,040 That's probably a good way to start. 297 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:18,200 I've never tried that, don't plan on trying it. 298 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:24,440 But you foolish Galatians, he says, are you going to continue? 299 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,560 It works. Basically, it summarizes it. 300 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:32,400 He says this, He says why would you change the way that you came 301 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:36,120 to Christ in the 1st place and then moved to a different method 302 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:39,120 when this was the way that God brought you to him in the 1st 303 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:41,440 place? Why would you go to works when 304 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:43,880 it was the Spirit? So if we are saved by the 305 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,160 Spirit, then we're also perfected in this life in the 306 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:50,720 sense of purging ourselves from the old man and living in our 307 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,160 new life in Christ. We're also it's done by the 308 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:55,640 Spirit. The Bible says walk in the 309 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,000 Spirit. You may not fulfill the lust of 310 00:15:58,000 --> 00:15:59,680 the flesh. We'll be using that verse this 311 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,160 morning as well. And our message walk in the 312 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:06,000 spirit meaning this well, I'm trying and I can't, I can't seem 313 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:07,840 to live the Christian life that I want to live. 314 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:12,680 Well, stop trying. That sounds weird, but the the 315 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:15,480 idea is this stop trying within your own power. 316 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:17,120 Stop trying within your own flesh. 317 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:22,160 That's why just using brute willpower is not a way to 318 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,240 conquer the flesh. What is it? 319 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,960 By praying and asking the Holy Spirit to help you and listening 320 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:31,440 to the Holy Spirit when he says don't do that, don't say that, 321 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,560 don't, don't think that. And then when that happens, what 322 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:37,920 do we do? We should be quick to confess 323 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:40,200 our sin before the Lord. I shouldn't have thought that. 324 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:42,840 I shouldn't have said that. By the way, this is probably a 325 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,640 good time to mention this as much as any. 326 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,200 You know, it does say in first John chapter one that if we 327 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,720 confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and 328 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:52,200 to cleanse us from all righteousness. 329 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:55,000 And I do think that when we get this idea of confession, 330 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,880 especially because a lot of us came from a Catholic or a 331 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,240 Sacramento background, if you will, like I was a Lutheran, not 332 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:07,839 a Catholic, but the same idea is that we feel like confession of 333 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:10,960 sin is an event. I've got to do it at the end of 334 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:15,359 the day or I've got to do it, you know, at a certain time in a 335 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:19,599 certain place, You know, the best time to confess your sin is 336 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:23,960 when you do it and the Holy Spirit convicts you about it. 337 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:27,599 Could you imagine, you know, my wife and I'm getting ready for 338 00:17:27,599 --> 00:17:30,560 to come into the church and, you know, she's just getting ready 339 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:32,440 for the morning. And I say something to her. 340 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:34,720 That's probably not the best thing to say. 341 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:36,840 I know none of you could imagine me doing anything like that. 342 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:40,160 I know this is such, this is such an outrageous illustration 343 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:41,480 that it's hard for you to say it. 344 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:44,080 But I said something to her that's a little bit, you know, 345 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:46,320 unseemly. Shouldn't have said it to her. 346 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:49,520 And but then I leave and I think, you know what? 347 00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:52,880 I'll see her tonight. I'll take care of it when I get 348 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,080 home. You'd say, you know, you'd 349 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:59,280 probably be better to maybe when you say it or at least a few 350 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:01,880 minutes later when you chew on a little bit to say you're sorry 351 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:04,840 before you left, or even if you hadn't really thought about it, 352 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:07,680 maybe to send a text or to call would be even better. 353 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:09,720 You know, texting. That's the way, you know, people 354 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:12,160 do things nowadays for all kinds of things, but just call and 355 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:13,920 say, you know what? I don't know what I was thinking 356 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:15,080 this morning. I lost my mind. 357 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:19,080 I I'm so sorry that I said that and just be done with it for, 358 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:21,000 for her sake as well As for mine. 359 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:25,960 In a marriage relationship, we would say, why would you wait? 360 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:28,720 Like why would why would you wait till the night? 361 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:33,320 And so often I find that Christians do exactly that is 362 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:35,720 that they're going to wait till their confession time. 363 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:40,160 But listen in the meantime that there is this blockage between 364 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,720 you and the Lord where you've not listened to him and you're 365 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:46,480 not obeying what he's telling you to confess. 366 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:49,560 And that's going to affect you in other ways throughout the 367 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:51,600 day. Just keep short accounts with 368 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,800 God, keep short accounts with him and confess your sin when 369 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:57,600 soon as that Holy Spirit says don't do it, say I shouldn't 370 00:18:57,600 --> 00:18:59,320 have done it. And that's where David is our 371 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,400 example, because when David was rebuked over and over again, he 372 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:03,840 said, Nope, I shouldn't have done that. 373 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:06,680 He didn't argue, he didn't fight, he didn't say, but God, I 374 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:09,400 had my reasons. He just said, no, I know I 375 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,520 shouldn't have done that. And so consider that it's the 376 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:17,480 Holy Spirit who makes people holy and that we need to submit 377 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,440 ourselves to that process, that he's not going to force it upon 378 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,240 us, but we need to submit ourselves to that process. 379 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:24,480 Got to move. I got to move here. 380 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:27,560 All right. And then the Spirit also gives 381 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,760 believers assurance. The Holy Spirit gives believers 382 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:34,640 assurance by enabling them to trust in God's promises or 383 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:39,040 salvation and by sealing us with that Holy Spirit of promise. 384 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,800 And I'm thankful for the assurance that we have of 385 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,240 salvation. I'm thankful that the Holy 386 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:49,040 Spirit can testify within us that we do know Jesus Christ as 387 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:51,600 our Savior. And I love being able to take 388 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,400 people to 1st John chapter #5 after they get saved. 389 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:57,560 He that hath the Son of God hath life. 390 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,520 He that hath the Son of God hath not the Son of God hath not 391 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:02,720 life. That is very simple, that's very 392 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:04,320 clear. If you trusted Jesus Christ as 393 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,560 your Savior, have you asked Him? To come into your heart then 394 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,320 well according to your profession of faith, you know 395 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,560 Jesus Christ as your Savior that you don't need to doubt that. 396 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:17,040 Now we all go through periods of doubts and difficulties and I 397 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,040 was just talking with someone recently about this, but I 398 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:20,640 always go back to John the Baptist. 399 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:23,200 John the Baptist had a period of doubt as well. 400 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:25,840 I mean, John the Baptist saw all the things that he saw. 401 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:30,000 John the Baptist witnessed, preached, did all those things 402 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,040 and even he said his disciples to Jesus says art thou the one 403 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:34,360 or should we be looking for another? 404 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:37,600 And what did Jesus tell John the Baptist? 405 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:40,000 By the way, Jesus didn't rebuke John the Baptist. 406 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:44,160 I think that's interesting. Not that he was without faith at 407 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:45,600 that moment or not that he was doubting. 408 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,480 He was doubting at that moment, but he didn't rebuke him. 409 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,840 He sell told his disciples go back and tell John and tell him 410 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:53,880 again everything that's happened. 411 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:57,080 He said just just go back and remember what you've seen. 412 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:01,360 Go back and see how you have seen me work and the things that 413 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:03,080 you have seen God do through you. 414 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:05,800 You just remember those things. And I believe that John died 415 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,280 with his faith and integrity intact. 416 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,800 Why? Because he knew the Lord. 417 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,560 But the Spirit gives us assurance today that the Spirit 418 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:18,000 bear with witness to our Spirit that we are the children of God. 419 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:22,680 And the Spirit of Christ moves God's children to pray to their 420 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:25,480 Father. Prayer is an essential, as 421 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,920 essential to the life of a Christian as breathing. 422 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:34,600 And we are to utilize, if you will, all three parts of the 423 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:37,080 Trinity. We are praying to the Father, we 424 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:40,280 pray in the name of the Son, and we pray through the power of the 425 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:42,160 Spirit. And then the Romans tells us 426 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:46,480 that there are times that the Spirit helps us pray because we 427 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,040 don't even know what to pray. We don't even know how to 428 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,240 articulate what's in our heart because it's so deep or because 429 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,680 it's so painful. But there are times when 430 00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:00,040 literally I've been praying or I want to pray and I can't. 431 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,360 And I don't know what the issue is. 432 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:04,400 Or maybe I very well know what the issue is. 433 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:09,000 And I just say, Lord, will you help me to say what I need to 434 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:10,960 say? Will you help me to pray? 435 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,000 By the way, you want to pray something that's really extreme, 436 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,080 pray something like this. Lord, will you reveal to me the 437 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:18,440 sin I need to confess? It's amazing to me. 438 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:19,800 That's almost like turning on a spicket. 439 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:21,040 And it's like, all right, Lord, turn it off. 440 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:22,960 All right. Because I'm thinking, you know, 441 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:24,800 I did pretty good yesterday and then I started. 442 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:26,600 The Spirit says, oh, did you now? 443 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,600 Oh, did that just all of a sudden pop up in my memory? 444 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,880 I don't think so. I truly believe it's the Spirit 445 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,120 reminding us. But but that's why the Spirit 446 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,440 moves us to be able to pray to the Father. 447 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,760 He ushers us into that throne room and as we pray in the name 448 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,920 of Jesus Christ, who is our advocate with the Father. 449 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:48,880 And it's interesting, John Bunyan, you know, John Bunyan 450 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:53,480 wrote Pilgrim's Progress, the second most published book in 451 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:57,400 history after the Bible. And John Bunyan said this, and 452 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:01,520 this was in 16. He lived from 1620 to 1688. 453 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:03,400 And by the way, I just need to make clear John Bunyan. 454 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,120 Paul Bunyan, not the same person, All right? 455 00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:06,600 Just want, always want to make that clear. 456 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:08,840 All right. Paul Bunyan not so real. 457 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,600 John Bunyan, very real. OK, But he said this. 458 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,800 He said that he confessed that when he went to pray, he found 459 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,880 that his heart was so reluctant to go to God that he must first 460 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:22,200 ask God that he would take my heart and set it on himself in 461 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:26,600 Christ, and when it is there, that he would keep it there and 462 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,240 help him to pray by the Spirit despite his weakness. 463 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,000 And this was one of the greatest Christians, I think, that maybe 464 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,160 ever lived. And he's saying, you know what? 465 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:36,240 There are times it was hard to pray, and I just need the 466 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:38,440 Spirit's help to be able to pray. 467 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,840 And then we also see here with #5 that Christ empowers his 468 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:46,720 people by the Spirit to serve him to the glory of God alone. 469 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,800 And so are we able to serve on our own? 470 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:52,280 No. Can we do anything? 471 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:54,240 Well, no. It's the power of the Spirit 472 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,240 within us that's able to help us, to embolden us. 473 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:02,520 That's why first John 18, or rather Acts 18 rather, when they 474 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:07,400 were compelled by to go to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria 475 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,160 and the uttermost parts of the earth, the Bible says that they 476 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:12,240 were to be given power to do that. 477 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,240 Well, what does that mean? On your own you can't do it, but 478 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:19,120 you will have this power, this dunamis, the Greek word dunamis, 479 00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:22,600 dynamite, like power to be able to go and do those things. 480 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:26,040 And that's why you look at 11 disciples that were pretty 481 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,520 inept. I mean, let's be honest, you 482 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,120 take the end of the book of John and you run up into the 1st 483 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:34,200 chapter of Acts. And these people, they were 484 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:35,800 afraid. They were scared. 485 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,160 They weren't out there testifying of Jesus. 486 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,360 They were locking themselves away in the room. 487 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:43,640 They were afraid of the culture. They were look the same people 488 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:47,000 that were shouting crucify him were still out there and they 489 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:48,880 probably wanted to go after the disciples. 490 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:50,400 They didn't want any part of that. 491 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,840 They were afraid they, they didn't want to go do those 492 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,120 things. But yet as Jesus ascends into 493 00:24:57,120 --> 00:24:59,320 heaven, they were told they will receive power. 494 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,320 And from Acts chapter 2 on, you're looking at different men. 495 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,280 Well, what's the difference? It's the Spirit working within 496 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:08,680 them and them allowing the Spirit to work within them to go 497 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,400 do those things which they were called to do. 498 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,880 So that's question #5 what is Christ doing now by the Holy 499 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:19,120 Spirit that the ministry of the Triune God is active even today. 500 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,680 But then we see number six, what is the Church of Jesus Christ? 501 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:26,480 There's a lot of questions about the church today, what it is and 502 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,760 what it is not. But I do want to remind you that 503 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:30,840 we're looking at the church. We're not looking at a church 504 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:34,000 universal. We're looking at A local church 505 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,840 or looking at local churches because this is how God works. 506 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:42,320 That the word church in the Greek literally means ecclesia. 507 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,920 It means a called out assembly. It's people that are meeting 508 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,080 together in a place that they're meeting together in a place, in 509 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:52,760 our case to be able to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. 510 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:57,280 Interestingly enough, in the book of Acts, the word ekklesia 511 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:00,360 has used more than once, not only to talk about a church, but 512 00:26:00,360 --> 00:26:02,280 just talking about an assembly of people. 513 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,120 They are people who are together. 514 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,120 And I say this because there are some people who say, you know, I 515 00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:09,600 don't really need a church because I'm part of the church 516 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,560 universal. And I will say to them in these 517 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:15,640 situations say, well, how do you get in church encouragement from 518 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,040 the church universal? How are you, you know, how do 519 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:20,880 you tie the church universal that that could be an 520 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:25,640 interesting question. How do you how who visits you at 521 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:27,560 the hospital when you're in the church universal? 522 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:30,280 And there are times that the Bible talks about church 523 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:34,080 corporately as in churches. But at the same time, God truly 524 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:38,880 deals with his local churches, each institution being able to 525 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:43,200 be there so that they can be the witness that God has called them 526 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:45,680 to be. So we see first that the church 527 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,840 is organized into local congregations where Christians 528 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,520 are members. The church is organized into 529 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,720 local congregations where Christians are members. 530 00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:01,520 There's, I believe over 100. I think it's 103 times that the 531 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,960 word church is used in the New Testament. 532 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,480 Actually 106. A hundred and three of them all 533 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,560 distinctly pointed to the fact of local churches. 534 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:15,000 The church at Laodicea, the church at Ephesus, the church at 535 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:19,320 Smyrna, the church at Thyatira, the church at Corinth, these are 536 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,000 local churches. And this is how God is working 537 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,240 and this is how God has instituted his people to be 538 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:30,960 together in this time that we have, this period of history 539 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:34,080 that we have, that he is using the church to be able to bring 540 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,240 us together, to be able to be encouraged, to be able to help 541 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,040 one another. And also to be commissioned, as 542 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:42,520 we'll see just a second as well, that there are people who are 543 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:44,960 coming together to these churches to be part of these 544 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,240 churches. And we see in First Corinthians 545 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,120 chapter 12 that there are different parts of the body and 546 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:54,080 all of those people have been baptized into one body, that the 547 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:55,360 Spirit is the one who's done that. 548 00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:58,960 Spirit place people into these bodies to be the eyes, the ears, 549 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:02,000 the hands, the feet, every single part, all different, but 550 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:07,400 yet all working in one common goal, to be able to glorify our 551 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,240 Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see that first, but we 552 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:15,240 also see the church is 1 body with many diverse members. 553 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:18,360 And going back to First Corinthians chapter 12, you are 554 00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:19,760 different. We are different. 555 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:22,160 We have different callings. We preached on this a little bit 556 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:24,320 on Sunday night. We have different personalities. 557 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,040 We have different ways of looking at life. 558 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,280 We have different ways that we handle ourselves. 559 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:31,560 And as long as it's biblical, it's good for us to be 560 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,080 different, that we're not all trying to be the same, that 561 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,400 we're not trying to be carbon copies of one another. 562 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,240 Why? Because God takes the diversity 563 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:41,320 of who we are. He takes the diversity of our 564 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:45,040 life experiences. He takes the diversity of how we 565 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,400 grew up. He takes the diversity of the 566 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,600 mistakes that we made that God has forgiven us up. 567 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,480 He's taken the diversity of the talents and the abilities that 568 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,360 we have, and he's put us together into one church. 569 00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,400 And here at Liberty Baptist Church, He's put us together so 570 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:03,080 that on our own, any one of us would be woefully inadequate. 571 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:06,680 But together, He has made us into an organization. 572 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,120 You could even call it an Organism because it's alive. 573 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,880 He's made us into this Organism that's come together to be able 574 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,360 to further the gospel message. And I love the fact that he 575 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:20,400 makes us so different and that's OK. 576 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,720 That we don't have to be the same or carbon copies of one 577 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,360 another, that we are one body. There's one goal, but they're 578 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,240 diverse members and and we do have to have the same goal. 579 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:31,760 We have to be pulling the same way. 580 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,480 There are times in our body where one part of the body is 581 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,800 wanting to do something that is not helpful for the rest of the 582 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:39,920 body. If someone has diabetes, guess 583 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,680 what, There's one part of the body that's not really helping 584 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,040 the other parts of the body at times or seasons. 585 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:47,240 Do you have an infection? There's one part of the body 586 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,760 that's not necessarily helping all the other parts of the body. 587 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,720 You have a heart condition, Guess what that's going to 588 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:54,680 affect all the other parts of the body isn't. 589 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,080 I watched my dad have a heart attack when he's 38 years old. 590 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,560 I can tell you that it affects all parts of your body, not just 591 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:03,200 the heart. It's the same way for us is that 592 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:05,400 yeah, we may be different, but we all need to make sure we're 593 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:08,360 pulling the same direction. And that's truly what fellowship 594 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:09,920 is about. It's not just fellowship. 595 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,080 Having a meal after church. But fellowship is that we're all 596 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:15,840 together going the same way for Jesus Christ. 597 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:19,080 And so the church is 1 body with many diverse members. 598 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:23,080 But we also see that Christ has given pastors to equip and to 599 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:27,800 edify his church. In the New Testament, you find 3 600 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,080 different terms for the pastor. You find pastor and you find 601 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,840 Bishop and you find elder. These are the three terms that 602 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:38,480 you find that would all constitute the New Testament 603 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:40,880 pastor. Now you could call me a Bishop, 604 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,240 I'd prefer you not. All right, you could call me an 605 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:47,680 elder, I'd prefer you not. But pastor is the term that we 606 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,000 use here. By the way, reverend isn't one 607 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,800 of those terms. I, I don't take any quibbles or 608 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,040 I don't have any quibbles with any other pastor who used the 609 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,440 term reverend. I prefer not to use the reverend 610 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:01,920 because the Psalms tell us that holy and Reverend is, is his 611 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:03,960 name and my name is not Reverend. 612 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:05,640 You don't need to Revere me by any say. 613 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:09,400 I mean we have Rivero, but not Rivero OK or anything like that. 614 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:12,000 Don't, don't do that. Sometimes people call me Rivero 615 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:15,600 and that's OK, but but no, it's what am I supposed to be? 616 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:20,480 A pastor, a Bishop, an elder, a leader, that I'm to devote 617 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,640 myself to the ministry of the Word of to be able to know that 618 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,160 every week that I can be able to preach to you and teach to you 619 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,400 from the Word of God. And also that I am in the 620 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,680 ministry of the Word throughout the week to other people as 621 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:34,680 well. That my ministry is not just 622 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,320 behind the pulpit, but it's also with the people that I meet, the 623 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,400 people I come in contact with to be able to show them Jesus 624 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:43,600 Christ. And also that I have some level 625 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:46,120 or semblance of leadership as well. 626 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,320 I mentioned I believe is on Wednesday night, that thing that 627 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:50,960 has more than one head is a monster. 628 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:54,160 And so there has to be a head. Well, we know the chief head was 629 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:56,960 Jesus Christ. It's His church that He shed his 630 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:58,600 blood for us. He died for the church. 631 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:02,120 Ephesians chapter 5. But I will tell you that God has 632 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:06,760 laid the calling upon me not to Lord over the flock, but to be 633 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:08,960 able to be the shepherd of the flock. 634 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,120 There is a difference. There's a large difference. 635 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:15,520 I'm supposed to be the helper of your joy, not to be able to Lord 636 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,760 over you. But at the same time, pastors 637 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,600 are given for that purpose. And so this is what God has 638 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,000 called me to do here. And I'm thankful for that 639 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:26,880 calling. And I'm thankful at the same 640 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:29,280 time for the pastors that God has placed in my life. 641 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:30,720 Over the years. I've had three different 642 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,200 pastors, well, Baptist pastors, I should say. 643 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:35,680 I've had three different pastors over the years. 644 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,080 And even now I can tell you that I have what I would consider my 645 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,680 pastor, which is another pastor who is about 20 years older than 646 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,200 me, that if I have some issues or some problems, I call him and 647 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:47,640 I say, what do you think about this? 648 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,520 Or you know, how would you, you know, to get counsel that I 649 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:52,560 need, just like sometimes we all need that. 650 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,880 So God has given us pastors to edify and equip the church, but 651 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:00,720 we also see that God commands his church to keep the moral 652 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,520 law. Hold on a second pastor, the 653 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,840 moral law. Now you this is now this is not 654 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:09,360 right though the law is abolished through Christ. 655 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,240 This isn't right. Well, well, well, yes, we we 656 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:16,120 understand that Christ was the fulfillment of the law. 657 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,600 And I think this is sometimes where we have to really be 658 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:22,160 careful because the Pharisees were very good at keeping the 659 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:25,880 letter of the law, but they were not actually good at keeping the 660 00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:30,760 law in its spirit, if we could put it that way. 661 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:35,640 Listen, Jesus said you could take all the all the law and the 662 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:39,760 prophets and you could condense him down to this love God and 663 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:42,200 love others. Now, does that mean we still 664 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:44,080 need to fulfill those? Of course we still do. 665 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,640 Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, he says, you know you, 666 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:50,720 you've just gotten this down to thou shalt not commit adultery. 667 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:52,480 He says, but I'll tell you something. 668 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:56,560 He says the fulfillment of that is don't even in your heart 669 00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:01,720 dwell on the ACT itself. Well, what is Jesus? 670 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:03,800 You've, you've not murdered anybody. 671 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,600 I had a sermon years ago called so, So I've not murdered 672 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:07,800 anybody. That's what the title was. 673 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:09,400 I haven't murdered anybody. It almost seems like a 674 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,560 confession nowadays. But I haven't murdered anybody 675 00:34:14,159 --> 00:34:16,560 because sometimes people they'll, they'll do something 676 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:17,719 sinful. And it's like, look, it's not 677 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:20,159 like I murdered anybody. You know, it's like, well, I'm 678 00:34:20,159 --> 00:34:21,040 not that. This is what they say. 679 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,320 I'm not that bad. But Jesus says, well, yeah, you 680 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:25,920 haven't murdered anybody, but you had hate in your heart 681 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:30,600 towards someone, maybe wish they were dead and that God would use 682 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:31,960 use the vessel to help him get there. 683 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:35,679 You weren't going to do it, but you were thinking about it. 684 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:39,320 He says that's the fulfillment of the law. 685 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,400 That's understanding. Listen, it's not just about the 686 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:44,760 outward appearance. What does God look upon the 687 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:49,800 heart as a church, we want to be able to encourage you. 688 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:52,120 We want to preach and we want to talk about. 689 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:57,280 The fact is, listen, we want to live holy as God is holding. 690 00:34:57,760 --> 00:34:59,120 This is what God has called us to do. 691 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,160 In the Old Testament, they looked at it through the lens of 692 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:04,240 obedience. In the New Testament list of 693 00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:08,240 this, we look at it through the lens of love, and love makes all 694 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:12,080 the difference, doesn't it? Do I have to keep the law? 695 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:17,080 Well, technically I, I don't. But why would I even go there in 696 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:20,560 my thought process? Because I love the Lord and so I 697 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:24,360 want to be able to please Him because I love him, just like 698 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:26,320 I've talked about in the marriage relationship before. 699 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,680 Well, well, I mean, well, do I have to do I have to stay with 700 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:31,880 my wife? What does the law say? 701 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:37,360 Why you even go in there? Just maybe I just love her, you 702 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:39,840 know, and do right for her because I love her. 703 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:41,960 And you don't have to worry about all those other things. 704 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:43,600 And that's the heart that we should have today. 705 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:45,880 I love God like I should. I love others like I should. 706 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:48,680 And all these other things just naturally fall into place. 707 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:50,840 And God's church ought to be a good place for people to live 708 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:53,600 like Christians, and we ought to be a good place where we can be 709 00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:56,600 a lighthouse and testimony to the people who are outside. 710 00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:57,480 Got to pick it up. All right. 711 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,120 God calls the church to submit to civil authorities. 712 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:03,800 And of course, we had questions over this over the last few 713 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:05,520 years. You know, we're called to be 714 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:07,840 able to obey the government. We are called to listen. 715 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:09,680 When do we stop obeying the government? 716 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:13,520 Well, the apostles gave us a good example of that when they 717 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:15,720 said this. We must obey God rather than 718 00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:18,520 man. Anytime the government gives a 719 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:22,920 edict or a law and it's contrary to the word of God, we must 720 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:26,360 follow the Lord 1st. And because he is our ultimate 721 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,560 guy, he said, well what is that? Some kind of dual loyalty, 722 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:33,200 single loyalty? It's loyalty to God and every 723 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:36,040 other loyalty falls under that because I'm being loyal to him. 724 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:38,720 And so when the government says you can't do something, but the 725 00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:41,600 by word of God says you must do that, I must do it. 726 00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:45,040 And if it's vice versa, then we must do what the Lord tells us 727 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:47,840 to do and not what man does because government has its 728 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:50,120 authority from God. It flows from him. 729 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,040 Romans chapter 13. Christ blesses the church with 730 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:56,880 Christian freedom. Christian freedom that we have 731 00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:59,960 been called unto liberty. Great place for that. 732 00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:03,320 We've been called unto liberty, but not to fulfill lust of the 733 00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:06,280 flesh, but as an answer of a good conscience towards God. 734 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:09,360 Galatians chapter #5 and we do have Christian freedom. 735 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:11,840 Listen, I can't go to your house and tell you what to do. 736 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,760 God be honest with you. I have no desire to go to your 737 00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:17,000 house and tell you what to do. I think sometimes think that's 738 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,200 what pastors want to do it Just go around and just tell everyone 739 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:22,440 you know, do this, do this, don't do this, don't listen. 740 00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:24,600 I got enough trouble with that in my own life, All right? 741 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:26,640 I don't need to be going to your houses and telling you what you 742 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:28,080 ought to do, what you ought not to do. 743 00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:30,760 You have Christian freedom and Christian liberty. 744 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:34,080 Now I will say this is that should we be obeying God? 745 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:37,040 Of course we should. Am I going to preach and teach 746 00:37:37,240 --> 00:37:40,000 that we should obey God? Of course I should and of course 747 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,160 I will. But at the same time, God has 748 00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:44,520 given us liberty and that's liberty between churches as 749 00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:47,240 well. Now our liberty does not extend 750 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:49,640 beyond what the word of God tells us to do. 751 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:51,480 We have to follow the Word of God. 752 00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:53,960 But churches are different. Some of you have come to from 753 00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:58,360 churches before that will have communion once a month and we 754 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:00,280 have it usually two or three times a year. 755 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:05,280 Some of come from churches where where in in the way that they 756 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:07,120 function in a service is different. 757 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:08,320 They don't have a time of worship. 758 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:12,240 We do have a time of worship. Some churches will maybe sing 759 00:38:12,240 --> 00:38:15,640 songs, you know, that are older, you know, newer than 1950. 760 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:19,600 We'll sing songs that are are newer today, as long as they are 761 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:25,440 songs that have, you know, a pleasing sound that are not 762 00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:28,880 worldly. And so because that's a biblical 763 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:32,000 issue, but there's also freedom between us as churches and even 764 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:33,840 as individuals that Christ has given it. 765 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:34,920 You know why there's that freedom? 766 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:37,360 Because we're all personally accountable towards God. 767 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:40,960 We all must give an account to the Lord for ourselves. 768 00:38:41,240 --> 00:38:44,640 And so I think sometimes we get a bent out of shape with some of 769 00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:45,720 those. Well, I wouldn't do things that 770 00:38:45,720 --> 00:38:48,280 way. Well, just OK, then you don't do 771 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:50,880 things that way. OK, just leave that to the Lord 772 00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:52,840 and allow him to work in them in the Holy Spirit. 773 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:54,880 Maybe it's something the Holy Spirit needs to work on in their 774 00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:56,920 life. Maybe it's something that that 775 00:38:57,440 --> 00:38:59,920 it's just you can do one thing and someone else can do another, 776 00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:02,040 and neither of them are wrong and we have the liberty to do 777 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:03,360 so. Whatever it is. 778 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:05,840 God blesses the church with Christian freedom. 779 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:08,800 And then COD also calls the church to public worship. 780 00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:11,240 And of course, that's talking about us gathering together, I 781 00:39:11,240 --> 00:39:13,960 believe for a time of worship. But it also means the fact that 782 00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:17,040 we need to gather together so we can gather together. 783 00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:18,760 God has called us to gather together. 784 00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:21,720 And I'll say this again, I've said this many times, I'm 785 00:39:21,720 --> 00:39:24,560 thankful for our live stream. I'm thankful for the people who 786 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:27,880 are ill, the people who are out of town that they can still 787 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:29,720 watch. I think we've all been there 788 00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:31,720 before and we're thankful for the live stream. 789 00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:34,520 But I try to be careful that I don't say we're having church 790 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:36,680 online because you can't have church online. 791 00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:38,720 A church means a gathering place. 792 00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:39,920 Again, you can't have that online. 793 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,840 We can have online service. We can be able to preach and 794 00:39:42,840 --> 00:39:44,640 teach online. And again, I want to be very 795 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:46,440 careful how to say this. I'm thankful for this. 796 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:48,880 There are people right now that I'm thinking of that are in some 797 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,920 very difficult positions with their health, that if they 798 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:55,400 didn't have this, they will be so totally disconnected. 799 00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:58,560 It would be like, like they weren't even a part of us 800 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:00,440 anymore. And I'm thankful that they have 801 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:01,800 it. And I say that sincerely. 802 00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:04,880 But I do also recognize this, that God calls us to be 803 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:07,040 together. And I made a decision a long 804 00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:09,800 time ago that as long as the doors were open, that I was 805 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,200 going to be in the House of God, as long as the church was open, 806 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:15,360 unless I was providentially hindered from being there, that 807 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:18,480 I was going to be in church. And I will tell you, of course, 808 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:21,320 now, well, you know, I'm the pastor, so I kind of have to be 809 00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:22,760 in church. But I'll tell you that decision 810 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:25,080 was made before I had to be at church. 811 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:27,400 And I will tell you this, I've never regretted that decision. 812 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:29,200 Well, you're not going to have any life. 813 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:30,920 You're at church how many times a week? 814 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:32,400 You're going to have no life whatsoever. 815 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:34,120 I feel like I've had a pretty good life. 816 00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:36,120 I feel like I've been very fulfilled. 817 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:39,760 I feel like God has blessed beyond measure and I've learned 818 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:43,080 so much and I've grown so much. And some of my favorite people 819 00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:46,720 in life, the closest people I have in life, I've met from just 820 00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:49,800 being around them in church. I'm so thankful for that. 821 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:51,400 And so don't rob yourself of that. 822 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,760 But God has called us to be able to meet together for public 823 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:55,560 worship. All right? 824 00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:59,400 And then God has provided 2 ordinances, the baptism, baptism 825 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:00,800 in the Lords Supper. Aren't you glad we got to have 826 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:03,240 baptism a couple weeks ago? And but hey, Christian liberty, 827 00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:04,840 you can have a horse through, you can have a, you have a 828 00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:06,280 Baptist St. and go out to the pond. 829 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:08,520 You go out the lake, you know, whatever you want to do, go out 830 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:09,760 to the Atlantic Ocean. That's fine. 831 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:12,560 Just make sure to go down deep. That's all I ask because that's 832 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:14,720 what baptism is. But they're ordinances. 833 00:41:14,720 --> 00:41:18,440 They're not sacraments. Sacraments give salvation. 834 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:20,320 So we don't call them sacraments. 835 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:22,840 We call them ordinances. And Paul told the Church of 836 00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,720 Corinth to keep the ordinances. So we have the ordinances of 837 00:41:25,720 --> 00:41:29,880 baptism and the Lord's Supper. These are things that Jesus has 838 00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:34,880 told the church to do, that we are to baptize the Father, Son, 839 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,200 and the Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of his death, 840 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,760 raised in the likeness of his resurrection, and then to be 841 00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:43,040 able to have the Lord's Supper. Not that we are drinking the 842 00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:45,240 blood of Christ or eating the body of Christ. 843 00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:48,680 There's nowhere taught in the Script but that this due in 844 00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:51,960 remembrance of me. It's a memorial feast where we 845 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:53,280 gathered together. We said feast. 846 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:55,520 It's not really a feast. If you're coming for food, 847 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:57,840 you're going to be sorely disappointed if you come to the 848 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:00,520 Lord's Supper. But I will say it's a memorial 849 00:42:00,720 --> 00:42:04,360 where we get together and we just soberly and somberly 850 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:06,880 remember, wow, this is what Christ did for me. 851 00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:08,760 And it's powerful. It's so powerful. 852 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:11,440 It doesn't need to be the body and actual body and blood in 853 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:14,560 Christ to be powerful. Just the literal remembrance of 854 00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:18,640 it brings great power. And then quickly, I'm just going 855 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:20,920 to run through these. Christ commissioned the church. 856 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:23,360 What does that mean? He gave us a job to do. 857 00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:26,080 This is not a Country Club. This is not a social club. 858 00:42:26,720 --> 00:42:28,600 This is not a supper club. You know what this is? 859 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,800 It's a place where God has called us to reach the World 860 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:34,840 with the Word of God. And so we must always keep the 861 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:38,200 Commission at the forefront. But then we also see how will 862 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:39,840 Christ bring his Kingdom to earth? 863 00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:43,160 Christ is coming back, Amen. And I'm so thankful that He is 864 00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:46,680 coming back and He will come again in visible glory that when 865 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:50,080 we talk about the Kingdom being set, this is not something that 866 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:53,760 is just mentioned in the Word of God that has happened in the 867 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:56,800 past, or it's something that's really more metaphorical. 868 00:42:56,800 --> 00:43:01,800 No, Jesus Christ will return invisible glory to set up his 869 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:03,960 Kingdom. Christ will ways from dead all 870 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:05,600 who have ever lived. For what purpose? 871 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,720 Well, to judge the Son will judge everyone. 872 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:13,400 He will damn the wicked to the lake of fire, and Christ will 873 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:16,160 bless the righteous in heaven. And I know I went through that 874 00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:18,520 very quickly, but there is a judgment to come. 875 00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:21,840 It's been appointed unto man wants to die. 876 00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:25,840 And after this the judgment that there will be resurrected into 877 00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:28,680 the great white throne judgment or the judgment seat of Christ. 878 00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:31,720 If you're the great white Throne judgment that you will have to 879 00:43:31,720 --> 00:43:34,280 prove your own worthiness through your own works. 880 00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:37,440 And we know that is impossible. But yet for those of us the 881 00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:39,880 judgment seat of Christ, we will be going to heaven. 882 00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:42,840 But our works will be tried with fire, whether they be good or 883 00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:45,120 whether they be bad. Some will be wood, hay and 884 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:47,800 stubble and they'll be burnt. Some will be gold and silver and 885 00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:50,440 precious stones and those gold and silver and precious stones 886 00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:54,280 will cast back at Jesus feet and we'll be able to live with him 887 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:56,560 eternally. There is eternal judgment, but 888 00:43:56,560 --> 00:43:59,080 there's also eternal life with Jesus Christ. 889 00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:02,480 And so we must call upon him to be saved. 890 00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:05,360 Well, over the next couple of weeks, next week we will be 891 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:09,920 having brother Rocky Harold. He will be the, he is the 892 00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,720 sponsor for Glory Bound, the music group from Heartland 893 00:44:12,720 --> 00:44:14,680 Baptist Bible College. He'll be doing Sunday school 894 00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:16,760 because I'll still be preaching during the morning service, but 895 00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:18,760 he'll be in Sunday school the following week. 896 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:20,800 I will not be here. I'll be preaching out of town. 897 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,440 So be out of our our series 2 weeks when we come back, we're 898 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:26,640 talking cults. Who's ready? 899 00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:30,320 It's been 6 weeks and we've not really talked about any cults 900 00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:31,000 yet. I see that hand. 901 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:32,840 Thank you. It's invitation already, so it's 902 00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:34,080 good. Bow your heads and close right 903 00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:35,680 now. I'm just kidding, but we're 904 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:37,520 ready. We the table has been set. 905 00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:40,560 It's time for us to get into what some of these groups 906 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:42,720 believe. And so we'll be starting that 907 00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:44,400 here in the next couple of weeks. 908 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:47,600 Our very next lesson? Thank you for listening to the 909 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:50,200 sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church. 910 00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:53,800 If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we 911 00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:56,960 can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at 912 00:44:57,080 --> 00:45:01,840 info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday 913 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:05,720 at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA. 914 00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:08,800 May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.