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Are You Saved? - Do You Really Believe Series
66 Plays1 year ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about the true meaning and assurance of salvation in Christ. He delved into his personal journey of recognizing the certainty and freedom that come from accepting Christ, recounting his own doubts and how he found peace in the promises contained in the scriptures, such as those in First John chapter 5. Barron's message reaffirms the importance of continual confession, repentance, and obedience, which reflect a genuine relationship with Christ, and concludes with the comforting assurance that it is not our initial emotional responses or perfection in behavior that saves us but our humbled acknowledgment of and reliance on Christ's completed work on the cross.
Timestamps:
00:00 Belief in Jesus leads to love, freedom.
06:23 Accepted Christ, sin's cost on his account.
08:46 Maintain short accounts with Christ, embrace change.
13:18 Love God, his people; heed the Holy Spirit.
16:53 Good works are evidence of redeemed heart.
18:26 Faith is shown through obedience and trials.
22:22 Trials strengthen faith, exemplified in scripture.
26:25 Heightened sensitivity to sin and cultural influence.
29:39 Pray for sinners, some sins lead to death.
32:02 Dodging guidance, seeking validation, and false righteousness.
35:03 Prayer for honesty and repentance before God.
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Transcript
Early Faith and Doubts
00:00:00
Speaker
So growing up in Columbus, Georgia, where I was born, going to church with my family, I received Christ at age eight at a vacation Bible school. And really, honestly, nothing much changed in my life visibly.
00:00:18
Speaker
Why? Because I'd been a pretty good kid growing up in a pretty good family. I wasn't like living in the streets doing drugs or in prison or anything of that nature. And so there was not this drastic overt change that happened in my life. And what that led to was that over the course of my growth as a Christian, I began to question a lot about my salvation.
00:00:37
Speaker
I began to have those questions, those doubts, because when I would fail or when I would make mistakes or when I would choose a sinful path, I would lay in bed at night and go, okay, am I really a Christian? I mean, why would a Christian do anything like this? Anybody ever had those same kind of doubts? Am I really saved? I think most Christians do that. I think there's places where the enemy tries to trick us or convince us that our salvation isn't real.
Certainty of Salvation through the Cross
00:01:03
Speaker
The point of this sermon this morning is to help you understand that that's not the way God wants you to live your life. The freedom that God has given us through salvation comes with a certainty and knowledge that he is taking care of what needs to be taken care of and that we can rest comfortably in that. And to go one step further, what you gain by the cross of Jesus Christ cannot be lost.
00:01:25
Speaker
by your behavior, okay? So we're gonna talk about this morning, we're gonna be reading from First John, portions of First John.
Insights from First John
00:01:33
Speaker
Normally I read from the Christian Standard Bible, but I'm gonna read from a little bit different translation so you hear some different things this morning that might shake your way of thinking, maybe challenge your heart a little bit. But here's the thing I want you to understand, genuine salvation comes with a certainty that it is yours and it is yours forever.
00:01:55
Speaker
First John, chapter 5, beginning in verse 1, it says, every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God the Gotten. If we love the one who conceives the child, surely we'll love the child who was conceived. The reality test on whether or not we love God's children is this. Do we love God?
00:02:16
Speaker
Do we keep His commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep His commandments and they are not at all troublesome. Then I'll skip down to verse 13. He says, my purpose in writing is simply this, that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life.
00:02:37
Speaker
the reality and not the illusion, and how bold and free we then become in His presence, freely asking according to His will, sure that He is listening. So what I want to share with you is just some thoughts that I had after reading this passage again, because it's a passage I went to in many of those points of doubt and uncertainty for myself.
00:02:57
Speaker
And then I had to come back to it again and again to fully understand and comprehend what it was that John was writing for us, as well as other passages in Scripture. The first thing I want you to understand is you can know for sure you're saved if you've placed your hope for eternity entirely on the person of Jesus Christ. And if you're taking notes, underline that word entirely. Because you see, when you are a follower of Jesus, you rest in his work, not yours.
00:03:23
Speaker
You rest in his work, not yours. So years ago, when I was planning my first church down in Southeast Georgia, I had a guy that was in my church who was the, I think it was the vice president of a small chemical company there.
Illustrations of Salvation in Daily Life
00:03:34
Speaker
He called me one day, become a really good friend of mine. He said, hey, can you take a day off? And I said, sure, what's up? He said, thought I'd take you for a round of golf, okay? So I'm always down for a round of golf. I said, absolutely, let's go. And he called me and said, I'm gonna pick you up tomorrow morning at 6.30. And I was like, why are we getting up so early? I mean, where are we going?
00:03:53
Speaker
He said, I'm going to get a little bit of breakfast, and then I'm going to take you. We're not playing at one of the courses around here. I said, OK. So we had breakfast, took off down the road. He was trying to keep it a secret. Surprise. I could tell pretty quickly we were headed an hour and a half away to Jacksonville, Florida. We're driving through Jacksonville, and suddenly we get to this really swanky part of neighborhood where I don't belong, right? Really big houses, really nice cars, I mean, all around you. And we turned into a neighborhood, and on the neighborhood was this big sign that said, Sawgrass.
00:04:23
Speaker
If anybody follows golf here, you know where I'm talking about it. It's one of the nicest courses in the Southeast, maybe in the whole Eastern side of the United States. Beautiful, beautiful course. And we pulled in and I mean, right from the get go, I was out of place. We pulled in the parking lot and every car there was more expensive than my house. And I was like, whoa, this, I feel kind of embarrassed. And I mean, here, so what are we doing here? He said,
00:04:45
Speaker
My company has an account here. We bring in guys from all over the world who work with our chemical company and we'll meet them at the airport, take them, play some golf with them. I said, Gene, I don't belong in a place like this. I'm afraid I'm going to embarrass you and me. He said, no, man, it's cool. You're with me. It's all right.
00:05:04
Speaker
started walking into this beautiful, beautiful clubhouse they had up there. And as I walked in, he said, hey, one of the first things you wanna do, you wanna go get your shoes, polish, shine? I'm like, dude, these shoes are like 10 years old. There ain't no polish gonna fix them. I had my hand-me-down golf clubs. Again, just felt really, really weird. He said, I want you to relax. I want you to enjoy the day. It's my gift to you as my pastor. Everything you do is on my tab. And I was like, everything?
00:05:33
Speaker
And he said, yes, everything. I was like, like, seriously? He goes, yeah. He said, everything here, yours. You want to go shoot? He had a bucket of balls. You can do that. If you need a snack, grab it. Just tell him to put it on my tab. So of course, at first, I was very cautious. Did he mean really anything?
00:05:50
Speaker
And so I did a couple things, and then he stood right there with me, didn't say a word. We played nine holes, came in at eight lunch, put it on the tab. I was getting a little swanky at this point. I was like, this is pretty cool. This is pretty cool. Went in, and he took me down between the rounds of nine. He took me down to the locker room, where some of the best golfers in America play practice rounds and stuff. And they had these lockers. Do not think Forrest High School lockers.
00:06:15
Speaker
These were like wood, like really nice wood, polished lockers, really fancy place down there, great shower facilities, all this kind of stuff. Got through, we went to the restaurant to eat that afternoon before we left, sat down and he said, what do you want? It's on me, it's on my tab. Guys, this is the reality we have when we accept Christ Jesus. The cost of our sin has been placed on his account, not yours.
00:06:41
Speaker
That day, playing golf at that place, I couldn't even afford it a bucket of balls at that day at that point in my life. But every single thing I did that day, I had the pleasure of looking at the person who gave it to me and said, it's on his town.
00:06:57
Speaker
You see, what you have in your ability to maintain your salvation is worthless. There's nothing you can do, nothing you can achieve, nothing you can strive for, because it's all accomplished by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Misconceptions and True Understanding of Salvation
00:07:14
Speaker
When I go and have conversations with different people, even some of you in this room today, and I ask the question, how do you know you're saved? I usually get answers like, I'm a good person,
00:07:27
Speaker
I try to be nice to everybody. I'm trying to follow the rules or I go to church. And guys, going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car. I mean, it just doesn't work that way. That's not how salvation is issued to believers.
00:07:47
Speaker
What that reveals to me is someone who just really doesn't understand what salvation is all about. I am a Christian, you are a Christian because Christ died in the place that I should have been.
00:08:00
Speaker
That's what salvation is all about. I rest in the finished work of Christ. And my assurance doesn't come from some past memory. Sometimes you ask somebody about salvation and they go, well, I knelt next to a bunk at a camp. And that's all good. That's great. There's nothing wrong with that. But that's not what your salvation hangs on. It doesn't hang on a prayer that you prayed because somebody led you in a prayer and said, repeat after me. That doesn't make you saved.
00:08:24
Speaker
What makes you saved is your mental acknowledgement and your obedience of following after Jesus Christ with your life. So the beginning question that you need to ask as we're starting into this today is are you living a life of consistent confession, repentance, and obedience?
00:08:44
Speaker
Confession, repentance, and obedience. Because even if you're a long time follower of Christ like me, one of the things we begin to allow the slip out of our pattern of living is we forget that we are constantly to come back and keep a short account of Christ Jesus by giving our sins over to him to be covered by the blood that he has shed for us. We take it for granted.
00:09:07
Speaker
So if you've placed your hope for eternity entirely on the work of Jesus Christ, then you know you have a relationship with him. Now, the second thing I want you to see is you're gonna have a new nature with new desires. That's also an indication that you have a real relationship with Jesus Christ. 1 John 5, 18 says, we know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the one who is born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.
00:09:35
Speaker
Now, if you're paying close attention, you heard that phrase, does not sin. Again, that's one of those passages I would read. And as a believer, I thought, I would go, wait a minute, if he's not supposed to sin, then I messed up. I'm not a true
Transformation and New Nature in Christ
00:09:50
Speaker
follower because I know that I still have sin in my life. Here's the thing. Your behavior doesn't change in your life because you're afraid of God. Your behavior changes in your life because you're in love with God.
00:10:05
Speaker
There's a big difference between the two. You see, when you're doing something out of fear towards God, then it's real easy to convince yourself that when he's not looking, you can slip something in, right? If he's not paying close attention, maybe he's too busy with world affairs and maybe I could just slip this one by him.
00:10:23
Speaker
But when you're doing it out of love, the old things you used to love become disgusting to you, and the new things, the new affections enter into your heart. 2 Corinthians 5, 17, and by the way, it's my typo on the listening guide. It's not 1 Corinthians 5, 17. If you go there, there's not even 17 verses. So 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a, what?
00:10:49
Speaker
new creation the oldest passed away and the new has come so you have these new affections and it's not a perfect love but it is an evident love and it's an evident love of three things number one you love God number two you love his word and number three you love his people
00:11:09
Speaker
Now, the first one, loving God's pretty easy, right? Pretty easy to love somebody who's done so much for you, someone who has given his son to give you forgiveness, someone who blesses you on a daily basis with things. It's pretty easy to love God, but do you love his word? Do you love his word? Because you see, if you love his word, then you don't have to be begged to be in it. If you love his word, you don't have to be coaxed into trying to read it all the time.
00:11:39
Speaker
If you love his word, we don't have to twist your arm to get you to study it and to put it into your heart. I've told you before, this is an open confession. For those of you who are new, I'm sorry that I have to break this news to you. I love chocolate, right? I love chocolate. Nobody's ever had to beg me to eat chocolate. Nobody's ever had to beg me to seek it out. My wife is convinced that I can smell it for a mile and a half away.
00:12:06
Speaker
Some of you know how to butter me up by giving me chocolate, right? If we love the word the way we love things in our lives, we would never, never try to live life without His word. We would put it into our lives regularly and we would seek it out. Now, the third one's probably even harder. I said, you love God, you love His word, you love His people.
00:12:31
Speaker
You love his people. So if you love his people, that means you're gonna quit talking dirty about them behind their back. If you love his people, you're not gonna be seeking to be divisive in a congregation or in a community. You're gonna seek to be redemptive. You're gonna seek to be unifying. You're gonna find ways to boost and elevate and encourage other people instead of always trying to put them down. Competition is removed, cooperation becomes the character of your life.
Trials as Evidence of Faith
00:12:59
Speaker
That's hard to do, right? Anybody honest enough to admit that? And it's also difficult when they don't treat you the same way you're trying to treat them. But let me remind you that Jesus' words were, love those, pray for those who persecute you, those who call themselves your enemies. That's a hard task, but if you're gonna love God, you gotta love him and his word and his people.
00:13:30
Speaker
So here's the encouragement for you. The Holy Spirit does this really cool thing in us as he's making us new so that when we go back and drift to those old behaviors and those old choices, God's Spirit is there to reel you back in.
00:13:44
Speaker
to not let you get very far down the road before you're feeling that little nudge in your heart that's saying, this isn't the way a good Christian acts. This isn't the way a follower of God's supposed to be. This isn't how a son or a daughter of God should perceive life. You need to rethink what you're doing. And can I just remind you, this is the place where we all need accountability in our lives?
00:14:04
Speaker
I love the fact that right now I have this incredible staff around me because they provide for me some great accountability. I've got John and Kyle and Jayden in my life. Those guys are there. They have permission to speak truth to me. They have the opportunity to say to me as their pastor, dude, you're off base.
00:14:25
Speaker
This is not the right behavior. This is not the way we should do this. You need to think about what you're doing. Barbara Powers, she's like having my sister at the office. Not just that sister in Christ thing either. I'm talking about, she looks at me and goes, Ridley, what are you thinking?
00:14:41
Speaker
What are you doing? Are you sure that's what you want to do? Every single one of you who call yourself a follower of Christ need that in your life because it helps to keep you from going too far down those paths that don't belong to a Christian. Last weekend, the men's retreat, what an incredible experience watching men engage one another and hold each other accountable. Those kinds of things should be a regular,
00:15:08
Speaker
experience for those who follow after Jesus Christ. The proof of your saving faith is not the intensity of the emotion when you start out. Everybody starts out good, right? Everybody starts out fired up. But when you run a marathon, nobody cares how much or how quickly you did the first 100 yards. It's how you finish. So your relationship with Jesus Christ is the same way. The proof isn't in the intensity of the emotion at the start. It's in your perseverance to continue all the way to the end.
00:15:39
Speaker
your perseverance to continue all the way to the end. You are always going to struggle against the old nature. I can't tell you how freeing it was for me, and I didn't see it until I was in college, how freeing it was to me to discover Romans chapter seven in the Bible.
00:15:54
Speaker
And for those of you who know the Word, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It is Paul, Superman of Scripture, right? Everybody knows who Paul is. Paul writes these words. He says, the very things I don't want to do, that's what I do. And the things I want to do, I don't do them.
00:16:10
Speaker
And he was confessing to this struggle against the old nature that's always there warring against us, always pulling us back, trying to get us to retract what we say, to undo what we did. But let me encourage you, it's not your mouth that confesses your love for God, it's your life that confesses your love for God. Your words don't change anything, it's what you do and how you do it and following after Jesus Christ.
00:16:37
Speaker
The third thought I had here is that John talks a good deal about humility. Humility. In other words, you're aware of your sinfulness, and most importantly, you're aware of your need for God because of your sinfulness, okay? It's not your good works that get you anywhere. Good works are what come out of a heart that has been redeemed by Christ Jesus, and they give evidence that your heart has changed, but your good works do not save you. It is by faith that you are saved.
00:17:08
Speaker
and I hope you understand the power of that statement. So what that means is you never get over the incredible grace that has been given to you. You never get over it. You constantly are looking at the cross and going, how in the world does a perfect God do something like that for me? How in the world does God continue to extend grace after grace after grace when I keep fumbling along in this journey? Which leads us into the next point, which is obedience.
00:17:38
Speaker
Obedience. You see, your obedience is the best evidence that you've sincerely given your life to God. That you're sincerely following after Christ. You have a heart to obey the Lord and you want to do what is right. Now let me connect this back to an earlier point because in order to do what is right, you have to know what is right. Right?
00:18:00
Speaker
Okay, it's easier to be obedient when you know what it is you're being obedient to. So that's why you have to have the word in your life. That's why the Bible needs to be a regular part of your intake every single day because how in the world are you gonna know what Jesus wants you to do today if you're not praying to him and you're not reading his word?
00:18:21
Speaker
You gotta have these regular conversations with Christ. You've gotta be engaged on a regular basis with him, digesting the word and having a dialogue with him about, okay, God, what is it you want me to do in my life today? Who is it you want me to have a conversation with? What do you want me to do in this area where I need to make a hard choice? And obedience is a testimony to how real your relationship with Jesus Christ is. Further evidence comes in the reality of trials in our life.
00:18:48
Speaker
This might be a little bit of an odd when you're going wait a minute trials or evidence that I'm saved and the answer is yeah The single most validating reality for your faith is not some idea you have in your head But it is your faith and how will it survives the trials that will come into your life You see it's not a question of if you're gonna have a trial the question is When will you have a trial if you're on this planet?
The Role of Humility and Good Works
00:19:13
Speaker
there's gonna be a point where you are either coming out of a trial, headed into a trial, or in the midst of a trial. That's where we all live, is this constant state of unbalance in this world. Why? Because sin broke it. Sin broke the world, and so the world's not a perfect place. You and I deal with that, the consequences of the choice that was made by Adam and Eve, and by us, leaves this world completely unsettled, and so every single day of our lives, we face trials and challenges, right?
00:19:42
Speaker
You're running late for work and dog poops. Seems like a little thing, right? Some of you never thought you'd ever hear that word in church. I'm so glad I could be here to entertain you. Now the reality is trials aren't always about the cancer diagnosis. They're not always about the marriage coming to an end. The trial might be you're, again, running late for work and the gauge says your tire's flat.
00:20:10
Speaker
It might be that your children are unruly and you can't get them under control and it's putting stress on your marriage. It might be that your marriage stinks. And you're afraid to admit it. But the question is, the question is, how do you withstand the challenges? If trials come into your life, again, they will, and you walk away, then that's a sign that your faith was never genuine to begin with. That's why it doesn't stick.
00:20:41
Speaker
Sickness comes, losing someone that's close to you, you lose your job, your account's running low, you can name any number of trials that you and I all face. But what's your faith gonna do in the midst of those trials? Can I tell you this is one of the reasons why older people don't usually question their faith as much?
00:21:04
Speaker
Because by that point in their journey, they have seen God prove faithful over and over and over again, and because of that, they have a testimony to share. So let me stop here and just say this as a side note, and it's an important side note. If you're a younger believer and you're going through these questions and these doubts and these concerns, it's worth the $10 to $12 to go buy a cup of coffee and a sandwich with an older believer and say, tell me your story.
00:21:30
Speaker
Tell me what God has done. Show me the evidence of him in your life so I can be encouraged. One of my favorite people here, he's not in this service so I can talk about him. One of my favorite people here is Bill Harlow. You wanna hear a storyteller, that man can tell some stories. But he always points them back to Jesus. And he's a man who's been through very obvious trials in his life.
00:21:52
Speaker
Look around you, and they are probably in this room, saints who have been at this journey longer than you have, you could benefit from conversations with them. Now, equally important, the flip side of this, if you're an older saint in our congregation, do not disconnect from this body, we need you.
00:22:10
Speaker
It is your testimony, your evidence of what God has done in your life that encourages us as we push through on this journey.
Perseverance and Assurance in Faith
00:22:16
Speaker
It's part of what was talked about in Hebrews when it says we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. People who've gone on before us who have, again, walked that journey, been through those struggles, been through those trials, and come out on the other side with a faith that is stronger because it's been tested and it's been tried.
00:22:35
Speaker
Go read James chapter one, first Peter chapter one, and Romans chapter five, three different followers of Jesus Christ who give evidence to this, that it's by our trials that our faith is proved and strengthened. And that's why the words endurance and perseverance are used all over scripture. It's not about the sprint at the beginning of your journey, it's about the marathon that proves its endurance all the way to the end.
00:23:00
Speaker
So the question might be this morning, how do I know if I am obedient enough? You ever asked that question? How do I know if I've done enough, if I'm doing the right things? Well, this is an encouraging passage once again by Paul, 1 Timothy 1.15, this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and oh, by the way, I am the worst of them.
00:23:25
Speaker
I used to read that as a young believer, I used to go, wait a minute, if he's the worst of them, then I don't stand a chance. If he's the worst of believers, there's no way that I'm in God's kingdom because how in the world could I ever measure up even to what Paul did? But as I began to read the word carefully and use it in its context, what I understood is that Paul was saying, we're all on the same ground at the cross.
00:23:50
Speaker
Every single one of us, unable to earn what Christ has so freely given us. He was the chief of sinners. And what he was saying is you're never gonna have perfection this side of heaven. You're never gonna have it. There's always gonna be a struggle. Now, before some of you start to check out on me, listen to this. You will never be perfect this side of heaven, but you are always too strive for that perfection.
00:24:16
Speaker
That's not an excuse. Can you imagine what would happen if every fall 170 plus NCAA team said, well, there's only one national champion and it's not gonna be us. So we'll quit. We won't even try. Let's call off practice, go to the beach. Coach won't care.
00:24:34
Speaker
That's not what we are given permission to do as followers of Jesus. We are, as the Bible says, we are to be holy as He is holy. We are to push for the removal of sin, the removal of evil desires, the removal of bad choices and bad behaviors. So ask yourself, not am I perfect, but what is the trajectory of my life?
00:25:00
Speaker
What is the trajectory of my life? If I were to able to throw up a screen right here and show up some of your investments, I don't know what you invest in. Maybe it's just a savings account. Maybe it's a money market. Maybe you invest in pigs hides. I don't know, but your investment, whatever it is, all right? If I were to throw that up there, most guys like a Matt Rizzli standing back there would tell you up and to the right is a good sign, right?
00:25:22
Speaker
If you're following that bar up and to the right, it doesn't make any difference since there's a few down moments. If there's bumps in the road, it doesn't make any difference if a day or two something happens. What happens is important is what you do after the bump. Okay? So as long as the trajectory of your life is that day by day, moment by moment, you're continuing to get closer to the image of Christ, you're on the journey we know as sanctification. And you're exactly where Christ wants you to be.
00:25:51
Speaker
Let me tell you something. This I can tell you with confidence. If you could lose your salvation by your behavior, you would have already done it. And so would I. But I don't have the power to hold it, nor do you. It's only safe because it's in the power of God's hands.
00:26:11
Speaker
So lastly, the question gets asked, why do I feel guilty if I'm forgiven?
Grace and Awareness of Sin
00:26:15
Speaker
You ever ask that question? If I know I'm a child of God, why do I feel so guilty? Well, that's actually good news. Because your new nature makes you more aware of the sin that's going on in your life, right? It makes you more aware of what's going on. So your sensitivity towards sin is heightened. And the Holy Spirit comes in, He takes up residence in your heart once you receive Christ Jesus, then this journey of sanctification is about you always being aware of sin.
00:26:41
Speaker
As you grow in your relationship, you sin less, but sometimes you feel worse. You ever notice that as you grow and mature as a Christian, you start to notice people around you in the culture that don't line up with you a little bit more, and you become more sensitive to bad things that are going on around you?
00:26:59
Speaker
I mean, most of us when we receive Christ probably didn't think twice about walking into an R-rated movie that was disgusting in its portrayals, right? And then suddenly there comes a point where you're going, ah, it's got too many F words in it. It's got too many sex scenes in it. I shouldn't be a part of this. And we get up and walk out or we turn the channel and watch something else. Or maybe it's because we see things going on in the culture and we're going, you know, it used to not bother me, but now, man, it tugs at my heart because I just know this isn't the way God is honored.
00:27:27
Speaker
You're beginning to change because your heart is becoming more aware of righteousness as well as being more aware of the sin that's around us. The heart of a true believer always feels the weight of its sin, always. But you also are more intensely aware of the amazing grace that covers your sin. So, let me finish up this passage by dealing with what is a little bit of a
00:27:53
Speaker
a stir of our hearts. It causes us to question a little bit. Look at verse 16, he says, if anyone sees a fellow believer committing a sin that doesn't lead to death, he should ask and God will give him life to him, to those who commit sin that doesn't lead to death. There is sin that leads to death. I am not saying he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin that doesn't lead to death. So John here is talking about two different kinds of sin.
00:28:23
Speaker
The two different kinds of sin that exist in the world, and John is very clear about it, and so I want to tell you what those two kinds of sin are. Number one, the kind we all struggle with. It's the kind we all struggle with, right?
00:28:35
Speaker
You think a bad thought. You say a bad word. You're discouraging towards somebody. You tell a little white lie to cover up a mistake at work. You fall into the trap of addictions that have haunted your past, whether that is pornography or drinking or whatever. There are all kinds of sin that we have in our life. Can I just be real careful and encourage you? Quit weighing the weight of sin. All sin is bad.
00:29:00
Speaker
But women, I say sin instantly, some of you are going, yeah, those people who are doing those awful things out there, or even those really awful sins that you've walked away, the guy's gossip's as bad a sin as anything. This is gonna hurt as a Southern Baptist, but gluttony is a sin. White lies are just as bad as the black lies, because they're all lies.
00:29:23
Speaker
And sometimes we wait the sin in such a way we try to go, okay, well that one God can overlook, right? God has never overlooked any sin, ever. He doesn't overlook your sin when you come and confess to him. It's not because you are magic and his sin is able to be disguised, it's because when God looks at you, he looks at the blood of Christ in your life that has covered the sin. So we pray for other believers who struggle with those sins and we pray for ourself in those sins. The second kind of sin though is the sin that leads to death.
00:29:54
Speaker
And I think there's probably some disagreement about this, but I believe that this is when that moment where God says, okay, fine, if you're gonna continue to seek out and pursue that path, if you're gonna continue to seek out that sin in your life, then I'll just let you have your way. And by the way, that way leads to death. And I'm not just talking about a physical one, I'm talking about an eternal death, spending eternity in hell without Christ. So the question is, how do I know if I've committed that sin?
00:30:25
Speaker
How do I know? Well, here's my encouragement. The fact that you've asked that question proves you probably haven't. Because if you care, then you're probably not that person. If you care enough to be worried about your relationship with Christ, then that's a sign you have a good relationship with Christ. And I would refer you back to the standard pattern of our lives that should continue to exist. Confession, repentance, obedience. Confession, repentance, obedience.
00:30:54
Speaker
You don't show your righteousness by never falling. You show your righteousness by never staying down. Your righteousness causes your faith to pursue Christ unending, never stopping, always moving forward. You move to get back up and you get back on the path with God. And that's how you know you're saved. So here's my challenge for you this morning.
00:31:20
Speaker
Many of you here this morning would call yourself a believer and you would say, hey, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, I've got no concerns about that, no doubts about that. Praise God for that. But are you doing what it takes to stay with a short account before God?
00:31:35
Speaker
to confess, repent, and be obedient, to get back on the path of righteousness, to not veer off very long before you let the Holy Spirit reel you back into the right behaviors. Because if you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ, you're not gonna sin very long before the Holy Spirit's gonna convict your heart. I will warn you that I do believe that sometimes our hearts can become very numb to what the Holy Spirit's trying to tell us if we keep ignoring him.
00:32:02
Speaker
We keep dodging him as he's trying to guide us in the path of righteousness. I also know that this morning in a crowd this size, there are people here who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. You're here at church this morning because you need to make yourself feel good. And you think, well, if I show up, God will give me a check mark and that'll make me feel better for another three or four weeks. Or maybe if I stay and I help out and teach a class
00:32:28
Speaker
Can I just tell you, I've had conversations with deacons that served for 30 years before they realized they never knew that Jesus, they were serving. I've had conversations with housewives who said, I thought I was being a good mom all along the way. And I said, it's not a question we're not, you're being a good mom. It's question is, do you know Jesus? Your goodness is no good. The Bible says our righteousness is like filthy rags compared to his goodness. The best you and I can do is no good.
00:33:00
Speaker
And today could be a day of salvation for you. Again, it's not about a prayer you pray. It's not about the posture physically of your body. It's about the posture of your heart. Are you working daily to submit your life to the leadership of Jesus Christ? Are you constantly staying confessed before him? Acknowledging where he's trying to work in your life, feeling the tug of the Holy Spirit as he does his work,
00:33:30
Speaker
Because if you're not, it's time to take care of that. You can't rest on your good works, because your works aren't any good. Let me pray for us. Jaden's gonna come and lead us in a time of response. If you need to come and have a conversation with somebody here at this altar, we have staff and others who are available. If you just wanna come and kneel and pray yourself, maybe with a friend, accountability partner, even a spouse, we invite you during this time to do what God is leaving you.
00:34:01
Speaker
Thank you for all good things that come from your hand, the greatest of which is your salvation that you've given us. And Lord, you never intended for us to live in fear of losing something that you have gifted to us. In fact, earlier in this letter that John writes, he says, perfect love drives out fear.
00:34:23
Speaker
So we shouldn't stand in fear of those things. We should live in freedom knowing that what you have done on the cross is enough. It's more than enough. It's completed the work and that's why Jesus said it is finished. It is finished. So all that's needed is for us to come up under his authority and say, you now are in charge of it all.
00:34:47
Speaker
You're in charge of where I go, what I do, my desires. You're in charge of the dreams and the hopes I have. You are in charge of me, every bit of me. Some of us have gotten a little lax in this idea of confession where we need to turn our hearts back to you. Need to utter the words that the psalmist wrote, Lord, search me and try me and see if there's any wicked way about me. See if there's anything that's unclean that needs to be dealt with.
00:35:18
Speaker
Lord, would you help us this morning to be honest and open and transparent before you because you already know every single thing. Thank you for the cross and it's finished work on our behalf. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.