back to index2017-07-09 Confess and Believe Part 4
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Alright, so let me read starting from verse 8, reading out of ESV. 00:00:09.840 |
"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith that 00:00:15.460 |
Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that 00:00:18.440 |
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 00:00:21.680 |
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 00:00:26.160 |
For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. 00:00:30.680 |
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing 00:00:37.720 |
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 00:00:48.720 |
We thank you, Father God, for the privilege that we have. 00:00:52.280 |
We pray, Father, as we've been studying through the book of Romans and being reminded and 00:00:56.920 |
refreshed, Lord God, of what it is that we already have in you. 00:01:01.440 |
I pray that you would strengthen your church with your word, that our time together, Lord 00:01:06.600 |
God, would be encouraging to you, that as we love you and love one another, that our 00:01:11.840 |
church may be built according to your purpose and plan. 00:01:15.480 |
So we entrust this time to you in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:01:19.800 |
I think for the last few weeks and obviously all through the book of Romans, we've been 00:01:23.120 |
talking about justification by faith and specifically the emphasis, at least in the last few weeks, 00:01:35.760 |
Let me just ask you a rhetorical question to give you a minute to think before we get 00:01:41.160 |
Are you absolutely certain that if you die today, that you're going to go to heaven? 00:01:53.560 |
We've been studying through the book of Revelations, talking about the judgment coming upon mankind. 00:01:57.720 |
Are you absolutely certain that when Christ comes, that you are covered by the blood of 00:02:03.320 |
We've been talking about this faith, this justification by faith alone, and if everything 00:02:08.480 |
hinges upon the genuineness of this faith, is your faith genuine? 00:02:16.320 |
Is your faith something that you've just assumed? 00:02:19.680 |
Is your faith something that you just kind of, you know, you grew up in a church and 00:02:32.880 |
So back to the question, are you sure that if you die today, that you will be saved? 00:02:41.040 |
Now, this question, as fundamental as it is, and you probably may have been asked this 00:02:46.360 |
question if somebody ever came and evangelized to you. 00:02:49.960 |
Maybe you remember a time when somebody shared this gospel with you and you were asked this 00:02:54.680 |
question and that maybe led you to salvation. 00:02:58.280 |
But maybe it's been a while since you've even asked this question of yourself because you've 00:03:06.040 |
What is unique about our faith is that we are given, according to Scripture, absolute 00:03:12.400 |
assurance and that's what justification by faith does. 00:03:15.840 |
Because it is by faith, it is not by works, that if we have genuine faith, he says, you 00:03:23.120 |
If we confess that he is our Lord and believe in our heart that he has been raised from 00:03:29.320 |
And so the three verses that we looked at last week, verses 11, 12, and 13, he says 00:03:37.060 |
If you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. 00:03:39.920 |
If you believe in your heart, you will be saved. 00:03:44.000 |
So three separate times, almost for the purpose of crescendo, it's kind of like this is what 00:03:54.240 |
I know I've had so many conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses. 00:03:58.000 |
Either they've come to my door or on campus or meeting somewhere. 00:04:02.280 |
And the conversation always kind of leads to where I would ask them, if you died, what 00:04:10.060 |
They said, I hope that I've knocked on enough doors, that I've done enough good deeds, that 00:04:17.620 |
if they were persecuted enough for their faith, that hopefully when I die, that I'll be able 00:04:26.380 |
So they're working hard that they would become one of those 144,000 people that's mentioned 00:04:32.900 |
If you talk to the Muslims, the Muslims are not allowed to have assurance either. 00:04:37.220 |
The only way that they can be assured is that if they give their life in jihad, then they 00:04:42.940 |
are assured that only those who give their life as a martyr and blow themselves up or 00:04:48.100 |
whatever it is that they're doing, that they die in the context of jihad, that there's 00:04:51.580 |
guaranteed that they're going to be in paradise. 00:04:53.120 |
So no wonder so many young people are being recruited for this. 00:04:56.540 |
It's like, well, it's an easy way to get to paradise. 00:04:58.380 |
Instead of living their whole life in fear that they may or may not have done enough, 00:05:03.820 |
that you blow themselves one time and then you're guaranteed into paradise. 00:05:08.940 |
What's unique about the gospel and about the faith that we have in Christ, the scripture 00:05:13.820 |
tells us that we have absolute assurance in Christ. 00:05:18.300 |
Assurance of salvation is fundamental and essential to our faith. 00:05:24.860 |
So when I ask you that question, do you have assurance of salvation? 00:05:27.640 |
If you even hesitated for a moment to answer that question, we need to take a step back 00:05:35.540 |
Because without assurance, you will not be able to pray effectively. 00:05:40.860 |
Because you're going to doubt, is God answering my prayer? 00:05:44.140 |
Do I have this access to God without hindrance? 00:05:48.940 |
Assurance of salvation is what gives us confidence to enter the throne of grace with confidence 00:05:54.300 |
So every promise in scripture is directly linked to my assurance of salvation. 00:06:01.780 |
Our assurance that when we die and go to heaven is linked to this, again, assurance of salvation. 00:06:09.500 |
My desire to love people, sanctification, all of it is directly linked to this assurance. 00:06:21.900 |
We can't even share with other people if we don't have this assurance. 00:06:26.700 |
So our natural reaction to that is if assurance of salvation is that essential, then let's 00:06:32.000 |
make sure that every single person has assurance. 00:06:36.340 |
And I can jump all the steps and instead of going through all of the things that Paul 00:06:40.220 |
is going through, let's just say, don't ever question your faith. 00:06:42.580 |
In fact, I've had a conversation with somebody very recently. 00:06:47.780 |
You should never ask somebody to question their faith because it is so essential. 00:06:58.420 |
But the problem with that proposition is Paul himself questions that. 00:07:02.860 |
In 2 Corinthians 13, 5, they examine yourself to see if you're really of the faith. 00:07:07.180 |
2 Peter 1, 10 says, be diligent to make sure you're calling an election. 00:07:15.540 |
In fact, even in the book of Psalms, the text that we read this morning, 139, he says, search 00:07:23.620 |
Try me and know my thoughts and see if there's any grievous way in me and lead me in the 00:07:31.140 |
Even in the prophets, even in the Psalms, they come before God and say, search me to 00:07:34.460 |
make sure that there's nothing hindering me, that I have this genuine faith. 00:07:40.820 |
Again, before we go any further, the point of all of this is justification by faith. 00:07:49.900 |
The ultimate end goal of this is to have assurance of salvation. 00:07:54.300 |
If you are absolutely convinced by justification by faith, that you ought to have absolute 00:08:03.220 |
You ought to have absolute confidence that you are covered by the blood of Christ, that 00:08:06.860 |
when you die, that you have heaven waiting for you. 00:08:10.100 |
But this confidence should not be a superficial knee-jerk reaction without careful examination. 00:08:15.500 |
See, the purpose of Paul asking this question in Corinthians, examine yourself to see if 00:08:21.140 |
you're really of the faith, is really because they've been strained. 00:08:24.900 |
Paul says, did you forget that Christ is in you? 00:08:28.300 |
The church is in chaos because you've forgotten who you are worshiping, what it is that you 00:08:32.740 |
have in Christ, and maybe you have drifted away from what it is that you have in Christ. 00:08:37.420 |
And that's why Paul is telling the church, he's not talking to non-Christians, he's telling 00:08:41.820 |
the church, take a step back and re-examine what it is that you have in Christ, that you 00:08:47.860 |
may be assured of your salvation, and that assurance of salvation would lead you to worship 00:08:56.500 |
The goal of what we've been studying is to do that. 00:09:01.100 |
It's for us to cause examination to see, is this faith genuine? 00:09:08.380 |
And if you come at the end of this to conclusions, it is absolutely genuine, then what does that 00:09:18.300 |
How does that affect the way you raise your children? 00:09:22.380 |
Last week we looked at how Paul, again, everything that he's been saying, he concludes with an 00:09:25.900 |
exclamation mark, "If you believe, if you call, if you confess, you will be saved." 00:09:32.500 |
And so we looked at the first two part of it, and today we're going to look at the third 00:09:35.580 |
part where it says, "Same God with the same gospel results in the same salvation." 00:09:41.140 |
So that's what we want to look at today, and then the three sub-points underneath that 00:09:44.340 |
is that the same salvation, same gift that we have is that we will not be put to shame, 00:09:50.940 |
that he will bestow riches upon Jews and Gentiles, and then ultimately we will be saved. 00:09:57.180 |
It's a simple conclusion that he's been trying to make throughout all of the Book of Romans 00:10:03.620 |
He says in verse 11, "For the scripture says, 'Everyone who believes in him will not be 00:10:11.700 |
In English, and in our culture, when I hear the word put to shame, at least the way that 00:10:22.140 |
Let's say if you're in some sort of sports competition, and somebody shames you means 00:10:34.940 |
It's like, "Oh, you know, the crisis is going to come in, and we won't be dominated." 00:10:39.940 |
But the term that Paul uses, "will not be put to shame," has much more significance, 00:10:44.620 |
theological significance, than what you and I would hear when we first read it. 00:10:50.540 |
So let's think about it in the context of what Paul is saying, theologically. 00:10:55.900 |
Where is shame first seen, introduced to us in the scripture? 00:11:04.340 |
Where is the concept or idea of shame first introduced in scripture? 00:11:19.620 |
As soon as they fell, what was the very first thing that had happened when their eyes got 00:11:28.260 |
And as soon as they recognized their shame, the very first act that they did was they 00:11:36.860 |
And then in this shame, when they recognized God, what do they do? 00:11:44.240 |
So the very first ramification of sin coming into mankind was shame. 00:11:52.260 |
So when Paul is talking about how if you believe in Him, confess that you will not be put to 00:11:59.100 |
shame, do you think that Paul has that in mind? 00:12:03.500 |
That the very thing, the curse of mankind that represented in this shame, he says, basically 00:12:12.100 |
Think about what shame does to us in our families, in our relationships. 00:12:19.500 |
Think about what it does to us with friendships, maybe even inside the church. 00:12:25.420 |
I mean, obviously superficially we can think about loneliness, not feeling connected, maybe 00:12:30.780 |
not feeling loved, even between husband and wife, that we can't be completely honest and 00:12:34.500 |
open with one another because we're afraid that we're going to be judged and they're 00:12:39.820 |
Think about the ramification of sin just in general human life, human experience. 00:12:46.700 |
He says when Adam and Eve fell, he said, "You shall surely die." 00:12:50.540 |
But the first evidence of this death came in a form of shame. 00:12:55.980 |
They hid from each other, and then they ultimately hid from God. 00:12:59.180 |
And the problem with hiding from God is that God is the author of life. 00:13:03.260 |
He's the one that we need to be connected to, to have life, but to have shame and to 00:13:07.740 |
hide from him means that we were disconnected from this very life. 00:13:12.860 |
Paul is not simply saying that if you confess your sins or if you confess him as Lord and 00:13:16.980 |
Savior that you're no longer going to be dominated. 00:13:22.740 |
There's a much deeper theological significance of what Paul is saying. 00:13:25.940 |
He's basically saying that that shame that came in the form of sin, he's going to reverse 00:13:35.620 |
This curse of mankind is going to be reversed. 00:13:37.380 |
In Isaiah 49 verse 23, he said, "Those who wait for me shall not be put to shame." 00:13:43.620 |
Now again, in our modern understanding to wait simply means to just kind of sit and 00:13:51.460 |
Obviously that's not what the psalmist means or Isaiah means. 00:13:55.740 |
The word wait is also the way we would understand calling, those who confess or seek or to believe. 00:14:05.300 |
Those who believe or wait or call or confess, he said, "He will not be put to shame." 00:14:12.700 |
Think about how much of our life is in pursuit so that we can feel alive, so we can have 00:14:22.060 |
You go to school, get a good education, so we can have a better life. 00:14:25.340 |
We marry people and have kids and do all the things that we're doing so that we can have 00:14:29.420 |
Nobody actively pursues a more difficult life. 00:14:34.820 |
But how much of life is it disappointment after disappointment after disappointment? 00:14:43.620 |
That's why typically when you look at the young teenagers or maybe young 20-year-olds 00:14:47.300 |
and they have this view of life, and I know some of you guys are in that category, like 00:14:52.860 |
And by the time you're in your 30s, like, "Heh, 40-year-olds don't even flinch. 00:15:09.300 |
And you experience enough of it, you just as kid in school, anybody who's happy is like, 00:15:16.900 |
Basically what God is saying is like everything else that we pursue in life, the end result 00:15:20.100 |
is greater shame, greater difficulty, greater life, greater suffocation of joy. 00:15:28.260 |
But it says, "He who puts his trust on you, waits upon the Lord, will not be put to shame." 00:15:33.660 |
Again in Isaiah 54, 4-5, it says, "Fear not, for you will not be ashamed, but not be not 00:15:43.600 |
For you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood. 00:15:49.860 |
For your maker is your husband, and the Lord of hosts is his name. 00:15:53.780 |
And the Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer, the God of whole earth, he is called." 00:15:58.700 |
You know, we typically think about the love of God or agape, and we always refer that 00:16:06.740 |
to or compare that to the mother's love or the father's love for their kids. 00:16:11.540 |
And yeah, that's probably the closest thing that we can imagine. 00:16:15.100 |
Every once in a while somebody will say, "You know what? 00:16:21.340 |
Maybe you mean it, but again, maybe I'm cynical because I think most people will duck when 00:16:30.540 |
I think you're going to end up hiding behind me and in front of me. 00:16:37.660 |
But I think there's plenty of evidences, and I think if you're a parent, you know exactly 00:16:43.380 |
If you're a child, you feel this sense of, you know, like love and benevolence toward 00:16:49.540 |
And if there is a gunfire, if there's any relationship that will jump on their kid to 00:16:54.020 |
protect them, it's probably mother's love and father's love. 00:16:58.240 |
But even the mother's love and father's love is limited and is finite. 00:17:04.200 |
Even with my best intention, I'm limited by my own limitations. 00:17:09.580 |
I'm limited by my own sin, my own selfishness. 00:17:13.220 |
No matter how much I tell my, I would promise my kids or you'd promise your kids that I 00:17:17.780 |
will be there for you, you may intend that, but you don't have the power to fulfill that. 00:17:24.860 |
You may intend that, but you can't fulfill that because you're limited. 00:17:31.020 |
So God is reminding us, you may pursue all of these things, but he says, "I am your husband. 00:17:37.700 |
And the only one who can make this promise and actually fulfill it is God himself. 00:17:46.720 |
But if you wait upon me, if you confess me, if you call upon me," he says, "you will not 00:17:55.640 |
So he gives us absolute assurance and confidence that only he and he alone could fulfill that. 00:18:04.820 |
So this invitation to come to him is not an invitation to abandon your life. 00:18:09.220 |
It really is an invitation to come and live in Christ because the only one who can actually 00:18:19.460 |
Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. 00:18:23.460 |
But secondly, in verse 12, he says, "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for 00:18:28.060 |
the same Lord is the Lord of all, bestowing his riches in all who call upon the Lord." 00:18:34.760 |
Now we may read that again, Jew, Gentile, of course, you know, us being Gentiles, it's 00:18:39.980 |
like we've been reconciled, we're in a church, we worship the same God. 00:18:43.520 |
But imagine what that would have sounded like to the first readers, to the Jew and the Gentiles. 00:18:49.260 |
I know if you've been following the news, North Korea has been acting up, beyond acting 00:18:55.740 |
For years, they've been concerned about North Korea. 00:18:57.800 |
They may possibly get a nuclear bomb and they may possibly, if we don't stop it, that they're 00:19:02.140 |
going to be able to develop technology that's going to get the bomb all the way over here. 00:19:05.620 |
Now they're talking about the last nuclear test that they did or the bomb that they launched, 00:19:12.020 |
that it may have the capability to reach Alaska and Hawaii. 00:19:16.320 |
And this is not a maybe threat, it seems like they've already gotten there. 00:19:20.940 |
And so now it's been heightened, now it's not a hypothetical. 00:19:25.100 |
Now like if something isn't done, and we may have to use force, right? 00:19:29.620 |
We've been talking about all this rhetoric before, but now we're on the brink of that. 00:19:33.060 |
There's a group of people in Korea that is protesting, that's trying to, "You know what? 00:19:37.700 |
Let's back off our rhetoric and this conflict. 00:19:40.540 |
Why don't we get everybody to the table and we can reconcile our differences." 00:19:44.620 |
And eventually the two nations becoming one, North Korea and South Korea reunite. 00:19:49.700 |
And there's a whole movement, especially the younger generation in South Korea, wanting 00:19:56.380 |
And there's a bunch of people in North Korea, obviously they want to reunite so that they 00:20:06.460 |
How are you going to have a totalitarian government who's brainwashed their people for the last 00:20:11.660 |
60, 70 years that their leader is a kind of a deity, and they're living at least by our 00:20:19.340 |
modern day standards, the majority of the people are living in poverty level, and then 00:20:24.660 |
reunite with South Korea and live together and pound out our differences and have one 00:20:35.980 |
And as strange and as ridiculous as that may sound, if you said that the Jews and the Gentiles 00:20:43.460 |
would be worshiping the same God, calling each other brothers and sisters in Christ, 00:20:49.300 |
having a tax collector be their leader, and a Pharisee sitting there and listening to 00:20:54.540 |
them, it would have been just as ridiculous or even more ridiculous. 00:21:01.340 |
The whole point of Phariseeism is to be set apart. 00:21:05.500 |
The name itself, Pharisee, means to be set apart. 00:21:08.740 |
And they believe that they needed to be set apart in order to be right with God. 00:21:12.460 |
And you know the primary thing that they needed to be set apart from to be considered righteous? 00:21:19.700 |
Their whole spiritual leadership, their whole identity was to be set apart from the Gentiles 00:21:28.580 |
so that they may receive the blessing of God. 00:21:30.540 |
And all of a sudden, these apostles are coming and saying, "No, we worship the same Lord. 00:21:35.980 |
Not only are we worshiping the same Lord, we are one in Christ, that all of us have 00:21:40.220 |
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all of us need to be washed in the blood 00:21:45.620 |
Imagine how difficult that would have been for them to accept, just humanly speaking. 00:21:52.180 |
It's impossible to say, "Oh, if we get together and if we just kind of agree on right theology." 00:21:57.220 |
Imagine how little it takes to divide even within the church. 00:22:03.260 |
We have, even within the church, we are divided by denomination, by age, by culture, by language. 00:22:11.380 |
And even within the church that hold the same doctrines and live together and we're serving 00:22:16.380 |
together, even within the church, even this church, how easily we can get divided. 00:22:21.540 |
Ministry of philosophy, certain decisions are made, certain people that we like or don't 00:22:29.620 |
How difficult it is to just gather a group of people together to unite to do something. 00:22:36.020 |
If you've ever led games, you probably will never do it twice. 00:22:44.140 |
And if you've done it twice, Andy Wong, we love you and keep doing a good job. 00:22:50.220 |
But if you've ever led games, you know exactly how it is to lead anything because it's very 00:22:54.580 |
difficult to get a bunch of people who have different opinions about everything together 00:23:02.100 |
How can you possibly think that the Jews and the Gentiles are going to come together and 00:23:05.460 |
worship the same God and call each other brother and sister in Christ and develop any kind 00:23:11.420 |
Humanly speaking, it is absolutely impossible. 00:23:13.500 |
What could possibly bring these people together? 00:23:18.100 |
If it wasn't for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, if it wasn't for the power of the 00:23:21.660 |
cross, humanly speaking, it would have been impossible to bring them together. 00:23:31.320 |
They couldn't have been organized well enough. 00:23:35.540 |
Ephesians chapter 2, 17 and 18, it says, "And he came and preached peace to you who were 00:23:42.780 |
For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father, so that you are no longer 00:23:47.500 |
strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household 00:23:54.200 |
The reason why they came together is because God made it, brought peace. 00:24:01.500 |
He's been telling this for hundreds of years, that peace offering. 00:24:04.700 |
Every time they would come and bring a peace offering, they would take the meaty portion 00:24:08.740 |
After they gave offering of the fatted portion, they would sit alongside and have a picnic 00:24:13.680 |
with the priests and with the family members, signifying that because they have peace with 00:24:21.220 |
So even between Jews and Gentiles, even between tax collectors and Pharisees, that because 00:24:26.820 |
they have peace with God, now they are able to have peace with one another. 00:24:32.460 |
The only thing that brings us together is the love of Christ. 00:24:37.860 |
Church is an awesome place of fellowship, community, love, when it is filled with people 00:24:44.980 |
who are being affected by the love of Christ. 00:24:48.400 |
And we are compelled by this love to serve one another, to give to one another. 00:24:54.260 |
But church is an ugly place when we forget about what we are united with and we begin 00:25:03.020 |
There's a lot of people in this room sitting maybe next to you, to the left, to the right 00:25:05.940 |
and front behind you, you would never talk to if it wasn't for Christ. 00:25:11.020 |
You wouldn't be in the same room with these people. 00:25:15.320 |
I bet you sometimes you've been told, "Man, if I wasn't a Christian, I wouldn't have 00:25:23.620 |
When what unites us isn't highlighted and we're not being affected by it, and we're 00:25:31.940 |
all with our own ideas, with our own gifts, with our own uniqueness, and everybody's 00:25:39.020 |
coming in, all of a sudden you've got everybody in this room together having their own opinions 00:25:47.340 |
And a lot of times the church has become ugly for that reason. 00:25:51.580 |
When people are not being affected by the love of Christ, when our central thing, why 00:25:58.260 |
we gather together and why we do what we do isn't because of our reconciliation with 00:26:05.340 |
How such trivial things could easily divide us. 00:26:09.340 |
Every once in a while I get an email from somebody and says, "You know what? 00:26:12.540 |
I really want to come to your church, but I can't stand your drums." 00:26:21.700 |
Or I get emails sometimes, it's like, "Oh, you know, I love this and that, but it's 00:26:29.100 |
I came from this church and their praise band is this, or vice versa. 00:26:40.140 |
I mean, just things that can easily divide us. 00:26:44.860 |
But the beauty of the church is that God gathers people, Jews and Gentiles alike, who would 00:26:49.260 |
have nothing in common other than the love of Christ. 00:26:54.140 |
God brings them together and says, "We worship the same Lord." 00:26:59.140 |
Fellowship is so different and it changes everything. 00:27:04.860 |
When people who are gathered together with absolute assurance of Christ, assurance of 00:27:10.180 |
eternal salvation, who desire to worship God in spirit and in truth, live in harmony with 00:27:17.700 |
One of the greatest evidence of the power of the gospel is that. 00:27:22.500 |
I mean, one of the greatest evidence of something spectacular happening in the early church 00:27:29.700 |
That's one of the things that even non-Christians, even people who want to deny the resurrection 00:27:37.460 |
How do the Jews and the Gentiles come together? 00:27:38.980 |
I can see why the fishermen maybe, they thought that if they follow Jesus that they're going 00:27:44.220 |
Maybe the poor people came because there were promises of food being distributed at the 00:27:48.460 |
church and they can try to explain all of that, but they can't explain how the Jews 00:27:54.920 |
So even the non-Christians, something happened. 00:27:59.440 |
There's no denying something powerful happened. 00:28:03.020 |
The only thing that you and I know that explains that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:28:10.460 |
The power of the gospel has brought people together. 00:28:13.820 |
When we are being affected by the love of Christ and the richness that he says he gives 00:28:18.540 |
us, both Jews and Gentiles, he will bestow riches upon us. 00:28:22.120 |
In Romans 9, 23, "In order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy 00:28:31.540 |
That you and I, again, the assurance of salvation assures us that we are rich in Christ. 00:28:39.740 |
How many of us are frustrated because we've forgotten the riches we have in Christ, that 00:28:45.020 |
we live every single day complaining like we're beggars? 00:28:50.460 |
Because we don't have this, we don't have that. 00:28:54.580 |
In 2 Corinthians 8, 9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was 00:28:58.500 |
rich yet for your sake he became poor so that by his poverty might become rich." 00:29:09.380 |
That's a description of what Christ has done for us. 00:29:12.820 |
He became poor so you and I could become rich. 00:29:18.420 |
And that's why Paul's core prayer in the book of Ephesians as he's describing predestination, 00:29:26.060 |
the election, and he's talking about his salvation. 00:29:29.420 |
He says, "My prayer is that according to the riches of his glory," Ephesians 3, 16, "According 00:29:35.260 |
to the riches of his glory that he may grant you to be strengthened with power through 00:29:39.460 |
his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that 00:29:43.460 |
you being rooted in grounded love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints 00:29:47.400 |
what is a breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that 00:29:50.980 |
surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." 00:29:57.900 |
Paul's main reason why he's been expositing for three chapters is that you may understand 00:30:02.100 |
what it is that you have in Christ together with all the saints. 00:30:06.860 |
You know, we're in the NBA offseason where these players are going back and forth, re-signing 00:30:12.180 |
contracts and just the amount of money that they're signing for is just ridiculous. 00:30:16.300 |
Some of you guys who are Golden State Warrior fans, you know that Steph Curry signed a contract 00:30:27.300 |
It was the highest paid NBA player ever in history. 00:30:32.780 |
And then yesterday, James Harden signed a contract for four years for $228 million, 00:30:37.940 |
and then they broke it down to somehow like, I guess, the last year of his contract, he's 00:30:41.980 |
going to be making almost half a million dollars per game that he plays, per game that he plays. 00:30:54.940 |
I don't know about you, but the first thought that I had was, "Why couldn't I play basketball?" 00:31:03.260 |
Only if I was a little bit taller, younger and faster, right? 00:31:10.300 |
How many times have you contemplated or thought about, it's like, you know, the Powerball 00:31:14.700 |
or it's at 60 million or 100 million, and maybe you don't normally play lottery or 00:31:24.100 |
And you daydream, you know, "What would I do with $100 million? 00:31:28.660 |
I'll quit my job, pay off the mortgage, help my parents, pay tithe, of course, you know, 00:31:37.580 |
I'm a Christian, so I got to, you know, give to the church and feed the poor." 00:31:42.900 |
You know, and you fantasize about what you would do with the travel and do all this stuff. 00:31:47.380 |
And these are all imaginations, you know, just wishful thinking, daydreaming. 00:31:54.540 |
But when was the last time we thought about what we would do with the riches that we have 00:32:03.380 |
Not daydreaming, not fantasizing "what if," but to have absolute assurance that we have 00:32:08.980 |
these riches, that we are co-heirs with Christ, that He says that if you ask in faith, I will 00:32:19.420 |
This is what assurance salvation does for us, to have these riches in Christ and then 00:32:25.660 |
to not to think at all about, "What am I going to do with this?" 00:32:29.980 |
When was the last time that we actually thought and contemplated, "What am I going to do with 00:32:39.380 |
Colossians 2, 2, "That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to 00:32:43.060 |
reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's 00:32:49.620 |
This unsearchable riches that beyond our understanding, that even now, even after all this time, we're 00:32:56.260 |
still searching and we're still scratching the surface of what it is that we actually 00:33:01.980 |
That happiness is not what we, not having what we have, but wanting what we already 00:33:07.700 |
And that's what assurance of salvation is, is assurance that we have this. 00:33:13.720 |
If we are assured that we have this, how does it affect our life? 00:33:29.420 |
What unites us is much more powerful than what distinguishes us. 00:33:38.580 |
And that's why in Revelations 3, 18, He says to the Laodicean church, "I counsel you to 00:33:44.260 |
buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, white garments so that you may 00:33:49.540 |
clothe yourself with the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and salve to anoint your eyes 00:33:59.940 |
Not to run to this world and everything else to cover it up and only if I had this, only 00:34:03.980 |
if I had that, and all it does is lead to more frustration. 00:34:08.580 |
But to come to recognize through faith that He is my life, that He is my treasure. 00:34:17.460 |
Whoever comes to God must first believe that He is. 00:34:21.940 |
And He is a rewarder of those who diligently seeking. 00:34:26.760 |
Not my company, not my kids, not my family, not my friends. 00:34:34.580 |
So if I have this assurance of salvation, wouldn't that cause me to seek Him out more 00:34:43.540 |
Let me conclude with this because the third and final thing that He says is a repeat of 00:34:48.420 |
He says, "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 00:35:00.220 |
Some of us knew we were in need of salvation. 00:35:05.100 |
So when the lifeboat came to get us, we rejoiced from the beginning. 00:35:11.740 |
You know, let's say you were on a boat and you kind of drifted and you ran out of gas 00:35:15.580 |
or whatever and you ran into a storm and you were about to sink and you're about to die 00:35:19.660 |
and you're crying out, "Save me, we're going to die." 00:35:22.700 |
And then all of a sudden this lifeguard comes all the way out and he said, "Wow, the lifeguard's 00:35:27.420 |
We're like hundreds of miles away and we're in the middle of the storm and they risked 00:35:32.380 |
So when they tell us to get on the boat, we get on the boat and say, "Thank you so much." 00:35:36.960 |
So from day one, you're, "Thank you so much for what you did. 00:35:40.980 |
I can't believe that you actually risked your life. 00:35:50.540 |
And so some of us, when we got saved that way, from day one, you lived your life to 00:35:56.540 |
And even to this day, you remember when you got saved and you remember what you got saved 00:36:01.380 |
from and you remember who came to save you and what he risked and what he sacrificed 00:36:06.180 |
to get you and it affected you deeply and changed you. 00:36:14.620 |
A lot of us were sitting on a boat, we drifted out hundreds, maybe thousands of miles from 00:36:19.980 |
shore in danger and a storm is coming and you're not even aware of it. 00:36:26.580 |
If you just kept on going this path, the storm would have come and you would have just been 00:36:31.660 |
engulfed by the waves and you would have died. 00:36:35.740 |
You're sipping on your boba, watching Netflix. 00:36:40.340 |
And then the lifeguard comes and he comes and says, "You've drifted away. 00:36:44.340 |
You're hundreds of miles, thousands of miles away. 00:36:51.820 |
And you start thinking, "Hmm, why did they come all the way out here to do that? 00:37:05.740 |
You just found out because somebody came and got you and said, "Okay, I believe in you." 00:37:10.820 |
And as you're going back, they're showing you, "Look at the storm coming in," and showing 00:37:15.420 |
you all the news, showing you where you were at and then where you should have been. 00:37:20.180 |
And then it starts to dawn on you, "Oh, my gosh. 00:37:27.600 |
And then you start realizing, like, "Why did you come out here? 00:37:33.740 |
If you didn't find us in time, you would have died." 00:37:35.700 |
And you start thinking, "You risked your life to come and get me." 00:37:39.020 |
And so it didn't happen immediately, but it started dawning on you what it is that you've 00:37:43.820 |
been saved from and what it is exactly these lifeguards did to come and get you. 00:37:48.220 |
And so it didn't happen immediately, but as your understanding of salvation began to grow, 00:37:55.940 |
And you have the same reaction as that person who was crying out. 00:37:58.900 |
It's like, "I didn't understand it, but now I get it. 00:38:03.420 |
Thank you so much for risking everything to come and get me." 00:38:06.540 |
So he didn't know immediately, but eventually as he began to know, he started to change. 00:38:14.240 |
And then there are some people who didn't know that they needed salvation, that they 00:38:20.740 |
And all of a sudden, this lifeboat comes and they come and say, "Hey, what are you doing? 00:38:25.820 |
If you keep going down that path, you're going to die." 00:38:27.820 |
And he said, "Well, okay, I'm tired of being on this boat anyway. 00:38:39.260 |
And so you kind of jumped on the boat because that guy seems very serious. 00:38:54.180 |
And he's taking you back, but the whole time you're on the boat, you never even knew that 00:39:02.860 |
You've never come to the conviction, the danger that you were in. 00:39:08.860 |
Do you know how hard it was for us to come here? 00:39:22.340 |
Some people's response to their salvation is just that. 00:39:28.160 |
So we're trying to muster up thankfulness, but it's not really there. 00:39:31.940 |
We're trying to muster up worship, but it's not there. 00:39:35.700 |
And you see other people like just in love with, "Thank you for saving me. 00:39:51.620 |
So it's like maybe some people are like that because of their personality, and some people 00:39:55.260 |
like really want to give their life and follow Christ. 00:40:04.340 |
It's like, "Well, maybe I'm just not that emotional type of a person." 00:40:09.220 |
Not realizing that it might be because that you don't realize what you've been saved from. 00:40:17.700 |
Because you know it in your head, but you never realize the danger that you're in. 00:40:24.020 |
You know in your head theologically what Christ has done, but you don't really know the sacrifice 00:40:31.900 |
And as a result of that, your worship is something that you're just trying to muster up instead 00:40:47.140 |
Because if we're saved by faith and faith alone, if faith is the only thing that connects 00:40:54.420 |
us to God, if genuine faith is the only way that we can have assurance that when we pray 00:40:59.620 |
He hears us, to long and to look for His coming, then shouldn't this faith be absolutely certain? 00:41:10.660 |
Shouldn't every Christian take a step back and examine in order that I may revisit why 00:41:17.700 |
I got saved, what I got saved from, and what it is that I hope in Christ? 00:41:25.780 |
Let me conclude with this reading of this passage in 1 John 4, 16 and 18. 00:41:31.100 |
Again, the end goal of all of this is not simply to give you a knee-jerk reaction, "Hey, 00:41:39.980 |
Or the other extreme is like, "Nobody should ever have assurance." 00:41:43.900 |
The end goal is that we have assurance, a real assurance, that we understand the power 00:41:51.820 |
We understand who we are in the light of who He is, and as a result of that, we are changed. 00:41:59.380 |
First John 4, 16 and 18 says, "So we have come to know and to believe the love that 00:42:06.220 |
God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God and whoever abides in Him. 00:42:11.860 |
By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, 00:42:16.940 |
because as He is so also are we in this world. 00:42:21.140 |
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, 00:42:26.820 |
and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 00:42:29.940 |
I pray that as we examine ourselves, that our conclusion would be, "Yes, I do have 00:42:38.460 |
And with that belief, come to the throne of grace with confidence. 00:42:43.900 |
As we open up the communion table, I'm going to ask you again one by one to take your time, 00:42:49.300 |
contemplation and prayer, unconfessed sins to confess. 00:42:53.620 |
If you've been living day to day in lukewarmness, confess that as well, because God calls that 00:43:04.640 |
And when you come in, we're not inviting you because you're good, we're not inviting you 00:43:09.020 |
because you've read your Bible and you've been perfect. 00:43:12.220 |
We're inviting you to remember your riches in Christ, to come and celebrate. 00:43:19.460 |
So I want to read a passage for you in 1 Corinthians 11, and then again I want to remind you, if 00:43:26.380 |
you are a born-again Christian, to come when you are prepared, when we open up the table. 00:43:32.260 |
If you have not been baptized and you haven't confessed Him as Lord and Savior, we ask you 00:43:38.980 |
And those of you who are coming up, just as a reminder again to come on both sides and 00:43:42.460 |
go down the middle aisle so that we don't create traffic here. 00:43:45.420 |
So these two rows come this way and these two rows come that way. 00:43:50.300 |
So 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23, "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, 00:43:56.780 |
that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given 00:44:00.580 |
things He broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you. 00:44:05.960 |
In the same way also He took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is a new covenant 00:44:12.460 |
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.'" 00:44:17.620 |
Heavenly Father, we entrust this time to you. 00:44:20.900 |
Help us, Lord God, for each one of us as we come to carefully examine where we are, that 00:44:27.900 |
we may reaffirm your love for us, reaffirm our confidence in Christ, and as a result, 00:44:34.220 |
Lord God, that we may truly live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:44:38.860 |
So as we open up this table, we pray for your grace.