back to index10-27-19 THE LORD WHO SAVES
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Starting this week, we are going to be starting a series, a topical series, and this topical 00:00:11.440 |
series is going to be on our church's tenfold membership covenant. 00:00:16.320 |
Now I know a lot of you guys here have reviewed it, have seen it, and some of you aren't members, 00:00:22.340 |
so you know, you're kind of wondering, "Oh, why are we going to be doing a series on that?" 00:00:28.480 |
Well, because the way that we have framed our tenfold membership commitments, it really 00:00:34.500 |
summarizes what we believe the Bible expects of your life in church. 00:00:40.460 |
It kind of summarizes what the scripture expects from you as a Christian trying to exercise 00:00:47.340 |
Now in order to introduce this, remember I want to remind that we have a very important 00:00:55.680 |
Collectively, as a body, we believe that these fourfold visions summarize for us the scripture's 00:01:05.680 |
The fourfold vision we've set up, written like this, that we are going to glorify God 00:01:10.200 |
as the greatest ambition of our lives through worship, through scripture, through understanding 00:01:16.000 |
and equipping people with this truth, through building a community that reflects this character 00:01:20.720 |
of holiness and love, and then we're going to be a witness to the rest of the world. 00:01:25.360 |
Those are our fourfold visions that encapsulate what the scriptures say should be the regular 00:01:31.080 |
pattern, should be the distinctive traits of this community, every community. 00:01:37.600 |
However, we have on top of that then, ten commitments, ten covenants that we ask people 00:01:44.240 |
to sign off on when they become members here. 00:01:46.760 |
And the reason why is because in order to actually fulfill those visions, in order to 00:01:52.960 |
actually execute or implement those visions, we have to have each individual Christian 00:02:02.760 |
We have to have individuals who are desiring to fulfill God's expectation for them. 00:02:07.140 |
So I want you to understand and present this series not by way of saying, "Hey, here are 00:02:12.240 |
like ten just simple keys to become elite Bereans." 00:02:18.600 |
We never presented it that way, that as though these are above and beyond what the scriptures 00:02:22.500 |
expect of you, but rather, no, these are the things that the scriptures say is going to 00:02:27.360 |
be a description of your regular pattern in the life of the church, should be the regular 00:02:36.140 |
So with that said, today we're going to be starting with the very first of those tenfold 00:02:41.560 |
commitments and covenants of the church membership. 00:02:44.960 |
And the first one is, "I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior." 00:02:50.440 |
To introduce this first one, I have an interesting kind of thought I want you to engage with 00:02:58.160 |
And that is thinking about this very strange and very sad phenomenon that I think is happening. 00:03:03.560 |
What is this very strange and very sad phenomenon? 00:03:07.400 |
It's when somebody wants eagerly to have a personal relationship, but applies it in a 00:03:17.600 |
You take a personal relationship that you really, really want to have, and you apply 00:03:27.520 |
For me, I have certain personal relationships that are true of me. 00:03:32.420 |
These are things like, I'm a husband, I'm a father, I'm a son to my parents, I'm a pastor, 00:03:41.220 |
But these roles are not isolated tasks that I do. 00:03:49.120 |
So that's what I mean when I say there are these personal relationships. 00:03:54.280 |
Can you imagine if I tried to apply my husband relationship with you? 00:04:00.280 |
So you're at church minding your own business, maybe you're participating in our cleaning 00:04:06.240 |
And here I come, it's gonna be cringy, and I come around and I wrap you from behind with 00:04:11.760 |
my arms, and then I sniff your hair and I say, "Hey, baby." 00:04:19.400 |
Now if I did that by accident, I mean, ha ha ha, we'll laugh about it for a long time. 00:04:26.160 |
But imagine how strange, how weird, how off it would be if I meant to do it. 00:04:33.520 |
And I tried to actually apply my husband role with you, right? 00:04:41.920 |
You slap my hand away, like, "What are you doing?" 00:04:44.480 |
And even if I said, "I wanna take care of you," it would make it worse, right? 00:04:50.240 |
Now I wanna give another example, which is I want you to imagine... 00:04:57.680 |
Imagine if, because I'm a father, I wanted to apply my personal relationship that I have 00:05:06.480 |
And so you're minding your own business, maybe you're participating by, you know, one of 00:05:11.080 |
the events that we just had, which is picnic day, and you're just out there playing games. 00:05:15.160 |
And I come around and I was like, "You're so cute." 00:05:21.160 |
And you're looking at me like, "What did he just do?" 00:05:24.280 |
And for those of you guys who are older than me in this room, how would you feel? 00:05:28.360 |
Would you be like all warmed and say, "Aw, he thinks I'm cute," right? 00:05:33.640 |
Or applied in the wrong way, actually, it would be very offensive, wouldn't it? 00:05:38.400 |
Like pinch your cheeks, slap you on the butt, and say, "Go do your homework," right? 00:05:46.000 |
In the first scenario, when I applied the husbandry to the wrong individual, inappropriate, 00:05:53.600 |
Over here, offensive, wrong, very condescending, yes? 00:05:59.900 |
So I'm talking about a strange and very sad phenomenon that's potentially inappropriate 00:06:04.600 |
and also offensive, but I do believe in history, Christian history. 00:06:12.680 |
In modern-day Christianity, this strange and sad phenomenon happens all the time. 00:06:18.360 |
And you know what I'm talking about is when an individual presumes their relationship 00:06:23.240 |
with God, treats God according to what they think and wish, but they're not really sure 00:06:31.200 |
Here's an example from the Bible, Matthew 7, verse 15 through 23. 00:06:39.840 |
The scriptures say this, "Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, 00:06:48.680 |
Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? 00:06:52.440 |
So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 00:06:56.400 |
A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 00:07:01.280 |
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 00:07:08.120 |
Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who 00:07:12.440 |
does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. 00:07:16.820 |
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your 00:07:21.520 |
name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' 00:07:25.800 |
And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. 00:07:29.640 |
Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" 00:07:33.280 |
That is beyond strange, that is beyond cringy, it's wrong. 00:07:43.200 |
It's strange and it's difficult because they will say, "Lord, Lord." 00:07:47.160 |
It's strange and it's difficult because they will actually do the actions and be confused 00:08:03.920 |
I never commissioned you, and I don't think you know me." 00:08:11.800 |
And so by this introduction, I want to highlight something for you, is that in the context 00:08:16.560 |
of talking about Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are talking about a relationship. 00:08:25.040 |
When you sign off on the document, yes, you are signing off on a doctrinal statement. 00:08:29.640 |
Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, but it is more than a doctrinal statement. 00:08:35.040 |
It is a status of your relationship with Christ. 00:08:39.520 |
And the context by which we're talking about this is in the world right now and throughout 00:08:43.800 |
history, there has been confusion and a strange phenomenon, and the error has been presumption. 00:08:54.720 |
People have mistakenly presumed a relationship with God they did not have. 00:09:01.360 |
People have presumed and then also then asserted their own desired relationship with God. 00:09:13.000 |
God, X, Y, and Z, I have expectations of you that I think you're obligated to do for me." 00:09:23.480 |
God regularly says, "I'm not a man that I should be bribed by you. 00:09:33.200 |
This is something that is a unique privilege that cannot be assumed. 00:09:38.160 |
But unfortunately, I believe this is the case. 00:09:40.680 |
So as we talk about this first covenant that I confess Christ as my Lord and Savior, it 00:09:46.760 |
is such a huge topic, but I want to focus on this truth, and I want to remind you that 00:09:52.520 |
the reason why our church goes over this is not to make you feel like, "That's right. 00:09:57.600 |
If you want to be a member, you better show up and represent." 00:10:03.520 |
Because I have had people tell me like, "Man, you know, Berean expects a lot out of his 00:10:08.000 |
And I always want to say, "The Bible expects a lot out of men." 00:10:12.120 |
It's not just that Berean wants you to be some kind of elite Christian, and you have 00:10:22.020 |
We do not want you to be mistaken about where you stand with Jesus, because that is to you 00:10:31.920 |
And then to you on the reverse side of that, for you to stand confused about whether God 00:10:36.480 |
accepts you, for you to stand confused about whether He is your Lord, that would be to 00:10:45.880 |
And so our heart is to minister to every single person who desires to be a member here. 00:10:50.120 |
We want to give you clarity so that you stand with God, not in your own confidence, but 00:10:55.520 |
by faith, confidence in the Lord who accepts you because of your faith in Jesus Christ. 00:11:01.120 |
That kind of assurance is the desire of Scripture for you to have, and that to you is going 00:11:05.280 |
to be the greatest foundation for everything you do. 00:11:12.840 |
So with that said, I want to set a second kind of background to this. 00:11:18.360 |
So this is introduction part two, which is, I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior 00:11:24.080 |
then is at the greatest importance, that you get it, you understand it, and you see the 00:11:29.160 |
full picture of the relationship you have with Jesus. 00:11:33.240 |
But then one might say, "Hmm, why do you word it like that though? 00:11:36.000 |
Isn't it sufficient for you to say, 'I have been saved by Christ through faith,' period? 00:11:40.160 |
Why do you have to add this idea that He's your Lord and Savior?" 00:11:43.160 |
Now you understand, in setting up the context, that in our modern generation, there has been 00:11:50.000 |
some wayward theology that had to be corrected. 00:11:54.800 |
Meaning just bad thinking that needs to be fixed according to the Bible. 00:11:59.640 |
I want to quickly summarize it for you because I believe the vast majority of you in here 00:12:03.720 |
probably have already heard the term "Lordship Salvation." 00:12:09.800 |
Lordship Salvation has been a certain issue, a controversial issue, perhaps in more recent 00:12:13.840 |
history, meaning more like the last 15, 20 years. 00:12:17.360 |
But let me summarize why there was this even need to say Lordship Salvation and not just 00:12:28.120 |
But the reason why is because there were some thought. 00:12:31.260 |
I have here a summary that says, number one, you cannot divide Christ's character. 00:12:35.840 |
Meaning there were some people who believe that you can accept Jesus as your Savior, 00:12:42.040 |
but not yet be ready to accept Him as Lord, and that's okay. 00:12:46.760 |
Meaning I could accept Him as my Savior to deliver me from hell, but it does not necessitate 00:12:55.000 |
And so there were some people who give their testimony, and they give a sequential testimony. 00:13:01.200 |
I was kind of running away and doing a Jonah thing, and then I really decided to follow, 00:13:05.720 |
and then later on I realized I have to make Him my Lord, and so I made Him my Lord here. 00:13:13.840 |
Because the person of Jesus Christ, He's one. 00:13:17.800 |
You cannot simply accept and then reject parts of Him. 00:13:23.000 |
Two, you cannot divide your own relationship with Christ, meaning you cannot refuse Him 00:13:31.280 |
You cannot persistently refuse His commands, accept sin in your life, be unwilling to forsake 00:13:37.560 |
your previous life, and then say, "But I want Him here." 00:13:41.920 |
That's your relationship to Jesus that you cannot compartmentalize. 00:13:49.880 |
And then what kind of by deduction ended up happening in the church, and perhaps maybe 00:13:56.560 |
they were well-intending, but it's really bad theology, was that people have divided 00:14:05.680 |
There had been an effort to say, "You know, we have cardinal Christians, we have converts, 00:14:11.320 |
we have babies, and then you have disciples." 00:14:18.640 |
If you believe you can only accept parts of Jesus, if you believe you can relate to Him 00:14:22.960 |
only in parts ways, then you have to also make part categories of the people of God. 00:14:27.960 |
You have converts and you have disciples, and some people think that way. 00:14:32.900 |
If you're not a disciple following Jesus, you're not a convert. 00:14:35.640 |
That is at the heart of when we say lordship salvation. 00:14:40.200 |
And again, remember I said, although as I run through this, that might be a lot, and 00:14:45.040 |
also it might sound intense, this is not to say that Berean has this unique elite standard 00:14:55.920 |
And the way I want to prove that to you is not talk about, "Okay, let's talk about the 00:15:00.400 |
Christian when he does, let's talk about how salvation works, let's talk about modes of 00:15:06.520 |
What I want to talk about is Christ the Lord. 00:15:09.480 |
Because what we're saying is, when I say I confess Jesus as my lord and savior, that 00:15:14.160 |
is not just a doctrinal statement, that is my relationship with Christ as I understand 00:15:24.940 |
And who he is is going to dictate everything of what I believe and what I do. 00:15:29.800 |
So let's follow along now into that trail of thought. 00:15:34.320 |
I begin with this number one point, which is Jesus Christ is Lord, and this is the greatest 00:15:44.120 |
The greatest picture, when you think about the gospel, the message of truth reveals to 00:15:50.000 |
us spiritual realities that we did not know before, and the biggest piece of that gospel 00:15:57.920 |
The biggest piece of that gospel is, "This is God." 00:16:03.280 |
And what I would like to also say is this idea that Jesus is Lord is the most natural 00:16:09.440 |
and prevailing designation and picture of Christ, above and beyond his servanthood and 00:16:21.720 |
What I need to do is prove that to you by scripture. 00:16:24.680 |
So now we're going to walk through a bunch of Bible passages, and I want to forewarn 00:16:28.440 |
you, this sermon has long excerpts from scripture, so we'll need to follow along together. 00:16:34.920 |
The first passage I have for you is from Isaiah 9, verse 6 through 7. 00:16:39.500 |
What I like to say is, prior to Jesus being born, clearly there have been prophecies and 00:16:47.740 |
The primary picture that those prophecies tried to teach God's people was that this 00:16:56.220 |
"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest 00:17:01.480 |
on his shoulders, his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal 00:17:09.820 |
There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace, and on the throne 00:17:14.140 |
of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness. 00:17:20.320 |
From then on and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this." 00:17:27.200 |
People could camp out and meditate on that, but if you just ask the question, "What is 00:17:35.280 |
What is the impression of the Messiah to come?" and you would immediately say, "He's going 00:17:47.120 |
What's more, when he was actually born, he was announced as Christ the Lord. 00:17:52.920 |
Luke chapter 2 verse 11, the scripture says, "When he was born, for today in the city of 00:17:57.640 |
David there has been born for you," look at these titles, "Savior, who is Christ the Lord." 00:18:05.840 |
Remember that Christ is not Jesus' last name. 00:18:16.160 |
And to say he is the anointed one already gives you the picture of one who is like a 00:18:25.440 |
What's more, while he was doing ministry on earth, so many people literally wanted him 00:18:30.760 |
to be king right now because that's what they expected. 00:18:35.480 |
This isn't this verse, John 6, 15, says, "Jesus perceiving that they were intended to come 00:18:40.800 |
and take him by force to making king, withdrew to the mountains." 00:18:44.160 |
But the other passage is Matthew chapter 16, verse 13 through 16. 00:18:48.900 |
This is when Jesus is talking to all the disciples and it says, "Now when Jesus came into the 00:18:52.620 |
district of Caesarea Philippi, he was asking his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son 00:18:59.640 |
And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, and others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah 00:19:10.420 |
Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'" 00:19:18.500 |
If Christ is a designation of the one who is prophesied, the anointed one, the Messiah, 00:19:24.200 |
the Son of God actually takes it to the next level, right? 00:19:28.660 |
He is not just the messenger of God, he is the Son of God. 00:19:32.740 |
And if you're thinking appropriately, you should be thinking the prince of the world, 00:19:39.860 |
One with authority, power, and the glory of the Father. 00:19:43.860 |
Now continuing forward, even when Jesus is about to die, you recall that Jesus was before 00:19:51.540 |
Jesus himself acknowledges and affirms he is a king. 00:19:57.740 |
John chapter 18, verse 36 through 38, Jesus says to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this 00:20:05.020 |
If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. 00:20:14.700 |
And Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. 00:20:18.780 |
In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to 00:20:25.300 |
Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." 00:20:32.340 |
Jesus prior to coming on the scene, living on earth, and upon his even death, he is king. 00:20:40.980 |
And upon Jesus' resurrection, Thomas' affirmation is so profound. 00:20:46.020 |
In John chapter 20, verse 28, this is what the scripture says. 00:20:49.820 |
"Then he said to Thomas, 'Reach here with your finger and see my hands, and reach here 00:20:54.500 |
with your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believing.' 00:21:00.260 |
Thomas answered and said to him, 'My Lord, my God.'" 00:21:14.060 |
I want you to think about that because currently right now, we have the resurrected Lord. 00:21:21.500 |
And so what I'm going to say is, there is a picture of Jesus that has been given to 00:21:26.540 |
There has been a picture of Jesus that has been given to the people before us. 00:21:30.500 |
And all through the entire full spectrum of the picture, the picture has been that Christ 00:21:37.480 |
The future enemies of God from here forward about things to come reveals to us that Jesus 00:21:48.820 |
Revelation chapter 17, verse 12 through 14 says this, "The ten horns which you saw are 00:21:53.520 |
ten kings who have not yet received the kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the 00:21:59.900 |
These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 00:22:04.220 |
These will wage war against the lamb, and the lamb will overcome them because he is 00:22:08.480 |
Lord of lords, king of kings, and those who are with him are called and chosen and faithful." 00:22:16.120 |
The picture of what Christ is going to be revealed as is Lord of lords and king of kings. 00:22:22.040 |
And before I read this next passage, which comes from Revelation chapter 19, verse 11 00:22:26.000 |
through 16, I just want to reiterate so that you understand what I'm saying. 00:22:31.900 |
Not just a picture of Jesus in history, not just a future picture of Jesus that's going 00:22:37.980 |
to come by way of prophecy, but I believe the most appropriate, most prevailing picture 00:22:44.920 |
you should have right now in your mind when you think Jesus is this. 00:22:51.280 |
Is it true that yes, Jesus is a humble servant? 00:22:55.020 |
Scripture tells us to be humble just like him. 00:22:57.980 |
But the picture we have cannot be so limited to a box. 00:23:02.140 |
And if you grew up maybe in a Christian home, you might have had that picture of Jesus where 00:23:06.100 |
his skin is fair, his hair is perfect, and he's right at the door about to knock. 00:23:16.500 |
Now that picture comes also from Revelations where the whole idea is he's ready to knock 00:23:21.780 |
on the door of your heart so that he might come in. 00:23:25.480 |
The thing about it is this is also an accurate picture of Jesus that you should have in your 00:23:36.900 |
And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful 00:23:44.500 |
And in righteousness he judges and wages war. 00:23:47.580 |
His eyes are a flame of fire, on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written 00:24:00.900 |
And in the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following 00:24:07.680 |
From his mouth came a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations. 00:24:12.380 |
And he will rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath 00:24:19.260 |
And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings, Lord of lords. 00:24:30.140 |
Whether you've been a Christian a long time, whether you've been Christian a short time, 00:24:34.700 |
this is the image of God that is given to us at the end of the Bible. 00:24:40.500 |
We are looking forward to not eternity and long, long times ahead. 00:24:49.780 |
There's not a whole lot on the plan of God left, right? 00:24:54.460 |
This is then to us the closest picture of Jesus we should expect. 00:25:02.420 |
This all matters because in summary, the proper way to view God, the greater picture of Christ 00:25:08.060 |
is him as Lord, the Son of God with absolute authority, power, strength, glory, and dominion. 00:25:22.380 |
It's that Lord who has come down so that we would be lifted up. 00:25:29.380 |
That kind of great contrast is where we find the amazing part of the gospel. 00:25:35.820 |
To such great sinners, such great grace by such a great Lord. 00:25:42.360 |
And what's more, not only is it because of this depiction of Jesus, but God says this 00:25:51.000 |
Turn your Bibles over to Philippians chapter 2. 00:25:53.500 |
I know some of you guys are memorizing, so I want you guys to recite it now. 00:26:02.020 |
We're walking through Philippians and this portion of it, we have to understand the purpose 00:26:07.380 |
of God in salvation is actually for this very point that we're making to understand Christ 00:26:17.340 |
Ephesians chapter 2 verse 9 through 11 says this, "For this reason also God highly exalted 00:26:22.080 |
him, bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every 00:26:27.220 |
knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, that every 00:26:33.060 |
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 00:26:41.540 |
If any of you are wrestling with that theology of, "But wait a minute, isn't salvation just 00:26:49.560 |
simply by an easy kind of like simple request to have salvation, to have heaven?" 00:26:58.320 |
But this concept gives you a fuller picture that the purpose, the purpose that God is 00:27:05.140 |
trying to accomplish is not devoid of your salvation resulting in the praise and glory 00:27:13.120 |
And so if you dissect the two and say, "No, I can have salvation outside of his Lordship," 00:27:23.200 |
That's my admonition to those individuals who think, "No, no, no. 00:27:29.360 |
Salvation is supposed to be a free gift and I'm supposed to be able to receive it. 00:27:32.640 |
And if you add anything to it, you're a legalist." 00:27:35.320 |
I'm going to say, "Man, it's hard to debate you when you missed the whole point. 00:27:45.680 |
I'm talking about the person I'm picturing in my head. 00:27:53.480 |
You humble yourself and you ask God Almighty, "Forgive me. 00:28:00.360 |
So yes, could someone be saved right now, today, in this moment? 00:28:04.120 |
And the answer is yes, because it is not of your works. 00:28:09.800 |
But if you do not understand the one who's giving you the grace, the one who's giving 00:28:13.720 |
you the entire context of why you could even ask, you missed the whole point. 00:28:21.760 |
And so, when we talk about this lordship of God, I am saying and challenging you, how 00:28:31.560 |
Because that predicates how we're going to do everything else. 00:28:34.680 |
And therefore, if you have this limited view of Jesus, where perhaps He is just a giving 00:28:39.800 |
tree, He is the one you go to and you pray, "Lord, could you please grant me this? 00:28:45.920 |
Lord, please help me with school, work, family, and every single hurdle that comes my way." 00:28:51.320 |
There is a fine line between dependency and a fine line between abuse. 00:29:00.120 |
If you just see Jesus as a comfortable friend that you go to for companionship when you're 00:29:04.080 |
lonely, if you just see Jesus as a love interest where you sing wonderful songs and you engage 00:29:09.280 |
in romantic kind of relationship, I'm going to say, "Christ is so amazing. 00:29:17.200 |
He can provide all of that, but don't miss the bigger picture. 00:29:23.440 |
Christ is Lord, King of kings, Lord of all, and this matters because by the nature of 00:29:31.040 |
who He is, then it has natural ramifications of our response. 00:29:36.360 |
Because He's Lord, I don't get to just ask for stuff. 00:29:40.460 |
Because He's Lord, now it demands me to give praise. 00:29:46.600 |
It demands me to give actually all of myself in trust because it is a unique, unique privilege 00:29:59.800 |
Because He's deserving, now I am able to subject myself to Him and joyfully obey. 00:30:06.120 |
This relationship now takes on an incredible, new, dynamic kind of interaction. 00:30:14.880 |
Not because of modes, not because of this and that, but because simply of who He is. 00:30:23.520 |
And I believe the grave, grave mistake, again, of that kind of theology that has been prevalent, 00:30:30.840 |
And so here's an interesting thing that I was thinking about, which is, do you remember 00:30:34.400 |
the passage in John chapter 3 where the rich young ruler comes in and he asks Jesus, "Rabbi, 00:30:42.640 |
I've done everything, but how do I get into heaven?" 00:30:50.600 |
But for this man, his biggest problem was not that he was so wrong about how one gets 00:30:56.680 |
into heaven, because I think he knew you needed a certain level of righteousness. 00:31:02.600 |
He should have instead asked, "Lord, who are you?" 00:31:06.720 |
His mistake was he presumed he knew this teacher. 00:31:14.560 |
But I think you have some special knowledge that'll help me get there." 00:31:19.360 |
The problem is that person should have asked, "Lord, clearly you have come for a purpose. 00:31:29.240 |
Those that Jesus commends for faith are the ones who recognize, "You're a Lord. 00:31:35.900 |
Just say stuff and I know it's going to happen." 00:31:43.760 |
What needs to happen is there has to be this eye-opening realization that Christ is Lord 00:31:48.360 |
and that predicates then everything else that happens afterwards, and that's my point. 00:31:57.980 |
If we understand that Christ is the big picture, His Lordship is a greater image, then the 00:32:04.320 |
drama of that picture, the action of that picture is reconciliation. 00:32:09.760 |
See, if you don't understand Christ to be this Lord, then yeah, of course. 00:32:27.320 |
But when we recognize that Christ is Lord of Lords, we now all of a sudden feel the 00:32:32.920 |
chasm, and there has to be a reconciliation of this chasm. 00:32:38.440 |
Unless you understand who Christ is, you're not going to appreciate the bad news of the 00:32:43.360 |
gospel, or so the primer of the gospel, which tells us of this existing chasm between us, 00:32:48.800 |
and the scripture says we have to reconcile, we have to deal with God, before whom we have 00:32:56.740 |
What I'd like to do is share with you John 8, verse 31. 00:33:01.520 |
It's a long passage, and we're going to walk through it. 00:33:03.960 |
Jesus Christ is doing this very work, trying to reconcile the Jewish people to the Lord. 00:33:12.120 |
And what he's going to say is, "You listen to my word. 00:33:17.920 |
And what's very interesting is the very sin that I'm trying to present to you today, the 00:33:21.960 |
sin of presumptuousness, the sin of assumptions, the sin of thinking you have a relationship 00:33:27.320 |
that you don't, is prevalent through this entire exchange. 00:33:31.460 |
So John 8, verse 31, this is what the scripture says. 00:33:35.420 |
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, "If you continue in my word, 00:33:40.240 |
then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will 00:33:48.540 |
We are Abraham's descendants, and I've never yet been enslaved to anyone. 00:33:54.540 |
How is it that you say you will become free?" 00:33:59.220 |
I mean, if it's a Jewish person, they should know. 00:34:02.380 |
It's like, "Have you ever heard of a thing called Exodus? 00:34:09.900 |
In verse 34, Jesus answers them and says, "Well, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone 00:34:17.780 |
The slave does not remain in the house forever. 00:34:21.500 |
So if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 00:34:24.940 |
I know that you are Abraham's descendants by flesh. 00:34:28.860 |
Yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. 00:34:31.980 |
I speak the things which I have seen with my father. 00:34:34.940 |
Therefore, you also do the things which you heard from your father." 00:34:51.760 |
And they're going to expose who they are even more. 00:34:54.820 |
Going forward, Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. 00:34:59.700 |
But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard 00:35:10.240 |
They said to him, "We were not born of fornication. 00:35:16.260 |
Jesus said to them, "If God were your father, you would love me. 00:35:19.820 |
For I proceeded forth and have come from God. 00:35:22.520 |
For I've not even come on my own initiative, but he sent me. 00:35:31.000 |
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. 00:35:34.920 |
He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no 00:35:40.220 |
Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature. 00:35:45.800 |
But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me. 00:35:55.640 |
For this reason, you do not hear them because you are not of God." 00:36:05.480 |
You know, there are times when you share the gospel, you're going to have to convince people 00:36:14.440 |
You're going to sometimes have to just simply convince them, "No, no, no. 00:36:17.520 |
There exists such a being as God who is powerful." 00:36:24.880 |
One of the hardest things to do is convince them this, "No, no, no. 00:36:42.080 |
This part of it is not just some kind of angry rant. 00:36:50.680 |
But this is Jesus preaching the gospel because he is giving them truth. 00:36:54.640 |
And he says it, "I'm giving you truth of God. 00:37:01.320 |
Now, you don't have to say it in this way, but Jesus makes it explicitly clear, "Your 00:37:07.720 |
I actually recommend, please don't do that when you're sharing. 00:37:24.960 |
The Jews answered and said to him, "Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and 00:37:32.480 |
Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. 00:37:41.240 |
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my words, he will never see death." 00:37:46.200 |
And the Jew said to him, "Now we know you have a demon. 00:37:51.280 |
And you say, 'If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.'" 00:38:09.760 |
And what's really interesting though is there is this strange moment of so close and yet 00:38:16.520 |
They hear what Jesus is saying and naturally their mind goes to, "Wait a minute. 00:38:26.480 |
Verse 53, "Surely you are not greater than Abraham, our father, who died. 00:38:39.800 |
To what we're talking about today, this is such an important question. 00:38:42.560 |
And Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. 00:38:46.480 |
It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God. 00:38:50.440 |
And you have not come to know him, but I know him. 00:38:53.160 |
If I say that I do not know him, I will be a liar like you. 00:38:59.180 |
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad." 00:39:06.120 |
You're not yet 50 years old and have you seen Abraham?" 00:39:10.920 |
And Jesus said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." 00:39:24.320 |
And so the Jews respond in a natural humanistic way. 00:39:28.480 |
Therefore, they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself. 00:39:33.040 |
The mid-corollary of this, meaning I know that maybe this was a long passage kind of 00:39:38.080 |
thinking through like, how does this relate to us now? 00:39:41.880 |
You don't know how many times I sat down with somebody who's grown up in the church and 00:39:45.640 |
I asked them, "Can you tell me about your relationship with Jesus?" 00:39:49.440 |
Right now, this point number two is talking about reconciliation. 00:39:53.240 |
And the whole question really is, it begs the question, what's your relationship status? 00:40:01.000 |
Is it in a relationship, married, whatever it may be? 00:40:07.040 |
The question is, what's your relationship status? 00:40:09.520 |
I don't know how many times I've sat down with somebody and just said, "Oh, you know 00:40:24.800 |
Sometimes people will say, "You know, I knew God was always with me." 00:40:28.760 |
I'm sorry to say, He was not always with you, right? 00:40:32.040 |
I always believed in God, ever since I was young. 00:40:38.600 |
Because scripture says we're born in ignorance. 00:40:41.520 |
We're literally born as mute, deaf, and blind people who can't see God. 00:40:47.320 |
God has made it so by His nature because He's so holy, you can't see Him, otherwise you 00:40:55.400 |
The whole history of the nation of Israel was a case example how you can only come a 00:41:00.400 |
certain distance because to see His glory would mean your death. 00:41:05.180 |
But here you are saying, "Since I was a baby, you always saw Him?" 00:41:14.320 |
Now here's my question to you because not only that, but when I ask this question, "What 00:41:20.000 |
I get all sorts of different kind of answers sometimes. 00:41:23.300 |
There are people who are like, "Yeah, it's complicated. 00:41:29.120 |
There was a part where I was all excited that I was in this relationship and then I got 00:41:32.400 |
distracted, I fell away for a while, I took it a little seriously, and then I came back, 00:41:37.040 |
and the next thing you know, I got apathetic again, and then now it's kind of like a girlfriend 00:41:42.720 |
and boyfriend who was off and on and off and on and off and on. 00:41:48.180 |
And I'm standing there like, "You see, it's hard to talk to you about that because I don't 00:41:57.060 |
Jesus is Lord, and to think you can do an off and on, off and on, and off and on with 00:42:11.180 |
To presume that you can do that with the Lord means you don't understand Him. 00:42:18.800 |
Because if you set these terms, if you set this timeline, you set these parameters of 00:42:23.440 |
when you're ready, then you'll be serious, but when you're not, you won't. 00:42:27.080 |
And then when you feel like it's good for you, then you will. 00:42:31.940 |
So then, of course, God, you'll understand, right? 00:42:40.120 |
And so that's why we're talking about today, the Lordship matters, understanding Him matters, 00:42:48.080 |
I've literally asked people, "What's your relationship right now?" 00:42:51.440 |
Sometimes they've almost talked to me like, "You know, this reconciliation is like two 00:42:57.200 |
God needs to kind of repent, basically, for the kind of horrible life He gave you, the 00:43:01.600 |
hardships, lack of parental care, lack of friends, whatever it may be, various difficulties, 00:43:06.560 |
physical ailments, and then you forgive Him, and then He forgives you, and then you make 00:43:11.440 |
That is not the kind of reconciliation the Bible describes, right? 00:43:17.200 |
We are in a moment of impending doom by the wrath of God Almighty, and this has to be 00:43:28.560 |
If you are not sure whether you have been reconciled with God, and you are ready to 00:43:35.440 |
sign the membership covenant, don't sign it yet. 00:43:43.640 |
And if you think you can just keep going anyway, I don't think you understand who He is. 00:43:52.400 |
And therefore, that is why the Scripture says that we must confess Him, that we must confess 00:43:58.640 |
with our mouth, believe in our hearts that Christ is Lord. 00:44:01.800 |
I'm going to move to a point three, which is then this is our corporate confession. 00:44:10.220 |
This is who we are by identity as a community, and nothing else. 00:44:17.520 |
We are held together by the confession that He is Christ, that He is Lord, and that He, 00:44:26.160 |
And the reason why you and I have the greatest affinity, the greatest sense of, "Wow, you 00:44:30.600 |
and I are like the same," is because we've reconciled with the Lord. 00:44:34.840 |
There's a passage, just listen to this, Ephesians 4, 4-6 that says, "There is one body, one 00:44:41.800 |
spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, 00:44:46.960 |
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." 00:44:56.200 |
As brothers and sisters in Christ, that's it. 00:45:05.360 |
And just like we read right at the beginning, Peter read this passage. 00:45:12.920 |
Opening his mouth, Peter said, "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show 00:45:17.280 |
partiality, but in every nation, the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome 00:45:22.840 |
The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching priests through Jesus Christ, He 00:45:31.040 |
What Peter is doing, he's looking at the landscape of the gospel ministry. 00:45:35.680 |
He's thinking past and realizes God has been teaching the gospel to the nation of Israel, 00:45:40.520 |
and now it's going forth to the nations, and what I see is God making peace. 00:45:46.720 |
In the conclusion, he says, "Jesus is Lord of all." 00:45:55.400 |
And I want to make mention of this because when we think about this corporate confession, 00:45:59.480 |
this is so vital to the health of the church. 00:46:02.120 |
I mentioned at the introduction, we have a vision. 00:46:07.760 |
None of those things can be accomplished unless we have a clarity about who is a genuine disciple 00:46:16.300 |
It has been an incredible detriment and a disservice to the church when there has been 00:46:22.000 |
Let's make the door to the church as wide as possible so that non-Christians can feel 00:46:27.880 |
That was an immense disservice to the church. 00:46:30.840 |
Maybe well-intended, maybe it was a good desire to serve the people who are not Christians, 00:46:39.480 |
What we are doing here right now, we're just sitting next to each other. 00:46:43.160 |
By faith, I believe this is not a business, this is not a social exercise. 00:46:48.680 |
Let's see how they can do if you put them together. 00:46:51.440 |
This is not any kind of academic endeavor where I'm just teaching you and you are gaining 00:46:57.480 |
This right now, even though by my human eyes, it's just a bunch of people sitting together, 00:47:02.000 |
this is a spiritual exercise of giving God worship, amen? 00:47:07.960 |
Not possible if we're confused about who is in Christ. 00:47:13.460 |
When we think about building this community after the character of Jesus' love, not possible 00:47:18.760 |
if we do not have the Lordship of Christ reigning in our hearts. 00:47:22.400 |
When we desire for you to witness and to be this invisible yet visible, shining, glorious 00:47:28.320 |
light of the Lord Jesus, that is a spiritual activity that has to be empowered by the Lord. 00:47:38.200 |
How can I expect you to do that when you're not sure about your standing with the Lord? 00:47:43.740 |
If we muddy the lines of who is a Christian and who is not, we will ruin the church. 00:47:49.560 |
And that is why this is of such high importance. 00:47:53.160 |
And what's more, remember, I want to reiterate again, we're not doing this just to make Berean 00:48:00.080 |
We don't say all this kind of stuff to be like, "Yeah, we want to be elite Bereans who 00:48:05.480 |
are like soldiers ready to take over the world." 00:48:14.520 |
Our hearts beat and like passion is like the apostles when they say, "The greatest treasure 00:48:20.680 |
to you is to know you are a son and daughter of God." 00:48:28.640 |
I write to you these things so that you might know." 00:48:32.180 |
We want you to hold fast and know that there is a possibility of an assurance of salvation. 00:48:38.680 |
That if you know the truth of God, that if you know that He is Lord and you confess it 00:48:45.200 |
and you believe in your heart and because you know that because He is Lord, He is truly 00:48:49.780 |
the only way, He is the truth and He is the life, and therefore I have entrusted my life 00:49:04.820 |
And it would be a sad, sad tragedy if you were confused. 00:49:11.800 |
We walked through Jesus being Lord and walked through the passage. 00:49:15.460 |
We saw that there needs to be reconciliation and we saw that the Jewish Pharisees of the 00:49:19.380 |
time, they couldn't do that reconciliation because they presumed a lot. 00:49:23.880 |
They presumed that they were more righteous than they were and they presumed that God 00:49:29.700 |
We're learning also then that this kind of mentality and confession has to be the core 00:49:37.060 |
The last part I want to talk about then is this. 00:49:41.180 |
There is this assurance that you are supposed to exercise that is going to be the heartbeat 00:49:49.660 |
What you do is predicated by your belief that Jesus is Lord, right? 00:49:57.620 |
We do not want you just to do the red tape, jump through the hoops, and just do the things 00:50:05.400 |
We are so thankful because, especially as I think about it, as a pastor, I'm so grateful. 00:50:10.780 |
I'm just a young man, but the church gives a lot of weight and respect to the leaders 00:50:16.100 |
here and you guys pretty much try and do what we try to instruct. 00:50:25.380 |
I don't want you to just do the things we say because I said it. 00:50:30.900 |
We want you to operate by the full assurance Christ is my Lord, Christ is my Savior, and 00:50:36.940 |
therefore, whether any human leader is there or not, you have a sustaining, you have a 00:50:45.860 |
Now for the sake of time, I'm going to quickly move to a kind of conclusion and wrap things 00:50:54.220 |
In this whole debate and thought about the controversy of Lordship Salvation, there have 00:51:02.260 |
And I've actually pre-started Lordship Salvation in many other contexts and I've had people 00:51:09.420 |
I'm not going to deny that because it says that. 00:51:14.740 |
But it still, for me, feels like it goes against the concept that your salvation is a simple 00:51:27.100 |
And so they say, just kind of like any gift, like if someone gives you this gift, then 00:51:33.820 |
So why are you doubting people's salvation based on their Lordships and submission and 00:51:39.180 |
are they bearing fruit and are they professing to, are they committed to forsake sin and 00:51:47.340 |
Doesn't that seem like you say you don't want elite Koreans, but that's what it sounds like 00:51:52.940 |
Because for them, they're thinking it's a simple gift. 00:51:57.820 |
And so if you receive it, it doesn't matter if you're having your ups and downs through 00:52:00.820 |
life, you shouldn't be doubting whether you receive this or not. 00:52:06.700 |
Now again, remember I said when we focus on the mechanics of how do you receive this gift, 00:52:22.820 |
Lord you're gracious, you give this to me so I receive it with really, really appreciative 00:52:35.940 |
The question is, do you have any idea what gift you received? 00:52:42.900 |
If you think this gift, I mean I want you to think about the greatest and biggest gift 00:52:54.420 |
Maybe you received like a home, like a condo. 00:52:56.180 |
A lot of people, they get married, their parents are like, "I want you to have a great start." 00:53:04.740 |
And so you receive it with great earnestness. 00:53:09.740 |
How would you even doubt whether you have it or not? 00:53:13.540 |
Because our theology says the chasm between a house, a car, and receiving the Lord as 00:53:25.560 |
If you're sitting there having this option of, "You know, I'm just going to neglect them 00:53:33.220 |
If you do not understand the gift you receive and you cannot articulate that you as a sinner 00:53:38.020 |
has received the Lord, then I'm not sure I can say you had any idea what you were doing 00:53:47.580 |
To say that you can receive this gift and yet not transform you, I don't think you were 00:53:57.020 |
To say you received this person, the Lord God, the one who is eternal, the creator of 00:54:03.380 |
all things, the sustainer of life, and yet have no effect in your life, I don't think 00:54:14.620 |
The more so is actually just simply focused on who it is you have received. 00:54:20.480 |
And so again, that's why we say the scriptures tell us that what God is doing in our lives 00:54:26.780 |
is not so much giving you just simple things like freedoms, powers, energies, and gifts. 00:54:35.900 |
For us as Christians, it's God in you, with you. 00:54:40.460 |
And he's going to do such a work where confidence says he will carry it through to the end. 00:54:45.300 |
And we dare not diminish that by saying, "You know what? 00:54:51.380 |
Let's make sure that we understand in all of this who it is that we say we confess is 00:55:02.740 |
Lord, we know that God, we're going to be learning for the rest of our lives what it 00:55:14.660 |
We also confess, God, that because we are like children, learning in progressive manner, 00:55:25.620 |
And God, we confess that, we acknowledge that, but yet, Lord, we pray for more. 00:55:32.220 |
I pray that we will grow to understand both in truth and experience what it means to have 00:55:39.500 |
this amazing privilege to have the righteous King of all be our King, to have the most 00:55:46.820 |
humble, gracious, and loving King of all be our King. 00:55:52.140 |
We know that this is a unique privilege that we didn't even think of, draft of ourselves. 00:55:56.780 |
We didn't ask for it, but you have presented it to us. 00:56:00.560 |
And so, God, we recognize this is a unique, unique privilege, and we thank you. 00:56:06.180 |
I pray that this truth would affect us so deeply. 00:56:12.140 |
I pray that we would never diminish it or just simply assume it's ours because I happen 00:56:18.820 |
I ask, Lord, that we would dig deep into what these things mean and so that, Lord, our life 00:56:24.140 |
at church here would genuinely be by faith and an understanding of this, this person, 00:56:34.220 |
I again pray also, Lord, that if there is anybody in this room who feels unsure, if 00:56:41.060 |
there's anybody in this room, Father God, who does not know where they stand with Christ, 00:56:45.620 |
would you grant to them that humility, would you grant to them that urgency to clear the 00:56:50.760 |
air with you to make sure, Father God, that they are seeking your acceptance, that make 00:56:57.760 |
sure that they are seeing that, Father Lord, acceptance is possible in the precious name 00:57:04.380 |
And so I pray, Father God, that there would be such a confidence in the Lord, such an