back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday
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As always, it is such a privilege and such a joy 00:14:07.300 |
for us to gather together to worship our God, 00:14:24.300 |
And so as we come this morning to sing and to worship, 00:14:38.800 |
So would you join us this morning as we begin with worship? 00:18:44.720 |
So right now we have designated across the street 00:18:50.720 |
but we're gonna be switching that to family parking 00:18:59.720 |
And this is for families with small children. 00:19:02.720 |
So if your children are already grown up and married, 00:19:10.720 |
or you're kind of hard to kind of cross the street, 00:19:14.720 |
we try to minimize the traffic of young children 00:19:22.720 |
So if you are a young adult or you're married, 00:19:35.720 |
and then the other parking will be open for everybody else. 00:19:37.720 |
So just keep that in mind, starting from next Sunday. 00:19:46.720 |
if you're, again, family with young children, 00:19:48.720 |
they'll probably direct you to that parking lot over there. 00:19:51.720 |
This coming Saturday, we have Men's Ministry Fellowship. 00:19:59.720 |
a lot of the men kind of sign up last minute, 00:20:02.720 |
maybe something's going on, and you don't know yet, 00:20:17.720 |
So if you haven't signed up and you're planning to come 00:20:19.720 |
or you're able to come, please sign up by today. 00:20:24.720 |
and we need to make sure that we order enough food 00:20:30.720 |
so that we'll know to be able to have that number. 00:20:33.720 |
So this coming Saturday at 9 a.m. in the cafe, okay? 00:20:47.720 |
and you'll be teamed up with two or three other families, 00:20:54.720 |
It's happening September 10th, October 8th, November 5th. 00:20:56.720 |
So if you haven't signed up, you want to sign up, 00:21:18.720 |
12:45 p.m., so there's gonna be a lunch fellowship 00:21:21.720 |
happening after service, so if you haven't signed up for that, 00:21:25.720 |
So if you're 50 and over, this ministry is for you. 00:21:28.720 |
Next, membership class is happening on September 10th, 00:21:31.720 |
and so if you are planning to take the membership class 00:21:36.720 |
that takes place at 9 o'clock on Sunday morning, 00:21:39.720 |
and it goes over the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, 00:21:45.720 |
You'll be able to interact with the leaders of our church 00:21:48.720 |
'cause they all take turns teaching different classes. 00:21:54.720 |
this is the class that you'll need to sign up. 00:21:56.720 |
So I think today is the last day for the last session 00:21:58.720 |
for the membership class, and then the new one 00:22:19.720 |
I think there is a table set up outside today 00:22:27.720 |
and the first day is gonna start on October 1st, okay? 00:22:30.720 |
And that's happening--I forget what time it is, 00:22:41.720 |
there's a half-court tournament for you as well, 00:23:00.720 |
So you can sign up, whether you're sisters or brothers, 00:23:07.720 |
it's a great opportunity to come and interact 00:23:09.720 |
with brothers and sisters, and it's a quick way 00:23:18.720 |
I forgot to mention this for the first service, 00:23:21.720 |
but our India trip medical missions is confirmed. 00:23:36.720 |
a few more spots open, so if you're interested, 00:23:38.720 |
and you probably need to tell me as soon as possible, 00:23:49.720 |
You do not have to be a doctor in the medical field. 00:23:59.720 |
we would need more of that, but outside of that, 00:24:04.720 |
if you do sign up and you've already signed up, 00:24:08.720 |
sometime this week to set up our first meeting, 00:24:10.720 |
so I'm just giving you a heads-up for that, okay? 00:24:21.720 |
but we're gonna, for the sake of clarity, identify them. 00:24:27.720 |
and then our college department is kind of heading that up, 00:24:34.720 |
and then they're gonna be leaving on Saturday. 00:24:38.720 |
but as I mentioned before, this is a group of kids, 00:24:45.720 |
who are supported by the government out in Korea, 00:24:52.720 |
and as I mentioned last week, when we asked them, 00:25:02.720 |
"so just taking them out to eat or getting a hamburger 00:25:09.720 |
that the limitations that they have because of funds. 00:25:14.720 |
so that they can use for after-school programs 00:25:17.720 |
or even if it's just to do something extracurricular 00:25:23.720 |
make sure when you're giving that you designate that 00:25:29.720 |
and then we'll make sure that that goes to them 00:25:40.720 |
there's a box in the back on the way out, all right? 00:25:44.720 |
Father, we thank you so much for your patience, 00:25:58.720 |
how much patience, Lord God, that you have toward us. 00:26:03.720 |
Help us, Lord God, to recognize the gift that we have in you 00:26:07.720 |
so that our worship would be an overflow of gratitude 00:26:12.720 |
Help us, Lord, whether it's in giving, singing, 00:26:30.720 |
So we pray that you would multiply this giving, 00:26:35.720 |
May it be used to maximize the spreading of your gospel 00:26:41.720 |
We thank you, Father, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:27:33.220 |
- Psalm 100, shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth. 00:27:44.980 |
It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. 00:27:48.900 |
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. 00:28:08.340 |
as we continue our worship and to give thanks. 00:36:34.940 |
- If you can turn your Bible with me to Luke chapter six. 00:36:42.940 |
I was thinking that we're gonna be finishing up today, 00:36:47.940 |
but I think I didn't finish for the first service, 00:36:52.940 |
But next week for sure, we'll be wrapping up our series 00:37:00.940 |
It was at this time that he went off to the mountain to pray 00:37:04.940 |
and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. 00:37:06.940 |
And when day came, he called his disciples to him 00:37:09.940 |
and chose 12 of them whom he also named as apostles. 00:37:12.940 |
Simon whom he also named Peter and Andrew, his brother, 00:37:15.940 |
and James and John and Philip and Bartholomew, 00:37:17.940 |
Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Aphaeus, 00:37:20.940 |
Simon who was called the zealot, Judas the son of James, 00:37:27.940 |
Father, give us insight, not only of your mind, 00:37:43.940 |
Help us to learn, help us to be challenged, rebuked, 00:37:53.940 |
That we may continue to worship you in spirit and in truth. 00:37:58.940 |
Guide us and lead us by your word and by your spirit. 00:38:12.940 |
I think many of us, if you've been paying attention, 00:38:15.940 |
there's a lot of people who have been huge figures 00:38:24.940 |
because of backsliding, adultery, sexual sin, 00:38:29.940 |
and some just kind of walked away from their faith. 00:38:33.940 |
If you're a new Christian, the thought of somebody 00:38:36.940 |
who had such influence and to just fall from their faith, 00:38:44.940 |
you've been a Christian for 10, 15, 20, 30 years, 00:38:53.940 |
Maybe it was a former pastor, a small group leader, 00:38:57.940 |
and you may have asked, how could that happen to him? 00:39:08.940 |
You know, one of the most shocking statements 00:39:16.940 |
he warned, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' 00:39:32.940 |
Not just a few, he said, "Many will say to me on that day, 00:39:38.940 |
These aren't just Christians who are sitting in the back, 00:39:42.940 |
who kind of, you know, when the judgment day comes, 00:39:46.940 |
like, I knew it, I knew he was going to church, 00:39:48.940 |
and he did this and that, but there was clear evidence 00:39:54.940 |
and they were just going through the motions. 00:39:57.940 |
He's referring to people calling him, "Lord, Lord." 00:40:10.940 |
Cast out demons, and in your name, perform many miracles. 00:40:14.940 |
I mean, today, if you saw somebody perform a miracle, 00:40:31.940 |
"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you.'" 00:40:34.940 |
Despite all of that, he says, "I never knew you. 00:40:36.940 |
"Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." 00:40:40.940 |
I remember the first time I came across this text, 00:40:42.940 |
and I read this over and over and over again, 00:40:49.940 |
performing, casting out demons, performing miracles, 00:40:51.940 |
preaching the gospel, and yet, he never knew him? 00:41:05.940 |
And obviously, this would include missionaries. 00:41:11.940 |
If it includes them, obviously, it would include all of you. 00:41:15.940 |
Like, after all of that, he says, "I never knew you." 00:41:19.940 |
The greatest example of this passage is Judas. 00:41:28.940 |
Judas ended up selling Christ for 30 pieces of silver. 00:41:35.940 |
We don't know a whole lot about Judas, his family background. 00:41:44.940 |
There's not a whole lot that is stated about his background. 00:41:47.940 |
The only thing that we know is that he was the only one 00:41:51.940 |
So he was the only one who was an outsider out of the 12. 00:41:54.940 |
Other than that, there's nothing that you could have seen coming. 00:41:59.940 |
There's some clear evidence that this guy was going to betray Christ. 00:42:05.940 |
Judas, after the effect, after looking at it, 00:42:11.940 |
Peter is always number one, and Judas is always the last one. 00:42:15.940 |
And whenever Judas is mentioned, it always qualifies, 00:42:24.940 |
And it serves as a warning to anyone who studies the Gospels, 00:42:28.940 |
that even an apostle of Christ that was handpicked by Christ, 00:42:34.940 |
at the end of his life, he ended up betraying him, 00:42:38.940 |
and then selling him out for 30 pieces of silver. 00:42:42.940 |
In fact, the very last thing that the Bible says about Judas in Acts 1.18, 00:42:47.940 |
that after he betrays him, sees his master crucified, he feels guilty. 00:42:54.940 |
And as a result of that, it says, "He hung himself, 00:42:57.940 |
and then after he hung himself, he fell to the ground, 00:43:03.940 |
It doesn't tell us that he felt bad, and went, and wept, and repented, 00:43:12.940 |
"He hung himself, and his intestines just gushed out." 00:43:17.940 |
So the natural question is, what caused him to betray Christ? 00:43:26.940 |
Why was he among them? Why did Jesus tolerate this? 00:43:30.940 |
I mean, I think the reason why this is so important to us, 00:43:33.940 |
because I don't know about you, but when I read this, 00:43:36.940 |
the reason why it disturbed me, is how am I going to know for sure? 00:43:42.940 |
If somebody that was hand-picked by Christ, how would I know that this isn't me? 00:43:49.940 |
Some of the things that I'm going to say, I'm already giving you a heads-up. 00:43:52.940 |
So far, we've been talking about the 12 disciples, 00:43:55.940 |
and for the most part, they were regular men. 00:44:03.940 |
These are not people you can say, "Oh, these are the reasons why they picked him." 00:44:08.940 |
Their weaknesses, God touches them, Jesus touches them, 00:44:15.940 |
And so it's very encouraging that God can use somebody like Matthew, 00:44:23.940 |
and say, "Oh, if God can use them, God can use us." 00:44:25.940 |
I'm giving you a heads-up today that this is going to be a heavy message, 00:44:51.940 |
Well, there's five things that I want to point out here, 00:44:53.940 |
and I'm probably not going to get to all of them today, 00:44:55.940 |
and I want to take some time, instead of just rushing through these points, 00:44:58.940 |
I think each one of these points are important enough, 00:45:02.940 |
and I'm going to tell you that at the end of the sermon, 00:45:04.940 |
some of you are going to say, "Man, this guy, 00:45:07.940 |
I'm not sure if I want to come to this church. 00:45:10.940 |
It's too heavy. This guy makes us feel bad every time." 00:45:21.940 |
and you're going to be disturbed because the truth, in my opinion, 00:45:29.940 |
There's five things that I want to point out, 00:45:34.940 |
Number one, it's clear that he was not a believer. 00:45:45.940 |
He was there when Jesus turned the water into wine. 00:45:49.940 |
You know, how many of us think that if Jesus would just reveal himself, 00:45:53.940 |
if he would speak to me, or if he opened up the heaven and said, "I'm for real," 00:45:57.940 |
or if he saw a genuine miracle that happened right in front of us, 00:46:01.940 |
you know, maybe some of us are thinking that, "Then I could really believe. 00:46:04.940 |
Maybe my faith would get to the next level if I can experience some of this." 00:46:09.940 |
Judas had front row seats to every miracle that Jesus performed. 00:46:15.940 |
Changing of the water, he saw Jesus calming the storm. 00:46:20.940 |
He was right there, and he distributed the bread and the fish 00:46:29.940 |
He saw Jesus walking on the water, catching loads of fish. 00:46:32.940 |
In fact, right before, a few days before Judas betrays Jesus, 00:46:39.940 |
he was an eyewitness of the resuscitation or raising of Lazarus. 00:46:44.940 |
He saw somebody that he knew who died, and Jesus raised him from the dead. 00:46:51.940 |
You would think that that would be enough for him to surrender his life 00:46:55.940 |
and believe and follow Christ like the rest of the disciples. 00:46:59.940 |
But even the raising of Lazarus was not enough. 00:47:06.940 |
In fact, the question that we have, how can somebody who saw everything that he saw, 00:47:15.940 |
how can somebody who was that close to all of his miracles end up doing what he did? 00:47:23.940 |
That's hard to believe because you and I would naturally think that if we were part of that, 00:47:27.940 |
I mean, what other option did you have than to believe and surrender and to follow him? 00:47:35.940 |
In fact, in Luke 9, 1-2, when Jesus sends out the disciples, this is what he says, 00:47:41.940 |
"And he called the twelve together and gave them the power and authority over all the demons 00:47:45.940 |
and to heal diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing." 00:47:51.940 |
Not only did he witness that, the scripture says that Jesus gave him authority. 00:47:59.940 |
He healed people. He cast out demons while he was preaching the gospel. 00:48:03.940 |
Not only did he see it, he actually practiced it. 00:48:08.940 |
And yet he denied Christ and did what he did. 00:48:15.940 |
And you automatically think, well, if somebody became a pastor and you went to seminary 00:48:19.940 |
and spent all that time to preach the gospel, like clearly he must be a man of God. 00:48:25.940 |
I mean, compared to Judas, I mean, we didn't experience anything. 00:48:31.940 |
How can a man who has experienced all of that have front row seats to the Son of God walking on earth, 00:48:38.940 |
giving all the evidence that he gave, and then to willfully choose to sell him out for 30 pieces of silver? 00:48:48.940 |
Again, some of you who are new to the faith may look at that and say, "Ah, that just sounds like a fairy tale. 00:48:55.940 |
Those of you who have been a Christian for a while, you've seen it yourself. 00:48:59.940 |
You've seen people who were influential and big names and thousands of people who followed them 00:49:06.940 |
and then find out that behind the scene, like they were nothing that we thought they were. 00:49:14.940 |
He was an unbeliever, and it is very clear that despite all that he had experienced, he never believed. 00:49:24.940 |
He said he left us because he was never really of us. 00:49:30.940 |
Him leaving proved that he was never really with us, even though every evidence, 00:49:36.940 |
at least that they thought that he was one of them, but him leaving, him doing what he did 00:49:41.940 |
and then dying the way he did proved that he was never really of us. 00:49:46.940 |
In Luke 16, 27-31, Jesus gives a parable about this rich man and this poor brother, Lazarus, 00:49:56.940 |
and how they die and how Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom, 00:50:00.940 |
and this rich man is looking up and regretting how he lived his life. 00:50:05.940 |
And so he's begging Abraham, basically, if you would just send somebody 00:50:13.940 |
In 1 John, 27, he said, "Then I beg you, Father, that you send him to my father's house, 00:50:18.940 |
for I have five brothers, in order that he may warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment." 00:50:25.940 |
But Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets." 00:50:28.940 |
And Moses and the prophets, he's talking about the Scripture. 00:50:31.940 |
They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. 00:50:35.940 |
He didn't say let them see them, let them experience them, let them touch them. 00:50:40.940 |
But he said, "No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." 00:50:47.940 |
But he said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, 00:50:50.940 |
they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead." 00:50:57.940 |
And that's exactly what happened with Lazarus. 00:51:00.940 |
He was an eyewitness of the resurrection of Lazarus, but that didn't make him a believer. 00:51:08.940 |
What Christ has ordained, what God has ordained to bring a sinner to Christ is the preaching of the gospel. 00:51:14.940 |
That's why he says, "Whether it's season or out of season, preach the word." 00:51:19.940 |
He says, "Faith comes from hearing, and the hearing of the word of God." 00:51:24.940 |
He says, "The only thing that God has ordained to get a sinner to repent of his sin and come to Christ is the word." 00:51:32.940 |
He said, "Even if somebody comes from the dead, even if you see miracles, even if you perform all these miracles yourself, 00:51:38.940 |
if the word of God has gone out and they have not repented, there's nothing else coming." 00:51:46.940 |
You have everything that you need to come to Christ in the word of God. 00:51:51.940 |
Some of us have a tendency to think that if only God would change this circumstance, 00:51:56.940 |
only if I had this, only if I experienced it, only if God would answer my prayers, 00:52:00.940 |
then my faith would be stronger, and then I would give my life to Christ. 00:52:04.940 |
Jesus says, "No." He says, "You have the word." 00:52:08.940 |
You have the word, and if the word of God, by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, is not enough for you to come to Christ, 00:52:18.940 |
There's nothing else coming. There's nothing that you're waiting for that's going to change your circumstance. 00:52:22.940 |
And every time you hear the word of God and continue to refuse Him, your heart becomes hardened and hardened and hardened 00:52:28.940 |
to the point where the word of God is no longer penetrating into you. It has no effect. 00:52:33.940 |
So you come to church, and you can have the greatest revival speaker to come to church, 00:52:38.940 |
but you've already committed that this is who you are. 00:52:42.940 |
And so you willfully close your eyes because you do not want the word of God to disturb you. 00:52:51.940 |
If you meet the resurrected Christ, the first response that you will have in meeting the resurrected Christ is not jubilee. 00:53:04.940 |
The first response that you will have meeting the resurrected Christ, He will disturb you. 00:53:10.940 |
His presence in your life will expose the hypocrisy. 00:53:16.940 |
His presence strong near to us automatically will shed light in darkness that we're holding on to. 00:53:23.940 |
So our first response is not jubilee. It's a "Yes, I thank you." 00:53:28.940 |
Our first response will be, "Woe is me. Woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips from a people of unclean lips." 00:53:36.940 |
And there's a reason why the first response that God calls everybody to come to Him is to repent, to recognize our sins. 00:53:45.940 |
We live in a culture today where assurance of salvation was passed out like Halloween candy. 00:53:53.940 |
And we think this is a warning that even an apostle of Christ could be this hardened after seeing everything, 00:54:01.940 |
experiencing everything, still walk in His flesh. 00:54:06.940 |
We have churches filled with people in our generation who are absolutely certain about their assurance of salvation 00:54:13.940 |
because they heard something from somebody at some point in their life that one saved always saved. 00:54:20.940 |
You can't lose yours. There's nothing you can do to change His love for you. 00:54:25.940 |
They're not walking with God. Their life doesn't look any different than a non-Christian. 00:54:30.940 |
Their life has never changed. The trajectory of their life has never changed when they met Christ. 00:54:36.940 |
And yet they are absolutely certain that they are saved. 00:54:42.940 |
I mean, if Judas wasn't a believer, how can you be so sure? 00:54:50.940 |
If I ended my sermon here, you know, I'd be in trouble, right? 00:54:56.940 |
But I need you to let the Word of God judge you first. 00:55:04.940 |
I need you to examine carefully because that's what the Word of God does. 00:55:10.940 |
That's what the Word of God does. He did what He did because He was not a believer. 00:55:16.940 |
The Word of God was taught. And yet He hardened His heart. 00:55:22.940 |
In Hebrews 6, 4-8, it describes exactly what happened to Judas. 00:55:28.940 |
"For in the case of those who have once been enlightened" 00:55:31.940 |
and "enlightened" is not referring to somebody who became a genuine believer, 00:55:35.940 |
somebody who has been taught the Word of God. 00:55:38.940 |
So if you ask this individual to explain the Gospel, they will be able to articulate the Gospel to you. 00:55:43.940 |
That's what He means by "enlightened." You've been given the truth. 00:55:48.940 |
"For in the case of those who have once been enlightened, they have tasted the heavenly gift." 00:55:52.940 |
And He's not talking about salvation. The heavenly gift He's referring to is the church 00:55:58.940 |
and the gift and the people that were around, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, of worship. 00:56:03.940 |
So everything that a genuine Christian would be exposed to, this person has been exposed to, like Judas. 00:56:11.940 |
Partakers of the Holy Spirit. Not the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that happens to a Christian. 00:56:16.940 |
Partakers, meaning that the Holy Spirit, just like when Judas went out and he was preaching the Gospel 00:56:22.940 |
and casting out demons, he didn't do that by his own flesh. 00:56:25.940 |
The Holy Spirit was using him to do miracles. He's referring to somebody like Judas. 00:56:32.940 |
Partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come. 00:56:39.940 |
In other words, in every other way, he had the same privilege that everybody else had. 00:56:50.940 |
It is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucified to themselves the Son of God 00:56:58.940 |
After you've experienced all of that, you're able to articulate the Gospel, you're part of the church, 00:57:02.940 |
you became a member, you're serving, maybe you're even leading in some capacity. 00:57:07.940 |
Now, is he saying that then, after you've been privileged to all of this, you heard the Gospel, 00:57:12.940 |
you're able to articulate the Gospel, and then fall in a way that there's no, it's impossible to bring it to repentance. 00:57:17.940 |
Does he mean that if you backslide, that you can never, that He'll never forgive you? 00:57:25.940 |
He's saying that you've had every privilege to come to Christ. 00:57:31.940 |
The only way that you can have genuine salvation is by forgiveness, by the blood of Christ. 00:57:48.940 |
What he's saying is, he's not like backsliding that if you repent, He's not going to, of course He's going to forgive you. 00:57:56.940 |
He told Peter and the disciples, "How many times should I forgive?" 00:58:02.940 |
As long as he repents, forgives him, forgive him. 00:58:04.940 |
He's talking about if you know the right way, and if you've seen, if you've been privileged in every way, 00:58:09.940 |
and you choose, you choose to live a life like anybody else, as an unbeliever, there's no other way of salvation. 00:58:26.940 |
Quoting right doctrines is not going to save you. 00:58:30.940 |
Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:58:35.940 |
He says in verse 7, "For the ground that drinks the rain, which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation, 00:58:42.940 |
are useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God. 00:58:47.940 |
But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and its end ending up being burned." 00:58:55.940 |
In other words, he said, "You receive the same blessing, same rain, same cultivation, but one produces fruit, the other one there's none." 00:59:05.940 |
And he says, "As a result of that, there will be condemnation." 00:59:10.940 |
Now, Judas on the external, no one could tell the difference. 00:59:18.940 |
You can look at that and say, "Well, you know, one of you is going to betray me." 00:59:24.940 |
Judas was acting funny. He was always in the background. 00:59:27.940 |
He was always griping and complaining. He said, "None of that. Nobody knew. They all asked, 'Is it me? Is it me?' 00:59:34.940 |
My guess is some of them might have said, "Oh, maybe Matthew. I knew it. That guy. 00:59:40.940 |
Simon the Zealot, that guy's always willing to kill people. 00:59:44.940 |
He says he's going to give his life. He's like, "Oh, that's it." 00:59:47.940 |
He's not going to do what he wants, what we want. 00:59:49.940 |
Maybe Andrew, because he was like, "How come I'm not on one of the three?" 00:59:53.940 |
Maybe somebody disgruntled, but there was nothing about Judas. 00:59:57.940 |
Because Judas did everything that everybody else did. 01:00:02.940 |
None of them were able to distinguish that it was Judas. 01:00:07.940 |
The only distinction between the Judas and the other 11 was that his faith wasn't real. 01:00:13.940 |
He went through the motion. He did everything everybody else did. 01:00:16.940 |
He received everything that everybody else did, except he did not believe. 01:00:27.940 |
And him, the way his life ended, was evidence. 01:00:31.940 |
He left us because he was never really of us. 01:00:40.940 |
Our assurance of salvation doesn't come from our works. 01:00:44.940 |
Our assurance of salvation doesn't come from our position. 01:00:48.940 |
Our assurance of salvation doesn't come from our fruit. 01:00:51.940 |
Because if that was, Judas should have been saved. 01:00:56.940 |
There's only one thing that has been given where you can have assurance of salvation, 01:01:08.940 |
Second thing, and we'll end up leaving with this. 01:01:18.940 |
He was an unbeliever, and the only evidence that we have that there was something askew with him 01:01:26.940 |
John 3, 18-20, it says, "This is the judgment that the light has come into the world, 01:01:29.940 |
and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil." 01:01:34.940 |
And then in Romans 1-21, it says, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God 01:01:39.940 |
or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened." 01:01:44.940 |
What does it mean for the heart to be darkened? 01:01:53.940 |
Whatever it is that you're showing, they don't want to see. 01:01:55.940 |
Have you ever watched a movie or something, or something's coming on, and you don't want to see? 01:02:01.940 |
Whatever it may be, you really don't. You don't want that image in your head. 01:02:04.940 |
It's disturbing you. Maybe you're not going to be able to go to sleep. 01:02:07.940 |
Maybe when you're a young child, you remember doing that. 01:02:12.940 |
Whatever it is, you close your eyes. "I don't want to see this." 01:02:21.940 |
We don't want to see because we don't want that image in our head because we don't want to be bothered. 01:02:26.940 |
But the scripture says, when somebody is committed and tempted, like, "I have to have this," 01:02:37.940 |
They enjoy what they're experiencing in the darkness. 01:02:40.940 |
They like it when it's hazy because once the light gets turned on, you can see all the filth. 01:02:47.940 |
I mean, maybe your room is filthy, and it's better to keep it dim, right? 01:02:52.940 |
I never understood why you go to a steakhouse and they always keep the light dim. 01:02:56.940 |
So it makes me question, what are they trying to hide? 01:02:59.940 |
If I'm trying to eat my food, I want the light to be on. 01:03:05.940 |
But there's a reason in other places where you keep the things dim, 01:03:08.940 |
or you want to turn off the light because you don't want to see clearly what's going on. 01:03:13.940 |
Scripture tells us that the light is coming to the world, and because they love the darkness 01:03:18.940 |
and they don't want the light, they deliberately close their eyes to the truth. 01:03:24.940 |
It wasn't that they weren't exposed to the truth. 01:03:29.940 |
That's why when you see somebody drifting into sin, one of the first things that they do 01:03:37.940 |
All these years that I've been counseling people, I've never seen somebody who is deliberately embracing sin, 01:03:46.940 |
Because the Bible says that it judges the thoughts and intentions of a heart. 01:03:55.940 |
But I've never seen somebody who is deliberately embracing sin, unrepentant, 01:04:04.940 |
Because the Word of God is exposing light to your sin. 01:04:10.940 |
And then what happens is if that isn't enough, you'll end up moving away from other people 01:04:19.940 |
And then eventually, you end up drifting out and leaving the church as a whole. 01:04:24.940 |
You'll be like, "Ah, these people didn't do this, didn't do that." 01:04:26.940 |
But at the core of it, you didn't want to be around the light. 01:04:31.940 |
Because the light makes you feel uncomfortable. 01:04:39.940 |
And in John 12, 2-6, the only thing outside of him betraying Jesus, 01:04:45.940 |
the only thing that was mentioned about Judas that pointed to the fact that he was an unbeliever, 01:04:50.940 |
it says in John 12, 2-6, Mary breaks an expensive perfume that's worth a whole year's pay. 01:04:57.940 |
And Judas steps in with his fake righteousness. 01:05:00.940 |
And he says, "Oh, what a waste. We could have used that to feed the homeless." 01:05:04.940 |
And then it says, almost as an addendum at the end, it says, 01:05:08.940 |
"He's not saying this because he really cared for the homeless. 01:05:12.940 |
He was stealing money from Jesus and the disciples." 01:05:17.940 |
My guess is none of the disciples, if they knew this, 01:05:19.940 |
obviously when Jesus said, "One of you is going to betray me," it's like, "Yeah, yeah, that guy. 01:05:25.940 |
I didn't want to say anything, but now that you bring it up." 01:05:30.940 |
My guess is after he betrays Jesus and Jesus is resurrected, 01:05:34.940 |
and they're at that campfire eating fish, they say, "Jesus, where's Judas? 01:05:39.940 |
What happened to him? I heard he hung himself and he died. 01:05:44.940 |
My guess is they probably asked Jesus, and that's when Jesus said he was never a believer. 01:05:50.940 |
And the evidence of that is I already knew what he was doing with the money. 01:05:55.940 |
He kind of let it take its toll, let it have its fruit. 01:06:02.940 |
In fact, my guess is that Judas followed Christ because he thought there was going to be benefit coming from it, 01:06:12.940 |
But the difference between Judas and the other disciples is even though they were tempted, 01:06:23.940 |
"I'm going to go to the cross. I'm going to die, and I'm going to resurrect." 01:06:28.940 |
And the other disciples are arguing, "Who's the greatest in the midst of this?" 01:06:34.940 |
I look at this and say, "Well, Judas seems like to be the only one who was paying attention." 01:06:40.940 |
Because Jesus kept on saying, "If you want to follow me, you need to deny yourself and pick up the cross." 01:06:46.940 |
My guess is Judas is shrewd. He's like, "What? 01:06:50.940 |
I thought if I followed him, I'm going to get rich. I mean, this is going to be the next king of Israel." 01:06:55.940 |
And he's saying that he's going to give himself up. He's going to die, be crucified. 01:06:59.940 |
He said, "If you want to find your life, lose it. If you want to-- 01:07:04.940 |
He who seeks his life will lose it. He who loses his life for my sake will find it." 01:07:09.940 |
And if you add up what Jesus is saying, he said, "The end of this road is not going to be beneficial for me." 01:07:17.940 |
So my guess is Judas was calculating, weighing, and then when he actually started going to the cross, 01:07:23.940 |
he's like, "Wait a second. I left everything to follow you too because I thought I was going to become rich and famous." 01:07:34.940 |
So my guess is I'm going to have to salvage something from here. 01:07:37.940 |
So he goes there and he sells Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, which was the price of a slave in the Old Testament. 01:07:52.940 |
And so my guess is Judas was weighing, he's like, "At least I salvaged something." 01:07:57.940 |
These dummies, they don't seem like they know who's the greatest. 01:08:01.940 |
Like, did you hear what he said? He said he's going to die and you're fighting over who's going to be the greatest? 01:08:10.940 |
As strange as that may sound, as strange as that may sound, how much of our hope in Christ, 01:08:21.940 |
how much of what we do at the core of our heart is no different than Judas. 01:08:38.940 |
I'll forsake everything and follow you if I become rich at the end. 01:08:42.940 |
If you take care of me, my kids are taken care of and everything is good. 01:08:46.940 |
But when that doesn't come, it's like, "Well, why did I follow Christ?" 01:08:55.940 |
Even as he was exposed to everything that he was exposed to, he never got over the fact of his own flesh. 01:09:05.940 |
In 1 Timothy 6, verse 10, it says, "For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil." 01:09:15.940 |
Where you think that having more money is going to solve your problems. 01:09:21.940 |
And so you come to Christ, you come to church to meet certain needs. 01:09:28.940 |
Make sure that you have insurance that when you die you're going to go to heaven. 01:09:31.940 |
But if you examine your life and your spending habits, what you buy, what you don't buy, 01:09:36.940 |
how much of that reflects the kingdom in eternity? 01:09:40.940 |
He says, "The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, 01:09:45.940 |
and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 01:09:53.940 |
Judas betrayed Christ because he never really fully understood the value of what he had in Christ. 01:10:01.940 |
If you are a non-believer, coming to church is a huge benefit because people love you, care for you, 01:10:09.940 |
you're part of a community, there's a sense of purpose, good morals are taught to your children. 01:10:14.940 |
But you don't understand the value of Christ. 01:10:17.940 |
The scripture says, Jesus says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who went out and found treasure, 01:10:23.940 |
and he realized and recognized the value of this treasure, 01:10:26.940 |
so he went back and sold everything that he had in order to have this treasure." 01:10:31.940 |
Or you're like another person who goes out and finds a pearl, and you see the value of this pearl, 01:10:36.940 |
and so you sell everything to make sure that you have this pearl. 01:10:39.940 |
And he said that's what the kingdom of heaven is like. 01:10:42.940 |
When you recognize the value of Christ, when you recognize the greatest treasure in your life is Christ, 01:10:51.940 |
that everything else becomes rubbish in light of this treasure. 01:10:57.940 |
His treasure was still money, his treasure was still fame, his treasure was no different than the rest of the world. 01:11:03.940 |
So he was using Christ to get to what he wants. 01:11:07.940 |
But when it looked like he wasn't going to get it, let me salvage at least 30 pieces of coin. 01:11:15.940 |
How much of our pursuit, if we're not careful, looks like Judas? 01:11:22.940 |
How much of what we value, like if I do this, if I do that, there's something coming, I'm going to do that, 01:11:34.940 |
You know, what's interesting is if you fly, whenever we go to India, 01:11:40.940 |
we have a choice to go through the Middle East or we can go through Asia, 01:11:44.940 |
because it's almost exactly at the other side of the globe, and there's no plane that goes directly. 01:11:49.940 |
So we usually have to stop at Dubai or Doha and catch another plane to get into. 01:11:54.940 |
Or if you go the other way, you either stop in Japan or Singapore, and then we have to fly into Bangalore. 01:12:01.940 |
And so out of the 13, 14 years I've been in and out of India, 01:12:05.940 |
I've been about half a time through the Middle East and half a time through Asia. 01:12:09.940 |
And after a while, I noticed something very distinct about the traveling on both sides. 01:12:14.940 |
Whenever you go through the Middle East, the plane is filled with children. 01:12:19.940 |
I mean, the plane is packed. You have two adults and you have four kids. 01:12:23.940 |
And usually it's pretty loud. The kids are, you know, they're usually a little bit more better behaved. 01:12:31.940 |
But whenever you travel through Asia, there's almost no children. 01:12:35.940 |
And if you study what's going on, a lot of these Asian countries that have money to be able to travel, 01:12:42.940 |
a lot of the poor countries that can't travel, they're not on the planes anyway. 01:12:46.940 |
They're all decreasing in population. And China's on the top of that. 01:12:51.940 |
They're concerned that if China's depopulation continues to happen by the time 2050, 01:12:58.940 |
they think that their whole country is going to crumble because they don't have enough infrastructure 01:13:02.940 |
with younger people coming up to hold up the economy. 01:13:06.940 |
This is happening in Korea. It's happening in Taiwan. It's happening in Japan. 01:13:11.940 |
And if you ask them why they're not having children, the answer is universal. 01:13:16.940 |
We don't have the money. We don't have the money. 01:13:20.940 |
And the reason why they say that is not because it's so expensive to raise children. 01:13:25.940 |
It's because what they think that they need to have. They need to have the strollers. 01:13:28.940 |
They need to have the phone. They need to have the big car. They need to be able to travel. 01:13:31.940 |
They need to be able to pay for their education. 01:13:33.940 |
And so when you add all that up, what they made a necessity, not a luxury, but a necessity, 01:13:41.940 |
they can't have children. So what's happening is in China, 01:13:46.940 |
most of the children are being raised by grandparents because the mother and the father 01:13:51.940 |
basically leaves them and they go to far places, sometimes overseas, 01:13:55.940 |
and they see their children during vacations, and the grandparents are raising them. 01:14:00.940 |
So what's happening in the next generation is if it's this hard and we can't even see our kids, 01:14:05.940 |
why even have kids? So the next generation isn't even having kids. 01:14:09.940 |
So before, the Chinese government basically said that you can't have more than one child, 01:14:14.940 |
but now that they're concerned, they're starting to have more children, 01:14:17.940 |
but the people aren't having children even though they're able to have children. 01:14:23.940 |
While we were out in Korea, we're talking to-- 01:14:25.940 |
initially we thought we were going to have a bunch of college students that we were going to interact with, 01:14:29.940 |
but a lot of them were in their 30s and 40s, and it took me two, three days to realize 01:14:33.940 |
none of them are married and almost no children at all, zero. 01:14:39.940 |
So I asked them, "How come you have no interest in getting married?" 01:14:42.940 |
And they said, "Oh, we want to get married, but the problem is I don't have money." 01:14:47.940 |
And what they mean by they don't have money is obviously you're able to eat out, you're traveling, 01:14:52.940 |
you have an iPhone, all of that costs money, meaning like what they think they need to have. 01:14:58.940 |
But basically, the population is dying because they somehow convinced themselves that they don't have money. 01:15:06.940 |
So we're going to use those resources to enjoy our life instead of pouring into the next generation. 01:15:12.940 |
Now you and I don't have that problem, right? 01:15:19.940 |
Especially in our church, we have many children, right? 01:15:22.940 |
I think on the average, we have more children than other places that I go to. 01:15:27.940 |
But the problem with us is that we have made our children and providing for them our idol. 01:15:39.940 |
Whether we love money, which causes people to abandon their children and go and do whatever they want 01:15:46.940 |
so that they can have a certain lifestyle, or we think that being a Christian, a good Christian means 01:15:52.940 |
giving my children the best that they can have, and as a result of that, we end up forsaking the calling that God has given us. 01:16:06.940 |
Whether we love money, which causes people to abandon their children or making idols of our children, it is the same result. 01:16:23.940 |
Because of the fear of money, because of the lust of money, coveting of money, and usually it's not green, right? 01:16:35.940 |
It's what the green could do, what this money could do. 01:16:39.940 |
What you can get, the comfort that you can have, the security that you can have. 01:16:43.940 |
And if you have money, you're afraid to lose it. 01:16:46.940 |
And if you don't have money, the decisions that you make will cause you maybe not to have it, your security and comfort. 01:16:52.940 |
So as a result of that, what I am able to do for God has been boxed in. 01:16:59.940 |
God could not be calling me to do this, because if I do this, then I can't provide for my children. 01:17:07.940 |
So we've boxed him in, based upon the fear and the lust that we've given ourselves into, that we will function in this box. 01:17:28.940 |
God's love and his obedience will only function within this box that I have created, where all my financial needs for me and my children are met. 01:17:41.940 |
Tell me that that's not what this passage is warning. 01:17:45.940 |
The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. 01:17:48.940 |
Some, by longing for it, have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 01:17:55.940 |
You can love money and be a faithful member of the church. 01:17:59.940 |
You can love money and be serving the church. 01:18:07.940 |
You can love money and stand exactly where I am, saying exactly what I say. 01:18:19.940 |
There's a reason why in the Old Testament, the very first thing that God tells the people to do is offer up their tithes. 01:18:28.940 |
And the reason why they do that, it was an act of lordship. 01:18:31.940 |
It was to recognize that this is not mine, this is yours. 01:18:34.940 |
So it's not at the end, after you've paid all your bills, that at the end of it, if I see how much I have left, right? 01:18:41.940 |
Some of you guys were with me up to that, right up to that point, and then now you're uncomfortable, right? 01:18:46.940 |
There's a reason why he says the first of your tithe, because to first recognize this is not mine, this is yours. 01:18:52.940 |
And I offer it to you to establish your lordship. 01:18:55.940 |
And then, whatever you have, not to indulge yourself, not use it accordingly. 01:19:03.940 |
Use it accordingly, because God knows. He was guarding our hearts. 01:19:09.940 |
Because he knows how deceptive the love of money is. 01:19:13.940 |
To guard our hearts, to make sure that Christ is first established in all that we do. 01:19:19.940 |
The only thing that we can see about him that was different is his love of money blinded him to all the truth. 01:19:31.940 |
I'm not going to get to the other three points, but I'm going to give you a preview. 01:19:38.940 |
The first one was he was not a believer. Second, he was tempted by money. 01:19:43.940 |
Third, he was possessed by the devil. We're going to be talking about that next week. 01:19:47.940 |
What was the difference between him and Apostle Peter? 01:19:50.940 |
And what does that mean for a believer or non-believer? We'll talk about that next week. 01:19:56.940 |
Makes that very clear that it was a fulfilled prophecy about Judas betraying Christ. 01:20:01.940 |
And then, fifthly, it shows God's greatest work happens in the darkest of circumstances. 01:20:07.940 |
Ultimately, it was to reveal his grace in the midst of allowing him to do what he did. 01:20:15.940 |
But this morning, I want to encourage and challenge you. 01:20:31.940 |
You go to a place like India or there's parts of China or North Korea or the Middle East or, you know, where right at the get-go, 01:20:41.940 |
the society and circumstance, your family, your closest friends are going to force you to examine, 01:20:48.940 |
"Do you really believe this?" because you know the consequence of following Christ. 01:20:52.940 |
That if you believe Christ, you're going to be ousted from your family. 01:20:58.940 |
You're not going to be able to get into the school. You may get fired from your job. 01:21:03.940 |
So as a result of that, it forces everyone to examine, "Do I really believe this?" 01:21:09.940 |
In our culture, we passed out the assurance of salvation like it was candy in Halloween. 01:21:18.940 |
Just raise your hand. Just give him a chance. 01:21:21.940 |
Just come to church. You were on church. Now you're church. 01:21:25.940 |
So we have a generation filled with people who are absolutely certain. 01:21:30.940 |
And how dare you possibly question my salvation? Who are you? 01:21:39.940 |
You come to church, it's like, "Wait, isn't the church a place to be like encouragement? 01:21:42.940 |
Life is hard enough as it is. Now we've got to come and hear this?" 01:21:45.940 |
And you're going to leave the church kind of like with this heaviness and questioning? 01:21:50.940 |
If God is not real, if all Christ is was a good example to teach good morals 01:21:59.940 |
and to make sure that you're comfortable and encouraged so that you can have an easier life, 01:22:07.940 |
Your life is hard enough as it is, and I'm making it harder by saying these things. 01:22:11.940 |
But if Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and Christ says what he said was true, 01:22:18.940 |
that he's going to separate the goat and the sheep, 01:22:21.940 |
that there is judgment for those whose sins have not been covered by the blood of Christ, 01:22:27.940 |
then the most important thing that happens at church is that you meet the true Christ. 01:22:37.940 |
That you may live the rest of your life in discomfort. 01:22:43.940 |
You may live the rest of your life not being able to provide the best for your children. 01:22:48.940 |
But if this is true, then the best thing that can happen to you at church is to meet the true Christ. 01:22:56.940 |
Not the Christ of the culture, not the Christ that you've created for yourself, 01:23:03.940 |
And let me conclude with this to make sure that there's no misunderstanding. 01:23:07.940 |
Assurance of salvation does not come from your works. 01:23:09.940 |
It does not come from your fruit. It doesn't come from your title. 01:23:20.940 |
But some will take that and say, "Well, it's by faith, then why are you preaching? 01:23:27.940 |
If it is by faith and faith alone, if everything, if eternity hinges upon this faith, 01:23:33.940 |
don't you want to make sure that this faith is genuine? 01:23:37.940 |
If everything, if all of these things ultimately doesn't give you assurance, 01:23:47.940 |
Shouldn't you examine yourself to see if this faith is true? 01:23:51.940 |
What is the evidence of this faith being true? 01:23:54.940 |
You know, when we were hanging these speakers, 01:23:58.940 |
there's like four bolts that are holding these speakers together, right? 01:24:03.940 |
There are some things that we can do, paint the ground or put the stage up, 01:24:08.940 |
but there's a lot of things that we do, like if it kind of, you know, doesn't work, 01:24:12.940 |
the paint will chip off or, you know, maybe it'll be slippery, 01:24:17.940 |
but there isn't like dire consequence, right? 01:24:21.940 |
I mean, the city of Irvine wanted to make sure that this is, 01:24:24.940 |
like whatever we were hanging up there is like solid. 01:24:28.940 |
And so engineers had to draw this in, the bolts, 01:24:31.940 |
how thick the bolt needs to be, what kind of bolt needs it to be, 01:24:34.940 |
and how it needs to be held up, where it's going to be. 01:24:37.940 |
And so our AV team, you know, they look at all the plans, 01:24:41.940 |
engineers have to draw this out, and they have to go up there and drill holes and put it in. 01:24:46.940 |
And I knew I was going to stand underneath it. 01:24:49.940 |
So if this doesn't hold up, I'm in trouble, right? 01:24:56.940 |
I can't guarantee you that the seats that you're sitting on is going to hold, right? 01:25:01.940 |
I don't know exactly who made it. I don't know the quality of the bolts. 01:25:04.940 |
I don't know the quality of the floor, right? 01:25:06.940 |
It was cheap. We bought it because it was cheap, right? 01:25:12.940 |
But we checked, double checked, triple checked, 01:25:15.940 |
because we knew that this heavy thing is going to be holding onto these bolts. 01:25:19.940 |
So we had guys that came and made sure that it was drilled a certain way, 01:25:23.940 |
held up, and the bolts are the quality that was galvanized and the thickness of it. 01:25:27.940 |
And then the city had to come and make sure that we followed every little thing that they asked us to do, 01:25:32.940 |
because the consequence of this falling is either I or you are going to get hurt. 01:25:40.940 |
If we ended up using it like, "Oh, you know what? This bolt is a little bit cheaper." 01:25:51.940 |
I mean, you can hold it. It looks fine, right? 01:25:55.940 |
And then the earthquake comes in and gets tested, and we realize, like, "Oh, shoot." 01:26:02.940 |
If everything that you and I profess to believe, 01:26:07.940 |
if our whole eternity hinges upon saving faith, 01:26:13.940 |
shouldn't that be the greatest concern in our life? 01:26:18.940 |
Shouldn't that be the greatest thing that we need to make sure, 01:26:22.940 |
instead of just like, "Oh, yeah, of course I believe that." 01:26:28.940 |
If it hinges upon this one thing, to make sure that we genuinely have saving faith, 01:26:37.940 |
to sear of the faith, unless you find out that that's not the case. 01:26:42.940 |
That you've committed to church, you've committed to friends, 01:26:46.940 |
you've committed to the benefits, but you've never met Christ. 01:26:54.940 |
If that's you, if that's you, I don't know what else is going on in your life, 01:26:58.940 |
and I know that there's a lot of heartaches that's been happening recently in our church, 01:27:03.940 |
but the most important thing that you need to answer, and answer it today, 01:27:12.940 |
If Judas, if Judas, an apostle of Christ, could have done what he had done, 01:27:21.940 |
the only thing that assures us that will not happen is we have faith. 01:27:35.940 |
if I can ask you to take a few minutes to come before the Lord and ask. 01:27:44.940 |
Maybe you just kind of hurried through your faith, you know, you just assume, 01:27:47.940 |
"I grew up in the church, I heard this all, this isn't anything new to me," 01:27:50.940 |
and you just kind of like assumed your faith, 01:27:52.940 |
and as a result of just assuming, your life reflects a very shallow understanding, 01:28:01.940 |
But if this is true, if the Word of God is true, 01:28:04.940 |
if anything that you've heard resonates with you, 01:28:08.940 |
to come before the Lord in honest confession, 01:28:10.940 |
"Father, I've been just assuming certain things. 01:28:15.940 |
I've embraced a cultural Christianity that doesn't look anything like the Scriptures. 01:28:23.940 |
I've been satisfied with just having good friends and being taught good morals, 01:28:33.940 |
I'm not sure if my sins have truly been forgiven. 01:28:40.940 |
All that we are doing at church will not matter if at the end of your life, 01:28:45.940 |
you meet Christ and He says, "I never knew you." 01:28:59.940 |
That you may also experience what Jesus has promised. 01:29:02.940 |
He said, "I have come to give life, and to give this life abundantly." 01:29:08.940 |
Let's take some time to pray in honest confession before God, 01:34:51.940 |
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, 01:34:54.940 |
and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, 01:35:00.940 |
To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,