The Danger of False Faith

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And all the mistakes in the screens are my fault.
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So as you look today up at the screen and it says an exhortation to elders, no that was last week's message because we had an elder ordination last week.
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So this is not this morning's message.
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If you just want to go to a black screen you can.
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Our normal screen folk are out of town today so it's, there we go, that's good.
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So it is a little bit difficult.
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We're learning on the fly.
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But I want to want to ask everyone if they will go back to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse one be where we began our message.
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Certainly will not be where we end, however, because we're going to be looking at a few different passages today.
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This was one sermon that got turned into three sermons.
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Just so you know, we're at the third part of a sermon that I had written on the subject of what faith is.
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And the first the first week we read about what faith is and we gave a definition of faith and we talked about what it means.
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The week after that, we began this sermon, we began talking about the object of true, genuine Christian faith.
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We said the object of true, genuine Christian faith is the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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That is the object of Christian faith is what Christian faith is pointed at.
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And that's what I mean when I say the object.
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We believe that Christ's work not only was necessary for our salvation, we believe that Christ's work was sufficient to do all that we needed done for our saving.
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So that is what it means to be a genuine Christian, to believe in the finished, final, total, completed act of Christ, whereby he laid down his life to save ours.
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So that was part one.
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The second thing we talked about was the origin of true, genuine Christian faith.
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And the point of that message was that the origin of true, genuine Christian faith is God himself.
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God is the one who enables us to believe that outside of the inspiration of the spirit within our heart.
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And let me let me go back.
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I don't want to use the word inspiration because that can be confusing.
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Outside of the Holy Spirit opening our heart to believe, outside of the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, we would not have come to Christ on our own because our sinful condition would have kept us from it.
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So we come to the third message today, and today we are going to be talking about the offense of false faith, the offense of false faith, because beloved, my concern this morning is not just that we understand what faith is, not just that we understand where faith comes from, but that we also understand that there are people out in the world and potentially even here that claim a relationship with Jesus Christ.
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Yet that relationship has never been brought about by a true regeneration experience or what we could say it more simply, they've never really been born again.
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So that's going to be our subject this morning.
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It's going to be a rather difficult one, because when you address the subject of false faith, you begin to step on.
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You don't just tread on toes, you start right there at the bottom of the ankle and walk all the way up.
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So just remember, this is a heavy subject.
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But to begin our message, let's stand, as we always do, giving awe and reverence to the word of the living God and read Hebrews chapter 11 in your in your bulletin says one one.
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I think that that was my error.
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It should say eleven one Hebrews 11 verse one.
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We're not starting over again in Hebrews.
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I made some of you nervous.
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You're going to go all the way back to the beginning.
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Hebrews 11 and verse one.
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Now, faith.
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Is the assurance of things hoped for.
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The conviction of things not seen our father and our God, as we seek to understand this morning that there are those who proclaim faith yet have not genuinely entered into a relationship with you.
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I just pray, God, that you would be merciful to me and keep me from error as I am a fallible man and capable of teaching error.
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I pray also, God, for your people.
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I pray that you would remind me always that this is your flock.
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And you have just given me this opportunity to be a steward.
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I pray, Lord, that their hearts would be opened, that their minds would be opened.
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And more than anything, Lord, that you would bring genuine conviction where it is needed.
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In accordance with your will, in Jesus name, we pray all these things.
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Amen.
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I don't know about you, but in my short life, I know that I have met a lot of people who claim to be Christians who say that they believe in Jesus Christ, who even go to church on a regular basis, who do not seem at all to have their hearts seeking after him.
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I know many people in that condition.
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I know many people that just in conversation with them, it seems as if the word of God has little, if any, effect at all.
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Yet they would say beyond doubt, I know I'm a Christian.
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I know many people whose lives are not at all conformed to Christ and there is no seeking to be conformed to Christ and to them it doesn't matter.
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Yet at the same time, they would say, but I know that I'm a Christian.
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I know many people who live outright lives of sin, some even living in sin in the condition of living outside of marriage together or living in a condition where they are a constant drunkard or a constant abuser of drugs or a constant abuser of people.
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And they would say, but I know that I'm a Christian.
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But you see, the Bible.
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Makes a much different case.
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And the Bible makes it very clear that there is such a thing.
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As false faith, and if you're having trouble with what that means, false faith would be simply this, an outward profession of belief in Christ without an inward possession of the Holy Spirit.
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That's what false faith is, an outward profession of Jesus Christ without an inward possession of the Holy Spirit.
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All right, so we clear on the definition that I need to make it clear.
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Here, somebody who says they believe in Jesus, but their life tells a different story.
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Makes sense.
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All right, well, let's let's look at some text, because I don't want I don't want you to take it for I don't want you to take my word for it.
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I don't want you to say, well, Keith said there's such a thing as false faith, so there must be such a thing as false faith.
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Don't ever do that.
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And I realize that in this church, we have we have we've gained a lot of trust.
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Most of us are like family.
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I ate in most of your homes or or went out to dinner with you.
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I know there's a lot of trust, but don't ever let that trust blind you to the fact that I can be wrong.
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So many people get a pastor who they really like and they really enjoy, and it comes to the point where his word is the gospel.
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That's not true.
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Always search the scripture to see if what I'm saying is correct and hold me to account when I say something is true.
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I encourage that.
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And some of you do that all the time.
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You catch me by the back door, but you see, the conjunctive here is really in a way.
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OK, you know, I'm teasing my I'm teasing my my my fellow elder Byron this week because he always never has.
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He said that.
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But we have this great relationship and he often asked me, well, what do you mean by this? What do you mean by this? He never knows how beneficial that is to me, I don't think.
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And many others of you have done that to just asking questions because it encourages my deeper thought on some of these subjects.
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Anyhow, looking back at the text, let's let's look at three, we're going to look at three places in the Bible today that I think make the proof that there is such a thing as false faith.
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OK, and I'm not just proof texting here.
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I'm just taking you to three places in scripture that if somebody says, why do you believe in false faith? I would say, well, these are the three passages, I think, that are so clear that there is such a thing as false faith.
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And the first one is in the excuse me, is in the Gospel of Matthew.
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It's the words of Jesus Christ.
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Now, many of you have heard me mention this verse, not many of you have heard me exegete this verse.
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So so let's go to Matthew seven and verse twenty one.
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Matthew seven is in the midst of Jesus's sermon on the mount.
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Most of you are very familiar with the Sermon on the Mount.
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It starts at Matthew chapter five, goes through Matthew chapter seven.
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It is the longest portion of teaching that we have of Jesus is recorded in scripture.
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It gives to us some of the greatest examples of moral uprightness that has ever been written, has ever been spoken.
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It's the passage that tells us about those difficult things we hear.
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It says, you know, Jesus says it is said, do not murder, but I say unto you, even if you hate someone that is like murder in your heart and and, you know, you could say you haven't committed adultery, but if you if you've lusted after someone that's adultery in the heart and he and Jesus gives this exposition of the law that is amazing.
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And if you've never really studied the Sermon on the Mount, you need to, because it's Jesus's way.
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It's I believe it's the longest sermon recorded in scripture, because what Jesus is doing is Jesus is exegeting the Old Testament for us.
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The law of God in the view of God is this is God, Jesus Christ is God speaking and he's taking the law of God and he's exegeting it for us.
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That's what the Sermon on the Mount is.
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He says, you've heard it taught this, but I say unto you this, this is what it really means.
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Anyhow, when you get to verse 21 of Matthew, chapter seven, Jesus is now speaking about the conditions on when we face the Lord at judgment.
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And in Matthew, chapter seven, verse 21, he says these words.
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He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
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All right, let's go back to the beginning of that short passage and let's break it down one part at a time.
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He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, well, who says, Lord, Lord? Professed believers say, Lord, Lord.
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In fact, the the profession of faith that Peter was commended for at Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus says he says, who do they say that I am? And they said, well, some say that you're Elijah and some say that you're a prophet.
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Some say that you're John the Baptist.
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Come back.
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And he says, but who do you say that I am? And Peter, very quickly, he says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.
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Right, that was Jesus or that was Peter's profession of faith.
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Shortened, he said, you are the Lord.
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That's who we believe you are.
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They may believe you're Elijah, they may believe you're John the Baptist, they may believe you're just a prophet, but we who have faith believe you are the Lord.
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Now, Matthew seven, Jesus says, not everyone who says, Lord, Lord.
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Will enter into the kingdom of heaven.
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Now, that is a frightening thought, if you think about it, because what that means is that there are people who have made a verbal confession of faith.
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And that that faith.
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Was not a genuine faith, I will go further to say this, one of the things that I think is most dangerous in the church today is what we have, what has become the invitation system of evangelism.
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And I know all of you have probably seen this before you go to a church where they're having a revival, we don't have revivals here in the sense of we don't plan them.
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The Holy Spirit brings revival.
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We can't say on the 23rd of February we're going to have revival because the Holy Spirit is sovereign over revival.
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He will bring revival in his due time.
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We have Bible conferences, week long preaching.
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It's the same thing, except for we do not sit there and make emotional appeals night after night, after night, telling people about children that died in accidents and things to try to get them to come forward.
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I've been to these evangelistic crusades, and that's often what it's filled with, emotional appeals to encourage people to come forward.
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And what happens when people come forward is this, they'll say, come forward and receive Jesus.
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And they'll do this.
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They'll say, OK, come right here.
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And you receive Jesus and they say, come here.
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And you hold their hand and you say, OK, I want you to believe in Jesus.
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And they'll say, I say I believe in Jesus.
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They'll say, say he's your Lord.
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He is my Lord.
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Say you repent of your sins.
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I repent of my sins.
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And they'll say, now, never forget on 8 at 845 on January 2nd, you receive Jesus.
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Don't ever doubt that you receive Jesus.
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And then they go home and their lives are not changed yet because of that moment in time, they are convinced I'm a Christian.
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Jesus says here that on that day, many will say they came forward.
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Many will say they made a profession of faith.
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Many will say I held the hand of a preacher and said the sinner's prayer.
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But they will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
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That should get your attention, it should get the world's attention, because we have been come convinced since the days of Charles Finney that that's the way you do evangelism and it's not the way you do evangelism.
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The way you do evangelism is that you preach the gospel.
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And you tell them the whole truth about sin and about righteousness and about God's demand to receive Christ and God's the one who's opening the heart.
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And when God opens the heart and when you see somebody genuinely say, you know it, because when God opens the heart, a life is changed.
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Now, it's not always perfect, never is perfect.
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My life's not perfect.
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I hope nobody here thinks that it is because I'm sorry to disappoint you.
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It's not.
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But I'm not what I was.
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And I think all believers should be able to say that they can look at their life prior to Christ and say, I'm not what I was.
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Because before I had no desire for Christ, now my desires for Christ, I had no longing for the word, now my longing is for the word, I have no desire to be with God's people.
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And now.
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That is my constant desire, that's a change.
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But the point of the matter is, Jesus said, not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, that's Jesus's way of saying not everyone who made a verbal profession of faith will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father will enter the heaven.
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What will enter heaven? Now, some people say Jesus here is teaching justification by works because he says they do the will of the father, thus do is an action.
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And if action is required for anything in the heaven, then action is required for salvation.
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And thus, Jesus is here teaching justification by works.
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However, if you're in my Sunday school class this morning, which is only about a quarter of you, you remember what we talked about with understanding narrative versus didactic passages.
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And we talked about understanding the difference between that which is clear and that which is implicit.
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Right.
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I would say if you think here Jesus is teaching justification by works at best, that's an implicit interpretation.
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Jesus did not explicitly say here you are saved by your works.
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He simply said that it is those who do the will of the father who will enter into heaven.
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Doesn't say that that's what saves you.
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It just simply says that's a fact.
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Paul later will tell us very clearly that justification is not by works, but is by faith alone.
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However, Paul also teaches us that if we have genuine faith, if our faith is real faith, it will by necessity produce fruit.
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And if it does not produce fruit, then it is not real faith.
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And that's the point here.
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Jesus says the one who says, Lord, Lord, but their life is not producing fruit.
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That person is not telling the truth.
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That person's verbal profession does not match their inner condition.
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And then he goes on to say on that day, what day is that day? That day in Scripture is always used to designate the great day of judgment, that day, the great day, the day of the Lord on that day.
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Many.
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That's a scary word, too.
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Many will say, Lord, Lord, and here's the part that I love.
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What is their problem? People who say Jesus is teaching justification by works.
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No, he's not.
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He's actually teaching the opposite because he says here, these people had works.
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Listen to the passage.
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He says on that day, many will say unto me, Lord, did we not what prophesy in your name? That's a work.
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Cast out demons in your name.
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Well, that's a work.
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And do mighty what? Works in your name.
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What was their trust in, if you don't mind me asking? Their works.
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So in a sense, Jesus is here denying the very concept of justification by works.
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So if that's what you're getting out of passage, know that you're you're going against what Jesus himself is here denying.
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He said it's not by works.
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However, at the same time, we are required if our faith is genuine, that will produce fruit.
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But if our works are being done as an outward show to others, if our works are being done in some form of bartering with God, some form of I'm going to earn my way into heaven, I always just drives me crazy when I ask somebody.
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I say, you know, if you died and you face God and he says, why should you go into heaven? What is your answer? Well, I've been a good person.
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No, you have not.
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And if that is your answer, I pray your repentance.
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The only answer that is a righteous answer is that I don't deserve to go.
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And the only reason I should go is Jesus Christ saved me.
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But if any of it is I did this or I did that, if I face God and I say God for the majority of my adult life, I preach the gospel.
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God's going to look at me and say it's not enough.
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If that's what you're relying on, it's not enough.
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If somebody goes before God and says, you know what? I had a great healing ministry and for years I had people come up and I said, be healed.
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And I and they got up and Jesus said, if that's what you're relying on, it's not enough.
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Beloved, genuine faith has one object.
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And it's the finished work of Christ.
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If your object is yourself, I tell you, I tremble in my soul.
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For people who look to themselves for their own salvation, because this verse is talking to you, if that is you, OK, I'm.
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It's done.
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I'm going to shut it off.
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I'm loud enough and if I have to, I'll come down there with you.
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But the truth is, it's it's obvious what Jesus is teaching here.
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There are people who say they have faith.
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And even though they may have the works that accompany it, they are relying on their works, he says, but what does he say? And he says, I never knew you.
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I often use this verse when I'm talking to people who think that they can lose their salvation, because I say I believe if a person loses their salvation, if then it was not genuine to begin with.
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And I think this passage bears that out because Jesus doesn't say depart from me because I knew you for a while, but then I didn't know you.
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It's not what it says, Jesus says, depart from me, for I never knew you, never being an indication of there was not a point in time ever where this was the sense of case being.
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Never, never did I know you.
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All right.
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That's that's the first passage.
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And but I'm not done.
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I'm sorry.
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He said I never knew you.
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He says depart from me.
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You workers of what? Lawlessness.
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Is it possible to have all the outward signs of being a righteous person and still be just as sinful in your heart? That's if you don't think it's possible, look at the Pharisees.
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The Pharisees had every external trapping of righteousness that you could imagine, they counted the steps they took on the Sabbath because they had a rule that said you can only take a certain amount of steps and you can't take any more steps than that.
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So they literally on the Sabbath day kept a tally of how many steps they took.
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They were, by all standards, the most the most righteous in the sense of self-righteous people ever in history.
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Yet Jesus condemned them.
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He said, you're whitewashed tombs.
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Those are whitewashed tombs.
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It's a it's a nice looking headstone full of dead bones.
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This is what you are on the outside.
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You look great on the inside.
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You're dead.
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That's a condition.
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Of these people, these people look great on the outside, they prophesy, they do many miracles, they do mighty works, they're going to hell.
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Not me, Jesus said, because their faith is not genuine, their works are done for external reward rather than for God's eternal glory.
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All right, now let's move on to another passage, because I think that one pretty much makes the case that there is such a thing as false faith.
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I mean, it couldn't be any other way to interpret that, I don't think.
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But just in case, let's move to another one.
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We interpret scripture with scripture.
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Let's go to James chapter two, verse 14.
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Now, James chapter two deserves six weeks of study.
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We don't have six weeks in this one hour.
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I could try, but we're not going to go there.
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We're going to we're going to use this one hour to simply make a point about one verse.
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Like I said, James chapter two is long and it deals with the subject of false faith.
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It deals with James doesn't call it false faith, though.
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What does James call it? Dead faith.
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Just to make that clear, when James uses the phrase dead, that faith is dead.
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He's saying that faith is not alive or that faith is not true, not real, not genuine.
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It's false faith.
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OK, but real quick, what he says in James 2, 14, he asks a question.
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So your Bible page is turning.
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I'm going to say James 2, 14 says, What good is it, my brothers? If someone says he has faith and the key word there is says he says he has faith.
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But does not have works.
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Can that faith save him? Question mark.
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Now.
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The key word is the word that.
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Doesn't sound like the key word, but I promise you that that makes all the difference.
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Because what he's saying is this, he's saying if somebody says they have faith and their faith does not produce fruit.
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Then that faith is not real faith.
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That's why he says, can that faith save him, that faith? And it's in the Greek, it's not it's not something that was was translated by the English translators just to make it make sense or to help us enunciate it better.
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It's in the Greek and it's stressed that faith.
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Can that faith say what is that faith? He's talking about dead, unliving, unreal, ungenuine faith.
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And his question is simple.
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Can that kind of faith save? The answer is no, because it's not genuine faith.
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And that that key word that and again, if I had time, I'd exegete all James 2.
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And I would show you how when he says later, he says justification is by by works and not by faith alone.
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What he's saying there is that if you say you have faith and you do not have the fruit to go along with the faith, then your faith is not real.
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Thus, it is not able to bring about any change in you.
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It doesn't save, but there's one last passage I want to go to again, like I said, we could stay in James 2 all day.
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I just wanted to point out that faith.
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He makes a distinction between genuine faith and that faith and that faith is non-saving faith, what we would call false faith.
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All right, real quick, back to where we started our day, Matthew 13.
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That was our opening passage for our worship this morning.
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You could probably tell this is a subject I didn't have notes this morning.
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I have three verses written down, three passages, because this is a subject that is so, so consumed in my heart.
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My heart is so consumed with this subject because it scares me for people.
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There was a sermon one time preached by a man named Ray Comfort, and it was called Hell's Best Kept Secret.
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Every once in a while, I listen to that sermon again just to remind me of my responsibility for evangelism, because it will remind you of your responsibility.
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If you've never heard the sermon Hell's Best Kept Secret, if you have the Internet, look it up.
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It lasts about 45 minutes.
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It's worth every minute of listening to it.
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Hell's Best Kept Secret, because he really describes the biggest, the biggest thing that Satan has been able to do to to to really have his way is he has been able to convince so many people they're believers and they're not.
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He's been able to convince so many people that they are Christians and there are not genuine Christians, because you know what? It's one thing you think the devil's out there, you think the devil's out there trying to get people to join the occult.
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I do not believe the devil that we're trying to get.
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I honestly, I think the people that are joining the occult are doing the exact opposite.
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I think the devil is the guy who's out there trying to make people feel righteous when they're not righteous before God, because that makes them feel good about themselves.
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What do you think is up with the Mormons? The Mormons are the most, they are the most moral as far as in a lot of the ways that they do things.
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They don't drink Coca-Cola.
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They don't smoke cigarettes.
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They don't do nothing because they say all of these are moral things that we shouldn't do.
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They're so righteous externally, but their doctrine of Christ is false and they're headed for hell.
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Satan is very happy about that because he has convinced them of a lie.
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I don't think, as I said, I don't think Satan's out there getting Marilyn Manson to be an idiot.
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I think he did that all by himself.
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I think I think Marilyn Manson is inspired or Satan.
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Pretty close.
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I think Satan is inspiring groups that tell you that you can be, I don't know, that you can be, that you can be reformed without being regenerated.
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You know, there's all kinds of programs out there that will tell you you can reform your life.
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You can be a better person.
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You can be a better you.
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You can do this.
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You can do that without Jesus.
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I'm telling you what, without Christ, there's no hope.
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I think Satan's behind those programs.
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I think he pushes people into programs because people they want to they want to get better, but they want to do it without God.
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They want to do it without Christ.
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Anyhow, as I said, without notes, it's dangerous because you never know how long I'm going to go.
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Let's look at the sower, the parable of the sower.
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I've already read the parable.
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But just to remind us, Jesus said, verse three, a sower went out to sow.
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Remember what a sower is, this is a seed planter, someone who has a bag of seed and they sow the seed.
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A sower went out to sow.
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And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them.
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Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil.
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And immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil.
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But when the sun rose, they were scorched.
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And since they had no root, they withered away.
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Other seeds fell among thorns.
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And as the thorns grew up and choked them, other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain.
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Some hundredfold, some 60, some 30.
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He who has ears, let him hear.
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Now, later, the apostles asked Jesus, what did that mean? Tell us the interpretation.
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This is what a few times Jesus interprets a parable, which is wonderful because he says, if you understand this parable, you'll understand all the parables.
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This parable has in it an intrinsic understanding that if you can get it, you kind of get all the rest of them because he uses symbolism here.
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He uses analogies that he uses in other messages.
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If you get this, you kind of got them all.
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So he explains this to his apostles and he says here, hear the parable of the sower.
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Verse 18, if you want to jump down, we skipping a portion just to get to his interpretation.
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Verse 18, he says, hear the parable of the sower.
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When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in the heart.
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This is what was sown along the path.
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OK, that's first first scenario.
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You got the hard soil of the path where people have stomped on it and shredded on it.
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It will not accept the seed.
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When the seed hits that ground, it doesn't even go in because the ground is so hard.
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And so the birds see it and they're hungry.
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So immediately they come down and grab the seed.
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And he said, that's a picture of somebody whose heart is absolutely opposed to the gospel.
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Their heart is absolutely just just hardened.
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And when you when you preach to them, it just it doesn't even penetrate.
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It sits on the outside and Satan is there just as quick to take it away as soon as it's been given.
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That's the picture.
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That's the example.
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Now he goes on to say, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
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Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while.
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And when tribulation or persecution arise on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
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What kind of person is this? We'll go back to that and just say, let's go on.
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As for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word.
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But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches chokes the word and it proves unfruitful.
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As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.
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He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case, hundredfold, another 60, another 30.
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Now, outside of the person who does not even respond, that's the that's the pathway person.
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Outside of that, Jesus paints three different pictures.
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He says, first, there is the person who receive it with joy.
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Immediately they receive it with joy.
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But yet when the trials and tribulations come, they just as easily discard it.
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I don't know about you, but man, I know a lot of people who come to church, get excited about church and they're excited for about 18 weeks.
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Maybe four months, four and a half months, and then you know what? I'll be doggone if their favorite television show doesn't start coming on at 10 a.m.
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on Sunday.
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They got to see it.
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Now, I'm just kidding.
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That might be.
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Let's say another example.
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Maybe.
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Maybe they just don't want to get up or maybe some other trial comes in their life and they say, you know what, God, I've been following you for four months.
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That shouldn't happen to me.
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Joel Osteen told me I was going to get the best parking space and now my car broke down.
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You see.
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That happens.
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And Jesus said the problem with these people is that though they sprung up, they have any root within themselves.
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I don't know any other way Jesus could have made the analogy of the Holy Spirit not being in someone than him saying they have any root within themselves.
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I don't know any better way.
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I truly believe that's what he meant.
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They just did not have the Holy Spirit in their heart.
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And he said, and then there's the others who fall on the rocky soil, he says, and they spring up.
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But the thorns, the cares of the world keep them from true commitment.
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You know, I think that third group is the people that still go to church, though.
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I think the second group identifies the people that spring up and die out real fast and go away.
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But I think that third group identifies people in the church.
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You might want to disagree with me.
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You might want to come to me after service and say, well, I think that's OK.
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I don't think I can be dogmatic about this.
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I'm giving you my personal interpretation of this particular passage, because I think when it talks about listen to it again, it says, as for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word.
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But the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful.
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You see, they're hearing the word.
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But the world is choking it.
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Beloved, I know so many people come to church every Sunday and they hear the word, but as soon as they get back out into the world, the word is in a stranglehold and unable to bear fruit because they're so consumed with the world that even though they're hearing it and they're receiving it, it is not producing fruit.
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Beloved, ask yourself, is that you? Is this all that matters? Is this one hour on Sunday morning? Does it not have a life that is lived outside of this church in your life? The person who springs up and goes away, they're easy to identify.
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I know people have been in church for 40 years, don't have a relationship with Jesus.
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Oh, they got a relationship with the people and they got a relationship with the pastor.
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They've never met Christ.
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That is frightening.
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And I want to finish on one thought.
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You've all heard me teach on the doctrine of total depravity.
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You've all heard me say that by nature we do not seek after God, but he has to seek after us first.
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You've all heard me say that.
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You know, I believe that.
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And you know, the Bible teaches that.
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I've taught it before.
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So you might ask yourself, why then would false faith be an issue? Why would anyone come to a false faith if no one is seeking after God to begin with? The answer is simple, and if you are a convinced reformed person, I want you to really hear this, because this is what I believe is the genuine answer.
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I believe there are seekers out there.
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But they are seeking God's blessing without seeking his being.
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Everybody wants to go to heaven.
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Nobody wants to submit to Christ.
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Everybody wants to have the blessings of God.
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No one wants to submit to God's commands.
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People seek for what God can do for them, but they do not seek God himself.
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So that I think is the answer.
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Why would false faith be an issue? Because people want to display and feel like they're going to heaven.
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But their hearts are not changed.
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Ever since I was a little boy, ever since I can remember, I wanted to go to heaven.
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I told this story the other night, I was having dinner with Amy and George and we were talking about this.
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I don't know if you remember this, but this is I said when I was a little boy, I used to see those stories of like Aladdin who had the magic lamp.
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And he'd get how many wishes? Three.
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I never thought about wishing for more wishes.
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But anyway, I did think that potentially one day I might find somebody willing to give me three wishes.
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Now, if I tell you what all three of them were, you're going to think I'm really cheesy.
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But because we're a family and I love you, I'll tell you, my first two were really cheesy.
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I wanted all the Superman's powers.
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I want to look like Christopher Reeve because to me, he was Superman.
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Now, if you can't understand that, you've never been a six year old boy.
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I did because Christopher Reeve was Superman.
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I mean, to a six year old boy, that was my first two wishes.
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But my third wish, every time I was proposed this idea, my third wish was I want to go to heaven when I die.
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Because even at six years old, I knew I didn't want to go to hell.
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I never even really been in church much up until that point in my life.
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But I knew there was a difference between heaven and hell and people died.
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And I knew that it was believed that some people go one way and some people go the other.
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And if that were true, I wanted to make sure I was on the up train and not the down train.
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I'd seen the heavenly kid.
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I know what happened.
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You know, I'm six years old, man, I know what's up.
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So I'd ask, you know, somebody asked me three wishes.
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I say Superman, Christopher Reeve, I want to go to heaven.
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Beloved, I didn't have a heart that was searching after Christ.
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I can say I was 19 years old, but the truth of the matter is everybody wants to go to heaven.
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That's the reason for false faith.
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Everybody wants blessings.
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Nobody wants to obey.
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It takes God to change the heart for us to obey.
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Beloved, have you had a heart change? If not, I pray for you and I pray you would recognize it.
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And call upon God to say, Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you for this opportunity to hear your word.
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And I pray, God, that this message has been used by you, by your Holy Spirit to pierce hearts.
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And to examine ourselves so that all of us might look and see if we have a faith that is genuine or somehow we're relying on our works or somehow we're relying on a profession of faith that has not made a change.
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In our hearts, Lord, we give all of this to you.
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We know that you are the one who works out salvation according to your will.
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We just pray now that you would use this message in accordance with that will.
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In Jesus name, Amen.
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Beloved, stand with us now.
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We're going to have a time if you would like to come forward and pray that you may come as we sing.