Don't Be a Poser

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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February 26, 2015

00:00: I have invited a special guest for us to come and speak during this chapel, his name is Pastor Keith Foskey, a good friend of mine, a pastor of a Catholic church in Chicago.
00:12: Thank you, brother, I appreciate that.
00:18: Do you have Bibles? I don't see, that's fine, that's fine.
00:23: Well, I know you, I mean, I'm sure you own one, but I mean, you'll have them with you.
00:27: How many of you know what a poser is? Really? One of you? How many of you know what a poser is? I know this is an old term, but it's something that, you know, I was once a kid, and when I was a young person, when we saw somebody like, how many, does anybody in here still ride skateboards? Okay, little guys.
00:54: When I was a kid, there were two types of people.
00:57: There were the guys who rode skateboards, they would go and they would purchase skateboards, they would learn, they wanted to be Tony Hawk, I don't know if you know who that is, but they would want to be this type of person who could ride skateboards, so they would go and buy skateboards.
01:09: And they would focus all their attention on learning about the skateboard, learning how to do the tricks, learning how to balance, learning how to do all those things.
01:16: And in the midst of that, they would become really good at being skateboarders.
01:21: And then there were guys who would buy skateboards, and they would buy the knee pads, and they would buy the elbow pads, and they would buy the helmets, and they would sit holding their skateboards, watching other people ride skateboards.
01:36: But they wanted to be part of what was going on.
01:39: So they would hold their skateboards, and they would talk the skateboard language, they would talk about what was going on.
01:45: And they would talk about the half pipe, and they would talk about the Ollie, and they would talk about all these things that go on with skateboards.
01:51: And guess what? We call those guys posers.
01:56: Because while they had their skateboard, and while they had the knee pads, elbow pads, and helmets, they were not skateboarders.
02:05: They were posers.
02:07: They were simply pretending.
02:09: They were simply acting.
02:10: They were like someone in a movie.
02:13: They weren't who they were pretending to be.
02:14: They were acting like that.
02:17: They weren't real.
02:19: They weren't legitimate.
02:20: They were pretenders.
02:23: Well, the reason why I bring that up is because in every group of people that you meet, anytime a group of people is identified by something, what you'll find in that group is that they're going to be people in that group who are faking their way along.
02:42: Even in the church, there are people who are faking it.
02:47: There are people who are posers when it comes to being Christians.
02:53: All they're doing is learning the language, using the words, participating in the activities, but they're not really followers of Jesus Christ.
03:05: They're fake.
03:07: They're pretenders.
03:09: They're posers.
03:12: And of all the things in the world that you could fake, of all the things that you could pretend, being a Christian poser is the most dangerous thing in the world.
03:24: So I want to read to you a verse from the Bible.
03:29: Comes to us from the words of Jesus.
03:33: This is in the Sermon on the Mount, and he's talking to his disciples and to the others who are listening.
03:40: And he says these words.
03:44: 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.
03:57: And that day is the day of judgment on that day.
04:00: 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.
04:16: Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
04:23: I've had adult Christians come to me.
04:28: People who have been in church for 20, 30 years come to me and say, Pastor, that verse is the scariest verse in the Bible.
04:38: It's the most frightening verse in the Bible, because what it's saying is that there's going to be people at judgment.
04:46: And by the way, if if you don't believe in judgment, know that the Bible teaches that one day every one of us will die and every one of us will face God.
04:55: The Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die and then comes judgment.
04:59: So that is a that is something that is guaranteed.
05:02: It is biblical truth that we will all face God one day.
05:06: And on that day, there are going to be people who went to church.
05:09: There are going to be people who read the Bible.
05:12: There are going to be people who came forward at an altar call, who put their hand in the hand of the preacher, who prayed a silly little prayer.
05:23: And Jesus will say, I never knew you because they were a poser because everything they did, they did.
05:35: Not from the heart, but because they wanted to be part of whatever it was that was going on, maybe it was a really, really cool youth group, maybe it was a really cool youth building with all kinds of cool colors and not that any of this is bad, this is beautiful.
05:50: But maybe they wanted to be a part of that.
05:53: Maybe they felt like they needed to be a part of that.
05:55: So to do that, I've got to go down and I've got to pay homage to this guy named Jesus.
05:59: I've got to go and I've got to put my hand in the hand of that old man up there who's sticking his hand out.
06:04: I've got to go put my hand in his hand.
06:05: I've got to go get in that big bathtub and get dunked underwater because in some way that's going to be that's going to be the the price that I've got to pay for admission into this club.
06:17: Back in the 70s, which I know none of you know what that is.
06:21: But the 70s, when some of us grew up, there was a time when there was this church that did a huge evangelistic crusade and they went out and tried to reach thousands of people and they did.
06:35: They secured 30,000 decisions.
06:41: In one year, one year, they went back and did a survey of all of those people.
06:49: Do you know how many of them were still serving Christ were still active in their church out of 30,000? 30, 30.
07:01: That's not 1%.
07:03: I'm not a math teacher.
07:05: I don't know what it is.
07:05: It's like 0.001% of the people who said, I believe in Jesus because they were part of a crowd that went forward and they were part of a big crusade of people that went forward.
07:20: And for that moment, they were caught up in the emotion and they were caught up in this event and they were caught up in wanting to be like everybody else that was around them.
07:28: They went forward, but there was no change in their life.
07:32: And because there was no change in their life and no commitment to Christ, all you had was 29,900 and some odd people who said, you know what? One time in my life, I prayed a prayer one time in my life.
07:45: I went forward one time in my life.
07:47: I said, Lord, Lord, but it didn't change my life.
07:51: Notice what Jesus says in this passage.
07:53: 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.
08:00: And you say, well, is Jesus teaching there that we have to be perfectly obedient? No, he's not, because it's not our obedience that saves us.
08:10: But what he is teaching is this.
08:12: If we have a relationship with him that is based on true faith, it will change our life and we will become one who actually desires to do the things that he wants us to do.
08:28: We will actually become people who want to follow God.
08:31: We won't have to be forced to go to church.
08:33: We won't have to be forced to wake up in chapel.
08:37: We'll have to we won't have to be forced to do any of this because the desire of our heart will change from being that which is opposed to God to being that which desires to do what he wants us to do.
08:50: Now, I just you know, in my heart, this really concerns me because I meet a lot of young people and I meet a lot of people in our church and I meet a lot of people in other churches.
09:00: And I find a lot of people who say, you know what, I know Jesus and I've been baptized and I go to church, but they have no desire at all to search and follow after him.
09:13: They have no desire at all to be obedient to him.
09:18: But if you ask them, they'd say, I'm saved.
09:23: I'm saved, man.
09:24: I'm saved, woman.
09:25: I'm a saved boy.
09:26: I'm a saved girl.
09:27: But they have no desire to be obedient to Christ.
09:33: They're posers.
09:36: That's what a poser is.
09:38: They do everything on the outside.
09:40: They do everything with the mouth and everything with the outside.
09:42: They might wear Christian T-shirts.
09:43: They might even listen to K-Love.
09:48: But they have no desire to follow after Christ.
09:55: And he goes on to say on that day, many will say unto me, Lord, Lord, did we not do this? Did we not do that? And you know what? I've often liked to I like to replace the words of Jesus here, not because I'm trying to change or add the scripture, but I want to bring this to a way that we can understand it.
10:10: Because he says in the text, he says, have we not prophesied or cast out demons or done mighty works? Maybe some of you might say when you face God on Judgment Day, but God, didn't I go to a Christian school? But Jesus, didn't I go to the, you know, whatever church? But you know, Jesus, didn't I pray the sinner's prayer? And Jesus will say, depart from me.
10:40: I never knew you.
10:45: You know, if I went to the White House tonight, one of my favorite evangelists, Mr.
10:49: Paul Washer, uses this, uses this illustration.
10:53: He said, if I went to the White House tonight and I walked up onto the White House lawn and I walked up to the front door of the White House and I banged my hand against the front door of the White House.
11:08: And somebody, some security person walks out to the front door and opens up the front door and says, what do you want? And I said, you need to let me in.
11:17: I know, President Obama, I know him.
11:23: It won't matter at all.
11:27: But you know what? If President Obama was inside and he said, you know what? I know Keith.
11:35: That would change everything.
11:37: That's my name, by the way, in case you don't know.
11:40: He said, I know him.
11:43: You know what? The security guard would he would stand down and the doors would open up and I would be welcomed in because he knows me.
11:54: And that's why Jesus makes the point in this passage.
11:56: He doesn't say, do you know Jesus? And that's what a lot of evangelists will ask you.
12:02: They'll come and they'll say, do you know Jesus? I don't care if you know Jesus.
12:05: Does Jesus know you? Because that's the question.
12:10: Does Jesus know you? He said, well, how does that happen? Repentance and faith.
12:19: What is repentance? Repentance is a change of mind which becomes a change of heart, which results in a change of action.
12:26: It's a change.
12:27: That's what repentance is.
12:30: And some of you said, well, I prayed a prayer.
12:32: Have you ever repented of your sins? Have you ever seen yourself as a sinner in needing of repentance, in need of change, in need of cleansing, in need of washing? Have you ever seen that? Have you ever known that? Don't let that phone bother you.
12:45: You listen to me.
12:47: This is the most important question you could ever be asked.
12:50: Does Jesus know you? Have you ever come to him in repentance and faith? I know a lot of people who think they know Jesus.
13:02: But their lives tell a different story.
13:07: What story does your life tell? Can I pray for you? Can I do that? Can we bow? Father, I am grateful that you've given me a few moments to talk to these young people.
13:25: And I am grateful that your word tells us that we can be known by Christ if we will simply repent of our sins.
13:36: And trust him as savior.
13:40: And father, we know that that is not just a one time five minute endeavor.
13:45: But that that is something that will change our life forever.
13:51: Father, I don't know these children and I and I, I won't see them a lot in the future, but I pray, oh, God, that something that has been said today.
14:01: Has shook them in their conscience.
14:05: To understand the value.
14:08: Of Christ knowing them.
14:13: I pray for a spirit of repentance.
14:17: I pray for faith as these are gifts which come from you.
14:24: I pray that you would use your word, which tells us that not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, not everyone who walks forward in a church, not everyone who is baptized, not everyone who who claims to have a relationship with you does because they still love their sin and they still love their life and they still love the world and they have not forsaken themselves and forsaken those things and trusted Christ.
14:46: I pray for these young people.
14:49: I pray for a changed heart.
14:52: I pray for a changed life, and I pray that you, oh, Lord.
14:55: Would make that difference as you are the only one who can.
14:59: In Jesus name.
15:01: Amen.