Pillar 4, Genuine Conversion, Luke 19:1-10

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church iconCovenant Reformed Baptist Church

0 views

Pillar 4: Genuine Conversion Luke 19:1-10

0 comments

00:00
Luke chapter 19 from verse 1 here the word of the Lord He entered
00:05
Jericho and was passing through and there was a man named Zacchaeus He was a chief tax collector and was rich and he was seeking to see who
00:13
Jesus was But on account of the crowd he could not because he was small of stature So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him for he was about to pass that way and when
00:24
Jesus Came to the place. He looked up and said to him Zacchaeus Hurry and come down for I must stay at your house today
00:32
So we hurried and came down and received him joyfully and when they saw it they all grumbled
00:38
He has gone in to be the guest of a man who was a sinner As Ikea stood and said to the
00:43
Lord behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have defrauded anyone of anything
00:50
I restore it fourfold and Jesus said to him today Salvation has come to this house since he also is the son of Abraham For the
01:02
Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost May the
01:07
Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Well ever known anyone whose life is just a mess a disaster and he or she is certain
01:18
You're saved. I Deepa you got to stock all the shelves and all that.
01:27
I got to know this one guy there and he was very troubled He was on the verge of a divorce. He was cursed his wife who was having an affair with his brother who was in prison
01:37
Okay, why anyone has an affair with a man who's in prison? I don't know. But anyway, he cursed his wife. He cursed Everything.
01:43
I don't know if he could say three words without one of them being profane So I would suggest that you ever know people like that like they just can't you know
01:51
That third word is gonna be something so I was suggested Well, he why don't you go to church and talk to the pastor with the hope that if he did that he would be converted
02:00
He said he had already been saved and baptized when he was 12. He didn't need to worry about that anymore Some church probably claimed him as a member.
02:08
He thought he had that taken care of he was sure of it He was so sure he didn't even need to think about it anymore.
02:15
He had been given assurance I Cousin he was only about a month younger than I or a female cousin about a month younger than I Once what we were both about 16
02:26
I think we were walking together outside Legion Field in Birmingham outside an Alabama football game when
02:31
I picked up a track that I began to read aloud and it read something like Get the thing you need the most
02:38
And I just paused and she asked what? The track continued Jesus Christ is your
02:44
Lord and Savior. She said oh, I've taken care of that already Since then she married a nominal
02:51
Catholic later converted to Catholicism later divorced and soon remarried asked What sort of wedding she had the second one, you know
02:58
Catholic a Protestant my uncle her father told me well She was married by a judge, but it was sort of Protestant.
03:05
He thinks I've never seen any interest in her about spiritual things But she's probably still convinced that she's taken care of her conversion probably sure of it.
03:16
Someone has given her Assurance we have a religious movement around us.
03:21
That is what I like to call You got to name it call it some things and since they call themselves this call it the old -time religion
03:27
The old -time religion does what we talked about last week sells the gospel except instead of getting people to buy it with their lives it thinks that all we must do to buy it is with a decision a
03:38
Single decision that then confers on us if we make this decision a status
03:44
Many say it irrevocable status of being converted being saved They say if you've made the decision especially made it in the right environment at the right time and maybe as the organ softly plays just as I am or as the
03:57
Sunday school teacher leans on you to repeat a quote sinners prayer that they made up Then you are certainly saved you're converted and you don't ever need to doubt it
04:07
No matter what you do with your life after that no matter what your life demonstrates you made the decision the goal of the old -time religion the
04:16
OTR for short is to get you to make the decision and what they give you in exchange for making that decision is
04:23
Assurance assurance of salvation they dispense assurance of salvation like a Christmas parade throws out candy
04:30
You get assurance you get assurance kind of like Oprah I guess Everyone gets assurance if you say the right prayer at the right time
04:36
Say you agree with certain things the the older and biblical message that the good trees bear good fruit
04:41
And if you don't bear good fruit in keeping with the pendants Then you need like Paul said in Corinthians to examine yourself whether you have or whether you are really in the faith
04:51
There's salvation conversion being born again Really makes you a new creature and that will definitely show not in perfection
04:59
It doesn't make you a perfect creature yet, but a new one with a new nature. It will show in change now that message the biblical message that understanding of Salvation that there is a genuine salvation and a counterfeit conversion is that is lost in the old -time religion so it makes for sick churches full of people like my cousin or my former co -worker who
05:25
Really probably almost certainly really are not converted but are sure that they are
05:30
They've been given assurance by people who don't clearly understand conversion
05:38
But a biblical church knows what genuine conversion is What is genuine conversion?
05:44
Well, we see one right here in Luke chapter 19 This is one to say the story of Zacchaeus we see three facets of genuine conversion in this passage first There's the call second.
05:54
There's the choice and finally there's the change First we see a call Jesus's call there's this
06:02
Jesus's call is preeminent out of the crowd Jesus calls one man
06:09
Jesus takes the initiative Jesus's call comes first If someone say well, hey, but Zacchaeus in Zacchaeus show his faith when he climbed up the tree
06:21
Was it he moving toward Jesus doing his part? Well verse 3 simply says that he was quote.
06:28
He was seeking to see Who Jesus was that's his motivation. That's what the
06:33
Bible that's all the Bible tells us about it Now if if some celebrity say like Tom Cruise came to Yancey Ville if he walked down Main Street Where you know where I live right down right in front of my house
06:44
I would probably be interested enough to go out and take a look. I saw John I could say
06:49
I saw Tom Cruise in person I'd be curious that doesn't mean I want to follow Tom Cruise or I believe in what he says.
06:56
He's a good actor But spiritually he's kind of goofy. Actually, he's a Scientologist But I might want to take a look at him he came nearby and that desire to see would probably be even stronger in their
07:08
Day, you know when you could hear about something think about that before the days of photographs and television You go
07:13
I hear a lot about a person what he taught What was it what he had done but have no idea what he looked like So you might want to go out and see who is this great celebrity
07:20
Jesus? He's coming through town and that's that's all that Luke tells us about what Zacchaeus does here when interpreting this passage
07:28
It's important to not read into it what is not there It doesn't tell us
07:34
That Zacchaeus had any faith or was doing it was seeking Jesus The only reason it tells us why
07:39
Zacchaeus climbed the tree is because he is short and he wanted to see Jesus It doesn't tell us he was seeking to follow
07:46
Jesus, but it does tell us that Jesus took the initiative the Lord Jesus stopped Jesus calls out to Zacchaeus and Jesus invited himself over for a meal and so not reading anything into this passage
08:00
It tells us that at least in this salvation He's the one Who acts first?
08:07
now here He calls Zacchaeus of all the people in that crowd Jesus chooses the most probably the most
08:17
Unlikely person a man who collaborated with the Roman occupiers who would be an outcast from the rest of society, but Jesus called him, you know come down and It caused the people around to murmur against Jesus This is the way the gospel is
08:35
Martin Luther insisted that whenever whenever the gospel is clearly proclaimed Controversy would surely follow it does here the people murmur
08:45
Jesus is breaking their their mores their ostracism of Zacchaeus and people like him which they set up they ostracize people like Zacchaeus to punish them for breaking their you know in weight breaking their law breaking their
08:59
Their society that they're the Jews that should be oppressed by the Romans and don't read this as a story about well
09:06
Jesus including everyone. It's not as though Jesus is always opposed to ostracism This is not a story about you know, breaking down barriers about including everyone regardless of their lifestyle about not being judgmental
09:18
That's not the point of the story In fact, Jesus tells the church in Matthew chapter 18 verse 17 to treat a believer who continues in sin
09:24
Just like the Jews were treating Zacchaeus right here He says we're supposed to regard an unrepentant brother is quite a pagan and a tax collector
09:32
Zacchaeus is a tax collector So in theory, there's nothing necessarily wrong with how
09:38
Jewish society was treating Zacchaeus nevertheless, he was Jesus's choice Jesus takes the initiative
09:45
Calls him chooses him Hey Zacchaeus Come down.
09:50
I want to go over and eat with you. And now that doesn't mean that Zacchaeus doesn't choose Something that when we talk about Jesus calling first About Predestination another theological term really for the same thing.
10:04
We're talking about or something What we're saying is well, we don't have to choose people don't have to choose.
10:09
Well, that's wrong We do choose We choose because he chooses us first Now what's the difference between genuine and counterfeit conversion?
10:22
The genuine begins with Jesus calling and that call results in us
10:30
Choosing here Zacchaeus. Here's the call up in the tree and Jesus says he must
10:37
Stay with him. I find that interesting. Jesus said I must It's necessary for me to stay with you for Jesus to fill his mission to stay with this outcast
10:46
Then comes the choice Zacchaeus his choice Zacchaeus hears that I must stay with you
10:53
Jesus says Zacchaeus, here's that and he hurries down from the tree. He's delighted
10:59
It says he's his heart is filled with joy the call from Jesus come down I must stay with you that call creates in him joy
11:10
This is the way it is with the Lord's call when he effectively and personally calls you
11:18
It creates joy It's not as though he he drags you kicking and screaming to do something
11:25
You know, you're kicking and screaming into the kingdom of God against your will to do something or go somewhere. You don't want to go his call
11:33
Zacchaeus I must stay with you his call creates your choice You receive him
11:40
With joy not because of you because of his call his call inspires in you the ability and the desire to call on him his choice of you
11:54
Makes you want to choose him once called Like Zacchaeus you'll hurry to choose him
12:06
So Jesus is the guest of a sinner Of course, he would be guests of a sinner no matter who he decided to eat with that day even the strictest
12:13
Pharisee But they don't know that they believe that they are not sinners if they're trying their best to keep the law
12:20
It is those people who think they are they are not sinners who think that they are pleasing to God by their own efforts
12:26
Who are in the most danger? The one who knows he's a sinner here is the one who singled out for salvation and This is our big problem today we've handed out assurance of salvation to people who have not over time shown the evidence of change and because They are now assured in Their minds that they are saved
12:50
They don't think they need salvation They think it's taken care of they think their biggest need is for Whatever a relationship money beer whatever
13:05
They are sure What are you sure of and why? In other words, how do you know?
13:14
How do you have assurance notice how Luke tells us Zacchaeus repents? How do you know you've repented notice how
13:20
Luke tells us Zacchaeus here repents? How do we know that we're genuinely converted? because of our doctrinal opinions
13:28
Are we told here Zacchaeus is converted because of his doctrinal opinions? No because of a change
13:33
How do we know Zacchaeus repents? Because he reports, you know how sorry he felt in his heart because maybe he cried
13:42
Because he prayed the right prayer Luke didn't write it all about Zacchaeus his inward feelings notice that here and say a word about Zacchaeus his feelings
13:51
About how he tears flowed not even about us any prayer that he prayed and pray any sinners prayer
13:58
Luke doesn't even tell us he repents Luke shows us he repents Zacchaeus is repentance.
14:04
It's demonstrated in his actions So repentance isn't just an an emotion of sorrow just kind of sorry
14:12
We we did these things wrong, although it definitely produces that sure, but it is a root cause repentance is of a of observable
14:22
Behavior in other words repentance shows itself. It can be seen
14:29
You've seen those you know, particularly this time of year Before -and -after photos of people on diets do our diet plan.
14:37
This is before this is what? whoever Marie Osmond looked like after you know after Basically starving yourself on that Nutrisystem Paltry little food they give you you'll be skinny after and they put the two pictures side by side before they were fat now
14:52
They're skinny. Well repentance is like that before you are living one way and After you're living another way you can take a picture of the difference you can see it
15:04
Now if the emotion of sorrow doesn't lead to photographable changes That's not real repentance.
15:10
That's a counterfeit. It's just a feeling This is vital for us to understand for a biblical church today because there is in many quarters today in the old -time religion and emotion and out in omission of Repentance because there is a theology of cheap grace easy believe
15:31
ISM and This theology one can be a Christian but not Really have
15:37
Jesus as Lord. They say somehow Faith is defined as accepting a few facts about Jesus.
15:42
That's what they say faith You don't argue with some facts about Jesus you supposedly that's called faith, but it's like it's faith
15:50
Like in the way I believe in Australia. I believe in Australia I'm gonna go out on a limb.
15:55
I believe there's a really place. There's a really there's a place there call us I've never seen it. I've taken by faith.
16:01
I have no reason to doubt it I even have a friend who lives in Australia. He says he does
16:06
Sometimes I get messages from this guy who says he's Australia, you know But the existence of Australia has absolutely no impact on my life
16:14
Does it change me a bit if I found out later today that the idea that Australia is just made up maybe by the
16:21
US National Park Service to hide the fact that they have that there's a strange National Park somewhere out in Montana Somewhere that they would want to keep it being trampled
16:31
From all kinds of tourists They have all these kangaroos and walla bears all that stuff around all these strange animals if I find out that's what's been going on all this time
16:39
My life won't change a bit Except for maybe I want to plan a trip to out to Australia There's actually in Montana Maybe that but the doctrine of Australia whether I accept it or reject it makes no impact on my life
16:49
And that's what some people think that believing in Jesus for salvation is you just kind of agree with these facts of History that he died for our sins that he rose from the dead
17:00
He's somehow related to God and the deal is done and you'll go to heaven And so they think most people, you know, most people offered with that will think sure why not?
17:10
I have nothing to lose And I'll say I agree with those facts. I have no reason not to I'll repeat a prayer and voila.
17:20
I'm Saved I've taken care of that now Where's the best bar for picking up girls?
17:27
That's the way people think right? Probably all of you know some people who claim to be Christian perhaps they've been baptized
17:33
But they don't show any fruit in their lives But we see here that the idea that one can be a genuine
17:40
Christian and not Experience a radical change that one could just agree with a few facts about the
17:46
Lord Jesus and supposedly be saved That's a false idea The it's a common belief today, but that common belief that between Christians and the lost sort of a third category
17:59
Or maybe that Christians between the these radical, you know Christians you really take it seriously and the loss go into hell is a third category of so -called carnal
18:08
Christians They're Christians, too They're just they just didn't opt for the elite status because and they're they're still saved because they don't disagree with the facts
18:16
Whose lives are their life is not at all marked by repentance and faith that idea is a false doctrine
18:23
The Bible absolute does not teach that it's a cover -up for an unbiblical doctrine of conversion
18:30
But I'll buy people who don't understand what real conversion is and it can be a dangerous cover -up
18:35
And when you combine this idea of the carnal Christian He's really not a Christian with a false idea that faith is just kind of intellectually agreeing with a few basic facts
18:44
I'm kind of like believing in Australia Then and you combine that particularly with once saved always saved
18:50
Well, you get the result you get unsaved people who earnestly believe that they've taken care of their salvation
18:58
Who are told that they are saved by churches been given assurance and who are often included as church members
19:05
No matter what their lives say and who testify to the world that salvation is absolutely worthless
19:14
How do we know we're genuinely converted You know, that's if that's the case, how do you know?
19:21
Is it because of our morality and manners? No, it's not just knowledge. Is it just you got to be decent person
19:29
Whether we really know Jesus or not Well, of course not, you know, look at the rich young ruler gonna read not gonna read that passage
19:36
But it covers shortly before this and Luke and Luke chapter 18 verses 18 to 30 So it's almost set up as a contrast between these two men
19:44
Rich young ruler. He's devout. He kept the law least outwardly He appeared sincere.
19:51
He respected Jesus and he goes to Jesus to ask these questions. He was he meant it
19:57
He was a scoffer. He wasn't like the Pharisees trying to set him up for some You know trick question.
20:02
He was asking sincere questions. He asked right questions He could even feel sorrow about his unwillingness to obey
20:09
Jesus He'd probably be considered a model church member in many places today now that he wasn't willing to go 100 % and to Following Jesus or probably just today would just be put off as well.
20:22
He's a bit of a carnal Christian Remember, he's already got he's got morality. He's got religion not to mention.
20:28
He's money and power He's not a hypocrite like the Pharisees out to destroy Jesus, so so he's decent he's religious
20:35
He's earnest and he's been that way for all his life and our day We might be surprised that such a man would even question his salvation.
20:43
But the truth is that he is not converted. He's experienced No radical inward change for the rich young ruler
20:51
The Lord Jesus made it precisely clear what kind of change was expected of him Remember he was supposed to liquidate all his assets sell everything he has give it to the poor and become one of the disciples that would be a
21:05
Photographable change brought about in his life You could see the difference between before and after if he really believed in Jesus true conversion produces
21:15
Change it did in Zacchaeus his life. It would have in the rich rulers life the rich ruler
21:23
Zacchaeus Our opposites the only thing they have in common is they're both rich But the rich rulers is justly rich Zacchaeus used his power to built money of the powerless
21:35
He's basically like today is more like a mafia guy and you got to put him in that category
21:41
It's not like we see tax collector. We got to think our IRS a respectable occupation, but no,
21:47
I think in our day, it's more like a mafia enforcer Okay, it's that kind of reputation that says that's
21:53
Ikea's the ritual the rich ruler. He's a respected leader. He's admired He's accepted.
21:58
He's probably an elder in a synagogue Zacchaeus was an outcast but it was Zacchaeus who heard
22:04
Jesus with joy The rich ruler received Jesus's call with regret and slinked away
22:12
He was too attached to his money If the rich ruler believed that Giving away his wealth if he really believed what
22:21
Jesus said that giving away his wealth and following Jesus would give him Treasure in heaven.
22:27
Well, he would have thought nothing of it. He would have done it He would have decided to follow Jesus No turning back
22:34
If he had faith, it would have produced It's Siamese twin virtue faith faith faiths
22:43
Siamese twin virtue of repentance and he would have turned and he would have followed Jesus Zacchaeus did
22:50
Notice for both repentance is shown Common theme in Luke repentance is shown
22:55
But how how they handle their money if your faith Nick makes no impact on your checkbook
23:03
We have reason to question whether it's real the rich young ruler
23:09
Didn't have faith So there was no change Zacchaeus did and so gave
23:18
I told you about a co -worker who was really troubled always profane. He was a Baptist.
23:25
I know someone else Who is very faithful and considerate as committed to her family as anyone could be.
23:32
She's he's moral helpful and kind But I know she's not a
23:38
Christian because she doesn't profess to be a Christian she's a Buddhist she's my mother -in -law She is a good moral person who will faithfully sacrifice to her ancestors
23:48
That's the way she was raised and so far. She doesn't want to change She was born in Indonesia, by the way, but lived most of her life in Singapore now imagine
23:58
Instead of being born in Indonesia and raised in Singapore. She had been born and raised Here in Castle County, North Carolina same kind of person same character
24:09
Right here. She would almost certainly be a church member somewhere wouldn't she? Because it's kind of the thing you do in this atmosphere.
24:16
She'd be faithful to you know She'd be the type that comes for every meeting Sunday school
24:21
Wednesday night. She had cooked for the potluck dinner. She had stayed after to clean up. She had volunteer where needed
24:26
She probably almost certainly tithe. She would be a pillar of the church She might even make a decision at the right time now
24:33
Hopefully with all that church attendance all that exposure to the Word of God. She might genuinely be converted and counter the grace of God But perhaps she wouldn't
24:45
After all decisions are not necessarily conversions There's nothing we human beings can do to guarantee that God will save Anyone if Jesus said in John 3 we must be born of the
25:00
Spirit and then he says that the Spirit blows we talked about This in Sunday school today the Spirit blows where he wills
25:07
In other words, he's sovereign. He goes where he wants to go. He does what he wants to go He brings new life where he wants to bring it.
25:14
We can't control him. We can't corner him We can't make him save the people if they say the right prayer if they repeat after me and so this faithful lady
25:25
Could go her whole life in church She was born right here and live right here.
25:30
She could go her whole life in church and not really be saved Just like the rich ruler was moral and religious even went to Jesus seeking counsel, but he wasn't saved and If we think of salvation is just a combination of you know, easy believism cheap grace and an immoral life
25:49
We'd almost certainly think that she's a true Christian look at her life. She's moral. She's a pillar of the church
25:55
Just like in our day We'd probably assure wouldn't we wouldn't we wouldn't we assure the rich ruler that he was saved?
26:06
Now let's change her sex Just say she's a man a he and not a she and so he responds as a child to brothers emotional invitation same kind of character fateful
26:17
Raised in church response to one of those emotional invitations maybe one of those manipulative types It first has the person to raise his hand and then come stand up and then come forward and then say a prayer and then is
26:27
Told he is saved But maybe he's not saved maybe he's he's given an assurance, but maybe he's just dutiful
26:37
And being the responsible dutiful type After being told now, he's a Christian. So he feels an obligation to go to church
26:43
What he's supposed to do is the kind of person does what he's supposed to do like before. He's a pillar of the church maybe he's successful in business or his whatever career it goes into and so he gives he ties and he'll probably almost soon be made a deacon
26:59
If he's in a Baptist Church the functional equivalent of an elder and they're totally messed up unbiblical system That's beside the point right now
27:04
And he'll have a great influence on the direction of the church or maybe at another meeting as a young man
27:10
He's even manipulated into giving his life to full -time Christian service because that's what you got to do if you're really sincere, right?
27:16
And so he goes to seminary and becomes a pastor But if it's just easy believism plus morality to be decent and dutiful
27:23
He might never have really encountered the grace of God, which means according to Romans 1 He is someone who hates
27:30
God that is according to Ephesians 2 He is still dead in his trespasses and sins and he's leading the church and that's how churches die
27:41
How do we know this Ikeas is saved Notice how Jesus puts it in verse 9 today
27:50
Salvation has come to this house. I Love that line so different than what we expect you think about it
27:57
You're just reading about me. You can guys can glaze over that not think about it, but think about that There's a double meaning there.
28:04
He's not just saying this Ikeas was saved. He said Salvation has come Jesus his name by the way means the
28:12
Lord is salvation. So he is the Lord so he is salvation. So quite literally he
28:19
Salvation came to that house He's also saying something important about salvation.
28:25
Think about the way it's put now think about how maybe You or us we would typically describe this event
28:34
If it were for me and just a few weeks ago, I remember I described Kanye West Kanye West I said
28:40
God's got saved It's kind of the typical way of saying things if it were me my usual say way of saying this let's say, you know
28:48
Zacchaeus got saved and that the usual way that usual expression It sounds as if Zacchaeus did the work himself
28:56
Zacchaeus Subject got verb save object It sounds as if Zacchaeus did the work himself that he's the active one he's the subject of the verb as if salvation were out there for the taking and Zacchaeus went out and he got some for himself
29:13
Like we talk about getting milk at the store, right? It's there You can get it if you want it, but that's our way of saying things.
29:20
Jesus says it totally differently here Salvation has come to this house in Jesus's way
29:28
Salvation is active salvation subject Has come verb to this house is the direct object come to you
29:37
Zacchaeus Zacchaeus didn't go out and get some salvation No Zacchaeus did not go out and get some salvation
29:45
Salvation went out and got Zacchaeus Salvation Jesus himself is the active one
29:53
Zacchaeus. Is it the subject? He's the object. Remember the gospel Remember the gospel?
30:00
Jesus saves and that's what he did here to Zacchaeus He emphasizes this again in verse 10, which is basically
30:09
Jesus's mission statement his personal mission statement the Son of Man referring to himself came to seek and to save What was lost?
30:22
Notice it what he says. He doesn't say he just came to seek and invite the lost He didn't come just to make salvation possible to seek and and plead with the lost to beg
30:33
Please come if you want Come he didn't say he's come to seek and hope the lost respond to his invitation.
30:39
Hope they positively take up that offer He came to seek them out like Jesus did here and to save them as Jesus does here
30:52
Why did the Lord Jesus call Zacchaeus Notice what he says at the end of verse 9
30:57
He says that salvation has come to Zacchaeus because as in view of the fact that he is a son of Abraham Now, what does he mean?
31:07
Is he just saying well Zacchaeus is Jewish too. So he gets saved Well, obviously not probably everyone in that crowd is
31:13
Jewish descendants of Abraham whom Jesus did not bring salvation to The rich young ruler was a son of Abraham literally speaking, but he wasn't saved.
31:20
So what does he mean? Well in John chapter 8 verse 39, Jesus told the Pharisees some of the same kind of people who were grumbling against Jesus here
31:29
For choosing Zacchaeus Jesus told them that you are not sons of Abraham You're not oh, you may be physically descended from them, but you're not really sons of Abraham Zacchaeus though Is one
31:43
Now you couldn't tell it by looking up at his life up until this point, but God knows those who are his
31:49
That's why he stopped in front of that tree There's a son of Abraham in that tree
31:54
Surrounded though by literal children of Abraham. He looked up and saw in the tree a Spiritual son of Abraham and Jesus called him as Jesus says in John chapter 10 verse 27.
32:05
My sheep hear my voice Zacchaeus heard and believed
32:11
Well, finally the Lord Jesus explains now why all this happened the call the choice the change
32:19
Because he says in verse 10 He came the Son of Man the one who brings in the kingdom of God on earth to seek and to save the lost
32:25
That's his purpose. This is his mission statement It's clear and as as bold as it could possibly be to seek and to save not just to invite
32:34
Not just to beg but to effectively Save the lost.
32:40
It's not just to teach church kids to be well -mannered well -dressed and well -adjusted successful people It's not just for our entertainment
32:47
Not to entertain the saved. It's not to mobilize us for politics It's to seek and to save the lost
32:56
So there are three things we need to do with this seems to me very quickly adopt adapt and be adept first adopt the
33:08
Lord's mission if Seeking and saving the lost is the mission of Jesus it sure better be ours a
33:16
Biblical church has the same mission the Lord the Lord Jesus has evangelism is a pillar of A biblical church that means that our prayer meetings and our private prayers had better have more to do with fulfilling that mission than anything else like health
33:34
Adopt Jesus's priorities that his missions it is ours We adopt that is our mission
33:43
For example, we you know, we we could have a gym That serves the mission or we could
33:49
I guess get a traditional building that makes us feel more respectable Which do you choose?
33:55
depends on what Values you've adopted that means we'd be willing to sacrifice every secondary goal to be big or respectable or just comfortable for that mission like Jesus we have to be willing to withstand the grumbling of those who think we should be spending our time with maybe with better people
34:15
Evangelism is a priority Secondly adapt to the biblical reality that when salvation comes in your life, it will make a change a
34:28
Change you can photograph that you can see in your checkbook a change that you will receive with great joy like Zacchaeus Adapt to that adapt the policies the think about how the church is organized how membership adapt to that reality
34:46
And we made a mistake Christians in particular in America over the past century or so and too quickly and too freely telling people people like the rich young ruler or worse
34:55
Maybe just some young kid who responds to an emotional invitation We've made the mistake that telling him.
35:03
Well now you've taken care of your salvation Given assurance. So now we just have to think about it anymore
35:09
That's what they hear. Anyway now That we see here What genuine salvation is?
35:17
How are we supposed to say that a small child is genuinely converted? What can you see in their life that shows you they're genuinely converted he or she may be
35:27
I can save people from the womb But how do we know? That means that baptism is for disciples for people who show with their life that they are converted
35:37
It means that church discipline is also a pillar of a biblical church So that we we take away assurance of salvation when someone's life shows.
35:46
It's questionable adapt to the reality of what True conversion is that's why we're doing this membership renewal right now.
35:56
Do you want to renew your membership? Are you converted if so, you will sign on instead of just kind of letting everyone pass this for you for maybe for a whole lifetime
36:05
We're trying to adapt to that reality. Finally be adept and Reaching out like Jesus did here in a way that's attractive
36:14
To people be adept at challenging hypocrites who think that they've taken care of their salvation when their life hasn't changed
36:23
And be if you're gonna take it tell others to question their salvation be adept at examining ourselves after all devoutness
36:30
Church forms, maybe what you were raised with morality does not necessarily indicate true conversion conversion involves a change of Allegiance Jesus is
36:43
Lord. It's not enough just to be conservative and moral like the rich ruler We need to believe the
36:49
Lord Jesus. We need faith. And if we have faith, we'll also have Repentance it's
36:57
Siamese twin blessing That's why one of the best signs of having been truly converted is a tender heartedness a heart that is happily adept at Changing what you could call contrition.
37:15
Are you really saved? If so, if you think so why if you're sure why
37:24
Because you're moral and religious Because you said the right prayer at a certain time Maybe because you needed salvation you felt you needed it
37:33
And so you went out and got it like you might get milk at a store or does salvation go out and get you?
37:40
remember we can't concoct a religion a prayer an
37:45
Atmosphere that will ensure that you get saved It's not good enough if you've learned manners and been good little boys and girls
37:54
Remember that the calling the choosing and the changing is only something that the
37:59
Lord can do so pray pray passionately for salvation
38:07
To visit you for salvation for Jesus to call You to choose you and to change you
38:17
You can know that you are saved But it only comes By knowing