Are You Really Saved?

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Let's bow our heads and go to Word and Prayer.
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Our Father and our God, we thank you for this opportunity that we have to come around your Word and study it.
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I pray that you would give me a clear thought today as I seek to preach your Word and that you would keep me from error.
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And also I pray that you would open the hearts of these people to the truth and that through it you would just engage our minds with the reality of what it means to be saved and what it means to be lost and how in this world there are so many people who are lost and yet don't know it.
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And maybe there are some even here today who are lost and are certain about their salvation but their certainty is founded not in the reality of what the Word says but in some other false reason for assurance.
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And I just pray for your strength to preach the truth, even if it's hard.
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In Jesus name we pray.
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Amen.
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I want you to open your Bibles to First John, chapter two.
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I realize I'm I'm I'm preaching in in the stead of Mr.
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Bunting, who is out of town.
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I'm teaching his class this morning.
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And you guys have been in Genesis.
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However, because I'm not one who likes to come in and simply take over where someone else is left off, because I know they form a pattern of teaching and they want to maintain that pattern.
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If I kept going where he was, I may go in a different direction than he does.
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So I'd like to sort of do something different, allow him to have his his his teaching on that particular grouping of passages.
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So what we're going to do this morning.
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I didn't.
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David, you go down and get me some markers.
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Just ask Nathan or one of the kids.
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Just bring me one black markers.
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Fine.
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Thank you.
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My sermon this morning is is on the question of how can I know I'm saved? And I'm going to spend time fleshing out that question.
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And when I was thinking about what I wanted to do for Sunday school, certainly I had many ideas or so many doctrines and thoughts of of things I could teach on and history.
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I just finished a 14 week course on history and I said, well, I could teach on history or I could do, you know, all these things I could have done.
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And I said, you know what I need to do? I need to share with the Sunday school class what I won't get to share in the sermon because every sermon I preach, there are things that I have to ultimately take out.
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You know, I preach for, you know, 45 minutes on average, sometimes 40, sometimes 50, but typically around 45 minutes.
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And in a 45 minute message, there's about there's another hour of material that I've had to just take away simply because of time.
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And so this morning I said, you know what, I'm going to deal with some of the things that I didn't get a chance to deal with in the message and hopefully, you know, deal with some things that that may get you to start thinking now that that will be on your heart while we're preaching, while I'm preaching this morning and just continue on through the message.
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So I call this a prelude to a sermon.
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That's the title of today's Sunday school lesson, a prelude to a sermon.
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And we're going to start in 1 John, chapter two and verse 19 says in verse 19, they went out from us.
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But they were not of us.
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For if they had been of us.
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They would have continued with us, but they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
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This particular passage is one that I have used quite frequently in conversations with people who believe that a person has the capacity to lose salvation.
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I have never denied.
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That a person can name Jesus, claim Jesus and profess Jesus, and yet at some point in the future fall away and be unsaved.
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But what I have denied is that the person was ever saved to begin with, because I believe that the scripture teaches that once a person is genuinely and radically converted by the gospel, that that conversion will plant a seed that will grow into fruit and that if the fruit is not present in the life of an individual, then that person is it's not that they were saved and then lost.
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It's that they were never saved at all.
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This passage says they went out from us.
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And this is speaking in the context of antichrist, people who are opposed to Christ, people who have been once called believers, but now are calling themselves unbelievers.
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And I don't know if you've ever met a person who does that.
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But there are people who claim Christ and then later in life reject it in Toto.
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They say, I reject my former faith.
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Dan Barker is a good example.
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He's the head of one of the largest atheistic organizations in America.
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Dan Barker was a student of Catherine Kuhlman, a charismatic teacher, very popular in the 70s, I believe.
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And he was a student of hers.
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He was taught that theology because she was a bad theologian.
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And as a result, he later rejected his faith.
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And not only did he reject it, but the pendulum swung very far.
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He went from being a student of an evangelist, I'm going to say false teacher.
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But he went from being a student of a quote unquote Christian evangelist to being one of the foremost leaders of the atheistic movement.
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He went out from us.
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But he was not of us, for had he been of us, he would have remained with us.
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But he went out from us to prove or to show or to demonstrate, as this text says, that he was never of us.
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And that's the key to this passage, that when a person has abandoned the faith, when a person has abandoned Christ, it is not proof that they can lose salvation.
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It is proof positive that they were never saved.
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So the question then becomes, how can we be confident in our salvation? And I want to share with you, and this is why I had dad grab me a marker.
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Appreciate taking that run down there for me.
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The whole world, every individual can be separated or divided into two categories.
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The whole world can be separate.
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And I don't mean to make these circles equal in the sense that you might think that the categories are equal because they're not.
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But just for for visual sake, I drew two circles to say that the whole world can be separated into two categories.
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You would say however you want to define the label of the categories, you could say they are saved and lost.
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You can say they are, you were saying redeemed and unredeemed or lost.
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You could say they were elect or reprobate.
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You could say they were sheep or goats.
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That's the reference Jesus uses.
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He says, you know, on that day, the Lord will separate the sheep from the goats.
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The sheep will go into eternal blessedness and the goats will go into eternal torment.
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And that's the divide Jesus uses.
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He says, either there are some who are sheep and there are some who are goats and there's no one who is a puppy or, you know, a leopard or a lion.
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There's no third category.
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You either are or you are not.
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And some people say, well, that's too simplistic.
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No, it's not.
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It really isn't.
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You can't be partially saved and you can't be partially lost.
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You can't be halfway a Christian and then halfway not a Christian.
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This was the problem with the Laodicean church.
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Jesus said that you all are lukewarm and because you're lukewarm, you're neither hot nor cold.
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I will spew you out of my mouth.
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Why? Because there's no halfway point.
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There's no place where you can sit in the void and say, well, I'm here.
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Such a thing is is not found in Scripture.
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Christ is our all in all or Christ is not at all.
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And so this is where we begin our understanding of the world.
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This is a worldview and this this this influences everything we know about the world.
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And I want to further subdivide the categories because I think and this is something that Dr.
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C.
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Sproul teaches and I like to give credit where credit is due.
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Because while there are only two categories of people within these categories, there are a further subdivision.
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I'm going to divide them again.
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They're not equal, but for visualization sake, we'll make them equal.
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You have those who are saved and they know it.
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And you have those who are lost and they know it.
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Oh, yeah.
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No, I would say there's a lot of people who are who are who are hell bound and happy for it.
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I would say Dan Barker is one of those people.
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He say, I don't I don't believe in Christ.
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I don't believe in the gospel.
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I don't believe in the Bible.
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And it doesn't matter because it doesn't exist.
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He's he's lost, but he knows it.
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And when I mean what I mean is he knows he's not a Christian, not necessarily that he knows he's going to help.
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He doesn't believe in hell, but he knows he's not a Christian.
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So so so so when I say lost and know it, what I mean is he knows he's not one of Christ's sheep.
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He would say, I'm not a follower of Jesus.
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I'm not a Christian.
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OK, easy enough.
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Now, there are those who are saved and they don't know it.
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Now, let me define this, because I think it's important when I say they're saved and they don't know it.
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What I mean is not that they don't know about Jesus or they don't know about the cross or they don't know about salvation.
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So I mean, they don't have any confidence.
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So rather than saying they don't know it, maybe say no confidence.
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There are people that live their life, they have faith in Jesus, but they live in fear because they they believe in Christ, they believe in Jesus.
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But they they are so ill confident in themselves because for some reason, somehow they think that it's either possible to lose it or it's possible that they don't have it.
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And they live with such lack of confidence.
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And that's that's not good.
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But I would say in the saved group, you have those who are saved and know it, those who are saved and don't know it.
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And those who are lost and they know it in the sense that they don't care, they've heard the gospel, they've heard the truth, they don't care.
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And then there are those who are lost.
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And they don't know it.
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Now, beloved of these four subdivisions, obviously the best is to be saved and know it.
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The confidence that comes in knowing that you're saved, that would be an awesome thing.
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To be saved and not know it is at least you're saved.
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I mean, it's not good to live in that kind of a defeated attitude and fear, but yet at least, you know, Christ.
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You know, so so this would be bad, but not as bad to be lost and know it is pretty bad.
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But the most fearful thing is to be here, to be lost.
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And ignorant of your condition.
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Turn to Matthew chapter seven, the Bible declares that this condition, condition four, as it were, is actually the condition of many.
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Matthew chapter seven, and we're going to read starting at verse 13.
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If you listen to the sermon I sent this week from Paul Washer, he spent some time in this text.
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I'm not going to I'm not going to spend as much time as he did.
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I just want to reference this as we move forward, because this this is so important.
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Verse 13, it says, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction.
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And those who enter in by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life.
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And those who find it are few.
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Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
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You will recognize them by their fruits are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles.
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So every healthy tree bears good fruit.
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But the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
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A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
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Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
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Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits.
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Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
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But the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven on that day, speaking of the day of judgment.
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Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do mighty works, many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
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Depart from me.
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You workers of lawlessness.
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Now, I want to just compare that last portion to what we've already read in First John.
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They went out from us, but they were not of us.
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Where had they been of us, they would have remained with us.
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But they went out to prove that they were never of us.
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Here, Jesus says, I never knew you.
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For those who believe that salvation is something once received and then lost, Jesus would have to say, well, I knew you for a time, but you couldn't hack it.
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Right.
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He'd have to say, I knew you for a while, but then you couldn't you couldn't make it work.
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It's not what he says.
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He says, I never knew you.
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The word no, there is an important and it's emphasized in Scripture when it speaks of God knowing an individual or Christ knowing an individual.
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It never speaks of simply having a passive taking in of knowledge.
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When I say I know, Pat, we talk about our relationship, you know, father, son or father, mother, son relationship.
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You know, that's a relationship.
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We know each other based on that relationship.
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When I know Jim, we have a relationship, we're friends.
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You know, I look at everyone around here.
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I know you all.
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But it's a passive taking of knowledge or an act of going out and seeking knowledge, coming to your houses, learning about you, eating food with you, those things.
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But that's not the way no is used in Scripture of God's knowledge of an individual.
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No, it's used as a setting of affection on an individual.
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When in Amos chapter three and verse two, it says, Israel, I have known of all the nations of the world doesn't mean I've simply taken in knowledge of Israel.
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It means God had said his affection on this nation.
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He had said his affection on this people.
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He had set them apart for his task, his work of bringing the Messiah into the world.
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He had an affection for them.
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I like to use examples.
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Sometimes people think this is crass, but it says Adam knew Eve and they bore a son.
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Well, that doesn't mean they just, you know, passively knew each other.
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There was there was a relationship there.
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And that actually has a sexual connotation.
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Adam knew Eve.
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So the word no in Scripture actually has various connotations.
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When Jesus says, I never knew you.
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This is in the redemptive relationship, the redemptive sense, you and I have never had a relationship which is formed through repentance and faith through the act of having been born again.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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And we could go there.
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I'm not really stressing on that issue, but certainly it is.
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And when I talk about election and God's choosing, it's God's setting of his affection on individuals before time so that we could address that for those whom he foreknew.
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He also did predestined to be conformed to the image of the son for whom he predestined.
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He called whom he called.
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He justified whom he justified.
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He glorified Romans eight.
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So, yes, there is a there is a connection there.
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But the point I'm making here is the issue of the knowledge of God is one of a relationship.
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Yes, sir.
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OK, I understand all this.
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Jesus tells us that Jesus is the way, the only way.
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Sure.
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Absolutely.
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So if you're not Christian, you're obviously already eliminated.
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Yes.
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But in Christianity, there's so many sources that people learn from and they grow up like Catholics believing those ways and traditions.
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And then a Protestant grows up believing other ways and traditions.
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But they all think they're good Christians.
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OK, so how does all this get sorted out and defined? The easiest answer is that the Scripture is the authority.
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It claims its own authority.
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Second Timothy 316.
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Paul, Peter and all the apostles and Jesus look to Scripture as the authority.
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So when a group is claiming to have authority and their authority is not being derived from Scripture, but from some other source such as the Pope, this papal authority does not come from Scripture.
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They don't find such authority in Scripture.
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Then we can look to that and say, well, here's an example of where you have a source of authority.
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The magisterial church of the Roman Catholic Communion, the magisterial body of the Roman Catholic Communion is an unscriptural body.
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And the teachings that they teach are clearly unscriptural and can be demonstrated to be unscriptural.
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And even many of them will say they don't look to the Scripture as their only source, but they use tradition along with Scripture.
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One of the things of the Council of Trent is to make the point that the Scripture and tradition are equal and that the church has the authority over the Scripture.
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And that is where we would say they have erred because the authority is derived from Scripture.
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We don't have authority over the Scripture.
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So I would say that where's the authority? Where's the source? It is Scripture.
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Absolutely.
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So, yes, yes.
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And that's the other thing.
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Yes.
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It is the very nature of man to want to cause God to conform to him rather than conforming to God.
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It is part of our depravity.
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It is part of our nature.
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It is to seek God's confirmation to us.
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That is what idolatry is.
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I don't like the way God is, so I will create a God that I like.
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You know, I'll carve a God out of stone.
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If you're a Catholic.
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I will say this, and I have taught on this quite prolifically in our history lesson.
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If a person is a Catholic, they are saved in spite of what they are taught, not because of what they're taught.
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Because the Roman Catholic Church has a false gospel.
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They do not have the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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I have and I can bear that out.
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No, I'm saying that if a person is saved in the Roman Catholic Church, I think there are saved people in the Roman Catholic Church.
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I want to make sure, because there are people who have faith in Christ, despite what they are taught.
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Again, I'm making the point that I believe there are people who are saved among the Mormons or people who are saved among the Jehovah's Witnesses.
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As I said, they're saved and they don't with lack of confidence because they are taught false things.
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And I believe that God will eventually lead them out of that.
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I don't believe that a person is saved and will remain in that falsehood.
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So maybe that'll make it more clear.
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I believe that a person who is saved will not remain under false teaching.
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I believe God will draw them out of that.
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So does that mean that I believe the vast majority of the people in the world are going to hell? Yep.
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If that offends you, read the text again.
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Not that I'm saying it does.
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I'm saying, well, let me read this again.
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I just want to get in or by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy, which leads to destruction.
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And those who enter by it are many.
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Jesus made no bones about the fact that the vast majority of the world is going to hell.
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Did you know that Billy Graham, most of you guys probably like Billy Graham? Did you know Billy Graham said, and I hesitate almost to say this because I'm afraid of what it may lead to, but I'll say it anyway.
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He said he said he would be surprised if five percent of the people in churches are saved.
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So look at yourselves.
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This is all about self-examination.
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I mean, that's Billy Graham talking about churches.
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He wasn't talking about Buddhists or Mormons or or even the Roman Catholics.
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He's talking about the Protestant churches.
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He said he'd be surprised if he said he knows he knows that many of the people that leave his crusades, having come forward, leave lost as they came.
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Absolutely.
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Absolutely.
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And that's that's kind of what I'm my thoughts this week.
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Part of the reason why I sent that video is because when I get ready to preach a sermon, if you haven't watched the video, get with me.
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I'll make sure you get the link.
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Part of the reason why I watched his sermon this week and others like it was because I knew I was preaching on this message.
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And I said, you know what, this is something that.
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I can use to to reinforce what I'm teaching, but it's also something that reinforces what you're all hearing.
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Paul Washer is just he's a he's a missionary.
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He's a church planter and he's a gospel preacher.
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And the message is called if you look it up on YouTube, it's called the shocking youth message.
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And the reason why it's shocking is because he got up and preached the gospel to youth.
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He didn't talk about Britney Spears and Pokemon cards and boogers.
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He talked about Jesus.
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And you know what? It was amazing to hear because he said, I won't be invited back, most likely.
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Because when men preach like I do, they don't get invited back.
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But he said, I love you too much not to tell you the truth.
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I feel the same way about you all.
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You know, I have a lot of things I could have talked about this morning.
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But what more important than is the is the salvation of your soul? So I want to end not really end, but I want to continue.
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I only have five minutes.
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I'm gonna have to start wrapping up soon.
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I want to end by going to Luke chapter eight.
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This parable is actually in all three of the synoptic gospels.
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So I'm sure you're familiar with it, by the way.
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The synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark and Luke.
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John is called the atopic gospel, meaning that John John deals with a lot of issues that are not related and not mentioned in the in the first three gospels.
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John's gospel comes later and sort of fills in some of the gaps.
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In fact, if we only had Matthew, Mark and Luke, we would we would assume that Jesus's ministry was only about a year long.
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It's John's gospel that comes along and shows that his ministry actually lasted about three years, filling in much of the time and gaps of history.
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So it's interesting.
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Matthew, Mark and Luke often say the same things and just a little different wording.
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But it's pretty much the same story three times, giving again that that Hebrew emphasis of hearing something three times as an emphasis.
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We have that in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
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And in Luke chapter eight, verse four, we have what is called the parable of the soils, sometimes called the parable of the sower.
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I tend to I don't think the sower is important.
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I think the soils is important.
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And that's why I call it the parable of the soils, says that when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable.
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A sower went out to sow his seed and he sowed some fell along the path.
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And was trampled underfoot and the birds of the air devoured it and some fell on the rock.
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And as it grew up, withered away because it had no moisture and some fell among thorns and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and some fell into good soil and grew and grew and yielded a hundred fold.
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And he said these things, he called out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.
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And when his his disciples asked him what this parable meant, this is interesting because not all of the parables are provided a commentary from Christ.
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But what is mentioned is that this parable actually sort of stands as a model for other parables as how this is interpreted as a model, because Jesus does provide commentary here, which he doesn't do for all of his parables.
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So this parable sort of stands out as a model parable because it's one of the only ones that he gives.
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This is what I meant when I said thus and so.
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He goes on in verse nine, he says, and when the disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said to you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God.
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But for others, they are in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand.
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Before we move on, just very quickly, this is one of those things that we have to understand.
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When Jesus was talking to great crowds, it wasn't always instruction.
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Sometimes it was in the riddle.
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A parable is not people say it's a heavenly story.
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It's an earthly story about a heavenly reality.
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No, it's a riddle, because Jesus said, my sheep will hear my voice.
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They will know me and I will know them.
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And those who are not my sheep will be confused.
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And there's a reality which there was a purpose in that.
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But be that as it may, he says that seeing they will not see and hearing they will not understand.
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So just making that clear, he tells us that.
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But going on in verse 11, the parable is this, by the way, this is he's talking to his disciples.
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The whole group didn't get this.
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His disciples is getting this portion.
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This is for them.
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This is the interpretation so that you know what it means.
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By the way, as disciples of Christ, I mean, not denominationally, as as as as people who are disciples of Jesus Christ, as you are, you get the inside scoop here.
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You got the scriptures, you get the inside scoop.
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He says now.
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The parable is this, the seed is the word of God.
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All right.
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That's what the seed represents.
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And the one along the path of those who have heard.
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Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart so that they may not believe and be saved.
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And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy.
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But they have no root.
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They believe for a while.
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And in time of testing, fall away.
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And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear.
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But as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life.
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And their fruit does not mature.
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And as for.
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That in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with repentance.
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Now, Jesus gives us another way of looking at the world, as I said, the whole world can be divided in the saved and the lost, can be further subdivided in the saved that know it and saved that don't know it, the loss that know it and the loss that don't know it.
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Jesus says there's another way.
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He said, ultimately, the word of God, which is the seed is spread.
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And there are some people that will immediately reject it.
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And I don't know how often you share your faith, but if you are active in evangelism.
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You know, there are some people who just don't want to hear it, that as soon as you speak about Jesus, I wear the shirts, you know, our church shirts, Theology Matters, and we love our church family.
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And I wear those out and I see people that look at me, you know, they turn their head away.
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Oh, he's going to talk to me.
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He's going to talk to me.
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You know, there are those who are they are the stony heart and they're and they have no they have no positive reaction to the gospel at all.
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And then there are those.
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Who I call the emotional receivers, they they get excited.
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Over the promise of the gospel, oh, this is joy and happiness and fruitfulness in heaven and angels and God and Jesus.
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Woo.
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And they last about a week because they are receiving it emotionally.
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It lasts only as long as the emotion lasts and emotions tend to go up and down.
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This is why we're told to take joy in all circumstances, not to be happy in all circumstances.
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There's a difference between joy and happiness.
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Joy is an undergirding of our being that we can have even in trials because the joy is coming from God.
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It's a it's a true joy that fills our heart with the knowledge that God exists and he has a plan for all things.
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And even in my trials, God is still God.
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He's still on his throne.
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There's a joy there.
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But I'm not happy when I go home and the pipe is busted in my floors.
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You know, I don't go in and say, well, you know, because emotions change and the person who is saved on emotion is not saved with any root.
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Jesus said they they fall away because they have no root.
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There is no genuine root.
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It's all emotion.
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They spring up for a time and they they leave as soon as they came.
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But then he said there are those.
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Who are choked out by the cares of this world and those I define as the eventual rebeller.
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Because some people come in and they're really serious about it, but because they truly have not left the world.
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Their heart is still there and they may have some serious desire to come in and really be a Christian.
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But Jesus said, unless we count the cost, have we truly? Have we truly received him? And I think the connection between Matthew chapter seven, which you read earlier, and Luke eight and the others where this parable is referenced, is this Matthew seven says you'll know them by their fruits and Luke eight and the other parables say this.
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The one who is truly saved is the one who bears fruit.
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So here is what I leave you with today, because time has left us.
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By the way, if you want to know what the fruit is, it's the fruit of the spirit.
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Galatians chapter five, verses twenty two to twenty four.
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But let me just read this to you.
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This is my conclusion.
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If you bear no spiritual fruit.
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If you want to know what that is, go to Galatians five, spend some time with this week in meditation, but if you bear no spiritual fruit.
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I can honestly tell you, you have no reason to be confident in your salvation.
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What good would it be for me to tell you to be confident in your salvation if you bear no fruit? I don't care if some evangelist told you to write your name in your Bible, as Paul Washer said, write your name in the day you were saved.
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It doesn't matter if you're not bearing spiritual fruit.
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A faith which is not marked by fruit is dead.
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James chapter two.
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If a man lives like the world, loves like the world, looks like the world, he is not a saved man.
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I have no reason to encourage confidence regarding salvation in a person whose life is lived without the fruit of the spirit.
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And if a man's life is lived with the fruit of the spirit, I won't have to give him confidence because the Lord will.
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So I say don't look for confidence in someone else.
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Look for confidence from scripture and from the fruit of God, which is being manifested in your life.
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If it is absent, ask why? And be always willing to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith.
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Father, I thank you for your word.
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I thank you for the truth of your word.
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I pray that as we prepare our hearts now to go into worship service, that you would bless us and keep us and Lord, that you would convict us.
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Let no one leave here today, Lord, without being confronted with the gospel.
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In Jesus name we pray.
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Amen.