Five Kinds of Unbelievers in the Assembly

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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March 24, 2019

00:07: I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
00:26: And we're going to look at verses 24 and 25.
00:29: 1 Corinthians 14, 24, and 25.
00:33: The title of today's message is, Unbelievers in the Assembly.
00:38: We started this message last week, so it became a two-part message.
00:43: So this is part two.
00:44: But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all.
01:00: The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
01:13: Father in heaven, I thank you for your word.
01:17: I pray now that as I seek to preach your word, that first and foremost, I would be filled with the Holy Spirit, and that I would be kept from error.
01:31: Lord, for the sake of your name, for the sake of your people, and the sake of my own conscience, Lord, I pray for that protection.
01:39: And I pray, Lord, that as the word of God is preached, that it will go out into the ears and into the heart, and that it would be mixed with faith, that it would be used for the believer to draw them closer to Christ, and for those here who are unbelievers.
02:07: Maybe they are playing a role, or maybe they are self-deceived.
02:17: Maybe they are here because someone forced them to come.
02:24: Father, for whatever reason, that the unbeliever would hear the word of God, would fall under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, fall onto his face in repentance of sin, and trust in Christ, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
02:45: And it's in Christ's name we pray.
02:48: Amen.
02:57: Well, we have been long in 1 Corinthians 14.
03:02: We began several weeks ago, looking at the overall context of verses 1 to 25, and I have gone verse by verse through this passage.
03:13: And if you are new with us this morning, or perhaps if you were not here for those messages, I am not going to go back and go over everything, but I do want to just kind of bring everyone up to speed as to where we are.
03:28: 1 Corinthians 14 is about how we ought to understand corporate worship within the assembly.
03:37: And the Apostle Paul is concerned about Corinth, because in Corinth there were great extremes.
03:43: There was extreme disobedience.
03:46: There was extreme pride.
03:47: There was extreme lack of desire to follow the authority of the Apostles and the Scriptures.
03:55: There was a lot of extremes in Corinth.
03:57: And as I've said, the title of this series, when I first started 1 Corinthians over a year ago, I said the title of the series is a church with problems, because that's what it was.
04:10: And so it provides for somewhat of a model, because I've never seen a church that didn't have some problems.
04:17: In fact, I was speaking to a young man just this past week, and he and his family are looking for a church, and I said, well, just remember, if you find a perfect church, do not join it, because you will destroy it.
04:32: Think on what I'm saying.
04:34: If you find a group of perfect people, don't join it, because you'll be the one.
04:41: There's no such thing as a perfect church.
04:44: But we strive.
04:46: We strive towards conformity to the Scriptures.
04:48: We strive towards following after the Lord Jesus Christ.
04:51: We strive to be a biblically functioning church.
04:56: And therefore, we have to sometimes be called to account.
05:01: Sometimes we have to be called out, and changes have to happen.
05:06: These are things that are necessary.
05:08: And so that's what Paul is doing.
05:10: Paul is calling out the believers in Corinth for the things where they have erred, for the areas that they have gone astray.
05:18: And one of the areas that they've gone astray most is in the area of the operation of the spiritual gifts.
05:25: The gifts had become an issue of pride.
05:29: People were seeking after gifts that they thought gave them some kind of notoriety or some kind of place within the body that would allow them to have some kind of a voice that was better or higher than someone else.
05:42: And so Paul explains in chapter 12, we can't think that way.
05:45: We can't think just because I'm a hand that I'm better than the foot, or because I'm the eye that I'm better than the ear.
05:50: But if God has placed these things in the body for a reason, every one of them has a purpose.
05:56: And how dare I say, well, because I'm the preacher and you're not, that I'm somehow better than you.
06:01: Or my gifts are somehow more valuable than your gifts.
06:05: And so Paul clearly enunciates that in chapter 12, that we have to be careful not to think too lowly of ourselves, but also not to think too highly of ourselves.
06:21: At the end of that chapter, he says, but earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.
06:26: So he doesn't want us to not concern ourselves with those.
06:30: And then chapter 13, he focuses on the love as the fruit of the Spirit, as the thing that's actually more important.
06:35: And if we don't have the fruit of the Spirit, then all the gifts in the world aren't going to matter.
06:39: We could move mountains with our faith.
06:41: We could be killed for our faith.
06:42: We could have the voice of angels.
06:45: And yet, if we have not love, it's all useless.
06:49: So then he comes to chapter 14.
06:50: And as I've said, I'm sort of rehearsing what we've talked about over several months.
06:55: In chapter 14, he focuses on the fact that within the assembly, there is to be order.
07:02: And it is to be, in fact, the last verse, all things are to be done decently and in order.
07:10: And so this whole chapter is about what does it mean to worship decently and in order.
07:15: And I must say, and I say this without trying to impugn or be ugly, I've been in a lot of churches where there was no order, where it was chaos.
07:28: I've only ever been a member of this church.
07:30: I grew up here, so I can't say I was ever a member of another church.
07:33: But I have certainly visited, and I've preached at several churches, and I've been around different churches for a long time.
07:40: And I've seen churches where the pastor was walking across the back of the pews.
07:43: I've seen churches where people are falling all over themselves.
07:46: I've seen all kinds of things that just are outlandish, and there are no order.
07:50: And I remember talking to somebody from one of those churches.
07:52: I said, why is it that you're violating the Scripture that says these things are to be done orderly? And they said, well, this is how we keep order.
07:59: I said, then words don't matter.
08:02: I said, because you're making up your own definition of what order is.
08:05: If that's how you keep order in chaos, then words don't matter.
08:10: Up is down, left is right.
08:11: It just doesn't matter.
08:14: So Paul is addressing order in worship.
08:18: In the first 25 verses, he's addressing the issue of the placement of the spiritual gifts, and he's saying there are certain gifts that within the assembly have more value than others because there are certain gifts in this time in Corinth that were being used but were not having any effect.
08:35: And the gift that was being used and not having any effect was the gift of languages.
08:38: People were speaking languages that nobody understood.
08:40: I do believe they were human languages, but they were speaking languages that no one understood, and thus the church was not being edified.
08:46: Just like as if I did a few weeks ago, if I started speaking Hebrew, nobody's going to know.
08:50: If I start speaking Greek, no one's going to know.
08:52: That's why I'm very careful, by the way, mentioning Greek and Hebrew in the sermon.
08:56: Because what's the use? Oftentimes I'll say this word means this, and in Greek it means this.
09:01: It's the same thing as English.
09:02: Why do I want to translate English into English? It doesn't do any good.
09:06: So I'm very careful not to just start sputtering out other languages.
09:11: There's no value in that.
09:16: So Paul is addressing the issue of the tongues and prophecy.
09:21: And he says, ultimately, at this point in time in the history of the church, prophecy was more valuable because people understood it.
09:29: People did not understand the tongues without an interpreter.
09:33: And so Paul says, I'd rather speak five words that people understand than 5,000 words in a tongue or in a language that no one understands.
09:41: And so that gives sort of the foundation of where we are.
09:44: And at the end of verses 24 and 25, we come to this part where Paul starts saying he's concerned about the unbeliever.
09:51: He said, think about it.
09:52: If an unbeliever comes into your assembly and everybody's speaking in a language that no one understands, they're going to think that you're crazy.
09:59: And rightfully so.
10:05: And so that caused me to think about, and I started last week, thinking about how we ought to understand unbelievers in the assembly.
10:13: How ought we respond to unbelievers coming into the church? And it became a two-part message.
10:21: Last week's message was this.
10:23: I said that we should not seek to tailor worship to unbelievers.
10:29: We should not seek to tailor worship to unbelievers because ultimately there's a few problems with that.
10:34: Number one, we should tailor our worship to what God commands because of something some of you are familiar with this, something called the regulative principle.
10:42: As a Reformed church, we try to hold to the regulative principle, which means that we do what God commands and nothing else.
10:50: The opposite of that is called the normative principle.
10:52: The normative principle is that we do whatever we want as long as God doesn't forbid it.
10:56: Well, that's pretty dangerous.
10:58: Because if you go back to the story of Nadab and Abihu, God didn't come down and say, Nadab and Abihu, this strange fire was forbidden.
11:07: That's not what He said.
11:08: In Leviticus 10, verse 1, God brings fire upon Nadab and Abihu because they did what was not commanded.
11:16: That's different.
11:18: It's not that they did what was forbidden.
11:21: It was that they did what was not commanded.
11:24: And so we try to be very careful to do only what the Lord commands because God is the audience of our worship.
11:32: God is the focus of worship, not the unbeliever.
11:37: So we do not tailor the service with Ozzy Osbourne songs.
11:41: And if you think I'm using hyperbole, I am not.
11:44: There are churches that play all kinds of...
11:47: There's Ozzy Osbourne, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC.
11:50: Britney Spears did a show at a church in California on Easter several years ago.
11:55: These things happen.
11:56: I'm not exaggerating.
12:00: You say, well, isn't it great to reach unbelievers? Certainly it is, but what you win them with is what you win them to.
12:07: And if you win them with a party, if you win them with a show, you're not winning them to Christ.
12:11: You're winning them to the party.
12:13: You're winning them to the show.
12:15: And by the way, if I keep going, I'm just going to re-preach last week.
12:17: That was last week's message.
12:21: Because this week I want to address the second half of that.
12:24: Because we said we cannot tailor worship to the unbeliever.
12:29: But this week I said, this week we're going to talk about the fact that we cannot forget the unbeliever.
12:36: So there's two sides to that, right? There's two extremes.
12:38: See, the hyper-Calvinist would say we don't ever focus on the unbeliever at all and there is such a thing as hyper-Calvinism and we are not that.
12:47: Hyper-Calvinism says we don't evangelize, we don't seek the lost, we don't preach the gospel.
12:54: That's false.
12:56: In fact, I had a guy, we were evangelizing at the fair.
12:59: And I was handing out tracts and talking to people about the gospel.
13:02: A guy came up and said, why are you doing this? You're reformed.
13:04: I said, sure, I'm reformed.
13:07: He said, well, don't you know that God's going to save who He's going to save? I said, yes, but God uses means to save the unbeliever.
13:14: And the means of the saving of the unbeliever is the preaching of the gospel.
13:18: I said, didn't you believe your child was ordained to be born on the day they were born? He said, yes.
13:23: I said, didn't you have to have sex to have that child? You might think that's a crass example.
13:30: But there was a means to bring about an end.
13:35: And the means of scripture is preaching the gospel.
13:39: If I offended you, I'm sorry.
13:41: I shouldn't have used that word.
13:43: There was an event that caused the birth of your child.
13:48: The point is, we are active in the participation of bringing about the will of God.
13:55: Sometimes we're very joyfully active.
14:01: Sometimes we go kicking and screaming.
14:04: But we are participating.
14:07: When Joseph looked at his brothers at the end of his time in Egypt, and he was there, and they were there having fallen down before him, thinking they were going to be killed because they had sold him into slavery.
14:19: Joseph looked at his brothers and said, what you did for evil, God did for good.
14:25: To bring about this day, many people will lie.
14:27: Genesis chapter 50, verse 20.
14:29: By the way, the same verb in Hebrew is used in both places.
14:31: What you did, God did.
14:34: It's very important to remember God's will is being worked out.
14:38: And so we are actively participating in that.
14:42: We are calling people to repentance.
14:43: We are preaching the gospel to people.
14:46: And we should.
14:48: And so when we think of the unbeliever in the worship service, how ought we respond? How ought we think about that? Well, look back at the text.
15:00: I just want to remind you.
15:01: I talked about this last week.
15:02: I just want to remind you two things.
15:04: If you notice in this passage, verse 25, it says, if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all.
15:14: Remember, there are two words used here.
15:16: And I am going to mention Greek.
15:17: I said earlier, I just want to point this out.
15:21: The unbeliever, apistos, it literally means unfaithful or a person who doesn't have faith.
15:26: Jesus uses this word a lot in the gospels to refer to the unfaithful, a person that is not a believer.
15:36: But the next word is a little different.
15:38: Idiotes means lack of knowledge.
15:43: We can kind of think of the English word, idiotes.
15:47: That would transliterate over into English.
15:50: But really what it means is the uninitiated, the person who just doesn't know.
15:55: And so Paul is addressing essentially the unbelieving and the ignorant.
16:02: And he says, what happens when they come into your service? And I just, as I mentioned last week, it just reminds me of the fact that even in the first century, unbelievers were coming into the service.
16:16: They were coming in and hearing the truth.
16:19: Amazing reality that is to me, because sometimes these churches are in people's houses and yet unbelievers are coming in.
16:29: So Paul tells us what to do.
16:33: He says, you preach so that they will understand.
16:37: That's how prophecy there is being used.
16:38: He's saying you have to prophesy.
16:39: You have to preach where they'll understand.
16:41: Because if you speak in a way that they don't understand, it's not going to help them.
16:44: You preach in a way that they understand so that the secrets of their heart will be disclosed.
16:49: They will fall on their face.
16:50: They will worship God and they'll realize God was really among you.
16:59: That's the goal.
17:00: We want unbelievers to be called to account.
17:05: We want their hearts to be exposed.
17:08: We want them to fall under conviction of the Holy Spirit.
17:11: And we want them to be converted.
17:13: That's our desire.
17:16: Now we can't manage and manipulate that.
17:20: All we can do is provide the opportunity to hear the truth.
17:24: Because I can pull out my pocket and show you my driver's license.
17:27: It does not say Holy Spirit.
17:29: It says Keith Foskey.
17:31: And so I am not the Holy Spirit of God.
17:35: I do not have the power to convert a sinner.
17:38: In fact, if I thought I did, I would drive myself crazy.
17:41: If I thought I had the power to convert sinners, and I've talked it.
17:44: Read Rick Warren's book.
17:46: He said you help me find anyone's felt need and I can lead anybody to Jesus.
17:52: It was either Purpose Driven Life or Purpose Driven Church.
17:56: But he said if I find someone's felt need, I can lead anybody to Jesus.
18:00: Jesus couldn't lead everybody to Jesus.
18:03: In fact, Jesus had the worst statistics ever.
18:06: One sermon in John chapter 6, he lost thousands of people.
18:10: He ended up with just 12, and he said are you going to lead two? Jesus started the Church Reduction Movement.
18:18: We have to talk about the Church Growth Movement.
18:19: Jesus had the Church Reduction Movement.
18:21: Because he preached the truth, and people left.
18:30: So the reality is, we want to preach to where people are held to account.
18:36: We want to see them converted, but we can't manipulate that.
18:39: We can't lower the lights and play the organ real slow.
18:43: We don't have an organ.
18:43: Play the piano real slow.
18:46: Sing 150 verses of Just As I Am.
18:50: Have Steve get up here in his soft voice.
18:52: Start talking people down the aisle while I stand there and wait for them to come.
19:01: Say, wait a minute, Pastor.
19:02: You're being ugly.
19:03: I'm not trying to be ugly.
19:04: I'm saying this is what we see.
19:06: We see these tactics being used.
19:09: I've told this story a thousand times, but I can't.
19:11: There's always new folks, right? She's always going to hear my story.
19:14: There's a church up north that built a baptistry that looked like a fire truck.
19:19: So that at the end of BBS, they would have more baptisms.
19:24: Now you tell me what six-year-old ain't going to want to get into the fire truck.
19:29: And when they got baptized, the sirens went off.
19:34: You tell me they didn't get the most baptisms all year with that fire truck.
19:43: And you also tell me that's not manipulation.
19:49: If you manipulate conversion, you don't get conversion.
19:52: You get a church filled with lost people.
19:57: And while we want to welcome the lost people into the church, we don't welcome them into membership until they come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
20:07: One pastor in Atlanta boasted that he welcomes atheists to join their church.
20:14: To join the church, not just come, but to join the church.
20:19: They do not have to make a confession of faith.
20:22: They're welcomed into the covenant community without covenant.
20:26: Welcomed into the family of faith without being of faith.
20:30: And he boasted in such a thing.
20:31: What a wonderful thing it is that atheists want to be a part of what we're doing.
20:39: What a wondrous thought it is that an atheist would want to...
20:48: Let me back that up.
20:50: Let me start that sentence again.
20:53: It's a wonder why an atheist would want to.
20:56: It has to be something that would appeal to an atheist.
21:00: If you ever heard him preach, then you would know why.
21:06: So today, again, we're talking about the danger of failing to worry about unbelievers.
21:12: Because last week we talked about we can't focus on unbelievers, but we have to concern ourselves with them.
21:20: And we have to do so by preaching the gospel, not manipulating them.
21:25: If you're an unbeliever here today and you know you are an unbeliever, I want you to know I'm never going to try to manipulate you to believe in Christ.
21:32: I will always point you to Christ through faith and repentance, but I'm not going to manipulate your heart.
21:35: I'm not going to try to anyway.
21:38: That doesn't mean I won't try to point you to the fear of the Lord and point you to the reality of hell and the things that are associated with unbelief.
21:46: Because some people say, well, that's manipulation if you tell somebody about hell.
21:49: No, Jesus was pretty good at telling people about hell.
21:51: In fact, nobody preached about it quite like him.
21:54: But that's not manipulation.
21:55: That just points people to the truth.
21:57: There is consequence to this life.
21:59: I do funerals all the time.
22:01: I work with Corey Curlin Funeral Home here in town.
22:03: I do probably four or five funerals a month working with them.
22:07: Families that I've never met before.
22:09: And every time I do a funeral, I know I'm talking to people that don't know Jesus most of the time.
22:13: And I'm talking to families and people who just died not knowing Jesus.
22:17: You say, how do you know they didn't know Jesus? Well, I don't always know, but there's a good chance that if they're calling me, they don't have a church or a minister of their own.
22:25: So that that kind of lends to that.
22:28: But not always.
22:29: Sometimes I'm gladly surprised.
22:31: But in general, it's something to consider.
22:38: So we gather together.
22:40: We know unbelievers are among us.
22:43: What do we do? We preach the gospel.
22:48: Every week, we preach the gospel.
22:51: That doesn't mean every service is going to be the same.
22:53: That doesn't mean every sermon is going to be the same.
22:56: But we ought always to remember that the gospel is the power of salvation.
22:59: And it needs to be heard by everyone, even believers.
23:03: I think I said this last week, but just in case I didn't, if you get tired of hearing the gospel and you're a believer, there's something wrong with that.
23:10: You should never get tired of hearing the gospel.
23:13: Martin Luther said, I preach the gospel every week because every week my people forget.
23:17: Actually, what he said was, I preach justification by faith every week because every week people forget.
23:25: And by the way, the gospel isn't that I'm going to preach 20 minutes about my text, and then the last five minutes I'm going to stop and I'm going to do a little gospel presentation.
23:32: I'm going to become Billy Graham for five minutes.
23:35: That's not what that means.
23:37: That's often what happens.
23:38: In fact, I was told that in seminary.
23:39: You get 20 minutes for a sermon, you get 20 minutes for a sermon, but the last five minutes you got to spend doing your invitation.
23:54: And that's a method.
23:56: Thankfully, not all the professors believe that, but I remember hearing one of them.
23:59: Yes, you preach 20.
24:01: You can't preach more than 30 minutes.
24:03: Again, not here, but that's what I was told.
24:05: And some of you might probably wish I would have listened, but I didn't.
24:10: So you can't preach more than 30 minutes, and you can't go, you can't spend, you have to spend the last five, ten minutes bringing people to the invitation.
24:23: But let me tell you this, I believe the whole message should be Christ-centered.
24:26: Every text of the Bible points to Jesus Christ, either explicitly or implicitly to Jesus.
24:31: And so we just preach Christ from the text, and we point people to Christ at every moment of the message.
24:41: The Gospel is preaching Christ from all the Scriptures.
24:44: Jesus did that on the road to Emmaus when He met those two after the resurrection.
24:48: It says, starting with Moses and all the prophets, He showed them the things of God pertaining to Him.
24:57: The Scriptures that pointed to Him.
24:59: The whole Bible is about Jesus, and so I should be able to preach Jesus anywhere.
25:03: In fact, Charles Spurgeon had that happen.
25:05: He had a young man preach a sermon, and it was a wonderfully articulated Bible study.
25:12: And afterwards, the young man wanted to hear what Spurgeon had to say.
25:15: And he said to him, because Spurgeon was a little, it was a little, I don't want to say rough, but he would say it kind of like it is.
25:22: He said, look, he said, there was no Jesus in your message.
25:25: Go back and don't preach again until you have something to say.
25:29: So you didn't have any Jesus in your message.
25:32: Okay.
25:37: So, we preach Christ every time we gather together.
25:41: We preach justification by faith in Him alone every time we come together.
25:44: We point every man to Jesus Christ.
25:46: Therefore, if unbelievers are among us, they will always hear that, one, they are a sinner, and two, there is a Savior who is greater than their sin.
25:57: Jesus Christ's salvation is greater than any sin you've ever committed.
26:01: And He stands willing to forgive anyone who comes to Him by faith and repentance.
26:07: Now, we understand there's a power of God that causes that person to come.
26:13: But Jesus, like the father in the story of the prodigal son, stands ready to receive any who receives Him by faith and repentance.
26:23: And so, there are unbelievers.
26:27: There are unbelievers here this morning.
26:30: You need to hear that.
26:33: And I'm glad that you're here.
26:35: In fact, I'm going to finally get around to my outline because, as I said last week, I wanted to actually remind us of five different types of unbelievers that are always here.
26:45: There's five different types of unbelievers that are always here.
26:50: And that was sort of everything else's introduction.
26:54: I want you to look at five different types of unbelievers in the assembly with me.
26:58: Number one, children.
27:01: If you're writing, if you want to write an outline, the first one that we need to consider every time we gather, and we are a family-integrated worship, meaning we don't send the kids to children's church.
27:11: There is no children's church.
27:13: There is no children's pastor.
27:16: There's five elders.
27:18: All of us are pastors.
27:21: If you need a children's pastor, we've got five to choose from.
27:24: But you have a children's pastor who's called the daddy.
27:28: So our goal is to teach dads how to minister to their children.
27:31: And when worship happens, we all come do it together.
27:35: Now, we have a nursery because there are little baby babies who need that, and that's fine.
27:40: But when they're old enough to sit, they're old enough to listen.
27:42: When they're old enough to listen, they come in here.
27:45: Because we want them to hear the gospel too.
27:48: You say, well, they just don't understand that.
27:49: You'd be amazed how much these little guys...
27:53: I get drawings from the kids every week.
27:55: I put pictures up on Facebook sometimes.
27:57: They're so sweet.
27:58: The kids will draw me pictures.
27:59: I'm not asking.
28:00: They don't say anything.
28:02: They ask me for more pictures.
28:03: But I get these drawings, and they always have the Scripture verses written on them.
28:08: They always have these things, the screens, and what the words on the screens are writing down.
28:18: You'd be amazed at what they're hearing.
28:21: But this is what I want to say to you.
28:23: If you are a parent today, especially if you have young children, something you need to understand.
28:26: Your child is not a believer because they were born in your house.
28:32: In fact, until they repent and believe the gospel, you are living with little lost people.
28:39: And if you don't believe it, come spend an hour with my three-year-old.
28:43: You will believe you're in the presence of a lost folk, a lost little boy.
28:48: My son is three years old, and he already acts like Eve.
28:55: So what do you mean he acts like Eve? Eve wanted to be like God.
28:59: That was how the serpent tempted Eve on this day that you eat of this, you will be like God? That little three-year-old wants to be God.
29:07: He wants to watch what he wants to watch, wear what he wants to wear, eat what he wants to eat, sit where he wants to sit, sleep where he wants to sleep.
29:13: He is the little sovereign.
29:14: I call him T.D.
29:17: It stands for total depravity.
29:18: That's his nickname.
29:19: I say, I call my house.
29:21: I'm here at the office.
29:21: I say, baby, how's T.D.
29:22: doing? Well, he's having a day.
29:26: What is it? Vody Bokum.
29:27: They're a viper in a diaper, right? They're exercising the sin nature that they were born with, and we have to violate that nature with discipline.
29:39: You know the text that says, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
29:44: You realize that's not a promise.
29:47: That is a warning.
29:50: It really is.
29:52: It's not a promise.
29:53: It is a warning.
29:55: Because actually in Hebrew what it says is, Train up a child in the way he wants to go.
29:59: Or train up a child according to his bent.
30:01: Meaning training him up, letting him be the way he wants to be.
30:05: When he grows up, he will be unable to reach him.
30:09: You have to reach him when he's small.
30:18: So when we deal with children, I honestly think there's, again, going back to the two categories of epistas and idiotes, unbeliever and outsider, I look at children more like the outsider because they're forced to be here generally.
30:35: The children, you have to get them up, get them dressed, make them come.
30:39: But oftentimes, especially as they grow up, kids want to please mommy and daddy.
30:45: Some.
30:47: And so in that desire to please them some, a lot of times they'll exercise religious things.
30:53: They'll come in.
30:54: They'll sit quietly.
30:55: They'll pray with their hands.
30:57: They'll listen.
30:59: They'll sing.
31:00: And the thing that often happens is they get acclimated to Christianity as a behavior rather than as a conversion.
31:10: And at a certain point, they just sort of I'm a Christian because I'm here.
31:16: And the parents start thinking he's a Christian because he's here.
31:21: Right.
31:21: And so the child becomes a Christian by just de facto placement.
31:26: He's here in the church, so he must be a believer.
31:30: You'll know when my kids become believers.
31:33: Because it won't be until then that I baptize them.
31:36: By the way, that's why we are not we we are not Presbyterian.
31:42: We don't baptize infants.
31:44: We baptize upon confession of faith.
31:47: Now, that doesn't mean that a person can't be a false believer.
31:50: And that's actually one of the five.
31:51: So we'll get there in a minute.
31:54: But we treat our children as those who are not yet initiated.
31:59: Remember, that's what that word means.
32:00: They have not yet come to faith.
32:01: And therefore, we preach the gospel to them, praying that God would change their heart.
32:06: Well, my 16-year-old daughter, she's 21 now, but she's 21 this week.
32:10: When she was 16 years old, she came to me, Daddy, I want to be baptized.
32:13: Praise God.
32:15: So I began to pray with her.
32:17: Read scripture with her.
32:18: Spend time with her.
32:19: I mean, I've been doing that her whole life.
32:21: But up until that moment, I had not pushed her.
32:24: We didn't build a baptistry fire truck.
32:26: We said, no, we're going to wait until God moves on her heart.
32:29: And she comes and requests that she receive this sign that's going to show her union with Christ.
32:37: That's what the baptism is for.
32:39: It pictures the union.
32:40: See, when the Holy Spirit enters you, you become baptized into Christ in that moment.
32:46: And you are made at one with Him.
32:47: You are in union with Him and with the body.
32:49: That's the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
32:52: Baptism in the water is the sign of that reality.
32:57: It's the sign of being placed into the body of Christ.
33:02: And being unioned with Him and with the church.
33:06: Thank God we got to see that today.
33:10: We see the picture of what has already happened in the heart.
33:16: And that's what we want.
33:17: We want our children to believe.
33:19: We want them to be baptized.
33:20: But we don't want to manipulate that.
33:22: And we don't want to assume that.
33:23: Parents, don't assume your children are believers.
33:28: It's a dangerous assumption.
33:32: But I want to say this.
33:33: On the same side of that.
33:35: How am I going to get to all five? I'm on the first one.
33:39: It's been a little too long in the introduction.
33:42: Here's the other thing.
33:43: Don't assume your children are believers just because they're here with you.
33:50: But also be careful holding them back from making the confession too.
33:57: I've seen that a lot.
33:58: Well, I'm afraid my child is going to be a false professor.
34:02: I understand that fear.
34:04: And the Bible does address it.
34:05: I mean, Philip, he baptized Simon in Acts 8.
34:10: And he was a false convert.
34:13: And I was baptized at eight years old.
34:14: I was not a believer.
34:17: I wasn't saved until I was 19.
34:21: And it was actually after I got into ministry that I realized I wasn't properly baptized.
34:25: And I was baptized properly when I was 24 years old.
34:29: I was the keynote speaker at a camp.
34:32: And they baptized me at the camp.
34:34: Because halfway through camp, I started to get convicted of the fact that I was not properly baptized.
34:37: I was calling these kids to repentance and faith and the need to be baptized.
34:41: And I hadn't been properly baptized.
34:43: And so there's this moment in my life where I had this.
34:45: And I went to the guy, the head, and Brother Jim used to be our music leader.
34:48: And I went to Brother Jim.
34:49: I said, I'm not properly baptized.
34:50: He goes, well, I don't want to do it.
34:53: Not really what he said.
34:54: But he said, Keaton, that would confuse everybody.
34:57: I said, no, I think it would show genuine repentance.
34:59: Because this is me repenting of not being.
35:05: Again, it didn't change the fact that I was saved.
35:07: But it was me repenting of not being obedient.
35:14: So think of your children.
35:16: Don't assume they're saved because they're in your house.
35:21: In fact, here's what you can know.
35:23: Here's what you can know about your child.
35:24: If you want to write this down.
35:25: First Corinthians 714 says that your child being in your house sanctifies them.
35:32: Not save them, but it does sanctify them.
35:34: First Corinthians 714 says that a child with one believing parent is set apart.
35:40: That's what the word sanctified means in that context.
35:43: It means they're set apart.
35:44: By the way, an unbelieving spouse is set apart, too.
35:48: If you are here today and you're a believer.
35:51: And you have a spouse at home who doesn't believe and is not coming to church with you.
35:56: Know this.
35:57: Your life is a sanctifying presence in the life of your spouse.
36:02: Your life lived for Christ.
36:06: If it's a life lived in quiet submission and love for the Savior.
36:12: Working at home with your husband and loving him.
36:14: That is a testimony to your faith.
36:17: Praise God.
36:18: On the other side of that.
36:21: The children are the same.
36:23: You've got, whether it be a husband or wife who are unbelievers.
36:27: And the sanctifying spouse also sanctifies the children.
36:30: How? Because you bring the presence of the Lord into that home.
36:33: You bring the word of the Lord into that home.
36:35: And therefore that child is different from other children in the world.
36:39: Because other children are not getting what your child is getting.
36:42: Your child is getting the word of God.
36:44: And there is a sanctifying presence, but that is not what saves them.
36:49: That's just what gives them the benefit of being in the house that's being managed by the word of God.
36:56: Or at least partially managed by the word of God if it's only one parent.
37:00: So I'm not saying don't be glad you have children.
37:04: Or don't think your children aren't in a good place.
37:07: Because if your children are in your home and you're submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ.
37:11: Then your children are so much more better off than a child who's not.
37:16: And there's a sanctification that is for them that is such a blessing.
37:22: And that's a wonderful thing.
37:24: But please, please, please be careful assuming your children are believers.
37:29: Now the next three I'll do kind of quick.
37:31: Because the next three, like I said, the first one, children are believers obviously.
37:36: If they're here, they need to hear the gospel and they're always here.
37:38: The next three, number one, or number two really, the special occasion visitor.
37:44: Every time we have a holiday, Mother's Day, Father's Day.
37:48: Mother's Day is the best because it's always got people coming on Mother's Day.
37:50: Because they want to satisfy Mom and they want to be here, right? And so we have special occasion visitors.
37:55: People come during Christmas, people come during Resurrection time, Holy Week and all that stuff.
37:59: We get visitors.
38:00: And so this person may not be an unbeliever.
38:03: They may not be a believer, but we don't know.
38:05: But we can assume that many of them are not believers.
38:11: And so there is a time when unbelievers are among us.
38:16: Number three, the invited friend or guest.
38:20: This person has seen a sign or maybe a Facebook post or an online message that says, Come visit us at SGFC.
38:27: And they listened and they came.
38:31: Do you know that most of the people that come to this church do not come? By driving by and stopping.
38:38: Most of the people that come here, come here because either one of you invited them.
38:43: Which is a little bit of a, should be an encouragement.
38:48: Or because they were invited online.
38:50: I'll look at the Gomez's that are joining with us this morning.
38:53: They were invited by Amy Frazier through Facebook.
38:55: Praise God.
38:57: And started to come.
38:59: And so we know these people come.
39:02: And sometimes they come because you were kind to them.
39:04: Or you shared the gospel with them.
39:06: And you gave them a gospel track.
39:08: And you said, come visit with us.
39:09: And they showed up.
39:09: Okay, so they're here.
39:11: What do we do with them? Do we ignore them? No.
39:13: We want them to hear the gospel.
39:16: Number four.
39:18: So we said the child of a believer, special occasion visitor.
39:22: The one invited.
39:23: The guest.
39:24: But number four is the interested spectator.
39:30: And this is somebody who just wants to know what church is all about.
39:34: They've heard things.
39:34: They've never been a part of a church.
39:36: You realize there are people who don't grow up in church.
39:37: Never are in church.
39:39: And they don't know what church is about.
39:42: Amazes me.
39:42: I mean, I grew up in church.
39:43: You know, even though I wasn't a believer, I was there.
39:47: So it's not unfamiliar.
39:50: But there are people.
39:52: I mean, my wife is a good example.
39:54: My wife grew up in a house that they never went to church.
39:58: In fact, I remember my wife got saved before I did.
40:02: Because I shared the gospel with her on accident.
40:07: Because I weren't a believer.
40:08: So I couldn't say it was intentional.
40:11: But I shared the gospel with her.
40:12: Because when I grew up hearing.
40:14: She gets saved.
40:15: A few months later, I get saved.
40:19: Praise God for that.
40:20: Right.
40:24: But she was interested.
40:26: She was.
40:26: And this is why I said last week.
40:27: I said there's no such thing as a seeker.
40:29: God's the only seeker.
40:29: The Bible says no one seeks for God.
40:31: But that doesn't mean there aren't people who are interested in what's going on.
40:35: And that's about as close to I could say what a seeker would be.
40:37: Somebody who just wants to hear what's happening.
40:40: What is.
40:40: What goes on in that strange building.
40:45: And they come in.
40:47: And here's the thing that scares me.
40:51: Is this usually doesn't just happen one time.
40:54: Usually the interested spectator.
40:57: Will come back.
40:58: And come back.
40:59: And come back.
41:00: And the problem is they stay a spectator.
41:06: I want to say this.
41:07: If you've been sitting here for a while now.
41:09: And you have not come to Jesus Christ.
41:12: Why? What are you waiting on? Is it that you still don't know that it's true? Or is it because you feel like because you've been here for a little while.
41:24: You're already there.
41:26: That's a dangerous thing.
41:28: Well I'm among the people of God.
41:29: So I must be one of the people of God.
41:31: Read Hebrews 6.
41:33: Hebrews 6 talks about people who come in.
41:35: Taste the heavenly gift.
41:37: They're a part of the assembly.
41:38: And then they fall away.
41:41: And what does it say? It's impossible to restore such a one under repentance.
41:43: There's a lot that goes with that.
41:44: It's a whole other sermon.
41:45: But the point of the matter is.
41:46: Be careful.
41:47: Just thinking that because you're here.
41:49: That you are a part.
41:50: If you have not received the Lord Jesus Christ.
41:51: By faith and repentance.
41:53: Then you're just a spectator.
41:57: You may be interested.
41:58: And that interest may be really deep interest.
42:02: But you remain an uninitiated.
42:04: You remain a person who has not yet.
42:06: Bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ.
42:08: What are you waiting on? Number five.
42:13: And I'll use this to draw to a close.
42:16: Number five is the false convert.
42:21: The false convert stirs my soul the most.
42:24: Because this is the person who comes into the church.
42:27: Makes a profession.
42:28: Is baptized.
42:29: Joins the church.
42:30: But is still lost.
42:37: And I know most of you know this verse.
42:39: But turn there with me.
42:40: We'll end by turning to Matthew chapter 7.
42:46: Matthew chapter 7.
42:51: This is toward the end of the Sermon on the Mount.
42:53: The greatest sermon that was ever preached.
42:54: By the greatest preacher who ever spoke.
42:57: Jesus Christ.
42:59: And as he drew his message to a conclusion.
43:03: He begins to give the reality.
43:09: That there are those who build their house on a rock.
43:11: There are those who build their house on the sand.
43:12: But before he says that.
43:13: He says understand this.
43:15: There are going to be people who say Lord, Lord.
43:17: Who are not really converted.
43:19: Let me read it to you.
43:19: It's Matthew 7.21.
43:21: Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord.
43:24: Will enter the kingdom of heaven.
43:26: But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
43:30: On that day many will say to me Lord, Lord.
43:32: Did we not prophesy in your name.
43:34: Cast out demons in your name.
43:35: And do many mighty works in your name.
43:38: And then will I declare to them.
43:39: I never knew you.
43:42: Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.
43:47: A.W.
43:47: Tozer said this.
43:48: He said it is my opinion.
43:49: That tens of thousands of people.
43:51: If not millions.
43:52: Have been brought into some kind of religious experience.
43:54: By accepting Christ.
43:56: And they have not been saved.
44:03: Who is the most egregious false convert in history? Thank you.
44:08: Judas.
44:10: The most egregious false convert in history.
44:12: Was a man who walked with Jesus for three years.
44:15: Who sat at his table every day.
44:18: Who heard the word of God every day.
44:20: Was baptized.
44:21: Was received as one of the apostles.
44:24: In fact.
44:25: When.
44:27: When the apostles were told by Jesus.
44:30: One of you will betray me.
44:34: Nobody said.
44:35: It's Judas.
44:38: Because he looked just like the rest of them.
44:40: In fact.
44:42: They didn't say it's Judas.
44:44: What did they say? Is it I? Is it I? You know the one.
44:49: I have a hard time believing Judas was saying.
44:52: Is it I? Kind of think he was like going.
44:56: It's not me.
44:59: Is it I? The reality is.
45:06: Judas.
45:09: Was a false convert.
45:14: And I think there are Judas's here today.
45:17: Now when I say that.
45:18: I don't mean traitor.
45:18: People often equate Judas with traitor.
45:21: I'm not saying that.
45:22: But I am saying there are people here.
45:24: Who look like Christians.
45:25: Who talk like Christians.
45:27: Who have the vernacular down.
45:29: And who could probably fool.
45:30: Anyone.
45:31: And yet they're not fooling God.
45:43: And the reality is.
45:44: This could be any of the ones I just mentioned.
45:47: The person who's the spectator.
45:49: Could be a false convert.
45:50: The person who's the guest.
45:52: Could be a false convert.
45:53: The person who is.
45:55: The special occasion.
45:56: Person.
45:57: Could be a false convert.
45:58: And children.
45:59: Can be false converts.
46:02: In fact.
46:02: I was asked to speak at a school.
46:07: Last year.
46:10: Christian High School.
46:12: And I was the.
46:15: Person speaking.
46:17: At Chapel.
46:19: And I said.
46:20: What would you like me to speak on? And they said.
46:22: You choose.
46:23: I said.
46:24: You sure.
46:24: They said.
46:26: You let me pick.
46:27: Okay.
46:29: I preach.
46:29: Matthew 7.
46:30: 21.
46:30: 23.
46:31: On the question.
46:33: Why do children leave the faith? When they leave home.
46:37: Answer.
46:37: Most of them have not been converted.
46:39: That's the reason.
46:41: I mean.
46:41: You can go through all of this stuff.
46:43: Well.
46:43: It's an old fogey church.
46:45: Or whatever.
46:45: You can go through.
46:46: All these reasons.
46:47: The vast majority reason.
46:48: Why people leave the faith.
46:50: Is because they were never believers.
46:51: To begin with.
46:52: They went out from among us.
46:53: Because they were not of us.
46:54: For had they been of us.
46:55: They would remain with us.
46:56: But they went out from us.
46:57: To demonstrate.
46:57: That they were never of us.
46:58: First John.
46:59: Chapter 2.
47:00: That's right.
47:06: But we try to convince people.
47:07: They're believers.
47:08: Rather than saying.
47:09: Examine yourself.
47:12: We do communion.
47:13: Every week.
47:13: It's an opportunity.
47:14: For self-examination.
47:15: Now.
47:16: It's not an opportunity.
47:16: For you to sit there.
47:17: And wring your hands.
47:18: Every week.
47:18: And wonder if you're saved.
47:20: I don't like that either.
47:21: That's bad too.
47:23: The devil is in the business.
47:24: Of making saved people.
47:25: Feel unsaved.
47:26: And unsaved people.
47:27: Feel saved.
47:30: Because an unsaved person.
47:32: Who feels saved.
47:32: Is worse.
47:34: Or is bad.
47:35: But a saved person.
47:35: Who thinks he's unsaved.
47:37: Is always going to be ineffective.
47:38: Because he's always wringing his hands.
47:39: Worried.
47:40: About whether or not.
47:41: He knows Jesus.
47:43: Somebody comes to me.
47:44: And says.
47:44: I'm worried if I'm saved or not.
47:45: I say.
47:45: Well.
47:46: The fact that you're worried.
47:47: Gives me at least some hope.
47:49: Because the people I worry about.
47:51: Are the people who don't worry at all.
47:53: Of course.
47:53: Of course.
47:54: I'm saved.
47:54: I'm a great guy.
47:56: If that's what you're banking on.
47:59: Is your goodness.
48:01: That's dangerous.
48:05: But the reality is.
48:06: People.
48:10: Are.
48:11: Falsely converted.
48:13: But here's how they're falsely converted.
48:14: I got to draw it in.
48:15: People are falsely converted.
48:16: By a false gospel.
48:19: So I think.
48:20: One of the ways.
48:21: That we overcome that.
48:22: Is just by preaching the true gospel.
48:25: It's not always going to.
48:26: It's not always going to be.
48:28: The case.
48:29: But the vast majority of places.
48:30: Where I've been.
48:31: Where it's been filled with false converts.
48:32: Because they're getting a false gospel.
48:35: So.
48:36: Preach the true gospel.
48:38: Trust in God's ability to save.
48:41: Rather than our manipulative tactics.
48:44: And pray for their salvation.
48:46: And let God be God.
48:50: So we should be concerned.
48:52: We should never tailor worship to the unbeliever.
48:54: But we should always understand.
48:56: That there's always unbelievers among us.
48:57: Of different kinds.
48:58: And while they may have different reasons for being here.
49:01: They're all in the same condition.
49:02: They're all lost.
49:03: And they all need to hear about Christ.
49:05: And if you don't care about lost people.
49:07: You are not saved.
49:10: That was a quote from Charles Spurgeon.
49:12: He said.
49:13: If you have no concern for others to be saved.
49:16: You can be very certain that you yourself are lost.
49:23: So when we come together for worship.
49:25: We focus on God.
49:27: We preach the gospel.
49:29: And we trust the Holy Spirit.
49:32: To do what only he can do.
49:35: Draw believers closer to Christ.
49:37: And their conformity to him.
49:39: And convert the unbeliever.
49:42: Into a follower of Christ.
49:44: Let's pray.
49:46: Father I thank you for this opportunity.
49:48: To preach again your word.
49:51: And I pray Lord that we would as a church.
49:54: Always, always and always.
49:57: Preach the gospel.
49:59: Be unafraid to call men to repentance and faith.
50:02: Be unafraid to point out the fact.
50:04: That there are those who are simply playing a role.
50:07: That there are those who have grown up in Christian households.
50:09: But have yet to bow the knee to Jesus Christ.
50:11: That there are those among us who are spectating.
50:15: But have not received Christ.
50:16: And Lord I call upon you.
50:18: Because only you can change their heart.
50:20: Only you can enlighten the mind.
50:22: And illuminate the soul.
50:24: Only you can do these things Father.
50:27: And only by the power of your Holy Spirit.
50:29: So we trust you.
50:30: We trust what you're doing.
50:32: We ask that you be gracious to us.
50:35: And Lord to the unbelievers here.
50:36: Be gracious to them.
50:38: Lead them to your son.
50:41: And it's in his name.
50:42: Amen.