(Missions Conference Shoals) - Part 4 — Paul Washer

The Urgency of Repentance and Faith

Let's open up our Bibles to the book of Mark chapter 1 the book of Mark Chapter 1. Again, it's a great privilege for me to be here with you. It's a great privilege to participate in worship with you and It is my prayer and my hope That God our only hope Will work among us this evening before I read the text.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer father. Every moment I live. I am more and more aware of my great need of your salvation. My great need of Christ and father here I am. I stand before you Where angels fear to tread?

By the blood of your son Jesus Christ. And I know that you hear me Father the desire of my heart and the desire of your servant Jeff Knoblet. His heart is that you would do a work among us That would surpass us That would go beyond everything we deserve And everything of which we are capable.

That you would do so Lord for your own glory For your own good pleasure. To vindicate your truth and Lord as I am here. I am aware that all men are dust but Lord we've set our hope in you and We have refused Lord using tools of manipulation quaint stories.

We have refused to romanticize the cross. We have refused to tickle ears and with a great desire we have desired to put forth your truth. Lord help us. Help us save Lost and dying men and women and children this evening.

Save them from hell strengthen your people and Teach them Oh God in Jesus name. Amen. Before I begin let me put what I'm going to say in context. I want you to feel a little bit of The way I or any other preacher of Scripture would feel before you tonight here in this place.

Imagine yourself for a moment to be a medical doctor and you know through your training, you know through the wisdom given you. That's one of your dearest most beloved patients. Has cancer a deadly deadly deadly cancer that will consume his life in so short a period of time.

Now there is a cure, but you also know in your heart that he will not listen. You will use all your strength all your planning all your wisdom all your intellect. You'll gather and amass together all the information all the proof that you can so that when he comes into your office.

You can put x-rays up to the light. You can show him tests. You can show him everything in your ability. You work so hard to make him see sir. If you do not at this moment have this operation required of thee you will die and yet he does not listen.

Imagine a parent who has Lived their life in the world and carry the scars from it. Alcohol drug abuse all sorts of things, but now they have children and they see their Teenagers who are far too wise in their own eyes and know nothing begin to stray into the same dark world and The parent pleads and pleads and begs the child.

The parent does everything in their power to convince the child listen to me child. I have been there and I bear the scars of the very place you are going and Those scars will never be removed not in this life.

And yet the child refuses to listen. So it is preaching in America. It is easier for me to preach in Europe. It is easier for me to preach in Africa. It is easier for me to preach in Asia. It is easier for me to preach in South America than it is for me to preach here because you have an inoculation That keeps me from you and keeps the gospel from you.

You have a deadly deadly Inoculation that has numbed you. So that you cannot feel the truth. You cannot sense the truth. You have been convinced that it is okay with you. You have cultural Christianity that deadens the heart and yet sends more men to hell Than the most wicked brothel or tavern in this town and I beg you I plead with you to listen.

To listen to what's being said you are the one you're the one with the ailment. You're the one with the disease. You're the one with the sickness. You have just enough religion to damn you and you know it not.

Because as Paul works the as Paul warned the church in Corinth you compare yourselves by yourselves and that is not wise. Most of the people sitting here tonight at one time in your life. You Repeated the sinner's prayer you asked Jesus to come into your heart and then some preacher Who knew about as much of the Bible as you did.

Told you that was good enough and you've lived your life With no desire for God no desire for holiness. No desire for serving him or anything of the sort, but you're okay. And if I were to knock on your door tomorrow and begin to witness to you, you would tell me preacher.

Don't worry about me. I'm okay. I already did that as Though Jesus Christ were a flu shot. Some impersonal serum that you receive into your bloodstream that keeps you from hell and That is so wrong here in Mark chapter 1 Jesus comes to Israel and in verse 15 He says the time is fulfilled in the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe the gospel. Repent and believe the gospel. Nowhere in the scripture. Does it say do you want to go to heaven and if so repeat this prayer after me? Nowhere. But all throughout scripture.

It says the way of salvation is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ acknowledging our sin acknowledging our need acknowledging that there is absolutely nothing in us to merit heaven or Reconciliation with God and throwing ourselves upon Christ.

You said well preacher I did that. Well if you only did that past tense you didn't do it. This command here in the Greek is present tense imperative and that's very very important to a Greek scholar. What Jesus is saying is this?

The time is fulfilled. Look at some of you. I see you. You're as nonchalant as though you were watching a movie and You don't know that your very destiny may be determined tonight. And you may spend an eternity in hell while you sit back there in that Comfortable pew and know not that God is reaching out to you.

Be afraid. Be very very Afraid. This is present tense imperative what Jesus is saying these commands and this is what he is saying. He is saying this. The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand now spend the rest of your life repenting and believing the good news.

You see so many people today in America. They say well, I repented. The question is are you still repenting because if you are not still repenting you didn't repent then. Because he who began a good work and you will finish it.

Is your life? Marked By increasing knowledge of God's will and greater and greater brokenness over your disobedience. Are you growing daily in the knowledge of God and is it leading you to a deeper spiritual life that humbles you more and more Before God and causes you depend to depend more and more upon his grace because if not be afraid.

And then I go and I visit houses and they say I believed. Well, that's not really the question. The question is are you still believing? Are you still hoping in Christ and Christ alone so many people I talked to in America the conversation will go something like this.

Do you believe in Jesus? Well, yes, I do. I believe in him. I I trust in him. If you died right now, would you go to heaven? Well, I believe so. Why? Well I'm a good person and. And I I try to do well and I go to church and I asked him to come into my life.

Do you see do you not see that you've contradicted yourself? You're either trusting in Christ in Christ alone, or you're trusting in your own merits your own goodness your own religion. But the true Christian his life is marked by a continuous Repentance and a growing repentance throughout all the days of his life and his life is marked by increasing and increasing dependence upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

So that when you reach that final day as an old man or old woman you breathe your final breath you are more broken and more humble before God than when you began and You are trusting more in Christ than you ever could have at the first.

Testing the Authenticity of Conversion

And that's what I want you to see before I go into our next part. I have to cause you to see something. I Served for many many years in South America. Where so many people believed they were going to heaven even though they were in the mafia, even though they were terrorists.

Even though they were prostitutes they believed they were going to heaven because when they were infants they were baptized. And you say well, I can't believe such a thing who would believe such a thing.

And now I face the people in America. Who although they be full of sin full of worldliness? No passion for Christ. No desire for the things of God. They believe they're going to heaven and why. Because one time in their life probably when they were around eight or nine they prayed a prayer that they repeated after somebody else and.

Because the preacher wanted a big church. Because the preacher wanted to report about how many people supposedly got saved and because the evangelist wanted bragging rights. The truth was not told and the truth is this.

I Am a Southern Baptist and the great majority of Southern Baptists are lost. And not only do I say that but I could line up so many leaders behind me right now that would tell you lost lost lost lost.

But not only lost hardened hardened hardened. That they could sit under preaching such as this and not hear that they could look at their own daily lives in the mirror and not see a Christian is not so I must not be Christian and That's what we're going to talk about tonight now.

I Want us to go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 13. 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 now before I read the verse, let me put forth another common occurrence in America today. Well, let me start by saying this. How do you know that?

You're saved. You ever thought about that question. How do you know? That you are a Christian you say well in my heart of hearts. I know. Well, the Bible says that the heart is desperately even deceitfully wicked.

Do you really want to trust in your heart? You say well, I know that I know that I know that I didn't know I was there when it happened. I know. The Bible says that the knowledge of man can be. Well quite bad.

But there is a way that seems right unto men and it leads to death. How do you know that you're saved. Well, the answer is also often given this way. Well, I know that I'm saved because I believe and everyone who truly believes has eternal life.

I know that I'm saved because I believe okay. Now, let's take the question one step further. How do you know you believe? Because if I were to go into every bar right now in this city in this county in this state I would dare say that over 95 of the people right there right now.

Drinking drunk and looking for sexually immoral relationships would tell me that they believe too. So what makes you any different from them? What makes me any different from them? You see this is the logic and that's the problem they don't teach logic anymore you see this is the logic.

How do you know you're saved? Well because I believe. But how do you know that you believe? I mean after all if so many people in this country today are Saying they believe and we know that this is no longer a Christian country.

Then somebody's deceived. Now that's not such a bad thing when it's somebody but what if it's you and even worse as a father I say this. What if it's your children? How do you know that you have saving faith?

How do you know that? It's just not a delusion and a lie. Well, usually when someone comes to a pastor in America and says pastor, I don't know whether or not I'm saved. You know what the pastor usually does and you'll know this because it's probably happened to you sometime in your life.

The pastor will say well was there a point in time in your life when you prayed and asked Jesus to come into your heart. And the person will say Well, yes. Well, were you sincere when you did that? Well, I think so.

Well, then you're saved and you need to stop worrying about it. This is just the devil bothering you. Is that not the usual counsel in the Southern Baptist Convention in these modern times? Yes, it is.

Yes, it is. So now comes the question is this biblical? No, not at all. It's not biblical. It is so hard. It is so easy for us as Southern Baptists to look at the Pentecostals and say they're not biblical.

It's so easy to point out the Lutherans and the Catholics and everyone else. But we cannot hear the words of our Lord when he said physician heal thyself. We have good done a great injustice in our evangelism.

Evangelism is not the key good evangelism is the key. Biblical evangelism is the key. We're like machines these churches today just machines. Pump those little children into children's church get him to you know, when I asked some ministers this one time I said, you know, how do you deal with your children?

They say what we ask, you know, I watch them. This is what they did. How many of you children want to go to heaven if you ever seen a little child raise their hand and say no I'd rather Go to hell. How many of you little children want to go to heaven vacation Bible school?

It's the same. How many little children want to go to heaven? Oh, I do. I do. How many of you love Jesus? Oh, I do. I do pray this prayer. If that is not heresy nothing is. And then what happens to all those little children when they hit about 15.

They start rebelling from against their parents. They start living in immorality. They could care less about the things of God they live in drunkenness and they do so much more than what their parents could ever believe of them because their parents are blind and.

Then hopefully sometime after a life of just absolute ungodliness. Maybe when they're around 30, they rededicate their life because they realize they need a little religion. My dear friend if I could bring the leaders Theologians and leaders and pastors and churchmen to stand behind me I could fill this entire Place with men who would say amen.

This is what is happening. And we have to be warned. How can we know that we are truly Christians? How can we know that we truly believe? Well, you have the church in Corinth, don't you? Many of them were living as Christians ought not live.

So what did Paul the Apostle do. Did he go to them and say well, let me ask you a question. Let's nail this down. Was there a point in time in your life when you prayed and received Jesus to come into your heart?

No, he didn't do that. Did he look what he did do in 1st Corinthians chapter 13 verse 5. 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 verse 5. He says this test yourselves. Now notice present tense. Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith.

Examine yourselves or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail the test. He is warned by some of the behavior of some of the people professing Christ identifying themselves with the church in Corinth.

And he goes to them and says you're not living like Christians. You need to test your lives. Examine your lives in the light of Scripture to determine whether or not you truly are Believers because there are many of you here who are not.

We need to open up the Bible and find out what does the Bible Say about what a Christian is and we need to compare our lives to it. You know Christian is in America. Someone who prayed a prayer and asked Jesus to come to the heart.

We have reduced the gospel of Jesus Christ down to a superstitious Popish prayer, how can we examine our lives my dear friend? That is what we are going to do tonight. I am NOT going to rant and rave.

I am NOT going to entertain you. I'm going to teach you. We are going to open up a book of the Bible that was specifically written So that you could compare your life to it and determine whether or not you're truly a Christian.

And I pray that God will make you sensitive. I pray that God will open up your eyes. There are some of you here who are genuine Christians and when we go through this the Word of God is going to testify to you that you truly are a believer and you're going to rejoice.

There are some of you here who are genuine Christians, but you struggle with assurance. You struggle with sin you struggle with doubt and so many things. I assure you by the grace of God if you will hearken unto these words that are going to be preached.

You will walk out of here tonight. So full of confidence in Your salvation that you will be exploding with joy and then there are some of you Inoculated fine people. But in your present state, you're nothing more than fodder for hell.

Because you have enough religion maybe to make you reputable you have enough church. To console your conscience or maybe to sear it. But you know not God now before we begin on this journey. Why am I saying these things so hard.

Why do we build tombs for the prophets and yet we hate those who preach to us? I'm coming to you from a long line of preachers that used to be quite common a hundred years ago. But not many of them are around today.

Because we build churches on programs and slick Presentations instead of the preaching of God's Word because we care more about our visions and our building programs than we do people. But here tonight.

I am NOT here to win you. I am here to preach to you that you might be one to Christ. That you might see your need for salvation that you might repent and be saved. Enough of this foolishness enough of playing games.

This is heaven and hell. This is eternity. This is the difference between being saved and being damned. Let's turn to the Bible to first John first John chapter 5. First John chapter 5. John tells us why he is writing this book.

He says these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. So that you may know that you have eternal life. John has written this letter to us. So that by studying this letter by reading this letter and comparing our lives to what this letter says.

We will know with biblical assurance whether or not we're truly born again. That's the purpose of this letter. This letter Was the cornerstone of counseling in? the old days so what I plead with you now is that you will go with me through each test and Pray be in an attitude of prayer.

Even if you hate me, even if you're angry with me because of my words Pray to God and say Oh God. Show me through these tests whether I truly know you are not. Chapter 1 verse 5. This is the message that we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light and in him.

There is no darkness at all. Now when it says God is light, it means two things. One of them is preached prominently today, but there are two very prominent truths here. First of all, God is light. There is no immorality or sin.

Moral darkness or decadence in God. God is holy. Holy. Holy God is just just just in him. There is no deception. There is no sin. There is no lie. But John also has another meaning here a very important meaning in this verse.

He's given us There was a group of false teachers the beginnings of Gnosticism that entered into this church and they were teaching that God was this dark Esoteric figure that you could not really know you couldn't really know who God is and you couldn't really know what his will Is.

Sounds like post-modernism today, doesn't it? Oh There is a God we just don't know who he is and I'm sure he said something. It's just no one's heard it. You know why that's so convenient. You know why it is so convenient to have a God out there that no one can understand and a will of God that no One is heard.

You know why that is so convenient because then you can be your own God. Then you can do what you want and think you have an excuse as long as media as long as government can say there is a God but you can't know him and Say there is a right and wrong, but it can't be discerned.

Then every man is a God unto himself. Now if you really want to play the game smartly what you do is you say enough about God, but not too much Enough about his will but not too much that way you can go to church, but your life has never changed.

This God that no one really knows This will that no one really has the right to preach. But John says no God is light and what he means by that is this. God has shown you Who he is and God has shown you his will and you are without excuse.

Now when he says God is light He's saying this that God has revealed to you who he is and God has revealed to you his will. That's very important as we go on verse 6 if we say that we have fellowship with him.

Bypass the new commentaries. Study the word. Go to the old man. What does this mean if we say we have fellowship with him. If we say we are Christians? If we say that we are born again if we say that we are the people of God.

If we say that we have eternal life. If we say that we are going to heaven, but We walk in darkness. We live a style of life that contradicts everything God has told us about himself and Contradicts everything he has revealed to us about his will if we say we are Christians.

But we live a style of life that contradicts what God has told us about who he is and what he desires we lie. That's exactly what it says. He says and yet walks in the darkness. We lie and do not practice the truth the phrase practice.

The truth is very big with John. Why. Because he doesn't care about you feeling the truth. And he doesn't care about you believing the truth because the evidence of whether that's true or not. Do you practice the truth?

Because if you don't your confession is a lie. Do you see that? That God's Word would break through The wall of religion that may hold you captive that Inoculating shot that keeps you from God's Spirit that he would break through and show you What he's talking about here when he uses the word walk Perry Patel means to walk around.

It's talking about a style of life. It's not teaching perfection here. He's not saying that the only true Christians are those who are perfect because none of us are perfect. What he's talking about is not sinless perfection, but a style of life.

If I were to look at the life of a true Christian what I find sin, yes, I would find sin. I'd find struggling with sin. I'd find brokenness, but if I compared their style of life With an unbeliever, I would see a tremendous difference and that's very difficult to say here in the south.

Why? Why. Because there hardly are any unbelievers. Everybody's a believer. So when you compare yourself to another person who calls themselves a believer you're comparing yourself with yourself and that is not wise.

What the Bible says is a believer. That is the example. That you should hold up before yourself to determine am I a Christian? Do does your style of life reflect? That you know who God is, you know that he's holy, you know that he's just you know That he hates wickedness and loves righteousness.

Does your style of life reflect that you know the true God of the Bible and does your style of life? Reflect. Are you walking in what God has revealed to men through his word about his will? Are you walking in his will?

Are you walking in a path of light? Could you take your life right now sit down with me or some other counselor and say I'm walking in the light. And it means this I'm following these commands. I'm seeking him in this way I'm seeking to conform my life to him in this way this way this way in this way or.

The only thing you can raise up for your defense is that you pray to prayer one time and you go to church every once in a while on Sunday Bubba tailgate Christianity that will send you straight to hell now He says but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light.

We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. Who is cleansed from their sin by the blood of Jesus the one who walks in the light? That doesn't mean they are saved because of the way they are walking.

They are saved by faith, but the way they are walking demonstrates that they truly have faith. Does your life Demonstrate your faith or contradict it. It's a very important question. Now we go on the next test verse 8 if we say that we have no sin.

We are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now what does that mean? The greatest evidence is gone verse 9 if we confess our sins. He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us. What does it mean? It means this one of the greatest evidences of true conversion one of the greatest evidences of Christianity.

Listen to me one of the greatest evidences of Christianity is that when a true? Christian sins The Holy Spirit Convicts them of their sin. God the Father may even discipline for the discipline them for their sin.

He will bring them to repentance and he will bring them to confession because a true Believer cannot hold on to his sin. And one of the greatest Evidences that you are not born again that you are not going to heaven and that hell will be your eternal Abode is that you really don't have a problem with sin.

It's your friend. I Asked believers this sometimes and the sad thing about it doesn't terrify them. They don't even know what I'm talking about. I asked them this question. When was the last time you wept over your sin?

When was the last time you were broken over your lack of conformity to Jesus Christ? Another question if a brother or sister in Christ came up to you and rebuked you or the pastor came up to you and lovingly rebuked you.

About something in your life that was not in conformity to the will of God. Would you get mad and leave the church? Because that's what most Christians would do or would you say? Give me a time pastor.

Give me a time brother sister that I may meditate on these things because if what you say is true I Want to let go of it. I want to repent. I want to be conformed to the image of Christ. My wife is from Spain when she came to America the first thing she said to me.

He knows the first thing I noticed about Christians in America. I said what she goes they are so thin-skinned. That no one can walk up to them and rebuke them and yet We considered that to be one of the principal ministries of our pastors and our elders.

To walk up and personally rebuke us when we were not living right, but if a man does it here in America, he'll be fired. Why is that? From the very beginning have I not said the great majority of the church is lost.

The great majority of people call themselves Christians are lost. You begin to approach them about their sin and the first thing that's going to come out of their mouth is judge not lest you be judged and They do not know that they're twisting that scripture all to pieces to make it say something Jesus never intended it to say.

My dear friend a genuine Christian. Do you want to know the perfect? Let me just give this to you. I I'll read it to you. So you'll believe it's there. Let me give you what I consider one of the greatest descriptions of a Christian.

But to this one I will look to him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word. Does that describe you. Do you tremble at God's Word? When God's Word speaks to you, are you contrite and humbled before it?

Do you desire to repent? Do you desire to confess. Do you desire to be in the right way or do you just get angry as I've said? I said last night I believe I did. That whenever there's a move of God in a church I've seen sometimes a move of God sweep through a church and people broken over their sins.

It is always the same the most godly the most devoted. The most Christlike people in the church are the ones who come forward Weeping over their sins. And the most ungodly Worldly carnal people in the church are the ones that sit back there cold as a stone.

They have felt nothing and why have they felt nothing. Because they are not spiritually alive. What is your relationship with sin an unbeliever? He does not care about sin. He does not hope to discern sin in his life.

If he sees sin in his life, it doesn't bother him. It does not bring him to confession. He does not repent. But a true Christian is just the opposite. When he hears of sin in his life He's moved to contrition to humility to brokenness to tears to confession.

People sometimes will tell me I've got a new relationship with God. And I ask them do you have a new relationship with sin? Because if you don't have a new relationship with sin, you don't have a new relationship with God.

If your relationship with sin has not changed your relationship with God has not changed. As I read from Ezekiel last night, I think that most Christians here totally identifies with it. It says in Ezekiel that God will spend all the days of our lives Cleansing us from our filthiness and destroying the idols in our lives.

I have walked with the Lord for almost 22 years and I can testify that those 22 years have been 22 years of him. Disciplining me and breaking me over my sin. And when I want to walk away I can't and yet I see so many people claim to know Christ and yet they're running around like a dog cut free from the rope running in the yard wild.

With no control no discipline. Now, let's go on to the next test the third one. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments my goodness. How simple how straightforward the only way to take the blade off of this is to twist it.

Just look at what he says. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. The logical opposite of that if we do not Keep his commandments. We can have no assurance that we ever came to know him and Look, he goes further in verse 4 the one who says I have come to know him.

The one who says oh, oh look at me. I've come to know him. He's Lord. He's my Savior. I asked Jesus to come into my heart. The one who says I have come to know him. But does not keep his commandments is a liar.

So much for well, you can't look inside my heart. You can't judge me. No one has to look inside your heart. Do you keep the commandments? Now are we talking about absolute perfection here? Absolutely, not.

We've already talked about that that one of the greatest Evidence is that a person is a Christian is that they will acknowledge the sin in their life and struggle against it repent and confess. Then what is he saying?

He's going back to talking about a style of life. Remember what I said last night that last passage. Depart from me. I never knew you. You who claim to be my disciples and lived as though I never gave you a command to obey.

That's exactly what he's saying here. People who profess faith in Jesus Christ and yet live as though God never gave them a command about anything. As a matter of fact, not only do they not obey they don't even know what the commands are.

American Christianity the knowledge of it can be summed up in this. I know that I prayed a prayer. Well, the Bible says that anyone that is truly born again. They there is no need to teach them of God for they will all be taught of God By God and that they will be given to the commands of God.

Are you given to his commands an unbeliever prior to being converted. Myself at the University of Texas prior to being converted what I Didn't care about the Bible. I Didn't care what it said. I didn't seek to know God's will from the Holy Writ.

If I broke God's law, it was no big deal. There was no feelings of a need for restoration or repentance or anything. I lived as a man Who was without law? How many people today profess faith in Jesus Christ and yet the Bible has nothing to do with their life.

I Mean absolutely nothing. I'm not talking about someone who has a quiet time, you know four hours a day every day a week. No, I'm talking about people who come to church. Southern Baptists who come to church day in and day out day in and day out every Sunday and yet The Bible Throughout their daily lives has absolutely nothing to do with them.

They do not know and they do not care to know what God has said. What he has commanded. Do you see that am I talking about you? Are you a person who has a form of religion? But you deny the power thereof you have a form of religion, but the commandments of God mean nothing to you.