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Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey, and I am a Calvinist. Can you say Jesus is Lord? Well, if you go to 1st Corinthians chapter 12, you will find a passage that says that you cannot say Jesus is Lord unless you have the Holy Spirit.
I want you to look today with me at 1st Corinthians chapter 12, and you'll notice that that is what is said in verse 3. Paul says, Several years ago, there was a famous television preacher who walked through the audience with a microphone, and as he was walking through his audience with a microphone, he would reach down and say, Can you say Jesus is Lord?
The person would take the microphone and say, Yes, Jesus is Lord. And he would say, Well, then you, my friend, are saved because you couldn't say that unless it was by the Holy Spirit. Then he would walk to another person, and he would say, Can you say Jesus is Lord?
And, of course, that person would repeat, Jesus is Lord. And he went around the studio several times asking people, and, of course, everyone had the ability and power to say Jesus is Lord, and therefore he confirmed upon each of them salvation.
You're saved because you can say Jesus is Lord. I want to encourage you today that that is not what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote this in 1st Corinthians chapter 12. In fact, we know this for certain if we compare this to Matthew chapter 7.
In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus' own words tell us that there will be people who come to him at the end of time and who say, Lord, did we not do many mighty works in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name?
And he will say, Depart from me. I never knew you. Therefore, those people who were able to say, Lord, Lord, identifying Jesus as who he is, as Lord, weren't actually saved. And so when we come back to 1st Corinthians 12, and we read verse 3 when he says no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Spirit, what are we supposed to understand from that passage?
And how are we to understand that passage? Well, that's what I want to talk about today. And again, these lessons are short. So I want to make this as short and succinct as I can. When Paul says no one can say that Jesus is Lord, I do believe that there's a sense in which he is saying that no one can say this with the utmost sincerity.
No one can say this and truly mean it unless a person has been born again. And here's a picture of what that might have looked like in the first century. In the first century, there was a demand made among people that they would say that Caesar is Lord.
In fact, there were times when if you did not say Caesar is Lord, then that could cost you your life. So imagine you're on the work site with your other workers, and maybe you're building some pillars for the latest temple, and you're putting some things together.
And as you're working on the site, here come some Roman soldiers, and they have an opportunity for you to declare your allegiance to Caesar. They even have a place for you to offer incense to King Caesar.
And so they come to you, and you look around, and you notice that the other people you're working with are walking over there and gladly offering up the incense to Caesar. But you don't want to, because you don't believe that Caesar is Lord.
You believe Jesus is Lord, and you know what's about to happen. You know that if you're unwilling to offer up the incense to Caesar, then it might very well cost you your life. What are you going to do?
How are you going to respond? Are you going to walk over and say, well, a little pinch of incense to Caesar isn't really that big of a deal, and God is going to forgive me, so I'm just going to go ahead and save my skin.
Or are you going to be able in that moment to say Jesus is Lord?
I.
Would say that that person would only be able to say Jesus is Lord if they were given the power of the Holy Spirit. And I believe that's what Paul means when he says here that no one can truly, sincerely, and at the risk of their own neck, say Jesus is Lord apart from the gift of the Holy Spirit.
First Corinthians 12 is all about gifts. It's all about the gifts that God gives us through the Holy Spirit. There's a lot of questions in this passage, and I would encourage you, if you have a question about this passage, please send me that question.
You can write it in the comments below, or you can send it to me through Messenger. But I would appreciate being able to interact with you. I know a lot of people have questions about the gift of tongues and things like that.
And remember, we have an entire sermon series that I preached on the book of First Corinthians, and you can go and find out the answer to some of your questions simply by listening to those sermons. But I am thankful that you were here today.
I'm hoping that you're enjoying your morning coffee as you're listening to this Calvinist talk about the Bible. And I do pray that if you are being blessed by these, that you'll simply do this one favor, that you'll comment below, that you'll hit a thumbs up, and that you'll subscribe if you haven't already.
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