Salvation Object Lesson — Duane Troyer

Grace be with you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I too am very well are very Blessed to be back. After having been gone, there's just no place quite like home. Thankful to see everyone and Not not that it wasn't a blessing to be out and about it was a blessing to be with brothers in Phoenix area and and all that but It's good to be back.

Let's stand for a word of prayer. Oh God in heaven we thank you and praise you for your Goodness and mercies that are new every morning. For Taking thought of us for your wonderful works to the children of men.

We thank you we just See and believe that salvation is only found in you. And for this we thank you. That while we were yet sinners you died for us. I Thank you for the beautiful day. Thank you for the place to gather.

Thank you for people to gather with and meet we pray Lord that your presence would be here and that you would just speak to us and And help us understand and walk in your ways in Jesus name we pray amen, I guess we'll be Rich in object lessons today.

The Mystery of Salvation in Christ

I I'd like to do a little object lesson today. The object lesson is going to be about salvation. Let's I'm gonna I'm gonna start by reading in Colossians 1 verses 24 to 29. Now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body, which is he which is the church in filling up?

What is lacking in Christ's affliction of? This church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit. So that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God.

That is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations. But has now been manifested in his Saints. To whom God will to make known what is the riches of the glory of his mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory we proclaim him Admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man Complete in Christ for this purpose.

Also. I labor striving According to his power which mightily works within me. I especially wanted us to hear Paul is is talking about About his his his duty to preach The Word of God. And he talks about this mystery that has been hidden for ages, but is now revealed and It's it's manifested and he says The mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you.

In in in the old in the Old Covenant there were elements of Elements of Salvation so some that are pretty much the same that in the Old Covenant you you you could have faith. You had to have faith you could.

You you you could know what the Lord's Commandments were what what what God's Commandments were for them. You could obey those. You could have forgiveness for your sins. I don't know where it ends, but but there's a lot of those things that you could have but one thing you couldn't have is If you couldn't have.

You couldn't have Christ within. Right Christ had not yet come the Lord the Lord had promised something that would come that would that would be a fullness that the people of the Old Covenant didn't know of and and now now Paul is saying This thing that had been hidden in ages past is is now here.

This mystery is manifest. And he may be specifically even saying In this passage he specifically may even be saying. Part of the mystery is is that this is available to the Gentiles. Not just the Jews.

And so it is it is God. With man is a part that was not. That that the men of old could not have it is it is to be born of the Spirit of God. It is Christ in us. That that that though these old men accomplished great things with faith through faith as it says there at the end of Hebrews 11 like They died.

And they accomplished much in the faith. But but they they did not have the perfection that we did. I'm I'm stalling on the exact wording of that. Find it real quick. All these having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised because God has provided something better for us.

Grace, Faith, and Obedient Salvation

So that apart from us they would not be made perfect. There's a there's a part in salvation in which God does and there's a part of salvation in which we must do. You know from from the dawn of Christianity Christians have always believed That salvation is from the Lord that salvation is in the Lord.

They have always believed that it is God doing a work in man. That it is by grace that we were saved that it is not on the basis of deeds That we have done but by his mercies That he saves us and that it is nothing that there's nothing that that that we cannot do enough good To outweigh the bad and and thereby earn salvation.

But that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us and offered salvation. They have always believed that but They did not believe that without also believing That we must do something in order to be saved that we must believe in him that we must repent of our sins that we Must be baptized that we must choose to live in obedience to Christ that we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

From the birth of the church at Pentecost the Christians have always believed That God gives his spirit to enable us that he gives his spirit to empower us. That that he gives his spirit to indwell us that that he gives his spirit to give us guidance To give us direction and to keep us from falling and that without that No, man could endure to the end and withstand all the vices of the devil.

However They didn't believe that without also believing that We must strive to follow him and That we must put forth all our heart all our mind all our soul and all our strength and that we must walk in Light that we must walk in obedience and holiness and sanctification in order for his spirit to remain in us.

And that if we deny him he will also deny us and that if we are lazy servants He will cast us out if we are an unprofitable if we are an unfruitful branch he will cut us off. If we are lukewarm water, he will spit us out and that what we do is directly tied To us being eternally saved or eternally lost.

They used to believe that universally. It wasn't Until the Reformation and in the 1500s when people like Martin Luther and John Calvin concocted an entirely different construct of theology about salvation.

It has had such far-reaching effects. That even in our day 500 years later If you grew up in church if you grew up in the Protestant Church. And you even never heard of Martin Luther or John Calvin. It's likely that you already have been Indoctrinated to some extent what it means when it says for we are saved by grace through faith and not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God. Somehow somehow that influence that those men had Has so penetrated Evangelical Christianity that it Unless you did unless you grew up without church. And you just grabbed the Bible and started reading or were taught by somebody who has a good grasp on it.

There's already Unknown to you. There's already these voices telling you when you read Romans and Ephesians Galatians what some of these things mean. Martin Luther did a Lot of good things he translated the Bible into German so that the common people could read it.

But once we once we know some other things about him maybe we would a Lot of what he did doesn't sound as great anymore after all he had. He didn't only translate the Bible to the common people's language.

He had the audacity to make a hierarchy of the New Testament books. And so he wrote this long preface in front of the New Testament. Declaring which ones which books are higher up than others? He wrote he writes that John's gospel Paul's epistles especially Romans and the first epistle of Peter are the true kernels and John's gospel far surpasses the other Gospels and in these are these are the ones these books I mentioned are the ones that Really show you Christ and it is all that is necessary for you to know even though you were never to see or hear another book or doctrine.

He says James epistle is an epistle of straw. It has nothing of the nature of the gospel. He says Hebrews seems to stand against Paul's epistle and he says about the book of Revelation I cannot detect that the Holy Spirit produced this book.

My spirit cannot fit itself into this book. There is one sufficient reason for me not to think highly of it. Christ is not taught or known in it. Those are some of the things he wrote in the preface, okay so now now put yourself in the 1500s and and and and and the scriptures have been in Latin and Hebrew and Greek and the common people have not read them and finally here comes a German Bible in Your language and you can read it but before you ever get to the first book you read this long preface that Martin Luther's wrote and You already have this this this This this opinion put into you.

Okay, so so I'm gonna find the truth in John Romans and Some of his other epistles once I get to James I got to be careful Revelation it may not even be in like Really? I mean who who and and and how does somebody have the audacity to do that?

Luther was even willing to change the text in Romans 3 28 where it says a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the flesh. He wrote a man is justified by faith alone. He put in in the German translation.

He put he put the word a line in there, which means alone and when When some Catholic scholars Noticed it and called him out on it. They sent somebody over to call him out on it. And he he sent a note back.

It was a lengthy note. But in it, he said if your papist wishes to make a great fuss about the word alone Say this to him. Dr. Martin Luther will have it. So and he says that a papist and a donkey are the same thing.

I will it I command it. My will is reason enough. This is the central figure of the Protestant Reformation and this is its attitude About scripture and this is how how willing he is to to Put his opinions into the minds of people before they ever Before they ever get to decide what what scripture has to say and so these theologians whose theological framework is still being built on by most evangelical Christians today would say things like We are justified by faith and faith alone.

Even though the scriptures say in James 2 24 a man is not justified by faith alone. These people would say things like to believe obedience is essential to salvation is not grace, but works righteousness.

Even though the scriptures say in Acts 10 35 in every nation he that fears him and works Righteousness is accepted by him. They would say things like once you've been saved you can never be lost. Even though the scripture says in 2nd Peter 2 20.

For if after they have escaped the defilement of the world by the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are again entangled In them and are overcome. The last state has become worse than the first.

Predestination, Free Will, and the Fruit of Theology

Those beliefs went hand in hand with the idea that we have no free will which was not one of losers strong Points but but John Calvin came came came along with a very strong teaching that that we have no free will.

That that that God predestines us to do good and evil. We are so totally depraved. They say that even the good things that we appear to do are just like filthy rags. That it's only by trusting That what Jesus did satisfied the wrath of God.

Therefore he imputes the righteous deeds that Jesus did as ours. In other words, he he overlooks our evil. Because we trust in what Jesus did and sees Jesus's righteousness instead of our unrighteousness.

These are theological beliefs that by and large didn't exist before the Reformation if if the if little fragments of them were even here and there people might have Made little comments with sort of that idea.

It was far from it was far from a central Focus on what the gospel is. We here I believe and I hope all have been convinced that these are to put it mildly skewed and disproportionate Ideas and thoughts that have that have Understandings that produce a false gospel.

We've come to these conclusions either through reading the scripture church history logic reason or simply observing the fruit of such Theology and maybe the combination of all of them. It's a it's a false gospel it produces lawlessness it produces false humility.

It is It is it is. It is it is a I don't want to call it a gospel. It's a it's a message that appeals to the flesh. And I think I think that's part of partly why it Spread and and bounded but even even Martin Luther toward the end of his life.

He he thought he uncovered a new Theology about salvation but even he at the end of the luck at the end of his life lamented about the life of his of the people in his church and said. People sin worse than they did before.

The morality is worse than it was. It didn't produce what he thought it would produce. He didn't really change this not I don't know that he changed his opinion about it. But but he lamented about the state of his church.

Salvation as Cooperation With God

In in the past we here have described this in various ways how how that is not Salvation is not God doing everything. And and that and that that is all that there is to salvation. And we've described that in various ways and in ways that it's more.

It's more like a partnership. It's more like God partnering with man for the salvation. For the salvation of man Jesus said take my yoke upon me get get into this yoke with me. Buddy has mentioned multiple times about like he he wants to garden with us.

And there are some parts that we can't do. We can't make a seed we can't make it rain. We can't make the sunshine, but we can till the soil we can remove rocks. We can pull weeds. We can we can partner with him to make something fruitful and today I want to do just another object lesson, and I hope I thought maybe it'd be kind of helpful and fun for or Something the children could remember and.

And I want it. I want to bring out how God does something and we do something not all object lessons are like all-inclusive or Maybe maybe maybe perfect in every way, and I'm sure this one is not not unlike those but so I wish I could do this on the floor, but I Think it'll be too messy and and I don't think everybody can see very well.

Can everybody see half-decently. I can't make this table higher. I was wishing I could get it a little higher. These These bowls. Are people okay, and they they move around at will. They can do whatever they want to they can they can turn around they can move around because they have free will.

That doesn't mean that God can't intervene. The fact the fact that they even can move around is is because because God gives them the ability to move around and so he can stop them in that sense, but still nevertheless there.

There are people who move around however they want to. And do whatever they want to. You'll notice that they're all they're all turned that way. That's because they have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and.

Repentance and Turning Toward the Light

And it's dark inside these bowls. It's really dark. And That in Genesis it says the imagination of a man's heart is evil from his youth and Jesus said within. Out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts and fornications thefts murders adulteries covetousness wickedness deceit sensuality.

Envy slander pride and foolishness. He also said that if the light that is in you is darkness. How great is that darkness? Okay, so so it's dark inside here inside. Here is all this wickedness the envy the that the foolishness the lust and all these things and and and the darkness.

Inside there is great. This picture I'll fill it with water this. This is what God pours out and I I don't even want to try to compartmentalize this this is this this water is God's grace. It's his love.

It's his mercies. It's salvation. It's his word. It's God's Spirit. In short it it is Jesus Christ and everything that he brought to earth and man. That's that's this water. I'm gonna read a little bit of Titus chapter 1 3.

Starting in verse 1 remind. Remind them to be subject to rulers to authorities to be obedient to be ready for every good deed. To malign no one to be peaceable gentle show every consideration for all men.

For we also once were foolish ourselves disobedient deceived enslaved to various lusts and Pleasures spending our life in malice and envy hateful and hating one another that's what these that's what these bulls are full of right now all these works of darkness.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared he saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercies by the washing of Regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit whom he poured out upon us richly Through Jesus Christ our Savior so that being justified by his grace We would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

This is a trustworthy statement and Concerning these things. I want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These are good and profitable for men.

Abiding in Christ and Bearing Fruit

So I Wish I could just have a steady stream of water pouring down here, but I don't have an unlimited source of water neither. Neither do I want to create a flood over here? So if you can just just imagine that this water that is flowing down here is.

Is it there's a continual stream? Okay? I'm gonna have to put it down for a little bit. But but if you can imagine a continual stream of water there. These these bowls are going about their life and they hear about this.

They they notice and they hear about this water. Some of them want nothing to do with it. Some of them flee flee as far away as they can they they want they want nothing to do with these this water. Some of them Who who learn about it and who would really like to appear clean before men.

They move in underneath this water. Right and they want to they want to learn more about it. They'd like to be clean on the outside. But Jesus called this guy a hypocrite. He said you like to you like to appear clean before men.

But inside you're still still full of dead men's bones and all kinds of filthiness. But You know in order in order for these people to have this mystery that Paul talked about to have Christ within. What's got to happen?

They've got to turn around. They've got to repent. That's what repentance means. It means turning around. It means changing our way of thinking and if we were going one way we have got to go the other way.

That that's that's turning around. So so these bowls need to need to turn around if they want Christ within them but here's what happens. A Bull starts. You know turning around and what happens? There's light that comes in there and that light starts exposing that darkness and Men love let love darkness more than light because their deeds are evil, right?

Jesus said in John men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed and Most of these bulls love their sins and it's embarrassing and it's hard on their pride to be exposed to expose everything that's in here to expose it to To God and these other bulls or or to expose it to the pitcher in these other bowls.

That's pretty hard on these bulls pride. And not only that if these bulls try to you know try to Give alms and do all kinds of things in this state, you know, it's it's just a hollow sound like Paul says in in 1st Corinthians.

But let's say this this little guy right here he He has been he has been thinking about this he has been observing what happens and he comes to the end of himself and he realizes that There is only one way that Christ that that this water is going to benefit him and that's if he totally turns around.

If he totally repents if he if he is willing to expose it all to turn around to repent. It's the only way it's going to do him any good and so He starts believing and and He's willing to expose everything and he moves in underneath this water.

That's flowing and he actually gets filled up. Not only he gets filled up that water keeps pouring and it overflows. The the richness and the glory that that he receives is beyond what what he even expected and he finds out that That things are as the Lord had promised that if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink and he that believeth on Me as the scripture has said out of his belly shall flow forth rivers of living water.

See that out of out of this own bowls belly start flowing rivers of living water. Now keep keep imagining. Keep imagining a continual flow of water here in this this bowl. It's it stays here it stays underneath this flow and it's refreshing.

It abides in God's love. It still has the free will just like it did it can move around. It can go wherever it wants to go. It can flip itself around again. It can do whatever it wants to do but it but it realizes that When it moves out from underneath this water something happens.

Something becomes stale something becomes not right no longer no longer out of itself flow forth fountains of living water. It It quick quickly realizes that he's no longer fruitful if he doesn't abide under the water.

He realizes that as Jesus said in John 15 that it is in keeping Christ's commandments. That he abides there that that's what that's what keeps him here. He has to go out to be disobedient. It's in it's in obeying that he comes in underneath Christ and and and keeps getting filled.

He's He is very grateful for this water. It keeps him fresh. It keeps him productive. It keeps him fruitful To God and and he realizes and can humbly acknowledge that By by grace he was saved. This was this was not his doing if this water was not flowing.

He could not be filled up. There's no way and He can he can easily and humbly say it is it is by grace that I am saved. He Yeah He soon realizes What Tertullian had said that we are we are as close to the ears of God as we are to the commands of God?

He also realizes these these other bowls. This this bowl as it's overflowing, you know it it wants to share this with others. It moves over and it tries to overflow into others. It tries to help clean other people's lives up and these other bowls harass it and they don't.

They want nothing to do with it and and all the tribulation that he goes through just drives him closer and closer and keeps him there. And so he starts rejoicing in tribulation because it keeps him there, right?

And so this bowl here it it lives its life in this Obedient love faith relationship. With this picture. It has a it has a It has a connection with this picture. It has it totally has something to do with this picture and it's pouring water.

It totally has something to do with what they do. It's totally has something to do with what this bowl does. Ironically all these other bowls are accusing this one of turning things upside down. They don't realize that he actually turned things right side up.

But they're they're accusing him of the one that goes around turning everything upside down. Okay, so we're just gonna put this guy aside and we're gonna take another bowl. This bowl here basically goes through the same procedure.

It it it realizes the only way it it benefits is if it turns around and it comes underneath and it gets filled up. And it It learns about about this about this water, but this bowl. You know for a while it's all excited for a while it bubbles over and is all Rejoicing in this newfound life in this newfound light in this washing but This bowl is a little lazy.

It lacks diligence. It's slothful it moves out from underneath this flow of water and He's less concerned about bearing fruit for God. He's less concerned about being fresh and profitable. He's less concerned about there being.

He's less concerned about the fact that there's nothing flowing out. Nothing no rivers flowing out from its belly. He's not really troubled to be out and about and basically doing about the same things that these bulls are doing.

It doesn't bother him so much. Because he remembers what happened one time. He's been deceived into believing that he can't lose his salvation. He frequently mentions his pet verses about no man can pluck me out of my father's hand and that you know it all has to do with with with what God did and and and he that begun a good work and you will perform it until until he returns.

These other bulls this this bull here. He notices this bull and He's concerned about it like something doesn't something doesn't quite seem right. He can't deny that it's turned the right way. He can't even deny that there's some water in there, but something doesn't seem right.

But whenever this bull here mentioned something to this bull here. About about his concern, you know, this this bull here is just telling that bull. His bull number two is telling bull number one. You're just trying to make me doubt my salvation.

And He always points back to that moment that he experienced God and how glorious it was. He says he still prays. But he doesn't know the proverb that says he that forsakes the commandments even his prayer is an abomination.

Some of this water evaporates. And what does remain in there? Gets stale and stagnant because It doesn't it doesn't abide under that flow when the Lord returns. You see when the Lord returns he's gonna he's gonna require something of us, right?

Well when the Lord returns and He tests this guy's water He spits it out. Because it's lukewarm and he says take this take this bowl and bind it hand and foot. Cast it in the outer darkness. Where there will be weeping and gnashing at this bull is unprofitable to me.

I have no use for it. It is no good and. So in salvation, there's there's something that God does and there's something that we do. God pours out salvation. And it's not his will that any should perish.

It's not his will that any of this these bulls should perish but that all of them would come to the knowledge of truth. Our part is to believe to repent. And to abide that is what we need to do, you know in that parable of the talents Jesus Jesus gives his servants or the in the parable.

It's the it's the landlord or whatever gives gives his servants talents something He's not giving to the citizens right the citizens say we don't want this man to rule over us. He's not giving the citizens talents, but he gives the servants talents and Then and then he leaves and he comes back and now he he wants those talents again right the thing which he had gave them he wants it back with a profit and that.

That that that that servant that comes back to him and Says here's your here's your talent. I went and hit it. I was afraid of you. He says take that unprofitable servant throw him out he He's no good to me.

The Parable of the Talents and Faithful Service

In Psalms 127 1 it says except the Lord build the house. They labor in vain that built it except the Lord keep the city the watchmen waketh, but in vain. In this object lesson we could say except the Lord pour the water the bulls in vain turn around.

Except the Lord fill the bowl the vessel worketh, but in vain I'll be it. The bull still needs to turn around right. The bull still needs to work works of righteousness, right? I I'm gonna close here in just a little bit.

I got a quote here from a from a man in the 19th century, I think His name was Ignatius. Let us take all care brothers to become doers of the commandments of the gospel. When death will come is unknown.

We may be suddenly called to judgment when we are least expecting it. Blessed are those who have prepared themselves for their passage to eternity by a life in accordance with the Gospels. Woe to the easygoing the careless the self-willed the self-opinionated.

Woe to those who have not break and felt broken fellowship with Satan. Woe to those who have not entered into fellowship with God and greater Woe to those who have entered into fellowship with God and then abandoned it.

Let me just close yet with Romans chapter 5 few verses therefore Having been justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith.

Into this grace in which we stand and we exalt in hope of the glory of God and not only this. But we also exalt in our tribulations knowing that tribulation Brings about perseverance and persevere and proven character and proven character.

Hope and hope does not disappoint. Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has was given to us. For while we were still helpless at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

That's all I have to share you can open it up for comments. Feel free to offer More ideas to this object lesson if you want if you had any. Yeah, feel free to comment sounds different sounds different.

Yeah, that's good. Yes, I sure want to say amen to to these messages. Even these object lessons. Like doing has said we have to imagine some of it. It's it's even hard to to discover that the The breath and the height and the depth of God's outpouring Love and compassion and kindness and all these things that that come out of his his picture.

But still I still really really appreciate it just say thank you very much as far as an addition. You were I think you were speaking out of When you were talking about talents, I don't that Luke 19 passage Seemed like that bowl number one could represent the the ones that took the talents and When the Lord came back they were able to present Present it back to him in an overflowing way like look There's been profit and there's not that they would maybe say that but in observation the Lord could see that yes this one this one took what I gave him and and it.

And it worked with a relationship with me and it made it better. But then maybe bowl number three and four like they they would be like the citizens that Sure that the water was right there it splashed on him.

They had all that opportunity, but there they stayed hidden hidden and concealed in there and their little dome keeping Keeping an angry fist like no, we're not going to turn this up. No, we're we. What does it say?

I'm right here. It's I should read it. It's the very last no not the best last version that were chapter, but 26 And those who use what as well are given even more. And they were given but those Who do nothing even what little they have will be taken away verse 27 and for those Enemies of mine who didn't want me to rule as the as their king bring them in and execute them right here in front of me.

That could be both three and four that Didn't respond at all just or well. Yeah, maybe they respond, but not they didn't repent. They did not change. They did not in this object lesson, maybe flipping would be another way of Repenting like it's completely turning over flipping so anyhow I I also I Want to say ironically, but maybe divinely kind of have another little thing my my daughter likes to read stories.

She's just getting to that Point where it's just so fun to reach. There's a Take a liberty. So can I read this? Can I read this and then this morning? She read is equal 37 the story of the the vision that is equal head of the The the valley of dry bones and that is just that's a blessing.

I'm not going to read it, but it's just it's a like a salvation message for Israel Is equal beheld and there was a there was a whole valley of dry bones and These dry bones were were dead and there was no life in them and and the vision continued something like that Can it be that life can be restored and the answer was something like yes, and then from there Is eagle beheld and there was flesh becoming attached to the bones and the and the bones started moving and and the flesh continued and then there was a maybe a cry or a shout from the four winds it says from the four directions and the and the Spirit came and put put life back in them and they were they became a mighty army and that's just a good good prophetic thing that Our vision I could say that is equal head that resembles this object lesson today.

So praise God. Yeah.

Just thankful to be here as well. And the both lessons have I have their point in Being diligent and being fruitful and continuing on in this life as we As we strive to Enter in and I just. Just thankful for all the encouragement and may God bless us.

Yeah, I think I think about those things a lot. I Think I didn't I didn't grow up in an evangelical household, but I went to I went to Bible College and just had all of these False ideas, you know just pounded into me and so coming to the truth.

I've had to Rethink All these bad teachings and twistings of scriptures there's a it's just a Like one thing I like you said there's it's the part that God does and the part that we do and I feel like Evangelical Christianity really likes to focus on on what God has done and just leaves out What what we need to do and it seems like the whole reason his son came was to tell us what we need to do.