Podcasts about through faith in jesus christ

The gospel stands as God's ultimate rescue plan for humanity, revealing His righteousness and demonstrating both perfect justice and boundless mercy. Instead of presenting a list of rules or standards to achieve, it showcases what God has already accomplished through Jesus Christ. This divine plan makes salvation accessible to everyone, regardless of their past, present circumstances, or religious background. At its core, the gospel eliminates all grounds for spiritual pride or self-reliance. Through faith in Jesus Christ, people receive God's righteousness as a gift, not as something earned through human effort. The cross serves as the ultimate demonstration of God's character - showing His justice in addressing sin while extending mercy to sinners. This transformative message invites people to stop trying to earn God's favor and instead embrace the freedom found in His grace.

The gospel stands as God's ultimate rescue plan for humanity, revealing His righteousness and demonstrating both perfect justice and boundless mercy. Instead of presenting a list of rules or standards to achieve, it showcases what God has already accomplished through Jesus Christ. This divine plan makes salvation accessible to everyone, regardless of their past, present circumstances, or religious background. At its core, the gospel eliminates all grounds for spiritual pride or self-reliance. Through faith in Jesus Christ, people receive God's righteousness as a gift, not as something earned through human effort. The cross serves as the ultimate demonstration of God's character - showing His justice in addressing sin while extending mercy to sinners. This transformative message invites people to stop trying to earn God's favor and instead embrace the freedom found in His grace.

Our righteousness comes to us by faith not by the Law. Through faith in Jesus Christ and His redeeming death on the cross we are saved. Is the Law done away with then? By no means, the Law is fulfilled by our faith and by faith we are able to do good works.

Our righteousness comes to us by faith not by the Law. Through faith in Jesus Christ and His redeeming death on the cross we are saved. Is the Law done away with then? By no means, the Law is fulfilled by our faith and by faith we are able to do good works.

Our righteousness comes to us by faith not by the Law. Through faith in Jesus Christ and His redeeming death on the cross we are saved. Is the Law done away with then? By no means, the Law is fulfilled by our faith and by faith we are able to do good works.

What if you could break free from the chains of exercise addiction and eating disorder and transform your life? Part two of our conversation with Teresa Lopez offers a raw and poignant exploration of her struggle with exercise addiction, food, and body image issues. Teresa courageously shares the severe physical and emotional toll these challenges took on her life, including a broken hip and stress fractures. Her story reveals the consuming nature of this addiction, where daily thoughts and actions were dominated by the need to exercise and control her body. We discuss the importance of empathy and honest communication in understanding such struggles, drawing parallels to the compassionate approaches found in spiritual teachings.But Teresa's journey doesn't end there; it's also a story of hope and transformation. Through faith in Jesus Christ and the support of a nurturing community, Teresa has found a path to peace and contentment. We discuss how spiritual growth can shift one's focus from societal pressures and appearance to a more fulfilling identity rooted in faith. This episode highlights the power of community support, illustrating the profound difference it makes when friends value you for who you are, not just what you look like. Teresa's journey is a testament to the enduring peace and happiness that come from faith in Jesus Christ and supportive relationships, reminding us all that while the journey requires effort, the rewards are deeply gratifying.Support the show

The Night Service of Sound the Old ship Of Zion with Host Thomas E. Jackson .mp3 Freddie C. Howard #HOWCEE Creator https://fb.watch/saDv3fGNfU/  Sunday School  MAY 19 2024love SUBJECT "REMAINING STRONG" "RECONCILED TO GOD Print: Ro 5: 1-11 In Romans 5:1, the Apostle Paul writes, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This verse emphasizes that justification by faith leads to reconciliation with God. Here's a breakdown: Justification: It means being declared righteous or acquitted of sin. Through faith in Jesus Christ, believers are considered righteous before God, not because of their own merit, but because of Christ's sacrifice. Peace with God: By being justified, we are no longer at enmity with God. Instead, we have a restored relationship—a sense of peace and reconciliation. Linda Hamilton XPO H2O Beauty Products For Naturally Curly Hair Royal Palm Beach, FL Get your hair in Order!!! with Linda Hamilton with #HOWCEE — with Linda Pope-Hamilton.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, I can forgive what seems impossible.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, I can forgive what seems impossible.

This Easter sermon uses a spring analogy to demonstrate that Christ’s resurrection is a pattern for all Christians that we will certainly follow - SERMON TRANSCRIPT- I. The Seasons Preach; The Word Preaches Better I believe that spring is the perfect time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God uses the unfolding seasons to proclaim truth to every inhabit of the earth. We know this because Romans 1 tells us that God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen being understood from what has been made. God communicates His invisible attributes, His nature, and I believe even His purposes in creation. Consider the unfolding seasons. Take summer for example, we see God's lavish nature, His generosity as He opens His hand and satisfies the desires of billions of living creatures all over the earth. The beasts of the field feed on the sweet green grass growing plentifully beneath their feet. In the summer we see lush meadows. We see beautiful wild flowers growing everywhere. We hear the noise of bubbling streams. We hear the songs of innumerable and different species of birds. We feed on the sweetest of summer fruits, strawberries, peaches, melons. That's summer. But then autumn comes. The season changes, the weather gets cooler, the skies get vividly, bright blue and then they get darker. Harvest time draws near, the last chance to collect food before there's nothing available to collect. The birds overhead are migrating, knowing they can't stay here. Winter is coming. The spectacular colors of fall foliage on leaves that will soon flutter to the earth and die reminds us that all glory, all physical glory here is fleeting and temporary, soon to sink back into the earth from which it came. And then comes winter. God speaks a word of cold judgment, of sterile death, long dark nights, winter blasts, nothing growing, no color on the earth, just frozen water, snow, ice, silence. Picture walking through a snowy forest in the winter, you stop and listen and you hear thick, eerie silence, muffled stillness, really a picture of death. But then comes spring. And what does God speak here in my mind as a Christian, but resurrection from the dead. Flower buds on trees ready to burst forth. You got subterranean tulip bulbs ready to emerge from recently hardened snow-covered ground to display radiant and colored life. The warm breezes, delightful fragrances of spring in the air. I especially love budding trees and their different colors. The birds have returned and they chatter and they begin to resume their energetic lives. All of these whisper to the world of a yearning for resurrection from the dead. However, the bodily resurrection from the dead of human beings from the grave must be a specifically revealed truth, revealed in the pages of Scripture not gleaned from nature. For it seems nature speaks ardently against it. The seasons preach, but the Word preaches better. "The bodily resurrection from the dead of human beings from the grave must be a specifically revealed truth, revealed in the pages of Scripture not gleaned from nature. For it seems nature speaks ardently against it. The seasons preach, but the Word preaches better." Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15. We’re going to walk through some portions of this great chapter. Resurrection from the dead is proclaimed truth, it's revealed in the pages of scripture. The doctrine of the resurrection from the dead is a Christian doctrine. Other religions of the world do not teach it. The Greek philosophies that Paul was battling there in ancient Corinth and earlier in ancient Athens respected the idea generally of the immortality of the soul, but they openly mocked Paul on Mars Hill when he spoke of the resurrection from the dead. That's why Paul wrote this great resurrection chapter in 1 Corinthians 15. He is refuting people who are steeped in Greek philosophy, who are saying first that resurrection from the dead is impossible and secondly, that it's undesirable. He begins with the central fact concerning the bodily resurrection from the dead, that Christ is risen. Christ's resurrection is central to the Christian gospel. Look at verses 1 and 2 in this chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, "Now brothers I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain." Christ's death and resurrection are both in fulfillment of prophetic scripture. Look at verse 3 and 4, "For what I received, I passed on to you as a first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures." Paul then goes on to talk about eyewitness proof of the resurrection. Christ appeared first to Peter and then He appeared to the twelve, and then He appeared to more than five hundred eyewitnesses. Paul says most of whom were still alive at the time when he was writing that chapter. They could be summoned to testify to what they saw, eyewitness testimony to the resurrection. Then Christ appeared to James, his biological brother and then again to all the apostles. Then last of all, after a delay of time, to Paul himself. Now these eyewitnesses are effectively summoned here in this chapter by Paul's writings to prove that Christ has risen from the dead. Resurrection from the dead is not only possible, it has happened. Then he addresses the main problem in verse 12, the reason he's writing the chapter, "But if it is preached to Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection from the dead?" That's the key clue on why he's writing this chapter, there were people saying that to them it seemed impossible, actually absurd. That's what I meant when I said nature is against resurrection. Yes, the spring testifies to life from seemingly dead things, and Paul is going to use this analogy in the verses in this chapter I'm going to focus on for this sermon, verses 35-38, of seeds that fall down into the ground and die and then produce life. But specific human beings die and you never see them again. There are absolutely no exceptions, everyone dies. The rich and poor alike, old and young alike, powerful and weak alike, famous and obscure alike. Death seems absolutely unbeatable. All the pharmaceutical research and medical technologies and genetic insights and tailor-made therapies, miracles of modern science, cannot defeat death. They just stave it off temporarily. It's irreversible, once that specific loved one is gone, that person never returns ever. Paul was asked to address this basic concern, death the final enemy, and he faces their false doctrine head on. If resurrection from the dead actually were impossible, then Christ himself has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. We are all still in our sins. We have no way to be forgiven by a holy God. Paul and all Christian apostles and evangelists and missionaries and pastors and teachers and roommates and friends and neighbors that tell you these things are liars. Everyone that has died, they're gone. You will never see them again. Death still reigns, the merciless vicious tyrant it has always been, and Christ is actually no savior at all. Now like Paul, I can't go on long in that vein, that tone, because in verse 20, "But Christ has been raised from the dead." Hallelujah. He's already stated this at the beginning of the chapter, but it's like he can't say it enough. He said it when he first came to Corinth, when he was there in weakness and fear and much trembling, preaching Christ and him crucified. But he didn't just preach Christ and him crucified, he also preached Christ and him resurrected. He preached that simple and clear message. Almighty God sent His son, His only-begotten son; through the Virgin Mary took on a human body. He lived a physical life tempted in all ways just as we are yet was without sin. He did stunning miracles, amazing miracles. He taught amazing teachings, but especially He died in our place on the cross as an atonement for our sins. And on the third day, God raised Him from the dead. Through faith in Jesus Christ, that simple message I've just proclaimed, all of our sins are forgiven and that we ourselves will receive the benefit of Christ's resurrection from the dead. That's why we're singing and so excited and celebrating. It's not just some historical fact, we believe we're singing about our own future this morning. As Jesus said in John 11, "I am the resurrection in the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Paul in this great resurrection chapter says Christ's resurrection is a pattern for all Christians that we will certainly follow. Look again at verse 20, “but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” The first fruits is speaking of a vast harvest yet to come. We are in that harvest if we believe in Jesus. All of this makes up the basic good news which Christians all over the world are celebrating today. It is not my purpose to walk verse by verse through this entire chapter, though nothing would please me more. But I'm telling you the sermons already quite long. I tried to shorten it, friends, but get ready, we're going to be here a while. This morning's text is verse 35 through 38, "But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?' How foolish. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be but just a seed, perhaps a weed or something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined and to each kind of seed, he gives its own body." Paul is addressing objections to the doctrine of resurrection based on the immense practical difficulties of resurrection from the dead. Specifically, how could it happen? What kind of body would we have if we're going to be raised from the dead? It's interesting in verse 36, he answers with a rebuke, "How foolish." It's one of the stranger moments in the chapter, especially because he goes on to answer the question that he rebukes. Why does he say this? Why does he say, "How foolish"? I think it's for this reason. He's addressing the foolishness of a person who thinks that the God who created the universe by the word of His power and sustains it every moment of its existence by the word of His power is not capable of doing this, especially if you can't specifically understand how. That's foolish, Paul's saying. If I can't understand it and if I can't work out the details, then it can't happen. That's a foolish way of thinking. What's foolish is to overturn the clear evidence he's already given that Christ has been raised from the dead, and that it was clearly predicted in the Scriptures and all of that because you can't reason out the practical issues. II. Continuity The fundamental insight in these verses concerning the resurrection body is that of continuity and transformation. I want to focus on those two aspects that Paul's giving us, continuity and transformation. The body that is raised is intimately mystically directly connected to the body that is sown in the ground, but what is raised is infinitely superior to it. Continuity and transformation, what is sown is raised.He uses that powerful image of a seed planted in the earth that gives birth to a beautiful mature plant. The seed that is cast into the earth dies. Verse 36, "What you sow does not come to life unless it dies." You've got this grain of wheat that's cast down into the soil, and the moist soil surrounds the husk of the seed. It goes to work on the seed's husk, it dissolves it. The seed, as you would know it, is gone. You never see it again. But in the mysterious wisdom of God, in the soft kernel, the center of the seed takes over and does its amazing work. There emerges a green shoot from the genetic material, it grows, it pushes out into the surrounding soil. It sucks nutrients and moisture from the soil and it grows surging with energy in life. Then the course of time, a green shoot emerges above the ground poking through the top layer of soil, and on it goes until it's ultimately a mature plant. Now the seed and the plant look different. Verse 37, "When you sow you do not plant the body that will be but just a seed, perhaps a weed or something else." There's no apparent connection between the appearance of the seed and the plant that springs up from it. But there is indisputable continuity between the two. The particular seed planted in the soil results in a specific and corresponding plant. So it is with our mortal bodies. They do not look like what they will be when they're resurrected. The corpse is ugly, it shrivels, stripped of honor. Paul later says it's sown in dishonor. I've been pastor here for twenty-five years. I've seen a lot of dear friends age, get sick and die. From time to time when I would visit some of them in their last days, I could scarcely recognize them as the friend I've known for many years. Their body looks different, physically repulsive in some respects. Their corpses were eventually planted in the ground and we don't know anything after that except that we know that corruption takes over and they look nothing when they're sown in the ground in that dishonored state like the radiant glory that will characterize their resurrection bodies when they emerge from the grave. So we have this concept of continuity. We do not believe that we will be created in our resurrection bodies, “ex nihilo,” out of nothing, as though God speaks and you then exist. That would not be resurrection, that would be an entirely new work, and that's not what this chapter's teaching. There is a determination in the mind and heart of God to raise you up from the grave. There's an unbreakable cord between your present body and what will be raised in the mind and heart of God and the purpose of God and death cannot sever that cord, that tie. That's the doctrine of resurrection. The outward appearance of the seed is misleading. You have to take it by faith. There is no glory in the appearance of a seed unless you're an expert, a horticultural expert. Most of us are not that interested in the appearance of the seed. Have you ever seen a seed packet that shows the seed on the cover, the little picture on the cover? They never show the seed. They never do that. They show you what it's going to be, a geranium, a morning glory, a tulip or maybe some kind of vegetable, a squash or a tomato. It shows a fully formed fruit or vegetable, a flower. If I had a table out here of various seeds and asked you to identify them, you couldn't. Neither could I. Paul addresses these foolish objectors, "How foolish." I've told you the reason why. There is a difference between asking questions and questioning. Asking questions is normal and expected and welcomed in Christianity. We want people to ask questions. That's fine. The Bible's full of answers to those questions. But questioning, now that's a different matter. Questioning means I've already decided this can't happen, I'm going to use the rhetorical technique of asking a series of questions that I don't think there's any good answer to, to prove that it can't happen. That's what's foolish here, questioning. I understand why, because the pragmatic aspects, the practical aspects seem insurmountable. I was reading a sermon that Charles Sturgeon wrote on this text, and it enriched me so much, so many benefits that I got from it, but he was talking about something I didn't know about that I found rather horrifying. In 19th century churches there was frequently a cemetery connected with the church, we have it here in this area from time to time, some of the older Baptist churches. Occasionally it would happen that a plowman would go through a field where there were dead bodies, and the dead bodies had gotten mixed up with manure and fertilizer and got planted and sown on a field. That's creepy. I'm not even going to get into the corn or whatever that grew from that. What ends up happening with all that? That's a problem. We have similar questions. Fiery plane crash, no survivors left, can't even see, identify a body or someone that dies in the ocean and their body's completely disintegrated, that kind of thing, and the molecules break apart. I don't know, atoms, I don't know, gets down to this thing. How could it ever be reassembled? Are not our corpses like the essence of dust in the wind. Once scattered never to be reassembled. But Paul would say, how foolish to think that almighty God can't do it. The omniscient one. The omnipresent one. Have we forgotten that the Bible teaches that God sustains every atom in the universe directly by His power through His son Jesus Christ, that in Him all things hold together [Colossians 1]. God keeps track of innumerable things in the cosmos. Take for example Isaiah 40:26, speaking of the stars, the prophet says, "Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name.” That's an achievement. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Being the geek that I am I googled how many stars are there in the cosmos, and the internet has the answer. Scientists estimate that there may be as many as 10 to the 24th power, stars in the universe. So then I googled, how many atoms are there in a mature human body? It depends how much you weigh, I guess, but the estimate is 1,000 times more atoms in an average human body than there are stars in the cosmos. You're like, that's the breaking point for God. He can keep track of the stars and call them each by name, but he'll lose track of our atoms. Not at all. Numbers are nothing to God. God can do this. Furthermore, we're thinking too simplistically about all this. Is it the exact same molecules that make me up right now? Is that what we're talking about? Seeds don't do that. Seeds draw together things that are not originally in the seed to assemble the final mature body. Take an acorn for example, how much does an acorn weigh and how much does a fully mature oak tree weigh? The answer is 24,000 to 36,000 pounds on average. Where'd all that come from? The seed drew it, and put it together. Then not only that, but what about your own body? Are you the same person you were 10 years ago? You are not, and yet you are. Because medical science tells us that your body's rejuvenating and replacing cells all the time. Your skin cells are replaced every few weeks. In fact, you lose half a billion skin cells every day, which is a little bit gross, but there it is. Then they get replenished with new skin cells, and then there's other cells that take much longer. But I think on average, definitely every 10 years you're different. But if you left this country, said goodbye to your loved ones, your family or friends and went and lived in another country for ten years and came back, they would not see you as an entirely different person, they would recognize you as the same person. You are you even though your cells have been replaced. So that's the concept. The genetic code within your cells is the key to uniqueness as a person. The shape of your nose, your jawline, your eyes, the way the muscles in your face move when you're happy or you're nervous, that is you. The cells that replicate are doing so according to a hidden secret recipe that makes you you. All I can say is it's just an analogy of what I can see with the resurrection from the dead. God knows what you are when He raises you from the dead, and He makes you out of what you were into some radically beautiful new thing that you will be. That's the continuity. God has that recipe for you in His own mind, and He will finish it by raising you from the dead. Spurgeon in that sermon said, the very body in which you sinned and suffered and served Christ will mysteriously be raised, refined and readied for eternal praise to God. That the same body that walked the streets of this dust covered earth will walk the streets of gold in the new Jerusalem. Not only that, not only physical continuity, but I believe a continuity of history and personality and your story, your life story, gets raised with you as well. What you sow, you get. Verses 37-39, "When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be but just a seed perhaps of weed or something else. But God gives it a body as he's determined and to each kind of seed he gives his own body. All flesh is not the same. Men have one kind of flesh, animals another birds, another flesh, another, and star differs from star and glory." If you plant a wheat seed, you're not getting barley. If you plant peas, you don't get avocado. Every plant has its own attributes, and so it is with us. Dear brothers and sisters, we're not identical. We're very, very similar, but we're not identical. We have marks as faces and features, but we also have a life that we lived and there's just a combination. I think it's perfected in the wounds of Jesus that was still in His resurrection body afterwards, very uniquely so because I don't believe we'll bear any wounds from things we suffered here on earth, but Jesus did just to show He is the one, the very one that was crucified, He was the one that was raised. As He said to doubting Thomas, "Touch me and see. Put your fingers in, your nail marks, hands in the sides." There's continuity there of what He did. Christian martyrs will retain their lineage. I don't believe their wounds, but their lineage. Those that serve Christ in certain ways, it will be remembered and honored in Heaven and we will celebrate it. We all have a unique history, a story. Peter isn't raised Paul, and Isaiah is not raised as Daniel. There are backstories that come with those resurrected bodies. Forever we're going to be celebrating each other's honors as though they were our own as 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, "If one part is honored, the whole body, every part rejoices with it." That's a beautiful concept, isn't it? You're going to be celebrating your brothers and sisters honors as though they were your own and that's a beautiful thing. III. Transformation What about transformation? The corpse that is sown into the earth is sown in dishonor and weakness. Paul says this in verse 43, "Death strips the human body of all its honor. It doesn't appear fearfully and wonderfully made anymore, aging is bad enough as beauty and strength and skill erode gradually over the years. How much more the dishonor done to the corpse after the soul has fled?" Microbes and parasites devour it and degradation, Mary said of her dead brother Lazarus, "There's a bad odor for he's been there for four days like a rotting piece of meat." Despite the fact that human beings were originally created in the image of God, sin and death more than merely deface that image, but not so the resurrected body. It is raised in radiant glory and limitless power. It is raised in corruptible, imperishable, immortal. Those are all opposite words. Can't corrupt, can't perish, can't die, impossible. The glory the resurrection body has at the first moment will never fade. One thousand ages, won't dim the resurrected eye or weaken the resurrected arm, everlasting youth and vigor, beauty and vitality. You are dust, into dust you shall return, then you'll be bodily spirit and spiritual body. Work that one out, but a perfect union between your body and your spirit forever. The beauty of the body and of the soul and of the mind and the heart. Perfect forever, perfect form, perfect color, perfect shape, details radiantly beautiful. Your heart, as I mentioned, will be transformed as well. "The glory the resurrection body has at the first moment will never fade. … a perfect union between your body and your spirit forever." This has already happened to the saints that have departed and left their bodies behind. They're called absent from the body, present with the Lord. But they are the spirits of righteous men made perfect. Their hearts are already perfect and what that means is they'll never have an evil thought again, a sinful thought. They're already perfectly worshiping God and so it'll be with us, our hearts will burn with a zeal for the glory of God and burn with love for each other in that perfected world. I picture the cherubim in Ezekiel's vision, Ezekiel 1, likened to creatures on fire. Isaiah 6 calls them seraphim, meaning “burning ones”. They're moving rapidly back and forth amongst themselves, our passionate service and worship to God. Ezekiel 1:13-14, "The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures. It was bright and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.” So will our minds and hearts be on fire for Christ and for God. Boredom and mental fogginess and dullness and forgetfulness will be banished forever. We will have sharp minds and ardent hearts, we will be conformed to Christ, that's it, in absolute perfection. Look at verse 49, "And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven." And Romans 8:29 says, "Those whom God for knew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." Conformed to the image of his son. And what is that? Revelation 1:16, "His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance," conformed to that. IV. Rich illustrations of Our Resurrection As I was reading the Spurgeon sermon, I thought I might need some illustrations, and he gave me many. That's why the sermon was like an hour long when I practiced it some time ago. The illustrations are helpful and I love that. I don't think any preacher that I've ever read in history has been so good at illustrating as Charles Spurgeon. He said illustrations are like in the architecture of a sermon like windows that lead in light and color. He gave us these beautiful illustrations. Let me start with a ramshackle home. Picture a ramshackle cottage broken down with its beams and rafters rotten and its roof partially caved in. It allows rain to flow into the kitchen. The windows are small and dark and soot covered, they barely allow any light into the tiny sullen cottage. The walls are covered with moss, mold, mildew, there's a smell of rottenness about the premises. The inhabitant of the house, picture him as an invalid man who rents this dilapidated house, but he can't leave the residence. People who pass by often hear this poor man sigh and groan, “Wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this dead cottage.” did But one day the landlord of the property comes and invites the man to leave. In fact, he orders some strong man men to carry this man to his mansion. There he lives and eats and drinks and gets very strong. In the meantime, by the order of the master, the wretched cottage is pulled down, it's razed to the very ground, and from that material and others, a new dwelling is in its place. It now has slabs of marble. It's decorated with gemstone. It has vast windows on all sides and allows a spectacular view of light and color to flood in. It has a roof of jasper that glistens in the sunlight. It's almost blinding to look at. Then the master invites the man to come to his new dwelling, but not as a renter. He's going to live in it forever now. He owns it. What incredible joy comes on this man when he sees the new dwelling in which he will live, and to find that he's no longer a temporary renter, but now a permanent owner of that magnificent house, and that makes his joy perfect and complete. So it is with your body. It's like a clay house tumbling down, broken down, temporary. Your soul's groaning within, yearning to be set free and come into its true, eternal dwelling place, a body in which you'll live forever, holy, incorruptible, radiantly beautiful, staggeringly powerful, illustration number one. How about number two? A beggar invited into a feast. Picture a beggar walking down the street past the mansion of the mayor of London. He's wearing tattered clothes that flap in the winter's gale. He shivers. He seeks to pull what's left of his wretched garments around his shivering frame, but it barely covers him. His shoes are barely staying on his frozen feet. They have holes in them. His hat is ugly and offers neither good style nor protection from the elements. He pulls it down over his ears, but it does little. Meanwhile, he hears inside the great house of the mayor of London, a vast throng of people feasting, laughing, talking, drinking, sitting, singing fellowshipping, but he knows he would never be fit to go in there. Suddenly though, a servant comes out from the mansion and invites him to follow. You watch as this happens. He brings him into a small dark house just outside the mansion. You stand outside watching, waiting, trying to see what's going to happen. After a while, the servant comes out with it seems another man. No, you squint, you look and sure enough, you're stunned in amazement, it is the original beggar but now he's washed, he's cleansed. His hair is perfectly clean and orderly. His face is shining. But also he's clothed in the official attire of the mayor of London. He's wearing a purple robe with the mayor's own crest on it. He has a crown of honor on his head and a golden belt around his waist. He's happy and ready to enter the banqueting hall, confident that he's welcome there. You're amazed and you wonder what was that and from that grave comes bodies fitted in glory for eternal feasting in the banquet hall of the king of kings and the lord of the universe. The guests of the banquet go into that small sepulcher as filthy beggars and they come out robed in splendor ready to feast with God forever. The third third illustration is an old battered cup, a metal cup, battered, filthy. It has a sordid history, this cup, of pouring drink down the throats of pirates and villains. The cup is corroded, it's misshapen, it's got jagged edges. It’s even got some holes from which liquid leaks out continually. No one can tell what kind of metal it was made from, it's that ugly. It's thrown into a pile on the dump and there corrodes further in the elements forgotten in the darkness. But after a while, a skilled hand rummages around, picks it up, looks at it, carries it with honor into the workshop. The metal is crushed entirely, pounded with overwhelming force until not a single particle is left connected with the rest. Then the pieces are gathered together, put into the refiner's fire. It's perfectly melted. A liquid metal glows and is poured into a mold. A magnificent chalice takes shape glowing of the most precious metal. It's shaped with perfect balance to meet its final purpose. It's adorned with precious gems and polished to a high shine and put into the hand of the king. It's a vessel of honor. Could it be the same cup? Well, yes and no. It is the same cup, but it's infinitely and perfectly transformed and it's carried with great ceremony and put into the hands of king Jesus. There He fills it and drinks from it and uses it as He sees fit for all eternity. We will be active and used in the new heaven, new earth. So it will be with the resurrection of the body. We who are useless to the king through sin and death become vessels of radiant mercy, fit for the hand of the king for all eternity. V. Applications What applications can we take from this meditation? First, by faith based on the Scripture, not the seasons, but the Scripture, believe in this joyful good news. Believe that Christ has been raised from the dead. Christ's resurrection is our glory. It is our hope. It is our eternal joy. Therefore, do not fear death. If you're a Christian, the best things, all your best things are yet to come. It doesn't matter how good and delightful your life in this mortal body has been up to this point. All of your best things are yet to come. You should be filled with hope. You should be overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, [Romans 15:13]. Enjoy the lessons of nature, look at the budding trees, see how they scream resurrection, but just say resurrection is clearly taught in the Bible. And believe it. Believe it. Christ lives and so shall we. Christ's resurrection body is the first fruits of a vast harvest. You, my dear friend, will be included if you repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and no other way. Have you repented of your sins? Have you trusted in Christ? Have you believed in this story, this gospel message? Do you know that your sins are forgiven? Spurgeon in his sermon ended with a very heavy and serious warning. He knew that on Easter Sunday people come, guests come who don't usually come to church. I know that too. I'm so glad, if you're in that category, if you're in the category of “I don't usually go to church, I was invited here,” I'm glad that you're here to listen to this message. The joyful message that we celebrate as Christians, resurrection, is only a benefit to those who are Christians, those who repent and believe in Jesus Christ. It’s not for everybody. The Bible does teach a general resurrection, but is radically different for the wicked, for unbelievers. In John 5:28-29, Jesus said, "Do not be amazed at this. For a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good will rise to live. And those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." Condemned. The same bodies that unrepented sinners used to sin will be the bodies in which they will be eternally judged by the wrath of God. Those bodies will exist only to complete God's righteous judgment against all those who use their bodies to rebel against his commands and serve themselves and their own lusts and pleasures and never repented of that and trusted in Christ. This is a dreadful teaching, but it is true. God is absent from hell in the sense of blessing, but He is present there in His power to sustain it. Jesus said, "The worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." So be warned. John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." So flee to Christ. Flee to Christ while there's time. Spurgeon finished his sermon with these words, "Oh my dear hearers, I cannot bear to stay on this somber subject for long. But let me finish with this word of hope. Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus shall be saved. This means you, poor man, though perhaps you were drunk last night and scarcely got up time enough to come here this morning. If you believe you will be saved. This means you, poor woman, sinner though you may be. If you cast yourself on Christ, you will be saved. This means you, respectable man, moral man, though you have been trusting in your own morality and your own works up till now, if you trust entirely in Christ, you will be saved. But not if you trust in yourself. Oh, I plead with you, be wise and look to the lamb who died on the cross. See him as he rises from the dead, as ascends to Heaven, believing in him, receive the hope of eternal life and the assurance of a blissful resurrection in him to eternal life." Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time that we've had to study this joyful topic today. We thank you for the incredible good news that Christ died for our sins, and rose again for our eternal joy. Help us to trust in him, it's only by faith in Jesus that we become partakers of this beautiful resurrection body. So I pray that you would work that gospel message now in the hearts of every person who hears me now. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you can have eternal hope. In response to this, God's people should live with such assurance. Join Pastor Robert and his wife Carolyn as they delve into the meaning of true hope and its restorative impact.   One by One is the Podcast Ministry of Pastor Robert L. Scott Jr. of Quench Life Christian Fellowship. To learn more about QLCF, visit quenchlife.org. To support our ministry as we spread the Gospel, visit quenchlife.org/giving.

In our rebellion we put Jesus Christ, the son of God, to death. Now our lives are forfeit. But here we see the wonder of God's adopting grace, that it turns rebels into princes. Through faith in Jesus Christ we become God's own sons and daughters. That's the good news, today on Every Last Word with Dr. Philip Ryken. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/581/29

In our rebellion we put Jesus Christ, the son of God, to death. Now our lives are forfeit. But here we see the wonder of God's adopting grace, that it turns rebels into princes. Through faith in Jesus Christ we become God's own sons and daughters. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/790/29

The author reminds his readers of the power of God available to them. Through faith in Jesus Christ we have access to God's “very great and precious promises” so that we have “everything we need for a godly life.” 

The author reminds his readers of the power of God available to them. Through faith in Jesus Christ we have access to God's “very great and precious promises” so that we have “everything we need for a godly life.” 

Through faith in Jesus Christ alone we become children of God. But how then does our knowledge of the Truth change the way we live our lives? Paul's letter to Titus gives clarity to this idea and helps us to consider what really is "The Good Life."

Title: Romans 1: Understanding the Profound MessageIntroduction:The Bible, a sacred text cherished by millions around the world, contains a multitude of verses that offer profound insights and spiritual guidance. Among them, Romans 1 stands as a crucial chapter in the New Testament. Penned by the apostle Paul, this chapter delves into significant theological themes, offering valuable lessons for believers. Let us explore Romans 1 and unravel its meaning.Context and Background:Before diving into the specifics of Romans 1, it is essential to understand the historical and literary context in which it was written. Paul, an influential figure in early Christianity, wrote the Epistle to the Romans during his third missionary journey, around AD 57-58. The letter was addressed to the Christian community in Rome, which comprised both Jewish and Gentile believers.Meaning and Themes:Romans 1 primarily focuses on highlighting humanity's need for God's salvation and righteousness. It addresses the sinful condition of humanity and God's just response to it. The chapter unfolds with a comprehensive understanding of the Gospel message, as Paul delves into the consequences of rejecting God and the transformative power of faith.Recognition of God's Existence and Rejection:Paul begins by asserting that God's existence and divine attributes are evident in His creation, leaving humanity without excuse for denying His existence (Romans 1:20). However, he points out that many have suppressed this knowledge and turned to idolatry, exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal creatures (Romans 1:23). This rejection of the truth led to spiritual darkness and moral decay.Consequences of Sin:Romans 1 emphasizes the devastating consequences of human sinfulness. Paul vividly describes the downward spiral caused by rejecting God's truth. He illustrates how people, despite knowing the right path, indulged in various sinful acts, leading to a degraded state of mind and heart (Romans 1:21-32). This passage serves as a reminder of the destructive power of sin and its potential to distance individuals from God.God's Wrath and Justice:Paul emphasizes that God's response to human sinfulness is not indifference but wrath. He states that God's righteous anger is directed towards those who suppress the truth and engage in wickedness (Romans 1:18). This highlights God's moral character and His commitment to upholding justice. However, it is crucial to note that God's wrath is not arbitrary or without purpose; it aims to lead humanity towards repentance and redemption.The Power of the Gospel:Within the context of humanity's fallen state and God's righteous wrath, Paul introduces the transformative power of the Gospel. He asserts that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). Through faith in Jesus Christ, believers receive forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and the gift of righteousness. The Gospel provides hope for humanity's restoration and salvation.Conclusion:Romans 1 holds significant theological weight, addressing humanity's fallen condition, God's righteous wrath, and the redemptive power of the Gospel. It serves as a profound reminder of the importance of recognizing God's existence and surrendering to His truth. Paul's words in Romans 1 invite believers to reflect on their own lives, examine the consequences of sin, and embrace the transformative power of the Gospel message. Ultimately, Romans 1 calls us to seek God, repent of our sins, and live in the light of His truth and righteousnessSendMe Radio is now an online streaming internet radio station, packed with all the messages on the podcast. Listen to awesome Interviews, thousands of Gospel Music, and discover new businesses and their inspiring stories. Also if you would like a radio commercial for your Church, social or business event contact us via email digitalink@sendmeradio.com Google Assistant Google Action is available on Google Home:
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Romans 3:9  //  Well then, are we [Jews] better off than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles) are under the control of sin and subject to its power. Romans 3:19  //  Now we know that whatever the Law [of Moses] says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that [the excuses of] every mouth may be silenced [from protesting] and that all the world may be held accountable to God [and subject to His judgment]. Romans 3:20-26  //  For no person will be justified [freed of guilt and declared righteous] in His sight by [trying to do] the works of the Law. For through the Law we become conscious of sin [and the recognition of sin directs us toward repentance, but provides no remedy for sin]. BUT NOW But now the righteousness of God has been clearly revealed [independently and completely] apart from the Law, though it is [actually] confirmed by the Law and the [words and writings of the] Prophets. This righteousness of God comes THROUGH FAITH in Jesus Christ for all those [Jew or Gentile] who believe [and trust in Him and acknowledge Him as God's Son]. There is no distinction, since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God, and are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] grace, through the redemption [the payment for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly [before the eyes of the world] as a [life-giving] sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation (propitiation) by His blood [to be received] through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness [which demands punishment for sin], because in His forbearance [His deliberate restraint] He passed over the sins previously committed [before Jesus' crucifixion]. It was to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the One who justifies those who have FAITH in Jesus [and rely confidently on Him as Savior]. Only those who know what it is to be lost can fully appreciate what it means to be found BUT NOW Romans 3:23  //  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans 1:25  //. …they traded the truth of God for a lie 3 key words: JUSTIFICATION REDEMPTION PROPITIATION Justification: the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God. Romans 3:24  //  …and are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] grace, through the redemption [the payment for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus. Justification = Acquittal AND Acceptance Acquittal means we're not guilty Acceptance means we are accepted Acquittal means we've been saved from hell Acceptance means we've been made a child of God When God looks at you he sees the righteousness of His son. Redemption-deliverance or release by the payment of a price Romans 3:24b  //  …justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus Our ransom has been paid by the precious blood of Jesus Mark 10:45  //  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many Propitiation-averting the wrath of God by the offering of a gift Hebrews 2:17  //  Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people 1 John 2:2  //  He [Jesus Christ] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world 1 John 4:10  //  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins NOW WHAT? How does this glorious reality become ours today? Not by works, but by FAITH Romans 3:22  //  This righteousness is given THROUGH FAITH in Jesus Christ to all who believe Romans 3:25  //   The blessings of propitiation are to be received BY FAITH Romans 3:26  //  God is shown to be just and the justifier of the one who has FAITH in Jesus Romans 3:28  //  For we hold that one is justified BY FAITH apart from works of the law Ephesians 2:8-9  //  For it is by grace [God's remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] THROUGH FAITH. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; 9 not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].

Praise God that Christians are saved from the wrath of God! Praise God that anyone can be saved from the wrath of God! How does it come? Through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus is the only thing that prepares us for the day of the Lord, for it is only by Christ that […]

True hope is founded on Jesus' historic resurrection, and it includes the return of Jesus, the resurrection of all people and the renewal of all things. Through faith in Jesus Christ, you can find peace in your relationship with God and look forward to participating in God's promised destiny for creation and humankind. This change in perspective can radically improve your life today.

Dumb Christian Podcast season 2, episode 6. In Romans chapter 8 Paul introduces this idea of 'predestination' (he gets more into it later in the epistle). This is an incredibly divisive concept when it comes to what it means for a person's belief system. Churches split over this word but what did it mean to the original Roman readers who came from a wide variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds? Paul encourages his readers that God is working to restore all things and that the way through which he will redeem people AND the rest of creation was determined before it all began. Through faith in Jesus Christ.

 We boast in the One who gives us the free gift of salvation. We boast in the One who earned our salvation for us. "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."  As St. Paul writes, "Jesus has become our righteousness, holiness and redemption." Jesus is your righteousness. He has made you, a sinner, right with God by His death on the cross. Through faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin, you have been made right with God. Now God not only "accepts" and "tolerates" you, He takes pride in you. The Lord boasts in you! Jesus is your holiness.  Jesus is your redemption. He has bought you and purchased you with His own life blood as the price. You are not your own. You are His treasured possession. And that is something to boast about!Support the show-----Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person!Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A#LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you also are God's chosen one...

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you also are God's chosen one...

The wretchedness of our sin should not be something we minimize.   There is no such thing as an innocent person.  All of us are guilty people.    Assurance of Salvation is a good thing, but assurance is never meant to replace thankfulness and wonder that God would save wretched sinners like you and me.   It is good to remember that salvation means that we need someone to save us. It is good to remember that salvation is impossible for us to earn.   Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have been given the righteousness of God.  Being counted righteous, being justified in God's sight is a gift, it is not earned.  Jesus bought our righteousness with his own blood.  In this way, God is righteous in his judgment of us, because Jesus paid the penalty that had to be paid.   Not because we are trying to earn our way into heaven, but because Jesus is slowly changing us to be more righteous like him, we should be living according to our new identity in Christ.  We are set free from slavery to our sins.    God chooses to use other brothers and sisters in your life, to encourage you to grow in holiness, to be more like the person you will be in heaven, worshipping God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. 

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an adopted child of God. How is your inheritance with Jesus different than your earthly inheritance? How does the Holy Spirit point you to Jesus?

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an adopted child of God. How is your inheritance with Jesus different than your earthly inheritance? How does the Holy Spirit point you to Jesus?

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an adopted child of God. How is your inheritance with Jesus different than your earthly inheritance? How does the Holy Spirit point you to Jesus?

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an adopted child of God. How is your inheritance with Jesus different than your earthly inheritance? How does the Holy Spirit point you to Jesus?

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an adopted child of God. How is your inheritance with Jesus different than your earthly inheritance? How does the Holy Spirit point you to Jesus?

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an adopted child of God. How is your inheritance with Jesus different than your earthly inheritance? How does the Holy Spirit point you to Jesus?

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an adopted child of God. How is your inheritance with Jesus different than your earthly inheritance? How does the Holy Spirit point you to Jesus?

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an adopted child of God. How is your inheritance with Jesus different than your earthly inheritance? How does the Holy Spirit point you to Jesus?

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an adopted child of God. How is your inheritance with Jesus different than your earthly inheritance? How does the Holy Spirit point you to Jesus?

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an adopted child of God. How is your inheritance with Jesus different than your earthly inheritance? How does the Holy Spirit point you to Jesus?

God is Holy! Through faith in Jesus Christ, God has made us holy. Did you know God also requires us to live holy? Watch to find out more! Have you been blessed by this message? Please bless us back by clicking like, sharing and commenting on our messages. If you need prayer, leave a message below or call us at 636-225-7080 and we will pray for you. Would you like to know more about becoming a Christian? Click here: http://summitchurch.us/Becoming-a-Christian Check out our website: http://summitchurch.us/ If you would like to help support us financially, go to http://summitchurch.us/Giving

God is Holy! Through faith in Jesus Christ, God has made us holy. Did you know God also requires us to live holy? Watch to find out more! Have you been blessed by this message? Please bless us back by clicking like, sharing and commenting on our messages. If you need prayer, leave a message below or call us at 636-225-7080 and we will pray for you. Would you like to know more about becoming a Christian? Click here: http://summitchurch.us/Becoming-a-Christian Check out our website: http://summitchurch.us/ If you would like to help support us financially, go to http://summitchurch.us/Giving

Following Paul's preaching in Pisidian Antioch, the Jews plotted to stone Paul and Barnabas.  Learning of this plot, they fled for the cities of Lycaonia; Lystra and Derbe, where they continued to preach the Gospel. In Lystra, they encountered a man lame from birth.  Through faith in Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul was enabled to heal this man.  The response was misplaced credit for this miracle; attributing this healing to the work of their gods and assuming Paul and Barnabas to be Hermes and Zeus visiting their city, even going so far as to prepare sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. Aghast, Paul and Barnabas rush to stop this idolatry.  Beginning with the fact that they are just men, Paul makes great effort to preach the Gospel, beginning with the foundation of general revelation which points to the One True God, who is the creator and Lord of All. Thank you for listening to today's lesson.  May you be blessed through the teaching of God's Holy Word.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have been transferred from the realm of the flesh (i.e., in the flesh) into a new realm of the Spirit (i.e., in the Spirit). This is the main change that has happened to us in Christ Jesus, which makes possible all other changes in our lives. We need to know this and believe this, for it has profound implications to our whole being. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bongbaylon/message

Lent has traditionally been a time for Christians to reflect on the suffering of Christ and to unite themselves to him in their own suffering. This series reflects on the weight of sin, death, and darkness in the world, while also bringing out the beautiful resolution offered in the hope of the gospel. In this eipsode, Pastor Timothy Pender, Death is an uncomfortable topic: secular society tries to hide it and religions try to turn it into a welcome friend, but the Bible defines death as the greatest enemy to humanity, an enemy which Christ has defeated. Through faith in Jesus Christ the God-Man and in his defeat of death and resurrection, we too can be given victory over death. This gives us hope through all suffering and the motivation to begin to work for the kingdom of God now.

Although it is true that you cannot judge a book by its cover, how a person dresses says a lot. I may not be a priest by the Catholic definition of the word, but if a person who did not know me came walking down the street and saw me dressed in the black attire of a Catholic priest, they would be inclined to believe that I am a Catholic priest. Likewise, if a young girl was walking down the street and scantily clad, a young man would be inclined to believe that she was a certain type of girl, which she may or may not be. You get the idea. The apostle Paul exhorts the saints in Colosse to put off the old way of living and put on the new man which is renewed in the knowledge of Him that created him (Colossians 3:10). When you look at what we are exhorted to put on, you see a beautiful picture of The Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to how Paul writes it in our texts this morning: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” (Colossians 3:12-14) To put on means to be clothed. It is like reaching into your closet and choosing the kind of shirt or skirt that you want to wear that day. To put on is another way of saying, ‘Let's dress ourselves each day to look like Jesus Christ.' In the body of Christ, we have One Model and that is Jesus. To be like Him, we must be clothed with holiness, mercy, kindness, meekness, long-suffering, forgiveness, and above all of those things, love or agape, the Jesus kind of love that is the bond of perfection. That clothing is also the fruit of The Spirit. So let's connect a few dots about how a Christian man or woman should dress. It is all based on completed redemptive facts. “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:26,27) Through faith in Jesus Christ's perfect sacrifice, we become children of God and at the moment of regeneration, we were baptized into Christ. NOW, start living out that new life that you have in Jesus by the power of The Spirit. Refuse to let the old wardrobe dominate your thinking and lifestyle. Dress like Jesus. Selah

THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, CONDEMNED SINNERS ARE DECLARED RIGHTEOUS. -1. The accusations that require a verdict. -2. The reason for this verdict. -3. The way to receive this verdict.

Pastor Eric Baldwin of River City Church in Pittsburgh preaching Easter Sunday from Romans 6:5-11. "Through faith in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, we also receive life."

Through faith in Jesus Christ we are Children of God. As sons and daughters of Our Father in heaven, we have received the freedom and eternal life that comes from forgiveness of sins, and life in Jesus. This week in worship we are encouraged by God’s Word to use our freedom to positively affect the lives of others, and to direct them to the same Lord and Jesus Christ who has made us forgiven and free!

Anxiety is A major problem in our society. The Bible declares we are to "Be Anxious about nothing". Through Faith in Jesus Christ we can have Peace that passes all understanding.

Through faith in Jesus Christ’s resurrection, we can rejoice in the living hope and assured salvation that God has given us by the power of His gospel.

Introduction I constantly marvel at the providence of God as He lines out the things that I get to preach on. It’s not an accident. Today I am preaching to you from the Book of Isaiah on ministry to the poor and needy, just having returned from Haiti, the neediest country in the western hemisphere. This will be my last sermon in the Book of Isaiah until further notice. When I preach to you next, it will be from the Gospel of Matthew, God willing. What I want to do today is just preach a topical sermon from texts in the Book of Isaiah on visions of mercy ministry and ministry to the poor and needy. I want to preach it as a challenge to each one of us to give generously and to live a life of sacrificial love to others. I can’t think of a better book in the Bible to do that from than the Book of Isaiah. For me personally, I can’t think of a better time than today, this morning, having just come back from Haiti. The scenes of poverty in that country are overwhelming and devastating. Unforgettable. It’s my third trip there, and it just keeps deepening and expanding as I have visions in my mind. There’s a portion of the capital city of Port-au-Prince called the Cité Soleil. What a strange name, the city of the sun, because it’s a dark, poor place. There are all these temporary shelters built out of cardboard or wood with rusty corrugated metal roofs. There are children barely clad that are playing in puddles of muddy water or scooping some up in plastic pitchers and bringing it back into the city to do I have no idea what with. You see piles of garbage with people walking over them and picking out things that they find of some value and bringing them back into the city. The whole country isn’t that poor. But the sights are unforgettabl; the smells, the picture of poverty sitting on that community like a 900 pound gorilla and there’s nothing that they can do. I know the political history, the instability, the corruption, the wickedness of human government and of human sinfulness. You can’t put it all on the government because there’s just sin across the board that you see there, that’s brought that country to that level. The demonic element, voodoo, satanism, and darkness are pervasive. As I come back today to preach here at First Baptist Durham, my heart is moved and stirred with hope of the sense of the power of God. I have hope that God would anoint me, that He would sear my lips with a coal taken from the altar, that He’ll forgive me of my sins of selfishness, materialism, greed, loveless-ness, a lack of faith and fear, and all kinds of other sins that have hindered me from being fully useful to God and mercy ministry. You remember how Isaiah had a vision of Christ seated on His throne, high and exalted, and he felt immediately his own sinfulness. He said, “Woe is me. I am ruined.” I feel that way as I look at the holiness of God, as I look at the love of Jesus Christ, the way He left that glorious throne and came to minister to us. I look inside my own heart of darkness, my own limitations as a Christian, showing what I’m used to, what I’m accustomed to. I just ask the Lord to forgive me and to free me so that I can minister to others better the rest of my life. And I know He will. He came to save me from sin. I know He’s going to save this church from the same thing. I don’t know what the future holds for our country. We may need to band together, economically, as never before. This is a good time for us to discover what it means to reach out to somebody who’s needy, to help them, and to not be selfish. So I’m trusting in God for that. There’s one particular verse that moved me. You heard Fred powerfully read Isaiah 58:10. It says, “If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” That’s the verse that’s going to be the focal point of our meditations together today. I believe that if we do this, God will bless this church as never before. We will be a light shining in a dark place. We will be a city built up on a hill for all the people around to see. No one lights a lamp and hides it under a bowl. God has lit a lamp in this church. He intends to put it up high in this community and to the ends of the earth that we might shine for His glory and for the alleviation of suffering. We could be a blessing in this world as Christ was. You’ve already heard the verse that Eric read, 2 Corinthians 8:9. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” That’s what moves me today. Isaiah’s Heart for the Poor Isaiah’s Message a Burning Coal from the Altar So we turn to the Book of Isaiah. I’m not going to urge that you follow along. I’m going to be moving through the book and picking out verses in which Isaiah reveals his heart for the poor and needy. You can look these verses up later. For me, this message, as I said, is like a burning coal from the altar, a coal of conviction and also of atonement, that we might be transformed by the word of God. Isaiah called on Judah and Jerusalem to deal honestly with their sinfulness, to face it head on, and so he told the truth. They were saturated in religiosity, the machinery of religion. The wheels and the gears were turning all the time in Isaiah’s day. This is what the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 1:13, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New moons, sabbaths, and convocations – I cannot bear your evil assemblies.” They did all of these religious things, but God was displeased because their hearts were far from God. He was displeased with their hypocrisy. He was displeased with their lack of compassion for the poor and needy. Through Isaiah the prophet, God called to Israel to repent. In Isaiah 1:16-17, He said, “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” These staccato commands come from God. Seek justice, it says. That is, be certain that the weakest members of society are being fairly and justly treated. Oh, there was a lightning bolt of conviction for me this past week! I didn’t go to Haiti to be convicted of sin. I went to Haiti to minister. I went to Haiti to give them something good, that I might be a blessing. God intended, perhaps, that, but also that I might be convicted. We were in this church in Sainte-Marie. The church was filled with people that were there for the medical clinic, consultations that the doctors were doing, and for eye glasses. We divided the people up. David Eugene, the Haitian pastor that I work with, it’s just a blessing to work with him for those that needed eyeglasses and those that wanted the medical consultation. We gave them tickets with numbers on them. Everything was just engineered and perfect. It was so orderly and I loved it. That’s how it began, clean and orderly and neat. It didn’t stay that way. Pretty soon, there was a lot of chaos. There was a lot of moving. We had two men that we thought were trustworthy guarding the stairs up to the pulpit. Behind the pulpit was where the clinic was and the eyeglasses. There were the right stairs and the left stairs. One went up one side for the eyeglasses, and one went up the other side for the consultation. We had these guards that were guarding like the fox guards the hen house. It wasn’t long before corruption started coming in the system. They were allowing their friends and attractive young ladies and other people to get in ahead of these elderly women that were sitting and waiting patiently and could do nothing about it. It started to anger me. I saw this man give a ticket to one of his friends and he just put it in his pocket. And I said, “You gave him a ticket.” Now, I think the only word he understood was “ticket.” He knew that and he said, “Yeah, ticket. Ticket. Yeah, tickets. I’m taking tickets.” “No, no, you gave a ticket.” He was smiling and very, “Yeah.” Like I was born yesterday and knew nothing. But I do know some things. I studied French for six years and it served some benefit there in that Creole-speaking country. I said, “Ce n’est pas juste.” It’s not just, what you’re doing. And his countenance changed. He knew what I was saying. And we were not friendly after that. I wouldn’t mind reaching out to him, but he knew that I had caught him. Actually, I was the one that was caught. Is it just that I can walk into a Walmart and buy reading glasses in about ten minutes with a credit card, when they have to wait two or three hours to get them? Is that just? These are brothers and sisters in Christ, a lot of them. Is it just that we Americans, 5% of the world population, use 23% of the world’s energy? Is that just? It’s not just, I said. It’s not just, said the Lord to me. I’ll be wrestling with it the rest of my life. I don’t have an answer to the injustices of the world. I don’t know what the answer is. But I do know this: it is unchristian not to face the question. It’s unchristian to hide from it. It’s unchristian to remember one encounter you have with a beggar, and because of what they did with the money you gave (used it on drugs or alcohol), you are now free forever from thinking about ministering to the poor and needy. He means for us, based on Isaiah, to spend ourselves on behalf of the poor and needy. That’s what He means. It’s relentless. He means for it to overwhelm us. He means for us to go back again and again and say, “God, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what’s wise. I don’t know what’s best. I don’t know how to minister here in Durham. I don’t know how to minister in Haiti. I don’t know what to do, but God, please show me.” That’s what He intends. But we hide from it. We come up with clever answers that will be worthless on the day of accounting. They will not help us. The tissue-paper thin reasons we make for why we don’t have to obey the scripture on ministering to the poor and needy will not help us when we face Christ and give Him an account. They won’t help. So, seeking justice means being certain that the weakest members of society are being fairly and justly treated. “Encourage the oppressed,” says Isaiah. Find people that are crushed as if by a yoke of slavery. Encourage them by releasing them from the crushing burden that oppresses them. Defending the cause of the fatherless means being certain that the weakest, most defenseless members of society, the orphans, have their needs met. Pleading the case of the widow means standing in the courtrooms and the halls of power and acting as an advocate for their causes, as if they were your own. That’s what He’s telling us to do. Fighting the Corruption of Wicked Rulers Isaiah was fighting against the sinfulness of the human heart. He was also fighting against the corruption of wicked rulers. It’s everywhere in Haiti, and it’s all over the world. The wickedness of people who use their positions of influence for their own selfish purposes! Isaiah fought against it. In Isaiah 1:23, he says, “Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless, the widow’s case does not come before them.” Consistently, Isaiah preached against these men. They were the ones corrupting society. For example, widows, orphans, and the otherwise weak and needy were being defrauded. There were multiple blasts from Isaiah’s clear trumpet against these wicked rulers. Isaiah 3:14-15 says, “The Lord enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: ‘It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?’ declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.” This included unjust judges who used their positions to rob the poor and needy, to plunder the houses of widows and steal their property, to favor the rich. It included kings and princes who did the same, using their influence to do that. I’m thinking, of course, about King Ahab, who in the time of Elijah set his heart on Naboth’s vineyard and through the suggestions of his wicked wife, Queen Jezebel, orchestrated some trumped up charge against Naboth. He had him killed and then illegally confiscated his inheritance, which should have gone to his family. But he’s not the only one. This kind of thing happens again and again, and not just in Haiti. It happens in America. It happens all over the world. People use their positions of influence for themselves. Isaiah raises his trumpet to his lips and he blasts out warnings, like that in Isaiah 10:1-3. “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?” Yet… Even the Poor and Needy are Sinners in Need of Salvation Yet, Isaiah saw that even the financially poor and needy were themselves sinners in need of salvation. He had no romantic view of the poor and needy. They were every bit as sinful as the rich oppressors. If they could have, they would have been the rich oppressors. I’m telling you from my own heart, one of the greatest obstacles to sustaining ministry to the poor and needy are the poor and needy themselves, how they live, what they do. We expect to be thanked, to be recognized for the love that we show them, okay? We expect that they might take the money and use it wisely to build themselves up. We’re not going to see that. You know why? Because they’re as sinful as we are. That’s why. Isaiah never denied this. He never denied that the poor and needy were sinners. He addressed it fully. Isaiah 9:17 says, “Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men, nor will he pity the fatherless and the widows, for everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks vileness. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.” He knew the hearts of the poor. It’s not, “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” I know that’s what Luke says. But that has to do with poverty of spirit towards God, where you become a spiritual beggar and know you need a Savior. There are plenty of poor people that are going to go to hell. And there are some rich people that will go to heaven. That’s not the issue. We need to look past the sinfulness of the people we seek to reach and say, “Yes, they’re sinful. That’s why they need a physician. That’s why they need Jesus.” Yeah, it makes it complicated, very complicated, to know how to minister to them wisely. Christ the Coming King: The Only Ultimate Answer to Poverty Even the most wretched and oppressed people still need a Savior. Amen. That’s why we want to minister to them. Because they need Jesus. Isaiah knew very plainly that the only answer to poverty is Christ, the coming King. Amen! He’s it. The coming Kingdom of Jesus Christ is the only answer. I mean the eschatological, second coming of Christ’s kingdom. I’m not saying this in the sense of the liberal theologian that saw the kingdom of Christ here in this world and had the soup kitchens and the social gospel and all that. I see it when Jesus comes back and separates the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, the good fish from the bad fish, deals with wickedness, and sets up His eternal kingdom. That’s when it will finally be solved, and not until then. But Christ is a Savior now. He’s a Savior today, from selfishness and sin and wickedness and all that. The vision of Christ, the coming king, is in Isaiah 11:4. “With righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.” Christ is coming to establish an eternal kingdom of righteousness, justice, and holiness. He comes to judge the oppressors, the wicked. He comes to be a refuge for the poor and needy against their oppressors, a refuge, a shelter. It says in Isaiah 25:4-5, “You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert.” Christ comes to save sinners. That’s the good news of the gospel. He comes to be a refuge for the poor and needy who know they need a refuge. Later chapters in Isaiah speak of the vindication of the poor and needy and the humbling of the arrogant, unbelieving rich. Isaiah 26:5-6 says, “He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust. Feet trample it down – the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.” What a vision! The wicked city of the rich is cast down by the hand of God, and then the poor trample it. Isaiah 29:19 says, “Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” That’s the future, friends. That’s a glorious future. That’s what the Lord is going to do. Now, Christ began His ministry, His preaching ministry, in His hometown, in Nazareth. What a moment that was. They’d heard some strange reports about Jesus, this boy they’d seen growing up in their streets. His father was Joseph and his mother was Mary. He was always a bit different. Well, never more than on that Sabbath when He got up and the scroll of Isaiah the Prophet was given to Him. He unrolled it and found the place in Isaiah 61, where these words are written: “The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those grieve in Zion.” The scroll is rolled up and Jesus sat down, saying, “Today, in your hearing, this scripture is fulfilled.” Oh, how powerful is that! Wouldn’t you love to have been there? To feel the electricity in the place? Fulfilled. Fulfilled. Yes, fulfilled in the voice of the Messiah, the one who comes ministering by the power of the Spirit of God to lift the poor and needy out of the ash heap of history and save them eternally. That’s what He came to do. He went to the weakest and the neediest, the hungry, the dying, and the dead. He ministered to them. And the poor were the ones who received it most readily, most eagerly. Now, you should not imagine that Jesus had no heart or compassion for the rich. There was the rich young ruler. It says very plainly that Jesus loved him. His heart went out to him. He wanted to free him from his materialism, his selfishness, and his idolatry. That’s what He wanted. He wanted to free him. Or Zacchaeus, who made a living out of defrauding people, taking way too much tax money and becoming wealthy. Zacchaeus was saved. He was transformed by the power of the word of God. He said, “Lord, here and now I give some of my possessions to minister to the poor and needy. And if, per chance, I have defrauded anyone, I give back four-fold.” I think he probably had. Maybe he wasn’t quite ready to admit it to everyone. I don’t know. But Jesus celebrated. He said, “Today, salvation has come to this house.” Then there’s Nicodemus, who certainly was wealthy. And Joseph of Arimathea, who brought seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloe to wrap up Jesus’ dead body and give Him a burial fit for a king. Finally, they have the courage to come out and be counted when Jesus is dead. They didn’t have the courage when he was alive. But the Spirit of God, I think, moved on them and said, “You have a prophecy to fulfill.” Isaiah 53 said He was with the rich in His death. They provided the physical evidence for the resurrection by wrapping up Jesus’ body with that sticky, expensive, aromatic resin. He’s only going to be using it for three days, you know. There it would be, as physical testimony. Only the wealthy could afford that. So He has a heart of compassion for rich people. But just like with the poor, He calls on them to repent, to turn away from idolatry, to turn away from wickedness and to be used by God for the kingdom of God. That’s what He’s calling on them to do. He said it’s hard for them to listen. Very hard. In fact, without God, it’s impossible. The Call of the Lord: Spend Yourself on Behalf of the Needy Context: Addressing Israel’s Faulty Religiosity So this is the call of the Lord from Isaiah: spend yourself on behalf of the needy. Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 58. This will take the rest of our time in Isaiah, this one passage. There, the Lord calls on Israel to repent of their selfishness and spend themselves on behalf of the needy. This is the context. He’s addressing Israel’s faulty religiosity. I’ve already mentioned that. He captures their attitude powerfully. Look at Isaiah 58:1-5. “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?” No one had the power to strip you bare like Isaiah. Powerful words. The people seem to think that their fasting has put God in some kind of debtor’s position, that God somehow owes them something now that they’ve deprived themselves of some food for a day. “Why have we fasted,” they say, “and you have not noticed? Why are we humbling ourselves and you’re not giving us what we asked for?” As though a single day of fasting obligates God to answer from on high and do whatever they want. In the midst of their fasting, they display their wickedness, their rebellion, and their sin. Their eagerness to know God’s ways was merely a façade. They claimed to know God, but by their lives they denied Him. “They seemed eager to know my ways,” said Isaiah, “as if they were a nation that does what is right. But they’re not. They seemed eager for God to draw near. But they really don’t want me because I’m a consuming fire.” Even the fasting itself was polluted by their sinfulness. Look at verses 3-4. “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.” I’ve done that. No, I haven’t had the brawling, fighting thing. But I’ve fasted and gotten irritable as the day went on. Has that ever happened to you? I don’t know if you want to admit it. But it’s like, “Rawr,” snarling like a junkyard dog. Somebody just throw me a bone; I’d gnaw on it. I’m not behaving very much like Jesus. It’s hard to be with me on days like that. Oh, what a holy day to the Lord! He said, “Put oil on your head and wash your face with it. No one will know that you’re fasting.” My family has known when I’m fasting. It’s been obvious later in the day. Beating each other up, that I’ve never done. Deeper Issue: Exploitation of the Poor But you notice that he zeros in on the social issue. “On the day of your fasting, you do as you please and deprive your workers of their just wages.” He zeros in on the social issue of their treatment of the poor and needy, and so God rejects this fast entirely. Verse 4 says, “You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.” Isaiah’s Call: A True Fast of Ministry to the Poor Instead, he gives them a true, fast ministry to the poor. Look at verses 6-10. “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away form your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: ‘Here am I.’ If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and the malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” God is saying what truly moves Him. “When I see these things,” says the Lord, “it moves me. This is the fast I’ve chosen. This is what I’m looking for.” Look what he talks about: to loose the chains of injustice, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, to break every yoke. Each of these refers to unjust laws and legal circumstances that are binding the poor so they can’t escape from oppressive circumstances. Then he says, “to share your food with the hungry and provide the poor wanderer with shelter and to clothe the naked.” These refer to basic physical ministries: food, clothing, and shelter. I was hungry; I was a stranger; you invited me in. I was hungry, and you fed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. These basic physical ministries, that’s the fast that the Lord is seeking. He also says “And not to turn away from your own flesh.” Now, God intended this ministry to go on, not just to native Jews, but to all human beings. The NIV adds, I think wrongly, “own flesh and blood.” Blood tends to connect with your race, the Jews. It doesn’t say that in the Hebrew. Do not turn away from your own flesh means these are other human beings. You’re just like them. There’s no difference. They are human beings. We’re all descended from one father. From one man, He made every nation of men. We’re of the same kindred. “To not turn away from your own flesh,” He says. The whole human race has basic physical needs in common. When you see someone hungry, naked, or homeless, something should move inside you to want to alleviate their suffering. Key Phrase: Spend Yourself on Behalf of the Hungry We come to this key phrase in verse 10. “If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry.” “Spend yourself” is the NIV translation. It’s a beautiful translation. I love it. It makes you uncomfortable. It causes you to live differently than you were living before. It changes you. It affects you. It’s not a life given out of surplus and out of the extra. It’s not “if you spend some of your money”, it’s “if you spend yourselves.” There are different ways that preachers can belabor a point. I’m going to do it this way. I’m going to do it by reading different translations of this verse. King James says, “And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, so draw out thy soul to the hungry.” NAU gives us Isaiah 58:10 as, “If you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted.” The ESV has, “If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted.” The New King James has, “If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul.” All of these speak to the issue of self-sacrifice on behalf of the poor and needy. Now, I think spending yourself is the next step after a previous one, which is to deny yourself. Right? Jesus called on us as His disciples to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. I fit “spend yourself on behalf of the needy” right into the following Jesus part. Deny yourself. Say no to yourself. Pick up your cross and follow Jesus. You will spend yourself on behalf of the poor and needy the rest of your life, because that’s what He does. To me, that’s the Christian lifestyle. I find myself wanting in it. I lack it. I’m not doing it the way I should. I mean, there are glimmers here and there, like sparks before the fire. But I want the fire. I want the bonfire. I would like to be on fire for this. We need our hearts to go out to the poor and needy. We won’t do it otherwise. Jesus, in Luke 7, saw a widow from Nain. She was in the process of burying her only son. She was weeping with a lamentation we can hardly imagine. In that society, that was a desperate situation. It says in Luke 7:13, “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’” We will not obey the Lord until our heart goes out to people and knits with them in their suffering. I think it starts with sight. You have to see them. Look at what it says in Isaiah 58:7. “When you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh.” You have to see them. If you don’t want to do this, never go where they are. Then you never have to see them. And if you don’t see them, then you don’t have to help them. Beggars, if you have ever noticed, they try to catch your eye. When they have your eye, they’ve got a better chance. What do you do if you don’t want to help them? You don’t look them in the face. The Result of the True Fast: Glory! So I think the text is saying, “See them. Look at them. Look at their eyes. Look at their faces. Then, care for them.” And what is the result of this true fast? What is the result of this ministry? Glory. Glory for God. Glory for us. “The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Matthew 13:43. In Isaiah 58:10-11, it says, “If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Do you have any idea what kind of economic times are coming to us? I don’t. I don’t know. We may need to be this for each other. We may need to be an incredible community of sacrificial love, like we have never been before, to help the poor and needy even in our own congregation. God is making this promise. If we live like this, we will have everything we need. He will take care of us. We will know the righteousness of God. We will know the happiness of God’s pure light shining in our souls. We will have a clarity and a purpose in our lives that we have never had before. We will know God. We will see His hand, His activity and sacrificial service. We will see Him. We will get to know Him better. The Lord will guide us always. He will meet our needs. He will strengthen our bodies. We will be fruitful like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. I think it was Tuesday morning of this past week. I was about to go out. I was standing at this pavilion where there was a group of Haitian people. Every morning, David Eugene and I went out and preached the gospel to them before they got ready to come into the clinic. And I just had nothing. I had nothing to give. I was weary. I was empty. I stood off to the side and they hadn’t seen us yet, David and I. I prayed. I said, “God, fill me up. I have nothing to give. I don’t want to be here. I want to be home. Please help me say something to them about the Gospel of Christ.” And He did for the rest of the day, and the next day, and the next day. He continued to fill me, continued to strengthen me, to give me the power to minister. It wasn’t just me. Other brothers and sisters that were there, I saw Him do that for them, too. He has promised that if we will spend ourselves, He will replenish us and give us everything we need. Who Are We? Where Do We Live? We are an Urban Church So who are we? Where do we live? We are an urban church. We worship every week adjacent to the poorest part of Durham, northeast central Durham. Here, the standard of living is the lowest in the Triangle Region. Here, the crime rate is the highest. Right near us, gang activity is pronounced. Here are single parent homes, drug deals, and prostitution. Now, I can tell you that there is no poverty here in Durham that even remotely compares with that in the Cité Soleil. It’s not even close. There’s no poverty in America that compares with that. But it is poverty nonetheless. There is suffering here, nonetheless. And we are called to minister to the poor and needy here, even though they are not at the level of those in Haiti. We are an urban church. We Are a Commuter Church Secondly, we are a commuter church. Most of us, I would not say all of us, but most of us, drive a distance to get here. We live in more comfortable and more affluent communities than the people surrounding this church building. We drive to get here. Hardly any of us live in this community. Hardly any of us would choose to live in this community. Hardly any of us have ever lived in anything like this community. We are affluent, well-educated, and unfamiliar with the kinds of struggles that characterize daily life in northeast central Durham. The real issue is that we don’t necessarily want that to change. We may want to keep the sufferings of these neighbors of ours at arm’s length. We Are a Blessed Church Thirdly, we are a blessed church. We have been lavishly blessed by God. He has given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. Through faith in Jesus Christ, the one who shed His blood on the cross, all of our sins are forgiven. If you came here today and your sins are not forgiven through faith in Christ, you don’t need to do anything. You don’t need to go anywhere. All you need to do is look to Jesus. He will forgive all of your sins and you will be adopted into the family of God as we have been. We are children of the living God. We have a glorious future. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. And the earth we’re going to inherit is better than this one. It’s going to be greatly fixed up, okay? It’s really going to be beautiful, a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. We are completely set for eternity. All of our needs are met, indwelt by the Spirit of God. We are materially blessed as well. That’s what we are. A Call to Pray and Act Present Your Heart to God An urban church, a commuter church, and a blessed church. What then shall we do? How shall we live? Well, I’m calling on us to pray and act. I want you to start with this. I love what Michael Card said in that concert that you folks so beautifully arranged for me and for all of you guys that came. It was such a blessing. I remember one thing Michael Card said. “It makes no sense to try to hide something from an omniscient God.” Amen! So if you say, “Boy, that was a disturbing sermon today,” go tell God. He already knows how you think about ministry to the poor and needy. Don’t hide it from Him. Just go and pray. Say, “God, I don’t care like I should for the poor and needy. I just don’t. I don’t want to walk down that road. I don’t want to go there. There are too many unanswered questions. There are too many hard things. You already said, Jesus, that the poor will always be with us. So what can we do? But I know that You want us to change. I know You want me to change. Please change me. Make me willing to travel with You on that road.” Just start there. There is no sense in hiding something from an omniscient God. I’m going to remember that one. Tell Him the truth. See the Needy Secondly, let’s start to see the needy. Let’s see them. Let’s go where they are. You had an invitation to go out in the streets of Durham and invite people to the Health Fair. That’s a wonderful way to begin. People will understand why you’re there. They won’t think it’s weird. They may or may not come to the Health Fair, but they’ll know why you’re there. You have an entré. It’s an easy thing to do. Invite them to the Health Fair. I don’t mean to be in any way disrespectful to the actual medical care that goes on in the Health Fair, but the invitation could cut out the middle man of them coming to the Health Fair by them coming to faith in Christ right there on the streets. You can witness to them. Talk to them. See how they live. Look past their shoulder into their living room to see where they live. Talk to them. See the needy. Start with Your Family If I can urge you, start with your own family. I don’t just mean your own children. Well, I do mean that. It says in 1 Timothy 5:8, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than a nonbeliever.” There’s much poverty in the world because fathers especially have neglected their ministry to their children and their wives. So we have to start there. But then you could extend it out to extended family members: to your parents, to siblings that may be poor and needy. Care for them. I’m talking about concentric circles. Extend to the Household of Believers: FBC Then let’s talk about FBC. There are needy people here in this church already. It’s already happening. It says in Galatians 6:10, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." Acts 4:34-35 says, ”There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and so it was distributed to anyone as he had need.” Actually, the more that our urban ministry is fruitful, the more people from the community are going to become members of this church. And they’re going to need our help. So we need to minister. At the end of every Lord’s Supper, we have a Deacon Benevolence Fund offering. Plan now to give more generously to that than you’ve ever given before. We give that money out to help the needy of this church first and the community second. Already there are more and more needs of church members. There just are. So plan ahead to be very generous the next time we have the Lord’s Supper. Then extend from there to the community. Let’s reach out here in northeast central Durham. Extend to the Community I asked Matthew Hodges, the director of Urban Ministry, “I’m working on a sermon on ministry to the poor and needy. Can you give me some points of application for the church?” And he wrote out a list of them. I was reading over them this morning, and I said, “Why would I read them? Let’s have Matthew read them.” So we’re going to end our sermon. I told him he’s under strict orders just to read them. Now, he could easily preach on each of these points but he’s not permitted to do so. Right, brother? He can elaborate, and if you want to hear him elaborate, come and talk to him afterwards and he will. But he’s going to tell you some specific ways to minister here in the community. Then he’s going to close in prayer. Matthew Hodges’ Ideas for Involvement in Urban Ministry These are applications on ministering. The fourth Sunday of every month, after church from 12:30 to 1:00, commit to pray for our outreach to the community. We meet here at church in Room 246. During the greeting time, welcome men and women who do not normally attend FBC. All you need to say is, “My name is” and say your name. “Welcome to FBC. What is your name? How did you hear about FBC?” Share how long you have attended FBC, and thank the individual for coming. The visitor who looks lost (not spiritually) on Sunday, or who is by themselves, needs to be acknowledged. At the end of Bible for Life class, if you see an individual standing by themselves that does not normally attend, go to the person and introduce yourself. Ask the person if they are sitting with anyone in the service. If they are not, welcome them to sit with you. If an individual asks you for any type of assistance, direct them to the ministerial staff or a deacon. We will make that decision. Meditate on the fact that we all were needy and poor spiritually, and have been made rich through faith in Christ. There’s a need for men and women to walk the streets of Durham during the day to pray, pass out tracts, and engage men and women in conversations that prayerfully would lead to the gospel. When referring to the community, let’s say the people are “the men and women in our community” rather than “they” or “them.” This terminology will help FBC members to not think they are better than men and women in this community. Bible for Life classes can commit to serve a meal and then engage in conversation with men and women at the Durham Rescue Mission, on the men’s or women’s campus. Pray about being a part of the 2009 Summer Mission Trip right here to our community. Remember that all communities have been affected by sin. The degree of the sin problem manifests itself differently. The answer to the problem of sin in the people who live in your community is the same answer to the problem of sin in the 27701 community. FBC may not be able to meet every physical need of the poor and needy, but we can be the heartbeat to meeting the spiritual needs in this community. Talk to me about serving on the Urban Ministry Team. Invite men and women from the community to come and worship here at First Baptist. Let the men and women you invite from the community make the decision of whether or not they are going to come. We cannot make the choice for anybody, whether or not they want to come and worship here. Pray as we move forward ministering to the community. Proverbs 29:25 says, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” We need to look at the poor and needy in our community from a Biblical worldview first, not from a we-do-not-connect worldview. If the latter is what we use, we will never minister to the community. Ask yourself, “Do I look at ministering to the poor and needy in our community from a Biblical worldview?” Let’s pray.

I. Precious in the Sight of the Lord Take your Bibles please and open to Romans 5. This morning, we're going to focus on one verse, Romans 5:5. And what does it mean, when it says that, "Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." This is the first mention of the Holy Spirit. As we've been unfolding the doctrine of salvation, this is the first time the Spirit has been mentioned. And what does it mean, that, "The love of God has been poured out into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us"? That is the purpose of my sermon today, but I want to go far beyond it. I want the love of God to be poured out into your hearts, by the Holy Spirit. And it's something that can't be put into words. Well, how do I know it can't be put into words? Well, last week, I read Paul's experience. In 2 Corinthians Chapter 12, Paul says, "I know a man in Christ, who, fourteen years ago, was caught up to the Third Heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, but God knows, was caught up to Paradise. [Now, listen] He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell." Those are two different things, aren't they? "Inexpressible," means you can't put it into words. "Things that man is not permitted to tell," means you're not allowed to try. Now, what was Paul talking about? What did he see? What happened to him? Has anything like that ever happened to you? Anything even remotely like that? Has the love of God been poured out into your heart, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us? Well, Scripture says, "Yes." But to what degree? My perception is, that most of us walk along satisfied with a much lower level of experience in our Christian lives, than God intends for us. We're dryer, more fruitless, more patterned after legal requirements, satisfied with far less than God intends for us. And I want to just open up your heart today, and have the Holy Spirit pour out God's love into you. I want you to experience His love in a way you never had before. Richard Robarts, Nineteenth-Century Minister Now, Richard Robarts, a minister of God in the early 19th century, early 1800s, died of consumption, (tuberculosis), when he was 36 years old. That's a young man. And he writes about his experiences toward the end of his life in a journal. And this is what he says, "Frequently, all around me, thought me about to expire. My cough was so dreadful, and so were the pains I felt in my chest inside. And above all, the languor, which oppressed me for a while, seemed almost overwhelming. But while I was thus sinking, I felt more of the consolations and supports of religion, than I ever had experienced before. Oh, with what strong and assured confidence, was I enabled to look upon my Redeemer, and how gladly would I have resigned my soul into His hands." Assurance of salvation carried that man right to the end of his life. All of us are going to die. If the Lord doesn't return in our generation, we will face the day of our death. This man came into it, knowing he was soon to die, with an incredible assurance of his own salvation. "Oh, with what strong and assured confidence, was I enabled to look upon my Redeemer, and how gladly would I have resigned my soul into His hands." Gladly. Glad to go. Glad to go across the river and see Jesus face to face. Not sad, saying, "I've lived a good life." Glad to go. The best things are yet to come. I can't wait to see Him. For me, to live is Christ and to die is what? Gain. What could be more than Christ? Nothing's more than Christ. More Christ then. Face to face, not through a glass darkly. Seeing Him face to face. "Oh, I would be glad to go." "What glorious manifestations of His love and mercy did He make to my soul? And how did I rejoice to believe that, in a few days more, I should be with Him in glory eternal. For the sake of my dear wife and friends, I was willing to live, and I saw it my duty to use all proper means to promote my recovery. I need to get better and I'm praying for it. I'm going to take my medicine, but let me tell you what's in my heart. For my own sake, I had a desire to be with Christ. And thus, I lay in sweet suspense, as it were, between Earth and Heaven, somewhere in between. And indeed, so I have remained, in general, ever since." This is a great journal entry, isn't it? Do you write journal entries like this? Later on, a friend said to him, "I should be glad to enjoy your happiness." He was standing by his death bed, observing him. He's basically saying, "What is your secret? How do you do it?" At this point, Robarts couldn't speak, but he wrote this on a slate, "Believe constantly on the Lord Jesus Christ and you may be much happier than you are. Had I been more faithful in this respect, I should have enjoyed more consolation," and listen, "And done more for the glory of God." The account continues: "In the course of this day, he experienced an ecstasy of Heavenly joy. His eyes were bathed in tears, and he uttered words of praise, consolation, and triumph. It appeared as if he were transported into Paradise. It was evident that he experienced a foretaste of Heaven. He said, 'Oh, I am happy in my God, in His love. I'm going to possess Him forever. I shall enter into that city whose streets are a fine gold. Yes, the New Jerusalem, from above the city of the living God.' " And then the final journal entry, he wrote this, "Since my last attack, three weeks ago, the Lord has been near, and has manifested His love to my soul in an uncommon degree. I have been deeply humbled under a sense of my unworthiness and past unfaithfulness, but I have felt myself firmly fixed upon the rock of ages, and have been enabled to anticipate my departure from the body with unspeakable delight. One thing has much occupied my mind, mainly, the great proneness I have ever felt to rest short of all the fullness of God." What is he saying there? "I was too easily satisfied. I stopped short." "Often, it seemed within my grasp. Often, has my soul seemed to take possession of it, but never did I enjoy a constant sense of it, of all the great salvation of God. However, I never gave up the hope of possessing it fully, and I trust that I shall now obtain my heart's desire." He's saying, "God had something for me, but I fell short of it. I didn't take it all in and I regret that. I would have done more for God, if I had. But now, I'm going to get it. I'll get the full amount now. I'm certain of it. No question about it." My question to you today is, what is Robarts talking about? What is this? What was Paul talking about in 2 Corinthians 12? And do you experience this? Is this part of your Christian experience? If not, I want to point the way. I want to point the way today. "God has poured out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." Now, by way of review, this fits in somewhere. It's not just out of nowhere. Paul has been talking to us about what we were, apart from Jesus Christ. We were, it says in Ephesians, "Dead in the transgressions and sins." In the language of Romans, it says, "There is no one righteous. No, not one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." Let me say that again, "No one who seeks God." We don't naturally want God. We want anything else, but not God. "There is no one who does good. No, not one." Alright, is there any salvation for people like us? Yes, there is. "For all have sinned, and lack the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Free justification. A free declaration from the Judge of all the universe. You are forgiven, because Jesus died for you. His righteousness has become your righteousness. The gift of righteousness has been given to you and I have declared you not guilty on that basis. How do we receive it? Well, Romans 4 tells us, simply by faith, apart from works of the law. Abraham heard a promise from God. He believed God and it was justified. He was declared not guilty, because He believed a promise from God. And so, also, all of you who have been justified, if you have been justified... If you have been justified, it's because you heard a promise, you believed it, and God declared you not guilty, because of Christ's righteousness. That's what we've been getting to now. In Romans 5, he unfolds the benefits that come to you. Look at it: Romans 5, beginning at verse 1, "Since we have now been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace, in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that our suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely, will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him? For if when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life? Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." Do you know what Paul's doing here in these 11 verses? He wants you certain of your justification. He wants you to know that you're saved, and that no power in Heaven, or on Earth, or under the Earth, can take that away from you. You're going to Heaven when you die, if you've been justified. That's was he's laboring for here. He's working that you may be assured. He's giving you an assurance. Assurance of Salvation Now, last week, I gave you the categories of assurance, and I've given you the same diagram again. It's on the cover of your worship bulletin. These are the three types of assurance that God measures out to us. And what are they? First, an assurance that's reasoned out in the mind. That's the lowest level. It basically works this way: God has made you a promise. You believe it, you trust that it's yours, and therefore, you know you're forgiven. Lowest level. "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tell me so." Period. That's the lowest level of assurance. Then the next level, worked out in the life, that talks about proven character. Remember, trials result in proven character, and proven character is the basis of hope. What's another word for hope? Assurance. Okay, so the basis of your assurance, in this case, is proven character. You are a Christian. Why? Because God is doing things in your life, things that only He could do. You don't take credit for them. Jesus Christ has changed you. He's working in you. What's this third one? "Poured out into the heart." And what is this strange looking swoosh on top of it? Well, that's the purpose of the sermon today. God pours out His love into your hearts. It means He just tells you, "You're a child of God." He just assures you in truths that words can't express. And He can do this so much, that you will feel as if you've been swooshed up to Heaven. He can take you as high as He wants to take you here. Paul went up to Third Heaven, Paradise, whatever that is. Now, you can't work your way to this. It's not like, "Well, if I do this or do that, then I'll get higher... " This is something God does. It's something God does. But every Christian's somewhere along this swoosh at different times in their life. A certain elevation comes, a certain sense of God's presence, a certain sense of His love. That's what we're talking about today. Now, I want to give you a few words about assurance, so you'll understand it. First of all, assurance is worked by the Holy Spirit. All three flavors of assurance, three types, the Holy Spirit does all three. We'll talk about that in a minute. All of them are a direct result of faith, interconnected with faith. Faith and hope go together. They're totally related. Without faith, there's no hope. These are all just really out-workings of justifying faith. Thirdly, this assurance is not required for salvation. It's true. It's possible to have salvation and not be fully assured. I think many of you, frankly, are in that category, and that's why I'm preaching on this today, that you may be assured, but it's not the same as salvation. And it's not equally strong for all Christians, nor is it equally strong within the life of one Christian all the time. It kind of comes and goes. And why is that? Because it's tied to how you're living. It's related to sin, isn't it? You can sin your assurance away. You can't sin your salvation away. You can't sin your justification away, but you can sin your assurance away. And some of you know what I'm talking about. Those are the things I want to say about assurance, in general. II. The Gift of the Holy Spirit: Poured Out But now, I want to zero in on the gift of the Holy Spirit, who has been poured out on us. The Holy Spirit is universally given to all justified people. I am not, today, talking about a "second work" of a Baptism in the Spirit or any of those things. I am talking about a filling of the Spirit. But I'm not saying that you do not have the Holy Spirit if you are justified. That, I believe, is doctrinally impossible. If you have been justified, you have the Holy Spirit already. Well, you know that from our verse, it says, "Through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." "Whom He has given us." So He's already given us the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9 says, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, He does not belong to Christ." "He does not belong to Christ." And Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirits, that we are God's children." Isn't that sweet? As soon as you're justified, what happens? The Holy Spirit comes into your heart and He begins to tell you, "Child of God, you're a child of God. I love you. You're a child of God." And so, if you look at our verse, Romans 5:5, what is the verb tense? "The love of God has been poured out into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit." You've already experienced it. You're somewhere on the swoosh, maybe a low one. You haven't been swooshed up as high as Paul, but you're somewhere there. He's already poured out His love into your hearts, but He has more to give you. That's all I'm telling you today. He has more love to pour out into your heart. From the moment you're born again, you have the Holy Spirit. Now, I want to stop just a minute. There's kind of a danger in preaching on assurance to a huge mixed group. Now, what is the danger? Some of you may not be regenerate. Some of you may not be born again. I don't want to give you any assurance of salvation. I want you to seek Christ, if you're not born again. If you have not yet been justified, the Scripture says that you're under condemnation, under the wrath of God, heading for hell. That's a clear teaching of Scripture. So I don't want to give you any assurance at all. None. Because I want you to seek justification through faith in Christ. I want you to know this, but you can't depart from entering through the narrow gate, Jesus Christ. Through faith in Jesus Christ, all your sins can be forgiven. But those of you who have received this, I want to give you a full and healthy, full body, muscular assurance of your salvation. These are the people I'm talking to now. I want you to have assurance of your salvation, if you already trusted in Jesus Christ. Now, what happens at the moment of justification? The Holy Spirit comes in and Ephesians it says He is a deposit, guaranteeing a full inheritance. Well, how does this work? Well, suppose one of you were underage and you had wealthy parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Gates. He has a daughter, I think, isn't that true? She stands to inherit a lot of money, billions and billions of dollars, but she's underage. And so, if they should tragically die, and leave her all that money, they're not going to give it all to her at once. It's going to be put in trust, to be held against her maturity. When she comes into her maturity, she will come into her inheritance. But how will she live in the meantime? That's the question. There's going to be a certain amount coming out of that sum, a small amount coming toward that inheritor, toward that heir, to support her. A down payment, a deposit guaranteeing the full amount, and it'll come to her at the right time. You see? And so that is what the Holy Spirit is for us. We have a full inheritance coming and what is it? What is it? Face to face fellowship with God for all eternity. Is there anything better than that? Is there something you would trade? "Well, I've got face to face... But I'd rather have... " No. There's nothing better than face to face fellowship with God for all eternity. Are you experiencing that now? No. You haven't come into your inheritance, but you're getting a down payment, a deposit, "I love you. You're my child. Stay with me. Walk with me." The down payment, the experience, it's coming. You feel it? You know what I'm saying? The Spirit testifies that you're a child of God, and you feed off that, and it keeps you going, but it's not the full amount. No. "We see through a glass darkly, then we shall see face to face." Now, the indwelling Spirit is responsible for the other forms of assurance too. He does all of this. None of this is done, except by the Holy Spirit. For example, reason out in the mind, it says in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, "We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." The Spirit tells us what God's given us, as we read the Scripture. We open up the Bible and the Spirit illuminates it, lights the Scripture to us. If you don't have the Spirit, the Scripture will make no sense to you. But, if you do have the Spirit, you will understand, and these things come as a form of testimony to you. The Holy Spirit also works it out in your life. Those changes I was talking about last week, the proven character, the action fruit, and attitude fruit? It comes by the Holy Spirit, doesn't it? And no other place. It comes as we're grafted in the vine, Jesus Christ, and by His Spirit, He produces good fruit in us. The Holy Spirit works holiness in us. Highest form of assurance, in terms of your practical everyday working out, is that you're putting sin to death. We'll talk about that in Romans Eight. If you're not putting sin to death in your life, if you're not following, keeping step with the Spirit, you're not a child of God. This is what it means to be a child of God. I didn't say, "If you sin, you're not a child of God," we know that. 1 John 1 says, "If anyone says, 'I have not sinned,' he's a liar." All of us have sinned. But there's a relentless urge to put sin to death in the life of a child of God. Now, where did the Holy Spirit come from? Well, He was poured out on us. Pentecost, right? It says that, "The love of God has been poured out." What is this pouring out? Well, it's similar language from Acts 2 The Day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and quoted Joel chapter 2, it says, "'In the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people.'" The Holy Spirit poured out on all people... And as He pours out the Holy Spirit onto you, and you receive the Holy Spirit, at the moment of justification, He opens a channel, a conduit, through which He pours out the love of God into your life, day by day. That's how it works. Now, what is this experience? What are we talking about? Thomas Goodwin, a Puritan, put it in these words: Suppose a father and a son are walking along a road. Let's say they're walking through the woods. It's a beautiful day. It's fall, let's say. The leaves are beautiful, the breeze is blowing, and they're holding hands. Father and five-year-old son, let's say, walking along, and the son knows he's the son of his father. And he knows that his father loves him, and he knows that his father will provide for all of his needs. He's always done that. He knows those things, and he's happy they're having a walk together through the woods, when all of a sudden, from some sudden impulse within, the father picks up the son, and squeezes him, and speaks into his ear, 'I love you. You're my son.' And twirls him around a little, maybe throws him up in the air, catches him, and sets him back down, holds his hand, and they continue walking. Is there a difference in the son after that, as before? Is there a cognitive difference? No. You try to write it down, there's no difference. It's the same stuff, right? The same truth. But they're on fire now, you see? There's a love. They've been filled in. They were black and white; now, they're color. There's a vividness to the love. Have you ever experienced that? Has God ever picked you up, and squeezed you, and said, "You're my child," in that way? And you went higher up on the swoosh, than you've ever been before? Has that ever happened to you? The Experience of Blaise Pascal There are testimonies about this from church history. Blaise Pascal, 17th century philosopher and mathematician, something happened to him one day. Something happened and he never forgot it. It changed the rest of his life. Up to that time, he'd been doing his mathematics, and his philosophy, and all. From this day on, he concentrated totally on theology. Something happened... When he died, they found his coat, and they opened it up, and there was a piece of paper sewn inside the lining of his coat. What is this? And they took the paper off, and written on it were these words, "This day of grace, 1654, from about half past 10 at night, to about half past midnight. [Two hours] Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the wise. Security. Security." What's another word for security? Assurance. "Security. Security. Feeling. Joy. Peace. God of Jesus Christ. Thy God shall be my God. Forgetfulness of the world in all except God. He can be found only in ways taught in the Gospel. Greatness of the human soul. Oh, righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee. Joy. Joy. Joy. Tears of joy. I have separated myself from Him. My God, why has thou forsaken me? That I be not separated from thee eternally. This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and whom who now has sent Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. I have separated myself from Him. I have fled, renounced, crucified Him. May I never be separated from Him. He maintains Himself in me, only in ways taught in the Gospel. Renunciation, total and sweet." What was going on there? That's a hug, isn't it? He gets swooshed up and he hugs. And he's hugged, and he feels that love in a passionate way. And you know what? He wrote it out on a piece of paper and sewed it in his coat. And when the coat wore out, he sewed it in the next coat. And when that coat wore out, he sewed it in the next coat. He never forgot. The Experience of Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards. Who's Jonathan Edwards? "Oh, he's one of those dry, dusty, theologian types." Don't you believe it. But I want to tell you about a quiet time he experienced one day: "As I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that was, for me, extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God, as mediator between God and man, and His wonderful, great, full, pure, and sweet love, and grace, and meek and gentle condescension. This grace that appeared so calm and sweet, appeared also great above the Heavens. The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thoughts and conceptions, which continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour." What is going on here? "About an hour, such as to keep me, the greater part of the time, in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I felt such an ardency of soul, to be what I know not otherwise, how to express emptied and annihilated? To lie in the dust, and to be full of Christ alone, and to love Him with a wholly and pure love. To trust in Him, to live upon Him, to serve Him, and to be perfectly sanctified, and made pure with a Heavenly purity." And then he picks himself up, off the dust out of the ground, and dusts himself off, and keeps walking with his father, but it's never the same, is it, after that? The Experience of D.L. Moody D.L. Moody, heard of him? 19th century evangelist. He'd been a Christian, a minister in charge of a mission. He was seeing people converted, but he was unsatisfied. He wanted more. And this is what he says, "I began to cry, as never before, for a greater blessing from God. The hunger increased. I felt that I did not want to live any longer. I kept on crying all the time, that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, in the city of New York, oh, what a day. I cannot describe it. I seldom refer to it. It is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for 14 years. I can only say God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love, that I had to ask Him to stay His hand." Stop. I can't take anymore. It's too much. Have you ever experienced anything like that? When God does it in one life, it's one thing. When He does it to a group of people, it's called a revival. Isn't that true? It's called a revival. Now, let's understand that word, Southern Baptists. A revival is not something you can schedule. It's not something you can advertise. You don't know when it's going to come and you know why? Because a revival is a miracle. Finney had it wrong. You can't manipulate and maneuver people. You can manipulate, maneuver them to do many things, walking aisles, singing songs, and to jumping up, but you cannot manipulate or maneuver, so that they're born again by the Spirit. That's something God does. Also, He gives a revival, and only He gives a revival, the only one. John Wesley talked about it, 1734 journal entry, "Mr Hall, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutchins, and my brother, Charles, were present at a love-feast at Fetter Lane with about 60 of our brethren, about three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer." What time was it? Three in the morning. What were they doing praying at three in the morning? Well, they wanted to be there. There was a group prayer time. Three in the morning, they were praying. Maybe revival doesn't come at convenient hours, I don't know. But at three in the morning, they were praying. "And as they were continuing, instant in prayer," it says, "The power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exalting joy and many fell to the ground. As soon as we recovered a little, from the awe and amazement at the presence of His Majesty, we broke out with one voice, 'We praise thee, oh, God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.' " Now, lest you think this is unbiblical, you ought to read Acts chapter 4, After Peter and John were released, they went back, and they prayed together, and they continued in prayer. "And after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the Word of God boldly." I'm quoting Scripture. This happens in the Bible. It happens in church history. Has it happened at First Baptist? Will you pray with me that it will? III. Seeking the Filling Well, what are we to do? Can I urge you to seek this feeling, to hunger for it, to yearn for it, to not be satisfied with Christian mediocrity any longer, to want more? I'm going to give you some invitations, an invitation from Jesus Christ. John Chapter 7:37 and following, "On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.'" Are you thirsty or are you satisfied? "It's enough. Enough, God. I have enough God." "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me," as the Scripture has said, "Streams of living water will flow from within him. By this, He meant the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that point, the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified." I've just quoted John 7:37-39. By this, He meant the Spirit, "Streams of living water flowing from within," out to who? Well, we'll talk about that in a minute. To others? That's an invitation. Are you thirsty or are you satisfied? If you're thirsty, come to Jesus. Come and drink. Or He invites us to pray. In Luke 11:9 and following. "So, I say to you, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if a son asked for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit, to those who ask Him!" Now, wait a minute. I thought we already had the Holy Spirit? Well, if He's your Heavenly Father, you do have the Holy Spirit. What is Jesus talking about? He's talking about the love of God poured out into your hearts, by the Holy Spirit. He's talking about that hug. He's talking about a power, which cannot be explained humanly. I'm going to skip the benedictions and I'm going to go right to Ephesians 3. It's printed out there. I believe that Ephesians 3 is Paul's prayer exposition of Romans 5:5. We don't have time to fully develop this. I would urge you to take Ephesians 3:14-21, and break it apart, and see. But let's see what Paul prays for his people. It's printed out in your bulletin, if you want to read it, or just look in your own Bible. "For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in Heaven and on Earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit, in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide, and long, and high, and deep is the love of Christ, and to know that love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Does that characterize your present Christian experience? "Filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." If not, can I urge you to begin asking for it? Paul prays for it here for the Ephesians. He prays for them. He gets on his knees and asks that God, that they might know the dimensions of the love of Jesus Christ. I get the picture of the Grand Canyon, how wide, and long, and high, and deep is the love of God. And that you may know that love that surpasses knowledge. That doesn't make sense. Know something that can't be known? Speak of something that can't be put in words? It's an experience of God's love that can't be put into words. Do you know this love? Do you know what I'm talking about? Are you somewhere in the swoosh? Would you like to be higher? Would you like to know more of God's love? You say, "Wait a minute, I don't want to experience now." Well, I'm not really talking about experience, I'm talking about God, that you may know God, that you may know Jesus, that He may be enough for you. All of the experiences that I've read are not empty-headed nirvana-type things. They're filled with truth. Look at what Blaise Pascal wrote. It's just saturated with biblical truth, and ideas, and quotes, and it's just flowing in some fire. It's not an empty-headed drifting thing. No. It's a fullness of the person of Jesus Christ, who is truth incarnate. Well, if you've never experienced anything like this, ask Him for it, and keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, until He gives it to you. Thomas Goodwin said, "Sue Him for it. Sue Him for it. Ask Him for it. Don't give up." Now, the Puritans meant 'sue' differently. We're not going to take God to court. What we're going to do, is we're going to pursue Him, until He gives it. I'll get very practical: Begin setting aside specific time every day, simply to ask God for a deeper experience of His love. Instead of watching the ballgame today, do this instead. Say, "It's not enough. I've been drinking out of my own cisterns. I want the living water. I am thirsty, Jesus. I don't want the ballgame. I don't want nine holes on the links. I've done that so many times before. I don't want this. I want Jesus today." Ask Him to work His Holiness in you. He's not going to do it to... He's not going to assure a rebellious child. He'll convict you and try to fix those things, but He's not going to assure you. He's not going to pick you up that way. He's going to fix the sin problem first. If you've got sin problem, repent, turn to Him, allow Him to change you, and then start lifting those hands. And say, "God, please give me that hug." Put aside earthly pursuits. Seek God diligently. Take Ephesians 3:14-21 and pray through it line by line, until it becomes yours. And look around you, and realize that there's other brothers and sisters. Want it for them too. That's what Paul's praying. He gets on his knees for his brothers and sisters. Pray for First Baptist Church, that we may be pipes or conduits of the love of God. Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me, as it is written, streams of living water will flow from... " The Greek is 'ek.' "From within and out to others." To who? To other Christians, other believers who need it, who are parched, and need love from Jesus Christ. To unbelievers, to a world that's not yet been justified, and a great outpouring for missions. Remember Acts chapter 4? "After they prayed, the place they were meeting was shaken, and they are all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the Word of God boldly." What do you think happened after they spoke the Word of God boldly? People got saved, as a result. I want to challenge you to begin asking for this. I want to challenge lay people to start praying for it. Don't wait for the staff to organize that prayer meeting on Friday or whatever. You be thirsty for it. You organize it. You get together, and pray, and ask that God would pour out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. Why don't you close with me in prayer? Father, I thank you for the time that we've had to understand and experience your Word. Father, I pray that we would also experience your love, that we may know that love that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Father, I pray for any here who have not yet trusted in you, who are not born again. Father, I pray that you would bring them to personal faith in Jesus Christ, that they might also know this love that surpasses knowledge. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.