{"id":19103,"date":"2016-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-012\/"},"modified":"2016-04-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-06T05:00:00","slug":"soteriology-012","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-012\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 012"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19103","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 012","sermon_date":"20160406","sermon_month":"4","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3538,"sermon_slides":3539,"sermon_mp3":3537,"sermon_id":"46161848316","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"3:20","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 12, Revelation 3:20\n\nApril 6, 2016\n\nWelcome back everybody.\u00a0 We are in lesson 12 of the doctrine of salvation and believe it or not these Roman numerals that I have are logically structured.\u00a0 So Roman numeral I is the definition of salvation which we\u2019ve gone over.\u00a0 And then election is what God does in our salvation, that\u2019s Roman numeral II.\u00a0 And then Roman numerals III and IV is the price that was paid by Christ to procure our salvation, that\u2019s where we dealt with atonement and salvation words.\u00a0 And then Roman numeral V is how you get salvation.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the section we\u2019re on now.\u00a0 And when we finish that we\u2019ll look at once you have salvation what does that mean?\u00a0 What are the results?\u00a0 And then Roman numeral VII is once you have those results can\u00a0 you lose it?\u00a0 That deals with the eternal security debates.\u00a0 So believe it or not these are logically structured.\n\nSo we are in Roman numeral V which we\u2019re going to finish today, Lord willing, on how does a person actually receive salvation.\u00a0 And that deals with God\u2019s one condition of salvation which is what?\u00a0 Anybody remember.\u00a0 Believe or faith, a single word.\u00a0 And does anybody recall how many times the Bible teaches that?\u00a0 About 200 times.\n\nSo one of the things people do as we\u2019ve talked about, instead of building their presentation of the gospel from the 200 clear verses they go to the obscure ones.\u00a0 And I think that they do that because we, by definition, are works oriented; we like to work for things.\u00a0 You know, it\u2019s easier to give a gift than to receive a gift.\u00a0 So we, for whatever reason, ignore\u00a0 the 200 crystal clear passages and we want to run off to the remote ones that seem to teach something different.\u00a0 So in this unite called God\u2019s One Condition of Salvation what I\u2019ve basically been trying to do is show you how each of these obscure verses can be harmonized with the 200 clear ones.\u00a0 So \u201crepent\u201d is another way of saying believe, if you understand that repent means to what? To change\u00a0 your mind.\n\nAnd Lordship is really not something for justification but something for what? Growth or progressive sanctification.\u00a0\u00a0 And we also saw that receive or accept Christ is a synonym for what?\u00a0 Faith.\u00a0 And then when we\u2019ve looked at believe and work, when do the works come?\u00a0 After salvation.\u00a0 And then we looked at baptism; baptism doesn\u2019t save you but baptism is an outward confession of a what? An inward reality.\u00a0 And last time we looked at confess and the controversy surrounding that and I tried to show you that the verses people use that say you have to confess Christ are pretty much taken out of context.\u00a0 And I know that\u2019s an earth changing people for a lot of people so I would encourage you to listen to last week\u2019s lesson where we went into that.\n\nAnd another false invitation that people give, you hear this quite a bit, is they say you need to ask Jesus into your heart; that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to look at here.\u00a0 So rather than build their gospel from John 3:16, which is to believe in Christ, what people will say is\u2026 an\u00a0 you hear this all the time,\u00a0 you need to ask Jesus into your heart, or ask Jesus into your life, or invite Jesus into your heart.\u00a0 And once you really start looking at this biblically what you\u2019ll discover is the Bible never tells people to do this.\n\nSo then why do so many people think this is in the Bible?\u00a0 Well the answer is in the book of Revelation, chapter 3:20, this is the verse they all use.\u00a0 And when they have a gospel tract that says invite Jesus into your heart they quote Revelation 3:20.\u00a0 Other than Revelation 3:20 there\u2019s not a single verse that teaches such a thing, although there are 200 verses that say a person must believe in Christ to be saved.\u00a0 So let\u2019s look at Revelation 3:20 for a minute. You all have heard this, and you know, I don\u2019t want to be too hard on this because my own mom was saved through this verse, through Billy Graham.\u00a0 So I think sometimes God can use imprecise language in spite of ourselves.\u00a0 Sometimes God rescues us in our sloppy presentations.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not an excuse for not trying to get it right.\u00a0 Correct?\n\nSo Revelation 3:20 says, \u201cBehold,\u201d this is Jesus speaking to the church at Laodicea, \u201cI stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.\u201d\u00a0 So how many people have heard that as a gospel presentation before.\u00a0 Almost everybody.\u00a0 So let\u2019s take a look at this; is this really what this text is saying.\u00a0 Now we have a tract, I think it\u2019s not on our rack anymore because we ran out but I wrote to the folks that produced it and asked for some more so we should be getting some more up pretty soon, but it\u2019s written by a pastor Dennis Rokser of Duluth Bible Church, and he produced\u2026 it\u2019s not really a tract it\u2019s more like a small paper, and it\u2019s called Seven Reasons Not to Ask Jesus into Your Heart.\n\nHave you guys seen that tract out there, it\u2019s kind of a provocative title.\u00a0 And really what he\u2019s trying to do is to get people to actually read this passage and he\u2019s trying to show people that that passage is not what people think it says.\u00a0 So it\u2019s not a tract about not being a Christian, it\u2019s more of a tract on being precise, using biblically based terminology in our gospel presentations.\u00a0 So if\u00a0 you want to get more in depth into this I would encourage you to read that tract once we get some more out there.\n\nBut just a couple of points on why Revelation 3:20, \u201cBehold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door I will come into Him and will dine with Him and he with Me,\u201d just a couple of reasons why that is not at all speaking about salvation.\n\nWhat are our three rules for Bible Study?\u00a0 Context, context, context!\u00a0 Back up and look at the immediately preceding verse; look at Revelation 3:19, which nobody quotes in their presentation when they use this verse.\u00a0 Jesus is speaking to Laodicea, \u201cThose whom I love, I reprove and discipline;\u201d so is this verse speaking to unbelievers needing to trust Christ or is it speaking to believers?\u00a0 I mean very clearly verse 19 indicates it\u2019s speaking to believers.\u00a0 Now why do we say that?\u00a0 We say that because this church is a candidate for discipline and you might want to factor in Hebrews 12:5-11 which says a sign that God owns us, the sign that we are sons of His is what does He do with us when we step out of line.\u00a0 He disciplines us, \u201cwhom the Lord loves the Lord chastises.\n\n[Hebrews 12:5-11, \u201cand you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, \u201cMY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; \u00a0[6] FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE \u00a0ISCIPLINES, \u00a0AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.\u2019\u00a0 [7] It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his<\/em> father does not discipline? [8] But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. [9] Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? [10] For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us<\/em> for our<\/em> good, so that we may share His holiness. [11] All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.\u201d]\n\nSo if you just back up one verse you\u2019ll see very clearly that it\u2019s not at all talking about a situation where an unbeliever needs to trust Christ to be saved; the whole context here is dealing with believers that are out of fellowship with God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s probably the principal reason why people when they use this verse evangelistically are really ripping it out of its context.\u00a0 It was never given by God as an evangelistic verse.\u00a0 And then if you go back to verse 14 it says, \u201cTo the angel of the\u201d what? \u201cchurch in Laodicea,\u201d so what do you have in a church?\u00a0 Do you have unbelievers in a church or believers?\u00a0 I mean, typically you have believers.\u00a0 Now of course, in America every once in a while an unbeliever can slip into a church and that\u2019s why we try to give the gospel here on Sundays every week.\u00a0 But back in the first century you weren\u2019t part of a church unless people could validate the fact that you were really an authentic believer.\n\nSo Revelation 3:20 really is not talking about the need for an unbeliever to trust Christ and become a believer.\u00a0 What it\u2019s talking about is a church that belongs to Christ is out of fellowship with Christ.\u00a0 So when Jesus says, \u201cBehold, I stand at the door and knock\u201d He\u2019s not saying you unbelievers need to trust Me as Savior so you can be believers.\u00a0 What He\u2019s saying is you believers have stepped out of fellowship with Me.\n\nIt\u2019s kind of like what David did; remember David in the Old Testament, how he committed adultery and murdered?\u00a0 Was he a believer when he did that?\u00a0 Yes he was.\u00a0 Did he stop being a believer when he committed those sins?\u00a0 No he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Well, what was broken then was not his position before God but His what?\u00a0 His fellowship.\u00a0 So it\u2019s sort of like being married.\u00a0 I could use that example.\u00a0 Or maybe I won\u2019t use marriage anymore because my wife is sitting up there, don\u2019t want to reveal too much.\u00a0 How about the situation where you have an earthly father; you can offend your earthly father, can\u2019t you?\u00a0 Now once you offend your earthly father does he stop being your earthly father?\u00a0 No, positionally he\u2019s still your earthly father, you\u2019re still his son or his child. \u00a0Well, what has changed then?\u00a0 What\u2019s changed is the enjoyment that you have and your relationship has been broken.\u00a0 The fellowship that\u00a0 you have with each other has been broken, and so you\u2019ve fallen out of fellowship with your earthly father but your position is still the same.\n\nSo when we get to eternal security what I\u2019ll be showing you, not tonight but later on in the course, that once you\u2019re saved you\u2019re eternally secure, but as Christians we can still sin, can\u2019t we?\u00a0 And when we sin what changes is not our position, not what that our names are going to be erased from the Lamb\u2019s Book of Life, what changes is our moment by moment fellowship with God has been altered, that that\u2019s where we need to exercise 1 John 1:9 and confess our sin.\u00a0 [1 John 1:9, \u201cIf we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our<\/em> sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous\u00adness.\u201d] I\u2019ll talk about that verse in just a minute.\u00a0 So that is the situation going on here in Revelation 3; it\u2019s a church that\u2019s out of fellowship with Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a bunch of unbelievers that need to become believers, and you\u2019ll see that very fast once you stop cherry-picking verses here and there but read it in its context.\u00a0 When you connect verse 20 back to verse 19, \u201cthose whom I love I discipline\u201d it\u2019s very clear it\u2019s not talking about an evangelistic situation at all.\n\nSo what happened here at Laodicea, and by the way, the word \u201cLaodicea\u201d is very interesting.\u00a0 It\u2019s a compound word, it comes from two Greek words, <\/strong>la\u00f3s<\/em><\/em>,<\/em> which means people, and dike\u014d<\/em> which means to rule.\u00a0 So you put those two words together, la\u00f3s <\/em><\/em>and <\/em>dike\u014d<\/em> and\u00a0 you get Laodicea and what that word literally means is the people were ruling.\u00a0 So this was a church that had become very prosperous, as you read through this particular letter, Revelation 3:14-22.\n\n[Revelation 3:14, \u201cTo the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: [15] \u2018I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. [16] \u2018So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. [17] Because you say, \u201cI am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,\u201d and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, [18] I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that<\/em> the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. [19] Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. [20] \u2018Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. [21] \u2018He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. [22] \u2018He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.\u2019\u201d]\n\nYou know, they were having church, they were having Christianity, money was coming in and things like that, but they had gotten out of fellowship with Christ; that\u2019s the situation that\u2019s being dealt with here.\n\nSo when Jesus says, \u201cBehold, I stand at the door and knock\u201d He\u2019s not saying to the unbelieving heart open the door so I can come into your life and be your Savior.\u00a0 What He\u2019s saying is I want to come in and be with you as My church again, I want fellowship to be restored.\u00a0 And you can kind of pick that up by looking at the word \u201cdine,\u201d there, did you catch that in Revelation 3:20?\u00a0 \u201cBehold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Now when you study this, we lose sight of this in western culture because we\u2019re always eating in a hurry, kind of like the way I just did a few moments ago, but in the first century world, in the biblical world when you actually dined with someone that was a sign of very intimate fellowship.\n\nSo what did Jesus have with His disciples in the Upper Room?\u00a0 The last supper.\u00a0 That was a sign of intimacy between them and Him.\u00a0 And so when Jesus says I want to come in and dine with you He\u2019s not saying I want all you unbelievers to get saved, that\u2019s not what Revelation 3:20 is talking about.\u00a0 What He\u2019s saying is I want intimacy with My people restored, is the whole context there of Revelation 3:20.\u00a0 So all of this to say that this is really not an evangelistic verse at all when you understand it in context.\n\nAnd when He says I want to come in to you, the word that\u2019s used here is eis erchomai<\/em>, eis<\/em> is a Greek preposition that means in, and when you put it together with erchoma<\/em>i it basically means to come, to come in.\u00a0 And that combination is used, eis<\/em> and erchomai<\/em> about 8 times elsewhere in the New Testament.\u00a0 And eis erchomai<\/em> never a single time means to come inside somebody.\u00a0 And the reason I bring that up is that\u2019s how folks use this verse; they make it sound as if you\u2019ve got to trust Jesus as your Savior and then through the new birth, spiritual birth, He will come inside of\u00a0 you; and that\u2019s not what eis erchomai<\/em> means at all.\u00a0 eis erchomai<\/em> does not mean to come inside but rather it means to come in with.\u00a0 \u201cCome in with\u201d is different than to come inside somebody.\n\nSo for example, one of you might get up in the middle of a lecture and use the restroom or get a drink of water and come back into this room.\u00a0 And when you come back into this room that\u2019s eis erchomai<\/em>, you\u2019re not coming inside anybody, you\u2019re coming in among a group.\u00a0 Do you follow that?\u00a0 So when people use this evangelistically they make it sound like Jesus is going to some inside you, which He does from other passages, but this verse is not talking about that at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s talking about coming in among and being with God\u2019s people.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Jesus wants and that\u2019s the whole meaning of Him standing outside the door and knocking.\n\nSo Laodicea is really a frightening letter because it tells us that we can have Christianity without Christ; it\u2019s possible for us to do that as God\u2019s people, to get so into the people ruling, Laodicea, in other words the mind of man calling the shots, that we actually fall out of fellowship with Christ and He\u2019s no longer calling the shots, we\u2019re calling the shots because we\u2019re not submitted to Him moment by moment and we\u2019re out of fellowship with Him.\u00a0 And so the whole point here is I want that fellowship restored.\u00a0 This is a broken fellowship passage; it\u2019s not an evangelistic passage although 99.9% of the time when this is quote you\u2019ll hear it used in an evangelistic sense.\n\nSo here is how eis erchomai<\/em> is used elsewhere, just to give you a flavor of this.\u00a0 This has to do with Joseph of Arimathea, in whose tomb Christ was buried.\u00a0 And it says, \u201cJoseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage\u201d now remember Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple of Christ, he was a believer but he wasn\u2019t real outspoken, and finally he got enough courage, after Jesus died and he \u201cwent to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.\u201d [Mark 15:43]\n\nSo when it says there \u201che gathered up courage and went in before<\/em> Pontius Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus\u201d I have the relative portion of the verse underlined, that\u2019s eis erchomai<\/em>.\u00a0 So Joseph of Arimathea did not go inside of Pilate, he didn\u2019t possess Pilate like a demon, okay?\u00a0 He went in to a room among Pilate and where Pilate was.\u00a0 So when Jesus says, \u201cBehold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in\u201d it\u2019s not talking about coming inside somebody; it\u2019s talking about coming in among, and that\u2019s a proper understanding of eis erchomai.<\/em>\n\nSo all of that to say don\u2019t build your evangelistic presentation with the lost of Revelation 3:20; build it on the clearer 200 passages which teach the only condition necessary for a person to enter into a relationship with God is to believe or trust in Christ; that\u2019s the point.\u00a0 So this is a commonly misquoted verse, quoted out of context.\n\nLet me take you to another one, a lot of people believe you\u2019ve got to confess\u00a0 your sins to become a Christian.\u00a0 You hear this said to unbelievers a lot, you have to confess your sins and unless you confess your sins then\u00a0 you\u2019re really not a Christian.\u00a0 So where do they get this from.\u00a0 Take a look at Matthew 6:12, this is just another example of a verse being pulled out of context.\u00a0 It says, \u201cOur Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name\u2026\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s in Matthew 6:9, and then in verse 12 it says, \u201cAnd forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.\u201d\n\nSo people say well, there it is, you\u2019ve got to, before you become a Christian you have to confess your sins, which to me is sort of unnerving because what if I fail to confess one of the many sins I\u2019ve committed and I forgot to confess that one?\u00a0 Does that mean I\u2019m not a Christian.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the lingering doubt that\u2019s left in people\u2019s minds.\u00a0 And they try to build the case that we have to confess our sins before God as a condition of becoming a Christian and they get that from Matthew 6:12, [\u201c\u2018And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.\u201d]\u00a0 But Matthew 6, as\u00a0 you know is the which prayer?\u00a0 The Lord\u2019s prayer, probably better named the disciple\u2019s prayer because Jesus didn\u2019t actually pray this prayer; He was teaching them how to pray.\u00a0 And did you catch how that prayer started, \u201cour Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.\u201d [Matthew 6:9]\n\nSo when this prayer is prayed Jesus is assuming that those praying it are unbelievers or believers?\u00a0 Believers!\u00a0 And you know that because it begins \u201cOur Father.\u201d\u00a0 So therefore this little clause here at the end, \u201cForgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,\u201d is not something that the Bible places upon an unbeliever as a condition to be saved.\u00a0 The only thing the lost sinner must do is trust in the provision of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 This, and 200 Bible passages say that crystal clear, as we have talked about.\n\nThis, on the other hand, is talking about our relationship to God once we are already saved, because it says at the beginning \u201cOur Father.\u201d\u00a0 So this is not a condition for justification, forgiving, this is a condition for what?\u00a0 Sanctification or what? fellowship.\u00a0 See, and this is what people do is they take verses that are necessary to restore broken fellowship, like the words of Christ to the church at Laodicea, like words from the Lord\u2019s Prayer and they make it sound like these are things that the unbeliever or the unsaved must do.\u00a0 And that\u2019s not interpreting the Bible correctly.\n\nSo here\u2019s the thing to understand: you basically have two relationships with God.\u00a0 The first one is your fellowship that\u00a0 you have with God before you\u2019re saved.\u00a0 Before you\u2019re saved the only relationship you have with God is He is your judge.\u00a0 Okay!\u00a0 He\u2019s not your Father, He\u2019s\u00a0 your judge.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve never trusted Christ personally then He is your judge.\u00a0 The only way to rectify that dilemma, which is the human condition, humanity is in this problem, right?\u00a0 The only way to rectify that condition and to prevent God from being your judge is for you to do what?\u00a0 Believe, one verb, on the provision of God which is the finished work of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That and only that will fix the problem that we have where God is our judge.\u00a0 Once you trust in Christ He is no longer your judge but He becomes your what?\u00a0 Your Father.\n\nNow once He becomes your Father is it possible for the Christian to sin again?\u00a0 What do you guys think?\u00a0 Sure it is.\u00a0 So what happens then when I sin again as a Christian?\u00a0 I don\u2019t go back to a situation where He\u2019s my judge; I\u2019m in a situation now where He is my Father and I\u2019ve fallen out of fellowship with my Father.\u00a0 So how do I correct that second relationship?\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s a lot of things we have to do.\u00a0 The Bible gives us many, many commands, multiple commands.\u00a0 One of the things to restore broken fellowship is we have to be forgiving towards others that have hurt us because as long as I\u2019m walking around with a bunch of anger in my heart I can\u2019t really enjoy fellowship with God the way He wants me to, although I\u2019m still His child.\u00a0 If I commit a sin I have to confess that sin to Him, we\u2019ll talk about that in just a minute.\u00a0 I have to be in prayer pretty regularly, I have to be in His word, I have to be in fellowship with His people.\n\nSo the point I\u2019m trying to make is when we, as Christians, fall out of fellowship with our Father there are multiple things the Bible tells us to do to restore broken fellowship.\u00a0 But when we\u2019re dealing with the first situation, where He\u2019s my judge, because I\u2019m not even saved at all, we have to be very clear on this; there\u2019s only ONE condition that must be met to fix that first situation, and that is to believe or trust in the provision of Jesus Christ.\n\nBut after I get saved and He is no longer my judge but now He is my Father it\u2019s very easy for me to fall out of fellowship with Him and so that\u2019s where Matthew 6 verse 12 comments.\u00a0 It\u2019s not commenting on how a lost person gets saved, it\u2019s commenting on how somebody who has God as their Father begins to enjoy God in the ultimate sense in terms of fellowship.\u00a0 [Matthew 6:12, \u201cAnd forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.\u201d]\n\nAnd by the way, that\u2019s exactly how Revelation 3:20 is being used; it\u2019s not dealing with our relationship to God as Judge, it\u2019s dealing with the believer\u2019s relationship to their Father and restoration of broken fellowship.\u00a0 You guys following me on that.\u00a0\u00a0 [Revelation 3:20, \u201c'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.\u201d]\n\nLet\u2019s go over to 1 John 1:9 for just a minute.\u00a0 This is another verse people use to argue, wrongly, that an unbeliever has to confess their sins to God to be saved.\u00a0\u00a0 So they like to quote 1 John 1:9 which says, \u201cIf we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d\u00a0 And so sadly many people, well-meaning Christians, go up to unbelievers and they basically here\u2019s what you have to do to get saved; you have to confess your sins, because 1 John 1:9 says, \u201cIf we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d\u00a0 And so people like to use this, they don\u2019t use John 3:16, they want to use 1 John 1:9 as some kind of gospel presentation.\u00a0 But just like the Matthew 6 passage, just like the Revelation 3 passages, it\u2019s just another example of people taking a verse out of context.\n\nSo what is the context of 1 John 1:9?\u00a0 Is 1 John 1:9 written to the unbeliever or to the believer?\u00a0 It\u2019s very clearly written to the believer.\u00a0 Now the Gospel of John, as we spent three years in this church going through it, is written to the unbeliever.\u00a0 And I showed you why that was true; it comes from John 20:30-31, an invitation at the end there to believe in Christ and have the gift of life, meaning the people that it was written to had not yet trusted in Christ.\u00a0 [John 20:30, \u201cTherefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; [31]but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.\u201d]\n\nSo if you want to\u00a0 craft evangelism\u00a0 you would primarily use the Gospel of John, you wouldn\u2019t use 1 John because 1 John has a totally different purpose.\u00a0 1 John is not written to the unbeliever, it\u2019s written to the believer.\u00a0 And you can go through\u2026 I can show you many, many verses in 1 John that prove that, which we don\u2019t have time to go through but just follow 1 John 1:9, which is towards the end of chapter 1; chapter 1 leads into which chapter?\u00a0 Chapter 2, and you look at the language of chapter 2 and what does it say?\u00a0 \u201cMy little\u201d what? \u201cchildren.\u201d\u00a0 Do these look like believers or unbelievers?\u00a0 Very clearly they\u2019re believers.\u00a0 \u201cMy little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have\u201d notice he says \u201cwe\u201d there, so when John says \u201cwe\u201d he is identifying with the spiritual status of his audience.\n\nWas John the Apostle saved?\u00a0 Clearly he was.\u00a0 So his audience he is dealing with is saved also.\u00a0 \u201cwe have an Advocate with the Father,\u201d and notice how he refers to his relationship with God, and our relationship to God, not as our judge but as our what? \u201cFather,\u201d which is further evidence that he\u2019s dealing with saved people here.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; [2] and He Himself is the propitiation for\u201d whose sins? \u201cour sins;\u201d see how John is identifying with the spiritual status of his audience again?\u00a0 If John was saved then his audience must be saved; that\u2019s what he means when he keeps saying \u201cwe\u201d and \u201cours.\u201d\u00a0 And then he says this propitiation of Jesus is so strong, it\u2019s \u201cnot for ours only,\u201d now he deals with the unsaved world, \u201cbut also for those of the whole world.\u201d\n\nBut when you look at 1 John 1:9 in context here, again the whole point of it is not how does an unbeliever become a believer, that is totally foreign to the context.\u00a0 1 John 1:9 is written not to the unbeliever but to the believer, because believers sin.\u00a0 When we sin, not if we sin but when we sin fellowship or enjoyment between us and God is broken and how does that fellowship get fixed?\u00a0 The answer is 1 John 1:9.\u00a0 What are we supposed to do?\u00a0 \u201cIf we\u201d do what? \u201cconfess our sins,\u201d now confess is in Greek is homologe\u00f3, loge\u00f3<\/em> means to speak, homo<\/em>, as in\u00a0 homosexual, same, homologe\u00f3<\/em> is to speak the same or it\u2019s another way of saying to agree.\u00a0 So the word translated \u201cconfess\u201d is homologe\u00f3<\/em>, it means to speak the same or to agree.\u00a0 What do we need to do as Christians in order to restore broken fellowship with God.\u00a0 We need to come before Him and agree with Him that what we have done is wrong.\u00a0 And then we need to ask Him to restore fellowship with us and when He does that He says well, maybe I will, maybe I won\u2019t\u2026. NO, He doesn\u2019t say that, he says \u201cHe is\u201d what? \u201cfaithful\u201d to do it.\n\nSo 1 John 1:9 once again is not a passage aimed at the unbeliever to get them saved.\u00a0 When\u00a0 you study 1 John 1:9 in context the whole point of it is how the believer, who already has God as their Father, who sins, how can they restore broken fellowship with Him.\u00a0 Do you follow the difference there.\u00a0 So 1 John 1:9, using it evangelistically is an abuse of the verse.\u00a0 Matthew 6:12, using it evangelistically is an abuse of the verse.\u00a0 Revelation 3:20, using it evangelistically is an abuse of the verse.\u00a0 And this just comes from basic Bible study procedures where we\u2019re examining these various verses in context.\n\nLet me take you to another one that is commonly used wrongly with the unsaved.\u00a0 And people say well, if you\u2019re going to become a Christian you need to forgive other people.\u00a0 First of all you need to ask Jesus into your heart, (which is wrongly used); secondly,\u00a0 you\u2019ve got to confess your sins (which I\u2019ve tried to tell you is wrongly used) and the third thing people like to say is well, if\u00a0 you\u2019re going to become a Christian you need to forgive other people.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not willing to forgive other people then\u00a0 you\u2019re not a Christian.\n\nWell, that\u2019s not what the Bible says 200 times.\u00a0 The Bible, 200 times, if nothing else build your house on John 3:16, it says the unbeliever must fulfill one condition to be saved, which is to believe.\u00a0 [John 1:16, \u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 So then why do people think you have to forgive other people to become a Christian?\u00a0 They get that from Matthew 6, back to the Lord\u2019s prayer for a minute, verses 14-15, it says, \u201cFor if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. [15] But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.\u201d\n\nSo people look at that and say oh my gosh, if I am not willing to forgive every single person in my life that\u2019s ever injured me or wounded me then I guess I can\u2019t become a Christian. But once again, go back to Matthew 6:9, who\u2019s praying this prayer?\u00a0 The child of God, because how does the prayer begin, \u201cOur\u201d what? \u201cFather who is in heaven.\u201d The assumption of the prayer is that these people are already rightly related to God.\u00a0 [Matthew 6:9, \u201cPray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.\u201d]\n\nSo if they\u2019re already rightly related to God the issue in this prayer is not how these people get saved, they\u2019re already saved.\u00a0 It\u2019s how to enjoy maximum fellowship with God.\u00a0 And let me tell you a little something about unconfessed sin; unconfessed sin will damage your fellowship with God as a Christian.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying that it sends you to hell, but your moment by moment enjoyment of God and intimacy with God is damaged every moment that unconfessed sin continues on.\u00a0 It\u2019s just like your family or your marriage, family is still family, positionally, but the enjoyment that you have with each other, the intimacy which you can enjoy with each other is damaged every moment that you have offended somebody in the family and not apologized.\u00a0 You\u2019re still family but the fellowship is injured.\n\nAnd that, basically is what unconfessed sin does.\u00a0 And in fact, unconfessed sin can actually damage a person\u2019s prayer life.\u00a0 David in the Psalms, in Psalm 66:18 says \u201cif I harbor iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear.\u201d\u00a0 As long as I am praying to God with this sinful pattern in my heart and life that\u2019s never been confessed then it damages my prayer life.\n\nAnd by the way, if you mistreat your wife, here\u2019s a good verse for us, 1 Peter 3:7, it says, \u201cYou husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life,\u201d and then the last clause there in 1 Peter 3:7 says, \u201cso that your prayers will not be\u201d what? \u201chindered.\u201d\u00a0 So if I go home tonight and mistreat my wife or yell at my wife or scream at my wife she\u2019s still my wife, I\u2019m still a Christian, but every moment I don\u2019t confess that sin not only have I damaged intimacy in my marriage but I\u2019ve also damaged intimacy with my Heavenly Father, to the point where it can even hinder the prayers that I offer up to God.\n\nSo that is really the whole context there of Matthew 6:14-15, I mean, if we\u2019re going around holding grudges against people as Christians, don\u2019t really expect God to listen to a lot of our prayers; don\u2019t expect to really have a very intimate vibrant walk with the Lord because how is it that we can be given grace and yet we turn around and we want to hold other people with the standard of justice?\u00a0 That type of attitude\u2026 and that\u2019s why the Bible says \u201cdon not let the sun go down on your anger,\u201d and things like that. [Ephesians 4:26, \u201cBE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,\u201d]\u00a0 And the solution is not to move to Alaska, by the way, because people say well, the sun never goes down so I can be angry all the time.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what it\u2019s saying.\u00a0 When it says \u201cdo not let the sun go down on\u00a0 your anger\u201d it\u2019s saying have a forgiving attitude towards people.\n\nAnd shouldn\u2019t we be like that anyway; look at what the Lord has forgiven us.\u00a0 And what you\u2019ll discover is if you have a forgiving attitude towards people not only do your personal relationships heal but your moment by moment enjoyment with God becomes more and more vibrant.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s really the whole point of Matthew 16:14-15.\u00a0 Once again it\u2019s a restoration of fellowship kind of verse and you know that because the very first words in the whole thing are \u201cOur Father.\u201d\u00a0 So all I\u2019m really teaching you to do is to put verses in context; that\u2019s all I\u2019m trying to say here.\n\nHere\u2019s another one people like to use.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go over to Matthew 19:21-22, it\u2019s another commonly misused verse.\u00a0 And they say well, you need to sell\u2026 if you\u2019re going to become a Christian you need to sell all your possessions and give it all away to the poor.\u00a0 And they\u2019ll quote Matthew 19:21-22, which is Christ\u2019s interaction with who?\u00a0 The rich young ruler.\u00a0 And they\u2019ll try to build an evangelistic message off these verses because that\u2019s, after all, what Jesus did.\u00a0 Remember what Jesus said to this rich young ruler.\u00a0 \u201cJesus said to him, \u2018If you wish to be complete, go and<\/em> sell your possessions and give to the<\/em> poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.\u2019 [22] But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.\u201d\n\nSo people use this as evangelism, they say you go up to an unsaved person, you\u2019d better tell them to sell everything they have because that\u2019s what Jesus told people to do.\u00a0\u00a0 And so they\u2019ll use Matthew 19:21-11 in that vein.\u00a0 Now let me explain to you why you should not use that passage this way: you should not use this passage in this way because Jesus is omniscient.\u00a0 The guy who said to the rich young ruler sell it all was omniscient; omniscient means all what? all knowing.\u00a0 Are you all knowing?\u00a0 Am I all knowing?\u00a0 No I\u2019m not.\u00a0 Jesus was, so Jesus, when he was dealing with this specific person could see his individual hang-up.\n\nAnd what was holding this man back from a relationship with the Lord was money; money (as I\u2019ll show you in a minute) is not evil it\u2019s the love of money that\u2019s evil.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what this guy\u2019s hang-up was.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus, through omniscience could see that, He could look into his heart and He could see the thing that was holding him back from personal faith in Christ was money, because doesn\u2019t Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount you can\u2019t serve both?\u00a0 You can\u2019t serve God and Mammon, I think that\u2019s over in Matthew 6:24, you\u2019ll either love the one and hate the other or be devoted to the other and despise the one, you cannot serve both God and money.\u00a0 [Matthew 6:24, \u201cNo one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.\u201d]\n\nJesus, who was all knowing could look into this guy\u2019s heart and see his problem.\u00a0 So when Jesus told this individual you need to sell everything He was giving him an individualized formula and He was actually doing here what we would call pre-evangelism.\u00a0 The goal is to get this guy to believe in Christ but Jesus could see what was holding this man back from Christ so He dealt with the root of the problem, which was love of money, and the only way this could be resolved in this individual\u2019s life is he had to sell everything.\u00a0 Jesus could do that because He was omniscient and He was dealing with a specific person.\u00a0 We are not omniscient, we do not know looking into someone\u2019s heart what\u2019s holding someone back from exercising faith in Christ so we don\u2019t really have the same right to go up to people and say you need to sell everything you have to become a Christian.\n\nSo one of the things to understand about the Scripture is the Bible never teaches that money is the root of all evil.\u00a0 That\u2019s a commonly misquoted verse.\u00a0 1 Timothy 6:10 never says money is the root of all evil.\u00a0 1 Timothy 6:10 says \u201cFor the\u201d what? \u201clove of money\u201d and then it doesn\u2019t even say \u201cis the root of all evil,\u201d it says it is \u201ca root,\u201d not the root, \u201ca root of all sorts of evil, and some people longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.\u201d\n\nSo as Jesus was interacting with this rich young ruler He could see what was holding him back was not that he had possessions but that his possessions possessed him.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that he owned things but the things he owned, owned him.\n\nAnd so Jesus, through omniscience is doing pre-evangelism and He understands by looking into this man\u2019s heart that what was holding him back from personal faith was money.\u00a0 And so Jesus says the individual problem for you is love of money so what you need to do is you, as an individual, need to sell everything.\u00a0 In other words, this verse is not intended as a generic presentation of the gospel for all people because all people aren\u2019t beset by this particular love.\n\nBy the way, there are very rich people that don\u2019t love money at all.\u00a0 There are very poor people that do love money.\u00a0 The sin is not money and possessions; the sin is the heart attitude towards money and possessions.\u00a0 And this guy was a special case because he had money and he loved it, and Jesus is basically saying\u2026 He\u2019s doing here pre-evangelism, He does this because He\u2019s omniscient and He can look into a person\u2019s heart, and He\u2019s essentially saying here what your problem is is you love your money, so for you, for the path to be cleared so you can enter into a real with Me,\u00a0 you, as an individual, must sell everything you own.\u00a0 So it was never intended as a generic evangelistic message for all, if I\u2019m making any sense.\n\nThis is an interesting verse here, this is Joseph of Arimathea, and I quote this just to prove that being rich is not a sin.\u00a0 In fact, 1 Timothy 6 says if you\u2019re rich you should be rich in good deeds.\u00a0 [1 Timothy 6:18, \u201cInstruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,\u201d]\u00a0 So actually God can use a persons that has money and has resources, so it\u2019s not a sin to have resources; the sin is loving those resources in place of God.\n\nSo when you look at Joseph of Arimathea, the tomb in which Jesus was buried, it says this: \u201cWhen it was evening there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself had also become a\u201d what? \u201ca disciple.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 27:57]\u00a0\u00a0 Notice what it says, he is a disciple of Jesus but he has riches.\u00a0 So therefore, based on this verse is it possible to be a disciple of Jesus and still have riches?\u00a0 What do you think?\u00a0 Sure it is, this is an example of it.\u00a0 So we shouldn\u2019t assume that wealth or riches is some kind of sin, as the verse says it\u2019s \u201clove of money,\u201d and Jesus through pre-evangelism could see, through His omniscience, could see what was happening in the heart of this rich young ruler.\u00a0 So that\u2019s just another example of taking something Jesus did to an individual and making it some kind of universal appeal in terms of a gospel presentation.\n\nAnd then the last one that I have here is, and these are all problem passages, they all contradict the one condition of salvation.\u00a0 The last one I have here is people say you need to pray a prayer of saving faith.\u00a0 So what people will say all the time is have you prayed that prayer?\u00a0 And of course in evangelism you guys know the drill, where the evangelist says every head bowed, every eye closed, if you want to pray that prayer of saving faith let me see your hands, and the evangelist will go I see that hand in the back, I see that hand, thank you, yes, I see that hand. Okay, everybody with their eyes closed and their heads bowed that wants to become a Christian pray after me\u2026 and they\u2019ll lead you through some kind of prayer.\u00a0 And this is so normal today in American Bible believing circles that people think that unless there\u2019s a point in your life where\u00a0 you actually bowed your head and prayed that prayer then you\u2019re really not a Christian.\n\nAnd the goal of a lot of churches is to get people to the point where they\u2019re willing to bow their heads, close their eyes and pray that prayer because we think unless they pray the prayer then they\u2019re not saved.\u00a0 Now\u00a0 you may be shocked to learn, and don\u2019t take my word for it, study it out in the Bible, there are no examples anywhere in the whole Bible, of anybody, praying a prayer to receive Jesus as their Savior.\u00a0 You go all the way through the book of Acts, which is a record of Paul\u2019s evangelism and evangelistic messages and him reaching the lost and never once does he say okay, I want you to close your eyes and repeat this prayer after me.\n\nSo the issue is not the prayer, the prayer is not the issue; it is the what?\u00a0 The faith that\u2019s the issue.\u00a0 Now I came to Christ praying a prayer; is it wrong to ask people to pray a prayer.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s wrong if you explain to people the significance of faith.\u00a0 It\u2019s faith in Christ that\u2019s the issue, not rotely praying a prayer.\u00a0 Now in my case I did pray a prayer but in hindsight I totally recognize that it was not the prayer itself that saves; it was the faith expressed in the prayer.\u00a0 So if you want to get someone together and share with them the gospel and lead them to Christ and you want them to pray a prayer, you have to understand that number 1, the Bible never requires them to do that.\u00a0 But let\u2019s say you wanted to do it anyway.\u00a0 Then that\u2019s fine, just explain to them the fact that it\u2019s not the prayer that\u2019s going to save you; it is faith in the provision of Jesus that will save you.\n\nNow if you feel better praying about it lets pray.\u00a0 If you want your faith to be expressed in a prayer then go right ahead and let\u2019s do that together.\u00a0 But the prayer itself has no saving value at all.\u00a0 The Bible 200 times says it\u2019s faith alone in Christ alone that saves.\u00a0 So faith expressed in the prayer saves, not merely the prayer.\u00a0 There are not biblical examples anywhere of people that are unbelievers praying a prayer to receive Christ evangelistically.\n\nAnd, let me get this across, a person can bypass prayer altogether if they want to, by simply exercising faith in Christ.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why at this church, you know, we try to\u2026 we are Sugar Land Bible Church, we\u2019re trying to follow the Bible and so we don\u2019t make it a habit of saying to everybody you need to close your eyes and pray this prayer.\u00a0 I need to see a show of hands, and things like that.\u00a0 You need to come forward and things of that nature, because once you move down that road you open the door to confusion in people\u2019s minds.\u00a0 They think walking the aisle saves them; they think praying the prayer saves them.\n\nNow again, is it wrong to do things like that?\u00a0 Not necessarily, if you explain to them what\u2019s happening.\u00a0 You have to explain to them based on the content of the Bible that it\u2019s not walking an aisle or praying a prayer that saves, it\u2019s faith!!\u00a0 Now if you want to express your faith through walking you\u2019re free to do that, but you don\u2019t have to do that. If you want to express your faith by raising a hand you\u2019re free to do that but you don\u2019t have to do that.\u00a0 If you want to express\u00a0 your faith by praying a prayer you\u2019re free to do that but the Bible never tells you to do that.\u00a0 See?\n\no it\u2019s completely possible for a person, let\u2019s say sitting in our audience on Sunday morning or over the internet to hear the gospel, to trust the gospel or believe it, and never raise a hand at all, never send in an e-mail, never pray a prayer of any sort; it\u2019s completely possible biblically for that person to be saved.\u00a0 And so what we\u2019re trying to do is just to get back to what the Scripture teaches on these things.\u00a0 And because of tradition what you\u2019ll discover is that there\u2019s a lot of confusion.\n\nSo all of this to say what we\u2019ve gone through is a ton of things, getting near ending here, a ton of things that are wrongly inserted by people into gospel presentations.\u00a0 When we really study this biblically what we discover is there\u2019s one condition necessary to be justified before God, which is to believe in Christ; we\u2019ve gone through what that means, to trust in Christ.\u00a0 And we should not wrongly insert things into gospel presentations that the Bible never says to insert.\u00a0 And you start growing in this direction when you start studying the Bible and reading it in context.\n\nNow next week we start changing directions and we\u00a0 start looking at the results of salvation.\u00a0 See what we\u2019ve been going over the last several weeks is how to get salvation, which is by faith alone.\u00a0 What we start moving into next week is once you are saved or justified before God what does that mean exactly?\u00a0 What do you have?\u00a0 And you\u2019re going to be happy to note that you are filthy rich.\u00a0 You say I don\u2019t feel rich.\u00a0 It\u2019s got nothing to do with feelings.\u00a0 I don\u2019t look rich.\u00a0 Some of you don\u2019t look very rich, I don\u2019t look rich either probably.\u00a0 But we are rich because God has blessed us with how many spiritual blessings?\u00a0 Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.\u00a0 [Ephesians 1:3-4, \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, [4] just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love.\u201d]\n\nDr. Chafer, from the Bible, articulates 33, we probably will not go through all 33 but we\u2019re going to go through some significant blessings that you have, that you may not even be aware of and you\u2019re going to walk away from here feeling really good about yourself, not because of some accomplish\u00adment on your part but because of what Jesus has accrued, lavished upon us because we are \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 So that\u2019s the direction we\u2019ll move into next week.\u00a0 So at this time I will stop talking and we\u2019ll release people to go pick up their kids if they need to do that and I\u2019ll be happy to entertain questions if you have any of those.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t