What is a Christian: Introduction

Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight. We thank you for the opportunity to gather in the middle of the week to study your word and to be able to be challenged as we look into the perfect law of liberty. And our prayer, Father, is that you would open our hearts and minds to be able to understand the truth about Christianity, what your word actually does say.

And pray, Father, that you'd work in all of our hearts. And pray, Lord, that if there's someone among us who doesn't know you, that they would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And for those of us who do know you, Lord, may we be encouraged in our walk with the Lord as we understand the assurance of salvation.

Lord, you are a great God. You've allowed us this opportunity. And pray, Father, that as we embark on the next several weeks together, that, Lord, you'd teach us much.

We love you, Lord, and thank you for this opportunity in Jesus' name. Amen. Tonight, and over the next 11 weeks, because it'll be 12 weeks until Thanksgiving Eve, and we have a special service planned for that night, we will spend this time asking and answering one question and one question only, and that is, what is a Christian? And I'm sure that if you were to go and ask the people in our church or any church that question and have them write down the answer on a 3x5 card, I'm sure you'd come up with all kinds of answers to that question, what is a Christian? If you were to go outside on the streets and ask people in your neighborhood or downtown LA or wherever you may work and ask them, what is a Christian, and have them write down what they believe a Christian is, I'm sure you'd come up with some pretty incredible answers, but the real answer lies within the text of Scripture.

It doesn't really make a difference what your pastor says or what your friends say or what your coach says or teachers say about Christianity. It's what does the Bible say about Christianity? What has the Lord said about what it means to be a Christian? That's what really matters. Nothing else does matter, because the Bible's very clear and very explicit when it talks about a Christian.

I told you on Sunday, I don't think I said it in the second service, I did in the first service, in that there are three, there are many themes that run throughout the Bible, but there are three great themes that sound or seem to be paramount in the Bible. And the first one deals with the exaltation of Christ, because the whole Bible is all about the Christ. The whole Bible is about who is Jesus Christ.

He's the Redeemer, the Savior, the Deliverer. He is the Messiah, and so the Bible is all about exalting Christ, and it's almost like it moves from Genesis to Revelation in this great crescendo to the very end where every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So the first great theme of the Bible is the exaltation of Christ.

It's all about putting Christ on display, yet the prophecies of the Old Testament, the promises of the Old Testament, the presentation of Christ in the New Testament, it's all about the exaltation of Christ. But the second great theme that follows on the heels of that is the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. If there is a Christ, if there is a Messiah, if there is a Deliverer, a Redeemer, then how do we know him? And so you have this good news that brings great joy.

It's all about the presentation and the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So people will come to know who this Messiah is, who this Deliverer is. That's the second great theme of the Bible.

But the third great theme is something that very few people understand or mention. And that is the theme about examination of those who say they know the Christ. That's the third great theme of the Bible.

Through the Old Testament and through the New Testament, there are a lot of people who make a profession of faith, but very few people who possess the Christ who grants faith. And so there's this examination all throughout the Bible about do you really know God? In fact, the book of Hosea says that my people are destroyed because they really don't know me, although they think they do. And when you come to the New Testament, it begins to explode off the pages of scripture.

Just follow along with me as we take a little journey through the New Testament. Now, on Sunday morning, we're covering one verse. Tonight, we're gonna cover a whole lot of verses.

But in Matthew chapter 3, you have the forerunner to the Messiah. His name is John the Baptist. He's the greatest man who ever lived that's been born of a woman by the words of Christ himself.

He was the last Old Testament prophet. He was the first New Testament preacher. And John the Baptist comes exploding out of the wilderness, out of the Judean wilderness, like a locomotive preaching the gospel, will repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

And he is doing all this baptism down in the Jordan River. And lo and behold, the religious elite come down to the Jordan to see what John's doing and to even be baptized by John. So listen to what it says in Matthew 3, verse number 7.

But when he, John, saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? This is how John greets the religious elite, the people who are the keepers of the law, the people that everybody would say were the ones who knew God. And John confronts them right off the bat. This past June, they had 28,000 people baptized across America, a revival that was started by the Pentecostal denomination in their desire to baptize America.

And they claimed that 28,000 people were baptized in the month of June. I wonder if anybody greeted them when they came down to be baptized, you brood of vipers, who taught you to flee from the wrath to come? I'm sure nobody did. But that's what John the Baptist would have done because he was dealing with the religious elite.

He says in verse number 8, therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance. In other words, if you're coming down here to repent, you must demonstrate the fact that you are truly turning from your sin to follow the true and living God. Why? And do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our father.

Don't come down here and say, you know what? We are here and we are the religious elite because Abraham is our father. You can't claim Abraham as your father and say that that's why you're going to heaven. You can't do that, John says.

And so he says, for I say to you that from these stones, God is able to raise up children to Abraham. And the Jews would refer to the Gentiles as stones because stones were lifeless, helpless, and hopeless. And that's how the Jews saw the Gentiles, lifeless, helpless, and hopeless.

And so he says, you know what? God can do something greater than you can ever imagine by raising up these stones and making them children of Abraham. Then he says in verse number 10, the ax is already laid at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

He's already talking about judgment. He's already talking about how God's gonna bring judgment. He goes on to say, I'm gonna baptize you with water, but the one coming after me is greater than I, and he's gonna baptize you with fire.

You see, that's how John greeted the religious elite. Why? Because John didn't want them to think that they were gonna go to heaven when they had never truly repented of their sins and embraced the Messiah as the King of Israel. So you turn over a couple of pages to Matthew chapter seven.

And in Matthew chapter 7, you have Jesus preaching. There on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, he is preaching what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. He's talking about how to become a child of the King and how to live as a child of the King.

And so this is his sermon, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. And this is how he closes out the sermon. Verse number 13, enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction.

And there are many who enter through it for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. And there are few who find it. So as he gives this invitation, at the end of his message, he says there's a broad road and there's a narrow road.

And the broad road says heaven like the narrow road says heaven. But there are many on the broad road that says heaven, but in reality, it's going to hell. The narrow road is the only way to life.

And then he says this, verse 15, beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Scrapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then you will know them by their fruits.

Then he says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. And then he goes on and talks about how those who are the wise people hear the word of God and they apply it to the lives versus those who hear the word of God and don't apply it to their lives. And so he wants to make sure that the people listening understand that there's a broad road and a narrow road and the only way to heaven is through the narrow way, but there are gonna become many false teachers, many false prophets who are gonna lead you astray to follow the broad road.

Very, very important, why? Because Satan's ploy has been always to disguise the truth with the false. He always wants to make sure that people don't understand the reality of Christ. That's why 2 Corinthians 4:4 says that he's blinded the minds of the unbeliever.

He's a master of disguise. He does all he can to thwart people from understanding and hearing and believing the truth. And so he raises up false teachers within the church that will come against the church and lead people away from the Lord, not toward the Lord.

So you move on to another couple of chapters to Matthew chapter 13. And in Matthew chapter 13, Christ begins to give the kingdom parables. And he begins with a very familiar parable, one called the parable of the sower and the soil.

Because he wants the disciples to understand that in the kingdom age, the word of God is gonna be spread. And as the word of God is spread, you gotta realize that the seed, which is the word of God, which is spread is gonna fall on certain kinds of soil. Some of them will be hard soil, or a rocky soil, or thorny soil, or soft soil.

But you need to know this. And so he gives this parable. And all a parable is is a heavenly story or an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

So he uses common day situations to tell a story that has a heavenly meaning. So he recites the parable and then he interprets the parable for them. He says in verse number 18, hear then the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. In other words, the hard heart, the stony heart is the one that the seed falls upon, but Satan comes and snatches it away because it's a hard, cold, and calloused heart.

And then he says this in verse number 20, that the one on whom the seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no firm root in himself, but it's only temporary. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

This is the shallow heart or the superficial heart. Here's the one who hears the word of God and he wants to jump onto Jesus' bandwagon. He receives the word with joy.

There's a great emotional push in his life. But when affliction comes and persecution comes, he falls away. Why? Because there's no firm root.

There was no solid commitment to Christ. And then he says in verse number 22, and the one on whom the seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word and the worry of the world and deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. In other words, here's a guy who he receives the word with joy, and yet because of the deceitfulness of riches, because of the cares of this world, the worries of this world, he cannot maintain his walk with the Lord, does not persevere, and he too falls away.

So you have three different kinds of hearts. You have a stony heart, you have a superficial heart, and you have a secular heart. This is the kind of heart that wants to add Jesus to their existing lifestyle.

And then when push comes to shove, they always choose the way of the world because it rings more true to them than the way of the Lord. And then he says this, he says, and the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some a hundredfold, some 60 and some 30. In other words, here's one who is a soft soil, a very soft heart.

They receive the word, they understand the word, so much so that they bring forth fruit, some 30-fold, some 60-fold, some a hundredfold. Now, why is that important? That's important because a bumper crop in Israel would be a crop that was 10-fold. But Christ says, this person bears fruit that is some 30, some 60, or some a hundredfold.

In other words, this is a huge crop. In other words, when someone is truly born again and they receive the word of God, there is complete, clear, obvious evidence that they know Christ as Lord and Savior. There's no wondering whether or not they know the Lord.

Why? Because the fruit is so abundant, it is so over the top, no one even considers them that they might not even be saved because the fruit is so overwhelming. So the numbers that Christ used are very important numbers because they describe for you the reality of a transformed life. It doesn't mean that every time you share the gospel, that one out of every four people, or only 25% of them are gonna get saved.

It doesn't mean that. What Christ is saying is that the majority of people who hear the gospel are not gonna receive the gospel. They might look like they receive it.

They might jump on the Jesus bandwagon because they received the word with joy. There was some emotional compulsion in their lives. They did it with sincerity.

They did it with joy. They did it with tears. But that doesn't mean that they truly gave their life to Christ.

Why? Because perseverance is always the key component to true saving faith. Perseverance is a gift given by God, Romans 15, verse number 5, that God grants men perseverance, that they will continue on in the faith no matter what the persecution or the affliction, no matter what about the cares of the world or the deceitfulness of riches, they continue on in their faith. And the very next parable Jesus gives is the parable about the wheat and the tares.

Because he wants them to understand that in the kingdom age, there's gonna be many tares that are sown among the wheat because the enemy's going to do that. He wants them to understand that when the tares and wheat grow together, at the very outset, you cannot tell them apart. They look exactly the same until the end of the age, until the harvest time.

And so he says, we're not gonna pull out the tares until the end of the harvest because you might pull up some weeds with them. And it's at the end of the harvest that Christ takes the tares and throws them into the fire and takes the wheat into his kingdom. But he wants them to understand that throughout the kingdom age, the tares will be sown among the wheat because that's what the enemy does.

There are a lot of pretenders in the pews of churches all around the world. A lot of people who say that they love the Lord Jesus, but they really aren't born again. They're pretenders in the pew.

We have pretenders in the pulpit as well. Preachers who pretend to know Jesus Christ, but in reality, don't know him at all. And that would even accentuate the fact that there are more pretenders in the pew than you could ever begin to imagine.

But he wants them to understand that as you go through the kingdom age, there'll be many people that look like Christians, but they're really tares among the wheat. But because they look so much like the Christian, you won't be able to tell them apart until the end of the age. That's very, very important.

You see, people are very self-deceived. Satan is a master deceiver, but people can deceive themselves into believing some way, somehow, that they really are Christian because of something that happened in their life or because of what they say they believe. But that's not necessarily true.

And so the Bible is very clear as it continues to talk about all these kinds of things. In fact, over in Luke chapter 13, Christ says this. He says, when someone said to him, Lord, are there just a few being saved? He said to them, strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Now, that's very, very important. Why? He says, you need to agonize to get through the narrow door. Remember in Matthew 7, he says there's a narrow gate and there's a broad road, a narrow road and a broad road, but the narrow way is the way to glory.

But he says that when you finally get to the narrow road, when you finally find the narrow gate and you get there, of the few that find the narrow way in Matthew chapter 7, when you come to Luke 16, the many of the few will never enter into the kingdom. The many of the few of Matthew 7 and Luke 16 will never enter the kingdom. He says, he says, I tell you, they will seek to enter and they will not be able to enter.

Why? Because they will not wanna pay the cost. They will not wanna pay the price. They will not wanna sacrifice their life.

They will not wanna give up their lives for Christ's life. See? And so he says these words, once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying, Lord, open to us. Then he will answer and say to you, I do not know where you are from.

Then you will begin to say, but we ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets. And he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.

Again, the emphasis is on the fact that there will be many people who think that they deserve heaven. They think they're on their way to heaven, but then the door is shut. They can't get in.

They beg to get in and Christ says, I never knew you. But they thought they were on their way to heaven. They were self-deceived or they've been taught by a false teacher and they believe the wrong things.

That's why it's so crucial to understand the importance of Christianity. The Bible is replete with this. It goes over and over and over again.

I wish I had the time. Remember Acts chapter 20. Paul says this in verse 27.

For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

And from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one of you with tears. He says, I know that when I leave, there will be people that will come in, will rise up from within the church, okay? They're already here.

And they're gonna rise up from within the church and they're gonna lead the disciples astray. They're savage wolves. And therefore, I commend you to God in the word of his grace which is able to build you up, he says in verse number 32.

But you need to be aware of this. I did not cease to warn you day and night for three years of this scenario. You see, every pastor needs to be warning his people of the possibility of self-deception, the possibility of being taught and learning the wrong things about Christianity.

Every pastor needs to be concerned that the people in the church understand the truth of the gospel, that they know what it means to truly be born again. That's the pastor's responsibility. And it's emphasized by Paul in Acts chapter 20.

Over in 2 Corinthians or 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse number 28. This Sunday, we're gonna partake at the Lord's table. Paul says that before you do, make sure that you don't eat and drink in an unworthy manner.

So make sure that you examine your own personal life. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, he says this. Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith.

Examine yourselves or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail the test. But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test. Examine yourself, test yourself, prove yourself to make sure that Jesus Christ is really, he's writing to the church.

He's not asking people on the street. He's writing to the church at Corinth, challenging them to make sure they know that Jesus Christ is in them. You go over to the book of Titus.

Titus says that there will be people in the church, they profess to know God, but by their deeds, verse 16, they deny him being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. There will be many who profess Christianity, but their deeds are offensive to God because they live sinful lives. And then you go over to the book of James.

James is the same thing. Verse 26 of chapter 1. If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. He says, this is true religion. If you think that you are religious and you cannot control your tongue, your religion, whatever you say it is, is a worthless religion.

It means nothing. That means you don't have the spirit of God that will help you learn self-control to control your words. Why? Because out of the bones of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So if there's been a transformed heart, there's transformed speaking. If there hasn't been a transformed heart, the words remain the same. You see? And James knows that.

And James attacks that. That's why he says, be you not just hearers of the word, but doers as well. Over in 2 Peter chapter 1, Peter says it this way in verse number 10.

Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. He's talking to the brethren. Do you know that you've been called? Do you know that you've been chosen by God? Be diligent to make sure you know without a shadow of doubt that God has called you and chosen you for his purposes.

And then, of course, you have Jude. And Jude says this in verse number 3. Beloved, I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation.

I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I wanted to write to you.

I wanna talk to you about our common salvation, but I have to warn you that there have been among us people that are in the church that turn the grace of God into licentiousness. They live as if there is no law, and they turn people away from the truth. I have to warn you.

I mean, that's just a sketch of what's in the New Testament. As you go through the scriptures, you'll see it over and over and over again. Be warned, beware.

Paul says in Philippians chapter 3, verse number 1, I wanna safeguard you that you understand what true salvation really is. Why? I mean, he's talking to the church. He's not talking to a bunch of people in the streets.

He wants the church to know for certain that the gospel they say they believe is truly the gospel that transformed their lives. So important. I came across a book this past week, and that book is entitled The Almost Christian Discovered.

It was written 300 years ago by a Puritan by the name of Matthew Mead. And he was concerned that the people who profess Christianity in his day were not truly born-again followers of Christ, that they had somehow deceived themselves into thinking that they were Christians. And so he begins to write this book that talks about the almost Christian.

And in a span of 120 pages, he gives several characteristics of those who claim to be Christian, but they're close, yet they are still so far away. And so he begins to list all these characteristics and underneath them, he gives a plethora of Bible verses to explain each and every point. I'm not gonna do that for you, but these are some of the things that he does say.

He says this. He says, a person may have a great deal of knowledge, insight, and they may understand a lot about God and his will, and a lot about Christ and his ways, and yet still only be almost a Christian. A person may possess great and remarkable gifts, and yet only be almost a Christian.

A person may have a high view of religion, be very active in religious activities, and yet still only be almost a Christian. He says a person may make great strides in resisting sin, and yet still only be almost a Christian. A person may even hate sin, but still only almost a Christian.

A person may make grand promises and pledges to God, yet still only be almost a Christian. A man may struggle and fight against sin within himself, and yet still only be almost a Christian. A person can be a member of a Christian church, join the people of God, share in church privileges.

He may have great hope of heaven, even hope of being saved, and yet still only be almost a Christian. A person may experience significant transformation due to the power of the word of God, and yet still only be almost a Christian. A person may be very passionate about their religion.

They may spend a lot of time in prayer, and yet still only be almost a Christian. A person may endure hardship for Christ in their profession, their reputation, and physical being, and still only be almost a Christian. A person may be called by God, accept his calling, and yet still be far from the kingdom.

A person may have faith, have genuine affection for the people of God, obey the commands of God, do all the outwardly religious activities, and still only be almost a Christian. That's a remarkable list. But if you were to reverse the list and say, well, I know somebody who's been called by God, and I know somebody who has special gifts, and I know somebody who really wants to worship God and is involved in their church and really wants to obey the commands of God, and I know somebody who truly loves the Lord, you would say that that person's a Christian.

Are they? You see, we tend to look at the externals, but Christianity's about the internal. Christianity's about what happens on the inside of a person. Now, what's on the inside will manifest itself on the outside, but just because you manifest certain characteristics of Christianity on the outside doesn't mean you're saved on the inside.

That's where the examination comes in. That's why you need to beware of false teachers. That's not why you need to be aware of being self-deceived.

Well, what does the Bible actually say? You see, there's so much confusion about what it means to be a Christian. Let me give you a couple of them.

One is what I call the familial confusion, that I was born in a Christian family. My parents are saved, my brothers are saved, my parents are saved, my grandparents are saved. I was born in a Christian family. Of course I'm a Christian, but just because you're born into a family that has Christian parents doesn't mean you're born again.

The Bible says in John 1:12 that to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. There's an individual reception of who Christ is. You see, the Jews believed that because Abraham was their father that they were gonna go to heaven.

That's why they had such a hard time with Christ because he indicted their system of religion. And they would say to him, we have Abraham as our father. And Jesus would say to them, if you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham.

But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. You say you're a child of Abraham, but you can't claim ancestry as a way to get into heaven.

You must believe in who I am. Abraham did that. He believed in me.

It was counted unto him as righteousness. But you see, you don't believe in me. Paul would say in Philippians three, as he began to list the litany of things that he had done, that he was circumcised on the eighth day.

He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews when it came to the law of Christ or the law of God. And he would begin to list all the things that he himself did, but he says, but all that was rubbish, rubbish. All that was human excrement. It was dung. It meant nothing compared to the surpassing knowledge of coming to know Christ as my Lord and Savior. But see, it wasn't about the fact that he was born a Jew, that he would get into heaven.

Just like when you're born to a Christian family, it doesn't get you into heaven. But there's this familial confusion that people have that because my parents are saved, I'm gonna ride the coattails of my parents and just slide right into glory. Doesn't work that way.

So you have a familial confusion, but there's also an ecclesiastical confusion. That is, I'm a part of a church. I'm a part of a certain church.

I go to this denomination, and therefore, that's gonna get me into heaven. But listen, going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to the garage is gonna make you a mechanic. Doesn't work that way.

You just don't become a Christian because you go to a certain church. The Mormons believe that they're gonna be saved because they go to the Mormon church, and Jehovah's Witnesses because they go to the kingdom hall. That doesn't get you into heaven.

So we have this ecclesiastical confusion that somehow if I go to the right church, that will get me into heaven, but it doesn't. In fact, in Revelation chapter three, Christ says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. And contrary to popular opinion, it's not the door of your heart that Christ is standing on the outside of.

It's the door of the church, the church of Laodicea, Revelation 3:20, that Christ is standing on the outside of. He stands outside the church, the door of the church, and knocks and says, if anyone will hear my voice and open the door, I will come into them and sup with them. He's talking to the church because the church of Laodicea was a counterfeit church.

It wasn't a true church. Before that was the church of Sardis, remember that? The church of Sardis was a dead church. They were a corpse.

He says, you have a name that you're alive, but you're dead. You have a name that's very popular in the community. You have a name that's very popular around the world.

You have a name, but you're really dead on the inside. And then he comes to the church of Laodicea and says, I'm standing outside your door. I am knocking.

If there's anybody in there who hears me and opens the door unto me, I will come in with him. I will dine with him. I will sup with him.

I will be his God, and he will be my son. And the invitation is given. There's a theological confusion as well, that I'm theologically sound, I'm theologically astute.

This happens a lot in seminaries, guys who really are sound in doctrine. They think that because they're theologically astute that they know that they're gonna go to heaven. But that doesn't make you a Christian.

Just because you have a good doctrinal statement, you can dot all your I's and cross all your T's. The demons, they believe everything there is to know about God. They know more about God than any of us do.

The demons are theologically sound. They know about heaven, they know about hell. They know about the deity of Christ.

In fact, over in Mark 3:11, it says, and whenever the unclean spirits beheld Christ, they would fall down before him and cry out, saying, you are the son of God. See, the demons know that Jesus is the son of God. They're very clear on that.

They are so theologically astute, but yet they are not in heaven. And there are people all around the world, because of their theological stance, because they know a lot about God, they think that that will get them to heaven, but it does not. The Jews, they believe in one God.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one, Deuteronomy 6:4. And yet, they don't understand that Jesus is that God. There's also the moral confusion. This is a big one, the moral confusion.

That somehow, if I do the right thing, if I say the right things, if I don't murder anybody, if I don't have sex outside of marriage, if I don't lie, if I don't cheat, if I don't swear, I'm a morally good person, certainly God will accept me. Certainly, I'll get into heaven because of the goodness and kindness of my heart. It's like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, remember? He was totally, I've kept all these commandments from my youth up.

My whole life, I've spent keeping the commands of God. I've done that. I've honored my mother and father.

I have not killed anybody. I have not committed adultery. I have done everything the commands of God say, and yet, he was so far from the kingdom.

And yet, the moral confusion is huge because people believe that somehow, I can do enough good things to get me into heaven. Listen to what Paul says in Titus 3. He says, he saved us not on the basis of deeds, which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us, richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. It's not by deeds of righteousness, which we have done.

Paul in Romans 3 would say there is none righteous, no, not one. No matter how good you think you are, your goodness will never get you into glory. The only work that gets you into heaven is the work of Christ, not the work of man.

But there are many people in churches today that truly believe, you know, I've done good things. Man, I'm at church on Sunday, and you know what? I don't beat my wife, I don't kick my dog, I don't swear, I don't drink, I don't have sex outside of marriage. I'm a good guy.

God's gotta accept me. That's not the condition for salvation, see? Because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, and there needs to be a transformation of a heart that's filled with sin, a life that's been born in sin. There's another confusion.

We're gonna call it the ministerial confusion. That is, people are involved in all kinds of ministry in the church. It's a huge confusion.

This is the classic example. Judas, classic example. Judas preached, like the other 11 preached. He preached the gospel, Matthew chapter 10. He healed the sick, like the other 11 did, but he was the son of perdition. And when it came time to talk about the denial of the Lord Jesus, no one said, it's Judas? Of course we know it's Judas.

No, they all said, is it I, is it I? No one pointed to Judas. He was the keeper of the money, the keeper of the purse. He was the most trusted of the 12.

So the most trusted of the 12 was Judas, who went out and preached the gospel, like the other 11 did, who performed miracles, like the other 11 did, and yet he never had a transformed life. We call it the ministerial confusion. People involved in the ministry.

It's where pastors come into play. Men who have been in the pulpit for years have fooled people, have fooled themselves. Judas had become self-deceived, but it was all about the money for Judas.

He followed Christ because there was something about Christ that did so much for him that gave him notoriety, that gave him a chance to be popular, that gave him a chance to maybe get some money. And that's what the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of rich is due to someone who follows Jesus with joy. There's that ministerial confusion.

There's that emotional confusion where you walk an aisle and you sign a card and your eyes are filled with tears because the music is played and the preacher is preaching and everybody else is going down and you're just overcome with emotion and you come down the aisle and you just wanna pray a prayer or say something. And somehow we think that that's going to save us.

Emotional confusion's huge, but the greatest confusion is experiential confusion. I've had an experience. I've had an event in my life. There was a time where I prayed a prayer. There was a time where I gave my life to Christ. There was a time when I sat with the counselor and committed my life to Christ. That's the biggest confusion.

The Bible never points back to a time in which someone was saved. The Bible only speaks of an ongoing life that manifests transformation. But there are people who say, I need an event.

I remember when. Now, most of us probably remember when we were saved, but there are also a number of us who have no idea when we were saved. That could very possibly be.

I had an elder at the previous church I pastored who came to me and says, see, I want my son to know that as he grows older, that when he was five years old, he prayed the sinner's prayer and that's good enough to get him to heaven. And I said, it's not, it's not. You want your son to go back and look at a time in which he prayed the sinner's prayer, no matter what his lifestyle's like? What if your son becomes an alcoholic and an adulterer and a murderer? Are you gonna say, yeah, go back to that time that you say you prayed the sinner's prayer and I know you're going to heaven? You're gonna guarantee his eternal destiny based on an event, an experience that he had when he was five? Show me in Scripture where that's true.

Of course he couldn't because there is no place in Scripture. As parents, we gotta be very careful. Well, I was there when you prayed the prayer.

I was there when you were three. I was there when you were six. I was there when you were baptized.

I was there when those things happened. I know you're saved, but their lifestyle is totally contrary to the truth of the Scripture. Is there an example of this? Absolutely.

Turn your Bible to Acts chapter 8. Let me give you an example of this, of somebody who had an experience.

And once you read it, most would think the experience was true, but it wasn't. Acts 8, verse number 9. Now, there was a man named Simon who formerly was practicing magic in the city, and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great.

And they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, this man is what is called the great power of God. And they were giving him attention because he had, for a long time, astonished them with his magic arts. But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

Even Simon himself believed. And after being baptized, he continued on with Philip. And as he observed signs of great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.

So you stop right there and you say, well, Simon had an experience. He heard the preaching of Philip. And when he heard the preaching of Philip, he believed.

Well, he must be saved. He believed. Bible says in Acts 16:31, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

So Simon believed. But not only did he believe, he was baptized. And you're to believe and be baptized for the remission of sins, Acts chapter 3.

So we say, well, he believed, he was baptized. Simon saved. He had an experience.

There was an event. And then he continued to follow Philip, the preacher. Well, he must certainly be saved.

He believes, he's baptized, and now he's a follower of Philip who's a preacher of the gospel. The guy must be saved. Read on.

Now, when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, two guys you don't wanna meet if you're not saved, who came down and prayed for them and that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For he had not yet fallen upon any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then they began laying their hands on them and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. Now, when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money saying, give this authority to me as well so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. Wow, this is great.

I mean, I was into magical arts, but this is beyond magical arts. Man, you guys are doing something phenomenal. This is supernatural.

You're laying your hands on them. The Spirit of God has descended upon them. This is fabulous.

I gotta be able to do that. I'll give you whatever you need. How much does it cost me to do what you do? But Peter said to him, may your silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.

You have no part or portion in this matter for your heart is not right before God. Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.

Peter calls him out. You're enslaved to iniquity. You're in sin. He says you're in the gall of bitterness.

Those who are in Christ are not in the bondage of iniquity. They've been set free from the bondage of iniquity by the power of the Spirit of God. And so, Peter calls him out and Simon says, but Simon answered and said, pray to the Lord for me yourselves that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.

That's not repentance. That's not true repentance. He could have prayed and asked forgiveness himself.

He just wanted to escape the temporary consequences of his disobedience and his ignorance. You see, Simon had an event, but he was never truly born again. He had an emotional experience.

He bought into what Philip was preaching. He received the word of joy. Everybody else was believing.

So Simon believed too. Everybody else was baptized. So Simon was baptized too.

Simon said, I'm gonna follow Philip wherever he goes. This is great. But he had no true conversion.

There was no regeneration of his heart. There was no transformation of his soul. The experiential confusion is how Satan dupes people into thinking that because you made a decision way back when you're on your way to heaven without ever examining your life in light of the scripture in terms of what the Bible says about what Christians truly are and what Christians truly look like.

This is extremely important. I can't say it to you enough. We've had people in our church baptized in our baptismal who gave a profession of faith about what God did in their lives only in years later to turn completely away from the faith, to defrock the faith, to apostatize the faith, never to follow Christ again.

And they made a profession. They were baptized. They filled out a card.

We had a man in our church who for years was involved in our tape ministry. He taped my very first sermon. And he continued to tape all the sermons from the very beginning.

And there were times early on when we were at another church and we had to use their equipment that sometimes the equipment messed up and so they didn't really get a good copy of the tape. So I had to come in on Monday morning and re-preach the sermon to an empty auditorium because we were on the radio and those sermons were going on the radio that week. And so I had to come in on Monday morning and preach the exact same sermon to an empty auditorium.

That was quite the challenge. But not only did he hear it on Sunday, he heard the sermon on Monday. And he would talk to me about those sermons.

But then he began to invite the Jehovah's Witnesses into his home and began to have conversations with them, long conversations with them. And he was involved, he built the stairs that are here on our stage at our auditorium. He was involved in building the baptismal in which people are baptized.

He was actively involved in the church. There was a Bible study every Sunday night in his home. It wasn't too long after he invited in all these Jehovah's Witnesses to his home.

And I had warned him against that, but he did it anyway. That one day he came to me and just completely denied the deity of Christ. He did not believe that Jesus was God in the flesh.

And he had signed, he became a member of our church and he had given a testimony about an event or an experience that he had when he was younger about giving his life to Christ. And yet, he was led astray. He was unable to persevere.

He was unable to defend the faith. He turned his back on Christ. He walked away from the church.

He walked away from Christianity because he no longer believed in the deity of Christ. I had it in my office, went through verse after verse after verse with him. It was almost as if he had never ever heard the gospel.

He was so blinded by Satan. So I finally went to him with John chapter 8 and I said to him, listen to what Jesus says. Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.

And what Jesus is saying is this, unless you believe that I am the God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3, you will die in your sins. You must believe that I am God in the flesh. I said to him, his name was Jameel.

Jameel, do you believe that? He says, absolutely not. I said, then the only thing I have for you is that you will die in your sins. You will never see Christ.

Wasn't too long after that, he did die. He died in unbelief, never giving his life to Christ. He professed Christianity, he pretended at Christianity, he participated in all kinds of Christian activities, but he never possessed Christ himself in his heart.

I don't want that to happen to any of you. I don't want that to happen to anybody in our church. My greatest fear is that you come thinking that you're saved, die, and wake up in hell.

That's got to be the most devastating thing ever. But it happens to people all the time. Because they're confused, they've been deceived, self-deceived or satanically deceived, and they think they're on the way to heaven, but in reality, they are not.

So I ask you this question, do you know for certain that Jesus Christ is the Lord, King, and Master of your life? And if he is, do you follow him in obedience, out of a heart filled with love and gratitude and thankfulness? Are you the kind of person whose life has been transformed? Are you truly a new creation? If you know what I mean, Christ, he is a new creation. You're transformed, you're new. You're not just the same old guy with a new jacket.

No, you're transformed from the inside out. Your life has changed. Your conversation changes, your conduct changes, your desires change, your goals change.

The thing about your life is Christ-centered. You want to serve him. And so I don't want you to go further in life without knowing for certain that Jesus Christ is King of your life.

Have you ever truly given your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? This is all just introductory. Next week we'll begin to go more into great details as to what is a Christian and spend the next 11 weeks examining that in light of what the Bible says. I would encourage you to bring someone with you.

They might hear what you're hearing and learn what you're learning because you're so concerned about their spiritual life, their eternal destiny. Do the people you love and the people you know truly live in the light of the glorious gospel? Are their lives transformed? Are they truly born again? Is there a manifestation of new life in them? If not, warn them. Tell them to beware.

Ask them for certain. Do you know Christ as Lord and Savior? Challenge them because eternity weighs in the balance. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight and the opportunity you give us to be in your word. And we just pray, Father, that you'd enlighten all of us to the truth of your word. A lot of things covered, a lot of verses read.

But bottom line is, Lord, we need to make sure that we know Christ as Lord and Savior. Lord, we love you. And those who are here are here to learn about you.

They wanna follow you. So we ask that, Lord, you'd work in all of our hearts. If there's someone here tonight who does not know you, may tonight be the night of their salvation.

May tonight be the night they truly embrace Christ as the Lord of their lives and follow you from this day forward. In Jesus' name, amen.