Thank you again for being here. We appreciate you being here tonight.
We're there in Revelation chapter number 3 and I'd like you to look down at verse number 1.
Revelation chapter number 3 and verse 1, the Bible says,
And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write,
These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest and art dead.
Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die,
for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
As we were preparing for this conference and coming and again thank you for inviting us
and we're honored to be here tonight, I thought about two things.
First of all the theme of the conference, the conference is called the fundamentalist conference
and the Bible, I like the name of the conference because the Bible emphasizes fundamentals
and I am a fundamentalist and I'm not ashamed of it, I'm not ashamed to say it.
The Bible says if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
And the fundamentals are really the foundation of our faith but then of course the conference this year
has the theme of leveling up as a Christian and I wanted to preach a sermon
that kind of brought those two themes together and kind of tied them in
and I'm preaching a sermon tonight and it might seem a little odd at first
but I'm preaching on the subject of atrophy in the Christian life, atrophy in the Christian life
and you may or may not be familiar with that term atrophy, let me just give you a definition.
The word atrophy is defined as a wasting away of the body as from defective nutrition
or lack of exercising the body.
Atrophy is a wasting away, it is a decaying, it is a dying of muscle and muscle tissue
as a result of defective nutrition or a lack of exercise.
Let me read for you just a little tiny excerpt here from what causes atrophy.
Lack of physical activity due to an injury or illness, poor nutrition and certain medical conditions
can all contribute to muscle atrophy.
Muscle atrophy can occur after long periods of inactivity.
If a muscle does not get any use, the body will eventually break it down to conserve energy
and atrophy physically is something that is usually dealt with in the body
when someone maybe because of medical reasons, maybe because they're in a coma,
they lay in bed for a long time.
I just thought of this, I didn't even think about this
but I probably should have talked to you a little bit about atrophy
when we're soul winning this afternoon with the line of work that you do,
you're probably very familiar with atrophy.
Atrophy in the muscles can be a problem.
If you lack nutrition, if you lack exercise, then your body and your muscles can begin to deteriorate,
waste away, can begin to really die.
And what I'm talking about tonight is not physical atrophy but it is about spiritual atrophy.
Spiritual atrophy can happen like physical atrophy.
Let me give you a few examples of that.
First of all, we see an example of atrophy in a church.
You're there in Revelation 3, look down at verse number 1 again,
And unto the angel of the church of Sardis write,
These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
Notice what Jesus says and of course we know that in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3,
Jesus is speaking to the seven churches of Asia.
He's giving a message to each one of the churches
and notice what Jesus says to this church in Sardis.
He says, I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead.
He said, you have a reputation that you were alive but now you're dead.
But I want you to notice, they're not completely dead
because in verse 2 he says,
Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.
What is that?
That's spiritual atrophy.
Did you know that a church could die?
I was speaking with Pastor Webb this afternoon,
we were out soul winning today,
fellowshiping together and he was telling me that there's a lot of churches in this area,
a lot of Baptist churches that have died away.
They might have nice buildings
and sometimes churches that are alive can capitalize from that
and can join together with those churches
and be able to bring some revival into those buildings
and bring some life into those buildings.
But all throughout this area,
and I know all throughout the country you can find churches that are dying.
They're not bad churches, they're not bad places.
But like physical atrophy,
spiritual atrophy can happen when we have a lack of exercise,
when we have defective nutrition.
Here Jesus says,
He says,
Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.
He says,
For I have not found thy works perfect before God.
Go with me if you would to the book of James, James chapter number 2.
If you're there in Revelation and you head backwards,
you've got the books of Jude, 3rd, 2nd and 1st John, 2nd and 1st Peter, James.
Revelation, Jude, 3rd, 2nd and 1st John, 2nd and 1st Peter, James.
James chapter number 2, James chapter 2, look at verse number 17.
Let me show you, we saw in Revelation 3 that atrophy can happen in a church.
Let me show you that atrophy can happen in the Christian life.
James chapter 2 and verse 17, notice what James says.
He says,
Even so faith, if it hath not works, notice, is dead, being alone.
This is atrophy.
Did you know that your faith could die?
Now often times people read this and they make assumptions of this passage
and they assume things that are not there.
This does not say that you lose your salvation.
This does not say that you're no longer saved.
This does not say that you no longer have faith.
He says,
Even so faith, if it hath not works, he doesn't say is non-existent.
He says, is dead, being alone.
He says,
Yea, a man may say thou has faith and I have works.
Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee thy faith by my works.
We're going to come back to that statement later on in the sermon.
In fact, if you would,
I'd like you to put a ribbon or a bookmark or a bulletin or something there in James chapter 2
because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it later in the sermon
and I'd like you to be able to get to it quickly.
But notice what he says in verse 19,
Thou believeth that there is one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
He said, your faith can die.
Your faith can atrophy.
Your faith can begin to die.
Now I want you to notice in verse 26,
For as the body...
He gives this analogy.
He says, for as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.
Here's what he's saying.
And again, I want to be clear that the Bible is not teaching here
that you need works in order to be saved.
It's not teaching that you must have works in order to have faith,
which is what some people teach.
The Bible does not teach that.
Romans chapter 4 tells us that you can have faith and have no works and you're saved.
You can have faith with absolutely no works at all and still be saved.
In fact, the analogy here, he says,
For as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.
And I'm not really preaching on that this evening,
but I just want to make it clear
because this is a passage that's often taken out of context.
He says, look, if the body is without the spirit,
he says, is it alive?
And the answer is no.
When your body physically, when the spirit leaves your body,
your body is no longer alive, it is dead.
He says, the body without the spirit is alive.
Here's a question I have for you,
in case you're misinterpreting James chapter 2.
Is the body without the spirit, does it still exist?
When somebody dies and their spirit leaves their body,
does their body just disappear?
There's a reason we have funerals, why?
Because we've got to do something with the body
that is left over.
See, a body without the spirit still exists.
And what James is saying, he's saying,
the same way that a body is without the spirit
is how faith is without works.
Here's what he's saying, faith without works,
is it alive? The answer is no.
But does that mean that faith without works does not exist?
And the answer is no.
Faith still exists even without works.
Romans chapter 4, you have to turn, I'll just read this for you.
The Bible says, for if Abraham were justified by works,
he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.
For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is a reward not reckoned of grace,
but of debt.
Verse 5 says, but to him that worketh not...
Notice it doesn't say to him that worketh a little bit,
to him that worketh some,
it says to him that worketh not.
This guy did no works, but believeth.
He didn't do any works, but he believed.
Believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
So is it possible to have faith and not have works?
Yes.
You say, well, what's the problem with having faith and not having works?
Here's the problem is that you may have faith,
but your faith is dead.
What does that mean?
It means that your faith is inactive.
It's unprofitable.
It doesn't do anything.
It doesn't accomplish anything.
When you are alive, you can work,
you can get up, you can do things.
But when you die,
it doesn't mean you no longer existed.
It just means you're no longer active.
Your faith can die.
Churches can die.
There is a such thing as spiritual atrophy.
Go if you would to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 5.
If you kept your place there in James,
I'd like you to keep your place there.
Just go backwards one book into the book of Hebrews.
So how do we combat atrophy?
How do we fight it?
Well, Pastor Webb works in this, right?
Physical therapy is what he does in his secular work.
And what does he do when people have their bodies
that maybe they've been laying in a coma,
they've been laying in bed, they've been bedridden.
Someone needs to come in here,
come in there and begin to help people to exercise,
to start moving that muscle,
start moving, getting the blood flowing and getting it working.
Well, in the Christian life is the same way.
Look, here's the point of the sermon.
You can die spiritually.
I didn't say you could lose your salvation.
But I did say you can begin to atrophy.
You can begin to decay.
You can begin to waste away.
In fact, in fact, many do.
Here in a couple of weeks,
in Verity Baptist Church of Sacramento,
my wife and I will celebrate 11 years of ministry.
And over the last 11 years,
we've seen a lot of people come
and we've seen a lot of people go.
And unfortunately,
we've seen a lot of people who were saved,
who believed in God,
who were born again
and they were in it and they were with us
and they were working and they were in church,
but they are no longer there.
I didn't say they lost their salvation,
but they died spiritually.
They began to atrophy.
Look, your Christian life,
in your Christian life,
if you get a lack of nutrition and a lack of exercise,
you will die spiritually.
You can die spiritually
and a church can die spiritually.
So what do you do?
You must exercise.
Here's the interesting thing.
There are three things in the Bible,
as far as I can tell,
and maybe there's more and I missed one,
but there's three things that God tells us
we must exercise as a Christian.
I want to give you those three thoughts tonight.
Three things to exercise
in order to not have atrophy in the Christian life.
If you're taking notes,
I'd encourage you to maybe jot these things down.
Hebrews chapter 5,
look down at verse number 12.
Notice what the Bible says.
For when the time...
Here the writer of Hebrews,
we don't know who the writer of Hebrews is.
It is an anonymous book.
I believe it's the apostle Paul,
but I may be wrong about that.
Here the writer of Hebrews says,
for when the time...
He's talking to believers and he says,
for when the time he ought to be teachers.
He's speaking in a negative term here.
He's saying,
you should be further along than you actually are.
He's saying you should be more mature
than you actually are.
You should be more profitable
than you actually are.
He says, for when the time he ought to be teachers,
he says,
ye have need that one teach you again,
which be the first principles of the oracles of God,
and are become such as have need of milk
and not of strong meat.
What does that mean when he says there,
that you become such as ones that have need of milk
and not of strong meat?
The idea there is that you are immature.
He said, you're a baby in Christ.
And again, physically,
when a baby is born or baby is brought into this world,
a baby doesn't just come out and we just start, you know,
give it a hamburger and give it a steak, right?
That baby's gonna choke.
The baby's not mature enough
to be able to handle strong meat.
What do you give a baby?
You give a baby milk.
Why?
Because that's all a baby can take.
Now there's nothing wrong with drinking milk if you're a baby.
There's nothing wrong with being a baby.
We all started off as babies.
I mean, you started physically as a baby.
And by the way, you started spiritually as a baby.
When you got saved, you were born again into the family of God.
Nothing wrong in the world with being a baby if you're a baby.
There is something wrong with being a baby when you're no longer a baby.
There is something wrong with acting like a baby
when you're now a toddler, acting like a baby
when you're now a young child acting like a baby,
when you're now an older child acting like a baby,
when you're a preteen acting like a baby,
when you're a teenager acting like a baby,
when you're a young man or a young lady.
There's something wrong with acting like a baby,
no longer acting like a baby when you are a baby,
but when you grow and you should get off the milk
and start taking some strong meat.
And here Paul says or the writer of Hebrews,
he says,
For when the time you ought to be teachers,
ye have need that one teach you again,
which be the first principles of the oracle of God,
and art become such as have need of milk,
and not of strong meat.
Now, here's what he's saying.
He's saying you have not matured spiritually.
Because here's what you need to understand.
Spiritual maturity has nothing to do with time.
Oftentimes we look at the maturity physically
and we obviously base it off of time.
A child is one year old, they're two years old,
they're five years old, they're thirteen years old,
they're twenty years old.
Spiritual maturity has nothing to do with time.
You could be very old physically
and be a babe in Christ,
maybe you just got saved,
but you could also have been saved for a long time
and not grown.
Just because you've been saved for a long time
doesn't mean you're mature
because spiritual maturity has to do
with how much exercise you put into your spiritual growth.
For everyone that uses milk,
notice verse 13, is unskillful.
You see the word unskillful there?
It means you don't have the skills.
Why?
Because you haven't put in the practice.
I haven't had a chance to listen
to Pastor Thompson's sermon from last night yet,
but from what I've gathered from the sermon
is that he taught everybody how to play video games I guess.
What it seems like.
I don't know anything about video games.
I didn't grow up playing video games.
My parents didn't let us have video games
when we were growing up.
Part of it was because we were Christians,
part of it was because they were cheap,
but we didn't have those video games.
Here's what I tell you.
If I played Pastor Thompson
and you know Mario Kart or whatever,
he'd probably win.
Why?
Because I'm unskillful.
Never done that.
Haven't spent a lot of time doing it.
And here Paul says,
for everyone that uses milk is unskillful.
Here's what he's saying.
Now again, what does it mean
to drink milk versus having strong meat?
Here's the major difference.
A baby gets fed.
How do you know when you're not a baby anymore?
When you start feeding yourself?
I mean when a baby has to be fed,
it has the inability to feed itself.
And if it's not fed,
if there's not a mother there to care for the baby,
the baby will die.
How do we know that a baby is growing and maturing
when they no longer need to be fed
and that baby now starts picking up a fork
and starts picking up a spoon
and starts trying to stab at those vegetables
and starts trying to guide it into its mouth.
That shows us there's some maturity there.
That shows us that it's growing.
There's some growth there.
Well, guess what?
In the spiritual life, spiritual maturity,
you say,
Pastor, how can I know if I am growing spiritually?
Here's a question I have for you.
When it comes to being fed spiritually,
when it comes to being nourished spiritually
from the Word of God,
are you the type of Christian
that only gets fed the Word of God
if there's a pastor feeding it to you?
Now, there's nothing wrong with that.
There's a place for that.
It's called church.
God has given you a pastor to open up the Word of God
and take the Word of God and feed you the Word of God.
Nothing in the world wrong with that
and nothing in the world wrong with that
if you're a brand new Christian.
But let me tell you something.
There comes a time in the Christian life
where you need to pick up the Word of God
and start feeding yourself.
He says,
For everyone that uses milk is unskillful
in the word of righteousness,
for he has obeyed.
Notice verse 14,
But strong meek belongeth to them
that are of full age.
They're mature.
Even those who by...
Don't dismiss this.
In fact, maybe you ought to underline
these words in your Bible.
Even those who by...
Notice these three words.
Reason of use have their...
Notice, senses, exercise.
You say, what does God say that we must exercise?
Because remember, in the Christian life,
you may atrophy.
In the Christian life,
you can die if you don't begin to get some nutrition
and you don't begin to exercise
your spiritual muscles.
What are the muscles that we should exercise?
Number one, you must exercise your senses.
The Bible says,
But strong meek belongeth to them
that are of full age.
Even those who by reason of use
have their senses, exercise.
Senses, exercise.
The Bible says that you must exercise your senses.
You say, what does that mean exactly
to exercise my senses?
Well, notice he describes it for us there.
He says, even those who by reason of use
have their senses, exercise
to discern both good and evil.
We see what the exercising of your senses is
and we see how to exercise your senses.
You say, what is the exercising of your senses?
It is when you are able to discern both good and evil.
You say, how do I do that?
When you by reason of use,
when you grab your King James Bible
and you begin to become skillful
in the Word of God,
you say, how do I become skillful in the Word of God?
You become skillful in the Word of God
the same way you become skillful in anything else.
You want to get good at video games,
which I don't recommend.
Play a lot of video games.
You want to get good at table tennis?
Then play a lot of table tennis.
You want to get good at any...
You want to get good...
If there's anything you want to get good at,
just start doing it.
Start doing a lot of it.
The Bible says that if you want to get good
at the Word of God,
you need to open up the Word of God,
begin to open it, begin to read it,
begin to use it.
And by reason of use,
you'll exercise your senses and you say,
well, how do I know if it's working?
You'll begin to discern both good and evil.
What does that mean?
It means your mind will begin to understand
from the Word of God
what's right and what's not right.
What you should and what you should not do.
Keep your place in the book of James.
Go with me to the book of Romans if you would.
Romans chapter number 12.
See, when you first got saved,
when you were a baby,
you started coming to church like this
or maybe you started listening to preaching like this
on the internet or whatever.
And you said things like this,
wow, I've never heard that before.
I didn't know that I was in the Bible.
And sometimes I'm not picking on you.
Sometimes the things we say,
we don't know we're in the Bible.
I mean, it's kind of embarrassing.
I didn't know the Bible said
you're not supposed to get drunk.
I didn't know that.
I didn't know it.
And look, I'm not picking on you.
And if you're here tonight,
you know, our church in Sacramento,
we've got people filled with tattoos all up and down.
They show up at our church and say,
I didn't know the Bible said
you were supposed to get tattoos.
Well, here's why you didn't know it
and I'm not mad at you.
In fact, I like the fact
that we've got a church filled with people with tattoos.
Why? Because it shows that we're reaching people.
It shows that we're not just transferring people,
you know, and I'm not against transferring people either,
but we're trying to reach people in our community.
Here's what I'm saying.
There's all sorts of things that you didn't know
when you first got saved
or when you first started coming to a church like this
and you say, I didn't know we were supposed to run our marriage that way.
I didn't know we were supposed to raise our children that way.
I didn't know I wasn't supposed to drink that
or snort that or take that or watch that or go there or say it.
I didn't know those things.
And that's understandable.
You were a baby.
But as you grow and as you begin to exercise your senses,
you begin to discern both good and evil.
You begin to realize,
well, I'm not supposed to say that.
I'm not supposed to go there.
I'm not supposed to think that way.
See, the Bible says that as we mature,
we're supposed to have our minds renewed.
Romans chapter 12, are you there? Look at verse 1.
Romans chapter 12 and verse 1,
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your body as a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world, notice,
but be ye transformed.
How can you be transformed?
Here's how, by the renewing of your mind.
Often times in Sacramento,
we get accused of being a cult.
People come to our church,
they get saved, they get baptized, they start growing.
We start discipling them, they start growing.
You know, just a matter of time before they show up.
My family says I'm in a cult.
And I'm like, join the club.
That's what they all say.
Everybody says that.
My family says I'm being brainwashed.
And my response is always this,
your brain needs to be washed.
They say, I'm in a cult, I'm being brainwashed.
Yeah, well, here's how the Bible calls it,
the renewing of your mind.
Your mind needs to be renewed.
The world tells you all sorts of craziness.
And everything the world tells you is wrong.
The world says, oh no, no.
In a marriage, there's no husband
that is a leader and wife that's submissive.
No, that's antiquated, you know.
It's a 50-50 split.
You're both in charge, you both make choices.
Well, here's the thing,
that's fine and dandy that the world tells you that,
but the world's also having divorce rate at 60%.
The world's also unhappy in their marriages.
Your mind needs to be renewed.
You need to be renewed on what the Bible says about marriage,
what the Bible says about health,
what the Bible says about finances,
what the Bible says about child rape.
You need to be renewed in those things.
And God says, God says,
I want you to exercise your senses,
I want you to get in the Word of God
and read the Word of God, why?
That your mind may be renewed.
Go to Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians chapter 4, if you would, look at verse 23.
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 23.
You exercise your senses
by reading and studying the Bible.
Reading and studying the Bible.
You say, what's the point of reading and studying the Bible?
Is it just so that I can check off some chart somewhere
and say that I finished it?
That's not the point.
Now, we'll use those things to track our reading
and we'll use those things to motivate you for reading,
but that's not the point of reading the Bible.
You say, what's the point of reading the Bible?
Well, the first point
is so that you can know what the Bible says
and it can begin to transform your mind.
Begin to transform the way you think.
Begin to transform the way you see the world.
See, there are some simple things that we can teach you
and don't go there, don't do this, don't go...
But honestly, there are other things in the Christian life
that they kind of start getting into that area
where maybe the Bible doesn't specifically speak to that issue.
There have been times in my life, you know, my wife and I,
sometimes as a pastor and a pastor's wife,
maybe people and they're kind
and their heart's in the right place,
they'll give us a gift card to a restaurant or something.
There's been times when somebody gave us a gift card to a restaurant
and we said, oh, sure, let's go there on a date night or whatever
and we walk into the restaurant
and just immediately we're just kind of like,
I don't think this is what we should be.
And it's not that the people that gave us a gift card are bad people or whatever,
but you know, it's dark and it's loud and there's screens everywhere
and it's just... and that's not really a thou shalt
and a thou shalt not that you can teach a Christian.
That's just something that you kind of by reason of use
begin to exercise your senses
and you begin to realize, no, this is probably not a place for us.
Let's just order this to go.
This is probably not somewhere we should be.
Sometimes, you know, it's hard to dial it in
and it's hard to teach a young person,
you know, there's certain conversations you shouldn't have.
Well, should I... is it okay if we talk about this?
Is it okay if we talk about that?
And sometimes it's hard and sometimes you just have to tell people,
hey, you just have to exercise your senses by reason of use
and be in tune to the Holy Spirit of God enough to where
sometimes you just kind of know,
hey, we're going in a direction we shouldn't be going.
We're starting to talk about things,
starting to get comfortable with some things
that we shouldn't be talking about.
As you exercise your senses by reading and studying the Bible,
your mind begins to get cleaned up.
You begin to think differently.
You begin to see the world differently.
Are there any Ephesians 4?
Look at verse 23.
Notice what the Bible says,
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
That's why I don't apologize for you.
You're brainwashing people.
Yeah, we want them to be renewed in the spirit of their mind.
We want them to be transformed by the renewing of their mind.
And I want you to notice in Ephesians chapter 4,
verses 22, 23 and 24,
we actually get a three-step process.
Let me tell you right now,
because people are going to say,
you're in a cult, they're brainwashing you.
Well, now you have a place to take them.
Ephesians chapter number 4, verses 22, 23 and 24,
you actually have a three-step process
for properly brainwashing.
New cult members.
I mean, look what he says.
Look at verse 22,
that you put off.
He uses this analogy of putting clothes on
and putting clothes off.
He says that you put off,
we got step one, what is it?
Step one is remove.
Step one, remove.
If you're a man here tonight,
I want you to say that word with me, remove.
That was weak.
You want me to have the ladies do it?
Okay, if you're a man tonight, say it with me.
Step one, remove.
Alright, let's say it in unison, alright?
Remove, good.
Step one, remove.
Notice that you put off.
What are you supposed to put off?
What are you supposed to remove?
That you remove, that you put off.
Notice concerning the former conversation.
The word conversation means
conduct or behavior or lifestyle.
He says, you used to have a former life.
You used to have a former conversation,
a former conduct, a former behavior.
There were things that you used to do.
There were places you used to go.
There were ways you used to think.
There were ways you used to resolve your conflict.
There were ways you used to treat your children.
There were ways you used to treat your wife
or used to treat your husband.
He says that you put off
concerning the former conversation,
the old man, you say why?
Which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust.
Sometimes people show up to church
because their life's not working.
Sometimes people show up to church
because their marriage is falling apart.
Sometimes people show up to church
because things aren't going well.
Sometimes people start searching on YouTube
and they start searching for preaching, why?
Because they know that it's not right.
Something's wrong here.
This is not how it was supposed to be.
And God says, yes, exactly.
In fact, I need you to, step one, remove.
Remove concerning the former conversation,
the old man, which is corrupt
according to deceitful lust.
Notice step two, verse 23,
and be renewed.
Here's step two, renew.
Let's say that together, guys.
Renew.
Step one, remove.
Step two, renew.
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Notice verse three, step three, verse 24,
and that ye put on.
Here's step three, replace.
Well, step one, remove.
Let's say, remove.
Step one, remove.
Step two, renew.
Step three, replace.
And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
You know what God wants you to do?
God wants you to remove some things from your life.
He wants you to renew your mind
through the exercise of the Word of God
and He wants you to replace those things
with some new things.
And people look at that and say, you're in a cult.
See, they didn't mind that you used to spend.
They didn't mind when you spent Friday night
and Sunday night at the bar.
And all you're doing is you're saying,
there were some things that I used to do
in my former conversation,
I'm going to put up,
I'm going to remove those things
because I've been reading the Bible
and I've been renewing my mind
and now I'm going to replace the bar
with the house of God.
See, the bar tells you, you know,
sometimes it's nice to go
where everybody knows your name.
Well, you know what?
There's somewhere you can go
where everybody knows your name.
It's called the house of God
and it won't destroy your life.
It won't ruin your life.
That you put off considering the former conversation
the old man and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind
and that you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.
How does this happen?
It happens because you exercise your senses.
You exercise by reason of use
have your senses exercised
to discern both good and evil.
How do you keep from dying
in the Christian life?
How do you keep from atrophy
in the Christian life?
Go with me to the book of 2 Timothy
if you would, 2 Timothy chapter 2.
If you find all the T books
in the New Testament,
they're all clustered together,
1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, Titus,
2 Timothy chapter 2.
How do you do this in the Christian life?
You must exercise,
you must exercise your senses.
You must exercise your senses
to discern both good and evil.
How do you do it?
By reason of use.
Don't answer this question out loud,
but let me just ask you,
how's your Bible reading?
How's your Bible reading?
Do you have a time set aside
where you read the Bible
where you by reason of use
begin to mature
and you open up the Bible?
Let me ask you something
and don't answer out loud.
I'm not trying to pick on you,
I'm just trying to help you out.
Is there a time on Monday
when you have set aside
where you get alone
and you pick up your King James Bible
and you open it up
and you begin to read it?
Is there a time on Tuesday?
Is there a time on Wednesday?
Is there a time on Thursday
and Friday and Saturday?
Or is the only time
that you ever get the Word of God
when you come to a place like this
and you have a man of God
preach the Word of God to you?
Nothing wrong with that.
But if that's the case,
if the only time you get spiritual nourishment
is when someone is feeding you,
excuse me, I'm not trying to offend you
but you're a babe.
You're a babe in Christ.
And I'm trying to encourage you,
you say, Pastor Jimenez,
did you really come all the way
from Sacramento all the way
to Cincinnati, Ohio
to teach us about Bible reading?
Yes, it's called
the fundamentalist conference.
See, that's pretty foundational.
Yeah, it's pretty fundamental.
In fact, it will keep you alive.
It will keep you alive spiritually.
It will keep your faith
from dying spiritually.
It will keep you going.
Listen to me,
I just want you to understand this,
there are two types of Christians in this world,
the ones who read the Bible
and the ones who don't.
Which one are you?
You have to exercise your faith
or it will die.
How do you do that?
Pick up the Word of God and read it.
Why don't we do it?
Here's why we don't read the Bible
because it's a lot of work.
2 Timothy 2.15, are you there?
2 Timothy 2.15,
Study to show thyself approved unto God.
Notice this word,
work men that needeth not to be ashamed
rather than dividing the Word of truth.
You know that studying the Word of God
is a lot of work?
You don't know it?
Ask Pastor Thompson.
You don't believe it?
Ask Pastor Webb.
You don't believe it?
Ask Deacon Oliver.
You don't believe it?
Just ask any preacher
whose job is to get up
and preach the Word of God.
You know what they'll tell you?
People will say to me,
Oh, you're a preacher.
All you do is preach three times a week.
I always kind of chuckle.
Well, no, that's not all I do,
but I'd like to see you get up
and preach three times a week for 11 years
and see how you do.
It's a lot of work.
Study to show thyself approved unto God
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed
rightly dividing the Word of truth.
We must exercise our senses.
Number two,
you're there in 2 Timothy,
go to 1 Timothy chapter 4.
1 Timothy chapter 4.
Number one, I said
you must exercise your senses.
Number two,
you must exercise godliness.
You're there in 1 Timothy chapter 4,
like verse 7.
1 Timothy 4 and verse 7,
But refuse profane and old wives' fables.
Now I understand that the context of this passage
is primarily to ladies,
but that's not the only way
in which it can be taken.
And I want you to see it.
Excuse me, not this one.
1 Timothy 2, 9 is for the ladies.
I'll show you that in a second.
But look at verse 7.
But refuse profane and old wives' fables.
And notice the words,
exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
Notice that God says
that we must exercise ourselves unto godliness.
And he's using this compare and contrast.
Notice verse 8, he says,
for.
The word for means because.
He said,
why should I exercise myself rather unto godliness?
Here's why.
Because for bodily exercise
profit is little.
Now some of us like that.
You know, that's our life verse.
He's not saying there's anything wrong
with bodily exercise.
He's just saying this,
bodily exercise profits little
in comparison to exercising thyself
rather unto godliness.
You say, why?
Here's why.
But godliness is profitable unto all things,
having promise of the life that now is
and of that which is to come.
You know that being godly will help you
in this life and in the life to come?
It'll help you in this world
and it'll help you earn rewards in the next.
God says that we must exercise ourselves
rather unto godliness.
Well, what does that look like?
How do we do that?
How do we exercise in godliness?
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 2.
This is the one I meant to tell you
that the context is primarily for the ladies
but it can be applied to everyone.
1 Timothy chapter 2,
look at verse 9.
You're there in 1 Timothy 4,
just flip over to 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 9.
1 Timothy 2, 9 says,
And like men are also that women
adorn themselves in modest apparel
with shamefaced and innocent sobriety,
not with broidered hair,
gold or pearls, or costly array,
but which cometh women professing godliness.
He says, I want women to profess godliness.
Now remember, we saw in 1 Timothy 4a
that we should exercise ourselves
rather unto godliness
because bodily exercise profiteth little
but godliness is profitable unto all things.
Here he says,
which becometh women professing godliness.
You say, how do we do that?
Notice, with good works.
You say, how do I exercise godliness?
Here's how you exercise godliness
with good works.
Go to Ephesians if you would,
Ephesians chapter 2.
I'm not sure if I had you turn
to Ephesians earlier or not
but I'd like you to keep your place there
in Ephesians.
I did for Ephesians 4.
I meant to tell you to keep your place there.
Ephesians chapter 2.
We must exercise godliness with good works.
In fact, the root word of the word good
comes from the same word as God.
God is good.
When we do good, we are being godly.
We are being like God.
How do we profess godliness?
How do we exercise godliness?
We do it with good works.
And again, I've already talked about this
a little bit at the beginning of the sermon
but let me just make sure
that we're clear on this.
We're not saved by works.
Okay?
We understand that.
Salvation is not of works.
Ephesians 2, look at verse 8.
For by grace are you saved through faith
and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God.
The word saved there
is referring to being saved from hell.
The word that is referring to being saved.
He says you're saved by grace through faith.
He says and that, the word that going back.
I know Calvin is getting confused on this.
The word that's not going back to faith.
You know, it's not faith that you're getting.
You're getting saved and that not of yourselves.
You don't save yourself.
I don't save myself.
Why not?
Here's why.
Because it, salvation, is the gift of God.
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
We are not saved by works.
Ephesians 2 and 9,
probably the most clear verses in Scripture
that teach us that we're not saved by works.
However, verse 10 tells us this.
Though we are not saved by works,
we are saved to work.
Look at verse 10.
We are His workmanship.
Created in Christ Jesus unto good works
which God had before ordained
that we should walk in them.
Do you know that you were saved to do good works?
You were saved to live a life
that produced good works.
You say why?
Here's why.
Because your testimony is connected to your works.
Go back to James.
James chapter 2.
Did you keep your place there?
James chapter 2.
Remember, we're not saved by works.
And you can have faith and not have works.
But you know what you cannot have?
You say can I be saved and not have works?
Yes.
Can I have faith and not have works?
Yes.
Can I have a good testimony and not have works?
No.
So what do I need my works for?
For your testimony.
For your testimony on this earth.
James 2.18.
Notice what it says.
Yea, a man may say...
Not God may say, a man may say.
What would a man...
What may a man, a human, a person say about you?
Yea, a man may say,
thou has faith and I have works.
Do you understand the context?
We walk around, we walk around telling people,
hey, salvation is a free gift.
It's not of works.
You don't have to earn it.
You don't have to do anything.
And the problem is, the problem is not
that we're teaching people
that salvation is not of works.
The problem is that oftentimes,
we, when we are preaching people
and telling people
that salvation is not of works,
that you don't have to earn it,
that you don't have to work for it.
And all that is true.
Yet when we live like the devil,
the religious Catholic,
the religious Mormon,
the religious whatever,
they say, thou has faith and I have works.
Show me thy faith without thy works
and I will show thee my faith by my works.
This is the context of
faith without works is dead.
Go to Matthew chapter 5.
Matthew, first book in the New Testament
should be fairly easy to find.
Matthew chapter number 5.
Matthew chapter number 5,
see, we must exercise our senses.
How do we do that?
We do that by reading the Word of God.
We do that by having our minds renewed
through the Word of God.
We do that by discerning both good and evil.
But we must also exercise godliness.
How do we do that?
Godliness has to do with our works.
Professing godliness with good works.
Godliness is dependent on
how we live our lives.
Matthew 5 verse 16,
notice what the Bible says,
let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Now Matthew 5, 16 is a verse that is often
misused by the liberals.
The liberals will say,
we don't have to go door knocking.
We don't have to go soul winning.
We just live a life of Christianity
and then people, you know,
let your light so shine before men
and they'll see our good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
And they say, you know,
just live a good life
and that's all we got to do.
The Bible doesn't say that.
Paul said that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel.
God teaches us to go.
He says go therefore into all the world
and preach the gospel.
Go into all the nations.
We're supposed to go.
We're supposed to be on the offense.
We're supposed to confront people with the gospel.
I'm not for lifestyle evangelism.
I'm for you go open your mouth
and preach the gospel evangelism.
That's the only type of evangelism
the Bible teaches.
You say, what about Matthew 5, 16?
Here's the thing.
I'm not for lifestyle evangelism.
I am for a lifestyle that matches your evangelism.
I am for you living your life right,
enduring right.
You say, why should I live a life of good works?
Let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
What kind of testimony do you have
before the unbelieving world?
What kind of testimony do you have
around your neighbors,
around your co-workers,
around your family?
Here's a question for you.
If you were put on trial for being a Christian,
would there be enough evidence to convict you?
I always think it's funny how people are all worried
about the tribulation
and I'm all for the end times prophecy
and teaching on end times prophecy.
People are always worried about the tribulation.
The tribulation is going to come
and they're going to arrest us.
They're going to put us on trial for being a Christian
and they're going to...
Listen, some of you don't have nothing to worry about.
There's not enough evidence to convict you.
No one's coming after you.
The way you live your life,
nobody's suspecting you.
The neighbors are going to turn us in.
Well, here's the problem.
You got to actually live a godly life
for your neighbors to suspect you to be a Christian.
When the same music comes out of your house
that comes out of their house,
when the same fighting comes out of your house
that comes out of their house,
when the same words come out of your house
that comes out of their house,
then you got nothing to worry about.
The Bible says that we're supposed to live our lives
in such a way that the world takes notice.
My wife and I in June will be celebrating...
I need to get this right.
Luckily, you guys aren't live streaming
so we can edit this out.
I want to say it's 18 years.
I think we just celebrated 17 years.
18 years of marriage.
When my wife first got saved,
I had the wonderful privilege of getting my wife saved.
We weren't married just so you know.
And we were teenagers working at Subway
and I got her saved
and later on we dated and got married.
When my wife first got saved,
you want to know what her family said?
They said, you're Nicole.
They said, you're being brainwashed.
They said all sorts of things.
They thought all sorts of weird things about us
and I've got a nice mother-in-law
and I love my mother-in-law
and she loves me and all those things
but you know, I will say this.
At first, my mother-in-law was very suspicious
about what's her daughter getting into
and what are these things...
what's all these things going on, you know?
And she was very suspicious
and of course, my wife through the years,
she got her mom saved
and she got all her siblings saved
and she's got all her extended family saved
over the years.
But let me tell you something,
you know who won my mother-in-law over
to kind of our way of thinking?
Now, I'm not saying she's a Baptist
like we're a Baptist
but she's no longer hostile towards them.
In fact, she's for us.
She's for us.
She's for our church.
She's for our preaching.
She knows all the radical things
that I teach and preach.
She's for it.
You say, how was she won over?
You know how she was won over?
By the grandchildren.
Now, it wasn't because
she just loves her grandchildren
although she loves her grandchildren
but it was because of this.
In fact, my mother-in-law comes over
maybe every Friday she comes over
and spends time with the kids
and with the grandkids
and she tries to make sure
she has a good relation with them.
And every time she comes over,
if she gets a chance to talk with me
or if I'm there,
she always says something to me
along these lines,
you're doing it right.
You know, when she first got
learned about Christianity
and independent fundamental Baptist
and King James only
and all these things,
she thought, you guys are in a cult.
You guys are kind of weird.
You're going out there,
she used to call it soul searching.
You're like, no, no, soul winning.
You're like, you're going out there soul searching?
Well, we're kind of soul searching.
I get, you know, and then, yeah, sure.
We'll call it that.
And she thought it was all odd
and she thought it was all weird.
But you know, after some years have gone by
and after 18 years have gone by
and some time has gone by
and she's seen her kids established families
and her kids raised other grandchildren
and she's had time to watch
how some of her other grandchildren
maybe are being raised.
And all grandchildren are being raised
and she's kind of looked around
and seen around.
Eventually she says,
I still think you guys are kind of crazy, maybe.
I still think you're kind of cuckoo, maybe.
I still think you're a little odd
but I will say this,
whatever you're doing, it's working.
This is what the Bible says
when it means,
let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Here's all I'm saying is that
you should be the best employer at your job.
You should be the best worker at your job.
Look at the workers in the Bible.
Look at Joseph, look at Daniel,
look at Shadrach, look at Meshach,
look at Abednego, look at Mordecai,
look at Esther.
Whenever God's people
were put into a secular environment,
they were always the best workers.
What does your testimony say
about your Christian life?
What does your testimony say?
Look, here's all I'm saying.
I'm not saying to be a teacher's pet.
I'm not saying all those things
but I'm just saying
everybody else shows up late for work.
You ought not show up late for work.
But everybody else does it.
The boss doesn't mind.
But here's the thing,
you're supposed to work as unto the Lord.
You're not working for the boss
with eye service as man pleasers.
You're working for God.
You ought to be honest.
You ought to show up on time.
You ought to take your breaks properly.
You ought not steal from the boss.
You ought not say
that you did a certain amount of work
when you didn't do that.
You ought not take things from the office.
Here's all I'm saying.
In your job, in your neighborhood,
in your life,
people ought to say,
that guy's crazy.
You know what your boss ought to say about you?
That guy's crazy.
That guy's weird.
He believes some weird things about the LGBT.
He wears some weird t-shirts all the time
with all sorts of sayings
about soul searching and soul winning.
He believes he's an odd guy.
But I would hire every friend he's got.
Because he's that good.
Because they may see our good works
and glorify our Father.
It's not about them glorifying you.
It's about glorifying our Father
which is in heaven.
You need to exercise.
You need to exercise godliness.
How do you do it?
Go to Matthew chapter 7.
You're there in Matthew 5.
Flip over to Matthew chapter 7.
Matthew chapter 7.
Look at verse 24.
Matthew chapter 7 and verse 24.
I want you to notice that in Matthew chapter 7,
we have the ending
of one of the most famous sermons
in the entire Bible.
It's called the Sermon on the Mount.
It's probably the most famous sermon
in the entire Bible.
It's a sermon that Jesus preached.
It begins in Matthew chapter 5
and ends in Matthew chapter 7.
It has the most famous introduction
to any sermon ever.
The introduction to the Sermon on the Mount
is a little passage you may be familiar with
called the Beatitudes.
You know Jesus is a good preacher
when His introduction goes down in history
as one of the greatest passages in Scripture.
We preach whole series out of the introduction
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Beatitudes.
Then He preaches the sermon
and the Sermon on the Mount,
it's really all about the Christian life.
The Christian life in action,
how to live the Christian life
and He's very practical,
gives a lot of application.
Then He ends.
His most famous sermon
and probably the most famous sermon
in the entire Bible,
He ends it,
He concludes it with a very famous parable.
Notice what He says in Matthew 7 verse 24.
Therefore...
This is how Jesus concludes His sermon.
He was a master teacher.
He says,
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine...
Now keep in mind,
He just got done preaching a sermon.
He's talking to a crowd
who He's literally just preached to
and He's now saying to that crowd,
He says in conclusion,
Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine
and doeth them,
I will liken him unto a wise man
that built his house upon the rock.
Brother Oliver this morning talked about
applying the Word of God
and applying the preaching of the Word of God.
And I would commit to you this morning,
this evening, excuse me,
that the purpose of coming to a place like this
to hear the preaching of the Word of God
is not that you might hear good preaching,
is that you might hear it
and you might do it.
Apply it.
Jesus said,
I will liken him unto a wise man
which built his house upon a rock.
Notice verse 25,
And the rain descended,
the floods came,
the wind blew,
and beat upon the house.
Now, I want you to notice
and I won't have you turn there,
but in the parallel passage
in Luke chapter 6 and verse 48,
you don't have to turn there.
Let me just read this for you.
When Jesus gives the same parable,
He says,
He is likened to a man
which built his house upon...
which built in house
and dig deep
and laid the foundation of the rock.
And He uses this word,
when,
when the flood arose,
when the stream be behemoth lay upon the house
and could not shake it
for it was founded upon a rock.
I want you to notice that
Jesus said,
He is giving this parable
and He says,
Anyone that hears these sayings
and doeth them,
He says,
Let me tell you what I think about them.
I will liken him unto a wise man
which built his house upon a rock.
And the rain descended,
and the floods came,
and the winds blew,
and beat upon the house.
But in Luke He says,
He says,
When the rain descended.
See, here's the thing.
In life,
there's going to be storms
that come into your life.
Just know that.
Just take that down as a guarantee.
There are storms that will come into your life.
It's not if, it's when.
It's going to happen.
I often tell our church family back home.
I tell them,
Look, the Christian life,
just get used to it.
The Christian life is this.
You're either in a storm,
you're coming out of a storm,
or you're going into a storm.
But the Christian life is a life of storms.
The wind will blow.
The rain will descend.
The floods will come.
Notice verse 25,
And beat upon the house.
The house is a picture of your life.
And God, Jesus says,
that the rain descended upon that house.
And the floods came upon that house.
And the wind blew upon that house.
And it beat upon that house.
Notice verse 25,
And it fell not.
Why?
For it was founded upon a rock.
Now we know that Jesus is the rock.
We know that Jesus is the Word.
And Jesus said,
If you hear these sayings of mine,
and you do them,
that's how you get founded upon the rock
of the Word of God.
Verse 26,
And everyone that hears these sayings of mine,
hears the other crowd,
and doeth them not.
They show up to church on Sunday morning.
They show up to church on Sunday night.
They show up to church on Wednesday night.
They hear the sermon.
They know the stories.
They know what the Bible says.
But they don't apply it.
Shall be likened unto a foolish man.
He says, you know what a fool does?
A fool shows up to a Bible-believing Baptist Church,
has a man of God open up the King James Bible,
the Word of God,
and teach them what they should do,
and then goes out and doesn't do it.
That's what a fool does.
Say, I don't think you should call me that.
I didn't.
Jesus did.
Right.
Likened unto a foolish man,
which built his house upon the sand.
Notice, the rain descended,
the floods came,
the winds blew,
and beat upon the house.
Notice these words,
and it fell.
You have to underline these words,
and great was the fall of it.
Oftentimes,
over the last 11 years of ministry,
my wife and I have noticed
that sometimes things happen in people's lives.
Storms come.
It's not if, it's when.
They're coming.
You don't know what that storm may be,
but I don't know what that storm is,
but I know this, it's coming.
It may be your health.
It may be your marriage.
It may be your finances.
It may be your children.
It may be some heartbreak.
It may be some issue that you're going through,
some struggle that you're going through.
The rain will come.
The floods will come.
The wind will blow.
It'll blow upon that house,
and sometimes people atrophy.
They die.
They're not there.
And you talk to people,
and you talk to people,
and you say,
what happened to brother so-and-so?
What happened to this so-and-so?
And you'll say,
well, they had problems in their marriage,
or remember they had that problem with their child,
or remember they lost their job,
or they lost this,
or they lost that,
or they had a health issue,
and it was just too much,
and the trial took them out of the Christian life.
But let me tell you something.
The trial did not,
the storm did not get you out of the Christian life.
The storm does not take you out of the Christian life.
The storm only reveals what's already there.
The storm only reveals the foundation
that you've already laid.
Because when you hear the Word of God,
and you don't do it,
you fail to apply it,
you don't do the good works,
you atrophy.
You die.
And it's only a matter of time
before the big bad wolf
comes and huffs and puffs
and blows that house down.
We have to do.
We have to apply.
You came to a conference,
and I appreciate you coming,
we appreciate you coming.
You came to a conference,
I hope to hear some good preaching.
I commend you for that.
But you know what would be better
than coming to a conference
to hear good preaching,
would be coming to a conference
to hear and to apply.
To hear and to do.
So you've heard some preaching on Bible reading.
You know what you ought to do tomorrow morning?
You ought to get up and read your Bible.
You've heard some preaching on church attendance.
You know what you ought to do?
You ought to be faithful in the house of God on Sunday.
You ought to be here in the house of God on Sunday.
You ought to be in the house of God,
whatever that house is for you,
wherever you live.
You ought to be in church.
Don't say, well, you know,
we went to Cincinnati and we're kind of tired
and we were there on Thursday night
and we were there on Friday morning,
we were there on Friday night.
We've got enough preaching,
I think we can skip out on church.
No, that means you came to a conference like this
and you heard and you didn't do.
You ought to just say,
I'm going to go to the house of God
and be faithful to the house of God.
Let me tell you something.
If you live within the driving distance
of this location,
this is the church you ought to be going to.
You ought to be coming to this church.
Why?
Because it's not enough.
Look, you need to exercise your senses.
You need to know what this book says.
You need to read the Bible,
have it renew your mind,
understand what it is that God wants you to do with your life,
but then you actually need to do it.
You must exercise your senses.
Then you must exercise godliness.
Let me give you a third one,
we'll finish up.
To not atrophy in the Christian life,
you must exercise your conscience.
Notice Acts chapter 24.
Acts chapter 24.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.
We're going to go back to Matthew here in a minute,
just so you know that.
Acts chapter 24.
Look at verse 16.
Acts chapter 24 and verse 16.
Notice what the Bible says.
Notice what the apostle Paul says.
And herein do I...
Here's our key word, exercise.
We've been talking about different things you need to exercise.
What do you need to exercise?
You need to exercise your conscience.
What do you need to exercise?
You need to exercise your senses.
What do you need to exercise?
You need to exercise your godliness.
He says, and herein do I exercise myself.
Paul says, how do you exercise yourself?
Paul hears out.
He says, to have always a conscience void of offense
toward God and toward men.
You need to exercise your conscience.
Keep your place there in Acts.
We're going to come back to it.
Go to Matthew chapter 22.
Let me explain something to you about the Christian life.
The Christian life always has two connections.
If you're going to be right with God,
there are two areas of relationship
that you have to be concerned with.
Paul brought it up in Acts 24, 16.
He says, and herein do I exercise myself
to have always a conscience void of offense
toward God and toward men.
In Matthew 22 and verse 35, the Bible says this,
Then one of them, which was a lawyer,
asked him a question tempting him and saying,
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus was asked a very specific question.
What is the great commandment?
And Jesus said, well here's the thing.
In order to answer for you the question,
I have to give you a two-part answer.
He says in verse 37,
Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God.
He said, you want to know what the great commandment is?
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
with all thy soul, with all thy mind.
This is the first great commandment.
But then Jesus says, but that's not enough.
See, there are two thoughts that go together.
He says, and the second is like unto it.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments hang,
all the law and the prophecy.
The Bible always concerns itself
with our relationship in two directions.
One is vertical, our relationship with God.
The other one is horizontal, our relationship with men.
You cannot separate the two.
Here's the point, you can't be right with God
while being wrong with man.
You can't be right with man while being wrong with God.
To be right with God, you must be right with men.
You must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and you must also love your neighbor as yourself.
They're connected.
You don't have to turn here, let me just read this for you.
1 John 4.20, the Bible says,
If a man say, I love God and hated his brother,
he is a liar.
For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him
that he who loveth God, loveth his brother.
See, our concern as Christians must always be this,
our relationship with God and our relationship with men.
Our relationship in a direction that is vertical
and a direction which is horizontal.
We must be right with God.
Psalm 139 says this,
Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me and know my thoughts,
and see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
See, God does not want us to read the Bible
so that we can learn something
that we can beat over the head someone with.
God does not want us to do good works
so that we can become pharisaical
and begin to say,
We'll see how much better I am
than this person or that person.
God wants us to read the Bible
and put the Bible into practice
so that we might say,
Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me, know my thoughts,
and see if there be any wicked way in me.
You know what God wants?
God wants you to be right with Him.
God wants you to live right and to do right,
not because I'm trying to earn my way to heaven,
but because God has made a way
for me to be saved.
Because I love Him.
Because He loved me,
we love Him because He first loved us,
and God wants us to be right with Him.
Not as a Pharisee.
Look at how much I do.
Not just for knowledge,
but that we might say to God,
I want my heart to be right with You.
And then God says,
that our heart must be right with others.
Now there's a lot of areas we can talk about this
and a lot of ways that we can apply this,
but let me just say this.
The best way to love your neighbor,
go to Acts chapter 20 if you would.
Acts chapter 20.
The best way to love your neighbor
is to do what we did this afternoon,
is to go out and preach the gospel
to your neighbor.
In fact, when Jesus taught the parable
about loving your neighbor,
when He was asked about,
He talked about the fact
that you ought to love your neighbor.
And some Pharisaical lawyer said,
Well, who is my neighbor?
He gave that great parable
on the good Samaritan.
And he said,
Let me tell you who your neighbor is.
Your neighbor is that guy
that's beaten down,
that's spiritually down,
and he needs you to go and help him.
Restore him.
Invest in him.
Reach him with the gospel.
How can I love my neighbor?
I can preach the gospel.
See, the best way to have a conscience clear,
void of offense toward God and toward men.
To have a conscience void of offense
before God is to confess sin
and to keep your heart right with God.
But a great way, not the only way,
but a great way to have a conscience
void of offense toward men.
The best way to love your neighbor
is to preach the gospel to your neighbor.
Acts 20, look at verse 26.
Acts 20 and verse 26,
Wherefore, Paul says,
I take you to record to this day
that I am pure from the blood of all men.
For I have not shunned to declare unto you
I have the counsel of God.
Paul says, you know what?
My conscience is clear.
I am clear, he says there.
I am pure from the blood of all men.
Go back to Acts 18, look at verse 6.
Acts 18 and verse 6.
Acts 18 verse 6, he says this,
And when they... the Bible says,
And when they oppose themselves and blaspheme...
This is after Paul has tried
to preach the gospel to them.
Tried to preach the gospel to the Jews.
He says that... it says there,
And when they oppose themselves and blaspheme,
he shook his raiment and said unto them,
Your blood be upon your own heads.
I am clean from henceforth.
I will go unto the Gentiles.
You say, how can I have a conscience
clear of offense towards men?
Here's how you have a conscience.
You go out and you knock every door
in your neighborhood, in your community,
in your city, and you preach the gospel.
You say, what if they don't get saved?
Then that's between them and God.
What if they don't come to church?
That's between them and God.
Our goal is to say, I am pure.
Your blood be upon your head.
I warn you.
Look, sometimes we warn them,
sometimes we warn them,
but we always are doing what God has called us to do.
Amen.
Your job and my job is to have a conscience clear.
To exercise like Paul said,
myself to have always a conscience
void of events toward God and toward men.
To love your neighbor as yourself
and part of that means that we should go
and reach our neighbor with the gospel.
Go to Philippians chapter 2,
we'll finish up right here.
Philippians chapter number 2.
If you do not exercise and get good nutrition,
you will die.
Spiritual atrophy.
You'll die spiritually.
Your faith will die.
I didn't say you'll lose your salvation,
but your faith will die.
It'll be inactive.
It'll be good to no one.
You say, well, what do I do so I can exercise myself?
Well, we must exercise our senses.
You must by reason of use,
open up the Word of God,
begin to feed yourself with the Word of God.
You say, Pastor, I don't understand.
I don't know how to do that
and I don't know how to read the Bible
and I need help.
Well, let me help you out,
especially if you live here in Cincinnati, Ohio.
You have a pastor,
a man by the name of Pastor Ted Webb.
He's not only a physical therapist,
he is a spiritual therapist.
He can help you.
He can start taking those muscles you haven't used
and help you start stretching them
and help you start moving them
and eventually get you off that bed
and get you out there,
preaching the gospel, reading the Bible,
being right with God so you can exercise yourself,
have your senses exercised,
have yourself exercised in the godliness
and have your conscience clear
and exercise your conscience.
Here's the point.
It's time to get to work.
Philippians 2, 12 says,
Wherefore, my beloved...
Philippians 2, 12, Paul says this,
Wherefore, my beloved,
as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only,
but now much more in my absence.
He says, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling.
Again, this is a verse
that is often taken out of context.
People will say,
See, you got to work out your own salvation.
You got to work to be saved.
Here's the problem with that.
That's not what it says.
It doesn't say work for your own salvation.
It says work out your own salvation.
Salvation is already inside.
The people he's talking to,
they already got salvation.
It's already on the inside.
See, salvation...
See, true salvation is something
that happens on the inside.
False religion, the world tells you,
salvation is something that happens on the outside.
You go to church,
you get baptized,
you repent of your sins,
you quit smoking,
you quit drugs,
you quit alcohol,
you do all those things in order to get saved.
Here's the thing,
all of that is outside.
Church membership is outside.
Baptism is outside.
Repenting of your sins,
turning over a new leaf,
all outside.
Inside goes to hell.
Salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Confess with your mouth,
believe in your heart
and thou shalt be saved.
It happens on the inside.
Salvation is something that happens on the inside.
But you know what Paul says?
Paul says,
when you've got it on the inside,
he says you've got salvation on the inside.
He says work out your own salvation.
He says work out what God worked in.
Work out what you've already got on the inside.
And the reason I like the term work out
because it kind of reminds me of exercise.
You need to exercise your senses.
You need to exercise your godliness.
You need to exercise your conscience.
It's time that you get yourself
on a spiritual exercise regimen
and you begin to work out the salvation
that God has worked in.
Because here's the point,
if you don't, you'll die.
If you lay in bed physically,
if you lay in bed,
you don't eat,
you don't exercise,
you will die physically.
And if you lay in bed spiritually,
you don't eat,
you don't exercise,
your faith will die.
Enough Christians die,
a church may die.
We must exercise spiritually
and work out our own salvation.
Let's bow our heads and I'm going to pray.