Bible Study – “What Every Christian Ought to Know” – Adrian Rogers

What Every Christian Ought to Know – Adrian Rogers

The Assurance of Salvation – Chapter 2

One of the most important things that a Christian should know without any doubt is that they are saved.  The first way Satan will attack is to put doubt in your mind about your salvation.  The best way to remove your doubt is to know what the Bible says about how to know that you are truly saved.

The salvation that Jesus gives or being “saved” means:

1. Every sin is forgiven. We are washed white as snow, cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

2. Jesus through the Holy Spirit has come to live in us to give us peace, power and purpose.

3. We go to heaven when we die to be with God forever. Eternal life.

1 John 5:1-13 is a great resource for knowing that you are saved.  In verse 1, John says that if you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, then you are born of God.  The NLT says that if you believe then you are a “child of God”.  If you are a child of God then your salvation is assured.

In Matthew 16:15, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?”  This is a question that everyone must answer for themselves.  You always have a choice because God has given us freewill.  Peter came up with the correct answer about who Jesus is.  He said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Messiah is from the Hebrew word, mashiach and Christ from the Greek word, khristós but both mean the same thing, the anointed one.

In the Book of Daniel, Daniel interpreted a dream for King Nebuchadnezzar. In his interpretation Daniel said regarding a final kingdom that “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed”.  This kingdom will be ruled by the Christ or anointed one.  In the previous chapter of Adrian Roger’s book, we learned that there were numerous prophecies about Jesus as this Christ.

Jesus told His disciples that Peter would not have known that Jesus was the Christ unless God had not told him.  If God revealed who Jesus was to Peter, how can we get God to reveal who Jesus is to us?  Read Matthew 7:7-8.

Back to 1 John 5.  Additionally in verse 1, John writes that if we love God then we will love His children.  Jesus said the same thing recorded in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  This sounds easy but in reality, it is very difficult.  If this were truly easy then there would be only one church, no Catholics, no Protestants, no Evangelicals, no Baptists, no Methodists . . .  Each one believes that they have the correct route to salvation but they separated over small differences in interpreting Scripture.

Verse 2 in 1 John 5 says that we are the children of God if we love God and keep His commandments.  A simple way of looking at our relationship with God is as a child and parent.  As a parent or child we can identify what God expects of us.  I could tell that my sons love me when they were obedient.  Rebellion of a child against a parent is painful for the parent.  When we rebel against God, it is painful for God.  The Old Testament is full of examples of Israel, God’s chosen people rebelling against Him.

Verse 3 says that “His commands are not burdensome.”  Consider the 10 Commandments, every commandment was given to protect us and not to control us.  Stealing, adultery, murder and coveting can all lead to pain, sorrow or death.  No parent wants that for their children.  When asked which of the ten commandments is the greatest, Jesus boiled the 10 Commandments down to two, Love God and Love others. (Matthew 22:36-40). If you love God, then you will love others.

Verses 4 and 5 tell us that through our faith in Jesus we can overcome the world.  The world says there is no God.  The world says that this life is all there is, once you die there is nothing else.  Anything contrary to the Bible is of the world.

In verse 6, John describes who Jesus was.  He was fully man or he came by water and the blood.  When a human baby is in its mother’s womb, it is living in a sac full of water and the umbilical cord carries nutrition and oxygen to the baby and it carries waste from the baby, both through the blood.  Jesus’ life and death testify to the fact that Jesus was fully human.  The Holy Spirit testifies that Jesus was fully human and fully God.  All three, His life, death and the Holy Spirit were all in agreement, Jesus was human.

Verse 9 says that God has testified to the fact that Jesus truly is the Son of God.  God testified to the fact that Jesus was fully God, His only begotten son.  After the baptism of Jesus, God said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  (Matthew 3:17)

Verses 10 through 12 tell us the choice we have to make to become a Christian.  We must come to the same conclusion that Peter did.  We must fully accept that “Jesus is the Christ/Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

Verse 10 says that if we accept Jesus then we accept His testimony.  John 10:30 records that Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.”  A few verses later, He says, “Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?”  His testimony is that He is the Son of God.

Verses 11 and 12 tell us that through His Son, God gives us eternal life and whoever claims the Son, claims this eternal life.  By claiming Jesus as our Savior, then we accept the blessings and the requirements that come with it.  We must separate ourselves from the world and put our faith in Jesus and claim the eternal life that He gives.

In verse 13, John says that by putting our faith in Jesus as the Christ, we can know without a doubt that we are saved and we will have eternal life.  John 3:16 tells so also, it says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

As we mature as Christians, we must grow in the knowledge of what we believe.  Does this mean that if we have doubt, then we are not saved?  No.  Rogers says, “Doubt is to your spirit what pain is to your body?”  The more we know about God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit, our faith will grow and any doubt will lessen.  The closer we are to God, the more Satan will attack.  He wants you to doubt your salvation.

You need to have full confidence in your salvation and what you believe.  Rogers says, “You need to have not a hope-so, think-so, maybe-so but a wonderful know-so salvation.”

1 John is called the Book of Assurance.  Assurance begins with a New Birth (1 John 5:1 – “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”)

7. In a birth, something new is conceived. As a new child of God that new thing is our faith. Read John 3:1-7.  Jesus explains to Nicodemus that you must be born again.  It is a birth in the spirit and not a physical rebirth.

1. In verse 5 of John 3, Jesus tells us that to enter the kingdom of heaven, you must be born of water and the spirit. As humans we are born of the water as explained above.  As Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.”  When we accept Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit and we are born again. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that we are a new creation in Christ.

 

1. In a birth, a continuation is involved. Verse 6 of John 3 tells us the human life creates human life and spiritual life creates spiritual life.  Parents pass on to their children a wide variety of physical traits.  They also pass on a part of their lives.  From the lives of two, a new life is created.  So essentially a continuation of life occurs.  “Born again” means “born from above.”  “Salvation is not only getting man out of earth into heaven but getting God out of heaven into man through His Spirit.” (Rogers)

 

1. In a birth, a character is created. When you were born, you had characteristics of both of your parents.  People might say, “She has her mom’s eyes” when they look at you.  When we come to the realization that we are sinners in need of a savior and we claim the salvation that comes from Jesus, “we receive the character of a new being with a divine nature.”  Remember Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that we are a new creation in Christ.

 

1. In a birth, a completion transpires. When you are born it is a once and for all act.  Regardless of whether you become a Christian or not, your eternity begins.  The world believes that this life is all there is.  But actually our lives on earth are just a small part of our eternity.

 

1. In a birth, a commencement occurs. Prior to being created inside your mother’s womb, you did not exist.  You had no past.  When you come to Jesus the same thing happens, your history disappears.  Your sins are forgiven.  You have a clean slate.  The psalmist wrote in Psalm 103:12, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”  ‘Transgressions’ is just another word for sins.

 

1. In a birth, a certainty is expected. When we accept Jesus as our savior, we are born again.  It is as certain as our first birth.  Back in 1 John 5:1, remember it said that if we believe in Jesus as our savior, then we are born of God.

 

1. When we were born as that tiny baby, there was an expectation that we would grow physically bigger. We weren’t going to stay that tiny baby for all of our lives.  When we were born again, we are expected to grow.  We are expected to study God’s Word and talk to God in prayer.

 

1. Just as surely as our parents will be there to help us grow, the Holy Spirit is there to help us understand what we are reading in the Word of God.

• When we were young, as we grew physically we were expected to be obedient to our parents. They taught us right from wrong in their eyes and in the same way the Holy Spirit will help us to do what is right in God’s eyes.

Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us exactly what the source of our salvation is.  These verses say, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”  Our salvation comes from God.  It doesn’t depend on how good we are, it is a “gift from God”.  We can never be good enough to deserve salvation.

 

There is no perfect recipe that leads to heaven.  It is grace or a gift.  It is unmerited favor.  We cannot earn salvation.  It is grace through our faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.  An acrostic uses the first letter of a word to make a sentence.  An acrostic for grace is “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense”.  We can’t earn it, it comes from Jesus’ work on the Cross.

 

Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Our part is putting our faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Jesus did the hard part by dying to take on our sins.

We cannot be good enough or work hard enough to get into heaven.  God is not Santa Claus.  He is watching over us.  He is not checking to see if you are naughty or nice.  2 Timothy 2:19 tells us, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

Another acrostic commonly used is FAITH, “Forsaking All, I Trust Him.”  Paul spent most of his writing in his letter to Galatians, telling them that it is not how well we can be good, it is all about grace through faith.  We are trusting that Jesus endured the beatings, the mockery and the cross for us and that God will give us grace for our faith in Jesus as our savior.  It is all about Him and not about us.

When you receive a birthday gift, does the giver expect a gift in return?  No.  The gift should have no strings attached.  That is what grace is.  God does not put other requirements on His gift of grace except faith in Jesus.  John 3:16 says it best, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  It is His love for us and it says we have to claim His Son as our savior.

The Birthmarks of the Believer

I have said that salvation comes from Grace through Faith in Jesus but God’s Word gives us ways to show God that we love Him.  Just like with your parents, obedience is expected.  What does Christian obedience look like?  Rogers gives us two tests to help us.

 

The first test of a Christian is the Commandment Test.  Back in 1 John 5:3, we read, “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.”  John went into more detail in chapter 2 of 1 John.  Read 1 John 2:3-6.  Keeping every commandment is very difficult and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that at some point, all of us will break more than one of these commandments in our life time.

Remember keeping these commandments does not bring us salvation.  I tend to relate our relationship to that of our own earthly families.  As a father, if one of my son’s does something bad, they know that they will not be kicked out of the family and they know that I will always love them.  This is the same with our Heavenly Father, if we break one of His commandments there is forgiveness and He still loves us.

1 John 1:9 tells us how to get back into God’s good graces, it says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  We can be made new again.  Jesus died on the cross to take away all sin, not just the sin that we committed before we were baptized.  All we have to do is tell God what we did.  This is not a free pass to just keep committing the same sin over and over again.  He expects true repentance on our parts.  Repentance is a complete turnaround from that sin.

 

The second test is the Companion Test.  Remember back in 1 John 5:1, “everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.”  We also read in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

 

If we have the Holy Spirit living in us then we have love in our hearts.  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and that is the same as God.  God the Father and God the Son and the Holy Spirit make up the Trinity.  They are all the same.  If God is love, then we have the love of God living inside us.

 

We should have the characteristic of God’s love in us because we are the Children of God.  God loves everyone.  2 Peter 3:9 says that God wants everyone to repent and turn to Jesus for their salvation.  John 3:16 says for God so love the world, not just the ones we love.  If we love others then we will want to show them the love of Christ shining through us.  Paul dedicated an entire chapter to what love is.  Read 1 Corinthians 13.

Unfortunately, we are still human and we battle our old sin nature.  Even Paul struggled with his sin nature.  Read Romans 7:15-20.  Verse 19 says, “ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. “  How often in your life do you know what God wants you to do but you try to come up with a reason not to do it?  That is that old sin nature.

The final and greatest of the Christian tests is the Confidence Test.  1 John 5:9-10 says that God testified that Jesus is His only begotten Son.  If we truly are Christians then we absolutely believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  Knowing about Jesus is head knowledge but believing in Jesus is heart knowledge.

Regarding your salvation, Adrian Rogers says that the proper question is “Are you believing in Jesus right now? . . .  If you are trusting Jesus, you did trust Jesus.  The real test is not whether you remember the time and the place but that you are this moment putting your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

How can we know that we believe at this moment?

Witness of the Spirit

 

The New King James translates 1 John 5:10 as, “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.”  Our emotions are shallow.  They can change in an instant.  Often at the depth of their despair, people will make an oath to God that if He gets them out of their mess, they will turn their life around.  This oath is just a temporary oath based on emotions.  As soon as they are free from their trouble, they forget about the oath.

 

Many pastors play on your emotions with inspirational music before the sermon.  Then they preach a message which also plays on your emotions.  When your emotions settle down later, you ask yourself, “Did I really make a commitment to follow Jesus?”  Emotions are fleeting, but true salvation goes deeper.  Many after accepting Christ want to tell the world about the change in their life.  True salvation lasts an eternity.  It is not temporary. The hymn writer had it right when he penned, “Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me, Not for the years of time alone, But for eternity.”

Adrian Rogers says, “The witness of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit speaking to your human spirit with a quiet confidence that you belong to Jesus Christ.  It is an inner awareness that those who are saved know that they are.”

Witness of the Word

The second witness is the witness of the Word.  Throughout the New Testament, God has given us the Gospel message.  In John 3:16, Jesus gave us the true Gospel message,  Paul gave us the same Gospel message in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 and John gives us the same Gospel here in 1 John 5:11.

In John 5:24, Jesus tells us “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” (NLT)

How do we listen to Jesus’ message?  We read and study God’s Word.  We listen to scripture-based messages and participate in Bible studies.

“If you are saved and have doubts, don’t look back at some past experience.  Ask yourself this moment:  Am I trusting Jesus?  If not, trust Him right now.  If you are trusting, there will be the genuine birthmarks in your life.  There will be a desire to obey His commandments, there will be love for His people, and there will be a quiet confidence witnessed by the Holy Spirit and the Bible that you belong to Him.”  (Rogers)

What Every Christian Ought to Know – Adrian Rogers

 

About Eternal Security – Chapter 3

Read John 10:27-29.  Mike Croak would say. “You can’t say it any clearer than the way it is written in the Bible.”  Regarding Eternal security, when we accept Christ as our savior then we cannot lose our salvation.

Fanny Crosby had it right when she penned the hymn “Blessed Assurance.”  “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!  Heir of salvation, purchase of God.    Born of his Spirit, washed in His blood.”

As your child grew up or is growing up, you will see them accomplish numerous things in school, in sports or on the job.  None of these accomplishments matter as much as seeing them claim the salvation that only Jesus can bring.  Nothing compares to seeing them baptized to tell the world that they belong to Jesus.  For a parent that truly is Blessed Assurance, almost as much as when they accepted Jesus as their savior for themselves.

In the three verses in John 10 that we read earlier, Jesus is speaking in a parable which is a way to get your point or an unfamiliar concept across by using a topic familiar to the listener.  The familiar topic is sheep.  The unfamiliar concept is the security of your salvation.  He says that if you are my follower (sheep), then He has given us eternal life and no one can ever take us away from Him.  Simply put, if you are a believer, a true Christian then you can never lose your salvation.

There are denominations that do not believe this fact.  I was raised in the Church of Christ.  This is one difference between the beliefs of a Baptist and a member of the Church of Christ.  Jesus said it and we believe it.  The C of C uses a word that as Baptists, we do not.  It is “Backsliding”.  According to this term, you accept Christ as your Savior but in time you fall away and no longer believe.

They came up with that term based on human behavior.  Adrian Rogers calls it Spiritual Health.  You will have highs in your life where you are close to God.  And you will have lows where God seems nowhere in sight.  God never moves away from us.  It is us, we move away from God.  I believe that God will pursue you to bring you back.  Did you lose your salvation? No!  You are either one of Jesus’ sheep or not.  Read Romans 8:38-39.

The parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:3-7.  When you return to God, all Heaven celebrates.  This parable is teaching about new believers but I believe it can be applied to old believers too.  At times our side of the relationship with God falters.  This doesn’t mean our salvation is gone.

Consider the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-31.  He decides that he doesn’t want to be in the family and goes off on his own with his dad’s blessing and money.  When he returns, his dad welcomes him with open arms.  This is another parable to teach us that when we walk away from God, He will welcome us back with open arms. No strings attached.  We didn’t lose our standing with God, we didn’t lose our salvation and get it anew.  It was always with us.

Spiritual Productivity 

When this class studied “Satan”, we learned that once we accept Jesus as our savior, he can’t take us out of Jesus’ hand.  He tries to do the next best thing.  He tries to prevent us from being spiritually productive.  God wants us to share Jesus with those in our sphere of influence, at work, at school, anyone that we meet.

If Satan can get you questioning your salvation or thinking that your salvation is not secure, then you don’t have the confidence needed to talk to someone about salvation through Jesus.  Consider the apostle Paul, we won’t know how many people Paul led to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Does God expect us to be that successful at sharing the Gospel?  No.  He does want us to help reach others.  2 Peter 3:9 says that God wants everyone to come to repentance and turn to Jesus Christ for salvation.

Adrian Rogers says, “I’m not endeavoring to keep myself safe; I know I am saved.  I’m saved by the grace of God; therefore I can be productive with grateful service.  When we are confident of the future, we can concentrate on the present.”

They Never Were a Christian in the First Place

Eternal security applies to a person that is truly saved.  If you come forward at church or pray a prayer to make your parents happy or to get them off your back or if you are coming for some other reason, then you are most likely not saved.

Adrian Rogers says eternal security is for someone “who has become a partaker of the divine nature, somebody who is heaven born and therefore heaven bound, a person who has had a new birth, a person who has become genuinely a child of God.”

Consider the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus day.  They acted religious and close to God but they were in it for some other reason.  Just because you act like a Christian or look like a Christian doesn’t mean you are one.

I heard a joke years ago.  A woman was pulled over for speeding.  When the officer asked her for her license and registration, she got indignant and verbally assaulted the officer.  He asked her to get out the car and arrested her for car theft because this could not be her car based on how she was acting and the cross hanging from the mirror and a fish on the back bumper.

We can go through life behaving one way on Sunday and behave differently the rest of the week.  Read Matthew 7:22-23.  No one wants to think that Jesus will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ when we die or find ourselves left behind when the Rapture occurs.  God wants a full time Christian, someone willing to walk with Him every day and not just on Sunday.

Read John 10:27-28.  Jesus is looking for Christians that are willing to develop a personal relationship with Him.  If you have a personal relationship with someone, they know your voice, they know you on a deeper level and they are willing to walk with you wherever you go.

Look at the difference between the scriptures.  “I never knew you; depart from me.”  Compared to John 10:27-28.  “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.“  This is the personal relationship between Jesus and a true believer.

 

Consider 1 John 2:19.  It says, “These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.” (NLT)  If you truly accept Christ into your heart, your relationship is for eternity.

 

Adrian Rogers has a saying that sums this section up.  It says, “The faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first.”

Reread Romans 8:38-39.  What does it say will “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”?  Nothing, not death, not life, not angels, not principalities (demons (NLT), not powers, not things present, not things to come, not height, not depth nor any other created thing.

 

Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”  What is the good work in you?  Salvation, only God can bring you salvation.

 

John 16:7 tells us that when Jesus’ ministry was almost over, He told His disciples that God would send His Holy Spirit as a ‘paraklētos’.    This word can be interpreted as a Helper, Advocate, Comforter or Judge.  In the very next verse, Jesus tells them that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of their sin.

 

How do we know that we have sinned?  The Holy Spirit tells us.  It is just one of his many jobs.

 

When you realize that you are a sinner in need of a savior, it is the Holy Spirit that is convicting you of your sin.

 

As a side note:  In Mark 3:28-29, Jesus tells us that denying conviction of the Holy Spirit or blaspheming the Holy Spirit is the only unpardonable sin.  This is the same as refusing to accept that you need the savior that the Holy Spirit is telling you that you need. This is remaining lost in your sin.

 

Back to Philippians 1:6, if you start a job, there is always a chance that it will not get finished but if God starts something then there is no doubt that He will complete what He started in you.  Fortunately for us, our salvation is in God’s hands and not ours.  No one can save themselves.

 

God’s Sovereign Predestination

One of the topics that is difficult to understand is predestination.  Calvinists believe that God chose us to be Christians before we were born.  Read Romans 8:29-30.  The trouble with these verses is knowing what God foreknew and what He predestined.

 

God is not limited by time, so God is not controlled by history.  He knows what is going to happen in our lives before they happen.  This is called foreknowledge.  God knew when you were going to be born, when you were going to get your driver’s license and when and if you were going to claim salvation through His Son.

 

Foreknowledge is different than predestination.  Predestination is different in that predestination means that God doesn’t let things play out, He controls them.  If the Calvinists are correct, then we would have no say in whether we accept Jesus as our savior.  We wouldn’t need missionaries, no evangelism, no outreach programs.  It would all be controlled by God.

 

Matthew 23:37 records that Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”  If man did not have freewill, then Jesus would have gathered the Israelites to himself.  They refused Him.

If we did not have freewill, then God could simply make everyone a believer.  We could be born believers and never waver from our faith.  Peter would not have written 2 Peter 3:9.  “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Back to Romans 8:29-30.  God knew when we were born that we would accept Christ.  He predestined that when we did accept Christ, then we will eventually be like Jesus.  As Christians, our goal is to be like Jesus.  Jesus has a resurrected body, we too will have a resurrected body.  Jesus treated others with love, then so should we.  1 John 5:1 says that if we believe that Jesus is God’s only begotten son, the Messiah, then we are God’s children too.  Romans 8:17 says that if we are the children of God then we are joint heirs with Jesus.

Romans 8:30 says that “those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”  As believers we are called.  Acts 1:8 says that we are called to be His witnesses.  This includes sharing the gospel message with others.

It says that we are justified.  The easiest way to remember what justified means is “Just as if I had not sinned.”  Our sins are gone, we have a clean slate.

If we are the children of God, we will be glorified just as Jesus was glorified.

“You might say, “I don’t feel so glorified right now.”  He’s not finished with you.  But He has begun a good work, and what He has begun, He will complete.  You are predestined – if you are a believer – to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.”  (Rogers)

Calvary’s Perfect Provision

Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”  The important part of this verse is the phrase “perfect forever”.  It doesn’t say ‘for a time’ or any other time limits on your salvation

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that someone needed to be saved again or someone was saved a second time.  Once was enough.

Some may ask, “But what if I sin after I am saved?”  Jesus doesn’t need to be crucified again to remove the new sin.  Jesus died on the cross for all sin.        1 John 1:9 handles sin after we claim Jesus as our savior.  We need to confess our sin and God will erase our sin.  Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect forever.

Adrian Rogers chose James 4:17 to define sin.  It says, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”  Even Paul sinned.  Roman 7:15 tells us, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

 

God gave us the 10 Commandments to point out the obvious sins.  In Matthew 5:21-48, Jesus takes the 10 Commandments even further.  It doesn’t matter whether you do the act, it also matters if you do it in your mind and heart.

 

Adrian Rogers says, “I wouldn’t trust the best 15 minutes I ever lived to get me into heaven, much less some of my bad ones.  And so if I have to depend on my behavior to get me to heaven, I’m not going to make it, and you’re not going to make it, and no one is going to make it.”

Romans 4:5 says, “to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.” (NIV) It is easier to understand the NLT.  “But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.”  It isn’t about me being good all the time, it is about my faith in Jesus and the forgiveness of God.

 

Theologians like to use the word “imputed”.  The NKJV uses this word in Romans 4:6.  King David “also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works.”  Other translations say that David was credited with righteousness.  We cannot be righteous on our own so it has to be imputed or credited to us.

When we get to Heaven, our ticket will say “Paid in full”, not by our works but by Jesus work on the cross and our faith in Him.

Adrian Rogers says it this way, “Nobody is saved twice because Jesus died only once.”

The Saint’s New Position

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”  When we get saved God gives us a “new position”.  We are not the person that we used to be.

When we were born the first time we were born of Adam.  We have the same sin nature built into us.  When we choose to break the chains of sin and accept Jesus as our savior then we are born of Jesus.  We are a new creation and we are a part of the body of Christ.

The Bible is full of illustrations and object lessons that teach us about salvation.  One such object lesson is Noah’s ark.  1 Peter 3:18-22 tells us that while Noah was building the ark, God was patient.  God wanted Noah and his family to come to salvation from the flood.  Just as He is patient today, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

“When Noah and his family were on the ark, they were safe.  How safe was Noah?  As safe as the ark.  How safe am I?  As safe as Jesus, who is my ark of safety.  Noah may have fallen down inside the ark, but he never fell out of the ark because God shut him in and God sealed him in!”  Gen 7:16 says “Then the Lord shut him in.”  Ephesians 1:13 says that we are “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”.  So we are sealed into the Lord Jesus Christ.”  (Rogers)

When we get to heaven, we will be safe and secure.  Remember our security comes from Jesus and not from anything that we have done.  How secure are we?  Very secure with our faith in Lord Jesus.

 

The Believer’s Eternal Provision

John 5:24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”  We receive eternal life the moment we accept Jesus.  That is what salvation is.  What do we have to do to be saved?  That answer is in Acts 16:31 which says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”

 

Jesus says in John 10:28, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”  Most people think that eternal life starts when we die but it starts when we accept Jesus.  Jesus didn’t say, I will give them eternal life, He says I give them eternal life.  It starts now.

 

Jesus’ Interceding Prayer –

In John 17:9, Jesus prayed for His disciples, “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.”  He is not praying for the unsaved.  He is praying for those that belong to Jesus and God.

 

Jesus prayed for us to be kept by God and to be protected from Satan.  In John 17:15, Jesus added “that you (God) protect them from the evil one.”

In John 17:20, Jesus goes even further and prays for us as believers.  “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.”

In John 11:42, after Jesus prayed He said, “I knew that you always hear me.”  Will God always listen to Jesus?  Absolutely.  Hebrews 7:25 tells us, “Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.” 

 

Intercede or intercession means to stand up for us, to defend us or to speak of on our behalf.  Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, telling God that we belong to Him through Jesus.

 

God’s Almighty Power

God is omnipotent or all powerful.  It is this same Power of God that keeps our salvation secure.  1 Peter 1:5 says that we “are kept by the power of God (NKJV).  Satan is an angel who has less power than Jesus and God.  So how can Satan pull us away from God.  Read James 1:5.

 

1 Peter 1:3-4 tells us that the most powerful being in the universe has reserved an inheritance in heaven that will never pass away.  How much more secure could it be?

“Don’t ever get the idea that because you’re eternally secure, it makes no difference how you live.  God will cure that theory in a hurry because God will carry you to the woodshed.  “For whom the Lord loves He chastens”  (Hebrews 12:6)  Don’t get the idea this is a license to sin – that’s foolish.

 

Sin All I Want To

Some people believe that if we can confess our sins and they are completely forgiven, then we can sin all we want to.  You need your “wanter” fixed.

Remember what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17.  It says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”  (NASB)

Remember that even Paul wrestled with sin.  He wrote in Romans 7:15.  “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”  A few verses later he gives credit for sin where it is due, that old sin nature that is in all of us.

We will continue to sin until God is through making us in the image of Christ.  Until then if we sin then we should confess it and work harder (repent) and ask God to remove the desire to sin from our hearts.  I was told that the most miserable person is the Christian that continues to sin.  A portion of salvation is obedience and sin is disobedience.

Rogers says, “It is great to be saved.  It’s better to be saved and know you’re saved.  And it is even more wonderful that you can be saved, know that you are saved and know that you can never lose it.”

What Every Christian Ought to Know – Adrian Rogers

What Happens When a Christian Sins – Chapter 4

Psalm 51:1-2 says, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” As I said in the previous chapter, the most miserable person is a Christian that has sinned.  As a Christian we all have our consciences working in us but we also have the Holy Spirit living in us.

I don’t know about you but I feel the hurt inside the Psalmist’s heart when he says, “Have mercy on me, O God!”  I know that you don’t have this problem but for me, when I make a mistake, I am truly remorseful.  When I read these words, I feel the remorse.  Remorse is different than repentant.  Remorse says, “I am sorry.”  Repentance says, “I will never do it again.”  And means it!

Consequences of Sin in the Life of a Christian

As we learned in the previous chapter, if you can’t lose your salvation, then what does the sin of a Christian mean?  Sin has bad consequences whether you are saved or not.  Consider King David in Psalm 51.  He had committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba and God had confronted him with his sin through the Prophet Nathan.  We all know the story.

Rogers says, “If a person is bound to sin then he is bound to suffer.  He will not lose his salvation, but suffering follows sin as night follows day.”  David wrote Psalm 51 after he had gotten his heart right with God.  He was looking back at the consequences of his sin in his life.

Sin Dirties the Soul

In verse 7 of Psalm 51, David says, “wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”  David feels the filth caused by sin in his life.  As true children of God, we should feel unclean when we sin.  Rogers says, “If you don’t feel dirty and grimy, spiritually you need to ask yourself:  Have I ever been saved?  Do I really know the Lord?”

Sin Dominates the Mind

In verse 3 of Psalm 51, David says, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.”  Consider that David’s sin was at the front of his mind.  It dominated his thoughts enough that he felt compelled to write this psalm.

Sin Disgraces the Lord

In verse 4, David says, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight;  so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.”  David recognizes that his relationship with God is not right.  His guilt prevented him from feeling right with God.  He didn’t feel the normal calm and peace when he talked to God.  It dawned on David, “My God, You were watching me.  Your eyes saw what I did.  O God, My God, that I love, Lord, I have sinned against You.  Not only have I broken Your law, but I have broken your heart.” (Rogers)

Sin Depresses the Heart

Verse 8 says, “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.”  David is depressed.  He is full of remorse.  He has failed God.  When David sinned with Bathsheba, he gave little thought to God.  He was lustful and probably thought, “I hope no one finds out.”

Rogers says what I have heard before, “The most miserable person on earth is not a lost person; the most miserable person on earth is a saved person out of fellowship with God.  Only one thing can take the joy from your heart . . . and it is sin.”  Joy comes from God, it is constant regardless of circumstances.  Happiness is fleeting and dependant on circumstances.  Happiness will only last as long as whatever is making us that way.  John 15:11 tells us that Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”  Joy should last our Christian lifetime and it should be complete in your salvation through Jesus.

Sin Diseases the Body

In verse 8, David says “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.”  David recognizes that a relationship with God that is out of sorts can affect how you feel.  It is a medical fact that stress can make you ill.  Sin ruins your relationship with God, it causes stress in your life which can make you feel horrible.

1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”  A good relationship with God through Jesus removes your anxiety.  This verse is an extension of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Casting our anxiety on Jesus is the same as confessing our sin.  Paul tells us to take everything to God in prayer.  Philippians 4:5-7

“Sin sickens the body.  A merry heart, the joy of the Lord, is a wonderful medicine.  The Bible says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”  (Neh. 8:10)  When you’re happy in Jesus, you sleep better.  When there’s joy, you digest your food, your juices flow, your glands secrete as they ought to because there’s joy in the Lord.” (Rogers)

Sin Defiles the Spirit

In verse 10, David says, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  David’s spirit was out of sorts with the spirit of God.  His spiritual relationship with God was not right.  Consider what David had done.  He committed adultery with Bathsheba and then he essentially murdered her husband, Uriah.  He thought that he would get away with it.  After all, he was the king!  God told the Prophet Nathan to confront him about it.  Read the story in 2 Samuel 12:1-25.

Sin Destroys the Testimony

In verse 14, David writes, “Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.”  When you are struggling with sin in your life, your life is focused on the sin and not on God.  It makes sharing the good news of Jesus difficult.  It makes praising God and singing to Him seem wrong.  Satan is winning.

 

Look at verse 15, “Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.”  Even the man after God’s own heart is not praising Him.  His lips are sealed.  His relationship with God is not right.  Verses 12 and 13 say, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.  13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.” How can you convince others that there is joy in serving Jesus if you have no joy in your life?

“Can a Christian sin?  Yes.  Can a Christian sin and not suffer?  No.  Remember, the most miserable man on Earth is not an unsaved man but a saved man out of fellowship with God.”  (Rogers)

 

Cleansing of Sin from the Life of a Christian

Confidence

Back in verse 1 of Psalm 51, David said, “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love.  Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.”(NLT)  David recognized God’s unfailing love for us.  He asked God to blot out or erase our sins.  He realized that God is the only one that can erase sin.

 

In Psalm 103:11-12 David said it a different way, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;  12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”  David was said to be a man after God’s own heart.  It was not because he never sinned but because of his personal relationship with God. God understands that we all make mistakes, I make plenty but I try my best to tell God what I have done, good or bad.  Fortunately, God is not done with us yet.

“Do you know what David knew?  David knew that God for a multitude of sins, there were a multitude of mercies. David knew that God had not stopped loving him.  He says, “According to Your lovingkindness.”  God does not love us because we’re valuable; we are valuable because He loves us.  God does not love us because we are good.  “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)  We need to have this confidence that no matter what we have done, God loves us.”  (Rogers)

Confession

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  When we sin, God requires us to confess what we have done.

The Greek word for ‘confess’ in the New Testament is ‘homologeō’ which means “to say the same thing.”  When we confess our sin to God, we must say exactly what happened.

God does not want you to pass the blame.  He does not want any “if, ands or buts”.  He wants a full admission of your guilt with no sugar coating.  Remember God saw and knows every detail.

When I was a teenager, I would come home late and I could be assured of one thing.  My mom would be lying in bed worried about me.  When I got home she would say, “What time is it John?”  For the longest time, I would tell her.  One time, I gave her the time and she had looked at the clock incorrectly.  She accused me of lying to her.  Then I realized that she had a clock right beside the bed.  She was asking me the time as a check of my honesty and to let me know that she cared.

God wants us to confess our sin to get us to admit that we were wrong and hopefully get us to repent and turn away from our sin.  The Holy Spirit is inside us and should be convicting us of our sin.  This was much like what my mom wanted.  She wanted me to stop coming in late but I wasn’t getting it.

Consider Genesis 3:9, after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden.  “But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”  God knew perfectly well where Adam was.  He wanted the same thing from Adam that He expects from us, true confession.

 

Did God get a true confession?  No.  Read verses 10 through 12. He passed the blame on to Eve.  That is not the confession God wants.  He wants us to own our mistakes and confess truthfully.  King Solomon got it.  He may not have lived it but he understood.  In Proverbs 28:13, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”  In an old Flip Wilson routine, he would say, “The Devil made me do it.”  That excuse doesn’t fly with God.  Remember He said “Resist the devil and he will flee.” (James 4:7)

 

In his book, Adrian Rogers speaks of the difference between satanic accusation and Holy Spirit conviction.  Revelation 12:10 tells us that Satan is the accuser of the brethren.  He is the original mud slinger.  He will dig up past sins that you have confessed.   This is one form of satanic accusation.  He will cause you to have doubts about whether or not God truly erased your sins.  1 John 1:7 says, “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  God said it and He means it.  If you confessed it, your sins are gone.

 

Satan will also try to make you feel guilty for no reason at all.  This is the second form of satanic accusation.  When we studied Satan, we learned that he wants to make us feel useless for God.  He wants us to say, “I am a sinner.  No one will listen to my witness for God.”

 

Conviction of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit at work inside of you, helping you not to sin.  He will also point out unconfessed sin in our lives and try to get us to give them to God.  The Holy Spirit is a part of God and the Bible tells us that God cannot be in the presence of sin.  The Holy Spirit wants your sin confessed and gone.

Isaiah 1:18 records that God said, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.” This is what God wants, this is what the Holy Spirit wants and why Jesus died on the cross.

 

Consecration

Read Psalm 51:12-15.  David prays for restoration.  He wants his feet put on the path that leads to God.  Consecration means to be brought up to a right standing with God.  With our sin erased from our lives, then we can be made right with God.  Our relationship is restored.  We can rededicate our lives to God’s service.

“Don’t get the idea that because you can be cleansed it makes no difference whether you sin.  Just as surely as you put your hand on a hot stove and get burned, if you sin, you’re bound to suffer, but thank God for His wonderful, marvelous, matchless grace that forgives and restores the sinning Christian.”  (Rogers)

What Every Christian Ought to Know – Adrian Rogers

How to Handle Temptation – Chapter 5

In 1 Corinthians 10:12-13, Paul told us “12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”  In regards to temptation, there are no new temptations.  The delivery may be different but the temptations are the same.

Satan is using the same schemes to get us to sin.  Yes, we have the internet and television to pipe the temptations right into our homes.  Remember, Greek temples were vile enough to have temple prostitutes so temptation was close at hand.

There are at least 3 ways to deal with temptation in our lives.  The first is to Give in to it.  The motto of the 1970’s was “If it feels good do it.”  Giving in to the temptation in our lives makes us no different than other animals.

The second way to deal with temptation is to Fight it.  James 4:7 tells us, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  Notice James is telling us that we must first submit to God.  Without God and Jesus fighting temptation is very difficult if not impossible.

The third way that Adrian Rogers tells us to deal with temptation is to Overcome it through Christ.  Without the strength that comes from Jesus then we will often fail and give in to the temptation.  Paul told us that there are no new temptations and Jesus has overcome them all.  He even overcame temptation directly from Satan himself. (Luke 4:1-13)  He did so with Scripture.

Not listed in Rogers’ book was another way to deal with temptation that we learned when we studied Satan.  That way is to Run from it.  When Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife, we are told that he fled from her.  (Genesis 39:7-20)  If you are being tempted to do something that you know is not right, run from it.  Take yourself out of the situation or at least give yourself time to talk to God about it or pray for strength.

Remember that God is with you through the Holy Spirit.  The second part of 1 Corinthians 10:13 says that God won’t allow you to be tempted more than you can endure.  This verse is misquoted often.  People remove the word ‘tempted’.  They say that God won’t give you more than you can endure.  God knows how much temptation we can take.  Even when Job was being tempted by Satan, Satan had to ask God how much pressure to apply to Job.  We are no different.  Back to 1 Corinthians 10:12, there is nothing new in regards to temptation and lesser people have withstood it, so you can too with the help of Jesus.

Being human makes us subject to temptation.  1 Peter 5:8 gives us a warning to “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  No one is free from temptation, even Jesus.  Remember, Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus “has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”  Rogers says, “The proud person tempts the devil to tempt him, and if you are cavalier or careless about sin, I can tell you that you are going to fall.  The person that is in the greatest danger, however, is the person who is trying to fight this temptation in the strength of his own flesh.  He thinks, “I don’t need to read a book on temptation.  I don’t have a problem with temptation.  I can overcome it.”  But without Christ you cannot.  God has to make a way of escape for you.”

Rogers uses an analogy of football to temptation.  Why not play the game without an opposing team?  Scoring would be much easier.  He says it is the victory that is important.  This applies to temptation.  It would be easier if there was no temptation in the world.  Again it is the victory that is important.  The glory is in the victory over the temptation.  God has set up the “game” so that everyone is tempted but only those that call on the name of Jesus will have a victory over the temptation.  Again, Hebrews 4:15 points out that only Jesus was victorious every time.

The Source of Temptation

Adrian Rogers says that there are 3 sources of temptation, the unholy trinity.  They include the world (external foe), the flesh (internal foe) and the devil (infernal foe).  Remember there is no new temptation in the world (1 Corinthians 13) and our temptation is going to come from one of these three ways.

1 John 2:15 tells us, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”  Understanding what the “world” is can be difficult.

When God through John said, “Do not love the world”, He is not talking about the planet Earth.  After God created He said, “It is good.”  So it is not the physical Earth that we are not to love.  We are to love all people.  Jesus said that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.  He is talking about “the system, an order of things.” (Rogers)

God wants our full attention.  God made one of the 10 Commandments, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  Consider what you can be your god.  Money, your beauty, your possessions, sports and sports figures, your children . . . the list goes on and on.  This is the world.  These things in and of themselves are not bad.  They are when they take our focus.  It is ok to want to look nice but when looking nice becomes your god.  Consider body builders.  Their entire focus is to look better than the next person.

1 Peter 3:3 says, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.”  How you are on the outside does not matter to God.  It is what is on the inside that is important to Him.

Consider when the Prophet Samuel came to anoint David as king.  He went through all of David’s older brothers before anointing David.  Before they started looking at Jesse’s seven sons, God told Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

 

So the world is anything around us that we can consider a god.  They are not bad until we make them bad.  It doesn’t have to be a thing, it can be an act.  If you are so wrapped up in your job that you don’t have time for anything else, like family or God, then that is the ‘world’ and there is a problem.  Remember what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

 

The Internal Foe – The Flesh

In Romans 7:15-20, Paul tells us about our Sin Nature.  We want to do what is right but our Sin Nature gets the better of us and we do what we do not want to do which is sin.

Read Galatians 5:19-21.   Paul lists some of the acts of the flesh.  It is quite a bad list.  In verse 21, Paul says that “those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven.”  Who will inherit the kingdom of Heaven according to Jesus (Matthew 5:3)?  The poor in spirit.  Those who are not self-focused but are humble are poor in spirit.

Verse 19 in Galatians 5 says that the “flesh” is evil.  He is referring to our humanness or our sin nature.  In Romans 12:1, Paul says that we are “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”  So our bodies are not inherently evil.  Leave it to “man” to take something made to worship God and corrupt it.

The Bible uses “flesh” to mean our predisposition to sin.  We inherited from Adam and Eve.  David takes it back to our early years.  Psalm 58:3 says, “Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.”

 

“Have you ever thought about it:  You never have to teach a little baby how to lie?  You have to teach a little baby to tell the truth.  You don’t have to teach a child how to be selfish.  You have to teach a child not to be selfish.  We all have in us an enemy inside the gates called flesh.”  (Rogers)

The Infernal Foe – the Devil

The devil is behind a large amount of evil or bad things in the world.  Read Ephesians 6:12.  When it comes to the war between good and evil, the battles are fought in the spiritual realm.  He was present in the garden and he is present today.  Remember from our study of Satan, if he can get us to doubt that he exists then he is winning.  He wants us to doubt our salvation so that we are ineffective at sharing the gospel message.

 

Adrian Rogers says, “Think of your flesh as a pool of gasoline.  Think of the world as a match.  Think of the devil as the one who strikes the match and throws it.  Then you will see how temptation comes about.”

 

In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul tells us, “May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   Temptation can attack us in one of three ways, in body, soul or spirit.

 

The desires of the body are easy see.  I would hate to count how many times that I have heard the line “The body wants what it wants,” on TV or in a movie.  Most of the seven deadly sins were caused by temptation of the body.

 

The second way that you can be tempted is the soul.  Your soul is what makes you who you are.  Your sense of humor, intellect and personality help make up your soul.  Unfortunately, your ego is also part of your soul and it is highly susceptible to temptation.

 

The third way that Satan can tempt us as listed in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is our spirit.  You may think that the soul and the spirit are the same thing but they are not exactly the same.  The spirit is how we interact with God.

 

John 4:24 says that we are to worship God in spirit and truth.  Rogers says that we are the only animal that has a spirit.  The spirit is how we can know God, fellowship with God and commune with God.

 

The body is our physical life (the world around me), the soul is our psychological life (the world around me and within me) and the spirit is our spiritual life (the world above me).  (Rogers)

 

Rogers says, “When my body is right, I am healthy.  When my soul is right, I am happy.  When my spirit is right, I am holy.”  Today as I look around me, I see a lot of unhealthy, unhappy and unholy people.

Remember that we have three enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil.  The world attacks your soul.  It influences the way we think about ourselves and everything around us.  It attacks our will, our emotions and our ego.  Consider Moses, his anger caused him to kill a man, his will was destroyed by his sin, his desire to serve God was gone.

 

The flesh attacks our bodies.  As I said earlier, our bodies are subject to attack with lust and other desires of the body.  Consider King David, he headed down sin’s long and winding road when he was tempted by seeing Bathseba.

The Devil attacks the spirit.  He will do anything to destroy your relationship with God.  He will do anything to keep you from serving God.  In a previous chapter, we learned that he will even get you to doubt your salvation.  Consider how he twisted and confused God’s words in Eve’s mind.  “but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die. ‘”  (Genesis 3:1)  The temptation in the Garden ruined her relationship with God and strained man’s relationship with God for all time.

 

Consider Peter.  He went from declaring that he would defend Jesus to the death if necessary, to denying Jesus.  His relationship with God was ruined until Jesus reconciled Peter.  Satan can attack our faith and get us to deny Jesus too.

 

The Seasons of Temptations

According to Adrian Rogers, as you mature the ways that you are tempted change.  He says that when you were in your youth, you were tempted by things of the body.  He lists sex, drugs, violence and laziness.

 

What do you consider middle age?  He says that the primary sins of middle age men and women are “soulish” sins.  He says that in your middle age you have put off the sins of the flesh.  I am not sure that I agree with that.  Have you ever seen a middle age man driving a red sports car?

He says that in your middle age your sins are related to ego.  I want the best house, the best car, my occupation, . . .   He says most people are trying to be Mr. Big or Ms. Big.  When you reach old age, he says that we are too old to commit the sins of our youth and middle age has passed us by.  He says that our sins are the sins caused by Satan.  Satan puts doubt and fear into our minds.  We question the existence of Heaven or your salvation or . . .

The Subduing of Temptation

Rogers breaks down subduing temptation in our life into three areas with each having one key word.  He gave us the unholy trinity with three sources of temptation; the world (external foe), the flesh (internal foe) and the devil (infernal foe).

 

In order to battle our external foe or the world, we have faith.  1 John 5:4 says, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”  As the hymn writer said, “Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.”

 

A worldly Christian says they are a believer but is on an ego trip.  Somebody who is trying to satisfy “life’s hidden hunger with an ungodly system of values.”  A true Christian has put their faith in Jesus.  1 John 2:15 says, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

 

There is an old adage that says, “No Jesus, No Peace.  Know Jesus, Know Peace.”  Sticking with what we are saying about the world, this could be changed to “No Jesus, Know the World.  Know Jesus, No World.”  You can’t have Jesus and also have the world.

 

“Everybody wants to be satisfied.  The reason most people don’t find satisfaction is that they are looking for it in the wrong place.  When we see what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, really understand who He is, this world has no allure for us because we are already satisfied.”  (Rogers)

As the hymn writer said it, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”  A mature Christian puts his/her full faith in Jesus.  They completely rely on God and not depend on themselves.

 

Against the flesh, we must take flight.  When we studied Satan we used the example of Joseph being tempted by Potiphar’s wife. Genesis 39:11-12 tells us when he was tempted, Joseph ran.

Remember 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that we won’t be tempted beyond what we are able to stand and that God will give us a way out.  Most of the time the way out is to run, leave or don’t stay in a situation that may cause you to sin.

Adrian Rogers uses the example of Twinkies.  If Twinkies are your problem, don’t buy them.  Our standing rule when our boys were growing up was, “No girls in the house unless we are home.”  We didn’t want them to be in a situation that would lead to problems.  If you are in the midst of temptation, “RUN”!

 

When battling Satan, the key word is Fight.  James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  When you feel Satan driving a wedge between you and God, tell him to get lost.

The first step in resisting Satan is to make sure that you have confessed any sin in your life to God.  Rogers says, “Get your heart clean.”  Jesus defeated Satan on the cross.  Remember what Pastor Brian says, Satan is no match for Jesus.  They aren’t equals.  All power and authority in heaven and on the earth have been given to Jesus.

In the name of Jesus, tell Satan to GO.  1 John 4:4 tells us “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

 

 

What Every Christian Ought to Know – Adrian Rogers

Believer’s Baptism – Chapter 6

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus gives us the Great Commission.   18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 

This commission is not a wish or suggestion, it is a command.  In this commission are actions that are required of us as believers.  First, we are to “GO”.  Some churches are good at this step.  Some fund missionaries to do the go step.  Yet others say “Come”.

 

If asked which kind of church we are, then I would say that we are a “Come” type church.  We are great at funding the Burkeys, etc. to do the going.  Or we are great at VBS or allowing others to come to our church.  I feel that we are excellent at the second part of the Great Commission, the teaching.  Once they come in we are equipped to educate them.

 

Rogers says that if a church is baptizing people because they are following Baptist or Methodist doctrine then they are doing it for the wrong reason.  We should baptize others because Jesus commanded it.

 

Rogers says, “If what I show you is not in the Bible, then don’t believe it.  If it is in the Bible, say, “That is God’s Word, and that’s what I’m going to stand on.”

 

Baptism doesn’t save you, it is an outward expression of what is in your heart.  However, baptism should not be minimized.  Jesus commanded it so we must do it.  Never think that it is something that we can take or leave out.  There is only one kind of baptism in the Bible, that is immersion.  Consider Mark 1:9-10.  In verse 10, it says “Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water”.  This describes immersion.

I believe that there are times when something less is acceptable, if the person is physically unable to be immersed in water then I believe that it is acceptable.  Consider the case of my brother-in-law, Rich.  He wanted to be baptized but his health and dialysis ports prevented us from immersing him.  His baptism was an example to his family that he belonged to Jesus.

 

Rogers says that every possibility should be exhausted to stand on conviction over convenience.

 

Another example of immersion in the Bible is Philip baptizing the Ethiopian in Acts 8:36-39.  Philip baptized the Ethiopian by immersion.  Verse 38 says that they “went down into the water and Philip baptized him.”

 

Rogers gives examples of baptism by immersion in the early church.  Hippolytus preserved a baptismal creed in his writings, “When the person being baptized goes down into the water, he who baptizes him, putting his hand on him, shall say: ‘Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty?  And the person being baptized shall say: ‘I believe.’”

Romans 6:4 says, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  Any other form of baptism except immersion would not make sense with this verse.

 

The book “Faith of Our Fathers” by James Cardinal Gibbons, states, “For several centuries after the establishment of Christianity, baptism was usually conferred by immersion, but since the twelfth century the practice of baptizing by affusion has prevailed in the Catholic Church, as this manner is attended with less inconvenience than baptism by immersion.”

Read Romans 6:4-7.  Regarding verse 4, Guzik says, “But Paul’s point is clear: something dramatic and life-changing happened in the life of the believer. You can’t die and rise again without it changing your life. The believer has a real (although spiritual) death and resurrection with Jesus Christ.”  You are dying to the old self and becoming as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “a new creation”.

Paul says in these verses that when we were baptized we were crucified with Christ and just like Him, we are raised to life again.  When Jesus died on the cross, it was to erase the sin debt once and for all.  When you are baptized then you show everyone that you claim Him as your savior and that you will walk with Him as a new person.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 tells us the Gospel message, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”.  When we accept Jesus as our savior then we accept that His gospel is true.  When we are baptized, we connect our life with His life and we identify ourselves with His death, burial and resurrection.

 

Rogers says, “When I got baptized, it was just a funeral for the old Adrian.  The old Adrian died and baptism pictured the burial of the old Adrian.  The only mourner there was the devil.  He hated to see me die, I was his good buddy.  And so the old Adrian is dead and buried.”

The step before baptism is really important.  You must be saved before you are baptized.  It is important to understand what you are doing.  You are claiming the death, burial and resurrection as factual, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and putting your faith in Jesus.

 

Acts 16:31-33 tells us the order of salvation.  First, the jailer and his family heard the Gospel message from Paul and Silas.  Then they told the jailer to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved . . .  then immediately he and all his household were baptized.”

 

Paul equates our baptism to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  Rogers points out that you can’t bury a person with a small amount of dirt.  It requires full immersion.

 

We have already covered that you don’t get baptized because your parents want you to or because you reached a certain age.  Rogers says that one gets baptized because, “I believe in Jesus Christ.  I identify myself with His death, burial and resurrection.  I am not ashamed of Jesus.”

 

We are saying what Paul said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”  Without faith in Jesus then there is no salvation.

 

As I said earlier, the act of baptism does not save you.  It is the outward expression of what you feel on the inside.  You are saying, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and I don’t care who knows it.”

 

Rogers says that it is like a wedding ring.  It is a constant reminder that you are “married” to Christ.  John MacArthur points out that there is one more step to the Gospel message and that is obedience.  You will want to follow Him and do what God’s Word tells us.

 

Rogers says, “There is a Master to confess, there is a message to convey, there is a mandate to complete.  God has commanded us to be baptized. . .  Anytime anybody anyplace calls upon Jesus in repentance and faith, they will be saved.”

 

I learned John 3:16 from the King James Version of the Bible.  It says “whosoever” and that is anyone.  It is not those that you approve of, it is anyone that God accepts and 2 Peter 3:9 is very clear.  God wants everyone to come to repentance and salvation through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

 

Adrian Rogers defines a Biblical Baptism

The Method – Immersion

The Meaning – A picture of our identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, which is the gospel.

The Motive for baptism is to confess Christ, obey Him and declare His saving gospel. 

What Every Christian Ought to Know – Adrian Rogers

How to Discern the Will of God – Chapter 7

In Proverbs 3:6, Solomon wrote, “Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”(NLT)  On a secular level, I was recently asked by a great-niece “How can I choose an occupation that will make her financially successful in the future?  How do you know?”  I led her down the road of choosing something that you are good at and that you enjoy.

Sometimes knowing the will of God for you is just as difficult.  As Christians, our great desire should be to know the will of God for our lives.  We should delight in doing God’s will.  The great danger is to not do His will.

Adrian Rogers says that there are six myths regarding knowing God’s will.  MAP MYTH.  God does not give us a map to follow that takes us down the road of God’s will.

That would make it easier to discern God’s will for us.  Consider the Hebrew Nation coming out of Egypt.  God led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  Knowing His will is about a relationship and not a map.

MISERY MYTH.  Some people think that doing God’s will is painful.  When I hear this, I think of the monks that take a vow of silence.  Or I think of something that my mother said when she thought that I was started serving God in our church.  “God is going to take another one of my sons.”  My oldest brother was an evangelist.  His disappearance from our household was his choice and not God’s choice.  Serving God does not mean giving up your extended family.

Adrian Rogers uses the example that if we do God’s will then we will end up in Africa.  Yes, some people are led down the missionary road but it is not for everyone.  Talk to Kylie Terry about teaching in Africa and her eyes light up.  Talk to her dad and I am sure he supports her but as a human dad, he has pain.  Kylie doesn’t feel the pain because she is doing God’s will.  Yes, she does miss her family.  It is not for everyone.

“Some people are afraid of God.  They really are afraid to surrender to the Lord.  Yet God is a loving God and God wants for us what we would want for ourselves if we had enough sense to want it.  God is a loving God;  don’t believe the misery myth.”

MISSIONARY MYTH – The myth is that God only calls a certain class of people, such as Pastors or missionaries but not regular people.  It doesn’t matter who you are God calls you to serve Him in numerous capacities.

MIRACLE MYTH – Some believe that to know God’s will, you must experience a miracle, see a sign, hear a voice or something supernatural.  Read 1 Kings 19:11-12.  God wasn’t speaking to Elijah in the wind, the earthquake or the fire.  God spoke to him in a small still voice.

MISSED-It Myth – You think “I missed it, God came calling when I was young and now I have missed it.”   Did God reveal His plan for you and you missed it?  I believe that God is at work in our lives and as Paul told us in Philippians 1:6, “He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].(AMP)  He is not done with us yet.

I have seen this one in my own life.  As a younger man, I was caught up in science and work.  Pastor Larry and Pastor Brian have said that they believe that I was called to pastor.  There were numerous times in my life when He could have changed my path.  I believe that I am right where I should be.

It is never too late to fulfill God’s plan for you.  Look at Moses, he was born to lead the Hebrew Nation out of Egypt.  At 40 he killed a man but at 80 he fulfilled God’s plan.

MYSTERY MYTH – Sometimes we think that God’s will for our lives is a mystery.  You ask, “How will I ever know what God’s will is for my life, it is a mystery?”   God wants you to know His will.  He will reveal it to you as you grow as a Christian.  He nudges us in His direction when we need it.

As a Christian, if we met Jesus, Rogers believes that we would ask Him, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”  In Acts 9, Paul met Jesus face-to-face and in verse 6, Jesus told Him, “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”  Paul was headed the wrong way and God set Him straight.

We need to be open to whatever God leads us to do.  Isaiah 64:8 says, “Yet you, Lord, are our Father.  We are the clay, you are the potter;  we are all the work of your hand.”  If you pray a prayer similar to what the hymn says, “Have thine own way Lord, Have thine own way.  You are the potter, I am the clay.  Mold me and make me after Thy will. While I am waiting yielded and still.”  God will reveal His will to you.  Maybe not immediately but it will become evident.

Jeremiah 10:23 says, “I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself,
Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.” (NASB)  We may want to know what the will of God is for our lives but we can’t figure it out on our own.

 

Consider Paul, I don’t believe that God’s will for Paul was to go around and murder Christians.  It took a meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus to get Paul on the right path.

 

Rogers gives several principles from Paul’s experience recorded in Act 9.

Principle 1.  “Guidance is Promised”

In Acts 9:6, Jesus told Paul, “Arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”  This applies to us all.  God will lead us in the way that we should go.  Consider Psalm 37:23 and 32:8.  Who plans our steps?  God

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  God has a plan for all Christians to do good works.

 

Isaiah 58:11 also tells us that God will continually guide us.  “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”  Solomon in his wisdom knew it.  Proverbs 3:6 tells us that if in all our ways, we “submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

 

Rogers says, “Thank God, there is a like promise to us as well.  I have a Father above me who is controlling all things.  I have a Savior beside me directing my footsteps.  I have the Holy Spirit within me, energizing me and impressing my heart, my mind and my will.”

 

One of the things that we can know for sure is that God is in control of everything going on in the past, present and future.  We are sitting here today in Church and Sunday School because God willed it.  It is not by accident that we are in this place.  It is the “Prevailing” or Sovereign will of God.

 

There is also the “permissive” will of God.  God gives us free will.  He does not impose on us the choices that we make.  He could force us to accept the salvation that He provides through Jesus’ work on the cross.  People accept and reject Him all on their own.  2 Peter 3:9 tells us that He doesn’t want anyone to perish but come to salvation.

 

Back in Deuteronomy 30:19, God gave the Hebrew nation the choice “life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”  We have the same choice today.  God gives us free will and we can choose to disobey God.

 

Rogers says, “God has a plan for my life, for your life, for everyone’s life.”  They are all different and individualized leading to your eternity with Him.

 

 To summarize:

1. God’s prevailing will is that there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth and that Jesus will rule and reign over them. That will happen, no if, ands or buts about it.

 

1. God’s permissive will is that we make the right choices. Rogers uses the example of making the right choice about Christians marrying Christians.  It doesn’t always happen.

 

1. God’s personal will is for us to marry the right person, in my life, it was Terry. It is a very special and specific will.  As we read in Psalm 32:8, it is God who directs our steps but we still have to make the decision.  He can lead us in the way that we should go but we still have to choose.

 

You might say, “An individualized personal will for everyone is impossible.”  Nothing is impossible for God.  Jesus told us that God even knows the number of hairs on our head.  If He knows the number of hairs on our heads then He can certainly watch over us and provide us with guidance.

God’s will and how you serve God is different for you than it is for me.  We each have to serve God how we are led.  Read John 21:21-24.

 

Principle 2.  “Guidance is Provisional”

Willingness

When I think of provisional, then I think of temporary.  What Rogers is saying is, “Guidance is yours provided you claim it.”  You have to want it or you have to claim it and be willing to do it.

 

God can have a plan for me to carry out a specific missionary event.  He can make all the circumstances perfect and open all the right doors for it to happen.  If for some reason of my own choosing, I decide not to carry it through, then it won’t happen.

 

The same thing can happen with a calling to be a pastor or missionary.  God can guide you into and through it but if you choose not to then it won’t happen.  Remember Paul asked on the road to Damascus, (Acts 9:6) “Lord, what do you want me to do?”  We have to have the willingness to do God’s will.

All through the Bible, we are told that God has a specific plan for us but if you choose to go your own way then His plan will not be accomplished for you.

Meekness

 The NKJV of Psalm 25:9 says, “The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.”  Other versions say “the humble”.  What the psalmist is saying is that to accept God’s will for your life, you have to have a meekness to listen.

 

He uses the example of a wild horse.  Breaking the horse is a battle of two wills.  When you break the horse, you want all of the attributes that the horse possessed before but you want to instill a meekness in the horse.  Meekness provides the horse with a willingness to listen.  Same for us.

 

Consider if God says, “I want you to . . .”  You say, “I know how to do that” and charge in your own direction.  God will provide you with His will for you and guide you on the path He wants you to take.  Being headstrong is not the attribute in you that God is looking for.  Slow down and let God lead.

 

Meekness provides you with a teachable spirit.  Quite often my A.D.D. gets in my way, then I remember “Let go and let God.”  He will open doors that you never thought were possible.

 

 

Openness

On the road to Damascus, Paul said, “What do you want me to do?” or “I am open.”  The hymn “Where He leads me I will follow. . . I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.”  God is looking for those who are open to His leading.

 

Consider Elijah’s encounter with God in 1 Kings 19.  In verses 11 and 12, we find out that God spoke in a small still voice.  We have to be quiet and listen for God’s leading.

 

In your busy life, try to find a quiet time to talk to God, whether it is a prayer time or a Bible Study time.  Develop a routine of spending time with God.  Meet Him there and listen for that small still voice and be open to His leading.

If you are open then you will be able to hear and accomplish God’s will for your life.  In many cases, God is persistent.  Consider Moses, he used every argument that he could think of for God to get someone else to lead the Hebrew nation out of Egypt but God persisted.

Rogers says, “We say, ‘Listen Lord, Your servant speaks,’ rather than ‘Speak Lord, Your servant listens.’  Knowing and doing God’s will require an openness on your part but listen until He is finished speaking.

Consider King David, he wanted to build the temple but God said that his son would build it.  Still, David amassed what was needed for his son to build the temple.  God’s will for David was as a warrior.  Let God decide how He will use you.

Yieldedness

When I think of “yieldedness”, I think of Isaiah 6:8. “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?”  And I said: “Here am I. Send me!”  You can know what God wants and be open to what His will is but then you have to yield to putting His will above yours.

 

Back to Paul’s conversion in Acts 9.  Consider Ananias’ part in Paul’s conversion.  We know that Paul was headed to Damascus to put Christians to death.  Even the apostles were afraid to meet with Paul after his conversion.  Ananias was a Christian and God told him to go meet with Paul. Read verses 10 -12.

Ananias knew what Jesus wanted him to do.  He recognized that it was what Jesus wanted but he recognized that Paul could have him put to death.  What would have been your response to Jesus?  Which son from Matthew 21:28-32 would you be?

Ananias was neither son.  In verse 17 of Acts 9, we read that he did just as Jesus had asked.  That is true yieldedness.  He feared for his life yet he did what God/Jesus asked.  Rogers says, “If you are not willing to yield to the will of God, then why should God show you His will?”

It is human nature that when asked to do something, we ask “Why?”  Tell your children, especially a teenager, to do something.  “Why?”  Fortunately, when we say “Why?” to God, He doesn’t say “Because I said so!”

Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”  Living sacrifices are willing to do what God asks of them.

 

Rogers says, “You may not know what it is, but I can tell you it’s good, acceptable and perfect.  God promises that.  He has a wonderful will for your life.”

Principle 3.  “Guidance is Practical”

God guides us in a variety of ways.  He guides us with the:

9. Miracles – It is not His normal way but consider Paul in Acts 9. Paul was knocked down, blinded and spoke with Jesus.  Sometimes we need an extra kick in the pants.

1. Word of God – Have you ever read Scripture and been put back on the path that God wants you on or pushed in a different direction? This is not uncommon.

1. People of God – Have you ever listened to a sermon and thought that the pastor was speaking about you? In Paul’s story, God used Ananias to get Paul to follow the will of God.  He can do the same with our friends or Church family. It could even be through a book or Bible Study.

1. Proverbs 24:6 says, “Surely you need guidance to wage war,
   and victory is won through many advisers.”

1. Spirit of God – As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Sometimes I accept Him as the Holy Spirit and don’t put it together that it is the Spirit of God living in us.  It too will direct us down the will of God.

1. Galatians 5:18 says, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” The Holy Spirit will guide us in the true way that God wants us to go.  When I think of our trip to the Mediterranean, I believe that the Spirit of God directed us throughout the trip.  Things don’t work out that well unless it is of God.

22. Wisdom of God – Read Acts 9:20-22. Immediately after Paul was healed by Ananias, he started preaching in the synagogues.  Just a short time with Jesus and Paul is preaching about Jesus.  God provides us with the wisdom we need when we need it.  There isn’t or shouldn’t be a pastor out there who is preaching from their own wisdom.  When I prepare for Sunday School, it is the same thing.  God provides me with His wisdom to allow me to teach.  Read James 1:5.

25. Providence of God – The internet definition of providence is “the protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual power.” Look back in Acts 9, verses 23-25.  God’s protection allowed Paul to escape death.

• Rogers says, “There’s a God who watches over the affairs of men. They planned to kill Paul, but God let him know of their plans.  There’s an unseen hand that guides – the providential hand of God.”

To sum up, the 6 principles used by God to keep us on the path to completing His will for us, we can put them all into one, “Just Jesus”.  Remember from    1 Corinthians 12:12, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.”  Jesus is the head of the Church.  Jesus makes sure that the body has all of the parts to advance the overriding will of God which is the Great Commission.  Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

God’s will for you will help fulfill what Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:9, God doesn’t want anyone to perish.

First – “the will of God is for your welfare. It is not something you have to do; it is something you get to do. You would want the will of God if you had enough sense to want it if you understood how much God loves you.

Next, the will of God will never take you where the power of God and the grace of God cannot enable and keep you.

And last, you are free to choose. God will not force His will upon you. You are free to choose His will. You are not free not to choose. You say, “Well, I won’t choose.”  You just made a choice—you chose not to choose. You’re free to choose, you’re not free not to choose, and pay attention—you’re not free to choose the consequences of your choice.  You make a choice, and the choice chooses for you. You’re free to jump out of a ten-story building; that’s your choice. But then the choice chooses for you when you hit the ground. Do you understand what I’m saying? You’re free to choose. You’re not free not to choose. You’re not free to choose the consequences of your choice.

And so what you really are is the sum total of your choices.  The wisest thing you can do and I can do would be to do what?  Do what Saul did. Ask the first question, “Lord, who are You?” And second, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

What Every Christian Ought to Know – Adrian Rogers

About Faith and How to Have It – Chapter 8

Read Romans 10:11-17.  Paul pulls a few nuggets out from the O.T. prophets.

1. Isaiah 28:16 is talking about the cornerstone that is a sure foundation which is Jesus. It continues with if you rely on Jesus, you will never be panicked (NIV) or put to shame.

2. Joel 2:32 says, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This even includes us today.  This verse continues with God will deliver you.  It is something that you can count on as an absolute.  God is unchangeable.

3. Isaiah 52:7 says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Why are they beautiful?  Because they deliver God’s gospel message.  It doesn’t matter how eloquently you deliver the message, it matters that you “GO” and deliver the message.  The message makes “the feet” beautiful.

We have women in here who make their own cards.  When are the cards the most beautiful?  When the person that they are meant for receives one of them and sees it.  The same applies to the gospel message.

In Isaiah 53:1, Isaiah asks God who believes the message.  Only God truly knows who is impacted by you sharing the gospel message.  Even if they reject it when you share, they may accept it later because you moved them in the right direction.

Verse 17 of Romans 10 says, “faith comes from hearing the message.”  If we don’t share it then they may not hear it.  As Bill Gaither wrote in his Southern Gospel song, “You gotta give it away.”

“Pray, believe; you’ll receive.

Pray and doubt; you’ll do without.”

Just like the two blind men in Matthew 9:27-31, Jesus told them “According to your faith let it be done to you”.  It is according to our faith and not our “fame”, “feelings”, “fortune”, “friends” or “fate”.

Rogers says that faith is the medium of exchange (money) for the kingdom of heaven.  In the U.S., the dollar is the medium of exchange.  You never want to hear Jesus say, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:23)  or “You put your faith in other things and not in me.”

Unbelief is the worst sin.  The unforgivable sin is unbelief.  In Matthew 12:31, Jesus tells us that “every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.”  One of the works of the Holy Spirit is to lead us to accept the Trinity into your heart.  If you do not believe then you are blaspheming the Holy Spirit or your unbelief cannot be forgiven.

If you never believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God in this lifetime then your final destination is set, it is the Lake of Fire.  Your sins cannot be forgiven if you do not believe.  Rogers says, “Just as you live physically by breathing and you take nourishment from food, you live spiritually by faith.”

Think of all that comes to us by faith:

Salvation – Romans 5:1

The fullness of the Spirit – Galatians 3:14

Victory over the world – 1 John 5:4

Victory over Satan – Ephesians 6:16

Sanctification – Acts 26:18

Some of the problems that come when we fail to exercise faith are worry, loneliness, guilt and disobedience.  We worry because we don’t have faith in God to get us through the situation.  We are lonely because God doesn’t feel close to us.  We have guilt because our faith isn’t strong enough for us to trust God’s forgiveness.  We are disobedient because we doubt God’s Word.

 

 

 

Building Your Faith

The Reality of Biblical Faith – Rogers says that “your faith is no better than its object.”  What you put your faith in is what is important.  Psalm 146:3-4 says “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.”

Mark 11:22 records that Jesus said, “Have faith in God.”  Jesus continues that with your faith in God then He will move mountains for you.  There is no greater place to put your faith than in the one who created everything around us, who knows more about us and our bodies than anyone or any doctor.  Doctors know because they have learned, God knows because He created.

 

The reality of our biblical faith according to Romans 10:11 is that we believe “on Him.”  The hymn-writer had it right when he wrote, “Why should I feel discouraged, Why should the shadows come, Why should my heart be lonely, And long for heav’n and home; When Jesus is my portion?  My constant Friend is he;  His eye is on the sparrow, And I know he watches me;  His eye is on the sparrow, And I know he watches me.”

With even the smallest amount of faith in Jesus as the Son of God, you can overcome any trial in your life.  Remember Jesus said, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

 

Hebrews 12:2 says, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  We are not to have faith in our faith, it is our faith in Jesus that saves us.

 

In Mark 9, we are told that the disciples could not cast demons out of a boy but Jesus did.  Jesus chastised them for their lack of faith.  It wasn’t a small amount of faith, it was no faith.  He called them an “unbelieving generation.”  Although this was a special case requiring fasting and prayer regarding casting out these demons, in verse 23 He tells them, “Everything is possible for one who believes.”  Even if the demons were cast out, it was ultimately God that did the kicking out.  It required them to have faith in God.

 

Strong faith comes from fully trusting God.  It comes from getting to know who God is and what He is capable of.  The O.T. Jews always went back to their deliverance out of Egypt by God.  If He could deliver them from Egypt then He could do anything.

 

In Ephesians 1:19-20, Paul says that we should have faith in Jesus because we have access to Jesus’ “incomparably great power” and that is the same great power that “He raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.”

 

Rogers uses the analogy of crossing a bridge to explain how to build up your faith.  When you want to cross a bridge and you don’t know if it will hold you up, you examine it.  You look for flaws or defects and make sure that is solid.  If others have relied on it such as semi trucks, then you have a stronger faith that it will hold you.

 

When you read and study His Word, then you get to know God and learn to trust Him.  God is immutable or unchangeable.  He is the same today as He was in the Bible.  Some try to separate the God of the O.T. from the God of the N.T. but He is the same.

 

“The reality of faith is based on a knowledge of God.  “[One who] believes on Him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 9:33)  Do you want to have strong faith?  Don’t try to make yourself believe.  Get to know God.  Psalm 9:10 says, “Those who know your name trust in you.”  Daniel 11:32 says, “The people who know their God will be strong and take action.” That’s the reality of biblical faith.  Your faith is no better than its object.  You must know God.”  (Rogers)

The Root of Biblical Faith

In the conversation between Jesus and His disciples recorded in Matthew 16:15-17,  Jesus asks them, “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”  Our faith comes not just from hearing but it requires a spiritual movement within us that comes from God.

 

Paul tells us in Philippians 1:6 that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Who began the good work? God.  Now this is not like what the Calvinist believe.  God doesn’t predetermine who believes.  As 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, God wants everyone to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  He gives us the ability to grasp His salvation plan.

Rogers says, “No one can believe God unless God enables him to believe.  And how does God enable you to believe?  God gives you a word.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  Therefore, contrary to popular belief, you don’t name it and claim it.  God speaks, and you believe it and receive it.  “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1)

 

Rogers uses Philippians 1:29 to show that God granted us our belief in salvation through Jesus.  This verse says “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.”  God makes everything right for us to accept Jesus.  He even plants the seed in our minds but when it comes down to it, it is still our choice.

 

Hebrews 3:7-8 tells us, “ So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”  Hardening our hearts prevents God from starting that “good work in you”.

It comes down to what Paul says in Romans 10:9, if we believe then we receive.  In John 3:36, Jesus said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”  Rejecting and accepting is our part.  God doesn’t make us believe.  Salvation is offered and everything can be perfect for us to claim it but we can still reject it.

 

Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (KJV)  Other translations say that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for”.  Whether your Bible says ‘substance’ or ‘assurance’, the Greek word is the same, ‘hypostasis’ which points to the ‘foundation’.

 

Faith is the foundation of Christianity, it is our belief in salvation through who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.  The Word of God tells us so.  The foundation of our faith came from “hearing the word of God”, either from a parent, teacher, pastor or friend.  The root of faith is the Word of God.

 

In the phrase, “word of God”, ‘word’ was not the Greek word ‘logos’ which is commonly used.  It was the Greek word ‘rhema’ which means ‘utterance’.

When we read the Bible, God speaks to us.  He gives us what we need from scripture at that time.  Hebrews 4:12 tells us “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us “16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

 

I picture “God-breathed” as an utterance from God.  Much of the Bible is an utterance from God but some are actual quotes from God.  Praise Pastor Brian for his latest sermon and he will respond, “It was all God.”  He received an utterance from God and delivered it to us.

Adrian Rogers likens a preacher to a mailman.  The message comes from God and the preacher delivers it to those whom the sender, God wanted to receive it.

 

Romans 10:14 says that without hearing about salvation through Jesus, then how will they call on His name?  If we never heard about Jesus, then we would not be where we are today.  We can look at God’s creation and know that there is a God but without reading His Word or someone telling us, then we cannot know about Jesus.

 

Previously we covered doing the will of God.  Faith is necessary to do the will of God.  Without our faith, no one is told about Jesus.  Without our faith, nothing gets done in churches.  Without our faith, the will of God does not get done.

 

I am not saying that God requires us to get His will done.  That is just His plan.  His plan includes us but He doesn’t require us.  Remember 2 Peter 3:9, God wants everyone to come to repentance.

 

Rogers says, “You cannot have faith for anything that’s not the will of God.  If it’s not the will of God, there’s no possible way that you can have faith for it.  Why?  Because faith is the gift of God.  Faith comes from hearing the Word of God, and God’s not going to give you a word on something that’s not His will.  And that’s wonderful because God is in control.  Don’t think that you can just believe for whatever you want and have it.”

What is the reality of faith?  It is the faith in God.

What is the root of faith?     You hear from God.

What is the result of faith?   The result of faith is that God’s will is done.

 

The Release of Biblical Faith

The word ‘believe’ came from the old English, ‘by live’ or what we believe, we live by.

 

Back in Romans 10:17, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” (NIV)  In verse 16, the NKJV says not all obeyed the message, the NIV says not all accepted the message about Christ.

 

Not everyone is a believer or today churches would be full.  We have reached a point in man’s history where we can no longer use the term ‘believer’.  People believe the Gospel message is true but they are not willing to put their faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

 

James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”  How are we different from the demons?  It is our obedience and faith in Him as our savior.

 

Belief is a choice that we make.  You can hear the gospel message and choose not to believe.  Rogers says, “Unbelief never comes out of the head but out of the heart.”  Hebrews 3:12 says “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.”

 

Be saturated with the Scriptures.  Remember that faith comes from hearing from God.

Be dedicated to the Savior.  Remember that faith is no better than its object.  It’s not so much a great faith in God as it is in a great God.

Be separated from sin.  Unconfessed sin is a faith killer.  Don’t be disobedient and expect faith. Read Romans 10:21 again.  If you are having difficulty with faith, try repentance.

Be activated by the Spirit.  Remember that old song, “Trust and Obey”? Remember we are to obey the gospel.  Real faith is belief with legs on it.  Get started!

What Every Christian Ought to Know – Adrian Rogers

How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit – Chapter 9

Read Ephesians 5:15-18.  At the end of these verses, we are directed to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Rogers uses the example of someone who has never driven before buying a brand new car and doesn’t realize that it has an engine in it.

The car becomes a burden because he has to push it instead of driving it until someone shows him how to use it properly.  “Vroom” it went when it was started.  The Holy Spirit is a power source that is instilled in us when we got saved.  The Holy Spirit is the power of a Christian life.  We are proud of our Christianity but like the man who didn’t understand the power of the engine in the car, we do not understand the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we do not learn to take advantage of the Holy Spirit in our lives, then our Christianity will become a burden.  Acts 1:8 tells us, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.”  Not taking advantage of that power is the problem.

 

The Reasons for the Spirit-Filled Life

Obedience – Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”  This is not a request, it is a command.  We need to be obedient to this command.

 

James 4:17 says, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”  The sin of omission is as bad as the sin of commission.  If you are doing what God wants you to do, then you will have less time to do what He has told us not to do.

 

In the case of Ephesians 5:18, we won’t be getting drunk if we are Spirit-filled.  Some people do not get drunk but they aren’t Spirit-filled either.  Rogers points out that people who are not Spirit-filled do more damage to the reputation of a church than drunk people.

 

Back to Acts 1:8, it says “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.”  We do not have the ability to fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit.  It is all up to the Holy Spirit to fill us.  Ephesians 5:18 says, “be filled with the Spirit.”   The Holy Spirit is a gift of God.

 

The second reason for being filled with the Holy Spirit is it is your obligation.  You need the power of the Holy Spirit to fill your obligations to God.  Back in Acts 1:8, it says that one of our obligations is to be witnesses for Jesus. (He likes ‘w’ for these things.)

 

Spirit-Filled in Worship Life – In John 4:23, Jesus tells us that we are to “worship the Father in spirit and in truth”.  This is an obligation that we have to God the Father.  It means that we should come to worship or church on Sunday prepared to meet God and truly worship.

Rogers says that we should also be spirit-filled in our wedded life.  Ephesians 5:25 says “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” And verse 22 says, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.”

 

We should be Spirit-filled in our work life.  The first 5 years of my work life at OC would have been considered this way but after all of the downsizings from 1986-2000, I struggled with it.  Read what Paul says about this one in Colossians 3:23-24.  We are to work as if we are working for Jesus.

 

We are to be Spirit-filled in our War Life.  Ephesians 6:12 says that we are warring against Satan and his minions and not people.  In VBS and our Sunday School study about Satan, we learned that we need to put on the full armor of God in order to defeat Satan.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can have the attributes of Jesus but we have to be Spirit-filled.

 

We need to be Spirit-filled in our witness life.  In Ephesians 6:19, Paul asks the church at Ephesus to, “Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.”  To reach others for Christ, we need the help of the Holy Spirit.  Acts 5:32 says, “And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”  We are witnesses to Jesus’ life-changing power.

 

Your Opportunities

Ephesians 5:15-16 tells us to “15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  We are to be witnesses for God everywhere we go or to all the people that we meet.

 

One of the worst feelings is to realize, “I should have told them about Jesus.”  A missed opportunity can haunt you.  If you truly believe that Jesus is the answer to the world’s problems today, then why not share the solution with those you know and meet?

 

John 15:5 says that we are connected to Jesus as the vine and without Him, we cannot reach people.  “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  The fruit are those that you help lead to Christ.  Without a spirit-filled life, we cannot reach others for Christ.

 

The Requirements of the Spirit-Filled Life.

We are but a vessel for God to fill with His spirit.  The only thing that we can do to be spirit-filled is to be open to God.  We don’t have to convince God to be filled, we just need to allow Him to fill us.

 

Requirement 1.  Complete Commitment –  You need to fully surrender to the Spirit of God.  Don’t forget that the Holy Spirit is a person. Paul in Romans 8:11 says, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”  The Holy Spirit is a “He”.

When you surrender, then your body is not your own.  It is a temple of the Spirit of God.  1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.”

 

Rogers says, “Think of the Holy Spirit as a person who wants to come and take complete control of your body, which is His temple.”

In the book, “My Heart – Christ’s Home” by Robert Boyd Munger, the reader is taken through the journey as Christ/Holy Spirit moves into your heart.  The most difficult part of surrendering to the Holy Spirit is when He wants to move into the room that contains your darkest secrets.

Rogers uses the example of a friend moving into your house with you.  You say make yourself at home.  The next thing you know he is going through everything in your house.  Your bank statements, personal letter, nothing is off limits.  You did tell him to make himself at home, what is the problem?

 

When you invite the Holy Spirit in, He has access to your innermost thoughts, you can’t put limits on what He changes or has access to.  In order to communicate with God about you, He has to know everything.  Nothing can be out of bounds.  That is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Requirement 2.  Continual Control.  Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”  When you are drunk, you are under the influence of the wine or the world or Satan.  The ways that you think and behave are not under your control usually in a bad way.  Quite often you behave in a way that you will regret later.

 

If you are filled by the Holy Spirit, then you are under God’s influence which affects you in a good way.  You will never behave in a way that you will regret.

When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, it is not part of a list of things to be completed.  “I accepted Christ, check.  I came forward at church, check.  I was baptized, check.  I was filled with the Holy Spirit, check.”  It begins a continuous commitment.  You will have to learn to live with Him and learn to yield control over to Him.

Requirement 3.  Conscious Claiming.  For most people, yielding control of your life requires a lifelong commitment.  It is not in our nature to give up control.  It is not based on emotions, it requires a conscious choice, as the hymn says, “I Surrender All.”

 

John 7:37 records what Jesus said concerning the Holy Spirit.  He says, “^]If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.”  John 3:16 uses the word ‘whosoever’ but it is whosoever chooses to drink or be filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

Earlier I used the example of being an empty vessel to be filled but the vessel does not make the choice.  We have to consciously claim to be filled.  We consciously claimed salvation, we must do the same with being Spirit-filled.

 

Finally, if we live a spirit-filled life then there are results.  Read Ephesians 5:18-21.  Paul tells us that if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, it will change our relationships with God and other people.  It will also change how we view or relate to our circumstances.

 

Guzik says “When we are filled with the Spirit, we will have a desire to worship God and to encourage others in their worship of God.”  When I look at God’s impact on my life and the things that He has got me through, I want to show Him my love for Him.  I want to praise Him.

Throughout the Bible, the Israelites praised God for the exodus from Egypt.  Do you have “exoduses” in your life that you want to praise God for?  Being Spirit-filled makes you want to praise God for what He has done.

Joy can only come from God.  You have joy regardless of your circumstances.  It is similar to being happy but you can’t be happy in the bad times, that is joy.

Ephesians 5:20 says, “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  It says, “always” and not just when you feel like it.  That is joy.  When you are Spirit-filled, you have true joy.

Ephesians 5:21 says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  Being spirit-filled changes your relationship with other people.  If we are spirit-filled then we treat others with 1 Corinthians 13 type of love.  “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

 

We read these verses at weddings and most people think that this only applies to a married couple but for a Spirit-filled Christian, it applies to their relationship with everyone.  We are to have the love of Christ in us.  That is what is described in these verses.

 

Remember when Jesus was asked about which commandment was the most important one, the second most important was to love others as ourselves.

 

What Every Christian Ought to Know – Adrian Rogers

How to Discover His Spiritual Gift – Chapter 10

In Romans 12:6-8, Paul says, “6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”  God has given each believer a gift or gifts to use to help you accomplish His will for your life.

 

When we studied 1 Corinthians 12, we completed a survey to help us determine what spiritual gifts God has given us.  These surveys are helpful but they are not always accurate.  We can add our own biases as we answer the questions.  But the surveys can give us a start in understanding what our spiritual gifts are.

 

Rogers says that Christians can be divided into clergy (those in full-time ministry) and the laity (those in the pews).  He says “A little girl was asked to define and describe the difference between clergy and laity.  She said that the clergy are paid to be good and the laity are good for nothing.”  This isn’t true because God can use everyone to accomplish His will.

 

We are all aware that there is more to Christian life than coming to Church, sitting in the pews, singing a couple of hymns, listening to a sermon and then going home.  Staying for Sunday School is a good addition but there are so many ways to serve God in your home church.

 

Adrian Rogers makes a plea for us to use our spiritual gifts.  “If you are tired of just drawing a breath and drawing a salary, if you are not content to sit around and endure until you die, then here is great news.  God has called you to serve Him, and God has equipped you to serve Him.  God has given you a spiritual gift.  You’re to take that gift, discover it, develop it and deploy it for Jesus.”

 

In 1 Corinthians 12:1, Paul starts to describe the Gifts.  He says, “I don’t want you to be ignorant concerning gifts.”  Many Christians do not have a clue of what their spiritual gifts are or how to use them to serve God.

 

God has given you natural talents.  Spiritual gifts may be connected in some way to your natural talents but not necessarily.  Singing and playing a musical instrument are God-given natural talents but they are not spiritual gifts.  Spiritual gifts are gifts from God but they are not learned.

 

When something comes from God it is not to be distorted.  1 Corinthians 12:2–3 tells us that if the Holy Spirit is speaking through you, then you will never call Jesus accursed and no one calls Jesus their Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

Satan wants to give the Holy Spirit a bad name.  Satan has created nothing but has distorted God’s creation.  Satan has no raw materials, God has created everything.  His goal is to distort or pervert the things of God.

 

When God created everything “God saw that it was good.”  Satan worked to make everything that God created sinful and distorted.  This same thing applies to spiritual gifts.  Satan will try to distort your spiritual gifts.  Look how some evangelical type churches use speaking in tongues or roll around on the floor saying if you don’t behave like them then you are not truly saved.  That is a distortion of spiritual gifts by Satan.

Remember what Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 14:33 and 40:  “33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people.” 40 “But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.”  God is a God of order.

“Anytime you find worship that draws away from the Lord Jesus Christ, even worship that seems to magnify the Holy Spirit rather than the lordship of Jesus, that worship is contrary to the Bible.” (Rogers)

 

It sounds strange because we know that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit make up the Trinity, so why should it matter which one gets glorified?  Colossians 1:18 tells us that “He (Jesus) is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”  Your spiritual gift should be used to glorify Jesus.

 

Jesus told His disciples, John 16:”13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.”  The Holy Spirit came to glorify Jesus and to guide us to do the same.

 

We are to magnify the name of Jesus.  The praise hymn, “We Will Glorify the King of Kings”, says it well.  “We will glorify the King of kings, We will glorify the Lamb.  We will glorify the Lord of lords, Who is the great I Am.”

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 speaks about the diversity or different kinds of Spiritual Gifts.  In order for us to accomplish God’s will He gives us gifts.  These gifts speak of God’s provision.  What we do with these gifts or the ministries we serve in speak, of God’s purpose?  Our activities speak of God’s power.  Your gift requires the power of God to operate.

Just as our bodies are made up of many parts all performing their functions in unity, a church is made up of many people with different gifts in unity to make the church do God’s will.  Not everyone can be a pastor or trustee or deacon or educator.  They must work together using their spiritual gift in order to work well.

In 1 Corinthians 12:16-25, Paul speaks of the church as a body.  Our bodies are made up of eyes, ears, legs, arms, brain, heart, . . .  The body requires all of these parts to function as they were designed.  God puts people with diverse spiritual gifts into a church so that the church can do His will.

Rogers uses the example of a choir.  A choir is made up of people singing together but not necessarily in unison.  They are singing in unity with each contributing to the song their own voice, basses, tenors, altos and sopranos.  You wouldn’t want the basses singing soprano or the sopranos singing bass.

A church must have unity or no work gets done.  If there is no harmony inside the church, it is difficult to praise God with one voice.  Somehow those outside the church can sense how well things are going in the church family.

In our study of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, it was easy to see that the Corinthian church had no unity.  Most of Paul’s letter was spent getting them on the right track and praising God in harmony.

Design of the Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:7 says, “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.”  Instead of ‘spiritual gift’ many translations say ‘manifestation of the Spirit’. 

Rogers says, “Your spiritual gift is not for your enjoyment; your spiritual gift is for your employment.  Your spiritual gift is a tool, not a toy.  It is to bless the church body.”

Your spiritual gift is given to you to serve God in order to do His will for your life.  It is not to be hidden away, never to be used or seen.  You have been put in your church to serve God and your spiritual gift helps you serve God according to His plan.  God wants us to bless the church which will spill out blessing the community and the world.  It is similar to this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

Distribution of the Gifts.

Read 1 Corinthians 12:8-11.  The spiritual gifts are distributed by the Holy Spirit.  He chooses the gift for you.  Your spiritual gift was given to you when you accepted Jesus as your savior.

Some of the gifts are listed in these verses and Romans 12:6-8.  All of these gifts are used for God’s glory and not our own.  Paul was quick to point out that no gift is more important than the others.  Egos have no place when it comes to spiritual gifts, it is all about serving and glorifying God.

Rogers breaks the gifts into 3 types

Teaching / Leadership Gifts – practical, needed and most common

Service Gifts – Jesus’ life was marked by service.  A true servant leader.

Sign Gifts – Given to authenticate the work of apostles and prophets.

Teaching / Leadership Gifts

Leadership (Romans 12:8) – Coordinate and help see the big picture.

Prophecy ( 1 Cor. 12:10 and Rom. 12:6) – Speaking the Word of God to edify or buildup and exhort or fire up and to comfort or shore up.

Teaching (Romans 12:7) – Clarify truth

Exhortation (Romans 12:8) – To stimulate and encourage in faith

(i.e. Counseling, music, witnessing)

Wisdom (1 Cor. 12:8) – Seeing life from God’s point of view.

Discerning of Spirits (1 Cor. 12:10) – To discern spiritual wickedness and demons.  Terry calls it her “creep-o-meter”.

Service Gifts

Ministry (Romans 12:7) – Service.  These are the workers of the church.

Giving (Romans 12:8) – Accumulated and disperse assets

Faith (1 Cor. 12:9) – We all have faith but this is Superabundant faith.

These people can take away the fog.

Mercy (Romans 12:8) – Identify and comfort those in distress.

Sign Gifts –

Knowledge (1 Cor. 12:8) – Know things by divine intuition.

Healings (1 Cor. 12:8) – Do not see today.

Miracles (1 Cor. 12:9) – Do not see today.

Tongues (1 Cor. 12:10) – Speaking in known languages, not learned.

Interpretation of tongues (1 Cor. 12:10) – Works together with Tongues so that all are edified.  In 1 Corinthians 14:28, Paul says, “If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.”

 

Discovery of Gifts

In our study of 1 Corinthians, we did a Spiritual Gifts survey.  It is important to understand what your Spiritual Gift(s) is so that you can use your gift to serve God in this church and so you can develop it further.

 

Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”  This means that our bodies are not our own.  We are to present them to God for His will and not our own.  This is a command but it is also voluntary.

 

Romans 12:2–3 says,  “2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  Using your spiritual gifts to do God’s will is a matter of stewardship.  God has given you your spiritual gift to serve Him.

We should have the mind of Paul, who said in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”  It is not about us but about sending the name of Jesus out into the world.

 

Rogers says “Don’t insult God by saying you don’t have a grace gift.  True humility is not denying God’s gift.  To deny your grace gift is not humility but unbelief and rebellion.  To fail to use your grace gift is a tragic waste.  It is poor stewardship of the gift entrusted to you.   

 

What Every Christian Ought to Know – Adrian Rogers

How to Pray (with Power) – Chapter 11

In Matthew 6:9-13, Matthew records how Jesus showed His disciples how to pray.  Before He prays, He doesn’t say, “Repeat after me” or “Pray this prayer”.  He says, “Pray, then, in this way”.

Prayer is communication with God and it is personal.  It is from the heart and not the head.  It should not be recited.  It should not be repeating a prepared prayer unless it is telling God what you need from your heart and you want to get the words correct.  Such as praying in front of people and not wanting your nervousness to cause you to misspeak.

Prayers like “God is great. God is good.  Let us thank Him for this food.” This prayer is recited to get children accustomed to praying or thanking God for our many blessings, such as food.  But as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:11, we are to put off childish ways as we mature as Christians.

There may be times when your needs match those that Jesus prayed about and in the Lord’s prayer then it would be okay to repeat it but it should match what is in your heart.

How many times have you said the Pledge of Allegiance mindlessly without saying it from your heart?  That is NOT what God wants.  I believe that prayer can take you right to the throne room of God and should be treated that way.

Learning to Pray

The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 was given to His disciples as a model prayer.  It is a model of a prayer from the Son of God to His Heavenly Father.  It is from a child to His father.

John 1:12 (NLT) says “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”  A conversation with someone that you don’t believe exists makes no sense.  You can only be a “child of God” if you believe that God is real and truly believe that He can supply your needs.

 

Some believe that God is the Heavenly Father for everyone because He created them but He does not claim them as His children unless we are willing to claim Him by rebirth.

 

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus cries out to God as “Abba, Father”.  In Galatians 4:6 and Romans 8:15, Paul refers to God as “Abba, Father.”  This is the same as referring to God as “Daddy”.  How much more personal can you get?  Is your relationship with God to the point that you can refer to Him as “Daddy”?  It is what God wants.

Rogers says, “You can go directly to God, your Father, if you are born again by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord.”

 

The Purpose of Prayer

Matthew 6:10 gives us the purpose of prayer and that is for God’s will to be done.  Prayer is communication with God so that we can know and understand God’s will for us.  Prayer is a way of getting God’s will done on earth.

 

God loves us and wants to make sure that we are taken care of.  Read the following verses and see what they say about God giving us what we need.

 

Matthew 7:11 –  God knows how to give good gifts if we ask.

 

James 1:17 – Every good gift comes from God.

 

Philippians 4:19 – God will supply all our needs.

These verses do not say, “If I need a car then I should pray for a Lexus.”  That is the prosperity gospel and is an improper gospel.

 

We spent a whole chapter on understanding and doing God’s will.  John 15:7 tells us that Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” 

 

Charles Spurgeon says of this verse, “Prayer comes spontaneously from those who abide in Jesus… Prayer is the natural outgushing of a soul in communion with Jesus.”

There is a hymn that I have come across, “I Must Tell Jesus” that sums up the way we should feel if we abide in Jesus.  The lyrics are “I must tell Jesus all of my trials;  I cannot bear these burdens alone; In my distress, He kindly will help me; He ever loves and cares for His own.”

When good or bad things happen, we should go to God in prayer.  In my opinion, calling God or Jesus a friend makes them too familiar.  We are supposed to go to them humbly.

One of the purposes of the Holy Spirit is to show us what and how to pray.  If we mumble through the prayer then the Holy Spirit will make it perfect.  With the Holy Spirit abiding in us, He knows what we need and want to pray.  He communicates our needs to God but you still have to try or pray.  This is called praying in the spirit.

Rogers says, “The Holy Spirit in us helps us to pray.  We pray to the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit.  If we surrender to the Spirit of God and abide in Christ, then His Word abides in us.  Therefore, we can pray for whatever we will.  Because strangely and wonderfully, what we now will is what He wills because we now have the mind of Christ.  As we pray, we think the thoughts of Christ after Him.” . . . “the prayer that gets to heaven is the prayer that starts in heaven.”  “God lays something upon our hearts to pray for, we pray for it and it goes right back to heaven.”

In the Lord’s Prayer that is “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”  It is still about the will of God. I have heard pastors pray “If it be your will Lord, heal this person.”  We hope it is God’s will that this person be healed but sometimes it is what we want or think we need but it is not God’s will.

The Provision of Prayer

Philippians 4:19 says that God will supply our needs.  Again, He says needs but consider what King David wrote in the 23^rd Psalm, “My cup runneth over.” Also, consider what Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, our God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”  But don’t fall into the prosperity gospel trap.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus says, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  He didn’t say, “Give me everything I need and want.”  If He supplied you with wealth to get you through a lifetime, then your lifetime would be spent without God.  He wants you to look to Him daily.  When we accepted Jesus, He removed all of our past sins but He still wants us to rely on Him so we have to ask for forgiveness for future sins.

When Jesus prayed for God to supply our daily bread, He wasn’t just asking for bread every day.  Substitute your current need for daily bread.  From 1986 through 2000, I survived numerous downsizings at work.  To me at the time, my job was my daily bread.

Our God is a God of Provision.  He will provide our needs.  Read Matthew 6:25–34.  Also consider that during the exodus from Egypt, God gave them manna or their daily bread.  When they complained He gave them quail to eat also.

James 4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not ask God.”  Jesus told us in Matthew 7:7-12 to Ask, Seek and Knock.  Verse 7 begins with “Ask and it will be given to you.”  Again He is not talking about asking for what you want, He is talking about your needs.  These needs are to be in line with God’s will.

This is the provision of prayer:  “Give us this day our daily bread.”

 

The Pardon of Prayer

The next part of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:12) says, “And forgive us our debts (trespasses), as we also have forgiven our debtors (trespassers).”  Jesus asked forgiveness as an example because He never sinned.

 

Rogers begins this section with some reasons why our prayers are not answered.  Sometimes prayer is not answered because:

 

We are not praying to God as our Father.  We have never been saved.

We are praying for the Will of God to happen. “Thy will be done.”

We do not ask.

We have unconfessed or unrepented sin in our lives.

 

Based on this list from Rogers, the logical thing to do is confess our sin and get rid of it.  Remove any chance that the unconfessed sin is the barrier to God answering your prayer.  Ask for forgiveness.

 

Even in the O.T., some verses say that if we have unconfessed sin in our hearts, then God will not answer our prayer.  Psalm 66:18 says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”

 

Isaiah 59:1-2 says the same thing.  It says, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.  2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you.”  Think of it this way, our unconfessed sin or sin that we are holding onto is preventing God from hearing us specifically.  He is still listening but there is interference caused by our sin.

 

Before you pray for an important need in your life get rid of your sin, either by confessing it before you start or including it in your prayer as Jesus did.  Remember that 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

 

 

 

The Protection of Prayer

The next verse in the Lord’s Prayer asks for protection against the attacks of Satan.  Verse 13 says, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Remember from our VBS that we are to put on the full armor of God every day.  The last step after putting it on is to pray for protection against Satan.  Ephesians 6:18 says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”  Praying for God’s protection is critical for us in our daily walk.

Rogers says, “It has been said that the devil trembles when he sees even the weakest saint upon his knee.  And so, my friend, we need to pray, “Lord, lead us not into temptation.”

There has been discussion about whether or not God leads us into temptation.  James 1:13 says, “For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.”  That verse of the Lord’s prayer can be interpreted as “Lord protect me, otherwise I may fall into temptation.”

 

2 Peter 2:9 says that God knows how to keep us from being tempted.  He is able to protect us from ourselves and Satan.  Just because we know when we are tempted, doesn’t mean that we won’t fall into Satan’s trap.

 

Sometimes we fall into the same traps.  Have you ever prayed this prayer?  “God, it’s me again.  I tried but I did it again.”  Psalm 103:12 says that God separates us from our sin, “As far as the east is from the west.”

How many times will He forgive us?  Read Matthew 18:21-22.  We are to forgive others seventy times seven or 490 times or as long as it takes.  God will do the same but He does expect you to reach a point where we stop committing the same sin.

In the Lord’s prayer, we pray “And forgive us our debts (trespasses), as we also have forgiven our debtors (trespassers).”  There is one huge 2 letter word in this verse that people overlook.  It is “AS”.  God will forgive us our sins in the same way that we forgive others.

 

How well do you do with that one?  We are to forgive others the way that we want to be forgiven.  Do you hang on to grudges?  We are to forgive and forget.  As far as the east is from the west.  We are to give others a full pardon.

The Praise of Prayer

Jesus ends the Lord’s prayer with “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”  This is praise.  Not all translations include this ending.  My Bible has a footnote that says, “This clause was not found in early manuscripts.”  I learned to include it.

Rogers says, “All powerful prayer I pray packed with praise.  Why?  Because praise is an expression of faith!  Prayer is faith turned inside out.  Faith causes our prayers to be answered.”

The KJV translates Psalm 22:3 to say, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” We are to praise God because He is worthy of our praise.

 

A shortened version of Isaiah 58:11 is “Where the Lord guides, He will provide.”  Through our prayers, we can communicate our needs to Him.  Through our prayers, we can develop a personal relationship with Him.  As a Christian, the most important thing that we can do besides reading and studying His Word, is to pray.

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