Are You Real?

Here is a brilliant question that was asked by a brilliant student I know; "how do I know if I am the real deal? How do I know if I am truly saved?"

That is not a dumb question... in fact Jesus teaches the opposite in a couple places. Jesus teaches that 'not everyone who says, "lord, lord will enter the kingdom'" (Matthew 7:21). He teaches that some will say to him, "'we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evil doers'" (Luke 13:26-27). Or he says, "many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers!'"(Matthew 7:22-23). So, Jesus is informing us that there will be people that assume, and wrongly, that they 'know him' and it will come as an utterly crushing blow that they not only are not known by the Christ but also that they are 'evil doers!'

So, asking if we are real is a good question that we should put to ourselves because the bible puts it to us as well; "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you- unless, of course, you fail the test?" (2 Cor 13:5) This is a good question to ask and I think it is a much better idea to question now then to find out on the day of judgement. If you haven't asked then maybe it would be a good idea... 'Am I real? Am I really saved?'

I think it is incredibly mature to ask that question as a high school student... I know I didn't personally ask that question until I was much older... Having grown up in churches I just assumed that I knew about grace. When in fact the exact opposite was true. I knew of cheap grace, not the costly grace that the bible speaks of. The problem of most false converts is cheap grace. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it this way: "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church [and individuals]. We are fighting today for costly grace" (The Cost of Discipleship, pg. 43). Cheap grace teaches that forgiveness is cheap and easy. Which is the exact opposite from the cross. The cross was costly. Grace is far from cheap. That is why it is so magnificent for the saved sinner! We dwell at the foot of the cross in wonder and awe. We revel at what was accomplished for us! We are astonished at the grace and mercy that God extends to us. That the Son of God would die for me?! Who could possibly think that the King of the universe would die for a rebel like me? We are humbled as we contemplate the glory of cross, It is the power of God and the wisdom of GOD!!!! It is our hope and our salvation! It is beautiful! But now I am getting ahead of myself...

Here is a way that you can have some confidence in God's saving of you specifically. You probably already know that Christ literally died, that he absorbed the wrath of God due to sinners, that he took on himself the curse of sin and death, that he was buried, and that he resurrected to authenticate his ability to conquer death, the grave, and sin. And, he extends the offer to any that would believe on him for salvation. What the question really is, "did he do that for me?" Let me ask you this; "how do you feel about the cross?" The answer will help you to know whether or not you are saved. "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God... [the message of] Christ crucified is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor 1:18, 23-24). When you think about what the cross means to you do you see salvation? Do you see glory? Do you see forgiveness? Are the scars on Christ balm for your soul? Do you see that your punishment was satisfied in the torture, abandonment, ridicule, and destitute of the Son of God when he walked the brutal road to Calvary and hung on the cross?

When you see the magnificence of The Author of Love dying on a cursed tree you know that you are saved! There is a miracle that happens when you are saved. The technical term is regeneration, or you may have heard the phrase, 'born again.' What that means is that God does a miracle in your heart and life. The bible tells us that we are dead in our sin and we are opposed to the ways of God. We think the Cross is dumb and obedience is legalistic. Then in His great love and mercy He makes us ALIVE! He gives us the ability to see the beauty of Christ and what He achieved. We get to see 'the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor 4:4). That, my friends, is a beautiful miracle. When Christ who is the image of God is revealed to you and you feel your heart skip a beat. When you feel adoration for the risen Christ rising up in you then you know that you have been brought from death to life. You can say, "I once was blind but now I see!"

Unfortunately, those that are perishing think of the cross as foolishness and some even think of Christ as their little dispenser of cheap grace that 'justifies the sin and not the sinner' (Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, pg. 43). I suppose that if you feel that way then you have much to be concerned about. However, God appeals to you to fly to the cross; to trust his Son for salvation; to accept forgiveness of sins; to be brought from death to life. The offer is made today for those that are far off. And I personally beg you to do the same; trust Christ, believe on Him for salvation, He is extending His grace to you today! Do not stiff arm His grace again! Please please please allow Him access to your heart and life!

And for those of us that need to be reminded of his love for us and his saving power:

"God demonstrates his own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation" (Romans 5:8-11).

As those that are saved by grace we still make mistakes and in a weird way, although I hate the mistakes, I am thankful for them. They keep me near his cross. Christians that don't need a savior are the ones you have to be worried for. Their ability to perform their Christian duties repel them from Christ and from his cross. They will make it to the bitter end on their own strength and hear those treacherous words, 'I never knew you, you might have done all sorts of things in my Name but you did not know me.' Christ's offer is for those of us that sit at the foot of his cross daily and receive salvation daily. We are utterly reliant on him for forgiveness and sanctification and life. When you find yourself at Calvary you say with Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God" (John 6: 68). Salvation is from the Lord and he grants assurance to those that sit at the feet of Jesus for eternal life.

But I know sometimes there is only a little flicker in your heart. You barely feel anything towards Christ. You are feeling weighed down and, truthfully, disinterested in Christ or His Cross

And at the end of the day maybe the best advise I can give to someone asking these questions is... go to God. Confess that your appreciation of the Christ is not what it should be. Ask Him if the offer He made is for you. I think it is fair to ask Him if He loves you. I believe that God is more than able and willing to demonstrate His love for you. He will wrap you up in His arms of grace and show you, "you are my son," or "you are my daughter." And there is nothing more precious than that feeling. And the more you feel and experience that love the more your love for Him grows. And the more that exchange of love goes back and forth between you and your Maker the more you can be assured that you are His, and He is yours.

Conversion

Last night at bible study we looked at the nature of conversion... I was lost in the texts as I prepared for 1 Cor 15. We dwelt on the word "received" because Paul says that the Corinthian church received the gospel and on which they were taking their stand... What does that word receive mean? You received the gospel? We looked at several forms of receiving the gospel that I found in scripture:

1) Birth: This concept is seen in a few places but probably the clearest is Ephesians 2. "You were dead in your sins and transgressions... but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ... it is by grace you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:1,4-5) So before you knew Christ, you were dead, but God graciously said this word to you, "LIVE!" (Ezekiel 16:6)

2) Kingdom Change: Romans 6 helps us with this illustration. Before receiving Christ we were a part of a nation. It is a nation of darkness. It is the kingdom of sin and we all were slaves to this sin. Sin was our master and we gladly took orders from it. God in his grace brought you into His kingdom, the kingdom of light. So, we have changed teams in a sense.

3) Adoption: Before we received Christ we were spiritually poor. We were put out. We were orphans. Sin was our father but he abandoned his own. We were in a sad state and left to ourselves we would perish. God in His mercy adopted you and I (Ephesians 1:5). He saw our poverty and was moved to act on our behalf. He reached out His hand and brought you into his home with the promise of  sharing in His inheritances.

4) Bride: The Bible also teaches us that when we receive Christ we are betrothed to Jesus. We are wed to the King of Kings. We become His object of love and commitment and we gladly receive our beloved with deep heartfelt appreciation. Before we were wed to him we were harlots so it is extremely gracious that Jesus would take us in and provide for us and love us. These word pictures are drawn from Ephesians 5 and Ezekiel 16.

Let us end by thinking about these analogies and what they mean for us personally. Each of them leads us to throw ourselves on Jesus in humble adoration. So take a few minutes today to praise Him for your receiving of the gospel.

Helpul Article on Conversion

I recently wrote an article on Spurgeon and his conversion... It is probably a great idea to point out that not all conversion happens the same way. People are drawn to the cross in all sorts of different ways. God is creative in his calling of men and women.

But, I would say that conviction of sin is a great place to start and praying for conversion would be a great thing for seekers to begin.

An article was just posted on conversion here. Here is a quote from that article by Jonathon Dodson.

Gospel change in some cultures is more gradual than instantaneous. The American Evangelical tradition of “deep consciousness of personal sin followed by a sense of joyous liberation” is not common to all cultures. Missionaries labored for years before they saw a single conversion, and even then, the conversions were sometimes very different than what they expected. Cultures that are more communal experience conversion differently that cultures that are highly individualistic. In many African and Asian cultures, conversions come in pairs or families instead of by single individuals. Not all gospel change happens identically, especially across cultures.

...Like the former missionaries, we must reconfigure our understanding and expectation of how people undergo gospel change and how disciples are made. We must be more open to “process conversions” while also guiding that process toward full commitment to Jesus as Lord. Our goal should not be to replicate our personal conversion experience, but to preach the gospel effectively so that we can make disciples in the emerging post-Christian context. We must heed the failures of the past and call people, not to our experience of conversion, but to the experience of the Spirit’s converting, whatever that process may entail.

Also, John Piper recently wrote a book called Finally Alive that you can get here. I listened to the sermons that the book is based on and it was extremely helpful in my understanding of conversion.

Thoughts on Spurgeon, pt 1

It was crazy to me that C.H. Spurgeon grew up looking at the pictures of Christian from Pilgrim's Progress. He spent his youngest years perusing books of great depth like Pilgrim's Progress and Foxe's Book of Martyrs. He began at an early age to engage in discussions of doctrine with older gentlemen(both his father and grandfather were pastors and young Charles would sit in as they talked with other pastors and leaders). This led to an interesting point in his life when the weight and burden of sin was crushing his soul...

I'm not sure how long this took place but I am sure that it had a profound effect on his outlook on sin and ministry. First, that sin was utterly deplorable but also that sovereign grace should be (and was) preached in every sermon. 

It was incredible to me that he spent time begging God for conversion. He had an awareness of sin but needed to be born from above. I think it is a great idea to teach people to pray for conversion. That they need to have God accomplish a work in them that they cannot achieve by signing a card for baptism or by wandering to the front. This desperation for conversion had a profound effect on him. He took sin absolutely seriously and he resolved to preach with crystal clear clarity that all need to trust in the crucified Jesus for salvation.

Acts 2- Welcome to Life

Peter preaches a message of Jesus to the crowds gathered and the Holy Spirit slays their natural inclinations. It is so bizarre that we can spend our lives in a fog of confusion. Totally engrossed with the natural world... our responsibilities, our jobs, our families, our schooling, and our plans. I am sure those Jews that were sitting under Peter's teaching did not wake up with any anticipation of what was to come that day. Life for them would have seemed pretty normal. But, God does not leave us in our sins. He takes the words of a rambunctious fisherman from Galilee and makes them the Words of Life.

The bible says that the hearers were 'cut to the heart.(vs 37)' The Holy Spirit with surgical application takes the truth of Christ and applies it to very essence of our spiritual being, our hearts. And when the Word of Jesus storms into our hearts we are found wanting. We realize that everything we have pursued in our life was petty compared to the importance of Jesus. We realize that we have spent so much energy on worthless things when we should have pursued King Jesus. It is a traumatizing experience. Like waking up on the surgeon's table with a chest spreader and your heart laid bare. Your insides are hanging out and you have a real problem that is beyond your ability to fix. Sure you could grab some tools and try to patch yourself up but it will not suffice. Many of us do that when the Holy Spirit applies his masterful scalpel to our heart. We want to try to remedy ourselves. And some pastors even will wrongly patch up a person that the Holy Spirit is operating on... but in Acts the hearers ask, "brothers, what shall we do?" Then the surgeon offers the solution.

I don't know how many of you have been in hospitals. I personally have spent a lot of time in them. My nickname was crash. I was always breaking something. Usually myself. So, on a couple occasions I had that conversation. The surgeon sits me down and tells me my options. You could have this procedure and it will hurt and it will take time but you will have a full recovery. Or you could forgo the surgery and I am not sure what will happen.

The same is true with the Holy Spirit but he knows what happens if you forgo his operation... it leads to death. He in essence says, 'you can submit to my operating table and I will make you alive and healthy and perfect or you can walk away and it will lead to your demise.' I choose life. So did the men in Acts. Here is the procedure, "Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off- for all whom the Lord our God will call. (vs. 38-39)" That is the procedure that we submit to. We are cut to the heart and there is a remedy. Complete submission to the work of God in our lives. Every one of us and the promise continues. It was true 2000 years ago and it is true today. Repent and be baptized. 

O' how many of us have wiggled our way off the table. God does not miss. You know that statement to be true. When He determines to cut you to the heart He succeeds and you have felt the Words of Jesus penetrate your soul before. But, after the incision it is so common that people run from the Healer. Today friend if you have not already done so, Repent and be baptized. 

Here is what that means; to repent is to turn from sin. Not just away from something that is bad like a legalistic restriction... it means you turn to something better. You turn to God. 

And baptism is the process of complete surrender. Jesus died a sinners death on a cross and was buried in a tomb. Then He was raised from the dead. He asks you to join Him in that death, burial, and resurrection in baptism. The death of yourself and the birth of a new creation. Romans 6 says that God will raise you up to walk in newness of life. You will be a new person. Fit for citizenship in His Kingdom. Friend... make that happen today. You are not promised forever. The Surgeon is eager to apply His healing hands. You know your sickness will lead to death and you desperately need a saviour. 

If you have made that decision today tell someone! Drop me a email corywilliams@centralwired.com or call 608.362.7663 ext 24. 

"Those who accepted this message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. (vs 41)" 

John 19- Knowing But Not Submitting

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS. (vs. 19)

The Jews were furious saying, "do not write 'the king of the Jews' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews." (vs. 21)

The danger of decision... It is scary to me that it is so easy to carve a sign stating 'King of the Jews.' I am not saying that it is literally easy to carve a sign (I grew up on a tree farm with wood and knives but I would probably cut myself again if I tried to do this now). Instead, I think it is easy to say that, 'Jesus is king' figuratively speaking. 

Imagine a church service where you are compelled to name Jesus as lord (AKA king). Much is made of him in an hour worship service and it culminates with a pastor pleading for you to 'decide' for Christ. He even has you close your eyes and repeat after him. You think to yourself, 'why not? I've tried everything else.' Easy right? Like posting a notice. Jesus is king. Fact. Declared. Amen. The end.

My cautious warning to all 'professing' believers that have 'decided' for Christ is be careful that you don't end up in the 'Lord Lord' group(Matthew 7). They claimed to know him but he considered them strangers. They witnessed his ministry in action but they didn't have fellowship with Him. It is important that you take your relationship with him further than Pilate did. Pilate simply acknowledged, Jesus disciples lived for him with a passion. There is a difference. You can see it played out. Nominal christianity is a statement of a fact, 'Jesus is king'. Authentic Christianity is a glad submission to his kingship. Are you a patriotic citizen of Jesus' Kingdom or do you simply acknowledge his kingship but do little to support the advancement of the Kingdom? 

Friend, if you are uncertain then plead for a passion. Just simply ask God to do a miraculous work of making you fall in love with his Glory. Ask him to rescue you from the pitfall of false conversion found in Matthew 7 and Acts 5. What could possibly be worse than standing before the King of Kings and finding out that you might have posted a sign about him declaring your christianity but he calls you out on the insignificance of a sign.

John 3 -Regenerates

This passage has captured me for the past several months... The words of Jesus are eerie and apparently important. He says to Nicodemus, "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." To which Nicodemus says, "WHAT!?!" We must be born of water and the spirit in order to see the kingdom of God. This concept which is referred to as "born again" or "regenerated" goes like this; We are dead. We are spiritually dead. Some refer to this as the total depravity of man. We are in a state of spiritual deadness and stand guilty and condemned by the Law of the Lord. Then something miraculous happens... God takes dead creatures and by His spirit and by water He quickens us to life!

This is such a critical topic that we are going to do a series in the near future called "regenerates." My prayer for every student in our youth group is that they would be brought to life by the author and perfecter of our faith. That He would perform the procedure of bringing your dead heart to life through the Word that is Jesus Christ! That we would be a bunch of people that have become new creations, the old is gone the new has come! REGENERATES! People brought from death to life.