6/10/2001

Let's bow your heads in prayer, please.

We Thank You Father for this wonderful day you have given to us, we thank you for the beauty of the springtime and we thank you that everything is being recreated before our very eyes, we thank you that you are the creator. We think of all the different colors and all the different plants and trees and shapes and sizes and we just marvel at them and realize how creative you are. We don't understand all the differences and we don't understand why each one has it's own shape and size and color and purpose we don't understand why there are bugs and birds, and animals but you created them for our pleasure, you created us after your own image so we could enjoy the things that you enjoy. Father, we know that you love your creation and that you love us as the highest of your creation. We thank you that you sent Jesus Christ to die in our place that we might have life. We thank you Father for your great love and great creativity you are worthy of our worship. Father this day we worship you joyfully in Jesus name. Amen.

How many of you have flown with an E-ticket? OK an e-ticket is one of those things that is an electric ticket, you don't have to have the piece in your hand although when you get to the airport they give you a boarding pass and things. About four years ago, we were in California to a seminar my brother, two other passengers, and myself and my brother had made the arrangements and we had gotten e-tickets. The three of us met in Flint, flew from there to Detroit and the other guy met us out there and somehow he lost his ticket. He had never done e-tickets before and so the day we were suppose to leave, the night before, he said I can't find my ticket, I can't find my ticket anywhere and so not knowing that he had an e-ticket and not a regular ticket we helped him look for it. And you don't need one, of course, and so looked and looked, we searched the rental car, pulled the carpets up and looked all over the room, pulled the pillowcases apart and looked in there and couldn't find his ticket anywhere. Went to the seminar the next day and we were supposed to leave at noon after the seminar was over, supposed to get on a plane, no no we had an extra day, and was supposed to get on the plane the next day early and so we called the airline and they said well just come in about an hour early and go to such and such desk and then talk to them and they can reissue a new ticket. That will cost you about $50 extra for the new ticket but at least you will be able to fly home. So that whole day he was just in what they used to call a tizzy because he couldn't find his ticket and didn't know how he was going to get home and didn't know how to go about this stuff, you know and he was just beside himself almost. The only thing on his mind was can I get home. I want to be able to get home and how can I make the arrangements? We got to the airport about an hour early and went up to the desk and ask where is the desk I need to go to have a new ticket issued? The desk clerk said just down there so he walked down to the next counter. They ask what is your name and he gave them his name and they said Oh you have an e-ticket anyway, you are all set. So we got up an hour early because I didn't know he had an e-ticket. I thought he had his regular ticket because he had made his own arrangements. So I thought he had a regular ticket and all the rest of us did too. Come to find out he had an e-ticket. He had the ticket all along but he doubted he did because he didn't understand the process. He was worried all day and all night, for about two whole days that he was not going to be able to make it home because he didn't have his ticket. Couldn't find it anywhere. What he had lost was his boarding passes from on the way out and thought that contained his ticket for on the way back, which is quite often the case, of course. And so he was worried for the whole day and the day before and all that morning getting to the airport that he might not be able to fly out with the rest of us and he had his ticket all along but he didn't know.

That happens with many people who have, who know that there is a sort of ticket to eternal life who is Jesus Christ but they doubt. They wonder, they are not so sure, they are just kind of uneasy about there relationship with Christ because they, oh for a number of reasons, there are a lot of reasons people doubt there salvation. One is they just don't understand what the process is, how Jesus died on the cross. They understand some, they understand that they need Christ and so they receive Christ with kind of a skeletal understanding and then there is nobody who fills in the blanks for them, kind of keeps continuing to teach them and helps them to understand more and more what there relationship means. Because one of the things that happens quite often is when a person receives Christ the first thing that begins to happen is they begin to feel guilty about sin and so, therefore they think, must be I am not a Christian because I feel so guilty all the time. I recognize my sin so much more now. In fact, I have many people tell me once I became a Christian I realize how sinful my sin was and I feel worse sometimes but if they don't understand there is confession, repentance and you can do away with those things and God can take care of those things then they just feel doubtful. Another thing that causes doubt sometimes is a childhood conversion when a person prays as a little child and then as we grow older we sometimes question the things we did as a youth. We wonder about that issue I made at Bible school or at camp or in Sunday School class or where ever it might be and we just kind of need to reconfirm that decision we made as a young person so that it becomes our adult decision also. But that also can cause doubt, sometimes it can cause doubt because of sin in our life if there is a, let me ask you this don't answer and don't raise your hand, is there something in your life that you know you are doing wrong and you have not fixed? Do you know that there is some area of your life that is sinful, that is opposed to God's truth and is opposed to his character and opposed to his commands and you know it and you have not done anything about it. Well, you should doubt your salvation because many great healers in the past have said without conversion there is no salvation. If your life in not changed then Christ is not in there and so there is some areas of sin that we need to fix. If we don't fix it then we should rightfully doubt our salvation. Sometimes unresolved bitterness ,sometimes people just can not stand another person will begin to question there relationship with God because if they can not forgive that person they know that God has trouble forgiving them. So they wonder about there salvation because of unresolved bitterness against another person. People who we used to call and sometimes still call backslide people who have come to Christ and begin to live for Christ and then something happens and in the process they begin to backslide and find themselves way far from Christ rather than close to him and they wonder if they really still have a relationship. Kind like the prodigal son where the child is the son of the father but then he finds himself a long ways away in a far country and then comes back wondering if he will have a relationship or still has a relationship with Christ. That would cause doubts, of course. A person who decides that they are not going to allow Christ to have any control over there life. Many people will separate the two issues salvation from the Lordship of Christ like would like to accept Christ as there Savior and say good my sins are forgiven I get to go to heaven but he doesn't have any say in my life I'll do what I want anyway. No the Lordship and the Savior ship of the Christ are coequal. In fact, the Lordship is probably more important. In fact, Jesus uses the term Lord many more times than he uses the savior for himself. So he requires that he become the Lord of our life and not just the Savior. So that we are saved from sin but we also live our life for him under his direction but if we decide to be our own boss quite often that’s it.

Another one is kind of what’s called the point of pride, you have been in services probably where a pastor, evangelist or somebody has said that if you want to receive Christ come up here to the altar and pray and you said I'll do what I want to, I can do that right here and I don't want to go up there. That is true you can receive Christ anywhere but to decide to thumb your nose at God and say I'll do anyway I want to and do it my way and not your way that kind of sets up a point of saying OK who is in charge here really. Not that you have to come to an altar to receive Christ, you don't have to but if it is a deliberate attitude decision then we are setting ourselves up as the boss and God not the boss. And so that would definitely cause some doubts. The Bible says in 1st John chapter 5:13, you don't have to go there, its one verse, John says “I have written these things to you who have believed in the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life”. I have written this whole book, First John, so you can know for certain that you have eternal life. There is no reason to doubt our salvation unless there is reason to doubt our salvation . If we have never received Christ, yes, then we should doubt it. Many people believe that if by there goodness or by there good looks, which most of us wouldn't get in by that, but because of our niceness or good deeds or things that God must accept us or because of our hope . I do a number of funerals, I have done a number of funerals in the course of my ministry where there was people that I didn't know very well or not at all and sometimes I just meet the family and not the person who died . An I'll talk with the family and ask them about the spiritual condition of the person and of course, everyone who's loved one has passed away want them to be in heaven. So therefore, they will kind of grasp onto anything that might give them hope. Well he liked God and he knew about God , he went to church as a child, he did some of these things or she did this or that.

So they grasp at whatever there might be but many times there is no real relationship with Christ , if there was they would know it. And so it is very sad for a person to know that there loved one has gone to the far beyond and there is only hope in Christ and they have rejected Christ.

But how do we know for certain, what are the marks of a person who really does know Christ. If you were watching very closely you have already seen the sermon outline because it was on the screen a few minutes ago inadvertently. Let's see if we can get the little guy back up there for us OK. I searched my clipart to find a person who represented you folks the best and that is the best I could come up with I don’t know. I was trying to find somebody who was fairly generic and so that is us. How can we know for sure, what are the marks the things that tell us, assure us, that we really do have a relationship with Christ. Like I said if it was a childhood decision and we kind of wonder in my full knowledge I would really make the same decision you may need to reconfirm that we may need to get rid of some sin that would cause you to doubt. but here are the things on a positive side that will be present if you are truly a believer in Jesus Christ:

1. Works in the head. You have to know the right things. We have to acknowledge certain facts. There are things that in our head that we have to know before we can make any decision we have to have good understanding. We are lost without Christ. All of us have sin and fall short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. That makes it very clear that on our own the sins that we commit disqualify us for heaven. We will not go to heaven without Christ. We have a problem that’s against us that’s called sin. It means the things we do against God's love, he said you shall not lie; well there is not one of us here who has not lied. You shall not steal, well there's not one of us here who has not stolen and all it takes is one. Its says in one point we are guilty enough for all because all it takes is one sin to disqualify us for heaven because heaven is a place of total perfection, moral perfection. God is holy he is opposed totally to sin It says in James I “God cannot sin he cannot be tempted to sin and he will not tempt you to sin”. So sin is opposed and outside the realm of God. So therefore if we have sinned once we are lost and all of us have so therefore on our own we are lost. The good news ,of course, that’s why it is called the gospel, gospel means good news the good news is that God in Christ have sent Jesus Christ to live a perfect life to die on the cross for us as payment for our sin. God set that up as his plan he said from the very foundation of the world that Christ was punished for our sins. It says Jesus death pleased God. Pleased as in a sense of satisfied as righteous requirements, the debt was owed and somebody paid the debt. You sang a song a little while ago My Redeemer Lives, My Redeemer Lives, we sang it a number of times and we began to clap off the beat, some on the beat. Redeemer means someone who purchased us. They paid our debt for us. We need to know that we are lost, that Jesus is the Savior. That is knowledge. That is about all we really need to know about Christ and about Salvation at the beginning. There are a whole lot of other things that we need to learn as we go along and that is what studying the scriptures and praying and asking God to reveal things to us and the holy spirit leads us and things like that takes place afterwards. We need to acknowledge that these are true. These are factual. These are things that are true about Christ and about ourselves.

Something happens next in the heart. First we appropriate, we acknowledge then we appropriate which means we accept and take for ourselves these truths. Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the light no one comes to the father but through me. Well he is the way, the truth, and the light but if I don't take him as my way, my truth and my light I don’t have it. In John 1:12 is says “To as many as receive him he gave the right to become children of God, to as many as believe in his name.” So he says not only do we believe, acknowledge up here, but we also have to accept him as our Savior, Yes I have sinned I need my sins forgiven would you please forgive me and Jesus then as the Bible says comes into our heart. The holy spirit actually comes in and dwells within us and that is why we say he comes into our heart. But we need to ask forgiveness and he graciously does so. On the basis of our repentance. Now this is not what some people call an easy believism, where we believe so we say OK that's right and that's what I want and that's all there is to it. No that's not all there is to it. The word in the scripture for believe means to act upon that belief. If you believe in Christ it means you obey Christ it doesn't mean that you just accept as truth what he says. You accept as truth then appropriate it in your life. You begin to do the things he has ask you to do. So there is a matter of belief which leads to obedience. If it is belief and no obedience in the Book of James says you are lost. James says If someone says I have faith without my works, he says oh no you show me our faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works because faith without works is dead. There is no faith if there is no works.

That's why the next thing that takes place is with our feet. We begin to walk in the truth. First John 1:7 says “We walk in the light as he himself is in the light he forgives are sins and we have fellowship with him. He cleanses us from all sin and we have fellowship with him.” That is a beautiful truth it is a small verse but as we walk in the light and see himself in the light means God. Christ says he cleanses us from all sins and we have fellowship with him. We have fellowship with him, we communicate in a sense because we are a part of his own family now. The Bible says we become adopted into his family in Christ. So therefore, we become God's adopted child and we can speak to him as father and son, as father and daughter. In fact it tells us in Romans we say we can now cry out to him and say Abba, Father, that’s a very familiar term, Daddy almost because we now belong to the same family in Christ. We become fellow heirs with Christ. So we begin to walk in that truth and we begin to say OK I am a fellow heir of Christ so therefore I can begin to look forward to great things in heaven. I am a percipient of the holy spirit he now dwells within me, he guides me into truth, he teaches me, he leads me, he convicts me of sin, he lets me know when there is right and wrong in my life. So I can fix the wrong and do the right. So the walking in the truth becomes a habit of life, it becomes a character changing part of our life. Where we put off the old self and put on the new self. That doesn't mean just stop doing things this way and start doing good things it means take the old self and send it away. The old self was lead by our flash by the things that desire in us and start desiring the things of God. The Bible says if we please God he will give us the desire of our heart. Well we want to please God, Paul says we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling. So it becomes a part of our life. That's why it is not just a head now, it is not just a heart appropriation, it is the walk of faith that leads us into character qualities of Christ, we become more holy, we become more truthful, we become these things not just do these things but we become that as a person.

Then we start doing the things the hands do. We start doing the good, we start doing kind things for people. We start serving people, we start serving God with our hands, we start serving God with our time, we begin to tithe, we begin to be the neighbor that people would love us to be. They begin to see us doing the things because we have become a different person. We have become somebody new so therefore we do things that are new. We may do the same things that other people who don't know Christ do but it is because of a different reason. Because God has moved us, the holy spirit moves us Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3. He says “The holy spirit is like the wind it moves back and forth you can't see it but you can see if effects”. You don't where is comes from or where its going but it like the wind the holy spirit is. He begins to move us and begins to change us from within and there are things that take place in our lives and we can't explain it in any other way except God is doing it. One of the things he definitely will do he will begin to make us feel guilty over sin that is present in our lives. That is part of his job. He says he will convict us of sin and of judgment to come and sin and righteous and judgment to come he will tell us what is wrong and what is right and remind us if don't fix the wrong there is judgment to come. And so he does that from the inside out. So we begin to look like and act like different people because we are different people in Christ. My Dad I have heard say many times, Without conversion there is no salvation. If there is not a changed life that means the life has not been changed. That's what God plans to do is change our life. To make us more and more like him.

Eventually we become aromatic, we begin to smell. Aromatic is a nicer word than smell isn’t it. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2, I put up there first of all odoriferous, I didn’t know if I liked that or not, I guess aromatic is a little more positive so we become aromatic. Aromatic is actually a nice word and in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 we want to close with this verse. “With thanks be to God who always leads us in his triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place” He manifests through us the sweet aroma of him. How do you know that you are Christian? Sometimes you won't know as much that you are but other people will recognize it in you. We got pizza last night we had some of our kids over and some extended family, there friends, and they were of course hungry and we said we'll go get a couple of pizza's then so we went up to Harrison and got a couple of pizzas and there is a young man in there preparing the pizza and serving me and something about him suggested that here is a person that knows Christ. I don't know if he does or not. We didn't talk about spiritual things, we didn't talk about anything important except pizza. And the immediate smell was he smelled like pizza which is not bad actually. I like pizza and he smelled good actually . But there was a spiritual aroma that EXSUDED from him, I don't know if I was accurate or not but it sure seemed like there was something about him that said I know Christ. Someday I would like maybe to talk to him and sometime I'll up there and he'll be the guy that will serve me again and I'll ask him. But I notice that about you and other people notice that about you. There is a sense people who deal in the paranormal, talk about the ora They have things that take pictures of your ora, that's not what I am talking about. But in a sense it is because there is something that Christians have that other people don't have because the holy spirit resides within us. And so it says he manifests through us the aroma, the sweet aromas of the knowledge of him in every place. That means that wherever we go if we have taken on the character of Christ we represent aromatically Christ in every place. I should qualify that. We should,. we should, the question is do we? Wherever we go as a Christian, do people look at us and kind of go, there is something about that person that I can't put my finger on but there is something about that person that is different. Now notice the difference here, there are two different things. Verse 15 for we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. It is to one the aroma of death todeath, the other an aroma of life to life. It is the same scent. Now I know when my wife was pregnant certain smells before pregnancy were different than after. Some that weren't to bad at all beforehand made her sick afterward. That may have been true with many of you. There are times if you have eaten to much pizza the smell of pizza isn't all that good. But when you are hungry it smells great. So the same aroma can cause two responses and that is what it is saying here. To a person who is trusting Christ with themselves and you step into there presence and they have that connection it is like this is good, this is good. Because this reminds me of my life in Christ. To a person who has rejected Christ they may say I like this person but something about them reminds me that I am not in Christ. So it is an aroma of life to life to those who believe and an aroma of death to death to those who have chosen not to believe.

Where are you on the map up here? Does that look like you? Hopefully you are smiling anyway, looks like you have no nose but other than that you look pretty good. Are you at the place where you are saying OK I am collecting information here because I want to make a good decision, I want to make a good decision, so far so good, but I am collecting knowledge here. By the way, for a person to believe in God is good for those who believe in God must believe that he is. And he rewards those who diligently seek him. So people who are inquiring or seeking or exploring the truth of God that is good. A person who is at a place of collecting knowledge about Christ in great. But to collect knowledge your whole life is not so good because at some point we need to appropriate it. We need to say OK. Yes I have enough knowledge now it is time for a decision. At some point we have to close the deal one way or another don't we. We have to start walking in truth then the hands begin to do good, and eventually there will be such an aroma around you that people will be immediately reminded of Christ. Of life because it says through us he manifests the sweet aroma of Christ to God. We become the sweet incense the Bible talks about that God smells. because we are his. When my children walk into the room I love it. When my grandchildren walk into the room I love it, every once in awhile they have a not so sweet aroma and I take them back to my kids to change there diapers but the very fact that aroma is near by is good. Cause it reminds me that I have kids. And our relationship with Christ reminds God that we are his kids. So we can call out God you are my father, yes kid you are mine. I like the smell of ya. And to other people we become of aroma of Christ , also either positive you remind me of my original Christ or not so good reminding me you have something that I need and I have decided against possibly or I have just not decided for yet because it is a reminder of Christ, the presence of the holy spirit, I believe and the presence of life changing power of God in us.

So where are you? The head, the heart, the hands, the feet, the aroma of Christ. Have there been doubts in your life saying OK I pray sometime in my life I think I need to keep doing it there are kids, young people, maybe you yourself every time I sin I need to ask Christ in again, well that's not true. The passage I quoted awhile ago said, As we walk in the light we see himself in the light, he cleanses us from all sin means there is a continual cleansing of sin as we follow Christ. We don't have to keep asking him over and over for salvation, we have that in Christ we only have to do it once, because then he begins to cleanse us and to draw us into him. So if there is a need for recommitment then recommit. Say God I made a decision as a child but as an adult I have alot better knowledge now, but I make the same decision now with full knowledge as an adult. I made decisions as a youth and I make the same one now. I have sin in my life I need to fix it, until then I'll wonder. Fix the sin. If there is a sin that is evident in your life fix it, so you don't have to wonder. If you have never made a commitment to Christ and you are at the head part and not the heart part move to the heart part.

Let's Pray:

Father, we ask this morning that you would assure us where we are. Father, it is not a bad thing to know where we are, its a good thing Father is it a good thing to believe that God is. It is necessary to believe in Jesus Christ as our salvation. So Father I pray that those who might be at a place where they are collecting, gaining knowledge, good information so that a good decision can be made. Father help them to understand that they probably have all they need and there must be something else standing in the way of appropriating that truth in you and receiving you as there Savior. Father for those who have ask Jesus as their Savior and yet doubt ,I pray that you would do what it takes in their heart to assure them. They need to rid themselves of sin that makes them doubt and probably should help them to do so. It says it is you who desire and give the power to do your will in our lives Father, I pray that you would help us if we have made decisions as children to recommit if we need to do that, so we can have that reassurance. Father, if we need more understanding of the truths of God help us to find that in a Sunday School Class or in a small group or one on one discipleship setting where we can ask questions and gain information so that we can be assured of good sound doctrine. Father, if there is bitterness in our heart where we have not forgiven somebody else, help us to forgive them . Father we are reminded of the story that I told awhile ago about the man who had a ticket he just didn’t know he did , he wasn’t assured of that because he didn’t understand how these things work. Father, I don’t want anybody in my congregation to not know for certain they are a saved individual ,somebody that Jesus Christ has saved because of there faith in him. Father, I pray everyone here might have done that, made that decision for you. Father, for those who haven’t I pray that this day might be the day that they do. Let’s just bow are heads for a second and if you have not made that commitment, today would be a great day to do so. I am not going to ask you to come up here, I am not going to put up a fight or a struggle between you and say well I might be embarrassed about some things. Obviously Jesus wasn’t to embarrassed to die on the cross for us so that is not the issue. But if you need to accept Jesus Christ just let him know that you recognize the truths of the fact that we have sinned against him. We have broken his laws, lied when we shouldn’t have lied, stolen when we shouldn’t have stolen, we have thought of other women, we have thought of other men, we have thought of things and done things that in our attitudes we know are displeasing to God so because of our own sin we are lost. Repent of those. Ask God ‘s forgiveness for those ask him to come into your life and change your life into such a person that can become, in terms of character, like him. Ask him to save you this morning. If you have made a decision sometime in your childhood and need to reconfirm that say Jesus I was a child when I made that decision but today I still make that same decision, so would you assure me that that decision was a good one and I can confirm it today. If you have bitterness, if you have sin, rid those from your life. If you have doubts of one sort or another we can talk about those later. If you want to set down and talk with me I would be glad to help give understanding. Father, we ask this morning that every person here might know without a shadow of doubt whether they are saved or they are not saved. And to know the difference and to know that there is a simple step, not necessarily easy but a simple step, that is accepting you as there savior. If you accepted Christ this morning for the first time I want to know that ,just let me know after service just say I let Jesus know that I needed him this is morning. Just in some way say this is the day I made my decision for Jesus Christ. I am done collecting now, I know enough now I have appropriated it . If you have made another commitment of some sort. I would love to hear that too. Tell somebody Jesus said if we can believe in our heart that Jesus raised from the dead and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, vise versa actually, but he says All of those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. When we believe in the heart, and confess with our mouth so both of those are necessary for we need to understand and do it and we need to tell others about it because Jesus whole purpose in life is to bring everyone that we can to Christ. Cause I don’t want to go and get on that peripheral plane to heaven and find out you thought you had a ticket and didn’t. If you’re counting on good works or good looks or things you have done it is to Jesus Christ, he is the only way the only truth the only life. Father, I pray that this day we might go from here knowing you as our savior and knowing that for certain.
In Jesus name we ask it . Amen.

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