Who Are You Really?

Did everyone remember there homework assignment from last Wednesday?

The last thing that I asked you to do from last week until this week, was memorize , correct? (If you have it committed to memory, awesome and if not, then let’s all turn to that passage and let’s read it together, please.

1 Peter 3:15 ESV

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

This is of course, the prominent verse that we use, that backs up the ministry discipline that we employ, called, APOLOGETIC ministry.

The phrase that Peter uses here, “to make a defense “, is represented in the Greek, by the word, “apologia”, and it means, “to speak on behalf of oneself or of others against accusations presumed to be false—‘to defend oneself.’

This is the same word that we find the apostle Paul using in , where he says,

Philippians 1:7 NLT

7 So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News.

And when I read and truly look at and the verses that surround this passage, it shows us the nature of a true believer in Jesus Christ.

It speaks of those who have unity of mind, who have brotherly love and tender hearts and humility.

And verse 15 is preceded with this verse, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.”

And then Peter tells us to honor Christ the Lord as holy in our hearts.

And the reason that I point all of this out about this passage, is that these things must take place in the life of a TRUE follower of Jesus!

We must be unified as His body, we must have love for one another and show tenderness and compassion for others and we must be humble!

And we must be willing to suffer, even when we are innocent, for His name’ sake!

But, these things will only occur, IF we are truly His!

So, having said that, I wanted to talk with you very briefly tonight about something that sticks out in my mind about our walk within the kingdom.

In , this passage begins with Paul saying, in a sense the same thing that says, it starts off by saying, “Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others.”

The gospel message requires that we be able to defend and explain to others the truth and reason for the blessed hope that dwells within us.

And as much as I want to dive into speaking about apologetics based ministering and sharing with each other, about how we have personally found it easier to share the gospel message, there is something that needs to be addressed.

No matter how many times I speak in front of this body, or any other group, as far as that goes, I will never be so bold and blind, as to think that EVERYONE is on the same page and walking down that same narrow and difficult path that leads to eternal life, as Jesus mentions in .

In fact, Jesus makes the remark that the majority will find the broad path that leads to destruction and FEW will find and walk down the narrow path.

And this is what I mean. No matter how many times we meet and assemble together and sing and listen to the word and fellowship together, I will always come back to and revisit the issue of eternal salvation in my messages.

I am a preacher and a shepherd of a flock. I must move in accordance with Holy Spirit and speak in line with His will and teach so that people at any level of salvation can relate to the message.

And by any level, I mean people who have been Christians for 50 years, 5 months ,5 days, or not at all!

I will not assume that everyone is saved and even if everyone in the room raised their hands as an affirmation of “yes” to question of salvation, I would still teach with the understanding that there are those who are lost.

And the reason for this, is that many have been brought into the understanding that repeating the “prayer” and following the “works” of a good Christian, is what is required to be on that narrow path.

And so, when someone asks a person like this (who’s salvation is man-made and /or weak and teetering) for a reason as to why they go to church and why they believe what they do, they either dodge the question, or they are ineffective and unable to answer it.

And all this does, is continually weaken and destroy the credibility of the Christian faith in the eyes of other lost people!

So, I am asking you tonight, the same question that needs to be asked everywhere in this nation and around the world, where Christians assemble, “Are you sure that Jesus Christ is Lord and savior of your life? And if you say yes, then how do you know?”

Let’s look real quick at that passage in ,

2 Corinthians 5:11–21 ESV

11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In this passage, Paul tells us that God has reconciled us to Himself and that He has also given to us the message of reconciliation and that we are AMBASSADORS of Jesus Christ to the world! AMEN!

But is everyone who claims Christ as Lord, living this way and taking this message of reconciliation to the world around them?

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Are we living as true AMBASSADORS of Christ?

And in asking the question that I just asked a couple of minutes ago, “Are you sure that Jesus Christ is Lord and savior of your life? And if you say yes, then how do you know”, Paul gives to us the answer in this passage.

Verse 17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

If you are truly “born again” into Christ, as Jesus mentions to Nicodemus in , then you are made NEW!

Your old life has past away. You are dead to the desires of your old life!

When you look at yourself and the way that you live your daily life, can you say that the “old man/old life” has died and that it is no longer within you?

Or, do you still see and operate the same way you always have, but hidden under the radar of the eyes of others?

Is your answer about the eternal security of your soul, based upon the modern religious methodology?

The modern church has developed a simplified and no frills version of salvation, that costs you nothing and expects little of you!

And although it is true, that salvation through FAITH in Jesus is free, it will cost you everything in this world, because we are to die to the desires of this world and deny ourselves and follow Him!

We can see that people respond to the movement of others in the church world and what is working for them, based solely upon the fact that they copy and replicate it.

For instance: Over the last few years, the picture of the modern preacher, has been that of a fancy hairstyle and super skinny jeans, while preaching!

Many, many people have replicated this, because this is what people associated with being a “modern” preacher and this was part of the new cultural church that was emerging.

And to each his own and that’s fine, but you cannot replicate Christianity like that and just watch what others are doing and imitate their physical lives.

Although Paul did say in , “And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ”, he didn’t say this, in reference to a physical style of appearance, but rather about his actions and his life imitating the life and actions of Jesus and how he gave up his natural life for his spiritual one!

In fact, Paul said right before this, in chapter 10, verse 31 of that passage, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”.

This is what Paul is saying to imitate; that our actions should imitate those of Christ and thus, be done to bring glory to God.

This can only come from Holy Spirit filled lifestyles!

Many people today, think that their Christianity is based upon reading some verses and listening to their favorite teachers of the Bible and listening to some P&W bands in their car and at home, using their Bible apps on their smartphones.

The

Your Christianity is not based upon any actions or works that you do each day. There is not enough reading in the Bible and singing worship songs and attending church services that will grant you your salvation!

Salvation comes only from your being convicted and drawn by Holy Spirit and your repentance from your sin and faith and belief in who Jesus is and what great price He paid for you!

Leonard Ravenhill said this, “Everybody wants a new definition of Christianity. What we need is an old demonstration of Christianity!”

This is why we find Paul saying, “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ”, because this is the demonstration of Christianity, as Ravenhill mentioned.

The question that I ask to you and others is, “Who are you imitating?”

Who and what are you allowing to pour into your life? I don’t care how great a person may be and how great of a teacher someone may be, if another man or a woman, is the the prime source that is pouring into your life and it is not the Word of God and His Holy Spirit, then “WOE” unto you!

What is your attitude towards sin? Are you repulsed by it?

The way that you look at sin, is a sign of being a new creation in Christ.

One preacher that I heard, used this analogy of being a new creature; of being born again.

A man, who attended church regularly, was getting to ready to leave for work one day. It was snowing and the road conditions were not good. The man had a dead-line for work that was due that day and he still had work to finish on it. To make matters worse, he had a meeting first thing that morning with his boss and he was dreading that!

As he is running down the stairs to head out, his wife yells out to him, “Can you take the garbage out as you leave?”

The man is furious and yells out at her, “Are you kidding me. Do you not see that I am under pressure and in a hurry?! Are you so insensitive that you cannot think of anyone else but yourself? Take out the garbage yourself for a change!

As he left, he felt vindicated by what he said and couldn’t believe that she had the audacity to ask him that, in light of what he had pressing in on him!

Now, same man, one year later and after he has had a true life changing encounter with Jesus, has the same type of day replayed out.

He is late, there is a dead-line due that day and he is not ready for it yet. It is snowing again and the roads are not conducive to fast driving and he has a meeting again with his boss that he is not looking forward to.

As he is running down the stairs, his wife approaches him and asks, “Can you take out the garbage on your way out”, to which the man screams out, “Are you kidding me. Do you not see that I am under pressure and in a hurry?! Are you so insensitive that you cannot think of anyone else but yourself? Take out the garbage yourself for a change!”

This time though, as he is driving to work, he feels horrible. He is tormented and vexed by how he responded to his wife, his best friend!

He feels no vindication and no justification for what he said.

As soon as he gets to the office, he tells his boss that he will be just a minute longer and he calls his wife and pours his heart out to her and begs her to forgiver him for how he treated her! Same man, same wife, same job, same situation and yet a different end result.

What was the difference? Simple..........he was a new creation! The old “sinful man” was dead. Even though he acted out in anger, his new life in Christ compelled him to ask forgiveness and walk in the love and mercy as the One who now owned him!

I like the way that Charles Spurgeon explained you birth and sin: (TELL OF THE PIG AND THE TWO TYPES OF FOOD AND OF HOW THE PIG CHOOSES THE SLOP AND NOT THE FINE CUISINE, BECAUSE HE IS A PIG. THEN, IF IT WERE MINE TO DO AND TO CHANGE THE PIG INTO A MAN, HE WOULD BE REPULSED AT WHAT HE HAD CHOSEN TO EAT AND HE WOULD BE SICK AND VOMIT AT THE SIGHT OF IT. THIS IS HOW IT IS WHEN YOU HAVE BECOME A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST! YOU ARE REPULSED AT THE SIGHT OF SIN AND YOU DESIRE TO TURN AWAY FROM IT!)

Paul said this of sin in his life, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

And then he answers the question with, “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”

Life in the Spirit

ARE YOU FREE FROM THE POWER OF SIN?!

Jesus said this of our sin and our self-sufficiency, “But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.”

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

Has Jesus purified you and made you new on the inside?!

And if you say yes, then how do you do with standing in the midst of trial and tribulation?

The truth is, most of us in this nation, have not had to withstand too much tribulation and suffering.

And so, when some form of discomfort comes along, we have no endurance, because we do not deny ourselves anything and we only know comfort.

asks this question,

Jeremiah 12:5 NLT

5 “If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?

In , Paul says this about true salvation,

Philippians 3:2–3 NLT

2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,