Living the True Gospel– Sermon Audio 2609

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, Go, therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Pastor Geoff Youlden. Continuing the True Gospel with Pastor Geoff Youlden. SPEAKER B And abide with him because he will enable me to have the fruitage in my life. I can't do it myself. The Bible is very clear on that. But the Bible is saying that if you keep with Jesus and get with Jesus, We'll talk about that in just a moment, what that means. If, if we will do that, then we will have spontaneous natural fruitage in our life. And our best efforts are of no avail as far as contributing to our salvation, no matter how good a life we live. And I'm sure most of us here, if not all of us, are living a good life, but that doesn't contribute one minuscule amount to the fruitage in your life. The only person that can contribute to that is Jesus, and we need to be abiding with Him. And then that fruitage will be natural and spontaneous. Let me read you. Jeremiah— just come back into the Old Testament, uh, Jeremiah, and it's chapter 23 and verse 6. And, uh, some people think that the Old Testament is not full of grace. Well, just look at this. Jeremiah 23, verse 6, it says, in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely. Now this is his name by which he will be called— and it's in capital letters. What is it? Is— what is it? The LORD our righteousness. I noticed we haven't included the most important part of that verse. The LORD is our righteousness. We don't have any righteousness ourselves. Now I want to read the, the perhaps the greatest verse in the Bible on this subject. Galatians chapter 2. Galatians, the second chapter, in verse 20. Just look at this. Galatians 2 and verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ. This is Paul talking. I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but what? Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh— that's the life we're all living here— I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now, this leads me to ask a very important question, a question that has been debated for the last 30 years. This is the question: If Christ dwells in my life and your life, will I live an imperfect life? Now, what am I— well, let's think about this clearly. If Christ lives in my life, will I live a life of failure or overcoming? All right. Let me re-read the verse together. Let's now re— with that thought in mind, what I've just asked the question, let's re-read the verse again. Galatians 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me. All right, if Christ lives in your life and my life, will that life be perfect or imperfect? This is an important question. If Christ lives in my life, it's not me that's living, but Christ living in my life. Will that mean that I have a life of perfection or imperfection? If the Holy Spirit dwells in my life, will that mean that I have victory over sin? Well, let's read the verse again because we need to— this verse makes it so simple and clear. Look, I have been crucified with SPEAKER A Christ. SPEAKER B It is no longer I who live. In other words, my actions are not now going to come into consideration because I'm not living. Who's living? Christ. And if Christ lives in my life, he couldn't live a life of imperfection. Is that right? That would be impossible. But Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. This verse ought to be written in letters of gold in our minds. It's not me that's living, it's actually Christ living in my life. And Christ only knows one thing, and that is to live a life of perfection and overcoming. Well, so the question I want to ask again Does that mean that we can live a life of obedience? Yes, it does. Now let's just make one little addition here in case we misunderstand— you misunderstand what I'm saying. I am not teaching that we're perfect. Bible doesn't teach that. And nor do, do I or the Adventist— we don't believe that because it's impossible. But with Christ living in my life, I can live a life of overcoming so that when I look back upon my life over the last 12 months, I ought to be able to look back and see that I have gained victories over the last 12 months that I didn't have 12 months ago. Does that make sense? Now, does that mean that I've— I'm perfect in this, in the absolute sense? No, because God is going to reveal to me more things that I need to overcome, because the closer I get to Jesus, the more I will see my imperfections. But at the same time, the Bible says that as we get close to Jesus, Jesus will give me victory and overcoming. That's why there is so much emphasis, particularly in the Book of Revelation, on overcoming and getting victory, because the message that God has for the last days is greater than the Reformation message, wonderful as that was. So we can produce— uh, be— or Christ will produce obedience and righteousness in my life. So where should the effort go then? Now, this is the key. Please don't go to sleep now. Um, where should the effort go? The Bible talks about two fights. There's the fight of faith and the fight of sin. Paul talks about both these fights. Now, what's the fight of sin? That's the fight that I've got to struggle with in my life, and I, I fail every time because I want to get the victory over wrong thoughts. I might get the victory over eating wrong things and try— I try to fight that. I try to grit my teeth. I might have a chocolate addiction. Let's say. And so I decide that I'm going to put chocolate out and— grit my teeth and I'm not going to eat chocolate. But all of us know that we've engaged in that type of willpower and what happens? What happens when you next see the bit of chocolate? It's in— yeah, we fail. That's the fight of sin, because none of us here can win that fight. We're too weak. But the other fight that the New Testament talks about is the fight of faith. Now, that fight is the fight by which I spend time with God every day so that He can dwell in my heart, and then when temptation comes, it is Christ that meets that temptation and can give me victory. Get the idea? Let me, um, read you another verse, and then I'm going to read a quote which is a most marvelous, uh, quote. Come back to Luke chapter 17. I just want to illustrate— the problem with us all. This is Luke 17 and verse 3. And see if you can identify with this. I certainly can. Luke 17, verse 3, it says, "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him." All right, so far so good. We all understand that. Verse 4: And if he sins against you 7 times in a day, and 7 times in a day returns to you saying, 'I repent,' what about it then? Let me give you an illustration. Let's say someone is spreading some rumors about you. That are totally untrue. And then this person comes to you and says, "Will you forgive me? I'm sorry for saying those things. I shouldn't have said them. I know they're not true." And you forgive that person. But before the day is through, he's come back to you 7 times with the same thing. He's been spreading more rumors about you after you forgave him, and he does it 7 times. How would you begin to feel about that? Do you think that you would feel happy toward him? And it's interesting— that when the disciples heard what Jesus was saying, notice what they said in the next verse, verse 5: "And the apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!'" In other words, they were saying to Jesus, "This is a hard saying. How can we do that? Increase our faith!" I'm just illustrating this point, and we could illustrate it with a lots of of scenarios of sins or things that people do against us and talk against us and make up stories and, and, and we get very upset. But imagine the person coming to you and doing it 7 times in the one day. That's what Jesus is talking about here. And we say to ourselves, who is sufficient for these things? That's why our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Our natures are evil, and we find it very hard. I think that most of us, including myself, if the person did it the second time, you may be tolerant, and have a little bit of tolerance left in the second time, but from the third time onwards, you'd want to kick them so hard in the shins they wouldn't have the, the strength to come back again. Because that's our nature, that's our carnal hearts. That's why unless we have Christ abiding in our hearts, none of us can be saved. Because our natures are so evil. It was interesting, I, uh, some— a few years ago, Lyn and I planted a fig tree. We love figs, and, um, fig tree at the moment, all coming out in leaves, and it's looking very healthy. But I've watered the fig tree, I have manured the fig tree, and I have pruned the fig tree. During the winter, I pruned it. And as long as I do those things, what is naturally going to happen to the fig tree in another month or two's time? What's going to appear on the fig tree? Yeah, it'll bear fruit naturally and spontaneously. Isn't that right? It can't help itself. And what I'm suggesting to you this morning is that that's the way it is in the Christian life. If we spend time with God every day and get to know him, we cannot help but do the right thing. Let me prove that to you, that I'm correct in saying that. This is a statement from Desire of Ages. Just— let's just put that up on the screen. Look. This is page 668. I'll give you the reference at the end because there's two sections to this. Now just have a look at this beautiful statement. It's the best I've ever read outside the Bible. Look, all true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ, and if we consent, he will so identify himself with with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. What do you think about that? Is that a cause for excitement? Because that's saying that if I do like with the fig tree, I do the basics, I spend time with God, He will blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him, we will naturally, spontaneously carry out our own impulses. In other words, I will naturally do what is right. Let's read the next few sentences. This is the same page, follows right on. The will— she says, wait a minute— the will refined and sanctified will find its highest delight in doing His service. So will we have to urge someone to do the work of God? Not at all. Not according to this statement. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of what? Continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us. Now listen, if you find sin hateful to you, are you going to do it? Let me illustrate. Wish I could say this of everything in my life. I detest smoking. Absolutely detest it. You could offer me a thousand cigarettes, I wouldn't even be tempted to take one. Because I hate the thing. It's no— it's not a temptation for me to turn down cigarettes. In fact, if I'm anywhere near someone smoking, I want to get as far away from them as I possibly can. And many of you, perhaps all of us here, would be exactly the same. Because it's become hateful to me. Now, what this statement is saying is that if we spend time with God and communion with God, sin will become hateful to us. So if I've got a problem of sin in my life, what do I— what's the answer to it? According to this ver— this statement, what is the answer to it? I got a sin problem, and you have too. So what's the answer? Is in this statement. What does it say? The last statement says, well, let's, let's read it again. The will refined and sanctified will find its highest delight in doing His service. Now, when we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Okay, there's the statement. What's that saying? What's the key in that statement, that one sentence? If I get to know God as it is my privilege to know Him, what's going to happen? My life will be a life of continual obedience. So if my life is not a life of continual obedience, what's the answer to that problem? To get to know God better. Isn't that the answer? And she says here, through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us. And I'm suggesting that if sin is hateful to us, we will not commit it. The same as my experience with cigarettes. Now, wouldn't that be wonderful if we could all say that that's the way it is with every sin? And that's why none of us will ever claim to be without sin, because God— the closer we get to Jesus, the more he will reveal to us the changes that need to take place in our hearts and our life. So the effort needs to go into spending time with God, and let me tell you, that's where we're failing. I'm not going to ask you. I just want you to answer this in your own mind. How long have you spent this week in reading the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy? Just— let's ask that question to ourselves, because if you are saying to me in your mind, well, I haven't spent very much time at all, I've been so busy and tired and so Well, no longer— no wonder we've got a problem, because sin's not hateful to you. Sin by nature, we love it. We all love it. Therefore, that's why I've got to spend time with God, because unless I do, my natural tendency is to do the wrong thing. And it's only as I spend time with God that he will change my heart from the inside out, not from the outside, because by trying to lift ourselves by the bootlaces, that will never work. One, one— another verse, 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 10.— and verse 4 and 5. And this is what God wants us to experience. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse— 4 and 5. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Well then, tell me, if the Bible is saying that I can live a life where every thought is brought into captivity to the life of Christ, is it possible to live a life that God wants us to live? Yes, it is. That's the spirit prophecy, and the Bible are absolutely clear on it. And that's why Uh, the most important thing is that we spend time with God. I remember going to the Easter Show a number of years ago, and when I go to the show, I always like to drop into the woodcutting, see those fellas cut down big blocks of, of trees, and you'll see them there sharpening up their axe. And getting it all ready, and when the bell rings, there's a whole line of them, and of course the winner is going to be the one who gets through the log the quickest. So obviously technique and, and a sharp axe and strong muscles are the keys. And as I've noticed, those fellas, when they get going, they do it within perhaps 30 seconds or a bit more. They've cut the whole log through, but you and I'd be doing it in the next half hour. Now, if I was to take that same axe that the fellow won the, um, heat in and give it to a 6-year-old child and ask him to do it, what would happen? Never do it. It's impossible. Because it's not the axe, it's the— it's, it's the ability behind. And so it is with God. We can never do these— this of ourselves, but God will give us the grace and the power to be able to do it. And nothing advertises a person's lack of a relationship with God saying that they don't believe that we can keep the commandments. You know, I have heard Adventists say that. Wow! You are simply advertising the fact that you don't have a relationship with God. Any person who says that doesn't have a relationship with God. And, uh, because Revelation 14:12 says, "Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." So God points out His people as those who are commandment keepers. And the issue in the last days is not over whether Jesus died on the cross and he can forgive your sins. That's not the issue in the last days. The issue in the last days, according to Revelation, is whether we can live a life of obedience or disobedience. That's the final issue. And unless I understand and have a relationship with Christ, I will never live a life of obedience. And a person who may understand the theory of truth but doesn't experience it, as soon as the, the, the— it heats up and pressure is put on, what's going to happen to that person? They're going to wilt and give in. The only person who's going to stand is the person who has learned to trust in Jesus. And have a relationship with Him. And that's the issue in the last days. One last verse, Revelation chapter 3, Revelation 3, and once again, you know, the main verse that I'm going to read here, but there's a second verse that goes with it, the next verse. Let's have a look at Revelation 3:20. You got that, Karen? Revelation 3:20. All right, I'll read from the Bible and you can follow on. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me. What's that talking about in view of what we've been talking about? Which aspect of salvation is verse 21 talking about? Justification, sanctification, or glorification? Which aspect? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man opens the door, I will come in. What's that? Brad, what's that? That's justification. Exactly. That's justification. God is opening up the opportunity. I'm knocking at your heart's door. Would you— and I want to come in and abide with you. What's the next verse say? To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. What aspect of salvation is verse 22 talking about? Overcoming— what aspect is that? That's sanctification by faith. Here in these two verses, sanctification and justification are together, as the Bible always puts them together. Never, never on their own. Because if you study only sanctification, eventually you'll be led to believe that that's what we do in our own strength. We must understand both together, and that's what makes up the gospel, the gospel that God has given to us as a people. And someone says to me, well, I can't obey. Well, neither could the paralytic take up his bed. Remember, Jesus said, take up your bed and walk. Well, the paralytic couldn't, but he did. Through the power of God. Then you'll remember that Joshua was told to command the sun to stand still. He couldn't, but he did through the power of God. Then there was Gideon with 300 against the Midianite army, and God says, go forward and defeat them. And Gideon couldn't, but he did, and he was successful because God supplied the strength. Peter walked on water. He couldn't do it, but when Jesus commanded him, he provided the strength as well as the command. And with the command goes the strength to be able to do all that God wants us to do. And that's the battle. And my appeal to everybody today is this: we need to spend time every day with Jesus. And unless we do—— we will lose the battle every day. Because as I get to know Jesus, as it's my privilege to know him, my life will be a life of continual obedience. And I would, um, want to appeal to you to spend some time every day reading God's Word. The best thing that I know is the book Desire of Ages. And if you haven't got Desire of Ages, please see either Stanley or myself. Desire of Ages, and at the end of each chapter it says, this chapter is based on Matthew 1:1 to 20, let's say. And so what she's written there is based on those 20 verses in Matthew chapter 1. What I like to do is to read those 20 verses or whatever verses it's— the chapter is based on, read those verses a number of times, maybe in a couple of different translations. Then the next day, perhaps read what she says in the chapter on that, and you'll be amazed. If you ever want to be convinced on the Spirit of Prophecy, just study what she says and the insights that God has given to that woman on, on, on, on the Bible, to read that. And as we do that, do that through the— there's 80-odd chapters in Desire of Ages. You don't have to read it in a day or a week, but you go through, because the, the idea is not speed, the idea is communion with God. And if it takes you 2 years to get through it, So be it, as long as you have become saturated in God's Word, and then sin will become hateful to us. That's what I want in my life, to be— hate sin, and I'm sure you do too. I've chosen our last hymn today, 511 is the hymn, um, I know whom I have believed. So, uh, Trudy, if you wouldn't mind giving us the lead on this, and then we'll put the words up on the screen and, um, sing a— de— our singers will come out and make it sound good, you know, as we fellowship together. Let's just bow our heads. Father in heaven, I just want to thank you today for the insights that you have given in your word as to how we can maintain a life of victory and overcoming. Lord, help us to make the one determination that we need to make, and that is to set aside some time every day in reading your word so that you will fight sin for us, that you will crowd it out because we will have a desire not to do the wrong thing, that we will become the situation where we— by— we'll hate sin. And I pray, Lord, that you'll grant to each of us that experience— and keep us faithful, SPEAKER A I pray, for Christ's sake. Amen. This message was made available by the Stanmore Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, Visit stanmoresdachurch.net.