Evidence Of Change

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Good morning again. Did you know it's possible to pray with your eyes open? Yeah, you're looking at me funny. So while your eyes are open, you can be praying for me. [00:00:34] Yeah. Yes, I'm nervous. I'm not sure why. Okay. You know, there's a lot in me that would just want to read the Word and not make a single comment. You know, because this is God's Word [00:01:06] And it's like how can, it's not that I want to add to it, but you know to make comments, if you know what I mean, to interpret it and to share it, how God helps me to see it, it makes you think twice before you want to say something or you want to say something. So, pray that God would use me because I just want to be a speaker, you know, not a speaker but one of those speakers that God can speak through me and I just say whatever God tells me to say. [00:02:03] Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Several weeks ago, I talked about Abraham and how it was accounted to him as righteousness because he believed. and I should maybe turn to it. [00:02:33] I was going to give a little background there. He believed and it was accounted him to righteousness and then he went and listened to his wife and took the matter in his own hands and went into Hagar and it seems to me like he didn't trust in God anymore and he was going to get his children that way And then it doesn't say anything about his life for 13 years. [00:03:08] And then God came to him. I forget which chapter it is. 15 or 16 or something in Genesis. And God says, I am Almighty God. In other words, He's all-sufficient. God tells him to walk before me and to be thou perfect and he fell on his face and I want to go from there it's almost like you could probably look at it two different ways you know maybe God was appearing to him like that as a reminder or was he backslidden and why did he fall on his face [00:03:54] Was he just worshipping? Because even when we're not backslidden, we can fall on our faces and worship God, can't we? You know, during the day when you're working and you hear a song or you hear a verse or a verse comes into your mind, you just want to lift up your hands. Nobody's around. Nobody's watching you. You're not standing in church. You know, you're not on a street corner. You're all by yourself. You're reading God's Word maybe in the morning. You just want to lift up your hands and worship Him. You want to fall on your face and bow down and worship Him. [00:04:28] And maybe that's what He was doing. But I want to look at it from a little different point of view. I'll leave that behind, I guess, and go from there. And let's say that you are backslidden. Or maybe you don't know what it's like to be washed. As it says in verse 11 in 1 Corinthians 6 You don't know what it's like to be washed [00:05:00] And you're just, or maybe you're backslidden And you come to Christ And To know what it's like to have a changed life And how do you know you have a changed life? That's kind of what I want to talk about this morning Let's start Let's start at the beginning of the chapter. Chapter 6, 1 Corinthians. Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? [00:05:36] Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Verba, that's where my verse was at. I was talking to Dan B. last night, and I thought for sure that there was a verse somewhere where we're going to judge, but he was saying, no, I'm not going to. He likes to give me a hard time. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? [00:06:13] If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you, not even one who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers. Now, therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. [00:06:45] Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. [00:07:22] And such were some of you. But, hallelujah, I'll put that in there, hallelujah. You were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. There's a song, I should have looked it up. What a wonderful change in my life, something since Jesus came into my heart. [00:07:54] Y'all know that song? What a wonderful song. I had to think of that but what is the greatest proof the biggest proof that there's change in your life in the new birth how do you know that there's a change how do we know, what's the biggest proof if somebody comes to Christ and we look at their life how do we know that there's new birth first of all I want to go to Galatians chapter 4 and read four verses out of there, I think. [00:08:37] This verse is very, these verses are very special to me. And it's hard to imagine that it can be so, but it is so. And I praise the Lord for it. Galatians 4, verse 4 through 9, the first part of 9, I think. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. [00:09:11] And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave to sin, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bondage? [00:09:49] That's a good question. How can we do that? But I want to go back to God sent His Son. It's Christmas. God sent His Son so that we can be called sons of God. Hallelujah. But what's the greatest proof? The first one I wrote down is that we love Jesus. 1 John chapter 5, verses 1 through 5. [00:10:30] Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. [00:11:03] Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? You know, how true that is. If you talk to anybody in any church around here, and you ask them, do you love Jesus? They say, yeah. Do you love God? Yeah, we love God. I think we were talking about it one day. But how do you know that you love God? How can we tell when somebody loves God? [00:11:36] It says right here, if they keep His commandments. So if they're not keeping God's commandments, do they love God? You know, I also had to think, you know, how sinners, you think sinners will hold, you know, they think a lot about God. You know, they know that He's God. You don't really have to tell them. He's God. They know it. They hold Him in high esteem, I want to say. But when we become, when we believe in Christ, when we become a new creature, all of a sudden we love. We don't just hold Him in high esteem. And there's a big difference between holding God in high esteem or whether we love Him or not. The next thing that we will do, if we really have a changed life, if there's really been a new birth, is that we will love God's Word. [00:12:45] And we know all the verses in Psalms 1, or maybe we don't know them all, but we know what Psalms 119 talks about, and I wanted to read a few from there. Verse 24 Your testimonies also are my delight. You know, do we delight in God's Word? I think verse 40 Behold, I long for your precepts. [00:13:15] Revive me in your righteousness. Do you long when you wake up in the morning? Oh, I can't wait to get my Bible. Or you go to work, You don't have your Bible with you and you just can't wait to get home to read your Bible. Or is it you can't wait to get home to read the newspaper? Man, I remember those days. I'm so sad about that. Can't wait to get home to play with my children. Well, that's a good thing, isn't it? But what about the Bible? What about God's Word? How do you look at God's Word? Do you love God's Word? [00:13:47] Do you long for it? You can't get enough of it. You just want to read it, and you open the page, and the first thing you read, it doesn't even matter what it is, something just jumps out at you, you start reading, and it's like, whoa, I never saw that before. Oh my word, that gives me goosebumps. It's just, it's wonderful. Another one, verse 47 and 48. And I will delight myself in your commandments, which I love, my hands also I will lift up to your commandments. [00:14:19] which I love and I will meditate on your statutes. In times past, there's been a lot of things that I meditated on. And it hasn't been God's Word. But what a change when we give our life and we commit ourselves and dedicate ourselves to the Lord. and how that all changes. [00:14:54] But yet, why is it so easy for us to go back to that? Like it says in Galatians, why do you go back? After you've known God and you're known by God, how can you go back to that stuff? That was a question to me. So we love God's Word. We long for it. Number three, we love the brethren, and I don't think we have too much of a problem with that around here, praise the Lord. [00:15:38] We, um, I feel a huge love around here. Love for one another. How Enos loves Jared and Dave and, you know, back and forth and there's a love. But it's not always that way in some churches. and you know when does it become not love you know can there be a an attitude it looks like Dave loves Enos you know or whatever whoever but yet there is there an underlying something going [00:16:14] on there that kind of have an attitude and I've heard all kinds of stories about how you know so and so at this church and the same at going to the same church two guys and they I haven't talked to each other for six years or whatever. I don't know. It's been ridiculous amounts of time. They're going to the same church. And it's hard to believe. 1 John 3 Do not, verse 13 to 15 [00:16:47] Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. That there would probably be a sermon in itself. So that's how we know that we have life. We've passed from death to life is that we love the brethren. [00:17:18] That's how we know that we have a changed life. A hard one is number four. We know we have a changed life if we love our enemies. And you know, we could tell all kinds of scenarios, you know, what if somebody comes into your house and, you know, robs all your stuff or kills your wife or one of your children and we're supposed to love him? You know, but for real, think about it. [00:17:52] If you think, if you sit and think about, what is it, Matthew 5, 43 through 48. How we are supposed to love our enemies. And some nights, there was a couple nights I lay in bed and thought about that. Now, this has been years ago now. Okay, now, if somebody comes in here, you know, and I hear them, and I find out what they're doing, and I'm going to grab that candlestick and whatever. And you just lay awake and your heart's beating and you're all pumped up and all this stuff [00:18:27] and you can't go to sleep and you're preparing yourself. No, no, no, that's not right. That's not the New Testament. We're to love them. Love them to the point that we witness to them when we try to get them into the kingdom of heaven. And that's another point. We love their soul. We love their soul. Our enemies. To the point where we hope they get saved. We want them to get saved so that they can go to heaven with us, but yet they killed our... [00:19:03] You know, that's the whole difference of two kingdoms. Man, we're just here for a little bit. We're a vapor. Poof, we're gone. If our children are killed, wife killed, will we cry? Of course we'll cry and we'll grieve. We heard about that. Jim talked about that some. But we are to love our enemies. If we don't love our enemies, will that keep us out of heaven? That's a question to myself. [00:19:38] I have to love my enemies. Even if it's an enemy on the road that honks his horn for something I didn't even do. What did I do? Me and Brittany were going into town the other day and some guy just blared his horn. What? I didn't do nothing. Somebody cuts me off. Oh, you dumb driver. I know we probably don't hate him, but you know, there's that something in us that... But the whole thing of loving our enemies, that's a tough one for us as humans. [00:20:13] But we need to see ourselves as of a different kingdom. And we need to love their souls. And that's the next one. Romans 10, verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. It is quite obvious that he loved their souls. [00:20:46] I have to think of, I right away thought of Keith Daniel's message, Are You a Soul Winner? If you haven't ever listened to it, you should listen to it. Very convicting. Jesus said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. We follow Christ and we will love people's souls. That's another way we can tell if we have had a changed life. And these are all things that I wanted to write down and to think about [00:21:19] that if I'm not doing one of these, do I have a changed life? Or maybe it's just an area that we need to grow in. At least that's what I found out. I know I have a changed life. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. But these are some areas that I need a little bit of work in. Being a soul winner. Am I a fisher of men? 1 Corinthians 9. I forget what it says, but I wrote it down. 19-22 [00:21:56] For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without law, as without law, not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ, that I might win those who are without law. [00:22:30] So, he was obviously... Oh, I forgot 22. To the weak I became as weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. We will love souls. In Isaiah 62, verse 1. For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace [00:23:09] and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns. How many times have I held my peace Maybe because I didn't want to offend somebody. And I think like, if I, maybe that would be a good discussion thing sometime. When is it okay to hold your peace to not make somebody mad? [00:23:42] Is there ever a time like that? But how often have I held my peace just because I didn't love their soul? So, you know, I'll just let them go on their way. Number six. We will love the pure life. [00:24:16] 1 John 2.15 1 John chapter 2 verse 15 to 17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, I want more and more, not happy, and the pride of life, which I would just call pride, is not of the Father, but is of the world. [00:24:56] And the world is passing away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. I have to go back to verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. What are some things in this world that I love? And anything that you love that is in this world, would you call it an idol? [00:25:33] And for everybody it's going to be something different probably. But it was a question for me. Do I love something in this world? And number seven, the last one, sons of God, children of God, love to talk with God. Ephesians 5. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. [00:26:19] And I was going to talk about being filled with the Spirit too, but I knew I wouldn't probably have time, so I'll do that next time. Verse 19, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. I had to ask myself, am I singing? Am I making melody in my heart to the Lord? What song are you singing? How are you making melody in your heart? [00:26:51] Every day, not on Sunday. Of course, we come here and sing. And I don't think it really necessarily means that you have to be singing, but you're making melody. How many different ways is there to make melody in your heart to the Lord? And the neatest thing I bought, couldn't wait to tell you guys all this, how I learned this new story from Acts chapter 10. And I wanted to try and fit it into the message how it fit, just so I could say it. [00:27:25] But let's turn to Acts chapter 10. And it has the, I want to focus on prayer. The praying part. How we know we can have, or how we know we have a changed life. We will love to talk to God. And I was telling Verba about this thing that I, well, I was thinking about the Holy Spirit [00:27:56] and I came across verse 44 in chapter 10 where it says, While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. That's why I came to chapter 10. And I wanted to, whenever I come to a verse, you know, it's always good to read a little after and a little before I went backwards and started reading. I went up to 34 and came down and went over to 24. I went back to 24 a little further and read. I went all the way back to the beginning and this whole picture of Peter seeing the great sheet and these four-footed beasts and everything, which I knew that story. [00:28:38] and I was telling Verbal about this and I was so excited that this was all new and everything and I said, did you ever know that? And she said, yeah, yeah I did. And so, bear with me, if you know the story already, great, just sit there and wait until I'm done. But this is so neat because, sure, I know the story about the great sheet and he couldn't eat, you know, But verse 2, it's talking about Cornelius. [00:29:13] And verse 2, he obviously was a Gentile. He was a devout man, one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. And now maybe, for those of you who don't know the story, Okay, I'll try and make it quick. Okay, verse 3. I should just read the whole thing, but maybe some... [00:29:46] Yeah, I think I'll read it. He prayed to God always. About the ninth hour, which I think is 3 o'clock p.m. in the afternoon of the day, He saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. And when he observed him, he was afraid and said, What is it, Lord? So he knew the Lord. He knew it was him. So he said to him, Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. [00:30:25] Now send men to Joppa, which was about thirty miles away, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon the Tanner and told him where to go and all this stuff. So, Cornelius did. Now, I had to think, Cornelius probably thought, why? But if Cornelius prayed often, he was a devout man, he feared God, he prayed often, I'll guarantee you the guy was thirsty [00:30:58] for more of God. I'll guarantee you. Why else would you pray so often? He was thirsty. He was hungry. And so the angel of God came to him and said, all right, your prayer has been answered. Send for Simon, Simon Peter. So he did send him to Joppa. Now, verse 9. The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up to the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. [00:31:33] What time is the sixth hour? That's what I was going to say. About 12 noon. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat. But while they made ready, he fell into a trance. So there's fixing him food. He fell into this trance. He had this vision and saw heaven open up and these four-footed beasts. [00:32:06] And a voice came to him and said, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, No, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. and a voice spoke to him again the second time what God has cleansed you must not call common and it happened three times it says in verse 16 and the object was taken up into heaven now while you know Peter's sitting there what is this all about wondering within himself what this vision [00:32:38] which he had seen meant behold the men who Cornelius sent had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate. So while he had just had this vision, he's sitting there wondering, what is this all about? These guys show up at his door that Cornelius sent from, or was it from Joppa or was they going to Joppa? I forget. That don't matter. Anyways, and they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there. While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, [00:33:11] Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down, go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. So Peter obeys. Another man who was thirsty, prayed often, he was hungry, he was obedient. Why would he go with these guys? Doubt nothing. And he had just had this vision. You know, what is all this? There's men, the God's telling me to go with them. and what's this vision mean except that you know God says that he has cleansed what God has cleansed you must not call common or unclean and they said Cornelius told him about this just man this Cornelius who fears God and has a good reputation so does well that's another question I have I have to ask somebody sometime [00:34:08] Um, I think Peter knew that he was a, he was a Gentile. Then he invited them in and lodged them. And on the next day, Peter went away with them and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanying him. So then very next day, they go with him. And Peter still doesn't know what's going on, except that Cornelius sent for him. So maybe by now he's saying, well, God said go with him, doubt nothing, I'm going to go. [00:34:42] The following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them. He was waiting for them. That is key. They didn't have no cell phones. He didn't send no letter. He knew he would come. He was waiting for him because God had spoke to him. Send for him. He'll come. Where was I? Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends I want to think of that as the church [00:35:12] He called the church there together Maybe it was or maybe it wasn't Not sure Relatives and close friends As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him But Peter lifted him up, saying, Stand up, I myself am also a man And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together And I want to think of that as the church was there waiting for him to get there. They knew he was coming. Another group of people who were hungry and thirsty. [00:35:48] Then he said to them, Peter said to them, You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for I asked, then, for what reason have you sent me? So Cornelius said, four days ago I was fasting until this hour He was fasting and praying [00:36:20] And at the ninth hour I prayed in my house And behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms are remembered in the sight of God and told him the whole story. And I say, hallelujah. If you are born again, you are going to pray. You are going to fast and pray. That was such a new... I never put the whole thing together. Yeah, the sheep come down, these unclean animals. You wasn't supposed to... But the whole thing to me is about this Cornelius [00:36:53] and about how God spoke to each man and each man obeyed. And how else can you know the will of God if you don't pray, if you don't spend time with Him? How else can we? If we don't love His Word, if we don't love Jesus. And you know, how much revelation from the Scriptures can you get if you don't obey every commandment? Love your enemies. I see it as you can only get so far. [00:37:24] And it's even like if there's unconfessed little sins, or unconfessed big sins for that matter. Is there a little sin? That's a whole other subject. Sins that are, you know, you think, well, I've taken care of them with God. I don't need to tell anybody else. But if we don't obey God's calling on our life, If God's telling you, confess your sins, tell somebody about it, then we can only get so far. [00:38:01] We confess them, the Bible's going to open up. It's going to open up like a storybook. And I just, I don't know, I praise God for His Word and for the work that He's doing in my life. I want to go back to Galatians chapter 4 and I want you don't have to turn there if you don't want to but I want to focus on verse 6 and because you are sons God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts it's another way that we can tell if we have a changed life the Holy Spirit in our hearts and it makes it possible since we are [00:38:46] Sons, we can call him Abba, Father In other words, Daddy I don't know what you call your dad Maybe just Dad But what's the most endearing term that you have for your dad? And that's what you can call God Maker of the Universe That was really, that stood out to me too So my challenge to me, to you, think about if you have a changed life. [00:39:25] Has there been new birth? Does there need to be new birth in an area? You know, do you need to read the scriptures more? Do you need to say, hey, Lord, give me a burden for my family. Give me a vision for my family. Give me a burden for lost souls. Whatever it is. Give me a desire for God's Word. You pray that. Pray. And you better hold on tight. Because He'll do it for you. [00:39:57] There's a verse in John 8. Verse 31. In closing. I should have just wrote it down. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. You abide in His Word. [00:40:31] Abide in His Word. I don't care if you have to write it on the back of your hand to remind yourself, Hey, Dwayne, abide in His Word. You see that all the time. I'm not saying to get a tattoo, but do whatever you have to do. Put a string around your finger. I don't care. Make a mark on your nose when you look at yourself in the mirror. Whatever it needs to be, do something. Radical. People are going to call you weird. You've got a mark on your nose. [00:41:04] For real. I don't care. Abide in His Word. I mean, just hang out there, if you want to say it that way. Abide in His Word, you are my disciples indeed. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You again for this time that we have together like this. Thank You for sending Your Son as a baby in a lowly manger, Lord. [00:41:35] To live on this earth, to go through what we go through So that you can understand what we're going through Lord, I pray that you would help us to see that and to follow you Help us to be fishers of men And Lord, we also thank you so much for your word Thank you, Lord, that you will help us to never be hungry again [00:42:13] and you will help us to never be thirsty if we trust in you. Lord, I pray that you would give us a hunger and a thirst for you. We thank you for your word, Lord, and help us to abide in it. Help us to remember. Give us a desire for you, for your word. Help us to obey every commandment in your word. [00:42:44] In Jesus' name, amen.