Sermon

Great Invitation - Frank Brancato

Church of Christ - Bakersfield, Ca

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  1. In our text that we noticed just a moment ago we find such a

  2. wonderful invitation that was extended by.

  3. Jesus Christ himself for his Jesus said come unto me all ye

  4. that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

  5. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for.

  6. I am meek and lowly at heart and ye shall find rest unto your

  7. souls for. My yoke is easy.

  8. Easy. And my burden is light, you

  9. know, today we find great comfort and we find great hope

  10. in the words that Jesus expressed so long ago for it is

  11. in these words that we find rest, and we find relief, we

  12. find rest and relief from our burdens and our cares.

  13. In this life. In Jesus Christ, we find

  14. freedom, freedom, from sin, and freedom, from all of the burdens

  15. that would weigh us down. And trouble us from day to day.

  16. Jesus Christ is the one that sets us free and he does.

  17. So by giving us a new dignity, a new Destiny and finally he gives

  18. us a new direction for our lives.

  19. You know, the reason that many of us feel burdened and heavy

  20. laden is because we spend as it were far too much time swimming

  21. against the current We have our priorities out of sorts and

  22. because of that, we very sadly unnecessarily, complicate our

  23. lives to illustrate this point. I understand that of all of the

  24. tools and a lion tamer can take into a lion's cage, believe it

  25. or not. And this is considering the fact

  26. that a lion tamer often times. We'll have a whip in one hand

  27. and a firearm on his hip that have all of the tools that he

  28. might take into that. At cage, the most important

  29. thing in his possession is a small stool.

  30. Well, I'm told by the experts that are lion Tamers and

  31. understand that concept, that that lion tamer can rack, can

  32. grab that stool by its back and thrust, those four legs toward a

  33. charging wild animal. And when he does, so that animal

  34. tries to focus on all four of those legs at the same time.

  35. And I am told as a Out. He becomes confused.

  36. He even becomes quite paralyzed. Somewhat tame.

  37. And docile the reason for that is his attention has become

  38. fragmented. I am convinced today that the

  39. secret of successful living is to seek.

  40. After that. One thing I don't stand before

  41. you today saying that we cannot have hobbies that we cannot have

  42. interests that we cannot have a variety.

  43. Variety of things that we do in our life.

  44. Surely, there's nothing wrong with having a variety of things

  45. that we do. It kind of makes us a

  46. well-rounded person. It makes us a greater value to

  47. the ones that we love and the ones that we touch and the ones

  48. that we come in contact with from day to day.

  49. What I am saying is there can only be one Number one, man

  50. finds himself in great turmoil. When he tries to focus on more

  51. than one number one. That one thing in our life, of

  52. course, is none. Other than seeking, after the

  53. kingdom of God. Many of us have our lives too

  54. complicated, too fragmented. We all need to yield our self

  55. though, to Jesus Christ, and let him establish, what our

  56. priorities should be. That we may take care of the

  57. really important things in life and leave the less important

  58. things where they belong and that is that the edges or

  59. outskirts of Our Lives. Yes, and Jesus Christ.

  60. There is Ultimate Freedom. It's not that we will never,

  61. again, have problems in this life.

  62. Please, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that when a

  63. person comes to Jesus and obeys Jesus and obeys the gospel and

  64. and lives their life in accordance with God's will

  65. through God's word, which is God's plan.

  66. I am not saying that everyone is going to have an easy life as we

  67. journey in the flesh. I'm not saying that at all,

  68. because even though a man wrote a book on the subject, he did

  69. not invent the concept. And that is this that there are

  70. wonderful people that are living right now that are seeking after

  71. that which is true and right and righteous and just And yet

  72. horrible things have happened to them.

  73. Yes, indeed, sometimes bad things happen to good people.

  74. The point is this, though, if Jesus is at the Forefront of our

  75. thinking, and he is the one that's to guide us in our life

  76. if we find rest and freedom and hope and relief.

  77. In Jesus, the point is this, we will never look at those

  78. challenges and those problems the same way ever again.

  79. Again those problems that seem so insurmountable that seem

  80. greater than we can possibly fathom and possibly bear when we

  81. put our trust in the Lord and all that is entailed in doing.

  82. So we will never view the challenges in our life, the same

  83. ever again. So when Jesus extended that

  84. invitation, we ask ourself this morning to whom was Jesus

  85. talking to who is going to have this.

  86. Wonderful invitation, what did Jesus extend?

  87. What was he saying? And who was Going to receive

  88. this invitation well, from the very words of Jesus, he said it

  89. is to all those that labor and are heavy laden.

  90. Those that are burdened in this life and burdened in the burden

  91. of sin of all the things that I can possibly talk about though.

  92. Why would I choose to speak on something or refer to something?

  93. In this particular point in our sermon today, that is unpleasant

  94. like sin. I Stand.

  95. There are far more pleasant things, far more comforting

  96. things, far more pleasurable, things that I might speak on.

  97. As I preached the sermon this morning, but let me just say

  98. this Jesus extended this, wonderful invitation so long to

  99. go to all those that are burdened in sin.

  100. And you know what? I find that there's great

  101. comfort in that because all are burdened in sin, read the reason

  102. that it's so important for us to And that concept is simply this

  103. that of all the things that we will do in our life and all of

  104. the circumstances that come our way, all the decisions that we

  105. make and so on and so forth. There's only one thing.

  106. And only one thing, that'll keep a Man Out Of Heaven.

  107. And that is sin. Sin is a burden that separates

  108. one from God. Hear the words of the prophet of

  109. old and Isaiah chapter 59. Now and beginning in verse One

    Isaiah 59 chapter mention

  110. where the Bible says, behold the Lord's hand is not shortened

  111. that it cannot save. Neither his ear heavy.

  112. That it cannot hear but notice but your iniquities have

  113. separated between you and your God and your sins have hidden

  114. his face from you. That he will not hear you.

  115. You see, sin is a burden that will separate man from God.

  116. But, you know, even in this life, Even while we're living

  117. and even though we're talking about this life and not the life

  118. after this, one of the hope of heaven where sin will keep a Man

  119. Out Of Heaven. What about in this life?

  120. Sin has terrible side effects. It really does we find rest and

  121. freedom from that in Jesus Christ.

  122. Because of the side effects of sin, one side effect of sin in

  123. this life is this that a person that's living their life

  124. burdened in that condition. He lacks inner peace and Isaiah

    Isaiah 48:22

  125. 48:22. The Bible says, there is no

  126. peace. Saith the Lord unto the wicked.

  127. Instead of inner peace. The Sinner is burden with

  128. anxiety. He is burdened often times with

  129. depression. He is burdened with fear and

  130. even doubt and, you know, rightfully so because we

  131. understand as we view the ultimate consequence and that is

  132. spiritual death were a man is separated, from the almighty God

  133. for all eternity. Yes, indeed, it is easy to see,

  134. why a man would feel Way, the Apostle Paul said in Romans

    Romans 6 chapter mention

  135. chapter 6 and verse 23, he said for the wages of sin is death

  136. but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, Our

  137. Lord. So to whom is it extended to?

  138. This wonderful invitation I submit to you this morning

  139. ladies and gentlemen, that the invitation is for everyone.

  140. For the Bible says that all are sinners, the Apostle Paul said

  141. in Romans chapter 3 and Verse 23.

    Romans 3 chapter mention

  142. He said for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

  143. And then in verse 10 of Romans 3, Paul said as it is written

  144. there is none righteous. No not one and because there is

  145. none righteous. No, not one.

  146. All are in bondage to sin and it's heavy burden.

  147. Jesus said in John chapter 8 and verse and verse 34 he said

    John 8 chapter mention

  148. verily, I say unto you whosoever Whoever committeth sin is the

  149. servant of sin, oh, what a wonderful invitation extended to

  150. those. Anyone that is away from God,

  151. that's what we need to understand this morning.

  152. Everyone, that is away from God. Jesus has given the invitation

  153. that you are going to have comfort that you are going to

  154. have rest that you are going to have all of those wonderful

  155. blessings. The condition is you have to

  156. come to him. At tells me that if a person is

  157. going to reject the teachings of the Gospel is going to reject

  158. Jesus and all that Jesus said they are not going to have what

  159. Jesus Promised because there is conditions to his promise that

  160. is we must come to him. I think it's important though,

  161. at this part of our lesson that we understand a very important

  162. concept about Sin, understand and this that a person is not

  163. born into sin, contrary with what, some would believe that a

  164. person is born into sin with the depraved soul and guilty of the

  165. sin of Father, Adam, that was done in the garden.

  166. So long ago, understand this little children are not burdened

  167. in sin. If you look out across our

  168. audience this morning and you see all of these wonderful

  169. little children. You understand this?

  170. Jesus loves them there. Precious in His sight, they're

  171. Priceless in his sight, they are wonderful and they are innocent.

  172. You remember in Matthew the 18th chapter Jesus made that clear

  173. point when he said for those, that would try to keep little

  174. children coming to Jesus, Jesus is, oh no, you permit, little

  175. children to come to me and you forbid them, not for of such is

  176. the kingdom of God. Yes, indeed, a person that is

  177. going to become as a little child being born again as we

  178. mentioned last. Last night, which is being born

  179. of water and the spirit that's the Little Child Jesus is

  180. talking about. Oh, little children are

  181. wonderful and precious in the eyes of the almighty God.

  182. You know there's going to come a time.

  183. When children though come to the realization, when they're old

  184. enough to realize that, the life that they're living is sinful if

  185. you pardon the personal example, my children, all of, you know,

  186. them, they only know right from wrong because of what they've

  187. been told by Tina or myself or anyone else in their life, that

  188. is an authority figure, that's why they know what's right and

  189. what's wrong, they do not know how to decipher or go through

  190. what really is right and what really is wrong, they do things

  191. or do not do things for Or of punishment.

  192. They understand that if there's a consequence, they don't want

  193. that consequence. So what are they going to do?

  194. They're going to obey what they're told, but they're not

  195. old enough to make the wise decisions and choices of moral

  196. issues and all of the things that would be considered sin,

  197. their little fellows, all the little kids, and they're

  198. innocent because they don't know that someday though, they'll

  199. come to the realization if they live long enough.

  200. Before, if the Lord does not come back and put an end to this

  201. old world, they're going to have to stay be accountable, and

  202. they're going to have to come to the realization.

  203. I am lost in the condition that I'm in.

  204. When a person can understand that and they're old enough to

  205. decipher that. Then they know, I can look to

  206. the scriptures and find out just exactly what am I supposed to do

  207. with my condition, notice though, that the Bible teaches

  208. and Ezekiel Great teen and verse 20.

  209. That the soul, that sinneth, it shall die.

  210. The son shall not bear. The iniquity of the father.

  211. Neither shall the father bear, the iniquity of the son, the

  212. righteousness of the righteous, shall be upon him.

  213. And the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

  214. I read that verse of scripture for your hearing this morning

  215. because I want to paint a picture to you about a sinner

  216. because the Bible in Ezekiel chapter 18 and verse 20, It's a

    Ezekiel 18 chapter mention

  217. picture about a sinner the soul that sinneth.

  218. It shall die. But look at the very next verse

  219. look at verse 21. Because there's a ray of Hope

  220. for that sinner. Notice what a person has to do.

  221. Now in verse 21, there are three conditions to get you out of

  222. that. Horrible state three conditions

  223. to keep you from dying. Spiritually, number 1 and verse

  224. 21, it says, but if the wicked, number one will turn from all

  225. his sins that he hath committed. That's number one.

  226. That tells me that if a person is not willing to repent And

  227. turn from all of those sins that are in their life that they have

  228. committed. They are not going to have rest,

  229. they will not be relieved from the horrible condition that sin

  230. has burden them with, but he will not die.

  231. If he does these three things turns, from all this sins that

  232. he hath committed. Secondly.

  233. Keeps all my statues. Yes, indeed.

  234. The child of God has rules and regulations, and Commandments.

  235. He must obey. Not only do you turn from all

  236. your sins that you've committed but you keep all of his statutes

  237. thirdly though. Now, you have a responsibility

  238. to do something. You know, there is a difference

  239. between works that are works of Merit.

  240. It is true that I cannot perform enough Acts.

  241. S of works that are works of Merit to stand before my maker

  242. and that last and final day and catalog.

  243. The things that I have done in that I have earned a spot into

  244. heaven. No, there's not enough works of

  245. Merit that I can do in my life, in order to do that.

  246. But the Bible, clearly tells me this, there are works of

  247. obedience that I must do in order to go to heaven.

  248. Ezekiel, 18 and 21. You got to turn from Change if

  249. committed. You've got to keep all my

  250. statutes and here it comes, you have to do all that is, right?

  251. And lawful, if you do all three of those things, it says he

  252. shall surely live. He shall not die.

  253. You know, a person. Cannot blame someone else for

  254. his sins. I know we live in a society of

  255. blame, don't we? Don't we live in such a society

  256. We want to blame our teacher, we want to blame our principal, you

  257. want to blame our father, or mother, or sister, or brother.

  258. We even want to blame society for the reason that we are what

  259. we are. But I'll tell you something.

  260. Ladies and gentlemen, I realized our evil influences in the

  261. world. You know how I feel about that.

  262. But I'll tell you, this shit won't do a man, any good with

  263. reference to his chin because you cannot stand before your

  264. maker and the Judgment seat of Christ.

  265. One day and catalog, all the The reasons why you are what you

  266. are. All we know is this a person has

  267. to turn from all those sinful ways and he's going to be

  268. accountable and responsible. Everyone of us one by one will

  269. be judged, according to the things that we have done.

  270. Jesus offers us rest also in this life.

  271. He offers us rest a present rest in Jesus Christ because there is

  272. rest in hope in Romans, chapter 5, and beginning.

    Romans 5 chapter mention

  273. In verse 1, the Apostle Paul said, therefore being justified

  274. by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by

  275. whom. Also, we have access by faith

  276. into this grace, wherein, we stand and rejoice in Hope of the

  277. glory of God. God, you know, the reason that

  278. we have hope is because of our faith.

  279. Faith is something that the child of God needs to hold onto

  280. and latch onto. And I never turn loose of, you

  281. know, Paul dealt with that very thing.

  282. You remember, you remember, when he talked to a young evangelist,

  283. you remember, when he spoke to him in that letter and First

    1 Timothy 1 chapter mention

  284. Timothy chapter 1 and verse 19, he told Timothy holding faith

  285. and a good conscience. That's how you're going to get

  286. through this life. A child.

  287. God has freedom and hope in Jesus Christ.

  288. He has rest in that. And so in order to get through

  289. the trials and burdens of this life, he has to do something.

  290. Paul says what you're going to do, you're going to hold your

  291. faith. Paul said this many have not

  292. done that and they have become shipwreck.

  293. You've heard me say this before and it's so true.

  294. The steering apparatus of a man's soul is his faith.

  295. A ship's Captain can have a ship and hold on to that steering

  296. apparatus. He can hold on for with all of

  297. his might. And when he goes to the

  298. merciless, waves and tempestuous sees that beat against his ship,

  299. if you'll hang on to that steering apparatus, he's got a

  300. chance to get through, but if he turns loose, he subjects his

  301. ship to the wreckage that's coming.

  302. Paul said, that's what he wanted us to understand.

  303. That's the, Connection. Paul said, that's what you do.

  304. If you let go of your faith, don't ever do that.

  305. Don't ever do that because there's hope in that.

  306. I can't imagine living my life without faith.

  307. Yes, indeed, there is rest in that but secondly, there's a

  308. present rest in this life in Jesus Christ because there's a

  309. risk from the bondage of sin in Romans chapter 6, beginning in

    Romans 6 chapter mention

  310. verse 17, Remember that the Apostle Paul said, but God be

  311. thanked that you were the Servants of sin but ye have

  312. obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine which was delivered.

  313. You read that to read this verse 18, it says being then made free

  314. from sin. Ye became the Servants of

  315. righteousness, there's blessings and hope in this life in Christ.

  316. But like Paul said though the greatest rest is coming,

  317. remember what Paul said? If the only hope that we had in

  318. Jesus Christ was in this life. He said we are of all men.

  319. Most miserable. Can you imagine if this is it?

  320. If this is as good as it gets, if this life is all that, we

  321. have a hope in It gets better, notice the blessings of being in

  322. Jesus when we are Christians we find that there's rest.

  323. After this life hear the words of Hebrews chapter 4, beginning

    Hebrews 4 chapter mention

  324. in verse 9, where the Bible says there remaineth therefore notice

  325. arrest for whom it says, there remaineth arrest.

  326. For the people of God. If I were to go out today this

  327. afternoon in between services and I would go from one person

  328. to the next that are out in the world today.

  329. Anybody that I would come across or come in contact with and if I

  330. would ask them this question, if I would say now this is provided

  331. that this person at least understands the concept of

  332. Heaven and the concept of hell, even if that person doesn't know

  333. a whole lot about it, if a person, even understands the

  334. concept of Heaven and the concept of hell, If I were to

  335. ask that person and you understand that concept, where

  336. would you rather go? I would imagine that all would

  337. say, well, I'd rather go to heaven because it surely beats

  338. the alternative of hell. And then, if I were to ask that

  339. same person, but do you think you're going?

  340. I would imagine most would say, well sure, I think so.

  341. I think I'd be going. You know what?

  342. Hebrews 4 said there remaineth. Rest.

  343. For the people of God, there's no rest for people that are not

  344. of god, notice though as it says for he that is entered into his

  345. rest. He also hath ceased from his own

  346. works, as God did from his notice.

  347. Here's another condition. He speaking to Christians,

  348. understand, this was written to the Hebrew Brethren.

  349. These Jews that were converted to Christianity.

  350. He's speaking to Chris, Christians in this letter and he

  351. says there's a rest for the people of God that.

  352. Do what? Labor to enter in to this rest.

  353. There's a condition there, isn't it?

  354. That tells me if I want to become a child of God?

  355. But I backslide and I go to the ways of the world, it tells me

  356. this, I believe that the Hebrew writer happens to be the Apostle

  357. Paul and in that letter he said there's a rest for the people of

  358. God. He says, as a result of that

  359. promise, let us labor therefore to enter into that rest.

  360. So what so you don't end up. Up in the same state as those

  361. that have unbelief. So, even the child of God, who

  362. backslides can find himself in a place where the unbeliever is to

  363. go to get rest. You have to be a, the people of

  364. God and labor to enter in another thing, though.

  365. We have rest from all of our outward afflictions and

  366. Revelation chapter 21 and verse 4.

    Revelation 21 chapter mention

  367. The Bible says these wonderful words and God shall wipe away

  368. all tears from their eyes and there shall be Be no more death,

  369. neither sorrow, nor crying neither shall there.

  370. Be any more pain for the former things are passed away.

  371. And that wonderful that there's coming a day.

  372. When you will never again, stand over a newly made grave of one

  373. that you dearly loved. There's going to come a day in

  374. the future. When you will never again, stand

  375. at the sickbed of a loved one. There's going to come a day,

  376. when they'll be no sickbeds, there'll be no convalescent

  377. hospitals, they'll be none of those things that we labor and

  378. troubling in this life. There's coming a day, when all

  379. of our outward afflictions In the Flesh will no longer be an

  380. issue. We are promised that.

  381. In this rest, we're going to have a new body and that body is

  382. going to be like Christ. You know what else?

  383. The Bible also says the righteous shall be righteous.

  384. Still, there will be no sin over there either.

  385. What a wonderful place at the Bible pictures.

  386. They'll be a rest from all of our Labor's.

  387. Also Revelation, 14, and third and 13.

  388. The Bible says, and I Heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto

  389. me, write blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord from

  390. henceforth. Ye saith the spirit that they

  391. may rest from their labors and their Works do.

  392. I follow them, they'll come a day when we have a rest from The

  393. Temptations of the devil, there's a rest coming for those

  394. that are going to be no longer burdened by the wickedness and

  395. meanness and unkindness of others.

  396. I know folks are sometimes unkind in the world.

  397. I know that let us never be guilty of that.

  398. I know that there are folks that are just mean That's stating the

  399. obvious, I think. But there's coming a day when no

  400. one will ever do that again to the people of God, who are

  401. laboring to get there. There's going to be a rest from

  402. all sin and unrighteousness as well.

  403. These are wonderful blessings that we have in Jesus Christ.

  404. So let me ask you this question now.

  405. What does it mean to come to Christ?

  406. I'll tell you something that ought to be in the Forefront of

  407. our thinking. When we look at there are

  408. conditions to get there, there's conditions upon that rest And

  409. Jesus made the promise, Jesus gave the invitation.

  410. Jesus gave the conditions at tells me this, I want to find

  411. out just every single thing that I must do, because I'll tell you

  412. something. If you're like me, you want to

  413. go there too. What does it mean to come to

  414. Christ? It means following his

  415. teachings. Isn't that reasonable for us to

  416. understand and accept that? If it's his invitation, it is

  417. his rules. It is his Commandments.

  418. It is his conditions. Notice when Jesus gave this

  419. great invitation in verse 29 of Matthew 11 from our text, we

  420. find that in coming to Christ. Jesus says, we must learn of him

  421. here. Also the words of Jesus, in Luke

    Luke 6 chapter mention

  422. chapter 6, and beginning in verse 46, where Jesus said this

  423. and why call you me, Lord Lord and do not the things which I

  424. say whosoever cometh, to me and heareth my sayings and doeth

  425. them. I will show you to whom He is

  426. like he is like a man, which built his house and dig deep and

  427. laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose in the

  428. Stream, beat vehemently upon the house and could not shake it for

  429. it was founded upon a rock but he that heareth and doeth not is

  430. like a man that without a foundation built his house upon

  431. the Earth against which the stream did vehemently and beat

  432. vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that.

  433. House was great. We need to learn of him, we need

  434. to learn of his teachings. We need to obey his terms.

  435. Number one, how does that work? The Apostle Paul said in meeting

  436. the terms that are in God's plan, in Romans chapter 10, and

    Romans 10 chapter mention

  437. verse number 10, he said, for with the heart, man, believeth

  438. unto righteousness. And with the mouth confession is

  439. made, Unto or up to Salvation. Remember this, I want to know

  440. just exactly what I must do to be in to Christ because it is

  441. those that we find. There's blessings only found in

  442. Christ, notice verses 11 and 12 from Romans chapter 10 where

    Romans 10 chapter mention

  443. Paul said for the scripture saith whosoever believeth on him

  444. shall not be ashamed for. There is no difference.

  445. Difference between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is over.

  446. Who it said the same Lord is Rich unto all that.

  447. Do what that call upon his name? Let's continue the very next

  448. verse for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord.

  449. Shall be saved. But how then shall they call on

  450. him in whom they have not believed?

  451. And how shall they believe in him on whom they have not heard

  452. and how shall they hear? Without a preacher notice, the

  453. Bible says, and the Bible teaches us, this, that God has

  454. chosen the foolish - of preaching to save them.

  455. That believe it's not foolish in the eyes of God and it's

  456. certainly not foolish to the children of God.

  457. It is foolish to all those that Are the wise men of the day

  458. after all? There are other things in other

  459. proofs. But God chose the foolish things

  460. of the world and he chose the things that were foolish to the

  461. world to save them. That believe.

  462. Paul said, you have to preach the gospel.

  463. There's a preacher preaching, the word of God upon that

  464. preaching one is hearing that word.

  465. He's Believing on that with all of his heart that Jesus Christ

  466. is who he says he is. Paul said you believe.

  467. To righteousness or up to righteousness.

  468. The Bible also says that we need to repent of our sins.

  469. We need to make a change in our life.

  470. And finally, we confess the name of Jesus Christ.

  471. As the Son of God, these are the final things that are up to or

  472. unto a man's salvation. What else did Paul say?

  473. You got a call on the name of the Lord, all you have to do is

  474. call on the name on Milord the question is this?

  475. How do you do that? We know this.

  476. It is not when you here. Because that happens before you

  477. believe it's not when you believe because that also

  478. happens before you call it is not when you repent, because the

  479. Bible says that we repent unto life, we repent unto or up to

  480. righteousness. Repentance is a direct

  481. prerequisite for a man, salvation?

  482. It is the Turning or changing of a man's heart.

  483. We know it is not calling on the name of the Lord is not simple,

  484. verbiage confess. Jesus as Lord, or even the son

  485. of God, because we find Paul said, you do that before you

  486. call, I want to know what it is, then that I have to do to call

  487. all of these things are before I call on the name of the Lord.

  488. And Paul said, I have to do that in order to be saved here, the

  489. very simple language that puts one into Christ.

  490. First of all, let me just say this, I'll give you the

  491. scriptures now. What I just quoted, Romans 10

  492. and Ten man believes unto or up to righteousness, acts 11 and

  493. 18, man repents unto or up to Salvation, Romans 10:10 man,

    Romans 10:10

  494. confesses unto or up to salvation.

  495. But Galatians 3:27 says this even though all these are unto,

    Galatians 3:27

  496. the Bible says in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 27.

    Galatians 3 chapter mention

  497. Paul said for, as many of you as have been, Sized.

  498. Into Christ have put on Christ, you want to be in Christ.

  499. Another translation says, when you're baptized into Christ, you

  500. have clothed yourself with Christ.

  501. You put him on when you do that, you are in him.

  502. A person is not in him. Until he's baptized washing

  503. away. His sins, baptized into the body

  504. of Christ. Just there are many things I'd

  505. like to talk about today. I don't have time.

  506. I want to tell you this though. Give you just a little example

  507. of where one had to call on the name of the Lord.

  508. In order to be saved, we have read and quoted from many

  509. passages of scripture from the great Apostle Paul.

  510. And you got to understand this was the chosen vessel of Jesus

  511. Christ to bear his name before the Gentiles and you remember as

  512. the Lord said to ananias in a vision, he says to ananias.

  513. He said I am going to show this man how many great things he

  514. will suffer for my name's sake. This was a chosen vessel of the

  515. Lord. This was a man who was destined

  516. to be an apostle. This man was one who wrote by

  517. divine inspiration over two-thirds of the New Testament

  518. scriptures. We have read from him.

  519. Today we have quoted from him today but there was a time when

  520. he was not Such a good fella. There was a time when he was a

  521. sinner. You remember what he was doing?

  522. He was binding, all those that call on the name of the Lord,

  523. all those, that would be Christians.

  524. All of those were punished at the hand of The Hired Gun of the

  525. Sanhedrin being Saul of Tarsus, which was his name before it was

  526. changed to Paul. One day, he's on that Damascus

  527. Road for the purpose of doing just that he's going into

  528. Damascus to go and bring all those together that would call

  529. upon the name of the Lord and punish them and about that time.

  530. Jesus appears to him as a great light shining round about him.

  531. And the Bible says it stopped him dead in his tracks and it

  532. blinded him on that road on that path, that day.

  533. And a voice from Heaven. I've tried to picture in my

  534. mind's eye, how that must have been to this song.

  535. Of Tarsus so long ago. But a booming voice from Heaven,

  536. spoke down, directly, to Saul of Tarsus, and said Saul Saul.

  537. Why persecutest thou me, you know, what he says, who art?

  538. Thou Lord. He said, I am Jesus whom thou

  539. persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick

  540. against the Pricks. Me ask you something, his very

  541. next words were these Lord. What will you have me to do?

  542. Do you think when he respond in such a fashion?

  543. He believed in Jesus. Oh, surely he did.

  544. Surely, he believed in Jesus. You know what else he did, he

  545. accepted him as the savior, he accepted him for all that.

  546. He Was he was willing to confess his name there, right there and

  547. acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God as the savior.

  548. But he says Lord What wilt thou have me to do?

  549. You know what Jesus said, you're going to go now, you're going to

  550. go into Damascus and by the way he's still blind.

  551. He said it's going to be told thee.

  552. What thou must do. Another words, somebody's going

  553. to come in a preacher's, going to come in, and he's going to

  554. tell him words that he must do in order that he will be saved

  555. from the horrible fate that he's in.

  556. And that we talked about being the burden of sin.

  557. This You know what he does? He prays for three days.

  558. He imagined, he was sorry. You imagined that he spent an

  559. awful long time in that period of three days repenting.

  560. You reckon he was awful. Sorry for what he had done.

  561. You imagined that he had a change of heart.

  562. Oh, he surely had a change of heart.

  563. All of a sudden though as Jesus Promised, a man is on the way.

  564. This man named ananias came in. When he came in, he says, and

  565. now why tarriest thou or in other words, what do you waiting

  566. for arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins here, it is

  567. calling on the name of the Lord. These are steps that lead us up

  568. to calling on the name of the Lord.

  569. Paul said, if you call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

  570. What happened? This was the man, he could speak

  571. from that. From obviously, he was inspired

  572. by the Holy Spirit, but this happened to him personally and

  573. an Ayah says, what are you waiting for?

  574. Get up, be baptized and wash away thy sins.

  575. Calling on the name of the Lord. Let me say one more thing about

  576. that. if a man like Paul, Could have Jesus.

  577. Come to him personally, blind him, have him feel as sorry as

  578. he can be. Be a chosen vessel of the Lord.

  579. Be a man that was going to be one that was going to write over

  580. two thirds of the New Testament. This man was supposed to Bear

  581. the name of Jesus to the Gentiles and all of that if he

  582. couldn't pray, his sins away for three days straight.

  583. Why does a man today, think in a one little sentence prayer?

  584. He can have his sins washed away. ladies and gentlemen, he

  585. cannot his sins are washed away when he is baptized into Christ.

  586. He rides us to walk in newness of Life.

  587. Romans chapter 6 when he does, he fulfills what Jesus said to

    Romans 6 chapter mention

  588. Nicodemus, so long ago, that a man must be born again.

  589. When he's born of water and of the spirit.

  590. Finally, this morning, one more thing before I close final rest

  591. is conditioned Upon Our faithfulness unto death.

  592. Final rest is conditioned on those things.

  593. Jesus talked about that very thing.

  594. And so many parables we must hold on.

  595. We must make it to the end. We need to encourage one

  596. another. Not to fall if our brother or

  597. our sister Falls, we need to reach down and grab them and do

  598. the best we can to take them with us.

  599. It's serious business, folks. We need to fight for those that

  600. are having a hard time fighting for themselves.

  601. We need to try to encourage them to stay in the truth and this

  602. and the straight and narrow way. Because they want life, they

  603. really do. We need to have love and

  604. compassion in our heart for those but never support the sin.

  605. Reach down, encourage those that have fallen, don't leave him

  606. alone. You bug him to death if they've

  607. backslidden you call them on the phone.

  608. I'm telling you until they throw you out physically, you keep

  609. going to see him. They want to go to heaven. and

  610. if they're having trouble now, You encourage them to stay

  611. straight, you encourage yourself to do that, you surround

  612. yourself with people that are going to help you get to heaven.

  613. You turn your back on the evil influences of the world so that

  614. you can go to heaven, one day. In conclusion, a man wrote this

  615. about salvation. He said to every man, their

  616. openness away and ways and away and some men climb the highway

  617. and some men grow below. And in between on the Misty,

  618. Flats the rest drift to and fro to every man, they're open.

  619. If the highway and below and every man decided which way his

  620. soul shall go. We thank you for listening to

  621. our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.

  622. Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional

  623. information, or you would like to receive a free Bible

  624. correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at her

  625. Church of Christ Bakersfield.com.

  626. Our service times are on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and

  627. Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Please make plans to join us.

  628. We would love for you to be our honored guest.