Salvation From 30,000 Feet - Part 2 - Jay Loyd

Welcome to the official podcast of the Church

of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've

tuned in for today's message. Whether you're

on your morning commute or if you're relaxing

at home, we're here to share the strength and

truth of God's Word with our community. If you're

in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in

person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean

Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather

every Sunday morning at 1030 a .m. and in the

afternoon at 230 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays

at 7 p .m. Right now, let's open our Bibles together

and dive into today's sermon. We're studying

these last evening and this evening and probably

the next evening and maybe the next evening salvation

from 30 ,000 feet taking a high view or a high

level view of what salvation is just to try to

get some basics that can give us some perspective

that hopefully can give us clarity upon what

it means to be saved and to also to give us some

perspective to help us to understand some difficulties

and some questions that we may have or other

people might have concerning salvation. We said

last evening in Romans chapter 3 verse 23 that

Romans 3:23

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of

God. And so last evening we just started from

the point of being a sinner. And so if you're

here tonight and you are a sinner, what we talked

about last night was you stand before a God who

is glorious and you have fallen short of that

glory. You fell short of that glory today. And

that glory is perfect holiness. It's perfection.

And unless you're perfect like God, then you

are an offense to God and to His glory. And whenever

you behold the glory of God, your reaction should

be the reaction that Isaiah had in Isaiah chapter

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

6. Woe is me, I am undone. And we talked about

that Isaiah was cursing himself. The word woe

means to be doomed, to be condemned. basically

Isaiah looked at the perfect glory of the Lord

and he didn't say Lord I'm a pretty good guy

he didn't say Lord look at me I'm better than

all of these other people because his mind was

so full of the glory of the Lord that all he

could think about was his doom and his condemnation

and if you're here tonight and you have not obeyed

the gospel and you're not baptized and you're

not in Christ Jesus that is how you stand before

the Lord. Whether you're willing to confess it

like Isaiah did or not, that's where you are.

And we say that not to be mean, we say that not

to be hateful, we say that not to scare you,

but we say that to be truthful. To be truthful.

And every breath that the Lord gives you in your

condition is a breath that you can use to change

your relationship with the eternal, perfect,

glorious God. Do that. Do that. Because as we

talked about last evening, the Lord tonight is

pleading with you out of His love and mercy on

one hand, and then on the other hand he is preparing

his sword and he's getting his bow and his arrows

ready to execute judgment because again our God

is a great God and he can do two things at one

time he can plead with you out of love and mercy

and call you to the salvation of your soul and

also be angry with you and prepare for your judgment

if you're not in Christ that's happening right

now That's happening right now. And so we talked

about how that a sinner had to be justified.

That justification is a forensic or a courtroom

pronouncement that you are righteous. And we

talked about how that of ourselves we cannot

be righteous. There is no way that I can live

perfect. The very first time that I sin or I

sinned or as we said last night, we rang the

sin bell, you can't unring the bell anymore.

You're no longer perfect and you may have it

in your mind, well, if I do more good than I

do bad, I'm gonna be okay with God. No, because

if you do more good than bad, you're still what?

You're still imperfect. You know, judgment is

not, I mean our relationship with the Father

is, you know, okay, we put ourselves in a balance

and see which way the scales tilt. You're one

sin before an infinitely perfect God. condemns

you no matter how much good you can do the rest

of your life. Because once guilty, you're always

guilty. And there's nothing we can do about it.

That's why the apostle Paul says that we're dead.

Now we're not talking about dead in the sense

that Calvinism thinks about being dead, but we're

dead in, again, a forensic sense. In a judicial

sense, we're dead. before God, and dead people

can't do anything for themselves. Whenever a

loved one dies, we don't stand around waiting

for them to get themselves better, do we? Because

we know it's hopeless. There's nothing that can

be done. And you can make promise after promise

after promise, and you can do good after good

after good, but if you still live in your guilt,

you are lost. And so you need to be justified.

And since you can't do it yourself, the Lord

in his grace and mercy sent Jesus who lived as

a perfect man here upon the earth and he went

to the cross and he died a sinner's death. And

whenever he paid that price on the cross, having

no sin himself, what God does in his amazing

grace, whenever you come to him in belief and

repentance, And in obedience to his gospel, he

takes your sins and he places it upon Jesus.

And now he looks at you in the righteousness

of Jesus and he says, you're my child. Don't

you want the God of all creation and the God

of all universe to say, you're my child. You're

my child. And we talked about last evening that

in order for us to die, in order for us our sins

to be given over to Jesus on the cross we had

to die with him and we look in Romans chapter

Romans 6 · chapter mention

6 how that we die with him in baptism that whenever

we're baptized into Christ we're baptized into

his death we are in the likeness of his death

And then we talked about how Paul said that he

that is dead is freed from sin. And we talked

about the meaning of that word free means justified.

And so whenever I'm baptized into Jesus' death,

God looks at me in Jesus' death and says, you're

dead with Jesus, you are justified. And we talked

about how that transaction takes place in the

act of baptism. That baptism is not a work of

personal righteousness that we do in order to

try to earn salvation But that baptism is a response

to the grace of God and the gift of Jesus Christ

to receive that gift of salvation and Then we

become a saint if you're in Christ tonight You're

a saint if you've been baptized. You're a saint

now. You may not be living like a saint I don't

always live like a saint but this being a saint

is the work that God performs in baptism to make

us holy and righteous and so you're here tonight

you're either a sinner or a saint and if you're

a sinner you need to be baptized into the Lord

so that you can become a saint and become a child

of God well this evening We want to ask this

question as a prelude into what we're going to

talk about. Why does God want to save us? Have

you ever thought about that? Why does God want

to save us or justify us? You know, and there's

a lot of different answers that we can give to

that question. Well, He wants to save us because

He loves us and He cares for us. An answer that

we'll get a lot of times. Well, He wants to save

us because He wants us to go to heaven. And so

whenever we look at our diagram, a lot of times

whenever we think of being saved, we think of

being saved as just simply going to heaven. Because

isn't that what God wants for us? He wants us

all to go to heaven? I want to make a statement

and hear me out. I like to make some statements

sometimes that can maybe catch your attention

in order for you to really consider what we're

talking about. Whenever you think about salvation,

don't think about going to heaven. You don't

hear too many preachers say that. And the reason

I say that is this, is because whenever we think

that salvation is all about us going to heaven,

who are we making salvation all about? All about

us. And when we make the things, and we take

the things that are about God, and then we make

them about us, we mess everything up. Salvation

is not about us. You see, we want to go directly

to heaven. We want to make salvation all about

going to heaven, whereas God makes salvation

about something different. What about this space

right here? You know the Bible says a lot about

heaven But I think I'm going to be safe in saying

the Bible has a whole lot more to say about what's

going on right here That this right here is if

we look at our progression the next step of salvation

And while we want to skip, as humans are often

times want to do, we want to skip to the good

stuff. Heaven, God saved us for a reason and

a purpose that's not fulfilled right here, but

is fulfilled right here. And when that purpose

is fulfilled right here, then the reality of

heaven is later experienced. You see, salvation

is not about me. Salvation is about God. And

so when I make it about me, I want to go to heaven.

And we all want to go to heaven. But again, salvation

is not about me. It's not about you. It's about

God. Why did God create us? Did He create us

just so He could have a bunch of people that

just do wrong all the time and He just looks

at us and thinks, you know, oh my, what am I

going to do? You know, I've got to get them up

here somehow. No. He created us for a purpose.

And that purpose is to glorify Him. To glorify

him and so whenever we think in terms of salvation

Instead of thinking that salvation is just simply

going to heaven I want to look at a lot of other

things that salvation is about that's more eminent

to our time right now And we're going to get

to heaven later on Now heaven we need to talk

about heaven. We need to study about heaven.

We need to encourage one another about heaven

But we do that in order to bring us to the point

to where we understand what it is that we're

to do now Look at what Paul says in Romans 6

11 to 13 Likewise you also reckon yourselves

to be indeed dead indeed to sin but alive to

God in Christ Jesus our Lord Paul up and from

chapter 1 all the way up into this time chapter

6 he's been talking about justification and he

talked about how that when we're baptized we're

baptized into Jesus's death and then we are freed

from sin and then he doesn't say reckon yourselves

dead indeed to sin and ready to go to heaven

he doesn't mention heaven in fact whenever you

look at Paul's writing as he lays out the progression

of salvation in Romans chapter 1 all the way

Romans 1 · chapter mention

through chapter number 8 you don't get started

talking about heaven till the latter part of

chapter 8 But you've got the rest of chapter

6, you've got all of chapter 7, you've got the

majority of chapter 8 talking about what we are

to do now that we are saved. And he says, Reckon

yourselves indeed and dead to sin, but alive

to God. When you think about salvation, think

about that. If someone asks you, what does it

mean to be saved? Answer them. It means to be

alive to God. Because remember whenever we're

a sinner and we're standing before the perfect

holiness of God, what are we? We're dead people

before God. But whenever we're justified, then

we become alive to God and we become alive to

God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Then he uses the

word therefore. Anytime you see the word therefore

in a text, ask yourself this question, what's

it there for? because when you see the word therefore,

it's pointing back to what has previously been

said and is beginning to build an argument based

upon the truth that has just been explained.

Well, Paul just got through explaining that we're

justified in Jesus Christ. We go from being dead

in sin to being alive to God. Therefore, what's

that supposed to mean to me? That I'm going to

heaven? What does Paul say? He says, when I get

back to him, do not let sin reign in your mortal

body that you should obey it in its lust. Do

not present your bodies as instruments of unrighteousness

to sin, but present yourselves to God as being

alive from the dead and your members as instruments

of righteousness to God. And so what Paul is

saying here is that since you've been justified,

since you have been saved in Jesus Christ by

His blood, this is what you need to do. Don't

let sin reign in your mortal body that you should

obey it in its lust. Present yourself to God.

as being alive from the dead and your members

as instruments of righteousness to God. Whenever

you read on in Ephesians chapter 6 he talks about

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

how you were a slave to sin and now be a slave

to God. He talks about how that your fruit was

unrighteous and it was unto death and that you

are going to have your fruit to righteousness,

to eternal life. What Paul is emphasizing is,

is that now that you're justified and you're

sitting here wondering what next, it doesn't

mean that we just sit around and pat our foot

till we die so we can go to heaven. No, what

we are called to do is to live out the salvation

we've been given by God. God didn't save you

and He didn't save me just for us to go to heaven.

He saved you and He saved me to live for Him.

That's why He saved you. Because in our living

for Him, we make salvation all about Him. We

bring praise and honor and glory to Him. Notice

Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 to 10. By grace

Ephesians 2:8–10

you've been saved through faith and that not

of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works

lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship

created in Christ Jesus for good works which

God prepared beforehand that we should walk in

them." And so here again, here's Paul talking

about the sinner being saved. Here's Paul talking

about justification of the sinner. And whenever

he finishes talking about justification of the

sinner, what is the very next thing that he says?

Well, the word for. Again, we read these words

and they make clear our understanding of these

texts. The word for is about to introduce a thought

that rests upon the truth and the reality that

just got through being explained. That whenever

Jesus, whenever God saves us by His grace through

faith in Jesus Christ, the reason that He did

that was for we are His workmanship. To make

us his workmanship. Well his workmanship for

what created in Christ Jesus for good works Which

God prepared beforehand that we should walk in

them Whenever God saved you and he saved me He

didn't save you and save me the first thought

on his mind was okay there, you know, we can

get them to heaven now The next thought on his

mind was here's a group of people now that are

prepared and created to walk in the good works

that way yonder back there before time even began

in my eternal purpose, I determined for them

to walk in. And so as people that are saved today,

that's where our focus needs to be right now.

on living as saved people and walking in the

good works that God prepared that we should walk

in Titus 2 verse 14 Paul again he gave himself

Titus 2:14

for us that he might redeem us from every lawless

deed and purify for himself his own special people

zealous for good works there he is again Paul

He just get okay. God has taken you he has redeemed

you he has purified you He has made you his own

special people so that you can go to heaven That's

not what Paul said Now is that part of it yeah,

that's part of it, but that's in the distance

the more immediate concern of salvation right

now where you are if you're a Christian is that

We're to be zealous for good works. 1 Peter 2,

verse number 9, You're a chosen generation, a

royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special

people, that you may proclaim the praises of

Him who has called you out of darkness into His

marvelous light. That's why God has saved people.

He has saved people so that those saved people

can be brought together in a body to create a

chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy

nation, a special people to go to heaven. Is

that what Peter said? No. Now that's out there

and that's in the distance and we want to cling

to that hope and we want to preach that hope.

But right now where we are in our salvation We

are to proclaim the praises of him who cowled

you out of darkness into his marvelous life Notice

what he says in verse 12 have your conduct honorable

among the Gentiles that when they speak evil

against you as evildoers They may by your good

works which they observe Glorify God in the day

of visitation in other words as you live out

your salvation The very purpose and the very

reason for which God saved you Is coming to fruition

He will be glorified You know, we're gonna study

about judgment before this is over, but I want

to go ahead and interject this point God's gonna

get his glory from you God's gonna get his glory

from you God's not sitting around in heaven patting

his foot and, you know, and chewing his fingernails

worrying, oh man, I hope he chooses me and comes

and does really good so he can glorify me and

I can be glorified. He doesn't do that. He's

going to get his glory from you. He's going to

get his glory on me. Regardless of the choice

that I make, he's going to get his glory from

me. I can choose to be a Christian and I can

choose to do these good works and glorify God

that way or I can choose to refuse Jesus and

I can choose to refuse God and His grace and

His salvation and you know what? He's still going

to get His glory on me. And so you're sitting

here tonight as a sinner, and we'll talk more

about this whenever we talk about judgment. Really,

your choice is, which way do you want God to

be glorified in your life? Do you want God to

be glorified in your life because you obeyed

the gospel, you were baptized into Jesus, and

you were made right with the holy God, and you

did good works to bring glory to God? Or are

you going to glorify God in the day of judgment

whenever you stand before him and tell him all

the times that you almost became a Christian?

And then he executes his vengeance and his judgment

upon you for all of the heavenly host and for

all of the observers to see that God is glorious

because he does not tolerate sin How do you want

God to get his glory from you? That's your choice

there again the word that he does this so that

we may proclaim his goodness and again Titus

3 7 to 8 being justified by his grace we should

become heirs according to the hope of eternal

life finally Paul says something about it finally

he says something after being justified and having

the hope of eternal life. But then notice the

very next verse. This is a faithful saying and

these things I want you to affirm constantly

and that's what we're going to do tonight. We're

going to affirm this and we're going to do it

constantly. That those who have believed in God

should be careful to maintain good works. These

things are good and profitable to men. Whenever

you look at the word careful there, The word

careful means to give a lot of thought to. It

actually means to be anxious about something.

You know, in many realms and in many circles

of Christianity, the word work has become a four

-letter word. because of a misunderstanding of

how that we're not saved by works, it's almost

that whenever we start preaching that people

ought to work, we're almost apologetic about

it. And we always preface every lesson by saying,

now we know that we're not saved by works. As

soon as you make that statement, what is our

nature inclined to think about doing works? Our

nature is going to be inclined to think, okay,

then it's not that important. You know, again,

I was a school teacher and you're up there teaching

and then you tell the class, now, this isn't

going to be on the test. What do you think they're

going to do? Tell me more. No. They're immediately

going to know, hey, I can check out, you know.

He's just telling this, you know, just... for

whatever reason. And whenever we preface remarks

about how the Christians are to work with, now

we know that works don't save us, we're sending

a message and it's a confusing message. Just

not long ago I heard someone preaching about

it and teaching from Romans chapter 3 and preface

Romans 3 · chapter mention

the entire lesson by saying now we're not saved

by works. But if you'll remember last evening,

we talked about what kind of works those were.

Works that were personal, works that denied the

grace of God, and works that come from no faith

in Jesus Christ. The works we're talking about

tonight, if you try to apply Galatians chapter

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

2 and Ephesians chapter 2 to these works, your

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Bible interpretation is not sound. You're comparing

apples to oranges. You're comparing apples to

oranges. And so I want us to understand that

the things that we're talking about tonight,

whenever Paul says that you're not justified

by works or you're not saved by works, he's not

talking about these types of works because these

works are the fruits of salvation. These works

are the works that God saved us for. And they're

not window dressing. They're not optional. They're

not good if you can do it, but if I don't do

it, I'm still gonna go to heaven anyway. No!

No! These works are the works for which you and

I were saved to do. We've been justified to walk

in good works and bring glory to God and I got

ahead of my slide here We're not justified by

personal works of righteousness apart from God's

grace and faith in Jesus But we are justified

for works of righteousness by Jesus Christ that

abound to the glory and the praise of God And

if I am not involved in these works and I am

not bearing the fruit of these works, then I

am not fulfilling the purpose for which God saved

me and God saved you. So if you're sitting here

tonight or you know, and and I've been this way,

you know, it just seems so confusing You know

all of these weren't You know, we want to this

we want to speak clearly about these things.

These are Necessary and it is for these works

that you've been saved Because these works bring

glory to God Colossians 1 verses 9 and 10. Notice

Colossians 1:9

here Paul had heard of the faith of the Colossians

and he writes this epistle to them and he says

for this reason we also since the day we heard

it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that

you may be filled with the knowledge of his will

and all wisdom and spiritual understanding that

you may walk worthy of the Lord. That statement

you may walk worthy of the Lord implies that

there is a standard of worthiness for our walk

Fully pleasing him that implies that there is

a standard for pleasing God and being fruitful

in every good work and increasing in the knowledge

of God. Paul's prayer for the Colossians, Paul's

prayer for me, and Paul's prayer for you is that

we be fruitful in every good work. How anxious

do you get about that? You know, Paul said to

be careful, and the word careful again means

to give thought to, to get anxious about it.

to be intentional about it. When was the last

time you looked at your life and asked this question,

am I producing fruit for the Lord? And intentionally

planned to go produce fruit for the Lord because

of your faith in Jesus Christ in carrying out

the purpose for which you were saved. You know

a lot of times we'll do a work if we kind of

stumble upon it. You know? We might do a work

if all the stars line up and we meet a poor person

with a few dollars in her wallet. And, you know,

if you meet a poor person with a few dollars

in your wallet, help them. But I'm talking about

just really sitting down and asking yourself,

what works can I do to glorify God? Who are people

that I can go see? Who are people that I can

go talk to? Who are people that I can visit?

Who are people that I can encourage? Who are

people that I can lift up? How can I put myself

out there in the service of the Lord to fulfill

the purpose for which I was saved? Our young

people today studied about Lord make me a servant

And that's what we're talking about. John 15

verse number 8, by this my father is glorified

that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples.

In the upper room talking to his apostles he

makes this statement which I think is something

that can be applied to all of his disciples is

that the father is glorified when we bear much

fruit. God's glory in the life of a Christian

is manifested through the work and the fruit

that is born and Since that's the purpose for

which I was saved and you were saved then we

are to be careful We are to be intentional in

carrying that out Philippians 1 verse 11 Paul

Philippians 1:11

says being filled with the fruits of righteousness

which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise

of God Whenever people look at your life and

people look at my life, can they tell that we

are Christians? Can they tell that we are saved?

Can they see the work of salvation manifested

in our life through the works that we do because

of the grace that God has given to us? Matthew

516, let your light so shine before men that

they may see your good works and glorify your

Father in heaven. Look in all of these verses

how that works is directly tied to the glory

of God and to have in our mind, in our imagination

anything that would minimize the importance of

works in our service to the Lord. We need to

understand that what we're doing is minimizing

the importance of the glory of God Do you think

glorifying God's important I Mean not a one of

us here tonight would say no, it's not important

Well, if it's important then we have to be doing

the things that are necessary For it to be real

and that is to be fruitful Titus 3 14 and let

our people also learn to maintain good works

To meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful.

You know the Bible talks about unfruitful Christians

And whenever you look at being unfruitful in

the scripture, it's not something that the Lord

is neutral about Remember the time whenever the

Lord was walking into Jerusalem in the last week

of his life and he saw a fig tree and it had

leaves on it and then he looked at it from afar

it had leaves and seeing those leaves from afar

would lead a person to think okay there's fruit

on that tree and so then he walks to that tree

in anticipation that the fruit is there and then

he looks and that there's no fruit. What did

Jesus do? Well I guess I need to go find another

tree. He didn't do that. He said to that tree,

no more fruit is growing on you. And then what

did the fig tree do? It withered away. Jesus

and God take a very firm disposition towards

unfruitfulness. That where there is supposed

to be fruit, if there's not fruit, The Lord is

not going to look at it and say oh, that's okay.

I'll take you to heaven anyway. No That's not

gonna happen We have to have the fruit of salvation

notice again Matthew 13 verse number 7 talking

about the parable of the sower fell among the

thorns in verse number 22 that seed choked the

word and it became unfruitful And again, this

is typical of so many Christians today, typical

of myself, that we get caught up in the cares

of the world and the deceitfulness of riches,

and notice where the emphasis is. The effect

that the cares of the world and the deceitfulness

of riches has. It is on the Word. It chokes the

Word. Because as we're going to look at here

in just a little while that word the word is

necessary for your fruit Choke the word and it

becomes unfruitful in John 15 verse number five

I'm the vine you're the branches he who abides

in me and I and him bears much fruit Without

me you can do nothing if anyone does not abide

in me which If you don't abide in him, watch

him plight in the verse, then you're not bearing

much fruit. He is cast out as a branch and is

withered and they gather them and throw them

into the fire and they are burned. Now imagine

yourself being one of the one of the disciples

in the upper room of Jesus and he tells you if

you don't bear fruit you're going to burn. That'd

get your attention wouldn't it? And again, we

don't like to hear that because we've been conditioned

to think that works, they're good and we need

to do them. But when it comes to going to heaven,

it's just you don't really have to have them

because we're not saved by works. The scripture

is very clear. About the importance of fruitfulness

and works notice Matthew 7 19 every tree that

does not bear Good fruit is cut down and thrown

into the fire notice again Anytime we're in these

verses whenever we read about unfruitfulness.

What else do we see in the text? fire Fire you

know and you may sit there know what he's just

trying to scare us Yeah, that's exactly what

I'm trying to do. I'm trying to scare you and

I ain't afraid to admit it. Do you think that

Jesus gave those words to his disciples to give

them the warm fuzzies? He gave those words to

his disciples to put the fear in them. For them

to understand that if you are a disciple of Jesus

if you are saved in Jesus Christ you are to be

fruitful to the glory of God and if you're not

fruitful you're not glorifying God and who in

this building tonight is going to say that you

can go to heaven without glorifying God Being

fruitful in the word Colossians 1 we read this

earlier Notice that whenever Paul was praying

for them to be fruitful in every good work He

prayed before that you be filled with the knowledge

of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding

In order for us to be fruitful we have to have

a relationship to the word And if you want to

look at your fruitfulness and I look at my fruitfulness,

engage the fruitfulness of our lives, the very

first place we need to begin is by looking at

our relationship with the Word. Because that's

where all of our fruit comes from. If I don't

hold the Scriptures in high regard, if I don't

look at the Scriptures as the inerrant truth

of God, if I don't look at the commands of the

Scriptures as necessary and essential, if I don't

cling to the promises of the Scriptures and relish

in them every day and stand in them every day,

I'm not going to be a fruitful Christian. So

rather than just trying to sit down and make

a list of all of the things you do The very first

thing you need to ask yourself is what's my relationship

to the word? Because all fruitfulness comes from

the word comes from knowledge of his will That

we may walk worthy of the Lord notice what he

said in Luke 8 again the parable of the sower

This is on the good ground. They heard the word

kept it and bare for bore fruit Okay, so we've

got the bearing fruit over here. Where did all

of that start? Over here with the word. What's

your relationship with the word tonight? What's

my relationship with the word tonight? Psalm

Psalms 1:1–3

1 verses 1 to 3, Blessed is the man that doesn't

walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands

in the paths of sinner, nor sits in the seat

of the scornful. His delight is where? It's in

the law of the Lord. And he meditates in it day

and night, and he shall be like a tree planted

by the rivers of water that brings forth its

fruit in its season. I'm not going to listen

to the counsel of the ungodly. I'm not going

to stand in the pathway of the sinner. I'm not

going to sit in the seat of the scornful. I'm

not going to listen to all of that noise. But

my focus is going to be on the law of the Lord.

I'm going to meditate in it day and night. And

when I do that, I'm going to be like a tree planted

by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit.

2 Timothy 3, 16 to 17, all scriptures given by

inspiration of God, profitable for doctrine and

reproof, we understand that, go all the way to

the very end, thoroughly equipped for every good

work. So whenever we look at the scriptures,

the scriptures equip us for good works. They

not only tell us what the good works are, but

they equip us for doing those good works. And

so if we have a marginal relationship with the

Word, we can only expect at best marginal fruitfulness.

But if we have a passion for the Word, the power

of that Word will produce what God saved us for.

The fruitfulness of the Christian life is not

self -generated. It's a result of God's Word

being planted, nurtured, believed and obeyed

from the heart. That's what we're called to as

saved people. That's living out our salvation.

You know, we might think to ourselves, well,

you know, if I go, if I'm fruitful, but what

if I sin? What if I sin while I'm, you know,

seeking to be fruitful, you know? Well, whenever

we look at this Paul or rather John tells us

if we walk in the light as he is in the light

We have fellowship with one another and the blood

of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all

sin That if we put our focus and we put our intent

on being fruitful in our life Doing the works

of the Lord as we walk that path as we walk in

that light When we do sin the Lord sees us being

fruitful He's going to be faithful to cleanse

us of our sin. You know Jesus said in John 15

John 15:2

verse 2, every branch in me that does not bear

fruit he takes away and every branch that bears

fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit.

See if you're bearing fruit the Lord will prune

you. You know what the word prune literally means

there? To be cleansed. to be cleansed. Being

fruitful and doing good works does not mean that

we don't sin. Being fruitful and doing good works

does not mean that we don't stumble. But if we

show ourselves faithful to God, as John goes

on to say in 1 John, that if we confess our sins,

he is faithful and just to forgive us of our

sins. If we're seeking to live out our salvation

and abound in the work and the fruits of our

salvation to the glory of God when you sin, He'll

cleanse you. So whenever we look at our diagram

of salvation, we're a sinner. And as we said

last evening, if you're here tonight and you're

a sinner, come to the cross. Come to the cross.

Because as you sit here tonight and you don't

respond to the cross, you're basically telling

the Lord, Lord, I don't want to glorify you.

You know, we'll sit there and think, well, this

is about me, so I'll do it whenever I'm ready.

But it's not about you. It's about God. And as

you put it off, you're just saying to God, God,

I don't want to glorify you. Be buried with him

in baptism become a saint Not by personal works

of righteousness and then after you become a

saint be fruitful to glorify God Be fruitful

to glorify God And how are we fruitful to glorify

God after we're we're saved for works of righteousness

that glorify God We have a relationship with

his word In our relationship with that Word then,

as the power of that Word works within our lives,

then we become fruitful and we bear fruit that

abounds to the glory of the Father. In all the

time that we're being fruitful whenever we sin

and whenever we stumble, that cross that we trusted

in for forgiveness over here is ever present

with us right here. And so as we look at this

high level view of salvation, salvation from

a high level view, number one is being justified,

and then number two, being fruitful to the glory

of God. You know, I've talked to people and maybe

you've heard people say it a lot of times, they're

real concerned and they'll say, you know what,

I just don't know if I'm doing enough to go to

heaven. I can't think of any time I've heard

someone say, you know what, I just don't think

I'm doing enough to glorify God. There's a big

difference. One of those concerns is about me.

The other concern is about God. What's your concern

tonight? Thank you for listening to today's sermon

from the Church of Christ Wheeler area. We hope

this message encouraged you and strengthened

you in your faith this week. Don't forget the

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