Speaker 1: 0:00

You're listening to Heed the Word with our pastor and teacher, Ken Davis. Pastor Ken is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel, Southwest Metro, located in Burleson, Texas. Please join us as we study our series entitled the Foundations of Faith.

Speaker 2: 0:17

You know, so often, as believers, we go through life and we pick up all this extra baggage, don't we? We pick up all these extra things that seem important to us but really they're not, because they don't have anything to do with eternity. And these extra things that we carry with us, all this extra baggage that we have, oftentimes gets in the way of our devotion to Christ.

Speaker 1: 0:42

Even if you're not handy, you know that when it's time to build a house, the foundation must be the first thing that's addressed and must be done right the first time. Our relationship with God is no different. We must have a firm foundation in the Word of God that's rooted in a deep and lasting faith in Jesus. That's why Pastor Ken chose to share with you our series entitled the Foundations of Faith. What things in this life can you honestly say are an intrusion to your walk with God? Most of us can think of a hobby, a habit or a practice that competes with our time with God. Maybe it's your career or even your service in the church. God desires that we keep our minds and hearts focused on Him and His will for our lives. Don't forget to stay with us after today's message to hear more information about he the Word, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, please open your Bibles and let's join Pastor Ken with part two in our series entitled the Foundations of Faith.

Speaker 2: 1:49

Now, of course, normally here at Calvary Chapel, we like to teach through the Bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse, but today finds us in between book studies and looking at a topical study that we began last week and that is the foundations of the faith, and today we're going to be looking at Foundations of the Faith, part 2, which basically is Welcome to the Family of God. Last week we talked, as we looked at the lives of Isaiah and Peter, about the fact that God is holy and we are not. Ecclesiastes 7.20 put it this way. Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. Now you might say well, wait a minute, I do good. Well, doing good is not the standard, is it Ecclesiastes? There, said the man who continually does good. Is there anyone here who continually does good and who never sins? Anyone at all? Because if you are that man, you can come and teach here, probably better than I could. The fact of the matter is, you don't exist other than our Lord Jesus Christ, because there's not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

Speaker 2: 3:04

Now you remember what Isaiah had said when he saw the Lord sitting on the throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple and the angels there singing holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. When Isaiah saw that in chapter six he writes in verse five woe is me, for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Now, peter had exhibited a similar response when Jesus told him to put out into the deep for a catch of fish, and though they hadn't caught anything all night, peter obeyed and, as a result, the boat could barely contain the incredible catch of fish that they have. And you remember how Peter had fallen at Jesus' knees and said to him depart from me, for I am a sinful man, o Lord. There was a commonality between these two men that is true, I believe, of all mankind, and that is this when we come face to face with the holiness of God and we recognize just how good God is and how perfect and how set apart and how holy, then we come to a realization of how unworthy and of how sinful we really are. Why are we so afraid to be in the presence of that holiness. Why is it that Isaiah is like woe is me, I'm undone. Why is it that Peter was so eager for Jesus to just get away from him? Because the light of God's holiness hurts our sinful eyes, doesn't it? Because it shows us who we really are, and we don't like the sight of it.

Speaker 2: 4:56

The Bible tells us in the book of Romans that the wages of sin is death. And when we encounter the holiness of God and we see how perfect God is, we recognize all too well that we deserve to die. And that is not a comfortable realization. That is not a happy thought. That is not what you would call a positive confession, is it that you deserve to die?

Speaker 2: 5:27

But just as there was hope for Isaiah and for Peter, there's hope for us as well, for the Bible tells us in Romans 5.8 that God demonstrates his own love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, christ died for us. That means we didn't do anything to deserve that kind of love. We didn't work up any degree of good behavior or time served. We could not earn in any way the admiration of God, but his love for us was such that, as bad as we were, he loved us enough to send his son to die in our place. The free gift of God, guys, is eternal life, and that is an awesome, awesome realization.

Speaker 2: 6:18

So how do we appropriate that salvation? How do we make that salvation our own? We talked about that last week as well. How do we benefit from the sacrifice that Jesus made? The answer, very simply, is we must believe in him. Now, that word believe talks about putting our hope and our trust and all that we are in his care and at his disposal. It isn't merely a mental assent that says, logically I recognize the fact that he is who he says he is, but it is a placing of ourselves in him. We believe in him.

Speaker 2: 6:56

Romans 10 tells us that whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. In verse 11. Verse 13 tells us for whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. It's very emphatic there. It doesn't say whoever calls upon the name of the Lord could be saved, doesn't say that they might be saved, doesn't even say that they should be saved or that it's very likely that they'll be saved. It says whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, amen. So are you saved this morning. If you've called on his name. Absolutely, you are. Absolutely you are Now.

Speaker 2: 7:41

If you have called upon the name of the Lord, if you have received Jesus as your Lord and as your savior, if you have called upon the name of the Lord, if you have received Jesus as your Lord and as your Savior, if you have acknowledged him for who he is in your life and salvation is yours, that means very simply that you have been born again. That phrase born again, is a phrase that we use to describe what has happened to you if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ. We find the principle described very clearly by Jesus in John, chapter 3. Let's turn there Now again. I realize that these principles may seem very basic to you, but my reason for sharing these basic principles of the faith with you today is this I recognize the fact that many of you may have come to Christ, as I did in the early days of my walk with him, and you were never really discipled. You were never really instructed in what the commitment that you had made meant and about what had happened to you as a result of that commitment and about what you should do now that you've made that commitment so that you might continue to grow in God and to serve him. And so, yes, we're covering things that are very basic today, that are very fundamental to our faith, but it's important that you be grounded in these fundamental principles of the faith you know.

Speaker 2: 9:03

So often, as believers, we go through life and we pick up all this extra baggage, don't we? We pick up all these extra things that seem important to us but really they're not, because they don't have anything to do with eternity. And these extra things that we carry with us, all this extra baggage that we have, oftentimes gets in the way of our devotion to Christ. It gets in the way of our walk with him. It gets in the way of our devotional time and our quiet time with the Lord. It gets in the way of time spent reading his Bible and praying and talking to God and growing in his spirit. It gets in the way of our serving in the body of Christ and in our fellowship with our brothers and sisters. It gets in the way and, ultimately, when we allow the things of this world and the distractions of life, however good they may seem, when we allow them to break our fellowship with God or to weaken our walk with him.

Speaker 2: 10:01

Then sin waits at the door. Sin waits for that opportunity, for that window, for that moment of your weakness because you have not been edified and strengthened, and it creeps in unaware and you compromise and before long, you're not just not praying because you're too busy, you're not praying because it hurts too much and there's a coldness that comes to your life and you realize that as you go to church and as you open the Bible to read along with the message, or as you do the various things that you do, or maybe as you're standing in praise, that you're lifting your hands. You didn't get there overnight, but you got there. So how do you go from that place back to that point where your life in Christ is radical and vital and living and on fire? How do you do it? By repenting, by asking God to forgive you for your neglect of him and by going back and doing again those things that you did in the beginning of your faith and renewing yourself in the foundations of the faith. And so, as we read through these verses and as we look at these studies this week and next and perhaps the week after that, I want you to ask yourself the question am I walking with God? Am I walking in fellowship with him? What is there in my life that comes between he and I? And I encourage you to deal with those things very harshly in your own heart and to make no agreements or compromise with sin, but to rededicate and recommit yourself to those things which are good for your souls, amen.

Speaker 2: 12:11

So, as we read in John, chapter three, we read that there was a man of the Pharisees in verse 1, named Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews, and this man came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher, come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Now, very often the Pharisees would come to Jesus and they would say things like this, but there was no sincerity in their hearts. They were merely building him up in order to try to get him to say something or to trap him, to make him look bad. This was not the case with Nicodemus. How do we know this wasn't the case with Nicodemus? How do we know that what Nicodemus says here is said in sincerity? We know this by Jesus' response to him, don't we? Because Jesus cuts right to the heart of the matter. Jesus answered and said to him well, wait a minute. Had Nicodemus asked a question? Not in his words, but there was a question in Nicodemus' heart and Jesus saw right through him to that question. So Jesus answered and said to him most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born Now?

Speaker 2: 13:36

Nicodemus is having a problem with the Greek language at this point because he's understanding what Jesus is saying and he's taking Jesus to mean one thing, but he's not understanding the fullness of the statement that Jesus has made. That word again to be born again has a dual meaning. One of the two meanings is the meaning that Nicodemus took it to mean and that is born a second time, you see. And Nicodemus is saying well, how can that possibly happen? How can a man be born a second time? But the other meaning of that word again is from above, and that is the part that Nicodemus was not understanding. How can a man be born again? And how can a man be born from above. You see, when a man is born from above, what that is implying is is that he is born of the spirit of God. The Greek word for again tells us that Jesus intended more than just to say you have to be born a second time. He was saying literally that you have to be born of God.

Speaker 2: 14:45

In John, chapter 1, verses 1 through 13, we see a little bit more about what he's talking about. So let's go ahead and turn there briefly. I'm going to skip through some of this, but let's start with verse one. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God. I love the fact that he says in the beginning was the word. That means that in the very beginning of all things, at the very beginning of time, jesus was already past tense. He existed prior to the beginning. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him nothing was made. That was made In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. So we see there that Jesus existed with God and that he was God and that everything that was created was created by him and through him, and that he was and he is the light of the world, and that that light shined in the darkness.

Speaker 2: 15:59

Let's skip ahead to verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of him and cried out saying this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father. He has declared him. So this word Jesus became flesh and he came and he dwelt among us. And we're going to go back now to verse 6. Verse 6.

Speaker 2: 16:53

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. That's the one who was bearing witness a moment ago. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe Now. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world. That is Jesus, the light, the word. He was in the world and the world was made him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, speaking of the nation of Israel, and his own did not receive him, but as many as received him to them. He gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Who has the rights to be a child of God? Those who believe on his name. And where are they born from? They are born of God. They are born from above. They are born again. And so when you come to that point in your life where you receive what it is that God has offered in the way of forgiveness and a relationship with him and the cleansing of all of your sin, what that means is that you have been born again. That's what we're talking about when we use that word. Now we see from these verses that being born again speaks of admittance to a family. So what are the results of being born again? It means that we literally have now become a part of god's family. Those are the results some of the results of salvation. Let's take a closer look at what that really means.

Speaker 2: 18:43

Turn with me to Galatians, if you will, chapter 3. We're going to pick up in verse 26, as Paul writes these words For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Now let me ask you a question Is everyone on earth a son or daughter of God? So the soap opera All my Children. They're a little bit wrong in their statement there. Right, you know there's a statement out there in the world that says, well, we're all God's children, isn't there? But what does it say here in verse 26,? That prerequisite is to being a child of God. Now, we're all God's children in the sense that God created all of us, but we are not all God's children in that we are all part of God's family or share God's nature. The prerequisite to being a part of God's family is what? What do we see from verse 26? Someone tell me Faith, right. Faith, not in faith itself. Faith not in the promises of men. Faith, not in our own efforts or in our own righteousness, or in our ability to keep the law, because we can't. But faith in what? Faith in Christ Jesus, you see, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus, and if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the Father. Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world, but when the fullness of the time had come, god sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. What's he saying there? Prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, the nation of Israel operated and existed and walked in their relationship with God as children who were under a tutor. They walked under the law, but when Christ came in the fullness of time, he fulfilled the law, as he says here that when the fullness of time had come, god sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, god has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out Abba Father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So when he says that the spirit of his son is in us, crying Abba Father, that word Abba, that literally means daddy. It's a term of endearment. What it is saying? That, as a child of God, as someone who is born again, you have entered into a relationship with the God of the universe and you are his child. And because you are his child, you are an heir in his kingdom. And that is an incredible and an awesome fact. Fact that is something that you must not ever forget. But remember who you are and remember whose you are as members of God's family. There are many benefits that we receive, not the least of which is eternal life, and I think that's one that a lot of people have a pretty good grasp on, wouldn't you agree? They think, hey, when I become a Christian, it means I'm going to live forever, right? I mean, that's one of the first things we learn about. Jesus said hey, if you believe in me, even if you die, you're going to live right. And he who believes in me and lives will never die. That means the moment that I come to Jesus Christ and the moment I receive him as my Lord and Savior and his spirit comes to dwell in my heart, death has no power over me. I need not fear death, because death will not hold us. Oh, will we die? Sure, should the Lord tarry. Our physical bodies will die, but our spirit, which belongs to God, will be with God for all eternity. And in the resurrection we'll have a bodily resurrection and we will always be with God, forever and ever. So not the least of those benefits of being part of the family of God is that eternal life that we receive because of that. There's also the fellowship that we experience with God. But I want to take a closer look at some of the other results of salvation in the life of a believer. One of the first things that you'll notice when a couple adopts a child is that they give that child a new name.

Speaker 1: 24:12

Well, that's all the time we have for today. You've been listening to Heed the Word, the radio ministry of Calvary Chapel, Southwest Metro, located in Burleson, Texas. As you likely gathered, Pastor Ken Davis is currently sharing our series entitled the Foundations of the Faith. Pastor Ken will be covering many topics about how we can be founded in the fundamental truths of the Word of God. If you were with us at the beginning of today's broadcast, you know we mentioned that we'd be giving additional information about Heed the Word and how to get a free copy of this message.

Speaker 1: 24:46

For more information about Heed the Word, log on to heedthewordorg. That's heedthewordorg. At the website, you'll find everything you need our contact information, podcast subscription link and a link to our online order form, which will allow you to place an order for a CD in today's message in its unedited form. Since all of our materials are free of charge, supplies are limited, so log on to heedthewordorg and place your order today. As we close today, we want to encourage you to not only be a listener of Heed the Word, but to truly apply what you're learning. Take the Word of God and begin applying it to your life every day. Well, that's all the time that we have for this edition of Heed the Word with Pastor Ken Davis. Place a marker in your Bibles and join us next time as Pastor Ken continues with our series entitled the Foundations of the Faith.