If We're Saved, We Ought To Act Like It.

WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH

PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN

SERMON TITLE: IF WE’RE SAVED, WE OUGHT TO ACT LIKE IT

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

TEXT VERSE: Ephesians 4:21-24 “If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness:”

I want to preach to you this morning on, “The new you. The Lord’s disciple.” If there’s not a new you, then you need to be real attentive to the word today. When we’re birthed into the family of God, there’s a lot of newness about us.

2nd Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” I beg to differ with a lot of Christians living in the world today that says or thinks they can keep on living that old life and claim to be a child of God. This is not an easy way. It’s the hardest thing we’ve ever done. To share the gospel, preach the gospel, teach the gospel, live the gospel. It’s a hard way but thank God for those old saints of God that continue in the doctrine. The Bible says if you’re saved by the grace of God, you’re a new creature. There’s a lot of people that are hanging on to that old life. Holding on to that old sin sick life. Trusting in those material things. Not living by the spiritual things.

Galatians 6:15 says “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.”

Romans 6:4 says “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Thank God we’re serving a risen savior. And the Bible says we’re supposed to walk in the newness of life. You say, preacher, we all sin and fall short of God’s glory. Sure we do. We still have the old body on the outside, but thank God we have a new man on the inside.

I want to bring out five short points. If we’re saved and we’re a new creature, we ought to live like it.

NUMBER ONE: We need to be focused. There’s people who will talk about everything but God. Their worried about everything but God. Their not worried about lost souls. I don’t care if this church as 5 or 500 members. I don’t care if we have carpet on the floor. We’ve got to put God first and care about lost souls. Theirs a lot of people that have their minds off Christ. We’ve lost our focus. Baptist folks think more about material things than they do heavenly things. The Baptist are running behind.

It’s sad that’s there’s a lot of Christians in the world that never pick up the word of God and then they try to stand up praise God. You’ve got to read God’s word, pray and seek God’s face. That’s what will get you close to the Lord. It’s not how your attendance is at Westside Baptist Church. I’ve served God a whole lot longer than I’ve attended this church. The Bible says that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. That’s what our focus is. Nothing else. You say, preacher, why do we have church? So we can get more lost people in here so they can get saved. Sure we could stand here and preach and preach and preach and you’ll get some strength from it but if there aren’t any lost people here then what are you going to do with that strength? What are you going to do with the wisdom of God when you get it? If you’re not reading your Bible during the week, you can bet you’re not witnessing either. We’ve lost our focus. If you’re going around and trying to find a place where you can fit Christ into your life, you’re in bad shape. You have to fit your life into what Christ wants you to do. Don’t go around telling God you need to see if you can fit him into your schedule. Christ is my whole life. Without him I’d be nothing. I’m tired of playing games with people. I made a vow this year to not listen to man and just listen to God.