These things we cannot survive without in this physical world, they are:
• Air to breathe
• Water
• Food
• Sleep
• Shelter
• Income
These things are essential to life here on earth.
Also, when it comes to our spiritual life there are somethings that are essential to live the Christian life.
In a few minutes I will be sharing with you some of the things that are essential to our spiritual life.
However, if you listen to some religious groups they will state there are many other things beside these three essential things that I will be sharing with you that the Bible talks about that are essential for salvation, such as:
(1) Water Baptism – Water baptism is something that a Christian do after they are saved. The thief on the cross never had the opportunity to be baptized but the Lord said to him THIS DAY THY SHALL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.
(2) Church membership – Is something every Christian should do after they are saved is unite with a group of believers. But there are denominations that teach people they must join their church because they are THE CHURCH. Church membership has nothing to do acquiring salvation.
(3) Tithing –No one can buy their way into the kingdom of God.
(4) Works – Good works are our rewards in heaven, not our salvation.
These people who add to what the Bible tells us a person must do to be saved or known as LEGALIST.
WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT ARE TRULY ESSENTIAL TO OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE?
It is essential that we have…
I. FAITH
To be saved you must believe in God.
Faith is probably preached about more than any subject of the Bible, yet it seems to be something that most Christians know very little about.
But there are some who live by faith every day!!
Illus: An elderly lady was well-known for her faith and for her boldness in talking about it. She would stand on her front porch and shout "PRAISE THE LORD!"
Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, "There ain't no God!!"
Hard times set in on the elderly lady, and she prayed for GOD to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted "PRAISE THE LORD. GOD I NEED FOOD!! I AM HAVING A HARD TIME. PLEASE LORD, SEND ME SOME GROCERIES!!"
The next morning the lady went out on her porch and noted a large bag of groceries and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD!"
The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, "Aha! I told you there was no God. I bought those groceries, God didn't."
The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and said, "PRAISE THE LORD. He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them. Praise the Lord!"
We cannot read about a single individual in the Bible, and not see:
• How his/her faith affected him/her in a positive way.
• How the lack of faith affected him/her in a negative way.
Something we all should be seeking God to do for us, is to strengthen our faith.
I have never seen so many worried people as we have today. They live their life as if God is dead.
• That is understandable when it comes to those who do not know the Lord Jesus conducting themselves like this. They cannot cry out for the devil to help them!
• But you will find as many christians as there are sinners who live a life of worry as sinners.
Illus: Our attitude should be like that of the father who came to the Lord, who said, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."
This is one of the great needs of the hour, in every church and in every home.
But when you have…
1) People who do not bother to pray each day.
2) People who do not take time to read God’s Word each day.
3) People who do not attend a Bible-teaching church each week.
What you have is a society people of people worrying about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING EACH DAY!!!
Many folks do not know this, but there are two kinds of atheists.
A. THE SPOKEN ATHEIST
Psalm 14:1 says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."
It is not a rare thing any more to hear a man say, "I do not believe there is such a thing as God."
Illus: I remember the first time I met a man who stated he was an atheist. I looked at him and I thought how could a person live in a world that surround his life with God’s Creation and not believe in God.
NO WONDER GOD CALLS SUCH A PERSON A FOOL!!!
Illus: Madalyn Murray Ohara lived her life PROUDLY stating she was an atheist. BUT I GURANTEED YOU TODAY IN HELL SHE IS SAYING…WHAT A FOOL I WAS WHEN I WAS LIVING ON EARTH!
When God says people like Madalyn Ohara state they do not believe in God they are only trying to FOOL THEMSELVES.
Because there is no such thing as an atheist!
Illus: For a person to be a true atheist he would have to know everything there was to know about everything, and no one knows that. So, since no one can truthfully state he knows everything there is to know, then no one can be a true atheist.
God says the man who calls himself and atheist is a FOOL!!
Did you know that the word FOOL and STUPID come from the same root word.
There are a lot of DUMB PEOPLE AROUND.
I was reading some true stories of some dumb people recently, let me share a few of them with you.
(1) A man said I recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that I could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter. "You don't?" I replied. "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply. "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?" "That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.
(2) A woman said I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those "dividers" that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the "divider", looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me, "Do you know how much this is?" I said to her "I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today." She said "OK," and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.
(3) A man said I was in a car dealership a while ago, when a large motor home was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in dire need of repair." I asked the manager what had happened. He told me that the driver had set the "cruise control" and then went in the back to make a sandwich.
(4) Here is another one that is hard to believe a mother calls 911 very worried asking the dispatcher if she needs to take her kid to the emergency room, the kid was eating ants. The dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and should be fine, the mother says, I just gave him some ant killer..... Dispatcher: Rush him in to emergency.
I use to love to hear some of the true stories that Paul Harvey use to report. But listen, I do not mean to be insulting but the dumbest man/woman on earth is the person who says I DO NOT BELIEVE THERE IS A GOD.
Illus: This reminds me of a professor at a very large university who made no secret of the fact that he claimed to be an atheist.
He would tell his students, "If you don't throw aside your faith in God, and act in your own knowledge and strength, you'll never get very far in this world."
One day, during a class, the matter of "rain-making" came up for discussion. The professor quickly stated, hypothetically:
• "What help was faith in God during the recent drought? A lot of farmers got down on their knees and asked God for rain. What did they get in answer to their prayers? No rain! Do you know what they should have done? They should have sought help from science. Send a man up in a plane, drop some chemicals on a cloud, and you get rain. No need of God.
• Any questions?"
• "Yes, I have a question," one of the students said, "Who furnishes the clouds, if there is no God?"
Illus: Children voice more intelligence than a Ph.D. who says there is not a God. A Ph.D. said to a little boy one day,
• "I'll give you an orange if you can tell me one place where God is."
• The little boy said, "I'll give you a basket full of oranges if you can tell me where God is not."
The atheist displeases God with his unbelief - Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,.."
This is THE SPOKEN ATHEIST.
But now let’s consider…
B. THE UNSPOKEN ATHEIST
I am not talking about a agnostic person.
• Atheism involves what a person does or does not believe,
• Agnosticism involves what a person does or does not know.
The Bible tells us"...for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
The only difference between the spoken atheist and the unspoken atheist, is that one comes right out and denies the existence of God, while the other one JUST LIVE HIS/HER LIFE LIKE AN ATHEIST.
Their daily life reflects they do not live a life of FAITH!
FAITH IN GOD ALMIGHTY IS ESSENTIAL TO THE CHRISTIAN LIFE!
That is, FAITH PRODUCES THE RIGHT KIND OF LIFE THAT PLEASES GOD.
The entire Book of James states clearly, that GENUINE FAITH will produce GENUINE WORKS.
• Jesus put it this way:
Look at Luke 6:43, “For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
• James put it this way:
Look at James 2:18, "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works."
What is James saying?
HE IS SAYING IF YOU HAVE THE FAITH, YOU WILL HAVE THE WORKS! AND IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE WORKS YOU DO NOT HAVE THE FAITH.
• If you have good water coming out of a spigot, it is because you have good water in the well.
• If you have bad water coming out of a spigot it is because you have bad water in the well.
• If you have GOOD FAITH, you will have GOOD WORKS.
Faith pleases God because it will result in the right kind of life. WITHOUT FAITH WE CANNOT PLEASE GOD.
Faith is essential to our Christian life!!!
But let us look at another ESSENTIAL thing we need in our lives.
II. HOLINESS
That is, as Christians, we must live HOLY LIVES.
Look at these startling words in Hebrews 12:14, “Follow peace with all men, AND HOLINESS, without which no man shall see the Lord:”
We do not hear a lot of preaching today about holiness. But God makes it clear WITHOUT HOLINESS NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD.
We live in a society that wants to be told they can live like hell, but once they die they will go to heaven.
The Word of God teaches us that if we TRULY HAVE GENUINE FAITH, we are sanctified, set aside, to live a holy life unto the Lord.
There are three phases of this sanctification we need to consider.
For example, at conversion…
A. WE ARE POSITIONALLY SANCTIFIED
That is, the moment we give our hearts to the Lord Jesus, POSITIONALLY we are made the sons and daughters of God.
Look at 2 Cor. 5:21. We read, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
This is one of the most precious verses in the Word of God. What I mean by that is, by the sheer grace of God we are made a child of God by the righteousness of Christ the moment we place GENUINE FAITH in what the Lord did for us at Calvary.
And NOW every time God sees me, God sees me through the righteousness of His own dear sweet Son.
Once you are genuinely made a child of God through the righteousness of Christ, you are POSITIONALLY placed in the body of Christ as a child of God, not because of anything we have done, but through what He has done.
Illus: On Calvary He took our wretched, sinful life, and gave us His perfect righteous life. And now every time God sees me, he sees me through the righteousness of Christ.
That is POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION
That leads to the next step of sanctification, which is-
B. PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION
God sees us without sin because He sees us through the righteousness of Christ.
The word "holy" in the Bible is translated "sacred." It has the idea of one who is pure and clean.
Illus: In the world of politics:
• Politician to make their opposition look bad they often do this by asking this question. ARE YOU BETTER OFF NOW THAN YOU WERE FOUR YEARS AGO?
• Every christians should be able to say, I AM A BETTER CHRISTIAN TODAY THAN I WAS FOUR YEARS AGO.
Sanctification is progressive.
Illus: From Texas history comes the story of the conversion of Sam Houston.
Did you know this great man that we hold in high esteem at one time, he was called "The Old Drunk."
• While he was governor of Tennessee, his wife left him.
• In despair he resigned as governor and tried to escape his problems by going to live among Cherokee Indians.
• He stayed drunk much of the time. It is said that the Indians, as they walked through the forest, would have to move him out of the path where he lay in a stupor.
Later, he went to Texas, where he became the great hero of the Texas revolution when he routed General Santa Ana's Mexican army.
He later married the daughter of a Baptist preacher and later trusted Christ, but he still had some of his old tendencies.
One day as he rode along a trail, his horse stumbled. Houston spontaneously cursed, reverting to his old habit. Immediately he was convicted of his sin.
He got off his horse, knelt down on the trail, and cried out to God for forgiveness. Houston had already received Christ, but God was teaching him to live in fellowship with him moment by moment. And as soon as the Holy Spirit made Sam Houston aware of his sin, he confessed it. (Darrell W. Robinson, People Sharing Jesus, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), p. 17)
1 John 1:9 makes it clear that once we are POSITIONALLY PLACED INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD, WE NO LONGER INTENTIONALLY PRACTICE SIN.
Illus: One man who profess to be a christians, Said I SIN AS MUCH AS I WANT TO SIN AS A CHRISTIAN.
• I can drink Alcoholic beverages as much as I want to drink as a christian.
• I can curse as much as I want to curse as a christian.
• I can commit adultery as much as I want to commit adultery as a Christian
• But as a born again Christian I DON’T WANT TO DO THESE THINGS ANYMORE!!!
Once we become a child of the King, God wants to teach us daily how to live like a child of the king.
Why? So that the whole world can see our good works, and glorify God that is within us.
Illus: John Newton said, “I am not what I might be, I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be. Thank God I am not what I once was, and I can say with the great apostle, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
Illus: The process of sanctification can be compared to an iceberg, which is almost 90% under water. As the sun shines on the iceberg, the exposed part melts, moving the lower part upward.
Illus: Bill Bright in his book “Discover the Book God wrote” stated “In the same way, we are usually aware of only a small part of our sinfulness and need, which is all we can deal with at any one time. However, as the light of God’s work in our lives changes us in the areas we know about, we become aware of new areas needing the work of God.”
HOW CAN WE GROW SPIRITUALLY?
(1) THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD
Jesus said in John 15:3 "Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”
You can read some books:
• They will make you laugh
• They will make you cry
• They will teach you things
But when we read the Word of God it makes us to live a clean holy life.
This is why every Christians should take a daily bath in God’s Word each day so they can live a clean life for the Lord.
(2) THROUGH THE SPIRIT OF GOD
He is called the spirit of holiness.
Romans 1:4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
The more the Holy Ghost controls you, the purer, and holier your life will become.
The Holy Ghost will not make you "holier than thou," but He will make you holy---pure in living.
After we are saved we are:
I. Positionally sanctified
II. Progressively sanctified
There is one more way God wants to sanctify us. That is one day we will be…
C. ULTIMATELY SANCTIFIED
Some christians have been taught that once we are saved we immediately are SAVED, SANCTIFIED AND FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
But if you follow these dear christians around in their daily life you will see they are probably SAVED but they are not yet SANCTIFIED AND FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
To be filled with the Holy Ghost means we are completely controlled by the Holy Spirit everyday.
Now I must admit I am a better Christian than I am than in other days.
I wish this was not the way it is, but honesty compels me to say such a thing. And I believe if you will be truthful you will say the same thing about yourself.
Illus: I find myself like the man who was at the altar praying for God to fill him with the Holy Spirit. But a man who heard him pray this and knew him well said, “God, don’t do it, he has a problem in his life and if you fill him with the Spirit of God he will let it leak out!
As Christians on this earth, we die daily to sin, and we are PROGRESSIVELY getting more like Him. But one day WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM.
That is why when we get to heaven, there will be no sin there, because we shall ALL be ULTIMATELY SANCTIFIED like Him and we will not have any desire for sin whatsoever.
It is essential:
• WE MUST HAVE FAITH
• WE MUST HAVE HOLINESS.
Why? Because the Word of God says, “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” And there is not going to be any blind people in heaven.
But very briefly, I want to show you one more essentials we need in our lives.
III. WE MUST HAVE THE BLOOD
Look at Hebrews 9:22. We read, "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."
The greatest need of man is to have his sins "remitted."
Hebrews. 9:22 tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
Let me take a few minutes to deal with a false teaching that is prevalent today about the cross.
Some scholars allege that when Jesus died he literally bore our sins in his body on the cross.
Illus: Martin Luther, the prominent Protestant reformer, in his commentary on Galatians (as reflected in the 1838 edition), taught that the prophets of the Old Testament foretold “That Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, and blasphemer, that ever was or could be in the world.”
This is false teaching!!!
Some scholars allege that when Jesus died he literally bore our sins in his body on the cross. That is on the cross the Lord became:
• Liar
• Adulterer
• Child Molester
• Homosexual
• Thief
They say Christ on the cross became every filthy sin that has ever existed
NO HE DID NOT!!!
If Christ died in sin!!!
If Christ was guilty of sin on the cross, then his punishment was just. That is, when he died on the cross he did not die for our sins, he died for his sins.
Let me show you a few things that tells us that Christ on the cross did not die in sin.
(1) The animals in the old testament that was offered for sin, they did not sin. They represented the sins and God accepted these sin offerings.
(2) The Bible declares Christ is a lamb without blemish. He could not be a lamb without sin if He became our sins.
(3) Christ is Immutable
Malachi 3:6 “For I am the LORD, I change not…” If He changed from being a lamb without blemish He changed. He is not Immutable as the Bible states He is.
It is pure blasphemy to state when Christ was on the cross He became every filthy imaginable sin that man ever committed..
However, some scholars allege that when Jesus died he literally bore our sins in his body on the cross.
(2)Others believe that Christ only bore the penalty for sin.
This is correct, CHRIST DIED FOR SIN, NOT IN SIN!
The cross has never saved anyone, the cross is where He died for sin.
Illus: That is why we sing, AT THE CROSS
When we say "Jesus died for our sins," we are saying that He died because of our sins.
Conclusion:
I want to close with this story I read recently.
YEARS AGO IN THE MOUNTAINS OF VIRGINIA THERE WAS A CERTAIN SCHOOL WHICH NO TEACHER COULD HANDLE. THE BOYS WERE SO ROUGH THAT THE TEACHERS ALL RESIGNED SHORTLY AFTER TEACHING.
A YOUNG MAN APPLIED AND THE OLD DIRECTOR TRIED TO WARN HIM, "YOUNG FELLER, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE ASKING?"... YOU'RE ASKING FOR A TERRIBLE BEATING!" EVERY TEACHER HAS LEFT."
THE YOUNG MAN SAID, "I'LL TAKE THE POSITION!" THE DAY CAME TO START, ONE BIG KID NAMED TOM LEANED OVER TO ONE OF HIS FRIENDS AFTER CHECKING THIS NEW TEACHER OUT AND SAID, "I WON'T NEED ANY HELP FROM YOU GUYS, I CAN LICK HIM MYSELF!"
THE YOUNG TEACHER STARTED THE CLASS WITH A "GOOD MORNING BOYS, WE HAVE COME TO HAVE SCHOOL!" THE WHOLE CLASS IMMEDIATELY BEGAN SCREAMING AND YELLING!
HE CONTINUED, "I WANT TO HAVE A GOOD SCHOOL, BUT I CONFESS I DON'T KNOW HOW, UNLESS YOU HELP ME MAKE UP THE RULES, YOU TELL ME THE RULES AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THE BOARD FOR US ALL."
SOMEONE YELLED OUT, “OK TEACH, NO STEALING!” SO HE WROTE THIS ON THE BOARD.
ANOTHER KID YELLED, "BE ON TIME!” ETC. THEY ENDED UP WITH 10 RULES.
NOW THE TEACHER ASKED, "O.K. WE HAVE RULES NOW, BUT HOW DO WE PUNISH SOMEONE IF THEY BREAK ANY OF THESE?” THE ANSWER SURPRISED HIM; THE BOYS YELLED OUT, "BEAT HIM 10 TIMES WITH A STICK ON A BARE BACK!"
THE TEACHER SAID, "THAT'S A LITTLE SEVERE BOYS, DON'T YOU THINK?" BUT THEY BARKED “NO” AND SAID TO GET ON WITH THE SCHOOL LESSONS!
A COUPLE OF DAYS INTO SCHOOL BIG TOM HAD HIS LUNCH STOLEN. HE FINALLY DISCOVERED WHO TOOK IT, A BOY NAMED JIM, A TINY KID ONLY 10 YEARS OLD! THE TEACHER THE NEXT DAY CALLED JIM FORWARD TO RECEIVE THE AGREED UPON PUNISHMENT! HE CAME TREMBLING TO THE FRONT AND PLEADED, "TEACHER, YOU CAN LICK ME AS HARD AS YOU LIKE, BUT DON’T MAKE ME TAKE OFF MY COAT!"
BIG TOM YELLED OUT THOUGH, "TAKE IF OFF, YOU HELPED MAKE THE RULES!” SLOWLY UNBUTTONING THE COAT HE REVEALED NO SHIRT ... AND BRACES ON HIS BONY BODY.
THE TEACHER THOUGHT, HOW CAN I WHIP THIS CHILD?"… BUT HE KNEW HE HAD TO OR ANY HOPES AT ORDER WERE GONE!
THE TEACHER ASKED LITTLE JIM AS EVERYONE GOT REAL QUIET, “HOW COME YOU DON’T HAVE A SHIRT?” THE BOY ANSWERED THAT HIS FATHER HAD DIED YEARS AGO AND HIS MOTHER WAS VERY POOR, HE ONLY HAD ONE SHIRT AND HIS MOTHER HAD KEPT IT HOME THAT DAY TO WASH IT … HE HAD BORROWED HIS BROTHER’S COAT TO HIDE THAT FACT.
THEY WERE POOR AND HUNGRY AND THAT WAS WHY HE STOLE BIG TOM’S LUNCH THE OTHER DAY!
AT THIS HE BENT DOWN FOR HIS WHIPPING WHEN SUDDENLY BIG JIM JUMPED UP AND SAID, “TEACHER, IF YOU DON’T OBJECT I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE JIM’S LICKING!”
THE TEACHER EXPLAINED THAT BY LAW SOMETIMES SUBSTITUTES CAN BE MADE AND HE ASKED THE CLASS IF THEY ALL AGREED TO THIS.
THEY DID! BIG JIM TOOK OFF HIS COAT AND BENT OVER, THE STICK BROKE ON THE 5TH HIT ON HIS BACK, AND THE TEACHER COULDN’T TAKE WHAT HE WAS DOING ANY MORE ANYWAY.
THE TEACHER BURIED HIS FACE IN HIS HANDS AS THE WHOLE CLASS BEGAN TO SOB OVER THE EXAMPLE OF TOM FOR JIM.
AT THAT MOMENT LITTLE JIM REACHED UP AND THREW HIS ARMS AROUND THE NECK OF BIG TOM AND SAID, “TOM, I LOVE YOU FOR THIS, I’LL LOVE YOU TILL I DIE FOR TAKING MY LICKING, YES, I’LL LOVE YOU FOREVER!”
THE CLASS WAS NEVER THE SAME AGAIN, AND THE TEACHER SUCCEEDED! HOW CAN WE NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH JESUS WHO TOOK OUR PUNISHMENT FOR SIN? HIS BLOOD WAS POURED OUT TO CLEANSE US OF OUR SINS. -- Source Unknown
God’s Word teaches there are three essentials in our lives. In order for us to be saved…
I. FAITH
II. HOLINESS
III. SHED BLOOD OF CHRIST
Note: If you would like to hear Dr. Odell Belger preach sermons like this one, go to Youtube and type in the word LYKESLAND.
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