Grace Coach: Recent Episodes
Mike Stone and Kevin Smith
A Christian podcast ministry. At Grace Coach, we want to help Christians discover what they have in Christ. We also want to help point unbelievers to Christ, so that they can be saved.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone.
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In this final episode for a while, Mike shares a personal update following a sudden heart attack and double bypass surgery. Grateful for God's grace, family support, and seven years of gospel-centered conversations with Kevin Smith, he reflects on the joy of teaching the real good news of grace through books like Romans and Ephesians.
While the podcast is pausing, it will remain available and continues to reach listeners each month. Mike also shares an exciting next step—connecting with people on TikTok, where the tools and live features allow for real-time interaction and deeper conversation.
This isn't goodbye—it's a pause. The message of grace continues.
You can find Mike on TikTok @realgraceunlocked
Welcome to the Grace Coach Podcast! Mike and Kevin share their insights from the Book of Colossians as they dive into Chapter 4.
Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
7 Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servanta]">[a] in the Lord. 8 I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about ourb]">[b] circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. 9 He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.
10 My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.) 11 Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jewsc]">[c] among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. 13 I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.
16 After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.
17 Tell Archippus: "See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord."
18 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Welcome to the Grace Coach Podcast! Mike and Kevin share their insights from the Book of Colossians as they dive into Chapter 3:18-25.
Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV). Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
All unmarked Scripture quotations are also taken from the New International Version® (NIV), unless otherwise noted.
This content uses fewer than 500 verses and is intended strictly for non-commercial, teaching, and ministry purposes.
We are operating within fair use guidelines and are currently seeking formal permission from Biblica where required.
Welcome to the Grace Coach Podcast! Mike and Kevin share their insights from the Book of Colossians as they dive into Chapter 3:1-17.
3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV). Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
All unmarked Scripture quotations are also taken from the New International Version® (NIV), unless otherwise noted.
This content uses fewer than 500 verses and is intended strictly for non-commercial, teaching, and ministry purposes.
We are operating within fair use guidelines and are currently seeking formal permission from Biblica where required.
Welcome to the Grace Coach Podcast! Mike and Kevin share their insights from the Book of Colossians as they dive into Chapter 2:1-15.
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Welcome to the Grace Coach Podcast! Mike and Kevin share their insights from the Book of Colossians as they dive into Chapter 2:1-15.
I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
Spiritual Fullness in Christ 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[b] was put off when you were circumcised by[c] Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Welcome to the Grace Coach Podcast! Mike and Kevin share their insights from the Book of Colossians as they dive into Chapter 1:15-29.
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[a] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
Welcome to the Grace Coach Podcast! Mike and Kevin share their insights from the Book of Colossians as they dive into Chapter 1:1-14
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters[a] in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.[b]
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,[c] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[d] behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Welcome to the Romans 16 Podcast! Mike and Kevin share their insights from the Book of Romans as they dive into Chapter 16.
Welcome to the Romans 15 Podcast! Mike and Kevin share their insights from the Book of Romans as they dive into Chapter 15.
The Apostle Paul, inspired by God, urges us to let God renew our minds. Why is this renewal necessary? Because our natural inclination is to think in worldly ways, following the patterns of this world. We are born spiritually dead in Adam, separated from God—like a car without fuel or a light bulb without electricity.
When you receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus comes to live within you, granting you a new power and a deeper understanding of the Scriptures. It is then that you can test the Word of God, and know the truth that sets a person free.
This might sound like shocking news, especially with all of the world wide anti-sematism today, but after the end of the tribulation, God will turn to Israel to regraft them into their own olive tree.
That is why the Bible says " I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. (Romans 11:25-26).
How will that happen? No one knows because it is a mystery, but it is certainly part of God's plan.
This might come as a surprise, but from God's perspective, there's no distinction between a Jew and a Gentile. Romans 3:9 succinctly expresses this, stating that both are under the power of sin and death, and thus require spiritual rebirth through the agency of God's Spirit.
So, what's the remedy for this condition of being ensnared by sin and its consequences? It lies in embracing new life offered through Jesus Christ. Romans 10:13 assures us that salvation is available to all who earnestly call upon the Lord's name.
Is this really fair? "That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone."
This is how God chose how people would be saved, "By the sanctifying work of the Spirit and belief in the truth"
According to the divine plan, the Gospel was initially destined for the Jews, who were the first chosen people. However, in Acts 10, the Gospel extends to the Gentiles as well, who were also part of the divine selection. This instance illuminates the essence of predestination—it doesn't entail God choosing one individual over another, but rather reveals the sequential outreach of the Gospel. Initially directed to Israel, who ultimately rejected Jesus, the Gospel then embraced the Gentiles.
Transcript
Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin (0:06) Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Welcome to Grace Coach, my name is Kevin (0:12) Smith and I've got my best friend Mike Stone with me today. How you doing Mike? (0:19) I'm doing good. Yeah, Romans 9 is an incredible little book. It's kind of a (0:26) shift in what Paul's doing here and he's gonna kind of defend his ministry as an (0:32) apostle to the Gentiles and opening up the good news of the gospel of Jesus (0:38) Christ to the whole world. How exciting is that? Yeah, that's very exciting. You (0:45) know, before we get into that, I thought we would set the stage, Kevin, to talk (0:50) about this thing with the Jews and the Gentiles because a lot of the New (0:55) Testament is talking so much about the Jew and the Gentiles being unified in (1:02) Christ, which really is an unthinkable thing if you think about it today and (1:07) all of the craziness in Israel for Jews and Gentiles to be united in the Spirit (1:13) is incredible. But Jesus even told the disciples not to go to the Gentiles. He (1:19) said that in Matthew 10 5. He said rather go to the lost sheep of Israel. (1:26) And so in Acts 2 you see that they were up in the upper room and the (1:32) Spirit came on the disciples and there were some more people there but they (1:39) were all Jews and you can see that right after the event of Pentecost in chapter (1:47) 2 that Luke the writer was mentioning that it was going to the Israelites and (1:54) you just see that over and over. And then in Acts 10 there's a big switch, Kevin. (2:01) Peter goes up to the roof to pray. He's not even sure why. He sees a sheet come (2:06) down with four-footed animals and God tells him to kill and eat and these (2:12) four-footed animals were non-kosher. So he says that I've never eaten anything (2:19) impure or unclean in verse 14 and then God said no I want you to eat those (2:26) things. So he is completely confused, thought he was obeying the law even (2:31) though he was born again at this point but he still had the law in him and it (2:39) takes years to unshake the law that's in a person's life. But anyway fast (2:47) forward in Acts 27 Peter is in the house of a Gentile Cornelius and the Spirit of (2:55) God comes on the Gentiles while they're in the house and it says in Acts 10 45 (3:01) that the circumcised believers were astonished that the gift of the Holy (3:07) Spirit came on the Gentiles. That was again an unthinkable thing. This was (3:14) something that you don't hear a lot about. I know when I heard that it just (3:19) rocked my world that they were astonished that the Spirit went on the (3:24) Gentiles. But in Acts 28 Kevin Paul finally after going into the (3:31) synagogues, which was normal for him, he was rejected by the Jews and he finally (3:38) made this statement that I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent (3:43) to the Gentiles because they will listen. Because the Jews weren't listening to (3:50) Paul about Jesus and he says they will listen. So I'm just setting that up (3:55) because now we're gonna hear Paul's heart even though this happened his (4:02) heart was broken that the Jews were rejecting the gospel because he was (4:09) Jewish he was a top Pharisee but his heart was broken about this and that's (4:14) where Romans 9 comes in. Yes it is yes it is and so basically what I hear you (4:21) saying is that the gospel going to the Gentiles was part of God's plan from the (4:28) very beginning even in the book of Acts even way before the book of Romans came (4:33) actually way before the book of Acts came it was God's plan for the gospel of (4:40) Jesus Christ to go to the whole world not just to the nation of Israel yet it was (4:48) a hard way to do it I mean the nation of Israel like you're saying they rejected (4:55) the gospel they rejected God's plan they did not go to all the nations as (5:01) Genesis 18 talks about and so you know God God's sovereign he knew it all was (5:07) gonna happen and he brought in the Gentiles as we'll read so why don't we (5:14) jump into Romans chapter 9 I'll read the first five verses and we'll take it off (5:22) what do you think yeah let's do it all right Romans chapter 9 verse 1 through (5:27) 5 I'm speaking the truth in Christ I'm not lying my conscious bears witness in (5:33) the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for I (5:39) could wish that I myself for a curse and cut off from Christ for the sake of my (5:45) brothers my kinsmen according to the flesh they are Israelites and to them (5:51) belong the adoption the glory the covenants the giving of the law the (5:55) worship and the promises to them belong the patriarchs and from their race (6:03) according to the flesh is the Christ who is God over all blessed forever amen (6:11) would you want to be cut off for the sake of your people I mean I don't know (6:17) how many people would say that that yeah it would be cut off for the sake of my (6:24) people that's how much he loved his Jewish brothers and sisters so yeah Paul (6:31) Paul's willing to give himself up for his kinsmen but I think I think he's (6:38) Paul is such a wise wise writer and he he doesn't say any of this this is not (6:44) just random stuff he's talking he is he's continuing to make his case like a (6:50) expert lawyer in his defense of his ministry you know what I'm a Jew I love (6:58) the Jews and because he is letting us in on the conversations in the arguments (7:05) he's having with Jews and they're saying are you turning your back on us trying (7:11) to go to the Gentiles and he's saying no I'm not turning my back on on you Jews (7:17) but God is calling me to his sovereign plan and it's not just to you Jews it's (7:25) to the whole world so he wants to just nail that in there and the cool thing (7:33) about it is in verse 5 he brings in Christ with it that it's Christ came (7:39) through that line just God's sovereignty again another is point to God's (7:47) sovereignty yeah and that's important as we read this how important the human (7:52) ancestry of the Jewish race to Jesus that it would maintain it would stay (7:58) from Jewish person to Jewish person because that was part of God's plan also (8:05) and that's what predestination is you know it's not that God picks you and (8:09) doesn't pick me he said he predestined that the gospel would first go to the (8:14) Jew and then to the Gentile and that was his plan from the beginning and we're (8:20) living in the age of the Gentiles right now the church is the age of the Gentile (8:26) so let's read verse 6 through 9 Kevin it is not as though God's Word had failed (8:34) and when I read that I'm like well God's Word didn't fail we failed right mm-hmm (8:41) and that's because we're born into this world spiritually dead without the (8:46) spirit of God living in us so there's no way that anybody could follow and uphold (8:52) the law for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel nor because they (8:59) are his descendants are they all Abraham's children who are born again (9:05) and saved that's what a when you're talking about Abraham's children we're (9:08) talking about born-again believers but on the contrary it is through Isaac that (9:14) your offspring will be reckoned and so the bloodline didn't go through Ishmael (9:20) it went through Isaac okay verse 8 Kevin in other words it is not the (9:26) children by physical descent who are God's children but as the children of (9:32) the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring so the children of (9:38) the promise are those who are born again and saved who have come to Christ by (9:43) faith and have been credited as righteousness in verse 9 for this is how (9:49) the promise was stated at the appointed time I will return and Sarah will have a (9:56) son so basically just to summarize this you have the children of Abraham which (10:03) is all the Jews every every Jew is a child of Abraham but then like you said (10:12) the children of the promise are the ones who are born-again children of God the (10:19) promise that the good news would go to all the nation those that's the promise (10:24) that God made to Abraham in Genesis 18 yeah because he believed that Sarah would (10:31) have a son even though she was 100 years old and because he believed it says that (10:37) he was credited as righteousness now I wouldn't believe that my wife was a (10:43) hundred that she was gonna have a son she was in the tent laughing when they (10:48) were saying yeah so Abraham was credited as righteousness and it says in the book (10:57) of Romans in chapter 4 and that wasn't just for him but for us who believe in (11:03) Jesus our faith is credited as righteousness all right so let's pick up (11:11) on first 14 oh let's actually go to 10 Kevin let's can you read 10 to 13 oh (11:20) sure okay so it's where you stop at 9 okay all right Romans 9 verse 10 says not (11:26) only so but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man our (11:31) forefather Isaac through though they were not yet born had done nothing (11:38) either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue not (11:45) because of works but because of him who calls she was told the older will serve (11:52) the younger as it is written Jacob I love and Esau hated okay I'm so glad we (11:59) just read that you're like well wait a minute how could God hate anybody you (12:08) know okay God loved Jacob but he hated Esau so in order to understand that we (12:13) have to go to Genesis 25 we just have to read the story of Jacob and Esau's I am (12:21) going there right now to Genesis 25 okay verse 19 to 34 it says this is the (12:30) account of the family line of Abraham's son Isaac Abraham became the father of (12:37) Isaac and Isaac was 440 years old when he married Rebecca daughter of Bethuel (12:43) the Armenian from Patton Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean Isaac prayed to the (12:53) Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childish she wanted a child just like (12:58) Sarah the Lord answered his prayer and his wife Rebecca became pregnant the (13:04) baby's jostled with each other within her and she says why is this happening to (13:10) me so she went to inquire of the Lord the Lord said to her verse 23 two (13:16) nations are in your womb and two peoples from within you will be separated one (13:23) people will be stronger than the other and the older will serve the younger we (13:28) just saw that in verse 12 when the time came for her birth there were twin boys (13:36) in her womb the first to come out was red and his whole body was like a hairy (13:41) garment so they named him Esau after this his brother came out and his brother (13:47) grasping Esau's heel so he was named Jacob Isaac was 62 years old when (13:54) Rebecca gave birth to them the boys grew up and Esau became a skillful hunter a (14:01) man of the open country while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents (14:07) Isaac who had a taste for a wild game loved Esau but Rebecca loved Jacob (14:16) interesting huh so Jacob was cooking some stew because he was home all the (14:23) time Esau came in from the open country famished and he said to Jacob quick let (14:30) me have some of that red stew I'm famished this is why he was also called (14:36) Eda Jacob replied first sell me your birthright look I'm about to die Esau (14:44) says what good is the birthright to me but Jacob said swear to me first so he (14:51) swore on an oath to him selling his birthright to Jacob and then Jacob gave (14:57) Esau some bread and some lentil stew he ate and drank and then got up and left (15:03) so that story tells us something about Esau that he gave up his birthright for a (15:14) cup of soup and that birthright was the bloodline to Jesus and he basically gave (15:22) that up and so when it says in verse 13 Jacob I love but Esau I hated it's that (15:31) he hated that Esau gave up his birthright to the line of Jesus yeah but (15:39) I don't know about that because it says before they were even born God said this (15:45) so I like I see this I mean there's three different store Old Testament (15:50) stories in this chapter and they basically what I see them all doing is (15:56) pointing to God's sovereignty that however God wants it to happen he could (16:03) have chosen Esau he could have chosen Jacob but he chose Jacob he could have (16:09) you know soften Pharaoh's heart but he chose to harden Pharaoh's heart and he (16:14) could have done anything you know the potter and the clay he could have made (16:19) vessels for you know honorable dishonorable this is the point is is that (16:25) God is in control and if you oh my gosh it's really if you can't that's why this (16:35) the whole chapter ends with the stumbling stone you know laid in Zion (16:42) that's the thing if you're not willing to open your heart and say God you're (16:49) in control I am NOT you're gonna stumble through pride over the stumbling (16:55) stone of that God is laid out in Jesus Christ see the way I see it in 11 Kevin (17:02) is that before the twins were born born and don't forget they were (17:09) jostling in the womb already that's why Sarah was on I mean Rebecca was (17:14) uncomfortable but this happened in order that like you said God's purpose (17:21) in election might stand and he's really this is really talking about the Jews (17:29) and the Gentiles it's yes somehow related because as we read through these next (17:37) few verses and I don't even know if we'll get there today but it's clear to (17:42) see that God's decision to go first to the Jew and then to the Gentile was his (17:49) decision that's the way he wanted it and in the end in the book of Revelation he (17:56) goes back to the nation of Israel again when the last Gentile comes in and and (18:03) the church age is over well the other point to it is is in election you know a (18:10) lot of people talk about election as an individual person being elect yes (18:17) whereas this chapter in you know these stories it's even though it's an (18:24) individual person meaning Isaac and Jacob it they represent I mean Esau and (18:29) Jacob they represent nations it says right there they represent well I'm glad (18:35) you read that in Genesis because they represent nation there you go all part (18:41) of God's plan yeah and so that to me is the big takeaway in this that it's not (18:51) God chose this guy and damned another guy to hell because if you believe that (18:57) kind of line of thinking out there that's what you have to believe that (19:02) that some people in the world have no choice that God has damned them to hell (19:11) and I know some people believe that I know they make try to make a biblical (19:16) case for it but well you're talking about Calvinism because that's what (19:20) Calvinism yes teaches is that God chose you but didn't choose me and that (19:27) thinking that that's what the definition of predestination is that he (19:31) predestined somebody from the beginning of time to be a Christian and others not (19:37) but that's not what predestination is predestination is and we can see this (19:42) clearly in the book of Ephesians also is that God predestined that the gospel (19:48) would first go to the Jews and then to the Gentile nation yeah check this out (19:54) check this out when I was preparing for this I just looked up some verses John 12 (20:01) we won't have to go there but I'm just gonna read a sentence of it John 12 32 (20:05) when I am lifted up I will draw all men to myself 2nd Peter 3 9 he wants none (20:13) to perish but all to come to him 1st John 2 2 Jesus died for the sins of the (20:21) whole world 1st Timothy 2 4 God wants everyone to be saved Hebrews 3 15 don't (20:29) harden your heart so if you were damned to hell then why would God say don't (20:37) harden your heart how about in John 1 12 yet to all who did receive him to those (20:44) who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God I love (20:49) that verse you have to make a decision to receive Jesus Christ yeah yeah all (20:57) these verses they wouldn't be there and really that's a whole nother podcast (21:03) talking about predestination yeah so let's see if we could just get through a (21:08) few more verses 14 through 16 Kevin what shall we say then is God unjust not at (21:15) all for he says to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and all (21:21) compassion on whom I have compassion for it does not therefore depend on (21:27) human desire or effort but on God's mercy and that is God's plan it is just (21:37) God is not unjust of how he decided to do this God is just and it's the way he (21:45) wanted the gospel to go out and look Jesus said don't go to the Gentiles (21:50) right go to the lost sheep of Israel you're gonna listen to Jesus so it's no (21:58) wonder this gospel you know in the book of Acts you see it going out to just the (22:04) Jews and not until acts 10 did that switch and God says okay it's time it's (22:11) time to go to the Gentiles yeah yeah you know the cool thing on this is just I (22:18) just marvel at Paul and just what he went through in his life but verse 16 (22:26) like you just read says so then it depends not on human will or exertion (22:31) but on God who has mercy now who do you think Paul was referring to in that (22:37) verse all the Gentiles who you know didn't know anything about the law or all (22:43) the Jews who were working so hard trying to fill the law and get right in (22:50) God's eyes yeah and then again is not part of God's plan it's his plan is that (22:58) you come to faith through belief in the truth yes believing in Jesus putting (23:04) your faith in him yeah that is the good news it's not by works so that nobody (23:10) could boast thank you for listening to grace coach if you want to connect with (23:15) us we would love to engage with you email us at the grace coach at gmail.com (23:22) visit our Facebook page or visit our website grace coach org
Is There Anything that Can Divide You from the Love of God in Christ Jesus? Can Continuous Sin, External Forces, or Even Satan Separate You? Though at times it may seem like we're distanced from God's love, those are merely feelings. Feelings aren't always accurate or based on truth. Tune in to discover why nothing can ever sever you from the love of God.
Transcript
(0:00) Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin (0:06) Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Welcome to Grace Coach. My name is Kevin (0:13) Smith and I got my best friend Mike Stone with us today.
How you doing Mike? (0:18) I'm doing good. Good to see you. Good to see you too.
We are going to be talking (0:22) about Romans chapter 8 starting in verse 28 and going through the end of the (0:30) chapter and we are excited to get to it because it is talking about the love of (0:36) God and how secure we are in God's love. So I'll start off and just read a couple (0:45) verses in Romans chapter 8 verse 28 which says, and we know that in all (0:52) things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called (0:57) according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be (1:03) conformed to the likeness of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many (1:10) brothers.
And those he predestined he also called, and those he called he also (1:15) justified, and those he justified he also glorified. Yeah, there's a few things (1:22) here that jump out at me that I underlined. Of course that God works (1:27) together for the good of those who love God.
I mean he takes everything, good and (1:32) bad, things that are happy and sad, and he works them together for our good. I mean (1:38) that is just so wonderful to know even when it doesn't feel good, you know, and (1:45) it doesn't feel that God is there for us, but he's always there working everything (1:50) together for good. And then it says in 29 he knew his people in advance, and that (1:57) is like, wow, he didn't force us to believe.
He certainly did know in advance (2:04) who would and who wouldn't believe, and so that's mind-blowing to even think (2:08) about. And then the third thing is that he chose us to become like his Son. (2:14) That's my version.
And when I think about that, you know, I know we're not (2:21) going to perform miracles and raise the dead and do things like that, but it's (2:27) that the God of the universe was living in Jesus, and he was made and (2:37) born in the image of God's likeness. So when I think about that, we have now been (2:43) also made into God's likeness when we came to believe. We were not in the image (2:51) and likeness of God.
We were born in the image and likeness of Adam, but it says (2:56) that he chose us to become like his Son and now to be made in the image and (3:04) likeness of now Jesus. And that only means that the Spirit of God is now (3:10) living in us like it was living in him. Okay, clarify for me what you just said.
(3:17) God was living in Jesus? Yes. Chapter 14 of the book of John. Let me just go there (3:27) real quick.
The only reason why I'm saying that while you're going there is (3:35) because I don't want the audience to be confused that Jesus wasn't God. No, (3:43) he was God. Jesus was God in the flesh, fully God, fully man is what we (3:51) would say and believe.
Yeah, it says in John 14 20, on that day you will realize (3:58) that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. So God was in Christ (4:08) reconciling the world to himself, not counting men's or people's sins against (4:15) them, and so God was in Christ and now God is now living in a born-again (4:22) Christian. So that's how I look at the image of God, that the likeness in the (4:28) image or the Spirit of God is now living in us, and I love it.
All right, let's go (4:33) on to read Romans 8 31 to 8 34. I'll do that. What shall we say then about such (4:40) wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he (4:47) did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us (4:56) everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one, (5:04) for God himself has given us right standing with himself.
Who will then (5:10) condemn us? No one, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and (5:18) he's sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand pleading for us. (5:25) Amen to that. Says who dares accuse us? Who accuses us is Satan.
Absolutely. (5:34) He does that through people, through people who aren't saved. Yes, people are (5:41) trying to condemn us for our actions and behaviors and our belief systems.
Yeah, (5:49) well, I mean, I think he's up there accusing us to God too, but God's (5:56) basically, Jesus is interceding for us saying, I shed my blood for each one of (6:02) these people. Their sin is on me, and so the case is settled. And if you (6:10) didn't spare your own son, you know, if we bring that down to earth and think (6:16) about, if I sacrifice my son as God did, how much more would I, I would do (6:24) anything for you if I've done that, and I think that's what he's saying here.
(6:31) Absolutely. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness in Christ (6:36) Jesus. Well, that's the best thing he can do, and he gives us so much more.
I say (6:42) this all the time, you know, our family, our friends, our home, our health. I mean, (6:48) he's given us all this stuff, but the basis of it is Christ. That is the (6:55) foundation of everything.
Everything else is meaningless without Christ being the (7:02) foundation of what we have. So everything else is basically icing on (7:08) the cake. Jesus Christ is the cake.
So you think you're gonna have your cake (7:16) and eat it too, I suppose. I'm game for that. Well, in verse 33, it says that God (7:23) has given us right standing with himself.
That means we're in God's eyes. We are (7:32) perfectly right with him 100% of the time, and that is if you're in Christ, (7:39) because then you have the righteous one, Jesus, living in you. You know, it's not (7:44) that we do righteous things or whether we do righteous or (7:50) unrighteous things.
It's the fact that the righteous one lives in us, and that's (7:55) why we have this right standing with him all the time, because it also says that (8:00) Jesus will never leave us. The righteous one will never leave us. We're always (8:06) righteous, even though we don't feel like that might be true.
The Scriptures say (8:12) over and over and here in verse 33 that God has given us a right standing with (8:19) himself. Amen, and there's a saying that's very old saying, but at the foot (8:27) of the cross, the ground is level. Nobody is any better than anybody else.
We are (8:34) all righteous because of Jesus Christ. Billy Graham is no more righteous than (8:40) us. Mother Teresa, no more righteous than us, and it's not because of all the (8:47) things they've done.
It's only because they have received the gift of eternal (8:54) life through Jesus Christ by believing. Yeah, it's awesome. Verse 35 says, (9:02) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble, or hardship, or (9:07) persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for (9:14) your sake we face death all day long.
We are considered as sheep for the slaughter. (9:21) No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For (9:27) I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels, nor demons, neither (9:33) the present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor (9:39) anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God (9:46) that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Very cool. Yes, the other day I was reading in (9:56) my little pocket Bible, and I underlined how many times God or Jesus or the Holy (10:05) Spirit, you know, in this last section, it was amazing how many, I mean, and this is (10:14) just the conclusion of it, but it's like God is doing all of this stuff. God has (10:23) done it in Christ, and he has made a way that is without separation.
We are solid (10:35) in our relationship with God because of Christ. There is absolutely nothing that (10:42) can separate us. No spiritual demons.
There's so many people out there, you (10:48) know, talking about demons and all the books that have been written. It doesn't (10:54) matter. They can't touch us.
We are secure in Christ. You know, there's two reasons, I (11:02) think, that nothing can ever separate us from Jesus Christ and the (11:10) love of God. One, Romans 835, it says that nothing will ever separate you from the (11:20) love of Christ.
But two, it's because we are forgiven people. Yes. All our sins (11:29) have been taken away, so what caused the Spirit of God to leave Adam in the (11:36) garden in the book of Genesis was sin, his disobedience.
He did exactly what God (11:42) told him not to do. What caused the Spirit of God to leave Jesus? It was our sins. (11:49) Yes.
Right? What's the reason why the Spirit of God will never leave us is (11:55) because all of our sins are taken away, and it's an impossibility. And so between (12:03) those two things, I'm like, of course nothing will ever separate you from the love of God. (12:09) Christ will never leave you.
John 10, 28, and 29, I give them eternal life, and they (12:17) shall never perish. Well, that's what eternal life is, right? That means you'll never perish. (12:24) Otherwise, it's temporal life.
No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given (12:32) them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. Bam.
Either (12:41) that's true or not. Yes, it is true. No one is going to snatch this out of God's hand.
Well, (12:50) this chapter opened up with no condemnation, and it's concluding with no separation. (12:58) That's the book ends of chapter 8 in the great book of Romans, which I am so excited for. (13:08) Yes, it is amazing.
Paul wrote 80% of the New Testament, and there's a lot of people out there (13:18) who say, well, what about the book of James? Well, okay. Well, James was a Johnny come lately, (13:26) but still, I believe you can see the grace of God in the book of James without a doubt, (13:32) and that's for another podcast. But really, if you really concentrate on this New Testament (13:39) and read about the love of God, the forgiveness of God that he's living inside of you, (13:45) I'll never leave you or forsake you.
Your life will never be the same. Amen. (13:52) It will never be the same.
And as Romans 12 says, we're going to get to it in a few weeks, (14:00) to renew your mind on these truths. Yes. It's just a constant renewal of your mind.
(14:10) And that's the beautiful thing about God's word is that no matter how many times you read it, (14:16) you can just, because of what you're going through in your life, (14:22) it will hit you in a different way. You may miss something. It's amazing to study that the Bible (14:32) is like no other book in history.
It is the all time. They don't even put it on the bestseller (14:40) list because for years, it is the absolutely hands down most sold book in the world. Every year, (14:51) there are more Bibles bought than any other book, hands down.
They don't even put it on the list (14:57) anymore, which I think there's probably more going on there than that. But it is an amazing (15:04) book. And we hope that everybody just understands the major point of it.
And that is God's love for (15:12) you. Thank you for listening to Grace Coach. If you want to connect with us, (15:18) we would love to engage with you.
Email us at thegracecoach at gmail.com. (15:25) Visit our Facebook page or visit our website, gracecoach.org.
Our ministry is centered on empowering Christians to grasp the full extent of their inheritance in Christ. Through our efforts, we also aim to share the good news of the gospel, which can lead unbelievers to salvation. We rejoice when individuals embrace this message.
In Romans 8, the Apostle Paul endeavors to enlighten Christians about their spiritual possessions in Christ while simultaneously highlighting what those without Christ lack. Here's a summary:
For Born-Again Christians:
- God resides within you.
- You dwell in the realm of the Spirit.
- God has infused life into your mortal body.
- Eternal life awaits you with God.
- You are embraced as a child of God.
- You have been legally adopted into God's family.
- You are an heir of God and share in Christ's inheritance.
- The Spirit has bestowed upon you His first fruits.
- God orchestrates all things for your benefit.
- God has foreseen and chosen you.
- You are being transformed into the image and likeness of God.
For People Without Christ:
- You lack the indwelling of the Spirit.
- Pleasing God is unattainable without Christ.
- There is hostility between you and God.
- You are confined to the realm of the flesh.
- You do not belong to Christ.
- The Spirit does not abide within you.
Transcript
(0:00) Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin (0:06) Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Welcome to Grace Coach, my name is Kevin (0:11) Smith. I got my best friend Mike Stone with me today. What's up Mike? Hey good to (0:18) be here and I'm glad I'm still your best friend. Nothing's changed from the last (0:23) podcast. From the last podcast. I don't think anybody's ever gonna overtake you (0:28) as much things as we've been through. I think you're in. But there are a couple of people (0:36) that are close second. I'll duke it out with them. You better take me out to (0:41) dinner again sometime soon. Okay. All right, so today we're talking, we're (0:48) actually probably not going to finish Romans chapter 8. This chapter has got so (0:53) much in it. It is unbelievable. And it is just an affirmation of what we have in (1:03) Christ. And it's rock-solid. It solidifies our standing with God in so (1:13) many different aspects of it. So we really hope you guys listen up, get your (1:20) Bibles out. We're gonna be starting in, we're actually gonna backtrack a little (1:25) bit. We covered up to Romans 8 11 last week, but we're gonna backtrack just a (1:30) little bit of a review. I'm gonna read Romans chapter 8 verses 8 through 11. (1:37) Which says, that's why those who are still under the control of the sinful (1:43) nature can never please God. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You (1:51) are controlled by the Spirit, if you have the Spirit of God living in you. And (1:57) remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not (2:02) belong to Him at all. And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will (2:09) die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right (2:15) with God. The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. And (2:22) just as God raised Christ from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies (2:28) by this same Spirit living within you. Wow. That is incredible right there. That (2:37) is packed full of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are dead and (2:43) we are alive by the Spirit. If you look in your Bibles, many of the chapters (2:49) headings, I don't know what Bible you have, but most of them are has something (2:55) to do with life in the Spirit. And that's a major theme of this chapter and what (3:01) we're going to be talking about today. Yeah, and I especially love Romans 8-11, (3:08) Kevin. Whenever you talk to somebody and you ask them what's your understanding (3:13) of salvation, many times you'll hear that, well, Christ died for my sins. And then (3:21) when you say to them, well, what's the meaning of the resurrection? What's the (3:26) resurrection mean to you? Here in Romans 8-11, it really says the purpose of why (3:33) Jesus rose from the dead, that the same Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead, who (3:39) lives in you, will give life to your mortal body. Yes. The same Spirit living (3:47) within you. So that's a unbelievable reason for the resurrection that we're (3:56) made alive by Christ living in us, just as Jesus was resurrected and made alive (4:04) from his tomb. Amen, amen. But what I see, Kevin, and through this, what Paul is (4:14) doing, he's constantly, and I think you said this, he's talking about what we (4:21) have received, which is the Spirit of God living in us. And then he's also (4:26) contrasting that with what you have not received. And so he's just concerned with (4:35) eternal life, that people would be born again and saved and would be raptured one (4:42) day. But he's also constantly comparing that to those who don't, who do not have (4:50) the Spirit of God living in them. And that's how he writes. And so with that in (4:56) mind, I'm going to read Romans 8-12-14. (5:02) Therefore, brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful or (5:09) human nature urges you to do. For if you live by it, it dictates, which really (5:17) means if you live suppressing the truth about the new life in Jesus. If you keep (5:26) suppressing that, it says you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit (5:34) you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live eternally. Because (5:42) those who believe in Jesus have eternal life. That's what all those verses in (5:49) John talk about. John 3-16, John 3-36, John 5-24, that whoever believes in Him (5:59) will have eternal life. Yeah, so it says it. Even in the opening (6:06) verses that we just read, not only that you have the Spirit, but you have (6:11) life. It's a life and death comparison, as we've said, you know, in before in this (6:18) chapter. That's right. And notice he's not talking about those who are forgiven, (6:27) as good as that is. I never want to minimize the power of Jesus taking away (6:34) our sins on the cross, but he's talking about something greater, and that the (6:40) resurrection of Jesus and the new life given to us in Christ Jesus. It's just we (6:47) can't talk about that enough, the importance of the resurrection, because (6:52) we're not made alive when Christ took away our sins. We were cleansed from (6:59) unrighteousness. We were cleansed from our sins so that His life could come live (7:05) inside of us and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Yeah, so now the Spirit is (7:11) living in us and He'll never leave us. Again, we go back to the cross because all (7:17) our sins are taken away. Amen. So verse 14, it says, for all who are led by the (7:25) Spirit, who are born again, who are saved completely, are children of God. Yes. We (7:36) have talked so much about how Paul makes comparisons in this chapter, and as we (7:43) move into verses 15 through 17, he's gonna make another very powerful (7:50) comparison that the people who received this letter could totally understand. It (7:58) was part of their culture, just as it's been a part of our culture, but slavery. (8:04) So the comparison is a slave and a son, and Paul has used this term, adoption, (8:14) five times in his letters, and he's using it again here today. The readers in Rome, (8:23) because Jewish people didn't really have officially recognized adoption, but the (8:28) Romans did, and so when you got adopted into a family as a Roman, you did get (8:35) full rights as son and full heirs as we are to everything that Christ has. This (8:45) is like so plain to them, and it's plain to us, but probably not as powerful to (8:54) the people he wrote it to. So let me read Romans chapter 8 verses 15 through (8:58) 17. So you have not received the Spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead (9:05) you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we (9:12) call him Abba Father, for his Spirit joins with our Spirit to affirm that we (9:20) are God's children, and since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, (9:29) together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory, but if we are to share his (9:36) glory, we must also share his suffering. So there's that comparison. Slaves and (9:47) sons, and we are rightful heirs of Jesus Christ. I mean, we say this all the (9:58) time, but we have received everything that we have for life and (10:03) godliness in Christ Jesus, because we've received him. So we don't have to... I (10:09) mean, I hear sermons so much. Do more. Be better. Get closer to God. (10:15) You know, seven ways to become closer to God, and I just like, come on people. I (10:22) mean, I understand what they're saying, but do you not see that you're in? You (10:30) can't get any closer to God if you are an heir with Jesus Christ, and you (10:36) share his glory. That is so true. It reminds me of a story that I heard over (10:46) and over at conferences I used to go to about how perfect we are in Christ, in (10:53) God's eyes. Mm-hmm. We're perfect because we have the perfect one living in us, and (10:59) what's happening in the Christian world is like a picture of the Mona Lisa, which (11:06) in most people's mind is a perfect painting. You can't add or subtract to (11:13) the Mona Lisa, but what's happening is many people are putting a mustache on (11:21) the Mona Lisa and say, hey, I think she looks better, and you're messing with (11:30) the perfectness that we have in Christ. Or somebody, some people put a smile on (11:35) her or something, you know. Or a smile. Tweak her a little bit, you know. Do (11:40) something, and there's no need for that. It's a perfect painting, and (11:46) there's no need to try to get more right with God than we are or have him love us (11:53) more than he already does. We are as righteous as we're ever gonna be (12:01) because we have the righteous one living in us. So he's just beating the (12:08) table on this, and I love how I see the word children over and over in verses (12:16) 15 to 17. I think three or four times he's saying we are God's children, and it (12:22) reminds me of John 1 12, Kevin, that reads, Yet to all who did receive him, to those (12:31) who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Amen. (12:39) We're in. We're his children. Yes, and that's the apostle John writing (12:46) that, and here's the apostle Paul. Yet it's the same spirit speaking to both of (12:51) them. Yes. There are a lot, as I've studied this, there's several different places (13:01) where, you know, like Paul would write to the Galatians, you know, about the (13:06) suffering. Geez, there's a whole comparison I was reading. It's in (13:15) Galatians. Let me see if I got it here. I won't read the whole thing, but it's Paul (13:20) just basically saying the same things in his message. It's just the solidifying (13:26) theme of his heart. Yeah. Our heart with God that he wants us to understand, so (13:35) he's telling that to all the churches in just a different way, but it's the same (13:41) theme. Yeah, and I feel like that's what our ministry is about. I know that's how (13:48) I've felt over the past 30 years, that I've always wanted to help Christians (13:54) understand what they have. If God has taken away your sins one time on the (13:59) cross, why would you be asking God to do what he's already done? Yes. It doesn't (14:05) make sense. Just on that level, it doesn't make sense to ask God for what (14:10) he's already done, and there are no scriptures. There's only one possible (14:15) scripture that might lead somebody to believe they need to ask God over and (14:22) over to get forgiven in order to be forgiven. That's 1st John 1 9, but that's (14:27) not what 1st John 1 9 is about. That's a salvation verse. Just read 1st John 1 (14:32) 8 and 1 10. But it's so important to understand what you have in Christ (14:40) because if you don't, you walk around as if you're not even saved and forgiven. (14:47) It's like you don't know it, and it will turn into a deep, dark depression, high (14:55) anxiety. It will just mess with your life. And so that's what our ministry, and (15:03) that's what Paul is trying to do, help these Romans understand what they (15:08) have in Christ. You know, when you say that, it made me think of a couple of (15:14) people that we've known for over 20 years, and I'm not gonna get into any (15:23) details or names, but they just basically walked away from the faith. He went to (15:28) seminary and everything, okay? I know a lot of people...this guy just walked away (15:33) from the faith. I mean, he was a leader. He was a musician on stage, and now he's (15:39) basically turned away. And I mean, I can't help but think that he did not (15:45) understand the whole gospel, and he was on a works righteousness. I didn't (15:54) know him...I wasn't like, you know, I don't think I was ever in a Bible study with (15:58) him, I can say that. So I don't really know exactly what he believed, but he (16:02) seemed solid talking to him and everything. So the point is, hold on to (16:09) the truth. Hold on to the truth. Search for it like it is gold. That's what (16:18) Proverbs tells us to. Search for wisdom like it is gold. This is wisdom, friends. (16:26) Hold on to it. Study it. Treat it like gold. I know we all work jobs to (16:34) earn money, but the Bible tells us this is the most important thing you could (16:41) ever do with your time and energy and life, and it will set you free. That's right. (16:48) Yes. So, you know, in verse 16, Kevin, I love this verse. You just read (16:55) for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. So if (17:03) someone says to you, well, how do you know you're born again? How do you know, Mike? (17:08) How do you know, Kevin? Well, this is like a go-to verse for me, that the Spirit of (17:15) God has joined with my spirit, and I know he is affirming in my heart and spirit (17:24) that I am born again, and I am God's children. Yes. I just love how he says (17:32) that. Well, since you said that, I want to read 1 John 5, verse 13. I love (17:42) telling people this after they come to understand their salvation in Christ, (17:47) because the evil one, Satan, will come the very night that you accept Jesus (17:53) Christ as your Savior and confuse you and try to deceive you. But hold on to this (18:00) verse right here, 1 John 5, verse 13. I have written this to you who believe in the (18:06) name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. Friends, people (18:14) don't hear this. People, oh my God, I think of another guy who was a leader in (18:21) the church, and questioned. We went to dinner one time, and he seemed troubled, and I (18:27) just said, Mark, what's going on? I'm questioning my salvation. I don't know (18:33) for sure if I...and he is the president of a national organization right now. I don't (18:40) know why I haven't talked to him in years. But anyway, 1 John 5, verse 13. You know, if you believe, you may (18:48) know that you have salvation. And that is a solid truth that God wants us to know. (18:56) That is right. That's a great verse. All right, I'm going to read Romans 5, 18, and I'm (19:03) going to read through 23. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the (19:10) glory that he will reveal in us later. I believe he's talking about the rapture. (19:16) For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children (19:25) really are. Against its will, with all creation was subjected to God's curse. (19:35) That happened when Adam disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (19:41) And that curse of spiritual death has now been passed on to all people. (19:48) But with eager hope, verse 21, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join (19:57) God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has (20:05) been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers (20:13) also groan even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory. (20:20) For we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. Isn't that true? (20:27) We just long for the day that we have new spiritual bodies and we see the Lord face to face. (20:36) So, we too wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us full rights as his adopted (20:43) children, including the new bodies, new spiritual bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope (20:51) when we were saved. If we already have something, again, we don't need to hope for what we have. (21:00) We only hope for what we don't have yet. But we look forward to something when we don't yet have. (21:08) We must wait patiently and confidently. And what I believe, again, he's talking about, Kevin, (21:14) is the rapture, the day we receive our new spiritual bodies. (21:19) Yes, I totally agree. And you mentioned it. I mean, it began, this whole little section right (21:28) here began in Genesis. And it's ending with our future glory. So, this is a big, big picture (21:37) of what God's plan is, yet it includes us in it. Those of us who are in Christ and those of us who (21:48) are not in Christ. But if you are his children, one day we're going to have new bodies. We are (21:58) going to be in heaven. This is, I mean, common knowledge. I mean, this is what Christians, (22:05) when you become a Christian, you hope for your salvation in eternal life. (22:14) But we have life right now, but there will come a time where we're going to have glorified bodies (22:23) that God is going to, and we don't want to get into all the whole things of revelation, (22:29) but there's going to be a time, a thousand year time here on earth that this creation, (22:35) you know, it's going to be redeemed. It's going to be, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. (22:43) The book of Revelation talks about. And this curse that Paul personifies the creation by giving it (22:51) a mouth, the groan, you know, we know creation doesn't have a mouth, but you know, Paul kind (22:58) of uses this literary term and just gives it this word picture that it's groaning like we groan. (23:08) When we become a Christian, we know that we are not doing everything we need to do. We fail (23:16) numerous times, a million times a day, whatever. If you're keeping score, you know, you know, (23:23) you failed one day. The failure that we experience, it ain't going to be, (23:31) we're going to be in heaven with God. We're going to have glorified bodies. We're going to be. (23:36) Our mind is going to be the whole concept of God. We're going to see him face to face. (23:44) It is going to be a mind blower what he has in store for us. (23:51) That is the glory that we have waiting for us as his beloved children. (23:58) And just so to continue on your thinking and what you just said about, you know, (24:03) when we have trials to know to be hanging on to this future redemption and the future rapture, (24:12) verse 26 says, and the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what (24:18) God wants us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be (24:25) expressed in words. And the father who knows all hearts knows what the spirit is saying (24:31) for the spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. I love that. (24:38) Yes. The cool thing about this is when the Holy Spirit prays for us, he's praying a hundred percent (24:46) in accord with God's will. That's the beautiful thing about this verse right here. (24:52) That's right. And we know that God causes everything to work together for good of those (24:59) who love God and who are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in (25:05) advance. Love that. And he chose them to become like his son, those who have come to faith in (25:13) Christ so that his son would be first born among many brothers and sisters. And verse 30, (25:21) having chosen them, he called them to come to him and having calling them, he gave them right (25:29) standing with himself and having given them right standing, he gave them glory. Wow. (25:39) Thank you for listening to Grace Coach. If you want to connect with us, (25:43) we would love to engage with you. Email us at thegracecoach at gmail.com. (25:49) Visit our Facebook page or visit our website gracecoach.org.
The Apostle Paul loved to use contrasts to make his points about salvation and eternal life. In Romans 5:18 he said "Consequently, just as the result one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification and brngs life for all men."
After pausing on this subject, he took two chapters in 6 and 7 to say that we are no longer under the law (6:14) so that we might belong to another Jesus (7:4).
Paul starts Romans 8 by saying "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." So is there then condemnation for those who are not in Christ Jesus? To help make his point, Paul then uses many more contrast to illustrate the difference between those who are in Christ saved and those who are not lost.
Is the Apostle Paul writing Romans 7:13-25 as a Born Again Christian or is he looking back to when he was lost? Depending how you look at these verses might determine how you live. Listen in as Mike and Kevin discuss these very important verses.
In Romans 6, The Apostle Paul used the example of a slave and master to explain that a Born Again Christian is no longer under the law. In Romans 7, Paul uses the example of a marriage that has ended because of the death of a husband to show the same thing.
Once you are Born Again, the law has done it's work in your life. You are dead to the law.
Listen in as Mike and Kevin discuss this very controversial subject.
The Apostle Paul answers 2 questions in Romans 6:
- Shall I go on sinning that grace may increase ? (Romans 6:1) and
- Shall I go on sinning now that I am no longer under the law? (Romans 6:14)
These are common questions will always come up when someone does not understand the purpose of the law...."to make us conscious of sin" (Romans 3:20) and to then "to lead us to Christ" (Galatians 3:24 1984 NIV).
The purpose of the law is being distorted today by many. As 2 Peter 3:16 says "His (Paul) letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Do you know what the purpose of the law is? As Christians, are we suppose to follow the law that was given to Israel? You might be suprised at what Romans 6 says about this topic. Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about it.
The phrase "How much more" is use many times in the Bible. Luke 12:24 says "Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!" The point here is that Luke is saying that God takes care of the ravens, so he will also take care of you and that people are more valuable to Him than birds.
In the same way, Paul mentions in Romans 5:10 that "we were reconciled to him by the death of his Son, how much more (valuable), having already been reconciled, are we saved by His life"?
Contrary to most Christian teaching, we are not saved by the death of Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins. Rather we are saved by the life of Christ living in us. As Major Ian Thomas says "Jesus cleared the deck for the divine act of giving life to the dead".
Listen in as Mike and Kevin more about these important verses.
How would you define salvation? Most Christians would say this "Christ died for my sins, and when you believe that, you are saved". But is there more to salvation than believing that Jesus died for my sins? Listen in as Mike and Kevin discuss Romans 5:1-11 and how the Apostle Paul defines salvation in Romans 5:10-11.
How would you define salvation? The most common response from a Christian is that "Christ died for my sins, and that when you believe that, you are saved". But is there more? Romans 4:25 takes salvation a step further. "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification". Who will God credit righteousness to and how are we ultimately saved? "For us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead" (Romans 4:24). We are not saved by the death of Christ, but by His life. See also Romans 5:10 and Romans 10:9.
Many people ask the question "How do I become right with God?" Is it by works or is it by faith? Two Old Testament patriachs, Abraham and David believed God, and their faith was credited to them as righteous. Was it credited to them only? By no means! The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. The Book of Romans Podcast series is a great way to learn not only what the Scriptures says, but what it means to you.
From God's standpoint there are 3 types of people. lost Jewish people, lost Gentile people and then Born Again Christians who are from a Jewish or Gentile backround. Is this something you have ever heard?
The Jews thought they had a spiritual advantage over the Gentiles. They were given the law, circumcision, the temple and were "entrusted with the very words of God" (Romans 3:1).
But we learn in Romans 3 that both the lost Jews and Gentiles are alike under sin. There is no difference between these two people groups and that "no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law" (Romans 3:20).
Christians Against Poverty (CAP) provides a free debt and financial health service and simple financial education courses in partnership with local churches
Listen in as John Kirkby explains how and why he started Christians Against Poverty (CAP) in 1996. John believed God was calling him to sacrifice his career in finance and use his knowledge of the industry to help those in need.
You are invited to join with Christians Against Poverty’s Founder Dr. John Kirkby, CBE and the CAP team for a celebratory evening with delicious food, great friends, inspiring stories of God at work and a chance for you to make an impact.
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What is the difference between a highly religious Jew who does not believe in Jesus Christ and a Gentile who does not believe in Jesus Christ? Nothing! There is no one righteous, no not one.
The Apostle Paul does a masterful job in Romans 2:17-29 of explaining why there is no difference between these two people groups.
Listen in as Mike and Kevin read through these verses and comment on what they might mean to you.
What is the difference between a highly religious Jew who does not believe in Jesus Christ and a Gentile who does not believe in Jesus Christ? Nothing! There is no one righteous, no not one.
The Apostle Paul does a masterful job in Romans 2:17-29 of explaining why there is no difference between these two people groups.
Listen in as Mike and Kevin read through these verses and comment on what they might mean to you.
After the Apostle Paul addresses the Gentiles in Romans 1:18-32, he now turns to the Jew in Romans 2. First he said that the unsaved Gentiles had no excuse and are under God's wrath, and now he says that the unsaved Jews have no excuse and are also under God's wrath. All unsaved lost people who have fallen short of the glory of God, need to turn to Christ by faith and be saved from God's coming wrath.
In Romans 1:17, the Apostle Paul makes a bold statement. "For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.
As born again Christians, we have been made right with God by our faith, and not by our works so that no one can boast. That is the good news!
But then in Romans 1:18, Paul makes a 180 and makes a bold warning to the unbelieving Gentiles so that they might be saved and escape from God's wrath. This is the bad news for unbelievers who are not born again.
Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about it.
Romans 1:8-17 talks about a few important things. First we hear that the faith of the Gentiles were being reported all over the world. Why was it so astonishing that the Gentiles were coming to Christ by faith? Secondly, the Apostle Paul mentions that in the Gospel, a righteousness by faith is revealed. What does it mean to be right with God? How can I be made right with God? Is it by my good deeds? Or is it something else.
The Book of Romans may just be the most important book in the entire Bible. Listen in as Mike and Kevin discuss the first 7 verses of chapter 1, in the Book of Romans.
Why is the resurrection of Jesus the single most important event in world history? Was it to prove the Jesus was God, or is there something more? Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about the real meaning of the resurrection and what it might mean to you.
Do you remember years ago, we used to see people walking around baseball stadiums holding a sign, which said "John 3:16"? I used to think, why are those people doing that?
Now I know. John 3:16 is probably the single most important verse in the Bible. What does this verse mean? Does it apply to me?
Listen in as Mike goes in to detail about this key verse.
Transcript:
Well, today we're going to talk about John 316 that says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 316 is probably the most popular Bible verse where even some non believers even recognize that verse, maybe because that verse, John 316, was on signs that people walked around ballparks and arenas, which you don't see that anymore, probably because of it. It's too exclusive for today. And it's unfortunate that we are not walking around the ballparks because this verse is really one of the most important verses in the Bible. But let's break it down. As far as what does John 316 really mean? It says for God, so love the world. Love is the very nature of God. One John 416 says that God is love and love is an action. So yes, we have loving feelings, but loving feelings are a result of a loving action. And so feelings will follow our thoughts, feelings will follow our actions. But love is more than just a feeling. And in this case, God did take an action. It says in one John four, nine, and ten that this is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only Son into the world, that we might live through him. This is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. So God took an action. He sent Jesus Christ into the world. He was fully God. He was fully human, but his purpose was to take away the sins of the world. And then on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and came back to life. And the Spirit of God is what brought Jesus back to life. And so that was the action that God had taken. Two Corinthians 514 says that Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. So this love of God, this action of God that God took on our behalf, is what really compels us when we grab a hold of what this really is. There are many different views of what God's love is. Sometimes people look at God as a vending machine and that they pray for certain things and that they expect God to come through with those prayers. But yes, God comes through with prayers in our life, but not always according to what we want. Our deepest need is to know God. It's something that is so important and to have a relationship with him not based on fear, not based on worry or anger, but based on pure love. That God is love and only love. Religion has kind of taken God's love out of context because there are so many conditions that are put onto God's love. For instance, that a Christian comes to Christ and is born again and now they're required to be obedient and follow the law. And those conditions are what make people run from God. Our obedience and our trustworthiness are just byproducts of knowing the love of God. It's nothing that we have to do to earn God's love. It's because of God's love. So it's way different than sometimes we hear in the pulpit in different religions. So God loves the world. And when you see the word world, put your name in there, that's you Mike, for instance, God so loved Mike. God so loved Frank or sue or whoever. It doesn't matter. Put your name right in that spot that God so loves you. And that was an action. Now, what did God do? It says that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. And so God gave something. He gave his only Son, Jesus, to us. And that's a gift, right? When you give something to somebody, it is a gift. And God certainly has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in him. Acts four says, on one occasion while he was eating with them, referring to Jesus, he gave them this command, do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. Well, this gift was in the heart of God from the beginning of time when he created mankind. He knew that man would fall and the Spirit of God would leave Adam at the time who was the first man, and that we are all born in Adam's image, spiritually dead. And so we need to be made alive and to be born again. And that is the gift of God is to give his life to us so that he can live his life through us and give us eternal life. And so in Acts two, one to four, this finally happened. It says, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. These were the disciples. Suddenly, a sound like a blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. It says that all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. So this was the first time that the Spirit of God had ever come to live inside of mankind. Before that God was upon them. He was around them, but he was never living in mankind until Acts two, one, four, known as the Day of Pentecost. But that is the gift of God. And it's the gift of God today is to receive eternal life and be born again, just like they were born again back in those days. Galatians 220 says, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me the life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So there again you see the Word gave that God sent Christ into this world to give us the Spirit of Christ living in us when we put our faith in him. And so that's this meaning here that God gave his one and only Son as a gift to all of mankind. The next part of this verse, that whoever believes so for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish. So this is a word that we need to really think through believes in Him because James 2019 says that even the demons believe there is one God. And so the word belief is different than the word faith. The word belief means that I believe that something exists. Say, for instance, a chair. I believe that this chair will hold me up and I might just stand there in front of the chair and say, I believe that chair will hold me. But faith is putting your belief into action. It's putting faith in what you believe. So when you sit down in the chair, you've just put your faith in what you say you believe. Sometimes belief and faith are used anonymously But I believe that these verses in the Book of John and other places about believing in him are referring to putting our faith in what we believe. And so we really need to know why we need to put our faith in Jesus. So God so loved this world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in Him will have eternal life. Well, that sounds a lot like John 360 NIV version, but this is the contemporary English version that says that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life. Most of the versions do say believe in him, but believe and trust are really what the writer of the Book of John is trying to get to us to put our faith in what we believe. So why do we need to believe in Jesus? Why do you need eternal life? This is what is really missing in many sermons and many online teachings is why do I need to be born again? Why do I need eternal life? And that takes us back all the way to the garden. And we have to go back there to see why we need eternal life. Because Adam was created in the image of God. He was created alive physically, but he also was created alive spiritually. Genesis 127 says that so God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God, he created them male and female. So God created Adam and the image of himself. Genesis 27 says that then God gave the breath of life to Adam. Now that was the breath of life physically in his lungs so he could breathe. But also that's where the spirit of God was given to Adam. And that only means that God was living inside of Adam. The spirit of God was in dwelt in Adam. That's the good news of how mankind was created. Now, Genesis 216 to 17 says that the Lord commanded the man, Adam, you're free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, for when you eat of it, you will surely die. So this story of Anna and Eve, it's been talked about and sometimes ridiculed about over the years. But really, this is the crux. This is the place where the spirit of God left mankind because Adam and Eve were confused, they were lied to by Satan. In Genesis three, four and five, it says that Satan says, you will certainly not die. Go ahead and eat from that tree. The serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So this is where Satan tricked Adam and Eve and they ate from the tree in the middle of the garden that God told them not to. God gave them only one command. And this command was, do not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden or you will surely die. Well, they did in Genesis 322 says, oh my gosh, this is an unbelievable verse. And says, And God said, the man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take from the tree of life and live forever. So that was it. And then Genesis 323 says that the Lord banished him. That's referring to Adam. But Eve was with him from the Garden of Eden, and there was a waving sword banishing and keeping them from now from the tree of life. So, oh, my gosh, this was it. The Spirit of God had left Adam and Eve and they were spiritually dead. They were condemned for hell. And this is how it all began. Genesis five, three, it says that when Adam lived 130 years, so that's how we know he didn't die physically that day when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Here says that Adam would live 130 years altogether. He lived 930 years. But it says at 130, he had a son. Now, catch this in his own likeness, in his own image, and he named him Seth. Adam's son, Seth was not born in the image of God. He was born in the image and likeness of Adam. Now, that's so contrary to today, because we hear from the pulpit again, from sermons from everywhere, news, TV that were born in the image of God. And that is not true. We are born in the image and likeness of Adam, spiritually dead, condemned for hell. That is the way, unfortunately, as a result of Adam's disobedience, he didn't obey God in the garden. We are all born that way. That is so crucial to understand that, that we're more than just sinners in need of forgiveness because that's what we hear. Again, if you ask most people what's their understanding of Salvation, they'll say that Jesus took away my sins and it stops there. The gospel. The good news is more than just that Jesus took away our sins is that we're dead spiritually as a result of Adam's disobedience and in need of life. Romans 512, it says, therefore just as sin entered the world through one man, that's Adam and death through sin, like we've been talking about, that spiritual death came about as Adam sin and his disobedience. And it says in this way, death came to all people because all of sinned. So the spiritual death has come to all people. All means all. That means everybody. There's nobody excluded from that. Ephesians 21 says, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins and that's how we came into this world. Spiritually dead. Now, how many of you know that? How many of you have heard that before that this is our real problem. This is why John 316 is such a crucial verse. Romans 623 says, for the wages of sin is death, the cost of sin, of Adam's sin, of Adam's disobedience. The wages of his sin is death. But contrary to that, the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. John 17 three says, now this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ who you have sent. So we need to know our condition. We need to know how we are born into this world more again than just a sinner. We all know that we sin. We all know we do wrong things and think wrong things. We know that. And thank God Jesus took away our sins at the cross. He took away the sins for the whole world. But if you go to a doctor because you don't feel well, before he can give you a remedy or a prescription or to help you feel better, he's got to diagnose you. He has to tell you. He has to take some tests and blood pressure and take some lab tests to find out what's wrong. What's the matter with you before he can prescribe anything? If his diagnosis is off, then his prescription and his remedy will be off. You could die or you could have a long term illness as a result of the wrong diagnosis. Well, in the same way, if we don't understand our diagnosis that we're spiritually dead in need of life, we may miss that. That is why I'm doing this podcast. That is why we started Grace Coaches, that you would know that. You would know Jesus, you would know that you need eternal life and why you need eternal life. So again, we're just not sinners in need of forgiveness. We're dead spiritually and in need of life. So the next part of the verse says that whoever believes in Him shall not perish. Well, what does perish mean? It means to die. It means to die eternally in this case, to go to hell or to stay in our condemned state of spiritual death. John 318 says, Whoever believes in him is not condemned, that him is Jesus. But whoever does not believe in Jesus catch this stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. Jesus didn't come to condemn anybody. Like so much of religion teaches, that's why people run away from religion, because of the message that we come to Christ and all of a sudden we're condemned and God is watching over us and spanking us and hitting us with the great wooden spoon in the sky. Well, people run from that. And that's not true because he's taken away all of our sins. Matthew 25 46 that says that then they will go away to eternal punishment. But the righteous to eternal life. The righteous are those who believe, who put their faith in what they believe, who've come to Christ. And the Spirit of God has come to live inside of that person and that person is born again. Well, those are the righteous. They're righteous because they have the righteous one Jesus living in them. That's what makes them righteous. It's an imputed righteousness. John 1028 says, I give them eternal life and they shall not perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. So once you are born again, you will never lose that your Salvation, you are saved eternally. John 524 is one of my favorite verses for very truly, I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged, but has crossed over from death to life. You put your faith in Jesus, you have crossed over from spiritual death to spiritual life, and you'll never go back to spiritual death because all of your sins are forgiven, all of the promises of God that he says, I'll never leave you. You are saved completely and eternally. You will not perish. But those who don't believe in Jesus, they will perish, they will die eternally, they will be condemned, and they will enter a place called Hell, the day of their last breath on Earth. And so that's the reason for evangelism is to tell as many people as we can that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish spiritually, but have eternal life. And eternal life is mentioned 17 times in the book of John. It's a 180 from perishing, isn't it? Eternal life is forever, it lasts forever. There is no end to eternal life. It's perpetual and it's forever. We can't lose that once we have it. Why is that? Because now we have the eternal one Jesus living inside of us. Why are we right with God? Because Jesus is righteous. Why do we have eternal life? Because Jesus is eternal life. And where does he live? He lives in us. And we read Galatians 220 earlier that Jesus lives in us and we'll be with God forever. And so this is so crucial It's so crucial to know our condition. It's so crucial to come to Christ for God's provision of eternal life. And I'll just end the podcast today on this last verse one John 511 and twelve and this is the testimony God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. Whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the son does not have life. I pray that you ponder on these verses and ponder on this podcast pass it on to a friend. That is our goal as a result of this podcast today that somebody would come to Christ and be saved and have eternal life. God bless. Thank you for listening to Grace Coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at the Gracecoach@gmail.com visit our Facebook page or visit our website gracecoach.org.
The traditional view of the Advent season refers to the coming and birth of Jesus Christ, traditional known as Christmas. This is the first coming of Jesus. But is there more? Yes! Jesus is coming back again a second time, to meet us in the clouds, all of those who are born again and all of those who were born again and have died. We will meet the Lord in the air!
Transcript:
Want to discover your freedom in Christ. Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Hello. Welcome to Grace Coach. My name is Mike Stone and I'm with Kevin Evan Smith. Hello, Kevin. What's up, Mike? Yes, it is just two days from Christmas, and it's an exciting time for Christians in the world knowing that this is the day that Jesus was born. And we're going to talk about Advent, which many churches and many pastors talk about. This time is the time of Advent. So I thought we'd talk about what Advent is. Yes. Well, Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus, which means coming, and the Greek word Para Russo, which means coming also. And it's really something that the Christian Church celebrates. And this is pretty much many of the major denominations celebrating Advent season. And in our family, we actually do the whole deal. We have candles that we like, actually, because my son went to College for the first year. We haven't done it in probably 18 years. But we have a big routine we do during Christmas, first day of December. We have a book that somebody gave us and we read a section and they go and they get part of the Nativity scene. And it's all the animals. And we have it in a daily little cabinet and they pull the drawer out and they pick an animal and we would guess which animal. It's just a tradition we do in our family, but it's a way that many people just prepare their hearts for this great celebration that we call Christmas. So, yeah, I mean, there's a couple of ways that when we say the coming of Christ, there's a couple of different meanings. I just explained a very traditional way of doing it. But there's also the second coming, which Chris is going to do. The first Advent was him coming as a baby. The second Advent is when he comes to actually return to Earth for his second coming. And one of the things that we want to just maybe give each one of us a different spin on this phrase is the coming into your own heart, personally, that you can have a personal Advent if you don't know Jesus Christ, your personal savior. We would be just so overjoyed if you through this podcast, understood what it meant, what the real meaning of Advent meant and means. Yes. Like you said, Kevin traditional view of Advent is that Jesus came to Earth, he was born savior of the world, and he not only came to take away all of our sins, but he more importantly, came to rise from the dead, that anyone who would believe in him would have new eternal life. Really, Christmas is a great celebration of new life in Christ. And then, like you said, there's a second coming that's mentioned over and over in the New Testament about that Jesus is coming back and that event is known as the Rapture, although you don't see the word Rapture in the scriptures. But it's the day that we will meet Jesus in the clouds in the air, that everyone who is born again will be with Jesus and anyone who has been a Christian and has passed on from this Earth and died, they will also meet Jesus and us all in the air. And it says for us to encourage each other with these words. Yes. So that is a great hope. The hope I have really every day is to know that it could happen at any time, anytime. And I said to you earlier, it was an all blue sky. And I said to my wife, I go, I don't think he's coming today. There's no clouds. And now that's all we have is clouds. Pretty cloudy out there. Yeah. And then for sure, the coming of Christ to come live in your heart. Yes, that is Salvation. That is when you are born again and you cross over from death to life. So let's talk about a few things. One, let's talk about why did Jesus come the first time and then why is Jesus coming again? All right. Well, why did Jesus come the first time? Well, I would say the first reason is to forgive us of our sins. Hebrews 727 says, unlike other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. So Jesus Christ came as a baby, lived a sinless, perfect life, and he was the perfect sacrifice
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for the sins of the people. And that was to cover sins. And God instructed them to do that because Jesus hadn't come into the world yet. He hadn't come as a one time final sacrifice. But there's a big difference between covering your sins and then taking away of your sins. So we no longer have to worry about whether we are forgiven people or not. We are and it's based on the word of God. There's just so many scriptures talking about that Jesus came to take away all of our sins one time. The second reason he came is to rescue us from the Dominion of darkness and of spiritual death because that's how we came into this world. We're born into this world, spiritually dead, and that means separated from God. When Adam ate from the tree that God told him not to, God promised that he would die that day. Adam died spiritually, the spirit of God left Adam and we're all now a product of Adam's decision that we are born into this world in the same way that Adam's son Seth was, and that is spiritually dead, separated from God. So he rescued us from the Dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins that's Colossians one, one, three, and 14. So this is something he's already done for anyone who believes you are no longer in darkness, but you now are in the Kingdom of the sun that he loves. And that's awesome. That is huge. That is absolutely huge. And if we can get a hold of that truth, that we are no longer in that Kingdom, but we are in God's Kingdom. We are part of his family, forever sealed based on his words. Because I know we don't have this verse in here and we reference it sometimes, but God made the promise to himself because the people's failure to keep the Covenant that he made with person after person after person. In the Old Testament, the Jews, the Israelites, they could not keep the Covenant. And so in Hebrews, it says, I swore by myself. I swore by no one greater than myself. And so by two unchangeable things, God and God. God and Jesus, he made the Covenant that we enjoy. We can't mess set up all the way. Try.
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Yeah. God will never leave us once now that he lives in us. So if you're born again and you're listening to this podcast, you have to know that no one can snatch you out of God's hands. No one can snatch you out of Jesus hands. Yes. It's because of the word of God. And it's really because of the fact that all of your sins are forgiven. There is nothing that will cause God to leave you. You are saved completely and eternally. As long as Jesus lives, he will be advocating for us. Yeah. And it says that he lives forever. He lives forever. Yeah. And then one, John, one five, Kevin, this is the message we heard from Jesus. And now to clear to you, God is light. And in him there is no darkness at all. And so if you've come to Christ again, you've been rescued from this Dominion of darkness. There is no darkness if you are in Christ. Right. So that's another thing. There's no darkness if you're in Christ. But think of it, flip that around. There's no darkness in God. Okay. There's no darkness in God. So we are in God. We are in God, and God is in us. John 17 I'm in them. They're in me. And so you have to look at ourselves in a new way. You can't look at yourself as this sinful. Oh, my gosh. I can maybe go on a rant here, but let's just say I've heard of preachers say that, opening up sermons and saying you're a sinner and speaking in general terms to the congregation. And I'm just like I was holding myself back. Anyway, we may send I send you. We all do sinful things. But that is not the point anymore. Our identity is no longer a sinner, just as the people in Corinth, even though they were still struggling and doing stupid stuff. Paul didn't address them as you sinners in Corinth. How did Paul address the people in Corinth? Saints. Okay. We are Saints, beloved children of God in whom there is no darkness. And we have to start owning that and really believing that about ourselves, even in the midst of our worst despair and situations and blowing it. That is true. We do blow it. And I tell you, I think as a Christian, when I think about sin and just thinking about it, that's tough because it's like this pressure, this thing that comes into your mind and you don't want it there. But I tell you, there's really joy in resisting it. And that for when it happens, when you can resist the thought of sin and then following through with it and whatever it might be, there's so many different ways we sin, but there really is joy in walking in love and walking in truth and keeping your eyes on Christ Jesus, keeping your eyes on the hope and the return of Christ one day. It does squash the sinful desires of our hearts. And I tell you, it does feel good. Yeah, absolutely. I hope nobody listens to our podcast and says walks away not really wanting to say no to sin. That is not what we're trying to say because we know sin. Whatever we do, it's never going to please us. We've got a reset in our heart right now, and we may not believe it, but sin no longer pleases us like it once did. The moment you have a fit of rage or anger or jealousy or divisiveness or you gossip or you lust or you do anything excessively, we know we're not fulfilled by that. And so that's the proof that sin just doesn't work for those who are in Christ. And so we can do it. But it's not going to please us like it once did. I want to just do a bit of a rabbit. I'll keep this really short, but a friend of mine gave me an audiobook on Andrew Murray and I haven't listened to the whole thing. I know I've read Andrew Murray before, years ago, but I haven't really one in depth with them. But I only listen to one chapter, the first chapter of this book. The main point, what I want to try to say here is that idea of our sin is pride. And I know you and I, we don't talk about that a lot on our podcast, but pride is the root of basically so many of our sins. If you just take a minute and think back on it, pride, it was what Satan felt in heaven. He wanted to be like God. And if you just look back, the root of our sin comes when we're thinking more about ourselves than what we should or incorrectly thinking about ourselves. Pricefully. So I just put that out there to you. Yeah. And that's why Kevin love cast out a multitude of since Amen to that man. Hey, so number three reason why Jesus came the first time was to give us new life. And John Ten says that I have come, that you might have life and have it to the full. Amen. And then John 524 says, I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God, who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death to life. Right. There kind of encapsulates what we've just been talking about. Those who listen to my message and believe have eternal life. And there's another verse that says in John that if you don't believe it's basically, John 317, if you don't believe, you remain condemned, you stand in judgment, you stand condemned. Yeah. John 316 says the same thing just before that, for God so loved the world. And you can just fill in your name right when you use the world to say, Mike, God so loved Mike, that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish. Right. Spiritually. You will not perish spiritually, but you will have eternal life. And that's because we've crossed over from death to life. Okay. Well, we've covered. Why did Jesus come for the first time to forgive us our sins. He came to rescue us from the Dominion of darkness and to give us new eternal life. Now let's talk about the second coming. Why is Jesus coming again, coming again on the cloud? Well, there's basically a few reasons to bring Salvation for those who are waiting for him to enter our final destination, place of heaven, to receive our new spiritual bodies, which is really cool, and to live with the Lord forever and with other believers. And that's forever and ever. So if somebody, a loved one of yours who passed on and has died but was born again and in Christ, you will see them again. And that is the day that Christ comes. He calls it the day we read the Scriptures, the day of the Lord, the coming of the Lord. There's a lot of different ways that the second return of Christ is mentioned. But I think first, Thessalonians 416 to 18 really says the best and clearest. And it says for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a cry of a command, with the voice of an Archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever and therefore encourage each other with these words. So this is when you think about Advent. What we're saying this podcast is, yes, it's about Christmas and yes, Jesus was born in the manger, and it's a beautiful story of redemption and forgiveness and new life and being rescued from the Dominion of darkness. But man, he's coming again to take you to be with him. Yes. Face to face with Jesus Christ. And we will see God Almighty. Yeah, that is amazing. I'm going to pop down here and unless you have something else you want to say on that, I want to read Hebrews 927 and 28. This is one of my favorite verses. Just as people are destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ will sacrifice once to take away the sins of many. And he will appear a second time not to bear sin, but to bring Salvation to those who are waiting for him. Some versions say eagerly waiting for him. The more you believe this message, you eagerly wait when you understand the real deal. There's an eagerness I mean, pretty much every morning in my devotions, just like you were saying he could come back today. I just think about that. Today could be the day. This moment could be the day. I mean, it's going to be that at some point it's going to be like that. And I know the scripture says it comes as a thief in the night. So maybe in the night. Sounds like that's the time when the Lord says to Jesus, Go get your children. Yeah. Also says in the days of Noah, just like when they were marrying and given in marriage, just like today, people are marrying and giving in marriage. The flood came. Nobody knew it was coming. That's the way it's going to be with Jesus. That's right. And the verse you just read, Hebrews 927 and 28, it says that just as people are destined to die once, we know that's true. Right. And after that, to face judgment, I mean, every person is going to be asked the question, what did you do with my son? Did you put your faith in Christ and believe in him or did you not? Right. That is the question. And if you did not put your faith in Christ, just like we said a second ago, you stand condemned already because of your deeds and your sin. It's really the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden that separated mankind. So it doesn't matter whether you are a serial criminal or not or matter whether you're an outstanding fine citizen, you still stand condemned. And that's for people who just think that they are a nice person and their good deeds are going to outweigh their bad deeds. It ain't going to work that way. It's not about you. You are already condemned because of the Apple and the Garden of Eden that broke our relationship with God, the mankind's relationship with God. So very powerful point. Yeah. One John 511 says if you have the sun, you have life. And if you do not have the sun, you do not have life. So our citizenship. Kevin is in heaven and we await a savior from there. The Lord Jesus Christ that's Philippians 320 the way I thought we could conclude and end this podcast is to encourage all of our listeners to keep your mind and hearts on things above. Don't let the burdens of this world and this life we live in because there's good and then there's bad and keep your mind and heart on things above because Jesus is coming back. Yes, absolutely. And that is such a powerful message. I know you were sharing about somebody you were talking about that was depressed and not feeling good and you told him it's really about what you thinking. What you're thinking really determines your feelings. And in this season our thinking can be all over the place. You see so many people hanging out with family and loved ones and if you don't have that, you're thinking can go south really quick and just the busyness that we find ourselves into. We're running. We're frantic. We don't have time to sit down and do some serious meditation on the word. I mean, we're trying to buy gifts and go to parties but we just want to encourage people just to take a moment yeah, on a regular basis and remind ourselves of the truth that we've talked about and that's in the word. Absolutely, guys. And you can always just go to our website, gracecoach.org and get any message anytime you want some encouragement. Merry Christmas, friends. Thank you for listening to Grace, coach. If you want to connect, connect with us. We would love to engage with you. Email us at the gracecoach@gmail.com, visit our Facebook page or visit our website gracecoach.
Today, many Christians are either mixing law and grace or completely under the law. The law was given to Israel only. It was never given to 21st century Christians from a Gentile back round. More than that, the law of Moses and the 10 Commandments ended at the cross (Romans 10:4). Find out how get to unentangled from legalism and come in to the grace and freedom of God.
Transcript:
Want to discover your freedom in Christ, then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace coach, Grace be with you. Mike. It's been a while, but we are back here on a Sunday, and I know I'm excited to talk about our topic today, which is get untangled from legalism. This is like the go to podcast for anybody who is beginning to listen to our podcast or new to the new Covenant, this is like your starting point. This is the basics of the basics that we want to talk about today. And I'm excited about it because there's so many times that we were just talking about going to Church or in Bible studies. And I know my mom's going to be listening to this, but they had sent the document out afterwards. I'm not going to get to all the details, but when I read through it, it sounded good at some point. But the core of the message was legalism and just not understanding between the old Covenant and new Covenant. And I think that's the crux of the issue. If you are not clear on where we're at in the new Covenant with what Christ has done for us compared to what God did with the nation of Israel in the old Covenant, you're never going to understand what Christianity is all about. It's a revolution. That's something you really have to understand. Jesus Christ was bringing a revolution to the world religion, to Judaism, of course, initially. But it's for the whole world, every religion in the world, it's a revolution, a new way of thinking. So that's what we're going to talk about today. Yeah. Well, let's define legalism. And legalism is any attempt to gain acceptance or forgiveness from God through your own works or merits. And legalism and the word law, they're synonymous. And so when we talk about legalism, we're talking about how people get back under the old Covenant law that was given to the nation of Israel through Moses, and that is no longer in effect today. The punishment of the law that was given to Israel. And by the way, it was never given to the Gentiles to begin with. So you got to wonder how so many Christians from a Gentile background have gotten back under the law that was never given to them. It's really something that has to be talked about, like you said. So here are five signs that you're still entangled in legalism. And listen, nobody is 100% perfect with this. But let me go through the list real quick. Number one, you believe that God loves you, but that he doesn't like you. And if you think about it, it's almost like a guilty kind of love that God has to love me, almost like your parents. Maybe there's a parent who loves their child, but maybe doesn't like them. Or maybe somebody says, I love you but doesn't really show that they like you. Yes. It's so cliche. God loves you. But to get beneath that is does he like you? Does he like you for who you are as Mike Stone, who I am as Kevin Smith personally. And that's what we're saying today. God likes you personally in all of your foibles and all of the things that we struggle with. He likes us. And I really think in order to truly love somebody is that you really have to really like somebody to really love them. And that's why the fact is that God not only loves you, but he also likes you a whole heck of a lot. The second reason why you're still possibly entangled in legalism is because you're not
Participant #1:
100% sure of your Salvation has anything to do with you being legalistic. Yeah, good question. I knew you would ask me that. Well, when we're not sure of our Salvation, it's really because we feel there are some sins or many sins or maybe one giant sin that I have done. I'm thinking about doing that I've done for many years as a Christian that is keeping me out of heaven. And so maybe I'm 90% sure or 80% sure. But it really comes down to not understanding that all our sins have been taken away. All of our sins have been taken away. Every single one of them is what you're saying. That's right. In order to know you're 100% sure of your Salvation, you need to know that all of your sins have been taken away at the cross, 2021 years ago. It's vital. Vital. Absolutely. Yeah. The number three reason why somebody might still be entangled or a sign that you're still entangled is you praise others only for their good deeds. That's a new one. We don't really talk about that a lot. Yeah. And if you think about that, you're kind of getting back to the law that was given to Israel and you're starting to treat people the way you think that God is treating you as a Christian today. The fact is that's how God did treat Israel. When the Israelites followed the law fully, they were blessed. When the Israelites didn't follow the law and disobeyed the law, they were cursed. And so we bring that down to Earth in the way we treat people or think about people that were praising them for the good things. And then number four sign your still entangled is you condemn and judge others for their bad deeds.
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Yeah. And that's a sure sign that you're still under the old Covenant law that was given to Israel. It's all about pointing fingers and the fingers. It's both ways for the good things and the bad things. If you are doing your performance work and you're working really hard at doing whatever you're doing, then if somebody else is not doing it, you're going to point that out because you're self denial, you're burning your rubber for God doing the works. So if they're either doing it, you're praising them for it. If they're not doing it, then you're definitely. How come you're not getting up at 04:00 in the morning doing your Bible study in your prayer time? I'm doing that. How come you're not doing that? Yeah. It's because of the way you look at God, that you're still under the law. You're still mixing maybe the old Covenant and the new Covenant, and it's causing you to praise others for their good deeds and condemn them for their bad deeds. And that's because that's how you believe God is looking at you. And that is just not true. Yes. So the fifth sign that you're still tangled and there's probably 100 signs, but we're just going to talk about the fifth one here, that you read the Bible only to check it off your list. That's a hard one, man. Those who have been a Christian for a long time, the Bible is synonymous to your Christian life. And actually, I do do that sometimes. I feel like I do catch myself on that. Whenever I say I should, I really catch myself and say, do I really have to do this or do I really want to do this? But it's just again, these are also nuanced. It's like you can look at it one way, but you got to just turn a diamond just a little bit, see clearly what the way to go is. And it's not about I should be doing something. But if I want to read my Bible and it's just a totally different perspective, that's the way I look at a commitment of something. Maybe it's a commitment in a relationship or a commitment with going somewhere or doing something versus wanting to do it. The Grace of God and the new Covenant, he changes our minds. He changes our hearts. And we do things because we want to, not because we have to. And if you're catching yourself with what you said, Kevin, with using the word should a lot, it's probably a telltale sign that you're still under the law. Yeah, absolutely. In fact, I was in a Church service recently and the pastor talked about because of COVID and everything, everybody's been not going to Church or watching the Church through Zoom online. And he made this big plea that we need to recommit to meeting together now. He had definitely scriptural backing for it. There is a version of Iowa says we shouldn't forsake the gathering of one another and we shouldn't. But again, is it a law? Is it being legalistic or is it something that it is such a highlight to your week, that Sunday morning time on Wednesday or whatever day you go to Church and you just like you're there because you want to be. It's a totally different Church service full of people who want to be there compared to people who are dragging themselves because they have to go there. I've been in those two things. I know I speak about our experience at Park Community Church in the early days, but, man, we loved going there. There was just a vibe in the air and energy. People just were, like, hungry and, man, those are some glory days. Yeah. And really, as far as relationships, when I hear the word commitment, it always makes me wary. Somebody might say a conversation that I'm committed to my wife. Well, the question is, do you really want to be with her? Not are you committed or not? I've never felt that I am committed to my relationship with my wife. I want to be in the relationship. And you could use that whole idea of wanting to do something versus a commitment in so many areas of our lives. So it's definitely a telltale sign that you're still under the law. So, Kevin, the question then is, once I find out that I fit one of these categories or a couple of them or maybe all of them, the question is, how do I get untangled? We have five ways to get untangled from legalism. Absolutely. The number one way or the first way is that I have to replace my bias, my thoughts, what I have learned about Christianity with his thoughts, with the word of God in context, because if I'm still legalistic and I'm still under the law or mixing law and Grace, that I really haven't heard the full gospel message. Absolutely. And, you know, this is really the cool thing about our relationship with God is that it's a renewing of your mind. It's not like, okay, you're going to go to Church and you're going to have your mind renewed completely, forever. It's a constant day by day, month by month, year by year, renewing of your mind. And the essence of it, for me at least, is that it's going to draw you closer to God and just confirm his love for you. And that's really at least in my experience. And I'm sure you'll agree that that's the end game for this renewing of your mind, to see more clearly God's perfect love for us. Yeah, that's Romans twelve two, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And that transformation takes place through the word of God. And then it says, then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will. And yeah, when you take the word of God and you replace it with your old biases, your old thoughts, what you learned growing up, or maybe as an adult, as a Christian, and replace it with the Grace of God, with the complete forgiveness of God, with what you said earlier, the new Covenant, then you'll be able to start seeing a renewal of your mind. And then you could test that and you can approve that God's will is good, it's pleasing, and it's perfect. Yes. Another verse I love, Kevin, is Hebrews 412. It says, for the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and the attitude of the heart. That's Hebrews 412. So in order to get untangled from legalism, you have to go to the word of God that is alive and active. Yeah, but some people would say, hey, I'm doing that and I'm still a little legalistic. I'm still having some of these signs that you mentioned earlier. I still think that God loves me but doesn't like me. I'm still not 100% sure of my Salvation. Well, that's because we have to read the word of God in context and mainly in the new Covenant that superseded the old Covenant. Amen. I love that last part of that verse in Hebrews 412. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. And really, that is where God meets us. That is where we can just sit in the midst of our funk, of our situation, of anything that is going on in this world. We have some dear friends of ours who just got COVID, okay. And she left his voicemail and she was coughing and hacking and I mean, she sounded like she was on desk doorstep. I'm kind of rolling here. I don't know how to connect this up, but other than the fact I sent her a little short text message and said, Lisa West, I just pray that you will be reminded of every miracle that God has ever done in and through your life, because they have had one heck of a married life. We knew each other when we're single marriage and kids and everything else. They have had a book. They need to write a book on their life. But it's just remembering all those things and where your heart was in the midst of all these ways of life coming at you. But God is there. He's right there with you, and he's conforming your heart in the midst of the storms of life. Yeah. And he does that through the word of God. That's the only way it's through the word of God. So number two, how do I get untangled from legalism? You have to live in the new Covenant and not in the old Covenant and the law. And you can't mix the two, as I mentioned before, a little bit of old Covenant, a little bit of new Covenant. And yes, God is the same God of the new Covenant and of the old Covenant. But the difference is that this new Covenant has superseded the old Covenant. Hebrews 813 you may read that. Yeah. By calling this Covenant new, he has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear. That doesn't get much more clear than that. And that irritates people who still like the law and still love the Old Covenant. They're like, Where does it say that? Kevin? Another thing is that we mention this earlier. Most people do not know that the old Covenant and the law was given only to the people of Israel. Leviticus 26 46 says, These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the Lord established between himself and the sons of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai. Romans 214 says, when Gentiles who do not have the law. And so most Christians from a Gentile background still think that the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments, the 613 laws, which is how many there were in total, were given to them also. But that is not true. It was only given to Israel. So you got to wonder how so many churches today and so many pastors are teaching us to still be under the law. I think this is an important thing to be clear on is that we're not saying the law is a bad thing. The law has got a purpose. And at one point, God did tell the nation of Israel to do all the things under the law. He gave them the ceremonial laws, he gave them the spiritual laws, he gave them the civil laws, all of these things. I mean, we're just reading the City of Refuge, which was a really cool concept given back in the days of how barbaric the people were, that they had designated places, like six different places all around Israel. They call them cities of refugee people. If you killed somebody by accident, you could run to the city to get a legal jury of the situation. Instead of the person coming and venting the blood of their brother or sister or whoever father or mother, you go to the City of Refuge and be. So that was how God told them to live. But we go to the New Covenant and it's a little different. The New Covenant in Roman says Christ is the end of the law. That's more than a little different. Yeah, that's black and white. Yeah. God's relating to them one way, and now he's relating to you a completely different way. So God is no longer relating to us. By the 10th Commandment, an example just popped in my head. If I'm a parent and I say to my son, Billy, don't, what you're trying to think of something you would tell one child, not the other, is kind of hard because I would probably be the same with both kids. I can't think of something that I would tell one or not the other. Kevin here, I can't think exactly of an example. But if you told one person one thing and then you told another person another thing and you did that for whatever reason, it doesn't mean that you're talking to both of them. You're saying to Joe, Go to your job and do this. I'm sorry. Say that again. I see what you're trying to say. If you're trying to make the nation of Israel one child and the other child. I would say it's nothing more than God's plan. This was God's plan from the very beginning. That's right. He used the nation of Israel in all of their holidays, their festivals, their new moons as foreshadowing of what he was going to make happen in and through Jesus Christ. It is amazing when you look at how many things they got just for whatever reason, we don't have to defend it or justify it. He is God. He can do whatever he wants to do with whoever he wants to do. He can make one vessel for honor and one vessel for destruction. And we, as the vessels can't say a dog on thing about it because he's God. If he wants to use a nation of Israel to foreshadow what he did 2000 years later in Christ, he's God. He created the Earth. He spoke the Earth into existence. Okay. He can do whatever he wants to do. So, yeah, there's one way he dealt with one of his children one way, and he deals with other children the other way as a way to glorify his Grace. That's the contrast you're looking for right there, Mike, is that with one child, he didn't have Grace with the nation of Israel. He had works he told them to do works in order to be in relationship with him so he wouldn't kill them. Even in the book of Joshua, which studied that he was going to kill the nation of Israel because they weren't obeying him. Okay. But in how he deals with us and the New Covenant, he's not killing us because we don't obey Him. That's right. And the law in the New Covenant isn't used to punish people, but to bring people to Christ in escalations 324, that the law was put into effect in order to lead you to Christ. Absolutely. The Royal law of love. Yes. Except. Yes. So, number three, how do I get untangled from legalism? You have to put your faith in what you believe. So what do I mean by that? You have to cure the word and put it into practice. You have to believe that the word of God is true. So what do I mean by that? If the word of God says that all of your sins are forgiven and he's not counting your sins against you in Second Corinthians 518 and 19, then believe that and sit in the chair. Don't just look at the chair and say, I know that about God, but when you do sin, you can thank Him, because when you start asking God for what you already have, you do not believe that he took away all your sins. It's double talk. Absolutely. Let me read this second Corinthians 518, what you just mentioned. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the Ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. Dude, there is so much wrapped up in that. Two versus powerful. It is powerful. But the question is, are we going to believe that? What is the evidence that we believe that we stop asking God to forgive us when we sit that's evidence, that's faith that's sitting in the chair, when you start doing that, you start thinking him and stop asking God to forgive you. You can get free from legalism because you think that by you're asking God to forgive you over and over again that he will accept you, he will accept that as a sacrifice, he will allow you back into his Kingdom. And if you don't, he won't, right? Oh, my gosh. Yes. Our sacrifices. Yeah. So that takes us into number four. Kevin, how do I get free and untangled from legalism? I again, have to stop asking God for what I already have. And what verses do Christians use to think that they have to ask God to forgive them over and over and over again? One, John one nine, if I confess my sins, God will forgive me. And if I don't confess them, he won't forgive me. So that is not a verse about confessing your sins. That is a verse about agreeing with God that you have a sin nature and all you have to do is read one John eight and ten to see that very clearly. And then Kevin, Matthew 612 with the Lord's Prayer
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in just about every Church every week, they read the Lord's Prayer. And that's an old Covenant prayer before the cross. Just keep on reading after the Lord's Prayer. And I believe it's Matthew 614 15, that if you forgive your brother, God will forgive you. But if you don't forgive your brother, God in heaven will not forgive your sins. But again, these are verses that Christians use to think that they have to ask God to forgive them over and over and over. And then the third verse that they use is James 516 that says confess your sins. And they usually stop there. But you can't stop there because it says confess your sins to one another. That's a great verse to highlight that. That is talking about a horizontal relationship, not the vertical relationship that we have got. And absolutely, we should be confessing our sins to one another, asking each other to forgive us and reconcile with people down here with our friends and our family. Absolutely, we should be doing that. And that's because God has taken away our sins, has taken away the person sins who I'm in disagreement with. So why should I hold a higher standard than God? That would be ridiculous. So that's why he's saying confess your sins to one another. Amen just to be in community and relationship with each other and somebody you want to be in right relationship. It's purely at a horizontal level. There's no blood that's being sacrificed for those sins. It's merely a you're forgiving another person and you're extending Grace and mercy to them as God is extending Grace and mercy to you. Our vertical relationship is where we get that ability because he's given us a loving and forgiving heart in the first place, that we can experience this Grace and mercy from God, then we can let that flow through us to other people. If we don't do that, if we never receive that from God, and I would say even that we often will forgive other people the way we think God is forgiven us. That's right. So if we're not a very forgiving person to other people, more than likely we're not really understanding what we've got from God. That is absolutely 100% true. And number five, Kevin, how do I get untangled from Legalism? Just believe it. Believe it and be happy. Hebrews four nine says there remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For anyone who enters God's rest also rest from their works. So why did God rest on the 7th day? It wasn't because he was tired. It was because he knew in the New Covenant that he was going to send Jesus Christ in the world to take away all of the sins of the world and that we would be forgiven. Then he would offer life to anyone who believed in him. They would be made alive. And there's a Sabbath rest. That's the Sabbath rest that is given to us. And that's why God rested on the 7th day. It was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ that was to come. Amen. Amen. I just want to say this because being happy is such a cliche statement in our society. So much of the world is looking for happiness, looking for
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happy. I don't know how to say it, but I think you understand what I'm saying. What we're trying to say is it's not our goal. We're not trying to have happiness as our goal. But what we're saying is once you understand. Rightly, your relationship with God, it's a natural outcome of that truth. So it's like the difference between being happy and joyful. Your joy doesn't depend on your circumstances. Bob George wrote a great book on victory over depression, and the subtitle was Living Above Your Circumstances. Right. And so our happiness and joy is from our understanding of what we have in Christ. That's right. And that will never change. Now our circumstances in life will go up and down. Tomorrow could be a gloomy day on the circumstances of the world coming at you, but the circumstances of our world can never change what we have in Christ. Amen. That's rock solid. Yeah. So I hope today our podcast, how to Get Untangled From Legalism, has helped you get untangled from Legalism and come into the Grace of God. That's found in the New Covenant and if you do that, if you start to look to the new Covenant, some of these verses and just look into the Bible for the Grace of God, for the full gospel, the complete forgiveness of sins, the new life that is found in Jesus Christ, the fact that Jesus will never leave you or forsake you ever again. If you start doing that, more and more you will find yourself untangled from legalism which plagues so many people today. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let me pray for it. Father God, we want to honor and glorify you with everything that we have, everything that you've given to us with open hands. Allow you to use them. Whatever you give to us, the good things and the bad things in life. As the Apostle Paul said, whatever I have, maybe for your honor and glory. He went through so many struggles and tourmoils and beatings and near death experiences. Just pray that we can be like him and just be content with what we have in Christ for you are great, provider for protector Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thanks, Kevin. Thank you for listening to Grace, coach if you want to connect with us, we would love love to engage with you. Email us at thegracecoach@gmail.com visit our Facebook page or visit our website gracecoach.org.
Do you need to confess your sins to God in order for God to forgive you? In other words, if you confess you sins to God he will forgive you, but if you don't, he won't? Or does 1 John 1:9 have a completely different meaning and purpose? Listen in as Mike and Kevin discuss the single most misunderstood verse in the New Testatment.
Transcript:
Want to discover your freedom in Christ, then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Welcome to Grace Coach. This is Kevin Smith and I got our cohost. Hello, Mike Stone. Welcome, Mike. Hello, Kevin. This is going to be a great podcast to talk about one John one nine, which is used by many Christians to say that they need to confess their sins in order for God to forgive them. Yes, it is definitely a huge line of thinking in the Christian world today. And we are going to talk about how we see it and how we think the Bible speaks to the truth of this very powerful verse. This one verse, one John one nine is basically the huge verse that much of this belief is talked about. So what exactly is the belief that? What is the issue that we're talking about here, Mike on first John one nine? Well, it really comes down to Kevin reading scriptures in context because like you said, that this one verse has really confused Christians with their understanding of forgiveness. And when you're constantly asking God to forgive you over and over again after every sin and I mean, how many times a day we're not just talking about the top ten in the dirty dozen. We have worry. We have coveted. We have just a list of things that we do or think of in the day. And if we're constantly asking God to forgive us in order to get forgiven, well, I think there's something wrong with that. We can never rest in the fact that we are forgiven. Children of God. Exactly. You hit the key point. What if you forget some we send so many times and do we think that God is just going to let the few ones that we forget about asking forgiveness for slide? Is that what it is? Oh, well, you had amnesia on that sin that you committed 5 million times and didn't ask for forgiveness for. Is that God's accounting? I don't think so. I think God has a better accounting system than that. And that was the system in the old Covenant Covenant that Israel had a system and it was given by God where they offered a Bull and goat once a year, and it was to not take away sin. It was to cover sins from year to year. Problem is, once that happened, once that sacrifice happened, they had the sins of the next hour or the sins of the next day. And so that was not a complete system, but it was the only system at the time. Yes. Jesus had not come into the world yet to take away the sins of the world. No, he hasn't. That's really I love how John starts this book out similar to the gospel of John. Very similar. If you've noticed that I'll read the first verse or two, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. It's just like we saw Jesus in the flesh. We touched him. He was a real person, God in the flesh, God incarnate. Yeah. And that's exactly what the problem was. There was Gnosticism in those days, which is Christian Science today. It's the same belief system as what was called Gnosticism. And what John was addressing was that the Gnostic said that Jesus neither was fully God, and he did not come in the flesh. Well, here's John is writing, we've seen them, we've touched them, we've heard of him. Right. And that was the answer to Gnosticism. Kevin, the key question first John, chapter one is who is first John, chapter one written to is it written to believers or to unbelievers? And just with you reading those first four verses in first John, that tells me that John is writing to Gnostics or unbelievers in that day. So what made you say that from what those first two verses? Well, just because the Gnostics were saying that Jesus didn't come in the flesh, saying, well, we've seen him, we have heard him, we've touched him, and this we proclaim concerning the word of life. But then if we go on to these verses first John, 1819 and 110, I think this comes out much more clearly before we do that. Let me finish up here, because this is really key to this verse three, it says that which we have seen and heard. We proclaim also to you so that you may have fellowship with us single. So he's making a distinction there. He's saying you and us. All right. We want you that don't believe what we believe, to believe what we believe so that you may have fellowship with us. And then the concluding part of the verse four says so that our joy may be made complete. So John's heart, he wants these people who are not seeing Jesus for who he was, God in the flesh from heaven incarnate. And he wanted them to see it the way he sees it, so that they could have fellowship with them. And I don't know if we're going to get into it, but in the next chapter or two, it says they were not part of us because they went out from us. So it is all over the book of first John. It's an evangelistic appeal. Absolutely. It's an evangelistic appeal to non believers. This is not written. So you can go on to verse seven, eight, nine, because that's really the heart of our thing. But if you read this thing with that context, if you make that distinction, who is it written to, believers or non believers? That's right. And that will determine what you understand when you come to one John one nine. But let's read one John one eight. It says, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now, let me ask you a few questions. Would a Christian ever claim to be without sin? No. That's actually the first thing you need to do in order to become a Christian is to admit that you are sinner, separated from God, that there is sin between you and God, and that you sin. That's right. Both. And so, yes, if you are saying in you don't have sin, there's a problem. We're saying that we're not spiritually dead in need of life, and we're deceiving ourselves, which is exactly what it says in one John one eight. And catch this. And the truth, who is Jesus is not in us, right? Yeah. So when you become born again and you ask Christ to come in your life, what happens is that Jesus comes to live inside of you, the Spirit of God comes to live inside of you and you are born again. And at that point, the truth, Jesus, the Spirit of God, all the same thing is now in you. But here one John one eight is saying, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourself and the truth is not in us. That's right. So, again, just touching back on this narcissism. It's a belief that human beings contain a peace of God, the highest good, or a divine spark within themselves, and that you have to just through knowledge, uncover this divine spark within you. So if that is your belief, then you don't need Jesus, right? You do not. You're already there divinity within yourself, and you're buying into that belief system, which if you study the New Age movement, that is a pervasive new Age thought, that we're all good and we all have this divinity within ourselves, you don't need Jesus. That's right. All right. Let's read One John 110. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar. And his word is not in us. So is this a bornagain Christian again? Does a born again Christian claim we have not sent? Absolutely not. It's a lost person who claims to be without sin. As one John one a says, and now in one John 110, same thing. If we claim we have not sinned, it's saying the same thing. And what happens? We make him, Jesus, out to be a liar. Right. You're saying you don't believe him. He says, I have come to give you life and life to the full. And you're saying, no, you're a liar. That is not true. I already have a life. I don't need you. And then it says in his word is not in us. And when you said that, this sounds like one John. One sounds like John. Well, it's the same guy, of course. But what does John one say in the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was with us and the Word came from God and so on and so forth. And the Word was God, the word of God that we read the Bible, these scriptures, it is God. It is Jesus. And that's why they're so powerful. Yeah. That's why they're so living and active. Yeah. There's a book of Hebrews says that the Word of God is living, inactive, sharper than a two edged sword. But his word is not in you. Jesus again is not living in you. If we say we have not sinned and that again is a lost person. Now let's go and read what's in between one eight and 110, which has confused the entire Christian world with whether they're forgiven or not. And let's read One John one nine. Do you want to read that, Kevin? Sure. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So let's read that in the context of one John 118 110, where if we claim we're claiming something, we're confessing something. Well, on the other hand, if we claim that we do have sin or agree with God because that's what this confess means here. You're just agreeing with God that you do sin, that you came into this world dead in your sins. Right? This is the answer to One John one eight and ten. Absolutely. He is faithful and just. And the problem is this will verse because here's this giant conditional thing that if I confess, he will forgive me. But really the Greek is that he has forgiven us our sins and purifies us from all unrighteousness. So it's just a problem with misunderstanding context here, which is the most powerful thing in a letter. How can you just pull out a verse and build your belief system on it? But yet unfortunately, many Christians have done that and it keeps them from ever knowing what they have. Kevin. They never know that God was in Christ reconciling the world, not counting your sins against you. Yeah. It is really sad how many pastors, they are able to talk about God's Grace, talk about relationship with him in a very clear way. But then they come to this part of the forgiveness piece and it seems like they don't have any understanding of what they just said before when they go to this forgiveness of your sins. It's a roller coaster ride. If you are on this track of first John 119 in it and your relationship with God, it's not a settled matter for you if this is your mode of operandi. Yeah. Not a good way to live the Christian life. It's finished. Jesus said it is finished. And you got to look at so many of the other verses in the Bible that talks about forget in the past tense that we are children of God, forgiven for all of our sins. And then it's a done deal. So you can't be forgiven of all of your sins and have to get the first time one nine bar soap out and try to wash up after every day. Oh, my gosh. I could tell you story after story of my journey with this with pastors of churches and just praying together. And just as single guys, we're sitting wailing about our sins of the day and asking God for our forgiveness. And just it was a roller coaster of a Christian life that we hope that people come to the understanding and are able to really see this verse for what it is. Yeah. And it's a Salvation passage, Kevin. This is not a passage that teaches a Christian to ask God to forgive you, and then he will because if you don't, he won't. Right. It goes both ways. Yeah. But this is a Salvation passage. It's answering John first John one eight and 110. Right. Read second John, which again, same guy, John, chapter one, verse one and two. Now listen to this to the elder, to the lady chosen by God and her children, whom I love and the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth because of the truth which lives in us and will be with us forever. Now, if one John 110 is to a believer, he wouldn't say and the word or one John one eight is to a believer, he would not say the truth is not in us or in one John 110, he would not say the word is not in us and then contradict himself in second John, chapter one, one and two, where he says, because of the truth which lives in us and will be with us forever. Amen. You cannot just take one verse of scripture and build your theology on it. Right. You need to read and read and read. For a Christian to stay in the new Covenant and find out what you have in Christ, you will really be able to rest. And I know for me, Kevin, when I had to test this because in my early Christian days, I was doing this, too. I was asking God to forgive me after every sin. And I was like out of breath. And I was depressed. And I'm like, why did I even become a Christian? I'm more depressed now than I ever was. Amen to that. But when I came to this understanding, which I heard on talk radio, a Christian Colin talk show called People to People, and I heard that I was a forgiven person and that I am forgiven, that God took away my sins, he forgave all of our sins. The weight came off my shoulder and I stopped asking God and I started thanking him for taking away my sins. And that actually changes you. Amen. It changes you from the inside out. Yes, it does. And I know you went through the same thing. Yes, I did for many years of a roller coaster ride until when I met you and we started studying the word together. So, yeah, we just pray that people will come to understand First John one nine as what it is that John's heart to these people who were unbelievers not in the Church. They were not part of us. They were not in the Church. They went away from us in the Church. We don't know who exactly did was, but some of them went away from them in the second chapter of First John. So it was definitely an evangelistic appeal by John to these people who did not understand the truth. And that's our appeal to everybody that's listening to this podcast that if you've never accepted Jesus Christ and the work he's done, admit to God that you are separated from him because of sin. The sin of Adam and Eve in the garden, that separated all of mankind from God. There is a separation that exists. There's a Gulf, okay, that exists between you and God. And the only way to bridge that Gulf is not by doing good works and trying to be a good person, but it's by the work of Jesus Christ and just believing and receiving what Jesus Christ on the cross. And then you will know that you have the truth and the truth will set you free. Amen. And that's certainly what the word of God does. It sets you free. So I encourage the listeners to start testing the word of God. Read some passages in Hebrews about your complete forgiveness in God. Ephesians 432 Hebrews 727 Hebrews 926 Hebrews ten two Hebrews 1012 Read these verses test the word of God. And when you sin, rather than asking God to do what he's already done 2021 years ago, try thanking him for taking away your sins. And we'd love to hear back from you about how that went for you. Yes, friends, think of it as a sanctuary. Think of it as a temple, because God says our bodies are the temple of God. He is living inside of us. And it is a beautiful picture to be able to just as Mike just said, instead of having to dredge up all this guilt and shame and discord, but just to be able to thank God that the job is already done, the forgiveness is already done, and that we are as good as we're ever going to be in God's eyes, to us. He sees us as his beloved children. Are we going to mess up? Are we going to sin? Absolutely. But he's already taken that into account and it's all in Christ. Amen. Great show today, Kevin. Thank you for listening to Grace Coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to to engage with you, email us at thegracecoach@gmail.com visit our Facebook page or visit our website gracecoach.org.
The church of born again believers, began on the day of Pentecost. On that day 3000 Jewish converts received the Holy Spirit and were born again. This is how things were until the Apostle Peter entered the home of Cornelius, who was a Gentile centurion. The Apostle Peter and fellow Jews "were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit of God had been poured out even on Gentiles" (Acts 10:45) God's predestination plan was to make one new man out of the two, thus making peace between Jews and Gentiles, who are born again. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him...(Romans 10:12). Listen in to how this happened! Transcript:
Want to discover your freedom in Christ, then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace coach. Hi, welcome to Grace Coach. I'm Mike Stone. Good to to be with you. And I am with Kevin Smith. What's up, Mike? It is good to talk to you, Kevin. Great to talk to you, man. How are you doing today? Real good. We're going to have a great podcast today talking about one faith for all. And that is Jews and Gentiles, which basically is everybody. Is everybody, the whole enchilada. Kevin, there's so much division in the world and especially today between black and white, and from nations, genders. There's just so much division today. But one of the greatest divisions of all time, ever since really the beginning since Abraham came on the scene, was this division between Jew and Gentile? Yes, absolutely. That is a spiritual God division, that God separated the Jews as his chosen people and therefore creating this division. Yeah. I wouldn't say that God created a division, but certainly by going to the Jewish nation, that didn't include the Gentiles, God, like you said, went to the Jewish people. Well, they were his chosen people, is what I'm saying is that he said, you are going to be my chosen people. And later on he's wringing his hands saying, you're a stiff neck people. Why did I choose you? Yeah, many times he wanted to. Just like Igshnam even I think with Abraham, did Abraham talk God into don't kill them. You'll bring shame upon your name if you destroy your people. Yeah. And Abraham was the first person to believe in one God, and his name went from Abram to Abraham, and he's known as the first Jew, the father of many nations. Yeah. So he certainly was father of the Jewish people, but he was also now the father of anyone who puts their faith in Christ. And that is Jew and Gentile. And for me, Kevin, I came from a Jewish family. Both my parents are Jewish and I went to Hebrew school. I was Bar Mitzvah. But at age 30, when I was looking into Jesus Christ and God, I came across a story in Acts Ten that just absolutely blew me away and really launched me into wanting to know more about God because that's not what I had really heard when I was starting to go to Church that God has come for both the Jew and the Gentile. And you can be a born again Jew or a born again Gentile. And that isn't something I even hear today much about. Absolutely. And there's no doubt a wall of hostility between the Jew and the Gentile. This has been going on ever since the days of Abraham, even today. Yeah, there is a wall, I would say. But it's been broken down in Christ, though, right? Yeah. There's a way through the wall for Christ. There wasn't that's right. Without Christ, there is a wall of hostility. Exactly. I'm a born again Christian from a Jewish background. You're a born again Christian from a Gentile background. That breaks down this wall of hostility because now we're both members of one body with Christ as our head. Yes, absolutely. He's a great equalizer. Yeah. So let's talk about how this all happened briefly, about how Jesus mainly first went to the Jews first mainly went to the Jews. Well, you want to read Romans 116 and 17 then? Yeah. It says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God that brings Salvation to everyone who believes everyone being Jew and Gentile. First to the Jew and then to the Gentile. So Jesus first went to the Jew. He said in Matthew 1524 that I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And certainly he ministered to Romans and to people in Samaria who were Samaritans were half Jew and half Gentiles. And the Samaritan woman at the well. But Jesus went to the Jewish people. Yes, he did. That was his primary calling. But I do want to make a plug for the chosen. I may have mentioned it before, our family watches it. But that scenario where Jesus goes to the Samaritan woman at the well, I mean, we've read that story a million times, but when you see it acted out with characters and of course, they take the director's license and he puts in things that may or may not be in the Bible. But it is so beautiful portrayal of Jesus going to Samaritans. And they say, Jesus says, you are the first person that I'm making my Ministry public with first Gentile because all his disciples were all Jewish. And he went into the synagogues and tried to talk to the Jewish people and tell them about this great Kingdom that's coming. But that first person that he went public with was a Samaritan woman at the well. Yeah. In Romans 329 says, is God the God of the Jews only because that's really how it all began. Not only did Jesus mainly go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but the Apostle Paul, who was the top Pharisee who on the road to Damascus came face to face with Jesus, and he ended up writing what, 70, 80% of the New Testament, Amen. He sure did. Paul also went first to the Jew and then to the Gentile, which really tells us what Romans 116 means, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile because that's how it happened. Yeah. God's chosen people. He dearly loved them. Paul even said that in Romans later, like chapter nine, these are my brothers. I would literally die for these people if they would come to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But as it shows, the New Testament, he went to a lot of Gentiles, planted all the churches, the Epistles Colossians would go through the whole list, but went to the Jew first. If they heard praise God, if they didn't, he went to the Gentiles also. Yeah. So after Paul had gone to the synagogues and found that the gospel was rejected in Acts 28, 27 and 28, he finally makes the statement, go to his people and say that you'll be ever hearing, but never understanding, talking about the Jews you'll be seeing, but never perceiving. For this, people's heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears. They have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts. And in turn, I will heal them. Therefore, I want you to know that God's Salvation has been sent to the Gentiles and they will listen. So if you ever wonder why most of the churches today are filled with Gentile Christians, this is because of what happened to the Apostle Paul. Yes. He was rejected. And we don't have a lot of time to talk about ending with the Gentile. I mean, not the Gentiles, but the Jews. But I know you're excited about some of the prophetic messages in the Bible concerning the nation of Israel in the end times. And it clearly says in the end times, the nation of Israel will be saved after all this time. So at some point in the future, the churches are going to be filled with a lot of Jewish people. That's right. My understanding, Kevin, that will be during the tribulation after the last Gentile come to faith in Christ. Yeah. It is exciting just to think about those times. And people all throughout our age of time have guessed at times. We're not doing that right now. The Bible says, don't try to figure out when that day is going to come, but just know it is going to come at some point and be prepared. And that's really our heart for everybody to be prepared. How would you be prepared simply understanding the good news of Jesus Christ? First of all, that you have an incredible need. If you don't understand that, you need a savior, you're missing the boat. You got to come to the understanding that in and of yourself you're destined for hell. And it's a hard thing. That's the stumbling block, really. You got to come over, get over that pride, and then look to God as to his answer. And his answer is Holy and solely Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection. That is for both Jews and Gentiles. Because all of us, Jew and Gentile, we come into this world the same way, spiritually dead, separated from God. God had a plan. He gave the law to the nation of Israel. They failed miserably at trying to uphold the law. Jesus then came to put an end to the punishment of the law and ushering a new Covenant. And then the new Covenant is for both Jews and Gentiles, where the old Covenant was really just for Israel.
Participant #1:
Right. The old Covenant as it was. But as we were just talking about with Abraham, God wanted the world to be saved and the Jews turned it in on themselves and didn't really go to the world. God's initial plan was go to all the nations. But they wouldn't do that. They were stiff neck and hard hearted. That's right. They wanted to come be written into the book of life by their observance to the law. Yes. Which is not going to happen. Yeah. So, Kevin, I just want to circle back to how this happened, that the gospel went to the Gentiles. I know we summed it up with Paul at the end of act in 28. But in Acts Ten, there's a story is the first time it's the account of the first Gentile to put their faith in Christ. And that happened when Peter had a vision while he was up on the roof. And I'll read this in Acts 1011 to 14. Okay. That he saw heaven open and saw something like a large sheep being led down to Earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four footed animals as well as reptiles and birds. And the voice told him, Get up, Peter, kill and eat. Surely not, Lord. Peter replied, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. So these four footed animals were not kosher. And here was Peters, an Orthodox Jew, still under the law. I mean, there's no doubt he wouldn't have said that if he wasn't under the law. And he said, Lord, I can't eat that. God said to him, Everything I made is pure, clean. But what God was trying to tell Peter was that all people are clean, both Jews and Gentiles. Again, it was just a picture that all people can be saved, not just the Jews. Yes. What happened was that Peter went into Cornelius's home, who was a Gentile. And Peter said to those who were there, you are well aware that it's against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So that vision that Peter had with these four footed animals was just a picture that God was trying to show Peter, that the spirit could come on the Gentiles and will come on the Gentiles. Looking at the division between you and Gentile is probably the greatest, oldest, first division between people. But today many people, whether you're old, young, black, white, Republican, Democrat, Christian, nonchristian, there's division in this world. And I know Satan loves that. I know that he just relishes when there's divisions and fractions and people backbiting each other. But Jesus Christ, his crucifixion. When he was crucified on the cross, that curtain tore from top to bottom. Now that curtain was a very thick curtain. I want to say it was over a foot thick, if you can even imagine that in the temple, all right, between the Holy and Holies, where the unclean people were and where the actual God was. So it opened up this division between you and Gentile and actually God and man. And it was a beautiful thing. And Jesus Christ can break down any wall between any of the divisions that I just mentioned. And that's really the big takeaway. First be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, but then reconcile with anybody through Christ. Yeah. And let me just read Ephesians 214 to 18, and you could substitute Jew and Gentile, which is what the verse is talking about, or any kind of division between any people. It says that for he himself, Jesus is our peace. He has made the two groups, one, Jew and Gentile, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall, a hostility by setting aside and has fleshed the law with its Commandments and regulations. So he set aside the law. Christ was the end of the law, which is Romans 1014. But his purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, Jew and Gentile, thus making peace in one body, to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. And that is a beautiful message. All people have access to the Father by one spirit. And so when all the divisions in the world between countries, between races, between genders, if we really want to have peace among us, we all must come to Christ and be born again. And then we have God's spirit living in us, and the wall of hostility is broken down.
Participant #1:
Beautiful. Yeah. And that's really the answer for the world. It is the answer for the world. The only problem is if that was preached and that happened, there'd be no more news stories, happy news stories. That's right. Cnn will go out of business. They go out of business for sure. Talk radio would be no more. That's right. Nothing to argue about anymore. That's what the scriptures say. And certainly I've experienced that as a born again Christian from a Jewish background. We've experienced it because you come from a Gentile background. But neither of that matters anymore. Whether our religion, our race, our gender, none of that matters. When you are a bornagain Christian, you have a love for other born again Christians just because they have the same spirit living in them as you do. Yes. And that is a God given love. It's not a love that we need to generate in ourselves. It is a God given love. When you have Christ living in you, he's giving you that love for other believers. That's right. And then we're all in the body of Christ together. Amen to that. Well, great show, Kevin. Appreciate being with you and talking about this great topic about the peace of Jesus and the love of God that brings people together. Amen. Amen. Great podcast, Mike. Thank you. For listening to Grace coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at the gracecoach@gmail.com visit our Facebook page or visit our website. Site. Gracecoach.org.
The identity issue is central to our lives. Who we think we are determines what we do and how we live, but it is ever changing. Jesus, on the other hand, gives us a brand new identity, which never changes. When we put our faith in Him and are born again, Christ comes to live inside us. He gives us new life, makes us righteous, perfect and holy in His sight.
Transcript
Unknown Speaker 0:01
Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it. Today on grace coach,
Unknown Speaker 0:10
welcome to grace coach. I am Mike Stone, and I'm with my good buddy and podcast host Kevin Smith.
Unknown Speaker 0:17
What's up, Mike? How are you?
Unknown Speaker 0:21
Good to be with you.
Unknown Speaker 0:23
Doing great. Great to be with us. Nice, beautiful sunny day in Chicago.
Unknown Speaker 0:28
Yeah, we need that here.
Unknown Speaker 0:31
Yeah, I know. You said you were out in your backyard with your dog. I was out in my front yard with my dog planting grass passes today. So hopefully it will grow. That's right. Well, you know,
Unknown Speaker 0:43
we put down seed. And while I was watering it, I was thinking, well, Carlos, my landscaper, he put down the seed. I'm watering it. But God makes me
Unknown Speaker 0:56
Oh, amen. Well, I'm
Unknown Speaker 0:58
part of this
Unknown Speaker 1:01
small part. But you know, you're a part.
Unknown Speaker 1:03
Yeah. So Kevin, we're going to talk about our identity today, both in the world and in Christ. So it should be a great show.
Unknown Speaker 1:13
Yes, I am. So looking forward to this love just talking about the most important things in the world that we can talk about. And one of the things that I love about talking about your identity in Christ is because it's vital to understand this to enjoy your relationship with God, not just a muddle through, not just to grind it out, not just oh, okay, Sunday morning, got to wake him go to church or you know, whatever activities you're doing. But when you truly understand your identity in Christ, it really well, I would even go as far to say, you can't really enjoy your relationship with God unless you understand this. Because it's just going to be a drudgery, it's just going to be a to mark off to do list and get it done and, and go on. But when you understand that you were born in Adam, and now you are in Christ, you can you can rest. And as we get into these some of the Scriptures, when I read today, our prayer is that everyone listening, if you're not in Christ, at this very moment, that you would just surrender your heart and your life to God, and enter into a new relationship with Him. And if you are in Christ, you do understand that he is your Lord and Savior, that this would be a great encouragement. And maybe you are in that drudgery aspect. And that you can just change your way you relate to God,
Unknown Speaker 2:56
our identity before we were saved, you know, up to the time of our salvation, versus in our identity, after we were saved, it's like you said, it's so different, because we did go from being in Adam, to being in Christ. But I know for me, up to the time of becoming born again, in my early 30s, I really felt like a fish out of water. I never felt like I belonged. Wherever I was, even though I might have been in a club or in a neighborhood. I never really knew who I was. I just really struggled with my identity. And then also the identity that I had was really just a 30 year old guy. It really determined what I did, it dictated my choices just like as a born again, Christian. Now, my choices are dictated because of my new identity. So dictionary.com says that identity has to do with your condition, or your character as to who a person is, and that it dictates the values that you hold. And again, it dictates the choices you make. Many of us think of ourselves as an athlete, or not everyone thinks of ourselves as an athlete. We all have these identities in the world. Maybe you're a mother, maybe you're identified by your religious affiliation, as a Baptist or as a Presbyterian or it might be based on that you're a businessman. Well, that's okay until you either go out of business or sell your business, and you're no longer a businessman. Maybe you're just now you're ready retired, and now you have a new identity, but it's always changing. That's the thing about these worldly identities, they're always changing. And we're the identity we have as a born again, Christian, that never changes, once you become a born again, Christian.
Unknown Speaker 5:20
Absolutely. And, you know, we're not saying that there's anything wrong with all the other identities, whether it's a mother or a father, family member, business person, a sports star, there's nothing wrong with because it's, you can't stop that. I mean, if you're going to have that, if you're a mother, you're a mother. But what what the deal is not to put your credibility or your livelihood or who you are in those identities, because like you're saying, they all they all change at some point or another. Most most, any identity that you're going to get is going to fluctuate, you're either going to be good at it, or bad at it, or maybe not that are,
Unknown Speaker 6:09
then you're always comparing yourself to other people, other mothers, athletes, other
Unknown Speaker 6:16
levels. Another thing it's people's opinion of you in that role, is going to change. And that's the killer of putting any stock or value in those identities. Because compared to your identity in Christ, that as a child of God, that is never going to change that is rock solid. Hebrews chapter six, verse nine, as this hope, is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls, it leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. And it's really the hope of having the hope of being in Christ. Hebrews is a great book, but that's just one of the anchored identities
Unknown Speaker 7:07
that we haven't cried. And that's a great description. When do you think of a ship? And when they throw out their anchor, they're doing that so that it doesn't move any anywhere? And yeah, this anchor we have of being in Christ, it, it's an anchor for our soul, because it doesn't change, it doesn't move. Once you are born again, in Christ comes to live inside of you. So it's just awesome. You know, one of the things that we want to talk about is what does it mean? What does identity in Christ mean? What does it look like?
Unknown Speaker 7:48
Yes. So what is your identity in Christ mean? Let me read Galatians 220. And it will kind of frame it up a little bit. In fact, it's a foundational verse Galatians 220 says, I have been crucified with Christ and is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, in a life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. And if you go through the the New Testament and just look at the word in, and I know we've talked about this, about being in Adam and in Christ, but please, readers, and listeners, don't just skim over that and kind of look forward to what is going on. But that small little word in is very pivotal to really understanding where you're at. You're either in Adam, or you're in Christ. And you can see that so many times through the New Testament.
Unknown Speaker 8:54
Yeah, first, john five, I believe it's a nine to 11 says that if you have the sun, you have life, eternal life, if you do not have the sun, you do not have eternal life. So we're born into this world, spiritually dead separated from God. And that's our condition. That's our identity. That's who we are. Yes, we are in Adam. And Jesus came to not only take away our sins, but to offer us eternal life that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish. And when you believe in Him, you will now have a new identity. That is a great anchor for your soul. And you are in Christ and Christ is in you. He's not around you is not in front of you. He's not behind you. He is inside of you. And living it. Yeah, that's just great confidence to have no matter where you're at no matter what situation you're in, to know that Christ is inside of you.
Unknown Speaker 10:07
So let me read this Second Peter one four says, by which he is granted to us as precious and very great promises, so that through them, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. So we have a divine nature, we're partakers of the divine nature, that is God's God is the divine nature that comes and lives inside of us, as Peter says, and that's
Unknown Speaker 10:46
actually Jesus Christ Himself. Yes, he is God, and He lives inside of us. Yeah. That's why we're partaking in the divine nature. Because he's, like Galatians 220 says, it is not no longer I who live but it's Christ who lives in me. Yes, so crucial.
Unknown Speaker 11:10
Yeah, just another side note on that I think a lot about Yes, the Bible says that many, many times, you know, Christ has come to live inside of you. But think about the Trinity. And it's the whole package is the Holy Spirit. Christ said, I'm going away, and I'm going to send the comfort to you. Because it's good to send a comfort to you, because Christ could not be everywhere he was, he was limited in the sense of his human body. But the Holy Spirit is not limited, the Holy Spirit can go and live in each one of us. And as, as Jesus, in the book of john, when disciples are hiding in a room, Jesus came, he breathed the Holy Spirit on that tongues of fire came to rest on him. And he just foreshadow what's going to happen in Pentecost. So it's Christ is in every single believer, get it, get it out.
Unknown Speaker 12:13
And you know, Kevin, you know, so many people struggle with anxiety. I mean, this is a an epidemic, going out, especially coming out of COVID. You couldn't get into seer counselor if you wanted to today, because there are two months booked out. So many people are dealing with fear and anxiety. And there's only one answer to that. And not any specific drug which alters your thinking, until the drug wears off. But it's knowing that Christ lives in you. And I understand some people do go on medication, and it gets them through. And I understand that. But ultimately, if they're really going to overcome fear and anxiety, it's all about them, knowing that Christ is living inside of them, and that he'll never leave them once he's inside of you. Because many teachers, you could lose your salvation. We've talked about that on other shows, that's a terrible identity to have. Because that's not an anchor for yourself. That's something that you have that you could lose based on your performance or behavior, you think that he doesn't forgive you, he doesn't, and that he left, he left you because of your sins? Well, that can happen. Because Jesus took away all of our sins. So not only does he come to live inside of you, but he never leaves you once he's living in you.
Unknown Speaker 13:51
Yes. And so I just want to circle back on that, as far as the medical, you know, people taking drugs for medicine. And I know that there are many respected doctors out there that, you know, we're not doctors, we don't, we don't know, you know, all the whole ins and outs of your brain makeup. And I know there's respected doctors who do say that, you know, there's medicines that help out the brain function. And, you know, I've got two really close friends who totally ascribe to, you know, drugs, helping them out just an a, you know, being able to be in a right frame of mind, even to understand the truth of So, we're not throwing, like Mike said, we're not throwing medical medications totally under the bus. But we do have a greater hope that you definitely do not want to overlook and that is the hope in Christ and just understanding you know, this these great truths that will go So much further in your anxiety and we wholeheartedly believe that there is a battle for your spiritual soul. There's a battle for our spiritual soul. The Satan wants to destroy us He wants us to getting. He wants us to think anxious thoughts. He wants us think there is no way out that I've got to kill myself that I've got to take drugs. I've got to drink that I've got to go to other things in the world to medicate myself. Well, we're here to tell you. I'm here to tell you. I've tried many. You Sex, drugs, rock and roll? I've been down it. I've smoked crack cocaine. I've done many, many things that the world offers. And is a not not the answer. Jesus right answer. So got on a little rabbit trail. Now. Well,
Unknown Speaker 15:57
thanks for sharing that. Hey, Kevin. So one another question about identity is when you when do you receive your identity. And I wanted to read Ephesians, 113 and 14 beautiful because I think that tells us exactly when we receive our new identity. And it says and you were also included in Christ, when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed, you are marked in him with a seal, the promise Holy Spirit, who is a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possessions, to the raised praise of his glory. So it says when you believed you were marked in him, with a seal, you are marked as a born again, Christian in Christ, you receive the promise Holy Spirit. And he is a deposit guaranteeing our salvation, our inheritance, until the rapture until the redemption of those who are God's possession. What a great verse. That was, who we are, when it happened, and where we're going.
Unknown Speaker 17:25
I love that man, that just that's that is the whole deal right there.
Unknown Speaker 17:30
So yeah, there's just some great, great things about our identity in Christ. You know, the confidence that we have this new identity of who God says we are, that we're a child of God, we're forgiven, we're reconciled. We're born again, we're righteous. And now we have this great hope of eternal life. We have this great hope of the coming of Jesus to rescue us from Planet Earth here one day, and that will all gonna meet together in the air with Jesus and all be together. It'll be a great and glorious day when that happens.
Unknown Speaker 18:16
Amen, amen. Amen. And France, we just hope that as you've listened to this podcast, and really that you can now I just enjoy your relationship a guide, but also a part of that enjoying is resting, resting in the confidence that Christ did the work and you receive the gift and just rest in that and that's, that's really kind of goes back to the whole stress and anxiety aspect of it when when you're resting. You're not you're not so anxious. You're not striving you're not striving if you know the God of the universe who created the world thinks you are a okay 100% that he can't wait to see you that he is sealed. You are always spirit. And he is literally counting the days in order for you to go to the great wedding feast in the sky with his son. Come on now. I mean that he How can you be anxious? If that's your destiny, if that is who you are.
Unknown Speaker 19:35
That is good news.
Unknown Speaker 19:38
Thank you for listening to grace coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at the Grace coach@gmail.com visit our Facebook page or visit our website Grace coach.org
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
We all have a tendency to put our hope in the things of this world. There is nothing unusual about that, it's part of our human nature. But what if we could learn to put our hope in heaven on a daily basis? Or even within each hour? What would that be like? How would that affect the way we livens?
Transcript
Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on grace coach. Today we're going to talk about our hope and the hope that's mentioned in the Bible.
And it's all based really Kevin on this key, verse Colossians, one five, that says, the hope that is stored up for you and me in heaven, that we have a great hope to look forward to.
You know, I looked up some other words that the Bible uses for heaven. And Hebrews 1116 calls it a heavenly country. Luke 23, he calls it paradise. JOHN 14, two, john calls it my father's house.
And the second Corinthians Paul calls Heaven, a building from God. So it's having home in heaven. One day, the day we're absent from the body and present with the Lord. And often we put our hope in so many things down here. I do it you do it, everybody does it. And really the reason for this podcast about changing your hopers because this is something I struggle with. Amen. Lately, I've been struggling more with trying to find out where my frustration is coming in, just in, in in this life, and it really had to do with God wants to change my hope, or from the things that we spend so much time doing down here thinking about people places and things and to change our hope to the hope that stored up for us and heaven. Yes, absolutely. We depend on so many things that are like shifting sand
in their in their misplaced dependencies. Because they change their variable. You know, so many things, our health, our wealth of friends, I was just talking to some
guys earlier this morning. Just saying you know, you can't be a people pleaser in depend on your well being, if people are gonna like you, because people you know, are so up and down one day you like, you know, the day you don't like them.
You know, you get your career, your business, whatever your whatever you're doing it, you take this dependency on that. But that could change. I mean, this last year COVID, you know, I know I got laid off when COVID struck, and a lot of people, a lot of businesses shut down. If I had my dependency of my identity on my job, I would be a wreck right now. You know, a lot of people, a lot of mothers that might be listening to us do their family and their kids, their their get a lot of their identity and dependency from their kids. But they're going to grow up and get married.
And they're not going to be as influenced, you know, in your life. Always be your kids, but you can't depend on them and their love the government, every crisis, they're infringing more and more in our lives. And you know, that's a hot topic and very controversial. We won't get into too much of the weeds of that. But the fact is a fact you know, they're there. They're there. And they're growing more and more classic, like we're talking about a lot of people are giving people money in work depending on now.
They're talking about a universal basic income that's going to become an amine, that's dependency right there. And if we're dependent on the government,
that that could be a problem. Well, that'll change as soon as there's a new, a new term, right? That's the term is four years and that changes. Yeah. So we, we spend so much time putting out our hope and the things you just mentioned, Kevin health, our wealth, our inheritance, who likes us Who doesn't? Yeah, we do live in this world. And we have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. But God wants us to think on things above and to put our hope in heaven one day,
and it's gonna happen either we're going to die as a born again Christian, and then be with the Lord that day, or will still be alive and the rapture will come and will be
snatched away to meet the Lord in the air. Absolutely. Now that's a hope that is certain to happen.
And we know that because the Bible speaks of it. Yeah. And we know that God's Word is true. So that is what I feel is where I get hung up. I think we all get hung up in putting too much weight, too much dependency in the things of this world, just shifting day to day. Yes, we really need to have a realistic expectation that Yeah, they they're here now. But they may not be here tomorrow. So I wanted to read a few scriptures about this hope that we have in heaven. And Romans 824 says, For in this hope, we were saved. And he's referring to the hope that is stored up for us in heaven. And he says that hope that is seen is no hope at all. who hopes for what they already have? What Paul is writing about in Romans is that we, we have this hope, of eternal life one day. Yeah, the Father's house, in Paradise, we have this hope. And that's why we were saved to be with the Lord forever, one day. And that's a great hope to hang on. Oh, I like the Hebrews verses and I know there's one that I'm thinking of, here it is right here. Hebrews 11 one Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The conviction of things not seen.
And it goes on and on. But it's like to think hope for but we haven't seen it.
unseen thing, but we're hoping for it. But it's the conviction of things not seen. Now, here's the funny thing is Yeah, that hope in heaven we haven't seen because hope that is seen is no hope at all. But here are the things that we do see those things here on Earth in our lives. We put a lot of weight in a lot of hope in and then yes, things change, people die. Our health changes. Well, we see that all the time. things just happen to our bodies. And if we just look at a picture 30 years ago, we're like Who is that?
I don't recognize that person.
I got head hair back then.
I have a good buddy of mine.
Every time we do a zoom call, he says we're racing to see who loses their forehead. Oh, fast. Boy, you should just cut the video feed there.
Oh man, I love Titus 213. And tight Paul is saying to Titus while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so he's he's talking here about the rapture, waiting for the appearing of Jesus to come back and snatch those who are born again. And Paul is calling that the blessitt hope
is a day we are in the Father's house. So again, you know, we're talking about, like you just said, when you either Christ's wrap raptures. So we go to heaven, but in the hope in Titus, one, two, in the hope of eternal life. Now, yes, once we get to heaven, you know, we're going to see God we're going to do Jesus, but our eternal life literally begins the moment we believe we're eternal creatures, but our eternal life with God begins then, you know, and that's really the hope. It's just going to be a different context. Different life. Yeah, we have a different body, Adi, we're going to see God face to face. But right now our it's really about your eternal destiny. We're all an eternal being. Just Where are you going to spend that eternity? And and how are you going to get there and all that stuff? You know, some people are going to die and go to hell, they're going to be separated from God for all eternity. And we need to be heartfully praying for those people. And those who are not, you know, we're going to be in heaven with the Father. Yeah. It just makes sense to me to put
the full weight of our hope in something that we are guaranteed, right? We have a guaranteed inheritance. We know it's going to happen, the Bible speaks
He speaks of it over and over. And to put our full weight and dependency on that, even though we can't see it, the Word of God says it's going to happen. And to shift away from all the hope that we put down here, Hebrews 619 says it like this, we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary, behind the curtain. So this hope that we have that we're talking about the hope of heaven one day
is an anchor for our soul. It keeps Yes, it keeps us walking peacefully. And there's contentment that comes in. When you focus on the hope of heaven one day, that hope is truly an anchor. I experienced that today. Getting ready for this podcast. Looking up all these scriptures, I experienced this hope as an anchor for my soul, as I was going about my business. Yes, you know, walking the dog doing a little work, having lunch I was it was on my mind all of these verses, and it gave me great joy and peace. Amen. So I love Hebrews, that verse you read, I'm going to backup a couple of verses, because it really solidifies the hope. So this is Hebrews chapter six, verse 16, says, For people swear by something greater than themselves, and all their disputes and oath is finally his final for confirmation. So when God desire to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath to unchangeable things in which is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. So it's just basically 16 was like if I make an oath with you, we're we're swearing that oath by something greater than us. All right, ie God. But then it transitions. The verse verses transition to God actually making the oath. So it's not you and me making an oath to each other. But the verse transition to God making an oath. And he said, he secured the oath, by himself by to unchangeable thing, well, that's a good thing, because we would just mess it up. Absolutely. Desert, like, Did mess it up for hundreds of years. They are up and down. I, oh, yeah, God, I'll do it. And five minutes later, they're making a golden calf.
Now, the good thing on this side of the cross, Kevin is that we have forgiveness. They had forgiveness year to year, but we have a one time sacrifice for sin. Where if we do blow it, if we do mess it up, when we really can't mess it up, because we have been forgiven by God completely. And that's why that hope can't change. You know, some teach that you could lose your salvation. You can have destiny, your destination in heaven one day, and your destination in hell the next was right, because we have been forgiven by God that that is impossible. Because all of our sins, the things that mess us up have been taken away.
Yes, not covered. But they've been taken away. There's a huge difference. First Corinthians 15 says it so well.
Paul says, and if our hope in Christ is only for this life down here on Earth, then we are to be pitied.
More than anyone in the world.
Wow. Right. Why do you think he said that is unbelievable, because he's saying getting that in anyone else in the world? Yeah, he's saying that. Don't let your hope be in earthly things. He said that over and over. He said it in Colossians three, keep your mind on things above keep your heart and heavenly things. That's why
Paul wants us to know about this hope that's stored up for us in heaven, and to focus on that as much as we can down here. And we will find great joy and contentment. And I challenge anyone to listen, to spend some time thinking about this hope that we have in heaven. And you will experience great joy and peace for the time that you do that. And so right there, Paul says, To put that into practice, that does that does not come naturally.
You know, you and I, we don't naturally think like this. That's why we have to put our dependency on Jesus, and to practice putting our minds on things above and into the hope that stored up for us in heaven and having our minds renewed Romans 12. One and two, you know, we don't know everything, you know, perfectly every day as we put things into practice, like you're saying, you know, God guides us and direct us like, okay, he may thought you knew that you know what I meant by that verse. But as you put it in a price in the light, you learn more clearly what works. That's right. And what doesn't work. Ephesians 118, Kevin says, I, this is Paul, again, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, in order that you may know the hope, to which he has called you the riches and glorious inheritance in his holy people. So here's Paul saying, I am praying for you. And I am praying that the eyes of your heart, and I love that right the eyes of our heart may be enlightened, that we may know this hope
and spend as much time awake time during the day and at night, thinking about this hope that stored up for us in heaven. It's very exciting, the riches of His glorious inheritance in his holy people.
Here's Paul again, in First Timothy, really talking practically again to us command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in Wellington, which is so uncertain, and so uncertain. It's so uncertain, we all know how Bitcoin is up and down, man. Well, how about stock market, real estate prices, everything it, it could be up one day and
coming down, what goes up must come down. That's right. But it says, Don't put your hope and wealth which is so uncertain, but put their hope in God who ritually provides us with everything for our enjoyment. So that's real practical teaching, you know, by the Apostle Paul,
we can be very bold with this hope, very confident, somebody might look at you and think you're cocky. You're overconfident, but we can be overconfident.
Because we have this hope, and we can be very bold with it.
This is for each and every person to know this hope in heaven. That is the reward that is the the great gift that we're all going to receive as born again, Christians. Again, either the day we die or the day the rapture comes in, takes us off, takes us away.
And just for all those people who are listening who may not have a clue, you may just somebody sent you this podcast and you don't know what it means to be born again, you don't know what this eternal life is or how to get it. It's basically having a heartfelt conversation with God, saying, God, I've blown it. I am in desperate need of a relationship with you. And acknowledging that the only right way to be in relationship with God is through accepting what he did to make a way for you to be in relationship with him through his the death burial resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that's all you have to do is say, hey, God, I know I need to be in relationship with you. I know I'm destined for hell. And I want to be with you in heaven for the rest of the life and just saying, okay, I accept it. I believe that I I surrender. What I've been trying to do to be
Be a good person to do right to do good and or for what you have done in Christ. That's basically how you enter into relationship with God and just with a thankful heart. Here Romans 10 nine, says it like this, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised from the dead, you will be saved. Thank you for listening to grace coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at the Grace coach@gmail.com visit our Facebook page or visit our website, Grace coach.org
Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ is not counting your sins against you? Or are you still struggling with this "too good to be true" concept, that all your sins are forgiven by God; past, present and future? Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about how God remembers your sins no more.
Transcript
Unknown Speaker 0:01
Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it. Today on grace coach. Hello, and
Unknown Speaker 0:10
welcome to the grace coach.
Unknown Speaker 0:13
What's up, Mike?
Unknown Speaker 0:14
Good to see it, Kevin.
Unknown Speaker 0:17
Great to see you too, man.
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It's been a while.
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It has been it has been, you know, we
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do these monthly podcasts. And you know, after a few weeks, I'm, I'm ready to be going as a goal once a week, and then maybe we'll get them you know, maybe
Unknown Speaker 0:33
twice a week. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 0:36
Once a month is a long time long time for our listeners to make them. Wait.
Unknown Speaker 0:42
I know my mom tells me all the time. We can't do a podcast. That's a mom, we're doing a podcast.
Unknown Speaker 0:47
That's nice. Your mom is listening.
Unknown Speaker 0:49
Is that sad? I got it.
Unknown Speaker 0:51
No, I said it's great.
Unknown Speaker 0:56
Why? So my mom and all the ladies in our Bible study, I think are listening to sound down in Florida.
Unknown Speaker 1:02
That is great. So what are we talking about today, Kevin?
Unknown Speaker 1:07
We are talking about forgiveness, and not just forgiveness, but the once and for all forgiveness that we have in Jesus Christ. Yeah, amen. Talking about or what
Unknown Speaker 1:21
it really is. And you know, if it wasn't for the book of Hebrews. And you know, you can go to Bible gateway and put in the words once and for all you'll see, in the book of Hebrews, it mentioned one way or another six times. Huge. It's unbelievable, because we all know what the word once means, right? One time. And for all, we know what the word all means, for everybody.
Unknown Speaker 1:54
All means all. All means Oh. That's a great point. I actually doing research on this was just looking about the different religions of the world and what they believe about forgiveness. And it's really surprising a couple ways they go one of it is they talk about forgiveness between people. Like I forgive you, you forgive me, we're all good. But woba other ones that are more serious talk about, they'll mention about forgiveness from God. But it just comes with strings attached performance, and it's just like, was there any truth out there that comes even close to what Christianity offers? In a once and for all forgiveness? For all times for all people? It's not it's it's a treadmill, or it's a forgiveness of people doing nice things for each other and forgiving them because of it.
Unknown Speaker 2:57
And that's certainly a byproduct of knowing that God forgives you without a doubt that we forgive because he forgave us. Sure. The Scripture says, forgive as the Lord forgave you. Yes, no, there's no doubt reconciliation between people is very important down here on Earth. But right won't happen unless we first understand the forgiveness that God has given to us.
Unknown Speaker 3:28
Right, and that it's God, that's giving the forgiveness. It's his plan. It's his dealings. He has done it, he's performed it. Alice, this lady, I texted you this morning today, by just looking in Romans, about his divine forbearance. I just read it in Romans 325 set which says, whom God put for his propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This one, this was to show the God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he passed over former sin. So God has passed over former sins, to display on glory, what he did in Christ once and for all for all people. It's it's an incredible thing because even in Christianity, people misunderstand this forgiveness of God, and they go to the Old Testament forgiveness of God, you know, unless you really look at Jesus Christ, and what he did on the cross, and the way God had divine forbearance on his sins in the Old Testament, but now today 212 2000 years ago, He put on display Jesus Christ as crucified dead and buried blood that was shed for our account to provide this forgiveness. And without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Right?
Unknown Speaker 5:17
Right, right. You know Leviticus 1634, a verse I found says, This is to be a lasting ordinance to you, and he's speaking to Israel. atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites. So there again is the the once but this is once a year. This is not the once the one time sacrifice that Jesus did across 2021 years ago. And then it says, For all of the sins, but it's not for all of the people of the whole world, Jew and Gentile. This is for all of the sins of the Israelites.
Unknown Speaker 6:02
And it wasn't for all time, because the year after Yom Kippur War, the day after Yom Kippur War, they had to start all over
Unknown Speaker 6:10
again. It was never ending. Yes. And therefore the Israelites could never rest.
Unknown Speaker 6:18
never rest.
Unknown Speaker 6:21
God's love is acceptance is forgiveness. So, you know, I was just thinking, why is it that Christians, people in general, but Christians have such a hard time with this subject? Why are they begging God to forgive them when they sin? via verse first john one nine, which is the Christian bar of soap, right? Yeah, verse that they use, which isn't about forgiveness, but about salvation. But why do you think Heaven, we aren't hearing a complete message of God's one time sacrifice for all?
Unknown Speaker 7:05
Well, I think there's probably a lot of answers to that, too, to kind of mine one, there's a spiritual blindness, that people are just blinded to the truth. They don't want to know the truth. Second, you know, we sin, we sin every day, we do stupid stuff every single day. And the human ego wants to say, I want to fix this, I love you, God, but let me just fix this little thing I'm doing here every day. And you know, it was a critical spirit, or, you know, lust, or God forbid, there's so many different things out there that people are struggling with. But they haven't come to the truth. They have not accepted the truth. Or then I think that
Unknown Speaker 7:51
is that very thing that you just said, Kevin, is what I I believe, and I agree with you is the reason why many Christians don't know what they have, is because they're not going to the scriptures. They're not even urged to study the Scriptures. But if you do, and that's why we're doing these podcasts, right? Because that's all we do on these podcasts is read scriptures. If you go to the Scriptures, and you start to see how God has taken away your sins. It's it's hard to deny the fact that all of our sins have been taken away once and for all. And the only response that we should have as to thank God for taking over Harrisons after we send instead of begging him for what we already have.
Unknown Speaker 8:45
Yes, why don't we read a few scriptures? If you want to start out with Hebrews 926, I'll go to 727. And then you can do 1012 if you're okay, let's just read them and then just go back and we can commentate after it. But let's just let people just soak in this truth.
Unknown Speaker 9:04
Yeah, that's great, Hebrews 926 and 27. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world, but he has appeared once and for all, at the culmination of the ages, to do with away with sin, by the sacrifice of himself. And so there it is, he is Jesus appeared one time for all people for all time,
Unknown Speaker 9:37
for one people for all time. Next one is Hebrews 727, which says, unlike other high priest, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrifice for their once for all, when he offered himself, they did this for their own sins first, and then for the sins of the people referring, of course, to the priests and the nation of Israel.
Unknown Speaker 10:15
So there again is that he sacrifice their sins once and for all.
Unknown Speaker 10:22
Alright, you want to read Hebrews 1012 and finish it with 912.
Unknown Speaker 10:25
Sure. But when this priests Jesus had offered for all time, one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. And since that time, he waits for his enemies to me, be made his footstool, for by one sacrifice, he is made perfect forever, those who are being made holy. So there again, Kevin, a right one time sacrifice for sin has the third time in the book of Hebrews, that we see that,
Unknown Speaker 11:00
yeah. And here's another one, Hebrews 912, he did not enter by means of blood of goats in calves. But he entered the Most Holy Place, once for all, by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
Unknown Speaker 11:22
So let's think through this, because let's think through what the book of Hebrews is telling us, what the writer is saying is that 2021 years ago, Jesus Christ came into this world. He was born, he did many miracles, he did many wonderful things. And then he went to the cross and took away all of our sins for all time. And we haven't even gotten to the resurrection yet. But let's just talk about the cross that one act for all of our sins for all time, if you understand that, and believe that, and then you put faith in that, because you could believe that, but not really put faith in that. And here's what I mean by that, I can believe that this chair to the next to me in my office will hold me up. But if I don't sit in the chair, I am putting faith in what I believe. And so if I'm still asking God to do what he says is a once and for all sacrifice. I don't really believe that.
Unknown Speaker 12:39
Yeah, you're not putting your faith in it. I'm not putting
Unknown Speaker 12:41
my faith in these truths.
Unknown Speaker 12:44
Yeah, until you rest.
Unknown Speaker 12:46
That's right. I'm saying, I don't believe these scriptures. And that's why I need to hedge my bet. Like, you know, like insurance, right? You're buying insurance and saying, well, just in case, these scriptures are not true. I'm gonna hedge my bet and ask God to forgive me.
Unknown Speaker 13:07
Yeah, taking a short position and GameStop.
Unknown Speaker 13:13
So, you know, that, again, goes back to what I said earlier that this is because people aren't studying the scriptures enough. Because when you keep seeing this over and over, and over this one time sacrifice for since then, you've got to come and make a decision. What does it mean, you have to make a conclusion about them?
Unknown Speaker 13:42
Yes, you know what I mean? I know what you mean, I know what you mean. And that's, that's the other thing that hopefully, people can kind of get across in their minds right now. whatever they're doing, you know, I mean, whether it's Martin Luther that was lashing himself on his back and throwing himself out into snow, trying to make amends for his, you know, sins and behaviors, or people doing like we're saying the first sound when nine you know, just confessing it every day. You know, staying up late at night, trying to think about their throughout their whole day, not forgetting any of the sins.
Unknown Speaker 14:28
But then you go to any go to sleep, Kevin worried? Because you forgot one of them. Or Yeah, you're worried and that's a sin.
Unknown Speaker 14:37
So yeah, but the point, Mike, is that all of those things, basically are a slap in the face to God. They are all a slap in the face to God because God like I just said, God has displayed his forgiveness in Christ through his blood. Not, not through your actions, not through your asking for forgiveness, not through your penance of 50, Hail Marys, all that's human behavior. God has dealt with blood, there's forgiveness in the blood. The blood of bulls and goats in the Old Testament, which God do is divine forbearance, you know, forgave, until the once and for all forgiveness, the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, if you're trying to offer anything other than your depending on anything except for the blood of Jesus Christ, you're slapping God in the face, plain and simple, plain and simple.
Unknown Speaker 15:43
Alright, so let's go to a verse that's not in the book of Hebrews in case somebody is saying, Well, you know, you're just all only in the book of Hebrews. Well, let's go to second Corinthians 518 to 21. I absolutely love this. All this is from God. So you mentioned before, you know, where does this forgiveness come from? Well, this answers that it says, All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ. I catch this, not counting people sins against them.
Unknown Speaker 16:31
Wow. Not counting people sins against them.
Unknown Speaker 16:36
And he is committed to us that message of reconciliation, and we are therefore Christ, Sinbad ambassadors, that's what we're doing here today is Christ's ambassadors, as Oh, God, we're making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Why? Because he's reconciled Himself to you just accept it. Hmm. Put your faith in a believe it and put your faith in it. God who made him who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God? What do you think of that?
Unknown Speaker 17:20
I love it. So talk to me about verse 19, where it says not counting people's sins against them. What does that mean?
Unknown Speaker 17:32
I mean, if we look at what what this is saying, There's only one way to look at it. And you can look at every verse, every version on Bible hub, they will all say the same thing in different ways, that God is not counting our sins against us. So if that's a fact, there's only one response that we can have, even when we sin, and that is to say, thank you. Thank you for doing that. But for me to say, Lord, forgive me. I am not believing that is not counting people sins against them. I wouldn't ask if I believed this verse and put faith in this first. And that's going on all over town. Yes, in many towns, and many churches, yes.
Unknown Speaker 18:32
Yes, it is.
Unknown Speaker 18:35
Really preposterous. And so I just think getting to the Scriptures, reading them seeking them out. There are many, many, many verses. about forgiveness, Romans 610 says the death he died, he died to sin. once for all. But the life he lives he lives
Unknown Speaker 18:59
Romans, chapter six, verse 10. That's Romans 610. Yes. The death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives mostly God.
Unknown Speaker 19:16
Yeah, just, yeah, it's beautiful. And it's so it's so in our face, right? It's just something that if we can come to grips with this, this is life changing stuff.
Unknown Speaker 19:34
Yes, it is. Here's another one in Matthew 2628. This is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin. So it's a blood covenant. The blood of Jesus Christ poured out for many, the many are all who whosoever there For will receive him this blood is poured out now it's it's it's a gift on an a Christmas tree for the whole world. Yeah, there's enough blood there for the whole world to cover the whole world but it's for the forgiveness of the world. You know, john 316 he did it for the world, but you have to personalize it, you have to own a you have to receive it.
Unknown Speaker 20:25
The fact that he took away our sins, that's something he did, whether we receive it or not, will not change the fact that he has already done it is already taken writer sense. But yes, we should receive that. Except guys were considered reconciliation. That's what we just read in First Corinthians five, be reconciled? Okay,
Unknown Speaker 20:54
I set your mind to it. Connection.
Unknown Speaker 20:58
How about Hebrews 812?
Unknown Speaker 21:01
All right, Oh, got it for I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more? No, ma? Wow. Wow. Can you rest in that? Connect, give you confidence that God is going to remember as black and white. If you've reconciled to me, I'm not going to remember your sins no more. Now, I thought we had in there, the Hebrew verse one of my favorite verses talking about when he comes back.
Unknown Speaker 21:36
Alright, so let's read Hebrews 928. I want to read that.
Unknown Speaker 21:40
And just as it is pointing for man to die once and after that comes judgment. So Christ, having been offered wants to bear the sins of many will appear a second time. That's the second coming of Christ, not to deal with sin. So when Christ comes back, he's not coming back to ask you about your sin. But to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. That is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible.
Unknown Speaker 22:13
Absolutely.
Unknown Speaker 22:15
I mean, it pretty much covers a whole bunch of stuff right there.
Unknown Speaker 22:20
Well, let's, let's ask this question, Why will he appear a second time not to bear sin?
Unknown Speaker 22:28
Because he's already covered it. He's already done away with it. It's a once and for all, forgiveness, for all sacrifice. He is the high priest. He's the high priest who sat down at the right hand of God,
Unknown Speaker 22:46
His job was finished.
Unknown Speaker 22:47
Alright, so if you are in Christ, and Christ sat down, where are you at? You're sitting down in Christ, if you are spiritually in Christ, if he's in you, and you're in him, as john tells us, then if Christ is sitting down, then we're sitting down in regards to our performance and behavior and trying to make up for ourselves. Now, do we not? We're not saying that you don't have to do good things. But you do good things as a result of what's already been done, not not in a way to earn what's already been done.
Unknown Speaker 23:28
That's right. It's a different motive.
Unknown Speaker 23:30
The different mo it all comes back to your heart.
Unknown Speaker 23:34
You know, when you think about the book of Hebrews, why was this mentioned this once and for all mentioned six times? And I thought, Okay, well, here's to me, here's the answer, is because he's the writer, he Rosen doesn't disclose who it is, is writing to the Hebrews, who struggled with the fact that somebody came from a different tribe, not the tribe of Levi, but the tribe of Judah. And it came not by the blood of bulls and goats, that's what they were used to. Yes. And now a human being goes to the cross. And he also he's claiming to be God, by the way, and he offers himself as a one time sacrifice for sins. Well, that's why this has to be said six times over and over and over. Because who was he writing to?
Unknown Speaker 24:28
I mean, think if you were literally a high priest for the nation of Israel, How hard would it be for you to recant everything you've done for your whole life? You've devoted your whole life to, you know, for God's service of sacrificing animals, so on and so forth. That's all you know. And this Jesus guy comes along and says, This is the new way. I am the vine, you're the branches. I'm the water. I'm the life. I'm the bread mean just saying all these things that was such a anomaly to the Jewish people to accept.
Unknown Speaker 25:10
So you know, Kevin, in the same way, you know how Jesus was abused and mocked. Just be prepared for this listeners, you will be mocked, you will be abused by many who do not want to believe this one time sacrifice for since, yeah, just be prepared. It's not easy, but it's really what people need to know both Christians and non Christians, that Jesus took away our sins one time, that it was the divine act of him taking away our sins, that he eventually rose from the dead, that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
Unknown Speaker 25:57
You know, I've gotta, I gotta say this last verse, since you just mentioned the tribulation. I'm doing the book of john with my mom and our girlfriends in Florida. And we're on john chapter 16. And it's basically talking about that we're going to enter tribulation. JOHN 1633 is our verse of the week. It says, I said these things to you that in me, you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, take heart, I have overcome the world. Jesus Christ Himself is telling all of his followers, if you're in me, you're gonna have trouble in this world. They killed me. They're not gonna treat you very
Unknown Speaker 26:43
nicely.
Unknown Speaker 26:47
But that's okay, because we're talking about eternal life. And it's worth it, Kevin. It's worth it.
Unknown Speaker 26:53
Thank you for listening to grace coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at the Grace coach@gmail.com visit our Facebook page, or visit our website, Grace coach.org
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Some people believe the water baptism in necessary for salvation. Some people believe that because Jesus was baptized with water, they need to. What do the Scriptures say about baptism? Tune in as Mike and Kevin talk about it.
Transcript
Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on grace coach.
Welcome to grace coach. What's up, Mike? Hey, Hey, Kevin.
All right, man, glad to be with you. Today, we're gonna have a great show. And we're gonna be talking about baptism. And there are so many things, so many, a wide variety of different comments about baptism. And it's just amazing, as I stated last couple of days. might tell me about yourself, what was your story on baptism? Yeah, thanks for asking. I was one to a messianic church where we went to the beach, in the Chicago area. And they were baptizing anyone who wanted to be baptized. And so I went through that process, but surely really didn't understand what I was doing. I wish I would have had this podcast to listen to.
But I kind of knew a little bit was about identifying myself with Jesus and the water was a symbol. And we're going to read some scriptures today. But I think some of the, the the thoughts about baptism, what they people believe, is some people believe that water, water baptism is necessary for salvation. They even take it a little further some other religions that infants need to be baptized in order to make sure they're saved, and go into heaven. So via an infant can even make a decision for Christ. They are baptized with water, aka baptismal regeneration. And others believe that because Jesus was baptized, that I need to be baptized.
Yeah, let me get back to you. What did that mean to you? Because like you just said, some people, there's beliefs out there that when they get baptized, that is, you know, they're becoming a Christian. At that moment. baptismal regeneration is what would they call it? A lot of major denominations believe that. Catholics believe that. But so but Jewish people that you brought in what was what was going on for you personally, when you got baptized? Was it just a symbolic thing at the end of a your?
I forgot the word that Jewish people do when they become
adult Jewish people into the journal mitzvah.
Bar Mitzvah. Yeah.
So is that was it part of your bar mitzvah? Or was it just something people do in general? Or how does it how it is with Jews? Well, so I was going to a church. I was a new believer. And basically, Kevin, the answer your question is, I was just doing what they told me I should do. It was this the Messianic church? That was Yes, it was. Okay. So that's different than what I was thinking. I was thinking that you're talking about your when you went to church as a kid before you went to MSI. So yeah, okay. I get that with the Messianic that they would be doing stuff like that. Yeah. And so yeah, like I said, I didn't really understand about baptism. I wasn't really reading the scriptures that much. I was doing like so many other people, you know, going to church, just listening, what the pastor was reading, and then just doing pretty much what they asked us to do. And water baptism in the lake was one of those things.
Man, let's do it. Yeah, yeah, but a baptism. The more I look at it, I can, I can see how it came about, although you won't find the word baptized in the Old Testament. But if you ever went to the temple of Israel, the Wailing Wall, on the south side of the Temple Mount, were cleansing baths known as mitzvahs. Right, and they've been there seen that? Yeah, yeah. And so those were used to cleanse people prior to them entering the temple.
They were also used as monthly menstrual cycle cleaning for females. Yeah. And if you had come in contact with a dead body, that was also a way to be cleansed of any diseases or germs and today, Orthodox Jews actually believe that if you're a Gentile want to convert to Judaism.
That you would need to dip yourself in a mikvah bath in order to become Jewish right there reminds me when Jesus healed I think the blind man, he said, go to the temple and cleanse yourself. That's probably exactly what he did. And so they know exactly what he was talking about, may not have known that this was a spiritual cleansing that Jesus was talking about. But I wanted to take a look at some scriptures, Kevin, first and First Peter 319. And 21. Great verse, I didn't read that one. It talks about Noah being saved in the ark. And it says, so he went and preached to the spirits in prison, those who disobeyed God, long ago, when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat, only eight were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you that by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God, from my clean conscience, it is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So this hair clearly says that this water, it and they really were saved in the ark, right? They were saved from the water. But yeah, the saving process of being in the ark was a picture of baptism. And that spiritual baptism, which saves us today, that when we're born again, Christ comes to live inside of us, and were baptized into the Holy Spirit. I love that a picture of baptism, it's it's goes to the symbolic thing. And I know the church, I basically spent a lot of time at Park Community Church in the city. That's really what the mantra was there. You know, it's a, what was the phrase? Is it inward? No, it's our expression of an inward transaction, basically. Yeah. And that's really, I think, the depth of what people understood baptism to be, you know, it's just like, Alright, there's something to happen. I accepted Christ, and I'm gonna go and get dunked in the way we did it, and like Michigan also.
So anyway, is a picture of it. But I think
I hope that we at the end of this podcast today, are able to take people to a much deeper, richer place in their understanding of what actually happened in that spiritual context of baptism. And I read this verse, this next verse, First Corinthians chapter 10, verses one through two. And then we'll kind of dig into some more things by says,
I don't want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago, basically talking about Moses in Israel, all of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them. And all of them walked through the sea, on dry ground, in a cloud and in the sea. All of them were baptized as followers of Moses. So what, what this verse does and what the verse you just read, basically, is identifying these people with a person, Moses, in this case, no. And the other case, all right. And so that is really the the the meaning of baptism is that you're, you're being dipped down in the water, you're being identified
with someone now as a Christian, we're being identify with who with Jesus, with Jesus. Absolutely. That is really the crux of the issue is who we're being identified with. Now, it's also you're being identified with His death, burial and resurrection. All right, I think that is kind of some of the points that a lot of people don't really understand. Is that not just a symbol of you being going down in the water and coming up, you know, you died, your old self died, and you've become a new self. And we've talked we talked about this new life a lot but it's so funny how this is where you get to with a lot of this is the message of the Bible
is that we died and we've we raised up in a new life, you know, we're dead to sin. That's that's a Another benefit of baptism. We're not like
dying to self every day. It's your dead, your old self was dead and you are raised a noose, new self? And what does the Bible tell you about that? It says, you have a new heart, not the hardest stone anymore, but a heart of flesh. And that is, I think, for me is, is the biggest point of baptism is that we have a new heart, a new water, we want different things, even though we do dumb things. We say this a lot. But that's not our nature, we have a new cart, a new score of who we are those beautiful, so
it is very beautiful. What do you think my? Well, I like it.
And as I mentioned the beginning, some people want to be baptized with water. And there's nothing wrong with it, if you want to be baptized with water is terrific, but just you don't want to mix that with the spiritual baptism of the Holy Spirit. Because, you know, good can be the enemy of what is best. It's good to be baptized with water. If that's what you want to do. There's certainly no requirement for the church and x. They were baptized with water when they came to believe. Does that mean you should well there's the people who say yes, because an X 238. What shall we do? They ask, we should be baptized with water. That's what they did. The Book of Acts is not a doctrinal book. It's a historical book.
But but it's the book of Acts that we're not doing today. That's right. On the other hand, when I say good can be the enemy of what is best if you miss this message of salvation, that you were dead, spiritually dead, as you were talking about, and now have crossed over from death to life. And Christ, then comes to live inside of us. It's that baptism, it's that identification is Christ coming to live inside of us, which is what must happen for us to be saved and go to heaven one day, and we don't want to miss that. And that's, that's what I mean, that good can be the enemy of what is best. But I want to also talk about Jesus and why he was baptized.
And we can see that in john 131, to 33. And I love this Kevin, every time I read it, yes. It's like, Is it really in there? So I'm going to read it for us. I myself did not know him. And this is john the baptist. But the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel. Then john gave this testimony, yes, I saw the Spirit come down from heaven, as a dove, and remain on him. And that's the dove that remained on Jesus's shoulder. And I myself did not know him. But the one who sent me to baptize with water, told me the man on whom you see the Spirit come down as a dove, and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. So john baptized with water. And he baptized Jesus to identify the nation of Israel, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, he is the Son of God, and He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
Yes, being revealed to Israel, and many believed on him, but there was many who did not he was a definitely a lightning rod and that in the world, even to this day, the name of Jesus is as a lightning rod when you you can talk about religion, you talk about spirituality. But when you start when you say, Jesus,
that is definitely a dividing rod. You know, people either get attracted or get repelled. That's right.
So it's very cool to see that, you know, in the scriptures in the book of john, about why Jesus was baptized, well, he was baptized to identify him to Israel.
And that was that should you be baptized because Jesus was baptized? Well, that's all up to you. If that's what you want to do, and you want to have a ceremony in the lake or in the ocean, or wherever and the river, absolutely. It's a great picture of your salvation. But again, it's nothing but again, it's
Not necessary, because think about the thief on the cross. If baptism was conditional upon salvation for salvation, then Jesus was saying, you know, to the guy on the cross today, you're going to be with me a paradise. Well, he didn't have time to get off the cross and go down and get baptized in order to be, you know, hit with Jesus in paradise. So that is obvious fact that
baptism is not necessarily for salvation. That's right.
It's really just an identification with Christ, death, burial and resurrection. That is great. Hey, and, you know, Matthew 28, this is Jesus Himself, Matthew 2819, and 20, Jesus says, will therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded to you? Well, I believe Kevin, that is not talking about water baptism. It's talking about pointing them to Jesus Christ, because all people come into this world spiritually dead in need of life, and wanted nothing more than to see, for people to come alive in Christ that they would be saved. And if it was water, only then it's water than saves you. But this is done about a spiritual baptism.
Absolutely, there's another verse. First Corinthians 1213, Paul states, For by one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit.
Yeah, that's pure, though there is one spirit that we're all that ties into. That's right. And how about acts one, four, and five, Kevin, this is unbelievable. So on one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command. Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised. Now this is the gift of the Holy Spirit, because that's what the Father promised long ago.
It says, Wait for the gift, my father promise which you have heard me speak about,
for john baptize with water. But in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
And there is the writer of x. column, clearly making a distinction between water baptism, which john was doing, again to identify Jesus to Israel, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
The nickel is awesome. Okay, here's another verse that really ties together what I was talking about earlier, is basically Romans six, three and four. Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ us have been baptized into His death, therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the Father, so we too, might walk in newness of life, and get this. But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart, that form of teaching to which you were committed. And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness, and speaking in human terms, because of the weakness of your flesh, that that really encapsulates everything what I just said a second ago, about, really, that the benefit, the real benefit of baptism, that we can become obedient from the heart to a new form of teaching. Yeah, and again, that that word obedience can be taken also the wrong way. We're not talking about obedience, of following the law. But we're talking about obedience to the Word of God. believing the Word of God putting your faith in the Word of God, and being obedient to it. And believing it. Yeah. being led by the spirit being led by the Spirit. Yes.
You know, we have a new wanter
we don't want you know, that is really revolutionary. If people can, even though we get tempted by the world, the flesh and the devil every day, there's there's crap going on.
In the world, and it's coming at you, but and we've, we have lived much of our lives depending on when you became a Christian with coping mechanisms, you know, to get
I'll stop right there. The only coping? Well we do. I mean, we try, we think we've got coping mechanism. I want this, I'm gonna do this to get this and to cope with the situation. Yeah, well, I mean, so we all have these things that we've done. But it's not really to express that does not express Christ in our life when we do things of the world. And because God has given us a new heart, that's, that's really not what we want is these things of the world. And there, there you go, that your word wanter. I love that. Because
Yeah, we want God to change our wanter to change from,
you know, fulfilling the flesh versus fulfilling ourselves, you know, with the truth of the Word of God, which sets us free. When things of the world don't set us free. I also equate that to changing our hope that we have our hoper. Because if you change your water, and then our hope are that the hope of eternal life, the hope of the rapture, that Jesus is coming back again, and you change your hoper, that really changes what you're hoping for, right, you might be hoping for your job to change, you might be hoping for someone, someone in your family to change, you might be hoping for this or for that. But our real hope is the hope and the return of Jesus one day, and hopefully soon, or he's coming to rapture, anyone who was still alive with those who have died in Christ, and meet them all, in the air. That's a great hope to have. Absolutely. That's a great hope. Because all the things that we hope for in this world.
In our Bible study, now you said they're all going to be left on the street, corner street,
and the front of the street one day,
all the things that we have all the things that we hope for in this world are one day, you're going to be on the street pile, and the garbage company is going to come pick it up. And it'll be gone. Yep. And be gone.
You know, one last scripture before we leave first Corinthians 117, this is, Paul speaking says For Christ did not send me the baptize with water. But to preach the gospel, not with words, wit with wisdom and eloquence, less the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. And so there is Paul who wrote 70, or 75% of the New Covenant said that Christ did not send me to baptize with water. But to preach the gospel. Paul is clearly saying these two things are clearly different. Water baptism and preaching the gospel, which is preaching spiritual baptism are clearly two different things. You know, this is not our opinion. We're reading the scriptures. And they're profound, you know, to read these things, right? Yeah. Is this such a confusing topic, and I really hope people
have got some understanding that leads to peace. Because in, in my research for this podcast today, I've seen some, just custom comparisons on what all the denominations believe out there. And it is such a wide variety of beliefs. And I know we've touched on a few of them today. But the essence of it is, is that you're now identified as a child of God. And God has given you a new want water,
water and a new whole point that term. Yeah, great show today, Kevin, and I really enjoyed the topic of baptism today. I might love you, brother. Love you too. Thank you for listening to grace coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at the Grace coach@gmail.com visit our Facebook page, or visit our website, Grace coach.org
In our last podcast, we mentioned Bible verses about eternal security and that once we are saved by Jesus, we are saved completely and forever. In this podcast we discuss verses in the Book of Hebrews, that some use to teach Christians that they can walk away from God and lose eternal life. God forbid.
We hope that after listening to this podcast, you will be fully convinced that you are eternally secure, forever and ever.
Transcript
Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on grace coach. What's up, Mike? Hey, hey, good to be with you, Kevin. Great to be with you too, man. Yeah. How's everything going? This Christmas week? You know, it is a really crazy Christmas this year with COVID. And the whole deal with that. I mean, it's just so, so many traditions, we do a lot of traditions in our family that, you know, they're not huge things, but they're just things that we do every year. We're not doing
and is I just like this war, I woke up and I just felt like, Am I depressed? Now? This lack of this, the regularity of this very, very special season of the year. And so yeah, that's kind of where I'm at. And I think even our family, I mean, Shelley and I are talking about, you know, what kind of traditions Can we start doing this year. And it's kind of, you know, a few days before Christmas, and we don't have much.
You can do a zoom tradition, or start that we are we did talk about that. One of the things we do we have a, we have a Jesus birthday party every year, we have a few close friends over. And we have a birthday party for Jesus, and we make it a Jesus birthday cake. And so we were thinking about making a cake and bring a cake and a bottle of wine to these families that usually join us. And then doing a zoom call, and everybody can eat cake and sing happy birthday to Jesus. So that might that might still happen.
That's on deck. What about you? What do you what kind of traditions do you do? Yeah, we've had to tell most of our extended family that they're not invited this year. And my daughter has a small baby, only two, two and a half months old. So we just being cautious about this? And yes, but still, the bottom line is Christmas is all about Jesus Christ. And it is all about Jesus Christ. Yes. And he came into this world, maybe 19 187 years ago or so. But he came to take away the sins of the entire world. And then three days later, he rose from the dead. And now anyone who believes in Him shall have eternal life. Yes, eternal life. So Mike,
is that Tell me about that eternal life? Is that eternal life secure? Can we lose that eternal life? If you're going to use the word eternal? And we can go to Webster's or any online dictionary and look at the definition of eternal it means forever?
Okay, so we talked on our last podcast about eternal security and why we have it. And we thought we would talk today about some of the tensions that are out there. For some who believe that you could have eternal life, you can have Jesus living in you, and then you could walk away from Jesus, or ask them not to be a part of your life anymore. Anyway, a look at it. You can't call it eternal life. If it's something that is temporal, you should call it temporal life. And that's not in the Bible. I don't think temporal life.
I haven't seen that word temporal, but I know what that means. It means only for a short time, or for a certain period, eternal life. And the word forever. All they all they mean the same thing. And so as I'm doing this podcast today, I'm looking at the windows and everything. I'm looking at the trees, my office, the computer, you Everything is temporal, right? Yes, it's only for a certain time. If we fast forward to 200 years, none of what we're looking at,
would be here. It would be gone one way or most likely, most of what the things we're looking at what all not be here, right but to clarify that the things of the world Yes, but the two things that I would say that are eternal are us. We are eternal, whether we're going to be an eternally in heaven, or eternally in hell.
And then the other thing that's eternal is the word of God. So we're I'm looking at the Word of God right now. And I believe it is eternal. I think we'll have it in heaven with us. As funny that you don't really, I don't know, I was gonna say, there's not
stories in the Bible, I can Revelation where they're reading the Bible in heaven. But I guess we're not going to get into that, but just a random thought.
But I do believe we'll have the Bible in heaven, is my point. Yeah. And I think we will be in heaven, our souls, they these bodies know, we'll get new bodies, but souls will be with new transformed bodies.
So let's get into some verses that people really get tripped up on when they look at, can I lose my salvation. And I know there's a lot of them, I had a list of the day, which was about five or six. But we're just going to look in our short time today at the book of Hebrews. So if you've got your Bibles, feel free or pop your phone out to Hebrews. We're going to start in chapter two, and verses one through three.
Mike, do you want to read? Do you want me to pop it? Yeah. And these, these verses are really just warnings from the writer of Hebrews. Yeah, who is writing to Hebrews, that I believe I know, you believe there are both lost and saved Hebrews. Many of you read the book of Hebrews believe that it was written to only Christian Hebrews. And so it really depends who you think this book was written to in the first place, is how you will look at these verses. But let me read Hebrews 2123, we must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received as just punishment, that's referring to the law, how can we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? So here, the writer of Hebrews is not wanting
the reader to miss such a great salvation. He's saying, Please pay more careful attention, so that you do not drift away from this great salvation.
And so I believe you would not say that to somebody who was saved. But you would say, say it to somebody who was maybe on the fence?
Absolutely. And I think that, and I'll just re emphasize what you just said, because I think it's crucial to really understanding the book of Hebrews. And that is the fact you got to consider the audience that Paul was writing to, and when you do, you can really see Paul's heart. He is like, brothers do not walk away from this. And who was he talking to? He was talking to
Hebrews, Jewish people who were in the temple that would maybe come to their house churches access. You know, there wasn't any mega churches in, you know, Paul's time, there was gathering in house churches there, he was sharing the message. And people would come from the temple. They weren't really buying into this thing. They were just kind of taste testing. I want to just give a shout out to our one of my favorite guys, Andrew Farley, he, he talks about, you know, going into the grocery store aisle and kind of taste testing, you know, the little snacks that they give you in order for you to buy the package. That's a great analogy to what Paul's doing here. These Hebrews were basically just taste testing, they weren't really buying the whole deal, okay? They were just nibbling at the edges, right? that's crucial to understanding this thing. And even as I was studying this, for this podcast, I would even go further and say there's that group of people who just came to visit and then went back to the temple. But Paul's also in some of these verses, talking to people who were in the, in the house church, that was part of them. And that was saying, he was saying to them eagerly, you know, like, Don't walk away from this hold on to it. And really the point of it is and I know I'm
ramblin here is that eternal security, eternal salvation is the absolute we have to hold on to, if somebody can walk away somebody in your church or in your Bible study, and they leave and kind of renounce, I don't believe this anymore. I think what you have to say at that point was that they were never never Christians. They were never genuinely a believer. They tasted it, they were checking out, they took a spot in the Pew on Sunday. But then eventually, as the parable, say, the cares of this life choke that way. And I know you mentioned Paul a few times, in your I guess you're assuming that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews, although it's really not mentioned who the author is here. It certainly is his style. Yeah, no doubt about it. But I just want to mention that.
Yeah, unlike most of Paul's other letters, he, you know, says, Hey, this is from Paul to the Corinthians from Paul to the Romans. He doesn't say that in here. But
and there's is a great debate on who actually wrote it. But I would say, I feel like as Paul, I don't think anybody has the mind of God, like Paul did, wrote two thirds of New Testament. I personally think it was Paul, even though he didn't sign it himself. But
that's a great debate. I'm not sure. It certainly sounds like him. But I know it's really the Holy Spirit. whoever wrote the book. I mean, God Himself. He wrote the scriptures. He used them as he's using people today. Absolutely. So do you want to say anything more about this? Hebrews two, one through three? Yeah, no, I just, I know that the same thing is mentioned throughout the book of Hebrews, the same heart of the the writer of Hebrews, not wanting the Hebrews to drift away and fall to the other side.
Yes, you know, one on the fence, and then fall away from the grace of God.
Absolutely. Because they're boring, such a great salvation. Right? God does not want that.
You want I mean, all men to be saved. You have this great salvation in Christ, or contrasting it to keeping the law on the temple
and spiritual death and hell, yes, God does not want that for any Yeah, that's the law of spirit and death.
Which is not a good thing. So moving on to Hebrews, chapter six, verse four through six, which is kind of that one of the classic verses that people would point to about losing their salvation. And again, if you just put these these basically saved and lost glasses on these taste testers, I think it will really help you understand, as you read this, I'll read this. Hebrews chapter six, four through six, isn't possible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift to have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God, and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance, to their loss, they're crucifying the Son of God all over again subjecting him to public disgrace.
Then in verse seven land that drinks in the rain often falling on it, and that produced as a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God, but land produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed in and it will be burn
mess and that's some harsh language, Mike. Well, certainly, there's a contrast here between land that drinks in the rain and then land that produces thorns and thistles.
Right? That's a complete 180 from verse seven and verse eight, but you know, as I'm looking at what you just read some possible for those who have been enlightened, who have tasted who have shared and again tasted the goodness. Yeah, like I said, they were taste testers. It says if they fall away to be brought back to repeat
Have you ever realized that it's impossible to go back to where you've never been.
And so it's impossible to go back to be brought back to repentance is because they never repented in the first place. They never changed their mind about Jesus Christ. So you can't go back. That's why it's impossible to be brought back to repentance because they never were there in the first place. They only tasted, they only enlightened they only shared and they were taste testers as you the example you use. And to those people to their loss, they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. That verse is the writer of Hebrews trying to talk to these people and say, Don't ignore this great salvation. I know you've tasted and shared, but don't ignore it. Now, in verse nine, it says, even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of things in your case, things that accompany salvation.
Right, these right things, sharing and tasting, don't accompanies salvation. That just means you've tried it, you've read the Bible, you've gone to church, you gave to the poor, you've done things. But as revelations says, to is a one of the churches away from me, I never knew, you know, man, that's, that's powerful.
Yeah, I was gonna say it really depends. Again, how you who you believe this book of Hebrews is written to, if you believe this was written to Christians, then you're going to read this, that you can fall away once you're a Christian. But if you read this, as it was both to Christians and non Christians, then you'll be able to see that he's not talking to Christians, who we don't taste you. And I, Kevin, we bought the whole package we did.
So that's a big difference. Huge difference. Yeah. I mean, I mean, we go on to other verses, but I think that is really the crux of the of the issue.
That Paul is talking to different groups of people, some people have just tasted, and even the people, you could look at it, even people who are in the pews, he's talking about, he could be some people who are going back to the temple. But there are some people that are in the pews in the group. And he's saying, Don't neglect this don't, you know, walk away. So he's got a incredible heart for people to just hold on. Yeah, to, to the to the salvation, you know, you got to think of it in the context of him writing. Think about how many people pass are going back to the temple. That is what I see Paul's passion here. He sees people going back and trying to live underneath the law, kind of coming and tasting it. And going back to it. And I think that is why speaking so powerfully here, the end of verse eight, but the land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and in danger of being cursed. In the end, it will be burned. Now, if you are a born again, Christian, you're not a land as producing thorns and thistles. And it's worthless and in danger of being curse. Oh, my gosh, I could go on a rampage here. But there's so many Christians. And I was one too. That was on a performance basis. And I read this verse. And it's like, I'm not producing anything. I'm only producing thorns and thistles. I'm in danger of being cursed.
I'm saying this is personal. I read this verse years and years ago. I'm not gonna say the church has going to but man, you got to understand the eternal security in the rest that we have. Well, a good Christmas is that word eternal. If you're gonna call it the eternal life, and you're gonna believe in that, this, this won't be a problem for you. You know, right, wondering whether you're going to lose your salvation based on what you're doing or where you're going or that's not an issue.
If you believe in the word eternal, but if you don't, don't call it eternal life, call it temporal life, as long as I keep on doing what I think God wants me to do, which is,
you know, all the things you were mentioning, Hey, I just want to jump to Hebrews 1026, because it's another section of verses 1026 to 1031. And I want to read this and then talk about it. It says, if we deliberately keep on sinning, after we have received the knowledge of truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment, and of the raging fires that will consume the enemies of God. You and I are enemies of God. We are now friends of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy, and the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely Do you think a man deserves to be punished? Who was trampled the Son of God under foot? Who has treated it as an unholy thing, the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace, For we know him who said, it is mine to avenge, I will repay and again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a dreadful thing to fall in the hands of a living God. Okay, so sounds kind of scary, but not if you're born again. Because if you go back to 26, if we deliberately keep on sinning, this is not about sins that we commit, okay? Which is much of the day anything that's not a faith of his sin. This is not yet furring to our sins. This is referring to never believing in the first place. That Yes, this word sitting here means. So if we deliberately, deliberately keep on sinning, not believing, after what, after we have received the knowledge of truth. Well, that's what he spent the first 10 chapters in Hebrews talking about the knowledge of truth. And so yeah, he saying, Don't reject that. Because there's no sacrifice for sins love. Jesus isn't coming to die again. Either you're going to have to believe this or
you're going to fall into the hands of a living God.
Yes, that I'm so glad you read that section of scripture because it is it is really crucial to understanding that word in the context of this book. Okay? Because he, he's, he's writing to Hebrews, in Hebrews weren't are not like the Corinthians. Hebrews were not like the Romans, who were Gentiles. And when Paul was writing to those, he was definitely
talking about some behavioral things here. But the audience in Hebrews is law abiding Jews. law abiding Jews were not committed adultery with their mother in law, like the Corinthians were, okay, law abiding Jews were not, you know, getting drunk like the current dance and in debauchery like the the Romans and so on, so forth, like the Gentiles in general. He didn't have to correct them like that, because those people were, you know, dotting the i's and crossing the T's, they did not want to have anybody seeing them do anything wrong. Okay. So, like you said, you mentioned as to if you go back to Hebrews chapter three talks about in verse 12, here, he must have three, take care of those, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
So it's pretty clear. They're an unbelieving heart. What was what was when they were doing the, you know, Exodus, the Jews were about unbelief. That was their thing is all about belief. And so that's a great point you made and glad you read that.
Well, I hope this helps today, people who are wondering about their salvation. It's my prayer, and I know it's your prayer. It's all of the authors of the New Covenant. It was their prayer that that we would know the width and
depth and the height and the length of the love of God. And the love and that love of God is eternal is forever. And there's nothing better on Christmas, to know that Jesus wants to have a relationship with you. And once he comes to live inside of you, he promises never to leave you ever again. And to me, Kevin, that's the greatest Christmas gift we could ever receive. Every other Christmas gift you will receive this year pales in comparison to that gift and friends who are listening to this, please pass that message on whether it's through this podcast, or is cracking open your Bible and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. And I tell you it is the greatest gift you can give yourself to share this gift with somebody else. It will be a memory that I guarantee you you will not forget. So yeah, amen. Kevin. Thank you for listening to grace coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at the Grace coach@gmail.com visit our Facebook page or visit our website Grace coach.org
The doctrine of eternal security is one of the most important doctrines in the Scriptures. Knowing that God will never leave you, no matter what, is the very essence of the New Covenant and of the love of God. Listen in and see why you can never lose your salvation, once you have it.
Transcript
Unknown Speaker 0:01
Want to discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on grace coach.
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What's up, Mike? pillow? Kevin, we're gonna talk about one of our favorite topics. Absolutely eternal security. eternal security is the good news of the gospel. I love to know I'm secure. It is a foundational belief of the Christian faith. JOHN Calvin calls it the perseverance of the saints. Yes, if you just persevere in the Scriptures, as we'll do today, we're going to go through a lot of scriptures that talk about why once we're saved, we can never lose our salvation, aka eternal security. It's a great topic. I wish there were more pastors talking about this. And really, everything in the New Covenant is all about eternal security, and that once Christ comes a live inside of you, he'll never leave you again.
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It is, without a doubt, one of the
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best doctrines that you could live the Christian faith in, if you don't have clarity around this issue, your relationship with God will be topsy turvy, up and down a roller coaster ride. And if we can just encourage people today with the fact that they are eternally secure that their relationship with God is guaranteed by the deposit of the Holy Spirit. And as we're getting to get into some of the Scriptures, we can read them. But that is that is the fact the reason that you have the Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing by God that you are
Unknown Speaker 2:16
say that you are secure. Let's write a fusions Ephesians 113. And 14 says it like this, it says and you were included in Christ, when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you are marked in him with a seal, the promise Holy Spirit, who just like you're saying Kevin is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are in guy's possession, to the praise of his glory. Wow, you know what I'm going to read from this systematic theology book that I have a gut from when I was a student at Moody Bible Institute. The Greek word translated in that verse guarantee is our baronne and is a legal and commercial term. That means the first installment deposit downpayment pledge and represents a payment which obligates a contracting party to make further payments.
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All right, the contracting party in that then this agreement that we're talking about here is God and you and God is going to make further payments.
Unknown Speaker 3:38
On this contracting, you no obligation, which is a beautiful thing, and that that further payment is going to be when we see him face to face, and we have glorified bodies and renewed spirits is going to be
Unknown Speaker 3:59
incredible. Yes, it will be I can't wait. You know, with the excitement of eternal security, knowing we could hit that God will never leave us or forsake us ever against once we are born again, comes much controversy. I have met many pastors, and I've been in churches, hearing sermons, that you could lose your salvation, that you are not secure in Christ, that you could walk away from God. Walk away from the faith. Anyway, you say, there are those who say that you could lose Christ, once crisis living inside of you. But for a Christian to lose their salvation, Kevin, God would have to erase the mark on a Christian, withdraw his spirit, cancel the deposit that we just
Unknown Speaker 5:00
Read was guaranteed to break his promise, why revoke the guarantee and the gift. And I love this keep his inheritance.
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That's why this is such an important topic, it's important for Christians to know that they have that one, yes, always saved, and that they can never lose their salvation.
Unknown Speaker 5:28
We Christians need to know that. And that's why we thought this topic is so important today in what you just read, Mike, we've got about 20 scriptures that we've come up with, that are all over the New Testament that basically encapsulate the thoughts that you just said. And it's, it's on, you know, pretty much you can't hardly ever look at, I mean, the parables that Jesus talked about, it's amazing when you just look at some of these things, through the lens of eternal security, that this is what Jesus was talking about, that you know, you are secure, I'm casting these branches out that never were part of the Divine, you know that that parable is part of just this whole thing that we're talking about. And so it's It is amazing that, like you're saying, the controversy that is out there, because it is a controversy that, I think that we want to say in the first here is that we are not here trying to say, we know who's a Christian and who's not a Christian, we're not saying who's in who's not in, it's more about a very personal thing, that each person can live their Christian life with this truth with this doctrine of eternal security. So, so we're not trying to say, Oh, you can go look at people and say that they did this, or they didn't do this. And they are in or they're not in. It's really at the death of a person that your eternal security is sealed. Because you could have some really an errant views. And we're all having our mind renewed as to the truth of the gospel. And we could be believing some stupid stuff. But God's not done with us yet.
Unknown Speaker 7:39
You know, Kevin, apart from some of the Scriptures, that we're going to read just the word eternal, right? If it was not eternal, then it would be temporal, right? But the fact that, you know, john 316, whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. That's forever. Yes, no one believes that they can lose their salvation. They don't know what the word eternal means. Eternal means forever. Yes, for forever, no matter what. So I want to look at a few verses with you today, Kevin, john 637, to 40 are some of my favorite, it says that all those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away.
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Never means never, for I have come down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me that I shall lose none of those. He has given me. Right, rather raise them up. On the last day, just like you were saying, when Jesus comes back, either we're here and we're Ramsar to meet him in the year or we might have died before the rapture, and then we'll meet the Lord in the air also. That's the last day and he says, I will lose none of us, none of them, no matter what, no matter what. Absolutely.
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I love verse 39. This is the will of Him who sent me that I should lose none of all those he has given me, the raise them up at the last day. So it's really about God and Jesus.
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You know, not losing any of us in when we start saying, I am doing something to earn, maintain or establish my salvation, then we're going to be part of the the eternal equation, but when you understand
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That it was a gift from God, and He secures it and maintains it just have to endure to the end is their understanding of salvation, Kevin, is that Jesus died for my sins and it stops there. Yes, then if I'm a born again, Christian, and my lifestyle is caught up in sin too much, I'm gonna think there's something wrong with me. There's something wrong with God, there's something wrong with the Word of God, because I'm trapped. I'm addicted. And I can't get out of this trap, amen. And I gonna walk away from God. And that's a person who might say, I was saved, and I am not. The problem is their understanding. Salvation is too small. Salvation is crossing over from spiritual depth of spiritual life. And Jesus comes to live inside of us. It's not about what we do and what we don't do. It's not about our sins. It's about that Jesus took away our sins and then rose from the dead and offers life to the spiritually dead. It's a yes, no complete message. It's a full message. And when you understand that, you won't struggle with eternal security, you won't struggle that your sins caused you to walk away from God. Yes, I think that is so true. Because we're when you do you just said, when you look at your sins, and we all sin, we all do things wrong. You know, we're not saying that we don't. But we're saying that those are not
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those who had been done away with that, then forget Christ, Jesus Christ, you know, and so, yeah, we screw up every day. And that it's, we should be thankful for that that is done for us, and that our sins are forgiven, and that we have new life, that you know, sin is always going to be part of our experience. Anything is out of faith is sin. Right? And we can we can be do something not have faith. I mean, we talked about in our Bible study last week, and we really kind of nailed that out that you could do whatever you're doing when you're doing something stupid. It could be whatever you were believing something is going to give us, you know, happiness or joy or achievement. And you know, that's not we're not having faith, we're putting our faith in the wrong thing.
Unknown Speaker 12:48
Right. But as we're, as you're saying, and we're talking about the fact that we will sin until we die, nobody has will ever stop sinning, we all anything. It's not a faith of sin. So we're all going to have that issue. But God is not going to leave us because of our sins. That's why he took away our sins, He sealed us with the Holy Spirit. And that because he took away our sins, the Spirit of God will never leave us. Never leave us know not only do people struggle with a too small understanding of salvation, their understanding of forgiveness isn't complete enough, either. You have to come to the point that you know that God is taken away your sins one time at the cross.
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Yeah.
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Let me read this little section to it's pretty cool.
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It says, Peter tells his readers that they are those who by God's power are guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. That's First Peter, one, five. And the word guarded is the Greek word throw can mean both kept from escaping and protected from attack. And perhaps both kinds of guarding are intended here. God is persevering believers from escaping out of his kingdom. And he is protecting them from external attacks. Well, that's right. And I'll tell you what 113 and one four says pray speed to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy. He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And here's the key and into an inheritance that can never perish. That means eternal spoil
Unknown Speaker 15:00
Fade. Yes. Just like you read this inheritance is kept in heaven for you for one day we will receive it. And we're guarded by God's power until the coming of the salvation
Unknown Speaker 15:17
of Jesus. Yeah. I mean, let me restate that. I mean, we have eternal life right now, the moment we, you know, accept Christ as our Savior. We have our eternal life begins at that moment. That's right. When we get to heaven, we will have sanctified bodies, and we will be in God's presence for all eternity.
Unknown Speaker 15:39
That's the that's the big deal there. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 15:42
Hey, I want to read john 1028. And 29. I love these two verses says, I give them eternal life. There it is, again, eternal life, not temporal life, and they shall never perish, never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
Unknown Speaker 16:04
As sheezus speaking, right, then he says, 29, my father, who has given them to me is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of my father's hand.
Unknown Speaker 16:22
And that is basically one of the verses that anybody believes in eternal security. That's our flagship verse. You can't steal a Christian out of God's hand. Anybody who goes against that? I mean, it's just like, come on. Really?
Unknown Speaker 16:42
That's right. How about he Burstein five Kevin, it says, keep your lives free from the love of money.
Unknown Speaker 16:52
And 10 with what you have, because God has said, Never will I leave you. There's that word never again.
Unknown Speaker 17:01
Never will I leave you never will I forsake you.
Unknown Speaker 17:07
That's how I know. Christ will never leave me no matter what. Because the Word of God says that. Yes, I'm not going to look at the lives of people who may be they have struggle. And they have said, You know what, I walked away from God. My thought is,
Unknown Speaker 17:27
they probably never were born again in the first place. But I can't know that you can't know that only God knows who's born again, who isn't. But I'm not going to look at the lives of people and make a doctrine out of this. I'm going to look at what the Word of God says, Never will I leave you never will I forsake you. So what he's saying is that we can't look at people who walk away from the faith and make a doctrine out of saying, Oh, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian. Now, I'm not a Christian, I'm not a Christian, and then say, base a doctrine that we can lose your salvation out of a person doing that. Yeah, he goes to bed that night. He's struggling, he says that he's a Christian, and then wakes up in the morning and says, I'm done. I'm not I don't want to be a Christian anymore. God, I'm done with you. So you go to bed a Christian, you wake up not a Christian. So what does God do? he withdraws his deposit, he keeps his inheritance. He does all those things we talked about earlier, he breaks his promise, he lies he revokes the guarantee all happened overnight.
Unknown Speaker 18:44
So either that happened, or that person never came to put their faith in Christ. Now, they never had genuine faith, never agenda, and we don't know who has faith and who doesn't. It says in First Corinthians, no one knows the spirit of a man except for the Spirit of God. Right? So
Unknown Speaker 19:07
I hope somebody who says they're born again they are, I just know that I know I'm born again. It's my relationship with God. It's not my spiritual relationship with people, although I have a relationship with people. He who has the sun as life, He who does not have the sun does not have life. Simple as that. And I think that's, you know, just re emphasize what you said is that, as you look at these verses, there's a lot of verses, you know, I don't know if we get to it today. time's going. But if you look at Hebrews six is a
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big chapter that people say that you can walk away because it says, you know, once once you're enlightened, you've tasted the heavenly gift and, and you've kind of walked away and you have to understand those verses those parable.
Unknown Speaker 20:00
Those stories as someone who's not genuinely had the saving faith, and that's really the only way you can do it. If you if you don't do that, then you're getting into deep weeds of putting it into a format or going off the deep end. That's right. Yeah. The big problem with the, when people read the book of Hebrews is they look at it and say that that was to Hebrew Christians, but that was to Hebrews. Some are saved, and some more. But it says in chapter five, that they were not acquainted with the teachings about righteousness. They were tasty. They tasted were enlightened. They shared, but they never swallowed, right goes on to say and six, the writer of Hebrews that I, I'm hoping a better things in your case, things that accompany salvation. But yeah, Hebrews six and 10 are the two verses that pastors will go to it to say that you can lose your salvation. And we are going to talk about those two verses on our next podcast, Kevin, in depth.
Unknown Speaker 21:17
Part Two of eternal security coming up coming up coming at you. That's right. So it's just good news. I mean, I like to stick with this good news gives me great confidence, great joy, great piece to know that there's nothing I can do to separate myself from the love of God. That effect that's Romans 835 to 39 that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. Yes. And so deep, how deep? How wide. How expansive is the love of God. So amazing. Thank you for listening to grace coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at the Grace coach@gmail.com visit our Facebook page, or visit our website, Grace coach.org
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
In the Bible, the word righteous mean to be right with God. How can we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are right in God's sight? Does it come by works or by faith or a combination of the two? Listen in to find out how this happens.
Most Christians would describe salvation this way...."Jesus died for my sins". Is there more to the message of salvation than Jesus's death on the cross for our sins? Romans 5:10 describes it this way..."For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" Listen in as Mike and Kevin discuss this most important topic and verse.
One day Jesus is coming back to get his Church, those who are born again or who have died and were born again. This day is coming soon and we will be with the Lord forever. Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about our home in heaven.
Jesus used an ancient Galilean wedding to describe what the rapture will be like. After the bride accepts the bridegroom's offer, they both wait and prepare, until the bridegroom's father says "it time to unite and marry". When the bride hears the trumpet call, she knows the bridegroom is coming to get her. In the same way, when we, as born again Christians, hear the trumpet call, we know Jesus is coming back to take us to be with him forever.
The rapture is an event in which Jesus will come in the clouds and snatch away all people who are either born again and still living, or have already died. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 says that we will meet him in the air, and then be with him forever. How can you know for sure that you are born again and rapture ready?
The single greatest event of all time is the rapture or snatching away of born again Christians. This is the day the Lord Jesus returns possibly in mid air to snatch or take away his Church. This is the blessed hope Titus 2:13 talks about-"The glorious appearing of our God and Savior Jesus Christ".
Good Friday should be called Great Friday. So many awesome things happened when Jesus died on the cross. This is one side of the coin. The other side of the coin was the resurrection of Jesus. This was and is God's plan to offer new life to us. Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about it.
Email us with your questions or comments to thegracecoach@gmail.com.
Ever had an argument with someone? After cooler heads prevailed did you then take the first step toward them and ask for them forgiveness? If they accepted your apology, you were reconciled to them and vice versa. If they didn't accept your offer of forgiveness, you were not reconciled with them and your relationship was shaky. In the same way, God has taken the first step and has forgiven the whole world of their sins. Have you been reconciled to Him? Who is God? He is the One who has taken away your sins, one time, at the cross.
Jesus Christ is coming back to earth and this is the turning point for the world. When He comes, what will God's judgement of you be based on? Listen in to this great conversation as Zach Maldonado joins Mike and Kevin on Grace Coach.
Have a question? Email us @ thegracecoach@gmail.com or visit www.gracecoach.org.
There are many verses in the Bible which mention Christ return to earth. Why is He coming back? Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about the most important future event in human history.
Zach Maldonado joins Mike and Kevin on Grace Coach. Zach is one of the most forward thinking young Christian authors in the world today. His top selling books are "The Cross Worked" and "Perfect and Forgiven".
Zach has a firm handle on the grace of God and knows how to communicate it. Listen in as Zach, Mike and Kevin discuss the real meaning of Christmas.
What is the difference between tithing and free will giving? Is tithing for us today? Or is there a better way to give? Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about it.
What does the word predestination mean in the Bible? Does it mean that God chooses certain people to be saved? Or does it mean that God chose to first go to the Jewish people first, and then the Gentiles? Listen in as Mike and Kevin discuss this very important subject.
Want to connect with us? Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com
God makes many promises to us as born again Christians. But the greatest of all is the promise of eternal life. The good thing that we can count on is that the Scriptures say that God does not lie. God is the promise keeper. We can count on Him. Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about God's promise to us.
The law of the Old Covenant, which was given to Israel, ended at the cross (Romans 10:4). Instead, a new law has been given to us; to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about what this means.
The law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. That seems easy to understand, but why are so many Christians still under the law and not free in Christ? Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about it.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
Many of us want to be content. The Apostle Paul said he discovered the secret of being content. Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about some scriptures which might give us a clue as to how to be more content in life.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
What should a Christian do when they face trials of many kinds? The knee jerk reaction is to fix the problem. Sometimes the problem does not go away. Then we wonder, "Where is God in all of this?".
God has given us His Word, and His Word tells us that He lives in us as Christians. The Scriptures also tell us that He will never leave us or forsake us. He is the One who will lead us in to all truth renew our minds, and set us free.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
Can we learn to overcome depression? Is it unusual to be depressed? Mike and Kevin talk about the 2nd ingredient to depression, which is misplaced dependencies.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
Have you ever struggled with depression? Most of us have. Depression is made up of two key ingredients. Unrealistic expectations and misplaced dependencies. Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about some of our unrealistic expectations, what the Bible says about them and how to overcome them.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
Want to learn to enjoy everyday life? Just ask yourself this question: How do I get right with a holy God? Seems impossible doesn't it?
Is righteousness something I have to earn? Or is it something that is given to me as a gift, when I put my faith in Christ? Did you know that The Book of Romans mentions righteousness 42 times? What is the Apostle Paul trying to tell us?
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
This might be one of our best podcasts! There are 5 reasons and probably more why so many Christians are not 100% sure they are saved and going to heaven one day. Why is this?
Listen in as Mike and Kevin discuss these reasons in detail. Go to our website and check out our blog which mentions the same content of this podcast.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
Are you a born again Christian? Then you know that you have new life in Christ. He lives in you and will never leave you.
But now what? We still have some old thoughts and attitudes and they war against our soul. Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about 5 things which can help us in our daily lives.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
Good Friday represents 3 great things. 1. Jesus took away the sins of the world. 2. The law of the Old Covenant ended. 3. Jesus ushered in the New Covenant.
Just prior Jesus's death on the cross, Jesus and his disciples had their last dinner. Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about why Jesus possible used one loaf to illustrate that He was coming back to live inside of them. Christ in you, your hope of glory.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
Want a new beginning? Start with this. We were all born in to this world, not in the image of God, but in the image of Adam. Did you know that? That's hard for many people to hear since we have heard this our whole lives and even in church.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
The resurrection of Jesus is the single most important event of all time. Why is the resurrection important to you? Because the same Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead, is what raises you from the dead, when you put your faith in Jesus. That's what it means to be born again. Listen in as Mike and Kevin talk about it.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
What does the resurrection and elevation of Jesus mean to you? Why did Jesus rise from the dead? Was it to prove he was God, or is there something more? When we grab a hold the of the power and the meaning of the resurrection everything changes. The life of Jesus comes to live inside of us and we are born again. T
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
How is the New Covenant different from the Old Covenant? When did the New Covenant go into effect? Why did God usher in a New Covenant? Join Mike and Kevin as they talk about what the scriptures say about the New Covenant. This is great stuff.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
God has given his grace to you. The foundation of grace starts with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The strength of a building lies in its foundation. The main purpose of the foundation is to hold the structure above it and keep it upright. If the foundation is not built correctly, the building will be very shaky.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
While Jesus was appearing to the disciples after his death, burial and resurrection, he said this to them... "For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:5). What does this mean? How can we find truth for life?
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
Jesus uses bread as a picture of his life in us. When you place your faith in Jesus Christ, you are born again. Once that happens, the living Christ comes to live inside you. You now have the bread of life living in you.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
When Jesus was still alive, he taught the disciples how to pray. He said to them that his kingdom was coming. But today, as a born again Christian, has the kingdom of God already come to you? Listen in as Mike and Kevin read through the Lord's Prayer.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.
Each week in church, many Christians say the Lord's Prayer. Did you know this is an Old Covenant prayer for the disciples and not you? Listen in as Mike and Kevin read through The Lord's Prayer.
Have a question about the podcast, the Bible, or life? Lets talk on Zoom or by cell phone. Email us thegracecoach@gmail.com. We will get back to you quickly.