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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
The Relevance Of A Finished Work
The episode explores the importance of understanding the finished work of Christ and its relevance to our daily lives. It discusses how this theology impacts our identity, assurance of salvation, and the approach we take toward sin and evangelism.
• Discusses the difference between futurist theology and finished work theology
• Emphasizes the significance of Jesus' statement "It is finished"
• Highlights practical applications of finished work in believers' lives
• Explains assurance of salvation as a present reality
• Explores how this theology liberates us from sin and legalism
• Addresses the necessity of evangelism centered on love and grace
• Encourages a shift in mindset about our role in today's world
One from what probably 95% of Christians sitting in church today the view that they have, which is called futuristic theology, which means that we're waiting on a lot of stuff somewhere sometime in the future to happen and then what we have is a finished work. Theology, which means that we believe a lot of things that, uh, some people are waiting on has already occurred. It's a finished work. What happened on the cross again was sufficient. So there's two different views that we tried to present, uh, to let you look at the difference between them, to compare them, contrast them and see what the difference is. And the the biggest thing is just to read the word in context, to To take the word of God, to read the verse and say what did God intend to say, what was being said, what was being portrayed in that word, rather than just taking the verse and saying well, this is what I've always been taught, because I believe what happens in church too often is we get hung up on what we've always been taught. Because I believe what happens in church too often is we get hung up on what we've always been taught, and sometimes I just want us to be thinkers, I want us to open up our minds and say, you know, just because I've heard that and said that all my life I might have been misunderstanding that Scripture. It's okay to do that, it's okay to say I can't tell you over the last year how many times I've had to look and say I was wrong, I was absolutely misinterpreting what I was reading. That's not putting anybody down. A lot of times that's my own understanding. That's all I had. But we're gaining understanding, we're gaining wisdom. So if you look at this message this morning, the relevance of the finished work, this is kind of bringing everything to a head, everything that we've talked about. Because I believe that if we look at it and we say we tell you what the finished work is and we talk about what he did on the cross and we talk about the whole process, if we don't understand how it's relevant in our life today, what good does it really do us? How important is it? We can go out and preach and it sounds really good, but if it's not relevant to my life today, does it really make a difference? So that's what I kind of wanted to come to and talk about is how the finished work can become relevant and is relevant to my everyday walk and now again, we're not waiting on the something to happen, then I'm talking right now, today, tomorrow, next week, your life, right now. How is it relevant? So, again, to just give you an understanding of the finished work. I know I've it enough.
Speaker 1:Everybody ought to be able to quote a definition, their own definition of what the finished work is, but I believe it's the belief that Jesus Christ fully accomplished listen to these now, because this is a message for some people fully accomplished salvation, redemption and reconciliation through his life, death and resurrection, and this offers profound spiritual and emotional and practical benefits to believers. It's not just something that we believe, it's something that we truly understand how it benefits us today. So here's a question that I believe that everybody should ask yourself If we are no longer just waiting on the end to come, if we believe the finished work of Christ was relevant, the finished work of Christ was sufficient, then we're no longer just waiting. That's not saying that some of the end stuff ain't going to happen, but I'm saying we're not waiting on that. If that's the case, what is the believer's role today? What should we be doing? Are we just waiting to die? Are we just waiting on the rapture? Are we just waiting on the tribulation to get here? What is our role today, based on what we say? We believe? The answer lies in living out Jesus' completed work in every area of our life. If we understand and believe the finished work, we must also realize that this belief has practical application.
Speaker 1:I want to slow down right here because I want you to see this. We've got to see that it's got practical application for believers. It's not just something that we say because it sounds good. It's what we do because of who we are. That's because of the finished work of Christ. That's the only reason that we can do the things that we do because of who we are, because of who he was and because of what he did. That stuff's got to start linking together. We can't look and say, well, that happened way back then, when he died on the cross. That's not really relevant for today. It is, it's very relevant for today. But if we don't see that, what difference does it really make in our life?
Speaker 1:So let's begin by revisiting the verse that I believe is the foundation for the finished work. I'm not going to go into this, I'm just going to show it to you real quick John 19 and 30. This verse right here, I think, when you talk about a finished work, theology. I believe that this is the foundation of believing what the finished work is. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he's on the cross, they gave Him the wine. He received the wine. He said it is finished and, bowing His head, he gave up His spirit. There's a reason for that. You can really break this verse apart and start looking at it and saying what does this really mean? So I want to add some context to this verse.
Speaker 1:The final words of Jesus here on the cross were not words of defeat. He was not defeated. He was not dying on the cross because the Sadducees and all that group of religious people had defeated him and sent him and killed him on the cross, and that's the way some people may look at it. But this was not words of defeat. This was words of a victorious declaration. He was making a declaration at this time saying God, what you gave me to do is absolutely finished. There's nothing else that needs to be done. If you look this up and study it out, the word is actually in the Greek is tetelestai and what it means is actually in the Greek is tetelestai, and what it means is paid in full, paid in full. Now think about that just a minute. If you want to break it down and put it under our own terms. That's what he said on the cross. It's finished. He said it's paid in full. Now I know a lot of people look at this in different ways, but I want to look at it like this Christ completed the mission God sent Him to accomplish. If you look at John 17 and 4, it's really important what it says right here, because it's going to show that what he was sent here to do was accomplished. He says I have glorified you. He's talking to the Father. He said I've glorified you on earth. I have finished the work in which you have given Me to do this verse. I don't know how you could interpret this any different than what it says. He's finished the work.
Speaker 1:What if you took a loan out of the bank and all of a sudden, a few years later, a few months later, whatever, you went to the bank and you paid it off? And if you've ever paid a loan off at the bank or somewhere you know, they always give you the paperwork and sometimes they'll stamp it on there and it'll say paid, it'll say paid in full. Now what if you did that and you win and you paid it off and they gave you the paper and it said paid in full? What sense would it make to go back to the bank next month and offer another payment? There's nothing else to do. It's complete, it is finished, it is paid in full. There's nothing else that we have to do with that in full. There's nothing else that we have to do with that. But yet when we turn it around and we think about that same situation with Jesus, we think we've always got to do something else to add to what he said is already complete. Now, I know you can get real technical with this stuff, but I like to try to keep it simple. That's the way I understand it and it don't make sense to me why we've got to add to what Jesus said is paid in full and complete.
Speaker 1:So what is the purpose of today? You've seen the message the relevance of the finished work. What the purpose of today is? To understand what the finished work actually means. What does it mean to our salvation? What does it mean to our identity? What does it mean to our daily living? How is it relevant and we're going to look at each one of these real briefly because I want you to see it and, as I said last week, there's a lot of things that somebody who has a futurist perspective will look and say, yeah, but I don't believe that because you're taking this away or you're taking that away. No, we're not. We're not taking anything away. Salvation is still salvation. All this other stuff is still there.
Speaker 1:A lot of times we're talking about the same thing, but we're changing the timeline on it. We may be looking and getting to the same place, but you think it's going to be sometime in the future and I'm saying it's already occurred. We're not changing it, we're not taking it away. We're not trying to change what the Bible says. We're just looking at it through a lens of a different timeline and it does change the way that we approach the Bible. It changes the way we approach other people and it changes the way we approach everyday life. So let's look at a few things that the finished work accomplished Fulfillment of God's plan.
Speaker 1:Christ fulfilled all Old Testament prophecies and the requirements of the law. If you look at Matthew 5 and 17, I'm going to show you a few verses that will say this because I don't want you to just listen to what I'm saying. I want you to be able to go to the Scripture and see what the Word says. He says here Do not think that I came to destroy the law of the prophet. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. So we're not going away with the law. We're not saying that everything that was in the Old Covenant, that was in the Old Testament, was not right. We're not saying it's unimportant. We're just simply saying it's been fulfilled. We're simply saying that Jesus Christ come and he said every prophecy that was spoken of me, that was declared over me by the old time prophets, I have come and I have fulfilled all of that, which means there's nothing left to do, which is why he hung on a cross and said it's finished, there's nothing left to do with that. He is the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John 1 and 29. If you look at these verses, it shows these things. The next day, john saw Jesus coming toward him and said Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker 1:Now we've talked about this so many times and I'm hesitant to go into this because I know I'll go off on a rabbit trail here. But most Christians I would say probably 99.9% of Christians if you ask them what was the purpose of the cross, they're going to tell you to take away the sin. I'm not saying that's not true, but can I say that there's more to it than just that it was not just to take away sin. There was more to the process. So we're not doing away.
Speaker 1:We're not saying that he didn't go to the cross to take away sin. We know right here, according to John 1 and 29, it says he takes away the sin of the world. My only argument a lot of times is I like to read it and if it don't make sense to me, I want to go in there and study it out. I want to say this is not making sense. How do I make it make sense? Because everybody I've ever asked that question to says he went to the cross to take away sin. So my next question is how can Jesus lay hands on people when he was on the earth, pray for them and say your sin has been forgiven, go and sin no more? He hadn't went to the cross yet. So that's my understanding, that it's not just to take away sin. There's more to it than that. But we're not doing away with atonement of sin. We're not saying Christ did not accomplish that, but His death paid the penalty for sin once and for all.
Speaker 1:If you look at Hebrews 10 and 12, focus in on what it says, because he's saying something really, really important here that I think a lot of Christians miss. Okay, he talks about covering sin once for all. This is a hard verse to grab a hold of Because, again, we understand this if we're Christians. We understand this if we've been in church all of our life. We understand it if we're living the life that we feel like we're supposed to be living. But when I think about my sin being forgiven and then I look and I see somebody out there on the street and they're not living for Christ and all that I have to question is their sin forgiven as well? This verse talks about that. It says he done it one time, he went to the cross one time and he done it for all. I don't know no other way to look at that, but he included everybody in with that. Now, we've said it before I'm not a universalist.
Speaker 1:I don't believe that everybody is born saved, and that's the thing that people really want to try to push on you if they don't agree with you. Oh, he's a universalist. Stay away from that. I don't believe that everybody is born saved. I believe jesus christ. When he died on the cross, he gave everybody, he took care of sin. Now there's a point that we have to come to of a realization of what he done, and we have to accept that. I believe everybody in this room and I don't even go as far as to say everybody in this world has been universally reconciled to God, because the Bible tells us that he died one time for all. I don't think you can get away from that. So no further sacrifice is needed. The work is complete.
Speaker 1:You've heard me say many times that we were co-killed, we were co-buried, we were co-resurrected. We talk about that a lot. What does that really mean? Because I can tell you, when I say that to some people, I mean they give me this. Look like, okay, this guy lost it because I'm not dead, I wasn't co-killed, I wasn't buried and I haven't been resurrected, because you have to be dead to be resurrected. So you know what does this really mean? So I want to bog down right here just a minute and show you a couple of verses, a few verses out of Romans 6, 1 through 10. If you've never read Romans 6, just the first 10 verses actually I'm going to say verse 11 verses If you haven't read that, I challenge you to go into Romans 6, verses 1-11.
Speaker 1:Read the whole chapter really, but especially these verses, because it's a profound theological explanation of a believer's participation in what Jesus done on the cross and after. I think sometimes we sit back in our churches, in our pews and in our chairs in the church and we just think about what Jesus done and we're thankful. We're thankful for what he done, but we just look at it as that's something he done and one day, if I'm good enough, I'm going to get to share in that One day when I get to heaven. What if he done that and you already shared in that with Him? What if that's what the Word told us? But we've just always went along with what we've always been taught, so we really never looked at it in that way.
Speaker 1:If you've never read Romans 6 and you've never really studied it out, I challenge you to do it. We're going to look at it, but we're going to look at it briefly today. I challenge you to get in there and study it out. What is it really saying?
Speaker 1:Verse 1 and 2 in Romans 6, look what it says. What shall we really saying? Verse 1 and 2 in Romans 6. Look what it says. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin? That grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Speaker 1:This passage, right here in 1 and 2, underscores that believers are no longer under the power of sin. If he died on the cross for the atonement of sin, then we're no longer living under that Because they have been united with Christ in His death. The old life that was dominated by sin, which was the old covenant, has been done away with. We're no longer bound by sin. The question of continuing, he asked the question will we continue in sin?
Speaker 1:To me, that reflects a misunderstanding of grace. If we understand the grace that was given to us and truly what Jesus done on the cross, then this is not even a legitimate question, because we know the answer already. The transformative power of what Christ done on the cross delivers us from the dominion of sin. Sin has no more power over me. Now what does that mean? Because that's a hard thing to grasp. It's a hard thing to wrap my head around when I look at somebody and say sin has no more power over your life, it has no more dominion. Because everybody in this room is probably thinking, no, because I've sinned and I still do some stupid stuff.
Speaker 1:So you're automatically looking at behavioral things and you're saying, well, that's sin. We're not looking at behavioral stuff here. We're looking at what Jesus done on the cross and he turned us back to understanding who we are in Christ. Sin is that distorted image and he turned us back to understanding who we are in Christ. Sin is that distorted image when I see myself as opposite of what God sees me as. That is sin, that distorted image. So I'm not looking at behavioral stuff. So it says that we're no longer bound and sin no longer has dominion over us. Why? Because Jesus went to the cross, he finished the work and he now has given us back an understanding of our identity in Christ, so sin no longer binds us anymore. Now do I walk away from that sometimes? Do I act in a way that is not God-like? Yeah, we all do. Maybe you don't, but most of us probably do, but it does not change what he's done for us.
Speaker 1:Verse 3 and 4, look what it says. Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so also should we walk in newness of life? This verse right here, baptism symbolizes the believer's participation. It says we died with Him. That's why I like to say we were co-killed with Him and we were co-resurrected with Him.
Speaker 1:The newness of life is not a future hope that's not what it's talking about but a present reality for those who are in Christ Jesus. We have the opportunity to walk out and live the life that God wants us to have right now. Now, did I just say that heaven don't exist? No, did I just say that we're not going there? No, I just said we have the ability to live out those things right now on this earth. We don't have to wait until we die to get there. This new life reflects the transition from the old covenant, which was considered death, to the new covenant, which is life again.
Speaker 1:You can't be resurrected. As this verse talks about, christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father. Even so, we should also walk in the newness of life. You can't be resurrected until you die. So if we're resurrected with, most Christians will tell you that we were resurrected with Christ. Well, how are you resurrected with Christ? But you don't see yourself dead in Christ Because they still beat themselves up, they still condemn themselves all the time. You can't be resurrected. You can't resurrect something that's living. It has to die, have no life and then it's resurrected. So I have.
Speaker 1:If I believe I'm resurrected with Christ, I also have to believe that I died with him. When he paid the price on the cross, he didn't just do it for him, he did, and he didn't just do it for me, he did it with me. I was part of that process. And that is and that is so hard for people to understand because they're trying to look at everything literal. No, I did not climb on the cross. No, I did not have marks on my back. But from a spiritual sense, we were connected in what he did on the cross. He did it for us, he did it with us. So the resurrection life is understood spiritually and covenant as a covenant, emphasizing the believers, transformation and liberation from that old covenant which was considered death, which was law. Look at the next couple more verses here on chapter 5 and 6. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death these things kind of follow each other If we believe that we're united together in the likeness of His death we died with Him certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. I've just said that, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of the sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Speaker 1:These verses right here is talking about the old self. We're not talking about the old self when you was 15 years old, 16 years old, doing stupid stuff. We try to correlate it to that. We try to correlate it before I was saved and then after I got saved. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that, because I did some really stupid stuff before I got saved. I probably done some really stupid stuff after I got saved. I probably done some really stupid stuff after I got saved. But thank God that he is who he is and I am who I am because of Him. But here's the thing when we're talking about old self, we're talking about that. Old self represents the old covenant identity Under the law and under sin, not knowing.
Speaker 1:Those folks did not know in the old covenant, did not know who Jesus Christ was. They didn't know. That's why they were always saying we're waiting on the Messiah to come. They were waiting on something, like a lot of 99.5% of Christians today are waiting on something and they didn't realize back then that the thing they were waiting on was right in their face. Just like Christians today are waiting on something and don't realize that what they're waiting on the kingdom is already here. It's already here. I think I've said this before, but it's almost like we're reliving. You go back and read the Old Covenant, old Testament. We're almost reliving some of this stuff. The same things are happening over and over again. You would think we would learn from that and realize Old Covenant is dead.
Speaker 1:It's done away with, not just on the cross. It started when At the cross and it finished with the destruction of the temple in AD 70. It was done away with. That was where they made sacrifices at. That was what was important back then. That was where they made sacrifices at. That was what was important back then. That was your way to have a connection and a relationship with God. He says I don't want you to make any more sacrifices. So what am I going to do? I'm going to tear the whole thing down. Well, you don't have the ability to go to that place anymore. And not only that, I'm going to give you the final sacrifice, my son. He's going to be the last sacrifice that has to be made. You'll never have to kill another bull or a goat. You'll never have to do all that again. Why? Because it has passed away. You're no longer under that. You're under new covenant now.
Speaker 1:So this old self represents the old covenant under identity, under the law and sin. The death of Christ and the resurrection brought an end to that identity. Think about that just a minute. I don't want to skip over this. I want you to see this. Think about that just a minute. I don't want to skip over this. I want you to see this the old covenant identity says that I have to do things a certain way. I can't go to God. I've got to go to the high priest and I've got to say whatever to him, and then he goes to God on my behalf. I don't know who I am, I just hope that I'm doing something right. I hope I'm bringing the right sacrifice. I hope that I've been good enough that he's going to forgive me. When the high priest goes in, think about that identity, the way those folks seen themselves. He says no more old covenant is gone. Now I'm giving you a new identity in Christ. I've created you in my image, after my likeness. I want you to see yourself as I see you. So we went from no identity to total identity in Christ, understanding who we are and understanding what we're entitled to.
Speaker 1:The resurrection mentioned here is not merely physical. Most futurists who's waiting on something to happen one day will tell you this is talking just merely of physical resurrection, but also it's spiritual. It points to the believer's participation in this. If you are a believer, you participated. I just read all these verses. You participated in this process. Sin's dominion was tied to. The Mosaic Law was tied to. The Law of Moses has now been nullified.
Speaker 1:People don't like to hear this and I know there's a lot of debate on this. That's why listen, we're not saying the Ten Commandments is not morally good stuff. I've said it many times hey, don't go out and leave out of here, guys, and cheat on your wife today. Don't go kill somebody. Those are morally good things. But all of that stuff in the Old Covenant, including the Ten Commandments and the other 613 laws, were Old Covenant laws. We are not under Old Covenant anymore. It has been done away with and we are under. It's been nullified.
Speaker 1:He said it will pass away and when he said that he said all of these things will be done before this generation leaves. Can I tell you he wasn't talking to us. He was talking to the people in that generation and I don't want to go back into this, but if you look at it you know the generation back then was 40 years. So you look from the cross which he inaugurated the new covenant, from the cross to the destruction of the temple, was 40 years. It was done away with in that generation, not ours. He wasn't talking to us. The Bible wasn't written to us, it was written to them. So he was talking to a group of people then and said it will happen. During this time, sin's dominion was tied to the Mosaic Law and it's been done away with Verse 7.
Speaker 1:I want to read these last few verses here, verse 7. For he who has died has been freed from sin. This is a verse that messes people up so much and I don't really understand why, because it's pretty. It's a pretty simple verse. And then it goes on in verse 8 and says now, if we died with Christ, if I was part of the death on the cross, if I was co-killed with Him, if I was part of that process, if I died with Him, we believe that we shallkilled with Him. If I was part of that process, if I died with Him, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Death, resurrection, resurrection. So when you look at verse 7, when you look at verse 7, for he who has died has been freed.
Speaker 1:When you look at verse 7, for he who has died has been freed, the death referred to here is both literal and spiritual. The literal death was what Jesus did. He literally went to the cross and died. The spiritual is your death. I didn't climb on the cross, but I died spiritually with Him. Through this death, believers are freed from the power of sin, which was linked to the old covenant.
Speaker 1:Freedom from sin means living in grace and righteousness of the new covenant. It don't mean perfection. It don't mean that I never make a mistake. It don't mean that I never slip up. It just means that I'm living in grace and righteousness in the new covenant, where sin no longer holds dominion over me. That's why Paul said I do these things that I know I'm not supposed to do. But then all of a sudden it says he realized who he was. He turned. And the same with the prodigal son. The prodigal son realized who he was and he come back to himself.
Speaker 1:Now I tell you, you can mess up. Today in this Religion will call you a hypocrite when you make a mistake. You're supposed to be a Christian, you're supposed to be in church, you're supposed to be a shining example of Christ and you slipped up. You're a hypocrite. You're going to burn in hell. Yeah, that's what religion will tell you.
Speaker 1:But when we're talking about the finished work and we're talking about grace and we're talking about righteousness, I may slip up and fall, or, as we like to say, backslide, but it does not change what I am positionally. That's why I used to say this phrase all the time my condition does not change my position Positionally. I'm in Christ. Positionally, I had nothing to do with what he done for me, so I can't change it. I didn't ask for it. He did it for me Without my permission. How do you know that? Because I wasn't born yet. He didn't ask me if he could die for me. He said I'm going to do it anyway because I love you. Now, later on, you'll have a choice on whether you accept it or not, but I'm going to do it one time for all of you. The best one that you know and the worst one that you know Ain't no difference when it comes to what he done. It may be different, as in their behavior. Now you're going to look at that worst one that you're thinking about right now in your mind and you're going to say there ain't no way he going to be in the same heaven as me. Jesus done the same for him that he done for you, and that messes Christians up. Because we don't want to think that the worst of the worst is in the same boat with me. Argue with Jesus, because he did it and he did not ask your permission for it. Because he did it and he did not ask your permission for it.
Speaker 1:Let me cover verse 8 one more time Verse 8 and 9 right here. Read them together. Now. If we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. Believers' participation in the death and the resurrection of Christ is not just a future promise but a present reality.
Speaker 1:You're not wrong if you're looking and saying sometime out there in the future this might happen. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying if you have access to it now, why not take it now? Why wait? Kind of like that example we gave last week talking about the will. If you're left in a will and your uncle leaves you a million dollars and you go to the reading of it and the lawyer looks and he says your uncle's left you a million dollars, and you're like great. He says you can get it when you die. And you're like, really, that's kind of the theology that we have. God's got all this stuff for me and I'm going to get it when I die. I want it while I'm living. I don't need that stuff in heaven. I need that stuff now. I need grace now. I need peace now. I need joy now, now. But we want to defer it off until sometime in the future. It's not doing away with it, it's just changing the time frame of it. That's it.
Speaker 1:The resurrection broke the dominion of death, fulfilling the promises of life in the new covenant. Believers share in this victory. Now, as the covenant transition is complete, we move from old covenant new covenant. I keep repeating myself on some of this because I want you to see it. The old covenant was not unimportant, it was just done away with. We could not transition to the new until the old had been fulfilled. It's been fulfilled with the cross and the destruction of the temple. Now we move from old, we step in the new, totally different life. In the new Romans, 6, 1-10, those verses, if you read them, reinforces the idea that Christ, that His death and resurrection, completed God's redemptive plan, enabling believers to live fully in the reality of the new covenant.
Speaker 1:Ronnie, can you go to verse 11, just a minute? Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, go back to 10, because I didn't read that. I wasn't going to read 11, but I'm sorry, I'm sorry, go back to 10, because I didn't read that. I wasn't going to read 11, but I want to end it with 11. Let's read 10 first. For the death that he died. He died to sin One time. Well, can I get him to come back and do it again? Nope, what if my life just gets so bad? Nope, he ain't coming back and do it again. He done it one time and he done it for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God.
Speaker 1:Now, verse 11, I didn't have this in here, but I want to end it right here on 11. Likewise, I love that. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves. Go, study that word, reckon out, reckon yourselves to be dead, indeed, to sin. What does that mean? It don't mean I'm not going to make mistakes. That's not what this is talking about. See, some people take this verse and say the only time that I'm going to be dead to sin is when I'm living in heaven. So they make it futuristic. He's talking about wrecking yourself dead to sin, wrecking myself dead to the old image I'm not just an old sinner saved by grace Wrecking yourself dead to sin, but alive to Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Speaker 1:These verses will change your whole perspective, your whole theology, if you read them in context and look at them and see what they really say. These verses serve as a call to embrace and walk in the freedom and the righteousness that Christ has already secured. He's already done it. That's why I believe so much in the finished work, because what he did on the cross is already complete and what it accomplished I'm already entitled to. Another thing that the finished work accomplished was victory over Satan and over death. We just talked about death, but over Satan Through the cross Jesus. This is what the Bible says now. I ain't going to go to it, but just listen to it. He disarmed principalities and powers. Talks about that in Colossians. Also, in 1 Corinthians, it says he conquered death and secured eternal life for believers. If I'm reading this from an old covenant perspective, these verses make absolutely no sense to me. I have to be reading them from a perspective of finished work and truly understand that he's already victorious.
Speaker 1:I'm going to get ready to end right here, but I want to show you the benefit of. What does it mean? The benefits of finished work Assurance of salvation. I wanted to show you the benefit. What does it mean? The benefits of finished work, assurance of salvation. I wanted to hit this one because this is the one that messes everybody up, because we have made church simply about salvation. How many people did y'all get saved today. How many people did y'all yank out of hell? You see the Facebook posts all the time. We yanked three out of hell today. I'm joking, but that's the way we put it. And what it does is it gives us a mindset that the only important thing is to be saved from hell and be ready for heaven. That's it. I'm not doing away with it. I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying there's more to it than that. So I'm sort of saying I want to know what that more is.
Speaker 1:If I'm just here waiting on the rapture, what am I doing in the meantime, from the time that he died on the cross to the rapture? What have we been doing during this big gap? What has been our purpose during this gap? Because all I'm doing is waiting on Him to cause me to disappear and float into the sky. Salvation is by grace, through faith, not by work. If you look at Ephesians 2, I want you to see what it says in Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9. Because it talks about this very thing Salvation's by grace. It's not by anything that you've done. You will never do anything good enough to earn what Jesus has already accomplished, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. I know that's a that's hard for some people, because I've been doing this my whole life. I've been teaching Sunday school 50 years now I've been.
Speaker 1:We start looking at all these. Nothing wrong. God bless the people that's done these things. But that ain't got them any more righteous than what Jesus made them. It ain't got them any more saved than what Jesus provided. And that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Verse 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. It's not about what we're doing. Salvation by grace, through faith, not by works.
Speaker 1:Believers can rest in the certainty of their salvation. One more verse right here John 10, 28. And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone oh man, you can preach on this and really pair some theology up Neither shall anyone ever snatch them out of my hand. Satan's coming to get them. Who cares? He's just told me. Right here there's an assurance believers can rest in the certainty of their salvation. Eternal life is not just a future reality, but it's a present experience of God's kingdom. Believers are called to live in the joy and the abundance right now. We always say kingdom here, kingdom now, heaven here. Kingdom now. Heaven here. Heaven now.
Speaker 1:One of the last things here is freedom from sin and legalism. The work of Christ liberates us from the power of sin. Romans 6 and 14 gives us a great example that we are liberated, for sin shall not have we said this a while ago for sin shall not have domin. We said this a while ago for sin shall not have dominion over you. Why? Because you are not under law, but you're under grace. All the people that I see that are condemning themselves and condemning others and they're still allowing sin to have dominion over them. They're all still living in Old Covenant. That's why it's still dominating them, because they're in Old Covenant. When they realize that it's done away with, we're no longer under that, and they move to New Covenant, then sin no longer has control.
Speaker 1:I know my identity. Then the worst thing you could ever do is not know your identity in Christ and I promise you some people won't like this. But go search it out. You will not find your identity in Christ in the old covenant. Nowhere in the old covenant will you find your identity in Christ. Only in the old covenant will you find your identity in Christ, only in the new covenant. There's power in the finished work that we can now rest in God's grace. We can stop striving to try to earn what Christ has already, provided we can trust in the sufficiency of His work. We can embrace our new identity as a child of God. Already provided we can trust in the sufficiency of His work, we can embrace our new identity as a child of God and we can live boldly, knowing that you have authority in Christ. Understanding the finished work of Christ should motivate us.
Speaker 1:I'm ending right here, but I put this at the very end because I wanted people to hear this, because one of the problems that some people see with finished work theology is they say that because we feel like everything is finished, that we don't focus on evangelism. Listen, just because I don't focus on rapture and tribulation and Armageddon don't mean I don't see the importance of evangelism. I just don't teach it in a way that's trying to scare you into it, because that's what those things are trying to do To inflict fear so that you will make a decision, so that you won't burn. I don't even want to get in those things. We've talked about them. But people with a finished work perspective are often accused of overlooking the good news, which is evangelism.
Speaker 1:Evangelism is proclaiming the gospel. The gospel is the good news. Burning in hell I say this all the time is not good news to me. Thinking about somebody in my family burning forever is not good news to me. If I'm going to proclaim something, I'm going to proclaim the good news. I'm going to talk about what he did on the cross and I'm going to talk about how I benefit from it. I'm not talking about bad news. I'm not going to proclaim that and think about this. That's what we turned evangelism into. You go to any evangelistic, especially like an old tent revival man. If you ain't on your knees before that tent closes, you're going to burn. I mean the message of evangelists, a lot of evangelists I want to put them all in that category but most evangelists. That's the message Turn or burn. It's a fear tactic and it works. It works, it's been successful for a long time. I just want to preach the simplicity of the gospel. How do you simplify it? It is finished. It is finished. What's finished? Oh well, he died on the cross and he chose to give himself, and he didn't ask my permission for it. He loved me so much because I was created in the image and the likeness of God. He crawled on that cross and he said that everything that he's ever going to do wrong and everything you're ever going to do wrong, I'm going to crawl on the cross and I'm going to take it for every one of them and I'm going to be a representation of all. No longer will they have to deal with this. I'm going to deal with it and what I'm doing is absolutely sufficient, so they'll never have to deal with it again. They'll never have to be run and overtaken by sin and by death. Because I'm going to take that. That's good news To me. It is Because I'm like, wow, now where does people turn against it? Oh, you're just saying people can live how they want to. You're just saying they can do whatever they want. No, I'm not. When you truly understand who you are in Christ, things will change. You don't want to do certain things. Your mindset will shift. So I want to preach the simplicity of gospel and just saying it's finished and then going from there with it. People with a finished work perspective are often accused of overlooking some of this stuff. We're not overlooking it. We believe evangelism is important, but we're not going to focus? I'm not. I'm not going to focus on a rapture and a tribulation and a thousand year reign. We've done talked about that. We can go through them and biblically debunk every one of them Biblically Not my opinion Biblically but the truth is evangelism, from the finished work perspective, is more than simply an invitation to be saved from hell. It's an invitation for people to experience freedom. It's an invitation for people to experience freedom. It's an invitation for people to experience joy, to see reconciliation to Christ. It's an invitation for that. It's not an invitation to just get you out of something. It's an invitation to experience heaven and kingdom right now on earth. Again, evangelism is proclaiming the gospel. Gospel is good news. If you look up that word, proclaim. One definition I love it says to shout it out.
Speaker 1:We got too many evangelists shouting out horrible stuff that's scaring the mess out of people, and we have taken stuff you can stand. I'm going in right here. We're taking stuff that is not even that old and we're turning it into a theology. Stuff that is not even that old and we're turning it into a theology. There's no Scripture in the Bible. Listen, if you're going to turn something into a theology, there's got to be more than one Scripture to support it, especially if that one Scripture is being twisted to try to make it say something I've yet to understand why. Why do we want fear? Why do we want to hear all the negative stuff? Why do I have to hear about something that's going to happen for eternity and all that kind of stuff? Why not just say this is what he done and this is applicable to my life right now. I can live with peace and joy and I can live with my life right now. I can live with peace and joy and I can live with these things right now.
Speaker 1:There's so many questions and I think it's a lot of it. I think it's just like the Bible says. It says we'll be destroyed for a lack of knowledge. I think the lack of knowledge on understanding the Word and understanding certain things has really messed us up. What do we stand for? What do we believe? If I don't agree with you? You know that, don't make me wrong. That don't agree with you. You know that, don't make me wrong, that don't make you wrong.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we may just be looking at things a little bit different, but I'm getting to the point now where I'm asking this question. I don't care what you say. Can you back it up with Scripture Without twisting it? Can you back it up with Scripture Without twisting it? Can you read the Scripture in context and truly back up what you're believing? And if you can't, then why aren't you believing? Why not dig down and find truth? I believe if everybody began to see the positive side of what Christ done instead of looking at the negative, our communities would be different, churches would be different, people overall would change. But we get lost in this thing. So again, what's the relevance of it? It's finished. I'm entitled to everything that he said I could have because of what he was doing. I don't have to wait. I don't have to defer this stuff until sometime in the future. I have access to it, I'm entitled to it right now and I have the ability to walk in it, to understand it and to proclaim it to other people. I'm going to make it this way.
Speaker 1:We talk about confused people. We always look at the ones on the outside, and the outside the church, I mean. Really, we're confused about some things. It ain't got nothing to do with denomination, I'm not saying Baptist or Methodist or what. I'm saying the church as a whole. We're confused about some things and we're fighting and we're pulling each other down and we're causing division and we're not coming together. Ain't no Baptist church going to let me preach this message in their pulpit, but I understand. That Used to make me mad, but now I understand it, because I'm not letting a Baptist preacher get in his pulpit. That's not me, but we're so. All I'm saying is we're so divided on stuff. We're reading the same book, but we're worlds apart, and to me that's just amazing.