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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 (I recommend listening to this song while reading this post) Who I am Not My identity is not in the temporary. My identity is not in my career, in degrees, titles, or achievements, or in my talents and skills. My identity is not in my marital, economic, or social status. My identity is not how I look, how I talk, or how old I am. My identity is not where I’m from, where I live, what I drive, or how much stuff I own. My identity is not my personal preferences, quirks, habits, or behavior. These things are temporary. They are given to me along with the fleeting time I have on this Earth . They are given to me as gifts to be thankful for. They are given to me so that I may turn to God in faith. They are given to me to use as a good steward and to the glory of God. These things are given to me, but these things are not who I am. All these things can shift, change, or be taken away at any moment, and they are all passing away in the next 50 or 60 years at best. Who I am My identity is in the eternal.  I believe in Jesus. I am saved by grace.  I am in Christ. My identity and value are found in Jesus. Jesus is Lord of Heaven and Earth, and He is my Savior. Jesus never changes. He will never be taken away. He always has been. He always will be. Jesus is eternal. Jesus is the One and Only, “I AM.”   (John 6:35, 8:12, 10:9,11, 11:25-26, 14:6, 15:5, 8:58). Jesus will always be with me, and I will always be in Him. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8). I am not my own. I was bought with a price. ( 1 Cor 6:19-20) My identity is in my Creator, Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ. I am in Christ. I am a believer. I am a follower and disciple of Jesus. I am a child of God. I am saved by grace. That’s who I am, and it’s only because of Jesus I am who I am. Therefore, the only thing I could ever boast in is in the Lord and His amazing grace (1 Cor 1:31). Dear Heavenly Father , I praise You for loving me and choosing me before the foundation of the world, that my name is written in Your Lamb’s Book of Life. I praise You for sending Your beloved Son Jesus to suffer and die on the cross for the multitude of my flagrant and secret sins, past, present, and future. Jesus paid my tremendous debt for me. Jesus saved me from an eternity in hell where I would’ve had to pay for my sins myself, justly. But God had mercy on me. Jesus loved me so much that He died on the cross to save me from my sins. In three days, Jesus rose again from the dead, and He valiantly triumphed over sin, Satan, and death. Oh death where is your sting? Oh death where is your victory?..But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:55-57). Jesus Christ is Lord over everything, including death itself. Jesus is the Light of the world, and whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12). I am eternally free and secure because I am saved by grace. I am saved by the blood of Jesus. I am in Christ. I am who I am for all eternity only because of Jesus. He is my Creator, Lord of my life, and Savior of my soul. An eternity of love, joy, peace, purpose, and new discovery awaits me because I am in Christ. I am saved by His grace alone. The best is always yet to come because I am who I am. I am in Christ. All glory belongs to my Great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. In Jesus’ name, I pray amen.   But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”  1 Corinthians 1:30-31 The world is passing away and also its desires; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever. 2 John 5:17 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” John 8:58

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32 Free to Obey So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:31-36 Truly His Disciples According to Jesus, He says that we are truly His disciples if we continue in His Word / adhere to His teachings. True disciples of Jesus go beyond mere intellectual assent to the historical facts of the gospel. Through authentic faith, true disciples demonstrate  our trust by not only acknowledging Jesus’ words as truth but also by putting them into practice. This highlights the importance of actions as evidence of faith, as clarified in James 2:14-26. True disciples of Jesus believe that He speaks the truth about God and the Scriptures. True disciples also know that Jesus is who He claims to be: The Messiah. Therefore, true disciples trust everything Jesus says and commands, and we desire to demonstrate that trust. (Of course, not perfect trust and obedience, but genuine trust and loving obedience, by the power of His grace). True disciples of Jesus will practice righteousness rather than sin. We will live out the Truth by our actions. What's in our hearts will be manifest in the way we live and conduct ourselves. We won’t merely profess Jesus as Lord with empty words and continue to live in sin and unbelief (Titus 1:16). True disciples will show the evidence of the grace of God working in our hearts and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit through His Word. Jesus says, “Then you will know the truth.” (v 32) “You” refers to those who are true disciples of Jesus. True disciples will not only know the Truth, but our eyes will be opened to a greater and greater understanding of it (1 John 5:20). Free from What? Jesus’ disciples find freedom in the truth they receive. Jesus goes on to say, “And the truth will set you free” (v 32). During that period, the Jews were living under Roman rule. They were under Roman oppression through soldiers, governors, and kings. Jesus, however, was not referring to political freedom when He spoke about the truth setting them free. In verse 34, Jesus clarifies His statement by saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” Being enslaved by sin represents the ultimate form of bondage. The freedom Jesus offers is not an earthly freedom from government oppression but a spiritual freedom from the bondage of sin— the ultimate release from a lifestyle of sin (freedom from living in unbroken patterns of ongoing, unrepentant sin). Jesus continues with the analogy:  “The slave does not remain in the house forever, but the son remains forever ” (v 35). Someone is not a member of God’s family simply because of their biological offspring to Abraham (v 37). Someone is not a member of God's family simply because they profess to be one. Someone is not a member of God's family who is a slave to sin. If we are to become true disciples of Jesus, we would know the truth of our sinful condition and the truth about Jesus, and we would believe in Him, and Jesus would set us free from the bondage of sin. As believers, we are freed from our bondage of sin and welcomed as members into God's family, where we live under grace; where we are finally free to obey Jesus. Before we believed in Jesus, we couldn’t obey Him because we were enslaved to another master…sin. We can only have one master, and as believers, our Master is Jesus now. Amen! We are now obedient from the heart, committed to the teachings of Jesus, set free from sin, and slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:17-18). Christian Liberty Jesus died for our sins and rose again, so that by grace through faith in Him, we may have eternal life. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:16) Believing in Jesus brings freedom — freedom from sin, freedom from the tyranny of the Law and working for our salvation, freedom from God’s righteous judgment and eternal wrath against sin, freedom from His condemnation, and freedom from death itself (Romans 6:22, 8:1-2). We are free because Jesus paid it all on the cross for us, and we believe in Him. Jesus came to earth to proclaim liberty to the captives (Luke 4:18). We all were once captives, working for our salvation under the high demands of the Law, but now as believers, we are free to obey God. We are no longer under the Law. We are under His grace. Our faith demonstrated through our actions is evidence that we have been given new hearts, new natures, and new desires through the new birth. We once didn’t desire to obey God, but now we do. Now we are members of God’s family, children of God, servants of God and slaves of righteousness, and we are truly Jesus' disciples. This is the Christian's liberty. We are free to obey Jesus. By the power of the Holy Spirit, may we demonstrate our freedom in Christ by obeying our Lord Jesus, through the kind of faith that works through love  (Gal 5:6). But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,    and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.  Romans 6:17-18 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 1 Peter 2:16

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 13:14 Two Men on a Plane I'd like to share something a bit different with you this week. This is a lesson written by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron from the Online Biblical Evangelism Course at Living Waters. It's a fantastic illustration involving two men on a plane who are given parachutes. I just had to share this with you all on my blog! “The trouble with people who are not seeking for a Savior, and for salvation, is that they do not understand the nature of sin. It is the peculiar function of the Law to bring such an understanding to a man’s mind and conscience. That is why great evangelical preachers 300 years ago in the time of the Puritans, and 200 years ago in the time of Whitefield and others, always engaged in what they called a preliminary ‘Law work.’” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones Kirk Cameron's directions:"Give some deep thought to this lesson, because the essence of the entire School of Biblical Evangelism pivots on the illustration given in this chapter. It exposes the motive of the sinner and reveals the pit­falls of the modern gospel message." The Tragedy of the Modern Gospel "As I began to look at church growth records from around the country, I found to my horror that 80 to 90 percent of those making a decision for Christ were falling away from the faith. That is, modern evangelism was creating 80 to 90 of what we commonly call backsliders for every hundred decisions for Christ. For example, in 1991, a major U.S. denomination was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ. Unfortunately, they could find only 14,000 in fellowship, which means they couldn’t account for 280,000 of their decisions—and this is a normal, modern evangelical result. The tragedy of modern evangelism is that, around the turn of the twentieth century, the church forsook the Law in its capacity to convert the soul and drive sinners to Christ. Modern evangelism therefore had to find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel, and the reason it chose was the issue of “life enhancement.” The gospel degenerated into “Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.” Something like this is usually said, “You will never find true happiness until you come to the Lord. You have a ‘God-shaped vacuum’ in your heart that only He can fill. God will heal your marriage and take away that addiction problem. He’ll get you out of financial difficulty and be your best friend.” The following anecdote will illustrate the unscriptural nature of this very popular teaching. First Man on the Plane Two men are seated on a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put it on, as it would improve his flight. He’s a little skeptical at first, since he can’t see how wearing a parachute on a plane could possibly improve his flight. He decides to experiment and see if the claims are true. As he puts it on, he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and he finds he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact he was told that the parachute would improve his flight. So he decides to give it a little time. As he waits he notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him for wearing a parachute on a plane. He begins to feel somewhat humiliated. As they continue to point and laugh at him, he can stand it no longer. He slinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because as far as he was concerned he was told an outright lie. Second Man on the Plane The second man is given a parachute, but listen to what he is told . He’s told to put it on because at any moment he’ll be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on. He doesn’t notice the weight of it upon his shoulders, nor that he can’t sit upright. His mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without the parachute. Let’s now analyze the motive and the result of each passenger’s experience. The first man’s motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience was that he was humiliated by the passengers, disillusioned, and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute. As far as he’s concerned, it will be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again. The second man put the parachute on solely to escape the jump to come. And because of his knowledge of what would happen to him if he jumped without it, he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he’s saved from sure death. This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude toward those who gave him the parachute is one of heartfelt gratitude. "Jesus Will Improve Your Flight" Now listen to what the modern gospel says: “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He’ll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.” In other words, Jesus will improve your flight. The sinner responds, and in an experimental fashion puts on the Savior to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The promised temptation, tribulation, and persecution—the other “passengers” mock him. So what does he do? He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ; he’s offended for the Word’s sake; he’s disillusioned and somewhat embittered…and quite rightly so. He was promised peace, joy, love, and fulfillment, and all he got were trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed at those who gave him the so-called “good news.” His latter end becomes worse than the first, and he’s another inoculated and bitter “backslider.” Warn Sinners About the Jump Instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning sinners that they have to jump out of the plane—that it’s appointed for man to die once and then face judgment ( Hebrews 9:27 ). When a sinner understands the horrific consequences of breaking the Law of God, he will flee to the Savior, solely to escape the wrath that is to come. If we are true and faithful witnesses, that’s what we’ll be preaching —that there is wrath to come—that God “commands all men every where to repent: because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness” ( Acts 17:30 , 31 ). The issue isn’t one of life enhancement, but one of righteousness. It doesn’t matter how happy a sinner is, or how much he is enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season; without the righteousness of Christ, he will perish on the day of wrath. Proverbs 11:4 says, “Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivers from death.” Peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation, but it’s not legitimate to use these fruits as a drawing card for salvation. If we continue to do so, the sinner will respond with an impure motive, lacking repentance. Can you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace in his heart? It was because he knew that the parachute was going to save him from sure death. In the same way, as believers we have “joy and peace in believing” ( Romans 15:13 ) because we know that the righteousness of Christ is going to deliver us from the wrath to come. Flee from the Wrath to Come With that thought in mind, let’s take a close look at an incident aboard the plane. We have a brand-new flight attendant. It’s her first day. She’s carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee. She wants to leave an impression on the passengers, and she certainly does! As she’s walking down the aisle, she trips over someone’s foot and slops the hot coffee all over the lap of our second passenger. What’s his reaction as that boiling liquid hits his tender flesh? Does he say, “Man, that hurt!”? Yes, he does. But then does he rip the parachute from his shoulders, throw it to the floor, and say, “The stupid parachute!”? No; why should he? He didn’t put the parachute on for a better flight. He put it on to save him from the jump to come. If anything, the hot coffee incident causes him to cling tighter to the parachute and even look forward to the jump. If we have put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right motive—to flee from the wrath to come—then when tribulation strikes, when the flight gets bumpy, we won’t get angry at God, and we won’t lose our joy and peace. Why should we? We didn’t come to Christ for a better lifestyle, but to flee from the wrath to come. If anything, tribulation drives the true believer closer to the Savior. Sadly, we have multitudes of professing Christians who lose their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy. Why? They are the product of a man-centered gospel. They came lacking repentance, without which they cannot be saved." - Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron Closing Thoughts “I’m doing fine. I don’t need God.” Many people feel this way because of the modern gospel message. It says that Jesus will help their marriage, remove their drug problem, fill the emptiness in their heart, give them peace and joy, etc. In doing so, it restricts the gospel’s field of influence. If the message of the cross is for people who have bad marriages, are lonely, and have problems, then those who are happy won’t see their need for the Savior. In truth, the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ is for people with bad marriages and people with good marriages. It is for the happy and the sad. It is for people with problems and those without problems. It is for those who are miserable in their sins, as well as those who are enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. Those who think they are doing fine need to be confronted with a holy Law that they have violated a multitude of times. Then they will see themselves through the eyes of the Judge of the Universe and will flee to the Savior. Even if you could do far better than you are doing now, you still can’t do well enough because you don’t please God by being good ( Galatians 2:21 ), but by trusting Jesus ( John 1:12 ). Also, sincerity is not the way to heaven. What if you are sincerely wrong? (Remember  John 14:6 ?) If you are relying on your sincerity, then you are saying that because you are sincere, you are good enough on your own to be with God. To appeal to your sincerity is to appeal to pride, because you are appealing to something that is in you, and not to God, for your reason to go to heaven. You must have faith in Jesus. - Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron

< Back Alistair Begg Truth for Life Ministries www.truthforlife.org Truth For Life - The Bible-Teaching Ministry of Alistair Begg My Favorite Sermons & Biblical Teaching • What is the Gospel? - 6 Minute Version • What is the Gospel? • Ecclesiastes - A Word to the Wise Part 1 • Ecclesiastes - The Search for Satisfaction Part 2 • Ecclesiastes - Eternity on My Mind Part 3 • Ecclesiastes - All Those Lovely People Part 4 • Ecclesiastes - Concerning Worship Part 5 • Ecclesiastes - Search For Meaning Part 6 • Ecclesiastes - All Case Against Self-Sufficiency Part 7 • Ecclesiastes - Dead Flies and Little Birds Part 8 • Ecclesiastes - Celebrate Life Part 9 • Ecclesiastes - Remember Your Creator Part 10 • Ecclesiastes - A Surprising Punchline Part 11 • Why Worry? God's In Charge! • Love • Joy • Peace • Patience • Kindness and Goodness • Faithfulness • Gentleness • Self-Control • Knowing Versus Feeling • Warning Against Adultery • Jealousy • Laziness • Anxiety • Dealing With Stress • One Thing You Lack • Will Only a Few Be Saved? ​

< Back Paul Washer Heartcry Ministries heartcrymissionary.com Homepage | HeartCry Missionary Society My Favorite Sermons & Biblical Teaching • The Gospel - 8-minute version • What is the True Gospel? • Shocking Message - His Most Famous Sermon • Examine Yourself • The Beauty of Jesus Christ • God is Love But He is Also Just • The 4 Pillars of the Christian Life • Are You Taking the Word of God Seriously? • You Idolize Your Ministry • The Day of Judgment • The Great White Throne Judgment • A Biblical Husband and Family • Who Do You Say Jesus is? • The Consequences of Sin • Don't Expect a Perfect Repentance • The Way God Loves You • What Does it Mean to Fear God? • How Millions are Deceived • The Will of God - Your Sanctification • How to Abide in Christ • Being What You Are • The Cost of Not Following Christ • Do You Bear Fruit? • Observable Evidences of True Conversion • Joy from Christ, Not Your Performance • Do You Truly Know the Lord?​ • How to Have Joy in the Lord • My Hope is Not in Myself but in Christ

< Back RC Sproul Ligonier Ministries www.ligonier.org Ligonier Ministries – Renew your mind. Ligonier Ministries, founded by R.C. Sproul, exists to proclaim, teach, and defend the holiness of God in all its fullness to as many people as possible. My Favorite Sermons & Biblical Teaching • What is the Gospel? - 3 minute version • What is the Gospel? • The Way, The Truth, and the Life • What is Truth? • Who is Truth? • Can We Know Truth? • How Does the Truth Relate to Me? • How Does the Truth Command Me? • How Do We Know What We Know? • The Practice of Love • The Degrees of Sin • If God is Good, Why Do I Suffer? • Knowing the Will of God for Your Life • All Christians Believe in Predestination • A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Theological Liberalism • If God is Sovereign, Why Pray? • What is Free Will? • Why Did Christ Die? • Must I Be Born Again? • Does God Create Unbelief? • How to Deal With Anxiety • The Christian's Assurance of Salvation •The Battle with the Flesh: Pleasing God • The Resurrection of Christ • Four Kinds of People - Assurance of Salvation • True Assurance Vs False Assurance of Salvation • Salvation Guaranteed • Guilt and Forgiveness • What is Theology? • What is Reformed Theology? -Introduction • What is Christian Marriage? • Nothing Left to Chance