The Christian's Greatest Discovery - Part 12

Guest (Female): Jesus said if we know the truth, the truth will make us free. On this edition of Messianic Perspectives, Dr. Gary Hedrick shows us one truth in particular that enables us to walk in real freedom. Stay with us as we discuss the Christian's greatest discovery.
Liz Aiello: Shalom, and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the Scriptures from a distinct first-century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Aiello. Today, Dr. Gary Hedrick is discussing the Christian's greatest discovery. I'll be back at the close of the program to tell you about our special offer. And now, with today's installment, here is Gary Hedrick.
Dr. Gary Hedrick: We welcome you, listening friend, to this edition of the program. It's good to have you with us today as we conclude our series of studies from the life of Abraham, which we've entitled "The Christian's Greatest Discovery." The discovery we've been talking about is the assurance of salvation. We've been noticing how even Abraham, the great patriarch of the Jewish nation, the hero of faith mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11—even Abraham needed assurance. And God gave it to him over and over and over again. Now, we're going to be finishing up this series of studies today. As we wrap things up, I want to take you back to the passage where we started this series about two weeks ago, and that's in Genesis chapter 15. That's where we saw Abraham, and he said, "Lord God, how can I know I'm going to inherit the promise? How can I really know for sure that you're going to keep your word?" And God presided over that strange ceremony there in the smoking lamp and the burning furnace, and passed through the pieces of the sacrificial animals. We spent a lot of time on that, so we're not going to go back and do that all over again. But after it's all over, here in Genesis 15, he says in verse 18, "In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." One of the reasons Abraham may have been having doubts about God's ability to keep his promise might have been the fact that Abraham knew the obstacles that were in his way. He knew about the Canaanites—those ruthless, barbaric people who occupied the land. You see, the Canaanites stood between Abraham and the fulfillment of the promise. And God wanted Abraham to know, "Abraham, I've already taken care of it. I've already given them into your hand. Consider it done." In fact, when he gives the promise, "Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates," then look at the next verse, verse 19. "Not only have I given you the land, but I've also given you," look at it, "the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites." You see, not only did God know what obstacles stood in the way of Israel possessing the land, he knew each one of them by name. Sometimes when things get rough, we think, "Lord, I know you had good intentions, but did you know this was going to happen to me?" He knows every obstacle, every problem, every heartache you and I face. Not only that, but he knows each one of them by name. He's promised to give us the victory and to deliver each one of them into our hand, just like he did for Abraham here in the book of Genesis. I know we've covered a lot of territory in this series of lessons on assurance, and I've gotten sidetracked a couple of times, but if I had to summarize the whole thing in just one sentence, it would be this: Our assurance rests exclusively and totally on the promise of God. It's not our works. It's not how good we are or how well we perform. Salvation is exclusively and totally the work of Almighty God. In almost 20 years of ministry, I’ve noticed that legalism is the number one enemy of assurance. Because in these denominations and churches where you've got all kinds of legalism going on—and by that I mean salvation by works, by doing the right things, by going the right places, by behaving in the right way, and by using the right vocabulary—if you act like a Christian and talk like a Christian, then you're a Christian. That is legalism, my friend. It's like Thomas à Kempis and "The Imitation of Christ," which is nothing but legalistic garbage, because no one is saved by imitating Christ. Over 20 years of my ministry, I’ve noticed these legalistic denominations are the ones where people have the most trouble with assurance. They don't have it. These are the churches where you'll have the same people coming forward week after week, and they'll weep and they'll cry and they'll pray at the altar. Some of these people hit the altar and get saved over and over and over again. Do you know why? Let me show you what happens. Here's a little lady who's had a real hard week. She's lost her temper at the kids. She's worn out physically. She hasn't had time to pray or to read her Bible like she knows she should. She missed the Wednesday night prayer meeting. The whole week was just a total disaster. Then she goes to church on Sunday, and here's what she hears: "If you were a Christian, you would do this. If you were a Christian, you would do that. If you were a Christian, you wouldn't have this problem. If you were a Christian, you would live like this and you would perform up to standard." What's the poor woman going to think when she hears that? She's going to think she needs to get saved again. That's exactly what happens. In many of our churches, we have people going back to the altar over and over again week after week, and they think they're being saved over and over and over again. You say, "Gary, you mean you don't believe in that?" No, I don't. I believe that once a person is truly saved, he is saved forever. Once you're a child of God, my friend, God loves you unconditionally. He loves you when you have a good week. He loves you when you have a bad week. He loves you just as much when you fumble the ball as he does when you score a touchdown. What it all boils down to is the simple fact that God's love for me is totally independent of my ability to perform. That's why the Bible from cover to cover describes God's relationship to his people in terms of an earthly father's relationship to his children. In Isaiah 9:6, he's the everlasting Father. In Jeremiah 31:9, "For I am a father to Israel." In the New Testament, it's Abba, Father. That Aramaic word Abba literally means "daddy" or "papa." If you have a Bible handy, grab it and turn with me to Galatians chapter 4 in the New Testament, verse 6. Look what it says: "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." So who's saying Abba, Father? It's the Holy Spirit. When he comes into our lives when we receive Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit begins teaching us to say, "Abba, Father, Abba, Father." It's like when your babies are little. How do you teach them to talk? You lean over the crib and you say, "Daddy, Daddy." Finally one day, the baby repeats it and he says, "Daddy." The Holy Spirit is the one who teaches us that we are the children of God. He says, "Abba, Father, Abba, Father," until finally one day, we realize who we are and we say, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15 says, "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." You see, we learned it. The Spirit says it first until we are able to say it ourselves: Abba, Father. This is what separates Christianity from all the other religions of the world. If you're on our mailing list, you saw in our paper the letter we received from a Muslim man who hears our radio program in the Middle East over Trans World Radio. This man who wrote to us from Iran said, "I have never heard anything like this before." I'm just paraphrasing what he said because I don't have the letter here in front of me, but he said, "We Muslims are taught that God is high and holy and untouchable and unapproachable." He said, "You're telling me that I can have a personal relationship with the God of the universe through his son Jesus Christ?" He said, "This is the best news I have ever heard." The gospel really is good news. Why do we so often seem to go out of our way to make it sound like bad news? When God selected a word in the Greek language to describe his message to the world, he picked the word "euangelion," which literally means "good news." The good news is that we can enjoy a personal relationship with the creator of the universe through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Once we enter into that relationship, we can have the assurance and the security of knowing that we are God's children, just like Abraham did. Thanks for tuning in, listening friend. Glad you could join us today. Until next time, this is Gary Hedrick saying God bless you, take care, bye.
Liz Aiello: Thank you Gary, and thank you listening friend for tuning in today. It’s always good to have you with us as we look into God’s word together. Now, let me tell you about our special offer. It’s the compact disc which includes all of the programs in this current series of studies on "The Christian’s Greatest Discovery." Of course, the discovery we’re talking about is the truth of the believer’s security. When we understand that salvation depends on Christ and his merits rather than on ourselves and our merits, then we’ve taken the first step toward walking in true freedom. It’s unfortunate that so many of us don't fully appreciate our security in Christ. We get bogged down in our spiritual lives because we never know from one minute to the next how we stand with God. That’s why this teaching is so important. We need to know that our standing before God doesn't fluctuate depending on how well we perform. All of our sins—past, present, and future—have been forgiven through the shed blood of the Messiah. His righteousness has been imputed to us, so we can know that we’re saved. That’s what this series is all about. The title once again is "The Christian’s Greatest Discovery," and it can be yours for a gift of just $6 or more to Messianic Perspectives. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas, 78292. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. As always, when you’re in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I’m Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won’t you, for another edition of Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the free-will contributions of our listeners in this area.