1
00:00:04,170 --> 00:00:13,525
As has already been mentioned, we do have Rob Whitaker coming this next Sunday, beginning
on Sunday.

2
00:00:13,525 --> 00:00:17,056
The lessons will begin with the Bible class hour.

3
00:00:17,597 --> 00:00:21,959
Just give you a little bit of background because some of you may not know who Rob is.

4
00:00:22,759 --> 00:00:27,942
I first met Rob when I was the IT administrator for the Gospel Broadcasting Network.

5
00:00:28,310 --> 00:00:45,246
We were invited to come up and record a debate that was going to occur up in Red Springs,
Tennessee, about an hour from everywhere, as they say.

6
00:00:46,007 --> 00:00:48,549
And it's up on the other side of Nashville.

7
00:00:48,549 --> 00:00:53,133
was, happened to the congregation was where Rob was at, was sponsoring it.

8
00:00:53,870 --> 00:00:56,472
And I'll tell you why the debate was happening.

9
00:00:56,472 --> 00:01:08,121
It was a debate that was happening between one of the missionaries that is located at that
congregation and also works with that congregation and with a Baptist minister.

10
00:01:08,702 --> 00:01:22,733
And the reason that that debate was going to occur and did occur is because in that area,
the church had made such inroads in converting

11
00:01:22,934 --> 00:01:27,276
people out of the Baptist denomination to the truth.

12
00:01:27,917 --> 00:01:39,042
They had started to have a bit of an uproar within the Baptist churches about the fact
that the Church of Christ kept stealing their members.

13
00:01:39,603 --> 00:01:46,666
And so finally, enough of them got behind one of the Baptist ministers and said, you've
got to do something about this.

14
00:01:46,816 --> 00:01:55,914
You've got to do something publicly about this because our congregations are dying as a
result of the fact that these people are leaving and going to the Church of Christ.

15
00:01:57,096 --> 00:01:59,758
And so they had a debate.

16
00:02:02,572 --> 00:02:14,718
After the debate, in the course of the next few weeks, were another, my memory serves me
correctly because it's been 10 years, there were another 11 members of the Baptist Church

17
00:02:14,718 --> 00:02:17,782
converted as a result of the debate.

18
00:02:19,990 --> 00:02:20,970
Why?

19
00:02:22,351 --> 00:02:25,333
Partly because of the work of Rob Whitaker.

20
00:02:26,494 --> 00:02:32,297
Rob had been diligent in doing personal Bible studies.

21
00:02:33,598 --> 00:02:40,221
Those people who were converted out of the Baptist Church weren't converted on Sunday
morning during sermons.

22
00:02:40,942 --> 00:02:48,206
They were converted sitting down at a dinner table and studying the Bible by and large.

23
00:02:48,662 --> 00:02:59,487
They were converted because people took the time to talk with them, to open the Bible with
them, to study God's Word with them.

24
00:03:00,988 --> 00:03:12,543
And as I was, actually during that event, got to spend the weekend with Rob and Nicole and
their family at their house, found out that their daughter makes really good chocolate

25
00:03:12,543 --> 00:03:13,613
chip cookies.

26
00:03:13,613 --> 00:03:14,834
That was important.

27
00:03:14,834 --> 00:03:15,724
But...

28
00:03:17,066 --> 00:03:26,110
As I talked to Rob, I inquired concerning how he was doing the Bible studies.

29
00:03:27,230 --> 00:03:42,667
And about 2008, as I was starting to preach out in North Carolina, I had run into some
material that World Video Bible School had put out on the Back to the Bible series that

30
00:03:42,667 --> 00:03:46,338
Brother Bobby Bates down in Texas had written.

31
00:03:46,794 --> 00:03:55,018
And he was a man who had converted more than a thousand people himself using those three
booklets.

32
00:03:55,879 --> 00:03:58,700
And Rob said, well, I use back to the Bible.

33
00:03:58,734 --> 00:04:01,782
I said, you do, because that's what I use.

34
00:04:03,756 --> 00:04:15,041
But Rob is not only able to teach you how to effectively use that material, Rob and Nicole
are able to teach you how to effectively get people to sit down and study the Bible

35
00:04:15,041 --> 00:04:17,291
because that's the harder of the two.

36
00:04:18,292 --> 00:04:32,738
Getting people in our modern day and time to sit down and open the Word of God, to be
honest about the Word of God, and be willing to allow the Scriptures to stand.

37
00:04:32,738 --> 00:04:34,059
for themselves.

38
00:04:35,100 --> 00:04:46,010
There are people sitting in this auditorium this morning who are here and who are
Christians because they sat down and were willing to open the Bible and go through the

39
00:04:46,010 --> 00:04:49,672
Back to the Bible series and allow the Scriptures to stand for themselves.

40
00:04:50,494 --> 00:05:00,242
My encouragement to you is first, there's an article in the Bulletin this morning, if you
will pick that up and read that, that is just kind of a...

41
00:05:00,487 --> 00:05:06,539
a launching point to get your mind thinking about what we're going to be doing in the next
week.

42
00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:15,023
But the other thing I encourage you to do is just go ahead and clear your schedules for
Monday evening and Tuesday evening and plan to be here.

43
00:05:15,583 --> 00:05:19,465
Because you will be blessed by doing it.

44
00:05:19,465 --> 00:05:29,919
There is something that you can do, no matter your capacity, no matter your preparation,
there is something you can do to help this congregation reach the lost.

45
00:05:30,433 --> 00:05:34,035
and you will learn about the things you can do if you will be here.

46
00:05:34,035 --> 00:05:41,959
Be here Sunday morning for Bible class, for the sermon, for the afternoon sermon, and then
for Monday night and Tuesday night, please.

47
00:05:42,079 --> 00:05:46,212
You will, and Wednesday night, and you will be blessed by doing so.

48
00:05:46,212 --> 00:05:59,929
Well, let's take a moment and consider this, that God set in order as had always been His
plan,

49
00:06:01,183 --> 00:06:02,419
A new way.

50
00:06:04,969 --> 00:06:17,848
around December, towards the end of December, people start thinking about their lives over
the last year and start thinking, yeah, maybe I need to do some things a little different

51
00:06:17,848 --> 00:06:19,199
next year.

52
00:06:19,780 --> 00:06:30,187
The scale's not looking great, the numbers from the doctor aren't looking great, I don't
feel as good as I felt January last I need to start doing some things differently.

53
00:06:30,187 --> 00:06:33,229
I need a new way of doing things.

54
00:06:34,797 --> 00:06:40,657
And if you talk to all of the gyms in the area, you'll find out that around January,
people start coming.

55
00:06:40,657 --> 00:06:43,717
And around February 15, they're done.

56
00:06:47,735 --> 00:06:48,980
But God...

57
00:06:50,675 --> 00:07:07,926
all the way back in the Old Testament, hundreds of years before Christ was born, told the
Jews, and through the Jews all of humanity, that He was creating a new way of doing

58
00:07:07,926 --> 00:07:08,796
things.

59
00:07:09,417 --> 00:07:17,261
That He was setting things in order for a new way for things to occur.

60
00:07:18,621 --> 00:07:25,543
I want us to consider some of the things that the Scriptures tell us God did that were
new.

61
00:07:26,441 --> 00:07:29,621
We're going to begin in Jeremiah chapter 31.

62
00:07:30,324 --> 00:07:37,226
For God set forward a new plan, and God enacted a new plan.

63
00:07:37,226 --> 00:07:46,349
In Jeremiah chapter 31, Jeremiah as he is writing to Israel, as he is prophesying to
Israel, as he's warning Israel,

64
00:07:46,349 --> 00:07:51,569
as he has already been told by God, don't worry, Israel's not going to hear you.

65
00:07:51,569 --> 00:07:59,509
Israel's not going to be obedient to the things that I say because their judgment is
assured because they will not repent.

66
00:07:59,609 --> 00:08:10,509
And yet God says as he speaks concerning the remnant, as he speaks through Jeremiah, he
says in verse 31, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord.

67
00:08:10,529 --> 00:08:15,721
When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,

68
00:08:15,721 --> 00:08:24,693
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of land of Egypt, my covenant

69
00:08:24,693 --> 00:08:36,427
which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord." Notice first and
foremost that God says the thing which He is doing, the thing which He is planning, the

70
00:08:36,427 --> 00:08:45,129
thing which He is going to enact is going to be new and it is going to be unlike what He
had done before.

71
00:08:46,229 --> 00:09:00,848
You know, when you get to January 1st and you start that decision making process to have a
resolution to do things differently, the thing that hasn't changed is it's still you doing

72
00:09:00,848 --> 00:09:01,528
it.

73
00:09:03,853 --> 00:09:10,393
One thing continued from December 31 over to January 1 and it was you.

74
00:09:11,313 --> 00:09:15,653
And if you don't change, nothing's going to change.

75
00:09:16,613 --> 00:09:28,853
But God is making the point that the thing which he is doing, the thing which he is
talking about, the covenant that he is making is not going to be just a reformation of

76
00:09:28,853 --> 00:09:30,553
Moses' covenant.

77
00:09:30,695 --> 00:09:35,771
It's not going to be a part two to Moses' covenant.

78
00:09:35,771 --> 00:09:40,677
This is not going to be a continuation of Abraham's covenant.

79
00:09:40,677 --> 00:09:44,400
This is going to be a new covenant.

80
00:09:44,941 --> 00:09:47,441
what had been before.

81
00:09:47,441 --> 00:09:55,681
He says, verse 33, but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord.

82
00:09:55,681 --> 00:10:05,081
I will put my law in their minds and I will write it in their hearts and I will be their
God and they shall be my people.

83
00:10:05,301 --> 00:10:15,015
No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying, the Lord, for
they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of

84
00:10:15,015 --> 00:10:22,717
says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.

85
00:10:23,997 --> 00:10:41,480
God as he speaks through Jeremiah to Israel says the new covenant is going to involve his
law being written on the hearts and the minds of people.

86
00:10:42,281 --> 00:10:44,001
Now Moses's law

87
00:10:44,937 --> 00:10:50,620
was written on clay tablets but not this new law.

88
00:10:51,021 --> 00:10:54,623
This new law God says it's going to be written on the heart.

89
00:10:55,003 --> 00:11:01,587
Now that in no way implies that people just get to do whatever they want to do that's no
law at all.

90
00:11:02,628 --> 00:11:11,313
Rather that the law was going to be given and it was going to be given so that individuals
could hear it and could keep it.

91
00:11:16,429 --> 00:11:28,149
In verse 34, Jeremiah says, no more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his
brother, saying, know the Lord.

92
00:11:28,149 --> 00:11:30,849
Back when I was in the school of preaching, we were going over Jeremiah.

93
00:11:30,849 --> 00:11:33,709
I didn't understand what that was saying.

94
00:11:34,929 --> 00:11:36,449
I do now.

95
00:11:38,035 --> 00:11:43,083
As an Israelite, you were born physically into the covenant.

96
00:11:45,225 --> 00:11:52,387
When you came out of your mother's womb as an Israelite, you were part of the covenant.

97
00:11:53,126 --> 00:11:57,828
You hadn't made a decision about it, you were born into it.

98
00:11:58,709 --> 00:12:07,291
You had it by nature of descendancy, by lineage, by tribe, by family.

99
00:12:07,631 --> 00:12:14,133
Because your parents were Israelites, you had part in the covenant.

100
00:12:15,167 --> 00:12:18,160
But you didn't know anything about the covenant.

101
00:12:19,242 --> 00:12:20,963
You had just been born.

102
00:12:21,404 --> 00:12:33,217
So part of the responsibility under the Old Testament covenant was having someone who was
born into the covenant now having to be taught the covenant as they grow.

103
00:12:34,165 --> 00:12:43,712
And so one neighbor would teach another neighbor about the law, about Moses' word, about
the covenant, about the things and the ordinances that they were supposed to be keeping so

104
00:12:43,712 --> 00:12:48,255
that the person who was in the covenant would actually know how to keep the covenant.

105
00:12:50,057 --> 00:12:52,718
Because they were born into it.

106
00:12:53,940 --> 00:12:56,421
God says not so with this new covenant.

107
00:12:57,002 --> 00:13:02,015
This new covenant they're going to know first.

108
00:13:02,891 --> 00:13:06,145
before they're born into the covenant.

109
00:13:06,947 --> 00:13:09,410
They're going to come to know me.

110
00:13:09,410 --> 00:13:17,601
They're going to know what I command them to do, and through the commandment they'll enter
the covenant, not by birth.

111
00:13:17,601 --> 00:13:20,061
Turn over to Isaiah chapter 65.

112
00:13:27,005 --> 00:13:38,325
Isaiah, who writes so much concerning Christ the Messiah, will write this in Isaiah
chapter 65.

113
00:13:38,553 --> 00:13:52,383
Beginning in verse 15, we read, "'You shall leave your name as a curse to my chosen, for
the Lord God will slay you and call his servants by another name, so that he who blesses

114
00:13:52,383 --> 00:13:56,285
himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth.'"

115
00:13:56,435 --> 00:14:06,629
and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth because the former troubles
are forgotten and because they are hidden from my eyes for behold I create a new heavens

116
00:14:06,629 --> 00:14:19,185
and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind but be glad and
rejoice forever in what I create for behold."

117
00:14:19,365 --> 00:14:24,108
I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing and her people as a joy.

118
00:14:24,108 --> 00:14:27,700
I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people.

119
00:14:27,700 --> 00:14:41,938
The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her nor the voice of crying." Isaiah
tells us that God says, I'm going to create a new heavens and a new earth.

120
00:14:42,438 --> 00:14:47,401
I'm going to create a new existence for my people.

121
00:14:48,725 --> 00:14:58,829
Sadly, so many people have come to this passage and have come to the passage in Revelation
where the same terminology is used and they've said the earth and the world that we live

122
00:14:58,829 --> 00:15:01,590
in when Christ returns is going to be renovated.

123
00:15:02,831 --> 00:15:07,613
That is not the time period Isaiah is talking about.

124
00:15:09,425 --> 00:15:22,049
Isaiah is making it clear that while this physical world is going to continue on, while
the city of Jerusalem is going to continue on, inside this world God is creating a new

125
00:15:22,049 --> 00:15:23,489
existence.

126
00:15:25,390 --> 00:15:28,851
It is a spiritual existence.

127
00:15:28,851 --> 00:15:30,811
How do I know that?

128
00:15:31,652 --> 00:15:35,533
Because Jesus Christ while standing before Pilate

129
00:15:37,011 --> 00:15:50,685
was questioned concerning whether or not he knew that Pilate had the ability to take his
life, was questioned concerning whether or not he was the king, and Jesus said, my

130
00:15:50,685 --> 00:15:52,896
kingdom's not of this world.

131
00:15:53,938 --> 00:15:57,401
If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight?

132
00:15:59,649 --> 00:16:07,016
Jesus didn't come to establish a kingdom, a physical kingdom on this physical earth.

133
00:16:08,258 --> 00:16:20,269
Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of Hades, the gates of death, the gates
of the grave shall not prevail against it.

134
00:16:21,571 --> 00:16:24,333
Because His kingdom's not of this world.

135
00:16:25,093 --> 00:16:38,773
And so in the text, when we find that the church is given birth to in Acts chapter 2, and
the gospel is proclaimed in Acts chapter 2, and the gospel goes forth, the kingdom goes

136
00:16:38,773 --> 00:16:43,666
forth, the declaration goes forth, and a new world is formed.

137
00:16:45,467 --> 00:16:48,029
The kingdom of Jesus Christ.

138
00:16:49,390 --> 00:16:53,873
The world of God's people.

139
00:16:54,369 --> 00:16:58,635
You say, Aaron, but it's a new heavens and a new earth and the old one's still here.

140
00:16:58,635 --> 00:17:00,037
Yes it is.

141
00:17:01,089 --> 00:17:02,020
Yes it is.

142
00:17:02,689 --> 00:17:16,909
By the way, the same terminology was used in the Old Testament in Isaiah to refer to the
God returning His people from Babylon to Israel and creating a new heavens and a new earth

143
00:17:16,909 --> 00:17:25,344
and a new Jerusalem in a place where they were still on the same planet and they were
still in the same universe and God didn't remake any of it.

144
00:17:26,085 --> 00:17:31,248
But He restored them back to their rightful covenant location.

145
00:17:32,563 --> 00:17:35,895
New heavens and new earth doesn't have to do with a renovated earth.

146
00:17:36,455 --> 00:17:47,125
It has to do with the fact that God created a spiritual kingdom, the body of Christ, that
exists in this earth, and you and I are a part of it.

147
00:17:47,766 --> 00:17:50,168
We are a part of the kingdom of God.

148
00:17:50,408 --> 00:17:52,750
We are a part of the new plan.

149
00:17:53,191 --> 00:17:57,374
But let's discuss just exactly what that plan involves.

150
00:17:57,635 --> 00:18:00,877
Consider there's a new person.

151
00:18:01,299 --> 00:18:11,706
If you're going to take part in a new heaven and a new earth, if you're going to take part
in a new covenant that you enter into by birth, you must be a new person.

152
00:18:11,706 --> 00:18:13,377
Romans chapter seven.

153
00:18:14,358 --> 00:18:21,703
Paul, as he is writing to the church at Rome, is dealing with those who would say that
they can continue in sin.

154
00:18:21,703 --> 00:18:30,829
Matter of fact, not only could they continue in sin, they should abound in sin because the
more they abound in sin, the more grace they receive.

155
00:18:31,549 --> 00:18:39,235
And it's good to receive grace, so the more grace you get the better off you are, so do
more sin so you can get more grace.

156
00:18:40,477 --> 00:18:42,739
Paul responds, what shall we say then?

157
00:18:42,739 --> 00:18:45,742
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

158
00:18:45,742 --> 00:18:47,843
Certainly not.

159
00:18:49,024 --> 00:18:54,489
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

160
00:18:54,889 --> 00:19:01,252
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into His death?

161
00:19:01,393 --> 00:19:11,178
Though we were buried with Him through baptism in the death, that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of

162
00:19:11,178 --> 00:19:12,218
life.

163
00:19:13,139 --> 00:19:24,545
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also
be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified.

164
00:19:24,821 --> 00:19:38,872
with Him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves
of sin, for He who has died has been freed from sin.

165
00:19:40,154 --> 00:19:50,522
This new life, this new existence, this new heavens, this new earth, this new universe
that God has created is kingdom in which the church exists.

166
00:19:51,323 --> 00:19:53,505
It is a spiritual kingdom.

167
00:19:54,045 --> 00:19:59,889
And the person who dies when you go down into that watery grave of baptism isn't the
physical person.

168
00:19:59,889 --> 00:20:04,672
I promise I've never held anyone down there under the water until they died.

169
00:20:05,673 --> 00:20:11,817
But every person I've put under that water has risen up and the old person stayed dead.

170
00:20:14,381 --> 00:20:26,661
You see, you go down in that watery grave of baptism, an old man of sin, and you rise up
out of that watery grave of baptism, resurrected with Jesus Christ in newness of life,

171
00:20:27,341 --> 00:20:35,461
alive still in this physical world, but now alive in a spiritual kingdom of God.

172
00:20:37,589 --> 00:20:47,192
The new way involves a new plan and a new person, but it also considers a new practice.

173
00:20:47,327 --> 00:20:57,572
In John chapter 13, as Jesus is there assembled with His disciples, as He is speaking to
them in the upper room, as He is teaching them concerning what they are to be and who they

174
00:20:57,572 --> 00:21:06,887
will be as He departs from them, as He is going to send the Holy Spirit in order to guide
them into all truth, in order to teach them the things that they need to know, and in

175
00:21:06,887 --> 00:21:10,429
order to give them comfort when He is no longer there.

176
00:21:11,271 --> 00:21:25,641
Jesus will tell his disciples a new commandment, I give you verse 34, that you love one
another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

177
00:21:27,539 --> 00:21:40,116
Jesus makes it clear that the commandment of love as you love yourself was a great Old
Testament commandment.

178
00:21:41,597 --> 00:21:43,738
But he's giving a new commandment.

179
00:21:44,999 --> 00:21:47,620
It's very much different from the old one.

180
00:21:48,841 --> 00:21:56,625
Because now the commandment is you love as I have loved you.

181
00:21:59,499 --> 00:22:13,819
John will write over in 1 John chapter 4 that if a man does not love his brother who he
has seen, he cannot love God who he has not seen.

182
00:22:15,180 --> 00:22:28,329
Jesus says, if you're going to take part in my kingdom, if you're going to be a part of my
body, if you're going to be a part of my disciples, you're going to love the way I love.

183
00:22:29,555 --> 00:22:32,788
Your standard of yourself is not sufficient.

184
00:22:33,269 --> 00:22:36,132
I'm the standard of how you are to love.

185
00:22:36,132 --> 00:22:40,156
So there's a new practice involved in this plan.

186
00:22:40,156 --> 00:22:42,598
But then consider there's also a new pattern.

187
00:22:42,779 --> 00:22:44,761
In Ephesians chapter four.

188
00:22:46,497 --> 00:22:47,294
Ahem.

189
00:22:48,267 --> 00:22:58,182
Paul as he's writing to the church at Ephesus, this congregation which he spent so much
time with, the congregation that he loved so deeply, he writes to them in Ephesians

190
00:22:58,182 --> 00:23:10,507
chapter 4 and in verse 17, and we read, "'This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord
that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their

191
00:23:10,507 --> 00:23:18,411
mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their

192
00:23:18,411 --> 00:23:32,520
who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work uncleanness with all
greediness." Paul says, you have not so learned Christ.

193
00:23:33,461 --> 00:23:39,064
Paul makes it clear that there is a new pattern of living.

194
00:23:39,344 --> 00:23:47,289
There is a new way that we are to judge ourselves as to whether or not we're walking in
accordance with the commandments of God.

195
00:23:47,677 --> 00:23:49,638
and it is Christ.

196
00:23:49,958 --> 00:23:57,241
He says you are to measure yourself based upon what you have learned in Christ.

197
00:23:58,181 --> 00:24:09,906
He goes on to say if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is
in Jesus that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt

198
00:24:09,906 --> 00:24:16,829
according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put
on the new man.

199
00:24:17,611 --> 00:24:25,004
which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

200
00:24:26,225 --> 00:24:36,330
Paul makes it clear when you go down into that watery grave of baptism and that old man
dies, he doesn't come back up.

201
00:24:36,930 --> 00:24:42,733
What comes back up is a new creature, a new creation of God.

202
00:24:43,225 --> 00:24:49,187
One that is birthed in true righteousness and holiness.

203
00:24:50,527 --> 00:25:03,471
And that is to be the person that you continue being from that moment on because you're
going to follow a new pattern of living.

204
00:25:04,872 --> 00:25:10,123
What is the thing that causes so many individuals to start off a year with a

205
00:25:10,123 --> 00:25:16,712
bunch of grand ideas on how they're going to change and then end up right back where they
were.

206
00:25:18,667 --> 00:25:21,484
the fact that they didn't become a new person.

207
00:25:23,799 --> 00:25:33,626
But when you go down in that watery grave of baptism, when you die to sin, you rise to
walk in newness of life, you come out a new person.

208
00:25:33,626 --> 00:25:39,349
Aaron, does that mean that I'm never going to struggle with sin or temptation again?

209
00:25:39,349 --> 00:25:40,544
No.

210
00:25:43,177 --> 00:25:48,521
It does mean you'll never struggle alone again.

211
00:25:49,337 --> 00:25:59,750
It does mean that the blood of Christ will continually cleanse you of your sins as you
continue to walk in the light as He is in the light.

212
00:25:59,750 --> 00:26:09,637
If you're willing to admit and to confess your sins to the Father, He's willing and just
to forgive you of those sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

213
00:26:11,923 --> 00:26:24,701
One of the things that we know, and we know it based upon so many studies that have been
done, is that the people who succeed are usually the people who have someone helping them

214
00:26:24,701 --> 00:26:25,962
succeed.

215
00:26:26,523 --> 00:26:29,744
They have someone who does it with them.

216
00:26:29,765 --> 00:26:34,998
They have someone who participates with them as they try and change themselves.

217
00:26:34,998 --> 00:26:36,549
They don't try and do it alone.

218
00:26:38,187 --> 00:26:42,085
God is that someone for the Christian.

219
00:26:42,909 --> 00:26:48,340
But then consider, not only is there a new pattern, but there is a new path.

220
00:26:54,326 --> 00:26:55,680
You can try.

221
00:26:57,927 --> 00:27:00,184
You can try diligently.

222
00:27:02,263 --> 00:27:04,847
to try and save yourself.

223
00:27:07,593 --> 00:27:12,004
when I was about eight years old.

224
00:27:14,675 --> 00:27:21,268
We had been invited to go over to one of the members' houses.

225
00:27:21,268 --> 00:27:23,008
It was a class thing.

226
00:27:24,249 --> 00:27:30,571
And so the kids in my class had gone over to one of the members' houses.

227
00:27:32,392 --> 00:27:35,973
And we had all been invited to swim.

228
00:27:39,467 --> 00:27:44,412
I didn't say to the person who was my teacher, I don't know how to swim.

229
00:27:47,992 --> 00:27:50,293
So it was a Sunday afternoon.

230
00:27:50,293 --> 00:27:52,373
We had just gotten to the house.

231
00:27:52,613 --> 00:27:54,713
The kids had gone out to the pool.

232
00:27:55,373 --> 00:27:59,673
And I just said, well, I'll just sit on one of the little floaty things and I'll get in.

233
00:27:59,673 --> 00:28:01,113
Because I don't know how this went.

234
00:28:01,553 --> 00:28:03,093
But I didn't say that to anybody.

235
00:28:03,093 --> 00:28:04,393
said it to myself.

236
00:28:10,613 --> 00:28:24,293
This good sister who still loves me was in the house still in her Sunday clothes when she
realized that the hand sticking up out of the pool was the hand of a child who was

237
00:28:24,293 --> 00:28:26,905
drowning in the pool.

238
00:28:29,117 --> 00:28:35,865
and in her Sunday dress she jumped in that pool and saved me which is why I'm still here
preaching to you today.

239
00:28:41,375 --> 00:28:47,393
You can try and save yourself from sin.

240
00:28:49,579 --> 00:28:51,145
but you will fail.

241
00:28:54,113 --> 00:28:55,862
Because you don't know how.

242
00:28:57,835 --> 00:29:00,227
You don't know how to save yourself from sin.

243
00:29:01,450 --> 00:29:02,831
You can't.

244
00:29:04,033 --> 00:29:05,895
You will end up defeated.

245
00:29:06,877 --> 00:29:13,284
You will end up without a solution because there's only one.

246
00:29:13,966 --> 00:29:16,689
In Hebrews chapter 10, the Hebrew writer,

247
00:29:17,941 --> 00:29:29,905
will tell us that not only as God spoke from the Old Testament about a new covenant, as He
spoke from the Old Testament about a new priesthood, as He spoke from the Old Testament

248
00:29:29,905 --> 00:29:40,029
about a new salvation, as He spoke from the Old Testament about a new creation, as He
spoke from the Old Testament about all the things that He was going to do.

249
00:29:42,283 --> 00:29:44,426
He also spoke about a new way.

250
00:29:46,453 --> 00:30:03,925
In Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 12, the Hebrew writer says, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at the right hand of God.

251
00:30:04,906 --> 00:30:09,849
From that time, waiting till his enemies are made his footstool.

252
00:30:09,963 --> 00:30:16,584
for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

253
00:30:19,073 --> 00:30:21,794
But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us.

254
00:30:22,275 --> 00:30:31,982
For after He had said before, this is the new covenant that I will make with them after
those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts and in their minds I will

255
00:30:31,982 --> 00:30:32,642
write them.

256
00:30:32,642 --> 00:30:36,145
Then He adds their sins and their lawless deeds.

257
00:30:36,145 --> 00:30:39,346
I will remember no more.

258
00:30:40,007 --> 00:30:45,591
Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

259
00:30:45,931 --> 00:30:48,393
Therefore, brethren, having boldness,

260
00:30:48,417 --> 00:30:52,900
to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

261
00:30:54,282 --> 00:31:09,905
Understand that if you are going to address the very throne of God, if you are going to
approach the throne of God without sin and in righteousness, there is only one way to do

262
00:31:09,905 --> 00:31:10,676
it.

263
00:31:12,518 --> 00:31:16,581
It is through the blood of Jesus.

264
00:31:17,557 --> 00:31:25,948
There is no other name under heaven given whereby men must be saved.

265
00:31:29,397 --> 00:31:40,905
He says, "'Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of
Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil that is His

266
00:31:40,905 --> 00:31:55,395
flesh.'" In the Old Testament the holy place was there at the front of the tabernacle and
then there was the veil and only once a year could the high priest and no one else enter

267
00:31:55,395 --> 00:31:57,116
through the veil.

268
00:31:58,807 --> 00:32:08,044
There were so many things that they had to do on that day of atonement in order for him to
just walk through that curtain one time a year.

269
00:32:15,007 --> 00:32:21,048
And yet the Hebrew writer says that now we as Christians

270
00:32:22,699 --> 00:32:41,605
we have boldness to enter into the presence of God not one time of year, not for the
remembrance of sin, but without sin, to enter into the presence of God with boldness

271
00:32:41,605 --> 00:32:46,149
because we enter through the veil that is His flesh.

272
00:32:48,321 --> 00:32:52,046
He died that we might live.

273
00:32:53,249 --> 00:32:55,732
As Jesus was hanging on that cross.

274
00:32:57,865 --> 00:33:04,374
As Jesus said, Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit.

275
00:33:05,758 --> 00:33:10,644
As Jesus said, it is finished and gave up the ghost.

276
00:33:12,885 --> 00:33:14,829
The sun turned dark.

277
00:33:15,773 --> 00:33:17,736
The earth shook.

278
00:33:19,677 --> 00:33:31,429
and the veil of the temple in Jerusalem was torn into from the top to the bottom.

279
00:33:32,610 --> 00:33:35,173
I don't mean it was torn completely.

280
00:33:35,173 --> 00:33:43,341
mean the tear began at the top and went to the bottom.

281
00:33:44,861 --> 00:33:50,148
If a human had torn it, they'd have started at the bottom because that's what they could
reach.

282
00:33:51,927 --> 00:33:58,273
But it wasn't a human who tore down and tore open the veil between the holy place and the
most holy place.

283
00:33:58,273 --> 00:34:00,561
It was God.

284
00:34:03,021 --> 00:34:17,581
And the Hebrew writer says, having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil

285
00:34:17,581 --> 00:34:21,333
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

286
00:34:22,034 --> 00:34:30,800
And let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is
faithful.

287
00:34:33,365 --> 00:34:41,131
God, way back in the Old Testament, said, I'm making a new way.

288
00:34:42,813 --> 00:34:44,994
I'm making a new covenant.

289
00:34:46,396 --> 00:34:53,401
It's going to include the forgiveness of your sins that will be remembered no more.

290
00:34:54,702 --> 00:34:58,925
It's going to include a way for you to stand before me.

291
00:35:00,167 --> 00:35:03,269
It's going to include a way for you to be born

292
00:35:04,021 --> 00:35:07,044
by knowledge and obedience.

293
00:35:08,066 --> 00:35:13,593
And the Hebrew writer says, when you are washed in that water,

294
00:35:15,391 --> 00:35:21,129
You rise up with boldness to enter into the presence of God.

295
00:35:23,487 --> 00:35:34,065
a new plan, involves a new person, it involves a new pattern and a new practice and a new
path.

296
00:35:34,986 --> 00:35:37,128
You can't get there any other way.

297
00:35:38,129 --> 00:35:53,364
So if you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ, if you have not
submitted to God's plan of salvation, there is no other way to achieve

298
00:35:53,364 --> 00:35:54,494
salvation.

299
00:35:57,601 --> 00:35:59,308
You're drowning in sin.

300
00:36:01,549 --> 00:36:06,689
and you cannot save yourself.

301
00:36:09,185 --> 00:36:13,476
But the Hebrew writer says, it's okay.

302
00:36:15,243 --> 00:36:17,834
because the sacrifice has already been made.

303
00:36:19,116 --> 00:36:23,019
The one who can save you from your sins has already done his part.

304
00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:25,361
All you have to do is your part.

305
00:36:27,147 --> 00:36:44,147
and then you can have your conscience washed and you can enter into a relationship with
God in full assurance of faith and hope.

306
00:36:45,993 --> 00:37:01,742
and you can live no longer as an old man of sin, but a new life, a new existence in the
Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Church of Christ.

307
00:37:02,463 --> 00:37:14,029
If you have need of that invitation this morning, because you haven't availed yourself of
that salvation, the Hebrew writer also says, how shall we escape?

308
00:37:14,569 --> 00:37:26,056
If we neglect so great a salvation, if you have need of the invitation, this morning,
whether you're outside the body of Christ or whether you're a member of the body of Christ

309
00:37:26,056 --> 00:37:35,301
and you've become like those Christians in the Hebrew Writers' Day who turned their back
on God and went back to law.

310
00:37:36,877 --> 00:37:43,015
If you need to come back to the Lord, why not come forward now as we stand and as we sing.

311
00:37:43,841 --> 00:37:48,143
on Sunday, the lessons will begin with the Bible class hour.

312
00:37:48,683 --> 00:37:53,045
Just give you a little bit of background because some of you may not know who Rob is.

313
00:37:53,865 --> 00:37:59,107
I first met Rob when I was the IT administrator for the Gospel Broadcasting Network.

314
00:37:59,367 --> 00:38:12,393
We were invited to come up and record a debate that was going to occur up in Red Springs,
Tennessee.

315
00:38:12,729 --> 00:38:16,332
about an hour from everywhere, as they say.

316
00:38:17,093 --> 00:38:19,435
And it's up on the other side of Nashville.

317
00:38:19,435 --> 00:38:24,239
But it was, happened to me the congregation was where Rob was at, was sponsoring it.

318
00:38:24,869 --> 00:38:27,582
And I'll tell you why the debate was happening.

319
00:38:27,582 --> 00:38:39,192
It was a debate that was happening between one of the missionaries that is located at that
congregation and also works with that congregation and with a Baptist minister.

320
00:38:39,853 --> 00:38:57,405
And the reason that that debate was going to occur and did occur is because in that area,
the church had made such inroads in converting people out of the Baptist denomination to

321
00:38:57,405 --> 00:38:58,385
the truth.

322
00:38:59,026 --> 00:39:03,209
They had started to have a bit of an uproar.

323
00:39:03,499 --> 00:39:10,132
within the Baptist churches about the fact that the Church of Christ kept stealing their
members.

324
00:39:10,692 --> 00:39:17,815
And so finally, enough of them got behind one of the Baptist ministers and said, you've
got to do something about this.

325
00:39:17,875 --> 00:39:27,019
You've got to do something publicly about this because our congregations are dying as a
result of the fact that these people are leaving and going to the Church of Christ.

326
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:30,881
And so they had a debate.

327
00:39:33,721 --> 00:39:48,901
After the debate, in the course of the next few weeks, there were another 11 members of
the Baptist Church converted as a result of the debate.

328
00:39:51,083 --> 00:39:52,073
Why?

329
00:39:53,455 --> 00:39:56,437
Partly because of the work of Rob Whitaker.

330
00:39:57,579 --> 00:40:03,383
Rob had been diligent in doing personal Bible studies.

331
00:40:04,685 --> 00:40:11,330
Those people who were converted out of the Baptist Church weren't converted on Sunday
morning during sermons.

332
00:40:12,051 --> 00:40:19,317
They were converted sitting down at a dinner table and studying the Bible by and large.

333
00:40:19,767 --> 00:40:29,995
They were converted because people took the time to talk with them, to open the Bible with
them, to study God's Word with them.

334
00:40:29,995 --> 00:40:43,645
And as I was, actually during that event, got to spend the weekend with Rob and Nicole and
their family at their house, found out that their daughter makes really good chocolate

335
00:40:43,645 --> 00:40:44,735
chip cookies.

336
00:40:44,735 --> 00:40:45,936
That was important.

337
00:40:45,936 --> 00:40:46,837
But...

338
00:40:48,181 --> 00:40:57,206
As I talked to Rob, I inquired concerning how he was doing the Bible studies.

339
00:40:58,327 --> 00:41:13,765
And about 2008, as I was starting to preach out in North Carolina, I had run into some
material that World Video Bible School had put out on the Back to the Bible series that

340
00:41:13,765 --> 00:41:17,437
Brother Bobby Bates down in Texas had written.

341
00:41:17,909 --> 00:41:26,115
And he was a man who had converted more than a thousand people himself using those three
booklets.

342
00:41:26,996 --> 00:41:29,818
And Rob said, well, I use back to the Bible.

343
00:41:29,869 --> 00:41:32,901
I said, you do, because that's what I use.

344
00:41:34,861 --> 00:41:46,148
But Rob is not only able to teach you how to effectively use that material, Rob and Nicole
are able to teach you how to effectively get people to sit down and study the Bible

345
00:41:46,148 --> 00:41:48,389
because that's the harder of the two.

346
00:41:49,390 --> 00:42:00,237
Getting people in our modern day and time to sit down and open the Word of God, to be
honest about the Word of God.

347
00:42:00,823 --> 00:42:05,155
and be willing to allow the Scriptures to stand for themselves.

348
00:42:06,196 --> 00:42:17,102
There are people sitting in this auditorium this morning who are here and who are
Christians because they sat down and were willing to open the Bible and go through the

349
00:42:17,102 --> 00:42:20,745
Back to the Bible series and allow the Scriptures to stand for themselves.

350
00:42:21,505 --> 00:42:27,689
And my encouragement to you is first, there's an article in the bulletin this morning.

351
00:42:27,689 --> 00:42:37,654
If you will pick that up and read that, that is just kind of a launching point to get your
mind thinking about what we're going to be doing in the next week.

352
00:42:38,215 --> 00:42:46,119
But the other thing I encourage you to do is just go ahead and clear your schedules for
Monday evening and Tuesday evening and plan to be here.

353
00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:49,061
Because you will be blessed.

354
00:42:49,719 --> 00:43:01,077
by doing it, there is something that you can do, no matter your capacity, no matter your
preparation, there is something you can do to help this congregation reach the lost.

355
00:43:01,457 --> 00:43:05,140
And you will learn about the things you can do if you will be here.

356
00:43:05,140 --> 00:43:13,065
Be here Sunday morning for Bible class, for the sermon, for the afternoon sermon, and then
for Monday night and Tuesday night, please.

357
00:43:13,186 --> 00:43:17,888
You will, and Wednesday night, and you will be blessed by doing so.

358
00:43:18,733 --> 00:43:33,549
Let's take a moment and consider this, that God set in order, as had always been His plan,
a new way.

359
00:43:36,041 --> 00:43:48,948
Around December, towards the end of December, people start thinking about their lives over
the last year and start thinking, yeah, maybe I need to do some things a little different

360
00:43:48,948 --> 00:43:50,289
next year.

361
00:43:51,190 --> 00:43:53,921
The scale's not looking great.

362
00:43:53,921 --> 00:43:56,512
The numbers from the doctor aren't looking great.

363
00:43:56,512 --> 00:44:01,275
I don't feel as good as I felt January last I need to start doing some things differently.

364
00:44:01,275 --> 00:44:04,316
I need a new way of doing things.

365
00:44:06,003 --> 00:44:11,760
And if you talk to all of the gyms in the area, you'll find out that around January,
people start coming.

366
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,663
And around February 15th, they're done.

367
00:44:18,829 --> 00:44:38,704
But God, all the way back in the Old Testament, hundreds of years before Christ was born,
told the Jews, and through the Jews all of humanity, that He was creating a new way of

368
00:44:38,704 --> 00:44:39,894
doing things.

369
00:44:40,514 --> 00:44:48,336
That He was setting things in order for a new way for things to occur.

370
00:44:49,622 --> 00:44:56,659
And I want us to consider some of the things that the Scriptures tell us God did that were
new.

371
00:44:57,531 --> 00:45:00,692
We're gonna begin in Jeremiah chapter 31.

372
00:45:01,445 --> 00:45:04,507
For God set forward a new plan.

373
00:45:05,290 --> 00:45:09,981
And God enacted a new plan in Jeremiah chapter 31.

374
00:45:09,981 --> 00:45:22,528
Jeremiah as he is writing to Israel, as he is prophesying to Israel, as he is warning
Israel, as he has already been told by God, don't worry Israel's not going to hear you.

375
00:45:22,528 --> 00:45:30,612
Israel's not going to be obedient to the things that I say because their judgment is
assured because they will not repent.

376
00:45:30,632 --> 00:45:35,554
And yet God says as he speaks concerning the remnant, as he speaks through

377
00:45:35,855 --> 00:45:37,994
He says in verse 31,

378
00:45:45,068 --> 00:45:48,450
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

379
00:45:48,450 --> 00:45:54,773
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them
by the hand to lead them out of land of Egypt.

380
00:45:54,773 --> 00:46:00,855
My covenant which they broke though I was a husband to them says the Lord.

381
00:46:00,855 --> 00:46:13,361
Notice first and foremost that God says the thing which He is doing, the thing which He is
planning, the thing which He is going to enact is going to be new and it is going to be

382
00:46:13,361 --> 00:46:15,032
unlike what He

383
00:46:15,032 --> 00:46:16,223
done before.

384
00:46:17,242 --> 00:46:30,317
You know when you get to January 1st and you start that that decision-making process to
have a resolution to do things differently, the thing that hasn't changed is it's still

385
00:46:30,317 --> 00:46:32,982
you doing it.

386
00:46:34,936 --> 00:46:41,476
One thing continued from December 31 over to January 1 and it was you.

387
00:46:42,456 --> 00:46:46,536
And if you don't change, nothing's going to change.

388
00:46:47,820 --> 00:46:59,864
But God is making the point that the thing which he is doing, the thing which he is
talking about, the covenant that he is making is not going to be just a reformation of

389
00:46:59,864 --> 00:47:01,724
Moses' covenant.

390
00:47:01,784 --> 00:47:06,866
It's not going to be a part two to Moses' covenant.

391
00:47:06,866 --> 00:47:11,787
This is not going to be a continuation of Abraham's covenant.

392
00:47:11,787 --> 00:47:15,478
This is going to be a new covenant.

393
00:47:16,096 --> 00:47:18,437
what had been before.

394
00:47:18,437 --> 00:47:20,696
He says, verse 33,

395
00:47:46,110 --> 00:47:53,835
says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.

396
00:47:55,096 --> 00:48:12,586
God as he speaks through Jeremiah to Israel says the new covenant is going to involve his
law being written on the hearts and the minds of people.

397
00:48:13,387 --> 00:48:15,128
Now Moses's law

398
00:48:16,042 --> 00:48:21,735
was written on clay tablets but not this new law.

399
00:48:22,116 --> 00:48:25,718
This new law God says it's going to be written on the heart.

400
00:48:26,098 --> 00:48:30,921
Now that in no way implies that people just get to do whatever they want to do.

401
00:48:30,921 --> 00:48:32,682
That's no law at all.

402
00:48:33,743 --> 00:48:42,408
Rather that the law was going to be given and it was going to be given so that individuals
could hear it and could keep it.

403
00:48:47,512 --> 00:48:59,252
In verse 34, Jeremiah says, no more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his
brother, saying, know the Lord.

404
00:48:59,252 --> 00:49:01,952
Back when I was in the school of preaching, we were going over Jeremiah.

405
00:49:01,952 --> 00:49:04,792
I didn't understand what that was saying.

406
00:49:06,032 --> 00:49:07,592
I do now.

407
00:49:09,140 --> 00:49:14,174
As an Israelite, you were born physically into the covenant.

408
00:49:16,308 --> 00:49:23,492
When you came out of your mother's womb as an Israelite, you were part of the covenant.

409
00:49:24,233 --> 00:49:28,935
You hadn't made a decision about it, you were born into it.

410
00:49:29,816 --> 00:49:45,244
You had it by nature of descendancy, by lineage, by tribe, by family, because your parents
were Israelites, you had part in the covenant.

411
00:49:46,284 --> 00:49:49,267
But you didn't know anything about the covenant.

412
00:49:50,349 --> 00:49:52,070
You had just been born.

413
00:49:52,511 --> 00:50:04,324
So part of the responsibility under the Old Testament covenant was having someone who was
born into the covenant now having to be taught the covenant as they grow.

414
00:50:05,258 --> 00:50:14,813
And so one neighbor would teach another neighbor about the law, about Moses' word, about
the covenant, about the things and the ordinances that they were supposed to be keeping so

415
00:50:14,813 --> 00:50:19,276
that the person who was in the covenant would actually know how to keep the covenant.

416
00:50:21,206 --> 00:50:23,797
because they were born into it.

417
00:50:25,038 --> 00:50:27,540
God says not so with this new covenant.

418
00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:37,266
This new covenant, they're going to know first before they're born into the covenant.

419
00:50:38,067 --> 00:50:40,508
They're going to come to know me.

420
00:50:40,508 --> 00:50:47,012
They're going to know what I command them to do, and through the commandment they'll enter
the covenant.

421
00:50:47,358 --> 00:50:48,693
not by birth.

422
00:50:48,693 --> 00:50:51,108
Turn over to Isaiah chapter 65.

423
00:50:58,132 --> 00:51:09,312
Isaiah, who writes so much concerning Christ the Messiah, will write this in Isaiah
chapter 65.

424
00:51:09,638 --> 00:51:21,524
Beginning in verse 15, we read, "'You shall leave your name as a curse to my chosen, for
the Lord God will slay you and call his servants by another name.'"

425
00:51:21,950 --> 00:51:27,362
so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth.

426
00:51:27,503 --> 00:51:34,986
And he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because the former
troubles are forgotten and because they are hidden from my eyes.

427
00:51:34,986 --> 00:51:47,852
For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered
or come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create.

428
00:51:48,553 --> 00:51:52,114
For behold, I create Jerusalem,

429
00:51:52,114 --> 00:52:06,306
as a rejoicing and her people as a joy I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people
the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her nor the voice of crying." Isaiah

430
00:52:06,306 --> 00:52:13,051
tells us that God says I'm going to create a new heavens and a new earth.

431
00:52:13,552 --> 00:52:18,515
I'm going to create a new existence for my people.

432
00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:29,944
Sadly, so many people have come to this passage and have come to the passage in Revelation
where the same terminology is used and they've said the earth and the world that we live

433
00:52:29,944 --> 00:52:32,705
in when Christ returns is going to be renovated.

434
00:52:33,946 --> 00:52:38,708
That is not the time period Isaiah is talking about.

435
00:52:40,530 --> 00:52:53,152
Isaiah is making it clear that while this physical world is going to continue on, while
the city of Jerusalem is going to continue on, inside this world God is creating a new

436
00:52:53,152 --> 00:52:54,612
existence.

437
00:52:56,495 --> 00:52:59,958
It is a spiritual existence.

438
00:52:59,958 --> 00:53:01,919
How do I know that?

439
00:53:02,761 --> 00:53:06,664
Because Jesus Christ while standing before Pilate

440
00:53:08,116 --> 00:53:21,787
was questioned concerning whether or not he knew that Pilate had the ability to take his
life, was questioned concerning whether or not he was the king, and Jesus said, my

441
00:53:21,787 --> 00:53:23,988
kingdom's not of this world.

442
00:53:25,030 --> 00:53:28,502
If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight?

443
00:53:30,754 --> 00:53:38,108
Jesus didn't come to establish a kingdom, a physical kingdom, on this physical earth.

444
00:53:39,350 --> 00:53:51,357
Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of Hades, the gates of death, the gates
of the grave, shall not prevail against it.

445
00:53:52,658 --> 00:53:55,420
Because His kingdom's not of this world.

446
00:53:56,188 --> 00:54:09,873
And so in the text, when we find that the church is given birth to in Acts chapter 2, and
the gospel is proclaimed in Acts chapter 2, and the gospel goes forth, the kingdom goes

447
00:54:09,873 --> 00:54:14,727
forth, the declaration goes forth, and a new world is formed.

448
00:54:16,792 --> 00:54:25,052
kingdom of Jesus Christ, the world of God's people.

449
00:54:25,492 --> 00:54:29,812
You say, Aaron, but it's a new heavens and a new earth and the old one's still here.

450
00:54:29,812 --> 00:54:31,632
Yes it is.

451
00:54:32,232 --> 00:54:33,772
Yes it is.

452
00:54:33,772 --> 00:54:48,008
By the way, the same terminology was used in the Old Testament in Isaiah to refer to the
God returning His people from Babylon to Israel and creating a new heavens and a new earth

453
00:54:48,008 --> 00:54:56,441
and a new Jerusalem in a place where they were still on the same planet and they were
still in the same universe and God didn't remake any of it.

454
00:54:57,182 --> 00:55:02,344
But He restored them back to their rightful covenant location.

455
00:55:03,668 --> 00:55:06,990
New heavens and new earth doesn't have to do with a renovated earth.

456
00:55:07,551 --> 00:55:18,220
It has to do with the fact that God created a spiritual kingdom, the body of Christ that
exists in this earth, and you and I are a part of it.

457
00:55:18,861 --> 00:55:21,263
We are a part of the kingdom of God.

458
00:55:21,523 --> 00:55:23,845
We are a part of the new plan.

459
00:55:24,286 --> 00:55:28,469
But let's discuss just exactly what that plan involves.

460
00:55:28,729 --> 00:55:31,972
Consider there's a new person.

461
00:55:32,392 --> 00:55:42,798
If you're going to take part in a new heaven and a new earth, if you're going to take part
in a new covenant that you enter into by birth, you must be a new person.

462
00:55:42,798 --> 00:55:44,478
Romans chapter seven.

463
00:55:45,459 --> 00:55:52,803
Paul, as he is writing to the church at Rome, is dealing with those who would say that
they can continue in sin.

464
00:55:52,803 --> 00:56:01,928
Matter of fact, not only could they continue in sin, they should abound in sin because the
more they abound in sin, the more grace they receive.

465
00:56:02,654 --> 00:56:10,330
And it's good to receive grace, so the more grace you get the better off you are, so do
more sin so you can get more grace.

466
00:56:11,592 --> 00:56:13,854
Paul responds, what shall we say then?

467
00:56:13,854 --> 00:56:16,837
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

468
00:56:16,837 --> 00:56:18,938
Certainly not.

469
00:56:20,119 --> 00:56:25,584
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

470
00:56:25,994 --> 00:56:32,346
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into His death?

471
00:56:32,486 --> 00:56:42,277
Though we were buried with Him through baptism in the death, that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of

472
00:56:42,277 --> 00:56:43,309
life.

473
00:56:44,229 --> 00:56:55,612
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also
be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified

474
00:56:55,914 --> 00:57:14,097
with Him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves
of sin, for He who has died has been freed from sin." This new life, this new existence,

475
00:57:14,097 --> 00:57:21,622
this new heavens, this new earth, this new universe that God has created is kingdom in
which the church exists.

476
00:57:22,403 --> 00:57:24,604
It is a spiritual kingdom.

477
00:57:25,150 --> 00:57:30,988
And the person who dies when you go down into that watery grave of baptism isn't the
physical person.

478
00:57:30,988 --> 00:57:35,820
I promise I've never held anyone down there under the water until they died.

479
00:57:36,776 --> 00:57:42,923
But every person I've put under that water has risen up and the old person stayed dead.

480
00:57:45,432 --> 00:57:57,692
You see, you go down into that watery grave of baptism, an old man of sin, and you rise up
out of that watery grave of baptism, resurrected with Jesus Christ in newness of life,

481
00:57:58,412 --> 00:58:06,572
alive still in this physical world, but now alive in a spiritual kingdom of God.

482
00:58:08,694 --> 00:58:15,731
The new way involves a new plan and a new person.

483
00:58:15,862 --> 00:58:18,313
but it also considers a new practice.

484
00:58:18,393 --> 00:58:28,678
In John chapter 13, as Jesus is there assembled with his disciples, as he is speaking to
them in the upper room, as he is teaching them concerning what they are to be and who they

485
00:58:28,678 --> 00:58:37,982
will be as he departs from them, as he is going to send the Holy Spirit in order to guide
them into all truth, in order to teach them the things that they need to know, and in

486
00:58:37,982 --> 00:58:41,524
order to give them comfort when he is no longer there.

487
00:58:42,388 --> 00:58:56,776
Jesus will tell his disciples a new commandment I give you, verse 34, that you love one
another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

488
00:58:58,617 --> 00:59:11,184
Jesus makes it clear that the commandment of love as you love yourself was a great Old
Testament commandment.

489
00:59:12,780 --> 00:59:14,862
but he's giving a new commandment.

490
00:59:16,106 --> 00:59:18,709
It's very much different from the old one.

491
00:59:19,932 --> 00:59:27,743
Because now the commandment is, you love as I have loved you.

492
00:59:30,604 --> 00:59:44,910
John will write over in 1 John chapter 4 that if a man does not love his brother who he
has seen, he cannot love God who he has not seen.

493
00:59:46,291 --> 00:59:59,416
Jesus says, if you're going to take part in my kingdom, if you're going to be a part of my
body, if you're going to be a part of my disciples, you're going to love the way I love.

494
01:00:00,660 --> 01:00:03,882
Your standard of yourself is not sufficient.

495
01:00:04,364 --> 01:00:07,236
I'm the standard of how you are to love.

496
01:00:07,236 --> 01:00:11,250
So there's a new practice involved in this plan.

497
01:00:11,250 --> 01:00:13,691
But then consider there's also a new pattern.

498
01:00:13,872 --> 01:00:15,853
In Ephesians chapter four.

499
01:00:19,360 --> 01:00:29,275
Paul as he's writing to the church at Ephesus, this congregation which he spent so much
time with, the congregation that he loved so deeply, he writes to them in Ephesians

500
01:00:29,275 --> 01:00:41,610
chapter 4 and in verse 17, and we read, "'This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord
that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their

501
01:00:41,610 --> 01:00:49,514
mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of
the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their

502
01:00:49,514 --> 01:01:03,601
who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness to work uncleanness with
all greediness." Paul says, you have not so learned Christ.

503
01:01:04,561 --> 01:01:10,164
Paul makes it clear that there is a new pattern of living.

504
01:01:10,444 --> 01:01:18,388
There is a new way that we are to judge ourselves as to whether or not we're walking in
accordance with the commandments of God.

505
01:01:18,804 --> 01:01:20,745
and it is Christ.

506
01:01:21,045 --> 01:01:28,348
He says you are to measure yourself based upon what you have learned in Christ.

507
01:01:29,288 --> 01:01:41,013
He goes on to say if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is
in Jesus that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt

508
01:01:41,013 --> 01:01:47,916
according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put
on the new man.

509
01:01:48,704 --> 01:01:56,108
which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

510
01:01:57,330 --> 01:02:07,436
Paul makes it clear when you go down into that watery grave of baptism and that old man
dies, he doesn't come back up.

511
01:02:08,016 --> 01:02:13,840
What comes back up is a new creature, a new creation of God.

512
01:02:14,328 --> 01:02:20,292
One that is birthed in true righteousness and holiness.

513
01:02:21,634 --> 01:02:34,544
And that is to be the person that you continue being from that moment on because you're
going to follow a new pattern of living.

514
01:02:36,032 --> 01:02:47,857
What is the thing that causes so many individuals to start off a year with a bunch of
grand ideas on how they're going to change and then end up right back where they were?

515
01:02:49,699 --> 01:02:52,560
The fact that they didn't become a new person.

516
01:02:54,892 --> 01:03:04,714
But when you go down in that watery grave of baptism, when you die to sin, you rise to
walk in newness of life, you come out a new person.

517
01:03:04,714 --> 01:03:10,452
Aaron, does that mean that I'm never going to struggle with sin or temptation again?

518
01:03:10,452 --> 01:03:11,701
No.

519
01:03:14,282 --> 01:03:19,616
It does mean you'll never struggle alone again.

520
01:03:20,412 --> 01:03:30,845
It does mean that the blood of Christ will continually cleanse you of your sins as you
continue to walk in the light as He is in the light.

521
01:03:30,845 --> 01:03:40,732
If you're willing to admit and to confess your sins to the Father, He's willing and just
to forgive you of those sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

522
01:03:43,028 --> 01:03:55,821
One of the things that we know, and we know it based upon so many studies that have been
done, is that the people who succeed are usually the people who have someone helping them

523
01:03:55,821 --> 01:03:57,061
succeed.

524
01:03:57,623 --> 01:04:00,865
They have someone who does it with them.

525
01:04:00,866 --> 01:04:06,101
They have someone who participates with them as they try and change themselves.

526
01:04:06,101 --> 01:04:07,672
They don't try and do it alone.

527
01:04:09,292 --> 01:04:13,199
God is that someone for the Christian.

528
01:04:14,002 --> 01:04:19,451
But then consider not only is there a new pattern, but there is a new path.

529
01:04:25,441 --> 01:04:26,777
You can try.

530
01:04:29,043 --> 01:04:31,312
You can try diligently.

531
01:04:33,356 --> 01:04:35,953
to try and save yourself.

532
01:04:38,720 --> 01:04:43,095
when I was about eight years old.

533
01:04:45,768 --> 01:04:51,792
We had been invited to go over to one of the members' house.

534
01:04:51,853 --> 01:04:54,094
It was a class thing.

535
01:04:55,355 --> 01:05:07,084
And so the kids in my class had gone over to one of the members' houses and we had all
been invited to swim.

536
01:05:10,560 --> 01:05:15,507
I didn't say to the person who was my teacher, I don't know how to swim.

537
01:05:18,488 --> 01:05:21,388
So it was a Sunday afternoon.

538
01:05:21,388 --> 01:05:23,508
We had just gotten to the house.

539
01:05:23,708 --> 01:05:25,788
The kids had gone out to the pool.

540
01:05:26,448 --> 01:05:29,728
And I just said, well, I'll just sit on one of the little floaty things.

541
01:05:29,728 --> 01:05:30,788
And I get in.

542
01:05:30,788 --> 01:05:32,228
I don't know how this went.

543
01:05:32,648 --> 01:05:34,188
But I didn't say that to anybody.

544
01:05:34,188 --> 01:05:35,508
said it to myself.

545
01:05:41,718 --> 01:05:55,402
This good sister who still loves me was in the house still in her Sunday clothes when she
realized that the hand sticking up out of the pool was the hand of a child who was

546
01:05:55,402 --> 01:05:58,004
drowning in the pool.

547
01:06:00,222 --> 01:06:06,963
And in her Sunday dress, she jumped in that pool and saved me, which is why I'm still here
preaching to you today.

548
01:06:12,480 --> 01:06:18,499
You can try and save yourself from sin.

549
01:06:20,684 --> 01:06:22,228
but you will fail.

550
01:06:25,206 --> 01:06:26,962
because you don't know how.

551
01:06:28,928 --> 01:06:31,330
you don't know how to save yourself from sin.

552
01:06:32,551 --> 01:06:33,932
You can't.

553
01:06:35,133 --> 01:06:36,994
You will end up defeated.

554
01:06:37,976 --> 01:06:44,381
You will end up without a solution because there's only one.

555
01:06:45,042 --> 01:06:47,784
In Hebrews chapter 10, the Hebrew writer,

556
01:06:49,056 --> 01:07:01,017
will tell us that not only as God spoke from the Old Testament about a new covenant, as He
spoke from the Old Testament about a new priesthood, as He spoke from the Old Testament

557
01:07:01,017 --> 01:07:11,136
about a new salvation, as He spoke from the Old Testament about a new creation, as He
spoke from the Old Testament about all the things that He was going to do.

558
01:07:13,388 --> 01:07:15,509
He also spoke about a new way.

559
01:07:17,536 --> 01:07:35,030
In Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 12, the Hebrew writer says, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at the right hand of God.

560
01:07:36,012 --> 01:07:40,935
From that time, waiting till his enemies are made his footstool,

561
01:07:41,068 --> 01:07:47,683
for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

562
01:07:50,166 --> 01:07:53,718
but the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us.

563
01:07:53,718 --> 01:08:03,742
after He had said before, this is the new covenant that I will make with them after those
days says the Lord I will put my laws in their hearts and in their minds I will write them

564
01:08:03,742 --> 01:08:10,445
then He adds their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.

565
01:08:11,106 --> 01:08:16,548
Now where there is remission of these there is no longer an offering for sin.

566
01:08:17,078 --> 01:08:32,829
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
understand that if you are going to address the very throne of God, if you are going to

567
01:08:32,829 --> 01:08:41,175
approach the throne of God without sin and in righteousness, there is only one way to do
it.

568
01:08:41,175 --> 01:08:46,228
It is through the blood.

569
01:08:46,506 --> 01:08:47,697
of Jesus.

570
01:08:48,601 --> 01:08:57,156
There is no other name under heaven given whereby men must be saved.

571
01:09:00,502 --> 01:09:11,995
He says, "'Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of
Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil that is His

572
01:09:11,995 --> 01:09:26,499
flesh.'" In the Old Testament the holy place was there at the front of the tabernacle and
then there was the veil and only once a year could the high priest and no one else enter

573
01:09:26,499 --> 01:09:28,220
through the veil.

574
01:09:29,900 --> 01:09:39,554
There were so many things that they had to do on that day of atonement in order for him to
just walk through that curtain one time a year.

575
01:09:46,100 --> 01:09:52,163
And yet the Hebrew writer says that now we as Christians

576
01:09:53,792 --> 01:10:12,679
we have boldness to enter into the presence of God not one time of year, not for the
remembrance of sin, but without sin, to enter into the presence of God with boldness

577
01:10:12,679 --> 01:10:17,240
because we enter through the veil that is His flesh.

578
01:10:19,404 --> 01:10:23,131
He died that we might live.

579
01:10:24,496 --> 01:10:26,759
Jesus was hanging on that cross.

580
01:10:28,980 --> 01:10:35,468
As Jesus said, Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit.

581
01:10:36,870 --> 01:10:41,736
As Jesus said, it is finished and gave up the ghost.

582
01:10:43,990 --> 01:10:45,922
The sun turned dark.

583
01:10:46,865 --> 01:10:48,828
The earth shook.

584
01:10:50,782 --> 01:11:02,538
and the veil of the temple in Jerusalem was torn into from the top to the bottom.

585
01:11:03,719 --> 01:11:06,280
I don't mean it was torn completely.

586
01:11:06,280 --> 01:11:14,424
mean the tear began at the top and went to the bottom.

587
01:11:15,966 --> 01:11:21,304
If a human had torn it, they'd have started at the bottom because that's what they could
reach.

588
01:11:22,947 --> 01:11:29,387
But it wasn't a human who tore down and tore open the veil between the holy place and the
most holy place.

589
01:11:29,387 --> 01:11:31,560
It was God.

590
01:11:34,104 --> 01:11:48,410
And the Hebrew writer says, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an

591
01:11:48,410 --> 01:11:52,431
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

592
01:11:53,112 --> 01:12:01,895
And let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is
faithful.

593
01:12:04,470 --> 01:12:12,227
God, way back in the Old Testament, said, I'm making a new way.

594
01:12:13,909 --> 01:12:16,090
I'm making a new covenant.

595
01:12:17,512 --> 01:12:24,498
It's going to include the forgiveness of your sins that will be remembered no more.

596
01:12:25,800 --> 01:12:29,863
It's going to include a way for you to stand before me.

597
01:12:31,416 --> 01:12:38,140
It's going to include a way for you to be born by knowledge and obedience.

598
01:12:39,181 --> 01:12:44,684
And the Hebrew writer says, when you are washed in that water...

599
01:12:46,462 --> 01:12:52,255
You rise up with boldness to enter into the presence of God.

600
01:12:54,580 --> 01:13:05,167
a new plan, involves a new person, it involves a new pattern and a new practice and a new
path.

601
01:13:06,088 --> 01:13:08,229
You can't get there any other way.

602
01:13:09,230 --> 01:13:23,320
So if you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ, if you have not
submitted to God's plan of salvation, there is no other way.

603
01:13:23,426 --> 01:13:25,646
to achieve salvation.

604
01:13:28,684 --> 01:13:30,474
You're drowning in sin.

605
01:13:32,722 --> 01:13:37,814
and you cannot save yourself.

606
01:13:40,290 --> 01:13:44,575
But the Hebrew writer says, it's okay.

607
01:13:46,358 --> 01:13:48,931
because the sacrifice has already been made.

608
01:13:50,215 --> 01:13:54,120
The one who can save you from your sins has already done his part.

609
01:13:54,642 --> 01:13:56,464
All you have to do is your part.

610
01:13:58,240 --> 01:14:15,252
and then you can have your conscience washed and you can enter into a relationship with
God in full assurance of faith and hope.

611
01:14:17,098 --> 01:14:32,841
And you can live no longer as an old man of sin, but a new life, a new existence in the
kingdom of Jesus Christ, the church of Christ.

612
01:14:33,562 --> 01:14:45,142
If you have need of that invitation this morning, because you haven't availed yourself of
that salvation, the Hebrew writer also says, how shall we escape?

613
01:14:45,662 --> 01:14:57,166
If we neglect so great a salvation, if you have need of the invitation, this morning,
whether you're outside the body of Christ or whether you're a member of the body of Christ

614
01:14:57,166 --> 01:15:06,414
and you've become like those Christians in the Hebrew Writers' Day who turned their back
on God and went back to law.

615
01:15:07,961 --> 01:15:12,747
If you need to come back to the Lord, why not come forward now as we stand?