Good Morning Beloved Family,
It is with great honor and privilege I am blessed to share the Word of God with all of you, thank you for joining us here today
Heavenly Father,
We thank You, not only for what You have done in our lives
but for Who You are, and who we have become in You
Transforming our wretched lives into lives that bring glory to You
unrecognizable from our former selves
Just as You have promised, a "new creation"
Still because we’re human and susceptible to temptation,
we often doubt something we know to be true.
We are often childish, rather than child like in our faith.
Lend us Your strength, in these moments
Remind us when we doubt, we are Yours
Give us the fullness of it, that we may be confident
Make our hearts long for You
transfer our lives from sin to Your righteousness
Therein lies the evidence of Your good work in us
Thank You Lord, for loving us when we are unlovable, unconditionally
for forgiving us, though we are undeserving
For showing us Your grace, mercy and love
though we often withhold from extending to others
who are in need
Help us O Lord, to be more like You
In Your precious name
Amen
Today's message: The Call To Decision
"You shall also say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death."
Jeremiah 21:8
We live in a world where people are always making decisions. Making
these certain decisions determine our way of life. Some make decisions
in who to marry, others where to live.
We make decisions about our education, whether or not to pursue a college degree. Then which college we will attend. Some successful men
and women are where they are today by their decision to finish college. Others have become successful having only finished high school.
Every day, we make choices, decisions.
What we will wear, what we will do
Who we will talk to, whom we will avoid
What bills to pay with the limited funds we have
And whether or not we choose to believe it, we make decisions that affects others.
Today, I want to talk about our decisions.
We make decisions on the natural things of life, but do we ever make decisions on the spiritual things?
We make decisions to satisfy our carnal flesh that will return to dust,
but the decision of our soul, which is eternal, is the most important decision we will ever make, yet many neglect to make.
The greatest decision I ever made in my life was not where I went to
school. It was not where I worked. It was not where I lived. It was
not who I married, but it was where I wanted my soul to spend eternity.
When the earth shakes, reels, and vanishes away, what then?
Where is our home?
Where is our jobs?
Where is our possessions, our cars?
Where is our fleshly bodies?
When the earth is on fire and all things are burned up, what then?
Is there a future for your soul?
So, what you want to ask yourself, what do I believe?
I sum it up by saying this, a sure test of what you believe is found in our response to Scripture.
Unregenerate people do not have any response to Scripture. If they don’t like what it says, they throw it out, they ignore it. In fact, Jesus said to the Jews one day, "Because I tell you the truth,
you don’t believe Me." Then He went on to say, "He who is of God
hears God’s words. You don’t hear God’s words because you’re not of
God."
Let me just say this, there is no Christianity without doctrine.
There is no salvation, apart from Christ.
So, again I ask, what do you believe?
A heart that embraces the word of God, embraces the truth, has been saved.
A life that has been transformed by the Word, has the received the Holy Spirit.
If your life is the same, well, you may want to question your salvation.
The Word of God is life-changing!
So what do we have in the world today?
The ridiculous concept that doctrine and dogmatism are "unchristian!"
"They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
I John 4:5-6
God has given man. (and woman) two choices:
The way of life, or the way of death!
If you ask me, the way of life sounds more reasonable.
The way of life is repentance of our sins, baptism in the Name of Christ, and born of the Spirit.
The way of life is speaking truth.
The way of life is loving our neighbor.
The way of life is reading God’s Word.
The way of life is shunning the pleasures of this world.
The way of life is coming to the House of God.
The way of life is being a blessing to others.
The way of life is praying always unto God.
The way of life is living holy.
The way of life is believing in the power of blood of Christ.
Many years ago, I made a great decision in my life.
It was a decision that
affected my eternal soul.
Now, my flesh didn’t like it, some of my family didn't like it, but that was
too bad.
I didn't make it for them, I made it for myself!
And Oh yes, the devil didn’t like it, but that's just too bad.
God’s Word said, "Do it!"
My conscience said, "Do it!"
All logic and reason said, "Do it!"
My soul said, "Do it!"
The signs of the times said, "Do it!"
Heaven said, “Do it!”
Everything about my present life said, "Do it!"
It was spiraling out of control!
Then the devil jumped in my face and said, "Don’t do it!"
"Do you really want to be like these people?"
"Just look at them! They're not fun!"
"They're making fools of themselves, in front of everyone!"
"Is that what you want?"
The answer was emphatically, "YES!"
These people had love!
They had peace!
They wept with joy!
And no matter what is going wrong, they trust it will be ok!
Yes! Yes! I want that!
I've never had that, and I want it too!
I literally told the devil, yes, out loud to "Get out of my way!" and I ran to the alter!
My dad was always telling me, "If it feels good, do it!"
And that's exactly what I did!
Living for Jesus felt good!
It felt good to walk in the Spirit!
It felt good to finally have peace in my life!
I've heard many people say, "Decisions are killing me!"
And guess what?
They are!
Some people are making decisions right now that will end landing them in Hell.
For Eternity!
It won’t feel good, but they are still doing it.
One of the greatest tragedies of our time is the modern church’s indifference toward theology. And when it’s
indifferent toward theology, it blurs the line between a Christian and a
non-Christian; and as I said many times, the devil goes to church!
I have heard it said, "to be a true Christian is to be a scandal to the church."
A church that is disinterested in sound doctrine, worldly, weak, and self-deceived, and superficial.
When a church is catering to the world, current culture, the Truth, becomes the enemy!
And that is the truth! They not only deceive themselves, they are deceiving the congregation!
And as such, also is the person who believes they will arrive in Heaven, without Jesus Christ, without Truth is fatally deceived!
Beloved, there is no other way!
Jesus said it best, "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
John 14:6
That said, the health of the church and the impact of it's teaching is always based on the church’s ability to maintain objective truth. The church is to be the pillar and ground of the truth, always!
It doesn't change the truth, because the current culture has changed, society doesn't want to hear the truth. It keeps truth always, there are no exceptions. As soon as you water down the gospel, you distort that line between Christian and non-Christian. It implies, we can to continue to live as the world lives and still be a Christian, still go to heaven. We are, called to be set apart from the world,
not blend in with it!
And I must be honest here, sadly it's becoming more and more difficult, to distinguish the church from the world! I have frequently heard Christian saying things such as;
"Jesus drank wine!, So my going to happy hour is fine,"
"Jesus overturned tables, if I lose my self control, it's not really a big deal."
There is a great need of reassertion in today's churches, in what it means to be a Christian!
Today's church wants desperately want to be popular, desperately wanting
everybody to accept us, we fear being alienated, we fear being
marginalized. Subsequently. what we have then is a church full of wimps. Afraid of speaking Truth. Avoiding entire books of Scripture. All in fear of offending people.
Or is it fear of the drop in the collection plate? I can only speculate, but I suspect, the latter to be more accurate!
If we’re going to deal honestly with the assurance of our salvation, we have to go back and reconstruct the Truth. Beloved, you are not a Christian just because you believe in Jesus, even the devil believes in Jesus, and I can assure you this, he is not going to heaven! Being a Christian is salvation, transformation, conversion, regeneration.
"Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh."
Romans 6:16-19
Do you know what happens when you are really saved? You become dedicated to Truth, committed to new understanding. You were committed, paradidōmi,
which means to deliver, to hand over. You were literally delivered from error to
truth. You became a believer when you understood that form, that
theology.
Everybody who is a true Christian if you’re looking for assurance, you
have to go to this starting point. Everybody who calls himself or
herself a Christian must agree that there’s a body of doctrine that is
non-negotiable. There’s a body of doctrine that is required.
There is no fellowship between light and darkness, there is no concord
between Christ and Satan, there is no harmony between a believer and an
unbeliever, there is no agreement between the temple of God and idols. Beloved, we mustn't be bound together with people who don’t believe what you must
believe to be saved.
The Truth, the doctrine to which you have been delivered, the constitutional body of
truth is the essence of the faith which saves. They are indispensable
truths, and if someone denies them, you’re not to have any fellowship
with them.
We are commanded, then, to keep spiritually separate from those who
corrupt the essential truths of the gospel, essential truths which have
to do with Christ. We cannot justify any kind of connection, spiritual union with anyone whose teaching at all corrupts the message of the Gospel. That's false teaching! Any corruption of the gospel is condemned. Any kind of false Christianity is in the category of the most heinous sins.
If a doctrine is truly fundamental, it must have its origin in Scripture. It can’t have its origin in church tradition, if it is truly fundamental, it must have its origin in Scripture, not tradition. The testimony of the Lord is sure and makes wise the simplest. Every
necessary article of doctrine essential for salvation is in the
Scripture and is clear. What is biblical, what is clearly revealed in Scripture, and what is
fundamental to eternal life, what is fundamental to eternal life is what we must believe and teach.
What we must believe, is the true knowledge of Jesus Christ. To believe that Jesus
is the true God. To believe in His deity. To believe therefore that
He is a part of the Godhead. To believe that He is equal to the
Father. He Himself said, “All who honor Him, honor His Father.” You
cannot honor Him and not His Father, they’re one and the same. If one denies the deity of Christ, they can’t be saved!
You can’t escape the great doctrine of imputed righteousness, the great doctrine of justification.
If we are to be righteous before God, we cannot establish our own righteousness, it has to be the righteousness that God gives to us because of what Christ has done.
We must believe in the doctrine of sin.
"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us."
I John 1:8-10
Jesus Himself embodies and establishes every doctrine that is essential
to salvation. You reject any of the doctrines concerning Christ, His
nature or His work, you reject any of those that have to do with who He
is and what He did, and you can’t be saved.
That is why the apostle Paul says, "I preach Christ, I preach
Christ, I preach Christ, I preach Christ. I’m determined to know nothing
among you except Jesus Christ and particularly Him crucified – the
cross, the cross, the cross, the cross and all that goes with it; and
His virgin birth. He is the sinless God, His deity. He is the Son of the
Father; His humanity, fully human. His sinless life, His
substitutionary death, His glorious resurrection, His ascension, His
second coming – everything concerning Christ."
In Closing...
Again, I say, because it bears repeating, a sure test of a true Christian is how they respond to Scripture. Unregenerate people do not have any response to Scripture. A person that has been saved has a heart that embraces the word of God, embraces the truth, affirms it, and particularly that saving truth concerning Jesus Christ.
When the Spirit of truth saves the sinner truly, He brings to that
sinner an understanding of, a belief in, and an embracing and total
commitment not only to the true gospel, but to all the word of God. A person is not truly saved, casts the Word, it's truths and teachings aside.
There are millions of people, who have chosen to live for Jesus, these people have chosen the way of life. So what about you? Have you come to a decision to live or die? God
recognizes every man as a free moral agent, and lays at his doorstep,
the awful responsibility of choosing his own destiny.
I am asking you to consider today to make the greatest decision in your life. I am calling you to make a decision for your soul. The decision that you make today, determines your destiny tomorrow.
The Lord has set before you the way of life, and the way of death, this
day. I pray God help you to make the right decision, today.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries