Transcription

Chris
So, Kyle, have you and Kristen ever, uh, like, picked your own strawberries? Yes, we have actually, yeah. Were you were you you stop by and it’s kind of like a thrill. Yeah. It’s like, hey, pick your own. And then for us, who didn’t grow up as farmers, we’re like, what a thrill it is to go out and labor, right? As opposed to going to Nino’s or Trader Joe’s and actually having somebody had picked them for us. Right? Yes.

Kyle
You pay money nowadays to go to Apple to go pick your apples or. Yeah. It’s crazy. Yeah.

Chris
And you know why? It’s because it’s a novelty for us who don’t work. Right. But that is actually called harvesting and that’s what we’re talking about today.

Kyle
Good. Well, hey, this is Chris, and I’m Kyle, and we are the Bible guys. All right, Chris, it’s Friday, and, uh, man, I love Fridays, right? Yeah.

Chris
Yeah, Fridays.

Kyle
And so, uh.

Chris
That’s a good time to say Jeff Forrester’s out of town. That’s right. And we haven’t really said that this whole week.

Kyle
We the first day, week one. Got it forgotten about. Yeah, we’ve kind of forgotten about him.

Chris
But, uh, but Jeff should be back on.

Kyle
Monday. Yes. That’s awesome. Uh, so with it being Friday, I want to ask a question as we go into the weekend for people to kind of mull over, but it’s a stump. The pastor and I didn’t even tell you what this was ahead of time. Yeah.

Chris
So we’re.

Kyle
Really trying to.

Chris
Stump you, by the way. Yeah. You’re stumping the pastor, and I have no time to think about it. No, this.

Kyle
Is going to be. This is going to be. No. Hey, man, people are going to try to stump you. Let’s see if you got this one. Okay. Here we go. Okay. This is Donna. One of our listeners asks this question if someone believes in Jesus, but then turns away and decides to not actively follow him anymore, do they get their gift of eternal life in heaven revoked?

Chris
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So there’s a lot of different ways to ask this question. And while I’m responding, I’m actually going to pull up my Bible app because I think it’s easier to probably grab it from here than it would be to flip through the pages, since I’m. Yeah, already flipped to where we’re reading from. Um, uh, so, uh, let me just go ahead and say that, uh, a lot of people would phrase this by saying, um, uh, you know, can you lose your salvation? Right? Right. Or can you behave yourself out of God’s care? And believe it or not, that’s the number one question in the New Testament. Did you know that? Um, so so the apostle Paul comes along and he was the one to sort of, you know, have to deliver this truth that like, hey, it’s not about the rules anymore. Now, granted, the rules are there for a reason. Yeah. God gives us rules and commandments. None of those change about his will and his desire for our lives. But in terms of finding favor with God and in terms of getting to heaven especially, it’s not dependent on, uh, all of those things. So it’s salvation is by grace. And then he goes on and says, like, hey, there’s nothing you could do to earn yourself, you know, Ephesians two eight and nine, for it’s by grace that you’ve been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It’s the gift of God, not by good works, so that nobody can boast. And so he goes on and on and on, just, just emphasizing that there’s nothing you can do to get yourself to heaven. And therefore whatever you do that’s bad is forgiven. And so then, naturally, the question would be, well, then, if God forgives me regardless of what I do, why shouldn’t I just keep sinning? Chris
Yeah. And then that’s what he says in Romans eight.

Kyle
Should we go on sinning? Should we that grace may abound?

Chris
Yeah okay. Okay. So so the so the so so the number one question is can we lose our salvation? So the apostle Paul usually talks about it in terms of grace versus law. Uh, the book of James talks about faith versus deeds, right? Yeah. And, uh, and I think that the answer to this question, uh, is in a couple of different places, but it’s, it’s, it’s answered the strongest in Romans chapter eight. And by the way, I don’t know if you know this or not, but what I’m about to read is the strongest answer to any given question in the entire Bible. Paul poses his own question, and then he answers it. And I want you to listen to the resolve. I want you to listen to the, uh, just unbelievable wording of of just how confident we could be of the answer of this. Okay. So, uh. La la la la la la la la la la la. Here it is. Verse number 35. This is the question. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Because that’s the question, right? Yeah. Does it mean he no longer loves us, that we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened, even with death? Verse 37. No, despite all of these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below. Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Chris
And so it is to think about that answer.

Kyle
Yeah. Oh it’s.

Chris
Amazing. It is massive now, coupled with, you know, that resolve, but coupled with the other truths like Ephesians chapter four verse 30 that says that once we are under God’s care, that we are sealed to the day of redemption. Yeah. Till we till redeemed. Yeah. And we all know what redeemed means. It’s to buy back, to purchase back. It’s the moment where you exchange the coupon for your box of cereal, right? Yeah. It is the redeeming or the cashing in or the exchange. Right. And so we’re sealed to the day of redemption, which means the day that we’re redeemed or bought back is going to be the day that we may meet Jesus face to face, which means either he’s going to come in his glory, or we’re going to pass and open up our eyes and see him face to face. We are sealed in his love, and so nothing can ever separate us. That’s good.

Kyle
So to summarize, you would say to Donna, who asked the question that if somebody truly accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, their eternal life, they’re like, I think she said her ticket to heaven is not revoked because we believe that there’s nothing that can separate you from love of Jesus.

Chris
Yeah. And another, another, uh, school of thought is this if it is possible for someone to lose their salvation, that would go against every promise of Scripture. It would contradict every single scripture about salvation, right? Right. So heaven is not dependent on our works in any way. It’s completely out of our hands. So that would think of the arrogance of, uh, of actually the power that that puts back in in our laps. Because if you can lose your salvation, then that implies that you could gain it back again. Right? So, so if we get into heaven not based on our good deeds, that’s good. And our bad deeds actually remove us from heaven, then the question is, how can we get back into heaven and God’s good graces about us? It can’t be by good deeds, right? Right. So it would literally contradict every good passage about salvation. So therefore we conclude, based on every scripture about heaven, that good deeds is out of the equation. It can’t get us there and it can’t remove us. Yeah.

Kyle
One addition I’d add to that too, whenever people ask that question is I usually reference the, uh, story the parable of the Lost Son. Parable of the Prodigal Son. Yeah. Another story where you talk about a father and son. So it’s his it’s his children. They’re his. And the fact that there’s a son who goes off and spends all his money, spends inheritance on the wild living, and then comes back. And of course, the father accepts him back because and it’s kind of like he was his, his son all along. No matter where he went, he was still his son, right? Nothing changed. And in the relationship. So I do think even with that is another one I would reference to for for Donna out there. Who, who? So anyways, great answer. Hey thanks.

Chris
Don. Yeah, that was really good for even, uh, caring about, uh, wanting to know that. And then also, uh, just to invite people to send in questions. Yeah. If you want to send an email, you can send it to info, uh, info at the Bible Guides. Com. That’s right. Uh, or you can even, uh, send it in through YouTube. Questions and.

Kyle
Comments. Yes. Those are great question. All right. So today we’re going to continue on talking about these different marking moments. Uh, in Jesus’s ministry yesterday we talked about the woman at the well and just the the fact that Jesus chose this woman at this time, this place, he went through Samaria to meet with her. Yeah.

Chris
And we’re sort of seeing the harvest. Yeah. Of of what happened from the woman at the. Well, that’s where we’re starting.

Kyle
Yes. Okay. So starting at John chapter four, verse 27 is where we’re kicking in right here. Yep. Okay. Then it says, just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, which is kind of funny, but none of them had the nerve to ask, what do you want with her? Or why are you talking to her? I love that, actually. They’re just like, whoa! Uh. The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone she says this. Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could he possibly be the Messiah? So the people came streaming from the village to see him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, Rabbi, eat something. But Jesus replied, I have a kind of food you know nothing about. Did someone bring him food? While we were gone? The disciples asked each other. They always just seem behind, don’t they? They’re just like, what is happening? Someone bring him food? Yeah. Then Jesus explained, my nourishment comes from doing the will of God who sent me and from finishing his work. You know the saying four months between planting and harvest. But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters. Harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike? You know the saying one plants and another harvest. And it’s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant. Others had already done the work, and now you would get to gather the harvest.

Chris
That’s good. Yeah. Hey, we’re going to get to the woman at the well in a minute. But, uh, because we’re talking about harvesting and planting, I want to read this note that’s actually written in my life application study Bible on verse number 36. It says, the wages Jesus offers are the joy of working for him and seeing the harvest of believers. These wages come to planter and harvester alike because both find joy in seeing new believers come into Christ’s kingdom. The phrase others are already had done the work in verse number 38th May refer to the Old Testament prophets and to John the Baptist, who paved the way for good news. And so I, I think that that’s really cool. And and I think that. Jesus, uh, you know, this is one of the many times where he talks about, you know, uh, the importance of recognizing that the mission is ripe, the mission is urgent, and that at the time is now. Right. So, so, you know, Jesus uses the thing that everybody in that, uh, area can understand, which is farming. Yeah.

Kyle
Which we are. Yeah.

Chris
Which, which again, we pay to go pick strawberries, right? Yeah. We have no idea. Jeff, by the way, grew up on a farm. Yeah. So? So if so, if he were here, he’d be like, one time when I was a farmer, I don’t know. Yeah.

Kyle
You have all the details and terminology.

Chris
I used to chop logs. Yeah. Uh, until I was, like 21 years old and all these, all these kind of things.

Kyle
Yeah. So actually, you know what? You just read that, which is about the harvest and all that stuff, which is very important. I want to read because I actually did not finish. This is my bad. But this is actually the most important kind of like culmination of this. I didn’t even finish versus. Yeah. So we’re gonna hopefully Dave who’s actually running graphics Dave we appreciate him so much. We’re going to throw it up on the screen. He probably caught this as well. But here’s what it had to say. I actually think this is important to you know, after what you just said Chris, it says many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said he told me everything I ever did. When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, now we believe not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world. That’s so. Yeah, that’s just well.

Chris
Those are a heck of yeah, those are some heck of verses.

Kyle
You know? Honestly, yeah, we did skip it. But also your context. You added, I think, you know, let it very well. The fact that Jesus is kind of telling, reminding them like, hey, we need like there’s plenty of work to be done if you think that the job is done, you have missed the point. Yeah.

Chris
So there’s a sermon just in those verses right there because, uh, you know, that that comment that says now we believe not just because of what you said, because we’ve heard him for ourselves, you know, that that’s the whole, um, gosh, just a few weeks ago, we talked about the idea that, uh, Andrew found Peter and said, uh, you know, there’s there’s the Messiah. And he said, what are you talking about? He said, come and see. Right? Yeah. And then and then and then Philip finds Nathaniel, and Nathaniel is like, what are you talking about? He’s like, come and see. Come and see for yourself. And when we invite people along to come and see for themselves, it’s not just based on what we say, but it’s now what we say, you know, coupled up with their own personal experience of meeting Jesus, hearing about Jesus, you know, and then coming to a personal relationship with Jesus. And that’s what that is. It’s it’s the come and see moment. And guess what? It was the it started with the woman at the well who said, let me tell you about this wonderful Jesus. And they’re like, what are you talking about? You know.

Kyle
I find so interesting about this. The context behind this is we talked yesterday about how the fact that she went there at noon time, and she clearly was ashamed. She had had five husbands and then she’s with another man, that sort of thing. Right. So she’s going out there essentially to hide. But then she goes back and all of a sudden she has all this influence. Think about how popular she becomes when she goes back into her town, starts spreading the name of Jesus. But it dawned on me for a second. This is somebody who lived in shame. She lived in fear. She lived feeling rejected. Now all of a sudden she has encountered with Jesus. And it’s almost like this new life, this born again baptism we’ve kind of experienced or we’ve talked about over the last couple of days. It’s like she almost goes back there as like a new person because before she’s trying to hide out. So now why all of a sudden is she miss bowl and then going and sharing her faith? And it makes me think of the many, like dozens of people I’ve met over the years who I can see a total change, a total transformation in them when they actually encounter Jesus for the first time. Yeah, I have a family member of mine who’s in that same. Boat where like for years lived in the shame of his addiction and his past and the mistakes he made. And it was hard to even make eye contact. And being around family environments was always strange because he needed to dip out and and come to find out, he’s just carrying a lot of weight and shame. Just recently, actually, through Heritage’s ministry, he, um, he’s actually, like, solidified his faith, came to know Jesus. Kyle
It’s real. He’s getting baptized at our big upcoming event and his life. I mean, he is a different person. So the person who walked around feeling that shame, the condemnation, the heavy, the weight, the baggage is a different person. And I love that because now he wants to go and share his faith. Somebody who before would never want to go, he just didn’t feel it. And I love this story because God will use anybody and he we needed to reach, like Jesus needed to reach the Samaritan people. And he chose her. And I just I just think it’s a beautiful story. Yeah.

Chris
I love that, man, I love that, I think that it’s, uh, it’s it’s I think we all have somebody in our lives where we where we where we know. If you live in church world, where their reputation was changed so drastically. Yeah. And I think that somebody for like my wife, for instance, you know, she always laughs because she says, I don’t have a story. You know, her story was let me think. Um, once upon a time, I grew up in a Christian home. Uh, I trusted Jesus when I was so little, I barely remember it. And I’ve lived with a Christian, with Christian parents, and I’ve gone to church most of my life. The end. Right? That’s her story. Whereas me, I’m like, uh, once upon a time, I was a hoodlum and, uh, you know, and God had to.

Kyle
Forgive me of a lot of sins, right? Yeah.

Chris
In and out of jail, drugs. And, you know, even though they were, you know, sort of minor and but but, you know, it was like I always made the comment and I said, you know, dealing with drugs, dealing with alcohol, uh, being in bars, being an in and out of juvenile. And then I hit junior high, right. It’s like, it’s like that stuff did take place when I was in junior high. Wow. You know, so it’s like, you know, so my story is quite the opposite of my wife’s and or my wife’s. And I think that, um, I feel like I’m one of those people. And I think I told this, uh, way back during high daily is actually when I went to my high school reunion, uh, and they said, what do you do for a living? And I said, I’m a pastor. And the guy looked at me and he goes, what?

Kyle
Yeah. He couldn’t.

Chris
Believe it. You you’re a pastor? Yeah, because I went to Cheney’s high school reunion, and I sort of left there right when I became a Christian. And then I went to I spent most of my Christian walk in Wilson. But anyway, it doesn’t matter. The point is that Cheney’s high school reunion, they didn’t quite know that. And they were like, what are you talking about? And then I remember one guy in the conversation goes, hey, hey, come over here, come over here. Guess what Zariba does for a living? He’s what? And he goes, he’s a pastor. And the guy didn’t understand. He walks up and he goes, let me ask you a question. He goes on Sunday morning, who speaks? And I said, well, well, sometimes I do. And most of the time I do at the time. And he goes and people still come. That’s what he said. Oh my gosh. So, so he had absolutely no clue right. Yeah. And I think that, um, uh, you know, the changed life has a lot of power. Yeah. So the woman at the well runs, you know, we don’t know her name, by the way. Yeah, right. She’s the woman at the. Well, she has a name. Yeah. God knows her name. Yeah, right. Jesus probably knew her name eventually, but. But for us, she’s anonymous. And so the woman at the well runs in and, uh, imagine her boldness. And by the way, that’s probably the reason why people listen to her, because they’re like, why is she acting with so much confidence? Yes. And so much boldness. Right.

Kyle
Even maybe they’re saying we haven’t seen her in months. You know, I’m saying we haven’t seen her and she’s the one that got support.

Chris
She avoids our eye contact, let alone wants to grab our attention, running around speaking. And imagine this, a woman with such shame all of a sudden, you know, uh, responding in such a way where she’s like, I was approached by a Jewish man who’s the Messiah who talked to me.

Kyle
Told me everything I did.

Chris
Yeah, everything I did. And so he’s got this wondrous, you know, signs. But think about that. Everybody at that time said was probably thinking, uh, why would a Jewish man ever talk to you? So the same thing she thought they all probably thought. Right. So Jesus was very intriguing to them. That’s why they had to run out and see for themselves. Yeah. And they encountered.

Kyle
Well, and also, we can’t get past the fact that right at the beginning of those verses, the disciples were kind of confused by all of that. Right? They’re kind of just like, whoa, no one had the nerve to tell them, but they thought it was kind of inappropriate. Right. And I think that’s the thing is, like, um, you know, we have a saying and it’s not just our saying it’s not a heritage church saying, but, um, it’s been around for a long I don’t know if it’s Bill Hybels or anybody else, you know, years before that, the creative. But we’ll do anything short of sin to reach people for Jesus. Yeah. And so we want to reach people for Jesus. You know, we we draw the line at sinning, but we’ll do anything as long as there’s no sin involved. Try to reach people for Jesus. And I love this because Jesus wasn’t sinning. He wasn’t doing anything. It was just in their cultural time. It was seen as kind of like a faux pas. You don’t go there. But he didn’t sin. He didn’t cross over any sin at all. But at the same time, people were so like even his disciples were like, whoa, was this good? It turns out that the very thing that they didn’t like that he was doing, that they, because of their religious background or just the fact that cultural background, they thought it was weird. It was abnormal. It was uncomfortable, or they might have thought it was sinful, was the very thing that actually led the Samaritan woman to to Jesus salvation and all of her friends, that whole community. So anyways, I just think that’s kind of cool too.

Chris
And by the way, I think that that probably did come from somewhere like Bill Hybels. But by the way, he stole that from the apostle Paul because the apostle Paul says to the weak, I became weak, to the strong I became strong. He said, I’ve become all things to all people, so that by any means we would reach just some, right? And so so he was saying, uh, by any means necessary, we’re going to reach those for Jesus. Yeah. And by the way, let’s just spend the last minute or two talking about this harvest thing at once again. Yeah. So Jesus, you know, the disciples are wondering in their mind. But it’s interesting how it says nobody spoke up. So Jesus knows what they’re thinking. And what does he do? He gives them a lesson about the harvest. And so he starts talking about the harvest and says, hey, you’ve been taught that you have to wait four months to harvest, but I’m telling you, the spiritual harvest. You don’t have to wait at all because it’s right now. And so you know that which is happening in front of your eyes, this, this transaction that I’m that you’re witnessing and you’re wondering about between, you know, me and the woman at the well, it’s happening because there’s a need and the need is now. And everybody needs to know, you know, the truth of the Savior of the world. And so the harvest is ripe now. And so I think that this is a truth that’s sort of it’s a metaphor that carries on into our lives, because Jesus is letting us know the mission is now, the mission is ripe. Uh, you know, the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few. So God calls the workers into his harvest. Chris
And he’s saying, if you’re willing to work, if you’re willing to, you know, uh, respond to me, uh, to, to tell others about me, you can join in and be a part of the great stuff that God’s going to do just by joining in the harvest.

Kyle
That’s great. That’s a great way to wrap up. I think so, too. That’s good. Hey, so next week maybe we’ll have Jeff back. Hopefully. Right? Yeah.

Chris
Who knows.

Kyle
But if not, you know, I could be back too.

Chris
Or maybe she’ll be in like Dubai and not bring me again.

Kyle
Yeah, he had a choice to bring one special friend and he chose Chad instead of you. Hopefully not. Hopefully not again.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, hey, we’ll see you next time. Hopefully on The Bible Guys. See you.