Deliverance: From Error to the Truth, Part 1

The theology of deliverance and understanding of deliverance is a critical area of truth and becomes critical at the point of understanding who is a true Christian and that is absolutely essential to the health, well-being and effectiveness of the church. The gospel, the consequences of that view. People are confused about what it means to be a Christian to serious issue is one that has gripped John MacArthur enough that he has addressed it head on. The result, John's current series of lessons here on grace to you, titled delivered by God and now follow along with John as he begins today's message by explaining why this topic of deliverance is so crucial for you and for every Christian to understand one of the great words in the Bible is the word deliverance, though it is not commonly used in the Christian vocabulary. Sad to say, rarely do you hear theologians talk about.

Rarely do you read theologians write about the truth of deliverance. Yet, it is nonetheless a profoundly important term for understanding God's redemptive work God is in the business of deliverance and deliverance may be the best. It may be the most clarifying and it may actually be the most comprehensive word to explain God's gracious and powerful work in our lives we were prompted to this discussion by the fact that Jesus came with the ministry of deliverance and when we began to see that in the case of Jesus. It drew us into the greater theme of deliverance which covers really all of God's redemptive purpose. Now the theology of deliverance is not just some academic exercise. It is not merely a matter for theological discussion. The theology of deliverance is practical. It is intensely practical and it is extremely necessary for all believers to understand because it is the theology of deliverance that defines what salvation really does in the believer, a person who is a true Christian has been delivered from certain realities.

True salvation we could say is deliverance is the dramatic rescue of the sinner from all of the elements of life that threatened to destroy and damn him.

In fact, deliverance defines what it means to be a Christian. There are the undelivered and the delivered we are the delivered in Romans 1126 Paul writes the deliverer will come and he will remove ungodliness, and he will take away sin Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ as their identified as the deliverer.

In fact, every time in the Bible you see the word save saved salvation or Savior you can translated with some form of the word deliver. Essentially it means the same thing.

The deliverer communicates well to us because we understand the English the meaning of deliverance, the theology of deliverance and understanding of deliverance is a critical area of truth and becomes critical at the point of understanding who is a true Christian and that is absolutely essential to the health and well-being and effectiveness of the church. If the church blurs the line between Christians and non-Christians. It then invites the enemy into the camp totally distorts its own identity and allow Satan to gain a foothold. It is a matter of being content or even inviting the tears to be sewn among the wheat, yet that is exactly what is happening in evangelicalism today evangelical churches inviting non-Christians in and then redefining them as Christians. The greatest failure of professing Christianity in this day and for this century, past has been the failure to distinguish between true Christians and false and it's worse now than it's ever been. It's been going on all through this century and it's now worse than it's ever been.

The true church is the society of the delivered and we have to keep that distinction very clear, because the Lord wants a pure church.

He wants a chaste brine. He wants a bride without blemish and without spot, the church must be made up of true believers and it must be clear who is a real Christian and who is not so that we protect the church from the encroachment of Satan and also so that we protect the lost from being deceived, but only when we allow non-Christians to be defined as Christians, do we pollute the church, but we also aid and abet the deception of Satan, and people live as though they were Christians when in fact they are not. There are a number of categories in which we have to understand the nature of deliverance being a true Christian is being delivered and it's billed being delivered from several very important realities. The first one is the one I want to talk to you about is true Christians have been delivered from error to truth from error to truth. This is not an easy message for me to preach to you for a number of reasons. One, I have too much material in my head too much to try to sort out so that it takes a tremendous amount of effort mentally and confidence in the spirit of God to help the filtering process.

Secondly, you're going to have to think with me because they're going to be some subtleties as well as some not-so-subtle things that are going to need to have to comprehend as we go through but this is very very important. Nothing is worse than a person thinking their Christian when they're not. Nothing is more deadly to the impact of the church and embracing non-Christians as if they were Christians. So were dealing with an issue that is at the very center of what the church really is and it applies in all the lives of folks who come near the church. So the first thing we want to know about the doctrine of deliverance or the theology of deliverance is the true Christians have been delivered from error to truth.

Turn with me in your Bible to Colossians chapter 1. Let's start there and I were going to try to go through this as rapidly as we can and I I will have to leave some things out. But in Colossians chapter 1, I think we can get a good start. Here is a passage that expresses the great miracle of deliverance and verse 13 is the notable verse verse 13 Colossians 113 for he that is the father mentioned in verse 12, to whom we give thanks. He the father delivered us rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son back in verse 12, Paul says we therefore give him thanks because he has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Here you have that very familiar biblical contrast between darkness and light, we have been delivered out of the domain of darkness, we have been delivered into the kingdom of the son of his love is the Greek literally says, which is the kingdom, made up all the saints in light. Darkness is synonymous with ignorance, darkness is synonymous with error light is synonymous with truth. We have been taken out of error, out of darkness, and delivered into a kingdom of light ruled by the beloved son of God, Jesus Christ. That's the first category of deliverance. True Christians understand the truth. They have come from darkness to light. They have come from error to truth Psalm 119, 130 the entrance of thy word gives light thy word.

We read in Psalm 119, 105 is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. That is the first great area of deliverance out of the darkness of error even to the bright light of truth, the apostle Paul when he was commissioned to preach. According to acts 2618 was sent to sinners to open their eyes that they might turn from darkness to light, so that darkness and light are are really symbols or metaphors of error in truth and noticed please in verse 13 that truth is synonymous with Jesus Christ. We are delivered from the domain of darkness, which is the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of his beloved son and he is the light of the world. Jesus said I am the light of the world and whoever comes to me will never walk in darkness. The light is synonymous with Jesus Christ. It is synonymous with entering into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. So the first thing that is true about the delivered the true Christians is that they do not believe error because they have come to the light. They have come to the truth the bar.

The language of Ephesians chapter 6 they are engaged in a battle against the spiritual forces of darkness.

But they are triumphant because they are put on the armor of God, the first piece of armor is the belt with a girdle of truth Christian is someone then who understands the truth, who has been delivered from Satan's lies to God's truth to be saved according to first Timothy 24 to be saved is to come to the knowledge of the truth being saved is not some kind of mystical cryptic some kind of inexplicable feeling being saved is to come to the knowledge of the truth. Luke tells us in the book of acts that when the gospel was preached on the day of Pentecost 3000 people believed and they continued in the apostles doctrine.

They started there and they continued their true Christian is a person who has been deposited rescued out of ignorance and deposited in the realm of truth they came into the realm of truth and they continue in the realm of truth to be saved is to come to the knowledge of the truth Christian is someone who understands the truth, who believes the truth who embraces the truth, who loves the truth and who submits to the truth and you know it amazes me that there are so many people in evangelicalism today. Leaders and evangelicalism pastors and writers who believe a person can be a Christian without ever being delivered from error to truth, I'm reading today that there are those saying that there are people and countries in obscure places in tribes and hidden backwaters of the world who have never had a Bible and never hear the truth of Jesus Christ to were going to be saved because God is going to be gracious and kind to them and they're going to be saved, even though they've never heard the truth that is a lie. If according to Romans one, they live up to the light. They have, and if the see the creator in the creation and through reason and according to Romans to follow their conscience back to a lawgiver if they live up to the light they have.

Christ was the light. The lights every minute comes into the world.

John 19 says God will reveal more light to them and they'll come to a greater light because God will give them a greater light but no one will ever be.

Safety doesn't come to the knowledge of the true there saying today that the don't have to come to the knowledge of the truth: the missionary's home stop proclaiming the gospel to every creature. Even though Jesus told us to do that. But the Bible tells us that when you're delivered your delivered out of error into truth and you come literally into a paradigm, a realm of domain a kingdom of light in the words of John 645. All believers are taught by God they possess an enlightenment which sets apart the teaching of God from all the teaching of men. True believers understand the truth as opposed to error, they have received by regeneration a new nature and that new nature has a capacity for the truth that new nature has an affinity for the truth that new nature has a devotion to the truth that has allowed for the truth. We have an anointing. First John 227 from God and it abides in us. He says so that we don't need anybody to teach will need a human teacher to explain the world to us.

We don't need some human approach to life. Philosophically, we don't need some religion invented by men or devils because we have been delivered out of darkness into light. We live in a realm of truth. Listen we have been given, according to John 1417 the Spirit of truth who has taken up residence in us and we understand the truth and it is the truth that saves so the first Timothy 24 is the sum of it all.

You have been saved, meaning you've come to the knowledge of the truth you believed it.

You've assented to it. You've embraced it you love it and you submit to John eight Jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall what set you free. The search is over your out of the darkness.

You no longer wandering around blind and dark because you been liberated. You've been set free. The truth has made you free and we take some the folks. The only thing a lever set.

The sinner frees the truth until the sinner comes to the truth is locked in darkness. Ephesians 58. Paul expended this way.

I love this. Once you were darkness.

Now you are light in the Lord that say once you were darkness. Now you are light in the Lord. Simply stated, being saved demands coming to believe wholeheartedly.

The truth that saves and if you don't believe the truth that saves the Essay you have to believe the delivering truth to be delivered.

A woman wants or wrote to me and she said she thought Christianity was fine but frankly she was into sin and does she like to listen to Christian radio. She says because quote the music smoothed out her karma but she said I interrupted that, because I am too narrowminded and too narrowminded to another religion.

So she wrote to encourage me to be more broad-minded and she said here's a quote.

God doesn't care what you believe as long as you believe God doesn't care what you believe, she says, as long as your sincere.

She went on to say all religions lead to ultimately to the same reality. It doesn't matter which road you take. That's pretty reflective of our generation is a popular and pervasive lot that doesn't matter what you believe is long as you believe something and as long as your sincere because everybody's going to get to the same end anyway. A solid Matthew seven records that Jesus said. He said the gate is wide and the way is broad. That's the religious road that most people run and it leads to destruction, and in Proverbs 1412 it says is a way which seems right to a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. Now I understand is politically correct to have this kind of latitude I understand is politically correct to not say your religion is right, your faith is right and you believe right and everybody else is wrong, that doesn't fly today does it in a postmodern world, disinterested in truth, other than the great goal of postmodernism is everybody's accepted no matter what it is they believe they certainly have a right to believe that and who are you to come along think you have the truth will know there is no such thing as real truth. It's only a matter of preference. Whatever makes you feel better is fine for you to believe but don't tell me it's the truth in everything other than that this error is not popular but kind of indiscriminate view of truth overview of non-truth is so pervasive that it is literally infecting evangelicalism and people are now saying that there are folks.

As I said earlier, all over the world tucked often little corners who never will know the truth and God will take him to heaven anyway. It is the nature of on a fallen man. It is the nature of the undelivered to believe lies is not the nature of the delivered we have been delivered out of the lies into the what the truth we have been rescued from that turn to second Corinthians 10 I have to show you this passage I refer to it before it is pertinent to this discussion. Second Corinthians chapter 10. I'm really not have to hurry her segment is 10 verse four Paul says while verse three says where war making war we can't make war and the flash. That is what human weapons, human ingenuity, human cleverness, human thoughts, theories, ideas, techniques, marketing, whatever we can't fight this battle with human weapons verse four the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. They're not human he means, but mighty onto God divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses, he says, look where a spiritual war, the spiritual war wherein is a formidable thing we're attacking these great fortifications were attacking these massive fortresses in the picture is of some huge granite fort and he says we gotta go in and destroy them. We got have pretty powerful weapons. We can't go in there with all a little clever ideas we gotta destroy those fortresses. What are those fortresses verse five is what they are first floor ends the destruction of fortresses verse five begins. We are destroying speculations. The NAS is imagination some other versions say this is defining the fortresses these great fortifications. These great prisons are nothing other than speculations they are log gives mosses the Greek word means ideas, ideologies, ideologies, what kind of ideologies follow verse five. Every lofty idea raised up against the knowledge of God. Any un-biblical idea anything contrary to the truth of God, we have to destroy why so verse five we can take every thought captive to Christ. Another words the world is full of people imprisoned in ideological systems. In lives in error in darkness in blindness and our responsibility is to go and smash those ideologies down in order that we can set the prisoners free because those fortresses become their prisons and eventually their tombs. How do you smash that well it's very simple.

What is the one thing that destroys or truth is we have to preach the truth. People say well you know your preaching is so dogmatic and I just try to preach the truth. The only thing that destroys error and if we don't bring the truth and they don't come from darkness to light, they don't come from era to truth, they don't get delivered and they die in their sins and their parish. The first thing that is true of the Christian is a Christian, a true Christian.

Not one who says he's a Christian but true Christian is somebody who has come from error to truth. Satan doesn't care what people believe he doesn't care how sincerely, they believe it. As long as what they believe is wrong to get that support doesn't care what they believe he sponsors all kinds of religions. He sponsors every religion on the face of the earth that isn't true. He's behind them all. He's got enough diversity for everybody he's provided an absolutely irresistible smorgasbord the summer for everybody to plug it doesn't care what they believe and frankly, he is really into sincerity doesn't care what you believe or how sincerely believe it. As long as what you believe is wrong because wrong dams right saves is why Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and nobody comes to the father.

What by me.

There is an salvation in any other, and anybody who doesn't hold to the truth is, dams Galatians chapter 1 look at it verse six talks about eight different gospel somebody's coming along, preaching a different gospel well listener is in a different gospel gospel means good news.

There's only one good news all the rest is bad, they may say it's good but it's bad so he says it's a different gospel verse seven which is really not another.

There isn't any other good news than the true gospel of Christ. There isn't another gospel, the narrowness of the gospel is taking center stage in John MacArthur's current study. John's a pastor University Chancellor and the teacher each day here on Grace to you because his current study delivered by God will what we saw today about how God delivers sinners from error to the knowledge of the truth that is not just theoretical stuff. That's a real change that you can see as God transforms us and shapes us in John that letter that you got right there is just one example of how God is changing lives and working through grace to you supporters to do it well. There's no question about that and as so we've been saying in the last few days we get thousands of these letters that report to us, the deliverance of people have gone through, but one of them sort of jumped out at us in itself from a lady named Joy and listen to what she said for about five years I was caught up in a church that focused on prosperity, health, and tithing.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I believe they were teaching the actual truth of God's word. I was saved. Quote unquote during that time and I thought that heaven was guaranteed.

Had I passed away this five years I never read the Bible. I didn't understand it much, and there wasn't a lot of emphasis placed on its importance in my church. Some problems arose. At that church and I left at about four years ago.

Still, I felt that what the church preached was true, but a few months ago I came across some teaching that explained the error and danger of the Word of Faith movement so I found myself lost if everything that I thought about God and the Bible was wrong what was right. It was then that I found grace to you on YouTube. I was filled with a host of emotions, from what I was learning pure shock at the fact that what I thought to be truth, was an utter lie from the pit of hell anger at the people spewing these lies for their own benefit devastated at the thought that if I would've died. Hell would've been my eternal home. At the same time, I was filled with thankfulness to God for pulling me out of the darkness I now have watched so many of your sermons about a bunch of your books and study guides. I have a MacArthur study Bible on its way that your ministry graciously offered to me for free. I've learned more in the small amount of time that I've been listening to Grace to you than I ever did in the five years I attended my old church truth of God's word is washed my mind of all the lies I was taught previously. It's because of your ministry that I learned what true salvation is, I can confidently proclaim that I am born again and my eternity is secure.

I know it is Jesus who saved me from my sins, but if it wasn't for your ministry. I would've never heard the good news. When I did, and for that I am forever grateful to you and your staff, and she signed your name Joy.

Well let me add that it's not only the people of grace to you who helped reach Joy with biblical truth to change your life. If you have prayed for us as a ministry. If you have supported us financially, then you have been a partner in bringing God's truths to joy and people like her. So thank you for trusting us with your gifts and praying for us faithfully we are filling a great spiritual void with the most precious thing there is the truth of God. That's right and friend if you like joy look to this ministry for clear biblical teaching. Would you let us know your letters are a real encouragement to John and to all of us on the staff.

So when you have a moment John a note and send it our way. You can email us at letters@tty.org or write to Grace to you.

Box 4000 panorama city, CA 91412.

Again, if you can point to a specific way. This ministry has helped you grow spiritually. Perhaps you or someone you know has become a Christian.

After listening to this broadcast.

I would encourage you to get in touch with us. Our email address again letters at TTY.and our regular mailing address box 4000 panorama city, CA 91412 and let me remind you about a number of free resources that he created with you in mind@ourwebsitetty.org you can follow our blog.

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That's more than 3500 sermon including John's current series delivered by God, they're all free to download an MP3 or transcript format that website again TTY.org now for John MacArthur and the entire grace to you staff on Phil Johnson. Thanks for listening and join us at the same time tomorrow for another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace to you