What If I Don’t Feel The Wretchedness Of My Sin?

I know objectively that I'm a sinner, but what if I don't really feel bad about my sin? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. That's 1-833-843-2673.

You can also email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, we want to tell you about a special baby shower for a gorilla. Any day now, the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans will have a new baby gorilla. And to celebrate, the zoo is hosting a virtual baby shower with a baby registry so that people can give gifts to the gorilla family. The zoo's 13-year-old western lowland gorilla Tumani is about to give birth to her first baby.

And there are a few different ways to buy gifts. You can donate to the toy and food fund for the gorillas. You can also donate on their Amazon gift list, which has personalized items for baby gorilla like sheets, mega blocks, teething rings, and other items. Andrew, what do you think that you and I should buy for the baby gorilla? I just feel like that baby gorilla is going to be so spoiled, being raised there with all those wonderful gorilla bricks or whatever they're giving to the baby gorilla.

I don't know, Bill. I feel like food would be the best thing, like a bundle of bananas or something like that. I'm not a big fan of bananas, so I have no problem sending them all to the baby gorilla.

Just get them out of my house. We'll keep you updated on the baby gorilla's birth. Let's get to our first question of the day. Cedric went to our website and recorded a voicemail at corechristianity.com slash radio.

Hey, guys. Sometimes at church, my pastor will say things that really rub me the wrong way. And so I just want to know, how can I tell if my pastor is preaching a false doctrine or not? I'm kind of looking for some guidance on how to navigate that.

Thanks. Yes, Cedric, thank you for that question and a really important one, because over and over again, we've said this on the program before, but over and over again in the New Testament, you have these warnings about false teachers. I mean, we need to be cautious with the things that we hear and discerning. I mean, scripture talks about being Berean, you know, testing everything that we hear according to what the word of God says. And so I'm glad that you asked this question, Cedric.

And I think, as I said, it's an important one. You do have Jesus's words in Matthew Chapter seven. Now, right there, he says, you know, false teachers are known by the fruit that they bear. Matthew Chapter seven, verse 15.

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. Now, I know, Cedric, that I mean, that's not always apparent immediately, that there are some people who teach things that are that are not true, not in accordance with God's word. And we can't really see the fruit of their ministry right away.

I mean, over time, that does become more evident. But that's one of the things that Jesus says to us. He says, don't just look at what they're saying, but look at the fruit of the ministry. Is it love, joy, peace, patience? Is it a confidence in the gospel?

Or is it something else, legalism? I mean, Peter also gave us a warning in 2 Peter chapter 2. He said, but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. What a sobering warning.

We need to sit back and just let that sink in for a second. Just as there will be false teachers among you. And then he says, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction, and many will follow their sensuality. And because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words.

Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. You know, right there in that passage that Peter talks about these false teachers denying the Lord Jesus, the master. John brings this up in 1 John as well, when he talks about the spirit of the Antichrist and testing the spirits. He says every spirit that denies that Jesus came in the flesh, in other words, every spirit that doesn't rightly recognize who Jesus is, is the spirit of the Antichrist. Here's a question for you, Cedric, is who does your pastor say Jesus is? Who does he portray Jesus to be? Is Jesus a life coach, a social reformer, a spiritual guru for us to emulate, to sort of follow in his footsteps? Or is he the eternal Son of God who made atonement for our sins, and then rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father?

Now let me just add this as well. Just because a pastor says something that rubs you the wrong way doesn't mean he's preaching false doctrine, because God's word is going to rub us the wrong way sometimes, especially when it convicts us of sin. So you have to ask yourself the question, is what bothers me about this that it's convicting, or is it that it doesn't line up with Scripture? And to know whether or not it lines up with Scripture, you have to know the Bible well enough to be able to discern what you're hearing.

And so there's another encouragement for each and every one of us. Know God's word. Study it so that you can be Berean, so that when you hear something coming from the pulpit that contradicts what God has said, something that's beneath Jesus.

People who are teaching things that Jesus is just some great teacher or moral leader, something like that, you can say, no, that's actually not what the Bible teaches. Just recently at our church, I was so encouraged because someone was in our new members class and they were sharing what it was that brought them to our church. And they said they were at another church where they began to hear things that contradicted what the Bible very clearly teaches. And humbly, they went to the leadership at that church and began to have a discussion. And they just said, you know, we got to the point where we realized we're going to have to be sifting through everything we hear because the leadership in the church is not concerned with the doctrine that's being taught at the church. And it was a really big church, so there were a lot of teachers on staff and pastors. And so they said, we want to be somewhere where we know we're going to hear God's word taught and taught faithfully.

And that's a good thing. I mean, I think that's something we should all pursue. And so, Cedric, humbly be Berean, search the scriptures and weigh everything that you hear against what the Bible teaches and do that for this program as well. That's what we're doing here is we're searching the scriptures, we're answering questions about the faith. But even with us, you know, you want to know God's word, you want to study it, you want to be able to ask questions so that if you feel like, hey, what was Adriel talking about there?

You can call us and we're happy to talk about it. So keep digging into the word. And I hope that wherever you're in church, that you're hearing the gospel preached faithfully and that you're growing in your walk with the Lord.

You know, Adriel, sometimes it can be so subtle. And unfortunately, as you pointed out, if you don't know God's word, if you don't really know how to interpret God's word in the appropriate way, it's easy to be led astray because you can get a very powerful pastor who's, you know, an excellent communicator. And yet, if you start to listen closely and read behind the lines, you can go, wait a minute, this person is not teaching the authentic word of God.

You know, Bill, that's so true. And it reminds me of this, this wonderful story in the book of Acts. I'm just going to read it because I think it's so encouraging and it should encourage all of our listeners to have that deep knowledge and love for God's word. It's in Acts chapter 18, beginning in verse 24, we read, Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus, and he was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross to Achaea, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. And so here you have this gifted preacher named Apollos. He's skilled in teaching, he's competent in the word of God, and yet there's an area where he still is a little bit off. And Priscilla and Aquila, who had sat at the feet of the apostle Paul, who know a little bit more, at least related to the baptism of Jesus, are able to come alongside of him and encourage him in the word and help to guide him some.

And I think that that's so important. What a wonderful picture of how the church should operate. You have people in the church, men and women, who are able to say, no, actually, let's open up the Scriptures a little bit here and provide some help. And that's what you see there in Acts chapter 18.

And so again, it's just, you're totally right, Bill. We need to know the word of God so we can encourage each other and when it's necessary, correct one another. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we'd love to receive your call if you have a question for us. It's 833-843-2673.

That's 833-the-core. We also have an Instagram and Facebook account where you can post your questions. And Tony posted this on Instagram. He said, should our children call God Father in the Lord's Prayer if they're not baptized? Are they part of the visible church or the covenant community?

Wow, Tony, there's a lot to that question. The privilege of calling God Father is something that we should never take for granted. In one sense, we could say that God is the Father of all humanity in the sense that Paul speaks of in Acts chapter 17, verse 29, where he talks about us being God's offspring. We all receive life, existence from God, but in the saving sense, when it comes to the adoption received through Jesus Christ, only those who are born again have that special relationship with God. So then what about our children? Should they be taught to pray, our Father?

Now, I think that the answer is yes. According to Paul, the children of believers are to be considered as a part of the worshiping community. And this is always how it was, even in the Old Testament.

You think about the Passover meal, for example, this was a family thing. The worshiping community consisted not just of the adults, but of their children who had received, the men in particular, the boys who had received the sign of circumcision. They're a part of the worshiping community. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7, 14, that the children of believers, even one believing parent, are to be considered holy. Now, that doesn't mean that just because you're a believer that your children are saved, quote unquote, but it does mean, I mean, that language of holy, unholy, clean, unclean, it referred to what you called, Tony, the covenant community, the worshiping community. Just think of what we might call the visible church, the visible community of faith. The holy were those who were a part of it.

The unclean, the unholy were those who were on the outside, who had not been welcomed in yet. And yet Paul says that our children, 1 Corinthians 7, are to be considered holy. Otherwise, he says they would be unclean. So they belong to the visible church and are the recipients of God's promises in scripture. And God promises his people throughout the Bible to be a God to them and to their children.

It's a sign of his goodwill, his love for us. I just started preaching through the book of 1 John, and your question reminds me of something that John says in 1 John 2, beginning in verse 12. John wrote, I am writing to you little children because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I'm writing to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you children, get this, because you know the father.

Now that's the question that you're asking. Should we teach our children to pray our father? Well, John says here, he's writing to the church, this worshiping community. He says, I'm writing to you children because you know the father.

Now you're taking it a step further. You're asking, should we teach our kids to pray our father if they haven't been baptized? That is, if they haven't received the sign of salvation in baptism, should we teach them to address God as father? And I think you're picking up on an inconsistency in many of our churches. You know, I heard someone describe a Christian child or Christian children as vipers and diapers. You know, it's sort of funny, and I think all of us who are parents could say, yeah, sometimes I feel like our kids can kind of be like vipers, but the Bible doesn't call us to have such a pessimistic view of our children. They're a part of the worshiping community.

Yes, we're all born in sin, and yes, we all need to be saved by Jesus, but you're going to have to grapple with the fact that the New Testament also teaches that they're set apart in some sense by God as a part of the visible church. That the promises of the gospel belong in a special way to us and to our children, and even they're extended now, Peter says this on the Day of Pentecost, to the Gentile world, to all who are afar off. And so, yeah, I mean, I teach my children to pray our father because we're including them in the worshiping community, just like Israel did of old. And so I appreciate your question. I think it's important for us to do this as we're discipling our kids, as we're seeking to train them up in the faith to help them to know who God is, his goodness, and to call them to call upon the Lord by faith so that they might walk with him too. Thanks, Tony, for your question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and one of the questions we are often asked here is how does God talk to us?

Well, we have an excellent resource for you that answers that very question. Yeah, and that's the name of the resource, How Does God Talk to Us? It's really one of the most popular Bible studies we have over at corechristianity.com, and you can download it for a donation of any amount. This is a great study to go through with a group of friends or by yourself. If you've ever wondered if God told you to do something, I mean, you really need to go through this study.

We oftentimes hear people say things like that, right? Well, I think God told me this, or I think God told me that. Well, how does God talk to us today? Head over to corechristianity.com forward slash offers to find out by downloading How Does God Talk to Us?

You can also call us for that resource or any of our other resources at 833-843-2673. That's 833-the-core. Adriel, here's a question that came in from Eric. He emailed us at questions at corechristianity.com, and he says this, Christians believe in the doctrine of sin that we are wretched and beyond helpless. I profess this doctrine, but what if I don't really feel that bad? What if I don't feel this wretchedness or if I don't have feelings of joy and happiness overflowing because of the forgiveness in Jesus Christ, like what I hear described in hymns?

Is my salvation at stake here? I do feel bad about sinning and feel happiness and having a relationship with God, but I just don't have those strong feelings that are talked about in hymns and sermons. Eric, a really important and practical question because I think a lot of Christians are concerned that they don't feel something enough in the Christian life. The feelings, they come and go, brother. What we need to cultivate is a faithfulness to God that is not dependent upon feelings.

Let me say that again a little bit differently. Christian maturity looks like continuing to be faithful to God regardless of the feelings that you have. Too many people only follow Jesus when they feel like it.

They're led by their feelings, their passions, and as a result, their spiritual life is up and down. You're not always going to have a strong sense of joy, and you're not ever going to be grieved enough over your sins, and we're not saved by how sorry we are or how grateful we are. We couldn't be sorrowful enough for our sins, and we couldn't be grateful enough for our salvation.

What saves us, what saves you, Eric, is the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, what you'll find is that as you persist in faithfulness, regardless of how you feel, as you keep seeking the Lord, going to church, even when you don't want to— and by the way, let me just encourage you to do that, all of you to do that. I know you get up on a Sunday morning, and it's like, I'm feeling extra tired, or it's been a busy week, or I don't really want to, or there are other things that I can do that take priority. No, prioritize being faithful to God, following Him, heeding His call to worship, even when you don't feel like it, even when it isn't easy. Pray. Pray when you don't feel like it. Re-scripture, even when it feels dry.

What happens when you do, when you cultivate those habits, it's actually quite remarkable. The Word begins to work in you and produce the affections you were searching for. It may not always be like you expected, but I found that the feelings sometimes will follow that faithfulness, but whether they do or don't, our life of faith should not be determined by our feelings. And I think this is something that many people today get wrong when it comes to spirituality, even when it comes to truth.

We think in terms of religion as whatever I feel. I was talking to someone not too long ago, and they said, you know, when I would go to Catholic church growing up, I just didn't feel anything, didn't feel right. And then I one time visited a Buddhist temple, and I had all of these feelings. It just felt so amazing. It felt so wonderful.

And I just thought to myself, well, there's so many things that can factor into that. We shouldn't determine truth, what we believe, on the basis of how something makes me feel, because there are things that can make us feel really good that actually aren't very good for us. So the Christian life isn't determined by or dependent upon feelings, but the objective truth, the reality that Jesus Christ came, died for my sins, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, whether I feel like that's true or not, it is the reality. My sins are forgiven through him by faith in his name.

That's my hope. That's what I cling to, not my feelings, because my feelings, they're up and down. And again, Eric, this is something that many Christians struggle with. There are believers who are stuck, stuck in fear, stuck in this position of not being able to move forward because they're asking themselves, you know, am I really saved? I don't have these feelings that I think I should have that accompany salvation.

Well, again, sometimes the feelings come and they're spectacular, and then they come through growing in our knowledge of who God is, and then you wake up the next day and you wonder, where did those feelings go? Well, keep seeking the Lord, keep pursuing the Lord, whether they're there or not, cultivate that steadfastness, that faithfulness, and know, even when we aren't faithful, as faithful as we should be, God remains faithful to us through his promises through Jesus. You know, we also have another question related to God's faithfulness, and it comes from Luke. He went to our website at corechristianity.com slash radio.

Here's what he says. In 2 Timothy, Paul writes, If we disown him, he will also disown us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

When Paul writes of the faithfulness of Christ, does this mean his faithfulness to forgive us even when we fail, or his faithfulness to judge justly if we disown him? You're quoting from 2 Timothy 2, verses 11 through 13, and Paul begins there in verse 11, he says, The saying is trustworthy. So this was a saying that was floating around there in the apostolic church.

Many people think that this is the words of an ancient Christian hymn that was being sung in the churches there that the apostles were ministering to. If we have died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful.

Sort of interesting to compare that with a lot of the songs that we sing today in our churches. I mean, you just got this deep doctrine there, this theology, this hope of living with Christ, of following him and of his faithfulness, even when we're not faithful. You see, God's being faithful isn't determined by how good or bad I am. His faithfulness is rooted in his promises, and for him to be unfaithful would be to deny himself. So our hope is that God isn't fickle or that his love and faithfulness is dependent upon our faithfulness. It's that his faithfulness is rooted in something way more stable than you and I.

It's in his word. Now, this includes faithfulness to forgive us when we fail, as you say. Is this faithfulness to forgive us when we fail?

I think yes, and one passage that I would go to is 1 John 1. He says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He's saying, look, when you confess your sins to the Lord, when you go to God sincerely and you say, God, I've sinned against you, you have this hope that God forgives you.

It has nothing to do with my feelings. It has everything to do with God's word and promise. God ties together his forgiveness of his people when they confessed him to his very own character. He cannot be unfaithful or deny himself. Now, this could also include the idea that God is faithful to judge, as you asked.

That's a part of his justice. But I take this primarily to be a word of hope for us. I think that that's what Paul is doing here is he's writing to Timothy. I mean, there are parallel ideas of this in places like Romans 3 verses 3 and 4. What if somewhere unfaithful, he wrote, does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God by no means? Let God be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. So here's this wonderful promise that we have here that the faithfulness of God is not dependent upon the sinlessness of his people, but his own word and promise that when you are faithless, Jesus remains faithful. Cling to him. The truth of God's word together.