SPEAKER_00: Also, if you're new here, you picked a great Sunday to come because we are starting a brand new series entitled Revolution.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say revolution, ready?
SPEAKER_00: The power that changed everything.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna be in Matthew chapter 22 and Matthew chapter 23 today.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if you have ever experienced the annoyance of losing electricity in your house.
SPEAKER_00: Who has ever experienced the annoyance of losing electrical power?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's super annoying.
SPEAKER_00: Like let's say you're watching your favorite show.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, everybody on the count of three, I want you to shout out your favorite show.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you're ready?
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, you're in a church service, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, right?
SPEAKER_00: One, two, three.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's my favorite too.
SPEAKER_00: Just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Unless you said Sports Center.
SPEAKER_00: Um you watch your favorite show, and maybe like a cliffhanger moment, and you're like, I gotta find out like who did it, or uh, you know, like it, and then all of a sudden, blackout, and you're like stinking PGE, they did it again.
SPEAKER_00: If you if you lost electrical power, you know the impact of not having power.
SPEAKER_00: It's annoying, it's frustrating.
SPEAKER_00: But it's possible that you have electrical power right now at your house, but you have lost spiritual power, or you don't have spiritual power in your life.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's possible that you're living your life in darkness, and maybe you don't even realize it.
SPEAKER_00: And what we're gonna do today is I'm going to show you from scripture how we can flip the lights back on and live with spiritual power.
SPEAKER_00: It says this in Romans chapter 1, verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: It says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel because, watch this, because it is the what's that word?
SPEAKER_00: It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
SPEAKER_00: So the gospel gives us the spiritual power, which brings up the question: what is the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: Very simply, it's the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And what this does is the gospel turns on the lights so we can see and have power.
SPEAKER_00: For example, have you ever needed to forgive somebody in your life, but you thought they don't deserve it?
SPEAKER_00: If you're human, the answer is yes.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all are like, this happens to me every single day of my life.
SPEAKER_00: They don't deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: But when I remember that in the gospel, Jesus came and died on the cross for me, and even though I didn't deserve it, he forgave me.
SPEAKER_00: Then I don't forgive that person because I'm a good moral person and I forgive.
SPEAKER_00: I don't forgive that person because I watched that TikTok video and it said that if I want to live a free life, then I just need to learn to forgive.
SPEAKER_00: No, watch this.
SPEAKER_00: I forgive because I have been forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: Because forgiving people, what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They forgive people.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel gives us power.
SPEAKER_00: How about this?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had a struggle before in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Like, duh.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all struggling right now.
SPEAKER_00: When we have a struggle, sometimes we can have a tendency to hide and not be open and not bring it into the light.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the reason why we don't bring it into the light is because our identity is based on us feeling strong, us feeling like we have ourselves together, us being the one that people go to for help.
SPEAKER_00: We don't go to people for help.
SPEAKER_00: And we have this identity that we've built based on us having ourselves together.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the gospel says.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel says that your identity is not based on you having yourself together, but it's based on what God did for you and who God says that you are.
SPEAKER_00: So now you are free to walk in the light and be open and honest.
SPEAKER_00: And something I'm gonna propose to us in this series, it's it's really strong.
SPEAKER_00: This is not preacher language.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is this is strong.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna, we're gonna see this over the next few weeks in the series.
SPEAKER_00: Is that if you will embrace the implications of the gospel, it will literally change everything about you.
SPEAKER_00: If you will embrace the gospel and its implications, we're gonna see this over the next three or four weeks.
SPEAKER_00: If you will embrace this, I'm telling you, it will change everything about you.
SPEAKER_00: Because as we say here, the gospel doesn't just save us, it shapes us, strengthens us, and guides us.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the gospel does.
SPEAKER_00: What man-made religion does is it doesn't change us at the heart level.
SPEAKER_00: What man-made religion does is it causes us to focus on our outward behavior and wear a mask.
SPEAKER_00: That's all about us performing and all about us doing, and all about us focusing on the outward behavior.
SPEAKER_00: But what Jesus does and what the gospel does is it changes our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: So what we have to do, and this is the title of the message today, it's this we have to drop the mask and be real with God and real with ourselves, and allow Jesus to touch every single part of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: This takes us to a place in Matthew chapter 22 where you had some Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say, Pharisees, ready?
SPEAKER_00: Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: They were the most religious, educated people of the day, and they go to Jesus with one question.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 35 of Matthew 22.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is.
SPEAKER_00: One of them, one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, asked a question to him.
SPEAKER_00: They asked a question to test him.
SPEAKER_00: Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?
SPEAKER_00: What the Pharisees had done is they had searched the Old Testament and they had identified 600, hear this, 613 different Old Testament laws, and they had them all memorized.
SPEAKER_00: I can't even memorize my Wi-Fi password.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I forget that.
SPEAKER_00: These bros had 613 laws identified and memorized, and they come to Jesus and they say, Okay, 613 of them.
SPEAKER_00: Which one is the greatest?
SPEAKER_00: And this is what he said.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all already know.
SPEAKER_00: He said to him, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Now when he says, your heart, your soul, your mind, this represents the whole person.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says you should love God with complete devotion.
SPEAKER_00: Your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Your heart, your soul, like everything.
SPEAKER_00: He says, This is the greatest and most important command.
SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting is the type of people that Jesus says this to.
SPEAKER_00: So they had obeyed outwardly, not because they love God, but because they had some other motive.
SPEAKER_00: It would be like this.
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's pretend, let's say you decide that you guys, you and your family are gonna go to family counseling, which is a great thing to do.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you tell your group leader, you tell your ministry coordinator, you're like, hey, we're gonna go to family counseling, and they're like, that's great.
SPEAKER_00: Like, we're gonna pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: We're super excited, you're gonna take that next step and work on some things.
SPEAKER_00: And outwardly, you go to family counseling with your family.
SPEAKER_00: That's the behavior.
SPEAKER_00: But inwardly, you're like, I'll need a change.
SPEAKER_00: They need a change.
SPEAKER_00: They need to work on their traumas, they need to work on their junk because they got a lot of it.
SPEAKER_00: And outward behavior can look like, oh, you're doing a really good thing.
SPEAKER_00: But inwardly, in your heart, there's no change and there's no openness.
SPEAKER_00: What man-made religion does is it just focuses on our behavior, but it can't change our heart.
SPEAKER_00: It can make us look whole, but it but it can't actually make us whole.
SPEAKER_00: It can make us look like we're holy, but internally we can still be empty.
SPEAKER_00: It can pressure you to obey, and you gotta do this, and you gotta do that.
SPEAKER_00: But man-made religion can actually change your heart and make you love God.
SPEAKER_00: And what Jesus wants to do is he wants to change our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: So, what Jesus does in this text is he does something a little unusual.
SPEAKER_00: He talks to some people that did everything right outwardly, and he wants them to, well, drop the mask.
SPEAKER_00: So, what Jesus does is he exposes their hearts, and Jesus like comes at these guys with with without pulling any punches, like he tells them, this is what needs to change in you.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, look what it says in Matthew 23, verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: He says this He says, Woe to you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when you hear the word woe scripturally in your mind, it should cause you to go, Whoa.
SPEAKER_00: This is what woe means.
SPEAKER_00: Woe is an intense word.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's like woe, it means horror, and it's a declaration of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: So God, so God, right here, Jesus, he's giving these people a declaration of judgment, and he's saying, It's horrible that you do this.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They pay a tenth of mint and dill and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: These things should have been done without neglecting the others.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what's what's mint and dill and cumin?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what that is it it's spices.
SPEAKER_00: So, what these guys are doing, this is like Jesus is almost being comical.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, You cut this little spice up into 10 different places.
SPEAKER_00: You make sure you tithe, you drop it here, and he says, It's a good thing that you tithe, but you do this, but on your way to go tithe, you are neglecting being merciful towards people, you are neglecting having justice.
SPEAKER_00: You got this thing mixed up.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 24, he says, blind guides.
SPEAKER_00: You strain out a gnat, but you gulp down a camel.
SPEAKER_00: So the idea of eating a gnat, they would like strain out, like but they'll but they're it's it's an analogy, but they'll eat a camel.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another analogy, this might connect with you.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like you're calorie counting a tic-tac while at the same time eating a big bowl of cold stone ice cream.
SPEAKER_00: It's like you're making a big deal about things that aren't a big deal, and you're giving little attention to what is a big deal, your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 25, he says, Woe to you.
SPEAKER_00: There it is again.
SPEAKER_00: Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
SPEAKER_00: Whoo! It's like this.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you are like me and you do not like doing dishes?
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you don't like doing dishes, but that that's still your family chore?
SPEAKER_00: You gotta do dishes every now and again, right?
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all like, I gotta do dishes every day of my life, right?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, guys, a good Valentine's Day gift is do dishes for your wife.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Um, let's say y'all do dishes, right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's say there was a there is a cup over there that somehow has been sitting there for like three or four days and it has not been washed.
SPEAKER_00: And you go to grab this cup and you look in it, and it's got like remnants of an old smoothie, or worse, a protein drink.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: That is nasty.
SPEAKER_00: And you look at it and you're like, is this a cup or is this like a science experiment?
SPEAKER_00: Something's growing in here.
SPEAKER_00: And what you don't do is you don't take that cup and you're not like, uh I just need it, I just need to clean the outside.
SPEAKER_00: If you're like me, I don't even want to wash the inside.
SPEAKER_00: I just throw that sucker away.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's done, right?
SPEAKER_00: We'll we'll order one for 50 cents on Amazon or something, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: What you don't do, you don't you don't clean the outside and then put it up in the cabinet, and you're like, look, it's clean.
SPEAKER_00: I like I polished it, I washed that.
SPEAKER_00: No, you're like, you gotta clean inside the cup, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's what you do.
SPEAKER_00: You know what the Pharisees did?
SPEAKER_00: They didn't clean inside the cup, they just focused on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says this in verse 26 blind Pharisee.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if he pointed the finger, but I bet you he did.
SPEAKER_00: Blind Pharisee.
SPEAKER_00: First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside of it may also become clean.
SPEAKER_00: Whoa, there's the word again, woe to you.
SPEAKER_00: This is horrible.
SPEAKER_00: Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, you're like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: But inside, you're full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity.
SPEAKER_00: The nation of Israel, what they would do is they would take the tombs and the graves and they would whitewash them.
SPEAKER_00: And they wouldn't make them all white just so they would be pretty.
SPEAKER_00: They made them all white to identify them.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason being is because if somebody were to touch a grave or they were to touch a dead body, they would be considered ceremonial unclean, ceremonially unclean.
SPEAKER_00: So for seven days, they had to be away from everything.
SPEAKER_00: So what they would do is they would very clearly identify them.
SPEAKER_00: So if somebody's just walking down the road, they wouldn't accidentally touch a grave.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody knew, everybody knew, oh, that's a whitewashed grave.
SPEAKER_00: Like it looks good on the outside, but inside, somebody is dead in there.
SPEAKER_00: It's filled with bones.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it looks good, but it ain't good.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Jesus said: you are just like that.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way, on the outside, you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
SPEAKER_00: He ain't pulling no punches.
SPEAKER_00: And when we think about the Pharisees in this passage, sometimes somebody will come to our mind.
SPEAKER_00: Like we think, oh, that person's a Pharisee.
SPEAKER_00: We think, oh, I had a family member growing up, and they were like really judgmental, or I knew this person, and they would they went to church services all the time, and they were just always ugly, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But the person we never think about, ever, ever think about, we talk about Pharisees, is we never think about ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't think we're a Pharisee.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think I'm a Pharisee.
SPEAKER_00: You probably don't think you're a Pharisee.
SPEAKER_00: But if we looked at what the Pharisees did, it's very possible that all of us have tendencies of Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: So it's possible that all of us could have Pharisaic tendencies.
SPEAKER_00: You say, not me, Pastor Nate.
SPEAKER_00: I have none of them.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, how about this?
SPEAKER_00: This is what Pharisees have a tendency to do.
SPEAKER_00: They serve God primarily, number one, so God will bless them.
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm gonna serve you and I'm gonna do this over here for you, and then you gotta do that over there for me.
SPEAKER_00: And what it is, is it's not serving God out of devotion, but rather serving God out of a transaction.
SPEAKER_00: I do for you, you do this for me.
SPEAKER_00: And if your obedience is a transaction, not devotion, you're not loving God, you're negotiating with him.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, you find your personal worth, identity, and value in what you do for God.
SPEAKER_00: So we think, hey, I uh I do all these things for God, so I'm valuable because I do all these things for him.
SPEAKER_00: I have identity, I have worth because of what I do for God, not because I'm a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: And can I just say here's a little secret?
SPEAKER_00: Pastors are the worst at this.
SPEAKER_00: They find identity in everything they do, and they find identity in the church and all this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: That is a pharisaical tendency.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, you measure your spirituality by your behavior.
SPEAKER_00: So when you think of the spirituality in your life, you don't look at your heart and your desires, you look at, well, I do this over here, I do that over here, I do this over here, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: Number four, you are quick to spot the sin in others, but not yourself.
SPEAKER_00: When you sin, I become a judge.
SPEAKER_00: But when I sin, I become a defense attorney.
SPEAKER_00: When you sin, I'm a judge, but when I say I'm a defense attorney, oh well, I didn't mean to do that.
SPEAKER_00: We judge others based on their actions, we judge ourselves based on our intentions.
SPEAKER_01: Number five, we hold grudges, resentment, and bitterness.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if we're honest, which there's no better place to be honest with than than here in church service, if we're honest, how many of us would say I got one or more of these tendencies in my life?
SPEAKER_00: Don't tell anybody, but I do.
SPEAKER_00: Don't tell it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy for me to point at Pharisees, and the easiest way to know if you're becoming a Pharisee is to point at a Pharisee rather than us looking at our heart.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Jesus invites all of us to do.
SPEAKER_00: He invites all of us to be open with him and open our hearts to God.
SPEAKER_00: What man-made religion does is it causes us to wear a mask, but Jesus exposes the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now there are three ways the Pharisees in this text wore a mask.
SPEAKER_00: They used denial, deflection, and image management.
SPEAKER_00: What's denial?
SPEAKER_00: Denial says this, I'm not that bad.
SPEAKER_00: Let's all say it together.
SPEAKER_00: Denial says, what does it say?
SPEAKER_00: It says, I'm not that bad.
SPEAKER_00: Look about verse 26 of the text.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Blind Pharisee.
SPEAKER_00: These Pharisees, they didn't think they were that bad.
SPEAKER_00: And they were blind to the true condition of their heart.
SPEAKER_00: They were like, but I do this and I do that.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, like, okay, you do this and you do that.
SPEAKER_00: You should do this and that.
SPEAKER_00: But you're filled with selfishness and you're filled with greed and you're filled with self-indulgence.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the easiest place places for all of us is to not be real about is to not be real about how we're actually doing.
SPEAKER_00: To not be real about what's actually happening in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: And we can deny, second of all, we can wear a mask by deflecting.
SPEAKER_00: What is deflection?
SPEAKER_00: I do good, so I am good.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say, let's say that together.
SPEAKER_00: Like what the text says in verse 23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint and dill and cumin.
SPEAKER_00: Yet you've neglected the more important matters.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's easy for us to think, man.
SPEAKER_00: I go to church service sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: I help people.
SPEAKER_00: I I I I like I do pretty good.
SPEAKER_00: The other day we were in service and there was a worship song.
SPEAKER_00: I almost raised my hand.
SPEAKER_00: Like I went like here.
SPEAKER_00: Like I I I I I I do this stuff over here.
SPEAKER_00: So because like I do good, I am good.
SPEAKER_00: Like Pastor Nate, you know I'm on like a serve team right now.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Nate, you know I'm in a group too.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like going to service, I'm in a group, I'm on a serve team.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: I got it.
SPEAKER_00: You realize you can go to service, be in a group, and be on a serve team, and your heart can still be filled with bitterness and jealousy and lust and addiction and identity issues and brokenness, and all those things are just a cover for what you really need to address, which is what's happening in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, it's it's deflection.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I do good, so I am good.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus will have none of it.
SPEAKER_00: He cuts right to our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We can practice another way of masking is self-image management.
SPEAKER_00: What's image management?
SPEAKER_00: As long as I appear good, I am good.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say that together.
SPEAKER_00: Image management.
SPEAKER_00: As long as I appear good, I am good.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 28 of the text.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way, on the outside, you seem righteous to people.
SPEAKER_01: So I appear good.
SPEAKER_01: You know.
SPEAKER_00: I know how to say the right things.
SPEAKER_00: I know how to do the right things at certain points.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Nate is around, so I gotta make sure that I don't like cuss or anything.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't want to swear on Pastor Nate because you know I want him to think a certain It's it's image management.
SPEAKER_00: Like I have to make sure that all of you guys think that I'm really good and holy.
SPEAKER_00: I can't actually be honest because you know, if I'm honest, then I have to like I kind of lose control and I gotta actually have to surrender if I'm honest.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I have to control the narrative because I want to I want to control the narrative so you'll think a certain way about me.
SPEAKER_00: It's image management.
SPEAKER_00: Image management causes people to wear masks.
SPEAKER_00: Image management happens in churches all of the time.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, there's no room for that.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus exposes their motives and he says, take off the mask.
SPEAKER_00: But let's be real, it can be super scary to take off the mask because when we take off the mask, we're exposed.
SPEAKER_00: When we take off the mask, we lose control.
SPEAKER_00: When we take off the mask, we actually have to really surrender to God.
SPEAKER_00: We take off the mask, we can't control and manipulate him and think that we can put him in debt.
SPEAKER_00: God, you're in debt because I did this for you.
SPEAKER_00: When we take off the mask, we don't know what God's gonna ask of us.
SPEAKER_00: We take off that when we take off the mask, we don't know what level of surrender it's gonna be.
SPEAKER_00: We don't like know this stuff, and it scares the life out of us.
SPEAKER_00: But the only way to experience the freedom of the gospel is by putting the mask down and to stop playing the game and to stop denying or deflecting or practicing image management.
SPEAKER_00: There's a quote I want us to put up on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: And if you get nothing, let nothing from this service, I beg you that you would get this quote and this truth, and that it would sink deep in your soul.
SPEAKER_00: Because when we understand the gospel, it frees us to take off the mask.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Tolian writes.
SPEAKER_00: He says, the gospel tells us that we have nothing to prove or protect.
SPEAKER_00: We can stop pretending.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel frees us from trying to impress people, to prove ourselves to people, to make people think we're something when we are not.
SPEAKER_00: When you understand your significance and identity and purpose and direction are all anchored in Christ, you don't have to win.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel frees you because you have a different identity.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel frees you because you don't have to prove yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And could it be that the freedom that we are looking for, the freedom that we are desiring, and we're coming up with plans of how can I experience, how can I get out of this situation, and how can I take this to make me feel better?
SPEAKER_00: We're looking for freedom, and Jesus is like, it's in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what he invites us to do is number two, is to drop the mask and join the revolution.
SPEAKER_00: What's the revolution?
SPEAKER_00: People living their lives in light of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Because when we see God's love, this is what it does, it melts our hearts and it changes us.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John 4.19 says this it says, We love.
SPEAKER_00: We love because God grabbed a hold of our necks and said, You have to love me.
SPEAKER_00: We love because, well, my grandma went to church and she told me that I gotta be on the straight and narrow and love God.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we love?
SPEAKER_00: Because he first loved us.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we don't love God because we were even commanded to.
SPEAKER_00: We love God because his love has captured our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I can't, I can't grit my teeth and make myself love God.
SPEAKER_00: I can't be like, Nate, like you gotta love God.
SPEAKER_00: Like, come on, like you're a pastor of a church, like you gotta make, you know, you gotta stand up on Sunday and try to keep people awake during the 1115 service when it's a really little bit warm in there.
SPEAKER_00: Like, come on.
SPEAKER_00: I can't like, oh, uh, I I can't make myself love God.
SPEAKER_00: I can't.
SPEAKER_00: And the sooner you admit that, the better.
SPEAKER_00: But what I can do is see God's love, and God's love will melt my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes this it's God's kindness, it's intended to lead you to repentance.
SPEAKER_00: What's repentance?
SPEAKER_00: It's a change in direction.
SPEAKER_00: So when I see God's kindness, when I see God's goodness, when I understand that in Christ I'm accepted, I'm safe, I'm his child, that's who I am.
SPEAKER_00: It's only then I can drop the mask.
SPEAKER_00: It's only then I can stop denying and deflecting and trying to manage my image.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, gosh, what's the new?
SPEAKER_00: What's the use?
SPEAKER_00: Like, newsflash for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: God already knows our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Like He knows what's in here.
SPEAKER_00: And when I drop the mask, here's what I start to discover that the Christian life is not about behavior modification, but about surrender.
SPEAKER_00: That it's not about trying harder, gritting my teeth, but trusting deeper.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about like looking within myself and saying, okay, I can do all these good things.
SPEAKER_00: No, you know what it is?
SPEAKER_00: It's coming to the end of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And it's God's kindness that leads us to surrender.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to end with three powerful questions that are very pointy questions, and I want us to think about these things because how we answer these next few questions is what this message all comes down to.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the first question: it's this where am I repenting instead of where am I pretending instead of repenting?
SPEAKER_00: What's the area in my life where I'm just like, hey, I'm good when I'm not good?
SPEAKER_01: Where am I hiding instead of surrendering?
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the place that that you've kind of buried and kind of hid in the dark.
SPEAKER_00: Where's the place where it's like, okay, I need to stop hiding this and just be honest with God and say, hey, I'm struggling with this.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm struggling with suicidal thoughts, I'm struggling with anger, I'm struggling with bitterness, I'm struggling with these deep heart things that that that it's just real to me.
SPEAKER_00: I have this, I have this propensity to fall into this sin, to fall into this temptation.
SPEAKER_00: Everything in me is just like pulling me in that direction.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm hiding that.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: Where I need to bring that up.
SPEAKER_00: And then number three, where am I obeying publicly, but I'm resisting privately?
SPEAKER_00: Like outwardly, it looks like I'm obeying, but inwardly I'm resisting.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just give you permission to say it's okay to admit your struggles?
SPEAKER_00: And it's okay to say, man, like I'm struggling privately right now.
SPEAKER_00: And how you answer these questions will help us answer one final question.
SPEAKER_00: It's this What area in your life do you need to drop the mask?
SPEAKER_00: Where are you denying, deflecting, or worried about image management?
SPEAKER_00: The gospel gives you the freedom to drop the mask because your identity does not hinge on having yourself together.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel allows you to admit your weaknesses and your struggles because your self-worth does not hinge on what people think about you, but yet, but on who God says you are, and he calls you a beloved child.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're in the room and you're not yet a follower of Jesus, you're you're not, you haven't yet put your complete faith and trust in Jesus Christ and surrendered your life to him.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm gonna invite you to do to make that decision today.
SPEAKER_00: To understand that you are a sinner in need of a savior, but Jesus came and died in your place, and if you will turn from your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ, you will be what the Bible says, saved.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you're a follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Today, wherever you are, would you drop the mask and join the revolution of living in light of the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: Let's all bow our heads and close our eyes.