As I said earlier, thank you so much for joining us, wherever you are across this globe at this hour, we are live streaming to you. From this little studio here in Ealing church in Swanee. And you know who I am by now we've been live stream for a couple of years, two and a half years easy at least. But we're just starting to migrate around the building, things are starting to come to completion. And this room is almost there. It's a little bit more work to be done. But good evening, thank you so much for joining us. You can find us on Buzzsprout, Spotify, I Heart Radio, you can find us on Amazon music, and so many other platforms where we are just streaming from and Spotify. That's an easy site to navigate. But I will probably point each and every one of you maybe to Amazon music that is such an easy way to find all these podcasts and everything that we're doing. Thank you so much to all those downloading these podcasts we have had over 250 podcasts that we recorded in the last section of lockdown. And we've had 1000s of downloads, the stats are absolutely phenomenal. What is happening around the globe regarding the podcasts that are coming out here, the teachings, the understandings the being completely open about the Word of God being very real and being authentic. And if you have a Bible tonight, please can you turn with me to Romans chapter five, you know, I feel very uncomfortable, I find that I need. So Kay when I'm doing certain things around this table with the other guys and gals that we record with, but on a on a Sunday and on a Wednesday evening, when I'm doing this Bible study preaching and teaching, I like to be on a pulpit. So this feels very foreign to me. I just feel like I'm a bit restrained. So you'll have to forgive me I'm a bit family. But we are going to get there. So you know, it's nothing like having a pulpit to stand in front of just the rest of your scriptures on cursor we got we got scriptures. Let's turn to the book of Romans, chapter five is about peace and hope, justification, you know what's happening across the news. I don't have to beat the drum skin on that one tonight what's happening in certain areas of the world. And what we've just come through as as a globe coming through this play coming through COVID-19, and the loss and everything that's going along right now we are seeing wars, rumors of wars and everything that is running along like that, but you find as we live in these times. And as believers and whoever you may be fear is quite a common thread that is running through households running through lives. And I just want to guide us to a few scriptures tonight. Especially some of the believers that we come into contact with we speak to that are really unsure, very uncertain, and I can understand that I I fully understand what you're saying. Because I went through a period in my life, thinking am I saved? So justification, sanctification, salvation, redemption, the doctrines of grace, the power of the Holy Spirit, we are saved. So when we look at the scriptures for might we're in Romans, chapter five. I'll read that all the way through and then we're going to go through Ephesians chapter one, verse seven. And also we're going to go to Isaiah 65. And that is a real eye opener, Isaiah 65, from verse one to Verse five, that is really powerful. We know that it's speaking about the Jews, the Gentiles is speaking about. Israel is speaking about our nation, it's talking about judgment is talking about salvation. So there is a lot of theological stuff pressed very deeply in Isaiah 65. So let's get ready. Let's go. So Romans chapter five, verse one, and it starts off and it says very clearly, therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into his grace in which we now stand, and we boast in the hope and the glory of God, not only so but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that the sufferings produces perseverance, perseverance, character, character, character, hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us verse six of Romans chapter five. You see, at just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly, very rare, will anyone die for a righteous person through though a good person someone might possibly declare to die, verse eight of Romans chapter five, and it says that God demonstrated His own love for us. In this while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood. How much more shall we be saved by from God's wrath through him? Firsthand is quite a bit of a deep prayer. Uh, opens up quite a large door, verse 10 of Romans chapter five. So I'll try and read this a little bit steady. And I pray that you got your Bible before you that God will reveal through revelation or knowledge that he will open up his word to you. He said, It starts off in verse 10, of Romans chapter five. For if we are off, we weren't God's enemies, we were reconciled through him from the death of obvious and how much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life, not only is this so but we can also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have received reconciliation, there is something very powerful about reconciliation, we have been reconciled, we have been drawn to we have been redeemed. And I just want to try and encourage you tonight on this Wednesday evening, wherever you are across this globe tonight, you are redeemed, you are justified, you are sanctified, you are washed in the blood of Jesus, you are a child of the living God. And the reason that I have been led and I've been guided to the scriptures, is quite simply because when we find out who we are in the living Christ in the Messiah, in the God of Israel, in the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, in the Deity, in which we serve, what we do find is we find peace. And we find hope, that is mentioned very clearly. In Romans, chapter five, He is our God, He is our God of hope, you know, he speaks about character, he speaks about perseverance, you know, it takes a lot to persevere. And then we can open up that word a bit, and maybe expose a bit more of the word insurance and see how they go together. So character is important. So I find this really fascinating that God created our character. God knows our character, God knows everything. He knows every inch of our thinking, every millimeter of our psychological processing, he understands us, He created us, we are for him, and he created all things. You know. So there is an interest in press tonight that this word peace, the globe is the globe in which we are on this earth is in uproar. It is in dismay, it is distressed. There are fear pockets, there are worries, there are doubts, whether you're a believer or non believer, what we see across the military, flexing their their armory, in in Russia, Ukraine, an out in Iran, and then you can go right away to Afghanistan. And then you can drop into the pockets of North Korea, South Korea, you look at where to persecute your churches, you see all this stuff going on. There is a very interesting thing that is happening to this globe, that we are being shaken and we are being stirred. And we are, we are finding that there are very few things that mean anything anymore, you know, we think to ourselves, what's the purpose of work? What's the purpose of this? What's the purpose of that? You know, all the different things, the materialism, you know, isn't it interesting that suddenly we've come out the back end of COVID, and how COVID was so absolutely such a hard press. We understand it took lives, it wrecked lives, it caused chaos, everything that it done, was absolutely awful, and the atrocity that he had left behind, but suddenly it feels like COVID has dropped right there. And suddenly, we've got this military Mike, these, these these dictators around the world, this this, this theatrical show that is being portrayed out before our very eyes. And suddenly, if you locked too much onto the news, and if you locked too much on onto what your ears pull in and what your eyes pull in through your senses, you find that inside your innermost being, you can come quite become become quite disturbed. And that's, that's regardless whether you're a believer or non believer, whether you're an agnostic, whether you're someone that believes in faith, whether you're someone that believes in God, or whether you're a complete atheist, what runs through the common thread of humanity is fear. Fear is very real. It's a very powerful emotion. It can make a character do things in such a way that we wouldn't normally do it would make us react in a certain way. So how do I deal with with the fear aspect of life? What do I do? I would always urge anybody that to go to the Word of God read the Psalms, read the beautiful psalms and find peace in him because there is peace in God even I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It says in Psalm 23, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me, there is something very powerful and comforting about the Word of God the Word of God is supernatural. Obviously we're of this physical realm were of a certain dimension. The Word of God is of a free dimension of a world that we cannot see with our natural eyes. Or can we can perceive with our our flesh and our physicality and what we can understand or imagine or ask but the King of kings and the Lord of lords he is comforta we have the Holy Spirit, the advocate. So in chapter five of the book of Romans, it tells us that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So there is peace in God, there is rest in God even though I go through the valley of darkness even though I go through the trials and the tribulations of life even though things might be happening even though the military might the dictators and the warlords and then all this stuff may be breaking out I can find peace, I can find rest for my heart, I can find a place where I can rest and the only place that I will find rest, there are many being put on the catch quite quite simply of counseling, there are many be important to catch of, of anxiousness. You know there is a lot of anxiety, there's a lot of worry, there is a lot of fear, there is a lot of doubt there is a lot of trepidation, there is a lot of unsettled feeling. Some people are just feeling gritty, I just feel uncertain about life, everything seems a little bit meaningless in and it can be very difficult sometimes how to sum up the day has been that's because we are living in very spiritual, very powerful times. And the only place that I will find rest is my family, my friends, my work colleagues, and people in my life will, will give me excuse me rest to a certain degree, but the only place that I will find absolute assurance of peace and rest, and that is in Christ Jesus. But there are still a lot of us and I put myself in this bracket as well that still feel very restless with the things that are going on. And I think what I put that down to is the teaching of the Church, the Church, generally the broad brush of church hasn't clearly give us the Scripture and the doctrinal truths of how to live in a crisis. It has lifted the flag is jumped up and down. It's been on the trampoline, the Pentecostal trampoline. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord hallelujah Jesus, but it hasn't taught us how to live in the valley of the shadow of death. It hasn't taught us to live clearly in the battlefield of life, the battlefield of your Mind of My Mind and can be a wasteland. Sometimes, the mind can be like a washing machine where everything is spinning, we're trying to try to grab away out you feel like you want a bit of a merry go round and you're spinning around on this circus ride and you can't seem to get off you seem to get off when you get dizzy and you get lost. The only place that we will find peace is in the Father's arms, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Father in heaven, He loves you. And in God there is peace. So Romans chapter five, verse one, it says, Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, so this text covers justification, it talking about salvation is talking about hope. It is talking about perseverance, it is talking about character. And there are a lot of believers worrying about the character that they are. Because the church tries to tell us that we got to be a, b, c, and d, we can't do this. We can't do that. Yes, I understand that. But what it's trying, or what I should say, religion, tries to dress us up into some formation or some character that we can't be. I just want to encourage you be the character, be the person that God has called you to be. There is a word that has been bouncing around education, the workplace, cultures, and so many different areas of life, it's find your identity, I know who I am in Christ, I am a son of the living God. And maybe right now I'm just starting to realize this time of my life that I have been chosen. And I'm not talking about ministry I'm talking about chosen by him. There is a difference between chosen and salvation chosen when the gift without getting an elongation, that and going too deep into that. But what I want to let you know tonight is that you are justified, you are sanctified, you are redeemed, and within that context, and within that word, and within His Word within that and the framework and the baseline, or should we say the foundational point, salvation is upon you, you are saved. God knows your character. And I've been drawn to these, this this as well about lifestyle choices. It is very difficult to make the right lifestyle choices, according to the Word of God. When you're living in a nation that is not spiritual, that is carnal, that is pagan, that is humanist and it is all for the human being the human being is limited, and it has limited access to what it can access. You know, but when you realize who you are in Christ Jesus, you realize that, let's look at it. I've got to be careful where I put this. There are a lot of people going through depression, anxious moments that are really feeling quite suicidal feeling that there's no point of anything the stats are coming back and telling us that there are many from from, from young from young age right the way through To all types of ages suffering with depression, mental health issues, we're on a scale that we've never seen before. That is because the world will put us in a false environment. And tell us basically by materialism by climbing the greasy pole, the career ladder, when you get to the top of the career, when you get to the ivory tower, when you get to the top of the Christmas tree, you will be so happy, you will be so blessed when you get a new car, you'll feel great. When you get that new TV it'd be okay when you get that new sofa, it'd be great for Christmas. But we get we get to these points we might sign up we might be sold. And we might get into that, you know, a new house, a new car, a new job, a new postcode, but there is something missing in our in our most being. And we always try to refresh that. We're always trying to find that we will and the button that we're looking for is peace and fulfillment, we will not find peace and fulfillment in material treasures, we got to find it in the Word of God, peace comes from the word of God. strength comes from the word of God. Redemption comes from the word of God. So when I realize who I am, in Christ, I'm a son, or I'm ever a daughter. In the living God, what happens is when I realize that I am saved, and then I am in the plan of Christ, and my character does not faze him, or deter him from saving me or wrong choices or right choices or this or ABC and D because he knew the good choices I'd make him knew the crazy things I'd say he'd know the bad moves I've made he he knows the rabbit holes or would have gone down he knows the Cody sacks, I would have pulled into a made catastrophic mistakes and situations would have have happened through me acting in the flesh for my own will are not seeking His will. But that did not stop him doing what that did not stop the living God giving me and giving you salvation. There are many people putting their toe into Christianity. There are many people at this time because of news, because of lifestyle because of pressure and fear, actually looking for spiritual answers that have never looked in that spiritual place before because suddenly we realize that the temporal place that we live the physical real world, the physical being of life, our senses, our perception, cannot give us the fulfillment that we require. Because I will put it like this, I believe every one of us has been given a void in our innermost being. And that vacuum can only be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, when you look at Romans chapter five, very quick off of the base, he comes out with this. Therefore since we have been justified through Christ, justification is such a powerful word justification is on you. And justification is on men. And it says through faith, we have peace with God, there is peace with God we won't find peace, in any any action any other situation in life. Yes, we will find we're sorry, we will find peace to a certain degree, we will find comfort to a certain degree we will find rest to a certain degree. But there is a layer there is a higher layer, the spiritual place that we cannot get to in our physical being. Because Christ has to come to us and present Himself to us, for us to realize that there is a holy God. Now, if you were to turn into the Old Testament a moment and if you also look in Isaiah chapter 65, the first five verses if you have a Bible, please turn if you look in Isaiah 65 verse one. This is absolutely glorious to me. I know it's speaking about a nation. I know speaking about judgment is speaking about salvation is speaking about the Jews. It's speaking about the Gentiles is speaking about history is talking about the foreknowledge of water calm, it's talking about justification is talking so much it is very deep in a theological understanding we could spend hours and forever in a day unpacking what we what we call, just apologetics, not so much apologetics. But I suppose what we could do, we could take it line by line expository sermonizing, we x through expository for opening up God's word God's word opening up to ask you know we read the line we pour over that line dear god in an image Jesus, open the Word of God out because knowledge puffs up knowledge has a scene in level knowledge can only go that's fine, it has a place you know, Knowledge puffs up we, we we do not and we, and we are not saved by our knowledge we are saved by grace. So knowledge has no power and has no power within the plan of salvation. It doesn't matter what side of the tracks we were born doesn't matter if we come How to Eat. And it doesn't matter if we never went to school, it doesn't matter. If we are really highly educated dumb if we got a great IQ doesn't mean it doesn't matter if we don't even know what IQ means there is education and knowledge is non existent and not needed in the kingdom of God. Because what is needed in the kingdom of God is a heart of the God. It is it has, and it will never have anything to do with academics, academia, it has nothing to do with a psychological process of how great I am mathematics, alphabet, it has nothing to do with the natural press and the knowledge because the Kingdom of God is the king's domain. And when you look at Isaiah 65, verse one through two, five, it speaks very powerfully about salvation, this can route this will I believe tonight, God will really hold you in Isaiah 65. Because when you look at verse one, and and verse two, it is mind blowing, what God has done to nations and a nation, and the Jews and the Gentiles. This clearly tells us that no one within the world with within that, that framework of this world, no one no human being actually seeks God. So when we hear someone says, I might come to church, and I've seen you, I've watched you online, or I might come and join you at church, and I've never been to church, but I think I'm coming to church. That's not because maybe they've watched me or they've watched someone else and, and they've caught something on on on the radio, or through podcasts or through TV, Christian TV. What it is, is God has already working and has been working in that person's life, whether we say or whether they say I am a believer or a believer or not, that is completely irrelevant. Because God makes the human the believer, the human does not make themselves Verba lever, because the Holy Spirit comes in and opens up the heart, and His Word is placed in. So what happens is, is I believe there is something very powerful in the belief system. But I cannot believe in an eternal God, if I have not been seeking Him, but I do not seek Him. Because no human being, as the Bible says, will ever seek a holy God, the Holy God comes to the human being. So there may be people out there watching dipping into this and actually say, You know what, I'm going to go to church Sunday. It wasn't your reaction to seeing me or anybody across the globe online, thinking, you know what that looks good. I might like I might want to be a church. It's not what I have said, it's not what the church has looked like. It is the power of God through the power of predestination, because it has been predestined. So when you look at yourself, it is your eyes and your ears have heard about Christ, your eyes have seen the word Your eyes have locked on to church, your ears have locked on to the word Jesus. But it wasn't the capabilities, or your skill set that has made you decide, as a human, I'm going into church, God already made a way and what it is by predestination, your body is just coming in line to what God's plan is for you. Not because of how you have the choice to choose a holy God, because no one has that choice. Now this can cause a lot of uproar this, this pressing this because there are a lot of people out there on certain teachings will say, Well, I had the choice to choose this holy God. You don't because the Scripture, doesn't he No one can resist this holy God. So when you look at this scripture here in Isaiah 65, it really drives this really clear and very plain. Verse one of Isaiah 65. It says, I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek Me to a nation that did not call on my name. I said, Here I am. Here, am I when you look at that first part of that text, speaking about our nation, break it down from a nation, break it down to the governance, break it down to the government, break it down to the leaders, take it from the leaders take it right the way through the business sector, take it through the education taking it right down, and where will you find it gets its way to it gets its way down to the human being. Now this is speaking directly to the Jews and the Gentiles. We come into this bracket we come into this humanity bracket that we are looking at, because the scripture says I revealed myself, God reveals Himself to me and to you. No one on planet Earth. I've said this in abundance and I will say abundance. No one wakes up on a Sunday morning, brushes their teeth as a shower, start singing Kumbaya, I'm going to go to church because I want Jesus, Jesus loves you before you even decided and realize that church ever existed. It says I knew your framework. I knew everything about you before the foundation of the earth. So when you look at Sol Sol, why do you persecute me very clearly, Paul was a classic example of an educator, a well learned person, a great thinker, a great person that could articulate a great communicator, someone that had a big skill set, someone that was well oiled and brought up in a world of education there you find a man, very clearly not seeking God, but God had a plan for his life. And that plan was at that time at that particular millisecond, when he was on the Damascus Road, God would directly intervene in his life, God would take him off his horse and put him on the floor. That is the power of predestination. God has a pre plan, destination point for you and for me, and we have already been into that position of suddenly realizing that we did not choose him, but he chose us. So I did not wake up that one Sunday morning to go, I want to be a preacher, I want to be a pastor. There are many in religion that wants to go into the career, the career ladder, they want the stipend, they want the car, they want the notoriety, but I did not decide, as I sit here and tell you now I wanted to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, I did not decide that I did not look for that I would that was not in my remit. That was not in my plan. But God arrested me on my Damascus Road, and he spoke into my life, I was not looking for a holy God, I tell you what I did do though, I tried to prove that this Holy God did not exist. And in my Jonah moment in my running and in my expanse of living, and and in this circle of this life that I lived, I found that I could not run from eternal God. You cannot run. So in Isaiah 65, verse one, it says, I revealed myself. So now if we go to the New Testament, and we look about the great writer and the great thinker, Paul, when he says, this message that I am giving you the message of salvation is a mystery. The gospels are a mystery. Yes, we have great theologians. Yes, we have great apologies. We have great apologetics. Yes, we have great learners. And we have great thinkers. Yes, we have great educators. Yes, we have great verbal communicators. Yes, we have a good handful of preachers and teachers, but we are lacking. We are lacking very clearly a leadership within this nation that is really listening to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Because we've been brought up in a culture in a society where everything is visual, I can have what I want, and everything I want is before me. So everything I see, I believe is mine for the taking. We learn for our air gate, and for our eye gate for our senses and for our perception, but there is something higher than senses and perception, and that is faith. Faith is a very powerful, and a very. How can work, right? How can we explain faith? How do we explain faith, you can find a small area of understanding of faith if he was turned to turn to the book of Hebrews chapter 11. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now the Bible tells us that the just shall live by faith. So when I live by faith, I'm believing. Now the scriptures I believe in Romans says, We serve a God calls the things that are not as though they are that is a very deep, and that is a very powerful text. We serve a God the God of Israel, we serve the God of Israel. So the Scripture says we serve a God that calls the things that are not what are not the things that are not in existence, the things that are not here, the situations that are not profoundly before our natural eyes. See, the Scripture says, We serve a God that calls the things that are not as though they are so by the power of the rhema word by the power of the spoken word, by the power of speech by the power of the speech of his word. The scripture says out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water You know, what I feed myself I become if I feed myself religion, I become a religious person, if I feed myself the Word of God, I become someone that is filled with the Word of God, if I feed myself with, with everything on the TV, I become this dustbin of just all this stuff. If I, if I feed myself with news, I become fearful, if I feed myself, whatever, I whatever comes in through my ear, go, Am I gay? Am I ear gay, I do become whatever comes into me. And whatever it is, is around me, I become that. So what's really important is the I become someone that is in the Word of God. So out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water, you know, faith, faith, is speaking into a situation that is not in existence. Now, we need to be or I need to be very careful that I don't get on the evangelical Pentecostal, bicycle and start preaching that you can have it the name it and claim it, you have not because you ask not ABC and D, and all that sort of stuff. And we can quote all these scriptures and we can so easily take a scripture scripture out of its context, and get it round and get it upside down, get it inside out. So we got to be very careful. So the Scripture makes it clear the just shall live by faith, who is the just we are the just how do you know we are just because we have been saved, you might be on the journey of salvation, you might be being called into salvation, but no one chooses to be saved. Now, the Bible also says, Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But you can only call on the name of the Lord, after you realize who the Lord is. Now, Seoul expressed this vocally, when he was taken off of his horse on the Damascus Road, he said, Lord, see, there is something very powerful, there is something I don't like to use the word something there is there is God's power that is already in us that without us understanding that inner power of him is in us before we even realize he is in us, because He created your character. The Scripture talks about character very, very clearly, as we have just looked at, in verse four of Romans chapter five. So your character, my character, doesn't face God. He knows our character, he knows what you are going to say before you even say it. He knows what the answer is going to be. He knows what the prayer will be. He knows how he will deliver the answer of prayer, before you even pray that prayer, hours years. It's so much time because he is, he is the creator of heaven on earth. He is the great I Am he is the Genesis, he said, Let there be light and there was science is in the book of Genesis, you have the three main powerful elements of life, space, time and matter. Without the other one you cannot get existence, but because God is space, time and matter, because he is space, because he is time and because he is matter, because he is in a complete encompassing God. He is omnipresent, he is omnipotent. He is in all he is about Whoa, he is before time, he is time, and he is your God. Now, redemption, and justification, salvation, sovereignty of God, adoption, the love of God is upon you. You may be the biggest atheist in the world. You may be fighting you may be spitting bubbles or bullets at me, or Christians. But let me present this to you. I believe, without any shadow of any doubt. Anyone that calls themselves an atheist will suddenly realize in the timeline of life, whether it's the last four heartbeats before you leave this earth, that there is a God and he is in full charge of life and existence. No one chooses this holy God. The Holy God chooses us. And we see this in Genesis through the power of a creative God that you serve and that I serve. You may never come into church, you may not even ever want to walk into church, but there is something inside of you that you cannot explain, and I am terribly tonight, I feel terrible for the way that I've presented a few things. Maybe because it's my mob because I'm a bit tired of my vocabulary that I've been speaking all day on one thing or another. So when I say something I apologize for saying something. What I mean is God is already in you, and God is already working through you, without you realizing the existence of eternal God. How can you be so naive? Or what? How can you come to that? Pastor Ben, how can you do that? How can you say? How dare you? I am an atheist, I do not believe how can you say that the scripture is clean and clear before me. I have had spiritual encounters with the living God. And I know that my Redeemer lives, there are certain things in life that are not and are impossible to answer, logically, psychologically, through cognitive processing, through mathematics, through science through test tubes, through through the understanding of life through for every there are certain things that do not line up with this natural world. I'm going to read once more, Isaiah 65. As we go a little bit further, Isaiah 65, verse one, I've revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. Amazing text very deep and very profound, and very glorious. I was found by those who did not seek Me. Oh, my God. Let me read Romans chapter five. Again, let me read Romans chapter five. And it says in Romans chapter five, verse eight, very interesting, very deep part of the text that we will look at Romans chapter five, verse eight, but God demonstrated His own love for us. In this while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, while I was still a sinner, while I was in the world, a sinner does not look for a holy God. But a sinner realizes that they are a sinner in one time, one experience of life. And that experience is for the very first time when the Holy God of Israel, Israel, reveals Himself to you. What do you mean by revealing what I mean by revealing his he is always revealing and he is always working, but he works in such a way that the human body cannot grasp or cannot understand him. So how does he do this? He works in that supernatural, that powerful way that logic and mathematics and science and physics cannot understand the supernatural. It has a layer, it has a level, Knowledge puffs up so there comes a point, when this supernatural God, this Holy God reveals His Holiness to the sinner, and the sinner suddenly reveals themselves to themselves. All my goodness, there is a holy God, not because the sinner suddenly realizes I am living in sin, because while I'm living in sin, I don't realize I am living in that sin because I am living in the way of the world. And I do not realize I am sinning until the Holy God, the God of Israel for revelational knowledge is reveals Himself to me. There is something profound there is something supernatural, that the human mind or the greatest theologian on Earth cannot fathom or work out about this living God, that salvation is a gift. And as we have read very clearly, and as I've just skipped over the Scripture tonight, it says in Romans chapter five, verse eight, But God demonstrates His own love for us. He demonstrates his love how God do you demonstrate this love for me? How and what is the proof? What is the written evidence that you have declared your love for me? If you have a Bible turn to John 316, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only begotten Son, that whosoever shall believe in him shall have everlasting life and shall not perish. Now, we need to be careful of that text because that texts had been presented to the church goer and the sinner forever and a day, For God so loved the world that whosoever shall believe in him. So you can almost say that the texts are the theological press is putting the pressure on the human being, to believe but a human being cannot believe until the Holy God has presented. So when I look at the Scripture, I clearly find through redemption and so observation and justification and predestination, that this human body was predestined to understand that the living God is in existence. It wasn't the auto call. It wasn't the the radio, it wasn't Premiere Radio. It wasn't TBN it wasn't an all them radio stations out there that decided to call that day and tell me that I am saved. It is the living God, it wasn't Christian TV. It wasn't the preacher. It wasn't the teacher, it God uses that. And God uses them as the vehicle to speak to humanity. So he presents themselves in himself rather, in many ways, you may have been having a dream we are we are hearing very, a lot I should say, in the world of the persecuted church, our there are many coming out of other religions that have had visions and dreams of the Messiah. And suddenly they've been arrested in their sleep, and suddenly realize that the God of Israel is over and above everything that they've been taught, and every ideology they have been presented to, and suddenly they have a spiritual awakening through the God of Israel, there is something very powerful about the God of Israel, no human being can resist, but religion and a certain percentage of the church has put the weight of salvation on the human being that if you do not run down and call on the God of Israel, He will pass you by, I will tell you that is not scripture. And that is not correct. God saved soul soul, why do you persecute me, soul was not looking for the Holy God, he was looking for the Christian to put into prison and trying to knock anyone out that belongs to the way we understand that in history. And in Christianity. What was meant, by the way was anyone that belonged and follow the teachings of Christ, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. So I would present it to you very simply, and very easily tonight. God loves you more than we will ever understand. So looking in Isaiah 65. I'm trying to keep this simple. And keep it very, very easy on the IRS tonight. I love 65 Chapter 65 of Isaiah, from verse one down through, it says, I will read the first five verses as we go, we are getting close to bidding you good night tonight. And I pray that God will continue. And he will continue to reveal his word to you, but you are saved, and you was not looking for a holy God. You might have thought, at this hour, I might try church. I might have a look at Christianity, I might explore. But let me tell you this. He prepared you for that moment of you saying I'm going to look at church, he prepared you for that moment for you to say, I'm going to explore Christianity, because he is the God of all things. And he knew your framework He created you in your mother's womb, the Scripture says that he knitted you together. He before he was even came in into existence. Verse one of Isaiah 65, I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. That is an absolute text that will flatten anyone that says if you don't call on Jesus, you cannot be saved. Because he says, and he is speaking to the Jews. He's speaking to the Gentiles. He is speaking to the nation. He is speaking directly directly into nation into hearts into lives. I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek Me to the nation that did not call on my name. I said, Here I am. Here. Am i Isn't that interesting that he says I am. It's very important to understand where that comes from. You backtrack generation generation, and you and you and we come to an understanding Well, what what God said to Moses, he said, Moses said, Well, if you're telling me to do this, who am I going to tell that lot? Who sinned in us? I am, that I am verse two of Isaiah 65 all day long. I've held out my hands to obstinance people who walk in the ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations, a people who continually provoked me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick, who sit down among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil, who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold a broth of impure meats who say, Keep away, don't come near me, for I am to sacred for you. Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day. This text that we are in Isaiah 65, is about judgment, and is about salvation. But number one, number one thing to remember as we, as we say, Good night to one another, this evening, verse one of Isaiah 65. I revealed myself, this is the God of Israel. This is the God of all creation. This is the great I Am I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek Me to a nation that did not call on my name. I said, Here, am I here, am I? How powerful is that? Romans chapter five. We went through Romans chapter five, verse one through two roundabout, verse 11, we looked at very clearly about redemption, we've worked and then we haven't even a chance to open up the word atonement, atonement, you know, when was the last time we heard the church talk about the atonement, the atonement of Christ, when when you look at the atonement, or when you when you look at redemption, when you when you look at the depth of that feeling, I'm gonna finish on Ephesians chapter one, verse seven. It says, For in Him, we have redemption, through his blood, for the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God's grace. Whatever way you look at this, however, you want to fight me, however you want to find God on this, you will not find a scripture that will clearly and will tell you that you can lose your salvation. Because salvation is the gift of the eternal God. And when the eternal God gives you a gift, you cannot return the gift, you cannot lose your salvation. It is impossible to find a text within the biblical framework. You can bring up your own interpretation, and try to work something out. But when you really rely on God, you will certainly find that salvation cannot be lost. But there are a culture out there, there is a culture sorry, out there, there is a certain teaching out there that tells you that it's got to be by works. If it was by works, who would be holy enough by work so actually attain that and obtain that it is not by works, so that no one can boast. The Scripture says, because some people can work and work and work. Some people cannot physically move. Some people just are completely paralyzed. Some people cannot get out of that. So this froze everything like that. It's a complete spin it for the apps, not by works and that no one can boast. But salvation is the gift. You are saved. By grace. God loves you. God is with you. He is your God. He is your King. Wherever you are tonight, I pray that the power of the Holy Spirit will bless you and refresh you. Thank you so much for joining us tonight here, in in church here in swaddling. You know, I thank you with the bottom of my heart and I'm finishing very quickly, because there is no easy way to finish this God will reveal and as I say and as always say thank you so much. You can find us on I Heart Radio, you can find some Buzzsprout Spotify, you can find us on so many platforms. You can find us on the social networks. You can you can just Google Reverend Ben Cooper podcasts, we will pop up and you can find us on Amazon Music I know I press Amazon music a little bit more lately, purely because it's easy to navigate. Spotify ain't too bad itself. But May God bless you and strengthen you please share our everything we do have a Google have a go into share everything like anything if you think I've got it right. Please tell me please, please send some emails. Send some text in if you think I've got it wrong. Show me the Scripture because I want to make sure that I've got it right Because the reason I say that is one thing and one thing only. The Bible says test every spirit, everything what I say testing with scripture, make sure what I say is correct with the Scripture with the Word of God. Don't trust my lips. Don't trust what I'm saying. Make sure the Word of God, make sure that what I say is lining up with the word of God, because that is what we need. And that is what we want is sound, clean, clear doctrines from the Word of God. We are living in a nation that is lacking, clean and clear. doctrines of grace from the Word of God. I thank you once again, have a good evening God bless you made a hazard God we always upon you, and guide you and out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water. You've been joining us here at Ealing church. God bless