WEBVTT 00:00:00.001 --> 00:00:01.300 I've been waiting. 00:00:01.300 --> 00:00:04.099 I have this illustration a true life story. 00:00:04.099 --> 00:00:23.699 I've been waiting to fit it into a sermon and here is the sermon because it's one of the most amazing stories and I'll get some of the details wrong and my children will correct me on the way home on this little fact or that fact, but they really don't matter. 00:00:23.699 --> 00:00:31.899 The the essence of the story was that Britain my son Britain was on the worst baseball team last year in the spring. 00:00:31.899 --> 00:00:35.899 They lost every game and they were getting slaughtered. 00:00:35.899 --> 00:00:43.000 And it was fun watching them play, but it wasn't fun watching your kids get beat really terribly. 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:47.299 You know the ever ending you get seven runs and a mercy roll kicks in. 00:00:47.299 --> 00:00:50.700 Thank the Lord and it wasn't for the mercy rule. 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:53.600 We wouldn't have you know, it would have been really really bad. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:01:24.200 So we're hoping to get a run or two in the inning and and you know, maybe it can be 7 to 1 then 14 to 3 and you know 21 to 5 that was kind of the way we're hoping and and we lost every game and then it comes to I think we may have squeaked out a game in the regular season, but we're last place at the post-season we go into postseason and that you pair up the the best team against the worst team. 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:31.500 So we have to play the best team the first night, you know, like, okay this I remember talking to Lisa like hey at least the night. 00:01:31.500 --> 00:01:32.900 This is ending the season. 00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:35.099 We the agony is over. 00:01:35.099 --> 00:01:40.400 And lo and behold, we won. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:44.400 It was we went home thinking my goodness. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:47.700 We won as like well, that's the good news bad news. 00:01:47.700 --> 00:01:49.299 We got to come back tomorrow night. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:59.200 And we play the second best team in the league and we want I know Joe. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:01.599 I was like, how does this happening? 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:04.000 Of course, our team was getting better by the season. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:10.199 We had good coaches and stuff, but but what you need to know is that we had one player named Wally. 00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:16.500 Wally was the worst player on the worst team Wally. 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:22.599 I don't mean to make fun of Wally, but that was his name and that is his name and Wally. 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:31.000 Wally was a poor child everybody loved but he closed his eyes every time he batted. 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:37.800 And he would step out of the batting box as the ball was come in because he was scared to death. 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:42.000 And I didn't know this but you know, if you step out of the batting box is a strike. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:51.800 And so it would be three strikes with Wally because he just stepped out and all through the season the coach was just stay in the batter's box. 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:53.199 Just stay there. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:03:08.000 And in the first two games that the way it works and I'm learning a lot about kids sports, but way it works is that you can choose one player that he doesn't have to play on the outfield, but all the players have to bat. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:10.199 You have to run them through the batting lineup. 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:13.699 So you can't just say a solid Wally you are the water boy. 00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:14.800 No Wally has to bat. 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:23.400 And after we won the second game, we're going into the final game and we're all kind of like wait a minute. 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:32.699 Could this be we're going to the finals and I don't mean to be mean but Wally's mother says I don't think we're going to be able to make it. 00:03:32.699 --> 00:03:33.800 We had plans. 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:40.500 For the the final event, you know, so I'm sorry and the whole team was like. 00:03:42.500 --> 00:03:47.400 Well, I mean because Wally's automatic out, you know, there's just an automatic out. 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:52.400 He's never hit the ball in his life and and he wasn't going to show up the championship game. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:54.500 So like that was actually a benefit to us. 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:57.000 They're like well, maybe there is a chance that we could win this. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.500 Well turns out Wally shows up. 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:02.000 He was there. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:05.800 But it's like there's no way we can win this. 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:11.800 Well, here it is in the third inning and this is where my details are missing. 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:32.100 I don't know if we're winning or we're behind but it was right neck to neck and and but there's a timer and they get to bat after us and so surely they're going to get their six or seven runs in so we need to get our score up if we have a chance of winning and so we're right there neck to neck and we have the bases loaded. 00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:36.300 And three and two ounce and here comes Wally. 00:04:36.300 --> 00:04:47.500 I mean like oh wait, I thought to myself well we gave him a good we did well. 00:04:47.500 --> 00:05:07.000 We got to the finals and poor Wally he got up there and he closed his eyes and he didn't step out of the batter's box and the coaches just swing the bat because he never even swing the bat and Wally with his eyes closed swung that bat. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:08.699 Strike one. 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:11.300 Hey, swung the bat. 00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:14.199 All right, here comes the next pitch. 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:17.800 Wally's puts it back. 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:19.199 His eyes are closed. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:25.899 I don't even know when he knows the ball is coming and he swings and hits it. 00:05:25.899 --> 00:05:33.399 And it trickle rolls past the second baseman. 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:37.500 And it rolls into the outfield. 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:40.500 Run Wally doesn't even know what to do. 00:05:40.500 --> 00:05:41.699 I mean run. 00:05:41.699 --> 00:05:44.699 And here comes our basement running in. 00:05:44.699 --> 00:05:47.800 One run another run. 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:49.899 Wally keeps on running. 00:05:49.899 --> 00:05:55.399 And lo and behold, they throw the ball and someone misses and Wally keeps on running. 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:56.399 He doesn't know to stop. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:03.199 And he just runs all the way in and they don't tag him and he clears the bases. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:05.899 Can you believe this? 00:06:07.100 --> 00:06:08.899 The worst player of the worst team. 00:06:08.899 --> 00:06:16.500 Clears the bases and we go on to win the game and we give the MVP. 00:06:16.500 --> 00:06:19.300 To Wally. 00:06:19.300 --> 00:06:28.000 That's a true live story. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:29.000 I didn't make that up. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:33.899 Well, Saul of Tarsus is Wally. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:38.199 Read with me in verses 8 through 10. 00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:47.000 Last of all, as the one untimely born, he appeared also to me for I'm the least of the Apostles. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:52.899 Unworthy to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. 00:06:52.899 --> 00:06:59.000 But by the grace of God, I am what I am and his grace towards me was not in vain. 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:01.000 I cleared the bases. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:12.600 I hit a grand slam on the contrary of worked harder than any of them though was not I but the grace of God that was in with that was with me. 00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:19.600 You see Saul who became Paul was the most unworthy candidate to be an Apostle. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:25.000 If you had to pick an Apostle, you would not have picked Saul of Tarsus. 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:26.699 He had everything against him. 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:29.899 Everything was working not in his favor. 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:33.500 So he would be the last candidate any of us would have chosen. 00:07:33.500 --> 00:07:42.899 But in this text about Saul's call by grace into the apostolic ministry. 00:07:42.899 --> 00:07:59.899 And how he has seen the resurrected Savior, which is the context of the resurrection and how Christ appeared to the various people, the Apostles, the Apostles 500 and last of all, he appeared to Saul of Tarsus. 00:07:59.899 --> 00:08:04.300 What we learned in this text is that we're saved by grace. 00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:07.500 And we are spiritually fruitful. 00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:13.300 My grace that is salvation is by grace. 00:08:13.300 --> 00:08:18.399 And as we heard in the Sunday School lesson is by grace alone. 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:23.000 By grace, we are saved and by grace. 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:25.399 We are fruitful. 00:08:27.100 --> 00:08:33.500 Let's look at how we are saved by grace and think about you and as being Wally. 00:08:33.500 --> 00:08:37.500 You're you need to understand that you're the Wally of the story. 00:08:37.500 --> 00:08:51.500 You're the Saul, your Saul of Tarsus, if you would and you have everything against you to make you one of the children of God. 00:08:51.500 --> 00:09:00.700 You see Paul was the last person you would have ever imagined or suspected to have become a apostle, not just an apostle but a super apostle. 00:09:00.700 --> 00:09:04.700 He says in verse 8 last of all as to one untimely born. 00:09:04.700 --> 00:09:09.100 He appeared also to me for I am the least of the Apostles. 00:09:09.100 --> 00:09:14.700 Unworthy to be called an Apostle like I'm I'm the least of them. 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:17.399 I'm not worthy to be called Apostle, but I'll did them all. 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:23.500 You know, I'm not worthy to be it, but I end up producing more than they I hit the Grand Slam. 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:25.500 I got the MVP at the end of the day. 00:09:25.500 --> 00:09:29.500 I did more, but it wasn't because I was the better man. 00:09:29.500 --> 00:09:31.600 It wasn't because I was more worthy. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:33.899 It wasn't because I was the better baseball player. 00:09:33.899 --> 00:09:42.799 It was simply the grace of God that I hit the ball is simply by the grace of God that I'm saying is simply by the grace of God that I did what I've done. 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:44.600 I it's all been my grace. 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:56.600 And there's various reasons the Apostle Paul was the least and wasn't worthy to be an Apostle is because and he was born out of due season. 00:09:56.600 --> 00:10:00.399 He's 10 years younger than all the other Apostles. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:28.700 We believe that Christ was born somewhere around 4 6 BC that when Christ died, he was around 30 33 years old, maybe 34 years old is hard to tell but we put the birth of Saul somewhere around 5 6 or 7 ad he's 10 years younger than all the other Apostles to the point that he was too young to have been a disciple of Jesus. 00:10:28.700 --> 00:10:40.899 He didn't never he never saw the person of Jesus and he never saw the resurrected Jesus while Jesus was in his time on Earth because he was too young. 00:10:40.899 --> 00:10:45.000 He is like he was born too late. 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:46.600 He is born out of season. 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:50.799 Or some would say he was born at the wrong time. 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:51.399 Sorry. 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:52.600 You didn't make the cut. 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:53.799 You're too young. 00:10:53.799 --> 00:11:03.200 And one of the necessary qualifications to be an Apostle according to Acts Chapter 1 after Judas killed himself. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:05.500 The other leaven says we got to feel his place. 00:11:05.500 --> 00:11:10.399 We have to find someone who's been with us from the beginning someone who's heard the teachings of Christ. 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:16.399 If you're going to be a messenger of Christ, you got to know what he taught and if you weren't there when he was teaching, how are you going to know what he said? 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:19.799 So you can't be a messenger of Jesus Christ. 00:11:19.799 --> 00:11:31.700 If you didn't receive the instructions of Jesus Christ, so we have to choose someone who had been with Christ from the beginning so that they would know all the teaching and message of Christ. 00:11:31.700 --> 00:11:35.299 How could Paul qualify for that? 00:11:35.299 --> 00:11:40.899 He didn't hear any of the teachings of Jesus during his earthly ministry. 00:11:40.899 --> 00:11:46.299 So we would think the Apostle Paul is just no way the Apostle Paul is going to be an Apostle. 00:11:46.299 --> 00:11:49.399 He's too young. 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:52.500 Also, it says that he was unworthy. 00:11:52.500 --> 00:11:53.799 Look at verse 9. 00:11:53.799 --> 00:12:16.399 "For I'm the least of the apostles unworthy to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God." I remember being 17 years old, 16, 17 years old and I read the book of Acts for the first time like just reading through it and getting caught up in the story and I know I grew up in Sunday School. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:29.700 I knew I grew up hearing about Paul, but for whatever reason it was like the story was the first time I'm hearing it is 16, 17 years old and I did not really dawn on me that this guy named Saul comes Paul. 00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:30.700 I didn't have that. 00:12:30.700 --> 00:12:35.500 I didn't for whatever reason if I either heard it, forgot it or didn't realize it and never heard it. 00:12:35.500 --> 00:12:46.200 I don't know, but I'm reading through the book of Acts as a young man and I keep on reading about this man named Saul and I said, "I do not like this man." I remember not liking him. 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:49.500 I remember thinking that I hope God brings judgment upon him. 00:12:49.500 --> 00:12:56.100 Something's got to happen to him and I was astonished when I found out that he became Paul. 00:12:56.100 --> 00:12:58.200 I knew who Paul was, but this is Saul. 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:00.500 It's like how can this be? 00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:07.500 How can the man that persecuted the Church, the man who hated Christ, I mean you talk about a Pharisee of the Pharisees. 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:08.799 He was self-righteous. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:10.100 He was a prideful man. 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:13.399 He was an arrogant man and he wasn't seeking the Lord. 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:17.700 He wasn't like trying to search out the Old Testament and look for the Messiah. 00:13:17.700 --> 00:13:21.299 In fact, he had heard about this new thing called the way. 00:13:21.299 --> 00:13:26.799 He had heard about Christianity, had heard about Christ and he said, "This is a deviation to Judaism. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:40.000 I've got to stomp it out." And of all his companions, he was the most zealous about persecuting the Church and he went from village to village, from city to city, trying to stomp out the Church and killing Christians. 00:13:40.100 --> 00:13:45.700 He was there in one who gave authority of the stoning of the stoning of Stephen. 00:13:45.700 --> 00:13:50.500 They laid their cults at his feet as they stoned Stephen. 00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:57.799 And you know, it wasn't like Saul was in the midst of inquiring about Jesus. 00:13:57.799 --> 00:14:01.000 He was persecuting Jesus. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.299 So you don't believe in salvation by grace. 00:14:03.299 --> 00:14:06.700 Well, how do you understand the conversion of Saul? 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:14.000 He didn't come to himself as I now I'm going to seek the Lord. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:18.299 No, he's in the middle of trying to kill Christians. 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:31.899 God can save you no matter where you're at. 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:37.600 You may be here this morning and you may hate God. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.799 He said, "I don't want anything to do with Christianity. 00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:42.500 I'm going to run from this. 00:14:42.500 --> 00:14:43.500 I hate it. 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:45.700 I don't want my parents' religion. 00:14:45.700 --> 00:15:02.299 But God in his grace can come to you." And as he did Saul,"Oh, that's why Saul, he's remembering he's unworthy to be an apostle because he's looking back and says, "I didn't do anything to become this. 00:15:02.299 --> 00:15:04.799 I didn't do anything to earn this. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:08.000 I didn't do anything to for God to have compassion upon me. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:19.200 There was nothing that God could look into me and say,"Oh, there's something in Saul that I feel sorry for." There was nothing to draw out compassion, nothing to draw out sympathy. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:25.299 All thing you could get when you looked at Saul was he deserves judgment. 00:15:25.299 --> 00:15:27.299 He's a evil man. 00:15:27.299 --> 00:15:29.200 He's a hard-hearted man. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:31.799 He's a prideful man. 00:15:33.100 --> 00:16:04.799 But he says when he recounts his own testimony in Acts 22 verse 6, "As I was on the way and drew near to Damascus about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' And I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' And he said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you're persecuting.'" You see, Paul didn't clean himself up. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:07.500 He didn't go to church for six months. 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:11.000 He didn't put away his bad habits. 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:13.600 He didn't stop doing the things he was doing. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:17.299 He didn't all of a sudden, it's like, look, now I can approach the Lord. 00:16:17.299 --> 00:16:18.700 Now I can pray. 00:16:18.700 --> 00:16:24.799 Now that I have really done some things to make myself feel better about myself, now the Lord's going to take notice of me. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:30.700 He didn't do any of these things and the Lord came to him while he was yet sinner. 00:16:31.700 --> 00:16:34.799 In the midst of his persecution, Christ come to him. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:47.299 He says it this way in Ephesians 3, 7, "Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me by the working of his power. 00:16:47.299 --> 00:17:03.700 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me." So as he thinks about how he became what he is as an apostle, as he was reflecting upon this, he says, "I am what I am by the grace of God. 00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:10.799 I stand here today as an apostle by God's grace and God's grace alone. 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:17.500 Don't look at me and say, 'Good hit, Wally.'" You know, Wally had his eyes closed. 00:17:17.500 --> 00:17:24.200 There's nothing, there wasn't any skill involved in Wally's hitting that thing. 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:33.200 Nothing in Paul, nothing in Saul, nothing in you. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:36.299 Remember that. 00:17:36.299 --> 00:17:41.200 I remember, again, I go back to some of my memories. 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:50.400 I remember reading Romans for the first time around 17, 18 years old and my dad taught on the doctrines of grace and election and I rejected it. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:51.599 I didn't want anything to do with it. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:52.799 I thought my dad was a good man. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:56.900 I thought my dad was a godly man and said, "He's right about the gospel. 00:17:56.900 --> 00:17:57.500 He's right about this. 00:17:57.500 --> 00:18:20.299 He's right about that." But I just can't buy into this election until I was reading Romans and I was reading it by myself and I came to Romanstein and I begin to argue with Paul and he argued back at me and I realized I wasn't arguing with Paul, I was arguing with God. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:26.200 And then when I realized like who am I and the God was talking to me, who are you old man? 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:27.799 I was like, I don't know who I am. 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:32.700 You know, I'm arguing with God, not my dad. 00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:39.200 And all of a sudden it dawned on me in a real experiential way. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:47.900 I mean, I knew I was saved by grace and I knew it was nothing I did but it dawned on me for the first time in a real substantial way. 00:18:50.500 --> 00:18:51.599 I didn't do anything. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:19:00.000 I didn't do anything. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.599 I'm saved by grace. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:08.700 I just like the all of a sudden is like the realization the realization I'm unworthy for this thing. 00:19:08.700 --> 00:19:12.799 I am saved by grace. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:15.400 By grace. 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:17.799 It is like this is what grace is. 00:19:17.799 --> 00:19:18.799 It's not earned. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:19.799 It's not deserved. 00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:23.599 It's not it's not something that that I did. 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:27.000 I'm a recipient. 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:34.400 I'm a peer recipient and recipient alone to this salvation of grace. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:58.500 So when Paul is reflecting about his own apostolic ministry and the fact that he has seen the risen Christ and what any he saw by the way he saw it on the road of Damascus and then for seven years he went into Arabia the desert and he was taught directly by Jesus. 00:19:58.500 --> 00:20:06.000 So he got his message from the resurrected Savior out of the tesser so he could be a messenger. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:14.299 So like he shouldn't have he shouldn't be a messenger because he was too young and unworthy and he was not meant to be a messenger of the gospel. 00:20:14.500 --> 00:20:20.700 But here God showed mercy to him and didn't just save him but called him into the ministry. 00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:28.200 The very church that you were seeking to persecute and stamp out will be the very church that you're going to be used to build. 00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:36.799 Wally was going to be the the player that calls the team to lose. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:41.099 Scott said no, you'll be the player that calls the team to win. 00:20:41.099 --> 00:20:49.400 Paul tells us the grace given me by God. 00:20:49.400 --> 00:21:08.000 I am a minister of Christ Jesus Romans 15 15 Galatians 1 15 but when he who set me apart before I was born who called me by his grace Galatians 2 9 when G James and Cephas and John who were seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given to me. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:10.200 They gave me the right hand of fellowship. 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:19.400 And first Timothy 1 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:26.500 You see as we reflect upon our own standing in our own place know that we're here. 00:21:26.500 --> 00:21:28.200 You're here. 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:33.500 You're going to heaven and you see it in glass darkly now, but we'll get to heaven. 00:21:33.500 --> 00:21:37.799 You're going to know we're going to all know I'm here by grace. 00:21:38.900 --> 00:21:40.099 It's just grace. 00:21:40.099 --> 00:21:48.099 Ephesians 1 7 in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. 00:21:48.099 --> 00:21:52.700 Ephesians 2 8 you have been saved by grace. 00:21:52.700 --> 00:21:55.599 For by grace you have been saved. 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:58.700 What should this lead to us? 00:21:58.700 --> 00:22:00.500 I mean we forget. 00:22:00.500 --> 00:22:06.700 I mean sometimes you need to take inventory of the blessings that you have you take your wife forget for granted. 00:22:06.900 --> 00:22:13.900 You need it you men you need to think about the preciousness of the beauty of your wife and how pleasant how what a joy it is to be married to her. 00:22:13.900 --> 00:22:16.799 You need to really remember the joys of your children. 00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:25.500 Sometimes we we get all complaining and grumpy about what we don't have and we neglect to think of the joys that God has given us the blessings that God has given us. 00:22:25.500 --> 00:22:30.700 But you know one of the things we take for granted and we just take it as old hat old news and we just like all that. 00:22:30.700 --> 00:22:33.200 I know that is the fact that we're saved. 00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:42.400 I mean we that that one bit of knowledge should cause us to live joyfully the rest of our lives. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:43.700 So play my wife left me. 00:22:43.700 --> 00:22:44.200 That's fine. 00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:44.900 I'm safe. 00:22:44.900 --> 00:22:45.900 Hey my kids hate me. 00:22:45.900 --> 00:22:46.400 That's fine. 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:47.099 I'm safe. 00:22:47.099 --> 00:22:48.299 The world's coming to you. 00:22:48.299 --> 00:22:51.900 Hey, I don't know about what's going to happen in about two weeks of this election. 00:22:51.900 --> 00:22:53.900 I don't know but I can tell you this. 00:22:53.900 --> 00:22:56.099 I am saying. 00:22:56.099 --> 00:22:58.700 I'm going to heaven. 00:22:58.700 --> 00:23:02.599 How how you go to heaven Jeff? 00:23:02.599 --> 00:23:04.299 Why do you get to go to heaven? 00:23:04.299 --> 00:23:05.200 Who are you? 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:09.099 I'm not worthy. 00:23:09.099 --> 00:23:12.200 I didn't do anything. 00:23:12.200 --> 00:23:14.400 All I did to be saved is sin. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:18.400 All I did to be saved is hate Jesus. 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:22.400 All I did to be saved is to is run from the Lord. 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:23.599 That's all I did. 00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:25.000 Well, how did you make it? 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.000 Grace came after me. 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:32.500 It chased me down. 00:23:33.900 --> 00:23:36.599 It opened up my eyes to see where I was going. 00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:39.799 I was going to hell what I didn't care. 00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:43.200 But now by God's grace. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:46.299 I stand before you today. 00:23:46.299 --> 00:23:55.099 With all my sin that some of them not just a little bit of my sins, but all my sins every one of them forgiven. 00:23:55.099 --> 00:23:56.700 Hallelujah. 00:24:01.099 --> 00:24:05.799 You know, this is this should lead us of all people to be grateful to God. 00:24:05.799 --> 00:24:07.200 We should worship Jesus. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:13.000 We should say God, you're good to you alone be the praise to you alone be their glory. 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:27.200 You see the Bible tells us he teaches us that we're saved by grace and not by works through faith and that not even ourselves so that we might not boast so that we might not take credit so that we might not go look at what I've done. 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:28.200 Look at me. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:31.599 No, we have no place. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:33.400 We know we hit the ball. 00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:34.799 How I had my eyes closed. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:35.500 I don't know. 00:24:35.500 --> 00:24:37.500 I don't know how I hit the ball. 00:24:37.500 --> 00:24:40.000 How did you have faith? 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:40.700 I don't know. 00:24:40.700 --> 00:24:42.099 I wasn't looking to believe. 00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:45.200 But grace came to me. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:48.099 It came to me when I was dead in my sins. 00:24:48.099 --> 00:24:50.299 It came to me when I was struggling. 00:24:50.299 --> 00:24:52.400 It came to me when I was wandering away. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:57.200 It came to me and rescued me and I am here to stand today. 00:24:57.299 --> 00:25:00.099 It tell you to testify is by the grace of God. 00:25:00.099 --> 00:25:01.400 I am what I am. 00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:08.599 By the way, this should give you hope. 00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:09.799 Wow. 00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:16.200 I I I will be disappointed after the sermon every sermon. 00:25:16.200 --> 00:25:16.700 I preach. 00:25:16.700 --> 00:25:20.400 I'm always leaving a little sad and I can't help it and I'm going. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:24.900 I know it's coming and I'm going to tell you it's going to happen to me. 00:25:25.099 --> 00:25:27.700 And this is why I want revival to take place. 00:25:27.700 --> 00:25:29.400 I want 10 kids to be saved today. 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:30.000 I really do. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.099 I want I want that so bad. 00:25:32.099 --> 00:25:38.400 And as a well trust the Lord God, how could I not want people to be saved? 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:42.099 But let me tell you who do not know the Lord. 00:25:42.099 --> 00:25:44.299 Let me tell you this. 00:25:44.299 --> 00:25:49.200 It's because it's not by works. 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:50.500 You can be saved. 00:25:50.500 --> 00:25:53.599 If you had to do something, you would have no hope. 00:25:54.299 --> 00:26:03.299 If you had to clean yourself up, if you had to somehow get your sins off of you and wash yourself, go take a bath and say, how do I get my conscious to get this out? 00:26:03.299 --> 00:26:05.900 How do I free myself from the slavery of sin? 00:26:05.900 --> 00:26:11.200 If that was the message, you would be utterly lost without hope. But that's not the message. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:13.299 The message is you don't have to clean yourself up. 00:26:13.299 --> 00:26:14.700 You don't have to do anything. 00:26:14.700 --> 00:26:17.299 There's nothing that prevents you from being saved today. 00:26:17.299 --> 00:26:19.200 You could be saved today. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:22.700 I believe that with all my heart. 00:26:23.900 --> 00:26:25.500 Jeff, why are you so passionate about it? 00:26:25.500 --> 00:26:27.299 What in the life be passionate about this? 00:26:27.299 --> 00:26:28.700 This is life and death. 00:26:28.700 --> 00:26:31.200 And we get passionate about sports. 00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:39.299 We get passionate about the election coming up about politics. All these things are a common goal, but this will abide forever. 00:26:39.299 --> 00:26:42.700 You say Jeff, I've sinned too much. 00:26:42.700 --> 00:26:51.700 No, you haven't because God's grace is greater than your sins. I've already rejected the gospel more than you can count. That's okay. 00:26:51.799 --> 00:26:53.700 Grace is still sufficient for you. 00:26:53.700 --> 00:26:56.799 John Bunyan went to church. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:08.500 He was struggling with conviction and he wanted to be saved, but he didn't want to be saved and he heard a sermon about Sabbath breaking and it brought him under a lot of conviction that very day that very Sunday. 00:27:08.500 --> 00:27:10.799 He went and played some type of sport. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:18.200 And as he was playing, it included some ball. 00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:23.700 He was playing some type of a regulation sport and Sunday after church. 00:27:23.700 --> 00:27:26.000 He says he recounts. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:27.799 It is autobiography. 00:27:27.799 --> 00:27:35.900 He recounts the fact that it was as if the heavens open up and he could see Jesus Christ looking down at him. 00:27:35.900 --> 00:27:41.599 He says you are a Sabbath breaker and he said to John the bad John Bunyan. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:44.299 He said to Bunyan, would you have salvation? 00:27:44.299 --> 00:27:47.000 Would you have eternal life or would you have your sins? 00:27:49.700 --> 00:27:54.400 He felt so convicted as he was playing the sport. 00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:58.000 But he went on to play. 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:01.799 He rejected the conviction. 00:28:01.799 --> 00:28:03.900 He played. 00:28:03.900 --> 00:28:10.400 And after that day, he thought grace had passed him up that there was no hope for him now. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:12.900 That he'd already rejected the gospel. 00:28:12.900 --> 00:28:18.599 There's no hope for someone who's already shunned the gospel and he thought himself forever condemned. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:21.200 That might be you this morning. 00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:23.299 You know, you've been under conviction. 00:28:23.299 --> 00:28:25.299 You know, you need to be saved. 00:28:25.299 --> 00:28:27.000 You know, your parents are right. 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:36.299 You've heard the gospel, but you've been you've been so stubborn and because of the death of your sins, you don't think there's any way that God can have mercy upon you today. 00:28:36.299 --> 00:28:41.700 But John Bunyan says. 00:28:41.700 --> 00:28:47.900 But I'm a great sinner to say you. 00:28:48.900 --> 00:28:55.500 But the Lord Jesus says I will not cast you out for all who come to him. 00:28:55.500 --> 00:28:57.599 He will receive. 00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:00.400 John 637. 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:05.500 Bunyan goes on to say, but I'm an old sinner say you. 00:29:05.500 --> 00:29:30.700 I will not cash you out says Christ, but I'm a hard, hard sinner say you I will not cash you out says Christ, but I'm a backsliding sinner say you I will not cash you out says Christ, but I've served Satan all my days say you I will not cash you out says Christ, but I've sinned against your light. 00:29:30.700 --> 00:29:40.000 I will not cash you out says Christ, but I've sinned against mercy say you I will not cast you out says Christ. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.400 I have no good thing to bring with me say you. 00:29:45.799 --> 00:29:47.400 I will not cast you out. 00:29:47.400 --> 00:29:50.000 This is the gospel. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:51.000 This is grace. 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:53.400 You come as you are you come with your sins. 00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:54.400 You come with your guilt. 00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:55.799 You come as you are. 00:29:55.799 --> 00:29:58.799 Bring your sins with you your guilt with you. 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:01.799 You don't have to pretend anymore. 00:30:01.799 --> 00:30:03.099 You don't have to make excuses. 00:30:03.099 --> 00:30:04.299 You don't have to blame others. 00:30:04.299 --> 00:30:07.000 You know guilty people blame everybody else for their guilt. 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:15.599 Guilty people say it's not my fault guilty people are trying to get rid of their guilt try to get rid of their shame by excuses and self justification self-righteousness. 00:30:15.700 --> 00:30:17.000 But it doesn't get rid of it. 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:18.099 The sin is still there. 00:30:18.099 --> 00:30:19.099 The guilt is there. 00:30:19.099 --> 00:30:23.799 You can't get rid of your guilt by blaming others come with your guilt. 00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:27.599 Lay your guilt before the Lord is Lord all I have before you today. 00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:32.299 All I have is myself and myself is guilty Richard. 00:30:32.299 --> 00:30:33.400 I'm a sinner. 00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:38.599 I bring you myself and I look to the one that you've sent in my place. 00:30:38.599 --> 00:30:44.200 Jesus Christ believe in that and by grace you can be saved. 00:30:44.200 --> 00:31:06.799 Well, Paul doesn't just say that he was saved by grace. 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:11.400 You know, it's like well, maybe we're saved by grace and what gets us in is pure grace. 00:31:11.400 --> 00:31:20.099 But you know now that we are saved we can take some credit for all the good works after salvation. 00:31:20.099 --> 00:31:22.900 You know, look at the Apostle Paul. 00:31:22.900 --> 00:31:25.900 I mean he out labored them all he outworked them all. 00:31:25.900 --> 00:31:29.299 That's what he says in verse 10 is like hey is by the grace of God. 00:31:29.299 --> 00:31:30.700 I'm the least of the Apostles. 00:31:30.700 --> 00:31:32.000 I shouldn't be Apostle. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:37.500 However, I am an Apostle and not only am I an Apostle. 00:31:37.500 --> 00:31:40.099 I've worked harder than all of them. 00:31:40.700 --> 00:31:50.299 I planted more churches in the all of wrote more inspired books than they I have I've given my back to be whipped. 00:31:50.299 --> 00:31:51.500 I have been stoned. 00:31:51.500 --> 00:31:53.500 I have been shipwrecked. 00:31:53.500 --> 00:32:02.500 I have suffered more than they all I have labored more diligently than all I've given every ounce of time in a greater way than all the other Apostles. 00:32:02.500 --> 00:32:03.799 So now look at me. 00:32:03.799 --> 00:32:10.299 Does he say that now look at me is he saying I've labored more bundley than them all so that he can get credit so he can get some glory. 00:32:10.299 --> 00:32:13.299 That is he can get a little fame a little applause. 00:32:13.299 --> 00:32:17.099 So there's not not his point as his point is not looking to himself so he can get.