VBC 6/1/25 service Brother Curtis

Isaiah chapter 64

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Amen. It has been good already to be in the house of the Lord, and I just want to say how much I appreciate Brother DJ and our band and a whole that goes into our worship. And at the same time, it wouldn't do much good if our church didn't sing. And I love being a part of a church that sings. And so thank you guys for joining in this morning. I'd ask you to join me in Isaiah chapter 64. We're going to begin there this morning with a pivotal verse of Scripture. It's an incredibly powerful verse for theology and for what we believe and understand about how our relationship with God works. And so I want to begin there this morning, just continuing through a series that we've been doing about the body of Christ. And we are, as we understand, we've talked through this, the body of Christ is the church, but also the local body. It's not just the universal body of Christ that is all Christians everywhere, all working together, but he brings us into local assemblies, just like we see in the Bible, in the end of the books that Paul wrote to a church at Rome and a church at Corinth and a church at Ephesus and a church at Philippi. There were local bodies of believers, and we see that, and we we understand that that was true. Even Jesus attended local churches, local synagogues that worshiped. And so it's important. But as we do that, we're trying to trying to look at this role of the body and also see how we could improve our body and the role we play as members of Victory Baptist Church. And one of the things that I think we sometimes have a confused role about in our minds and our hearts about how we work as Christians, Isaiah 64, 6 clarifies. It says, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we do fate as a leaf in the wind, and our iniquities have taken us away. What Isaiah is saying to the people in the Old Testament is just as true for us today as it was then, that our righteousness is as filthy rags, which means this: your best effort is not enough. You could do your best, we could work our hardest, we can do all the things we want to do to try and impress a perfect, sinless, holy God. And the majority of the world's religion teaches that. This idea that there's a creator God that created mankind. He was self-sufficient, he was perfectly happy with that. He had everything in eternity past, and he created us. And somehow we've designed this idea that we're going to do something to impress him. Like we're going to be good enough that the holy creator God of all things that spoke everything we know into existence in six days, when we show up, he's going to be like, oh, whoo, yes. I am such a fan of yours. I'm so proud of the work. Guys, understand this. The Bible says our righteousness, even your best effort, is not enough. And I know that flies in the face of religion, but even as Christians, DJ mentioned it just now. Men, some don't know forgiveness, some have forgotten they've been forgiven. But understand this, just because our work does not bring us into relationship with Christ does not mean that we should not work. And I think especially as believers in what the Bible teaches about eternal security, and that just simply means that once you are a child of God, once you become a son of God, that's biblical terminology. Once you're a child, you're always a child. Once you are part of the family, then you become a child, whether you're an obedient child or disobedient child, whether you're a wayward child or living it, you know, living like you should, whatever the case is. But it's not our works that bring us into salvation. It's the grace of God, it's the Holy Spirit of God that draws us, and it's the word of God that brings us to understanding who Christ is, that He is the Savior, that He was born of the Virgin, He lived a perfect life, died for the sins of mankind. So that we'll never know how much it costs. We'll never have to know the price of our sin if we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. Guys, understand this good works won't bring salvation. But placing your faith in God through Christ alone, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. If you're trusting in anything besides Jesus, if you're trusting in some other religious structure, some other religious paradigm, if you're trusting in something you've done or a prayer you prayed, and some of you are like, wait a minute, isn't that how we if you've never trusted Jesus, then I can I just say this morning, you need to do some introspection. You need to ask God to reveal to you, are you trusting in something else or are you trusting in Jesus Christ? And if you've done that this morning, then we ought to, the Bible says that we have a peace that passes understanding. We can rest in Christ. The Bible says that we can know that we have eternal life. And if you've done that this morning, then something ought to follow that, this idea of good works. It doesn't mean we get we get saved and then live like a bunch of heathens. Amen. The world sees too much of that and they mock those that believe in eternal security because they see that. But what I propose this morning is if we are children of God, then we ought to live like him. That means if we're saved, we ought to do more good works than anybody. Not to get saved, but because we are saved, because we do love him and we do understand that our testimony matters and people are watching, and that we are, as we're gonna see the visible reminders of the holy. I want to talk to us today about the body part of the hands. Hands are pretty critical. Amen. Uh I don't know about you, but I like these things. They get a lot accomplished, they hurt a lot more than they used to. Um, and that's a good thing. We're gonna talk about that this morning. But this idea, I'm gonna I'm gonna talk about several different thoughts and uh ideas this morning if you're a note-taker. These aren't really outlined well. But uh the first one is, you know, do you have calluses on your hands? Are you working for the cause of Christ? It's one of those things. I remember a day when as a young man, if you didn't have calluses on your hands, old men would call you out. They'd look at you and say, uh, you need you need to do some work. You got those soft hands, yeah, you know what I mean? And now that's that kind of tends to be the norm in a lot of places. Can I say this? It's true in the church as well. There's a lot of folks that man used to work hard, he used to, and now it seems like something culturally has changed. And so we see this idea of calluses. Uh clean hands, yes. The Bible says in Psalm 24, verse 3 and 5, who shall ascend to the hill of God? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Who has not lifted up his soul in vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Salvation comes from God. He gives us that. He gives us clean hands, and our hands should be clean. Amen? From the guilt of our lives, from this guilt of our sin. God does that. But can I say this? You ought to have clean hands, but you ought to have calluses on them. And we ought to be working for the cause of Christ. Clean hands and not only calluses from working, but maybe a little bit of dirt under your fingernails. And some of y'all like, ooh, that's a gross thought. Again, we live in this generation where people, man, oh, having dirty fingernails is just a, oh man, there's something wrong. I can't tell you how many times on a Saturday night I'll be scrubbing, I'm thinking, I'm gonna grow somebody out tomorrow shaking hands, but this is the best I got. I've scrubbed, I've taken a brush, I've, you know, when you when you work, there's certain things that get on your hands that doesn't come off. It could be paint from working on the you know, children's theater or getting things ready for camps or whatever's going on. It could be uh an Easter Sunday morning. I just believe this. If if you don't have egg dye on your hands on Sunday morning, you just hadn't celebrated Easter properly. Amen. There's just something to do with that. This idea of having a little something on your fingernails. And to break that down for us, I want to look at a biblical model. If we've been saved, we ought to have clean hands spiritually, yes. But we ought to be busy working physically for spiritual victories. We ought to be doing all we can to build the kingdom of God. The Bible says we labor in vain. If he doesn't build the house, we labor in vain to build it. But we ought to be busy doing all we can to occupy our time building his kingdom, to do all we can for his glory in the earth. The Pharisees had this idea of cleanliness, much like the world today. Their idea of cleanliness was following the rules about not touching anything, about obeying all the rules and all the laws, and don't touch this and don't touch that, and don't go around this thing, or don't go around that thing. All these things that would make you ceremonially unclean in that day. And that's what the Pharisees would do. And that was their view of being clean. But Jesus shows up and he's the exact opposite of so many things they believed. And we don't have time to exhaust these this morning, but if you're taking notes, in John chapter 4, Jesus goes out of his way, and I think we completely missed the scene to spend some time with a lady with a bad reputation. He tells his disciples, I need to go to Samaria. They get there, he sends them on a burger runner to go get some food, and they come back, and he's sitting in the wrong part of town with a woman with a bad reputation, having a conversation, and they're like, uh Jesus, what are you doing? He's like, I'm doing work. Like this lady needs. She spent her whole life searching for what I have to offer. She needs a relationship with God through me. I am the water of life. If you if you take what I have to offer you, you'll never thirst again. That's what he's telling this woman who has tried everything this world has to offer. And his disciples walk up on it and they're like, wait a minute, you're not supposed to do that. It's not just the Pharisees that were offended, although they were too. Matthew 15, Jesus and his friends walk in and they sit down to eat. I preached on this recently. With unwashed hands. There it is. Uh-oh. In Mark chapter 1, a leper falls at Jesus' feet, bows before him, worshiping him. And Jesus doesn't just heal him, he touches him. You understand the consequences of touching a leper? Jesus' view of staying of cleanliness is different than the Pharisees. The Pharisees would have gone around. The Pharisees went around Samaria. The Pharisees wouldn't have allowed this man in their presence, but Jesus encounters the uncleanness of mankind. Thank God for that. Amen. Do you understand? We already read it. Our best effort is unclean before him. Thank God that he encounters the unclean. That he comes to us in our sin. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us and he touches the leper. And he says, Be thou clean. Oh, Jesus has a whole different view of what this looks like. In Luke chapter 7, to understand again the Phariseal law, to touch a dead body meant you were unclean. You couldn't worship. And Jesus is here and he interrupts a funeral. He walks up and he touches the casket and he raises the man. Later that same chapter, Jesus refers to himself. And he's talking to the Pharisees about what they say about him, and he says, Listen, you guys call me the friend of sinners. Have you ever found yourself in this situation as a Christian where you knew your reputation was on the line? I can take you back to moments in my ministry that they didn't prepare us for in Bible college where I would be talking to a church member of a situation that I knew there was a lot of relational risk, and I knew that me being in this place with this person could literally cause a lot of problems. And I'm like, well, what will I be accused of? They're going to accuse me of being the friend of a sinner. And that's a label I'll wear. Amen. Because I'm in good company. That's what Jesus did. But understand this, it didn't mean he sinned with the sinners. It didn't mean he acted the way they acted or he did what they did. It just meant that he was willing to love them enough to meet them at the point of their need. And I want us to notice the results of both. The Pharisees, they thought they were clean because they just stayed away from it. They sort of stayed on the fringe and they didn't want to touch this or that. They left feeling empowered. They left feeling better about themselves. But they left the people worse than they found them. These people who already knew they had a problem, they already knew there was a struggle, they knew that they didn't have a relationship with God. All the Pharisees did, all religion does is push you further away. You may be here this morning, you were raising some sort of religious construct that tells you if you work hard enough or jump high enough or give enough or do enough or you're faithful enough or somehow you believe hard enough that somehow, somehow, that's going to get you in right standing with God. Can I tell you, the people that I've talked to honestly, and I don't care which label it is, I've talked to people from so many different religious constructs that are religious, that were laised in a religious paradigm and they're angry at God. And can I just say this, that if that's your view of God, you should be. This God that no matter how hard you try, it's never going to be good enough, and he just leaves you in it to try harder, to jump higher, to work harder, and it's still not going to be enough. That's some messed up thinking, amen. If that's the God you believe in, you should be angry. But Jesus, unlike the Pharisees, unlike religion, he transforms the lives of those he comes in contact with. He tells the disciples, get in the boat, we're going to the other side. They get to the other side. They walk out through a cemetery, by the way. Which would have made him unclean and unworthy of worship, but he doesn't care because there's a guy, there's actually two in that cemetery that need him. One of them we know of is the man named Legion, because when Jesus asked him his name, he says, My name is Legion, for we are many. This man is possessed of demons. And by the time Jesus leaves, the Bible says he's seated in his right mind and worshiping. And you know what the world of religious people did? They said, Get out of here. Jesus went through a storm. He took his friends to the other side because there was one man that needed him. God give us a vision for sinners. So many times we want the world to come to Christ, do we? And who do you have your eyes on? Who has God given you to set your sights on and say, listen, that's somebody that needs Jesus and I love them and I'm coming for you. I want you to know that I care enough about you that I'm coming to you. I don't want to just stand at a distance and tell you how sinful you are and how wrong you are and what a problem your life is and how messed up you are. Because all that's gonna do is leave you worse than I found you. Oh, religion's good at that. Too many Christians are good at that, but Jesus. Jesus was different. He not only had calluses on his hand from working, not only did he have a little dirt under his fingernails, if you will, spiritually speaking, but what Jesus did is when he encountered something, he showed up and he left a mark. Because when I tell you this, when he touched that coffin, that boy didn't stay dead. Amen? How do you know if you've had an encounter with Jesus Christ? Because you came to a point of decision. I didn't say everybody that encounters him gets saved. I said you came to a point of decision. Because when you encounter Jesus Christ, you truly understand this is the Son of God. And I either have to accept him or reject him. And he loves you enough to let you walk away. But if you've had an encounter with Jesus Christ, can I tell you this? You know you had an encounter with Jesus Christ. When God shows up and Jesus comes to your life, there's a distinctive mark on your life. And if you accept him as your Savior, the Bible says, Behold, all things have passed away. And behold, all things become new. Old things pass away. And all things become new. There's this idea that Jesus leaves his fingerprints, if you will, on your life. What is a fingerprint? It's a distinctive mark, it's an impression. It's a characteristic left by the ridges on our fingertip. You know how it works when they're coming to investigate a crime, they're going to say, Hey, did you have anything to do with this? They're going to look for your fingerprints because if you were there, then your fingerprints are there. That's how that works. And can I tell you, spiritually, you have a unique identity. God created you. The Bible says you are fearfully and wonderfully made. In your mother's womb, He knew you. He knit you together. He built you for purpose. And He equips you for service. And we're not going to do a spiritual gifts test here this morning, but can I tell you you have some? You have a gift. You have some things that God's given you. He's created you for purpose for his kingdom. And I want you to understand this, guys. You have been here. You have a unique fingerprint. You have things that you can do that nobody else can do. There are people you can reach that nobody else in this room could reach. There's people you have a relationship with that that not anybody else in this room has a relationship with. That God's going to send you to share the love of Christ with. I couldn't get to them, your neighbor couldn't get to them, your spouse couldn't get to them, your kids couldn't get to them, but you can. God's given you a unique opportunity. And because of that, we have an opportunity to do that. But the reality is we're not Jesus. And so many times that's our cop out. Well, you know, if I was Jesus, I'd encounter these people. If I was Jesus, I'd go out of my way. If I was Jesus, I would have compassion. If I was Jesus, understand this. If his spirit is in us, that's what scripture teaches that if you're a child of God, he indwells us. His Holy Spirit inhabits us. Then we have the compassion of Christ. Then we ought to make a difference like He did. There's so many examples through Scripture. We can go to the big obvious examples that are that it sort of stand out. You can think of Queen Esther who was placed in a unique position, in a unique group of people, so she could reveal her true identity for the glory of God and save her people. And I love that example because for her, there's so many pieces to that story. For her, it took courage, it took a lot of risk. If you understand what was happening was this thing that just continues to follow. We've been studying on Wednesday nights just how specific the people of Israel are and how God has an affection for that place and those people, and that hasn't changed and won't change. But understand this. She is there in a situation where once again the murder of the Jews is on the table, and people are coming, and genocide is in place, and she has been placed in the palace as the queen, and nobody understands her lineage, and she has an opportunity to take great risk and to exercise great courage. And she could have said, you know what, it's not fair. Other people don't have to risk this. Nobody else is having to risk their life. Why do I have to give up my comfort and my security for the well-being of others when nobody else is having to do, nobody else is being called to do what I'm being called to do? It's not fair. But it's what God asks of her. And you may be here this morning, and as a Christian, you know what you're supposed to do. You know that God's given you this compassion and you see the need and you're like, well, but but it's not fair. It may cost me something. It may inquire, it may include risk, it may take courage. But guys, if that's what God asked of her, then that's what she was to do. Amen? Do you understand that? It's easy for us to go, well, that's what Esther was supposed to do. That was her job. But it wasn't fair. What if God's asking you to do something? Because he is? What if he's calling you to talk to somebody because he is? As each of us leaves behind countless impressions on the lives we encounter daily, every one of you. Just like you have a fingerprint that you don't even realize, you're leaving everywhere you go. You have a witness, you have a testimony, you have something to offer, and God is calling you. Whether we realize it or not, whether we want it or not, whether we intend to or not, it doesn't matter. Guys, every one of us, our actions every day leave behind a unique impression. Everybody you encounter is gonna be left with an impression, whether it be good or whether it be bad. You're gonna speak life or you're gonna speak death. You're gonna bless or you're gonna curse. You're gonna encourage or you're gonna discourage. You're gonna leave them feeling better or worse. And can I tell you this? The worst thing in this world is false hope. I don't want you to make them feel better about their sin. The last thing this world needs is to feel better about themselves and their sin. What they need is somebody to care enough to say, listen, I want you to be better than I found you. And if Christ found you in your sin, you know what? He's not gonna leave you there. He loves you too much to leave you there. He'll let you. But what he wants is he wants transformation. He died to pay for your sin. Your sin has already been dealt with. The payment has been made, and Jesus is standing there with a free gift of salvation and saying, Listen, eternity in heaven with me can be yours. Or you can walk away and try to figure it out on your own. Why would you do that? We sing that song, I'll never know how much it costs. You know why I can say that? Because I'm a child of God. Because I've accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his shed blood as the payment for my sins. But you know the sad reality? Because there's some in here this morning that you can't say that. You can't say I'll never know. You say, Well, I hope I never know. The sad reality is there's probably some in this room this morning that one day in eternity you will know the price of your sin. Because if you continue to reject Christ, then it's gonna be up to you to bear the weight and the penalty and the wages of your sin. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Again, not physical death, but separation from God's love and eternity in a place called hell. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Can I tell you that is that's what we want for you this morning? That's what God wants for you this morning. The Bible says he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that you could trust in him and rest in him and live with him this morning. Our actions leave behind an impression, and your actions leave behind an impression. That nobody else can leave. Your life is one that nobody else can live. It's a distinctive mark. It's not just a fingerprint, it's your life. And when it's all said and done, we leave behind a body of work. Guys, not just not just the work we do, but there ought to be an impression that's left behind. I had a man, just a moment this weekend at the lake. I knew it was going to come, I just didn't know when. And if you know the history of our church's weekend at the lake, you know, my mom and dad played a big role in that historically, and dad always played a big part. And I knew that it was somewhere in there that was coming. I just, I know how I'm built, I know how things work in my life. I knew that at some moment he was going to show up. It was just going to be this memory and it's just going to be overwhelming. And it was kind of kind of weird. And I thought about him a lot throughout the weekend. There was a lot of different things where, hey, dad would have done this, or man, I wish he was there. You know, you just kind of expect him to walk around the corner. All those things, and I'm not asking for pity this morning. I'm headed somewhere. Our lives ought to leave behind a body of work. And can I tell you? It showed up at what seemed to me like a strange time, but as I thought back over it, it's not strange at all. Our church's festivity is Tuesday morning at the lake. You know, after the Friday night fellowships are done and the grills have cooled off, and the Saturday play day is over and all the fun's had and the water's done splashing and the boats are out of the water, and the Sunday afternoon church service and the baptisms and all of that's done. Monday night fish fry and all the grills have cooled down and the grease is cool and everything is done and all the dust is settled, and then Tuesday would come. And I'm not being condescending when I say this, but everybody else goes back to work. It's life, it's real. And on Tuesday morning, I'd meet at the lake with dad, and we would clean up behind you guys. And can I just say this? The last couple years, y'all done an awesome job, by the way. Made that very easy. Again, I'm not complaining. But it was in the middle of that that I had a moment. It was a difficult moment. Because all the things about my dad's life, I, there's this body of work. You know, one of the things that I realized in all of the things that this weekend was was his quiet behind-the-scenes service. He was he was just always the one there. Not only making it happen, but coming along, cleaning up, quietly doing those things. That was part of his body of work. And guys, can I say I don't say that to tug on your emotional heartstrings this morning, it tugs on mine, but I say that to say that there's some fingerprints. And one of the things about my dad's life that I saw that moved me the most, it wasn't the big, it wasn't the big event, and it wasn't all the things that everybody sees on the external. It was just the quiet, behind the scenes faithfulness. That's part of the body of work that's left behind. What is the body of work that we're leaving? What is the body of work that you see? What is the body of work that others see in your life? How do they see Christ worked out in us? Is it our works? Not for salvation, but to bring him glory. As children of God, I say this all the time as we're supposed to be visible reminders of the holy. You know what God does? He's quietly, constantly working behind the scenes. The Bible says all things work together for good to those that love him. He's constantly doing these things. It's not just the big spectacles, man. We love a church service. We love a worship service where the emotions are high and the lighting is just right and all the feelings are good. But guys, can I tell you, God is constantly working. If you're here this morning and you're not a child of God, he is constantly working to get you to a place to where you come to not only the knowledge of Jesus Christ, but you place your faith and trust in him so you can have the peace that he provides, so you can have the salvation that you can only find in Jesus. God so loves the world. The Bible says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That could be you this morning. But if it is you this morning, are you a visible reminder of the Holy? Do people see Christ when they see you? Our world, our culture, the lives of those around us should be permanently changed, should be unchangeably marked by the impressions we leave that we make. And I would ask you, what kind of fingerprints are you leaving behind? Because there's so many things that we leave behind. If you've got toddlers around your place, you know they leave fingerprints. One of the joys of our life right now is we we have some of that. And can I just say this? You can tell when Annie's been there. Right? Because there's some fingerprints that are left behind. And they're a little more obvious, but all of us leave them behind. Are your hands the right kind of dirty? Oh man, your hands could be covered in sin and your hands could be the wrong. I don't mean that we're supposed to have filthy hands. The Bible says that we have clean hands in Christ, but have you been working for the cause of Christ? Serving others, not not dirty from sin. That's not what I mean. I mean like from being busy about the Father's business. Have your hands been working to lighten the load? Maybe if other members of the church you see a need and you feel a need, as Gerald's taught us. To lighten the load of your spouse, you just come home and you see something that, you know, you're like, hey, what can I do to help today? Whether they ask, and then I'm just as guilty as anybody else. They shouldn't have to beg. Amen. You know what would lighten the load. And if you don't know, ask. Our parents, our teachers, our Sunday school class, to increase the ministry groups that we're a part of to help make a difference, not only at church, but in the world we live in. Are our hands dirty? Are we are are our hands calloused? Have we been busy working for the cause of Christ? Are you working to see others come to faith in Christ before it's eternally too late? Like Jesus, do you see the lost with compassion? Or like the Pharisees, do you see them as something to stay away from? Oh, I don't want to be around those people. Well, guess what? Those people are gonna spend eternity somewhere. Yeah, but you don't understand, Brother Curtis. They do sinners sin. Amen. So what is it we're called to do? The Bible says, go you therefore. That's the commission given to the church. We talked about a couple weeks ago. The great old mission is that we haven't done what he told us to do. The task assigned to the body of Christ is to go to the lost and bring to them Jesus. We we can either be concerned, God help us, the church has been so concerned over the last several decades. And by the church, I don't just mean victory, I mean in general about being served. And again, I understand this, guys. Many of our ministry models, many of the things that we do are concerned about serving people. Because again, and hear me clearly, lost people will come to church for the wrong reason. So we should serve people. There's this constant battle. You see it all the time. Well, you know, the church shouldn't just be so worried about how we serve people, it's just how we serve God. I understand that, but lost people will come for the wrong reason. They'll come to be served. But did you hear what I said? Lost people should come to be served. Christians should come to serve. Amen. Once we come to faith in Christ, the way we serve him is by serving others. It's no longer about am I getting what I want out of the deal? It's about, hey, can I be used for his glory? What impression am I leaving behind? How am I affecting the lives of those that God brings into my hands into my life? Guys, so many times we get so concerned about being served and we live off the sacrifice of others. Or are we the ones saying, hey, how can I serve? How can I be a blessing? So many times I think as Christians, we're so afraid to get our hands dirty. And so we just step back. And like the Pharisees, we do nothing except criticize others. And we can either do that or we can get busy leaving fingerprints to change the world. There's a lot of different images in my brain that I wanted to talk about this morning. I think we ought to have calluses on our hand. I think there ought to be some Christians. And can I say this to some of our Christians that are senior Christians? And by that, I don't just mean you got some age on you. I just mean you've been serving Jesus for a while. Can I say this about physical aging? If you've worked hard for a long time, there's some pain involved. We generally refer to it as arthritis, whether that's the proper terminology or not, there's some aching goes on in these joints because I've abused them. I've worked too hard for too long. Can I say this to the Christians this morning? If you've been serving Jesus for a bit, the Bible says don't grow weary in well-doing. Oh, it's glorious and it's great, but there's some aches and pains that come. There's some frustration that comes along the path. Can I tell you this? That's a good thing. That's a sign that there's been some work done. There's been some labor invested. And the Bible says, don't think for a minute that God doesn't see you and won't reward you. We ought to have some calluses. We ought to leave some fingerprints. But last this morning, I want to talk about nail prints. And I don't just mean the aches and pains of life. I mean we're following a man who has scars on his hands. And because that, I believe we ought to have scars on our hands. I don't mean earning our salvation. I don't mean that I can die for my own sin. I probably should die for my own sin, and I definitely should have died from my sin many times. Amen. Y'all looking at me like, what have you done? Same stuff you've done. Amen. But I can't be my own savior. The Bible said the only one that could do that would be a perfect, sinless person shedding their perfect blood for the guilt of sinners like us. And that's why Jesus is the Savior. But because he has scars in his hand, guys, understand this, he bears the nail prints. I believe this, we ought to have some on ours. By that, what I'm asking you this morning is what is your what does your walk with Christ cost you? Jesus talks about in a couple different passages at crosses. If you turn with me to Mark chapter 8, we'll finish there in chapter 10 this morning. Jesus is talking to his men, his disciples, his apostles, and he he asks them, he says, Hey, who do people say that I am? They're like, Well, there's a lot of opinions about you, Jesus. He says, Well, who do you say that I am? In Mark chapter 8, verse 29, Peter says, Thou art the Christ. And Jesus is like, Man, well done. That's the right answer, Peter. God revealed this to you. But then he goes on, he says, Listen, as the Christ, as the Messiah, as the Savior, the price has to be paid. The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world has to die, and his blood has to be shed. And in verse 31, he begins to tell them, he tells Peter, how he, as the Son of God, as the Son of Man, must suffer many things, be rejected of the elders, of the chief priests, of the scribes, to be killed, and after three days rise again. They hear about the suffering part, they don't hear about the rising again part. Men, aren't we good at that? We hear about following Christ, and all we hear is the rules and the restrictions, and we forget about the eternal life. Amen. Hey guys, can I tell you that the Bible says that this present suffering is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us? There's heaven waiting on us. This blip of time we think is everything because it's our whole life. On the scale of eternity, when we step into eternity, we'll go, why was I concerned about that moment? Jesus says, Yeah, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna be betrayed and I'm gonna be killed, but I'm gonna rise again in three days. And you know all Peter heard was the negative. People are like, oh, following Jesus is all negative. Guys, let me tell you, it includes some negative, it includes some pain and some suffering and some scars, but we're following a man who knows about it. And he says, I've got to go and I've got to die. And Peter immediately, verse 32, begins to rebuke Jesus. And in verse 33, Jesus understands the spirit that's speaking. He says, Peter, he's not talking to Peter. He says, Get thee behind me, Satan. The idea that Jesus could follow the Father's plan without a cost, that's evil. He says, Get behind me, Satan. Do you understand that you I can't be the Messiah without a price tag? I can't be the Messiah without a cross. He says, that's evil to even think about that. Don't entertain those thoughts. Get behind me Satan. But can I tell you this? The idea that we could follow the Father's plan without a cost is just as evil. Oh, we can't pay the ultimate cost for salvation. But the idea that you're going to serve Jesus without a cost, without some scars, without some pain, without some suffering, without a price tag, without a cross. In verse 34, Jesus says, when he had called the people unto him, his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself. You want to follow me? Then follow me. I don't know who's putting them up. There's signs all over town. Are you following Jesus? We claim to. You want to follow Jesus? You want to come after him? Deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. There's a different terminology here. In verse 21 and chapter 10, we're going to turn there in a second. It says, take up the cross. But here it's not talking about the cross of Christ. Here in chapter 8, verse 34, he says, take up his cross. You need to take up your cross. You have a cross to bear. You have something God's called you to do. Just like Christ had a role to play in salvation, Christ was the one who was the Messiah. He was the sin bearer. You're not. I'm not. He was. That was his cross. Don't pick up his cross. You can't bear it. You need to pick up your cross. You need to do what he's called you to do. You need to live the life he's called you to live. You need to do what he's asking you to do. You need to be willing to follow him. And then in chapter 10, the rich young ruler comes to him and Jesus, the Bible says that Jesus loved this guy. Chapter 10, verse 21. Jesus, beholding him, loved him and he has compassion. The question is, do we? Man, so many times I think if the same encounter happened in our life, we're just going to see some rich, arrogant young dude and just say, Man, would you get out of here? You're so full of yourself. Not even going to waste my time on you. You know what Jesus does? He loves him. He stops and he has a conversation, knowing that this young man's going to walk away unchanged. But he loves him enough to have a conversation with him. And he said, One thing now lackest. Go thou way and sell all the whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and take up the cross. And follow me. This guy walks away unchanged because he loved his stuff more than Jesus. And Jesus said, For you to follow me completely, for this guy, his hang up was his stuff. And it sounds like, oh my gosh, Jesus is going to make everybody that follows him just give it all away and you know live some monastic life. The Bible doesn't even talk about that. But for this guy, Jesus says, Hey, here's an idea. How about you share the things I've blessed you with with the people around you? Isn't that what Jesus says? Take the stuff you have and share it with the people around you. Would you be willing to do that? And the Bible says he went away sorrowful because he was very rich. Because there's also, there's always a price to pay for following Jesus. And just like it was with Esther, it's not always equal or it's not always fair, it's not always proportionate. And what I mean by that is simply this sometimes God calls some people to greater sacrifice than others. God calls somebody that's going to take more courage than the person next to you. Somebody gets called to do something that's going to take a bigger price tag than somebody else. Somebody's cross is heavier than somebody else's. God calls us to what he calls us to because he's God. But when the one who gave everything asks you to give up something, our answer should always be yes. I don't know what he's calling you to do this morning. Maybe he's calling you to full-time service. Guys, can I tell you that that's a heavy load to bear? That's not equal. He doesn't call everybody to that. But if he's calling you to that this morning, your answer should be yes. Maybe he's just calling you to a greater degree of faith or a greater degree of sacrifice or to share what you have with those around you. Guys, when the one who's given everything asks you to give something, what scars do you bear from following Jesus? What body of work are you leaving? Maybe you've been here this morning and you look back over your life, and the truth is you've been trusting in your works, hoping to maybe find God's acceptance and maybe if I'm good enough or I do enough. And you've literally been trying to work so hard with your hands to accomplish salvation, the Bible says that our righteousness is like filthy rags. It's useless. Understand this this morning? If that's where you're at, you're trying to work hard enough, be enough, do enough, give enough, whatever, to somehow please a holy, perfect, sinless God. That Jesus should find that offensive and he does. Because that's a testament to your rejection of his grace. You're saying, I know what you did and I know you died, but you know what? I'm not, that's not enough. I want to do it myself. If the death of the perfect, sinless Son of God wasn't enough, what do you think you have to offer? Jesus paid it all. Or maybe you're here today and you're saying, well, I believe that, Brother Curtis, but I also believe that there's other ways to heaven. There's a lot of other people that are good people and are very sincere. Can I just say this? If there's any other way to get to heaven except through the death of Jesus Christ, and God did that to his son, then that's not even a God you want to believe in. That's that makes God just a cruel monster. If that was one way and you get to pick a way, why would he have done that to his son if it wasn't the only way? Does that make sense? So if you're here this morning, can I ask you this? Are you trying and you're trusting in your works? Oh, I want to see the church work, but I don't want to see us work for salvation. I want to still see us work because we're saved. Are you here this morning and you're working to try to glorify him because of what he's done for you? And you may be here this morning and saying, Oh, Brother Curtis, I'm afraid to try to work too hard because I'm afraid I won't do it perfectly. Can I assure you that you won't do it perfectly? There's only one of those. It was Jesus. I've already mentioned our grandkids this morning, but it doesn't matter if it's kids, grandkids, learning to do things along the way. Sometimes their imperfections are the most beautiful thing in the world. Watching them mess it up, watching them make a mess of it, man, it's a beautiful thing. Watching them, hearing them mispronounce that word. Isn't that sometimes our most fond memories? Those same works become beautiful things. Kids make some mistakes, but sometimes those are the best pictures and the best memories. God calls us to serve those around us. He calls us to follow Jesus Christ. The one who touched people and it cost him. The one who bears the scars from obedience. The same God calls us. The one who gave all asks us to give up some things for him, and our answer should be yes. Our musicians come this morning. Here's the invitation. I don't know what he's calling you to do. I've already mentioned a couple things. It may seem unfair, it may seem disproportionate, it may seem like he's calling you to do something that's bigger or different than the person next to you. Can I tell you this? That's because he loves you, because he created you individually. He has purpose for your life. I'll never forget the day that God began to impress upon me about full-time pastoral ministry. And I was in a room full of people, and I remember thinking, hey, everybody else in this room's not thinking what I'm thinking. Everybody else in this room's not going through what I'm going through. You know why? Because God was calling Curtis. And he may be calling you today. Maybe it's for full-time service, or maybe it's because he's put somebody on your heart today that he wants you to go love and he wants you to go serve and he wants you to go lead to the foot of his cross. There's people as they fill our community and they're looking for answers. Like the woman at the well, she had tried everything this world had to offer, and still, when Jesus said he had the family and happy, she's like, nope. Can I tell you there's a world full of people that are looking for answers? And if you're a child of God, you have you have the cure for the disease, you have the answer to the dilemma, you have the answer for what it is that brings salvation to man's soul, and it's Jesus Christ. When's the last time you shared the gospel? Did you last march by years of service for Jesus? What scars? Do you bear from serving him? I'm going to ask you to stand together this morning. And as you do that, I believe the Holy Spirit's impressing upon people's lives. Some because you know exactly what it is he's calling you to do. Maybe it's a deeper degree of faith or another level of service or commitment, whatever that is. But while he's talking to you about that, he's talking to somebody else about full-time service. And while he's talking to them about that, somebody here this morning, he's saying, Listen, have you ever come to the end of yourself? Have you ever trusted me? You know you haven't. You've tried being religious, you've tried working harder, you're bringing me your best effort is a rejection of the grace that I give you through Jesus Christ. And today he's saying, put that down and trust me. Come unto me, all you that are wearing heavy laden, and I will give you rest. If you're here this morning, you've never trusted Christ. Can I beg you to come? Just meet me right here at the front. We can take the word of God and show you how you can leave here knowing that your sins have been forgiven. Christ is your Savior. And I'm going to pray and we're going to invite you to come. Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us. Thank you for living the perfect example. And God, thank you for calling us into your service. But I pray that I'll never cease to be amazed that you invite us to serve in your kingdom. You invite us, Lord, to play a critical part in your plan. You create us for the purpose of going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature. And Lord, if we're honest, we've done a really poor job at that. There's people that we know and love that we haven't shared it with. There's people that we know that you've convicted us to speak to or to speak life into, or, Lord, to be a great example in front of. That if there's someone here that you're calling to full-time service, I pray they would come. If there's somebody here that's being called, Lord, to exercise their faith, I pray they'd come. If there's somebody here, Lord, that's been called to share the gospel with a loved one or a friend, I pray they'd come and ask for your help and the courage to speak. Lord, if there's somebody here that doesn't know what you're doing, you can't do that.