SPEAKER_01: How can we believe that Christ suffered and that Christ rose from the dead, but we can't believe that repentance is necessary for forgiveness?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: Because that paints us in a bad lie.
SPEAKER_01: It's maybe we've never been converted.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we desire Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: We want heaven.
SPEAKER_01: But I don't like repentance because repentance requires something of me.
SPEAKER_01: And I can't back away from what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: Christ would suffer, he'd rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus so believes this that he says, this is going to be proclaimed in my name to all nations.
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together, church.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we just want we sing songs like that to remind ourselves that we're not circumstantial Christians.
SPEAKER_01: We want to be consistent people.
SPEAKER_01: Whether we're on top of the mountain or we're walking through the valley, even though we walk through the valley in the shadow of death, we're not going to be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, increase our ability to be consistent or increase our consistency from your word and by your spirit with what you say today.
SPEAKER_01: This is our prayer, God.
SPEAKER_01: Make it our experience.
SPEAKER_01: We ask for it in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_01: You could have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to Matthew chapter 11.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're our guest, let me say, welcome.
SPEAKER_01: We're preaching through the gospel of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: And it's called expository preaching.
SPEAKER_01: And the great thing, just verse by verse, not jumping around to different topics that kind of scratch where you may or may not be itching today.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the great thing about expository preaching: it makes you think about things you would not by nature think about.
SPEAKER_01: And today is one of those days, and this little piece of scripture in Matthew chapter 11, verse 20 to 24, is one of those things we've got to think about something that we don't think about, and that is to our loss, not our gain.
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk to you this morning about the forgotten word of Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: The forgotten word of Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: There's a word that a long time ago people used a lot.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, in the Bible, it was the first word of the gospel, as you'll see here in just a minute.
SPEAKER_01: But we kind of pushed it to the side for some other words like forgiveness and grace and worship and all these kind of accessible things that feel good.
SPEAKER_01: But the forgotten word of Christianity is repentance.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance.
SPEAKER_01: It's so forgotten.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself this question.
SPEAKER_01: When's the last time you had a conversation with somebody about repentance, theirs or yours?
SPEAKER_01: When's the last time you were having lunch with somebody from work, men, and they say, Well, Bill, what'd you do this weekend?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I repented of some things in my life.
SPEAKER_01: You'd be like, Whoa, what is that?
SPEAKER_01: It's so forgotten that we we don't.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we it's it's just like, hey, I don't, whoa, what are you doing, man?
SPEAKER_01: And so I just want to see the importance that Jesus placed not on this word, but on this reality in the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my I want to read uh Matthew chapter 11, verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jesus is he's been out and and and he's starting to encounter people that do not agree with him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to encounter people that do not agree with you or with Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: I encounter it all the time.
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't bother me.
SPEAKER_01: If anything, I kind of enjoy it because I have to think about what I actually believe in, and I have to engage with people who do not believe what I believe.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that's okay with me because I'm not trying to win an argument.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here to demonstrate a reality.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus has done some incredible things in these cities, and they were like, Yeah, we don't care.
SPEAKER_01: Get out of here.
SPEAKER_01: That's not a good response.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says it like this in verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent.
SPEAKER_01: Woe to you, Corazon.
SPEAKER_01: Woe to you, Bethsaida.
SPEAKER_01: And uh for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
SPEAKER_01: But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
SPEAKER_01: And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?
SPEAKER_01: You will be brought down to Hades.
SPEAKER_01: For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
SPEAKER_01: But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.
SPEAKER_01: The forgotten word in Christianity is repentance.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to say three things from the text this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the first one I want us to see.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is the first word of the gospel, it is the first word of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: We talk a lot about uh we will talk a lot about repentance today, so it helps us to have a definition.
SPEAKER_01: So let me start with that.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is an inward conviction produced by the Holy Spirit that demonstrates itself in outward action.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is an inward conviction.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit inside of you convicts you of something, and you that that that conviction is demonstrated uh in outward action.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, when I what do you mean when I say it's the first word of the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew chapter 4, best we can tell, when Jesus starts his public ministry, this is his first thing he says.
SPEAKER_01: It says, From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
SPEAKER_01: You should notice as we kind of walk through this this morning that Jesus has no desire to be famous or get attention because his one consuming passion was that people repent.
SPEAKER_01: Why the big deal?
SPEAKER_01: Why such emphasis on repentance?
SPEAKER_01: Uh let me give you four reasons why repentance is so significant in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, the gospel requires it.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Gospel means good news.
SPEAKER_01: The good news of Christianity requires repentance.
SPEAKER_01: We've neutered the gospel and made it one of promise but not responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: Agreement, but not action.
SPEAKER_01: So you can agree with a lot of things that never traffic, you never traffic in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I mean, let me make what may sound like a controversial statement, and I'll back it up from the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: You will never see in the Bible where people are promised forgiveness, heaven, or the Holy Spirit without repentance.
SPEAKER_01: There's nowhere in the Bible you'll see where people are promised heaven, forgiveness, or the Holy Spirit without repentance.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, well, that that's kind of a big statement.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is a big statement, and it's a true statement because see, we've got it backwards.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what we do: we start with what we did, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I prayed a prayer, whatever I did, to kind of get myself feeling spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: And then we subject everything in the Bible to what we did, this experience we had.
SPEAKER_01: And what we should do is the exact opposite.
SPEAKER_01: We should start with what the Bible says, and then subject every experience we've ever had to what the Bible clearly teaches.
SPEAKER_01: For example, in Acts chapter 2, uh in verse 37, this is what's happened.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Pentecost has just happened, they kind of the birth of the church, and Christianity is spreading like wildfire, and they're preaching to these people.
SPEAKER_01: And this is listen to what they said.
SPEAKER_01: He says, now when they heard this, the people heard the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.
SPEAKER_01: And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?
SPEAKER_01: And Peter said to them, Rededicate your lives, try harder, go to church every Sunday, give, read your Bible for 15 minutes and pray and vote Republican.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, look at what he says.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, these people are cut to the heart, and they are, when's the last time you were so convicted?
SPEAKER_01: You didn't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: You were just like, oh my gosh, what shall we do?
SPEAKER_01: And look at what he says: repent.
SPEAKER_01: There's the first word of the gospel again.
SPEAKER_01: Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: See, why so big about repentance?
SPEAKER_01: First of all, the gospel requires it.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, it's necessary for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Put a started by this one.
SPEAKER_01: It's necessary for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: One of the problems in the church today is we've taught we're forgiveness apart from repentance.
SPEAKER_01: And so there's a lot of people that, oh, I just love to confess my sins and to get forgiveness, but we never teach the mandatory part uh of repentance.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible's very clear that repentance is necessary for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: And so everybody knows how to ask forgiveness, but nobody knows how to repent.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself this question: Is there anything that you've been asking forgiveness for of God or other people or even apologizing for, but you've never repented of?
SPEAKER_01: If you've got something you just habitually apologize for or ask forgiveness for, I would submit to you that you the reason you don't you don't walk differently around that is you've never repented of that.
SPEAKER_01: Like we had this conversation yesterday in my house, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh my wife has this habit, it's had this habit for years, okay?
SPEAKER_01: She loves to pull weeds, which I think that's great, because I ain't doing that.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and but she pulls weeds and then she just puts them in a big pile somewhere kind of out of the way.
SPEAKER_01: Usually she would throw them in the back of the corner of the flower bed.
SPEAKER_01: I'd go to multiple flower beds, and I'm like, what is that?
SPEAKER_01: Why is that petrified forest back here?
SPEAKER_01: Then I would say, babe, and she goes, Yeah, I just went back there and forgot about it.
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, for years we've had this conversation.
SPEAKER_01: And she pulls weeds and just put them on a place on the on the grass and it kills the grass.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, babe, yeah, I'm um, and so yesterday I'm mowing, and I thought we've had the cut, we had a kind of a brisk conversation about nine months ago about this, and I thought, okay, that got it through, right?
SPEAKER_01: I thought it was over with.
SPEAKER_01: She's right here, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: Uh already laughing.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so yesterday I'm mowing, and I'm going along, and I see something out of the corner of my eye, and I have a back porch, and on the back porch is a table that's like 120 years old that I, because I'm married to this woman I love, we're at her grandmother's house in Alabama, and she said, I want that table that's under the house.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: There's a table under there and I want.
SPEAKER_01: So I got under there under the house.
SPEAKER_01: This one in the vows, and drugged this thing out and put it on a moving truck that I rented and drove it back, and she refinished it.
SPEAKER_01: It's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: And I looked, and there was a pile of weeds under the table on my back porch that's not concrete.
SPEAKER_01: It is flaked and sealed, and they got this pile of weeds that's turning my manspace like a moldy spot.
SPEAKER_01: And I lost my Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I was just like, hoo, hoo! I didn't yell, I didn't scream, I just kept mulling.
SPEAKER_01: I was just like, ah.
SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, how do I bring this up?
SPEAKER_01: How do I bring now?
SPEAKER_01: My wife is great.
SPEAKER_01: She asks me all the time, hey, hey, how can I pray for a Sunday?
SPEAKER_01: How's Sunday feeling?
SPEAKER_01: Are you feeling good?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Hey, we're talking about repentance on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'll be praying.
SPEAKER_01: So I go to get in the shower and I'm like, and she comes in the bathroom and I'm like, by the way, hey, come here, Mars.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Hey, remember about the whole Pine Louise?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And like I tell her the look on her face.
SPEAKER_01: She had no idea because she just did it out of habit.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't even think about it.
SPEAKER_01: She's done it so long.
SPEAKER_01: She's apologized for it.
SPEAKER_01: And I just said, Hey, she goes, What did I?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yeah, under the table on the back porch.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, Yeah, I didn't even remember that.
SPEAKER_01: Clearly.
SPEAKER_01: She said, Well, I'm, baby, I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_01: And I, on the glass, come here, come closer.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to stop apologizing of that, and I and I need for that, and I need you to repent of it.
SPEAKER_01: And then the look on her face was this.
SPEAKER_01: And what she's thinking is, oh, when you get out of the shower, I got 50 things you need to repent of, and I'll have them typed out and printed out.
SPEAKER_01: And she's not wrong.
SPEAKER_01: As we sit here in this building, we have a shower, and then we have a bathtub up beside it, and there's a wall that's got three hooks on it.
SPEAKER_01: And I probably got 15 shirts hanging on those three hooks.
SPEAKER_01: They're not dirty, they've just been worn once or twice, and I just kind of rotate them around.
SPEAKER_01: And she's like, Can you please?
SPEAKER_01: And I say this, I'll try to become more aware of that.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way a preacher apologizes.
SPEAKER_01: You put some language on it.
SPEAKER_01: I'll try to become more aware of that.
SPEAKER_01: And so, if if I repent of that, then I'm responsible.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I don't repent.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's, I don't think it's a big sin.
SPEAKER_01: She's like, People, I don't want to come in the bathroom and see your clothes hanging right here.
SPEAKER_01: They're out of the way.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't want you to think, oh, my wife.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, she's so consistent.
SPEAKER_01: Rarely does she do stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is my sick depravity.
SPEAKER_01: When she does, I kind of enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I took pleasure just kind of, I practiced it before I called her in there.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to repent.
SPEAKER_01: And she was like, oh my pot, this is the kettle.
SPEAKER_01: You're black, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is the first word of the gospel because the gospel requires it, because it's necessary for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: And you may be thinking, now wait a minute, what do you mean it's necessary for forgiveness?
SPEAKER_01: If I don't repent, I'm not forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: This listen carefully.
SPEAKER_01: This is the reason some of you have habitual sin.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have habitual sin, you have a habitual lack of repentance.
SPEAKER_01: You want forgiveness, but you do not repent.
SPEAKER_01: Where do you get this from?
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 24, verse 45.
SPEAKER_01: This is after the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has lived a sinless life.
SPEAKER_01: He's died, he rose from the dead, he's walking down the road with a couple guys, and it says this.
SPEAKER_01: Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: And my prayer today is that the Holy Spirit would open our minds so we could understand the scriptures, not what you've been told in church or what youth group told you, and blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: You see, we can believe, how can we believe that Christ suffered and that Christ rose from the dead, but we can't believe that repentance is necessary for forgiveness?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why: because that paints us in a bad lie.
SPEAKER_01: It's maybe we've never been converted, maybe we desire Christianity, we want heaven, but I don't like repentance because repentance requires something of me.
SPEAKER_01: And I can't back away from what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: Christ would suffer, he would rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus so believes this that he says, This is going to be proclaimed in my name to all nations.
SPEAKER_01: And I just telling you, the church in America has gotten away from that because we don't want to offend you.
SPEAKER_01: We want you to know this is perpetual forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible comes along and says, No, not without repentance.
SPEAKER_01: Not without repentance.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, it's evidence of true conversion.
SPEAKER_01: It's evidence of true conversion.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: This is why the Bible guards baptism the way it does.
SPEAKER_01: And the church would do well to do the same because whatever you measure becomes your mission.
SPEAKER_01: And years ago, the church started measuring baptism.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, it is kind of a competition among churches.
SPEAKER_01: Who baptized the most?
SPEAKER_01: And you get rewarded in the convention for this.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And this is where the salt started losing its saltiness.
SPEAKER_01: But we saw earlier in Matthew chapter 3, where John the Baptist was out, it says, In those days, John the Baptist, this is what I mean by protecting baptism.
SPEAKER_01: In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.
SPEAKER_01: Repent.
SPEAKER_01: There's the first word again.
SPEAKER_01: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
SPEAKER_01: But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
SPEAKER_01: Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
SPEAKER_01: This is why I'm not a big fan of mass baptisms taking place on college campuses.
SPEAKER_01: It's because, hey, we got pastors who can't be content at their congregation.
SPEAKER_01: They got to go to other states and baptize strangers in the parking lot of the Colosseum.
SPEAKER_01: How do you know that person's brought in forth any fruit in keeping with repentance?
SPEAKER_01: How do you know that?
SPEAKER_01: You don't.
SPEAKER_01: It's just like, well, let's just, hey, let's pad the numbers, let's roll the tote board here.
SPEAKER_01: Again, notice what John the Baptist says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, hey, who told you, brood of vipers?
SPEAKER_01: Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
SPEAKER_01: See, fearing consequences does not equate to conversion.
SPEAKER_01: Not wanting to go to hell doesn't make you a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't equate to conversion.
SPEAKER_01: Bearing fruit is in keeping with repentance is evidence of actual conversion.
SPEAKER_01: And see, here's why fruit happens when there's genuine conversion, because the Bible teaches that we are spiritually dead, like I use myself.
SPEAKER_01: I was born spiritually dead, incapable of doing anything to make myself right with God.
SPEAKER_01: But God, when you become a Christian, God regenerates your cold dead heart, which allows you to repent, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And the same Holy Spirit that regenerates my cold dead heart, He now resides in me and he produces in me what is called the fruit of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: This is what the Bible describes it.
SPEAKER_01: This outward evidence that there's this inward reality at work in me.
SPEAKER_01: And repentance is my response to being regenerated, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Again, remember our definition.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is an outward conviction produced by the Holy Spirit that demonstrates itself in outward action.
SPEAKER_01: Like it's not just, hey, when I became a Christian, uh, I was in the customer service line not long ago at a store that I will not mission in this town.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like the third person in line, and it is taking like forever.
SPEAKER_01: And the two people back there that are working returns, they're talking to each other, and I'm just like, hello, hello.
SPEAKER_01: And one girl picks up her phone, starts checking her phone, and I start losing my peripheral vision.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, for the love of God, what are we doing here?
SPEAKER_01: Who's running this clown show?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, and finally, I was like, excuse me, ma'am, we're we're here not to watch you all talk, or you check your socials.
SPEAKER_01: Could you wait on people?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, sir, we'll be right with you.
SPEAKER_01: No, you said that that five minutes ago, you could have said that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't believe it now.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I got up there, I was like, these people are better for my organizational tips.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, sir, I'm sorry about the delay, and blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: And then she said, My babysitter had to go, and I'm gonna have to leave work and get to my daughter, so I was having a little bit of a personal crisis.
SPEAKER_01: Shut up.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of you shut up.
SPEAKER_01: I just felt my, I'm 6'1, all of a sudden I was like four foot six.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, You know what I want to do right now?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, No.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I want to disappear because I feel like a jerk.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, You kind of were.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Your spirit is bearing with me.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I am so sorry.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: For just a moment, I lost sight of the world around me and acted like I was the most important person in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Would you please forgive me?
SPEAKER_01: And she went, Oh my gosh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: You're yeah, okay, I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Here, I have a receipt, and then it was over.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's the thing: it is not repentance, it's not a one-time deal, it is a life of repenting.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine, ladies, if your husband said to you tonight before he went to bed, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I got a little conviction this morning at church, and I realized I've apologized for this in our marriage, but I've never repented of it.
SPEAKER_01: This is why it keeps on happening.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine that conversation happened at your house today?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you women are like, oh, don't give my hopes up.
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's evidence of true conversion, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's not just I feel bad.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the last thing reason it's so significant.
SPEAKER_01: It's turning from and turning to.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is turning from and turning to.
SPEAKER_01: I told you this about a year ago.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus did not come to modify your behavior, he came to change your nature such that you turn from yourself and your sin.
SPEAKER_01: No one has to tell you, see, because the Holy Spirit lives inside of me, no one had to say, Hey, you were kind of an impatient jerk when you said that.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to control every environment, all right?
SPEAKER_01: Just shut up and wait, Neil.
SPEAKER_01: And so no one had to tell me that.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't have to go home and recount.
SPEAKER_01: You won't believe what happened.
SPEAKER_01: These people at Costco.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, there I go.
SPEAKER_01: I go there all the time, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: And I see that lady all the time.
SPEAKER_01: And she's like, hey, and somebody told her I was a pastor because last time I walked by, she said, Hi, Pastor Neil.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: See, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance frees you up to face the truth about yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you can't face the truth about yourself because you never repented.
SPEAKER_01: It still has power over you.
SPEAKER_01: It's still like, oh, I don't want that again.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, yeah, there's nowhere to hide from that.
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, hey.
SPEAKER_01: And the girl next to him said, Oh, he's the pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I'm looking for a church.
SPEAKER_01: Don't come to mind, you'll be impatient.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: Do I beat myself up over that?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_01: I chuckle about it, look back, and go, mmm.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, turning from.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance.
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean when I say that repentance is turning from and turning to?
SPEAKER_01: You turn from your sin and you because you're turning to God.
SPEAKER_01: You're not just turning from.
SPEAKER_01: That's behavior modification.
SPEAKER_01: You're turning to.
SPEAKER_01: And the fact that you turn to something is what keeps you from turning back.
SPEAKER_01: I have affection for this over here, and I don't have as much affection.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, the more I enjoy this affection, the less I'm able to enjoy this back here.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Paul preached.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking to King Agrippa in Acts 26.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I declared first to those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea and also to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what did he say there?
SPEAKER_01: He started in Jerusalem, religious people.
SPEAKER_01: And he gets to the Gentiles, non-religious people.
SPEAKER_01: He says that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.
SPEAKER_01: See, repentance applies to everybody, it's a universal need.
SPEAKER_01: And when you repent, here's how you know you repented.
SPEAKER_01: You turn from and you also turn to.
SPEAKER_01: Because turning from and turning to keeps you from turning back and going back to these same things you've always gone back to.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing I want us to see in the text.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation makes repentance necessary.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is our response to God's revelation of Himself, and it's also the way you experience what God has revealed to you.
SPEAKER_01: This is why Jesus says what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 20 and 21.
SPEAKER_01: He began to denounce the cities where most of His mighty works had been done.
SPEAKER_01: When God does a mighty work, everybody look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody that sees and experiences that is now held accountable to and responsible for what they've seen.
SPEAKER_01: They could no longer say, Oh, wow, I didn't know.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: He began to denounce them.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 21 says, Woe to you, uh Corazon, woe to you, Beth Saida.
SPEAKER_01: If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago and sat clothed in ashes.
SPEAKER_01: But I tell you, it'll be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
SPEAKER_01: And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?
SPEAKER_01: You'll be brought down to Hades.
SPEAKER_01: For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's something you need to understand about the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Hades is not hell.
SPEAKER_01: Hades is the place of death.
SPEAKER_01: It's where people when people die, that's where they go.
SPEAKER_01: You see it in Luke chapter 16, where these two guys die and they both go to Hades, the place of the death.
SPEAKER_01: Now, people, I'll tell you about this in just a minute, because I have conversations with people, they're like, I don't believe.
SPEAKER_01: And so if I don't believe, it doesn't apply to me.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, your unbelief does not cancel what exists.
SPEAKER_01: But just know that when I just want you to know what Hades is.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I say revelation makes repentance necessary, ask yourself this question: why does Jesus denounce these cities?
SPEAKER_01: Why does he say, listen, it's gonna be better for Sodom than for you people on judgment day?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why to have this level of revelation leaves you without excuse because Jesus comes along, he demonstrates He is the Messiah, He preaches the gospel, and they do not repent, nor do they believe.
SPEAKER_01: And here's something you got to understand: there is a consequence for unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: And that consequence is that you will be denounced by Jesus and then destined for hell.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people do not believe in a literal hell, uh, and they believe that this because they don't believe in it, that it makes hell not real.
SPEAKER_01: Like I had a conversation not long ago in my office with a man who's like kind of conflictual, uh, which I don't mind.
SPEAKER_01: That's my kind of party, but he he's kind of condescending.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Let me interrupt you.
SPEAKER_01: You keep bringing up these spiritual things like they're absolutes.
SPEAKER_01: Say when.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah, yeah, I live in that world.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying you do, but I'm just saying I live in that world.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Well, I don't I don't believe like like you probably believe in heaven and hell.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in a literal heaven, and I it's gonna be here on the earth, and I believe in a literal hell.
SPEAKER_01: Uh he goes, See, see, I don't believe in that.
SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna have to you're gonna have to come at me with something else.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Do you think you saying you don't believe in that means it doesn't exist?
SPEAKER_01: Well, for me it doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, see, you've given power to your unbelief that the gospel gives to belief.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Come again?
SPEAKER_01: Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, I mean, my world, I just never have.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah, and it wasn't completely.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, at this point, it was very relational.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Can I pursue you on that a little bit?
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, I mean, if you must, but you just gotta understand.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, here's the thing that you you cannot believe in something, and it still exists and has authority over you.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason you don't believe in this is that you do not want it to have authority over you.
SPEAKER_01: You want to come and go and do whatever you please.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about belief, it's about submission to authority.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't playing that game.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, I can't make you play that game.
SPEAKER_01: I cannot create desire for another human being.
SPEAKER_01: But you think just because you don't believe something that it doesn't apply to you.
SPEAKER_01: That's not true.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Matter of fact, the Bible teaches, I said, you want to go one step further?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, please.
SPEAKER_01: I said, because by the way, when he says please, lost people, unbelievers, they want to engage with a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm not trying to win an argument, I'm just trying to display a reality.
SPEAKER_01: I said, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I would say to you that you've been accountable to God since God created the world.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, How in God's name can that happen?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not that old.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I know, right?
SPEAKER_01: I said, can I show you where in the Bible?
SPEAKER_01: And so I turned over Romans chapter 1 and I read these words to me in verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.
SPEAKER_01: For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the line ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made so that men, so that they are without excuse.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, So the Bible says that you've been accountable to God since God created everything.
SPEAKER_01: And so you don't have an excuse for not believing in God.
SPEAKER_01: Because he said, Well, how could a God judge me and send me to a place I don't believe in if I don't believe in it?
SPEAKER_01: Your unbelief does not nullify reality.
SPEAKER_01: Now you may be sitting in this room right now thinking, hey, I'm the same way.
SPEAKER_01: I would lovingly say the same thing to you.
SPEAKER_01: Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean that it exists, doesn't exist, and that it doesn't have authority over you.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Uh and he's like, so can I see that?
SPEAKER_01: And I turn my Bible and I sit across the desk.
SPEAKER_01: I said right there, verse 19 and 20.
SPEAKER_01: Ever since the creation, creation builds a case against humanity.
SPEAKER_01: So you can't say, Oh, I didn't know, or I didn't agree, or I didn't believe, or I had a traumatic childhood.
SPEAKER_01: You're without excuse.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Oh, man, that's kind of I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just because I love you, I want you to think about this.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, Jesus mentions three cities.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.
SPEAKER_01: What were these, why does he bring up these cities?
SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, there's cities in America that we just think, oh my gosh, they're just, whoa! Pick some city that you disagree, you think is crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Chicago for some, San Francisco for some.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure some think Houston for them, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But in the Bible, Tyre and Sidon, I brought you a little sketch up, I'll just read it to you.
SPEAKER_01: Tyre and Sidon were wealthy, powerful Phoenician port cities on the coast of modern-day Lebanon.
SPEAKER_01: They were 25 miles apart.
SPEAKER_01: They were known for luxury items like cedar timbers, which is where David got the cedar to build the temple and the craftsmen to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you read in Psalms about the cedars of Lebanon, this is where they came from.
SPEAKER_01: But they were also centers, uh, these two cities were centers of pagan worship that influenced Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Israel began to intermarry and kind of with some of these people.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, there is a Sidonian princess, a princess from Sidon, her name was Jezebel.
SPEAKER_01: Hey girls, hey ladies, you don't have any friends named Jezebel.
SPEAKER_01: Because this woman was so crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so Jezebel was put into an arranged marriage with a king called Ahab.
SPEAKER_01: And she turned his heart towards the things that she believed.
SPEAKER_01: And it was very destructive for Israel.
SPEAKER_01: So that's Tyre, okay, uh, insidon.
SPEAKER_01: Sodom is also paired with another city called Gomorrah.
SPEAKER_01: But Sodom was a prosperous and fertile city that became corrupt, violent, and deeply immoral.
SPEAKER_01: They had an abundance of food and wealth that led to prosperous ease and idleness.
SPEAKER_01: This is why the prophet Ezekiel just rails on these people because they were rich.
SPEAKER_01: They're like, dude, we don't sweat anything.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, man.
SPEAKER_01: Chill, all right?
SPEAKER_01: We're on vacation.
SPEAKER_01: We take six a year.
SPEAKER_01: And they were like, they were, again, prosperous ease and idleness.
SPEAKER_01: They were haughty, self-important, and they neglected the poor.
SPEAKER_01: Hear this next phrase.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself, does this sound like any country you've ever heard of?
SPEAKER_01: They had turned from righteousness and justice and they delighted in sin and called it freedom.
SPEAKER_01: It was so bad that God said, Hey, they said, God, please don't destroy the city.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, look at me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't go around going, we're gonna burn up today.
SPEAKER_01: God says, Hey, listen, I want to have mercy.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you what, if you can find 50 righteous men, they said, if we find 50 righteous men, will you spare the city?
SPEAKER_01: God said, I'll spare the city for 50 righteous men.
SPEAKER_01: They came back and said, What about 40?
SPEAKER_01: God said, You find 40, I'll spare the city.
SPEAKER_01: They came back and said, How about 30?
SPEAKER_01: Finally, God said, Hey, listen, I'll lower the bar.
SPEAKER_01: You find 10 righteous people in this whole city and I'll spare it.
SPEAKER_01: And God, they they could not.
SPEAKER_01: And so, God, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: True story, He sends fire and burning sulfur from the heavens raining down and obliterates the city.
SPEAKER_01: You saw something like this on the news this past week when this glacier melted in Nepal and this 160-foot-tall river of mud and debris wiped out an entire village.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And so people go, Wow, I can't think God could do that.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, folks, God wipes Sodom and Gomorrah off of the map.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here you stick with me.
SPEAKER_01: Given these facts about these cities, then why would Jesus say it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for you?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: Their sin, the sin of Tyre and Sidon and Sodom, was really an expression of their badness.
SPEAKER_01: But the works that Jesus did in Korazan and Betheda and Capernaum were an expression of God's goodness.
SPEAKER_01: And the sin against God's goodness is a big deal to God.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: These other people, these pagans in these cities, they were just expressing their badness.
SPEAKER_01: But God, Jesus comes and he expresses the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: He demonstrates I'm the Messiah, I'm the person you've been waiting for.
SPEAKER_01: They're like, Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's my senior year.
SPEAKER_01: I kind of want to have fun and party, and I'll get back to you after my sororities over in college.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, wait a minute, you don't have this response to my goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're a parent in the room, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: And let me demonstrate what this principle.
SPEAKER_01: If you ever thought about you knew there was something your kid wanted, and you kind of arranged to get it for them, and then about two weeks before you get it for them, they start acting like a knucklehead, and your first thought is, I tell you what, my God, I ain't buying that for this kid.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever had that thought, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: That was louder that time.
SPEAKER_01: Do you hear that, kids?
SPEAKER_01: Y'all forfeited a lot of good stuff because you knuckleheads.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, you're that way because God's that way.
SPEAKER_01: God says, hey, listen, I put my goodness on display, and you people scoffed at that and didn't believe.
SPEAKER_01: Woo! It's gonna be better for Sodom and Gomorrah and Tyre and Sidon and Chicago and San Francisco and Austin and all these places you think are bad.
SPEAKER_01: He says it's gonna be better for them on judgment day than for you.
SPEAKER_01: Which, by the way, brings us to our last point.
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of judgment day, repentance gets you ready for judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance gets you ready for judgment.
SPEAKER_01: This is another thing the church doesn't talk about much anymore, uh, judgment.
SPEAKER_01: But the Bible uh uh it does because God wants us to know what's coming.
SPEAKER_01: He he mentioned it twice there in Judgment Day.
SPEAKER_01: He said, but verse 24, he says, but I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.
SPEAKER_01: And so you shouldn't be surprised by this.
SPEAKER_01: There's a great line in the Avet Brothers song, and it says, I'm he's talking about dying.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm gonna run into a savior true and shake hands laughing.
SPEAKER_01: You should have that same posture when you think about judgment.
SPEAKER_01: It shouldn't make you scared.
SPEAKER_01: I was talking to somebody recently, and this person announced to me, Do you ever feel like you're kind of arrogant in what you believe?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Whoa, wow, thank you for inviting me to think about that.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: And I know I sound arrogant even saying that, right?
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing like my my youngest, my baby girl's driving back from Waco.
SPEAKER_01: She's I'm gonna say go to church, she's got a dental appointment in the morning, she's driving back.
SPEAKER_01: She's not fearing seeing her dad.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, she'll probably send a text here in the next couple hours saying what she wants for dinner.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then she'll say, Can we do this while I'm there?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, babe, you're just coming in.
SPEAKER_01: You got a dental point eight in the morning, you're going back, you got a night class tomorrow night at Baylor.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I I I want but she doesn't dread being around me.
SPEAKER_01: Not at all.
SPEAKER_01: I have the same posture towards my heavenly father on judgment day.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, why?
SPEAKER_01: Why why see this was preached all through the Bible?
SPEAKER_01: This is Acts 17, verse 30.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Paul is talking to people in the city of Athens, very flourishing cities, successful people.
SPEAKER_01: And he says the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he's fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he's given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you're smart people, ask yourself this question: what is so terrible that God commands all people everywhere to repent?
SPEAKER_01: Judgment day.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it is.
SPEAKER_01: Because he's fixed a day when he will judge the world in righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Now, how does that happen?
SPEAKER_01: What does he mean, judge the world in righteousness?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is one of the reasons for the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: When sinless Jesus rose from the dead, God now has a righteous standard by which the world will be judged.
SPEAKER_01: Like going back to my friend from seven minutes ago, that was like, well, I don't believe in little hell.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Do you believe in judgment?
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Oh, I mean, you're just getting worse.
SPEAKER_01: How would a loving God judge anybody?
SPEAKER_01: I said, A loving God's gonna judge everybody.
SPEAKER_01: Because think of it like this if God doesn't judge, if God, if judgment doesn't exist, then how does God reward the righteous and punish the wicked?
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible teaches both.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, I just I'm all for reward, but judgment, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_01: You can't separate that, you can't cherry-pick the ones you you agree with and like and say I want that.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: Your problem is, he said, Well, are you gonna be judged?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, because when people don't know what they do, they flip it back on you.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what about you?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Oh, absolutely I'm gonna be judged.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible talks about in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but not I'm not gonna be judged as to whether or not I'm getting into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: I'm as a Christian, I'm gonna be judged on the basis of the reward I'm going to experience.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Well, that doesn't sound fair.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, You want to be rewarded for what?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, God only awards the righteous, He punishes the wicked.
SPEAKER_01: And then my friend says, So how does a person get righteous?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, There's only one way.
SPEAKER_01: See, here's the we're we're done in about three minutes.
SPEAKER_01: You still let me say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Uh here's the difference in Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: One of the big differences in Christianity, all the other world religions, okay?
SPEAKER_01: All the other world religions say this.
SPEAKER_01: They said, here's a set of rules, and you got to keep these rules to make yourself righteous or right with God.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is the only religion that when you when you submit to it, God gives you his righteousness, and he take he not only does he take your sin.
SPEAKER_01: We talk a lot about that, but we don't talk enough about this.
SPEAKER_01: He gives you his righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And so I've been righteous since July of 1982.
SPEAKER_01: And that doesn't make me arrogant, but I don't apologize for that.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says it like this in Hebrews chapter 10, about verse 8 to 14, he says, He is made perfect forever, those who are being made holy.
SPEAKER_01: Been made perfect forever, that is my positional righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: I am being made holy, that is my progressive righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: So when I have to repent to the lady at Costco at customer service, because I was just short-tempered and impatient, and I had to get back and get to something, I was like, ah, that doesn't surprise me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't back off of that, I don't celebrate it, but I'm just like, oh, see, yeah, I gotta repent because this is I'm righteous.
SPEAKER_01: That was not in keeping with righteousness, so I'm not afraid to say, hey, that wasn't my bright shining moment.
SPEAKER_01: Could you please forgive me?
SPEAKER_01: See, when someone comes to faith, again, he doesn't just take your sin.
SPEAKER_01: We've preached the gospel of sin management, but we haven't preached the other part.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says like this in 2 Corinthians 5, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_01: See, to believe is to become.
SPEAKER_01: When you believe the gospel, when you believe, you become something you've never been.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus became something he never was, sin.
SPEAKER_01: So you and I could become something we could never be righteous.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're a Christian and you're in this room, listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: You are righteous because he took your sin and he gave you his righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: The big word we use in theological is imputed.
SPEAKER_01: He put into you, and it will never be taken away.
SPEAKER_01: This is why you're changed, this is why you think and live differently, okay?
SPEAKER_01: When you become a Christian, you don't become a better version of who you've always been.
SPEAKER_01: You become something you've never been before, and you could never be apart from Christ, because to believe is to become.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's the question we we have to ask this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever repented and experienced this righteousness?
SPEAKER_01: And if not, how do you comfort yourself at the thought of judgment day?
SPEAKER_01: Does that make you nervous?
SPEAKER_01: Does that scare you?
SPEAKER_01: Does it make, oh man, I don't know about that?
SPEAKER_01: Because here's here's my fear, and I'll be done.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: That many people in this room, you are avoiding things God created you to experience.
SPEAKER_01: He just created you to experience, to not apologize for it.
SPEAKER_01: Like my friend that I'm having the conversation with in my office.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, So you you think you're righteous.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I know I am.
SPEAKER_01: And for me to deny my position in Christ is to give myself permission to keep on sinning.
SPEAKER_01: Like when I first started here, we had a thing called celebrate recovery, met here at the church.
SPEAKER_01: Celebrate recovery is a great ministry.
SPEAKER_01: But I started looking into it, no one was recovering.
SPEAKER_01: And I met with the leaders of it at the time and I said, Hey, what are we celebrating?
SPEAKER_01: They go, What do you mean, Pastor?
SPEAKER_01: No one's recovering.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, just getting together and getting a therapeutic language that explains you just keep doing this.
SPEAKER_01: Does anybody repent in this?
SPEAKER_01: Well, Pastor, I mean it's not that easy.
SPEAKER_01: So we no longer have to celebrate recovery.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a great ministry.
SPEAKER_01: But again, in any recovery ministry, you should be recovering.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel gives you that capacity.
SPEAKER_01: Can you feel it in this room right now?
SPEAKER_01: Because, see, here's the thing: we fight for the right to struggle the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_01: And the gospel gives you this efficacy.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit inside of you gives you this power and this capacity.
SPEAKER_01: He makes you right with God, and so you can live rightly the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't say perfectly, but rightly.
SPEAKER_01: My wife's probably gonna pull weeds and stash them somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: I'll find her.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: You shouldn't fear judgment.
SPEAKER_01: You should think of it like the Abbott brothers sing about it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna run to a savior, true, and shake hands laughing.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're guests today, just we like to teach the Bible and what it actually says and give you time to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: So just take a moment, some questions come on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: That's for your consideration and contemplation.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we live in a world of cash and lust, but we're headed for one of ash and dust.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to be ready.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to fear that.
SPEAKER_01: You're a dad.
SPEAKER_01: You have so much goodness in store for us.
SPEAKER_01: I pray for anyone that when they think about judgment or judgment day, if they feel any fear, that that's they'd respond to that and do something about it, but not live around it, not orient their life around it because you don't want us to be fear.
SPEAKER_01: You want us to be ready, you want us to be confident, not cocky.
SPEAKER_01: You want us to understand who we are in Christ and all that Christ has accomplished on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And finally, Lord, we want to repent of anything we need to repent of.
SPEAKER_01: We're tired of just strip-mining forgiveness out of the gospel and separating it from repentance.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_01: This is the gospel, and this is what transforms and changes us and our behavior.
SPEAKER_01: For that we're thankful.
SPEAKER_01: So we say thank you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this message.
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to give us a five star rating in review and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to go deeper with our sermon content, you can hear more on our circling back with Neil McClendon podcast at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.