SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: Helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grant Parkway, visit GrantProquay.org.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, thanks that that's true.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says in Romans, in the book of Romans, where sin did abound, grace did abound all the more.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where songs like that come from.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean that, okay, so just let's sin a lot because God's got a lot of grace.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness and to live upright and moral lives in this present life while we wait the blessed appearing of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the book of Titus teaches us.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, we're grateful for grace.
SPEAKER_01: But grace has a sense of authority to it, it shapes, it informs how we live, and it conforms our appetites to the things of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And so do that today, we pray.
SPEAKER_01: We listen now in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a C.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Matthew chapter 24.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a guest, we're in a series where we're looking, and we're in a series entitled 40 Days to the Cross.
SPEAKER_01: And we started 40 Days Out.
SPEAKER_01: And for us, you need to know this that the ministry of this church is not just preaching on Sundays and singing on Sundays.
SPEAKER_01: That's a big part of it.
SPEAKER_01: And teaching on Sundays.
SPEAKER_01: It's also during the week, we'll send out things, we write things, different pastors here write things.
SPEAKER_01: And so 40 days out from Good Friday, we started sending things to you to think about and to say, hey, think digestively about this.
SPEAKER_01: And so, but we've been looking at things that Jesus said, you know, the closer he got to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm going to start reading today in Matthew chapter 24.
SPEAKER_01: And look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus will be dead in two days.
SPEAKER_01: He knows it full well.
SPEAKER_01: And what he says is from that perspective.
SPEAKER_01: And so you've got to ask yourself.
SPEAKER_01: I asked this question about three weeks ago, and somebody said, Oh, I wish you wouldn't ask that.
SPEAKER_01: And so I took that as a sign I should ask it again.
SPEAKER_01: So let me ask it again.
SPEAKER_01: If you knew you were going to be dead in two days, what would you do on the last two days of your life?
SPEAKER_01: Because this is what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: He's walking out of the temple.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 24, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.
SPEAKER_01: But he answered them, You see all these, do you not?
SPEAKER_01: Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.
SPEAKER_01: And as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus answered them, See that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll hear wars or rumors of wars, and see that you're not alarmed, for this must take place.
SPEAKER_01: But the end is not yet.
SPEAKER_01: For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places, and all these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
SPEAKER_01: Then they will deliver you to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
SPEAKER_01: And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
SPEAKER_01: Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray, and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
SPEAKER_01: But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
SPEAKER_01: One of the ways, one of the simplest ways you can tell that God is in control of the affairs of this world.
SPEAKER_01: It's in the words of Jesus, how often he uses the word then, and then and then and then.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus never speaks about circumstance like it's out of control.
SPEAKER_01: He never acts like, oh my gosh, I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: What are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_01: It's then this is gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: There's a sequential nature to the way Jesus talks about, and then this, and then this, and then this.
SPEAKER_01: And so, what do we take away from what Jesus says in these 14 verses?
SPEAKER_01: Here's the title for the sermon this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what you take away.
SPEAKER_01: What to do when things go crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Because this all starts with the disciples come up to Jesus, they're coming out of the temple.
SPEAKER_01: Big, beautiful, ornate building, and all these elaborate buildings around.
SPEAKER_01: And they say, Hey, Jesus, check this out.
SPEAKER_01: And this is pretty impressive.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like Jesus doesn't even look up.
SPEAKER_01: He just says, I'm telling you, not one stone will be left upon another of all these buildings.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, We're so disturbed by that.
SPEAKER_01: That's verse one and two.
SPEAKER_01: And then verse three later, they're on the Mount of Olivet.
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of where they kind of hung out.
SPEAKER_01: And they come to Jesus privately and they said, Now, tell us, that was a little kooky, what you said back there.
SPEAKER_01: Unpack what you meant.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus starts in in verse 3, and he kind of starts saying, Hey, this is the way it's going to be in verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: He says, See that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus starts talking about the future when things, and by the way, I we we've got to stop preaching Christianity in the church, and you've got to stop believing Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: It's the way I escape hard times.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the biblical gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll see that in the Bible this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and so, but just keep in mind, God's so in charge of this, Jesus speaks of it in terms of, and then, and then, and then, how can he speak so authoritatively about something?
SPEAKER_01: Because he's over it all.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not God's like some mad scientist up in the heaven mixing up these crazy potions and making the world go crazy.
SPEAKER_01: No, the world is going crazy because people don't believe God.
SPEAKER_01: Because at our core, we want to be God.
SPEAKER_01: And so, what do we do when life goes crazy?
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, anybody's life ever been just out of control where you just thought, I cannot handle one more piece of bad news.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Got a call this week from a family in our church that said, hey, we're having our uh hot water heaters installed, we're changed out, and one of them's in the attic, and the repairman in the attic uh was not looking and stepped and made a hole in their ceiling.
SPEAKER_01: And not only that, it got better when they when they got it finally hooked up, he didn't connect the drain pipe correctly, so water began to seep down out of their ceiling of their two-story house.
SPEAKER_01: And the wife is sick, and she just is like, uh and she's telling the husband, hey, can you come home and deal with this?
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, man, why didn't you call me?
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm driving on the way.
SPEAKER_01: Just, I mean, what else can be bad?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this my wife's been sick for a month, and some guy, some yeah, he put a ceiling, a foot through a hole in my ceiling, and somebody else this week said, Hey, called me and just said, Hey, just pray for Isa.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, what do you need?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Do I need to come to your house?
SPEAKER_01: My wife and I, we just we fight about everything nowadays.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Well, what do you mean you fight about everything?
SPEAKER_01: We fought about breakfast this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I just resent her when she starts talking.
SPEAKER_01: I just think, shut up.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, You're not supposed to think that?
SPEAKER_01: Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: I digress.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, no, it's gonna get crazy, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So that's not the issue.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to.
SPEAKER_01: So the issue is, what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, very practically, very sovereignly, kind of, those two words are not mutually exclusive.
SPEAKER_01: Very practically and very sovereignly lays out these things and says, hey, here's what you do when it starts getting, when this all starts going down and getting crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, focus on what's coming, not just on what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: See that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will lead many astray.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll hear wars or rumors of wars.
SPEAKER_01: See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place.
SPEAKER_01: But the end is not yet.
SPEAKER_01: See, God is in control of the end, and he says, It's not yet.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 7, for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there'll be famines and earthquakes in various places.
SPEAKER_01: And all these, see, here's where we get focus on what's coming, not on what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says in verse 8, don't miss it.
SPEAKER_01: All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
SPEAKER_01: The beginning of the birth pains.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I've never had a baby, uh, but it looks like it's painful, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and yeah, all you women are like, shut your mouth already, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because I used to say this after our first child, I didn't say this, but when we were pregnant, I would I would use the pronoun we, we're pregnant, we're having a baby, we're going to the hospital.
SPEAKER_01: And I said that on the way, pulling out of our apartment to go to the hospital, to have Madison on the day we were scheduled, and all that good stuff.
SPEAKER_01: One of my buddies in the living apartment complex, I saw him walking, and one of the window goes, Hey, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: I said, We're going to have a baby.
SPEAKER_01: After what happened that day, I never said that again.
SPEAKER_01: Because we got there in Memorial Southwest, up there on 59 and Beach now.
SPEAKER_01: We got there, checked in and everything, and everything was going good, and they gave my wife some potosin because it makes labor happen or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a thing called an epidural that you get that blocks the pain.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Had my wife hooked up these monitors and you can see when contractions, and is your pain, you know, on a scale of one to ten, what is it?
SPEAKER_01: It's always a ten for me.
SPEAKER_01: Give me drugs and give me drugs now, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But my wife is like from little house on the prairie, she's gnawing on a stick.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's not bad.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm watching the monitor go up and I'm like, because she said, tell me, by the way, when your wife's in labor, she's mean also.
SPEAKER_01: If you're single or if you're married and you haven't had kids yet, when your wife gets pregnant and starts having a baby, you're gonna get called some stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Don't hold it against her, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because she just, cuckoo.
SPEAKER_01: It's just something endorphins in the brain or something.
SPEAKER_01: My wife's sitting there, and I'm looking, oh, here comes a contraction, and she's like grabs me.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, I can feel the contraction.
SPEAKER_01: Tell me when it peaks and starts down, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Get your hand off my neck, I can't breathe.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but but the doctor comes in.
SPEAKER_01: It's a crucial point.
SPEAKER_01: We're like, okay, we're dilated and we're just gonna get into all that.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, whoo, okay, uh, okay.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Hey, I just took your wife's blood platelet, her platelet count is too little, it's too small.
SPEAKER_01: If I give her the upidural, I'll run the risk of paralyzing her.
SPEAKER_01: And I just reached out and grabbed him.
SPEAKER_01: Just instantly, you are not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_01: You talk about harming my wife, I'm gonna get you.
SPEAKER_01: And so he was like, Yeah, yeah, we can't.
SPEAKER_01: And so you're gonna have to have this baby naturally.
SPEAKER_01: And so, not only did that little news that the baby didn't turn, it's supposed to be face up or face down, whatever it's supposed to be, it was the wrong way.
SPEAKER_01: And so my wife gave birth to an eight-pound, 12-ounce baby girl who was faced the wrong way, all natural.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that wasn't what I was thinking.
SPEAKER_01: I was kind of thinking, and so after that, because the birth pain, I never said we had a baby.
SPEAKER_01: People come, hey man, congratulations.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't go, yeah, we had a baby.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, people came out of my wife.
SPEAKER_01: She has power.
SPEAKER_01: She should see that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, because we're, and the doctor came in and said, All right, we're ready to go.
SPEAKER_01: And it was like Transformers, it's like a set of the moon.
SPEAKER_01: Shia LaBeouf showed up, the ceiling opened up, lights came out, the end came off the bed, and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_01: And the doctor said, You go over there.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yes, ma'am, right over here.
SPEAKER_01: I stand right over here.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't have a baby.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what did not happen.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, what has this got to do with focusing on what's coming, not on what's happening?
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus says, Heaven, this all starts going down.
SPEAKER_01: It's just the beginning of the birth pains.
SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, I've set this thing up to wean you off every way of thinking except the truth found in the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: This is just the beginning of the birth pains.
SPEAKER_01: And so, when all this is going down, I mean, the doctor looked at my wife and said, Are you ready?
SPEAKER_01: I need you to sit up and push now.
SPEAKER_01: And my wife, like an alien, some head come out of her, grabbed the rails of the bed, sat down, boom.
SPEAKER_01: And at no point, because the doctor was going, push, push, push, that's it, that's it, you're doing it, you're doing it, you're doing it.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, the room is spinning, I got cold sweats, and I'm like, at no point did my wife go, this hurts too much.
SPEAKER_01: Make it go away.
SPEAKER_01: Did you women?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, she called me some names.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing this thing that inflicts so much pain on my wife, okay?
SPEAKER_01: This thing that would kick my wife, and she was like, oh, she just kicked my blood, I gotta go to the bathroom.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, she's got her feet up on the backside of my rib cage.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to hear that.
SPEAKER_01: That's creepy.
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me that thing.
SPEAKER_01: After it came out with all this blood and just pain, Lama's breathing, that's a laugh in the devil's hell.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't work.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what you say.
SPEAKER_01: You might as well hypnotize your wife.
SPEAKER_01: I'm her Lama's coach.
SPEAKER_01: I'm down there going, and she's like, oh, your breath stinks.
SPEAKER_01: Stop breathing on me.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: I want my money back on that Lama's class.
SPEAKER_01: But the second that thing came out and they cleaned it all up and wrapped it up, they laid it in my wife's lap and she was bawling, going, oh, why?
SPEAKER_01: Because my wife focused on what was coming, not just on what was happening.
SPEAKER_01: Which is why Jesus says these are just the beginning of birth pains.
SPEAKER_01: Focus when it gets crazy, focus on what's coming, not what's just happening.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, this gets personal, Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 9, all that nations and kingdoms, it's all great as long as it happens over there to them.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says in verse 9, and they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
SPEAKER_01: And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
SPEAKER_01: See, this gets very personal.
SPEAKER_01: They'll deliver you up.
SPEAKER_01: It's great as long as it's over there.
SPEAKER_01: That's not a problem.
SPEAKER_01: When ISIS had those Egyptian Christians lined up and they went to Behatam, those cats sang.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody said, What do you think of that happened in America?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: If we'd have been singing or we'd have been calling for a lawyer or begging for mercy or whatever, I'd like to think we'd all sing.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's going to get personal.
SPEAKER_01: It's just going to get personal.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: He always made it personal.
SPEAKER_01: When he asked the disciples, hey, who do men say that I am?
SPEAKER_01: They're like, some say Moses, some say Elijah, some say one of the prophets, and Jesus made it personal.
SPEAKER_01: Who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_01: Our life, our culture is going to ask us that question on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_01: Who do you say that Jesus is?
SPEAKER_01: Are you going to cheat because things are kind of tight in the economy?
SPEAKER_01: You're going to lie and cheat on your expense report?
SPEAKER_01: Because you're making a statement about Jesus when you do that.
SPEAKER_01: You're saying, you're not sufficient.
SPEAKER_01: I've got to take care of this.
SPEAKER_01: I got to get mine.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to get mine.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to look out for myself.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says this this gets personal.
SPEAKER_01: He says, tribulation, hatred, falling away, betrayal, more hatred.
SPEAKER_01: False prophets, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say this about false prophets.
SPEAKER_01: They're not always easy to recognize.
SPEAKER_01: They're not people on TV that are going, there is no God, just do what you want.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they have a Bible, they're on TV, and they have.
SPEAKER_01: See, here's a problem.
SPEAKER_01: That you have a television network and multiple ones that are dedicated to Christian broadcasting, which I think is good.
SPEAKER_01: Christian broadcasting is good.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing: there's not that many solid preachers to go around.
SPEAKER_01: So you get some kooks on there.
SPEAKER_01: And so just be careful when it talks about false prophets.
SPEAKER_01: Just be careful that you don't get locked in because sometimes people get you so bogged down in the minutia of their opinion and off on some tangent.
SPEAKER_01: Before long, you've lost the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, Well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I mean Christianity is a historical faith.
SPEAKER_01: It's a historical religion.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, that there's things that have been true for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: And every once in a while, people get up with a Bible open.
SPEAKER_01: And they say crazy things like, I need you to give me$65 million so I can buy a jet.
SPEAKER_01: That would be a false prophet.
SPEAKER_01: Or they say things like, in case you're like, what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01: There's a preacher in Atlanta that told his congregation, I want y'all to raise$65 million so I can get a jet, so I can fly around and preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, don't ever love me so much that you let me say crazy things like that.
SPEAKER_01: Like if I ever say anything crazy like that, I want all you men just to bum rust the stage and just beat me, just beat the snot out of me right here.
SPEAKER_01: We'll put it on the internet.
SPEAKER_01: That'd be great.
SPEAKER_01: Church attacks false prophet, film an 11.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes, he thought they're not there.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they're just so they've got this take or they've got this inside, they've got this revelation on Christianity that nobody else has, and pretty soon, you're down there.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus just says, hey, uh, focus on what's coming, not what's just happening.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, this gets personal.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, Jesus says this don't confuse pragmatism with Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Don't confuse pragmatism with Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: Look at it.
SPEAKER_01: After he says, hey, many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
SPEAKER_01: And because lawlessness will be increased, stop right there.
SPEAKER_01: Because lawlessness will be increased.
SPEAKER_01: The Greek word for sin is Hamartia.
SPEAKER_01: Hamartia means missing the mark.
SPEAKER_01: This the target is here.
SPEAKER_01: You miss the target.
SPEAKER_01: You sin and fall short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, when the disciples are like, hey, check out these buildings.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't this really cool?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, You better not find, you better not fixate on these buildings and get ready for what's going to come.
SPEAKER_01: Because this is going to come, this is going to get off the chain in just a matter of time, boys.
SPEAKER_01: This is where this is all headed, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is not the way I escape, it's the way I engage a culture that is going to come unhinged.
SPEAKER_01: He says, because of the increase of lawlessness, because many will fall away because of all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be real tempting to look around and kind of go, this God thing just doesn't work.
SPEAKER_01: I've been a Christian for three years and I'm not happy as I want to be.
SPEAKER_01: I love Jesus, but my marriage is so hard.
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, we raised our kids in the faith, and now they're just going off the deep end.
SPEAKER_01: Because lawlessness will increase.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be easy to look around and think, why isn't this working?
SPEAKER_01: If this is true, why isn't the culture getting better?
SPEAKER_01: Because we are a law unto ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: No one's guilty anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Have you realize that?
SPEAKER_01: No one says that kid up in Virginia, a 20-year-old kid trying to get into a bar.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is a race issue.
SPEAKER_01: No, the legal drinking age is 21.
SPEAKER_01: And if you try to get in a bar when you're 20, you're breaking the law.
SPEAKER_01: One of my kids said, How do you know?
SPEAKER_01: Because your dad got two tickets from the alcoholic beverage commission when I was 15 and one when I was 16.
SPEAKER_01: We call them the ABCs, the alphabet cops.
SPEAKER_01: Why'd you get a ticket?
SPEAKER_01: Because the legal drinking age, back then, I think it was like 18 or something.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Your dad broke the law.
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
SPEAKER_01: Well, kids in my school drink all the time.
SPEAKER_01: They're breaking the law.
SPEAKER_01: Well, some parents, you know, they have parties at their house and they take up all the keys in a bowl.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, that's an insecure mom that needs those kids to like her.
SPEAKER_01: So you gotta take it.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta put on probation.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful.
SPEAKER_01: Lawlessness is so much increased.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Don't check out on me.
SPEAKER_01: You can break any law in America and turn around and oh, oh, my rights are being violated.
SPEAKER_01: And social media will stir up and we'll have a parade or a march or a demonstration in your order.
SPEAKER_01: You can reach in a car and grab a cop's gun.
SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are looking like, are you going there?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're there.
SPEAKER_01: We're there as a country.
SPEAKER_01: You know, somebody, when I sent an email on Friday, just talking about the cup, somebody said, Are you saying racism's not an issue?
SPEAKER_01: No, racism's an issue.
SPEAKER_01: There are racists all over the place.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe some in this room.
SPEAKER_01: You need to repent if you are.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the deal: you cannot use that as an excuse for breaking the law.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's how lawlessness increases.
SPEAKER_01: Just like Jesus said, lawlessness will increase.
SPEAKER_01: And look at the other part of the sentence.
SPEAKER_01: He says, hey, verse 12, and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
SPEAKER_01: People just throw their hands up and go, I don't want, I don't want to care anymore, God.
SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: I've been loving Jesus for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: And this world is just screwed up.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you think the Bible talks about that we shine as lights, as stars in the universe as we hold out the word amongst this crooked and depraved generation as we hold forth the word of life?
SPEAKER_01: If lawlessness didn't increase, there would be no fitting context for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: If lawlessness didn't increase, just like Jesus says it's going to, there would be no context for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Who needs to get saved?
SPEAKER_01: Who needs to be born again?
SPEAKER_01: Who needs the good news?
SPEAKER_01: Who needs forgiveness or redemption if there's no law to break?
SPEAKER_01: Be careful that this culture doesn't sell you a bill of goods in the name of racism or in the name of entrepreneurship or in the name of social action.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I mean when I say don't confuse pragmatism with Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Don't look around and say, oh, well, this is not working.
SPEAKER_01: It's just not working.
SPEAKER_01: I thought this would get better, but it's not.
SPEAKER_01: Fourth thing Jesus says is persevere.
SPEAKER_01: Persevere.
SPEAKER_01: That's in verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to look at verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to circle one word in verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: I want your brain to kind of sober up right now for a few minutes.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 13, he says, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Circle the word one.
SPEAKER_01: But the individual, the person, the one who endures to the end will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Does that mean that that my salvation, my faith is like a trophy at the finish line, and only if I get there am I gonna get the trophy?
SPEAKER_01: Not at all.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: I talked on this in my class and when Missing night right back here.
SPEAKER_01: And I teach back there, but I preach in here.
SPEAKER_01: So I can go more in depth back there.
SPEAKER_01: But somebody's like, hey, would you ever talk about these things in church?
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, yeah, I don't mind at all.
SPEAKER_01: We got some hidden knowledge back here.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm going to give you four things that I said in my class among the 68 things that I said.
SPEAKER_01: Because back there, I just go crazy, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I have a big whiteboard with a marker, and I can draw stuff, and it's crazy.
SPEAKER_01: But we've got one more week this week.
SPEAKER_01: Come join us.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Only those who persevere to the end will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: I get questions.
SPEAKER_01: Most of the questions I get, especially about your kids, really are about the doctrine of perseverance.
SPEAKER_01: Because, well, my kid did, one lady said, Well, my son, you know, uh he prayed the prayer when he was 13, but he was 14, he got into drugs and went off the deep end, and he was killed in a drug deal in Las Vegas when he was 27.
SPEAKER_01: But I know he's in a better place, right, preacher?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know your son.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not judging your son.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just tell me about his life.
SPEAKER_01: Well, he prayed the prayer when he was 13.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful that you don't define your Christianity in terms of what you did a long time ago.
SPEAKER_01: And this is why I explained to my class if you were to ask me after church today, how's your marriage?
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't say, oh man, it was January 9th, 1993, First Baptist Church, Pensacola, downtown, I don't know, Black Tux.
SPEAKER_01: No, that's my wedding day.
SPEAKER_01: You ask me about my married life, I can tell you about the crazy person I'm married to.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: And vice versa, yes.
SPEAKER_01: Who said to me this week, oh, by the way, don't forget the women's retreat, we're going up on Thursday.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, doesn't the women's retreat start on Friday and Saturday?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're going up on Thursday.
SPEAKER_01: Why you going up on Thursday?
SPEAKER_01: What's happening Thursday?
SPEAKER_01: Nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Why you gotta go up and do nothing?
SPEAKER_01: Because somebody said that the conspiring men, somebody said out there in the lobby 15 minutes ago, because we don't get to do nothing at our homes.
SPEAKER_01: No, shut up.
SPEAKER_01: I said, my wife has figured out how to do nothing.
SPEAKER_01: And then one of those women, you ain't gonna go tell her.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody ratting me out.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you wouldn't, you should have been here.
SPEAKER_01: Neil just said, you figured out how to do nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I want my wife to do nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you think we had kids?
SPEAKER_01: That's what they're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all go clean the kitchen.
SPEAKER_01: Mom and I are gonna sit on the couch.
SPEAKER_01: What am I saying?
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying, hey, it's persevering.
SPEAKER_01: He said, hey, only the one who perseveres to the end is going to be saying.
SPEAKER_01: See, I don't talk about my wedding day because I have a married life.
SPEAKER_01: Twenty-two years of married life, of uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, of textured, just crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you four things about perseverance because here's what I'm saying before I give you the fourth thing.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is not, well, I prayed a prayer, checked the box, and now I'm in, so it doesn't really matter how I live.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it does.
SPEAKER_01: Evidence that you were really converted is manifest in how you live.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you four things to help you think biblically about this.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, perseverance is not a condition for salvation, but a consequence of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a condition for salvation, but a consequence of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: I persevere because I'm born again.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, this happens not because of my effort, but because of my identity.
SPEAKER_01: It's not, oh man, oh yeah, my identity.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna end just a minute.
SPEAKER_01: I'll show you a video, but I just think this is, I kept telling my class, I wish I couldn't get it to work on Wednesday, but the Lord's like, hey, I think everybody needs to see this on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: So when you see the video here in a minute, don't think effort, think identity.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Christians do.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you're just falling forward.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you gotta, you need people in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why you should find a church that teaches the Bible and plug yourself in.
SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes you need people to get you back on the bike and push you and say, go.
SPEAKER_01: You can't quit.
SPEAKER_01: Paddle.
SPEAKER_01: Paddle, come on.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, sometimes you're just like, I love Jesus, but I, oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01: What keeps you going?
SPEAKER_01: Because it's in you.
SPEAKER_01: That's why you persevere.
SPEAKER_01: Third thing about my positional righteousness is bigger than my circumstance.
SPEAKER_01: That's a big phrase.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, I'll tell you what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: Positional righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10 that He made perfect forever, those who are being made holy.
SPEAKER_01: My position, look at me, is I've been made perfect forever.
SPEAKER_01: My process is I'm being made holy.
SPEAKER_01: I am slowly becoming who the Bible says I am.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I persevere.
SPEAKER_01: Because regardless of my circumstance, it just things come unhinged and go crazy.
SPEAKER_01: It's not, oh, I gotta pull myself up by my bootstraps.
SPEAKER_01: No, he who began a good work in me will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I told my class on Wednesday, I think this is Romans chapter 8, verse 30, those whom he foreknew, he also called.
SPEAKER_01: And those he called, he justified, and those he justified, he also glorified.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, oh, okay, great.
SPEAKER_01: Because we look like 15 Bible passages, their eyes are rolling back in their heads.
SPEAKER_01: What does this mean?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what this means.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in this room and you've ever been born again, you've ever had a genuine conversion experience where who you are was changed by God.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says this that your glorification, you getting to heaven, is so certain that God talks about it in past tense terms.
SPEAKER_01: Hear it again.
SPEAKER_01: Those whom he foreknew, past tense, he also called past tense.
SPEAKER_01: Those who he called past tense, he also justified past tense.
SPEAKER_01: Those whom he justified past tense, he also glorified past tense.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible is so certain of the perseverance of those people who have been truly born again that it speaks about it in past tense terms.
SPEAKER_01: So every once in a while, I gotta preach the gospel to myself when life is just crazy and craziness abounds.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta remind myself, okay, I'm going to heaven, not because I'm a preacher.
SPEAKER_01: You know that preachers don't get into heaven because they're preachers, right?
SPEAKER_01: There'd be some preachers that won't make heaven.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm going to heaven because before I ever existed, God set his affection on me and he revealed himself to me and he called me.
SPEAKER_01: He called me.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you may not be there yet, but you may be sitting in this church right now and kind of there's something stirring up in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: That's God gone.
SPEAKER_01: Hey man, listen to that crazy guy.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna use him to explain some things to you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, just keep listening.
SPEAKER_01: Fourth thing about perseverance is it's a responsible expression of Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Translation, because I'm a Christian, I can't quit.
SPEAKER_01: So, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Remember Peter?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says Jesus was, John said, Jesus was teaching some hard things, and some of his followers said, No more.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want more of that.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus turned to the twelve and said, You guys want to go?
SPEAKER_01: Surely you don't want to leave, do you?
SPEAKER_01: I just picture Peter gets up and he says, Where else are we gonna go for the words of life?
SPEAKER_01: That's perseverance.
SPEAKER_01: Where else are we gonna go?
SPEAKER_01: You have the words of life.
SPEAKER_01: You're not just some religious talker.
SPEAKER_01: You're the son of God.
SPEAKER_01: We're all in on you.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is like, all right, let's keep going.
SPEAKER_01: Fifthly and finally, proclaim the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: What do you do when it gets crazy?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: After he says that many will fall away and wickedness will increase, lawlessness will increase, and the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures it'll be saved, verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
SPEAKER_01: This gospel of the kingdom, the kingdom gospel, beloved, involves suffering and endurance.
SPEAKER_01: You can't separate that out of there and just make it all about prosperity and peace and well-being and feeling better about yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus did not come to make you feel better about yourself.
SPEAKER_01: He came to make you and I feel about the world the way he feels about the world.
SPEAKER_01: He loves the world, he engages the culture, he says, hey, this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And then the end will come.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what's that got to do with me?
SPEAKER_01: If it's going to be proclaimed in the whole world, then maybe it needs to be proclaimed on your little league team, or on the swim team, or at the park in your neighborhood, or wherever you find yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't mean if you're new to our church, I'm not saying, oh, go be some religious obnoxious guy.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I proclaim the gospel like this.
SPEAKER_01: I walk into a store or a restaurant and the waitress or waiter comes over and says, Hey, hey, good morning.
SPEAKER_01: How are you guys doing?
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't matter, you don't care anyway.
SPEAKER_01: No, I might.
SPEAKER_01: Well, all right, I'll tell you how it's going.
SPEAKER_01: And I just tell them, here's how it's going.
SPEAKER_01: I tell, hey, a friend of mine called Miss Week, said he was why I fight about everything.
SPEAKER_01: To fight about breakfast.
SPEAKER_01: You got any advice?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, man, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Me and my husband fight all the time too.
SPEAKER_01: What'd you tell him?
SPEAKER_01: And five minutes later, she's like, What do you want to eat?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: What did I say?
SPEAKER_01: I didn't, I didn't really quote, I quoted some of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: I just said, marriage is hard work.
SPEAKER_01: It's a covenant relationship, it's not a commitment.
SPEAKER_01: You can't break that thing.
SPEAKER_01: Walked in a place one time, a guy was on the phone, just scrolling to the phone.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Hey, don't let me interrupt your phone usage.
SPEAKER_01: You work here, right?
SPEAKER_01: You're supposed to be waiting on me.
SPEAKER_01: Checking on your girlfriend.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you know, it's hard out here for a pimp.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm not a pimp.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what you're saying at all.
SPEAKER_01: You a pimp?
SPEAKER_01: I want to see your car.
SPEAKER_01: Two minutes into it.
SPEAKER_01: This is proclaiming the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Two minutes into it.
SPEAKER_01: Hey man, if you're cheating right now, you're gonna cheat the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_01: You're never gonna know.
SPEAKER_01: You don't cheat because you don't love women.
SPEAKER_01: You cheat because you don't love yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Man, you all up in my business.
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01: I'm up in your business.
SPEAKER_01: Because this is not the way God made you to be.
SPEAKER_01: I hear you, man.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not mad at you.
SPEAKER_01: You think I'm hating on you, think I'm judging you.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't have a cool handshake.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta get a cool handshake.
SPEAKER_01: Doing all this, and I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_01: No, see, here's my point.
SPEAKER_01: We'll be done.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: In a culture where lawlessness increases, the love of many grow cold, the the nations rise against nation.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, I mean, you got kingdom against kingdom, you got people betraying and hating each other.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the simple question.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why you proclaim the gospel in such a context as that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't people sound like they could use some good news?
SPEAKER_01: That's why you persevere.
SPEAKER_01: That's why you you just, oh, come on, man, we gotta get this figured out.
SPEAKER_01: Is it easy?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: No, if you're not if you're a non-believer in this room right now, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: It's not easy.
SPEAKER_01: It's the truth.
SPEAKER_01: And the truth sustains us when we can't sustain ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: To say to my friend Alan, you're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: Not because you're disciplined or you like to read the Bible, but because he who began a good work in you is faithful.
SPEAKER_01: He's never gonna look at you and go, golly.
SPEAKER_01: Never mind.
SPEAKER_01: God never says that to his people.
SPEAKER_01: Wes Hines, you're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: Not because you're a teacher or coach that cares about kids, but not because you're good on the guitar.
SPEAKER_01: But because God knew you a long time ago when you couldn't do anything about it.
SPEAKER_01: And he chose to love you.
SPEAKER_01: He cannot have his mind changed about you.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you gotta get people around you to put you back on the bike.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's just stumbling forward.
SPEAKER_01: He's never looking at him.
SPEAKER_01: I just thought, that's a deal breaker.
SPEAKER_01: Cooper, you're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: Not because you're a good friend, not because you're always there for people, not because you open up your home and you're you and Desiree are generous.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: Because your glorification is just just certain.
SPEAKER_01: As the nature of the person responsible for it.
SPEAKER_01: And that ain't you.
SPEAKER_01: He foreknew you and he called you and he justified you, and and you've been glorified.
SPEAKER_01: You will never find yourself in a circumstance that is bigger than your position in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: When things get crazy and you wanna just quit.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta be around some people that just look at you and you can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: You're not doing it.
SPEAKER_01: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_01: You are known people.
SPEAKER_01: He's known you before you had the capacity to know him.
SPEAKER_01: So he's not put off nor is he suppressed.
SPEAKER_01: You're called people.
SPEAKER_01: He let you hear his voice calling you.
SPEAKER_01: You're justified people.
SPEAKER_01: You've been made right with God by God.
SPEAKER_01: And you are glorified people.
SPEAKER_01: Depart now and live in light of these accomplished realities in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you, you dismiss.