SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we can rest today because of the truth of the gospel, because you are sitting comfortably upon your throne.
SPEAKER_01: As we said earlier, you're not just sovereign, you are good.
SPEAKER_01: Sovereign means you're in charge, you're in control.
SPEAKER_01: So we don't have to labor under the illusion that we are or that any of this depends on us.
SPEAKER_01: We are the benefactors of something that you began a long time ago, and you will continue to the day of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, illuminate the word of God today.
SPEAKER_01: Cause it to come off the page and make sense in our head and in our heart.
SPEAKER_01: Provoke us to think uh in the right way.
SPEAKER_01: God, there's so much wrong thinking about the Bible and about God and Christianity today.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, align our thoughts uh with the truth of your word today.
SPEAKER_01: We ask that you speak in a language that we understand, Lord, so we can get our heads around it and our hearts uh into it.
SPEAKER_01: So that we speak, we speak from an informed and an intimate posture.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Holy Spirit, make this our experience, we pray.
SPEAKER_01: We ask for this as your sons and daughters, and we ask for this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open it to John chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: John chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a Bible, if you forgot to bring yours, I'm on page 891 in your pew Bible.
SPEAKER_01: As I said earlier, I want to talk to you this morning about seeking Jesus and finding truth.
SPEAKER_01: Seeking Jesus and finding truth.
SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of people, when they when they start out looking for Jesus, they quickly realize or they should quickly realize that, hey, there's some non-negotiables about this whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a movement in the church nowadays that kind of says, hey, we should have soft edges and a firm center.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm great with that.
SPEAKER_01: This is a very gracious church, but let's be careful that we make sure that we we actually get to the center.
SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of people are saying, hey, let's don't, let's not be so uh uh so clear about what the Bible says about some of these hot button issues about sexuality uh and money and and all this kind of stuff and human identity and and and life and the origin of life and all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just kind of let people bring all their divergent views, and then as we go along, we'll help them.
SPEAKER_01: You see, what's happening is that we're teaching people, quote unquote, how to be Christians.
SPEAKER_01: It's math, it's not music.
SPEAKER_01: And what you'll see in the Bible this morning is it's really music.
SPEAKER_01: It's music.
SPEAKER_01: When you hear it, your soul and your life and your body respond to it.
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean by seeking Jesus and finding truth?
SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, I'll start reading verse 22 in just a minute.
SPEAKER_01: But to give you the context, what happened?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, a couple weeks ago, we talked about how when Jesus fed the 5,000, uh, there was 5,000 men there.
SPEAKER_01: There were women and children, could have been been as many as 15 to 20,000, this throbbing mass of humanity.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus leans over to one of his disciples and says, Hey, what how are we gonna feed all these people?
SPEAKER_01: And the disciples said, Hey man, there's not enough food here.
SPEAKER_01: Let's send them somewhere else.
SPEAKER_01: If we had almost a year's wage, we had nine months worth of salary, we couldn't buy enough bread for these cats.
SPEAKER_01: Send them out of here.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says Jesus asked this question just to make a point, just to test him, because he already knew what he was going to do.
SPEAKER_01: And remember, we talked about there's no situation in which God does not know what he's going to do.
SPEAKER_01: And so what Jesus does, they find this little boy and they say, Hey, this guy's got like five loaves and two fish.
SPEAKER_01: Good luck.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, That'll do, give it to me.
SPEAKER_01: He thanks God, and then he breaks it, he blesses it and breaks it.
SPEAKER_01: They pass it out and they feed all these people, and there's 12 basketfuls left over.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is a miraculous sign.
SPEAKER_01: So much so the people were so pumped, they wanted to make Jesus king by force.
SPEAKER_01: They were like, You're gonna be a right-in candidate, man.
SPEAKER_01: We love bread, we like more bread.
SPEAKER_01: Keep providing us bread, give us stuff to eat.
SPEAKER_01: Take responsibility, Jesus, for meeting our physical needs.
SPEAKER_01: That's enough for us.
SPEAKER_01: We pick up the story in John chapter 6, verse 22.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what the Bible says it says that on the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, and that his disciples had gone away alone.
SPEAKER_01: Other boats from Tiberius came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
SPEAKER_01: So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
SPEAKER_01: Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on him God the Father has set his seal.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at me for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: What Jesus is saying to these people just straight up is hey, you're not looking at me, you're not looking for me because you want to believe in me, or you think you're looking for me because I fed you supper and now you're hungry for breakfast.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus says to these people.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Hey, you you you shouldn't be relating to me that way, but know this you shouldn't work for the bread that perishes.
SPEAKER_01: One of the questions we've got to ask ourselves is, what do I work for?
SPEAKER_01: Am I working just to get the next house up the food chain and the next vehicle and then this and the that and the food that perishes or the food that endures through eternal life?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, This, hey, upon me God has set his seal.
SPEAKER_01: A seal was something that was used to verify that this is what the owner says it is.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus says, God validates who I am.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, reading verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: Then they said to him, What must we do to be doing the works of God?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him who he has sent.
SPEAKER_01: And so they said to him, Then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?
SPEAKER_01: What work do you perform?
SPEAKER_01: Our fathers ate the man in the wilderness as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus then said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
SPEAKER_01: And they said to him, Sir, give us this bread always.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
SPEAKER_01: But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe.
SPEAKER_01: All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
SPEAKER_01: For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing, uh I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
SPEAKER_01: For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we read a lot there, and I don't apologize for that, but I want you to get the flow of thought of what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: These people, Jesus fed them the night before.
SPEAKER_01: They woke up the next day, Jesus was gone, and they were like, Where's Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: We gotta find Jesus because we're time for breakfast.
SPEAKER_01: And so they find Jesus, and they're kind of like, Hey, uh, by the way, uh, when Jesus about the bread, and Jesus has said, Hey, I'm the true bread that came down from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And then they had the audacity to question him and say, What sign can you can you perform to prove to us that you're really the Son of God?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is like, Hello, how about 5,000 of you just last night?
SPEAKER_01: You realize you have a short memory, don't you?
SPEAKER_01: You can forget, lickety split, how much God's done for you in a heartbeat.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, we can turn on God and be so mad at God if you're not careful.
SPEAKER_01: And so they're like, Well, well, what sign can you reform?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is like, I'm the bread that came down from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, by the way, Moses gave us bread in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: What are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_01: Translation, dance, monkey, dance.
SPEAKER_01: Do more, Jesus, for us to believe in you.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is like, I, there's seven what's called I am statements in the book of John.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the first one.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_01: And then this little conversation takes a really deep turn, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so I want us to think a little bit today.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the great thing about expository preaching.
SPEAKER_01: When you go through expository preaching, it's going through a book of the Bible verse by verse, is it it makes you think about things you wouldn't by nature think about.
SPEAKER_01: Because love to ourselves, we would all read the same 20 Bible passages to the day we die.
SPEAKER_01: We read for comfort, not understanding.
SPEAKER_01: And I think the more you trust what the Bible says, you will find comfort in your understanding.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I say seeking Jesus and finding truth, here's what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: There's basically three truths in the passage here, towards the end of the passage, that I want to point to that we need to embrace today.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is found in verse 37.
SPEAKER_01: It's simply this the capacity to believe is a gift from God.
SPEAKER_01: The capacity to believe is a gift from God.
SPEAKER_01: And look no further than verse 36 to see what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: Look at it.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to him, I'll start in verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
SPEAKER_01: But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe.
SPEAKER_01: How can these people see Jesus and not believe?
SPEAKER_01: He's the bread that came down from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: They've seen not only his personage, they've seen his power.
SPEAKER_01: He just fed more than 5,000 of them with this beautiful miracle, and there were basketfuls left over.
SPEAKER_01: They see him and they don't believe.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when I say the capacity to believe is a gift from God, let me ask you this: have you ever shared the gospel with somebody, explained Christianity to somebody, and only to have them look at you and just kind of go, yeah, I don't believe that.
SPEAKER_01: And the tendency and the temptation is to get frustrated, like, what do you mean you don't believe?
SPEAKER_01: I explained it.
SPEAKER_01: It's not math, it's music.
SPEAKER_01: That's a phrase I say a lot.
SPEAKER_01: And some of my friends get frustrated, like, what does that even mean?
SPEAKER_01: Like I remember taking a napkin and a Starbucks and drawing it out.
SPEAKER_01: It's called the bridge illustration.
SPEAKER_01: Man is sinful over here, and there's a big gap between a sinful man and a holy God.
SPEAKER_01: We're all imperfect people, and we need an imperfect person to bridge the gap between all.
SPEAKER_01: And I had Bible verses and everything.
SPEAKER_01: And got to the end, and the guy went, Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad that works for you.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, You ungrateful weasel, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: No, I didn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: I just said, hey, maybe you want to take this with you so you can look at it and just kind of understand what it means how a person becomes a Christian in case God ever reveals that to you.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, The Bible teaches that man is not, we don't we this doesn't depend on you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not mad at you.
SPEAKER_01: You're not a bad person because you're choosing not to believe right now.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, this is how you were born.
SPEAKER_01: You were born spiritually dead, and your heart is hardened to the things of God.
SPEAKER_01: You're not a bad person.
SPEAKER_01: This is just your natural state.
SPEAKER_01: The only difference in me and you is that God revealed himself to me and I responded.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, now wait a minute, talk more about that.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, you didn't care about my bridge illustration?
SPEAKER_01: Because he grew up in a church where he was told every Sunday they had long invitations, and he was told every Sunday, Jesus is standing at the door of your heart, and he's knocking.
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to let him in today?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I just thought, hey, if that God can't get into my heart, he's not very powerful.
SPEAKER_01: Remember this bad theology gives lost people a confidence the Bible never does.
SPEAKER_01: It just does.
SPEAKER_01: And what that is, that that that's they're they're taking up a passage out of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It's Revelation chapter 3, verse 23, where God's writing to the church at Laodicea and saying, Hey, behold, I stand at the door and knock.
SPEAKER_01: If any man open the door, I'll come in and sup with him and he with me.
SPEAKER_01: That's written to the church, to a bunch of Christians who got so busy, they crowded Jesus out.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot.
SPEAKER_01: It's a bad hermeneutic principle, it's a biblical translation word.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's a bad, uh, uh bad idea to take that and apply it to lost people.
SPEAKER_01: It's like me taking what I say to my wife and applying it to all of you.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are like, please stop right there.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, things like yesterday I said to my wife, hey, my coffee cup's empty.
SPEAKER_01: Can you do something about that?
SPEAKER_01: And my 14-year-old daughter's like, Dad, why does mom put up with that?
SPEAKER_01: Because she loves me and she thinks it's funny.
SPEAKER_01: And my wife walked in and said, No, I don't think it's funny, but I do love you.
SPEAKER_01: And came and filled my cup.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I would never say to any of you, I used to have a secretary that worked for me.
SPEAKER_01: My name was Lee Barron.
SPEAKER_01: I walked in one day and I said, Lee, make me some coffee.
SPEAKER_01: You make your own coffee.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm not at home anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's the principle you cannot take what applies to one people and apply it to everybody.
SPEAKER_01: Now, back to the point, the capacity to believe is a gift from God.
SPEAKER_01: You see, these people saw Jesus' power.
SPEAKER_01: They were looking at his personage, and Jesus says, You've seen me and yet you do not believe.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, it depends on how you think about salvation.
SPEAKER_01: I said it a minute ago, is it math or is it music?
SPEAKER_01: Typically, people fall into two categories.
SPEAKER_01: A little church history lesson here for you, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me for the next four minutes.
SPEAKER_01: Church history lesson.
SPEAKER_01: People fall into two categories when it comes to how you think about a person who comes to faith in Christ or salvation or to get saved, whatever phrase, how they become a Christian, whatever phrase you you use.
SPEAKER_01: There's two categories represented by two men.
SPEAKER_01: The first man is a man named John Calvin.
SPEAKER_01: John Calvin, he he kind of summarized his belief in five points, and it's referred to as Calvinism.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a phrase that we use around here, but some of you use, some of you're familiar with.
SPEAKER_01: Calvinism is an attempt to summarize the doctrines emphasized by John Calvin.
SPEAKER_01: And the across that they use is the word tulip, and it stands for this.
SPEAKER_01: T is for the total depravity of man.
SPEAKER_01: That means that man is incapable of doing anything to affect salvation.
SPEAKER_01: He's dead in his sins, like Ephesians 2 talks about.
SPEAKER_01: The U is for unconditional election.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, that God set his affection on you, having nothing to do with you.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't meet certain criteria or conditions, his choice of you is unconditional.
SPEAKER_01: The L is for limited atonement.
SPEAKER_01: This is where a lot of people, I've been in the room where people are arguing, screaming at each other.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, really?
SPEAKER_01: Is this our best idea?
SPEAKER_01: L is for limited atonement.
SPEAKER_01: It means that Christ only died for the elect.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why they believe that.
SPEAKER_01: They say that if Jesus, your sins were atoned for on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And so if Jesus died for the sins of everybody on the cross, then how does anybody go to hell?
SPEAKER_01: And he says, hey, that that just applies to those who come to faith.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible refers to them as the elect.
SPEAKER_01: The I is for irresistible grace.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, it means that once God sets his grace upon you, you cannot say no.
SPEAKER_01: He is not a man's capacity to say, I know you want in, but you just I'm not gonna let you.
SPEAKER_01: The P is for perseverance of the saints.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, that all those who are converted will persevere.
SPEAKER_01: They'll have difficulty.
SPEAKER_01: There may be series of fruitlessness in their life, but it won't be fruitlessness will not be their life.
SPEAKER_01: And so that summarizes the teachings of John Calvin.
SPEAKER_01: On the other end of the scale is uh the uh is Arminianism.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's the teachings of a man named Jacob Arminius.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, he had five.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine that.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me say this.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Do not get your doctrine of God in the Bible from a response to somebody else's beliefs.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Do not look and go, oh, they believe that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm gonna come over here and believe this, which is what these two schools of thought did, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what here's what our Arminians believe.
SPEAKER_01: Partial depravity means humanity is depraved but still able to seek God.
SPEAKER_01: Conditional election, God only chooses those who he knows will choose to believe.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, they say that God looked into the future and he chose those he knew would choose him.
SPEAKER_01: Uh the third point is unlimited atonement.
SPEAKER_01: They believe that Christ died for everyone, even those who will not believe.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, fourthly, they believe in resistible grace.
SPEAKER_01: That God's call to be saved can be resisted or outright rejected.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the fifth statement they believe is conditional salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Christians can lose their salvation if they actively reject the Holy Spirit's influence in their life.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why am I telling you this?
SPEAKER_01: Because, look at me, I'm gonna apply this to where we live.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, depending on which one of those categories you fall into, uh, you relate to people uh when it comes to having spiritual conversations, sharing the gospel out of one of those two perspectives.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and especially when it comes to our children.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we want our children to hurry up and pray the prayer so we know that they feel good about it.
SPEAKER_01: And what happens if you're not careful is that either you harden your kids to the gospel or your kids say yes and go through the motions, but God's not really dealing with them.
SPEAKER_01: It's not the Holy Spirit at work in them.
SPEAKER_01: And so they I see it all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Kids, when they get to be, is I I'm not joking, I would never joke about this, but when they get old enough to understand what sin is, uh, and they get old enough to get into sin, they can begin to say, Hey, I I I I I prayed a prayer when I was like seven, but I didn't understand it back then.
SPEAKER_01: Uh the hardest thing to do is to trust the efficacy of the Holy Spirit that God's going to reveal Himself and deal with your kids.
SPEAKER_01: And especially if you've got an adult child who's not a believer, it's easy to kind of look and kind of go, if you're not careful, you send the message to your kid, your adult children, the best thing you could do is come to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if that depends on God, why put pressure on your adult children?
SPEAKER_01: Why not love them enough to say, son, daughter, I'd love to see you come to faith, but I believe God's got to reveal that to you, and I'm praying that He does.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible tells me in Ephesians 2 that God's rich in mercy, and I'm praying that God has mercy on you.
SPEAKER_01: Because again, our bad theology gives lost people a confidence that the Bible never gives them.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll use my own self.
SPEAKER_01: I've got two older brothers.
SPEAKER_01: One's a Christian, one's not.
SPEAKER_01: I do not, when I have, when I'm around my brother, sign a believer, I don't try to persuade him or plead him to come to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He he watches late-night TV preachers and he's like, You don't do that, do you?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, no, please don't ever accuse me of that again.
SPEAKER_01: We will fight.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, but I tell my brother, hey, God's got to reveal himself to you.
SPEAKER_01: And every once in a while, he's like, well, that may or may not be happening.
SPEAKER_01: May or may not be happening.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me give you another category.
SPEAKER_01: I told you there's Calvinists and there's Armin Arminius.
SPEAKER_01: Uh here's the third category.
SPEAKER_01: Because people always ask, well, what do you some of you come up to me and you call like, hey, you sound like this, and then some days you sound like a Calvinist, and some days you sound like an Arminius, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm neither.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in a third category, and it's a great category because I came up with it.
SPEAKER_01: Can I just be that honest?
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, here's the third category.
SPEAKER_01: It's what I call a biblicist.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what a biblicist is: a biblicist is a willingness to simply believe everything the Bible teaches, even when it disagrees with my preferences.
SPEAKER_01: It's a willingness to believe everything the Bible teaches, even when it disagrees with my preferences.
SPEAKER_01: And here's a great example.
SPEAKER_01: It's John chapter 6, verse 37.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 37.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says this.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, All that the Father gives me will come to me.
SPEAKER_01: That's the first half of it.
SPEAKER_01: Hear that again.
SPEAKER_01: All that the Father gives me will come to me.
SPEAKER_01: So when I share the gospel, I don't, like if you've been to this church, you realize we don't put a lot of pressure on you.
SPEAKER_01: Have you noticed that?
SPEAKER_01: At the end of the service, we don't dim the lights.
SPEAKER_01: I don't tell scary stories.
SPEAKER_01: They were riding down the road, smoking marijuana, listening to deaf leopard and the Camaro.
SPEAKER_01: Because the few times I went to church as a kid, that's all it was.
SPEAKER_01: They really didn't preach the Bible, they just told horrifically emotional, manipulating stories about people.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody that drank a beer died in the car wreck.
SPEAKER_01: I drank beer before and I hadn't died yet.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not being flippant, I'm just like, if you set that up, as that's the scenario, it's like your kids are gonna go, yeah, I drank, man died.
SPEAKER_01: I don't believe any of that.
SPEAKER_01: Because it makes Christianity this emotional, manipulative thing.
SPEAKER_01: In reality, it's the truth that sets you free.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: He says, All that the Father gives me will come to me.
SPEAKER_01: When I share my faith and I talk to people, and every once in a while happened just a couple weeks ago, right here in our city, and the guy's like, Hey, that's really interesting.
SPEAKER_01: I'll give that some thought.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Hey, I didn't say, Hey, do you know that you know that you know if you died right now, you'd go to heaven?
SPEAKER_01: Don't put it off.
SPEAKER_01: Right now's the time.
SPEAKER_01: Would you like to pray a prayer?
SPEAKER_01: I can show you how to do.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said this to the Pharisees who were very zealous for evangelism.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You travel across land and sea to make one convert, and when you do, you make them twice the son of hell as you are.
SPEAKER_01: You're they're just as lost as you are, Jesus said.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because God's not dealing with them.
SPEAKER_01: There's what's good.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you two phrases to remember.
SPEAKER_01: There's the external witness, which is me talking to somebody, I'm and then there's internal witness.
SPEAKER_01: I said to this guy who was very gracious, he said, Hey, I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01: Uh let me think about these kind of things.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yeah, I think the first thing the gospel does is make us think, so you absolutely think about it.
SPEAKER_01: And God will reveal the truth to you.
SPEAKER_01: And he went, That's it.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: No boogeyman.
SPEAKER_01: Your car is probably not gonna blow up on the way home.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Thanks for letting me talk to you.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, That's refreshing.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was very refreshing, and he said very life-altering things to people.
SPEAKER_01: See, see, when I say a Bible, it says, All that the Father gives me will come to me.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that there are people that God has chosen.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who they are.
SPEAKER_01: My Calvinist friends go crazy because I tell them, I'm on the nominating committee, I nominate everybody, and I want God to elect them.
SPEAKER_01: Shut up, McLean, that ain't funny.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to be funny.
SPEAKER_01: I just, here's the thing: pick out who the elect are.
SPEAKER_01: Pick out all the people you know they're gonna come.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: So I therefore I cannot usurp divine privilege and kind of go, I know who's gonna respond to the gospel who's not, and I'm just gonna talk to them.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, the gospel's whosoever will, which is the second half of verse 37.
SPEAKER_01: Look at it.
SPEAKER_01: All that the Father gives to me will come to me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is referring to a specific people.
SPEAKER_01: And then look at the last part whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever comes to me, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: It's not like Jesus is standing there like the Matre D of a five-star restaurant, and you come up to the table, you come up to the desk and go, Yes, Smith, party one, I'd like to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, you're not on the list.
SPEAKER_01: Go away, go to hell.
SPEAKER_01: Someone in this church that comes to the church said to me a while back, Hey, I'm not there yet, but I kind of feel like something's kind of stirring in me.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think that is?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, It's just sign, it's just evidence that God's beginning to speak to you.
SPEAKER_01: You just keep listening, and like a blind man, you walk in the direction that you hear his voice.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, What?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, sometimes you say things I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I gotta be tricky like that every once in a while.
SPEAKER_01: I said, How do you think blind people made their way to Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus would say, Come here, they walked in the direction of his voice.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Are you saying I'm a blind man?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: As a person that's not converted, you're blind to spiritual reality.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the deal evidence that God's working in you is he's letting you hear his voice.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in this room, see, this is why I don't fit in any of those two categories.
SPEAKER_01: Because they sound like, oh, I got it all figured out.
SPEAKER_01: I got it figured out.
SPEAKER_01: No, I think the Bible's got it figured out.
SPEAKER_01: I believe all that the Father gives to me will come to me, and I believe whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.
SPEAKER_01: I shared the gospel of two prostitutes one time.
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't a customer.
SPEAKER_01: They were walking.
SPEAKER_01: You got awkward there for a minute, y'all look.
SPEAKER_01: Get the kids, honey, we're going.
SPEAKER_01: I just saw two prostitutes, and one of them had on a black rubber miniskirt and a pink fuzzy tube top.
SPEAKER_01: And Clear Isabel, I said the Lord said, Hey man, share the gospel with them.
SPEAKER_01: They don't get the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: People don't talk to them about the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: So I just walked over there and I said, hey, hey, I just meant 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_01: And both of them wept bitterly and thanked me.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't say, you skanks are out here, but no.
SPEAKER_01: I just said, hey, I know in your profession you get to experience love, as they call it.
SPEAKER_01: But I don't think you've ever found real love.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to tell you, just briefly, ladies, about a God that loves you.
SPEAKER_01: And one of them said, Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I am?
SPEAKER_01: I'm a prostitute.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah, yeah, he loves you just like you are.
SPEAKER_01: Why, why, on what basis can you say that?
SPEAKER_01: The latter part of verse 37.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.
SPEAKER_01: So I said to them, I said, Hey, I don't want to get you jammed up.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Y'all working?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, sure enough, honey, talk fast.
SPEAKER_01: I said, not a problem.
SPEAKER_01: She said, talk fast.
SPEAKER_01: I got bills to pay.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't say, if you trust Jesus, God would provide your money.
SPEAKER_01: No, I said, hey, I get it.
SPEAKER_01: I get it.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just give it to you in about three minutes.
SPEAKER_01: And she goes, uh, I said, how about two?
SPEAKER_01: She goes, even better.
SPEAKER_01: Go.
SPEAKER_01: I just laid it out there.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, if you ever just sense God reveal himself, God, God, God calling you, God speaking to you, this is what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: They wept and one of them said, Would you pray for us?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: Here, can I put my hand on your shoulder?
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to touch you without your permission.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, You can touch me.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I just want to put my hand on your shoulder.
SPEAKER_01: That's plenty.
SPEAKER_01: And so I put my hand on their shoulders, prayed for both of them.
SPEAKER_01: They cried.
SPEAKER_01: I walked back and got with a van full of my friends, and they were like, What'd they say?
SPEAKER_01: They said they recognized some of y'all.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why did it why was I able to do that?
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: You know God has a sense of humor, right?
SPEAKER_01: Relax, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing uh all that the Father gives me will come to me.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.
SPEAKER_01: None of you in this room is beyond the pale.
SPEAKER_01: None of you has outsended the grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh that's why I can say from this, here's the first truth is that the capacity to believe is a gift from God.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, is this for the Christian, there's great assurance.
SPEAKER_01: For the Christian, there's great assurance in this.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 38.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, and this is the will of him who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: I love the way Jesus clarifies.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I've come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: And and if Jesus leaves that blank, we'll fill in what is the will of God.
SPEAKER_01: But he says, and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
SPEAKER_01: Remember in verse 37, it starts off with all that the Father gives me will come to me.
SPEAKER_01: And he says right here, he says, This is when I say, Hey, for the Christian, there's great assurance.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Hey, all that, and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all these people that he has given me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lose a single one of them, and I'm gonna raise them up on the last day.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you mean for the Christian, there's great assurance?
SPEAKER_01: I continue, your assurance is not about your ability to hold on to God, but it's promise to hold on to you.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you be honest, many of us in this room at different times, we've just turned loose of God.
SPEAKER_01: We've what I mean by that is we didn't like get out of our relationship because once a person's really converted, they never can lose their salvation.
SPEAKER_01: It's impossible.
SPEAKER_01: I'll show you that in the Bible just a minute ago.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what but here's the thing: you we tend to look to the person that we think initiated this whole thing to begin with.
SPEAKER_01: And if you think you initiated this, then when it gets difficult, you're gonna look to you and you're gonna examine your conversion experience.
SPEAKER_01: I've heard 40 and 50 year olds say this to me.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't know if I really meant it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I said the right words.
SPEAKER_01: What if I didn't use the right words?
SPEAKER_01: Can I do it again?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01: And then I understand, I realize, oh, they've been taught a system that I haven't been in relationship with a person.
SPEAKER_01: Because when the church takes upon itself the responsibility of teaching you to become Christians, what we do is we fill the church up with deaf kids who can't hear the music.
SPEAKER_01: And you're like the deaf kid at the dance, you just look around and see what everybody else is doing.
SPEAKER_01: But you can't hear the music yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible, every time you open the Bible, it's like opening a music box, and it just kind of pours out.
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean when I say for the Christian, there's great assurance?
SPEAKER_01: Uh instead of a, hey, do you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand?
SPEAKER_01: I remember I had a friend that she called the guy that led her to Christ like 15 years ago, and she said, Do you remember what I said that night?
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm doubting my salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And I just thought, man, that is no way to live.
SPEAKER_01: Or when things get really difficult, when life just begins to come on hands, it's real tempting to go, well, I guess it didn't work.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, uh uh this the guy said this to me in my office a couple weeks ago and in counsel, and he said, Well, most people know I just don't have any problems.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, I mean, I've been seeing you for six months, and you're always happy and you're joyful, and you give me coffee, and I just, I mean, do you have any problems?
SPEAKER_01: Have you met my wife?
SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I got problems.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you never talk about it.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll come to see you for counseling.
SPEAKER_01: So, so you all know that I ain't got it all together, that I that the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous.
SPEAKER_01: This happened this week.
SPEAKER_01: This week, starting last Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: This was just my week.
SPEAKER_01: Last Sunday, I was at the luncheon for a video, a remaining missionary.
SPEAKER_01: You, if you were there, you saw me get up and leave.
SPEAKER_01: It's because my phone rang.
SPEAKER_01: It was my daughter who's off at college, and she said, first words out of her mouth, hey dad, I'm okay.
unknown: Whoo!
SPEAKER_01: My inner red neck was going, where's my 40 cal?
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna go.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, babe, what's going on?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, Babe, dad, I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01: I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say, I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01: I got a little bump on my head, but I'm okay.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Madison, what happened?
SPEAKER_01: Dad, I'm okay.
SPEAKER_01: What happened?
SPEAKER_01: Dad, I'm okay.
SPEAKER_01: Shut up, telling me you're okay.
SPEAKER_01: What happened?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I was driving to church today, and a guy ran a stop sign and T-boned me in my driver's side door.
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking, where am I gonna bury that man's body?
SPEAKER_01: Uh and I said, baby, I said, I said, okay, how are you?
SPEAKER_01: She said, Dad, here, here's what I'm gonna tell you.
SPEAKER_01: I think my car's totaled.
SPEAKER_01: You mean the car I gave you, your mom and I gave you two years ago for graduation to go off to college?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it and so I called the insurance guy this week, and it's totaled and by the way, the insurance guy said, Mr.
SPEAKER_01: McClendon, we're gonna do our best to help you and take care of you.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, back into the phone, I do not believe a word of that.
SPEAKER_01: You and I both know this is organized crime.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You're gonna get you gonna give me what I paid for that car two years ago?
SPEAKER_01: Your guy ran the stop sign and hit me.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe people would drive a little more common sense if when you total my vehicle, you have to pay me what I paid for it so I can go out and get that vehicle again and not take a hickey on this.
SPEAKER_01: Well, sir, that's just the way it is.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, sir, I don't want to climb through this phone line, all right?
SPEAKER_01: Well, sir, I mean, I just want you to know we're gonna do no, you're not gonna do the best for me.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna do the best for your policy holder and you're gonna stick it to me.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, sir, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, what are you sorry for?
SPEAKER_01: That the insurance business is organized crime?
SPEAKER_01: Is that what you're sorry for?
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, sir, uh, I I can tell you having a bad day.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not having a bad day.
SPEAKER_01: But your guy totaled my car, and now I gotta get whatever pittance you're gonna give me and then find some money to get my kid another car.
SPEAKER_01: You want me to be happy about that?
SPEAKER_01: That was on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Just Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Sunday night, I had to drive, take her my truck, drive back everything.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I had to put our dog down this week.
SPEAKER_01: Our dog, my youngest daughter, we've had that dog since she was in kindergarten.
SPEAKER_01: She's in high school now.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, not any of you do this, but don't ever say to anybody, it's just a dog.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're just a moron, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's why.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be stupid your whole life.
SPEAKER_01: And so the dog had cancer, we were just trying to limp it along and loving it.
SPEAKER_01: I looked at my wife and I said, It's to the point.
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: My uncle died.
SPEAKER_01: My mom called me hysterically crying.
SPEAKER_01: That was on Monday.
SPEAKER_01: We put the dog down into the week.
SPEAKER_01: Monday, my mom called sobbing.
SPEAKER_01: My Uncle Bill died unexpectedly, just died.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Okay, mom, what do you need?
SPEAKER_01: Because here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: When something in my extended family, anytime something happened, they all call me.
SPEAKER_01: And in a weird way, it's a compliment, but on another way it's just overwhelming because they don't think Marcy and I, my mom, my mom said to me before, Oh, I don't worry about you and Marcia.
SPEAKER_01: You have it all together.
SPEAKER_01: So in weeks like this, I cannot call my family because they're just like, oh, they've got it all together.
SPEAKER_01: They work for God.
SPEAKER_01: So, my kid's car is totaled.
SPEAKER_01: We put our dog down.
SPEAKER_01: My uncle dies.
SPEAKER_01: Saturday morning, my wife wakes up to a phone call from her father.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, your mom had a mild heart attack.
SPEAKER_01: We've taken her to the hospital, she's gonna be admitted.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, now, why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_01: Not that you'll feel sorry for me.
SPEAKER_01: It's just life.
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all got, that's just life.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't want you, if you're visiting today, I don't want you to look up there and go, yeah, yeah, preacher man, you don't know what it's really like.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I say to you?
SPEAKER_01: Shut up.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I say to you.
SPEAKER_01: In love, Jesus loves you, but shut up.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if my mom were here, she would get on to me today.
SPEAKER_01: Because some of y'all called, somebody called my mom and said, Neil's wearing pants, and Neil's wearing jeans.
SPEAKER_01: My mom's like, You're not wearing jeans in the Lord's house, are you?
SPEAKER_01: Mother, God doesn't care, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, but for your mother, would you wear slacks?
SPEAKER_01: You notice I'm dressed up today?
SPEAKER_01: I'm 53 years old and I'm still obeying my mother.
SPEAKER_01: But enjoy it because I ain't wearing them next week.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, what do I mean?
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean when I say for the Christian, there's great assurance?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: This is because here's where my mind went.
SPEAKER_01: See, see, uh I I was yesterday morning, I went to my office at home and I just opened my Bible and I just read these two verses, verse 38, for I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the will of him who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: I should lose nothing of all that he's given me, but raise it up on the last day.
SPEAKER_01: And it dawned on me yesterday morning when I read verse 40.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, so you're gonna raise me up on the last day.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're gonna raise me up on the last day, that means you've got control of today.
SPEAKER_01: And I called the insurance guy back.
SPEAKER_01: I got a cell phone number.
SPEAKER_01: He told me on Monday, so we would we we we work nine to five Monday through Friday.
SPEAKER_01: What's your cell phone?
SPEAKER_01: I may have a Saturday question for you.
SPEAKER_01: And I realized I can be a little bit overwhelming sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: My wife is like, Tone it down.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, go away.
SPEAKER_01: These people work for the devil.
SPEAKER_01: I work for God.
SPEAKER_01: We gotta win.
SPEAKER_01: And I called the guy and he answered the phone.
SPEAKER_01: He was like, hello.
SPEAKER_01: I said, it's me again, Margaret.
SPEAKER_01: I said, hey man, I just called to tell you, hey, relax.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't mad at you.
SPEAKER_01: I think I was a little amped up the other day because I hate injustice.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I guess I guess I understood.
SPEAKER_01: I got it loud and clear.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I just want you to know the well-being of my children and my well-being and my mental state does not depend on you.
SPEAKER_01: It depends on God.
SPEAKER_01: He's sovereign, he's good, so this is all gonna work out.
SPEAKER_01: You let me know what you think is fair, and we'll figure it out from there.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, oh well, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for calling.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I said, that's all I got.
SPEAKER_01: See ya.
SPEAKER_01: Click.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because there's deep assurance.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible says things like this, Philippians 1, 6, and I'm sure this that he began a good work, and you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't start this, this was my idea.
SPEAKER_01: He began it, and I don't look at God and kind of go, This is your idea, you better do something.
SPEAKER_01: No, he's never not known what he's going to do.
SPEAKER_01: I called my texted my my daughter, I called my daughter on Friday, said something in my spirit said she's not doing good.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Baby, how you doing?
SPEAKER_01: And she goes, I'm okay, Dad.
SPEAKER_01: I just went and got my personal effects out of my car.
SPEAKER_01: My car's total and my dog's dying today.
SPEAKER_01: Not a good day.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Hey, let's resist all the false forms of comfort that will present themselves.
SPEAKER_01: That's a good word.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_01: And let's not take up offense against God.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't do anything wrong.
SPEAKER_01: We'll get you another car.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Dad, you know, babe, don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be fine.
SPEAKER_01: God's sovereign and he's good.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Dad.
SPEAKER_01: That's good.
SPEAKER_01: All right, all right, thank thanks for calling.
SPEAKER_01: I say, hey, just watch yourself this weekend because there'll be a little voice, and you'll kind of say, Hey, hey, you know what would feel good right now?
SPEAKER_01: That's false comfort.
SPEAKER_01: I know, Dad.
SPEAKER_01: I know.
SPEAKER_01: You know what that voice sounds like in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Dad, I do.
SPEAKER_01: All right, hear it, but don't pay attention to it.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
SPEAKER_01: You've been sealed earlier.
SPEAKER_01: I said, you can't once a person's really converted, you can't lose your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because you you've been sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption.
SPEAKER_01: That seal ain't being broken until you get redeemed in the presence of God, until you trade in this old broken down body for a new glorified body.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I say for the Christian, there's deep assurance.
SPEAKER_01: The third truth I point to quickly this morning is simply this: the work of the Son is central to the gift of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: The work of the Son is central to the gift of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Don't take it like, hey, brainiac, please.
SPEAKER_01: Uh look at verse 40 and we'll be done.
SPEAKER_01: You still with me?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 40 says, For this is the will of my father, that everyone who looks on the sun and believes in him should have eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: And I will raise him up on the last day.
SPEAKER_01: Hear it again.
SPEAKER_01: For this is the will of my father, that everyone who looks on the sun, see how central the sun is?
SPEAKER_01: Who looks on the sun and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
SPEAKER_01: Who looks and believes.
SPEAKER_01: Why does the Bible say that?
SPEAKER_01: Because you can look to Jesus and never believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, some of you in this room, that's you.
SPEAKER_01: You look to Jesus, you appreciate Jesus, but you do not believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Well, how how do you know that?
SPEAKER_01: I say you don't believe in who he is and what he's accomplished.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: If you went to secret church Friday night, you heard this.
SPEAKER_01: I was signed up to go to secret church.
SPEAKER_01: About three o'clock Friday afternoon, I said to my wife, I just want to be alone.
SPEAKER_01: And not in a like Lieutenant Dan.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going, come on, God, it's time for a showdown.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, I've read the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Who are you, old man, that you should answer back to God?
SPEAKER_01: Should we not receive good from his hand and not hardship as well?
SPEAKER_01: And so I just want to be alone and just say to the Lord, You're good.
SPEAKER_01: You care about my kids more than I do.
SPEAKER_01: I want to get all big and redneckish and act like I'm sovereign.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: You are.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just gonna put my hand over my mouth and just wait on you.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm home.
SPEAKER_01: I'm reading over this.
SPEAKER_01: If you went to secret church, you heard this.
SPEAKER_01: It's from the Heidelberg Catechism.
SPEAKER_01: A catechism is basically the way you teach yourself, or especially their children, they teach their kids what the Bible teaches, the biblical doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: And here's one of the questions from the Heidelberg Catechism.
SPEAKER_01: How are you righteous before God?
SPEAKER_01: In other words, how do you get right in the eyes of God?
SPEAKER_01: And here's the answer: only by true faith.
SPEAKER_01: Again, the work of the Son is central to the gift of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Only by true faith in Jesus Christ, in spite of the fact that my conscience accuses me, that I've grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, have not kept any one of them, and that I am still ever prone to all that is evil.
SPEAKER_01: Nevertheless, God, without any merit of my own, out of pure grace, grants me the benefits of the perfect sacrifice of Christ, imputing to me his righteousness and holiness as if I'd never committed a single sin or had ever been sinful, having fulfilled myself all the obedience which Christ has carried out for me, if only I accept such favor with a trusting heart.
SPEAKER_01: That's why he's central.
SPEAKER_01: Now, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: It's not always this eggheaded.
SPEAKER_01: It's not always, because Christianity and church is not for smart people, it's for willing people.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: You've heard the phrase before, pictures worth a thousand words.
SPEAKER_01: This is this picture hangs on my wall in my office.
SPEAKER_01: My wife gave it to me on my birthday in 1992 when we were dating.
SPEAKER_01: And every once in a while I just pull it off and just meditate on it.
SPEAKER_01: When I read something like this from the Heidelberg Catechism and say, God, without any merit of my own, out of pure grace, grants me the benefits of the perfect sacrifice of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Imputing to me, imputing means putting in me his righteousness and holiness as if I'd never committed a single sin or had ever been sinful, having fulfilled myself all the obedience which Christ has carried out for me, if only I accept such favor with a trusting heart.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: It means this.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it means.
SPEAKER_01: Because when I met my wife, she realized, this guy's got a big personality, but I don't think he understands how much God loves him.
SPEAKER_01: I was looking at it yesterday morning and I said out loud, you're gonna fight for me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have to fight these people.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna rise up as a mighty man of war.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna come to my defense.
SPEAKER_01: And so art is a powerfully evocative thing.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you hear anything, and I know this doesn't make sense, these words I'm using, if you hear anything this morning, hear this.
SPEAKER_01: This is the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: This is what God does with people who are born his enemies, and he makes them his sons and daughters.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Just take a moment.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guests, we like to teach the Bible and give you space to think about it, and you can leave that art, that piece of art up there.
SPEAKER_01: You can just meditate on that, you can just stare at that.
SPEAKER_01: Just ask yourself, what did you hear God say today?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you, maybe you're not there yet.
SPEAKER_01: You've never been converted.
SPEAKER_01: But maybe you can just hear those just faint echoes of God just kind of saying, Hey, I'm coming for you.
SPEAKER_01: You just keep listening, you keep moving in the direction you hear his voice.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here and you've already been converted, you're a Christian and you know that.
SPEAKER_01: Just take great confidence that when you share the gospel, it doesn't depend on you.
SPEAKER_01: All of which the Father has given me are going to come to me.
SPEAKER_01: Why share the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Because you're commanded to.
SPEAKER_01: God bestows upon humanity the dignity of participation through the commands of the Bible by telling us, hey, this is what you're to do.
SPEAKER_01: Let's think and meditate for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Father, thanks that sometimes you speak louder to the things we see.
SPEAKER_01: Let's remember what we see in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: That once we've been taken into the embrace of our all-knowing, sovereign, good, available, understanding, forgiving God, it breaks things off of us like hostility, anger, and pity, and self-loathing, and the fear of man.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I pray that people today could just feel themselves in your embrace.
SPEAKER_01: Imputed righteousness is one thing, the embrace of heavenly father is quite another.
SPEAKER_01: And in one we experience the other.
SPEAKER_01: And so we ask for both today.
SPEAKER_01: We we relish the fact that we have both today.
SPEAKER_01: That you're warm and intimate and available.
SPEAKER_01: And that the gospel is whosoever will, let him come.
SPEAKER_01: So I pray that everybody in this room would know today that they're invited into a relationship with God by God, not by the preacher.
SPEAKER_01: But the God of this universe speaks a language they understand and says, Hey, you hadn't screwed this up so bad that I can't fix it.
SPEAKER_01: The way I fix it is by changing you.
SPEAKER_01: And so let everyone within the sound of my voice today know that's available to them.
SPEAKER_01: And whoever comes, whosoever will, let them come.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, let the balance of Scripture be the expression of our life.
SPEAKER_01: We pray today in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone says Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: We were supposed to show a video about the uh marriage conference, but I think that would grieve the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I want you to leave with this taste in your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: We have a marriage conference coming up.
SPEAKER_01: We're not going to put a slide up or anything with Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Dan Alender, which is a wildly gifted man, May 4th and 5th.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love you to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_01: Information's in the lobby or on our website.
SPEAKER_01: The other thing I want to remind you is that our uh Flourishing After 50, which is the women, uh, women in our church that are 50 years old and older, are having a luncheon this coming Saturday at the Bemence Farm out in Fulshire.
SPEAKER_01: It's from 11 to 1.
SPEAKER_01: Price is$10.
SPEAKER_01: And they're restoring the lobby.
SPEAKER_01: Today's the last day to register.
SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful, peaceful, serene home in the country and a great meal around some great women.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love for you to come and just meet people.
SPEAKER_01: You say, I'm new.
SPEAKER_01: It's a great opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: If you're 50 or older, you're in.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not, if you're not 50, you're not in.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: How about that?
SPEAKER_01: Uh you're not elect.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, uh, so today's the last day to register.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're curious about that, hit that up in the th in the lobby.
SPEAKER_01: Uh let me just acknowledge something.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not apologizing, I'm acknowledging.
SPEAKER_01: Our service went a little long today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think it's a sin to hurry babies and ordination and the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: So I I I don't presume upon your patience, but I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01: Stand to your feet, let me speak a blessing over you.