Transcript

Sermon Transcript: What The Word Says About You

3/1/2020 Jeff Schwarzentraub 42 min read

Lord Jesus, we just thank you for who you are. We thank you for all you're doing in our lives. Lord, we thank you for your living and active word that when it is accurately proclaimed that you speak directly to us. And Lord, our prayer this morning is that we would hear you. Our prayer this morning is that we would have even more trust in your word and understand the gospel that we have, the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and in him alone. And Lord, for all you're going to do, we give you all glory, all honor, and all praise.

We stand before you as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and all those who are gathered, who desire to hear the Lord, believe what he says and by faith put into practice what he shows you. Would you agree with me this morning by very loudly saying the word amen. Amen. I want to let you know, this has been a very, very fun series for me. Obviously, I preach this because I'm convicted about it but the more I preach it, the more convicted I become. We're in a series called, Say What?

We're taking a look at, can I trust this book? Is the Bible truly reliable? Is the book that I hold in my hands worth listening to? And we've taken a look at it from several different directions. The first week we took a look at, what is the word say about the word? Then we took a look at, what does God say about the word? Last week, we took a look at what does history say about the word? And this morning, we're going to take a look at what does the word say about the world specifically, what does the word say about you?

Now, just to give you a quick refresher, if you're joining us and it's going to be super quick, we have said all along that from the time of Genesis 3 onward, that the enemy has a strategy in your life, it's a fourfold strategy. The first strategy is this, to get you to doubt God's word, whether you're a believer or a nonbeliever, he's going to say to you, has God really said that? Indeed, has God said? Have God said? Do you really believe that God really meant what he out in his book?

If you doubt God's word, then ultimately you will doubt God's goodness, you will doubt God's justice, and you will doubt God's authority. That is Satan's strategy in every person's life on planet earth. If you're a nonbeliever it's to keep you from knowing Jesus, if you are a believer it's to keep you from growing in Christ. That's his strategy. So we took a look at what does the word say about the word? What does this book testify about itself? And this book testifies that this word here is eternal. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our Lord stands forever.

This word also testifies that it's God breathe, that's inspired that every word in this book, God's the one who put that word there. Therefore, this book is infallible, it's trustworthy. You can trust the words in this book because the book is testifying that everything we're talking about God is the one who's saying. Therefore, this book isn't errant, there are no errors in this book. We took a look last week too, there are no contradictions in this book.

If there are any errs in this book, the Bible testifies, it didn't come from the God of truth. And ultimately, this book is a supernatural book. Everything we read about in this book, we have a hard time believing because we're like, how could that happen? How could that happen? Here's how it could happen because we serve a supernatural God that made it all happen. That's what the Bible testifies about itself. You may not believe that but that's the testimony the Bible's making about itself.

Secondly, we took a look at this, that what does God say about the word? Because this book says, that what this book writes about is the written word reveals a living word and the living word is Jesus Christ. And when Jesus arrived on the scene, he said that everything in this book testified about himself. He said in John 5, you diligently study the scriptures because you think the that by studying them you have life yet, these are the very scriptures that testify about me yet, you refuse to come to me to have life.

Jesus made the case that everything in this book from Genesis 1:1 through the end of Revelation, that everything in this book is testifying about the fact that he is the Christ. Everything written is about him. So when we read about the creation story, that God spoke the world into existence in six days and God rested on the seventh, who did the speaking? Jesus did. Who was the one talking to Moses in the fire? Jesus was. Who was the one who parted the red sea? Jesus did. Who sent fire from heaven on Mount Carmel? That was Jesus, too.

Everything in this book testifies about him. That's the claim that he makes that everything testifies about himself. Also, testifies this, everything in this book testifies to the truth. Jesus said he was the way, the truth and the life that he came to testify to the truth. Jesus is making the claim that everything that God is saying about this book is that it is true. He also said this, everything in this book testifies to the fact that he is God, he made no qualms about the fact that indeed he is God. That's what he was accused of.

He was accused of being a mere man claiming to be God and Jesus said, but I am, that's who I am. If you've seen me, you've seen my father. And then he made this final claim that he is central to all salvation, that in Jesus Christ and in him alone is the only way that you can have life. So the word testifies about the fact that this book is perfect. There are no errors, it's eternal. It's inspired by God.

This book also testifies about who God is and when Jesus comes on the scene, he says, "I'm God and everything in this book testifies about me.' Then last week we took a look at the history. Well then how can I know because it's just men making up this stuff and we took a look at the history of the Bible. We took a look at the history of canonization, how did we get the 66 books we got? And we took a look at history and how history even dictates and history even demonstrates that everything that we hold in our hands is true.

And then we took a look at the history of prophecy. How if even there were seven or eight prophecies that came true, that'd be pretty compelling, but there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds that have all come true in the order that they were supposed to come true. And the only unfulfilled prophecies are those that are still going to happen. And then ultimately, looked at the history of response, because here's all you can do with that information.

The Bible says, it's true. Jesus says, I am the revealed living word of what the written word testifies and I'm true. All history tells you that what you hold in your hand is true and all you can do with that is accept or reject it. So then here's the thing, what we're going to talk about today is what does the word say about you? What does the word say about the world? And here's the challenge, this book makes the claim that it's living an active and sharper than any two edge sword. This is the only book in the world that you don't read. This is the book that reads you.

This is a book that promises to read you. This is the book that promises if you listen to this book, read this book, study this book, this book will tell you more about you. That's real than you even know about your self. So this morning we're saying, what does the word say about you? And we're going to take a look at four things that the word says about you by looking at four different questions. Oftentimes these are called worldview questions, but this is a worldview based upon the Bible.

And the first question is the meaning question. How do we have meaning or per purpose in life? And here's the question, why am I here? Why am I here? That's a question everyone needs to answer. Why am I here? The Bible wants to give you an answer to that question. In other words, what's my purpose. What's my meaning. Why was I born into this family? Why have I had these experiences, why have I gone through these trials? Why have I been good and successful at those things and not other things? Help me understand why am I here?

Here's the Bible's answer to that. The Bible's answer is that you are unique, not accidental. That's the Bible's answer. You are unique not accidental, you're purposed and fashioned. It didn't just happen. It's not happenstance. If you open up to the first chapter of the Bible, you will see in Genesis 1:26-27, it said this, then God said, let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness and only one person applauds. I mean, you don't get this. You're not responding properly.

If the God of the universe made up of father, son and Holy Spirit who has always existed from eternity pass says, Hey, let's make humankind in our image. Your response should be whoa, I mean, something like that. Okay. So let's try it again because I want to participate. Then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. That's amazing. And let them rule over the fish of the scene, over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female he created them. Now we talked about the creation story being the most miraculous story in the entire Bible. Like if you believe the creation story, what else is hard to believe about the Bible? God created everything out of nothing in six days. That's because he's God. And here's what he said, after every day that he created something. Here's his response at the end of the day, it is good. In other words, he was saying, I'm good. In other words, he was saying, I'm awesome.

Now when he completed creation and both male and female were created in his image, what did he say? It is very good. See, he made you unique unlike any other part of his creation. While it was incredible that he created the universe while it was incredible that he created our son and the planets, while it was incredible he created all these other galaxies, while it's incredible that he created light and darkness and sea and land and animals and all these different things. Incredible. It's good. He created you unique from anything else in all creation. He created you in his image.

Now that means that you bear the image of God. Now clearly, we're not talking physical. I mean, we like to think that, I like to think like when my wife met me, she was like, oh my and I mean, she did but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about intrinsic qualities of who we are. We're image bearers of his rights consciousness and his holiness and his truth. It's who we are that God created humankind to be his image bearers on the planet and rule over the planet and have dominion on the planet.

And you are higher than the animals and you are higher than the trees and you are higher than the stars and you're more important because you're uniquely created in what? In the image of God. The Latin word is the imago Dei. It's who you are. You're unique. God wants you to know how unique you are. All throughout the Bible, we see scriptures, this is not an exhaustive list. This is just a couple. If you turn your Bible to Psalm chapter 139:13-14, it says for you formed to me, you formed my innermost parts. You wove me together in my mother's womb, I will give thanks to you for I am what fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth, your eyes have seen my unformed substance and in your books were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them. What is he saying? He was saying that you may have been a surprise to parents but you were never an accident to God. You were completely purposed and fashioned. He's the one in utero that put you together. He's the one that gave you your gender. He's the one who gave you your purpose. He's the one who gave you your strengths. He's the one who gave you all your weaknesses.

He is the one who purposed and fashioned you and every possible way for the season that you live in. It's God, it's not happenstance. It's not accidental. It's God's purpose in you. Amen. That's the Bible's answer for why are you here. Now the world's answer is this it's accidental. It's happenstance. We don't know we could have evolved. I mean, there's a secret out there. We don't totally under.... We don't know. We don't know, their answer is always this, we don't know. Their answer is always this, we have a new theory. Their answer is always this, it's a secret, their secret knowledge God's answer is, it ain't no secret.

I'm telling you, I created you, I formed you, I fashioned you, I gave you. Now, notice how he created us? Male and female. Both male and female equal image bearers of the king. Both genders equally important. Amen. Now, if you watch secular media, if you watch Hollywood movies just pay attention. I'm not telling you don't watch movies or anything like that, I'm just saying pay attention to the fact that you will watch Hollywood, always elevate animals and put them on a plane with human beings. I mean you can watch a movie and you'll feel sorry for a dog that got hit by a car, but not for the human that died.

I mean, you watch it. You'll feel sorry for the avatar rather than the human. I mean watch how Hollywood tries to downgrade the image bearer of God. No, no, no, you have to listen. You are an image bearer of the King Almighty. It's who you are. Amen. Now that doesn't make you feel good this morning, I don't know what does. I mean, even in Ephesians 2 when God tells us in verse eight and nine, we've been saved by grace through faith that it's not our own doing. It's a gift of God so that no one should boast.

You know what verse 10 says it says, for we are his workmanship. That's the Greek word poiema, that means masterpiece. That's his unique painting. That means, this is his masterpiece design, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so you'd walk in them. Remember how Psalm 139 says, all your days were designed before one of them even came to be. I mean, God knows how many days you're going to be on the earth. God knows what you're supposed to do with each single day that you're on the earth. God purposed and fashioned you in every way and you're his masterpiece.

And in case you've ever wondered, well then why do I live in Denver now and then why did I have the parents that I have and how come I was born to this family? Acts 17 talks about it as Paul's talking on Mars Hill to the Corinthians in Acts 17, he begins to tell us in verse 26, discussing God, he said, and he made from one man, every nation of mankind. Did you hear that? What's Paul believe? You don't really believe that God created the whole world from just Adam and Eve, just one man and one woman. I do. God does, his word does, the apostle Paul does. He made from one man, every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth.

Now what did he do? Having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for him and find him though, he is not far from each of us. For in him, we live and move and exist. Why do you live where you live? Why were you born? Where you were born? Why did you have the parents that you have? Because God was using that circumstances in hopes, that in that circumstance, in this day, in this generation, in this time that you might seek after God with all of your heart, that's why you're here at this time in this way. Amen.

You don't have to even wonder, well, how come this and how come that and why not this and why not that? Here's why, because God purposed and fashioned it that way. And you can rest assured that if he had the forethought to create every of who you are and all your uniqueness and create the miracle of life that you are, he knew everything about what he gave you. All the strengths you have, God gave them all to you.

Some of them you have, you don't even know are strengths, because they come so easy to you. You just have always done them. And all the weaknesses, you have the things you've never, ever been good at that you'll never, ever be good at no matter how much you try, guess who gave you all those? God did too. Why did he give you your strengths and weaknesses so that you would glorify him with your strengths and so you'd rely upon him in your weakness. I mean, so you rely on others to help you where you're weak. I mean, God fashioned it all just the way he wanted. You're not an accident. You are purposed and you are unique.

Now, I have not done an exhaustive study of this, I've been told this and I tend to believe it, you can do the scientific research. I've been told every fingerprint on every hand is different. I haven't pulled 7 billion plus people, but that's what I've been told. It seems that that's the case. I mean, how unique every person's fingerprint is different. I haven't seen every single snowflake that's fall on the mountains this year, but I've been told that every single one is unique and different. I haven't studied every leaf in the world, but I've been told that every single one is unique and different.

Let me tell you something about you, there is no one anywhere ever in the history of the world that God purpose and fashioned and created just like you. And he created you for his purpose and you are on purpose and he loves you. Amen. That's the biblical answer, why am I here? God says, because I put you here and I fashioned you and I formed you. And that's who I am. I mean, when you see all this, you see that God's in control of everything. I mean, Proverbs 21:1 says that a King's heart is like channels of water in his hands he turns it wherever he will.

Psalm 135:6 talks about the sovereignty of the Lord. Psalm 135:6 here's what he says, whatever the Lord pleases he does in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all the depths. I mean, we could sit here all day and talk about how God controls the heavens, the earth, everything in it and yet, in all of God's sovereignty, what did he choose to do? He chose to create you and create you uniquely, so that you would pursue him, so that you would grope after him. So you would go after him. Why did he make you the way he did? So you'd go after God and when you go after God, that's where all your purpose is, is from your creator. Amen.

Now you can study any type of secular understanding that you want and there will always be the answer to the question as to why you're here will be happenstance, accidental, or some theory that nobody can prove, or nobody knows. When you look into the Bible, God said, I've been here since, before the beginning, I created it the beginning, I know why you're here because I'm the one who put you to together. Amen.

So if we're here, then the next question we have to ask is, if we're image bearers of God, if we didn't just evolve from apes, if we didn't just have a guess as to why we're here, then what's the problem? How come we're not all bearing the image of God? What's what's the problem? That's the moral question. The meaning question is, why am I here? The moral question is what is the problem? Here's God's answer to the problem. God's answer to the problem of what is the problem is this. You are sinful, not good. That's the problem. You are sinful, not good, that's the problem.

Now we don't like that problem. It's hard if you go to the doctor and the doctor gives you a diagnosis that you don't like, but a good doctor will do that if he's being truthful with you. If you go to the doctor and you have stage four pancreatic cancer and the doctor thinks to himself, if I tell them that that's really going to make them have a bad day. And so, I don't want to tell them because then they'll think I'm bad and I don't want to lose our relationship, so I'll just say, everything looks good and send them on their way.

Now, you might leave the doctor's office that day and feel really good. But when you discover they have stage four pancreatic cancer, and you asked that doctor, why didn't you tell me? He said, because I wanted to be your friend. You'd be furious with them. You'd be furious because they didn't tell you the truth. God is not afraid to tell us the truth. And the problem that we have is that we're sinful, we're not good. The world's view is this, we're good. I mean, we evolve, we just happen, we don't know we came from there's this theory out there, but here's what I can tell you, y'all are good. There's nothing wrong with you. Everything's great, keep doing what you're doing.

Here's what the Bible says, you're not good, you're just not. Because in Genesis 3 when the serpent got Eve and Adam to doubt God's word and doubt God's goodness and doubt God's justice and doubt God's authority and they both ate off the apple, what happened? Sin entered into the world. It's a hereditary disease. This disease kills 100% of the people that catch it. And 100% of the people have it. It's a hereditary disease. Now, here's what some of you will. I'm not sure that I have it because if I would've been Adam or I would've been Eve, I wouldn't eaten that fruit dummies. Why did they do it? What were you thinking?

But see, if you have the disease, if you have the heredity, you spent your whole life proving your sin nature that you would've done the same thing. You may not out of eaten an apple, you weren't supposed to eat, but have you broken the law in any area? Do not lie. Have you ever lied? Do not cheat, have you ever cheated, do not steal, have you ever stolen anything? You ever looked upon a woman lustfully in your heart. You ever thought something in your spirit that was mean and murderous in your heart towards someone else?

How about this one, have no other gods before me. Has there ever been a time in your life even for one second that you've treasured something more than God in your life. Have you ever coveted something somebody else had and wish you or them or wish you had what they had? I mean, just one of those James says, if you're guilty of breaking the law, at one point, you're guilty of breaking it all. And the fact is every single one of us has broken every one of God's commandments.

Now, don't miss this just because we're sinful and we're marred and we're broken, doesn't mean we're no longer image bearers. We still bear the image of God. We're still his image bearers but it's just messed up a bit. We don't respond right, we don't think right, we don't act right. But the Bible makes clear of the reason for that is because we're not good, we're sinful. It's who we are. Romans 5:12 tells us that sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and that therefore all have sinned. Romans 3:10 tells us there is no one good, no not one.

You can't get any clearer than this, well, this guy's a good, no, he's not. No, she's not. Not according to the holiness and righteousness of God. There's no one good, no, not one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Isaiah 53, tells us that we all like sheep have gone away and strayed away and gone our own way. And even in Isaiah 64:6 without getting too graphic this morning, he tells us that on our best day, our best works are like filthy rags before him and without getting too graphic, it's talking about a woman's menstrual cycle. That's on your best day, that's what your best work looks like.

There's no one that's standing before a holy God, that's coming before him and saying, look at me, I'm awesome. To stand before a holy God is to realize that you're sinful and that there's something messed up fundamentally about you and that you can't change it. You're sinful when you were conceived, you were sinful when you came out and you're still sinful today. You can't make it go away. You can't wash it away. You can't go to church enough to get it to go away. You can't join a small group and make it go away. You can't read the Bible enough to make it go away. You've been diagnosed with this disease.

Now here's the one with this disease, check it out, the Bible says with this disease, you're already dead. Ephesians 2:1 says you're dead in your transgressions and sins. The Bible also says that because of your sin, you're already under the wrath and judgment of God that while you're an image, bearer of the king, that because of your sin, God's wrath remains on you. Here's the other thing that's really dangerous about sin, you're blind to it. You don't even realize it.

2 Corinthians 4:4 says that God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. So they're not even aware of it. When you're born, you're not even aware. You don't wake up one day and say, "Man, I'm in danger of hell, God's wrath is on me. And I didn't even know about it." You don't even think about it. You're blind to the fact of the most important spiritual reality that you're dead and because of your sin and because you're blind to it, you make all sorts of decisions that aren't good.

I mean, there's not one person who's listening to me that can say, Hey, from the moment I came out, I've been awesome, never ever sinned. I've always done everything God wanted me to do all the time. You can't even say that this morning. I mean, all of us have this DNA in us that keeps us from being everything that God wanted us to be. And guess what else it makes us? It makes us proud. Sin makes us proud. We like to think of ourselves as good. And the way that we do that is we compare ourselves to people we think are not very good. And we come up with our own judgements and our judgements have nothing to do with the holiness and righteousness of God. It has to do with comparisons to other people we don't like as much.

Well compared to them, compared to her, compared to him, compared to that group, I'm pretty good. I'm good. No, you're not. You're not good. There's nothing good about you. There's nothing fundamentally righteous about you. There's nothing fundamentally holy about you. The Bible is screaming at you from the time you open it pages, you're not good. There's nothing good. And here's the challenge with that, if we don't get to that, we can't get to the solution.

And so many people don't want to talk about the problem because they care more about drawing a crowd than they do about helping people understand the truth. I'm a pastor, I love you enough to tell you, one day, you're all going to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. One day, I'm going to stand before the Lord. Jesus Christ. I'm just telling you what his word says so that no one can accuse me of saying, you never told us we were sinful. You never told us we were under God's judgment. You never told us that God was wrathful. You never told us that we had a problem.

I'm telling you all, you all have the problem, it's my problem, it's your problem, it's every single person's problem. If you don't believe that problem, there is no hope for you in this world, because what you'll do is if you don't believe that problem, you'll go all the way back to the first question and say, well then why am I here? I don't think I was created by God. I don't even know if there is a God. I think it just happened because I'm good. That's what you'll do.

You talk to anybody in their worldview that doesn't believe that they're sinful and they will tell you how they arrived was happenstance. They'll tell you why they're here, they don't know. They'll tell you why they're here, some scientific theory that can't be proven but they're going to tell you it's somewhat factual. Because if you truly believe that God created you and you're an image bearer of the king and that you were given dominion over the animals and over this world, you'll realize if that's who I'm supposed to be, there's something wrong, because I'm not bearing the image the way I was supposed to bear it. And it's because it's your sinner. You're a sinner.

What's the problem? You're a sinner. You're not good. So it leads us to question number three and question number three is this, it's the message question. And the message question answers this, is there any hope? God's answer is yes. Here's his answer. God's answer is you are loved, not abandoned. That's God's answer. You are loved, not abandoned. Think of this, John 3:16, the most popular Bible verse ever to be quoted for God so what? Loved the world that he gave what? His only begotten son. What could he give that's more valuable than that? His only begotten, the only eternal son of God, that's who he gave, that what? Whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.

Greatest gift ever given the world. Greatest gift ever offered to you, Jesus Christ. Now, if you don't recognize, you're a sinner, there's really no need for Jesus. There's just not a need. Why do we need him? Well, it's probably good that I get my family into church. It's probably good that my kids grow up with a moral environment. It's probably good that I help make good decision. It's probably good... it's a waste of your time. If you don't recognize you're a sinner than what's your need for Jesus.

It's really interesting back in the gospels and Matthew 16, where Jesus was talking to his disciples and he was asking them this question, "Who do you say that I am?" And they begin to respond, "Well, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, others say you're one of the prophets." And Jesus said, "Yeah, but who do you say that I am?" And you remember Peter, he piped up and you remember what he said? He said this, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." To which Jesus responded, "Blessed are you Simon's son of Jonah for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my father who is in heaven."

Now, can you imagine this, the God of the universe starts asking a question to 12 human beings who am I? And the one guy says, you're the Christ, the son of the living God. And God says back to him. You're right. My father showed you this flesh and blood didn't show you this. My dad's showing you this. That's awesome and you're so blessed. Now how would you feel if you were Peter then? Yeah. Praise God, I mean, I'm blessed. I mean, I get this God thing. I got it going on. It's right.

So at that point in time, what does Jesus do? He begins explain to them that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer and die in a cross but not to worry he'd be resurrected in three days. So what does Peter do? Man, I know all about God now. So let me just pull Jesus aside and we'll have a little conversation. So he pulls Jesus aside and here's what he says. "No, Jesus, that's not going to happen. You're not going to the cross." And what does Jesus say this time? Does he say blessed are you Simon for my father in heaven... No. He says those words. It's really strong words too, "Get thee behind me Satan."

See, it was as satanically inspired as the serpent was in the garden. Jesus said, because you don't have in mind the things of the God but the things of men. What's in mind of the things of men, what do men want? Jesus to be? Everybody everywhere wants to have a bloodless Christ. Everybody everywhere wants to have a bloodless Christ. Jesus, if you can just bless me. Jesus, if you can just do good stuff for me. Jesus, if you can just tell me I'm awesome. Jesus, If you can tell, tell me I'm good. That's great. I like that.

Jesus, I don't want the Jesus that in order to have a part of me had to go die in my place for all my sin and that I have to recognize that the reason that he's on the tree is because of me and my sin. And if he didn't die in my place and stretch out his arms and receive all of his father's wrath on him, that all the wrath that went on him is still on me. I don't want that Jesus, the world doesn't want that. Jesus. They want the bloodless Christ. They want the one that they unredeemed Peter wanted. They want to feel good about Jesus.

They don't want to have to admit that they're sinful at their core and that apart from the cross of Christ, they have no hope. But God so loved the world he gave has only begotten son. Amen. He loved us. I mean, there's so many scriptures. Talk about the love of God. The reason we end our services by me saying you are loved is not because it's like a cute pastoral thing to say. I truly believe it's rooted in the word of God and I'm convicted about the fact that because he created you, he loves you.

1 John 4:10 says, this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son as a propitiation for our sin. 1 John 4:19, we love because he first loved us. Romans 5 tells us that very rarely will someone die for someone else yet for a good man, someone might possibly even dare to die but God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Roman 6:23 says the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

It's why Jesus in John 19:30, the last words he mouthed were what? It is finished to tell us, died, done, washed, gone. All of it completed. Why? Because he knew that he had received all the wrath of his dad from his suffering, from his death, from everything that was going on. And he stood in our place so that we could have life in his name. He died for you. That's the message. That's the hope. The hope is not you're sinful and you're bad, the hope is this, you're sinful and you're under God's wrath and so there's great hope because God loved you so much. He came and provided a solution for it. You don't leave church saying I'm bad. I'm awful. No, you leave knowing I'm sinful. But I know that in Christ, I'm completely 100% forgiven. Amen.

And this is why it's important to know the gospel because we have a lot of people in our culture that will mouth, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian. I mean, there's always a past's people that claim to be Christians that leave the faith. I've just heard of more of them this year, I think there's more of them that are coming. But pastors, ministry leaders, internet people, people that have been on staff with ministries that all of a sudden have said, they've come to the conclusion, they no longer are Christian. They were Christian but now they're not.

And if you listen to the story, I listen to a podcast this weekend for an hour and a half by somebody that was telling their story about they were close to Jesus, they loved Jesus. They were in a ministry for college for Jesus. They told people about Jesus. They read all the books that Christian authors wrote about Jesus but as they kept telling their story, they got to a place where they said I could no longer believe the creation story. I could no longer believe that all the Bible was true. I could no longer believe that Jesus was the Christ.

And as I was listening to this, I was thinking about scriptures that said stuff like this, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Why do you call me Lord, Lord and don't do what I say? It's lip service. I mean you can mouth whatever you want, talk is cheap. See there has to be something else that goes along with what you say you believe otherwise you've never even really been converted. Maybe you just grew up in a culture that was church and so you went to church and you knew how to fall down when the spirit moved or you knew how to raise your hands, or you knew how to fill out a card or you knew how to pray, or you knew how to do this. And it's always been part of your culture but Jesus has never been part of your life.

Because there's a difference between naming the name of Jesus and having Jesus Christ come into your life through his Holy Spirit. I know the difference, that's why, I mean, listen to me that's why repentance is so key to believing in Jesus. John the Baptist first message in Matthew 3 was this. Here's his first message repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus Christ's first message, his first word of his first message in Matthew 4:17 was, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Peter's first message in Acts 2:38 was, repent and be baptized and you'll receive the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us this in Roman 2:4 that the kindness of the Lord leads us to repentance. And in Acts 17:30, I'll read it to you, as he's calling on people. He says this, therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring that all people everywhere should repent. Repent means this, it means to turn from your sinful ways and turn to Christ. It doesn't mean you fix your sin, it doesn't mean that you get right, it doesn't mean that you start living good and then come to God. It means that you recognize God's holy and you're not and you're coming to him and whatever he has, you're going to hold onto forever and ever. Amen.

It's not just feeling sorry for sin. We all feel sorry for sin. Feeling sorry for our sin, it's like if we get caught or if we know we hurt somebody that we love, we feel sorry about it, that's not repentance. Repentance is not feeling sorry. Repentance is a gift of God. The Puritans called it, the gift of tears, where you feel the love of God and you see the holiness of God but you're broken from the inside out because you know that God loves you so much and in spite of your sin, but you want to grab onto him with everything you have.

In 2 Corinthians 7:10 as Paul was talking to the Corinthian people, he was sharing with them similar what I'm sharing with you this morning and verse nine and 10. He says this, I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. Paul's saying, I didn't mean to make you feel bad, I wasn't trying to make you feel sorrowful, but I'm glad you heard the message that the sorrow that you heard led to a place of repentance because that's God's gift in your life.

When you realize he's God and you're not and you're a sinner and his wrath's on you and God is the only one who can save you. Jesus Christ is the only way and you need him. And here's what Paul goes on to say in verse 10 of 2 Corinthians 7, for the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance without regret leading to what? Salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. Meaning this, feeling sorry for your sin it's not all that important. A lot of people feel sorry for their sin. A lot of people feel, I shouldn't have done that, I feel bad. I'm talking about the godly sorrow that produces in you a need for someone to forgive you that is only found in the person of Jesus Christ.

Now, I'm borrowing an analogy from a guy named Ray Comfort, who talked about the fact, if you were to get on a plane and Kim and I were plane, we flew to Nashville and back this week and on the plane, if somebody would've come up to me when I got on the plane this week and would've thrown a parachute on me and basically said, put this on now, I think I would've thrown it back, don't talk to me that way, get away from me, whatever. But if while I was boarding that plane, somebody came up and whispered in my ear and as the plane was taking off said to me, "Hey, you need to know, we just got word from the captain that this engine's not going well, we're going to open the doors. There's only five parachutes on the plane. Three of us have them, you and your wife can each have one. If you want to put one on, there's a strong chance, we're going to need to jump."

I would put that thing on as quick as I could, I would tie it, I would learn everything I could learn about that parachute. And there's nobody that could change my mind. People could walk back on their way to the bathroom and say, "Look at those two idiots wearing a parachute." Why would you wear a parachute in a plane? I mean, they could give me the history of wearing a parachute in a plane and how that's one of the dumbest things you can do because if it opens up, it's a really bad... You can give me all your knowledge, you can give me all your information, you can tell me why it's wrong. You can tell me why it's stupid. I'm not taking off the parachute because I know what's coming.

I'll tell you about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 30 years ago, I didn't just name the name of Jesus and say, yeah, I think I'll be a Christian today, that sounds like a good idea if that works. I know 30 years ago, I recognized I was a prideful sinner going to hell thinking I was going to heaven because I went to church. I knew that it was only in Jesus that could save me. And I called out to him and he saved my life. People can make fun of me for believing the Bible all they want. People can show me why the history's not really true. People can tell me, Jesus, isn't really true. I am hanging onto him with everything I have until I meet him because I know the gospel is that true? That is what salvation is.

So my question for you, because sometimes the hardest place to get saved is in a religious environment. Because for so many of us, we've had so many religious experiences that we have to come to the conclusion that maybe some of our religious experiences didn't save us. They just made us feel warm and fuzzy. See here's the question, is Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. Have you turned from your sin and given your heart to Jesus or have you just said, yeah, I want the bloodless Christ, I just think if I look at Jesus and keep living my same sinful life, I'll go to heaven someday. There's no good news in that at all.

The hope is in him. He loves you, he didn't abandon you. He loves you, he didn't neglect you. He loves you, he didn't forsake you. And some of you need to hear this because I know there's some that need to hear this today. Not only are you created in his image but he's never neglected you because there's some that have heard words like this, your whole life, loser, no good, lousy, messed up, ruined our family. Why did you have to come? Nobody likes you. Look at who you are. Look at the way you've sinned, nobody cares. You're rejected, you're stupid. You're messed up. Here's what God would say to you.

I have always loved you and I still love you and I've loved you so much that I sent my son for you. And when you choose Christ, when you respond to Christ, here's what he says. You're chosen, you're forgiven, you're beloved, you have a new identity. You're a new creation in the same way I created the world, I will recreate your life because I'm going to dwell in it. See, here's the question. When in your life did God by his grace bring you to a place of repentance where you no longer wanted this world, but you wanted Jesus Christ.

Now, just so you know, I know while I'm preaching this, some of you are hearing the lie in your head from the devil that says, don't worry about it. You've done that. You're good to go. Don't worry about it. Don't lean into this because if you do, you're going to in a cry in church. Don't get it. Just get out of here today. I mean, I know the lie he's saying to you, I'm talking about your eternity. I'm talking about who you are in him. I'm talking about if you were to stand before him in glory, could you say yes, I gave my life to you and if you haven't, make today your day. Make now your time.

Let Jesus Christ the one who shed his blood on Calvary and was nailed to a cross for you know that you've heard him, that you're done with this world and that you want all of Christ. Amen. That's the hope. Now, the world's going to give a different message, because if you're here accidentally or you're just here happenstance and you're good, there's no need for Jesus. They're never going to talk about Jesus. They're going to talk about it being old fashioned, not caught up with the times, all this stuff, because they don't believe any of that. And because you're abandoned, guess what they're going to tell you to do? Because you're abandoned and neglected and forgotten, you need to fill yourself.

So how you going to fill yourself? Is that every non-Christian fills himself or herself, with selfish pleasures, number one, whatever you enjoy doing, just do, if it's good for you, do it. Group sin, meaning you get a bunch of selfish, pleasure seekers together, put them all in one big group then it's even more fun and you're going to live your life number three with insatiable fulfillment. That means it's never satisfying. What you do that you think is so satisfying, you can't stop doing it but it's really not satisfying anymore.

The people that I know that are caught up in drugs, alcohol and illicit sex relationships, it started out so fun that that was so awesome. Now when you talk to him, if I could get out of this in any way I would get out, I don't even know how to get out of it anymore. But here's what Jesus said, I got good news for you, I can get you out. You give your life to me. I will break those chains. You give your life to me, I'll be the Lord of your life. You give your life to me, I'll take care of that. You give your life to me, I'll forgive of all your past.

You give your life to me, I'm more powerful than your sin. You give your life to me, I'll help you walk out what you've always wanted. You give your life to me, your ultimate purpose will be found. That's the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. That's the worldview, that's what the Bible is screaming at us. The Bible's telling us that we're sinful, but the Bible's also telling at the same time, but you're so loved. God's come for you. He didn't abandon you. He didn't leave you. He loves you. Which leaves us to the final question, which is the mission question, which is, where am I heading? Where does all this end up?

Now, if you have a world view, that's secular in your accidental, you just happen on the scene and you're good and you've been abandoned then it doesn't really matter because what difference does it make? But if you're unique because you're created and yet you're sinful and loved, then here's what God says to you. You are accountable, not exempt. See, just the fact that you showed up in church today is enough accountability that for the rest of eternity, you're going to know that what I'm telling you is true, what are you going to do with it?

When Jesus rose from the dead and he gathered his disciples before he left, he said this, all authority, that's a lot, that's all encompassing. All authority where? In heaven and on earth has been given to me. That means everywhere you go in this world or the next, I have all authority. Therefore, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you and I'll be with you always to the end of the age. So here's your mission, ready? If you trusted Christ, here's your mission to make disciples.

Now I didn't tell you to change vocations. I didn't tell you to get a different job. I said in whatever God's called you to do your number one responsibility is to tell others about Jesus and to grow people up in Jesus and teach them how to live for Jesus because that's exactly what you're doing. You're living for Jesus and you're showing others how to do that. That's your job. That's what you're going to be held accountable to on judgment day. It's not just, oh, I got saved, so that's enough.

No, you got saved but you were purpose and fashion in your God's workmanship and he's wanting to do something through you so wherever you go in every conversation that you have, God is wanting to use you to glorify him by telling other people about what it looks like to serve and know him. That's that's number one. That's your mission. That's my mission. That is your mission. But there's other places in the Bible that tells we're responsible too. Meaning remember in Matthew 25:14-30, I don't have time to tell the whole story. It's called the parable of the talents where an owner leaves and he entrusts certain amounts of property to his servants.

To one, he gives five talents, to one, he gives two and to one he gives one. Now a talent was an uncountable sum of money, it was huge. And the one with five immediately went and put it at work and earned another five. The one with two earned another two and the one with one didn't do anything. And when the master comes back, he's says, "Hey, what do you have for me?" And the one that earned five said, "Hey, I went out and earned five more. Here you go with everything." The one that earned two earned, two more came back and said, "Here you go, master. I earned two more."

The one that earned one said, "Well, what did you do?" He's like, "Well, I dug a hole and here's why I dug a hole because I knew you were a hard man. I were going to gather where you didn't sow, I didn't even like you. I didn't want to be responsible. I didn't want your stupid talent anyway. I didn't care what you gave me. So here's your stupid talent back." What does the manager say? "You wicked lazy servant. Take the one from him, give it to the one with 10 in and cast him out in the outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Well, what's the story tell? Story tells of the love of a father that sent his son to die for people that entrusted the world to them for people that say, I want nothing to do with the son and I want nothing to do with the mission. I don't care about you. That's who hell is for. Hell is for a group of people that want nothing to do with Jesus. See we're responsible. So I'm going to tell you this, just so you know, when you die, you stand before Jesus to give an account for your life. And let me be crystal clear, if you've repented and trusted in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you are his, he's done more through you than you even know.

As a matter of fact, in a story of Matthew, when he is separating the sheep from the goats and those that are on his right, that have been doing what he wants him to do are like the Lord, when do we do any of this stuff? I don't remember doing any of this stuff. And he said, whatever you did to one of the least of these, you did to me. Every time you went and visited somebody, you did it for me. Every time you showed compassion, you did it for me. The people on the left are like, well, when did we see all that stuff?

He said, "Hey, whatever you didn't do to the least of these, you didn't do to me." I mean, what was he saying? When the spirit of God comes in and dwells your life, he's doing things in you, you don't even know. The mission is not you taking conscious effort of every little thing you do and saying, am I really saved or not? Now the mission is for those of us who are saved, that we're accountable to God for how we live, which means this, listen to me, listen to me, listen, listen, listen. Most of us believe that in our heads but we don't believe it in our hearts. Where you choose to live, what you choose to do, how you spend your time you're accountable to God for all those things.

I remember praying to God, I decided to be a youth pastor for a couple years. It was a two-year commitment, I said I would do it and during that time I prayed for those two years, "Lord, should I be a football coach or should I be a pastor?" Now, during those two years started leading kids and parents to the Lord all over the place. Our football team went, oh, and nine and yet I'm still praying. Football coach or this, I don't know. You know, what should I do? You know, I don't know. And one day the Lord took me to his word and you know how certain times you're reading the word, it doesn't happen to me every day, it doesn't happen to very often, but there's certain times where I feel like as I'm reading the page, the Lord said, he wrote that specific scripture for me.

He illuminated his word, I was reading 2 Timothy 2:4 and he tells us in light of the coming judgment to do what preach the word. It was so clear in my heart. God's like, you need to be a preacher. I didn't even know that was a calling because telling you where I grew up, nobody preached the Bible. Nobody opened the Bible, maybe read it sometimes. But we didn't, so I'm like, is that even a calling? I had to ask people, can you do that? Is that a ministry? Can God call someone to preach? Let me help you in case you're wondering. Yes.

I've given my whole life to do one thing to preach the word of God because I believe the word says it's true, Jesus says, it's true, history says it's true. And this word reads me and tells me it's true. It's the reason that you're here today. And when you hear the word you know, I know I'm a sinner and I know God's moving me. And whether it's reorienting your mission or aligning your life with Christ to get saved, it's God who is speaking to you. What are you going to do with it? That's the missional question, because I'm going to tell you right now.

Romans 1:20 says that there'll be no men without excuse. Philippians 2:9-11 says that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on the earth and under the earth to declare that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. I'll close with this verse because we've shared it, Hebrews 4:12 for the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edge sword, it pierces to divide both soul and spirit joints and marrows, judges the attitudes and intentions of the heart. You know what the next verse says? And there is no creature hidden from his sight. That's you, you're not hidden from God's sight, but all things are opened and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do to whom we have to give an account.

You will give an account for your life based upon the truth of God's word. Which leads me this way, BRAVE Church today, what do you need to do today? For some of you today at BRAVE Church on both this campus and in Broomfield, you need to give your life to Christ. You need to realize that just naming the name of Jesus while you live your own life is not enough. You don't need a bloodless Christ, you need to a one that died for your sin, who rose from the dead. And you need to realize that you're under God's judgment until you choose him.

And today you need to repent your sin and trust Jesus. And there's some of you that are here today that you've done that you know that you know that you know, if you were to die today, you would experience the love of God and have you know that. But there are some things that God's been speaking to your heart missionary about how you give your best, all your talents all your [inaudible 00:54:28], where do you align all you are so that your whole industry and everything you're about is about the Lord Jesus Christ. What if anything needs to change in your life so Jesus Christ gets your highest and best.

And so the way I wanted to end to just pray for you, I think it's a sobering moment. Just to ask the Lord, to search you and try you and see if there's any offensive way in you and lead you in the way everlasting. So could you bow your heads and pray with me. Lord Jesus, we give you all the praise, all the glory and all the honor for who you are. And Lord in this sobering moment, as your word reads us, Lord, we're here hearing different things from your spirit and Lord, there's some of us here today who truly have never been saved, who thought they were saved when they came in this morning, some who know they're not saved when they came in this morning. But Lord, that group of people they know they need you right now. And if that's you, here's how you can pray right where you're at.

Dear Jesus, I know that you're God and I believe that I'm a sinner and I believe that I'm under the father's wrath, but I believe you loved me so much you came from me. I believe you died on the cross for my sin and I believe that you rose from the dead and victory. Right now I repent on my sin and I confess you as my personal Lord and savior. If you prayed prayer, I want you to know the Holy Spirit is what you're experiencing coming into your heart and your life. He wants to and dwell you forever. He will never let you go. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you.

Lord, there's some of us here today that we know that we're saved, we are so grateful for that. We know that there's nothing good in us but you, but Lord, as we were listening to your word this morning when we think about how short life is and it's just a vapor and how we're living our lives, that there's areas or in area that you've been talking to us about for a long time that we're not aligned with. And Lord, we just want to confess our sin before you today. And Lord, we just want to say, help me be who I need to be. Help me do what I need to do and help me by faith trust you Lord, to do that.

And Lord, for all that you are and for all that you do, we give you all the glory, we give you all the honor, we give you all the praise in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Can we give God some praises this morning for who he is.