Pastor Jeff just came back from Africa and is a little tan and he lost his hair too.

Hey, welcome to church.

Good to see everybody.

Yeah, good to see you.

Yeah, I pray for your pastor wasn't feeling well, but that's why I'm here.

But anyway, good to see everybody.

Open your Bibles to Romans chapter 2.

Welcome to us online.

If you don't know this, notes are in the one and all app.

We're in a series called Essentials and we're looking at catalytic moments in which Romans sheds light on the uniqueness and the relevance of the gospel.

So this is going to be an interesting message.

I hope you stay with me on this one.

What's Romans?

Romans is a letter that was written by Paul to a church in Rome, which he started, if you read the later chapters of Acts, he started the church there.

And this church was a multi-ethnic church.

with Jews and Gentiles and so there's a bit of tension between them on what it means to be a Christian.

Now, I love French history.

I don't know why but it's kind of interesting.

I love French history because it's a little chaotic, all right?

So July 14th, if you don't know your French history, July 14th is what they call Bastille Day.

It commemorates the day that France changed forever.

The country exploded like it was, it's happening right now.

It's going crazy.

I don't know what's wrong with those guys.

They just...

Explode every time, right?

The anger was due to oppression of the people.

It had reached its boiling point.

And there was over-taxation of people.

There was no food.

Bread had become so expensive.

And so instead of being compassionate, Marie Antoinette, the queen, says, let them eat the cake, you know?

That's what she tells them, eat cake, which is not really cake, but it's like brioche, I think it is, right?

It's like very rich bread.

That's with eggs and stuff, Trader Joe's people, there's brioche, that's awesome, right?

I love that bread over there, they have a brioche, lovely bread, Trader Joe's.

Alright, cool.

Just a little, that's it, I digress.

Anyway, so, and the peasants had nothing to eat.

There was a system of oppression, you got the class system, which was the nobility, the bourgeoisie, which perpetuated the feudal system.

And unfortunately, the church...

The clergy was part of this class system.

There was a forced tithe on the agricultural products.

And the church also owned 6% of the land.

Payment of penance was out of control.

And the church was so bad that it ended up as one of the topics for a document presented to Louis XVI, the king, at the general estates meeting.

And...

The statement was called the statement of grievances.

Okay?

In fact, the credibility of the church was so bad that it was a target for the reign of terror in which one of the objectives was to eradicate the church.

Okay?

So how could the church preach God's word on the weekday but then oppress its own people during the week?

How did that happen?

Well, That's what Paul is talking about here.

What does it mean to be a Christian?

And so when we turn to Romans 2, Paul turns the tension from talking about the world and non-Christians to talking about Christians. So here we go.

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

Romans chapter 2.

Let's go.

Here we go.

So number one, the first point is the delusion of moral superiority.

Many of us think that because we're good.

We are good with God, okay?

Because we think that we're good people, so we're good with God.

Well, let's see what Paul says, Romans chapter 2.

Therefore, you have no excuse, you foolish person.

Oh man, he was serious.

He's like, he's just, you know.

Therefore, you have no excuse, you foolish person.

Every one of you passes judgment.

For in that matter in which you judge someone else, you condemn yourself.

For you who judge practice the same things.

And we know that judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.

But do you suppose this, you foolish person, again, you foolish person, who passes judgment on those who practice such things, and yet does them as well, that you will escape the judgment of God?

Who is Paul talking to?

He's talking to the church.

Paul has shown us in chapter 1 how the pagan world works.

They're not Christians, so this is how they behave.

But he says, you know, he says, hey, you Christians agree that the wrath of God should be on non-Christians.

But then you guys are doing the exact same thing.

Which he talks about in Romans chapter 1 verse 29.

He says, Their lives are full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.

They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful.

They invent new ways of sinning and they disobey their parents.

They refuse to understand.

They break their promises, they are heartless, and they have no mercy.

Paul is saying, what you're judging the non-Christians about is what is actually happening in the church.

The so-called Christians in Rome are behaving like non-Christians.

Okay?

So you might say, well, I am not Adolf Hitler.

I would never do what he did.

But I am also not Billy Graham.

I am somewhere in the middle.

What does that mean?

Well, I do more good than bad.

Really?

Well, let me tell you.

We, every one of us, is capable of doing really bad things.

Now, if you have a child in here, I said this is going to be a little bit of sensitive, okay?

So I'm going to show you some pictures, okay?

Now, I went to Rwanda.

My first time when I said working with the church as a global outreach pastor, and I went to Rwanda for the first time, and I got to go to the museum, the genocide museum, and it was mind-blowing.

It was very, very tough to see the pictures of children being slaughtered, who were slaughtered.

There were mass graves because they didn't know the kids.

They didn't know who they were.

There were skeletons everywhere on display.

There were pictures of children who were murdered during the Rwanda genocide, the Hutus killing the Tutsis.

The phrase I kept hearing through the videos, Over and over is, I didn't think that person could do such a thing.

So there's a plaque that's going to be up here in a little bit that I read.

I'm going to read it if you can't read it, but it's the survivor.

This person survived this as a child, and she writes this.

She writes, a man came up to me to kill me.

I was astonished because he was a friend.

He used to come to our house every day.

He found my father's fields and received a salary.

My mother gave him food.

We used to play with him and he was like a brother to us even though we were not from the same family.

I asked him why he wanted to kill me when I had done nothing to hurt him.

I begged him to take pity on me.

He said nothing but he just hit me on the head with a machete.

He had bits of wood in his hand which is stuck in my face.

When he thought I was dead, he left.

We are all capable, every one of us, of great evil.

But we tend to think we are not.

What happens to child molesters when they get in prison?

Okay, this is what Chuck Swindoll says.

Even in prison, murderers, rapists, and thieves have no tolerance for child molesters.

And they have no compunction about mistreating or even killing them.

Listen to this.

Even though they're all in the same place, prison, when a child molester gets to prison, the prisoners there want to kill a child molester.

But they're all in prison in the same place.

Think of how, just think about this.

Think of how you react in a freeway.

If there's anyone driving faster than you, They are a lunatic.

If they're driving slower than you, they're incompetent, right?

Somehow we think we're the gold standard of driving, right?

You think you're the gold standard of perfect driving.

Well, let's go to the Bible.

When David was at his worst, when he took one of his best warrior's wives, Bathsheba, and he murdered her husband, Uriah.

Her husband...

who was an amazing man and he could not cover up his sin that he had committed.

The Bible says this in 2 Samuel chapter 12.

So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story.

There were two men in a certain town.

One was rich and the other was poor.

The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle.

The poor man owned nothing but a one little lamb that he had bought.

He raised a little lamb and grew up with his children.

It ate from the man's own plate and drank from his cup.

He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter.

One day, a guest arrived at his home, at the home of the rich man.

But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man's lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.

We get up to verse 5.

David was furious.

As surely as the Lord lives, he vowed, any man who does such a thing deserves to die.

He must repay for lambs to the poor man for the one that he stole and for having no pity.

Then Nathan looked at David.

You are that man.

David was acting like Mr. Moral High Ground, not realizing the evil that was in his own heart.

John Stott writes, we work ourselves up into a state of righteous indignation over the disgraceful behavior of other people.

While the same behavior seems not so serious when it's ours.

So our criticism of others is quicker and harsher.

And that's why Jesus told you and I to remove the log out of our eyes before we remove the speck of dust in someone else's.

Right?

So Paul gives us a warning.

Verse 4, chapter 2.

If you're with your Bible, okay, we're in verse 4.

Here we go.

Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and the restraint and the patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads to repentance?

But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are stirring up for yourself, you're stirring up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will repay each person according to his deeds.

So the question is...

Is Paul contradicting himself when he quotes Psalm 62?

And he says God is going to repay everyone according to their deeds.

Well, I don't think so.

He's not saying, he's not going back on the premise that salvation is by grace alone.

No.

We are saved by grace through faith.

Thank Jesus, right?

But Paul is saying, if you're in the church, And you keep on living like a non-Christian, but judge non-Christians, you are that man, you are that woman.

That's what he's saying.

Mr.

Moral or Miss Moral High Ground, God will repay you according to your deeds.

And so Romans 2.11 says, he reminds us, for there is no partiality with God.

That's the NSB.

NLT says, for God.

does not show favoritism.

Are you with me so far?

Okay, you're tracking.

Here we go.

So how?

What happens here?

How does God not show favoritism?

Verse 12.

Okay, we're going down the chapter.

Okay, are you with me?

All right, here we go.

For all have sinned without the law, for all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law.

And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law, for it is not the hearers of the law you who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

For when Gentiles who do not have the law instinctively, okay, pay attention, they instinctively perform the requirements of the law, these, though not having the law, are law to themselves, in that they show that the work of the law is written in their hearts.

Their conscience is testifying, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defeat.

defending them on the day when, according to my gospel, God would judge the secrets of mankind through Christ Jesus.

A long passage, but it's very powerful.

Paul argues that the Gentiles or non-Christians have the natural law written in their hearts, which you've heard before, okay?

They have a law, a natural law that points them towards God, and God would judge them based on that.

Hey, you guys, how about that very amazing story of that Indian pilot who saved 180 passengers?

Wasn't that awesome?

Yeah?

Wasn't that good?

Yeah, we can clap for that.

It was good, right?

He saved 160 Jews from annihilation, right?

It was amazing.

Now, from that interview, I saw with the Indian prime minister, he had an interview with the Indian prime minister, and it seemed like this pilot is a Hindu.

So if he's a Hindu and Hinduism is about karma, which is really fatalism, which means that if events are fixed, there's nothing that you...

or I can do to prevent those things from stopping.

That's what karma is.

If an event is coming, there's nothing you can do to prevent it.

So, if that is what karma is, and he's a Hindu, my question is, why did he fight back?

Why did he fight back?

As the cockpit axe came down his head and he was fighting for his life, why did he think...

That the Jews on that plane and everybody else were worth saving.

Why?

Because he knows there's a higher law written on his heart to which God is going to hold him accountable.

Right?

If he believes in karma, he should have just let the plane go down.

No.

He fights for the people on the plane because he knows there's something else written on his heart.

And so.

In the Romans passage, God would hold both Jews, Christians, and non-Christians accountable to the law which they know.

The problem is, we can't keep the law perfectly.

So the point here is, the truth is that at the foot of the cross, we are all the same.

The good person and the bad person.

The person who just knits in their house and does nothing, thinks they do nothing wrong.

and the murderer.

On the cross, we are all the same.

Amen?

We are all the same.

There's no one who's so good that you don't need Jesus.

So delusion one is the delusion of moral superiority.

Number two, the delusion of religious competency.

Now Paul moves from the moral person to the religious person, the person who thinks they are good because They do the right things in church.

Verse 17.

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely upon the law and Boston God and know His will and distinguish the things that matter being instructed from the law and are confident that yourself are a guide to the people who are blind, a light to those in the darkness, a corrector to the foolish, a teacher to the immature, possessing...

In the law, the embodiment of knowledge and of truth.

You, therefore, who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach that one is not to steal, do you steal?

You who say that one is not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

You loathe idols, do you rob?

You who loathe idols, do you rob temples?

You who boast in the law, through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God?

For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

Oh man, this is a very tough chapter, isn't it?

Right?

It is tough.

It's like, whew, he's just hammering away.

Paul is not saying that there is something wrong about being a Jew.

Because he himself is a Jew.

He's telling the Jews that the problem is that they brag about it, and they brag about their special status.

Now, you could insert the word Christian, as Timothy Keller says.

He says, you call yourself a born-again Christian, and you are sure that you are right with God because you signed a commitment card or walked down the aisle or prayed a prayer.

You remember you had strong feelings for God, so you must have been converted that night.

And hence, you have memorized dozens of Scripture verses.

And you know the right answer to a large array of questions you have led other people to commit to Christ.

You come to church kind of regularly.

You give.

You sit in the same seat on the weekend.

And if someone takes it, you get mad.

You stack chairs during the week.

All good things, but it's for you.

And that's what Paul is saying.

The question that I have for you is, why do you come to church?

Why do you come to church?

Religious people do things to win God's favor.

But how many things, listen, let me ask you a question.

How many things can you do to please God?

How many things can you do?

See, religion is all pain.

And according to Chuck Swindoll, Religion reveals itself in three ways.

Number one, religion emphasizes the physical over the spiritual.

It underscores pious activities and the appearance of...

Sacrificial labor.

You must go on this pilgrimage.

You must pray these beads.

You must attend services at the temple.

You must wear this thing to make sure that you're pure.

You must fast this number of days to make sure that you're accepted by God.

That is religion.

It emphasizes the physical over the spiritual.

B, religion emphasizes secondary matters while ignoring matters of primary importance.

Outward appearances.

are very, very important.

They focus on outward appearances versus what do I sincerely believe, and am I truly obeying God? See, religion promotes self-interest above all else, and the religious zealot is very self-centered.

Now, everyone knows, and I know this, I love the Chosen series.

How many of you love the Chosen series?

It is fantastic, right?

It is great.

When the character of Judas came out, I had a few women saying, oh man, he's so handsome.

He's so awesome, you know.

You know, beautiful eyes and that stuff.

Anyway, Max Lucado comments that one thing we know for sure is that Judas never had a relationship with the master.

And the chosen gives us a really good picture of Judas and why he probably got all this wrong.

So I'm going to show you a clip.

And in that clip, Judas meets Jesus and wants him to take on Jesus.

the Roman Empire.

So he gives Jesus his plan.

Here we go.

And so to adopt your language for a moment, what is the deal you're proposing I close?

Reclaimed your birthright.

You are the Messiah, the son of David, and the people are so convinced they're singing songs in your name.

It's time.

And if I don't do whatever big thing you've imagined I should do at this time, will you still believe?

Of course I will.

Then why are you suggesting that you know better than I do what should be the next best course of action?

Look, I trust you.

Do you trust me?

What sort of question is that?

You believe I have something to offer this group, yes?

I do.

Then why won't you take my advice?

Am I not here to help you?

I've never asked you for your advice.

Then what am I here for?

If I am no use to your kingdom, then I am nothing.

You have a choice to make, Judas.

I'm listening.

Who you belong to.

Who has your heart.

That's a good one, right?

So he, Judas, had seen Jesus but did not know him.

He had heard Jesus but did not understand him.

He had religion but not relationship.

So Satan, so as Satan walked his way around the table in the upper room, he needed a special kind of man to betray Jesus, to betray our Lord.

He needed a man.

who had seen Jesus but did not know him.

He needed a man who knew the actions of Jesus but had missed out on the mission of Jesus.

Judas bore the clock of religion but never knew the heart of Christ.

He did not.

So Mark's locator warns us that Satan, Satan's best tools for destruction, Oh no, listen, they don't come from Hollywood, they don't come from Washington, but from within the church, people with religion and no relationship with Jesus.

Okay.

Did you hear me?

I'm going to say it again.

Look at the ones that Satan's best tools for destruction don't come from Hollywood, they don't come from Washington, but from within the church.

People who have religion, but don't have a relationship.

So Paul continues in verse 23, okay?

You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it.

No wonder the scriptures say that Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.

The point is, Timothy Keller says...

A life of religious legalism is always distasteful to those outside the faith.

I want to read that again.

A life of religious legalism is always distasteful to those outside the faith.

When I was in body school, I went to body school in Uganda at a place called Kingscoach Budo.

And I was part, so we had scripture union, which is like...

Christian club in America, right?

It's called Scripture Union in most other countries.

And so I was part of the leadership of this club.

And it was all kinds of students who came in from different backgrounds, denominations.

It was awesome.

But then during one of our last year, there was a group of...

Students who came from a church.

Now, remember, I grew up Pentecostal, so I'm kind of comfortable with it to some sense.

But these kids were just like crazy.

They came in claiming that everybody must speak in tongues.

And they said dividing our club and creating so much chaos.

And all these young Christians were getting so riled up as they were going around trying to get everyone to speak in tongues.

Okay?

Now, you know I'll stand here.

If you speak in tongues, awesome.

But we're not doing it crazy.

Okay?

So.

if you want to do it by yourself, that's good.

Okay?

It's alright.

But this was creating division because we had so many different denominations in our Christian club.

Do you know what they would do?

They would go at like midnight.

There was the bus, the school bus was stationed by the headmaster's house, which is the principal.

They would climb on top of that bus and cry out to God at midnight.

The headmaster is sleeping.

It's midnight.

That means this was causing problems for us because they were all trying to be super spiritual and super religious.

And they were causing problems within the church.

That was so bad due to their legalism.

If you behave like this, non-Christians think God is like you.

They just think God is like you.

All legalistic.

Therefore, God is not attractive to them.

So they blasphemy the name of God.

The result is this.

choose to behave like a religious person, it will lead to failure and frustration because you cannot achieve the perfection or keep up the pretense that you're trying to do.

This is why I've asked you before, why do you come to church?

Why do you call yourself a Christian?

Why do you call yourself a Christian?

So concluding these last two points, the gospel is unique in that none of us can measure up to our own moral or religious standards, let alone God's.

None of us can.

There is one thing left to do.

So point one is the delusion of moral superiority.

Number two is the delusion of religious competency.

Number three, this is awesome, right here.

We're on time.

True transformation is at the heart level.

Amen?

True transformation is at the heart level.

Let's go.

Verse 25.

Circumcision, Paul writes, has value if you observe the law.

But if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.

So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?

The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law, Will condemn you who even though you have the written code and circumcision are a law breaker.

It's a powerful chapter, isn't it?

Paul is just going at it, right?

A person who, a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly.

No, it's circumcision merely outward and physical.

No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly.

And the circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the spirit.

Not by the written code.

Such a person's praise is not from other people.

It is from who?

From God.

Amen.

Amen.

So unless, unless your heart is transformed by the Holy Spirit, you will continue to try to be a moral person or a religious person.

See, I always told our kids, and as they were growing up, I would always be like, Daddy, you keep saying the same thing all over again.

I said, I always told them, I cannot be a Christian for you, okay?

I cannot be a Christian for you.

And I used to tell them, being in a garage doesn't make you a car.

I used to tell them that all the time.

They'd be like, ah, you know, like, just like being a cuckoo.

It doesn't make you a chicken.

And I'll try to wrap it for them, right?

Okay?

It doesn't.

You need to know what you believe, why you believe it, and have a relationship with God.

Timothy Keller paraphrases that same passage we just read, and he says this.

So, what if you've been baptized?

So, what if you're a church member?

This only counts for anything if there has been a real change in your life.

If your heart has not been truly affected, don't you know?

You are not a Christian if you are one externally.

Real Christianity is not about having confidence in external things.

No.

A Christian is someone who is a Christian inside.

What matters is inner baptism.

A heart membership of God's people.

And this is a supernatural work, not a human one.

Powerful.

So if your heart...

has not been fully affected by the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, and you're in church, listen to this carefully, and you're in church, you have a condition called dead orthodoxy, okay?

You may subscribe to basic biblical and Christian doctrines, but there hasn't been this internal change in your heart.

There hasn't.

Now, this may sting, okay?

Dead orthodoxy makes church into a religious cushion for people who think they're Christians.

But in fact, they are radically and subconsciously insecure about their acceptance before God.

So every Sunday or every weekend, people gather to be reassured that they're all right.

This is what Paul is saying.

And that is why I'm asking you today, why?

Do you come to church?

Why do you come to church?

Paul is hammering us all.

So Paul says, no person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the spirit and not by the written code.

And this is supported by what Paul writes in the book of Colossians chapter 2, and he says, in him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ.

Amen?

God made you alive with Christ.

So the circumcision is a supernatural thing done by the Holy Spirit according to Paul.

It is a gift of grace that is given to you and I when we submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Listen, church, God can change.

your heart.

Amen?

God can change your heart.

And what is the heart?

In relation to the Bible, the heart is the center of knowledge leading to intentions and actions.

So when your heart is circumcised by the Holy Spirit, it starts to fill your heart with the things of God so that your intentions and your actions change.

To do God's will.

I'll say that.

When your heart is circumcised with the Holy Spirit and by God's word, he starts to fill your heart with the things of God so that your intentions and your actions change to do God's will.

So a circumcised heart is one that is spiritually melted.

Bible says, blessed the pure for they will see God.

A circumcised heart is one.

with an active prayer life out of love and devotion to God.

It is one on a daily mission for God and His purposes because new knowledge has been downloaded into their heart.

Okay, so, whew That was a lot.

Did you, did you, was that helpful?

Yes?

Amen?

All right, so we're going to apply that right now.

We're going to do an application.

Remember the message notes in the OneAll app if I'm moving too fast.

So here we go.

We're bringing it up together now.

Okay, how do we apply this to our lives?

Number one, maybe it's time for us to do a personal audit.

How big is the gap between your scripture knowledge and practice in your life?

How big is the gap between your scripture knowledge and the practice in your life?

How big is that gap between scripture and my actions?

There will always be a gap because we're humans, but is that gap getting smaller and smaller every time?

Have you seen Jesus, but do not know Him?

Have you heard Jesus, but do not understand Him?

Do you have religion, but not a relationship?

Amen.

You know, there was a, when I was in high school, there was this story.

I don't know if it is true, but I heard it because someone came and he preached a message, and that story stuck in my head, okay?

And it's about, it's during the communist Russia and...

A soldier walks in and took some Christians praying in a room, and he points his gun at them, and he says, if you're a Christian and you believe Jesus is Lord, I'm going to kill you.

But if you do not, if you want to deny Jesus right now, you can walk out.

I won't kill you.

And so most of the people left the room because the soldier was going to kill everybody.

And once everyone was out who wanted to go, who wanted to deny Jesus, he put his weapon down, and he said, I'm a Christian, and I want to make sure there's no spy in here.

And he prayed with them.

Okay?

I don't know if that's true, but if that story is true, imagine all those people who walked out.

Imagine all those people who walked out.

They had religion and not a relationship.

So here's my prayer for me because I want my gap to get smaller.

So I want us to pray this psalm together.

Everyone, are you with me?

We're going to say, we're going to pray this prayer together.

We're going to read this psalm.

Here we go.

One, two, three.

Keep me.

from deceitful ways.

Be gracious to me and teach me your law.

Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees that I may follow it to the end.

Give me understanding so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.

Direct me in the path of your command, for there I find delight.

Turn my heart towards your statutes and not towards selfish gain.

Wow.

I like verse 36.

Turn my heart towards your statutes.

Powerful.

Another version says, incline my heart.

Okay?

So that's one personal audit.

How big is the gap between Scripture knowledge and practicing your own life?

That's your own audit.

Now, congregational audit.

Is our church dead or alive?

Ooh.

Is our church dead or alive?

That is a question.

What does worship feel like corporately?

What is the purpose of our Sunday or weekend worship?

Are we gathered together anticipating that God is going to meet us?

Or do we feel a sense of deadness or emptiness?

It's funny, but it's a serious question.

Okay?

Do we come on the weekend?

To fulfill an obligation and know that, well, we are all right with God.

Coming to church is one thing, but is your heart drawing closer to God every time you come to the church on the weekend?

The Bible says, James says, draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Here are some tests.

Okay, this is going to be a hard one, but I'm going to try.

Here, response time.

During response, after the message has been preached.

Last weekend, Pastor Jeff gave a fantastic message.

And he talked a little bit about sexual immorality and how it's prevalent, not just out in the world, but in our church.

And when I came out and I asked for people to come, hey, repent, I was shocked.

There were like five people who came up.

But we know, we know according to statistics, that many of us in the church struggle with sexual sin, pornography.

But when we say, hey, it's time for you to come and pray, nobody comes up.

Nobody comes up.

Guys, if you want God to move, we've got to humble ourselves.

We've got to stop trying to be holy than now.

If you need prayer, just get out of your seat.

Humble yourself and show up.

When you're struggling with something, just get up out of your seat and go receive prayer.

We're a church and we believe in messiness.

Bring your stuff.

Bring it.

Amen.

Bring it.

Okay.

Bring your stuff.

Worship time.

Are you moved by God when songs are being sung?

I mean, sometimes I'm just shocked.

Like, the song is going off and there's just like, sometimes I see two, three people, five, ten sometimes, you know.

And they're going and the rest of us are just like staring into the abyss.

I don't know what's there, but the song is trying to get...

I mean, don't we have an amazing worship team?

Right?

And I'm asking myself, what are we not doing?

We've given you a great team.

We've got Melanie here.

She's a great voice.

We're like, okay, maybe they'll go to the kids to the throne.

No.

Why are you coming to church?

Prayer night.

Prayer night.

Guys, our numbers are going down.

So I'm asking myself, our prayer meetings on all campuses should be bursting at the seams because we want to meet God.

There should be, people should be lined up.

There should be no parking anywhere because we desire to meet with God.

Do we as a church anticipate meeting God when we come to worship?

Are we dead?

Are we alive?

That's up to you church.

That's up to you.

Okay, number three, mission audit.

How mission-minded are you?

See, God has given us the church.

The scriptures.

We've been entrusted with the good news of the gospel.

We have the full revelation given of Jesus in the Bible.

Therefore, we must have the drive to share the gospel.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

For Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all.

Therefore, all died.

Did you know if you're new to our church, that's where our name comes from?

One died for all, one and all.

If you did not know, that's where our church name comes from.

Okay?

And he died for all.

Listen to this.

This is awesome.

And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Woo That's amazing right there.

That's amazing.

Paul is saying we should not be living for ourselves, but for him.

There is a, you guys know the story of the lost son, the prodigal son.

They say prodigal, but I say lost son, okay?

In Luke 15, do you notice that the elder brother in the story, the elder brother did not go out to find his brother?

He didn't.

Do you notice he didn't even sit with his father waiting for his younger brother?

That is a picture of a moralist and a religious person.

Christ's love in us is for...

anyone who is far from God, a Muslim, a Hindu, a gangster, a homeless person, a homosexual, a child molester.

God's Christ love in you should compel you to go share the gospel with those who are lost because you and I are just like them except for the grace of God, except for the grace of God.

So are you convinced that one died for all?

Are you convinced?

Then you've got to go share it.

How then can they call on the one they have not believed in?

How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?

How can they hear without someone preaching to them?

How can anyone preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.

You want beautiful feet?

Share the gospel.

I don't know, that just came out of nowhere, okay?

The good news is that Paul tells us God is kind and his kindness leads us to repentance.

So wherever, wherever this someone finds you, I would like you to respond to God's invitation to have a changed heart.

Like Jesus told Judas, someone is fighting for your heart.

You got to choose where your heart is going to go.

But we can be like David, like even though he messed up, the Bible calls him a man after God's own heart.

Amen?

Let us pray together.

Would you bow your heads with me?

Consecrate us now, God, to thy service by the power of grace divine.

Let my soul look up with steadfast hope, and our will be lost in yours.

Draw us nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where you have died.

Draw us nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to thy precious bleeding side.

And everybody said...

Amen.