Do You Know Who God Is?

0:51 years straight. That's crazy. Trying to set a record. And last year, you know, I haven't been here in a year. Best year of my life. Best year of my life. I just feel like I'm happier than I've ever been. So 17 years here, you get the happiest Francis that has ever been in this school. And it seems like it even just increases. I mean, even since Monday. I mean, I'm going to share with you just stuff that God taught me on Monday that took me to another level. where I'm going, God, like how happy can you make a person? You know, like that's really what it is. It's just been a fascinating, amazing year. Last year, about this time actually, around this time of year, I prayed to God. Okay, because there was this guy in my ministry that I just loved, this young man where I thought, this guy blows my mind.

1:49 I've never met someone at this age that close to Jesus. When he would talk to me about what he'd read in the Bible and I mean, just everything about him became one of my best friends, so I just came before God. I go, Lord, this is such a crazy thing to pray, and I even feel a little bit scared to say it, and I'm not trying to say this arrogantly or anything else, but God, could you make this guy fall in love with my daughter? Like, seriously, like, there's no one on earth I'd rather have in my family, and I see in the Old Testament, like, you do things, like, oh, you meet this girl at the well, and you know, like, that, that old thing, like, like, so I don't think it's unbiblical, but can I be so bold to say, God, I don't think there'd be anyone better for my oldest daughter, but you know best, you know best, and, but I would love to have him in my family, just have him meet, have him fall, so they went out in July and got married in December, was that cool?

2:50 yeah it's just like you gotta be kidding me like like like things like that where i go god did i really just did that really just happen and i'm just seeing these things that that the lord just keeps revealing to me day after day but but monday i gotta tell you about monday just things as I was praying and reading in the scriptures, I was reading through 2 Samuel, okay? I'm on this reading plan. Our whole church reads through the entire Bible in a year, and we're reading through 2 Samuel, and we just got done, and I was struck with the life of David, okay? That's what 2 Samuel is all about is David's life. And it never hit me how disgusting his sin was. I mean, that was evil, like evil, evil. I just sat there and I meditated on David's sin. I thought, man, how gross is it that he was the king? He was the king, and he sees this woman, this married woman, and because he has the authority as the king that he could tell his people, hey, go get her for me?

4:12 That's sick. That is such an evil abuse of power. If anyone in authority did that nowadays, can you imagine how disgusted we would be with that person? Wait, just because you have that power, you just take a woman in and you sleep with her? But then it goes on where you know the story that she actually gets pregnant, and so his solution is, well, we'll bring her husband. I mean, that's the thing, too, is this is one of his buddies that he calls in, and, you know, and the whole idea is, well, if I can get him back to his house, maybe he'll sleep with his wife, and then just believe that it's his baby, but this guy has so much integrity that he refuses to go to his house. He just goes, no, all my friends, all the other soldiers are in battle right now. I'm not going to go back to my house. I'll just sleep on your doorstep. Like, I try to put myself in David's shoes and go, man, I would be so sick to my stomach right then. You know how when you meet someone that's so close to God, you just feel guilty being with them, right? They don't have to say anything. You're just like, man, I'm a loser, you know, right? Because they just, they just, they're so pure, they're so right.

5:34 That's the way I would have felt with Uriah, like, whoa, okay, game over. I, you know, like, but his solution is, okay, then I'm gonna have to kill him? Are you kidding me? And the way he does it, and makes it look like an accident, and then, then he gets confronted by Nathan the prophet, like, what were you thinking? But then beyond that, then I thought, okay, so then after all that, then you marry the girl, you take the girl in after all of that, and wouldn't you for the rest of your life, every time you looked at her, I know me, every time I'd look at her, I would just think of my sin, like I killed her husband. With a child, the child died because of my sin. Like, what shocked me as I was reading through 2 Samuel is you keep reading. and it's like life goes on for him and I read that and I go, God, how does he go on from that?

6:43 I couldn't move, looking at myself and knowing my temptations and my issues, I wouldn't be able to move on from that. I think I would just sink into a depression or something. How do you look at your wife every day knowing what you did. How do you deal with that type of guilt? But that's what shocked me about the story. It's like, wait, a couple chapters later, you're out doing this, you're out doing that. It just seemed like that was one episode in his life, like something that happened in this one season, and then he moved on. And it bugged me because I'm going, God, I haven't moved on like that. I've never done anything like that. But I'm still holding stuff that I did 30 years ago when I was your age. And God was just showing me, you're still holding on to some of this stuff. you haven't moved on from this and i'm looking at david going i don't know how he did it how did he write these psalms how did he go on it just seems like his life just moved past the sin past the shame like he really believed he was a hundred percent forgiven and goes back to his harp and starts writing songs again and i'm going i i don't know how to do that and I just started saying to God okay you know what I'm done Monday morning alone just on my knees going God I'm done okay this was 25 years ago some of this stuff was 30 35 years ago and man, and these last 25 years, man, I feel like I've lived a pretty, I'm not a perfect life, but I've been on a pretty good track. Man, I'm growing closer to God. I'm loving my, I'm loving

8:48 my kids and all of this, and so why am I still feeling like there's still some garbage in my life from way back here that I've confessed before? And just shows me, you know, it doesn't matter. It's not like something you make up for. And I just thought, man, if I could spare some of you the next 25, 30 years thinking that if you have a good track record and you change your lifestyle, that somehow that will erase some of the shame from the past. That's not how you do it. Take it from me. That's not how you do it. It doesn't work. I just started confessing everything and saying, God, I'm done with it. There's no way. This is wrong. This is of Satan. This is everything else. And I just started saying, God, I want to be like David. I want to move on. Get past the shame.

9:45 And I started confessing to one of my closest friends that morning. We went out, hung out, and I was like, man, can I just share some stuff that I haven't shared with anyone? From when I was a kid, when I was a teenager, when I was a college student, seminary student. I'm turning 50 this year, and this stuff's been there. And I told him, I go, this is what it feels like. You know, it's like, I go, this is what I feel like. You know those old dry erase boards, you know, where you write something on it, and you go, okay, there's my sin, and God, forgive me my sin.

10:40 and so you you wipe it but you're like yeah i'm clean but not really right you know you you go you can still see it like that that's really the way i think a lot of us feel right like there's there's like i know i'm forgiven and if you gave me a test and you said man did the blood of christ cover this you know yes or no you'd say yes but somehow you feel like there's still this something left there and that's not what the Bible says.

11:14 Like, that doesn't even make sense. Like, I believe in the holiness of God. Okay, I've got no problem understanding the holiness of God. I mean, that's something God has made clear to me. In fact, one of my friends, it was actually Justin, my son-in-law. My son-in-law, I love saying that. My son-in-law, Superman. He was sharing with someone the other day, just talking about Jesus, talking about God And the guy says to him, you know, just kind of flippantly, like, oh, yeah, I've seen God. I saw God. And Justin looks at him, no, you didn't. The guy's like, yeah, I saw God. He goes, the God of the Bible. You saw him. He goes, no, you didn't. The guy's like, how can you tell me what I did or did not see? He goes, you did not see the God of the Bible. If you saw the God of the Bible, your face would have melted off your skull. You know, I'm like, wow, I love this guy. I mean, it's just, yeah, that's right, because you understand, and I get that.

12:11 The Bible says there's this being up there who dwells in unapproachable light. It's like if you told me that you stood in front of an atom bomb and watched it explode. I'm like, no, you didn't. If you said, no, I actually stood on the sun. I'd say, shut up. You didn't. and these are things that God, almighty God, the consuming fire created. So what would it be like to step into his holiness and see his face? Are you kidding me? You saw him? No, you did not see him. God says no man can see my face and live. Okay, so I get holy, holy. There's no limit. There's no words. I can't express to you how powerful he is, how amazing his majesty is. I understand, man, the angels are covering themselves up. Everyone is just in awe of this one being. I get that.

13:13 But when it comes to His mercy... for some reason I've put limits to it. that your mercy, your forgiveness is pretty good, and it doesn't make any sense.

13:35 How can I believe his power like that and then believe that he washed me partially, even 99%? See, I was reading in, so I just started reading Psalm 51. That was the psalm that David wrote, and got on this little harp again and starts writing this after the sin. And I'm going, okay, what did he know that I don't know? How did he move on? So I'm just reading this over and over Monday morning going, okay, how's he start? Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love. According to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. See, that's the key right there.

14:31 He says, have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love. The reason why I couldn't get past some of the things I did was it was I, I, I can't get past it. I was looking at me. I was looking at the grossness of my sin. I was looking at my evil. Then I was looking at the things that I've done since then and go, man, God, you've really changed me. And so I do feel cleaner, cleaner, cleaner. I'm still looking at me, though.

15:03 And that's why he said, no, according to your abundant mercy. God's abundant mercy. Like, how great is God's mercy? I know His holiness is great. And there's no limit to His holiness. There's no limit to His power. I don't dare question that. I don't dare question his knowledge. There's no limit to that. why do I not apply it to his mercy?

15:47 I go, God, if that's who you are, why would I ever think you would do a halfway job or a 99% job with mercy? So he says to God, have mercy according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Verse 7. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. whiter than snow this is not whiter than snow this doesn't make sense like if i wash me i'll be like this but he says you wash me god because i know what you do when do you ever do anything halfway when do you ever do no you you go beyond anything we could imagine and so that's why David with such confidence goes, you wash me and I'm going to be whiter than snow.

16:54 There's no blemish in me. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me. you're the creator make my heart totally clean make me this blank slate make me whiter than snow hide your face from my iniquities it's done it's done and i started thinking about the new testament and going hey idiot what part of first john 1 9 do you not understand okay that if you confess your sins that he again look at him he is faithful you're saying he's not faithful he is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and cleanse you from 99 of your unrighteousness like what are you thinking are you doubting the word of are you doubting the power of god are you doubting that he's capable of this type of mercy but some of us we just have this shame, and I don't know what type of baggage I carried with me all those years that makes me go, no, I'm still a little dirty. I'm still a little dirty. It's like, no, that's not what the Word of God says. That's what the accuser is getting into our mind, trying to get us to think that maybe we're just not there, because I believe if we really believed 100% in our purity, we'd be going nuts. Like, you know, the Bible talks about we'd be like skipping around like deer, you know, like, you know, however they skip, you know, like, like that's the way our life, and I'm looking at these passages, I'm going, yeah, that's, that's exactly it, the enemy doesn't want that, he wants us still walking in our shame, he wants us still a little bit doubtful, going into judgment day, and spending our whole life that way, go, I think, I think, I think, except for this little stain, why, because

19:01 it's just not it's not complete and the world looks and I just wonder how much more we would be doing if we believed this 100% and I thought about 2 Corinthians 5. I've preached this, and I know this, but did I really, really know it? Where he says, for your sake, he made him to be sin,

19:41 who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. what did I become when Christ went on the cross for me? Not a cleaned up version of Francis that's 99.5% pure. I became the righteousness of God. To say, I took on the righteousness of God. Do I dare think there's a tiniest stain on God and his righteousness?

20:21 Man, and so I'm just claiming these verses and going, no, God, I'm done. I'm whiter than snow. And I pictured that, you know, and later on in that verse, after he says, restore to me the joy, the joy of your salvation. And then verse 13, then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. He says, once you do this for me, God, and I understand that I'm whiter than snow, that I've taken on the righteousness of God, then I can come to sinners. That's what APU is, right? I come to sinners that probably still feel some of this stain and still feel some of this guilt. And you would for the next 30 years if you did not trust the word of God.

21:18 and maybe if by the power of the Holy Spirit would move today, that you can just put an end to it. And you don't have to go through these 30 years of like, ah, I think I'm clean. I'll tell everyone I believe I'm clean. And I believe at 99% I'm clean. Like, just to be done. God says you'll teach transgressors your way and sinners will return to you. deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

22:00 I just started praying for my church. I started thinking, God, I mean, it's just Monday, you know? So on Monday night, I'm going, God, I think this is the problem with my church. I got the best church in the world. I love the church. I love these people. but imagine if everyone really like 100 i know people deal with shame because their leader dealt with shame and i had to get rid of it and get rid of it that day and say god i'm not gonna let the enemy back in because this makes no sense you made him become sin so that i would become the righteousness of God whiter than snow when you clean something you don't do anything halfway I'm the righteousness of God and I started picturing my people in my church like if they really got this like God's revealing it to me I just think there'd be an outpouring of power, of gifting. I just see people skipping along. I see the joy because isn't it that we get sick and tired of people who don't even believe in Jesus, who seem to have more joy and more compassion and kindness, and they fight less, and they have more peace oftentimes than those in the church. And I just started to wonder, I wonder if it's because there's still so much shame in some of us that we really, we say things, but we don't mean it.

23:41 And we're not skipping around like deer. We're not feeling whiter than snow. We're not singing like he says my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness you ever feel like that is that what you feel like where you just feel like you're bursting like you got to do something this is dumb and this is not from the lord i don't believe i will not put this on him but the picture that comes to my mind when i was reading this and everything else was Elsa. I don't know, you know, because I was thinking, okay, God, I've got to let it go. I've got to let it go. And I started thinking, and you know that scene, you know what I'm talking about. Don't pretend you didn't see it. It's, it's, you know, at the end when it was just like, let it go, let it go, you know, and she's just building this big palace, like, ah, You know, like I just, I mean, that's how I feel.

24:42 And I just picture the church all just singing, you know. I'm seriously going to make all my pastors watch it this Sunday morning in our training. I got the clip all set up, you know, because the look on her eyes of, yeah, you know, like I can do it. And like I just, that's how I feel right now, you know. I mean, it's just, oh, I am the righteousness of God. I am the righteousness of God. I am done with that stain. I am done with the past. It's over, and I'm going to let it go, let it go, and hold it back. No, not anymore. You know, I just think we have this reservation. It's like, no, I'm not going to dance. No, I'm not going to scream. I'm not going to sing. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that because we're not staring at the mercy of God. And I know there are some of you that you're just like me. You understand his holiness. You don't doubt his power. You don't doubt your guilt, but you do doubt your complete cleansing and his abundant mercy. And so when I began to apply to what I applied to his holiness and everything other attribute and I applied that to his mercy it really did clean me and his word so there's many great things that have happened in life there's nothing like when God reveals to you what he is like and his power and we stare at him and think that kind of power cleansed me the cross and so every time we break the bread and take of the cup It should remind us of his power, his complete cleansing.

26:30 And so I want to pray for you right now. I believe in the power of my prayers. You know, sometimes, like when I go to other countries, it's so different from America. Because if I give a talk like this here, then you come up and ask for counseling. If I go overseas and give a talk like this, they come up and ask for prayer. It's like there's a greater belief in prayer in some of these other places. They don't want to hear my logic or my counseling. They believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to enlighten them that they would really experience this. And so I would just like to pray for you right now and believe that there's power coming from me I'm the righteousness of god I am filled with the holy spirit of god god hears me. I come into his presence with confidence And things happen I got a son-in-law through this I can pray a blessing over you That you would understand his forgiveness.

27:44 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. You are so amazing. You are so powerful, God. Anything you can do, anything, Lord. How could anyone come into your presence outside of the blood of Jesus, outside of what you have done? Man, all the angels are screaming how holy you are. They get it. They see you. You're amazing.

28:18 And Father, I believe I can come into your presence only because of Jesus. Only because for your sake, you made him sin who knew no sin. You caused him to become sin on my behalf so that I could become the righteousness of God. and God, when you wash us, you make us pure. The blood of the cross, you make us whiter than snow, and so I pray for everyone in this room who has felt like that dry erase board,

28:56 that there's still something there. May they see your power today. God, would you reveal yourself to them like you revealed yourself to me, and you make me so happy. happy. God, it's only when you reveal things. I can't talk anyone into this stuff. You had to show this to me in the privacy of my time with you, and I pray that you do this, and you release us from all the lies of the enemy and all the garbage in our lives that he wants us to hold on to. Jesus paid it all. And we are whiter, whiter than snow for those of us who believe in what you did on the cross for us. We praise you, we worship you, and we rejoice and celebrate in you.

29:49 Holy Jesus, thank you. Amen.