For All In The Family

0:00 Do you not love the Bible? Lord, wow. Because all that Solomon is speaking to his son, of course, and you including this in your Holy Scripture, reveals your heart for us. Lord, I pray today that if there's any man or woman, boy or girl here or watching, that thinks otherwise, that you are somehow other than what we just read a moment ago, that they would find you today in true faith. And Lord, for the most of us right now, I trust who know you, may we revel in the God that you are. Thank you. We praise you. In Jesus' name, and again, all God's people said, amen. You may be seated.

0:52 Remarkable words. We've just come out of this section that, you know, for three messages, the title was How to Get Rich Quick. And the How to Get Rich Quick was a little title that kind of got your attention because you would expect that, oh no, here we are in church and we're going to hear a message on how to get rich quick. But for those of you who thought I was going to go in the direction that you were thinking, you were happily surprised to find out that the How to Get Rich Quick part was to have your sins forgiven and to come to Christ in full faith knowing that God not only washes away your sins which he paid for at the cross but that he imparts to the unbeliever becoming the believer the forgiveness of sins and the Bible says everlasting life. You want to get rich quick? That's how you get rich quick. You could come in here today with a million dollars in your pocket and be dirt poor spiritually.

1:50 But you can leave today if you have no money in your pocket at all eternally rich by the great work of Jesus Christ in your life. And that's God's desire for you. And we looked at these things in detail. And you can look at those three studies previously. Before we dive into this new section, I want to put up two portions of scripture. Mark's gospel is where we start with this, keeping it in mind that the way of wisdom for all in the family, it's strengthening verses for us like this. Mark chapter 8, verse 36. Jesus says, For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Think about that for a moment. Acquired wealth, acquired power, however, by whatever means, by inheritance or by rolling up your sleeves and making it happen, does nothing to the spiritual economy that you will someday enter into you can go from the bank here rich and into eternity completely broken and bankrupt and you don't want to do that so what will it profit you if you gain the entire world and yet lose your own soul verse 37 or what will a man give in exchange for his soul that question in the greek language demands an answer nothing there's nothing that you can give in this world's economy that can secure your soul in eternity. Wouldn't that be a simple, beautiful truth if we just nailed that down once and for all? Because listen, that means forever this would be gone from our minds. If I just do better, God will love me more. False. If I just give money, I'll secure my entrance into eternity. False. If I pray longer and harder, God will treat me better.

3:43 false. He doesn't work that way. He will never become indebted to our acts. He will never become somehow bound to us. What God gives, listen, what God gives is free. It costs him everything, but it's free to us. Because listen, we can't buy what he has because we don't have that kind of economy. You can have the greatest morality in the universe. It's worthless. The next verse is this, before we dive into our section. A beloved passage, Romans chapter 12, verses one and two. Paul the apostle said to the church in Rome, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, watch this, that you present your bodies. Read it, watch closely.

4:35 A dead sacrifice? A living sacrifice. God doesn't want you to blow yourself up. God doesn't want you to kill yourself for his kingdom. God wants you to live. He wants you to have life, and he wants you to take your life and your body here references your earthly existence, body, soul, and spirit, as a living sacrifice. What is that? Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. The word service there is the word worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, which leads us to this study today for all in the family, that the way of wisdom is for all in the family. And I'm going to be challenging you throughout this message, are you in the family of God? You need to examine that. Number one, mark it down if you would. By the way, I think it's safe to say this is as far as we'll make it today, is the first point. I had three, listen, at three o'clock this morning, I had three points. And by the time I got done, I had one point. So we'll be in this section for a while, but today we'll cover these first two verses. But mark it down if you would. The first argument is this, and notice please, that it's the strong hand of our God. That for you and I, in the family of God, the wisdom that God desires to impart to us, we must come to now this doctrinal understanding. And in that, it is the strong hand of our God. According to the Bible, the God of the Bible is the one, listen, is the one and only God that there is. There is no other God other than Yahweh, the Lord. Did you hear me? People, are you awake? I need you. Look, I brag about first service all the time, saying to them, they're so awake. It's amazing. Now, some of us who have gray hair, we've been awake this morning for a long time. It's lunchtime for us. But that said,

6:44 That said, this remarkable God of ours, he says in the Bible that he's the only God that there is and that all other gods are fake. That they're man-made. They're either carved out of wood, they're made out of metal, or they're somehow enshrined in our hearts by affection of various deities. Various things that man makes. And people would say today, I don't think we have any pagan deities remaining anymore. It's the 21st century. We are an enlightened people. I'm sorry. I actually believe we have more gods now than we've ever had before. We just, we polish them. We wax them. Or we fly them. Or we look at them. Or we read the numbers after, or the zeros behind the number. You hear what I'm saying? Or maybe it's the wardrobe.

7:36 Or maybe, look, look, you're here right now, but listen, about three, four, 500 yards from here, I'm guessing, maybe, I don't know how far that is. There's a place called LA Fitness right over there. There's, listen, there's not only people over there worshiping their gods. A lot of those people look in the mirror and think they are God. But would you like to have a God that only has 17 or 18 inch biceps rescuing you? You say, those are pretty big biceps. Not big enough to rescue you. Not big enough to save you. The God of the Bible is the God of the strong hand. It means that there is no other hand stronger than the hand of our mighty and awesome God. And we'll see this as we dive into this. So notice, right there at verse 11, we see this regarding his strong hand is this. it's with loving discipline that God has a strong hand.

8:34 He says, my son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. The first thing we realize is that, listen, the God of the Bible, the strong arm of our God, some of you are not going to like to hear this on the surface, hear me out. The strong hand of our God is given to us with loving discipline. so in our culture we have a setback in trying to make this truth clear because you and I live in a world where the father relationship with children is often broken the American family is in great trouble and I lay that at the feet of fathers fathers need to be the example that God has called us to be but know this, the way that God is may very well be different than your life's experience Some people have a recoil or an allergic response to the term father or discipline. listen the term father should cause your heart to melt with comfort protection and peace that's what it should do because that's how he is and the second thing is god's discipline is exactly what you want don't shy away from it as we'll see in a moment but look what he says in verse 11 my son do not despise some key words here do not despise the chastening of the lord so the love of the father should be notable as you see the life of the child. And it forms this tremendous bond that God is speaking about. Solomon speaking to his son, God speaking to us. But by his own revelation, the God of the Bible that is, he has given us the definition of what a true father is.

10:19 And the biblical picture of the father, when he's allowed, listen, when he's allowed to love you as you are to be loved by God. You are to be loved by God according to his definition. For some of us, we get the example of our earthly father in the way of our relationship with our heavenly father. Some of you have had wonderful earthly fathers. That's beautiful. But even the best earthly father wanes in comparison to the greatness of our God this way, that his discipline is loving. it's loving. When the word here says despise, don't despise. Look at the meaning of this word. God says, I love you. You know this. You read this in the Bible, but do you experience this? This love, I mean. So he says, don't despise when God corrects you. The word is to abhor.

11:23 Don't be abhorring or abhorrent to it. Don't reject it. To cast it away, don't do that. to push it away. Don't do that. Don't resist the love of God, just like a father or a mother. God says, number one, children of God, is when I go to correct you, don't push it back, don't run from me. Don't shove that off. Even though you've been trained by that in this world.

11:49 My dad, thank God, my dad accepted Christ the week before he died. He's in heaven. And God forgave him of all his sins. It was a beautiful thing to watch. That doesn't change the fact that when I grew up, not knowing what was going to happen next at the kitchen table or our house, when my dad reached for the salt shaker, I would flinch. that's how he was brought up but by the end of his life in the last week of his life love conquered what my dad thought was love wasn't love but God's love came into his life and conquered him and showed him the better way showed him the love of Christ showed him that true strength and power is God's ability to discipline you and I with chastening with love Go for it.

12:44 it's an amazing reality. The Bible tells us in Job chapter 5, verse 17, Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. If you belong to God, God corrects you. You want to know why? Because you're in the family. Therefore, do not despise the chastening of the Almighty, for he bruises, but he binds up. He wounds, but his hands make whole. We're going to talk about later how that happens. Why is that happening? Why does the Bible tell us, cheer up when God disciplines you? Don't despise it. God's going to chasten you as a child of God. The truth of the matter is, God will not do that to anyone who's not his child. Do you know anyone?

13:36 Maybe you're here today. You sin without thought. you live your life to your own glory. You care nothing about God yet on Sunday for an hour you're very religious but then you go right back to living your Christless life and you think you're fine and you can get away with anything. As the saying goes you can get away with murder. Friend if you can get away with sin that is proof evidence that you do not belong in the family of God. That God is not your father. If you can sin without any repercussions at all. And you hear not the conviction of God speaking to you. You ought not to be doing this. I'm watching you. I can see you. This is wrong. You need to repent. You're in trouble. If you don't hear that, you may very well be beyond the reach of God's saving grace.

14:31 He may have given you up. And I pray yet as I say that, none of you would have that as your life's experience. God will speak because he loves and listen if he knows that in your life you want nothing to do with him do not be surprised if he keeps speaking until the day he stops speaking that you can just live without them. And you might even have the thought in your mind, I'm good, I do whatever I want. Nothing's happened to me yet. My dear friend, nothing may ever, may never happen to you in this life. But this is not all there is. I know those are strong words. But if you're a child of God,

15:20 chastening is a good thing. Even if it's by the strong hand of Almighty God. Because it's all done in love. Look, in some collective way, we all love children. Children are wonderful. Children are cute. Children are, you know, whatever. And I say whatever because I'm speaking generically. But let's be honest. The family structure that God's invented works perfect if we just do it God's way. Because there's a whole lot of kids in this world. but I don't spank any of them. Think about it. I wouldn't correct any of them. I'd go over to their parents and correct the parent. I would say, hey, you ought to get your kid under control. But I wouldn't go over to the little kid and say, hey, you need to knock it off. Why would I not do that?

16:13 I'm not the kid's father. But if my own kid was doing that stuff, it's a come-to-Jesus meeting. it's let's go take a walk it's go to your room I'll be there in a moment why would I do that because I love them why would I do that if I love them because they're doing something that if left unchecked will be so destructive to their future life if I love them I want to prepare them for their future life I want them to do well I don't want listen there's the bible says that you need to drive evil out of a child when they're young. Why does it say that? Because you don't want to have or try to attempt to drive evil out of an adult because it doesn't work. It's too late.

17:07 The Bible says train up a child in the way that they should go. That's the direction. I know this sounds foreign to some people. And God says, I love you. You got to fill in your name. I love fill in your name and God says because I love you and I assume you're his child God says I'm not going to let you get away after this sermon that you're hearing today God is saying to you I'm not going to let you get away with that anymore I just want you to know fair warning and the good hand of God will be heavy upon you because he loves you I may get this flubbed up. Maybe Peggy and Phil can help me remember it. But Pastor Chuck Smith used to tell a story way back when, where I think it was Chuck Smith Jr., maybe Jeff Smith. They were in Sunday school acting up and being little stinkers. And at the end of the day, they're all going home from church, and Pastor Chuck was the pastor there at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.

18:06 And the comment was made by the kid, hey dad is it true that God's watching me all the time? And he said yes it is true he's watching you all the time and he could tell that by the tone of the kid's voice that his son must have done something wrong. Why do you ask that? Well because my Sunday school teacher said that God sees everything that I do. And he could sense that the kid was stressed about it which is a good thing. and then chucked through the lifeline. He said, well, it is true that God watches you constantly.

18:44 He watches you constantly because he can't take his eyes off of you. He loves you. Now, that's the right answer after repentance. But you don't want to go around encouraging people falsely. Oh, God's good with you. What's that? Oh, yeah, don't worry about it. God loves you. Listen, we live in a culture that this is a scourge and a plague, everybody. Oh, God just loves. Like we're throwing pixie dust out upon the crowds. Oh, God.

19:15 God loves you. God loves you. God loves you, but you need to understand the love of God. God's love for you is to drive you away from evil, to drive you away from sin, and to drive you away from the pit of hell into his everlasting kingdom. Listen, he loves you, but the Bible says he's angry with the wicked every day. Did you know that? So what you want to make sure that you are not is in the camp of the wicked, that you have a heart for God. And if you're in the family of God, you would say, Lord, bring your hand upon my life in your mercy. I trust you to discipline me in love. That's a Christian prayer. I submit, Lord, to your absolute authority and to your discipline. The Bible says in the book of Hosea, chapter 6, verse 1, Come, says the Lord, and let us return to the Lord, for he has torn but he will heal us.

20:17 Sounds like Job, doesn't it? Job, the oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job. It's being repeated by Hosea here, the prophet. He has stricken but he will bind us up. You know, we don't want to hear this but God will often wound so that we might be healed. Wow. there are situations when you're parenting where the child you tell the child don't do that and then don't do that don't do that and then there comes a point where the kid now you got to be careful you have to be wise but you know if the kid keeps trying to kiss you know the cat or whatever it is I don't know but don't do that she's going to get you at some point it's like look I've told him 10 times in the last three minutes. Let's just back off here, honey, and let's watch what happens.

21:13 This kid is bent on kissing the cat. So get your camera out. Could be AFV material. Let's see what happens there. And then he goes over there and grabs that cat by the ears, and then, and he'll never do that again. There's some truth to that in our spiritual development. and yet God's hand is still upon us. He's loving us and he's disciplining us. The Bible tells us regarding the great work of God this way, look at the Hebrew meaning of the word chastening. We don't use that old English word in our Bibles. It's an ancient, of course, Hebrew word and you see how the Hebrew words are spelled there. The word chastening means a band or a bond or a chain, listen, that fetters or ties you to that which is good. Interesting.

22:10 Parental correction, discipline, instruction, reproof, rebuke, warnings. Words, by the way, are preferred. A parent prefers to use words. Are you guys still with me? A parent prefers to use words. If you're a parent, especially if there's young parents, this is so, it's so hard to hear. But for those of us who were veterans,

22:34 your heart will always be this kind of a heart. I wish my kid would just listen to what I'm saying. Why don't they, if they just, and you tell them, will you just listen to me? I love you. And they think you're crazy when you say to them, I love you. You know the old saying, well, listen, you're gonna have to be disciplined now. You blew it. I told you, don't do it. You did it. Here's the thing. And you know what? You're gonna get disciplined and it's going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you. Let's be honest. If that's true, when I was young, this is the thought. I would hear the thought would go this way. It's going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you. Oh, yeah? Then why is it when you're done, I'm the one crying? But you know, that's not even true. The parent may not cry in the act of discipline, but the parent is crying on the inside, and it's even worse. No parent wants to discipline their children, and yet we are commanded to do it because we are to love them.

23:33 The Bible says a child left to themselves will bring reproach to his parents. go to the central jail in Los Angeles and you see a sad, sad group of people who have been left to themselves. It's tragic. God says, I love you and I'm not going to let you get away with these things that go on in your life. Now, I'm going to go somewhere with this and I hope you're picking up on it. I haven't mentioned the word, but it's the word obey. Obey. say I don't like the word obey well then don't get married because the word love and obey, that goes both ways, by the way. I don't let any guy get away. So you mean you say that to the woman, right? No, I say it to both of you. Well, I'm not going to get married by you. Well, that's just fine. The Bible tells us that as husband and wife, we are both to submit to the Lord first, and that fixes everything. Think of that. Obey.

24:38 to obey is liberty. To obey is freedom. For example, do you like driving your car? Do you like having the freedom of driving? Now, I understand young people today, they don't even want driver's license. I do not understand that. You want to talk about a generational gap? I'm it. Because let me tell you, when I was a young kid, I counted the moments as to when I could get my permit. I didn't even need license. The moment I could get my permit, which I forget, what age was that back then? Like nine? Oh, what was it? 15 and a half? I'm telling you, we were at the DMV, like waiting for the clock to tick. And then when you got your license, did you like waste time and like, oh, go next week? I was standing there with the rest of all 10 of us, and we were standing there like, oh, why? It was freedom, man. My parents never saw me after that.

25:32 Now today, kids, I don't want my license. It's freedom, man. I don't know. I can go and call an Uber. I don't get that. I don't understand that. But listen, if you obey the laws of the roadway, you're going to keep driving. That's being obedient, which generates freedom.

25:57 Obey the laws of the land. You don't have to look over your shoulder. You don't have to worry about anything. Listen, don't answer out loud. You could get caught on TV right now, but... I was raised this way even before I was a Christian. And the way our crooked world is, I want to make sure that this gets out on video before anybody lies about it. I have always paid my taxes and I've never been laid on them and I paid every penny of them and at times I paid too much and they had to send me money. And I live like that because you want to know why? I want to be able to say whatever I want to say because I ain't got nothing to hide. Are you with me? Are you tracking that? Obedience to God is liberty and freedom. The Bible says that the righteous can be as bold as lions.

26:51 And the word righteous simply means do the right thing. And God wants us to do the right thing. Solomon wanted his son to do the right thing. And you want your child to do the right thing. And all that comes about with loving discipline. The Bible, listen, the Bible teaches us that God disciplines his church even. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 and 17. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That is in how to do the right thing. That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Wow. The word of God. The Bible. remarkable instruction. God wants to use words to us. He says to Israel, listen to me and obey me. Why will you be like the stubborn donkey? He didn't, the old King James doesn't use the word donkey. I don't, it uses that other word. Why will you be like that when I want to lead you with my right hand? This is fun. God's right hand of power and strength. Did you know that when God says, I will deliver you with my righteous right hand.

28:06 In the Middle Eastern culture, it's shaking with your right hand. Contracts or covenants are done with the right hand. It is the right hand that speaks. Many times they will even conceal their left hand. The left hand is a hand that is more for nurturing. It's more reserved for privacy. The right hand is public. It's noble. It's strong. and God says, I will uphold you with my righteous right arm. That's the God that we have. By the way, with all that's going on in our world right now regarding Islam and its invasion upon our nation, I would never sign up to believe in a God that I have to defend. I follow a God who defends me, and he doesn't need my help. And I'm glad about that.

29:03 He's so strong, my God's going to get his will done with or without me. I don't need to prop him up. I don't have to try to get his attention. He's alive. And he's coming back. He's awesome. absolutely awesome we also know this in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 11 the Bible says now chastening seems now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present this is actually extremely true we all know this okay you're going to get it now you're in trouble it doesn't matter if you're five years old or if you're 105 years old when you're in trouble because God loves you there's a discipline that's going to be coming to correct your course so that you don't continue down that path and listen it's not pleasant can we all agree on that? it's not pleasant one thing is this it's like well I still want to do that you still want to do that?

30:18 Well, then we'll be back here again next week, I'm sure. The best thing is, as I said, obey and repent of it and move on to greater and better things. Don't circle back and go through it again. Don't do that. I keep falling into the same thing over and over again. Why?

30:40 Remove from your life the things that are causing that to happen. Is it her phone number? Get rid of it. Is it his address? Dump it. Is it your email? What about your social media? Change it. Boy, isn't that... Did you hear what I just said? Did you hear what I just said? I can't change my social media. People defend that stuff like it's Genesis 1-1 for crying out loud. I don't think everybody should have social media. In fact, I don't know if anybody should have it. I think it was a bad idea.

31:15 The world's not gotten better because of it. so chastening doesn't seem joyful at the present but painful nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness that means you learn how to do the right thing to those who have been trained by it verse 12 therefore strengthen the hands which hang down that implies by the way that sin causes our strength to diminish and our hands hang down we are fatigued and wearied by sin and the feeble knees, your life begins to drain from its vitality because that's what sin will do to you. And make straight paths for your feet, no longer wandering around so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather healed. Church family, this is the heart of the God of the Bible. I hope you know him.

32:08 I hope you want to live your life with him because he wants nothing but the best for you and he's very, very good about that. here's a quick quote right now, and it is this. When God's good hand is upon you for chastening, you will not have to guess. You're going to know it, and you're going to know why. So listen, in your life, let's, listen, you're walking with God. None of us are perfect. I understand that. You say, oh, maybe I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. That's what God's grace is for. But your heart is for God. You're walking with God. The things that he has said blatantly, stop this, stop that. You've stopped that, and you're going along, and this has happened to you. You got fired, or this issue, this sickness, or whatever, and you check the bases. You get on your knees, and you pray, and you say, Lord, show me what's going on. Church family, take a big, deep breath and relax. Number one, if he doesn't speak to you, keep talking to him, and he's going to show you something, but you can be comfortable knowing this. Watch it. Watch. Are you ready? Here it is.

33:14 If it's because of sin, he will tell you instantaneously. I want you to get that under your belt. If something's going on in your life and God is not speaking to you about it, keep pursuing him because you're going to find a pot of gold, as it were, of wisdom or insight at the end of that rainbow. Are you hearing me? In other words, something is to be learned. now I'm going to say something that's going to upset some of you and that's just too bad and here's what it is there are those who have been polluted by a hyper Pentecostal doctrine that says stuff like this if you love God and if you're following Jesus but you're sick it's sin in your life that is from hell if you love Jesus and you're a Christian but that happened to you you must be in disobedience to God that is from hell now listen you can be a Christian and sin and sickness result here's the beauty about it God as we'll see when I begin to wrap this up someday is he's going to tell you about it He's going to tell you.

34:29 In fact, you won't have to guess. So if right now, you're going through life's stress, and you don't know the reason why, relax. He's going to tell you in this timing. Just keep pursuing him. If even right now, this message is bringing something to your attention, it's like, oh, oh, oh.

34:49 I know this. When I think a thought that is an offense to God, he doesn't wait till later in the day to bust me on it. when you sin, you're going to hear from him in the moment. Isn't that how a parent is? When the kid says, I don't care what you say about marbles and freeways, I'm going to go play on it with them. If that kid just marches onto the freeway on-ramp with his bag of marbles, does anybody even own marbles anymore? I don't even know why he did that, but... Legos. I'm going to play Legos on the freeway. That's an insane thought. But if you're bent on it, you're not going to succeed. Because your mom or your dad will tackle you on the on-ramp.

35:47 You'll never make it. because God loves you because they love you. But you cross that line and the Christian anyway, I'm speaking to the Christian, God will say, uh-uh, uh-uh, excuse me, don't think that thought. Doesn't he? Doesn't he bust you? Thank God for that, right? What if he didn't bust you? Your life would be a wreck. My life would be a wreck. He's so good, the Holy Spirit is guiding us constantly like that, internally.

36:19 The Bible says in Psalm 32, verse 4, precious two verses here, verses 4 and 5, For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah means to pause and meditate upon that. We're supposed to read verse 4 and then sit in it for a while before we move on. That's what Selah means. Verse 5, notice the result of Selah, pausing.

36:45 The heavy hand of God was upon him, verse 4. in between verse 4 and 5 is the word Hebrew selah. Pause and meditate and take it in. Look at the result. I acknowledged my sin to you, repentance, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. I thank God for that verse. You say, Jug, what's so happy about it? Because he loves me, he does that in my life. and listen if you're his child he's doing that in your life the next thing is this is the precise guidance that he offers in verse 11 he says nor detest his correction we'll go through this one quickly it doesn't take much time the word detest it's very similar to the previous word look at the word detest do not allow yourself to feel a loathing don't come to that point a heaviness in your relationship with God.

37:47 This way, watch. A dread or a condemnation, a sense of hopelessness. The opposite is true. A true child of God who's under the conviction of God, and I want to lay this out to you. It's going to be deep. Listen. Without the Bible speaking to you, you cannot tell me the difference between the feelings, feelings, the emotions of condemnation and conviction. Go think this through. I've done it for 50 years. Conviction and condemnation feels the same way until I read my Bible and get the answer. Because listen, conviction is for my changing, for my repentance. Condemnation is never to be part of our lives as believers. That's what the enemy, Satan, uses against you. When you sin, Satan, there's a race, as it were, to your porch. Your soul would be your porch. And so to speak, God races to the porch and he convicts you and says, you're my kid. Stop that. Don't do that anymore. And Satan comes running up there and he says, God will never love you. He'll never forgive you, you big loser. You knew you shouldn't have done it and you did it anyway. You're condemned. You're lost forever. That's it for you.

39:06 you will choose one of those based upon your knowledge of the Bible. and the Bible says in Romans 8 verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Conviction is beautiful. Condemnation is of Satan. None of us who name the Lord Jesus Christ as our crucified Savior, resurrected Lord, none of us can be condemned. Isn't that great? The world can condemn us. The world can kill us. The world can do whatever they do to us. friends we're talking about real true life eternally the belief Christ was condemned at the cross in our place the father laid on him the sins of us all so that you and I could go free and your trust in him brings that to you that's why we love him that's why we want to follow him I'm going to give you a barrage of these verses real quick this cluster of them 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 you guys know this very well This is why, remember, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

40:16 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now, all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. Absolutely stunning. Mark that down. Next verse is this. John chapter 3, verse 15. You're very familiar with this, but hear me out. Jesus says, whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave or gifted his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Verse 17, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Verse 18, he who does, or he who believes in him, is not condemned. The word belief is put your weight on him. Trust him. Watch. But he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name or the authority of the only begotten son of God. If you're not a Christian today, and I'm not talking Christian like membership. I'm talking about Christian follower of Jesus, okay? If you're not a follower of Jesus, you are under the condemnation of your own sin. God wants you to be convicted and to be saved. Satan wants you to be condemned and lost.

41:45 Romans chapter 5. Therefore, having been justified by faith, that is, we trust Christ, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which you stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Wow. A few more verses. One in this section, a few more to end. Isaiah chapter 1, verses 18 and 19. I love this. God says, come now.

42:20 So before I read, does that apply to you? Listen. Whoever you are, if you can hear me right now, wherever, whatever. God is saying to you, come now, not come later. Come now, and let us reason together. The word reason is, let's argue. See, he's so honest, because you know, you do want to argue with God at times, don't you? He knows that. So he says, you want to argue? Come on. Come on over, and let's argue. It's like, yeah, I got a few things to say about it. Yeah, come on, guys, bring it. Oh my goodness, I have a horrible picture in my mind.

43:07 I've told you this before, but you forgot maybe. My mom, when she'd get upset with us, she was so tiny. And she was just really feisty. Incredible temper. It's a good thing she was small. But she would come after us, and we would hold her, or I or my brother, it depends on who was in trouble, she was swinging at us. She'd most often have a knife in her hand. You're not supposed to know that part. And I would hold her by the forehead, and she's going like this. And I would just hold her until she wore out and got tired. And she would... God says, come now. You want to argue?

43:56 And he just holds out his hand, his strong right hand, and holds your forehead until you're pooped out. Though your sins, he says, are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing, there's the catch, and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. Don't be so stubborn. And finally, it's this,

44:26 his strong hand in this family of ours is that he brings to us favored affection. Favored affection. You've probably never heard those two words together like that, but did you know that God has affection toward you? First of all, Christian, person, human, do you not possess affection? Where do you think you got it from? Even though our affection is tainted by sin and may be often misapplied it was a holy beautiful attribute in Adam and Eve one day until it went bad. It's a beautiful thing. Where does it come from? It comes from God.

45:04 To think that God has affection for you should warm your heart. and that affection brings favor, the favor of God. There's nothing like it. Look at verse 12. For whom the Lord loves, he corrects, just as a father, the son, in whom he delights. In whom he delights. I love this. Don't need to spend time on the other words. The word delights. Remarkable. Look at this meaning, the Hebrew meaning, to be pleased with. See, Jack, are you kidding me? Are you guys listening still? We're almost done. Don't quit. God is saying to you, if you look to Jesus, you are well-pleasing to God. I just have a hard time believing that. We all have a hard time feeling it, but it's time for you to believe it. Why? Because God said it. To prove this, if you had a choice right now to choose Christ or to reject Christ, if you had an opportunity to stand up and declare, I reject him or I accept him, Listen, don't answer out loud.

46:08 Which one would you take? If you say, I would accept him, it's because his love has been reaching out to you and he's been getting through to you and he's getting you to understand that he favors you with affection. that word means to be favored accepted accepted favorably to enjoy to show favor towards to take pleasure in you know God takes pleasure in you as a believer I know this is tough for us I'm very legalistic not on you on me it's hard for me but God's word says it and I'm going to receive that listen whatever I'm doing during the day working mowing the lawn climbing a tree whatever it doesn't matter at the beach or on the mountain. You should do, what was his name? Eric Little. Remember that guy? What's the movie? Chariots of Fire. Olympics. What year? 1932, maybe? Six? Something like this?

47:08 Remember him? He said, when I run, I sense his pleasure. He was a great runner. Great marathon guy, I think. It doesn't matter. He's a great runner. Everybody worked at running. Hard, difficult Eric Littles. He's running. Woo-hoo! He said, God built me to run. I can run. What do you do? Are you a contractor or school teacher? Are you a housewife or a house husband? do you sense his pleasure I hope you sense his pleasure because he delights in you. It's amazing. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 5 says, you should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.

48:02 Why? Because he has affection for you and I. I'm going to run through this. In fact, let's look at this. God's going to correct you and I in this order and in this way. It may vary a bit in some translation into your life or my life, but I want you to watch this.

48:30 Christian, I'm speaking to you. When he corrects us, he will patiently wait. So God sends you, maybe you're not even a Christian right now, but he's calling you. And he's speaking to you and you kind of feel called out even this morning and I didn't even say anything. I didn't even know your name. But you feel like, man, I'm kind of in the hot seat ever since you opened your mouth. I had nothing to do with this. he's been patient with you. Then he will reach out and touch us within our conscience or our consciousness. He starts on the inside. man I tell you God is speaking to the consciousness of each individual person in this nation alone what if people started listening to what God was saying in their conscience if you're not a believer Jiminy Cricket anybody ever know Jiminy Cricket was talking to Pinocchio wait was it Pinocchio it doesn't matter if people in America just started hearing the conviction of the Holy Spirit, maybe murder would subside.

49:43 Maybe drug abuse would subside. Maybe family abandonment would subside. Imagine that. He's speaking. Who's listening? And then, listen, after he speaks to your conscience, he'll wait patiently. And then he will communicate to us by his word. Maybe like now. maybe it's something you read maybe it's something you hear and then you'll wait patiently then he will convict us of the wrong the sin we've committed he heightens it he turns up the heat and then he waits patiently then he will remind you again he will remind you again it's been my experience it has actually been your experience he will remind you again he will wait patiently and then he will remove his hand of grace over you like an umbrella and expose you he'll wait patiently then he will allow the evil in your life to take its natural course Let's do this.

50:58 This is terrifying. you just keep digging in your heels. You won't turn to him. He keeps eating that up, but you don't respond. He'll wait patiently, but then he will arise and bring upon you his displeasure with discipline. this is true for the believer's life it's somewhat true for the unbeliever's life it doesn't have to be that way if we would just respond to him I'm going to ask all of you to stand you guys okay? you're so quiet.

51:42 And I always don't know how to receive you. After I've been gone for a while, you've had all these great speakers. So then I think, oh, they don't like me anymore. But I want you guys, thank you. I want you guys to know that God's got a phone number. Okay, and I want you to call it. it's 1-800 Jeremiah 33 3 1-800 Jeremiah 33 3 and he says call me call me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know and this is how you call him guys put up that slide if you would are you ready for this test yourself do you believe this Romans 3 verse 10 says as it is written none is righteous no not one that includes you me Romans 3 23 says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God your morality mine stinks Romans 5 8 but God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners Christ died for us wow Romans 5 12 therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men or all mankind because all sinned. Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 10, verses 9 through 11, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. Romans 10, 13. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Make sure that's you. Call upon him today. Standing right now where you're at, you can say, Lord, I'm calling

53:52 upon you. And the great prophet Isaiah said that if you'll call upon the name of the Lord, you shall be saved. And we try to complicate that. He's convicting you. He's calling you out. He's not throwing you away. His discipline receives you in. He's the perfect love of your very life and soul. And he's the only one that can wash you clean, clear up your conscience, and take you all the way to heaven. Accept him and live. In Jesus' name and all God's people said.