Good morning, everyone. I just want to invite you to stand with us. We will pray and we'll get started. Heavenly Father, I just thank you, Lord, for this beautiful day that you've given us, Lord. I just thank you for this time that we can come together in fellowship and also spend some time in your presence, Lord, worshiping you, Lord, and spending some time in your word.

I just pray that you speak to our hearts this morning, Lord, and bless this time. We ask these things in your precious name. Amen.

Amen. God is good, isn't he? Amen. God is good. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you'd like. We'll continue on.

Who brings our chaos back into order, our son and daughter, the king of nations with truth and justice, shines like the sun in all of its brilliance. This is unfailing, that you would for all that you've done for me. Worthy is the lamb who was slain, is the king who conquered the grave. Who was slain is the king, who is the lamb who was slain.

Worth is unfailing, that you would what you've done for me.

And story, they, but I, the tender whisper of death, to you, to you, to you are, and I'm loved by you. It's who I, it's who I am. He's searching for answers, far searching for answers.

As you know what to say, good, good father, it's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are attainable. I think as you call, deeper still as you call, deeper still as you call, deeper still than to love you so rich, a song of deep to hear, of others were most through, I'm a child to be so I could walk right, but drowned in perfect love. I can stand and sing, I am a child. You split the sea so I could walk, but drowned in perfect love. I can stand and sing, a child.

Lord, I just thank you that we can be called a child of God. Lord, God, I thank you for the freedom that comes with that. I thank you that you break chains, God. Lord, I believe that you're God, that if you can free an entire nation from captivity, Lord, that you can do mighty things in our life, that you can set us free from whatever it is that holds us in bondage, Lord. If you can

split the sea, Lord, you can do this. If you've done mighty works in our life before, you can do whatever it is we're facing now, Lord, because you are a mighty God, and you're in the business of doing mighty things, Lord. God, you are so good. You're so kind. You're so kind. You're so kind. Lord, you're so mighty. You split the sea so I could walk, but drowned in perfect love. You rescued me so I could stand

and sing, I am a child of God. I'm a child, I'm a child. Lord, I come, I confess, I wing here, I find my rest. Without you, I fall. You're the one that guides my heart. I need you, oh, in defense, my righteousness. Oh, God, how I need you. Sin runs deep. Your grace is more. Grace is found. Here's where you are.

Here's Christ. Where is Christ in my song to rise to you? And temptation comes my way. When I cannot stand, I'll fall. Jesus, you're my hope and stay. I cannot stand, I'll fall. Jesus, you're my hope and stay. Lord, I just pray that we would come to you this morning, God, in realization of how much we truly need you, Lord.

God, I find that as time goes on, Lord, and just the world just further away from you, Lord, I just find that I need you more. With all the problems that I encounter, Lord, that we encounter, God, we need you more every day, God. We need you. We need your spirit, Lord. We need your word in our lives, actively working, Lord. We need you, Lord. And I just pray that if there are those here

this morning, God, that... have not come to that realization I'll just pray God that God that they would that they would come to that realization now we love you and we praise you in your precious name good morning once you guys stand up and take just a minute to say hi to somebody around you all right gang if you'll find a seat and grab your bulletin come on back together here all right over on the left-hand side of your bulletin a few things to take note of is all the things that are happening during the week places to get plugged into so if you'll find one of those find a spot spot to get plugged into during the week in the middle section of your bulletin a couple of reminders first of all fellas this will be your last week

to sign up for the men's conference and you've got to go do that on your own just reminder you have to go on your own and sign up at Calvary Chapel Wichita or CC Wichita dot org and then if you want to carpool with us caravan with us then there's a sign-up sheet out there for that but if you put your name on that sign-up sheet out there but you do not go to the website and sign up on your own you will take a ride for no good reason so make sure that you go on your own and and sign up to be a part of the men's conference so and then fellas we have a men's breakfast next week which apparently Jared Doyle is gonna make a campfire breakfast I don't even know what that means but it sounds amazing so cowboy breakfast and if it's

the weather's nice enough there's gonna be a campfire involved I don't know I'm just excited about it so so it's gonna be amazing so fellas come on out next Saturday for that and then Brenda McKinley wanted me to let you know that some of the ladies are gathering at bricks for breakfast next Saturday as well so the other thing to pay attention to is the National Day of Prayer is coming up Thursday May the 6th and ministerial alliance always puts on an event at the Wilson Park Rotunda for that so we gather from 12 to 1 and we have a lot of fun and we have a lot of fun and we have a lot of fun and we have a lot of fun and I have some community leaders as well as church leaders and people from

throughout the community that love the Lord gather at Wilson Park and we have a time of prayer and so if you can make it to that Thursday May the 6th as far as I know those are the things that are going on so if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our responsive reading this morning we're gonna be in Psalm 48 we'll be looking at the New American Standard Bible if you don't have one should be one knee row and as you're turning there if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word Psalm 48 I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Alan in the even verses a song a psalm of the sons of Korah great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our

God his holy mountain beautiful and elevation is Mount Zion in the far north the city of the great king. God in her palaces has made himself known as a stronghold. For lo, the kings assembled themselves. They passed by together. They saw it. Then they were amazed. They were terrified. They fled in alarm. Panic seized them. Anguish as of a woman in childbirth. With the east wind you

break the ships of Tarshish. As we have heard, so have we seen. In the city of the Lord of hosts is the city of our God. God will establish her forever. Selah. We have thought on your loving kindness, O God, in the midst of your temple. As is your name, O God, so is your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad. Let the daughters

of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. Walk about Zion and go around her. Count her towers. Consider her ramparts. Go through her palaces that you may tell it to the next generation. For such is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us until death. And Lord, I do thank you that you are our God. Lord, you are our stronghold and Father, our protector and our

guide. And so, Lord, continue to reveal yourself to us, I pray this morning. And Lord, I just ask that you would do what you've intended to with your word this morning. Father, that you would set me aside and that you would overflow me with your gift of teaching to be able to bring forth the word in such a way that we understand it and that we're blessed because we heard from your Holy Spirit this morning. So, Lord, we just ask

for that fresh filling of your Holy Spirit and that fresh anointing of your Holy Spirit on this place. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. We've been looking at lessons from the heart of a pastor here in 2 Corinthians and Paul has been talking to us about

what it is to be in the ministry. He shared first of all with us about being a minister of the new covenant and we took some time to talk about what that new covenant is and what that means for us. He then told us about having faith under pressure that though there is great affliction in life, we can have great faith because the same one that raised Christ from the dead is at work not only in us, but will give us new life as well. And then we looked at the eternal hope that we have in God that all of the affliction that we go through now is producing in us a far more eternal weight of glory. And so, the things

happening now have eternal purpose involved, not to mention the fact that this tent that we live in right now is not intended. She clapped for me. I can't help it. That's the cutest thing in the world. I like when little babies clap for me. Anyway, I didn't mean to get distracted by that. Sorry. She's cute. The eternal hope that we have that not only are all the things happening now

having an eternal value in our lives, but also this tent that we dwell in is only temporary. And so, all the things that afflict us now, those are only temporary because we have an eternal home in heaven, a home not made with hands that is fit for eternity. And so, we now learned last week about living in light of that hope. That as we live in light of that hope, we live to please God, that we live as new creations, and that we live as ambassadors for Christ. And so, as he

was talking about this aspect of ambassadors for Christ, it dovetails into this next section because now, as ambassadors for Christ, there is a conduct that should be expected of those ambassadors. And so, today, we're going to look at godly conduct in chapter six. Now, on the front of your bulletin, it says godly conduct, 2 Corinthians 6. Turns out this is part one because we're not going to make it all the way through. Matter of fact, we're only going to

cover a couple of verses this morning. God really slowed me down on these. And so, we're going to look at godly conduct part one. Now, the chapter is going to break down in three different sections. He's going to tell us, don't take God's grace in vain. That's what we're going to cover today. Number two, we are to be an example. And number three, we are to be set apart. And so, today,

we're going to look at not taking God's grace in vain. So, let's pick up in chapter six, verse one. And working together with him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, at the acceptable time, I listened to you. And on the day of salvation, I helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now, before we get into

the meat of the message, I do want to point one thing out. As Paul kicks into chapter six here, he really just continues on his thought from chapter five, where he says that we are ambassadors for Christ who have been given the message of reconciliation. And we are pleading with people to be reconciled to Christ. And as that pleading continues, he says, and as we're working together with him, we are to be reconciled to Christ. And as that pleading continues, he says, and as we're

working together with him, we urge you to do something. And what got me that I wanted to take just a minute to talk about is the idea that we are working together with Christ. I think sometimes we don't view ourselves as that. We don't view ourselves as fellow workers with Christ. But that's who we are. If we're to be ambassadors for Christ, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ,

and you've been given this message of reconciliation, you've been given this message of the gospel to carry out, you're at work with Christ giving out this message. And though he is the one who has given you the message, you're at work with Christ giving out this message. And though he is the one who has given you the message, he is the one who strengthens you in order to deliver the message, and he's the one that produces the fruit from the message, you are working with him. You may have heard that and said, sounds like I don't do very much, Ryan. We really don't. But isn't it great that God lets us come

along? Isn't it great that God sort of says, hey, join me in this battle that I'm going to fight, and you can kind of be here and experience the victory as well? It reminds me of a story out of C.S. Lewis's book, Mere Christianity. And in C.S. Lewis's book, Mere Christianity, he talks about a child who is a Christian, and he's a Christian, and he's a Christian, and he's a Christian, and he's a

Christian, and he's a Christian, and he's a Christian, and he's a Christian, and he's a Christian, who will come to his father, who just, the father just desires to see the child show love. And the child comes to the father asking for six pence in order to purchase a gift for the father. And it says, though the father is six pence, none the richer, his heart is filled with love. You see, that's kind of who we are in our working with Jesus, as co-workers with him, as working alongside him. We say, Lord, I want to serve you, but I need you to give me everything that it takes to serve

you. And so he gives us everything that we need to serve him. And we say, look what I gave you. And though he is six pence, none the richer, he is blessed because we worked alongside him. So he says, in working together with him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. Not to receive the grace of God in vain. Now, as we look at that exhortation that he gives to us, I thought it might be good,

first of all, to talk about the grace of God. What exactly does he mean when he's talking about the grace of God? And quite frankly, the grace of God is so amazing, and it's peppered throughout the entire Bible. And so as I was thinking about this, I came up with six areas that God makes God's grace so amazing. Number one, grace gives salvation to the sinner. Grace gives salvation to the sinner. Ephesians chapter two,

verses eight and nine says, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. And so as I stand before you today, I am well aware of the fact that the only reason I can claim that I am born again, the only reason I can claim that I am forgiven and saved and restored is because of the grace of God, because of his unmerited favor in my life. Otherwise, I would still be wearing all of those sins on me right now. I would still be wearing the guilt of that sin right now. I would still be wearing the shame of those things right now, and I would be completely

unable to look up because it would be too great. But God, in his grace, which is his unmerited, unearned gift to us, lifted that sin off of us and has given to us his salvation, a brand new standing in him. But it is completely and totally the grace of God. Number two, grace gives strength to the believer. Grace gives strength to the believer. We're told in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse nine, when Paul has had an issue that comes up, and I can't wait

to hear this. This is a great section of 2 Corinthians. It's a great section of 2 Corinthians, that we're going to get to. When life was becoming too difficult for him, and there was an area of his life that was weighing him down, he asked to be delivered. And God said, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. And so, though you

may look at your life and you may see an aspect of weakness, you may see parts of yourself that are very weak in nature. You say, Lord, I don't have what it takes to live for you. He says, perfect. We're in the right place because that's what my grace is for. My grace is to give you everything that you need. And so, when you look at your life, you may see an aspect of weakness. You

need in order for you to walk with me in the way that I have called for you to. Grace gives strength to the believer. Number three, grace teaches us how to live godly. Grace teaches us how to live a godly life. Titus chapter two, verses 11 and 12 says, the grace of God, which brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,

we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. What is it that teaches me how to do that? It's the grace of God. His unmerited favor, his unmerited gift for me is that he teaches me on a continual basis, not because I deserve it or because I'm smart enough to learn it, but he teaches me on a continual basis what it means and what it looks like to obey him, to be holy as he has called me to be holy. Number four, the grace of God has been purchased

by the blood of Jesus. It's been purchased by the blood of Jesus. First Peter chapter one, verses 18 and 19 say, we have not been redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, according to our vain traditions, but we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. You see, how is this gift of grace able to be given to me? Is God just some heavenly grandfather who's kind of like, oh, shucks, son, let's just pretend that one didn't

happen. Let's just sweep that under the rug, right? God can't sweep it under the rug. He's not a politician. He has to deal with sin when it comes up. He has to deal with things that show up. And so God can't just in some grandfatherly way pretend sin didn't happen. No, sin had to be accounted for. Sin had to be dealt with. So how do we deal with sin? The only way we can deal with sin is if that purchase price is paid. And the purchase

price could only be paid by one person, and that was Jesus Christ and his blood. The blood of Jesus Christ is why God can now grant us his favor, not just because he wants to, but because righteously it's been paid for us. Number five, it was guaranteed at the resurrection. It was guaranteed to us at the resurrection. We're told in 1 Peter 1, verse 3, that we have been begotten again by a

living hope. That means that when Jesus was raised from the dead, it proved that the payment was enough for us, that the payment was sufficient, that God said, I approve this payment, and he gave the receipt, and the receipt showed. It was completely paid in full. You see, when Jesus rose from the dead, it proved what he declared from the cross at that very end. You know, the last thing that Jesus said from the

cross is he said, it is finished. That's one of my favorite words in all the scripture, the word it is finished. It's one Greek word, and the one Greek word is called tetelestai. It literally means paid in full. The idea is this. You see, in Roman times, when somebody owed a debt, that debt was written out on a certificate, a piece of paper. Gives a little bit of credence to what Peter says,

right? The certificate of debt was canceled. It was written on a piece of paper, and it was nailed to the door of your house, and that debt always hung on your door until it was dealt with, but when that debt was paid off, they would come with a stamp and stamp across the front of it, tetelestai, paid in full. That's why when Jesus declared from the cross, it is finished, that's exactly what he meant. He said, paid in full.

It's completely taken care of, and when he raised from the dead, when God raised him from the dead, it was as if God was saying, and he meant, what he said. It is finished, and so it was guaranteed for us by his raising from the dead. Then number six, grace will take eternity to explain. We're told in Ephesians chapter two, verse seven, that in the ages to come, he will show us the surpassing greatness of his grace towards us. I love that idea that every day, I don't think we'll wake up every day in heaven,

because I don't think sleep is necessary in heaven. That's pretty much what it says in the Revelation, because Jesus is always there. The sun's always shining. I'm mildly sad there's no sleep in heaven, because I'm like, that's probably going to be the best sleep I'll ever have, right? On planet earth, I don't always get great sleep, because life, but in heaven, I think that

I would take the greatest nap ever, and maybe we get to take a nap. We just don't have to. Anyway, that's a whole other story all in and of itself, right? Like, that would be the best, but at any rate, every day, we'll walk around heaven, whether we wake up or not, and we'll say, I am so amazed at God's grace. I'm so amazed. Every day will be a new revelation of the

understanding of the depth of God's grace. So if you're sitting here right now, you're saying, Ryan, I really have a hard time accepting, understanding, and taking in all of God's grace. That's okay. You've got eternity to figure that out. That should be normal. You shouldn't understand it just yet, because it's going to take eternity for him to explain it to

us. And when we think about all of these things, which I could make a longer list, I chose to shorten it to six things. We could make a longer list, but when you hear all of these things, there's only one word that comes to mind, and that word is amazing. There's a reason why the words to that song, Amazing Grace, were penned. It's because when he thought about who he really

was apart from Christ, and what Jesus had done for him, and that God had showered his grace on him, all he could think was, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. It's truly amazing, because grace has power behind it, right? Because of the blood of Jesus, Paul is urging these guys, as he is thinking about this ministry of reconciliation that they've been given as ambassadors for Christ, he realized that as believers, they needed to be urged not to take the grace of God in vain. What does he mean by that? Well, the word vain literally means hollow

or empty. If you look a little deeper, the word means without results or to no purpose. In other words, as believers in Jesus Christ, we must beware of allowing God's grace to begin to have no purpose in our life. To, we must be aware of not allowing God's grace to be something that has no result in our life. Because sometimes we can give in to what we call the problem of over-familiarity.

We've heard it so many times, that perhaps it's lost its power. So I began to ask myself, what are the things that would identify someone who is taking grace in vain? And so I've come up with three areas that I feel like we can use to identify someone who is taking grace in vain. And they're probably the things that we believe as believers can end up falling into that would cause us to take God's grace in vain, or maybe are the results of taking God's grace in vain.

Number one, licentiousness, licentiousness. It's probably not a word you use a great deal, but it does have a great deal of power as far as scripture is concerned. The word licentiousness means lacking legal or moral restraints, lacking legal or moral restraints. The idea is this, I'm just trying to get this gratitude to God, to live this knowledge, to live this faith, to live this ministry to the full, to live this law. To live this life that's having to be put to rest before everyone else.

And that's where the word licentiousness comes from. I do believe that when we believe in something, we need to take it into account that it's a little bit more of a challenge for most people, so is this I'm just gonna keep sinning because God's grace will always take care of me it doesn't really matter how I live I can just continue to use God's grace because he'll continue to forgive me that my friends is called licentiousness and so what are the symptoms of licentiousness well number one if you're dealing with licentiousness you are probably excusing sinful behavior by claiming grace excusing sinful behavior by claiming God's grace let me give you a little bit of an example as a pastor people

tend to watch their language around you at least once they find out that you're a pastor they they all of a sudden think you have a greater connection to Jesus than anyone else and so you're probably going to tell on them if they say bad words and so I came up and talked to this guy and he goes who it's a good thing you came up when you did you do not want to hear what I just had to say and I said well you just have to understand like God heard that and and then he said something really interesting to me he goes yeah I'm a pastor I'm a pastor I'm a pastor I'm a pastor I'm a pastor I'm a pastor yeah but I can just ask God for forgiveness you see that is excusing my sinful behavior and claiming grace now listen there's an aspect of the fact

that when I stumble grace is the only place I can go back to but there's a difference between stumbling into sin and running headlong into sin right like if I know that it's a problem for me and I'm not seeking to avoid that problem I'm living licentiously because I can just say well I'll just use my my grace MasterCard right one of my friends in Johnson County used to talk about that all the time and I thought it was a perfect picture of what I was doing and I thought it was a perfect picture of what we as Christians can sometimes do with the grace of God we just say that's okay swipe my MasterCard swipe my grace MasterCard it'll be okay it doesn't matter if I give in to a little bit of pornography every now and then I'll just

swipe my my grace MasterCard oh I had a few too many drinks I got a little bit tipsy that's okay I'll just swipe my grace MasterCard oh I watched a movie I should have never watched I'll just swipe my grace MasterCard oh I just told somebody off with language that my mom would not want to hear come out of my mouth that's okay swipe my grace MasterCard that was actually aaron's velope you oh that's it that's it like that like that being rational it's okay as a Saint is under grace as a Holiness of what you know I know that's what Christianing is you have a lovesick brother don't be like that of God having stress on your soul until you have to wait until all things go together or done is hang on to a secret Most people don't view grace that way.

We view grace as I can throw off all of my restraints and live however I want to. That's not grace, that's license. When grace takes its hold on my life, holiness is what comes out of it. Because what did we say that God's grace is able to do? Not only set me free from sin, but give me the strength to live as a Christian and to teach me to live a godly life.

And yet sometimes when we desire to give into licentiousness and somebody talks to us about holiness, we go, that's legalism. I've been set free from that. And then the third symptom is this. There's an overly focused view of our flesh. What do you mean by that, Ryan? I mean, all you can think about is what fills your flesh. What you can eat, what you can drink,

what you can wear, how it makes you feel. That's the licentious life. We're told in the book of 1 Peter that we're not to allow our freedom, our grace, to be a cloak for unrighteousness or vice or evil. We're not to say, I have this freedom in Christ, so I'm gonna live how I want to. No, that's not what it's to be a cloak for. It's not to be a cloak for unrighteousness.

Matter of fact, I want you to look over at Romans chapter six real quick. Take a look at what Paul has to say in Romans chapter six. Go over to your left. Two books.

Up in verse 20 of chapter five, he said, the law came in so that transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. It was a beautiful, freeing statement, but Paul, knowing humanity, he said, I'm gonna live how I want to live. He knew that we would say, that must mean I can sin as much as I want to, but notice what he says in chapter six, verse one. What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? If the whole reason why Jesus died was to set me free from sin, why do I wanna go back to the bondage? If the whole reason Jesus died was to set me free from the things that were holding me down, things that I was ashamed of at one point in time,

why do I want to go back to the bondage? There are things I guarantee from your life before Christ that you don't wanna tell anybody about. There are things that you did before you became a believer in Jesus Christ or maybe before you really started walking with Jesus that you're ashamed of and you hope not too many people find out about because that's a part of your testimony you just as soon not talk about. So why do you wanna go back to that bondage?

Don't take God's grace in vain. Allow God's grace to change you and to take away that attitude towards sin. And replace it with an attitude that desires holiness. Number two, the second aspect of taking God's grace in vain is self-righteousness. It's not even a fun word to say. Two words, phrase, it's not fun to say because it just sounds awful coming out of your mouth, right?

Self-righteousness. Everything about it is distasteful at best. This is what the phrase means. Self-righteousness means to be convinced of one's own righteousness especially in contrast with others. To be convinced of one's own righteousness especially in contrast with others. We might also use another term for this. We might use the term legalism. Legalism is the idea that I'm gonna trust in my own works

and I'm going to earn my own salvation. And I fear sometimes that in the church, what we can end up becoming if we're not careful is we can end up becoming very self-righteous as Christians. What are the symptoms of that? Number one, the first symptom of self-righteousness is looking down on others' failures. Let me tell you what I mean by this. If when we just talked about licentiousness,

somebody's name came to your mind and you thought, that's who needs to hear this, you probably struggle with self-righteousness. That would hurt, didn't it? It hurt me when God showed it to me because that's what we're being. You see, if I'm gonna look down on somebody else for the sin that they've committed, what have I just done? I've left the log in my own eye

and I'm trying to find the speck in somebody else's. That's what Jesus meant when he said, if you're going to see the speck in somebody else's eye and pointed out, you had better go ahead and take the two by four out of your own eye first. Then you can see clearly. You see, all of a sudden, once I take the two by four out of my own eye, what do I all of a sudden become?

I become pretty humble because now I've dealt with my own business. Now I've dealt with my own issues. But too many of us in the church today, too many of us, especially in the Western culture church today, are spending so much of our time looking down on the sins of others, looking at other people and saying, I can't believe they would give in to that. I can't believe that they would fall into the sin of homosexuality.

I can't believe that somebody would actually do those kinds of things. I can't believe somebody would live their entire Christian life and all of a sudden become an alcoholic or fall into drugs. I'll always go back to that line that I read in that book. If it can happen to Josh Hamilton, it can happen to anybody. And that's just the truth. And we've got to stop looking down on other people

for the issues that they deal with. The second symptom is this. Overly confident in self. Being overly confident in self. Usually this carries with it the idea that I begin to have an attitude that I've got this whole thing pretty well figured out. That I'm the one who has a pretty good idea of what people should be doing and it usually goes like this. I wish they would just ask me.

I wish they would just ask me what they should do because I know exactly what they should do. Now listen, I need y'all to understand something. These are attitudes I deal with. I'm not saying this because I think necessarily there's somebody out here dealing with it. This is what God dealt with me on. And so this is what I'm telling you. Sometimes we get this going on in the inside.

Well, if they just ask me, I would tell them exactly what they need to do and if they'll just do that, then they'll have it dealt with. Then they'll have their issue dealt with. Shouldn't they be done grieving by now? My gosh, this is what I did and this is how I got past it. Shouldn't they be done with this sin by now? This is what I did. This is how I got past it.

I dealt with this a lot. You deal with this a lot as parents, right? What do we do to each other all the time as parents? We see an issue with kids having. They're like, you know, if you just do this, your kid won't have that problem. Meanwhile, half the time, the parent's going, you mean the thing I've been doing for the past six months of my life, right? Like it's the worst thing in the world

to have a kid that won't sleep. And you're doing everything on God's green earth. You've read every article. You've read every book. You have heard every doctor's opinion and you have heard every friend's opinion and the kid won't sleep. And then you've got that friend that comes along and says, well, all you need to do is this. And your head blows off the top of your body

because you're like, oh, you mean the thing that every other human being told me that I should do, right? Why do we do that? Self-righteousness. We do it with kids. We do it with our walks. Number three, the last symptom of self-righteousness is a false humility. False humility. False humility is where somebody says, gosh, I just really appreciate what you shared today.

As we were in that prayer meeting, I just really appreciated the way you prayed and you said, just stop. Stop some more. That's all Jesus. Tell me more about how that's all Jesus. Tell me. And then you go home later and you're like, yeah, they were right. I did the right thing by deflecting it off of myself, but ultimately they were right. None of us would ever admit that, right?

Like it's not, that's not something we go around like, oh, I struggle with false humility. I just need you to know that. No, we don't do that. Why? Because we don't, people know those issues about us, but it's an aspect of self-righteousness. And when we struggle with self-righteousness, it robs God of his grace. It strips grace of its power because what do I need the most in my life?

I need the grace of God. What does self-righteousness cause me to do? It causes me to look at me, not him. Go over with me to the book of Galatians real quick. Go over to your right. One book, Galatians chapter three. I think she put it up there. Yep. Galatians chapter three, verses one through three.

Notice what he says. He says, You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing with faith? Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Having begun by God's grace being the only hope that I have,

have I now decided that I've got this thing under control and I can do it myself now? That brings us to the third aspect of taking God's grace in vain. And the third thing is apathy. Man, if I'd have been thinking, I'd only put half of apathy up there because I wouldn't care enough to write the whole thing. I got to remember that for next time. If I do this study again,

it'll just say apatah. So apathy, the definition of apathy is a lack of feeling or emotion, a lack of interest or indifference. I'm not going to do that. I think that this is maybe one of the most dangerous of the three because you literally just don't care anymore. You just kind of stop caring. I got to do a speech for the ACCA graduates here a few years ago.

And I was talking about the dangers that will face them when they leave Ark City Christian Academy. And I really felt like the Lord gave me three really distinct issues that we can deal with, with kids that are growing up in the church. And so if you're a kid that is growing up in the church or has grown up in the church, or you have kids growing up in the church, just know these are the three big issues that you're going to deal with. You will deal with kids that come out and end up becoming atheists at some point in time.

And I've seen this happen, okay? I wrote this from an aspect of having worked with teenagers for a long time. They will have grown up in the church. They will have gone through a Christian school and they will grow up and become atheists. Why? Because somebody never answered a question for them along the way or because they wanted to live according to their flesh.

And if they believed in God, they couldn't live according to their flesh. But a lot of times it's because nobody would ever answer questions. They had questions that needed distinct answers and nobody answered questions for them. And so they can end up becoming atheists. The next big issue that they'll face is they will get out amongst the world and they've lived under the shelter and protection of a church

or a Christian school or a Christian home for so long and they'll get outside into the world and they will begin to live according to the world. In other words, I still believe in God. I still believe that that stuff is true and it's going to be good one of these days. But for right now, I'm going to live to please myself. I'm going to live the party life because I'm going to live the party life

because that's what all of my friends are doing. But the third issue that you deal with when you grow up in a church is you deal with the issue of apathy. I see way too many kids that have grown up in a church and they get to about 20 to 21 years old and they just don't care about the things of God. They're not atheists. They're maybe not even living in the world.

They may show up to church every Sunday, but they literally have no walk with Jesus. They just float through life. They never experience the joy of repentance. They never experience the pain of conviction. They never experience what it is to really know God. They just exist as far as the church is concerned. And I think that is a terrible spot for a Christian to be

because it truly robs God of his grace. Well, what does that look like? Number one, you've stopped sensing conviction or joy in the Lord. You may notice I coupled together conviction and joy because those two things are the same. Those two go together. You see, when I am apathetic in my walk with Jesus Christ, I stop feeling any kind of conviction, usually because I have lived licentiously

and I feel bad about it. So I find some area in my life to be self-righteous. At least I still go to church. At least I still own a Bible and look at it sometimes. So I feel pretty good about me because I still do that. And quite frankly, I'm not as bad as some of my other friends. And so I have pushed conviction down so far that I don't feel it anymore. And because I don't feel conviction anymore,

I never repent. And because I never repent, I never experience joy. You see, where does joy come from in our lives? It comes from the Lord. Yes, but where does it start? It starts with repentance. Remember what Peter told all of the people in the book of Acts? He says, repent that times of refreshing and joy can come from the presence of God. That's where it comes from.

But if I never allow conviction, if I'm so apathetic that I never allow conviction to take its hold on my life, then I never experience the joy of repentance. Because as I experience the joy of repentance, I then experience the peace of God's presence. But if I'm living apathetically, if I'm just floating through life and I don't care, it never takes its hold on me. Number two, the second symptom of apathy is that I've just stopped actively pursuing God.

I've just stopped actively pursuing God. I just don't really try anymore. You may find yourself going, I don't even know. I don't even know when the last time I had a personal time with Jesus was. I don't even know when the last time I really took time to pray was. I don't remember when the last time when I sat in church, because apathy means you're probably still coming to church.

You just don't care about it that much. I don't even remember when the last time I really closed my eyes and poured out my heart in worship to the Lord. I've become too apathetic. And I just don't care. We're told in the book of Revelation chapter three, turn there with me real quickly. Most of you, if you've been around for a very long time, you know where I'm going here.

Revelation chapter three. The first three chapters of Revelation deal with letters to the churches. Jesus has things to say to each of the churches. And the very last church he has something to say to is the church of Laodicea, the apathetic church. Notice what he says in verse 15 of Revelation chapter three. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.

I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and are neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing. And you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. That verse will never make anybody's fridge, right? It will never make a magnet out of that verse.

And yet that verse is of utmost importance to us. Because I think if there was anything that could describe, a good percentage of the Western culture, 21st century church, it's that. It's that we say I am rich, I am wealthy and I have need of nothing. And I don't just mean materially. The Western culture is so rich materially it's ridiculous. But we're not just rich materially.

We have resources at our fingertips that people centuries ago would have died to own. They would have died to have. Right now, everybody's, at the tip of everybody's fingertips, matter of fact, some of you are probably using it right now is what I call the worst thing that's ever happened to us. It's the phone, right? It is now the necessary evil of all of our lives.

But on every single one of your phones, you have the opportunity to get things. You can have Bibles on your phone in more translations than you can even speak the language of. I know, I've looked through the YouVersion Bible. I can't speak a good percentage of those languages, right? I struggle with the English one. I definitely can't get to the ones that only uses symbols.

Right? And so, and so I've always got that. I've got my fingertips, plus I've got several different Bible apps that have entire volumes of commentaries, essentially volumes of Sunday morning sermons that I can go and I can read. Matter of fact, there's things that will actually read the Bible to me if I'm not feeling like reading it myself and I can listen to the teaching on the Bible and then it will give me a guided journal in order for me to write all of my thoughts and prayer requests down.

And yet, what does no one do in our culture? We don't take time to study it. We don't take time to pray about it. We don't take time to apply it. Even though we are rich and wealthy and have need of nothing. You see, we're just like that church in Laodicea a lot of times. And God's saying, I wish that you were either cold or hot, but you're neither one, so I gotta spit you out of my mouth.

There's one more verse in this chapter I wanna point out to you and it's verse 20. Verse 20 of chapter three says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with me. I won't make you sing the song that goes along with that, but there is a song that goes with that, just know.

I memorized that verse when I was a little kid. I know the song, I can sing it. Matter of fact, I heard this verse taught on when I was a kid and you may be just like me. And when you heard this verse taught as a child, when somebody referred to it as a child, it was a salvation verse, right? When Billy Graham was done giving his message, he said, I tried to do a Billy Graham voice this morning.

It was just terrible, so I'm not gonna try. No, I won't try. He's saying, you know, give your heart to Jesus. Behold, he stands at the door and knocks. Don't worry, the buses will wait. You just come on forward. That's how we've always viewed this verse, right? Do you realize this verse is not talking to unbelievers? This verse is talking to believers. What does that mean?

What does that mean in an apathetic heart? Jesus is not at home there. And so he's standing on the outside going, can I come in? I want to talk. I've got things to tell you. Quite frankly, we need to vacuum the rug because there's a bunch of gar in there right now. We gotta deal with that. And he's standing at the door and he's knocking. And he wants to know who's gonna open up and let him in.

And so all of these things, the licentiousness, the self-righteousness, and the apathy, they make God's grace in our life ineffective. Because God's grace can't teach me how to live a life where I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. So the self-righteousness and the apathy,

they make God's grace in our life ineffective. Because God's grace can't teach me how to live righteously if I'm spending all of my time living licentiously. God's grace can't show me who I really am in him if all I can view is who I am in myself. And God's grace can't set my heart on fire if it's too apathetic and I'm throwing wet teddy bears on it. It's a great commercial by the way.

Right? I can't do it. do it. And so what do we do? What's the cure? Go back to 2 Corinthians 6, and let's look at verse 2. For he says, at the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Paul here quotes Isaiah chapter 49 verse 8 in a place where God is calling out to the children of Israel, telling them to

repent of their sins, because now is the time, and today is the day. You can't keep putting off until tomorrow what should be done today. And so what do we do if we find that I can identify with this? Perhaps you're sitting here this morning, you're going, that's me. I'm living a licentious life, and I continually make excuses for the sin that I refuse to put to death. I have found that

I'm a self-righteous individual, and I have a tendency to look down on other people and find too much confidence in myself. What am I going to do? I sense an apathy. And it just seemed to have stopped caring about the things of God. What do we do? Well, he tells us today is the day of salvation. Right now is the acceptable time. So what do we do? We must regain

the sense of urgency. We must, as believers in Jesus Christ, pray that God would grant to us a sense of urgency. That's what he tells them here. He says, it's time to get a little bit urgent about the grace of God. It's time to regain the sense of urgency. Well, how do we do that? Well, first of all, we have to get a sense of urgency by having an urgency to repent. An urgency to repent. Perhaps

that's you, and you're saying, man, that's sin. What am I going to do? Repent of it, and don't wait till tomorrow. Don't decide, I'll repent of this issue tomorrow. I know I've got this area of sin in my life that I continue to excuse by God's grace, but tomorrow I'll deal with it. Let me tell you an Old Testament story about somebody who thought that they would do that. Remember the

story of Pharaoh, Moses, and the children of Israel? Moses and the children of Israel, were saying, let us go. And so Pharaoh says no, so God begins sending plagues. God sent this one plague that was pretty amazing. It was the plague of frogs. There were frogs everywhere. Everywhere that they looked, there were frogs. Frogs popping out the toilets. Frogs popping out the flower. Everywhere. Everywhere you looked, there were frogs. And so finally,

everybody says, dude, you've got to deal with the frogs. And so Pharaoh calls Moses in, and he says, all right, your people can go. Pray that God will remove the frogs. Moses asks him a question. He says, when do you want me to pray that God will remove them? And you know what Pharaoh says? Tomorrow. Isn't that amazing? Why did he put off repentance till tomorrow? Because he didn't intend to repent. He didn't intend to let them go. And when we put off

repentance until tomorrow, you know what that tells me? We don't intend to repent. Listen, I know this is a harsh one this morning. I know that this is stepping on some toes. God stepped on mine first. But there is a lie that the enemy continues to tell us. And the lie is this. You've always got tomorrow. You've always got tomorrow. Now, as someone who I like to think excels in

procrastination, I've turned it into an artwork. I know that if I say I'm going to do that tomorrow, you know what that means? I ain't doing that tomorrow. When am I doing it? Probably never. Probably never. And what an unfortunate truth when we do that with repentance. What an unfortunate truth when we do that with these issues in our lives and God is saying it's

time for you to repent and it's time for you to turn back to me. But it takes urgency. Number two, there must be an urgency to seek God's grace for today. There must be an urgency to seek God's grace for today. I'd like to read something to you from Alan Redpath and his commentary on 2 Corinthians. He says, God's grace is always coming to my heart and life.

In the very wonderful and blessed experience of now. Yesterday's grace is totally inadequate for the burden of today. And if I do not learn to lay hold of heavenly resources every day of my life for the little things as well as the big things, as a Christian, I soon become stale, barren, and fruitless in the service of the Lord. You see, at the heart of each of those issues, at the heart of licentiousness, at the heart of, self-righteousness, and at the heart of apathy, is always the same problem. You know what the same problem that lies at the heart of each of those is?

Living off of yesterday's victories. Living off of what God did for me yesterday. Let me tell you another Old Testament story that goes along with this. Perhaps you've heard the story of Solomon. Solomon was David's son and Solomon was an amazing man. And in the beginning, an amazing man of God. God came to Solomon after the death of David and said, what can I do for you? I'll give you anything that you want.

Well, I'll give you victory over all of your enemies. You ask it, it's yours, because I loved your dad so much. And so Solomon sat back and thought about what he would ask for and he said, I want wisdom to know how to lead your people. And God said, oh, that makes me so happy. As a matter of fact, not only am I going to give you wisdom, I'm going to give you everything else as well.

Oh, what a high watermark for Solomon. Well, then Solomon set about to build the temple. That's what David had left for him to do. David wanted to build a temple. God said, you've killed too many people. Let Solomon do it. He's a man of peace. And so Solomon set about to build the temple. And if you've never read the account of the dedication of the temple of God,

you need to go back and read that because it's an amazing time. And it's another high watermark for Solomon. Solomon prays this beautiful prayer. The glory of the Lord fills the place so much so that no one can see because the smoke is so thick from the glory of God. And there's this incredible high watermark in the life of Solomon. But very shortly after that you read one verse that is very deathly. It says,

But Solomon loved many foreign women, and they led him into idolatry. And you know what I bet went through Solomon's mind every time he thought as he kept drifting farther and farther and farther away from God. You know, I bet went through his mind every time he thought about it. But hey, I built the temple. But but I asked for God's wisdom. I remember those victories from back then, so I must still be doing OK because of those victories.

But. Here's the problem with living off the victories of yesterday. They usually lead me. To licentiousness, self-righteousness or apathy today. If I am not seeking God's grace for today, then I don't have what it takes to live today. And if I keep thinking I can just keep living off that old victory, then I don't have what it takes to live today. Think about what the children of Israel were told in the wilderness, right?

They're all crying for bread. We're really hungry. There's nothing to eat here. There's no wonder factory here. There's no ho-hos. There's no cupcakes here. What a sad existence. What are we going to do? And God says, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to put some some some food out every morning. You'll call it manna. And every morning you'll go out and collect manna, but only collect enough for that day because you need to collect it every day.

Why? Because sufficient for today is what you gather. You need new grace for the next day. My friends, we need to be urgent in our seeking daily for the grace of God in our lives. We need an. Active living relationship every day. Number three, we need to be urgent about being about the Lord's business. We are to be urgent about being about the Lord's business, empowered by God's grace to be ambassadors for Christ.

You see, the only way that I keep myself truly in line is if every day I'm about my master's business. Let me tell you one more Old Testament story and then I'll be done for today. OK, can we hang in there for a couple more minutes? One more story. It's about the life of Joseph. Joseph was such a fascinating character in the Old Testament. He went through so much and yet God sustained him and God was with him and Joseph remained faithful.

Well, there's one story about Joseph because Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers because they hated him so much and he was sold into slavery into this place called Egypt. And in Egypt he was bought by a man named Potiphar, and he was head of all of Potiphar's household. Only there was a little bit of a problem in Potiphar's household. The problem in Potiphar's household is Potiphar's wife was a cougar, right?

And she was coming after him constantly. She was. She was just like, dang, dude, and so and so she's just constantly going after Joseph. Hey, won't you sleep with me tonight? Come on. No one's around. And finally there was a day that that Joseph showed up and nobody was there. She'd made sure all the men were out of the house and she said, today's the day. And he said, it ain't the day.

And he ran and she grabbed his cloak and bad things. And and but he sustained against the temptation. How was he able to do that? I was reading in David Guzik's commentary and he pointed out the most amazing thing I can imagine. He said he was able to do it because every day he was about his master's business. He said he was able to do it because every day he was about his master's business.

Every day David was focused on one thing. What is my master's business for me today? She was not his master's business for him today. And if you stay focused, what is my business today that I need to do? If you are about God's business, then you can't live licentiously. Why? Because I can't give in to sin and be about God's business at the same time. It's impossible.

It's impossible. And so if I remain about God's business, if I keep on doing it, it's impossible. And so if I remain about God's business, if I keep on doing it, it's impossible. And so if I remain about God's business, if I keep on doing it, then I'm going to stay focused on what I'm supposed to. I've read an incredible number of books here lately about people that battle addiction.

And one thing I've taken note of from all of the books about people that battle addiction that I've noticed is that they have to have a focus. If you're battling in some area of your life of addiction, you can't have idle time. You can't have time that's not taken up by something because you need to have a focus. And listen, my friends, we all have a sin addiction.

And if we don't live focused, then we will give into the sin addiction. There should be no point in time in your day where your focus should not go back to Jesus. Go back to exactly where it needs to be. We must be about the Lord's business today. Now, I don't know where everybody sits with everything that I've talked about this morning, but if I accidentally identified you,

then today's the day. Don't keep putting it off. I'm going to ask the worship team to come on up. To share one last song with us. And as they do, I want to ask you a simple question. And the simple question is this. Are you willing to let God search your heart and reveal to you what needs to be revealed of the areas of your life where you take God's grace in vain?

Just let him reveal it to you. And as he does, you do what God is telling you to do. If it's time for you to repent, then today is the day to repent. If it's time for you to begin to seek God's grace on a more consistent basis and have a more active and living relationship with him, then today is the day to do that. Listen, don't decide you're going to start on Monday morning.

You know what will happen if you decide to start on Monday morning? We talked about this last week. What will happen? Monday. That's what will happen. Right? And then you won't start. Do it tonight. And if it's time for you to start caring, if it's time for you to wake up, then it's time to wake up. And let God wake us up. Let's all bow our heads and close our eyes.

Father, I come before you and I just want to lift up the hearts of each individual that's here right now. Lord, I want to lift up the hearts of those who are fighting against your spirit right now because you've called them out and they don't want to be called out. Lord, we know that the only way that joy will come is after repentance, after confession. And so, Lord, do your work in that heart.

Do your work in those hearts. Lord, where there needs to be that sense of urgency, where we need to be reminded to be urgent in our pursuing of you, then do that work in our hearts. I feel like I'm supposed to ask this. If you're here this morning, stay with your heads bowed and your eyes closed. If you're here this morning and the Lord's been working on your heart

and it's time for you to reclaim the sense of urgency, then I want you to do something. It's not going to be very easy. Because I want to pray for you. But right where you are, I just want you to stand up. If God is calling you to reclaim that sense of urgency because you've been seeing these areas in your life, then I just want you to stand up because I want to pray for you.

It won't be an easy thing to do. And there will be the fear. There will be the fear that what if somebody else sees me? What if somebody else knows that I'm struggling with these things? What if somebody else knows that I'm not perfect? Don't let that fear stop you. Don't let that fear stop you. Because God wants to do the work in your life that He wants to do.

I feel like somebody else needs to stand. Those of you that are close to each other where you can lay hands on each other, look up. If you're standing, look up. I want you to lay hands on each other. Matter of fact, I want everybody to look up right now. And I want you to lay hands on these individuals that have stood. On these individuals that have stood up and said,

hey, I need God's grace in my life. I need to reclaim this sense of urgency in my life. And I want to pray. Bow with me, please. Father, we come before you, Lord, and I just want to lift up each of these folks that have stood. I thank you for the boldness that they've exhibited, Lord. The bold step that they've taken in their lives. And Father, I just want to pray

that you would reclaim that sense of urgency. Father, that those areas of our lives that we've been through, that we've been through, Father, that those areas of our lives that need to be changed. And Lord, I know that I am one of them. Lord, I am one who needs to continue to reclaim that sense of urgency in his life. Lord, continue to do that work in us. Holy Spirit, I pray that as hands

are laid on these individuals, that you would baptize them afresh with your Holy Spirit. That you would baptize them anew with your Holy Spirit. Lord, fill them anew with you. And Lord, if there's anyone who is now standing because they got to lay their hands on somebody else, but they didn't want to admit it, then I pray that you would fill them anew too. Father, that you would fill them afresh

with your Holy Spirit. Lord, we want to see your Spirit move, but the only way that your Spirit can move is if it starts with broken hearts and repentant hearts. And so Lord, do that work in these hearts right now. And Father, as we get ready to sing this last song, I pray that it would be a song of joy that comes from knowing that we have confessed our sins to you, that we have confessed our issues to you, and we can have the joy that comes from the presence of the Lord.

And we just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. Who am I that the highest King would welcome me? I was lost, but He brought me in. Oh, His love for me. Oh, His love for me. The Son sets free. Oh, is free my child. Yes, I am free at last. He has ransomed me. His grace runs deep. While I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me. Yes, He died for me.

The Son sets free. Oh, is free my child. Yes, I am free. And my Father is a place for a child. Yes, I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am. You say I am. You say I am. You say I am. Yes, I am who you say I am. You say I am for the Son sets free. Oh, is free my child. Yes, I am. Lord, I just thank you, God,

for just the work that you've done this morning, Lord. Yes, Lord. God, you are so good. I just thank you, God, for Your Holy Spirit, God, and just the work that He's doing in you this morning. I just pray that this work will continue, Lord. The hearts will be changed, and lives will be changed for You, Lord. for you, Lord, that we would regain that sense of urgency, Lord.

I am chosen, not forsaken. Thank you, Lord. I am who you say I am. Fall for me, not against me. You say I am. You say I am. Yes, I am who you say I am. Through the sunsets free. Oh, it's free time. Yes, I am. My Father, there's a place for God. Yes, I am. There's a place. Yes, I am. Oh, God, I just thank you. Thank you for just the work that you're doing in our hearts this morning, God.

It's just awesome to see. Lord, I just pray that that as we go, as we leave this place today, God, I just pray that your spirit go with us and continue that work, Lord. And I just pray that you bring us to a point of repentance, God, if there's anything in our lives, God, and just do that awesome work in our lives and just restore us. We love you, Lord, and we praise you in your precious name. Amen.