Time to Choose Pt 2

Good morning. Would y'all stand? I want to welcome you this morning to Calvary Chapel. And those of you online, welcome. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity you've given us this morning to worship you in song and to study your word, Lord. We lift up our service that you would be glorified. Father, we come just as we are, Lord. We know that

we each have different areas of life we deal with, fun times, not so fun times. But we know that you are with us and you're working in each of our hearts, Lord. We know that all things work together for the good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose and plan. And so we lift our time to you and we give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen.

Receive her. Nature sing and heaven and nature sing and have joy. The saints let men their song while fish walks in the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sound. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Oh, yes, Lord. We praise you. You come the first time as a suffering Savior. You'll come again reigning as king. And we thank you for that, Lord Jesus.

And we thank you for your grace this morning. You may be seated. It was great. My chains are gone. And said, my God, my sin. Ransomed. His mercy. My ship. My chains are gone.

My sin has ransomed. Mercy. And in my chains has ransomed. Mercy. Like snow. The sun. Thank you, Jesus.

You unravel me. Yes. With a. You surround me. A song of deep. Till all are gone. And I'm no longer a slave to fear. I'm a child of God. And I'm no longer a child of God. My mother's womb have chosen me. Love has gone again to your family. You'll come again. You may find me. Your blood flows through me. Oh, I'm no longer a child of God. And God's battle arms accept it all.

And I'm no longer Oh, I'm a child of God. And I'm no longer Oh, I'm a child of God. And I'm no longer You split the seas so I couldppenthis- walk right through it. I couldwalk right thoughts to you. My it depends. You split the seas so I could walk right through it. I couldwalk right through it. I was going to do it. Butfor me. It was for me. You. I love God my soul. I know I'm single and strong. And I love you.

I have ten people in this world. No, it's all that and it's all in it's hand. That's the point how truth my fears in perfect love me so i can stand and sing i am a child of god you split the sea so i could walk right we're drowned in perfect love you rescued me so i can stand and say a child of god i'm no longer a slave to fear i am a child of god

thank you lord father as we come having christmas in mind and a new year coming and all we thank you for your faithfulness lord your love and grace your mercy your sovereignty bless our time i love you lord oh your mercy never failed in all my days i've been held in your hand from the moment that i wake up until i lay my head i will sing of the goodness of god

all my life you have been faithful been so so good with every breath that i will see of the goodness of god i love your voice me through the fire and darkest nights you are close like no other i've known you as a father i've known you as a friend i have lived in the goodness of god and faith and so so with every breath that i will sing of the goodness of god your goodness is running after it's running after me your goodness is running after it's running after me with my life laid down i'm surrendered now i give you your goodness is running after it's running after me and this is running after it's running now your goodness is running after it's running after me with my life laid down i'm surrendered now i give you this is running now

is running out and faithful yes you have lord been so so with every breath i will sing of the goodness of god i will sing of your goodness oh god father to think of your goodness and to think of your mercy and your grace all that together your faithfulness help us reflect on that as we worship lord how faithful you are to us and how that your providence is working in all of us your creation you're working supernaturally in natural way we thank you for that you're you're our way maker you you meet us right where we are you show us you lead us you guide us i worship you i worship you working in this place i worship you worship you way maker miracle worker promise keeper light in the darkness

my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are are here touching every heart i worship you i worship you you i worship you worship you are way maker miracle promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way promise keeper light in the darkness my god

my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are way maker promise keeper

You are way maker, mirror, promise keeper, light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are. One more time. You are way maker, promise keeper, light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are. I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, you never stop working.

You never stop, you never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, you never stop working. You never stop, you never stop working.

Light in the darkness. that is who you are you are way maker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are you are way maker miracle worker promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are oh that is who you are that is who you are that is who you are that is who you are you're the only way the truth of the life philip and thomas had those questions about your father and see the father and he said if you've seen me you've seen my mother you see emmanuel god with us is from jesus one of his names he came to earth you walked among men born as a baby coming from glory thank you lord rising from the dead and sending up to the father his right hand making intercession for us thank you jesus

and father we ask for your continued blessing on our service now in jesus name amen good morning if you could locate your seats that's okay if you could locate your seats we've got a special little program here with our sunday school kids who are slowly filtering their way in and getting up on stage it's going to take them just a minute to get arranged

now some of the things that are going on he's feeling better and so that's kind of what's going on with glenn he's doing much better he said would you just our responsive reading this morning we are going to be in psalm 139 psalm 139 139 if you would stand in the presence of the lord and the son of god and pray for us so thehankhah 39, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Pastor Al.

Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with the utmost hatred. They have become my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there's an aspect of us that needs dealt with. Because I forget things. After church, head over there. Chapter 7, we've moved into the last section

of the Sermon on the Mount. And as we've moved into this last section, we've titled it A Time to Choose, because that's exactly what Jesus has done with those that are listening to him now. Scripture is full of areas where we are called to choose which direction we're going to go. And Jesus, of course, brings us to a very pointed place here at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. He has presented to us

the truth of the kingdom, the truth of being a kingdom citizen, and what that looks like to be a kingdom citizen, what living in the kingdom looks like, and now it's up to us. Four areas of choice. How will you build your house? Which leads to life. Today we will look at the next two questions, which are, who will you listen to, and what will your life say? And so we pick up

in verse 15 of chapter 7, and this is what it says. Beware of the false prophets them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles are they. So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. And thrown into the fire. And you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven,

but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, and in your name perform many more. This question that we're going to be presented with is, who will you listen to? Because there's a lot of places that we could begin listening and hearing God's word, but the question is, who are you going to listen to? Because we must be careful because

of a lot of false prophets that are out there. I think as we false prophet like this, one who acts like a divinely inspired, one who claims to follow the truth, but all of the things that they say don't line up with what God's word has to say. I started thinking about what does it look like to be a false prophet? What do false prophecies look like? Do they exist today? And may I say

they look like? Well, I came up with three things that I think a false prophet looks like. Number one, they will point out to Jesus. What everybody really points, I invited my mom and dad to go to a Bible study with them, and they went to this Bible study, and we stayed with the kids, and when they came back from the Bible study, I could tell that my mom and dad thought things were mildly off with this Bible study that we went to, that they went to, and when we were on our way home, they started telling us exactly what took place at this Bible study. They said, you know, here was the

fascinating thing. Jesus was not mentioned at this Bible study. You know who was talked about? The Bible study leader. The guy who was the head of this church was all anybody could talk about. Nobody talked about what Jesus did. They talked about how he delivered them from their problems. Nobody talked about how powerful Jesus was. They talked about what an amazing speaker

this guy was, because all of his teaching was not focused on pointing people towards Jesus. It was focused on pointing people towards himself. When you find somebody who is a false prophet, you will find that they become the hero of all of the stories, and that's exactly what Jesus is talking about here when he says we must be aware of false prophets. Number one, they will always point to themselves and not to Jesus.

Number two, they will not handle the Word of God properly. They will not handle the Word of God properly. You know the first false teacher to arrive on the scene was? It was Satan. Do you remember the first question that he asked? Did God say? You see, the very first thing that the very first false prophet ever did was challenge God's Word. He did not handle the Word of God properly

because that's exactly what his servants do, and he disguises himself as an angel of light, so why wouldn't we think that false prophets would disguise themselves as angels of light? You see, there's a real battle going on in church culture today, and the real battle that's going on that unfortunately seems to be going the wrong direction is a battle for the Word of God. It's a battle that began in the United States at the beginning of the early 1900s. It was about somewhere between 1903 and 1904 there was a meeting that took place in New York City, and it was a meeting of several men who felt like the best thing that they could do was begin to promote the philosophy of a young philosopher at that point in time by the name of Karl

Marx. And the way that they realized that they could do that was to infiltrate two different institutions. They needed to infiltrate educational institutions, and they needed to infiltrate the church. And they did both of those things. They infiltrated the public school systems with teachers and books that would promote Marxist philosophy. And then they began

to infiltrate seminaries with men who would teach Marxist philosophies, which always downplayed the truth of the Word of God and always bolstered the idea of human need over spiritual need, physical need over spiritual need. We might call that the social gospel. And that's exactly what's been taking place. And now, over the last century, that's been happening within churches to the point where if you were to look at a place like Princeton Theological Seminary or Fuller Theological Seminary, in their statement of faith, they no longer believe that the Word of God is the inerrant Word of God. They believe

that the Bible might contain some of the words of God, but it is not the inerrant Scripture. It is not actually the Word of God. This sounds shocking, but I bet you've heard preachers that preach like this. I bet you've heard preachers that preach, and they don't actually ever use the Word of God because they don't believe that the Word of God is the only source for truth.

It's interesting how easily it happens, and it's interesting how easily preachers can end up falling away from the Word of God. But it's what begins to take place. And when we see someone no longer handle the Word of God properly, we can begin to understand and realize that person is a false teacher because they're no longer presenting the whole truth of Scripture. They're presenting their view of Scripture, and that's where we have to be careful.

It becomes easier to spot the more that you know what the Word of God has to say. But here's what always ends up happening. They'll always end up combining a bunch of different Bible verses from a bunch of different sections of Scripture that each on their own, standing on their own in context, say something completely different than the other. But once you combine it together, they can form a whole new philosophy out of it. I've seen it happen at

a church service that I've been to before, and I remember thinking, now wait a second. Those are verses from different parts of the Bible, and that's not what any of those verses say, and yet woven together correctly, you can form a whole new doctrine out of them. And you see, when someone does this, it's a dangerous thing, because it sounds right, because they're using words from God's Word, but it's wrong because it's not actually what it says. And so how can you tell a false prophet? Well, number one, they'll point to themselves, not

Jesus. Number two, they will not, handle the Word of God properly, and then number three, they will downplay the importance of sanctification. They will downplay the importance of sanctification. What do I mean by that? I mean that holy living will no longer pursue God in every aspect of your life. They will not tell you to live your life however you want to. If that's how

you feel like you are, then that's who you are. If you feel like you're a girl today, then you're a girl today, whether you're a man or not. If you feel like the person that you should love is the person of the same sex, then you should do that, because after all, God created us to be happy, didn't He? God created us to love, and love is love, right? You see, initially

when you hear it, you go, oh, that sounds awful. But when you've been eased into it by a lack of the proper teaching of the Word of God, then all of a sudden your ears aren't very sharp to that any longer, and holy living is no longer important because that's not what God's Word teaches anyway, right? God wants us all to be happy. This is how we can identify those who are false prophets.

We can identify them by these three main markers. There's other things as well, but I think these are three big areas where we can begin to look and see who these false prophets are. And so Jesus says to beware of these false prophets. Notice the next thing He says that they'll do. He says they will come to you in sheep's clothing. What does that mean? It means

they'll look just like you. They'll wear the same clothes that you wear. They may use the same language that you use. They'll even quote some of the Bible verses that you think are really good because they'll want to look just like you. Listen, if I want to deceive you, then I'm not going to tell you a blatant lie. If I want to deceive you, I will tell you something that's mostly truth,

and I will mix a little bit of a lie into it. And as I do that, you don't always catch the little bit of a lie that I've mixed into it because I've said so many other things that you agree with, that when I say the one thing that you don't, which is the most important thing I'll say the entire time, you won't pick up on it. And pretty soon, you'll give in to that kind of philosophy. And it's amazing how quickly it can happen.

He says they'll come to you in sheep's clothing. But take note of what else He says about them. But though they come to you in sheep's clothing, inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Well, that presents a whole different picture, doesn't it? That presents a whole different picture of someone who is a false teacher. I think sometimes because we can be too gracious

as Christians, in some ways, we can sometimes excuse people that have false doctrine. Oh, I'm sure they meant well. I'm sure they weren't meaning to mislead anybody. No. They were. Because that's what they are. They are misleading because they are ravenous wolves sent straight from Satan to try to pull people away from the truth. Let's not soft-pedal it. Let's not make it sound

easy or gracious. Let's deal with it as it is. After all, what did Jesus refer to them as? Whitewashed tombs. What did Jesus refer to them as? Brood of vipers. What did Paul refer to them as? An anathema. Cursed. Let's deal with it for what it really is. Because who are you going to listen to? He says, outwardly they look just like sheep, inwardly they're ravenous

wolves. Now there's one word that came at the very beginning that I haven't dealt with yet, and that's the word beware, because I wanted to present the problem, and then present to you the warning that Jesus gives, because he uses this word, beware of these types of teachers. The word beware means to constantly be guarding yourself against. Constantly be guarding yourself against.

The idea is, we can never let our guard down against false teaching. Why? Because what does false teaching appeal to? It appeals to our flesh. It always appeals to our flesh. And what is the one thing that can pull us away from Jesus? Our flesh. And when that false teaching starts appealing to our flesh, then all of a sudden we go, you know, he may be onto something there.

I think he's got a pretty good idea. Because after all, that sounds way easier than personal sacrifice. That sounds way easier than offering myself up as a living sacrifice unto the Lord. That sounds a lot more broad-minded, and like more of my friends are going to like me if I'm willing to follow this kind of wide gate. And walk down this wide road. It sounds a lot more popular than all of the things

that the Bible teaches. Maybe he's really onto something. And as soon as we start thinking that, we need to think, no, I've got to be on my guard because that's not what the Word of God has to say. That's not really pointing me to Jesus. And that's not creating holiness in my life. We must constantly be on guard against these things because our flesh can lead us away so

easily. He says, beware of false prophets. Who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Well, he tells us how we can start identifying them. Notice what he says. Verse 16. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles. By the fruit of their life. In other words, what they produce.

And he gives a couple of examples. He says, you don't gather grapes from thorns, do you? And you don't gather figs from thistles. You can know what a plant is by the fruit that it produces. When I lived in Kansas City and was working groundskeeping in the retirement community, I was pretty new to identifying plants. I didn't know how to do it yet. Still really don't for the most part.

But anyway, I was trying to learn a little bit while I was there. And I remember it was wintertime, about this time of year, and we were working in someone's yard and I looked at a shrub. I said, so what's that one? And the guy looked at me and he goes, you know, I'm not really sure. The bark looks like a lot of others. For me to truly identify it, I have to wait till it flowers.

You know what that means? That means for him to identify what that was, he has to see its fruit. You see, initially you may not always realize that what somebody's teaching is false. There may be that feeling on the inside of you, that check in your spirit because the Holy Spirit gives you discernment. And then eventually you'll go, ah, now I see what's going on.

Let me give you an example. When I was early on in college ministry, there was a very popular teacher by the name of Rob Bell. Everybody loved Rob Bell. And Rob Bell had this series of videos that he put out. And I thought, what's off about this guy? But I'm always negative. I'm a little bit of a negative guy about new things. That's kind of who I am. And so I'm going,

I'm just being that guy. But something just kind of seemed off. Well, about 10 years ago, Rob Bell writes a book that hell doesn't exist. And I go, there it is. There's the fruit. Now I know. Now I know what's off with this guy. Everything comes together now. Did you guys hear about what happened down at Joel Osteen's? Church a couple weeks ago? Yeah, Joel Osteen had a plumbing problem. It came out

that Joel Osteen's church had a plumbing problem. And when they dug into the walls, they hid it in the walls. Now listen, I hope and I pray that Joel Osteen will repent. Repent of the prosperity gospel that he preaches. Repent of not ever telling the whole truth. Repent of the false doctrine that he puts out there. I really hope that he does. But for right now,

the fruit just exposed itself. And the fruit just exposed him. I hope that Rob Bell eventually repents and gets his life right with the Lord. I really do. And I know that anytime I'm willing to name a name from the pulpit, I should also be willing to pray for their soul. Because no matter how much I disagree with them, they are still created in the image of God.

And God still loves them. And Jesus still died for them. And I can't hate them because of that. I can certainly call out what they've done that's wrong. But I need to pray for them. But you see, their fruit showed itself. And when their fruit showed itself, the whole world was able to see. And the unfortunate thing is when the fruit really begins to show itself and the whole world sees,

it gives the enemies of God an occasion to blaspheme. He says, you'll know them by their fruit. He goes on to say, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruit. Man, that's a pretty harsh statement, is it not? Now, I don't know exactly what he refers to here, or what he means here when he refers to a tree being

cut down and thrown into the fire. What I do know for sure is that he says there's consequences that go along with this. There are consequences that go along with giving in to false teaching, as well as being a false teacher. There are consequences that go along with that. Whether it's destruction of your life on this side of eternity, or destruction of your life on the

other side of eternity, I don't know. But it tells me that we'd better beware of it, because if I get led astray, I don't want to know if I was wrong. We have to pay attention to the things that are coming out, because the fruit that's produced begins to, to reveal the person. So what are some of the fruit of these false teachers? David Guzik, in his commentary, said

that the fruit of the false teacher can be seen in three different ways. Number one, it can be seen in the content of their teaching. Maybe I didn't put that one up there. Pretend it says content of their teaching. First of all, it can be seen in the content of their teaching. In other words, eventually the things that they say, just like Rob Bell that I talked about, eventually it will come

out in the things that they teach, because you can only hold it in for so long. You can only hold in that falsehood for so long, and then all of a sudden it becomes everything that you do. And as you're listening to what false teachers are saying, if you know what the Word of God has to say, then all of a sudden you can start going, that is not true. That is not right.

It can be seen in the content of their teaching. Number two, it can be seen in the effect of their teaching. It can be seen in the effect, of their teaching. What do I mean by that? What does the body that that teacher is addressing look like? Is it a healthy body that is growing in their knowledge of God, and their knowledge of the Word, and their relationship with Jesus?

Or is it a body that is too concerned with the things of the world, that is too concerned with their leader, and too concerned with what everybody has to say? You see, it can be seen in their manner of living. Let me tell you a little story. I may have told you this before, I don't remember. I forget what I say. There was a guy that I used to do youth camps with,

another Calvary Chapel pastor. Graduated from Calvary Chapel Bible College, and I respected him a great deal. I actually looked up to him a lot. He was older than me in the ministry, and was a senior pastor of a church, and a very dynamic speaker. We did these youth camps together, and we fellowshiped together a lot. But after one of the last youth camps that we did together,

he went off and did some missions work somewhere. I wish there was nothing wrong with that. But when he came back, he didn't want to come back to his Calvary Chapel. He started a new church, because he'd gotten involved in the emergent church movement. The emergent church movement. Pointing you to Jesus, I shouldn't be here. ...me deeper in my relationship with him, because that's what I was created

for. And that's the whole reason we gather here on a Sunday morning, is to point people to Jesus, so that when you go throughout the rest of your week, you can be aimed in the right direction. Does it encourage me towards a life that walks away from sin in toward the things of God? Because false teaching will always tell you it's okay in God's Word. Is it based

in God's Word? Everything should be able to be held up against what God's Word has to say. And it should line up with God's Word. And if it doesn't, it needs to be gotten rid of. I'm reminded of what happened with Paul in the book of Acts, when they came to... You see, the things that they heard, they wanted to make sure that they lined up with the Word of God.

I told first service, I said, every now and then I have to take points off of my outlines, because I can't support it fully with what Scripture has to say. It does not point me to Jesus. If it does not encourage holiness, and if it is not based in God's Word, I think Snoop Dogg said it best when he said, you've got to drop it like it's hot. Right? At least that's what the pimps

in the crib say. Because we can't hold on to this kind of tube. Right? When somebody says, hey, I heard this guy on YouTube, I go, okay, hold on a minute. And let's see if... Hold on. Let's know... Don't throw... Well, maybe... Anyway, there's good things on both of those standards, because I don't care how... But then Constantine comes along, and he sees that the

vision that he sees, and under this symbol, conquer, or something along those lines, and he says, that's it. I'm for me. It became illegal to not be a Christian in your life however else you wanted to throughout the week, as long as you made that profession of faith. You're going, Ryan, that's ridiculous. Is it? Have you seen the church today? Because you don't think it was ever

true. It's in the 21st century church where people can say, hey, I believe in Jesus and everything else in the world. I believe... You see, those are in the world that we live in. I love the gospel. I hate what the church today has done to the gospel, because we have stripped it of its power with what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls cheap grace. Matter of fact, Boyce's expositional commentary that

I was reading quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, Cost of Discipleship, and in it he writes this. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, and absolution without personal confession. He goes on to say, cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without the cross. He would have called it licentious sin.

Grace is the power for freedom from sin, because you have been saved by grace so that now you can live a holy life. And so he says not everyone who claims Lord, Lord is going to make it to heaven, because too many people are making easy confessions, and grace isn't cheap. Now what does he say instead? I hope as you read that you had the same. Then what exactly

is the will? And we're going to do a little okay, get them ready. It's right after Jesus fed the 5,000 and a bunch of people making it. He said, Truly I say to you, you seek for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him the Father God has set his seal. Therefore they said to him, What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God? And Jesus

said, You said some people make this claim that they believe. And I say, Yeah! Of course they make a claim that they believe, because that's the easiest thing to do. That's why we've got to look at what the word believe means. It means trust in, rely on, and cling to. That's what the word is. It's the illustration of if I was drowning. That's a John's life. Consumer Reports best

life. 2.25. It just made sense like that. That's the best life preserver ever. I'm so glad that they threw me that life preserver. Now I can know all of that, but until I actually grab onto it with both arms, giving it all of the hope that I have, it will do me no good. And many people who make easy confessions, who try to purchase a little fire, but they've never actually grabbed

the life preserver. And the one hope that I have in this life, and quite frankly, he's the only one, because that is the will of God. Number 10, chapter 4, verse 3. It's okay, just jot it down, and look it up later. It's the will of God, your sanctification. The will for my life. I've worked with young people my entire life. I don't know what God's will for my life.

For you, to be wholeheartedly committed to live out God's will in my life. I've got the part of my life back, except my intellectual list. Obviously God exists, now, see, the problem most of us have is we have a divided heart, like it says in the book of Hosea. We want to follow God when it's convenient. We want to follow God when it's easy. But God is calling for total commitment

of our hearts and our lives unto Him, even when it costs us something. Even when it means I have to go outside of myself, outside of my way, outside of my realm of comfort, because I'm wholeheartedly devoted to Him. What's God's will for my life? Sanctification. Fully devoted unto Him. And then the third thing is this. What is God's will for my life? To have an active and living

relationship with Him. Go to John 15 real quick. And my Father is the vine dresser of fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have fruit of it. So what does that mean for you? Why were you created? Why was I created? To know God. What got in the way of me knowing God? Sin. Jesus loved us enough that He came and died for us to deal with the sin.

Why did He love us enough to come and die for us to deal with our sin? Because He wanted to restore that which sin had destroyed. And when He restored that which sin had destroyed, now His will for my life is an active and living relationship with Him. That I know Him with my whole heart, with my whole mind, with my whole life, and then I serve Him with all of those things.

You see, that's why I was created. That's what I was made for, and that's why most people can't find happiness in their life. They can't find peace in their life. They can't find joy in their life because they're not maintaining an active and living relationship. Tell me about the church that they, whether or not they are really born again. That is a social club that you live.

That is so. That's what it means to do the will of Him who's relationship with Him. It's amazing. A lot like Him. Be on that day. Miracles? The verse is, wasn't I a young Christian? Didn't I make a profession of faith? I've been around a lot of people. I was a drug dealer. What am I doing? You, you, you need to, just because you can tell somebody else, living according.

In other words, a apostle by the name of Judas. And yet he had no, he says, never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Okay, I've decided that's the scariest of the three verses. That's the most sobering of the three verses. Is to think that I would stand before Jesus and have Him look me in the eye and say, I have no idea who you are. That word knew there means to know

experientially. He says, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.

That's pretty sobering. Okay, let's bring it back around and say, okay, what do we do now? What do we do with this? What do we do with what our lives say? Well, I think we have to begin to examine ourselves. That's part of why I chose Psalm 139, because I think that that prayer in Psalm 139, Lord, search me and know me. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and then lead me in the way everlasting.

We need to examine ourselves. Better yet, we need to have the Holy Spirit examine us to see what's really going on in our lives. Later in Scripture, we're going to read that He says, you should examine yourselves to see if you are really in the faith. Examine ourselves. We need to ask ourselves questions. I tell you, once you start talking to yourself, Christ alone.

This morning, there are people in here who would assent to the fact that you believe that Jesus exists, but you've never put your faith in Him. You can tell me things about Jesus. They can tell you how to put their faith in Jesus as their Lord. Today could be your day. Is my faith a sanctification when I am perfect this side of eternal humans? Are we fighting a real battle with my

flesh right now, and I feel like I'm losing? I say, that's great. Not that you're losing. You don't go talk to life, but if you've all of a sudden decided, no, God is not fair. That's not right. Because sometimes, temporarily, you need to know which one I shared this at. But at one of the funerals, I was talking about pain. Do you know that pain is actually our body's protection?

Pain is the greatest protection that our body has. Because it tells our body this is where they're concerned about your happiness. Just like your body's not always concerned with your feeling good, you need to put it in a living relationship with Jesus. Friends, your life should be identified with the fact that you spend time with the Savior who purchased you with His own precious blood.

Your life should be identified with the fact that you spend time with Him. Because, brothers and sisters, it's the point of life. It's the point of you being here. When you got saved, it started. You will not start a whole new relationship. Sometimes you're going to have dry times in your life. There will be weeks, maybe months, where you go, man, I'm just not feeling the emotion

right now, but that's okay, because you continue to maintain an active and living relationship with Jesus by faith. But, for some of us, you've put your faith in Him. Can I just go ahead and tell you, laying out your request before Him, and allow Him to pour into you through His Word, because that's what He created you for. Amen? Let's all stand. ...message right before Christmas, but hey,

the joy of Christmas is coming over and over again, whether they intend to or not. Because some of them will sing a song. You know what the root word of the word Christmas is? Christ. And they can't help it. The entire world is going to celebrate the fact that Jesus came and was born as a man, so that He could be our Savior. Brothers and sisters, take advantage of every chance that

you have for you, and just thank you. Marinate us in the truth of your Word, and that we would come out smelling. ...the promise of Lord, I stand and wonder at the sacrifice you made.

Your love is deeper than the ocean high than the beach beach. Beyond the stars in the sky.

Your love has no Jesus, your love do not deserve the grace that you have given and the promise of your Word. Lord, I stand and wonder at the sacrifice you made. Mercy beyond measure. My debt, you ...your love than any ocean higher than the heavens reaches. Beyond the stars in the sky.

Jesus, your love has no bounds. Jesus, your love has no bounds. Jesus, your love has no bounds. Jesus, your love has no bounds. Jesus, your love has no bounds. Father, bless our week, Lord. May we be focused on you, allowing you to work in our hearts, Lord. Lead and guide us, Lord. By your Holy Spirit, fill us afresh and encourage us in our walking witness for you.

In Jesus' name, amen. The Lord bless you all.