In the name of Jesus, what a powerful name it is.
In the name of Jesus.
So we love it, do we not?
When a sermon is a-literated,
that means each point begins with the same letter,
has exactly three points
and then a poetic illustration of some kind
and then we're done.
But that's not gonna happen today.
So if you're looking forward to that,
you're not gonna get it
because the Lord laid it on my heart a certain way
and I'm going to try my best to give it to you
beginning to end the way that the Lord laid it on my heart
so that we can digest it together.
When I was about 12 years old
and for some years before that,
actually my parents used to take us out to Raceway Park.
I don't know if anybody remembers Raceway Park or not,
but used to be horse racing.
Yep, horse racing and mostly carriage racing.
So they had the horse and they had behind it
that little two-wheel buggy
and a jockey would sit in the back of that
and have that little whip thing
and race the horses around the track
and they move pretty darn fast.
And I enjoyed it going there
and seeing the horses racing
and then occasionally we would actually
take a little money and gamble.
I was not saved at that time
and my parents were, my dad was saved
but very backslidden, not living for the Lord
by his own profession.
And my mom was not saved.
She didn't get saved until she was 56.
And so that was a family night entertainment for us.
We'd go out after nine o'clock on a Friday night
when you could get in for free,
take five or 10 bucks bet on the horses.
And I really enjoyed seeing the horses run.
And one particular night we entered the park
just after nine.
We were there for a couple of races
and then all of a sudden I noticed a race
that was different than all the rest.
Imagine you're at the raceway
standing near the final stretch as I was.
The air was electric with anticipation.
The horses and the jockeys were racing hard,
thundering around the track, throwing mud up behind them.
But now they've been out of sight
as they were navigating the back stretch
on the complete opposite side of the track.
And you could just barely see,
you could tell who was in the lead.
I knew that it was a different kind of a race.
There was a horse racing that particular night
that went off 20 to one,
which means if you bet a dollar and he won,
you'd get 20 bucks.
And there were people betting on it
because the rumor had it that this horse could win.
I don't know what people were betting,
but I saw people standing all around me in that crowd
near the race, near the finish line,
gripping their slips from race,
from where they had bet in their hands.
And I imagined that some of them
had bet hundreds or thousands or whatever dollars.
And as the horses came out of that back stretch
and around the third turn and then the final turn,
and we couldn't see who was winning, every neck craned.
We leaned out to see who would be charging
around the final turn first,
with hoofs pounding, muscles straining,
jockeys urging the horses forward.
And then suddenly the crowd erupted,
cheering wildly because at that moment,
they could see the leader was that 20 to one horse.
And maybe everyone was suddenly going to get rich.
Some horses that started strong began to fade,
but not that horse.
Others that seemed behind previously,
now found a second wind surging forward
to try to overtake that 20 to one horse.
And the crowd was straining to see every hoof
hit the ground.
The horse did not win, edged out by a nose.
So those that bet the horse to win at 20 to one,
they didn't, times 20 their family fortune
that they had gambled away.
Some people bet the horse as what's called a box ticket,
first or second place.
They thought, well, he might not win,
but he might come in second.
And they did win because he came in second.
And the favored horse,
the horse that everybody thought was going to win,
that went off at less than one to one odds.
So basically didn't make any money whatsoever.
He did win by a nose and the cheers died down.
But what really struck me was that dramatic moment,
waiting for the final turn as everyone was craning,
everyone was leaning out,
everybody was hoping that their horse would be in the lead.
They were hoping for the turn.
I submit to you that a lot of people
are living their lives that way now.
As the crowd strains to see,
and the hush fell upon the crowd
just before the horses appeared.
For many, life is like that hush.
A dramatic moment, waiting for the turn,
hoping for the turn,
hoping to experience a new day, something different.
And right now, working their way
through the humdrum existence,
as others seem to be doing the same.
But around them, all the while, the battle rages.
We cannot simply go about our business.
We cannot forever keep doing the things we have done,
waiting for someone or something
to save us from our madness.
For so many, the repeating cycle goes on and on
as they encounter again and again,
a moment in time at which they desperately need a turn,
a turn of fate, a turn of circumstance.
They look longingly.
They hope beyond hope.
They hope for riches or for comforts
or for relationship or validation.
Will today be the day that things get better?
They ask themselves.
Humans are creative and strong and intelligent.
All people have their merit and can do something incredible.
And they try to use all these incredible traits
to bring about that term.
Our text for the day is in 1 John,
but we're not going there just yet.
We're gonna pop over to the book of Ecclesiastes
and suck out a verse in the chapter seven.
If you're flipping through the Bible,
I'll dare you to try to find it by the time I read it.
It's Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse 29.
Praise the Lord.
It says this.
Now, he's been, this is in the context,
he's been examining mankind.
He's been looking at life such as it is.
He's been looking for men of quality,
men of character or women of quality, women of character.
This is what he says in Ecclesiastes seven, verse 29.
He says, behold, look here, behold,
I have found only this in all my searching, bless you,
in all my searching, I have found only this,
that God made men upright,
but they have sought out many devices.
So observing men, his observations lead to this.
He comes down to just one thing,
that people have a lot of schemes, a lot of plans,
and make a lot of efforts to try to turn things
the way they want them to go.
People are creative, intelligent, and strong,
even destructive at times,
and they are trying to use their abilities
to turn their fortunes.
People live out hatched schemes
in trying to kick off the next chapter of their lives.
I had a dream just last night.
I've been listening to my dreams a lot lately
since the, about, I'd say, what has it been?
Eight weeks ago, we had a sermon on listening to your dreams
and how God is speaking to us while we are asleep,
and we supported it with scripture,
and I believed it firmly,
and I have tried to listen to my dreams.
I had a dream last night about silver plates
made of pure silver,
and an artist was etching those silver plates meticulously
with intricate patterns of flowers and roses.
In my dreams, the plates were then shelved,
and the shelves were covered everywhere
and overlapping all the way up to a 60-foot feeling,
and I thought, how marvelous, how beautiful,
how awesome that picture is,
those plates with those carved rose patterns on them
all the way to the ceiling.
What wealth is therein contained?
But in my dream, I realized that the artist
was doing something.
Not only was he carving beautiful etchings on these plates
and storing them all the way up for all to see,
but there were scraps of silver
being etched free from the plates,
and they were piling up in mounds.
And it struck me then that the silver powder
etched off the plates by the tiny rotating blade
was enough to create wealth.
In fact, it was enough to fuel an army
to buy, well, almost anything.
All those plates and all that little bit of silver
that was etched off piling up
was enough to buy almost anything.
This is what Satan has gotten good at.
He's living off the scraps,
and the wise, learned, and interesting among humans
may find themselves doing the same thing.
They're living off the scraps.
When you were created for something,
so much more, and when you are living off the scraps,
created for something so much more,
that is little more than a living death.
Caution the wise among us.
You may be here today listening to the Word of God
because you realize that it is wise
to hear from the God of heaven
because He is wiser than we are.
But let us be cautioned
that we are not living off the scraps.
It would be very easy for us to then
take the scraps of the kingdom,
take the scraps of what God has done, the little bits,
and at the same time then,
to try to turn our lives
in the directions that we want them to go,
to exercise what are called machinations, schemes.
By the way, just out of curiosity,
do you know how many worship songs we sing
have the word schemes in it?
Amalia, you want to take a guess?
Take a stab at it?
Schemes, the word.
Not very many.
I only know of one, and we sang it today.
Isn't that interesting?
And so we might exercise our schemes
and try to turn our life out
to be what we think it should be,
better under heaven, we think we'll be.
We use the term, Jesus came to die
for us to have abundant life,
and we think, well, then we should do pretty well, right?
And exercise our schemes.
And Matthew four, Satan himself attempted to tempt Jesus.
It's pretty interesting, really,
because I don't know when he begins to tempt Jesus
that he knows who Jesus is.
Some theologians think he did.
Some theologians think he did,
but he was surely a great teacher,
and people were recognizing him and flocking to him,
and Satan comes to tempt him.
Do you remember what the first temptation was?
He was in the desert or the wilderness
after 40 days of not having eaten,
and what did Satan tell him to do?
Tell me, tell me.
Turn the bread to stone.
Turn the stone to bread, right?
He could do that.
He had the power to do that.
He could do it at any time he wanted,
but he was 40 days in and not having eaten,
and didn't it just make logical sense
to exercise some small part of his power
to turn his circumstance?
That was the argument, and what did Jesus say?
Oh no.
So for man does not live by bread alone,
but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God, right?
So Jesus would not, in his example,
would not turn his own fate by machinations
that were given to him as capabilities that he could do
by the very nature of who he was.
The turn, at that moment of the turn,
next strain to see who was in the lead,
seeking beneficial results.
I hope it's gonna turn out for my favor.
I hope it's going to go well.
Oh, hope can be such a betrayer,
because it can lead us to exercise these machinations
or schemes, these things that we try to do
to make it turn out the way we want.
But it's not just the turn, there's something more,
because the crowd was absolutely quiet
waiting for the turn, waiting for the horses to come around,
and as the horses came around the turn, what happened?
The reveal.
The reveal was next.
The next strained, and there's some advantages
to be gained in the reveal.
If you are the one who first sees it,
perhaps people will listen to you.
Perhaps people will give you kudos.
Remember when we did the little object lesson?
Up here on the front row, there were two young people,
both children, who called out the name of the book
that Ariana was reading, and they both wanted credit.
Nothing wrong with wanting credit,
but it reminds us that as humans,
we want to be present at the reveal,
so that we can be in the know,
so that we can know what's going on.
And there was a great effort by humanity
to control both the turn and the reveal.
In Acts 17, Paul was traveling in Athens,
and he saw a pillar, a monument,
an altar created to an unknown God.
The truth is that Athenians were just covering their bases
in case the unknown God really wanted some worship, right?
If he really wanted some worship, or deserved some worship,
then we should have an altar to him.
Cover our bases, and as humans, this is what we do.
We cover our bases, and I submit to you
that when you cover your bases in your strength
and in your power that God has given you,
you're doing little more than living off scraps,
and living off scraps is a little more than living dead.
The very anticipated moment of the turn and the reveal,
and Jesus was not done being tempted, right?
Satan didn't just suddenly leave him
after he said, no, everyone lives out of the word,
out of the mouth of God.
No, he tempted him again.
He took him up top of the temple,
and he said, cast yourself down,
because the word of God says, remember,
a man lives by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.
The word of God says, if you cast yourself down,
the angels will not let you dash your foot against the stone.
And Jesus said, oh no,
thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
See, he could throw himself down,
and he could depend upon it in his own machinations,
and throwing himself down, he could depend upon God
to do what God has promised to do,
and this is what we do.
We're working our schemes, and then we depend upon God
to do what it is that God has promised to do
while we are busy working our schemes
to turn the circumstances,
and we are expecting God to do something amazing,
but Jesus wouldn't do it, not that way.
No, he wanted to work the plan of God,
and he said, no, it says,
thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,
and then on top of that, once more, he took him,
and he took him up to the top of the world, so to speak,
and a great amount looked down at the top of the world,
and he said, this has been given to me to rule,
which is not entirely an untruth.
We know that Satan does have a substantial amount of power
in the world, in fact, it's in the grips of the unholy one
to some extent, maybe to every extent.
And he said, if you'll but worship me,
I'll give you rule of all of this.
And Jesus said, oh no, no, no, worship the Father alone.
The reveal and the turn and the reveal.
Now, 1 John 5, flip there with me if you would,
the text of the day.
The context and the text of this will kind of,
it was a little overwhelming to me,
and so I hope you will be as impacted by it as I was.
1 John 5, beginning in verse 19, just two verses,
it's all we need.
1 John 5, beginning in verse 19,
we know that we are of God,
and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
And we know that the Son of God has come
and has given us understanding
in order that we might know him who is true,
and we are in him who is true, in his Son, Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life.
He goes on to say one more, just one more verse,
guard yourself from idols.
I think we should be very cautious under the circumstance
to guard ourselves from idols.
Now what's interesting in these verses is
we know lots of things, don't we know lots of things?
I mean, we know lots of things,
and a lot of times we think we know something
that we don't actually know, right?
But this particular word for know is different.
There are other words for know,
but the one that's used here is a little different.
It means to have experienced something.
You know it because you felt it, because you tasted it,
because you touched it, because you smelt it,
because you heard it.
You know it because you actually experienced it.
And so let's go back and read those verses one more time
with that concept in mind.
It says, we have experienced and therefore know
that we are God and that the whole world lies
in the power of the evil one.
And we have experienced and know
that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding
so that we may experience and know him who is true.
And we are in him who is true and in his son, Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life.
See, there's a great deal of danger in thinking
that you get saved just by knowing something,
but that's not what this is.
You get saved by the presence of the God of the universe.
And when God is in you and you experience him,
there's no denying yet.
Known equals experienced.
Minor reveals are then discounted.
Anything else you might come to know along the way
is then discounted.
Our minds have become fit for the tearing down
of strongholds because we have experienced the presence
of the living God.
Second Corinthians 10 verses three to five say as follows,
for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised
up against the knowledge of God.
And we are taking every thought captive
to the obedience of Christ.
Now that you have personally experienced the God of heaven,
it doesn't matter if someone would make the best argument
there ever could be.
Or if someone would come and kill your flesh.
Because you have personally experienced God
through Jesus Christ, his son.
There is no denying it now.
It's not going to be undone.
The reveal has taken place.
But at the reveal, some are still surprised.
Jesus said to Nicodemus, do not marvel.
Do not marvel when I say unto you,
you must be born again.
You have to have a fresh start.
You cannot know God, experience him personally
through his son, Jesus Christ,
which is the only way to be saved,
be a Christian, be a member of the family of God.
You cannot do that unless you get a fresh start, he says.
Don't be surprised that I said that, Jesus said.
But it is surprising to many,
especially those who are actively relying
upon their own machinations for the term.
Don't be surprised, Jesus said.
And then listen to Revelations chapter three,
beginning of verse seven, actually seven through 13.
This is talking about Jesus
as Jesus is addressing the church of Philippi
and he's giving this message.
He says, he who is holy, who is true,
who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut,
and who shuts and no one opens, says this.
Now that's pretty cool because what that's saying is,
Jesus can do it and nobody can undo it.
You follow?
Jesus can do it and nobody can undo it.
Not you, not me, not anybody.
But there is a grave danger of people attempting to do it
like Jesus does it and no one can.
He alone is the one who opens and no one can shut.
That's what it's saying.
And this is what it says.
Jesus now speaking essentially, he says, I know your deeds.
Behold, I have put before you an open door
which no one can shut because you have a little power
and have kept my word and have not denied my name.
So it's a three point right there.
It could have been a sermon, could be a sermon.
You can go preach a sermon later if you want.
A little power and have kept my word
and have not denied my name.
That was the three things that qualified them
that Jesus set up the open door and no one could shut.
He says, could you have a little power
and have kept my word and have not denied my name?
And verse nine says this,
behold, I will call those of the synagogue of Satan
who say that they are Jews and not, but lie.
I will make them come and bow down at your feet
and make them know that I have loved you
because you have kept the word of my perseverance.
I also will keep you from the hour of testing,
that hour which is about to come upon the whole world
to test those who dwell on the earth.
Verse 11 says, I am coming quickly.
Pull fast what you have so that no one will take your crown.
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar
in the temple of my God.
And he will not go out from it anymore.
And I will write on him the name of my God
and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem,
which comes down out of heaven for my God and my new name.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says
to the churches.
And then elsewhere, as Jesus was actually walking
on the earth, nearing to being crucified,
Jesus grew weary and we might say maybe tired
of men's scheming.
And he said this, this is from John 12, 27 to 32,
now my soul has become troubled.
That's pretty crazy.
Jesus, God the Son, says my soul has become troubled.
And what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour.
But for this purpose I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.
Then a voice came out of heaven.
I have both glorified it and I will glorify it again.
So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it
were saying that it had thundered.
Others were saying an angel has spoken to him.
Jesus answered and said, this voice has not come
for my sake, but for your sakes.
Now judgment is upon the world.
Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
And if I, if I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all men to myself.
Listen clearly, the big reveal has already happened.
The thing that everyone out there that's working
in their own schemes or machinations is waiting for,
that they're craning their heads to see the turn.
The turn and the reveal were already coming out of the turn.
It has already happened.
And ultimately they did lift him up.
They hung him on a cross.
And because that is true,
he is now drawing all men to himself.
The turn has already come.
The reveal has already come.
That's why Paul was able to say in Acts 17
that God's expectations have now changed.
Remember that started with his idea,
I see, I saw an altar dedicated to an unknown God.
They were covering their bases.
Their schemes were in place.
And he says, it is that unknown God,
which I now preach to you.
And he goes on to preach this.
A moment later, he says, therefore,
having overlooked the times of ignorance,
God is now declaring to men
that all people everywhere should repent
because he has fixed the day in which he will judge
the world in righteousness through a man
whom he has appointed,
having furnished proof to all men
by raising him from the dead.
If you've not experienced salvation
through Jesus Christ in earnest,
if you're working in your own schemes or machinations,
if you're trying to anticipate the turn,
thinking eventually things will get better,
instead, get saved now.
Submit your life, your mind, your heart, your soul,
your strength, your reality, your finances,
your home, your existence.
Submit yourself and everything that you are,
everything that God has given you to possess
to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and do it now.
Stop awaiting the turn or the reveal
and realize it's already been done.
There is not a moment to spare.
You must be saved now.
You say, well, I've already let people think I'm saved
for 10 years, 20 years.
I've already been trying to serve Jesus, whatever.
I'm not asking you to try to serve Jesus.
I'm asking you to take everything that you have,
have ever had and ever will have
and dedicate it to the Lord God of heaven
through his son, Jesus Christ.
A lot of us here might say, well, I've already done that.
I've already submitted my life to Jesus.
The best I know how, I've surrendered
and I've stopped working my own schemes
and I'm trying daily to say,
what is it that you would have me to do, God?
I don't get out of bed and think, okay,
I think I'll do this, this and this to try to better
or this, this and this to try to bring out a turn
in my circumstances.
I don't plan or scheme or try to work it out my own way.
I continually submit my life to the Lord
and you might say that and I would say,
if that's true, you're probably saved.
Up to you and God to know that for sure, not my place,
but you're probably saved.
And if that then is true, then take your cue from scripture
how we are now supposed to be.
You'll notice that the lightning point says,
how to live knowing.
In other words, how to live having experienced
the presence of a holy God in you
and where it will take you.
And now in scripture, we look at then, okay,
let's say we have experienced the turn
and the reveal ourselves.
What effects should that have?
It reminded me immediately of Psalm 126.
I'm gonna read you verses one through six of Psalm 126.
When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
In other words, they were amazed.
It was so good, they were coming home.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter.
Wow, this is so good.
Look what God has done.
And our tongue with joyful shouting,
yes, amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord.
Where is the joy of Christians?
Do you not understand?
When the Lord brought them back, the captives of Zion,
their mouth was filled with laughter
and their tongue with joyful shouting.
Then they said among the nations,
the Lord has done great things for them.
See, if we as believers having seen the turn and the reveal,
if your horse came around the bend,
five lengths in the lead,
which is exactly what Jesus has done
and there is no way you can lose.
You shout and scream and leap and clutch your ticket
until the horse crosses the finish line
and you are wealthy beyond imagining.
And everybody in the crowd sees you clutching the ticket
and jumping up and down my horse.
20 to one is winning guaranteed.
He couldn't lose now if he broke his leg
and threw his rider.
And everybody in the crowd is looking at you going,
clearly he bet the family fortune
on the 20 to one winning horse.
And he says the world will say,
the nations will say,
the Lord has done great things for them.
The Lord has done great things for us.
We are glad.
Restore our captivity, O Lord,
as the streams in the south,
those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
He who goes to and from weeping,
carrying his bag of seed,
shall indeed come again with a shout of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.
The next day after you see the reveal,
after you realize that Christ,
you still gotta go to work.
You still gotta take care of your health.
You still gotta serve until he comes again.
We wait patiently serving and exercising
the power that he has imbued in us
to do whatever it is that he's leading us to do.
I still gotta do that.
And sometimes that's gonna equal sorrow,
loss of a loved one, loss of a situation,
loss of a relationship, whatever.
But we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt
because we have experienced his presence.
That if we go to and fro weeping,
carrying our bag of seed,
we shall indeed come again with a shout of joy,
bringing sheaves with us.
And then in Philippians four, Paul writes this
in Philippians four, four to nine,
rejoice in the Lord always.
Again, I will say rejoice.
In other words, when you're ticked off, rejoice.
When you're sad, rejoice.
When you're struggling, rejoice.
When your schedule's overfilled, rejoice.
When your money's running out, rejoice.
When your health, the diagnosis just came in
and you don't like it, rejoice.
When people won't respect you, rejoice.
When people want to abuse you because of Jesus, rejoice.
When people won't listen, rejoice.
He says, rejoice in the Lord always.
20 to one horse, guaranteed to win.
Again, I say I will rejoice.
He says, let your gentle spirit be known to all men.
The Lord is near.
God's got you.
Just like David coming back into Jerusalem
and some of his kind of betrayers were there
and they were asking him to need to be put to death.
And David says, why would I need to put them to death?
Everyone knows I am king and I know I am king.
And if you know where you're going,
then you don't need punishment against anybody
who is hurting you in this lifetime.
You don't need to have vengeful feelings.
You don't need to get angry.
Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.
The Lord is near.
And if God wants to punish them, He'll punish them.
Verse six, be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
We quote that verse.
But to be anxious for nothing is to not worry.
It's not to be regretting the past
or worrying about the future.
But rather today to be exercising the power
and the strength that God has imbued us
to do the things that we're supposed to be doing.
And if we have concerns and we will,
we will lift them up to God in prayer
and treat Him to do as what?
As His will be done here on the earth
as it is in heaven.
Let the kingdom come.
And we'll let our requests be made known to God.
And then it says, and the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute,
if there is any excellence
and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
You could take that verse right there
and test everything in your life by it.
And if anything in your life doesn't line up,
it doesn't fit one of those criteria,
you could just guarantee yourself,
I'm not gonna dwell on it.
I'm not gonna focus on it.
I'm not gonna let it go in my eyes and infest my brain.
Verse nine says, the things you have learned
and received and heard and seen in me,
practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.
And that we know if we have experienced Him.
2 Corinthians 13, 11, finally, brethren, rejoice,
be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded,
live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Are we getting the idea?
These are the days.
Don't you understand that the day
that God has given you today is a gift like no other?
I know you've gotten gifts in the past.
I know that you've received promotions or payouts
or somebody said something very,
could you remember like the first time
your significant other said, I love you?
Right, or the doctor said, you're fully healed.
I'm releasing you from my care.
All of those things are great blessings and I get that.
But this day, this is the day that the Lord has made.
This is the day we can make something out of.
We can go and do and be and serve and stand
as a child of God under heaven
because God has shown the turn.
It's already done.
And if you spend your life trying to make it happen,
then you're denying the fact that it ever did happen.
If you spend your life trying to make your life better,
then when the time comes, according to what the Bible says,
you'll have nothing.
But if you sacrifice your life, you give your life,
you serve, if you spend it on the joy of God
working in you to affect others to know Jesus,
these are the days.
Live in joy.
I get it, you have trial and trouble in the world.
Welcome to the club.
Lost people have trials and trouble.
Saved people have trials and trouble.
But saved people have the peace of God
because we have experienced Him personally.
We mourn not like those who have no hope,
but rather we walk in the peace of Jesus,
which He Himself gives, but not as the world gives,
but He gives us this peace.
And we know that He has overcome the world.
There is a second conclusion.
That was the first one.
Knowing that we are of God
and that the whole world lives in the power of the evil one.
You remember that from 1 John 5 or verses from the day.
We know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that the finish line is coming.
God promised to once and for all,
put everything under His feet.
1 Corinthians 15, and I'm taking excerpts from that chapter.
But each in His own order, Christ the firstfruits,
after that, those who are Christ, that's us,
if you're saved, at His coming.
So when Jesus comes again, then, completely for sure.
Then comes the end.
When He hands over the kingdoms of God and Father,
when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power,
where He must reign until He has put
all His enemies under His feet.
And then, for He has put all things
in subjection under His feet.
But when He says all things are put in subjection,
it is evident that He has,
that's a weird word, let me check and see if that's a typo.
He is evident that He is, yes, okay,
it's spelled incorrectly is what it is.
Okay, it is evident that He has accepted
who put all things in subjection to Him.
When all things are subjected to Him,
then the Son Himself also would be subjected to the One
who subjects all things to Him,
so that God may be all in all.
Did you catch all that?
God's gonna put everything under Jesus,
so Jesus can put everything under God.
That's what it says.
It's already said, already settled,
already gonna be done.
Romans 8 says it this way, excerpting that chapter.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory
that is to be revealed to us.
For the anxious longing of the creation
waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
See, this is what's going on.
It's like you went to the racetrack,
you bet the family farm on the 20 to one horse to win,
and it's about to win, and Christians are going,
it's gonna win, I've got the 20 to one horse,
I sold the farm, it's all right here, it's gonna win,
I guarantee, and there's 30 lengths of the horse left to run,
and they're like, but I need to get a drink,
but I gotta run over here.
Let me go tell Sam, I gotta get on the phone,
I gotta watch some reels or memes or something,
I gotta do all these things, and you don't do any of that,
because the horse is gonna win, and the farm was bet,
and it's 20 to one return, and you and your family
and everybody in your family that listens to the reveal
is set for life, set for eternity,
it's all set and done, brother,
it's all set and done, sister,
and instead we're holding the winning ticket
as the horse is racing toward the finish line,
running around, making sure we taste it, feel it,
experience it, get the best out of this life
before Jesus comes again.
That's the machinations of men, that's the schemes of men,
that we can have Jesus and get that with all this stuff,
and that's why God would say through his mighty word
that if you are a friend to the world,
you are no friend of God,
because if you're holding the winning ticket,
that 20 to one ticket, and the horse is racing
toward the finish line, and you're gonna win it all,
and then you're busy, you know how long after
the finish line you can turn that ticket in?
It's a limited amount of time,
so when the finish line strikes and the horse wins,
you better be ready to cash in your ticket
to get your winnings, but there are so many people
distracted, so many supposed Christians
distracted by the things of this world.
It's not gonna be good enough, folks.
Verse 20, Romans 8 says this,
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly,
but because of him who subjected it in hope,
and that the creation itself also will be set free
from the slavery to corruption into the freedom
of the glory of the children of God.
Don't you understand in the context
of what we're talking about, all of the things
that you're enjoying on a regular day-to-day basis
are fallen things.
The best food you have ever had,
you went to a restaurant, it surprised you,
you're like, that is the best meal I've ever had,
was a broken, fallen, barely resembling meal
compared to the worst thing you could ever eat in heaven.
The best moment in a relationship you ever had,
that moment where somebody said exactly the right thing,
you were like, oh, I'm feeling,
I'll never forget this moment,
is a fractured, fallen, groaning attempt
at barely reflecting one single second of eternity,
and you'll have an eternity like that.
Why are we racing after things of this earth?
Why are we even concerned?
They're all corrupted.
Now, I understand we live here, you've got to eat.
You interact with other human beings
because that's how we save people,
that's how people get saved by Christ
as we share the gospel and so on.
But basically, he's saying all of this creation
was subjected into futility.
Verse 22 says, for we know that the whole creation groans
and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now,
and not only this, but also we ourselves,
having the first fruits of the Spirit,
so we have the Holy Spirit now,
even we ourselves grown within ourselves,
and we struggle, we really want that time.
We look forward to the future,
waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons,
the redemption of our body,
for in hope we have been saved,
but hope that's seen is not hope,
for who hopes for what he already sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance,
we wait eagerly for it, it's coming.
The reveal is already done, the finish line is coming.
And we know that God causes all things
to work together for the good,
to those who love God,
to those who are called according to his purpose.
There's that verse that we love to quote,
and I am not subtly reminded that in that verse
is a promise that you will not have
if you do not love God
or are not called according to his purpose or both.
But if you do, then you realize all things work together
for your good, 29, for those whom he foreknew,
he also predestined to become conformed
to the image of his son.
That's the goal that we would look like and walk like Jesus,
so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren,
so that we will lead people to come into the family of God,
and Jesus would be first and we will be after him,
and then more and more and more, and the list goes on.
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who is against us?
He who did not spare his own son,
but delivered him over for us all.
How will he not also with him freely give us all things?
Rejoice, you have seen the turn and the reveal,
and with that evidence, how can we not wait
and work patiently without yielding to the schemes
of the world or activating any of our own various schemes?
No ship coming in, no promotion, no problem resolution,
no word of encouragement or lucky break
is going to change the fact that you've been given,
or at least offered, the keys to the kingdom of God.
I'll never forget in each one of my sons,
the look on their face, the first time I told them
they could take the family car by themselves
and go do whatever, that's just a car.
Michael, do you remember the day they gave you
the keys to your house?
Yeah, now that's a house, that's something.
Jesus didn't give you the keys to a car or a house,
he gave you the keys to heaven.
How dare we forget the day Jesus gave us the keys to heaven?
Rejoice, for you have seen the turn and the reveal.
No ship coming in, no promotion, no problem solving,
no word of encouragement or lucky break
is gonna take away the fact that you've been given,
or at least offered, the keys to the kingdom of God.
It doesn't get better than this.
Are you holding the keys of God
and so waiting for something better?
It doesn't get better than that.
Love with all your heart, mind, and soul, your God.
Serving with all your strength, your neighbor as yourself,
because we know, we have experienced it personally,
we wait patiently on the Lord.
Rejoice always and trust that as you've seen the turn
and the reveal, you shall also see the finish line.
He'll keep his promises.
He's going to win, and we are celebrating the win now.
We've bet everything on the winning horse,
we've entrusted to him everything,
and if you're not entrusting everything to him,
then who are you entrusting it to?
Men have worked a myriad of plans
trying to control the outcomes unsuccessfully,
all the way from the Garden of Eden until today.
Now we rejoice and serve and wait for the winning horse
to cross the finish line, and even in our aches and pains,
we know we ultimately win.
Closing in illustration, and we're two paragraphs from done.
There was a man who once planted two sets of seeds
in his backyard, fertilized them heavily,
got rid of all the weeds.
One was a fern seed and the other was a bamboo seed.
He watered them both faithfully,
fertilized them both faithfully.
The fern quickly sprouted, and within a few months,
it grew tall and lush,
but the bamboo seed showed no signs of growth.
Still, the man did not give up on it.
He continued watering and caring for it every day.
A year passed, nothing, two years, nothing,
three years, nothing, four years, nothing.
Many people would have given up
thinking the bamboo seed was a failure,
but the man remained patient.
Then in the fifth year,
five years after he planted those seeds,
in the fifth year, something incredible happened.
The bamboo suddenly broke through the soil
and grew nearly 90 feet in six weeks.
What was happening during those silent years?
It was developing roots.
It was growing underground.
It grew roots, roots, deep, strong roots
that could support its massive height.
Without that unseen foundation,
it could never have grown so high so fast.
And you're going like, oh, bamboo can't do that.
Look it up.
90 feet in six weeks, not unheard of.
Many times in life, we feel like giving up
because we don't see immediate results.
And by giving up, I mean many times in life,
we start to take things in our own hands
to manipulate the path, to say the right thing,
to do the right thing, to spend the money
or not spend the money, to go or don't go,
to get mad at somebody or not,
to manipulate somebody or not, whatever.
We do all of these things.
That's giving up because remember,
if you manage to succeed, you'll be living off the scraps.
If you manage to avoid persecution for following Christ,
you'll be living off the scraps.
I'm saying to you, let me say this very clearly.
If you managed to, over the next decades of your life,
not mention Jesus strategically in all the right places
so that you'll never be persecuted for sharing your faith,
while at the same time mentioning Jesus
in all the right places so that you can lead people to Jesus,
you'll be living off the scraps of the kingdom of God.
Oh, but that's exactly what we want, right?
I don't want to be persecuted.
I want to share the gospel with all the people
who are willing to be saved and not share the gospel
with anybody that's going to get upset about it.
You realize that some of those people who heard the gospel
and were the worst persecutors of all time
became also the greatest evangelists of all time.
How did Saul or Paul get his start?
On the road, on the way to persecute,
licensed by the temple and think about Ananias,
who had to go and share the gospel with him
after he was blinded and knew that Paul was a man
who had arranged the death of hundreds
or thousands of Christians.
If he had refused, if he had said,
well, I'm not going to go there,
Paul would not have planted the church.
And the truth is, if that had not happened,
God would have had to work at a whole nother plan
for you or I to ever hear the gospel
because we can trace our lineage back to Paul for sure,
because we're Gentiles.
The roots grew deep and strong.
And with that unseen foundation,
that plant was able to grow 90 feet in six weeks.
Just because we can't see the progress
does not mean we need to move on to another plan.
There is no B plan or C plan.
There is only the A plan.
You follow God with all that you are.
You use whatever strength that God has given you,
whatever little bit of power you have,
and you persevere and stick with the Lord.
You stay true to him despite what may come.
Galatians 6, 9 says it this way,
let us not grow weary in doing good
for in due season we shall reap if we do not give up.
If God has placed something in your heart,
whatever it is you're supposed to be doing for him,
you make sure it's from him,
and then no matter what, you don't quit.
He is growing your roots deep so that when the time comes,
you will rise higher than you ever imagined.
Hebrews 12, 1 to 2 says this way,
let us run with endurance the race
that has been set before us,
looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
And may God bless you with a long life
and because we know firsthand,
because we know experientially the God of the universe,
we can only logically rejoice now.
That's it.
Stop complaining, stop whining, stop regretting,
stop getting angry about it,
and just face the fact that you have been given
the keys of heaven and every time you take it in your hands
to do something else, you will face locked doors
and schemes of men that are at best scraps
of what God really wants to give you.
We can only logically rejoice now.
Serve in our God-given strength now and stay the course,
never denying his name,
trusting that even if we face hardships and so in tears,
we will come again at the finish line
reaping an eternal harvest.
Will you praise God with me today for these reasons?
If you have not surrendered your life into his care,
will you do so now?
If you are still attempting to bring about a turn
in your own machinations or schemes,
will you repent and submit to Jesus instead?
If you are living off of the scraps
rather than the full impact of God's presence,
will you repent and turn your entire life over to God today?
Is your life a room full of silver plates
and you're looking up going, oh, beautiful.
I rejoice for the wealth enough to make generations.
In the kingdom of God, there is no limit to the treasury.
You say, well, but I don't have money to pay my bills.
That's rough.
Yeah, but if you go sowing in sorrow,
you will come reaping in joy.
Share the gospel.
Serve in whatever talents or abilities
that God has given you to do so.
Whatever that is, wherever you are, stay the course.
But even as I say that suffering word,
even as I say it's difficult, persecution, whatever,
I am reminded that in those times as well, we must rejoice.
You are holding the winning ticket.
If you realize that God has already given the turn
and the reveal, there is nothing left,
but the time in between now and the finish line.
For that finish line, you do not need a better job,
more money, a promotion, an education,
a relationship, children.
For that finish line, you don't need any of those things,
but you do need the presence of Jesus and it's offered.
And if you don't have it, you need to take it right now.
And then when you have it,
rejoice all the way to the finish line.
Lots of praise to you to come forward
and lead us in our final hymn at this time.
As we sing, you have the opportunity to decide today
if God has been speaking to you specifically
through one of these texts,
or something that you're doing,
and you're kind of publicly saying,
I'm not gonna do that anymore.
There's something you need to go forward
and do what God is calling you to,
and God is putting in your heart good,
and you've been resisting,
and you've been busy with whatever,
then you can tell me, God, I'm gonna do that today.
What if the finish line comes tomorrow?
All of your machinations gonna pay off?
Some schemes are kind of lengthy and drawn out.
Most of them, in fact,
that's kind of what makes them a scheme.
What if he comes tomorrow?
You ready for that?
You're holding the winning ticket.
Will you stand with me as we sing this song
and respond to the Lord's lay on the heart to do so?
One, two, three, four, five, six.
We go down, we lay our ground.