praise you and thank you. First of all, thank
you. And it just sometimes doesn't seem to make
any sense. Thank you for rain. We know that without
the rain, there's a lot of things that couldn't
happen. At the same time, Lord, we don't necessarily
like getting wet or feeling damp. And we know
that there are people that I've had times in
my life where the rain was just coming down at
the crack of dawn and I almost just felt like
I just couldn't get up out of it. And I'm so
grateful for pain, beyond the sorrow, beyond
the difficulty, beyond the struggles of our current
situation, that we can overcome. That we can
be here to worship you. That we can be here to
call out your holy name. Hallelujah. Praise the
Lord. Jesus Christ. It's been done. It is finished.
And yet, here we are, living in the victory that
was paid for on the cross. Resurrection power
made new. Maybe there's somebody in this room,
Lord, that can't claim that promise, can't claim
that truth. And I pray that before they go today,
that they'll settle this matter with you, that
the truth would be known in this place. We're
looking forward to the preaching of the word,
the children's lessons, and even the little one
playing in the nursery. We're looking forward
to all that's going to go on here today. We pray
that it will honor you and it will glorify you.
But can we be remiss if we didn't lift up those
people who are hurting today? Some of them aren't
even here. There's people who are hurting today,
and yet they're here to worship you. And then
there's people that just couldn't get past it,
couldn't get through it, couldn't get over it.
And so we pray, Lord, that you would deal with
them. We pray for healing. And maybe even now,
you take away that massive headache, you take
away that sinus congestion or that struggle with
pain and inflammation, and then join us yet in
a better way than ever. And we just pray, Lord,
that they're joining us in their hearts even
now. So we as a body, wherever we happen to be,
can work together to worship you and give you
glory. Take over this service. We don't want
the reins. We want you in charge. That's the
only way that it goes, just exactly like it's
supposed to. So we submit to you. And we do this
in Jesus' name. Amen. Caleb is having surgery
tomorrow morning to have tubes put in his ears
and his adenoids removed. So it's a pretty simple
surgery, but there's a lot of anxiety going on
for that. time the children and their leaders
will go to their classrooms. As I mentioned to
you, as pastors are taking the pulpit all over
the United States, and actually probably most
of them are done preaching because a lot of services
start about a half an hour before ours do, or
are finishing up now. But as they're taking the
pulpit all over the nation, maybe all over the
world, they're celebrating Star Wars today. And
so I thought I would share with you some titles
of sermons and the ideas behind them that might
have been the sermon today. These are ones that
I got, the actual sermon titles and summaries.
May the Lord be with you. A faith -filled twist
on the classic Jedi blessing, echoing the biblical
benediction from Ruth 2 -4. The Force Awakens,
reviving our spiritual lives, drawing parallels
between the film's title and the rekindling of
faith and purpose. A New Hope, the gospel according
to Luke Skywalker, exploring themes of redemption
and hope through the lens of both the gospel
and the Star Wars saga. The Empire Strikes Back,
overcoming spiritual oppression. discussing the
challenges believers face and how to stand firm
against adversity. The Phantom Menace, identifying
hidden temptations. Attack of the Clones, guarding
against conformity. The Last Jedi, standing firm
in the faith amidst doubt. So, any one of those,
somewhere else today, might have been your sermon
title, but not here. I didn't write a Star Wars
sermon today, so you don't get a Star Wars sermon
today. I didn't feel led of the Lord to preach
a Star Wars sermon today, specifically. We may
mention it, but I didn't feel like that was the
direction that the Lord would have us to go.
So that being said, then, maybe if you brought
a Bible with you today, grab a hold of it. So
a long, long time ago, in a galaxy not at all
far away, we began to kind of hoot or holler,
say amen. It's been almost 15 years since...
Gosh, this has almost been 20 years now. I'm
getting old. Anyway, it's been a long time. And
so this is God's word. You can be excited about
it. It's what he's got to say today. You can
know with a certainty that whatever we read out
of this book today, that is exactly what God
wants to say. The rest of it, I'm going to try
to explain and talk about it. We'll get some
action points out of it, that kind of thing.
And you may not know with an absolute certainty
that that is what God wants us to hear today.
I feel certain. I've done the work, but you may
not know that. But you can know that the part
that we read out of the Bible is definitely from
God. Okay? And so as I announce the text, the
title today, maybe you take a little breath and
say amen or who or how or just kind of, if you
can't bring yourself to do much more than that,
just kind of moan or whatever. And the title
is Life May Be Unfair But Just from Psalm 36.
Amen. Okay. You're going to get used to that.
That's me saying this marks the moment at which
we read from the Bible. Okay? So it is Psalm
36. So if you're opening your Bibles, you can
just kind of like take a big fat Bible like this
and divide it down the middle. You should either
be in the book of Psalms or Proverbs. If you're
in Proverbs, go to the left. If you're in Psalms,
you're there. Okay? And then it's Psalm 36. We're
going to read the whole Psalm. It won't take
a lot to break it down. I just want you to see
a couple of pieces in there that are really kind
of important. Okay? That God really brought to
my heart. So it's Psalm 36, and it says this.
Transgression. speaks to the ungodly within his
heart. There is no fear of God before his eyes.
So in other words, what a person does wrong when
you sin against God and you do what God doesn't
want you to do or you fail to do what God wants
you to do, that's transgression. If you think
of football, when they step across the line before
the ball is hiked, they call that offsides. That's
a transgression. You moved into the wrong area.
And so when you transgress against God, it says
that those transgressions... speak to the ungodly
in their heart. And so the result of that is
that they have no fear of God before their eyes.
It says in verse 2, for it flatters them. So
for is a because. So when it says for, that means
because. So transgression speaks, there is no
fear, because it, the transgression, flatters
them, flatters him in his own eyes concerning
the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred
of it. So in other words, you've got the transgression,
the things that you've done wrong, talking to
you in your heart when you're a wicked person,
when you're not following God, talking to you
in your heart, comforting you, making you okay
to do the bad things that you're doing, right?
Everybody needs comfort. Like every day you need
comfort. You might have pain, you might not have
pain, right? You have questions about, what if
I say this? What if I say that? What if somebody
does this? What if somebody does that? Am I in
danger? Where am I going to find these resources
that I need? Whatever. We always... humans have
a base set of needs, and these transgressions
speak in the heart of the wicked person, helping
them to not worry about it, helping them to not
be concerned about it, but rather to carry out
their own choices, which I would say in this
case are dishonoring to God, and tell them they're
going to be okay. Verse 3, the words of his mouth,
this is the wicked person, the words of his mouth
are wickedness and deceit. He says things that
are wrong, that God would say no one should say
in that circumstance. And he tries to trick or
manipulate or get his own way. He has ceased
to be wise and to do good. In other words, he
has moved away from the way that God would want
us to be. This is the description of the wicked
person. And they have the transgression testifying
in their heart, providing them with comfort and
their idea of safety and success as they do the
things that they're not supposed to do. Verse
4 says, He plans wickedness. Notice he thinks
about how he can do things to get what he wants,
even though those things are against what God
wants. He plans wickedness upon his bed. Like
when he's going to bed at night, before he even
gets up in the morning, he's thinking about how
he can get away with it, how he can figure it
out, how he can overcome the world system, whatever.
He sets himself on a path that is not good. He
does not despise evil. And that word despise
there means to think of it as worthless. So he
doesn't think that doing something to get his
own way is worthless. And you should, as we understand
in the kingdom. Verse 5, now we're going to look
at the other side of it. Thy loving kindness,
O Lord, extends to the heavens. There is no end
of God's loving kindness. It's infinite. Thy
faithfulness reaches to the skies. God's loving
kindness and faithfulness are infinite. Thy righteousness
is like the mountains of God. thy judgments are
like a great deep, O Lord, thou preservest man
and beast. In other words, he's saying, the righteousness
and the judgments of God, they go on and on,
and the more you know about them, the more you
can. That's what he's saying. The more you know
about the mountains, the deeper into the mountains
you go, the more you'll know about the mountains.
You look, you say, wow, they're huge. Wow, there's
a lot to see there. And when you drill down on
it, you find whole kingdoms existing in a river
valley or under a tree. Right? And he's like,
the more you drill down on that, the more you
realize how awesome God's righteousness and his
judgments are. Verse 7 says, how precious is
thy loving kindness, O God. Look at how valuable
this is. And the children of men take refuge
in the shadow of thy wings. So in other words,
God's people have protection and provision as
they stand under God. Verse 8, they drink their
fill of the abundance of thy house. God pours
resources in. That's his provision. He pours
resources in for his people. Give them to drink
of the river of thy delights. In other words,
they begin to think, I want what God wants, and
they are truly inside being filled up as they
recognize, I know what God wants, and God is
doing that in me. I'm like, wow, I can't believe
that God is doing that in me. And it just goes
on and on as the river continues to fill us,
and you kind of get a picture of the living water
there a little bit. Verse 9. For, or because,
with thee, that's talking about God, is the fountain
of life. In thy light we see light. In other
words, the more you can see, the more your eyes
are opened about God, the more your eyes can
be opened about God. The more you can see of
what God is doing, the more you can see of what
God is doing. I talked to two people on the phone
yesterday. One of them was telling me about their
life situation as a lady. And I was telling her
about the miraculous ways that God has intervened
on behalf of our church. And she was like, Praise
the Lord. Hallelujah. That's awesome. Amazing
what God has done. That's so cool. And giving
God the glory. There's another one. I told the
same story about the kind of miraculous ways
that God has intervened with this church. And
she's like, wow, you know. And she was like,
wow, I need help with this and I need help with
that. And see the difference in the response?
One of us recognized God did something amazing.
And she could already see that somehow in her
life. God has already woken her up to see the
light and the power and the goodness that is
God. And so she was able to praise God when she
saw light. The other person was hearing the stories,
and instead of praising God, she was like, well,
I need, I have this. You say God did that, but
why doesn't God do this over here? And it's different.
When you can see the light that God is showing,
then you can see even more light. The door is
open, the windows are open, the house is open,
and God's light makes us possible to see even
more. And more and more and more. Just three
verses left. Oh, continue thy loving kindness
to those who know thee. In other words, in the
knowing of God is the knowing of his loving kindness.
In fact, in the knowing of God is the opening
up and the receiving of his loving kindness.
He says, and thy righteousness to the upright
in heart. So those who walk right, in Christ
we find righteousness. Jesus is our righteousness.
Then we start to walk it out. And then God delivers
even more righteousness. That's how that works.
So he keeps pouring in the good. He keeps pouring
in the right things. He says, let not the fool
of pride come upon me. So even though I'm making
strides, and I'm like, man, I wouldn't have used
to do that. I'm doing the right thing now, and
I wouldn't have used to do that. But don't let
me become prideful about it. Don't let me start
thinking that this new, deeper understanding,
the more I have learned, the further I've come,
that somehow or other, I am something. Let not
the foot of pride come upon me, and let not the
hand of the wicked drive me away. And as I look
at the world and I think, you know, there's some
people that are getting away with some things.
There are. There's some criminals that got 12
houses and 20 cars and millions in the bank.
And they've done it illegally. And they seem
to be getting away with it. And then some of
us are like, well, I don't know, I'm going to
pay my next bill. I don't know where I'm going
to stay. And that doesn't seem right. But when
you look at the wicked and you see that they
seem to be getting away with something, you start,
it might be like struggling with doing the right
thing, struggling with staying on the straight
and narrow. But what he's saying is you realize
as you look at them, God is not mocked. You don't
come down. There's an old saying, the bigger
you are, the harder you fall. The more successful
they are in their wickedness, the harder they
will fall in the end. And so don't be troubled
by what you see the wicked getting away with
and let that drive you away from being righteous
in God. And then finally in verse 12, he says,
there, and that there is huge, packed in, almost
everything is packed into that there. He says,
there, the doers of iniquity have fallen. So
let's back up for one second. Let not the foot
of pride come upon me and let not the hand of
the wicked drive me away. Don't let me think
that they're getting away with something or that
their actions are going to pull me away from
God. He says, there, in their actions, in their
wickedness, in their goodness, the doers of iniquity
have fallen. So while they've got their 12 houses
and their 20 cars, they have fallen. Hmm, I wonder
what does that mean exactly? And then it ends
this way. They have been thrust down and cannot
rise. So we look at them and we think, wow, they're
so powerful or they're so wealthy or they're
doing so good or so -and -so's getting away with
it or so -and -so's getting blessed in some way.
And it doesn't make any sense that they're getting
any blessing at all, but they seem to be getting
blessings. And that begins to cause a struggle
for us, but realize that in that, in that process,
they have been thrust down and cannot rise. A
couple weeks ago, I mentioned to you that I had
a new feeling about the story of David and Goliath.
And I think it was actually on Tuesday night,
two Tuesdays ago. We talked about the story of
David and Goliath. Anyway, the point is, I said,
you know, I kind of have pity on Goliath. We
always think of David as the underdog because
he was a little guy, not even a full -grown man.
He goes up with this giant dude and so powerful
and trained warrior and all of that. We think
of kind of like, oh no, David. And then David
wins. We're like, yay, David, he's the underdog.
But David wasn't the underdog. Goliath was the
underdog. In his might and in his power and in
his strength and all his training, he was on
the wrong side. You understand that from the
moment that Goliath... went on the battlefield
for the first time, when he first picked up a
spear, he was destined to die to a stone and
a sword by the hand of a boy. He was thrust down
and could not rise even before he stepped out
onto the battlefield against David as he mocked
the Israelites and said, you sent a champion.
Why will you not send a champion? Oh, now you
send this boy against me? What am I, a dog that
you'd send a boy against me? As he mocked the
Israelites and mocked David and mocked God and
denied the God of heaven, he was thrust down
and could not rise already. Before ever the first
stone sailed. The lightning point for today is
comfort outsourced is a prison of the exact same
sort. I want you to think about the fact and
realize from these texts that what it's saying
is if you find your source of comfort, if you
find the blessing that you need, if you find
your success or your overcoming of a problem
outside God's auspices, outside the kingdom of
God, that you too will be thrust down and cannot
rise. There's a few things in this text too,
really, and then a conclusion that I want you
to see. The first thing is this. The wicked,
these people, They are enslaved by the very comfort
they choose to freely receive. Wickedness feels
like freedom. For 25 years of my life, I lived
as a non -Christian. A pre -Christian, I guess
you could say. Didn't really believe in God.
Didn't really believe in Jesus. I did a little
drinking, a little partying, a little driving
drunk. A lot of fighting. In fact, after I got
saved for 15 years afterwards, my hands hurt
almost every single day. I couldn't do push -ups
because they were shooting pains in my hands
from all the punching people and things I did
back then. And a lot more with the things, because
things are harder than people. But I was doing
it all because I thought I could. I drove my
motorcycle 40 miles an hour over the speed limit
because I could. I drag raced down Woodrow Road
because I could. And I felt alive and free, and
I was even excited. Like I would stand up to
a bully, not intimidated, knowing he was going
to kick my butt, which is what usually happens.
When I say I did a lot of fighting, I don't want
you to think that I was often victorious. I had
a lot of fighting and I lost most of the time.
But I kept going back anyway because I could.
And I thought I was free. When my boss called
me up and was hassling me about having to work
on a weekend I was supposed to have a BG class,
I just quit my job. Just like that. I'm like,
ah, fine, I'm done. No two weeks left, I'm just
done. Just like that. Why? Because it could.
Wickedness feels like freedom. People jump off
cliffs with a parachute on, and they call it
base jumping, and they do it because they can.
Because it feels like freedom as the air is rushing
past you, and you haven't pulled the cord yet,
and you know if you don't pull the cord, you're
going to splat on the rocks down below. But when
you pull the cord, you will drift gracefully
to the ground once it slows you down. It feels
like freedom. But it isn't. According to this
text, and many others like it, it's not freedom.
Notice also that wickedness speaks to the heart
of the wicked. The message of powerful encouragement.
Once you start doing things that God doesn't
want you to do, you get this powerful encouragement
inside you. Like, yeah, see there, that's me.
I did that. I got away with that. Yeah, I said
that and they did that. I think there's a historian
who is not a Christian who lived in Jesus' day.
He's called Josephus. And I read his history.
It's pretty cool because he comes from outside
Christianity. He was a Jewish historian. And
he never came to believe in the Messiah, never
was a follower of Jesus. But he accurately records
the history of Jesus' life. He said there was
a man, he did all these things, he listened to
it all out, he died, he was buried, he rose again.
He didn't say he rose again, but he said he was
buried, and then he was seen later and taught
his disciples and started this movement. He says
all of that. And I love that. But then I looked
elsewhere in his history, and I see where he
says, well, I went to the governor and I told
him this was true. It wasn't really true, but
I told him this was true. and he did this, which
is exactly what I wanted him to do, and he's
manipulating the political scene. Right now in
Washington, D .C., not necessarily today because
it's Sunday, but tomorrow, there will be people
making promises to people that they will not
keep. And by so doing, they will get away with
whatever it is they're trying to do. All over
the country right now, there are businessmen
who are conniving and manipulating and tricking
others to get wealthier and wealthier and wealthier.
And all the while, in their heart, they have
this thought that, yeah, I did it again. They
don't know. I'm getting away with it again. I
want you to understand that if ever in your heart
you have a feeling that says, I got away with
it, you need to understand that is your own transgression,
that is your own wickedness, ensuring that you
are trapped away from the goodness of God. You're
not getting away with anything. God sees it all.
God sees everything that we are doing, and we
can see it too if we are able to look with open
eyes. But the wickedness, it testifies in the
heart to encourage. It gives a pleasurable appraisal.
You're smart. You're crafty. You're a problem
solver. You took care of that and you start thinking,
I'm going to be okay. I'm going to be okay because
there's something in my heart telling me I'm
going to be okay. And it talks about promised
potential. Your ship is going to come in. You're
going to get the money. It's going to happen.
You're going to get where you need to get because
it has to be because you're still here and you're
smart and you're capable. And it testifies in
the heart. It is comfort and encouragement and
a pleasurable appraisal and a promising statement
of potential. But then notice in verse 12, the
last verse we read, the trap is sprung. The demise
made certain. It's aimed unerringly at eternal
demise. It says, there the doers of iniquity
have fallen. They have been thrust down and cannot
rise. And what was in the there? It's the fact
that they did what they wanted to do. It's the
freedom that they thought they perceived to do
what they wanted to do. It was contrary to what
God wanted. And it's that constant testimony
in their heart that they're good, that they're
going to be fine, that it's all going to work
out, that they're going to get away with it.
And they feel like they can go on and on this
way. I'll tell you where that road ends. It ends
in hell for an eternity. And they get there and
realize they can't. There's nobody left to manipulate.
There's nobody left to steal from. There's no
positive steps left to take. No problem solving
that can be done. It's done. You're stuck. That
is the end of that destination. That is the end
of that road. Enslaved by the very comfort they
chose to freely receive. One more point in there.
receiving all the benefits that they never paid
for. Now, if I was talking about the wicked,
that's no big deal. But I'm not. We're talking
about the people in the kingdom of God. We're
talking about God's people. God's people, according
to these verses, that whole middle section, from
5 all the way down to 11, was talking about God's
people receiving benefits that they never paid
for. God's people receive His loving kindness
and His faithfulness, and He is good to us, and
it doesn't stop. It goes on and on and on and
on, even though we don't deserve it and we didn't
pay for it. If you stop by Kroger's or something,
and they stop you in the aisle and say, hey,
you're the one billionth shopper at Kroger's
all over the world, and from now on you get free
groceries for the rest of your life. You never
paid for it. You never earned it. There's no
reason. You didn't even know there was a thing
about a billions shopper. You didn't know it
was a thing. It's like that with God. We receive
the loving kindness of God. We receive his faithfulness.
And the more of it that we know, the more of
it that there is. And do you deserve it? Should
you get it? Is it fair? I can't tell you the
number of times that my kids or my grandson,
Jason and Caleb, are both in the room. And Jason
said, well, Caleb had one. Or Caleb will say,
well, Jason had one. Right? And it seems like
it's fair because they're brothers. If one gets
one, the other one should get one too, right?
Well, what we're saying here based on this is
that God himself is unfair. That's not fair.
It's not fair that we get God's loving kindness
and his righteousness and his faithfulness and
his mercy and his spiritual gifts and all of
these things when we didn't pay for it. That's
not fair. The wicked are getting ripped off.
They think they're getting freedom and comfort
by just doing what it is that they would do.
We are getting freedom and comfort that we didn't
pay for in order to do nothing. That's not fair.
God's people receive his loving kindness and
his faithfulness and he is good to us and it
doesn't stop. But also receiving all the benefits
they never paid for reminds us that his righteousness
and his judgments show no limits. There's no
limit to that. We keep learning more of his righteousness
and more of his righteousness becomes available
to us. We keep learning more of his judgments
and more becomes available to us. There's no
limit. His people get to know them and then know
more and more. They get to love them and love
them more. The more you know of what God teaches
you, what God is doing in your life, the more
you will love what God is teaching you and what
God is doing in your life. And then we get to
live them on an eternal journey that does not
end. We can't help but desire to learn and speak
them because as we do, we discover their unending
nature. So it just goes on. Like, oh, wow, God's
doing that too? Wow, that's amazing. I didn't
expect that. And you're so skilled, so trained,
you've seen so much, and yet it goes, what? Every
time there's a new surprise, a new excitement
to go, wow, God is doing that? And we get all
of that that we never paid for. Doesn't seem
fair. His people then, third point, under receiving
all the benefits they never paid for, his people
received his power, his purpose, his provision,
and his presence. In the story of the prodigal
son, there's a son, he goes away, he takes his
share of the inheritance and blows it all on
lots of food and booze and loose women and whatever.
And then when it's all gone, he's got a terrible
job that he's working and he can't even eat.
He's thinking about eating the food that the
pigs are eating. And he says, I should go back
and just be a servant in the house of my father
because my father's servants are... being treated
better than I am right now. And he goes back
and his dad comes out and he falls on him and
he kisses him on the neck. And instead of saying,
see, I told you, son, you shouldn't have spent
all that money. He says, I've been waiting for
you. And he gives him a ring and a robe and shoes
and they throw a party. And those things represent
something. That ring represents power. God gives
believers power, which isn't really right because
we didn't pay for it. We didn't earn it. We didn't
do anything to get it. And the more we use it
for God's glory, the more we get. God's power.
Then we get God's purpose. Right? Those sandals
and shoes that he put on his feet, that represents
purpose. And so God, he's going to go and do
things. We have the sandals of the gospel of
peace. We go and do the things. And the more
we do for God, the more we can do for God. That's
not right. That's not fair. And then there's
provision. That robe that he put on, that's protecting
him, giving him warmth, and taking care of him,
giving him what he needs, and also the food at
the party. That's provision of God. And God gives
that to that prodigal son who went away and wasted
everything that God had given him, but now he
just turned back. He just said, let's go back
and be a servant in the house of my God, or my
Father, as the story says. And then finally,
presence. He is with us. And he says, If you'll
go and do the things I've given you to do, I
will be with you even unto the end of the age,
which as we learned recently on Tuesday night
is right up to the harvest. That's what's next.
So we're going to, till the harvest, have God's
presence in us. Now you think about it for a
second. You got this guy over here. He's just
as smart, intelligent, creative, capable as I
am. And here's me. I'm 25 years old. And there
is no reason. None whatsoever. I didn't ascend
to it. I didn't figure it out mentally. I didn't
problem solve to get there. There is absolutely
no reason that this guy over here is just as
smart or smarter than I am. Doesn't accept Jesus
Christ as his Lord and Savior. Doesn't become
a Christian. Doesn't enter the kingdom of God
and get a beautiful family and ministry and service
and the things that I have had. Not that I haven't
had struggles. Not that I haven't faced trials
and difficulties. Facing one right now, in fact.
But not that that's not true. But there's no
reason this guy shouldn't have all these things
that God is offering. Yet he doesn't. And he
could say, but he gets. Says it doesn't seem
fair. Dan got one. And we get all of that. We
receive all the benefits of being part of the
kingdom of God that we never paid for, never
earned, or never were. And that brings us to
our conclusion. It seems unfair. These guys,
they're just doing what anyone might do. I'm
faced with a problem. What do you do? You think
about what you can do, right? How can I make
this work out? How can I get where I gotta get?
They're just doing what anyone might do. They're
behaving with their own interests in mind. Anybody
in here do that? Do we behave with our own interests
in mind? Sure we do. They're doing what they
want to do. Now, that starts to draw a little
bit of a line for me because I realize as a Christian,
quite frequently, I don't do what I want to do.
I do what's right. Now, there's a little difference
there, but basically... They're doing what anybody
might do. They're doing these things. They're
taking care of their own interests, doing what
they can, doing what they want to do. They're
doing all for reasonably desired results and
to try to get them by means within their own
power. Okay, now wait a second. That chased me
a little bit. I'm not comfortable with that.
I want to stop just short of getting where I'm
trying to get by my own power because there's
going to be a moment in time in which I'm going
to try to get somewhere. That I can't get by
my own power. You follow the logic? If everything
we get by is by our own power, then when the
time comes that we need something that we can't
get by our own power, we're not going to get
it. So I feel a little bit, I want to come up
short of doing it that way. But the truth is,
they wind up so far from a good end just by doing
what seems completely reasonable. Ah. But now
remember that guy that was compared to me? What
did I do to receive salvation? What did I do
to achieve it? What did I do to earn it? Nothing.
So why couldn't he do that? Well, he could. And
so, just the same as to behave with your own
interests in mind, to do what you can, to do
what you want to do, to do all for reasonably
desired results and try to get them by means
within your own power, well, all of that makes
a lot of good sense. Also, following God is available
to anyone. So it really just is about a moment
of salvation. And since it's not something that
you can provide, all you've got to do is be willing
to receive it. And so I guess the big problem
with that wicked person is that he's comfortable.
He's okay with not receiving it. The gospel is
available. Now that Jesus has been publicly sacrificed,
publicly risen, publicly preached, it's perfectly
unfair. For anyone who will receive that gift,
that one would receive it and another wouldn't.
But it's also perfectly just. It's just because
if you'll receive it, you can have it. And if
you won't, you won't. And the alternative would
be everyone would be forced to receive it whether
they want it or not. Let me give you some illustrations
as we're in our conclusion. Kids cry, he got
one! Because they want to believe. That fair
is when everybody gets the same thing. Which,
not amazingly, is most important when it means
that they didn't get something and they want
it. Right? So you've got two brothers. One gets
it and the other one doesn't. Which one's crying?
It's only fair that we both get it. The one who
didn't get it. But the one who got it when his
brother didn't is fine with that. Otherwise,
he'd have given him half. And there wouldn't
be anything to cry about. Right? It's pretty
amazing that we're only worried about what's
fair when what's fair contradicts that very testimony
in our heart that we should get and didn't. Justice
is when the one who knows gives what is deserved.
And God will give to those who stand against
him what is deserved. And he chooses not to give
because of the sacrifice of Jesus. to those who
do not stand against him what they deserve. And
trust this. They don't want what they deserve.
They always want grace. In fact, try this sometime
as an experiment. If you've got kids or know
somebody who does, give one of them something.
Let the other one complain that they want it
too. And say, well, you gave it to him. Why can't
I have it? Then give them two. And watch what
happens. The one who got one will say, but he
got two. So then give him three. And watch what
happens. The one who says, but he got three.
Does it ever end? Or, he got a donut and I got
a donut, but his donut's bigger. Does it ever
end? Humans desire and the desires do not end.
And when you meet the desires yourself, the desires
themselves will speak in your heart to provide
you with a comfort that is outside God. If it
were a Star Wars sermon, I would need some Star
Wars quotes to relate them to the topic at hand,
which would be easy. I could say something like,
Yoda described the dark side of the Force in
several ways throughout the Star Wars saga. One
of his most famous explanations is when Empire
Strikes Back and he says, But beware of the dark
side. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side
of the Force are they. Easily they flow. Quick
to join in a fight if once you start down the
dark path. Forever it will dominate your destiny.
And then he says, consume you it will. Be careful
going after the things that you want. Yoda emphasized
that the dark side is seductive. It's easier,
more tempting, but ultimately corruptive and
destructive. He often warned Jedi to control
their emotions, especially fear and anger, which
could lead them down the dark path. Also in The
Empire Strikes Back, Luke says, Is the dark side
stronger? And Yoda says, no, no, no. Quicker,
easier, more seductive. And then in The Phantom
Menace, he says, fear is the path to the dark
side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering. This quote highlights
how the dark side begins with inner fear and
grows through unchecked emotion. Palpatine, in
The Revenge of the Sith, said, the dark side
of the force is a pathway to many, abilities
some consider to be unnatural. He's tempting
Anakin to come over to the dark side because
then he'll be able to do things that he can't
do on the light side. Obi -Wan says later, you
have allowed the dark lord to twist your mind
until now. Until now you have become the very
thing you swore to destroy. But it's not a Star
Wars sermon, so we really don't need those illustrations,
do we? How about this? Trusting someone else
to do for you what you can't do is wisdom. Anybody
here ever use a mechanic to fix their car? Go
to a doctor about their body? Call an HVAC tech
to fix your heating or air conditioning? Trusting
somebody else to do for you what you cannot do
is wisdom. And if the world knows that it is
wisdom, then it is just to expect them to choose
a risen Savior who can bring you into eternity
that you desire. One who died and rose again.
Not one who willingly died but didn't rise again,
but one who willingly died and rose again. In
the short term, people seem to benefit from the
non -God choice. But they're locking in only
a certain amount of benefits and not the ones
that will take them to where they need to go
in the long run. They have outsourced their comfort
while in the short term their comfort comes in
the form of reassurance and even quick results.
Ultimately they will bet everything on a losing
hand and they will lose everything and it's already
predetermined that they will do so. They have
been thrust down and they cannot rise. As I said,
I've raised a number of kids. When Alicia was
a baby, she fell in love with the 1992 version
of the movie Aladdin. Have you seen it? Robin
Williams plays the genie. It's pretty awesome,
or now I'm a little bit burnt out on it. And
then by the time she was done, she watched it
273 times. I don't know if that's the right number.
I just guessed. It's a lot. She watched it a
lot. In fact, she had a VCR in her bedroom. Remember
VCRs? VHS tapes? Some people are like, what's
that? VCR in her bedroom. And even the VCR in
her bedroom, which ate a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich at one point, had to be resurrected
to play Aladdin because we just couldn't take
it in the living room anymore. When she got a
little older and finally gave up Aladdin, I thought
I'd been spared until Amalia fell in with Barney
and then began to listen to dance and sing to
Barney at 3 o 'clock in the morning in the living
room when she should have been sleeping. Aladdin
is a great movie about exactly what we're talking
about. There's a scene where the genie is released
from the lamp. This is Robin Williams' voice,
but I don't do imitations. He says, I have all
this power. Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itty bitty
living space. And then at the end of the movie,
Jafar, the big bad guy, he wants to have power.
He's asking the genie, make me the most powerful
sorcerer in the world. And Aladdin challenges
him and he says, you may be the most powerful
sorcerer in the world, but the genie has more
power than you do. And he looks at the genie
and he says, make me a genie. And the genie says,
I don't know. Are you sure? Make me a genie so
I will be the most powerful being in the world.
And the genie says, Okay. You're a genie. The
bracelets come on and Aladdin reminds Jafar,
he says, Ah, but you've forgotten. You now have
the most powerful being in the world. He says,
Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itty bitty living space.
And down goes Jafar into the bottle. Don't kid
yourself. If you live your life that way, exercising
power over the people around you, your life,
manipulating your situations, and getting it
done by your own power, the itty -bitty living
space that you wind up with will not be a pleasant
one. over at the Life Station, which is now the
giant food room in the middle of the Life Station
because we converted it over when we did delivery
and couldn't worship in there during COVID. Anyway,
it was a drug dealer, now saved. I knew him personally.
Spent 21 years in jail. And I asked him, I said,
did you get saved in prison? He said, I did.
I said, how'd you wind up in prison? He said,
well, I owned all these houses. I owned all these
cars. My brother and I were running a drug house,
selling drugs. And people would come there by
in the house, sitting around on the couches and
the chairs and whatever, doing the drugs. The
drug house. We were running the drug house. And
I said, well, that sounds like a pretty good
racket, but it doesn't sound good in the long
run. And he said, no, it wasn't. So what happened
was there was this guy who would come around.
And he was always begging for money and begging
for drugs in the drug house. And the people in
the drug house, who come to the drug house, got
fed up with it. And they complained to my brother
and I. And we were forced, hear me now, forced,
that's the word he used, we were forced to kill
him. They're running a drug house, ruining people's
lives, carrying guns, violent, whatever. Who
can force them to do anything? But their very
own wickedness, their very own transgression
required that they put an end to that man because
he was threatening their business and their clients
were getting upset. And so they took him out
and killed him. And then he spent 21 years in
prison. Now as he stood before me, he'd been
saved. He was a child of the kingdom of God.
Lost all his houses and his cars, but he was
rebuilding his life under biblical principles.
Story of a drug addict who described how he wound
up in church. He said, so here's what happened.
I needed drugs so bad. I was at the point where
I had to have drugs. I was in terrible withdrawal
symptoms. It was terrible. I had been on heroin.
But every one of my friends, all my family members,
everybody I could think of, even extended family,
cousins, people I hadn't hurt, I hit up them
all. I got money from them, or I stole from them,
or whatever. I was in the middle of the street.
Over on the old south end, just off Broadway
there, I walked down the middle street and I
realized that there wasn't a person in the world,
including me, that wanted me alive. That could
find any value in me whatsoever. I had cheated
everybody that I ever could get access to, stole
money, stole everything I could to try to get
drugs, and now here I was needing drugs so bad,
and I was thinking down the list of every single
person I knew, every professional, everybody
I knew, thinking, is there anywhere, anywhere,
anywhere I could get a $20 bill so I could get
some drugs? And I came to the conclusion that
there was nowhere on the earth that anyone wanted
me alive. And then I wondered. In my heart, I
wondered. It was like I was maybe prompted by
the Holy Spirit. He said, I wondered if maybe
in the church, maybe in God's people, maybe in
Christianity, there wasn't somebody who would
want me alive. And he said, so I went, and I
heard the gospel, and I gave my life over to
Christ. And as he stood there before me, he had
gotten a job, and he had a place to live. He
wasn't wealthy, nor probably would he ever be.
He was off drugs, living his life in the kingdom
of God. The next drug addict may not have that
same experience. And it may seem unfair, but
there he was with nothing, literally at the end,
thrust down and could not rise. And he said,
I wonder if there's somebody. Jesus said, he
who sins is slave to sin. And Paul reminds us
that all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God. That's all of us. Paul explained at the
Areopagus to goers that they. Now that Jesus
was revealed clearly through his resurrection,
God quite reasonably requires all men to repent.
In the book of Job, Satan accused Job of being
faithful to God because God took care of him.
God allowed Satan to strike every good thing,
including ultimately Job's flesh, but not his
life. And Job would not curse God, intoning instead
the famous line, After losing his children, servants,
and possessions, Job said this, Naked I came
from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. And then later, when
his wife tells him to curse God and die, Job
says this, Shall we receive good from God and
shall we not receive adversity? It's absolutely
just that God's people should receive all the
blessings of family membership and whatever good
God sees fit to send, because we are willing
also to receive from His hand whatever hardship
He sees fit. God's people have not outsourced
their comfort, which is a course available to
anyone. Anyone can do that. Jesus said these
words, For God did not send His Son into the
world to judge the world, but that the world
might be saved through Him. He who believes in
Him is not judged. He who does not believe has
been judged already, because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
This is the judgment, that the light has come
into the world, and men love the darkness rather
than the light, for their deeds were evil. I
ask you today, what do you love better? The light,
which is infinite loving kindness, righteousness,
and goodness from God, or the darkness, which
is you doing what you've got to do to survive?
Verse 20 says this, For everyone who does evil
hates the light and does not come to the light
for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But
he who practices the truth comes to the light
so that his deeds may be manifested as having
been wrought in God. Make the only good choice.
Choose Christ and walking with Christ over any
other offered source of comfort. Let me be blunt
and simple and I'm done. Are you with me? It's
like this. You do this. By making an open and
public confession that you are turning from all
your sin to God through Jesus his Son. In this
context, the light means open and public. Stop
hiding the truth you know in your heart. Jesus
is Lord and Savior. He's alive and in charge.
Then, daily, take in, memorize, and share his
word. Pray. Worship, serve, give, meditate, steward
the resources of God that he has blessed you
with. And all this intentionally and his power,
his purpose, his provision, and his presence
will open up more and more of the same. And it
will be right that he should do so. All that
remains is to ask you, are you in or not? Be
careful because Too many people are exercising
their right to choose kingdom adjacent lives.
They liberally apply words like salvation, even
worship, godliness, righteousness. They set up
their own rules and tell you what they mean.
But if you are doing any portion of your life
on your own, you are not kingdom, but just kingdom
adjacent. Will you today profess Jesus Christ
as Lord? That means he's in charge. And as Savior,
that means he saves you. Sherry's pain got to
be too bad. Caitlin's going to take her home.
Will you make that public profession of faith
and live your life for Jesus? And the resources
of the kingdom are unending. And yeah. It may
seem unfair, but anybody can do it. And the person
right next to you might not do it today. Your
friend, your family member, your brother, your
wife, your husband, they might not do it. Your
sister, they might not do it. But if you do it
and they won't, you see the end already played
out in Scripture. And if your friend or your
brother or your sister or your person right next
to you does it and you don't, You see the end
already played out in Scripture. Stop outsourcing
your comfort and say no. The spiritual disciplines
are not something we do just once in a while.
Following God is not something we do just once
in a while. Crying out to God is not something
we do just when trouble comes. It's every moment
of every day. And it's a journey. It takes us
time to get there. But the more you do it, the
better you get at it until it's every moment
of every day. I ask the praise team to come forward
at this time and lead us in our closing hymn.
It's going to conclude our services today. But
I'm asking you to end the light. Say, look, I'm
not going to do it on my own. I refuse to do
it on my own. If I cannot do it in Jesus, I will
not do it at all. As the Lord is calling you
to be saved or is calling you to be a member
of this church or be baptized or to begin to
serve in some kind of ministry, To do, like God
is saying, hey, do this, and you're going, oh
man, it sounds like work, or it seems difficult,
I don't even know, I don't begin to know, I don't
have the skills, I don't know how I would do
that. And you just say to God today, okay God,
whatever that looks like, I'm going to do it.
Because as long as you're saying you'll do it
in your own strength, or you're finding your
source of comfort outside Him, you're kingdom
adjacent, not kingdom. You're Goliath, not David.
Would you stand with me and sing this song? And
as the Lord is leading you, if you so respond.
We bow down, we lay our crowns at the feet of
Jesus, the greatest of... His mercy and love
are at the feet of Jesus. And we cry holy, holy,
holy. And we cry holy, holy, holy. And we cry.