Father, every time we stop and think about the
truth of your intervention, and even in the case
of our sinful lives, the unwelcomed intrusion,
and yet you persist and ensure that mercy touches
the objects of your affection. As much as we
don't deserve it, as much as we fall short even
now, we just are amazed that your patience is
ever with us. Your mercy, your goodness, your
wisdom and knowledge that you know what's best
for us. and our understanding that we don't.
Or there's always pain in a room full of fallen
sinners, much of it in my case self -inflicted.
And I'm just grateful for your forgiveness and
for the knowledge to know that even those wounds
and those pricks If grace is discovered, they
can turn me to you, flinging independence and
comfort. Where oftentimes I'm not comforted by
you because I reject it and I know what it is
and I shrink back from it like a wounded animal.
all of us carry around a persona and a projection
and then we have the real person of the hidden
heart. Only your spirit through your word can
reach into those places and bring transformation
and worship. And so we're before you with the
Word of God open in our hands expecting that
because of how consistent you are and how faithful
you are. Even when we're faithless you are and
always, always as you are, good, loving, powerful,
able, wise. So reach into our hearts as we study
your word together, and even through the foolishness
of our teaching, may you edify our hearts and
bring them closer to Christ, and may you exalt
him not only in our eyes, but from the light
of our testimony to those who are perishing,
both to the Jew, first, and also to the Gentile.
We pray for your people. We pray for this sad
and fallen world. We pray for the clarity of
the gospel to ring forth from our pulpit. We
pray that the humility, meekness, and love of
Christ would be the projection of our light,
but that the substance of the knowledge of the
gospel and the wrath of God abiding on sinful
man and what that is and what that means that
we would not shrink back from declaring the whole
counsel of God. So we pray these things and we
trust you for tonight in Jesus name. Amen. Okay,
John chapter four, first John chapter four, excuse
me, first John chapter four. 1 John chapter 4
verse 1. I'm just going to read a little bit.
The more reading we do, the more edifying the
message will be. Beloved, do not believe every
spirit, but test the spirits. Paul elsewhere
tells the church to test everything. There's
to be no rest for the discernment of the church.
Eyes open, head up. Test the spirits to see whether
they are from God. For many false prophets have
gone out into the world, the understatement of
Scripture. By this you know the Spirit of God.
Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh is from God and every spirit
that does not confess Jesus is not come from
God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist which
you heard was coming and now is in the world
already. Every false doctrine, every false spirit,
every false presentation of mock Christianity
dilutes, demeans, downplays, and hopefully from
their side dismisses the power of the incarnation
of Christ, the unexpected nature of God becoming
man. When a person confesses Christ, it is not
merely, obviously the meaning here can't be just
a mouthing. Okay, I'm real because I'll say Jesus
Christ came to the flesh. It cannot mean that.
This verb here, it is soulish in the sense that
it is a confession from the entirety of the person
agreeing with the truth and the veracity of what
it is confessing. Just like in Romans, when Paul
said you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord.
You can say that, right? And it would not be
that biblical confession. It would not be that
affirmation of your saying, he is Lord, therefore
you are not Lord. The spirit of the demon or
the spirit of Antichrist won't ever do that.
They believe in the same way. They have faith.
It's not a saving faith. Most of them were probably
there and saw the crucifixion and witnessed the
resurrection. And so they believe it in terms
of its historical veracity, but they don't believe
it. So confession is the same thing. The totality
of agreement with the incarnation, the purpose,
and the person and work of Christ. And our gospel
goes astray when we veer off from those simple
realities. The underlying warning here is not
only for the necessity of our discernment to
keep our head up and our eyes open, but as it
touches the intensity and intention of the enemy
himself, he doesn't rest. He roars about like
a... Prowse about like a roaring lion. I always
get those words mixed up. He prowls about like
a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We
talked about a couple of weeks ago in our, it
was actually last Sunday about children in the
church who have genuine saving faith and know
God and how they are just as involved in the
spiritual warfare as we are. And the enemy doesn't
look at a child and say, okay, well, I'll apply
a different set of rules because you're a child.
He's even more hungry to devour that tender child
in whom the love and faith of Christ rests. Little
children, you are from God and have overcome
them. This is one of the great verses of Scripture.
For he who is in you is greater than he who is
in the world." I don't feel that way a lot. And
so it can't have anything to do with how I feel.
It's a fact and a reality that if I had been
brought from death to life, from darkness into
the light, and I'm inhabited by the Spirit of
God and the person of Christ, this verse tells
me that the victory and the overcomingness is
present. Paul again referring to Paul he says
what for sin shall not listen let's put pause
here for sin shall not have dominion over you
is that true in your life do you have dominion
over sin Are you you stumble you follow you repent
you get up you brush yourself off with the blood
of Christ and you move on We all sin earlier
in this book He says if you say you have no sin
you lie and the truth's not in you But if you
confess he's faithful and just forgive you and
cleanse you of all and Christ not talking about
a performance of perfection is talking about
the core driving desire of your heart and the
testimony of your life Are you living in victory
over sin? Or have you stumbled into something
that's got its tentacles around you and is pulling
you under? If you have and you truly love the
Lord, you need to reach out to somebody because
most likely if it's gotten to that point, you're
not going to get out of that by yourself. The
man who isolates himself is not wise. He rages
against all wise judgment. Reach out. First reach
out to God, then reach out to... the godliest
person you know and ask for help but this verse
is true nonetheless and when he is in us he manifests
himself in unexpected ways as far as the world
the spirit of antichrist is concerned he manifests
himself in weakness in meekness in humility came
into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey washed
the disciples feet. They tried to crown him as
a king. He slipped out of their midst. He's not
what you expect. He's not like what you expect.
He's not like a person assuming this position
of power in your life. He's antithetical to what
we expect. That's why it's so important for you
to experience this victory. You have to get into
fellowship with him, which involves the confession
of that weakness, the admittance of that need.
the ever -presentness of that dependence. As
soon as you become self -sufficient you become
like Saul and you start taking matters into your
own hands and you muck it all up. This life of
honoring Christ means living as he lived and
he lived in a constant state of lowliness. Not
afraid for people to see who he actually was.
We're afraid of that because of the cracks in
our own Yeah Right. No if you want to experience
this let me just simplify this passage right
here If you want to experience this victory in
your life, it requires grace assisted and utter
honesty and transparency on your part If you're
projecting the polished performance of a successful
Christian You're already out of step with what
he's like because he sees down deep into the
crevices. And if he sees in you and what he sees
in you and if you turn your head away from it
because you don't like the way it looks, you
can't get fixed. That victory is dependent upon
walking as he walked. He didn't walk in sin,
but he walked in utter humility, utter dependence,
utter transparency, utter honesty, utter dependence
on the Word of God. He didn't put up his dukes
when Satan tempted him on the mountain. He spoke
and said, what? This is what God's Word says.
It's how you fight. I wonder how many of us would
know exactly what passage of Scripture to refer
to in that hour of temptation. You have to know
what the Word of God says before you can use
it the way it's intended to be used as a sword,
as a weapon. But it always looks different. Spirit
of Antichrist, they are from the world, therefore
they speak from the world, and the world listens
to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens
to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen
to us. by this we know the spirit there it is
authenticity by this we know the spirit of truth
and the spirit of error how do we know the spirit
of truth is true how do we know the spirit of
error it's not it's wrong it reeks of pride it
reeks of self -exaltation it reeks of a temporary
consequence it's the spirit of the world taught
as somewhat in christian circles the spirit of
the world is What real Christianity is all about
is the here and now. Now Christianity does not
neglect the here and now, but quite frankly Christianity
is about the now and the later. And it's really
the whole edification process and sanctification
process. If you're being sanctified, you're being
progressively detached from your affection in
the world. the things that matter like money
and popularity and the people that are closest
to you. It's not that they don't matter. It's
not that having money is not important, but when
they are more important to you than what God
thinks of you and your obedience to God to show
your love for Christ, you're not living in victory.
Be honest with God. That's the message of the
first part of this chapter. Be honest. Be truthful.
If you haven't given your life to Christ, don't
act like you have. Give your life to Christ.
Ask Him for that grace. Ask Him for that... Don't
worry about that. Just pull it out. Turn it off.
We're not doing any big old deal here. If you
have not given your life to Christ, if He does
not sit on the throne of your heart, If your
old man which you lived for you is not dead,
if you did not come to Christ and come to the
cross and offer your life to him and he took
it, he didn't take it and clean it up, he took
it and did what it deserved and he crucified
it with himself. That's what repentance is. Repentance
is the end of your life for yourself. The end
of your life for you. And there is no sort of
almost there in that. situation. It's all or
nothing. Listen, you're either dead and allowed
in Christ or you're not and you're allowed in
Adam. Salvation is not like sanctification. It's
not progressive. It doesn't creep up on you.
Now there are things that happen in the process
of being drawn by God, convicted of sin, knowing
the burden of your selfishness, seeing the effect
of it in your life and those around you, seeing
the end of it in the consequences of the wrath
of God, but at the end of that process you come
to a death. That's where we've erred in our gospel
in modern terms. We don't call the sinner to
death. That's true repentance. You're calling
the sinner to death. You're saying to the sinner,
repentance is you turning away from a life of
self -rule and self -absorption. That's what
true repentance is. That's why it confesses Christ
as Lord because it denies you as Lord from that
point forward. 1 John 4. Now if that's happened,
If that's genuine and true, as the preacher,
you often want to say, I really don't want to
move on from that because you don't want to leave
one soul behind. That's still military adage,
don't leave anybody behind. You're always aware
of when you're presenting such sobering and...
I'm telling you there's nobody in this room probably
that's more fascinated and interested in the
doctrines of sanctification. I mean how to put
off the old man, renew your mind, how to go into
the scriptures and dig out that issue and sort
it out in terms of your obedience and what you
have to change in your life, how you draw into
the local church body for that comfort and fellowship
around you, how that's so important, how the
light of the church is pushed out as the body
and membership goes into one another. I'm totally,
I'm like, I'm down with that. But I'm telling
you, getting out of this world intact in one
sense is more important than that. You follow
what I'm saying is, if you absorb a whole bunch
of doctrine about sanctification and you miss
the most important thing, which was your life
being hidden with Christ and God? What good is
sanctification to you then? Salvation is the
harbinger of everything that comes after it,
and what we do in the professing church is we
move into sanctification very quickly. We just
assume Because people are around and they're
saying certain things and they're acting a certain
way we assume Salvation is present I'm telling
you I've been doing this a long time I've been
talking to a lot of people for a long time and
a Great majority of the time that I'm dealing
with people with struggles and issues in their
life It's because they have not really given
their life to Christ They say Lord Lord Well,
it's not true. And so examine yourself to see
if you be in the faith, or has this spirit of
antichrist and the subtlety of presenting you
with the possibility of putting one foot in the
world and one foot in the church, has it got
you and got you satisfied and complacent? But
you're okay. Don't leave here tonight until you've
sort that. But if you have, beloved, Let us love
one another. For love is from God. And whoever
loves has been born of God and knows God. And
anyone who does not love does not know God because
God is love. You see what he's doing there? He's
basically saying the same thing. True love is
the absent absence of self -concern. True love
is the obsession with the other person for their
good and benefit and it requires you to reject
any piece of the pie. True love is the utter
death to self. It's the same thing. It's the
same cross. When you properly love someone else,
there's a death involved, there's a pain involved,
there's a sacrifice involved, there's an action
involved, and normally our human emotions are
not in concert with that. Maybe a lot of us,
some of us, a few of us, maybe when we were getting
ready at home and driving over, maybe we didn't
want to be here. That's an emotional predilection.
That's an emotional feeling. That's something
that you put to death and you go ahead and you
come anyway. You don't think about how you feel.
In fact, oftentimes when you go against your
feelings, the sacrifice is greater and the honor
to Christ is more glorifying. Because you were
presented with the temptation of doing what you
wanted to do and you did what God wanted you
to do and you showed up. That was love to God.
That was love to you. That was love to you. That
was love to me. That was love all around. And
if you don't love like that, if that's not the
driving force of your life, go back and examine
your salvation. But listen to this. God puts
that Spirit by Christ and His Holy Spirit into
every regenerate heart. It's there. It resonates
with, that's what the whole book of 1st John
is basically saying that a Christian is a new
creation and he's utterly opposite from and different
to that which he was. Right? And what this is
also saying by implication is that no one in
the world, listen to this, shout this from the
housetops, all you hear about is love, love,
love in the world. Nobody in the world knows
what love is. Because they're still living for
themselves and you can't know what love is until
you die and you're raised with Christ. How do
we know God loved us? That's what he's gonna
say. This is love that God sent his only Son
into the world. He died. That's what love is.
Love is sacrifice. Love is giving yourself up
for the other person. Love is putting your emotions
on the cross and doing what is right because
it is right and you want to do it and you find
the grace and you beg God for the grace to do
what is right and it's not just now and it's
not just tonight. It's forever. That desire is
seeded in your heart and it will only grow if
you cultivate it. Don't kill it with neglect.
Don't kill it with neglect. For this is love.
It was manifest among us that God sent His only
Son into the world so that we might live through
Him. In this is love. Not that we love God, but
that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. We can only love Him. and I can
only love you and you can only love one another
because God loved you enough to kill you. Right?
I mean that's so well illustrated. Abraham loved
Isaac beyond anyone's ability to comprehend it
because he was willing to show his love for God
is superior to his affection for Isaac and he
had to be stopped. Well, God's hand was not stayed
and that's how much he loved you. Imagine him
asking you to do that with your most beloved
person and him not stopping and saying, now I
know that you fear me. It was proven to the point
of bloodshed. Everything that is related to love
in the Bible, everything that is related to love
in the universe and everything that is related
to love in your life will involve the cross.
It will involve sacrifice. It will involve bloodshed.
Maybe not literal, maybe literal. In my personal
opinion, you can take this out of the tape if
you want to tape. People in here don't even know
what a tape is. We're heading that way. We're
heading that way. We are ahead for a time where
your loyalty to Christ may cost you your life.
And it is that way in most parts of the world.
Why are we so special that we wouldn't? Love
is pain. Anybody who tells you anything different
is selling something. That's a quote from a movie.
Beloved. If God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another. That's verse 11. Now, think
about it. Basically, he's asking a little from
a lot. In other words, your life is hidden with
Christ in God. Your eternal destiny is secure.
performance of grace is perfectly provisioned
in the Word of God. You have everything you need.
God will bring the circumstances into your life
that will bring fruit from it, even against your
will at times, most of the time. He's perfectly
surrounded you and inhabited you with the total
sufficiency of Himself, and He did all of that
because He was willing to endure the torture
and murder of His beloved Son. Now he's asking
you to love somebody else who's not perfect like
you. But we chafed at that. We compare ourselves
to one another. We don't like this person, or
we don't like that group, or we don't like that
person, or whatever the case may be. And that's
too much for me, Lord. Wait a minute, you don't
understand this verse. What if God took that
tact with you? where he based his affection toward
you and his sacrifice for you on your performance
and your worthiness. You in trouble. Yes, you
are. Big trouble. But he didn't. For if God so
loved us... First part of the message, be honest.
Stop beating around the bush. Face your heart,
face your God, be honest. If you're still alive
in Adam and you're still on the throne and you're
secretly and subtly calling the shots, repent.
Come down from the throne and submit yourself
to the cross of Christ, where you can mercifully
die and actually be born and bear some fruit
and usefulness in this life. Secondly, from that
point forward, you're just simply being asked
to imitate that pattern in your own life. And
we get, listen, and the biggest thing, one of
the biggest things in this culture. is we just
have, and I know you've heard us a million times,
but we have so much and for the most part until
disease or some accident or something like that
comes into our life, we're just inoculated and
inundated with comfort and convenience and softness.
Softness, comfort and convenience does not breed
normally a good soldier. You have to lean into
the difficulties of your life and the hard relationships
of your life. You have to lean purposely into
them not only for the glory of Christ and for
the benefit of the person that you're loving
but for your own training because we are as soft
as cake. That's the wrong way to put that. At
the moment of crises I'm going to need great
help and deliverance and mercy. to be the kind
of soldier that God wants me to be. No one has
ever seen God. You know what that means, don't
you? You know the obvious implications of that.
Any manifestation that any human being in the
history of the world has ever seen like a burning
bush is some kind of manifestation of Christ.
The person of Christ is the one who is to be
seen. No one has ever seen God at any time. No
one has any clue of what the Father looks like
on this earth. That's a major shape, right? Which
tells you, you know, the scholars try to divide
up the oftenies in the Old Testament. Is it a
theophany or a Christophany? Well, it's always
a Christophany, because if you see something,
it's not the Father. Because no one has ever
seen God at any time. I think that's right, but
if we love one another, this verse says He is
seen. How is He seen? Because others see Christ
in us. That's how He's, it's the same pattern.
It's just like the Old Testament. If somebody
sees something of redeeming value in your life,
God has enabled you to get out of the way and
He has put Christ in their vision. And it always
looks like humility and patience. Kindness. Let
me say it. Overcoming evil with good. You know,
that's what children do. Children overcome evil
with evil. Adults know to overcome evil with
good. When I was a child, I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child. But when I became a
man, I put away childish things. That means when
you are faced with evil, you know that the mature
thing, when that person flips you the bird, cuts
you off in traffic, or whatever, you know that
to respond in like manner and overcome evil with
evil, you are being childish. That's immaturity
personified. Let me be clear. I've been a child
as a man on many occasions, right? But if we
don't put the standard out there, and my wife
talks about this all the time, and not all the
time, but enough to where I've tried to learn
it from her. And I think I'll pass this on to
y 'all. What we do in regard to principles of
our faith, we kind of want to pull the standard
down where we can reach it naturally. Let the
standard stay where it is, and you, You're never
gonna be able to reach it, but if you stretch
everything you've got, you know that great analogy
where if two men race to the end of the pier
to see which one can jump from the end of the
pier to Ireland? Well, that's irrelevant. One
of them might go three feet further off the end
of the pier. Nobody's gaining on Ireland. Well,
that's the standard of God's word. But suddenly
in grace and by the spirit of the miraculous
presence of Christ in your life if you see overcoming
evil with good and the standard of the law is
holy and righteous and good and you want to meet
it because of what Christ did for you you run
and jump off that pier and you expect to fall
like you normally would but all of a sudden Whoa,
what's happening here? I'm on my way to Ireland
You know what happened when that actually happened
in a kind of a literal sense when Peter saw the
Lord out on the water he was like oh I responded
he told me to come I come and he starts and he's
walking on water right he is walking on water
just imagine he's putting his foot down on h2o
and it's not sinking and then he heard the howl
of the wind and he looked around he saw the waves
and he took his eyes off the Lord and natural
law took over just reach for the standard jump
just jump man It's an adventure. I mean, you're
gonna die anyway. Right? You're gonna die? I'm
gonna die? I'm saying, Lord, I'll take that dying
in my sleep deal, you know? But that, you're
nobody. Hardly anybody gets that. Death is usually
messy and painful, even more so if you have to
live through old age. It's just death. It's a
brief, it's a brief, you're here just like for
this little bit. I don't care if you're 30 something,
20 something or in your teens, the amount of
time you got left is like that opposite comparison
of the end of that period of Ireland. And no
matter how long it is, it's that far. And you're
gonna be standing before your creator, giving
an answer for the deeds done in the body. What's
it gonna be? Man, this may be the most verses
I've ever given you. By this we know that we
abide in Him. Live a supernatural life. Be honest
about your soul and then live a supernatural
life. That means give yourself away. Give yourself
away entirely. Stop holding on to your life in
this world, or some vestige of it, or something
you hope to get out of it, and just let it go.
You know, we always talk about the difference
between a dime by a Chinese water torture and
a guillotine. What would you rather have? Just
get it over with. Just get it over with. That
waterboarding thing, man. Whoa. You know it does,
right? It gives you the sensation that you're
drowning. but you can't drown because you're
getting air. It's rough. Who wants to die? And
if you water towards somebody long enough, it'll
probably kill them. That's the licensed U .S.
method of torture. That's what we can do. And
really, like, there's lots of things more merciful
than that. Give me that guillotine. Just go ahead
and, you know, I always say the barbed wire fence,
you know, don't mess around with it. Just pick
it up. Bail the barbed wire. There's probably
something in your life, some relationship, some
sin, some habit, some something that does not
belong to Christ. That's what you need to focus
on right now. By this we know that we abided
Him because He has given us His Spirit, and we
have seen and testify that the Father has sent
His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever
confesses, back to that idea again, that Jesus
is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in
God, so we have now come to know and to believe
the love that God has for us. That's the proof
of it. God is love. I mean, think if he were
anything else or not all of that. We'd be in
some serious trouble. But he is totally love.
Whatever the depth and mystery of love is in
terms of giving oneself away, that's what and
who God is. That's what you lean into in the
dark. You know what's best, Lord. I don't comprehend
this. I don't understand this. I don't understand
how I'm going to cope with this pain, this loss,
this grief, this difficulty, whatever it is.
We've all been there in those moments where we
feel like our faith is non -existent and we almost
feel like lost people again because of our unbelief.
Well that's when you reach out the most. That's
when, that's when the faith is, that's when,
if you've been born of God, it will be there.
I can't tell you how many times I've gone into
so many different situations I've said to myself
in my heart. I do not have what it takes for
this right here. I Have never not been met by
God ever Ever and I mean I have said I'm not
I mean, I've even said, you know, I'm not doing
it I'm not doing this. I Can't do this Greater
is he who's in you He walks with me He's with
me. He never will leave me. And I'll just say,
Lord, what this means in this situation right
here is you just got to reach in and do something
that I just can't even conceive of. And He always
does. That's the kind of life He's inviting you
to. Instead of this life of waffling and unbelief
and inconsistency and really how cruel that is,
not only to yourself but to those around you,
procrastination, spiritually speaking, is like
the most miserable condition to live in. When
you know God would have you do something, say
something, or be something to somebody else or
in a situation, and you procrastinate, I know
that if you belong to the Lord, he brings some
serious chastisement into that, and usually it's
in the form of misery. And it's not pleasant.
All of the promises of God in Christ are yes
and amen. He will never not be to you what He
says He will be to you in the moment if you turn
to Him and if you trust Him. It may not look
like, sound like, and be like what you expected,
but if you turn to Him in genuine faith because
you love Him and you've given your life away
to Him initially and you're willing to come to
Him for the help that you need to do that now,
He promises. He promises, no temptation has overcome
you except that which is common to man, but with
every temptation he will not allow that. He will
provide for you a way, a way of escape, a way
through. Usually in trial, difficulty, grief,
and hardship the way in the situation is not
around it but through it. Stop trying to go around
it. Stop trying to circumvent. Because you know
what happens when you get around that trial,
you come out on the other side, you look up and
there it is again. Go ahead and learn the lesson.
At least have some variety in your life. Change
up the trials. Because until you go through it
with the Lord and learn from it what he has for
you to learn, you're going to have to go over
and over again. Shake it off, man. Go lean into
that cross and pick it up. And a lot of this
is predicated on the fact that we're spiritually
lazy, spiritually soft. We don't spend a genuine
authentic time pouring our hearts to God, out
to God in prayer. We don't genuinely go to the
Word of God with the eagerness and the thirst
and the hunger that is necessary to get out of
the Word of God what's intended. We're just soft,
man. Give it to me at the drive -thru, Linda.
I went through the drive -thru after church today.
There were three cars in front of me, and I was
there for 30 minutes. The drive -thru wasn't
quick, and I was so patient. I was so cool under
pressure. I was so, I was, I can use this time
for the Lord. No, I was impatient, you know?
I expect now. You said now, I'm gonna hold you
to that. And I'm sitting there thinking, what
can I say to the woman at the window to let her
know that they're not living up to my standard
here? And I do come here almost every Sunday.
And so I got up to the window, kindly. What's
going on in there? And you know what it was,
it was all this door dash poop. The restaurant
was empty, but I saw like a thousand door dash
bags No story I get up to the window And that'll
be nine dollars and 32 cents Thank you Thank
you You're faced with that child now. My wife
knows is she sitting there. Why are you telling
them that? Why don't you tell her the thousand
times you told her what you really? The one time,
right? The one time I actually told her. I mean,
I'm totally capable of saying, hey, what's going
on in there? This is supposed to be fast food
and it's not happening well enough for me versus
what if that person's having a rough day and
they're doing everything they possibly can to
get you your food as soon as they possibly can
and it's just out of their control and you're
the last straw. That sends into the depths of
depression and self -loathing it and and in cruel
you're cruel Don't be cruel Be cruel be patient.
I Didn't necessarily use the 20 minutes in between
the time I thought Ten minutes had passed that
I should be out of there. I didn't use it for
prayer I had said it kind of just sit there and
make up my mind what I was going to say when
I got to that window. Man, the violence that
I wanted to spew. For that, imagine some poor
soul in that, this is drive -through 101, imagine
that poor soul making $12 an hour, working her
fingers to the bone. and some goofus doofus gulagag
like me comes up and tells her she's just not
living up to my standard and just crush her.
We do that to each other. We do that. Don't do
that. Be not like me. Thank God for my wife.
She's not in the car with me all the time. She
wasn't in the car with me today. I asked her
to go. I would have probably failed because I
would have felt her looking at me and saying
things like, well, what are you going to do,
Jesus? I told you that's what she calls me when
I'm being the exact opposite, right? When I get
called Jesus, Jesus, I... That's the strong part
of that verse. Not that you're abiding in God,
but that He's abiding in you. I'm kind of corny
and tacky, but I really love that little picture
of the footsteps in the sand because it's a perfect
illustration. Where the guy complains and said,
Lord, you left me. He said, no, I'm scared of
you. That's great. That's a great illustration.
Listen to this. There is no fear in love. That's
what awaits you. if you pick up the cross, if
you consider the other person more important
than yourself, if you're willing to lean into
the circumstances of God's choosing, because
that's the situation that he wants you to please
him in, and you have the confidence that your
obedience is shaky, but you're all in. This is
where you want to go. Do you realize the miraculous
and supernatural courage that you can have? It's
phenomenal. I'm the biggest coward in the world.
If I'm in a situation where I'm being confronted
or whatever and I've done something wrong, I'm
white, a coward. In difference to the fact that
when you're in the situation and in your heart's
cry and prayer, God help me, I love you, I don't
want to disappoint you here, please give me the
scriptures that are pertinent to this situation
and help me to love you in this situation that
I find very difficult for myself but I know it's
not difficult for you and all of a sudden this
This courage that's inexplicable is there. There
is, that's what that verse says, there's no fear
in love. Imagine ladies not having fear about
your children, about your future, about your
money, about your health, about getting old.
Zero fear. Don't bring the standard down. That's
the standard. There's no fear in love. Perfect
love casts out all fear. First his love for you,
then the reciprocated love that grace gives,
and your love to him. That's not a place to be
afraid. That's not, let me rephrase that, that's
not a place where you're going to be afraid when
you're in that mindset. Greater is he who's in
you than he who's in the world. My grace is sufficient
for you. My power is perfected in your weakness.
I'd rather boast in my infirmity and my weakness
so that the power of God might rest upon me.
A person who's in power is not afraid. Even if
it looks like they don't fit the bill of what
power is supposed to look like. But I'd rather
laugh at what people think about me than be really
afraid. Life is fearful. My granddad told me
they were rolling him in and I'd never see him
again. And he said to me, Brucey, he said, life
is hard, even when it's easy. I was like, man,
I'm glad I was here. Because that's true. This
world is just a vortex of pressure. It's already
condemned. You know that, right? Judgment has
been passed. John MacArthur used to say it's
disposable. It's like a diaper. It's coming to
an end. I hope y 'all are getting the point.
Such as it is. There is no fear in love. People
used to get in arguments when we were at school
about what's the put on of fear. All you got
to do is just pursue the love of this passage
and it'll take care of itself. They said no,
the put on of fear is fate. Not in this case
right here, the point that He is making is that
your fear can be alleviated as you give yourself
away to God and to others, no matter how painful
and scary that might look. That's the way through.
See that? Doesn't look like a way through. That's
the way through. What is it? It's a narrow way,
lit. Doesn't matter how skinny it is these turned
all some was gone turned all the lights out in
this room You ever seen that like in a movie
theater those little reflector lights? Then right
straight down the middle Do you love God or do
you love you Do you love God or do you love you
and I mean in a total sense who has the reins
him or you? You know the other pastor at our
church gave a sermon one time and he talked about
how Saul started so well and he he was really
humble when they went to anointing king he was
hiding remember that and he was the tallest best
-looking strongest dude and about a time it gets
to his downfall that all that's gone to his head
and and he And God has been very clear to him
about what obedience and love in the situation
he's in are, and he takes matters back into his
own hands. That's what fear will, that's the
impulse of fear right there. In your circumstance,
the impulse of fear, when it grips you, is you
want to take back over. You can do it better
than God can. Fear has to do with punishment
and whoever fears Just take this to heart Whoever
fears has not been perfected in love your love
is falling short if you're living a life of anxiety
and fear It's not figuring out some spiritual
gimmick and formula. It's not the newest and
latest book It's nothing like that. It's simply
you're loving you more than you're loving God,
and you're loving you more than you're loving
somebody else. Call me simple. That's what it
is. That's, my friends, what the Word of God
says. Let me read that again. has not been perfected
in love. Wherever that fear shows up, it's a
love problem. That's a good thing to remember,
isn't it? When you're afraid, it's either a misunderstanding
or a misapplication of love itself. That's why
Paul in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 through
21 basically says in that prayer, nothing else
matters. This is the most important think. If
anyone says I love God and hates his brother,
he is a liar. And basically John is saying if
you choose for yourself in any given circumstance,
you hate your brother. It's like when you withhold
discipline from a child, the scriptures say that
you hate that child because proactive obedience
has a axiom to it. Lacking it is hatred. That's
what he's saying here. John's not ignorant. He
knows that as soon as it's more about you and
man, how can I help you? How can I serve you?
What can we do for you? And then all of a sudden
the cross of what that actually means comes to
bear in your life and you don't really like it.
And you start trying to find ways out of it because
real love costs. We are always talking about
what it means to be a slave of Christ and a slave
to others. And then we adopted the biblical attitude
and we give ourselves in slavery to someone and
they actually treat us like a slave. How dare
they? Isn't that true David? So true! You say,
oh, this concept of slavery is so romantic and
so biblical. And we were so fired up about it,
it solved so many problems. Let me just be your
slave. And then they say, all right, come here,
do this. Whoa, hey, wait a minute. I didn't know
it was going to take this so literally. That's
what he went through. He was under no illusions
that when he set aside the prophet as a deity
in heaven and came down to become a slave your
slave and a slave of all men he was he didn't
think that they were going to be crowning him
lord of all he knew what was happening he was
very familiar with Isaiah man known that but
he grew up reading Isaiah it's ironic that's
the first passage we see him you know he's in
the first book we see him he's He knew this.
He learned this. I think he learned this. I was
trying to have him know that in heaven before
he came up with a sentence. He didn't even know
what that was like. But I believe... Let's finish
with Pastor Bruce's opinion. I believe he learned
the scriptures just like you did. Sweat and blood
and tears and candlelight. I believe he had to
read it. He didn't get a circuit or shortcut
and use his divine nature. That's the kenosis.
He bailed himself from certain knowledge that
the revealed word of God had and he made himself
a man of the book. I believe that's a good opinion,
but nonetheless, the mysteries of the incarnation
shall remain closed until disclosed. He's a liar.
For whoever does not love his brother whom he
has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
I love it when Jesus affirms our faith near the
end. And he says, blessed are you. You believe
because you were here and you saw it all take
place. There's a sense in which we are more blessed
because we didn't see it happen. We read about
it and believed it. Amen. That's strong, isn't
it? Really strong. That's a mural. And this commandment
we have from him. Whoever loves God must also
love his brother and not to step down without
what my granddad said is right. It's hard. It's
hard. And most of us are not under any physical
pressure. I mean the things that we're dealing
with in most of our lives, and I'm not dismissing
your pain, and I know you're not dismissing mine.
We all have our hidden darkness, don't we? So
it's hard, but you have not yet resisted sin
to the point of bloodshed. Go and do right. Be
God's people. Father, thank you for this chapter.
Have a good faithfulness. God, thank you for
forgiving me, for giving us our sins. Please
help us to draw near to you, to really lean into
the fellowship of the saints in this body. It's
not about size and numbers, it's about substance
and presence, truth. And we've been given the
truth. What a responsibility and privilege that
is. Help us not to shrink back in our testimony.
Help us to not be complacent and satisfied with
where we are. Help us to be true, authentic,
and honest with you. We trust you in Jesus name.
Amen.