Jeff Miller

April 13, 2025

What is Finished?

Reconciliation: The Relationship is Restored

Jeff Miller

April 13, 2025

What is Finished?

Introduction:

John 19:28-30 - After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

What the Cross Proves About God's Love for You.
(Romans 5:6-11)

God's Love for You is an Unconditional Love. (Romans 5:6-8)
God's Love for You is a Rescuing Love. (Romans 5:9)
God's Love for You is a Committed Love. (Romans 5:10)
John 1:12 – But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

Philippians 1:6 – And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:06
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Romans and chapter five.
00:07-00:14
You know, there's that old saying, it's not how you start, it's how you finish, right?
00:15-00:24
I was thinking a lot about that concept this week and I realized that's really true, like in everything, isn't it?
00:25-00:28
Like, have you ever taken an airplane flight?
00:29-00:29
(laughs)
00:31-00:34
What determines if it's a good flight?
00:37-00:38
How you land, right?
00:40-00:41
And I was thinking about that also.
00:42-00:50
Have you ever watched a movie that you're like, oh, this movie is so good, and then it has this completely idiotic ending?
00:50-00:51
Have you ever seen a movie like that?
00:51-00:54
Do you walk away saying that was a good movie?
00:55-00:59
No, you say, oh, that movie was terrible because it didn't finish well.
01:00-01:08
And I don't think we ever feel this as deeply as we do being Pittsburgh sports fans.
01:14-01:17
Heavens to Mercatroid, how many pirate games have I sat through?
01:17-01:19
Like, oh, this is awesome.
01:19-01:21
And then we blow it in the ninth inning.
01:22-01:24
And we say, oh, that game was terrible.
01:24-01:26
Or all of Penguin fans.
01:27-01:28
How many times?
01:28-01:29
Oh, this is such a good game!
01:29-01:33
And then we lose in overtime.
01:36-01:41
But you know, the Son of God came to do some work.
01:43-01:46
And He finished perfectly.
01:49-01:50
John 19.
01:52-01:54
Jesus on the cross.
01:55-02:10
"After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, "said to fulfill the scripture, 'I thirst.' "A jar full of sour wine stood there.
02:10-02:16
"So they put a sponge full of the sour wine "on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
02:17-02:24
"When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said. It is finished.
02:26-02:27
And he bowed his head.
02:29-02:30
And gave up his spirit.
02:32-02:37
And in this four week series, we're going to be answering the question, what what is finished?
02:38-02:40
Jesus cried out, it is finished.
02:40-02:41
Well, what is?
02:43-02:54
Well, today, today we are going to be looking at the glorious reality that the work of reconciliation is finished.
02:55-03:00
The relationship with God is restored.
03:03-03:07
Would you bow your heads, please, and I'm going to ask you just take a moment and pray for me.
03:10-03:25
I was telling Pastor Taylor in my office before we came in here, like, you always feel this like, "Man, I can't possibly communicate the gravity of this passage." You always feel that, but sometimes you feel it a lot more.
03:26-03:28
And today we're going to be looking at the love of God.
03:29-03:39
And I feel so inadequate to communicate it the way it needs to, but we're going to take a swing at it.
03:39-03:41
All right, so pray for me, I'll pray for you.
03:53-04:01
Father in heaven, we're about to go after a topic that hits us in the heart, probably more than anything.
04:02-04:04
Should we talk about your great love?
04:07-04:22
So once again, I just pray against any preconceived notions any of us might have going into this, and we would honestly just take a look at what your word actually says.
04:25-04:33
Father, transform us as only you can, we pray in Jesus' name.
04:34-04:41
All of God's people said, "Amen, Amen." It is finished.
04:41-04:45
The relationship with God is restored.
04:46-04:47
We started this last week.
04:48-04:57
That the Bible says in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, God was demonstrating some things.
04:57-04:59
He was showing us some things.
04:59-05:03
He was, a better word, proving some things.
05:04-05:11
And in Romans 3.25, we saw that God demonstrated his righteousness.
05:13-05:19
Jesus died to fulfill the demands of God's law.
05:20-05:23
The guilt is gone.
05:24-05:28
Well, here, in this passage, just look at verse 8.
05:30-05:38
It says, "But God shows," again, better word, "proves," but God shows His love for us.
05:39-05:44
And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
05:46-05:53
You see, it's this love of God, He tells us in verses 10 and 11, that reconciled us.
05:54-05:58
The relationship is restored.
06:00-06:14
Look, this is one of the greatest doctrines in all of God's Word, because God is not some cold detached judge.
06:15-06:37
And you would wrongly take that away from Romans chapter 3 to say, "Well, God's just this judge and we're guilty." and he did this judicial thing and he pardoned us, but he's not this cold judge in the sense of now God's looking down from heaven saying, turn or burn, I don't care.
06:38-06:39
Right?
06:39-06:40
Get right or get left.
06:41-06:52
Look, I made provision, accept Jesus or don't, makes no difference to me whatsoever.
06:55-07:01
The glorious truth of God's Word is that He loves you.
07:03-07:11
I mean, He actually, really, infinitely loves you.
07:13-08:29
And last week we talked about one of the greatest struggles we have people struggling with guilt am I really forgiven but you know there's another question that we struggle with as people and it's this one does God really love me does God really love me oh yeah yeah I know John 316 everybody knows John 3 16 for God so loved the world but maybe maybe that's just like a general statement about God's disposition towards like people as a whole but but but does he love me you know there are two things that make people question God's love. And one is the awareness of my sin. Some people question God's love because you're like, "You know what? I just feel unworthy." The other thing that makes you question God's love is going through hardship.
08:30-08:49
You're like, "If God really loved me, why would He let this, allow this, cause this horrible trial in my life to happen?" But this is the question on the table today.
08:50-08:52
Am I loved by God?
08:55-09:00
In other words, am I accepted by God?
09:04-09:05
Is God on my side?
09:09-09:10
Will that ever change?
09:13-09:16
Well, I got some great news for you.
09:17-09:23
God settled all of this with the death of Jesus Christ.
09:25-09:39
So on your outline, the relationship is restored, and we're focusing on the cross as we head into Resurrection Day next Sunday, and Good Friday this Friday.
09:40-09:41
We're focused on the cross.
09:42-09:46
Today, what the cross proves about God's love for you.
09:49-09:50
Does God love me?
09:52-09:53
Look at the cross.
09:55-09:56
That answers all of it.
09:57-09:58
Let's unpack that a little bit.
09:58-10:02
Number one, the Bible tells us that God's love for you is an unconditional love.
10:04-10:06
It's an unconditional love.
10:10-10:35
I'm going to pause here. People say, especially in circles like ours, they're like, "Well, you know, it's not about religion. It's about what? Relationship. Oh, you travel in those circles. It's not about religion. It's about relationship." Okay, that's true, but technically, Everyone has a relationship with Jesus.
10:39-10:42
The question is, do you have a good relationship with him?
10:43-10:45
Or do you have a bad relationship with him?
10:46-10:48
Because biblically, there's no neutral.
10:49-11:09
It's not like there's these on fire, born again, Bible-believing Christians, and these evil, wicked, nasty, violent, hurtful people who hate God, and then somewhere in the middle is just a really nice person, and not a Christian, but not, there's no neutral.
11:12-11:22
And in this passage, you're going to see that unsaved people, people alienated from God, are described in four ways.
11:23-11:35
They're described as weak, in verse six, as ungodly in verse six, as sinners in verse eight, and as enemies in verse 10.
11:36-11:38
And we have to understand that going in.
11:40-11:45
Looking at these four weak means you're powerless to save yourself.
11:45-11:49
There is not a thing you can do to get right with God on your own.
11:50-11:57
You're weak, you're ungodly, You are nothing like God intended you to be by birth.
11:59-12:00
You're a sinner.
12:00-12:03
That means in the eyes of God, you are rebellious.
12:06-12:10
And then verse 10, as I said, he uses the word enemy.
12:13-12:16
And that means you're hostile towards God.
12:17-12:22
But really, this enemy concept, It's really a two-way street.
12:25-12:30
Because you see, by nature, we resent God's authority.
12:31-12:33
I don't want somebody telling me what to do.
12:34-12:37
I don't want somebody telling me the things that I want to do are wrong.
12:38-12:40
So that's hostility towards God.
12:41-12:43
But you know, it goes the other way too.
12:43-12:46
God has a holy hatred of sin.
12:49-12:57
So we could say that we have a wicked opposition towards God, and God has a holy opposition towards us.
12:58-13:00
It's a dual opposition.
13:01-13:13
So something major has to happen if there's going to be any kind of reconciliation between these two parties that have such hostility towards one another.
13:15-13:17
Something huge has to happen.
13:19-13:21
Look at verse six.
13:21-13:38
It says, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Let's not fly through this too quickly, shall we?
13:38-13:50
Can we just pause for a moment and as much as we can, try to get the weight of God's love in this statement?
13:53-14:10
He said, "Christ died for the ungodly." Who does that?
14:13-14:20
Who dies for rebellious, wicked, evil people?
14:20-14:21
Who does that?
14:22-14:24
It's a shocking statement.
14:26-14:28
But Paul illustrates it.
14:28-14:32
Look at verses seven and eight, how he illustrates this incredible truth.
14:32-14:42
He says, "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, "that perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die.
14:45-14:53
"But God shows his love for us "in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
14:57-14:58
I love Paul's illustration.
15:01-15:07
Look at verse seven again, he says, one will scarcely die for a righteous person like what was he mean by a righteous person?
15:07-15:21
Well, a righteous person is just like, it's like somebody who's upright and a good, holy person, but maybe you sort of have a detached relationship from them.
15:22-15:29
Like, for example, your favorite preacher that you listen to on a podcast.
15:31-15:40
Right? Maybe there's somebody that you follow their podcast, you listen to them, and they're preaching really blesses you, but you don't know that guy, right?
15:42-15:56
That's Paul's point here is, like your favorite podcast preacher, besides me, but your favorite podcast preacher, I had to clarify that, but you're like, Jeff, you're not even in the top 15.
15:57-16:11
Moving on, but that favorite podcast preacher of yours, "If you had an opportunity to die so that he could live, "would you do that?" Probably not.
16:12-16:13
That's why he says scarcely.
16:13-16:25
There might be one or two of you like, "Yeah, I would do it." But Paul's like, "Yeah, that's pretty scarce "that somebody would die for a good person "you don't really know." But then he dials it up a notch.
16:25-16:38
He goes, "Perhaps for a good person "one would dare even to die." And now he's talking about maybe that holy, upright, good Christian person that we know and love.
16:40-16:44
All right, so if I were to ask, okay, forget about your podcast guy, would you die for Pastor Taylor?
16:47-16:50
You're like, wow, that really ups the ante.
16:50-16:55
I'd really, I would really strongly consider that one.
16:59-17:27
And now we get the weight of verse 8, when he says, "But God, but God, on the other hand, "shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, "Christ died for us." See, Paul says maybe somebody would die for a good man, but no one would die for an evil man.
17:29-17:35
But that's exactly how God showed his love for you.
17:37-17:42
God loved you when you were a wooze.
17:44-17:46
You're like, "A what?" A wooze.
17:46-17:48
I just made that word up.
17:51-17:52
W-S-E.
17:54-17:56
A weak, ungodly, sinful enemy.
17:58-17:59
That's just in the text.
18:00-18:02
I just paraphrased it.
18:04-18:05
God loved you as a wooz.
18:08-18:15
And God didn't say, look, when you get your act together, then we'll talk about salvation.
18:18-18:23
God didn't say, when you start living a certain way, then I'm going to love you.
18:26-18:31
It says, "While we were still sinners," what God says is, "Look, I love you.
18:31-18:33
I sent my son to die for you.
18:34-18:44
You come to me and then we'll get your act together." See, God knows you better than you know yourself.
18:45-18:48
And he loves you at your worst.
18:52-18:53
So that's where Paul starts.
18:53-18:56
God's love for you is unconditional.
18:59-19:04
Secondly, what does the cross prove about God's love for you?
19:05-19:08
God's love for you is a rescuing love.
19:10-19:11
It's a rescuing love.
19:11-19:12
Look at v. 9.
19:15-19:31
He says, "Since therefore, have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
19:33-19:34
I love this.
19:34-19:38
You're gonna see this a couple of times in this passage, much more, much more.
19:38-19:49
What he's saying is if Jesus' death could do this, then much more Jesus' life can do this.
19:50-20:03
So here, Jesus' blood justified us, made us righteous before God, which is, I tried so hard to think of a way to describe that, and I wrote down infinitely enormous.
20:03-20:04
I don't know.
20:05-20:26
If Jesus' blood could make us righteous before God, which is infinitely enormous, even way bigger, he says, "We will be saved from the wrath of God." And that is a profound thing in the cross of Jesus Christ, that God was saving you from himself.
20:27-20:29
He was saving you from his own wrath.
20:33-20:46
But you know, as a pastor, bless you, as a pastor, oftentimes I hear people say, in wanting to argue certain doctrines, people will say, you know, you're talking about God's wrath.
20:46-20:50
Yeah, a loving God wouldn't send someone to hell.
20:51-20:56
I believe that God is love and a loving God wouldn't send somebody to hell.
20:56-20:57
Have you ever heard that?
20:58-21:00
Pastor Taylor, I'm sure you've heard that a lot.
21:00-21:03
A loving God wouldn't send someone to hell.
21:05-21:07
Well, there's a lot of problems with that statement.
21:09-21:14
One, it ignores what the Bible actually says about hell.
21:15-21:17
You know, Jesus talked about hell more than anybody.
21:18-21:20
Something like twice as much as he talked about heaven.
21:23-21:27
So not only does it ignore what the Bible actually says about hell, it also ignores God's holiness.
21:29-21:31
Like a holy God can't tolerate sin.
21:35-21:45
So help me understand, if you're somebody that doesn't believe in hell, if you're somebody that still subscribes to the loving God wouldn't send somebody to hell.
21:46-21:55
Are you saying that somebody can live their entire life at rejecting their creator, living in flagrant sin and rebellion.
21:55-22:00
They want nothing to do with God and they want nothing to do with God's gifts.
22:00-22:06
And someday when they die, God's going to be like, "Hey, that's okay.
22:06-22:12
Come on into heaven, let me show you around." Like, how does that work?
22:13-22:23
Oh, and by the way, an unsaved person would be miserable in heaven.
22:23-22:24
Do you know that?
22:26-22:30
An unsaved person would be absolutely miserable in heaven.
22:31-23:35
You're like, "Why?" Well, that unsaved person has spent their life saying, "I don't want anything to do with God, God's truth, God's people, worship. I don't want anything to do with that. You know what heaven is? God, His truth, His people, and worship. That would be absolutely miserable to spend an eternity with the God you want nothing to do with. So you're ignoring God's holiness when you're selecting which doctrine you want to adhere to. Oh, and here's one. A loving God wouldn't send someone to hell. I like to quickly remind people that God's love is not in question. What more could God have possibly done to save you? You know, the Bible says, Romans chapter 8, "God and spared not his own son.
23:35-23:39
God was willing to kill his son so that you could be saved.
23:40-23:41
I wouldn't do that.
23:43-23:47
If your salvation meant that I had to kill my son, you'd all be gone to hell.
23:47-23:49
And I wouldn't think twice about it.
23:52-24:02
What more could God have possibly done to demonstrate his love than by giving the most precious thing that exists, the life of his son?
24:04-24:10
So don't, please, don't come at me with this, a loving God wouldn't send someone to hell.
24:11-24:13
God's love is not in question here.
24:15-24:26
But church, if we brush off God's wrath, we're also brushing off the impact of the cross.
24:27-24:32
And brushing off the impact of the cross is minimizing the greatest act of God's love.
24:34-24:36
But let's get real personal.
24:40-24:46
Like I said at the beginning, one of the biggest reasons we doubt God's love is because we endure hardship.
24:48-24:54
And I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, but I imagine it would be high 90% of you.
24:55-25:00
If I said, "Raise your hand if you've ever questioned God's love because of a trial that you're going through.
25:01-25:03
I bet most of those hands would go up.
25:08-25:23
And I just want to lovingly encourage you, you know, when we get in that mindset where we're doubting God's love in a hardship, what we're assuming is the way that God shows love is keeping me from trials.
25:25-25:49
already attached that love language to God when His Word does not. And we think, "Okay, so God shows me love by making my life easy and trouble-free. So if God doesn't do that, Then he must not love me.
25:53-25:55
We studied the book of Job last fall.
25:56-26:04
If we learned anything, it's that God loves me through hardships.
26:05-26:05
No, no, no, no.
26:06-26:10
God loves me with hardships.
26:14-26:48
chose the greatness of his love by meeting our greatest need, which is to be rescued from sin and hell. And if that's all God's love ever did for you is to rescue you from hell, if that was all he ever did, you should be eternally grateful, but like the goofy guy in the infomercial, but wait, there's more.
26:50-26:51
Number three, write this down.
26:53-26:54
God's love for you is a committed love.
26:56-26:58
What does the cross prove about God's love?
26:58-27:05
Well, it proves it's unconditional, and it proves it's rescuing, and thirdly, it proves that God's love for you is a committed love.
27:06-27:07
Look at verse 10.
27:11-27:29
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.
27:32-29:27
similar to verse 9 with the much more thing, but there's a different emphasis here. In verse 9 he says we will be saved from his coming wrath and here he's saying God will keep us saved in the meantime. In other words, he's saying if God could reconcile us by the death of his Son, much more, He can keep us saved by the life of His Son. Or, to put it another way, if God loved you when you were His enemy, how do you think He's going to love you now that you're His child. That's why he uses that word here, that's the word of the day, "reconcile." He uses it twice in verse 10, telling us this, "God is committed to a restored relationship with you. How committed? How committed is God? How committed? He adopted you as his child. Talk to somebody here that's adopted someone and ask that parent of the adopted kid. How committed are you? They're committed. John 1 12 says, "But to all who did receive Jesus, who believed in His name, He gave the the right to become children of God.
29:29-29:35
In Christ, we are God's children, and He is our Heavenly Father.
29:36-29:47
And as you parents know, your kids will always be your kids, And nothing can ever change that.
29:50-30:00
No matter how bad your kids are, no matter what bad thing they've done, nothing will ever change that kid from being your kid.
30:03-31:10
You know, when we planted this church back in 2011, we were meeting at Marshall Middle school, which is right beside Covenant Community Church. And you know, I was friends with the pastor John Price, who was pastoring there, and he invited our church over to, they had a like a church picnic on their property. He says, "Hey, why don't you guys come over, invite your church, come over, we're gonna get the bouncy houses and have a big thing, have a bunch of kids, and why don't you bring your family over, I'd like to introduce you, kind of like welcome to the neighborhood kind of thing. I'm like, "Oh, that sounds like a great time." Well, so our family went, and Aaron and I were in the pavilion talking to some of these wonderful people at this church. And our kids were much littler at the time. And "Dad, dad!" I look over.
31:11-31:25
Cade and Owen are standing in the yard, in the green space in Covenant Community with their pants around their ankles, urinating on the lawn.
31:27-31:35
And I look over and Cade hollers, "Look, dad, we made a pea cross!"
31:35-31:37
(congregation laughing)
31:44-31:50
And these dear sweet people we were talking to said, "Are those your children?"
31:50-31:52
(congregation laughing)
31:54-32:02
I said, "I've never seen those kids." Somebody really needs to reign them in, you know what I'm saying?
32:13-32:25
You know, as badly as I wanted to put them on eBay that day, I didn't.
32:30-32:31
And Kate will tell you.
32:31-32:54
He'll tell you something I've told him over and over throughout his life is, "Look, I love you on your best day and on your worst." And I've told him, "Nothing will ever change that because you're my son." And it's the same with God's kids.
32:58-33:31
been adopted, and you know, I've been reading the Bible for a long time. There is zero biblical language about being unadopted. We touched on this last week. You know, people often ask, "Can I lose my salvation?" And the answer to that question is, well, you know, if I could lose my salvation, then I definitely would.
33:33-33:35
But thankfully, it's not up to me.
33:38-33:44
Because what Paul's teaching here is it's not really about how tightly I'm holding on to Jesus.
33:46-33:48
It's how tightly he's holding on to me.
33:52-33:59
So, if you've ever struggled with can I lose my salvation?
33:59-34:00
Here's a great verse.
34:01-34:02
You're gonna help me out here.
34:02-34:03
Philippians 1.6.
34:03-34:04
Can we get that on the screen?
34:05-34:07
Let's do a little Bible study here, shall we?
34:07-34:21
Paul says, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." That means to the very end.
34:21-34:22
All right, so help me out here.
34:25-34:27
Did God begin a good work in you?
34:27-34:31
Well, if you're a follower of Jesus, then the answer to that is yes.
34:33-34:34
Okay, next question.
34:36-34:41
If God began a good work in you, is he gonna finish it?
34:43-34:45
Yeah, he is.
34:46-34:47
Oh, one more question.
34:49-34:49
Are you sure?
34:54-35:05
Paul said he was. I am sure of this, that when Jesus starts something, He finishes it.
35:06-35:20
True of the cross and the atonement. True of His death. Yes, true of that, but also true of adopting you and raising you and getting you to the finish line of heaven.
35:23-35:28
Look, God didn't save you and say, "You know what, kid?
35:28-35:28
Good luck.
35:28-35:29
You're on your own.
35:30-35:31
Don't mess this up.
35:31-35:38
I hope to see you in heaven." Paul makes it very clear here that God's love for you is a committed love.
35:42-35:45
We have the worship team join us back up here.
35:49-35:54
Church, God loves you.
35:57-36:03
And as we said, and can't emphasize enough, that is not in question.
36:05-36:11
He showed us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, we are rescued from his wrath.
36:11-36:14
He is committed to keeping us all the way to heaven.
36:16-36:27
The real question that we have to ask is, not does God love us, but do you love God?
36:32-36:35
God demonstrated His love for you.
36:37-36:39
Are you willing to demonstrate your love for Him?
36:41-36:46
You're like, "How do I do that?" Well, let's look at what the passage says.
36:46-36:47
Look at verse 11.
36:48-36:53
He says, "More than that," which is a hilarious statement.
36:53-36:55
More than all of this.
36:57-37:12
He says, "We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. I just want to ask you, Church, will you rejoice?
37:14-37:36
Rejoicing is the natural emotional result of being reconciled, and your worship should be an overflow of love and joy and gratitude for Jesus Christ, for all He is, and for all He's done, and for all He's promised that He will do.
37:39-37:50
Let your worship be an expression of love. Would you stand and lift up your voices and demonstrate love for Jesus Christ?

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 5:6-11

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Have you ever questioned God’s love for you? Why? What is God’s response, based on this passage?
What 4 words are used to describe lost people in this passage? How does this speak to the idea that “deep down, man is basically good”?
Read John 1:12 and Philippians 1:6. What do these verses teach us about God’s love being a committed love?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

April 6, 2025

What is Finished?

Justification: The Guilt is Gone

Jeff Miller

April 6, 2025

What is Finished?

Introduction:

3 Things to Remind Yourself When You Feel Guilty: (Romans 3:21-28)

You Are. (Romans 3:21-23)
But God is Totally Satisfied by the Cross. (Romans 3:24-26)
Proverbs 17:15 – He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

Exodus 23:7 – Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.

Acts 17:30 – The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
And Justification is a Gift to Be Received By Faith. (Romans 3:27-28)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:16
Our next four messages, including Good Friday, which I just found out is on a Friday, we'll be talking about one of the most profound statements Jesus Christ ever made.
00:16-00:21
And it was on the cross when he cried out, it is finished.
00:22-00:28
So we're going to be examining the question, what is finished?
00:29-00:32
You think about finishing things, right?
00:32-00:39
From a very early age, hopefully we've all been taught the importance of finishing things, right?
00:40-00:41
Didn't you hear that growing up?
00:41-00:44
And maybe some of you now parents are saying that to your kids.
00:44-00:47
Hey, finish your supper.
00:48-00:50
Finish your chores, right?
00:50-00:51
Finish your homework.
00:53-00:58
And we're taught that there are consequences when we don't finish.
00:59-01:15
Well, the glorious reality that we're going to be looking at over these next four messages is this, the Son of God came to this earth to do something and he finished it.
01:17-01:22
So the question is, what is finished?
01:22-01:27
Well, let's go to the scene, John 19:28-30.
01:29-01:48
It says, "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the scriptures, "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
01:49-01:58
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished." And he bowed his head.
01:59-02:00
and gave up his spirit.
02:03-02:03
What?
02:04-02:05
What was finished?
02:07-02:13
Well, today we're going to look at one thing of many that was finished.
02:13-02:17
Today we're going to talk about the work of justification.
02:18-02:23
Meaning, our guilt is gone.
02:24-02:27
So I'd like you to bow your heads with me, please, and I just want to take a moment.
02:27-02:42
if you would please pray for me to accurately communicate the Word of God as I should, and I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us today from His Word, all right?
02:43-02:43
Let's pray.
02:49-03:17
Father in heaven, as we turn to your Word, it's a thought that makes us tremble that right now we are about to talk about the most important thing anyone will ever hear for their entire lives. And Father, we recognize that as no overstatement whatsoever. We can't begin to fathom how important this message is.
03:19-04:16
This message is, it's just been so distorted and twisted and changed, and we just want to get back to what your Word actually says. See what you said, God, and we want to not align our lives with our concept of you, God, but we want to align our lives with what you actually said. So I'm asking, Father, you would open our hearts up this morning and that you would bring much glory to yourself through the straightforward understanding of your word. We pray in Jesus' name and all of God's people said, "Amen!" What is finished? The work of justification that guilt is gone. Do I have to sell anybody on guilt?
04:17-04:25
We've all struggled with guilt and some of us might be struggling with guilt right now.
04:27-04:37
What is guilt? Well guilt is just that bad feeling that we get when what I did was wrong.
04:38-04:42
And yeah, there's another word that's often connected to guilt, and it's the word shame.
04:42-04:44
And shame's a little different.
04:45-04:52
See, shame is the feeling of guilt that I have when people know what I did wrong.
04:52-04:53
You know what I mean?
04:54-05:02
Like you can have a secret sin that nobody knows about, and you might feel guilt over that, but you don't feel shame 'cause nobody knows.
05:02-05:14
But if that secret sin gets made known, If people know about it, now all of a sudden, it's people must think of me differently.
05:15-05:16
That's what shame is.
05:17-05:19
How I think people think of me now.
05:21-05:22
Because of my guilt.
05:23-05:28
The point is this, my friends, we have both of those before God.
05:29-05:30
We have guilt.
05:30-05:31
I disobeyed.
05:32-05:32
We have shame.
05:33-05:35
God is surely disappointed in me.
05:39-05:40
I want you to look at verse 24.
05:40-05:46
We're gonna back up here and get the context, but I just want you to look at this first phrase in verse 24.
05:49-05:51
It says, and this is Romans chapter three, right?
05:51-06:03
He says, "We are justified "by His grace as a gift." That's what we're talking about today.
06:03-06:05
Justification, what is that?
06:07-06:09
It's the most important thing you will ever hear.
06:11-06:24
Justification is God pronouncing a guilty sinner as not only being not guilty, but being perfectly righteous instead.
06:25-06:27
So it's a legal term.
06:28-06:31
It's the opposite of condemnation.
06:32-06:36
But listen, it's more than pardoned.
06:37-06:45
You know, when you pardon someone, you're just taking away the penalty of what they did, penalty for, excuse me, what they did wrong.
06:47-06:49
Justification's so much more than that.
06:49-06:53
It's not just canceling the penalty, but actually making righteous.
06:55-06:56
Think of it this way.
06:57-07:02
In God's justification, it's not just you won't be punished.
07:04-07:14
God says you can't be punished because there are no grounds whatsoever for punishment anymore.
07:15-07:16
Do you see the difference?
07:20-07:25
But even as Christians, we still wrestle with guilt, don't we?
07:28-07:36
I mean, look, if you've done something wrong to somebody else, you need to take steps to make that right.
07:38-07:42
And Pastor Taylor did an amazing job last Wednesday at our latest workshop.
07:43-07:45
So we're not talking about that today.
07:45-07:47
Well, today we're talking about guilt before God.
07:50-07:53
Am I really forgiven?
07:55-07:56
Have you ever wrestled with that?
07:59-08:03
Am I really a child of God?
08:05-08:07
Or is God disappointed in me?
08:10-08:14
Well, from God's word today, I want you to jot some things down.
08:14-08:17
Here's three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.
08:18-08:20
And if you don't feel guilty now, you will.
08:24-08:26
I mean like eventually, I didn't mean like.
08:29-08:32
In 30 seconds, you're all gonna be bowing your heads.
08:34-08:36
We all struggle with it from time to time, don't we?
08:37-08:38
Is it just me?
08:39-08:39
Okay, all right.
08:42-08:43
All right.
08:44-08:49
Three things, look, we're not trying to pile on here, okay?
08:49-08:53
But here are three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.
08:54-08:56
Number one, you are.
08:59-09:00
Like, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait.
09:01-09:03
I came here to feel good, Pastor Jeff.
09:05-09:09
Look, listen, it has to start here.
09:10-09:17
Because if you don't really think that you're guilty before God, Jesus won't really mean anything to you.
09:18-09:19
Look at verse 21.
09:20-09:34
And he says, "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it." Stop there.
09:34-09:40
The Old Testament law was to teach us that we are sinners.
09:40-09:42
That was the purpose of the Old Testament law.
09:42-09:46
It was to teach us that we have broken the law of God.
09:46-09:57
And even if you just reduce the Old Testament law to the 10 commandments, just looking at those shows us adequately that we are really lost sinners.
09:59-10:11
I mean, let me ask you, have you always made the worship of God and your walk with God the absolute most important thing in your life?
10:11-10:12
Has it always been number one?
10:14-10:14
No.
10:15-10:19
Well, if not, then you've broken the first couple of commandments.
10:21-10:25
You should only have one God, you shouldn't worship anything else other than God.
10:26-10:26
You're guilty.
10:28-10:30
Have you always honored your parents perfectly?
10:32-10:34
You're like, no, there are times I haven't.
10:34-10:37
Well, you've broken the fifth commandment, which says honor your father and mother.
10:38-10:39
Have you ever hated someone?
10:42-10:46
According to Jesus, you've broken the sixth commandment, which says you shouldn't murder, because it starts in here.
10:47-10:47
You ever lusted?
10:50-10:54
Jesus said that's the same thing as committing adultery and you've broken the seventh commandment.
10:55-10:56
You ever stolen anything?
10:56-10:57
That's breaking the eighth commandment.
10:58-10:58
How we doing?
10:59-10:59
How we doing?
11:00-11:01
You're like, I'm doing pretty good.
11:02-11:03
Okay, have you ever told a lie?
11:04-11:06
You're like, I think maybe I just did.
11:07-11:14
Well, if you've ever known the truth and intentionally said something else, then you've broken the ninth commandment.
11:15-11:17
Have you ever wanted something that God gave somebody else?
11:19-11:20
Like, what's the big deal?
11:20-11:20
I'll tell you the big deal.
11:20-11:22
That's breaking the 10th commandment.
11:22-11:23
That's called coveting.
11:25-11:33
So you see, that's the purpose of the law was to show us, oh, I'm not a righteous person on my own.
11:36-11:42
We need to be made right with God, but the law shows us that we're sinners.
11:42-11:44
It can't make us not guilty.
11:45-11:46
The Old Testament law can't do that.
11:46-11:47
Look at verse 22.
11:47-12:06
He goes on, he says, "The righteousness of God "through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." Stop there for a second, because we have to make a key distinction here, because if you miss this, you're gonna be really lost here in a second.
12:07-12:09
He's talking about the righteousness of God.
12:09-12:10
He says it twice.
12:12-12:13
That's the theme of this passage.
12:14-12:15
What is the righteousness of God?
12:15-12:18
Hang on, there's a distinction.
12:19-12:25
In verses 25 and 26, he talks about God's righteousness.
12:26-12:33
Listen, God's righteousness is different than the righteousness of God.
12:33-12:35
Those are two different things.
12:36-12:42
And it's going to be crystal clear in the context, so long as you stay tuned in to what God is saying here.
12:42-12:43
Like, what's the difference?
12:43-12:44
Here's the difference, listen.
12:44-12:49
God's righteousness is the righteousness that God owns.
12:50-12:56
The righteousness of God is the righteousness God gives to believers.
13:00-13:08
So he's saying, another run at that one, God's righteousness is the righteousness that God owns.
13:09-13:11
That's just another way of saying God's holiness.
13:11-13:12
God is holy, he's perfect.
13:14-13:16
That's what God's righteousness is.
13:16-13:23
But when the Bible talks about here, the righteousness of God, it's talking about the righteousness that God gives to believers.
13:23-13:28
And again, that's gonna be very clear in the context, but I don't want us to get tripped up on the terms.
13:30-13:45
So, Paul is claiming here that God makes us righteous through faith, implying that we need to be made righteous, implying that we're guilty.
13:47-13:47
You see that?
13:49-13:50
Look at verse 22, he goes on.
13:51-14:05
He says, "For there is no distinction, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Look, when we talk about being guilty before God, he says there's no distinction.
14:06-14:16
It doesn't matter if you grew up in a Christian home, or if you grew up in a home that didn't even have a Bible in it.
14:17-14:17
It doesn't matter.
14:20-14:32
It doesn't matter if you're the most rebellious sinner in the world, or if you're just a pretty good person.
14:33-14:42
He says, "We all have fallen short of the glory of God." Like what glory of God, what is that?
14:43-14:44
That's God's image.
14:46-14:48
That's God's intention for man.
14:49-14:56
We all failed to live up to being the people that God has created us to be.
14:58-14:59
We've all fallen short.
15:04-15:11
Listen, it doesn't matter how short we've fallen, because we've all fallen short.
15:14-15:33
You know, imagine we're standing on the shore of New Jersey facing the Atlantic Ocean, and There's me, and there's my man Max, and there's the Steelers quarterback.
15:34-15:35
Who's the quarterback for the Steelers now?
15:40-15:44
Oh, I'm sorry, I pushed a hot button.
15:46-15:48
Let's just say Ben Roethlisberger.
15:51-15:54
So let's say we're all standing on the shore of New Jersey.
15:55-15:57
All right, me, Max, and Ben Roethlisberger.
15:58-16:03
And we're each given a football, and we're told that we need to throw that football and hit England.
16:06-16:08
Like, I can do that, I mean, how far is England?
16:10-16:17
And I, everything that I got, I throw it, and it goes 10 feet into the ocean.
16:20-16:31
And Max was like, "Pastor Jeff, step aside." Whew, tight spiral, 100 feet, whoop, into the ocean.
16:32-16:44
Ben Roethlisberger steps up and he's like, "I'm gonna show you I still got it." And whew, he throws it 200 feet, whoop, into the ocean.
16:46-16:47
Which one of us hit England?
16:50-16:53
Right, we all fell short, didn't we?
16:54-16:57
You're like, "Well, Jeff, you fell way shorter than Ben." Okay.
17:00-17:03
But we all fell short, do you see the point?
17:04-17:09
Doesn't matter how short you've fallen, you fell short of God's glory, and that's a big deal.
17:10-17:25
Listen, church, we can't minimize that by saying, "I'm not really that guilty." We can't compare to say, "Well, I'm not as guilty as other people." And we can't trivialize it to say, "Yeah, okay, I'm guilty, so what?" We need to confess it.
17:27-17:38
I, and by that I mean me, I am guilty of breaking God's law by my disobedience.
17:40-17:46
So if you're struggling with guilt, this is just your friendly reminder that you are guilty.
17:49-17:57
But number two, but God is totally satisfied by the cross.
18:01-18:05
You are guilty, but God is totally satisfied by the cross.
18:05-18:08
Look at verse 24 through the first part of 25.
18:09-18:15
He says, "For all sin and fall short of the glory of God." A lot of us probably have that verse memorized, right?
18:15-18:46
But he says, "And are justified by His grace as a gift to the redemption it is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith." Look, the cross of Jesus Christ is God's means of making sinners righteous.
18:49-18:53
Now there's a word here in these verses we just read you need to underline in your Bible right now.
18:54-18:59
And we're gonna have people at the door handing you an Easter devotional and checking your Bibles to make sure that you underline this.
19:00-19:03
But it's one of the most beautiful words in the entire Bible.
19:04-19:06
And it's the word propitiation.
19:08-19:12
I think John uses it in 1 John as well.
19:14-19:15
It's a beautiful word.
19:15-19:18
Like, well, what is propitiation?
19:19-19:22
Propitiation literally means to placate anger.
19:22-19:30
I know some theologians try to dance around that, like almost to soften the blow, but no, that's what it means.
19:30-19:34
It means God is furious over sin.
19:36-19:39
Propitiation means he's not angry anymore.
19:40-19:46
It means that Jesus' death satisfied God.
19:50-19:57
Because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, God saw that and he said, "The full penalty has been paid.
19:58-20:00
My wrath has been fully poured out.
20:00-20:27
Punishment has been fully doled out." God says, "I am satisfied." You know, when we talk about salvation, sometimes we say, we get in our evangelism mindset, we say, "How do we get men to accept God?" And that's really not the question we need to ask.
20:28-20:36
The question is, "How do we get God to accept men?" Because listen, God was the one who was offended, not me.
20:37-20:48
was offended. So any talk about salvation and being righteous and any talk of that has to satisfy God.
20:50-21:26
And you see that's where every other religion in the world besides Christianity as presented in God's Word straightforwardly, every other religion teaches that there are things that we have to do to satisfy God. There are religious works or some kind of action that we have to take to make God satisfied. The Bible says we can't do it. Nothing we do can satisfy My God.
21:28-21:30
Look at verse 25 again.
21:31-21:43
It says, "Whom God," talking about Jesus, "put forward as a propitiation by his blood "to be received by faith." Look at that.
21:43-21:48
The Bible says, "God put Jesus forward." Do you see what's happening here?
21:49-21:51
We sinned against God.
21:51-21:53
We deserve God's wrath.
21:53-21:56
and God took his son and put him forward.
21:56-21:59
That means he demonstrated some things.
22:00-22:02
He put Jesus on display.
22:04-22:07
God showed us something on the cross.
22:09-22:11
You're like, what did God show us on the cross?
22:12-22:23
Well, later in Romans 5, verse eight, it says that God demonstrated his love on the cross.
22:23-22:37
So love for sure, but here specifically, he's saying that on the cross, God showed that his son fully paid the penalty that the law demanded.
22:39-22:48
So now God says, because of my son, look, I'm showing you this, I'm showing you.
22:51-22:56
This is what my son did, so now I'm satisfied.
23:01-23:02
Perpetuation, perpetuation.
23:03-23:05
This is where theology is important, my friends.
23:06-23:07
Christian, listen.
23:08-23:09
I want you to listen real close, Christian.
23:11-23:12
God is not mad at you.
23:13-23:14
He's not.
23:16-23:23
Because of Jesus, God has no wrath left for you.
23:25-23:34
And to think that he does is to minimize what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
23:35-23:43
But some Christians think that God poured out his wrath on Jesus, they believe that, but they think that God's still mad at them.
23:43-23:50
Like God is just like, yeah, I know that you received my son, but I'm so upset with you for what you did.
23:50-23:51
He's not.
23:53-23:56
That's what that word propitiation means.
23:57-24:01
There's no wrath left for the one in Christ Jesus.
24:03-24:04
God is satisfied.
24:08-24:09
Look at the end of verse 25.
24:14-24:16
This gets a little technical, so look, tune in.
24:22-24:37
It says, "This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins.
24:38-24:51
It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
24:55-25:07
We defined this term in the outset, but two times here, He says that the cross was to show God's righteousness.
25:07-25:08
Do you know what he's saying?
25:09-25:16
The cross proved that God is righteous.
25:20-25:22
You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out, time out.
25:23-25:23
Time out.
25:24-25:24
Hang on.
25:26-25:31
Why would anyone accuse God of not being holy?
25:31-25:33
What do you mean?
25:33-25:41
What possible grounds would someone have to point to God and say, "God, you messed up here.
25:41-25:46
"God, what you did or what you didn't do here, "that's not holy, God.
25:47-25:51
"That's not righteous." What grounds would somebody have for that?
25:53-25:58
Listen very closely because this is what, this is what Paul's talking about.
25:59-26:04
I want you to, we're gonna do a little theology here for a couple minutes, and I know, what's the point?
26:05-26:12
You're gonna see here in a couple minutes this will change your life if you really understand this.
26:16-26:16
So here we go.
26:18-26:19
What's Paul talking about here?
26:20-26:26
When he talks about his divine forbearance passing over former sins, what's he mean?
26:26-26:32
Listen, in the Old Testament times, which was before the cross, right?
26:35-26:36
God justified wicked people.
26:38-26:42
And that is controversial.
26:43-26:44
You're like, why?
26:46-26:50
Why is it controversial that God would justify the wicked in Old Testament times?
26:50-26:52
Oh, I'm so glad you asked, I'll tell you why.
26:55-26:58
One reason is he forbid us to do that.
27:00-27:01
Look at Proverbs 17, 15.
27:02-27:08
Look, he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous like an abomination to the Lord.
27:09-27:10
Do you see that?
27:11-27:12
Do you know what abomination is?
27:13-27:17
In my Bible, I put a little exclamation point in the margin every time I see that word.
27:17-27:22
That's like something that is so wicked, it like makes God sick.
27:22-27:24
God's like, I hate that.
27:24-27:31
And here, God says, I can't stomach when the wicked are justified.
27:31-27:33
You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second.
27:33-27:37
You're saying that we can't do that, but you did that God before the cross.
27:41-27:41
Hmm.
27:43-27:44
Is that righteous?
27:46-28:00
Well, actually, it gets even worse if we're barking up this tree because earlier in your Old Testament, God actually said that he would never justify the wicked.
28:02-28:07
Exodus 23, seven, it's pretty self-explanatory.
28:07-28:16
And then God says, "I will not acquit the wicked." You see the problem?
28:18-28:25
Somebody would say God in the Old Testament times did what he forbid us to do, what he swore he would never do, but he did it anyways.
28:26-28:27
So how can we say God's righteous?
28:28-28:30
We're talking about God being holy, God being perfect, God so righteous.
28:31-28:32
How can we say that?
28:36-28:41
Paul doesn't, I love this, because he doesn't shy away from that.
28:42-28:56
He runs right at it when he says, this was to show God's righteousness because, look at this again, in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins.
28:57-29:00
Again, it was to show his righteousness.
29:02-29:06
In other words, he's saying in the Old Testament times, God tolerated sin.
29:09-29:11
Like, whoa, whoa, whoa, how can we say God's righteous?
29:11-29:14
I mean, in the Old Testament, there was no propitiation.
29:14-29:17
There was no cross of Jesus Christ yet.
29:17-29:26
So when somebody sinned in the Old Testament, if God is the holy judge that you say that he is, why didn't he immediately just judge sinners?
29:28-29:33
They didn't have the blood of Jesus Christ to proclaim.
29:37-29:44
I mean, you look at the guys in the Old Testament, Abraham, Moses, David, I mean, pick one, all sinners.
29:46-29:55
And yet when you read God's interaction with them over and over, we see God giving them the promise of eternal life.
29:57-30:05
Was that really a righteous thing to do for people that couldn't put their faith in Jesus Christ since he hadn't come yet?
30:09-30:10
How could God give them that promise?
30:11-30:16
Somebody would say, well, oh, that was, that was the Old Testament sacrifices.
30:16-30:18
Eh, couldn't do it.
30:20-30:24
They covered sin, but they didn't take away sin.
30:25-30:33
And somebody else might say, "Well, it was their good works, it was their good works." That's how God was able to, no.
30:34-30:37
Nowhere does the Bible say you can earn your salvation.
30:39-30:40
So what's he saying?
30:43-30:52
He's saying in verses 25 and 26 here, that in God's forbearance, that's another word for patience, he passed over former sins.
30:52-30:55
And that word Passover doesn't mean forgive.
30:56-30:58
It literally means he overlooked their sin.
31:00-31:09
God's patience caused God to not punish their sin immediately.
31:11-31:12
This is exactly what Paul was talking about.
31:13-31:18
Very curious verse in Acts 17:30 on Mars Hill.
31:18-31:20
Exact same thing he's talking about.
31:20-31:27
The times of ignorance God overlooked, and now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
31:30-31:32
So how was God able to do that?
31:34-31:36
See, this is what Paul's talking about here.
31:38-31:44
It was still, even in Old Testament times, it was still because of Jesus Christ.
31:46-31:52
You're like, well, how can they believe in Jesus If they weren't, they don't know about the cross.
31:53-31:57
Look, God is outside of time.
31:58-32:06
And if you study your Bibles like Revelation 13, eight, Jesus Christ was always the Lamb of God.
32:07-32:13
That wasn't some radical idea that God dreamed up one day about 2000 years ago, like, oh, I got an idea.
32:13-32:15
That was always the plan.
32:18-32:20
So here it is, listen close.
32:21-32:31
Even before the cross happened, God overlooked sin based on what was already determined that his son was going to do.
32:33-32:41
So what he's saying is this, the cross of Jesus Christ reaches back to the Old Testament saints.
32:43-32:54
They were pronounced righteous because of what Jesus was going to do, just as we are pronounced righteous looking back based on what Jesus did in our past.
32:57-33:09
And kids that haven't even been born yet, that eventually will receive Jesus Christ, their sins are already forgiven in Christ.
33:11-33:12
You're like, "What?
33:13-33:18
Like, okay, so what's the point?" What's the point?
33:19-33:21
Well, there's two points actually.
33:22-33:28
Number one, it answers one of the most commonly asked questions that I get as a pastor.
33:28-33:31
People ask me all the time, how are the people saved in the Old Testament?
33:32-33:38
Because if Jesus is the only means of salvation, and I believe that, then how were they saved in the Old Testament?
33:38-33:39
The answer is still Jesus.
33:40-33:42
Their faith was based on what God was going to do.
33:43-33:47
That's why God was overlooking their sin, so to speak.
33:51-33:55
But listen, here's why this theology is so important for you.
33:57-33:59
What were we talking about today?
34:01-34:02
Guilt, right?
34:03-34:05
See, this answers the guilt question.
34:09-34:12
as a Christian, when I sin?
34:14-34:15
And I will.
34:17-34:19
Is God mad at me?
34:21-34:21
No.
34:23-34:26
Do I have to ask for forgiveness?
34:26-34:33
Do I have to plead the blood of Jesus over my sin every time that I sin as a Christian?
34:34-34:35
The answer is no.
34:39-34:40
Or how about this one?
34:40-34:45
What if I sin and then I die?
34:46-34:52
Can I go to heaven since I sinned and I didn't ask for forgiveness for that particular sin?
34:52-35:00
I have known, listen, pastors, I've known pastors that have taught that, that you better die on a good day.
35:01-35:05
Because let's say you're living this perfect Walk with Jesus' life.
35:06-35:22
And let's say you have a blowup with your wife on the way out the door, and you sinfully speak to her, and you get in the car and go to work, and you die in a car accident, you're going to hell, because that sin wasn't confessed and repented of and covered under the blood of Christ.
35:22-35:27
I know pastors that teach that, and that is completely wrong.
35:29-35:31
That's why this theology is so important.
35:31-35:43
Listen, when Jesus Christ was on the cross, do you realize all of your sins were yet future?
35:44-35:45
Do you realize that?
35:47-35:54
All of your sins were paid for, even the sins that you haven't committed yet.
35:59-36:15
So if you are in Christ, and if you sin, and you will, you don't need to ask for forgiveness because you already have it.
36:16-36:19
So listen, don't, somebody's gonna misconstrue this.
36:20-36:26
So just grab the shoulder of the person next to you and shake them and tell them to pay attention.
36:28-36:29
Thank you.
36:29-36:31
Because somebody's gonna misconstrue this.
36:32-36:38
Listen, when you sin, church, you need to confess your sin.
36:40-36:46
Then you need to thank God that He has forgiven you in Jesus Christ.
36:47-36:55
And you need to turn from your sin because you don't wanna do anything in your life that would dishonor the name of your Lord.
36:58-37:03
But it's not as if God just keeps forgiving you over and over.
37:03-37:10
He forgave you once when you received Jesus Christ, and that lasts for all of eternity.
37:12-37:14
Do you see the security in that?
37:17-37:37
Now listen, whether it was Moses' sin or a sin that you're going to commit tomorrow, sins have been taken away, God is satisfied because of the one-time sacrifice of Jesus that covers all sins of all believers." There's incredible freedom in that.
37:41-37:51
Three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty. Number one, you are. Number two, but God is totally satisfied by the cross. Number three, and justification is a gift to be received by faith.
37:51-37:51
(chuckles)
37:58-38:00
Look at verses 27 and 28.
38:00-38:01
He says, "Then what becomes of our boasting?
38:04-38:07
"It is excluded by what kind of law?
38:09-38:10
"By a law of works?
38:11-38:15
"No, by the law of faith.
38:16-38:31
"For we hold that one is justified by faith "apart from works of the law." In this passage, faith has come up, have you been counting?
38:31-38:32
Six times.
38:34-38:38
And yes, I'm counting when he used the word believe 'cause that's what he meant.
38:38-38:42
Six times, verse 22, including the word believe, he says it twice.
38:43-38:47
Verse 25, 26, 27, 28, faith, faith, faith.
38:48-38:53
And then he's like, so what does that do for our boasting?
38:57-38:58
Pretty dumb, right?
39:00-39:05
To have the audacity to think that you have anything to contribute to your salvation at all?
39:07-39:09
What could you possibly boast about?
39:10-39:14
What do your works have to do with the death of Jesus?
39:14-39:22
You realize when Jesus was on the cross, when Jesus was actually on the cross, most of you weren't even born yet.
39:28-39:33
I was gonna say all, but I don't know how old all y'all are.
39:36-39:45
So I think it's safe to say when Jesus died, Most of you weren't born yet, so what did you contribute to that exactly?
39:47-39:54
See, the cross of Jesus Christ eliminates even the very possibility of salvation by human works.
39:55-39:58
Faith, faith is the only way.
40:00-40:03
Faith isn't one way to be saved, it's the only way.
40:03-40:12
And don't think that faith is some sort of merit, Like, okay, God did his part in salvation, and now I get to do my part in salvation.
40:13-40:23
It's not even really like that, because earlier he was talking about grace in verse 24, and grace by its very definition is non-contributory.
40:23-40:24
Do you know what that means?
40:24-40:30
If you put forth anything to contribute towards it, it's no longer grace at all.
40:33-40:34
You're like, so what is faith?
40:36-40:37
I like how one writer put it.
40:37-41:02
He says, "Faith is simply the eye that sees." He said, "Faith is simply the mouth that drinks from the living water." And he said, "Faith is the hand that receives the gift." I like that because by the way, in verse 24, he calls it a gift.
41:03-41:05
It is a gift.
41:10-41:15
You know, imagine that it's my birthday today.
41:17-41:17
It's not.
41:19-41:20
My birthday's September 23rd.
41:25-41:27
I don't see a lot of you writing that down.
41:31-41:32
I can wait.
41:33-41:34
September 23rd.
41:36-41:42
But for today, we're pretending that it's my birthday.
41:43-41:49
And imagine this afternoon, you showed up at my house and you had a gift for me.
41:50-41:57
Something you went out and you bought and you wrapped it and you were so excited to give me this gift.
41:57-42:07
And you come to my house and you ring the doorbell and I open it up and you say, "Happy birthday." There's four ways that I can respond to that.
42:10-42:10
Right?
42:11-42:18
First way is I could slam the door in your face and say, "I don't want your stupid gifts." I wouldn't do that.
42:21-42:22
But that's an option, right?
42:22-42:23
I mean, I could do that.
42:26-42:37
Second option is you bring the doorbell, open it up, "Happy birthday." And I look at the gift and I say, "That's awesome.
42:38-42:40
"Where's my wallet?" Like, "How much do I owe you for that?
42:41-42:42
"Let me see how much cash I have.
42:42-42:44
"I can probably pay you for that right now.
42:45-42:46
"Or can I write you a check?
42:48-42:53
"How would you feel if I offered to buy "the gift that you got me?
42:55-42:59
"Pretty lousy, huh?" Well, that's another option.
42:59-43:08
Or a third option is you ring the doorbell, I open it up, "Happy birthday," and I take the gift, and I'm like, "Wow, this, you know what?
43:09-43:11
This looks great.
43:13-43:16
Thank you, this looks fantastic." And I set it down by the door.
43:17-43:24
And then you come to my house six months later, and that gift is still sitting there, except now it has an inch of dust on it.
43:25-43:34
And you would think to yourself, you know, Jeff actually seemed excited when I handed it to him, but he didn't really receive it, did he?
43:36-43:38
He didn't really do anything with it, he just kind of set it aside.
43:41-43:47
Or the fourth option, did you ring the doorbell, happy birthday, I got you a gift.
43:47-43:50
The fourth option is, I take the gift and I say thank you.
43:52-43:53
Thank you so much for this.
43:53-43:56
And I receive it and I use it.
43:58-44:03
And you realize those are the same four ways that you can respond to God's gift in Jesus Christ.
44:03-44:05
You have those same four options.
44:08-44:10
That God says, I am satisfied.
44:11-44:15
I have paid the price of your sin with the blood of my son.
44:16-44:16
Here is a gift.
44:17-44:18
And for some people, they take the first option.
44:19-44:23
They slam the door and say, no, God, I'm not interested in your stupid gift.
44:24-44:25
Some people take that option.
44:29-44:32
Some people take option two and they think they can buy it.
44:32-44:35
Say, oh God, that's so wonderful what you did for me in Jesus.
44:36-44:38
Now, let me earn that.
44:39-44:45
And I'm gonna start doing this at the church and I'm gonna work at the soup kitchen and I'm gonna do, and they think that they have to earn the gift.
44:46-44:55
And I would suggest to you that God is probably just as insulted at that notion as I would be, or as you would be rather, if I tried to pay you for the gift that you got me.
44:57-44:59
It's insulting to try to buy a gift.
45:02-45:14
The third option, and I think this is the most taken option in churches, honestly, I think that's what most people do with the gift of Jesus Christ.
45:15-45:23
They like, yeah, that you're sitting here and word, and like you're just like all into it, you're like, "Yeah, yeah, I need this!
45:24-45:31
Yeah, that's fantastic!" And you set them aside, and you never really receive them.
45:36-46:04
You've just sort of discarded them. Oh, not flagrant rejection, but shall we say practical rejection. The option that the Lord wants you to take is that you receive the gift, that you understand why you need it, and you thank God that He gave it.
46:06-46:23
That Jesus bore God's wrath on the cross. God is satisfied with what Jesus did, the guilt is gone by the gift of God.
46:25-46:32
Did you receive that? As our worship team makes their way back up, I'd just like you to bow your heads.
46:43-46:54
And I'm sure sitting here today, there's some Christians that have wrestled with guilt that have needed to take a fresh look at what exactly Jesus accomplished on the cross.
46:54-46:59
He didn't accomplish opportunity for us to earn favor with God.
47:00-47:07
Jesus accomplished our salvation in full.
47:08-47:14
Jesus accomplished the full removal of our guilt and shame by bearing God's wrath on our behalf.
47:15-47:26
But there might be somebody here that's really hearing this for the first time, whether it's somebody sitting here, listening to this podcast or watching the stream.
47:31-47:40
Today's the day that you need to stop setting the gift aside and receive what it is that God has for you.
47:44-47:45
Father in heaven.
47:50-47:57
Father, this to me is the most mind blowing concept in the entirety of your word.
47:57-48:05
God, I've never really wrestled with creation or the Trinity or eternity, things like that.
48:05-48:10
But God, the fact that you can pronounce a sinner righteous is mind blowing.
48:11-48:16
And God, we thank you for the work that you accomplished on our behalf through the death of your son.
48:18-48:54
And Father, if there's anyone here who needs to take that step, who needs to receive Christ, who needs to make their public profession of faith in baptism here in a few weeks, Father, I pray that you would give them the faith to not put it off, to not talk themselves out of it, but to see the value, the incomparable value of Jesus Christ, what He's done, and in so doing, Father, they would run to you.
48:56-49:11
So just now, Father, we're going to, we've heard from you, and now we're going to express back to you love and thanksgiving for what you've done on our behalf.
49:12-49:28
So Father, might this worship be a pleasing aroma, may it be a sweet sound in your ear as we revel in your love and grace.
49:28-49:31
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 3:21-28

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why do you think many Christians still struggle with guilt and shame?
Explain the term “propitiation” (Rom 3:25). Why is this such an important aspect of the Gospel? What does it mean for a Christian in practical terms?
What does it mean that God “passed over former sins” (Rom 3:25)? How could a Holy God just overlook sin (see also Acts 17:30)?

Breakout
Pray for one another to be salty and bright.

Jeff Miller

August 11, 2024

Nation Facing Judgment

Living in the Wrath of God

Jeff Miller

August 11, 2024

Nation Facing Judgment

Introduction:

Living in the Wrath of God (Romans 1:18-32):

God Abandons thsoe that Abandon Him. (Rom 1:18-23)
Judges 10:13-14 - Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.

Hosea 4:17 - Ephraim (Israel) is joined to idols; leave him alone.

They clearly know about God...

But they clearly don't want God.

3 Evidences that God Has Abandoned People:

First the Heart goes: Sexual Immorality. (Rom 1:24-25)
Then what is Natural goes: Dishonorable Passions. (Rom 1:26-27)
Finally, the Mind goes: Debased Minds. (Rom 1:28-32)

Mourn
Discern
Wake up
Hope
Worship
Repent
Believe

John 3:36 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:44-00:45
Let's bow our heads for a moment.
00:45-00:58
I'm going to pray for you to have a heart open to receive the Word of God, and I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to clearly and accurately and urgently proclaim God's Word to you.
00:59-00:59
Let's pray.
01:02-01:04
Father in heaven, we believe in the power of your Word.
01:09-01:12
And I pray, Father, that there are no distractions in our hearts today.
01:14-01:21
That we can worship you with our minds as we engage your word.
01:24-01:26
Father, you would open our eyes.
01:29-01:34
We thank you ahead of time for the way your word is going to be at work in the lives of your people.
01:35-01:37
We pray in Jesus' name.
01:37-01:40
And all of God's people said, amen.
01:41-01:43
We're starting a series on the book of Micah.
01:43-01:46
So open your Bibles to the book of Romans.
01:47-01:48
(congregation laughing)
01:49-01:52
That series starts next week, actually.
01:53-01:55
This is an introduction to the whole series.
02:00-02:01
But we have to start here.
02:03-02:04
Have you been following the Olympics?
02:05-02:06
You've been watching the Olympics?
02:09-02:12
I read this week, this is so interesting.
02:13-02:17
In the summer of 1924, remember that?
02:18-02:20
The Olympic games were in Paris.
02:22-02:30
Eric Liddell was a Scottish sprinter and a devout Christian.
02:32-02:45
Well, he was supposed to compete on a Sunday, but he had this strong personal conviction about the Sabbath, and he wasn't going to race on the Sabbath.
02:48-02:58
So the organizers of the games allowed him to run in a different event, because they did not want to violate his Christian convictions.
03:01-03:23
100 years later, the Paris Olympics kicked off with opening ceremonies that included a gross parody of the Last Supper with drag queens representing Jesus Christ and his disciples.
03:26-03:28
What happened in 100 years?
03:31-03:32
How did we get here?
03:37-03:47
So much corruption, so much perversion, so much hatred and violence.
03:49-03:58
And we live in a day where people are violently screaming for the right to murder infants before they're born.
04:01-04:02
How did we get here?
04:05-04:12
Well, Christians who know their Bibles say, well, you know, God's wrath is coming.
04:14-04:15
And you're right, it is.
04:16-04:34
But many Christians don't realize this, that the Bible tells us that all this wickedness that we're seeing right now, all this stuff we're watching right now, means that God's wrath is already here.
04:42-04:51
We're starting a series in Micah, and Micah was preaching to a nation, Israel, that was facing the wrath of God.
04:53-05:02
And the message of Micah is the message that God wants his people sitting right here and listening to this here today.
05:03-05:05
This is the message he wants you to hear.
05:07-05:14
As a nation is facing the wrath of God, what do I do?
05:16-05:20
What do I do when my nation is facing God's judgment?
05:21-05:36
What does God call me to do while I watch His wrath come upon people who not only persist in unrighteousness, but they openly mock God while they do it.
05:36-05:38
What am I supposed to do?
05:42-05:44
That's the series coming up in Micah.
05:44-05:51
But before we dive in to Micah, some of us need a reminder.
05:53-06:08
And some of us need to be sold on this truth, that God's wrath is clearly and plainly and obviously here now.
06:10-06:29
And I have to start here because when we go into Micah talking about God's wrath, I know that there are going to be some people, if we didn't do this on-ramp, there's gonna be some people that are like, "Oh yeah, God's judgment's coming." Yeah, right, I know that's all happening at the end and it's coming later and I'll sort of tuck this information away for later.
06:29-06:31
No, no, no, it's here now.
06:34-06:35
We need reminded of that.
06:38-06:41
This isn't a series for the future, this is a series for right now.
06:42-06:50
So in your outline, living in the wrath of God, one point today, and that's this.
06:51-06:53
God abandons those that abandon Him.
06:56-06:57
That's the point.
06:58-07:04
Romans 1, God abandons those that abandon Him.
07:05-07:06
Look at verse 18.
07:08-07:28
Paul says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven and unrighteousness of men." Stop there. Do you see the word "wrath"?
07:28-07:28
Do you see that?
07:30-07:33
The wrath of God is manifested in many ways.
07:34-07:37
You know, you think of like the revelation events, right?
07:38-07:41
The seals and the trumpets and the bowls.
07:41-07:43
Yes, that is God's wrath.
07:43-07:46
God's wrath is manifested as hell.
07:47-07:53
Eternal separation from God, cast out of his presence for eternity, yes.
07:53-07:59
But another way that the wrath of God is manifest is through abandonment.
08:02-08:03
What is abandonment?
08:04-08:08
It's when God says, oh, you wanna sin.
08:09-08:11
You prefer sin over me, okay.
08:12-08:13
Have it.
08:15-08:17
Have it, I'm done.
08:18-08:19
Have your sin.
08:20-08:21
and see where that gets you.
08:25-08:42
When I think of the wrath of God as abandonment, I can't help but think back to when I was in high school, I was in this biology class, and this particular class somehow was made up of like the rowdiest students in school.
08:43-08:46
And I know you're thinking, why was I in there?
08:48-08:51
Maybe in God's providence, just for a sermon illustration.
08:54-09:13
But this class was made up of like the rowdiest students in school and inexplicably, the teacher many times he would come in and he'd just be about to teach and he'd say, "I'll be right back." And he would leave the room and he'd be gone.
09:13-09:18
It was a two period class because there was like instruction in Eris' lab, he'd be gone for both periods.
09:21-09:33
So let me ask you, when the teacher left the room, do you think this rowdy group of students got better or worse with him gone?
09:36-09:39
You're like, well, obviously better, Pastor Jeff.
09:39-09:41
Yeah, we were great.
09:41-09:45
We were putting together Thomas Kinkade puzzles.
09:45-09:50
And we had a hymn sing out of the tabernacle hymnal.
09:53-09:54
Obviously not.
09:55-09:59
When he left the room, it turned into like the LA riots.
10:01-10:11
And my point is, when his presence was gone, we had zero restraints.
10:13-10:14
So much less than when his presence was here.
10:15-10:22
And you see, that's the truth of God, resulting a nation that God says, "Okay, you want to sin?
10:23-10:31
I'm out." And like that biology class, things ain't getting better when God steps out of the room.
10:33-10:36
God abandons those that abandon God.
10:36-10:38
And you see this throughout Scripture.
10:38-10:44
I could spend a long time giving you cross references, but just a couple here.
10:45-10:53
Judges chapter 10, paraphrasing, you know, Israel sinned again and God was sending other nations to punish Israel for sinning and it happened again.
10:53-11:03
And Judges 10, they're like, "Oh, we sinned against you, God." And God says, "I saved you from so many enemies." But verses 13 and 14, look at what God says.
11:03-11:09
God says, "Yet you have forsaken me," abandoned me and served other gods.
11:09-11:11
Therefore, I will save you no more.
11:12-11:14
Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen.
11:15-11:18
Let them save you in the time of your distress." You see that?
11:19-11:20
They abandoned God.
11:20-11:31
God says, "I'm out." You see it, Hosea 417, Ephraim, it's another name for Israel, is joined to idols.
11:32-11:37
God says, "Leave him alone." Let him go.
11:39-12:02
And we're going to see here in Romans 1, this wrath of abandonment is exactly what the apostle Paul was talking about because a spoiler alert, three times in this passage, verse 24, verse 26, and verse 28, three times in this passage, he says, "God gave them up." He abandoned them.
12:02-12:03
He gave them up.
12:04-12:10
Interestingly, that phrase gave them up was actually a courtroom term.
12:11-12:16
It was used to describe what happens to a prisoner that's being sent for his punishment.
12:17-12:21
Like go, I'm giving you up, I'm releasing you for your punishment.
12:22-12:23
That's the word used.
12:24-12:29
The Bible says this happens all through history, Acts 14, 16, write that reference down.
12:29-12:38
It says in past generations, He, God, allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.
12:40-12:48
Nations have rejected what they knew about God and God abandoned them because of their rejection of God.
12:48-12:52
Listen, that is 2024 America.
12:58-13:01
Like, how in the world do people abandon God?
13:02-13:03
How does that happen?
13:04-13:05
How does that happen?
13:07-13:08
Well, let's read the passage.
13:08-13:10
It tells us exactly how it happens.
13:11-13:21
He says, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
13:22-13:28
For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.
13:29-13:41
for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made.
13:42-13:45
So they are without excuse.
13:48-14:02
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, But they had become futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
14:04-14:24
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, and birds, and animals, and creeping things." That's how people abandon God.
14:26-14:32
Let's just break it down into one very easy two-part statement, it's this.
14:32-14:33
Here's what Paul's saying.
14:34-14:42
They clearly knew about God and they clearly did not want God.
14:43-14:44
Do you see that?
14:44-14:45
Do you see that in the text?
14:45-14:50
They knew about Him, but they didn't want Him.
14:52-14:53
Let's break that down.
14:54-14:56
They knew God, verse 21, they knew God.
14:56-15:03
When it says they knew God, he's obviously not talking about a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
15:03-15:05
He's obviously not talking about that.
15:05-15:08
He's saying they knew that there is a God.
15:08-15:13
Nobody, literally nobody needs sold on that fact.
15:14-15:19
Everyone knows that there is a God, whether they want to admit it or not.
15:19-15:19
Like, well, how?
15:20-15:23
He tells us, verse 20, because of God's power and nature.
15:25-15:27
God has revealed Himself in creation.
15:31-15:36
Everybody knows that there's a God, because He's shown in creation.
15:38-15:53
Every time a baby is born, every sunset, every trip to the ocean, every mountain, every one of His magnificent creatures.
15:58-16:03
We can look around at creation and we see the fingerprint of God on everything.
16:03-16:05
But you know, the Bible also tells us we know it inwardly.
16:06-16:16
In fact, if you go over to Romans 2.15, Paul tells us that God's law is written on our hearts, that we inherently know right and wrong.
16:17-16:23
And that also points us to the one who established what is morality.
16:26-16:27
But is it really clear to people?
16:28-16:29
How clear is it?
16:29-16:34
Well, according to the Bible, verse 19, he says it's plain.
16:35-16:37
Verse 19 says it has been shown.
16:39-16:41
Verse 20 says it's been clearly perceived.
16:41-16:50
Verse 20 says, "So much so that they are without excuse." So we have to be clear, the issue is not ignorance.
16:53-16:54
It couldn't be more clear.
16:55-16:57
Everyone knows that there is a God.
16:58-16:58
Right?
16:58-17:00
That was the first part of the statement.
17:00-17:07
Everyone clearly knows there is a God, but he also says they clearly do not want God.
17:09-17:12
Verse 18 says they suppress the truth.
17:12-17:13
Do you understand what that means?
17:14-17:15
It means they got the truth.
17:18-17:19
They just suppress it.
17:19-17:20
I can't help it.
17:20-17:24
When I hear that word suppress, my mind only goes to one thing.
17:24-17:26
I think of a gun suppressor.
17:26-17:27
Do you know what a gun suppressor does?
17:29-17:31
It quiets the noise.
17:32-17:35
And that's what people do with the truth of God.
17:36-17:39
He's speaking so loudly to them.
17:39-17:42
And I gotta distract myself.
17:42-17:44
I gotta quiet that down.
17:46-17:50
He says in verse 21, they don't want to honor Him as God.
17:50-17:52
That means they don't want to acknowledge His authority.
17:53-17:54
And they don't wanna thank Him.
17:54-17:56
That means to acknowledge His goodness.
17:57-17:59
They just don't want 'em.
18:04-18:05
They will not give thanks.
18:06-18:07
They will not give thanks.
18:07-18:13
You know, it's funny you talk to somebody that doesn't believe in God.
18:15-18:17
Something they all have in common, they're not thankful.
18:19-18:21
Like, what do I have to be thankful for?
18:21-18:22
What has God ever done for me?
18:24-18:25
Oh, really?
18:26-18:27
What has God ever done for you?
18:29-18:30
You know, these people eat.
18:32-18:33
These people breathe.
18:34-18:46
These people have the privilege of enjoying all the, quote, good things that life has to offer, and they have zero appreciation for the one who provided everything for them.
18:49-18:49
Why?
18:50-18:50
Why?
18:51-18:52
Why is there no gratitude?
18:54-19:06
Because I know that I should live a life of gratitude towards this God, but that means I have to acknowledge this God that I don't want interfering with the way that I want to live.
19:09-19:20
You should have that verse underlined in your Bible because thankfulness to God and faith in God go hand in hand every time.
19:22-19:25
You're like, oh, so these people don't worship then.
19:26-19:29
Right, people that don't want God, they're just, they're not worshipers.
19:29-19:33
And that's not true because everybody worships something.
19:34-19:35
Everybody worships something.
19:35-19:37
That's what he's talking about in verse 23.
19:40-19:41
Everybody worships something.
19:41-19:42
Do you know why?
19:43-19:45
Because that's just how we're designed.
19:46-19:51
As human beings, our creator God designed us for certain things.
19:51-19:52
He designed us to eat.
19:53-19:55
He designed us to sleep.
19:55-19:58
He designed us to be able to speak and think.
19:59-20:01
Do you know what else God designed us to do?
20:03-20:07
Hardwired in us, we are designed to worship.
20:10-20:13
Everybody worships something or someone.
20:14-20:15
Something has your affection.
20:16-20:17
Something has your attention.
20:18-20:19
Something has your devotion.
20:23-20:27
And that's why Paul says people abandon God and they worship anything else.
20:27-20:33
He gives a list, you know, they worship man and birds and animals and creeping things.
20:34-20:41
Bible says people worship money, people can worship power, people will turn to anything else, but you're gonna worship something.
20:44-20:50
So the question is, okay, so what is God supposed to do when people abandon Him?
20:50-20:51
What's He supposed to do?
20:52-20:59
People are like, yes, God, I know You're there, I don't want You, I'm doing my own thing, and I'm worshiping something else, what's God to do?
21:03-21:06
You're like, God's supposed to say, oh, bless your hearts.
21:08-21:09
I've given you life.
21:10-21:18
I sent my son to die a horrific death on your behalf and you turned your back on me.
21:18-21:22
Well, just let me know how I can bless you.
21:23-21:24
I await your orders.
21:29-21:30
What's God supposed to do?
21:31-21:36
Well, the Bible tells us exactly what God does.
21:37-21:40
And as I told you, he says it three times in the passage.
21:41-21:41
What does God do?
21:43-21:50
When you clearly know God and you clearly don't want God, this is one of the scariest things in the whole Bible, people.
21:50-21:52
The Bible says he gives you up.
21:53-21:54
Go ahead.
21:55-21:56
God says, "Go ahead, do it your way.
21:57-21:59
"You think you don't need me?
22:01-22:08
"Oh, you think you know better than me, okay, I'm out." And listen, he's not pouting.
22:10-22:17
He's not some adolescent with a chip on his shoulder that's been rejected and is gonna get even.
22:17-22:18
No, no, no, it's nothing like that.
22:20-22:21
It's God giving you what you want.
22:24-22:25
And that is a horrifying thought.
22:27-22:28
So what happens?
22:29-22:31
What happens when God abandons a nation?
22:31-22:38
What happens when a nation knows God and they don't want God and they go their own way and they start worshiping other things?
22:39-22:39
What happens?
22:39-22:42
Well, that's the rest of the passage on your outline.
22:42-22:43
I said there was one point.
22:43-22:44
These are sub points.
22:44-22:45
It doesn't count.
22:48-22:51
Notice it's A, B, and C because points are numbers.
22:52-22:53
(congregation laughing)
22:54-22:56
I got you on a technicality.
22:59-23:02
Three evidences that God has abandoned people.
23:04-23:06
And this is a sequence.
23:07-23:08
This is what happens.
23:08-23:10
These are steps.
23:11-23:13
This is a snowball rolling down the hill.
23:17-23:20
This is sewage being flushed, is really what it is.
23:21-23:23
it just gets worse and worse and worse.
23:24-23:28
Three evidences that God has abandoned people.
23:28-23:33
And by the way, it doesn't happen overnight in our culture.
23:33-23:34
This has been happening for decades.
23:34-23:38
How long have we been talking about, you know, them taking prayer out of schools?
23:38-23:42
How long have we been talking about they took the 10 commandments out of the public square?
23:42-23:44
This has been happening for a long time.
23:44-23:47
So don't think that this is just a new thing.
23:50-23:56
This is a sequence that you have watched play out in front of you.
23:58-23:59
So what is the sequence?
23:59-24:00
Three evidences that God has abandoned people.
24:00-24:02
Letter A, first the heart goes.
24:05-24:06
That results in sexual immorality.
24:10-24:11
Look at verses 24 and 25.
24:14-24:19
Hey, they knew God, they didn't want God, they started worshiping other stuff, they abandoned God, so what does God do?
24:19-24:45
Verse 24, "Therefore God gave them up "in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, "to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, "because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie "and worshiped and served the creature "rather than the creator who was blessed forever, amen." So step one is first the heart goes.
24:47-24:50
This is evidence that God has abandoned a nation.
24:52-24:54
Lust dominates the heart.
24:55-25:00
Hear me, I'm not talking about people that are like, I'm really struggling with lust.
25:00-25:06
I'm really struggling with this and I'm seeking to get control in this area of my life.
25:07-25:16
We're not talking about people that are like, you know, the Bible says God's Holy Spirit gives self-control and I'm really seeking the Lord to grow in this area.
25:16-25:17
We're not talking about that.
25:19-25:25
We're talking about unrestrained, let them off the leash.
25:27-25:31
Lust in my heart turns into lust released in my body.
25:34-25:36
Do I need to sell anybody on this really?
25:37-25:48
Do I really need to convince anybody that our culture has turned into dogs chasing after dogs in heat.
25:49-25:51
And I'm not being crass, people.
25:52-25:56
Is that not how we're going?
25:57-25:58
Not how we've gone.
26:04-26:08
That somebody explained to me that there's an app for that.
26:08-26:09
You know, there's an app for that.
26:10-26:18
several apps actually, that you can use your phone and find people for a physical meeting.
26:20-26:28
I'm not talking about dating or relationship apps, I'm talking just to meet up with somebody for that.
26:33-26:35
We have turned into a pornographic culture.
26:37-26:39
And do you know what happens in a pornographic culture?
26:39-26:45
Marriages are destroyed, and women are abused, and children are trafficked.
26:50-26:52
Like, why is this happening?
26:54-26:59
Because God gave us up to unrestrained lust.
27:01-27:06
God was saying, you want lust, you want to act like an animal, have at it.
27:08-27:09
That's the first step.
27:09-27:13
The second, the first to heart goes, that's sexual morality, letter B.
27:14-27:16
Then what is natural goes.
27:17-27:21
Then what is natural goes, that's dishonorable passions.
27:22-27:23
Look at verses 26 and 27.
27:24-27:33
It says, "For this reason, "God gave them up to dishonorable passions." Like, well, what is that?
27:34-27:38
He explains in no uncertain terms what that means.
27:38-27:38
Look at this.
27:39-27:46
He says, "For their women exchange natural relations "for those that are contrary to nature.
27:49-27:56
"And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women "and were consumed with passion for one another.
27:58-28:58
"Men committing shameless acts with men "and receiving in themselves the due penalty "for their error." So, the next step, first the heart goes sexual immorality, then what is natural goes, it's dishonorable passions. The next step is perversion. The sexual sin goes from man and woman sexual sin to same sex sexual sin. And by the way, this is a shout out for all the people that say, "Well, you know, the New Testament never says that homosexuality is wrong." You know how many times I've heard that over the years? "Oh yeah, there's something mentioned in the Old Testament law, but you know, the New Testament never really says that homosexuality is wrong." And I would just ask you, what would God have to say to make it more clear than this?
29:00-29:07
Three times, three times right here, God says, "That's not natural.
29:09-29:23
"Do I have to sell you on why it's not natural?" There was a time in my ministry I didn't think I'd have to, but now I'm not so sure that people understand Biologically, what happens in normal relations?
29:23-29:25
That's how far we've gone.
29:27-29:28
He says they've received a due penalty.
29:30-29:31
They're already reaping consequences.
29:31-29:33
You think God's wrath is coming?
29:33-29:34
It is, but it's already here.
29:34-29:36
They're already getting the consequences.
29:37-29:39
That's why he says due penalty, due penalty.
29:39-29:40
Like what?
29:41-29:42
VD.
29:46-29:49
like being unfulfilled, being unsatisfied.
29:55-29:59
Calling it gay is such a cruel, ironic term for it.
30:04-30:09
But here we are as a culture, recently concluded Pride Month.
30:12-30:18
And it's such an appropriate name for a culture that abandoned God and has been abandoned by God.
30:20-30:21
They're patting themselves on the back.
30:22-30:23
We are so proud of ourselves.
30:26-30:32
And here again, he says, verse 26, God gave them up.
30:34-30:36
Unrestrained homosexual lust.
30:38-30:40
Have you noticed that in our culture at all?
30:43-30:47
that God is saying, okay, you wanna be a pervert?
30:49-30:50
Go ahead, I'm out.
30:54-31:00
Finally, the mind goes, debased minds.
31:01-31:02
Look at verse 28.
31:04-31:12
It says, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, There's the abandonment thing.
31:13-31:14
Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God.
31:15-31:16
Look at this, here it is one more time.
31:16-31:23
God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
31:25-31:26
Debased, you know what debased means?
31:28-31:32
It literally means when you test something and you discover that it's useless.
31:33-31:34
That's debased.
31:36-31:48
And what he's saying here is when a culture abandons God, when a nation abandons God and God abandons the nation, the next step is people's minds become useless.
31:48-31:51
There's nothing good that comes from their minds.
31:53-31:57
And what do you call it when you lose your mind?
31:57-31:58
What do you call that?
31:59-32:00
It's called insanity.
32:00-32:01
Right, I heard a few of you say that.
32:01-32:02
It's called insanity.
32:04-32:09
And we live in a culture of absolute insanity.
32:12-32:14
You're like, "Well, what do you mean?
32:14-32:16
"What do you mean we live in a culture of insanity?
32:16-32:19
"What do you mean?" Well, let me ask you a question.
32:19-32:20
How many genders are there?
32:24-32:27
You know that's one of the first things kids learn, right?
32:27-32:29
That's one of the first things children learn.
32:29-32:31
There's boys and there's girls, right?
32:34-32:35
Last number I heard was 72.
32:36-32:37
It's probably double that by now.
32:39-32:43
but I heard literally that there were 72 different genders.
32:44-32:46
That's crazy.
32:49-32:54
That's insane to say that there's 72 different genders.
32:54-32:55
That's insane.
32:55-32:59
It's insane to say there's three, but 72?
33:02-33:02
Insane.
33:03-33:07
That's a debased, useless mind, and what you're left with is insanity.
33:09-33:10
You're like, do you have any other examples?
33:11-33:12
Have you turned on the TV lately?
33:14-33:29
Have you heard that there is a governor of a particular state that passed a law mandating that feminine hygiene products are put in girls' and boys' restrooms in the high schools?
33:33-33:35
You're like some fringe wackadoo, right?
33:37-33:38
No, potential vice president.
33:41-33:42
Insane!
33:47-33:49
You can't rationalize that.
33:54-34:02
We have what are supposed to be some of the most powerful and influential people in this culture that can't define what a woman is.
34:05-34:06
Do you know what that is?
34:07-34:07
It is insane.
34:08-34:09
It is just insane.
34:10-34:11
And I'm not saying that jokingly.
34:11-34:14
I'm saying that literally, that is insane.
34:19-34:22
I was watching about a month or two ago.
34:22-34:23
Did you ever see those reels?
34:24-34:26
They show you those little 10 second clips.
34:26-34:27
Did you ever see those things?
34:28-34:32
I was watching some of those and this person was dead serious.
34:33-34:36
I thought it was a joke, but I had to watch it like three or four times.
34:37-34:38
They were dead serious.
34:38-34:51
But this person, I'm not sure what the gender was, but that person explained, their little video was a tutorial on the proper pronouns if you identify as a frog.
34:52-34:54
And they were serious.
34:58-34:59
That's insane.
35:01-35:01
And you're like, what?
35:02-35:03
You know what, Pastor Jeff, you're right.
35:03-35:08
Now that I think about it, Why does it seem like there's so many empty heads?
35:11-35:14
Because God gave them over to a debased mind.
35:14-35:17
You don't wanna use your mind to worship me and to know me?
35:19-35:22
You wanna use your mind for being an idiot?
35:23-35:25
Be an idiot, go ahead.
35:26-35:30
Come up with your own devices and ideas, and that's what we've come up with.
35:32-35:33
God gave them up.
35:33-36:03
God says, "You want to be foolish, go for it." What is perverse is promoted. What is decent is denounced. All because God is a good God.
36:03-36:14
Verse 28, "They did not see fit to acknowledge God." And he talked about cancel culture.
36:16-36:21
What he's talking about here in Romans one is what happens when you get a cancel Jesus culture.
36:24-36:27
And really it's an abandoned culture, is what it is.
36:30-36:32
Do I have to sell you on this?
36:34-36:37
Am I some tinfoil hat wearing weirdo?
36:42-36:47
Or these things that God's word is describing here, is this what you're seeing when you turn on your television?
36:49-36:50
You tell me.
36:51-36:55
Is this what you see when you get on your favorite social media platform?
36:57-36:58
You tell me.
37:01-37:02
Look at the rest of the passage.
37:04-37:16
Verse 29, it says, "They were," in case you're still not convinced, look at verse 29, "They were filled "with all manner of unrighteousness, "evil, covetousness, malice.
37:18-37:23
"They were full of envy, murder, "strife, deceit, maliciousness.
37:25-37:41
"They are gossips, slanderers, Haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
37:42-37:48
Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die.
37:50-37:56
Here it is, look at this last phrase, because this is when you know we have hit the bottom.
37:56-37:57
Look at this.
37:57-38:11
"They not only do them, "but give approval to those who practice them." This is the bottom of the barrel.
38:11-38:24
Not only when society is doing these things, Paul's saying, you know, you've hit bottom when people start applauding these things as a culture.
38:26-38:27
(congregation laughing)
38:30-38:31
Like do we applaud sin?
38:32-38:33
Do we applaud sin?
38:34-38:36
Applaud is an understatement.
38:38-38:40
We have parades for sin.
38:43-38:50
We will change our Facebook profile to a rainbow picture to let people know that we're applauding sin.
38:53-39:07
We have Disney and Sesame Street, two platforms that are supposed to reach preschool children that are promoting homosexual lifestyle.
39:09-39:15
Some of the cultural icons with the biggest platforms use them to promote sin the loudest.
39:15-39:18
Look at your athletes, look at your actors, look at your musicians.
39:21-39:42
And you can see as a culture, we went from tolerance of sin to applauding sin, to I'm proud of you for applauding sin, to if you don't applaud sin, you're a racist homophobe.
39:46-39:50
And God helped these churches that are flying their rainbow flags.
39:53-40:00
Churches that should be praying for repentance, churches that should be seeking to point lost people to Jesus Christ for healing.
40:01-40:06
And instead, we wave a flag for approval and applause.
40:10-40:10
God help us.
40:15-40:19
God gives them up to useless minds.
40:21-40:22
You want foolishness.
40:24-40:25
God says, you wanna be foolish?
40:25-40:27
Okay, go for it, I'm out.
40:30-40:31
So there it is.
40:33-40:38
That's the description of what happens when people reject God.
40:39-40:42
And then God returns the favor.
40:46-40:48
He simply abandons them.
40:50-40:53
And that is a most terrifying kind of wrath.
40:57-40:59
And church, we are immersed in it right now.
41:03-41:05
You saw these verses 29 through 31.
41:05-41:11
He prophesied, Paul prophesied about things that we watch on the news right now.
41:14-41:19
It's hateful, it's violent, it's ruthless.
41:21-41:25
Look at those verses and turn on the news and watch people burning down businesses.
41:26-41:35
Watch the riots, watch the mass shootings, watch the, I don't know, you can turn on the TV and watch a presidential candidate nearly get assassinated.
41:36-41:37
That's where we are.
41:39-41:41
That speaks to where we are as a culture.
41:42-41:49
And the point is this, my friends, God's wrath isn't just something that's coming.
41:54-41:55
He says it's here.
41:59-42:00
So what do I do?
42:01-42:02
Like, yeah, I see it.
42:03-42:04
I see it, Jeff, what do I do?
42:06-42:12
Well, the prophet Micah told Israel in the Old Testament what to do in light of God's wrath.
42:14-42:17
And this is still the message for God's people in 2024 America.
42:22-42:24
As God's judgment is revealed to us.
42:25-42:27
So what are we supposed to do?
42:30-42:32
Oh, it's gonna take seven weeks for me to tell you.
42:32-42:35
And Taylor, we're not starting right now.
42:36-42:37
But what are we to do?
42:38-42:40
First of all, we are to mourn.
42:48-42:50
That's next week's message, we're to mourn.
42:51-42:54
When's the last time you've mourned over what's happening?
42:55-42:58
Micah tells his people, God's word's telling us that we need to discern.
43:00-43:02
You're like, we just had a series on that.
43:02-43:04
Well, it comes up again, so guess what?
43:06-43:07
We're covering it again.
43:09-43:14
We need to discern because we can get so roped into the foolishness.
43:17-43:18
What else do we need to do?
43:19-43:20
Church, we need to wake up.
43:21-43:24
That's what Micah told Israel, and that's what we need, church.
43:24-43:25
We need to wake up.
43:25-43:26
Wake up.
43:31-43:32
Man, things are really bad.
43:32-43:35
Yeah, you know what else we need to do?
43:35-43:36
We need to hope.
43:36-43:37
We need to hope.
43:39-43:41
You know things will not always be as they are now.
43:42-43:43
I have that on really good authority.
43:46-43:47
We need to hope.
43:49-43:51
Also in the meantime, we need to worship.
43:54-43:56
I think everybody worships something, right?
43:56-43:58
Yeah, we need to worship our risen king.
44:02-44:04
In church, even for God's people, you know what we need to do?
44:04-44:05
We need to repent.
44:11-44:15
We're not some untouched hospital room in here.
44:17-44:18
We need to repent.
44:21-44:22
And finally, we need to believe.
44:24-44:25
That's what God wants from us.
44:27-44:31
That's really the only thing God's ever asked of people is that we trust what He says.
44:32-44:33
We need to believe.
44:35-44:41
We're going to close our time gathering around the Lord's table if our communion servers would come up and our worship team would come up.
44:43-44:45
We're going to gather around the Lord's table.
44:49-44:53
You know, as we're thinking of God's wrath, there's a verse that always comes to mind for me.
44:54-44:55
I think we have it on the screen here.
44:55-44:56
John 3.36.
44:56-44:58
Look what Jesus said.
45:00-45:03
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
45:09-45:22
"Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, "but the wrath of God remains on him." Just look at that verse for a second.
45:25-45:26
We're talking about the wrath of God.
45:26-45:31
Do you know what you have to do to receive the wrath of God?
45:34-45:38
The answer's nothing, 'cause you got it by default.
45:42-45:45
If you haven't received Jesus Christ, you're under God's wrath.
45:49-46:03
But if you have turned from your sin and received Jesus Christ, this is why we gather around the Lord's table, we celebrate this glorious truth, because this reminds us that Jesus took God's wrath for you.
46:05-46:18
And though we as believers are, yes, collateral damage, living in a nation under the wrath of God, the day is coming when we will be delivered from the worst of it.
46:24-46:37
But you know, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, this world is the only taste of hell you will ever experience.
46:41-46:53
But I gotta tell you, if you are not a believer in Christ, if you have not received him, then this world is the only taste of heaven that you're ever going to experience.
46:55-46:57
This is for God's people.
46:57-46:59
So I'm gonna invite you to stand.
46:59-47:01
Our worship team's gonna play here in a moment.
47:02-47:09
We're going to ask that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you don't have to be a member of this church, but you do have to be a born again believer in Christ.
47:09-47:15
We invite you to come down the center aisle, take the elements back to your seat by going to the outside aisle.
47:16-47:17
I'm gonna ask that you hold onto them.
47:18-47:27
And in just a moment, as a sign of unity as a church, When everybody has received, I will lead us in taking the Lord's Supper together.
47:27-47:28
So please, when you're ready, come.
47:31-47:33
The wrath of God is here.
47:37-47:38
But the worst is coming.
47:41-47:45
And thanks to Jesus Christ, we will be saved from the worst.
47:46-47:49
Because on the cross, he took God's wrath upon himself.
47:51-47:57
The Bible tells us on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it and he gave thanks.
47:58-48:02
And he said, "This is my body, which is given for you.
48:03-48:17
"Eat this in remembrance of me." The Bible tells us that after the meal, Jesus took the cup and he said, "This is the blood of the new covenant, "which is poured out for the forgiveness of sin.
48:18-48:25
"Drink this in remembrance of me." Would you please stand as we close in worship?

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 1:18-32

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
How is God’s abandoning people a manifestation of His judgment? What are the three things God “gives people up” to (Romans 1:24, 26, 28)?
How exactly is thankfulness connected to faith (Romans 1:21)?
What are some ways that you see debased (useless) minds in our culture today (see Romans 1:28)?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Taylor Brown

July 14, 2024

Intentional Love

How to Love Difficult People: How to Love People I Disagree With

Taylor Brown

July 14, 2024

Intentional Love

Introduction:

How Do I Love Christians That I Disagree With? (Romans 14:1-12):

I must continually Humble Myself . (Romans 14:1-4)
1. By embracing those who are Different Than Me . (Romans 14:1a)
2. By avoiding arguments about Non-Essentials . (Romans 14:1b)
  2 Timothy 2:14 - Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.
3. By refusing to give myself over to Hatred . (Romans 14:2-3)
4. By remembering that I am not the Master of Anyone . (Romans 14:4)
I must not hold them to My Personal Convictions . (Romans 14:5-9)
Colossians 2:16 - Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
I must entrust them to God and Focus on My Own Walk . (Romans 14:10-12)
John 21:22 - Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!"

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:15-01:27
Alright, you can turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 14 Romans chapter 14 as you turn there I just want to get one thing out of the way But many of you may be thinking about what is going on with your leg, right?
01:28-02:15
And some of you already know but I guess I'll tell you the story even though I've told it I don't know how many times at this point But I wish I could say it was something cool like I pushed an old lady out of the way from getting hit by a truck and the truck ran over my foot or I fended off an intruder with my kickboxing skills, but that is not what happened Stilts were brought into the office last week and I tried to get on the stilts and the first attempt great went really well Second attempt. Well, you can see didn't go so well. I actually fractured my fifth metatarsal in my left foot So I'll be in this boot for a little bit and I used to pride myself on not having broken a bone in my entire Life and the Bible says pride goes before a fall. I just never thought that fall would be from stilts So anyway, I hope I'm not too distracting.
02:15-02:20
I maybe won't move as much as I usually do, but hopefully you won't laugh at me too much whenever I do.
02:20-02:22
All right, let's get to the task at hand.
02:23-02:29
You know, I was thinking this past week that disagreements are an unavoidable fact of life, especially in the church.
02:31-02:39
There is a long list of things that we should all agree on if you are a member at Harvest or a believer in this room.
02:40-02:41
God created everything out of nothing.
02:42-02:46
Every single person in this world is sinful and in need of forgiveness.
02:46-02:48
Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior.
02:49-02:51
The Bible is the inspired word of God.
02:52-02:57
And I could go on and on and on with things we must agree on.
02:58-03:03
But there's an even longer list of things that we do not agree on.
03:04-03:08
And this list ranges from important to very unimportant.
03:09-03:14
And if you don't believe me, I'm going to conduct a quick poll to prove it to you.
03:15-03:26
I'm going to bring some hot button issues that rage online, and I'm gonna ask you to participate by raising your hand to show which side of the debate you agree on.
03:27-03:29
And to be clear, you have to participate.
03:30-03:34
You can't ride the fence, otherwise you're gonna totally ruin the point I'm trying to make.
03:34-03:35
You don't wanna do that, do you?
03:36-03:36
All right, good.
03:37-03:44
All right, first up, What is the best way to eat leftover pizza, cold or reheated?
03:45-03:50
I told you we'd really touch on the major issues that we face in 2024.
03:51-03:54
Who believes that right out of the fridge, cold is the best way to eat leftover pizza?
03:55-03:55
All right.
03:56-03:57
Who says reheated?
03:58-04:00
Oh, I don't understand you people at all.
04:00-04:01
Oh man.
04:03-04:05
I already know Pastor Jeff's answer to this next question.
04:05-04:06
Which do you prefer?
04:07-04:09
Pencils or pens?
04:10-04:12
Who's a Pastor Jeff and says pencils?
04:13-04:13
Oh, Jeff.
04:15-04:17
That's not looking too good.
04:21-04:22
You can't change your answer in the middle of it.
04:23-04:24
Who says pens?
04:25-04:28
All right, the vast majority, I'm sorry about that, Jeff.
04:29-04:30
Jeff thinks very different.
04:30-04:31
Jeff, it's okay to disagree.
04:31-04:33
That's the whole point of this sermon we're about to do.
04:36-04:37
All right, how about this next one?
04:37-04:39
should you make your bed every morning?
04:40-04:41
Who makes their bed every morning?
04:43-04:45
Who left that chore behind when they became adults?
04:46-04:47
I'm with all of you freedom fighters.
04:48-04:50
What is the point of making my bed?
04:50-04:51
No one sees it besides my wife and I.
04:52-04:52
I just don't get it.
04:54-04:59
This next one is very timely for the temperature issues that we experience in this building.
05:00-05:03
Very often, we've experienced both sides of the spectrum.
05:04-05:07
What's better, to be too hot or to be too cold?
05:08-05:09
Who says too hot?
05:09-05:10
You'd rather just sweat it out.
05:13-05:16
Who says I'd rather be too cold and put layers on?
05:17-05:20
All right, well, you'll experience both at Harvest Bible Chapel.
05:21-05:21
(congregation laughing)
05:23-05:27
And this next one really is gonna show us who's who in this church.
05:28-05:32
Which is better, cats or dogs?
05:33-05:35
Who's brave enough to say cats?
05:38-05:39
Not many courageous people here today.
05:40-05:43
Who's gonna say the obvious answer and say dogs?
05:43-05:45
All right, good to know.
05:46-05:52
Well, has it become clear that we hold different opinions and disagree on a whole host of issues?
05:53-05:57
Now, obviously these are trivial issues that we can argue about with smiles on our faces.
05:58-06:06
Unity isn't in danger of being broken at harvest over food tastes, temperature preferences, household chores, or preferred pets.
06:07-06:14
But our unity will be tested when it comes to disagreements that are a bit more serious and hit closer to home.
06:15-06:18
What about educational opinions?
06:18-06:25
Is there a moral obligation to homeschool your kids rather than send them to public or private school?
06:26-06:31
Should Christians steer clear of any secular entertainment, all social media at all costs.
06:33-06:35
Alcohol is a big issue that divides Christians.
06:36-06:40
Are Christians free to drink or is it even wrong to drink in moderation?
06:42-06:43
Here's a big one, politics.
06:45-06:48
That word is even heavier after yesterday, isn't it?
06:50-07:00
Are believers biblically mandated to vote and be as involved as possible in the political realm or is there freedom not to be highly engaged on that front.
07:01-07:06
Don't worry, I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand and conduct a poll with these questions 'cause that would be awkward.
07:07-07:09
These things are uncomfortable to talk about, right?
07:11-07:18
We often do not consider the impact that these kinds of issues can have upon our view of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
07:19-07:27
Without even realizing it, we can allow these differences to stir up anger, pride, and even bitterness in our own hearts.
07:28-07:33
These kinds of disagreements can make love very challenging and very messy at times.
07:34-07:39
It's really hard to love someone that I think is wrong about something.
07:40-07:47
It's even harder to love someone who thinks that I am wrong about something, because I tend to assume that I'm always right.
07:49-07:56
It is way easier to retreat and separate in our own cliques than it is to come together and unite as the body of Christ.
07:58-08:03
We're in the second week of our latest series, Intentional Love, How to Love Difficult People.
08:04-08:18
Dan Thompson kicked off this sermon series last week with a message on loving our neighbor, which includes anyone and everyone that we come into contact with on a daily basis, even those people who frustrate and annoy us.
08:19-08:28
This morning, we're gonna narrow our focus by studying Romans chapter 14, verses one through 12, where Paul answers this vitally important question.
08:29-08:32
How do I love Christians that I disagree with?
08:33-08:37
How do I love Christians that I disagree with?
08:38-08:48
So before we dive into Paul's answer, I'm gonna pray for you, that you'll be faithful and submitting to God's word, and I ask that you pray for me, that I'll be faithful in preaching God's word.
08:48-08:49
Go to the Lord.
08:52-08:56
Father, this passage we're about to study is very challenging and very convicting.
08:58-09:04
I pray that you would do a great work this morning, that this passage would bring us together and unite us rather than push us apart.
09:06-09:11
I thank you that your Holy Spirit is at work and he will preach a much better sermon than I ever could.
09:12-09:14
I pray that he would do the work that only he can.
09:15-09:17
In Jesus' name, amen.
09:19-09:22
So our question for this morning, how do I love Christians that I disagree with?
09:23-09:27
First on your outline, I must continually humble myself.
09:29-09:32
I must continually humble myself.
09:34-09:39
The key to experiencing loving fellowship at Harvest Bible Chapel is mutual humility.
09:40-09:44
I have to humble myself and you have to humble yourself.
09:45-09:46
It is the only way.
09:47-09:53
This means that your ultimate goal cannot be to put yourself first and have your preferences met.
09:53-09:58
Your supreme desire has to be honoring the Lord and blessing other people.
09:59-10:07
On the priority list of your life, God is to come first, others finish second, and you finish dead last.
10:08-10:10
It shouldn't even be a contest for the Christian.
10:11-10:17
And we have to go against the grain to reverse the order that we naturally gravitate to, right?
10:18-10:23
which is me at the front, others far behind, and God at the very back.
10:25-10:29
And at this point you may be thinking, okay, Taylor, I get it, I have to humble myself.
10:29-10:31
What does that even look like?
10:31-10:33
What does it mean to humble myself?
10:34-10:48
Well, I'm so glad you asked because in verses one through four of chapter 14, Paul lays out four specific actions of humility that will promote love and calm the raging storms of disagreement that will flare up in the church.
10:49-10:59
So I must continually humble myself, letter A, by embracing those who are different than me, by embracing those who are different than me.
11:01-11:05
Let's read the very first part of verse one of chapter 14.
11:06-11:14
Paul writes, "As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him." What is Paul talking about here?
11:14-11:15
Who is the weak in faith?
11:16-11:19
He's not talking about someone who doesn't have faith in Christ.
11:19-11:27
He's talking about someone who has faith in Christ, but has a weak grasp of how that faith should play out in their daily lives.
11:28-11:36
This refers to someone who is brand new to the Christian faith, and they're unsure of how they can use their newfound freedom in Jesus.
11:37-11:46
They are sincere, they're passionate, but they don't possess the wisdom that comes from years and years of walking with Christ.
11:47-11:54
As we'll see in a few verses, Paul is specifically zeroing in on two groups of people who were weak in faith back in his day.
11:55-12:02
First up, Jewish believers who were wrestling with letting go of all the rituals and ceremonies of the old covenant.
12:03-12:10
You know, Christ completely fulfilled the ceremonial law of the Old Testament through his death on the cross and through his perfect life.
12:10-12:13
So believers are not expected to keep it any longer.
12:15-12:21
Those sacrifices, those festivals were simply a foreshadowing of all that Christ would accomplish.
12:23-12:31
But those regulations, those rituals were burned into these Jewish believers' brains and it would take time to let these things go.
12:34-12:38
Pastor Jeff preached a bit about the second group that Paul was referring to a few weeks ago.
12:39-12:49
Gentile Christians who came out of a pagan background and refused to eat meat because they were afraid that maybe this meat was sacrificed to a false God at some point.
12:51-13:01
They were worried that this would be dishonoring to the Lord, even though the New Testament is so clear that Christians don't need to concern themselves with the history of their food.
13:02-13:05
But this is a big hurdle for many of these Gentiles to jump over.
13:07-13:12
As you notice in verse one, Paul doesn't say to rebuke the weak in faith.
13:13-13:19
He doesn't tell the strong in faith to grab the weak in faith by the shoulders and shake them to snap out of it and tell them to cut it out.
13:19-13:20
What does he say instead?
13:21-13:22
What does he say to do?
13:24-13:25
To welcome him.
13:27-13:33
In other words, be patient with those who are newer in their faith as God has been patient with you.
13:34-13:38
Extend to them the same grace that has been shown to you.
13:39-13:50
And Paul's command to welcome the weak in faith is an important word for how we should treat anyone and everyone in the body of Christ, even those we disagree with.
13:52-13:55
This welcoming isn't a base level tolerance.
13:56-14:02
It isn't a posture of keeping people at an arm's length, but drawing them in for a loving embrace.
14:02-14:08
It isn't plastering on a fake smile when they're around and then rolling your eyes at them whenever they walk away.
14:09-14:17
You find these people a place in your heart and on your prayer list because you know that they're your brothers and sisters in Christ.
14:19-14:33
You know, you are by no means obligated to be best friends with every single person at Harvest Bible Chapel, but you are biblically commanded to love every single believer as one of your own family members because they are.
14:34-14:34
(audience laughing)
14:35-14:38
I'm gonna share something with you that I'm not very proud of.
14:39-14:47
Sometimes I'll be out and about at the grocery store, Lowe's, Chick-fil-A, and my eyes will come across an acquaintance.
14:48-14:51
Maybe it's a family friend, someone I went to high school with, whatever.
14:52-14:54
I'll think to myself, oh yeah, that's so-and-so.
14:55-14:59
Ah, I don't really feel like talking to them right now.
14:59-15:02
I'll have to catch them up on my life and I'll have to hear about their life.
15:02-15:03
I just don't have time for that right now.
15:04-15:04
Okay, good.
15:04-15:05
They haven't noticed me.
15:05-15:08
I'm just going to sneak away in the opposite direction before they notice me.
15:09-15:14
I then ninja away in the opposite direction to enjoy my solitude, which was much easier before I had this boot on.
15:15-15:17
This hasn't happened yet with the boot on, so we'll see how that goes.
15:18-15:19
But who else has done this?
15:22-15:22
(congregation laughing)
15:24-15:25
All right, I'm going to give you one more chance.
15:25-15:26
I'm in a good mood this morning.
15:26-15:28
Who else has done this?
15:28-15:34
If your hand's not in the air right now, I guess I'll believe you, but I have a really hard time believing you.
15:36-15:44
On a much more serious note, are there any Christians here at Harvest that you actively avoid because they're difficult to love?
15:47-15:54
Are there people that you blatantly ignore due to a difference of opinion or disagreement of some kind?
15:55-16:01
Maybe you steer clear of them when you see them coming, or you jump into their conversation to escape them.
16:02-16:05
Maybe you sit on a totally different side of the auditorium from them.
16:06-16:12
Maybe you specifically didn't join a specific small group because you knew that person would be in it.
16:13-16:19
Maybe you intentionally leave them out of fun fellowships and hangouts, even though you know this person would love to be a part of these times.
16:21-16:24
Let me ask you a question with a very obvious answer.
16:24-16:25
Is that welcoming?
16:26-16:27
Is that loving?
16:27-16:32
That is extremely unwelcoming and unloving.
16:32-16:36
That is the way of the world, not the way of Christ.
16:37-16:43
In the church, we have to deal with our issues like mature grownups and not mopey children.
16:44-16:51
If we cannot love each other at Harvest Bible Chapel, what chance do we have of loving people outside these walls?
16:52-17:01
If we can't accept fellow Christians that we have minor disagreements with, How can we possibly welcome unbelievers to faith in Christ and to join our fellowship?
17:02-17:10
If we can't get this right, we may as well pack it in and go home because our fellowship is meaningless and phony.
17:13-17:18
I must continually humble myself, let her be, by avoiding arguments about non-essentials.
17:20-17:22
By avoiding arguments about non-essentials.
17:24-17:25
(pages rustling)
17:27-17:41
In verse one, after giving the positive command to welcome the weak in faith, Paul gives the negative command to not quarrel over opinions and your copy of God's word may translate opinions as doubtful things or disputable matters.
17:42-17:47
You know, Paul isn't saying that we should never argue, that we should never stand up for what we believe in.
17:48-18:02
He teaches all throughout his letters that true Christians should fight for the purity of the gospel, correct false teaching, lovingly call out sin in the church, hold each other accountable, and stand firm on what God clearly teaches.
18:03-18:11
On the other hand, Paul is saying that we should not get into verbal wrestling matches over things the Bible is not as clear about.
18:13-18:21
Can we agree that Christians are great at majoring in the minors, and making a big deal of things that the Bible does not even focus upon.
18:23-18:27
Paul gives a very similar command in 2 Timothy 2.14.
18:28-18:47
He writes, "Remind them of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers." There is a kind of arguing that is not only unhelpful, that is not only unproductive, but is actively destructive and deadly.
18:48-18:55
An argumentative attitude is contagious, it spreads very easily, and it ruins lives.
18:57-19:02
I've seen Christian friendships broken over the stupidest disagreements over secondary matters of theology.
19:04-19:07
Churches across this country have split over the dumbest reasons.
19:08-19:11
Like we couldn't agree on what color the carpet should be in the sanctuary.
19:12-19:12
Who cares?
19:14-19:17
We couldn't agree what the bulletin board should be used for in the lobby.
19:18-19:19
(congregation laughing)
19:20-19:22
We couldn't agree on what to call the coffee ministry.
19:23-19:25
These aren't even made up examples.
19:25-19:27
These are actual things that happened.
19:28-19:33
Let me ask you, how did those churches get to the point of broken unity?
19:34-19:52
This pot didn't just start immediately boiling, but it started over time steadily as the leadership and the members kept dialing up the temperature with useless argument after stupid debate until one day, the scalding water poured out on everybody in the congregation.
19:54-19:57
Listen to me, the church is not a debate club.
19:57-19:58
The church is not a courtroom.
19:58-20:01
It is not a Facebook comment section.
20:01-20:07
This is not the place to air all of your grievances, bash one another and pick each other's opinions apart.
20:09-20:12
Let me ask you, what is the better use of our time?
20:12-20:22
Debating one another about things that don't really matter or working together to fulfill our God-given mission of making disciples, which supremely matters.
20:23-20:25
Why are you even here?
20:26-20:28
Are you here to get your way?
20:29-20:30
Are you here to win arguments?
20:32-20:38
Are you here to follow the ways of God, build up the church and win lost souls for Christ?
20:40-20:46
I must continually humble myself, let her see, by refusing to give myself over to hatred.
20:48-20:51
By refusing to give myself over to hatred.
20:52-20:55
Let's continue on with verses two through three.
20:56-21:01
Paul writes, "One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.
21:01-21:24
Let the one who eats not despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him." So Paul brings into focus the issue that I mentioned earlier, some Jewish and Gentile Christians refusing to eat meat out of fear that they might break the Old Testament law or commit idolatry.
21:25-21:33
They chose to eat only vegetables while other believers in the same congregation felt the freedom to eat whatever was put before them.
21:34-21:36
And Paul speaks to both sides of the issue.
21:36-21:40
He says, "Hey, don't let this be an opportunity "for division.
21:40-21:43
It will only become an issue if you make it one.
21:43-21:47
Remember, God has welcomed both of you into his family.
21:48-21:50
You are on the same team.
21:52-22:00
And Paul uses very harsh language to describe how damaging it is to look down on fellow believers who hold different opinions than you.
22:01-22:06
He says you are not to despise one another or pass judgment.
22:07-22:12
When you examine the original Greek, It really ratchets up how serious Paul is taking this.
22:13-22:16
Whenever he says despise, this communicates utter hatred.
22:17-22:19
You are viewing someone as a total non-entity.
22:20-22:23
You are superior and they are inferior.
22:23-22:26
They are next to nothing in your estimation.
22:27-22:29
Past judgment has a legal meaning.
22:29-22:34
It refers to charging someone guilty of a serious crime.
22:35-22:39
You are turning a matter of opinion into an unforgivable offense.
22:40-22:45
You are treating their personal preference as a personal attack against you.
22:46-22:52
If left unchecked, these judgmental and prideful feelings will turn into hatred.
22:55-22:57
I know what some of you may be thinking at this point.
22:57-22:58
Come on, Taylor.
22:58-23:00
I think you're taking this a step too far.
23:00-23:02
I certainly don't hate anybody here at Harvest.
23:02-23:05
There's no believers in my life that I hate.
23:05-23:10
I mean, sure, there are some people I extremely dislike and I avoid them at all costs.
23:10-23:11
They stay away from them.
23:11-23:12
That's not a big deal.
23:13-23:14
Huh.
23:15-23:18
That sounds like a nice way of saying you hate certain people, doesn't it?
23:19-23:26
We can be so polite with our hatred in the church and dress it up to make it look respectable when it is anything but.
23:27-23:43
I encourage every single one of you to examine your hearts this morning, to check for those roots of bitterness, to check for the rotten fruit of hatred, because if you don't, you will cause a lot of serious damage not just in your own life, but the lives of so many sitting here.
23:45-23:54
"I must continually humble myself," letter D, "by remembering that I am not the master of anyone." I'm not the master of anyone.
23:59-24:02
Paul comes in hot and asks a strong question in verse four.
24:02-24:09
"Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?" In other words, who do you think you are?
24:09-24:11
What gives you the right?
24:11-24:12
How dare you?
24:14-24:19
Paul is saying we're not qualified on any level to condemn other believers.
24:20-24:21
That is not in our job description.
24:21-24:23
That is not in our wheelhouse.
24:25-24:28
He goes on to explain why in the second half of verse four.
24:28-24:34
It is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld for the Lord is able to make him stand.
24:35-24:41
Paul is saying, hey, you're not anyone's master in the church, that's God's job, not yours.
24:42-24:47
You don't have the authority to reject a person who God himself has accepted.
24:48-24:55
You are completely unable to condemn someone whose sin has been forgiven by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
24:57-25:08
You know, passing this kind of judgment on other believers as ridiculous as going to someone's place of work and trying to give them a yearly review or evaluation.
25:08-25:09
I mean, just imagine it.
25:10-25:16
Imagine I come to your place of work this week and I give you my unfiltered thoughts about how you're doing on the job.
25:17-25:20
Would that affect your standing in the company one bit?
25:21-25:24
Not at all, because you do not work for me.
25:25-25:31
The approval of your boss matters way more than the approval of someone you do not even work for.
25:33-25:39
In a much greater way, God's approval of you matters infinitely more than the approval of mere human beings.
25:40-25:45
In fact, if God approves of you, it doesn't really matter who disapproves of you.
25:46-25:53
My opinion of you does not affect your standing before God, and your opinion of me does not affect my standing before God either.
25:55-25:59
God is not a fickle teenager whose opinions are swayed by the judgments of another.
26:00-26:05
God's up in heaven thinking, ah, you know what, I really loved Taylor until I found out he's wrong in all these different ways.
26:06-26:08
I'm not really sure how I feel about him anymore.
26:09-26:11
In fact, God has no opinions.
26:12-26:16
He simply declares what is true and commands what is right.
26:16-26:25
And if he declares someone holy and righteous in his sight, then nothing and no one can possibly change that firm and fixed reality.
26:27-26:31
We have to get a grip on who we actually are and who we definitely are not.
26:32-26:35
We are not God, we are not the boss, we are not in charge.
26:36-26:39
We are simply fellow slaves of Jesus Christ.
26:40-26:43
So let us choose to humble ourselves before the Lord and one another.
26:46-26:48
So how do I love Christians that I disagree with?
26:49-26:52
Secondly, on your outline, I must not hold them to my personal convictions.
26:54-26:57
I must not hold them to my personal convictions.
26:59-27:08
In verse five, Paul goes on to give another case study and personal preference that made love very difficult 2000 years ago and still does so today.
27:08-27:09
Let's read verse five.
27:10-27:15
One person esteems one day is better than another, while another esteems all days alike.
27:15-27:19
Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
27:20-27:26
You know, keeping the Sabbath was and still is a big deal for many Jews because it was one of the 10 commandments.
27:28-27:34
But it's the only one of the 10 commandments that is not reissued and reinforced from the mouth of Jesus or in the New Testament.
27:35-27:36
Now, why is that?
27:37-27:44
Because similar to the ceremonial law that we discussed a few moments ago, Jesus is the one the Sabbath pointed to.
27:45-27:47
The Sabbath is all about rest.
27:47-27:59
And through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave, Jesus is the present and eternal rest for every single person who places their faith and trust in him alone for salvation.
28:01-28:03
But Christians still debate about the Sabbath.
28:03-28:05
They still disagree.
28:05-28:19
On one side of the issue, people will say, "I'm convicted to keep the Sabbath "and not work at all on Sundays or do any chores." On the other side of the issue, people will say, "You know, I'm gonna go to church on Sunday and worship.
28:19-28:22
"I am free to do chores around the house.
28:22-28:27
"I'm free to work if I have to." Well, which option is right according to Paul?
28:29-28:32
Neither, neither or both are acceptable.
28:32-28:45
He says, "Each one should be fully convinced "in his own mind." In other words, come to your own conviction about this issue and stick to it, but don't belittle others who come to a different conviction than you.
28:47-28:59
And Paul reinforces this command in Colossians 2.16, "Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
28:59-29:14
These are the shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ." And Paul's teaching in these passages extends far beyond the Sabbath and touches other matters of opinion as well.
29:15-29:23
You know, to attend the seminary that I graduated from several years ago, I had to sign a document that I would not drink a drop of alcohol during my time as a student.
29:24-29:28
Even if I was off campus, even if I was an online student in a totally different state.
29:29-29:32
I remember receiving this document and being, I shouldn't be bothered by it.
29:32-29:37
Now to be clear, I was not bothered because I wanted to go to parties and get drunk.
29:38-29:40
Everyone nod your head if you understand, that's not what I'm saying.
29:41-29:42
Okay, good, I feel a lot better now.
29:43-29:55
I was bothered because I believe that my seminary was binding the conscience of those who believe that drinking is acceptable and mandating a moral command that is not in scripture.
29:57-30:04
In my opinion, that part of the contract was legalistic and in sharp opposition to what Paul is talking about in this passage.
30:06-30:12
Again, to be clear, I am not having this sermon become a beer commercial where I say we should all get on board with alcohol.
30:13-30:20
Maybe you've wrestled with addiction in the past, or you've seen alcoholism destroy people that you care about.
30:21-30:26
Maybe you're convicted that the wisest choice is to steer clear of alcohol because it's not worth the risk.
30:27-30:33
Maybe you're convicted that you should abstain from alcohol for health reasons or for the sake of your witness.
30:34-30:34
That's great.
30:35-30:48
That is a great personal conviction, but it is not a good thing to push that personal conviction on other believers and hold them to a standard that is not spelled out in the word of God.
30:49-30:56
The Bible is so clear that getting drunk is a sin, that causing other people to stumble with your drinking is a sin.
30:57-31:01
The Bible doesn't say that drinking in of itself is inherently sinful.
31:02-31:09
So it is unbiblical and unloving to say that you cannot be a strong Christian and drink alcohol at the same time.
31:10-31:16
On the flip side, it is not loving to make fun of Christians who don't drink and act like they're boring prudes.
31:17-31:19
Drinking is not essential for a fun and full life.
31:20-31:27
And if you think otherwise, I encourage you to do some self-reflection because you may have a serious issue that needs to be addressed.
31:28-31:31
Let's move on from alcohol and talk about some other examples.
31:32-31:38
Maybe you're convicted that you should never watch any movie that is above PG-13 under any circumstances.
31:39-31:47
Great personal conviction, but it's not great to say that you cannot be a Christian and watch any R-rated movies.
31:48-31:49
Here's another one.
31:51-31:55
Maybe you're convinced that homeschooling your kids is the best option for education.
31:56-31:58
That is an amazing decision that I fully support.
31:59-32:01
Do you know what I don't fully support?
32:01-32:07
Is looking down on other Christian parents who don't have the interest or bandwidth to do the same.
32:08-32:12
Maybe you're convicted that you should wear your Sunday best to worship.
32:13-32:15
Again, great decision, I fully support that.
32:17-32:20
But I do not support looking down on fellow believers who don't feel the same.
32:21-32:24
Looking down on others who wear jeans or shorts to church.
32:25-32:32
What you wear on the outside on Sunday does not actually communicate fully what's happening on the inside.
32:33-32:36
You can be dressed to the nines and not have the right attitude.
32:37-32:41
You can be dressed like you're about to go to the beach and fully worship the Lord.
32:43-32:47
I can go on and on with other examples, but I think you get the point.
32:48-32:54
In verses six through nine, Paul gets to the heart of the matter, which is the matter of the heart.
32:55-32:58
He writes, "The one who observes the day "observes it in honor of the Lord.
32:58-33:06
"The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, "because he gives thanks to God, "while the one who abstains, "abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
33:07-33:10
For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.
33:11-33:14
For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.
33:15-33:19
So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
33:19-33:25
For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and of the living.
33:27-33:32
So the core of this issue of personal conviction is the intention of the heart.
33:33-34:05
What matters most is your desire to please the Lord him honor. So let's go through the examples I just gave a personal conviction and see if it's possible to honor the Lord with each one. Can you honor the Lord by abstaining from drinking alcohol? This is the participant, yeah participation. Can you still honor the Lord if you drink in moderation and away from those who can stumble in his presence? Can you honor Honor the Lord if you avoid all secular entertainment and social media.
34:07-34:11
Can you honor the Lord if you engage entertainment and social media with wisdom and caution?
34:12-34:15
Can you honor the Lord if you homeschool your kids?
34:16-34:19
Can you honor the Lord if you send your kids to private school?
34:20-34:23
Can you honor the Lord if you send your kids to public school?
34:24-34:27
Can you honor the Lord if you wear your Sunday best to worship?
34:29-34:32
Can you honor the Lord if you wear your everyday clothes, everyday clothes to church?
34:34-34:35
Everyone take a deep breath with me.
34:38-34:39
Don't you feel so much better?
34:40-34:41
I know I do.
34:42-34:46
There's so much freedom in the Christian life, but let's not abuse it and take it too far.
34:47-34:52
Let's not throw our freedom in other people's faces and flaunt our personal convictions.
34:52-34:53
That's not loving.
34:54-34:58
On the other hand, there are a lot of restrictions in the Christian life.
34:58-35:04
Let's not add expectations onto others that God himself does not command in his word.
35:05-35:09
That is the way of the Pharisees and not the way of Christ-like love.
35:10-35:14
Finally, how do I love Christians that I disagree with?
35:15-35:19
I must entrust them to God and focus on my own walk.
35:20-35:23
I must entrust them to God and focus on my own walk.
35:27-35:36
So Paul gives one final reason why we should choose the path of love rather than the path of judgment when it comes to preferences and minor disagreements.
35:37-35:41
In verses 10 through 12, he writes, "Why do you pass judgment on your brother?
35:41-35:44
Or you, why do you despise your brother?
35:44-35:46
For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
35:47-35:54
For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God.
35:54-36:01
So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
36:04-36:08
Paul already taught us that God is the ultimate master, not you or me.
36:09-36:13
Now he's teaching us that God is the final judge, not you or me.
36:14-36:18
One day I will stand before the judgment seat of God with no one by my side.
36:20-36:21
And the same is true for every single one of you.
36:22-36:27
You will give an account for your life and I'll have to give an account for my life.
36:28-36:30
God will not have me stand beside the judgments.
36:30-36:32
He is one of his pastoral advisors.
36:33-36:40
He will not call you forward to testify on my behalf or give a PowerPoint presentation of my personal convictions.
36:41-36:48
In light of this future reality, let us resist the urge to be judge, jury, and executioner right now.
36:49-36:55
in a culture of outrage and canceling people, let us go in the opposite direction.
36:56-37:03
When you go online or turn on the news, you just see this desire to constantly knock people down and destroy them.
37:04-37:07
That cannot be how we operate in the church.
37:07-37:11
We have to be people of unconditional grace and intentional love.
37:13-37:23
Let us entrust one another to God and believe that he will do what is right He will do what is good both right now and on that final day.
37:25-37:29
You know, one of my favorite parts of any of the gospels is found at the end of John.
37:30-37:35
You know, Jesus has arisen from the dead and he's spending time with his disciples before he ascends back to heaven.
37:35-37:39
And he takes Peter aside to let him know he will one day be martyred.
37:39-37:41
He will die for his faith.
37:42-37:45
That's a heavy bit of news to have dropped on you, isn't it?
37:45-37:46
While you're standing on the beach.
37:48-37:50
And there are a lot of different ways to respond to that kind of revelation.
37:51-37:54
And Peter responds by playing the comparison game.
37:55-37:58
He immediately points to John and says, "Lord, what about him?
37:58-37:59
"What about this guy?
37:59-38:04
"What's gonna happen to him?" And Jesus immediately shuts down this line of thinking.
38:04-38:09
And he says, "If it is my will to hear a man till I come, "what is that to you?
38:09-38:14
"You follow me." In other words, that is none of your business.
38:15-38:17
Just do what I have commanded you to do.
38:19-38:20
That reminds me of my son, Sam.
38:21-38:27
Whenever I give him a compliment and say, "Sam, you're being so good today." He always says, "Oh, is Emmy being bad?" Talking about his sister.
38:29-38:35
We're all like, "Sam, you're not being good right now." "Oh, is Emmy being good?" And I always say the same exact thing.
38:35-38:37
Don't worry about what your sister is doing.
38:37-38:39
Worry about what you're doing.
38:41-38:43
But it's so easy to play the comparison game, isn't it?
38:44-38:46
To obsess over the lifestyle of another.
38:47-38:51
to bash the opinions and choices of others.
38:52-38:58
Do you know what's one of the most loving things you can do for other followers of Christ?
39:00-39:04
Focusing on your own walk and becoming who the Lord has called you to be.
39:06-39:07
Does any answer surprise you?
39:08-39:10
It sounds counterintuitive, doesn't it?
39:11-39:12
But think about it.
39:12-39:16
You cannot truly know the heart and intentions of another.
39:16-39:18
You can only know your own.
39:19-39:23
You cannot change the mind of anyone else besides yourself.
39:24-39:30
You cannot control the actions of anyone in this room besides the one sitting in your own seat.
39:31-39:38
The people sitting next to you need to see your godly witness rather than listen to your ungodly critiques.
39:39-39:45
They need to witness your burning hot passion for the ministry rather than suffer through your cold hearted complaints.
39:47-39:55
The people sitting next to you need your love for the Lord to spill out onto them so that they can become who God has called them to be.
39:57-39:59
Please bow your head and close your eyes.
40:01-40:04
I encourage you to do some self-reflection for a minute or two.
40:06-40:11
Ask yourself, am I truly loving those I disagree with?
40:13-40:16
Do I continually choose to humble myself?
40:18-40:21
Or do I exalt myself by pushing away those who are different than me?
40:22-40:24
By arguing about things that don't really matter?
40:25-40:27
By holding on to feelings of anger and bitterness?
40:29-40:32
By forgetting my position and putting myself in the place of God?
40:34-40:38
Do I stand strong on my personal convictions or I force them on others?
40:39-40:42
Do I unhealthily pry into the lives of others?
40:42-40:45
Do I focus upon what the Lord has commanded me to do?
40:47-40:50
Honestly answer these questions and then repent of what you need to repent of.
40:51-40:59
Ask God for his help so that you can intentionally love everyone, even those you have a hard time seeing eye to eye with.
40:59-41:00
I'll close this in a final prayer.
41:03-41:11
Father, your word is so clear that the greatest and best way for the world to see you as for our love for one another.
41:13-41:22
And when we come to you and we admit that we so often fail to love one another, we fail to show others the same grace that you have given to us.
41:25-41:33
Lord, I pray for every single person in this room that you would cut us to the heart and reveal the ways that we don't love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
41:34-41:42
And you call, that would lead us to seek restoration, to seek peace, to do better from one day to the next.
41:44-41:49
The Lord, our natural reaction would be love and grace, not criticism and not judgment.
41:51-42:10
For those in this room who do not know you, I pray that you'd convict them that they're in need of salvation and that they can become a part of this family if they simply turn to Jesus Christ by grace, through faith.
42:11-42:13
Lord, we thank you for who you are.
42:13-42:15
We thank you for all that you do for us.
42:16-42:17
In Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 14:1-12

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What are some issues of opinion/preference that you see Christians arguing about and dividing over?
Why is it so hard to love people that we disagree with?
What does it look like to welcome one another at Harvest Bible Chapel? Is there a time and a place for debating issues or discussing disagreements?
Why is it wrong to hold other Christians to your own personal convictions that are not clearly laid out in Scripture?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

June 28, 2020

Living in the Wrath of God

Jeff Miller

June 28, 2020

Introduction:

God Abandons a Nation That Abandons God.
Read: Judges 10:13-14 | Hosea 4:17 | Matthew 15:12-14 | Acts 14:16
Why Does God Abandon a Nation? (Romans 1:18-23)
They clearly Know about God.

But they clearly don't Want God.

What Happens When God Abandons a Nation?

3 Progressive Steps a Nation Takes When God Abandons It.
1. First the Heart goes: Sexual Immorality. (Romans 1:24-25)
2. Then What is Natural goes: Dishonorable Passions. (Romans 1:26-27)
3. Finally, the Mind goes: Debased Minds. (Romans 1:28-32)
Psalm 81:11-16 - "But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:04
In God's Word today, we're going to be looking at some adult subject matter.
00:04-00:11
And as you know, if you've been coming here for any amount of time, I never plan to get any more explicit than the Word of God itself does.
00:13-00:18
But it does have some adult subjects here.
00:18-00:23
And if you would feel more comfortable for your kids to go to Harvest Kids, Mandy says bring them back.
00:23-00:26
And they'll be more than welcome back there.
00:28-00:31
Open up your Bibles with me please to Romans 1.
00:34-00:47
And I would ask if you would pray for me, and I will pray for you as we walk through an extremely heavy passage today.
00:51-00:54
This sermon was not on the preaching calendar.
00:55-01:01
My preaching calendar got a little adjusted when Miss Pennsylvania showed up last week.
01:02-01:14
So I had a rare week where I had to really seek the Lord on, "Father, what do you want these people to hear?
01:14-01:22
What do these people need to hear?" And the Lord showed me just one thing.
01:24-01:27
I certainly tried to explore other options, but the Lord brought me back to this.
01:27-01:28
So Romans 1.
01:29-01:30
We're going to get there in just a second.
01:32-01:42
But you know, before we look at the Word, you know, I find it interesting in our day that we're facing a global pandemic.
01:43-01:45
There's the big dust-up in Africa.
01:46-01:47
I don't know if you heard about that.
01:47-01:58
I was actually talking to our missionary Barnabas the other night, There have been huge storms come through and destroy some homes and do some damage to the children's home.
01:58-02:05
We have all these - and I personally have some friends that are going through some severe health issues right now.
02:06-02:07
I'm talking life and death things.
02:08-02:18
And in the face of all of this, it's encouraging to me that people are finally putting their priorities where they need to be.
02:20-02:21
You know what I'm talking about.
02:22-02:28
That finally, Elmer Fudd is not going to have a gun to hunt wabbits.
02:30-02:31
Did you see this?
02:32-02:33
Anybody else?
02:33-02:33
Show of hands.
02:33-02:35
Anybody else upset about this?
02:37-02:40
That was part of my childhood, OK?
02:40-02:43
And then they said, oh, by the way, PS, you're Sidney Sam, too.
02:46-02:51
And then I heard Paw Patrol is under attack.
02:51-02:53
You know, it's a show for toddlers about dogs.
02:53-02:55
They have the police dog.
02:55-02:55
What's his name?
02:57-02:59
Chase, okay, I know some people here are toddlers.
02:59-03:00
Some of you watch it.
03:00-03:04
Some of you watch it without your toddlers, and we love you too.
03:06-03:08
But I guess his name's Carl now.
03:10-03:13
But Paw Patrol is under attack, especially the police dog.
03:14-03:16
And I'm sure you've seen that Aunt Jemima was fired.
03:18-03:21
And that really bothered me, because I want you to think about something.
03:23-03:25
She was only fired because she was black.
03:28-03:29
True or false?
03:30-03:35
Well, I heard yesterday there's a rumor that they might not fire her.
03:38-03:46
However, they did take the Native American woman off of the Land O'Lakes butter package removed.
03:47-03:50
You know, this stuff is almost humorous.
03:51-04:09
In our day of real problems happening, and real people dying, and real racial violence, and real natural disasters, there's so much focus on cartoon characters and spokespeople for condiments.
04:10-04:15
And every day, when you turn on the news, it just gets crazier.
04:16-04:18
Cow's milk is now racist.
04:18-04:19
Did you see that?
04:20-04:22
This is something that's actually years old.
04:22-04:31
I'm not gonna dive into that, but I was on a Skype with some people from Johnny and Friends this past week, and they're headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
04:31-04:37
And I had to ask them because there's this thing going on that they wanna rename the city of Columbus, Ohio.
04:37-04:38
Did you hear that?
04:39-04:45
Okay, do you know one of the top considerations for the new name?
04:46-04:47
Flavortown.
04:49-04:50
I'm not making that up.
04:51-04:52
Do you know why?
04:52-04:56
Because I guess once upon a time Guy Fieri called it Flavortown.
04:56-05:00
He also calls meatballs Flavortown, but I guess we're going to rename Columbus Flavortown.
05:00-05:03
And it's just, it's insanity.
05:05-05:10
And some of this stuff is almost funny, but I want to tell you some things that, I want to tell you some things today that aren't funny.
05:13-05:15
Maybe you've seen the videos online.
05:17-05:18
Maybe you've read some articles.
05:19-05:20
Maybe you've seen it on the news.
05:22-05:38
About a month ago, did you see in the nursing home in Detroit, a 20-year-old man viciously punching a senior citizen man face down on his bed, defenseless, picking his shots, just bellowing.
05:38-05:38
Did you see that?
05:42-05:44
I was sick.
05:46-05:48
That's somebody's grandfather.
05:48-05:52
That's somebody's dad that they put in that home to get the best care that he could.
05:53-05:54
Did you see that?
05:55-06:00
I saw a video a couple weeks ago of three men beating on a woman with a 2x4.
06:02-06:10
I saw a video last week of a pastor was restrained by a mob in the street while a homosexual man kissed him.
06:10-06:11
Did you see that?
06:13-06:24
I saw a video of a Macy's employee folding clothes, doing his job, sucker punched from the back, and brutally assaulted.
06:25-06:32
I just read yesterday that they finally, after a couple of weeks, brought the man into custody.
06:35-06:35
Have you seen it?
06:36-06:38
Riots. Statues torn down.
06:39-06:40
Shop owners beaten.
06:41-06:41
Stores looted.
06:41-06:42
Stores set on fire.
06:43-06:45
The police defunded.
06:45-06:47
And in Seattle, we have six blocks taken over.
06:47-06:49
What's it? Chaz? Chop?
06:49-06:51
Or what's it called this week? Anybody know?
06:55-07:04
And you come to church, and the preacher gets up and encourages you You need to look at things through a biblical lens, right?
07:05-07:13
You need to look at the world through God's eyes, through a biblical lens, and the question is how in the world do we interpret what's happening in our culture now?
07:15-07:19
But today I'm going to teach you something that many of you may have never heard before.
07:21-07:22
And that is this.
07:22-07:28
You're going to have to take good notes because unfortunately we had some technical difficulties, which as you know doesn't happen here too often.
07:30-07:32
part of being fallen people in a cursed world.
07:33-07:35
So take good notes.
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But I want you to write this sentence down.
07:37-07:37
Are you ready?
07:38-07:39
Here it is.
07:40-07:49
"God abandons a nation that abandons God." God abandons a nation that abandons God.
07:50-07:51
That's letter A to that.
07:53-07:55
God abandons a nation that abandons God.
07:56-07:59
Look at Romans 1, look at verse 18.
08:01-08:11
It says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." Stop there.
08:13-08:14
We're talking about God's wrath.
08:14-08:21
When I say God's wrath, I say, "What do you think of when you think of God's wrath?" You think of, oh, the events of the book of Revelation, right?
08:21-08:22
Yes, that's true.
08:22-08:23
That's part of God's wrath.
08:24-08:24
What do you think of God's wrath?
08:24-08:27
You're like, "Well, that's hell, right?" Yes, God's wrath, that is hell.
08:28-08:34
But God's wrath is also abandonment.
08:35-08:38
And notice what the passage says.
08:38-08:42
It doesn't say the wrath of God is coming someday.
08:42-08:50
It says the wrath of God is revealed, meaning it is here and now when these things happen that we're going to see in the passage.
08:53-08:55
One of the aspects of God's wrath is abandonment.
08:56-09:00
It's when God says, "Hey, hey, hey, nation.
09:01-09:01
Do you want to sin?
09:04-09:04
Go ahead.
09:06-09:07
I'll let you go.
09:08-09:09
I'll leave you be.
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You want sin?
09:12-09:12
You don't want me?
09:16-09:18
I'm out." That's what we see in this passage.
09:19-09:21
And church, listen to me.
09:22-09:23
That's what you see on the news.
09:26-09:27
It's so obvious.
09:29-09:30
You know, it's sort of like this.
09:33-09:38
When I was in high school, I had this biology class.
09:39-09:43
And it was a rowdy group of kids in this class.
09:43-09:45
I mean, not me.
09:45-09:48
I was like this shy, introvert wallflower.
09:49-09:52
But the other kids in the class, They were pretty rowdy, right?
09:53-09:56
And it was this rowdy class.
09:56-10:09
And our teacher would come in, Mr. Sedgwick, he would come in and he'd stand up at the podium or the lectern or whatever you call it there.
10:10-10:13
And he'd just leave.
10:14-10:15
And it was a two period class.
10:16-10:17
You're like, where did he go?
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I don't know.
10:18-10:20
He was gone for two periods.
10:20-10:25
Now let me ask you, I told you this was a rowdy class and that's when he was in the room.
10:26-10:33
What do you think happened to the class when continually he was gone for an hour and a half?
10:33-10:34
What do you think happened?
10:34-10:37
Do you think, we all learn crocheting, right?
10:37-10:43
And we're like, oh, you know what, now that the teacher's gone, this is our chance to really impress him when he comes back.
10:43-10:46
So let's get out our biology textbooks and we'll study and be ready.
10:47-10:48
You think that's what we did?
10:49-10:51
It was party time!
10:51-10:56
We were dancing on the tables, and we were blasting music, and we were playing dodgeball.
10:57-11:05
We were going nuts doing everything that we could possibly want to do as a bunch of rowdy kids.
11:07-11:20
You see, without the authority being in the room to give any kind of restraint, when the authority left the room, we were like, it is time to do whatever the heck we want to do.
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And that's what we're going to see here in Romans 1.
11:26-11:31
As a nation, are these rowdy kids where God's presence has dwelled?
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And we're going to see here that like the teacher, God stepped away.
11:41-11:43
God abandons a nation that abandons God.
11:44-11:48
Before we look at it in Romans, I want you to understand, This is all through Scripture.
11:49-11:51
I'm going to share some verses with you here very quickly.
11:51-12:01
This is all through Scripture, and the reason I'm sharing this with you is I don't want you to think, "Well, Pastor, Jeff just kind of pulled this one thing and went with this really crazy idea I've never heard before." This is all through Scripture.
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You can jot the reference down, check them later.
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Judges 10, paraphrasing, Israel was like, "God, we've sinned!" And God said, "I have saved you from so many enemies in the past." Genesis 13 and 14, Judges 10.
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God says, "Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods, therefore I will save you no more.
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Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen.
12:31-12:36
Let them save you in the time of your distress." It happened in the days of judges.
12:37-12:38
God's like, "You know what?
12:38-12:40
You abandon Me, I'm done.
12:41-12:46
Cry out to the rocks and the sticks that you're worshiping because you didn't want me, alright?
12:48-12:50
Hosea 4.17, here's another one.
12:51-13:08
Ephraim, part of Israel, really representing Israel, says, "Ephraim is joined to idols." Now you would think the next phrase would be like, "Call him back, make him repent, do what we've got to do to get rid of the idols." That's not what it says.
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"Ephraim is joined to idols." Next line.
13:12-13:13
Leave him alone.
13:15-13:17
You don't want God? You want your idols?
13:18-13:31
God's like, "Alright, have it. Have it." You're like, "Well, surely not Jesus, right?" Jot this one down. Matthew 15, verses 12-14.
13:32-13:56
It says, "Then the disciples came and said to Jesus," because of some teaching that Jesus just made, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" Therefore Jesus held a press conference where He profusely apologized for any insensitive thing that He may have said that offended the poor Pharisees.
13:57-14:07
And Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you, I am sorry if I caused any offense, and I will step down from my position." No, no, no, no, that's not what it says.
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Some of you are like, "I don't think it says that." You're like, "I know it doesn't say that." So anyways, it kind of cracks me up.
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The disciples were like, "Jesus, they were offended, Jesus.
14:22-14:25
You offended them." Here's what Jesus really said.
14:25-14:32
He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.
14:33-14:40
Leave them alone. They're blind guides." Jesus is like, "Let them go." Not, "Let's chase after them. Let's try to convince them.
14:40-14:42
Watch this. Jesus is like, "Let him go.
14:44-14:54
On your way. Toodaloo. Done." This wrath of abandonment is exactly what Romans 1 is addressing.
14:55-14:56
Because you're going to see it three times here.
14:56-15:01
Verse 24, verse 26, verse 28, it says, "God gave them up." God gave them up.
15:01-15:02
God gave them up.
15:03-15:05
That's actually a courtroom term.
15:05-15:08
They used it when you handed a criminal over for punishment.
15:09-15:11
Sentence passed. Here He is. Take Him and punish Him.
15:12-15:13
That's the word used.
15:13-15:23
That God's like, "Done. Have it." And this is nothing isolated, what's happening in our day, or even in Jesus' day, or even in a day of judges.
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This has been consistently throughout history.
15:27-15:28
This very thing has happened.
15:28-15:41
Acts 14.16 says, "In past generations, God allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways." They've rejected what they knew of God, so God abandoned them, and...
15:43-15:45
That is 2020 America.
15:47-15:57
So what follows is Paul telling us why God abandons a culture, and then he tells us the results of a God-abandoned culture.
15:59-16:01
So letter A, God abandons a nation that abandons God.
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Letter B.
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Just write the question down.
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Why does God abandon a nation?
16:07-16:09
I'm going to show you why. Look at verse 18 again.
16:10-16:19
It says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
16:20-16:25
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
16:27-16:41
For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made.
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So they are without excuse.
16:47-16:58
For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and her foolish hearts were darkened.
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Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
17:13-17:15
Why does God abandon a nation?
17:17-17:17
Here it is.
17:18-17:21
They clearly know about God, but they clearly don't want God.
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They clearly know about God, but they clearly don't want God.
17:27-17:31
I'm going to break that down for you, because this is what the text says, okay?
17:34-17:37
Break it down. First of all, they clearly know about God.
17:39-17:43
See, the context here, obviously, they're not talking about a personal relationship with God.
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I mean, you obviously picked that up.
17:46-17:52
Paul is saying, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, They know that there is a God. Everyone does.
17:52-18:06
Everyone does. Your neighbor who has never been to church, the guy sitting somewhere in Africa or Thailand or India or wherever that has never been to a church, even the people that have never seen a Bible, they know that there is a God.
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How in the world would they know that?
18:10-18:16
Well, verse 20 says, "Because of God's power in nature." They're seen in creation.
18:18-18:24
You've seen God's hand at work, and you know a lot about God even aside from your Bibles.
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Every baby that's born.
18:30-18:31
Every sunset you've ever watched.
18:33-18:34
Every trip to the ocean.
18:35-18:40
You're standing on the beach and you're just like, "You know what I'm talking about?
18:40-18:48
You know what that 'huh' is? You know what that is?" That's a recognition of the hand of God.
18:50-18:57
Every wedding you've been to, we see God's hand all over creation.
18:59-19:01
We see it inwardly too, actually.
19:01-19:04
Romans 2.15 says that God's law is written on our hearts.
19:04-19:07
We inherently know right and wrong.
19:07-19:08
Where did that come from?
19:08-19:12
It came from the One who established morality, and it points us to Him.
19:14-19:20
You're like, "Okay, I kind of see what you're saying, but is it really clear that there's a God just looking at creation?
19:21-19:28
Is it really, really clear? I mean, how clear is it?" Verse 19 says it's plain. It's shown.
19:29-19:31
Verse 20 says clearly perceived.
19:31-19:33
Verse 20 says they're without excuse.
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Verse 21 says they knew.
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So according to God, their issue is not ignorance.
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And I'm not sure, as I read this passage, and I encourage you to read it and reread it, I'm not sure if it could be any more clear than it is.
19:56-20:01
He's making the point to say everyone knows that there is a God. Everyone!
20:04-20:07
They clearly know about God, but they clearly don't want God.
20:09-20:10
Did you see that in the text?
20:10-20:11
How does that happen?
20:11-20:16
Verse 18 says, "It's because we suppress the truth." We have the truth.
20:18-20:21
We just suppress it with our selfish sin.
20:22-20:25
When I hear "suppress" or "suppressor," do you know what I think of?
20:26-20:28
I think of a gun, right?
20:29-20:30
What does a gun suppressor do?
20:31-20:33
It's an attachment you put on the end.
20:33-20:34
What does the gun suppressor do?
20:35-20:36
It quiets it down, right?
20:37-20:41
And that's what we do with our sin, like, "Quiet down, God. Quiet down.
20:41-20:43
I don't want to hear you. I don't want to..." Quiet down.
20:44-20:47
We are suppressing God's truth.
20:49-20:53
In verse 21, he tells us that, "We don't want to honor Him as God.
20:54-20:56
That would be to acknowledge His authority.
20:56-20:58
And we don't want to thank Him.
20:58-21:01
And that would be to acknowledge His goodness.
21:03-21:06
Now we're getting to how the problem manifests, right?
21:06-21:08
We don't want to honor Him as God, right?
21:08-21:10
We have this little phrase we say around here.
21:11-21:14
He is God and I am not, right?
21:15-21:16
And you get that.
21:17-21:18
But most people do not get that.
21:18-21:23
Most people live under the "nobody tells me what to do" plan of life.
21:26-21:29
And he says they don't thank Him.
21:29-21:30
They don't give thanks.
21:32-21:34
They eat, right?
21:35-21:44
And they breathe, and they get to enjoy all the good things that life has to offer with no appreciation to the One who provided these things.
21:46-21:47
Why?
21:49-21:55
Because I know that I should live a life of gratitude towards this God who has given me everything.
21:55-22:03
And by giving Him gratitude, that would mean acknowledging the very God that I don't want interfering with my life.
22:06-22:09
Verse 22, it really boils down to, "Why do I need God, right?
22:10-22:10
I know everything.
22:11-22:17
Why do I need God?" Then you get to verse 23, and it's like, you know what, I think I'll just create my own God.
22:18-22:20
One that's a little easier for me to follow.
22:21-22:22
that does what I want Him to do.
22:26-22:29
So you have, okay, are you with me so far?
22:29-22:30
Because I can start over.
22:32-22:36
We clearly know about God, clearly.
22:38-22:40
And we clearly don't want God.
22:41-22:45
So my question to you now at this point is, what is God to do?
22:47-22:50
God's up in heaven just going, "Oh, bless your hearts.
22:52-22:54
Just please let me know how I can bless you.
22:55-23:03
I await your orders." No, the Bible actually tells us exactly what He does three times.
23:03-23:05
Again, He gives them up. He gives them up.
23:05-23:08
He gives them up. "Go ahead, do life your way.
23:08-23:18
Since you think you don't need Me, since you think you can manage things better than Me, I go for it. I'm out.
23:21-23:23
God abandons a nation that abandons God.
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That's why.
23:26-23:31
They clearly know about God, but they clearly do not want God.
23:34-23:37
So the question is, what happens when God abandons a nation?
23:39-23:42
What happens when God says, "I'm out. I'm done.
23:43-23:44
I brought this down, letter C.
23:46-23:53
There's three progressive steps that a nation takes when God abandons it.
23:53-23:55
And that's what follows in the text, okay?
23:57-23:59
When God says, "I'm out. You don't want me.
24:01-24:05
Good luck." There's three steps that a nation goes through.
24:07-24:10
And understand that these steps don't happen overnight.
24:10-24:12
are things that build up over decades.
24:13-24:13
Right?
24:16-24:19
How long have we been hearing about this church?
24:19-24:21
They took prayer out of schools.
24:23-24:34
They're like, "We don't want God in our schools." And they take the Ten Commandments out of the public square because we don't want God's Word in a place where we see it.
24:36-24:45
This isn't anything new, that's been building and building, and you're going to see the sequence that He lays out.
24:47-24:48
It's a three-step thing.
24:50-24:54
Under letter C, number 1, write this down.
24:55-24:56
First, the heart goes.
24:59-25:00
First, the heart goes!
25:01-25:02
And that's sexual immorality.
25:04-25:05
Look at verses 24 and 25.
25:06-25:07
First, the heart goes.
25:08-25:09
Sexual immorality.
25:12-25:29
"Clearly know about God, clearly don't want God." Verse 24, "Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves." That's sexual immorality.
25:30-25:38
It says, "because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator and is blessed forever.
25:39-25:39
Amen.
25:40-25:41
First, the heart goes. Right?
25:43-25:45
See, lusts dominate our hearts.
25:47-25:51
But when people decide, "You know what? I'm done wrestling with that.
25:51-25:53
I'm done struggling with that.
25:53-26:01
I'm done seeking any type of self-control that only God's Holy Spirit gives." What does it lead to?
26:01-26:02
Just unrestrained.
26:02-26:03
Unrestrained.
26:04-26:06
It's like I have been let off the leash.
26:09-26:12
And the lust in my heart turns into lust released in my body.
26:13-26:14
Do I have to sell anybody on this?
26:15-26:16
Really?
26:17-26:24
Do I need to convince anyone that's sitting here or watching this online or listening later or whatever?
26:26-26:31
Our culture has become dogs seeking dogs in heat.
26:31-26:32
That's what our culture has become.
26:35-26:36
There's an app for that.
26:38-26:39
Several, actually.
26:39-26:45
You can use your phone and you can find people to have a relationship with.
26:45-26:48
And I don't mean a dating relationship.
26:48-26:51
I mean a time of intimacy.
26:54-26:55
Just by finding them on your phone.
26:59-27:01
in a pornographic culture.
27:02-27:05
And a pornographic culture destroys marriages.
27:05-27:06
It abuses children.
27:06-27:08
It traffics little babies!
27:10-27:14
Meanwhile, God has this plan for marriage and sexuality.
27:14-27:17
And what does the abandoned culture do about that?
27:17-27:18
They laugh at that.
27:18-27:20
"Ha! Joke, dog! Man!
27:21-27:22
That's a big joke!
27:22-27:24
Really? Really?
27:24-27:25
Monogamy? Really?
27:26-27:39
That's what you're doing?" It's a joke. It's a joke. You see, first the heart goes. Sexual immorality.
27:40-27:53
Number two, then, jot this down, then what is natural goes. Then what is natural goes.
27:54-27:55
to dishonorable passions.
27:58-27:59
Look at verses 26 and 27.
28:00-28:05
It says, "For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions.
28:06-28:13
For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.
28:14-28:28
And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another." Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28:29-28:33
So the next step is perversion.
28:34-28:44
That sexual sin goes from typical man-to-woman type sin - sexual sin - to same-sex relationship.
28:46-28:51
And for all of those people who say, You know, the Bible never says homosexuality is wrong.
28:54-28:57
Once again, I would say I'm not sure how this passage could be any more clear.
28:59-28:59
Three times.
29:00-29:06
Three times right in these couple verses that we read, God says this isn't natural.
29:07-29:10
Like, Pastor Jeff, are you saying that homosexuality isn't natural?
29:11-29:12
God's saying that, okay?
29:13-29:16
And I can't believe that I even have to sell people on that.
29:17-29:18
It's not natural.
29:19-29:21
It's not how we were created.
29:23-29:26
But he says, you know, you get the due penalty for that, right?
29:27-29:35
And that's why you see, even in the homosexual community, there's already the reaping of some of the consequences.
29:36-29:41
Venereal disease, unfulfilled relationships, unsatisfied relationships.
29:41-29:53
I could go on and on about the testimonies and stories heard of people that have come out of that culture and just have talked about what a horrific life experience it really is.
29:56-29:57
But, here we are.
29:59-30:01
We're concluding Pride Month this week, by the way.
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And I will say this, that's actually a very appropriate name.
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For a culture that rejects God, and a culture that has been rejected by God, A culture that says, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, we are proud of ourselves.
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Look what we have become.
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Look how woke we are.
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We are so proud of ourselves." Here we are.
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First the heart goes, that's sexual immorality.
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Then what is natural goes, that's dishonorable passions.
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Thirdly, write this down, finally the mind goes.
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Debased minds.
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Finally, the mind goes.
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Debased minds. Look at verse 28.
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It says, "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." You know what that word "debased" means?
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"Debased" means you test something and you find that it's worthless, right?
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Kind of like you have a flashlight that doesn't light and you check the bulb and you check the batteries and still don't light and you're like, my conclusion is this thing is worthless and you throw it away.
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That's what is being used to describe people's minds.
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Their minds are completely useless.
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Do you realize nothing good is being produced from their heads?
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You know, at the beginning of this message, I was talking about all this insane stuff that we're seeing in our culture.
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Like, and I've had so many people ask me like, you know, what's going on?
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What's wrong?
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Can't people see this as crazy?
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Why is the world so backwards?
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Why is this bizarre world?
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Why is this upside down world?
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I've heard all these terms, people asking me.
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And the answer is right here.
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It's because God says, go ahead, do your thing.
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And the result is a useless mind.
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And when you have a useless mind, Guess what kind of stuff comes out?
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Insanity!
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Irrational, unreasonable garbage that you can go home and turn on your TV and watch it live 24/7.
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By the way, this is the worst part because when the mind is gone, there's no turning back.
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You get to the point that what is perverse is promoted.
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And what is decent is denounced.
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That's why he says in verse 28, "They did not see fit to acknowledge God." You know, there's a phrase I've heard thrown around today, in our day rather, of some things that are happening.
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It's called "cancel culture." Have you heard that phrase, "cancel culture"?
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How many of you have heard that?
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Okay, looks like most of you have.
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Actually, there's a word missing from that phrase.
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Actually, a name is missing from that phrase.
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It's Jesus.
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We really live in the "cancel Jesus" culture.
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Or if you're really into the two-word phrase, we can just call it the "abandoned culture." I still have to sell you on this.
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Is this really America?
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Is this what you see on TV?
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We're going to look at the rest of these verses here, okay?
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And as we look at these verses, I just want you to ask yourself, if you're still not sold on any of this, when you see this description, ask yourself, is this what I see on TV?
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Is this what I see on social media?
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Look at verse 29.
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It says, "They were filled All manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.
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They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.
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They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, Insolent.
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Haughty.
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Boastful.
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Inventors of evil.
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Wrap your brain around that one.
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Like, you know the ways that we usually sin?
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Kind of getting old.
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Let's make up some new perverse ways to sin.
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That's what that means.
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Inventors of evil.
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Wow.
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Disobedient to parents.
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Foolish.
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Faithless.
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heartless, ruthless.
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Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them.
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You know, I see that phrase "ruthless." A month ago, maybe you saw this story.
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a 35-year-old mother of a 9-year-old nonverbal autistic kid.
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Took him to a body of water, this community center, whatever, and threw him in. He couldn't swim. She threw him in.
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And there were people that were watching.
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And they were like, "Why isn't she trying to get him out of the water?" ran down and dragged this nine-year-old nonverbal autistic kid out of the water, saved his life. Soon after, the woman took her son to a lake at a golf course and and succeeded that time.
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Killed her own child.
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A kid who looks to the one person on earth that he should be able to trust, right?
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His mother.
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His last memory on this earth is her killing him.
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So when the Bible says that a culture that's abandoned becomes ruthless, that's not hyperbole.
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That's not sort of overstating the fact.
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How ruthless?
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About a mother murdering her special needs child.
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and you saw the bottom of the barrel of sewage.
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It's like you know when a culture has really been abandoned by God.
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You know.
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Did you see it?
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Because not only are they doing these horrible, evil things, but give approval to those who practice them.
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People are not only sinning, but they are also cheering on others who are sinning.
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We talked about the unnatural aspect of the homosexual relationship.
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What's the culture's response to it?
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"Hey, let's have parades." You know what, I'm going to show my personal approval by changing my Facebook profile pic to a rainbow this month to show my approval.
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I read last week an article about Disney and Sesame Street taking steps to really promote the LBQT, whatever the initials are.
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Disney and Sesame Street.
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I don't even understand what business they would have in doing that aside from God abandoned the nation and everybody's lost their minds.
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So the people that are supposed to teach children how to count and learn their letters teaching toddlers about homosexual relationships, really?
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And some of the cultural icons that have the biggest platforms, the athletes, the actors, the musicians, they're the people often that are promoting sin the loudest.
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And I'll be honest with you, when it comes to the athletes, the actors, the musicians, whatever, I have low expectations for a lot of them.
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God help the churches that are flying the rainbow flags right now.
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These churches should be praying for repentance.
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These churches should be seeking to point lost people to Jesus Christ for healing.
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And what are the churches doing instead?
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We applaud you and we stand with you and we stand for you.
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God help us.
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And you're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on Pastor Jeff.
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We love those people?
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Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
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We should be loving these people and we should be intentionally looking for ways to love these people, absolutely.
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But love does not equal, I applaud everything you do.
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You know who gets that?
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Parents, parents get that.
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Do you love your kids?
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Does loving your kids mean that you applaud and approve of every single thing they do and say?
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No! Loving them means you point them to Christ!
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You encourage them towards righteousness.
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Loving does not mean I applaud what you do, even if God's Word condemns it.
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I don't understand how that became the definition of love.
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But for a lot of people, that's what it is.
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There it is.
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There's the description of what happens when a culture rejects God.
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And He returns the favor.
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He simply abandons the culture.
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He simply abandons the nation that doesn't want Him.
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And church, that is a most horrifying kind of wrath.
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And we're immersed in it right now.
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It's sexually perverse.
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It's violent.
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It's ruthless.
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And it's proud.
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So, what do we do about that?
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I'm going to ask you to turn to another passage in your Bible.
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I don't often do that.
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We usually stay in a passage.
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but I'm going to ask you to turn back to Psalm 81.
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Psalm 81, verse 11.
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You're like, "So what do we do? What do we do, Jeff?" Well, I would say, well, let's look at what God says to do. Right?
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Let's look at these verses.
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See if this sounds at all familiar.
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Verse 11, "But my people did not listen to my voice.
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Israel would not submit to me." 1st 12, "So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels." See, there it is again, the sin of abandonment.
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God's like, "Oh, you want to sin? Go ahead.
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You don't want Me. Okay." But here it is, verse 13, listen.
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Oh, that my people would listen to me.
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That Israel would walk in my ways.
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I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.
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Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward Him, and their fate would last forever, but He would feed you with the finest of the wheat, And with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you." So that was the introduction.
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Here's the sermon.
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God told Israel that when you're in a culture, a nation, that won't listen to God, won't submit to God, and God gives you over to your sin, and you end up following your own counsels, what does he tell his people to do?
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He says, "Listen to me, and walk in my ways." In other words, church, for God's people, for us, He's calling us to hear the Word of God and respond to it.
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Hear the Word of God and respond to it.
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You know, you're not responsible for what other people are out there doing.
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But you absolutely are responsible for what you're doing.
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Are you seeking the Lord in your own walk right now?
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It's easy to point the finger at other people's sin.
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What about your sin?
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Are you suppressing God's truth to try to excuse your sin?
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You've got to seek the Lord in your own walk.
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You've got to respond by loving people and sharing Christ with them.
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You have a message right now.
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You have the gospel message that will totally transform somebody's life.
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Are you giving it to them?
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And certainly, last and I would say most important, we need to pray on behalf of a people who are destroying themselves.
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Not just in this life, but destroying themselves for eternity.
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As our worship team comes forward, we're going to do that now.
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I just ask you to bow your heads.
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Father in heaven, we cry out to you now.
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That Father, we are a nation that has been suppressing you for decades.
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And all of this stuff that we're seeing happening right now, Father, is the reward that we get.
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Father, we cry out for this nation.
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We cry out for this church.
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Father, we cry out for the families in their neighborhoods, in their workplaces, in their schools that are navigating through a world of depraved minds.
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A world of debased minds.
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Father, let us be a people that hear Your Word and respond.
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And however You would see fit to use us, Father.
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Open the door.
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Show us.
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Guide us.
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Empower us.
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Give us opportunity.
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Give us boldness.
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Give us much grace and truth to a nation that so desperately needs both.
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In the name of our King, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior, forever.
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Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 1:18-23

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Have you heard of this aspect of God’s wrath (abandonment) previously? If not, what is your initial response to this concept?
Read Romans 1:19-20 again. How is it that everyone is “without excuse” when it comes to knowing there is a God? Explain how people know of God’s existence solely through creation.
What is the connection between giving thanks and having faith (Romans 1:21)?
Explain, briefly and in your own words, the progression that takes place when God “gives up” a nation (Romans 1:24-32). What can we do about it as a church?

Breakout
Pray for our nation, using Psalm 81:11-16 as your guide.

Reconciliation: The Relationship is Restored

Introduction:

What the Cross Proves About God's Love for You.
(Romans 5:6-11)

Justification: The Guilt is Gone

Introduction:

3 Things to Remind Yourself When You Feel Guilty: (Romans 3:21-28)

Living in the Wrath of God

Introduction:

Living in the Wrath of God (Romans 1:18-32):

3 Evidences that God Has Abandoned People:

How to Love Difficult People: How to Love People I Disagree With

Introduction:

How Do I Love Christians That I Disagree With? (Romans 14:1-12):

Living in the Wrath of God

Introduction:

What Happens When God Abandons a Nation?

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Introduction:

What the Cross Proves About God's Love for You. (Romans 5:6-11)

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

3 Things to Remind Yourself When You Feel Guilty: (Romans 3:21-28)

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Living in the Wrath of God (Romans 1:18-32):

3 Evidences that God Has Abandoned People:

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

How Do I Love Christians That I Disagree With? (Romans 14:1-12):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

What Happens When God Abandons a Nation?

Audio Transcript

What the Cross Proves About God's Love for You.
(Romans 5:6-11)