Transcript for:
Ephesians 2:1,6 -But God- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2026-01-11

Would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? Ephesians chapter two verses one through six. And you has he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Father, thank you for your holy word. And Lord, as we look at our salvation, we look at the miraculous moving and working of your Holy Spirit to raise us from the dead, to quicken us, Lord, we are we are just so amazed at the blessing of not being children of darkness, not walking in that darkness, but walking as children of light, walking in that newness of the life of the spirit, and not in the tyranny, under the tyranny of the wicked one, the world, the flesh, the devil. But God, you've set us free, and Lord, we pray that these truths would sink down deep within our heart, that we'd be worshipers, that we'd adore you, that we would just praise your holy name, Lord, that you intervene, that you decided to save us, that we are predestined before the foundation of the earth, Lord, and that we just love you, we praise your holy name, and we discount it a a huge blessing to know you, Lord. So teach us now, open the scriptures, help us to enter into all the truths, the great truths of salvation open to us, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you please be seated? In Romans chapter three verse 10, Paul starts with the with the bad news before he gives them the good news. And the bad news is is that there's none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands. There is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. All guilty. Everybody's guilty. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So that's our starting point. That's who we are apart from Christ. That's who we are before we factor Jesus into the equation. We're dead in our sins and trespasses. We're miserable headed toward hell. That's our destiny apart from Christ. So man's condition apart from Christ is hopeless. We are notice number one, we are dead in verse one, and you has he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. The Lord, we're spiritually dead. We we within the garden with Adam, our first federal head, God told him, the day you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely die. By definition, death is separation from God. So spiritually speaking, Adam and Eve were separated from God spiritually, and the process of physical death began there because of the curse. And so we we see, you know, in in Genesis chapter five, and he died and he died and he died and he died. And it's appointed unto all men once to die, and then the judgment. So the reason for the death that we experience, that separation from God is because of our disobedience of God. And then so we we as we're born, we receive a fallen nature, a fallen nature of being separated from God. And in that fallen nature, we the the thing that Jesus came for is that we'd be born again as he told Nicodemus in chapter three of John. And so Isaiah says in Isaiah fifty three six, all we like sheep have gone astray, and everyone has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And so dead to God, spiritually separated from God. And in John three verse seven, Jesus told Nicodemus, a religious leader, you must be born again. And Nick says, how can a man that is old, you know, I'm dead. I'm old. How can I be born again? And it's impossible. What are you talking about? And and Jesus said, well, you need to be born of of the water and the spirit. And so our ladies, when they have their babies, the water breaks. You need to have the natural birth and the spiritual birth. And so your body and soul, your dichotomy, you need to be a trichotomy, body, soul, and spirit to be born again, to be born from above, be born of the spirit because your condition is dead, and God's gotta quicken you. He's gotta raise you from the dead. So man's condition apart from Christ is hopeless, we're dead, and secondly, we're disobedient. Notice verse two. Wherein in times past, you walked so before you're a Christian, the BC days, wherein in times past, walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince, the power of the air, the devil, who is the usurper, who usurped that federal headship away from Adam and, you know, his desire to be God, the unholy trinity and all. So the prince, the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. So sons of disobedience. We talk about influencers. So the influencer the influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil. We tend to blame everything on the devil, but our flesh that in that fallen nature is warring with God and rebellion to God. And so our disobedience stems as we as we see even in our children that disobedience is innate. It's a part of our being. It's a part of our fallen nature, if you will, as body and soul. So we our disobedience comes natural to us, comes easy to us. And and so we as Jesus said in John eight forty four, you have your father, the devil, and the lust of your father, you will do. He is a liar and he is a murderer from the beginning. So Jesus is addressing the religious leaders, the pharisees, who saw themselves as righteous, and he says, no. No. No. No. No. You guys aren't born again. You guys, your father is the prince of the power of the air. Your father is the devil, and the lust of your father, you will do. I'm so thankful that the devil is not my daddy. I'm so thankful that the Lord Jesus saved me and that I I know my heavenly father. It's just it's just a mind blower to know that I don't have to walk in that darkness as I once did, just doing everything that came natural. Everyone around me, we're just doing what came natural. We just got into the flow of the world, and we're worldlings, we're earth dwellers, and, we we just went with the flow. And so when the salmon come in over here at Chico Creek, you know, you notice that they swim against the current. We were going with the current. Any dead fish can go with the current, But you gotta be alive to swim against that current, to swim against the current of the world. And, if you want to be liked, then you watch Fox News. You watch all the media. You find the direction that the world is going, including the church. And if you wanna be like you, just go with the flow. If you wanna be hated, then challenge the lies. Expose the lies, and you'll find out that you're an enemy. You become an enemy because the wicked one doesn't wanna be exposed. It's real easy to be popular. Compromise and go with the flow. And we see the church today like a business, and in a business mind, hey, we need to go with the flow. If we don't go with the flow, then we're gonna lose people. Well, it's much better to be in fellowship with Jesus and tell the truth, and let the Lord sift his church, and, you know, cause the the cream to rise to the top, so to speak. And so there's no way I wanna be a man pleaser, and to go with the world, and go with the flow of the world, and allow the world to come into the church and corrupt and permeate the church where a little 11 eleven's a whole lump. Where we have no, biblical values, if you will. And so that disobedience where we seek to be like King Saul, a man pleaser rather than a God pleaser. And as a God pleaser, you're gonna be lonely. You're you're gonna have a whole lot of people angry at you. If you're a man pleaser, you you're gonna have a whole lot more people like you. And But you're walking in disobedience. So as a Christian, you need to just ask yourself, what's God's will? What's his word have to say? And and it's over. There's no negotiating as Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. There's no negotiating. It's an absolute no. We're we're not gonna do that. We're not gonna compromise with the world, the flesh, and the devil as Christians. But in your past, it was just real easy for you. You just went with the flow, walking according to the course of Satan, the cosmos, the world order, the satanic world order that's happening today, and you just go with the flow, and your church will grow. You'll just grow and grow and grow. The more of the world you bring in, you bring in Harry Potter, you bring in Dungeons and Dragons, you bring in all the gaming and all the influencers and all the standards of the world of people living together outside of marriage, you bring all that into the church, and you'll be successful in the eyes of the world. Your church will grow. But as soon as you challenge evil, as soon as you challenge heresy, as soon as you try to bring correction. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. As soon as you do that, you're gonna be hated. Big majority of people are gonna hate you. The larger majority because narrow is the way that leads to life eternal, and few there be that find it. Broad, the broad way is the way that leads to destruction. So if you wanna be liked, go the broad way. If you wanna be hated, Jesus said that, you know, if the the world if they've hated me, they're gonna hate you. And what do they hate Jesus for? Because he exposed the wickedness. He's exposed the evil. He's a light that exposed the darkness of the religious leaders. So man's condition apart from Christ is hopeless, we are dead, we're disobedient, and thirdly, we're depraved. The depravity of man. Verse three, among whom also we all had our conversation, that word conversation is manner of life. This is the way we live. This was, our our pattern, if you will. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in your BC days, in the lust of our flesh. So you have the flesh, the lust of the flesh, the the innate desires of your flesh is what you followed and gave into. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And so I love how in Romans 12 verse two, Paul says, be not conformed. Don't allow the world to press you into its pattern. Who's he speaking to? He's speaking to Christians, people that are already saved. And so he's saying, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice unto the Lord, holy and acceptable in him which is your reasonable service so that you would offer yourself to Jesus. Here, my Lord, use me. And then in the negative, says, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed, not a Neuralink, not pills, not any of the world's technology. Be not conformed to this world, and it speaks of the world pressing you into its pattern. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed, a metamorphosis, a different creature, a different person. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. The old things are passed away. All things are become new. So walk in that newness of life. Walk in that newness of life. So don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You're gonna be different. You're gonna be a freak. People are gonna think you're very strange because you don't go with the flow. You're different. And, you're not into the dirty jokes. You're not into the dirty stuff. You're not into the evil stuff. You just wanna be radical for Jesus. If you wanna be in the middle, you're gonna be the most miserable person on the planet. Those that are in the middle, those that are the lukewarm, they they got too much of the Lord to be happy in the world, they got too much of the world be happy in the Lord. So better to be a radical, to be hot, Jesus said, cold, than to be lukewarm, insipid, powerless. He says, you make me sick. And the world doesn't respect you. They don't respect you when you're lukewarm, where you're a carnal Christian. Carnal means fleshly. We allow your fleshly desires to dominate you. So we we wanna live in the spirit, walk in the spirit. We wanna walk in that newness of life and the power of the holy spirit being transformed from glory to glory into the image of Christ. Paul says in Romans seven eighteen, in me in me, if I'm looking inward, in me, I'm looking for something good in me. And the psychiatrist will say, you know, you don't love yourself. No. The the truth is you love yourself too much. You're obsessed with yourself. So Paul looks inward, and he says, in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. There's an anything in me, in my old fallen nature, there's nothing good in me. In Psalm 51 verse five, I was shaping in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. So even as you're in your mother's womb, you're taking on a sinful nature. That's why Jesus had to be born of a virgin. And so he's he's the God man, the son of God. And and so he's born, you know, conceived by the Holy Spirit in into Mary's womb, she's the one that brought forth Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. But you and I, we come through the birth channel, the the propensity, the the the place of a man and a woman, fallen man and woman, and, Jesus is the seed of the woman, the virgin born son of God, and so we're shaping in iniquity, and sin did my mother conceive me. So some people think that that, you know, babies are good, that babies, you know, are gonna go to heaven just because they're babies and because they haven't sinned yet. Why say that babies that are born and babies that die do go to heaven, But it's because God considers them innocent, because they haven't reached an age of accountability. David's baby died, and David said, I can't, be with him, but I am gonna go to him later. And so there's an indication there that these little babies are innocent as God looks at them, and they're covered and sanctified, and they go to heaven. But it's not because they're good. Because you know these little babies, if they could, they'd break that crib up and hit you over the head. You know? If you don't if you don't give them what they want, when they want it, they will scream and there's a bloody terror in them. They're not just all angelic and just laying there. They've got a fallen nature, and sometimes it's really scary. And when those babies grow up to be teenagers, you know, you know that hell lives within them, you know. And the Lord's gotta remove that hell from them and and it's hard. That's why we're to train them up in the way they should go. And when they're old, hopefully, they won't depart from it. But spare the rod, spoil the child. So we our objective is to give them a structured lifestyle of teaching them good and hoping and praying that one day they embrace the Jesus that we've come to know. One of the difficulties in a Christian home is a lot of times our Christian kids don't know that BC era like we did. The things that we went through before we came to Christ. And so for me, I didn't come to Christ till I was 20. So I have a healthy fear of the world. I have a healthy fear where I know, don't play games. Don't play games with that stuff. Because if you think you're strong enough to dabble in the things of the world and have it not bite you, sin's gonna bite you. And it may not bite you in your twenties or thirties, it might come back around in your fifties, you know, like David, you know. So you you need to have a healthy fear, the fear of the Lord. We read this week where a Christian writer, 75 years old, a prolific writer, Christian writer, and all that the last eight years, he's had an affair with a woman. And he's come forward, and he's confessed his sin, he's done with ministry, and it breaks your heart, but there's some things there within his life that he didn't crucify, that he didn't bring to the cross. And the devil, like I said, he's so patient. He's so patient. The devil will wait and wait and wait. So if this guy's 75 and eight years ago, he was messing around for the last eight years, you know, what is he? 67 years old? What kind of nut job at 67 years old is gonna go out and have an affair with a married woman? Are you kidding me? That's what idiots do when they're young. Not somebody that's walked with the Lord and been married for fifty five years, do they? But see our sinful nature, it never goes away. So we can no matter how old you are, you can still succumb to the idiocy, the stupidity, because sin makes you stupid. And you do stupid things. And you think you're getting away with it because you sell a lot of books, or the church is big, or whatever. I got lots of money. God must love me, you know? And then you just trash your life as in a moment. And when I hear about the fall of these leaders, you know, so many of them. I can name a bunch of them right now, and they're being restored and stuff like that. It's like, you know, Lord, I can handle being a nobody. I can handle, you know, a tough, hard ministry all these years. But Lord, don't let me ever, give a reason for my failure. Help me to be faithful is what I mean. Be faithful. Be faithful to my wife. Be faithful to the church that God's entrusted me to minister over. But I understand failure because of sin. I understand that a guy's ministry would fall all apart because of sin. Lord, I don't want that to happen to me. Lord, I wanna be faithful. I have a faithful wife, and she loves you, and she loves you with all her heart. And I wanna represent you before my wife, and my children, my grandchildren. I wanna finish strong. I don't wanna wimp out. I don't wanna wussy out at the end. Lord, I'm pressing toward the mark. I'm pressing toward the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And Lord, as Peter said, if you suffer, don't suffer as an evildoer. If we if we sin against the Lord as Christians, you're gonna reap what you sow. Right? But if we if we suffer as a result of righteousness, that we can live with. Just be faithful. Be faithful to God. Don't give in. Don't give in to that depraved fallen nature that's there as a as a lion ready to pounce on you. You know? So you got Cain and Abel, and Cain, know, sin is at the door. Sin's ready to pounce on you, Cain. Don't let it pounce on you. And we gotta be recognizing that just because we're a Christian doesn't mean that that old, depraved, fallen nature isn't still there. We have the capacity to be the most murderous, wicked people on the planet if we give into it, but we don't want to. And so as in Galatians five, you know, the works of the flesh and the and the work of the spirit. So if we walk in the spirit, then we won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. So it's incumbent upon us to do the positive, continue to walk in the spirit that we not succumb to drying up and shriveling up, and then we begin to sin, you know, privately, and then later publicly. So I would say that if any man be overtaken in a fault, you are spiritual restored so that you want the spirit of meekness, lest you also be tempted. So even those of us that fall, the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Samson's hair began to grow back. So we don't throw them away, but it serves as a warning, take serious your fallen nature. So what do I mean by that personally for me? May not be for you, but for me, coming from an alcoholic family and dabbling in alcohol and drugs and stuff, we never had any alcohol in our home or in our marriage. Why? Because I know I'm an idiot, and I know that it has the potential to grab hold of me. So I look at it as all things are lawful for me. Hey, Jesus drank wine. But all things are not expedient, and I won't be brought under the power of any. So I choose to not go down that road because I know what an idiot I am. And so I said, Lord, help me. And so Kathy and I, we've refrained from from that. And our daughters, raised in a Christian home, never saw us drunk, never saw any alcohol in the home, none of the putrid, filthy stuff. We never introduced them to Harry Potter or any wickedness or any any of that. We tried to have a, you know, a clean home and clean lifestyle and a consistent Christian Christian lifestyle. And as they reach adulthood, if they choose to drink, if they choose to dabble in things of the world, how could that happen? They're raised in a Christian home. I was raised in an unchristian home. I was raised in a worldly home. So in some cases, maybe people that come out of darkness appreciate the light more. They appreciate the goodness of being saved, of being delivered from those things. And I I knew that I didn't want to perpetuate the lifestyle that my mother demonstrated, and my father, and my family members. I didn't wanna perpetuate that. I knew what was the wrong way. I didn't know the right way, but I knew which way was wrong. And as I was searching in my heart for the right way, that's when the Lord arrested me. That's when the Lord saved me. And that's where we look back and we say, oh, man, the depravity. I mean, can you imagine if I continued another twenty, thirty years in that depravity? How much more wretched, not how much better I'd be as a worldly person. Worldly people get worse and worse. They just learn how to lie better. And manipulate and use each other better. They they don't get better. Have you ever seen a a worldly old person, how bitter and angry they are? How they have no filter and the most vile filthy things can come out of their mouth? You know, where's the love, man? And they're not getting better, and their therapy isn't working, the pills aren't working. It's because they have a old, fallen, depraved nature, and all all need to happen is they're put under hot water, and you see the bitterness of their hearts emanate and come forth. That's satanic. That's the old depraved fallen nature. So I was shaping in iniquity and sin did my mother conceive me. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? You think the psychiatrist knows your heart? Not even close. Not even close. There's no way the psychiatrist can know your heart. And even if Oprah and all them tell you, follow your heart, well, the heart's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Only God knows your heart. I need the Lord to expose me and show me my heart. Show me my search me and know me. Try me. See if there be any wicked way in me, Lord, and lead me in the way everlasting. I need the Lord to help me. That's part of being in the word and at church and the Holy Spirit speaking to us. And the mirror of God's word, we we see us in reality. Not not not the fantasy and the fables of today, but in reality who we are in relationship to Christ, and we're undone. We're a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips. And then the Lord, when he's factored into the equation, thank you Jesus for saving me from myself. My problem's not my nervous system. My problem's not my home or my upbringing. My problem's selfishness. If I've been wronged, I have the opportunity for forgive. And I can be set free from bitterness and anger. I can be set free from being a victim. I can experience a peace that surpasses all understanding, that guards my heart and mind through Christ Jesus. It's gonna be hard to retrain my brain, to retrain my brain and take every thought captive for the obedience of Christ. But as I do that, I'm set free from following worldly logic and reasoning. I can have the supernatural wisdom from God. He that keeps his mind on him is kept in perfect peace. And so God gives me the ability to forgive. I can look at Judas, and I can say, Judas betrayeth thou the son of man with a kiss. You know, you can you can you can pray, father, forgive them for they know not what they do, and you're set free. You're set free from all that that hurt and all that bitterness, And it's a new nature. It's not the old depraved that can do that. Can't do it in the flesh. Can't do it and will it. It's gotta be a work of God's spirit. And so the heart's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and who can know it? So we, as men, the man's condition apart from Christ is hopeless. We are dead. We're disobedient. We're depraved. And fourthly, we're doomed. We are doomed. And he says, and we're by nature, your old fallen nature, and by nature, the children of wrath, even as others. So our future is an eternal hell. God saved me from an eternity in hell. God saved me from myself, my old fleshly nature, and he transforms and changes us that sin might. I have dominion over us in Romans six. I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus. Right? Old things are passed away. All things have become new. I'm not that victim anymore. I'm nobody's dog. Nobody's put me on a leash. The heights of the heavens are the heights that I can attain. I can boldly come before his throne of grace to find help in my time of need. The devil can't dominate me anymore, and I won't allow the flesh to dominate me and the world system to dominate me. I'm free. I love my freedom. Jesus is the great emancipator, But apart from him, I'm doomed. It's appointed unto all men once to die and then the judgment. In Revelation 20 verse 15, whosoever is not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. Is your name in the book of life? That's all you need to concern yourself with right now. Is your name in the book of life? If your name is in the book of life, you've got a great future. You're in a good place. What's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what would a man give in exchange for his life? If your name is not in the book of life, today is the day of salvation. For why would you die in your sins? There's no annihilation. There's no purgatory. There's no reincarnation. Jesus himself warned more about hell than he spoke of heaven. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire into Gehenna. In Mark nine forty four, Jesus said, where the worm dieth not. So you got this fire going there and you throw stuff in the campfire and it just sizzles. That would be annihilation. You throw this worm into the fire of hell, it doesn't where the worm dieth not. The fire is still there. The worm's still there. Where the worm dieth not and the fire is never quenched. Speaks of judgment. To me, that statement is sobering. I'll do anything I've gotta do to make sure I don't go to hell. That's sobering to me. I'm not gonna water it down. I'm not gonna make it sound better so that you think God's more of a God of love than you have in your mind or people are saying. No. I know he's a God of love because he sent his son to the cross of Calvary, and he died in my place. That's how I know he's a God of love. That Jesus died in my place. I don't need to reduce or to diminish judgment. God's holy and he's just, but he's also gracious and merciful. And if we choose and we we discount, we we don't value his graciousness, his kindness, his love, and then we try to neutralize his holiness and his justice by saying, know, there's really not a hell. It's in the abstract. There's really no tangible place called hell that God created for the devil and the fallen angels, the one third of the stars that fell with Lucifer. Hell was not prepared for human beings. God's not willing that any would perish that all would come to repentance, but it's a love relationship. And if you don't love God, you're doomed to hell. He loves you. How will you respond? He initiates. How will you respond? If you call if you look at it as it's nothing, is the cross nothing to you? Then what's God to do in a love relationship? He's not gonna force you. He's eventually gonna say, alright, not my will, but your will be done. You don't want heaven? You don't want me? They should be cast into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In Matthew eighteen twelve. Outer darkness away from light. Weeping and gnashing of teeth for all eternity. In first Thessalonians one nine, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord? This doctrine of hell is a serious doctrine, and it's got to be taught in the church today. You can't just gloss over these things, these truths. It's what makes the gospel good news. Because apart from God, we're doomed. Man's condition apart from Christ is hopeless. And then we come to verse four, but God. Now we're getting somewhere. Apart from him, man, we're we're hopeless. We couldn't save ourselves. We couldn't be good enough. Good enough is perfection. And though you're obedient in all the law, and in one point you sin, you're guilty of it all. Well, wait a minute. I'm even shaping in iniquity, so I'm already in the negative. I'm already a debtor. I can't I can't even go back in the womb and make me all cleaned up in the womb. I'm shaping in iniquity. I have a depraved nature. Well well, God must grade on the curve because I'm not as bad as some people. That Rick Bodrey, he's a really wretched dude. I'm better than him. So by being better than him, I should be able to get into heaven. Right? God grays on the curve. No. The wage of sin is death. But God, but the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But God, but when you factor God into the equation, you've got this huge trial, this huge difficulty, no way out. Have you factored God into the equation? Lord, this is an impossible situation. My daughter is a prodigal. My daughter walks in darkness. Lord, we've tried everything. My son, he he's entered into the gay and lesbian lifestyle, Lord. What can we do? It's impossible, Lord. There's no pill. There's no therapy. There's nothing the world offers to make my child holy but God. Only you, Lord. Only you can do this. And we pray, and we ask for the Lord to intervene. When Noah, in Genesis six seven, it says, the Lord said, will destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth. God had repented, God had even made man. Man was so vile, so wickedness, the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. There's about a billion people on the planet based upon mathematical certainty of the how old these guys lived. Close to a billion people, they estimate. It wasn't like just a few people. And Noah is a preacher of righteousness for a hundred and twenty years. So the the picture is one of depravity, of doom, a repented God that even made man. And then it says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But Noah found grace. The but gods. The contrast. The conjunctive, but God. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But you and I found grace in the eyes of the Lord. We were headed to hell. There was no hope. There was nobody that could save us, but God intervened. He made himself known to you. The good news came, the glorious gospel came into your heart and life. God quickened you by the power of the Holy Spirit, and you trans you were transformed in your conversion from body and soul to body, soul, and spirit. You were born again at that moment. The light bulb went on. Now you can hear from the Lord. You have ears to hear. He that has ears to hear, let him hear what the spirit's saying to the churches. You've got a up on the people in the world. The natural man understands not the things of God neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. They're just body and soul. They live like the animals. We once lived like the animals with our base desires and thoughts and the ways that we handle things. Even if you're a moralist, you're still a sinner. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Each and every one of us. When Jacob in Genesis thirty one seven, when he's addressing the brothers of his beloved Rachel and Leah, as he's getting ready to leave, he's been there twenty years. And he worked seven years for Rachel's hand, another seven for Leah's hand, another six for all the cattle and everything. About twenty years there, and the countenance of Laban is looking bad toward Jacob, heel catcher. Jacob finally met his match. Laban was a real swindler, just as Jacob was. Met his match. But he could see that the countenance of Laban, Rachel's and Leah's father was not good toward him. And the brothers began to murmur saying, you know, this Jacob's come in here and taken all of our stuff, stuff that would belong to us and and to our father and all, which was which was lying. He worked for every bit of it. And and Jacob's response was, and your father has deceived me and changed my wages 10 times. But God suffered him not to hurt me. God was protecting Jacob the whole time. God is protecting you and I. There's a hedge of protection about us. And Satan has to get permission to get past that hedge of protection. And there's times where God allows it, where he'll tempt us, where he'll test us. He tempted Abraham, tested Abraham. Take thy son, thy only son Isaac, to a mount that I'll show you and offer him there. And we see the faith exhibited by Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah, upon Calvary. We see the picture there, the typology and all, but there's times where God will test us. There's times where God allow a famine in the land, and Abraham fails the test. He goes into Egypt, he goes into among the Philistines twice, and he lies. This great father of our faith, the man super in faith, in Hebrews 11, in the hall of faith, he, like you and I, in his human nature, succumbs to fear. And that fear grips him, overwhelms him, and he can't as he's trying to factor it out, as he's trying to understand how can I solve this problem, rather than factoring God into the equation? He leaves God out, and now he and all of his ingenuity and all of his strength and all of his as the the one that's the problem solver. He can't solve this problem except by lying. And he actually compounds it, makes it worse. They leave Egypt with Hagar. Oh, what a mess that is. And he's lying and he brings a a reproach under the name of God as Abimelech, you know, says, you know, why didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you lie and say she's your sister, you know? They all got hemorrhoids. They all got boils or tumors. And because of the disobedience there. So why'd you do that, you know? Because he's of a sinful nature just like you and I. And then in Genesis 45 verse eight, Joseph said, it was not you that sent me hither, but God. So his brothers are selling him into slavery, a Midianite caravan heading into Egypt. He's about 17 years old. And when he's about 30 years old, he meets back up with his brothers. They come into Egypt because of a famine, and they're there. And Joseph's a dreamer, and Joseph interpret dreams, and he knew that there'd be a seven year famine, and that all the people around them were impoverished and had to come to Egypt to him to get food, and it was Jacob with the 70. The boys, the the family members are all coming down into Egypt to get food, to get grain. And he recognizes them, but they don't recognize him. And he says, you know what? It was really God, not you guys selling me into slavery. It was really God that used those circumstances to bring me here. He looked to God. He says, but God but God did it. He's the one that brought me here. And then in Genesis 50 verse 20, he says, you thought evil against me as Jacobs died and they're worried now. Dad's dead. What's Joseph gonna do? And he says, but you meant evil against me, but God meant it to good, for good, to save many people this day. So we would we would factor in Romans eight twenty eight. All things are working together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purposes. Everything's working together for good. Everything's working according to God's plan in our lives. For those who love God and are called according to his purposes. Just as Jacob, just as Joseph, when we factor God in, we're no longer hopeless. We see the providence of God. We see his foreknowledge. We see his calling. We see his enabling. Any trial, any difficulty he brings in our life is he's gonna work it together for good. He's gonna be glorified in and through it. We're gonna become more like Christ and draw closer to Christ. And then when Jacob's dying in Genesis forty eight twenty one, he says, behold, I die, but God shall be with you. God's gonna be with you. When we die, when we're getting close to dying, we're gonna look at our children and we're gonna say, but God's gonna be with you. You ever seen how someone in a family who's been such a spiritual giant, such a spiritual strong foundation, people can be 50 years old and feel a huge void when that person's taken home. Because they've modeled the life of a Christian, they prayed over you, They've been consistent over a long period of time of what it means to be a Christian, and now the Lord's taken them home. And for many of us, we've relied upon other people. Now the Lord says, your faith's gonna become your own, and our loved ones say, but God will be with you. He's gonna be with you. Jesus ever lives to make intercession for you. Jesus fills that void, that emptiness in our heart. Samson was dying of thirst, but God clave a hollow place that was in the jaw and there came water there out. And when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived. He's he's dying of thirst in the desert, but God caused water to come out. And Samson was able to continue. David in first Samuel 23 verse 14, Saul was after him every day. Saul was trying to, get a hold of David as he's in the area of the Philistines. And David is so cool to watch him in this chapter because he's praying about everything. You know, when he looked over at Bathsheba, he was very, very successful by then. He was the king, he had a harem of women, he's up on the palace, everything's good. And that's that's where you're the most vulnerable. That's what I was talking about. That depravity is still there. Be sober minded. Don't think that you can't be bit by sin. If any man thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. And David, it says in a time when kings go out to battle, David was idle. And he looked across and the devil set him up. There was a woman who once had the blue dress on, and she's out there bathing. And David is saying, well, I've got instincts. I've got hormones. I've got a natural bent to me where I like naked women. And you know, I've got lots of naked women in the palace here, but I want this new one. This one I haven't known yet. That's depravity. That's that depraved nature within each of us. And yet David is described as a man after God's own heart. It can happen to anybody. And he says, I want her. And you know the rest of the story. But at this point in time, David was still on his way up, and David didn't give in to it at that point in time. And king Saul was after him, and they were singing a song on the radio. Saul has killed his thousands and David has tens of thousands, And king Saul was getting more and more angry throwing javelins at David and trying to kill David and all. And David's in a place in in the Philistines called Kiria, and he's inquiring of Abiathar the priest. Bring the ephod out. Let's ask God if I should stay here in the city of Kirah. And so he's asking specific questions. God, if we stay here, will Saul come after us? And the Lord says, yes, he's gonna come after you. Lord, if we stay here, will the men of Kirah, will they give me over to Saul? Yes, they will. Ain't that great to pray? Ain't that great to have that kind of intel? You don't need Stargate or all that other space stuff out there. You got direct access to God who's omniscient. And he says to you, this isn't a good place for you to stay right now, David. So David and his 600 men, they are rescued in that they flee from there, and they're wandering around as Saul is chasing after them for quite a long time. And, David, he says, Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand. So David was anointed by Samuel to be the next king and he was invincible. But God was using Saul chasing him like a partridge, chasing him everywhere for David's faith to be galvanized, for David's faith to be strengthened as he would trust in the Lord. So you go from watching the sheep of Jethro, your father, or Jesse, and and it's the most lowly job of anybody. Your brothers are heroes in the army or so you think. And the Lord uses you to slay a lion and a bear, and you're protecting his sheep. And the Lord's able to impress upon you, the Lord is my shepherd. Now you're a sheep. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. And David's seeing the the providential care that God has over him as he's the great shepherd, the chief shepherd, the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. And David's being transformed and changed and growing in the Lord. And he's able to see that God's protecting me. And that's why a nine foot six Philistine, ugly Philistine, David is not gonna wimp from. He's not gonna be a wussy because the battle belongs to the Lord. You factor God into the equation. Once God's factored in, I feel sorry for the Philistines. I feel sorry for those who are warned against God. That that you've all know Harari. I feel sorry for him the way he continually blasphemes God. It's not gonna go well with him. It's not gonna go well at all. I don't know how much longer he gets to blaspheme God, but man, he's going for it. At least he's putting his whole heart into being an enemy of God. I can say more for him than I can for Christians who half heartedly seek God. At least he's going for it. Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing it with your whole heart. But God delivered me from his hand. In Psalm forty nine fourteen, death shall feed on them, but God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me. Psalm seventy three twenty six, my flesh and my heart fail. So you can be in a situation of being sick and your heart's failing, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. He's never gonna leave us nor forsake us. He's our portion. He's our strength. He'll get us through these trials. Imagine trying to go through these trials without him. Imagine facing the storms of life and Jesus isn't in your boat. Lord, we perish. And he wakes up, be still, and everything's still. That's the guy you want to have in your boat. That's the boat you want to be in, the one Jesus is in. That's the ark you want to enter into with Noah and his family members. You don't wanna be on the outside facing judgment because of your disobedience and rebellion against God. In Isaiah seventeen thirteen, the nation shall rush like the rushing of many waters. So prophetically speaking, the nations are gonna rush against Israel. Like the rush of many waters to destroy Israel. Like in as we see in Zechariah 12 where the whole world turns on Israel. But God but God shall rebuke them. In Acts 13, turn to Acts 13. Acts 13. I wanna show you something here that hopefully you might understand, you might appreciate, it might explain why we do what we do here at Calvary Bremerton. I know it's different than 99.9% of the churches, but this is why we do this, because it's biblical. We didn't come up with it. We look at the pattern that Jesus laid out, John the Baptist laid out, the Apostle Paul laid out. It's called expository preaching. We get our information, the truth, from the text. Only 2% of churches teach prophecy today. We're one of those 2% that do because we use prophecy as a proof text that what we're saying is true. So Paul here is in Antioch Of Pisidia, and notice verse 26. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, so who are they? Israelites. And whosoever among you fears God, Gentiles. To you is this word of this salvation sent. So here's the gospel. He's bringing forth the gospel to him, This word of salvation. For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, they didn't know Jesus, nor yet the voices of the prophets. They didn't know the voices of the prophets. He came onto his own. His own knew him not. They could have been students of prophecy in the last days, and they know what's happening right now. Yet the voice of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. Did did they ever read Isaiah 53? Did they read Psalm 22? Did they read of the prophets talking about in Daniel nine that he'd be cut off? Didn't they know they were fulfilling prophecy? And today, everything is falling into place according to plan because God has put into the hearts of these globalists, inspired by the devil, inspired by God, to do according to God's will. The devil thinks he's the one inspiring, but really the Lord in Revelation seventeen seventeen has put in the hearts of these globalists to set the stage for the biggest loss ever with the return of Jesus Christ. And we should be able to preach that and talk about that and be rejoicing that the return of Jesus is soon based upon the prophetic picture. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they pilot that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all now notice he's he's rehearsing. He's given them the history of what happened, the truth as a witness, as an eyewitness. This is part of your preaching. This is part of your testimony. This is what they did, and this is what the prophets prophecy said. He's not just getting this sermon from pastors.com or something. And when they had fulfilled all that that was written all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulchre. But God but God raised him from the dead, and he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses under the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings. It's good news. It's not all about hell. When you factor God back in, it's good news. It's the good news of Jesus being crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. It's glad tidings. It's not doom and gloom. It's glad tidings. Jesus is coming again. How that the promise which was made under the fathers. Again, prophecy. God has fulfilled the same unto us, the children, and that he has raised up Jesus. Again, as it is also written in the second psalm. Again, quoting the second psalm. Quoting the scriptures. What's the content of your sermon? What's the content of your witnessing? It better be the scriptures. Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore, he also, in another psalm, so again quoting the psalms, which these guys should be familiar with, but as a natural man reading them, it doesn't click. So you gotta quicken it with the with the holy spirit to wake him up to the truth. Thou shall not suffer thy holy one to see corruption. And he goes on to describe how David that psalm was for Jesus because David did see corruption, but Jesus didn't see corruption because he's raised himself from the dead. Three days later, Martha knew that Lazarus' body in the tomb had seen corruption. Lord, by this time he stinketh. But the holy one wouldn't see corruption, but God. In first Corinthians ten thirteen, there's no temptation that's taken you, but such as is common to man, but God. So we have these trials. We think we're unique. We're the only one that ever went through this, and no? Unbelievers, everybody. All over the world, it's it's common for people to face the things you're facing that I'm facing. You and I don't have immunity. You and I don't have exclusivity. We're the only ones. Nobody knows. No. That's not true. A whole lot of people know. Want me to sing that again? But we we like to think that we're the only ones. There's no temptation that's taken you, but such is common to man. We're a fallen people. We're a cursed race. We're a cursed people. There's sin in the world, in a fallen world. And it's not always because you sinned. You're just living in a fallen world. And life's tough. It's not fair. It's not just. But God, he came to rescue us. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you're able. People stop there. Oh, he won't give me more than I can handle. Oh, yes, he will. He's gonna bring you to the brink. He's gonna bring you to the end so that the passage as it goes further, you find out the way of escape is Jesus. And so he says, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape. Where's that escape? I wanna be I wanna be delivered from the trial. Well, sometimes he does. Other times, he'll deliver you through the fiery trial like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That you might be able to bear it. How are you gonna bear it? By relying upon Jesus. I reached the end of my cell. The only way I can bear it is but God. I have to factor God into the equation. This is too big for me. This has broke me. I'm a broken man. I'm a broken woman. I have a broken marriage, a broken prodigal child. What am I gonna do? What how am I gonna get through this? Drugs? Alcohol? Licit sexual content activity? Am I gonna try to appease the flesh and assauce the flesh and comfort the flesh? No. That leads to greater degradation, greater bondage, greater hopelessness. I've gotta rely upon the holy spirit. I gotta factor God into the equation. Though my outward man is perishing, my inward man's being renewed day by day. While I look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, things which are not seen are eternal. God's changing me. Lord, change the circumstances. Rick, I wanna change you. I want you to yield to me. I'm the potter, you're the clay. Now yield. Don't rebel against me. Don't fight against my hand upon your life. Yield to the potter because you're my workmanship. You're a work of art, Rick, and you don't see you don't see yet. But you and I are trophies of his grace. Epaphroditus, he was sick nigh unto death, Paul said in Philippians two seventeen. So Paul has a gift of healing, but he can't use that gift because it's a sovereign gift. You don't just get to heal anytime you want as an apostle. We, as we said last week, are not cessationists. We still think the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. God still heals. It's God that heals. And God is sovereign. One person he heals, another he doesn't. So Epaphroditus, he was sick nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him. God healed him. Man's condition apart from Christ is hopeless, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love where with he loved us in the past tense, the cross of Calvary. God's wrath poured out upon his son instead of us. Verse five, even when we were dead in sins, We weren't good. We weren't his friend. We were enemies of God. We were dead in our sins. We weren't a prize to be saved. We we didn't earn our right to be saved. We were dead in sins. He's quickened us together with Christ by grace are you saved. Romans five verse seven says, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet per adventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God demonstrated or commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We think in terms of loving reciprocally that I earned it, I deserve it, hey, I did something good for God, Now he's gonna do something good for me. No. You were depraved. You were dead in your sins and trespasses. You were even an enemy of God. And it's in that condition that he saved you. That he awakened you to his love. But God, in Revelation thirteen eight, a lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. Verse six, and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. We're dead, we're disobedient, we're depraved, we're doomed. Now, when my mother was in this condition before she got saved, remember worldly people who are dead, disobedient, depraved, and doomed, how do they live? They live like dead people, like disobedient people, like depraved, like doomed. But we want to impose upon them greater behavior, a holy huddle. And I began to learn that my mom, as an unbeliever, didn't have the capacity nor did I. But as a Christian, God enables us, God empowers us. God changes our nature. Now there's a desire in my heart to please God, to live a life of love. So we don't impose upon worldly people the standards of spirit filled Christianity. We look at them, we have compassion toward them. We have compassion in that they're captives in a in a in a war, they are captives of the wicked one. And Jesus is stronger than the wicked one, and so we pray for them. We ask Jesus to intercede to set them free, to open their eyes. To set them free from the bondage and the wickedness of the wicked one who's taken them captive against their will. So it's a spiritual matter of intercession and sharing the gospel and modeling the gospel in hopes that God would intervene, that God would send a neighbor, a coworker, somebody that would throw the seeds down and water the seeds. And that God at a certain point, in my mom's case, it took cancer. It took cancer, lung cancer for her to come back because she's in rebellion to God. As a little girl, she believed. And it took cancer for her to come back to her faith. And salvation is by grace through faith alone. The thief on the cross, Jesus said, this day you'll be with me in paradise. He didn't have the luxury and the time of producing a good life. Faith without works is dead. He didn't have the fruit of a good life thereafter. He's a thief and then he's in paradise. How did he get there? By being good? By praying more? By what? Simply believing. The Philippian jailer, what must I do to be saved? Believe. That faith, that faith in God, where that faith come from? Comes from God. God gives you that measure of faith. And you act upon it. You're dead, you're disobedient, you're depraved, you're doomed. But God, notice what God does, but God quickened you. He raised you from the dead. Your body and soul. Now your body, soul, and spirit. Nicodemus, you must be born of the spirit. Nicodemus, you're a natural man. You have the water birth, the natural birth, but now you need the spiritual birth to be born again. You're quickened, you're raised, and you're seated. He seated us. These three verbs are in the heiress tense. The heiress tense means completed action. So God already sees you quickened. The new you and the new glorified body already there in heaven, but you have that new glorified that that new nature right now. You're quickened. No longer body and soul. Body, soul, and spirit, and you're already raised. You're already raised from the dead. You're already and then he says, seated. You're already seated up in heaven. Already happened. Can already done. The heir is tense verbs. In John six forty four, Jesus said, no man can come unto me except the father which has sent me draw him, being wooed, being drawn by the holy spirit, and I'll raise him up in the last day. So for you, think about that moment. That moment, now some of you came to Christ when you're little kids, so you don't have this moment. You've In your mind, you've always believed, and that may be true. My daughters came to Lord four years old. They didn't have the contrast, the huge contrast of a of a Saul of Tarsus walking to Damascus, where the Lord intervened. In my case, my testimony, which you all know, I was going with the world, invited to a concert at a church. I wasn't looking for God. My life was good, as Nacho would say. I thought it was good. And then that night, somebody got up there whom I don't know. I don't know who it was. And he shared the gospel. It's the first time I ever heard it. And at that moment, I was quickened. It was radical. There was a radical moving and working of the Holy Spirit that stopped me in my tracks, made me evaluate what was being said, gave me the insight, the understanding that it was true. And as I yielded my will to God, I was converted at that moment. Now before the foundation of the earth, God already wrote my name in the lamb's book of life. God knew all along. I came to discover that night what it means to know Jesus. That God is real, that he's risen. And so the father wooed me, the father drew me by his spirit. Eyes not seen nor ear heard, neither has it entered in the hearts of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him. I can only imagine. We stop there. But it says, but God has revealed them unto us by his spirit. God's already revealing to you and I bits and pieces of heaven. Bits and pieces of what it's like to be with Jesus for all eternity. The next verse, verse seven for next week, the kindness, God's kindness in the ages to come continually revealed unto us. So eye has not seen. The natural eye hasn't seen nor ear heard. The natural ear hasn't heard. They don't get it. The natural man understands not the things of God, neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned. That's the natural man. Neither has it entered in the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him, but God has revealed them unto us by his spirit. Are you a spirit filled Christian? When you read the scriptures, is God speaking to you? Do you have ears to hear? Can you discern between good and evil in the world in which we live? As David inquired of God, should I go? Should I stay? And that's and that's without the indwelling holy spirit in him. Jesus said it's expedient that I go because if I go, it's profitable if I go because then I'll send the comforter and the comforter will be in you. You're gonna be born again. You're the temple of the holy spirit. We have access to the very throne of God. And yet, in many cases, we're always looking to Fox News and the influences of the world to determine truth. And we don't even know we're so being lied to. We don't exercise our spiritual faculties to take every thought captive through the obedience of Christ. To be able to hear from the Lord and to see through the lies. We lack discernment. First Thessalonians five verse nine, for God has appoint for God has not appointed us to wrath, but God but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. So we're not appointed under wrath of the tribulation period, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. He's gonna rescue us from the wrath that's gonna be poured out during the tribulation period. In first Samuel 12 verse 24, only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things he's done for you, but God. In Romans three twenty three, all have sinned. All means all, all, all, all. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Jesus Christ. Romans six twenty three says, for the wages of sin is death. Factor God in. The wages of sin is death. We deserve death. We we deserve if we want what's fair. God, this isn't fair. God, I want justice. God, this is unjust. The wages of sin is death. That's what you deserve, an eternity separated from God. Don't you want grace? You sure you want what's fair? Don't go down that road. Come boldly before his throne of grace and mercy to find help in your time of need. Don't build a case that you deserve this house. I deserve this, Lord. I've served you and given and done so much for you. Lord, I deserve this. No. You're falling into the Joel Olsteen and all the health, wealth, and prosperity dudes. If you truly got what you deserve, it'd be hell. The wages, what you owe, what God owes you, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God, oh, but God. But the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. In John one verse 10, he was in the world. The world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many but God, but as many as received, to them gave he the power to becomes the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. So he's the creator. He comes under humanity whom he created. He comes under Israel who is the apple of his eye, the nation, and they reject him. But as many as received him, whosoever will, let him come. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved in Romans 10. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name, which were born not of blood, not the natural birth, nor of the will of man, or the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. It's a God thing. They're born of God, but of God. You're born not of the flesh, not of the will of man, not by blood, not the natural birth, Nick. You're born but of God. He saved you. You're born again. Where would we be without God? What are you facing today that seems insurmountable? If God saves you, if he has saved you, what is it you're facing today that's greater than him saving you? You're saved. But God, he's gonna get you through everything. He's gonna prepare you for for his kingdom. That's what's happening. We're being changed from glory to glory in the image of of God. And so we don't wanna face the problems of the world. We don't wanna face the world in which we're living without factoring God into the equation. Because if we look back before we were saved, how did we reconcile things? How did we problem solve? How do we get through life? All we had to depend on was ourselves, and our money, and our intellect, or whatever it may be. But we were headed to hell, and God had to intervene. He had to quicken us. He had to raise us from the dead. He had to cause the light bulb to go on in conversion as we turned from our sins, as we repented and turned toward God, as we cried out to God, God be merciful to me a sinner. He came into our hearts and lives. The glorious gospel, the glorious good news of Jesus Christ, for God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. But God, where would I be without God intervening that night? Where would I be today? Would I still be married? Would I have a family? If I was married and I had a family, would it be my third wife, my fourth wife, my fifth wife? Would I just give up on all of it and just be a drug addict and alcoholic? Or or would I be a real goody two shoes moralist and focus on just making money? And money would be the way that I evaluate my life. But Jesus said, what's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what would a man give in exchange for his life? You can't redeem your brother. You can't redeem yourself. It takes the precious blood of Jesus Christ to pay for your sins. Salvation's a free gift. And Paul's reminding you, you were dead. You were depraved. You were doomed until God came into your life. But God. Will we worship him? Will we express gratitude and thanksgiving and and thank him for rescuing us from hell? From an eternity in hell? An eternity in sin? Is he worthy of our praise? Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for intervening. Thank you, father, for charting a course within the prophecies, within the scriptures that we can look and we can study, and we have the more sure word of prophecy to validate, to prove that we're on the right path. Over 300 prophecies fulfilled in your first coming. And Lord, prophecies being fulfilled even now, but Lord, our spirit's bearing witness with your spirit that we're children of God. We have the confirmation of your Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives. We have the confirmation of a life that's transformed and changed, the desires within our heart changing. And we have the confirmation of the Holy Spirit, a greater power than the world, the flesh, and the devil that are seeking to pull us down. A greater power operative in our life to give us victory over sin, that sin shall not have dominion over us. Father, we thank you for the freedom that we have in Christ. We thank you for the transformation, the change that comes when we receive Christ in our hearts and lives. Lord, we thank you that this work that you've begun in us, Lord. Before the foundation of the earth, you began this work. You wrote our name in the lamb's book of life. And Lord, we can be assured that you're gonna complete it. You're gonna finish this work until the day of Jesus Christ. So father, we rest afresh. We rest afresh in you. We rest afresh, Lord, in the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary. And Lord, we're watching, we're looking, we're looking up, knowing that this world is not our home, knowing that it doesn't fit, that it's chaotic, that it's moving and working according to the prince of the power of the air. But you're gonna intervene. You're gonna intervene and accept those days be short and no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, for the nation of Israel, you're gonna intervene, Lord. You're gonna keep humanity from destroying everything, and you're gonna purify a remnant of of Jews, a 144,000, and one third remnant of Zechariah thirteen eight and nine during the tribulation period. Innumerable multitude of Gentiles beneath the throne, Revelation six and seven, the greatest revival ever in the tribulation period. A time of evil that you said the world has never seen nor ever see again, but God. But you're gonna save. You came to seek and to save that which was lost. Lord, we thank you that you sought us out, that you quickened us, that you raised us, and you've seated us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And while your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed as you continue to pray, if there's anybody here this morning, you don't know Jesus in this way, you don't have a relationship with him, you're still trying to direct your life with your own faculties, with your own means, with your own intellect, with your own reasoning, the reasoning of the world. Or maybe now you're starting to rely upon AI. You've got an AI friend who you ask every question, every difficulty. AI, what should I do? Siri, what should I do? The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God. Siri doesn't know. AI doesn't know. God who created you, he knows you, and he loves you. And he's wooing you. He's drawing you to himself. You can trust him. How do I know? Because he sent his son to the cross at Calvary to die for you. You can trust a God like that. He's not asking anything of you to do. He's asking you to consider what he's done and that you would believe. Are you ready to believe? Is today the day of salvation? Just lift your hand up. We wanna lead you in prayer as you receive Christ. As you factor God into the equation, but God, where would you be without God? Where are you without God? Where could you be with God? Anyone here this morning? What do you have to lose? If his way is the wrong way, you got you got nothing to lose. Step out in faith, receive Christ. Say no to the darkness. Say no to the things of the world. Say yes to the light. Say yes to the light of the glorious gospel that's come to expose the wickedness of the world, the wickedness of your heart and my heart. Receive Christ. To many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. It's not a matter of intellect, it's a matter of the will. Do you will to be right with God? Do you want to be right with God? Surrender your heart and life now. Just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. The bible says there's rejoicing in heaven among the angels when just one sinner repents. Repent means to turn from your sins and turn on to God, and cry out to God, God be merciful to me a sinner. Anyone here this morning? That's the cry of your heart. But God. Father, thank you. Thank you for the assurance of salvation for each of us in the room here, knowing that we're sealed, knowing that we have the earnest of the Holy Spirit, the engagement ring. We know that there's much much more to come. We thank you for the blood of your dear son that's washed and cleansed us, that's paid for all of our sins. We thank you for his blood that continually cleanses us of all unrighteousness. We thank you for the access, the fellowship, the communion that we enjoy with you, Lord. We're no longer are we dead, no longer are we separated from you, but now, we have a oneness, a communion, fellowship, body, soul, and spirit. You living and dwelling within our hearts. Thank you, Lord, for this relationship. Thank you for so great a salvation. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen.