Real Christianity | Chris Baselice | 1 Timothy - 2/8

So last week, we kicked off this study through the book of 1 Timothy, and we talked about Timothy is in this grouping of other books and other letters, if you will, in the scriptures called the Pastoral Epistles written by the Apostle Paul to young men that were kind of his apprentices that he was discipling, but he had left them to be pastors. And he writes these letters to these men in regards to his church. And we saw last week how 1 Timothy specifically is a letter about how the church, and remember we talked last week, the church is not a building, right? Who's the church? We're the church. So it's this letter about how the church should kind of live. It's not just about what we believe as Christians, it's about how we live. Paul is writing this letter, and we're introduced to the Apostle Paul. He's the author, and we're introduced to the recipient, Timothy, and he's encouraging with a couple things. He's like, hey, Timothy, stay. Stay there. Stay in Ephesus. I know ministry's tough. I know you gotta be going up against a lot of stuff.

I know people are hard, but I just, I need you to stay, and I need you to stay, and he gave him a command in verse three and four. Stay and command the false teachers to stop spreading false teachings. We talked about the danger of false teachings and the danger of false teachers and how they need to be called out. We talked about some of the things that even Paul would call out, these myths, these extra-biblical writings that they were teaching as if they were truth. And then these endless genealogies, and we talked about how there are some people who get into minute details, even in the Scriptures, and they make minor things the main things, and they create debates and division within the body and how it actually distracts from the main mission of the church, which is to make what? Okay. Man, you guys are good today. I like it. All right. Today, today we're gonna see Paul talk to Timothy about one of the most important things in the household of God, and it's God's amazing grace, amen? So let's see what Paul has to say about it. Look with me, 1 Timothy chapter one, start in verse six.

Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. They wanna be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. Now, we know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous, but for lawbreakers and rebels, for the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. Stop right there. So as Paul is gonna kind of dig in on God's amazing grace, the first thing that he talks about, and it's our first point this morning, is this. It is the purpose of the law, the purpose of the law. And you're like, well, how does the law, what does the law have to do with grace? We'll get there. But he continues to talk about these false teachers, and he says, you know, these false teachers, they're trying to be teachers of the law. They wanna be seen as smart and these professional theologians,

but he says they don't even know what they're talking about. They don't really understand the purpose of the law, so they're using it improperly. And just to be clear, when Paul is referencing the law, he's referencing the first five books of the Old Testament, and even more specifically, the Ten Commandments, and we'll see that as we kind of continue in this. But here's what Paul says. Even though they're using the law improperly, that doesn't mean that the law is bad in and of itself. And he says this. The law is good if one uses it properly. And can't you say that about almost anything? I mean, everything, almost everything is created with a purpose, and when you begin to use something for what it wasn't made for, you can end up hurting yourself and others. I'll give you an example. Medicine. Right, like, how about something like painkillers? The fact that God would create things in this earth and give man wisdom to be able to combine certain things so that a pill could be created that when we are experiencing pain, it can actually be numbed. But we take something that was meant for good and healing, and what do we do in our sinful nature? We corrupt it and abuse it, and it ends up hurting and even killing people.

Do you see what I'm saying? How when you take something and use it for what it wasn't used for, it can be dangerous. And Paul begins to break down the proper use and purpose of the law. He says, the law is not for the righteous. What does that mean? Well, when Paul says righteous there, he's referring to people who have a real relationship with God. Jesus and have been justified declared righteous by God through their faith. That's what he's referring to He's not referring to people that are perfect because the Bible is very clear. There are none righteous. No, not one, right? So when he says righteous he's saying the law isn't for the Christian. What does that mean? Some of you are excited. You're mean like you're thinking. Oh my gosh. I don't have to keep the law. Hallelujah. No, that's not what it means Romans chapter 7 verses 4 through 6 Paul writes, so my brothers and sisters you also died to the law through the body of Christ so that you might belong to another to him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God for when we were in the realm of the flesh the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us so that we bore fruit for death. Here's the thing, but now by dying to what once bound us we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code. What is Paul saying? If you're in this room and you're a Christian and you have a real relationship with Jesus you have been united to Jesus through faith and because Jesus kept the law perfectly, never sinned, did everything that this book says, he did it perfectly. Amen? Because we are united to him, his law keeping is accounted to us. So when God looks at you as a Christian, he sees you as if you've kept every single law in his word and that is a great gift. Amen? Now, now we are no longer under the law as a means to gain acceptance with God. So in the Old Testament, we've gone through the Old Testament here, God calls out the nation of Israel and he gives them his law. He says, you want to be in a relationship with me? In order to be accepted, you're going to have to keep my what? Law. And when you blow it, our relationship is going to be broken, there's going to have to be a sacrifice to cover your sin, and they had to live under this heavy weight of the law. But God sent his only son, amen? Who not only kept the law perfectly for us, but became the ultimate sacrifice, the lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world. So now through our union with him, you and I are no longer under the burden of the law to be accepted by God. God does not accept us because of our law keeping, God accepts us because of Jesus' law keeping for us. Get it? So who's the law for then? He says, it's not for the righteous, it's for the unrighteous. It's for people who do not yet have a relationship with Jesus. And he begins to give you this list of detailed sins to identify those people who are practicing these things, who do not yet have a relationship with Jesus. And really, as he goes down this list, all of these sins can be grouped into the Ten Commandments. So he starts off with the ungodly, the sinful, the unholy, and irreligious. These are the first four commandments.

No other gods before me, no idols, no blasphemy, he's grouped it into that. He says, those who kill their parents, what does the Ten Commandments say? Honor your father and mother. Those who murder, what does the Ten Commandments say? Thou shall not murder. The sexually immoral and those who practice homosexuality, the Ten Commandments say, don't commit adultery. Now let's be clear here, we talked a little bit about this last week. We sometimes place homosexuality in this kind of elevated box where it's a worse sin than everything else. And the Bible is very clear that it is not. It is a sin like anything else. Let me say this, there are more verses in the Bible about heterosexual sin than there are about homosexual sin. So let's be sure that we don't take that and say, oh, this is worse than the others. No, it's not, but it is a sin like any other. He goes through this list, slave dealers, literally it means man stealers, the Ten Commandments says, thou shall not steal. Liars, thou shall not lie. The law is for people who don't yet know Jesus, and it's meant to be two things. One of them is a mirror. The law is meant to be a mirror. Anyone look in the mirror this morning? All of you did. And when you look in the mirror, like I don't know how many of you guys wake up in the morning and you just think you look beautiful, like rolling out of bed. Maybe you think, maybe you're deranged and you think that. But then you go in the bathroom, you turn on the light, and you look at that mirror, you're like, whoa! Because the mirror shows you who you really are. Law does. That when you look into the law, it shows you who you really are. And it shows you this, that you are a law breaker. Anyone ever go over the speed limit in their car, anyone? Don't worry, we don't have police officers watching you right now, you can be honest, it's okay. When did you know that you were breaking the law? When you saw the law. Either a speed limit sign, and you realized I'm breaking the law, or you saw those lights in your rear view mirror. When you saw the law,

you realized you were breaking the law, follow me? And that's the way the law of God is meant to be. It's a mirror, but it's also meant to be a weight that crushes us. And we may not like this. I think sometimes people think, oh, God has given us his law as these hoops to jump through. That if I can just do all these things that it tells me to do, and don't do the things that it tells me not to do, then God's gonna love me and accept me. There's a big problem with that. God has given us his law, but God's standard is perfection. So if you wanna be right with God through law keeping, that means from the day you were born, you can never make a mistake. You can never sin, you can't have an off day, no slip ups. No, the law is meant to be a weight that crushes us. Why? So that we might see our need for Jesus. Paul says it so well, Romans 3.20. Therefore, no one, say no one. No one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law. Rather, through the law, we become conscious of sin. I don't know who needs to hear that in here. I don't know which of you thinks that you're right with God because you're a good person. The law says, no, you're not. Maybe you're good, like relatively speaking,

you're comparing yourself to someone else, but not compared to God. No, you're not. No one can be made righteous through the law. Rather, the law makes us conscious of our sin. It is a mirror, and I love Galatians 3.24. I love what Paul says here. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith. The law crushes us and shows us that we could never make it to God on our own, and it pushes us to the feet of Jesus where we see him for who he really is, our King and our Savior, so that we might be justified through him. This is the purpose of the law. It is a mirror, and it is a weight, and they should lead you to the amazing grace of the gospel. This is why I'm like, oh, Paul's talking about grace, and I start off by saying, here's the purpose of the law, and you're like, well, how does that have anything to do with grace? Because you can't have one without the other. So many today try to tell others the good news of the gospel, but they never share the bad news of the law. And here's what you need to understand. People will never value grace apart from the crushing weight of the law.

You try to tell people about Jesus. Oh, Jesus, he wants to save you. If they don't understand what they need to be saved from, they'll just be like, well, that's good for you, but I don't need it. We have to preach the law as much as we preach the gospel. These false teachers, these false teachers were applying the law to Christians in an improper way. It might be defined today as legalism. Legalism. And with legalism, here's the heart behind it. Here's the teaching, here's the belief that God loves and accepts you if you keep the law, but if you fail to keep the law, he no longer loves and accepts you until you clean up your act again. And some of you in this church believe this false doctrine, and you don't even know it. You just kind of slide into legalism, and it is such a dangerous thing because it produces two things. One, it produces pride. So some of you have had a great week spiritually. I mean, you've been on fire for the Lord. You've been waking up at six, and you've been in the Word and praying. Man, you even prayed before every meal. But you are holy this week. Man, and you're serving at the church, and you're giving financially,

and the worship came on today. You're like, I'm one hand up, I'm holy, and I'm really feeling it, two hands, whoo. And you feel good about yourself, and here's what you think, and you may not say this, God loves me more this week than he did last week. I'm so, man, I'm so holy. I'm way holier than that. That person got their hand in their pockets during worship. And it produces pride, and pride is dangerous. And you know what else it produces? Despair. Because listen to me, when you fail, not if, when, then you're gonna think, oh, he doesn't love me. love me as much as he did before. He's mad at me, he doesn't want me to come near, I'm not even gonna come to church this weekend. That is the danger of legalism, and most of us, our natural bend is towards legalism, earning, and that's why I tell you all the time, you gotta preach the gospel to yourself every day. You hear me say that before? And I'll kinda even, there's a book by J.D. Greer called Gospel, I highly encourage you to read it if you haven't yet, but within that book is a prayer that he created, it's called the Gospel Prayer, and you will hear me say it and even pray it from the pulpit, and I try to pray it for myself every day, and I'm gonna show you a snippet of it on the side, here's what it says.

There is nothing I have done that could make you love me less, and nothing I could do that would make you love me more. Please leave that up there for a moment. You need to find a way to get that into your heart every single day, to ground yourself in the love of God and in the grace of the gospel, because if not, you're gonna drift into legalism. And this is what these false teachers were teaching. And here's the danger of legalism, you end up focusing on your obedience more than on the obedience of Jesus for you. And the more you focus on the obedience of Jesus for you, here's what it's gonna produce in you, a deeper love for him for what he's done, and that will produce greater obedience to him. There's a difference between religion and relationship. Religion says this, and know this, religion says this, be good, and then God will love you. Relationship says God loves you, now go and be good. Our obedience is not to earn God's love, we already have it, our obedience is a response to what Jesus has already done for us, amen? And this is the power of the gospel of grace. Like, Christians don't get a new law. Again, some of you are excited, I don't have to be under the law anymore, hallelujah. No, you don't get a new law, Christians get a new heart. In the Old Testament, the law was written

on tablets of stone, and nobody wanted to keep it. But the glory and the beauty of the gospel is that now God's law is written on our, if you know Jesus in this room, you know what that looks like. Because before you knew him, you would never come to church. I hate church, ugh, and now you're like, I can't wait to go to church. Before, you were like, the Bible? I would never read that old, antiquated book, ugh. And now you love his word. Do you see how he writes his law on your heart and now you have new desires? And let me say this, in love, some of you haven't experienced that yet, and you've been deceived into thinking that just coming to church is gonna save your soul and that you're right with God, and you haven't yet surrendered your life to him, probably because you haven't been crushed by the law yet. And he loves you, and he's waiting for you just to surrender, but this is where grace starts. You will never think that grace is amazing unless you understand the purpose of the law, amen? And as Paul's talking about the law and the crushing weight of it, it's almost as if he begins to remember his own conversion and who he was before Jesus. Look at verse 12. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has given me strength,

that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. But the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Now here's a trustworthy saying that demands full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst, but for that very reason, I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever, amen. Second point, the second thing that Paul wants to talk about when it comes to grace is the power of the gospel. Power of the gospel. And as he thinks back to his conversion and who he was before Jesus, how God saved him, he breaks out in gratitude. And shouldn't we be the most grateful people in the world for what God has done? He's like, you know, I am so grateful that God saved me. Aren't you grateful that God saved you? Sometimes we need to pray the prayer, God, restore to me the joy of your salvation,

because we lose it. We come to church, we sing these songs, and we're not even moved by them anymore. Paul's just thinking about who he was before God saved him, and he's like, I just gotta bust out in gratitude. He starts singing gratitude. That song wasn't around back then. He says this, I thank God, for what? That he gave me strength. Everything that a Christian accomplishes is only because God gives you the strength to do it. Every, the breath, listen, the breath in your lungs, the beating of your heart, your ability to see and think and speak, your business that you built, your ability to work, the mind that God has given you that is allowing you to pursue an education right now, all of those things is God giving you strength because apart from him, we can do nothing. Paul's like, man, I would not be where I am without the strength that he has given me. And then he says this, I'm also grateful that he considered and counted me trustworthy. Now, we have to be clear here. Is Paul saying that God is going around looking for people that are trustworthy and those are the ones that he's gonna choose to use? No. So what does it mean that God counted and considered him trustworthy? Well, I think James chapter one gives us

a kind of deeper insight into this. James chapter one, verse two, same word. Consider or count it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Are trials joyful in and of themselves? No, but he says, here's what you need to do. When you see a trial, you need to count it as joy, consider it as joy, and then it will be joyful to you. Do you follow me? So what Paul is saying is that God looked at him in his state and he was not trustworthy. No, he was a violent man and a persecutor of the church, but God said, I'm gonna deem you trustworthy and because God counted him trustworthy, it made him trustworthy. And if you don't believe me, listen to the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians seven. But I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's, what? Mercy is trustworthy. He understands that he is only made trustworthy by God's mercy and that's the key. Do you know what mercy is? Mercy is not getting what you deserve. And what do we deserve from God? Nothing, we don't deserve anything from him. If we deserve anything, we deserve him to pour out wrath and justice upon us for our rebellion and sin against him. That's what we deserve. Is that what we get from him?

No, we get so much more, so much more good. And he's like, it's because of God's mercy. And let me ask you, can you earn mercy? No, absolutely not. But it might seem like that because he said, I got mercy because I was ignorant. No, ignorance does not lessen our guilt or make us deserving of mercy. Some of you are like, oh, so maybe I'll just remain ignorant and I'll get more mercy. I'm not gonna read my Bible anymore. No, that's not what he is saying. Paul received mercy because that's exactly what he needed. He didn't earn it. He received mercy because he was ignorant and unbelieving and our God is rich in mercy and grace, is he not? And when he sees us in need, he gives us what we need. And really, this was the answer to Jesus' prayer from the cross, Luke 23, 34. Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. They're ignorant. They don't understand. They don't deserve anything from us, but would you please in your grace and your kindness, give them mercy? And then in verse 14, he says, he not only did he give me mercy, he poured out grace. If mercy's not getting what you do deserve, grace is getting what you don't deserve.

So God not only forgave and adopted him, he put him into ministry. God gives grace and mercy to people who don't deserve it and that's what makes him glorious, amen? And we need to stop thinking and acting and believing like we deserve grace and mercy because we don't. And Paul is just reminiscing over all of this and then he says, here's a trustworthy saying. Jesus came to save sinners of whom I am the worst. It's so funny how different we are today from the way they were back then. I had a friend that just went to a conference for a place that I'm not gonna say and I won't say who the speaker was, but that speaker came up and said, you know, I think that when we sing Amazing Grace, I think when we say, you know, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I don't think we should use that word wretch because I don't think we're that bad. And I know that we would kind of like scoff at that, but there is this prevailing thought that we're not that bad. And when you do that and you start to think more highly of yourself than you ought, then God's grace isn't as amazing, is it? Because you kind of deserve it. And Paul's like, mm-hmm, no, not me, no. I can't believe he saved me by his mercy and grace because I am the worst.

And he doesn't say I was the worst. Even in his state of being justified and transformed, he wasn't the man that he once was. He's like, I am the worst. And yet God still chose to save me. Why would God choose to save a guy like Paul? He tells us, I receive mercy so that, and I've told you before, when you see that phrase in the Bible, it's important, so that, he's about to explain why he made the comment just before. I receive mercy, why? So that Jesus might display his patience. As Paul was living his life, persecuting, killing Christians, Jesus was being patient every day, every week, every month, every year. How patient has God been with you? How about just this past week? Let's just like, look at your past week. How patient has he been with you this week? How many times have you just done your own thing, ignored him, not spent time with him, and he's just been patient with you? How about this month? How patient has he been with you this month? Let's back up even further. How patient has he been with you over your life? Because I've told you before, if I'm God, bro, three strikes and you're out. That's it.

His patience is infinite. He just waits on us. In our foolishness, in our hard-heartedness, we just keep doing our own thing, you would think he'd be like, I'm done. And he's like, nah, I'm waiting. I love you so much, I'm just waiting for you. And he says, this is why he chose me, not because I was good or because I was trustworthy. He wanted to use me as a trophy of his grace and patience so that when people would come to hear about my story for years after, they would know that no one is beyond the saving grace of God. No one. Again, I mentioned this last week. I don't know who it is in your life that you think is so far beyond salvation. There is no one beyond the amazing grace of God because that's how amazing that it is. And Paul's conversion is the greatest proof of the greatest power of the gospel. Not only did God save and forgive him, the worst of all sinners, he makes him the greatest of all Christians at that time. How amazing is that grace? And this is what God does. And this is the power, it's the power of the gospel. And we, I think sometimes we just miss it, guys. We just get so used to it. Been walking with him for so long.

Amazing grace, yeah, sure, it's amazing. I know that song. And we need to be reminded of who we once were so that we might appreciate who he has made us to be, amen? Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. And I love verse 17. I love, as Paul is like just reminiscin' on what God has done for him, he breaks out into this doxology. He just starts praising God. Look at it. Now to the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever, amen. And this should be our response when we consider what our God has done for us. This is what should be our response when we worship, when we gather here and we sing these songs. How great the chasm that lay between us. How high the mountain I could not climb. In desperation I called out to heaven, you saved me. You saved me. And I just, you know in heaven no one's gonna be worshiping God like this. And I get some of us are more reserved than, I get it, I get it. But I just, I don't know if it's just the way that we're wired or if there's just a lack of appreciation and awe and wonder for what God has done in us through the gospel.

And this is the power of the gospel. And the last thing he's gonna focus on, look with me at verse 18. Timothy, my son, I'm giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. Among them are Hymenius and Alexander whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. And stop right there. Last point when it comes to this amazing grace is the pursuit of the Father. The pursuit of the Father. He makes a reference to the command that he gave him in verses three and four. Hey, make sure you're fighting the good fight, man. And Remember the prophecies about you remember the laying on of hands and the prayers keep fighting protect the church Uphold truth and love and then he continues to now he now he starts calling out these guys by name Can you imagine if I stood up here on the weekend and started calling out y'all false teachers by name that are in this church Like you would be insulted but this is this is how serious it was He says these guys they've they've they've suffered shipwreck like they've wandered and they've drifted so much and so here's here's what I'm going To do and here's what I want you to do. I want you to hand them over to who? man, Paul Where's the grace in that? He says I'm handing them over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme Paul It's not the first time Paul does this first Corinthians chapter 5 you can read it for homework

He does it there. But what does it mean to hand someone over to Satan? It means that Paul is going to say you can no longer be a part of the church because you're living in a way That's contrary to God's law in A way that is deliberate and unrepentant. It's you seem not to care so now you have to go and we're gonna ask that God would remove his hedge of protection and restraints that he has over Satan and This you may think that that is most unbiblical thing. I've ever heard it ain't We know the story of Job, right? Job Satan comes before God. Hey, you see your boy Job down there. God's like, yeah, I see him You know The only reason he worships you and loves you is because you've given him so much stuff and his life is perfect And what does God say have at him as? If God removes his hand of protection from Job Just take take whatever you want from him. Just don't kill him and make sure you leave his crazy wife with him. That's it And he does it and and and why why would God do that because through it Job got to see a piece of God's glory that he never would have seen Otherwise Job was conformed more into the image of God God used Satan for a purpose and if anybody knew this it was it was Paul himself 1st Corinthians 12 2nd Corinthians 12 Paul gets a vision of heaven and in order to keep him humble about the things that he has Seen he says therefore in order to keep me from becoming conceited I was given a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to torment me What? He says yeah, sometimes God will use Satan to accomplish his good purpose in the lives of his kids and you're like I don't think that's right. I Say this in love. You're not God And you might be offended by that it's okay It aren't God's ways higher than ours Yeah, so so shouldn't we just trust him? We see this all throughout the scripture. He does this over and over but why would he why would he do this guys?

This is grace This is grace whether you can see it or not. He is a good father and fathers discipline their kids. Amen With the hope that they will learn from their mistakes and make better choices God's heart for these two men is not just to cast them out forever He's like I'm casting them out and I want them to feel the repercussions of their sin Why so that they might repent and learn not to blaspheme and come back to the family of God. Do you see the grace there? He should really just cast them out and be like that's it. I'm done But that is not the heart again. Be glad be glad that I'm not God again And why do I say all this Some of you in here have drifted We would call those prodigals Where you were once part of the family of God and you were close to him and you were engaged and for whatever reason you began to make these choices these These temptations you started to give into it became kind of like every once in a while and and now it's just a way of life and You've made some choices that have taken you so far from God. And if you know the parable of the prodigal son He says I want to go out there and live in the world because I think it's better out there And I think we've all done that at one time or another But he goes out there and and he loses everything and it's it's like it's like God lets the enemy Just have his way with him and crush him and steal and kill and destroy Until one day it says that he comes to his senses when he's in a pig sty Eyes are open and he goes back home Some of you some of you were in the pig sty And right now it feels like your life is falling apart and You're even questioning the love of God because of it and I just want to tell you I won't tell you one He's not mad at you. I got it. I got to tell you he is not mad at you he loves you and he wants you to come back home and He's kind of allowing that These things for that very purpose. He's not punishing you.

Jesus was punished for our sins. God does not punish his kids. Jesus was punished for us. Hebrews 12, 11, I gotta show this to you. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Some of you are in the process of being disciplined by God and it doesn't feel good. But if you allow yourself to be trained by it, it will bring you back to a place of righteousness and peace. Amazing grace. Amazing grace that God doesn't just say, have it how you want it, have it your way. I'm done with you. No, he keeps pursuing us and loving us. How amazing and great is our God? How amazing and great is our God? Say very, yeah, like worship him. How amazing is our God that when we break his law over and over and over again, he doesn't turn his back on us? How amazing is our God that he made a way where there was none by sending his only son to keep the law perfectly for you and I and to pay our debts so that we could be adopted and not only adopted, that we could be used by him. Amazing grace, all made possible by our amazing King and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Father, thank you, thank you for grace. Thank you for giving us what we don't deserve, your son. Thank you for your love and your mercy and your kindness and your patience. God, thank you for your kindness. Thank you, thank you. God, thank you for your word and the way that you have reminded us today of these foundational truths, the purpose of the law. God, I pray for my brothers and sisters that have found themselves in a season of legalism. I pray that you would remove that false teaching from their mind and their heart and they would rest daily, that they would be firmly planted in the love of God for them. That they would know that there is nothing they could ever do to make you love them more. No amount of good works, no amount of good deeds, no amount of good works. And there is nothing that they have done, no sin that would make you love them less. Help them to know that your love is unconditional and constant and perfect. And may they rest in that love and be transformed by that love. Father, I pray for the power of your grace to even move now in this room. For those who have not yet seen their need for it. You would remove scales from eyes and soften hearts

and draw those to yourself. You're the only one that can do it. I pray for the prodigals in the room. That today they would come to their senses and they would come home to the open arms of their father. Have your way, that your will be done. In Jesus' name. I'm not gonna say amen, because it's just one more moment. Unless you first see yourself in the mirror of the law, please listen. Until you look at something like the 10 Commandments. You start at the beginning, you're like, oh, have no other gods before me. Those are idols, and we all have idols. There's all these things in our life that we put our hope in, that we look to to give us what only God can, peace and purpose. For some people, it's money. For some people, it's education. For some people, it's relationships. For some people, it's their health. That's a sin. Thou shalt not lie. Anyone ever lie before? Thou shalt not murder. Oh, I'm good on that one. Hold up. Jesus said if you're angry with someone

in a sinful way in your heart, if you ever hate someone, that you've actually broken that law and committed murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Oh, I'm good there. I'm not even married. Hold up. Jesus says if you've ever looked at someone with lust in your heart, you're guilty of adultery. So first you gotta see yourself and be like, okay, I've broken this law, but then you need to be crushed by it to know that you can't clean up your act and be like, I'm gonna be a good person now. No, you can't do that. It doesn't work like that. And I want you to understand and know that all it takes is for you to break one of God's laws, just one, and what does that deserve? That deserves eternal separation from God. It's a place called hell, and I know we don't like to talk about it. Let me just, for those of you that struggle with it, I'm gonna use the same example I always use. And again, we know what, we know what's happening later on tonight, don't we? This isn't spiritual. It's the Super Bowl, okay? For whatever reason, that terrible team is back there, and you know how I feel about them. So let me just say this. So let's just, let's just pretend for a second. Just follow me. Miracle, whatever, they pull it off tonight, whatever. I'm mad.

I'm walking around my house. I'm so mad, and I walk up to a wall, and I kick it. I kick a hole in it. Oh, Pastor Chris! You're so angry. Oh my gosh. You know, maybe what we need to do is, you need to take a week off. You need to maybe go get some counseling. Like, that's my punishment for kicking the wall. Okay, I get it. I'm still struggling. I'm walking around. I see my little rat dog. And I punt her across the room. Now you're like, whoa! Animal cruelty! Someone call 9-1-1. And maybe, maybe, maybe I get a ticket. I don't know. The punishment gets a little bit worse. And I'm like, I just got to get out of the house. So I go to Publix, and I'm walking around, and there's this sweet little grandma coming down the produce aisle, and she's got a, she's got a Brady jersey on. And I'm so mad, and I just kick her. Now, now follow me. What's the punishment for that? I'm going to jail. Now listen, every single time it was the same action, it was a kick. The object of that action became more personal and more pure in our sight. And based on the object of my action, the penalty for my breaking of the law got worse and worse and worse. Do you follow me? So when we sin, so we tell a lie, and we lie to someone. It might hurt their feelings. You're like, oh, no big deal. But when we lie, and we break God's law, what should the punishment be for an infinitely holy God? Infinite punishment. And you need to feel that, and be crushed by that. I've broken His law, and that's the punishment, and I have no way to make that right. Until you've been crushed by the law, you will never appreciate this invitation from Jesus in Matthew 11. Come to me. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble and hard, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Jesus was talking to a group of people that were doing everything that they could to keep the law, but they couldn't. They were crushed by it. He said, come to me. I've kept the law for you.

And so how we're gonna close is by giving a simple invitation that if you're here, and you've never responded to that, please hear me. I am NOT asking if you go to church. I am NOT asking if you own a Bible, and I am NOT asking if you would say that you believe in God. I am NOT asking those things. The devil believes in God. It's not what I'm asking. I'm asking, do you have a relationship with him? Have you come to the place where you've looked at his law and realized that you've broken it, and there's no way for you to make it right? It is impossible. Have you felt that before? Because when you feel that, then you will appreciate the grace and the goodness of God who so loved you that he sent his only Son into this world to live a perfect life of law-keeping and to die on a cross brutally for you. He died on that cross for you to pay for your sins so that you could be forgiven and adopted, and you could have eternal life, and you could have purpose and peace. He paid it all. But you've got to accept that for yourself, and you don't accept it by just coming to church. There's got to be a moment of surrender. And so if you've never surrendered to him before, they're gonna play a song, and that's your cue to get up out of your seat, and I know that sounds crazy. If you're upstairs, we'll wait for you to come down, and I'm gonna ask you to stand right here at the foot of this altar, and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer, and I'll give you the words, but it'll be your heart. Maybe you've never done that before. Maybe you need to do it. Let me also say maybe you're the prodigal. And prodigals don't always have to be out there in the world. Sometimes prodigals are right here in the church. And you come, and you bring your Bible every week, and you even sing the songs, but you know you feel so far from him, because somewhere along the way you started living life on your own. I pray that today you would come to your senses and run back into the arms of your father. He loves you. You know the prodigal son, when he's making his way back to the father, he's rehearsing in his head. He's got this speech. He's like well, maybe I can be one of the slaves. Maybe he'll let me work for him And when the father sees him, what does he do? Runs to him Wraps his arms where he hugs and he kisses and he throws a party. I'm so glad you decided to come back home So maybe that's you and this is your moment as well and here's Here's what I'm gonna ask you to do church. I as I often do I am begging you to pray I am begging you You know, we'd like to watch and clap I get it but there's a spiritual battle happening in someone's heart right now

And we need to pray that God would draw them to themself To himself, so please be in prayer And if that's you if you know if you feel something stirring this is your time to get right with God This is it. No one can say this prayer for you. I can't force you to come up here I wish I could but it don't work like that. You've got to make the choice for yourself So If you want to experience this amazing grace it is yours, it's yours for that you got to just come get it You got to come get it So if that's you as this song plays get out of your seat and come forward church Please be in prayer for anyone that needs to make that choice. But if that's you now's your time come Are you hurting and broken within Overwhelmed by the way, I'm seeing Jesus is calling Have you come to the end of yourself Do you thirst for a drink from the well? Jesus is calling Come to The altar The father's arms are open wide Forgiveness Was borne with the precious blood of Jesus Christ And Before I pray with my sister right here, I know what it can feel like to be sitting there and wrestling. Amen. We'll wait for you brother I'm not gonna have him sing another song, but I'll just say and maybe this is who's supposed to be here right now Maybe this is it But if you are still in your seat and you are wrestling I have to tell you as much as there's a God who loves you There is an enemy who hates you and he does everything that he can to keep you from Jesus So if you're filling your head with all these lies of why you shouldn't be here, I'm telling you that's that's not truth That's a lie

And if you know you should be up here right now, I'll wait for just another moment This is not a place of shame. This is a place of grace and forgiveness Amen Don't let anything keep you from Jesus He paid it all so that you can come to him freely there's nothing left to do You don't have to clean yourself up you don't have to be good. He takes you just the way that you are We'll wait for you come on man You All right guys, here's what we're gonna do First we're gonna pray over you And after we pray over you then I'm gonna give you a prayer to say out loud. Okay, and And I want you to say it out loud and I don't want you to say it out loud So other people can hear it. This is about you talking to God And when I give you these words I want you to think about what you're saying and I want to I want you to think about who you're saying it to and I want to tell you this promise. God says this if you believe in your heart heart that Jesus is Lord and you confess with your mouth he's been raised from the dead you will be saved and that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation your past is your past and he makes all things new so something's about to happen here that our physical eyes can't see but it's gonna start with that prayer of faith and surrender and so church where you're at if you extend a hand pray over everyone that's come father thank you for your amazing grace thank you for the stories that are represented here at the foot of this altar thank you for the way that you have chased them down thank you for your patience I thank you that today you open their eyes you drew them to yourself and now father do what you do bless begin the process of transformation help them to know that their sins have been forgiven and cast as far as the East is from the West may they know that they belong to you and that nothing will ever change that because Jesus paid for it God make your face shine on them fill them with your spirit you're gonna do

these things we're just asking you please work and move even that may they leave here today knowing that they are children of God and they belong to you now I'm gonna ask you that are here to repeat this prayer out loud after me just say this out loud say Lord God I confess that I've sinned I've strayed and I need Jesus I believe that he is my God and I believe that he's my Savior so today I open my heart I invite him inside and I surrender from this day forward I'm yours in Jesus name a man amen amen so guys really quick in a moment you're gonna turn around and there's people standing behind you don't be scared okay we just want to give you a Bible make sure you get started on the right foot let me just say this this was not the end goal the end goal is not to get you to come forward and say a prayer this is the beginning of a relationship with Jesus okay and so I've just I got some friends behind you and they're gonna talk to you about that real quick so and then you can get right back to family and friends church give them a hand one more time and then hey we're just gonna we're gonna just dismiss so that these conversations can take place right here you guys are good to go have a great rest of your weekend we'll see you next time God bless you