Righteousness That God Requires

This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. Welcome to All In with Pastor Jordan Easley. Today's message is about to begin, and we invite you to prepare your heart and mind to hear an inspiring message from God's Word. We hope and pray for God to speak to you today as you seek to live your life all in for Jesus Christ. And now from First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tennessee, here's Pastor Jordan Easley. Well, I wanna welcome you back to week number two of the Kingdom Culture series. We're gonna be in Matthew chapter five if you wanna go ahead and get a jumpstart. I wanna encourage you just to take notes as we walk through the words of Jesus as he's preaching this text to believers just like us. If you were here last week, you heard Jesus come out saying two major things to people that followed Christ. Number one, he said in verse 13, you are the salt of the earth. I want you to think about what he's meaning here. Salt is a preservative, and he's telling us that we as followers of Christ have been called out of one culture, the culture of this world, and we've been called into the kingdom culture. And now our lives should preserve the holiness of God on the earth. Our lives should preserve the goodness of Jesus

in this world while we're still here because the world is rotting and the world is decaying and Jesus has you planted here on purpose. We said last week that salt makes zero impact when it remains in the shaker. And the same is true for our lives. If we're not living our lives for Christ and we know Christ, he said, you'll make zero impact for the kingdom of God, but the reason you're here is to make an impact for his kingdom forever. So he said, you are the salt of the earth. But then he says in the next verse, you are also the light of the world. Many people are confused by that text. They say, well, I thought Jesus was the light of the world. He is, but he also said that you're the light of the world as well. You see, this is the way it looks. Jesus is the sun and we are the moon. Jesus came to reveal God and our job is to reflect God. And when you live your life like that, as a bright and salty disciple, hey, you may be salt for your neighborhood or you may be light for your community, but the truth is when you obey the Lord and live your life for Jesus Christ, the Bible says your life can literally make an impact in the world. Hey, do you believe that God can use you like that? Yes or no?

Hey, he says he can, and he says he wants to. But if that's gonna happen, let me just say it this way. You cannot continue to conform to this culture. You cannot be too comfortable right here on the earth. Being comfortable here is a dangerous thing. You know, I heard a story about a duck not too long ago that broke its wing flying south for the winter. This duck was in bad shape, hit the ground in the middle of a field. And you know what? A sympathetic farmer found the duck, retrieved it and brought it back to his house. His kids adopted the duck as a personal pet, began to feed him from the table, started treating him like a newborn puppy. By the next fall, the children are heartbroken as they watched this duck looking up into the sky as his brothers and sisters were flying south. And all the other ducks were flying south for the winter, but this guy couldn't fly because his wing still wasn't strong enough. Every time a flock would fly south, the duck would gaze into the clouds until finally he'd be so frustrated he would just go back to playing with the kids. The second year, the duck's wing had grown much stronger, but the kids had fed him so much food from the table that the duck was just so fat. He was so fat that every time he saw ducks flying above he would try to fly to join them.

He couldn't get up off the ground. He would try two or three times until finally he would just quit and go back to playing with the kids. The third year, the duck was completely healed. But as the other ducks quacked their calls as they were flying south, the duck on year three didn't even look up to the sky, didn't pay him any attention at all. They were flying south right over his head, quacking and making all the racket, and yet he didn't even look up. Why is that? Because he had become so accustomed to the comfort of his new environment that he lost focus on how God designed him to live. Listen, I read that story a couple weeks ago and I wrote down in my journal these words. I wrote down, God didn't call you to be a fat duck. And now I pass those words on to you, all right? God didn't call you to be a fat duck. He didn't design you to be satisfied in this dark world. He has called you as a child of God to soar on wings like eagles, as bright and salty disciples who live in such a way that makes going to hell nearly impossible. the impossible for every single person that you encounter. That's how God designed you to live. And that's how Jesus began this sermon. In Matthew chapter five,

we see him essentially drawing a line between heaven and earth. He drew a line between the culture of this world and the kingdom culture in which all of us have been called in Christ. And in these verses, you can almost hear Jesus imploring us as followers of Christ to live our lives for Jesus. You know, for thousands of years, people have asked that question, why should I follow Jesus? Why should I live my life for Jesus? And the best way I can answer that question is because Jesus alone is the truth. Do you believe that today? Hey, Jesus is the truth. He said that in John 14, six. Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Hey, when you think about Jesus, I want you to understand he is the Messiah. He is the son of God. And guess what? He's the only way to God. Jesus said that of himself. He said, I am the way, the way to eternal life. But don't miss this. He also said, I alone am truth. And I believe that about Jesus. I believe that Jesus is true.

I believe everything about him is truth. Anybody else believe that? Say amen. Hey, if you're a Christian, you better believe that. If you're a Christian, you believe that salvation comes through Christ and Christ alone. But it's amazing to me how when you go back to the homeland of Israel, or you spend time in the city of Jerusalem, you'll see religious people everywhere. I mean, these are some of the most religious people on the planet. They wear the traditional attire. They're praying the prayers. They're in the religious spots. They're reading the Torah. They're following all the rules. They look super religious in an intimidating kind of way. But in their hearts, most of them don't believe that verse to be true. They believe that Jesus existed. They believe Jesus was a great teacher and a great leader, but they do not believe that Jesus is the truth. Today from Matthew chapter five, we're gonna see that Jesus is gonna make a connection between a religious culture that is wrong and the kingdom culture that is right. And he's gonna do that by giving us three warnings that I wanna encourage you to write down as you take notes today.

The first warning goes like this. You're gonna hear Jesus say, watch out for those who deny God's truth. Watch out for those who deny God's truth. In verse 17, Jesus said, don't think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Now, I think this is very important. It's important because if you're a Christian and Jesus is truly your Lord, then I believe you should see God's word the same way that Jesus saw God's word. How did Jesus see God's word? Let me tell you. He saw it as God's permanent and eternal truth. When you look at your Bible, I want you to think those words. This is God's permanent and eternal truth. Now, some people take this book and they try to separate the Old Testament from the New Testament. I've even heard popular preachers say that we don't even need the Old Testament anymore. But right here, we see that the law and the prophets, by the way, the law and the prophets is a reference to the Old Testament. But we see that that's exactly what Jesus was affirming. And he was affirming the Old Testament in the strongest possible language. In fact, that word abolish, you see that word abolish,

that word literally means to tear down or to make something void. So right here, Jesus is saying what? He's saying, I didn't come here to tear down or cause you to question the left side of the book. I didn't do that at all. In fact, never in Jesus's life or ministry did he ever do anything to cause people to question or discredit the Old Testament. In fact, he affirmed every single word of your Old Testament. But that's not what most people believe when they saw Jesus appear on the scene in first century Galilee. You've gotta realize that at this point in history, the Pharisees were the model for righteousness. They were the model for godliness. These people were the experts in the law. They knew every single word of the Old Testament. They knew it by heart. And if there was a rule or a command, they followed it to a T. In fact, they not only followed the moral law and the ceremonial laws that were written in the book, they were also known for adding additional laws. Did you know that? They added more laws to make sure that their works or their behavior never even got close to that line with God. In fact, at one point, Pharisees created a new law that said this,

and I know this sounds crazy, but one of those laws was this, that if you were a person eating breakfast, you could not eat an egg if the egg was laid by a chicken on Saturday because the chicken broke one of the 10 commandments by working on the Sabbath. So if you're eating an egg that was laid on Saturday, you would be eating a sinful egg that was created in sin, therefore, if you ate it, you would be polluting your own soul. That was a real law created by the Pharisees. Maybe you're thinking, well, I like following laws and I like following rules, I'm a rule follower. So if there's a Pharisee that read the Bible, did what the Bible said, and all they did was obey the Bible and then added some more laws, then what's really the problem with that? Well, let me tell you the problem. The Pharisees knew the scriptures, but they didn't know the God who spoke them. They followed the law, and yet they failed to recognize the one who fulfilled it. And it's not like Jesus didn't tell them who he was. You read the Bible, you see time and time again where Jesus told the Pharisees, hey guys, I am him, right? I mean, for instance, John 5, 39, Jesus said to them, truly I tell you,

before Abraham was, I am. He's like, hello, right? In John chapter 10, verse 30, Jesus told them, I and the father are one. He's like, we're one in the same. Look at me, I'm standing in front of you. Can you not see it? In Matthew chapter 26, verse 63, the high priest said to him, I charge you under oath by the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the son of God. He said, you have said it, Jesus said to him, but I tell you in the future, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. He's like, come on, guys, why can't you see it? It's not like Jesus didn't tell them. He told them over and over again, and yet when the Pharisees looked at Jesus, they saw him as a threat to the law instead of seeing him as the fulfillment of the law. They saw him performing miracles on the Sabbath and it just wrecked them, right? They saw him doing things that customarily you just didn't do and some of these rules, they're blowing them out of proportion and Jesus isn't doing what they think that he should be doing. And so they're looking at him saying,

hey, he's less religious than the Messiah should be. He's less righteous. And because he's not playing according to the religious rules of the day, we cannot believe him to be the truth. And that's when Jesus showed up and he said, guys, I didn't come to abolish the law, I came to fulfill it. He makes it clear. He said, I didn't come here to hate on the Bible or to downplay what you do, but ultimately you need to know that the law alone will not save you. The law alone, the words in your Bible, you can memorize every single one of the words, the words in your Bible will not save you. But the God of the Bible can. When Jesus showed up, the religious elite thought, he's trying to lower the standard of what it is to be righteous. And Jesus is like, man, I'm not trying to lower the standard. I'm not even trying to raise the standard. He said, I am the standard. And I'm the only way by which people can be saved. Hey, Paul said in Galatians three, for all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. He goes on to say, it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law because the righteous will live by faith, but the law is not based on faith.

He said, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us because it is written, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. Guess what? Jesus was hung on a tree. And because he was, he became that curse for us. Jesus fulfilled the law. And because he did, he alone is able to save. There are only two things in your Bible that will never change. Number one, the Lord never changes. And number two, the law never changes. The Lord never changes and his law never changes. Everything else is up for grabs. Did you realize that even the constitution of the United States of America can be changed? It can be changed right now. The constitution can be amended. The constitution could be appealed, but guess what? The Bible cannot. Why is that? Because it's God's eternal truth. And because it's eternal, it cannot change. When you continue hearing Jesus speak these words over his disciples, that's what he wanted them to know. In fact, look at verse 18. He said, for truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away,

not the smallest letter or one stroke of a. letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished. Right here, Jesus is saying, hey, God's word is 100% true. And not even the dotting of an I or the crossing of a T will change or pass away until every single word of this book is fulfilled. Let me tell you why it's so important that we understand that today. It's because as truth goes, so goes morality. You can see this playing out in America, by the way, especially if you're a history buff or you just follow the trajectory of our morality in this nation. You can go all the way back 50, 60, 70 years and you can track how America has spiraled when it comes to the things that we say, the things that we believe, the things that we pass, the laws that are accepted. You can see how morality, we, we have crumbled and collapsed at the foundation of who we are and how we were established. I mean, go all the way back to the night, mid 1900s. You know what you'll see in the mid 1900s statistics show that the majority of Americans believed in God and they believe that this word was absolute truth. That was in the mid 1900s. Then you get to a 1962 Gallup poll and that poll revealed that at that point, 84% of Americans believed in absolute truth. 84% of our nation believe the word of God to be true. Then you go through the seventies and the eighties and you see the rise of relativism. Some of you walk through those, those decades and you remember sexual revolution. You remember the decline of religious influence. You remember the increased exposure to secular philosophies. But even then, you know what the next poll showed in 1983 still 70% of Americans believed in absolute truth. They believe the Bible to be true. Well fast forward to 1991 just eight years later at that point in American history, 66% of Americans believe that there was no such thing as absolute truth.

Two years later, 1997, 72% of people denied the reality of absolute truth and then just keep on going until you get to today. And right now in American history, statistics show that only 6% of American adults still affirm absolute truth and believe that the word of God is in fact the word of God, 6% of American adults. And maybe you're asking the question why? I believe the answer to that question is because of relativism. This idea that says, I'll determine my truth and you determine your truth. You follow your God, I'll follow my God. You believe what you want to believe, I'll believe what I want to believe. That's the word of the day. You know, I read not too long ago a conversation that happened in a college classroom. A teacher approached the class on the first day and this is how she began her lesson. She said, I want to lay down some ground rules. She said, first, since no one has the truth, you should be open-minded to the opinions of your fellow students. Well when she said that, a young lady who grew up in church and was pretty sharp raised her hand. The teacher said, yes ma'am, do you have a question? She said, I absolutely have a question. She said, if nobody has the truth, isn't that a good reason for me not to listen to my fellow students? She said, after all, if nobody has the truth, why should I waste my time listening to other people and their opinions? What would be the point? Only if someone has the truth does it make sense to be open-minded, don't you agree? She looked at this young lady and said, no, I don't agree. Are you claiming that you know the truth? If you're claiming that you know the truth, I would say that that's pretty arrogant. That's pretty dogmatic.

The young lady said, not at all. I think that it's dogmatic and arrogant to assert that there is not one person on earth who knows the truth. After all, have you met every person in the world and quizzed them exhaustively? If not, then how do you know? In fact, I believe it's absolute opposite of arrogant to say that I will alter my opinions to fit the truth whenever and whenever I find it. If I happen to think that I have a good reason to believe I know the truth and would like to share it with you, why won't you listen to me? Why won't you automatically, why would you automatically discredit my opinion before it's ever even spoken? I thought we were supposed to listen to everyone's opinions. Well, the teacher's a little bit frustrated at this point and she said, well, I can already tell this is going to prove to be a very interesting semester. And the young lady said, well, ain't that the truth? Amen. Listen, since the beginning of time, Jesus has a megaphone and he's saying to believers, hey, watch out for those who deny God's truth. Watch out for those who deny that the truth of the Word of God is actually the truth for all mankind. But not only does he say watch out for people who deny God's truth, he also says watch out for those who disobey God's truth. Disobey God's truth. Verse 19 says, Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now I want you to listen very carefully to what Jesus is saying to us here today. He's saying the way that we're going to be judged by God is very simple. Number one, God is going to evaluate if we obey the law or not. He's going to evaluate that about who we are.

But the second way is God is going to evaluate if we taught other people to obey the law or not. In other words, you're going to be judged someday. Not only how you personally obeyed God's Word, but also as to how you influenced other people to either obey or disobey God's Word. See, greatness in God's kingdom isn't going to be determined by your gifts, or your abilities, or your successes on this earth. It won't be determined by your popularity, or the size of your ministry, or any of those things at all. You read the Bible, it says greatness in God's kingdom will be determined by, number one, how you perceived the Bible. How you perceived it. Number two, how you practiced the Bible. Number three, how you preach the Bible. And number four, how you promote the Bible. And he says that those who prioritize these things and those who do those well will be called great in heaven. It will be called great. But those verses also say, and I know you just read this, that there are going to be other people in heaven who are not called great. They are called the least. When I think about heaven, I typically don't think about it as this eternal place where you've got the great people and the people who aren't so great. But when you read the scriptures and it gives this description, you cannot help but understand that he is showing very clearly there will be levels in heaven. And he said some are going to be called great and some are going to be called the least. Now don't misunderstand what I'm saying. If you're saved, you've given your life to the Lord, he has changed you from the inside out, the old nature is gone, you're a new creation in Christ.

Guess what? You're going to heaven. And you're going to be there for all of eternity. But the Bible says how you live your life right now will determine some things about your eternal existence. So the question then is, who are the least in the kingdom of heaven? It's a good question. Who are the least? Well, if you're a note taker, jot this down. The least are those who disregard God's commands. Those who disregard God's commands and lead other people to do the same. So if we disregard the Bible and we lead other people to do the same, he said, guess what? Your lack of obedience will cause your eternal status to be diminished. This also includes careless teachers and people who are compromising believers and people who downplay personal holiness. He said those people, however, they're saved, however, they will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. So that leads us to ask the next question. And that is, well, who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? It's just the opposite. The greatest in the kingdom of heaven are those who obey God's word and lead others to do the same. We obey the word of God. We lead other people to do the same. Faithful servants who are living according to the truth and helping other people follow it. Humble people that are submitting to God's authority and leading by examples for everyone else that wants to follow Jesus. So you say, Pastor, I want to be great. I want to start today.

How do I be great in God's kingdom someday? I think we narrowed down to three things. I want to encourage you with these three today. Number one, we've got to submit to God's word fully. Submit to God's word fully. Take the entire book, the whole Bible, and submit your life to the Bible. There are a lot of people changing the words of Scripture. There are some people that are ripping pages out because they don't like what it says. If you want to be called great in God's kingdom, you've got to submit to God's word fully. The next one, you've got to live out God's commands daily. Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me. This is a daily thing. We're walking with Jesus. We're living for Jesus. It's in every single day, fully surrendered, submitting to the word of God, living for Jesus, trying to make an impact for his kingdom. But the third thing I'd say is you've got to teach others. God's truth faithfully. Teach other people God's truth faithfully. The Lord has put you in a perfect position to minister to people in your circles. You may not be a preacher, you may never be on a stage, you may never be mic'd up, but God has put you in the perfect position of influence in the lives of someone or some people. And I believe he does that with the expectation for you as salt and light to be a bright and salty disciple

in their life. And so here's what Jesus says. Watch out for people who deny God's truth. Watch out for people who disobey God's truth. But number three, watch out for people who distort God's truth. Watch out for those who distort God's truth. Verse 20, Jesus said, for I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. That was a big statement. See, in the day in which that was written, this would have been one of those statements that got everyone's attention. This was a drop the mic moment for Jesus in this sermon. And I say that because in those days, the Jews had a very popular saying. Everyone knew this saying. The saying went something like this. If two people go to heaven, one will be a scribe and the other a Pharisee. Like I said earlier, in the days of Christ, these people were the model for righteousness. They were religious, they were rigid. They were considered to be the perfect picture for godliness to the average person living in first century Israel. And I know that's a difficult thing for us to wrap our minds around the culture

they were living. But the scribes and the Pharisees, they were just on a whole different level of religiosity, all right? I mean, these people were the elite when it came to doing what the Bible said to do. They wanted so badly to be the best and they wanted their group to win, right? So they competed against each other to see who could be the most devoted, who could be stricter in their interpretation of the law. To these people, the 10 commandments that were given to Moses, that wasn't the floor for obedience. It wasn't the ceiling. Some of us look at the 10 commandments, you're like, dude, there's no way I could keep all 10 of those commandments. For them, they're like, hey, right there, we're gonna build off of that right there, right? That's the foundation. And they were over the top when it came to following the rules and following the regulations. In fact, when you think about it, they had the 10 commandments, they also had the Mosaic law, but that wasn't enough for them. So they added stuff. They're like, oh, we can do better than that.

We can do better than that. And so they took the 10 commandments and the Mosaic law, but then they also added 248 additional commandments that they personally created. And if that wasn't enough, they got together and they came up with 365 prohibitions. And if that wasn't enough, they added 1,521 additional amendments to the law. Hey, you think legalism would be tough today? Just imagine, none of us could even survive in that day. In order to make sure that they never even took God's name in vain, let me tell you how extreme these people were. They would go to this level, they wouldn't even say God's name. You would never hear a Pharisee say the name Yahweh. Still to this day, those who follow the law, you won't hear them say Yahweh. So if they're going to reference God, they're going to reference him by this name, but they have to do it by writing it down. So a scribe will write down the name Yahweh, but you know what, he won't write it like this, he'll write it like this, taking out the vowels. So now you have Y-H-W-H, this is how it's written. You're like, why, why would they do that? Because they don't want to take God's name in vain. And they believe by saying his name, it would do that. They believe the name Yahweh is so holy that they don't even think they should write it down.

Everything they did was over the top. Another example, in order to avoid the possibility of sexual temptation, men who are Pharisees would actually lower their heads and refuse to even look in the direction of another woman that was not his wife. So if there were women in the path, the Pharisees would walk around like this, just to avoid the possibility of being tempted in a way that was ungodly. In order to avoid defiling the Sabbath, they outlawed 39 different activities that could possibly at some point be considered some form of work. Hey, the Pharisees and scribes, they took this thing to a whole nother level. They wanted to be perfect. They wanted to do all the right stuff. The rules, the regulations, they wanted to take it to a whole different level that God really didn't even intend for. They distorted God's Word, and they taught that being right with God was a matter of keeping a bunch of rules and regulations. Some of you might have grown up in a church like that. It's like, man, if you're gonna be a good Christian, you better be a good boy or a good girl. You better be able to check all the boxes. It's all about, did you behave yourself, and did you do this, and didn't did you do that? That's what the Pharisees did. They distilled the formula for salvation down to a bunch of do's and a bunch of don'ts. And you know what? Not very many people could keep up with that. What a great example for why legalism is so dangerous. It's because legalism leads people to becoming more religious, but it also leads people away from pursuing real righteousness. And those are two different things, by the way.

Some of you have lived in a religious world, but you don't even understand what it is to be righteous in the eyes of God. Paul was there at one point. One of the greatest of all time. He was a Pharisee at one point. So he understood their misunderstanding of the truth, because at one point Paul himself misunderstood. That's why he said these words in Romans 10 verse 3. He said, since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God's righteousness. He goes on to say, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Here's what the Pharisees missed in that day. Righteousness isn't a matter of the law. It's a matter of grace. It's a matter of grace. And salvation isn't contingent on your doing. It's contingent on your being. You know, some people think this is just, this is just too much for me. I can't be the person that God needs me to be. I'm lesser than. I'm not that guy, or I'm not that girl. And you feel like because you you're not perfect, and you haven't done all the right things leading up to this moment in time, that there is no way that you can have access to the righteousness of God. But may I just share something with you today? The righteousness required by God is a righteousness that is freely given by God. And you do have access to that today. Romans 3 21 says, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the law and the prophets. Get this, the righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Righteousness is a matter of grace, and you can trust in Christ, and he can make you righteous today. Have you ever met one of those super Christians that just seemed to have it all figured out? Yes? No? Let me paint a picture. I'm talking about the person who wears the Christian t-shirts every single day, that has the K-Love bumper sticker like right next to the fish on the back of their car, like a hunk if you love Jesus right in the middle. Have you ever met that person before? You know what I'm talking about?

Listen, they're at church all the time. They're quoting scripture. They're always happy. You never see them upset. They've never complained about anything. They've never said a bad word about anybody else. You ever met them before? Let me tell you something. I'm so glad that those people exist. In fact, I wish I was those people. But there's some people here that just, they think Christianity is off the table because they can't be that. May I just share something with you today? The most well-behaved, best Christian, perfect person that you've ever met is no more loved by God than you are in this moment. And you need to hear that. Because if you're sitting there and you're thinking, man, I am so messed up, you're thinking, Preacher, if you just knew how jacked up I really was, you would not be saying this to me today. And yeah, I think this is a message for the jacked up. You could be jacked up from the ground up. I'm just telling you, Jesus says, I love you right now. And just because someone appears to have it all together on the outside, doesn't even mean that you're perfect. I love you right now. And just because someone appears to have it all together on the outside, doesn't even tell you the whole story regarding the inside. You know what? Jesus could do something in your story that only he could do. He meets you at your point of need. He never says, get your life cleaned up and then come to me. No, he says, I'm going to come to you right where you are while you're still a sinner. And I'm going to change you from the inside out. And I'm going to make you righteous in the eyes of God. Because guess what? Righteousness isn't a matter of the law. It's a matter of grace. And the reason I came was to share that grace with you. Listen, the Pharisees appeared to have it all figured out. These guys were working hard to do. the right things on the outside. They were following every single rule, they were following every single letter of the law, and they were missing out on the spirit of the law. That's what Jesus said to them, unless your righteousness surpasses

that of the scribe and the Pharisee. He's saying, unless your righteousness is greater and goes from your doing to your being, unless your righteousness goes from the what you do to the who you know, he said, you'll never get into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus didn't come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill it. And guess what? Jesus did fulfill it. He accomplished everything he came to accomplish. He fulfilled the moral law with his life. He followed, or he fulfilled the ceremonial law with his death. And when it comes to the prophets, Jesus did everything that they said the Messiah would do. In fact, in your Bible, the Old Testament, there are around 400 messianic prophecies. And Jesus fulfilled every single one of those prophecies to show you that he is the truth. And because he did, salvation is now available to sinners like us. Righteousness is now possible, not because of legalism or works or good behavior. Righteousness is available, how? By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Amen? The question is, have you received that gift? The gift of salvation, the gift of righteousness, it's not something that you earn,

it's something you receive. It says in John 1, but to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name. Here's the thing about that gift. You've either received that gift or you haven't. Maybe you're still trying to work and earn and get to that place. Talked to somebody this week, I said, hey, do you know that you're saved and going to heaven? They said, man, I'm working on it. You're what? You're working on what? I'm trying to be better. You're what? That's not the answer. If you're trying to be better and you're trying to earn your way to salvation, you're missing it. But if I ask you that question and say, man, do you know that you're saved? You better believe I'm saved. Jesus met me at my worst place. He met me at my point of need. And by grace, he changed my life. And now I'm a new creation in Christ, never to be the same again. Because I'm no longer conforming to this world, I've been transformed by the renewing of my mind,

the renewing of my heart. And now I'm a child of the one true king, not because I earned it, but because I received it. Let me ask you, have you received the gift? Have you received the gift of salvation? If not, you can do that right now. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Hey, let's just end right now with the prayer of salvation. You say, I need to give my life to Jesus. Would you pray this right now? Lord, in the best way I know how, I give you my life. I never wanna be the same again. I turn from my wicked ways and I turn to Jesus today by faith, believing you're the son of God and able to save. Lord, make me the person you created me to be. Lord, I pray that I will be salt and I will be light and I will make a difference in your kingdom for the rest of my life. Thank you for today. Thank you for meeting me here and not giving up on me. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. As we wrap up this episode, I have a question for you. Do you fully understand the world of AI? I don't either, but I do recognize that this revolutionary technology is being used to advance the gospel. One of those advancements is the ability to take the message that I just preached

and to convert it into various languages. Sound too good to be true? Let me encourage you to visit our website at goallin.tv and look at the messages link in the menu. There you can find audio versions and now even video versions of my messages in eight different languages. That's right, AI has now enabled us to take the message that I just preached in English and convert it into all sorts of languages spoken around the world, allowing people to hear and understand the teachings of Jesus and this message in their native tongue. The incredible feat that we're just talking about is made possible by the generosity of people just like you who've connected with All In and have decided to partner financially with our ministry. Part of our mission is to spread the gospel around the world. And now using these AI tools, we can do just that. I encourage you to come alongside All In by making a generous donation of any size so that we can continue expanding our message catalog and exploring adding even more languages to what we do. We want the whole world to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and now. You can help make that happen. So please give right now by following the prompts on the screen.

Thank you once again, and God bless you, as we long to bring the gospel to the nations together. Hey, we never wanna end our broadcast without giving you the opportunity to know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. If you'd like to make the decision to trust Jesus and wanna know more about what it looks like to follow Jesus, get in touch with me right now. Follow the instructions at the bottom of the screen so that we can pray for you and also put information in your hands right away. Today, we celebrate your decision and look forward to being a part of your personal journey of going all in with Jesus Christ. This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. We hope today's message encourages you as you strive to live your life fully committed to Jesus Christ.