[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. During this time, Pastor Gardner answers various questions.
[0:15] Alright, let's have a question. We'll start with a question. And then after one or two questions, we'll have Brother Robert come. And he's going to explain to you what's going on with our Generation Training Center. And we will go from there to Brother Ronald Tavillius is going to preach.
[0:33] Take your Bible and turn with me to, I think, Romans chapter 10. And then maybe Romans 4. I've got to find that. There it is. How about Romans 10 for one time is good enough.
[0:45] Go back there first. Let me read the question. Or are you going to read the question? What does Jesus being the end of the law mean? What does Jesus being the end of the law mean?
[0:56] Look, if you would, in Romans chapter 10 and verse 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Alright, here's what's going on.
[1:08] Everybody's got this idea that what they do is the way to get to righteousness. And it says it right here in Romans chapter 10 and verse 3. Look at your Bible. Romans chapter 10 and verse 3.
[1:20] They being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. And here's a big strong Bible issue.
[1:32] I really wish you'd listen. That's a great question. I hope you'll listen to this. You see, man wants to work. Man wants to prove himself. Man wants to earn something with God.
[1:43] And so we work at, okay, well if I pray enough, read my Bible enough. And our whole lives are often based, our self-esteem, everything about us. Not even a good word, but everything about us is based on do I do good enough?
[1:56] Do I measure up? Am I big enough, tall enough? Do I weigh the right amount? Do I do what I'm supposed to do? And here's what ends up happening. The law was never meant to be a measuring stick for you except to show you you couldn't.
[2:13] It is a schoolmaster to take you to Jesus. So the Bible says you must do this and you don't. You can't. You don't. And you can't. And you don't. The Bible says you must do this and you can't. And you don't.
[2:23] The Bible says you must do this. You can't. You don't. And the only way you think you do is that you put a spin on it that makes you feel pretty good about yourself. For example, the young man, the rich young ruler comes to Jesus and he says to Jesus, what must I do to inherit the kingdom of God?
[2:39] And he says, well, you keep the commandments. He said, well, I've been doing that ever since I was a kid. I ain't messed up yet. I'm great. Well, the whole point was he just established his own righteousness. But when you establish your righteousness, you can't have his righteousness.
[2:53] When you establish your righteousness, you can't have his righteousness. It's either yours or his. Either he did it or you did it. Either he's good or you're good. But not the other.
[3:05] And so the end of the righteousness is, I quit working to make myself savable. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, that's the gift of God, not of works, that's the name of it should boast. Romans chapter 11 and verse 6 says that you can't mix grace and works.
[3:19] You can't miss grace and law. You can't have the two of them. So what ends up happening? I come to the end of myself. I realize I can't measure up. I realize that I'll never be good enough, that Jesus is good enough.
[3:31] And he saves me and I am righteous through him. Does that make any sense to you? My salvation, my righteousness, my goodness is not me based. It's him based.
[3:42] It's not what I do, but it's what he did. Can you understand it? If you can't say amen. All right, let's just go over something because I don't think you got it. Because your amens were weak. So let's just go over a couple of things.
[3:54] How many of you have sinned? Raise your hand. Okay, how many of you are liars? Raise your hand. How many of you have been known to tell more than one lie? Okay, how many of you in this room have ever committed murder?
[4:06] Raise your hand. How many of you have ever in your mind wished that somebody was gone from this planet? Raise your hand. Okay, murderers.
[4:18] And quit looking at me when you hold your hand up like that. I don't appreciate that. Some of y'all were looking. Yeah. Okay, how many of you men have ever looked at a woman and thought some not good thoughts?
[4:33] Raise your hand. All you liars stand up. It's amazing how many of you men didn't raise your hands. I know better. Or maybe you was looking at a guy. Not sure. Huh?
[4:46] So you're an adulterer. You're a fornicator. You're a murderer. You're a liar. How many of you have ever seen somebody else's stuff and wished it was yours? Huh? Okay, you're in a heap of trouble.
[4:58] And so how many of you have ever taken God's name in vain? Say, raise your hand. By the way, it doesn't just mean saying God blank. That's not what...
[5:08] We take God's name in vain often. You can do it. You can do it with a lot of ways. The words that we say, living the actions we have. So here's what ends up happening. The law shows me that I'm sick.
[5:20] The law shows me that I can't measure up. Take and go with me in your Bible because I don't think you understand that question. So go into your Bible. Romans 3. And this is the most beautiful truth. It's a relaxing truth.
[5:31] It's a rejoicing truth. It's a fantastic thing when you figure this out. Go with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 3. And I want you to start in verse 10 with me.
[5:43] And I'm going to skip a lot of it. But you look at it. Romans 3.10. And he says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Okay? As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
[5:53] Then he says, there is none that understand it. There is none that seeks after God. They're all going out of the way. They're together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. And he keeps on going.
[6:04] And he gets down. And I want you to skip down to verse 19. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it said to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and that the world may become, would you repeat these three words with me?
[6:23] The world may become what? Guilty before God. What's the purpose of the law? To make you guilty before God. I went to the doctor with Chris.
[6:36] I was about 40. So that's like a long time ago. And I went to the doctor with Chris. And Chris had diabetes. And I was 40. And so he would have been about 20.
[6:47] And I'm in there with a doctor and him. And this doctor had been taking care of him since he was 15 or 16. And she looked at me and she said, you need to get your weight under control. And I said, we're not paying you to talk to me.
[6:59] We're paying you to talk to him. He's a diabetic. Mind your own business. I didn't say that. I just thought it. But anyway, she said, you know you're a prime candidate to be a diabetic. And I said, no.
[7:12] And she said, well, fat, 40, and female. She said, you got two out of three. You're going down. You see, she was trying to make me become what?
[7:27] Guilty. And if I got guilty, she's going to manipulate me into losing weight. Well, you can see I'm under grace. And I didn't do it. I didn't fall for that. Say amen. But anyway, look at it. It says that you may become what?
[7:39] Say it with me. Say it. Guilty before God. Now look at verse 20. Look at verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
[7:52] For by the law is the knowledge of sin. You need to get that verse down in your head. By the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified, made right, made just, made righteous, made good, fixed up.
[8:05] Nobody will ever be fixed by that in his sight. You could keep all the rules. You could keep all the laws. You could be a really good Pharisee. But you'd still not be justified in his sight. All men on earth might say you're the greatest person to ever live.
[8:18] But not in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness, verse 21. The righteousness of God without the law is manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
[8:31] Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, upon all them that believe. For there's no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
[8:44] Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ. All right, now watch this and I'll move to the next question. I didn't know that was going to be such a good question. Christ is the end of the law.
[8:58] You see, what he's doing is the law is saying, Austin, you're sick. Austin, you're sick. Austin, you're sick. Austin, you're sick. Austin, you're sick. Austin, you're guilty. Austin, you're bad.
[9:08] And I finally come to a place and I'm like, okay, I give. What can I do? And he says, now I will take you to the grace of God.
[9:19] The law is a teacher and he takes me to God and says, this guy's weak. This guy's sick. This guy's sinful. This guy needs help.
[9:30] And then God says, I can save you. What did Jesus say? Well, I hope you get this. What did Jesus say to the people when they came, the Pharisees? He said, the well do not need a doctor.
[9:43] Who needs a doctor? Sick people need a doctor. Who needs a doctor? Who needs sight? Blind people need sight. If you can already see, you don't need sight.
[9:54] You have sight. And so what happens is men want to focus on what they do while Jesus wants you to focus on what he did. And so Jesus is the end of the law, end of righteousness for us.
[10:06] He's the end of the law for us. And the reason is I don't need the law anymore because now I know it's not what I do. I can try as hard as I can. I won't please God. But as I trust Jesus, I will.
[10:17] Now, some of you are going to say, all right, now, wait a minute. We still have to obey the law. No, we really don't have to obey the law anymore. You see, you don't have to obey the law anymore because now you want to obey the law.
[10:28] You don't have to look at it and keep up a list of rules. Now you've got the Holy Spirit living in you and you're going to want to live for God. You're going to want to do something. Something happens to you.
[10:39] Something happens to you. Michael, would you and Catherine, mine, sitting right here with me, I got a question for you. I want to ask Catherine a question. Catherine, how do you like being Miss Rosselli?
[10:53] Ma'am, I don't think anybody heard you. Would you turn this on? See, how much you like it? A lot. Hey, would you turn this on? How much? A lot. Oh, y'all hear that one?
[11:05] Here's what. She became a new person. What's your name? Catherine Rosselli. What? I thought her name was... How many of y'all know her real name? Everybody knows her real name.
[11:16] Hold your hand up. What's her real name? Ah, see, you're wrong. See, her real name is? Catherine Rosselli. What was your name?
[11:26] Pearson. She is now a new creature. What's your name? Are you a Pearson? No. No. You're not sure? She's not sure. You'll have to work on that.
[11:37] He says you'll have to work on that. Now, watch this. I got a real question. I want an honest answer. How about going home and letting mom and dad tell you what to do? How about moving out of that Rosselli house, going back and being a little girl back at home and doing what mom and dad said?
[11:52] How do you feel about that? I didn't hear you. She's scared. She don't think you could beat her daddy up. Okay.
[12:03] Now, watch this. Here's the whole deal. Here's what I want you to see. You know who Catherine is? Catherine, do you have a list of rules for her to keep? Do you have a Ten Commandment rules, the Ten Rosselli Commandments?
[12:16] No. Does she ever fix you anything to eat? Yes. Don't lie. We can see. Okay. And did you tell her how many meals she had to fix? No. Now, why do you fix the meals? Ma'am, because I do.
[12:30] Because I want to. Because I want to. Do you realize what happened? She became a new person. She's not the same person. She doesn't want to be a Pearson. She doesn't want to live at the Pearson household.
[12:42] And by the way, most of the women in this room, most of the women, married women, don't want to go back. Amen? And if you do, you need to go to marriage retreat.
[12:54] Amen? So you see, what happens is, you know what? I shouldn't say that. You sit down so I don't get in trouble with your dad. Watch this.
[13:04] You know what? You know what? You know what happens, don't you? Mr. Ferguson, he's dead. He can't do a thing about it. You know what happens is, there comes a time when Betty says, I'm tired of being under the law.
[13:16] I'm tired of being under the law, Mr. Ferguson. And along comes grace. And mercy. Don't you laugh like that, woman.
[13:27] I'll send you to live with your mother. And what happens is, that was the end of it. And the truth is, she doesn't want to go back. So some of you are afraid of grace.
[13:37] You're afraid, well, if a person gets saved, they'll go out and live like the devil. Well, see, that's just not going to happen. The facts are that, some of you will, because you'll say you're saved and you ain't. Amen?
[13:50] Man, you see, the ones of you, here's the facts. The facts are, I have no idea the truth of this matter. But I'll bet you, Catherine keeps the house cleaner and with a sweeter spirit than she did under the thumb of Big Daddy John and Big Mama Sandy.
[14:07] There's a different reason to clean the house now. Under law, it was, you clean the house. You hear me? But under grace, it's, I want to clean the house. There's a whole different person.
[14:20] So what happens? The Christ is in the law. There were rules, rules, rules, rules. And you couldn't keep the rules. None of us could. The fact is, if you keep trying to keep them after you're saved, you're just going to frustrate yourself.
[14:31] But if you just live out who you are, you're going to enjoy yourself. And by the way, you'll end up keeping the rules. You see, if you came to church tonight because you're under threat, which I know you didn't, you came to church tonight because you love Jesus.
[14:47] Everybody but Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson, no, won't go to church on Sunday night. Say amen right there. Where's Ben? See, he left. There he is. Okay. No, Ben was the one that wanted Sunday afternoon service.
[14:58] I'm playing with Ben. But watch. All you people out in TV land watching us, that was a joke between me and Ben. Okay. Ain't nobody watching anyway. All right. But it felt good to say it. But anyway, the law showed me I was weak, showed me I was sick, showed me I was in need.
[15:15] I came to Jesus. He's the end of righteousness. And these Jews kept going about trying to establish their own righteousness. So they'd be like this. Hey, do you know how much money I've given? Do you know how many prayers I've prayed?
[15:26] Do you know how many places I've gone? Do you know how many things I've done? And they were trying to build up their reputation. When you talk to one of us, we say this. A man who's not here right now, who was here this morning, he said this to me.
[15:38] He said, all I can tell you is God's been so good to me. It's not what I've done. It's what he's done. Do you understand there's a difference? So go back to the question. And then we'll go back to the verse in Romans 10.
[15:49] Go back to the question, if you would. Look at the question. What does Jesus being in the law mean? It means you are no longer under rules. You're no longer under rules. I would tell you that Betty works harder than she ever worked under her mom and dad.
[16:07] Betty has more responsibility than she ever had under her mom and dad. But Betty doesn't get told to do any of those things. She does them because she's a new person.
[16:20] And that's what happens when you get saved. And Jesus said, look at Romans chapter 10 again, verse 4. Romans chapter 10 and verse 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
[16:34] So now I stand here and tell you that I am righteous. Not by who I am, but by who he is. I read a quote today. Sent it out to some of my friends.
[16:44] And here's how the quote went. The only religion in the world. This is dumbed down Gardner version. But the only religion in the world that can sum all their doctrine up in one person is Christianity.
[16:56] You ask us what we believe. We believe Jesus. You say, well, how are you supposed to live? Well, we're supposed to live like Jesus. You say, well, what's your doctrine? Jesus. So what's righteousness?
[17:06] Jesus. And no matter what question you answer, here's our answer. What question you ask, here's our answer. Jesus. What do we believe? Jesus. How do we get holy? Jesus. How do we live? Jesus. How do we pray? Jesus.
[17:17] How do we do everything? Jesus. It's all summed up in one person. Jesus. And I'm in love with him. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for me. How would you respond to a person who says Jesus can't be God because he didn't know the fig tree and Mark 11, 13 was barren.
[17:36] He did know the fig tree and 11, 13 was barren and he only limits himself when he wants to limit himself. And so I would say to whoever said that to me, I would say you're being a very foolish person to ask me such a question.
[17:46] And so I would just move on. The honest truth is, the honest truth is Jesus on purpose limited himself to human reality anytime he wanted to. He didn't live everywhere at one time.
[17:58] He could have because he's God and God is omnipresent. If they want to ask that question, I got a thousand more they can figure out for themselves. If God is omnipresent and Jesus is God, how is he only limited to one body? Because he chose to be.
[18:09] That's why. If God is, if Jesus is God and he didn't know the fig tree, I'll say this. If Jesus is God, how did he, how did he submit himself to Mary and let Mary raise him and let his dad raise him?
[18:20] So the truth is Jesus limited himself. And oftentimes he would know things and he didn't tell people, even ask his disciples one time. He said, he said, how are we going to feed these people?
[18:32] And he knew what he would do. So I'll just go ahead and tell you, he always knows everything. He always has known everything. How much he limited himself, I don't know. But in the, I don't know that in the, I don't know that in the, in the cradle when he was two months old, if his mind was fully functioning like, like God, because the Bible says he grew, he increased in stature and all.
[18:52] And so the Bible and wisdom and, and acceptance among men and all that sort of thing. And so we know that he did limit himself when he came down in his human body. And you're just going to have to accept that those things are true.
[19:04] Can I just tell y'all a basic rule? You don't need, you're like a child when you say, well, why does the light come on when you flip the switch? Just flip the switch. You don't need to ask, well, why does the wind blow? I mean, you can ask it if you want to ask it, but there are going to be things you're not going to understand.
[19:17] But I'll give you a simple way to know everything. If the Bible says that it's true and that's done, you don't really need to discuss it. Don't need to worry about it. People ask me all the time. They try to ask me questions that might cast doubt on the Bible.
[19:28] That's to me, to me, I'm just like, I don't get that. I mean, if the Bible says it, settles it, I'm not going to, whether you believe it or not doesn't have anything to do with it. Next question. Why does Paul make the distinction of God raising Jesus from the dead instead of Jesus raising himself from the dead?
[19:45] Same kind of question. Romans chapter 4, you're going to put Romans 4, 24 up there for me right quick. Romans chapter 4, verse 24. I think that that verse, my answer is going to be, but for us also, too much shall be imputed.
[19:57] If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, you know that Jesus is God. And we need to know that God the Father accepted everything about Jesus.
[20:07] And so Paul makes, I think the Holy Spirit makes it clear to us that it wasn't Jesus doing that. It was God the Father. Jesus was on earth. And the same question could be asked about him praying, him saying, I say this out loud so the people can believe.
[20:23] In John 11, when he calls Lazarus out of the grave, you have to understand Jesus is God. But Jesus, again, limits himself at all times. And he is always, though not inferior to, and not inferior to God the Father, but he is of a different rank and a different position.
[20:42] Which ought to help you at your home to understand something. And that is that we have different positions. Betty ought to be submissive to me because that's what's right. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 3.
[20:54] It's not because I'm better than her. It's not because I deserve it any more than what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 3. I would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ. The head of the woman is the man.
[21:05] And the head of Christ is God. So Christ has a head. Christ has someone in authority over him. He is God. He is equal to God. But he's not God completely like God.
[21:16] They're not the same person. They're not the same person. They are three distinct persons. All one person. And Jesus is in submission to God. And when God the Father raised Jesus from the dead, it proved to everybody that Jesus was accepted by God.
[21:32] That's a totally important thing if you consider that Jews didn't believe Jesus was God. If Jews don't believe in Jesus, then we'd have a new God. What do Muslims want to accuse us of?
[21:42] They say we have three gods. They say they only believe in one God. We believe in three gods. I believe it's Jehovah's Witnesses that say we have three gods. And they don't believe Jesus is equal to God. But here's the whole deal.
[21:53] God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons. They are the same person. Don't understand it. They're equal, but they're different. And Jesus always submits.
[22:04] And in the Old Testament, it was God. And it was God the Father. And they're expecting that when Jesus comes, he is God the Son. The verse said that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that believing you might have power, that you might have life through his name.
[22:18] And so the whole point is God the Father in the Old Testament, God the Father in the Old Testament, God the Father that the Jews knew, Jehovah that the Jews knew. They could have easily said, well, Jesus is a new God. But if Jehovah, if God, if the God that the Jews knew raised him from the dead, then it proves that your salvation is of value.
[22:36] The resurrection. Next one. Yes. Is it a sin not to have church on Sunday night?
[22:47] No, it's not a sin not to have church on Sunday night. No, it's not a sin to not have church. And it's not a sin to eat supper, to not eat supper either. And it's not a sin to not eat all day tomorrow.
[23:02] But I tell you what, I bet the majority of us are planning on eating. How many of y'all want to eat tomorrow? How many of you people planning on eating something when you get home tonight, hold your hand up? How many of you have already had three meals today or three eatings today?
[23:14] Hold your hand up if you've had three. How many of you have had two eatings today? By that, I'm just saying it because you Yankees don't understand my supper talk. How many of you have had breakfast or some sort of breakfast, hold your hand up? How many of you have had some sort of lunch or dinner or whatever y'all call it?
[23:27] How many of you have had a little snack before you came to church, hold your hand up? Bunch of pigs. How many of you are going to eat again? Well, I'm going to tell you this. You don't have to have supper tonight. It wouldn't be a sin if you didn't. And it wouldn't be a sin we didn't have church.
[23:38] But you know what? If you love Jesus, you sure like to get together with other people that love Jesus. And if you love Jesus, you like to talk about the Bible. If you love Jesus, you like to worship. And so there's no real Bible reason to get together on Sunday night except one verse that I would like to show to you.
[23:54] Go to Hebrews chapter 10 verses 24 and 25. And let me tell you that if y'all quit coming on Sunday night, I'll quit too. But as long as you'll come and I can teach more Bible, I'm going to teach more Bible.
[24:06] And as long as you'll come and we can sing more songs to Jesus, we'll sing more songs. And if we, by the way, if you had Pastor Ronald as your pastor and you were at the church in La Victoria in Arequipa, the one that got flooded and you saw that, they had church six nights a week.
[24:20] Hermano Ronald, estoy mintiendo? I said, am I lying? He said, nope. They had church. Man, they took one night off. Those church people, buddy. I went over, I told him, I said, I couldn't join your church.
[24:31] Good night. Y'all never do. You never go home. And he basically said, well, if you love Jesus, you'd want to be here too. Now look at Hebrews 10, 24, please.
[24:44] Hebrews 10, 24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a matter of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approach.
[24:57] Let me show you two things. Number one, we could set it up for all y'all stay home and I sit at my house in my underwear and just put a shirt and tie on and I could preach on the internet and we could all stay home. But we wouldn't be able to do this church thing.
[25:10] We need each other. We need each other. Go back to verse 24. We need each other. You don't just need me to preach to you. If that's all you need, I could send you a CD and you could send me money and we wouldn't rent a building.
[25:23] Huh? But we need each other. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. We ought to come in here and you guys ought to love each other, which I think you do. I told Brother Tucker, I said, they won't go home.
[25:36] I said, they don't go home. By the way, y'all want me to quit on time, but somebody else told me, I'll just go as long as you want. They don't go home anyway. But I was afraid if I keep going, y'all go home. Then, you know, do not shake your head like that.
[25:48] My goodness. Rebellion in this place is killing me. But anyway, so, you know, we need each other. We need the fellowship. We need the challenging each other.
[25:58] We need the motivating each other. We need the love in Jesus together. We need to be together. Go to verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another.
[26:11] And so much the more as you see the day approaching. And I'll tell you this, if you thought that you were dying and you wanted, you'd probably want to preach on an off day.
[26:25] And if you thought, if we all thought, man, Jesus will be here next Sunday. He's coming to take us home on Sunday. We'd all probably want to be in church more this week than we've ever been in church.
[26:36] We want to read more Bible and pray. Well, here's the whole point. But there's no, we could be like, I mean, most of the churches just town are down to one hour a week. I mean, one hour a week, and then they'll put a politician in the pulpit instead of a preacher.
[26:51] But here's the whole deal. We want to teach people what the word of God says that we want to worship God. And so we ought to be in church. I'll give you another reason. And I'll just tell you, no, it's not a sin.
[27:02] It is not a sin. It is not a sin. But listen to this. Let me talk to you like, let me talk to you like I would the missionaries. If you are going to train people to serve Jesus and you meet one hour a week, in a year you've got 52 hours.
[27:15] You take a guy from knowing nothing about Jesus, and at the end of one year you've got 52 hours of formal instruction. And by the way, listen, maybe two-thirds of that is Bible teaching because we do quite a bit of singing here.
[27:29] And so that doesn't give you a full hour. If you're here an hour, maybe you get 30, 40, 45 minutes worth of Bible teaching. 52 times a year, you would not even get 52 hours of Bible instruction.
[27:40] If you meet three times a week, you'll get 156 hours in a year. If you come to Sunday school or your small group, you'll get 208 hours in a year. And I want to bring a person from not knowing anything about Jesus to full maturity in Christ.
[27:54] So I have no desire to cut down on the amount of times I meet with you. Now, I'm not going to judge you. I'm not going to be ugly to you if you're not here. I'm not going to be mad at you if you're not here. But I would not understand that.
[28:06] And can I just say to you that every time I talk to somebody, people tell me regularly, you know, it's amazing how many people want to give me advice about how to lose weight.
[28:17] I had a kid this morning tell me how he said, once you get 40, your brain starts swelling and just makes you lose your memory. And he said, he said, so that's the problem you got because I couldn't remember his name.
[28:30] He said, you know, your brain's swelling. And I said, well, what time does it start swelling? I said, you think this guy Chuck was standing? I said, you think his brain's swelling? He said, oh, no. He said, doesn't happen to your 40. Chuck said, well, I'm 40.
[28:40] He said, OK, it's happening to you already. And he said, so what you need to do is you need to lay cards down and play memory games. You don't turn them over and find the cards that match. That's what they do with Alex instead of me.
[28:52] Dementia patients, you know. But, you know, people want to talk to me about how to lose weight. They'll say stuff to me like this. You need to eat less. OK, you don't think I know that.
[29:04] You need to exercise more. You don't think I know that. By the way, it's portion control. But, you know, every one of us, it's amazing. You guys are skinny and never gain a pound. You don't exercise portion control.
[29:16] You just want me to. Trent Cornwell could eat a horse. And when he gets to eat a horse, he won't have gained a pound. I can look at the horse and gain 10. But watch this.
[29:29] I don't understand. I don't understand the churches are calling off their services. I don't understand it. Because, man, I like eating. I like worshiping. I like teaching Bible.
[29:40] I like studying Bible. I like listening to Bible. And so I'll tell you, it's not a sin. But I sure don't understand. I don't understand why everybody wants to call them off. And it hasn't hurt us. By the way, there were 114 people in the auditorium this morning.
[29:52] There are 94 in here tonight. Is that correct, Ben? There are 94 in here tonight. So, except for visitors, we're still. You're back. So you must not have anything. You must not have too many problems with it or you wouldn't have been back.
[30:03] How about that one? Say amen. Next question. You voted tonight. That's not a question. That's a verse. Oh, that is a question. If we have. Oh, my goodness. If we have put on the righteousness of Jesus after salvation and God is pleased with us, how is it that we can be chastised when we sin?
[30:19] Because if we are the sons of God, we will not be chastised. Okay. This is like mixing your idioms. But anyway. All right. That's a Spanish. Let's go.
[30:29] Man, we should put what verse? Romans chapter 4. Let me just say it this way. And I'll tell it. I'll tell it to you this way. There are two kinds of being chastised. There are two kinds of being punished. And there's one that will never happen to me.
[30:42] I will never, ever lose my salvation. I will never be punished with the world. The first Corinthians chapter 11. The first Corinthians chapter 11. He said, you take. You sin. You come to take the Lord's Supper.
[30:52] You take it lightly. And God chastises you so that you will not be condemned with the world. First Corinthians chapter 11. I'm not sure about the verse. Somewhere around 25, I suppose. You can go look that up.
[31:03] We will never be chastised like a lost person. We will never be sent to hell. We will never. We're not threatened with hell. There's not one word in the Bible that's going to say, you mess up. You're going to get. You mess up.
[31:14] You're going to get sent to hell. Or you're going to be threatened with hell. That doesn't happen to us. That'll never happen to us. So we won't be chastised. But there's another way. And the other way.
[31:25] The other chastisement. The other discipline that God does to us. Is really a consequence of our sin. And it is God saying to us. That's not good for you. I need to get you in the way.
[31:36] I need to get you in the right road. I need to help you live right. God doesn't joy over your punishment. Or your chastisement. Or your spanking. If a parent in this room tells their child.
[31:49] And we got a lot of parents of small children. And soon your kids will be crawling around. And you know you've. Most of you. Today. In modern days. You have child proofed your house. You have put things over your plug-ins.
[32:00] We didn't have that when I was a kid. We didn't have that when our kids were little. Or if we did. We didn't know about it. We was too poor to buy it anyway. But you know what. So a kid picks up a. A kid picks up a paper clip.
[32:11] Or a kid picks up something. And sticks their finger. Sticks it into the electric socket. And gets shocked. That's chastisement. And if I saw them headed towards it. I stopped them. And if I'm not looking.
[32:22] And they go do that anyway. And they get shocked. I'm not joying over it. But the consequences of their sin bit them. When we were. When Betty and I lived in a house. And we had what was a floor.
[32:34] A gas floor. Space heater kind of thing. It's a big grate. And the older people might know about that. You young guys probably never see anything like that. But it was a carve out in the floor. And it was like a grill. And there was a big fire under it.
[32:45] And you didn't even step on it in your shoe. You kind of jumped across it. If it was burning hot. Because it burned. It burned the bottom of your shoe. And your kid's crawling across the floor. And you put something to keep them from getting there. But if you have a kid like Chris Gardner.
[32:56] He's trying his best to get there. It don't matter. You try to block him. He's going to try to figure out how to get there. He don't know why you told him he can't touch it. He wants to touch it. To find out why he can't touch it. And you know what? When he touches it and gets burned.
[33:08] I'm not joyous about that. I put up guards to keep him from doing it. I spanked him every time he got close. And he still ends up touching it. Guess what? That's chastisement. By the way, did you know that if you go out.
[33:18] Listen to this. If you go out and you get. You start drinking. You will not lose your salvation. And God won't love you any less. But when you get drunk.
[33:30] And you're coming home. And the cop stops you and gives you a ticket for DUI. God didn't do that to you. You got chastised. But it really wasn't God. It was you. You're the dingbat that got drunk.
[33:41] Say amen. Huh? And so much of what you want to consider. God. People are like. I don't know why God. I got drunk. And I had a wreck. And tore my car up. I don't know why God did that to me.
[33:52] I don't really think God did that to you. Some girl is in the back room. And she's making out with some boy. Ends up pregnant. She's like. What dog did make me pregnant? God didn't do anything to make you pregnant dummy.
[34:02] You shouldn't have been in the back room. So there's two kinds of chastisement. God's not sending you to hell. But sin has consequence. Sin has consequence. And so if you violate what God's written.
[34:15] You're going to get disciplined. By the way. You know that God's disciplined with the majority of us. Is going to be so sweet. And so tender. And so gentle. So sweet. So tender. And so gentle. He doesn't.
[34:25] He doesn't want to. He doesn't ever want you to. He is not looking to hurt you. And you know. It's just like you as a parent. And your kid's doing something wrong. And you give a little swatch of their hand.
[34:36] You're not trying to hurt them. You say no to them. And you're not trying to hurt them. You know what the Holy Spirit does? You start doing what you shouldn't. And something inside says. This ain't right. This ain't right.
[34:46] You're not supposed to be doing it. That's already chastisement. It's just. It's just being scolded. But if you keep on the wrong road. You will pay. So. We are righteous in Christ. And we're not going to lose the righteousness in Christ.
[34:58] But we will suffer the consequences of our sin. And one more question. And we'll quit. Because we like Sunday night church so much. We're not even in a hurry to go home. Ecclesiastes 7.1-4.
[35:13] Why is the house of mourning and sorrow better than. Better for our hearts. Because it helps you grow up and think about what's important. Did you ever think about this? The majority of us never think about what's really important.
[35:26] We don't think about what's important until it's late. But would you look around just a minute. You're going to die. And you know what going to the funeral home does. I read the obituaries.
[35:37] I'm on a blog. It gives me all the obituaries from Forsyth County. I get them every day. You'd be shocked. I know how old they are when they die. We have 90 year olds die. We have 17 year olds die. Sometimes people die my exact age.
[35:48] Sometimes people die the age of some of my best friends that go to this church. And I look at it and I think man you know anybody could die. Going to the house of mourning helps you take stock. If you were going to die today.
[35:58] Your 401k would not be that important to you. If you were going to die today. If you were going to die today. If you considered death today. You'd realize that the important thing number one is knowing Jesus.
[36:10] Some of us are more worried about our children. We're more worried about our children having a new toy. A new toy. A new computer.
[36:20] A new car. An education. Than we are their spiritual life. If we went to the house of mourning. We'd say in all honesty. That stuff isn't that important. What's important.
[36:32] Is living for Jesus. And loving Jesus. So the house of mourning is a great place. A house of mourning is a great place. Because when I'm in a house of mourning. It makes me realize. Hey. Life's short.
[36:45] Nothing lasts. Only Jesus is good. Only what I do for Jesus lasts. It'll all soon be over. You ever consider this. And I mean utterly no disrespect.
[36:57] And I'm going to talk about my family. But you know my grandmother and granddad. They've been dead so long. They're not mentioned that often anymore. They lived their lives 80, 90 years. I think they were both right at 88, 89, 90.
[37:10] Right in that area when they died. They've been dead I guess 20 years now. And you know what? I loved my grandmother. Boy I loved my grandmother. Boy she was the sweetest lady you ever met in your life. My granddad was kind of gruff.
[37:23] But my grandmother was like the sweetest. Most kind lady who ever walked this place. But you know it's over. She's gone. And I'll not see her until I get to heaven. You know my dad died. And I think about my dad.
[37:35] But you know. I probably think about him a lot less. I can remember for the first. For a year and a half at least. I used his shaving cream every day. My mother gave me his big old can of foam that you use.
[37:46] And I used it every day. And every day I thought daddy's cream will run out soon. And I remember the last squeeze that came out. And I didn't really want it out. Because I knew daddy was gone. And you think about that. And those thoughts come to you.
[38:01] Thinking about life. Life is very valuable for you. And nothing makes you think about life like death. While everything is going good. And you're having a good time.
[38:12] You don't think about it. I'm serious when I say this. You would be far more concerned about spiritual things. If you thought about death. You'd be far more concerned about the things of God.
[38:24] If you thought about death. It's amazing. You let somebody get cancer. You let somebody be dying. You let somebody be sick. And they get real spiritual.
[38:36] They don't miss church. The fact is sometimes their families don't miss church. Because bless God. We want God to come in and do something for us. And so I will just say to you. Going to the house of mourning is a great thing.
[38:47] I literally do count my days. The Bible says let us number our days. I count my days. I know that it's 12 months. Five. It's 12 years. Five months. And so many days until I turn 70.
[38:59] You see. And the guys tell me all the time that's morbid. No it's really smart. You know what they tell you in a ball game. Watch the clock. You're in life. And it's going to end.
[39:10] And by the way. I may not make it to 70. It would be wise to think about that. You have been listening to Austin Gardner. Pastor of Vision Baptist Church.
[39:22] For contact information. Location. Service times. Or more audio and video recordings. Log on to www.visionbaptist.com Melissa Stewart.
[39:33] Look at the time. Make it all possible. Woo. Buy. Law Times. Yeah.inned." Learn Thursday.