Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah.
It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,
either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all,
would you pray for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like
yourself? The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,
we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the
Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We
will do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're
a non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't
hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the
types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.
Father, I ask that you would, Father, we're dealing with a passage of Scripture that many Christians
in Canada, many of us maybe feel very uncomfortable with. And so Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit
would come with gentle but deep power to bring us to Jesus. And as your Holy Spirit brings us to
Jesus, that you, Father, will bring us to the words that Jesus speaks to us this morning.
And Father, help us to listen to him. And we ask that the Holy Spirit would bring the words of Jesus
deep into who we are so that it will be his word that forms us. And we ask this in the name of Jesus,
your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.
So let's just be frank about a couple of things. You've heard the text that I'm preaching through
the Gospel of Mark. And we just had a text read which talks about hell. And for Canadians,
hell is a repellent topic. In fact, actually, I think if our non-Christian friends, maybe it's one of you
who are here this morning or maybe one of you who are here online and you're just sort of curious and
you've been either watching this sermon downstream or you're participating in the service through
online, you'd probably say to me, George, no one is frightened by hell in Canada. Like in Canada,
no one at all is frightened by hell. And the fact is, George, that we will only think less of you
if you mention hell. And we will only think less of Jesus and we will only think less of Christianity.
If you persist and talk as if you actually believe it, we will mock you.
And in fact, George, you might as well just accept the fact that in Canada, it is an unwinnable,
unwinnable, I don't know if that's a word, it's an unwinnable thing to hold. Like you'll never convince us.
It's just ridiculous. And if you really believe it, we'll just think there's something evil about you.
So that I think, I don't know, I think that's sort of a fair way to describe how much of our culture
would think about this topic. In fact, if you think about it, you know, if you watch a Netflix
or some other comedy special, if the person came bounding out all chipper and then said,
I'm going to talk about hell, everybody would laugh, right? That's what they would do. They would just laugh.
That's the normal North American response to this. And this attitude seeps into us as Christians and
makes us very uncomfortable with this doctrine. So what are we going to do? We're going to be
looking at verses 30 to 50. But just before we go up to verse 30, let's just look once again at the
words at the end, the words about hell. And if once again, if Claire could put it up,
but if you have your Bibles, it's page 58. And we begin at verse 43. And here's what Jesus says.
And here's part of the problem about the text. It's not a problem from one point of view,
but it is a problem from another point of view. The problem with the text is that this is the same
just type of language that Jesus is going to use about, you know, feeding the poor and caring for
the sick and loving people. And it's the same language. It's not as if all of a sudden,
you know how sometimes when you're watching movies or something and all of a sudden it moves to a
slightly different color or the color template or filter and maybe becomes a little bit fuzzy. And
you know, it's like a dream sequence or a memory or something like that. In the original language,
if you're reading along, it's the same type of language as he talks about the other things that
we like. And here's what he says in verse 43, before we go back to verse 30 and look at it,
it goes like this. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life
crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin,
cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.
And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with
one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell. And here he quotes from Isaiah verse 48,
where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
So a couple of things about this. Jesus is saying that hell is real.
He's obviously using a little bit of symbolic language, but he's using some symbolic language
to talk about something which is real. The other thing about it is that Jesus is talking about hell
as if it will not be empty. And thirdly, he's talking about it as if human beings listening to him
and all human beings are in danger of ending up in hell. That's what he's saying. He says hell three times.
And not only does he say it three times, he says it in a memorable way. At the eight o'clock service,
there's a person who comes to the eight o'clock service who's involved in theater.
And as I said to the two people who are involved in the theater, I mean, like live theater, and I said,
this is the type of line that if you had it in a play, it would be memorable because of the rhythm,
you know, of the hand, the foot, the eye. And they said, that's exactly right. A line like this
is more memorable because of the type of rhythm and the other imagery that goes along with it.
So in other words, Jesus says it three times. He says it in a memorable way.
And he says it in the same type of language as he talks about the types of things that we would like.
In fact, actually, if you think about it for a second, what we'd like is life and the kingdom of God.
And he's not saying that if you cut off your hand, so you enter light. I mean, he's talking about people
who are alive. He's talking about how there's basically two destinations.
And even to say that is something which we Canadians, we balk at.
There's only two ultimate endings. And one ending is described with hell, hell, hell,
unquenchable fire, and always nibbling worms.
And the other end, the end we like, is described as life and life and the kingdom of God.
And those are the ends.
So what do we do?
Well,
generally speaking,
you look at context to see if that's going to help.
And the context is profoundly, deeply, satisfyingly helpful,
but not in the way
that we Canadians want it to be helpful.
But we need to get over our being Canadians
and listen to how what the context that Jesus puts it in is, in fact,
deeply and profoundly helpful.
So let's go back to verse 30,
the beginning of our text for this week,
and that's found on page 56.
And if later on,
you decide to sort of catch up on the Gospel of Mark
to see where we've come to in this ancient eyewitness biography of Jesus,
written while eyewitnesses were still alive,
that what we see that's just a little bit before this,
Jesus, for the first time,
prophesied or predicted
that he was going to be crucified
and die and rise again.
And Peter responds to that by saying,
no way, Jose,
no way, Jesus,
that's never going to happen to you.
Jesus rebukes Peter
and says,
you're not thinking in terms of how I'm thinking,
you're thinking in terms of how the devil thinks.
And then Jesus gives his teaching
about how people who want to follow Jesus,
they need to pick up their cross and follow him.
And then the very next thing,
which is just what we looked at last week,
is about a week after that,
Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up to a high mountain,
and he's transfigured.
Before them, in a sense,
it's a vision of heaven.
And the new heaven and the new earth,
Moses and Elijah are there.
And then Jesus goes down the mountain,
and he comes down the mountain,
and he goes right into the normal type of mess
that we as human beings sort of have to live with,
of sickness and demonic oppression
and arguments and religion and all of that.
And the disciples aren't able to cast the demon
out of the young boy, but Jesus does.
And that's what's just happened.
And now the story continues,
and here's how it goes in verse 30.
They went on from there.
That's Jesus and the 12.
They went on from there and passed through Galilee.
And Jesus did not want anyone to know,
for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them,
the Son of Man is going to be delivered
into the hands of men, and they will kill him.
And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.
But they did not understand the saying
and were afraid to ask him.
Now we're going to camp in that just a little bit
because it's a bit longer than we will for the other things
because it's exceptionally, you know, important.
Just this past week I was watching and listening to something on YouTube,
an interview by a fellow by the name of Sean McDowell
with a person by the name of Andrew Clavin.
And it was a very interesting interview.
Andrew Clavin grew up as a secular Jew in an artistic family,
and at a very early age he recognized,
and others recognized, that he was very creative.
And in fact, he had a very long career in that artistic community,
that sort of upper type of artistic community.
As he says in the interview, he lived in either London, England,
New York, or Los Angeles.
And he's a successful thriller writer.
He got into screenwriting, was very successful at that.
And the circles he traveled in were these circles
of very creative people, Hollywood people, literary people,
and he was very at home in that.
He was raised as a secular Jew.
But through a series of circumstances,
and that's partially what the interview is all about,
at the age of 50, he became a Christian.
At the age of 50, he became a Christian.
And the interview, one of the things which is really interesting
in the interview is he describes how his father,
who was completely a non-practicing Jewish man,
when Andrew was 15,
he'd started to develop a huge love of the stories of Arthur,
you know, the Knights of the Round Table and all of that.
He developed a huge interest in it.
And so he's reading all of these old things about it,
and he realizes there's all this Christian symbolism in it.
So he thinks to himself,
well, I don't know anything at all about Christian symbolism.
Like, I know zero about it.
And so he decided he'd find a New Testament.
And he did, and he brought it home,
and he's lying in his bed at night reading the Gospel of Luke,
because he'd somehow figured out that Luke had the Christmas story,
and he thought he'd start with that.
And as he's reading the Gospel of Luke,
not because he's even remotely interested in Christianity,
he just really wants to try to understand the Arthurian legends better.
His dad comes into the room,
sees him reading the New Testament,
and his dad says to him,
how dare you bring that book into our house?
That is the book of the enemy.
It is the book of the people who've killed
millions of Jewish people in the Holocaust.
It is the book of people who have been prejudiced
against our people for 2,000 years.
How dare you bring that book into our house?
And it is the book of the enemy.
So one of the questions that came to Andrew was,
like, how did you overcome that to become a Christian?
Like, how did you get your mind around that?
And Andrew said,
that actually was one of the harder barriers for me to become a Christian.
The long history of people saying that it was the Jews that killed Jesus
and that we are a hateful group.
But then as I'm thinking about it,
and he's been reading the New Testament
over and over and over again
as part of his religious quest,
which will culminate in him
as he puts it,
one day he's driving in Los Angeles
and it's as if God speaks to him.
But it's not God.
He says, just this has overwhelming sense
that he's become a Christian.
He needs to get baptized.
I need to get baptized.
And he said,
I came to realize that Christians who said
that it's Jesus who killed,
that Jews killed Jesus were wrong.
that ultimately it is human beings,
the human race that killed Jesus.
Now, in the interview,
he didn't say anything about Bible verses,
but the verse that we have before us
is actually exactly what Andrew Clavin just said.
If you look at the key verse,
the prophecy in verse 31,
Jesus was teaching his disciples,
saying to them,
the son of man is going to be delivered
into the hands of men
and they will kill him.
And when he is killed,
after three days, he will rise.
In the first prophecy,
he says it's going to be the Jewish leaders
that he's handed to.
But in this text,
it's very specifically all human beings.
He's being handed over to human beings
and human beings will kill him.
That's exactly what this text is talking about.
In fact, it adds something to it that,
I mean, maybe Andrew would know this.
It wasn't part of the interview,
is that the word delivered
is a very, very good word.
Notice that the son of man
is going to be delivered.
It's a very, very good word.
But what you don't get in English
is that in Greek,
there's a tense called the divine passive.
It's a tense which is used
when it's God who does something.
And that's the tense for the word delivered.
So what Jesus is saying here
is the son of man
is going to be delivered by God the Father
into the hands of human beings,
that's you and me,
and we will kill him.
Some of you,
I think most of you,
maybe all of you know the distinction
between got to and get to.
The way to read this,
you see,
if you think about it for a second,
if Jesus knows that this is what,
that he's going to be crucified,
he could have done things to get out of it.
Or he could have this prophecy
that he's delivered hanging over him
a little bit like a curse.
Sort of like those of you
who know a little bit about,
you know, Greek mythology,
I think it's the Oedipus
who's cursed to kill his father
or something.
I think it's the Oedipus curse
that there's a prophecy
that he'll kill his father
and he tries to avoid it
and he ends up killing his father anyway.
And it could read it
as if that's what Jesus is saying here,
as if it's some type of a fate
which has been put on him
that he doesn't want.
But the way to understand it
is not that I've got to do this,
but that I get to do this.
I get to do this.
I get to be the means
by which human beings
who are destined to hell
can be delivered from that fate
into something they don't deserve,
into something we don't deserve,
which is the kingdom of God
and which is life.
The other thing here
which is sort of very
important for us to understand
about the text
is why on earth is it
that in the year 2022,
in post-modern,
post-truth Ottawa,
there's even a couple of us
who are reading
this ancient eyewitness biography
of Jesus.
Now, this, by the way,
is something that, you know,
that generally skeptics
don't really actually
give their mind
much attention to.
But the fact is
the only reason
that we're reading this
is because the person of Jesus
who really did live
really did make such predictions.
In fact, including,
if you look at all
of the eyewitness biographies,
details of his death,
which he could not possibly
have managed himself,
namely that the Romans
would decide to crucify him.
And he really did die on the cross.
And he really did,
on the third day,
rise from the dead
and appear to many people
who recognized him
and saw that he wasn't
a person
who had just barely,
by the skin of his teeth,
survived a harrowing experience
of flogging
and the nailing of the wrists
and the nailing of the feet
and the dehydration
and the spear piercing.
And somehow or another
was able to hobble along,
having had all of that happen,
is the evidence
of all of the different people
and sometimes pairs,
sometimes groups,
sometimes individuals,
sometimes large groups,
is that he was alive.
And that's the only explanation
as to why it is
that we are still reading this.
Do you know,
this is a true fact.
There is only one religion
that was started
in the time of the Roman Empire
that still exists.
It's Christianity.
Only religion.
But of all the ones
that started
during the time
of the Roman Empire.
And, you know,
I know that there's
no technical, logical,
that it doesn't sort of
logically or rationally follow,
but gosh, it follows.
You see, if Jesus says,
I've come to die on a cross,
I get to do this,
and I'm going to die on the cross,
and I'm going to rise from the dead,
that, at a technically literal,
like, logic level,
doesn't vindicate
that he is who he said he is,
and he's going to accomplish
what he says he's going to accomplish.
But if that doesn't vindicate him,
what on earth will?
I mean, that clearly vindicates him.
Good grief.
Defeating death?
Riding from the dead?
If that doesn't vindicate his words?
Well, I just, I, it's,
if we think about it seriously,
that has to vindicate him.
And not just vindicate
that he wasn't a bad man
who died because he was a bad person,
because that wouldn't be the case
of defeating death
and defeating sin,
but it vindicates him
that he is, in fact, God,
the Son of God,
that he is, in fact,
the Lamb of God
that takes away the sin of the world,
that that vindicates
that that is who he is.
And it's after he makes this prediction,
and it's only because
this prediction came true
that Mark writes
his eyewitness biography,
which will end, spoiler alert,
with Jesus, the tomb being empty,
and Jesus being alive.
That also means
that we need to listen
to his warnings about hell
very seriously.
Now, I'm not going to spend
that much time
on the next bits.
They're all very, very important.
I'll make a few comments about them,
but it's very interesting
about how the text goes
and moves towards this part
of the teaching about hell.
And it's especially hard
because it's especially interesting
because it brings home,
psychologically,
a better understanding
of what hell is.
Look at what happens
very next, verse 33.
And they,
oh, by the way,
verse 32,
but they didn't understand
the saying
and were afraid to ask him.
See, even that little tiny bit
is very significant.
Why are you afraid
to ask a question often?
Well, you don't want
to look stupid.
Well, why don't you want
to look stupid?
Because you're proud.
Because I'm proud.
Verse 33,
verse 33,
and they came to Capernaum,
and when he was in the house,
he asked them,
what were you discussing
on the way?
But they kept silent,
verse, page 58, verse 34,
for on the way,
they had argued with one another
about who was the greatest.
And he sat down
and called the 12,
and he said to them,
he said,
if anyone would,
if anyone,
if anyone would be first,
he must be last
and servant of all.
And he took a child
and put him in the midst of them,
and taking him in his arms,
he said to them,
whoever receives
one such child
in my name receives me,
and whoever receives me
receives not me,
but him who sent me.
In other words,
God the Father.
This other language
that God the Father
has sent Jesus to die.
Now, here's another thing.
You know,
it's very interesting.
I was reading
a 19th century commentary
as part of my preparation
for this.
And one of the things
a person in the 19th century,
you know,
it's just so interesting
when you read something
which is like 150
some odd years old,
and all the disciples
were all lower working class.
And the person
writing the commentary
wouldn't have been
from a lower working class
background.
He was from a bit
of a better background.
And he just sort of
makes the comment,
imagine lower working class
people thinking
they're the greatest.
But the fact of the matter is,
how uncomfortable
would every one of us be
if God could reveal
our fantasies?
How many of us think
we're the greatest?
It might be in Bible study,
it might be singing,
it might be cooking,
it might be holiness,
it might be prayer.
How many of us
wouldn't be,
well,
how many of us
if God was just to reveal
some fantasy
about how we thought
we were the greatest
and all of a sudden
he put it on the screen
and it was obvious
that it came from me
or it came from one of you,
every single one of us,
God would find something.
And gosh,
if it was me,
two things would happen.
I would get so red
and there wouldn't be
a crack small enough
for me to crime into.
Some of us might not be
as obvious about our
our personal fantasies
about greatness,
but then the second illustration
is very, very telling.
Verse 38,
John said to him,
that's John,
the disciple,
teacher,
we saw someone,
verse 38,
we saw someone casting out
demons in your name
and we tried to stop him
because he was not following us.
But Jesus said,
do not stop him
for no one
who does a mighty work,
and by the way,
mighty work is literal,
but it's a little bit misleading.
It's referring to a miracle.
So no one who does a miracle
in my name
will be able soon afterward
to speak evil of me.
For the one who is not against us
is for us.
For truly I say to you,
whoever gives a cup of water
to drink because you belong to Christ
will by no means lose his reward.
Now, here's the thing
which is not as obvious.
It's there in English,
but it's not as obvious in English
as it is in the original language,
is if we were to try
to actually make it more accurate,
but it would look weird,
in verse 38,
because he was not following us.
That's the issue.
And not necessarily Jesus.
It's us 12.
He's not with us 12
because we're the greatest.
And it's so funny
because if you go back,
the story,
which is just part
of the same chapter,
is the fact that
they weren't able
to cast a demon out.
And so here's a guy
doing what they couldn't do.
But they still think
they're greater than him.
And so they want him
to stop because of us.
Well, isn't that very true as well?
I mean, right now,
by the way,
and this is not,
if John Charest had won,
the John Charest people
would all be feeling very good.
If the Lesley and Lewis had won,
they'd all been feeling really good.
But right now,
it's the Pierre-Paul-Lavere people
because it's us.
We're the ones.
Right?
It's us because
we're the anti-charismatics.
It's us because
we are the charismatics.
It's us because
we have the big church.
It's us because
we have the small church.
It's us because
just you fill in the blank.
And there's a type of,
in a sense of a group pride.
And you see the thing,
I mean, here it is.
What, you know,
Jesus has just described
the very nature.
If what Jesus has said is true,
then the very, very heart of God
is not about him
having his glory
so completely and utterly
and obviously seen
that we just cower.
but he wants us
to see his glory
and he wants us
to see his beauty
but the way he most
fully reveals himself
is by,
is by God,
the Son of God
taking him to himself
human nature
and coming and walking
amongst us
so that he would die
on a cross.
Like love.
Taking the lowest place.
the opposite of pride.
And here we've had
the two proud
to ask a question.
They think they're the greatest.
They think we're the greatest.
And it's in this context
that he's going to say
a couple of things
about hell.
And notice first verse 42.
Whoever causes
one of these little ones
who believe in me
to sin,
it would be better for him
if a great millstone
were hung around his neck
and he were thrown
into the sea.
Now,
little ones just mean
simple Christians.
In fact,
it's another way
to describe a Christian.
We're little ones.
I'm a little one.
And so are you.
You're not the greatest.
I am a little one.
And it's a very, very,
I think,
a very, very significant
placement.
And it's not as if,
because in fact it is,
God looks down the ages
and says,
you know, George,
well,
you're not as clever
as you think you are.
But,
you don't have to be
very clever
to try to do,
well,
it could be this,
it could be that,
it could be this,
it could be that,
and hell is just
a symbolic thing
and it's a metaphor
and,
by the way,
let me tell you
about the history
of Gehenna
and the valley
and do all of that
and what I end up doing
is I end up,
by the end of it,
thinking,
oh, well,
good grief,
there's sin,
hell doesn't even exist
or if it does exist,
it doesn't really matter.
It's just a metaphor,
you know,
for some type
of psychological distress
and if I could,
I could do that
and if I was to teach that
and then it was
to encourage people
like you
or people watching
to say,
well,
I don't have to even
think about hell.
Jesus is saying,
George,
if you do something
like that,
it would be better
for you
if a millstone
was hung around
your neck
and you were thrown
into the sea.
If the Sunday school
teachers do that,
it would be better
if the men's group,
the women's ministry,
if they were to do that,
if the small group leaders
were to do that,
it would be better
if God,
if you just took
a millstone around you
and throw you
into the depths
of the sea,
that would be better
for you.
And if your hand
causes you,
verse 43,
to sin,
cut it off.
It is better for you
to enter life crippled
than with two hands
to go to hell,
to the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot
causes you to sin,
cut it off.
It is better for you
to enter life lame
than with two feet
to be thrown into hell.
And if your eye
causes you to sin,
tear it out.
It is better for you
to enter the kingdom
of God with one eye
than with two eyes
to be thrown into hell,
where their worm
does not die
and the fire
is not quenched.
I believe Jesus
rose from the dead.
I believe that he
is the Savior
and the Lord.
And because he has told me,
I believe that hell exists.
If you look at it,
it's sort of there
in English.
It's also more obvious
in the original language,
but it's there
in the English.
If you look at verse 43 again,
it says at the end
of verse 43,
it is better for you
to enter life crippled
than with two hands
to go to hell.
The other two images,
verse 46,
thrown into hell
and verse 47,
thrown into hell.
I mean, sorry,
verse 45 and verse 47,
thrown into hell.
this is,
this beautifully captures
the fact that
there's sort of two things
that happen.
The first thing is that I,
the person going to hell
willingly goes.
They choose to go.
And at the same time,
it's also understood
as something that God
sends you to,
without any contradiction
between the two.
You see,
one of the things,
and it takes longer
than I have,
I'm just going to throw
this out,
it's,
the doctrine of hell
is not a bug
that needs to be fixed
in Christianity.
It's a design feature.
No,
no religion,
no spirituality,
no philosophy
or theology,
greater values,
human freedom
and autonomy
than the Christian faith
and hell
is the testimony
to that.
God doesn't force you.
Demons force you.
God,
the true and living God,
the triune God
doesn't force you.
You choose to go.
You want to go.
God at the end,
the end,
the end of the end
which is the beginning
of the true beginning
says,
child,
you don't like me
calling you child,
you'd rather that I
called you God.
you find my existence,
my existence only makes you angry.
My love only makes you cringe.
my truth only makes you furious.
My beauty only makes you gag.
And you would rather have your own way
and your own conceits
and your own little rule
than be in my presence.
you would choose anything other
than to be in my presence,
healed and unveiled.
And that is what you choose
right till the end
and that is where you will go.
And I'm,
obviously,
it's a metaphor
and I can't say
that I'm making
a doctrinal statement here.
But if you were locked up
for all eternity
with your pride
and your anger
and your envy
and your greed
and your lust
and your resentments
and not only locked up
by yourself
but with others,
it would be your very own
anger
and fantasies
and hatreds
and rivalries
and lusts
that would be the fire
that would consume you
and the worms
that would eat you.
and what the gospel
is all about
is not that George
is so good
that he's going
to go to heaven
but that God
in his grace
has provided a means
by which
the end of the end
of the end of George
and the beginning
of the beginning
of life
after death
for George
is not hell
but that when I'm
in a sense
stop running
from Christ
and allow him
to catch me
and take me
he takes me
and transfers me
from a fate
of hell
and he transfers me
to be his child
by adoption
and grace
and clothe me
in such a way
that I will be fit
for eternity
and this is not
of my doing
it's not of my work
I can only
allow Christ
to do
that
for me
and in me
he died
the death
that I deserved
he
entered into
all of the
there is of death
whatever that means
which I could not do
but to remain there
and be in hell
he offers me
his perfect obedience
to the father
to clothe me
with his righteousness
which I could
I could never have
and he transfers me
from
the kingdom of darkness
that ends in death
and hell
into the kingdom
of light
and life
and truth
and goodness
and beauty
which ends
in the kingdom of God
and life after life
after life
and it is all
his doing
not mine
I receive it
as an act of grace
it says we're
gripped with this
that we begin
to understand
anew
the wonder
of the gospel
when the bible
talks about
how you were lost
and you have to be saved
that's what it means
you were lost
and you need to be
transferred by Christ
and what he's done
on the cross
you need to be taken
from there
into his kingdom
that's what being saved
means
that's what Christ
has done for us
and it's only
as these truths
grip us
that we can be
really just
you know
one of the things
about it
you know
one of the things
that Andrew Clavin
said
that one of the things
that kept him
from the Christian faith
is and I hope
I pronounce this right
he called it
the banal optimism
of so many Christians
that if you just
you know
you read a bible verse
and your day
will be successful
and he just knew
that couldn't possibly
be true
it was sort of
just this weird optimism
he certainly knew
it couldn't be true
because no fiction character
portrayed like that
is actually believable
and so you know
here's the thing
as Christians
if you give your life
to Christ
you will have
many many hard things
that are going to happen
to you in life
many hard things
will happen to you
you'll discover hard things
about yourself
and Christ will ask you
to do hard things
but it's a very
very different thing
to do these hard things
when you know
that the end
of the end
is entering into life
that's the end
you will enter into life
and that is unstoppable
when you put your faith
and trust in Christ
it is unstoppable
and so texts like this
help us to understand
the wonder of the gospel
and also the need
to pray for the lost
I just want to say
if there are any here
or any who are watching
I know you're not
frightened by hell
but it exists and it real
and there is this wonderful
Savior who died for you
and to know him
is to know life
you might have
very very hard times
right now
and you might have
very hard times
in the days to come
some people here
who are here today
are going through
very very difficult
and hard times
but when you put
your faith
and trust in Christ
the end of the story
for you is life
and that life
begins to be a life
that you experience now
even if there's things
going wrong
with your body
and your finances
and your mind
and all of those
other types of things
that seed of life
is something
that will only grow
and will end
with you
seeing God
face to face
and you being like Christ
and so there's
no better time
than now
to call out to Jesus
and ask that he would
be your Savior
and your Lord
let's stand
bow our heads
in prayer
Father
we ask that you
help us to be mindful
of the things
the true things
the spiritual things
the things
which Christ
talks us to about
about our destinies
Father
we all know
that human beings
die
and we
all somehow
blithely
or just arrogantly
think that we will
all go to a better
place just because
we're us
and Christ has issued
a wake up call
to us
that just as we've
lived our lives
many of us
in rebellion
against you
if Christ does not
save us
that will be the
final word about us
but we thank you
Father
that that is not
the final word
about those
who put their faith
and trust in Christ
and so we ask
Lord that you
renew within us
an appreciation
of the wonder
of the gospel
and of what Jesus
has done for us
and grant us
Father a heart
to pray
for those who are
around us
that they will come
to a saving faith
in Jesus
and grant us
Father the courage
to bear witness
to Jesus
and we ask
all of these things
in the name of Jesus
your Son
and our Savior
Amen
you
Thank you.