I had holidays a little over a month ago, and I had a whole three weeks off, which was fantastic.
It was a good chance to spend time with people who I don't normally see.
And one of the particular highlights for me was the chance to have a conversation with someone who I really care about, about following Jesus.
They're somebody who would call themselves a Christian, somebody who has been around church, knows the answers, they know how it works.
But by their own admission, they would say they're a Christian, but not a Christian like me.
In their mind, there's kind of the levels of Christian.
So there's the fanatics, which I assume is the end she's placing me in, and then the normal Christians who are normal, but like Jesus.
And the conversation was around why she makes that distinction a little bit.
For her, there are some things that she's just uncomfortable with, some things she doesn't understand, some doubts she's got.
And those things for her get in the way of wanting to make that step to go, you know what, I'm all in.
I'm all for God.
I'm going to live for Him.
It's all about Him.
And the major sticking point for her was something that a lot of us actually struggle with.
And it could even be a question that you're wrestling with right now.
And that was the question of, how can a God who is loving send good people to hell?
How can a God who is loving send good people to hell?
So this person I'm chatting to just can't fathom that nice people who do good things for others and give to charity and just kind of are nice,
could end up being sent to hell by God.
And that could be a tension that you feel as well, as you think of family members, friends, people who are precious to you,
who are really nice, but aren't Christian.
And maybe you find it hard to imagine how God can be loving and send that person to hell.
It's something that I've wrestled with.
Now, this person I was chatting with, the answer for them was that God can't send those people to hell.
Because they couldn't fathom a God who's loving and a God who would send people like that to hell,
the solution was God won't do it.
I asked them about Jesus and about the kinds of things that Jesus says,
like, I'm the only way to the Father.
I'm the only way to heaven.
And that just left them feeling a little bit frustrated because it didn't kind of fit with their solution.
They'd come up with a solution.
They'd resolve the tension.
It didn't fit with the stuff that I was kind of suggesting out of the Bible.
Now, behind this question, behind the question of a loving God and people going to hell,
is potentially something personal.
It's not so much a question of how could a good God, a loving God, send good people out there to hell.
It's actually a question that comes from our own fear and insecurity.
The question is, how could a loving God send someone good like me to hell?
It's that fear, especially for people who are following Jesus and want to go to heaven
and just maybe don't feel 100% sure.
They want an insurance policy.
They want kind of a blank check from God that says,
you know what, if you're above this line, let's just agree, all of you will get in.
Just take the pressure off a little bit.
We want to know for sure.
We want God's approval.
But there can be just this lingering doubt, especially when we open the Bible like we have in Amos these last couple of weeks
and just get hammered with talk of God's judgment,
with a reminder that God is a just God, that God doesn't tolerate sin.
When we get faced with the judgment of God, it leaves us with a couple of options.
It leaves us in a couple of camps, especially if you're somebody who wants to follow God,
someone who's trying to follow God.
There are, of course, those who are secure, even hearing about God's judgment.
They're confident that they're loved by God and that that's appropriate confidence.
There's people just slightly this direction who hear about it and really want to
and might be 99% sure or maybe much lower, but there's just that lingering doubt.
There's just that pressure and fear every time you stuff up that just escalates.
And then when you're going well, it kind of gets reined in a little bit.
And you know that feeling of trying to follow God, but sometimes feeling like,
I hope he still loves me today.
And then there is another group just a little bit further down the spectrum
who are secure.
They're confident.
They're sure that God loves them.
But maybe they're deluded in their confidence.
Maybe it's a wrong confidence.
There's a part of them that's trying to follow God
and enough to the point where they think they've got it all figured out,
but the reality is they don't.
So far in Amos, through this series,
we've been hearing warning after warning from God to his people Israel.
Amos has been explaining judgment is coming.
He's been telling the people that those who claim to be gods but aren't truly,
those who speak the words but live a different way will face judgment.
Amos is not the first prophet with this message.
He won't be the last one.
And yet so far,
Israel
don't seem to be taking him seriously at all.
God has just promised in those few verses that Deb read out
that their cities will be destroyed,
that they'll be carted off as slaves to another country,
and nothing seems to be registering.
Israel falls into this third category
of people who are sure that God loves them,
but it doesn't seem to be reflective of what God is saying.
I mean, at best, they're ignoring what he's saying,
but at worst, they're trying to shut him up.
They're trying to say, stop talking to us.
I mean, in chapter 7 that Deb just read out,
there's this face-off in the second half from verses 10 onwards.
This is between Amos, who wrote Amos,
and Amaziah, who's the priest for Israel.
He's like the religious leader.
So you'd expect out of anyone,
he should be in tune with God and what's going on.
But listen to the way he describes Amos' message.
This is in verse 10.
He's writing a letter to the king.
He says,
Amos is raising a conspiracy against you
in the very heart of Israel.
He says,
The land cannot bear all his words,
for this is what Amos is saying.
When a prophet speaks in the Bible,
they speak with the weight of God's own voice.
They speak with the authority of the God
who sent them this message,
and yet Amaziah the priest hears this and says,
It's just some wacko.
It's just some guy.
We don't have to take him seriously.
Let's not listen to him.
In fact, not just let's ignore him,
let's try and get rid of him.
I mean, this message he sends to the king,
he's trying to have Amos killed for treason.
He's accusing him of trying to subvert the king
and then effectively says,
Go home.
Stop annoying us.
We don't want to listen to you.
Go back south.
Go to the farm you came from.
Stop prophesying.
We don't want to listen.
But the really scary part of this bit in Amaziah,
sorry, this bit in Amos,
is that Amaziah,
at least it seems,
and all of Israel,
genuinely don't see what they're doing as a rejection of God.
So remember,
this third group that's confident,
but wrongly confident,
is actually trying to follow God.
That's the starting point for that third group.
That's the starting point for Israel.
They're God's people.
And even as they tell this prophet,
go away,
we're not interested,
they genuinely believe they're in God's good books.
They genuinely believe that he loves them
and he's happy with them
and they are securely there in his favor.
That's why they're not listening.
The idea that God would judge them
is so inconceivable
that they have no motivation to even listen,
let alone respond to this warning
and this call to repent and return to God.
But for us and for them,
it begs a really, really important question.
Why are they so confident?
What's the basis for this group
being so sure that God is going to show them mercy?
Because we can look at this passage and this story
and even before we know in a few years
God's going to come through on his promise,
he's going to destroy them,
he's going to crush this nation
under the military power of Assyria.
Even before you get there,
it's pretty clear from what we've seen
in the first few chapters of this book,
Israel's lives do not reflect
what God expects from those who love him.
We've heard stories of the prostitutes in the temple,
of the oppression of the poor.
So what basis is there for them to be confident?
What reason could they possibly have
to believe that God is happy with them?
Let me show you two.
Firstly, Israel's confidence
flows out of their worship.
Flick to chapter 5
if you've got your Bible open in front of you
and we're looking around verse 5,
4, 5, 6.
We look at what they were doing
in their version of church in the temple
and go,
it's got some serious issues,
it's clearly flawed for us
but for them,
it was the basis
of their confidence
that God was going to love them.
God, when he called his people
and when he created the relationship
between them,
created the covenant,
he placed himself in their midst
in a building called the temple
which he placed in Jerusalem.
That was the one place
where they would meet with him,
where they would sacrifice to him,
where he would speak to them,
they would pray to him.
It was a unique symbol
of God's presence.
But the problem with that is
we're talking to Israel.
So Israel is a group of 12 tribes
that broke in half,
two stayed down at Jerusalem
and 10 stayed up the top,
in fact moved north.
That's Israel now.
That's who we're talking to.
So they've moved away from the temple
where God said,
I'll be there,
come and meet with me.
Now, you know,
that sounds like a disaster.
They have no intention of going
and visiting the place
that God said to worship.
So they figure,
we can solve that problem.
And they come up
with three new places to go.
They're there in those verses,
in chapter 5.
Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba.
You don't have to remember
all these names.
It's okay.
But for a second,
we do have to look at them.
Because Israel didn't just choose,
that's a nice hill,
let's put a church there.
These are really specifically
and intentionally chosen places
that they thought
would help them do
worshiping God.
And let me show you why.
Bethel is a place,
earlier in the Bible,
in Genesis,
where Jacob,
who was kind of the forefather
of this nation Israel,
encounters God twice.
The first time he goes there,
he has this vision
and he wakes up
and he says,
clearly,
this is a place
where the Lord is.
And then in his travels,
he ends up back there
another time
and God shows up
and engages him
and changes his name
from Jacob to Israel.
It is a place
that was symbolic
for God's presence.
And so,
this nation thought,
well,
we can't worship
where we're supposed to
but if we build a temple
at Bethel
and we worship there,
then God will have
to be present with us
because that's a place
of God's presence.
Now,
the problem is,
that's not what God
told them to do.
That's not what God promised
but that was their strategy.
Bethel.
Second place is Beersheba.
Beersheba is another place
that comes out
from earlier in the Bible
in Genesis
where Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob,
again,
these are the guys
who kind of,
the great grandfathers
of this nation Israel,
they all encounter God
in this place,
Beersheba.
And they all encounter God
in a unique way
where they are on a journey
to which they don't know
the outcome.
Abraham is travelling
to a land that's not his,
that God has told him
is going to be his.
He's freaking out
and God says,
do not fear,
I will go with you.
Jacob is travelling
on his way to Egypt
because of a famine
and he's nervous
about going to Egypt
and rightfully so
because his descendants
will end up being slaves there.
But God says,
do not fear,
I will go with you.
So Beersheba
is this symbolic reminder
that God protects his people.
And so these geniuses
come up with an idea,
we'll put a temple
at Beersheba,
we'll do church there
and then God
will have to protect us.
But God didn't promise that.
Last one,
Gilgal.
Gilgal was the first place
that God's people camped
when they moved
into the promised land,
the land that God
was giving them.
It's a place
where they stopped
and they had a big celebration
to recommit to God.
It was the first place
where they got to enjoy
this land
that they'd been waiting
and waiting
and waiting to get.
They enjoyed the fruit.
It was symbolic
of the inheritance
that God had promised
to this nation Israel.
The inheritance
they were enjoying now
in the land
that they lived in.
It was a great land,
good for farming,
good for all these things
and so they thought
we'll put a church there
and we'll go and worship there
and then God
will have to
protect our inheritance.
He'll have to protect
our borders
because we're worshipping
at the place
where some stuff happened
but God didn't promise that.
See,
there are two
really big issues
with this new
religious system.
Now,
give them some credit.
The desire is right.
The intention is right.
But the big issue is,
firstly,
they've completely ignored
and even rejected
the explicit instruction
that God gave in His law
that He will dwell
in His temple
at Jerusalem.
They've just kind of
ignored that
and used their
brilliant powers of logic
to invent a new way
of engaging with God.
They've explicitly rejected
the gift that God gave them
to tell them
how to engage Him.
I mean,
do you guys remember
a few months ago
in church
we did a big series
in Leviticus?
There was a lot of blood,
there was a lot of dead animals
if you remember it,
in the stories,
not in church,
just to clarify
if you're a guest.
The book of Leviticus
and some of the other
big books
at the beginning
of the Bible
are just full of details
of God laying out,
here's how you can worship me.
Here's how you can
have access to me.
Here's what the priests
will wear,
here's the animals
you will use,
here's what the building
will look like.
It was very, very specific
because it mattered
because God was God
and they were not
and yet here they are
and they've just ignored
all of that stuff
that God told them
and come up
with their own solution
and so not surprisingly
it's not working.
But the second issue
is even bigger.
The whole system
that they have built
for relating to God here,
the whole religious calendar
and structure
is built around
a wrong view
of who God is.
I mean,
in this system,
worship
is a transaction.
In this system,
if I go to Bethel
and do my church there,
then God owes me
his presence.
If I go to Gilgal,
then God owes me
this land.
If I go to Beersheba,
then God owes me
protection.
See,
all the things
that they have,
all the things
these places represent
are gifts
that God gave them
out of his goodness
and generosity
and they have turned
them into things
that they are bartering
for,
trying to purchase
from God,
trying to earn.
Suddenly,
God has become
someone who can be
manipulated,
even blackmailed
into giving us stuff
and the result
is that because
they feel like
they've held up
their side of the bargain,
they feel like
God has to hold up
his side of the bargain
and one of the reasons
they were feeling
so secure
is because materially
at this point,
they're doing really well.
It seems like
it's working.
They've rejected
what he said,
they've chosen
their own adventure,
they've completely
misunderstood him
and shrunk him down
into somebody
who is on par
with them
that they can deal
with like an equal
and at first glance
for them,
it seems like
it's working.
They're having
bumper crops,
they're rich,
they're beating
other armies,
life is good.
They're basing
their understanding,
their confidence
in God's approval
on their circumstances
instead of
on what God
has explicitly
said to them
in his word,
in the law.
Instead of
on the message
that he is
speaking to them
through the prophet
right at this moment,
they don't want
to hear that
because they've
found a story,
their own version,
that's kind of
nicer to listen to.
Life's good,
we just keep doing
what we're doing,
everything's easy.
Israel has
security,
false security,
because it's
completely lost
sight of who
God really is.
That was the answer.
they put themselves
in a situation
where they were
kind of offside
with God
because they'd
moved away
and the way
they dealt
with it
was by shrinking
God so that
they could
delude themselves
into being a
little bit more
comfortable.
But God's not
open to
redefinition.
There in verse
eight,
having rebuked
them for going
to Bethel
and Gilgal
and Beersheba,
Amos says,
he who made
this is in
chapter five,
he who made
the Pleiades
and Orion
who turns
midnight into
dawn,
darkens day
into night,
who calls
for the
waters of
the sea
and pours
them out
over the
face of
the land,
the Lord
is his
name.
He has
no equal,
no rival.
He's the
creator and
sustainer and
he's not open
to redefinition.
He's not a
movable feast.
We can't
adjust him to
suit us
just because
something's
uncomfortable or
difficult.
And yet,
for a heap
of us,
that's exactly
what we do.
When we
come across
things in
God's word
that are
challenging,
that are
maybe calling
for change
or sacrifice,
when we
look at
parts of
God that
are difficult
to hold
like his
wrath and
his judgment,
or when our
circumstances
aren't playing
out the way
that we
think they
should,
we
adjust
God.
We
ignore what
he's saying
to us in
his word
and instead
lead ourselves
into this
false security.
For example,
right now as a
church,
we're in a
season where
there is a
clear sense
that God
is pushing
us.
If you've
been around
here for
more than
a month
or two,
you'll get
a sense
that God's
been doing
a work
on us
where he
keeps pressing
the same
button about
us upping
our game
when it comes
to sacrificially
loving our
neighbour,
caring for
those who
are in need
in the
world.
That's
uncomfortable
to hear
because to
sacrificially care
for other
people means
you've got to
sacrifice.
It means
you've got to
give up
something in
your life
that you
enjoy,
something that's
become part
of the way
you work,
part of your
rhythm.
Maybe you
were sitting
there as
we've gone
through these
series after
series and
it keeps
coming up and
you're thinking,
I already
give some.
In fact,
I even upped
my giving just
recently and
just after that
God gave me a
pay rise so
he must be
pretty happy
with what I'm
doing because
stuff's kind of
working out for
me.
It's all
fallen into
place.
So this
challenge must
be for the
other people.
One of the
key signs,
warning signs
that you've
wandered across
into this
false security
group is a
refusal to
hear challenge
from God,
is a refusal
to be
corrected and
rebuked.
If you're
wondering whether
or not you've
strayed over into
this land,
a good clue
will be how
do you approach
hearing God's
word?
How do you
approach what
the Bible
says?
As soon as
you find
yourself tuning
out or when
we start
applying the
Bible, you're
sitting there
making a note
of which people
in this room
need to hear
that?
That is a
sure sign
that you are
starting to base
your security on
something that's
not God.
You might be
still calling it
God, but your
confidence is
now on who
you are compared
to them, how
hard you're
working, how
good life is as
evidence that God
must be happy
with you.
It's what Israel
did.
And you know,
once they stopped
listening to God,
once they replaced
the real God with
their own small
unimpressive version
of God, it didn't
take them long to
go the next step and
just start worshipping
other gods.
God shrunk so
much for them that
these temples that
they made at
first as a means
of worshipping the
God became houses
where they worshipped
any God they could
find.
The gods from the
countries around
them.
I mean, it's the
logical conclusion.
When you start
changing God, which
is essentially
inventing God, you
may as well
worship any God.
They're equally
powerless.
Now, it sounds
disgraceful, or it
should sound
disgraceful, because
it is.
That this people
who were chosen
by God, who were
rescued out of
slavery, who God
has provided for,
who God went
before to give
them this whole
land that they're
now living in,
could somehow get
to the point where
they treat God like
he's somebody that
they can deal
with, someone they
can handle and
control and
manipulate.
But before you
shake your head at
them too much,
you've got to
stop and ask
yourself the
question, where
am I doing the
same thing?
Have I started
down a path of
redefining God to
suit me better?
Are there things
that would be
controversial amongst
my friends that I've
decided to reject as
well, even though
God's Word says
it?
Are there things
that he's asking me
to do in my life
that I've decided
would just be a
little bit too
much?
I'll stay in the
normal Christian, I
don't want to be one
of those fanatics
categories?
Where does your
confidence come
from?
Your confidence
that God loves
you?
Is it how hard you
work to serve him
here at church?
Is it how nice you
are compared to
other people?
Is it how great
life is going right
now?
Or is it what God
has said in his
Word?
See, the scary
part about this is
this false
confidence group
and this insecure
group are actually
closer than you
think.
they actually
have the same
problem.
For both
groups, the
issue is they
have a wrong
view of God.
Some people I
spoke to who
left our church
several years ago
expressed their
frustration that
sometimes when we
open the Bible,
they felt scolded
or rebuked.
And what they
wanted was to be
told that God
loved them, which
is true and is a
good thing to hear.
But they
weren't looking for
a God to serve
and a God to
obey, they were
looking for a
puppy.
They just wanted
somebody to get
excited when they
saw them and make
them feel good.
And so they
went looking for a
church where their
version of God
wouldn't be
challenged and
where they
themselves wouldn't
be challenged.
For some people,
opening the Bible,
coming to church
is a process of
let's hear what
God has to say so
I can decide whether
or not I want to
do this.
Let's check if this
fits in with how
my life's going and
what I think is
reasonable, what my
friends say.
And if it fits,
then I'm on
board.
But the
problem with that
is becoming a
Christian,
following God
is the decision
to follow God
no matter what.
You kind of
can't take a
half step in.
That's kind of
why the whole
idea of normal
and fanaticals
is not
particularly
helpful.
The decision
to follow God
means that having
seen who he is,
having seen what
he has done in
sending his son to
die in our place,
means we open
our Bibles
and we arrive
here at church
with an attitude
of God,
I'm in,
just tell me
what.
You say jump,
I'll say how
high.
I'm yours,
whatever you need,
whatever it costs
me.
God, I know I'm
not finished,
I know there's
work to be done,
so just show me
what it is I need
to do,
or stop doing,
or confess.
It's the attitude
that recognizes
that God has
absolute authority,
that God owes
us nothing.
The message of
Amos, and in
fact the whole
Bible, is to
repent,
calling us to
come back to
God as he
really is,
as he's shown
himself to be,
in his word,
in Jesus.
It's a call to
keep listening to
him, to keep
submitting to
him, to
keep being
directed by
him, to
keep obeying
him, because
otherwise, all
that's left is
judgment.
Our natural
tendency, just
like Israel's
was, is to
overemphasize the
mercy of God.
That's the bit
that we hear,
that's the bit
we take home and
remember from the
sermon.
Even here in
chapter 7 that
Deborah had out
for us, there's
two judgments that
God pronounces, the
locust and the
second one, which I
don't have in front
of me.
And after Amos
pleads with him for
these judgments, God
relents, says I
won't do it, and
he's merciful.
And we want to
stop there and go,
amen.
That's the message
for tonight, God is
merciful.
He gets angry,
rightfully, fair
enough, but he
doesn't follow through,
so it's okay,
fantastic.
And God is
merciful, but he's
not only merciful.
And if you find
yourself with this
kind of tendency to
only ever hear, or
only ever recognize,
or only ever engage
with God as the one
who will always let
you off, you need to
hear the words, the
warning of chapter 7
verse 7.
Having just
relented twice,
says, this is what he
showed me.
The Lord was
standing by a wall
that had been built
true to plumb.
With a plumb line in
his hand, the Lord
asked me, what do you
see, Amos?
A plumb line, I
replied.
Then the Lord said,
look, I'm setting a
plumb line among my
people Israel.
I will spare them
no longer.
I will spare them
no longer.
The high places of
Isaac will be
destroyed and the
sanctuaries of Israel
will be ruined.
With my sword, I will
rise against the
house of Jeroboam.
The message to a
complacent, overconfident
Israel, and maybe the
message for us, is that
mercy has its limits.
If you begin to see
this merciful God as a
blank check who doesn't
care about how you live
or what you do,
then the time has
come.
Here, the time has
come for Israel to face
its judgment, and
eventually the time will
come for every one of
us to face God.
For those of you who
aren't familiar with
building techniques, and
I need to put my hand up
and own that I'm one of
those people, I did a
very small amount of
research to find out
what a plumb line is.
A plumb line is
basically a piece of
string with a weight on
it.
It's used by builders to
make sure a wall is
upright and straight.
The point being, you
use it and if the wall is
not straight, you either
knock it down or you
fix it.
Clearly the sense here is
God is going to
measure and he will get
rid of anything that
doesn't measure up.
But the measure that he
will use is the measure
that he used to build his
people in the first place.
Did you catch that?
The wall has been built
true to plumb.
The wall has been built
on the truth of who
God is.
Of God's character
revealed in the way that
he chose them and he
rescued them.
God's character revealed
in the law that he gave
to them and the worship
that he made possible.
It's the same standard by
which all people ever
will be judged.
Right worship of God
and right justice for
one another.
The standard which
Israel is being held to
is are they loving God
with all their heart,
soul, mind and strength
and are they loving their
neighbour as themselves?
The question God will
ask is, is Israel's
worship fitting for a
sovereign God who rules
over all?
And do they seek justice
for the poor and
oppressed?
And the resounding
answer in this book
so far is no chance.
I mean they're
worshipping false
gods.
They're watering down
the real God.
They're trampling on the
poor in the process
and worst of all
they won't listen to
the warning and the
call to repent and
come back.
And so God's mercy
has reached its
limits.
And he says,
I will spare them
no longer.
Now it's really
important that you
understand, I'm not
saying here that God's
mercy has run out.
I'm not saying that his
allocation of mercy is
exhausted.
I'm not saying that
Israel has failed too
many times and so
they've used up their
bit.
God's mercy is part of
who he is.
He is the merciful God.
So he's the same amount
merciful right now that
he was before he created
the world.
He's eternally merciful.
He will always be
merciful.
The issue for Israel
is that once you
ignore or reject the
mercy that is offered
you won't find more.
Once you reject the
way that he has offered
mercy and go looking
elsewhere you won't
find it.
It is limited in the
sense of where it is,
where God has placed
it.
God has offered mercy
to Israel by giving
them the law to guide
them in how to live.
He's offered them
mercy by rescuing
them.
He's offered them
mercy by providing for
their worship and their
religious practice,
giving them a
sacrificial system so
that they might always
remember who he is,
how holy he is,
how serious sin is,
how unworthy they are,
and most importantly
that in spite of all
of that he is making
a way for them to
know him.
God has shown the
mercy, the mercy of
the fact that in spite
of their unworthiness
he has made a way for
them to be his.
And so if they reject
that, if they pervert
that, if they take that
gift and just mistreat
it and change it,
there is nothing else on
offer.
And so all that's
left is judgment.
Do you remember the
conversation that I
opened with, that I
had over my holidays?
That tension that we
feel about a God who
is loving and the good
people we know who
might end up in hell?
Not one person will
end up in hell who
hasn't chosen to
reject the mercy that
God has offered them.
Not one.
God is eternally
merciful and his
mercy is more than
sufficient for every
person ever.
So those that end up
facing his judgment
will be those that
choose to reject the
mercy that he offers.
The issue for Israel
wasn't lack of mercy,
it was that they
rejected the mercy God
had provided in his
law and in the
sacrificial system.
And so all that was
left for them was
judgment.
Remember these two
groups here.
If you're over here in
this secure in God
category, I want to say
that's something to
thank God for.
That's a good thing.
And I hope you're
encouraged to be
reminded tonight by
just how merciful your
God is, but I think a
whole bunch of us live
in this middle group.
We'd love to be over
here, but on bad days
we just kind of think,
does God actually love
me?
Maybe you're starting to
recognize tonight that
you're even over in this
group.
The issues for the
overconfident group and
the insecure group are
essentially the same.
It's your view of God.
The overconfident group
gets apathetic in their
following Jesus.
That's Israel.
They don't care about
anything other than
ticking the box of going
to church because God's
going to forgive them
anyway.
They've got him over a
barrel.
They've ticked their bit.
He has to show them
mercy.
It's what we sometimes
call cheap grace.
Where all you know about
God is that he has to
love you and say, you
can just do whatever you
want.
But that's not the whole
picture with God.
Yes, God is merciful, but
God is just.
Now for the insecure
group, our issue is that
we look at God and we get
concerned that God's like
us.
So his mercy is like our
mercy, which means it
might disappear if we push
him too hard.
We get concerned that he's
going to get angry and his
anger is going to ride over
the top of his mercy, that
we might do something
that's just unforgivable.
And so we serve and we go
to church and we be nice to
people, but it is driven by
this weight of guilt and fear
that if I don't, God won't
love me anymore.
But that's not who God has
revealed himself to be either.
God has shown us time and time
again in Scripture, in history
and most importantly in his son
Jesus, that he is patient, he is
merciful, he is just, he will not
let the guilty go unpunished and
that he owes us nothing.
That we have no entitlement to his
mercy.
And yet he chooses to offer it
anyway.
What we find in the Scripture as
we go through is that he chooses
to send Jesus to die in our place
even though it's us who deserve
that punishment.
Even though it's us who mistreat
God.
Even though it's us who mistreat
one another.
Even though it's us who live
like we're the center of the
universe.
God chooses to intervene and
offer mercy to people like us.
He chooses to take the punishment
that makes it possible for
unworthy people like you and me
to not just know him, but to call
him father.
To be brought into his family.
It is not possible to find
security in your attempts to follow
and serve God.
It might work for a little while,
but all it will take is one bad
week.
One lapse in concentration and
character and suddenly you've done
something you know is not good
enough and you're trapped back in
insecurity and fear.
It is not possible to find security
in your circumstance.
Because circumstances change quickly
too.
The only security you will find when
it comes to the judgment of God is
found in God himself.
Because his mercy and his love are not
based on you.
They're based in him.
They're who he is and they are
demonstrated concretely and visibly
in what Jesus does on the cross.
On the cross the punishment that you
deserve is poured out on him
completely and satisfied fully.
And so because of Jesus you can stand
as somebody who is unworthy and know
that God's love for you will never be
turned away.
If you accept the mercy that God offers
when he says come to me, if you go to
Jesus looking for forgiveness, the answer
is always irreversibly unconditionally
yes.
In those moments where you wonder does
God still love me?
What Jesus does is prove to you that God
has given you the most costly thing he
could.
His perfect and only son.
And he did it when you were at your
worst.
He did it knowing everything that would
come after that point and he still
chose to do it.
Which means you can stand in your
imperfection and failure as somebody
confident that God loves you.
Not because of you, because of him.
That is the call to let go of the
things that we are placing our trust in.
To let go of the things that we reach
out to when we're feeling uncomfortable
and to come back to God as he has
revealed himself.
To come back to the cross and understand
that there we will be released to love
God and to love people not out of guilt,
not out of fear, but out of the security
and peace and hope of being the precious
sons and daughters of a heavenly father
who is merciful and just and sovereign and
powerful.
God's mercy is only limited in the sense of
where you can find it.
God's mercy is only limited in the sense of
God.
So long as you have breath in your lungs,
if you ask God to forgive you, he will do it.
If you ask him to show you the peace and
hope and joy and freedom of being irreversibly,
unconditionally and eternally loved by him,
then today you will experience that.
Right now we're about to share in a meal
called the Lord's Supper.
This is a meal that Jesus gave to his
disciples just before he died.
It's a meal that he gave to his disciples
and for us as a means of drawing us back
to what he had done.
Drawing us back to the foundation that enables
us to stand before a holy God, a God who
will judge confident, not because of us,
but because of the body that was broken
for us, because of the blood that was
shed for us.
And so as we get ready to share in this
meal, I want to challenge you.
Don't just go through the motions like,
you know, we do this, pass it on, next,
what?
If you are somebody who lives in this space
of insecurity, I want to invite you to hand
it over to God tonight.
I want to invite you to recognize that the
reason you're insecure is because you're
trying to trust your version of God.
But the real God is here.
The real God is in what Jesus has done.
And if you stand there, you don't have to
fear.
You don't have to wonder.
You can know.
And if you're over here and recognizing for
the first time tonight that God's not okay
with a blank check and you just get to do
whatever you want,
tonight is your chance to be forever accepted
by God.
Tonight is your chance to be welcomed into the
family.
Tonight is your chance to recognize that the
call to sacrifice, to serve for God, to give
for God, to love other people for God is
actually a blessing.
It's not a burden.
It's not a standard you've got to meet up to.
The plumb line, the measure that God demands is
perfection.
And this bread and this juice is symbolic that
Jesus meets that standard for us.
Whenever you wonder whether or not God loves
you, all you need do is look at the perfect
Savior who died in your place and know that now the
words of approval reserved for Jesus are available
to you.
The words that God speaks when Jesus is baptized,
this is my son whom I love, with him I am well
pleased, are now yours if you accept the mercy that
God offers in his son and only in his son.
I want to invite the helpers who are going to bring
this round, but I want to encourage you, hold on to
these two things.
Because we're going to eat and drink them together.
But if you're not a Christian, when you get this
bread and this juice, you might not know what this is
about, how it works.
I want you to grab them anyway because this is your
chance to actually accept the mercy that God offers in
Jesus.
This is your chance to go from not sure to secure.
And if you're someone who's following Jesus, this is your
chance to come back again to the immovable foundation that
God offers us in Jesus.
And if you're not a Nope Salesman, you can put
out of that for me.
And if you four days before him, you want to
London again and then Drop it in space and
use them access to him.
And put the Devil in, then password down in life.
And you can certainly hold on your help right now.
And it's never for me, or for you life.
And we would say through this, because there is a
long switch coming back, and you're not a
thing coming back, but they've been
by the way.