Father, we remember the gospel and then we forget the gospel.
We trust in the gospel and then we start to trust in ourselves.
We think that you have paid it all and then we think we have to pay it.
Father, we are confused and we need your help.
So Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for the gospel.
Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would bring the gospel home to us
in a new and powerful way this morning
and that your Holy Spirit would continually bring the gospel home
to the very center of who we are.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So I'm going to confess something to you all.
I'm going to share something as a confession.
And I'm confessing this or sharing this with you
and I don't want you to say anything about it afterwards.
Like I'm not fishing for a compliment.
Like I'm really not fishing for a compliment.
It's a confession.
So last Sunday, I think I preached one of the worst sermons I've preached in years.
That's why I don't want you to say anything about it.
You know, I don't want you to say,
No, George, that wasn't bad or that was good.
I don't want you to say anything about it.
I just want to confess to you what's going on in my mind.
So actually in the sermon last week, I was thinking to myself,
I made a big mistake saying I was going to preach this week.
I was really jet lagged.
I hadn't realized how jet lagged I was.
It felt as if I didn't have a brain, but I had cotton candy between my ears.
And I got my order mixed.
I wasn't able to finish my preparation to the extent I wanted.
And while I was preaching, I lost my place in my notes.
So I was standing up here feeling absolutely terrible,
thinking this is a really bad sermon.
How do I get out of it gracefully?
And even as I was going home, I was just thinking about how bad a sermon it was.
My wife, she is so lovely.
I shared with her later on how bad I thought the sermon was.
And she's so lovely because she could have said,
George, that wasn't your worst sermon.
Gosh, there's been a lot of worse ones that you've said,
preached over the last couple of weeks.
She didn't say anything.
She just listened.
And I said to her, one of the nice things about being jet lagged is,
if I hadn't been jet lagged, I would have been depressed about it.
But because I was jet lagged, I was too tired to be depressed about how bad my sermon was.
But I still felt I'd really done a very, very bad job.
And I did feel bad in my own jet lagged type of way.
And I'm sharing this with you because it has a, it's a very, I mean,
every single one of us struggles with failure.
And I, and one of the hard things sometimes for a minister is that
when I feel like I fail, sometimes I fail in front of people.
Like today, if I fail, it's just in front of 40 or 50 or 60 of you,
but sometimes it's a lot more.
And that can be a hard thing.
It's actually one of the things you can pray for a pastor
and pray for a worship leader as well,
who sometimes can go home afterwards and thinking,
gosh, I wish I could dial that back and do it all over again or whatever.
So, but the scripture text today that we're, it's our memory text for the week.
It's a very, very powerful text for you to memorize for those of us who struggle with failure.
So Andrew, if you could put the text up on the screen, it's at Jude chapter 20, at Jude chapter 24.
There's Jude 24 and 25.
Jude is a short book.
It only has 25 verses.
And that's why there's no chapter in front of it.
They just list the verses.
And here is the text.
And I'd like you to read it with me out loud.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling
and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,
to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.
Amen.
It's a very, very, I have to confess,
I think this is the third week we've been doing these one verse sermons.
And I had a hard time memorizing this because there's lots of bits and pieces to it.
I think I could tell you what it's about, but I don't know if I could memorize it bang on.
But it's a very, very deep text, a very, very beautiful text,
and it's a powerful text for those of us who struggle with failure at different times.
Why don't we just read it together again one more time,
and then we'll look at how it addresses specifically what I was just sharing with you
about how I felt about last week's sermon.
So do you read it out loud with me again, please?
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling
and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,
to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.
Amen.
So, you know, if you look at this text, what is this text?
Here's the thing, which one of the many things that really jumps out at me about this text.
It says at the beginning,
Now to him, that's God, who is able to keep you from stumbling,
and the image there is that not only will I not stumble,
but that when I actually stand in the presence of God on the last day,
it won't be that as soon as I get into God's presence,
I'm sort of falling and falling on my face.
It has this image, the stumbling image also has this image that he'll stop you from being ruined.
And God is the one who has the power and the ability,
only God, to make me actually, to make sure that I don't fall into ruination,
I don't fall and damage and hurt myself.
God, and only God is the one who is able to make me actually stand in his presence,
not cower, and that when I stand in his presence,
and when you stand in his presence,
that we'll stand before him blameless,
and we'll be in the presence of his glory,
and there will be great joy.
There will be great joy in me,
there will be great joy amongst the angels,
and I don't just stand before God in his presence,
the presence of his glory all by myself,
but I stand with others who have been redeemed by Jesus,
and we stand in God's presence blameless,
and it's like everybody is just hooping and hollering,
standing ovation, songs of praises.
That's this picture of God, of what he does.
So if you could put up the first point, Andrew,
here's the thing.
You cannot add or subtract to what Jesus accomplished for you.
You cannot add or subtract to what Jesus has accomplished for you.
You see, on one level, what the gospel says is this,
that God sees my great profound need,
and when he sees my great profound need,
he sends his son,
and his son takes upon himself
all of the demands of justice that people might have about you,
that especially if they knew all of your secrets
and knew everything that you'd ever done in your life,
and if everybody knew every single thing that you'd ever done
and every single thing that you'd ever thought
and everything that you could have done but you didn't do
and everything that you could have thought but you didn't think,
and if people knew that,
there'd be a demand that there'd be some consequence to you.
And the gospel is this good news
that God knows every secret of every heart,
and nothing is hid from its sight,
and he saw our inability to actually pay for that,
to make that right.
The demands of justice would unmake us
because we just literally could not pay
and make restitution for everything that we've done,
and God saw that that was the case,
and he sends his son,
and when Jesus dies upon the cross,
Jesus, in a sense,
not in a very, very real and true sense,
he is saying,
all of the demands of justice, George,
that should fall upon you,
that will unmake you,
I will put your hand in mine
so that I will be your substitute and your representative,
and all of those demands of justice will fall on me.
But that's not all.
The gospel is even more glorious than that.
The reason the gospel is even more glorious than that
is that Jesus came and lived the life
that I was supposed to live
and wasn't able to live
and could never live.
I regularly live my life
in a way that sort of tells God
to forget about me for a while,
to go and do your own thing,
and I have my own plans,
my own desires,
my own attempting to seek God's glory
to be important.
I have my own things I want to do.
I can't live a life
which is in perfect communion
and fellowship and relationship
with God the Father.
And the other wonderful thing about the gospel
is that not only does Jesus
deal with the demands of justice
that would be made against us
if people knew every single thing
there was to know about us,
but Jesus has lived that perfect life
life of communion and fellowship
and oneness with God the Father.
And when Jesus,
hanging on the cross
and then dying and rising from the dead,
when he invites us to put our faith
and our trust in him,
not only are the demands of justice paid,
but a life of perfect righteousness,
a life of perfect communion
with the Father that Jesus lives,
that becomes ours as well.
So what that means
is that I can't subtract.
It isn't as if after I put my hand in Jesus
and trust him to be my savior,
that all of a sudden I can do some stuff
and Jesus says,
whoa, I can only pay up to so much
for what you've done, George,
but now you've gone beyond the pale.
I can't pay for that.
Or it's not the case
that God was looking down at me
and said, well, you know,
I sort of would have let George into heaven
just sort of grudgingly.
But now that I've seen
how good a sermon he preached,
he can come in.
In other words,
as if I have to add to what Jesus has done.
This is what the text is saying
now to him who is able
to keep you from stumbling.
In other words, from falling,
from entering into ruination.
He is the one who keeps me from stumbling
and he presents me blameless
before the presence of his glory
with great joy
to the only God, our savior,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
So what this means is that
if I preach a sermon
which is so good
that next week
there's a lineup
to get into church,
that doesn't add anything
in terms of how I stand before God.
And if I preach a sermon
which so sucks
that next week
it's only the person paid
to be the worship leader
who's here with me,
it doesn't mean that I lose my place
in God's standing
because Jesus pays it all
and his life covers me all.
That's what the gospel means.
You see,
when I start to really get down
on myself
after I've done a particular failure
which is a little bit different.
I'm not talking about saying
to the Lord after a sermon,
Lord,
I did some things
which I was inattentive
during the week
and I didn't apply myself
to the week
and I ask your forgiveness
and I ask that you help me
to live a better life.
That's a good thing.
But when I beat myself up,
when my self-worth
and my identity
is troubled
over failing
to achieve my goals,
what I show is
is that my identity
and my justification
and my righteousness
isn't in the gospel
but it is in what I do.
You see,
here's one of the things.
I don't know where you are
with God
if you're here
and if you're a seeker
and you've come here,
one of the things
which often bothers
non-Christians
about Christians
is that we just sort of,
we're all down on sins,
you know,
all those bad people
who go drinking
all the time,
all those bad people
who vote for the wrong party,
all those bad people
who,
you know,
are sexually naughty,
all those bad people
and for a lot of non-Christians
they look at us
and what they see
isn't grace
but they see self-righteousness
and often they're correct
because you see,
my example
of what I shared
about how I feel,
I felt bad
after failing
to preach the sermon
that I thought
I should be able
to preach
that my identity
and my self-esteem
sort of depended upon
and it shows
that really
at bottom
I still struggle
with self-righteousness
and self-justification
and it's not just sins
like doing naughty things
that keep us far from God,
religion also keeps us far from God
because religion
can just become a means
by which we think
we chalk up enough brownie points
to make ourselves right with God
and the wonderful news
of the gospel
is that nobody can do that
but that,
if that was the case
that nobody could do that
that would only be depressing
but the gospel
is the good news
that Jesus has done it
he has done it
completely and utterly for us
and so
I will stand someday
before God
not because I'm a pastor
not because I'm
I'm a good husband
or a so-so husband
or a great dad
or a so-so dad
or because I'm a Canadian
or I don't stand
I will only stand before God
because God was the one
who sent power
in the person of his son
so that when Jesus died upon
after living a perfect sinless life
in communion with the Father
and dying upon the cross
he has paid the justice
demands of justice
that needed to be paid
and his perfect life
has stood for me
and when I put my faith
and trust in Jesus
accepting that this is
what God has provided
to make me be able
to stand without stumbling
and blameless
in the presence of his glory
with great joy
when I accept that
he has accomplished
and done all of that
in Jesus
and that stands for me
and the rest of my life
I cannot add
to what Jesus has accomplished
nor can I take it away
that is the gospel
and that's what this text
so powerfully reminds us of
now to him who is able
to keep you from stumbling
and to present you blameless
before the presence of his glory
with great joy
to the only God our Savior
through Jesus Christ our Lord
now some of you might say
well
in fact
this happened
just a couple of months ago
when I was trying
to communicate this
to somebody
and they said
well if that's true
they actually said
two things
they said
well actually
George
that explains
a couple of Christians
that I've worked with
as baristas
because you know what
George
some of these guys
like some of your Christians
who work with me
and work with me
in some of these stores
like they just sort of think
oh yeah okay
well I screwed up
or I'm lazy
or you know
I'm gossipy
and if you sort of
somebody challenges them
on doing a shoddy job
you get this sense
that they just sort of think
that they're better
than other people
and now I sort of understand
it they sort of think
that they got this
free pass from God
that no matter what they do
they're going to be right
with God
like George
what on earth
would give any human being
any motivation
to try to live
a good responsible life
if they believed
what the gospel said
that's a really good question
let's read the text
again out loud
and see what the text
says about it
could you read it
with me please
if you could put it
back up Andrew
thank you
now to him
who is able
to keep you
from stumbling
and to present you
blameless
before the presence
of his glory
with great joy
to the only God
our Savior
through Jesus Christ
our Lord
be glory
majesty
dominion
and authority
before all time
and now
and forever
amen
so here's the thing
this text actually
is a
here's
it's very interesting
I didn't think
of saying this
at the time
the last time
I had a conversation
with somebody
about this
and they pointed
this out to me
but in a very
very interesting way
the comment
that who would
ever possibly
live a good life
if the gospel
was true
that's actually
a very very
profound insight
to what we
human beings
are like
because in fact
what we actually
want is a free
pass isn't it
we want to be
like gods
like in a very
very curious
way
because this
person still
might think
that you know
when I
in fact the
person I was
talking to
in fact they
would just say
that when you
die you go
to a better
place
and they
might actually
say that it
is possible
for human
beings to
get better
and better
but this
question
this observation
of the gospel
shows that
at a deeper
level she
actually didn't
believe that
human beings
could get
better and
better because
she sort of
understood that
the heart of
human beings
is this desire
to take advantage
of God
and so if
you could put
up the next
point Andrew
what the gospel
is telling us
what this text
is reminding us
is that when
you receive the
gospel Jesus
becomes your
savior not
your enabler
and Pierre
shared with us
about how he
was an alcoholic
and I use
enabler in the
alcoholic sense
that often what
happens with
alcoholics is
they have somebody
who enables
their alcoholism
they cover up
for the alcoholic
they make excuses
for the alcoholic
they don't confront
the alcoholic
with tough love
they become
an enabler
and you see
the fact of the
matter is
is that the
human fundamental
human desire
that only the
Christian faith
brings this out
is that the
fundamental human
desire is that
we want to be
like God
and we somehow
or another think
that we can get
away with that
fantasy
despite the fact
that the tiniest
little virus
makes us sick
despite the fact
that we all die
despite the fact
that we were
all born
and the world
was existing
completely and utterly
before we were
born
yet somehow
or another
we want to be
the center
we want to be
like God
we want to get
the glory
we want to have
majesty
we want to have
the dominion
we want to have
the authority
in very small
or large ways
that's how we
live our lives
and so
actually this text
you see
hearing about the
fact that Jesus
does it all for us
in the gospel
in some ways
reveals to us
whether what
we've actually done
is we think
we've pulled
a fast one
on God
God is giving me
the gospel
therefore I can
get away with
everything
you know
and therefore
we can become
you know
lazy
we can become
indifferent to
criticism
and all of that
type of stuff
we just think
that God
that we've
deceived God
about our
true motives
and that God
is now just
enabling us
in our project
of being God
but what does
the text say
I mean
what is it
that the end
is
why is it
that Jesus
redeems us
Jesus doesn't
redeem me
so I can
stand in the
presence of
the kingdom
of George
to receive
glory and
majesty and
dominion and
authority and
power
I am made
right to stand
in God's
presence
and
when
and the text
reminds me
of what it's
like to stand
in God's
presence
that first of
all you can
only stand
in God's
presence
if you're
blameless
you can
only stand
in God's
presence
if he
does
what you
cannot
do
the gospel
becomes
home to us
when we
call out
to God
and say
God
I can't
do this
please
help me
please
rescue me
the Christian
life doesn't
begin when
you necessarily
know all
this theology
the theology
the cross
for me
when I
became a
Christian
it all
came down
to this
basic sense
that there
was a
type of
a life
and a
peace
which I
did not
have
and could
not create
in my
own
and I
just
I
needed
God
I
needed
Jesus
I
needed
the Holy
Spirit
to help
me
and I
couldn't
articulate
that
I didn't
know a
lot of
the Bible
all I
knew
was that
there was
this
incompleteness
and this
out of
whackness
that I
couldn't
fix
and that
Jesus
could
and I
put my
faith and
trust in
him
but then as
you read the
Bible you
learn more and
more and
more about
it
and this
text is
describing how
Jesus redeems
us to stand
in God's
presence
that the
end of the
days there
will be an
end of the
days and
God will
make all
things new
he will
bring things
to their
proper end
and to
say that I
will stand
in God's
presence
blameless
with great
joy
not
grudgingly
on my
part or
with God's
part and I
stand in
God's
presence
and when I
stand in
God's
presence I
will see
and you
will see
his glory
that just
means
he's just
fully revealed
as God
and he's
just the
brightness is
such that it
would blind
us if we
saw him on
this side of
the grave
and majesty
means that we
have this
sense of
God's great
transcendence
it's as if
you were
when I was
in Angola
a year ago
I stood on
this cliff
and on
one hand
it was a
something that
I was a
place of
horror
because up
until a few
years earlier
the government
would throw
dissidents
over the
edge of
this huge
cliff
to their
death
now they
turned it
into a
tourist
attraction
but when
you stood
on this
cliff
you had
this
huge
vista
it just
seemed
as if
the earth
fell away
and it
went on
for distance
and distance
and it's a
vague image
of what it
would be like
to actually
see God
to have
this sense
of his
largeness
his
greatness
this
vast
depth
that goes
on and
to acknowledge
his dominion
that he
is over
me and
that it's
good and
that he's
authoritative
over me
and it's
good and
so God
in the
gospel
Jesus
becomes my
savior
I abandon
myself to
him he
doesn't become
my enabler
and and
the fact
is is that
when you
now know
that everything
is done
by Jesus
and that
he saves
you to
stand before
God
it checks
my desire
for him
to enable
me in
my
God
project
and it
frees me
up to
take risks
it frees
me up
to try
it frees
me up
to know
that I
can actually
look at the
really really
bad things
I've done
in my
life
and I
can look
at them
and I
don't have
to worry
about them
because God
knows all
about it
and it's
been paid
for by
Jesus
that actually
is the
gospel grips
you
it provides
this energy
to try
to take
risks
and to
look at
yourself
in new
ways
because you
have this
profound
security of
what Jesus
has done
for you
on the
cross
but then
some might
say well
George
if God's
just going
to do it
anyway
like why
is he
waiting
like why
doesn't he
just sort
of come
down
say okay
I've had
enough
I'm going
to come
down right
now
and I'm
going to
take
Ottawa
I'm
going to
take
Canada
and I'm
going to
take
the
Middle
East
I'm
going to
take
Iran
I'm
just
going
to
go
to
a
better
place
right
now
just
like
that
and get
it
over
with
why
are we
why
is
like
just
we'll
all
go to
a
better
place
right
now
if
God's
just
going
to
do
it
why
did
he
do
that
well
if
you
Andrew
could
you
put
up
the
text
let's
read
the
text
to
you
know
one of
the
things
about
the
Canadian
view
which
is
what
the
Canadian
view
is
when
we
die
we
all
go
to
a
better
place
and
it
sounds
superficially
as if
it's
really
superior
to
the
Christian
way
but
I
mean
the
question
we
have
to
ask
is
really
okay
really
like
I'm
going
to
die
and
against
my
will
God
is
going
to
put
me
in
a
better
place
like
who's
better
place
like
is
it
going
to
be
the
better
place
for
the
Ayatollah
is
it
going
to
be
the
better
place
for
Putin
is
it
going
to
be
the
better
place
for
Stalin
is
going
to
be
my
better
place
like
who
gets
to
determine
that
and
he's
going
to
do
it
against
my
will
like
what's
up
with
that
like
the
Canadian
view
is
really
a type
of
cheap
grace
and
it
really
if
you
think
about
it
if
people
actually
thought
about
it
for
more
than
a
few
seconds
there
would
be
all
sorts
of
people
who
would
say
that
I
mean
there's
a
t-shirt
that I
saw
just
the
other
day
about
how
I'm
not
going
to
heaven
I'm
going
to
hell
where
all
my
best
partying
friends
will
be
or
something
to
that
effect
and
the
fact
of
the
matter
is
the
Canadian
view
is
just
as if
God
is
going
to
overwhelm
our
freedom
and
you
know
what
if
God
overwhelms
our
freedom
we're
not
going
to
be
there
as
if
it's
a
happy
place
I
mean
a
couple
of
years
ago
I
had
this
really
pushy
guy
I
didn't
realize
how
pushy
he
was
and
it
was
only
as
I
got
to
know
him
we
ended
up
being
put
on
this
team
together
this
sort
of
cross
denominational
team
of
putting
on
an
activity
and
I
didn't
realize
how
pushy
he
was
until
I
started
to
work
with
him
but
he
was
really
pushy
and
so
one
day
without
any
warning
he
comes
to
the
service
and
he
basically
pushes
me
and
pushes
me
that
after
the
service
rather
than
doing
what
I
want
to
do
okay
fallen
George
after
the
service
chat
with
you
folks
I
go
to
Starbucks
I
buy
a
dark
roast
coffee
I
go
home
I
eat
maybe
I
have
a
nap
I
get
some
downtime
I
feed
my
introverted
soul
because
I'm
introverted
no
I
had
to
go
out
for
lunch
with
him
and
meet
all
these
other
people
and
it
just
went
on
and
on
and
on
and
on
and
on
and
on
I
was
not
happy
so
what
would
happen
if
God
just
came
and
said
I'm
going
to
make
all
of
you
go
to
heaven
and
you're
going
to
be
in
my
presence
and
you're
going
to
hear
everybody
saying
that
all
the
majesty
no
if
you
put
up
the
next
point
Andrew
see
what
this
powerful
scripture
teaches
us
is
this
the
God
grounds
your
freedom
to
reject
or
receive
the
gospel
because
it
is
for
freedom
that
Christ
has
set
you
free
God
grounds
your
freedom
to
reject
or
receive
the
gospel
because
it
is
for
freedom
that
Christ
has
set
you
free
I
mean
that's
the
wonderful
thing
that's
why
when
we
get
stand
before
God
those
who've
accepted
the
gospel
and
those
who've
rejected
it
nobody
will
be able
to
have
an
excuse
God
will
show
them
how
he
has
given
them
sufficient
freedom
to
accept
or
reject
the
gospel
and
why
is
it
that
God
grounds
our
ability
to
be
free
why
because
freedom
is
central
to
love
it's
central
God
does
me
the
perfect
life
that
I
cannot
attain
he
takes
my
doom
upon
him
and
he
gives
me
his
destiny
it's
all
offered
freely
all
with
grace
out
of
love
and
it's
all
to
further
and
deepen
us
being
free
to
finally
stand
before
God
and
I've
told
you
this
before
but
what
it
will
be
is
we
come
in
to
heaven
and
it
will
be
all
bent
and
broken
and
stuff
like
right
all
bent
and
broken
and
we
finally
appear
before
God
face
to
face
clothed
in
the
righteousness
of
Jesus
and
I
can
sort
of
see
that
there
might
be
some
pain
as
we
stand
and
we
start
to
become
straight
but
whatever
pain
there
is
in
that
will
be
beyond
the
greatest
joy
and
greatest
pleasure
of
anything
we've
ever
experienced
on
earth
and
the
cry
of
our
heart
the
Holy
Spirit
ministry
in
our
heart
we
will
say
free
at
last
free
at
last
thank
God
almighty
I
am
free
at
last
because
the
gospel
works
to
make
us
free
it
is
a
picture
of
freedom
to
stand
in
God's
presence
with
great
joy
and
hear
and
join
the
cry
of
all
of
the
created
order
and
all
of
the
angels
and
all
of
humanity
saying
God
your
name
is
savior
you've
saved
us
through
Jesus
you
are
the
only
God
to
you
all
belong
all
glory
all
majesty
all
dominion
all
authority
and
say
that
with
a
smile
he
makes
us
free
but
some
might
say
well
George
that
sounds
really
good
but
right
now
my
life
sucks
right
now
my
life
sucks
so
what's
up
with
that
Andrew
could
you
put
a
scripture
let's
read
it
again
and
see
what
the
text
helps
us
to
understand
that
could
you
say
it
with
me
please
now
to
him
who
is
able
to
keep
you
from
stumbling
and
to
present
you
blameless
before
the
presence
of
his
glory
with
great
joy
to
the
only
God
our
savior
through
Jesus
Christ
our
Lord
be
glory
majesty
dominion
and
authority
before
all
time
and
now
and
forever
amen
now
the
normal
habit
of
our
heart
is
when
we
hear
that
somebody's
life
sucks
is
we
want
to
go
in
one
of
two
directions
isn't
it
if
you're
all
like
me
the
natural
tendency
would
either
be
to
say
well
actually
there's
three
directions
we
might
go
one
direction
is
to
say
well
you
know
life
just
is
really
hard
it's
just
hard
have
a
good
day
the
other
direction
we
might
go
is
to
tell
them
to
try
harder
to
say
you
need
to
try
harder
you
need
to
buckle
up
you
need
to
start
memorizing
the
Bible
more
you
need
to
go
to
church
more
often
or
you
need
to
speak
in
tongues
or
you
just
need
to
do
or
the
other
thing
we
might
start
to
do
is
try
to
give
them
some
therapy
we
might
say
what
was
it
like
with
your
dad
I'm
just
joking
get in
touch
with
your
inner
child
deal
with
your
self
esteem
and
try
to
give
them
some
therapy
but
what
we
don't
do
is
actually
try
to
apply
the
gospel
to
them
you
see
we
very
easily
fall
into
the
idea
that
the
gospel
makes
us
right
with
God
and
I
just
say
this
is
the
gospel
makes
us
right
with
God
okay
done
that
in
older
days
we'd
say
got
the
t-shirt
nowadays
we'd
say
got
the
tattoo
and
got
that
but
then
we
start
to
move
on
and
live
our
life
as if
it's
all
about
how
much
we
try
or
therapy
but
the
fact
the
matter
is
the
gospel
isn't
just
something
that
makes
us
right
with
God
that
how
we
grow
as
Christians
is
by
the
Holy
Spirit
applying
the
gospel
to
more
and
more
of
our
lives
so
that
the
gospel
becomes
real
to
us
in
a
deeper
and
deeper
way
could
you
put
up
the
point
please
Andrew
the
point
is
that
to
grow
as
a
Christian
your
greatest
need
is
not
moralism
in
other
words
do
this
do
this
do
this
do
this
do
this
or
therapy
it
is
for
the
Holy
Spirit
to
apply
the
gospel
to
the
heights
and
depths
and
breadth
of
who
you
are
and
what
you
do
you
see
last
Sunday
after
I
thought
I'd
done
a
very
bad
job
on
my
sermon
and
once
again
I
don't
want
you
to
say
anything
about
my
sermon
last
week
I
don't
want
you
to
say
it
at
all
because
this
is
like
a
confession
time
to
you
it's
not
a
convoluted
way
for
me
whatever
comfort
or
therapy
or
that
was
actually
good
I
don't
want
to
say
anything
about
it
but
the
fact
of
the
matter
is
that
what
happens
what
happens
to
me
when
that
goes
on
is
that
I
actually
think
my
standing
with
God
depends
upon
my
own
efforts
my
own
accomplishments
I
no
longer
think
that
it's
the
gospel
that
makes
me
right
with
God
and
what
I
need
is
it
starts
to
show
that
at
a
very
functional
practical
level
I
have
some
other
God
at
work
that
what
the
God
is
at
work
is
maybe
the
God
of
success
in
Canadian
standards
which would
be
how
big
the
church
is
or
the
God
that
is
at
work
is
for
me
to
be
able
to
have
certain
types
of
self
esteem
about
my
accomplishments
so
often
what
happens
is
failure
reveals
to
us
what
we
really
worship
it
reveals
to
us
what
we
really
worship
and
where
we're
finding
our
identity
I
don't
find
my
identity
in
the
gospel
I
find
my
identity
in
something
else
I
don't
actually
worship
God
saying
that
to
him
is
all
glory
majesty
dominion
and
authority
whose
name
is
savior
and
I
worship
him
because
he
and
he
alone
is
able
to
make
me
stand
before
the
presence
of
his
glory
blameless
and
with
great
joy
but
functionally
I
worship
and
trust
in
something
else
and
my
identity
is
based
on
other
things
and
so
failure
is
an
invitation
for
me
to
cry
out
to
God
and
say
God
please
make
the
gospel
real
to
my
life
make
it
real
to
me
as
a
pastor
make
it
real
to
me
as
a
husband
as
a
father
as
a
bureaucrat
as
a
mom
as
a
single
person
as
a
gay
man
as
someone
suffering
gender
dysphoria
make
the
gospel
real
to
me
help
me
to
find
my
identity
in
the
gospel
people
now
some
of
you
just
in
closing
might
say
George
that's
all
very
good
but
it's
not
going
to
work
for
me
George
partly
it
sounds
too
good
to
be
true
and
it
won't
work
for
me
that
type
of
good
stuff
happens
to
other
people
but
it
doesn't
happen
to
me
well
let's
see
what
the
text
says
could
you
put
the
text
up
this
one
more
time
Andrew
could
you
say
it
with
me
again
please
now
to
him
who
is
able
to
keep
you
from
stumbling
and
to
present
you
blameless
before
the
presence
of
his
glory
with
great
joy
to
the
only
God
our
Savior
through
Jesus
Christ
our
Lord
be
glory
majesty
dominion
and
authority
before
all
time
and
now
and
forever
amen
the
amen
at the
end
is
saying
so
be
it
like
it's
a
solemn
affirmation
it
might
be
that
all
we
can
do
is
say
father
help
me
to
have
that
ever
be
an
ever
deeper
amen
and
the
whole
point
of
this
sermon
by
the
way
is
if
what
happens
afterwards
is
you
know
Jesus
more
than
me
that's
good
if
you
want
to
actually
memorize
this
text
that's
I want
you to
remember
the
text
more
than
my
words
but
here's
the
thing
Andrew
if
you
could
put
up
the
final
point
please
you
are
not
so
good
or
so
important
that
you
do
not
need
the
gospel
and
you
are
not
so
bad
or
so
unimportant
that
God
does
not
offer
the
gospel
to
you
are
not
so
good
or
so
important
that
you
do
not
need
the
gospel
and
you
are
not
so
bad
or
so
unimportant
or
so
broken
or
so
forgotten, or so helpless, or so incompetent, or so unloved, or such a failure, or so unsuccessful,
that God does not offer the gospel to you. See, it all comes, it is, one of the things which is
so wonderful is when it says in the text here, through Jesus Christ our Lord, because Jesus is
real. I mean, non-Christian historians record elements of Jesus's life. Like, Jesus actually
really, only a few kooky Marxist communists don't believe Jesus actually existed. Everybody,
even skeptics and atheists, know that there's incontrovertible evidence that Jesus actually
lived. And so this isn't just a story. This isn't like the Easter bunny. This isn't like the great
pumpkin. This isn't like Santa Claus. This is a story about what God actually did in space and time
in history, in a way that Roman and Jewish non-Christian historians would write about him.
It's actually something that really happened. He really did die. When I was in Jerusalem,
just over a week ago, part of the thing which was so wonderful is I'm walking these streets,
and I think to myself, Jesus, I mean, obviously there's pavement and everything like that,
but Jesus walked these streets. He had to walk up these steep hills under the burning sun looking
for some shade. When we were on the temple steps, there's some steps, part of the ruins just outside
the, just within the old wall of Jerusalem, and I sent a video about it, like that actually was not
destroyed by the Romans. So Jesus's feet were on those steps. And I discovered afterwards that
historians believe that after the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on the disciple in the
upper rooms, it was on those stairs that the disciples stood and preached to the people.
So that when I was sitting there, I was just sitting hundreds of yards from where the Holy Spirit
actually fell on people. And it was close to there that Jesus, we don't, might not know precisely where
he was buried, but he really did die right near there. And he really did rise from the dead right
near there. And it really happened. And he's the only God. And because he's the only God, that doesn't
mean that he only has a few. It means he's the only God for every human being. It isn't if he's just the
God of the Jews, and there's the God of the Muslims, and there's the God of the Hindus, and there's the God of
the Buddhists. If there is in fact only one God, then we are a common humanity, not a fractured
humanity. And if he is the only God, then he is the only Savior. And that means his offer to save is to
every single human being. He died on the cross, and he lived his sinless life and died on the cross for
every single human being. So there is no one that you will meet today who is so good that they do not
need the gospel. And there is no one you will meet today who is so important they do not need the
gospel. And there is no one that you will meet today who is so unimportant or so bad that the gospel is
not offered to them. The gospel is offered to every one of you who are here today. Please stand.
Just want to urge you, there's no fancy words, but if you're not sure what your status is with God,
there is no better time than today to just to say, Jesus, I don't know everything you've done,
but I know that you just say, Jesus, I want you to be my Savior and my Lord. I cannot fix myself.
I cannot make myself right. I thank you that you have done what I cannot do. Jesus, be my Savior,
be my Lord. I want you to be my Savior and my Lord, just to call out to him to be your Savior. No better
time than today. Father, pour out the Holy Spirit upon us. Father, for those of us who are Christians
who've received the gospel, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for what he did for us on the cross. Thank you
for his sinless life. Thank you, Father, that you through Jesus have done everything that needs to
be done with nothing left out, that we will one day stand before you blameless in the presence of your
glory with great joy. And you have done everything and only you can do that. We can add or subtract
nothing from it. Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that you are Savior. Thank you that the Holy
Spirit freed up our hearts to respond to the gospel with yes. Father, we ask that you would continue to
pour the Holy Spirit upon us and bring your word to bear into our lives, that the gospel might become
more real to us in the heights and depths and breadth of our life, and that when we fail, we might call
out to you that the gospel will become more real to us, forming our identity, forming our sense of
destiny, and granting us great confidence and boldness in the security and finality of your love. We ask this
in the name of Jesus. Amen.