Reconciliation: The Relationship is Restored

Introduction:

John 19:28-30 - After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

What the Cross Proves About God's Love for You.
(Romans 5:6-11)

1. God's Love for You is an Unconditional Love. (Romans 5:6-8)
2. God's Love for You is a Rescuing Love. (Romans 5:9)
3. God's Love for You is a Committed Love. (Romans 5:10)

   John 1:12 – But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

   Philippians 1:6 – And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Romans in chapter 5.

  You know, there's that old saying, "It's not how you start, it's how you finish," right?

  I was thinking a lot about that concept this week, and I realized that's really true, like,

  in everything, isn't it?

  Like, have you ever taken an airplane flight?

  What determines if it's a good flight?

  How you land, right?

  And I was thinking about that also.

  Have you ever watched a movie that you're like, "Oh, this movie is so good," and then

  it has this completely idiotic ending?

  Have you ever seen a movie like that?

  Do you walk away saying that was a good movie?

  No.

  Do you say, "Oh, that movie was terrible," because it didn't finish well?

  And I don't think we ever feel this as deeply as we do being Pittsburgh sports fans.

  Heavens to Mercutroy, how many pirate games have I sat through?

  I'm like, "Oh, this is awesome," and then we blow it into night thinning, and we say,

  "Oh, that game was terrible," or all penguin fans, how many times?

  Oh, this is such a good game, and then we lose it over time.

  Like, oh.

  But you know, the Son of God came to do some work, and He finished perfectly.

  John 19, Jesus on the cross, says after this, "Jesus knowing that all was now finished,

  said," to fulfill the Scripture, "I thirst."

  A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a Hissa

  branch and held it to His mouth.

  When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished," and He bowed His

  head and gave up His Spirit.

  And in this four-week series, we're going to be answering the question, "What is finished?"

  Jesus cried out, "It is finished!"

  "What is?"

  Well, today, today we are going to be looking at the glorious reality that the work of reconciliation

  is finished.

  The relationship with God is restored.

  Would you bow your heads, please?

  And I'm going to ask you, just take a moment and pray for me.

  I was telling Pastor Taylor in my office before we came in here, "Man, I can't possibly

  communicate the gravity of this passage."

  You always feel that, but sometimes you feel it a lot more.

  And today we're going to be looking at the love of God.

  And I feel so inadequate to communicate it the way it needs to, but we're going to take

  a swing at it.

  All right?

  I may, I'll pray for you.

  Father in heaven, we're about to go after a topic that hits us in the heart, probably

  more than anything.

  So we talk about your great love.

  So once again, we just pray against any preconceived notions any of us might have going into this.

  And we would honestly just take a look at what your word actually says.

  Father, transform us as only you can.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  And all of God's people said, "Amen, amen.

  It is finished.

  The relationship with God is restored."

  We started this last week that the Bible says in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, God was

  demonstrating some things.

  He was showing us some things.

  He was, a better word, proving some things.

  And in Romans 3.25, we saw that God demonstrated His righteousness.

  Jesus died to fulfill the demands of God's law.

  The guilt is gone.

  So here, in this passage, just look at verse 8.

  It says, "But God shows," again, better word, "proves," but God shows His love for us.

  And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

  You see, it's this love of God He tells us in verses 10 and 11 that reconciled us.

  The relationship is restored.

  Look, this is one of the greatest doctrines in all of God's Word, because God is not some

  cold-detached judge.

  And you would wrongly take that away from Romans chapter 3 to say, "Well, God's just

  this judge, and we're guilty."

  Okay, and He did this judicial thing, and He pardoned us, but He's not this cold judge

  in the sense of now God's looking down from heaven saying, "Turn or burn, I don't care."

  Right?

  Get right or get left.

  Look, I made provision, accept Jesus or don't, makes no difference to me whatsoever.

  The glorious truth of God's Word, it's that He loves you.

  I mean He actually, really, infinitely loves you.

  And last week we talked about one of the greatest struggles we have as people is struggling

  with guilt.

  Am I really forgiven?

  But you know, there's another question that we struggle with as people, and it's this

  one.

  Does God really love me?

  Does God really love me?

  Oh yeah, I know John 3.16.

  Everybody knows John 3.16.

  For God so loved the world.

  But maybe that's just like a general statement about God's disposition towards people as

  a whole.

  But does He love me?

  You know, there are two things that make people question God's love.

  And one is the awareness of my sin.

  Some people question God's love because you're like, "You know what, I just feel unworthy."

  The other thing that makes you question God's love is going through hardship.

  You're like, "If God really loved me, why would He let this allow this cause this horrible

  trial in my life to happen?"

  But this is the question on the table today.

  Am I loved by God?

  In other words, am I accepted by God?

  Is God on my side?

  Will that ever change?

  Well, I got some great news for you.

  God settled all of this with the death of Jesus Christ.

  So on your outline, the relationship is restored and we're focusing on the cross as we head

  into resurrection day next Sunday.

  And good Friday this Friday, we're focused on the cross.

  Today what the cross proves about God's love for you.

  Does God love me?

  Look at the cross.

  That answers all of it.

  Let's unpack that a little bit.

  Number one, the Bible tells us that God's love for you is an unconditional love.

  It's an unconditional love.

  You know, I get a pause here.

  People say, especially in circles like ours, they're like, "Well, you know, it's not about

  religion.

  It's about what?

  Relationship."

  Oh, you travel in those circles.

  It's not about religion.

  It's about relationship.

  And okay, that's true.

  But you know, technically, technically.

  God has a relationship with Jesus.

  The question is, do you have a good relationship with Him?

  Or do you have a bad relationship with Him?

  Because biblically, there's no neutral.

  It's not like there's these on fire, born-again, Bible-believing Christians,

  and these evil, wicked, nasty, violent, hurtful people who hate God,

  and somewhere in the middle is just that really nice person.

  Not a Christian, but not...

  There's no neutral.

  And in this passage, you're going to see that unsaved people, people alienated from God,

  are described in four ways.

  They're described as weak in verse 6, as ungodly in verse 6,

  as sinners in verse 8, and as enemies in verse 10.

  And we have to understand that going in.

  Looking at these four, weak means you're powerless to save yourself.

  There is not a thing you can do to get right with God on your own.

  You're weak.

  You're ungodly.

  You are nothing like God intended you to be by birth.

  You're a sinner.

  That means in the eyes of God, you are rebellious.

  And in verse 10, as I said, He uses the word "enemy."

  And that means you're hostile towards God.

  But really, this enemy concept, it's really a two-way street.

  As you see, by nature, we resent God's authority.

  I don't want somebody telling me what to do.

  I don't want somebody telling me the things that I want to do are wrong, so that's hostility

  towards God.

  But you know, it goes the other way, too.

  God has a holy hatred of sin.

  So we could say that we have a wicked opposition towards God, and God has a holy opposition

  towards us.

  It's a dual opposition.

  So something major has to happen if there's going to be any kind of reconciliation between

  these two parties that have such hostility towards one another.

  Something huge has to happen.

  Look at verse 6.

  It says, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."

  Let's not fly through this too quickly, shall we?

  Can we just pause for a moment and as much as we can try to get the weight of God's love

  in this statement?

  He said, "Christ died for the ungodly."

  Who does that?

  Who dies for rebellious, wicked, evil people?

  Who does that?

  It's a shocking statement.

  But Paul illustrates, look at verses 7 and 8, how he illustrates this incredible truth.

  He says, "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, that perhaps for a good person one

  would dare even to die."

  But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

  I love Paul's illustration.

  Look at verse 7 again.

  He says, "One will scarcely die for a righteous person."

  What does he mean by a righteous person?

  Well, a righteous person is just like somebody who's upright and a good, holy person, but

  maybe you sort of have a detached relationship from them.

  Like for example, your favorite preacher that you listen to on a podcast.

  Maybe there's somebody that you follow their podcast, you listen to them and they're preaching

  really blesses you, but you don't know that guy, right?

  That's Paul's point here, is like your favorite podcast preacher, besides me, but your favorite

  podcast preacher, I had to clarify that, but you're like, "Jeff, you're not even in the

  top 15."

  Moving on.

  That favorite podcast preacher of yours, if you had an opportunity to die so that he

  could live, would you do that?

  Probably not.

  That's why he says scarcely.

  There might be one or two of you, like, "Yeah, I would do it."

  But Paul's like, "That's pretty scarce that somebody would die for a good person."

  You don't really know.

  But then he dials it up a notch, he goes, "Perhaps for a good person one would dare even to

  die."

  And now he's talking about maybe that holy, upright, good Christian person that we know

  and love.

  All right?

  So if I were to ask, "Okay, forget about your podcast guy, would you die for Pastor Taylor?"

  You're like, "Wow, that really ups the ante.

  I would really strongly consider that one."

  And now we get the weight of verse 8 when he says, "But God, but God on the other hand

  shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

  See Paul says maybe somebody would die for a good man, but no one would die for an evil

  man.

  But that's exactly how God showed His love for you.

  God loved you when you were a wuze.

  You're like a what?

  A wuze.

  I just made that word up.

  W-S-E, a weak, ungodly, sinful enemy.

  That's just in the text.

  I just paraphrased it.

  God loved you as a wuze.

  And God didn't say, "Look, when you get your act together, then we'll talk about salvation."

  God didn't say, "When you start living a certain way, then I'm going to love you."

  It says, "While we were still sinners, what God says is, 'Look, I love you.

  I sent my son to die for you.'

  You come to me and then we'll get your act together."

  See God knows you better than you know yourself.

  And He loves you at your worst.

  So that's where Paul starts.

  God's love for you is unconditional.

  Secondly, what does the cross prove about God's love for you?

  God's love for you is a rescuing love.

  It's a rescuing love.

  Look at verse 9.

  He says, "Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we

  be saved by Him from the wrath of God."

  I love this.

  You're going to see this a couple of times in this passage.

  Much more.

  Much more.

  What he's saying is, "If Jesus' death could do this, then much more Jesus' life can do

  this."

  So here, Jesus' blood justified has made us righteous before God, which is...

  I tried so hard to think of a way to describe that and I wrote down, "Infinitely enormous."

  I don't know.

  If Jesus' blood could make us righteous before God, which is infinitely enormous, even way

  bigger, He says, "We will be saved from the wrath of God."

  And that is a profound thing in the cross of Jesus Christ that God was saving you from

  Himself.

  He was saving you from His own wrath.

  But you know as a pastor, bless you as a pastor, oftentimes I hear people say, in wanting to

  argue, certain doctrines people will say, "You know, you're talking about God's wrath.

  A loving God wouldn't send someone to hell."

  Look, I believe that God is love and a loving God wouldn't send somebody to hell.

  Have you ever heard that?

  Pastor Taylor, I'm sure you've heard that a lot.

  A loving God wouldn't send someone to hell?

  Well, there's a lot of problems with that statement.

  One, it ignores what the Bible actually says about hell.

  You know, Jesus talked about hell more than anybody.

  Something like twice as much as He talked about heaven.

  So not only does it ignore what the Bible actually says about hell, it also ignores God's holiness.

  A holy God can't tolerate sin.

  So help me understand, if you're somebody that doesn't believe in hell, if you're somebody

  that still subscribes to the loving God wouldn't send somebody to hell, are you saying that

  somebody can live their entire life rejecting their Creator, living in flagrant sin and rebellion,

  they want nothing to do with God, and they want nothing to do with God's gifts, and someday

  when they die, God's going to be like, "Hey, that's okay.

  Come on into heaven.

  Let me show you around."

  Like, how does that work?

  By the way, an unsaved person would be miserable in heaven.

  Do you know that?

  An unsaved person would be absolutely miserable in heaven.

  You're like, "Why?"

  Now, that unsaved person has spent their life saying, "I don't want anything to do with

  God, God's truth, God's people, worship.

  I don't want anything to do with that."

  You know what heaven is?

  God, His truth, His people, and worship, that would be absolutely miserable to spend in

  eternity.

  What the God you want nothing to do with.

  So you're ignoring God's holiness when you're selecting which doctrine you want to adhere

  to.

  Oh, and here's one.

  A loving God would send someone to hell.

  I like to quickly remind people that God's love is not in question.

  What more could God have possibly done to save you?

  The Bible says, Romans chapter 8, "God spared not his own son.

  God was willing to kill his son so that you could be saved."

  I wouldn't do that.

  If your salvation meant that I had to kill my son, you'd all be gone to hell.

  And I wouldn't think twice about it.

  What more could God have possibly done to demonstrate His love than by giving the most precious thing

  that exists, the life of His Son.

  So don't please, don't come at me with this, a loving God wouldn't send someone to hell.

  God's love is not in question here.

  But church, if we brush off God's wrath, we're also brushing off the impact of the cross.

  We're brushing off the impact of the cross as minimizing the greatest act of God's love.

  But let's get real personal.

  Like I said at the beginning, one of the biggest reasons we doubt God's love is because we

  endure hardship.

  And I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand.

  But I imagine it would be high 90% of you.

  If I said raise your hand if you've ever questioned God's love because of a trial that you're

  going through.

  I bet most of those hands would go up.

  And I just want to lovingly encourage you.

  When we get in that mindset where we're doubting God's love and a hardship, what we're assuming

  is the way that God shows love is keeping me from trials.

  We've already attached that love language to God when His Word does not.

  And we think, okay, so God shows me love by making my life easy and trouble free.

  So if God doesn't do that, then He must not love me.

  Well, we studied the book of Job last fall.

  If we learned anything, it's that God loves me through hardship.

  No, no, no, no.

  God loves me with hardships.

  God shows the greatness of His love by meeting our greatest need, which is to be rescued

  from sin and hell.

  And if that's all God's love ever did for you, is to rescue you from hell.

  If that was all He ever did, you should be eternally grateful.

  Like the goofy guy in the infomercial.

  But wait, there's more.

  And number three, write this down.

  God's love for you is a committed love.

  What does the cross prove about God's love?

  Well, it proves it's unconditional and it proves it's rescuing.

  And thirdly, it proves that God's love for you is a committed love.

  Look at verse 10.

  For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more

  now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.

  Very similar to verse 9 with the much more thing, but there's a different emphasis here.

  In verse 9, He says we will be saved from His coming wrath.

  And here He's saying God will keep us saved in the meantime.

  In other words, He's saying if God could reconcile us by the death of His Son, much more He can

  keep us saved by the life of His Son.

  Remember to put it another way, if God loved you when you were His enemy, how do you think

  He's going to love you now that you're His child?

  That's why He uses that word here.

  That's the word of the day.

  Reconciled.

  This in verse 10, telling us this, God is committed to a restored relationship with

  you.

  How committed?

  How committed is God?

  How committed?

  He adopted you as His child.

  Talk to somebody here that's adopted someone and ask that parent of the adopted kid, "How

  committed are you?"

  They're committed.

  John 1.12 says, "But to all who did receive Jesus, who believed in His name, He gave the

  right to become children of God."

  In Christ, we are God's children and He is our heavenly Father.

  And as you parents know, your kids will always be your kids and nothing can ever change that.

  No matter how bad your kids are, no matter what bad thing they've done, nothing will ever

  change that kid from being your kid.

  When we planted this church back in 2011, we were meeting at Marshall Middle School,

  which is right beside Covenant Community Church.

  I was friends with Pastor John Price, who was a pastor there.

  He invited our church over to, they had a church picnic on their property.

  He said, "Hey, why don't you guys come over and invite your church, come over, we're

  going to get the bouncy houses and have a big thing, have a bunch of kids.

  And why don't you bring your family over and like to introduce you, kind of like welcome

  to the neighborhood kind of thing."

  I'm like, "Oh, that sounds like a great time."

  Well, so our family went and Aaron and I were in the pavilion talking to some of these wonderful

  people at this church.

  And our kids were much littler at the time.

  And all of a sudden, I hear Cade's voice.

  He says, "Hey, Dad!

  Dad!

  Dad!"

  I look over.

  Cade and Owen are standing in the yard in the green space in Covenant Community with

  their pants around their ankles, urinating on the lawn.

  And I look over and Cade hollers, "Look, Dad!

  We made a P-cross!"

  And these dear sweet people we were talking to said, "Are those your children?"

  I said, "I've never seen those kids!"

  Somebody really needs to rein them in, you know what I'm saying?

  You know, as badly as I wanted to put them on eBay that day.

  I didn't.

  And Cade will tell you, grab him, he'll tell you something I've told him over and over

  throughout his life.

  He says, "Look, I love you on your best day and on your worst.

  And I've told him nothing will ever change that because you're my son."

  And it's the same with God's kids.

  You've been adopted.

  And you know, I've been reading the Bible for a long time.

  There is zero Biblical language about being unadopted.

  We touched on this last week, you know, people often ask, "Can I lose my salvation?"

  And the answer to that question is, "Well, you know, if I could lose my salvation, then

  I definitely would.

  But thankfully, it's not up to me.

  Because what Paul's teaching here is it's not really about how tightly I'm holding

  on to Jesus.

  It's how tightly he's holding on to me.

  So if you've ever struggled with, "Can I lose my salvation?"

  Here's a great verse.

  You're going to help me out here.

  Philippians 1-6, can we get that on the screen?

  Let's do a little Bible study here, shall we?

  Paul says, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it

  to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

  That means to the very end.

  All right, so help me out here.

  Did God begin a good work in you?

  Well, if you're a follower of Jesus, then the answer to that is, "Yes."

  Okay, next question.

  "If God began a good work in you, is he going to finish it?"

  Yeah, he is.

  Oh, one more question.

  Are you sure?

  Paul said he was.

  I am sure of this.

  That when Jesus starts something, he finishes it.

  True of the cross and the atonement.

  True of his death.

  Yes, true of that, but also true of adopting you and raising you and getting you to the

  finish line of heaven.

  If God didn't save you and say, "You know what, kid, good luck, you're on your own,

  don't mess this up, I hope to see you in heaven."

  Paul makes it very clear here that God's love for you is a committed love.

  We have the worship team.

  Join us back up here.

  Church, God loves you.

  As we said and can't emphasize enough, that is not in question.

  He showed us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

  We are rescued from His wrath.

  He is committed to keeping us all the way to heaven.

  The real question that we have to ask is not does God love us, but do you love God?

  God demonstrated His love for you.

  Are you willing to demonstrate your love for Him?

  You're like, "How do I do that?"

  Well, let's look at what the passage says.

  Look at verse 11.

  He says more than that.

  Which is a hilarious statement.

  More than all of this.

  He says, "We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now

  received reconciliation."

  I just want to ask you, church, will you rejoice?

  Rejoicing is the natural emotional result of being reconciled.

  And your worship should be an overflow of love and joy and gratitude for Jesus Christ,

  for all He is, and for all He's done, and for all He's promised that He will do.

  Let your worship be an expression of love.

  Would you stand and lift up your voices and demonstrate love for Jesus Christ?

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 5:6-11

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Have you ever questioned God’s love for you? Why? What is God’s response, based on this passage?
   

3. What 4 words are used to describe lost people in this passage? How does this speak to the idea that “deep down, man is basically good”?
   

4. Read John 1:12 and Philippians 1:6. What do these verses teach us about God’s love being a committed love?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Justification: The Guilt is Gone

Introduction:

John 19:28-30 - After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

3 Things to Remind Yourself When You Feel Guilty: (Romans 3:21-28)

1. You Are. (Romans 3:21-23)
2. But God is Totally Satisfied by the Cross. (Romans 3:24-26)

   Proverbs 17:15 – He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

   Exodus 23:7 – Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.

   Acts 17:30 – The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

3. And Justification is a Gift to Be Received By Faith. (Romans 3:27-28)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Our next four messages, including Good Friday, which I just found out is on a Friday,

  will be talking about one of the most profound statements Jesus Christ ever made.

  And it was on the cross when he cried out, "It is finished."

  So we're going to be examining the question, "What is finished?"

  Think about finishing things, right?

  From a very early age, hopefully we've all been taught the importance of finishing things, right?

  Didn't you hear that growing up?

  And maybe some of you now parents are saying, "That's your kids."

  Hey, finish your supper. Finish your chores, right?

  Finish your homework.

  And we're taught that there are consequences when we don't finish.

  Well, the glorious reality that we're going to be looking at over these next four messages is this.

  The Son of God came to this earth to do something, and he finished it.

  So the question is, what is finished?

  Now let's go to the scene, John 19, verses 28 through 30.

  It says, "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said,"

  to fulfill the Scriptures, "I thirst.

  A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hissy branch

  and held it to his mouth when Jesus had received the sour wine.

  He said, 'It is finished.'

  And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

  What was finished?

  Well, today we're going to look at one thing of many that was finished.

  Today we're going to talk about the work of justification.

  Meaning our guilt is gone.

  I'd like you to buy your heads with me, please, and I just want to take a moment.

  If you would please pray for me to accurately communicate the Word of God as I should.

  And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us today from His Word.

  Alright? Let's pray.

  Father in heaven, as we turn to Your Word, it's a thought that makes us tremble to think that right now

  we are about to talk about the most important thing anyone will ever hear for their entire lives.

  And Father, we recognize that as no overstatement whatsoever.

  We can't begin to fathom how important this message is.

  This message has just been so distorted and twisted and changed,

  and we just want to get back to what Your Word actually says.

  See what You said, God, and we want to not align our lives with our concept of You, God,

  but we want to align our lives with what You actually said.

  So I'm asking, Father, You would open our hearts up this morning

  and that You would bring much glory to Yourself through the straightforward understanding of Your Word.

  We pray in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said,

  "Amen! What is finished, the work of justification, the guilt is gone."

  Do I have to sell anybody on guilt?

  We've all struggled with guilt, and some of us might be struggling with guilt right now.

  What is guilt? Well, guilt is just that bad feeling that we get when what I did was wrong.

  There's another word that's often connected to guilt, and it's the word shame.

  And shame's a little different.

  See, shame is the feeling of guilt that I have when people know what I did wrong.

  You know what I mean? Like, you could have a secret sin that nobody knows about,

  and you might feel guilt over that, but you don't feel shame because nobody knows.

  But if that secret sin gets made known, if people know about it, now all of a sudden,

  people must think of me differently. That's what shame is.

  How I think people think of me now because of my guilt.

  The point is this, my friends, we have both of those before God.

  We have guilt. I disobeyed. We have shame. God is surely disappointed in me.

  I want you to look at verse 24. We're going to back up here and get to context.

  I just want you to look at this first phrase in verse 24.

  This is Romans chapter 3, right?

  He says, "We are justified by His grace as a gift."

  That's what we're talking about today. Justification. What is that?

  It's the most important thing you will ever hear.

  Justification is God pronouncing a guilty sinner as not only being not guilty,

  but being perfectly righteous instead. It's a legal term.

  It's the opposite of condemnation.

  But listen, it's more than pardoned.

  So when you pardon someone, you're just taking away the penalty of what they did.

  Penalty for, excuse me, what they did wrong.

  Justification is so much more than that.

  It's not just canceling the penalty, but actually making righteous.

  Think of it this way. In God's justification, it's not just you won't be punished.

  God says you can't be punished because there are no grounds whatsoever for punishment anymore.

  Do you see the difference?

  But even as Christians, we still wrestle with guilt, don't we?

  I mean, look, if you've done something wrong to somebody else,

  you need to take steps to make that right.

  And Pastor Taylor did an amazing job last Wednesday at our latest workshop.

  So we're not talking about that today.

  But today we're talking about guilt before God.

  Am I really forgiven?

  Have you ever wrestled with that?

  Am I really a child of God?

  Or is God disappointed in me?

  Well, from God's Word today, I want you to jot some things down.

  Here's three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.

  And if you don't feel guilty now, you will.

  I mean, like, eventually, I didn't mean like...

  In 30 seconds, you're all going to be bowing your heads.

  We all struggle with it from time to time, don't we?

  Is it just me?

  Okay, alright.

  Three things.

  Look, we're not trying to pile on here, okay?

  Here are three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.

  Number one, you are.

  Like, wait, wait, wait, wait.

  I came here to feel good, Pastor Jeff.

  Look, listen, it has to start here.

  Because if you don't really think that you're guilty before God,

  Jesus won't really mean anything to you.

  Look at verse 21.

  He says, "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested

  apart from the law."

  Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

  So up there, the Old Testament law was to teach us that we are sinners.

  That was the purpose of the Old Testament law.

  It was to teach us that we have broken the law of God.

  And even if you just reduce the Old Testament law to the Ten Commandments,

  just looking at those shows us adequately that we are really law sinners.

  I mean, let me ask you, have you always made the worship of God

  and your walk with God the absolute most important thing in your life?

  Has it always been number one?

  No.

  Well, if not, then you've broken the first couple of commandments.

  You should only have one God.

  You shouldn't have worshiped anything else other than God.

  You're guilty.

  Have you always honored your parents perfectly?

  Like, no, there are times I haven't.

  Well, you've broken the fifth commandment,

  which says honor your father and mother.

  Have you ever hated someone?

  According to Jesus, you've broken the sixth commandment,

  which says you shouldn't murder because it starts in here.

  Have you ever lusted?

  Jesus said that's the same thing as committing adultery

  and you've broken the seventh commandment.

  Have you ever stolen anything?

  That's breaking the eighth commandment.

  How we doing?

  How we doing?

  You're like, I'm doing pretty good.

  Okay, have you ever told a lie?

  You're like, I think maybe I just did.

  Well, if you've ever known the truth

  and intentionally said something else,

  then you've broken the ninth commandment.

  Have you ever wanted something that God gave somebody else?

  Like, what's the big deal?

  I'll tell you the big deal.

  That's breaking the tenth commandment.

  That's called coveting.

  So you see, that's the purpose of the law was to show us,

  oh, I'm not a righteous person on my own.

  We need to be made right with God,

  but the law shows us that we're sinners.

  We're sinners.

  It can't make us not guilty.

  The Old Testament law can't do that.

  Look at verse 22.

  He goes on.

  He says, "The righteousness of God

  through faith in Jesus Christ

  for all who believe."

  Stop there for a second,

  because we have to make a key distinction here.

  Because if you miss this,

  you're going to be really lost here in a second.

  He's talking about the righteousness of God.

  He says it twice.

  That's the theme of this passage.

  What is the righteousness of God?

  Hang on.

  There's a distinction.

  In verses 25 and 26,

  he talks about God's righteousness.

  Listen, God's righteousness is different

  than the righteousness of God.

  Those are two different things.

  And it's going to be crystal clear in the context

  so long as you stay tuned in to what God is saying here.

  Like, what's the difference?

  Here's the difference.

  Listen, God's righteousness is the righteousness that God owns.

  The righteousness of God is the righteousness God gives

  to believers.

  So he's saying -

  one other run at that one -

  God's righteousness is the righteousness that God owns.

  That's just another way of saying God's holiness.

  God is holy, He's perfect.

  That's what God's righteousness is.

  But when the Bible talks about here,

  the righteousness of God,

  it's talking about the righteousness that God gives to believers.

  And again, that's going to be very clear in the context.

  But I don't want us to get tripped up on the terms.

  So, Paul is claiming here that God makes us righteous through faith,

  implying that we need to be made righteous,

  implying that we're guilty.

  You see that?

  Look at verse 22, he goes on.

  He says, "For there is no distinction,

  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

  Look, when we talk about being guilty before God,

  he says there's no distinction.

  It doesn't matter if you grew up in a Christian home.

  Or if you grew up in a home that didn't even have a Bible in it.

  It doesn't matter.

  It doesn't matter

  if you're the most rebellious sinner in the world.

  Or if you're just a pretty good person.

  He says we all have fallen short of the glory of God.

  Like, what glory of God? What is that?

  That's God's image.

  That's God's intention for man.

  We all failed to live up to being the people

  that God has created us to be.

  We've all fallen short.

  Listen, it doesn't matter how short we've fallen.

  Because we've all fallen short.

  Imagine, we're standing on the shore of New Jersey,

  facing the Atlantic Ocean.

  And there's me.

  And there's my man, Max.

  And there's the Steelers quarterback.

  Who's the quarterback for the Steelers now?

  Oh, I'm sorry.

  I pushed a hot button.

  Let's just say Ben Rothlessberger.

  So let's say we're all standing on the shore of New Jersey.

  All right, me, Max, and Ben Rothlessberger.

  And we're each given a football.

  And we're told that we need to throw that football and hit England.

  I can do that. I mean, how far is England?

  And I -- everything that I got, I throw it.

  And it goes 10 feet into the ocean.

  And Max was like, "Pastor Jeff, step aside."

  Whoo!

  Tight spiral, 100 feet.

  Whoo!

  Into the ocean.

  Ben Rothlessberger steps up.

  And he's like, "I'm going to show you I still got it."

  And whoo! He throws it 200 feet into the ocean.

  Which one of us hit England?

  Right?

  We all fell short, didn't we?

  You're like, "Well, Jeff, you fell way shorter than Ben."

  Okay.

  But we all fell short. Do you see the point?

  It doesn't matter how short you've fallen.

  We all fell short of God's glory.

  And that's a big deal.

  Listen, church, we can't minimize that by saying,

  "I'm not really that guilty."

  We can't compare to say, "Well, I'm not as guilty as other people."

  And we can't trivialize it to say, "Yeah, okay, I'm guilty."

  So what?

  We need to confess it.

  I -- and by that I mean me --

  I am guilty of breaking God's law by my disobedience.

  So if you're struggling with guilt,

  this is just your friendly reminder that you are guilty.

  But number two,

  but God is totally satisfied by the cross.

  You are guilty, but God is totally satisfied by the cross.

  Look at verse 24 through the first part of 25.

  He says, "Okay, for all of us who fall short of the glory of God,

  a lot of us probably have that verse memorized, right?"

  But He says, "And are justified by His grace as a gift

  through the redemption it is in Christ Jesus,

  whom God put forward as a propitiation

  by His blood to be received by faith."

  Look, the cross of Jesus Christ is God's means

  of making sinners righteous.

  Now, there's a word here in these verses we just read.

  You need to underline in your Bible right now.

  And we're going to have people at the door handing you an Easter devotional

  and checking your Bibles to make sure that you underline this.

  But it's one of the most beautiful words in the entire Bible.

  And it's the word "propitiation."

  I think John uses it in 1 John as well.

  It's a beautiful word.

  Like, well, what is "propitiation"?

  Propitiation literally means to placate anger.

  I know some theologians try to dance around that.

  Like, almost to soften the blow.

  But no, that's what it means.

  It means God is furious over sin.

  Propitiation means He's not angry anymore.

  It means that Jesus' death satisfied God.

  Because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, God saw that.

  And He said, "The full penalty has been paid.

  My wrath has been fully poured out.

  Punishment has been fully doled out."

  God says, "I am satisfied."

  You know, when we talk about salvation,

  sometimes we say, in our evangelism mindset,

  we say, "How do we get men to accept God?"

  And that's really not the question we need to ask.

  The question is, how do we get God to accept men?

  Because, listen, God was the one who was offended.

  Not me.

  God was offended.

  So any talk about salvation and being righteous

  and any talk of that has to satisfy God.

  And you see, that's where every other religion in the world,

  besides Christianity as presented in God's Word,

  straightforwardly, every other religion teaches

  that there are things that we have to do to satisfy God.

  There are religious works or some kind of action

  that we have to take to make God satisfied.

  The Bible says we can't do it.

  Nothing we do can satisfy God.

  Look at verse 25 again.

  It says, "Whom God," talking about Jesus,

  "put forward as a propitiation by His blood

  to be received by faith."

  Look at that.

  The Bible says, "God put Jesus forward."

  Do you see what's happening here?

  We sinned against God.

  We deserve God's wrath.

  And God took His Son and put Him forward.

  That means He demonstrated some things.

  He put Jesus on display.

  God showed us something on the cross.

  What did God show us on the cross?

  Well, later in Romans 5, verse 8,

  it says that God demonstrated His love on the cross.

  So love for sure.

  Here, specifically, He's saying that on the cross,

  God showed that His Son fully paid the penalty

  that the law demanded.

  So now, God says, "Because of my Son..."

  Look, I'm showing you this.

  I'm showing you.

  This is what my Son did.

  Now, I'm satisfied.

  Propitiation.

  Propitiation.

  This is where theology is important, my friends.

  Christian, listen.

  I want you to listen real close, Christian.

  God is not mad at you.

  He's not.

  Because of Jesus,

  God has no wrath left for you.

  And to think that He does

  is to minimize what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

  But some Christians think that

  God poured out His wrath on Jesus.

  They believe that.

  But they think that God's still mad at them.

  Like, God is just like,

  "Yeah, I know that you received my Son,

  but I'm so upset with you for what you did."

  He's not.

  That's what that word "propitiation" means.

  There's no wrath left

  for the one in Christ Jesus.

  God is satisfied.

  Look at the end of verse 25.

  This gets a little technical, so look.

  It says,

  "This was to show God's righteousness."

  Because in His divine forbearance,

  He had passed over former sins.

  It was to show His righteousness

  at the present time,

  so that He might be just

  and the justifier

  of the one who has faith in Jesus.

  We define this term in the outset,

  but two times here,

  He says that the cross

  was to show God's righteousness.

  Do you know what He's saying?

  The cross proved

  that God is righteous.

  Wait, wait, wait, wait.

  Time out, time out.

  Time out.

  Hang on.

  Why would anyone

  accuse God of not being holy?

  What do you mean?

  What possible grounds would someone have

  to point to God and say,

  "God, you messed up here.

  God, what you did

  or what you didn't do here,

  that's not holy, God.

  That's not righteous."

  What grounds would somebody have for that?

  Listen very closely,

  because this is what Paul's talking about.

  We're going to do a little theology here

  for a couple of minutes,

  and I know what's the point.

  You're going to see here in a couple of minutes

  that this will change your life

  if you really understand this.

  So here we go.

  What's Paul talking about here?

  When he talks about his divine forbearance,

  passing over former sins.

  What's he mean?

  Listen, in the Old Testament times,

  which was before the cross, right,

  God justified wicked people.

  And that is controversial.

  You're like, "Why?

  Why is it controversial

  that God would justify the wicked

  in Old Testament times?"

  Oh, I'm so glad you asked.

  I'll tell you why.

  One reason is,

  He forbid us to do that.

  Look at Proverbs 17-15.

  "He who justifies the wicked

  and he who condemns the righteous

  are both alike in abomination to the Lord."

  Do you see that?

  Do you know what abomination is?

  In my Bible, I put a little exclamation point

  in the margin every time I see that word.

  That's like something that is so wicked,

  it like makes God sick.

  God's like, "I hate that."

  And here God says,

  "I can't stomach when the wicked are justified."

  You're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second.

  You're saying that we can't do that,

  but you did that, God,

  before the cross."

  Hmm.

  Is that righteous?

  Well, actually,

  it gets even worse

  if we're barking up this tree,

  because earlier in your Old Testaments,

  God actually said

  that He would never justify the wicked.

  Exodus 23-7,

  it's pretty self-explanatory.

  And God says, "I will not

  acquit the wicked."

  Do you see the problem?

  Somebody would say,

  God in the Old Testament times did

  what He forbid us to do,

  what He swore He would never do,

  what He would never do.

  And we're talking about God being holy,

  God being perfect, God so righteous.

  How can we say that?

  And Paul doesn't -

  I love this because

  he doesn't shy away from that.

  He runs right at it

  when he says this was to

  show God's righteousness

  because -

  look at this again -

  in His divine forbearance,

  He passed over former sins.

  Again, it was to show His righteousness.

  In other words,

  He's saying in the Old Testament times

  God tolerated sin.

  Like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

  How can we say God's righteous?

  I mean, in the Old Testament,

  there was no perpetuation.

  There was no cross of Jesus Christ yet.

  So when somebody sinned in the Old Testament,

  if God is the holy judge

  that you say that He is,

  why didn't He immediately just judge sinners?

  They didn't have

  the blood of Jesus Christ to proclaim.

  I mean, you look at the guys in the Old Testament -

  Abraham, Moses, David -

  I mean, pick one -

  all sinners.

  And yet, when you read

  God's interaction with them,

  over and over,

  we see God giving them the promise of eternal life.

  Was that really a righteous thing to do

  for people that couldn't put their faith

  in Jesus Christ

  since He hadn't come yet?

  How could God give them that promise?

  Somebody would say,

  "Oh, that was the Old Testament sacrifices."

  Couldn't do it.

  They covered sin,

  but they didn't take away sin.

  And somebody else might say,

  "Well, it was their good works."

  It was their good works.

  That's how God was able to...

  No.

  Nowhere does the Bible say

  you can earn your salvation.

  So what's He saying?

  He's saying in verses 25 and 26 here,

  "And God's forbearance,"

  another word for patience.

  He passed over former sins.

  And that word "pass over"

  doesn't mean forgive.

  It literally means He overlooked their sin.

  God's patience

  caused God to not punish their sin immediately.

  This is exactly what Paul was talking about.

  Very curious verse in Acts 17, verse 30,

  on Mars Hill,

  exact same thing he's talking about.

  The times of ignorance,

  God overlooked.

  And now He commands all people

  everywhere to repent.

  So how was God able to do that?

  See, this is what Paul's talking about here.

  It was still, even in Old Testament times,

  it was still because of Jesus Christ.

  You're like, "Well, how can they believe in Jesus

  if they don't know about the cross?"

  Look, God is outside of time.

  And if you study your Bibles like Revelation 13.8,

  Jesus Christ was always the Lamb of God.

  That wasn't some radical idea

  that God dreamed up one day

  about 2,000 years ago.

  Like, "Oh, I got an idea."

  Now, that was always the plan.

  So here it is.

  Listen close.

  Even before the cross happened,

  God overlooked sin based on what was already determined

  that His Son was going to do.

  So what He's saying is this,

  the cross of Jesus Christ reaches back

  to the Old Testament saints.

  They were pronounced righteous

  because of what Jesus was going to do,

  just as we are pronounced righteous

  looking back based on what Jesus did in our past.

  And kids that haven't even been born yet

  that eventually will receive Jesus Christ,

  their sins are already forgiven in Christ.

  You're like, "Okay, so what's the point?"

  What's the point?

  Well, there's two points actually.

  Number one, it answers one of the most commonly asked questions

  that I get as a pastor.

  People ask me all the time,

  "How are the people saved in the Old Testament?"

  Because if Jesus is the only means of salvation,

  and I believe that,

  then how were they saved in the Old Testament?

  The answer is still Jesus.

  Their faith was based on what God was going to do.

  That's why God was overlooking their sin, so to speak.

  But listen, here's why this theology is so important for you.

  What were we talking about today?

  Guilt, right?

  See, this answers the guilt question.

  As a Christian, when I sin,

  and I will,

  is God mad at me?

  No.

  Do I have to ask for forgiveness?

  Do I have to plead the blood of Jesus over my sin

  every time that I sin as a Christian?

  The answer is no.

  Or how about this one?

  What if I sin and then I die?

  Can I go to heaven since I sinned

  and I didn't ask for forgiveness for that particular sin?

  I have known,

  pastors, I have known pastors that have taught that,

  that you better die on a good day.

  Because let's say you're living this perfect walk with Jesus' life.

  And let's say you have a blow-up with your wife on the way out the door.

  And you sinfully speak to her.

  And you get in the car and go to work,

  and you die in a car accident, you're going to hell.

  Because that sin wasn't confessed and repented of

  and covered under the blood of Christ.

  I know pastors that teach that.

  That is completely wrong.

  That's why this theology is so important.

  Listen, when Jesus Christ was on the cross,

  do you realize all of your sins were yet future?

  Do you realize that?

  All of your sins were paid for,

  even the sins that you haven't committed yet.

  So if you are in Christ,

  and if you sin and you will,

  you don't need to ask for forgiveness.

  Because you already have it.

  So listen, somebody is going to misconstrue this.

  So just grab the shoulder of the person next to you and shake them.

  And tell them to pay attention.

  Thank you.

  Because somebody is going to misconstrue this.

  Listen, when you sin, church,

  you need to confess your sin.

  Then you need to thank God

  that He has forgiven you in Jesus Christ.

  And you need to turn from your sin.

  Because you don't want to do anything in your life

  that would dishonor the name of your Lord.

  But it's not as if God just keeps forgiving you over and over.

  He forgave you once when you received Jesus Christ.

  And that lasts for all of eternity.

  Do you see the security in that?

  So listen, whether it was Moses' sin

  or a sin that you are going to commit tomorrow,

  all sins have been taken away.

  God is satisfied because of the one-time sacrifice of Jesus

  that covers all sins of all believers.

  There is incredible freedom in that.

  Three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.

  Number one, you are.

  Number two, but God is totally satisfied by the cross.

  Number three, justification is a gift to be received by faith.

  Look at verses 27 and 28.

  He says, "Then what becomes of our boasting?

  It is excluded by what kind of law?

  By a law of works? No.

  By the law of faith.

  For we hold that one is justified by faith

  apart from works of the law."

  In this passage, faith has come up,

  have you been counting?

  Six times.

  And yes, I'm counting when he used the word "believe"

  because that's what he meant.

  Verse 22, including the word "believe," he says it twice.

  Verse 25, 26, 27, 28.

  Faith, faith, faith.

  And then he's like, "So what does that do for our boasting?"

  Pretty dumb, right?

  To have the audacity to think that you have anything

  to contribute to your salvation at all?

  What could you possibly boast about?

  What do your works have to do with the death of Jesus?

  You realize when Jesus was on the cross,

  when Jesus was actually on the cross,

  most of you weren't even born yet.

  I was going to say all,

  but I don't know how old all y'all are.

  So I think it's safe to say when Jesus died,

  most of you weren't born yet.

  So what did you contribute to that exactly?

  See, the cross of Jesus Christ eliminates

  even the very possibility of salvation by human works.

  Faith. Faith is the only way.

  Faith isn't one way to be saved.

  It's the only way.

  And don't think that faith is some sort of merit.

  Like, okay, God did His part in salvation,

  and now I'm going to do my part in salvation.

  It's not even really like that,

  because earlier he was talking about grace in verse 24,

  and grace by its very definition is non-contributory.

  Do you know what that means?

  If you put forth anything to contribute towards it,

  it's no longer grace at all.

  So what is faith?

  I like how one writer put it.

  He says faith is simply the eye that sees.

  He said faith is simply the mouth

  that drinks from the living water.

  And he said faith is the hand that receives the gift.

  I like that, because by the way, in verse 24,

  he calls it a gift.

  It is a gift.

  Imagine that it's my birthday today.

  It's not.

  My birthday is September 23rd.

  I don't see a lot of you writing that down.

  I can wait. September 23rd.

  But we're - for today,

  we're pretending that it's my birthday.

  And imagine this afternoon,

  you showed up at my house

  and you had a gift for me.

  Something you went out and you bought

  and you wrapped it,

  and you were so excited to give me this gift.

  And you come to my house

  and you ring the doorbell and I open it up

  and you say, "Happy birthday."

  There's four ways that I can respond to that.

  Right? First way is,

  I can slam the door in your face and say,

  "I don't want your stupid gifts."

  I wouldn't do that.

  But that's an option, right?

  I mean, I could do that.

  Second option is you ring the doorbell,

  open it up, "Happy birthday."

  And I look at the gift and I say,

  "That's awesome. Where's my wallet?"

  Like, "How much do I owe you for that?"

  Let me see how much cash I have.

  I can probably pay you for that right now.

  Or can I write you a check?

  How would you feel

  if I offered to buy the gift that you got me?

  Pretty lousy, huh?

  That's another option.

  Or a third option is you ring the doorbell,

  I open it up, "Happy birthday."

  And I take the gift and I'm like,

  "Wow, you know what?

  This looks great."

  Thank you. This looks fantastic.

  And I set it down by the door.

  And then you come to my house.

  Six months later, and that gift is still sitting there.

  Except now it has an inch of dust on it.

  And you would think to yourself,

  "You know, Jeff actually seemed excited

  when I handed it to him,

  but he didn't really receive it, did he?"

  He didn't really do anything with it.

  He just kind of set it aside.

  Or the fourth option,

  you ring the doorbell, "Happy birthday."

  I got you a gift.

  The fourth option is I take the gift

  and I say, "Thank you."

  Thank you so much for this.

  And I receive it, and I use it.

  And you realize those are the same four ways

  that you can respond to God's gift in Jesus Christ.

  You have those same four options.

  That God says, "I am satisfied."

  I have paid the price of your sin

  with the blood of my son.

  Here is a gift.

  And for some people, they take the first option.

  They slam the door and say, "No.

  God, I'm not interested in your stupid gift."

  Some people take that option.

  Some people take option two,

  and they think they can buy it.

  "Oh God, that's so wonderful what you did for me in Jesus.

  Now, let me earn that.

  And I'm going to start doing this at the church

  and I'm going to work at the soup kitchen

  and they think that they have to earn the gift.

  And I would suggest to you that God

  is probably just as insulted

  at that notion as I would be,

  or as you would be rather,

  if I tried to pay you for the gift that you got me."

  It's insulting to try to buy a gift.

  The third option,

  and I think this is the most taken option in churches, honestly.

  That's what most people do with the gift of Jesus Christ.

  They're like, "Yeah, that you're sitting here

  and worshiping the Word,

  and you're just like all into it.

  You're like, "Yeah, yeah, I need this.

  Yeah, that's fantastic."

  And you set them aside.

  And you never really receive them.

  You just sort of discarded them.

  Not flagrant rejection, but,

  shall we say, practical rejection.

  The option that the Lord wants you to take

  is that you receive the gift.

  To understand why you need it,

  and you thank God that He gave it.

  That Jesus bore God's wrath on the cross.

  God is satisfied with what Jesus did.

  The guilt is gone by the gift of God.

  Did you receive that?

  So worship team makes their way back up.

  I'd just like you to bow your heads.

  And I'm sure sitting here today,

  there are some Christians that have wrestled with guilt

  that have needed to take a fresh look

  at what exactly Jesus accomplished on the cross.

  He didn't accomplish opportunity

  for us to earn favor with God.

  Jesus accomplished our salvation in full.

  Jesus accomplished the full removal of our guilt and shame

  by bearing God's wrath on our behalf.

  But there might be somebody here

  that's really hearing this for the first time.

  Whether it's somebody sitting here,

  listening to this podcast,

  or watching the stream.

  Today's the day that you need to stop setting the gift aside.

  And receive what it is that God has for you.

  Father in heaven.

  Father, this to me is the most mind-blowing concept

  in the entirety of your Word.

  God, I've never really wrestled with creation

  or the trinity or eternity, things like that.

  But God, the fact that you can pronounce a sinner righteous

  is mind-blowing.

  God, we thank you for the work that you accomplished on our behalf

  through the death of your Son.

  Father, if there's anyone here

  who needs to take that step,

  who needs to receive Christ,

  who needs to make their public profession of faith and baptism

  here in a few weeks.

  Father, I pray that you would give them the faith

  to not put it off,

  to not talk themselves out of it,

  but to see the value,

  the incomparable value of Jesus Christ.

  What He's done, and in so doing, Father,

  they would run to you.

  So just now, Father,

  we've heard from you,

  and now we're going to express back to you

  love and thanksgiving

  for what you've done on our behalf.

  So Father, might this worship

  be a pleasing aroma,

  may it be a sweet sound in your ear

  as we revel in your love and grace.

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 3:21-28

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Why do you think many Christians still struggle with guilt and shame?
   

3. Explain the term “propitiation” (Rom 3:25). Why is this such an important aspect of the Gospel? What does it mean for a Christian in practical terms?
   

4. What does it mean that God “passed over former sins” (Rom 3:25)? How could a Holy God just overlook sin (see also Acts 17:30)?

Breakout
Pray for one another to be salty and bright.

You Are God's Influencers

Introduction:

Influencer = Social media professional who has built a sizable following around a relevant topic, and can therefore influence their followers to take an action, thanks to their credibility and authority.

As Salt and Light, I Am God's Influencer (Matthew 5:13-16)

1. My Influence is Expected.
2. My Influence Comes from Me Being Different.
3. My Influence Is for God's Glory.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Matthew in chapter 5.

  Today we are going to talk about influencers.

  Now the young people here already know something about this, but those of us who

  are older, this is, I'm in that category too, this might be a new

  concept to some of this. But what is an influencer? We have a definition here, can

  we get the definition up on the screen? This is what an influencer is, okay?

  It's a social media professional who has built a sizable following around a

  relevant topic and can therefore influence their followers to take an

  action thanks to their credibility and authority. That's what a social media

  influencer or an influencer, that's what that is. And those relevant topics,

  that's a lot of different things, right? It's food, health, fashion, pop culture,

  travel, gaming, beauty, you name it, there's somebody out there that is an

  influencer. They are internet celebrities. And by that, some of them were already

  celebrities and they got online. And some of them are people who became

  celebrities because of their online presence. There's lists of the top ones.

  I was looking up all these lists and you can do this sometime, not now, but I was

  looking up lists of who were the biggest influencers of our day. And for

  sake of time today, I'm just going to share top five. Here's the top five,

  according to this one list for whatever that's worth. The number one biggest

  influencer, Cristiano Ronaldo. I don't even know who she is. Is anybody a soccer

  player? Not football. That is a different sport. We call it soccer like good

  Americans. Okay, so apparently Cristiano Ronaldo is a soccer player and on this

  list, the biggest influencer in the world currently. Number two, I think I heard of

  her. It's Selena Gomez. Isn't she like an, is she an actor or something? Okay,

  actor, singer. Okay, all right. Number three is Mr. Beast. Probably not his real

  name. Number four is Lionel Messi. Messi, another soccer player.

  What? I played soccer in high school and college and it was not popular back then.

  Now two of the top five so far. Oh, number five. I know number five. Number five is

  the Biebs as his followers like to call him. Justin Bieber. That's number five.

  Did you know God has a face for his brand? God has a spokesman. God has someone

  to endorse his relevant topic. Do you know who that is? It's you. It's you.

  Think it by your heads with me and I want you to pray for me. Once we turn to God's

  word that I'll be faithful to communicate it and I will pray for you to

  have a heart open to receive what God has for us today. Let's pray.

  Father, your word tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the

  Word of Christ. The only transformation that can happen is supernatural

  transformation. It has to come from you. And I pray, Father, that as we encounter

  your word, as we encounter you, we are profoundly changed. We pray these things

  in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, "Amen." We just finished what was

  like an eight-week series on the Beatitudes. And the Beatitudes describe

  what a follower of Jesus is like. Verses 13 through 16 describe the function of

  the believer in the world. You are God's influencer. You are. When you live as

  described in the Beatitudes, you influence the world. Like, well, how does that

  happen? Well, let's see what our Lord says. Matthew 5 verse 13. He says, "You are the

  salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be

  restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and

  trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world." A city said on a

  hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. But

  on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house, in the same way, let your

  light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory

  to your Father who is in heaven. Jesus here is saying, okay, here's the short

  version. The world is decaying and it's dark. Have you noticed? What it needs is

  salt and light. Let's talk about salt and light for a second, shall we? When it

  comes to salt, look, in our day, we kind of take salt for granted. It's everywhere.

  It's on every table, it's in your cabinet. It's everywhere, and it's cheap. But the

  people that lived in Jesus' day would have had a different view of salt. To the

  Greeks, they considered salt divine. The Romans said that there is nothing more

  valuable than two things, sun and salt. In fact, Roman soldiers were actually paid

  in salt. Do you ever hear that expression? He's not worth a salt? Ask where that comes

  from. True story. It was so important in so many ways. People would use salt in

  making covenants. Salt was used in Old Testament sacrifices. Salt was used for

  flavor, obviously. Salt is an antiseptic. Like, well, how did Jesus mean it?

  I believe the main primary focus of Jesus' teaching here is salt as a

  preservative. Salt prevents corruption. You see, in Jesus' day, they didn't have

  refrigerators. They didn't have a deep-freeze chest in the garage like we do.

  So in order to preserve meat, you would literally have to rub salt into the meat

  to keep it from spoiling. And in the same way, Jesus' followers are the salt in the

  meat of the world. We are what's preventing the world from totally rotting right now.

  But the Bible says, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the book of Revelation, when

  the church is removed from the world in the rapture, the world is going to go to

  hell. It's going to get horrific because the salt's been removed. It's gonna rot.

  So the implication here of salt is that the world is polluted and corrupt and it

  has this tendency to rot like meat. And what it needs is your influence. It needs salt.

  Let's talk about light for a second. Also, much more valuable in Jesus' day

  because, again, we kind of take it for granted, don't we? We're so used to having

  electricity and flicking the lights on. But don't we just lose our minds when a

  storm takes the power out and there's no light? I know our house does, but they

  didn't have that electricity. So light would have been a much more valuable

  thing to them. But you know, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," back in John

  chapter 8 and verse 12, "and here Jesus says you are the light of the world." So

  which is it? And the answer is both. It's both. It's His light through us. Just as

  the moon doesn't produce its own light but reflects the light of the sun, that's

  how it is for followers of Christ. We are to reflect the light of Jesus Christ in

  our lives. Now when the Bible talks about light, it's talking about revealing

  God's truth. This is what the Bible refers to when it's talking about light,

  right? Psalm 119, 105, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." So

  light has to do with the revelation of God's Word. It is the light that tells us

  the cause of the darkness. It is the light that shows us that our problem is

  we're separated from God. But it's also the light that shows us the way out of

  darkness. It's the light of God's Word that says there is a way to get back to

  God, and that is through Jesus Christ, who died for your sins, who rose from the

  dead to give you eternal life. It's through faith in Him. That's how you get back to

  God, and that is only revealed in the light of God's Word. So the implication

  when Jesus talks about light is this, the world is dark. Sin has made this world a

  very dark place. What it needs is light. It needs your influence. So on your

  outline, I encourage you to take some notes here. Here's the sermon, "As Salt and

  Light, I am God's Influencer. I am. And if you claim to be a follower of Jesus

  Christ, you are an influencer for God. You are." Let's unpack this a little bit.

  Shall we, number one, write this down, "My influence is expected." My influence is

  expected. Interestingly, in the Greek, we talked about this in the Beatitudes. It's

  here too. You know, you as emphatic in the Greek. So literally, you could

  translate this. Jesus is saying, "You are the only light in the world. You are the

  only salt in the world." You know, I was thinking about salt this week. You know,

  something really interesting about salt, as valuable as it is, it's really no good

  on its own, is it? It's not good by itself. I mean, when was the last time you

  went to Pantera bread, and you said, "Yeah, you know what? I'm not really that hungry.

  I'm just gonna have a bowl of salt." Like, who does that? It's no good on its own.

  Salt is always used for something else. And you know, thinking about that further,

  light is the same, isn't it? Light is always used for something else. Meaning

  this, when you turn on the lights, you don't do it because you're like, "You know

  what, man? I just really like light." Like, nobody just really likes light. Why do you

  turn it on? Because it's light that illuminates what's in the room. Light has

  no other purpose. So salt and light always used for something else. Always used

  for something else. You know what? You are so valuable. You are. But like salt,

  you're not valuable for yourself. Here's what I mean. If all God wanted was for you

  to be saved, then the moment you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, God

  would just take you to heaven. Like, we're done. Good job. I wanted you to be saved.

  But He doesn't do that. God, when you're saved, God keeps you on this earth for one

  reason. It's influence. He keeps you here to be salt and light. You see, that's what

  Jesus is saying here. There is no salt and light except from a Christ follower

  who is going to show and tell the people around you about Jesus. Like, well, you're

  the pastor, isn't that your job? No. Look, it can't be. You're going to encounter

  people just through the course of your every day that I'm never going to meet.

  You're going to work with people and there's people in your family. The

  pastor Taylor is never going to meet. So whose job is it to let them know about

  Jesus Christ? That's yours. That's why God has you there. There's no alternative.

  There's just not another option. But you know, side note, it's an interesting

  paradox. Last week we were talking about persecution, right? And people hating you

  because of Jesus. Isn't it an interesting paradox that the world hates us so much,

  but the world needs us so desperately? Look, you're expected. You are expected to

  be salt and light. That is so clear from Jesus' words. It is just an

  expectation. That's why Jesus gives warnings of being useless. Did you see

  that? He says, verse 13, "If the salt has lost its taste." And then over in verse 15,

  he says, "Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket." What's the point?

  Well, the point is this. If salt isn't salty, it's useless, right? And if light

  doesn't shine, useless. What Jesus is saying here is when salt isn't salty,

  when light isn't bright, what that means is you've lost your influence. You've

  lost your influence. It's a terrible place to be when you lose your ability to be

  salt and light for Jesus Christ. You're like, well, how does that happen? How do

  you lose your influence? How does salt lose its taste? How do you hide your

  light? Well, it happens through sin. That's how it happens. Constantly

  complaining, you're losing your saltiness. Gossiping, you're losing your

  saltiness. Do you have a hair trigger temper? You're losing your

  saltiness when that erupts. I'm inappropriate with the opposite sex in

  any way. Flirtation, direct messages to full-on affairs. You're losing your

  saltiness when you're involved in sin. Jesus gives a hard wording about that

  here. He says you're not good for anything when that happens. I can just

  speak personally, you know, over the years there have been several pastors who

  have been a big influence influence. Several pastors have been a big influence

  on me. Some local guys, some national names. People who have disqualified

  themselves from ministry because of flagrant sin. And in a lot of the cases

  it was affairs. Whether it was emotion or physical, that seems to be the

  predominant disqualifier. And look, right wrong or indifferent, you can reach your

  conviction on this. But I gotta tell you, I've thrown away a lot of books and a

  lot of sermons and a lot of materials for ministries. Because those pastors lost

  their influence, how can you preach this? And for years secretly live a

  completely different way. How can you do that? You don't have audience with me

  anymore. You're like, yeah, that's terrible. Well, what about you? What about

  your influence with your unsafe family, with your friends, with your co-workers?

  When they know that you're a Christian, and by the way they absolutely should,

  look, when they know you name the name of Christ, they're watching you. They are

  watching everything you do. They're watching your attitudes. They're listening

  to every word that you say and how you say it and what you talk about. They're

  listening. They're watching. I have to ask you, do they

  see sin? Or maybe you just try to tone down the salt a little bit when

  you're around them. Maybe when you're around them, you don't want to be the

  weird religious wackadoo. So you're just, let's just dim the lights a little bit.

  Can we just dim the lights a little bit? Jesus says, if that's the case, He says,

  you're not good for anything. Like, Jesus is saying, why do I have you here? Why do I

  have you here if you're not going to be salt and light? You're no good. It's a

  hard warning. But notice, Jesus didn't say after the beatitudes, okay, now would

  you pretty please be salt and light? He said, you are. You are. So really the

  question is, how salty are you? How bright are you? Because you're going to

  influence people one way or the other. And Jesus is expecting His influence on

  this world to happen through you. So your influence is expected, number one.

  Number two, right this time, my influence comes from me being different. My

  influence comes from me being different. That's something else about salt and

  light. It has to actually be touching what it's going to affect. Did you know

  that? If the salt's going to be of any use, it has to be on the food. I know that's

  profound, right? What did you learn in church today? He said something about the

  salt's no good unless it's on the food. Right. Right. The light must be mingled

  with the darkness, right? But at the same time that it's touching, it's also

  distinct. What I mean is salt and light are unlike the medium on which they're

  placed. So the point is we are to be different from the world. We're to be

  as different as the salt is from the meat. We're to be as different as the

  light is from the darkness. And that means my friends, we're not we're not

  self-serving. We're not materialistic. We're not worldly. The influence happens

  when we're different from the world. And somehow we have a hard time as

  Christians remembering that. We think that we are going to attract the

  world by imitating them. We have this game in our minds where we say, "Well, I'm

  going to show them that I'm no different than them. And they're going to see that

  I'm cool and I'm relevant and then I'm going to be able to give them the gospel."

  We think being like them is going to attract them.

  Just imagine you have this co-worker and you have an exchange like this.

  Your co-worker says, "Hey, you want to hear a dirty joke?" And your reply is, "Yes." And

  then I will tell you one because I'm cool. Your co-worker says, "Hey, did you check

  out that new lady that they hired? She is fine." And your reply to that is, "Yes, I

  also think she is smoking as you do because you and me are the same." Your

  co-worker says, "Hey, do you want to have too much beer later?" And your reply is, "I

  sure would because that would be relevant to my relationship with you

  because I'm just like you." And then maybe after our beers I will tell you how

  Jesus changed me. Changed you? From what? Even in the church. Even in the church.

  There's this tendency, we want to attract unsaved people so we think we've

  got to be just like them. Let's put on a show. Let's make it like a secular

  concert. Let's get the laser lights and the smoke machine and put on a big

  theatrical production here. Let's be like the world. That'll win the world, won't it?

  Because don't we want people to be comfortable? We hate that, don't we? When

  churches are like, "We want you to come and be comfortable." Church is the last

  place you should be comfortable. Standing in the face of the Word of God is

  the last place you should feel comfortable. The church is, "Let's be like the

  world and what that means is we're going to have to not take such a

  hard stand on the truth of God's Word because we want to win the world, right?

  And in order to do that, we got to be like the world." I was shown a church

  recently online was advertising, "You can get baptized there." But the interesting

  kicker was, they said, "You can get baptized any way you want."

  Any way you want. You want to get dunked? Well, don't you? You want to get

  sprinkled? We'll splash you? You want us to dip our hands in water and touch your

  forehead? We'll do that. You name the way you want to get the water on you. We'll get

  the water on you. As our Lord would say, "What is going on?" I heard this quote one

  time that always stuck with me. Somebody said, regarding the church, they said,

  "Just when the world needs us the most, we become just like them." And look, if we're

  just the same, we got nothing to offer them, right? And if we learn anything from

  the Beatitudes, it's this, kingdom of heaven people live different than kingdom

  of earth people. We are not the same. We are not made out of the same stuff that

  the world is made out of. We are salt and light. My influence comes from being

  different, right? And finally, number three, my influence is for God's glory. My

  influence is for God's glory. Look at verse 16 again. Jesus says in the same way,

  "Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give

  glory to your Father who is in heaven." Good works. Good works. You do good works?

  Well, you have to check your motives for that, right? Because it's not about what

  people think about me as much as what they think about God. But Jesus said,

  "They'll see our good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

  Meaning this, "I do what I do because I love Jesus." And people are going to see

  that, and that is going to give me the opportunity to share the gospel with

  them, to invite them to church where they're going to hear the gospel. And

  our hope is that they receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, because

  that is the ultimate way that God has glorified.

  But if we're going to be influencers, we have to be salt and light both.

  Because you can read this passage and be like, isn't Jesus kind of saying the

  same thing with the salt and the light? Like, why did He use two pictures? Why

  didn't He just keep it short and use one? Because there's some key

  differences between salt and light. The one I want to focus on is this. We could

  spend so much time on this, we don't have it. But I want to say this. Jesus is

  saying you have to have godly conduct, that's salt. And you have to have the

  gospel message that's light. You have to have both.

  Meaning this. You can't just walk away from this message and focus on one of

  these aspects, but not the other. Meaning, let's just say you're only

  going to focus on being salt. Okay, you're like, you know what, he's right

  about the salt, you know what, I got to work on that. I'm just only going to focus

  on being salt. I'm just going to focus on my walk with Christ, but you never

  actually share the gospel with anyone. Well, the question is how is anybody

  going to glorify the Father if you never tell them the gospel? Do you think

  people are going to see your good works and just automatically, somehow,

  miraculously understand the content of the gospel just because you're doing

  good works? There was a saying that was thrown around years ago. You know those

  sayings that sometimes creeps into the church that Christians use that sound,

  they sound so like magnanimously spiritual, but they're really, when you

  think about it, really kind of empty. This is one that kind of drove me nuts.

  Years ago, people would say, preach the gospel and use words if necessary. Remember

  that one? Preach the gospel and use words if necessary. Look, words are

  necessary. Words are necessary. No one hears the truth just by watching

  somebody's character, but on the other hand, if you're like, you know what,

  you're right, I'm not going to worry so much about the salt. I'm not going to

  monitor my salt content so much. I'm going to focus on being light.

  But look, if you're just running around telling everyone John 3.16, but you're

  not personally walking with Christ, there's no good works backing up this

  message that you're preaching, you're going to leave people asking, why should I

  listen to his message? Because he doesn't seem any different than me. You got to

  have salt and light both. See, salt refers to your general conduct. Light is the

  specific word. Salt talks about who you are. Light speaks to what you do. Salt is

  being the example. Light is carrying out the work of evangelism. Salt is living it.

  Light is telling it. See, that salt can't save anyone. Salt holds back the

  corruption. You need the light of God's truth to lead the salvation, but the

  light has to be backed up by the salt of God the character and good works. That's

  Jesus' point here. And the end game? The end game is the same end game for

  literally everything in the universe. The glory of God.

  We get that definition of the influencer back up here. I looked at a few

  definitions here, but I thought, wow, doesn't this definition really speak

  to the same kind of stuff Jesus was talking about here? Look, here's what I

  mean. Has our Lord built a sizable following?

  A little bit. You may have heard of him. He built a sizable following. Does he have

  a relevant topic? I would argue the most relevant topic ever, eternal life. Is our

  Lord interesting in influencing His followers to take action? That's why

  we're here. Like, well, how does that happen? There's last two words jumped out

  to me then. Credibility and authority. What's credibility? That's salt. And what's

  authority? That's light. Look, God has given us a new mission field to reach at

  Harvest Bible Chapel. God has given us a community without a church where we can

  be salt and light. So there's an exciting new chapter ahead for Harvest Bible

  Chapel. And just now we're going to have our town hall meeting, getting an update

  on how God is moving. And my friends, you were in the presence of a miracle

  today because I got done early. We'll do the directors cut in the next service.

  So why don't you just want to take a couple minutes? We're gonna start at 10

  promptly, Pastor Rich. So once you take a couple minutes, if you need to check on

  little Joey or use the restroom and then at 10 o'clock sharply, Pastor Rich is

  gonna come up here and we have an amazing update for you on what the Lord's

  doing. So let me pray real quick and then we'll reconvene here at 10. Father in

  heaven, I just want to close this time in your word by asking you to empower us to

  be what you've already pronounced us to be. You've said we're salt and light, God,

  we need the wisdom of your word and the power of your spirit so that we can carry

  out that function in a way that glorifies your name. Thank you Father for all that you've done.

  We're excited at what you're going to do. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:13-16

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. In what ways are disciples of Jesus like salt? Like light?
   

3. How does salt lose flavor (the believer lose their influence)? In what ways do we put our lamps under a basket? Why does Jesus say someone in that state is “no longer good for anything”?
   

4. Why is it important to both salt AND light? Why not just focus on one or the other?
   

5. How do you really know if you are doing good works for other people’s attention or God’s glory?

Breakout
Pray for one another to be salty and bright.

Congratulations to the Hated

Introduction:

The Heart of the Disciple: Congratulations to the Hated! (Matthew 5:10-12)

Who Are “Those Who Are Persecuted”?

1 Peter 4:3-4 – For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you...

Luke 9:23 – And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

2 Timothy 3:12 – Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…

Why Are We Congratulating Those Who Are Persecuted?

Acts 5:40-41 – And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

How Do I Respond to Being Persecuted?

Three Reasons to Rejoice in Persecution:

1. Persecution Proves I Belong to Jesus!

   1 Peter 1:6-7 – In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

2. I Have a Reward in Heaven!

   2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

3. I'm in Good Company!

   John 15:20 – Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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• Audio Transcript

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Matthew chapter 5.

  Matthew chapter 5, as we are coming at the end of an eight-week-long congratulations

  party as we look at the Beatitudes.

  This is the introduction to the greatest sermon ever preached.

  And every Beatitude begins with the word "blessed."

  And the word "blessed" means congratulations.

  If I asked you, "What is a Christian?"

  We could probably go around the room and get dozens and dozens and dozens of different

  responses to that.

  What is a Christian?

  What does a Christian do?

  What does a Christian look like?

  How does a Christian act?

  As we go through the Beatitudes, understand from the mouth of our Lord, this is what

  a Christian is.

  So it really doesn't matter what I think a Christian is or what you think a follower

  of Jesus is.

  This is what Jesus said a follower of Him looks like.

  This is what Christians are meant to be.

  And as we've said through this whole series, there's a spiritually logical flow in the

  Beatitudes.

  Jesus wasn't just pulling out these random sayings.

  There's a flow here.

  It's like a staircase.

  It's like steps on a ladder.

  Let's look at them again.

  Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

  Blessed are the pure in hearts, for they shall see God.

  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom

  of heaven."

  Look at this flow here.

  What I want you to see here, the first three Beatitudes address our need.

  We're poor in spirit, and we should mourn over that.

  And we need to stop thinking of ourselves first and live a life of complete unselfishness.

  That's meekness.

  That's the need that we have.

  And then the need is satisfied as we hunger and thirst for righteousness.

  And then the next three Beatitudes show the result.

  We become merciful.

  We become pure in heart.

  We become peacemakers.

  Today, this last one, this is the outcome.

  If you are sincerely following Jesus Christ, if Christ is alive in you and He is changing

  you, I've got to tell you, this is kind of a shocking statement that Jesus says, "You

  know you made it."

  When people hate you.

  Wow.

  Before we dive into this, let's just pause for a moment.

  I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's

  Word, and at the same time I will pray for you to receive what it is the Lord wants to

  tell us in His Word today.

  All right?

  Let's just take a moment.

  Please pray for me.

  Father in heaven, as we come to Your Word, this is a hard one.

  But we're not cherry picking.

  Just trying to cover the parts of Your Word that might be easier on our ears, Father.

  We want to hear everything that You had to say.

  This is a hard one.

  I pray, Father, for all of us, You would open our hearts for a time of self-examination

  and also a time of maybe a change of perspective.

  To Your glory and honor, Father, let Your Word take root in our hearts.

  To make us the people that You've called us to be, to make us the people that Jesus described,

  as followers would be.

  I pray these things in Jesus' name.

  All of God's people said, Amen.

  All right, we're in week 8 of the party.

  Anybody else have like party fatigue?

  You're like, "All right, you know what?

  In any other party I would have gone home long before this."

  But look, we've got one more week of party, all right?

  So are you ready?

  Today, we want to wish a hearty congratulations to the hated.

  You ready?

  Let's do it!

  I get to tell you, it feels strange.

  You're hated.

  Congratulations!

  I'm so happy for you.

  You're hated?

  Wow, that's awesome!

  Like, man, you're going to have to explain that one.

  Well, let's look at what our Lord says.

  "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness's sake, for theirs is the kingdom

  of heaven."

  So the first question we have to ask is, "Who are we congratulating here?

  Who are the persecuted?"

  Well the Greek word persecuted means pursue.

  The word we would use in our day is harass.

  This verb tense talks about somebody who continually allows themselves to be put in this position,

  the persecuted.

  You're like, "Well, persecuted like how?"

  Well, Jesus tells us.

  Look at verse 11.

  "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil

  against you falsely on my accounts."

  So you see this persecution, there's two sides of the coin here.

  There's reviling.

  That's face to face.

  That's, I'm assaulting you with words in your face, or we would just call that insulting

  you.

  Right?

  But then He says, "Uter evil falsely."

  That's not in your face.

  That's behind your back.

  That's slandering you.

  That's, I want to ruin your reputation.

  I want people to think lesser of you.

  So I'm going to say things about you behind your back.

  And what I don't know, I'm just going to make up because I want people to think of you in

  a negative light.

  But you have to notice here, Jesus says persecuted.

  Look, you've got to get this because if you miss this, there's somebody going to be walking

  out of here strutting like a rooster because you missed it.

  Jesus says it's for righteousness sake.

  Verse 11, He says it's on account of Him.

  And that's so important when we talk about persecution.

  It's not persecution because you're obnoxious.

  Okay?

  It's not persecution because you're a jerk to everyone.

  And you wear your religion like some kind of an honor badge that you think it's your

  job to slap everybody in place.

  People treat you negatively because you're a jerk.

  That's called consequences.

  That's called you're reaping what you're sowing there.

  So He's not talking about that.

  He's also not talking about putting on a show.

  Right?

  It's not trying to be as over the top, self-righteous as you can be so that you get people's attention

  so that they say something about you so you can be like, "Oh, I'm so persecuted."

  He's not talking about that either.

  Look at Daniel.

  Daniel quietly softed the Lord and He was persecuted.

  Right?

  Jesus isn't talking about getting a rise out of people on social media by trolling them.

  You know exactly what to post, exactly what to comment, and you know it's going to get

  a rise out of people and people are going to say things and you're going to be like,

  "Oh, I'm so persecuted."

  No, you're not.

  You're being a jerk.

  Okay?

  That's not what Jesus is talking about at all.

  He clarifies that twice here.

  It's being hated, being persecuted because of Jesus.

  It's because of His righteousness.

  It's because you strive to be like Jesus.

  Or in the context of this sermon, you're just striving to live out these Beatitudes that

  He laid out.

  You're just striving to be that kind of person.

  And you're hated.

  Isn't it sort of ironic?

  What did Pastor Taylor preach about last week?

  The previous Beatitude.

  What was that one?

  Okay, two of you were here.

  There were more of you here than that.

  What was the previous Beatitude?

  Peacemakers.

  Isn't that interesting?

  Blessed are the peacemakers and then...

  Blessed are the persecuted.

  What's going on there?

  Well, it is very simply this.

  Christians strive for peace with all men, but all men don't return the favor.

  And you're like, "Wait, hang on a second, man.

  Why all the hatred, man?

  Why the hatred?

  Why can't we just live and let live, man?

  You know what I'm saying?

  Why do they hate?

  Well, Peter tells us that.

  Peter answers that very question.

  Why do people hate you for trying to follow Jesus?

  Look at 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 3 through 4.

  He says, "For the time that has passed to feces for doing what the Gentiles want to do."

  And in this context, Gentiles is sort of a figure of speech for unbelievers.

  He says, "Living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and

  lawless idolatry."

  Do you see that Peter says, "Listen, Christians, we're done living life like it's one long

  beer commercial."

  All right?

  He says, "With respect to this, they are surprised..."

  The unbelievers are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery

  and they malign you.

  Do you see that?

  He's saying that people are going to slander you, malign you, because you're different.

  You live as a citizen of heaven.

  You don't live a sinful lifestyle and lost people view that somehow as you condemning

  their sin.

  Lost people feel like when you try to follow Jesus.

  And even if you don't say a word, they feel like you're calling them out.

  "Oh, oh, oh, you think you're better than me?"

  "Oh, you don't do that stuff, oh, oh, Mr. Holier than thou, huh?

  Whatever happens to thou shall not judge, huh?"

  And you're like, "Well, I'm not judging.

  I just don't live that way because of my faith in Jesus Christ.

  They're going to hate you for that."

  And maybe you're like, "Well, you know what, though, Pastor Jeff, I wouldn't say anything

  to anyone because I believe.

  I believe in keep your religion to yourself."

  And I would say, "I ain't good either."

  According to Jesus.

  In Luke 9.23, Jesus said, "For whoever is ashamed of me, oh, oh, look at the end of my words.

  Of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory, in the glory of the

  Father and of the holy angels."

  Do you see that?

  End of my words.

  It's not just ashamed of Jesus.

  It's also being ashamed of what He said.

  It's being ashamed of what He taught.

  So what do we do?

  We try to avoid persecution by making the gospel tolerable.

  And we say things like, "Well, there's not just one way to heaven.

  You know, we're all kind of on our path.

  And as long as you're sincere, I think God sees that.

  And there's not just one way to heaven.

  I don't really think there's a hell.

  You know, I know there's some Christians that believe that.

  But I don't really think that's - I don't really think a loving God would send somebody to

  hell.

  And you know what, man?

  Love is love, right?

  And we're ashamed of what Jesus said when we talk like that.

  When you're with your family, your unsafe family members specifically, when you're with your

  unsafe friends, when you're at the workplace, the sort of just kind of hides your faith.

  We're ashamed of Jesus' words.

  It's a problem.

  Try this.

  Try saying things like, "I believe that marriage is for a man and a woman because that's what

  God said."

  Say things like, "I believe that the unborn are people who deserve to live."

  Try that one.

  Try, "I believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven because He's the only one who died

  for my sin and rose from the dead to promise eternal life."

  He's the only one who did that.

  So I believe He's the only way to heaven.

  Say that.

  People will hate you.

  And you're going to be persecuted for righteousness' sake.

  And you're like, "You know what, Pastor Jeff, the world is rough, man.

  The world's rough.

  It's rough out there.

  It's not just the world.

  Some of the worst persecution of Christians happens in the church.

  Think about this.

  Jesus' ministry.

  Who gave Jesus the most problems?

  Was it the unsaved pagans?

  It was the hardcore religious people, wasn't it?

  And what about the book of Acts?

  The book of Acts, the first four chapters, it's attacks from the outside, still from religious

  people, but it was attacks outside the church.

  And the church was standing strong.

  And then what happened in Acts chapter 5 and chapter 6?

  All the problems came from within the church.

  And things really got hard then.

  And church, I've got to tell you, the worst insults that I've ever received, the worst

  slander about me that's ever been spoken, the worst accusations that I've ever experienced

  have come from church people.

  It shouldn't be that way.

  That's how it is.

  And maybe there are some people sitting here.

  And if we're being honest, some of the ways that you're talking about people and the leadership

  of the church, you're being divisive.

  And maybe you're not the persecuted.

  Maybe you're the persecutors.

  You're like, well, why would church people do that?

  Same reason.

  You take a stand on what the Bible says.

  You stand for righteousness.

  Blushly, worldly-minded people in the church are going to attack you.

  By the way, look at verse 11 again.

  Jesus says, "Blessed are you when others revile you."

  Notice He didn't say "if."

  Like this is going to apply to some of my followers.

  No, He didn't say that.

  Listen, if you're a true follower of Jesus, it's when it's going to happen to you.

  You are going to be persecuted in some way, shape, or form to some degree for your faith.

  This is for all true disciples.

  And if you're not getting any kind of backlash because of your faith in Jesus Christ, that's

  actually a bigger problem than if you're facing persecution.

  This is for all true followers.

  Paul says this in 2 Timothy 3.12, in case it's unclear.

  "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

  So you think you're going to stand for Jesus and Satan's kids aren't going to hate you?

  Let's not be so naive.

  That's who the persecuted are.

  You're like, "Wow, so why are we congratulating them?"

  Well, let's look at the text.

  First time, why would we congratulate people that are hated, persecuted for righteousness'

  sake?

  Well, look what Jesus says, "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

  The kingdom of heaven.

  We talked about this, didn't we?

  It's the place where Jesus is ruling.

  Like, where is the kingdom of heaven?

  Right now, it's in the heart of every believer.

  Hers is the kingdom of heaven.

  The first and last Beatitudes are bookended by this statement.

  That was the very first thing Jesus said.

  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

  What Jesus is saying is the first thing, and the last thing you need to know is when you

  receive Him, you get His kingdom.

  Oh, and by the way, with all these Beatitudes, all of these results, all of these things

  we've been congratulating people for, you realize every single promise, every congratulation

  of every Beatitude are all facets of a diamond called salvation.

  These are all just figures of speech describing salvation.

  Receiving the kingdom of heaven, that's salvation.

  Being comforted by God, that's from salvation.

  Inheriting the earth, salvation.

  Being satisfied, only in salvation.

  Receiving mercy, that's salvation.

  Being able to see God, that's salvation.

  Being called a Son of God, that's adoption, which is, tell me, salvation, right?

  Receiving the kingdom of God is salvation.

  So why are we congratulating those hated because of Jesus?

  Because it proves that Christ is in you.

  Wait, wait, you mean people who would hate Jesus if He were here, hate you instead because

  you remind them of Jesus?

  That.

  That is a high honor.

  That is a really high honor.

  And somebody right now is like, "Oh, you know what, Pastor Jeff, I don't think we should

  think that way."

  And I would say, why not?

  The early disciples did.

  Acts chapter 5 says, "When the counsel had called in the apostles, they beat them and

  charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go."

  Now I would think the next statement would be, and the apostles left cursing them under

  their breath, the apostles left crying, "Why God, why did this happen to me?"

  That's what I would think the next line would be.

  But you see what the next line is?

  It says, "Then they left a presence of the counsel rejoicing that they were counted worthy

  to suffer dishonor for the name."

  See that the early apostles, they weren't waiting for Harvest Bible Chapel to have our

  little congratulations party before they started celebrating.

  They were congratulating themselves.

  What an honor to so act like Jesus that sinners treat you like Jesus.

  That's an honor.

  And that is why we're congratulating those who are persecuted.

  So there's one more question that we have to answer today.

  The third question on your outline.

  How do I respond to being persecuted?

  How do I respond to being persecuted?

  You know, this beatitude is obviously very different than the rest.

  The other beatitudes are about what happens in me.

  But this beatitude is about what happens to me.

  But you know another difference is this is the only beatitude that Jesus elaborates on

  right here.

  And you're like, "Wait a minute.

  Is this the part of the sermon where you tell me how to be persecuted?"

  No.

  I don't need to tell you how to be persecuted.

  You follow Jesus Christ, you will be.

  That's the point.

  You strive to live this kind of a life.

  You will be.

  The question that we need to answer is how do I respond to that?

  That's the question.

  And the answer is not retaliate.

  "I'll get you for this."

  It's not that.

  It's not resenting people like, "I hate you for this."

  It's not that.

  And it's not even becoming depressed or sorrowful.

  Like, "I hate this."

  It's not that either.

  Look at verse 12.

  Because Jesus actually tells us how to react.

  Look at this.

  "Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven.

  For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

  Jesus says, "Here's how you react.

  People hate you because you follow Him?"

  Jesus says, "Rejoice."

  And you're like, "Really?

  Yeah.

  Jesus actually doubles down on that, doesn't He?

  He says, "Rejoice and be glad."

  Why should I rejoice and be glad when people are against me because of Jesus?

  Why would I do that?

  How in the world is that an occasion for happiness?

  Well Jesus tells us that too.

  We don't have to guess.

  But He tells us right here.

  So the three reasons to rejoice in persecution, jot these down.

  I'm going to go through these quickly.

  These are the three reasons Jesus gives right here.

  Number one, persecution proves, "I belong to Jesus."

  We already touched on this briefly already.

  But like the rest of the Beatitudes, there's a congratulations on what results.

  He says, "Yours is the kingdom of heaven," meaning you belong to Jesus.

  Do you want to know if your faith is real?

  Or would you just rather stumble through life wondering, "Do I really believe?"

  I mean, do I really believe in Jesus Christ?

  Is my faith a real thing or is it just kind of in my head or have I deceived myself?

  Is my faith real?

  Well, your faith needs tested and there's only one way that happens.

  See what Peter says again.

  First Peter 1, he says, "In this year rejoice."

  Oh, there's rejoice again.

  For what Peter?

  "Now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials, persecution

  being a big one, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that

  perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and

  honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

  Well, here's the point.

  Anyone can say that they believe in Jesus Christ at a prayer meeting.

  Or go to a small group and say, "I just want you to know I believe in Jesus Christ.

  Do you think there's going to be any pushback there?"

  No, there's not.

  It's easy to say it there.

  But do you still believe when it's not so popular?

  Do you still believe when you're insulted for it?

  When you're rejected for it?

  When you're falsely accused because of it?

  Do you still believe when your faith costs you something?

  You see, when following Jesus is painful, but you refuse to walk away because His promises

  are so glorious and His ways are so right?

  When Jesus Himself is so worthy, you don't really prove to Jesus what your faith is made

  out of.

  As much as you've proven to yourself what your faith is made out of, because I've got

  a feeling Jesus already knows.

  That's reason to rejoice.

  Resurrection proves I belong to Jesus.

  Number two, I rejoice.

  I have a reward in heaven.

  Look at verse 12 again.

  "Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven."

  Be like, "Well, what's your reward?

  What's your reward?"

  Well, there's all kinds of rewards in heaven.

  Actually, you could kind of look at heaven as one big reward, right?

  And I mean, you've got this, "There's no sickness, and there's no war, there's no unhappiness."

  Oh, how about the best thing in heaven?

  Jesus Himself.

  All of that's true.

  And at the same time, the Bible says that each individual gets special individual rewards.

  And how much of these you get is based on how you live now, including facing persecution

  because of Jesus.

  Saint Corinthians 5:10, Paul says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of

  Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether

  good or evil, there's different levels of rewards based on your faithfulness now, based

  on your faithfulness in the face of persecution."

  Like, "All right, well, what are those rewards then?"

  I don't know.

  But here's something I do know.

  Jesus says they're great.

  And if Jesus says something is great, that's what I was thinking.

  If Jesus says it's great, then it must be pretty great.

  If God Himself refers to something as being great, then it must be spectacular.

  So church, can we just believe Jesus and wait 15 minutes and find out what it is?

  I'm going to tell you all the stupid insults and slander are going to look pretty petty

  in light of whatever Jesus has for you.

  And that's a reason to rejoice.

  I have a reward in heaven.

  Number three, third reason to rejoice.

  And the face of persecution is, "I'm in good company.

  I'm in good company."

  Look again, verse 12.

  Jesus says, "Your reward is great in heaven."

  But then he taxed on this statement too.

  He says, "For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

  Are you being persecuted for your faith to some degree in some way?

  And if you follow Christ, you should be.

  Well Jesus reminds us here, "You're in good company."

  I mean, man, think of the people in the Old Testament.

  Abel, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel.

  You're in some pretty good company.

  Oh, how about Jesus himself?

  You know, Jesus spoke of this in John 15 when he said, "Remember the word that I said to

  you, a servant is not greater than his master.

  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

  If they kept my word, they will also keep yours."

  Okay, hang on.

  How is this a motivation to rejoice?

  How?

  Okay, so you're saying I should be motivated by the fact that other people were persecuted

  too?

  Like, how is that a motivation?

  You know, we love the name drop, don't we?

  Oh, you say you don't.

  You say you don't.

  You run into somebody famous at the airport and keep your mouth shut.

  You won't.

  I ran into Jerome Bettis at the airport one time, literally ran into him.

  Like physically, ran into him.

  I knocked him back about five yards.

  Okay, I made that part up.

  I did make that part up.

  We love the name drop.

  I felt good telling that story.

  Why do we do that?

  Why do we name drop?

  Because there's something in us that we're kind of proud of our associations.

  You know what I mean?

  There's something in us that we like that.

  Four years ago, Aaron and I were at a church conference in Orlando.

  And we were having breakfast.

  It was this big dining room.

  Aaron and I were having breakfast.

  And this stranger comes and sits at our table.

  He just sits there literally right beside me.

  And dude was so weird.

  Now listen, I am not criticizing.

  I'm weird.

  My wife married weird.

  All right?

  I'm not criticizing.

  The dude was just strange.

  He just sat down with us.

  He had these giant like plastic rimmed glasses like really big.

  And he had this enormous mustache.

  He looked like a cartoon character.

  And if you know me, I was like so fascinated by him.

  I think people were so fascinating.

  But when like this cartoon character sits down, he was so strange.

  And he was going on and on and on about some exercise bike that he bought.

  I'm like, they're still making exercise bikes?

  Like people are still doing that?

  You can buy a bike with two wheels and take it on the road.

  Like he was so strange.

  But he sat there and talked to Aaron and I the whole breakfast about his exercise bike.

  And then he gets up and leaves.

  And Aaron and I are like, who was that?

  Well then we go into the auditorium for the conference.

  And Aaron and I take our seats.

  And there's a time of worship.

  And then somebody gets up and announces.

  They're like, we'd like to introduce our main speaker for the event.

  Paul Tripp.

  He came out on the stage and Aaron and I are like, that's him.

  That's the guy we had breakfast with.

  I walked around the rest of the conference like, I don't want to brag or anything.

  But I had breakfast with Paul Tripp.

  You know, it was just kind of a thing we do once.

  Yeah.

  Oh, it was great.

  We were talking mustaches and exercise bikes.

  Are you being persecuted because of your faith?

  Do you realize that's the occasion for the ultimate name draw?

  You're like, I get to be hated because of Jesus.

  Do you realize what that means?

  I'm in company with the Lord of the universe.

  They can't get him so they come after me.

  Isn't that awesome?

  I'm with Jesus.

  Way cooler than Paul Tripp, by the way.

  When you feel like your faith has made you an outcast, hey, hey, that's just for now.

  Someday you're going to be walking around heaven with the prophets who came before us

  who were persecuted for their faith and you're going to look around these people in heaven

  and say, you know what?

  It was rough at times being insulted, being slandered, but now I see that I'm in good company.

  That is a reason to rejoice.

  So as our worship team makes their way back up to the platform here, I have to ask you,

  has being a Christian resulted in people reviling you?

  Has being a Christian resulted in people insulting you and lying about you?

  Do people hate you just because you follow Jesus?

  Well then, on behalf of the elders, the ministry team, and all of the nursery workers at Harvest

  Bible Chapel, we would like to wish you a truly heartfelt congratulations.

  Yours, yours is the kingdom of heaven.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:10-12

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What are different ways persecution is carried out? Have you ever personally been persecuted because of your faith, on some level? If not, why not?
   

3. Read 1 Peter 4:3-4. What exactly motivates nonbelievers to slander Christians who refuse to live a sinful lifestyle?
   

4. Why do you think Christians aren’t persecuted in America the way Christians are persecuted in other countries?
   

5. In your opinion, which of Jesus’ reasons for rejoicing in persecution is the most compelling / motivating? Proof of salvation, reward in heaven, or being in good company?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Congratulations to the Pure in Heart

Introduction:

Congratulations to Pure in Heart! (Matthew 5:8)

Who Are the "Pure in Heart"?

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Matthew 15:19 - For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 - And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Psalm 24:3-4 - Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

Why Are We Congratulating the Pure in Heart?

John 1:18 - No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Hebrews 11:27 - (Moses) endured as seeing him who is invisible.

How Do I Become Pure in Heart So I Can See God?

James 4:8 - ...purify your hearts, you double-minded.

1 John 3:3 - ...everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

1 Peter 1:22 - Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth…

How to Purify Yourself (Philippians 4:8):

Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

1. Think True thoughts.
2. Think Honorable thoughts.
3. Think Just thoughts.
4. Think Pure thoughts.
5. Think Lovely thoughts.
6. Think Commendable thoughts.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Amen. Open your Bibles with me please to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 as we continue

  our congratulations party. You ready to party? Pastor Taylor is ready to party. The rest

  of you overly affected by that hour change. I think we'd be used to that by now, right?

  Matthew chapter 5, are you there? This is Jesus' first sermon and I still contend it's

  the greatest sermon ever preached. And this is the introduction to Jesus' sermon. He

  says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are

  those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit

  the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be

  satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure

  in hearts, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called

  sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the

  kingdom of heaven." And in these statements commonly called the beatitudes, we have a

  spiritually logical flow. You have to see the beatitudes like a ladder or a staircase.

  This is a progressive journey Jesus is talking about here. And over and over and over and

  over, He says, "Blessed, blessed, blessed." You grab a Bible commentary, most people

  say, "Well, that means happy." But it means a lot more than happy. What Jesus is saying

  is, "If this describes you," He's saying, "Congratulations because God has something

  awesome in store for you." This is what Christ followers are meant to be. So I'd like you

  to bow your heads for a second and I'm going to ask you would please pray for me. I am

  keenly aware that I am inadequate. It's just that sometimes I feel it a lot more than

  other times. And I'm going to tell you today's one of those days. With the verse that's before

  us today, I feel so grossly inadequate to capture the grandness of this verse. The Bible

  says our sufficiency is from Christ. It's not about me. It's about the truth of His

  Word. It's about the power of His Holy Spirit. So I'm going to ask that you would please

  pray for me to that end and I will pray for you as we get into God's Word together. Let's

  pray. Father in heaven, we're always completely dependent on You for everything. And I don't

  know if we'll ever feel that more than we will over these next few minutes. God, I pray

  that Your light shine in the dark places and we're not so concerned with what other people

  think we should be. Father, let us be concerned with what You say we should be. Father, we

  thank You for Your commitment into making us those people. Father, exalt Your name. Let

  Your Word be greatly exalted in our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's

  people said, Amen. So, the party continues today as we say congratulations to the pure

  and heart. Let's look at the verse again. I can't think of any verse in the Bible that's

  more majestic and awe-inspiring than this verse. When Jesus, in describing our spiritual

  journey, says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Where do you start

  with a verse like that? Well, let's talk about first of all, who are the pure in heart? Let's

  start there. Who are we congratulating? Who are the pure in heart? Well, let's do a little

  Bible study here, shall we? Let's talk about the heart. When we talk about the heart, we're

  not talking about the muscle that pumps the blood here, okay? Biblically, the heart is

  the center of your personality. Your heart is the part of you that you don't see in the

  mirror. It's who you really are. It has to do with your will and your emotions and your

  intellect. That's your heart. And biblically, there's a big problem. Your heart is bent

  to sin. We inherited that from Adam. Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all

  things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? We are born with a heart that is not pure.

  And according to Jeremiah, your heart is a sick liar. What did Jesus say about the heart?

  Matthew 15, 19, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality,

  theft, false witness, slander." Look, mankind is evil. And sociologists try to pin that

  on environment. And yes, yes, how you were raised and where you were raised does have

  a bearing on who you are. Absolutely true, but that's not the root problem. And some

  people want to put the problem on education. Like, you know what the problem is? People

  just need more education. I am not against education. That's not the root of the problem

  either. You know what the root of the problem is? According to God's Word, your heart is

  evil. My heart, by birth, inherited from Adam, is evil. That's the problem. So that's what

  the heart is, but Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in hearts." Well, what do we mean

  by pure? Pure means to be cleansed from the filth of sin. Because we are, as we said in

  the first part of our party here, because we are poor in spirits, we are not naturally

  pure in hearts. We need God to cleanse us. We've been talking about that, right? Actually,

  you know, God does something better than cleanse your heart. Ezekiel 36, "I will give you a

  new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone

  from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause

  you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." Jesus, God does something

  so much better than just take our old nasty sinful heart and clean it up. He takes that

  out and He gives us a new heart, a heart that loves Him and a heart that wants to obey Him.

  That's what it means to be pure in heart. You're like, "Okay, all right, all right,

  I got the concept." But what does the pure in heart look like? What does that... Okay,

  please, I get your... You're hitting us with these theological concepts here, but just

  brass tacks. What does it look like to be pure in heart? Well, we don't have to guess

  that either because God tells us that in Psalm 24. I love it. Look at this. It says, "Who

  shall ascend the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in His holy place?" It's like,

  who can stand before God? Look, He has clean hands and a pure heart. Like, well, what is

  that? He tells us who does not lift up His soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

  Do you see that? The Psalmist says, "How am I going to be worthy to step into the presence

  of God?" He says, "You've got to be pure in heart." That means, first of all, you don't

  lift up your soul to what is false. That means you are 100% dedicated to the glory of God

  in every area of your life, not just an hour and Sunday morning. Every area of my life is

  holy ground for the Lord. It is all dedicated to God. And He says, "No deceit." There's

  nothing hidden. There's no hypocrisy. There's no... I put on a face for church, but they

  don't know who I really am. You're pure in heart, everywhere. To sum it up, the pure

  in heart is someone who has been transformed from the inside out. It's evidenced by a manner

  of life motivated solely by a desire to make every aspect of their lives an act of worship.

  That is the pure in heart. So, why are we congratulating them? You know, there's something in us right

  now. They are like, "This is so hokey and nerdy. We're celebrating somebody that's pure.

  There's something in us that rails against that." And that's an indicator that we have

  a problem. We should be celebrating the pure, not making fun of the pure, because Jesus

  celebrated the pure. Why? Why? Why are we celebrating the pure in heart? Well, at least

  as blessed are the pure in hearts for they shall see God. Again, the word "they" in

  all of these Beatitudes is emphasized in the Greek. Jesus is pointing out it's exclusive.

  Like, who sees God? Jesus says the pure in heart, "They shall see God." And the verb

  tense is continuous. Not, "You see God once or twice in your life." It's, "I'm constantly

  seeing God." And I got to tell you, it's just, it is so hard for me to capture this

  verse in the way that it needs. Because this statement, this should fill us with awe. People

  who are pure in hearts get to see God. What does that mean? What does it mean to see God?

  Wow, it's impossible in the physical sense to see God. John 1.18 says, "No one has ever

  seen God." God, the only Son who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known. You

  see, John says, "Nobody's seen God, but when we saw Jesus we saw God, but no one has ever

  seen God." Well, you're like, "Well, what about Moses?" Well, Moses in Exodus 33 asked

  to see God's glory. But do you remember what God said to Moses? He said, "No one can see

  me and live." But that takes us to a very peculiar verse in the book of Hebrews about

  Moses where it says, "Moses endured as seeing Him who is invisible." What? Moses endured

  as, you see this? As seeing Him who is invisible. You're like, "How do you see someone who's

  invisible?" The answer is faith. You see, every one of these Beatitudes, every single one

  of them, have both a now and a later fulfillment. Yes, when we see God later, yes, we will eventually

  yes in heaven. We are going to see God, right? Revelation 22.4 tells us that. Absolutely,

  someday we are going to see God. But now, like Moses, we do get to literally see God

  with eyes of faith. I'm like, "How in the world can I explain that?" And it occurred

  to me that to the people that get it, I don't really have to explain it. And to the people

  that don't get it, there's not a thing that I can say that will make it make sense. But

  the people who get it, get it. The pure in heart see God like no one else can. The pure

  in heart see God in a way that you just can't describe it. Like, "Well, what do you mean?"

  Well, the pure in heart, we see God in nature. We see God's hand in everything that He created.

  We're just like, "Wow, look at the design of this. Wow, look at the glory of God reflected

  in what He made." We see God in history. We see God at work in world events, especially

  through His people, Israel. We're like, "Look, that's obviously God." We see God in His word.

  His wisdom on every page, promises fulfilled. Oh, and not just like reading in the book,

  but we see God when we apply His word and watch His hand at work fulfilling the promises

  that He made to us. And that's, look, that's the objective stuff. And I could go on and

  on and on, but there's a subjective sense of this that we cannot deny, that we see God

  personally. We see God in His sovereignty and the events in my life that I look back.

  I can't deny God actively at work every step of this journey. I can't deny that because

  I couldn't explain this any other way. We see God personally through the peace that

  He gives. We were just singing about that, weren't we? Like, the whole world is crumbling

  around us and we're like, "God's got this." Yeah, it's a rough patch, but God's got this.

  Where does that peace come from? That's seeing God. You see, you'll never convince the pure

  in heart that God is absent because the pure in heart are constantly seeing God everywhere.

  So that really leaves us with one question. As we've been asking in all of these, let's

  ask it again. How do I become pure in heart so I can see God? You know, you might be sitting

  here saying, "You know, that sounds pretty magnificent to be able to see the Creator,

  the sovereign of the universe." We're like, "How can I become pure in hearts so I can

  see God?" You know, maybe there's a better question to ask.

  Do you really want to see God? Do you really want to? Because here's the truth. Not everybody

  really does. You're like, "What do you mean?" Well, do you want to see the police? You're

  like, "Yeah, why not?" What if you're speeding? You get it? It's the same with God. If you're

  living in sin, if your life is lived in such a way that you know you're dishonoring God,

  you sure don't want to run into Him? So do you really want to? Would you rather just explain

  this away, make this some silly, flowery, poetic concept, sort of dismiss the impact

  of the truth of the words of Jesus Christ and just go about your day and live however

  you want to live? Would you rather just do that? I think most of us would. Because you

  got to admit there's a real scary sense in which we say we will see God. If you want

  to see God, according to Jesus, you got to be pure in heart. Like, how does that happen?

  Well, we've already talked about that. Only God can change you. Only God can do that work.

  But you know, I do a lot of reading. I do a lot of reading. And I read so many times

  this week in studying this verse, so many people said, "You can't make yourself pure.

  You can't make yourself pure." Listen, you can't make yourself pure. You can't make

  yourself... I read that so many times. And I kind of had a little problem with that.

  Do you know why I had a problem with that? Do you realize how many times the Bible tells

  you to purify yourself? There is a real sense in which you carry some responsibility for

  your purity. Yes, God changes your heart 100 percent. But over and over and over, God says,

  "Purify yourself." What do we mean? Well, James 4/8. We studied this one a few weeks

  ago. James says, "Purify your hearts." You double-minded. That's a command. Well, you're

  like, "Well, James is kind of a hard guy." Well, what about John, right? First John 3/3.

  John, who thus hopes in him, like, "There it is again." Do you see that? Purifies himself

  as he is pure. Do you see the responsibility put it... It's on us, in a sense, isn't it?

  You're like, "Well, yeah, that was John." But, you know, Peter wouldn't say something

  like that, would he? Well, look at 1 Peter having purified your souls by your obedience

  to the truth. Oh, and there's more. Well, like 2 Corinthians 7/1, Paul says it. So there

  we have James, John, Peter, and Paul all giving a command. Look, you have a responsibility

  here because every New Testament writer tells us here that we have to purify ourselves.

  Well, like, well, how does that happen? The battle for purity is waged between your ears.

  It's in your mind. Listen, what goes in your car affects its performance, doesn't it? What

  goes in your body affects your health, doesn't it? What goes in your computer affects the

  kinds of programs that it runs, doesn't it? What goes in your mind affects your purity?

  Because what goes in your mind... We're not only talking about your thoughts, but we're

  also talking about from there comes your words. From there come your actions. What goes in

  your mind affects your purity. And I get to tell you, America, we have such a problem

  there because we fill our minds with so much sewage from the TV and the Internet. Everything

  is sexual images and crude jokes and violence and hatred and... We're pumping that stuff

  into our heads and then we wonder why we don't really feel or act in a pure way. It's because

  you're allowing too much impurity in here. What do we do about that? One verse. How to

  purify yourself. Let's just look at one verse. That if you're willing to commit yourself

  to this verse, you are going to see exponential growth in this area in your life. How to purify

  yourself. This is from Philippians 4:8. Oh, and it's a loaded verse. Let's look at it.

  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is

  pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything

  worthy of praise, think about these things. So how to purify yourself. This is not complicated.

  Just look at the list. We're going to go through these very, very quickly. All right. How to

  purify yourself. First of all, number one, think true thoughts. Like what are true thoughts?

  Jesus said in John 17, "Thy Word is truth." God gave us, He gave us a book. Do you know

  why God gave us a book? He didn't give us a digital download or a Blu-ray. Why did God

  give us a book? Because a book engages our minds. Get into it. Do you have a Bible reading

  plan? Get one. And that doesn't have to be complicated either. You know what my Bible

  reading plan is? Open it. Read it. Repeat. But you need to be reading this. You need

  to be praying this back to God, as we talked about in the youth group last couple weeks.

  You need to be meditating on it. You need to be memorizing verses. You need to get this

  in your head and in your hearts. And you're going to find it so much easier to catch thoughts

  that don't line up with God's Word and you're going to be able to replace those thoughts

  accordingly. So think true thoughts. That's what you should be swirling around your head.

  Is this what God said? Does this line up with God's Word? And the second one flows straight

  from that. Think honorable thoughts. Think honorable thoughts. Like, well what does that

  mean? Well any scenario you face, something you should immediately be considering is this.

  How would Jesus think about this? Remember the WWJD bracelets? Remember that? Some of

  you do? What was that, 90's? We're bringing them back. How about WWJD arm band tattoos?

  Do you do cultish? I got to admit though, I like the concept. Constantly asking, how

  would Jesus think about this? You see an attractive opposite sex person. Where does your mind

  immediately go? Like, well what would Jesus think about this? What would Jesus think about

  her? You've been sinned against and you're tempted to retaliate or one up or what would

  Jesus think about this? Or you heard that juicy rumor. What would Jesus think about

  that if somebody went up and said that to him? You see, that's why the Bible says,

  think honorable thoughts. Alright, number three, think just thoughts. Think just thoughts.

  You're like, just what? Not just as an only, just as in what's right, what's fair, what's

  proper. And that's so important because you know where our minds, because of our bent

  to sin, because of our sinful flesh, our thoughts often times immediately go to what's

  best for me. What's going to be to my advantage? Instead of that, we need to be saying, what's

  the just thing? How can I do what is impartial? That's the kind of stuff that needs to be

  swirling around your head. Number four, think pure thoughts. Think pure thoughts. It's a

  little embarrassing that I have to say this to the church. Get your minds out the gutters,

  okay? Not everything has to turn into an anatomy joke. It's not funny. It is so not funny.

  But for some people, that's immediately where their mind goes. That tells you where their

  heart is. It's not funny. It's not appropriate. And it's certainly not pure. Look, are you

  interested in seeing God or not? You have to ask yourself, does this thought that I

  have line up with God's design for sex? And that's why pornography is the biggest purity

  killer, men. And, sad to say, even for many women, we put images in our minds that have

  no business being in there. Pure thinking is my affection, physical attraction, thoughts,

  all of the stuff in that area, those are all reserved for my spouse. Like, well, I'm not

  getting married, okay? Your future spouse. You're like, well, I'm not planning on getting

  married. Okay, well, then think about something else. But get your mind out of the gutter.

  So dishonoring. So impure. Number five is think lovely thoughts. Lovely. That word's right

  up there with chili. Here's what it literally means, though. I know it sounds very flowery,

  but literally the word means friendly towards. It's just talking about, you know what should

  be in your mind? Things that are pleasing and attractive and positive. There's so many

  ugly things that we think about, and we dwell on them. And that leads to impurity. Things

  like envy. Why does he have something I don't have? I deserve that. He doesn't deserve that.

  I deserve that. We get that stuff in our minds that leads to impurity. Another ugly thing

  that swirls around our heads being critical. Just critical. Some people just like, they're

  ready to slap down a Yelp review on everything. Everything. Like, wow. Look at her coat. Three

  stars. Wow. Look at Pastor Taylor's shoes. One star. Do not recommend. There's nothing

  wrong with his shoes. But you get my point. Some people are just in that constant, harshly

  critical mode. Constantly turning their nose up at everything. Think lovely thoughts. Whatever

  is lovely. Another ugly thing that goes into our head is hatred. Some people just have

  something against everybody. That's how you look, how you talk, where you're from, how

  you dress, the kind of car, whatever. It's just hatred. But you know, the Bible tells

  us we need to purify ourselves. That when those thoughts come into your head, you say,

  "No, no, no. That's going down a dark and negative place. I don't need to go there."

  My mind isn't going to go there. And then finally, number six, think commendable thoughts. Think

  commendable thoughts. Have you ever been around that guy? You know who I mean. You know that

  guy? The guy that... Not that guy. That guy. The guy that constantly has to rip on everything.

  Now look, I love a good yuck as much as the next person. But some people are just constantly

  thinking it everything through the lens of how can I make fun of this? It gets old. It

  gets old. So instead of thinking how can I make fun of this, thinking commendable thoughts

  means instead you're thinking how can I be an encouragement. Are you constantly looking

  to tear people down because you think you're so hilarious? Or instead are you looking to

  build people up as God commands us to do? Okay, that's a lot. Can you sum it up? Sure.

  He says if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, that sums it up.

  Doesn't it? Your mind should be on what's excellent and praiseworthy. Here's a good

  sentence to... A good question to ask yourself to sum it up. When you have these thoughts

  going through your head, ask yourself is this something that people think about in heaven?

  If not, then I should be thinking about something different. Paul says think about these things.

  You know there's very little that you can control in your life. And that is a glaring

  truth that has become more and more obvious to me with every passing year. There is so

  little that I can control in my life, but there is one thing. There is one thing that

  I and only I can control. And same for you, one thing that only you can control. And that

  is what you choose to think about. So God's given you a new heart. You're commanded to

  keep it clean. So are you pure in heart? Are you pursuing and growing and being pure from

  the inside out? Is that your desire? Is that what you're after? Well then on behalf of

  our Lord, on the authority of His Word, and speaking on behalf of the leadership of the

  Harvest Bible Chapel, I would like to wish you a congratulations. I would like to congratulate

  you because if that is you, you are going to see God. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven,

  I don't even know what to say. Father, it just seems so hard to preach a concept that

  seems so foreign to our culture. But you have called us to be a different culture. You

  have called us out of the world and into your glorious kingdom. You have called us to live

  as citizens of heaven now while we're making our way through our short time on earth. Father,

  we thank you for the glorious promise of regeneration that comes through faith in Jesus Christ

  but Father, we sometimes are just too content to ignore the very clear commands of your

  Word that we are to purify ourselves. So Father, I pray for all of us here at Harvest Bible

  Chapel, those who are watching this and listening to this all over the world. Father, give us

  a desire to pursue you that includes eliminating everything in our lives that is fighting against

  purity. Father, we want nothing more than to glorify you. We want nothing more than to

  know you and we have this glorious promise from your Son that we will get to actually see you here and now.

  And I can't think of a better promise that you would give us. Thank you Father. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:8 & Philippians 4:8

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What did Jesus mean when He said the pure in heart will “see God”? How would you explain “seeing God” to a brand new believer?
   

3. What does controlling your thoughts have to do with purifying yourself? How are these connected?
   

4. Which of the “things to think about” from Philippians 4:8 do you personally find the hardest to dwell on? Why?

Breakout
Pray for one another.