which next week we will deal
with the issue of homosexuality. Last week we dealt with the topic
of some preliminary truths on politics. And I really didn't
finish that message, so I'll get into the close of that message
in just a second. But next week homosexuality,
then we're going to look at marriage. from an issue of sexuality and
divorce from an issue of sexuality. We're going to look at sex per
se. And then we're going to look
at death from the issue of suicide and euthanasia as it will tie
to this. All of these messages, they're
being charged. They're heightening our senses. They irritate our anger. They
frustrate our countenance. You put an adjective there, it
probably happens. It makes us angry. It makes us
worrisome. Sometimes it charges us up with
joy. Sometimes patriotism. You name it. These topics and
they're talking with some other brothers over the last few weeks.
I've had so many people offer other suggestions that could
fall in line to this taboo topic series. I think it may be something
we revisit through the years in the sense of saying, you know,
every eight to 10 months, we may add a few more. But if I
keep going, I'll just be preaching topics for the rest of the rest
of my life. But there are so many. Like the
issue of divorce is something that the church never really
handles. What does the scripture say? There's so many faults about
that. But I thought, well, we've got
to get into the holiness of God. And that's one of the specific
things. If you haven't noticed the theme over the last three
weeks and this week, you will also see is that the holiness
of God is the graveness, the heaviness, the glory of God.
It is a depiction of who he really is. And as we get into 1 John
and Isaiah 6 in the next few weeks, hopefully that you are
already reading those passages of Scripture, 1 John and Isaiah
6. And my prayer is that you are praying that God would begin
to do a work in you through the reading of his word and through
the hearing of his voice. And as we look at today's issue,
the truth on abortion after service, you will have notes back there
for you to take home. But this is one of the most politically
charged topics of the day of the last few decades, if you
would. Abortion since the 60s has been
probably the most controversial and electronic or electrical,
static, whatever you want to call it. I'm just trying to think
of some explosive. There we go. It's a dynamite
issue. It's an explosive issue. And many of us have. feelings
one way or the other on abortion. Either way, when we get into
a discussion with someone either who agrees with us or who disagrees
with us, if you are like me, that discussion gets rather heated,
doesn't it? Very few people that I know actually
can look at abortion and have no opinion on it. I have met
a few people who have said they have no opinion on it, but then
they follow up with some type of opinion. It really blows my
mind. It didn't really matter to me,
but I think Really? OK, whatever. But continuing
from last week, there are times when Christians are called to
stand for truth. There are times when Christians
are called to stand up for the word of God, just as Brother
Mike told last Sunday night when we had some Q&A in the book of
John and some different things. I don't even know. We ended up
we start around five. We start at 530 now on Sunday nights,
but it seems like around 515, everybody just sort of hanging
in here and we're talking about stuff. So we're just going right into our
into our study and John. But there are times that God
will call certain individuals to be activists in a certain
right. However, that does not mean that
that thing or that cause becomes the ultimate patriotism. We should
be patriotic. We should love our country. We
should love freedom. We should love life. We should
love marriage. We should stand for truth. But
we never stand for truth when that becomes the ultimate. Our
love and our sufficiency is in Christ. Our kingdom is the kingdom
of heaven, not the kingdom of the world or this earth, not
the country of the United States. Our call should be the cause
of the cross, not the cause to stamp out abortion, because as
we've seen in the last three weeks, the only true way to save
lives is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. What good does
it do to stamp out certain ways of living or certain immoral
actions if we just trade them for a false sense of hope, for
a cheap grace that does not say for a redemption of works rather
than a redemption of grace. And so as we begin today. Keep
that in mind, we should, as Christians, love and protect and stand up
for what is precious, but that fight never becomes the ultimate.
And the cause never becomes greater than the love of Christ. Does
that make sense? I pray that it does. I actually
was going to get someone else to read this at the beginning
time of our worship together because I'm not going to go into
this text, but I have to read this text and then we'll get
into this message. But Ephesians 5, I just want
to read the entire chapter of 5 just to get our hearts In the
word, and then I will begin to talk topically about the issue
of abortion and my main text will be James chapter four today.
And so I want to read. This text, listen carefully to
the words of God. Therefore, be imitators of God
as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and
gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must
not even be named among you as is proper among saints. Let there
be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, no crude joking which are
out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you
may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure
or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance
in the kingdom of God. And Christ. Listen to verse six,
let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things,
the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore,
do not become partners with them. For at one time you were darkness,
but now you are light in the world. Walk as children of light
for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right
and true and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take
no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose
them for it is shameful even to speak of things that they
do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes
visible. For anything that becomes visible
is light. Therefore, it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from
the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Look carefully, then,
how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best
use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do
not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
I do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be
filled with the Spirit, addressing one another with psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord
with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to
God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting
to one another out of reverence for Christ. Why would I read
that? Well, because I found over the
last four weeks that I have pulled something out of Ephesians 5.
In the last four weeks. I've looked over the last six
months of my preaching and I have found that I have pulled something
out of Ephesians 5 almost every week, if nothing but a proof
text for that. And I begin to say there is something
interestingly supernatural about the call of Paul to the church
in the book of Ephesians. I spoke with Hank Hanegraaff
on the phone. I got to call in and actually talk with him on
Friday. And he just basically walked me. And then I got disconnected.
I was so upset because we were having a good conversation. And
then he went off the air, you know. But he went through, you
know, Ephesians. I'm dealing with a lot of things
with some young people in the Emergent Church and the Evangelism
2.0 idea, the lovey-dovey, feely, mealy-mouthed Jesus idea that
Jesus just wants to feed you bread and give you water to drink
and give you a place to live. And through it all, we'll find
him. Well, friends, that's not the Jesus that we serve. That's
not the God that created us. The Jesus that we serve comes
as a warrior with a sword. And I was actually told this
week and God bless the unity of Christ and Ephesians has proven
itself to be worthy. The bond of peace continues to
just amaze me. The spirit of God continues to
amaze me. Even when you have altercations with a brother in
Christ, they come to peace when the spirit of God is in control
and when we are humble. And I was told that I like to
beat people up with the Bible. And so my response to that is
that, well, Hebrews 4.12 is not lying, is it? Because the Word
of God is like a double-edged sword. And it cuts your bones,
and your marrow, and your flesh, and your soul, and your heart,
and your mind. And it reveals to us the wickedness
of our hearts. And it builds us up. And it tears
us down. But in all things we should stay
broken. But back to Ephesians, I really believe that this is
Ephesians 4, 5, 6, all of it. All six chapters. It's almost
like a dissertation on how the body of Christ should look. It's
the doctrine of how we have hope. And so when you look at Ephesians
5, there are some key things I want you to keep in mind, sort
of as presuppositions as we move forward this morning. Verse 6
says, let no one deceive you with empty words. Friends, stop
hearing the words of the culture. Stop hearing the wise people
of the culture today who say, we're in a new era. We're in
a new time. We have to understand that the
things the scripture are antiquated and old and God's not called
us to those things. Those are lies from hell, from
the father of lies himself. And the believer cannot be sucked
into deceitful words and the empty words, because these things,
the wrath of God comes upon the sins of disobedience. Because
of what things? Because of empty words and stupid
philosophies and the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of America
and the wisdom of the freedoms of this country and the wisdoms
of a cheap grace and the wisdoms of a crutched grace and the wisdom
of all these things that the church even propagates, God's
wrath will come upon it. Why? Because it's an absolute
opposition to God, as you'll see today in James chapter 4.
That we who love the world are absolute enemies with God, and
God's enemies will be put under His feet. You can't have both
your cake and eat it too. Your flesh cannot be full and
your spirit be saved. So, let no one deceive you. Verse 10, try to discern what
is pleasing to the Lord. As we saw last week, and actually
I've used this too in Romans 14, verse 23. that all things
that are not of faith are sin. There we go, discern what is
pleasing to the Lord. So if something you engage in
in life is pleasing to the Lord, then you must have the discernment
and you must pray for the wisdom. God, is this attitude, is this
action, is this area? Those A's love alliteration.
But are these things pleasing to you? That is a matter of faith.
And if they're not pleasing, God puts in your spirit a discernment
if you're seeking it. If you're not seeking it, he
will turn you over to your depraved mind. And so people say, well,
I know in my heart I'm right. Well, the Bible says that your
heart is untrustworthy and evil. This is not a new thing for us. Verse 11, take no part. In other
words, do not have anything to do with or look like you're doing
anything that is unfruitful work of darkness. But instead expose
them. Now, here's the trouble. Hey,
that's a call to activism. No, it's not. It's a call to
stand for holiness. It's a call to stand for righteousness.
This is where we get really confused. The exposure. And if you came
to our Wednesday night study in Corinthians, you'd see in
chapter five and six where Paul very specifically talks about
us not being in the world, pointing out the sins of the world, but
rather we should be in the church pointing out the sins of each
other. Now, see, we don't like the sound of that, do we? And
we and our psychologically, Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura Schlesinger,
well, actually, Laura probably would do this, but our Dr. Phil
and our Oprahs, yeah, Laura would, she would, but our Dr. Phil and
our Oprahs, you know, the soothsayers of today, they actually would
come up and they would agree with that. You know what? We
know what we're doing bad. No, we don't. We watch the news
at night and we see all the murders and the rapes and the killings
and the kidnappings and we sit in our house and we go, man,
golly, I'm glad I'm a good guy. We see the fact that we watch
E! television, and we see all the crud on the tabloids as we're
walking out of the grocery store, and we see all the front pages
of the crazy newspapers and people magazines about this cat having
drugs, and this girl sleeping with this guy, and this person
over here, he lost his Oscar because he hit somebody on the
side of the head. We see all this wild, just flaunting of wealth and
power. You know what's powerful about that? Not a daggone thing.
And so we see all those things, and we go, oh, I'm in pretty
good shape. So we don't know that we're sinners.
We don't innately see our sin. It is only through the power
of God that we're able to see the true persons who we really
are. Someone told me the other day. That it's a good thing that
people are innately good or the world will be bad. Looked at
him and I didn't I didn't really get into it because I didn't
feel the Holy Spirit leading me to get into it, but I wanted
to seriously. I said, well, I said, I know
I'm not innately good. And I know that if the world
is like me, it's a pretty rough place. Thank you, God, for your
grace, for changing me little by little every day. Verse 15,
look carefully, pay attention how you walk, how you live. How
you go on this life, how you engage the culture, how you engage
the law, how you engage the hot topics of today. Look carefully
how you do these things, not as a fool, but with wisdom. That's
what that means. Not as unwise, but as wise. Do
it with wisdom, not as a fool. Don't go in blowing your mouth
off. Don't go in with your presuppositions. Don't go in with your assumptions.
Don't go in and try to be the bold, bolsterous, Whatever you
want to call it, bullhorn to get your way and to prove your
point. But make the best use of time. Why? Because the days
are evil. Friends, we are in the last days
and we have been in the last days since Jesus rose to eternity. We have been in those last days.
There are many Antichrist that have come on the scene and there
will be many more. And what we don't realize is,
is that the Antichrist collectively, is anyone who is not the church.
You get that? That's what Revelation teaches
us. It's not one man that's going to come and be an antithesis
of Jesus. The Scripture says that all who
are lost are antichrists. They're against him. They're
opposed to him. They are the prodigy of their father, the
devil. That's some bad preaching, Pastor. That's not my opinion. Those are the words of Paul and
the words of Jesus to the Pharisees. So don't be a fool. Know what
the will of God is. Know what the will of the Lord
is. Understand the will of the Lord. How do we know what the
will of the Lord is? Because we stand on the foundations of what
God has is saying to us. This is another scary thing that
I've had discussions over the last few weeks with a lot, a
lot of people, and it's blowing my mind. As if people go, we,
the church, isn't all about reading the Bible and studying scripture
and learning doctrine. Baloney. Baloney. And I have gone through it. I
almost tore the pages out of this thing the other day, flipping
through this thing. And I got so frustrated. I'm going to tell
you, my attitude has been awful in the last ten days. Just because
I'm so tensed up about how to really communicate some of this
stuff. And the enemy knows it. And oh my gosh. He really loves
to pick at me. Well, not him, but you know what
I mean. The powers of darkness. They fight against the powers
of good, if you would. But it's a fight for the mind.
It's a fight for the mind. What am I going to think on?
Am I going to think on myself? Am I going to think on my problems?
Am I going to think on my issues? Or am I going to think on the Word
of God? But the Word of God is being watered down and put on
a shelf. And people are saying the church
is not to be engaged. Folks, read the book of Ephesians. Read
Ephesians 1, 10. Read Ephesians 3. We are to display
God's will, it says, is to display his manifold wisdom, which is
what? That he will unite all people
in Christ. No matter where we are from or
what color our skin is or what nation that we came from or what
age we are or how bad our sins were. And you know what God showed
me? And I hope this blows you away. The Apostle Paul. is the only person in history
ever that could have been the Apostle Paul. Now, there's some
wisdom for you. You think, well, that's the biggest,
that's the most obvious statement of the century. What could that,
you know what, compared to Paul, I'm Jesus. What? I've never murdered Christians.
I've never burned down villages. I've never gone through and arrested
children and had them thrown to lions. I've never done that. I'm a pretty good guy compared
to Saul of Tarsus. So who else should God use in
history to be the person who's given complete revelation of
the gospel to tell it to the world? Do you realize Paul brought
it to us? But the most vehement, passionate,
zealot, hater of the truth and of the Church of Jesus Christ,
only God could use that man to save him by grace and turn him
into a lover in a half second. Folks. You see what I mean, only
Paul could have been Paul. Because Paul is the greatest
hater of Jesus that ever lived. And when he said, I'm the worst
of sinners, Paul was. And holy cow, if God can save
Paul, God can save me. So, in it all, understanding
the will of the Lord, and for everything, and in everything,
verse 20, give thanks. For everything. You know what
that means? Everything. Give thanks for everything. My cancer? Yes. Give thanks for
it. My bankruptcy? Yes. The death
of my loved one? Yes. Give thanks. My children? Yes. You don't know
my children? Yes. Give thanks for them. Give
thanks. Everything that God gives you
in this life is precious. Even if it's painful. Especially
children. And the human being is precious
as we segue into this topic for today. Abortion. For lack of a better way to put
it, and I could get up here and oh, man. 1989. September of 1989. I was on Highway 301, riding
in a van, and I lost all composure, and in me welled up more hate
than I had ever had in my life. Because two days prior to that,
I had seen a video entitled, The Silent Scream. Anybody ever
seen that? One of the most horrible things
I'd ever put my eyes on. And I've seen some gory stuff. And
I became enraged at the idea of abortion. Angry. Understand completely why people
go berserk when you contemplate the realities of what abortion
is. And I could easily get up here
and I could just find, I could dig down a little bit and I could
find that down in my soul and I could really preach one humdinger
of a politically charged message. But that's not what God's called
us to. Yeah, somebody asked me my thoughts
on abortion, I'll be glad to tell them. Somebody wants to
see some real video of real abortion. Somebody wants to see the testimony.
Of people who have had them. And numerous times come back
and then realized, wow. I would have had a baby that
old. There's nothing but horror. And there's never good that comes
out of abortion. For the first and most primary
reason is that the human being is precious and wonderful in
God's sight. It is a creation. It is the crowning jewel of His
creation. We're not just some primordial soup that accidentally
took place. That kind of logic would say,
as I walked in this morning and saw this piano, I went, well,
I'll be. You know, I bet that happened by accident. Hmm, interesting
stuff. Look at all this accidental stuff. It does all sorts of things.
Or maybe walk up to this microphone and go, well, look what I found
on the seashore. I wonder how this became into
play. I guess a lot of sand got hit
by lightning. Now it works. Some other stuff
happened, and booyah, the microphone took place. And I'll just let
that argument stand on its own. But the Scripture, as a Christian,
the Scripture says that man was made in the image of God. The
plurality of the Godhead is seen even in Genesis. As a matter
of fact, if you read Genesis, you need to read John and Colossians
together with it, the first three chapters. So you can see the
fullness of what the darkness is and what creation is and the
plurality of the Godhead. For Genesis 127, God says, let
us make man in our image. And so man and woman, He made
both of them. And there's not two creation
accounts. There's the complete creation and then there's an
outtake for in-depth discussion on what happened with the creation
of human beings so that the fall can be recorded. If you read
Genesis, you'll know the controversy. And the psalmist writes in Psalm
139, verse 13 through 16, it says, For you formed my inward
parts. Imagine this now. You knitted
me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My
soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from
you. I was made in secret, intricately
woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every
one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there
were none of them. Friends, do you believe that
you are a creation of God? Liberal churches and liberal
theology and liberal doctrine has invaded the church to say,
well, it doesn't really matter. You know, if Jesus really wasn't
born of a virgin, that's OK. We learned a lot of good stuff
from him. Well, he can't save us from our sins. We're condemned.
People say, well, it doesn't really matter if the creation.
You know, what Genesis is all about, whether it's allegory,
whether it's mythology or whatever. You know what? I'm not going
to get into the scientific discussion of it. The bottom line is that
the Scripture teaches that God created all that there is. And
logically and scientifically, it is the best possible answer
that we have. You want to debate it? Come see
me. Come see me. It's the best answer that we
have. It's the most rational and logical thing that we have
based on the evidence. Here's the good news, friends.
There is no such thing as blind faith in the Christian faith.
Did you realize that? It is the absolute biggest trust
of the evidential system that there is in any of religion,
if there is such a word. In other words, we don't have
faith in nothing that we hope exists. We have faith in evidence
that proves to the person whom it testifies to. We have seen
God's glory, the one and only Son of God. We did not make these
things up, Peter says, as great stories, but rather we saw him. We saw him baptized. We heard
the voice of God. We saw the spirit on him like
a dove. We saw him raised from the dead.
We saw him do miracles. We heard his teaching. We saw
him raise and ascend into heaven. We saw the Mount of Transfiguration. And we'll go to our graves and
we'll be crucified upside down and we'll have our heads torn
off and we'll have our bowels disengaged and we'll have our
bodies dismembered because we know what we saw and you can't
change our minds. They didn't say, oh, we believe
we and we float around, what do you believe in? I just know
we saw it. You let somebody put you in the
electric chair, if you saw the murderer, No, you'd be given
a composite sketch. But you tell us who did it or
you're going to jail. Because you were here. I saw it. Let
me tell you what. I took a picture of my cell phone. Here it is.
People, we have evidence to have faith in. It's not blind faith. David had no idea what he was
writing. The psalmist had no idea what he was writing. Moses had no idea what he was
writing, but yet they understood through revelation of the Holy
Spirit that we were made. Do you repay the Lord? You foolish
and senseless people, is not he your father who created you,
who made you and established you? Deuteronomy 32, six. And
not only are human beings a blessing from God, but children are a
blessing from God. Children are a blessing, Psalm
127. Says that behold, children are
a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward like
arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them. He shall
not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
Blessed. Are those who have children.
And friends, selfishness has caused us to weigh the sacrifice.
Now, see, this may hit some of us right in the square in the
head, and I'm sorry if it does, but I cannot water down the truth
of God's Word because of the culture or because of people's
feelings. I cannot do that, and I will
not do that. God strike me dead if I ever start doing it again,
because I used to. But children require sacrifice,
and those of you who are parents, is there any parent in here that
said children don't require sacrifice? Please raise your hand, because
I'd love for you to come share with us. What the heck that's
like. Children require sacrifice, they cost us our future dreams,
lives, freedom, do they not? I think I'll go to the movies.
Well, I guess I won't. I think I'd just like to go right around
for a couple of hours. Well, I guess we won't. It requires sacrifice. But we
give up our small lives and our finite dreams for the greater
joy. And the greater blessing of life
and the greater blessing of children. And the greater blessing of what
God's word and will is for our purpose on Earth is not to do
well for ourselves, but our purpose on Earth is to do for the glory
of God that we might die. And be ready. And that if we
have children. That we train them in righteousness. That we protect them from the
enemy. That we shroud their eyes and their hearts from the wickedness
of the freeness of the world. And we teach them that these
things are in opposition to our holy God. That is why we must
fight for our children. But you think
sacrifice, a lot of people say, well, sacrifice, man, I'll tell
you what, you know, I'm not willing to do that. But what we're doing
is we're sacrificing the birth for the unbirth. We're sacrificing. See, what happens is, is that
we become God. We become God by saying that
our will is ultimate and what is best for us in our little
tiny circle is more important and more wise than God's ultimate
sovereignty. And so what we do is we decide
this is what's best for me and mine. And then we go in that
direction and we blindly look at any possibility, we blindly
dismiss any possibility that God's will may require us to
suffer and give up of ourselves. That doesn't sound right. Well,
yes, it does, because it's what Jesus told every person who followed
him. I want what you cannot give me,
is what he said. That's what he told the rich
young ruler. That's what he told Peter. That's what he told all
the disciples. That's what he told every person. And when he
came to the place toward the end of his ministry and he began
to teach this louder and clearer, many people walked away and said,
this is too difficult. We're not listening to this.
So if there was a million people at the end of his ministry, there's
probably 300,000 that stuck. That's better statistics than
today. Nine out of 10 church members, according to the most
recent polls, been in church a long time are not truly saved. And so sacrifice, our will becomes
God's will, we say, I won't, I wish or worse, I don't want
children, I don't want to have this problem, I'm not going to
subject myself to this. Do you hear? Do you hear that?
Do you hear the spirit in which that sounds? But when it comes
out of our own mouth, I used to always say that to my mother.
She said, I wish you could hear yourself. I am not going to. And you know, I wish I'd grown
out of that, but I can tell you, my wife would probably give a testimony
of many times I've said that in the last 13 years. I'm not gonna. My children are not gonna. You're
not gonna. I mean, you know what I mean?
You know what that is? That's just stupid. And that is not
the will of the Father. Jesus said to pray, thy will
be done. Not my will. Thy will. And so, sacrifice means
to give up something of great value. in adoration or exchange
of something greater or greatest value. So what we say when we
engage in abortion is we say that my life and my plans and
my degree and my future and my job and my prosperity and my
hope and my fears are more valuable than the life of another human
being. Turn to James chapter 4. And this is my text for today.
Many sermons and the many sermons and the many sermons that create
one long sermon. What's this fight about? What's this struggle
about when it comes to abortion? What's the big deal? Why should
we even care? People people need abortions.
There are some children that should not be born in the world,
you might say, or there are some situations that it'd be better
if the children were not born, really. Well, take a girl in
their 16th year, halfway through their high school career, gets
pregnant and looks to bring shame on a
very well-to-do family, a very, maybe not well-to-do, but very
influential family in the community, leaders in the church, leaders
in commerce, leaders in government. How would it look? Child having
a child can't even support herself. Parents. Oh, my gosh. Now we're
going to have to take up another baby. What's going to happen?
Well, that was the story of my mother. And I'm glad that I wasn't aborted. We see that time and time again.
It's the worst that could happen. I have family who got pregnant
in high school. And it's like the end of the
world. But now it's like, wow, what a blessing. What a blessing. Friends. I have friends who have
had abortions. And now they have children and
they look at those children and wonder where the other one is. Look at the book of James. Chapter
four, verses one through 10, what causes quarrels? What causes
fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions
are at war within you? Some of the translations say
within your members, within your body. You desire and you do not
have, so you murder. You covet and you cannot obtain,
so you fight and you quarrel. You do not have because you do
not ask. You ask and you do not receive
because you ask wrongly, so that you might spend it on your passions.
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship
with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes
to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy with God. Or
do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns
jealously over the spirit that he has made us to dwell in? He
has made to dwell in us, but he gives more grace. Therefore,
it says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and
he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will
draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the
Lord and He will exalt you. The reason abortion exists is
because we fight within ourselves against the passion of the flesh. The reason that abortion is growing
by leaps and bounds, despite what the records may show you
on the news, is that we love ourselves more than we love and
trust Christ. And don't kid yourselves, the
church has almost as many abortions as the rest of us, as the rest
of the world. I'll give you those numbers in a moment. Well, why
do people have abortions? Torres and Forrest data. This
is nonpartisan. Oh, actually. There we go. I printed the wrong one there.
Let me just give you some statistics. Forty two million abortions are
performed annually. That's one hundred and fifteen
thousand children who are killed every day. Eighty three percent of all abortions
are obtained in developing countries such as America and Europe. I
mean, in developing countries such as other than American,
17 percent occur in developed countries. In the United States, so what
does that 17 percent look like? Let's look at the United States,
one point three seven million. 1.37 million per year. Thirty seven
hundred abortions a day in America. You must say, well, you know,
it's a lot of it's a lot of, you know. Problems, there's issues
there. These are the lower income deprived
people who are having problems. Yes, abortion is rampant. But don't think it's that skewed.
Fifty two percent of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger
than 25. Women aged 20 to 24 are 32% of all abortions, and
teenagers obtain 20%. Girls under 15 account for 1.2%. White women obtain 60% of all
abortions. Their abortion rate is well below
that of minority women. Black women are more than three
times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic
women are roughly two times as likely. Gives you the understanding
of how Walter Hoy says that abortion is an issue of racism. Who's having abortions? 64.5% of all abortions are performed
on never married women. Married women account for 18.5%
of all abortions. Divorced women, 9.4%. What about
people of non-faith? Oh, really? Those identifying
themselves As Protestant in faith, obtain 37.5% of all the abortions
in the United States. Catholic women, 31.3%. Jewish
women, 1.3%. And women with no religious affiliation,
23.7%. 18% of all abortions are performed
on women who identify themselves as evangelical born-again Christians. Who's having abortions? This
must be the lower income people. Listen to this. Women with families
incomes less than 15,000 obtained 28.7 percent of abortions. Women
with income between 15 and 30 obtained 19.5. Women between
the income of 30 to 60 obtained 38 percent of all abortions and
over 60 obtained 13.8. So the middle upper class have
more abortions than anybody. Now, why do they do this? 1%
of all abortions occur because of rape or incestual relationships. 6% of abortions are performed
because of potential health problems regarding either the child or
the mother. 93% of all recorded abortions
occur for social reasons. Unwanted child, economic issues,
inconvenience, school, education, career, marital problems, et
cetera. 43% of all women will have an abortion
at least once before they're 45 years old. And 47% of all
abortions are performed on women who have had at least one prior
abortion. I could go on and on and on and on. But that's not
what I came here to do today. Why is it important? Because
it's happening right as we speak. And it is a tragedy. And what
causes it is that we love the flesh. More than ourselves. What causes quarrels? It's the
passions that are at war within you. Abortion roots from the
fact that we're not satisfied in Christ. Did you hear that? We want to stop abortion, then
we must teach people and show people and display the manifold
wisdom of God, which means the church works. Are we working? When the people of the community
and the world look at first Baptist Newark, Do we look like we're
working? Is the manifold wisdom of God
evident in our lives as a group of believers? Do we have unity? We have peace. We have adoration
for Christ. Is He our sufficiency? Or are
we looking to the world for answers? Are we looking to the White House
for answers? Are we looking to the government? Are we satisfied
with Christ? It says you desire and you do
not have. See, it's that lust that you can't get. And so those
desires war against you. And so in order to get those
things, you murder. Well, what's that got to do with
anything? Well, our desires are unsatisfied and therefore we
do whatever it takes to get them. We say, well, this is not what
I planned. Do you realize that almost half
of every pregnancy in America is unplanned? Actually, 51% are
unplanned. And that 48 percent of those
unplanned pregnancies end in abortion. We are unsatisfied. Because the
scripture says we come with the wrong motives. We don't have
what we desire because we're asking for the wrong stuff and
we're asking for the wrong reason. He says there that we come and
we ask, we covet, and we cannot obtain, and we idolize. We've
got to have this. If I could have this, then I'm
happy. And you think to yourself, I'm not like that. Yes, you are.
We are like that. We are perpetual idol makers.
Ask yourself right now, if you had the money, what you'd buy? Prove my point. We could all
write something down on our communication card. That would be one heck
of an invitation, wouldn't it? Everybody write down exactly what they'd
buy if they had the money right now. They're number one list.
Now, within reason. I'm not talking about Google's
money. I'd probably get sued for copyright infringement for
saying that. I mean, you know. It's not that I'm talking about
just the little things, little things we'd be happy with. I'd
like to get another Xbox. I'd like to get maybe a new car.
I'd like to get maybe a new suit. I'd like to buy that. You know,
I'd like to buy an airplane. Some people say a helicopter
would be nice. So you wouldn't have to worry
about rush hour. Or you could call all your friends. Hey, dude,
don't go down that street. It's a mess. So you could justify it. It'd
be good for the church. We could have a traffic system as a ministry. Keeps everybody at peace. I digress. We're unsatisfied and we come
to the Lord and we pray for things because our motives are wrong.
We're not satisfied in Christ and we search after what the
world has so that we can feel good. It's like getting that
new set of clothes or that new car, that new house or something
new. Doesn't it feel real good when anybody say that it doesn't
feel good to buy something new? It does feel good. But after
a while, that new wears off. The smell goes away. The carpet
wears down. The wristband scratches or the
watch gets scratched or the shoes get scuffed or the stitches wear
out or the kids grow up, cost more, smell bad, don't clean
up. They never clean up. Then we go, ah, we've got to
have a new one, got to get another one, got to get another one.
We are unsatisfied because we come with the wrong motives.
You do not have because you do not ask. And when you ask, you do
not receive because you ask wrongly. You ask so that you may be fulfilled
in your heart by something else other than me. This is classic. We want a God that will give
us what we please and not what he pleases. We feel that it's
OK to murder because it will be better for us. Now, not everybody
in here is an abortionist. I don't think anybody is. Some
of us may be some of us may have had an abortion. Some of us may
have condoned it. Some of us may know someone who
had some of us maybe have been doctors and we don't know it
and have performed it. Some of us may have given money to corporations
and entities to support it. Some of us may have have have
rallied for it. Where does that what does that
leave us? Leaves the same thing is that when we look for what's
better for us, even another topic and another issue, God is not
our map to the treasure. God is the treasure. And we ask
God to give us the things that we want rather than giving us
more of him. Or even at best, God, this is
what I want, but I want you above it. I want this, but your will
be done. And when it's no, we're confident
with it. We're fine with it. God, I want to go to med school,
you know? That was my testimony. And I was going. That's one of
my, I am going. I didn't go. Eighteen years old,
spitting and snotting all over my mom's table, going to find,
well, what's my alternate path? Going to be a doctor since I
was this big. Going to music. That works. That didn't work
out either. Going to business. That didn't
work out either. I don't know how many little
businesses I've tried to create through the years. Committing
adultery against Jesus. God is our treasure. Either God
satisfies with Himself, as Himself, or we want Him to give us something
that will. One works, the other does not. So why abortion? Because of convenience, frustration,
fear, economics, you name it. Why is it so rampant? Well, listen
to Paul, Romans one twenty four, that God gave them up to the
lust of their hearts, to to impurity, to the dishonor of their bodies
among themselves. We want it bad enough, God will
let us have it. Second Timothy, for the time is coming when people
will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears. They
will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.
Look at this. Look at how many churches and
pulpits will sit around and say it's OK to do drugs because God
loves you. And it's OK to have promiscuous
sex outside of the marriage bed because God will forgive you.
God's not called you to be perfect, just forgiven. God ain't called you to be forgiven,
God forgave you, then he called you to be holy. Why? Because He took away your sin. He made it as just as if you'd
never sinned. Why would we want to sin against
someone who destroyed sin? I was listening to that song
as well with my soul. I guess it's probably one of my favorite
songs in the world. This glorious thought, my sin not in part,
but the whole, was nailed to the cross. My gosh. And we think of this supernatural
sin. You know how our sin was nailed to the cross? Jesus became
sin and he was nailed to the cross. Votie Bauckham, I listened to
a message that he preached at a church growth conference or
health conference a couple of weeks ago. I listened to it last
week and he talked about forgiveness being some of us think that it
means we forget about our sin. You know, I think that's what's
wrong with the church is we've forgotten about our sin. David
didn't forget about his sin. He says, my sin is forever before
me. Because friends, when we start forgetting about our sins,
then we start stacking up little ones. When we start forgetting
where God has brought us from the domain of darkness, then
we start feeling comfortable with who we are. And we start
having an okay attitude about going ahead and sinning against
the Holy God. It don't matter. I'm forgiven. That's a lie. It's
a lie. It does matter. And Paul says, and Jesus says,
if you don't obey the Word, you don't obey the truth, that you're
a liar and you have no truth, and you are going to stand because
you are already under the condemnation of God. You will remain under
that. You will remain under God's wrath.
And John writes in Revelation that you will drink the full
force strength of His cup. Jesus drank the full force strength
of the wrath of God on the cross. And friends, God saved me from
that. And that is a reason to pursue
Christlikeness. So what should we ask for? Well,
there'll be scoffers that'll come, 2 Peter. Knowing this,
first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days, scoffing,
following their own sinful desires. Scoffers say a lot of things,
but a couple of things that popped into my mind. Scoffers say, we
are free to do this. Well, our culture says it's this.
You know, back then it was this. Or you should get more in tune
with what's up to date or you're a fool. That's just ridiculous.
So what should we ask for? Jesus says he's quoting there.
James is quoting there and asking you will be given to you, seek
and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone
who asks, receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one
who knocks it will be open. See, the psalmist writes in Psalm
37, 4, to delight yourselves in the Lord and he will give
you the desires of your heart. Now, here's a test. Is God the
desire of your heart? See, when we come to God to get
other stuff, then he's not our desire. And if he's not our desire,
we come to him, we come to him under wrong pretenses. Yeah,
you may have a desire. God, I want a but I want you
more. And if you give me you first,
then a will be perfectly clear if it's your will. And I'll be
at peace about not getting it or I'll be at peace about getting
it to all who do these things, friends, these things to everyone
who does not make this a matter of faith. All things that flow
from. Faithlessness, it is lawlessness,
it is unbelief. If you pursue Christ, then you'll
get Him. Here's the formula. Open the door. Drink the water.
Eat the bread. Follow Him. The problem is we
don't have it in us to follow Him. We don't have in us to pick
up that bread because that old unleavened bread doesn't look
as good as this big doughy sourdough with garlic butter, honey butter,
jelly. What do we really want? To satisfy
the flesh? Or to fulfill the soul? What we'll find is when
we eat of Christ, we never hunger for this again. I mean, look
at it. I mean, even dig a finger in
it. Take a little crumb. But we're not hungry for that. We must pray that He'll give
us repentance. and white-hot passion for His
law, for His holiness, for His mercy, which is Himself. Revelation
19 says that Jesus is the Word of God. John 1.14, the Word became
flesh, and the beginning was the Word. The Word is the Creator.
For Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, and the
fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Him. Christ is God,
and the problem is we can't pursue Him without Him giving us a heart
to pursue Him. And if we don't have it this
morning, friends, Listen, beloved, if you don't have the heart to
pursue Christ, then pray like everything that God will give
you that heart, get in hunger with the word. This is praying
God's name to be worthy, and I request Jesus taught us this,
pray like this, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven. This is the beginning of a prayer. and that we holy,
we glorify the name of God in our request to Him. And if we
pray for things that aren't glorifying to God, this is something new.
In the last year, God has shown me the significance of prayer
and that I don't waste my prayer. I don't pray for stupid stuff
anymore when people ask me to pray for something that's so
obvious as a nose on their face that they actually know what
God's will is in the situation. Pray God will bless my relationship
with so-and-so. I know he's lost, but I really
want it to work out. That's the dumbest thing. I'm
not praying for that. God, pray that this person is
broken under the sin and pray that that person can find you
and satisfaction in you. And if you want them together,
you save that man and you bring them together against all opposition.
But your will be done in their life. Maybe it's your will that
they that they have to deal with heartache and heartbreak because
of the Christian. When the Christian marries, that's
eternal. And we'll talk about that in two weeks. Whoever has
doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from
faith. Whatever does not proceed from
faith is sin. I've been saying that all day. Hebrews 14, 23.
Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would
draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards
those who seek Him. Are we seeking God? Matthew 37
is? No, Matthew, what is that? Six
thirty three. Seek first the kingdom of God
and all of his righteousness and all these things will be
added unto you. Are we seeking God? Are we coming as matters
of faith with everything in life? Are we praying without ceasing,
as Paul says to the Thessalonians in chapter five? Pray without
ceasing. So here's a formula for our spiritual
well-being church. Do you passionately pursue God
in Christ as your ultimate, all satisfying, sufficient treasure
and in doing so allow the world to become nothing around you?
Number two, do you ask God of more of himself and make your
request known as they glorify him in the cosmos? What's the
cosmos of creation? Why do you pick that word? Because
that's what the Greek word for the heavenlies is. And the word
heavenlies is used a lot by Paul to describe the realm of God
and to describe the magnificence and the manifold wisdom as it's
going to be displayed by the church, not just to each other,
not just our community, not just to this country, not just to
this world, but to the cosmos. that the angels in heaven and
the demons in hell will see the power of the manifold wisdom
of God and the unity of the body of Christ as we stand as the
litmus test for Christ to judge the rest of the world. And the reason abortion exists
is because we don't get this. We're fighting for the wrong
cause. We're fighting people to stop acting a certain way
instead of fighting for Christ's gospel to be breathed into their
lives. Let me have life and breath and hope. Man alive. And then the scripture calls
us adulterers. What does this got to do with abortion? Everything.
Because abortion roots from the very fact that we are sleeping
around on Jesus. Now see, that doesn't sound right,
but in two weeks it will. It'll make perfect sense. The sexual
relationship in a marriage is symbolic of the perfect union
of Christ and his people. That's why promiscuous sex is
such an abomination. That's why Paul talks about it
and it coats every list of sins that we find in the New Testament.
It just constantly coats it because people think that it has nothing
to do with anything but pleasure. God forgive us. We desire another
love in this world. We desire and have the audacity
to ask our husband to provide for it. Going to our husband,
who is Jesus, and saying, I know you're my husband, but I'd like
another lover. In America, that's divorce, baby. But in God's economy
of grace, there is no divorce. This is adultery. Abortion is
rooted because of adultery against the very satisfaction of God
and God's provision for our lives. We trust in God. Christian, hear
this. I don't know what your stands
are on abortion, but I can tell you this, if you agree with choice,
you better listen to the Word of God. There is no justification
to kill a child. None. Now, in my mind and the
stupidity of my wisdom, I can come up with a fairly good argument
for abortion on some counts, but you know what the Word of
God teaches me? The argument fails. The argument fails. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1
that the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of man
and that the weakness of God is greater than the strength
of man. And if you trust in that and you understand the greatness
of who God is. If you've got another way, my
words to you are warning, warning. Abortion is friendly to the world,
but verse four says, Do you not know that friendship with the
world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to
be a friend with the world makes himself an enemy of God. First John,
do not love the world or anything in it. Please read that book.
Adultery creates jealousy in God's spirit. Oprah Winfrey went
public because she heard Exodus 25. You shall not bow down to
them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous
God. And she said, I woke up, I looked at my pastor, and I
thought, that's it, I'm done with Christianity. If I've got to
serve a God that's jealous, I'm done. Visiting the iniquity of the
fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of
those who hate me. An accomplice of Paul named Demas,
you've heard me say this in the last few months, 2 Timothy 4.10,
it says, For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted
me and gone to Thessalonica. Friends, what are you in love
with this morning? Are you in love with rights and freedoms
and the right to choose? Are you in love with convenience?
Are you in love with the cultural aspects of what is best for children? Friends, what's best for children
is that they live and suffer and die, or they live and get
happy and educated with Christ as their King. You name one person that's ever
been great in the kingdom of God that ever had much to do
with anything that would have been better off aborted in this
world. Name one. And name those people who have
had a great life and done great things for humanity, but could
care less about the kingdom of God. What's the argument? Hard times
fall on all people. Pain and suffering falls on all
people. Friends, I have a friend that is with the Lord right now.
He was 20th year, 21st year, and he had cerebral palsy. And
that boy's testimony and his life that was confined with a
chair and he can only communicate with groans, smiles, and pointing. His testimony, bless my soul
and bless the soul of more people for the glory of Christ than
any talking person that I've ever known. And his home going was a miraculous
thing. Adultery creates jealousy in
God's spirit. Why wouldn't it? Some of us would argue this is
not an issue of spirituality, it's a political issue. Church,
we must pray for wisdom on how we battle abortion in America,
because I'll be honest with you, they don't have the answer. People like
Walter Hoy are called to that. But as we see, that's not his
ultimate. That's his main thing in some
respects. But what did he do in prison?
That was one of many things that he did. But the most important
thing that he did was to preach the gospel. And disciple. And then the third thing he said,
and then I taught them the responsibilities and the horrors of abortion and
their responsibilities in the black community or the white
community or the Hispanic community. And I'm putting those words in
there. We must always stand on the side
of truth with elections, with laws and with practice, abortion
is a matter of spiritual significance. However, we're not to turn our
lives upside down and make it ultimate. Do you hear me? Stopping
abortion is not the call of the church. Proclaiming the gospel
of Jesus Christ that will slow down abortion is the call of
the church. But we still inform. The fight against abortion cannot
become the pleasure of life. I feel fulfilled because I'm
fighting against something. It cannot become the goal of the
church. God is our treasure. Christ is our king and our worship
is our ultimate goal. Sin is a spiritual issue. No
matter how it fleshes out. So anybody that says that homosexuality
or divorce or finances or abortion or whatever it might be, is not
an issue of faith. Friends, for the church, it is
all an issue of faith. Because anything that is sinful
or that can be sinful is an issue of faith. What's the big deal? Well, Paul says in Hebrews that
it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God. We forget that, don't we? And this is where our emergent
community type folks don't like to go. But that's half the counsel
of the word. If we don't preach the trueness
of the word, you know what's amazing? Young woman I was talking
with just a few nights ago, you know her. Well, I won't say who
it is. She said, you know what, I realized
that I need to I need to discover really the truth of who God really
is. So that's what I'm doing. She's going through the Psalms,
going through Colossians, going through just looking at the magnificence
and the heaviness of the glory of God. And that's where we're
going to start in a few weeks. We're going to walk through six
to eight months of going through the graveness of God's holiness,
of his heaviness, of his glory. We've lost the fear of God and
we've become empowered by the earthly issues and the consequences
of this earthly realm and the focus of this earthly realm.
And friends, as a Christian, when it comes to the issue of
abortion, we must always, despite what is best for our nation,
we must always go on the side of God's truth. And to support
anything, anyone, anywhere, anyplace, anyhow, that is completely for
abortion and the murder of unborn children is not godly. What's the remedy for all this?
As we close, it is humility. It's humility. Look at the Scripture. What causes quarrels? You adulterous
people. Therefore, whoever wishes to
be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Verse
five. Or do you suppose it is of no purpose to say that
the Scripture says he yearns jealousy of the spirit that he
has made dwell in us? Look at verse six. But he gives more
grace. He knows our fallenness. He knows
that left to ourselves, we will become the product of a sinful
heart, callous, cold, just overflowing with iniquity. But it says he
gives more grace. Therefore, it says God opposes
the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Friend, humility
is not an attitude. Well, it is, but humility in
this sense is not an attitude, but rather a dependence. Humility
to God is a dependence. He described that. Submit yourselves,
therefore, to God. We can come and go, OK, I got
it all worked out, God, but guess what? My sin is going to halter
and I'm going to put trouble in my wisdom. I can't save myself. I've got it figured out, I think,
but I know that I'm stupid. You're wise. The cross is wisdom,
even though it seems foolish to me. I want to love you. You
are the only hope that I have. You're the only hope for this
country. You're the only hope for my family. You're the only
hope for my health. You're the only hope for my hope.
My faith. I humbly trust in you. And this
is the mark of a true believer. God gives grace. To the humble,
it means without dependence in Christ alone, for grace alone,
we are forever lost in opposition to God. Likewise, you who are
younger, be subject to the elders, clothe yourself, all of you with
humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but
gives grace to the humble. Peter used the same language.
So what are the repercussions of all of this? Well, as we begin,
continue down this path, we'll begin to devalue the very creation
of God. If the church doesn't surrender
and submit in humility to the dependence upon God and the Holy
Spirit for salvation and for the direction of this world,
not just this country, and for saving of souls, then we will
continue down a path of destruction. And before long in America, we
will begin to devalue the very creation of God. We will denounce
its purpose to glorify God as a creator. And we will be able
to truly, without any type of conscious problem, sacrifice
children of any age. And when adults get to be where
they're burdensome or ill or sick, then for the sake of living
our lives to the fullest, carpe diem, we will kill them. That's
absurd. It's happening all over the world.
It's happening all over the world. When we elect leaders in our
churches, in our community, in our nation, in our world, we
must be careful to understand that the issues of state, are nothing compared to the glory
of God. And as Christians, we must always side with what is
most godly looking to the kingdom that will come. And that that's
how we draw near to God. We draw near to God with humility
and dependence. This the answer to overcoming
sin is to not draw near to God. The answer to being right with
God is to draw near to God. The answer to overcoming evil
is to draw near to God. The answer to over-resisting
the devil, it says there, is to draw near to God. How do we
do that? Hosea had it. 12.6. So you, by
the help of your God, return, hold fast to love, hold fast
to justice, and wait continually for your God. Wait. Hold. And then it says we should mourn
and repent. I thought the Bible prescribed
joy. I thought the Bible prescribed overwhelming happiness. Yes,
it prescribes joy, but that joy can only be found when we are
right with Christ. And until we mourn over our sin
and we grieve and weep and tear our clothes over the sickness
of our own hearts and the desires of our flesh, we can never be
right with Christ. If we can laugh our sins out
the door and put them under our pillows at night and we can say,
oh, I'm fine, I'm forgiven. We're not mourning over our sin. We know that our old self was
crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought
to nothing. That we would no longer be enslaved
to sin. Paul says to Galatia, But far
be it for me to boast and accept in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to
the world. Wretched man that I am! Who will
deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord, so then I myself serve the law of God
with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. If our
sin doesn't keep us broken, we're completely lost. Paul says in
2 Corinthians, for godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads
to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow produces death. The truth is, is that God can
forgive sin. And abortion is one of those
sins that God can forgive. And no matter who you are, or
what you've done, or how far deep you're in, God will not
allow you to forget your sin, but He will constantly remind
you that you can be forgiven of it. See, there's three people in
the congregation today. Oh, no, I'm not going to call
your names. Three types of people in the congregation today. Everybody
looked up when I said that. I should do that more often.
The first type of person goes, man, I'm a sinner. And I see
it. And my sin's broken me and I'm
sorry. And the only way I'm going to be saved is to trust in Christ
for His finished work. The second type of person says,
you know, I've done that, I'm fine. Nothing wrong with me. I'm forgiven and that's enough.
The third type of person says, this is the biggest bunch of
hogwash I've ever heard. And you don't know what hogwash
is after you wash the hog trough. I pray that all of us are that
first person. I pray that all of us are in that first state
of constant repentance. Trusting continually in the sufficiency
of the cross and in the grace of God. Don't get comfortable
with sin, because that's what's happening in the world. For Christ
also suffered once for sins, the righteous Christ for the
unrighteous, me and you, that he might bring us to God. See,
it's Christ's work. Do you trust in that by faith?
Being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit. All of sin and trusting in Christ
is our only hope. Just with any sin without forgiveness,
we're eternally lost. We're enemies with God. But with
God's grace, We're reconciled to Him by Christ. Would you pray
with me? And I know our hour has gone
long, but my prayer is that your heart
is still focused on the Word. And just in silence, Margaret,
you can get ready. We're going to sing after this,
but for time's sake, we're just going to move on. But before
we leave, I want you to be in prayer. And I just want to ask
a very simple question. Do you sit there today trusting
in the sufficiency of Christ as your treasure? That His grace
alone can save you? And that by faith in that alone
are you saved? Are you broken over your sin
and trusting in Christ to provide life? If you say no, my prayer is that
you would pray right now, you would pray for God to give you
a heart of repentance and begin to give you eyes to
see.